Hi!
I am so so sorry for being away for so long. It was rough finding the inspiration to continue on with this story at the same pace and intensity I have been. I hope I did with this chapter!
"We need to hide." I practically hissed as I chucked the canteen at Newt and scrambled to find some sort of hiding area around us. I couldn't tell where the Americans were coming from, they could be anywhere considering that sound bounced off of trees and all the foliage surrounding us.
"Ara..." Newt's voice was soft and he sounded just as unsure as I felt. My head spun around to meet his eyes like I was possessed, his was tilted towards the muggle accompanying us. I eyed Vishnu who was looking at me like I might possibly be insane right now, he was looking down at my chest. I followed his gaze to realise I'd startled the Niffler and he was squirming in my breast pocket.
"Um...I um...I like to keep...Er. I'm afraid of snakes." My answer fell flat as I struggled to find words to explain my panic and why it appeared that I kept a live animal in my jacket pockets.
"Wait...STOP! Do you hear something?" The same american called to his compatriots. We were all still until Vishnu took a step forwards, cracking a fallen branch under his weight.
"That way!" The sound of feet hitting the ground was enough to reignite the fire under my arse as I elected to take off in one direction at a run. I imagined that Newt and Vishnu were following me but I didn't bother to check, I just wanted to get away from the Americans already. How was it that any time I got even vaguely comfortable, they appeared? Just how?
I spotted a large tree and spun myself around it, attempting to become the tree. I could hear feet, if they were the American's or Newts, I didn't know. I was really just hoping they were Newt's at this point, I was okay with dueling them yet again but I wanted to avoid it due to the little guy in my pocket. It didn't take me a while to figure that out when the sandy blonde hair whipped around a corner and landed on my face.
It seemed he had the same idea of hiding as I had but there wasn't enough room for him to just stand next to me without being seen. This was a shite predicament right now. I could feel his breath run down my neck and ignored the zings from his proximity.
I brushed his hip reaching for my wand to cast an illusion charm over us, to make it look like it was just trees around here. I couldn't think of one under pressure and elected to just cast a confundus over the ground in front of the tree.
"Confundus" I twisted under Newt's frame, leaning into him slightly as I whispered the charm with my wand point towards the ground. I rolled back to my original position, brushing against something hard under his clothing.
He was quite boney. Goodness. I glanced at his face with a sorry look to find his eyes had darkened and he was actually looking me in the eye right now. Our stare-down of sorts forced some blood to run to my cheeks, enough that I decided to stare at the trees behind him. I needed to get ahold of myself, I really did. This odd fancy I'd taken to him was going to get me sent home.
We waited for a bit, hearing the men's voices come closer and then disappear entirely. Bless everything in the great green world. They'd gone farther away. I let out a breath that I didn't realise I'd been holding onto and stepped away from the tree at the same time he did.
"Wait...where did Vishnu go?" I spanned our surroundings to find it was just Newt and I now.
"Appears we lost your...friend." Newt trailed off for a second, forcing me to look back at him with a raised brow until he finished his sentence.
"You don't sound nearly as worried as you ought to be." I snorted, shaking my head at him. I wasn't sure why he wasn't, we were utterly lost right now. We had the case and we had our wand which meant, we could just apparate out of here but I wasn't sure of where to go. If we went to the village, they were sure to ask about one of their own missing.
"I didn't find him to be of the most interesting sort." He declared, taking a step forwards. I rolled my eyes at that, he didn't need to be interesting, just knowledgeable as to where to go.
"So?" I waved a hand at him as he went silent, looking worried at my expression and hand motions. I sighed after he failed to respond and began walking in a direction that I hoped would eventually lead to out of this wet and hellish jungle. I was actually starting to miss the blistering cold.
I continued walking for a bit, but stopped when I spotted something shiny in the corner of my eye. I'd stopped suddenly enough that Newt didn't have enough time to and stumbled into my back lightly.
"Sorry." He mumbled his apology as I began to creep towards the shiny under a pile of leaves and branches. I began moving them slowly, waiting to be attacked by something but nothing happened and the leaves came away to reveal six silver eggs.
"Newt!" I hissed for my companion to come over here.
"Occamy eggs." He noted, looking around us. The silver glinted back in what little sunlight there was around, and I was taken by it. It made me smile, such little things had to be in there and they were just waiting to be born. I had no idea when they would be and I didn't see a mother around, which was a little worrying. Generally my arm would have been bitten off by now if there was a mother to these things.
I felt the Niffler shifting in my pocket and looked down to see him pop his head out, peeking at the eggs with excitement on his face. He began trying to climb out when I put a hand over him. His eyes turned to me as he knickered what I took to be 'How can you not let me nab those big shiny things, woman?'
"They're not for you." I replied softly, looking back at the eggs.
I was going to say something else when I heard a footsteps near us. My head spun around again, as I looked at Newt who was perfectly still, watching me as I watched him. Fear surged through my chest, reaching my arms and legs as I snatched his case from him and nearly ripped it open. Carefully, I began picking each egg up and placing them within, hoping we'd have enough time later to go in and construct a habitat for them.
"Look at what we have here." The voice brought back visions of a wand being pushed into my back and irked me. Literally just this man's voice could irk me at this point and I only had one more egg to go.
"Vincent was it?" I replied cockily, still holding the egg in my hands. It felt smooth and cold in them, worrying me. Occamies were coldblooded but they still required warmth in their gestation period. That was something I remember from my time in school...from Newt actually.
"Mintey? Was it?" He smirked as my expression turned into a glare. My eyes strayed to the brandished weapon pointed in my direction with some worry, though I tried my best not to show it. I should have known he'd pick up a gun sooner or later.
"Beaten by me twice and yet, you still can't pronounce my name. Shameful." I reproached him, moving the egg until it was right over the open case.
"Not this time, Honey." He shook his head as the weapon clicked in his hands.
"Now do yourself a favour and hand me that." He motioned over to the egg with the tip of his weapon. I pursed my lips for a second and thought it over, there was no way in hell that I was handing him this egg. So, what to do?
"I don't think so." I sighed, eyeing the gun and his face.
"Really now?" He looked to be almost amused with my wanton bravery, maybe I should have been put into Gryiffindor. This was idiotic enough to warrant the gaudy combination of red and gold.
"Nope." I popped the P as I dropped the egg.
"You shouldn't have done that." Vincent sighed, and shook his head. I shrugged as I spun to slam the case shut and roll away with it in my arms. I got maybe half a meter away before I was startled by the resounding BOOM as he fired at where I had been. An array of spells were being shouted above me and I was actually a little proud of my Newt finding his dueling legs.
"Newt!" I screamed his name as I threw the case at him, trying to keep his creatures safe and pull out my wand in one movement. It didn't quite work, my wand snagged on a belt loop right as I was kicked in the back by one of the other men and for a second I was terrified that my wand would snap.
I yanked it harder, and for once things actually worked in my favour. It came loose and I scrambled to get to my feet in rush, brandishing my wand like a sword that was ready to impale.
I felt a hand near my neck and spun around to see one of the younger Americans.
I don't know what possessed me but I fell back and shouted "CONFRINGO!" right next to his shoulder.
The force threw me farther back then planned, much farther. I wrapped my arms around my front and tried to roll into a ball as I bounced off a particularly mossy tree, falling on my side after my collision. My eyes jumped around at the scene to see Newt shielding his case with no visible injuries which was a relief. More of a relief than I thought it would be in these circumstances.
I heard groans and felt some horror at the blood coming out of the younger American I'd blasted into the hemisphere. I actually felt bad for it, as in I actually felt bad that I'd hurt one of the men that were only too happy to skin an animal because they could get paid for it. What am I even thinking here?
I felt a hand grab mine, yanking me to my feet and blinked blearily as Newt tried to get me to run with him. I was so distracted by the site that I didn't even take into account we were still technically in a duel with them.
"Take a breath, Ara." Newt's voice distracted me from noticing how long we'd actually been running for, I had no concept of time right now and my ears were ringing.
"Right." I mumbled, moving my hand away from my breast pocket for the first time since we'd run back into the lot of them. The Niffler poked his head out, looking both angry and terrified at the same time. He was clicking, sounding quite irritated as he climbed out and tried to go up my shoulder. He was sniffing as he went and when he got to my shoulder, he ran around it, almost slipping off my chest entirely.
"What is he doing?" I breathed, holding my hands out to catch him in case he fell.
"I think...hes trying to see if you're hurt. Your shoulder and neck were bleeding terribly last time." Newt came closer, peering down at the little guy. The idea warmed my heart but I had a feeling he was also quite irritated with the loud and bumpy ride he'd had in my pocket so far.
"A-are you?" Newt came even closer now, outstretching a hand to brush away from of my hair from my shoulder. I couldn't tell if this was normal for a student-teacher relationship or if this was becoming more...is it bad that I was kind of wishing he'd push the boundaries a bit? Probably.
"Ara?" He tried getting my attention again as I looked back up to his eyes. He was truly looking me in the eyes right now and I didn't know what to do. I need to clear my head.