༻ ♡ ♡ ♡ ༺

"Why is it so....humid..." Y/n mumbled beneath her breath as she trailed behind Alhaitham taking one or two steps at a time. Despite the little break they had taken a while ago, Y/n was already on the verge of collapsing.

With everything, the weather wasn't surely helping her. It was too humid and sunny despite walking through a thick forest. Alhaitham on the other hand walked forward in an unwavering pace as he led through the narrow path.

He turned around and looked at Y/n who was walking at a very slow speed. She appeared as if she was about to black out any moment now. Upon noticing it Alhaitham asked her the obvious.

"It was expected to be this humid after a few days of incessant rain. If you require a break-" He was immediately interrupted as Y/n nearly tripped down next to a tree but did not fall completely. She slouched against the bark of the tree, groaning.

"I cannot walk anymore.....I'm too tired..." She muttered. Alhaitham only raised his eyebrow at her as he crossed his arms across his chest.

"So do you intend to rest out here for the night? As far as I'm aware, this place is a home to a variety of Rishboland tigers."Ahaitham said in an intimidating tone that sent shivers behind Y/n's back as she recollected the near death experience of getting chased by wild animals.

She broke out her tired daze as she flinched and sat back up straight, staring into Alhaitham's face. "Well..you're here. I know you don't want to get eaten alive so of course you'd chase them away!"

He took a sharp inhale before his eyes narrowed down at her. "What makes you believe that I'd stay back to make sure you escape? I'm a feeble scholar after all." 

Y/n scoffed at his obvious lie of being 'feeble' as she was reminded of yesterday when he played volleyball. "Not even willing to protect someone you like? Oh how unromantic of you, especially after being someone who confessed their feelings."

His eyes widened at realization of what she had told him but managed to keep his composure as he looked away. Y/n could only notice the little redness he had on his face despite being vaguely visible.

"So you do have set hopes and standards for me. Must be unfortunate as I can never be as capable as those male leads who have set standards in your head." He responded back which again sent Y/n into a sudden realization. He surely read that one novel you decided to carry along while traveling.

Gasping from the sudden realization you looked at him with an eyebrow raised. "Alhaitham. YOU READ THAT NOVEL? WHEN, WHERE-?"

He turned around and finally looked at your face. "Maybe next time learn how to put things away in it's right places. You put that novel into my bag."

"Huh? What are you-" Y/n suddenly stopped speaking as she heard the rustle of leaves once more. She looked around as her eyes scanned the surroundings but she couldn't see anyone or anything. When she looked back at Alhaitham, she noticed he was also looking around with a serious expression.

The two were only given absolute silence along with timed intervals of long grass and bushes rustling with one another. The wind was neither breezy nor was it blowing in a periodical manner. They discerned; someone has surrounded them, be it animals or maybe humans.

He reached his hand to help her stand up. Y/n quickly got back up on her feet, as she was pretty horrified by the thought of being chased by rishboland tigers.

An arrow came darting from the back as it brushed through a few strands of Alhaitham's teal hair. He stood there still and stiff, very well aware of what was going to happen next whereas, Y/n had her eyes widened as she stared at the arrow infused with dendro struck with the tree before them.

"Alhaitham...I don't think Rishboland tigers can shoot arrows with dendro element infused into it." She muttered as she side eyed him.

Alhaitham only scoffed and folded his arms across his chest. "They can't. Eremites from the desert really lack the skill to plan out a proper ambush." Before Y/n could raise any questions to what he said, she noticed men in red scarfs come out from the bushes, indicating they were one of Ayn Al-Ahmar's followers from the desert. A dangerous faction of Eremites.

....and naturally of course, Y/n had a rough idea of what was happening.

Ayn Al-Ahmar's followers have never been on good terms with Alhaitham let alone with the great Akademiya. In fact, she had once heard that Alhaitham was ambushed by them in the desert when he had gone to decode ancient scripts from King Deshret's ruins but he returned back with not a single scratch.

A feeble scholar, he claimed.

Perhaps these eremites are here to get their revenge back? That was the only reasonable explanation she could get. As they were surrounded by violent eremites, Y/n began to panic.

"I cannot fight! Why do you keep making enemies out of whoever comes in your path, I swear to go—"

"You have a vision." He said in a baritone voice as he looked at her face. She immediately facepalmed.

"If I knew how to use! I don't even know how to fight, let alone use my vision properly! It's unstable!" Y/n protested back but before Alhaitham could reply, a middle aged man, who was assumed to be the leader of the faction, stepped up with a claymore in his hand.

He had one of his eyes covered and multiple bandages around him. He pointed his weapon at Alhaitham. His voice was hoarse and dry, one that was laced with danger and threats.

"Well, well, we meet again, Scribe of the Akademiya." he said in an arrogant tone which sent shivers behind Y/n's spine.

Alhaitham only scoffed in annoyance. "How unfortunate it must be for you to cross the same path with me once more."

The leader only huffed. "You are quite bold to mess with the Ayn Al-Ahmar, scribe. You even dared to chase away the men I sent?"

"I did. I only act with my logical reasoning. They were going to interfere with my work in the desert, which gave me no other choice but to chase them out. Now, to bring up this after nearly a year serves no purpose to neither you nor me." Alhaitham responded back which agitated the leader, who kept gritting his teeth.

The leader only popped a vein before he shouted back in a loud voice, instructing his other fellow eremites. "Well! We have two valuable researchers of the Akademiya! Capture them boys, it would be hitting two birds with one stone. A valuable opportunity to have a bargaining chip against the Akademiya."

Y/n only shuddered at the thought of having to be stuck between a fight. She, purely out of instinct, held Alhaitham's arm as she stood behind his frame.

Alhaitham's gaze moved towards her, who stood silently behind him. Even if he was bad at reading others, he knew Y/n was afraid of what was going to happen. Giving others reassurance was never something he would do but today must be an exceptional case.

"Y/n." He called out her name to gain her attention. She looked up at him. "Stay close or you can fight them off on your own."

Right as he said this, he charged in towards the eremites that surrounded the two, taking them down one by one swiftly using his sword. He was too quick with his movements which made Y/n stand still in her place.

"If I could, You wouldn't be alive...haitham." She muttered slowly beneath her breath as she saw him dash through a bunch of eremites, hitting them with the hilt of his sword as they fell down unconscious one by one.

"Caught you!" an eremite said as he charged in from behind towards Y/n. Before she could react, an array of emerald crystals infused with dendro tackled the eremite down.

Soon enough, all the eremites were knocked unconscious by Alhaitham while Y/n stood away from the chaos. She picked up a dagger from the ground which must have belonged to some eremite just in case she had to defend herself.

After Alhaitham was done knocking the leader of the Eremites down with a few swift moves with his blade, he turned around and looked at Y/n, who had her hands behind her back as she inspected the site.

"We're done here. Let's move." Alhaitham said as he patted the dust off his long sleek.

Y/n only sighed. "And they said you were a feeble scholar. I suppose this is why the General Mahamatra is always wary of you."

He only left a low chuckle. "I suppose I do not have the time to care about how people perceive me." He turned around and fixed his gloves as he was getting ready to depart. Y/n only left a heavy sigh as she began walking towards him.

A knocked out eremite had regained his consciousness as he laid down on the ground, completely bruised and beaten up. As Y/n walked towards Alhaitham's direction, the eremite got up on his feet and began charging to attack Y/n with a machete.

Right as Alhaitham noticed, he was about to call the woman's name to warn her but he was too late as he knew even if he did, it was of no point.

Moments before the eremite struck her, the hydro vision Y/n possessed began responding as it helped her infuse the dagger that she had picked up earlier with hydro element. Realizing she was about to be attacked, Y/n quickly responded back.

In one swift move she turned around and stabbed the eremite with the hydro infused dagger. The man had fallen back a few steps before he collapsed.

Y/n fell down behind as she had sprained her ankle when she moved out of sudden reflex to stab. Alhaitham caught her from behind and supported her. He looked at her shocked face for a moment and let her rest on the ground safely.

"Did I—just murder someon—" The woman asked as she was still processing what had happened as her lips trembled. Her voice was barely coming out.

"You did not. You just defended yourself." Alhaitham tried reassuring her as he took a look at the eremite who was stabbed slowly bleeding. He assessed it wasn't a major injury that could kill the eremite.

Y/n only kept staring in the very same direction. When Alhaitham noticed it, he hid Y/n's eyesight by covering her eyes with his gloved hand and brought her closer to him.

"This was expected. He's not dead. You'll be fine Y/n, you did nothing wrong." He muttered.

The bright blue skies were soon encased with grey clouds as thunders rumbled and lighting glowed. It was about to rain soon and the two had to get to a shelter lest they wish to fall sick. The monsoon season in Sumeru was truly a troublesome thing to traveling scholars and adventurers. 

﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌﹌
END

a/n : Five more chapters till story gets over woo!! I genuinely don't know how to make Alhaitham appear as if he truly cares for Y/n or not smh this emotionless man. When I do, he sounds too ooc to me.

I also realize it's going to be almost a whole year since I've started writing this. Goodness me and my schedule.

Thank you for the 80K Reads :]