Q and Yoyo

"Both and," Rei replied, trying to stand. It hurt like nothing else, but she managed it. She took a few steps and put her hand on Ace's shoulder, more to keep her balance than anything. "Let's keep going. I don't want to be anywhere near here."

Ace helped Rei up and the two of them walked away. Ace was starting to relax, although his brain was only just now starting to comprehend what had just happened. "Well," Ace said. "From what I recall, the Amestris border is, days away."

"Of course it is, idiot," Rei said through clenched teeth. "We'll need to find the nearest town and hope someone can give us a ride to Pendleton or another town that has a train depot."

Ace ignored the attack. He didn't know the Drachma'n land scape at all, only that he had walked to the small town from Amestris. Although, he was lucky. If he hadn't of found Rei he might not of made it.

The two of them limped on through the woods a while longer.

Rei walked beside Ace well into the night, each step as painful as the last. After a several hours, she finally gave up and sat down. "It's late, we're tired," she said, doing her best not to wince too much as she moved. "It's time we go to bed, I think."

Ace nodded. He didn't need to be convinced in the least. He laid down on a patch of the ground and sighed. "Wow," Ace said. "I think I'm going to have nightmares about this."

Ace leaned over and set his watch for a few hours from now. He figured the sun would be up soon but at this rate he was so tired that he didn't care if the guy came by and killed them, just as long as he did it quietly.

Rei lay down in an area she vaguely cleared of sticks and rocks. She hurt and she was beginning to wonder if her decision to run had been better than getting killed.

"Oh well, at least I ate before I came."

Ace's watch alarm went off and Ace drearily opened his eyes. The sun was up but the forest was still relatively shadowed. He looked around and felt he had a horrible headache. Next to him Rei was soundly sleeping, still. He walked over to a bush and gathered some berries before waking her. "Morning sunshine," he said.

Rei heard Ace's watch go off and silently wished the cloaked demon had destroyed it. She ignored it and Ace as best she could before finally sitting up. She grimaced at the pain in her side, wishing for any kind of relief.

"These berries are special," Ace smiled. Proud of the little information he'd pick up in the world. "Their properties are supposed to help with pain relief, so hopefully these help you out."

Ace took a handful and ate some. "So," Ace asked. "This isn't the first time I've had to ask a girl I woke up next to this, but did last night really happen?"

Rei took the berries he offered her and ate them. They were tart, but did not taste horrible. He wondered where he had learned that kind of information but ignored it. Whether the pain went away or she died, she hardly cared which happened.

"I would assume it did if the pain is any indication."

Ace shrugged and looked around the forest. "So, do you have any idea where we are or where we need to go?"

Ace was hungry. He had finished his half of the berries and it hadn't done much. Oh well. He was also sore, considering he'd slept in a forest all night.

Rei shrugged, noting that her pain had eased some, though it had not faded entirely. "Since we started out heading west, we might as well keep going that way. There's supposed to be a town in that direction."

"Sounds good," Ace said as he collected his things. He headed West and clumsily moved through the forest. Behind him was forest, in front of him was forest, forest was everywhere. He wasn't exactly thrilled of it, but at least this time he had someone with him.

Rei followed Ace, content to have him lead the way. She kept an eye on the sun to make sure they continued to move west and to keep track of the time. It was going to be a long time before they reached the next town.

Ace was getting tired again. He wasn't a big fan of walking through the woods forever. And there wasn't really very much going on. He saw a clearing ahead and he sighed. At least there was something ahead to help break up the time.

Rei had spaced out a long time ago. She was thinking, though her thoughts were hardly coherent enough to make sense. She vaguely noted that they were entering a clearing, but something else caught her attention more than her immediate surrounding. "Someone's here already," she whispered to Ace.

Ace jumped a little. Rei had hardly said a word the entire time they were on their trek that the mere sound of her voice had startled him. "What do you mean?" Ace asked her as he looked around. He carefully looked out into the field.

"I mean," she repeated, somewhat annoyed. "That someone is here."

She did not know where they were, but she could feel them. Something was incredibly off about their presence; perhaps it was the fact that she could feel them.

Ace was befuddled. He didn't know what she was talking about and he hadn't seen anyone nearby. On the other hand, Rei wouldn't make that up so he let it go. In the clearing he there could of been a few people. It was so far away it was almost important to say if it was a person or a tree.

Rei frowned. There was definitely something in the clearing ahead. Something bad. What it was exactly, she could not tell, but she knew it was not something they wanted to run into.

Ace wasn't sure what to do. He could tell Rei was upset by something but he didn't have a clue what. And the clearing would be much easier to cross than going through the forest still. At the same time, he really wasn't one to argue against dodging danger considering the night they had just had.

Rei left it up to Ace to decide what path they took. She could hardly go ahead on her own and she had warned him. She watched the trees, trying to find what had warned her, though.

Ace shook his head. "Let's go around the clearing," Ace sighed. "If we go out there and have to fight, we're dead. As the way we are right now, we're completely and utterly helpless in any kind of a fight. I don't even have my gun with me."

With that he lead Rei back into the forest.

Rei released a breath she had not known she had been holding. She had been oddly nervous about going into the clearing, mostly because of the strange feeling it gave her. What was it about the clearing that unnerved her?

"Oh, that," she muttered as a man appeared out of the forest around them.