Yeah, so somehow I churned out this chapter in a day… and I don't think it's half bad. Something's telling me this is gonna be a shorter story than normal, but that's alright, right?
Thanks so much to all the reviewers that totally supported this story… It makes me feel good that people are excited about this fic! I'll try my best to keep it as original as possible.
By the way, I did edit two minor details in Chapter 1 thanks to Ron and his Sakura… Nothing that changes the plot, but helps it make more sense without plot-holes.
Enjoy!
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Chapter 3: Yeah, Right
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Gaddes ran along the marketplace, constantly looking behind him to see if the men had given up the chase yet. Apparently not.
He lost his hold on Celena – Damn, she runs fast… – and nearly flipped over a cart that was filled to the brim with piscus fruit. He apologized profusely to the caretaker of the cart while he was already starting to run again. He winced at the pain in his side. He was definitely not a marathon runner, and he knew it.
Where did she go? He looked frantically ahead of him as he continued to jog, looking for that kerchief he gave her. What the hell was the color of it?
His next backward glance showed more than the two original men following him. Word must've spread, and that definitely did not bode well at all. He was a good fighter, but he couldn't very well defend Celena from a legion of angry men.
Another problem presented itself to him as he searched for the girl: he couldn't very well call out her name to get her attention. "Damn it," he muttered under his breath. His frustration by the chase was compounded by her disappearance.
And he couldn't very well leave her to fend for herself, no matter how much he disliked taking care of her. Aside from his loyalty to his boss, he would not break any promise he made, no matter how he felt.
Right now he was feeling pretty helpless. Pausing next to one cart, he asked the woman, "Have you seen a fair-skinned girl with a handkerchief on run by?"
She shook her head a negative, and he proceeded on to the next cart, and the next, asking them all the same question. At last, a little boy in front of a cart full of bread said, "I saw a girl run into the woods right over there, in the direction of the graveyards. She had a green kerchief on, right?"
"Uh… yeah." It made total sense! Of course she would head over that direction… it was an easy place to meet back up with someone without other people around. He began to jog in that direction, but stopped for a second and tossed a belated "Thanks" over his shoulder to the boy. Slipping between two other carts into an alley, he easily lost the men in the winding backstreets.
It took him nearly two hours to make it to the graveyard without being followed, and once he did the sky was already darkening to night. He didn't know how in the world he would be able to find her in the dark – assuming the boy was right and she was here.
He scanned the gravestones and wished he knew which one was Allen's mother's. He could see no one, and felt a heavy lump of failure settle in his chest. He'd lost her. Who knew where she was now? Those men could have caught up with her, or maybe they had had someone positioned at the far end of the marketplace to intercept her just in case something like this happened. The things they could be doing to her right now…
"Gaddes?"
A wave of relief washed over him at the sound of that angel-voice. "Celena!" He turned to find the slight girl standing beside him, looking sheepishly up at his face. He embraced her for a moment before he caught himself. Backing away, he said, "Sorry, I just thought I'd lost you. Then I'd have had to answer to your brother about how I managed to misplace his only sister," he added with a fraction of his cocky grin.
She smiled in understanding, pulling the – yes, it was green – kerchief from her head.
"We gotta get out of here," Gaddes told her, gesturing back towards the woods. "Even though this is a pretty secluded place, it's open, and with the way things are now, it's really not the best idea to go parading you around in the open, if ya know what I mean."
She nodded in agreement, and they walked through the tombstones.
As Gaddes looked down at her to make sure she wasn't hurt, he noticed something odd. "What happened to your skirt?" It was torn jaggedly just above the knees.
She shrugged, as if that explained everything.
As he thought, a faint light bulb glimmered in his head. "Oh, was it hard to run in?"
Her eyes turned to his with a sarcastic 'what-do-you-think?' look.
He held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, it's not like I make a practice of running around in skirts myself. How would I know?"
She ducked her head down, but not before he saw a smile curve her lips.
Feeling much better than he had been earlier, he whistled a little to himself before beginning, "We'll have to spend the night tonight in the woods. Nowhere to go at this hour of the night that we won't be noticeable in. Tomorrow we'll have to look for some way to get to Fanelia, and I don't think we can ask Dryden and Millerna for help… something might happen to them. You need to get a heavy disguise or something if we're going out in public, something better than that kerchief. And I hope you'll be fine with sleeping on the ground tonight, because I didn't bring much with me, I left most of your bags at the dock. I just have my stuff with me. I had a few more important things on my mind at the time. If we have to make most of the trip to Fanelia without a levi-ship, the trip might last a week or so, if we make good time. So I guess we'll have to get you some things if that's the way we have to travel. I think I have enough with me to be able to get you what you need. But if not, we'll find a way around that."
He finally looked at her, only to find her watching him with amusement. It was amazing how one could almost read her mind through her eyes. You talk a lot.
He rolled his eyes. "One of us has to," he replied wryly to her thoughts.
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They found a little grove a few minutes walk into the woods where Gaddes thought they'd be adequately shielded. What did he know about forest travel, anyway? He ran a ship, for God's sake.
But Celena didn't seem to think it was a bad idea either, and for some reason, Gaddes found himself trusting her judgment. After building something that amounted to a fire, he gave her his blanket with the explanation that she had better sleep so that they would be able to travel tomorrow without additional problems.
He sat next to the fire, staring up at the stars that twinkled through the foliage hanging above them. He missed the easy feeling of knowing exactly what to do. Out here in the middle of nowhere, with nothing but a small pack of supplies, he felt totally clueless. What does one do on a long trek across a continent? Ride horses? He sorely wished he had for some reason asked Van how he and Hitomi had managed across the forests those many times. But then again, Van had had Escaflowne. So that was probably how they had gotten around, and it wouldn't help him any now. Going along the well-traveled roads would make the way easier, but then again, Celena was a bit of a target out in the open, so that idea only had merit if there was a way to disguise her adequately. He shook his head slightly. As many times as he had ordered the crew of the Crusade around, he had never had to make decisions as complicated as this. A movement to his side distracted him, and he turned to find Celena innocently offering a portion of the blanket to him.
"Ah, no, I don't think so," he said easily."It ain't that cold, don't worry about me." I'm not about to get myself into an Allen-style problem, especially with his sister... even though I know I'd be fine.
Shrugging in an 'if-you-say-so' manner, she turned on her side and curled under the blanket.
Lying back against the soft grass, he put his arms behind his head and continued to stare up at the sky. Tomorrow he would have to deal with all the problems that arose from having to escort a fugitive in a hostile country. But tonight… he would just sleep…
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Waking to the sound of someone rummaging through his pack, he turned his head to find Celena being the culprit. She had taken most of the things out of his bag already, obviously searching for something specific.
"What do you want?"
The sound of his voice must've startled her, because she hopped backwards with a frightened-rabbit look on her face.
Gaddes sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. "It's not that big of a deal," he said in a gravelly morning voice, "I could just find it for you a lot quicker if you'd tell me what you need."
She gestured to the skirt with a pleading look in her eyes.
"Hm?" His mind caught up with his sight, and understand dawned. "Oh… you want to change out of your skirt, huh? Well, I can't really give you my other pair of pants, because I know they wouldn't fit you for a moment."
Celena looked pointedly to his waist.
He cleared his throat. "And I can't really give you my belt either, or else my pants would be the ones falling off."
A bright blush suddenly covered her cheeks, and she hid behind her long bangs with embarrassment emanating from every pore.
He chuckled slightly, feeling very good about having made her blush for some reason. The color looked pretty good on her, his subconscious murmured to him.
He couldn't resist rubbing it in. "So, you still want my pants?"
She shook her head adamantly, not looking at him.
His characteristic grin filled his face. "Are you sure?"
Practically throwing his pack back at him, she walked quickly over to where she had been sleeping to pick up the blanket and fold it. She purposefully kept her back to him, and as he put back the things in his bag, he couldn't help but wonder if she was still blushing. Curiosity taking over his good judgment, he slung the pack over his shoulder and crept up behind her quietly, tapping her on the shoulder.
She whirled with a startled punch to his gut, and his breath left him in a whoof. Backing away slightly, he held up a hand and tried to get out between gasps, "My mistake. I… didn't know you were so… easily… surprised."
Her eyes were huge with concern and remorse, and she touched his shoulder lightly and said, "I'm sorry."
His dark eyes flickered to her with amusement as the pain began to recede slightly. "Too bad," he said a little more strongly. "You used up your quota of words just to apologize when you really could have just looked at me with those big eyes of yours and I'd get the gist."
She smiled with relief, and handed him the blanket.
"You've got a pretty good punch there… for a girl."
She shoved him a little in the shoulder with a challenging look in her eyes.
"Well, for anyone I guess," he admitted as he stuffed the blanket into his pack. Pulling it back onto his shoulder, he gestured grandly before him with mock-chivalry. "Well, milady, shall we go?"
Rolling her eyes at him, she began walking as he glanced once more over the pseudo-camp to make sure nothing was left behind and the fire was out. As he caught up behind her, his eyes took in her status… just to make sure she hadn't been hurt yesterday, of course. Last night it had been dark, and he hadn't really gotten a chance to see whether anything had happened aside from the obvious. Looking at her now in daylight, he realized he'd never noticed how shapely her calves were… And her gait was a curious mixture of a tomboy and a little girl put together and displayed on a woman's body. It was an odd characteristic, but intriguing, too. His eyes continued down, and he thought, her shoes must be killing her feet. Definitely not walking shoes. He made a mental note that she'd need a new pair as well as decent clothes.
His eyes flickered up to her head to find her head turned back toward him with a knowing look in her eye.
"You need some new shoes," he stated, as if to explain the direction of his gaze.
She turned to look ahead of her once more, and he heard a quiet, faintly amused "Yeah, right" emerge from the air in her voice, which made him smile to himself slightly.
Shaking away the mirth she somehow created in him, he quickened his pace to catch up to her, if for no other reason than to remove temptation from his direct line of sight.
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Hope you all liked this chapter… I look forward to writing more, though I don't know when I will.
Til then, happy reading
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