Chapter 2: Adventure For One

"You have to be kidding me," Tino groaned, as he ran towards the two fighting males. It was the fourth time this week that Mathias and Berwald had decided to fight it out in the middle of the street. Before that, they had wrestled and punched more times than Tino cared to count. It was tiring, annoying and most of all aggravating. Everyone else seemed to take it as their due, as if the pair would always fight, and nothing could be done to stop them.

Tino was of another opinion.

"Stop it!" the small male yelled, running in between them, shoving his arms out to push the pair away from one another. "This has to stop!"

Mathias snarled, trying to lunge towards Berwald again. "He insulted my mother!" he justified. "Nobody does that and lives!"

"In my defence," Berwald muttered, rolling his eyes. "He kept insulting my work."

The tallest of them all, Berwald was the village's carpenter. He was well known for his good quality chairs and the precision which he put into every piece of furniture that he whittled out of strong oak wood. If the village hadn't been so isolated, he would certainly have made his fortune by now. Any insult that was thrown at Berwald's work was taken hard, pun not intended, especially as Mathias had a habit of throwing slurs almost daily.

Mathias, on the other, didn't seem to have much of a purpose in the small community. After the loss of his parents to the creatures of the wood, he had started to wander aimlessly, with no plans and no discernible future. That wasn't to say he was unliked, but he had the air of a restless child trapped inside the body of a young man.

And Tino was stuck between them both. Constantly trying to prise them apart before they broke bones.

Normally, Tino would follow Berwald after a fight like this, but the tall man seemed even more unwilling to talk than usual. He left the carpenter to it, before seizing Mathias's arm and towing him away.

"What the hell was that?" Tino hissed at the spikey haired boy, narrowing his eyes. "You know how he gets when you insult his work!"

"But I was boredd," Mathias whined, pouting down at Tino. "I don't have anything to do! Alfred doesn't want me in his workshop, the last time I tried to go near Lovino he swore at me, and Gilbo's too busy arguing with his brother to help me out!"

Tino sighed heavily. Mathias was always bored. He always had something to whine or moan or complain at - the weather, the people or the date. "You need," he started, continuing to drag Mathias away. "To get out of here."

"What, you don't want me?" Mathias looked hurt, pressing a hand to his heart. "But-"

"Not in that way," Tino hastily supplied, not wanting to upset his friend. Mathias was emotional at the best of times. The last thing he wanted was for the Dane to start crying. "I meant... In a good way... Not away from us, but away from this town."

Mathias furrowed his brow, looking incredibly confused. "But I can't get out!" he pointed out. "You know what keeps happening! It's like someone wants to keep us trapped in here! And, even if I did find my way out of the woods, I don't know what I would find!"

"You know what it's like, trapped here!" Tino insisted, a smile on his face. "I mean... I like it. We all like it, we all have reasons to stay here. You don't."

Mathias paused for a second, falling silent. The wind gently whistled around them, gently brushing against the trees. What was keeping him here? His parents had been dead for a long while now, and although Mathias's regret at their death still lingered, he had accepted their passing. His friends all had closer relationships with people other than him, he wouldn't be missed if he went. He didn't have a job, and made a living by killing anything that came within thirty yards of the village with his axe. A chance at a real adventure, even if he was likely to die, would be extraordinary

"...okay," he said, after a few minutes of silent comtemplation. "I'll do it."

oOo

Mathias was right. It was almost as if no one cared that he might be going to his death. It had happened so many times before that people just took it as their due. One day, their friends would be killed. Maybe even their family, or their lover. It was inevitable, and there was no use in crying over it.

In fact, Gilbert and Alfred seemed almost excited. Their best friend was going on an adventure. Mathias was getting out of the dull meaningless routines and the endless monotony of village life.

"I wish I could come too," Alfred said ruefully, staring out of the window. "But you know what Arthur's like. I'm lucky if he ever lets me go shopping on my own, let alone leave the village."

"And I'll probably find something great as well!" Mathias pointed out, flattening his hair down slightly, before spiking it up with his hands. "Like... A solid gold reindeer! Or a way to get rid of the weird things in the forest!"

"Oi," Alfred pouted slightly. "That's my job. I'm the hero, after all."

"Yeah, yeah, we all know zat Alfred," Gilbert cut in, ruffling Alfred's hair before leaning on the back of Mathias's chair. "And you never know, Mat might finally find a brain."

Mathias rolled his eyes. "I already have one!" he insisted. "Just because I accidentally almost killed Feli's cat that one time-"

"You threw a chair at it because you thought it was a mouse," Alfred pointed out, smirking. "Don't lie to us, Mat."

"Zat was so not awesome, Mat," Gilbert laughed.

Mathias went bright red and squeaked something about cheese, before turning to the map that was sprawled out on the table. The parchment showed all of the ground that the villagers were aware of, spreading out in a circle from the village in the circle. Unfortunately, nothing was detailed of the land out of the forest, apart from an arrow labelled 'Outlands'.

"You'll have to walk up this track here," Gilbert traced the route with a pale, calloused finger. Mathias followed with his eyes, hand trailing up and down the handle of his axe. "Don't stray off the path, or you'll get unawesomely lost."

"Pack food!" Alfred unhelpfully added. "Or you'll get really hungry."

The room fell silent. The three friends looked down at the ground, unwilling to look at each other. It was almost like a virgil to Mathias's life. His chances at surving were so slim that they were better off mourning him now, getting the tears and the screams and the hurt out of the way. Even his axe wasn't a match for the creatures of the forest. What he would find would kill him, each of them knew that. Even if he found his way out, Mathias would never return to the village. This was goodbye, forever, and none of them knew quite what to say.

"...you do know I'll come back right?" Mathias asked, looking up again, his eyes brimming with tears which he furiously wiped away. "No matter what happens. I will come back."

"You'd better," Alfred nodded, taking his glasses off and wiping them with the bottom of his shirt. "There'll always be a place for ya here, dude."

Gilbert swallowed, looked at Mathias's hopeful face, and nodded.

oOo

He left in the middle of the night, to escape the crowd that would surely try to wish him well. He shouldered his axe, pulling his bag over his other shoulder, staring into the forest with determined eyes. He wouldn't look back at the village. That was all in the past now. All that remained for him was the forest, and his adventure.

Mathias slowly walked forward, the cobbled street morphing into scattered rocks, before finally the dirt track that he would have to follow. He took out the map, consulting it with a thumping heart and a furrowed brow. It was a few days travel on foot, but Gilbert had assured him that there would be shelter from the elements in such a dense forest.

The trees loomed on either side of him, and the sounds of the world seemed to be swallowed up. The silence pressed down on all sides, compressing Mathias into a smaller and smaller space until it was hard to breathe and move and think and feel.

He shook the thoughts out of his mind. This forest would not rule him. He was the king of this forest, the man walking through with strong arms and an axe that was sure to strike fear into anyone that approached. As long as Mathias kept thinking that, he would not be taken over. He would remain strong from the mind tricks and monsters that the trees would surely try to throw at him.

It didn't take him long to get attacked. Mathias didn't know the name of the thing, but it was tall and wraithlike, stretching its bony fingers out towards Mathias, empty eye sockets staring right into his soul. It hovered two inches off the ground, baring down on the man like he was prey for a hungry wolf, its mouth open in a silent predatory snarl.

Mathias spun, dropping his bag on the floor and seizing his axe with two hands, driving it into the centre of the thing's chest. It squawked, an unearthly sound which sent a chill right to Mathias's core, before it evaporated into thin air.

Mathias crowed in triumph, punching the air and hooting at the sky. His first kill, not even fifteen minutes into the journey. And it didn't seem like his axe would pose a problem either.

He turned, to the place where his bag was. Except there was nothing. Only a patch of clean dirt, with no indentation to prove that the bag had ever existed. Mathias reeled, looking around for a pixie or nymph which might have stolen his belongings, but Mathias saw nothing. Only trees, for miles and miles. Leaves and twigs and branches hanging low, grazing Mathias's hair. Nothing apart from undergrowth and wildlife. Alone in a sea of unfamiliar life.

"Who's there?" Mathias called, eyes wide and alert. This couldn't be another trick, could it? He swooped down to the ground, trying to feel if there was anything there, but his hands only grasped empty air.

He held on tight to his axe, his only weapon and now his only source of food, and stood up again, squaring his shoulders. There was no turning back now. Without the map, Mathias couldn't be sure that he'd be able to find his way back to the village. As long as he kept trudging along, with only the clothes on his back and the axe in his hand, he would find civilisation again.

"Just keep walking," Mathias spoke to himself, cursing Tino in his head as he slowly began to walk again.

Thank you to V and Guest for the reviews:

V - a ha! Iceland will appear in this story, I promise. I love his character too, and I have great plans for him.

Guest - thank you!