Serenity

Allies

Sorry it's been taking me a while to get any sort of chapters out! My motivation and time is really just going Wheeeeee XDD But- Enjoy this chapter! I'll start working on the next one immediately >:)

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|Rechin|

It's been nearly two weeks since the fall of the Reapers. Twelve days since Lόs and I ran. Ever since then, he and I have been on the run. We had to shift further inland, west of Falanel, due to having the Sa'aal right on our tail, tracking through the coastline cities. Honestly, I shouldn't have been surprised. My brother would have known where I'd be more prominent to go to. So, I had to change it up and head inland.

Given any other choice, I wouldn't have, but this was a matter of survival and striving to build back up the Reapers and drive out the traitors amongst them. Though... this was not an easy task.

I really needed to find more aid.

Lόs was right behind me a few steps as I navigated the path forward. Taking the roads was risky, due to the fact that anyone could be on it. Reaper or Sa'aal. So now, both of us were pushing through the undergrowth of the inland forests. Certainly, NOT my first choice. Lόs didn't seem too bothered, however.

"Wait. Do you hear that?"

Lόs stops behind me and I soon after do the same. I swiveled my head around, trying to see through the dim light that casted from the setting sun through the trees. It was quiet, as all I heard was the rustle of the wind through the trees and the buzzing of the cicadas. "What do you hea-" THWACK.

I jump back as an arrow whizzes past and embeds itself into the tree to my left. Quickly snapping my head to the right, I see a figure in between the trees. They pause and then quickly lower their bow, then dart over. "Sorry! I thought you were a deer!" The feminine voice calls out over the noise and I tense up. She looked no more than 19, with her brown hair partially tied back to the side in twin braids. As she gets closer, I could make out more details. Her pale green eye that flicked quickly to take in my friend and I, with her mouth drawn into a thin line, with stitches on either side of it. She seemed like a hunter. Most likely locale to the nearby town we were trying to get to.

"Did you both loose the road?" She gives us both a disapproving look that matched her sarcasm as she walks past me to grab her arrow. I shake my head no as she turns to look back at me and Lόs. Besides the fact that she nearly impaled me with an arrow, something about her was... odd. She had her left eye covered by her hair that had a brilliant purple color running through it. "You know, staring is rude." She gives an eye roll, then makes to start walking off. "But again, sorry for mistaking you for a deer."

"Are you from around here?" Lόs speaks up, making the girl stop and turn. "Why do you ask..." A note of caution was in her voice as she eyed both of us. "We were wondering if you knew a place we could stay for the night. We wouldn't make it to Kirthi before nightfall and we would run the risk of a wolf attack."

She gives us both another look-over before sighing and nodding.

"My house is not far. But you both leave by morning. Ok?" I quickly give her a nod. Lόs had quick thinking. Even though we both could manage to fend off any wolves, we had noticed on the road a while back, somebody trailing us from a distance away. We still had no clue if they were following our trail. The girl turns back around and starts to walk with her quick yet quiet pace. Huh... No wonder we hadn't heard her sooner.

I start after her, making do to try and not make myself seem intimidating in case she turned back and saw me making my usual resting face...

The trees passed by us as we followed her, her path weaving through all the trees as she made her way through the underbrush with ease. Admittedly, I was having trouble trying to keep pace with her. I wasn't the best at navigating forests, but I could track somebody through a town without any issues. The trees were beginning to thin out a bit, making it easier to see her and her path not as weaving. However... I wasn't looking where I was going.

SNAP.

I instantly feel a wave of pain rush through my leg as I barely hold in a cry and inhale sharply through my teeth. Metal teeth bit into my leg as I had stepped into a trap intended for a beast much bigger than I. "Rechin!" Lόs quickly kneels by my side, trying to pry apart the trap. "Keep still or it'll bleed out more." The girl had instantly ran back at the snap, kneeling in front of me as I knelt on the ground, trying to control my urge to scream in pain by breathing in and out. I barely register the dagger in the girl's hand as she pries it in between the teeth of the trap. Together, her and Lόs manage to reset the trap and get me up by a nearby tree.

"For the love of everything bright and beautiful- Those forsaken idiotic hunters in town must have set that trap for those deer that pass through." A few moments of silence pass between us as I hold my breath, trying to keep my pain in. "You are so lucky your boots are thick. They took the brunt of that trap. Only went in a stick's width in. Still. You aren't walking on that leg anytime soon until that is healed." My friend looks at me in worry, then back at the girl. "Don't worry. I'm not rude to the point that I'm not gonna let you stay longer. Geez. Just- Don't ask questions and don't bother my sister. Got it?"

She stands up and instantly, Lόs goes to dig out bandages from his bag. He made quick work to bandage my leg up tightly before he put my boot back on and picked me up. "You two always have this bad luck?" The girl pipes up, leading the way again as we carefully pick our way through the underbrush. This time, she was a lot closer to us. "Not usually, no. But of recent, it seems like it." My friend casts a worried glance down at me, a slight fear in his eyes. However, all I was focused on trying to do right now was keep my breathing steady and not show my pain so outwardly. But for the love of the sea- Why did it hurt so badly?! I've had major cuts on my body before, as well as had my hand crushed, but why did those animal traps hurt worse?? Sheesh... Now I truly knew how it felt to be a hunted animal.

The sky above us slowly became darker and darker as we walked along. Yet I soon caught the smell of smoke from a fireplace on the wind. "Aight. Once we get in, you two mind your business, ok? I'll set up two cots for you both." Shifting my head, I look at her, her figure blocking the glow of the house in the not far distance .

"Sounds good." My friend replies.

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|Sol|

The clanking of armor is all I could hear, from outside my prison. Guards had been sent to guard and patrol my cell at every waking moment, taking away any chance of sleep or escape. To be honest... I was slowly going mad.

"So. I see you haven't changed any, Sol."

His words echoed in my head, mocking me as I could only picture his face. His pretentious... Self-centered...

I grit my teeth, then press my wrist hard into my cuffs. The pain brings me from those thoughts and I glare into the darkness of my cell, the only light coming from the crack in the door slit that never fully shut.

No matter what... I refused to rot away in this cell. I might have been outsmarted and outdone by that wreched Sabre and Light Steve... But I knew that it was only a matter of time.

A small smirk crosses my face and I can't help but let out a small, almost foreign, chuckle. Fools. Such... Fools.

"What are you on about in here. Sol." One of the guards slides open the slat, peering inside at me. I shake my head, quickly falling into the act. I just stare back at the guard with as much of a deranged smile as I could give. Then... giggle. "Oh... Nothing... Just- Remembering my cute and adorable puppy I have. Do you wanna come in and see him? He likes to lick your face!"

The false gaiety in my voice makes even me sick, and the guard just lets out a disgusted noise and closes the slat again. I very quickly drop the smile, and glare back into the dark. How... How could I outsmart everyone. I knew I needed to be patient... though that game I had played many times before, and could do it so flawlessly. I just needed to wait for an opening... and perhaps...

Ah... Yes. Right.

My ally could do a lot more than what meets the eye. Hahaha...