Disclaimer: Same as Chapter One!
Destiny's Fork
Chapter Five
"Life Goes On"
By Magic
Everyone slammed their shoulders into the door at the count of three. It was the third time doing this before they finally got anywhere; the door creaked a bit. Hawke had checked the door to the outside but found this also locked and came running back to the rest of them.
"What the hell is going on?!" Frost looked like he was going to kill someone; Hawke stayed a bit away from him before looking towards the door.
"Eh...folks...not to sound redundant, but...hear that?" Hawke asked the crowd as they all looked towards the doors.
The four just looked at each other and started hammering their shoulders into the door faster; the screaming had stopped.
The door suddenly opened and the four, who would've hit the floor with great force, flew into the ball room and instead rammed into the floor. They struggled to pick themselves off and saw what had happened. Everyone lay dead on the floor-everyone. There wasn't a living person in sight, besides three figures standing in the front of the room, opposite of them.
The one on the right side seemed to want to run at them and kill them at the moment they stood up, but the one in the center calmed him with a touch of her hand on his shoulder. The women in the middle had bright white hair that draped down to her mid thighs. It wasn't the white of an old woman's hair, but the white of a natural color, that of snow when it sparkles in the early morning. She wore an elegant gown, rich purple in color, that reached to the floor and flowed on behind her, in a small train. Two beautiful, white angel's wings framed her figure; she was gorgeous.
But the face she wore was almost as if the painter of this picture had taken someone else's face and put it on hers. It was a look of pure evil and hatred. Hawke took a slow step back, reaching for the door. There was something about her, she just couldn't put her finger on it. Even with that evil look, Hawke felt like running up to her. Her soul tugged in the way of the beautiful woman, but her feet were forced back by that cruel face.
With difficulty, she took her eyes off the lady and to the man on her left. He had bright red, fire hair--"holy shit! It's Romeo!" Hawke thought as she glanced towards the others. Both of the princes had obviously figured that one out, because they both wore a face of pure confusion. Kayra, who didn't know Romeo and obviously didn't have any weird connection to the woman in the middle, decided to speak up as she screamed across the room, "Who the hell are you and what have you done?!"
"I, my dear lady with extremely large lung capacity, am Ultimecia," the woman took a couple steps forward, leaving the two men at her side back.
"I've seen pictures of Ultimecia! She had black hair and wings, not white. What do you take us for? Fools?" Orion had obviously come out of his stupor.
"Fools? Fools jump to conclusions quickly. Yes, fools is a great word for you. I am Ultimecia, this is my second body, so to speak. But enough about that," she was walking closer and closer to them, the men staying only a few feet behind her.
As they got closer, Hawke kept on getting farther away. There was something about her, Hawke new it. She wasn't scared of her, quite the opposite. But she was confused.
"I've come here to take you," she looked at both the princes. "If you come with me, you shall be greatly rewarded," she lifted her hand up and formed a small, black ball. It crackled once and awhile with lightning. Both of the princes and Kayra backed up to Hawke's level.
Orion and Frost looked at each other for a split second and then each grabbed a girl's hand and pulled them out of the ball room and towards the stairs.
"Time to exit!" She heard Frost mumble under his breath.
"You're just going to let her go?!" Kayra demanded as she was pulled along by Orion.
"There's nothing we can do," Hawke heard Frost mumble under his breath.
The white woman took a few steps forward towards the group that was taking off. She turned to the man on her right. He was fully armored at the moment and seemed ready to kill something. His handsome face topped off his sturdy built body. He couldn't be more than the other one, the boy to her left, but he sure new how to fight. He was her number one soldier, the one that took care of all the little problems that popped up here and there. He looked towards her, his gaze burning with the want to kill. Ultmecia shrugged and then looked forward to the stairs that the group was climbing very quickly. "I want the princes back, alive."
"And the others, milady?" He asked in a deep voice as he bowed to her.
She yawned as if that subject bored her, "kill them. Have a little fun if you wish."
The armored man nodded and started trotting towards the steps. No use to hurry, this was going to be easy.
The woman turned to the prince at her side. "Ready the ship, the moon is still full. We shall do this tonight."
Romeo bowed deeply to the sorceress and ran on his way.
*****
It only took them about five minutes to get to the ship area that would have supposedly taken fifteen minutes to run to. Frost was completely out of breath and was quite sure that everyone else was as well. He kept them running though, there was no way that they could stop now. They would die if they did.
The girls now ran slightly ahead of them, but Orion's command so that they could protect them. Hawke didn't seem too hot on the subject, but there was no time to object to anything. They entered the docking bay and Orion flew to the controls. He punched a few buttons and the six, hard steel doors that held the way to the docking bay began to open.
"Kayra, you first. Get the ship ready to leave and make sure to close the doors if anything bad happens. It's a small red button by the control panel. You have to get Hawke out of here no matter what. Go!" Orion screamed at her. There was only enough room for one person to walk through the doors so far; they took a long time to open and close. He glanced towards his brother who was guarding the doorway. "Hawke, you go through after she gets the ship ready, until then, help Frost with the door. Frost you'r...."
"I'm going last, thanks for the thought though. You're after Hawke."
The black haired prince just nodded; Frost seemed determined to guard them until the last second. Hawke heard the sound of an engine starting in the distance and began running through the fully opened doors. She was all the way through when she turned around at the sound of gunfire.
*****
Frost stood ready at the door as Hawke left his side to run for the ship. He wasn't going to let anything through. He glanced back as Orion was reading himself to run through the doors, still holding down the open button on the control panel to make the doors open faster.
He kept looking down at the stairs; they should have caught up with them already. Unless...
His heart skipped a beat and he turned around. There was another door off to the side. He had completely forgotten. It was just beginning to swing open as Frost got his bearings. The armored, bulky man walked in, his line perfectly aimed at Orion. "No!" Frost screamed as he threw himself towards his brother. He heard gunfire erupt seconds before a jolt came to his body. He fell to the floor with a thud, more pain spreading in his shoulder.
Frost began to kneel down next to him, but Frost pushed him away. "Run! NOW!"
Orion followed his directions and took off; Frost had just risked his life for his, he was going to make the best out of it. Orion sped through the doors, just as the sound of breaking glass reached their ears.
Monsters were crawling through the windows in the control room. Frost pushed himself to his feet and began running towards the doors. A tentacle from something green and slimy reached out and grabbed his mid section though, before he could get very far. The armored man was having the same trouble; he was almost completely tangled in the gross tentacles of something greatly nasty.
Orion was making his way towards his brother to help as another tentacle stretched in through one of the docking bay windows with a crash. It grabbed him around the mid section and flung him out the window. He didn't even have the chance to scream before he was flying through the air.
Hawke just stood there dumbly; she had no idea what to do.
*****
Kayra was sitting up in the cockpit watching this all and having a debate with herself. Orion was gone, there was no way that they could get him back now, but Frost was still struggling with the plant things in the other room. He was still alive. But Orion had told her to close the doors if anything happened and to get Hawke out there. But Orion wasn't there anymore. She didn't know what to do, so she stood up.
She didn't even glance over as she hammered the blue button into the wall, and watched as the doors slowly began to close.
*****
This was ridiculous, he had came here to get the princes, not fight with a meat eating plant like thing. The armored man struggled and fought for something to do. The face of the plant thing was the best place to aim. He only had one bullet left, so he had to make this good. One shot in the eye should do it. But the prince was in the way.
He leveled his gun at the prince, and the eye. Stupid princes. All ration was gone from him. He didn't care what the sorceress had said, he wanted to live. He steadied his gun as much as he could with a plant holding on to him and shaking him. He took careful aim and pulled the trigger.
The bullet flew straight and true, right through the prince's heart and into the plants eye, then it's brain. The plant sputtered and died, dropping the dead weight of the prince to the floor. The armored man untangled himself from the tentacles and started walking over to the body, blood already pouring all over the floor.
*****
Hawke watched the man aim. She watched him pull the trigger. And then she watched her new friend drop to the floor, dead the instant the bullet ran through his heart. Her head screamed; who could he do that?! Her mouth screamed, yet no sound came out.
She took off through the slowly closing doors. Rational thought was behind her. That was enough deaths of friends, someone was going to have to pay. She didn't care what was going to happen to her, all she could think about was saving Frost, in some way.
Half way through the doors, she was hit with a strange force, and all of a sudden....
*~*
She was standing in the middle of a field. It seemed like a field that hadn't gotten any water in years. The plants were all dead, the crispy stems sticking out of the ground. She pushed them away as she began walking around. The air was cold and blew across her face, chilling her head to foot.
"What the hell?" She asked no one, her voice sounding meek and small in this field.
"Those are bad words, lady," a small, girlish voice said from behind her.
Hawke spun on her heels to look behind her. There stood a child, about seven or eight years old and only about three feet tall. She was dressed in just a rags for a dress, all dark and dirtied. Her face was clean though, and so was her three feet long, blonde hair. Her blue eyes seemed smart, too smart for a girl of that age. At her side, she carried a small, yellow stuffed animal, hanging by it's tail.
"Where am I? What is this?" Hawke asked the girl kindly, her voice shaking.
The girl looked up at her and smiled slightly. "You're love for others brought you here."
Hawke still wore the face of confusion so the girl went on.
"You thought of nothing but finding that young man's life again and so you were brought here, to meet her."
Hawke's eyes snapped wider open. The book; the way to save her brother; she had to find that lady of death. The only way to find her, was not to think about it at all. She had done it, not even trying to. She opened her mouth to speak, but the girl just shook her head.
"You're here now, not to save your brother, but to save the prince. Don't think about it now," the girl held out her hand, in it was a small vile with blue sparkly stuff in it, encased in a silver bottom and binding. The binding was a fairy and the fairy held a loop hole in which a small, silver chain held from. "You can call her later with this. Just sprinkle some on yourself and she will come." The little girls smiled as she held out the necklace for Hawke.
Hawke took it and then with a jolt remember about Frost. "Is there anything I can do for him?"
The little girl nodded and produced another necklace. The end was a small, rock like thing that glowed with a dim blue light. It was on a sting of pure silver with a hoop on the end. To put it around your neck as a necklace, you would stick the rock through the hop and pull. It was eerily beautiful. Hawke took it from the girl's out stretched hand. "What is it?"
"Doesn't matter, it will bring him back. Put it around his neck. Unfortunately, you are the one that is going to have to get his soul." The girl turned around and began to walk away.
"Get his soul?! I don't know how to do that!"
The little girl just turned around and looked at her, "You will be able to find out. It will come naturally."
The wind picked up and the girl vanished from site.
*~*
Hawke was hit by reality as though it was a steam roller. She swallowed and realized that she was still standing between the closing doors, no time had passed. She took up a run through the remaining doors and came out standing in front of the armored man and Frost's dead body.
The man looked up at her with a scowl, one that she returned ten fold. She was so angry. Everything that had happened to her had been the sorceresses fault, and he was one of her minions.
"What are you doing here, little lady." The man walked closer to her, his face glowing with evil. "It's time for you to meet your little friend."
"Nah, I don't think so," the anger had reached it's top in Hawke. Suddenly she felt something in her snap and she was engulfed in a bright white, and then a darkness as she fell into unconsciousness.
*****
Hawke opened her eyes. She was dead tired. She glanced around her; there was almost nothing in the room. No more monster pant things, the armored man was lying in the corner, his chest slowly rising and falling-alive. But she could see that he was out for awhile, whatever had done that.
She stood up and walked over to Frost's limp body. There was blood everywhere and she had to swallow the urge to throw up. She turned him over so that his face looked at the ceiling and took the necklace out of her pocket in her skirt, where she had stuck it before.
She worked as if she was in a dream world, refusing to believe that this was happening, feeling nothing but her aching body straining to move the ways she wanted it to. The fairy necklace thumped against her chest as she slung the necklace around Frost's neck.
"There," she thought as she looked down at him. "Now what?"
The necklace seemed to be shining brighter. She reached her hand to touch it and was again thrust into darkness.
*****
She opened her eyes, but it was still dark. Or so she thought until she looked at herself. She could see herself clearly, everything else was dark. There was nothing; no sound but her breathing, no air moving, not hot, not cold. Nothing.
She looked down to see what she was standing on. Nothing. Just blackness all around her. She attempted walking, but she couldn't move at all. She couldn't do anything with her legs, though she tried and strained.
Hawke stopped and glanced around herself again. It was still black, unchanging. She strongly wanted to see Frost, to get him out of here, to be back there, where ever there was. She suddenly felt her foot move. Just a small space, but still, it moved.
She blinked and thought about Frost again, just to test out if she was right. Her foot moved a bit farther. She started concentrating on everything that she knew about him; silver hair, silver-blue eyes, taller than her, slightly built but not macho. When she ran out of physical features she started thinking about his attitude, his voice, his past love.
Soon she was easily taking steps. She was sure that she was going the right way, not really knowing how she was doing so, but there was something that told her this was the only way. Suddenly a small blue stream of light flowed underneath her, guiding her to him.
She kept thinking about him and started running.
It was hard to tell whether or not she was actually getting anywhere. There were no landmarks to mark how far she had gone, but she felt that she had run forever. She wasn't going to give up, she wouldn't leave until she found him.
That was when she saw him, standing there in the middle of the blackness. Suddenly it wasn't just black anymore, she was in a small house. It was picturesque. Small windows, with curtains over them. Little dishes and furniture everywhere. It was almost too perfect. Hawke shivered.
Frost was standing right in front of her, but he couldn't seem to see her. A girl walked in from an adjacent door and over to Frost. He smiled and hugged her tightly. Her hair was green, her dress to match; she was gorgeous. Hawke knew instantly who it was, Frost's old love.
They still didn't seem to realize that she was standing right there. She walked over to Frost and tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Frost?"
He slowly turned around and looked at her. "H--Hawke? But how?"
The girl in green was busy making lunch. She didn't seem to be able to see Hawke at all. Obviously, it didn't bother her that Frost was talking to 'nothing'.
"I can't explain, but you have to come back with me."
"Why?"
Hawke suddenly felt a jolt. Why did she want him back so much? He was her friend, her last one in the world. He had saved her life, and she his. But why did she want him back so bad. "Because I need your help." It's seemed like the reasonable thing to say. "I can't do this all alone. I don't even know where to start!" Hawke was becoming frantic, because Frost and the house seemed to be fading away from her.
He just looked at her dully as if she was talking in some weird language. He was getting lighter and lighter, fading away with the house. Hawke had to do something.
"PLEASE!!!!!!!" She screamed louder than she ever had, her vocal cords straining at the pressure she was putting on them. "Don't you want to avenge your brothers?!"
Suddenly the house was gone, fade from site, but Frost was still standing in front of her. He had decided to come back.
Hawke took a couple of deep breaths. "You scared me there."
He just nodded and looked around him at the blackness. Hawke reached slowly out for his hand and when the two touched and locked eyes, the both were slammed back to the physical world.
*****
Frost opened his eyes slowly and looked around his setting. There was nothing in the room but him, Hawke, and the armored man that was sitting in the corner, snoring. He sat up slowly and realized that Hawke's head was resting on his chest, her back rising and falling slowly with her calm breaths.
He reached down to shake her awake, and thought better of it. She looked very tired. He just slowly snuck out from under her and lifted her body up.
It was funny, being alive again.
His body didn't ache at all, in fact, he couldn't even believe that he had just been dead. But for some odd reason, he was so happy he was alive again that he almost woke up Hawke to hug her and thank her for everything. He wasn't sure why, because he could've spent eternity with Ti'Anya, his love, but there was something about being alive.
He quickly walked over to the ship and climbed up the docking plank. Kayra was there to great them.
"What the hell happened?!" She was almost in a panic with everything.
"Later." He replied, in no mood to explain everything at the moment. "That guy may wake up anytime, we have to leave as soon as possible."
"Well, I don't want to ruin your day or anything, but we can't on this thing. There was a large amount of magic just released and it screwed up all the controls." Kayra motioned around to all the smoking controls and the damage done to the ship. "And, I know for a fact, that this is the only ship that did work. We're stuck."
Frost was forced to think and act quickly. "We're going to escape into the woods then. There's a stairway from the door on the side that the armored guy came in through that goes to ground level. We'll escape through the forest." He began walking quickly towards the door, Kayra in tow.
It was hard going down the stair well carrying Hawke but he managed and soon they were standing on the ground, sprinting for the protective cover of the forest. They reached it quickly and kept running. Frost had chosen the general direction of a town that was the closest one that he knew of. Unfortunately, it would take awhile to get there.
They ran on until the night became day, then stopped to put up camp. They still had the packs and things that they were going to bring with them on the way out, with the exception of Orion's. Luckily, they had brought some food with them as well, because both of them were too tired to do any hunting or fishing. They munched on some food before going to sleep on the forest floor.
*****
The sound of glass breaking echoed around the dark cavern. Ultimecia was not in a good mood. That was the fifth wine glass she had broken that day, and she wasn't getting any happier. She glared at the two humans in front of her with distaste. She walked over to the armored one and gripped him by his hair.
"Daldera," she growled out his name with venom. "You let them escape. You know how much I detest that."
She walked around, dropping his hair and then grabbing and twisting his ear until it almost snapped off. His face contorted into pain and he howled out an answer. "It's not my fault. He," he glanced over to Romeo, "killed off all of the palace guards, letting the monsters get in. I wouldn't have had any trouble i..." He was cut off as the sorceress yanked his ear harder, than shot a blaze of fire through her finger tips to his face, scorching it.
"I. Hate. Excuses, Daldera. You know that. If it wasn't for our prince friend over there, we would have had a much harder time getting into that ball. Now, what are you going to do for me? Hmmm?" She let go of his ear and walked back up to her thrown, sliding into it.
Daldera gasped for breath before answering her through a mask of pain, his face felt like it was melting. "Find them, milady."
"And who are we NOT going to kill this time?"
Gulp. "The princes."
"Very good, maybe you should thank that girl for brining the silver haired one back. She generally saved your life. Now, get out of my face." The sorceress turned away from him and looked towards the fiery haired prince. "You know what this delay means?"
The prince nodded/bowed respectively. "We are going to have to wait until the next full moon to continue."
"And how long is that?" She released with a snarl.
"About a year, Lady Sorceress," he replied equally respectively.
The sorceress threw yet another of her wine glasses at the floor. "Go, check on your three other brothers. Make sure they have enough to survive on in a year. We need to keep all you alive."
Romeo bowed and left the room to do as she bid.
She smiled at his back as he was leaving. He had no idea what was in store for him.
*****
Hawke pried her eyes open with great difficulty. She felt like she just got ran over by a bus. Her hole body ached, and to top that off, she was hungry, dreadfully hungry. She pushed herself off the ground and looked around her.
Frost. Kayra. Fire. That was about all there was in the small clearing they had stopped in. She couldn't remember how she got her, so she derived that she had slept the hole way. She looked around at their packs and had one thought. Food.
There wasn't much there, just some cheese, bread, and dried meats and fruits, but it was enough to fill her up for a bit. She stood up and looked around their setting. The woods seemed very nice to her. The trees waved in the breeze, the birds chirped. If she hadn't known that the woods housed many deadly animals and monsters, she would be perfectly at home.
She thought about that. Where was her home? The desert? The orphanage? She walked a little ways away from the camp site and kneeled down by a stream to look at her reflection. Who was she anyway? Soon to be savior of the world?
She splashed the image away. She sure didn't feel like it.
She sat on a rock by the bank and thought for awhile. She wasn't sure what about until the image of the white lady, Ultimecia. She had killed her brother, maybe that's why she wanted to walk up to her.
The longer Hawke thought about that, the more she rejected the idea. No, there was something more to her that just that. She didn't fit the body, what she had called her second body. It had to be someone else's. That thought just grossed Hawke out fully. She made herself stop thinking about it.
Then she thought about Frost and saving him. That had certainly been interesting. She felt kind of bad for whisking him away from his love like that, but there was something about him that she wanted to keep close to her. "He has no home anymore either," she thought. She had seen his father dead in the ball room, he must have noticed as well. Yet he still reacted fine. He had been the quickest one to react to almost every situation. She envied that. He was strong, much stronger than her.
Then again she couldn't stand death. Everywhere that she saw death, her mind went blank. Like someone had blew a fuse in her brain. Death was so stupid, it was retarded, it was----the necklace the little girl had given to her bumped against her chest.
She reached down to look at it more closely. It was very finely made. Beautiful to a fault. She opened the wooden stopper on the top and looked around her. Might as well meet this lady now, when she had the chance. She poured a small amount of the sparkly stuff into her hand and threw it on her head.
Nothing happened for awhile and Hawke began to worry that she had done something wrong, or it was just a big joke. But then the wind picked up for a bit. When it settled she heard the child's voice from behind her and she jumped off the rock and almost into the stream.
"Hello hi," the child said happily in greeting, laughing as Hawke splashed around in the river.
"I thought..."
"You thought you were going to see the Guardian of Death, didn't you?" The girl smiled at Hawke even harder than she had before. Hawke just nodded and watched the child as she stood up. "Well, this is her!"
Hawke's jaw dropped in complete confusion. "What?!"
"That's me!" The girl suddenly scowled and looked down at herself. "Dang all these changes...hold please."
Hawke just watched in amazement as the girl changed in front of her. She grew two feet taller, but her hair stayed the same length. A black, flowing dress replaced the rags she had been wearing. Like lightning, two black wings erupted from her back; fairy's wings. She carried a sharp weapon with a weird, twirled blade on each end. Her face was more mature, her intelligent eyes looked natural with the more grown up body and face. Hawke almost fell over.
"Understand now?"
"Eh.....yeah.....hi...." Hawke wasn't quite sure what was the correct way to greet the Guardian of Death.
"Oh don't be so worried, anyone that can find me usually has a good cause."
Hawke opened her mouth to ask about Squall, but the fairy kept on talking anyway, "I know what is wrong. I'll tell you how to fix it. But first, my name is Cat."
"Oh, er, hi Cat."
"We're past that now my child. Now listen carefully, for this is the only way to save your brother." Hawke nodded for her to go on.
"There is a blade, that when used correctly, can cut through the very spirit of a person, right down to their soul. This is what Ultimecia used on your brother. She cut out his soul and it now keeping it, just in case he did have family to bring him back to kill her again. Fortunately, at the moment she is in a different body, so she can't use the powers of the sword."
"She wont be able to cut any more souls out like she used to. But she is still the most powerful being on the universe. Generally, a blood relation to the person who's soul you want to save must bond two souls together to save them if the person has been dead for more than a couple minutes. We both know Squall's past the couple minute mark."
"You're the only one that can save him now. To save him, you must first find this sword and then cut out someone else's soul to bound with his. Sorceress's souls are the only ones that can do this. Or rather, not just sorceresses, but sorcerers as well-not to be sexist or anything."
Hawke realizing she was done, opened her mouth and asked a question, "where do I...one: find this sword...and two: a magical soul."
Cat looked at Hawke for a bit and then shrugged. "Beats me. I only know how, not the when, where, why, what, which, whatever."
"Oh," Hawke didn't like the sound of that. This was going to be much harder than she thought.
Cat must've seen the down fall of her face so she said, "there are two people that might have this knowledge though. They live down in the forests around your old orphanage."
"How did you know-?"
"I know all about you. We've been watching you for a long time."
"Who's...."
Cat just shook her head. "You'll know when the time comes, if you choose the right path."
She stood up and walked over to Hawke and kneeled down in front of her. "Keep the necklace, you can call me when your in trouble. Make sure it's an emergency though, the Fairy doesn't make house calls." She smiled to Hawke as she stood up. "The best of luck, you've got a wamdingzy of a destiny. Good-bye and pork."
"Pork? What?!" Hawke yelled out, but it was too late. The Fairy/Cat/Guardian of Death had already vanished into thin air. "Yes..."
Hawke felt even more confused by this strange events. "At least," she thought, "I know what I'm supposed to do now."
She sighed and started walking the five feet back to the camp. She saw that Frost and Kayra were awake, and that they were both staring at her. "What?" She asked as she took a seat between them on the ground.
"You were just talking to nothing..." Kayra said as she looked at Hawke as if she had just sprouted three heads and a large tail fin.
"And nothing was either talking back, or you're really good at faking conversation..."Frost said to her, looking at her even more weirdly.
"Actually," she said, glaring at Frost, "I was talking to the Guardian of Death, thank you very much. I now know how to save my brother."
This had about the same effect as a dancing bear in a tutu would have had if one popped out of the forest at that moment. Both Frost and Kayra seemed to have their jaws magnetically attached to the ground as both of their mouths opened wide in amazement.
"Shut you're mouths, you both look stupid," Hawke said before she went into a long explanation, first starting with saving Frost and then to today's happenings. When she finally finished, they both didn't look at her quite so weird.
They all decided that they had better start moving forwards. Frost started to lead that way, seeming to know the way in the woods. He told them that he was leading them towards a town that wasn't all too far in the direction they had already ran. It would take about six days to get there, but it was the closest one. They all agreed to go there, and headed off.
****
After the full day of walking, they were all dead tired. All of them were worn out, their nerves on end. They had almost expected to be caught by someone sent by the sorceress by now, but no one had come. In fact, even as they passed some roads, staying hidden in the bushes, they didn't see anyone moving about. No cars, no ships, nothing. They were one with the woods.
Frost sat down on his appointed log, next to Hawke. She glanced over at him, but then went back to roasting the bird they had shot on the way. Food was good.
The silence stretched out between them as they just sat there. Kayra had gone to find some water from a stream that she said she heard nearby, leaving them to sit there...alone.
Hawke wanted to break the silence so she just asked, "how's life?"
"Oh, well, I don't know. My brothers are probably dead, I saw my father dead on the floor, I have no home to return to, and I died. Just peachy," his sarcasm hit her like a knife.
"I was just trying to make conversation. Sheesh, you don't have to spaz on me like that," she went back to watching the bird cook.
Frost was silent for awhile before asking, "Do you think there is anyway that Orion could still be alive? I didn't see him go over the edge, you did."
Hawke closed her eyes. She really didn't know what to say. There may be a small possibility that he could be, but she didn't want to say that. "Eh, yeah, he seemed like a touch guy. I'm sure he's fine."
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better?"
"What?"
"I don't believe you."
"Then why did you ask me in the first place?"
"Because I wanted to see if you were the honest type, or the caring type."
"Hey, you didn't see him go over, I did."
"But Kayra told me that she didn't think he could be alive, the way he fell."
"If you already decided, then why did you ask me?!" Hawke was becoming tired of this.
"I already told you why!"
"Why are you getting so mad at me?! I just wanted to make you feel better!"
"Because you....."
"Hey, bickering, old couple, would you stop that for a minute? I have a headache." Kayra was walking in from the woods, carrying a sack full of water.
"I didn't start it," Frost mumbled childishly.
Hawke was tired of this and was up to the challenge of biting his head off. "So it was MY fault then?"
"I never said that."
"No, but if it's not yours then it must be mine."
"So you're admitting it was your fault then? Good. Mature thing to do."
"Excuse me!?"
"You know what you did wrong."
"I didn't do anything wrong."
"What did you do right then?"
"I was trying to cheer you up, that's what!"
"You did a pretty b..."
"STOP IT BOTH OF YOU!" Kayra was glaring at the two of them from across the fire. "Stop it or I'll spank both of you and put you in time out."
Hawke and Frost went back to doing absolutely nothing as Kayra took over roasting the bird.
That was about were the conversation stopped for the night. Kayra went to sleep almost immediately after they ate, and Hawke thought Frost did too until he said something from over in his sleeping bag. "Hawke, you still awake?"
She didn't know whether to respond or not. She was pissed off royally, but then remembered all that he had gone through, and cooled off...a bit. "Yes."
There was a pause of silence for awhile as Frost tried to find the right way to ask it. "What's it like to be completely alone?"
Hawke was almost stunned by that question. She didn't know how to answer it. "Well....I wouldn't recommend it."
"Was the only company you had that fox?"
Hawke stiffened as she thought of SageJames. She had no idea where he was at the moment, but she hoped with all her heart that he was ok. She took her eyes away form the stars that she was looking up at and turned around to face Frost. "After I heard Squall had died, yes."
She was surprised to see that he was facing her, looking right at her as well. "Do you seriously think Orion is ok?"
Hawke looked down at the ground for a bit and then back up at Frost. "I don't know why, but now that I think about it, yes. I do."
Frost seemed to smile a bit, just in the corners of his mouth, before looking back up at the stars. "You're pretty fun to argue with."
Hawke almost laughed at that. "I think I'll take that as a compliment."
Frost let out a great big sigh. "It was a compliment. Want to argue over whether it was or not?"
Hawke looked down at him from sitting up. "No, wouldn't wanna wake Kayra."
Frost smiled, fully this time and then looked back up at her. "I'm going to get her for this, Hawke. That witch is going down."
Hawke just nodded. She understood that, but what she didn't understand was, "Frost, if you're half sorcerer...why don't you ever use your magic?"
Frost was silent for a bit before looking back up at the stars in the night sky. "After my mom died, I felt that magic was what caused her to be hated. I hated magic with all my heart for taking her away from me and because the lady that killed her was a very powerful sorceress. I suddenly came to believe that ever sorceress in the world was cruel and evil but my mom. My brothers and I decided that it was best just to stop with the magic. It only got us into trouble. I swore that I would never use it again. It just causes destruction."
Hawke just nodded. "So you'll never use your talent?"
"Curse is more like it."
And that's about where the conversation ended. Hawke just stared up at the night sky, thinking that Frost had fallen asleep. But in reality, he was sitting there thinking the same thing. They both sat there in completely silence, both deep in thought. Both of them slowly drifted off to sleep.
*~*
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwke...." A voice was calling to her from somewhere. She was all alone in a field of flowers. The wild flowers floated around her, their petals circling her. She was a little girl again.
"Haaaaaaaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwwwwke...." The voice called again. It was soft and loving. Hawke felt compelled towards it. She started to run, the flower petals flowing behind her as she ran through the field.
The soft calling was replaced by humming. A warming tone that Hawke seemed to know as well. The voice soon started singing, softly and lightly. The sound filled the field beautifully and Hawke began to run faster. She had to get to the lady that was singing. She reached the top of the hill and looked down. There she was.
The singing continued as she tried to run faster, but her little child legs couldn't move that fast and she fell lightly to the ground. She peaked up out of the flower tops towards the figure in the distance. She couldn't see anything but the figures back. The figure seemed to know that she fell and stopped singing. "Oh Hawke," The figure said as she started to turn around. The child Hawke stood up to great the person with open arms but then....
*~*
Hawke's eyes snapped open, ending the comforting dream. She looked around and found that everyone was asleep still. She wondered what had woken her up.
She almost wished that she hadn't woken up because she had wanted to see who the person was. It haunted her that she never got to see the face of this woman. She suddenly realized that she was wet from sweating. She kicked the blankets off and stood up, letting the night breeze cool her off. That was when she heard something, a definite snap from in the woods.
Something was out there.
She grabbed her dagger form in her backpack and slowly made her way over to the edge of the clearing. She listened for the sound again. There it was, closer this time. She walked over to Frost and shook him awake, then to Kayra and woke her too. She wasn't going to face this thing alone. They all stood by her, asking her with there eyes what was wrong. She just pointed into the woods silently and waited for the sounds again. There it was again. The trio looked at each other and then back out to the woods. The sounds slowly got closer and Frost yelled out, "show yourself!"
The sound was suddenly very close, dead in front of them. They saw the tree branches waver and suddenly a figure burst out of the leaves, standing on a tree branch ten feet about them.
She was holding a cross bow in her left hand and her right hand rested on her hip, giving her a defiant look to them all. Her hair was light purple-lavender-, looking eerily gorgeous in the moonlight. It flowed down to her hips in long wavy strands. Her eyes, a darker shade of purple, dug into the group as if it was deciding what to do. She wore sandals, or rather bottoms of shoes that were laced onto her legs up to her mid calf. Her top was a cream, wavy material that came to about her mid stomach and had purple beads continuing on for an inch after that. She wore a skirt that was the same color as her top, seemed to be loosely wrapped around her with a slit up part of both sides so she could have full range and easy motion. She raised her bow and arrow up and squared it on the man in the group, "Are you Frost?"