This chapter is dedicated to ELatimer who allowed me to use her story in my world of Stories. The name of her work is FROST from the Jotun Chronicles. It's really awesome and you should really read it if you're a fan of adventure, fantasy and romance.
Link: story/990020-frost-jotun-chronicles-1
A soft breeze flew by, rustling and shaking a few golden locks away from the face of sleeping princess. Her surroundings bustled with murmurs and action to which eventually caused her eyes to twitch. A sign to show that she was waking up, causing the bustling movements to seize. Anticipating her arousal from her long slumber.
"Sssshhh, hush I say! She's waking up!"
"I wonder how her eyes look! Since her face is so pretty~"
"She must be from Hyrule, right? I mean, she can't be a Kokiri since she isn't a kid-"
"She also doesn't have a fairy!"
"And she has Hylian ears!"
"I said Husssssssshhhhh! She'll freak out, if she wakes up this way!"
The young lady giggled in her mind. Her mind was now only half awake, but she knew that wherever she was, it wasn't dangerous as her eyes fluttered open to reveal deep green eyes that seemed to hold the spirit of the forest inside. The people around her all stopped moving at once from that, as they stared in awe. She stood up groggily from her lying position, her blanket falling off to her lap, rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times. She scanned the place with them, although her eyes were still too foggy from sleep to process anything.
She yawned tired which brought up the question in her mind of: how can she be so tired? She tried to remember yesterday's happenings or at least whatever happened before she fell asleep. She yawned again, this time rubbing her eyes more vigorously to wake up from the daze that clouded her mind. The first thing she saw, properly and without blurs, was the palm of her hand. She stared at it for a while, before noticing that what she thought was a blanket was actually a pack of leaves tied together.
She looked at it quirkily and then turned around slowly, her body feeling very heavy oddly, to face whoever was speaking before, only to be shocked to see a bunch of kids, not older than ten years of age! All of them looking at her like she was an enigma, in awe, while she did the same as she gazed peculiarly at the small balls of glowing lights with small wings, flying beside every kid's shoulder, each a different light color. A small cute girl, with chocolate brown hair, was the first to unfreeze,
"Are you alright? Do you need anything? There is a well nearby, if you are thirsty, we can fetch you some water."
The blonde girl nodded, not finding her words, as the brunette beamed and left with another girl who went to help her. The blonde was still dazed a bit as well as the other kids. She stopped staring at the kids, and took a look around. There were small cottages everywhere in a vast and beautiful plain of grass with flowers and trees; she could see more and thicker trees far off, probably drawing the boundaries of this small village.
Something settled on her head, and she looked up to see a tree branch. She just realized that she was resting beside a big olden seeming tree, with the face of an old man on it, as it said with a deep but friendly voice,
"No, this is not a dream child...This is a reality far from anything you could ever imagine, young one."
The blonde looked at him with wide green orbs, not believing what she just witnessed or heard. She turned again to the kids as she heard shuffling steps coming forwards towards her. This time it was a boy, he had messy soft-looking short brownish blonde hair and brave clear blue eyes that reminded her of the sky as well as a very friendly face. He wore green clothes like all the other kids, with a pointed green hat as well that drooped behind him. He was interestingly the only one without a light ball flying around him. She wondered why.
He slowly approached her, in a manner to say that he didn't want to alarm her, as he waved his hand saying hello and stretched it out for a handshake, "Hi, can you tell us what your name is?" She looked at his hand and then his face and then at the other kids who were edging curiously. She attempted a smile as she shook his small hand stuttering out after finally finding her voice, "Trisha, my name is Trisha Valince."
The boy beamed at her, the same way as the brunette did earlier, as he released her hand and bowed slightly out of manners and introduced himself next, "My name is...Link!" At that moment, something clicked in Trisha's mind and she started looking around frantically, worrying the kids as they wondered what's wrong. Link thought that he might've done something wrong, but Trisha was to frantic to notice anything. She finally realized where this was. This was her brother's, Ultrich, favorite place in the world where the hero he admired the most resided. She was inside a game. And the game was: The Legend of Zelda!
"Oh no..."
Trisha looked outside of her school bus's window excited. They were getting really close to the camping site. She went camping before, but it was with her family and never with her school friends. So she was pretty disappointed to see their school's definition of camping once they arrived. This place was basically a resort! Sure it can be called a forest, but it was pretty shallow, plus there's this big building right beside the clearing where they were going to 'camp' that seems to be there 'just in case'. This wasn't camping! Trisha was completely bummed out.
She flinched as she felt someone's hand on her shoulder, to see her best friend Sonia waiting for her, smiling in a way to try to lift her spirits up. She was a petite girl, around 5'1, with light shoulder-length brown hair and hazel eyes, with eye glasses fitting perfectly on her nose. She was a really nice girl but sometimes had pretty wacky ideas. "Come on guys, the teacher will start calling names soon!" Kora yelled at them while hanging from the bus door, another one of Trisha's friends. Kora was a hyper and sportive girl with long dark hair that's usually tied, but not today, and similar colored eyes. Kora has a pretty cheerful personality, unless she is angry or competitive, she gets pretty smug. Trisha smiled at them, tapping Sonia's shoulder, "Last one out is an ugly tangerine!" She yelled as she raced her out, "What does that even mean?!"
Once out, Trisha spotted Chris and a bit of a red hue reached her cheeks, which she covered quickly with her hands upon realization. 'What is he doing here?! My heart isn't ready for this!' She thought, forgetting that this 'camping' field trip was a joint excursion with four, or five, different schools. Her friends, noticing the state she was in because of a boy, smirked as they looked at each other and pushed Trisha forward making her let out a silent yelp. She covered her mouth and looked back at them angrily as they gave her thumbs up and mouthed to her, "Break a leg!" She felt as if she already did though, as she sighed and nervously moved forward towards the headphones wearing guy.
After getting closer, though, Trisha's nervousness left her completely and was replaced by worry upon inspection of Chris's face which was clouded with suspicions, "Um, Chris?" She called out questioningly as he jumped a bit, not seeing her there. "Oh, hey, um...Trisha!" He said absent mindedly and then surprised to see her there suddenly, "Are you okay?" "Uh yes, yes I'm fine but..." He trailed off, looking at a certain path that leads to a thicker bunch of trees. "Is something there?" She asked curiously.
He looked briefly at her before responding, "You could say so,...Earlier I saw Bell go there for some reason and that sh*t head Tabouk disappeared as well so...Oh, yeah, sorry for cursing in your face even though it isn't your fault!" Trisha shook her head and smiled, "It's okay." She looked at the path, "Want to go after her to check?" "Nah it's okay, I must be paranoid." He finally said laughing, scratching the back of his neck. Trisha was smiling, happy to see him better when...
*WHISH*
Trisha whipped her head back, the feeling that something was creeping close by resounding loudly in her mind and it wasn't just anything; it was something dangerous. "Trisha?" Chris asked cautious, noticing how alarmed and scared his blonde friend was. She put her index finger in her mouth to ask for a moment of silence as her eyes shakily served their surroundings until she finally saw something gleam in the bushes. She looked curiously at it, less alarmed. The place was eerily calm, well not exactly since you can hear the students chatting a few meters in front of them, but those two couldn't hear it. They were too into searching for whatever to hear anything at the moment.
Trisha kept on gazing at the gleaming thing while Chris stood nervously behind her, he really didn't like what was happening. He looked down in his uneasiness and his eyes widened. He didn't like the situation even more so now! Chris said a flurry of colorful words, causing Trisha to look at him, before in his panic, grabbed Trisha's hand and ran away into the thicker trees. Trisha panted as she tried to keep up with Chris, tripping a few times even, but his grip was so strong that she didn't fall over. He grabbed her so suddenly that she didn't have the time to register what was happening at all! "Chris what's wro-"
She stopped midway through as a tree branch fell behind them, the place where they were just standing a few seconds ago. If they weren't running, they would've been squashed! Still panting, Trisha took the risk to look back just to see whooshes of black straps, heading straight at them! There were also two gleaming dots at the top of each of the straps. Trisha's eyes widened terrified at how fast the straps were, and she knew that whatever those things were, they were definitely trying to kill them.
Trisha's throat felt sore while her hand that Chris was holding was warm. She smiled a bit involuntarily at that. She focused on staring at his back for a while to distract herself from whatever that was behind them. However, soon enough another branch, a tree in fact, fell in front of them and it was too late to maneuver so they had to jump! However, the tree was a bit too high for that. Trisha got alarmed as Chris pulled her forward, "Chris, what's happening? What are you doing?! CHRIS!" She yelled as he grabbed her from her waist and pulled her up to hold her bridal style as he took a leap of faith and jumped over the fallen tree. All the while, Trisha was closing her eyes and gripping his shirt tightly with one hand while the other was wrapped tightly around him.
Chris, sadly, was no super hero. So his foot ended up getting stuck in some of its branches, tripping him off. He cursed out loud and Trisha yelled as they both came crashing down onto the hard ground. Trisha coughed, blinking the dust out of her eyes to be met by a clean stream of blood trickling down a face she knew so well, Chris! Alarmed, her eyes shot open as she tried to stand up but couldn't due to his arms being wrapped tightly around her. He protected her from the fall. And that thought made Trisha want to cry as she covered her mouth with her hands, shaking. He protected her, causing himself to be hurt!
However, before she could even mourn over his heroic act, two figures, smirking evilly, loomed over them. Two figures she wished she would never see again. The figures of two malice seeking shadows. Although they were colorful now, like human beings and no longer black, she would forever recognize that aura of theirs. She shakily looked down at her feet for verification, and indeed, neither she nor Chris had any shadows. They came back. It was all coming back. That terrible nightmarish adventure, the deaths, everything!
Tears streamed down Trisha's face as the two 'shadows' laughed at her misery, readying their weapons for the final attack to kill her. Trisha gritted her teeth as she held tightly onto Chris's head protectively. Glaring at the smirking shadows, with tears running down her face, defiant. Daring them to do it. To kill them. The shadows' smirks widened, "Aw, we can't refuse a lady's proposal, can we?" "No way! That would make us the 'bad guys' if we did!" "Then shall we?" "Ready when you are~" Trisha continued to glare at them as they raised their weapons to kill them. Yet, before the defining act happened, a miracle of golden light occurred...
Chris groaned in pain as he twitched and shook. "Hey Tails, I think he's coming to!" "Thanks Amy!" His body trembled for a while longer before he jolted awake, surprising everyone present. However, he didn't notice that as he held his head in pain, "Man! That was one rough landing! Right, Trisha?" He said rubbing his head and opening his eyes only to realize that she wasn't there, which only got him to reactivate his panic mode.
"Woah! Calm down! You need to rest! The injury wasn't deep, but it still was a wound in the head!" "How do you want me to-" Chris stopped mid sentence as he took a proper look at who, or what, he was talking to. It was a fox, or more explicitly, a yellow and white fox with blue eyes and two tails. That honestly left Chris gaping, gaping like an idiot. "Don't you know it's rude to stare?!" Chris, in his daze, looked over at the new owner of the voice, which was a hedgehog? A pink one at that! With shoulder length hair, wearing a rosy red dress and had a big hammer larger than herself. That, if I may mention, left Chris gaping even more.
"What's the fuss about? But did the guy wake up?!" Now another guy showed up. However, now Chris's mouth was way too small to gape more than it already was at the sight of another hedgehog, this time blue, wearing red shoes and walking on its hind legs. Oh! I forgot to mention! They all wore shoes and gloves and walked in their back legs, as well as having a pretty much humanoid appearance!
Chris couldn't help it, he laughed. This shocked everyone present, really. He just couldn't take it anymore as he covered his eyes with his hand, going on laughing. The blue hedgehog smiled at him weirdly and laughed along with him, the others too soon enough joined, catching the disease. "I'm sorry, I was just too shocked to react in any proper way so I just laughed to let it out. My name is Chris. And you guys are?" The others smiled forgivingly as they introduced themselves in turn of appearance. "I'm Tails!" He said winking and giving out a peace sign. Though that wasn't the only reason why Chris laughed, how could it? "And I'm Amy!" She introduced herself while bowing slightly. After all he knows this place all too well. And trust me, it wasn't you're average world. "While I am..." This place was known where he came from, it was a game though, and it was called, "...Sonic, the blue hedgehog!" He finished giving Chris a thumbs up which he returned with a grin.
He gazed up at the sky solemnly; somehow he knew this wasn't a dream but a firm and true reality. He gazed back at Sonic and co. and continued smiling awkwardly.
'What have we got ourselves into this time?!'
A certain redhead shifted in his sleep. He was really uncomfortable for some reason and kept on shifting back and forth on whatever it is he was lying on. He could also tell the sounds of frantic and angry people in the background. 'Ugh, shut it! Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep!' He yelled in his mind, although he more than anyone knew that, even if the whole world became quiet, he still won't be able to sleep because there was something in his back that won't move out of the way no matter how many times he shifted in his sleep. 'Ah damn it, I give up!' He thought as he snapped his eyes open at last, after minutes of suffering and trying to sleep.
He sat up and pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes tightly, tired even though he hasn't moved at all yet. Once he opened them again, his surroundings clearer and his mind functioning properly again, his eyes started to scan the place.
Observation 1: There were two people, both of them blondes with blue eyes, staring shocked at him as if he just rose from the dead. One of them was fairly high on the attractive standards and had lighter hair and deeper ice cold eyes, the other looked kind of older with a small pair of small round eye glasses resting on his nose which made him look like a professor of sorts.
Observation 2: They were staring, hard, at him. And from his perspective and still a bit sleepy head, it seemed to him as if he was seeing double. Especially when both of them, apart from their hair and eye color, were both freakishly tall as well!
Observation 3: He felt kind of hot and cold at the same time, which got him to realize that his shirt was gone, well pulled up high enough to show a bit of his torso though he felt that his back was completely exposed. He then started to feel pretty heated up then even though his shirt was pulled up, to which he followed the source to his back where...
Observation 4: He had wings, literally.
The redhead's eyes widened to the size of tea cups as he gazed at his back shocked. And who wouldn't? He had big fat wings at least twice his arm size sticking out of his back! And that's the farthest thing from normal! And to make matters worse, they were inflamed, like seriously covered up in flames. Well not exactly. He gazed at the unique structures joined to his back in a look that slowly turned from shock to amazement, "Cool!" And that was the first word he said that day as he continued gazing at them.
He stood up abruptly, surprising the other two men in the room, and stormed to the nearest mirror in the room. Which was just across from him and blue but a bit dirty as well, though he didn't mind as he turned his back to it and craned his head to the side to observe the enigmas on his back more clearly. They looked like bird wings, with feathers and all, but what awed him was that they were colored in all of the shades of flames. In his daze, he tried to touch one, but he quickly retracted his hand back as he felt the feathers burn him. He smirked and tried again, touching different parts of the wings noticing that the tips of the feathers were the ones that burned the most until their tail, and that the roots of the wings that were stuck to his back, which were white in color, were pretty cold or simply warm which must be why those wings haven't burnt his back skin off. Or even worse! Burnt his favorite shirt to ashes!
He sighed in relief at that, and craned his head back again forward to look at the two men, who now seemed to be even more alarmed. The redhead examined them closely, the awe in his eyes now disappeared and his face serious with caution before turning his whole body to face them. He spared a small look to his surroundings before looking back at the two men. He seemed to be in some kind of cheap hotel room, as well as seeming to be in one of the higher floors when looking out at the window view. Did these two find him unconscious and drag him here? Wait, how again did he even fall unconscious? Were they the reason? His head was a mess from his lack, or should I say uncomfortable, sleep, so he couldn't bear many thoughts at the same time. But one thing was for sure: they knew something. Or else they would've run away or called the police or something when they saw his wings.
He narrowed his eyes at them in caution, ready to fight if he has to, though now it will be a bit weird considering that he has wings, but he'll work it out. He looked at them for a while longer, waiting for them to make the first move. He twitched when the younger looking of the two moved, but what he did next caught him off guard a bit as he put his arms up in surrender. The redhead looked at him confused as the blonde smiled reassuringly, "We mean no harm, seriously. We just want to help." The redhead quirked an eyebrow at him, that has got to be the sappiest line he has heard today. Did he seriously expect him to believe him so easily just with that?
"You're the careful type, huh. Look my name's Eric and that's my friend, Caleb. If we wanted to harm you, we could have done so already by now. Don't you think? So I'm telling you, you can trust us." He had a point, but that wasn't enough to get him to yield in. "Ugh, this is just irritating. We have the Queen's orders to finish and we're wasting time with him! Just freeze him! His dumb wings probably won't do much." 'Sh*t! This looks bad!' Though before the redhead could move, his feet were frozen in place. He cursed under his breath but as soon as he looked up, he was met by two guns in his face held by the two blondes.
"I still don't get our needs for guns." Caleb groaned, "It's because it's less suspicious, plus we wouldn't be using them if you let me talk with him properly. This is the second time already!" Eric said looking pretty exasperated as Caleb rolled his eyes, "He's not a girl; your charms won't work even more so now. Unless..." "Shut it! Ever heard of a civil conversation, Caleb?" And he rolled his eyes again smirking, "Well if you want it so badly, here: talk." Eric shook his head as his attention finally went back to the redhead, "Mind if you tell us your name?" The redhead deadpanned at him, "How about you take the guns off my face first?" "Sorry but I can't risk that now, plus we're in a hurry so..." The redhead sighed, "Name's Naruda, Eric. And sorry to say, but I don't think that it was really nice meeting you." "I can see why." Naruda grunted but yielded in to his fate anyways.
As Naruda looked down, he noticed a bed in front him where he was probably lying in earlier, except that there was a small problem with it: it looked burned, bad! That was probably due to his wings which was probably why he was hearing them freaking out as he tried to sleep, 'That or Caleb was yelling at Eric telling him why he hasn't gotten rid of me yet, or something...' he clicked his tongue as he looked up at Eric blankly, who was currently arguing with his buddy...again. Naruda sighed, he felt kind of empty for some reason. There was something he was missing...but what?
"I said that he might help us [...]" "Can't you see?! [...] one of them!" Naruda zoned in and out of their conversation, their guns still pointed at his face. His eyes looking everywhere around the room to try and figure out what exactly he was missing when he finally caught something shine from the corner of his eyes. It was the silver ring on his middle finger with a little black bird on it. 'This is the ring that my sister gave me...Polly. Hm...Polly? Polly. Polly!' His eyes widened immediately at the realization as he felt his back burn. He gritted his teeth together as he glared at the two men.
The two, sensing his hostility, stopped fighting instantly and snapped their attention to him only to be met by two punches, each straight to their faces, making them stumble and back away a little, almost falling down, though they somehow managed to keep their balance through their shock at the sudden punch. "Ouch, he knows how to pack a punch. Shouldn't underestimate his small size." "Yeah, and whose fault do you think it-" Caleb stopped midway through as he heard the sound of a gun trigger being pulled, facing Naruda to be met by a gun in his face, same with Eric. He got hold of their guns when they lost their balance, his feet long unfrozen by the heat radiating from his wings.
However, the guns pointed to their faces wasn't the scariest thing in this situation, but actually the cold glares Naruda was giving them, "Where. Is. My. Sister. You. F*******s!" The two though, albeit his threat being pretty scary, didn't even flinch as they looked coolly at each other, making a silent conversation. Eric raised his hands up again, "Calm down, you were alone when we found you. We don't know anything about your sister, honest." Naruda continued to glare at them, untrusting. After some time of silence, a sly smirk made its way onto his lips, "Ah, is that so?"
As he said that, Naruda started firing his gun randomly all around the room, breaking almost everything in his way and making a lot of noise, the two blondes putting their hands in their ears, before running off to the bathroom while they were distracted, shoving the empty guns in his pockets, and locking himself in. "Sh*t, what is he playing at?! This is why I said that we had to hurry it up!" "Damn, this is embarrassing." Eric said as Caleb frustratedly punched the door to the bathroom. Inside, Naruda was searching for anything that he could use as a weapon. The guns were useless now, and even though the workers must've heard the gunshots by now, the police won't arrive until a few minutes later.
He sighed, this whole thing was definitely not working out well for him, and his mind still doesn't get exactly what's going on. He looked up at the shower head, 'Well, I guess that's better than nothing...' He thought as he took it out from where it was anchored. It seemed to look like it would hurt badly if someone got hit with it. He sighed again, 'Dang, I think that's all I've got.' He jumped as he heard someone slamming onto the bathroom door, probably Caleb, "We don't have time for this! We have to go retrieve Megan Walker and yet we're stuck with this Flame Jotun brat!" That phrase perked Naruda's interest, "That's not right. I don't think any of them had the ability to make wings out of their powers..." "Well then that's another reason why we should've just shoved him into the van and taken him to Queen!" "Not so loud! But I guess I have to agree with you on that one..."
'WTH?! Jotun? Queen! And who's Megan? This isn't some weird $$ story about mythical creatures, damn it! Or maybe could this have happened because of Mega? No,-' Naruda's thoughts were stopped midway as he heard police sirens. After that, Eric and Caleb seemed to talk with a low voice for a while longer before he could hear them walk away as well as the sound of the window opening. Naruda heaved out a sigh again, this time out of relief, the worst part of this mess was over.
"HEY IS ANYONE IN THERE?! IF YOU DON'T OPEN UP, WE'LL BUST OUR WAY IN!" Naruda jumped again, almost dropping the shower head, as he heard the sudden voice of who he thinks are police officers behind the door. 'Cr p! I haven't even figured out how to get rid of these wings yet!' Naruda started freaking out as he looked all around the bathroom, even more so once he heard the door crash open and the voice of someone saying "FREEZE!" as a bunch of footsteps hurried inside.
Naruda started having cold sweat as he stared at the bathroom door frantically and then at the shower head in his hands, 'That's it! Hopefully, these wings are made of pure flames...' He thought as he hurriedly turned the water to its maximum and aimed the shower head at his back before the water came gushing out at the same time as the officers came barging in, filling the bathroom with steam in an instant making all the officers get out coughing, wondering about what just happened.
After a few minutes of silence, with their guns ready, Naruda came out scrunching his nose and waving the steam off...no wings in his back! 'Hah, complete victory!' He thought, his smirk hidden by the back of his hand, coming out of the bathroom looking like a saint...except one with their clothes and hair wet, that is.
The officers dropped their guard when seeing that it was only a teenager. One of them then approached him, who looked like the head of this group, "Hello there fella, I'm Officer Nicholas, and I've been called here because there have been reports of gunshots in this room. Seeing the state this place's in, then it must be true. Mind you telling us what happened?" "Can't say that I do, fortunately for you sir." Naruda flashed a cocky smile which made the officer smirk and ruffle his hair, "I like your attitude, but this isn't the time to be fooling around. Answer the question." Naruda took a deep breath as he started drying himself with a towel, explaining exactly what happened to him at the same time.
Saying that he was abducted and that they threatened him using guns which he was somehow able to steal and make noise with, hiding in the bathroom until help came. "Hm, I see. You've been really brave lad." 'Well it isn't a complete lie.' Naruda grinned at that. Nicholas then confiscated the guns, much to Naruda's disappointment. He really wished to keep them for self defense. After that, they were about to take him to the main office to continue the investigation there, but upon request from Naruda, they let him have a few minutes alone in the chamber so he can get himself ready. Two of them guarding the door outside while the others waited downstairs.
Naruda looked around the empty room filled with bullet holes and broken furniture. His eyes cool and thoughtful as he finally got some time alone to think. He pulled his shirt and down and took off his shoes and socks to dry. He scanned the room with his eyes, finding his grey hoodie jacket over a desk of drawers and right beside it, underneath, was his bag...his bag. He went up to it, and pulled it off the floor, putting it on his lap as he sat down on the half cooked bed.
The first thing he noticed was that his bag was rummaged through, probably by the two blondies from earlier, but the good thing was that he seemed to still have everything. 'Let's see, there's my Nintendo, extra clothes, phone, toothbrush, mini chess board, my wallet and this and that. Yup! I seem to have everything!' He smiled satisfied. He took out his phone and tried different contact numbers, but they all ended with a voice mail saying that the number can't be reached, 'As expected, I guess. Though, I'm sorta still disappointed as well.' He flopped onto his bed, looking intensely at his phone, flipped it, and took out the batteries from it, 'Since this thing is useless now, might as well take out the batteries in case those guys from earlier decide to go fancy and track my phone somehow.'
After finishing with that, Naruda closed his eyes, putting his arm over them as he breathed out in heaves of deep breaths to calm down. 'Those wings...and my feet freezing.' He opened his eyes, staring at the roof. He had to figure out where he was first thing and somehow he was idiotic enough to forget to ask that officer. At least he was sure enough that he isn't at the camping site anymore, or Earth at all for that matters! He remembered Bell's words when they had their first meeting after Mega's incident ended. She said that Warmy assured her that Mega doesn't grant superpowers or magic to people, it mostly affects their minds and surroundings. This was probably the first time that he ever wished that this was another one of Mega's nightmares, but he knows it's not true. This didn't feel like a nightmare at all or something caused by shadows, though he was sure that they and Mega were related somehow.
He yelled out in frustration. Too many questions and not even a single damn answer. He also still hasn't found Polly. He sure hopes that Eric wasn't lying and actually holding her hostage, he seemed honest enough. He told them that his name was Naruda without thinking because that was the nickname he got used to, and he's happy he did, it wouldn't be wise to give out his real name in this situation. He stared at the roof for a while longer before his eyes lit up with determination as he started to pack his stuff when he heard something being ripped.
He nervously looked back to see, to his utmost shock, his wings growing back! Feather by feather, still the shade of flames, and hot too since he was dum-reckless enough to touch them again. He was horrified; the sight of his favorite shirt having two holes in them absolutely sickened him! Well, here's another thing that he has to deal with.
And with that, he now had to pack bottles of water as well to wash off his wings in case he needs to. He looked at his watch in panic, three minutes passed since the officer left him, around five to ten more minutes and they'll start to get suspicious, he has to be gone by then. He shoved as many bottles in his bag as he can before he heard a familiar voice behind the door, "Yeah he's my friend, I heard he got captured by thugs so I came to check up on him." 'Eric?!' Naruda cursed under his breath as he grabbed his jacket and bag, too late to wear his shoes now, and went over to the window.
This was the fifth floor to his dismay, but two floors down stood a tree. Naruda nervously swallowed back whatever was in his mouth as he took a few steps back after opening the window, 'Can't say that this has been the worst thing I've been through.' With this in mind, he ran up to the window and jumped over to the tree in time to hear the door open. As he crashed onto the tree, the branches already poking him everywhere and scratching him up, he grabbed fistfuls of leaves and branches as to not fall off and looked up to see Eric at the window looking at him with a face he couldn't decipher.
Naruda smiled at him before he hopped down the tree with his belongings, 'Bleagh, got some leaves in my mouth and twigs in my hair!' He thought spitting them out and ruffling out whatever was in his hair. "Mom, mom! Look! That guy has dust cleaners sticking out of his back!" "Hush, honey. You shouldn't look at weirdoes, they have bad influence!" Naruda deadpanned at them, irked, noticing that, the mother ushered her son to leave faster. 'Great, now I'm a cleaning products advertisement as well as a hobo, great!' He thought irritated when he noticed that Eric was no longer at the windowsill, 'Damn! Better start running!' And with that he was off, trying his best to ignore everybody's stares.
While still running, Naruda noticed a piece of cloth sticking out of his pocket. His hurried gaze softened as he pulled it out; taking a sharp turn around a kid he didn't see at the same time. He huffed out in a relieved sigh, continuing on running for his life, not knowing where exactly to go as he looked at the handkerchief in hand warmly. Not caring about any of the above for a moment. The handkerchief had a unique emblem on it of what seemed like a blue phoenix, the back ground being white in color.
He smiled fondly at the memory of when Trisha and Polly gave these out. It was Polly's idea but Trisha was the one who made them. The five of them got one, all of which had a light blue color as a background except his, saying that they made it to represent their group, and his was a different color because he was their leader. His fond smile turned grim, as he shoved it back into his pocket, 'You guys better be safe!'
"Woah!" Naruda yelled as he slipped on ice but was somehow able to regain his balance after ruining a nearby booth, "Hey!" "Oops, sorry mister. I'll pay for it later!" Naruda yelled as he kept on running, looking back slightly to try to see if he could spot Eric, and it was honestly not that hard considering how much he stands out with his features. 'Sh*t! I knew it! Ice doesn't appear out of nowhere especially when it's this warm! He's so close too!'
Naruda continued on running, people starring at him even more now since his wings kept on growing. He cursed. He had to find a way to get rid of them. As he continued on running, taking as many twists and turns in narrow roads, to lose sight of Eric and passer bys, he rummaged through his bag for one of the pre-filled bottles of water, opened it with his mouth and poured it all on his jacket, soaking it wet. He started panting while on his way down an alleyway, his breath coming out in clouds, 'Why is he so persistent?! Leave me alone already!' He thought as he started wearing his jacket on one side, evaporating one wing after some time. He then touched his other pocket, the one without the handkerchief, and sensed a pair of scissors, 'He isn't a shadow so it might not have as much damage, but it's still sharp enough to be considered an efficient weapon.'
Naruda stopped running at that though, shock painting his face at the looming wired fence in front him, 'Yay, the cliché stuck in a blocked alleyway because of a wall/fence with a serial killer behind you scene! Ain't I the luckiest?!' Naruda clicked his tongue as he looked back. He still couldn't see Eric, but he knew that he'll be here any minute now. Naruda grumbled a flurry of curses again while scratching his head searching for idea, and then looking up at the fence again. 'Guess I have no choice but to climb over it...'
With that thought in mind, Naruda began taking a few steps back before running again full speed and jumping over at the fence, grasping it with all of his might using his hands and feet as he started climbing. "Stop!" Naruda started up with a jolt at the sudden voice. Eric caught up with him! He started climbing up faster when he noticed that his right foot was frozen against the fence, "Got you!" Naruda kept on cursing as he tried to get his foot out in vain, his foot wasn't budging.
He could see Eric now on the other side clearly, and that was bad, "Move damn it, I said move!" He yelled angrily as his wing suddenly went ablaze. Bits of ashes and flares falling out and burning his face slightly, but nothing that he couldn't bear. The ice finally melted, alerting Eric, and Naruda continued his climb up briskly, finally reaching the top and jumping to the other side with one hand catching his jacket and bag so they wouldn't fall off his back.
He bent his knees as he fell on the firm ground again, wearing his jacket over his other side as well, making his second wing disappear. "You know, you could've just burned the wired fence with that wing right?" Naruda jumped at the new voice. He hasn't seen him there! Or more like, since when was he there watching?! Eric's marching footsteps stopped behind the fence, and Naruda looked back alarmed. But before he could stand up and leave, the newcomer grabbed his arm and pulled him. "Let's go! I know a good place!" And with no more further ado, Naruda was being pulled away by the stranger, leaving a seemingly angry yet cool Eric behind.
Naruda was panting as they stopped running in seemingly empty clearing beside the road of whatever city they are in. As he continued on panting, he stared at the stranger that led him there cautiously...and he was a weird one alright. He stood coolly beside Naruda licking a lollipop with his tongue being so long, he could probably lick his nose with it. But that wasn't the weirdest thing, it was his appearance. He had short shaggy white hair with a weird ponytail sticking out, his skin was a grayish beige shade, his pupils looked like diamonds, and he had a weird black tattoo under both his eyes. His clothes consisted of a very tight dark purple top that showed his build the way it is as if he wasn't wearing a thing. Black uneven jeans, with one sleeve shorter than the other, a black boot on one leg and black shoe on another, and a bunch of other minor accessories with his jacket hanging loosely from his belt.
Naruda looked at him weirdly as he regained his breath, 'Is he what people call an emo? If Trisha was here, she'd call him a fashion disaster though...' He laughed a bit mentally at that but still stayed cautious around him as he said, "Thanks for your help back there um..." "Drakkan." "Yeah, thanks for your help Drakkan." 'Great, his weird name just adds to my cautiousness levels.' "Haha, you don't need to be so tense! I don't bite, swear!" Naruda arched a brow at him but then just shrugged it off. All these worries are just too exhausting for him.
"So what did you do to be chased by a Frost Jotun?" Naruda looked quirkily at him, "You all keep on mentioning Jotuns, Queens and stuff! How am I supposed to know what you mean?" Drakkan popped the lollipop in his mouth, looking at Naruda with what seemed like a shocked expression as he sucked onto it and twirled it in his mouth. "Well-" "Wait before you answer that! Could please even tell me where the heck am I...and the date?!" At that, Drakkan started laughing, "Goddamn it, you crack me up. So you don't even know that, aye? We're in Canada, somewhere in Grand Prairie. I don't know the exact date. But we're nearing winter..." "You gotta be kidding me!" "Well if I am, I didn't know about it!"
"We can't be in winter; it's too warm for that! And I'm not sure what or where Grande Prairie is, but I can't be in Canada!" Drakkan stopped laughing, his face confused now, "Well I don't know how you got here, but it's winter alright, can't you see the people in vests and the snow everywhere?" "What sno-ohhh." He has been in such a hurry that he hasn't noticed it, but Drakkan was right, the whole place was covered in snow. Well, he always did have a higher tolerance to the heat and cold than most, and earlier when his breath came out in clouds, he thought that it was because Eric was doing something, but it turns out that it was because of winter. 'I'm such a dope sometimes.'
Naruda rubbed his eyes with his fingers and then gazed at Drakkan for a while, "So? Who're Jotun? And I'd really appreciate if you told me who you are as well?" Drakkan smirked mysteriously, "Me? And you sure do love to ask questions, but let me ask one question to you first: Do you know who you are? Do you know your path?" Naruda was about to say that those weren't a single question when Drakkan flicked his forehead. When Naruda opened his eyes, rubbing his forehead, Drakkan was already gone and disappeared. In his place, on the ground, though, was a piece of paper. He picked it up and looked it over. In it, was written a couple of words in a language that he couldn't understand, but he could tell that Drakkan's name was on it alright as well as a phone number.
Naruda looked at it suspiciously, and yet he kept it anyways just in case. He sighed again as he scratched his head, he had no idea what to do next when he suddenly smelt something burn. He looked behind him and felt his eyeballs fall out. He took out another bottle of water and splashed it on his jacket, "Oops." He muttered, hitting his head with the palm of his hand, as he stared at the fumes coming out from his wings evaporating again. He now had three more bottles of water, plus it seemed to be almost noon and he was getting really hungry. He had to find a settlement nearby.
He looked up when he noticed a black van stopping beside him on the road. "Are you okay? Your vest is fuming!" A blonde girl with blue eyes said, 'I think I'm getting sick of blondes...' the boy beside her, though, in the driver's seat had curly brown hair and deep brown eyes. He also looked very cautious and suspicious of Naruda but he didn't show it, 'Hah, you can't trick me though...' They seemed to him like the most contradicting pair though.
Naruda gave a friendly smile as he joyfully exclaimed, "Yeah it's fine, I made that fume hoping that a taxi would stop by! Mind dropping me at the nearest hotel? I'm a traveler!" He said, and honestly, he thought that his own acting was pretty good. The girl went over and gave her boyfriend a questioning look which he replied to by giving Naruda a long stare and then sighed and nodded, pointing at the back. Naruda smiled even wider, genuinely, at that. 'He isn't as bad as I thought.'
"Thanks man!" At that, he speed walked over to ride at the back of the van. After a few minutes of silent riding, Naruda finally decided to ask, "So for how long have you both been dating?" He heard some ruckus and he chuckled, imagining the two blushing hard. "W-we're not!" Naruda smirked, "Oh really?-" He took out a rubix cube from his bag and started solving it, "-Then care to explain what are you two doing in this van in the middle of nowhere, with you blondie only in a sleeveless nightgown in winter, with this other guy who doesn't seem like he's related to you. Plus, you both seem around my age, sixteen to eighteen, and I don't know the legal age to drive here in Canada, but I'm sure that you can't just get a van like this." He went on solving the cube as the other side stayed silent.
"I can drop you off here if you want? Good luck finding a taxi then." The boy said, Naruda being sure that he was smiling smugly. Naruda sighed and laughed, "I'm just teasing, no need to get so glum. I don't really give a damn about your business so rest at ease." "I know, you're not the only one with a sense of humor." Both guys started to laugh then. Naruda started to really like the guy.
"Yo, hey, wake up!" After being shaken quite a few times, Naruda's eyes finally twitched and opened to see the blonde girl and curly haired boy. He yawned; he didn't really expect himself to be that tired. His eyes then shot open when he remembered something and he discreetly looked behind him to see that his wings haven't grown back yet or burned his jacket. His shoulders slumped relieved. After that, he took his things and jumped out of the van, inspecting the place.
It was way past noon, and they were in front, and at the parking lot, of a relatively small, but not really poor, hotel in the outskirts of Grande Prairie. 'How weird, I'm pretty sure Drakkan didn't take me that far for this to be the closest hotel around. Those two could be travelers as well, but then they wouldn't have to go this far. Are they running away from something?' Naruda took a small glance at the two only for his eyes to make contact with the boy making him look away. Though he did notice one thing from that small peak, which was that the boy's jacket was around the girl, probably so that they won't look too suspicious and more like lovers. Though that only made Naruda them more guarded in his eyes.
Naruda laughed a bit as he noticed that Megan wasn't wearing shoes, 'Yup, good luck on not being suspicious', silently following them as they went inside. "Ah, you must be Loki and Megan! Hm? Is he with you?" "No, no he isn't." "Oh I see, your room is right this way then!" Naruda watched from the sidelines, trying to calm himself at the sudden appearance of the hotel assistant. But at the mention of their names, he immediately snapped his attention to the blonde, 'She's Megan?! Nah, impossible right? What are the odds...but I can't help but think that it's her. Should I say something? Or maybe she already knows. But if she does, doesn't that mean that she could probably help me too? Though it could be a trap and she's actually working for or related to them, after all she has their same general features. But...' His gaze switched to Loki, who as it turns out, was looking at him all this time! Naruda guiltily looked away.
'I'm not doing this because I want to, but I must if I want to survive whatever this world is.' Determination lit up his eyes again as he went towards the reception office and got a room, but when he went to pay, a terrible realization dawned on him. The money he has isn't in Canadian dollars! "Erm, you don't by any chance accept money of different currencies, right?" The woman behind the desk did nothing but laugh, thinking that he was joking. Naruda frowned. He did have a hobby of collecting all different kinds of coins, but he wouldn't have anything more than one dollar. 'Sh*t, I really messed up this time around...huh?' He thought as he got the money out of his wallet, they were in dollars! He really wanted to question what the heck happened, but he was too happy for that as he gave the amount of money needed for one night to the Lady before leaving, just praying that it wasn't anything fake.
"Finally some rest!" He yelled as he fell face first into the bed. The hotel assistant showed him his room, gave him his card and left. Now he can finally have some well deserved rest! He took off his jacket and almost instantly, his wings bounced out and stretched out by his sides. Naruda grumbled as he sat up. He looked at his jacket, and yup, there was definitely a big hole in it. Though thankfully, it wasn't apparent due to his second black sleeveless jacket over the first grey one. Naruda sighed for the nth time, as he separated the two jackets, putting the grey one in his bag, took out the two previously emptied bottles and went to the bathroom to refill them, his wings of course trailing behind him. That reminded him that he had to learn how to control them somehow.
After shoving the bottles into his bag, Naruda decided to try out his wings a bit. The room was pretty small, with a bed and a bathroom as well as a TV, but nothing more than that really. So it was hard to find a space big enough for him to try out his wings. He took off his shirt and exhaled slowly, trying to calm himself when he noticed something. He looked back and noticed that the curtains weren't drawn in! He quickly closed them, 'My head's definitely isn't in its rightful place today, ugh...' He looked at his feet solemnly, stood up and wiped his face with his hands, looking at the roof for a while and then slapped both his cheeks with his hands, and got to work.
He closed his eyes as he concentrated. He tried to move different parts of his body to see if his wings would react, but nothing happened. So he tried his back bone, which in a split second resulted in breaking a decorative vase that stood on a nearby shelf. Naruda opened one of his eyes slowly, sweating. "Oops?" He didn't know why it sounded like a question now and he didn't care as he crouched down and picked up the pieces of glass that were once a vase and locked them in a drawer, never to be seen again. He sighed again, he seemed to be sighing a lot today, as he hit his head hard hoping that it would work better that way.
He checked this time to see if there was anything breakable and put them aside before closing his eyes to concentrate again. He tried to move his back bone again and he felt his wing twitch, no sounds of something breaking following the motion this time. He opened his eyes slowly and looked at his wings nervously. This has got to be the hardest task he has done up till now. He took a deep breath. And moved his back bone again at a different direction slowly, looking at his wings following the motion slowly and then...
*CRASH*
... Let's just say that Naruda now has to pay the hotel for the broken vase and the TV. Naruda face palmed, 'I guess training these things is a big no-no for now.' He yelled out in frustration after finally putting out the fire that erupted by using his already torn jacket as a blanket, and flopped onto the bed. Bad choice. Now the bed was on fire because of his wings! 'Cr p!' Naruda yelled mentally as he rushed out of the room, took a fire extinguisher, since there wasn't one in his room and came back inside, locked the door, and sprayed the thing like crazy on his bed thinking 'Stupid wings' all the way while doing it!
Naruda was really frustrated now, his head was definitely not in its place, and thank God that there was no one in the hallway or peeking to see him do something so embarrassing. He needed a shower, for more reasons than one.
Steam came out of the bathroom as Naruda opened its door. He stared at his reflection on the mirror with a towel on his head and his clothes on. He stared long and hard with a thoughtful expression, his face and arms were filled with gashes and wounds from jumping over to the tree earlier, and they stung him bad because of the hot water from the shower. He wondered why nobody pointed them out, though it was probably because they thought he was caught up in a street fight since the wounds didn't look too severe.
He stared at himself for a while longer before gritting his teeth and swiping his hand over his reflection and leaving, still bitter about earlier. He sat on the half baked bed and started drying up his hair with the towel still thinking about his next step tomorrow. He then soaked his black jacket with water and wore it over before heading to the door, the sound of his grumbling stomach now seriously annoying him. Though as soon as he came out, he met Loki with a grocery bag. He also just realized just how dang tall Loki really was, as tall as Eric and Caleb even!
"Yeesh, giant!" Loki only smirked at that, "Why thank you, can't say the same to you though." Naruda laughed it off shrugging; he was too exhausted to get angry although he usually would since he considered himself pretty tall. "Here catch!" Naruda took out his hand to catch what looked for him to be a wrapped up sandwich. "Could hear your stomach from next door, as well as the sounds of bear fighting in there." Naruda guiltily smiled at that but accepted the food anyways; he was pretty hungry and poor after all. He was also pretty embarrassed by the mess he made and that it could be heard so loudly.
He laughed a bit as he went inside his room, but before closing the door behind him completely; he stared for a while longer at the door next to him, where Loki and Megan were, doubtfully. He hated to admit it, but he was definitely sure that something was up with those two. He stared for a minute longer before closing the door completely, munching on his sandwich.
Naruda yawned as he checked his watch, it was now a new day and it was getting late. He went off the bed and went to take another quick shower to make sure that his wings won't grow back for quite some time, soaked his jacket again and wore it before starting to pack his stuff. Though what really surprised him, was going out to see Megan, "Hey, you're Megan, right? Going out somewh-" Before he could finish she grabbed his arm and pulled him to the elevator. And it wasn't before then that she was able to breathe a bit. "Erm...Megan?" Before he could say anymore the elevator door opened and she left in a hurry, he just noticed that she was holding onto her night gown and in some kind of hurry.
Not wanting to lose one of his few leads in this world, he put money in the counter for the 'damages' and went after her, plus he was pretty worried about her. After going out, he searched the place with his eyes and saw her standing a bit farther away. He smiled as he went to catch up to her, but she instead, as soon as she saw him, looked like she wanted to run away but restrained herself. "Hey Megan, you sure your alright? Where's Loki?" He noticed her flinch at that, "I'm just out for a...walk." 'Way too much delay in her response. She seems nervous.' He let out another sigh as he was about to ask her more when a taxi stopped by. She seemed to be the one who called him.
He looked at her, arching an eye brow at her, "So, you're out for a wa-" Before he could finish, again!, she pushed him roughly and went inside the taxi car locking the door but before she could say anything to the driver, this time he interrupted her, "Look, I don't what business you and Loki have with each other. But I'm not him, I barely know him even! And I seriously need a drive, plus I'll pay the cab and everything too." Naruda looked at her in the eye but she was pretty firm and untrusting. He didn't say that he was also worried about her, because that seemed like the last thing she wanted to hear right now.
They stayed in that position, staring at each other for a while, until Megan saw something that got her nervous and quickly opened the door for him to get in, "Fine you can come. Please go to this address!" She said to the driver as Naruda barely got in and closed the door behind him, and that was when he saw what she did: Loki staring in shock from outside their apartment window. Okay, she had a legit reason to freak out. Though he was impressed about how the driver was able to stay calm through all of this drama happening around him.
Naruda looked over at his bag, making sure he had everything, noticing that Megan was eyeing him suspiciously. He glanced at her for a second before asking, "So, what happened?" "..." "You seriously think that I'll give up if you stay silent?" Megan glared at him and he smiled kindly at her, which made her stop but doubt him even more now, 'I really wonder what's going on in her head.' "You're name." She finally said, "Hm?" "You never told u-me your name." He quirked a smirk at that. "You expect me to give you some information while you refuse to give me some back in return?" She looked pretty cornered about that but before she could say "Forget it." Naruda continued:
"Here's a suggestion, you ask a question to me first and after I answer it, you answer mine. And trust me, I believe we both have pretty good information both of us are interested in." She looked at him for a few seconds, "How can you be so sure." He smiled again, this time a true one, "It's because you look just as confused as I am about this world." At that, Megan lost her words as she pondered the suggestion for a few minutes, the driver seeming uninterested at the conversation, or hearing it at all for it matters.
"Fine, I accept." She seemed really reluctant and unsure though. "So what's your name?" He smiled victoriously. And with that, the marathon of questions and answers began! "My name is Naoru David Renock, though I go by Naruda. So what's yours?" He took out his hand to shake and she grasped it slowly, "I'm Megan Walker." "Wait, so it really is you?!" "What do you mean?" "Some people I met earlier mentioned you and how they let you get away as well as a queen or something." She looked shocked at that, "What were their names?"
Naruda shifted in his seat so he could face her, "Although it's your turn to answer: Their names were Eric and Caleb." Megan's eyes widened, "You didn't just say two random names, right?" He arched an eyebrow at her and that was his answer. With that, they continued giving and taking questions and answers which later on when pieced together, lead to this story:
Megan was abducted at night by said two and put in a black van, Loki then saved her and pushed the two out, stealing the van. While riding for several hours, in the meantime, Eric and Caleb found Naruda unconscious on the floor and for some reason 'kidnapped' him and he escaped them, meeting up with them later on somehow. The story seemed highly unbelievable but that was what they got.
"So why did you run away from Loki?" Megan stayed silent, "You'll think I'm crazy if I tell you so I prefer not to." At this point, they were whispering to each other as to not alert the driver. "By the way, I meant to ask you why your jacket is wet." Naruda looked at his jacket, it was still pretty moist. He smirked, "I'll tell you if you tell me, since my story is just as crazy." She didn't believe him, but played along anyways, "Fine you tell me first then I might." He scoffed; she was obviously trying not to say much because she still doesn't trust him. Can't say that it wasn't the same for him though, since he too left out a lot because he didn't want to say too much, but it seems he didn't have much of a choice now, if he wants her cooperation.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you." His voice was lower now as Megan involuntarily edged closer to hear him. She was curious whether she liked it or not. "I have wings, and they-pffft! Sorry, it's just the shocked expression on your face!" He started laughing as Megan flushed a bit and moved away angrily, "I'm sorry, I said! But I'm serious. When I woke, I found them on my back and they were made of pure flames which is why I wear wet clothes to extinguish them." Megan looked at him again distrustingly, "Okay, and?" Naruda shrugged, "I'm now trying to find my way back home and my sister as well as my friends." He didn't tell her about being in another world because that seemed like a bit of a too big pill to swallow at the moment. Plus its extra unneeded information.
Megan slumped on her seat, exhausted even though she's been sitting all day. "So now you tell me, why did you run away from Loki? Why do you look like Eric and his bud? And where the heck are you going?" Megan straightened up again as Naruda became all ears, "Fine...Apparently there are two mythical races here: The Frost and Fire Jotuns. And they're at war. I'm not sure why, but I guess it's not to go instinct, the Queen sent the male Frost Jotuns to mate with human females, and skipping the details, I ended up being one of them and they're trying to retrieve me now." Naruda gave her a sideways glance, "Loki was a Flame Jotun, he was going to take me to California where I used to live to hide but I saw his text messages and realized that he was planning on killing me."
Naruda looked wide eyed at her and instinctively reached out his hand to pat her in the head, "What are you doing?" "I don't know, but I used to do this to my sister to make her feel better." "I'm not your sister." "I know." He smiled at her and she looked surprised a bit before returning it for the first time.
"So, all that noise I presume was you burning stuff next door~" Megan had a mischievous smile on and Naruda got flustered a bit, "Shut it..." he grumbled and she laughed, "Well you don't have a very blonde sounding name! Megan sounds like the name of a brunette." "What does this have to do with anything?! And since when were names categorized based on appearance?!" "Man you're pretty dumb if you didn't know." Megan looked at him as if he grew a set of horns, "So what's a blonde sounding name then?" Naruda looked thoughtful for a moment, "There are a lot but...Trisha is a blonde sounding name." He smirked and she looked at him disbelievingly before slumping onto her seat as Naruda chuckled. And they stayed like that for the rest of the ride.
Naruda frustratedly dug out a bunch of dollars and handed them in to the driver as Megan nervously stood out in front of a house, 'She said that this was her adoptive parents' house and that she stopped here first to get some supplies. Anyways, why did I even tell her that I'll pay? Now I'm almost broke!' He gritted his teeth as he looked at the few papers of money he had left and let out a long sigh. She said she wanted to visit a friend as well at school that she was worried about. Yup, he's definitely going to be completely broke by then.
Naruda bored out of his mind, decided to go after Megan. "Nice place you got here." He said as he saw Megan coming down the stairs with a bag, which got her to hurry down and whisper yell, "What are you doing here?! I told you to wait!" "But I missed you~" Naruda made a pouty face which got Megan to laugh, "Stop that! Seriously, Janet would kill me if she sees me!" Naruda smirked as he nodded, understanding, 'Is Janet her mom?'
He followed her with his eyes to see her freeze some tea in a pot while a young toddler sat in her baby seat and looked as if she was rooting for her. Naruda wanted to laugh at the scene, 'So I guess this means that Frost Jotuns really do manipulate ice, so Flame Jotuns should...' Before he could finish his thought process, Megan dragged him outside along with her, "Come one, I'm done." He nodded as she let go of him and he followed her close behind and into the taxi cab. "So where do you plan on going now?" "I told you, to school to see if my friend is fine since she wouldn't answer her phone." Naruda nodded at that when he realized something, "You said phone, and yours isn't by any chance on, is it?" "Yes, why?"
Naruda groaned, "Wh-what is it?" "Take the battery out, or do you want them to track us?" Megan, upon hearing that, hurriedly removed the battery from her phone, embarrassed. "Well sorry for not watching many spy movies!" "That's basic knowledge." She couldn't retort to that. He smiled and pat her head again, "Why do you keep on doing that? Do I remind you of your sister that much?" Naruda shook his head, "Nah, quite the opposite actually, I'm just used to this action. My sister in your situation would wait for Loki to come back, shove his phone into his face and ask for an explanation. If he shows any violent reactions, then she'll grab a book or something and hit him in the head with it before running away!" Megan looked shocked at him and laughed a bit, "I know, she's a bit of the reckless type." "A bit?" They both laughed together at that.
Naruda grabbed his stuff and paid the driver, before leaving with Megan waiting for him, "Are you sure you want to come along with me? What about your sister?" Naruda shrugged, "A hunch tells me that she isn't here, plus its best if we stayed together." She nodded before mumbling a small thank you and entered the school, Naruda behind her.
"Hey Barbie, where did the rest of your friends go?" Some guy and his friends said as they approached Megan, 'Friends? I thought she had only one, anyways...' Naruda snuck up behind the guy and kicked his knees causing him to buckle up and fall down, "Get a room. If she doesn't want to flirt with you, you don't have to force it on her, do you?" Naruda said as he looked down on him, Megan and the other guys shocked by what just happened, as he motioned to her to go to her friend while he handled them.
"Ouch! Damn you!" Naruda stepped back a bit as he raised his hands in the air, "Woah, calm down man." The guy stood up as he launched himself at him. Naruda reached for another one of his bottles and threw it at his face, hurting his eye, blinding him momentarily. Naruda took that chance to pull him by the collar and threw him at his friend before he kicked him in the chest causing them both to fall down hard. His other pals, after that, raised their hands after that in defeat and left, thinking that this was all not worth the trouble. Naruda huffed as he organized his clothes and put his bag on his back again.
Naruda came out of the men's bathroom waving his hands around to dry them. He went in there to re-soak his jacket, not wanting his wings to pop again out of nowhere and burn everything in the middle of their journey. As he came out of the school building, he was honestly surprised to see Megan waiting for him, he honestly expected her to still not trust him and leave him behind. He smiled, "So where to now?" "I'm thinking of taking the bus to California since Loki said that the Queen doesn't like warm places." She started to look down, and Naruda suppressed the urge to pat her again.
While waiting for the bus, Naruda spoke up again, "You're friend, um-" "Charlotte?" "See now that's a blonde name!" "Would you drop that subject already?!" "Yeah, yeah sorry. So is she-" "An experiment as well? I think so, maybe, but probably a failed one because they didn't come to get her." Naruda nodded at that as they both boarded the bus.
They both went down at the last station, the depot. Naruda took a sideways glance at Megan. He didn't really mind it that much, all the travelling and danger because he's already been through a similar experience, but he wasn't sure about Megan, she seemed so exhausted by all of it, which was the main reason why he just followed her, he didn't want to add more onto her shoulders. He smiled as he hit her back lightly, "Come on!" He nudged her but she only glared at him, although there was a small visible smile on her face. 'She probably appreciates the company.'
"We have to check when the next bus comes." She said pointing at the board with the schedule. "Woah, a whole hour before the next one! Wanna grab something in the meantime to eat?" Naruda asked and Megan slumped a bit before nodding when she froze. Naruda tilted his head curiously and then looked at what she was to be stunned as well. It was Loki! He still hasn't seen them, but it was definitely him! 'She didn't remove the battery in time, they probably knew by then her trajectory. Or they used another method to track us. Either way...' Naruda grabbed Megan's hand as they ran for it, before Loki could notice them.
"Let's go there!" Megan said as she started to lead him to a nearby building, barging onto it from panic. They both started panting a bit before noticing that they were in some kind of hotel and that there was a startled young lady at the desk. Seems that barging into a building wasn't the best course of action to not look suspicious.
"Want to take a room just until he passes by?" He whispered to her and she pondered it for few minutes before nodding and going up to the lady and asking for a room, to which made her shoulders slump. 'Poor lady, we must've frightened her...' "Only one room?" Before Naruda could say 'no' Megan had already agreed. He gave her a weird look, "It's cheaper that way. Plus, I can always make you sleep in the hallway if you try anything weird." She smiled playfully and he rolled his eyes, "Har har har, very funny. I'll sleep in the couch don't worry." She laughed as they got their card to their room and left.
The room was worse than the previous hotel he stayed in and even smaller and uglier, with a queen sized bed, a desk with a chair, a nightstand, and a big old looking TV. 'I guess it's not bad for $80.' Naruda thought as he slumped on the chair, there was no couch so...'I can already feel my back aching.' He looked at Megan and she gave him a sympathetic look while trying not to laugh as she went into the bathroom. He laid down his head on the desk, closing his eyes momentarily before opening them again and rummaging through his bag.
He took out his mini chess set and laid it on the small desk. He rummaged through it took out the black king, 'Mega is obviously the root of all this. I'm still not exactly sure how I ended up here but it must be because of that blinding light.' He put the black king on his side of the board as he took out the white king this time, 'Okay Mega, if this is how you are going to play then you're on. I really love board and strategic games though, so be warned...' He held the White king with his index and middle finger as he smirked, '...why so? Simply because I am King! And as one, I'm definitely not going to lose!' With his smirk still plastered on his face, he put the white king in his rightful place as he slumped onto the bed.
"Aren't you coming?" Megan asked, wearing a red knit hat and by the door, "No, I'll sleep now so that I can keep watch at night. Just please be sure to bring me something." Megan shifted uncomfortably, not really liking the idea because she still doesn't trust him 100% but still nodded and agreed anyways, since she couldn't expect him to trust her when she doesn't trust him back. And with that she left, with Naruda lying on the bed.
His eyelids slowly fell down over his eyes from exhaustion. Though before he completely fell asleep, he saw the chess board: The black king and his army of foot soldiers on one side, while the white king stood on the other with only the queen and one of every pair of fools, horses, and towers. He smiled peacefully, as his lids fully closed and he fell onto a deep slumber.
My deepest gratitude to Erin Latimer!