Chapter 8

When time picked up its natural flow, he was a little more than 5 minutes back into the past – present, whatever the current point he was standing at was called. In terms of space, his past self was assumably walking back to the cave at this point, and as so he was still a good mile away from the camp, ball of wet clothes still resting mud-free on his hand. He spent no time idling around and put them on instead, dampness be damned; if he was to have his throat slit anyway, then at least he could be fully covered while it happened. In the distance, the cave was just a tiny dot, its entrance nearly indistinguishable with how small it appeared. Even with his eyes narrowed into thin lines, he couldn't make out much other than the blurry, disfigured entrance, let alone the boy inside. This wasn't working; whatever it was that he planned to do, he had to get closer. The only thing he could hope would be different this time was his own alertness, as he made his way carefully back to the camp; trying his best not to snap and twigs under his feet and alarm the anonymous assassin of his approach.

Although it really wouldn't matter anyway, if they were stealthy and skillful enough to sneak up behind him and slit his throat without him knowing in the first place, not until he was bleeding halfway to death already. Though really, what was he thinking, dropping all his guards and just rushing blindly at Daniel? It was more than obvious that it was a trap, with the boy's tied wrists, his frantic warning, and just the eery silence that was the atmosphere surrounding them. What was he expecting, his brother who was most defintely kidnapped the day before, returned to him out of nowhere or no apparent reason? They even had the decency to stalk him and find his location just to put the boy back right where he was missing from? Like, seriously, what was his first clue?

Wouldn't matter, their plan would fail anyway. Daniel was safe, unharmed, and right now his first priority would be to keep his own throat from being slit open, thank you very much. The cave was already in sight, its details clearing out the closer he got, and if he peered hard enough he could almost make out the outline of his backpack, resting closer to the entrance than the rest of his stuffs. He slowed his pace; if the assailant appeared out of nowhere in the first… timeline? – then they must be hiding by this point, obscured from his perspective if he continued on in a direct march to the cave entrance.

So, he pivoted on his heel and took a detour instead. It wasn't that hard to figure out where they could be hiding; right above the cave entrace was a small ledge, quite similar to an awning of a window that was originally the reason how he's found the cave by chance, in his hurry to take cover from the torrential rain under practically anything steady enough not to crumble and collapse upon his head right away. Large boulders of stone protruding from the hill behind made for the perfect hiding spot, and its rocky texture provided excellent camouflage to just about any colour of clothing. Even more ideal than statistically possible, it was right above their head; they could hear everything underneath and take their chance just at the right moment, especially when it was only a jump away from the cave itself. It was almost as if nature had been planning for this all along ever since the Earth started terraforming, it was ridiculous.

Getting up there wasn't difficult, he needed only extend his arm and he could reach it with ease; but he had to sneak up on the other person's ambush, so that was a definite no-go. Direct hand-to-hand combat was out of the question; they could be a trained, deadly killer and he would still be the same 16-year-old frail, skinny teenager he was yesterday, his only battle expertise years of watching chinese martial arts, and he was positive that flashy visual effects would do him no good. Letting them see him and alarming them of his presence was not an option, because he would be as good as dead by then, and there was no way in the nine realms of hell that he would depend on the weird-ass crazy time-reverse phenomenon that only kicked in whenever he was mortally injured.

So in the end, he settled for a classic, old-school distraction. Throwing a pebble over the boulders, he quickly ducked into a bush nearby, observing from behind the branches his assailant's behaviour. Apparently, his wild throw met its mark, if the string of curse following after was any indication.

"Son of a whoring bitch, you sneaky brat better fucking run or the last thing you'll see-

It was a woman, as her slim and flexible physiques suggested. Hooded top-to-bottom in a dark robe, Sean couldn't get a glimpse of her face or any part of her body that could give away her identity, other than some strands of blue hair tethered into dreadlocks that were shoulder-length. She silenced herself when she realized nobody was within eyesight, or hearing distance at that. Sweeping her eyes around in quick rounds, she settled back down, not aggravated enough to leave her post. Sean would have to try again, something bigger and harder to ignore this time.

And that, was how a whole minute later, the woman was literally yelping, partly from surprise, but mostly from the wooden stick he'd set fire to with his lighter and thrown at her with. "Argh! Stupid bitch! Come out, wherever you are! I know you're hiding around here, but you'll never get away with this, assbrat! Fucking coward! If I ever get my hands on-

Her curses were interrupted when she noticed a shadow bolting from the corner of of peripheral vision; but by that time she was already too late. Sean didn't do tracks for nothing, and silently he thanked his coach for always being strict with them and pushing them harder, because the long weapon she'd abandoned in her hurry to put out the fire was now firmly in his hands.

"Step away! Or I'll do it!" He'd said, still short of breath from the hundred-metre sprint, but more due to the effect of adrenaline pumping in his veins. He'd disarmed her, mounted the foot-long weapon himself, and had pushed her to the edge of the cliff, for what it was worth. He was in control now, and he could do this.

"Well well, isn't it our favourite Seanie-boy? Saw through my trap, huh? To be honest I didn't think you were that smart." She laughed, in that short of insanity way only dellusional villians could, but rather than apprehension he felt only fear, rattling at his core, vibrating with every shaky intake of her breath as she kept laughing. He guessed he understood why bad people just had to do it now, because whatever intention it was meant to be having, it certainly was wreaking havok on the confidence he was already lacking. "Figured you'd rush blindly into the lion's den, the moment you saw the boy. But you never cease to amaze me, once again. Well done."

"Why do you want to kill me? Speak!" Sean tried to ignore her incredulous look, her raised brow, and specifically her unfazed reaction to someone pointing a sword at them. It was textbook intimidation, only completely reversed; she was not threatened in the least bit, and was even smirking when she recognized the panic spreading on his face.

"Seriously? The insane, I-lost-all-memory act all again? You knew it didn't work last time when I gave you that scar. Wait a sec… where's your scar?" She asked, genuine surprise bleeding into her voice. The rise of several decibels didn't help ease his nerves already too wracked from the tension and suspense.

"What scar? What're you talking about?" He had to keep his own voice from shaking, but it was sufficient to say he failed spectacularly.

"Oh, would you just quit it already? The act's getting old; at least you could've thought of something more creative, because it really isn't working, y'know? Though that shaky voice trick is a new one; I never thought I'd get to live long enough to hear Sean Diaz himself trembling, no less speaking to me. How'd you do it?" The woman took a step toward him and away from the cliff, unaffected in the slightest bit by the weapon he was wielding. His facial expression must've betrayed a part of the terror he was feeling, if her smug grin was anything to go by.

"What? Scared? The great Sean hesitating to bring the sword down on his enemy? Really, I don't have a single clue what's gotten into you, but if this really is an act, then I'd honestly advise you to drop it now." She took another step, and his knees grew weak. He wanted desperately to make his limbs move, to do anything, slashing at flesh or even at thin air, but they just wouldn't heed his command. "Don't go any further, or I'll… I'll-

"What's the matter? Cat got your tongue?" She taunted mercilessly, still advancing step by step, paying his weightless threat no mind. "Even if that's the truth, I wouldn't be surprised. In the course of only a day, I've seen you slit your own wrist, starved yourself, and shed some fucking tears." She spat the words venomously, and he found himself taken aback by the revelation that this stranger had been stalking him the whole time. "But worst of all, you ate the fish that your mortal enemy caught for you without a second care if it was poisoned or not, and you fucking abandoned your lair without bringing any weaponry with you. Since when did the slayer of the Empress herself had got so… sloppy? You were lucky I prefer my enemies dead in my own hand rather than a merciful coward's play." By the end of her accusation, she was already within Sean's range. If he could just will his hand to move and make use of the sword, he could've easily sliced open her throat. But his arms simply didn't have any strength in them anymore, it was a miracle for them to even hold the weight of the instrument without dropping it right then and there. "Huh, can't even make the blow now? Bet you didn't even know I caught that fish, huh?"

The puzzle, finally solved. It was her who had granted him that meal, kidnapped Daniel, and planned this all along. "But… why? Why did you do all of this? What can you possibly gain from me or Daniel?"

Wrong question to ask. Her face darkened, all the playful taunting disappeared to be replaced with burning agony, raw and barely contained. "You don't get to kill someone and ask that question, asshole." Then she ripped the sword from his hand, and he let her; not consensually, of course, but with the resistance he offered, he might as well just hand it to her and skip all the innecessant drama.

"I didn't kill anyone!" He exclaimed, outraged, all caution and wariness thrown out of the window when she raised her sword to his neck, again. "I swear! That police officer shot my dad, and then there was an explosion, but I don't remember anything after that! I swear!"

Silence pervaded between them while the woman mulled over new information in silence, the weapon still resting dangerously close to his artery. In a moment, everything was still, almost as if time had frozen again, but Sean knew by the cogs he could see turning in her head that it wasn't. The woman was lost, deep in her thoughts, but her hand still firmly wrapped around the sword, and her reflex still as sharp as ever. Sean dared not try to run or fight back, he knew even the slightest twitch of his muscle would result in the slit he'd been dreading of. That tenseful, strained silence reigned on for an eternity, putting every strand of his hair to stand on end, eating away at his nerves until they were reduced to a shaky, incomprehensible mess, and tickling his throat with the ghostly sensation of being ripped apart, of having millions of ants stampeding to and fro constantly, until it finally, finally came to an end.

"Either you both've gone nuts entirely, or you aren't Sean – the cold-blooded murderer Sean, despite the same appearance you two shared, that much was obvious." She concluded, retracting the sword. "But that doesn't mean you can safely turn to your brother and run away with him like this has never happened. Until you can prove indefinitely beyond a doubt that you aren't Sean Diaz, I will accompany you and your brother wherever, with my sword resting on your throat, so don't even think of trying anything funny." She said in the end, returning the weapon back to its holster on her leather belt, before jumping off from the cliff, leaving a confused, disoriented and very much disheveled Sean in her wake.

It took his sluggish mind at least another full minute to process everything and catch up with reality. Apparently, there was another Sean Diaz out there, as bizarre as that sounded, and the other one had killed someone that caused this woman to go savage. And she intended to take her anger out on him, the clueless one, instead, until he could come clean of his identity and prove that he – Sean Diaz, was not, indeed, Sean Diaz.

Just the thought of explaining everything to Daniel almost took away his will to live again. "Oh Sean, what trouble have you got yourself into this time?" He sighed to himself. The course of his life had turned so drastically these last few days that he wouldn't be surprised if his brother had gone telekinetic during the short time they were parted.

That said, he didn't expect to jump down the cliff – how silly was he to have forgotten that it was barely a two-metre-tall ledge? – to the sight of Daniel, the same little Daniel who he'd imagined would still be tied and whimpering on the ground by this time, holding out his hands and lifting his belongings mid-air like the implausibility that it was. As it would seem, blue-haired girl had somehow pissed him off beyond his average fit, if her being strangled mid-air was any indication.

He sighed, again for the second time in the last ten seconds, marvelling over how ridiculous his life had become as of late, almost wishing that the time-rewinding power hadn't activated the first time around and just let him bleed out in peace. Like, seriously, what was it with him and supernatural occurences?

For the time being, it was manifesting as his younger brother, apparently. The day was still young, and yet he'd already been so drained. Unable to just will himself to wake up from the never ending nightmare, he moved to intercept the raging boy instead. After all, blue-haired girl can only hold her breath for so long until her face started showing several shades of green and purple.

Of course, he didn't pass up the opportunity to let out a string of nasty curses while he was at it.