In Safe Arms

It was a chippering morning for the forest dwellers the next day, gone to slumber were the predators of the night, now was the time for the smaller more innocent ones to go foraging for food

Amid these happy creatures were two unlike the rest, no fur and no scales, barely any hair, walking on two legs with a hopeless expression about them

"What bloody luck"

Complained Jack, holding his arm as if to pin down the pain from incessantly eating at him

"To think that they were also heading toward the city, do they plan to exterminate it as well?"

The group he spoke of was none other than the Blood Orthurus, when taking the easiest path toward the city that he knew of Jack spotted the black and red clouds hovering in the distance

"Could they however? I don't think it's possible"

He did not know their numbers or their strength, to begin with he only heard of them yesterday, but common sense told him that a city would not so easily fall

"I don't have any other place to go to though, I can only head toward it…from another direction"

That being said, he did not know any other normal route, there was however that one forsaken place his father spoke of once as he told the brigade's adventures, except it was a dreary place

"Anything beasts chancing upon those dogs again, and I can't stay here or my wound will deteriorate"

There was no longer a need to debate on the matter, the choice was already made for him

Thus Jack and Jade trudged their way through the forest, doing their best to stay low and out of sight as they slowly crept closer toward a more gloomy part of the green place, one filled with pits and burrows

The journey was not short, two days of travel and two nights of huddled watch, no fire to warm them and nothing to take as shelter, a tedious and most painful time for Jack who had an injured arm, and Jade with her tattered dress

On the third day, the two finally found themselves in the new region of dry ground and chilly wind, the sparse trees doing nothing to block it all out

"Finally, just a little more"

Jack said, mouth parched since it had been a day since he last saw water, hopefully there would be some where they were headed

Tic!

A branch broke as they walked, the tired and thirsty Jack took more than a few moments to realize it hadn't come from behind him where Jade walked, instead…

"!!"

Two tiny hands entered his periphery vision, just enough for him to try and lean away, earning the poor Jack a clawing mark on his left cheek but avoiding total blindness

Falling backward as the creature mounted his chest he decided to switch bodies, finding himself already in the motion of kicking the large squirrel thing away

Already anticipating an attack the squirrel nimbly jumped over the dainty legs and toward their owner

Before it could even lay its claws on her however it was hit by a rock from behind, followed by an elbow from Jade, straight into Jack's straggling arm which held it in place for a painful end under the bashing from a rock Jade picked back up

"Whew, that was just a squirrel"

Rather than feeling happy that she won Jade complained, if they met anything of substantial danger out here they would be toast

"If only my strength did not suddenly up and vanish"

The most worrying thing was that Jade returned to normal human strength, perhaps a little above average but that was it, no more was that smashing power present in this small build

Though she wanted to take a break the place did not allow it, especially now that blood was splattered all over the place from killing the squirrel

'Speaking of the squirrel, it is good that my original body reacted by throwing a rock on its own, it really comes in handy at critical times even when I'm not the one controlling it'

Jade's body too reacted by kicking, perhaps they followed instinct when their life was endangered

After the small episode the two quickly made way toward the nearest pit they could spot from afar, one three times their size and five times their height

'I'll have to be careful while climbing'

She turned to Jack and ordered him to stay put, unsure if he would follow the order or not but hoping he would, otherwise it would put both bodies at risk if she was forced to switch while climbing down

Gripping onto the rigid wall of first and rocks she made way toward the bottom with utmost cautiousness, checking every now and then if Jack had decided to come down as well

Much to her delight the original body stayed up as it was told until she made it down safe and sound, that's when she switched back

"Okay, now the tough part"

Coming up on Jack's turn to go down he found it much more difficult, almost impossible to do with only his legs and a single hand, which is why Jade was waiting down there in case anything went wrong

Slip! "!!"

As expected he couldn't make the entire journey safely, falling with five meters to go

Rather than suffering the fear of falling with nothing to clutch on he switched into the prepared Jade who was now looking up at the quickly descending back

"This gonna hurt-Ou!...Or not?"

Out of reflex she yelled but in reality Jack was soundly caught in her arms, barely any heaviness to him

"I got stronger again?"

That perplexed her, was she not normal moments ago up there? What exactly caused her to become as strong an ox again

Rising in answer to the question was a feeling from within her heart, a whisper told in beat after beat, one she heard only once before

"...Earth….Bound"

She muttered under her breath, that's what her heart told her, what her Trait was

"But…how?"

Jade knew that was impossible, didn't she already have Marionette's Heart?

"No, wait, Jack has that Trait, this is an entirely new body, another person"

Though sharing the same mind they were now two people, meaning two traits

"That's convenient, more than that actually, it's wonderful"

Unlike her mysterious first trait earthbound was clear to understand, depending on the geology of the place she was in her strength would be boosted

"In other words, because I was in a forest I was brittle like the dirt, but when I'm in caves my body becomes as hard as rocks, or well, proportionally increase depending on their hardness"

That made a lot more sense as to why she was strong back in town, after a'' that place was made of strong foundations

Smiling to herself she looked into the gloomy dark place the pit descended into and felt the journey might not be as horrible as she thought

"Hopefully everything would go just fine"

With a little more confidence Jade took the first step. Jack held in a princess carry