Chapter 12

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Night had soon fallen and the group was nowhere near a proper resting place. 

"Destiny, we need to stop" Hefty came up beside her breathing a bit heavy. 

"I know but we don't have a proper place to rest. All around us are thorn bushes. We can't just sleep in the middle of the path either, we'd be too open and vulnerable" she sighed as she looked back at everyone as they slowly walked to keep up. She sighed as Clumsy started snoring while walking and he took a tumble to the ground, instantly waking up and jumping to his feet. Destiny turned her head back to Hefty. "Okay..I'll go ahead and see how far a proper resting place is...Rest with everyone here but still be vigilant. There could be dangers close by."

"You shouldn't go alone."

"Everyone is too tired. Please Hefty, just stay with everyone. I promise I'll be back when I can as soon as I find a place to rest for everyone. Also, I trust you to protect everyone while I'm gone."

Hefty nodded as he returned to the others and explained what Destiny had told him.

"What? Destiny are you serious" Brainy questioned as he looked past Hefty and at her. Destiny looked away from him, only looking back as Papa and Willow approached her.

"Destiny, you need to rest too," Papa looked at her with concern.

"I will Papa, but we can't get proper rest out in the open like this. I promise I'll be okay."

"And what if you're not" Willow chimed in as she looked at Destiny. "What if you pass out from exhaustion or fall into another coma state, or you get hurt?"

Destiny lowered her head. She hadn't thought about that, she was more worried about everyone else. She felt her hand in someone's grasp and she looked down to see Papa's hand holding her's. 

"Destiny" Papa started as he looked at his daughter with more worry. "Please, take someone with you."

"Not this time Papa. Everyone else needs to rest. I will be okay. I promise" she smiled tiredly at him. Papa sighed and let go of her hand and he nodded. 

"I'll trust you on this but it doesn't change the fact I'm still gonna be worried" Papa forced a smile, letting it fade with exhaustion.

"I know Papa. Just go rest and I'll return when I can."

Destiny hugged Papa and Willow before she took off down the path and disappeared into the darkness of the trees. Destiny ran down the path and she stopped at a sudden fork in the way. She seemed confused as she looked around, quickly turning around as the bushes behind her rustled. 

"Who goes there" she called out as she looked around. She tensed up as she kept her eyes on the bush. The rustling continued and seemed to get closer before a bunny hopped out and scratched behind its ear before looking at her. Destiny let out a sigh of relief as she lowered her guard and she smiled a bit. "Oh, it's just a rabbit. Silly to be afraid of you."

The rabbit continued to stare at her before it took off back into the bushes.

"Well well well, it seems the princess has started to find her way home."

Destiny quickly turned around and was face to face with someone who looked almost identical to herself. Destiny froze as she stared at the figure in front of her, her body tense once more. "Who are you?"

"Shame you don't recognize me, your highness." The figure's voice was full of spite and hatred as they glared at Destiny. "Tell me, are you abandoning them like you did everyone back home?"

"Look, I don't know who you are or what you want, but I know nothing of what you speak of. Please just leave me alone so I continue on my way and can get back to my family."

"Oh, your family is here? Oh, do tell where the rest of our people are" The figure smirked as they glanced around before looking knowingly at Destiny as if challenging her to say something.

Destiny's eyes narrowed as she looked at this figure. "I don't know what you speak of. Now are you going to tell me who you are? Or will I have to get you to leave without that knowledge?"

"Oh you learn in time who I am princess, but for now, I bid you adu and to leave you with a warning. Don't leave your so-called family unattended in strange lands." The figure smirked as they turned and walked away down the path to the left. 

Destiny hesitated before going down the path to the right, wanting to avoid the Smurf that looked like her as much as possible. Her body trembled as she continued to walk down the path and her surroundings started becoming blurry. Her movements slowed down quite a bit as she came to another fork in the path and she swayed a bit before stumbling into a tree that stood in between the two paths. Destiny steadied herself as she leaned against the tree and tried to focus back to get herself okay again. 

"I...I'm sorry Papa." Her voice was barely above a whisper as her eyes closed and her body collided with the ground, unable to feel the force of the rock beside her as her head bounced off it. 

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