Author's Note: Lady_Douji on AO3 has created an AU to this series where Nod is in his early teens when Ronin finds him (there are some other differences as well). If you'd like to see Barnet emerge from his encounter with Nod somewhat worse for wear, then you should check it out.
The boy crouched low, holding his chickadee tight. The forest was full of noises he didn't recognize, and hummingbirds kept flying overhead, going fast like something was chasing them. The forest was full of bad things, and he needed to find a place to hide.
He couldn't hide up high though like he wanted to because the hummingbirds were carrying the bad things, and they might see him. He had to find someplace on the ground to hide, but the hiding places on the ground where tricky because bad things liked to hide in them too.
The boy sat on the ground under the shelter of a fern and sniffled, pulling out his necklace to look at it. He liked to look at it. It had a pretty flower on it and it was shinny. Looking at it made him feel less sad and so did holding his chickadee.
A hummingbird came very close to his hiding spot, making lots of noises that hummingbirds weren't supposed to make and the boy curled up tight around his chickadee and held onto his necklace and was very quiet. It was important that he was quiet. Being quiet kept the bad things from finding him.
After the hummingbird left, he crawled carefully from his spot. It wasn't a good spot to hide. The bad things would find him there. He had to find a better hiding spot before it got dark. Then maybe tomorrow he could go… he could go…
The boy sat down where he was and started to cry again even though he didn't really understand why. His chickadee and his shiny necklace weren't what he wanted, and he didn't know what he wanted, but he didn't want to be here anymore. He wanted to be somewhere else, but he didn't know where or why.
He cried until a noise scared him, and he scrambled to his feet, running away from it as fast as he could. Everything was bad and it wouldn't ever be good again, he was sure of it.
"I'm pulling units as they come in from patrol to go back out into the forest to search," Finn folded his arms across his chest, "and Captain Dag has pulled in his auxiliary guards to search Moonhaven proper. No one has found anything yet."
They had been searching for nearly three hours, and it was nearing nightfall. They wouldn't stop the search because it was dark, but they would be unlikely to find Nod before morning if they didn't find him soon.
Finn had caught up with the search party Ronin was with and sent them on ahead to keep looking while he and Ronin evaluated where they were at and what their next step needed to be.
"He's not there," Ronin shook his head wearily, "he's in the forest somewhere. We need to broaden our search perimeter. I know he's small, but he can move fast, and he knows how to travel in the woods. He's got to be frightened, so he'll be hiding. It could be weeks before we find him if he really is trying to hide from us, and who knows what sort of trouble he'll get into in that time."
"We find him before that," Finn tried to reassure him, "he's a smart kid, and he knows where home is."
"No he doesn't," Ronin clenched his hands, "he didn't want to go, and I said he had to. He doesn't know he still has a home. I never should have let Barnet take him. I knew he was the wrong person to care for Nod."
Tara had been right. He should have trusted his instincts and demanded that the child advocates do more to make sure Barnet would care for Nod properly. It probably wouldn't have taken more than fifteen minutes of observing him interacting with Nod to know he wasn't a fit guardian.
"We'll find him," Finn repeated firmly, "he's going to be fine, even if he is in the woods."
"I just wish…" Ronin tapered off with a frown, raising his head to listen.
Finn cocked his head to the side, listening as well, his hand dropping to the hilt of his sword. Ever so faintly, he could hear sniffling. Ronin pointed to mossy hollow running under the roots of a tree not far from them and Finn nodded, signaling that he would watch the opening on the other side of the roots while Ronin approached the closer one.
Ronin waited until Finn was in position, then ducked down cautiously to see into the narrow space. It was hard to see in the twilight, but he caught a startled jerk of movement, and lunged to try and catch him.
He caught an ankle, and Nod screamed, kicking at his hand, trying to twist to bite at him. Ronin ignored the struggling and pulled the boy out of the hollow. Nod immediately turned on him, growling as he tried to scratch and bite him.
"Nod, it's me; it's Ronin," Ronin managed to turn the boy, getting an arm around his waist and pulling him back against him, "you're safe; it's me."
Nod wailed and kicked his feet, trying desperately to escape back into the hollow. Finn jogged along the length of the root, jumping down to crouch in front of them. Nod screamed louder and redoubled his efforts to escape back to his hiding place.
"Nod…." Ronin narrowly missed getting hit in the head by a bony little elbow.
Finn frowned and ducked down, reaching into the hollow and feeling around until he felt material. He pulled out Nod's stuffed chickadee and offered it to him. The boy lunged for it, nearly jerking free of Ronin's hold, and snatched it to himself, hugging it tightly.
"Chickadee, are you okay? Are you hurt?" Ronin asked.
Nod growled and twisted to push against Ronin's chest as hard as he could, and when that didn't work he sunk his teeth into Ronin's bicep. The boy had an impressive bite, but he couldn't get through Ronin's armor.
"Nod stop," Ronin turned the child to face him, "it's me; we're going home."
Nod looked up at him, and for a moment seemed to understand, then his expression fell, and he tried to kick him and break free again.
"Nod?" Ronin frowned at the lack of recognition, "you don't have to go with Barnet, I promise. You're coming home with me."
When the boy realized his efforts to escape weren't working, he started to sob loudly, his tiny body shaking with the force of it. He hugged Cheep-Cheep tight and pressed his face against him.
"It's okay, chickadee," Ronin cooed, scooping him up to cradle against his chest, "everything is going to be okay."
Nod curled around his stuffed chickadee, crying inconsolably, and Ronin ducked his head to press his face against the boy's hair, rocking with him. He felt like crying as well, partly in relief, but mostly out of worry. Nod was acting the way he had when Ronin had first found him, like he didn't know Ronin at all.
"Ronin," Finn touched his shoulder gently, "you better get him home. I'll call in the search parties."
Ronin nodded and stood, the sobbing boy still held against his chest, "thank you."
It was well past time to get his little chickadee home.