The Hunters' Fate: Overcoming

A Short Reunion (Rain)

I'm not sure what kind of magic is in Stella's words, but pretty soon, Lilith was up and active. Seriously, it was like she changed completely overnight. It's kind of freaky.

We informed the Spider Wolves and all of the bases of our plan, and they've agreed on it. The demon group, and that's the whole demon group, is going to head out to Fort Bonli. Well, every demon we can get to fight for us. Pronlin and a handful of others who don't believe in the cause are staying here.

The water demons stayed as well, since there was no way for them to get up and fight on another planet. I mean, unless they brought the water, but with the way Ecsporavet is laid out, it wouldn't really do anything except for just sort of fall off. We thought about using the rivers, but they were just too small for all of them.

Lilith also gave us some spare armor she found. It kind of reminds me of medieval stuff, with heavy metal plating over our whole bodies. It was surprisingly easy to move, though, and we got some holster belts for our guns and knives. No helmet, though, since we decided against it. It would probably just lessen our field of vision, anyway.

I'm getting some weapons from the storage closet when someone comes in. I whip around.

Milo is standing in the doorway, staring at me as he grabs a knife from the wall. He smiles as he starts fiddling with the knife.

We don't say anything for a bit, me grabbing materials and him watching me.

"How are you feeling?" he asks me.

I look over at him. "Bittersweet."

He nods. "I thought you would say that."

"Well, can you blame me?" I say. "No matter what happens, this is going to be the last time we see the Underworld. Maybe ever." I sigh and walk over to him, leaning on the wall to his right. "I wonder what's going to happen here."

Milo smiles a sad smile. "Well, let's hope we don't find out." He nudges my shoulder.

The lame excuse of a joke somehow makes me smile. I nudge him back with my shoulder.

"How are you feeling?" I ask him.

He shrugs. "Honestly, I couldn't get out of this place fast enough. It's insufferably hot down here, still, and it just fills me with bad vibes."

I get what he means, but still, this place was the only home we had for quite a while. Even if it's creepy down here, even if it's terrifying to think about, even if it's so hot I want to rip my skin off daily, I can't think of a better place we could have called home for all these months.

But that doesn't mean I wouldn't kill to get out of here and back to my actual home. It doesn't mean I would stay here instead of fight. And it sure as hell doesn't mean I want to spend another second with Pronlin and his posse.

"Come on," I say to Milo. "I think it's time we said goodbye to this place."

Milo nods and smiles at me. He follows me out of the storage room.

We make our way down to the meeting spot slowly. Everybody is already out of the Castrum, so we just walk down the halls and reminisce. We decide to visit our rooms one last time.

"Rain?" Milo says. We're standing in his room, him at the foot of his bed and me by his vanity.

"What's up?" I respond.

"You have to promise me something."

I jerk my head to him. The way he says it sounds ominous. "What?"

"Promise me that nothing will change after anything that happens today. No matter if we win or lose, I want us to still be together, because, Rain, the truth is that if you weren't here, I'm not sure I would have been able to do any of this, and I'm not sure I could after the fact. So, for my sake, please don't let this change us."