It seemed like the two had just arrived in Era the other day, which they did so Alyssa could leave her current Guild and relieve the burden she had felt growing upon her shoulders. Kenny couldn’t blame her, though personally, he had always wanted to be a knight, ever since he was young he had a dream of becoming a noble and defending his liege from all suitors on a weekly maybe even daily basis. He was young and stupid, and even with age he still felt the same naive desire to become a knight to protect what he thought was important to him, those dreams came crashing down in the battle he had with Finn. After that fight, Kenny had become a bit more bitter and his mind had become more set in reality. He still remembered the words the boy mumbled to him, about getting stronger, they were true. Kenny was still in over his head with this knight business, thus the dream died for now, but anything was possible so he may rejuvenate it on a whim, but for now, he was going to remain guildless and put his childish dreams behind him.

Hm, now that Alyssa was with him he at least wasn’t traveling alone. What a blessing she was, beautiful, intelligent, kind, she was everything he had ever dreamed of in another person, yet inside of him was the desire to see more from her. See if she had a sinister spirit similar to the one he harbored. His mind was constantly at odds with itself, he was constantly at odds with himself about what he should do. Then it came to him, Oak Town… It was the perfect place to test one’s morals and it would serve him well to take on some unsavory jobs He knew Alyssa was probably tired from all of the traveling, but he knew in his mind that she could benefit from the test of moral as well.

He awoke in the middle of the night, as he planned to. They were in another hotel room, moonlight just barely lit the dusky bedside that Kenny had awoken on. There was a faint snoring from Arcane, he was somewhere in the room, but Kenny didn’t make too much effort to find him just yet. It must have been in the at least 4:00 a.m., the perfect time to get traveling.

Kenny tossed the covers off of himself, and sat up and shifted to the bedside. He turned and began shaking the body next to him, it was no other than his red-eyed angel, he placed a hand on her thigh and shook her gently, “Wake up my dear,” he yawned, “It’s time we got going." he didn't tell her just yet, but he would explain soon enough.

[452/900]

Alyssa was having a strange dream. An almost identical copy of herself stood across from her, except with black hair, her split. They were just staring upon each other at first, face to face in her dreams for the first time. "I see you have finally left that pathetic excuse for a guild. Maybe now we can get somewhere in life." Her split muttered. She was not being rude, simply telling her the truth, the guild had slowed her down. Her progress in life and in her mind. She was honestly happy to be rid of them. She felt as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. "I have some advice for you, actual good advice." She listened intently to her split. "Stick with this man. He seems like he will be good for you. We will all make a nice team."

"How could you possibly know?" Alyssa asked the split. "You are simply a part of myself. You cannot know things I do not." The split laughed and was about to respond when Alyssa began waking up, feeling someone shaking her. Her eyes shot open and she grabbed the arm of the person, spinning them and throwing them to the floor. As she did, she lost her footing and collapsed on top of the person. She glanced around the room, realizing it was the hotel that Kenny and she had crashed at after she left her guild. She looked under her to see Kenny himself and she was embarrassed. "I'm so sorry!" She patted the man's chest as she pulled herself up and helped him up as well.

The little hotel they had crashed in was honestly a bit gross, but they did not have much of an option after Kenny had lost a lot of his jewels and Alyssa had just spend her own to leave her previous guild. She looked up at the light on the clock, flickering four am in red letters. Alyssa then looked at Kenny in shock. "You woke me up at four in the morning?! What do we even have to do?!" She was not really mad, more shocked and grouchy that she had been woke during her dream, which she could barely remember at the point in time. Arcane had woken up, looking grouchy himself. Alyssa rested her head against Kenny's chest and yawned, nearly falling asleep leaning against the burly man.

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It seened she had woken up, her eyes darted open, Kenny grinning down at her, she gripped his arm “Hello sunshhhhiiiine!” his words dragged on as he was flipped over her entirely and onto the hardwood floor of the dingy hotel room. He had soon found himself resting on the ground, Alyssa ontop of him. Kenny didn’t say a word he only blinked and thought about what just happened. Did she just… Flip him? His eyebrows furrowed as he tried to get over the initial
shock, but soon that shock would be replaced with a copious amount of happiness. He looked down at her and placed his hands on her shoulders, “Don’t apologize, that was amazing!” he laughed. It was, she was so strong, stronger than he was probably and he loved it. There was so much left to learn about her and now that she didn’t have a Guild he’d make use of every minute they could spend together learning about her.

She seemed shocked at first, it was of course in the early hours of the morning but he had good reasoning for waking her, though he could understand her anger. “Sorry, sorry, I know you need your beauty rest.” he cupped her face into his hands in an attempt to get her to look at him before she nodded off again, he placed a soft kiss on her lips, “Please forgive me, but I think I know what our next move should be.” he stroked her cheek. The next move, just like any other would take some time, but it would have to work, it was only a change in scenery, but there was far more to it than that. Oak was full of opportunity and they could no doubt do well for themselves there.

Kenny looked at the clock, and back at her, “We’re heading to Oak, we could probably do well for ourselves there, get a place, start doing jobs and collect jewels.” he came clean at last, “Before we met, well, when we met I was going to do that in Marigold alone, but now that you’re with me I think Oak would be a good place for us, you and me, together.” it probably sounded like he was leading up to a marriage proposal his voice was so soft and low. There was no way around it, he cherished her presence despite only have a few days, there was still much he needed to learn, but if she said yes the following days would be his happiest.

876/900

Alyssa let the man place a kiss upon her lips which once again caused her to blush. She would probably never get used to that. She sighed and wrapped her arms around the waist of the male who stood much taller than she did. "Fine, Oak it is. You and I, taking on the world together." She said with a grin. With that, she grabbed her things and placed them in her bag. Calling Arcane, she gave him some food before they headed out. Leading Kenny out of the dirty hotel room, she took the key to the front desk and then they were off on their journey.

She did not know the way to Oak, so she let Kenny lead the way. She strolled by his side, enjoying the walk through nature, but knew they had a very long way to go. She knew Oak was many towns from where they were, but she trusted the man's instincts. She had Arcane to protect her if things went wrong in the town, considering she had not been there in a while, and left many enemies as she did. She knew there would be Rune Knights looking for her now as well too, since she had left. She could only hope they they remained as docile as they had been. She did not know Kenny's plan and she could only guess. Her split was going on and on in her mind about things that he could be planning, most not suitable for young ears.

She looked over at the man, eyes raking over his large frame. He could probably kill her if he tried, she could only hope he never did. "So, you going to let me know exactly what we are going to do in Oak, or is that part of your mysterious charm?" She asked. Maybe he had friends in Oak, maybe that was where he was going to hide her body. She did not know what was going to happen at this point.

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Kenny’s face lit up when she agreed, it made him overjoyed to know she’d go with him. Now they could get moving and maybe even begin a new in the dusky town. Who knew what lied ahead, and he still had to piece things together. He didn’t have any allies in Oak, and truthfully the only person that came to mind when he thought about someone to see was the well-dressed fellow he had met in Era where he got his new gear. It was going to be a good walk, but Kenny remembered the way he took with Lilja, it was down the same road and would take them through quite a few towns, but they would eventually get there after a few days or so.

He was glad she trusted him, most young women would probably think twice about a man like him, he was big, clumsy, and bulky, but luckily for him Alyssa seemed to see passed that, or at least she liked his looks. She would pack her things, and get Arcane ready for the trip, Kenny did his best to clean himself up, a quick brush of his teeth and wash was more than enough to sustain him. After getting ready Kenny gripped his new bag, a flimsy little sack he snatched from a vendor not too long ago and threw it over his shoulder, the only things in it a change of clothes he had purchased. Everything seemed to be ready and accounted for, nothing was in their way but a long walk from place to place, nothing they couldn’t handle and quite honestly he didn’t mind the view he could sneak when she would walk in front of him.

When they began on their walk, out of the hotel and back down the road she asked him a question, his plan, or rather what they were going to do in oak. Hm, he was still devising it, but he could let her know what he at least thought of so far. “Well, there’s a lot of work up there and a lot of jewels. We could go anywhere, yes, but I think we can make Oak work the best together.” he explained, “That and as I said there are lots of jobs, and lots of jewels to make, I have just enough to get us into a place to stay. That and… After all of this walking maybe we can get the room early and…”

He leaned over and wrapped an arm around her, whispering sweet nothings into her ear at first before shifting into diverging to something that wouldn’t be suitable for the young to hear… A lot of it included food, to say the least.

1329/900

[In Oak]

Alyssa blushed as he whispered to her, face turning a deep crimson red. She could only hope they reached Oak soon. Not just because they would get to rest in a hotel, but because she could finally get some food in her. Yes, food sounded really good after the long walk they had just endured. She could hear her stomach growling and knew she would be eating quite a bit. "A lot of jobs sounds good. I need to make my jewels back." She muttered quietly. Arcane followed behind them as they walked, watching for any danger as he usually did.

Enjoying the last bit of the quiet walk to Oak, Alyssa began humming quietly. As she saw the gates of Oak she became excited. Once they had entered the town, Alyssa grinned at the man. "Guess this is gonna be our place for a bit. Let's cause some hell." She muttered as a joke. Though, she was not exactly sure how much of a joke it was.

-In Oak-
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