A/N: I am really sorry about my lack of updating. I was surprisingly busy this summer. Thank you so much, readers. I seriously would not have continued the story this far without your feedback. Anyways, here is chapter four... it's about time, huh?

CHAPTER FOUR

The past few days had been excruciatingly eventless. Melchior was rarely at home and, as much as he loved Frau Gabor's company, Moritz was getting lonely. He didn't dare go find Ilse after their last conversation, but he wanted to see her desperately and, as a result, he found himself going on long walks that just so happened to brush close to Priapia.

He took his regular path through town, but something drew him away from it tonight. He recognized the area but didn't know when he had been there until he saw it.

"Well, walk me at least?"

"I...," Moritz began, digging his shoe into the soil. He felt the gun in his pocket and breathed deeply.

"Moritz."

"Okay. Just... just give me a second. I'll be right there," he muttered to Ilse, who smiled at him. He smiled back weakly and awkwardly shuffled over to a tree. His hands were shaking as he took his father's gun from his pocket and dropped it in the grass, kicking some leaves over it.

"Moritz?"

He took a last glance at the camouflaged weapon and turned around to follow Ilse.

The wind or rain must have uncovered it, because his father's gun was now sitting in front of him, partially concealed by dirt. He took a step away from it, trying think of ways to get rid of it. He could throw it in the river. There was no way he could find it if he did that. But what if someone else found it? He hesitantly picked the gun up, turning it over in his hand. His father probably had noticed its absence, but that didn't much matter anymore. He had no plans of going back to that house.

"Moritz?" a girl's voice sounded from behind him. He froze, not recognizing the speaker. The voice didn't have the raspy edge that Ilse's did, but it was low like hers. He quickly put the gun in his pocket and turned around.

"Martha?" he asked, shocked at her appearance. Her lip was split and her nose was bleeding slightly. He saw blood on her sleeve and assumed she must have been soaking it up with the fabric. Upon hearing his voice, the tall girl put her hands behind her back and sucked her lip in. She was trying to hide something. Just like he was.

"Martha, what happened?" he asked, not moving toward her. Martha Bessel had always intimidated him, probably due to her height in comparison to his. Thinking about it now, everyone managed to intimidate Moritz in one way or another. The girl in front of him looked hardly intimidating. Whatever had happened to her made her look nothing short of pathetic. She hadn't answered his question and he wondered if he should press on about it. Melchior would know what to do, he thought. His friend would be able to read the shaking girl in front of him and know exactly what to say.

He would know why the girl was suddenly hugging him tightly, sobbing into his shoulder. Her body shuddered against his and he nervously put a hand on her back and left it there for a bit. He closed his eyes and when he opened them, the sky was a little darker. Martha seemed to be out of tears, he noticed, and there were a few stars appearing in the dusky sky. Wondering to himself how long she had been keeping in those tears, Moritz began the mental debate of whether or not he should ask what happened. Martha broke the silence before he did.

"Thank you, Herr Steifel," she said, moving away from him.

"Moritz is fine. Martha...what..."

"What happened to me?"

He nodded up and down quickly.

"I got poor marks on my schoolwork... and my father...," Martha's voice trailed off but Moritz could not miss the hatred in her words as she mentioned Herr Bessel. Her words hit him again and he could share that feeling, but his was more fear. Fear of his own father. He looked at the girl in front of him, by whom he had once been so intimidated but now felt like he knew quite well, and felt himself crying as well.

"Oh my god, Martha," he whispered, itching to give her a hug. He didn't, even though it seemed right at the moment.

Martha was looking at her shoes. "Never mind it. I'll be fine," she muttered.

"Oh my god, Martha," Moritz said again, his voice tight in his throat. He discarded his embarrassment and moved forward, giving the tall girl a hug and crying freely.

They stood like that, holding each other protectively, trying to block each other from the world, until Martha drew away slowly. She muttered something about keeping him too late and disappeared into the trees. Questions raced through Moritz's brain. Where would she sleep? What had just happened? What kind of human was Herr Bessel? He started on his way to the Gabors, certain he would not get a minute of sleep, and continued thinking of questions. Will she be alright? What if she turns out like Ilse? Who else knows about this?

He didn't think of anything else as he waved silently to Frau Gabor. He didn't notice Melchior's absence too strongly anymore. His thoughts only moved away from Martha when he was changing out of his clothes and he found the gun in his pocket.

A/N: Some Martha love... she hadn't really been in the story yet so... about time! Seriously, I'm really sorry I haven't updated. I can't promise I'll be any better with school starting, but I can promise that new chapters will be posted eventually. I'll try my best to update regularly. Heh.