We're Off To See The Wizard!

Barrett lay down a tarp under the stars.

"What are you doing just standing there?" Barrett asked Luminous.

Luminous jolted turning towards Barrett.

"I uhh, what should I do?" Luminous squeaked.

"Guee, I don't know, set up camp." Barrett said sarcastically. "What, you've never been camping before?"

Barrett turned around to look at Luminous only to see the dirt covered girl looking away while biting her lip.

"You know what, you should go wash up before those wounds get infected and start festering. I'll start the campfire. If you wash your clothes and bring them back, I'll even patch them up for you." Said Barrett.

Luminous looked around the campground. There was no way that a bath was going to be prepared for her like there was at the castle. So that could only mean one thing, swimming at a lake. Luminous felt a smile come across her scratch up dirty face, but was quickly dashed when she saw Barrett stacking heavy stones together to make a firepit.

"You sure you don't need help?" Asked Luminous feeling guilty that he was basically doing all the work.

"I don't need you slowing me down and getting in the way. Just go wash up. You at least know how to clean yourself right?"

He seems to be picking thought stones up with ease...thought Luminous.

"Yes, finally, a bath.." Said the Dawn of Fate. "You reek short stuff."

Barrett narrowed his eyes at the glass vermillion sword strapped to the girls back.

"You can also leave him with my other stuff on the tarp." Said Barrett.

"I get it. You don't have to stare at me like I'm a perv." Said the Dawn of Fate. "I'm a sword; what kinda leecher activities did you imagine me partaking in anyways?"

"Just set him down next to my bedroll." Continued Barrett ignoring the sword.

Luminous unstrapped the sword from her back and set him next to Barrett's bedroll.

"There is a lake just down that pathway, just scream if somethings bothering you. I'll come immediately."

Luminous glanced at the pathway Barret pointed towards, she didn't see the lake or hear the running water. She wondered if he could even hear her from that far.

"We'll, I'll be back." Said Luminous.

She walked down the leafy forest path until she heard the trickling of lake water from behind a red bush. Pulling the leaves back, Luminous saw the lake clear and shining under the moonlight.

"Finally, I get to go camping like a real adventurer. Sleeping under the stars and bathing in the lake. Breada-bot would never let me swim in a lake when we went outside the palaces. Oh this is so exciting!"

Quickly undressing Luminous jumped into the lake. Her soft warm skin was met instantly with cold water.

"Ahh! It's cold!" Luminous squealed jumping out of the water.

She hugged her bare breast and waist for warmth. She looked over towards her clothes, she flung to the dirt ground. But they were now soaking wet because she splashed water on them.

"What's wrong?! What happened?!" Yelled Barrett jumping out of the bushes with his grate sword drawn.

"The water here is freezing!" Yelled Luminous shivering. "Also now my clothes are wet and cold! Look!"

Luminous took her hand off her white breast to point at the damp cloths on the ground. Barrett's beige skin turned bright pink, he swiftly turned his head from her to stare at the bushes.

"Then just change into your spare clothes!" Barrett barked out flustered.

"I uh, didn't bring any other clothes." Said Luminous.

"What?! I even offered to patch up your current clothes for you! What? Were you going to sit around naked while I did that? Or were you planning on me stitching you up inside them! How did you think this was going to work?!"

"I think the better question is how are you not cold without a shirt on?" Said Luminous walked up in front of Barrett's line of vision.

"Dahh!"

Flustered Barrett took off his red hood wrapping it around Luminous fair naked body. Luminous stopped and stared for a moment, it was the first time she's ever seen the top of Barrett's head without his hood on. His brown hair was so...big, and spiky, it was like it was hiding secrets. Barrett paused for a moment just realizing he gave her his most valuable possession. But if he took it back now things would be weird…er...

"You can wear that, but uh, don't lose or tear it okay?" Said Barrett turning around and walking back to camp. "Come on, I'll start patching you up."

Luminous arrived at camp trailing right behind Barrett. The bright vermillion sword glowing in the campfire light.

"Hey short stuff, what happened? M.r super serious over here just jumped up from what he was doing and ran off." Asked the Dawn of Fate.

That's when the Dawn of Fate spotted Luminous wrapped in nothing but Barrett's oversized red hood.

"Oh, I see, when you were calling me a leecher you were projecting." Said the Dawn of Fate.

"Shut up stupied sword!" Barrett blushed."It's not like that! Nothing happened!"

Not long after Luminous sat down near the campfire, Barrett grabbed a clear bottle with clear liquid out of his satchel. Barrett daybed the liquid into his strong hands before rubbing it onto Luminous' scratched up cheeks.

"Oww!" Luminous bellowed pulling away from him. "What is that stuff? It burns!"

"Oh, be quiet you big baby! It's just disinfectant!" Said Barrett grabbing her checks and rubbing more disinfectant on them. "That stinging sensation is your germs screaming as they die." Grinned Barrett opening up a light purple bandaid and sticking it on Luminous' cheek.

"Pfft! Hahaha!" Luminous laughed.

"What's so funny?"

"That sounds so silly, but you said it really seriously. Haha."

"Whatever…" Barrett blushed.

Barret ignored Luminous, he continued putting disinfectant and colorful bandages on her scratches. Luminous got a closer look at Barrett now that he was patching her up. His muscles on his sender arms were more noticeable without anything covering his upper body. Luminous lowered her gaze staring at his abs, her eyes fell lower and lower until...

"So, about your hair?" Asked Barrett.

Luminous' gaze snapped back up to his face.

"Your hair?" Said Luminous, her cheeks glowing pink. "I wasn't staring..."

"Look I don't know if that choppy lopsided hair style is what you were going for or what but I could cut it." Said Barrett. "It would be really short, but it won't be uneven anymore. So what do you say?"

Luminous looked back down at his hand to see a hunting knife in it. She put her hand up to her uneven hair.

"Oh, umm, is this going to cost me extra?" She asked.

"You really are generous huh?" Smirked Barrett. "Na, you're already one of my best paying customers.Let's just call this, I don't know. Part of the care package…"

"Okay, uh thanks." Luminous bit her lip feeling guilty.

"It's nothing."

Barrett took his hunting knife to the longer side of her hair. Carefully he cut it down to her chin.

"There, it's not going to be long, girly, and flowy for awhile. But at least you don't look like a bum anymore. You want to see it?" Asked Barrett handing Luminous his knife.

Luminous looked into the knife's reflection and..it wasn't as bad as she thought it would be. Her short bob actually looked pretty cute. The colorful band aids made her look like a rough and tumble warrior woman.

"You think you look like a warrior?" Asked the Dawn of Fate. "Pff! That's cute short stuff."

"What, but how did you?" Asked Luminous.

"You mumble all the time." Said the Dawn of Fate.

Luminous blushed. Just how much did she mumble about?

"What? You never noticed?" Asked the Dawn of Fate.

"I don't suppose you have a sleeping bag with you either now do you?" Barrett asked Luminous.

"Oh, umm." Luminous looked away from Barrett. "I'll just uhh.."

"Good you can take mine. It's too warm out here for me."

"Are you kidding it's freezing!" Squealed Luminous.

"It's hot out. I, don't, need, my sleeping bag. Got it idiot." Huffed Barrett sitting on the tarp. "I'm going to be up all night anyways..I have to sew up your outfit so you can give me back my favorite hood already."

Luminous lay in Barrett's sleeping bag wrapped in Barrett's red hood. But she couldn't sleep, instead she watched the big muscular hunter, who was too concentrated on sewing the loose buttons back onto Luminous' pink pajama shirt to notice her staring at him.

"So, you sew huh?" Asked the Dawn of Fate. "That's kinda girly."

"I'm self sufficient." Replied Barrett cutting the extra string with his sharp teeth. "I'm in the woods all day, clothes and other equipment get torn all the time, just faster and cheaper to fix it myself. If you have any grips you can do this yourself. Or I could just let your sword welder run around butt naked in the cold harsh forest. I'm being nice to you, don't be a snarky little prick."

"Or maybe I could hold onto your hood." Said Luminous, her voice startling Barrett. "I never imagine it could feel so warm." She said feeling the soft velvety fabric in her hands.

"It's not for sale." Barrett snapped almost immediately. He stopped what he was doing and stared at the red hood. "Vainglorious could save her anytime he wants to, he just chooses not to…" He grumbled to himself.

"Vainglorious could save her?" Luminous repeated knitting her eyebrows together.

"You know I might not be as powerful as Vainglorious.," started Barrett. "But maybe I could…"

"You could...?"

Barrett shook his head. What was he doing, he's only a paid tracker. Noun of this concerned him.

"Nevermind. You should get some sleep. It smells like there will be a lot of walking tomorrow."

Everyone fell silent for the rest of the night. Luminous didn't really know when she fell asleep but the next morning she woke up to the smell of eggs. Luminous popped her head out of the sleeping bag to look over towards Barrett.

"What? Huh?" Questioned Luminous.

"Though you might be hungry." Said Barrett flipping the eggs in the pan that was set over the fire.

"Starving." Awserd the Dawn of Fate.

Barrett and Luminous raised their eyebrows at the sword.

"Uh, you eat?" Asked Luminous.

"Maybe…" Said the Dawn of Fate. "Why?"

"Umm, because you're a sword…"

And if a sword had eyes the Dawn of Fate would be glaring daggers.

"How does that thing talk anyways?" Asked Barrett. "I mean it's got to be enchanted, but I've never come across an enchantment like this before…"

"Lets just say I'm a very special sword and leave it at that." Said the Dawn of Fate. "I mean I don't go around asking your origin story."

"Okay, well I also sewed up your clothes." Said Barrett handing Luminous back the bundle of clothes.

Luminous began taking the red cloak off her bare body.

"Don't change in front of me!"Shouted Barrett, turning as red as his cloak. "Go change behind a bush or something! S..stupied!"

Luminous put on her regular pink button pajama top and black shorts behind a tree away from Barrett and the Dawn of Fate when she spotted a heart shaped button on her sleeve.

"Hey Barrett, what's this?" Asked Luminous rejoining the two.

"That," Said Barrett rolling up the sleeping bag. "I made it last night. It's enchanted armor, I figured, you know if we run into thoughts monsters again. It would be beneficial for you to have a way to protect yourself."

"Thanks." Said Luminous. "But..I feel like I should get you something in return. Oh I know, I'll get you the treasure of the dragon's cave of wonders."

"Like you could defeat a dragon." Scoffed Barrett. "Even if there were any dragons left." He shook his head. "You can keep that, I just thought that you could actually make yourself useful next time we run into thoughts monsters."

"Hey..I was useful.." Said Luminous.

"Sure you were," said the Dawn of Fate. "Useful dead weight." The sword laughed.

"I should give you a basic rundown on how enchanted armor works." Said Barrett handing the Dawn of Fate back to Luminous. Luminous took the sword, her hands brushing against Barrett's in the exchange causing them both to blush. "I..It's better for you to get used to this now before you know…okay, just, press the heart shape button to summon the armor."

Luminous pressed the heart shape button. Her pink pajama top and black shorts disappeared turning into a red metal breast plate, with a pink leotard underneath.

"Whoa." Luminous said looking down at her pink metal arm bracers. "Did you stay up all night making this?" She asked, rocking back and forth on the heels of her meatal boots.

"Wow dog breath, I really didn't think of you as that kind of perv." Laughed the Dawn of Fate. "I mean if you make this thing any skimpier she could be a harem dancer."

"I mean I guess I could give her more convergence to give her even more defence bost, but I didn't want to mess up her dexterity stat. You know the only decent stat she seems to have." Retorted Barrett. "Especially since some huge clunky sword seems to already be dragging her down."

And if a sword could glare the Dawn of Fate would run a cold steel stare down Barrett's spine.

"It's never the fault of the sword, but of the welder for any combat mistakes." Said the Dawn of Fate.

"What do you say Luminous?" Asked Barrett ignoring the swords words. "You want a test run my fine handy work?"

"Ya! How does it work?." Said Luminous eyeing her new armor.

"Here!" Yelled Barrett pulling something out of his pockets. "Block this with your bracers!"

"Huh?"

Luminous looked up just in time to see something flying at her from the corner of her eye. On instinct she held up her arms covering her face. A small bean bag hit her metal arm bracers. The bracers glowed for a moment at the impact before the bean bag hit the forest floor.

"Nice block!" Prased Barrett. "Now try dodging this one!"

Barrett picked up another bean bag in his hand and threw it. Luminous ran to the side, way faster then she was expecting to.

"Whoa is it just me or did you get faster?" Asked the Dawn of Fate.

"Good observation sword." Said Barrett. "I enchanted the boot's to make you run faster and jump higher."

"Hey, that's Mr. Sword to you." Said the Dawn of Fate.

"Really? I can run super fast now?" Exclaimed Luminous excitedly.

"Now block!" Yelled Barrett throwing another bean bag.

Luminous held up her arm guards blocking the bean bag. Again the arm guards glowed for a moment before the bean bag hit the ground.

"So it wasn't just my imagination…"Mumbled Luminous.

"Hey, Luminous." Said Barrett. "Just so you know, your arm guards have shock adoption. When you've got enough hits on them the glow will last and you can send it back out. You can choose to do it earlier if you want, but it won't pack as much of a punch. Here I'll show you, try to block."

Luminous blocked a few more of Barrett's bean bags with her arm guards. Until the glow on the arm guards stayed.

"Good, now cross your arms together and push them forward!" Said Barrett.

Luminous crossed her arms together sending a small shock wave towards Barrett. It wasn't strong but it pushed Barrett back a few inches.

"Haha! That works great! Now that you got the hang of it lets try freestyle!" Yelled Barrett grabbing a stick that was laying on the ground and rushing at her.

"Hey he did say he improved jumping right?" Asked the Dawn of Fate.

"Yes why?" Asked Luminous.

Barrett lunged jabing the stick at Luminous.

"Jump!" Yelled the Dawn of Fate.

In the next split second Luminous jumped. Jumping way higher than the top of the tall hunters head. Panicked Luminous quickly grabbed onto one of the higher branches of the tree she could reach.

"So what are you going to do from up there?" Smirked Barrett looking up at Luminous.

"Okay, think of your next move very carefully." Said the Dawn of Fate. "Don't just…"

In the next second Luminous let go of the tree her metal boot aimed at Barrett's head.

"Arrr!"

In the next split second the armor disappeared turning back into the pink button up pajama top and black shorts it was before. Losing her gusto, Luminous flailed around in the air panicked.

"Ahh!"

Luminous closed her eyes prepared to hit the ground when she felt a pair of warm muscular arms caught her. Opening her eyes Luminous found a pair of rosewood eyes staring back at her.

"Not bad for a test run huh?" Painted Barrett. "I say it's my best handy work yet. Not that you're going to find someone better out here." Smirked Barrett.

"Alright enough with the flirting dagnabbit!" Yelled the Dawn of Fate. "I'm ready to hit the road!"

"I..I'm not flirting!" Barrett blushed. "She fell on me! Dam sword!"

Both Barrett and Luminous broke off from one another. Barrett draped the red cloak back over his shoulders before leaving down the path towards Vainglorious without looking back at Luminous.

It didn't take long before Barrett stopped in front of a cave.

"Vainglorious has been hanging out in this cave for awhile now it seems. His stench floods this place like the tranch he is." Said Barrett. "You can go on ahead. Knowing our history, it's better if he doesn't know I'm here."

"Thanks." Said Luminous smiling.

"Well, it's nothing!" Blushed Barrett. "Tch! I mean it would be crazy of me to pass up 400 boon for a simple tracking quest."

Luminous stepped forward to go inside the cave when Barrett grabbed her hand, turning her towards him. They stared at each other for a bit before Barrett spoke up.

"I..if you..if you need anything, scream, I'll come running in immediately."