Chapter 10.
It was dawn when I finally stopped running. I was too scared to turn around and look to see if anyone was behind me. All night, I heard Bengion soldiers yell out directions to where they thought I was. Every time, I would turn another direction and lose them. Now, I had no idea where I was. I almost wished that I would have stayed on normal course and took the chance of getting caught. The only thing around me was trees and even more trees and bushes. Walking around nothing but green for hours on end could make you think you were going in circles and make you think that you had just past that tree with moss on it… but then you would realize that all of the trees had moss on them.
The humidity was harsh and I wiped the beads of sweat off my forehead. It was so hot and I felt like I could just roll over and die. But I knew I had to get back to Ike and the others as soon as possible. They were probably already looking for me since I was one day late almost. Deciding to take a break, I sat down under a large tree, cooling off in the shade. I didn't remember my journey to the Bengion base to be this extreme. After my few minutes of rest, I got up again and started making my way to who-knows-where.
Soon enough, I came across a small town. It was filled of smiling Beorc, so I was still in Bengion. That was a good thing… probably. It depended if I was close to the Bengion Central Army or not. I put my cloak on and put the hood over my head, hiding my face. I ran up to the nearest shop with a smile.
"Is there something I could help you with, miss?" The shop keeper asked. I nodded, pulling out all the gold I had in my bag. Counting it all up, I had about five-hundred.
"Do you have any fruit? I've been traveling and I'm kind of hungry," I said with a chuckle. He bent down and brought back up a hold crate full of apples and other food. "How much do you want for a couple apples and a loaf of bread?"
"Half of what you got will do just fine," He answered. I handed him about two-fifty and he handed me my meal for the day. I nodded in thanks. "Have a good journey!"
"Thank you!" I called back as I walked away. I put the apples in my bag and began nibbling on the bread. I turned back around and shot the man a concerned glance. "What town am I in? And how far am I from the Ribahn River?"
"Ribahn, you say? I have no clue, miss. Sorry, but I don't," He apologized. I shrugged and turned around. "Sorry that I wasn't any help!" I waved him off, not breaking my pace. I continued to look around the town and found some other shops to visit. One place would polish my blade for fifty gold as I looked around. Another place I really needed… I needed a new set of clothes. I used the rest of my money to pay for them and I used their little shack in the back to change. I bought a black t-shirt with torn up sleeves… since that's all they had. Plus a pair of tan jeans and a sleeveless brown jacket to top it off. I didn't take to fond of them though. They seemed too fancy for a mercenary like me.
I walked out of the shack and bumped into someone on accident. We both spun around, saying "I'm sorry," at the same time. My eyes went wide.
"Gatrie? What in the world are you—," I began, but he cut me off by wrapping me in an unsuspected hug. I gasped for breath he was squeezing me so hard. "L-let g-go! Can't… breathe!"
"Oh sorry," He apologized as he sat me back down on the ground. I caught my breath back up and smiled at him. "What are you doing here? We expected you back last night and when you didn't show up, we all got real worried! You do realize how far you are from Bengion's camp right now don't you?"
"No. I've been traveling all night. Soldiers have been following me since I ran away from there. Zelgius decided to search through my stuff and found my journal Ike gave me to record my findings in. I still got it, but they found out I was a spy," I admitted. He laughed loudly and patted my head.
"Ike is going to be so happy when we go back to camp! He's been missing you since you left that day. And when we saw you on the cliff that day when we first saw the Central Army, he wanted to just run down and see if you were doing okay. It took me and Shinion to knock some sense into him when we got back to base," He explained as we walked around the small town. I could feel my face getting slightly red. I pulled out the necklace he had given me and smiled.
"I kept looking at this thing the whole time I was there. I wanted to come home so much!" I said, looking up at the blonde. He glanced down at the piece of jewelry.
"You do know who owned that before you did don't you?" He asked. I shook my head. "That was Ike's mother's before she passed away. He must trust you a lot to give it to you just to go to the enemy's camp."
"This was his mother's? Elena wasn't it?" I wondered aloud. He nodded.
"Now come on, let's get back to the others. I was just in town doing a little shopping for Oscar and Rolf. But that can wait!" Gatrie declared as he grabbed my wrist and practically pulled me all across town and through the woods. He kept going on about what the mercenaries did while I was gone. Apparently they fought some Bengion people… then that's when the Central Army showed up, which called them to retreat. I apologized that I couldn't stop the advance on them, but he didn't seem to mind.
We walked for what seemed like twenty minutes when he ran into a dead sprint. I followed him and I saw the Laguz Alliance camp. My smile grew and I walked into the camp while Gatrie went around yelling at the top of his lungs, "She's not dead!" I couldn't help but laugh at him. The blonde could be such a dork sometimes.
Out of nowhere, well actually… it was probably because of all of Gatrie's screaming and howling, some of the Greil Mercenaries came running out of tents. First were Rolf and Mist, then Soren walked out of his with a curious expression on his face. I was tackle hugged by Mist and Rolf just hugged me. I laughed. "Did you guys miss me that much? I feel loved at the moment."
"It got boring without you teasing Rolf!" Mist pointed out, smiling. Rolf narrowed his eyes at the red head. "Sorry Rolf-y but it's true."
"Well, Abby, the only way you'll feel loved by me is if you brought the records of all the information you gathered at the Bengion army," Soren announced as he walked up to me… Oh my Goddess, he was smiling. I looked around in my bag for the journal and was about to hand to him when I found it but… I remembered a promise I made to a friend…
"I'll keep your secret… my friend. Just do something for me in return. Do not… change."
Those last words I had said to Zelgius rang through my head. "Hold on, I can't seem to find it," I said to the little mage. He pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation and crossed his arms over his chest, glaring at me. I opened up the journal and as quietly as I could, tore out the page that had the information about Zelgius being a Branded on it. Then I handed it to him. "There you go! Sorry, it was under some stuff."
"Excellent! I can't believe I'm saying this but… you did a good job Abby," Soren said before walking away with the information. Mist and Rolf stared at me.
"He just complemented you… Soren is acting really weird today," Rolf pointed out. Mist and I nodded in agreement. We all three laughed and smiled at one another. But then out of nowhere, Mist and Rolf backed away from me. I raised an eyebrow in confusion.
"ABBY!" A voice shouted before I was tackled from behind. I yelped and fell face down into the ground. "I missed you, sparring partner!" I mumbled something into the dirt. "I'm sorry, what?"
"Get off me Mia!" I shouted.
"Oh, sorry," The purple haired girl apologized as she got off of me. I stood back up and saw her smiling face before she hugged me. "We were worried! What took you so long to get back?"
"I um… got lost," I lied. She narrowed her eyes at me, as if she didn't believe me. "Okay, fine. I got caught and they were chasing me down. But don't worry, I lost them… but then I got lost as well. That's when I ran into Gatrie in a little market town and he brought me back here!"
She smiled. "Well, I'm just glad you're safe," She said. I nodded in thanks. Then, it was like she remembered something as she leaned over to me to whisper in my ear. "Ike was the one that was worried the most… you should go find him." My eyes went wide at the very mention of his name. I had totally forgotten that when I got back home… I would have to deal with my f-feelings for the commander. Stupid Zelgius for making me realize them. I could have gone my whole life without knowing that I liked the boss! Seriously…
"Alright, thanks Mia," I called as I ran away from her, toward Ike's tent. My heart was racing. I haven't talked to him in a week… what was I going to say? What was he going to say? When I reached the tent, I took a quick breath and walked in. The blue haired swordsman was sitting down on his bed, his hands running through his hair and his elbows on his knees. I smiled a bit. "I-Ike?"
His head shot up and he stared at me with a shocked expression on his face. I crossed my arms over my chest and smirked. Out of nowhere, he sprung up and wrapped his arms around me without a single word. My cheeks blushed scarlet, but I put my arms around him, clinging onto his shirt. I didn't realize how much I missed him over the past seven days. Ike let me go and looked me in the eyes. "How'd it go? Are you alright?"
I actually took the time to think about if I was truly fine alright or not. Thinking back on all the things that happened in Bengion… I realized that I really wasn't fine like I had told all the others. My heart hurt for Draco… Zelgius… all of the soldiers that had trusted me, I stabbed them in the back. I felt the guilt that had been building up the past day finally come to me. Tears started filling my eyes. Ike seemed worried and concerned when one fell. He put his head to my eye level and put a hand on my cheek.
"What's wrong? What did they do to you? What happened Abby? You can tell me," He comforted. I wiped the water in my eyes away and shook my head.
"I-it's nothing," I replied, trying not to worry him over something as stupid as me. He shook his head and tilted my head up.
"Look my in the eyes and tell me that you're not hurting," He challenged. I did as I was told, but I couldn't. I bursted out into tears and put my head on his shoulder, wrapping him in a hug. I heard him gasp slightly, taken surprise by my quick action. Then he pulled me closer, running one hand through my hair and the other around my waist. I sobbed into his shoulder as I listened to his voice telling me it was going to be alright. Nothing he could say would make me feel any better about the people I hurt and betrayed though. I told him everything that had happened while undercover. He listened closely, nodding and asking questions every once and a while.
My mouth was running so fast, I accidently said something I probably shouldn't have. "A-after Draco left, Zelgius kissed me and-,"
"He what?" Ike shouted, and then his cheeks turned a slight shade of pink. "That bastard, taking advantage of you like that… i-it's disgusting." I must admit, hearing him say that made me giggle. Just seeing him get so worked up over something stupid like Zelgius kissing me at a moment of vulnerability made me think that there was the smallest hope that maybe he liked me too. Or maybe it was just a commander looking after one of his warriors. I hoped that it wasn't with all my heart that it wasn't like that. I hoped that one day, maybe not in the near future, but sometime, that I could tell him.
I'm sorry for not updating in like a month! I've been busy with archery competitions, school and… laziness contributed slightly to it too. xD Sorry… and I hoped you guys liked this chapter! Please review, thanks!