The Unwilling Protagonist

Chapter 6: A Date with the Devil

Opening Theme:

Miriam's eyes were closed as she rested in the carriage. The rocking motion as it wheeled along made for a relaxing environment. Y/N simply stared out of the window observing the landscape. Most of the day consisted of passing over meadows, and now, the path was surrounded by forest on either side. There was the occasional bird and deer that passed by, but other than that, nothing special occurred.

Y/N was starting to feel tired as well. He felt his eyes grow heavy as he struggled to stay awake. This moment reminded him of a quote he heard from a movie:

"The trick to falling asleep is trying to stay awake" or something like that. What movie was that from? The question lurked in Y/N's mind.

"Saving Private Ryan; that was the movie!" Y/N said quietly to himself, not that it made him feel any better about anything, he just wanted his curiosity quenched before he closed his eyes and sighed as sleep took him.

Right when Y/N fell asleep, Miriam stirred awake and rubbed her eyes. She looked out the window and noticed the forest around her.

We must be getting close... Miriam thought to herself. Moving carefully, she lowered the window of the carriage and stuck her head out.

"Charlotte, how far away are we?" she asked.

"We should be at the village by nightfall, Sister Miriam." Charlotte replied.

"Very good. Thank you."

Miriam raised the window and went to sit back down, until she noticed Y/N sleeping. At that moment, she took the opportunity to move closer to him and observe his sleeping face. He didn't look at peace, more like, on standby for when he would be needed. Such fortitude would usually be found in a soldier, but in Y/N's case, it was more like when he would go through the daily routine of waking up, going to school, doing his part-time job, and going back to sleep.

Miriam continued to look at Y/N, until she shook her head and reminded herself that she still didn't like him. She was about to sit back down, until a bump in the road threw her off-balance on onto Y/N. Y/N woke up to something hitting him and he instinctively grabbed it, but then he realized he was holding Miriam by her shoulders.

"Miriam? You alright?" Y/N asked in confusion.

Miriam was blushing profusely at the situation she was in. She quickly regained whatever composure she had and threw Y/N's hands off of her.

"I'm fine! There was no need for you to lay your hands on me!" She chastised.

"Hey! In case you didn't notice, you fell on me!" Y/N shot back.

"Y/N? Sister Miriam? Are you alright?" Charlotte called from up front.

Y/N lowered the window, "Charlotte, what happened? Did we run over something?"

"It was just a small divot; I apologize if it disturbed you in any way."

Y/N glared back at Miriam as he spoke, "Oh, don't worry. I wasn't disturbed in the slightest..."

"What's with that look?" Miriam asked in annoyance.

"What do you think, lady?"

"If you're going to stare at me with those perverted eyes, I suggest you stop immediately."

"You know what?" Y/N stuck his head out the window, "Charlotte, stop the carriage."

The carriage wheeled to a halt and Y/N opened the door and stepped out.