Yeah.. We're on again, and I have to say.. I'm so proud of this.. I have written stories that were much longer, but this is the first that I'm actually proud of writing.. You know?..

I think many people can get a damn good idea from a movie or a book, or even a game, but most of them have the problem that they never finish the stories they start to write. Kinda sad, isn't it?..

It takes time, you have to focus, and you have to be creative…

No more blabbering. I'm sure you've heard it all before, so.. Here we go… I think..

Disclaimer: ………hey………

"Things starts to look up.."

"Ughh…"

'I most have fallen asleep' Indy thought, but suddenly he noticed something else.

He was wide awake in a second.

His room smelled different. He reached up to touch his lips. 'Have someone been in here and touched me?' he wondered. It definitely smelled different, and it felt like someone had touched his face. "What the.." he whispered, still a little groggy from his long sleep. He noticed that he had yesterday's clothes on, and went to shift, while wondering. 'Who's been here?' It couldn't be Abner. Maybe a servant? I know Tara is confident but she wouldn't touch me, and the other servants wouldn't get near me..'

Before he could get to a solution, someone knocked on the door, and called for him. "Indiana? You awake?"

It was Abner. "Yeah! I'll be ready in a minute!" he shouted back.

He went over to the door after putting a shirt on. "Good morning Abner. So.. What's the schedule today?" he asked as soon as he opened the door. Abner looked well rested, and his reply was: "Well, first things first, we're going riding.. Come on Indy!" he said and they walked over to the stables.

"Hey Abner? Do I get to pick my own horse?" Indy asked. "Well of course you do.. You just have to hurry a bit.." Abner said and walked over to a box, where a brown mare stood. He began saddling it up.

Indy walked around a little, but finally came to a pretty big stallion that was palomino-coloured. "Hey there.." he said and let it smell his hand. "What's your name?" he whispered. He looked at the sign on the door.

Sachiro Mimoto.. Well.. I'll just call you Sachi.. That alright with you there boy?" he said, and patted it.

"You find a horse Indy?" Abner shouted, coming towards him with a horse of his own. "Yeah, I did.. This horse must be Japanese or something.. It has a weird name.." Abner looked at the horse. Well, your almost correct. It's Tibetan, a gift from the Dalai Lama, but you better keep that a secret, cause no one even knows that I've been to The Forbidden City.."

Indy was surprised. "Have you actually been there? That can't be possible, no foreigner is permitted there.." He saw the smile on Abners face. "Only me and the Dalai Lama knows that, plus a couple of his most trusted family members.. You should see it someday. It's one of the most fascinating places on this earth.."

"I should believe you, since you have seen most of it" Indy said.

He knew that Abner had seen most of the world, but that he had actually sat foot in Lhasa.. That he could almost not believe.

Abner helped Indy saddle Sachi up, and they rode out of the stables and past the mansion and the barns where the workers were.. well working..

Indy was wondering why Abner wanted to ride with him. He had already had the grand tour of the grounds and the house. He remembered the conversation he had overheard yesterday, but he didn't mention it. It wasn't his business. "Why did you bring me out here?" Indy asked.

Abner slowed down his horse. "Have you read the book?" he looked at Indy.

" I've flashed a couple of pages.." he said.

He chuckled. "Just as I had expected, well. Then I'm gonna tell you the story of The Lost Ark, but it will be the short version.. You have to read the book Indiana"

Indy just nodded.

They paced their horses on, and while walking Abner told the short version of The Lost Ark.

"It is called The Ark of The Covenant, which contains the broken tablets that Moses carried down from the mountain Ararat. The

It was buried in the Well of Souls, underneath the city of Tunis, and to find it, you needed The Staff of Ra, with a medallion on the top, which had a crystal in the middle and you would have to put the staff in front of a miniature model of the city and in a certain point of the day, the sun would shine down into the crystal, and the crystal would then send a beam of light down on the city to show where it was buried.."

Indy listened carefully. Abner talked of The Ark of The Covenant with great passion. It was an obsession, one of his greatest.

They rode around until late afternoon.

"Hey Abner? I think your mare is tired.. " Indy said and pointed to his horse. He stopped talking and noticed it himself. "You tired Mary?" and in return he got a grunt from the horse. "Ohh.. Sorry Mary, forgive me. I do think it's time to go home now", he said as he looked at the sun.

Indy took a look on Sachi, but he didn't look tired.

"We might just get home in time for some the" Abner said and rode of.

They had spent the day out on Abners vine fields. "Hey Abner! Would you wait!" Indy shouted. Abner was eager to get home, or else he was just playing tricks on Indy. He realized it was the latter when he couldn't see Abner anymore. He looked down on Sachi. He was eating the grapes. "Hey! Sachi! Stop that!" he said and made Sachi walk up on a path where the trees were harder to reach. "Well, this is your home. You must know the way, cause I sure don't " He received a displeasured grunt from the horse.

The Mansion

Marion opened her eyes, and smiled. Last nights experiences still haunted her, but it wasn't the dinner with her father that she thought of, no, it was Indy. 'Is this a dream?' she said as she laid on her back and stared up on the ceiling. She thought of that light, little kiss she had given him. She couldn't help grinning as she turned to do so into her pillow.

She rose from the bed, and threw the white sheets aside. 'This is gonna be a good day' she said to herself.

She took of her white nightgown and put on some blue shorts and a red t-shirt. She was so happy, she couldn't stop grinning, and she started dancing around in her room, throwing her arms up in the air, and started singing.

She opened her door and started dancing down the hallway. She was free!

"Mae?.."

She stopped in her tracks. Joey was looking at her. He was standing down the hallway, not that far away.

He just stared at her. She had to admit, he looked terrible. His nose had been broken and it was still pretty much bruised. He looked like he hadn't had that much sleep.

"Why are you dancing?" he asked her, silently.

She only stared at him with sympathy for about a second, when she suddenly got angry at him again.

"Great timing you know? I should be asking you what you're doing here" she replied, not happy anymore, but angry and annoyed.

Joey could see it in her eyes. He didn't answer her, cause he thought that she owed him an apology, so he dropped the towels he had in his hands and walked away, angry as hell.

"Why do you have to ruin everything!" she shouted after him.

Suddenly, all the memories washed over her. The possibility that Jacob and Abner where lying to her about how her mother died, and the memory of her almost hitting Indy. She began crying, but she didn't want to do so in the hallway so she ran into her own room again.

She sat on the floor and cried until there were no tears left. By then she felt cleansed and empty. She went out on her porch, but didn't find any joy in the beauty of the landscape.

"I have to solve this.. One step a time.." she said, speaking to herself.

Abners Fields

Indy just let Sachi wander, he wasn't really sure if it knew the way. He was just about to doze of, when someone shouted his name.

"Indy! There you are! I was wondering when you would come.. I must say, you took your time.." Abner shouted.

Indy looked up at him. He was sitting on a café chair, at a little table with a servant standing beside him, pouring up some tea. "You been sitting there all this time huh?" he said, hopping of Sachi, he gave the reins to a servant that seemed to appear from nowhere, and went up to the porch Abner was sitting on.

"As your teacher I have to challenge you sometimes. I hope you understand. It would make things a lot easier" he said as he received a full teacup from his servant.

"Easy for you, not me" he said as he sat down. He was sore in his back, and he grimaced as he leaned back on the chair. Abner just smiled. "I guess.." he said as he drank of his little teacup.

The servant moved to give Indy some tea too, but Indy shook hi head.

"Well, now you have had some time to settle down, but I hope you didn't think it was gonna be this easy?" Abner said as he put the cup down.

"Of course I did.." Indy replied, still in a bad mood.

Abner gave a little chuckle. "This was just your first lesson, the second for today is reading the book I gave you. And I want you to get something to eat first, but afterwards, you go to the library on the third floor, my personal servant, Eliza will show you where it is, but now, she'll just take you to the kitchen. I hope your father teached you how to cook" he said and rose from his chair, walking in to the mansion.

Indy gave an audible sigh. "Yes sir.."

The servant with the tea was still there. Indy looked up at her. "So, you most be Eliza.."

"Yes I am, I will show you the kitchen now, please follow me.." she said and walked into the house. Indy followed.

Eliza was a small woman with long dark hair. He noticed that she didn't wear the usual clothing for servants. 'Abners personal servant indeed' he thought. She was dressed in a dark, green sari, and her hair was braided in one long ponytail.

He felt like he'd seen this woman before. "Have I seen you before?" he asked her, as they went through the house.

"No, you haven't seen me, but you have met my daughter, Tara" she said, looking at Indy.

He remembered the little girl. "You're her mother? Cute kid" he said, and made her smile. "She's the best thing I've ever done" and she lead him into the kitchen.

"Well, I hope you will find what your looking for, but if you need help, just call, I wont be far away" He nodded, and then he was alone.

He made himself a sandwich and sat in the kitchen and ate.

The time alone gave him the peace to think.

Abners conversation had worried him, and the sudden harshness in his behaviour, even though that was a minor thing, was confusing.

He had said: "This will destroy her.." What did that mean? Was he talking about Marion? And more important, what was it that he couldn't tell her?

After thinking for a while he came to the conclusion that wonderments would get him no where, and so he went out of the kitchen, and called for Eliza, which lead him to the library on the third floor.

She told him everything about the house. The first floor was mostly just Abners library, and the personal servants rooms, and then of course, the kitchen, and finally a lot of different rooms that were used to many different things.

The second floor, contained Marion's quarters and her teacher Jacob's quarters, another library and Abners quarters.

The third floor where full of guest rooms, the last library and storage rooms. The third floor were the quietest place in the entire mansion.

She left him, after giving him a tour of the house, and he stepped into the library that would be his work spot from now one to who knew when.

He sat down and moved a chair so he could sit with his feet on another chair and enjoy the view while reading.

And then he started reading the book.

…. 2 hours later….

The sun was setting. He had finished the book and moved to find something else to read.

As much as he might look like a bum; he was a real gentleman, and very smart.

Right now he was reading about the pyramid where Keops resided. He had read it before, but couldn't remember everything specifically.

"Indiana?.. You in here?" a voice called out. He moved his focus to look at the person who appeared behind a bookshelf, with their last encounter in fresh memory. "Hi Marion.. What ya doing here?"

He couldn't help noticing how she was dressed. 'Shorts and a t-shirt, if she was older I would' a given her a wink' Indy thought, amused by his own thoughts. But of course, he didn't take that kind of stuff very seriously.

She looked at him for a moment, and then went over and past him to sit on another chair. She wasn't gonna say "sorry" standing in front of him, like an idiot.

"What you reading?" she asked instead, trying to break the irritating silence.

"Nothin' special.." Indy replied, closing the book and turned to look at her. 'Maybe she wants to hit me again..'

They were still for some time. Indy noticed, she couldn't sit still, she was moving her feet or playing with her hair constantly. After some time, Marion finally broke the uncomfortable silence.

"I.. I just wanted to say that.. I'm really sorry for trying to hit you..", almost whispering the last part. She was biting her lip and she only had eyes for the boring surface of the table.

'He probably won't forgive me'

"It's okay Marion.." Indy said, laughing at her subtleness. She looked up at him with a confused look.

"There's nothing to be sorry for.." he said, still smiling. That made her smile to.

It kind of lifted the mood a little, and Marion started looking interested at the big pile of books, Indy had collected, just to read.

"So.. What ya reading.." she asked, almost in a peppy mood. "Keops" Indy answered. He still had a question to ask.

Marion started taking books from the pile and skimming through them.

"Marion?" She looked up from her skimming. "Hm?.."

"Why was there blood on your hand?"

She didn't know if she should tell him or not. 'I think I can trust this guy, even though I've only known him for three days. He looks like someone you could trust' but still, she hesitated. She kept thinking what Indy might think of her if he heard that she had played tricks on Joey and toyed with him and afterwards, just threw him away, like a toy..

She decided to tell Indy the short version.

"My best friend Joey irritated me while we were making a math essay, and I.. I sorta hit him.." she said, muttering the last words.

Indy gave a surprised gasp. "You hit him?.. Well, that I should've expected.." He smiled at her, and she blushed. 'I can even make her blush. This was easier than I had expected..' Indy thought.

"I didn't mean to do it, but I was angry and he just kept pushing it" Marion said, trying to calm down to get a more natural colour to her face.

"You don't have to defend your actions to me Marion, if he deserved it, then that's just fine by me.." Indy said, rising from the chair to put some of the books back in place.

"Well.. That's the thing.. he didn't deserve it" Marion said it in such a way that Indy came to a stop, and looked over at her. Their eyes met, but Marion was in such a weakened state that she took her eyes from his clear, brown ones after a short moment.

Instead she looked out the windows. It was getting darker.

"Joey has been my best friend since we were kids, and a couple of months ago he admitted that he loved me. I didn't feel the same way, but I toyed with him and made him believe I did. Yesterday I got irritated of him always poking me and looking over my shoulder, and when I tried to walk away, he grabbed my shoulder, and then I hit him.." Marion looked up at Indy. He had dropped his hands to his sides, and now she had his full attention. "He broke his nose.."

Marion dropped her head and let it rest in her hands, afraid and waiting to hear Indy's reaction.

"I guess you where bored.. Am I right?"

She looked up, surprised by his question, and his understanding. "Y-Yes.."

Indy went over to his chair and picked up more books to put them back in place, while saying: "You know.. The first time I met you, you tried to flirt with me as well.." he said, giving her a sideways glance. He noticed her blushing.

"That.. That was just for fun.. I didn't think you noticed.." she said, shaking her head while smiling.

"Sure I did.. As a student of Abners, you have to notice everything.." he said, putting another book in place.

Marion rose from her seat and grabbed the last pile of books to help Indy.

"Abner doesn't usually have students living in his home.. Are you a friend of his?..

Indy turned to look at her as she awaited an answer. 'Should I tell her?' he thought, but he decided against it.

She might be opening up to him now and all, and he was meant to become her friend, but that didn't mean he would tell her everything about himself in their first "real talk".

"My dad and Abner go way back, so naturally he wanted me to study under him, besides, I think we can both agree on that you learn more when you're actually with him" he said and turned to put the last book in place.

"You know.." Marion said, not really sure of herself. "That argument me and my dad had in your presence.."

Indy turned to look at her. She was gonna say more, but Indy silenced her. "Marion? That's really none of my business.."

She nodded at him and they looked at each other for a moment. She looked into his eyes, and suddenly came to think of the kiss from last night. Well.. Not really a kiss, it was to light for that, but why was she standing there, wishing it had been something more? They weren't standing that far apart. She could actually reach forth a hand and touch his arm..

"Marion?"

Indy had a puzzled look on his face. 'Why is she staring at me like that?' he thought. Indy was also affected by looking at her, but at least he could control himself. After saying her name though, she snapped out of it.

"Oh.. Sorry.." she said and moved her focus to the floor. She felt her cheeks turning red.

"Well, I guess I'll see you later.." and with that she walked out of the library, with his brown eyes following her every step..

'God! She's nice to talk to.. if only she had been five years older..'

Hey! Would you look at that! I'm actually tired of being a romantic! So.. If you're a sappy romantic and love Indiana Jones, you might wanna stop reading, cause.. I guess the next chapters wont be that.. "romantic"..

Hehe.. I guess I rated it wrong, but so far, I think it's good. Please review! Actually.. You can do anything you want..

The Roadrunner isn't finished with it's story..

P.S if you take my penname, you better not use it on fan fiction or any place on the Net, cause rest assure, if I find out, I will track you down and kill you with my bare hands.. Be afraid.. I take kickboxing lessons and go to 5 different sports.. So.. You all have a good nights sleep now..