Naib's POV- I was in a match decoding when the hunter Michiko came up to me, my first instinct was to run but she stopped me.
"wait Naib please don't run we need to talk" she told me
"huh you're not going to chase me?" I asked
"no, I decided to go friendly today" she informed me
"Oh okay! what did you wanna talk to me about?" I asked her
"well it's about Norton.. you see this map is the one that relates to his past and he's having a really hard time, I know you're close so I thought it would be best to come get you" she confessed
I looked at the map and my eyes went wide, I was frozen with shock. how could I forget... This is Nortons rough map. I thanked Michiko for letting me know and began to run to Norton. The rest of our team mates , Emma and Tracy, were holding Michiko's hands and going for a walk while they talked. I pinged Norton saying "Don't move i'm coming!" and ran faster. I searched through the caves and I could barely find anything. I thought for a moment and then I remembered crystals- Norton loves crystals. I ran deeper in the cave until I reached the area filled with gems and crystals. Just as I excepted Norton was there curled up in a ball and he appeared to have obtained an injury.
"Norton?!" I yelled out while running over to him, he uncurled himself and looked up to me. He had tears streaming down his face. I slid on the ground to him, and he gripped onto me. I pulled back from his hug for a second and looked at his leg. "What happened here?" I asked where there were some scraps, "Well you see the plan was to not step foot near the underground but I lost balance and fell" he told me.
I looked at his injuries and they weren't too bad, he would just need a small check up with Emily after this. After getting reassurance that he was physically okay, I comforted him once again and hugged him as he cried. I watched his tears begin to slow down and I put my hand on his cheek and brushed away his warm tears. I knew he didn't want the others to see him this way, he has always been a strong and hard worker and I knew if the others saw him like this he would never let himself live it down. I made the decision to take him to the surface but through another alternative way that the others wouldn't see. I told them to stay away from us before going to take Norton up, they didn't have a problem and they understood since they knew what it was like to get their least favorite map. I went to get Norton and I had a bit of a problem. I wanted to get Norton upstairs without him having to walk since he hurt his ankle, but the question was how do I do it. I looked at Norton and he stared back a bit confused. I couldn't think of any other way so I decided to carry him. "Naib i'm fine I can walk you don't need to do anything" Norton said while struggling to get up, when he got up to his feet I picked him up and threw him over my shoulder.
"NAIB?!" he exclaimed
It wasn't very hard to carry him since I;m used to carrying heavy things from my old training. The thing was Norton was so tall it made it hard to keep him off the ground. I managed to keep him pretty levitated but he would drag just a little bit sometimes.
"Norton you're like a oversized puppy dog, what did you even do to grow this tall"
"clearly something that you didn't" He teased
"HEY" I exclaimed, I looked back at him and he stuck his tongue out at me. We laughed for a second and we were almost at the surface. We took the elevator up and I was glad to see Norton in a bit better mood. I knew he was still really upset but he covered it up with jokes to make it seem like he wasn't. When we made it to the surface I put him down and held his hand as we went to the exit gate which was pre-opened earlier by Tracy or her bot. Me and Norton left and headed back to my room. When we made it back to the manor Norton didn't want to go to Emily but I forced him to, while he got his check up I decided to run a bath for him and prepare some dinner for us since everyone else already ate. I made us some plain pasta and got some donuts for dessert since those are Norton's favorite thing to eat. He came back upstairs shortly after I finished setting up our dinner. He looked exhausted but he smiled at me and sat down.
"thank you Naib you didn't have to do this" He told me
"You don't have to thank me! I wanted to! It's the least I could do" I reassured him
We finished dinner and I told Norton to go get cleaned up while I fixed up the table. When Norton was done with his bath he came out in a cute onesie that I put out for him- he did not look pleased but I rolled my eyes and told him.
"Oh come on you know you like the cute mole onesie"
"Not everyone is a furry like you Naib" he said jokingly
I rolled my eyes and moved over in our bed so that he could lay down with me. He cuddled up to me and he almost instantly fell asleep. I'm glad I was able to help Norton even if it was just a bit. He looked a lot more content while sleeping, it seems I was able to help dissolve some of his worries. "Good night Norton, I love you" I told him before falling asleep myself.
