Chapter 8

Carry On Then

-~:{+}:~-

"Ughhh… Damnit…" Walking out of the bushes, the dark-haired girl was practically gasping for breath. Elise and Edwin had been walking through the brush in order reach the official border for the Wood of No Names. Unfortunately, as trains are often bound to their tracks, they could not use easier methods of transportation to reach their destination.

"I hate… this whole walking thing." She whined.

"What's wrong? Do you not get much exercise in your world?"

"Pffft. I had no need to do more than I have too… Besides, I don't see the point of going the hard way when there are alternatives."

"Well, there are no other routes…" He sighed, Elise already being used to his often woeful disposition.

{Seriously? I don't think I signed up for this, of all things. I hate this kind of effort.}

She really didn't like putting too much physical effort into things unless needed. Unless something interested her, she would likely do only the minimum. And if she did try, perfectionism would take over, forcing her to overkill anything she actually did care about. This girl seemed incapable of a middleground. A problem she knew all too well, but was to lazy to care, let alone fix.

"Are we there yet?"

Edwin just sighed again, starting to fumble with a map he had with him. It was a map of where Lily claimed to have placed her stake, with white pin as the marker. Trudging onward behind him, she kept walking haphazardly, just hoping for their destination to be nearby. Zoning out a bit too much, that's when there was a thud.

"Elise? A-are you alright?"

Apparently, all the times in her past where she had zoned out and run into objects had not done a good job of teaching her attentiveness. This was just simply another mishap, among many that involved her falling flat on her face. This one just happened to involve an anonymous tree root.

"Nnn… I'm okay." She stood up and dusted herself off. "I just zoned out. I'll pay attention next time. Carry on then."

Trying to walk a bit farther, she couldn't help but notice some pain in her right ankle. It probably wasn't twisted or anything too bad, but it was pretty annoying, and much more noticeable than the random pain one gets temporarily from stepping on the ground wrong sometimes. She was used to dealing with pain, having an older brother that treated her like a boy since she was young, but she was bad at ignoring this kind of injury.

"Hey, Edwin, how much longer to you think it'll take bef-"

She looked around. Alone.

{Oh crap!}

Elise had lost track of Edwin. She was now alone in unfamiliar forest. Starting to panic a bit, she continued to walk in the same direction she was already walking. She recalled people mentioning to her before to stay put when lost, but she ignored the idea.

{Well, I guess I make terrible decisions then. Guess I'll just carry on.}

In the meanwhile, Edwin just kept on walking as well, not really noticing her disappearance until a bit later than her.

-~:{+}:~-

Walking farther and farther on uneven ground was not particularly good for her ankle, and she was doing a bit of a limp, though it wasn't anything too bad. Problem is, without much else going on, Elise was just mentally cursing along. Kept her a bit entertained though, thinking of some new word combinations.

{Hmm. Douchedick. That sounds like something Violet would say when in a good mood… Hehe. We're definitely not the most socially acceptable group out there. Suppose normal people don't want to mess with the truly strange...}

Looking up at the sky past the trees, she couldn't help but wonder about her friends.

"I have to get back to them soon. They probably miss me…"

The girl's thoughts just drifted back and forth between various events that happened to her with her friends. Talks that seemed more like rants, squeeing, yelling, geekery, and a good amount of intelligent conversations. Of course, many of these "intelligent" conversations, though the topics were often things that most high-schoolers, and a few teachers, didn't know much about, they were about as sophisticated as hell, technobabble next to a decent amount of gibberish, mumbling, and loud cursing. No other group could cheer so much about Hello Kitty then shift towards an oddly enjoyable conversation about Stalin. Her mind was sent crashing back towards her head when she spotted two ears peeking out of the bushes. At first, she was ready to run, but then she noticed they looked far from menacing.

{Those ears, look like a fawn's.}

Feeling totally safe due to the thought of a cute little fawn nearby, she sat down in her spot. For some reason, Elise felt compelled to talk to it, probably to comfort herself a bit from being lost.

"Hello little guy. Are you lost in this forest like me?" She spoke very softly, almost at a whisper. "Heh, then again, I'd doubt it. I wouldn't be surprised if you lived around here." Almost in response, the ears started to twitch, as if they understood.

"I suppose if I didn't hurt myself so stupidly I wouldn't be so lost." Even though that was practically mumbled to herself, it got even more of a reply from the creature.

"Wait, so you're hurt?" It was a tenor voice that made Elise jump a bit. A head pushed out of the bushes. The head of a lad about sixteen or so, same as Elise, though his demeanor made him look younger. He had faint freckles on his nose to match his messy chestnut hair. The most notable traits he had, however, were the pair of ears upon his head, along with two little white stubs upon his head, probably antlers. He even had a matching tail. Of course, this was unexpected, so Elise just stared at him quizzically.

{Wonderful. Petting-zoo people.}

"Unn… Miss? What's wrong? W-why are you staring at me like that?" The boy just seemed a bit nervous, then again, he is a deer.

"I-is it your injury bothering you? May I take a look?"

Approaching her, he kneeled beside her, seeing as her surprise caused her to fall. This was probably just hurt her ankle more.

"It's my right ankle." She took off her shoe and navy blue stocking. "I don't think it's sprained though. I've been walking on it for a while."

"Well, even if it's not, you shouldn't be walking on it that much!" After looking at her ankle a bit, he slipped her shoe back on. "Where are you heading? I'll help you get there."

"I'm going to the riverside. I need to find something, and I'm in a hurry too."

"T-the riverside?" It seems as if the boy had thought of something troubling about it. He still decided to help Elise up though, and the two begun to walk, the boy becoming her support.

After a tad, he realized he hadn't introduced himself. He made sure to correct that. "My name's Elain. What about you?"

"I'm Elise."

"Well then, you don't seem like an enemy. That's good. You seem nice."

The two just walked along through the forest. Too bad Edwin didn't have any idea what was happening. While Elise's mood went up, Edwin's went down.

"Depressing."

Notes: Such a lazy girl, this one is, non? And she makes poor decisions, knowingly. At least she can keep a stiff upper lip when need be… Or not...