Canaan's POV, shortly after the last chapter
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"Hey, Canaan, get up." Nnnhh... I just fell asleep again, just where...? I open my eyes and see someone in front of me... It's Alphard! I jump out of whatever I was lying on and reach for my gun, but there is nothing there... "What, you having a bad dream? Could you cut the nonsense and listen to me?" Oh, I completely forgot... It's still pretty confusing for me, Alphard used to be my nemesis for quite some years, but we're on the same team now...
"Sorry, it was just kind of instinctual, we used to fight whenever we met for so many years now, you get used to it..." Alphard just heaves a heavy sigh and shrugs her shoulders, I guess we're in Russia if she woke me up...?
"Change of plan, we will jump out and get there by foot or with a car." Oh, so that backpack is actually a parachute, I guess that will be somewhat exciting, I always liked parachute jumps. ... Hm, I look around, but I can see no other parachute around, that is strange...
"So, where is my parachute?"
"There is only one, we will have to share it." Well, that would be pretty dangerous for amateurs, but I don't think that term applies to us in any way. Besides, that means I get to hug Alphard for as long as we descend!
"Alright, let's go!" Alphard looks pretty confused, I guess that's a normal reaction, I'm probably way too energetic right now... I probably shouldn't make it that obvious, otherwise she might kick me out of the door without a parachute... well, I don't think she'd go that far, but still, it's not a good idea to push my luck with her, it really isn't... Especially since she could probably just leave me... "Uh, no point waiting here, right?"
"Well, it seems as if you could actually be quite enthusiastic about work... Take the other backpack I stored some supplies in and cling to me, don't let go under any circumstances, understood?" Oh, you don't have to tell me that twice, Alphard, in fact you wouldn't have to tell me that at all... Am I glad that I didn't say that, but that's what thoughts are for, I guess. "Is something wrong? You are acting somewhat strange today..."
"Oh, it's nothing, I'm just a little bit sleepy, but that won't be a problem for much longer!" Alphard just shrugs her shoulders again and shakes her head, but it doesn't seem as if she'd question it any further. I pick up the backpack and throw it over my shoulder, afterwards I get a little bit closer to Alphard. I can still see the places where I hit her yesterday, their colour changed a little bit, they're somewhat darker now...
"Come closer, you have to cling to me. No matter what, don't let go of me as soon as this door here opens, otherwise I'd have to scrape your remains off the floor." Well, yeah, that would probably be lethal, I guess this is far higher than even that bridge Alphard fell off... I move closer to her, just as she told me to... "Alright, put your arms around my neck, make sure that you don't get them in the way of the parachute. You will have to put your legs around my waist, there are no belts, so you will have to support your whole weight."
"Well, it shouldn't take too long, right?" It'll probably be very exhausting, but it shouldn't take any longer than two minutes, at most, and that amount of time should be bearable. Of course I'd also like to ask Alphard a ton of questions, for example why we have to jump out with a parachute, but I guess that can wait until we're on terra firma again, I like that better than flying or sailing either way...
"Something around a minute, if there are no further complications, but the wind is rather still at the moment, so I expect it to work out for us." I put my left arm around her neck and my right arm under her left one, afterwards I make sure that I have a good grip on her. Hm, this should work out just fine, the parachute should have no problems opening and I won't just fly off. At least it should work out like this...
"Alright, I'm ready!" Alphard reaches out for a small lid next to her and pushes it away, underneath it is a small button, that has to be for opening the door... She gives me one last look telling me to make sure I'm ready, but there is nothing else I can do, so I just nod. A moment later she pushes the button and the door slowly opens, this will be the moment... If I don't get thrown off in the first moment I should be fine...
Alphard takes a step backwards and seems to say something, but I can't hear her because of the noise of the air around us. She takes another step backwards and I jump at her, pushing her outside. Afterwards I put my legs around her waist as fast as I can, I almost got sucked away from her, but I have her now... Wow, this sure is a different experience, it's far more exciting than a normal parachute jump, I can feel the adrenaline pumping!
The first few seconds of free fall are always the best part of the jump, but I have to take a lot of care so that I don't lose my grip on Alphard, it hurts a little bit in my arms and legs, but I thought it would be worse... I can see the plane moving further and further away, below us are only trees far and wide, not even a sign of human settlements within fifty kilometres at least. I wonder how far we'll have to walk to get to the next one...
I can hear the parachute opening, now our fall gets gradually slower. Somehow that makes holding onto Alphard even harder, but it's still no real problem for me, all these years of training do pay off in situations like this one... We're still going down rather fast, but landing should be safe with this kind of speed. I take a closer look at Alphard's face again, she just looks back at me, somewhat curiously.
"What is it, Canaan?" It's still rather loud out here, but I can understand Alphard again.
"I was just thinking about the beating I gave you yesterday, if there is anything I could do about it..." She just grins at me, I guess it doesn't hurt her all that much, but I'm still kind of worried about it, especially after all those things she did for me... That's the only thing I gave her since I met her again and that just feels so unfair, especially after the presents she bought for me and all those things she wants to do for me...
"It's alright, don't worry about it, I've taken worse hits." Hm, I guess shooting her own arm off must have hurt a whole lot more and even then she didn't even wince, but that doesn't make it much better... at least I wasn't the one who shot it off, there were times when I wished for doing something like that to her, but in the end I'd just have regretted it even more... Alphard's hands are on the straps of the parachute, I guess she guides it somewhere...
"That doesn't make it any better, I shouldn't have done that... Hey, should I make the pain go away for you?" Somehow I'm getting a silly idea, whenever I was hurt somewhere as a child my mother kissed the wound and said that would help, maybe I could do the same for Alphard... I don't think she'd be very pleased, maybe she'd even hit me as soon as we got back to the ground, but I kind of want to try that...
"I said you shouldn't worry about it, it doesn't even hurt." Alphard was always stubborn like that, but I don't think that's true, those things are always painful... Try and give Alphard a small kiss with the risk of getting a beating as soon as we reach the ground or do nothing... Mmh, Alphard is so warm, especially in contrast to the cold air around us, that makes it so much more tempting... I lean in a little bit closer...
"Don't say anything, just let me take care of it..." Screw it, if I get a beating for this it'd still be completely worth it! It would still hurt a lot, Alphard can punch like no one else I know of, but I don't think she'd go all out against me because of this... The ground is getting closer and closer, so I'll have to do it now or not do it at all... I think I should ask her before doing something like that, then again she never asked me about anything either...
"Canaan, are you drunk again? What are you do-" I gently press my lips against the swollen spots, Alphard seems to be pretty surprised, but it doesn't seem as if she was all against this, if she was she would struggle a lot more. Only a couple of metres before we reach the ground, there is a pretty big clearing, I guess Alphard wanted to land here... We'll probably not make a perfect landing, but it should do...
"Sorry, I just felt that there had to be something I could do for you, actually there is something I wanted to tell you for a while..." I'm just not sure how Alphard feels about me at all, I think I should just ask her, I hope she knows how she feels about me... Now we should have a lot of free time, it's probably still a long way ahead of us and I don't think we'll have anything better to do than talking for the next few days, so this should be the perfect opportunity...
"Not right now, I'm trying to land this parachute, if you didn't notice that so far..." Of course I noticed... I guess I shouldn't bother her until we're on the ground again, I want her to listen to me when I tell her about my feelings, so now wouldn't be the best opportunity... I wonder how she'll react, I don't think she would be disgusted with me or anything like that, she did tolerate Liang Qi, from what I understand...
"Alright, but I want to tell you later..." She seems to think about it for a moment and nods, I guess that's a good thing, at least she's willing to listen to what I have to say... If she tolerated Liang Qi I guess she doesn't mind that kind of thing that much, but I want to be more for her than Liang Qi, she was just a pawn for Alphard... I want to know how to reach Alphard, how to get through to her, but from what I know she lets no one close to her...
"Fine, as soon as all things we need to do are done, we will stay out here for a couple of days. I checked the weather forecast for this region, it won't be anything we could travel through, a metre worth of snow and temperatures around -10°C." Sounds great, that's just our luck, I guess... Well, at least we have some supplies, that was really far-sighted of her... We arrive on the floor with a small jerk and we land in some kind of conifers...
"Alright, but as soon as everything's ready you will listen to me, deal?" Well, she could just as well say no and leave it at that, but I want to get that off my chest, it's been bothering me long enough by now... Alphard seems to think about it for a moment and finally sighs, I wonder just what is going on in her head all of the time... Maybe she just thinks about how annoying I am for her, how much of a bother I am for her...
"There's no point arguing about that, I suppose, it's not as if I could just choose not to listen whenever I want to, you know? But for the time being we have no time for a lot of words, we need to hurry up and find shelter for the next few days." She pulls out her mobile phone and tries to call someone, but she doesn't seem to be very successful... "Well, no reception, what else should I expect in the middle of nowhere? Bloody marvellous, maybe if there was a higher place..."
"Hm, I could climb up one of the trees here, or we could try one of the hills..." I still hold onto Alphard, it's pretty cold out here, especially with just some socks, shoes, a jeans and a t-shirt... Alphard is really warm, I used to think she'd be colder, but her body is just as warm as my own... and she has her coat, that's another advantage she has, I bet that thing keeps her pretty warm, though she still has it open, in spite of the coldness...
"I would rather speak with Cummings myself. If you want to make yourself useful you should rather get off me..." I think she's somewhat tense, it'll probably take a lot of effort to get her to warm up to me, she was always rather cold and aloof... Then again she treats me far better than any of her henchmen or even Siam back then, so I guess that's something... Not quite what I want, but it's a start, at least she doesn't take me for granted as she did with Liang Qi...
"Sorry, you're just so warm and it's so cold out here..." I think it's close to freezing and it's not even evening, I guess the weather report was right, if the temperatures get any lower there will be snow, there are already a lot of clouds in the sky as well... I can't even see the plane we used to get here anymore, it's probably far away already, I kind of envy the pilot, it was pretty pleasant in there... Well, no point crying over spilled milk, I let go of Alphard, that position was starting to get a little bit awkward either way...
"Well, of course it is, winter is just around the corner and if we don't find shelter soon we could just as well commit suicide, that'd be more pleasant than freezing to death." I guess she has a point, we should definitely hurry up and search something for the night, right now it seems to be around twelve o'clock, but who knows how long the searching will take... "Canaan, I will leave that to you, I will stay here and get the parachute back down."
"Alright, I'll scout the area and return if I find anything useful." By the looks of it Alphard's task will take some time as well, the parachute got entangled in the higher branches of the conifers, though I don't know what Alphard wants to do with that thing either way... well, I guess she has some kind of plan for it, otherwise she wouldn't bother retrieving it. Alright, Alphard gave me my first task! I almost feel a little bit excited...
"Don't just go bouncing off like that, come here right now." Did I do something wrong...? I mean, I was just about to walk off to scout the environment, but she called me back already... "What, do you want to go without your weapon or why were you going away?" My weapon! Alphard reaches into one of the many pockets of her coat and pulls it out... I'm pretty glad to have it back, I felt somewhat defenceless without it...
"Thank you, Alphard! I already thought I had lost it..." I haven't seen it for quite a while, so I just assumed I lost it after my fight with Alphard, but here it is again, even with some additional ammunition, this is perfect... I almost feel like throwing my arms around Alphard's neck again, but I don't think she'd want that, so I just take both my weapon and the ammo. She even kept the holster for me, now I have everything I need... I equip it all properly again, now I feel ready for whatever there might be!
"Heh, you look like a kid when you're happy like that. Thank me if we arrive in my headquarter in Russia without serious injuries. You're free to use your weapon, there should be no one out here and even if they'd just assume it was a hunter. If you see any animals big enough to make for a meal shoot them, we can need everything we can get." Yeah, that's what I thought, at least I won't have to worry about any rules out here...
"Alright, I'll come back as soon as I found something." Alphard just nods and starts climbing up the tree the parachute got caught in, that's got to be some rather hard work as well, there are no low branches that would support her weight... Well, I should rather worry about my own task right now, otherwise Alphard would probably scold me... Besides, it's in my best interest that we find shelter as well, I don't really want to die out here...
Hm, I can't see anything that looks like good shelter, but I'll look around some more. Conifers all around, it smells like that... Well, at least it's surprisingly dry, that's far better than having to walk through the mud and getting my clothes all dirty... Especially since there is no way to wash our clothes, not to mention drying them with these temperatures... Our situations could be worse, I guess, I think our chances are pretty good.
Hm, that hill looks a little bit strange, almost as if... there are some pretty big stones all around and between these stones there is a small entrance, with a little bit of luck this could be a cave or something along those lines. I should check it out and secure it before I search for Alphard, in the worst case the cave could be too dangerous to use, that'd be the only danger I could happen across here. At least I don't think there'd be any dangerous animals or humans around.
I draw my weapon, just in case, there are still some bullets in it from before. There is indeed a cave, it looked pretty dark from the outside, but there is actually some light coming in from the ceiling, it's a pretty big cave... At least as big as the hotel room we were staying in, though far less luxurious... There seems to be sand all over the ground, it looks a little bit reddish. All in all I'd say this is a good place to stay it, little wind seems to get in.
There are some pretty dark niches, but they're pretty small, so there should be nothing dangerous there. Some spider webs as well, but from what I was told there are very few poisonous animals in these parts of Europe that could be dangerous for humans. Kind of strange, back home there were a couple of small insects and the like which could kill a human being, but apparently there are no such animals in Europe, maybe they went extinct or something...
Well, without a flash lamp or something like that I wouldn't be able to see anything else either way, so I might as well go and look for Alphard. It's just two hundred metres or something like that back to our landing side, so I should be able to find this cave again without leaving any marks behind. The conifers make it somewhat difficult to see, but that's a good thing for us as well, at least if someone came to look for us.
Then again I don't think Natsume or anyone else knows we're here, so the coldness and food should be the only things we'll need to worry about. Plants are out of the question, neither of us knows anything about them and with a little bit of bad luck we could get a pretty poisonous one, that could kill us as well... but we have quite some food in the backpack Alphard prepared, so it's not as if we'd be starving within the next few days or anything.
Well, it's pretty pointless to worry about things like that, we have more important things to take care of for now. I arrive at the clearing close to where we landed, I guess Alphard is still busy with the parachute since I can't see her. I look through the trees and quickly find the one our parachute is in, Alphard almost has it. I still wonder what she wants with that thing, but I guess I'll find out in time...
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Alphard's POV
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Well, the material this parachute is made of isn't perfect, but it's still suitable. I guess it's some kind of polyamide, actually that's pretty good for what I intend to do with it. It's a cruciform parachute, roughly three times two metres, it should do just fine. Since we obviously have no beds out here and we didn't bring along sleeping bags either this will have to do as our sleeping place. At least it should be waterproof and keep us somewhat warm...
"Hey, Alphard, I've found something!" That was faster than I expected, I had an unpleasant premonition that we'd have to sleep outside, I'm glad that didn't turn out to be true... Though I wonder what exactly she found, maybe a small cave? That would be just what we need, we wouldn't have to worry about snow or rain in there and we might even be able to make a little fire, if we manage to gather some firewood before the snow comes down...
"Alright, I'll come down in a second." I managed to untangle most of the ropes, though I had to cut some as well, but we won't be using it again as a parachute either way. Most of it is already back in its original form, it's quite surprising how something that big can fit into such a small backpack. Well, things are finally looking somewhat better, I guess I should make the best of this situation and consider it some days of vacation...
"It's a pretty big cave, I think we'll be able to stay in there for a while if we have to!" That would actually be perfect, I was rather expecting a small crevice, barely big enough to stay in for the night. Well, that was the last of the parachute, this way I can carry it without a problem. I slowly get back down, the least thing I could need right now would be a sprained ankle or something like that...
"Very well, lead the way." There are conifers all around us, I think those are spruces... Not exactly the kind of wood that burns long, but it's easy to ignite and there are literally tons of the stuff just lying around here, if we want to have a fire at all times one of us has to be awake at all times... Well, that was what I had in mind to begin with, someone should be on guard at all times. It's very unlikely that Natsume or anyone else would find us out here, but still...
"So, what do you think we should do now?" Well, it was very cloudy when we jumped off the plane and we were below the clouds, so even satellite images shouldn't be able to tell her where we are. Sure, she could calculate the area where we could've jumped off, but that area would probably encompass more than hundred kilometres... We should be safe for now, so all we need to do is endure out here for a while, that shouldn't be too difficult.
"For now we should stay here and wait for the weather to clear up again, for the next few days no helicopter could come to get us because of the upcoming snow either way. As soon as it gets better we should look for a place to contact someone to make arrangements for a flight to Russia." That should be quite manageable, though I don't want to tempt fate by thinking everything would go perfect, thinking things like that just asks for trouble...
"Hm, I guess that's fine by me, I wanted to have some time alone with you either way, so we could get to know each other again." Hm, I guess it's about time we did something like this, the last time we had the opportunity to just talk to each other was... I don't even know when that was, probably before I became a wanted criminal and all that, so probably two years ago? Maybe it would be a good thing to speak about all of this...
"Well, it's not as if we had much else to do right now, it's just you, me and a bonfire, if we are lucky. Just like old times, huh?" Back then we often used to sit by a bonfire at night, it was always rather cold at night and I always enjoyed Canaan's companionship, that's a luxury I didn't get to enjoy for a really long time... It's still a little bit strange, getting along with her after all that time, almost too good to be true...
"Hm, not exactly as it was back then..." Maybe I shouldn't have mentioned that, she's probably thinking about Siam and how I killed him... it feels unfair to me, all I wanted to do was protecting her, yet I ended up being the villain... But I knew this would be how Canaan would see me after all the things I did, I knew it and yet I did nothing to change it... "Well, it's still a lot better than sitting all alone in some dimly lit apartment."
"If you say so..." She seems to light up a little bit, though I can tell that it is still on her mind, she will probably want to talk about that as well, sometime. I wonder if I should tell her, if she should know that, would that be good for her...? Getting close to me isn't good for her, but it appears as if there was nothing I could do to change her mind, I can't protect her forever... Even though I took an oath to always protect her, maybe protecting her from that would only hurt her more than telling her the truth...
"Come on, cheer up a little bit, it'll be fun!" Heh, she really is a strange one, now I can't tell if she's being honest or just trying to lighten up the mood a little bit, if it was someone else I wouldn't have any trouble distinguishing that at all... Sometimes I can read her like a book, other times I can't tell what's going on in her head at all. Well, I guess that's also fun, maybe I'm actually having some fun, being with her again...
"So, that is the place you were talking about?" Canaan just gives me a nod and walks ahead, I follow her into the cave. It is a pretty big cavern, it's supported by sandstone, that also explains the typical reddish sand on the ground, if I was a believer I would thank some god for this blessing... It's perfect for us, at least if we work on it a little bit... There is light coming from above, so one of us will have to get up there and cover the holes...
"Yeah, it's pretty good, right?" She looks really proud, I suppose I could give her a little bit of praise for this, it was her discovery and she always expected praise, in a way she is just like a dog... I guess I can spoil her just a little bit, just for today, there should be no harm in that. Hm, there are some other things which need to be done as well, but if the weather report is anything to go by there should be no snow until tomorrow.
"Thank you very much, you did a great job, this place is perfect." She almost seems to literally shine with happiness, though she almost looks as if she was expecting something more, she can even look like a dog, begging for something... Well, why not, if it's just for today I might as well... I move my right hand above her head and ruffle her hair a little bit, she always liked that a lot when she was younger, though she always pretended not to like it...
"Wha- Alphard..." Now she's pretty much pressing her head against my hand, as if asking for more again, oh Canaan... She really is a strange one, falling in love with her nemesis and willing to throw everything she had away just to be with me, just what did I do to deserve this...? It would be a lie to say I didn't reciprocate her feelings to a certain extend, but I can't show her that, I shouldn't show her...
"Alright, we should get to work, we don't have more than five hours of sunlight left and we need to get everything done before sunset. Would you rather carry lots of wood or cover up the holes in the ceiling with some branches and the like?" We'll need to do both of these things and it could take a while, especially collecting wood. At the moment it's at least a little bit dry, it'll still produce a lot of smoke, but at least it should be combustible.
"I think I'll climb up there and cover the holes." Well, that shouldn't be a very hard task either, I should just remind her that she needs to pay attention to how she does it, otherwise the smoke couldn't withdraw and that would make a fire impossible to use. Covering the holes is rather a countermeasure against the snow, it would be annoying if snow or rain got into our new 'home'. It's starting to become a habit, calling these kinds of strange places home...
"Very well, but don't forget that the smoke needs a way out, so don't just cover the holes with branches, build something above them. Afterwards you can help me out with collecting firewood, if we do all of that today we won't have to worry about the snow or anything else. If you find some animals shoot them, that would be our supper." We have some supplies with us, but I much rather wouldn't use them unless we have to...
"Alright, let's get started, the sooner we start the sooner we're done." Hm, there are spruces and their branches all around, but some hardwood would be better, at least for the nights. Well, if there is something close by I'll take it, if not we'll have to make do with the spruces, still a lot better than nothing. Yes, our situation is far better than what I anticipated, this could get pretty cosy... I should rather say comfortable, otherwise Canaan might take it wrong, if I said that out loud...
"Oh, and take care, I wouldn't want you ruining this by making the ceiling collapse or something like that." Right, I cheered too soon, things can still go downhill... I throw off the parachute, animals wouldn't be interested in that thing either way. Canaan keeps the other supplies in the backpack, it's better if she keeps it around, I wouldn't want some mice or something like that stealing those...
"Are you trying to say that I'm fat...?" Huh...? Trying to say... Well, she seems to have gained some weight, but she should still be lighter than me, I wasn't trying to say that at all.
"No, I just think that the ceiling looks a little bit unstable at parts, so I thought I should warn you..." Why would she even be worried about that, she never used to be worried about her appearance... Maybe it's related to that 'love' stuff, I read somewhere that people who are in love pay a lot more attention to their appearance, that might be it. Not that it matters...
"Oh, sorry, thanks for the warning." Somehow this situations is really strange, we keep thanking each other and apologising with no apparent reason... Well, no point worrying about that, it's time to get to work.
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Haa... I think this should be everything we had to do... I take a quick look at my mobile phone, already around 4 o'clock. Earlier than I expected, we have a whole lot of firewood now, this should last us for at least a week if we don't use it wastefully. Well, we can do without a heater, if we can get the fire started it shouldn't get very cold in here, not even at night. So our next few days will probably be spend idling around in this cave, not much more we could do...
"So, how do we get the fire started?" Good thing I always carry the necessary things to start a fire with me, though I usually use them for different purposes. A lighter is the most basic of things to have around at all times, one never knows when or for what reason it could be needed. Some very strong alcohol as well, a good disinfectant in case I need some. Stroh Rum, rather cheap but quite strong, 80 percent ethanol, perfect for igniting something or disinfecting wounds.
"Don't worry, I have just the things to take care of that." I take out the lighter and the metal flask filled with alcohol. I have to store it in a metal flask, otherwise it would break and that's hardly a desirable outcome, at least I prefer it not to be covered in highly flammable substances... I should probably be careful with this stuff, if non-alcoholic champagne can make Canaan intoxicated I don't want to know what this would do...
"Always prepared for everything, huh?" Hardly for everything, but I do my best to have a lot of options, that gives me just the little bit of extra flexibility a terrorist needs. I don't carry that much with me, just my gun, some bullets, a knife, alcohol and a lighter, that doesn't slow me down and takes little space. Well, sometimes some grenades or some additional weapons, depending on the job I need to do.
"Would I have been able to evade both you and Natsume for a year if I wasn't?" It was surprisingly easy, considering how much contact I had with Canaan for that whole year under the pseudonym of 'Kodoku'. My hackers did a good job or Natsume is far behind in that regard, I wouldn't complain about either of those. If the distance is right Canaan isn't much of a problem, but had she gotten close enough and used her synesthesia...
"Hm, right, you were always pretty good at hide and seek, weren't you?" Hide and seek? Did I really play games like that with Canaan...? Well, she still was pretty young at that time and from what I remember I would say that it isn't impossible, I always got along with her rather well and did a lot of things with her... "Well, whatever, we should have more than enough time to talk about everything now, right?"
"Hm, I suppose so, let me just get this fire started." Well, I saw it coming, there was no way I could avoid this discussion forever, though I wasn't expecting it to come so soon... I dig a pit in the ground, around half a metre, the embers can gather there and that should keep us warm for a little while... I already prepared some tinder, some of the branches we gathered were pretty dry on the inside, so I used my knife to get it. Now to pile them up...
"Can't you hurry a little bit? It's pretty cold without a long coat, you know...?" I ignore Canaan and pile the small pieces of wood up into a small pyramid, next some bigger branches around that to make a bigger pyramid around it with a small opening... I pour some of the Stroh Rum over the branches and ignite the smaller pyramid with the lighter, now all we have to do is wait and throw in some more branches later on.
"Sorry, but please just leave it alone, if you're cold get out the parachute." We also put some conifer branches on the ground, that way we don't have to sleep on the cold floor, otherwise we'd probably become hypothermic over night, with fire or without... it is pretty cold already, I didn't really notice it while carrying around all these branches, but now that we stay here without doing much... Well, the fire should help.
"So that's why you retrieved that thing, huh? I guess it's better than nothing, though I'd take our hotel room over this place any day..." I almost feel like giving her a sarcastic retort, but I'm not really in the mood for an argument right now, so I just keep quiet and watch her as she unpacks the parachute. A sleeping bag would be better, without doubt, but we'll have to make do with what we have, not with what we'd like to have...
"Alright, spread it over the conifers over there, that will be our makeshift bed." Canaan does so, it should be more than enough, that thing is roughly 2 times 4 metres in length. Overall I would say that there are worse places to be at, there is rather little we have to worry about here. Well, we didn't catch any animals so far, but our supplies should last long enough if they have to, even without any food at all we could make it.
"So, this will be our bed, right?" Something about the way she said 'our' just now was a little bit strange, but that is true, it will be our bed. Hm, I could also cut the thing into two pieces, but I don't think that would be necessary for now, we often did share a bed and she had no qualms about it yesterday. In fact she seemed to enjoy it a little bit too much for my liking, but I don't think I have anything to worry about, this time no alcohol is involved.
"Yes, though we will probably not sleep at the same time, I would prefer it if at least one of us would be awake at all times." It is rather unlikely that anyone would find us out here, but unlikely doesn't mean impossible, maybe Natsume will interrogate our pilot, that way she could learn of our approximate whereabouts. And someone should watch the fire as well, that would be better than having to light it again tomorrow, we have enough firewood.
"I guess that it might be a good idea, but let's just warm up a little bit and talk for now, come over here." She puts the parachute around her left shoulder and motions for me to come closer, I guess it would be a good idea to share our makeshift blanket, that way we would warm each other. But should I defer to her offer or would she take it the wrong way...? Ah, whatever, it is pretty cold and I wouldn't do us a favour by catching a cold or something like that.
"Well, what do you want to talk about?" I walk up to Canaan and let her wrap the parachute around us, the material doesn't feel too pleasant on the skin, but it keeps the cold out pretty well, so it does what I anticipated. The parachute goes a little bit below our feet, that's also a good thing, the less air from outside gets in here the warmer it should be. The fire is also doing fine now, it has grown quite a bit and spits, that makes the place a lot more comfortable...
"Hm, for example what you were doing for this whole year and why you didn't contact me any sooner..." There was too much I did within that year to tell it within the next few hours, but I somewhat doubt that Canaan would be very interested in hearing about financial management of my assets or my plans to take Snake back from those ruffians. Other than that I really didn't do very much though...
"Well, I spend a month or two with recovering from all of the injuries I got from that fall, the remainder of that time went into training, financial affairs and various strategies to weaken and dispose of those self-proclaimed leaders of Snake." I wasn't exactly idle during that time period, I did a lot of smaller assassinations and the like as well. And the last part of that question... "And if I'm not mistaken we were mortal enemies until yesterday or something like along those lines, so the better question would be why I should have contacted you at all."
"Uh... I guess you're right, but you were that Kodoku person all along, weren't you...?" That is true as well, it was a pretty big risk, all of those hints I gave her before... I myself am a little bit surprised, then again I couldn't bear watching Canaan waste away in her apartment when I got back to business, I'm just glad that she didn't do anything really stupid before I returned, though she was pretty close to making a mistake neither of us could ever undo...
"Yes, that is true, but I couldn't exactly come out and tell you, could I? If I did my whole plans to take back the lead within my organisation wouldn't have been possible and without Snake I have next to nothing." Not really surprising, how many regimes would openly admit connections to a terrorist, let alone protecting one? I don't really have all that many friends out there, it always was Snake and me against the world.
"But I could've helped you, we could've settled all of our problems a lot earlier if you had just talked to me!" That could be true, but I had no intention of reconciling with Canaan to begin with, it's not as if any of these latest developments had been a part of my plan at all... I wonder if I should just be honest with Canaan and tell her about everything... No, it's still too early for that, I don't think I'm ready to face her feelings just yet...
"Well, I somewhat doubt that, what should I have told you anyway? 'Hey Canaan, let us be friends again, I kind of lost my position as the leader of Snake and I'd like you to help me getting it back.'? Oh, why didn't I come up with such a brilliant plan, that surely would have worked out..." She probably didn't think so far when she just asked that question, now she looks pretty embarrassed... it's actually pretty cute...
"Hey, don't ask me, you were always the one with the great plans and a solution for anything. Of course you couldn't just stop by and ask me for help about that, but you could've just... I don't even know, but I think you should have done something..." I can't say that I regret nothing about how things turned out, but I tried to convince Canaan to run away with me once, she just didn't want to listen, so I had to do what I had to do...
"There's no point crying over spilled milk, we live here and now. A lot of things could have been different, but they aren't, the past can't be changed anymore." I did hate Siam, but if he hadn't been a danger for Canaan I would've left him alone, but words got me nowhere with them. Had there been a diplomatic solution I would have used that, but there was no other way, Canaan just didn't realise where that way had taken her and Siam... he was only worried about training little girls to become good killing machines.
"That's not true, if you don't tell me about the past I won't be able to understand you. There was one question I wanted to ask you for a very long time... Why did you kill Siam?" I knew it, this as where she was going from the very beginning... I guess that is comprehensible, she never knew why I did something so pointlessly cruel, that's how she perceived that whole scene, just arbitrary murder...
"I had my reasons to do what I did, let's just leave it at that." Well, I don't think it will be quite that easy, she will most definitely not be satisfied by that reply... I will have to tell her sooner or later, or make up a pretty good story, but maybe it's about time that Canaan learned the truth. I don't know how that would turn out, but the future always is uncertain... I have a feeling that this will be a rather long night...
...
Authors note: Hey there, sorry for the REALLY late update, Daniel was having a lot of problems and couldn't write for a while because of some nasty injuries, so it was just me for the time being and I don't have too much time either, but this chapter was long overdue, so I had to do it on my own, for the most part. Daniel did his best to help me out, but that wasn't very much... Well, I hope you still enjoyed the chapter, next time things will probably get a little more serious and I'm not quite sure how it will turn out, feel free to suggest something.