Thick as Thieves
By Dixxy
Chapter Six
"Pure devestation."
The group of young boys were snow standing at the foot of what had once been Guardia Castle. Now, it looked like little more than an abandoned rock quarry. Even with Guardia Forest behind them, there was a thick, sickening silence that remained in the air. Huge jagged rocks marked the places where towers and rooms had once been, and the sick sensation of death and horror reigned supreme.
"Dario, I want to go," Glenn said, tugging on his brother's sleeve. "It's scary."
"The wee one's right," said Karsh. Karsh' normally playful demeanor had become sullen and moody, his eyes not as wide and happy as they usually were. "This battleground. . . it's a graveyard, now. Surely people died here. . . maybe even some in the castle."
"Wha, what do you mean?" asked Norris, looking at Karsh fearfully.
"Aye dinnae think the Porres would ave waited for the castle to be abandoned fore they tore it down," he said. He turned his head away, his eyes filling with tears. "Aye feel sorry fer the poor souls who weren't killed by the castle's destruction- they may ave died from thirst are starvation."
Glenn was noticeably shaken. "Starved?"
"The rule of threes," said Dario. "Three minutes without air, three days without water, and three weeks without food. Those times are about how long it would take before you'd die from suffocation, dehydration, or starvation. People in the lower areas of the castle may have been trapped in rooms or pockets of air. Their final days were probably dark and painful as their bodies screamed for nourishment they couldn't-"
Glenn started to cry, and Dario stopped talking. "We should go," Norris said. "This place is too harsh. We can't stay here and not go crazy from the mental anguish." Dario picked up his still crying younger brother, nodding towards his two other friends. He began to walk, consoling the young child in his arms.
Karsh placed a hand on Norris' shoulder. The Porre fugitive was still staring at the ruins of Guardia Castle in morbid fascination, his face expressionless. Karsh lowered his gaze, his heart feeling heavy as he thought about how Norris looked. "C'mon, Nor. We'd better catch up to the brothers."
"I can't leave."
"What?"
Norris turned to Karsh, his expression now filled with something similar to worry. "You don't understand, Karsh. El Nido's army is purely a defensive force. They only use violence when they need to protect themselves. Guardia was the same way," he said. His eyes began to tear. "But Porre used its power just to hurt others! All they cared about was power and control!"
"Norris. . ."
Norris fell to his knees, staring at his palms. "My people did this. . ." And he began to sob. "Curtis. . . he was probably in this battle. . . he probably laughed as he killed people. . . shot them dead. . . beat them bloody. . . oh God, what if he found another little kid like Glenn to torture?! What if he took some personal trophy back to Porre just so he could finish what he started with Glenn?!"
Karsh was on the ground before Norris knew what had happened, his arms around his sobbing friend. "Is all right, Nor," he breathed onto Norris' cheek. Norris felt a shiver go up his spine as Karsh's warm breath tickled his skin. "Yer naught like them. Yer different. Is going to be all right. We're goin' ta get to El Nido and you can start over. . . ye can stay with me and me folks are with Dario and Glenn are with Radius are somebody. You're from Porre but yer naught one of them." He gently placed a hand on Norris' shoulder, moving it to gently cup the other boy's face.
Norris turned to look at Karsh, seeing sincerity in his friend's face. "Karsh. . ." He moved his hand over his friend's face. "Somehow. . . just knowing you care makes me feel a lot better about all this. It doesn't make the pain go away, but. . . it's like a glimmer of hope for me."
"Ye've got a bright future ahead of ye," he said. "Yer a good guy."
"Thank you- Karsh, do you realize how close our faces are?" Norris said. Karsh stopped briefly and realized his nose and Norris' noses were just a few hairs away from each other. The blonde watched in curiosity as large, red eyes gazed back into his own soft blue. The eyes became smaller as his friend's face shaped itself into a grin. "Karsh? Are you all right?"
"I'm fine," he said. Karsh turned his hand to grasp Norris', gently rubbing the back as he did. He looked down and chuckled. "It feels strange. . . I know this isn't the way I'm supposed to be actin' towards another boy, yet it doesn't feel all that wrong, somehow."
Norris was taken aback as he blinked in surprise. Karsh also moved away, a feeling of shame on his face. The Porre fugitive looked at his friend with worry. "It's all right, Karsh," he said. Karsh looked at him in confusion as Norris gave him a kind, youthful and innocent smile. "I feel the same way right now."
If the happiness expressed on Karsh's face could be measured in sound, Norris would have gone deaf three times over. It wasn't so much a wild, gleaming happiness filled with excitement that would cause one to jump around and cheer, but rather one of being more than content with a situation. "Nor. . . are ye serious?"
"I know you kissed me back in Heckran Cave."
Karsh froze. "Ye. . . were awake!?"
Norris nodded. "Yes."
"Oh Dragon Gods. . ."
"I'm sorry I didn't say anything."
"Norris. . . aye should've restrained meself from-"
"-from expressing yourself?"
"Right after what could've happened?! Jeez, Norris!" Karsh got to his feet quickly. "Aye made a mistake. Ye were nearly raped by the psychotic wizard man and there aye go kissing ye in yer sleep. Without yer consent, none the less! Do ye realize how much aye ave regretted tha!? By all means ye should've screamed and run away from me! Aye made a move on you while ye were in a fragile state!"
Norris quieted. "But you saved me," he said. He looked up at Karsh, not bothering to stand back up. "Without even caring about what might've happened to you, you charged in there and saved me. I know it wasn't much, but you scared him off and I'd be in a lot worse shape if you hadn't. Karsh, what you did was selfless, and it was for me. And the way you defended me was incredible, as if someone was trying to hurt something that meant a lot to you."
"You're my friend," Karsh responded, sitting back down.
"Yes," said Norris. "We are friends. But I think we want us to be more than-"
"DARIO!"
Both boys were back on their feet. "Something's wrong!" said Karsh. He took Norris' hand and gave him a sly grin, quickly giving him a slightly seductive look. "We can finish this later, but right now we ave to see what the ruddy hell's happened to Dario and Glenn!"
Norris nodded dumbly and let Karsh lead him through the woods to where he thought Glenn's cry had come from. Under branches, over logs, and around trees they went, Karsh running the course as if he'd been running it his entire life. Norris wasn't as agile- sure he'd been put through some hard labor back while he was a slave, but Karsh, Dario, and Glenn had grown up with tournaments and games that tested their physical endurance. Norris was a city boy who was just now getting used to spending so much time outside, and he wasn't used to running with so many obstacles.
Karsh skidded to a halt some minutes later, Norris crashing into his back. After rubbing his head, he peeked over Karsh's shoulder to see a slightly horrifying scene. Dario was lying on the ground with his eyes closed and a worried Glenn hovering over him, screaming at his brother to wake up. A few feet away a man was standing with a large, heavy looking stick in his hands, slapping it into his open palm in a regulated, menacingly slow pattern.
The man was enough to make the scene scary. He was large in both stature and structure with several crude tattoos lining his arms and neck. His red hair was long, matted, and looked as if it hadn't been washed for days. His beard was long and in similar condition, though Norris was almost ready to swear that there was something LIVING in the red curls. His face, hands, and clothes were smeared with dirt and his smelled strongly of booze. From the looks of it, this man meant trouble and had already caused some.
"HEY!" Karsh yelled. He stepped forward, shaking his fist at the man. Norris tried to hold him back, not wanting the other boy to get into a potentially dangerous fight. "What the 'ell did ye do to me friends!? Aye'll kick yer ass ye filthy mongrel! If Dario's dead ye'll ave to deal with me, and aye bite a lot harder than ye'd think!"
Slowly, the man turned to look at Karsh with dark, scary brown eyes. His jaw was moving up and down, a thick wad of slimey black tobacco in his mouth. "You think you're tough enough to handle me?" He grinned, and pulled out a gun from his belt loop. "Maybe you can. But I'd like to see your unconscious friend there dodge a bullet."
"NO! DON'T HURT DARIO!" Glenn threw himself over his brother's body to try and protect him. "You can't hurt him! He's my brother! We have to get back home! Our Daddy must miss us and if Dario dies he'll be devastated! Just let us go and stop hurting us!"
"If you want to live, you'll all come with ME!" the man demanded. He fired a shot from his gun into the air to prove his point. "Listen up- I ain't got no problem with shooting any of you little mongrels full of holes if you don't listen to every little thing I say. Got it!?" He turned to Karsh and Norris. "You two! Pick up Sleeping Beauty over there and start carrying him! We're going on a little trip. . ."
~
The "trip" led them to what they assumed to be the man's home. . . or hideout. It was a run-down, dirty house that smelled strongly of cat urine and rotting cabbage with broken windows, dusty floors and furnishings, and a sense of dread that frightened the three conscious boys (Dario was still out cold).
The dirty man led them into a back room with an old, dilapidated couch, a cabinet, a chair, and a small table. The man pointed to the couch, and Karsh led his friends to it. Once all were sat down, the positioned Dario into a sitting position, Karsh leaning his childhood best friend's head onto his shoulder while Glenn got as close to his brother as possible.
"I want your names and your ages-NOW!"
"Glenn- I'm six!"
"Norris, twelve!"
"Karsh, thirteen! And Dario's twelve!"
The man snorted. "At least yer young and impressionable. . ." he muttered. He reached into the cabinet and produced a brown bottle that the boys guessed was filled with booze. He popped the cork, put the opening to his mouth, and chugged for a solid minute. Once he was finished, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand, though his beard was still drizzling with whiskey.
"What do you mean by impressionable?" asked Norris.
"Easy to teach," said the man. He sat down in the chair and grinned. "You see, boys, you're going to be my personal. . . providers. When I want something, you'll get it. As long as you get it, I don't put a hole between someone's eyes and out the back of their head. Beautiful relationship, huh?"
"So we're just running errands for you?" asked Glenn, looking confused.
"That seems. . . um. . . simple," said Norris. "But why threaten us if you just want us to go out and buy your groceries or what not for you? If you needed a little help around this place you should've just asked. We probably would have said 'no' unless you agreed to help us, but-"
"I ain't got no money," he said.
"We don't have any money, either," said Glenn.
"So? You got fingers, don't you?"
Karsh growled. "Excuse me, but are ye telling us ye want us ta STEAL for ye?!"
"'Steal' is such a strong word," the man said, taking another drink from his bottle. "I prefer the term. . . 'borrowing and not returning without ever asking for permission'. And yes. . . you four WILL steal for me if you want to live. If any of you refuses, I'll just kill one of you and see how the rest of you like it. Let one die and let the rest deal with it for the rest of their lives. How does that sound?"
"You can't!" Glenn cried, cradling Dario's unconscious head. He was crying a little bit, but he wasn't in sobbing hysterics like he usually was. "We have to go home! And stealing is bad! It's really, really bad! We could go to jail for that, and we don't ever know HOW to steal!"
The pulled out his gun again and pointed it at Glenn. Glenn cried out, staring at the gun while his body shook in fear. "Well, then I'd suggest you learn how to steal if you value your lives. Got it, punks? You steal, or someone dies. Do I make myself CLEAR!?"
Glumly, the boys nodded.
~
"Oh this is nice! Things just keep getting better and better, don't they!?" Dario snapped. The four boys had been moved to a room in the house, where their captor had promptly locked them in. Karsh had tried to break the door down, but it was no use. Furthermore, Dario was still unconscious and unaware of what was going on. After his friends had managed to revive him, they filled him in on what had happened since he'd been rendered unconscious. "This guy is making Medina look like a vacation paradise! He expects us to STEAL for him?!"
"Yeah, but what choice do we have?" Norris asked. He sighed heavily, and glanced in Karsh's general direction. "If we don't do what he says. . . one of us dies. I don't want any of us to die. You all are my friends, and I don't know what I'd do without any of you."
"And what if he kills Dar are Glenn? Oh sure, Nor an aye will be crushed, but think of the other brother," said Karsh. Glenn looked ready to cry, but Karsh held up his hand. "Tha's why we are goin to ave to lissen to this bastard- fer now. Once we figure out an escape plan, it'll all be behind us. If we ken escape from the Mystics, we ken surley loose this bozo."
"Maybe Karsh is right," said Norris. He smiled and nodded his head. "Let's just keep our spirits up and hope for the best, right?" The other three nodded. "That's the idea! All we have to do is bide our time and wait for the right opportunity to make our break, just like last time!"
"And it might even be real soon!" said Glenn.
"How so?" asked Dario.
"When he sends us out, we don't come back!"
Karsh coughed. "Aye dinnae think e'll let us all out- e sure isn't a bright crayon, but aye dinnae think e's a complete moron, either. 'e knows if 'e lets us all out then tha's exactly what we'll do. 'e went through too much trouble to catch us to just let us go, ye know?"
"So then are we doomed?" asked Glenn.
The room was filled with silence.
~
I came up with their new introduction to thieving and decided to run with it. It was too good to pass up. They're generally good-hearted kids who, I feel, would've been able to figure out a way to get food and money without stealing. This kinda forces them into it, which seems slightly more realistic.
Lena Ban Obsidian did some more beta-work for this chapter. Yay Lena! She did some minor word changes here and there, maybe caught a few spelling errors. . . and made sure the little shonen-ai scene was good.
You gotta love the Karsh/Norris goodness. ^__^
On the l33t thing. . . er. . . I get the idea now, and it was something of a mix of several people's ideas. So. . . too many people responded to this question with too many different kinds of responses to fairly choose a winner (or more). Sorry :(
A general note for everyone
: A number of you said the water slide was a cool thing. Well, it isn't my idea. It was implemented in Chrono Trigger immediately after a boss called Heckran. The recommended team was Crono, Marle, and Lucca, since Heckran was weak against magic (Robo was the other available character, but, ah, Robo really didn't have much magic). They had to go through the cave from Medina to get to Truce, much like what the boys did. However, they landed south of the Zenan bridge, so wind resistance or whatever blew them off course. As another note, Heckran does make some cameos in Cross in the form of his bones ^_^ There will definitely be some trigger elements in this game, especially in terms of geography.By the way, I think I have more review responses that actual story this time o.O
Crystal Cat-Chan: It isn't a bad thing! Honest! Eh. . . I dunno if I would personally want to go on that thing. Yeah, it sucks to be Norris. And yeah, my writer's block is lifting. And don't review my stories to the point where it kills you- dying is bad for your health.
Ex-SOLDIER girl: Okay, I will. And who doesn't love Karsh/Norris?
Uftaki: Well, I don't think Uftaki was overly excited about the update, neh? I'm glad you liked the pool and fight incidents. That fight was pretty funny. Glenn was sure a little smart-ass, though. He needs to grow up and stop crying, though. But hey, he's six years old. As far as no El Nido goes, there is going to be El Nido, but it's going to be in a different story that I need to work on more. Zappa needs to be a moody old man. And damn straight I know you aren't sorry! Especially after this chapter (Norris: Why do I get the feeling I'm going to end up being the Ryo to Karsh's Dee in the near future? And does that mean Glenn is suddenly going to become Bikky?). I already talked about l33t.
Angelus Errare: Tell me about it. And that probably isn't the last fight Karsh picks, either! Glenn as well! Er. . . Glenn attaching himself to Norris? Hold on *rereads chapter* Oh, okay, I see. And thanks for the comments on Glenn's characterization! Well, you see, Norris wasn't actually raped- Karsh did come to the rescue before anything TOO bad happened. Yes, it was probably traumatizing, but Nor has got bigger problems to worry about. But your guesses were close!!!
DevaGlenn: I know EXACTLY how you feel.
Alba: You just want to see them go at it, don't you? And yes, you won! Geez, calm down though. Don't get yourself killed over it, really. . . another good l33t thingy. And I will keep on going.
Lena: I responded to Lena with an e-mail, and I'm WAY not focused enough to respond to that right now anyways (I had a LONG day). Some highlights include:
-We're going to shave Yohji's head and Lena is now a traitorous bitch
-The nickname I was referring to is "Sir Sexy" because Lena renamed all her character during one of her first run-throughs and she named Karsh "Sexy" and then people started calling him "Sir Sexy" in the game.
Kittee Amethyist: Chocolate is good. I like chocolate.
Tami: Indeed you won! Yes, high schools sucks royally. Most people would agree with you on that. I dunno, CC hasn't been going as strong as it was. . . summer of '02 was the most awesome time. Alba and I were churning out fics, SB-2 was still with us. . . good times, good times. What, you think Glenny isn't masculine? I'm glad you missed the fic. Don't worry, I don't remember and I'm too lazy to look it up. Thieving is going to be HARD to write until I really get into a routine for them. LOL! Yes, let's play everyone's favorite game: Traumatize Glenn! Karsh isn't exactly regressing, but Glenn is certainly growing up. He'll be clinging to Dario less and less as time goes on, and I'll probably have a scene somewhere that has Dario turning to Glenn for comfort. I read the next chapter in that, I just haven't sat down to review it yet. . . sorry tami-chan! Hey, epics take time and patience to write! My idea of a "novel" used to be a collection of short stories following the same sets of characters. I most certainly will!
Silver: Um, please, no violence. Oi. . . I already explained the l33t thing. TOO MANY EXPLANATIONS! I CAN'T DO IT!
Dogcollar 1: Yup. Sure have.
Dogcollar 2: Yeah, normally I don't like to do that but for some reason I'm really interested in this one doing well. Yes, chapter updates are a pain. But I'll live.
Dogcollar 3: I have! It's a fun game- I like the characters in Cross better, though. One thing you need to understand is that even CC has a ton of Trigger factoids thrown in- big things like Kid's big sister, Lucca, (she was one of the playable characters in CT) and little things like Heckran bones. You can't go too far without finding a CT reference, and as a result a lot of fics have these elements, too. Alba's "Lost and Found" fic is LOADED with them. I beat Pokémon Blue and I've gotten to the last boss in Silver (Ash). I got really far in Spyro 2, but I had borrowed it from my cousin and had to return it. I've also beaten both Lunar games, CT and CC, a couple of NES games, Ocarina of Time, Pokémon Stadium, Kingdom Hearts, and some aspects of Pokémon SNAP! and Super Smash Brothers. Ouch- perhaps an investment in the form of a PS2 is in order! And trust me- I've seen longer reviews. Lena left one so big once it wouldn't fit in the review box and she had to e-mail me the rest!
Dogcollar 4: Yeah. I'm a Glenn fan. Big time. Quite possibly one of the worst ones here. Ever.
Dogcollar 5: ^_^
Dogcollar 6: Yeah, life comes before writing. I have other commitments to attend to, not just writing. Well, different writers like different things. I'm not very comfortable with shorts at all- I like long, lengthy pieces. You know, epics or at least mini-epics. This I would count as an epic. Lena-chan is awesome! She gives great advice and helped out with this chapter. I think the error message affected me, actually- I didn't get an e-mail notification for a large number of your reviews, and that was most likely what happened. But it's not a problem.
Peachgirl1608: The thing about fanfiction writing is that some of the best pieces are about the side characters, not the main characters . Not to say there aren't some smashing Serge fics out there, but that's the trend I've found. There are some great fics about Karsh, Norris, Zoah, Razzly, Grobyc, and others out there that focus very little- if at all- on Serge. That's one of the beauties of fanfiction- you're exploring what the authors, directors, and other creative people didn't. That's just my opinion, though.
Gwenyver: Thank you! L33t was explained at the beginning, thank you very much.
Broken Miho: Ah, Nikki. It gets explained later, and he joins the group well before "game time". An easy way to figure out where you are in time is Glenn. Providing he doesn't have his twenty-first birthday before the end of the year Cross takes place in, we can assume he was born in the year 1000 A.D., the year Trigger took place. Cross takes place in 1020 A.D., when Glenn is twenty. Since Glenn is only about six at this point, it's only the year 1006 A.D., and since Nikki is roughly a year younger, he's five. Marcy hasn't even been born yet (she's ten years younger than Nikki), and since they have the same set of parents, then the tragedy that split the family up hasn't occurred yet. They COULD be on the Invincible, but that's up to speculation. I've gotten the basics of Kid's introduction almost nailed down, but Nikki is still somewhat up in the air as Plan A and Plan B interfere with some of my other ideas later on. I'll explain it when we cross that bridge. Yeah, some people do that. Though I often enjoy sub over dub, I use a lot of American names unless the names are so different you have to. In essence, TO and PT are the same thing in different languages. But my other obsession has two distinctive names- Yoroiden Samurai Troopers (Japanese) and Ronin Warriors (English). The name change was over the existence of two similarly named shows at the time (Super Human Samurai Cyber Squad and V.R. Troopers), but there are also a few plot differences. For example, birth order was screwed with, names were screwed with (save Ryo and, to a degree, Sage), the dubbers actually CREATED a character, and of course the language was toned down for younger audiences (the sub includes a few "damns" and a "go to hell").
Baka: I'm not sure what to make of this- correct me if I'm wrong, but that sounds a LOT like an insult. Granted you said you liked the story, but me? See, aside from the fact you've already called yourself an idiot you didn't say much else.
Paladin Dragon: And I'm not? Don't worry about it- I have so many reviews for this chapter it's wild. Well, Glenn DOES have better stats that Karsh (aside from maybe magic). Karsh's main killer is his accuracy- compared the others, it's low. In fact, with two Einlanzers, Glenn's attack rating is HIGHER than Serge's, and as a rule of thumb video game main characters tend to have really bad-ass attack strength. Serge is no exception to this rule.
Mikomi's Pen: Norris IS cool.
Shadow Weaver and Ikira: Trigger is a hard game to come by. You could try and get the PS version in a used game store (it comes as a dual game with FF4 in a package entitled "Final Fantasy Chronicles") or on the SNES version, which sells in the three-digit range on e-Bay, and this probably includes broken cartridges. Trigger is considered by many to be the best RPG of all time, even put up against titles such as Final Fantasy 7. If you want to know the Trigger plot, check out my favorite stories section- there's a novelization of the game included within. The author took a lot of poetic license with some of the humor and the main bridge between Trigger and Cross (Schala- they hated Cross), but aside from that it's relatively good. It also sheds some light on some of the inside jokes and plot points of Chrono Cross. Prometheus, Heckran, and the Masamune are all good examples. Aw, don't feel so bad about yourself. Writing takes practice. But I like the fact you think I'm well liked ^_^.
Jasban: I'd comment but I have no idea what the hell you wrote except for "bravo", so I'm going to assume it was a compliment.
~Dixxy
