A Lovely Tale?

A Fiendly Encounter (ch3)

!swearing, violence!
This chapter contains a drawing with injuries, please scroll by it if necessary. Enjoy -A

☘︎︎☁︎︎☘︎︎

This is the worst thing to happen.

  I tested my luck trusting Zorom, he doesn't have the greatest tracking skills. Turns out Mako was here the whole time. I should've known to be honest, feels like some sort of thing I should've realized earlier.
I am now standing in this circle, surrounded by these buff men. How the hell do I get out of this situation? There's no fucking way I'm getting out now. Suddenly.. 𝑠ℎ𝑒 stepped forward.
"Didn't expect to see you here. Guess life is full of surprises," she chuckled. "Still, I must say.. you surprise me with how quickly you manage to slip away for months."

  Mako walked towards Lael, cracking her knuckles.
"I've been waiting 𝑚𝑜𝑛𝑡ℎ𝑠 for this."
"Are you.. are you joking?"
Lael backed away a bit, taking in the fact that Mako was relatively muscular and taller than they were. She was dead serious; the anger in her tone and face was all too clear. No matter, they wanted Glory no matter what it took. Whoever they had to fight, they'd fight. It feels like those moments in stories, where the "hero" has to face the final boss. But this time, there probably won't be a victory.

  Mako came running and threw the first punch, Lael blocking quickly as it became a fist fight. There was no clear way of finding the winner until one of them was pummeled to death or executed now. One step lead to another and Lael began leading them to the woods, trying to escape. Mako wasn't letting that happen as they kept following, throwing hit after hit. There was no escape unless Mako got tired.
  "C'mon brat! Where's that slip away plan?! I'm dying to see it!"
Just keep blocking and hitting, eventually she'll lose her balance and back off. Even if it's just for a moment. Maybe this punch will land and—

☞︎☜︎

Mako tackled Lael, sending them both falling down into a cave. They would keep fighting; rolling while throwing punches and hits to the other. Neither of them wanted to lose. The two kept falling, they ended up slipping over a ledge which Lael managed to pin Mako down once they had fallen. They kept hitting, mako kicking to get out from under Lael's grip..

Lael quickly glanced around as she pushed Mako away, running for a small wall of vines. She began climbing as Mako chased after, ripping the vines which caused Lael to fall. Mako pinned them down, panting and out of breath as she spoke.
"Got cha!" Mako held Lael down by her face, causing her to cry out a bit in pain. They kicked her off, crawling away.

  "Call it quits right now.. fuck"
"Why should I? I finally have you right where I want you.."
They groan, standing up as they looked around. It was at that final moment, realization struck.

𝐵𝑜𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚 𝑤𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑐𝑘 𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑒𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑐𝑎𝑣𝑒.

Seems she realized that too because she ran to the wall that the vines were torn from. Of course she began trying to climb it, only to fail and fall back down. The panic that came from her face amused Lael greatly.

"SHIT! NO NO NO! Great! Now I'm stuck in here with you."
"Pff.. and? That's how it's been for the past 8 months. Lets make a truce-"
"Are you serious?!"
"-for now. Listen up princess meow meow, we don't fight each other until we get out of this cave: Deal?"
Mako scoffed, crossing their arms.

"Why should I trust you?"
"Maybe because I'm defenseless, we're both worn out, neither of us want to lose this fight, and you are clearly frustrated."
"Fine. But as soon as we make it out I will fight you."
"Alright Ms. Meow."

They shook hands and began wandering around the cave, occasionally having short fuses where they would fight each other. Calling it off after a moment due to their 'peace treaty.' They found abandoned coal mines and cool crystals.. but not a way out. It was falling to night and they could tell that thanks to a pocket watch that Mako had.

A small cavern was found and the duo walked in, picking a side to stay on. It was a small cavern with a pond in the middle. They took turns cleaning themselves while the other looked away to do their own thing.
  Night finally fell, both were asleep on their desired sides of the cave. There was noise except the crickets chirping and wind blowing gently outside.

꧁꧂

"Brat, wake up. We gotta keep searching. Hey!"
  Bonk
I woke up to a pebble hitting my head, sitting up. Was that really necessary? We got our shit together and kept walking throughout the cave, passing stones we've made markings on before as a sign of wether we passed it or not. It was annoying and tiring as hell.

We've been searching for about 5 hours before heading back to the cavern. It was honestly a boring process, those fights we have are the only thing that makes it worth for the chance that I win. But alas, victory is yet to be won. Meow meow fell asleep first.. I wasn't staring or anything she just fell silent. I don't care if we're rivals, I'm not gonna be held responsible for her sudden death.
She's annoying, I thought. I was picking at my freckles and thinking. So annoying.

❦ hopefully this chapter was long enough! I worked hard on it. :] -A