Concern was something he expected. In fact, if she hadn’t said anything, he would be more worried than he was. The fact was they were both injured, but they stood nonetheless. Reluctantly, he shook his head and raised the unscathed appendage as an attempt to soothe her worries about a location to be. It was a bit of a travesty, really, in the knowledge his right arm had been the one to take the brunt of all the blows so far, but… he supposed it was always good that he’d taught himself to be ambidextrous. Inside the classroom, it seemed so silly to say that he could write with either hand, but now… he was truly thankful for his foresight.
”The classroom. When…,“ He trailed just barely with a dip of his chin, and began to walk in the general direction of the cemetery instead of finishing such a thought. They needed to hurry, but to force her to run on an injured limb… It seemed careless, much less stupid. Once he got a decent amount of space in front of her, though, he knelt down with his back facing her. ”Up on my back. I’m not making you run. Both of my legs are still good, anyway.”
With that diversion of instruction away from the memories he didn’t necessarily want to stir up, Ace sighed. It’d been so long since he last saw Sora, anyway. They hadn’t exactly sealed the keyhole he kept talking about, either. Instead, they just lowered the amount of heartless present, and took care of the big dragon-serpent-shadow-thing that had seemed to be commanding them. No wonder the problem had only escalated, he figured, because it had just been left alone and allowed to fester.
The inky black pools were infecting his world like bacteria would an open wound.
Disgusting.
Pitiful.
Serves this world right.
If it wasn’t this, it’d just be Finis.Despite personal opinions, though, he held a moral obligation. There was also the other problem that the heartless presented, an obstacle that bothered him more than he cared to admit. Soon, he’d have to tell Naminé, though, just to allow himself to slip out of the classroom once they arrived to it. Much like he figured she was hiding things from him, the extent of his involvement with the war was something he considered to be… sensitive data, due to the origin and method of obtaining what was needed to complete such an initiative.
His eyes scoured the area around them, alert for the shadows that simply didn’t belong upon the green turf. Off in the distance, he could see the cemetery’s centerpiece, the large, stone monument that it was, but otherwise, for the moment, nothing. With a glance over his shoulder and an additional nod to get her to stop being stubborn about it, he could only wait.
”When we get to the classroom, I’m going to go into the hallways. Getting there isn’t going to be easy, but I don’t want you following me.“ His request was more of an informative order than a serious statement. As he turned his head forward, the blond could only imagine the mess that was awaiting him within the main hall. Still, there were people still most likely struggling against just keeping the waves of hordes away. That, though, was where his mind currently was. He could only grimace briefly, both at the pain in his arm and the idea of losing what really was a valuable chance, before he had to mask his thoughts yet again. It was best not to say that he wished to leave not only to save lives, but to claim the phantoma of the fallen or critically injured, to essentially kill those who wouldn’t last much longer to further himself and to stop the rising number of his enemy.
Even if it was all just a game,
A serious game that gambled much,
He didn’t like to show his hand.
Hobbling after the young man she knew that she couldn’t really expect to make it very far very quickly on a leg that had been slashed at, not without proper medical attention paid to it. And considering the fact that she was not versed in healing and Ace seemed more in tune with battle magic verses support magic she would simply have to bear with it, and she listened intently to the beginning of his statement, eyebrows furrowing when he did not finish it. Instead, he had kneeled down in front of her and was instructing her to climb atop his back, which—
”Ace, I couldn’t…”
Truly she could not be expected to do. Not when that would slow him down considerably, as little as she weighed over all, and it would be difficult for him to bear her weight anyways with his hurt arm. To trouble him in such a manner and to drag him down, literally and figuratively. Already they were in such a messy situation, surrounded by darkness and by Heartless and it would be all too easy for a shadow to creep up on them and attack, to take Ace’s heart and to leave her prone and helpless and dying.
However, already she had denied his insistence for her to go first and had practically forced him out of the window and had taken things into her own hands. That had gotten them outside with minimal damage, so to say, but she knew that he would not be happy if she denied any of his help. And either way, if she continued onwards without any aid in her walking she would just fall further behind and she didn’t imagine that the young man would leave her behind willingly. So with a sigh and a solemn nod of her head she approached him, limping as she draped herself over his back, wrapping her arms around his neck and holding onto his shoulders.
Evidently, however, the blond young man was just going to continuously have dangerous ideas that could get him considerably hurt and she couldn’t help but try to tilt her head and give him a dubious look, even in the middle of all of the chaos that was happening. If their safe place was going to be the classroom, then why would he even think about going into the halls that were doubtlessly infested with darkness and Heartless? That would be a pointless venture that would only get him hurt.
”That’s too dangerous—“ oh but her attempts to chastise him would always fall upon deaf ears, especially as she was lifted off of the ground as he stood once more and her legs cinched against his waist and she held on tightly, trying to hold up most of her weight on her own to take the stress off of his arm. Surely he had some idea brewing in his head that involved the hallway that he stated he planned to go out into upon their reaching the classroom, and she wanted to know what it was. Curiosity implored her to poke and prod and question and not relent until he told her precisely what was going through her head, what he had planned, how likely it was that he would survive.
Yet she knew it would be pointless.
So her mouth shut once more and she held onto him tightly and pressed her forehead against his shoulder because while she yearned to protect him there was only so much that she could do. Weak and useless as she was in combat she could only stand in the way of the enemy so many times before it would strike her down for good and she would be left for dead and no longer able to protect him. In the end she would simply have to protect him in her own way—after all, she herself did not have to share absolutely everything, either. Sharing could come later.
”… Just be safe, okay?”
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