Author: Silly Smiles
Title: Love and War
Chapter: Two
E-mail: Serenityhime2@aol.com
Site: http://www.bubble-berry.net/sillysmiles
Date: August 10, 2002
AN: Hey everyone... I'm sooo sorry that it took MONTHS for me
to continue this fic, but I've had such a writer's block... Ya'll
are lucky that I'm getting it out now! ::blushes::
Thanks to: Fin for helping me at the end of the fic and
figuring out a name for the neighboring town! Nur'bek! Also,
thanks for getting my butt in gear to finish this chapter today!
Nikki, thank you for helping me with description and on how to
make this chapter longer!
Chibi, thanks for your help as well! You helped me to fix this
chapter to make it better!
Fly, thanks for yelling at me to actually finish this chapter!
Thank you readers for your support! Without knowing that you are
actually reading this then I wouldn't write it!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning Darien awoke
to Mina crying out in pain. He
jumped up ready to fight only to
see Mina hopping on one foot while
holding her other foot. He fell
back into the chair upon seeing no
danger.
"What happened?" he inquired groggily.
"Serena handed me a heavy pile of wood
and I dropped it on my foot!"
exclaimed Mina.
They heard a grunt and turned to see
Serena dropping a pile of wood.
"It wasn't that heavy, Mi!" she yelled
back and then turned and headed
back out the door.
"Where is she going now? We've got
plenty of fire wood," queried Darien.
"To get some more water. We don't
have enough for all of us to bathe."
"What? She's pushing her luck!
We should be laying low, not going
out and gathering supplies. We're
good for now!" Darien ranted.
"Dare, Serena will be fine. She's a big
girl," Mina replied as she place a soothing
hand on his arm.
After getting through the mazes of corridors
to get to the outside, Serena ran into the dense
forest, passing berry bushes, trees, and many
more types of vegetation. She navigated through
the forest expertly. Winding a trail around one group
of dense trees and through a group of thorn bushes.
After passing a dense area of berry bushes, Serena
came upon a clearing with wild flowers and a lake off
to the side.
As she entered the clearing, she heard a twig snap from
somewhere in the forest. She quickly turned and looked
around.
'Calm down Sere. It was probably just an animal of some kind.'
Serena walked over to the lake, trying to block the nagging feeling
in the back of her mind. She bent down to fill the bucket with water
when she heard some shouts coming from the edge of the forest.
When she turned she saw a group of soldiers running towards her.
With wide eyes Serena began to run. She ran towards the other
edge of the forest. She weaved her way through the trees while
watching out for raised roots, anything alive, and jumping over
the thorn bushes.
She continued to run and run until she
came upon the mountains outside the
forest. She had been running for a long while
and was incredibly tired. She climbed
up the rocks, looking for a crevice or
cave to hide in. She could still hear
the men following her, cursing the whole way.
'Don't these people ever give up? I know they
must be as tired as I am and Mi and Darien may
be wondering about me! I have to loose them
somehow. Ah ha!' Serena thought to herself
as she saw a narrow ledge.
She ran along it and realized that it
circled around to the front of the mountain;
it took her right back to the edge of the forest.
Serena ran as fast as she could through the forest,
dodging vegetation and animal life as she went.
When she arrived back to the "secret room" she was
shocked to find Mina cornered by an enemy soldier and
Darien trying to fight off two more. One soldier already
was dead on the floor.
Serena watched in horror as the soldier that cornered Mina
stabbed her in the heart. Serena's heart shattered as she
watched the blood pour from Mina's body and as the soldier
laughed at her dead form.
Anger raged through Serena's petite form. Her hands clenched
into fists as tears sprung to her eyes.
'Mi, Mina, NO! How dare he, he killed her! This can't be... Mina!'
Serena's thoughts were panicked and filled with anger. She ran into
the room, slipping on the dead enemy soldier's blood. She grabbed his
sword and ran at the murderer of Mina.
The soldier turned around just as Serena made a swipe at him. He
countered her attack with his own and the soldier just missed because
Serena slipped and fell into a puddle of Mina's blood.
Serena became nauseous but fought it. She stood and lunged at the man.
She stabbed him in the stomach and watched in sick happiness as the
man died. She then turned and went to help Darien with the remaining
two soldiers.
Together, Serena and Darien quickly slaughtered the two
remaining soldiers and ran out the door. They ran
into the forest. Jumping over raised roots and bushes, dodging
trees, and trying to be as quiet as possible.
Serena tripped over a raised tree root and began sobbing. She
was no longer able to hide her pain.
She sobbed for her family's deaths, for Mina's death, and
for Victoria's death. She couldn't take the war and pain
any more. She couldn't take the fact that she or Darien
could be the next to die. In that moment, Serena vowed
to herself not to let Darien die. She was going to
protect him with her life, no matter what.
Darien waited for Serena's sobs to subside before
pulling her up and pulling her further into the forest towards
the clearing and the lake that Serena had been to earlier that day.
Once they arrived at the little clearing, Serena looked at Darien
and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"
"We're not exactly clean and I'd like to get at least some of this blood
off of me," Darien answered while making a disgusted face.
Serena nodded numbly, remember Mina's face as the evil soldier
plunged his sword into her chest. New tears coursed down Serena's
face as she walked along the edge of the lake. Once she decided
that she was far enough from Darien, and thought he wouldn't be able
to see anything, Serena walked into the water and started to undress.
She scrubbed her dress clean and laid it out in the grass to dry while
she scrubbed at her body, trying to rid herself of the blood, guilt, and
disgust for herself.
'I could have stopped him! I could have saved Mina's life. I shouldn't
have frozen like that! I promised Mi that I'd try to keep her alive. I
failed her,' Serena ranted at herself as she roughly scrubbed at her scalp.
After twenty minutes of scrubbing their clothes and an hour of scrubbing
their bodies, Darien and Serena got out and dressed. They met each other
half way through the clearing.
"I know where we can go to hide out for the night,"
Serena stated.
"Where?" Darien inquired.
"Just follow me," Serena ordered and started off towards the mountains.
'Sere, you're so cold now. Mina's dead... I'll keep you alive
Sere, don't you worry,' Darien thought as he watched Serena
walk ahead of him, leading him back into the forest.
"How did you find this place, Serena?" Darien inquired
after looking around the small, hidden cave,
in the middle of the mountain.
"I was chased into these mountains earlier today.
I noticed a slight split in the rocks as I ran past down there,"
Serena explained while pointing at a spot
about twenty feet below them on a rocky ledge.
"You ran along that along that ledge!?" Darien exclaimed
with wide eyes.
"Yes, it was just wide enough for me to run along. The soldiers
chasing me couldn't run along that path to get me," Serena stated.
Darien nodded and sat back against a rock.
Serena watched as Darien sat against a rock and closed
his eyes. She knew that he was fighting against crying when she
saw a solitary tear run down his cheek.
Serena's heart went out to the broken hearted man sitting beside her.
She wanted nothing more than to comfort him and tell him everything
would be all right, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Everything
wouldn't be all right. Their families were dead, and who knew how
long they'd survive. Enemy soldiers were everywhere any more.
Their luck would run out sooner or later.
Tears welled up in Serena's eyes as her thoughts became more
and more depressing. She crawled back into the farthest corner,
pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them while starting
to softly sob.
Serena soon fell asleep, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep. She kept
seeing the laughing man over Mina's dead body and Mina's face
right before he killed her. She saw her families dead bodies, and
Victoria's dead body. She saw the ruined village that had once been
beautiful and filled with happiness.
When Serena awoke she realized she wasn't in the cave
anymore and that she wasn't touching ground. She looked around
and realized that Darien was carrying her. She was over his shoulder.
"Darien? What's going on? Why didn't you just wake me up?" Serena queried.
"I didn't want to wake you, and we needed to go. Enemy soldiers were combing
the mountain area looking for us."
"So, where are we heading?"
"Where going to Nur'bek. We can get help there," Darien replied
as he set her down.
Serena nodded and tried to keep up with Darien's long strides.
"How long do you think it will take us to get to Nur'bek?"
Serena inquired.
"About a week and a half, maybe more, maybe less. Depends on
what we run into along the way," Darien answered.
"Okay. Do you mind if we stop and gather some berries or
something to eat?" she asked as her stomach rumbled.
Darien chuckled and shook his head, "Sure, I'm kind of
hungry myself."
They had been walking along the edge of the forest so
they could see any danger and escape into the safety
of the forest. They walked into the forest and carefully
picked out berries.
They ate the berries as they continued their walk to Nur'bek.
"I don't think we're going to survive on just berries, Sere."
"I know, but it's all we have at the moment. A little farther
down through those trees," Serena pointed to a spot between
the dense trees in front of them, "is the beginning of a river."
"How do you know this?"
"My father and I used to go out on small journeys through the
forest when I was little, before my mom decided I couldn't
go anymore because it was not lady like," Serena answered
with a sour look on her face. "I truly enjoyed those outings.
They were always fun."
"So, you're a nature, un lady like, type girl?" Darien asked
with a smile.
Serena nodded and giggled at Darien's lopsided smile.
They continued on their way along the out skirts of the forest
towards their destination.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, this chapter is quite as long as the first one, but it's close!
Thank you for reading this and please review it! I need feedback!
It's the feedback that keeps me writing. Even if it takes me
a few months to get it out... I'm really sorry for that!
~Silly Smiles
Title: Love and War
Chapter: Two
E-mail: Serenityhime2@aol.com
Site: http://www.bubble-berry.net/sillysmiles
Date: August 10, 2002
AN: Hey everyone... I'm sooo sorry that it took MONTHS for me
to continue this fic, but I've had such a writer's block... Ya'll
are lucky that I'm getting it out now! ::blushes::
Thanks to: Fin for helping me at the end of the fic and
figuring out a name for the neighboring town! Nur'bek! Also,
thanks for getting my butt in gear to finish this chapter today!
Nikki, thank you for helping me with description and on how to
make this chapter longer!
Chibi, thanks for your help as well! You helped me to fix this
chapter to make it better!
Fly, thanks for yelling at me to actually finish this chapter!
Thank you readers for your support! Without knowing that you are
actually reading this then I wouldn't write it!
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
The next morning Darien awoke
to Mina crying out in pain. He
jumped up ready to fight only to
see Mina hopping on one foot while
holding her other foot. He fell
back into the chair upon seeing no
danger.
"What happened?" he inquired groggily.
"Serena handed me a heavy pile of wood
and I dropped it on my foot!"
exclaimed Mina.
They heard a grunt and turned to see
Serena dropping a pile of wood.
"It wasn't that heavy, Mi!" she yelled
back and then turned and headed
back out the door.
"Where is she going now? We've got
plenty of fire wood," queried Darien.
"To get some more water. We don't
have enough for all of us to bathe."
"What? She's pushing her luck!
We should be laying low, not going
out and gathering supplies. We're
good for now!" Darien ranted.
"Dare, Serena will be fine. She's a big
girl," Mina replied as she place a soothing
hand on his arm.
After getting through the mazes of corridors
to get to the outside, Serena ran into the dense
forest, passing berry bushes, trees, and many
more types of vegetation. She navigated through
the forest expertly. Winding a trail around one group
of dense trees and through a group of thorn bushes.
After passing a dense area of berry bushes, Serena
came upon a clearing with wild flowers and a lake off
to the side.
As she entered the clearing, she heard a twig snap from
somewhere in the forest. She quickly turned and looked
around.
'Calm down Sere. It was probably just an animal of some kind.'
Serena walked over to the lake, trying to block the nagging feeling
in the back of her mind. She bent down to fill the bucket with water
when she heard some shouts coming from the edge of the forest.
When she turned she saw a group of soldiers running towards her.
With wide eyes Serena began to run. She ran towards the other
edge of the forest. She weaved her way through the trees while
watching out for raised roots, anything alive, and jumping over
the thorn bushes.
She continued to run and run until she
came upon the mountains outside the
forest. She had been running for a long while
and was incredibly tired. She climbed
up the rocks, looking for a crevice or
cave to hide in. She could still hear
the men following her, cursing the whole way.
'Don't these people ever give up? I know they
must be as tired as I am and Mi and Darien may
be wondering about me! I have to loose them
somehow. Ah ha!' Serena thought to herself
as she saw a narrow ledge.
She ran along it and realized that it
circled around to the front of the mountain;
it took her right back to the edge of the forest.
Serena ran as fast as she could through the forest,
dodging vegetation and animal life as she went.
When she arrived back to the "secret room" she was
shocked to find Mina cornered by an enemy soldier and
Darien trying to fight off two more. One soldier already
was dead on the floor.
Serena watched in horror as the soldier that cornered Mina
stabbed her in the heart. Serena's heart shattered as she
watched the blood pour from Mina's body and as the soldier
laughed at her dead form.
Anger raged through Serena's petite form. Her hands clenched
into fists as tears sprung to her eyes.
'Mi, Mina, NO! How dare he, he killed her! This can't be... Mina!'
Serena's thoughts were panicked and filled with anger. She ran into
the room, slipping on the dead enemy soldier's blood. She grabbed his
sword and ran at the murderer of Mina.
The soldier turned around just as Serena made a swipe at him. He
countered her attack with his own and the soldier just missed because
Serena slipped and fell into a puddle of Mina's blood.
Serena became nauseous but fought it. She stood and lunged at the man.
She stabbed him in the stomach and watched in sick happiness as the
man died. She then turned and went to help Darien with the remaining
two soldiers.
Together, Serena and Darien quickly slaughtered the two
remaining soldiers and ran out the door. They ran
into the forest. Jumping over raised roots and bushes, dodging
trees, and trying to be as quiet as possible.
Serena tripped over a raised tree root and began sobbing. She
was no longer able to hide her pain.
She sobbed for her family's deaths, for Mina's death, and
for Victoria's death. She couldn't take the war and pain
any more. She couldn't take the fact that she or Darien
could be the next to die. In that moment, Serena vowed
to herself not to let Darien die. She was going to
protect him with her life, no matter what.
Darien waited for Serena's sobs to subside before
pulling her up and pulling her further into the forest towards
the clearing and the lake that Serena had been to earlier that day.
Once they arrived at the little clearing, Serena looked at Darien
and asked, "Why did you bring me here?"
"We're not exactly clean and I'd like to get at least some of this blood
off of me," Darien answered while making a disgusted face.
Serena nodded numbly, remember Mina's face as the evil soldier
plunged his sword into her chest. New tears coursed down Serena's
face as she walked along the edge of the lake. Once she decided
that she was far enough from Darien, and thought he wouldn't be able
to see anything, Serena walked into the water and started to undress.
She scrubbed her dress clean and laid it out in the grass to dry while
she scrubbed at her body, trying to rid herself of the blood, guilt, and
disgust for herself.
'I could have stopped him! I could have saved Mina's life. I shouldn't
have frozen like that! I promised Mi that I'd try to keep her alive. I
failed her,' Serena ranted at herself as she roughly scrubbed at her scalp.
After twenty minutes of scrubbing their clothes and an hour of scrubbing
their bodies, Darien and Serena got out and dressed. They met each other
half way through the clearing.
"I know where we can go to hide out for the night,"
Serena stated.
"Where?" Darien inquired.
"Just follow me," Serena ordered and started off towards the mountains.
'Sere, you're so cold now. Mina's dead... I'll keep you alive
Sere, don't you worry,' Darien thought as he watched Serena
walk ahead of him, leading him back into the forest.
"How did you find this place, Serena?" Darien inquired
after looking around the small, hidden cave,
in the middle of the mountain.
"I was chased into these mountains earlier today.
I noticed a slight split in the rocks as I ran past down there,"
Serena explained while pointing at a spot
about twenty feet below them on a rocky ledge.
"You ran along that along that ledge!?" Darien exclaimed
with wide eyes.
"Yes, it was just wide enough for me to run along. The soldiers
chasing me couldn't run along that path to get me," Serena stated.
Darien nodded and sat back against a rock.
Serena watched as Darien sat against a rock and closed
his eyes. She knew that he was fighting against crying when she
saw a solitary tear run down his cheek.
Serena's heart went out to the broken hearted man sitting beside her.
She wanted nothing more than to comfort him and tell him everything
would be all right, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Everything
wouldn't be all right. Their families were dead, and who knew how
long they'd survive. Enemy soldiers were everywhere any more.
Their luck would run out sooner or later.
Tears welled up in Serena's eyes as her thoughts became more
and more depressing. She crawled back into the farthest corner,
pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them while starting
to softly sob.
Serena soon fell asleep, but it wasn't a peaceful sleep. She kept
seeing the laughing man over Mina's dead body and Mina's face
right before he killed her. She saw her families dead bodies, and
Victoria's dead body. She saw the ruined village that had once been
beautiful and filled with happiness.
When Serena awoke she realized she wasn't in the cave
anymore and that she wasn't touching ground. She looked around
and realized that Darien was carrying her. She was over his shoulder.
"Darien? What's going on? Why didn't you just wake me up?" Serena queried.
"I didn't want to wake you, and we needed to go. Enemy soldiers were combing
the mountain area looking for us."
"So, where are we heading?"
"Where going to Nur'bek. We can get help there," Darien replied
as he set her down.
Serena nodded and tried to keep up with Darien's long strides.
"How long do you think it will take us to get to Nur'bek?"
Serena inquired.
"About a week and a half, maybe more, maybe less. Depends on
what we run into along the way," Darien answered.
"Okay. Do you mind if we stop and gather some berries or
something to eat?" she asked as her stomach rumbled.
Darien chuckled and shook his head, "Sure, I'm kind of
hungry myself."
They had been walking along the edge of the forest so
they could see any danger and escape into the safety
of the forest. They walked into the forest and carefully
picked out berries.
They ate the berries as they continued their walk to Nur'bek.
"I don't think we're going to survive on just berries, Sere."
"I know, but it's all we have at the moment. A little farther
down through those trees," Serena pointed to a spot between
the dense trees in front of them, "is the beginning of a river."
"How do you know this?"
"My father and I used to go out on small journeys through the
forest when I was little, before my mom decided I couldn't
go anymore because it was not lady like," Serena answered
with a sour look on her face. "I truly enjoyed those outings.
They were always fun."
"So, you're a nature, un lady like, type girl?" Darien asked
with a smile.
Serena nodded and giggled at Darien's lopsided smile.
They continued on their way along the out skirts of the forest
towards their destination.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Well, this chapter is quite as long as the first one, but it's close!
Thank you for reading this and please review it! I need feedback!
It's the feedback that keeps me writing. Even if it takes me
a few months to get it out... I'm really sorry for that!
~Silly Smiles