Hey Guys,

Just so you know, I'm going to updating continuously since Fashionablyobsessed Challenge entry is due tomorrow. So don't just press the every time because you might be clicking on a chapter one or two ahead.

Thanks for all the love! Oh by the way the Alaskan language thing, that's fake. I made it up.

Enjoy!

~IfWritersCouldSpeak~

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Fabian stifle his roars of laughter, as he saw me rubbing two branches against each other, attempting to build a fire.

"You know, it's not that easy," I proclaimed, as he clamped a hand over his mouth, to stop laughing, before he frowned.

"Aw, is Mighty Martin incapable of making a fire?" he teased.

I dropped the sticks, and declared, "I'd like to see you try Rebellious Rutter."

He raised his eyebrows, and he had a fire dancing on top of the coals he found earlier, within minutes. He smirked, "Well, what do you know? Perfect Martin over here can't do something."

He gasped, looked down. I bit my lip, and turned away, and I could hear his rough boots scraping the ground as he walked towards me. "Hey, hey," he said. He turned me around and held onto my shoulders. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel-"

"Let's just try and warm up the water, ok?" I suggested, pulling away from him. I took the woven basket I had created earlier and I filled it up with the acid. I prayed it would stay together for enough time, as I placed it over the fire. The fire didn't seem to do it too much damage-I could see a few burns- so I just let it stay there for a half hour. I know for regular water it should be only five but this, was not regular.

Fabian wandered around while I kept my eye on the fire. His arm was getting better, clearly, he was able to move it more frequently, and he didn't pass out every five minutes. I let him go, but I kept calling out his name, making sure he was in a reasonable distance.

I checked my leg wound about ten minutes ago, when Fabian was walking. The bleeding had stopped, but it looked like it was getting infected. Not to mention the scraps and burns from the bomb. I had been using the antiseptic, but not as often or as much as I should have. I placed some on, once I saw it, but I knew myself it was way too little. But we had one bottle left now, and Fabian needed it. Fabian knew exactly what I would do with only one bottle; he knew I would give it up for him. I knew he would be watching more closely from now on, making sure I was taking it-and using it in the right amounts. But once his arm was fully healed, and could I be sure that he wouldn't need it, I use it as much as I should.

"Nina," Fabian called, emerging from the woods. He was carrying dozens of berries, and I recognize at least seven of them. "Look what I found."

"Great," I commented. I pulled the basket from the fire. "Could you put those on the leaves? I want to get this water problem over with."

He did as I told him to, and he sat beside me. "How will we know if it's safe?"

I hesitated. I knew this would be his least favorite part. "I'm going to drink it." He opened his mouth to protest, before I continued, "Just a drop. Not even a sip. Please."

"No, no," he stated, ready to take the basket from my hands. "I'll do it. It's ok, I'll be fine."

"No, Fabian, I can't let you-" He grabbed the basket from my hands, before I could say anything. He gingerly dipped his index finger, and sucked on it. I took a deep breath, and before I knew it, I saw him attempting to drown the water. "Fabian!" I screamed.

"It's ok," he said, wiping his mouth, "it's normal. You can drink it."

I waited ten minutes, checking on him, his heartbeat, his behavior, before I hesitantly took his sip.

It tasted like nothing. It was tasteless. Odorless. It felt like spring. Like freedom.

Like it used to.

I then began to swallow it continuously. Fabian then took the other basket I crafted, and carefully filled it with the acid and placed it over the water. "We have to get as much as we can before it starts raining," he stated. Earlier it had rained lightly, and we had gathered some rain in one of the baskets. We drank it greedily, but I know Fabian had only had a little, just so I could have more.

I looked up, and I knew we only had an hour or so, before the full-blown storm starts. I had no idea where we would sleep then.

I know you should stay underneath a tree when a storm hits. If we went deeper in the woods, then there would be less of a chance that our tree gets struck. Plus, The Council wouldn't send their troops into a heavy rainstorm would they? They could die. I'm sure The Council had enough heart not to do that.

Hey, if you could die any second, you might as well try to laugh.

Fabian and I sat on some logs, in front of the fire. We sat across from each other, and the fire was the only source of light. I saw him look up occasionally; making sure the clouds would conceal the smoke. Lucky we had only made a small one, so we didn't have to worry so much. But that didn't stop Fabian.

"It's fine," I told him. "The clouds will hide it."

He sighed, and his shoulders slumped. "Nina, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure," I replied.

"What are you?"

I froze. "What do you mean?" I asked, pausing between the words.

"I know you're not a Perfect. You definitely aren't an ImPerfect. I don't know any other options." I sighed as he continued, "You say your views of The Council so freely, and you mess up all the time. As much as I love that about you, I need to know, if I'm going to be hunted with you.

"You tried to tell me something when The Council broke into our house. What was it? I know you are different. I just I-I need to know. I've wanted to know for a while."

I choked on air, as I honestly whispered, "You wouldn't want to know."

"Yes, I would, I do! For God's sake, Nina, what is it? I have to know! I can't live my life like this, if I don't know!" He then said quieter, "I can't love you if I don't."

I began to cry, and I wiped my nose. I could see his heartbroken expression, before the flames, his face desperate. "Too much would change. I would put you in even more danger. You wouldn't look at me the same."

"Nina," he begged, "I promise I will. And, there is no way I could be in even more danger than I'm already in. I swear if you tell me, I will tell you my secret."

I raised my eyebrows, and looked at him. He was really crying now, his eyes were no longer misty- they were damp. They showed weakness and pain. He needed to know.

I have to tell him.

"I'm-" I started but stopped. I shook my head. I couldn't keep leading him on like this. It would be unfair to the pair of us. "I'm a Chosen.

"I'm one in every century. I'm the government's biggest threat. They can change a part of me, but they can't change all of me. I don't know why it's me, but all I know is that The Council will do anything, to kill me. Because of me Jerome is dead. Mara's probably screaming and crying, and Jennifer is now going to have no one to fight with. She's going to have no one pamper her. She'll have no one advice her about boys. No one will threaten her friends not to hurt her. No one send her off to her test." My eyes got misty. "No one to hold her, no one to talk to when she's sad. No one to be the best friend she doesn't want. She'll be alone, she'll be-"

There was a voice in my ear, and a hand on my shoulder. I put my head into the crook of their neck.

Even after being soaked in blood, his hands covered in antiseptic, falling into mud and leaves, and being shocked by sparks from a bomb, he still smelled like fresh books and the ocean there.

"Nina," he whispered my name, as he stroked my hair.

After ten minutes, I relaxed, and pulled away. I turned away from him, so I change the baskets. We drank half of it, before leaving it to the side for later.

"So, what's your secret?" I questioned, remembering out deal from earlier.

He looked down. "When I was little, The Council, came in and took my dad." I knew this, and he knew I did, but he still went on. "They took him outside, and they tortured him, before taking him away all bruised and bloody. I never knew, but he was an ImPerfect. He taught me his native language, Alaskan, some old one from before the beginning of The Council. He spoke it to me every day, and he always told me to be, 'Bah ha Mei' or 'True of heart'. I was, and that was the last thing I said to him, before they took him to execution or so I thought.

"My mom, she was a Perfect. She was ashamed of my father, and The Council gave her a new husband. She spent so much time, making sure that he was a real Perfect, that she didn't pay any attention to me." He chuckled, but there was no joke in his tone, "Not like she did before.

"I grew up believing in The Council. I didn't want any other child to be betrayed and fooled the way my father did to me. I grew up, literally, through my neighbor who was a government officer. He was like my second father. I went to his house daily, where his children played while I learned about everything. It was my dream to help in the government, help them with anything. I grew up learning that ImPerfects were tedious, and that they should be stopped since they were the ones who caused lots of damage.

"At school, I was fascinated in history. I loved learning how The Council and everything began. I loved learning how Perfects and ImPerfects were kept apart, and I argued daily on why it should be kept that way.

"When I met you, that changed like I said. But I realized, I wasn't a Perfect. Because I understood and I agreed with you on everything, even the hateful things about The Council. I never turned you or anything, and I was shocked at myself. You know this, of course, but the thing is, I'm a Perfect. I'm an ImPerfect, they had control over me at times, and they could command me. But many of my actions were off my own accord, they were my own choices." He took a deep breath and said, "Nina, I don't know what I am."

I was shocked. This news was just like saying you didn't know how to ride a bike or walk. In this world, everyone knew what he or she was. They had to. It was a factor.

"Fabian-"

The downpour of rain cut me off. The lightning crashed and the thunder caused my head to pound. The fire went out, and the baskets rapidly filled with water.

I yelled for Fabian, but it was too blurry. I felt someone grab my arm and drag me over to the trees. I grabbed a basket of water, and it felt pretty light.

Of course. When I was running to my death, I pick the basket that gave me the least chance of survival. The basket I have woven had a hole in it, causing me to hold it diagonally.

Oh well, Fabian can give me some of his.

I was praying the person running in front of me was Fabian, and I concentrated on him, until I tripped.

The basket was ripped from my arms, as the water flowed onto the already damp ground.

A branch landed on top of my leg and I screamed, but it was silent under the howls of the storm.

I dragged my leg and the basket underneath a tree. I lay flat on my back, the way I learned in school. My arms and legs were spread wide, and the basket was in the safety of a crook of branches in the tree. It quickly filled with water, as I closed my eyes and prayed.

I prayed for myself, I prayed for Jennifer, I prayed for Mara. I prayed for everyone who for some reason was caught in this storm like me.

And I desperately prayed for Fabian, who for all I knew could have been dying in a ditch somewhere.

Did you like that? The next chapter maybe posted tonight. Or the next two. As soon as I'm done writing, they'll be online after my check.

See ya!

~IfWritersCouldSpeak~