A/N Okay, this is going to be a VERY dark story. The idea belongs to me and Aoi Kurenai, and so do the OC-s. No flames – you've been warned.
Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters (except the OC-s) were created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.
The Challenges
Chapter One
It was just another day in the little Gaulish village. The village which had been keeping resisting all Caesar's attacks for so long. The village which had overcome a lot of troubles… And yet, its people always stayed cheerful.
The day was sunny, birds were singing merrily and it was quite hot. Though the weather had been changing constantly lately – sometimes the sun hid behind the clouds quickly, and it began raining. However, it was a usual thing for the middle of the summer.
The Romans hadn't disturbed the villagers for quite a long time already: partly because they didn't have any new plans about how to fight the effects of the magic potion, and partly just because of the heat.
Everyone was just in the lazy mood after the recent fish fight (the heat didn't make the Gauls cancel it – nothing would, as it seemed).
Asterix was sweeping the floor of his hut. He didn't enjoy it much but someone had to do it anyway. All of a sudden, Cacofonix noticed something.
"A cart!" he yelled. "Somebody's coming here!"
Soon the village was greeting its unexpected guests. A lot of Gauls gathered around the cart near the village gate. Asterix headed there, too, still not seeing who the visitor was. As soon as he made his way through the crowd, he found himself in a tight hug.
"Rixikins!" a familiar sweet, though a little worried voice sounded. "How are you? Everything fine?"
"Yes, Mom," Asterix answered. He was very surprised with this visit so he couldn't talk in long sentences. "But how… why… you…?"
"It's all about you mother, son," Astronomix intruded, walking up to the little warrior to hug him, too. "She has been so worried lately…"
"I had a very bad feeling about you, Rixikins," Sarsaparilla said, her voice still shaking a little.
Asterix said nothing to that. "Just how much worried she must have been if it made them leave the business and travel all the way from Condatum," he thought.
"Oh, Obelix," Astronomix said, having noticed the menhir delivery man. "Your parents sent their best. They couldn't come to see you. In fact, we only had enough time to tell them a couple of words. We were leaving in a hurry, you see," and he gave his wife a heavy look. Obelix just nodded and went to his quarry.
"Will it be okay if we stay for a while?" Sarsaparilla asked.
"Sure, I will be happy," Asterix answered, still a little bit distracted.
Soon the family was sitting at the table, having late breakfast. Sarsaparilla became red and looked down guiltily every time she looked at her husband – she made such a panic out of nothing. Everything was obviously fine, Asterix was sitting beside her, there was nothing to worry about.
"So," Astronomix said at last, when Sarsaparilla took the dishes to wash. He was a little upset about the situation but happy to see his son. "I see everything's fine here, isn't it?"
"Yes! Sure!" Asterix nodded. If his mother had been there she would see something was out of its place. Asterix was too eager in his reply, as though he were trying to convince not only his father, but himself, too. And he was. There was a thing which had been bothering him for a couple of weeks already. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get rid of it: he felt as if being watched. But he didn't tell anyone about it, even Obelix. It was just silly. He decided just to try to forget it.
He spent the rest of the day with his parents, talking about the latest news and people they knew.
The next day started just as the previous one.
"I've got to go," Asterix told his parents. "It's time for hunting". And without waiting for an answer, he went out. He sensed Obelix had been behaving strange the previous day. They hadn't spoken to each other since his parents had come so the little warrior felt a bit guilty.
Throughout all the hunting Obelix was unusually quiet. They were already back at the village when Asterix felt he needed to finally talk about it.
"Okay, what's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing… Just that your parents are here, and you forget about your old friends!"
Asterix's jaw dropped.
"Are you INSANE?" he yelled.
"And my parents didn't come to see me!" Obelix exclaimed. He sounded like an offended child.
"So you blame me?" Asterix grew more and more annoyed. So did his friend.
"Yeah, maybe I miss my parents! But you just don't see it! You never see anything! You always seem to know everything but you don't!"
Asterix just stared.
"That's just stupid!" he exclaimed.
"Yeah, and it's you who's clever! So clever it's making me sick!"
"So maybe stay away from me so that you don't feel sick!" Asterix suggested half mockingly and half angrily.
"It's you who's making me sick! YOU stay away from ME!" having said so, the menhir delivery man turned round and walked away.
Asterix walked in the opposite direction. When he was passing his hut, his parents went towards him. Without stopping, he just exclaimed "Leave me alone!" and went to the forest.
Once alone, he sat on a big log and sighed. Again, a quarrel about nothing. It was getting annoying, the amount of their quarrels…
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"Okay, so what's our plan?" Nini asked. She was a young dark blonde with green eyes. Her features were quite soft but the look of those green eyes was often freezing. In such moments she seemed to be made of ice – her coldness was frightening.
"Let's think about it…" Nakir answered thoughtfully. Despite being Nini's sister, she didn't look like her at all – she was taller, with much darker hair and rarely yellow eyes. Her personality was way different, too…
There was a silence as the sisters took a deep thought. Suddenly, Nini raised her head up, listening attentively.
"Can you hear something?" Nakir asked. Her sister nodded, not willing to talk too much. Quietly, very quietly, they started making their way through the bushes. When they finally saw what (or, better to say, who) was behind those bushes, both of them smirked – there was no need for a plan now…
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