So this is the next chapter for last week, I guess, since this is late. Sorry about that. Life has been crazy and I went on a long trip to actually meet Saren in real life! He's awesome too! Like seriously! This trip has been just what I needed! Especially since it was for my birthday(happy b-day me)!
Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy. I'll get another chapter out this week. Promise! Unless I get into some freak accident xD See ya! Enjoy the chapter!
Chaya sat at the turret of one of the Humvees, giggling lightly as she moved it around with the hand crank. Joel had allowed her to sit up there along with Serena in the front seat, though the gun had no ammo in it and the woman didn't have the key. The little girl was pretending that she was a soldier up there, shooting at the infected and saving other kids who were being chased by said infected.
"Popopopop!" She said as she mimicked the sound of a machine gun. "Hurry! Get in! Whoa! Booom! Get in now! Come on!" She called out to the imaginary children. "Drive! We gotta get out of here, Private Cane!"
Serena looked up towards Chaya and raised an eyebrow, "I would, Sergeant, but I don't have keys… and my name isn't Cane." She replied with a soft giggle.
She found the young girl to be rather cute. Especially when she was more or less roleplaying the part of a soldier. Not that soldiers were cute or anything like that. They usually just were the bringers of death, announcing that your home was about to get raised in a battle of some sort. Unless you were the target. Then you probably had some chance of keeping your home standing. Either way, Chaya was cute with her imagination. Serena then saw Lucas walking out of the store and over to another Humvee, glancing over at her and maintaining eye contact for a good five seconds before he reached his destination. They definitely had to talk at their next opportunity.
"Find those keys, Private! We won't save these kids otherwise!" Chaya ordered again, and made more gun sounds and explosions. "Popopopop! Click! Out of ammo! Gimme another box! Ah! No time! Pistol! Bang! Bang bang! Splat! Ewww! Blood all over! Don't look, children!"
Ah, the innocence of a child. She may have been raised in the end of the world, but Chaya was still a kid. She just didn't see things as simply as they were back in Joel's days. No, she had to grow up and adapt to the death and destruction of this new world. One that no one should ever have to endure, but had to anyway if they wanted to survive. It was just how things were. At least for children like Chaya, she had no good times to compare this to. Not like Joel…
Serena then saw Joel walk out of the store and quickly opened the door, shouting over to him. "Commander! We're running low on ammunition! I also need keys so I can get these kids out of here, send support!" She called out with a soft giggle as she heard the 'battle' take place.
The older man rolled his eyes, and reached into his pocket. Soon she saw a pair of keys thrown at her, but not the keys for the Humvee. It was… a set of baby keys? Well, wasn't he a sarcastic asshole? And he was grinning about it too.
"There you are," He replied before walking towards an old tent that looked like it was about a decade old.
"Sergeant! The Commander gave us fake keys! And no ammunition!" Serena called up to Chaya, "What are we going to do?! We'll be overrun!"
Chaya bit her lip, and looked around worriedly. "Here!" She said, giving the woman her tiny little knife. "Use that to start the truck! I'll distract them!" And with that, the girl climbed out, and began running and making gun sounds. "Go! That's an order, Private!"
"Roger that! It was nice fighting with you, Sarge!" And with that Serena began making car sounds like she was a young kid again.
Chaya had a shadow. Someone that was sneaking up on her at a rapid pace. Someone towering. Someone strong. Someone menacing. A masked man. Before the girl knew it, in the heat of battle she was picked up and carried in a man's arms, with him faking pistol noises as he carried her to another vehicle.
"I got you, Sergeant!" Lucas said with a smile as he made his way back to the Humvee he was designated.
Chaya squealed in surprise as her father lifted her up and took her away. She had no clue her father was even there, and she screamed quietly. She felt so free right now. Never in her life had she been able to have so much fun! It was always having to stay quiet and hide. Both from infected, or her father… Or David when that time of her life came around.
"D-Daddy!" She screamed again, kicking a bit. "G-Go on without me! I'm doing this to save you and the others!"
"Negative!" Lucas protested as he carried her and stuffed her into the passenger's seat of the Humvee, "I'm not leaving you behind, Sergeant!"
He then walked over to the Driver's side and got in, starting up the Humvee for real this time, on Ish's orders. They were to do a quick run ahead and then regroup so they could progress to the Avenue. He figured this would go over well with Chaya's active imagination.
"Where are we going?" She asked him, sitting up and looking around quickly. "Are we going out?" She asked him a bit excitedly.
"Yup! We're patrolling ahead to make sure everything checks out for the journey, then we're regrouping with the others and heading out." He replied with a smile as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove to the main road. "Figured I might want such an accomplished and decorated soldier such as yourself to help me."
"Wait! I don't have my knife!" She said, looking back at the building as they drove away from it. "I-I can't lose it! I-I need it!"
That object was very important to the girl. Lucas could see it and hear it on Chaya's voice. If Ish told him anything, it was that the little girl's mother gave her that knife. It wasn't much, but it meant everything to her. The chain too. She couldn't bear losing it at this age, let alone ever. It stayed with her no matter what, and if she ever lost it, Chaya didn't know what she would do.
"Don't worry, Sweetie." Lucas replied with a smile as he slowed down at an intersection, and turned the vehicle around, "We'll go back and get it, alright?"
Lucas was nailing the job that was fatherhood. Keeping up with his child was a priority for him, and it just so happened to pay off this moment. He hadn't known the full story about it. Only that it was some sort of heirloom to the girl. He could respect that. The mask he wore was an heirloom as well, not to mention the locket he kept in his pocket at all times that had come from his mother, which when opened showed a picture of the family with the two siblings as babies. Excluding the father, of course.
Chaya looked at her father, and sighed with relief. "T-Thanks, daddy," She said, feeling much more at ease. "Uh-oh… I hope Auntie Serena didn't put my knife in the car thing… I-I was just playing around," She said as she bit her lip, worried for the little artifact that she held so dearly to her heart.
"I don't think Serena would do that." Lucas replied with a smile as they retraced their tracks, "Don't worry. She knows when something is make belief. She's the master of imagination."
Chaya nodded, and looked up at him. "Daddy… Can I… tell you why the knife means so much? O-Otherwise you'd think I'm silly…" She said softly while she looked down at her hands.
"Go ahead, sweetie." The man said as they pulled into the parking lot, stopping right beside Serena's Humvee. "You can tell me anything."
Chaya nodded slowly, and looked over at her father before pursing her lips. She wasn't sure if she wanted to tell him this or not, as it would be more than likely that he would either get annoyed by her sob story, or he would get angry at her for it. After all, she was used to such treatment. She would have a long way to go before she learned that the man before her was not going to leave her just because she had issues. Everyone did. They didn't make her any worse of a person for her sad excuse for a father. And this wasn't even about that anyway. This was about her little knife. She still thought he would find that stupid too.
"W-Well, my mommy gave it to me…" She started softly, and looked down. "She gave it to me when I turned four, and made the chain it was on too. I-It's all I have left of her, s-so that's why I don't want to ever leave it behind…"
"I understand that." Lucas replied softly as he placed his hand upon her shoulder and looked into her eyes, or at least he tried to. "Even I keep an heirloom from my mother before she passed. That way I'll remember her, and she'll always be with me."
The man was speaking the truth. He wasn't just saying that to help a young girl overcome her sadness and worry by making her feel like she fit in. Lucas himself always carried the locket his mother used to wear around her neck. The only remnants he had of her before she vanished. He still believed his father had something to do with it… But that was for another time. He simply smiled again before patting little Chaya on the head.
"But hey, you don't have to ever feel bad about anything like that okay? You can tell anyone in the group anything. We all care for you, Chaya." Lucas tried to reassure her, "...Besides. Everyone has something they cling to."
"R-Really?" She asked, and then looked at him curiously as her eyes filled with that emotion she felt; curious. "Even Joel?" She asked, and it was rather adorable.
"Joel will hear you out and help you if he can." Lucas nodded, "Even if he can't, I'm sure he'd find someone who could."
"No, uh… He holds onto things from family too?" Chaya asked curiously, and moved around a bit before seeing that they were entering the parking lot again. "Or does he not need to? I bet he doesn't… He's big and brave. Nothing scares him. Like you too!"
"Of course he does." Lucas replied with a smile, "And I do. And mommy does… Hell, even Serena keeps something she treasures with her life. Believe it or not…"
The little girl looked at him for a few moments, and then opened the door to step out. "Be right back!" She informed the man, and then ran out to find Serena. Thankfully for the girl, the woman wasn't far at all. "Auntie Serena! Where is my knife? C-Can I have it back, please?"
"Auntie, huh?" Serena asked as she got out of the Humvee, and stretched briefly before offering the girl her knife back. "Here you go… Try not to get so excited you forget it in different places, okay? Not everyone will be so nice and give it back."
Chaya nodded, and hugged the woman tightly. "Thank you!" She said with a very grateful tone in her voice. "M-My mommy gave it to me when I was younger… Did your mommy ever give you something that you still hold onto?"
"No, unfortunately…" The woman replied with a soft, somewhat depressed sigh. "I never got to meet my mommy. Never really got to meet any of my family, and thus never had any of their heirlooms. But I do hold something Lucas gave me very close…"
Chaya looked up at the woman, tilting her head curiously. "Can I see?" She asked kindly, and softly. She was being very cute, and it would be hard for anyone to deny her. "Please?"
Serena nodded as she reached into her pocket and produced a beautiful silver and diamond ring from it. She offered it to the girl for closer inspection, and as one would have thought; it was completely unscratched in any way. It seemed that Lucas had a softer side back when he and Serena were together. A side that had faded away for years.
"Yeah, he got this for me before… before I fucked up." Serena admitted.
Chaya looked at the ring with big, glowing eyes. She had never seen anything so pretty before. It was in pristine condition too. Chaya wasn't even sure if the ring she and her father had picked was this good.
"It's so pretty…" She said in awe. Then she looked up at Serena as she handed it back to the woman. "Why did you mess up with him?" She asked curiously.
"I… left him for another man." Serena replied with a soft shrug, "I don't know, I guess I just wanted to control people. I wanted to be in lead of something for once, and it just led to me torturing him and breaking off every relationship I had ever known for one man, and his group of bandits."
"Oh." Was all the little girl's reply was, and she pursed her lips before looking up at the woman. "Well, I think he'd be nice and forgive you. After all, he's a nice guy! Because he's my daddy!"
"I don't think he'd ever have it in his heart to forgive me, Chaya. Not after everything I did to him. I didn't just break up with him. I hurt him… very badly… in many ways." Serena replied as she patted the girl upon the head, looking down at her, "You should get back, you two have to scout out the town, remember?"
Chaya nodded, and then hugged Serena tightly again. "Okay!" She said excitedly, and looked up at the woman. "I still think if you be his friend he'll forgive you," She added before she ran off to the Humvee where her father was waiting.
Once inside she smiled at her father, fastening the chain with her knife attached to it around her neck, and she fastened her seatbelt like a good girl. It seemed she understood the importance of safety. If there was any chance her mother was still alive and they came across her, Lucas would have to thank her for raising Chaya.
"Daddy?" She asked curiously, looking over at him. "If someone was very, very mean to me, but then was very nice and wanted to be my friend… Should I forgive that person?"
"Hm? Where'd you get a question like that from?" Lucas asked her as he tilted his head and examined her. "It's a very specific one."
Chaya bit her lip, and shrugged. "Can I just get an answer?" She asked, clearly not wanting to answer him just yet.
"I… I am not quite sure. I mean, I... " He mumbled for a minute as he thought about the question more in-depth. "It all depends on what they did. I suppose if they fucked up in a relationship, like cheated… Or something of the sort like stole your candy… yeah, forgiveness would still be there. If they killed someone you love, then… no. Unforgivable."
"What if that person was already once a very best friend?" She asked curiously, tilting her head. This was definitely a very specific set of questions. But children were always smarter than they let on.
"Well, if they killed someone you cared about then they aren't very good friends, and shouldn't be considered one ever again." Lucas replied with a shrug, "If they did something stupid like cheat or steal candy… then yeah. They can be forgiven."
"Did Auntie Serena kill your mom?" She asked very quietly, her head lowered a bit in fear of making him angered by asking such a question.
"So that's what this is about…" Lucas grumbled as he cracked his neck, driving down the road at last to head to the town.
He thought about how to explain to her what happened, and finally spoke as he shook his head, "No. Serena never did anything like that. But she cheated on me. Took me prisoner. Tortured me relentlessly. All along with her new boyfriend and his friends." He explained bluntly, "Why?"
She looked down, and pursed her lips. "She… She showed me her ring you gave her," Chaya admitted softly and even a bit worriedly. "She was very sad too, but I also saw she was happy with the memories of good times... " And then the little one bit her lip. "I just wanted to grow up to be like you, but my mommy said I should forgive everyone. Even my enemies."
"I guess… I guess somewhere inside of my heart, I have a piece of me that can forgive her. The pain just isn't over yet. I've never heard an apology, or at least a true one." Lucas told the girl as they arrived in the town and he started to drive down different streets. "I just don't know how to forgive her, and show her that I mean it."
Chaya nodded, and scooted over until she was practically on the man's lap. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck, and hugged him tightly. "It's okay, daddy. You can do it if she really wants to be friends with you again. I just can see she's sad because she thinks she ruined everything," Chaya explained. "Her eyes sparkled. The ring made her eyes sparkle. Or maybe remembering you did."
"But what about your mother, Chaya? Ellie won't take too kindly to Serena and I going back to the ways we were. Unless she wanted something like that…" Lucas asked as he kept on driving, "Though I can't say I wouldn't mind patching things up with Serena…"
The little one nodded slowly. "What about just being friends?" She asked, resting her head on his shoulder. "Do you think if she apologized and meant it you could be friends again?"
Lucas nodded slowly, "Well… we were talking about getting together to talk. I suppose… I suppose we could be friends again."
Chaya smiled, hugging her father tightly. "I bet Auntie Serena would be very happy," She said. She didn't know the woman too much, but honestly Lucas could trust Chaya's words. After all, Serena had nothing to gain from befriending a little girl. "When will we be there?" She asked, and yawned. Uh oh. It was close to nap time for her.
"Well, we're just scouting out and so far it looks good. The rendezvous point is about a half an hour to an hour away I think." Lucas replied, wrapping an arm around her. "You can take a nap if you'd like."
The little one nodded slowly, closing her eyes before resting her entire weight on him. He felt her body let go of any tenseness it had, and he found that she became very relaxed in his lap. She must have been very tired. She was so very cute when she slept to, her lips slightly parted as she let out tiny z's...