Fate

By: Sweet Honey

Chapter Six: Nature Stinks

"Isn't it a nice day, Erik?" asked Abby as she walked down the dusty road. She had never seen so many trees and flowers in her entire life, and was positively ecstatic with nature as a whole. "Look at that! It looks like a bunch of apple trees!"

"Amazing." said Erik flatly, watching as Abby sped into the apple grove. He slowly followed her and grumbled, "Why are you so happy? You're driving me insane."

He walked among the apple trees and looked around. "Where the hell are you, Abby?" he said, hovering a couple of feet above the ground. "I don't like this game."

WHACK

"Ha, I got you!"

"You bitch, apples aren't known to be very soft!" bellowed Erik, speeding toward the tree limb Abby was sitting on and rubbing his head.

"Hey, after that whole catching -an-arrow-with-your-hand thing, I though you could catch a stupid apple! she said with mock anger. "Really Erik, you surprise me sometimes!"

She threw another apple at him, and this time he caught it. He looked at it and hovered the last couple of feet so that he was directly in front of her. "I can't believe your so happy, after what happened last night." he said, taking a big bite out of his apple. "I mean, the memory of that didn't seem very pleasant to me."

"It wasn't exactly pleasant for me either." said Abby, rolling her apple around in her hands. "That's why I'm using the beautiful today to make up for the horrible yesterday."

"That seems like a good idea." said Erik, and he sat down next to Abby. "However, we can't spend the entire day prancing around in apple tree's and throwing hard objects at eachother while we have a mission."

"You're determined to ruin my good mood, aren't you?"

"Possibly." answered Erik, throwing what was left of his apple onto the ground. "What I want doesn't matter, because I have been forced to take you to the place where the Divine Gem is and have you return it to the castle. Because of my being forced to do this I am not very happy, so you'll excuse me if this-" and he waved his arm around, indicating the trees "-is not exactly as wonderful for me as it is for you."

"You have no personality, do you?" asked Abby, and she jumped down gracefully from the tree. "Jeez, Erik! If you want to get going so bad, we better start now. Let's get going!"

They walked along for a couple of hours, much to Abby's dismay. She had never really done anything physical back at the castle, and she just wasn't cut out for long walks. Her feet were aching, her back was on fire and nature just wasn't as appealing as it had first seemed, especially after she ha tripped and stepped into a pile of cow manure. She was relieved to no end when Erik announced that they could take a break.

They were at the top of a waterfall, and Abby sighed and fell to the ground, exhausted. "What, no comment about the beauty of nature?" asked Erik cynically. "I'm shocked, Princess! Nature doesn't get much lovelier than this."

Abby took of her boots and stuck her feet into a calmer part of the waterfall. "Erik, why can't you just shut up about 'the beauty of nature'?"

"What a hyp-o-crite!" drew out Erik with a laugh. "After all that, 'Look Erik a flower! How lovely!' and 'Oh Erik, has the grass ever seemed greener?' and 'Look Erik, cow shit! How absolutely divine-"

"Oh shut up!" screeched Abby, and she kicked water at him. "You have no idea how much my feet are killing me."

Erik fell to the ground next to Abby and smiled snidely. "You humans are so weak!" he said. "I have so much power over you right now that its disgusting. One push from me and you'd go flying over this waterfall, and you still act like I'm your equal! Why aren't you afraid of me?"

Abby shrugged and laid back, not really caring to much about anything. "Well, I have this strange philosophy about you." she said, wincing as the sun blinded her momentarily. "I think that you just act all tough and ruthless all the time because you're really a nice guy. You want me to think that your evil incarnate, but I'm not buying it."

"Well you, dear Princess, would love for me to believe your little apathy act." Erik shot back. "You pretend like everything that your mother or your sister or even I say doesn't affect you, when it really does. I would love if you would just admit, for once, that you aren't always happy or optimistic. I feel like your just one big fake."

Abby didn't say anything for a minute. "Maybe I do pretend sometimes." she said slowly. "But that's only because no one has ever treated me like my feelings matter anyway. But right now, I don't feel like I have to pretend like I'm something I'm not. It just doesn't seem...important."

"Really? Well maybe you'll stop annoying me now." he said, getting up and brushing dirt off of his pants.

"Oh, I doubt it." said the princess, and she got up too. "Annoying you is fun, and besides I won't stop annoying YOU until you stop annoying ME."

"I think they call that 'infinity'" commented Erik, and he opened his mouth to say something else but a sound from behind one of the trees stopped him.

"What was that?" Abby whispered, bending down and retrieving her bag. She clutched it close to her and looked at Erik. He opened a pouch on his belt and took out some sandy substance.

"Whoever you are, I demand for you to come out." he said. Something from inside the tree whizzed out at Erik. Abby threw herself against him and Erik opened his hand and the powder floated around them, creating a strange whirlwind of blue. When Abby opened her eyes she realized that she was in a cave behind the waterfall. She let go of Erik and leaned again a damp wall, clutching at her bag.

"I was so scared." she said breathlessly, looking at Erik. He looked edgy to, and he kept looking around. "What the heck was that thing?"

"It was some sort of assassin, I believe." he said and Abby's eyes widened in horror. "And it won't give up so easily, so be on your toes."

Abby nodded and took a step forward. Instead of moving normally, her legs betrayed her and she lurched to the ground. Erik caught her easily and made an exasperated sound. "Really Abby, this is a bad time to start the fainting damsel-in-distress act!" he whispered heatedly.

Erik expected her to make a sarcastic remark, but Abby only clung to Erik's shirt and whispered, "I can't feel my legs."

"Um, excuse me?!" said Erik, and he leaned Abby gently against the wall. He reached behind her back and Abby felt a slight release of pressure. She saw in his hand a small dart, and Erik seemed mad as hell. "A poisonous dart, and one that wasn't made for a human either."

He sniffed at it for a minute and said, "This is a special poison made for fairies. This dart wasn't meant for you." He looked down at Abby who smiled up at him pathetically.

"Does that mean I saved you life?" she said, and suddenly the world tilted woozily and she heard a strange, deep laugh from above. She clung onto Erik, helpless and scared. "Please don't leave me like this!"

Erik lifted her up and she clung onto him with the little strength she had left. "I promise, I won't let you die." he murmured, and Abby was surprised by how kind he sounded.

"See? I always said you were good.." she said, and felt the world swing around even more before she blacked out totally.



*****

"Poor little darling!" said a sweet but tearful voice. "Who would have thought that our Erik would ever get such a pretty girl into so much trouble?"

"Hey Erik, it was nice of you to bring home such a pretty one! Hehehehe...I bet traveling with this one has been a lot of fun!" said a cheerful but deep voice.

"You perverted old fairy, go do something useful." said the female voice again. Abby's eyes fluttered open and the voice said happily, "Ah, look! I think she's coming around!"

The woman smiled one of those quick, nice smiles that most mothers gave their children (not Abby's though, never hers). She had her gray streaked auburn hair pulled back in a tight bun and her deep brown eyes sparkled as she thrust a tray with food toward the frazzled princess. "Well hello there stranger, it's nice to see you awake."

Abby muttered a brief hello as she investigated the room. It was small but clean, with its white washed walls and pretty yellow curtains. Everything in the room was either yellow or white, except of course for herself and the lady. She turned her head and saw a small table where a man was sitting.

"Little missy, you had quite a time." he said, his bright blue eyes dancing with merriment. "You must be either an idiot or a saint, to have saved Erik at your own peril."

"Saved Erik? Huh? Where am I?" asked Abby quickly, alarmed as she woke up fully.

"My word, don't you go confusing the poor girl after what she's been through!" said the woman, tucking in my covers and making it hard for Abby to move.

"I was just making a comment." he said, and winked at Abby. He had long gray hair, pulled back in a ponytail, and a very cheerful voice. "It was my own way of thanking her for saving Erik."

"That's all well and good." said Abby, speaking slowly in her muddled. "But I would really appreciate it if you would tell me where I am."

The woman smacked her head.

"Ach! Sometimes I can be so dense-"

"-that's true."

"Shuddup you." she said viciously to the man, and she turned back to Abby with a smile. "You're in the F‚erique Terre, the Lower Eastern Side."

"WHAT!?"

The woman's eyes widened and Abby clamped a hand over her mouth as she realized how rude she had been. "I-I'm so sorry..." she started, but the woman laughed and shook her head to silence the princess.

"Don't worry darling, I realize it was a shock for you. " she said, and handed Abby a glass of water from the tray. She got up and walked over to the little table. "You probably don't even remember what happened, do you?"

"Um...well I kind of do." said Abby, and she took a little sip of the water. "I was poisoned, right?"

"Exactly." said the woman. "And Erik brought you here because only fairy's can administer the cure for that sort of poison."

The older man smiled cheekily at Abby and added, "I can't believe you saved Erik! Boy, is he going to be mad when he realizes that he is in the debt of a human!"

The fairy woman smacked him upside the head and frowned. "Erik is a good boy, and I won't have you bad mouthing him in front of such a pretty (not to mention rich) girl."

"Oh, are you Erik's parents?" asked Abby hesitantly.

The woman shook her head. "Oh no dearie. We're more like mentors to him. His parents have been dead for a long time."

"Besides, do you think a boy as smart as that could be related to this woman?" asked the fairy man cheerfully.

Another smack was administered.

"Woman, would you please refrain from hitting me?"

"Would you please stop opening your mouth and proving what an idiot you are?" she asked, and the two of them exchanged glares until the older man laughed.

"My dear Mrs. K, you're to much for an old man like me!"

"Mr. K, are too old a man for me."

"HA!" he yelled, and Abby giggled. These two were sort of funny (how could she have thought they were Erik's parents?). Without warning she began to feel drowsy, and yawned.

"Oh sweetie, I didn't realize that you were still tired." said Mrs. K, and she gave Abby's bed coverings on more good going over. "We'll talk later, all right?"

"Okay." said Abby comfortably. "By the way, where is Erik?"

"Oh, he's out and about somewhere." said Mrs. K with a smile on her face. "Don't worry dear, everything's going to be fine."

"Nice..." Abby said as she fell softly asleep.