Timeless

Fight Back

♢♧●Grudges never die●♧♢

Deeper in the woods, Katrina now slept against the rough bark of the tree she had earlier stabbed. Her arm cradled in the other, she winced every now and then. As her anguish faded the pain from her shoulder wound came back like a hundred kicks to the gut. Katrina's dreams consisted of memories of Chanel, disrupted by images and scenes of her terrible death filling Katrina with immense guilt and sorrow.

Mason had slowed to a walk, calling for Grace in the pitch dark woods. With every sound made by a misplaced step he flinched or even let out a small squeal, but still he hesitantly went forward hoping Grace wasn't hurt or worse. Not too much time had gone by before he heard a faint weeping coming from a nearby tree.

"Hello?" He called out sheepishly, not being able to see who was crying. He tried cautiously approaching the tree and jumped back quickly when a girl's head snapped to face Mason.

The girl wiped her eyes and sniffed, squinting hard to see Mason's face.

"Mason?" She asked quietly.

"Grace?" Mason replied. After a small nod from Grace, Mason immediately fell to his knees and pulled her into a tight hug.

"Don't ever do that again.." He muttered through a slightly wavering voice.

"I-" Grace sighed and embraced the hug before finishing her reply.

"I'm sorry.." she finally responded.

"Let's go, it's too dark to stay out here." Mason went to pull Grace up when she suddenly yanked her arm down out of his grip. With a puzzled look on his face Mason started to respond, but was cut off by Grace.

"We can't leave. Katrina is still out here somewhere and I am not going to give up on her after what I did." Grace said stubbornly.

"Grace, you know she wouldn't even wanna talk to us-"

"I'll figure it out!" She butt in, taking a deep breath after shouting.

"I need to figure it out.." Her voice got quiet as her head lowered, perhaps in shame or to hide tears. Mason knelt back down and lifted Grace's chin with his thumb to look her in the eyes.

"Ok." So simple, but it was all Grace needed to hear.

"Sleep, I'll keep watch until morning. Then we can go to find Katrina, ok?" Grace always admired Mason when he took charge, when he took care of a situation just perfectly. She nodded. As Mason went to stand back up Grace kept a grip on his arm. Mason held a puzzled look until Grace gently pulled him back down to the ground in front of her.

"What are you-" Before Mason could finish asking his question, Grace had placed her hand on the back of his head and pulled Mason in for a small kiss.

"Thank you." Grace responded shyly after releasing Mason. Mason simply smiled and nodded, taking a seat beside Grace against the tree.

"Try and get some sleep." He said in a sweet voice. Grace nodded with a hum and layed her head on Mason's shoulder, quickly drifting off to sleep.

The next morning Ava woke up to uneasy silence, when Chanel was still around the shop was full of chatter and conversation or arguing. She'd prefer either one over the current state of things. Estella had moved to the storage room after Mason and Grace left, which Ava was still unaware of. Ava exited the bathroom and saw Estella behind the counter by the cash register, toying with nic-nacs.