The first thing she knew, was flashing lights. Abbey had just woken up, and she was laying on a table. She felt pain in her stomach area, and across her neck. She was in the new medical building they had constructed. She moved her head up, and saw the gash in her stomach. It looked like a deflated balloon, with a gash in it. She immediately felt queasy, and her stomach started hurting, adding to the pain of the gash.

There were three Healers, each with wings tucked into their white medical coats. They started moving around Abbeys body, and they used small knives and tweezers to pull away the cloth of her torn cloak and shirt. The Healer highest in rank, moved towards her neck, and started moving different veins into the right places. Abbey recognized the Head Healer as Haley, the best there was. Haley closed her hand in a fist, and opened it. Out came a mist of healing, that went into her neck and fixed the cuts on her veins, and closed the wound. Haley had to use a lot of mist, for the cut was big. Satisfied, Haley moved to the others and inspected their work.

The two other Healers were working in her stomach area, adjusting organs and moving veins. They both closed their fists, and opened them. The same mist that the first Healer used came out of their palms. The wounds started healing and closing up, but the pain didn't go away.

"Shes lost three pints of blood, our work will be wasted if we don't give her some." Haley said to the two others.

They nodded, and one asked, "What about stomach acid? She lost a pint of that as well." Haley winced, where do you get stomach acid?

"Let's worry about the blood first." Haley said. They grabbed a small bag of purplish liquid. Elixir, Abbey realized. Haley yelled for a wizard, and one came in, wearing a white cloak. He chanted some magic words, and the purplish liquid turned into red blood. The wizard left the room, and Haley grabbed a funnel. She ripped open the bag carefully, and inserted the funnel into Abbeys heart. She poured the blood in, and looked over at a screen. The screen was magically enchanted to show the heart rate of anyone laying on the table. The purple line was going up and down fast, but soon steadied as Abbey got new blood.

Haley called for the wizard once more. She grabbed another bag of Elixir, and asked in a polite voice, "Uh... Can you turn this into... Stomach acid?"

The wizard nodded, and said, "It doesn't matter what liquid, as long as you have a sample." Haley showed him her still open stomach, and the wizard spoke magic words onto the bag of elixir. It turned a mucus green, and started burning the bag. Haley poured it in quickly, with a new funnel so that the blood would not clot her stomach. The wizard walked out, and she opened her closed fist. The yellow mist came upon her stomach, and the gash closed. The heart monitor was at a steady pace, and the three Healers deemed themselves done.

Abbey sat up, and felt a rush of pain in her head. The cuts were gone, except for minor scars. She got off the table, and looked for anything to cover herself with. She was still naked, and they had cut apart her clothes to access the wounds. She stumbled about mindlessly, like one does after waking up from a long sleep, and stumbled out the door.

Still woozy from getting off the table, she didn't understand the looks she was getting from the onlooking wizards and Healers. Then the wooziness went away, and she remembered what was wrong. Ashamed, and starting to blush naked in front of the medical staff, she slid back through the door and sat on the table. She soon found some white clothes on a hook hanging off the door. This furthered her embarrassment.

Abbey exited the room once more, and walked down the hallway. She didn't know the halls of this building well, for it was finished the day before... What day was it? Surely it couldn't have been long since... Since...

That boy. The teenager who had forced her to tell the names of her parents by way of cutting. But why? Why did he need her parents names?

Suddenly she remembered. The fire. What had happened since she had fell unconcous? She ran towards what she thought was an exit. It wasn't. She wandered around, frustrated. She needed to get out so she could find out what happened. She found an exit, and went through.

She was on a hill, the medical building pointing towards the ocean. She looked around, and panicked at what she saw. The town hall had burnt down, and there were scorch marks on the grass for a few feet outwards. Abbey ran down the hill, at top speed. She arrived at the scorch mark that once was the town hall, and looked for her father.

"Excuse me?" She asked a random barbarian. "Do you know where Chief Hulk is?"

The barbarian pointed to a direction, and she thanked him and left. The barbarian had pointed at her family's house. She walked towards it, and knocked when she got to the door. She was greeted with a hug by her father, and next her mother. Age was starting to wear them down, and they started becoming weaker. Her father, Chief Hulk, had not been going on raids lately, and her mother, Anna, stayed behind to help him. They still had the brains of the old couple that fell in love, fifteen years ago, but their bodies were dying.

"What happened to the town hall!?" Abbey asked, slightly annoyed at her parents fuss over her.

"Oh, uh, come inside." Hulk said. They entered the house, and Abbey saw their table, with the most trusted people in the village sitting at it. But one other...

"YOU!" She yelled, in both shock and fear. The other people sitting at the table looked at her, with blank looks. The only one without one, was the boy. He grinned at her, but only for a second. "Mom, Dad, what is he doing here!?" She was still yelling.

"I'll explain that honey, but you need to either sit down, or calm down. He's a guest, and should be treated politely." Her father told her with a slight hint of shame. "The others are here because of the town hall being burnt down. We still haven't figured that out." The others nodded to each other, and said a few words.

"I don't care about them, what is he doing here!?" Abbey continued, persistantly.

"Abbey!" Her mother scolded. "He's here because of the town hall being burnt down. He's telling us what he knows," Anna said, calmly.

Abbey looked at the boy with fear, and with ultimate annoyance at his grin. Only she could see it, and it was so eannoying that she wanted to punch him. No, punch was to light... She wanted to rip him to pieces, and burry him alive. He had caused her pain, and it would not be forgiven.

Chief Hulk, noticing her angry glares, said, "That young man, whom you may call Jack, is from a faraway land. He says he traveled overseas to get here."

"Yes." Jack said, with a smooth and slick voice that annoyed her, and drove her insane. "I came from overseas. Our village needs reinforcements, and we were told that this village was the best."

"NO." Abey said, interuppting her father. "We will give nothing! You don't deserve it, scum!"

Her father said afterwords, "we would be glad to help, we can spare some of our troops, and some other special people. Like our head Healer, and Head Wizard, perhaps?" He looked over at a wizard sitting in the corner.

"Grandpa!" Abbey said while giving him a hug.

After the hug, Hulk asked, "Dextrox, you up for it?"

"I will think of it, but that does not mean yes." He replied. He had also gotten older, but the affects of age didn't harm him as much, for he was a wizard.

Hulk looked over at the village elders, and asked, "Who shall we send? They will come back."

The elders murmured, and they chose the Head Healer, Haley, Dextrox, if he would go, and Smaugom. Smaugom was a dragon, nobody enjoyed him. He was very stinky, and never bathed in the ocean. Also, he was three times the size, thanks to dark elixir. Every elder was glad to send him.

"It is settled then, we shall send rein-"

" No!" Abbey interuptted, again. "He's the reason you found me in the forest with gashes in my body!"

The elders looked at Jack, and so did Hulk and Anna. Jacks smile faded, but the only one who could see it was Abbey. Jack had an aura of magic around him, that Abbey could feel. This, Jack, was messing with the elders of her village, and she wouldn't let them send troops to help a possible murderer. She could have died, by his knives, and the elders would have sent troops to help no matter if she was alive or not.

One of the elders said, "You must either tell us you didn't do it, or have a really good alibi."

"Well good, because I do. I arrived at the town hall as it was burning, to talk to the chief. How could i have made cuts in this young woman's throat, if I was at the town hall? Oh, and i never cought your name." He told an alibi only Abbey could disprove, but she couldnt tell the elders that Jack could teleport, or else they would think she was making it up. She was, after all, only thirteen.

"Very well, Abbey, you must have the wrong man." Hulk told her. She glared daggers at Jack, if that even was his name. He just smiled back at her, and she glared harder. "Meeting dismissed, we will begin working on a new town hall as soon as possible, so we dont have to keep meeting in houses." Hulk adjourned the meeting, and watched as the elders left. Jack stood up, but he didnt walk to the door.

"Um..." He murmured.

"Is there a problem Jack?" Hulk asked.

"Uh... I don't... Really have... A place... To stay..." He said. He added a hint of sadness to his words, so they would be more convincing.

Hulk looked at him, thinking, but Anna said, "You could... Stay here? We have a guest room for this purpose."

"That would be much appreciated!" Jack said, thankfully. Abbey looked in horror at her mother, then at Jack. He was smiling again, and she was going mad inside.

"Will you join us for dinner?" Anna asked, turning towards the kitchen.

"I will, if you will let me." Jack replied.

"Very well then, you can stay until you leave for your village." Hulk said, and Abbey was starting to have a panic attack.

It was getting late, and most of the other troops had resigned to their homes and families. They didnt bother going out, they just went to their dining room, and sat down at the table. Jack was looking around at the room. The walls and ceiling were wood, and so was the floor. The walls had a few pictures on them, most with Hulk, Anna, and young Abbey. Their were some items that had meaning to the family of three, like Hulks belt, the one with the gem in it. And Anna's first bow, along with Abbeys. Jack was impressed at the elegantly carved table he sat at, it had a map of the village carved into it. Hulk sat on one side, along with Anna, and Jack sat down in a chair on the other side. There was one open chair, and Abbey had to choose it. She took a seat next to Jack, and scowled at his smiling face. Anna stood up, and went to the kitchen to get their dinner, and Hulk followed her to help. They had left her alone with Jack.

"So, I never got your name." He said, innocently, but his smile said otherwise.

"Abbey..." She muttered, not wanting to feed his self-smugness.

Hulk and Anna walked through the open doorway, with full plates. They had steamed vegetables, a plate of meat they identified as hog, and some gravy to go with it. Anna returned to the kitchen and came back with a pitcher of water, and some cups.

As she sat down, Hulk asked, "So... Jack, what's your villages name?"

"Uh, our village dosent have a name..." He replied. "The elders of the village couldn't decide, so they just left it with no name."

"Oh, that's nice." Hulk said, then asked, "How old are you son? You look not much older than Abbey."

Abbey scowled, and Jack said, "Im thirteen, soon to be fourteen."

"Wow!" Anna said, eating in between sentences. "Your probably the same age as Abbey, shes thirteen and turning fourteen in a week!"

"Wow, my birthday is next week as well! Next week today." Jack replied. Abbey was eating silently, disgusted inside at her parents interest in Jack.

"Your the exact same age as Abbey! That's incredible..." Hulk said, his last words trailing off into his thoughts.

They ate their dinner in silence for a few minutes, then Jack asked what date Abbey was born on.

"January twenty-fifth. Thirteen going on fourteen years old..." Hulk said with a blank, face. He was still thinking, and Abbey would have to ask him what was wrong after Jack had left.

"My exact birthday..." Jack said. Now he was thinking with the same blank face Hulk had.

They finished eating dinner, and Hulk and Anna cleaned the table. "Show Jack to the guest room, will you Abbey?" Her father asked her.

She scowled at no one apparent, and then said quietly, still mad at him, "Follow me..." She walked down the hallway from the dining room, and arrived at a set of doors. There was one door on each side of the hall, and she opened the one on the left. She entered, and Jack followed. "This is your room to stay in, dont maliciously put gashes in it, like you did to me, jerk." She said, putting all her strength into making the last word as intimidating as she could.

"Ah, what a nice room! Why would i do that?" He asked with a still grin. Abbey grabbed an unlit candle, and lit it with the already on fire ones in the room. She left the room, and entered the one across the hall, not closing the door to Jacks guest room. She lit the candles in her room, and set the burning candle down. Her room had a bed in it, and two dressers. It also had a closet, and a few pictures on the walls. It had a few shelves, cluttered with random items, and she looked upon the wall closest to the door. There was her bow, smoothly carved from a branch she had found in the village. All archers had to carve their own bows, it was an initiation among archers. She had carved her bow with curved ends, and her father had provided some gold for her to melt onto it. The gold was above and below the handle, and the handle was wrapped cloth. Abbey sat on her bed, and closed the door. She could hear her parents enter the door at the end of the hallway, and then she saw the candles in the hallway go out. Abbey moved more onto the bed, then pulled the blankets over her. She blew out the candle on her bedstand, and closed her eyes. It had been a long day, full of burning town halls, surgery, and a murderer in her home. She was ready to go to sleep, but Jack wasn't ready for her to go to sleep.

She heard the creaking of the door, and she turned her head to look at it. Her eyes had barely adjusted to the darkness, but she could still see a figure walk through the door.

"Get your smug face out of this room..." She said, tired.

"You don't want that." Jack said, quietly, for he didn't want to wake up Abbeys parents.

"What the crap do you mean..?" She asked, not actually caring what his answer would be.

"Your going to die." He said, and she was immediately awake. She jumped out of bed and grabbed her bow off the wall, and wrapped it around Jacks neck as he stood there. "Not by me!" He said in an urgent whisper. She relaxed a little, then remembered that she couldn't trust him.

"What do you mean?" She said, keeping the bow around his neck.

"You don't know..?" He chuckled quietly, and looked at her. He grabbed the bow, but didn't appear to pull it in any direction. Suddenly, he pulled the bow, and Abbey, over his head and onto the bed. She landed on the bed with a big, "Whumpf."

"What was that for!?" She asked after regaining her breath.

"I don't know. Its was fun though." Jack said with a small laugh.

"What are you doing? I know you aren't here to get reinforcements." She asked, making sure she had clear range of escape if he tried anything.

"...I'm here for... You..." He said hesitantly. Abbey was getting grossed out with every action and word Jack did or said.

"M-me?!" She said, getting frightened. Jack was in her room, and he could kidnap her as easily as he cut the gashes into her body.

"Now I know what your thinking, but its not like that." Abbey could sense truth in his words, and, strangely, affection. She was ready to throw up. "Im not here to kill you, you know how i failed that way. I underestimated the advancements of healing in this village." She was ready to jump out the window, she was that frightened. Jack looked at her, and he saw the terror on her face. He laughed and said, "Im not going to hurt you, i just... Can't tell you what I have to do..."

"What is wrong with you?!" She asked. "Why can't you be a normal fourteen year old, and go to training sessions, and make friends and have fun?! Why can't you leave our village in peace, and go away!?" She covered her head with a pillow, and didn't see Jacks sad face, as he opened the door.

"Goodnight..." He said sadly, as he left.


This is a wopping 3,299 words. Enjoy!

Please review with constructive criticism, not just praise. When i only get, "good jobs" and "well dones," it dosent help me improve my writing. And tell me who is your favorite character so far!

If you have any problems with this chapter, just tell me in either a review or pm.

Hope you guys like this chapter!

P.S. I was sick of waiting, and didnt want my work to go to waste, so I'm posting this before i reach my goal of thirty reviews. Actually, im taking that goal off. I need to write something, and that goal is stopping me from writing more chapters for this. I hope you enjoy it!