The Struggle To Come

Barely able to see anything in front of him Xilo attempted to get up.

"Ahh."

However pain ran throughout his body that caused him to flinch and stop as a voice leaked from his mouth. Still out of it he wondered what had happened and where he was until he saw a familiar figure a couple inches away from him. Xelfia sat next to him with her hands on her knees and quietly sat there until she heard Xilo move about. When she did her worry finally vanished as some excitement filled her body again.

"Oh! You're awake"

"So it seems."

Watching her crawl up next to him he continued to lay down and rest. At the moment he wasn't in any condition to move so it was all he could do. Feeling Xelfia's touch on his skin he almost winced in pain but more than that he felt comfortable. Enjoying the feeling his memories were finally coming back to him. Recalling the events of before emotions flooded through him that continued to change however the biggest worry was his changes. Looking down at his body quickly he tried to find any signs of those blades but after looking around for a couple seconds he relaxed again as he saw nothing. His next question though was how did he even survive. "I was dead for sure after all." But he had no memory of that moment and could only ask Xelfia even if he felt a little sorry about ruining the moment.

"How am I even alive."

Feeling a slight pause on Xelfia's hand he waited for her answer but felt a sharp pain run through his arm the next second later as he felt her tighten her grip but he ignored it. It took Xelfia a couple of seconds before she realized she was hurting Xilo and finally let go as she decided to place Xilo in her lap instead. Hearing her shift around he waited until he felt the squishy feeling of her legs around his head as she ran her hand through his hair. Feeling his warmth on her body again she finally felt at ease as she spoke.

"Because of me."

"You?"

"Yes me you big idiot. Without me you would be dead!."

Unfortunately sadness and anger was mixed in as she remembered what happened but she managed to hold in her urge to yell and scold him for his stupid recklessness. It just wasn't the right time at the moment and she knew that. When they were safe and alive after all this though she would let him have it even if it killed her. Her chest ached in pain every time she thought about her failing in the end to save Xilo but she stopped herself from thinking further having her thoughts interrupted.

"How?"

"Luckily I was awake about halfway through our fall and was able to store up power throughout that time and when we hit the ground I cushioned your fall but I was too weak and exhausted at the moment so I could only stop you from dying. The injuries you are currently feeling are the result of my lack of strength."

Feeling disappointed in herself her voice began trailing off near the end but Xilo was still able to hear her clearly enough.

"You passed out from the shock and I've been watching you ever since."

"but if you were awake why didn't you say anything?"

"I didn't have the time to speak or look around so all I could was stay still until after hitting the ground. Once that happened I had to rest as well and now we're here."

"Speaking of which, where exactly is here by the way."

"No clue. But while you were asleep I checked our surroundings a little and found out we're trapped for the most part at the moment."

"Wait what, how so?"

Panic ran through him at that statement but Xelfia stopped his movement with her legs and continued on.

"Settle down we're just caved in by a bunch of rocks that we can break eventually. In fact we should be thankful for those rocks. It's the only reason we've survived so long injured after all."

"You mean?"

"I've sent strands of Astral Energy through the small gaps in between to check out the other side and there were quite a few Astral Beasts waiting for us on the other side."

Hearing that he almost thought of the beasts that fell down with him but stopped himself from that hope. If he could barely survive as it is, what was stopping those even weaker beasts from dying the second they hit the ground. "Whatever's out there is definitely going to be a challenge." Thinking that he knew Xelfia was right when she said to thank the rocks surrounding them at the moment. But they would have to leave eventually. It was just a matter of when.

"How long have we been down here so far?"

"No idea I lost track of time at some point."

Speaking those words she lightly played with his hair while rubbing his cheek.

"Get some more rest okay?"

"But..."

"Trust me you're a lot more injured than me. When you're awake again we can figure out what we'll do together and go from there okay? But not until then."

Hearing that and feeling the exhaustion and pain run through him Xilo couldn't find it in him to argue as he agreed with her.

"Fine."

Slowly he started to fall asleep again but not before he felt the light feeling of Xelfia's lips touch his. But before he could say anything he fell asleep and could only enjoy the lingering warmth.

"Ha...getting out of here won't be easy Xilo."

Staring at Xilo fall asleep she focused on the outside again as she sensed all the Fifth and Sixth Stage Beasts near them. Luckily they weren't detected yet or they would be dead. But getting out of here was going to be a struggle.