Sorry for the long wait. Here's chapter 3.

Thanks to all of you that reviewed last time.

Disclaimer: I do not own Fire Emblem.

Gro~wl!

Alice jolted awake upon hearing this sound, her body on high alert as her mind shifted to thoughts of the night before. The brunette's body grew stiff as she looked around. The sun was shining into the cave, it's warmth just missing her by a few inches. Distantly, she heard the sounds of birds chirping, though they were faint. Alice's heart pounded in her chest as she looked out at the forest, thinking the sound that had woken her might be the wolves, come back to have another go at her.

Gro~wl!

Alice jumped in surprise, wide eyed as her eyes shot down to look at her stomach. Her body relaxed a great deal as she placed her hand on her forehead. Alice laughed at her own stupidity and paranoia-as well as the relief she felt when she realized that it wasn't the wolves.

"Jesus Crist." She muttered as she willed her heartbeat to slow. She laughed and shook her head at herself, uncurling her legs. Pain shot up her leg as her wound protested, but the resulting relaxation of the rest of her limbs easily made up for the pain she felt.

Stretching out the rest of her limbs, Alice groaned. She'd never slept curled up against a cave wall before, and she didn't want to again. She hadn't gotten the best of sleeps, waking up often, cold and uncomfortable. It was quite annoying.

Rubbing the sleep from her eyes, Alice looked around at the area she could see from her spot inside the cave. From what she could see, there was a path just outside the cave that stretched around the cliff and out of her view. Other than that, she could see the trees and a bit of the clearing that saved her from the awful 'forest of horrors'.

"Hm. . . I guess I headed in the right direction after all." Alice thought aloud, looking at the sun, just now rising over the tops of the trees. Alice could feel the cool of the night lingering in the air, but knew that it wouldn't take long for the sun to heat things back up again. While Alice felt like a little more warmth would be nice at the moment, she knew that, come noon, she would not want to be out walking in it.

"Well, might as well get moving while it's still cold." Alice muttered to herself, half of her words coming out as a groan as she pulled her sore body up. She winced as more pain shot up her left leg, overshadowing that of her right. She ground her teeth together and limped out of the cave.

Alice looked around the area again, now that she could see more. To her left and right, a path curled around the mountain, well worn and fairly flat. Obviously been used before, though it didn't seem to be used that often. Alice looked up at the sky again, spotting the sun. She looked at it, then the path to her right, then back again.

"Alright. Let's go this way then." Alice said, pushing herself off the rock wall she'd been using for support and started her long hard walk west.

(Time Lapse)

Night time.

Alice had been walking most of the day, stopping only a few times when she felt she needed a rest. She desperately needed water, but, on the mountain, she'd been unable to find any. Now she stood on at the top of a slope, another cave to her right. At the bottom of the steep slope, the entrance to a forest taunted her.

She frowned at it. Though she knew she needed water, she wasn't really eager to go prancing around in the woods again. Groaning, she looked over the top of the tree line. Seeing as the sun was about to start setting, Alice figured stopping was a good idea.

Alice made her way into the cave, using the mountain to support her tired and weakening body. Doing the same as she did the night before, she curled up against the wall near the cave entrance. She picked the right wall, the one that would shelter her from the wind as well as keep her pointed in the correct direction.

During the entire walk, Alice had kept her mind focused on going west, only letting her mind drift to her stories every so often to help time along faster-and to keep her mind off of her pain. The last thing she wanted to do was think of her parents or home. She needed to stay focused on her goal. The teenaged girl had seen many TV shows where people got lost. The one thing that doomed anyone and everyone, was the loss of hope. It sounded cheezy, but, now that Alice was expirencing it, she knew nothing could be more true.

The brunette shook her head, trying to clear her mind of such thoughts. She moved to pull her knees to her chest but the feeling of pain that shot up her leg forced her to still her movements. She'd noticed, as she walked, that it became more and more painful to support herself on her left leg.

"I hope it's not infected already." She said aloud as she worked at the knot in the tank. When she got the material free from her leg, she tugged it off. Alice hissed in pain at the motion.

"What the-?" Alice looked down at her leg, bits of fabric caught in the points in her wound that remained closed. Alice groaned. Her wound had closed around her tank top, which must have pulled at the wound when she walked.

"Well, at least it wasn't an infection." She sighed, placing her bloodied tank back over the wound so it just barely sat on top of her leg. Hoping that would work, and that her wound didn't become infected because of it, Alice leaned back against the cave wall. She folded her arms across her chest and looked out at the dimming light. Sighing, she stretched out her right leg, leaving her left up, and rested her chin on her chest, snuggling down as best she could for the night.

(Time lapse)

Alice sighed as the cool water slid down her injured left leg. Upon waking in the cave, Alice almost immediately started walking-tightening her tank top around her leg first. Her walked was long and uneventful for most of the morning. Her body continued protesting against her abuse, but Alice was beyond caring. She'd bottled up most of her emotions while she walked and just concentrated on finding someone, anyone! She could cry over it later. For now, she needed to get home.

It was noon now and she'd made good progress through the forest. She'd only just found a stream a few minutes ago. Obviously, she'd already drunk as much as she could-having literally thrown herself before the stream when she'd spotted it. She soaked her leg in the water-a less then pleasant feeling-but a necessary action.

The blood and dirt was now cleaned off of both her legs and her arms. Her butt and knees were still covered in dirt, but she didn't want to run the risk of still being wet when night hit. The one piece of clothing she did wash was the tanktop she was now rewrapping around her leg.

When her makeshift bandage was secure, Alice allowed herself a moment to looked around. Above her, the sun peaked through the trees, seemingly waiting for her to decide when they should continue. Alice laughed softly at the thought as she lowered her head and looked at the forest surrounding her.

In front of her, the stream continued on it's lazy way. The water was no more than ten feet across and was only two or three feet deep. The trees surrounding her looked as strong as ever, though they seemed to have more of a glow than the others she'd passed. The wildlife had taken off when she arrived, leaving her alone in the woods. There was a soft breeze making it's way through the trees, enough to comfort Alice, but not enough to chill her.

"Well, it is noon and I am pretty tired." She mused aloud as she looked behind her. Spotting a tree, she backed herself into it, careful not to use her, now throbbing, left leg. She leaned back against the trunk and sighed.

"I can probably rest here for a while. I'll just wake up. . . before the sun sets and. . ." Alice trailed off as her body gave itself to the exhaustion and shut down.

(Time lapse)

Alice groaned and smacked her forehead sharply, stinging her already injured palms. She had awoken a moment ago only to find that it was already night. Based on the position of the moon, it was already midnight. Alice grunted as she pulled herself into a stand. She'd have to find some tree or some other place to hide.

"As much as I love wolves, there is no way I'm willing to become a late night snack." Alice growled sarcasticly as she looked around at the trees. In the limited light of the quarter moon, it was difficult to see more than a few feet in front of her.

Alice looked up at the tree she'd been leaning against, hoping she would be able to climb it. Her shoulders dropped when she saw that the only was branch ten feet up. With her injured leg, she didn't even want to chance her strength in an attempt to climb it.

Averting her eyes from the tree, she looked around again. From where she was standing, all the trees were similar.

These darn trees are too tall. She thought, annoyed, but not willing to curse. She sighed and walked in the direction she hoped to be west. Looking left and right, she continued to search for a tree to climb. As she did, she kept an ears perked, just in case.

"Ah ha! There!" Alice exclaimed in triumph a few minutes later. She squeaked and clamped her hand over her mouth. Wide eyed, she looked around, half expecting those angry wolves to jump out of one of the bushes and attack her.

Nothing.

Alice waited a moment longer before removing her hand from her mouth. She sighed and made her way in the direction of the suitable tree she'd seen. She looked up at the tree as she came to a halt in front of it. She smiled at the first branch, only a few feet above her head.

"Hello beautiful." She whispered to the tree, relieved to have somewhere away from the dangers she found on the ground. As she got her grip on the first branch and looked up for the second, she noticed something pure white nestled in the leafy canopy.

"Huh? What's-"

Roar!

Alice's eyes went wide and her body went ridged as she snapped her head to the left where the sound came from. Though the trees, only a meter or two away, she saw a pair of glowing honey-gold eyes. Alice gasped and looked abruptly back up the tree, tightening her grip and attempting to pull herself up.

Gggrrr!

The growl was followed shortly by the heavy pounding of paws on the ground. Alice looked over in the direction of the eyes again to see a wall of fur blocking her view.

"Aya!" Alice screamed as the wall hit her, tearing her from the tree with the force of the blow. Alice was thrown against another tree-which pressed against her bruised back. She hissed in pain.

Alice fell to the ground with a soft 'thump', the tree having absorbed most of the blow. She groaned and rolled over, away from the tree.

"Umfh!" Alice huffed as something soft, but firm and heavy, pressed down on her chest. Her eyes-formally closed in pain-flew open in fear. She stared up into the honey-gold eyes of the lion. She saw rage shinning brightly in them, which froze her to the spot. The only movement she made was the inventory shaking as she stared, terrified, at the lion above her.

The lion was still for a moment, just staring at her. The pause confused Alice, but made her no less afraid. She gripped at his paw, which she only just realized she'd grabbed. The lion glanced down at her hand then looked back up at her.

Alice's grip grew all the tighter as the lion leaned down close to her. She squeezed her eyes closed tightly in fear. She knew, if the lion choose to attack her she would not stand a chance against his might. She was doomed.

Sniff.

Alice's eyes flew open and she turned her head slightly to see the lion's face as he pulled back. He'd sniffed her. That's it. Just sniffed her. When he looked at her again, rage no longer filled his eyes, though some anger still lingered. Alice's body relaxed slightly.

"Who are you?" He asked, his voice deep and rumbling. Alice's eyes widened and her trembling started all over again. She opened and closed her mouth like a fish out of water. She wanted to say something but her brain didn't want to work along with her vocal cords, didn't want to work at all.

Finally, she managed two words.

"It. . . talks?"

Please forgive any and all grammar errors. Thank you for reading, please review.

Ja ne,
Shezu