Runaway

-x-

Mrs. McAllister was going insane. Well, not literally, but she was on her heels… frantic, spazzing.

"AH! WHERE'S MARK?" She screamed down the corridors.

Allen stepped out of Mark's room. "No need to worry, ma'am. Master doesn't seem like the type to leave without notice. He had left a letter behind." He pulled out the letter from behind, handing it gently to the frantic mother.

She had instantly tore it open, scanning through the clearly written words. All she could mutter was, "He… left?"

Truly, she had expected Mark to leave much earlier, as early as childhood, just like his brother, but leaving now… was unexpectedly too late.

-x-

Mark sighed, rubbing his arms quickly. Compared to the city, the country side was so wide open that you could actually feel the cold breeze. It was already around the beginning of fall, summer ebbing away faster than he expected. It also has been three weeks since his last meeting with Erika.

He sat down against a tree, pulling out a map that was full of symbols and trails, also non-coherent. He untied the string and spread out the map before him, looking at where his possible location may be on it. But even an idea at where he could be was fruitless. To make things worse, he couldn't focus at all. His fatigue finally got to him after how many hours of being defiant to how hard work could note make him tired.

He never thought that farming could be so much work. The plowing, the stone breaking, the tree splitting, the lumber packing, and just staring at animals all day and watching grass grow was enough work as it is. He didn't even know how he ended up thinking farming could be fun and interesting. Now he was sure it was too much to handle. He also wonders how a girl like this Chelsea he hears about is able to keep up this work. Mark also didn't think that there was so many things he needed to know to make a flower grow. That too, he thought, was also exaggerated. After three weeks of listening to several different farmers and their opinions, Mark was seriously getting sick of it.

At least he has an idea of what that girl is doing every stinking day of her life, sweating her butt away under the merciless sun. Perhaps, hearing from Erika, he actually may be more experienced now since he's met with other farmers and didn't exactly start from chicken scratch. Now he grinned to himself, getting the inspiration he thought of when he was asked such a request to go out to the farming world.

He was asked to take over Chelsea's farm. But he wanted it to be interesting, to take over the farm before even asked. He plans to challenge Ms. Chelsea, just to see how experienced she is compared to him. And he felt it, that for sure, he'd win.

His grin grew to a smirk, now standing on his feet and trudging along the path before him. He finally found his place on the map; though, it was pretty far from his destination. He sighed again.

He still has a long ways to go.

-x-

Claire stepped back from her creation. It was broccoli cheese casserole… or at least, it was supposed to be. Instead it looked like a glob of green throw up with a splash of yellow mushed together. "Dang," She frowned, throwing the failed dish into the trash can. "No good." She looked down next to her to see her dog wagging his tail at her. "Sorry, Scotty. We're having hot dogs again tonight." She frowned when she saw his tail fall limp between his legs.

Claire moved away from her kitchen and walked over to her living room, sitting down on her small couch. All the chores were done, animals taken care of. And there was no reason for her to go to town. She already bothered her favorite blacksmith with lame jokes and played around with the kids. And though it was summer, there wasn't much to do and time getting slower wasn't helping either.

For once, she seriously wanted something… anything… to come knocking on her front door, giving her a new adventure, more excitement. Like those movies and dramas on tv. With love, romance, adventure, comedy, suspense!

She fell back on the cushions, turning upside down. "Gah… it's so friggin' boring."

KNOCK KNOCK.

She blinked. "Naw, that's probably the wind hitting something."

The knocks came again after a few seconds, now a little bit louder.

She knew she just thought to herself that she wanted fate to come knocking on her door, but there's no way that heaven would send it so quickly right? I mean, that's absurd. Wishful thinking, Claire would say to herself. There's no way new adventure would be knocking on her door just like she had asked.

There was some knocking, then, "Um, is anyone home?"

The voice startled her, enough to make her lose her grip and slide off her couch, hitting the wood floor hard. She instantly stood up, staring at her closed front door. That voice was all too familiar, but she wasn't sure. It's been a while since she last saw him. Perhaps his voice changed? And why would he be out here when he's actually from a super rich family?

She rubbed her head, jumping over her couch to the door sluggishly. She knew she was hoping too much. It wouldn't be her adorable little cousin waiting at her front door right?

"Ah, Claire. It is you." Mark smiled, setting down his bags beside him. "I'm glad I finally made it to Mineral Town. Whoo~"

"Hnuur?" Claire blinked a few times. "Am I seeing right?" She saw her splitting image. Except her hair was much much shorter than she expected and she was pretty sure her eyes were blue, not green.

"Uh, Claire, it's me… Mark. Your little cousin…" Mark said. "Don't tell me you forgot." He found cold hands on his face now, patting his cheeks.

"Guh, it can't be right?"

"Why are you so in denial, Claire?" He frowned, crossing his arms as the hands started ruffling his hair and patting his shoulders.

Suddenly, her eyes turned glossy, her mouth trembling. "M- M- M-M- Maaaaa~aaaarrrkk~!"

Before he realized it, he was glomped, being suffocated to death. He literally couldn't breath and brought up his hands to Claire's shoulders, getting ready to push her away, but before he could do that, the painful grip around his chest quickly loosened. He was now being swayed left to right.

"Aaa~aah~ Marky-boy it's been soooo long. I've missed you so much. You're just as cute as ever!" She bounced back, studying at him from afar with a big happy grin. "And you've grown so much! You're a head taller than me now! Hahaha." She began laughing loudly.

He knew she was always like this when it came to him. He rubbed the back of his neck cautiously. "Errr… yeah. Um, Claire?"

She suddenly paused from her boisterous laugh, to stare at her dear cousin. "Wait. What are you doing here?"

"About that…" He was cut off again by a, "Oh, before you explain, let's bring in your things and let ya settle down for a bit. I'll just take your things~" And now he just watched her disappearing into her home with his things.

Mark sighed. He really did love Claire, she was like his older sister, but sometimes she was so hard to work with…

-x-

"Wow, Mark…" Claire nodded thoughtfully. "Never knew you had it in ya…"

Yes, Mark told her partly everything. He said that he suddenly started getting interested in farming, and decided to leave the McAllister Mansion to pursue his new interest. He didn't see the need of adding the whole 'random poor Spartan lady asking him to take over farm while instead he planned to boot out the former farmer and take domination as a farmer to quench his undying boredom' part. Claire didn't really need to know; He knew that if she knew it was a girl he was going to boot, he was just asking for a long lecture and some butt kicking…

"So you've been working your butt off at different farms, studying your eyes out about farming?" She laughed. "Gee. You really put your heart into it. Maybe you would be better than me since I learned everything from scratch!"

"Sure, I do know what I'm doing, I just need to actually do them, application as you could say." Mark sat back on the sofa. "I decided to come here, hoping you could give me some pointers?" He said with a little hope.

"Well, of course!" She seemed really happy and fired up. "Makes things twice as exciting. I was also hoping if anybody in town was up to having a part time job here since I was breaking bones, but I'm guessing having you, my dear cousin, working full time is like hitting the jackpot." She rubbed her nose, smiling sheepishly. "I'll teach you what I know."

Mark smiled. "That would be great."

Claire stood up now. "You should go change. Those clothes aren't very comfy to stay in long."

He stood up, agreeing. "Yeah, it's getting cold out there."

"Summer nights are pretty cold." Claire picked up one of his bags and began dragging it into her room, but Mark had taken it from her.

"Is there no other room?" He asked quietly.

"Nope. Just mine and the living room." She answered, grabbing the bag.

"Then I'll stay in the living room." He said, turning around.

"It gets cold during the night, Mark." She wagged her finger. "Can't afford for you to get sick."

Mark smiled. "I assure you, I'll be fine in the living room."

She sighed. "Ah, well. I guess we can't have those fun slumber parties that we always used enjoy whenever you came over to my house anymore. How depressing…"

"We aren't five, Claire."

"I know…" She found her chance to take back the bag from his hands and began walking into her room with victory, "At least we could put your stuff in my drawer. It's like half empty anyway."

Mark followed her inside, finding a large room with a pretty big bed next to the wall on his left. There were also nice little decors and a window with cutesy curtains. He watched his cousin place his bag next to the drawers and open the bathroom door.

"You could use my shampoo and conditioner. The soap is liquid…" She added, "Lavender scented soap. Strawberry shampoo.. Just to let you know…

"Joy. I'll smell like you." He said sarcastically, unzipping his jacket.

"I actually smell great thank you." She then walked behind him and pushed him to the bathroom. "Even if you are a guy, don't just go strippin' anywhere you like."

"I wasn't planning to."

As the door closed, Claire chuckled. "Sheesh. Kids these days."

-x-

Claire picked out some nice looking briefs out of Mark's bag, smirking silly. "Wow, these are some nice undies. Uwah, Mark really is growing…" She folded them up and neatly placed it inside one of the drawers, along with the rest of Mark's underwear and boxers. The two were tight-knit cousins, so even personal things were a pretty normal topic between the two. Though, Claire thought Mark would think of it as awkward anyway, for her to be touching his underwear…Yeah…

Some startling loud knocks from the front door startled her enough to let another of Mark's briefs to fly into the air. The knocking was going on repeatedly and getting louder with every passing knock. She could easily guess who it could possibly be at her door as she flew to open it.

"Claire, open up." A stony voice ordered from the outside, loud enough for her to hear inside.

"It's my house." She answered smartly.

"I've got your hammer done." With this, the door flew open.

"Ah, wonderful!" She smiled and accepted her fixed hammer, inspecting her hammer closely. "Let's hope it doesn't break this time, yeah, Gray?"

Gray was the apprentice of the local blacksmith, his grandfather, as well as Claire's first few friends that she made in Mineral Town. As for insight with their relationship, he normally gets pissed off at how much Claire annoys him (but he doesn't admit to the proven fact that he likes her company and to the idea that his Grandfather, Saibara, approves of her). He is also not one to be a happy camper most of the time. Exhibit A: Now.

"Claire, if you break your hammer again, I won't be fixing it up for you anymore." He said stoutly, annoyance clearly written all over his face. "It's like what.. The third time already?" He stepped inside and closed the door to stop more cold wind to flow through.

"Haha. Yeah." She smiled. "I'll take care of it. Sorry about that… But thanks for fixing it up for me."

He sighed. "… It's fine -" He suddenly paused, his annoyance doubling as his eyes darted past Claire, obviously glaring his trademark glare.

Claire, who was confused at his sudden change of mood, turned around to spot her t-shirt and shorts wearing cousin coming our of the room with a towel slung around his shoulders and hair dripping wet. "Ah, Mark!"

"Mark?" Gray repeated as he watched her retreating figure stand next to the other man in her home. After how long of knowing Claire, he has never seen or heard of anybody of the likes of this Mark. This gave him an uncomfortable feeling.

"You'll get sick if you just leave your hair wet." She nagged.

Mark ignored her and walked toward Gray. After a moment of staring (which they had not realized that they were doing), Mark gave a simple smile, extending a hand. "Nice to meet you. I'm Mark."

Like gentlemen, Gray took his hand, and both gave a short shake. "Gray." The blacksmith replied shortly as they let go.

"Ahah." Claire stood beside both of them, wrecking the intense mood. "Chill Gray. This is my cousin, Mark." She then frowned. "Urgh… I never mentioned him did I?"

"Not even a hint Claire." Gray muttered.

Mark smiled a little more. "You have some tough looking hands… I'm assuming you're a blacksmith right?" After receiving a nod from the other, Mark chuckled. "Yeah, you must be the Gray that Claire nags and rants on and on about in the letters she'd send me." Instantly, a pillow flew to his face, knocking him down.

"Eheh…" Claire kicked her cousin. "Just… you know… ignore my cousin. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"You not only talk about Gray though. You'd start talking about this Cliff dude and the Doctor here." Mark added, backing away a little. "I'm glad that I at least got to meet with the dude you rant about the most though."

Claire made fists toward her cousin. "You aren't helping any, Mark." She started trailing after Mark.

Gray was seriously amused. A whole new Claire in a flash. It actually made him laugh. Mark quickly hid behind him. "Eee… I think I made her angry."

"Did you?" Gray rose a brow. "Well, that's interesting."

"Sorry for giving off the wrong air, man." Mark said, stepping back a little. "It would be nice if we became friends here and now."

Gray smirked. "Normally I wouldn't say this… but I think we'd get along great."

"Perfect." Mark smiled, grabbing his shoulders and making him face Claire, a fuming Claire with a frying pan (Men don't mess with women and frying pans). "Then be a great pal and be my human shield."

"What?"

Gray was used that night as a human shield, taking on the affects of a rash and merciless Claire that night. And well, he also didn't know that later down the road he would be used again, with a much bigger role at stake. Perhaps in the end, he shouldn't have befriended them at all. But for now, we'll just leave it as it is and say that Gray was already tied in to what Claire called fate which Mark had brought with him as he knocked on her door. A sense of adventure, a savior from boredom, having something to do.

After all, that's what all of them wished for. Or at least we know 2 out of 3 wanted it … not sure about the other but for sure, he unwillingly will go along with it.

-x-

HAR HAR HAR. Ah, what a chapter huh? Told ya I'd be quickly moving along the plot for Stowaway. Really all of this is just Exposition ( I think that's the word… ?) But once we get to the fun part… Hehe. :D

Anyway, hoped ya liked it ^^.

- Do Jo