... .:chapter 8:...

Someone was shaking her shoulders.
She groaned, swatting the hands away. Said person scoffed, and then sighed.
"It's already eleven! Everyone is in town by now!" Colin said. Caitlyn sleepily blinked at him.
"Your hair looks fiery in this light..." she muttered, turning around and burying her face in the pillow. Colin sighed, but then smiled mischievously. Then he picked her up easily and set her on her feet. She took a few seconds to process what he just did, and then continued to yell at him. He gave her an amused look.
"What else should I do? You wanted to go out as well, right?" he said simply. His green eyes looked into hers for a second, then he looked away. She smiled sheepishly.
"Ah, sorry. You know how I am when I wake up, right?". He closed his eyes, running a hand through his curly hair. "Yeah. But now we really have to hurry." he said, pushing her to the door. She smiled and resisted the urge to stand still to bother him more. Slowly she changed into her long jacket and put on her white cap and scarf. She yawned when they headed out the door.

Someone had cleared up the snow, and it glowed magically in the little light that came from the floating lamps around town. The sky was a dark blue, so close to black that you could barely see the difference. A couple of bright stars shimmered, and she squinted to see them better. Then she turned to Colin, who seemed a bit spaced out.
"How are we getting to down? Blinkwings?" she asked, wrinkling her nose when the cold came to it. Colin nodded. "Yeah, I still had one around. C'mere." he said, gesturing to right next to him. She moved over to his side and smiled when she saw him taking a blue, stone-like object out of his pocket. It glowed serenely in the cold air. It glowed even more when he tapped it a few times with his gloved hand. Air rushed past their faces, and colors blended because of the speed they were moving at. Gasping for air (she hadn't traveled this way a lot of time) she grabbed the Mercenary's arm tightly. And the next second, they were sitting at the statue in the middle of the city. Confused, she let herself be pulled to her feet.

"Whoa, that's extreme.." she mumbled, her eyes wide for a few seconds. Then all the noise came through to her ears. She looked around.
It wasn't snowing now, and people were sweeping the piles off of the main path. It was busy, busier than she had ever seen before, and she could see people on the church, working on fireworks. People were grouped together and chatting happily, walking past all of the stalls (which were, of course, all holiday themed) and buying things.
"Where is everyone?" she asked, grinning. Colin grinned as well.

"Over there." he said, pointing to a small group of people near to a hot chocolate stand. Before he knew it she already was halfway there, and he followed her quickly, sighing. Caitlyn grinned when she saw Sam's dark hair, covered in a thick layer of snow. And the others were laughing at him. She laughed as well, and he sent her an annoyed look when he saw her. But then he smiled again, showing a brilliant white smile.
"Hi, Caitlyn." he said. Rosalie smiled when Caitlyn reached up to hug her. Then she hugged Benjamin and Anya, then Sam, and lastly Colin, who stiffened for an instant. Then he smiled and patted her back.
"Town is beautiful." she said, looking around. She noticed the little glowing colored lights on the buildings. "Magical." she added. A silence fell over them and they all turned to their own thoughts for a moment.
Suddenly she had a very strong feeling. She sighed.
"Is it okay if I look around for a bit?" she asked, smiling brightly.
"Sure, go ahead." Rosalie said. "We'll hang around here for a bit." she said, gesturing to Ben. He almost was sleeping again. Caitlyn giggled.
"I'm off, then!" she said, turning around and running from them, into the crowd. She cursed herself when she found herself looking for Nathan yet again.
"This is too silly..." she mumbled. She didn't recall feeling like this before, and she wasn't sure what it was. But she decided that she liked it (at least a bit!). She stopped after a few minutes, breathing quickly. Her face felt like it was glowing in the cold air. Where was that Elementor? Surely he was around at an event like this!

'I'll take a walk, then...' she mused, heading up the road that led to the old airport. She felt the soft silence return when the snow was thick on the road again. It became thicker and thicker, until she felt her legs hurt from the cold. She stared at them wordlessly, and then took out her stick. She spun it around a few times, whispering a few spell words. The spell circle appeared around her and glowed for a few seconds. Then the magic worked on her legs and she felt a bit better. She kicked some snow away and let herself fall backwards. She didn't hear a sound when she landed on it. A melancholic feeling fell over her when she stared at the starry night. After a few minutes it felt like her body was glowing, and she closed her eyes and smiled wistfully.

'I am rather silly, aren't I... Being moody like this for really no reason.' she thought, sighing. Personally, she thought that she was a very strange person. Her mind always went off in random directions for some reason, and it was pretty annoying at times. Like now, she felt disappointment wash over her and she barely knew why. She opened her eyes again, raising her hand to the sky. She moved it a bit, staring blankly at the sky behind it.
"Reaching for the stars, huh?" a voice came from very nearby. She barely was startled this time, but she was when he leaned over her and intertwined his fingers with hers.
"I was looking around for you..." she said. Her heart sped up and she forced herself to breathe normally. She moved to sit normally, but he didn't try to move his hand away from hers.
'Ahh, think normally!' she thought, not looking at him on purpose. He stared at the sky speechlessly.

"Say..." he started. She looked at him, unconsciously tightening her grip on his hand. Her body felt like it was glowing, and the feeling flowed through her from where his hand connected with hers. It felt nice, she decided, and banned out miserable thoughts for now.
"Ah, I'm not sure how to say it." he said and chuckled. He reached up and pulled his dark cap off of his head. "It's nice being around you, I guess." he said and looked at her while a half-smile spread over his face.. She held her breath for a second when a feeling of joy blasted through her (even though it was such a simple sentence!) and rendered her incapable of thinking normally. Shaking her head slightly, she smiled.

"I'm only nice when I'm around you." she said and smirked. He looked at her, thinking of what to say. "Hmm, you mean that you're actually very mean?" he asked, a smirk on his face as well. She nodded. "Yeah. I don't do my homework, I'm uninterested at school, I yell at the people at home..." she started, trailing off a bit. She sighed. Nathan kept quiet for a while.
"I'm sure that's because you care for them. I mean, at home, not at school..." he said, laughing quietly. "Maybe there are just a lot sides to you."
"And that isn't bad?" she asked, smiling slightly. He shook his head and then raised their hands into the air. "Nah. Be happy that you can be yourself." he said.
"Can't you then?" she asked quietly. He fell silent for a moment.
"Not always, I'm a guild Leader after all." he said, sighing. He dropped himself in the snow.
"You'll get lots of snow in your hair like that." she said. He closed his eyes and smiled wistfully.
"I don't care." he simply said. "Thanks for worrying though." he added, peeking one eye open.
"You'll catch a cold." she said, raising her eyebrows. He rolled over in the snow, got his face full of snow and jerked up again.
"I didn't want that to happen though." he said, before starting to laugh. Caitlyn felt her face twitch when she didn't laugh along, so she did. Then she handed him a part of her scarf.
"Take the snow off, sillyface.." she said, smiling. He grinned.
"Thanks."

"Why were you out here alone?" he then asked, after having somehow melted the snow off of her scarf in the cold.
"Um..." she started, looking everywhere except for his face. He looked at her intently.
"Well? Or is it a secret why you were out here alone so far from the rest...?"
"Why do you think? Guess." she said nervously. She couldn't read his face anymore, just like that. His eyes looked at the sky again.
"Mm... I have absolutely no idea. I don't want to suggest something that you'd find..." he said, leaving the rest of the sentence hanging in the air between them. She sighed.
"I guess I was wondering where you were on a busy evening like this." she said, a little shakily. He turned to her. A small smile appeared on his face again, yet a bit sad.
"Really?" he asked quietly. She sighed.
"Yes. I'm sorry if I'm acting like I'm stalking you. The thing is.. you do it to me too." she said, smiling. He laughed. "Well, that's true, I guess. You should be with your friends now, though."
"I know. Just wanted to say hi, you know.. Since it's a festival and all..." she said and laughed awkwardly. He smiled. "Thanks. I like your company." he said. She blushed.
"From tomorrow everyone will be training again, including me..." he mused. She blinked.
"You haven't been?" she asked sheepishly. He smirked. "No. If I train I train seriously, I don't hang around here a lot." he said. Caitlyn sighed. "Ah. I see. Good luck, then." she said, as some kind of a good-bye. His eyes were twinkling, dark blue as the sky when she took his hand to stand up.

"I have to get going now, though." he said, running a hand through his hair. She nodded, not saying anything. He saw her staring at the ground. Her scarf was pulled up higher, and a red hue colored her cheeks red. Nathan smiled.
"You're cute like this, somehow.." he mused. She blinked.
"What did you say?" she said, staring into his eyes. He chuckled.
"Nothing, nothing.". Then he bent over, brushing his lips against her cheek, close to the corner of her mouth. "I'll see you around." he said quietly, but she didn't answer, already rendered speechless. He touched her cheek with his gloved hand, and then vanished in a cloud of snow.

"Gone again..." Caitlyn muttered, holding her fingers against the place where he had given her some kind of a kiss. A feeling of annoyance rose up in her and she stomped down the road, back to the others.

Why did he always disappear like that?