Sidequest

Hours later the sun finally crawled its way into the sky, chasing away the Darkness. Kelsi woke suddenly when the sunlight began streaming in through the window. Her neck ached from being at a near 90 degree angle for most of the night. Her heart jumped in her chest and she sat up quickly, raising her head from Suzie’s lap to look at her face.

The bandage Kelsi had wrapped around her head was soaked through with blood and she was very still. Kelsi watched her for a few seconds, her hands gripping Suzie’s thighs. She held her breath until she could make out the rise and fall of Suzie’s chest under her armor.

Oh, her armor... Another lance of panic ran through Kelsi and she began to shake the thighs under her hands, “Suzie? Suzie, wake up!”

It took a concerningly long time but eventually Suzie’s eyes did flutter open. “Kelsi...?”

New tears pricked at Kelsi’S eyes but, at the same time, tension drained out of her shoulders. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have let you fall asleep in your armor.”

“It’s okay,” Suzie patted the hands on her thighs then sat up a bit straighter, groaning in pain. She looked past Kelsi’s face to the bright window. “Has Alphonse come back yet?”

Kelsi looked around, searching the room for any of his gear laying around as a sign that he’d come back but saw none. “I.... don’t think so.”

Suzie squeezed Kelsis hands, “can you go find him. Make sure he’s ok? Please?”

Kelsi’s mouth went dry but she still swallowed and nodded, “yeah, of course.”

*

Alphonse would really prefer to pick Hiro up and walk away from this godforsaken village. His hand twitched around the hilt of his sword. Who cares about these people; too stupid to live in an actual safe zone and too weak to defend themselves... or force the guild that’s supposed to protect them to do its job.

“Alphonse!? Alphonse, where are you?” The coward called for him. The last person he wanted to deal with. How did she get away with not involving herself? Did Hiro not pout at her? Was she immune?

“Alphonse...? Fuck, no, no, no, no.” Kelsi’s hands pressed into the back of his shoulders. Why was she touching him there? Alphonse tried to raise his arm, finally realizing that he was laying face down in the dirt. The hands on his shoulders began to shake, why didn’t you use your medallion?” she croaked out, voice thick.

Yaso and Yana did she think he was fucking dead?

“Stop sniveling and help me. Or are you too scared to even do that?”

Kelsi’s hands flinched away for a second before grabbing his shoulders with a bit more strength and flipping him onto his back. He groaned as the wound across his chest was pulled. As he struggled to open his eyes, Kelsi tugged at his shirt to look at his wound. “Maybe... you should use your medallion. You’ve got Darkness poisoning.”

When Alphonse just glared at her, Kelsi sighed and hooked her arms under her shoulders and began to drag him back to Eli’s home.