Chapter fifty - six, updated early because I'm leaving at 3:45 tomorrow morning for a school trip over the weekend. Thank you caitlinkeitorin and Eddie Camp for reviewing last chapter!
Chapter Fifty - Six: Unwanted Assistance
Allia allowed her gaze to travel over the Silver Fang camp. She sighed, leaning back. It's strange that nothing really interesting has happened, she thought wryly. In fact, except for when the Silver Fang moved out, things seemed incredibly dull. She snorted. When I joined, I expected there to be more excitement.
Then again, there really should have been. Every so often, she'd felt the presence of someone very light or very dark hovering nearby. To her surprise, however, Silver always seemed to move very near to the moment of the assassin's realization.
Her eyes landed on a certain former thief at the thought. Ah, yes. She always seems to be present when that happens, too. She and that little kid, Riun, anyways. She stiffened at the thought of the child. Mala she'd never minded much; though she'd caught her off guard, she'd also helped save her, and she supposed that it evened out. With Riun, however, she couldn't help remembering how the boy had lit her on fire, effectively making her too damaged to fight against Viril when he came for her. From the looks he shot her, he seemed to be as wary of her as she was of him.
She shook her head, irritated at herself. Focus on the task at hand, she reminded herself. She didn't have time to be fueling her bitter feelings…well, not about that, at least. Her eyes kept firmly locked on Mala, she started forward. "Hey. Thief."
Mala stopped at her voice, and turned to look at her in surprise. "Yeah?" she asked, blue eyes flickering with confusion.
Probably wondering why I called her 'thief' instead of 'Mala.' But now wasn't the time to think of that. "Why do you keep going to talk to Silver?" she asked, deciding to get straight to the point.
Mala's eyes flickered nervously at her question, but, to her credit, she didn't flinch away. Coming along in leaps and bounds, Allia commented silently. "I've just…had a lot of information for her, is all."
"I see," Allia responded, making sure the girl knew she wasn't convinced. "And what exactly is this information about?"
"Anything that seems useful," Mala replied, looking uncomfortable.
"And what do you consider useful? More over, where are you getting this 'useful information'?" Allia gave her a wry smile that made the other female appear to grow even more uncomfortable, which she hadn't believed was possible. "Really, secrets aren't fun unless they're for everyone."
"Th-there's no secret!" Mala piped up quickly, looking suddenly defensive.
Allia quirked an eyebrow at the comment. "Is that so?" she asked. "Well, then why are you getting so uptight?" Mala didn't answer verbally, just hunched her shoulders and flashed her a look that said she wished she'd go away. For the moment, the assassin decided to comply. "Fine. I'll leave you to your secrets." She walked a few paces past her before stopping abruptly and adding in an overly - bright voice, "But I think I'll be keeping a closer eye on you. Figured I should warn you ahead of time." She felt the girl stiffen behind her, but she ignored it and continued to walk away.
Mala couldn't stop the waves of nervousness that flooded through her. What if…she finds out about Gillick? The thought frightened her; she didn't want to know what Silver would do if she found out the black haired former Keyblader was trading information with two of her warriors. She grimaced. Nothing good.
"Mala? Are you Ok?"
The blue eyed girl looked down at the little boy beside her in surprise. "Uh, yeah. I'm fine, Riun."
Riun frowned at her. "You don't sound fine."
Mala didn't know how to respond to that at first. She stuttered for a bit, then finally answered lamely, "I'm just wondering where he is. He should've been here by now."
To her relief, Riun didn't question why she used 'he' instead of 'Gillick'. He nodded, looking as if that answered everything. "Maybe he got lost?"
"Who got lost?" a voice interrupted, causing both to jump.
As mala caught sight of Gillick coming towards them, Mala involuntarily cried out, "Don't come closer!"
"Since when do you order me around?" Gillick asked, amber eyes narrowed. Obviously noticing the pleading look she was giving him, he sighed in exasperation and stopped. "Why?"
"Allia's getting suspicious," she replied quietly.
"The assassin?" Gillick asked, narrowing his eyes as he tried to remember. When Mala nodded, he rolled his eyes. "Great. More problems to deal with."
Mala noticed Riun's eyes had grown wide. "She might know?" he whispered, his voice sounding strained.
"She doesn't yet," Mala reassured him, "but…"
Gillick shook his head. "Whatever. If that bitch wants to rat me out, fine."
Mala let out an involuntary gasp of shock. "But…won't that keep you from helping?"
"No." Mala expected him to elaborate, but he didn't, instead saying, "Nothing new has been happening. I haven't noticed any Keybladers close to here, anyways."
Mala nodded. "Ok." She turned to leave.
Riun waved at him. "By, Gil-"
"Shh!" Mala warned, clamping a hand over his mouth before he had the time to blurt out Gillick's full name. Gillick shook his head at them, then turned around and headed away.
Silver was walking the perimeter of the camp when Allia found her. "Making sure no enemies sneak up on us?"
The Silver Fang leader jumped involuntarily at the voice, then silently cursed herself for doing so. "Yes," she responded dryly, "but apparently I'm not doing good enough." She looked pointedly at the assassin.
Allia offered her a half - innocent grin. "Well, I'm on your side, aren't I?"
Silver snorted. "Did you want something? Or were you just trying to surprise me?"
Allia's smile fell. "I have some news that I think you'd like to hear."
Silver snorted at that. The phrase was becoming all too familiar, having heard it from Mala so much recently. As nervous as the girl was, she was apparently growing very knowledgeable about observing her surroundings. "What is it?"
"You think Mala and Riun are finding out all the interesting information you're getting by themselves, don't you?"
Silver blanched at the comment. "How did you know-"
"They're not," Allia cut in. "They're getting it from Gillick."
For a moment, Silver was stiff with shock. Finally, she managed to spit out, "What?"
"I saw the two of them talking to him this morning," Allia continued. "I'd been wondering if something was up for a while, but wasn't sure until now."
Silver's green eyes narrowed. On the one hand, the assassin's story made sense; Mala had already seen Gillick once before, and admitted to it readily. However, she didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. "Are you sure?"
"Quite sure," Allia replied seriously.
Silver closed her eyes briefly. "Then take me to where you saw them talking tomorrow. I'm not going to do anything until I see proof for myself."
"Of course," Allia agreed, and turned to head off.
Left alone, Silver let her thoughts wander. Is he really following us? she wondered. And if so, why? An idea immediately presented itself to her, and she felt anger rush through her like fire at the thought. To get revenge on us, just like any noble Keyblader would do. The bitter thought gave her power, and she clenched her fists. Well, I won't let it happen! She turned on her heel to continue her patrol. If he's there come morning, then he WILL regret it.
Gillick frowned as he trudged towards the Silver Fang camp early the next morning. Still no sign of Keybladers. It was good news, but it still made the former Keyblader edgy. What were they up to?
He looked up and saw Mala and Riun approaching through the trees at the exact moment he arrived. "Good timing," he told them with a smirk.
"We weren't the ones late yesterday," Mala said, grinning.
Gillick blinked in surprise. Is she teasing me? Looking at her suddenly nervous expression, he couldn't help but snort with amusement. Hearing the sound, she relaxed slightly. "Smart ass."
"What's that mean?" Riun whispered, tugging on Mala's shirt.
She didn't look like she knew how to answer that. "Uh…"
A voice saved her the trouble. "So, Allia was right!"
The three whipped around at the sound of the angry voice. From the bushes appeared Silver, her green eyes glittering with barely restrained fury. Allia slowly stood, but remained where she was. Gillick instinctively reached for the sword strapped to his back. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"This is my camp, armor - less," she reminded him harshly. His amber eyes narrowed in fury at the remark. "So, the better question is: what are you doing here?"
"What does it matter?" Gillick spat at her, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightening, though he didn't withdraw it yet.
"Because you're not welcome here!" Silver spat. She turned her burning gaze to Mala and Riun. "And what were you two thinking, allowing him to stay here?"
"But he's helping us, Miss Silver!" Riun protested. Mala nodded her agreement after a moment's hesitation.
"Helping?" Silver repeated, sounding incredulous. "Helping? I'll believe that when the Keybladers magically turn good!" She gave a pointed look towards the black haired boy.
He got the message, and it caused his anger to spill over. "I'm not a Keyblader anymore!" he spat at her. "Were you even listening when I told you that? Or are you so wrapped up in my freaking past that you won't even try to understand?"
"Once a Keyblader, always a Keyblader," Silver retorted. "You proved that much."
"I hate the Keybladers as much as you do!" Gillick shouted at her, infuriated. "Will you just stop and listen?"
"I have no reason to listen to you," Silver responded, reaching a hand up to touch the hilt of one of her swords.
"Then I'll make you listen!" he spat, dragging his sword from its sheath and lunging forward.
Silver whipped her swords out of their sheaths and caught his strike between the two. "I knew it; you were never on our side."
"Gillick, what are you doing?" Mala cried in alarm.
Even Allia seemed a bit nervous. "You know, I never really wanted this to happen…"
"But…you told Silver," Riun reminded her quietly.
The two warriors broke apart, then lunged at each other instantly afterward. Silver slashed one sword at Gillick, who blocked the blow and spun to the side to avoid the swipe of her second sword. He slid his weapon along Silver's blade, intending to drag the sharpened edges through the woman's skin. She pulled back quickly, however, to avoid the slash. Gillick continued on the offensive, flipping his sword so that the tip was pointed towards Silver's chest and stabbing it forward. She crossed both her blades in front of her, preventing the strike from reaching her. She began to draw her swords out, and Gillick pulled back quickly to avoid being sent off balance.
"Stop fighting!" Mala shouted, but her words fell on deaf ears.
The two warriors glared at each other across the open space, eyes glittering with anger. Then they lunged forward.
That's the end of chapter fifty - six. Please review?