Chase dug his boot into the rocky face of the mountain, letting his body just hang as he looked onward over the vast lands of Vallmora.
"Don't look down guys!"
Chase yelled with a smile on his face.
"Don't do that."
Poppy growled from beside him, setting up her small dagger right next to his sword.
With everyone else decently far below them, they had no other choice but to wait, as cool as it would have been for just the two of them to take on an entire army.
She then leaned against him, breathing heavily but quietly as she looked at the same wonderful view.
The sun was just barely starting to creep over the horizon.
She tucked her head against his chest, causing his face to flush red, and he swore to himself that he wouldn't let go of his sword.
'What if this is her way of assassinating me for good?!'
Chase thought.
'Actually... I kinda like this way a little more than the last couple...'
He sighed, as the flowery smell of Poppy's ivory hair filled the compressed air around them.
"Are you ready?"
Chase scoffed.
"You aren't asking that cuz your gonna kill me or something are you?"
He couldn't see her face, but he knew damn well that she was smiling...
"No idiot..."
She wouldn't look up, but he could see faint droplets of water falling down the massive drop below them.
"I'm happy... I'm happy that you are- Are happy..."
Chase nearly choked on his own spit.
"Huh?"
She chuckled, once she heard him gulp.
"You- you- Seemed so broken... When you came back... The first time... And- When we were in that place... With the mimic..."
She was actively sobbing now, and Chase tried his best to keep his composure.
"You didn't know it... But you saved me..."
Chase looked up at the stars fading from the sky as the orange hue of the son began to cover the entire landscape around them.
"I- I- Just-"
She tried to speak but couldn't.
Chase put his free arm around her shoulders, letting out a heavy breath.
"You don't have to say it..."
She buried her face into the chest plate of Chase's armor, letting the Obridean Alloy drown out her sobbing.
"Thank you..."
She mumbled, as she tightened her grip on the dagger, then released herself from Chase's embrace, as she began to ascend the mountain.
Leaving Chase hanging by the handle of his sword, he could only let out a short chuckle.
"Fallen friends and family... You better bare witness to the sight that is about to be seen once in a lifetime..."
He whispered with a smile, as he began to ascend the last stretch of the mountain.
"Got the girl!"
Lithica pumped his fist from Chase's right side.
"Why the hell are you even climbing?!"
Chase asked in outrage, as Lithica lazily plunged a crappy dagger into one of the jagged rocks.
"That isn't even how you do it!"
Chase whined.
"Relax my lord... I won't tell Zephyr..."
Chase couldn't help but smile, as he thrusted his dagger into the flattest section of rocks he could reach, then used his hand to grab onto a jagged rock that was sticking out of the wall of stone.
"Chase! You do know what we are about to face right?"
Michael asked from Chase's left, with Equan stopping in his tracks below him.
Chase could only sigh and continue climbing.
"Nothing compared to what lies in our distant futures..."
Michael turned back towards the rocks, and plunged his own bronze sword into the rocks.
"Damn straight..."