The couple ran, Valentine with the man on his back, waiting for him to regenerate and tell him the direction, they didn't have that much of an option, the black cloud is catching up!
Fayette ran beside him, just as fast, trying to slap the man, curse him, asking friendly, anything!
As long as he told them where the cave is!
"I... don't know... I lost... the direction..." he muttered, still hissing at his pained body!
"Then try to remember, look around and see!" She insisted, looking back periodically only to see the black cloud approaching from the left, while the first cloud remained in the right, the path was getting slimmer and slimmer.
The heat was nearly unbearable and the ground's heat increased exponentially!
Valentine kept running towards the only place that was cleared, there is nothing else he can do!
"W-Wait, I... Recognise that tree, does it have... a double mark in it!?" The man stuttered and narrowly managed to point at a tree.
The threshold was getting ridiculous, just like their hopes, this guys voice sounded like the flute of an archangel!
"Yes, it has!" They ran by the tree and Fayette noticed the two marks on it!
"Turn left towards there, and run straight, the cave should be in about a minute away!"
The two followed his signal, he was pointing towards the burning forest!
"..."
"..."
The couple gave each other a deep gaze, what should they do!?
If they kept running straight, eventually, the black cloud is going to catch up, can they even survive then!?
But if they follow this man's leading, and it turns out to be false!?
"I will follow you wherever..." Fayette's sweet gaze stared at him, fearlessly, as they ran… they had been through worse.
Valentine grit his teeth and took his decision, with a swift movement, he threw the man to the ground!
"A-AHH!!! HEY!!" The man couldn't believe it, were they going to leave him here!?
He fell on the ground like trash and the two kept running!
Fayette didn't know when, but Valentine took her in a princess carry and placed her body against his chest!
!!!
"N-NO! DON'T DO IT BY YOURSELF!" She yelled in outrage, tears starting to form in her eyes, but all she received was a kiss on her forehead.
"I'll be counting on you, Faye..." Valentine breathed in hard, and then changed his direction, running towards the burning forest where the man had pointed early!
One again he'd have to face this accursed rain!
"UHHGGGAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!"
Screaming in pain, the rain started to fall on them, but he twisted, moved and used his body, intending to protect as much of hers from the rain as possible!
His foot scorched like touching lava, his skin burned to the crips, his eyes itched uncontrollably until a drop fell right one of them and busted it.
But he kept running!
"UGHH!!" Fayette grunted as well, tears falling from her eyes as she embraced him for dear life, even then it was mostly her legs getting injured, her a part of her back, her head and her torso, were all being protected by Valentine!
For two torturous minutes that seemed to be thousands of years, Valentine ran, he didn't know what energy, or what force impulses him, whether there is actually a cave straight away or not.
He doesn't know if they can survive this torture if there isn't one.
He only knows one thing, he doesn't want Fayette Blanchet, Faye... to end like Rose... Like Romina, like Francesca.
Like his mother.
Not again! Not after everything they had gone through!
He ran and ran fast, still feeling the immeasurable pain, but not caring about it!
A white flame shone through his eye with fury, seemingly intending to burn the poor eyeball to the crisp.
Until finally, like the light from heaven, like God opening the oceans after having mercy on their souls... He finally witnessed the cave!
The pain seemed to muffle… to give way to the joy of the possibilities.
It's there, it exists! he just has to reach it!
"AAAHHHHHHH!!!!"
*FIIUSH!!*
With the last of his strength, he stepped in and his body, mind and soul gave away… what happened next he doesn't know.
He lost his consciousness that very instant, trusting his whole self to his partner.
Unbeknownst to him, that mysterious substance, that mysterious but abrasive power residing in his arm, under his tattoo was rejoicing.
***
Fayette's body fell together with Valentine's and her womanly instincts activated with a vengeance, her gaze moved and stared at several approaching forms!
She took out her knife and stood in front of Valentine's body, her legs and several spots of her body charred and painful, but she cared not, giving the approaching men the coldest gaze they would see in their miserable lives, she yelled.
"WHOEVER DARES SO MUCH AS APPROACH, I WILL CUT YOUR BALLS AND USE THEM AS EARRINGS BEFORE SLAUGHTERING YOU, AM I UNDERSTOOD!?"
Her eyes moved back and fro, analyzing everything!
'Three men, three women... Hammers, there are no bows nearby, no one's coming to the cave.'
The three men approached while the females lay scared on a corner, all except for one, her gaze looked poisonous!
She didn't care.
Two of the men looked rather intimidated by Fayette but another last one, upon seeing her exotic body, decided to test his luck!
"Babe, there is no need to point-!" He approached another step, but that's about as much as he was allowed to!
*FIIUSH!*
"AHHHHH!!!!"
The knife went straight through his head, skull and inside his brain!
"Jose!! Y-You bit-!" One of the men yelled in fear but before he could finish his course, she took another knife and pointed it at him!
"LAST WARNING..." Never had her voice been so frosty, so devoid of emotions, right now she was a machine... her only objective... protect her partner.
Whoever dares approach, even if the virgin mary... death.
Without moving her gaze away from anyone, she recovered the knife she just threw and moved back until she sat at a moderate distance, away from the heating walls and although she wanted to place Valentine's head on her lap, she avoided that option, it would decrease her mobility if they ever attacked.
She paid attention to the humans, to the cave entrance, even the stone on her back as if something would just crawl out of there and attack them!
Everything was an enemy for her right now!
...
It was only several minutes later, when all the humans, too frightened to even see her, moved deeper inside the cave, that she finally managed to move her gaze, back to Valentine.
Never had she seen his appearance so battered and devoid of life.
He could literally turn into dust and disappear right now, something that she feared to the utmost.
She wished nothing more than for him to start to regenerate now, but he hadn't started to.
He was totally wasted, not a part of his body wasn't burned to the crips, like an overcooked pizza, charred black.
It pained her so much, but even that pain she ignored, it isn't a priority, her priority is to take care of him until he recovers!
"HMMN~"
"...?" She lifted her frosty gaze to the front the moment she heard something amiss... A moan?
Suppressed moans and grunts resonated from deeper inside the cave, three women and three men.
What they were doing was more than clear... With those disgusting, sweaty and muddy bodies of theirs!
'Disgusting bastards!' She wished nothing more than to tear them apart, making those disgusting noises when her partner is resting!
But to do so, she would have to leave his side.
'Once he's healed, you're fucking dead! Hope you contract some kind of prehistoric parasite, you sick bastards!'
Fayette wouldn't blame the women, they're not in control, that much she is aware of, but that doesn't change the anger welling in her heart.
She wouldn't even allow him to hear other woman's moans!
Her waist started to itch and she scratched it, trying to move those thoughts aside, instead, she wanted to focus on him, on his safety.
***
It had been half a day, the rain kept pouring on relentlessly and at some point those bastards came back, sweaty and dirty, the females were covered in all kinds of disgusting liquids, obviously, they didn't even have water to wash themselves with...
She could already imagine layers upon layers of... that, deeply concentrated in 'there'.
*UGH!*
A goosebump ran through her whole body and she resisted the urge to throw up, not that she had much to throw up anyway.
The thought alone made her want to puke, this is why she was restraining herself so much despite the apparent desire the two had for one another, even if Valentine still had his internal struggles much to her sadness, he still desired her body physically and so did she.
But none of the two wanted to have their first night together... under these... conditions.
She repulsed anyone that even dared to!
And that wasn't the only thing!
"Do you feel like joining us now?~" One of the men stood several steps away from them, still scared but willing to try his luck again!
'The Audacity!'
"Listen, little shit! I'm not joining any of you now or ever! If you dare ask again, I'll stick this sharp and bloody knife so high up your ass... that... I don't even want to imagine!" She only pointed at the knife, ready to start killing at any minute.
Avoiding unnecessary fights is a must... they're six while she's by herself... she was confident enough to survive, but not confident enough to protect Valentine's body while doing so.
Thankfully, the message got delivered successfully and the man backed off promptly!
One of the women approached next, she was totally naked, and her body, although dirty as hell, looked like she was a beauty underneath.
"My name is Vera Sidorov... can I speak to you?" She stood at a certain distance, but it wasn't far enough for Fayette.
She's the woman that was staring at her with a venomous gaze before, and even now, she didn't conceal it.
The blonde threw her a deeper glare, still staring at everyone in the back least this woman was just a distraction.
"Stay at least twenty steps away… then you can talk..." With a prison multiplied by a hundred, she answered.
The woman groaned in annoyance but did as asked.
"Is that your man?"
"He is..." That question did nothing but increase Fayette's poison, 'Why do you even need to ask that question?'
"Good for you, haven't you by any chance... Seen a black and tall man, outside?" Vera inquired next.
"..." Obviously she was referring to that piece of shit, Shaquille, the black man from before.
"I haven't... is it your man?" If she said they beheaded him, it might trigger a fight that she wanted to avoid, therefore she just lied.
Maybe the man is still alive out there, burned to the crips, but alive as long as his crystal remains on soil.
or maybe… the crystal melted?
The woman bit her lips as a response, "You could say he was... But he hasn't come back, and as you can see, the rain started, so..."
Vera had been together with Shaquille for several months, having been the prettiest among all the women that came, he as the leader, naturally claimed her for himself.
No other man had touched her in this cave... Until yesterday, he never came back, what happened afterwards was to be expected.
"Is that all?" Fayette asked with annoyance, not understanding what else this woman wanted, aside from Valentine, any other human's presence was simply... uncalled for.
"Would you give me one of your knives?" The woman asked coldly!
"...?" Lifting her eyebrows, she could only think one thing, 'Is this woman nuts?'
"Do you want to suicide? If you want death... I can kill you right now and get your crystal..." the ex-commander answered with an equal amount of coldness.
"I don't want to suicide, just lend me one of yours, please... I... want revenge."
"Are you stupid? Why would I give my enemy a knife? If you want revenge, wait until my man is well again..." She dismissed the girl, clearly not intending to answer any more questions, as the girl she believed was either Russian or Ukrainian, moved back to her spot with the other women, still with a poisonous glare, but with more optimism.
'Don't worry, you will have your revenge, but you will also die right after...' Fayette added in her mind, not realising her changes of mindset.
Before she wouldn't think of plundering the lives of the 'innocent' so easily... now, 'innocent' or not, only one life mattered.