Baby Steps (Akatsuki No Yona)

Sixth Step

It definitely didn't get better in the morning, if anything it just got worse.

"Oi get up, we're all getting ready to go" Yoon nudged her leg with his foot and she grunted, too exhausted to say anything. With her head pounding and her body aching, overall, she felt like she could collapse. Nevertheless, Yue got up, rolled her bed and packed her hiking bag, everyone forced to carry their own. Yue could not understand what had caused the sudden ill feeling, she had felt fine before bed, and despite the slight dizziness she felt, she assumed she was as fit as a fiddle.

Call it stupidity, but even if she had wanted to rest, she decided she wouldn't speak up. Yoon had made it very clear that they couldn't afford any setbacks and this would be considered one. By this point, Yue was lagging behind, her feet dragging as she mustered as much energy as she could to keep up with the group. She was glad no one had noticed her slow pace because she could imagine Yoon's scowl at the inconvenience.

"Oi Yue, catch up! You're falling behind!" Hak yelled from the front, Yue looked up and noticed the large gap that had formed between her and Yona, the second to last person in their makeshift line. Yue jogged up, almost tripping on her clumsy feet but had caught up with them nonetheless.

"You okay? You haven't seemed well all morning" Yona asked, her eyebrows furrowed as she leaned forward to place her hand on her forehead. "You're really cold" Yona looked up in worry, seeing as Yue was a little taller than her but Yue only smiled, gently tugging her hand away from her head.

"I'm fine. Just a little tired is all" Yue muttered, pulling a strained smile as they continued moving forward. As the hours went by, and the sun edged closer to the horizon, Yue motions became clumsier, her eyesight coming in and out of focus.

"Let's settle down for the night, if we don't stop Yue's gonna fall flat on her face at any minute" Jae-ha stated, a small smirk pulling at his lips as he took her pack and plopped down into the swaying grass in the clearing they were currently in. In response, Yue could only look at him with a frown before turning to the others who hadn't even waited before flopping onto the ground, sighing in relief as their feet were finally off the ground. 

Yue's ankle was pulsing, so she gently lowered herself onto the boulder that Jae-ha was leaning against from his place on the ground. He looked up so he could make eye contact with her but what took her by surprise was the worry in his eyes, and the worry was for her.

"You sure you're okay? You've been looking pale all day" Yue shook her head, feeling like she shouldn't burden them anymore than she already had.

"I'm good, I guess I'm just a little tired is all" Yue looked down at him with a small smile. An emotion she wasn't familiar with flashed in his eyes before he nodded, placing a hand on her knee before getting up and helping Shin-ah set up the tent for Yoon and Yona. Yue tried to stand from her seat but to only fall back down. She held her head as she could feel a pounding ache set in her temples. She shrugged it off, reaching to help Yoon with the cooking, but of course he only brushed her to the side, claiming he didn't need her help.

"Yue-Chan! Would you like to go hunting with me? You can show me your archery skills!" Zeno gushed pulling her away from the boy and further into the forest. It wasn't long before they came across a herd of deer, which was extremely surprising considering they were hard to come by. Zeno and her crouched down, the blonde boy's silence surprising her as his eyes were fixed on the deer, his tongue running over his snaggle-tooth that would occasionally catch on his bottom lip..

"Yue-chan, if you don't get at least one, I'm going to be really upset with you" He pouted as his stomach gave off a low rumble. She smiled, having had a least a dozen conversations with him, she was familiar with his sense of humour, so she didn't give the threat too much attention.

Despite the thick fog that had settled on her mind early on, clouding her senses, shooting was second nature to her so it only took her a few seconds to draw an arrow, knock into place and shoot, effectively taking down a large buck. Zeno jumped up in excitement, doing some sort of victory dance to show his happiness.

"Yay! We have enough for a meal now!" Zeno yelled running over to the buck, throwing it over his shoulders with surprising strength as they began making their way back to camp. Yue could only shake her head in exasperation at the bottomless appetite the yellow dragon had.

"That should last us a week, if we're not careful. I doubt Yoon would let you eat all that in one sitting" Yue muttered, she couldn't even find the strength to hold up her bow.

"What's been going on between you and Yoon?" Zeno asked, looking off into the distance. Yue could only scratch her neck in embarrassment. She guessed the animosity between them was only too obvious to the others.

"I want to get along with him, but I think he just doesn't like me" Yue could only mumble, her attention not really on the conversation, the only thing she could focus on was staying upright on her feet and not collapsing in a heap on the ground.

"You know, I don't think he dislikes you. I think you would describe him as a tsundere, he may seem mean but deep down he wants to get along with you too" Zeno stated, pulling Yue as she starting drifting from the path.

"How am I supposed to know if he doesn't say anything?" Yue could only mutter to herself, her voice too low for Zeno to hear, but luck may have been in her favour for a few seconds more, because they soon walked into camp, shouts of excitement coming from the others at the sight of the buck. Zeno placed the animal beside Yoon, before sprawling on the ground so he could play with Ao. The little squirrel didn't seem to be in the mood, too busy stuffing her cheeks with pieces of carrots that Yoon was feeding her.

Yue didn't have the strength to remain standing, the smell of food only making her nauseous and at that point she couldn't feel her feet.

"I'm just going to go lay down for a bit" Yue announced. She noticed Hak, Yona and Kija were missing; they had probably gone to collect water. She lay down on her mat, facing away from the others and it didn't take her but a minute to fall asleep.

When the three came back, they noticed the sleeping young woman, not thinking much of it as they dropped off some medicinal herbs they had found on their water run. Just as the pot of soup had finished cooking and the meat skewers ready, everyone minus a certain silver haired female settled down.

"Hey someone wake Yue up. She shouldn't miss her meal" Yoon muttered, pouring everyone a bowl out.

"You're so nice now that she can't hear you huh?" Hak stated looking at Yoon with narrowed eyes, but nonetheless Yona jumped up, walking over to the sleeping woman and nudging her awake.

"Yue? Yue come on, it's time to wake up" Yue's unresponsiveness had Yona confused; usually she was a really light sleeper, only a call of her name would be enough to wake her. Why wasn't she waking up?

"Yue?!" At this point, Yona grew more worried for the hazel-eyed girl, she wasn't responding at all. She reached forward, noticing her breathing was abnormally fast and placed her hand on her forward. Yona's eyes widened in panic, why was she so cold?

"Yoon!" Yona looked up in panic; her frantic tone caused the other's to look over.

"Something's wrong with Yue"