(Well, this is it until I get back from vacation. I'll be gone for about 12 days, so don't expect much on my front for a looong while. I hope this'll be enough to keep ya!)
"I'm getting a bit bored…" Miro mutters to himself, trying to get into a comfier position with the horse. Yawning once, he looks up to the sky and then, remembering something, turns around. "How're you doing back there, Hugh?"
"GREAT…" Hugh spits, running at the same speed as Greaser's trot. He liked running, but he had never liked running as much as his father did. Was he going to start now? No.
"Okay, then." Miro replies, shrugging. "I was gonna slow Greaser down to a walk, but if you say you're doing okay…"
"Something tells me you said that before…" Hugh says between pants.
"Yep." Miro responds, nodding a bit. "But last time I did, I got nailed in the head by a chocolate bar. Too bad you don't have any."
"Yeah, too bad." Hugh mutters, quickly grabbing a rock from the road and hucking it to Miro. It bounced off of his skull, as planned.
"Oww!" Miro shouts, holding the back of his head tenderly. "Hey, watch the upper-body strength!"
Several more minutes passed before Hugh came with another question.
"Are we gonna be going like this until morning?" he questions,wiping some sweat from his forehead as he continued to run.
"Yep, if we keep this pace up." Miro replies, now lying out leasurely on Greaser, using his mane as a headrest. "I'm not sure, but I might be able to get some sleep like this."
"Lucky you…" Hugh hisses.
"Hey, you're the one that didn't want to get on the horse." Miro states, his eyes now closed. "Me, I like horses, mostly since I don't have to walk, or jog, like you have to now."
"Just shut up…" Hugh mutters, glaring at him despite his eyes being closed. "I wouldn't want to lose a friend by having to kick your-"
"I'm going to interrupt you just before you say an inappropriate word to tell you something," Miro states, his voice then changing to a more serious tone. "…We're being watched."
"Huh?" Hugh replies. "Hold on, hold on, stop the horse. How do you know?"
"Because…" Miro replies, giving Greaser's mane a tug to stop him and keeping his eyes closed. "I have a very neat little talent. I can hear small things if I focus hard enough. I can tell when there's a disturbance, even in the wind."
"…Sweet." Hugh states, slowing to a stop next to the horse. He then glances around. "Well… What is it? Where is it?"
"Umm…" Miro replies. "There's just one, and it's about the size of a… dog. I'd guess that it's a-"
Just then, a grey, sleek, fur-coated dog-like creature bounds up from the trees. It slows to a walk at the road, seeming to be limping slightly, and stops, sitting in front of them.
"…Wolf." Hugh says. He walks up to this one, kneeling down next to it and taking a look at its face. "Well, you don't look so bad. I wonder if you have any pals near here... What do you want?"
The animal lifts its paw up, being the one it limped on. Hugh nods his head a bit.
"Gotcha." Hugh says. "Umm, Miro, it looks like it's hurt. Do you have anything?"
"No." Miro replies.
Hugh stands up, turning to Miro. "Well, we can't just leave the poor thing. Not when it comes right up here, asking for…"
Hugh trails off after noticing something. In the surrounding bushes, several, several, several pairs of eyes stare out at them from the darkness, the occasional tongue sliding across unseen lips also visible. Hugh then turns to the wolf in front of them. It wasn't limping anymore.
"…help…" Hugh finishes, backing away anxiously. Miro, noticing the tone to his voice, opens his eyes curiously.
"What is it?" he inquires. Hugh doesn't answer, but motions quickly to the bushes beyond. Miro notices this as well and gulps.
"…Okay…" he begins. "…On the count of one… ONE!"
With that, Miro and Hugh both begin racing down the path, too quickly for the animals to react. Greaser was going at a full gallop, but motivation kept Hugh going at an equal pace. Immediately behind them, twenty or so grey wolves were giving chase, which made a certain thought pass through Hugh's head.
"MIRO!" he yells. "I THOUGHT YOU SAID THERE WAS ONLY ONE!"
"IT WAS AN ESTIMATE!" Miro replies, unfortunately still lying back on the horse, which allowed him to see the pack giving chase behind them. He gripped Greaser's mane for balance and occasionally kicked at the odd wolf that got in pouncing range.
"YOUR ESTIMATES SUCK!" Hugh snaps. Suddenly, a wolf jumped at him and clamped its teeth onto his upward-pointing tuft of hair. Hugh just kept running, though he looked quite uneasy of it.
"Hugh! Do you need any help!" Miro questions. "There's a wolf on your head-"
"I KNOW THERE'S A WOLF ON MY HEAD!" Hugh shouts, glaring at Miro. "AND IT TAKES FOREVER TO GET MY HAIR LIKE THIS!"
Hugh suddenly realises what he said. It was true, it took a lot of effort to get his hair into the perfect, curved point. And now this wolf ruined it just like that? He would not, NOT stand for this. Hugh suddenly stops running, using this momentum to swing the wolf once by his hair and cause it to let go at just the right time to plow into other wolves. He then glares at the ramaining ones, Miro stopping Greaser behind him.
"You are not getting away with this…" he growls, cracking his knuckles and looking up at what had happened to his hair. It was worse than he thought. "It… It's FRAYED! FEEL THE PAIN!"
Miro watches wide-eyed as a ferocious Hugh begins soundly beating the crap out of the hapless wolves. Squinting, he covers his eyes partially with his hand and peeks occasionally to see if he was done. After a few moments, Miro begins to bore of it.
"Hugh, they're- Hugh! Hugh, that's enough!" he calls, sighing once. "They're all leaving, the ones that can walk…"
Indeed, any of the conscious remaining wolves quickly beat a hasty retreat, yiping and scurrying off too quickly to even remember to put their tails between their legs. Hugh sighed, crossing his arms and turning to Miro.
"Well, let's go." he mutters.
And indeed they did go. They walked for what may have been half an hour before they came to a steep hill. It seemed familiar, and as they climbed the familiarity increased bit by bit. Finally, as they reached the top of the hill, they found themselves overlooking none other than Forget-Me-Not Valley, their home.
"Ah… Finally, the old place…" Miro says, smiling down at the quaint little village.
"Yep…" Hugh replies. "…But, umm, how are we here already?"
"We did run a long way…" Miro reminds him. "Wolves are nasty, but they'll give anybody good motivation. No harm, no foul."
"Says you." Hugh mumbles, putting his hands up to his hair in an attempt to fix it up a bit.
"Well, it was worth that much, I think." Miro states, slowly climbing off of Greaser. "You can go home now, Greas- AAAAH!"
His scream was due to stumbling a bit after dismounting Greaser, tripping over a stray rock, and proceeding to tumble and roll down the path heading into the Valley. Hugh begins to walk down, following along and chuckling.
"Been asking for that since we started this trip…" he murmurs to himself, still chuckling.
Once they had made it to the bottom of the slope and Miro had finished dusting himself off, the two of them begin toward the Inner Inn. As they walked, they noticed the unfathomably small, abandoned shed that used to house Galen back in the day.
"What are they gonna do with that thing now, anyway?" Miro inquires. Hugh just shrugs.
"We should cram our parents in there once we say we want our own place." Hugh replies. Miro thinks about it for a moment, and then shrugs.
Once they had crossed the bridge, the two proceed to the Inn and open its doors, stepping in quietly. They were immediately noticed by a busily-cleaning Ruby, who dropped her duster in shock and hurries over to them.
"Miro! Hugh! You're back!" she says, smiling at them gladly. "How have you two been? Is Kate back, too? And Lumina?"
"Umm…" Miro begins, deciding not to start major conversation just yet. "We're really just here to pick up something, but I'm sure everyone will be back soon." Hugh also nods to this.
"Is that right…?" Ruby replies, looking at them for a moment. "And what would that be…?"
"Whatever this key is for." Miro mentions, pulling the key from his pocket and showing it to her. Ruby's expression changes to something more serious for a moment.
"…I'm sure you two must be tired." She states quickly, forcing another smile onto her face. "Hugh, your parents are already in bed most likely, and Miro… you don't want to go to your farm just yet. I'll let you two sleep in the rooms tonight, free of charge. Rock's not in his, he's airing out on the Blue Bar roof right now. Had too much Stone Oil at another of his 'parties'."
"Umm… Well, okay." Hugh mutters. "Then we'll pick up the thing tomorrow morning."
"I'll sleep in the room Mom used to." Miro states. "I'm sure it's a bit musty by now, but… I guess it may feel like home, if I had some strange, phychic link with Mom before I was even born… or… something like that."
-
Having quietly escaped from their families' houses and met in the Town Square as planned, William and Ricca were now in the midst of enjoying a midnight stroll down the streets. This was more Ricca's plan than William's, however, as she was hoping this walk would clear his head of any Karrie-like thoughts. It seemed to be working, as well, since he had only mentioned her a few times in the beginning, and it had dwindled to basically nothing. Now, William was fairly silent, and neither of them spoke for several minutes. This silence was broken first by William.
"…I don't know… I feel plain, undefined…" he mutters, sighing once. "Everyone else seems so different from the average. I suppose that makes the average me."
"What?" Ricca replies, looking to him as they walked. This topic seemed to sneak in from nowhere. She doesn't remember a time that he had said something like that before. "No, you're not plain. You're as different as any of us…"
"I don't think so." William says, shaking his head a bit. "Back when I was… Whitey – When I had that power given by the Goddess – my feelings were almost completely held back. When Miro had it, he kept his feelings. It's like his were stronger than mine…"
"Or maybe the Goddess only made the power hold back your emotion so you wouldn't follow or help us." Ricca reminds him. "That way you would be able to find Daachan. Once Miro had the power, that part of it wasn't needed anymore."
"That could be it…" William says unsurely. "…Or maybe the Goddess was trying to do me a favor. Give me a cold personality that people would remember me by, not this Joe Normal one that I've had forever…"
"William, you have more personality now than you ever did as a taciturn white-haired thing." Ricca states, looking at his downcast eyes. "And you couldn't be completely plain, or you wouldn't match."
"What?" William asks, finally looking directly at her from this statement.
"Well, think about it." Ricca says. "Hugh is outward while Lumina's inward, Miro used to be very brooding while Kate was expressive, Matthew is smart while Anna is…"
"Sweet?" William finishes for her, a small smile on his face.
"Yes, of course, that's it." Ricca replies, laughing lightly. "Now… if I had to pick a word for myself, what would it be? Dark?"
"…If you had to pick a word, yes, that might be it." William replies, nodding a bit. "But there is a lot to you, you're very complex…"
"So…" Ricca begins, taking his hand and looking closer to him. "You must be something very different to counter how dark I am, or I wouldn't like you nearly as much as I do."
"Or maybe I'm very simple to counter how complex you are."
"Or maybe you're the opposite kind of complex from what I am." Ricca reminds him, undeterred that her romantic notion went ignored. "Maybe the problem isn't that you're simple, but you're a kind of complex that they haven't even found a word for. A very rare kind to counter the common, moody kind that I am."
"…Yeah. Yeah, that's it." William says, seeming to brighten up considerably. "Thank you, Ricca. I mean, simple people don't know that they're simple, right? I wouldn't even be thinking of this if I was as simple as I give myself credit for… But one thing..."
"What?" Ricca inquires.
"I don't think you're a common type of complex." William states. "Maybe… everyone who is complex is a unique type of it, and of the thousands of different types there are, you and I are opposites."
"…Yes. You know, that just might be it." Ricca says with a small smile.
"Well, this is quite a discovery. I think this calls for a special detour." William proclaims. "Let's go to Mother's Hill."
"And then what?" Ricca inquires.
"We'll think of something, I'm sure, being the complex people we are." William states with a smirk. Ricca returns it, and the two of them take a turn leading out of town and to the path of the Hill.
-
Miro wakes up from his amazingly comfortable, dozy sleep feeling refreshed and, for once, not stiff or sore. He had only slept in a real bed twice in the past weeks, and yes, still had the memory of waking up the first time locked in his mind. However, looking left and right, he was disappointed to see that he was neither flanked or pinned by two girls this time. Despite that, the sheets were comfy and that nearly made up for it.
Getting up, Miro smoothes his hair to the best of his care of how he looks, and walks to the door. He had forgotten to change out of his clothes when he went to bed, since he never did when he was out-of-doors. He had taken his shoes off and left them at his room door, however, so once he had reached it he pulled them on, stood up, rubbed his eyes, and opened his door.
Stepping out of his room door, he walks to the stairs, still rubbing one eye. Descending the stairs, he finds Hugh standing around in the waiting room, leaning against a wall and tapping his fingers against his arm.
"Finally." He mutters, seeing Miro. "You're a big sleeper, I've been waiting for hours!"
"Ugh… You're one of those 9pm to 5am types, aren't you…?" Miro mumbles, shaking his head a little.
"No, I'm a 9pm to 8 type. It's 10:15!" Hugh grumbles.
"Oh, pardon me for being damn normal…" Miro mutters.
Just then, Ruby scurries into the room from the kitchen, followed by a nervous-looking Tim. Both were carrying large trays of food.
"You two must be hungry after that trip!" Ruby states… almost demands. "We've fixed you nice, big breakfasts to fill you up! You're growing children, you need your vitamins!"
"Umm… I'm fifteen." Miro reminds her. "My growing's almost done. I may get a few more inches, but-"
"Almost means not, Miro!" Ruby says quite hoarsely, shoving her tray into his hands. "You need everything you can get!"
"Well… I'm nineteen, my growing probably is done…" Hugh says, shrugging a bit.
"Probably is means not, too!" Ruby replies, taking the tray Tim held and shoving it into Hugh's hands as well. "Now eat, and take your time! You don't want stomach cramps!"
Two minutes later…
"Oh, wow, that was great!" Miro says, licking his fingers despite using a fork for most of the food. Before him was a completely empty tray where once stood enough food to feed two people. "I haven't had a full meal in ages!"
"Yeah, this is a great change of pace!" Hugh says in agreement. They were in the kitchen, since that was the only place that really had a table. Hugh's tray was also completely empty.
A shocked Tim and Ruby look at each other, and then back to the two teens. Tim clears his throat and speaks.
"Well, you two had best be going, it's a big hike to Town…" he mutters. Miro looks at him, confused.
"What? Didn't Ruby tell you?" he inquires. "We need something from here that the girls said to bring."
"I- I'm not sure what they could possibly mean…" Ruby says, chuckling a bit and looking quite nervous. "We don't have anything like that…"
"They said it's in your basement, and that Muffy knows what it is." Hugh proceeds, getting up from the table. "So where is it?"
"Oh, Muffy's lying…" Tim says, nodding to himself. "You know her, that crazy broad…"
"Mm… I don't think so." Miro states, also getting up from his chair. "I have the key with me. Keys don't lie… other than key cards, because they're cards, not keys. Then again, they do open doors…"
"…Fine." Ruby finally says, sighing. "We'll show you to the basement, but we're not following you down."
Miro and Hugh nod, and Tim and Ruby escort them out of the kitchen, into their bedroom, and reveal a trapdoor beneath their carpeting.
"Go inside. You'll know what to use the key on." Tim states, reluctantly opening the trapdoor and revealing a dark staircase.
"Okay. Got it." Miro replies, nodding slightly. He and Hugh slowly proceed down the steps, the sound of Tim and Ruby scurrying away quite apparent behind them. The steps continue down about eight feet until they reach a solid, stone floor in a narrow hallway. Small lights on the stone-laden walls and the odd torch dimly lit the hall. As they proceeded, they met a dead end, to the right of which was a reinforced wodden door sporting a single, small window with three iron bars about head level with them.
Neither teen says anything, but obviously look a bit nervous at this kind of tight security. Miro looks down to the door handle, above which was a small keyhole. Miro reaches into his pocket for the key, and pulls it out carefully. He slowly brings it toward the keyhole, but is suddenly taken aback as a set of human teeth clamps onto one of the iron bars at the window, quite near his head. Miro and Hugh both jump back.
"…What the HELL is that?" Hugh shouts, keeping a wary eye on the teeth gripping to that bar. The rest of its face was too shadowed to determine much of anything. After a moment, the thing lets go, its face disappearing into the darkness and a voice, apparently male, speaks to them.
"Let me out…" it says slowly, all sorts of spite in its tone.
"Th-that's what I'm doing…" Miro stammers, swallowing and trying to calm himself down. "But… you have to come with us."
"Let me OUT!" it repeats, voice echoing and sounding infuriated. The other two flinch at this.
"Listen, listen…" Hugh says, holding his hands out. "We're letting you out, and we're bringing you somewhere…"
"Somewhere good." Miro adds.
"Yeah." Hugh agrees. "But you have to promise you'll come with us…"
"I…" the voice begins, holding to its angry tone "…will come with you."
"Oh, good." Miro says with a satisfied smile. "Then I'll just get this key in here, and…"
Miro put the key into the keyhole, turned it, and the moment after a click was heard the door was rammed down from the inside, falling down and landing on a hapless Miro and Hugh. The person quickly came out of the room, stepping on the door and therefore also Miro and Hugh, and is heard running part of the way down the hall, and then suddenly stopping.
Hugh pushed the door off of himself with an effort and then stood up, allowing Miro to crawl out of the way before he let the door fall to the ground again.They then both look toward the person, who was standing about six meters down the hall and facing them. He stood near a light, allowing them to see a fair amount of him. He wore what seemed to be a yellow short sleeved button-up shirt with a red shirt underneath. He also had green eyes and a very vibrant, hyperactive expression to him. What was most shocking about his features, and what caused both Miro and Hugh to gasp in surprise, was that he looked amazingly similar in age and structure to Miro, the only difference being this person's bright, blonde hair. He even had a pair of gloves similar to his own…
"…Wh…" Hugh begins, trailing off quickly.
"…Who… Who are you!" Miro says, staring wide-eyed at the guy.
"Heheheheheheh… HAHAHAHA!" the teen laughs, looking quite… happy to be out of his cell. He calms down after a moment and looks at the two. "Call me… Bry." He states.
"Hm… Well, Bry, you've got to come with us now." Miro says, getting over his shock after a moment. "So… let's go."
"…Yeah, oh sure, yeah, RIGHT!" Bry replies, laughing at this statement. "Now that I'm finally out, there's no WAY I'm letting you guys tell me what to do! I'll go wherever I want!"
"Tch, then I guess you want to go to the emergency room…" Hugh states, cracking his fingers and beginning to walk to Bry. "You're coming with us, or you're facing the Hughmeister."
Bry smiles strangely at this, and instead of running, takes two steps back for preparation and rushes at Hugh, jumping and aiming a startling drop-kick dead center on Hugh's chest. Hugh is knocked off balance, falling down backwards and quite nearly crushing Miro, who managed to dodge just in time. Bry landed on his hands and feet and quickly gets up, facing away.
"Goodbye, Hughmeister." He says, chuckling.
Miro took this time to run at him, but Bry quickly presses himself against a wall to let Miro run past him, kicks off of the wall at an angle to jump right over Miro with a flip, and then placed his foot on Miro's chest in mid-air and pushes off of him, using him as a launch pad to begin running down the hall. Miro is pushed back and falls backwards onto the floor. Bry is heard quickly running up the stairs and laughing happily, if not a bit insanely. Quickly, his voice had vanished.
Miro and Hugh both get up, shaking their heads and looking around.
"Man…" Miro mumbles, looking to Hugh. "How did that happen? We were both owned by a guy locked in a cell for who-knows-how-long…"
"Ugh, and the kid runs like the wind…" Hugh mutters. "How could he be that fit?"
Miro was curious of this as well. He quickly walks to the doorway, looking in.
"…A treadmill…" Miro states, noticing it. He then squints to get a better look at it. "…With 60,000 miles on it…"
"What!" Hugh exclaims. "That's almost double what I've done!"
"There's also a weight bench and a yoga mat." Miro observes. "Great, so he's had nothing to do but become a fast, flexible super-fighter…"
"Looks to be." Hugh says. He then noticed the door on the ground. "And look at the hinges… Seems he's been pounding at that door for a long time. The lock mighta been the only thing holding the door up at all…"
"I wonder if there's a hole that they dropped food through…" Miro wonders, partly to himself. He then looks up, and notices one such hole. "Oh, there is…"
"We'd better go find him." Hugh states, deciding to leave other questioning for later.
"Yeah." Miro replies. "Who knows how long it'll be before he finds the path out of the Valley…"
The two immediately begin to run, ascending the stairs as quickly as they could.