After the nasty fall into the water, Zed surfaced, helping Mai get her head up as well. After some coughing she opened her eyes to look up at him.

The thief sighed in relief and noticed how fast they were moving down stream. That's not good...

He tightened his grip on her slightly as he looked around for anything to grab a hold of.

"Zed, a branch!" Called Mai as she pointed in front of them, seeming to understand what he was looking for.

Zed looked and reached for the branch with his free hand as they zoomed by, a grunt escaped him as they halted, water rushing off of them in waves. The branch was thankfully strong enough to hold and not break.

Or so they thought.

It started to crack. "Ah Crap." Muttered Mai as she grabbed onto it. Luckily, the branch got them close enough to the bank that they could quickly get on shore right before the branch broke in half.

Both panting, they fell to the ground, tossing the almost useless branch aside.Mai huffed. "Cursed branch...Breaking at just the right moment." 

She heard Zed chuckle. "Yeah well, nature must be against you."

"Why only me?" She turned her head to look at him.

"Well I wasn't the one that got tripped by a tree, was I?"

She smirked. "Maybe not, but you were dumb enough to jump off the cliff after me."

He narrowed his eyes playfully at her. "I didn't go after you." 

She raised a brow. "Oh? What then?"

He smiled, sitting up and holding her shoulder bag in his hand. "Why this of course."

She glared, frowning at him as she too sat up. She tried to snatch it away, but to no avail. He laughed at her attempts. By the time she had finally gotten a hold of the bag, they both noticed how close they were to one another. Time stopped, and made them wonder how to react.

After a few long, long seconds, Mai swiped the bag from his hand and turned her back to him, hiding her embarrassed expression. "I-I-I'll keep this with me, thank you." She turned around, but only to glare at him. "So hands off, hot shot."

He put his hands up in defense. "Fine, if that's what the lady wants." She sighed and looked around. It would be dark soon. It looks like there was a cave behind them that ran deep into the cliff.

She stood up. "I don't know about you, but I'm not waiting around for the big bad wolf." She mocked and Zed stood up too, following behind her as she started walking into the cave. He raised a brow in amusement.

"Well, you are wearing red, and you look innocent." She ignored him as he walked behind her.

"And why would you be following me?" She asked, her voice had an annoyed tone.

"As protection from the big bad wolf of course." He smirked.

"Oh. Protection, huh? Remind me to not pay for your services..." She rolled her eyes.

Many minutes passed as they walked further and further into the large cave. An awkward silence filled the air as they walked, only stopping to make a torch, and then continued down the cave. By now it was probably dark outside.

"Hey Cap." Mai turned to look at Zed, inwardly glad that he had said something. "What is it?"

"Don't pay me after this. Just reminding you." He smirked at the scoff she had on her face.

Her eyes twitched at her irritation level did nothing but grow. "I really hate you....You know that?" 

He laughed. "Wouldn't have it any other way..." She was going to reply, but noticed he had looked away from her when he spoke, making her stop to wonder why.

After a few moments of standing there, Mai decided to sit down. "I think we should just rest for the night. It's probably dark outside by now." He merely nodded and sat next to her, leaning against the cave wall. Mai set the torch in front of them, hoping it would somehow dry their clothes.

That awkward silence filled the atmosphere again. Little did Lucas know how right he was. Mai was exhausted, and slowly found herself falling asleep, but not without some sort of comment. "You....owe me a hat..." Then she was out, ending up leaning onto his upper arm, not quite reaching his shoulder.

Zed's face softened as he moved some hair out of her face. "As you wish..." He put an arm around her shoulders carefully, so she wouldn't get cold, and shut his own eyes, letting sleep take over as well.