Apologies for the long wait, I am currently slacking off at home and getting my fangirl ON over the approaching 2014...and the movies that come out in it! Some stuff is going to go down in this chapter and YOU'L NEED TO READ IT TO BELIEVE IT! (Not really, I just wanted to say that :) Well, here it is, Chapter 8!


( Ronin's POV )

"-so the next thing I knew, you woke me up and I was tied to that branch! Ronin, you have to believe me!"

"Wait a minute..." I took a seat down on a cot next to Nod's and put my head in my hands, trying to process what he had told me. After I had untied him and he was about to tell me what happened, his head began to bleed and I suggested going back to Moonhaven and visiting the infirmary. My only question, was could he be telling the truth or just suffering from a concussion?

Another concussion...

I moved my fingers a bit so one of my eyes could peak through my hand, just to see Nod intently staring at me, almost in desperation. If I said that I believed him, I'd be lying, but if I told him I didn't believe him, he wouldn't trust me if something bad ever happened.

"Look Nod, I do and don't believe you. Alright? If you want me to fully believe you, I'll need some proof that this..Boggan girl isn't just a figment of your imagination."

He was silent for a moment but then slowly nodded his head in understanding of what I had told him. "So..you won't believe me unless I have proof." I remained silent at this and he took this as a 'yes' from me. Getting up from the cot that he was sitting in, he moved past me and walked towards the leafy door, pushing it aside and giving me one final glance before walking out of the room.

Quickly regaining my senses, I got up from the cot and followed after him to see him fixing the saddle on his hummingbird. "Where do you think you're going? You're still injured!" I gestured to the bandages wrapped around his head, but he just ignored my comment towards his well being and put the reins on the bird.

"NOD! Answer me!"

This got his attention. He spun around to face me, walked towards me, and began yelling. "I'm going to find proof, alright?! I know what I saw, and if you don't believe me, I'll show you that I'm not lying!" Jumping on his mount, he fastened his feet in the stirrups before flicking the reins.

I watched after him as he flew through the trees and out of sight at fast speeds, never once looking back at me.

Even though I had raised him ever since he was seven, there were always some things that we just couldn't agree on or connect about. When I was a young boy, I always knew that I wanted to be a Leafman. Nod, well, he just wanted to ride birds and have fun, never taking things seriously.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn and thick-headed most of the time?"

I whispered, more to myself than to him.


( Mandrake's POV )

It had already been four days since M.K's return and I requested that she stay hidden for a while, which she immediately agreed upon much to my surprise. One day just as the sun was rising, I saw M.K practicing in her archery, using the poisoned arrows and shooting by the border. Every thing the poisoned arrows touched rotted grey and withered away.

"M.K...Mary Katherine."

She turned to look at me and I saw something along the lines of fear in her eyes which was odd since she never seemed to be afraid of anything. "Are you alright? Is something wrong?" The only response I got, was another arrow being released so that it lodged into a large tree and began eating off the bark and wood. I turned to leave back to the home tree until she finally spoke.

"Wait...It's just...nothing. Nothing is wrong..."

"What is it child? You know that you can always tell me what's bothering you." Her eyes were closed when she turned to face me and when she opened them, she looked like she was literally on the brink of tears. "I'd just like to be alone for a while...that's all..." I did as she requested and jumped off of some rotten branches to make my way back to the main training tree.

The new recruits were wiping the sleep from their eyes and yawning like small children that were forced to get up from a nap. They wouldn't feel like this at the end of training, that was the promise I made to myself.

"Those of you that need to work on your archery, training is to the left. Whoever needs to improve their sword fighting, you'll go to the training area to the right. We'll be having a test at the end of the day. Now go!"

All of the rookies scrambled off to whichever training they needed to go to first, they obviously feared me and it made me smile a little. Working the new trainees hard would take my mind off of M.K and what had gotten her so...sad lately. Dark came faster than I had anticipated and all of the recruits had cocky smiles on their faces, as if they actually did a decent job in their individual training.

"Wipe those smiles off your faces Boggans! You think you've done well today? Well you're wrong! Time for your test. Sword fighters with have a duel with me and if you can last at least five minutes, you'll be in the next battle. If you somehow manage to beat me, you may just become a new general."

They all stared at me, obviously not wanting to have to fight the Boggan King, the master of the sword and staff. "Volunteers?" There was silence and no one stepped forward to try first.

"I'm not a new recruit, but I need to fight someone right now..."

M.K emerged from the shadows with her swords in their sheaths on her belt, several of the recruits let their jaws drop and I just rolled my eyes at them. She moved towards me so she stood under a beam of moonlight, pulling out her swords in her signature x-formation.

She made the first move of attack trying to stab me with both of her swords, I blocked them and attempted to hit her with my staff. Jumping out of the way she proceeded to slice off my extended arm but I moved it back just in time. There was some sort of unseen and uncontrollable force at work inside of her, that I just couldn't put my finger on.

"So it begins. Father."

Now, the sword fight was really going to start, what had just passed was only a warm-up.


( Nod's POV )

He wanted proof? Alright, I was going to get him proof. I wasn't quite sure how yet but I had two plans in my mind, either kidnap the girl and make her tell Ronin everything. There was also the get someone who semi-believes me to talk to Ronin and convince him that I'm not hallucinating...

"Stop talking to yourself Nod!"

I let out an exasperated sigh and made Summer land on a small branch high up in a tree where I knew she would be safe. Dismounting, I took in a deep breath before making my way down the tree, careful not to bump my still-sore head onto any of the branches. Once at the bottom of the tree, I looked out towards the grey landscape before me.

"Wrathwood...No going back now Nod. Not without proof that the girl you met actually exists."

Pulling out my sword and making my way around the border, I was careful to avoid the preying eyes of scouts. I was feeling good about myself, since I had stopped at my home before leaving Moonhaven entirely and had changed into my "civilian clothes". The moon was rising and I watched the nighttime come to life, crickets were chirping and the fireflies were glowing brightly.

"And everyone says, this love will change you..."

Suddenly turning in a full circle I look around for the owner of the voice, singing this strange song I've never heard before. Listening closer, I also hear the strum of something, an instrument perhaps? "Well I ask, does anything ever stay the same..."

Closer. The voice was getting louder and I was sure of it.

"No, no, no. Just same changes..."

Then, there was the crack of a twig and I get super defensive until I lift my foot and see a twig underneath it. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I mentally slapped myself across the face and realize that the singing has stopped. Paranoia was getting to me, so I didn't hear the crackle of the leaves when someone pushed them aside, or when I was hit on the head...again.

When I woke up, my head was throbbing even more than the last time and I had the eerie feeling that I wasn't alone.

"That's what you get for spying, Noddy."

Great. Her again. On the bright side, at least I found who I was looking for. Now, the tricky part was to get her to come with me and show her to Ronin, as if that was going to happen! "I wasn't spying. I just heard music and singing and I was looking for you so-" At this point in my sentence, she raised her sword under my chin so that it closed my mouth and her eyes seemed to become even greener.

"Well stop looking for me. Okay? I just want to get on with my life like I never knew you and deep down inside, you want to forget about me too." She removed her sword from by my throat, cut off the bonds I didn't know I had on my hands, and began to walk off.

Standing up to follow her and ask her something, I reached out my hand to touch her shoulder and she turned, grabbed my hand and used the same flip-move I had used on her a while ago. "Don't follow me. Just...leave me alone!" And with that, she leaped off of the rotten branches through the marsh-like pond to reach the large stump in the center of the Boggan territory.

Whatever she said, I wasn't going to give up. I'd hang around the borders every day until she came to see me and I was willing to get myself caught by a scout just to see her reaction to my capture. Geez, I needed to stop mentally talking about her like I actually liked her. Who knows? Maybe I didn't and maybe I did, but one thing was for certain.

I was a Leafman and she was a Boggan. It could never work.


It looks like Nod is going to be hanging around the Moonhaven/Wrathwood borders, what'll M.K do? Chapter 9 will be coming up soon, I have MAJOR plans! (Insert evil laugh HERE) Okay, so the song Same Changes doesn't belong to me, it belongs to The Weepies and it is the song heard for like a milisecond in the movie when M.K is dropped off at her dads house. So long, readers, reviewers, favoriters, (I know that isn't a word..) and followers of this story!

§~Amethyst~§