I open my eyes and find branches and twigs above me. I roll to my left and wince at the pain in my side. I look down and see a closed wound but I can still feel the pain a little bit. I lay back down on my back and look over to my right. My eyes land on Raven with her head turned to the left.
"Raven?" I ask and she jerks awake and looks over to me.
"You're ok." She says crawling closer to me.
"I was more worried about you. You wouldn't wake up." I say
"I'm fine I woke up like five hours or so ago." She says
"Where are Josiah and Valerian?" I ask
"Out there making a fire." She says
"Let's go help them." I reply and go to sit up. Suddenly she quickly pushes me back down and puts her finger to my lips. I remove her finger and go to speak "Raven what are you-"
"Shh I heard something." She says moving into a crouch her back to me. I strain my ears but still hear nothing. I stay quiet though because she seems panicked and is very tense. She holds her hand out and suddenly her knife flies landing right in her hand. I strain my ears again but still nothing's there. At least not that I can hear.
"Stay down." She hisses in a hushed tone then she slowly stands up and creeps closer to the opening of the shelter.
Suddenly my ears pick up the sound of crunching leaves and I tense. I look down at myself glad as heck that I'm in practically all black but I can't fight I'm too weak and Raven is alone. I slide back against the wall as far as I can and look over to Raven. The crunching leaves get louder and louder and Raven takes a deep breath. They reach the shelter and Raven pushes against the wall as much as she can and holds her knife against the walk in her right hand. A shadow turns the corner and Raven lunges I hear a grunt then a "It's me!"
"Josiah." Raven says from just outside of the shelter.
"Uh yeah could you get off of me?" He asks
"Oh yeah sorry." I hear Raven say then rustling as she gets up.
"Is he awake?"
"Yeah but he needs some food." She says
"Good thing I've got this." Josiah says then they walk into the cave.
**
I walk over to Eric and squat in front of him helping him sit up. I move him away from the dark corner and out into a more open area as Josiah hands over to bag.
"Eric you need to eat something." I say and he nods.
Josiah sets up a fire while I feed Eric the small meat slice and so on.
"I'm gonna go back out to Valerian you guys finish eating." Josiah says then leaves the small shelter. I turn back to
Eric as he says and the small fire burns.
"Raven!"
I look around for the person but nobody's there.
I shake my head and turn back to the fire.
"Raven."
"Do you hear that?" I ask
"No what?" He replies and I shake my head.
Damn voices!
"Nothing never-mind." I say. I undo Eric's shirt and reach the wound once again.
"Can you still feel the pain here?" I ask and he nods.
"Not so much now when your touching it." He says and I nod feeling the healing power leave my body slowly and gently.
"I'm using my power to lessen the pain." I say and he places his hands on mine. I look up and meet his eyes.
"Am I hurting you?" I ask
"No, I've never felt better. You've calmed the pain." He says
"Good." I say swiping my fingers gently across it once again.
"Come here." He says holding his arms out a little. I slide onto his lap gently and he wraps his arms around me and I meet his eyes.
"I want to kiss you." I whisper gently wiping my thumb across his lip.
"What's holding you back?" He asks after a few moments and my eyes lock with his.
"Fear." I reply without hesitation.
"Of what?" He asks
"Of losing you, of hurting you, of messing up and ruining the friendship we have, but most of all I fear what this will bring us too. Nobody wants others to be happy in this world." I say running my fingers through his hair.
"You can't let fear stop you from living Raven." He says
"Fear is the only thing keeping me alive right now. Fear is the only thing keeping me fighting. Without it I would have given up and let go." I say
"You say fear is what's keeping you fighting?" He asks
"Yes." I reply
"Then fight for me. Out of fear of losing me, fight for me. Because I can't do this anymore. I can't pretend you mean nothing to me. I can't kiss you once then never kiss you again. Raven I'm scared too I'm scared of losing you but I can't be scared to lose you if I don't even try to make you mine to make you happy-"
"But I am happy." I say
"Not in the way we both need. I see the sparkle missing in your eye. I only ever see it when you look at me but after time it fades. You say you're happy and maybe you are maybe I'm reading this completely wrong. But all I know is I am scared to not give you my heart, I'm scared to not ever kiss you again, and I am scared as hell to lose you before I even got the chance to tell you how I feel." He says and I meet his eyes again still on his lap.
"How do you feel?" I ask quietly not removing my eyes from his.
"Raven. I feel love, care, happiness, peace, and strength when I am around you. I feel powerful and so god damn lucky to have you in my arms right now to be able to look into your beautiful face and see hope there for the both of us. I'd do anything for you because I am in love with you Raven."
**
"Say the three words Eric." She whispers and I put my palm on her cheek and she cocoons her face into it then looks back to me.
"I love you." I say and she leans forwards and presses her lips to mine.
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