*Revised*

Ryou's POV

We woke up just a couple hours after daybreak, all feeling much more refreshed after the eventful day before. King was up before any of us and we found him in the kitchen making breakfast. Of course, none of us questioned where he magically got all this food from… but I think it was safe to assume all of us had just learned not to question it and just be glad it was edible.

Once we had gathered all of our belongings, we climbed back into the old wagon and made the rest of the journey out of the city. This close to the edge, the towering stone walls of the city grew larger and larger as we approached. Unlike the other side of the wall, this great wall of stone didn't appear to be as well maintained. These stones looked darker, grimier, and most were covered in vibrant green mosses or lichen. There were also threads of vines grasping at the edges of the barrier; some were so clustered together that it made it hard to see the stone facade underneath. However, the most noticeable aspect of this wall was that there was no large wooden gate! No guards, no entrance (or exit)... just a wall.

Almost as if he knew what we were thinking, King said, "The front gate is the only way in and out of the city," he then pulled the wagon to a steady halt several feet from the gate, "pretty inconvenient if you ask me, but you can always find a way out… if you know where to look." With that, he jumped down from his seat excitedly and made his way to the wall. Malik, Bakura, and I watched curiously as the thief king began tugging and pulling away at some of the thick vines growing against the stone. He must've finally found what he was looking for because he eventually made an excited remark right before plunging into the vine growth and disappearing from sight. Not knowing how to react, the three of us waited silently on the cart for him to… well, give us a signal or something?

"What are you waiting for?!" his voice echoed from what we only assumed was on the other side of the wall. Reluctantly, the rest of us climbed down and made our way over to the patch of greenery that King had previously disappeared into.

"Here goes nothing." Bakura shrugged nonchalantly before plunging into the mess of vines and also disappearing. Malik followed suit, nudging the vines aside as he waded through. I was the only one left on the other side, but I stood there frozen in my spot. I wasn't entirely sure why I was scared- and I don't think scared was the right word for it- but I just couldn't get my legs to move. After the conversation I had with King last night, I went to sleep confident that I could do this; yet, I guess there was still some doubt lingering in the back of my mind. Clutching my little bag against my chest, I took a deep breath and reminded myself that this wasn't just some leisurely treasure hunt… I was doing this for my mother, and I was not about to turn back now.

Slowly but surely, my feet began to move. At last, I found myself on the other side of the vines. What we hadn't noticed before was that the giant wall was a perfect divider for keeping apart a well-organized city and a dark, messy, forest. My eyes widened slightly in surprise at the vastness of this wilderness in comparison to the one we were in before. These trees were tall, limber, and blocked a lot of the light coming in from the morning sun, causing the forest to appear very unwelcoming. The most eerie thing of all- at least to me- was how quiet this forest was; one can usually hear birds chirping or the rustling of the leaves in the breeze, but these woodlands concealed secrets that were meant to be kept in silence.

"Unfortunately, I don't know any of the neighboring areas as well as I do the city, so I can't offer much help here on out." King admitted with a sheepish smile. He glanced backwards into the forest with a curious look.

"That's alright, thank you for getting us this far." I replied eagerly. I felt that Bakura and Malik still didn't trust him entirely, but I was willing to forgive him after how generous he had been to us. Besides, I could easily argue that I could have refused to trust them when I first met them!

"Yeah, well…" Bakura mumbled with a hint of embarrassment in his voice, "I guess we can call it even." He finished with a small huff and stuck out his hand towards the thief king begrudgingly. An amused smile crossed King's face as he took Bakura's hand to shake it.

"Oh, one more thing before you go." he turned to me this time and began rummaging through a little bag that was attached to a belt around his waist, "I hope that you're able to find what you're looking for, kid. Maybe we'll see each other again once you've got your business figured out, but I want to give this to you in the meantime- just something to remember me by." He proceeded to pull out a neatly polished golden coin and handed it to me. It was significantly larger than some of the other coins I've ever seen; one side was engraved with a miniature image of the walls of Seiya, while the other side showed two swords crossed over each other to create a makeshift X. "You can keep it, trade it, spend it… anything that could possibly help you on your journey."

I admired the coin in my hand in astonishment for a moment before glancing up at him with an excited smile, "Thank you so much! I'll make sure to keep it close by." I hastily placed the coin inside my bag in one of the smaller and more secure pockets.

Exchanging one last goodbye, the King of Thieves waved us farewell and retreated back into the vines and back into Seiya, leaving the three of us alone once again at the edge of the forest.

I made quick work of pulling out and unfurling the map to see where we were headed next. "It says here that right behind the city is the forest, which is called the Southern Wilds. And apparently we just need to get through them and make towards Dragon's Summit, the mountains right behind it." I pointed to the little drawing of the mountain on the withered map. There was a little stamp of a red dragon right over it, but it looked like the stamp had been smudged over time.

"Well, then let us move ahead with great haste." Malik's deep voice made me jump a little in surprise; it was the first thing he had said since the night before, and I still wasn't entirely used to it (he wasn't a big talker, from what I perceived).

"Who do you think comes up with these names?" Bakura teased playfully as we began moving into the forest, following a marked dirt path just ahead of us. "Like what's with 'Dragon's Summit'? Everyone knows dragons don't exist." He snickered very confidently, which made me turn to him with an incredulous look on my face.

"Wait, wait, wait… you- the shape shifting cat-person- are telling me that dragons don't exist?" I stammered out in disbelief, finding it hard to not burst out into laughter.

"I've never seen a dragon before, but I certainly have seen myself." he seemed very adamant.

"What impeccable logic." Malik chimed in and rolled his eyes, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

We continued to argue (in a lighthearted manner, of course) whether it was possible, or impossible, for dragons to exist when we were suddenly cut off by a strange noise coming from the hidden shadows of the trees. It began as a steady humming that grew louder in volume, but none of us could seem to identify the direct source of the noise.

"Uh... g-guys…" my voice trembled slightly out of fear and I found myself inching closer to Bakura as the humming grew louder. However, when I looked up at him, I grew even more worried when I saw him with a pained look on his face while clutching at his ears. As I was about to ask him what was wrong when I heard a strange rustling noise followed by the sound of Malik struggling against something. When I turned around, the horror sunk in even deeper and I screamed when I saw that some sort of living plant material was fighting against Malik in an attempt at restraining him. Malik quickly pulled out the daggers hidden on his person and began slashing at the thorny vines, but as he cut one, another took its place.

With Bakura falling to his knees in agonizing pain on one side and Malik fighting off living plants, I began to panic and feel a horrible sense of doom come down upon me. And, almost as if by some twisted fate, I suddenly felt something beginning to tug at my hair and at my bag. I whipped around to see what it was, but only managed to see dozens of tiny floating lights whizzing all around me. I frantically tried to swat them away, but they were much faster than my arms and were easily able to evade my feeble attempts. My eyes widened in terror as the tiny floating orbs managed to rip the strap of my bag, carrying it away towards the path up ahead.

Behind me, I heard Malik yell at me between slashes, "Run! Go get it; we'll catch up with you!" He finished as he stabbed one of the daggers into the living plant-arm trying to wrap around him. I nodded and took off in a sprint without a second glance back; the adrenaline coursing through me was pushing me to run and to keep running, and it felt as though any sense of reasoning was out the window. The floating lights were several feet ahead of me, but I hurried after them as fast as my legs could carry me. They ached with each step I took and my chest burned as I tried to catch my breath, but I was not planning on stopping now.

Bakura's POV

A sharp and intense ringing shot into the air, making it feel like it was splitting my skull in half. Instinctively, I drew my hands up to my ears in an attempt to deafen the sound, but it hardly helped. It grew louder and louder with each passing second, and I felt like the noise was going to cause my insides to implode.

Shit…

I thought I heard Ryou say something, but I couldn't make out anything except that stupid, shrill ringing. Feeling lightheaded, I fell to my knees against the dirt and did my best to keep the sound out of my head. I tried to open my eyes to see if I could spot where it was coming from, but my vision blurred and gave me little insight into what was occurring. Was that Malik? And what was he doing? Fighting someone… something? And he was yelling- maybe- because I thought I saw his mouth moving as he fought. And Ryou was next to me- standing over me- with flashes of light moving all around his head. The combination of the ear-splitting noise and the tiny sparks made my head spin and my stomach turn, and I gave up trying to decipher the situation. In the end, I curled up into a ball and shut my eyes tightly, deciding to ride out this miserable situation in the meantime.

Malik's POV

First, what I assumed were flashes of light in the distance…then strange humming... and finally thorny plants that moved at their own will.

Terrific.

I found myself in an all-out battle with living and moving vines covered in sharp thorns. After seeing a burst of odd lights in the distance, I immediately sensed something was wrong. Neither of my companions had seemed to notice the lights, however, and were both taken by surprise when the humming sound appeared. I drew one of my daggers from its sheath as a precautionary measure and peered all around us, but I have to admit that I certainly wasn't expecting to be attacked by plants.

It seemed that the noise had incapacitated Bakura, for he was now huddled into a ball on the ground. As for Ryou, the lights that I had seen earlier were now upon him. From the quick glances I was able to spare, they didn't appear to be hurting him; but once I saw them speeding away with the bag containing the map, I knew someone had to go after them.

The vines were quick and agile, but I managed to cut away at enough to be able to let my guard down for a split second in order to tell Ryou to go after them. After finishing these pests off, I figured I would be able to track him down afterwards. However, as he bolted off after the bag, I felt the sharp thorns dig into my skin as the plants wrapped around me and started dragging me into the forest. My arm swung upwards at one of the vines, but another managed to overtake me and wrap around my wrist. All I could do now was struggle against the thorny grip, but any sudden movement caused the pointed ends to cut deeper into me. I stopped squirming to concentrate on my ragged breathing, merely watching as the scenery grew darker and darker.

:)