Mistake

Two was caught completely by surprise.

He had kept a count of each Reaper as he finished it off. His total came up to six. So why were there 2 behind him now?

Two reacted as best he could - he knew he couldn't escape, so he turned and threw his arms in front of him in an X formation.

One of the Reapers came down with a heavy slash of its claws, but it was blocked by the gauntlet on his right arm. Thankfully the force from the attack was enough that it knocked him out of the way of the second Reaper to avoid a more serious attack, but the tip of its claw had caught one of his utility pouches as it swung down. The impact from the block caused him to fall over the edge of the crater and tumble down into the center.

A *CLANG* sound can be heard as metal canisters slipped out of the hole in his pouch and bounced downhill with him.

"Two!" Zero shouted as he darted from around his cover.

He saw the two Reapers getting ready to pounce in the crater as Two still hadn't recovered.

"Chronos Trigger!" He pointed his hand towards the Reapers and trapped them within the time field. Zero had barely practiced remotely using Chronos Trigger since the presentation, so he was glad it actually worked this time.

Wait, what do I do now?! Zero quickly thought. He had put himself at a crossroads.

Either I go down into the crater and get Two or attempt to finish off the Reapers myself. Despite making it out of the battle alive last time, it was ultimately Haji and Marcus who finished off the Reaper. What if I can't beat them? What if we both die because of me? Zero's thoughts were bouncing around as he tried to decide what to do.

Zero knew his ability was useful, but it lacked offensive power against Reapers. There was only so much punching them at full speed could do against their armor-like skin.. However, time wasn't on his side.

Zero heard a rustle from within the trees that they had originally come from. A single Reaper launched itself out from the trees and came at him.

"Oh no." Zero said as he realized the situation.

He didn't have the ability to set more than one time field. If he activated one now to save himself, it would undo the one holding the others back from getting to Two.

His mind drifted back to the punch he used that severed the Reaper's arm last time. If only I knew how I did that, then I could get us out of this! Zero thought desperately.

Zero made his choice.

"Chronos Trigger!" He undid the remote one and activated his normal one that stayed with him. The two Reapers jolted forward as they continued their forward motion he had halted. And the new Reaper was closing in fast. Zero now had the superior speed though.

He darted straight towards the center of the crater and grabbed Two's hand, who had started to pick himself off the ground. He ran up the other side of the crater and made his way deeper into the forest with Two in tow.

*******

"Huff…huff…huff…"

Zero was bent over with his hands on his knees as he was physically exhausted.

Running that fast with the addition of Two's body weight is almost too much, he thought to himself.

It was only one other time with Nora that he had transported someone else so he wasn't sure the effect it would have on them. He looked over to Two who seemed a bit groggy and off balance as he used a tree to prop himself up right.

That's when Zero noticed that the gauntlet on his right hand had been smashed by the attack.

Two looked around in a slight daze and then looked to Zero.

"Where are we?"

"I'm not sure. I just ran in the opposite direction so we could escape."

Two stared at him for a moment as everything started clicking back in place. Now he seemed frustrated.

"Wait, why did you run? You could've stalled them until I was able to get back out of the crater. There were only two!"

"There were actually three. The third one appeared after the other 2 attacked you."

"Ok..but what does that change? You could've just used your ability to speed yourself up and blindside all of them. Not run off like a coward."

Zero didn't want to admit that he didn't think he could hurt the Reapers enough on his own.

"It was the best choice I had at the time! If the other one had shown up, there's no way-"

"What do you mean 'other one'? There was another Reaper?"

Zero had no choice but to confess what he knew. "...Yes. It hadn't shown up yet, but there was another one somewhere.."

Two stepped closer with an interrogating look. "And how would you know that?"

Zero clenched his teeth and averted his gaze to the ground.

"Well?"

"Because….because I had seen where the footsteps had separated from the pack. You were moving too fast to notice, but…I saw it. There were 10. But 4 had broken off."

*BAM*

Two's fist connected with Zero's face and sent him stumbling to the ground.

"What the fuck?!" He said looking up at Two holding the side of his face, but his anger quickly died off in the face of Two's.

"You…stupid…fool!" Two reared his fist back for another punch. Zero threw up his arms around his face in response. Two stopped and took a look at Zero hiding behind his arms.

"Tch!"

He turned around and paced in anger. "Do you have any idea what you've done?!"

"H-how is it my fault?? I tried to tell you but you silenced me!"

"Because we had found the Reapers! You should have told me before I went to take them on. Then you could've at least kept an eye out and I would know to expect a possible ambush. If I hadn't blocked at the last second I would be dead right now!"

Zero had no response. He realized that he had just made a mistake that could've costed them a lot more.

"Well…we got away at least." He said, trying to fix the situation. Zero stood back up. "We can just make our way back now that you're back on your feet."

Two held up his broken gauntlet. "This was the cost of your folly. I've lost half my power and all my extra canisters are back in that crater. Not to mention, I don't even know where we are right now. Even with a map it's going to be hard to-"

"Cawww! Cawwww!"

Two and Zero both looked towards the sky and saw a mass of birds flying overhead as if running from something. "What spooked them?" Zero asked softly.

Two inhaled deeply a few times through his nose. "I smell…smoke."

"RARRRRRRR!"

The sound of a Reaper in the distance made them both snap to attention.

Zero happened to glance up one more time and see the cause of the commotion. "Two, look!" Plumes of black smoke were starting to envelop the air above them.

The Reapers were burning down the forest to reach them and they weren't far off.

"Damn it. This is turning sideways." Two grumbled to himself.

"We have to go!" Zero held out his hand, only for Two to slap it away.

"No way am I going anywhere you direct us to. I'll run on my own." Two took off further East into the forest.

"Wait! We should-"

"RARRRR!"

Zero was starting to be able to see the flames through the cracks in the trees. He had to go.

"Damn it all!" Zero took off after Two as the Reapers continued to close in on them.