Jellal's Final Secret

Chapter 10

Jelina walked peacefully through the forest, humming softly as she went. She smiled, taking in all the emotions around her. She felt the wind, dancing happily asking if anyone wanted to join them in their dance. The trees, answered them, and joined them in their act of grace. On a days like this, she wished that Jellal was with her.

'Stop,' she scolded herself. 'You can't think about him. H-He would have wanted you to move on,' she tried convincing herself. But still, she felt terrible. Guilty, she slipped back into the calm aura of the forest.

Then she felt it. A pang of pain. No, there's more than that. Sorrow, guilt. So much sorrow and guilt.

'They must be in terrible agony for me to feel them that far away,' she thought, racing towards the feeling. She ran, faster and faster. Deeper and deeper, taking the shortest route possible. She jumped, leaped and ran, getting closer and closer to the feeling. The bundle of emotions.

She came to a stop at a small clearing. The trees parted, revealing a clearing. In it, there was a small pond. Next to it, sat a boy.

Maroon hair sat on his dark tanned skin. His eyes wavered between purple and black, and they gave off a soft, but strong aura. He was around Jelina's age, maybe a year or so older. Cuts and bruises covered him head to toe.

Slowly, she walked into the clearing. Immediately, the boy painfully jumped up into a guarded pose.

"Are you okay?" Jelina asked him. Without hesitation, she strided over to his side.

"Who are you?" he said, backing away from her a little.

"My name is Jelina," she told him. "What's yours?" she asked. She reached out and looked at him, asking silently if she could see and try to heal his wound.

"They call me Cobra but my real name is Erik," Erik said, showing her his arm, which had the largest cut. Jelina winced, looking at the wound.

"You need to get that treated immediately. On the bright side, I live nearby and I'm skilled in healing," she stated, walking away. When she turned around to check on him, she sighed. Erik clearly didn't want to follow her.

"Look, I know how you feel about going into the home of a girl you just met. But that wound is bad and it's deep. And it's been what? 12 hours? Right now, on the spot, I can think of at least 70 different infections and diseases that could have gotten in there. If you don't follow me right now, you will have about 3 hours to live. Max," she snapped at him. She couldn't save Jellal, but she can save him. And she was not letting Erik's attitude stop her from saving him.

Erik looked at her, amazed at the fact of how much she could tell from simply looking at his wound. But, he still had his doubts. She could be bluffing.

Suddenly, he gasped in pain and fell to his knees. Within seconds, Jelina was at his side.

"It's worse than I thought," Erik heard her mutter. Without his permission, or his word, she wrapped her right arm around his waist, took his left hand and swung it around her neck, hoisting him up. He made a sound of surprise and protest. And tried to pull away. But she was a lot stronger than she looked.

With no other choice, he leaned on her. Where they were going, he had no clue. But he had to trust her. This feeling . . . Was new to him. Strange, placing his life into someone else's hands, her hands. Trusting her to get him somewhere safe. It was, alarming. Alarming, sudden, different. Very, very different from the way he normally rolled. And . . . warm. Unbelievably warm. Knowing that fact, the fact that he could trust her, he passed out, in her arms and comfort.

Jelina, on the other hand, groaned silently. Now that she was pulling all of Erik's weight, she could feel her knees starting to collapse underneath her. But she had to keep going. She had to make it back home before it was to late.