I followed her gaze – a second pair of midnight blue eyes locked on to us as the person rose to their feet, rifle in his hand.
"Ethan? Wait...his eyes...are like yours, Midnight."
"Dark fairy? Hmm...interesting," Midnight commented.
"FIRE! KILL THEM ALL," another voice announced.
Midnight sighed, looking exhausted. "Stop wasting my time!" she yelled, raising her scythe and doing another twirl – the frozen bullets blasting outward, heading straight back to the senders.
Multiple cries of pain echoed as the four groups surrounding us dropped to the ground.
Midnight sighed. "Jeez. What a waste of energy. I'm tired." She yawned, rubbing her eyes.
"You're telling me." I sighed in relief, glancing back up at where Ethan still stood; his eyes surveyed the area. Once satisfied, he jumped off the edge – the motion caused me to gasp.
He landed with ease; a magic circle appeared beneath his feet which created a cyclone of air to ease his landing. He walked towards us; his eyes still midnight blue.
When he reached our side, he looked down at me; those blue orbs scanned my appearance.
"Scarlet. You okay?" he asked, his voice low – the difference between Ethan's usual voice and his seemed polar opposite of one another.
"I'm fine," I reassured him.
He frowned but nodded, turning his attention to Midnight who was eyeing him closely.
"Only Elias knows. Can you keep it that way?" he asked her.
She frowned. "EliaseAnne," she countered.
They shared a look before he narrowed his eyes.
"Fine. Other than that, no one else for now."
"Sure. Not my business anyway." Midnight shrugged, looking uninterested as she looked around.
"Elias and the others are coming up the hall to your left. You should go meet them before they bring this entire building down," Ethan suggested.
"Will do. Bye, dark fairy friend. Scarlet, see ya around." Midnight waved goodbye before beginning to walk in the direction Ethan instructed her the knights would be.
"Wait. Uh. Thank you, Midnight!" I called out.
She stopped, looking over her shoulder. "We'll always come to your aid when you need us," she promised, giving me a smile, turning to her left, disappearing from sight.
I tried to get up, but my muscles didn't want to cooperate. Ethan noticed, kneeling and pulling me into his arms.
"You’re not Ethan, are you?" I asked.
"Onyx," he replied.
"Onyx? Like the Pokémon?" I asked.
"...Why does everyone compare me to that clump of rock?" he grumbled.
"It's a Pokémon," I pointed out.
"Nyx for short cause I think Pokémon is stupid," he mumbled.
I smiled, snickering. "Nyx," I repeated.
We shared a moment; my hand finally cooperated with me – raising it to brush against his cheek.
"I'm okay. Thank you for saving me back there," I whispered.
He sighed, leaned in and gave me a gentle kiss on the lips – the action was unexpected from him compared to Ethan, who’d asked to kiss me. He pulled back. "You’re welcome, Scarlet. Till we meet again," he bid farewell, closing his eyes.
I had so many questions that needed to be answered, but when he re-opened his eyes, lime green met my confused gaze.
"Scar...thank goodness, you're okay," he whispered, pulling me into a hug.
"I'm tired as fuck though," I mumbled, relaxing in his embrace.
"I know, love. C'mon, let's get you to a healer. I think Makoto’s gonna need one too," Ethan suggested, lifting me up.
"Where are the others?" I asked, resting my head against his chest.
"Dealing with the chaos outside. Moonlight found me and showed me a way inside. Once I was in, I knew where you were," he confessed.
"Sorry," I whispered, frowning. I didn't think our last day of vacation would turn out into a messy battle.
He glanced down at me. "It's not your fault. In fact, it's good you and Makoto were able to take them down. Another team from PINC has been working on tracking down this team for months. They planned to steal Cassandra, sell her and have enough money to build a bomb that they thought would be perfect in the subway line downtown," Ethan explained, beginning to walk.
"We did well then?" I asked, fighting off the exhaustion and darkness that begged to claim me.
"You did amazing, Scar. Mako and Midnight did superb, as well. I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier."
"You came just in time," I whispered.
We were silent for a moment before I decided to ensure I would get some answers regarding his conversation with Midnight.
"I just have a lot of question that I doubt I can stay awake to have answered," I admitted; my eyes struggled to stay open. I really wanted to learn more about Dark Fairies, especially after the whole display.
"I'll explain when we go on a date," he reassured me.
"You're just finding an excuse for us to go out."
"Pretty much. Admit it, you want some alone time with me."
"Hmm...I guess." I giggled at his frown, closing my eyes as a nestled in his embrace as he continued to walk.
"Scar."
"Hmm?"
"Excellent work, as always," Ethan praised, kissing my forehead.
I grinned, allowing myself to be claimed by the darkness.
Chapter Fifteen
MAKOTO
"We totally have time to pass by the festival before we head to the transport ship and go home!" I argued, crossing my arms and glaring at my knights who stood around my bed.
They gave me worried looks causing me to huff in frustration.
"Where's Scarlet? I need someone in my defense!" I whined.
A knock came from the door; Scarlet's orange locks came into view as she opened the door – her face framed with black glasses.
"You rang?" She had a mischievous smirk on her face.
"Wait a minute. Weren't you not allowed to leave the hospital room?" Daniel pointed out.
Scarlet grinned, slipping through the small crack in the door and locking it closed before skipping to my side. "What's up, Mako? Are your boyfriends being all worried and wanting you to miss the festival too?" she asked.
I beamed, shuffling over so Scarlet could slip between the sheets and sit next to me. "YES! They're trying to stop me from enjoying my last moments here because I'm a little tired. LITTLE. I promised I wouldn't faint, or trip, or fall to my demise. Even Nightmare said I can go, but NOOOO," I expressed, pointing to my familiar who slept at the edge of the bed – Moonlight cuddled up next to her.
"When did Moonlight get here?" Scarlet pondered.
"I don't know. When I woke up they were already snuggled up,” I pointed out.
"Ah. Well, tough luck boys. We're going to the festival!" Scarlet declared.
Kai sighed, while the others frowned.
"Scarlet. You shouldn't be talking. Wait till the others realize you snuck out of your hospital room. They're gonna freak," Kai noted.
I noticed the light glow of the intricate markings on his hands. "You just saw the future didn't you?" I pointed out.
He shrugged. "Maybe," he replied, giving me a playful grin.
"They won't find out. I left the perfect disguise,” Scarlet stressed.
Before I could reply; the door opened – five pissed off shifters walked in. Scarlet frowned as I gawked at them. I leaned over to the side.