Chapter 16: Don't feel bad for me
"About time you guys came back," Sticks says from the little fire they started earlier. It's deteriorated into ash, with some ambers lurking just a little bit in the vicinity. But none of them were much brighter than the sun, so they remained looking orange and red compared to what hung over them. "I was thinking you wouldn't come back at all..."
"I didn't think it was such a big deal for you to know," Runner says as Prix runs up to the little cave and lays the bag down next to her in the entrance. Sticks glares at him with annoyance embedded in her eyes.
"Actually, I was hoping you were the one to get caught," she mumbles with her face buried into her arms. Of course Runner couldn't make out what she said, nor did he pay her much mind in the first place. Prix looked to her a little concerned, but even she could understand the agitation Sticks felt towards Runner's witty commentary. But she knew Runner never really meant what he said. Maybe it was that he didn't know how to really speak with consideration. "Anyway, do you think you could help me for a bit?"
"No way, we're about to eat," Runner refuses as he sits next to Prix, who's already chugging down her Chao Cola.
"I meant afterwards..." She says. Runner looks her up and down before popping open a bag of chips. The bag says "Air Crisps" and they seem relatively true to name since half the bag is nothing but air. He groans and shrugs in response, sort of disappointed at the fact he'll need to open another bag.
"Whadduya need?" He asks, tossing a bland yellow chip into his mouth coated with salt.
"Well you see," she starts. "After you guys left, one of my traps went off. I could tell by the trigger line I have for it." She points above her and into the trees, where a network of vines and leaves are intertwined and hiding a green rope. "Usually the line would keep moving but it stopped. I was wondering why though. I'm kind of worried about leaving alone so maybe you could come with?"
"Bphh wpphh?" He asks with his mouth full. He swallows what he has and digs in for some more. "Aren't ya used to this nature thing? Something would tell me you'd have been ok with doing this before we met." Prix nods in agreement, though she's still eating her Ringles so she's probably not as interested since what Sticks is talking about has nothing to do with her.
"There's been only one other instance of this happening before, and even then I was too scared to go." Sticks holds her arms together, crossing them but smothering them in fear. "I know, it's weird. But I just feel if a man came along and helped me check it out, I'd be fine." Sticks turns away from Runner, facing another tree next to her. "But I guess there's not a lot of those in the world, huh?" She side eyes Runner, closing her eyes and frowning. Anyone could see she wasn't really fond of his attitude, anyone except Runner himself. She was probably being childish too, but even a juvenile like Runner hates not being called a man.
"Hey, I am too a man!" He argues. "Fine, I'll come with. It's probably nothing anyway..." Runner gets up with the chip bag in his hand, balling it up and tossing it away into the cave while getting another out. This time it's a full bag of hot chips, which is probably his favorite.
Sticks smirks but she hides it with her face turned in the direction of the trap. He played right into her hand, and all it took was a little reverse psychology. "Come with me then."
"Come on Prix, you're not stayin here alone," Runner tells her as he starts following Sticks. She pouts and puts her finished canister and bottle next to the trash pile he started and follows after them.
Walking through the tall wall of trees, Runner and Prix take in the sights of it all. Where rodents usually burrow and sleep, there lay eroded pebbles and moss covered rocks scattered across the ground. It's dry, despite there being a current of water and damp areas leading elsewhere. Of course, like titans, no one would notice it right away. And where the birds may lay their eggs, the rope continues to stretch across the trees in incognito.
"Say, how far is this thing?" Runner asks. Sticks presses her finger to her lip, shushing him quiet. She combs a few strands of her red hair that were blinding her to the side of her head and hushes her movements from there on. Runner catches on to her little gimmick, easing himself forward as he follows close behind. She halts at a tree and looks back at him, jerking her head forward as a signal for him to go on, which he does. To his guess, whatever was causing her to be scared must be behind the corner of the tree they stopped at. She may have been afraid but he wasn't gonna be stopped by some wild animal.
Carefully, he climbed up the side of the tree as quiet as he could, sticking his feet and his fingers into spots a normal person wouldn't usually look for. It was one of his personal skills that he was proud of but no one really commended him for. Prix may have been the only one to find it interesting though, which fed his ego well. It no longer required complete silence as it once did, but the forest filled his ears with sprinkles of buzzing and rustling in the wind anyway, making him zone out into his one focus.
Reaching the top, he swung over to a branch next to him where the green rope Sticks assembled stayed knotted and hung over where the supposed trap must've been. "Uh...Sticks?" He lets out quietly as what his eyes are set on makes him question his loyalty. He knows she said this has happened before, but if it that were the case, what happened to that trap? This couldn't be the same one. If so, there's no wonder something got caught and there was no sign of movement. "Sticks? I don't think there's anything to really worry about..."
"What do you mean?" She quietly shrieks from below from the other corner of the tree. She stays in her spot, holding a long tree branch in her hand, making Runner almost laugh.
"There's nothing down here but a chunk of tree bark." He said as the broken limb sat in the net directly below. While he had his tail attached to the trees arm he hung from, he balanced himself on the underside of it and stood on it upside down.
Sticks looks at it then back up at Runner, or maybe even in his direction. Their eyes meet a few times but upon inspection, she could see Runner wasn't as skilled in observation as he was in tree-climbing. "Runner," she calls with a serious look on her face. He raises his eyebrows, eyeing her from the high ground as he answered with a "Hmmm?".
"Look up at the tree," she instructed. Of course, he cooperated easily. Scoping out it's surface and long branches, the Lemur scaled the wood with his light-blue eyes as his long, whitish-gray hair pulled away from his neck and towards the ground. Leaned over, he checked both sides of the long branch he was on, even the millions of cracks leading up into the heavens that he studied for further climbing if he needed it. Even then, he couldn't see what she was pointing out.
"What's the big idea?" Runner asks.
"Runner, don't you think if that tree bark came from the tree, there'd be a spot on the tree that'd show where it came from?" She asks. His eyebrows raise in shock, urging him to look back down, or up from his position, to the broken limb and back to the tree. She's right. There's no spot that signifies it's breaking point.
"Then where would it even come from?" He asks her, letting go of the tree and landing back on his feet on the ground. Sticks shrugs, walking towards the trap and pulling the net down so she could take the broken tree limb out. "Eh...hey Prix, see if you could..." He stops mid-sentence as he turned back in the direction he thought Prix was. However, not even the wind blew in the direction. "Prix?" He called. Was this a trick or was she on the other side? He turned, looking on the other side, up, down, even around the surface area of the tree. She wasn't there. "Sticks, Prix's not here..."
"Then she probably went back to the cave..." Sticks says with a few grunts, releasing the broken timber from the net. "Let's hurry back." Runner doesn't need her to tell him that though. Up the path they walked, he's already sprinting towards the oddly-shaped boulder. He runs past a few memorable spots such as the stream of water and the change in rock forms, where a shining light piercing through the shadows emerge and lead him to the area.
"Up here!" A voice calls from atop the boulder face. From up there, a familiar face can be found, and more detailed in the daylight than at night. It was the Alligators from before, with greaser like clothing on, the leather jackets and all. Runner is noticeable annoyed by their appearance. It's crazy they even caught up to them that fast.
Quickly, he notices Prix in the clutches of one of the members. He frowns, putting his dukes up. "Hey, let her go! If you got any problems, take it up with me, swamp-breath!"
The Gator scoffs, crossing his rough looking arms with his chest perked out with pride. To him, it's obvious his foe doesn't have any manners, which makes him swell with a small flame of rage inside. "Yeah right. You think I'm just gonna hand her over with an attitude like that? You gotta be dreaming!" The Alligator Leader holds out his hand in the shape of a cup, bending it towards himself in a 'gimme' motion. "You thieves stole something valuable from me, so we're gonna play this fair. Hand me my treasure, and you can have her back."
"But boss," the Gator holding Prix interrupts. "He's stolen more than 500 Grand worth of treasure from us. He can't possibly pay that back." The Leader smirks, nodding in agreement.
"Hey, let's not worry about those times, ay?" Runner suggests as sweat rolls from his head. "How about I just give you your treasure and we be on our merry way?" Runner smiles to finish it off, maybe as a hope to butter them up and allow them to release his sister. But they just look at each other and laugh in his face, fleeing the scene faster than before.
"WAIT, STOP!" Runner cries out. He hops onto the boulder and goes after the Alligator squad. It's no different from them running away the other day. He's just as fast as they were, if not faster by the trees. While he's in midair, trying to stop them, the last Alligator to leave holds a branch on a tree back really far. Runner can't stop himself and his forward momentum without grabbing on to something.
Like whiplash, the branch unfolds and sends Runner back into the boulder. He flies through one of the softest spots in it's mold, bursting through to the other side and into a tree near Sticks. The boulder itself crumbles and collapses onto itself. "Are you ok?" Sticks asks in shock.
After a few seconds to get himself together, Runner climbs to his feet. "Yeah, I'll be fine." Though the truth is, he wasn't. That alone should've fracture something like his back. But nevermind the pain, there's something more important on his mind. "Prix...I have to save Prix. That's all that important to me right now."
He stands up and starts running in the direction of their hideout. If he remembers correctly, their HQ was miles away from the town they were in. It'd be possible to get there in a little under an hour if he was at his best, but in his condition, he can't even run properly.
Eventually, he reaches the town again, running out of the alleyway from the back. It's almost as dark as last night, so much so that when he actually exits, the surrounding light is blinding him. For no other reason than sheer will, he keeps pushing, despite not being able to see everything. He runs into someone, causing a few gasps and concerned eyes to look at him.
Now that his adrenaline is slowing down just a little, he does feel his sides and back throb in pain as if there were weight pushing in one his torso. The stinging heat of the sun against his face isn't helping either. Runner grits his teeth, knowing full well he has to get up. Regardless, his body feels so damn heavy. Is he really this weak after hurling into a boulder?
In heavy, defeated breaths, he turns over on his front for at least a few seconds of comfort so he could catch his breath. Then he looks up to see a naked orange and brown Badger sitting on top of his chest. His eyes nearly pop out of his head at the sight of it. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"
"Quit yelling." Sticks still doesn't seem bothered by her own appearance, which is maddening. "You're obviously hurt. You need a bit of rest before you can try go and fight anyone."
"Why'd you take off your clothes?!" He asks, writhing in pain after exhaling so many words. The sharp air when he inhales sort of aids the pain. But instead of answering like a normal person, she picks Runner's whole body up and carries him like a bride, running across the street and into the other side of the forest.
"I told you, I don't like clothes. They're tight and I can barely move in them like I want," she argues. With every step she takes in a full sprint, Runner's face turns even redder. He can't even focus on the pain like he should, but would he honestly want to? "Plus, it eliminates any tracking device anyone can put on me." She further explains. Still, writhing in pain and horny energy, Runner doesn't listen, squeezing his eyes shut and crying on the inside.
XXX
The chase ensued for quite a while, though what they were running after was almost nonexistent. Blindly, Sticks only continued in the direction of the Alligators for a little over three hours. When there was little to no sign of them though, she only kept running using her own will power and intuition. Whether a women's intuition is the best in this scenario lies in another castle.
After the episode, they finally realized they were both physically incapable of catching up in their conditions. Sticks was out of breath, and even though she truly wanted to, her feet gave out when she needed them the most. But truthfully, her speed probably didn't make much of a difference anyway. She nested herself at the base of a tree, beating herself up about it as she tried to calm herself. Her beating heart, proof of her dedication and compassion to even strangers, only grew sour when she thought about losing Prix.
She can't even bring herself to look at Runner because she feels so bad for losing so much energy and making it nowhere in the process. Like she was in a pool, she pulled her arms across each other, her legs included, and held them close while she buried her face into her thighs.
"What's with that sorry face?" Runner asked across from her. He sat against a tree himself, though it was a little hard for him if you took his injuries into consideration. Still, he sort of smiled with his teeth showing, gritting and looking just as mischievous as ever. Granted, he was still in pain.
Sticks looked up at him. She wondered how he could be so happy right now. He just lost his best friend, and possibly the closest person to him than her. Though, maybe he was hurting. He was just trying to hide it? She sighed, looking back down into her thighs. "Your friend...Prix..." Her eyes closed, as if visions bubbled back to the surface. The thought of losing someone special to her, even if it was someone she didn't even know. It cut her deep, and made her want to scream and cry, but she couldn't afford to do that this time. "I should've done something when I had the chance. She...could be gone forever..."
Runner's gaze stays on her. He can see just how upset she is over it. Though, it surprises him just how much she's affected by their loss. "Don't worry about it. Prix's the strongest girl I know." His fist shoots up dramatically, growing ever tense and rigid until a pop cracks out of his knuckles. "If there's anyone I'm more confident in, it's her."
His fist lowers and his eyes, a sharp blue, stays on it with a serious gaze. The blue in his eyes steal the sun's light and adds to it it's own heat, piercing his fist with pure will. He gives Sticks this same look, smiling brightly. "We will get her back, there's no question about it."
She lifts her head up in earnest. Such confidence he has, it could turn a brown bear white! How could he just declare that when he has no idea where the little girl has went? His sudden burst of energy surprised Sticks a little, as she has never heard anyone just simply succeed by believing. To her, though, perhaps that's all Runner depends on. Reasonably, she rejects his proposal with diverting eyes, directed to the cold ground. It's light was stolen from it by the shadows. "No. You just hope you can. How can you just say that without knowing anything..."
"It's not just a fable, you know." He responds, wagging his finger in rebellion, similar to a certain blue hedgehog. His smile fades, and his eyes clamp shut as he crosses his legs and lower his head. "We have a lot of history together. So I should know enough to trust in her abilities." He folded his arms together, nodding as though he was so sure of himself.
"What..." Her voice cracked, but it sounded more like a squeak. "What about her makes her so...trustworthy...?" Her little heart still felt so abused right now. Her issue was that she couldn't shake the guilt. Even though Runner is being so optimistic, why was it that he felt like he could place so much trust in his little sister? That's what she wanted to know. But knowing makes her feel even more cold, as it could wake up old memories and paint them a layer darker. The truth..may make her feel even worse. Yet her curiosity, like other people, can't help but yearn for disaster.
"Check it. It's like this...6 years ago..."
~Written Flashback; 6 years ago~
When I was younger, for as long as I can remember, from birth and up to that point, I had been an orphan. And just like any orphan, they had a home for us called the Orphanage. For me, it was a little cabin in a sparsely populated town, the name I couldn't care less to remember. In that cabin, we were able to sleep, eat, and all the other necessary things a child has to do to live. But come night time, that was when the real trouble began.
We were forced to clean for four hours straight with no breaks. That meant scrubbing toilets, mopping, sweeping, dusting, organizing. Usually that's no issue; Everyone has responsibilities at some point. But what truly made it hell were the laws in place. If we messed up once, or even forgot the smallest thing, we were punished for it. That could've been either standing on the wall for the rest of the night without sleeping, or getting privileges like eating and hygiene taken away from us in the daytime. Or all of the above. What's worse is that we had to go by their schedule in the day to "appear" to be fine, but even then, meals, naps, games, music, and etc. were stripped from the clumsy. And as kids, you tend to mess up a lot, so we all always took turns in trouble.
One day, it was known throughout the Orphanage that a new kid would be joining us soon. We had our suspicions about how old they were and who they could be. But we didn't think much of it until the worst thing happened for all of us. It was the debt.
The Orphanage had accrued so much debt within the past few years it was even standing. Not because they were busy taking care of us; the food was crap anyway and they made us do all the work. No, it was due to them spending the money that went to us on themselves. So, the Orphanage started to close down quickly. No one came by to collect anymore children, so we ended up living on the streets while the adults fled elsewhere.
It was the first day I left that I had sat outside a shack somewhere near where the Orphanage used to be. I was alone, sitting in the darkness and on the edge of falling asleep due to starvation. It was then that I heard a noise. "Huuuu...Huuuuu..." It sounded like wheezing, but a low growl of it. Whatever it was, it was keeping me from dying right there. I searched for the noise, my eyes weighing down heavy as I turned my head left and right. It was then that I noticed something beside me.
It was a blanket next to me, elevating up and down slowly to the beat of the low wheeze. Scared, I took the blanket off, and there she was. Prix, an infant bat lying on her side and on the verge of dying herself. Truthfully, I figured she should've been dead since she was a toddler. Her persistence to stay alive interested me. It woke me up though, the idea that she might die there while I did nothing to try and help. It was haunting.
The shack I sat behind was a grocery store type, and it sold all sorts of things, especially food. That's the only thing I ran into get. We at the Orphanage didn't know what money was though. We were never taught. So when I got to the counter with a can of apple sauce and a spoon and the guy asked me for 5 bucks, I didn't know what to do. I had nothing to offer. I up and told him the truth, the whole thing about me being an orphan and there being a dying baby out back, but he straight up denied me.
I was confused. How could someone older than me who worked in such a booming business not provide for their own kind? Who does that? I realized it finally, outside of the Orphanage just what I was taught to do and how bad it was. Enraged, I fled anyway. The alarm went off and the guy tried going after me, but luckily there were things in the way that allowed me to out run him and grab Prix. We escaped into another part of the city.
Eventually, I was able to feed her the apple sauce, myself included until only after she couldn't eat anymore. Coincidentally, the place I stopped at just happened to be where the rest of the other foster kids camped out at. I greeted them and begged them to let me and Prix joined them, as they had food and shelter from what I guess was by stealing. They would only allow me to join though, since Prix was young and would've slowed everyone down considerably. There was also a limit as to how many people could join...
That was when I knew...just how selfish people really were. No one cared about the needy. They didn't care about children or people just like them who could lead better lives. Even if it was just one penny, it would've meant a lot. Even to this day, it's like that. So I took Prix...and we left. I chose to do my own thing, only for the good of her survival.
~Flashback Ends~
"Prix...I practically raised her myself." Runner explained, raising his head towards the burning sun. The pain in his body seems to be the last of his worries. "We've done everything together, from stealing to cheating and the rest. In the time I began to know her, even without speaking I just knew we could count on each other." With the heat beating down him, the heat from the sun felt like fire becoming short. They couldn't afford to waste any further time, and Runner wasn't super patient anyway. "I guess I'm not explaining it right, but whatever. From my own life and the inner-development of hers, there just hasn't been any proper rest for us."
Having listened to his tragic tale, Sticks looked over to him as if she just woke up a little from a nap. From the way he sees things, she knew she could strongly relate to him. "So you just believe in her? Just because you grew up together?" It rung in her head repeatedly, the exact same phrase and image of two siblings doing things together. It rippled like water, making her heart feel like it was squeezing itself to death. "But how could you be so sure of that?" Pain drenched her face and fell down her cheeks like hard rain against a window, and the grass cracked from the side just like her voice. "How can you just know and put your every little thing into her? She's just a child...she needs protection..."
Runner rose, slowly mind you, and stretched a little to get his body ready for more movement. Time was running short for all of them if it meant saving his sister. Like an animals natural instincts, he was just so sure of everything, including the way the world worked around them. That same intuition granted him the knowledge of where the Gators were and how long until the sun set for them to make their strike. "It's not about our history or our background really. Maybe not even the fact that we just happen to trust each other so well..."
He walked up to Sticks, coddling her with his finger rested on her chin and lifted her head up towards his own. He wiped hers tears with his other hand, smudging them into mist. "But when we're together, just can't help but feel our hearts resonate into one. And I feel as though because she's mute, the only way she could ever share her love with me is through her own strength. So that's why I'll believe in her, no matter what." His eyes...whether it was the shading or the sun's yellow, they glow a bright green as they stair into Sticks'.
And just like that, it's as if magic just took her worries away. The water just stopped and she couldn't cry anymore. "Hey," continued. "You really do have a nice lookin face. So quit lookin down all the time." He took his finger away and stood up with a mischievous look on his face yet again, his hand resting on his hip. "If you look down like that all the time, all you'll ever do is look down on the inside too."
This guy...even though he's rude and cocky and does bad things, he's really true to himself and it shows. Sticks' rain cloud disappears and she actually smiles. She might actually fall for him too...
"Now then, get your ass up so we can go save my sister." Yup, there it goes...
Super late this week. My work schedule is kind of random but I always work the weekends. So I guess if it takes the week and a few extra days, nobody will mind. If you wonder why it took so long, I was trying some new things with my writing. Hopefully you kind of like it? Look forward to next chapter though! As always!