"Come on, Kaoru. It's time to wake up," Taun said, trying to keep his voice time. "We have to get going now."

Kaoru rubbed her eyes. "Sun?" she asked.

"No. We're up before the sun today," he explained to her.

Her eyes widened. "Wooooow." She looked around her, "Kiwa?" Acquila was usually the one who woke her up in the mornings.

"He'll be here soon. I need you to do something for me, okay?"

Kaoru nodded. "Kay, Twan."

"We're going to be leaving soon. As we are going you have to be very quiet. No talking and no giggling, okay?" Kaoru nodded again. "Good, girl."

Acquila flew up behind Tuan. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Everyone is asleep. We should get going."

"Okay, Kaoru. Do you remember that new trick you learned today?" She nodded. "Do you think you can do it again?" Without missing a beat, she lifted into the air, hovering just above Tuan's head. "Good. We are going to go far away soon. As soon as we start to go, you are going to have to follow us. You shouldn't land until we all land." Kaoru tilted her head to the side.

Acquila smiled. "We're going to play a game of Simon says, okay? Can you do what we do?" Kaoru smiled and nodded enthusiastically.

"How long will it take us to get out of here?" Tuan asked.

Acquila turned away from Kaoru to scan the garden. "We won't know until we start moving." Acquila looked at Tuan sadly, "Peaches wasn't around when I flew the perimeter."

"Where do you think he is?"

"I don't know. He could be watching us, but that's a risk we have to be willing to take."

"If he sees that we're leaving, do you think he'll stop us?" Tuan asked, looking around nervously.

"I think the whole reason he's so set on us going is that he thinks Kaoru knows and has seen too much. I think he'll stop us if he thinks we're risking the garden."

Tuan looked at the ground and whispered, "Have you told Falon?"

Acquila bit back a laugh. "You don't think he knows already?"

Tuan nodded and looked back at Kaoru who had drifted back to sleep, and yet she was still hovering in the air. "That's...an interesting development."

"How long do you think she can stay like that?"

"I suppose it becomes an unconscious thought after a while. So it may be for as long as she wants."

"Kaoru, you have to wake up," Acquila said to her, tapping her on the shoulder.

"Kiwa?" Kaoru asked quietly before she fell to the ground, landing hard on her bottom.

"Or until she gets distracted," Tuan amended his previous statement.

Kaoru's bottom lip jutted out as she pouted silently to herself.

"Did you hurt yourself," Acquila asked her.

She shook her head stubbornly.

"Can you do your trick again for us?"

She shook her head again.

"Simon says do as Acquila and Tuan do," Tuan told her. She smiled widely and flew into the air. "We should go now," Tuan told Acquila, "before someone wakes up."

Acquila took the lead, scanning everything around them for movement. Kaoru's eyes were wide. The garden looked different at night and it was scary to her. She stuck close to Tuan, wanting to feel safe.

When they made it to the edge of the garden, Acquila signaled that they should stay close. Kaoru was reluctant. The forest was dense and darker than she had ever seen it. In her baby brain, there could've been any number of monsters could have been waiting just inside the trees to snatch her away. For the first time, she actually let out a small whimper with her pout.

Neither Tuan nor Acquila had anticipated this road bump. They didn't think Kaoru would be afraid of the dark. In fact, she wasn't. She had been awake during night before. There must've been something about the extreme darkness of the forest that had caused an alarm to go off in her brain.

"It'll be fine," Acquila assured her, pulling her forward.

Kaoru pulled back, refusing to go in.

Tuan shook his head, "We'll have to fly over the tree line."

"That'll make us more noticeable."

"She's not going in. We'll never get her through there."

"Sure we will." Acquila took Kaoru's hand. "Close your eyes and just let me pull you through. We'll be out in no time."

Tears gathered in Kaoru's eyes, but she nodded and closed her eyes as tightly as she could.

They had left a little later than they had originally planned, so Acquila wanted to move as fast as they could. They only had a couple of hours before sunrise and they needed to be as far away from the garden as possible.

"I think we are far enough away that we can speak normally," Acquila said. He waited for a response, but none came. He looked over at Kaoru. She appeared to be asleep, only afloat because she had gotten into the habit of flying. This meant that they could fly longer without stopping, only having to rest when he or Tuan needed it; however there seemed to be a new problem. "Tuan?" He looked around frantically, "Tuan!"

A/N

I've certainly had a productive few months. Hetalia has become my main focus with my Lion King Parody and Macbeth parody, but I've broken the catergories up. I will work on Hetalia during the week and work on Sonic stories on the weekends so all of this will continue to get updated. I appreciate the fact that all of you are still reading and I hope you will continue to read in the future.

On a side note, I rewrote the summaries to all of my stories. Which is extra productive on my part. Thanks for reading!

Have a good night and please review!