Warning: This chapter contains mature content. But not that much.
Chapter 2:
"Coffee?" asked Raven as he poured his own in a mug.
"Okay." Reese replied in a soft manner. "Thanks."
It was nearing dusk. Raven had prepared a bon fire, boiling some soup in a pot made of vegetables and boar meat. One of the perks in living in a forest for a while is that food comes in free except hunting isn't always that easy.
"How long has it been?" muttered Raven after a couple of minutes of dead air, breaking the silence as they sat on the ground a few feet away from the fire.
Reese began to count the days and months in her head while sipping her hot coffee. "Almost 6 months I believe."
It seemed that both of them has lost track of time when they separated. Both of them had been travelling with no apparent purpose since the defeat of Hiltz and his Death Saurer.
It strained Raven trying to remember why they had to go on separate ways just a week after that. It wasn't like they didn't like each other, but it just happened. Perhaps they just thought that they wanted to see the world in a different way on their own and found no reason why they should hinder each other from doing that.
"So what have you been up to for the past 6 months then?" asked the zoidian.
Raven shrugged. "Well, I tried to get the Geno Breaker patched up but I was, err, a little short. Shadow and I got it running but it's no good for battles. We hid it somewhere safe and I just ended up finding this place about 3 months ago, which is pretty decent than staying in some remote town. Plenty of food and there's a river west from here where I spend some of my days just fishing."
"It is quite peaceful." Reese agreed.
"So how about you." Raven began. "How did you ended up in the Guardian Force's wanted list? Did you kill someone?"
Reese raised an eyebrow with an astonished look on her face. "Just why would I do that? I've been keeping my distance from them for a long time so I wouldn't have to get bothered by them tailing me all the time." She said annoyingly. "I've been minding my own business for a long time. I don't know why they have to chase after me now."
"You tried to kill that other ancient zoidian girl a couple of times before so why does it surprise you if I asked if you killed someone?" said Raven with a smirk on his face.
"Well I-" Reese stammered defensively. "I had a legit reason for that!"
"Oh yeah, like what?" said Raven with a doubtful tone on his voice.
"It's not like I wanted her dead for no apparent reason, it's just that..." There was a pause as the girl spoke, trying to collect her thoughts. "...it was actually kind of true that she was the "key" that was going to be used to destroy Planet Zi. It's not my fault she forgot about her past! I was simply trying to prevent some end-of-the-world-catastrophe thing from happening. The Zoid Eve wouldn't have been awakened if she weren't around."
"But then, Prozen, Hiltz and you would still be bugging me until now." Raven stated quickly, taking another sip of his drink. "I'm actually a little glad though... that things didn't turned out too shitty after that. I was kind of worried back then."
Well, he does have a point there. Reese bit her lip, rubbed her neck and let out a sigh. "I'm sort of also glad too." She murmured.
"I never actually got that part about the Zoid Eve thing. My only intention to go there was Shadow," He said coolly. "Almost got my ass beaten up."
"Raven, you managed to defeat three Geno Saurer's at the same time on your own and damaged the Death Stinger's shield. You were awesome back then." Reese stated, unintentionally giving praise to Raven.
The maverick turned to look at the zoidian who suddenly looked away. Her face turning bright red.
"D-Don't look at me like that!" Reese uttered, embarrassment visible to her face. "I was just telling the truth."
Seeing her that way amused him for some reason that he found himself sniggering, probably just to tease her. It's been a long time since he had a decent conversation with someone other than Shadow after all. "You were quite the cheer leader back then, except you were crying a lot."
Reese began to fume. "Now you're just mocking me, aren't you!"
"Not at all." Raven denied impassively.
The girl sneered and then just rolled her eyes to ignore him.
The maverick tried to keep the conversation going noticing that he hasn't found the answer he was looking for yet. "You haven't told me why the Guardian Force are after you and not me."
"Jealous?" She sneered.
"Nope. More like curious. I'll just leave all the attention to you." Raven replied.
Reese fell quiet for a moment. There were many things to assume aside from the fact that she caused damages and a lot of other trouble in the past. Other than that, she's also an ancient zoidian with a special ability. Any zoid scientist would want to study her for that matter. Thinking about it made her nervous. "I'm not really sure." She replied quietly. "But I don't want to end up in their dirty hands. Ever."
The man could only imagine the fear she had when he found her earlier. Unlike Fiona, she was never really that fortunate to have a normal life. He pitied her deep inside. She was like him. They both have no sense of direction in their life as of now.
The pot began to boil and Raven got up to attend to it. The aroma was just mouth watering that for a moment Raven simply forgot about the Guardian Force. "This smells better than yesterday's. Reese, come on get the bowls ready. Let's eat dinner."
I get to have some of those? Reese asked herself in a blissful manner. Just the smell of it made her stomach growl that she couldn't wait to get her hands on it. She tried not to make it seem that way though and kept a straight face.
After dinner, Raven began to fix the sleeping bag inside the tent. There was only one of it though but there was the hammock. It would seem thoughtless of him if he allowed Reese to sleep in the cold and it would be too awkward if they both stayed inside the tent.
"You can spend the night in the tent if you want." He said, taking a blanket with him.
"Are you sure?" Reese asked.
"Are you waiting for me to change my mind?" He said with a smirk as he proceeded to the hammock by the tree. "I'll stay here."
Reese went inside the tent and tucked herself in the sleeping bag. It was warm and cosy. She closed her eyes for minutes and found herself unable to get some sleep. Being tucked in the sleeping bag made her feel hot. She didn't have any change of loose clothing either and taking off her clothes just won't do. "I need a bath." She said to herself.
She remembered Raven saying that there was a river nearby. He's probably asleep by now and there's nobody else out there. She crept out of her tent. The bon fire was already unlit making the camp a little dark.
Reese assumed that Raven might already be asleep by now and she didn't want to wake him up for that. She began to silently walk west from where she was. It took her about ten minutes before spotting the calm river illuminating underneath the twin moonlight.
She began to unzip her clothes off and then fixing it aside along with her boots to avoid making it wet. She sat down by the edge and felt the cool water with her feet before slowly plunging herself down the water.
The more she moved further from the edge the more the water became deeper. She dipped down for a few seconds and resurfaced with a satisfied gasp for air. Her wet hair dripped on her face as she stroked it backward.
And then as she moved by the water she felt like she bumped herself on something underneath the water.
It suspiciously didn't feel like a rock or a big fish.
The sudden splash resurfacing from the water gave her such a start that she began to let out a high pitched scream.
"REESE! WHAT THE-!" Raven hollered in shock.
"RAVEN?" The flustered girl yelled, looking at Raven in front of her furiously. "W-WHY ARE YOU HERE? I THOUGHT YOU WERE ASLEEP?"
"NO, I THOUGHT YOU WERE ASLEEP!" Raven retorted.
"I COULDN'T SLEEP SO I WENT HERE!" Reese snapped back. "GET OUT!"
"Me? I got here first!" Raven replied looking agitated. "And the river's big enough for two people! Just go over there, you're on my spot!"
"That's not the point!" The zoidian exclaimed.
The maverick began to snarl irritably. "The point here is that I was here first so don't order me around! If you have a problem with that you're just gonna have to deal with it!"
The aggravated girl couldn't stand arguing with Raven seeing that he was still that same stubborn guy that she first met. "Fine! You better not wind up to my spot then!" Reese exasperated as she began walking away to the other side, forgetting that she was already stepping on the deepest part of the river.
Just as she took another step just a few feet apart she sank deep below the water, too deep for her to keep still and keep her head on the surface.
Her attempt to scream was reduced to gurgling and splashing of water.
"What now?" Raven grumbled noticing the zoidian somehow struggling, but the dark made it difficult to see if she was just swimming or drowning.
He narrowed his eyes at Reese's direction. He could hear some splashing and very faint gasping. "You can swim, can't you?" He asked.
There was just more gasping and frantic splashing so Raven figured to get closer to the zoidian. "You're so helpless." He grumbled as he managed to reach her. "Hold on."
The frantic girl promptly clung on to Raven's shoulder's and lifted her head to the surface to breathe.
Don't tell me you can't really swim? Raven thought in his mind as the zoidian coughed up and gasped for air. "You seem to be really good at getting yourself in trouble in just one day."
As Reese snapped out of her panicked state, she found herself realizing how close she was to him. Her body pressed on his skin and she was feeling him. She froze, wondering if he had realized already, or perhaps the cold water might have made his body feel a little numb. "I'm okay now. Do you mind if you pull me back to the edge?" She spoke, quietly hiding her scarlet face and lowering her grip down his arms and slightly making a distance from his chest.
Suddenly, a firm hand tugged her lower back making her press close to him again. She stared at him with confused, shocked eyes. His body was slightly getting warmer in the cool water.
Raven found himself looking at her eyes, mesmerized at how it sparkled under the moonlight in the dark. His body felt strange. He was feeling hot, wanting more of her.
Reese found him awfully silent and herself nervous. She froze as he began to lean down his lips to hers but she didn't resist. She felt her arms being brought over his shoulders as he continued moving his moist lips and found herself returning back the kiss.
Her mind went blank for a moment, savouring every second with him, feeling Raven's hard body rubbing against her made the zoidian crave for more.
The maverick wasn't being too hasty though and he was surprisingly not rough on her.
As their lips parted, they found themselves looking at each other in the eyes, both astonished at what just happened.
"Did we just make out?" Reese found herself asking.
Raven opened his mouth but he couldn't manage to get to say any witty remark. "I...I don't know." He stammered.
"You don't know?" Reese repeated with her arms still on Raven's shoulders. He looks nervous...
"I wasn't thinking." Raven snapped, trying to hide his embarrassment. Then he let out a sigh. "Let's go back."
The maverick pulled themselves to a much higher ground where the zoidian could manage to move on her own. As they reached the edge, they found themselves waiting at each other on who would go up first. They know what they just did but strangely seeing each other naked felt a little too awkward.
"I actually forgot to bring a towel." Reese muttered, blushing.
"Oh." Mumbled Raven. "So, you're not going to wear your clothes without drying up, are you?"
"Well, it's not like there's something I could do about that." Reese bashfully stated. I guess I'll just have to air dry myself when he leaves.
"I got extra shirts actually." He suggested timidly. "You could borrow them if you want."
It took the zoidian a few seconds to reply. "If you don't mind."
"All right. I guess I'll change first." Said Raven.
Reese looked away as the maverick got up from the water to change.
"I'll be back." He said afterwards and then left for a moment.
While Reese was alone with her thoughts, she still found it hard to believe about what just happened. The feeling still lingered in her mind like a pest that wouldn't go away. She was more attracted to him than she ever was.
But it was just too odd though that they both ended up feeling awkward with each other.
Perhaps they were just too caught up with the war in the past that they never had time to be romantically involved with anyone else at all.
I didn't know he was such a good kisser. Reese whispered to herself.
Raven came back bringing a new towel and a shirt which seemed too oversized for someone of Reese's stature. "I don't think I can provide you anything other than that though."
"It's okay." Reese replied with a straight face. "Thank you for this."
And then Raven left her alone for a while to let her change.
When the zoidian was done changing, she grabbed her suit and boots and then went to find Raven.
She found him waiting on the same direction where she came through. "I thought you already went back?"
"I've got to make sure you wouldn't set off the traps." Raven stated.
"Traps?" asked Reese curiously.
She hardly noticed before because it was dark, but she was lucky she managed to go through without stepping into any of it.
"A lot of wild animals come around here." Raven mentioned. "Stay close to me."
The zoidian quietly followed Raven's footsteps as they made their way back to the camp.
As the maverick approached his hammock, he stretched out his arms before lying down. Shadow was on the ground beside him. "Night." He muttered before going to sleep.
"Good night." Reese mumbled back, entering her tent retiring for the night.
End of Chapter 2. Just thought that Raven had probably changed after realizing he couldn't cope without Shadow even though he hated zoids so much. He did softened up with Reese along the way so he probably wasn't always the ruthless and sarcastic pilot that he used to be. Raven also did mention that he "didn't want to be alone anymore" so he probably wouldn't mind having Reese around.
Made up the part wherein Reese couldn't swim. Not sure if she could or not but she did needed saving when she was almost sucked by the whirl pool in Lumiere Island, which is probably a different situation but I just based my assumption on that part.