Chapter 3.

The

Clashing

Of

Waves;

Act I,

Part II

ME: The lyrics that were used were originally meant to be in the first chapter but I've decided it would be much better to write the prologue first and then upload it the first chapter, but I felt like that didn't really fit so I finally decided to put them in them in this chapter.

Anyways, this is where things will really get started, folks! So please enjoy!

"I wish I could cross my arms and cross your mind,
'Cause I believe you'd unfold your paper heart and wear it on your sleeve,
All my life I wish I broke mirrors instead of promises,

'Cause all I see is a shattered conscience staring right back at me
I wish I had covered all my tracks completely,
'Cause I'm so afraid, is that the light at the far end of the tunnel or just the train

Lift your arms, only heaven knows where the danger grows,
And it's safe to say there's a bright light up ahead and help is on the way . . .

I forget the last time I felt brave, I just recall insecurity
'Cause it came down like a tidal wave and sorrow swept over me . . ."

"Tidal wave" - Owl City

~X~

"Just BREATHE!"

COUGH! HCK, Cough!

That sound had Tuff and Riley lurching back in shock.

The girl's eyes remained closed but they were watering tremendously at the no doubt burning sensation they knew was in her throat, her face was still pale but her cheeks still flushed dark blue from the force of her coughs, making her look as though she was suddenly made up with too much make-up; her hands flew to her mouth, shaking violently as her body racked with what was probably the biggest coughing fit they had ever seen.

Tuff and Riley both broke out in wide, toothy smiles. She was okay. She was alive. Okay, yes, she had lost massive amounts of blood, might possibly have a fever from the cold water –

HLGRRKKP!

– Aaand was now currently vomiting out her lungs and stomach, most likely including her lungs and stomach, up and onto the floor of the boat, a little on their feet and a lot on her tail; but she was alive. Alive and breathing . . . . For the most part.

When she paused in her regurgitation but still coughed, Tuff gently turned her over so her stomach pressed against the side of the boat and she was bent over at the waist, allowing him to hold on to her with one hand and to rub small soothing circles at her back comfortingly with his free hand. It was difficult to tell if it soothed her or not considering a second later she started to puke once again, the contents spilling into the water along with the tears in her eyes.

"It's okay, it's okay . . ." Tuff whispered to her as calmly as he could. "Just let it all out . . . You'll be just fine . . ." His tone could clearly stated that he was still scared out of his wits. Terrified that if he wasn't careful, the girl would just keel over and . . . And, well . . . Given current events, he'd rather not think about it.

Riley didn't say much, he only cringed at the amount of water and bile that exited the girl's throat. During which, he noticed his undoubtedly now ruined shirt stuck to her side. "Hey, uh, Tuff," He started again, gaining his attention. "Not that I'm not happy that she's okay but . . . shouldn't we maybe get her to shore so we can get that," He briefly pointed to the shirt. "Looked at?"

Tuff looked at him, a little confused until he looked down and spotted the soaked shirt. "Oh, right, right, right." He said somewhat dazed. By now, the girl had finally stopped barfing but her body still shook like it was the coldest day she had ever experienced. Seeing this, Tuff cautiously turned her back onto her back with care before gathering her up in his arms and holding her to his chest. He pressed a hand to the bundled up bloodied shirt, saying, "Do you think you can row us back? I need to hold the shirt in place or she might pass out again."

Riley gave a short "Yea'." Before grabbing both of the oars and began to push and pull them back and forth. The water splashed and washed with the sound of the wooden paddles rising and sinking repeatedly into its surface.

Tuff felt a chill run through him at the cold, shuddering girl resting against him. She seemed so fragile and small compared to him. As such, his hold on her was protective and tender; he gave a ghostly smile at her face when she shivered appreciatively at the warm dampness of his clothes. It quickly fell into a hot blush when she snuggled into him and wrapped her arms around his neck, burying her head underneath his chin. He heard something about "so cold" and "get warm" but was too distracted by the girl's blonde hair tickling the sensitive underside of his bearded jaw.

He couldn't really blame her for doing this; with all that blood that had been drained out of her thin body, she must've felt like she was buried in early morning snow and eager for heat, had mistaken him for a thick, warm quilt. It was common for people to want heat after they've been out in the bitter cold. The chilly fog around the cove didn't really help her much, either.

Still, that didn't stop his natural human hormonal shyness from kicking in when the faint scent of sea salt, sand, plants and flowers drifted into his nose.

Beach salt and flowers . . . Hmm, that smelled nice . . .

"Getting comfy, over there, Tuff?" Riley's voice spoke out.

Tuff snapped right out of it and shook his head comically. He gave a blank blink before his face burst even redder than before at the sight of Riley giving him a huge and coy grin. Riley snickered at his brother's face. Tuff glowered at him. "It's not funny, Riley."

"I didn't say anything." Riley held his hands up in protest, never dropping the oars.

"Then get rid of that smile, I know that smile; it always means way more than it should." Tuff pointed out.

"Alright, alright." Riley waved him off. He continued to row but not before saying, "But you know something? I was wrong before."

Tuff looked at him. "Huh? About what?"

"About you never being able to catch something with a fishing pole." Riley said with a grin. "Turns out, I was wrong. You were able to catch something."

"Aaand, what did I catch?"

"A cold date!"

CRACK!

"OW!"

Riley was happy that he didn't need legs for rowing.

~X~

She got away.

How could his prey have gotten away?

He had her. He had her right where he wanted her.

Tire her out. Put her in a corner. Go for her weakest spot. Wait until she stopped struggling. Eat to and his comrades' heart's content.

How could he have lost his game?

He brought a hand up to his face. He could feel the skin still sting and burn at his touch, making him growl and his comrades whimper for him.

This wound . . . The one she caused.

She made the Evil-Light come out of her tail. She had attacked him. That is how she got away from him and his comrades.

She was his dinner. She was going to fill his and his comrade's bellies. She was his game!

But then she turned it all around and even dared to attack him!

The pathetic little morsel actually left a scar on him. On him.

His hands curled into great, tight fists. His comrades started to bark in anticipation around him.

She was still alive. Still alive and mocking him. Mocking him. The Master!

No. No. No. No! She would not be allowed to get away from him. Not from HIM.

He was the Master. The greatest hunter alive. No one ever got away from him and lived to tell the tale. He made sure of that.

One of his comrades returned, galloping in from a bush and at the sight of him, howled eagerly.

He understood instantly. His comrade had found something. Something not too far from here.

He allowed himself to show a feral grin. He ignored the pain that flared in it.

This was good. Very, very good, indeed.

He would find her. He would find her and make her pay for her insolence.

No one will ever dare mock the Master.

~X~

Riley tried hard not to stumble in his step as his foot made contact with the sandy beach, but was a little hard at press considering the current bruise that was forming on his left shin. He frowned at his twin's incapability of taking a little joke.

But then again, considering they had an injured, bleeding, unconscious girl that had almost died just a couple of instances ago on their hands, now really wasn't the time for levity.

The said girl now in his arms then chose the time to shiver pitifully against him, curling her hands into weak little fists and huddling closer to his bare chest. Tuff, who had her previously, decided to have him hold her while he went and tied up the boat so it wouldn't drift away in the waves. Riley briefly pondered on whether or not he noticed that his fishing rod was missing. He remembered mentioning it briefly before.

That aside, Riley had taken her as carefully as he could, holding her bridal style; his thick arms around her shoulders and under her legs, keeping the side with the still shirt-bound wound out and resting the girl's tail ontop of her kneecaps after managing it with great difficulty. He knew how sensitive tails can be due to bad experience in the past and didn't want to risk grasping at it by accident. Maker knows, he had been slapped enough times. . .

Despite that thought, he felt like crying from joy and smiling like an idiot when she tucked her head under his chin rather similarly to how she had done with Tuff before. Although he didn't cry, he still smiled. He couldn't help it. He couldn't remember the last time a cute girl like the one right here was this close to him without him having to flirt with her; true, she wasn't even conscious for it but still, it was better than nothing.

She was the perfect size for him to carry. Not too light, not too heavy, perfectly smooth skin at just the right places – As long as he ignored the big, bloody gash – and she smelled somewhat . . . Eh, almost good enough for him to launch into his happy place. Feeling kind of victorious in a way, and no ways sleazy like a regular person would've, he clenched his fists joyously with a big toothy grin. If he could, he could die happy right now.

Of course, that was impossible if you had a polar opposite yet identical twin older brother.

Tuff saw this and instantly became appalled. "Riley! Really?!" He exclaimed. Riley snapped out of his trance, flinching at his uptight tone and glancing back at him blankly. Tuff frowned at him, gesturing madly at the dark-blue faced girl pressed up against him. "What? You're so desperate for a girlfriend; you're stooping as low as taking advantage of a poor, sick girl now?"

"I am not taking advantage!" Riley retorted, indignant. "You told me to hold on to her while you tied up the boat and that's what I'm doing! And, last I checked, that's being helpful not lecherous."

Tuff gave his twitching fingers a withering look before saying, "Riley, that's not the point; my point is that, helpful or not, you do not invade a young woman's personal space when she's awake and/or unconscious!"

The girl was the one to respond this time. She gave a low murmur as she shifted around at the feel of Riley's eager fingers tickling the soft part of the backs of her knees. " . . . Mfh . . . Vince, stop that . . . You know . . . meh, ticklish . . ."

Riley gave her sleepy face a smile before looking at Tuff. "You see? She's fine with it! No harm, no foul, no bruise!"

Tuff's mixed expression clearly stated that he could not believe that the man in front of him was his brother. His identical twin, let alone at that. "Um, you may or may not have noticed, but your name isn't Vince; it's Riley." Tuff said, sarcasm ringing his tone like a gong. "I know this because that's the name that Mom chose for you when Mom and Dad chose their names for us while we were still fighting for elbow space in Mom's stomach."

Riley blinked at him before saying in amazement, "Whoa, you actually remember that? All I remember is biting something hard yet kind of fuzzy."

". . . Riley, that was my head." Tuff deadpanned.

Riley's mouth shrunk into a small "o". "Ooh, that's explains why it tasted so sour." Tuff frowned dryly, unamused. Riley then declared with a straight face to him and, what Tuff guessed, the world, "Anyway, back to the point; nope, my name is not "Riley", from now on, I'm "Vince"!"

Tuff hissed at him with a finger slapped to his mouth. "SHH! Dial it down, fish-head; she's going to wake up!" The girl, as if on cue, then squirmed slightly as she tried to get comfortable in bare-chested sharkman's hold. To Tuff's relief and Riley's bemusement, she returned to being still and only gave a low groan after she was through.

"Kinda hard to tell if she's a light sleeper, huh?" Riley quipped out of nowhere, causing Tuff to look at him questioningly. Looking down at the girl, he continued, "I mean, you try to move her; there's no guarantee that she'll stay asleep. The first couple of minutes, you're okay to hand her back and forth," Tuff jumped a little as he watched Riley rock the girl in emphasis to his horror. "And then before you know it, BAM!" Riley stopped rocking her then flexed his hands with wide eyes. "Ya get one right in the kisser! Lord knows you and I have sent that a lot growing up, so who's to say that won't happen to us if we move her again?" He paused for a minute, taking in his brother's look of utter disbelief. "Do tell me if I'm wrong."

Tuff was silent for a few more moments before stating matter-of-factly, ". . . You just want to keep holding onto her, don't you?"

"I will neither confirm nor deny that at this moment." Riley stuck up his nose at his accusation. Tuff flicked his nose lightly in response, making him snort.

Tuff put a hand over his eyes, rubbing his temple at the newfound headache that was starting up. Not at the unpredictably nonsensical way that Riley was taking this situation, but at the amount of logical sensibility he had concerning the ailing girl in his arms.

As much as he hated to admit it, and he always did, Riley struck a very good point. The girl wouldn't stay asleep forever unless her health took another drastic turn for the worse, and there would be no telling when she actually would wake up. And something in his gut told him that if she woke up in the middle of two strange men with sharp teeth handling her like she was a piece of meat they were bargaining over was not going to be an easy thing to explain. Especially with her feverish state of being and that huge wound on her that could've been made by anything.

Looking at Riley and the girl one last time, he put his hand over his eyes again and sighed/groaned lightly. ". . . Alright, you can hold to her for now," He said that part sternly to a now brightly grinning Riley. "But only because if I separate you two she's sure to wake up." Riley "yay"ed happily at this and proceeded to adjust his already decent hold on the girl, making her moan lightly. "Now, come on, let's get her back to the sub and check her side; I want to check that wound of hers, it's in sorry shape by the looks of it."

Riley beamed at him with his cheeks tinged a little red in a way that most ladies would've found cute. "Don't worry. I'm not ready to move anytime soon –" Riley's expression then abruptly changed from a smile to flat line in a blink.

Tuff, seeing this and was immediately as to why such a smile from Riley disappeared, asked, "What? What is it?"

Riley looked at him, his voice sounding perplexed. "Tuff, I just thought of something."

"Go on." Tuff crossed his arms, showing his interest.

"You're gonna try and fix this wound, right?" Riley stated, naively.

"Obviously." Tuff couldn't help but roll his eyes at him.

"So that means you're gonna have to look at it, right?"

"Clearly."

That was when Riley dropped the bomb. "So that means you're gonna have to take off this girl's shirt, right?"

"Yes, Riley, I –" Tuff's face suddenly exploded in a red hot flush with his irises shrinking to the size of pins at what his brother was implying finally broke through to him. ". . . . . . . . Oh . . ."

Riley, who was a little hard pressed not to laugh at his brother's mortified face, gave him a reassuring smile. "Heh, don't worry, brother, I know what you're thinking and don't worry, your brother's got a solution!"

Tuff frowned. He had a feeling that he was going to regret this . . .

~X~

. . . Aaand he was right.

"This is your solution?!" Tuff exclaimed as best as he could at normal volume.

Riley who sat across from him, shrugged impishly. "Hey, it's better than nothing!"

"How is tying our wrists to an unconscious girl's ones and then blindfolding ourselves better than nothing?" Tuff demanded him incredulously, shaking his bound wrist which was earlier tied to the wrist of the girl below him emphasizing his point.

Riley rolled his eyes. He admitted they did look kind of ridiculous; Riley had taken the sleeve fabric of his now completely ruined, blood-caked shirt and ripped them into makeshift sections of rope, tying one to his wrist and to the girl's left wrist and tying the other to his brother's to her right wrist. The said girl's arms moved limply each time they moved their hands, making her look as though she were some odd-looking puppet. What scraps of fabric that weren't used for their wrists, he quickly tied them around his and Tuff's foreheads so they wouldn't fall off. They both were seated on their respective sides of the quickly-put-together bed that she slept on and tried to give her as much space as possible but were at a bit of disadvantage because of the miniscule tent that crowded their shoulders and nudged them forward so they hovered over her prone form.

But still, despite how silly they looked, he replied to Tuff with a collected face, "Look, when she starts to wake up the ropes will let us know when because her arms will start moving on their own and they'll tug on them unconsciously."

Tuff then jabbed at the bands rubbing against their wild bangs in annoyance. "So what's the deal with these?"

"You obviously don't want to violate her privacy right?" Riley stated. Before Tuff could defend himself on that, he added, "The fabric will cover our eyes so that way we can get her top off and you can clean her side without one of us ending up peeping at her!"

"By "one of us" you mean you?" Tuff pointed out point blankly.

Riley gave him a sharp "humph!" saying, "My point still stands. We can do what we need to do without doing anything wrong, you see? No harm, no foul, no bruise!"

Tuff looked at him, askance. "Your sense of logic is seriously twisted, you know that?"

Riley, not catching the wary tone behind his words, simply grinned obliviously, "Thank you! Now come on," He slid his band down over his eyes. "Let's get to work!"

Tuff frowned but slipped his band down as well. "I cannot believe you talked me into this."

"Hey, it's a little weird but it'll work." Riley pointed at him, more like pointing to the wall due to temporary loss of sight.

"Oh, whatever, let's just get this over with." Tuff waved Riley off, forgetting the fact that he wouldn't see it.

"Will do! Okay, where do we start first?"

". . . Well, first thing we need to see if there are any buttons or zippers on this thing so we won't have to pull it off and bother the wound. That's gotta be something somewhere . . ."

"So, you're saying we should look around the collarbone and stomach?"

"Pretty much, just be careful where you put your hands."

"Yeah, yeah, alright . . . Not sure if I can, considering the blindfold but I'll give it a shot."

"May I point out that the blindfolds were your idea?"

"Ha, ha, very funny."

". . . Oh! Geez, Riley, whatever you do, do not put your hand here!"

"Here? Where here?"

"Here, here!"

"Oh! You mean here."

"GAH! RILEY, what did I just tell you?!"

"ACK! Sorry! I got confused!"

"How could you get – Oh, nevermind, just keep looking, or, uhm, feeling."

"For a zipper or some buttons?"

"Yes!"

"Alright, alright! Take it easy, fish-head, don't bite my head off! By the way, weren't you the one telling me to dial it down just a couple of seconds a– Whoa, wait a minute."

"What is it?"

"I think I found a zipper under . . . 'Neath her chiiin . . . It's kinda buried in her collar but I thiiink I got it . . ."

"Oh, okay, that's good. Don't be too quick to pull it down, though, odds are it's jammed from being in the water for so long and –"

ZZIIPP – SNAP!

". . . You just tried to yank at it and it broke off."

"I, uhh, will neither confirm nor deny that . . .?"

"Really?"

"It's the best I can some up with off the top of my head right now!"

"Oy . . . Well, at least it seems like you got the top open so we can probably get it off now."

"Boy, there's a couple of words I bet you never thought you'd say, eh?"

". . . Shut up."

"Wait, I just thought of something again."

"What is it now?"

"How are we supposed to get this girl's shirt off if our hands are tied to her wrists?"

Tuff froze in place, his blind hands clutching at the one open end of the girl's top in readiness to pull the rest of it off. He turned up his head back up slowly from where he was "looking" at the girl at the same time Riley did. Neither one moved.

Silence overtook them . . . At least for another five seconds.

Tuff's hand snapped to his face where he yanked off the blindfold with irate fury. The uptight, anxious tone in his voice could cut metal as he hissed at him as loudly as he could. "HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO KNOW THAT?!" Riley jumped in fright at him, taking off his own blindfold and wincing at the hard stare he was giving him. "All of this was your idea! You got me all worked up about women and personal privacy and somehow talked me into tying the both of us up with her like it was s-s-some sick . . . sexual game!" Riley looked at him blankly before opening his mouth to say something. Tuff beat him to it by saying, "And yes, I'm aware of how that sounded; I've read books all about things like that back at the library at home, I know how things like work as much as I rather not to."

Riley shook his head at him, getting somewhat agitated himself. "Well, excuse me for thinking blindfolds would help this girl keep her modesty while we relied on our natural human instincts while we got this damn rubber top off!"

That was when the girl's eyes snapped open.

Tuff and Riley looked down and their eyes promptly widened at the stunned expression on her face.

Uh-oh.

The three of them looked at each other in silence. The girl's eyes flickered back and forth between them. Then at her bound wrists. Then at her open top and nearly bare chest. Then back at them again.

"Uh, hi?" Riley waved his bound hand awkwardly at her.

At those words, all hell broke loose.

"AAAAAAUUUUGGGGGHH!"

CRACK!

WHACK!

"Agh –!"

"Guh –!"

Tuff's hand slapped over his now bleeding nose while he heard Riley heave in pain and caught a faint glimpse of him falling onto his back, clutching his chin in the exact same place where the now awake and very active girl had socked him hard.

The girl's arms were now thrashing wildly, desperately trying to break free from the fabric binding them together, her screaming bloody murder at the top of her lungs. Tuff tried to focus but he couldn't help but be impressed. Where the heck was she getting all this energy from?

His thoughts were caught short when he saw something glinting in her hand. Something sharp and glinting that she had aimed right at him –

RRIIPP!

Tuff blinked. The fabric on his wrist was now a tiny piece of badly cut fabric. Regaining his senses, he looked up just in time to see her, with now one free wrist matching his own, cutting her other wrist free with a small knife. What the -? Where'd the knife come from?

Her posture was ragged and hasty as she kept her back to him, never minding that her shirt had slid down ever so slightly so her shoulders were bare and Tuff could easily see the skin.

Forgetting about his bloody nose, – Which was a royally bad idea, considering he was half-shark and such – He lunged forward and grabbed at her shoulder with a firm hand. When her head turned, he immediately started, "Miss, please calm down, it's okay, we're not trying to –"

She wouldn't hear of it.

Her face looked like it was on overdrive as it blanched in horror at him. Her mouth flew open in a scream, "GET AWAY FROM ME!" her hands coming up and shoving at him with surprisingly good force, nicking his chin with the tip of her knife and drawing small drops of blood.

Tuff fell onto the small of his back with a grunt. His sharky senses were starting to come on high with the blood that was leaking down from his nose and the newfound cut on his jaw. He slapped his hand back over his nose, pinching it tightly to try and stop and the flow. That didn't stop his adrenaline from fueling the sudden feeling of hunger that launched through him. The need to eat. The need to make the one who did this scream for her life –

Her? Wait, her. Her. HER!

He caught a glimpse of her tail and the corner of a blanket as she raced out of the tent.

Tuff jumped to his feet . . . Only to meet with the top of the tent and bring it fluttering down on both him and Riley from the sudden force of his head meeting the "ceiling". He fell to his knees and scuttled forward, somehow making it over his brother who was now beyond confused at the abrupt change in surroundings and quite possibly kneeing him in the gut during the process as he had heard an "OY!" of pain; once he reached the edge of it, he poked his head out and met with the sight of the girl standing around and whirling her head around at the sight of their camp.

"Miss!" He exclaimed, causing her to snap her head around and pale even more in fright. "Miss, please don't run away! It's okay!"

Once again, she acted like she didn't hear him and begun running blindly down the sandy beach of the cove. Growling in frustration, Tuff tossed the cloak of the former tent off of him and hauled himself back onto his feet, shooting after her.

The girl, despite her best efforts, was starting to lose her energy from before and fortunately wasn't getting too far; even from a slight distance he could tell that she was struggling to hold the blanket she had taken over her almost uncovered chest and keep herself from stepping on it and tripping herself while trying to push herself further down shore all at the same time.

It took him a minute, but he managed to get close enough to her to say, "Miss! It's okay! We're not trying to hurt you! Please stop! You're just hurting yourself even more!"

He could see her waver at his words. She had absently slapped a hand over her side, which was starting to bleed out once again and staining the white cloth of blanket each time it touched her.

"Please!" Tuff shouted at her, watching the drops of blood of sand grow into small rivers down her leg and her desperately trying to ignore it and speed up. "I swear we're only trying to help you!"

". . . she's not breathing . . ." He heard his own voice echoing through his mind.

The girl continued to run, never stopping but unleashing small gasps and grunts of pain. Obviously the feeling of her wound was now sinking in.

". . . She's not breathing! SHE'S NOT BREATHING!"

Tuff's heart was racing in fear. This was not good. Not good at all. If she kept this up she would definitely . . .

That unfinished and brutal thought made something snap within him. Something manic and powerful.

"Argh! Come on, breathe! You need to breathe!"

Whatever it was, it energized his body all within an instant. Just enough to plow forth through the weightless, shifting sand, propel his body forward with a hand stretched out towards her and shout with a great mixture of panic and demand. . .

"Just –"

"– STOP!"

It all felt like it happened in slow motion; Tuff's fingers wrapping around the girl's small, undefended wrist . . . His arm pulling it and it's owner to him sharply . . . A petite body crashing into his thick one with shout of pain and surprise . . . Time came back to its present state when they both fell to the beach with a "Whump"!

Tuff breathed heavily as he lay there on the sand. His heart just felt like he had just taken a marathon across the entire length of the island when he knew in it actuality it was just a couple of miles. But, trying to catch an injured, shifting topped girl who was apparently set on killing herself would due that to you, he guessed –

When he looked up after propping himself up on his elbows, all thoughts of what had just occurred disappeared in two seconds flat.

The girl was draped across his chest with the blanket bunched up hapless at her collar, her fingers were clutched aimlessly at his vest and her expression was somewhere between lethargic and hypnotic. Her eyes were fluttering open and closed, looking at him in a way that was both here and somewhere far, far away.

All the same he couldn't hold the gasp he gave when he saw the color of them; they were orange. Pure orange. Not like light brown or hazel that had more gold than green, but absolute orange.

But not like the lively color orange that one would see on the tough skin of a citrus or the aging color orange that another would find on a falling leaf in autumn. This was totally its own unique orange. A wonderful collaboration of light and dark that made Tuff think of the sun as it started to sink below or start to rise in the sky, ready to welcome the night or morning that would bring about a new day.

In other words . . . Beautiful. Just . . . Beautiful.

His eyes locked on hers like they did his, or more like through him since, due to blood loss, her gaze was totally unfocused. He kept his eyes on hers as he slowly straightened back up, lifting her with him and earning a small groan of protest. Without really thinking, he brought a trembling hand up, brushed her bangs out her face tenderly and whispered lowly, the unrecognized feeling behind it scaring him a little with a calm smile, "Don't worry; you're going to be okay. I promise. You and I are . . . Are going to be just fine."

The girl no move to show she heard him. Instead, her eyes rolled up into her head and she fell against his collarbone with a quiet, weak sigh.

At that moment, Tuff jolted out of his trance. Looking down at the top of the girl's head, thoughts started crashing rapidly through his mind. What the heck? What was that all about? Where did that come from? He was just trying to stop her and when he looked at her eyes, he just . . . Well, he just lost it . . . At least, that's what seemed like happened . . .

. . . No, no, what had happened was simply the thrill from the chase, right? . . . Right?

"So . . ." Riley's voice started out slowly from behind him, making him jump and nearly lose his grip on the girl. Looking up, he caught sight of the ugly bruise on his chin which was rubbed at painfully by Riley as he finished naively, ". . . Maybe we should get a doctor?"

The sheer simplicity of that statement, the one thing they should've just thought of doing logically in the absolute first place, made Tuff's face drop . . . Before he abruptly smacked it with his palm yet again.

Oy vey.

ME: PHEW! Wow, this is probably the longest chapter I've written so far which is really weird considering so far it's only been three chapters in a course of what EIGHTEEN days? Double WOW, that's the quickest I've ever updated anything! That's amazing and . . . A little sad.

Anyway, the dialogue that was used a little before what I now affectionately call "The blindfold scene", was actually used in a comic page that designed by the awesome :iconDoodlebotbop: over in Deviantart, named "Luck Bros 'n Cassie Pg.1"; if you like the scene please check out the original page, I promise you'll get a laugh or two out of it.

On another note, provided I'm not too distracted, I'm going to try and make this story my main project for a while. Just until I can get some inspiration going for some of the other Major and ficlet stories I've got on hold. So my update schedules' most likely going to be every 6-7 days and I promise the results will not be disappointing!

Okay, enough gabbling from me, until next time!