Katie didn't know an arrow was flying towards her back but she heard the sound of wind splitting apart behind her. From instincts, she jumped out of the way and it hit her right arm from the side instead of her back. 

She screamed in pain as she fell from the impact and Keith rushed to her side quickly. He cursed under his breath as he turned to where the arrow came from and looked down at her wound. He helped her get up and let her lean against one of the trees.

Katie could feel her face turning paler by the second and her breath started getting shaky. All her past injuries had never been this big or painful. She tried her best to keep her eyes open.

Keith kneeled down to her level and she realized he changed back to his human self. His purple eyes looked into hers, worried.

"Pidge." He said as he glanced down at her wound again, "I'm gonna need you to stay with me, okay?"

She weakly nodded with squinted eyes and he sighed as he looked around their surroundings.

They were still out in the forest and they didn't have any materials or medicine to treat the wound. The red arrow was still in her arm and he couldn't take it out until they got proper ointment for her arm. All they could do now was clean the area around her wound and find the other men and their camp quickly.

As Keith picked her up, he could see that the long arrow was bothering her movements. He couldn't exactly take all of it out but he could snap half of it off so she would only have the tip and a little piece of the wood left.

 He snapped half of it as quickly as he could and hurled it a few feet away. She winced in pain but she kept her groans quiet. 

The boy stared at her with wide, scared eyes and kept glancing around because he was unsure of what to do while Keith ripped her sleeves that were in the way of the wound.

"Are you okay?" The boy blurted and looked like he regretted asking as she let out a small pained laugh. It just seemed silly to say that, seeing her situation.

"This much should be fine." She said, even though it was painful to speak. "At least it wasn't my back."

She shuddered at the thought. If it was her back, it would be more painful and it could turn  to bigger infections which could threaten her life.

Keith turned to the boy and let out a breath. He seemed too weak and frail that he might slow them down but Keith couldn't leave him by himself either.

"You're coming?" He said and the boy nodded carefully.

Then Keith looked down at Katie's tiny body and saw that she was barely awake.

"You won't mind if I carry you the rest of the way, right?" He asked and she nodded.

"You don't even have to ask anymore." She breathed and he let out a sigh of relief and smiled.

"Are you strong enough to climb on?" He asked as he put his back to her and he could hear her mumbling.

"I'm sure I can do at least that."

Then he felt her climb onto him and put her arms around his neck. He stood up slowly as he was sure she got comfortable already and turned to the boy who was just looking around cluelessly.

"Any chance you know your way?" Keith asked just in case and the boy shook his head. 

"If that's so, I guess we start wandering until we find something." He said sheepishly as he heard a light snore behind him. He turned his head back and saw her sleeping. He patted her back lightly and started walking.

He had seen his men running out of Emberlands so they could be anywhere in the forest. Perhaps they were still the same place waiting for them or searching for them elsewhere.

As they wandered around the forest that never seemed to end, the sun was going down and the winds were getting colder.

"Find a place for us to rest tonight and come back here." Keith said to the boy and he nodded. 

While the boy was out looking for a place to rest, Keith set a sleeping Katie down against a tree and went around to find some type of food. It was getting dark so he grabbed a few nuts and berries he saw here and there. He could check later if they were edible.

Keith walked back to where he had left Katie with his hands full and saw the boy already waiting for him there. He gave the nuts and berries he collected to the boy and carried Katie in his arms again as the boy led them to the place he found.

The place he found was near a flowing stream that had some other land on the other side. Strangely it seemed familiar but Keith was more focused on making a fire and eating the little bits of food he got.

He laid Katie down softly, making sure not to wake her up and went around to find firewood. It w getting colder now and getting a fever was the last thing they needed.

He returned with a bundle of firewood and lighted a fire using some flint he found on the way. While the boy found a place to sit down, Keith sat down and examined the nuts and berries he collected.

He started on the nuts first by cracking them open and seeing which ones had actual edible nuts he saw before. He threw the non-edible nuts away then grabbed a berry and sniffed it instinctively. 

'Poisonous.' The voice said in his head and Keith looked around, surprised.

'Oh it's you again.' He thought as he realized it was his other version. 'You can tell if it's poisonous?'

'All I need is a sniff.'  The voice answered, 'I was built for survival.'

Keith looked down at the berries and smiled, satisfied. Being a beast might not be as bad as he thought.

He sniffed through all the berries, as weird as it looked, and threw away the ones the voice said was poisonous. Then he went to the stream and washed the berries. He went back with the little berries in his hand and as he looked down at them, his stomach growled.

'Maybe I should've eaten more in the cell.' He thought jokingly to himself as he handed some to the boy who shyed away from him. 

Keith glanced down at the boy before sitting down beside where Katie was laid down. He chewed on a few and spat the bitter seeds out. Katie beside him was still unconscious so he would get her better food in the morning.

"Thank you." The boy finally spoke up while Keith crunched on the nuts.

"No problem." He replied as he watched the boy fidget around.

"Are you galra?" The boy asked and Keith raised a brow. His kind wouldn't be seen anywhere here so how did the boy know, especially when he spent 7 years in a cell?

"Yes, have you seen my kind before?" Keith asked and the boy nodded.

"There were other galra men on the battlegrounds but you are the first half-beast I've seen." He said and Keith looked away to think. 

If he was the first half-beast then the other galra men the boy saw must've been full beast. The only other full beast he knew was his mother because his kingdom either consisted of half beasts or humans that moved there. Most of the galra in Galraen didn't leave the kingdom so who did?

'If they left, they must've been casted away.' Keith thought to himself and crunched on his last nut. He would worry about the other galras later.

"Hey kid." He said to the boy who was now warming his palms in front of the fire. "Are you sure you don't remember your name?" 

The kid looked uncomfortable as he returned against the tree.

"It's just been so long since someone called me it." The boy replied, hugging his knees together.

"Well, I'm Keith." He said, putting on the friendliest smile he could and then turned to the sleeping Katie. "and that's Pidge."

The boy glanced at her and sighed.

"Will he be okay?" He asked and Keith was glad she was still seen as a male in the eyes of other people for some reason.

'That's for the better.' He thought reasoning to himself as his eyes flicked down to her.

She didn't look peaceful anymore and her eyebrows were furrowed together as sweat came down from her forehead. It looked like she was having a nightmare.

"He'll be fine once we make it back to our camp." Keith responded to the earlier question as he tore a medium piece of his clothing and he folded it. Then he walked back to the stream and dipped the cloth in it.

He pressed the wet cloth against her forehead and cleaned the area around her wound. She winced a few times in her sleep but looked comfortable again after he finished. Keith smelled a foul smell and sniffed her and himself. He scrunched his nose at their smell but it wasn't their fault that they didn't have a time to take a bath.

"We should take a bath in the stream tomorrow." Keith suggested out loud and the boy sheepishly nodded. He was in a cell for seven years and probably was allowed to take a bath sometimes but he was still stinky.

The moonlight shined on them and Keith yawned. Today certainly was a long day and they needed lots of rest to go looking for the camp tomorrow.

"Goodnight." Keith said to the boy and heard a mumble from him repeating the same words.

Then he leaned the back of his head against the trunk of a tree and fell asleep with an eye open. It never hurt to be careful.

The next morning, Keith got up before anyone else and took his time to take a bath. He stripped of all his clothing which were either covered in dirt or were ripped and stepped into the cool waters. He relaxed his muscles and rubbed every piece of dirtiness from his body.

It wasn't as clean because there wasn't soap but Keith felt cleaner than he ever felt before. He got out of the stream after he was done and dried up in the sun. Then he quickly put on his clothes before anyone else woke up. 

As he was sharpening 3 long sticks to catch fish with, the boy woke up. 

"Good morning." Keith said as the boy stretched.

"Good morning." He responded softly and looked to the stream.

"Go ahead and take a bath." Keith said smiling to himself as the first stick got sharpened the way he liked, "I won't look."

"Well um." The boy said hesitating to step in, "I don't know how to take a bath for myself."

Keith sighed as he let go of the stick. 

"I'll help you then." He said and the boy looked embarrassed.

"I-I'm sorry." He said, looking down, "it's been long."

"It's okay." Keith said and smiled. He never thought he would be helping someone else take a bath.

The boy took off his clothing and stepped in the water. Keith rolled up his pants and stepped in with him. He helped clean the upper part of the body and told the boy how to clean the bottom half. It felt like he had a little brother.

While the boy was drying up, Keith took the sharp stick and stepped into the stream again to catch some fish.

By the time Katie woke up, there was a fire going on and she could see 3 fish on 3 sticks being roasted. As she tried to get up, her right arm ached and she remembered what happened yesterday. 

"Keith?" She said looking around, trying to get up. 

"Careful." She heard his low voice and sighed in relief. He didn't leave her.

Keith's beautiful clean face came in view and she let out a breath. It felt good to see him as soon as she woke up. 

'When did I ever look towards seeing him?' She thought biting her cheek in embarrassment.

He grabbed her right arm gently and examined the wound again.

"Stay still." He said softly as he pressed a wet cloth around where the arrow was and she winced.

"I'm sorry I can't do anymore for you." He said and she glanced at him.

"It's okay." She said as he got up to clean the dirtied cloth again. "We just have to find the others quickly."

As Keith went back to the stream, the boy came from the forest with some herbs. Katie stared curiously at him and he looked away shyly.

"You can chew on these to relieve the pain." He said handing her the leaves and she smiled.

"Thank you." She said and then debated whether she should really chew on unknown leaves. Keith came by and started cleaning the wound again.

"It's fine." Keith said after sniffing it and Katie tilted her head in confusion but she trusted him so she did as instructed.

It tasted bitter but almost sweet at the same time but the pain in her arm did decrease slowly.

"Since you can't take a bath here, I'll just clean your face." Keith said shyly and Katie nodded.

She relaxed as the cool wet cloth came against her skin. Everything was going well so far so she hoped they wouldn't run into trouble later. After he was done, she got up slowly and went to the stream. It was slightly familiar.

She spat out the leaves in her mouth and had a feeling she didn't want to drink the water. Then she went to where the others were by the fire. They each were eating their own fish so she grabbed the last stick and ate it heartedly. It was a bit dry but she managed to swallow it down. Her body felt satisfied now, satisfied enough to walk on her own.

After they cleaned up their resting place and left what they didn't need, they got ready to travel again.

"Are you sure you'll be fine?" Keith asked and Katie nodded.

"It's not as bad as it was yesterday, thanks to you two." She said, smiling, "I'll manage."

"If you say so." Keith said still looking at her, worried.

Before they walked again, Katie remembered something. The stream was familiar because her and Keith had been there before but on the other side, to refill her water container before they entered Emberlands. That meant they could follow the stream back to where their camp were.

She stopped the guys, explaining and got complimented by Keith on her memory. They crossed the stream to the other side and wandered around the area, looking for the camp. 

Suddenly they heard a voice from above them.

"Keith...?"

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A/N

Who do you think the voice was? An enemy or foe?

Winter break has started for me and I don't even have anything to do except watch kdramas and write (😅😅)

I almost lost my pet bird yesterday and it scared me a lot. I think I'll be really sad when she dies.

Anyway when's break for you and what will you be doing during it? Also what holiday do you celebrate? 

My family and I celebrate Christmas 🎄😊

Thank you for reading this chapter and I hope you have a happy holiday!! 🥰♥️❤️

-Silver