MA GAWD! YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME! HOLY CRAP! 10 reviews, 12 favourites, 16 follows (in total)! Do you have any idea how big those numbers are to us?! Well, they're really big numbers, just saying. Anyway, I'd like to thank the four awesome people who reviewed on the previous chapter!
-DerpyKanshii
-Kitty (HelloKitty55443)
-Rinkushido
-FANG ee
Okay, before you guys all kill me with pitchforks and guns and whatnot, I'm sorry. The words were hating on me and wouldn't cooperate and now...well, if it's crappy you'll know why ._.
Chapter 8
Chung sat alone in the corner of the cave, shivering. What happened to him? Since when did he start swearing? Since when did he become so…so…much of a jerk? The questions just wouldn't stop running through his head. But the main question was – what was military camp doing to him? It was changing him for the worse.
He covered his eyes with his hands. He couldn't take it anymore – what if this was really who he was and military camp was only bringing out his true self? His fingers tore at his hair.
"I don't know who I am anymore…" He choked out as his vision blurred with all the tears. "I'm so alone…"
I miss you, Eve.
XXX
The next morning, Chung awoke to a warm, fuzzy fabric draped on his body. It was a blanket. He felt terrible – more physically than mentally. He could've sworn he saw Eve waving at him from the cave's opening. He blinked and she was gone. He tried to sit up, but he felt so dizzy and his head hurt. He groaned.
Suddenly, something attacked him. Chung pushed it off him and he looked at it. It was about the size of a gym bag and smelled like meat. Chung shook his head, but the smell was still there. He sniffed the air and realized it was coming from the bag. He unzipped the bag and dumped all the containments out – a giant sausage.
Chung's mouth watered. He was surprised he made through the previous day on only crackers, bread and a bit of water, but before him was a giant sausage! Chung jumped at the giant sausage, gnawing at it.
XXX
Valak stared at the Prince of Hamel. He had the most weirded out look on his face anyone could possibly muster.
He stared at Chung, disgusted. "What the hell…" He had thrown a bag of guns at the kid to wake him up and now he's trying to eat the guns. What is wrong with his generation of kids?
XXX
Eve skipped a rock over the surface of the ocean. She and Chung used to go to the outskirts of Hamel all the time just to skip rocks. The rock bounced twice before plopping into the water with a splosh! Eve sighed. Oh well, she was never the good one at skipping stones anyway.
She stared out over the horizon. There were always dark clouds looming near the west oceans. Well, ever since demons started showing up more frequently. Before the demons came, Hamel was a happy and danger-free place. The oceans were always beautiful and sparkling, but it seems that the oceans have lost their glint.
Eve kicked off her shoes and socks and walked to the shallowest part of the ocean, just enough so that her toes could get wet. As the waves chased her up and down the sandy shore, she got more and more into the game she was playing with herself.
Before she knew it, she was smiling and laughing. She hadn't laughed or smiled since Chung left. Upon realizing this, Eve quickly stopped. She was about to go put on her shoes and socks, but something about the water made it seem welcoming. Well, if I play just a bit more won't hurt, right?
Instead of running up and down the shore with the cold ocean water teasing her toes, like before, she walked into the ocean until the water was up to her knees. The water was cold, but it helped her forget all her worries and troubles at the same time.
Just as Eve was about to walk back onto shore, she felt a hand enclose around her ankle. Instinctively, Eve screamed and fell backwards, landing into the water.
"Help! Let me go!" Eve shrieked. "HELP!" Suddenly, ice started crawling up her leg and when Eve tried to tear the ice off, it spread to her hands.
"Someone help!" Eve yelled again. The thing pulled Eve underwater and she couldn't breathe. Her lungs were burning and she felt light-headed from the lack of oxygen.
Eve tried to pry off the hand with her other hand before the ice completely enveloped her. The ice had already frozen the left side of her face, numbing that part of her face. Not before long, the darkness consumed her along with the coldness of the sea.
"Eve…" A familiar voice called.
"5 more minutes, Mom," Eve mumbled, unconsciously.
"Eve, you have to wake up," Eve's eyes fluttered open. Gold met turquoise and Eve's heart skipped a beat. She reached up and placed a hand on his cheek.
"Is it really you?" He smiled sadly, removing her hand from his cheek.
"Only if you want me to be,"
"…what's that supposed to mean?" Eve searched his eyes for some kind of meaning in his words, but she couldn't find anything.
"I don't know, but you need to wake up, now," He pulled her into a warm embrace and he kissed her forehead just as the light enveloped them.
"Wait!" Eve shouted, shooting up in the bed. The person at the door turned around. She was a woman with graying brown hair and a clip board in hand, she was also wearing a doctor's coat so Eve just assumed she was the doctor.
"Ah," She said, "you're awake. Is there anything you need?"
"Uh…n-nothing," Eve mumbled. The doctor smiled.
"Alright, then, I'll be back soon to give you a quick check up," She said, walking out of Eve's room. Eve looked around. The whiteness of the room was unfamiliar with her. Her hands gripped the sheets and she fell back onto the pillow. Eve groaned. "My God, even in my dreams he's stupid!" She smacked her hands onto her face, feeling a burning pain on her left arm.
Eve sat up and examined her left arm – a bloody gash running down from her shoulder to her wrist. Eve's small frame shook and tears blurred up her vision, but she couldn't look away from the gash. She clamped her right hand over her eyes, sobbing. It hurt a lot and the way it looked frightened her.
I'm scared, Chung.
XXX
Aisha and Ara sat in the hospital lobby.
"Do you think she's okay? Is she losing lots of blood? Is she severely injured?" Ara rambled.
"Ara, calm down, she'll be fine." Aisha said, trying to calm down her worried friend. "Eve's a good person, so God definitely won't let her die this way,"
"But, but, but what if –" Ara tried to protest but Aisha cut her off.
"God will not let Eve die like this," Aisha said. "He will show mercy on Eve, and help her pull through this, you too," Ara bit her bottom lip and dug her fingernails into her palms.
"O…okay," Ara murmured, hesitantly. "Anyway, where's Rena? Did you tell her about Eve?" Aisha nodded.
"I'm sure she'll be here soon," Aisha reassured.
"She better be," Ara choked out. "I was there for her when Jun took Chung without her knowing –" Ara instantly clamped her hands over her mouth upon realizing what she just accidentally said. Aisha stared at her friend in disbelief.
"You knew this whole time?" Aisha asked. Ara stayed silent. "You knew this whole time, yet you never told Rena?" Ara tried to explain, but no words would come out. "How could you do something like that to her? You know how worried she is about him! So why would you keep his location a secret to her?!" Aisha was standing now, yelling at her friend.
"Aisha, calm down, we're in a hospital –"
"No, you calm down! You were always the one to make good choices, but maybe that was taken along with him when he left you!" Aisha spat. Ara was now standing as well.
"This has nothing to do with him!"
"Excuse me, madams," A nurse interrupted. "But if you two do not quiet down, I'll have to ask you two to leave," Ara sat back down. Aisha just shook her head at Ara.
"I'm leaving," Aisha muttered, her body vaporizing into a shower of sparkles with a wave of her staff. Shortly after, Eve's doctor approached Ara.
"Miss Ara, right?" Ara nodded. "Come this way, please," As they walked, Eve's doctor spoke.
"Your daughter will be fine, however she will need stitches for her arm," The doctor paused, almost like she was hesitant to say this, "but we're not sure if the stitches will be enough though, so just for precautions, we'll need her to stay in the hospital until further notice, alright?" Ara reluctantly nodded. The doctor smiled. "I'm glad you understand, ma'am." She opened the door to Eve's room and Ara stepped in to see Eve crying.
Ara rushed to her daughter and wrapped her into a hug. She patted her back.
"Are you okay, honey?" She asked as Eve cried.
"Y-yeah," Eve stammered. Ara stroked Eve's hair as she waited for Eve to calm down.
"You feeling better now?" Eve gave a stiff nod.
"What did the doctor say?" Ara held her daughter at arm's length and mustered her best smile.
"She said you'll be fine, you just need a few stitches and you'll be fine," Ara said. "Isn't that great? You'll be out of here in no time," Eve gave Ara a small smile.
"Yeah, I guess," She murmured. Ara didn't want to tell her daughter that she might have to stay here for more than a month, not in her condition, not now.
XXX
"He'll be here soon. Hide in a tree or something, Elsword," His older sister ordered. Elsword rolled his eyes and climbed up a tree, sitting on a branch. The leaves kept him hidden, but he could still see everything nearby.
His sister stood on the forest route, waiting for their most recent client to arrive for their trade. Not too long after their chat, a chubby business man arrived in a chariot. He stepped off of the chariot and approached Elsword's sister.
"Miss Elesis," He greeted, tipping his gray hat. Elesis responded with a cold look.
"Client," She replied. The man let out a hearty chuckle.
"Still as cold as ever I see; calling every one of your clients 'Client'," He said, lighting a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. Elesis swiped the cigarette away from him and crushed it under her boot.
"Enough small talk, my brother and I successfully stole the attribute stones you requested for, now pay up," Elesis commanded. "I expect you to pay us a great deal of coins. After all, attribute stones are only so common,"
"Reasonably, yes, handsomely, no," The man said, handing Elesis a bag of coins. About 1000 ED, Elesis thought. She extended her hand for another bag. "Now, Miss Elesis, you mustn't be greedy," He scolded. "A filthy street child such as you and your brother must accept all you can get, never asking for more," Suddenly, a blade was being pressed against the man's throat from behind.
"Street child, hm," A voice said. "I don't think a street child would have a rich man, like you, almost pissing themselves now, would they?" The man shook.
"Okay! Take the money! Just d-don't hurt me!" The man shouted. Elesis smirked and grabbed every bag of ED the man had on him. Elsword kept his blade pressed against the man's throat.
"We don't mess around, Client," Elsword spat. He glanced towards his sister for approval before running the blade across the man's throat. "We don't need you running around telling everyone about our whereabouts,"
"You too, Mr. Chariot driver," Elesis said, stabbing the driver through the chest with her sword. Elesis grabbed the driver's coat and wiped his blood off of her sword with the fabric. She tossed it to Elsword and he wiped off their Client's blood off of his sword.
The duo ran off, deeper into the forest with bags of ED and attribute stones.
XXX
"So, what should we do with all this money? And what do we do with the attribute stones?" Elsword asked, observing an attribute stone in the sunlight as he leaned against a tree trunk.
Elesis shrugged, "I don't know, we could always take someone's cloak and go into town to buy some more suitable things as well as add an attribute to our weapons,"
"Huh, too bad our last Client didn't have a cloak. We could've gone in town and used these." Elsword said, putting the fire attribute stone back in the bag of attribute stones.
The two sat in silence for a moment, but then Elesis' head snapped up from her nap. Elesis looked at her brother, signalling for him to go up. The two climbed up a tree and hid behind the leaves of a branch.
The pounding of horse hooves became louder and louder. The two siblings watched as two women descended the chariot for a break.
"The Prince of Hamel has been gone for quite some time, don't you think?" The woman asked, pulling out two delicious-looking sandwiches and handed one to the other woman.
"Yeah, the Queen must be devastated. Her only son ran away from home and still hasn't returned. I mean, 3 months is a bit much," The other woman said before taking a bite out of her sandwich.
The duo in the trees smirked at this news. If they came across the Prince of Hamel in one of their trades, Hamel would surely give a handsome reward for the safe return of their prince. Another thing to look out for during their trades.
I had originally planned for this chapter to be mainly focused on Elsword and Elesis, but I guess I threw in some unnecessary stuff about Eve, Chung and Ara and her buddies. Now, can't we just ALL picture Timone and Pumbaa as killers? I totally can. not. Well I jacked up their characters. Remember how Chung was all douchy last chapter well, Zenya claims it's "important character development" so now you all know her excuse. I had to re-type this 5 times just because I wasn't content with the way the chapter turned out and I'm still not happy with it. And, um, just so you know, the thing that attacked Eve was a Laguz.
Just putting this out there, we're starting The Hero and The Stalker, acronym - THaTS. My only warning is that there's an excessive use of alcohol, drugs, and all that crap. Aaand it's strongly rated T, in my opinion at least. So, yeah, maybe go check that out. Shameless advertising. B) oh yeah. /killed.
Anyway, R&R please!
-Kayuki
*Question of the chapter: If you were one of Elsword and Elesis' Clients, what would you ask them to steal/who to kill?
