HUZZAH! Along with this being updated, I am on break from College! Yippee~

On another note, I had this weird dream the other night. I was playing Soul Calibur 3, where I have the Dilucia gang as custom characters, and I was choosing Alise to fight as. Y'know how when you start a match, the Narrator guy says a thing? Well Usually for custom character they get some generic thing, but Alise got this little diddy:

"Fighting for the fate of an old friend, Hers and the fates of others entangles with the world's."

It's accurate too! I love my brain~ Anyway, here's chapta 6, where shiz FINALLY gets real.

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Chapter 6: One Thing After Another

Alise's once shoulder laden pack now dangled from her hand. It hung low to the ground, becoming covered in the dirt being kicked up by her feet. She could feel the layer of dust and sweat that coated her arms and face. The sun stretched out the shadows of the evening across the plains, working like a sundial to tell Alise that they needed to go faster if they wanted to get to Halure by nightfall. The day was beginning to wear on her, but she figured that Gordon was possibly in worse condition.

Alise glanced back to Gordon. He stared straight ahead, slightly hunched with his mouth agape in exhaustion. His dragging feet kicked plenty of dust that created a large trailing cloud that twisted as it rose through the air.

It looks like it's going to be a while before he gets used to life like this. Alise frowned in sympathy. I don't know how cushy he had it with the Knights, traveling in such a small group takes a toll on you. Especially if the group is so small that it's only you and the voices in your head.

"Hey, Gordon," said Alise. Gordon looked up in response. "You shouldn't kick up so much dust. You could attract some unwanted attention from the monsters."

"What? Uh, sure..." Gordon stopped his zombie walk and tapped his left calf with the top of his right foot, knocking some of the dirt from the bottom of his shoe. He repeated the process with his other leg. "Do monsters really show up just 'cause a cloud of dust?"

Alise shrugged matter-of-factly. "They'll attack because of pretty much anything. They are dangerous, but they're also very temperamental."

Gordon gave Alise a look of surprise. "Really? I guess I could see that... They do seem to just pop out of nowhere then charge us..."

"And that's why we need to always stay alert."

"I-I know that..."

"That's good then." Alise jerked her head to the crest of the hill they were climbing, bringing her dangling pack back up to her shoulder. "I was in this area not too long ago, so if I'm right Halure should be close. We can get there by sunset if we keep up this pace."

"Aw, good!" Gordon's shoulders relaxed and he let out a long overdue sigh. "I'm so tired I'm surprised I've made it this far."

Alise gave him a curious look. "Then why did you insist we keep going when we were at Deidon Hold? There was a place to rest there."

Gordon's lips tightened. "I wasn't tired then. Plus that place always has knights, which means that no one would need our help there, 'cause they're there. But the people in Halure could need help right now, so I could help, or something..."

"You're not going to be of much help if you're exhausted though."

The boy's face flashed with embarrassment, but he looked away stubbornly. "Yeah, that- No, nevermind. Let's just go." Gordon started marching up the hill ahead of Alise without looking back.

"Sure, sure..." Alise shook her head wryly.

She started on after Gordon, and the two soon quickly made it to the top of the hill, Halure's pink blossomed behemoth standing out like a lighthouse on the coastline. The two's speed increased dramatically as soon as it came into view, and just as night fell they made it into town.

Pink petals perpetually fluttered through the air, covering the grassy ground of the town. Not many people were out of their homes at this time of day, but the town was not deserted. Gordon walked ahead and stopped in the middle of the town, looking up at the large tree. "Heh, that's so cool!"

Alise walked past him, heading to the inn. "Come on. We're supposed to be exhausted right?"

"Huh? Yeah, but we should go find the shop first!"

Alise stopped and turned around. "Why?"

"You're always supposed to go the shop first when you enter a town. Then we walk around and see what the locals say, then we go to the inn." Gordon stopped to let Alise respond, but she just stared at him, unamused. "What? Isn't that how it's always done? You walk around, talk to people, then you help them."

"You've heard way too many stories, Gordon." Alise said flatly. "You can go and do all that if you want, but I'm headed to the inn."

Gordon watched in confusion as Alise started walking off. "Wait, what? Oh fine..." He followed after her, glancing for a moment at the shop keeper who was closing up. "Guess we're too late anyway..."

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The two had rented a room for a night, and soon enough morning came. As much as Alise like to sleep in when there was nothing she had to do, she found herself waking up earlier than she wanted to. She tired to fight it. She kept her eyes shut and made her thoughts as boring as she could manage. She rolled on her side. She rolled the other way. Nothing seemed to work, and she soon found herself staring at the ceiling in frustration.

Alise glanced to the other bed in the room, where Gordon appeared to be sleeping. His head was buried under his pillow as if his life depended on it, but he was quiet and still.

Alise sighed and looked at the ceiling for a time longer, finally deciding that if she couldn't sleep, she might as well act awake. Sitting up and stretching, Alise took note of the time. It was probably sometime around mid morning, as the outside didn't have that cool and fresh feel to it as it would earlier nor was it full of the energy of activity. However with Halure everyone would already be up and about and making use of the day.

Alise stood up and walked over to the window of the room, which gave a nice view of the Great Tree. The sun poked through the leaves, sending an intricate webs of shadows all along the ground. At the base of the tree a group of young children played as an elderly couple watched. Alise smiled tiredly and leaned her arms against the window sill and closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her face.

Her thoughts suddenly turned to what Gordon had said yesterday. She looked back to him over her shoulder. He was still scrunched up for safety underneath his pillow. I wonder where he got that idea about running around the town just looking for favors to be done. She thought. He must have heard too many stories from those knights, but he was right about going to the store.

Alise, still thinking, walked over to where her pack lay at the foot of her bed. I wasn't expecting him to come along, and I don't have enough items for two people. She reached down and set the pack on the bed. I should be able to head down, buy what we need and be back before he even knows it.

She also sat down and put on her boots, leaving the greaves on the floor. She was only going to be down there for a short amount of time, so she didn't bother to tie them around her boots or even put on her gloves. She did however fish out a piece of paper and a pen from her pack and scribbled down a note:

Don't panic, alright? I've just gone shopping. I shouldn't be too long, so just stay put.

-Alise

Alise left the note on the end table, slipped the pack over her shoulder and left the room, then the inn, moving swiftly down the stairs to solid ground.

Without warning, someone bumped into her.

"Unh, sorry there." A scruffy and dirty looking man nodded to her, not making eye contact and hurriedly moving on ahead. Another similarly dirty man walked off with them.

Alise stopped in her tracks, staring at the men's backs as they moved farther and farther away. "No way..." she muttered. Beast Legion. "Again? Here?" Shaking her head, she watch them go, slowly starting to follow them. She scolded herself for not thinking about her actions, but still she followed, making sure she stayed a fair distance away as the two turned in towards the shop.

The men talked with the shopkeeper for a few moments, throwing a sack of what she assumed to be gald on the counter. The man looked down in surprise at the sack, and tried to interject, but one of the men leaned forward. Alise couldn't see what he did, but the shopkeeper showed signs of fear, before nodding quickly and leaving the counter. Moments later, the keeper appeared with several large and heavy-looking sacks. The men took them, and left the store front, making a beeline for the town exit.

Alise watched them leave, suspicions burning inside of her. As the coast was clear Alise went to the shop front. "Hey," she greeted the shopkeeper. From what she could tell he was still caught by surprise by the two men. "I just saw that. What just happened?"

The shopkeeper let out a breath, slightly shaking his head. "Cleaned me out, that's what. They dropped off a load of gald, and demanding pretty much everything I have. I'm just glad the next shipment is supposed to come soon, but I'm afraid I'd have to close up shop until then."

Alise frowned. "I see..." She turned her back and leaned against the counter, her eyes staring off where the men had disappeared. "At least you got some gald in for it..."

"That's true. You didn't need anything, did you?"

Alise shook her head. "No..." An idea flashed through her mind, an unnatural one at that. "Actually... Do me a favor..." Without waiting for a reply Alise slipped her pack off of her shoulder and set it on the counter. "Watch this for me." With that she walked straight through the town gate, quickly finding the men in the distance.

She couldn't believe she was doing this. Her, of all people. She always thought herself to the kind to leave things that didn't concern her be, but here she was, following the two men into what looked like a nearby thicket of trees. Two men would never need that many items just for themselves. Alise had also seen enough of Beast Legion to at least be suspicious. The first group she met seemed helpful, the second vicious. This group was a mystery, and she secretly hoped that they either stayed that way, or proved her to be a fool for her suspicions.

The thicket of trees stretched out for longer than Alise had expected, the tree growing more numerous as well. She only had her ears to help her find the men, who were proving hard to track. Alise let out a breath, shaking her head at herself. She was letting herself get caught up in this. If she were to stop right now and head back-

Voices. And they were close. Alise immediately stopped in her track and ducked low behind half a bush, listening. She couldn't make out the words, but they were men's voices who greeted each other with comradery, which was enough to make Alise raise her eyebrow. The voices started to move farther away. Alise moved forward, bending over low to stay hidden. The voices were added in with more voices, and Alise stopped where she was as soon as she caught sign of a clearing.

The clearing looked like a make shift camp that was set up in a hurry. Men, and even some women, were all gathered together, talking and sharpening weapons. Some of them had monsters lazing at their sides. Alise counted them; about ten Beast Legion members and four monsters.

That would explain all the gels and stuff they took, she noted. But why are they all here? No. Stop this, you've stalked these people enough. Alise shook her head at her self again and backed away, still crouched over and slowly rising to her full height.

"The hell?"

Alise whipped around. A man wearing a Beast Legion vest stood not two feet away from her, weapon in hand. Alise froze in her spot. The man eyed her warily, holding the sword in his hand higher. "Now where did you come from? Doesn't look like you're one of them..."

Alise's fists balled up at her sides. One of them? She thought.

The man moved in carefully. Alise watched him come closer, not even fighting back when the man roughly grabbed her by the shoulder. Instead she flinched and let out a quiet whimper, hoping to have him let his guard down. She kept up the act by not even looking at him, settling for the floor below him.

To her surprise, the man seemed to sigh as he spoke. "You wandered into the wrong camp, girlie." The man started to spin her around and push her in towards the camp.

Alise wrenched the man's hand off of her shoulder and with a loud grunt and a lot of effort flipped him over and threw him into the bushes. Alise stumbled back, off balance, and rushed to take off in the opposite direction.

Breathing heavy, Alise weaved through the dense trees that surrounded her. If the others in that camp didn't hear her take cares of that man, he certainly would have called out for help by now.

Already she could hear them coming after, they took no care to be quiet. They all seemed to call out in whoops and yells, which was immediately followed by the excited cry of the monsters. She spared a glance back, seeing that three were in pursuit, with two wolf monsters leading the way. Cursing under her breath, Alise made a sharp left, hoping to throw them off.

"Gett'a!" They were catching up fast.

Alise quickly ducked behind a tree, doing her best to pick out their footfalls over her breathing. She was in a corner. There was no other way. Closer... Closer...!

Alise planted both hands on the ground and threw out her legs in a split. Two wolf monsters leaped over her legs instinctually, but their masters tumbled and crashed down to the ground. Another man stumbled but managed to keep himself from falling. Alise rose up to greet him with a fist to the stomach.

Doubled over, the man tried to swing his fist in retaliation. Alise grabbed it, pulling him aside and kicking him down in the back. Snarling a monster leaped at her face, fangs bared. Alise threw herself backwards, knocking the monster back with a kick as she flipped. When she righted herself, she found more of the men coming after her. She spun on her heel and bolted off in the other direction.

Alise let out a yell. Her body was pulled back. She turned to face her assaulter. A massive fist collided with her cheek, knocking her flat on her stomach. A foot crashed down on her lower back and her head was wrenched backwards by her braid. Alise bit her tounge, trying not to scream, as her eyes began to tear up in pain.

"And that," a man's raspy voice announced to those around him, "is how you wrangle up one of the more wilder ones you might come across."

The pressure on Alise's back increased as the man who held her captive leaned forward. "Gotta admit, you were pretty impressive for a minute there. I can't wait to see what kind of show you put on..." The man stood back up. "Hold her with the rest of them! And watch those legs of hers or she'll cause us a lot of trouble."

He let go of her hair, letting her face fall flat in the dirt. As soon as he removed his feet from her back, two others rushed in to pull and tie her hands behind her back. When they finished they pulled at her to make her stand up. Alise, head heavy with exhaustion and defeat, let them.

They led her back towards the camp, past the clear she had first saw them all in and back into the trees. Alise looked up and gasped softly.

There were people there, all of them bound like she was. They all looked up at her as she brought up next to them, confusion and surprise mixed in with the dirt on their faces. All of them were tied to two trees, as a long stretch of rope was wrapped around the trunk of the tree and each person had a rope tied from their wrists to that rope.

The men brought out even more rope, tying Alise's wrists to the rope around one of the trees. They sat her down with her back to the trunk and bound her ankles tightly together.

The man who had caught Alise walked up, the biggest of all the monsters at his side. He was short, but with broad shoulders and a long machete fastened to his side. "Good, I think we've got enough this time around. Listen up now! We'll be leaving again before daybreak, so rest up." The man snickered darkly. "You've got a long walk ahead of you..."

The three men returned to the camp, a rough looking woman taking her place to watch them. She sat down against a tree that was equidistant from and the group and started picking her nails with her dagger. She didn't even spare them all a glance.

Alise groaned quietly, rolling her eyes at herself. She turned her head to the other captives to find all of their eyes on her. Alise furrowed defensively, giving them all a look to leave her be. Most of them turned away awkwardly, but one did not. She was a woman with brown hair that was beginning to look stringy, with honest eyes.

Alise looked at her. The woman tilted her head curiously.

Suddenly Alise found herself chuckling. Shaking her head, she pressed her head against the tree bark. She muttered, "Don't ask."

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Much shorter this time, which is good~ Thank you, and keep reading :D

~RaeMina