Meant To Be

Chapter Eleven

The sun was beginning to go down as the two approached a karma gate that would lead out of the lands where Artificer had ever been. However, they would be fine since Hunter knew the way around the desolate place. As Hunter continued towards the gate, she noticed that her companion looked uneasy, casting glances back behind her every few seconds."Is everything okay?" She was snapped out of her worried state at Hunter's words and began laughing nervously. "Oh, nothing's wrong! Just hope that there's a den on the other side of this gate since it's getting fairly late!" Not entirely believing her words, Hunter began to walk once again. Thankfully, she had almost full Karma at the moment and it only took karma level two to get through. When Artificer saw the symbol, she sighed and a sad look came over her as she gazed at Hunter longingly. "Well, I guess this is where we part ways..." She looked back in horror at those words, her eyes wide in shock. "What do you mean?! You don't want to come after all...?" As Hunter said that, her tone of voice began to sound less surprised and more hurt. "No, I'd come if I could but I haven't seen any scavengers around here and so I can't get through." When she said that, Hunter remembered that Artificer was permanently stuck at the lowest karma possible due to her crimes against scavengers. Personally, after hearing about how the small group of slugcats Artificer had been part of back in garbage wastes had been treated as slaves by them, she couldn't help but think they had it coming. Hunter looked at her with sadness, cursing the gate for not being one karma level lower. They hugged as they said their goodbyes and both of them began to cry a bit.

They stayed like this for a while until the storm clouds began to roll in and Artificer had to go back to the shelter that they had seen nearby. "Thank you for being there for me, even if it was only a few cycles. I hope you make it back, Hunter. Good luck." She too was about to say goodbye when an idea came to her. "Wait, there's something that I think will get you through! Come here, I'm sure this will work." Artificer's good eye lit up as she came towards Hunter, curious of what her plan was. She picked up the smaller slugcat and carried her bridal style as they went through the gate. Both of them looked at one another, unable to take their eyes off of each other as warm, steaming water poured down around them to operate the gate. Neither spoke as they gazed into each other's eyes, the steam causing their faces to flush. Or, perhaps it wasn't the warmth at all and they were both equally flustered by how Hunter was carrying Artificer.

They stayed silent for the entire time that Hunter passed the gate and then stepped out on the other side. "How did you know that would work?" She put Artificer back on the ground and shrugged, her face still red. "I don't know, I just figured that as long as I was holding you it would let us both through." She seemed impressed by Hunter's idea and surprised by the fact that it had actually worked. However, they were quickly shaken from their thoughts as the sky began to rumble with the promise of rain. Thankfully, there was a shelter right next to the karma gate. They quickly climbed inside of the den as the first drops began to come down. While neither of them said anything, they were both eager for more cuddles as they fell asleep.

There was literally no plot progression this chapter just pure fluff. I don't often post this kind of self-indulgent stuff that I write just because it makes me happy but I feel comfortable sharing with you guys because you don't seem to judge me for my cringyness. Anyway, next chapter I'll get back to the main plot. As always, the cover art is not by me (hopefully it will be one of these days!) I hope you enjoyed this chapter!