A/N I'm sorry I made you wait for so long! I am really sorry! I hope I'll be able to update more often :)

Disclaimer: I own nothing. The characters (except the OC-s) were created by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo.

Chapter Twenty-One

The village had been too quiet quite often lately, and yet at the moment it was just deadly still. When the guards had seen Obelix approaching, there was a sudden wave of movement. But when he had come closer, everyone froze, holding a gasp of shock. And this feeling was still there, although it had been a while since the red-haired Gaul's arrival.

The same silence was in Getafix's hut. Only here it wasn't that total – from time to time it just exploded with terrible coughs. Asterix, however, was unconscious. He had passed out on the way to the village, which had freaked his already frightened friend out. Only the coughs never stopped. Getafix checked on his state quite often. Feeling the terrible fever, he shook his head slowly from time to time. The wounds from the bites were now cleaned up and dressed so at least the little warrior didn't look so scary anymore. He was just very pale and thin. He really looked sick. And miserable.

Obelix never left his friend ever since he had brought him here. Now he was looking down at him with teary eyes. Even looking at Asterix hurt. Especially remembering that weird conversation in the cave. Obelix could only imagine what had happened to his smaller friend there. He looked aside to see Astronomix and Sarsaparilla sitting there, holding hands and trying hard not to cry. Obelix turned his head back and stared at Asterix's pale face again. He felt anger. He was furious. Someone had to be punished. Someone had to pay for this. And the Obelix knew perfectly well who it was. Normally even a half of the rage he felt now would make him explode, crashing everything around. But he just stood there, feeling being torn apart by his anger and unable to move away. He just couldn't leave. Couldn't leave Asterix after all that. He had to be by his side. Although all his insides screamed for revenge, he felt he couldn't afford it now.

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"So, shall we start with our revenge now?" Nakir smirked menacingly. Nini shrugged.

"What good will it do us?" she asked absentmindedly.

"What?" the brunette even stepped back. "Wasn't it our purpose to begin with? When we ran away?"

"When we ran away, our purpose was to run away," Nini answered simply. "And to save the others".

"Yeah, that's why the others betrayed us. We wanted to save them, and they…"

"People are stupid sometimes. Fear can make them stupid, too".

The blonde closed her eyes for a moment, remembering how she had seen her sister for the first time after about five years. She was allowed out of the area where she and some others were kept for the first time. Well, actually, she was given some work to do, since the slave who was supposed to do it had died that morning. Just as she was passing the corral, she saw Nakir. She recognised her at once, despite not seeing her for so long. Both of them had the same shining in their eyes. Both were determined to become free…

"So, are we going to look for father?" Nakir asked suddenly. Nini sighed.

"We don't even know whether he is alive," she said. There was a pause.

"I know who can help us with it," the brunette gave her sister another menacing smirk.

"You mean Newsix?"

"We must ask him about it," Nakir nodded.

"Well, then we'll have to wait," noticing her sister's puzzled look, Nini added: "Now he's in the village. We can't go there after all that has happened".

Nakir tried to calm down. She knew that when she was angry or just thinking about revenge she couldn't think straight. In those moments she was really glad that Nini was with her.

"Okay," she said, "then we'll wait till he leaves".

There was another pause. Nakir decided to change the subject since there was another thing which was bothering her.

"You know," she started. "I hoped our… "experiment" will prove something. That it will make me… us… feel better… somehow. And now, when I know that people can care, that there is friendship… I don't feel any better".

"Because it just means that we are so unlucky," Nini finished the thought. "If the results were opposite, we'd just be like others. But we see that people actually do have good, loving families and friends… and we don't".

Nakir nodded in agreement.

"But you know?" Nini went on. "It's not entirely right. Because we are each other's family and each other's friend". She paused, thinking whether she had put that statement correctly. But seeing her sister smile, she understood she did.

"I guess we need to change our lair," Nakir suggested. "The angry Gauls might be here any moment".

"I don't think so," the elder sister replied. "Guess they aren't planning revenge now. They have something more important… but being too careful isn't bad. Let's move and wait for Newsix from a place where we can see him when he leaves the village".