Up To Them 3: Blood and Choice

Chapter Nine

Drenched with exhaustion, they turned and walked away from the spilt blood and decaying carcasses. Idris grabbed the basket, making sure that Walnut was still safe inside. Sulien limped as he lead them back to his place. Their bodies pleaded for rest, but they kept going. When night settled in, blacking out the orangish yellows of the late evening, Idris lead the group instead for he was the only one that could see clearly in the pitch-black darkness. When they finally approached the house, Nessa saw them and swiftly got to her feet. "They're back!" She exclaimed, turning to the door. Heless heard her and stepped out. Malco looked up from where he was sitting and his heart nearly sunk to the soles of his shoes. "Did you kill him? Is he dead?" Reagan nodded, stepping onto the porch. Heless walked over to all of them. "I'll clean you all up and run a warm bath. Good job out there, I honestly had doubt you'd come back alive."

"So did we." Wrena replied, taking the ponytail out of her hair. Callum placed a hand on her shoulder. "I think we all had doubts."

Wrena turned and hugged him, wrapping her arms around him.

The others walked up onto the porch, Nessa leading them inside. Malco Sulien stayed behind, nearly collasping. Heless knelt down in front of him, noticing her hand had touched his. She pulled it away, biting her lip as it reminded her of a time when things between them were different. Sulien looked up at her. "I'm surprised you haven't scolded me yet for recklessness and whatever else."

"I'm not going to scold you at all. Sulien, I only get pissed at you act like an ass or when you do something that just seems so dumb."

"It's not like I'm trying to be an ass. It comes off that way..I know how sarcastic I get and how harsh I can sound, but there's always a good fucking reason."

"Usually. And I'll admit that I am hard on people sometimes. Especially you."

"Haven't you always been?"

"Yeah..Guess it's because I wanted you to make better choices."

"I've been doing better at that in case you haven't noticed."

"I've noticed, don't worry. I notice just about everything."

Sulien smirked.

Heless found herself smiling.

Sulien tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Such a shocker that we had a conversation without killing each other."

"We don't kill each other. It's normal to fight sometimes..Just wish we could fight a little less."

Sulien held the charm on Heless's necklace gently in his hands. "I'll make a promise to you and try to stick to it. I won't argue. Instead I'll try to talk it out with you."

"I promise to do the same."

Sulien leaned closer. Heless's heart raced, growing nervous.

"Sulien, what are you-"

He pressed his lips onto hers. Heless's eyes widened while her heart fluttered. She soon closed her eyes. Sulien wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "Does this remind you of anything?" Sulien asked when he broke the kiss.

"Of course it does. But that was..some time ago. Besides, I-"

"Do you wanna start over with a clean slate?"

"Uh..What?"

"You heard what I said."

She thought for a moment and looked back up at him with a smile. "I think we can."

Sulien stood, helping her up. "Glad you think so." He kissed her hand. Heless found herself blushing. Sulien poked her cheek with a sly grin plastered on his face. "Blushing. Huh? I thought 'Miss Mage' didn't blush." He teased. Heless crossed her arms. "Oh shut up!"

"Let's get inside."

With that, they walked into the house.

Meanwhile, Ness and Malco fixed up Reagan and the group's wounds. Cleaning the blood, sterilizing, stitching, and bandaging. Soon, they washed up and gathered in the living room. "You guys will have to heal up all over again. I'm just really happy you made it back alive, I'd be really depressed if any of you died!" Nessa voiced. Idris took Walnut out of the basket and held him in his lap. "We're alright, Nessa. Just tired and sore. We need to get the word to Miss Riku to let her know that Nezora's dead. We'll have to go back to Requen soon, somehow and some way." Feirin stood up. "We'll have to travel on foot, we don't really have our bus passes." Heless approached. "I'd say get some rest for tonight. I wish you all well on your journey to home. Guess you really are heroes after all."