Hello! =D

Thanks for all the feedback. This chapter was uploaded faster than the others for two reasons, one is that its shorter, because of the fact that the next chapter will be rated T for blood and violence and the mood would have been to unstable... Thats right! I'm going on a killing spree! :)

Oh! and the other reason is because you guys hated that I kept giving you the cliffhanger ending ;P Hope this makes you feel better.

Enjoy!

Chapter 10: The path

It was quiet, except the distant noises from jungle animals and a waterfall crashing down far away, and no other sounds were heard.

Cornelia still continued to lay motionless under the tree she was hiding under. A few minutes had passed as nothing else had happened. No one had come back to get her, and she was starting to wonder if the men and whatever it was that had dragged the blonde away wasn't coming back. Ever so slowly, the girl made her first move, pushing her back lightly away from the wall behind her and stared in wonder out the small opening ahead of her.

Her breathing had finally calmed down and she soon lifted her tied hands to wipe away some tears that had gathered there earlier. She then leaned a bit forward before her hands made contact with the ground to support her bodyweight. Cornelia tilted a little bit forward, due to her balance being a bit off thanks to the rope around her wrists.

As she neared the opening, she searched the dark jungle for any movement, but found none. Confident in that she was now alone, Cornelia crawled out of her hiding place and rose up once the wooden ceiling was no longer above her and she was out in the warm night air. Looking around her, she found a gun on the floor along with a drag mark to her left. The girl followed it with her eyes as long as she could, but the trail was soon covered with the thick vegetation.

Cornelia turned her eyes away from the trail before her curiosity could take over and lead her to follow the path, not a favorable thought since she didn't know if the bad guys would be at the end of it or not. Blue eyes landed on the gun on the ground. She stared at it for a moment before she walked over and picked it up, before returning to the hole beneath the tree and threw it in. Her father had told her about how dangerous the weapon was and how it was often used to hurt people, something Cornelia was greatly disapproved of.

Satisfied with her good work of disposing of the gun, Cornelia gave herself a confident nod. She would have crossed her arms too, but that proved impossible thanks to the rope holding them together. Now that all of the distractions were gone, the girl wondered what to do. Returning to her own camp would be difficult; one reason was that she had no idea where she was, another was that the jungle was dangerous no matter if it was day or night.

A sad pout appeared on Cornelia's face as she searched the jungle once more. There was one thing that was starting to trouble the young girl by now: why hadn't Catcher come to get her yet? Not only that, but he hadn't showed up when she was abducted in the first place. Panic started to enter her mind as a possible answer came over her. What if he had left? What if her previous fears had become reality and he had actually left this time?

Watery eyes looked down on the floor; even though it was only possibility, simply the thought that her new friend may be gone, left her horribly sad. If he would leave, he could at least have told her so and said goodbye. Shaking her head to get the idea out of her mind, Cornelia looked up once more; she had to stop treating her ideas like they were reality.

"Catcher…" Cornelia said out softly, keeping her eyes on the place where the trail ended, half expecting him to walk right through it. Who knew? Maybe it had been Catcher who had saved her by taking away the two men. The girl waited for a couple of minutes, but nothing appeared before her as she had hoped it would.

Disappointed and tired, Cornelia turned around to check the other direction, just to find two thick legs covered in a silver armor no more than two feet in front of her.

Wide -eyed and with the mouth slightly open, Cornelia craned her neck back slowly, eyes trailing up at the masculine body covered in armor and fish netting, stopping at his mask and dreadlocks she knew so well. The humanoid stared back down at her, clicking lightly, as she seemed to have frozen. The familiar sound snapped her out of the trance and a big smile broke out on the girl's face, "Catcher!" she cheered, shooting her hands up into the air to demonstrate how happy she was. Seriously though, he really had to stop sneaking up on her like that whenever she thought he wouldn't show up.

The hunter studied the small human for a moment, before kneeling down with one foot as the other served to rest his arm on. He then reached out his left hand and took a hold of Cornelia's hands which had been lowered a bit from before. The child noticed that he seemed to stare down at the rope in an annoyed manner, before he then brought forward his other hand and activated his wrist blades, making them longer as he brought them close to Cornelia's arms, holding them in place as he cut through the rope.

Catcher then swiftly withdrew his blades to its original position as he released the small hands. Cornelia threw her thick glance down at her free hands before she looked back up at Catcher with a big smile, thinking about what the first thing she wanted to do with free movement. She took the last step that separated them, and threw her hands around Catchers lower torso before the predator could make any move to stop her.

Cornelia could feel his body jerk slightly at the contact, but it didn't bother her much, neither did the tension she could sense coming from him. He probably wasn't used to being hugged. Catcher's arms were lifted a bit away from her, like he was afraid of touching her. Who could blame him? He had been taken completely off guard by the sudden move, and now he was unsure of what to do.

"I missed you…" she whispered into his abdomen, making him look down at the child. Cornelia soon looked up to meet his gaze with soft smile. The tension eased a bit before Catcher dared to move again, ever so slowly. He lowered his right arm and patted the girl lightly on the head as a reply to her comment. She gave him another smile, before his hand left her messy hair and she let go of him, even though she had wanted to stay that way for a bit more.

Cornelia took a step back to give her friend some space before she continued to stare back up at the mask hiding his face. Catcher stared back down at her, still a bit shaken up because of the contact. This sort of closeness was rarely displayed among his own race.

The hunter's train of thought was soon broken as he saw something that he hadn't noticed before. Quickly his right arm shot forward as he took a hold of Cornelia's chin to hold her head in place. The girl blinked confused as he turned her head to her right, displaying her left cheek. Catcher clicked softly, but the sound suddenly turned into and angry growl.

He quickly released her before standing up to his full height; once he towered over her he twisted around, making his dreadlocks follow his fast movement. He took a pair of agitated strides before turning back to face the puzzled girl. Catcher swiftly pointed a finger towards Cornelia, then down at the ground, every movement telling that he was far from happy, but the message had gotten across; he wanted her to stay here.

The child automatically nodded, unable to do anything else since she hadn't seen him this upset before. Satisfied with the reply, Catcher turned back to his original course and stomped forward through the bushes, but before he was completely out of sight, he activated his cloaking devise, making it impossible for Cornelia to follow.

Confused, Cornelia stared after him for a couple of seconds before she lifted her hand to her left cheek, feeling the cut she had completely forgotten about.

To be continued...

...I really hope that wasn't considered a cliffhanger X3