It had been a week since Little Creek and his friends went on their hunting trip, and still Samantha heard nothing about their return. She did miss them, but thankfully with Sunset always by her side, she was never truly alone.

Sunset had come to her every day in the tipi the Itancan and his wife had built for Samantha's stay. The young Lakota had taken a liking to the white girl, and people in the tribe could see she was being influenced by her. Sunset only shook them off and continued furthering her friendship with Samantha.

Sitting underneath the apple tree in the clearing, the two friends sat in silence as Sunset braided away at Samantha's long black hair and hummed an old song her elders taught her. Samantha listened with a question drumming in the back of her head, making her head bang and boom as it kept bothering her.

"Do you think they'll be back soon?" Samantha asked, glancing back to the hands braiding her long hair. She heard the younger girl giggle; probably finding it amusing that this question was being repeated every fifteen minutes.

"Don't worry, Samantha. They'll be back soon. They always come back."

"Uninjured?" Samantha questioned, playing with her hands. She wasn't sure how it worked out here. None of the people seemed to be too worried about the absence of most of the men from the tribe. She could only assume they always came back – but being an outsider, she only thought of the worse scenario that the men wouldn't be able to defend themselves without the proper weapons.

Did men die when they went hunting or did they all come back safe and sound?

"Some of them might be injured, but not dead." Samantha blinked. Better to be injured than dead, right? "Sam, can you tell me a story?"

Samantha felt her stomach drop. It would be a lie if she said she felt comfortable telling Sunset stories about the world beyond the village. It was only encouraging the young Lakota girl to run away, convincing her that life on the other side was more grand and beautiful than where she was right now.

If Sunset suddenly decided to drop things and run away to marry a young white man, the tribe could only point fingers in Samantha's direction.

"What do you want to hear about?" There was nothing that could be done if Sunset suddenly decided a new course of life; Samantha was only trying to please the one girl-friend she had in the village.

Sunset tugged on Samantha's hair lightly, finishing the braid and thinking to herself of what she wanted to learn about the other culture that seemed worlds away when in reality it was only miles. She wanted to know everything about the odd white men and their culture that seemed so alien in her eyes. She wanted to know their celebrations.

"Tell me about the celebrations you have in your culture." She said finally, getting up to sit in front of Samantha who crossed her arms over her stomach and put her face into deep thought.

The Sergeant was invited to many parties prior being shipped off to work with the Colonel. Samantha wasn't sure if 'party' was in the Lakota's vocabulary so she coughed in her hand as she started one of the eventful parties she went to with her father. It was the most memorable one because it was the one time her and her father got along.

"My father and I weren't very fond of parties but in our world, it's important to keep up an image to others – especially if you're important like my father is."

"Parties?" Sunset questioned, she hadn't learned that word before.

"Parties are sort of the same thing as celebrations are to you, except they can be done at any random time and for no reason at all." Samantha answered, smiling as the young Lakota nodded her in head, understanding.

"I may have not been completely truthful with any of you but…I am from a very wealthy family with a very strict image of perfection. That's why my family was so hard on me for being 'born from the devil himself'. We had to go to parties to keep up our image, and no matter how much I hated them, I had to go."

"Your father hated parties too, right?" Sunset blinked, tilting her head.

Samantha giggled to herself. "Oh yes he did. This one party we went to…we were laughing for hours." She smiled at the memory of her father smiling and laughing, looking at her with eyes of kindness rather than pure hatred. "We were picking fun at all the others there. This one lady, I think she was the wife of the mayor. She had her hair high and big, and people ducked in order not to be hit by it." Samantha paused, laughing at the memory. "My father said if her hair got any bigger, her head would fall from the weight of it. I remember we were laughing at all the people there and the situations."

"Later on in the party, we made deals on who was having an affair with whom." She paused, her smile faltering a little. "I always made a deal that the person wasn't having an affair." She looked to Sunset and smiled sadly. "I didn't win one deal. My father shook his head and told me that if I wanted to get married to someone faithful, I needed to marry a dog."

Sunset looked at Samantha, shocked from the news. There had been talk that the white men weren't faithful in their marriages and that those who were faithful were just fools while their spouses had affairs with someone else behind closed doors. Was it really true?

"That's not to say that every white man is not faithful. My father was faithful to my mother, and still is even though she died." Her eyebrows furrowed together in thought. "I think my father really loved her. He never married after her."

Sunset smiled softly, knowing that the subject of Samantha's father was a sensitive one but she enjoyed seeing Samantha mention the good traits of her father, even if Samantha didn't see them as good. "Do you think he loved you?"

Samantha sighed, playing with the braid Sunset had done. Her black hair was undone in her long fingers and fell straight back against her shoulder, glistening in the light of the sun peeking through the leaves of the tree. "I think he was confused on whether to love me or not."

"What is the music like?" Sunset asked, quickly getting off the subject. Samantha smiled and thought back to the music played in her home every day. Who would have thought that she would miss the beautiful music that was played constantly? Before, the music would only agitate her and drive her crazy but now that she thought of it – she felt…home-sick.

The two girls gasped as they heard a branch snap behind the apple tree. Samantha looked up and gaped at the sight. A tall muscular man had come around from the tree and glared straight in her direction. She blinked twice, realizing she had been caught telling stories to Sunset of the other world.

He grabbed Sunset by her arm and bought her up to her feet. "You're trying to taint her with your ways, aren't you?" He hissed at Samantha with venom dripping from every word, his charcoal eyes filling with rage.

Samantha stammered, nervous. How was she expected to answer that question? She was only doing what Sunset asked her to do, and that was to tell her stories. She never meant to taint Sunset with her ways.

Sunset pulled away from the man's grasp and pushed him away. Samantha's eyes widen at the young woman's strength.

"Do not touch me!" Sunset yelled; voice dark as she glared at the older man. Samantha felt lost as the conversation turned into their native language and she could only glance back and forth at the two as they yelled at each other.

"I forced the white girl to tell me stories! She had no choice. I told her that if she didn't, I would get the chief to make her leave." Sunset lied, looking to Otaktay. He was neither family nor her husband, so looking to him should have shamed her but she would not put her head down and have the man put Samantha in trouble.

Sunset knew he was only trying to do what he thought was best, but in her eyes, Samantha was a light; a light that shined out across the land with stories, and words of the other world that Sunset so desperately wanted to be in. She wanted to be part of that light and she would not allow Otaktay to put out that light.

Otaktay looked at her, surprised at the young Lakota's words and actions. The white girl really was influencing her like people in the tribe told him. "You should be ashamed. The White men are evil and dangerous, we have known this for a long time and nothing she tells you will change that." He glanced to the white girl and refrained from spitting at her. She was no Lakota; he didn't need to show her respect. "No more stories." He said in English, watching Samantha nod her head and look down to the hands in her lap.

"You have to leave, now." Sunset continued speaking in her native language, waiting for Otaktay to leave. He nodded respectfully and walked away from the apple tree back to the village. Sunset sighed in relief and looked to Samantha.

"Who was that?" The man had made Samantha feel unsafe and threatened. From now on, she was no longer telling Sunset any more stories about her world if that man was the outcome of her story-telling.

"His name is Otaktay. Don't listen to a word he says, Samantha." Sunset said, hoping that the story-telling hadn't suddenly come to a stop from Otaktay's harsh tone. She lived on the stories Samantha told her. They couldn't stop now.

Samantha cleared her throat, still feeling spooked from Otaktay's presence. "What does his name mean?"

Sunset froze in place, the question ringing in her head. Otaktay's name was rare in the tribe because it was such a harsh name to give to one's child. It gave their child a name that meant they were expected to do many things for the tribe. Sunset knew though that to Samantha's kind, they would only see the meaning in a dark way.

"His name means…kills many."

Oh my goodness, I am so sorry for the late update. I'm not sure if I mentioned this before about my laptop being broken and I ended up retiring to my old PC. Well, guess what? I went to a convention last month after my last update (around the same weekend) and when I came back, my PC no longer worked so I sent my laptop to get fixed. 220 dollars later, here I am.

I missed writing so much and my heart was just broken, and god, I was so jittery. I love writing because it keeps me calm. However, the lack of writing made me very anxious so what I did was hand-write a bunch of new ideas for new stories that will come to light soon.

I missed you guys so much *hugs my screen and grossly sobs.* I LOVE YOU, I'LL NEVER LEAVE AGAIN. YOU CAN BLAME IT ALL ON ME. OR MY LAPTOP.

Ahem.

So.

In my last update, I mentioned me publishing a new Wreck-It Ralph story which will happen but is now delayed since I never wrote down the first chapter.

Here is a new list of new stories coming to light.

Now you see me – Title: Puppeteer (First chapter is already published.)

Wreck it Ralph – Title: Game Over (Last minute details being corrected)

American Horror Story – (Early Stages of Development)