Hey, I didn't need to be reminded it was the deadline! Yay! Somewhat surprising considering most of my time on the laptop for the past day and a quarter have been watching Code Lyoko, which I recently remembered was a thing from my childhood. That show got away with so much crap, it almost makes me think the censors didn't look it over when it came to the US. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that it was originally French...? Though that hardly excuses the characters' crulety to Sissy. That shit's fucked up.

Uh, enough of that rambling, here's this rambling! The first section is exactly 444 words. It was so amusing to me that I actually took many different steps to ensure it stayed that way when I found any grammar mistakes. Seriously.

The first two paragraphs are actually based around that amusing thing you can do with people (presumably when they're drunk) where you wave your hands in front of the victim's face saying, "You're running through a forest, dodging trees left and right; then you hit one!" And you proceed to hit them on the forehead. I've looked up on the interwebs... no one else seems to do it the same as my family. Strange.

Anyway, enjoy, as per usual!

Short 18

'Turn back!' was all that she could think of. It was stupid to keep running through a forest, dodging trees left and right, all before you smack into one.

She rammed headfirst into a low-hanging branch. Before long, she was lying on the ground, panting heavily.

'There, see?' Mona's brain muttered, exasperated by her emotions taking control of her body. 'Now look at what you've done.'

'Oh, like you're doing any better?' Her heart asked in a snarky tone.

'The Magicist told us it'd be better if we waited.'

'It'll feel like an eternity of waiting.'

'I'm aware of that, but think!'

'That's your job, not mine. I exist to save ourselves undue ache.'

'Yeah, but you're going to kill our body!'

'Whatever. I have to find our man.'

With that fabricated exchange out of the way, Mona stood and nearly fell over again, forcing her to lean against a tree. She took a deep breath and held it for a moment in a desperate attempt to get her already aching lungs to feel even slightly better. When that failed to work, she merely launched herself into a staggering run again.

She hoped she was going in a straight line. It was difficult to tell when having to jump this way and that to avoid running headlong into a tree. She had long since gone past the last point the Magicist had marked.

She didn't even know why she was running anymore. The Magicist couldn't possibly catch up to her now, if she even knew that she had disappeared to begin with. By this point, it was getting dark, and she was already tripping on just about everything. She wasn't wearing any shoes, not thinking to change out any of her attire before dashing out of the lab. She was sure her feet were a bloody mess at this point.

Finally, she spotted it. It was right there!

At this point, Mona's usually rational mind decided to just give up. It was well past midnight and she was very nearly dead on her bloodied feet, but her partner was just a couple minutes of quiet sneaking away. Before completely giving up and letting her emotions carry her, her mind muttered, 'Of course, this is all assuming he hasn't run away yet. He probably already did; I don't see why he'd wait.'

Mona completely ignored this and stumbled forward. She slowly tested the doorknob, surprised to find that it was unlocked. 'Trap!' Her mind woke up to scream, but she continued anyway.

Just inside, there sat, in almost a meditative pose, Plague Knight. Upon hearing the door, he opened his previous closed eyes. He smiled.

He could have run away a long time ago. Yesterday, in fact. He had been sent to his room after dinner for gleefully sending a spoonful of potatoes at Thomas (which he completely deserved). He moved the dresser completely out of the way and prepared to jump before thinking better of it. For one, someone would be coming for him; even if Mona had to make a pact with the devil himself, he was sure that someone would arrive, searching for him. That's why he didn't complain when he figured out the young mother had no intention of telling John that he wasn't their son, despite his annoyance. A second, also sound reason was that it would hurt to jump out of second story window with the body of a seven-year old.

So he waited. And when the sun fell below the horizon and he was sure everyone was asleep, he slipped downstairs. He unlocked and opened the door to see if there was anyone there, and was unsurprised to find no one.

And so, he closed the door and sat down at the doorstep, just outside of where the door swung. And he waited.

When the sun started to rise, he rose as well, locking the door back up and returning to his room, not making a sound the whole way. He curled up beside his bed (he had tried, it wasn't possible for him to get onto that one either) and slept until someone came to retrieve him. Unsurprisingly, the mother, whom was the one to be sent, was concerned to find him on the floor. Plague Knight waved it off as him just rolling off the bed and failing to notice. She seemed to buy the excuse.

The next day was much the same. He pretended to get situated in the new area, even though really he was bored out of his mind. As soon as he spied some books, he made a mad dash for them, sticking his nose in one of them that was particularly large before anyone could question him. He then proceeded to ignore everyone until the tome was snatched away by John, who then informed him it was dinner time. Apparently they didn't care if he had lunch, though.

Anyway, back to present time now…

Plague Knight heard the doorknob shift and he nearly jumped out of his skin, honestly surprised why someone would seriously try the front door in such a casual manner.

He opened his eyes and looked up, smiling when he saw a familiar figure. She was gasping for breath, looked like she hadn't slept in a week and she had scratches covering most of her body, which he noted was without its usual cloak, and instead donned shorts and a simple short sleeved shirt. The most notable cut was one on her forehead, which he figured could only come from reckless running straight into a tree. He could see the bandages on her shoulder were turning a dreadful dark color, likely ripped open from what seemed to have been a mad dash. Still, it had been nearly a full 6 days since he had seen her last, and so now, he couldn't be happier.

Slowly standing and not dropping his smile, he jokingly criticized her. "Took you long enough!"

Mona failed to respond to this. She dropped to her knees and pulled him into a weak hug, however. Plague Knight was unbothered by this and returned the hug, the wide smile on his face almost becoming painful.

He was just about to suggest that they run away before anyone somehow realized what was happening, but that train of thought got derailed right quick when he heard gentle sobbing. Incredulous, he pulled himself away from his companion just enough to find that she was indeed crying.

"H-hey, what's wrong?" He asked, wondering if he did something stupid.

Mona shook her head, as though she had just as much of a clue as he did. "I guess I'm just really happy. I felt like I was going to die if I had to spend another day without hearing a single word on where you were."

Plague Knight absentmindedly wiped at the tears flowing from her eyes. "You're being overdramatic."

"Not really. I could hardly eat. I was probably going to starve!"

Plague Knight looked down at her waist, finding that it was much thinner than usual. "Oh dear," he muttered. "How in hell did you make it down here?"

"Honestly? No clue. I guess with enough determination, you can keep going until the ends of the earth."

Plague Knight blinked, surprised. "Okay… Do you think you can last long enough for us to get some distance into the forest?"

In response, she shook her head tiredly. "I can't guarantee anything."

"What, you're going to give up halfway?"

Another shake of the head. "My goal was getting to see you again. Getting back never crossed my mind."

"Having a sever lack of forethought is my thing, back off!"

Mona had the nerve to provide him with a cheeky grin. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to borrow it for a while."

Plague Knight laughed lightly. "Fine, take it. I want it back, though."

Mona staggered to her feet. "No, actually, I think I'll keep it."

"You can't do that!" Plague Knight complained as though he were annoyed, though his next action, that being taking Mona's hand in his, indicated otherwise.

Mona did not reply, so the matter was swiftly dropped.

Before they even took a single step, Mona was trembling, struggling to simply stand. It was times like this that Plague Knight truly wished his height potion had actually succeeded, so she would have someone to lean against. As it stood now, though, he was too short and weak to be of any assistance. So, he did the only thing that he could. He talked, or more accurately, rambled on a one-sided conversation to keep her mind off the pain she was surely feeling.

Mona didn't give the usual cues, such as nodding, to indicate that one was listening to another. Despite this, her partner was sure that he had her attention, even if she wasn't listening to the actual words he spewed. She managed to start walking, though she stumbled every couple steps.

Plague Knight took this as a good sign and continued chattering until he completely forgot to look where he was going and ran straight into a tree. Groaning, he raised his free hand and felt his face, and found that, although his nose hurt a great deal, nothing was severely damaged.

"And that's the last time I forget to pay attention," he muttered as he looked to Mona, who was staring at him with something akin to apathetic worry, which Plague Knight didn't know existed until now. Of course, it could be that she wasn't apathetic, just a little lifeless because she was tired.

Letting out an annoyed groan, Plague Knight started walking again, resuming his talking until he managed to run out of things to say. After that point, he decided to switch to humming, which eventually evolved into a lackluster rendition of a song he'd once heard from the bar above the Potionarium. He was not exactly known for his ability to sing, and he certainly didn't know more than probably 5 words, but it repeated those words often enough that he could just make up things that fit the tune for the rest and no one would be the wiser. Granted, his only company likely didn't even notice he was actually saying words, so that kind of made the whole point moot. Didn't stop him.

When he drew the song to a close, he heard a light clapping. Looking around, he found no one that could have made the noise. Then, from the shadows, arrived the Magicist, looking worn out and thoroughly annoyed.

"Wow, you look like a tornado hit you!" Plague Knight exclaimed, surprised to find anyone in the woods at such a time.

The Magicist sighed. "I know," she ground out, teeth clenched. She focused her attention on Mona. Pointing a finger at the other woman, she growled, "What the hell were you thinking!? They're just going to come for him again!"

Mona did not respond, however. There was a blank look adorning her face as she stared unblinkingly ahead.

The Magicist blinked. Any anger she may have held disappeared, giving way to confusion. Looking to Plague Knight, she asked in a low voice, "How long has she been like this?"

Plague Knight shrugged. "About 10 minutes."

"And you didn't think that you should stop for the night?"

"I know. I just wanted to put some distance between us and them."

The Magicist nodded, understanding his reasoning. "Still, I'm surprised she hasn't keeled over."

As if that were a magic command, Mona fell to the ground, passed out.

"Well, good job, look at what you did," Plague Knight said. "I guess that means we're stopping for now."

The Magicist nodded, crouching to fix Mona's position before settling down on the ground herself. Plague Knight followed suit a moment later.

Before drifting to sleep, Plague Knight reached out and poked the Magicist. "Hey," he muttered.

The Magicist turned her head to look at him. "What's up?"

Plague Knight gulped. "While I was in there… The brothers said they–Thomas specifically-did something to Mona that would prevent her from coming for me. Clearly that didn't work, but… just what did they do?"

The Magicist cringed, seemingly debating on whether she should inform him. Finally, she gave up once she saw that he was looking at her with pitiful, desperate eyes, wanting to know, but too scared to ask the victim herself.

Taking a deep breath, she whispered, "They carved her back." Plague Knight looked appalled. "But wait, it gets better! They actually had the nerve to think themselves heroic. So they carved a word. Care to guess what it was?" Plague Knight shook his head, trying to beat down the unbridled fury he was already feeling. "Alchemist." Now, the child scientist looked scared, clearly for his partner's safety. "Ironic, isn't it? That they thought they could steal away a child, and then attempt to warn a village of another criminal. Luckily, because of this irony, and me threatening the doctor and nurses who saw the message to keep quiet, it looks like no one really believes it, if they heard about it at all."

Plague Knight let out a sigh of relief. "Good, good."

He rolled over, facing Mona. After giving it some thought, he stood and circled around her, lifting up the back of her shirt.

"Plague Knight, what do you think you're doing?" The Magicist asked in a teasing tone.

"Pipe down," Plague Knight muttered. "I just want to see."

The Magicist laughed. "I know. But you aren't going to find anything. It's completely covered up right now. Maybe once she wakes up, you can ask for her to show you."

"Something tells me she wouldn't enjoy having that brought up."

"Why? Because she'll think that you're just wanting to see her naked?"

Plague Knight immediately turned a bright red. "Well, now that you mention it, she might!" He took a deep breath and held it as long as he could in an attempt to calm himself. Finally, he let it out and stated, "No, I'm just worried it'll bring up bad memories."

"Best to do it while it's still fresh, then," the Magicist advised before she yawned. Rolling over so she was facing away from the alchemists, she muttered, "Now go to sleep, we'll deal with this later."

Plague Knight nodded silently and returned to his previous place on the soil, curling up beside Mona and letting sleep overcome him.

Yay, reunion! Happy day, yeah? Indeed, indeed. Well, other than the fact that Mona'll definitely feel like utter shit the next morning.