Sleep (Naib x reader part 3)

Word Count: 2005

"I'm sure he didn't mean it." Eli consoled through her door. "You know he just wants to protect you, this is how he thinks he should do it." He continued, reasoning with the devastated girl. Quiet sniffles could be heard from the other side.

"No, he just doesn't want to be together, I should just be able to accept that." She counters, then adds, "but why can't I just accept it? Why does it hurt so bad, Eli?" He wanted to cry with her. Her words struck a chord in him; he had to help.

"Can you open the door for a second?" He politely asks, his hand on the handle. As the door glided outward, he took the invitation to enter. "Here, I'll be right back. I promise." Eli passed her the box of cookies he had hidden underneath his cloak. Wordlessly, she took the box and began to munch on them, feeling worse for she was meant to share these with- well, she didn't want to think about that. Eli left her momentarily, before returning with two others.

"Eli I appreciate that you want to help me, but I really don't want anyone else here." She glanced towards the people he brought, and locked eyes with a specific doctor and became defensive. "You thought it'd be a good idea to bring her here?" She got up, her tears forgotten; replaced by resentment.

"Hear me out please," the doctor started. "I came to apologize; truly. I thought that what I was doing was good for you, but I messed things up. He does want to be with you. You should-" She was instantly cut off.

"Miss Dyer, please leave. Your suggestions are not wanted at this moment." As civil as she tried to be, (y/n) couldn't help but feel hostile at the woman who caused her situation. Eli's eyes flicked a sympathetic, but forceful glare towards the doctor, who promptly retreated, leaving Eli and the other woman he brought to comfort his friend.

"Hey," Patricia knelt down to pat the back of the distressed girl. "Relationships are difficult, but I do think you need to-" She pauses, thinking of her next words. "You do need to talk to him. Your relationship isn't ruined, but if you don't talk it out now, then it could become unsalvageable." Patricia was straight-forward, like she always has been, and (y/n) was thankful for it. She wanted comforting words, but knew she needed the harsh truth. (y/n) sighed.

"Thank you, Patricia." She turned to Eli, "and thank you, too." They were rushed out of her room. "I need a bit of alone time, but I will. Talk to him, I mean." She closes the door and embraces the comfort of her bed, then remembers her two 2 v 8 matches that start in half-an-hour. Sighing again, she gets up and prepares herself for her final matches of the day, and 20 minutes later, she's ready and walking to the match room. When she arrived, Patricia, Naib, and Victor were already seated. She took the furthest spot from the door, and the mercenary. Shortly after sitting, everyone else arrived and the match started.

She was already working on a cipher. Thankfully, she finished hers with no problem; and instantaneously, two more were popped. The postman and the prisoner were both hit once, but no other injuries had been sustained. She moved on. The nearest cipher to her was already being worked on, so, as unprepared as she was, she joined the mercenary. For a moment, there was silence. She thought back to the enchantress' advice, and started her spiel.

"Naib, you're right." He was startled by both her sudden spark of conversation, and her choice of words. She continued, "We are moving too fast, but that doesn't mean we can't be in a relationship. I wasn't lying when I told you 'I love you' and I still mean it. We've been friends for a long time now, and I don't want to lose you. I understand that you "don't want to hurt me," and I don't want to hurt you, but what you said, did hurt. If you really think we shouldn't be together, tell me, but Emily isn't here, and I am." She finishes her monologue staring into his eyes. The cipher machine, and their match long forgotten; he reaches for her hands, a great comfort to him now, and responds.

He was unable to form a response because of the postman, who accidentally led a hunter to them. Before Jack could switch targets, they all scattered in different directions. After a moment of worry, he smiled to himself, thinking of all the things he wanted to tell her as he found a safer place to work. He hoped the hunter wasn't chasing her, but couldn't do much to quell his worries after the last cipher was popped. Heading to the nearest exit gate, he saw the postman already working on opening it.

"If you're here does that mean that hunter is after her?" He questions the taller male and he responds with a weak nod. He scratches his neck, taking note of the apologetic look covering Victor's face. "No worries, she'll be ok. It's easy to not get hurt during these matches." His face showed immense worry the instant the words left his mouth. Maybe the match wouldn't hurt her, but he had. She hadn't healed from his harsh words earlier, and he reminded himself to talk about it later. They exit the match field after ensuring their win, and went back to the manor. He wanted to talk, or just relax in her presence, but the schedule didn't allow for that. As soon as they got back, (y/n) was called to her final match of the day. Separated from who she wanted to be with, she began to ponder what she would say to him; what she wanted their relationship to be. As she was transported to the playing field and began to work on a cipher, she realized that she didn't want anything to change. Their smooth transition from friendship to relationship wasn't bad; in fact, it was almost exactly what she wanted. (y/n) smiled to herself and lost herself in the memories of the time she has spent with her lover. All their subtle glances and inside jokes only they could giggle to and before she knew it, she failed a calibration, revealing a hunter nearby. She mentally slapped herself before running off to safety, though she would never find it. Whispering filled her ears. She barely managed to dodge the "lost soul" flying towards her. However; that caused the boy chasing her to gain speed momentarily. Barely missing his axe, she swerved behind him and vaulted a window, gaining distance from her pursuer. He barked in laughter and began to redirect his course to intercept her from the other side. Before she knew it, Axe Boy had landed his first hit. Though she was already hit, she smiled. She enjoyed these matches and knew that the hunters did too. Robbie smiled, as much as a headless child could, as well and readied himself for another attack. The attack, however, would never land. Instead of a swing directed at her, Robbie turned around and began chasing an easier target. Her shoulders slumped and she let out a sigh before running to work on a cipher. Only 3 had been completed, and she was soon to complete the fourth. A satisfying pop signified the finalization of her cipher, quickly followed by another pop across the map. Three ciphers remained. While jogging to the next cipher, she ran into Fiona, who offered to heal her up.

"So you and Naib, huh?" Fiona teased, dragging out the healing process. She winked and let the other girl answer.

"Who told you? I thought only Patricia, Emily, and Eli knew?" She questioned, getting up and leading the priestess to the next cipher. Fiona chuckled.

"Patricia tells me everything. If she knows something, then expect me to know too!" A cipher pops in the distance, and Fiona pings their cipher status to the rest of the survivors, even though they weren't even halfway done. Fiona continues her gossip.

"You know, we aren't really officially together; we are going to talk it out after I get back from this match." She leads Fiona on, mentally smirking when she gets the reactions she wants from the excitable girl.

"You have to tell me what you're going to say! Oh, and you need to tell me how it goes." Fiona stops decoding briefly to emphasize her words with hand motions.

"I don't have to tell you anything." (y/n) plains, but she knows it will get out somehow. "But if you'd really like to know, I'll tell you, if it goes well." She smiled at the pink haired girl and let her teammates know their cipher progress again, which had significantly increased. However, shortly after, her smile left. She glanced off with a worried look on her face, which caused Fiona to worry.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it will all go well. You two really are good together, I don't know why Emily is so against it." She comforted her friend, while still working. Seconds before their cipher would've been completed, the heartbeat signifying a nearby hunter made their chests pound. As they ran from the cipher and hid, Fiona whispered,

"Do you know who the hunters are?"

"Well, I was chased by Axe Boy earlier, but I don't know who the other is." Fiona's question as to who the other hunter is would not be answered, however. The heartbeat soon dissipated, and they continued to decode as if nothing happened, though their little break caused the second to last cipher to be finished, so they had the task of popping the last one. The silent agreement the came upon told them that they would pop it when the prospector was rescued from his chair, but no one helped him.

"I'll go, it's not too far, I'll make it." (y/n) offered, running off to assist Norton. Releasing sigh in relief for making it in time, she unbound the prospector and ran to the, thankfully, nearby exit gate. When Fiona popped the cipher machine, (y/n) began to work on the exit gate; then, more survivors waited for the gate to open behind her. Five people exited at the same time when the flash of black and red signaled the teleportation of one of the hunters. She felt bad about leaving the others to fend for themselves, but what could she have done? (y/n) made her way back to the manor and prepared herself for confrontation with the mercenary. She went to her room first to clean up; what she wasn't expecting was Naib to be waiting for her. They were silent; only staring at each other until finally, he spoke up.

"I want to be with you. I was scared of losing you, but I've decided what's important to me." There was so much he wanted to say; about how much he loves, how sorry he is, and how worried he is, but he knew to keep it simple. Before he could start again, she interjected with actions rather than words. Walking closer, she took his face in her hands and leaned in, whispering.

"We'll take things slow. I know we have already passed some lines, but it's not like we weren't friends before," she smiled wider, reminded of their close friendship, "I love you, and I don't want to lose you." She finished, now letting him speak. Though now, there was only one thing he wanted to say.

"I love you too, and you aren't going to lose me," he takes her into his arms, squeezing tightly, "and I'm not going to lose you."

The day was late; the two lovers decided that they'd love nothing more than to fall asleep in each other's arms. They were finally happy together, as they'd always dreamed.

A/N: 1. there will not be an author's note after every story 2. most stories will be longer and not have multiple parts like this, unless it's something people like.

Jeez this started as that first part, then I didn't like how it ended, so 6,000 words later, here we are. I don't like much how this ended either (too cheesy), but it's tied with a bow and set aside for now. I quite proud of the different literary devices I managed to work into it (～￣▽￣)～ As mentioned, originally, this was going to be a 7,000 word long story, but I felt like that would be a little overwhelming to read for a one-shot, so now it's a few parts. Anyways! To keep this simple, I hope you enjoyed! Please let me know what you think (If anyone will read this -.-) and thank you for reading, new stories will be soon!