Our heroines crept slowly and carefully through the halls of the building, wary of the sounds of gunfire and panic in the distance.
They saw few people inside the building, and those few were busy leaving it.
"Whatever it is, it ain't good…" mentioned Nadie.
"Are they under attack?" questioned Ellis.
"I'm not sure, but I don't want to hang around to find out, as much as I want to cream that Captain guy."
They crept about carefully, carefully looking around corners before moving on. After meeting no resistance in the building, they cautiously went through the door. In the distance by the garage area, there was a trail of smoke and shouts. To the right, they saw three jeeps driving off in the distance.
"Damn! They got away!"
Nadie's anger only grew when she realized that there were no other vehicles to take.
"Looks like we'll have to make it through the jungle. Stay close."
"Yes, sir."
Nadie had always loved that little quirk of Ellis. In fact, there were a lot of things about Ellis that Nadie loved.
Wait, wait, stop. Now's not the time to be thinking about stuff like that.
The girls walked about in the jungle for about forty-five minutes before they finally encountered a road. After four cars passed in an eleven minute timespan, Nadie judged that they could probably hitchhike there.
Nadie saw a car coming, and assumed her standard hitchhiking pose.
"Yoo-hooo~" she called out, only to be promptly ignored.
"Hey, jerk, get back here!"
Dammit, it works sometimes, but never when I need it!
Lirio tugged at Nadie's poncho.
"Hm? Yeah, Lirio?"
Lirio did a cute imitation of Nadie's hitchhiking pose. Nadie, not knowing what else to do, just laughed.
"It's great, Lirio! Just wait a little longer before you actually try it, alright?" She bent down to put her hands on Lirio's shoulders.
Another car, in the meantime was approaching, and Ellis decided to have a shot at it. She did her own pose, and the oncoming truck slowed and came to a stop just ahead of them.
Nadie turned around and, of course, was dumbfounded.
Of course, it works when she does it…
The man who pulled over was a farmer from a nearby village and was driving into town. After some persuasion (mostly utilizing the guilt-trip that leaving a young child out in the cold would be a really mean-spirited thing to do), they were able to get a ride out of him.
Not having enough room in the truck itself for all three girls they opted instead to all sit in the back. After everything that had just transpired with them, Nadie did not want to take any chances that something may happen to the girls if they just rode in the back.
The unpaved road was bumpy, and at several points the girls had to hold close to each other in order not to be thrown off the truck. After travelling about ten miles, several small houses could be seen by the road, and after another five minutes, the girls found themselves in a small town. It did not have much to offer visitors; then again, the people of the town never expected any.
The man stopped outside of a relatively large church, and after speaking to a man out front (presumably the church pastor), beckoned the girls to come closer.
"Make yourselves at home, young girls. Though I apologize that my church may not have much to offer in the area of comfort, though there are at least some beds to sleep on." The pastor said as he guided the girls through the church.
"Thanks a lot, Padre. I'm sure we'll be able to rest easy here." responded Nadie.
"Well, then, I am glad that the little I can do is still enough to be able to help. But I am rather curious about one thing: what are three young girls such as yourselves doing in this neck of the woods, anyway? You certainly don't seem to be from around these parts."
"Uh…" Nadie did not prepare a believable explanation to tell people why exactly they would be in the middle of the jungle hitchhiking.
"Well, er, uh, you see…"
"Yes…?"
Crap, what am I going to do?
"We were with some friends, and they forgot us when they left. We were camping." Said Ellis.
"Huh?"
"Oh, my, that is terrible! How could your companions do that to you? Some 'friends' they turned out to be!"
"Uh, yeah, that's exactly what happened! "
"Well, now I'm doubly glad that I was able to help you poor girls out. Here, your room." The Pastor opened the door and revealed a small room with a bed, a small desk, a chair, a small desk lamp on top of that desk, and not much else.
"The accommodations are rather sparse, but I hope that you are comfortable."
"Thanks, Padre. We'll be fine."
"Well, then, I'll leave you girls to rest. If you need anything, just come and find me. I'll be here all day."
The Pastor left the room and closed the door behind him.
Lirio immediately clambered onto the bed, exhausted form the past days experience.
"Tired…" was all she said.
She was soon joined by Ellis, who climbed on next to her, both girls facing down into the bed.
Nadie chose to sit in the chair, and leaned back.
"Thanks."
"Hm?"
"For the cover story. I was at a lost as to what to say."
"Oh. You're welcome."
Nadie looked over both Ellis and Lirio.
Why does all of this stupid shit have to happen to us? Why can't the universe just leave us alone? And we dragged poor Lirio into all of this. Poor girl's going to have PTSD.
Nadie let out a sigh and allowed herself to fall into a state of half-awareness as the two other girls on the bed slumbered on.
Meanwhile, Dido, Kennedy, and L.A. did not have to wait long until they saw several helicopters appear overhead. They were being manned by the demons that had survived the massacre at the compound.
Now that they were in relative safety and being transported back to the compound, Dido regained her composure and quickly was back to her old self. In other words, she was being incredibly bombastic, petty, and angry.
"I cannot believe the nerve of that damned bird-guy! Who the hell does he think he is, invading my base, slaughtering my men, messing up my plans, and kidnapping my targets? Oooh, he shall pay! He will rue the day that he dare trifle with the plans of DIDO!"
"Well, that's nice, but do you really have a plan? I mean, we have no idea where this guy even is right now. For all we know, he could be off the continent by this point."
Dido first looked at Kennedy, then looked at the blood-soaked L.A., who was currently tied up to his chair, a look of calm on his face.
"No need to fear for lack of planning, my dear sister! All we need to do is use our mirror to find him, and then we'll send our new friend over here to go and kick his ass!"
"I believe that the terms of our deal were that I would get to kill the person that I want to kill, in exchange for Ellis. Are you telling me that there is more to it?"
Dido was slightly startled when L.A. spoke, as he had said nothing the entire time that they were on the helicopter.
"Because if that is the case, I will just kill you now, right here. Do you think that I am not strong enough to break these bonds? I am merely going along with the ride at the moment."
"Ah! Er, well, um… care to discuss it over tea later?"
"…gladly."
Kennedy, not sure what to say in this context, just chose to ignore it completely, lay her bed back, and try to get some sleep.
Later on, Nadie awoke. It was sometime in the night. She looked around and still saw that Ellis and Lirio were asleep on the bed. She let her head slump back again and stared at the ceiling.
Ellis… I shouldn't have let you get away from me. Because of that, you had to go through this rotten experience…
Nadie began to feel the same funny feeling she felt so many times before, and this time she didn't put up much of a fight to suppress it.
Ellis… I don't know how to feel about you anymore. I cherish your presence in my life, but I feel that you're more than a friend… I want to protect you. I want to take you away from all of these problems and just stay by your side.
Nadie noticed movement from the bed and saw Ellis sit up. Ellis let out a yawn.
"Good evening, Nadie."
"Oh, uh, good evening, Ellis. Did you get some rest?"
"For the most part." She said as she curled her legs up and wrapped her arms around them.
They sat in silence for a moment.
"Nadie…"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you. For always being there. Always coming to get me."
"No prob, Ellis. I'll always be there to get you. Alwa-" Nadie stopped when she saw tears begin to form on Ellis' face.
"Ellis, what's wrong?"
"I'm always such a burden to you, Nadie."
"N-no, you're not! You're not a burden at all, El-"
"Yes, I am! Even after all this time of being left alone, there are still people chasing after me. It's because of that that your life is so chaotic. I wish… I wish that it wouldn't have to be thi-"
Ellis stopped when she felt arms wrap around her.
"Ellis… listen. I don't care how many times I have to go rescue you. I don't care how often bad men try to take you away. I don't care how often we may get chased around. All I care about is you and your happiness, Ellis."
"Nadie…"
By this point, both girls had some tears going down their faces.
"Nadie… why is it that you care. Why do you stay with me?"
Both girls were now looking at each other in the face.
"It's… well… I…"
Why is it that I stay with her? She is my friend, of course. And someone needs to look out for her. But…
No. No. It can't be that. That's incredibly sappy. And… and anyway, I like guys… don't I?
It's… it is… that is the reason… the reason I…
"Well… Ellis… I've been meaning to say this for a while, so please listen…"
Ellis sat on the bed, the same passive look on her face, but with eyes slightly red from crying.
"Yes, Nadie?"
Nadie took a sigh.
Well, here goes nothing…
"Ellis... truth be told, I don't know what words to use to put my reason for being with you in. But… I have to say something. So here it is: Ellis, you are my friend. A really, really, really good friend. You are the best friend I've ever had. But it's more than that, Ellis. I…"
"…Nadie. Are you…"
"Yes, Ellis. I am trying to say that I-"
"…Nadie, please say it."
"…yes, of course. Ellis, I care very, very deeply about you. In more ways than one. So I just want to say that I lo-"
"Eh?" came the small voice of a recently-awakened Lirio.
"Oh… how long have you been awake, Lirio?"
"…eh-heh!"
Well, there goes the moment.
"It's okay, Nadie. I think I know what you were trying to say." Said Ellis with a smile.
A smile… I love her smile.
Lirio's stomach let out a sound that probably could have been heard through the door.
"Oh, that's right… we haven't eaten anything in a while. Want to see what food that the Padre has?"
"Un!"
"Alright, let's go then!"
The girls got up and made their way to try and find the Pastor. Along the way, Ellis grabbed a hold of Nadie's arm.
"Nadie. Thanks."
"Uh… no problem, Ellis. No problem."
To herself, Ellis thought
The Incandescent Flame of Love...
Nadie put a hand around Ellis' on her arm, and the two girls, now slightly more reassured in their reasons for their relationship, made their way down the dim halls of the church, Lirio in tow, the Incandescent Flame of Love burning slightly brighter within their souls than before.