Leaves crunched gently underneath her black boots as the sweet smell of autumn filled the cool air as she bent over.

What should she make out of all of this? 

Taking a stick off the ground, she poked the teen male on the cheek who was half buried in fallen leaves as she chewed on her lip.

"Hey, are you dead or not? Groan once if you are not, remain silent if you are.", she told the body, giving a harder jab.

She jumped a little when he whimpered slightly, he had been so still.
He still seemed to be alive..., she had thought he was pretty dead though since he hadn't moved a muscle.

Another human being...

That wasn't dead-
This was a surprise. The person she had found last time was pretty much good as dead.
Quiet and unresponsive as the trees surrounding her.

Grabbing his wrist under the foliage, she felt his pulse and looked him over, sighing as she brushed him off.

He groaned as she swept the leaves off his eyes and messy hair, his forehead furrowed with concentration and pain.

"Diverion??", she asked uncertainly as she stared at his pale face, "Is that you..?"

She watched surprised as he cracked open a weak eyelid.

How the hell was he conscious when he had literally dropped out of thin air?!

He then bolted upwards after a second, making her back up like he was a cockroach that had popped out of nowhere.

She then watched as he hugged his side in pain as smoky dark wisps of magic radiated off him, healing his wounds.

"Yeah... it's me.", he managed to get out with a heavy breath before looking at her annoyed and confused, "But what the devil are you doing out here with me?"

She glared at him, "I could ask you the same freak! You just dropped out of nowhere!!"

Diverion furrowed his brow for a moment, "I did?? Oh... right; I remember what happened now." He clenched a handful of grass as he scanned the area for his mask, seeing it was nowhere in sight, "Just my luck..."

"Congrats.", she huffed rolling her eyes, "So if you remember, would you care to explain what you're doing here?

"I got teleported here against my will.", he snapped back annoyed, his eyes throwing sparks, "It's not like I wanted to bump into you."

"Why the frick do you look like that? It's throwing me off...", she countered staring straight into his eyes half-entranced, "Is that why you always wore that stupid mask?"

Diverion covered his left eye with his free hand, his eyes widening as he fully realized what had been left behind and what had happened back at The Spire.
He had almost died...
Could've died, but Cassandra had saved him; whether it was on purpose or by accident remained to be seen, but he was still alive. Alive and in the middle of nowhere it seemed though...
He looked away from her, his eyes looking down at the ground in anger and shame, "It's not my fault I look the way I do...", he said in a soft undertone, "So if you can't handle it, just don't look at me. It's not like it will be hard for you to do so again after all these years."

She blinked at the strange teen before bursting into a strange laugh, "You really are a freak aren't you Diverion?? Get cursed as a baby or something?", she smiled walking over toward him and pulling him up to his feet, "Your mother must've really hated you I'll tell you that."

He stumbled and gritted his teeth, but managed to keep his profile and eyes hidden from her view as she grabbed his arm.

"And I guess you're right about the ignoring thing, you're still just as boring and weird as ever...", she continued shrugging, "Some people don't ever change."

"You certainly haven't changed a bit yourself.", Diverion came back, "In fact, it seems you've only gotten worse!!"

She pushed her black hoodie off and motioned to the forest, "Again, have been here, TRAPPED!! For MONTHS!!!", she yelled agitated, "Excuse me if I'm not good at being socializing kind and sweet when I don't have any stupid guards to gripe on!"

"How on earth am I supposed to know that?! I had no idea you've been trappe- Wait, did you just say trapped??"

"Yup. Trapped.", she nodded rolling her eyes.

He grabbed her shoulders, "Where are we??"

"In the Unknown Continent... somewhere in it at least. Considering no one has ever charted it I wouldn't know, all I know is where my shelter is and what ways NOT to go if I value my life.", she told him breaking free from his hold, "I've tried escaping multiple times but I always end up back here at this point. It's like the forest or something doesn't want me to leave."

"Really??", he asked looking at the tall beautiful trees surrounding them, "It doesn't look like a place that'd want to keep you imprisoned."

"Well it is. I've even tried burning the damned place down but the place won't let me do that either. It's freaky...", she added in as some leaves swept past them in the wind.

She watched as he hugged his arms for a moment, trying to get himself calm like he used to in the training camp. It brought back fond and bitter memories to her as she watched.
So much had changed since then... and yet, she still hadn't been able to complete her goal.

Diverion had gotten the job she had always wanted just because of who his mother was, which was completely unfair...
It made her burn with anger just thinking about it again.

Pushing back some of her long hair, she crossed her arms and cleared her throat impatiently, "So yeah... how did you get here exactly? And did you ever complete your assignment? I mean, it's not like you'll get a second shot for anything like this ever again if you failed."

"Umm... I didn't even get to Corona before I was kidnapped and ended up here with you... soooo, no?", he said sheepishly.

"What?!?", she uncrossed her arms and glared at him, "You got kidnapped?!! And you didn't even manage to get to Corona... WHAT THE HELL?!!!"

The older boy cowered slightly for a moment before getting angry, "It wasn't my idea!! And you would've been kidnapped by them too if a woman named Cassandra was determined as she was with me to keep you! You have no idea what I went through!! I didn't even want this job or any of the life I live now, so lay off!!"

"You had the chance to assassinate the royal family and you completely blew it!! At least if someone else had gotten the job besides me, I was happy knowing they'd kill Frederick first thing!!"

"I'm not like everyone else Fenra!! Why don't you get that!?", Diverion screamed back, his face red from anger and shame, "I can't take human life the way you can!! I'm not strong, brave and invincible!! I can't... I can't make anyone happy...", he shook his head and wiped a tear roughly as it went down his cheek, "I'm sorry..."

Fenra stared at him quietly, breathing hard as she decided what she wanted to do next.

Honestly, she was a bit stunned with the way he had talked to her. He was a lot bolder then he had to be.
And he had apologized to her... like he was genuinely sorry he couldn't meet her expectations??
It weirded her out, but also somehow made her feel... happy?

Maybe not happy exactly, just appreciative of the fact he cared about what she thought. Or that could've just been from fear of being murdered on the spot.

She sighed and rolled her eyes, over it, "Whatever. You not killing them just means Kolivan won't have an excuse to not assign me."

"Huh?"

"Yeah, this is actually good. You don't have to kill anyone and I get the chance to finally stab that stupid king in the throat.", she smiled, "Who knows, you might even get kicked out of the group finally for sucking so much! That'd be an upgrade for me and you Mask boy."

"Assuming we ever get out of here of course...", Diverion half smiled, his face now relieved.

Fenra grinned back, "Of course... if we find a way out, but I have a feeling with you here things are gonna change."

He took a step back, his face guarded, "I'm not doing anything with magic if that's what you expect."

"Why not? You were just using it a moment ago to heal yourself."

"It wasn't my choice! Just like being teleported here!! It was all an accident.", he explained hurriedly, "I was attacked and some spell went wrong and then I just ended up here. As for healing myself, my magic kicked in even when I didn't want it to.
I don't use my magic..."

Fenra chewed on her lip for a moment before deciding to drop it so they could get to the shelter, "Fine. If you don't want to use it, that's alright with me. But you're going to explain everything to me once we get back to the campsite; if we don't head back now things are gonna get rough."

"Why would I tell you anything?! Just because you're not threatening to stab me does not make us friends!", he objected backing away further.

"Because...", she said grabbing his wrist tightly and pulling him along, "You'll get eaten by something 'cause I'll kick you out of the house if you don't. Plus there's someone I want you to see and help me with... for some reason they look kinda like you."

Diverion blinked, "You've got someone who looks like me??"

"Yep.", she said dragging him quickly through the maze of trees and foliage, "And that's saying something since I've never seen your face til' now."

Sorry about the long wait! Hope you guys enjoyed-