Kitty: HOYO! Okay...done, time for story, Digimon is coming on! YAY!

Chapter Three

In the Arms of Her Captor

She slowly opened her eyes. Blood had rushed to her head and feet, an immense pain was digging into her stomach and she had the mother of all headaches. She took in her surroundings with surprising clarity and placidity. She ankles were bound together and so were her wrists. A long rope tied her wrists and ankles together under the belly of the beast she was thrown over. A slight trickle of blood ran the down the side of her face.

She couldn't escape...maybe if the beast jumped she could fall off the hindquarters and the hooves would slip right through the rope. Then she'd be stranded on the ground, hobbled like an unruly pony. She wouldn't be able to run and she'd be even more hurt. Plus, her pride would be hurt when they turned around and threw her back on the bedamned beast called a horse. Her eyes closed and she sighed silently. Her father did warn her.

Finally, the wretched beast stopped moving. She had begun to wish she had stayed unconscious, it was like being on the ocean. She hated traveling, of any kind, ocean, horse, or carriage. The person riding the horse, in the saddle and therefore half-comfortable, dismounted carefully so not to jostle her. Not that the clod could jostle her anymore than she was already jostled, bedamned.

"Iz ze girl okay?" asked an accented feminine voice. The rider that held her captive grabbed her under the chin. She glared daggers at the black eyes in the wide brown face.

"If looks could kill, Sami, our quiet captive would've burnt me crispier than your cookin'!" he grinned. "Raven Ironarm, am I correct?"

"If you can't any recognize your kidnappee your in serious trouble, braggart." Raven Ironarm spat.

"Her tongue's angrier than her eyes, we should tell Boss she's goin' to be trouble."

"Well, damn, I hoped to surprise him." Raven smiled sweetly. The large brown man blinked.

"She has more than a sharp tongue, Cy, she's a dirty mouth, too." another man dismounted.

"Robert, look at the position she's in-"

"Yes, please do, and get me the bloody down!" Raven exclaimed. Robert shook his head and helped down the woman named Sami.

"If you insist." Cy grinned and cut the long rope and lifted her bodily off the horse.

"Put me down, you lackwit! Put me down!" Raven pounded on his back with her numb hands.

"What is that noise?" demanded a loud voice from inside. A lean man, shorter than Cy, threw open the door of the small house they had stopped at. His right arm was bandaged and his face darkened by five 'o' clock shadow. Of course, Raven didn't see him.

"Sorry, Boss, this Lady has quite a temper." Cy grinned.

"You've just seen the tip of the bloody iceberg, you great, big, lummox! Now, put me down this instant!" Raven shouted. The Boss's green eyes darkened.

"Are you sure that's Raven Ironarm? No proper lady would speak that way."

"You get thrown over a hit in the bloody head, get thrown over a bloody beast's rump, and then get thrown over this bloody lump's shoulder and see how you bloody feel!" Raven screamed.

"She zeemz to like zat word, doez she not, Robert?" Sami noted looking at Robert. He suppressed a grin.

"Yes, it seems she does." Robert agreed.

The Boss jerked his head to Cy, irritated. Cy walked into the house.

"Bozz, zir, would you like to rub ze down on ze 'orzez?" Sami asked a little confused. The Boss grimaced and touched his shoulder.

"No. I'll deal with the chit." He turned briskly away, clearly angry. Sami's face was downcast.

"Zomezing I zaid waz wrong?" Sami asked sadly.

"Well, not exactly. Let's groom the horses and go over your English some more." Robert suggested, grabbing the reins to his and Cy's geldings. Sami rubbed her mare's nose and followed him.

Raven let out a loud 'oof' as Cy dropped her onto the ground. She glared up at him when green filled her vision.

"EEK!" she threw herself back ward, sprawling back. Those beautiful green eyes blinked and then the Boss threw back his head and laughed.

"It should've known you were all bark and no bite." He grabbed her chin and looked at her closer. Her mouth twisted and she slammed her tied hands into his stomach.

"You knew wrong, cad! Release me at once!" Raven demanded, tossing black hair over her shoulder. She glared defiantly up at the Boss. "You will find I have as much bite as I've bark, boss."

"I will enjoy gagging you then, milady." He grinned, nose almost touching hers.

"What do you want with me? Or should I say my father's fortune?" Raven interrogated.

"You father took something precious from us. We intend to get it back." The Boss rose to his feet. "Gag her if her words become offensive again." He strode from the room.

Cy looked down at her. He seemed sympathetic, his eyes entreating her to comply to his Boss's requests. She glanced away from the kindness, scared her trembling would be noticed and she burst into tears. Cy left the small room to another in the back.

Raven struggled and finally rested her back against the wall. She looked at her guard, Cy. He had broad shoulders, black eyes, large hands and beautiful chocolate skin. He was the most handsome black she had ever seen. Her racist bastard of a father probably would've had her killed if he ever found out about her thoughts. He was extremely kind for a kidnapper, and had secretly loosened he bonds and refused to gag her. Of course, that didn't stop her from taking advantage and loosing the caustic side of her tongue at anyone, though she spared him...a bit.

The only woman of the group, Sami, had a French accent, but did not especially look it with her flaming red hair, large green eyes, and glowing skin. She had none of the pompous, powdered wings of the nobility of her people. Of course, Raven doubted Sami had ever met the nobility or even liked them. She was in England after all. Sami had a curvaceous body, a bright smile with beautiful teeth, and the most bubblebutted personality ever, that worked very well for her.

Robert was broody, quiet, and refrained from laughing, though his mouthconstantly twitched. He had dark black hair, just about Sami's height, and dark brows. His baby blue eyes struck out at you from what at first glance seemed a dark face. He had a low voice that could make any sane woman melt and for some reason...he seemed so bloody familiar!

Green eyes blossomed in her mind's eyes and she pushed away thoughts about the ever elusive, prat that was the 'boss'.

Her head fell backwards and hit the wall behind her softly. Her hands were uselessly lying her lap and her legs curling up so her feet touched her bottom. Her shoulders began to shake and hot tears trailed down her face. She bit her lip and tried to calm herself, but it didn't work. She could only succeed in making no noise. So, she let the tears fall, no longer fighting them.

The Boss slipped quietly out of his room. He rolled his eyes seeing Cy fast asleep. His eyes narrowed seeing no captive. He was about to kick Cy when a glint caught his eye.

Raven Ironarm was curled against the wall. Black hair fell like a waterfall of black silk to the floor. Her head was back, her creamy pale throat exposed to the moonlight. The glint that had caught his eye was the silver filigree embroidered on the black skirt. Her bodice was tight against her chest and her sleeves stopped at her elbows, lace edged the neckline and sleeves. Soft lips were opened slightly and he kneeled at her side. He flinched slightly seeing tears tracking her beautiful face, thick eyelashes still sparkling from unshed tears.

He gently picked her up and laid her on the floor. He pulled off his over tunic, folded it, and cradled her head to set it beneath her. He brushed hair away from her mouth and stood, abruptly leaving the room. He didn't see Cy's grin.

"Milady, wake up." urged a voice.

Raven stirred and felt something soft under her cheek. Turning her face slightly and smelled horse, hayseed, and some curiously intoxicating scent. She opened her eyes and saw a dark forest green cloth folded behind her head. She blinked curiously.

"Whose is this?" She inquired of Sami. Sami bit her lip.

"I believe I know not. Wake, pleaze." Sami pleaded. Raven complied, only because Sami was the only other woman in the vicinity.

"When will I be able to go home?" Raven asked.

"When we get what we want." a gruff low voice answered. She jumped and turned.

"You cur." she hissed.

"Angry because I scared you?"

"Startled me, sir, you only startled me. It will not happen again, I assure you."

"Assure away. Now, you will eat. Can't have our hostage half-starved, now can we?"

"Go to hell." Raven replied. She blushed as her stomach growled.

"Shall I leave your breakfast behind, or take it with me?" he asked, eyes amused.

"When haff you eaten lazt, milady?" Sami asked anxiously.

"I don't eat breakfast, bedamnit, and you kidnapped me before afternoon tea." Raven snapped. The Boss's eyebrows snapped together.

"You haven't eaten in an entire day. You will eat now, or I will force feed you."

"I repeat: Go. To. Hell. I will not eat your food." Raven looked away, her stomach growling gain. "Oh, bloody 'ell. Shut up, you stupid stomach." Her face was grabbed in a way that made her mouth open and a spoon of delicious oat stirabout was forced down her throat. "Oo infoent feece of ob urd." she choked through a mouthful of oats.

"I have a feeling that wasn't a pleasant 'thank you' and 'give my regards to the chef'. Here's another bite before you can insult me more in front of my followers. They will start to lose respect for me with your tongue cutting at me." Raven glared at him, an oat falling from her mouth. He laughed.

"Stop goading her, Boss, you'll just make it worse." Robert spoke up suddenly, reviewing a piece of paper. Raven frowned, her interest piqued, wondrering what was on the paper. Another spoon was shoved in her mouth.

"When milady learns manners, I won't have to goad her." Raven managed to swallow.

"Shove it up your ar-umph!" she choked.

"Very bad manners. It seems you will grow fatter than a stuffed pig before you are gone from our good company." The Boss bowed while still kneeling. Raven 'hmph'ed, pissed.

"Sir, it's Jade." said Cy at the door, breathless. The bowl fell to the ground, the spoon still in her mouth.

"What is wrong with him?"

"I seems a burr was lodged in his blanket. It scratched him good, sir." Cy explained.

"Take me to him." he commanded, his eyes narrowed. "Don't slither away, little serpent." She spit out her spoon.

"Stuff it, you overgrown pompous turkey!"

"Why, I think she's using up all her insults. That one didn't hurt near as badly." he disappeared out the door with Cy.

"Stupid prat." Raven muttered.

"He iz very kind. He iz juzt...un'appy right now." She looked over at Robert, who shook his head.

"If you insist, Sami, but I beg to differ, or agree to disagree. But that porridge is delicious." Raven admitted.

"Zen you muzt eat more, ma cherie!" Sami exclaimed, running to grab another spoon.

Navy blues eyes met baby blue. Both stared, without words.

"What iz wrong? Did she zay der-tee wordz again?" Sami asked, returning with a clean spoon.

Robert rose and left without a word. Raven frowned, pensive once again.

Later that night

"Must I keep on these horrid ropes? They chaff badly." Raven said suddenly as the Boss was mending tack.

"Zir, she iz very quiet now. She will ztay good, yez milady?" Sami pleaded with wide eyes.

"If these ropes are taken off I will be a much better hostage." Raven agreed. The Boss growled.

"Damn you, Sami, and your soft heart." He took out a dagger from his boot and untied the ropes that bound her wrists and ankles. His eyes widened. "What is wrong with them?"

"They are swollen and blistered and who knows what else, you ruffian. I was never tied in ropes for two days straight and therefore my skin is soft and unused to such treatment." Raven snapped rubbing her sore painful skin.

"I am sorry. I have been in a terrible mood these days." His head was lowered. Raven blinked in surprise.

"That gives you no reason to manhandle me, brute! What have I done to you?" She questioned angrily. She stopped him before he opened his mouth, "Giving you the sharp side of my tongue was after the fact you conked me on the head, and tied me to a bloody horse. I hate traveling, especially as trussed up baggage!"

"Have you done it often then? Become trussed up baggage, I mean?" His eyes twinkled mischievously. Her mouth worked uselessly. He grinned and got up.

"Stupid prat." she muttered.

"You've zaid zat already. Bozz iz right. You are running out of wordz." Sami pointed out. Raven crossed her arms over her chest and sulked.

"What is taking your father so long?" Cy asked, suddenly irritated.

"He probably won't come." Raven said quietly. They all turned.

"What do you mean?" Robert asked just as quietly.

"He is a callous man, more practical than honorable. He is a miser and hates women. He believes them only to be cattle. A heifer should produce babies and milk, period. Because my mother died giving birth to me, he hates me. You should have kidnapped my sister, Teri.

"She is more beautiful and much more loved by our father, even by a hair's width, which says much. She has eyes the color of summer sky and hair the color of gold. She is very brave. If anyone would come to my aid, it would be she. She dotes on me something terrible because-because I'm am the baby sister." She looked anywhere but at her kidnappers.

"Your fazer doez not love you? But-"

"Quiet, Sami." Robert interrupted harshly. He walked to Raven's side. "Tell me of your mother." She gazed up at him surprised.

"She was beautiful. She had raven black hair and eyes like yours and my sister's. She loved the sun, ocean, flowers, and children, she loved everything. Everything but my father. She feared and pitied him. I have a simple miniature of her hidden in my bedroom chamber. My sister saved it for me from my father's rage when Mother died. She said, when she was little, mother would leave for many hours for the garden. She would return smelling of roses and laughter. My sister is strange like that. She said mother was only happy during the times she was gone in the garden." Raven looked at him curiously. "Why do you have my mother and sister's eyes?"

"Why do you have neither your father's nor mother's eyes?" he retorted. Raven looked to the floor.

"Let me go, please. I will bring no ransom, nothing. My sister will be foolhardy and will come seeking your blood. Let me go. I will be happy in the convent. I was heading there when you snatched me."

"Convent? Why a convent, milady?" Sami asked surprised.

"I...I will have to go anyway. In the company of three strange men, bandit men no less, for two nights? No, my father would probably pretend I have died and send me there if I return. Let me go." Raven began to plead.

"No." She glanced up at the Boss, who was leaning against the wall. "We do not want your father's money, we want a life. I life he stole from us. We intend to get it back."

"A life?"

"He stole my sister and Bri-Boss's fiancé. We want her back." Robert said. Raven looked up at the Boss. Bri...his name begins in Bri.

"I heard nothing of a girl taken by my father. How old is she?"

"It is none of your concern."

"But Br-Boss, she's lived there all her life!"

"It doesn't matter. We will await her sister." He left the room.

"That is ridiculous! My sister will either run you through with her sword or bludgeon you all with its hilt, or maybe both! My sister has a wild temper!" Raven exclaimed.

"She wields a sword?" Cy asked incredulous.

"Better than many a man." Raven replied proudly. She loved her sister immensely. The only person she loved besides the mother she never met.

"I would love to meet her." Cy rubbed his chin with a large hand.

Raven threw back her head and laughed so loudly and long she cried.

"You would like to meet her? She would kill you, you great giant, in less than a second! She is fleeter than a deer. You won't be able to hear her, let alone see her! She will run you through and laugh! She was born a knight within a girl's body and has never loveda man that I know of. She loves only me and I only her. You are even more foolish than your Boss." Raven laughed again clutching her sides.

"At least you aren't heartless, I was beginning to wonder." came the cool voice of the green-eyed idiot.

"Stuff it where it counts, boss." Raven said sweetly. "Now, I'm off. Nature calls." She curtsied with a sardonic smile and swept away.

"Ugh...I'm beginning to smell. Four days and not one bath! My hair is disgusting, my gown, too! My teeth are about to rot out of my mouth! I hate being dirty!" Raven cried to the faded papered walls of the privy. She didn't really need to go. She just used it as an excuse to get away. She hated being dirty by herself and hated it more with people around.

"Zere iz a ztream wizin the woodz. We use it in ziz wedder. You may if I come wiz you." Sami suggested on the other side of the door. Raven blushed. She quickly went to the door.

"I am sorry! I have been occupying the W.C. without even needing it when others did. Excuse my rudeness." Raven curtsied out of habit. Sami smiled.

"I know you need time alone and dizlike being around ozerz unclean. I detezte the feeling myzelf. I will uze the toilet. You muzt find clean cloz!" Sami shooed her away with a wide grin.

"Um, Cy? I need clean garments. I wish to wash. I reek." Raven said bluntly after a moment of hesitancy. Cy grinned as widely as Sami.

"Sure thing, Milady. Boss's mother has a few things that may fit you." Cy told her.

"His mother? But...are we at his home?" She asked disbelievingly.

"This was his parents'. They died when he was two. He grew up in an orphanage and then ran away and grew up the rest of his years on the streets. Slums of London's best pickpocket and womanizer. He met up with us and started this gang. He found Robert in the slums, looking for his sister. Ever since, Bri-Boss has been looking, too. Their parents were old families that were killed by your father-I'm sorry." Cy stopped suddenly. Raven merely looked interested, however.

"For what? My father is a blackard without a heart and a shriveled dick." Raven said stoic. Cy gaped. "I hate him for killing my mother. She died miserable and he blamed it on me. I love her more than my heart can contain, how could I have killed her when leaving her womb? I loved her even more then, I imagine, for I knew her from the inside, I shared her heartbeat. No, my father is the bastard that killed her, her life, her dreams, and her youth. Teri has sworn to me she will kill him when I am safe and married to my betrothed. That was her pledge as a child. But we could not find any papers on my intended and now have given up on my safety and pledged to kill him as one, as sisters, forever after."

"This is her ladyship's rooms." Cy said weakly. Raven entered, immediately falling in love.

"'Tis beautiful!" Raven sighed happily.

The walls were covered in cream colored paper with lines of faded dark blue dragonflies with green and gold wings. The floors were of dark wood and creaked romantically beneath even her light step. A large canopy bed was set on a dais. The bed was the only thing not dusty. It was of dark mahogany and large Roman pillars held up the rotting velvet burgundy drapes that fell to the floor. The pillows were fluffed and were covered in forest green satin and silk with throw pillows of burgundy. The thick covers were filled with goosedown and the sheets were of creamy colored satin. Her hand stroked the wood and she moved quickly to the giant armoire, trying hard not to fall in love. She threw open the doors and gasped.

Gowns of every color and pattern glittered inside the darkness. Slippers for each gown lay on the bottom. Pulling open drawers on the bottom, she found simple gowns of rich colors. She chose a dark blue skirt of strong cotton and a loose blue blouse. She found undergarments in another drawer and quickly pulled them out. She lastly grabbed a strong, leather belt and leather slippers.

"Thank you, Cy. I will give my thanks to your Boss when I see him." She curtsied with one hand and rushed to Sami's calling voice.

Raven swam beneath the cold waters of the slow moving river. Sami had shown her where to bathe with scented soap found somewhere within the bowels of the creaky manor where the soap would not jeopardize the fish or other living creatures. She surfaced the water and treaded it quietly, her hair floating around her. Privacy at last. And blissful cleanliness! She giggled giddily, happy as always when bathing or just out of the tub. Teri had often teased she would make an excellent cat were it not for her love of bathing without using her tongue. Hm...that sounds oddly sensual...of course not when I'm doing the tongue-bathing part! Oh, my! Ladies do not think that! Wantons and whores do! Bad Raven! She scolded herself sharply in her mind, astonished at herself.

Green eyes scanned the river briefly, relieved seeing black hair waving as if alive in the weak current. He leaned against a tree and closed his eyes. Sami had to return because Robert was having another attack and needed her. Cy was busy with his baby, his garden of all the unmanly things, and he had nothing to do. So, he was opted for Raven's chaperone.

She walked out of the water, wringing out her hair tightly. She brushed it to let it dry quicker and lay out in the sun to dry herself. She wriggled into the coarse, if clean, blanket Sami had left out for her. Yummy. She blushed. Nobody can see you, chit, now stuff it where it belongs and dry off! Plus, being lazy in the sun is delicious! Teri was right, I would make the perfect cat if it wasn't for my love of water.

She dressed and pulled the green tunic over her blue blouse, and fitted the belt over her hips. She knew the tunic didn't really match...but she loved the smell of it. It reminded her of a small pillow she carried around as a child until her father burned it. It made her feel safe for some reason. And it was clean compared to her black gown. She bit her lip.

"You bloody inconvenient thing." She toed her gown folded on the blanket.

"Are you quite done? I've been waiting all afternoon. I'm surprised the others haven't come running to see if I've killed you yet."

"Or if I've killed you, peeping Tom!" Raven countered yanking off her shoe and flinging it with deadly accuracy at his head. He fell with a loud thud and didn't rise. Raven let out a strangled cry. "I didn't mean to kill you, twit! Wake up!" She cried rushing to his side and falling to her knees at his side. She leaned over his chest to feel if he was breathing.

"I'm not going to die because you've got good aim with a shoe. If it had wooden heels, yes, no heels, no." He grinned up at her and she flushed.

"You braggart! You played false!" She sat hard on her legs so she was still in a kneeling position. Her hand touched his head briefly. "Did I hurt you overmuch? I forgot I bested my sister at dagger throwing and slingshot."

"I'm glad you've not a dagger on your beautiful person then. You'd have speared me like an apple."

"Oh...stuff it where it belongs. What is your name, Bri?" He started at her question.

"Why?"

"My sister said I would make a perfect cat. My curiosity is one of the reasons she said so."

"Briar." He said suddenly as she arranged her skirt to sit better.

"Hm? Where?" She looked around for a tangle of thorns.

"Me. I'm Briar." He said. She looked at him. She leaned back and looked him critically up and down.

"You do not look the part of any thorny vine...excuse me, you are male, you must be." She continued arranging her skirts waiting for his reaction. He laughed loudly.

"You amuse me endlessly with your pertness. What else are you? Curious, pert...?"

"Hungry...and cold." She said after thinking hard. He chuckled deeply, making her blood warm.

"I have a way of making you warm..."

"I think it's already taking affect without your knowledge." She blurted.

"Really? I haven't even started yet." Briar grasped her shoulders firmly.

"This is hardly decent conversation." she said shakily.

"I'm a bandit. I don't really care." He pushed her to the ground, lips pressing against hers hungrily. Arms went around his neck, soft lips hungrily kissing him back.

When did this happen? And he smells...he smells like the tunic. It was him! He gave it to me! Raven realized. She made a noise of exclamation.

"What? Oh, god, I'm sorry!" Briar began to back away and she tightened her hold.

"No, no. It's...the tunic...thank you." She kissed him again.

Teri pushed her bangs from her face. She adjusted her sword and re-did her high ponytail. She reined her horse short and jumped off to check the road. She grinned mercilessly. The Hectered HouseWay Manor was just ahead. The Hectereds had died many years ago and the place deserted. Just the place for kidnappers of beautiful, wealthy daughters of nobility. And these five-day-old tracks did nothing to sway her theory. She swung back into Kilter's saddle and panted his neck reassuringly.

"No one takes my beloved baby sister from me and gets away with it!" She whispered fiercely.

"Ssssteeth, Briar, it stings!" Raven hissed lowly.

"Wow, not cursing a bluestreak? Maybe I have tamed you, Milady." Briar's eyes laughed.

"Not a chance, you arrogant ass." Raven said without real venom.

"I should've done this the moment you awoke. At least when I cut them off. I'm afraid I was a bit-"

"Of a clod. Yes, yes, I know that, just finish up already!" Raven excused him impatiently.

The others bit back their giggles and smiles at the fondly fussing couple. Briar was putting salve and bandages on her wrist and ankles, still swollen and chaffed from the ropes. Sami put her arms around Robert's waist and laid her head upon his shoulder. He smiled and lay his head on hers. Cy smiled wistfully thinking of the day he and his dream beloved could be together and plant a beautiful garden. He was a bit embarrassed when anyone called him to it, but he loved growing things. He wanted someone to share that with.

"Sami...why did you leave me to come back here the other day I went to bathe?" Raven asked suddenly looking towards her friend. Anything to distract her from the pain.

"Robert haz ztrange breazing attackz. I help him becauze I know zome of the healing craftz." Sami explained.

"Breathing attacks?"

"The doctor calls it asthma." Robert told her.

"He would be fine if he didn't overexert himself!" Briar snorted, annoyed.

"And if you'd clean this dust mote inn!" Robert retorted hotly.

"How about a little of both?" Raven suggested.

"We have to keep her, Briar! She's smart, if hot-tempered." Cy teased.

"You have yet to meet Teri. She makes up a whole new word just for herself and her temper." Raven giggled.

"I would like meet your sister. If you trust her with your life, she must be a woman of perfection." Briar pushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

"She is. You must be perfection yourself also. I would trust you with my life. Hm...it seems your theory is in question. I see obvious flaws here." Raven replied tapping her bottom lip thoughtfully.

"Really, such as what?"

"Your insufferable bigheadedness. Oh, and your lack of wit, height-" Raven ticked off with her fingers.

"Please stop, you could go on all night." Briar said with a hand up, unoffended.

"Why, yes, I could." Raven agreed. Their companions laughed.

"I was right! You are taking their respect from me!" Briar cried outraged. He finished his bandaging and she stood shaking her brown skirt she had changed into that morning.

"Why, I could never do such a thing!" Raven's eyes sparkled.

"Really? Why not?" Cy asked waiting expectantly.

"Because he never had respect to begin with, only fond disapproval." Raven replied.

"You snot nosed little chit of mine! I will pin you to the floor and-"

"Do wicked, naughty thing to me? Please do, I have read so much about them in books." She said, barely restraining her laughter and clasping her hands in front of her. He leapt from the floor and she shrieked.

Gathering up her skirt, she fled, still laughing. She pushed open the doors and ran, breathless and flushed. She looked behind her and shrieked seeing him bearing down on her. Neither saw the figure looming of the darkness.

It was dark. The stars shined brightly and it was warm, strange for England's night so far into fall. Raven remembered everything in blaring clarity as he lay there.

He had caught her. His arms twining around her waist. They fell laughing and she shrieking in a tumble. He pinned her to the ground.

"Wicked naughty things?" Raven asked playfully.

"Very much, I promise, my love." Briar whispered.

He looked so devastatingly beautiful smiling roguishly down at her. His green eyes were almost black in the shadows of his face. His hair fell around his face, glinting green in the moonlight. His five 'o' clock shadow still covered his face, but it felt utterly sinful when he kissed her, roughly tickling her face. Then, he convulsed.

Blood splattered on her face, spraying from his mouth. Warmth spread over her belly and a glare of starlight on metal shined between their bodies. His eyes were wide and unseeing as he arched towards her, Teri above him, her boot against his back to pull out her blade. His body was so heavy. Strange, for he was so small, barely seeing over her head, and his body naturally lean made more so from lack of food.

"I have slain your molester. I will always protect you, little sister." Teri said emotionlessly looking at him. She kicked him off of Raven. Raven let out a strangled cry.

"What have you done, my beloved sister?" Raven asked in odd voice.

"Slain your kidnapper. The monster was trying to rape you, you do not feel sorry for this vermin, surely?" Teri asked amazed. Her eyes widened as Raven let out a sound so inhuman it was bone-chilling. "Rae?"

"I loved him! He called me 'my love'. He loved me, too! I never...I never told him. No, Teri, no! He is my soulmate! What have you done, sister?"

Teri dropped to her knees. Her bloodstained sword falling into the dew soaked grass.

"Rae, you were shrieking-"

"We were playing a game of chase! No, no, my love, do not be dead!"

"Raven?"

"Friend?"

"Briar!" Cy rushed to Briar's side. "No."

"Yes...I killed him. What have I done to you, little sister?" Teri cried. She tried to hug her, but Raven flinched violently.

"I hate you, but cannot bear it. Oh sister, I love you, but hate you so! I cannot feel so much! I will explode! I cannot bear my pain or hatred! My love!" Raven wept into his shirt and her hand reached to his boot.

"Raven, what are you doing?" Sami asked quietly, too shocked to feel.

"Ending it. I cannot live without him. Even if I could, I could not stand to hate you, killer of my heart and beloved sister." Raven raised her hand, the knife gleaming.

"No-" Robert's strangled cry ended as Raven stabbed herself through the breast. Her heart's blood pounded through the wound, pouring over Briar's tunic.

She died, her mouth pressed to the corner of his, their life's blood mingled in death.

"It has been a year." Cy said quietly looking at the small gravestones. Teri nodded, her hand on her protruding stomach.

"I miss her so. I was so hot headed! I killed my sister's love and ended her life as well." Teri wept bitterly in Cy's shoulder.

"But all iz well now. They are togezer, zat iz all zat matterz." Sami stated, placing forget-me-nots in between the markers.

Robert had told after Raven had died that his mother and Teri and Raven's mother were the same person. Seri Ironarm was forced into marriage after Slade Ironarm brutally raped her. Teri was born from that union. Three years later, she fell in love with a simple stablehand her own age of seventeen. Though she did not want to be an adulteress, Slade found out about her love and the stableboy's return of the feeling, he forced them to commit adultery in front of him and then beat her brutally making the young man watch. Slade then killed the boy. He was a twisted, sick man, and though he had done so much, and continued to do so, Seri only pitied him. She died in childbirth because hitting her one day induced the labor three weeks before time.

Raven and Robert were twins and the wet nurse fed them both, but after they were weaned, much too early, the nurse was forced to take Robert with her. She had no funds to provide for him and sent him to the orphanage, but visited him to tell him a twisted version of the story saying his twin sister was stolen by Duke Slade Ironarm. He escaped to reclaim his sister when he found, or was found by, Briar Hectered, who had run away from his orphanage. Briar found out when he was fifteen he was engaged to the very girl he was helping to find and they started to work as bandits so not use his parents' funds to find her.

"I wish we could've become siblings, twin, but it was not meant to be." Robert clenched his fists to keep the tears at bay.

"We will be siblings for her." Teri whispered, repeating the same phrase he had told her before.

They split the bunch of flowers in Teri's hand in two bunches and both fell to their knees, Robert helping the very pregnant Teri. They set the snowdrops onto their graves and Robert helped her back to her feet after a few moments of silence.

"I love you, Raven. And I love you, Briar, because my dear little sister did. Forgive me, please." Teri begged for the thousandth time.

A gentle rain broke even though the sun was out.

"That's not a good omen." Cy said quietly.

"Yes, it is, my one and only. Raven adored playing in the rain and wished on her wedding it would rain down upon her while she said 'I do' and while she danced with her beloved." Teri smiled, throwing back her head. Tears ran down her face as she cried. The other three did the same, dealing with their grief differently, but all gaining strength from the little downpour with the sense of their friends within it.

V V V

Kitty: I liked this! I wonder, do you know what's going on yet? Are you confused out of your tiny little minds? MUAAHAHAHAHAH- hack cough Nvm, insert evil laugh here There, evil laugh, done.