A Bittersweet Escape // a Mission Force One x Sofia the First Crossover fanfic

Chapter 1

Shortly after witnessing the injured redhead, Hugo deliberately escorts Loretta out of the elevator and discovered her right leg being wrapped around with her jacket, along with blood stains forming on it. He didn't bother to unwrap the jacket to check the gash as he fret he might make the injury worse, instead, he asked Loretta how did this happened. "Xenon.." She retorted "That son of a b****- attacked me out of nowhere." "Loretta continued as she catches her breath in mid-sentence. Hugo was stunned upon hearing Loretta mentioning Xenon's name. He recalled the moments where Ace would become horribly pissed whenever he hears anybody mention that certain name. And now he understood why.

"Come on, let's go find Ace-" Hugo attempted to carry Loretta but she raised her hand to signal him to stop. "No. I'm alright. I can walk by myself." She assured him, as she slowly stands up and sticks herself onto the wall to maintain her balance as she attempts to limp, however, the sting in her right leg made her wince in pain, causing her to lose balance and fall forwardly onto the floor. Hugo raised his eyebrow at her, as she sighs in defeat and asks him to help her walk instead.

The two were walking down the corridors of the abandoned building, passing by rooms with some corpses of deceased demons inside. Hugo decided to stop and check if there are any demons around, he leads Loretta to a corner to rest while he goes to peek through the hallways. Luckily, the cost is clear, but Hugo's relief turned into perplexity when he saw the redhead clenching onto her chest while her head stays lowered. "Hey, what's wrong? You having a heart attack or something?" He joked, earning an annoyed expression from Loretta. "It's just... I- don't know.. to be honest. My chest is killing me- and my heart's suddenly beating fast." Her anxiety began to increase, but then she noticed Hugo staring at her in bewilderment.

She asked him what's wrong and if she had something on her face. "Yeah.. precisely..." He answered while nodding slowly and not taking his eyes off of Loretta's jaw. Loretta touched her jaw only to feel the intense warmth of her skin, but is still clueless on what Hugo's staring at, until she took a glimpse at her reflection on the glass window in front of her. She slowly limped towards the window and there she saw it... her veins from her neck to her jaw became very visible, causing Loretta to shriek in horror and immediately took a few steps backward. Hugo could only watch Loretta getting hit with realization and stood there frozen as her hands start to tremble and began slowly hyperventilating.

"H-Hey... don't panic! You're gonna be fine! We just— need to find Ace ASAP. Come on-" He reaches out to Loretta only for her to slap his hands away. "No! For the last time, Hugo, I DON'T need you to carry me!" She snapped. "I can walk by myself— and I don't need TOO MUCH help!" She continued as she slowly raised her voice. Hugo became irritated by this and replied, "Oh for Craig's sake, I'm not even trying to carry you! Do you even want us to get out of here or not?!" He argued back. "Not with you treating me like a da** 11-year old— who needs constant protection from her parents!" Loretta retorted without letting Hugo know the fact she just described her 11-year old self.

Hugo began raising his voice "Well in the state you are in right now, you definitely need it! Just look at yourself! Do you— really think you can survive all of this alone?! Heck you might be already dead in that elevator if I wasn't there to stab that demon that was about to tear you apart!" Loretta's face turned red in anger as she looked at Hugo in the eyes and replied, "I'm not a "damsel in distress." Her voice came out as monotonous but her delivery of that sentence was also filled with rage. Hugo then began waving his hands in annoyance "Well what do you want me to do?! We have to get you treated or else-" Hugo paused for a bit, trying to come up with what to say next without aggreiving Loretta. He ran his hands through his hair as he let out a huge sigh.

He felt Loretta's warm hand gripping his arm, "Forget it. Let's just— leave..." Loretta began to slightly tremble as her shortness of breath caught up to her again and collapsed on the spot, fortunately Hugo managed to catch her and sat on the floor while holding her.

"Hey hey hey! What's wrong?!" He asked anxiously.

"Everything's... spinning..." Loretta weakly stated.

"What tf do you mean?? He then pointed his finger towards her face. "Don't you dare pass out. We still need to find Ace and the others! Lawrence and Fiona can get you treated. So just please— hang in there!" He assured as he started to sweat while his foot started to move back and forth.

Loretta's heavy breathing became worse as she can feel her head throbbing to the beat of her heart. "Sorry..." She mumbled to Hugo as her eyelids slowly closes until they're shut, every muscles in her body had relaxed, and she passed out right there.

"Loretta?" Hugo quietly called her. He shaked her and tapped her cheek to wake her up but it led to no avail. "Loretta?!" He called out one more time but Loretta had no response. "For frick's sake Callisto I told you to stay conscious!! You piece of— S***!" Suddenly, howls and running sounds are heard from the hallway. Hugo realized what he'd done. He knew he and Loretta must leave the place immediately, and he also knew Ace, Zooey, and the others are all worried about them by now. He picked Loretta up and placed her on his back, as he stood up and dashed out until they reach the exit, where Ace and the others will be waiting.