A Night on the River

A Night on the River (Medoran Chronicles fanfic)

A little insight on what happened that night on the raft during the S.A.S. trip. Y'all who read the Medoran Chronicles will know what I'm talking about, but if you haven't read it, you should. It's amazing.

-- Disclaimer: I don't own the series or the characters. This was just for fun and I don't own the art --

The night was cool and peaceful as the large, inflated raft drifted downstream. The only sounds that could be heard were the steady, rhythmic sloshing of the river and the rustling of the occasional nighttime creature. Despite the exhilarating adventure everyone had just experienced, no one was able to sleep – all except for Alex, who was out cold as soon as her head hit the pillow. It was around midnight that everyone, after much tossing and turning, had fallen asleep.

The journey along the river up until then had been easy and undisturbed. The raft had drifted over a particular rocky patch in the water; smooth, rounded rocks were peeking over the top of the water's surface. As the watercraft drifted atop them, it tilted to the left, making everyone roll a little in that direction. Nobody stirred, apart from Kaiden who was aroused from his slumber by the sudden movement. He was awoken further from his semi-conscious daze when he noticed an increase of warmth. Looking down, he was surprised to see that his classmate Alex had rolled from her place beside the raft wall and nestled into his chest, still sleeping peacefully. Gazing down at the curve of her back, Kaiden felt an unexpected rush of affection for the slumbering girl. That affection grew and a slight warmth touched his cheeks when Alex, unknowingly, snuggled backwards into him even more – drawn by the new source of heat. Kaiden knew she would probably be mortified if he let her keep sleeping and that he should probably wake her, let her know where she was. Letting out a soft huff of amusement, Kaiden freed an arm from his sleeping bag and, after a moment's hesitation, shook her arm in an attempt to wake her.

"Alex," he hissed, trying not to wake any of his other classmates. "Alex. Wake up." He shook her arm a little harder and was rewarded when she let out a soft groan and opened her eyes.

"Wha...? Wha's 'oing on?" She slurred, looking round at Kaiden groggily. "Kaiden? What're you-" Alex cut her sentence short and her face glowed red when she realised that Kaiden was spooning her.

"Oh my god, I'm sorry! I had no idea. I hope I didn't kick you or anything." She said loudly, sitting up and trying to scoot away. A few of their classmates turned over in their sleep at her exclamation and she lowered her voice. "I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Alex. It doesn't matter," Kaiden chuckled. "Besides, you looked cute when you were asleep." He added unintentionally. Alex's eyes widened at Kaiden's comment, and he could feel his face reflecting her own as a solid crimson. "I-I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that. It-It just came out! Oh geez-"

Alex raised a finger to his lips to stem the flow of apologies and gave a breathy laugh.

"I thought I was the one who embarrassed themselves? You trying to steal my title?" she asked.

Despite his ultimate embarrassment, Kaiden laughed along with her.

"Yes, well, as good as I may be, you'll always be the best at embarrassing yourself. You do seem have a knack for it." He joked. Their playful banter was easing his away his embarrassment, but as he watched Alex laugh at his remark, Kaiden felt blood rushing to his cheeks all over again. Right at that moment, with the moonlight washing over her figure and making her skin glow, Kaiden thought that she had never looked prettier. Bed hair be damned.

"Kaiden?" Alex's amused voice cut into his train of thought and he realised that he had been staring. "Hello? You still there?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. I was just thinking..." About you. He added mentally.

"About?"

"About... about how you were injured at the end of last year," He lied quickly, "What really happened?" Sneaking his hand behind him, Kaiden tapped the arm of his best friend Declan, who was still fast asleep next to him. Using his gift of conduit, Kaiden adopted Declan's gift as his own. Then he remembered that ever since Alex had developed the gift of willpower, most mental and physical gifts wouldn't work on her. Drawing back his arm, he focused his attention back on Alex who seemed reluctant to answer his question. A long moment passed before she answered.

"Well, I don't know what you've heard, but I... um..." Her voice trailed off and she bit her lip as though she wasn't sure what to say next. Seeing her discomfort, Kaiden place a comforting hand on her arm. As much as he wanted to know what had happened, he didn't want to pressure her into telling him.

"Hey, I'm sorry if I'm pushing this on you," He told her, "If you don't want to tell me, that's completely fine. I was just curious." Alex shook her head and took a deep breath..

"At the end of last year," She said, choosing her words carefully, "Dix – D.C. – and I were taken hostage by... a person and his accomplice. They needed me to help them get somewhere, and took D.C. as a hostage to make sure I didn't try anything. One thing led to another, and I ended up getting stabbed. The people who held us hostage escaped but they promised that we would meet again." Alex exhaled and looked up into Kaiden's eyes. "Please don't tell anyone." She whispered and Kaiden didn't need a gift of intuition to see that she wasn't lying.

He was stunned – a rumour had gone round about Alex having food poisoning but no one had really known what happened that day – and, to his surprise, he felt angry. The mere thought of someone taking and holding her hostage made his insides churn with rage. How dare someone do that to her. Before he could even comprehend what he was doing, he drew Alex into his arms. She stiffened for moment before relaxing into his grip.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone. And thank you for telling me." murmured into her hair. His arms tightened around her and she hugged him as he added, "No one is going to take you again. Not if I can hep it." The genuine fierceness in his voice surprised not only Alex but Kaiden himself. He knew he cared for the girl but he had never entertained the idea that he might be crushing on her. When he felt Alex yawn, he pulled back from their embrace, his cheeks lightly flushed.

"We should probably go to sleep now," He said softly, looking up at the setting moon. "If today was anything to go by, tomorrow will be even harder." Alex hummed in agreement.

"Yeah. Knowing Hunter, our next task is probably crawling with traps." Alex said around another yawn, moving back to her original place and Kaiden watched as she re-adjusted her sleeping bag.

"Hey, Alex?" He called hesitantly.

"Yeah?"

Leaning over the small space between them, Kaiden pressed his lips to her cheek softly and Alex let out a small gasp.

"Sleep well." He whispered. And with that, he rolled over, pulling the covers up to his head to hide his flushing face.

"You too." She murmured back and Kaiden swore he could hear a smile in her voice.

--- What did you think? This is the first fanfiction I've ever written. I hoped you liked it <3 ---