Valley of Shadows (Berserk Guts xOc Fanfiction)

Chapter 6- Train me!

Most of the mercwnaries took the entire day to recuperate, and Griffith was taking the time alloted to them to plan his next steps towards Midland. He had huge plans to use this 100-year war to propel him to his kingdom.

It wasn't till the next morning that Guts began to stir. He thought he had only blinked, but exhaustion took him through 18 hours completely undisturbed. When he woke up, he felt a heavy force holding down his foot.

He took in a sharp breath and looked down to see the thing that was clutching his leg was Tilly, who was still completely asleep. He felt drool on the top of his foot and chuckled at the sight. At some point, she had crawled over to him and clung to his leg.  He carefully tried to slip out of her grasp, and after careful finesseing, he was successful.  He looked down at her to see if he had disturbed her. She twitched for a moment and then fell back into a peaceful sleep. The main thing that Guts took note of in this moment was that she seemed to be at peace. So he decided he wouldn't disturb her and let her rest longer.

Guts crept towards the edge of the tent. Morning had barely broken again, and the air was wet with dew. He turned over his shoulder as he pulled back the flap to steal a last glance at Tilly.

Her brown hair was disheveled, his large black shirt completely contrasted with her fair, sun touched skin. He looked more at the white scars scattered across her arms and her side that was exposed. Most people would have seen these markings as flaws or imperfections, but Guts saw this more as a sign of her will to survive. All of those scars represented someone who tried to take her out of this world or do her harm, and she overcame them. There was an honesty and respect to scars. He thought. Or maybe he just thought that way because he was covered in them as well...

He stopped thinking about it and shook his head, leaving the tent. He needed to get his training in, and he had already rested far too long.

Another 2 hours had passed before Tilly had started to wake up. She rolled off of her side and on to her back and stretched her arms and legs as far as they would go, releasing a squeaking sound in the process. She brought her hands down to her side and felt wet grass. She patted around for a second, trying to get her bearings. 'Where is my cot?'  She thought as she sat up. At some point, she had wiggled  her way to the middle of the tent where --- she turned her head quickly to the main post where Guts had been sleeping, and he was not there anymore. It was just her.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her shoulder-length hair, trying to tame it. She started to wonder if she had freaked him out by opening up to him and pouring her heart open like that. She hoped not...

Her thoughts were interrupted by the loud monstrous growl of her stomach... time to hunt for breakfast. She thought, standing up and stretching again. She looked down at Gut's black shirt and pinched it between her fingers... she needed to change before she frightened him even more.

Tilly went to her bag of possessions and pulled out a chemise that she had cut to be worn under a tunic and slid that on, followed by her navy blue tunic. Tilly yawned and wipped the sleepy out of her eye as she laced up her thigh-high boots and tightened her leather belt around her waist that held her quiver.

She was going through the motions of getting ready by strapping on her arm guard and prepping for a hunt. There was something therapeutic of falling into a known routine. Were Tilly could turn her brain off and not worry about whether or not she had scared off the only man she had opened up to. Tilly stepped out of her tent, fully dressed, bow in hand, ready to go kill and scavenge for breakfast. She took a deep breath of the morning air and released it through her mouth before walking towards the trees. She passed some barrels of supplies, and next to more tents saw strips of dried meat and a box of apples from a tree they passed a few days back. She grabbed a large fresh fruit and a few cuts of the jerkey to tide her till she could replenish their storage. She also helped herself to a large thick rope and a filet knife that she hid, sheathed, in her boot.