Heyo!
Thank you to all who have been sticking and reviewing to this story! I appreciate it so much. :)
I'll answer all of the anon reviews on the next chapter!
Three men followed the person who named himself Lanav, and Tintin was backing up further to Winter. Tintin checked his surroundings once more; the room he was in seemed like a storage for gunpowder. He then moved his eyes towards the floor and noticed a pencil-sized twig. A window was on his left, and he mentally nodded to himself.
"Winter Rose Brimnings… Is that your name?" Lanav sneered. "Finally I have captured you. You don't know how long I have been waiting."
Winter had the face of determination, but her fear was still present. "How do you know my name?" She asked, creasing her eyebrows. Her voice quivered.
"Little girl, you still don't know what has happened to you? Surely you do." He snarled impatiently.
"You mean… Going back through time?"
"Yeeeees!" Lanav hissed, progressing closer to her and Tintin. "I am the one that has transported you back to this time; nineteen fourty-six. Ten years it has been, ten years! Nineteen thirty-six was the year when I took you here. I've aged, and I don't have much time left. You are my key to success, do you know, young one? Now be good and come over here, and I won't hurt you or your uninvited friend…"
Tintin raised his gun and pointed it at Lanav in a brave and sturdy way. "I am a journalist. My name is Tintin if you don't mind."
Lanav nodded sarcastically. "Ah! That one reporter everyone has talked about? The famed one that is known across the universe? I've heard you were a bit older and muscular, but…" Lanav looked at him from his shoes to top of his quiff. "Never mind that. Now Winter Rose, come here. I will be friendly-"
"Winter, don't go. I'll protect you." Tintin said, cutting in. Winter crossed her arms and scoffed. "Don't worry, I haven't had the slightest intention to."
Lanav sighed and pointed to them. "Very well then. Go capture them, you three. Do whatever you want to the boy, but do not hurt the girl!" He walked out, and the three men proceeded, snarling their yellow, rotten teeth.
"Winter, I've got a plan," Tintin whispered, his gun still raised. "Do you see those barrels? Shoot a hole in one of them. They have gunpowder inside. There's a stick over on your right, and use it to make a fire. Break it in half and rub one on the other. Do you understand?"
Winter nodded and ran over to the barrels urgently, and aimed her gun. She pulled the trigger, and a loud 'BAM!' echoed through the room.
One man charged at Tintin at full speed, but he carefully maneuvered under the man's legs, which caused the person to unbalance over his thick stomach. Tintin quickly grabbed an empty whiskey bottle strewn on the floor and gave a sickening whack over the head, and the beefy man doubled over unconscious. Tintin turned over and spotted another, who was positioning himself to shoot. He dodged just in time before the bullet came, and it flew right across Winter's face, giving her a shock. "Sorry Winter!" Tintin shouted, kicking the gun out of the lanky man's hand. "No worries, I'm fine." She replied, rubbing the broken twig. She grunted in distress and finally caught a fire.
"Oi! Tintin! You haven't told me what to do with the fire yet!" Winter stated, holding the fiery red flames at an arm's length. Tintin gave one punch, and the skinny man tipped over. He briskly ran over to Winter and grabbed the stick containing the fire.
"Run out the window. Now!" Tintin bellowed, throwing the fire to the barrel. Winter saw yet another lieutenant marching to them, and Milou rushed in to save the day. The small dog barked and fiercely dug his razor-sharp teeth into the fellow's ankle, using a low yelp from the man. She ran to the window, holding her arms out as a shield as she crashed through the piercing glass. Tintin grabbed Milou and ran after her and took a high jump. A sickening 'BOOM' followed, and they safely fell into a soft bed of leaves.
"How lucky are we?" Winter thought out loud exasperatingly, running her hands through the aged leaves. Tintin chuckled, bringing his hand through his stubborn tuft of ginger hair. Milou barked happily, leaping from Tintin's hands and trotting around them. She began to unknowingly smile gratefully at him until she noticed his arm.
"Oh my god! Tintin! Your wound reopened!" She said worryingly, reaching out a hand to touch it. The blood was soaked on Tintin's coat in which she gave back a while ago. He recoiled back from Winter's contact and covered it with his hand. "I'm fine, Winter. And if you don't mind," He said, looking over at a horse. "We need to get there by using that." She frowned at him and turned with his direction.
"But I don't know how to ride them!" Winter exclaimed, pointing to it. "Why can't we just walk instead?"
He sighed and slapped his forehead in annoyance. "They will figure out that we've escaped anytime soon-" Tintin whirled his head around and widened his eyes. "Great snakes! Here they come."
Distant yelling began to come closer.
He grabbed Winter's arm and dragged her to the stallion that didn't look so eager. "Climb on. C'mon, hurry! Lanav is coming after us! Milou, up!"
She gasped and quickly pulled herself up with Tintin's assistance. He then picked up the dog, swiftly kicked his legs up, and hopped on, much to Winter's surprise. "Heeyah!" Tintin yelled, pulling on the rope that was secured to the black horse's mouth. It whinnied furiously and galloped with great speed. It caught Winter off guard, and she was about to fall off until Tintin wrapped his legs around hers. She pushed herself back up and slapped Tintin on the back. "And I owe you one again!" She exclaimed.
He yelped at the fierce blow and glanced at her with his grey-green eyes. "What was that for? You hit harder than I thought!"
She laughed in amusement and carefully held on at the edges of Tintin's coat, not getting too close. "Sorry. Bad habit of mine. But it's alright, punching and slapping playfully is my way of expressing friendship and love!" She said, grinning from ear to ear. Tintin shook his head and rolled his eyes, but a small grin was plastered on his face. "You are the weirdest and most improper girl I have met in my entire life." He declared. She frowned and slapped him on the back again, but this time in anger. "Now that wasn't a friendly slap at all!" Tintin snickered, much to his pleasure, and Milou, who was safely tucked in his jacket, yapped playfully.
She pouted and crossed her arms, causing her to lose her balance once again. She let out a muffled scream and hugged onto Tintin. "Sorry Tintin! Aha… You'll have to bear with me. No feelings, Tintin! Just good friends, right?" Tintin nodded in agreement, and spoke. "Yup, les meilleurs amis."
"Is that French? What does it mean?" Winter asked, playing with his narrow, black tie. Tintin looked back at her and smiled. "It means horrible enemies."
"Well fuck you too!" She shrilled, punching him lightly on the stomach. She suddenly froze and began to poke at him. "Woah… I thought you were skinny and all, but you actually have abs!" She proclaimed. Tintin squirmed and tried to rub Winter off. She stared at him weirdly, and realized that he was trying to hide his giggles. "Hey, Tintin… You're ticklish, aren't you?" She said creepily, a smirk crossing her face. She began to wiggle her fingers around his middle while laughing evilly.
"Pffft-Stop, Winter! AHAHAHAHA! STOP IT, PLEASE-" The horse let out a whinny, which followed with a swerve to the right, and Tintin pulled the rope to the left to bring them back on track.
"Yeah… I think I should stop now." Winter said, starting to become bored. "Go to sleep then," Tintin suggested. "Aren't you tired?"
Winter grunted in denial, but her eyes began to droop. "My butt aches…" She mumbled, and fell asleep. Tintin gave her a strange look and chuckled softly.
All became silent with the only sounds of the repeating clack, clack, clack of the hooves. He breathed out heavily, and stared at the beautiful setting sun.
"Dors bien, petite sœur."
"She is just absolutely adorable!"
"Vous avez dit que des millions de fois déjà."
"Really, Mr. Hatfock! You should at least try to speak a little of English! Mr. Tintin, this girl doesn't know French, am I right?"
"Right, Ms. Castafiore."
Winter woke up to a conversation that was faintly heard. She stretched wondrously and scratched her head, smacking her lips because of the nasty morning taste. She curiously opened her eyes, and saw a grand room, covered with newspapers neatly placed in picture frames. It felt like what had happened to her in just a time span of two days was a dream. 'A wonderful dream, adding to that.' She thought, getting out of the bed. Winter realized she had a fancy and long maroon nightgown on, and thought who put it on for her. Winter tiptoed out the door and met a staircase on her left. She hopped down, and followed the sounds of the talking.
"And you would never know what happened at the ball! I was planning to do a masquerade- Ah! Why hello there!"
A plump woman beamed at her, and next to her was a man with a black beard who seemingly looked like he didn't want to sit there. Tintin was sitting on a cushioned chair and twisted his head to see Winter. "Good morning! Did you have a nice sleep? You were drooling on my back yesterday, so I assumed you did…" He said, giving a smile.
Winter pouted at him. "Well gosh, Tintin. You don't need to speak the details..."
The man faced Winter and spoke, looking as if to find words."Er... Hullo! My name is Haddock. Archibald Haddock." He said with a thick accent, walking over to her. They shook hands, and Winter introduced herself. "My name's Winter Rose Brimnings, Mr. Haddock."
"Capitaine Haddock."
"Oh, right."
"Bonjour ! How nice to see you, Winter Rose! Beautiful name, I would say. Anyways, my name is Bianca Castafiore. I'm holding a masquerade ball this Saturday! You'll be one of my star guests! Well, you will come, won't you?" She said, with a tune waving in her voice. "You too, Mr. Tintin, Mr. Hatsock!"
A small mumble from the captain was heard, and Winter caught it faintly as "It's Ha. Dock!"
Winter looked at them in confusion, and shrugged her shoulders uselessly. She turned over to Tintin, finding him hauling Milou up to his lap. "Hey, Tintin. Is your wound tended to yet?" He looked back at her and gave a dazzling smile. "Mhm. Capitaine Haddock did it for me." His face suddenly lit up, as if he had just remembered something. "Oh, Capitaine! It seems like professor Calculus is not here right now. When will he come back?"
Captain Haddock's froze, and his face turned grim. He slowly arched his head to Tintin's direction, and slowly took off his hat.
"He… I haven't seen him for so long."
Tintin frowned at Haddock and rested his arm on the armrest. "Wait, what? Tell me what has happened." Captain Haddock scratched his head, and let out a sigh. "I was out at a pub and came back at around... uh... blistering barnacles I can't remember a thing... and I saw Calculus getting into a car."
Tintin nodded for him to go on. "I called out to him 'where are you going?' and he said that he was fine and was going to go somewhere I don't need to know."
It became silent as a graveyard in the living room. The fireplace crackled, causing Tintin's eyes to sparkle with fiery drops of blue and green. "That's strange. Do you guys think... He's been kidnapped?" Bianca Castafiore and Captain Haddock gasped, and Winter stared in confusion, clearly not knowing who Calculus was. Tintin quickly got up from his seat and let the small terrier free. "I... I think I'm sure. Usually Professor Calculus wouldn't hear you, right?"
"...Thundering typhoons, that's right!" Haddock exclaimed, slamming the couch with his fist. "I was actually far away from him. I had to yell out, and considering I was drunk, I might have been mumbling."
"Well." Tintin began to walk out to the front door, with Milou following behind. "Wait, where are you going?" Winter yelled after him. He gave her a quick glance but still kept his pace. "To Professor Calculus' laboratory. Go upstairs and get ready to leave. I'm just going to get some clues for now."
As he was about to close the door, Winter ran out to him. "You're going to wait for me, right?" Tintin gave a reassuring smile, and picked up Milou.
"Of course, Winter."
Did you guys like it? Please review!
Oh, and for this chapter, I HAVEN'T INTENDED ANY ROMANCE YET. Just saying.
See you on chapter 5! :)