Thieves

By Dixxy

Chapter Six

Grr. . .

"What was that?" Norris asked, suddenly jerking up from his half-asleep position.

"Me stomach- sorry, Nor."

"No, no, that's okay, Karsh, I'm hungry, too," said Norris, lying back down on the leaf covered ground. He shivered in the cold, trying to take as much heat from his clothing as he could. The four boys had spent most of the day in the woods, sitting quietly in a small circle of trees. It was cramped, moist, and very, very cold. Glenn was cuddled up to his brother in a desperate search for warm, but even the brothers weren't finding any warmth that night.

"We can't go on like this forever," Dario said, his arms folded as he tried to create warmth. He unfolded his arms to place his hands together, quickly rubbing them back and fourth. Glenn looked up at him with chattering teeth, attempting to mimic the motion. In the end, he ducked back into his brother's shoulder, shaking with a bad chill.

"This isn't good- if we don't find someplace better to sleep then one of us if going to catch a cold or worse- I suggest we find someplace else to sleep. Someplace that we can build a fire without worry of a forest fire on our hands," said Norris. "Besides, if we're this cold, it's dangerous to sleep- we may never wake up."

This logic was enough to get everyone to their feet. Hugging themselves tightly, the four boys began to tromp through the woods in search of shelter. Dario took the lead, keeping an arm around his brother as they trekked on. Glenn's eyes were only half open as his body occasionally trembled. Karsh looked either way, trying to see if he could spot any sign of danger, such as a large animal or, even worse, a Porre soldier. Norris kept a nervous hand on the gun Melchoir had given him, as if waiting for a good time to use it.

"Cave," Karsh said, pointing to an opening in a large rock. Not questioning the suggestion, the boys hurried towards the cave and ducked inside, hoping to gain warmth in this small safe haven. Once inside, Norris and Dario began to try and build a fire while Karsh stood watch at the cave's entrance.

"Dario. . . I don't feel very good," said Glenn.

Just as the two older blondes had finished the job, Dario looked at his little brother. "Glenn? What's wrong?" he asked. Glenn blinked at his older brother weakly, his eyes drooping as his small body began to sway. The elder brother watched in horror as his baby brother fainted away. Dario rushed to his brother's side, cradling him in his arms. "Glenn! GLENN!!!"

"By the Ancient Dragonians!" Karsh said. "What happened to 'em!?"

Norris scrambled from his seat to look at the youngest member of the group. "What happened to him?" he asked. Dario shot Norris a look. "Okay, okay, stupid question. Let me rephrase that- WHY did he faint?" The Porre boy put his hand against Glenn's forehead and bit his lip. "He's burning up!"

"What the 'ell is going on?" asked Karsh.

"He must be coming down with something," said Norris. He sat up, looking at Glenn with worry. "The cold and the lack of food probably did it- that or he decided to eat some berries while we weren't looking." He grimaced. "Hopefully it's something that rest and relaxation won't cure."

"But if 'e doesna get anything to eat then 'e won't have any energy to fight back with," said Karsh. "We also need to warm 'im up a bit or else 'e could git even sicker." He whimpered. "We kinna do this, Dario- we kinna survive here on our own like this. We could all die."

"No!" said Dario as he defiantly shook his head. "No one's dying! No one!"

"Dario, none of us wants anyone to die, but if we don't figure out how we're going to survive from now until we get to El Nido then that's exactly what's GOING to happen!" Norris snapped back. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at the younger of the two brothers. Karsh was leaning over Glenn, who, though still unconscious, had a slightly pained look on his face. "I'm going to find a pond or something- he needs water."

"I'm going to try and figure out what to do- there's a small village nearby, right?"

"Well, yeah- Corinaw," said Norris, blinking. "Dario, what-"

"I'm going to find help," he said.

"Dario, no, that's not-" Norris started.

"Don't worry- I'll be back!" And with that, he was gone.

~

As opposed to the other towns of the Zenan mainland, Corinaw was small and rather insignificant. None of the houses seemed to consist of any more than four rooms, all made of some sort of a mud-clay and painted vibrant colors that seemed to contrast with the normal, everyday colors the citizens actually wore. In a way, it reminded Dario of Arni in its simple ways and means. The people seemed to all know each other, greeting pretty much EVERYONE they encountered. Even the cats and dogs seemed to get along well.

Do these people even realize what the world is coming to? Porre could stomp over this town any second without a problem! There wouldn't be anything left, yet they go on as if they don't know what's going on, Dario thought as he wandered the main street of the small village. It had taken him until dawn to reach Corinaw to try and find a way to save his little brother and friends.

"WHO'RE YOU!?"

Dario nearly screamed as he realized a large, over-weight woman was yelling at him. This monsters of a woman was the very definition of ugly, complete with round, warty nose and unsightly liver spots to boot. With the drab, wool dress and apron she wore, she looked quite frightening. "Uh, uh, I'm just a traveler! Honest!" he said, holding his hands up in defense. "My, my-"

"Get out of this town!" the woman shouted. "You don't belong here!"

"This isn't your place!" another man chimed in.

"What are you people talking about!?" Dario asked. "Please, my brother is-"

"We don't care what he is- Corinaw doesn't welcome strangers," a young girl his age said. She sauntered up to Dario, glaring at him with deep, emerald eyes as she idly twirled curly red hair. She stuck her nose in the air. "We here don't welcome outsiders- you aren't like us and we don't like that."

"Why?" asked Dario. "Why won't you please help me?"

"You don't DESERVE our help!" said the same woman as before.

"What makes you believe that?!" asked Dario.

"Because you are not a native of this town." All looked up as a tall, thin old man began to walk towards Dario. He was wobbly and unbalanced, the cane he used shaking with each step he took. The old man stopped before the youth, looking him over with beady black eyes. "You see, we the people of Corinaw are a healthy, happy bunch. And do you know why? Because we don't let our children breed outside of the population of this town. That keeps our future children safe. You, you're an attractive young man. You could sway one of our young lady's gazes and soil her children with your unclean heritage."

Dario fumed. "Unclean!?" he said.

"Yes- unclean," said the old man. "Do what you must do, but please leave as quickly as possible."

Biting his lip, Dario fell to his knees and clasped his hands together in a begging position. "Please, please! My younger brother has fallen ill! I'm afraid he might die! I only came here to find supplies to make him better! I have no money but I will do everything in my limited power to repay you all if you help him! Please! He's only a child!"

The old man scoffed. "A child who, if he is your brother, may grow up to be as attractive as you. Someone who may sway more of our lass' gazes. No, we will not help you nor your brother- since you have no money, then I would suggest you leave as quickly as you came here, maggot."

Slowly, Dario stood. "Fine. If that's how you ignorant fool feel, then be my guest," he said, turning on his heels and he stomped through the streets. "Good riddance to you all! If you insist on being such stuck-up imbeciles than maybe I don't have a reason to be here at all!" And then he began to run. Glenn. . . I'm sorry. . .

~

Dario didn't want to go back to the others empty handed. If he did, that meant certain doom for his little brother and his friends. Then all hope was lost. But if I don't come back, there isn't any hope anyways. So what's the point in going back or not going back, anyways? We're all gonna die- it's too soon to go back to Truce, and those awful snobs in Corinaw. . . BASTARDS!

The youth in question was curled up in a ball at the base of a tree just outside of Corinaw. "How. . . how can you hate everyone but your own people?" Dario thought to himself. "How can you shut everyone else out, even when they need your help?" He closed his eyes and turned his head. "Something tells me I'm not the only person who's suffered because of your snobby attitudes."

But you can't let them down. You told them no one would die. There has to be a way to save them all! We have to survive! We have to get to El Nido! It doesn't matter how anymore! There just HAS to be a way to get back home! And whatever it is I'm going to find it! One way or another. . . I WILL SAVE MY FRIENDS!

. . . there is, one way. . .

Dario's eyes snapped open. "No. . ."

. . . only one way. . . you know there is no other choice. . .

Confused and frightened, Dario placed his hands on his head. "No! I can't do it!"

. . . do you want your brother to die? . . . or do you want him to live?. . .

"But. . . I can't. . ."

. . . you know you can. . .

Slowly, Dario began to walk towards the village. He set his gaze on the village and nodded to himself. There WAS only one way to survive. He bit his bottom lip and lowered his head. "I don't want to do this, but I have no choice," he said. Fighting tears, Dario began to sprint towards the village.

~

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Norris. Karsh looked up at Norris with a worried expression. Nearly a full day had gone by since their friend had left. Glenn only seemed to be getting progressively more worse as time passed on, yet Dario had yet to return. "Oh just peachy. Can't something POSITIVE happen for once, or are we all damned to find ourselves in even BETTER situations for the rest of our damn lives?"

"Dinnae give up on Dario yet- he'll come up with somethin'," said Karsh. "Trust me."

Norris sighed heavily. He wanted to believe Karsh, but as time went on, it was getting harder and harder to believe that they would actually not survive. I trust Dario. I may not know him as well as Glenn and Karsh, but I trust him- if anyone can find a way to survive, then he can. I know it. Karsh is right- we just have to trust Dario.

The sound of footsteps brought both of the other boys to attention. There, standing in the entrance of the cave, was a hooded figure carrying a basket. Norris jumped to his feet, his eyes widening in happiness. "Dario?" he asked. "Is that you? Did you come through for us?"

The figure lowered their hood, and, much to Karsh and Norris' relief, Dario was revealed. He had a sad look in his face as he walked into the cave. "Yes, Norris- I brought food and medicine." He knelt down beside his little brother. Karsh backed away, letting Dario be with his brother. Glenn whimpered, but still didn't wake up. Dario produced a small bottle. "It's a potion called a Heal- it works kind of like a Panacea, only stronger, and it isn't an Element." Dario popped the cork and poured it into his brother's mouth.

"My mother used those on me often when I was a child before Elements started getting imported from El Nido," said Norris. He knelt down. "How did you find out about them? Those kinds of potions haven't been used for thousands of years in El Nido! They've relied on Elements for so long-"

"There ARE instructions on the bottle," said Dario, holding up the now empty bottle. He tossed it to Norris with a sort of melancholy smile on his face. "I knew exactly what it did once I found it." He dug into the basket and produced several loaves of bread, a medium sized wheel of cheese, and a large chunk of something wrapped in paper. "Eat up, if you dare."

Norris looked at the food in wonder. "Wow, Dario, someone was sure generous."

"Ay'll say- this is a nice loaf of bread," said Karsh, scratching his head in wonderment.

Before Dario could utter another word, the group heard Glenn making sounds. Slowly, he sat up, blinking dizzily. "Ooo. . . my head. . ." he said. Drearily, he started to fall backwards again, only to have Dario catch him. Glenn looked up at his brother and laughed. "Dario! Where ya been?"

"Hey! It worked!" said Karsh. "Nice going, Dario!"

Glenn blinked in confusion as he sat up, leaning on Dario for support. "What worked?"
"The medicine Dario got for you- you fell ill last night," said Norris. He laughed. "You don't remember anything, do you?" Glenn shook his head, causing the former Porre to ruffle his hair. "That doesn't matter- we were worried about you, but you're doing much better now."

"Aye still need ta know somethin', Dario," said Karsh.

"Where I got the food, medicine, basket, and cloak?" said Dario.

"Yeah- you said you wanted to go to Corinaw. They have a bad reputation for being so obsessed with themselves that they shun even the most desperate of travelers," said Norris. "You must've gone somewhere else to get that, right? They'd NEVER be that generous if they thought you wanted to 'pollute' their 'pure' gene pool."

"Nope, I went to Corinaw," said Dario with a heavy sigh.

"Then, if they're such stuffy people, then why did they give you all this stuff?" asked Glenn.

Dario looked at the floor of the cave in shame. "Because I stole it."

~

Finally got that chapter done! I thought I'd NEVER get through it! Now I can actually start pulling from that notebook of mine! Whee!

Uftaki: Yes, that was kind of sappy and mushy, I know. Yup- that's the way Zappa is in this story until/if he meets up with Karsh sometime late in the fic. Er, cute? Eh, I dunno about cute, but yes, that is the reason. Continuing to wear the helmet? Could be a symbol of shame, or, perhaps he was very badly disfigured by the beatings and chooses to hide that. Yes, El Nido people show up every so often.

Rikku-oh-ki: Well, no, not officially, to my knowledge. That WAS, however, the story used in the lovely Chrono Trigger/Chrono Cross bridging fic about the events that followed Lucca finding Kid to right before Serge enters Viper Manor. Whether or not it holds any official merit is beyond me, though some fandoms with little character developments pull from fanfics to build their own. For example, in Ronin Warriors, one of the boys, Sage, is stereotyped as a notorious flirt. In actuality, he had an older and younger sister who tormented him while growing up, so he's edgy around girls because he's afraid of more humiliation. But because someone decided to make Sage a flirt in their story, WHOOSH! Sage is girl crazy everywhere! And I NEED to stop talking about Sage because I tried to type "Serge" almost every time his name appears in this response. I wanna play Kingdom Hearts! But hopefully I'll get a PS2 before it goes obsolete. I know who Chichiri is, though I've never seen FY. Someday. . .

Chibi-Raye: Oh yeah! You have the really weird-ass fic who threatens to not give Glenn cookies. (Mmm. . . cookies. . .). Zoah's ignored a lot, as well as most of the other characters. Still, there's been more Janice fics as of late, and I'm sure other less-appreciated characters will soon follow. Not that there aren't fics about these characters, but those are the obscure fics you read out of boredom that end up weirding you out, like Amanda Swiftgold's Grobyc origin story (though I'll say that most of her fics will weird you out, even the humor ones. . .). You know, I've done some REAL nasty crap to some of my favorite characters, but not giving milk with cookies is UNACCEPTABLE!!!

Alba: Yeah, I want everyone to feel bad for Garai. Yes, he IS very much what one could call under appreciated. Well, the news had to get to them somehow, you know? Pierre is. . . Pierre. Yeah, tell me about it- too many ideas can be evil. I just have one question- male or female? No, I'm serious- for a while I wasn't sure what Miso14 was, either. The name could go either way!

Oh, and by the way. . . BLONDE, DAMMIT!!!!

Harle is the best: What!? I like length reviews!? Eh, Harle? Actually, the chances are very, very good- she hasn't appeared in my off-line crap copy, but that's only a place where I stick my ideas.

Yukari: *nods* K. And. . . o_O.

Okay, I want everyone to go and read Alba's story (minus Alba, because he/she is too busy writing it), Lost and Found. No one's reading it and it's really, really good! Oh, sure, you have something that will royally tick off a lot of you, but the more support he/she gets, the faster he/she will update!!! Got it? Good. Now go!

And while you're at it, go read The Porre Affair and leave SB2 a review. Why? Because I'm way overdue for a plug on that story, anyways.

The bold, italics, and underlined phrase is something I didn't really expect a whole lot of you to get. That's okay.

~Dixxy