Straight to the battlefield

"Dear…" To say that I had no words to excuse my decision would be quite a fitting description of my current situation. While I was able to make the decision, when it came to defending it right in Ayda's face, it was an entirely different matter altogether. 

"Don't you dear me right now!" Ayda snapped. Her fists tightened as she looked with disbelief at my face. "Do you really think I'm going to let you go to a complete unknown? And alone at that?!" 

Grabbing me by my shoulders, the girl panicked.

"I'm sorry, but even with the time freeze, it's not guaranteed that I will return before it ends." Breathing out, I felt my entire body almost collapsing. Just this moment of arguing with the girl was enough to bring me to an edge. 

In the end, this was a serious testimony to just how much I cared about her.