With his hands still up, Darren slowly approached the thief but stopped when she quickly turned to him with the knife still in her shaky grip.
"I-I told you to stay back!" The girl yelled as she backed up again. Taking another step back, she bumped into the wall behind her and panicked slightly. She was trapped with her back literally up against the wall as Cooper covered the exit of the alleyway along with Darren and Declan coming from the entrance. Darren attempted to calm her down.
"Hey," Darren said as the thief focused on him. "I'm not looking for any trouble. I just want my money back. I promise." He couldn't see much of the girl's face except for her mouth due to a hood covering her head, but he could still tell from her slight movements that she took a few quick looks at Cooper and Declan.
"I don't trust you," she said as she slowly steeled herself. "The promise of a stranger means nothing to me."
"Then what can I do to have you trust me?" The thief seemed to stare at him for a moment as if wondering whether Darren's words were genuine. After a moment or two, she made her request.
"Call off your…" she paused and looked at Declan still at Darren's side for a moment, "beasts and maybe we can talk about this. Actions speak louder than words." Darren thought on it for a moment and answered.
"I'll pull them back to the ends of the alleyway. No more, no less." The thief seemed to contemplate for a moment, then she decided.
"Fine."
Darren turned towards his zerglings for a moment to order them but saw a flash of movement out of the corner of his eye. Moving on pure instinct, he ducked and felt the air above his head distort as the thief's fist flew through where his head was a second ago trying to get in a sucker punch. Capitalizing on the thief's surprise at her miss, Darren kicked one of her legs out from under her. The girl lost her grip on her knife and it clattered to the floor as Darren slammed her onto the floor with one hand on her throat. The fall had enough force that the hood fell from her head and Darren had his first good look with who he was dealing with.
Long blond hair that framed a heart-shaped face, almond-shaped eyes with green irises, and a light skin tone. Really, the best way he could describe her was that she was of European descent. Her cloak hid a slender figure that was accentuated by her skintight leather armor.
She was also glaring daggers at where she assumed his eyes were under his helmet. If looks could kill, Darren would have been dead ten times over.
"What was that," Darren asked. The girl blinked in confusion then glared at Darren again.
"What was what," she said defiantly.
"That punch from earlier," Darren clarified. "What were you trying to accomplish?" This time the thief's glare fell and all that was left was confusion.
"I was trying to get away. What else?"
"So, you tried to get away by using your fist to hit my head. My armored head."
"...Yes"
"And what were you going to do if you did somehow knock me out? I'd assume that you'd have a broken hand by now, but then there's another problem after that. You'd also have to fight off both Cooper and Declan at the same time. So, what exactly was your grand plan?"
"..."
"Well?"
"...eat of … ent."
"What was that?" The girl had a slight blush on her face as she spoke up.
"It was something in the heat of the moment." She couldn't see Darren's face, but his expressionless helmet felt like a deadpan. Blood rushed to her face in embarrassment.
Darren sighed in exasperation and was about to speak when he felt Cooper brush against his mind. He looked up and found the kids from the center were crowded around Cooper and trying to get the zergling to play with them. One of the kids looked into the alleyway and his eyes widened in shock. He ran past Cooper and yelled at Darren.
"Don't hurt big sis!" The thief's attention snapped toward the kids and the blood drained from her face.
"Ben," she yelled, "Don't come over here! Stay away!"
"You know these kids?" Darren asked the thief. She looked back at him in panic.
"I work at the orphanage with Father Timothy and Matron Abigail," she explained quickly. "The funding for the orphanage was cut some time ago and now we can barely pay for food, much less clothing or upkeep. Please, just take your money and do whatever you want with me, but don't hurt them."
Darren stared at her for a moment then took his pouch back from the girl. He backed off and the girl stood up to pull the younger orphan into a hug while Declan trotted up to his master. The girl saw Declan and moved in front of Ben. The orphan, however, once spotting Declan as well, moved from her and made his way to Declan with a smile. Before the thief could warn the boy off, he began to pet Declan and received a guttural purr in response. The thief looked towards Darren for an explanation, shock spread across her face.
"You don't have to worry about me," Darren said. "I met these kids earlier at the center. Some guard was giving them trouble." He knelt down on one knee and started to brush Declan with his hand.
"It's true, big sis," Ben spoke up. "If he wasn't there then Noah would've hurt us again." At the mention of Noah, the older girl's look of shock changed to one of contempt and anger.
"Of course, that bas-" she looked over at the gathered kids for a moment before continuing, "bad person had to be involved." She took a knee next to Ben and looked over him, ignoring his protests that he was fine. She saw a slight mark on the boy's check where Noah hit him and scowled. "We should head back to the orphanage and have Matron Abigail take a look at that."
"If you're heading back, then I'm coming with you," Darren spoke up. The girl looked over at him with a questioning look on her face. "You did try to steal from me and I'm sure that this Father Timothy and Matron Abigail would want to know. It would be better to tell them now than for them to find out later." The girl blushed slightly in embarrassment but nodded in agreement. "Also," Darren continued, "I don't know your name yet. I would rather know than just constantly call you 'the girl' in my head all the time." The girl stood up and patted down her pants before answering.
"Call me Elizabeth," she said with an outstretched hand. "And what should I call you?"
"The name's Darren," he said while shaking her hand. "If that's everything, please show me the way to the orphanage."
The walk took a good portion of the day and the group of children, two zerglings, and two young adults eventually made their way outside Chrimata's stone walls. By the time that the sun was nearing to set, they had made it to a courtyard of dilapidated buildings in various stages of disrepair.
On the left was what looked like a two-story residential building made of wood. Its windows were broken, and the door just barely hung onto the top hinge. Openings dotted the walls of the house. The most glaring thing about the building though was the giant hole in the roof.
The other two buildings, however, were in much better condition. On the right of the courtyard was a barn house with wood nailed into the sides where some holes were probably like patches on an old quilt. Finally, in between the two buildings was another two-story residential building in much greater repair than the first. This building had a mix of wooden walls and a stone base. There were a few cracks in the wooden walls, but it didn't seem to affect the building too badly.
As the group approached the middle building, Darren could see the windows lit and hear excited children. Once they had made it a few feet from the building the door flew open and a woman stepped out.
The woman had pretty features about her with chin-length red hair and pale skin. She wore a black outfit that a clergy member might wear with yellow accents on the sides and a white stripe down the middle. A pair of glasses hung on her nose and she had a black cap on her head with a silver cross pin in the side. When she saw Darren and the zerglings she had an expression of apprehension on her face that changed to relief when her eyes went to Elizabeth and the kids.
"Thank goodness you're alright," the woman said as she hugged Elizabeth and the children. She held them for a few seconds then put them at arm's-length and glared at them. "What have I told you children about being out so late? And you," she said toward Elizabeth, "what are you wearing? I thought you were going to be gone for only a few hours. It's almost the end of the day!"
The kids looked chastised and started explaining what they were doing all at the same time which resulted in a cacophony of young voices.
"We were just-"
"It was Brandon's fault-"
"-but we didn't-"
"What do you mean my fault!?"
The children's attempts of being overheard nearly turning into a screaming match until the woman raised her hand. The children silenced themselves immediately.
"You can explain yourselves to Father Timothy," the woman stated. "He will decide your punishment. Am I understood?"
"Yes, Matron Abigail," the kids droned out.
"Good," Matron Abigail responded. "Now go and wash up. It's time for dinner." The kids rushed inside and closed the door behind them. Matron Abigail gave a small sigh and turned to Elizabeth.
"It's good to see that you're fine, Elizabeth," the matron said as she hugged the girl. Elizabeth hugged the matron back and they held each other for a few seconds.
"You said you wouldn't be gone for long," the matron said as she released Elizabeth and placed her hands on the girl's cheeks. She turned to Darren and put her hands together in front of herself. "My apologies for not addressing you sooner, sir," she said calmly. "I am Matron Abigail and I watch over the orphanage alongside Father Timothy. May I ask what your business here is for?"
"He's here because of me, Abigail." The matron turned back to Elizabeth in confusion. Elizabeth hung her head in shame. The matron's eyes widened in shock as horror spread across her face. "I made a mistake and-"
Matron Abigail cut Elizabeth off.
"Elizabeth! There's no need to do what you did!" The girl looked up in surprise.
"You know what I did?"
"We aren't so desperate for money for the orphanage. You didn't have to go out and… exploit yourself for our sake." Elizabeth looked at Abigail in confusion while Darren stiffened on the side.
"What do you mean by 'exploit' myself," Elizabeth asked.
"I can assure you, ma'am, nothing like that happened," Darren spoke up quickly and slightly flustered. Abigail looked towards Darren.
"Thank you for trying to dissuade an old woman's fears, but I'm sure I can handle this knowledge."
"Okay," Elizabeth spoke as she looked at Darren and Matron Abigail in slight annoyance. "What exactly are you two talking about, and what does this have to do with 'exploiting' myself?"
Darren took pity on the girl and whispered in Elizabeth's ear. One short whispered explanation later and Darren pulled away. A moment or two of processing later and Elizabeth was blushing up a storm.
"No! That never happened, nothing like that happened! I didn't e-exploit myself."
"Oh," Abigail gasped with a blush. "I just assumed with what you're wearing… my apologies Elizabeth." She bowed her head at the girl then looked at her again. "But then why did you bring mister…" Abigail looked at Darren questioningly.
"Darren, Matron Abigail. Darren Miller," he answered her unspoken question.
"Thank you," she replied. She looked back at Elizabeth. "Why did you have to bring mister Miller here?" Once again, Elizabeth looked down in shame. She looked over at Darren and then back at Matron Abigail.
"I stole from him," Elizabeth answered. Matron Abigail blinked then frowned.
"Is that right," the matron asked looking at Darren. "Elizabeth stole from you?"
"That is correct," Darren said.
For a moment, Abigail looked as though she was about to reprimand Elizabeth for her actions. After a second, she deflated and sighed instead.
"Elizabeth," the matron started, "we will speak of this later." Elizabeth held her hands together and replied in a small voice.
"Yes, Matron Abigail."
"Good."
With that over and the matron's dismissal clear, Elizabeth walked past the older woman and walked into the orphanage. The matron pinched her nose and released a small sigh before turning her focus to Darren and his zerglings with a short bow.
"I apologize on behalf of Elizabeth for her untoward actions toward you. Also for me accidentally implying that you had such an… inappropriate relationship with her earlier."
"It's no trouble," Darren replied. "You're only looking out for her. I hope that I haven't caused too many problems for you though?"
"You won't have to worry too much about it. I suppose that, with the situation we're in, Elizabeth does have a right to be worried," Abigail said wistfully. She scoffed a moment later. "I wouldn't tell her that she needed to resort to stealing though." She looked at Darren in the eye. "Thank you, Mr. Miller. For not going to the guard about this I mean. The girl has good intentions at heart, even if her methods are a bit crass."
"You're welcome, Matron Abigail. And please, just call me Darren," Darren said with an outstretched hand. The matron smiled and reached out with her own hand.
"Then please call me Abigail from now on, Darren." After a short shake, they released each other.
Darren looked at his surroundings and noticed that the sun was setting on the horizon. Abigail seemed to notice as well.
"Darren," Abigail started, "would you like to stay for the night?"
"I wouldn't want to impose," Darren replied.
"There's no need to worry about that," Abigail reassured. "We have a few free beds just in case for guests. Besides, we are a ways away from Chrimata and dinner should be just about finished."
I really don't want to impose, Darren thought. But it isn't a short walk back to Chrimata and a place to rest the night does sound nice…
"I'll take you up on your offer, Abigail," Darren said with a nod.
"Wonderful! Then please come in. I'll introduce you."
"Alright! Food's ready," a deep voice shouted.
Those were the first words Darren heard as he entered the homey building. A playroom was the first room of the building which had two hallways on its sides. One hallway at the opposite end of the room led to a kitchen/dining room mix and the other hallway on the right lead to a bathroom and stairs to the second floor.
"I better see that you've all cleaned yourselves up before dinner," the deep voice from earlier said from the kitchen. "If I find that you didn't then I'm sending you back to get washed properly and your food will be cold by then."
A small flood of children came down the stairs and started lining up at the bathroom. They ranged from five to fourteen years of age from what Daren could see. They were being helped by Elizabeth who was now in similar attire to Abigail, minus the cap and glasses.
Once all of the children had finished washing themselves, they walked to the dining room. Some sent an occasional curiously look at Darren, still in full armor, and his zerglings as they passed by but none stopped to question him as Matron Abigail was with him. Elizabeth soon followed with a nod to Darren and Abigail. After a moment of Abigail checking to make sure all the kids had passed, she brought Darren and his zerglings to the dining room.
Inside there, Darren saw a man bowling out soup for each of the children that sat down. This man was the largest he had seen before in his life, standing at six and a half feet tall and as broad as a mountain with the muscles to match. Another thing that surprised Darren was that the man's skin pigment was a dark chocolate brown. This was the first time that he had seen anyone in this world whose skin color was not white. He wore clergy robes as well, but instead of black with yellow accents, it was mostly white with red accents and a large red stripe down the middle. A silver cross, like the one that Matron Abigail had, was pinned to his left breast. He had a jolly expression with the laugh lines across his face to match and a bald head.
"We're having potato stew and bread again kids," the man said as he went around the table holding a large pot and ladle in his hands with no visible effort. Halfway through the man noticed Darren. He sent a questioning glance towards Abigail and she nodded. The man relaxed and went back to serving out dinner.
Once he finished, the man stood at the head of the table where Elizabeth was also helping out and waved Abigail and Darren over. The two walked up there with the zerglings trailing behind them as the kids looked at them curiously. Once the two reached the table, Matron Abigail spoke.
"We have a guest today children and his name is Darren Miller. Now what do we say when there's a guest here?"
"Hello mister Miller," the children collectively said. Abigail smiled slightly.
"Wonderful. Please make sure to have him feel welcomed while he's here children. You may begin eating."
Without further ado, the kids dug in. A few complained about the food but they all generally seemed happy now. Darren's attention soon shifted to the large man approaching him.
"You must be Father Timothy," Darren said with a hand outstretched. The man grinned and clasped Darren's hand with his own, nearly enveloping it entirely due to its size.
"That I am, young one," Father Timothy replied boisterously. "And who might you be?"
"Darren Miller, father. You can just call me Darren though."
"Well then greetings, Darren. Call me Timothy." They released each other's hand. "Would you like to join us for a bowl? We have enough for a few extra mouths."
"I would love to."
Finding a seat near the head of the table, Darren sat down with his zerglings on either side of him. He was handed a bowl of stew and a small loaf of bread by Abigail. He took off his helmet and placed it to the side. When he was about to dip his bread into the stew, he felt a poke at his side. Darren turned his head and saw that one of the kids, a young girl, was looking at him with a scrunched-up expression.
"Your dogs are weird, mister."
"Mia!" Abigail reprimanded the girl. "Don't be rude to our guest."
"It's alright Abigail," Darren said amicably. He turned to address Mia. "Would you like to know what they are?" Slightly mollified by Matron Abigail, Mia nodded.
With a smile, Darren told her what he knew about the zerglings and their capabilities. He decided to tell her about how he and some zerglings took down the Rock Eaters. When he was halfway through his story, he noticed how the entire room seemed focused on him. They were enraptured when hearing how his zerglings tag teamed multiple Beta Rock Eaters and gasped when the Alpha appeared. They cheered when Darren told them how he dealt the killing blow with the help of Jack.
Darren was met with applause once he finished his story and he was about to head upstairs to find the one of the guest rooms with Timothy placed a large hand on his shoulder.
"Before you sleep," Timothy started, "I was wondering if we could have a short chat." Darren looked at him curiously but nodded. With a short order to Cooper and Declan to keep the kids' company, Darren followed Timothy to the playroom where he saw Abigail was waiting. Timothy spoke first.
"Firstly, let me thank you for letting the kids enjoy themselves. They don't usually like to talk with strangers because they typically get a… negative reaction from them. So thank you, again." Abigail nodded her silent thanks to Darren as well. "Abigail told me about what Elizabeth did and I wanted to apologize for any problems you may have had."
"Like I told Abigail, it's no problem," Darren said as he waved off the apology. "Elizabeth told me why she did what she did and, while I don't approve of her methods, it was for a good cause. So here." He tossed a pouch over to Timothy who caught it in one hand. His and Abigail's eyes widened at the unmistakable sound of clinking coins coming from the bag.
With a look of slight disbelief, Timothy opened the pouch and his jaw dropped. He looked back at Darren who had a small smirk on his face.
"That's the pouch that Elizabeth almost stole from me. Think of it as a donation to the orphanage and as thanks for letting me stay the night."
"You are a kind man Darren," Abigail said, recovering first. "Thank you for your generosity."
"Don't mention it. If that's everything, I'm going to be heading up."
"It is," Timothy said, closing the pouch. "Have a good night, Darren."
Nodding to the pair, Darren turned to go up to the next level. He whistled over to the dining room and heard his zerglings scrabbling to follow him as he went up. He found an open room near the end of the hall and went in, closing the door behind himself and sat on the bed provided for him.
He was about to settle in when something from out the window caught his eye. For a moment he thought that he saw some sort of flashing in the forest surrounding the back of the building. He stood up and focused on the forest. After a full five minutes of waiting, Darren decided that he saw nothing. He turned away from the window.
Then, out of the corner of his eye, another flash.
Without a moment's hesitation, Darren switched to his night vision. In the distance he could see lights moving up and down in a general line. He switched to infrared. The trees turned to a dark blue color and he made out red outlines in between. The outlines shifted and Darren could make out that they were human.
About ten men stood at the boundary of the forest with lanterns held between a few of them. Their movements showed that the group was trying to avoid being seen and while Darren could see them, he had no clue as to why they were there.
The group began to move away from the edge and deeper into the forest. Moving quickly and putting on his helmet, Darren and his zerglings left the room and went down the stairs towards the front door.
"Darren? Are you leaving already?" Elizabeth asked while watching the kids in the playroom.
"I'm just going for a walk," Darren replied. "But I might not be back for a while so don't wait up for me. See ya." He waved to her as he left.
Moving to the back of the building, Darren activated his infrared vision again. He saw the red silhouettes of the men and followed.
Keep quiet, He mentally commanded Cooper and Declan. It's time to find out why they were here.
A/N: Obligatory filler chapter is fillery.
Not much action in this one, but I hope to have more in the next.