Chapter Two: Reconciliation

Notes: Okay, finally on to chappeh 2! So this one's still 2.0 I guess…:laughs: As of right now, I'm basing this off memory, because my friend has my first disc of the game. So, if not everything's perfect detail-wise, don't kill me, okay? Just let meh know and I'll try to fix it. Tho I should have it back before chappeh 3 goes out. In addition, for anyone wondering about Hotel California in the Saiyuki section I lost another disc of chappeh 6…:hangs head: I'm trying to get it back tho.

Warnings: Pre-Jade bashing…literally. O-o…

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"You'd better still be in this damn forest…" Lavitz muttered angrily, scraping yet another dead…thing off his spear. Monsters kept attacking him for some reason, most likely finding his solo mission an easy target. He rolled his eyes. "At least if I go missing they can just follow the trail of carcasses and find me…"

He was unsure what time it was, but the sky was almost black; it was later into the night than he wished either himself or Albert to be out in a forest. Therefore, he trudged through the trees and bushes, searching for his friend and randomly beating back attacking monsters. He almost started to wish he had brought Caleb with him, if only for someone to talk to beside himself. However, as trained as he was, Caleb wasn't ready for this kind of campaign, so Lavitz walked on alone.

He was just starting to wonder if Albert was even in this forest when he heard a voice cry out some ways in front of him. With a curse, Lavitz broke out into a run, crashing through foliage in attempt to reach the scene. What he found, however, was a steep drop off and a large hill. Not anticipating this, he lost his balance and fell, rolling roughly down the hill and hitting the bottom hard. For a second, all he could do was lay there and try to breathe. His head was spinning from the sudden motion and his body hurt from his crash landing.

But he needed to find out what that voice was before it was too late. He forced himself to get up, almost crying out himself as he realized his spear had slashed his leg during the fall. Biting his lip to keep quiet, he rose to a standing position, leaning on the spear for some support. Examining the wound briefly, he determined that it wasn't as serious as it could have been, and he could still walk. He started slowly up the other side of the hill.

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Albert opened his eyes. As he had hoped, all the gang had finally fallen asleep. Macchia had told John to keep him still and left him to it. John, not being the smartest of the group, had merely tied a piece of rope to the king's bound hands and held onto it while he slept. This new piece of rope was easily untied, and Albert left the campsite quietly.

His general condition could have been better. He had a massive headache from all the blunt force trauma of the day, not to mention scratches along his face. Nevertheless, he was still in one piece, and capable of walking, even if his hands were still tied. He stumbled around for a while, unable to get a sense of direction, just moving as far away possible from the transporters. Eventually he came to the hill he had fallen from the first time he had escaped. Walking down slowly, he managed to make it to the bottom without falling. He started up the next hill at the same pace, trying to keep his equilibrium. Something snapped behind him, and he turned sharply to see what it was. The sudden motions made his head spin once more, and he started to fall.

A hand seemed to reach out of nowhere and grab him by the wrists, pulling him the rest of the way up. Another hand clamped over his mouth as Albert tried to yell. The king tried to wrench free of this new person's grasp, only to have the person pull him close, trapping his arms in front of him.

"Will you give it a rest before you wake up all the monsters?" an exasperated voice hissed in his ear.

Albert stopped squirming immediately and the hand was removed. "Lavitz!"

The knight grinned. "Last time I checked," he looked the brunette over. "What the hell happened to you?"

Albert shook his head. "It's a long story. What's most important right now is getting back to Bale."

Lavitz nodded, untying the ropes on Albert's hands. Now free of the bonds, he grabbed the knight's arm and began dragging him along urgently.

"Uh…do you know where we're going?"

Albert looked straightforward. "Not to my current knowledge, no."

"That's reassuring," Lavitz put a bit of resistance into his arm, stopping the slightly weaker man. "You wanna mind telling me why we're rushing off into the darkness of Soa-knows-where?"

Finally, Albert turned around. "There are transporters camping a small distance away, charged with the mission to bring me to Sandora," he replied hurriedly, "Now, with your permission, I'd like to get as far away from them as possible before they realize I'm no longer there."

Lavitz still didn't move. "You came from that way?" he pointed in the direction opposite the one they were currently headed. Albert nodded. "Well, so did I. That means Bale is that way also. We're headed the wrong way."

Albert considered this. Their options were to either try to go back without crossing paths with the transporters, go through their campsite and attempt to not wake them, or continue in the direction they were going, and come out the other end of the forest. He decided to go with the third possibility.

"We'll keep moving and head out of the forest the other way. Then we cane take the long way around the forest in the morning."

Lavitz seemed to agree with this plan of action. He was better suited to action rather than strategy, and was happy to let Albert do the planning for both of them. Moreover, in the condition his leg was in, he would like to avoid as many battles as possible. He followed slightly behind his friend, trying to hide any evidence of an injury, from both enemies and Albert. The brunette looked bad enough; he didn't need his knight's problems added to the mix.

The Serdian king's senses were sharper than Lavitz gave him credit for, however, and he noticed the miniscule flinch of Lavitz's face each time he leaned on his left leg. "I take it your journey wasn't entirely uneventful as well?"

"Damn, I was hoping you wouldn't notice," he smiled wryly. "I took a flying leap off a hill and slashed myself with the spear. No biggie though."

Albert raised an eyebrow. "How brave of you…" he nudged the blonde's leg slightly, causing him to drop to one knee. "No biggie, huh?"

"Well, it wasn't until you had to go and prod it!" he glared, using the spear to push himself back to a standing position.

The brunette continued walking. "You should have said something earlier."

Lavitz followed behind. "Why, so you could either fussed over it like I thought, or be completely callous to it like you are?" he muttered.

Albert frowned. "Callous? I wasn't aware I was being as such. I knew you wouldn't want a big deal made of it, or else you would have brought it up sooner. I merely decided to do you a favour."

Lavitz rolled his eyes. "Gee, thanks."

"What are you so upset about anyway?"

He yanked on the brunette's cloak, turning his friend to face him. "What I'm upset about? I'm upset that I went out of my way to save your ass and you're acting like it's no big deal!"

Albert crossed his arms. "So, you want me to pretend it's nothing, but it is? You're not being clear on what you want here…"

"I want you to show a little appreciation!" he growled. "I normally don't wander aimlessly around in the woods at night looking for kidnapped people, okay!"

The king shrugged. "Fine then. Thank you. Are you done with your little angst now?"

"You know I—" Lavitz stopped abruptly, dropping again. "Shit, that hurts!"

The argument forgotten, Albert knelt beside him. "Let me see it. I thought you said it wasn't bad."

He winced. "I didn't think it was. I guess I'm no doctor."

Albert looked at the injury. While it wasn't fatal, it was a wound, and it needed treating as soon as possible. There was a gash running almost from ankle to knee, deep enough to cause a bit of blood flow. He sat down beside his friend, taking the hem of his cloak in his hands and tearing the edge of it. Wordlessly, he gently lifted Lavitz's pants leg and tied the cloth around the wound tightly.

The blond winced as the pressure hit the wound, but didn't complain. This done, Albert stood once more. "Do you think you can make it the rest of the way?"

Lavitz got up slowly, testing the weight on his leg. "I think so. Thanks."

He smiled. "It's the least I could do, after you went out of your way to come get me."

"Sorry about that."

Albert shook his head. "It was my fault, really. I think we're both just frustrated. I believe it's time we were out of this forest, don't you agree?"

Leaning on his spear once more, Lavitz took a step forward. "Couldn't have said it better myself."

The two continued for some time, moving as best they could despite their injuries. But an uncalculated amount of time later, they found themselves moving slower and slower. Finally, they decided they could go no further that night.

"I think we're far enough from them to be safe for the time being," Albert sat on the ground with a sigh.

"The way I figure," Lavitz eased himself into a sitting position next to the brunette, "they're expecting you to head back for Bale. So we're at an advantage for a while here."

"You may be right," the king responded. "I suppose we can get some sleep before we go the rest of the way. I believe we're in dire need of it."

Lavitz nodded. "I hear you." He laid down where he had been sitting.

Albert took off his cloak, spreading it over them both before lying down as well. "You're already injured. We don't need you getting sick on top of that."

Lavitz laughed a bit. If it were anyone else, there would have been a pride issue. But neither of them had to worry about that around each other. It was just how things were between them.

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Morning found them both wrapped in the cloak, sleeping as best they could under the circumstances. But it was still much-needed sleep, and they were grateful for it. Lavitz awoke first, being more accustomed to late nights and early mornings. He got up carefully, so as not to wake the king beside him, and took in the surroundings. It was a lot easier to judge their position in the daylight, and he found that they weren't too far from the forest edge.

"Your leg seems to be faring better," Albert said, sitting up.

Lavitz nodded. "I think it is. And I have some better news. I think we can be out of the forest by midday. And probably back to Bale by nightfall, if things go our way."

"Which they've been doing so well lately…" he responded sarcastically. He was about to stand up when Lavitz ducked over to him, pushing him back down urgently. "What're you doing?"

"I saw someone at the top of the last hill," he threw the cloak over Albert and began piling leaves on top of it. "They don't know me yet, so if it's the guys after you, they'll find me, but not you."

"Wouldn't it be better to just run?"

Lavitz shook his head, a futile gesture since though Albert's head was currently covered. "I think they're tracking us, or at least you. Better to throw them off the course here."

Albert lay completely still as Lavitz hid him in the leaves. Once the knight was convinced his friend couldn't be found, he leaned against a nearby rock, trying to look inconspicuous. Or as much so as one could be in the middle of a forest.

A group of people soon passed him, about seven in number. All of them male save for one young woman with red hair. He regarded them with detached interest, pretending to be very interested in cleaning his spear.

"I don't suppose ya've seen a guy with long brown hair wanderin' through here, have ya?" the redhead asked him sweetly.

Lavitz shook his head. "I haven't seen anyone around here. You all are the first people I've met in this forest."

Finding nothing, the gang started to move past him when the girl came to a halt. She turned to face him again, looking him over curiously. "Yer a Serdian knight, ain'tcha?"

Lavitz winced internally. She recognized his armor. "Yeah. Why?"

"Do ya know yer king's done ran off?"

Lavitz blinked. "He has? Are they looking for him?"

She walked closer to him. "I think so."

"Oh. That's good. I suppose I'll go back into town when I'm done here. Thanks for filling me in."

Her eyes faltered briefly to his leg, where his pants were cut along with his now bandaged leg. Before Lavitz could do anything to stop her, she kicked the wound hard, causing the blond to fall, stifling a yell. John was beside her in a second, knocking the spear from Lavitz's hand and pulling the knight up by his collar.

Under the leaves, Albert kept still. His first instinct was to jump out when he heard his friend fall, but he suppressed it. He had to wait until he was sure Lavitz couldn't handle it himself.

Lavitz hissed through his teeth, trying to stand again. "What the hell was that for!"

Macchia crossed her arms. "Do ya think we're stupid? Granted, these guys ain't too bright, but ya gotta do better than that ta git past me! Ya must be a pretty loyal knight ta go searchin' through the woods all night ta find him. How do we know ya ain't hidin' 'im somewhere?"

Lavitz decided to change tactics. "Fine, I am looking for him. But I haven't found him yet, I swear."

She kicked his leg again. "Yer a terrible liar."

This time he did yell from the pain shooting through his poor leg. Hearing this, Albert burst from his hiding place. "Lavitz!"

One of the transporters was on him in a second, seizing him roughly but the shoulders. Macchia returned her gaze to Lavitz. "Ya haven't found 'im, huh?"

He reached for her, but John yanked him back abruptly, stopping his attack.

"Well guys, let's git 'im ta Sandora and collect our pay," Macchia starting walking.

"Whadda we do wit' th' new guy?" John asked, shaking Lavitz a bit for good measure.

Macchia considered this. "We can't risk 'im tellin' everyone what happened. Ya hafta kill 'im I guess. Nothin' personal."

John nodded, keeping Lavitz held with one hand while he took out a dagger with the other.

"No!" Albert shouted, wriggling to break free of his captor's grasp. "Leave him alone!"

Macchia put a finger to her chin, thinking. "Will ya come wit' us quietly if we do?"

The brunette sighed in defeat. "Only if you swear not to hurt him in any way."

"Ya have my word."

"Dammit Albert!" Lavitz snapped as John let him go. His legs immediately buckled from under him.

"Sorry," he replied as he too was set down.

Macchia put her hands on her hips. "C'mon boys. It's still a ways ta Sandora, so let's git movin'."

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End of chappeh 2. What do you all think so far? Um…just in case I don't get my disc back in time, what exactly is the path from Bale to Sandora? And what's the town on the other side of the forest? Wasn't it Dart's hometown:is forgetful: I might hafta look it up. I don't think I can do the next chappeh without it. Does anyone have any opinion on whether or not this should beh shounen-ai? I still can't decide.

Special thankehs to the people who review both chappehs. You know who you are. :grins: