A Lonely Hell Tree (Old Version) *2.0 title will be "Crosswalk to Panic"

Chapter 9 - Too-Big Buttons

A/N: Please don't forget to vote, if you want of course. Thank you :> 

       The dirt shuffled along with Akari and Kaden dragging their feet through the dense collection of evergreens. They were fatigued and practically fasting from a lack of surplus resources. Akari stared daggers at the map, brainstorming. It was difficult to find your way through the forest even with a chart. The map depicted a solid and vast brush of trees, their path unclear. How agitating. Akari lifted her head and peered at Kaden. Strawberry boy's features were still droopy from missing beauty sleep.

Kaden hummed a lullaby in a tiny grumble. While he did, his body swayed in the slightest. His garnet orbs had a faraway look in them, and his body wasn't quite too strong. Not like it played. Kaden had low stamina, he was muscular and frail altogether. His brain hurt. The amount of calculating and thinking he did on a basis was already heavy in load. Annex harsh living conditions and a weak body, and it equals a walking carcass. Suiting for the one nicknamed Puppet, no less?

From the Puppet's peripheral view, he saw something dash beside the trees surrounding the pair. The boy scooted closer to Akari, continuing to survey the trees before him.

The flame-maned girl noticed too, with emeralds in her eye sockets narrowing in disgust towards the threat.

Kaden wrapped his arm over his girlfriend, clenching her arm and whispering, "Keep walking.."

Kaden panicked furiously. He was too tired to go up against anything. His muscles ached, and his mind was already fogged up. How was he supposed to push through? Akari is impulsive, even if she can fight whatever is cackling and speeding after them through the woods, she can't think right under pressure. She could make a devastating mistake, she could hurt herself, what if her body gives out too?!

The poker face held up by Kaden concealed the anxiety lumped up in his throat, the shakiness of his eyes, and the fact that he was about to pass out..

Akari fiddled with her ring, as she pondered certainties in her head. The Nightlight held onto Kaden's hand and began to mutter something inaudible.

When their skin felt stiff and waxy and appeared a tone more saturated, it gave the two a tiny breath of relief. There was a layer of thick mana sheathing the two. Hopefully, it will be able to take a pounding.

Kaden limped through the woods more quickly. They needed to reach a thinner patch of logs.

Strawberry boy knew that right now they were at a huge disadvantage.

The trees were hiding their predator, making its location difficult to ascertain.

The trees in the area are thickly intertwined with one another, limiting their space, which could back them into a corner.

Bows aren't designed for close combat. Although Akari's ring weapons could be forced into close range, they were suited for mid-range combat.

Finally, the pair have little combat experience. There was very little use for magic and weapons in the present era. Bygone measures are for bygone times, of course.

Puppet sighed, trying to remain rational. How can he though!? There are so many difficult situations they could be forced into and at the time, he is practically rendered useless but he couldn't throw Akari under a bus. The Puppet wanted to rip his head off. Let the fabric tear raggedly, and gouge his button eyes from the dents in his stuffed head. Was that too much? Maybe excessive in emotionality, rather? If only he really had strings sewn into his puny limbs. He wouldn't even need to give a thought to keeping his damn hand in a fist.

Akari had let go of Kaden, scooping a few rocks into her hand. They wiggled in her palm until she hacked one at a sudden shuffle she detected. "I missed..", the maiden declared. Every now and then, the ginger chucked sharp or heavy rocks at the predator tailing them. Strawberry boy was completely spaced out, walking aimlessly. Right now, he was a liability. The abomination waiting for them could well be intellectual enough to realize it could easily go for Kaden and succeed. Akari, who was very angry, lifted one last rock. This one was accountably a small boulder, with jagged edges. With all her strength, she pitched the object at a target 3 feet from Kaden's flimsy legs.

The boulder thumped against the slithery predator's back. There was still supposed to be light out by dusk, but in the woods, what little glimmers gleaming past the leaves were, little, as described. So, Akari flipped her flashlight toward it. She winced at the unsightly stalker. The thing's large eyes beamed into Nightlight's own gems. She was fighting the urge to squeeze her eyelids shut. Just what was it capable of doing? The question haunted the lass. Nevermind that! Akari strained her eyes to get a clear sight of the predator.

'Why is it holding onto Kaden's feet? No..that's-the soles of his boots?'

That eyesore featured to be constructed of—intestines. It reeked the stink of what Akari imagined rotting corpses would smell like. The face it owned was crawling on itself and its eyes were too big like they were popping out of their sockets. Heh..you'd have to be scrambled in the head to purposely craft whatever that thing was.

Akari was gagging, raising her pale hand to her mouth, holding back vomit and tears. 'Great, my night terrors tonight will be especially pleasant.', the distressed lass darted a dirty look towards the motionless Kaden. 'I expect compensation.' The young lady placed her hair behind her, neatly, and like a magical girl from a cartoon, tossed her ring into the sky. All the while, her nightmarish foe was griping about his squiggling back. But the redhead caught his eyes, which narrowed significantly from his too-big ones. The imp traveled up Kaden's living corpse, rocking its head down, which forced its thick and blunt horns into strawberry boy's skull. Prior to penetration, the stiffness Kaden posed a second before dissipated...

Kaden suddenly began to chuckle lightly. Out of the blue, Puppet seemed psychotic, maniacal, loony, ..brainsick too! Any adjectives for a completely knocked around, scrambled madman with a boyish grin twisted on his ragdoll of a face! His body swayed, and his arms extended like a plaything in a puppet show. When seeing Akari, his eyes lit up. Although, those too-big buttons stitched into Kaden's face didn't match the buttons he owned before. More than anything, the imp had plucked them out, replacing those windows for that body—better for prompt and full control, y'know?!

The literal puppet marched into a sprint, more agile than formerly, towards the fear-stricken maiden. Tears welled up in her green orbs.

An audio, as if coming from a voice box declared, "Nightlight, why are you so afraid?..Come here, you'll be fine.", dragging out the word 'fine'.