Cross of Clear Peridot (20)
"Hi there" I smiled, skipping down the stairs in my happy state.
Just wait 'till Train sees what I've got!
I peeked around the corner to look at them. Train laid on the floor, obviously noticing me. Even so, he didn't even give a single hello. Only Sven and Eve waved at me. I blinked at what I saw. Isn't it supposed to be the other way around? Usually it's Train that enthusiastically welcomes me and Sven that completely ignores me. To tell you the truth, I was a little disappointed. It's like that feeling when you expect praise from your mom or something and you get a lecture instead.
I waved the piece of paper around Train's head trying to snare his attention. I started fanning him, but only succeeded to fan his hair around even more. Causing his hair to be messier than what it already is. Waving a piece of paper around someone's face is really effective… (Note the sarcasm here).
Well, at least, it wasn't effective until he finally caught little numbers messily scratched onto the wrinkled paper. He blinked, and I shoved it in his face. If you want someone to notice something, then the most effective way to do it is of course, shoving it in someone's face.
"See?" I smiled, "I got something"
His hand quickly flew up to his face and took the little thing in my hand that had valuable information. He sat up straight away, and stared at it for a few moments.
"You got this?" He asked, obviously puzzled.
I gave a confident, and over exaggerated nod with a big grin on my face. The 'V' for victory symbol was thrust out with another trumphaint stance. It's nerdy, but hey, it's an Asian thing.*
"Yay!" Train cheered, hands thrown out in the air, wailing. He then showed Sven, who only gave a suspicious look. No matter what I seem to do, I can never impress Sven…
Hehe at least he's happy!
I smiled to myself, knowing that I had finally done something for him, and the rest of the team, and in a way, felt a little bit of self accomplishment.
Train turned, and plastered his signature smile over his face.
He's smiling at me!
I had a mellow spasm in my head. It made me even content that he was happy. For a reaction, I managed to get the tips of my mouth lift into a somewhat happy smile.
"This means more food!" Train stated bluntly with a ton of enthusiasm.**
…Uh…
You see, this is once again one of those moments were it just ruins the fluffy birdies flying above your head. When they just fall dead. Still, I didn't do anything violent and only gave a few twitches.
Although Sven wasn't too excited, he still got into the car, and drove. He also had his reasons of course… to pay off their debt, and to actually start eating real food again. (Should I tell them that I still have me huge food storage at my house?... Even though mostly I spend my time over at his…)
Nope. That's the conclusion I come to. Nope. It's okay eventually they'll figure it out when I come over everyday with a bag of potato chips in my hands. They just haven't seen it yet.
Turns out that this place that the stranger gave to me was quite far away. At first it was only passing familiar roads, then out of the city into rural places; I was completely lost from there. It must've taken hours. Time seemed to tick by like molasses running uphill in January. The leaves and branches of trees beat themselves on the windows, and obstructed much sight. It was literally the thickest forest I've ever seen. … Then again one of the only forests I've ever seen. Do bounties usually establish hideouts in these places? In thick forest?
And then that's when a mild feeling struck me.
Not this again…
It's just that feeling you get when you're in the car too long… at least I think it is…
I hoped that it would pass by quickly, but was proved wrong when it only started getting worse. Only now it was a headache.
Well I know this feeling…
Yep. Definitely it was the feeling when an overwhelming amount of negative chi starts diffusing. It's a weird feeling, like that kind you get on the spinning amusement park rides. A little bit of dizziness, and uneasiness. This kind of thing is actually quite rare. But usually when it does happen, it takes only minutes go come and go. I mean after all, who has such a negative aura that I can feel it miles away?
I wonder where this is coming from…
So in order to suppress that nauseous reflex, I laid down in what little space I had in the back seat. Usually it passes by in a few minutes so I just waited… and waited… The force became heavier and heavier. It felt as if gravity had grown. It didn't ease, it only grew. God this is horrible. Is this coming from our bounty? I buried my face in my arms, pretending to be asleep just in case someone notices something.
Maybe I shouldn't have followed that creepy old man's directions. A drop of cold sweat rolled down the side of my face. I bit my bottom lip nervously as my body started to recognize the source. There was one place where this distinct feeling struck me before… It finally hit me. How could I not notice?
When did I grow so sensitive to chi?
The kind that makes your heart sink, and start to feel heavy, like someone's sitting on your chest. Out of breath. My breathes were only short shallow gasps now. Swirling around, were whisps of it, and it seemed to cling onto me. Why is it that chi needs to be attracted to me?
It's Creed.
His eyes. Maniacal.
His hair. A steel like white.
His skin. That felt like frozen ice.
I couldn't even stand to be around him. It makes me feel sick.
This didn't happen last time I saw him. How did he gain so much of this stuff? People don't just suddenly gain chi….
"You okay back there?" Train asked looking at the small side view mirror.
I can't tell Train. I can't tell him. What if he knew it, that Creed was there. Train hates his guts. The same thing might happen like last time. I don't want to see him like that anymore. One look at the freezing eyes of the Black Cat was enough. They reflected murderous intent, cold… ice like. It pained me to look at him. And he almost got killed… I don't want to see anyone else die anymore.
Then how would I be able to stop him?
Make up an excuse.
"I feel sick; can we all go home now?" I said, doing my best to not stammer.
"Huh? Now?" Train asked once again, this time seeming surprised.
I nodded.
"You can stay in the car if you want… but we just drove for a few hours to get here. It'll take a long… l…o…n…g… time" He explained shuffling around with the front seat. He put extra emphasis on the 'long'.
"This might make you feel a little better" He held out his hand, and revealed a bottle of milk. Train grinned his signature smile and exclaimed, "Ta-da!" He wasn't acting like he was excited; he WAS genuinely excited to see milk. You know, I always hate it when he says it with such enthusiasm, 'cause I hate that stuff like no human can hate.
Not everyone is like you… we don't ALL think that milk is the source of life on Earth.
I only grumbled and gently pushed it away. "Keep it, I don't need it'
So like that, I went back to my 'I feel sick' position.
He seemed surprised that I didn't take it, and even a little disappointed.
Or maybe excuses aren't the answer. I was never good at making up excuses… Which then still makes me think. This was all a trap. It was cleverly set up by someone so that we would come here. Who was the sleazy old man?
Who would gain anything by us coming here other than Creed?
"Just a question, but did we accept to the question of whether we would capture Creed or not?" I asked Train who was eagerly guzzling down a bottle of milk. I figured that whoever sent us here was someone that hoped we either got killed by him, or caught him. Preferably the second choice over the first.
He took the bottle off his lips and stayed silent in thought. He eyed me through the reflective mirror, and gave me a quick, and brief answer.
"Dunno"
I don't know how he can be so unserious when answering such an important matter.
Slowly, he lowered his gaze out the window. And that's when you get that strange feeling again. When the idiot standing in front of you really isn't that idiotic after all. I really can't help it but to completely melt into mush. Something grabbed at me and told me to go give him a big bear hug… but that's just plain creepy when someone just sneaks up behind you and grabs you into a hug. So something else in my mind fought back to say: No.
He isn't too loose about this after all… In fact, he might've been thinking about that question for a long time. I wonder for how long he's been thinking it over…
For once when I think I'm doing them a favor, I actually get them into deeper trouble…
The car came to a screeching stop, immediately snapping me out of my off topic thoughts. Not only did me get me on topic again, it also threw me rolling out of the seat and crashing on the floor. So now, I was basically upside-down and scrunched up to the door.
I'm guessing we're there?
Of course, Sven had to open it from the outside, which is literally taking out the only thing keeping me inside the car. Like that, I preformed my second roll and crash onto the dirt road.
Ouch…
I rubbed the back of my head, still face towards the ground. I suddenly felt an arm picking me up. Blinking out of confusion as I was lifted off the ground and set back on my feet again.
"You feel like a limp ragdoll," Train smiled shaking my arms around trying to emphasize the fact, and the truth was, it did look like that. They just kind of flopped around. It made me feel fat…
"Okay I get it! I'm lazy and fat so stop throwing my arms around," I sighed as Train finally let go.
"Lazy yes… very lazy. Fat? I don't know if you're fat then Sven's obese" Train grinned with a cheeky face. A low pitched grumble was heard beside me. I didn't need to look to know that it came from a very ticked off Sven. It was just naturally in Train to say things like that. And I can't help but admit that it's …. Cute. Hehe it sounds weird when I say it… Cute.
*After a considerable time of fooling around*
Okay back on track.
Only meters ahead of us was a building. Some people may be thinking, Yay. A building. How exciting.
But no.
We're talking about a castle. A huge stone castle from the medieval times. Still growing ancient vines broke cracks in the rock trying to reach the sun. Moss settled in the corners of stone that hosted a nice, moist home. Rough texture of its outer walls didn't make it a nice place to live; and all of that was settled perfectly, dead center of a forest. I hope Train, Eve and Sven are all getting the shivering, this-isn't good feeling, cause I'm feeling it. It was probably abandoned due to the fact that people almost literally froze their toes off in winter. In other words, a perfect hideout for Creed.
But of course, none of them seem to be phased.
My mind sighed mentally. Maybe I'm going through this a little too many times that I'm just so used to it.
When we started to go in, the welcome wasn't too warm either. No one would expect pieces of rubble in here. Some, the size of pebbles, and others were comparable to boulders. It didn't matter what the size was, what the problem really was that they were EVERYWHERE. It was completely littered. It obstructed even sight.
Now climbing over it was a completely different matter. In other words, scraped knees and bruised elbows. While I put all my effort in being able to climb over rocks, Train was just probably breaking no sweat jumping on top of them; Eve just flew over them, while I was tripping over them. Convenience of a normal human…
Oh wait. Right… I'm not a normal human! I'm a Taoist.
It's nice I remember these things once in a while! So like that, and a small burst of chi once in a while, I jumped over even Train. He, who only stared at me from below, and I who was actually taking this as a competition to see who could get to the top the fastest. It's weird how I almost take everything as a race or competition with him.
With confidence and everything, I was soaring through the air. But we all know soaring through the air is draining.
…It's getting harder and harder to use this chi.
Jumping over boulders is tiring. … I finally get some exercise and I do this for a half a minute and I'm tired.
I was already feeling out of breath.
Ugg… No loosening up now, almost there. Castle walls also hold a considerable amount of space for the corridors inside I guess. How did the people that used to live in this get across the ballroom without dying of exhaustion anyways?
And suddenly, that's when that same feeling I got in the car hit me again. Only this time, it returned as a piercing headache. It was so sudden, no warning. Almost immediately the barely glowing chi flickered and died. Conveniently, I was ten meters in the air, and began to feel the foundation for my feet completely disappear. Soon enough, in less than the beat of a wing, I was falling. Parts of vision obstructed by blurry dark spots due to what felt like someone kept constantly stabbing me in the head with a knife. Not sure of what was under me; I was hoping it wasn't a huge rock with sharp edges.
I was sure to feel myself hit the ground sometime.
But nope, I didn't.
Conveniently Train was the only one who could, or even bother keeping up with me; therefore, being reading to catch me any time. His arms precisely caught me centimeters before impact, and I admit I was scared out of my wits, face being a few centimeters away from the solid… cold… ground.
Yay! More cheers for Train! Let's give him another hero point while I try to get my vision in focus now.
It came back in splotches actually…"You alright?" He asked. And as everything became clear again, my focus immediately snapped and locked to see his eyes. I couldn't see anything but him. I found myself staring right into golden orbs. Okay, so maybe not exactly staring, I was completely innerly melting and gushing under them. They look so similar to a cat's eye, illuminated. It felt like one of those things so fragile that you couldn't touch, but only watch and all I could do was blink.
"Wow…" I whispered under my breath. Completely entranced, that's what I was doing.
"Huh? What did you say?" He said; and then… I think I felt my heart skip a beat. The throbbing in my head, just dulled again, now was the problem not my head, it was my heart that was really throbbing. If only his voice right now could shake me, I wonder… what a kiss would do. It felt like my heart was in my throat, yearning for something. Face practically glowing more than a thousand shades of red. Pulse, a tenfold.
If only… I could close the space between us right now.
"Yume! Train! Come over here!" A familiar voice yelled. The voice itself startled me, and I automatically let out a small 'eep'. Only then, did I notice how awkward this really was. It was kind of like I naturally fell into this position, sitting on Train, who was sort of squatting. Oh right, silly me, I DID fall into this position, from 10 meters in the air to be honest.
…
Well, what can I say, moment killed. It always seems that the moments are killed… in my book anyways. Maybe I'm just an unfortunate being…
At first, Sven didn't catch my attention; in fact he never catches my attention. He's just too… dull. It was only when I heard a thud, and Eve's quiet groan that I really became worried. It also wasn't in Eve to groan, or complain. The huge angelic wings that suddenly popped up were also a sign of strangeness; although pretty.
I really would like to stick around and hang around with Train a little more, but I really think I should get going now.
So just like that, I whipped myself up, not saying a single word to the indifferent Train behind me, and ran away. Jumping back over the boulders and rocks which I spent so much effort to go past. Immediately, a crouching figure of Eve caught the corner of my eye. Not so hard to miss; clearly doubling over.
My immediate reaction was to land, and so I did, with a gentle tap on the ground.
"What's wrong?" I asked, trying to make eye contact with her by bending down.
No response was given. Sven's worried eyes only set on her once more.
"Hot..." She moaned, the sound barely escaping her lips. Her fingers fumbled with her dress, almost trying to tear at it. Sweat ran down her face, and a pink feverish tint slid over.
Immediately, I set my hand on her forehead to see what the real situation was. And she was right, it was hot. Really, really hot…
*For those of you who don't know Yume Hoshi is 100% pure blood Japanese…but she was born in Europe, so Japanese was a second language other than a first. She visited Japan and picked the victory thing up.
**Just pretend that it's possible to do that
Authors Note: Yay! Finally! Another update! Sorry it took so long, school started and it ended up being really hectic because this year was really important. And we also had to work on a Soul Eater oneshot (which will probably be posted…later) for a contest we entered in. Updates should come faster now!