Woo! Finally! Chapter three is up and ready to go. Sorry for the delay. I caught some nasty bug as well as some back problems from leaning over this evil computer so much so I was taking it easy. Not to mention some of the good ol' lazyness set in during that time so I put off this chapter a little more then I hoped. Anyways, enough of me, on with the story!
It had been several hours since they had set off from the diner. The two traveling teenagers knew nothing of how far they had walked, nor how far they had left. Neither had spoken much for the four or so hours they had been walking. It was a rather comfortable silence, their minds focused on the horizon before them, where their futures lay in wait.
Raven, the short haired, ashen skinned girl had shed her sweater long ago in favor of the simple white t-shirt under it. Her shoulder length purple hair was tied back in a quite small pony tail, the near violet locks just long enough to do so.
Wiping her brow, Raven stepped up to walk beside her blond haired companion. A simple smile rested on the slim girl's lips, her deep blue eyes flicking over to Rave. "What's up chuckles?" Terra grinned at the stoic look she received.
"Any idea what time it is?" The slightly shorter girl asked wearily.
Nodding, Terra moved the glove on her left hand a bit. "Mm... 'Bout 11:40. We still have plenty of time to get there." Stated the long haired girl in an overly cheerful voice, Raven groaning lightly. "Feel like taking a break?"
"I thought you'd never ask." Raven whined slightly. She followed Terra a bit further away from the road, nearly thirty feet or so. "Not really anything we can use to sit under huh?" The ashen skinned girl deadpanned a bit as her amethyst eyes scanned the near perfectly flat ground surrounding them.
Dropping her bag to the ground, Terra winked towards Raven. "That's where you're wrong, Raven." Her blue eyes lighting up with the strange, yellow light, Terra raised her equally glowing hands. A light rumbling issued forth from the ground below them, a tall stone jutting up from the ground smoothly. The rock cast a long shadow over the two, Terra sighing at its cooling effects. Though relieved from the sunlight, Raven still stared in awe of her companion as they leaned against the nearly eight feet wide stone.
"That was great." The short haired girl stared at Terra as she rummaged through her large hiking backpack. She watched as the tanned girl produced a several baggies. One seemed to contain a large mixture of dried cherries, peanuts and raisins, the second one held what seemed to be strips of beef jerky. The last one had bits of dried fruit of all kinds within it.
Handing Raven the baggies, she went back to digging a bit. "It wasn't much." Terra shrugged as she paused a moment to pull out what seemed to be a rather large, retractable survival knife. "I've been traveling long enough that I've had plenty of time to learn a bit of use for these powers." Raven offered a small nod and munched on a strip of beef jerky.
Making a slight face, Raven eyed the dried strip of meat, then looked towards Terra who munched on a mouthful of trail-mix. "This tastes... Awful." She mumbled lightly.
"Yeah I know." Terra gave a light laugh and turned her head to look at Raven. "Very low sodium content and very low spices. No sense in dehydrating yourself."
Raven looked back to the partially eaten strip and shrugged a little. "Makes sense I guess." She cringed a bit as she chewed on the very bland tasting piece of meat. It tasted like a piece of steak someone had burnt inside of a piece of tinfoil, then left on the counter for a few months too long.
Raven turned her head towards Terra as the blond held out a simple plastic canteen. "Here, it'll help a little." Sliding the trail-mix her way, she breathed in deeply, then sighed with a slight smile. "It's nice to have a travel buddy yeah?" Eying Raven, she watched the girl drink deeply from the water container then wipe her mouth on her sleeve.
"It is." She agreed with a nod. Handing the canteen back, Raven smiled and stood up sliding her backpack on. "Should we start walking again?"
Terra hopped up and put an arm around Raven's shoulders. "That'a girl!" About to take a step, the blond halted and looked back at the stone behind them. "Ah, one moment!" Turning on her heel, she stepped up to the stone placing a yellow glowing finger on it.
Curiously, Raven leaned over the grinning girl's shoulder to look at what she was doing.
It read in carefully engraved lines.
Terra and Raven's Rock
Feel free to use our handmade shade!
Below the words, a pair of faces that looked like rather cartoonish versions of the two sat. Raven's looked unimpressed and bored while Terra's was cheering. The purple haired girl let out a very small chuckle and leaned back. "Let's get going, it's hot."
"Yes ma'am!" The longer haired girl cheered and leaped behind Raven snatching her up in a tight hug.
Blushing a bit, Raven attempted to look at the blond head over her shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Just wanted to mark our first official rest with something nice." Terra grinned and release her companion. "Let's be on our way!" She announced raising a fist.
Smiling a little, Raven nodded a began to follow along beside Terra once more.
It was a nearly half an hour back into the walk before either of them spoke. Raven looked up from focusing at her scuffed sneakers to eye Terra. "So... How did you learn to get control over your powers?" She nearly whispered.
"Mm?" Raising an eyebrow and looking at the pale girl, Terra smirked crookedly. "Well, I guess since I knew it was more or less controlled by emotion, I put myself into emotionally charged situations."
"Like what?" The short haired girl asked curiously.
"Well, I threw myself off a cliff once." Seeing Raven's eyes widened in shock. Terra gave a dismissing gesture. "It's ok, I was more or less safe." Snickering a bit, she crossed her arms. "That was actually one of the safer ones."
Holding up her hands a bit in defeat, Raven sighed a bit. "I'd really rather not hear the others. I don't want to have to slap you for being stupid." She blushed deeply as an arm circled around her waist.
"Aww, you wouldn't really hit me would you?" Terra mumbled in a pathetic voice and giving Raven her best pout.
"... If you deserved it." The ashen skinned girl shrugged a little getting a light backhand to her shoulder as Terra released her.
Soon, night began to fall around the two, a chill quickly setting in. Terra had drawn a worn and quite old, military field jacket on, its olive green color highlighted by strips of slightly flaking reflective tape. Behind her, Raven had once more dawned on her slate blue hoodie.
"It's getting late..." Raven mumbled as she crossed her arms over herself for warmth.
"Yeah..." Terra agreed as she eyed the road behind them. Letting her hand reach out with her thumb up, the blond sighed a bit. "I despise hitchhiking." It made for potentially dangerous situations for herself. She was confident she could take care of herself, but...
Her eyes flicked over to the slight outline of Raven's profile against the dark blue horizon. Her small, reddening nose stuck out slightly from the shelter of the hood as the wind blew against their faces. 'I don't want her to get hurt.' Terra thought as she pulled her hand back in to warm it up a bit, the winds deepening the chill of the already cool night.
Just as she began to warm up her hand though, a bright light from over a hill in the road behind them appeared. Terra turned and shot her hand out, the dazzlingly bright lights temporarily blinding her. The ancient black truck cruised on by for a few hundred feet then began to slow. Terra's eyes looked hopeful as the truck's break lights lit up.
"Be ready for anything." She said in a cautious voice, even with the cheerful look on her face. Raven glanced over, her face holding a bit of nervousness in it. Jumping a bit, she glanced down at the warm gloved hand that snatched hers and began to pull her along.
The two girls eventually caught up and stood a bit out to the side of the rusty and rather junky pickup truck. Bits of paint were beginning to fleck off of it's sides and hood, while the inside was filled with papers and old bits of scrap. Most likely from other cars.
"Where ya'll headin' to?" Asked the deep, rather kind sounding voice. Terra could make out a dark skin tone within the shadow of the dark gray hood connected to the jacket covering a rather broad frame.
"Umm, whatever city is that way." The blond pointed towards the horizon in front of the vehicle.
Laughing a bit, the broad young man looked towards the dark scenery. "That way is Jump City, where I live." Resting an arm over the back of the long front seat, he tilted his head a bit to look at the ashen skinned girl slightly behind Terra. "Is she ok? She doesn't look very good. Kinda pale actually."
"Sh-She's fine." The blue eyed girl laughed a bit and eyed the inside of the truck. "Doesn't look like a whole lot of room for two hitchhikers."
Looking at the front seat littered with motor parts, the young man turned a bit more to look at the bed of the truck. "Well... I guess if you're desperate enough, you can climb into the back. 'Fraid I don't have a blanket or anything though."
"No problem." The long haired girl smiled a bit and turned towards Raven. The quiet girl gave a small yawn causing her companion to grin. "You can sleep on the way there..."
Climbing into the back of the truck, the two moved around old gas containers, tool boxes, and other assorted pieces of metal until they had a large enough spot to sit in. Terra had pulled out the sleeping bag connected to her backpack as well as a space blanket, Raven already moving about to slip into the large cushioned bag. Terra couldn't help but smile at the tired girl as she too moved to slip her legs into the dark blue sleeping bag. With her back propped against the back of the truck near the rear window and bag providing as a rather nice cushion, she rapped her knuckles against the glass.
"Hang on to yourselves girls!" The loud young man cheered and sped off into the night.
Terra listened to the roaring wind as she looked down at her young companion. The purple haired girl had toughed out the long walk that she wasn't use to and exhausted herself. "I guess it's a blessing this guy came along." Terra mused lightly as she looked at the pale head that rested in her lap. Running a few fingers through the dark purple locks, the blue eyed girl smiled. "Don't worry Raven. I'm sure we'll be okay in the city." She mumbled lightly. A rueful grin founds its way over her smile. She wasn't sure who she was actually saying that to. Raven, or herself.
Adjusting herself so that she was leaning a bit, Terra sighed and pulled her heavy jacket around herself tighter. The sounds of the roaring winds and the warmth of Raven's body in the sleeping bag began to pull her into sleep.
Letting her tired gaze fall back on the ashen skinned girl, she smiled a little and closed her eyes, sleep taking over.
AN: I wanted to get this chapter up quickly so I didn't do a whole lot of proof reading. Thankfully a very good friend of mine was kind enough to read this over and tell me what was needed to be fixed. Thanks beautiful! Anyways, same as always. Liked it? Didn't like it? Characters falling out of character? Spelling mistake? Tell me in a review!
PS: More cuddly Raven and even a possible... GASP! Shower scene coming in the next chapter?