Shivering quietly underneath her thin wool cloak, Tempeste followed Erik silently, trying her best to keep her word and not breathe so much as a syllable, even though her shoes were caked through with mud and she felt very much like sitting down and crying. Despite acting much older at times, she was still only 7 years old and she was starting to realize that even if she could manage to care for Erik...who would ever care for her? Sniffling slightly, she hurried her steps to catch up with her companion, staying a careful distance away to keep from pestering him. He was thinking, she could tell. His eyebrows were furrowed down, and he kept chewing his bottom lip...sure signs of a plan in the making, as far as Tempeste was concerned. He dropped her bag to the ground; he'd offered to carry it like a true gentleman earlier. Well, not quite like a true gentleman...there had been grumbling from his part and hysterical, over-tired tears from Tempeste's.

"We'll sleep here tonight." He said simply, straightening up. Tempeste stared at him as if he'd lost his mind and shook her head back and forth violently.

"Here? You can't possibly expect us to sleep here. Erik, there's snow on the ground. And snow falling, what's to protect us? We'll freeze to death." She looked about to start crying again and the last thing Erik wanted was for her to start crying again, the sound was most irritating.

"Hush. It will be fine. I'll build us some shelter and...we can try to make a fire. And we have...we have each other. We'll be fine." Tempeste nodded mutely, unsure of what to say to his suggestions. She was still quite certain they were going to freeze to death, but at the very least they would be freezing to death together.

"Shall I go look for firewood?" She asked softly. He nodded a little bit and she turned to go. Throwing out a hand absently, Erik wrapped it around her tiny wrist, pulling her back to stand in front of him.

"Don't go far. If you get lost here, I shan't be able to find you. So stay to the trees close-by...understood?"

Tempeste nodded and let her arm drop from his grasp. Wrapping her cloak more tightly about her, she began gathering little sticks and branches that weren't too wet from the snow. Even she knew that damp wood meant certain death for the two of them. Every noise from the wood, every hoot from an owl, and every howl of a wolf sent shivers down her little spine and soon she was rushing back to Erik, her arms full of branches. Her face was twisted up to keep herself from crying as she handed the wood over.

"You look quite unpretty with your face like that." Erik mumbled absently, taking the wood from her. He laid it in a small hollow he had made in the snow and used some rocks to send a spark on to them. From Tempeste's view it looked as if fire had shot straight out of his fingertips.

"Why should you care if I look pretty or not?" She spat back, falling down to sit next to the fire, holding her small hands out to chase the chill out of them.

"Well...one of us must look pretty, mustn't they? And I think you're the only one with a chance at that, don't you agree?"

Tempeste pouted her lip out further and refused to answer. She instead posed another question for him.

"Where are we to sleep?" She rubbed her tired eyes and pulled her knees to her chest. Erik gestured behind him to a small shelter made out of branches and leaves. It was no grand feat of architecture but to Tempeste it seemed the Taj Mahal. Nodding a little she pulled away from the fire. "I'm going to sleep."

Erik cast a wary glance at the fire...it would take ages to find fresh wood in the morning. But it was no good burning the forest down. Stamping out the flames with his little foot, he followed his friend into the little hut, laying on the ground next to her. He was about to turn his back to her and fall asleep when her arm wrapped around him, careful of his wound. She curled up against his chest and let out a sleepy sigh, whispering softly into the dark.

"I'm cold."

Chewing his bottom lip, Erik threw a little of his coat over her and put his arm around her. She sighed again, cuddling even closer. It was times like these that the small age difference between the two seemed ever-so clear to Erik. She was still very much a child. And he...well he had been on his own since the day he was born.

"Erik?" Tempeste's voice was somewhat muffled by her cloak, which she had pulled down over her face.

"Hm?" His eyes scanned the woods carefully, watching for anything out of the ordinary.

"Sing to me?" She paused and when he did not begin, she tilted her head up to look at him. "Please?" He let out a sigh and nodded a bit, giving in.

"Bonne nuit cher enfant. Quand tu dors dans mes bras le mond tourne en rond et le jour reviendra."True it was simple, not exactly the greatest of his musical repertoire, but it fit. Tempeste may have claimed that she was to take care of him, but he knew that she was his responsibility now, his child. And surprisingly, that didn't bother him in the least. So much better than being alone.

The night was long, and neither slept more than a few moments at a time, but they were warm enough, and dry enough to be reasonably comfortable. When sun's first light hit, Erik gently shook Tempeste awake and sat up. They were both hungry and he was going to need to find food soon. Leaving Tempeste with the job of finding more fire wood, he disappeared into the woods, searching for something that might provide sustinance to the both of them.

It was about two hours into the woods that he found it. A traveling carnival, stopped to rest in the woods. With any luck, it would still be there at night fall, and he could at least steal some grain from the horses to bring back. But he would have to be patient and wait. Turning on his heel, he crept back to the camp site, taking a seat next to Tempeste, explaining his plan in detail.

When night finally fell, the two children snuck back towards the gypsy encampment. Tempeste wrung her hands nervously...even from people as debase as the gypsies, she still felt squeemish about stealing.

"We need to survive, Tempeste. They won't miss it I promise you." Erik whispered, creeping towards the horses' feeding trough. Tempeste nodded and followed, her foot steps soft.

But something went wrong. The horses were not like so many other animals, calm around Erik. They began to stamp their hooves and whinny and rear and before the children could escape, strong arms were wrapped around them. A hand killed Tempeste's screams in her throat and the two were dragged into a near-by tent for interrogation...or at least Tempeste hoped there would be an interrogation and not just the execution.

"Trying to steal our horses, eh, thief?"

"Take off that mask and let us see who you are then."

Erik was struggling mightily, and though she couldn't see them, Tempeste knew that there were tears of pure terror in his eyes. She felt hot breath on her shoulder, a voice in her ear.

"What's a pretty little thing like you doing with a little monster like that?"

"TAKE OFF THE MASK!" The crowd was chanting it now and Tempeste's screams of protest were lost in the confusion. And then it was gone, the mask was removed and Erik's screaming died out. Tempeste couldn't tell if they had killed him or if he had just fallen unconcious, and she didn't care to know. Biting the hand that was holding her back, she struggled violently, attempting to reach her friend. But a sharp cuff to the side of the head sent her to ground, and into darkness.

AN: The song I used in this chapter is an old french lullaby to the tune of Brahm's lullaby. The translation is as follows : Good night dear child. When you sleep in my arms, the world turns around and the day returns. Or at least that's how I understand it to go. The next chapter is in the works and I'll be getting it out to you as quickly as possible. But for now, review review review.