Hi guysss! This will be a rather short one compared to my usual, but just for perspective's sake, I have to switch and move back to Puck's. By the end of this, you'll see why.

Ani POV

We walked for what seemed like a long time. Earlier on, Puck tried to knock Blade out so we could escape but Blade saw him coming so he got out of the way.

At the time, he dodged the trickster's assault and pinned him to a tree demanding that Puck give him his daggers. Puck being Puck, told him exactly where he would love to jam his daggers and Blade didn't appreciate the part-joke-mostly-threat nearly as much as I did.

Puck stepped up next to me, he was limping noticeably and he had a bruise coming into sight over his eye. He grinned at me, though it didn't quite reach his eyes. "Well, I guess now wouldn't be the time to say that I kicked your dog."

I smiled a bit at his joke. "Poor Scruffy, he may be fake but he will be missed." I laughed but stopped because it just didn't feel right. Puck apparently felt the same seeing as he dropped the fake smile too.

"Sorry." He looked at the ground.

I glanced at the sulking red-head. "About what?" I already had a feeling that I knew, but I wanted him to talk to me. I wanted to forget about Blade, about my mother... About my old life.

He laughed quietly, without humor. "Not being able to save you." He touched the bruise on his face. "In either attempt."

I inched closer to him and our hands brushed before he entwined his fingers in mine. "It's okay. I should be the one making apologies anyway." At his confused look, I continued. "My mother will most likely give me a pardon... You on the other hand..." I trailed off. Puck couldn't come with me. He'd be killed before he got a word in edgewise.

He cringed as if pained by the thought. "Right, Mab hates me. This won't be pleasant..." He laughed bitterly. "Do you think that threatening to ransack the castle will make her let me go?"

I looked at him dryly. "No." How can he be joking at a time like this!?

He nodded tensely. "Yeah, I thought so too."

I watched him in silence. I couldn't allow him to come with me. I couldn't do it. But... The only way to change his mind is to make him not want to come. Make him hate the thought. Make him hate me.

I forced down a sob that tried to escape me. I had to break up with him. Break his heart... Smash it to little bits and pieces and hope that someone will pick them back up for him eventually.

I stared at him. Just not yet. I wanted more time... I needed more time. Later, I thought. I'll do it later...

"Something wrong, Frosty?"

I jumped at the sound of his voice. "What? Uh..." I mentally smacked myself at how weak that sounded. "It's nothing, I'm just not looking forward to going home."

He put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him. "It'll be fine, we can escape together."

We walked in silence after that, my heart shattering with every single step that brought me ever so closer to the inescapable future that we'd have to face... Not together.

We abruptly stopped before we slammed into Blade, who was standing rock still in front of us. He was grinning like a lunatic and I felt Puck tense up beside me. "What's going on?"

Blade glanced at us. "You seriously can't feel it when you're being followed? Wow, and here I was thinking that you had some skills..." He scoffed. "Get down and don't say a word."

Puck and I made no attempt to move, so Blade pointed a knife at us after taking it out of his pocket. "Who has the weapons here?"

I glanced at Puck and realized for the first time that he didn't have his daggers. He glowered at Blade, then gently tugged me back a step. "Okay, fine. We're going."

Before we could move, Mav and Mal burst into the clearing and threw themselves directly at Blade. He toppled over and all three crashed to the ground. I heard muffled shouts and curses and then Mav shouted for us to run. Puck grabbed my arm and yanked me along behind him faster than I've ever ran before. I guess he has motivation though.

We sprinted through the woods top speed and as we neared a river up ahead, I heard a loud scream. I bit my lip and forced myself to go faster. I wasn't sure who it belonged to, and I didn't want to find out either.

Without pausing, Puck launched us into the water and we hit with a splash. The current was strong and I had to let go of him so I could use both my arms. We swam to the other side as if our lives depended on it- which they did- and after being forced under a few times, I threw myself onto solid ground. I choked and sputtered out water and looked up to see Puck clambering to his knees.

"We aren't far enough yet."

I stared at him. He was soaked from head to toe, his bruise was fully faded in and overall he looked like a drowned rat. I probably did too.

I nodded and got to my feet. "Alright, let's get going then." I was willing to sprint across the Nevernever if it meant not having to break up with him.

I watched as he stood up, and realized that blood was seeping through his shirt. He regarded the stain and pressed his lips together in a frown. "Blade got me earlier. I'll take care of it later." He briskly started walking past me and I followed him, biting my lip. He needed to take a break, I could see it in his posture... But we had to keep moving. If we stopped, Blade would catch up and we'd be back to square one.

"Okay... How much further do you think we should go?"

He didn't even break stride when he answered. "Further, I want to put as much distance between us and him as I can."

I nodded and fell silent after that, being careful to be as quiet and hard to track as I could.

Maybe I won't have to dump him. I thought as I stared at the space between Puck's shoulder blades. If we can escape, we can stay together! Something inside me stirred at the thought. Eternity with Puck... And that, is what kept me moving after my legs went past the numb point and just felt like jelly.

We walked briskly for a time, and I could see that Puck was bleeding more heavily now. He was limping slightly and I wasn't sure if it was from earlier or if he got hurt again. Maybe it's from the cut...

I gently caught his arm as he swung it behind him and tugged him to a halt. "Puck, can we take a break? I can't feel my legs anymore." And you look like you might pass out any second. I added silently.

He glanced back at me, scanned the landscape, then looked at me again. He sighed and dragged his hand through his hair. "Okay, we can take a break."

I threw myself down on the ground, pretending to be more tired than I was. I didn't need him suspecting that I was giving him a break rather than myself, so I smiled up at him and pulled him down with me by his wrists. "Sit, you'd might as well take advantage of this too."

He chuckled and shifted so he was more comfortable, then he looked at me with his gorgeous emerald green eyes. "I see what you did there."

I feigned confusion and leaned in closer to him. "What did you see me do?" Before he responded, I wrapped my arms around him and pressed myself into him. I didn't want to ever let him go. Not for anything.

He smiled and hugged me back. "You know, it's almost scary how easy it is for you to distract me." His tone was carefree, even in our current situation he could be calm.

I laughed. "I do have a knack for it, don't I?"

A branch snapped behind us and we both jerked our heads in the direction. "Awe, look. I found you two in a rather intimate moment, should I catch you before or after you make out?"

For some reason, Blade's voice wasn't in the same direction as the snap. Puck looked behind us wearily. "Show yourself, I want to at least see you when you attack us."

Blade stepped out from behind the tree, towing Mav behind him. They were both bleeding heavily and when Mav saw us he went from staring around in a dejected daze to jerking towards us. "RUN GUYS! HE'S BAD NEWS! GET AWAY FROM HERE-"

Blade wrenched Mav back, yanking on a rope that was currently restraining his leader and victim. "Knock it off! Before I go back and kill her completely."

Mav's voice cut out and he stared at the ground in a beaten down manner. "Leave here out of this... She's already unable to fight you."

"Yeah, that's the point. Boss."

Mav looked up at us silently and even though I just met him today I felt his pain. If something happened to Puck... I couldn't even continue the thought.

I slowly stood up, knowing that the battle was already lost. If Blade could beat Mal and take Mav hostage, what chance did me and a Puck have?

Everyone watched me wearily as I walked over to Blade and stopped. I silently made him release Mav who just fell to his knees, shoulders shaking from anger or sobs, I didn't know. I stayed where I was and lifted my chin. "I believe my mother sent you to retrieve me?" I looked him in the eyes and squared my shoulders. "Well, bring me back already. I'm growing weary of all this loitering about."

He blinked at me, completely taken aback by my icy attitude. "Alright, you better not try anything funny though." he warned me. As he said this, he grabbed my wrist and started pulling me along behind him.

"Ani." I flinched at Puck's broken tone. I glanced back and saw him starting towards us. I have to do it... Now.

"Don't bother." My tone brought him up short and I took a breath. "Just leave me alone, okay? I don't need your help."

He stared at me in confusion then he realized what I was telling him. His expression dropped and he stared at me in a mixture of fear and sadness. "What?"

I bit my cheek and forced myself to continue. "I don't need you anymore, you aren't helping me accomplish anything so you have lost your tactical worth." I lowered my voice. "So don't bother looking for me, I don't want you to." Please don't come for me, Puck. I can't bear the thought of you dying...

I turned around and walked faster. Hoping it looked like I didn't even want to be near him, rather than that I couldn't bear this another minute. I pulled my arm free from Blade and glared at him. "I'm coming with you, you idiot. Quit treating me like a dog and make me feel like what I am, a princess." I strutted on ahead of him tried to force my emotions down into the part of me that I knew too well. If I was going to survive this, I had to embrace my nature. I couldn't ever let myself cry, when I'm alone or otherwise.

And this leads onto a very interesting route! What do you all think of this? Feels kinda like what Ash did to Meghan in a sense but I just like this idea in general. So COMMENT COMMENT COMMENT! I want to know what YOU PEOPLE- yes, the ones who read this and don't say anything- think of it. Oh yeah, and at some point, there will be two chapter posts in one day, I'm getting to the point of being able to use my dungeon chapter! Yeah, I write disjointed chapters when I have a block so I have so many chapters that I can't use yet *Cries of frustration* though my personal favorite out of them is the dungeon one, so I'm happy.