𝒟𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, ᵛᵃʳᵍᵃˢ ᶻᵒᵐ...

( 𝓓𝐀𝐘𝐋𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓 )
chapter three. handsome human crutch

        𝓣HE CAMP WAS a mess.

        broken pieces in the cabins from the fight, smoke lingered stiffly in the air, making the daywalkers cough and rub their eyes. zed immediately brings elysia to the cabin as she groaned.

        "guys, i promise, i'm okay! i can walk on it, look!"

        "━━no!" they both said in unison. elysia blinked at them.

        "just ━━ sit down," addison sighed in exasperation. she seemed exhausted, so elysia quickly apologized quietly, staying put.

        "are you guys like ━━ a zombie alien doctor couple?"

        zed chuckled. "i don't even know what you just said, but we probably are in this world. i mean ━━ daywalkers are real."

         elysia chuckled while they examined the swelling on her right foot that extended up her leg.

        "there's a lot of swelling going on right here," addison noted. "you should stay off it, maybe don't help finding the second clue for the key, as much as you may want to."

        they needed the bloodfruit more than anything, and competing for the second clue against the vampires ━━ specifically vargas ━━ was a party she did want to join. the closer she was to getting all the bloodfruit, the closer she could show her father she meant her word.

        "so, you really didn't hurt elysia?" ray asked outside the cabin. the daywalkers and vampires sat at the vampire, roasting marshmallows. these scene was humorous for how peaceful it seemed between them.

        vargas looked offended, turning to the girl, who was wrapped in the blanket addison and zed provided her. they ordered her to stay off it and not go on any 'vampire hunting missions' ━━ she thinks they were joking. "no! of course i didn't. why else would i carry her back?"

        ray didn't look pleased, but he leaned back. "and you don't use your fangs to drink blood?"

       "blood━━fruit. we don't drink blood, unless you're offering," he smirked, lurching forward with a growl as his fangs appeared. ray shrieked in surprise with the other daywalkers. vargas laughed. "just kidding, just kidding."

        elysia couldn't help but smile, but it was gone before she hoped anyone could see. nova was laughing too, watching victor out of the corner of her eye. elysia made sure to sit as far away from vargas as she could, but she could feel the heat of his stare. the flames are tricking her!

        it felt weird roasting marshmallows with the people she was fighting hours ago, but ever since they found the first key to the gate, everyone's been starting to tolerate each other.

        if that meant she could start tolerating vargas ━━ they're mistaken. she didn't have to hate him because of the bloodfruit, but she could still hate the way he irritated her.

        willa clapped her hands. "okay, time for bed campers!"

        some groans in refute arose as daywalkers shoved their marshmallows into their mouths. a vampire even offered elysia his marshmallow! it was nice, she ate it immediately. vargas was watching her eat the marshmallow, flickering between it and one of his buddies with an unreadable expression on his face.

         elysia stood up, clutching her blanket around her shoulders tighter. she looked around for nova, but she was nowhere to be found.

         "want some help?" willa offered with a warm smile. elysia nodded gratefully, and she put her arm around her shoulder.

        "it's okay willa, i got this." vargas intervened. elysia internally groaned, holding onto willa tighter.

        "you're like those mosquitoes that don't leave you alone."

willa looked torn between leaving elysia with him, but vargas waved her off. "this is our code for 'please help me, i'm so withered and in need of a handsome human crutch.'

        elysia stuck her middle finger up at him. he did the same.

          "who is this and what have you done with elysia!" willa asked, shocked. she was still standing, wrapped in her big blanket miserably when willa sighed. "whatever you say. night guys."

        crickets chirped in the night air.

         "just because you guys found a key doesn't mean i'm gonna start sharing my blanket with you." she snatched the extra blanket away from him. "no key makes up for what you guys have already done."

        "i already told you, i wasn't the one who hurt you. it was one of my buddies over there. y'know what, it was actually the guy who gave you that marshmallow."

        elysia considered throwing up all over the forest floor now.

        "yeah, he's a dick," vargas said. "are you planning on moving or are you sleeping here all night?"

        out in the darkness ━━ no way!

        wordlessly, she puts her arm around him to get her balance. "now don't say anything the rest of this walk."

         "how long is this walk gonna take?"

        "i'll make it longer, just for you," she snapped.

        "perfect."

         it takes a lot for her to be so bitchy back, but it's nice now knowing he won't take offence. how she can say everything she means as a representation of her hatred for the vampires, and he will reciprocate. she's always been so kind to the daywalkers in her life, and this felt new ━━ dangerous. like she was playing with something hotter than her fire powers. even with all those comments, he never tried to hurt her in battle and she was grateful, just like she secretly is now, because no one else offered to help her walk and her sister was god knows where.

       "are you hugging me right now?"

       she pried her arms away, mortified. she hopes the darkness could mask the heat flowing into her face. "no! what? i'm making sure if you kicked me to the curb, i won't go tumbling on the ground!"

        "i'd pay good money to see that."

        wow. okay. she kicks his shin.

        it genuinely takes her about two minutes to reach her cabin. when she reached the top step, she spun around and hurled the blanket at his face. "i know you only helped me for the blanket."

        "and i'll cherish it forever━━"

        "goodnight, idiot," she says louder, slamming the door behind her.

        𝓗IS HEART SPED up each time he looked at her. it started with his harmless teasing and mean comments, because it was the easiest way to get under her skin. it wasn't like he was supposed to be nice to the daywalkers in the first place. but he craved her reaction ━━ he wanted her to tease him back. he cares about her more than he thought he did, because when the blast happened at the garden, she was the first person he looked for amongst it all.

        he held his head in his hands. he never got nervous by her blue-eyed gaze or smile or anything, but now━━

         he'd hunt any vampire who tried to mess with her.

        they're all at the gate the next morning, searching for any clues to help them find the third key. nova and victor called for them to be here in the first place, but they were nowhere to be found. elysia put ice on her foot while she slept, and she insisted on coming to the gate to help because she was feeling better. she wouldn't have to worry about any more fights. the daywalkers and vampires were getting along more day by day after they worked together to find the two other keys.

        she was wearing white glasses on her head, not using them, so vargas grabbed them and put them on with a smirk. when he puts them on, the daylight around him dims.

        "hey, vera, elysia, look ━━ portable night!"

       vera scrunched her nose at him as everyone cheered. vergas nodded towards elysia. "i'm borrowing these, these are sweet."

       elysia giggled, seeing his excitement. she grabbed them off his face as he scoffed in protest. she turned her head in all directions. "this is kinda cool!"

        vargas raised a brow at her, his lip twitching with a grin. "oh, now she admits it."

         elysia tossed the glasses at him. he caught them with ease, still smiling.

        victor and nova emerged from the forest clutching something in hand. it couldn't be━━

        "we found the key!" nova exclaimed before victor held the piece of gold metal up in the air. everyone clapped and laughed. vargas shook elysia's shoulder in excitement, and even she had her usual bright smile along with the vampires. not putting her guard up much anymore ━━ noted.

        victor pressed the key into the middle of the gate with a click. a ring of light illuminates around before the first layer of metal is moved away. vargas and everyone around her are standing, jumping up and down ━━ vargas being the most ecstatic, hitting his buddy on the arm. he's starting to adjust to the day and being with the daywalkers.

        being around her.

        she's clapping, happiness pouring out of her like gold.

        "the final lock," victor started until the ground rumbled under vargas's feet. he's thrown off balance, and he immediately holds onto elysia below him for stability. he gets to her level on the log she's sitting on, preserving most of her weight.

        the rock formation in the middle is moving down. it comes back up to reveal a rock sphere among three engraved circles.

         "only one team can win." nova and victor read slowly, words glowing with fire.

       "the vampires have to push the ball to the moon." victor realised as nova looked at him nervously.

        "and the daywalkers to the sun," she whispered, taking a breath, "only one team?"

        "were we always meant to work against each other?"

        "that doesn't make sense━━"

        "it makes perfect sense, we fight to push the stone over to our side," vera argued, hands on her hips confidently.

        "and the winner gets to open the gate and gets the harvest," ray scoffed. "and it's gotta be us!"

        "that means one of our towns won't survive, and spoiler alert, it's not gonna be us!"

        vera quickly races to their side of the ball, pushing it as the vampires move to help. vargas looks between vera and elysia, who's already moving to slowly back up the daywalkers. he swallows before helping vera push, groaning as the ball moves back and forth.

        "wait, wait, listen! there has to be another way!" addison cries in protest, but no one listens.

        "━━c'mon guys, push!" the vampires yell.

        "━━push!"

        vargas pushes with all the strength he has before a blast emits around them, zed crying out in pain as he staggers backwards from the flash. red veins flood his face and neck before they fade back to normal. addison is yelling his name as she goes to help him.

         "it's getting worse," willa notes in distraught.

        "way worse for me," zed retorts, exhausted and out of breath. vargas cursed under his breath as he follows victor to give zed a hand standing up. he caught elysia's eyes beside him.

         "he helped me, i need to help him," she said, seeing vargas's lips move before he could get the words out.

       "alright, let's get him back to camp." willa ordered. ray, victor, and vargas as zed's support. addison's hand was on elysia's shoulder when vargas looked back.

━━━━━━ 𝓛𝐈𝐋𝐈 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐒

- guys i picked the song elysia and vargas r gonna sing hehe

- probably gonna update tonight so be aware!!