Reality Check

Chapter 5

Hello everyone! I literally have a presentation about fanfictions this morning not too soon after I post this. Wish me luck! I will continue posting chapters whenever I happen to finish them since I do have other things I'm working on in my life.

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Walking along the different paths we found on our travels, Wilson and I explored more of the land that we claimed a small corner of. It was pleasant to have something new to do compared to the routine we had made our normal. A few days into our adventure and we had come across a few clockworks. Ensuring that we were far enough that they would not attack us, but we could keep an eye on them, Wilson and I started a fire and a tent for us to sleep inside since it was still a bit chilly at night. While he finished setting up our tent with the blankets that we brought with us, I prepared some rabbit meat for the two of us for dinner. The heat from the fire was welcoming after all the walking we had done and helped warm up my sore leg.

Poking at the meat over the fire, I took out some leaves from my backpack and carefully removed the cooked meat from the flames and placed the two servings on the log next to me. Picking at the fur on my spear, I watched as Wilson crawled out of the tent and stood up with a smile. "Whenever we are ready to sleep, our tent is all set up," he explained as he walked over and sat down on the log next to me. I handed him a leaf full of meat and vegetables and grabbed my own to eat as well. "Tomorrow, we should try taking out one of the clockwork. The sooner we are done with them, the sooner we can go back home, right Wilson?" I asked him wanting to head back to our cozy corner of the world already. Turning to face him, he stared at me like a deer caught in headlights since he had just taken a huge bite of his meal. Laughing at his expression and desperate attempt at swallowing his food before speaking, I held onto the log we were sitting on to keep my balance.

I nibbled on the meat and carrots on my leaf as Wilson answered my question. "Yes, we should be able to get back home after we get the gears. At least, that's what I think will help. Who knows where and when we'll return to though..." His concern that was laced into his voice had me freeze. He was thinking similarly to what I had thought before we left for this adventure. I placed a hand on his arm and looked at him with a determination. "Wilson, no matter what, we will not forget each other. Especially all that crap we have gone through." I reassured him, but I was not too sure of my own words. He fell silent after that and I took it as a sign to not talk anymore that night. I finished my meal fairly fast and cleaned up before limping into the tent he had set up earlier that evening. Crawling into the space that I knew to be mine, I faced my side of the tent surrounded by my blankets and one pillow.

Not long after I had entered and laid down inside the tent, Wilson crawled inside and laid on his side. I closed my eyes and tried to hold in what little heat was coming from my blankets and my own body. The silence inside the tent was nothing compared to the eerie silence outside. Rolling over to face the oddly silent man laying next to me, I pulled one of my blankets around myself and watched Wilson. He was laying on his back, staring at the top of the tent, but would glance at me from time to time. "Y/N, I've been thinking... We have been camping together since you basically arrived. What if we fail and I can't get us back home?" He sat up and leaned on his elbow facing me at that. I mirrored his actions and hummed a bit. "Well, if that is the case, then I better heal faster so I can help hunt and protect our camp," I joked lightly with a laugh since I knew I would be able to be back to a hundred percent within a week, but I knew that he didn't want that answer.

I laid back down on my back and turned my head his way since my elbow was growing tired from supporting my weight. "Honestly, I don't know. We could continue living in our little camp, but at some point, this wilderness will claim us. I don't think we can avoid that. If one of us loses our mind, we are screwed." I got a reaction out of him with that answer. Wilson nodded his head and laid on his side still facing me. There was so much we had gone through together, but there was the possibility of both of us not remembering it or we would be sent back to our own times. "I don't want to lose you, Y/N. You are the first person to actually want to stay around me." The unspoken rule that we had both followed until now seemed to be broken by his small confession. I reached out and took his hand in mine and gave him and myself the smallest bit of comfort. "We have time before we finish our goal, Wilson. Besides, we should rest up for tomorrow and try to stay warm until the end of this gosh darn season," I whispered to him as I felt my own eyelids growing heavy from exhaustion from our day travel.

Letting my eyes close to rest for the night, I listened to the soft rustling of Wilson adjusting his position in our small tent. He moved closer to me and draped his arm over my blanketed form before whispering a good night as well. I had fallen asleep as soon as I was warm enough to stop shivering. Waking up the next morning, I relaxed into his touch and laid still a bit longer than we had planned for that morning. However, the warmth from our blankets that we brought and our combined body heat tempted me to drift off slightly before I let out a deep sigh. My small movements made him stir awake and barely open one eye to look at me.

He smiled sleepily before letting out a yawn and releasing himself from being wrapped in our blankets all night. "Morning, Y/N. What's for breakfast today?" Despite him asking, I could not remember what all I had brought with us to eat so I shrugged as I escaped the blankets and shivered a bit from the sudden cold. "I have no idea. I think I had brought some tallbird eggs with us?" I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes before folding my blankets into a neat little pile and crawled towards the entrance of our tent. "However, if you want any, you should get up and get ready for the day. We have some hunting to do," I teased him slightly since it was his idea to get the gears from the clockworks even when I still was recovering from my injury. I crawled out of the tent and squinted at the morning sun and our camp site. Stretching my arms, legs, and back out, I stood up and walked over to our fire pit to bring it back to life.

Wilson had crawled out of the tent with our blankets in his arms by the time I had our eggs on a stone and over the flames. I waved at him as I finished cooking and cleaned up our area. "So, I will fight the clockworks and you will act as a distraction, Y/N. That way, if they do attack back, you won't get hurt anymore than you have," he explained the plan while we ate and I nodded along. He smiled and nudged my shoulder with his as I began to worry about his safety as well. "Don't worry about me too much, I have dealt with worse. Like a crazy player controlling my every action." He joked around some more making me roll my eyes as I put out our fire and we cleaned up our area. "Well, let's go face some ugly ass clockworks, Wilson," I proclaimed as I slung my backpack onto my back and held my spear as a cane once more.