After a short while, Maddox finally gathered enough strength to lift the bear’s enormous paw over his shoulder, as he dragged the beast back to their campsite. Using a combination of newly-aquired sound and sight, he eventually found his way back to the fallen tree. Daisy was weaving frantically large sticks within the branches of the tree, using leaves and foliage to cover as a roof.

“Impressive” Maddox remarked, as the heavy sound of the dragging carcass snapped to Daisy’s attention.

“There you are!” She cried out frustrated “You’ve been gone nearly all day, it’s getting dark for crying out loud!” Her eyes shifted to the bear, now lying on the ground as Maddox shifted it off his back, stretching his back half way through her lecture “What is that...” she questioned.

“A bear? Never seen one...” Acted Maddox, bemused by Daisy’s stunned reaction.

“No... No, I've seen them before, why do you have one?” When she sent him for food, she expected Deer, maybe a wild pig, not a bear...

“Food?”

“Food...” She still cound’nt believe it.

“I know how you can eat” Maddox joked, leaving Daisy red-faced.

“Rude!” She rubbufed those claims wholeheartedly, however this should be ok she thought “Ah well I suppose this works out, we can use its fur for a blanket... But how are we going to skin it...”

Before he had a chance to respond, she pulled a hunting knife from her back pocket.

He took a step back, suprised at the fact she had been keeping a knife on her this whole time “How long have you had that!”

“I always keep it on me... always” That wasn’t an answer, that was definitly a threat.

“If I ever upset you, I’m sorry...”

“Oh, shut up...” She walked up to the bear, dissecting it with her eyes, planning the best way to use it. “Turn it onto it’s back for me”

“Huh? Sure” He did what he was told, pushing the bear from it's side until it flipped onto its back “Now what?”

“Leave it to me" she looked confidently over towards him "there’s a pile of dry sticks and leaves over there, can you cut off some of the large branches for logs then get a fire going?”

“Daisy, why are you so good at this?”

“Never you mind, now hurry up before it gets dark!”

“Got it!” As she commanded, he set about breaking off some of the large branches from trees nearby. Once he was done, he set one of these large logs on the ground, and surrounded it with the dry leaves and sticks to act as kindling. Perhaps this was a good time to practise his dragon breath? He cleared his mind as he thought fire, and with a deep inhale, blew onto the wood below, a small spark of flames trickled from his lips, and as soon as they appeared, they disappeared as he started to cough violently “Hot! *cough*cough* Hot!” Drake had mentioned to be careful, but he still wasn’t prepared for the volcanic warmth erupting from his throat. Thankfully, he didn’t have to worry about using it again anytime soon as the wood began to dance with flames “Thank god!” he spluttered.

Once he caught his breath back, he walked over to Daisy, already having removed the skin expertly and now going about cutting the meat “Scary...” his words slipped from his mind and out of his mouth.

“You say something” Daisy glared at him, knife in hand.

“No Ma’am!”

“Good, oh, I see you got the fire going! I shouldn’t be much longer preparing the meat, I’m going to cut off some extras so if you could get them in one of the tree’s when I’m done, it shouldn’t gather any attention”

“Right...”

“Also, once I’m done, can you get rid of the remains for me? We don’t want any visitors in the night.”

“Sure” seriously, she was the most airheaded, ditzy person he knew, how was she so useful in this situation!

Once she had finished, he did as she instructed, dragging the much lighter carcass a fair distance, enough that it shouldn’t attract any attention to them anyways. Then climbing one of the nearby tree’s, placed the remaining meat, wrapped delicately within large leaves and tied together with some vines.

Once he was done, he returned to the fire to see Daisy, her knees covered underneath the bear skin blanket while sat on one of the larger logs. In her hands were two skewers, both with ample amounts of meat as they hovered over the flames. The savoury smell of the burning meat drifted in the wind and to his nose, it smelled delicious.

“Looks good” He complimented as he pearched next to her “Room for one more?” As he reached out to grab a skewer out of her hand.

“Hey!” “Get your own!” Pointing over to a pile of meat covered skewers, stabbed into the ground.

“Serious... Hey don’t hog all the blanket” as he pulled a corner of the bear skin rug over his legs.

She didn’t complain, she just pulled her two skewers out of the fire to examine them “Hmmm... They look done” She placed the meat into her mouth and pulled off a segment, her face grew radiant with delight “Sooo good!!!” she cheered as she turned to Maddox “Here, try some!”

“You sure? Ok” As she held the skewer, he took a bit and pulled off another segment of the meat “Mmmm, it is good!”

“I know right! Praise me” She tilted her head towards him with proud smile wrapped in accomplishment.

“Yeah, yeah, good job” as he patted her on the head, gently ruffling her hair.

She moved in closer to Maddox, leaning on his shoulder, her face had changed, she looked sadder. “I’ll never see them again, right? My parents?”

“I don’t know about that.” He tried to reassure her to no avail, she continued.

“Mmm Mmm” she shook her head “You know the last thing they said to be before I left, I was no longer welcome there...”

“I’m sure they didn’t mean it”

“Maybe you’re right, but I don’t think I could face them again, not like I am now...” she looked solemnly into the fire, but a change occurred, her brows furrowed as a look of determination unfolded.

“Daisy...”

“You’re not the only one who needs to get stronger right?” she looked up to him, a glint in her eye and smiling once more “I need to prove to them this was the right decision for me, so I’ll be relying on you, Kay?” she smiled one more.

“You got it, I won’t let you down” he flashed her a thumbs up and a smile, which she appreciated.

“Good... Hey Maddox, you want to know why I know all this survival stuff?”

“I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was a little curious” he admitted.

“My dad Allways's wanted a son, but when I was born, he didn’t treat me any different, he would take me on hunts and talk me through all this stuff, saying it could save my life someday, I never thought I’d use it but I guess it came in pretty handy huh?”

That was pretty handy he thought to himself “I’d say it probably saved our skins.”

“You’ll have to remember to thank him when we go back.”

“Why am I going back with you?”

“You took their daughter away from them, you have to take responsibility.” She turned back to him with a serious expression, did she really expect him to stroll up to her family after all this?

“That just makes me want to go back less...” he scratched his head as he thought “Well if it’s your mom I suppose it’s ok”

“Why’s that...” A devil appeared in her eyes.

Panicked, as she slowly reached for her back pocket, he scrambled for words “Oh, she’s just a lot more... Like you, a lot more understanding” he prayed this was true as he watched her next moves carefully.

“Hmmm” She continued to shoot daggers, chilling his soul.

“What?” His eyes wandered the forest, avoiding looking into her gaze.

“Nothing...” As she angrily bit hard into her skewer, pulling off the meat with unreasonable force, almost snapping the stick holding the meat .

“We’ve hardly left and you’re already talking about going back, you sure you’re ok with this?” He asked, trying to take her mind away from her anger towards him.

“Yeah, I want to see the world, and if I get too see it with you all the better.” Good, her anger had seemed to pass, she’d turned sweet again.

“That so...” he whispered to himself happily. The pair sat by the fire, eating their meals and talking idlily until the moon was high in the sky. A large yawn escaped from Daisy’s lips as she collapsed into Maddox’s shoulder once more.

“Hey there...” It was no good, she was already out cold “Such a nightmare” he sighed, a warm grin on his face. After he covered the fire with dirt to put it out, he picked her up in his arms and carried her to their make shift room. Wow, he thought to himself as he entered through the little entrance she had made at the trunk of the tree. With just some branches and leaves, she managed to transform this collapsed timber into something homelier. The roof she had made over their heads looked sturdy, same for around the branches that acted as support beams. Laid out on the floor was another large piece of the bear fur, to act as the sheet for them to sleep on.

“There you go” delicately he placed her down as he covered her with the blanket. He removed his dirty shirt and jacket, hanging them off one of the branches protruding from the roof. Slowly he made his way under the covers as well, in his ear he could hear shuffling from beside him, eventually an arm appeared and wrapped itself around his waist “Isn’t someone a hypocrite...” As he lightly tapped her in the stomach “Well I guess we’re even now.”

“Mmm” she pulled him in tighter “Good...night...” her voice slowly faded away as she started to breath heavily behind Maddox’s neck.

“How am I supposed to sleep like this...” he moaned as he closed his eyes, and slowly, drifted, to sleep.