Asuka woke up drenched in sweat. A pulsating pain erupted in her left eye where blood spilled out. She remained laying in bed replaying the events of her dreams over and over. From the woman's alluring and angelic voice to the bloody scene of corpses and destruction. A scene she had no doubt caused.
She took a couple deep breaths before wiping the blood dripping on her face. She remained in bed with an unreadable expression on her face for a few minutes. She then looked out her window and saw it was now dark outside.
"The moon looks pretty high in the sky. It must be around midnight now."
Dreading the thought of having another dream, Asuka got out of bed and changed into a more comfortable set of clothes. She walked out of her room and made her way downstairs into the dining room. There, Arthur sat on a chair with his arms folded and head laying in them fast asleep.
"He's so cute."
She let out a chortle and began to walk away when the boy woke up. He stretched out his arms before relaxing and noticing Asuka.
"A..Asuka! You're awake! Where are you going this late at night?"
"Don't worry about me. I'm just going for a walk. You should go get some rest," she replied.
Though she sounded confident, her eyes could not lie to the boy.
"I'll come with you."
"There's no need for that Arthur. I'm okay. I just want-"
"I'm coming with you Asuka."
Taken aback by his uncharacteristically firm response. Asuka relented and let him join her.
For a while they walked in silence. Arthur wanted to talk about the mission but he knew whatever she had been through had taken a toll on her and reminding her might only make things worse. But seeing her like this...
"Do you..."
"No."
"...."
"...."
"But you know-"
"Please Arthur. It'll be hard enough when Martha asks for an explanation. I don't need that from you too."
"I know, but bottling it up inside isn't going to help. If anything it will make things worse."
Asuka didn't respond. She turned away from him and began to walk away when Arthur then called out to her.
"Wait Asuka. Please."
He reached out grabbing her hand.
"Don't touch me!"
With a look of shock on her face, Asuka instinctively poured anima into her fist and punched Arthur in the shoulder. He yelped in pain as he fell to the ground, clutching his injured shoulder. Realizing what she had done, horror was all she could express.
"No..Arthur I-I'm so sorry. I didn't mean.."
"A-Asuka, it's ok-"
Before he could finish his sentence, Asuka had already ran off.
"Asuka.."
He then grabbed his shoulder and applied pressure on it putting the joint back into place letting out a grunt due to the pain.
"I shouldn't move that for a while."
He looked in the direction Asuka had run off and looked back in the direction of the orphanage. He then looked down at the ground where had Asuka left footprints.
"Martha and Grandma Thalia are going to kill me."
He then took a deep breath and began to follow the footprints.
~
"By the Aeons, her stamina is scary. Though I guess that's to be expected."
Arthur by now was bathed in sweat and had been walking for over two hours.
"Maybe I should ask Martha to help me exercise cause this is ridiculous."
Trudging his way through the forest he almost didn't notice the forest in front of him. He looked over the edge and realized that what he had stumbled across was an old massive crater. A large forest stretched out for dozens of kilometers.
"Woah."
"A-Arthur?"
The boy snapped his neck to the left where Asuka sat on the edge of the cliff with her legs hanging over. She quickly wiped her eyes before questioning him.
"How the hell did you manage to find me?"
"Y-you left behind footprints."
"How? That was a big forest you came out of and its the middle of the night."
He then looked back and realized that Asuka's footprints had long disappeared. He shrugged before responding.
"Instinct...I guess."
Asuka's look of shock soon turned to anger.
"Why would you come out so far from the orphanage? Don't you know how dangerous it is to be out here? Especially by yourself."
Arthur did indeed know how dangerous it was. Bandits, slavers or traffickers though rare are still a very real threat to people especially children.
"Of course I know. But you ran off so quickly and I know you're hurting Asuka. I couldn't leave you alone."
Asuka's expression softened and she sat back down with her knees in her face. Arthur then walked over and sat next to her looking into the crater.
"Go home."
"No. Not until you talk to me."
"...I'll run."
"And leave me in danger. Nice try."
"..."
"..."
Seeing how easily Arthur saw through her attempt to get him to go away, she gave a small laugh.
"Why are you so smart?"
"I do like to read a lot. But also-"
Before finishing his sentence he stopped himself realizing what he was about to say.
"But also what?"
"N-nothing. I just worry about you Asuka. I know its hard to burden others with what you may think is yours and only yours. But I can't stand watching you destroy yourself because of it."
Asuka wanted to argue. She wanted to tell him it was none of his business. Desperately so. But the look of concern on the boy she had such strong affection for tore away at her mask. And for the next few minutes, she told him all of what happened.