A/N: I am awfully sorry I've kept you waiting so long! :/ I promise that I'll update once more, so that you have something to feed on... ;)

Oh, and, yeah, hate me, love me, do what you want, but Lana Del Rey's ravished my ears. So here comes Dark paradise in your playlist!

14. Exploding heads.

"Your soul is haunting me, your face is like a melody, it won't leave my head."

The following morning, I got up in my own room's bed. George had decided to stop arguing and had ordered a room for my own. The tenant looked very suspicious but said nothing.

I more than quickly got into my dress, and tried not that easily to tie my hair in an appropriate bun. Bugger, I didn't have Am' near to check the back of my head. I hated to take care of my hair. I still do, actually.

George knocked on the door at precisely ten. I had ordered myself a breakfast, which had consisted into a very hot tea and a couple of jam toasts. Perfectly fine to start a casual day.

"Miss Johnson." He bowed in a very formal way, and I guessed he was still swallowing the previous night's argument.

"George." I curtsied and did as if nothing had happened. "Where are you driving me today?"

He sighed. "Actually, I was coming to excuse myself, but I have to go to my regiment and talk with my superior."

I nodded. "By all means. I am a grown up, I can find something to do. Thank you for your commiseration."

He lifted his eyebrows, but said nothing, and then bowed again. He had never looked so similar to Darcy before. It made me chuckle. "What is so funny, Miss Johnson?"

I shrugged. "The day, the air, the tea, maybe. Do not concern yourself, Captain, I can survive without you for a couple of hours." I curtsied again and then closed the door on his face.

Yes, very very childish. Do not ask me. I guess I was getting really annoyed of his insistence, or maybe I was angry at myself for being such an idiot. Because, it was clear to me then, there was no way on Earth that I would survive without him. Not in such a place.

So I did the most sensible and yet completely insane thing to do. I got out by the window. Bless the day inns decided to have rooms on floor zero.

The day was agreeable, and I found myself soon recovering the path George had lead me through the previous day. I retrieved the small spot where I had sat, and resumed watching the colours of the clouds, their forms, and the birds chanting in the sky.

A few children came by me to ask me if I was lost, one asked me if I was an angel, and two little ones whose mother was washing laundry asked for a story. So I told them a story. Plain story. I told them the story of a young "prince" called Luke, who had to retrieve a princess called Leia, and who found out that the big bad king was his father and Leia's. And you know what? They loved it.

I ate nothing at midday, and resumed walking when it started to become chilly around two. I made a bouquet with some wild flowers, put one in a girl's hair, and watched as three boys were playing knights in front of the inn. When one asked his mother to be his dame, I decided to go back into my room.

George didn't show up before diner time. He knocked on my door again, this time looking a little troubled. It soon turned into a smirk when he saw that I was exhausted...and when my stomach made an hungry noise.

"Miss Johnson. Have you had a nice day?"

I chuckled. "Most pleasant, thank you Captain. You?"

"I managed." He offered me his arm, and we went back into the diner room to eat.

We sat there for the rest of the evening, talking about things and others, when suddenly, when it reached eleven or so, a very disturbed gentleman burst into the room.

It was Bingley.

"Wickham! Where are you!" I noticed he was a little drunk, but I could understand why.

I hadn't seen him in two days, but he had changed quickly, and not in a good way. His blue puppy eyes were red from crying, and he was barely holding his balance. His clothes, too, were far from being in a good shape.

George got up and greeted the man. "Bingley! What business do you have in Meriton, sir?"

Bingley pointed at George. "I want...to drink...until I forget...his existence!"

I got up and approached the man. "Mister Bingley." I curtsied. "Will you sit with us?"

His eyes narrowed at my sight, then he glanced between George and I, finally settling on George. "You, at least, are lucky." Then he pointed at me. "Your cousin killed my buzz tonight. And I have a news for you. Darcy, the coward, seems to have a deep infatuation for her. And he told me Jane wasn't worth me!" He rolled his eyes, and I caught his arm.

"Charles, come sit by us. We can drink to forget the Snob's existence, both of us."

George watched me funnily. "You, Miss, would drink to forget Darcy's existence?"

"That man's the worst thing that could have happened to this world. Look what he's done to his best friend!" I pulled Charles onto a chair, and asked the barman to serve us two whiskeys. He eyed me in a strange way, but brought the drinks anyway.

"My dear, Miss, you do drink like a man!" Charles said when I had swallowed the first glass in one go.

I wiped my mouth with my sleeve. "Drink. Tonight I'm no Miss. I'm just a poor person trapped into a world she doesn't belong to." And I took another drink.

George joined us after that sentence, as if it had opened something in him.

"So, Angelina, you and...Wickham-"

"Charles, you're drunk. You shouldn't try to say things you could regret. Besides, Miss Johnson doesn't really like that sort of questions."

"Right." I waved my glass and drank again in one go. "By the way, where are you going to sleep?"

He shrugged. "I'm going back to Pemberley. I have to be there in the morning. My sister's demand!" He snorted and then sneered. "In fact, we should go now. It's already two."

I jumped off my chair. "Two in the morning! Oh my dear god!" I almost ran to my room, where I grabbed my bonnet, and then I retrieved the two men, who were looking at me in the strangest way.

"What?"

George smirked. "You have drunk eight glasses of whiskeys and two of bourbon, and you stomp on your two feet as if it had been water! I'm impressed, Angelina!"

I shrugged. "I guess being the niece of a fishmonger helps." And then I turned to Charles. "Come on, Charles, we'd better go before dawn!"

He nodded. "Indeed, Miss, indeed. Come on, Wickham!"

George shook his head. "No. I am not going to Pemberley!"

I grabbed his arm. "I'm not going without you. Imagine, Charles could want to rape me on our way!" I put a mocking hand in front of my mouth.

He rolled his eyes. "Then I have no choice. Charles, where's your horse?"

And we all went out, after George paid our rooms and drinks, and Charles himself lent me a horse. He asked for an amazon saddle, but I shook my head and asked for a regular one, which won me another curious glance from the tenant.

And then, all of a sudden, we were all gone on the south-west path.

It was barely three in the morning.

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