Ahem, so… I live?. Truth is I was about half way through this chapter before I accidently deleted my entire file of fanfics. The entire file. Off my thumb drive…

*Que a dramatic death scene filled with fake blood and music.

Yeah, that's like ooooohhhhh thirty different stories- most of which have never been posted because I swore I wouldn't post another until I was done with this one… Wondering if I shouldn't just post stuff anyways. Which I haven't updated in like three years. School is brutally busy, or it was up until this point. I decided it was high time I go through and polish this up a little, but I figured I would start with a adding a new chapter. So Without further ado.

Chapter 15: Strangeness And Charm

By: Tamuril Telrunye A.K.A Bamvivirie

It occurred to me; Sometime before the Giant Swinging Axes of Doom and after the pool filled with dirty water that was definitely going to infect my recently opened wound- that I might just be playing with fire. It was as I stood above the room that we'd been in not half an hour before- the same room that we'd last seen Leon in, and was now filled with guanado's that I decided to make that as literal as I could at the moment by promptly lopping one of Leon's much hoarded grenades at the group. Mentally I patted myself on the back for my quick thinking as I flung myself back, using my body to cover Ashley's.

In retrospect, not everyone was a fan of the idea admittedly.

"Could you stop laughing like that Trouble? It's really starting to creep me out."

But I got my point across, and that was the point… Don't remark on the redundancy of that statement. I was lucky that it wasn't a larger form of explosive… Wait, reverse that statement. I was on pins and needles as it is- making me jump over the bottomless pit of doom with giant swinging axes? Not the way to win a girls heart. And Salazar wondered why we didn't go along with his plans… We aren't stupid. Blonde or not, airhead or not, we could both tell that this idea was anything but kittens and rainbows. And now I am rambling again.

I shook my head as I looked around the ridiculous room, muttering things in the general direction of the weird statue, before making a slow descent down the metal ladder that hadn't been there less than an hour previously. I may have been wearing a bit thin at this point. But I had to keep my shit together. Later. I could freak out later.

The marble floor was cold underfoot as I moved towards the area the merchant had been in, empty though it was now I had the distinct feeling that it hadn't been for very long. I and the builder of this castle were going to have words later, and by words I mean fisty cuffs. A whistle caught my attention, and I looked up to see the merchant above me, on one of the previously blocked off balconies. They must have raised the wrought iron gates sometime after we'd left, and thankfully they were still up. I'd noticed instant access to a chest not too far from the door I and Ash had come through, and plundered the treasures within before venturing forth.

One of the Ganado's- a particularly flashy fellow in a red outfit was wearing a nicely made amulet, was- past tense. The hallway we had been down previously was now blocked with a massive metal plate, and both I and Ashley gave it a puzzled look before moving up the staircase that had been blocked. I haggled a bit with the merchant, selling off my flashy new jewelry in favor of a bullet proof vest- where he had gotten it I didn't know. At this rate, I wasn't sure I wanted to know. I promptly shoved it over Ash's head, and a bit of fussing later- by fussing I mean making sure she put it on properly we were ready to go.

I may have been more trouble prone, but I didn't relish the idea of her getting hurt despite our differences. The door next to the merchant was unlocked, and I cautiously turned the knob giving the man a wave before walking through the door. I closed the door behind us quietly, putting a finger to my lips as she looked at me. I could hear voices, and I didn't want to given anyone any ideas.

The hallway turned left up ahead and I slowly paced towards it, pressing my back to the wall before risking a look around the corner. Nothing. A staircase up, completely deserted. I nodded to Ash before moving quietly up the stairs. The room beyond was also deserted, but something told me that there was at least one Ganado behind the closed door. I took a moment to rummage around in the drawers, finding an ominous note about the history of the family that had at one time lived here before stashing it in my bag.

I risked opening the door, slowly to avoid making noise. And boy was I ever thankful for my caution. Beyond the door was a host of Ganado's, too busy preparing for some sort of fight to notice two girl slipping into the room. We hunkered down behind the raise half walls that separated a small walkway from the rest of the room. There was the area we were, an area with a lowered floor just beyond it, only a few steps lower, and then in the middle of the room there was a raised area from which a red robed figure seem to be rallying at least twenty others.

I peaked around the top of the banister again, noting at first no obvious way to go. Only catching a glimpse of a door to our left when a late comer walked passed a window set in the wall. I ducked down again as the red robed figure said something vaguely stirring to the group and they cheered. I indicated to Ashley via pantomime that we had to crawl in a certain direction and we made our way slowly towards the door. The greatest problem we had at this point was that we would have to duck around a wall, and we would be visible to the speaker when we did so.

I watched and waited, peeking out around the corner every so often to check his position and then our moment came as he turned to address the opposite side of the room. I grabbed Ashley's hand and scuttled forward, around the dividing wall to the door on the other side and then through it…

And into a ganado on the other side. I didn't hesitate at this point to shove my way into him, knocking him over as I release Ashley's hand. I pinned the ganado to the ground as Ashley closed the door behind us, covering his mouth as the sound of the crowd covered the noise of our scuffle. After that it was a matter of grappling to keep him from making noise before I took drastic action, I lifted one fist before punching him as hard as I could in the adams apple. Something gave underneath my fist that I was sure wasn't suppose to, and the ganado went from grappling with me to clawing at his throat.

I felt the bile rise in my throat as the man suffocated slowly, and I looked over at Ashley before climbing off the man. She too looked ill, and I couldn't blame her. I held my hand out to her helping her up before grabbing a chair and shoving it beneath the door handle. The crowd outside was becoming a bit quieter, and I was not eager to meet and greet them. At this thought, I proceeded to pile more furniture beneath the door. Even as Ashley alternated between not looking at me and rubbing her forehead.

"What?" I said quietly, surely this wasn't all that different from shooting a ganado in the face. My irritation was clear as day, voice pitching itself in a tone that I didn't like to use and Ashley hesitated before finally saying.

"Your eyes." Quietly.

"What about my eyes?" I whispered back moving to look around, I moved towards the staircase that led up- to the balcony I'd seen before no doubt stopping at her next comment.

"They're red." I looked at her reverently hoping that she'd been joking, but there was no laughter in her eyes. No. No, no, no, no. I pressed my palms to my eyes, willing them back to normal. I was not going to be some ganado puppet. I was not going to turn into one of them. No. I realized that I was breathing much harder than usually- panicking. I needed to calm down. I pushed the panic away. For now.

Dropping my hands back to my sides I touched the gun at my waist, there was always another option. I would not be one of them.

"Come on. We have to go." I said moving towards the stairs again.

"Aren't you worried?" Ashley whispered, more to herself than to me and I pretended that I hadn't heard her. We moved up the stairs, and I opened the door at the top slowly only giving us enough room to sneak out of it before closing it again. The balcony was high enough up that we could sneak around the edge and not be seen, and we did just that. The door at the far end was thankfully open.

We slipped into a gallery like room, and I made a face at the disturbing paintings before jerking a thumb at them in a sort of 'what the hell?' manner. Ashley shrugged as well, and we blocked that door as well before making our way to the next. We must have triggered something in the room because about halfway across the wall next to the door we needed to go through started sliding closed.

I was having none of this we both booked it toward the door, slipping in between the wall and door scarcely before it slid shut. We shared a look of unease, and I hoped that we hadn't just lost our only chance of finding Leon again.

"Welllll…. Only one way to go I guess?" I said with a shrug and I put my hand on the door turning the handle with a click. It opened with an ominous groan of tired hinges and I looked into the room beyond. It was empty. A raised pedestal sat in the middle of the room, but there was no one. I guess they were all at that meeting. We'd gotten lucky. I had to try a few doors before I found one that led on, but only after I raided the chest that had been on top of the pedestal. It held a stone figure that looked like it belonged to something, so I stowed it in my bag for later before moving on.

A white door led into a darkened corridor, and the sound of crows arguing filled my ears as glimpsed the moon and sky through windows set into the corridor wall. And for a brief moment, I felt it was a good time for us to take a rest. It seemed like it had been forever since I'd seen the sky, and we both silently agreed on a momentary pause.

Something had changed between us. And I couldn't give a definite answer as to when or even why. But for now we weren't arguing, and I would take all the help I could get. I'd never really hated Ashley, contrary to popular belief. I just… I'd had little respect for someone who expected others to do everything for her. But now that she was pulling her own weight, I could more easily accept her. I shook my head, sliding my bag off of my stinging back to rummage inside. I pulled out a half full water bottle, and a pair of slightly smashed cookies offering one to her.

She took it with a half smile that said she remembered exactly where these had come from, before taking a bite.

"These taste surprisingly good."

"Snickerdoodle is the best," I said with a nod before adding in "Although chocolate chip does win favorite in my opinion because the chocolate is great when first out of the oven."

"Hmm, I always had oatmeal raisin when I was growing up." She said with a shrug, "Mom had a family recipe. She made them on holidays."

"I like to make cookies myself, although" I paused thoughtfully as I took another bite. I swallowed it down with a draught of water. "My chocolate fudge is better."

"Ooo chocolate, now I'm really hungry. I don't suppose you'd make some for me after we get home?"

I smiled at her before giving her a firm nod.

"You betcha! I like to make things for other people." I said with a silly thumbs up, the gesture was absurd but that was part of the reason I made it.

"Here, you should let me look at your back while we are resting." I agreed quietly, rummaging in my bag for the bottle of peroxide.

A little short, but I should be writing more soon. Ja Ne.