Struggle, But Not Alone

by rancorlover

"Maybe. Maybe you do got to struggle in life. But I sure as learned that going at it alone ain't the answer. It didn't work for me last time, and I'm telling you now. We ain't leaving this fight!" I said this, to the boy I seen grow up before me. The first person I saw from this world. And it was safe to say... We are gonna die. Not my first time though. (Cover Artist on X: NINE )

7. Chapter 7

Struggle, But not Alone

Chapter 7

Crossroads

Pov: Arthur Morgan

After a long silence, one complied. He first threw his sword and shield to the ground and then held his hands up. Then one by one they all did the same.

On an unsurprising note, the noble tried something sleazy, "N-now! The enemy falters! Mop them all up!"

My teeth clenched when the words left his mouth,

Of all the low down things a man could do!

Terror came upon the enemy, and it looked like it was going to be the case. This line of thinking only stopped when a random mercenary spoke, "You gonna pay extra for that?!"

The lying Official took offense to that,

"W-what?!"

"Ya heard me! We were paid to fight soldiers! Not executing prisoners!"

Other soldiers suddenly realized this and looked to the noble for an answer with either greed, or disappointment.

I coughed as I joined the crowd of stares,

"If it were me, I would never put my money down twice when I'm ahead, mister."

Course that didn't mean I never tried.

For the first time, Dutch truly talked down to the man,

"Really?! After this boy-?! No. This Man won the fight?! And you call yourself a Noble!"

He nearly fell off his ride at the power of Dutch's exclamation, the eyes of everyone didn't help as he felt looks of judgment on himself. Or that's at least how I perceived the noble saw it.

A pull of his reigns helped him regain his bearings, and after a deep sigh, he proclaimed,

"Very well, if my honor as a Noble and a Senior Knight of Tudor is at stake, then I hereby accept the proposal for surrender. Spread the word…"

And that's how one fight ended. Many rushed to tell what had happened, one cry came out among both sides. "Bazuso had been slain!"

As for us, we had stuck around for the teen who looked disappointed that the fighting was done. What he didn't expect was for us, the former Van Der Linde, to rush up to him.

I didn't care as I suddenly bumped into his shoulder,

"That was some great fighting kid! I'm still trying to figure out how you can swing that iron so fast!"

"Tin knocker didn't stand a chance!"

"I thought you had lost your head for a minute! But you're alright!"

Guts looked overwhelmed, and it didn't help none when Dutch escalated things, "Let's hear it for Guts the Giant Slayer!"

For a second, I could see something of a blush as even people around us cheered. Too bad he tried to act cool by brushing the praise aside and walked off without us. Though we had known him for a day, none of us former gang members were bothered by it. It fit him like a well tailored suit.

"Make way!"

Some men on horseback came from the way we entered. They were in similar attire to the Noble, minus the shine to it.

"Sir, the fighting has stopped all together! What are your next orders?"

"Have the men gather the dead, we have no time to make a grave for each of the fallen here. I have a tight schedule to uphold and need to build up our forces for the next battle, prepare a pit outside the wall for a mass grave."

… Shoot!

I started to run from the others, remembering something I knew I had to do! Or very well the least I could do. Time was now of the essence!

"Arthur?!"

"Where are you going, Son?"

My head turned back for a moment, "I'll be back in a while, Dutch! John, take care of my payment!"

Almost nothing hindered me as I ran through the mass of soldiers and mercenaries alike, a few looked as I rushed past but not giving any care to my hastiness! Just the same, I couldn't care what they were doing! I needed to reach the spot where she fell, and I reached it not a moment too soon! A couple of the empire's men were taking the body of the girl away!

"Excuse me, do you mind if-?!"

"Get your own play thing!"

…

"Excuse Me?!"

"You heard us, Peasant! Wait your turn if you must, Old man! But we waited a good while for some fun like this!"

…

I was starting to see that girl's smile fade from my mind, in its place I saw red. It blinded my vision and swam my thoughts away, replaced with rage!

Pigs! All of em! Not good for anything! Nobody would miss them…

Slowly my hand crept to my cattleman as my breathing became erratic just looking at them, making me almost clutch my chest.

I haven't felt this much pain since I had my TB-!

…

That thought brought me back to reality, and my hand fell past the handle. The world I came from, the one I had left behind. The world where I killed without a thought, until the end anyways. And one line ran through my mind,

"I just don't want any more folks to die, Dutch…"

Hosea… Dutch was probably thinking about him when he made that deal for surrender. And I was about to throw it away… I can't let myself fall for this…

"Old Man, you deaf?!"

In my slow self reflection, the man got up close to me. Throwing insults was the least of his crimes; clearly seen by the way he held himself, and smelled by his stench. I really wanted to just kill the two of them, I'd be easy…

What would Hosea do?

Restraint, control the situation.

"Gentlemen. Can't say I can stand the sight of your stink. But I'm gonna have to ask you to step away from the girl!"

"Or what?!"

"Or I could kill yous! You know who I am, right?!"

"Tell us then!"

"I'm the man that tore a hole in that broken gate, I'm one of the few that just survived artillery from both sides! And I killed well over a hundred men today!"

Both backed up as I roared at them, but unconvinced.

"Sir Morgan?!"

The voice of Rod entered the air, first time he addressed me too.

"Yeah, kid?!"

Both of the necrophiliacs looked at each other at the mention of "Sir".

"We saw you running away! Did something happen?!"

Hearing the rush of many footsteps drew me to look his way and see that it was him and the rest of the surviving children.

"No, but I'm burying this girl away from the mass grave!"

He looked at the girl in the same wear they had, and disbelief covered his face, "A girl?! How-?!"

"I don't right know. But I'm gonna at least do one thing right by her."

Turning back around, I looked to the two confused men, "If you don't mind, I'll be taking her now."

"Just a minute! Sergeant, do you know who this man is?"

"Sir Arthur Morgan, a Noble from a foreign land and one of the strongest members of the Band of Nobles! He saved our lives by wiping out the wall of cannons."

…As many as I could.

"N-noble? R-really?"

Fear came across the two men, "I-. Take her. Let's go…"

Finally they placed the girl down and rushed away, and I ran up to the girl. Feeling the cold from the back of her neck as I held her, I held my bile. Color was drained from her face, almost like one of them porcelain dolls. And the stench only grew worse as I let things go on.

No time to lose, I put her down gently and looked at an abandoned store nearby. Curtains draping in the window. They had survived the battle, but soon lost the war. Glass shattered with a rock I had picked up from the ground.

"Sir?"

I chose not to answer him yet, instead I pulled down the drapes and laid them out near the girl. I then picked up her dead form and placed her in the now mud stained cloth. Taking extra care, she was wrapped up for a proper burial. Only this city wouldn't do-.

"Sir Morgan?"

Finally, I turned to see what he wanted. He said nothing, and neither did his troop. Their wants were shown on their tired little faces. How many brothers or long lime friends had they lost today? And it was selfish to just only bury this one.

"Alright, I get it. Go ahead and gather what's left of our dead. And get some tools to help dig while you're at it. When you're done with that, come look for me outside the walls. I'll pick the spot."

With that said, I bent down once more and lifted up the precious package. She was light, only burdened in my mind. I walked along the roads till I found the hole I had rushed through only hours ago. Smolders of fire and wood brimmed the ground, spurned about by the running of new soldiers rushing in to secure the place. Seeing the prints on the ground, I asked myself if one of them was her's.

No answer came to me as I continued my solemn pace to the grassland.

Once there, I saw people working to take down barricades, military equipment (catapults), and gathering of remains.

Alone, I walked against them in taking my path to a hill nearby. At the base of it was an overturned carriage that had farming tools, I took from it a wooden spade and continued to search for a proper spot.

Five minutes out, I arrived at a small patch of flowers. Daisies, dandelions, and a few more that convinced me this was the place. A small stream was close by, where it forked gently into two other paths of water.

If someone wanted to find them and pay respects, they could find them easily. Any relatives, anyone who was left that remembered them.

I placed the girl to the side as I got to work near the flowers. The soil was soft as the wood sunk in with no hindrance, and pulled up the pitch dark dirt with roots and worms sticking out. A sign that it wouldn't take as long as I thought.

When it was all dug up, I had placed her in and gave a moment of silence. Thinking about the life she could have had before, how all of her future was robbed from this war of theirs. Worst yet, was how neither side seemed justified as it dashed their children to pieces. This girl was one of many, how many more faceing worse? Didn't even want to mess with the thought.

I wiped the sweat and grime from my face and arms, then looked at the sheets that encased her. With a tired sigh, I pushed back in the dirt with the scoop. A couple minutes later, it was just a patch of dirt on the ground. Took time and placed the grass pieces back into its spots. Still, it didn't make it look any better with dirt poking through. Even then, I felt like it still was missin something…

A glance at the flowers nearby reminded me of that something! I reached into my satchel, expecting it to be withered or destroyed from all the times I had been tossed around today. Instead, it was perfect.

With a spot cleared out, I placed the daisy, the one I had collected that morning on top of the mound where the girl rested.

Perfect…

I placed my hands on my sides, giving myself a mental job well done. Amazed that I could do any of this after getting hit-...

My brain did a double take,

Hadn't I gotten hit in my side not an hour ago?! Where's the pain?!

Patting the place where metal passed through, I felt no pain aside from the beating I started giving before I looked over myself. The hole in my clothes were there, the blood too. Where I had seen it on my flesh, it was non existent!

The memory of the pain and seeing it was clear as mud, but now it was gone!...

Maybe I am getting old.

I could only shake my head and sigh in relief, and walk away. As I did, I paused as I thought I felt a small peck on the cheek. A glimpse of an insect wing made me turn my head around.

"Hello?!"

Nobody answered, making me believe it was my imagination as I went up the hill.

XXXXXXX

At the top, I saw the company of soldiers carrying the dead. Helping them was everyone besides Dutch and Guts. I waved my hand and called out to them.

John saw me and rushed up the hill carrying a wrapped corpse over his right shoulder.

"Where to, Arthur?"

"By the flower patch near the brook. Where's Dutch?"

"He's talking to the Noble… It's bad Arthur. That Scumbag was trying to do exactly what that general said; Trying to make the people of that town into slaves! Probably was always his real intention for taking the place. Dutch was able to stop it in a roundabout way, saying that we worked well over quota with the cannons, securing a way in-. Well, shorten it up, he bidded out the people, and now we have a much shorter pay."

"...How much?"

"Back to square one, three silver, each."

…

"Arthur, the rest of us talked about it, and-."

I nearly fell on my knees and roared with my head to the clouds above,

"YEEESSS!"

John almost fell back from my outburst and I had to catch him from rolling down the hill.

"Easy!"

"I'll say?! I expected you to be a little upset!"

"Naw, don't you see, John?!"

"No, I-."

"He's back! The Dutch we know is back!"

John thought about it for a moment, and a grin crept up onto his face. Then he had enough laughter that he almost dropped the kid he was carrying.

"What's so funny?!"

Bill made it to the top, he only had a shovel and was breathing hard from the walking he had done.

I rushed to him and placed a hand on his shoulder,

"Dutch! He's alive!"

He raised an eyebrow unamused,

"... You've been drinking from them Fire Bottles?"

"No, Bill! I mean it's him! The real one!"

"Yeah?! And he owes me for all that work I put in!"

"I don't care! He's back! Dutch Van Der Linde!"

Williamson didn't see my sentiment, and handed me his digging tool.

"Tell that to his face! We still have work to do!"

XXXXXXX

After the preparations were done, we helped erect some memorials on top of their plots. Not like tombstones or crosses, but small rocks at the head. Then finishing it up by laying their helmets atop or their daggers.

I joined in the silence that followed the small funeral. Seemed that many who died were at least related to one or two of the survivors. Like a big family that fought and died together, all on the same battlefield. None of them deserved it, and they can never undo it. This was the loss of innocence.

Uncle hummed in a quiet whisper with his hat off, which was being held over his heart. The tune was a sad theme I knew from a funeral when I was little. Only I forgotten the words. He paused after a minute, and that made me look at him. His mouth was closed, but he had a few tears of his own as he looked at the tiny graves. One thing I was glad that remained in his old age is he was brave enough to show his emotions. The rest of us men kept it in.

Meanwhile, Javier distanced himself from the rest of us to act as a lookout and would call us when Dutch left the castle. Which was right about when it was mid afternoon.

"Amigos, it's time."

We all had regrets, this was one that would join the already full list. Bill had taken his hat off prior as well and gently put it back on with one hand. Clearing his throat, he gave a call out to the boys,

"Form up, men."

The kids slowly walked over to us as Bill gave the send off, "I have fought alongside many soldiers over the years, many of them bragging what they're gonna do when the fighting is done. This is it! The final resting place where we all go when it's done."

At the end of that last line, he pointed firmly at one of the little mounds.

"I'm not saying it's pretty, but reality. If they were here, what would they tell you?!"

Rod didn't know what rhetorical meant, "What, General?"

And for once, Bill didn't yell at him for it, "Live. Kill yourselves and you disgrace that sacrifice. You're all men now, truly. So what you do from here is on you."

One by one, all the now veteran soldiers bowed to him, "Thank you, Sir."

"And that's another thing, I don't want any of you bowing to any of us!

"You salute like this!"

Bill gave an army salute with his hand flat towards the ground from his forehead, and swung it out as far as he could with his arm.

"Don't put yourself below me, we fought together! HOOAH!"

Each of the kids tried it, giving their own "Hooah" the best they could manage. Williamson nodded back before walking off. I smiled inwardly, knowing that Bill was always terrible at saying goodbye. So I finished up for him, "Remember, if anyone talks down to you when they don't know better, tell em to shove it where it don't shine."

XXXXXXX

Down hill, John walked beside me looking as if he wanted to tell me something,

"..."

"What, John?"

"Nothing, just seeing them makes me… Well, think about what Jack and Abigail are doing now…"

"... Probably crying their eyes out."

My long time friend gave me a glare I honestly deserved, but I went further to explain,

"Look, don't go imagining things like that. It isn't natural in our condition. Besides, I don't have to worry about stuff like that. Nobody probably besides you, Uncle, or your family cares enough to be upset about my passing…"

He stopped when those words left my mouth, "That's not true!… I… others…"

The man then held his hand to his face, holding back a lot of things he seemed to never get over. He had to accept it over a decade.

I rushed to put a hand on his shoulder, "Hey, it's alright, I believe you. Heh, isn't too crazy to believe that, I mean with what's happening these days. Speaking of which, we'll figure this mess out soon. I'm sure of it."

He lowered his hand down, his eyes were wet, but not a tear fell from them. Then he smiled, but not so sure himself, "Yeah."

After this, we were quiet as we walked back to the castle gate. Dutch was having a heated debate with the Imperial Noble on foot with the official's guards and aid that had now returned to him, "As I stated, we are not willing to join. This was a one off. We have obligations to our respective homes that we look to return to. Be satisfied we fell back to the standard payment."

He sighed tiredly at Van Der Linde, "You're making a mistake…"

"So I've been told, Good day, Sir."

He gave a small nod and walked away with the silver in the pouch. Tossing in the air a little as he made his way to us,

"Let's go, boys."

We made it a good twenty yards when he finally spoke again.

"I swear, if I ever have to work with that man again, I would just as much shoot him before I shoot myself."

I grinned at him,

"Come on, Dutch. Don't give us that malarkey. I think you could live with yourself after you killed him…"

Everyone besides me paused to think about what I said before all of us started laughing a little at that.

Javier spoke up when it died down, "Arthur… I must say I missed that about you."

"Can't say I missed you!"

He looked confused and honestly hurt as I explained, "I mean, it hasn't even been a week for me!"

The light laughter followed again, only to come to a halt when a familiar cry was heard back from the castle gate,

"DON'T TOUCH ME!"

We turned to see Guts saying something else we couldn't hear, and the kid stormed off. The noble however, we could hear plain as day, "B-blasted Fool! GO and die like a dog on a battlefield then!"

We stayed firmly planted as the kid came up to us without so much as saying a word, and just the same as he passed us by. All six of us shared a look, knowing that Gut's road in life was going to get harder as it went on like this, and perhaps what the noble told him was what the kid wanted all along.

Without saying so, we followed from behind, as we still had no direction ourselves at this point.

XXXXXXX

This went on for an hour, following some ways behind him on the road surrounded by grassy hills, plains, and a few crumbling structures that had once stood vigil over the path. Now only standing as a reminder of the passage of time.

When the feelings of what transpired had passed for some time, I decided to catch up to the boy. He already knew we were following, but chose not to do anything about it.

"Hold up, Guts!"

He kept walking anyway, not even sparing a glance. Didn't matter as I caught up with him in a huff, "I wanted to thank you again. You were a big help in saving us."

"Whatever."

His standoffish nature did little stop me from smiling,

"And I wanted to know what the 'Giant Slayer's' big plans are now?"

The mention of the title we threw on him made him slow his step for a moment, and I saw him looking down further before raising his head back up,

"My 'Plans' are to go to the next battle."

"That's it? Not even a celebratory victory tour?"

His mouth gave me a tick noise, agitated at my badgering, "For what? That victory meant nothing. Just to put food in my stomach, and a place to rest for the night."

"Well surely the money you got didn't cover only that?"

"No, it just gives me time to train more."

As we had talked, the others had caught up and listened into the conversation. John chuckled as he joined in, "You sound just like Jack, only his time is spent reading books."

"Who?"

"He's my son, and he's who knows where now. Probably with his mother."

"... I vaguely remember his name from last night. Are you going to try to find them?"

"I'm going to try. Truthfully, I hope they aren't here in this world."

Javier spoke in a question, "Are we really gonna accept that? That we're in another world?"

Our old gang leader answered, "We have to. Last I checked, nearly everything had been discovered in our world. Continents at least. This isn't an island, is it son?"

I opened my mouth to speak, and stopped when I realized he wasn't talking to me. Nobody saw this and Guts answered, "No, and don't call me son."

"Whatever you say, 'Giant Slayer.' "

Guts sighed having to hear that title again. Still, he wasn't angry about it. And before he could retort, Uncle butted in, "You know, I'm getting a little hungry after all that fighting."

I laughed, "We'll get you your dinner old man."

"Well, I'm not looking forward to camping in the unknown again."

"We'll see if we can make it to the next town, which is-…"

All speech left me as we came across another path cutting through the one we were on, along with a big rock by the side of the way. We slowed down as we looked for any sign of which way they led to. Only Guts walked forward, and this time he looked back, "Well I guess this is as good a point as any to split up. Pretty sure each road hits a village sooner or later."

I felt the smile I had fade from my face. His claim was hard to refute, as he was clearly bothered by us pestering him constantly. Yet at the same time I knew this wasn't a way to live.

That's how it is I guess…

"Alright… Take care then, Guts… Oh! One more thing. How would you rate us? Our guns anyways."

This made him pause once more, he turned slightly and gave a serious analysis, "Your weapons are monstrous. The range, speed, and power of your guns makes anything obsolete. I'm hesitant to fight them at any distance… Yet, imagining that weapon in the hands of the average person; They wouldn't be able to do anything like what you did today."

"Ok?"

"Also, a flaw in them is the reloading you have to do. That 'Revolver?' You get six shots, then you're exposed. If you can't land shot for shot and if you're surrounded by yourself, you're as good as dead. But you- all of you show skill above that. You have something beyond what I expected in ones so old. People your age tend to show cowardice, frailty. Somehow you overcame that…"

I gave a toothy grin,

"Where we're from, that's just being called Suborn."

"Doesn't matter what you call it. Simply put, you aren't defined by your equipment, Rather it's your skills that you learned with them. So your weapons aren't as powerful as the ones behind them…"

"... If I didn't know any better, I would say that's a compliment."

"Take it however you want…"

Resuming his course, he walked down the path ahead, leaving us to ponder what to do. With him out of sight and sound, Williamson broke the ice, "Kid's already off to a bad start…."

"We weren't any different, only he's been carrying that alone."

Javier shook his head, "Some call it fate."

"Eh, still ain't any different than anyone else. All just pride… And that's all he has to lean on."

A nudge on my shoulder got my attention, I turned to see Dutch smiling as he added, "He's young with a whole life ahead of him. Nobody is the same or alone forever."

Another pat, and he absentmindedly turned away from the direction Guts came from. He slowly walked past everyone till all of us were looking at him, then he turned with a regretful expression.

"And he's right about one thing. This is a good point to split…"

Took me a moment to remember what he meant, then it clicked.

Before we could say anything, he passed the bag of silver to me. I gave a look before taking my three pieces, he further explained, "I know it isn't the amount that was promised, but it was for a good reason. Could any of us, as we are now, trade innocents for it?! I know I made us do that before, but I don't want that to happen again… The best way to assure that, is to take the money here and walk."

Again, I could say nothing. This was the part I put far in the back of my head, experiencing it now didn't seem real.

Bill spoke up for Javier and himself when he collected his coins, "Then I suppose we'll take the left path. Maybe I'll find a doctor for this head injury too… Oh, here's your rifle, Arthur."

I looked down at the gun, knowing I really wanted it back. But if this was the last time…

"You keep it. Something to remember us by, or use as a walking stick. Besides, this bow's kinda growing on me."

A chuckle escaped his mouth, and I handed him the rest of my rifle ammo.

I then turned my gaze to the road on the right. It wasn't much different than any of the other paths, "Then I guess I'll go right. John, Uncle? You with me?"

"You bet."

"As long as you don't make me carry nothing for a while."

My eyes rolled as the words left his mouth, still, there was one loose end left.

"What about you, Dutch?"

The old outlaw didn't say anything until he laid his behind down on the only sitting spot for miles.

"I'm just going to wait here a bit. I'll give it about an hour or so till I go forward. That way, the kid will have some distance from me… I'll be fine, go…"

…

"Right then,... Uh… Goodbye, Dutch, everyone."

Unanimously we all said our goodbyes in some way or another, and I made sure not to look back till our troop passed the first hill. Which wasn't long.

"Well, that went better than the last time I left him."

John had pulled me out of my thoughts,

"What was that?"

"...You see, when he died, he fell off a cliff."

"That can't be helped. I assumed you shot him?"

"Wha-. No, he fell off by himself before I could do anything. Before that, he went on about 'Nature' and whatever… Said that by killing him they'd find another monster… Guess I was made that monster…"

"Ah… Well that's a shame. Can't trust nobody-…"

Just then, like a bolt of lightning, realization struck me down.

"Wait, Dutch killed himself?!"

John sighed, "Yeah, but the report was made out to be done by me shooting him-… Huh, maybe that's how they-."

I grabbed John by his shoulder, making all of us come to a halt, "He killed himself?!"

He looked scared and confused, so I asked further, "And we left him ALONE?!"

The bolt struck again, hitting both John and Uncle as they turned back to the hill we had passed! And with me, ran as fast as they could back to Dutch!

So many things ran through my mind, thinking I would see him there with his head blown off! Worse yet, arriving right before he did the deed! After all, we hadn't heard a crack of a shot yet!

I ran with as much as I could muster over that hill, and I didn't bother slowing down back to the crossroad. In front, I saw Dutch slumped over on the rock. With a hard breath, my voice called out to him, "Dutch!"

To our relief, he shot up with his pistol ready! Then lowered when he saw who it was, "Arthur?! What's wrong?"

Needing to catch my breath, I hunched over with my hands on my knees. With my clutched breath, I answered, "You killed yourself!"

"What-? Oh… Yeah, I suppose I did, son… It was inevitable I was going to die… And I did it on my own terms."

The other two caught up when I told him,

"That settles it then, we aren't leaving you."

"Arthur, what are you talking about?"

"You were gonna do it again! Weren't ya?!'

"N-no! I was just gonna wait here and go on ahead!"

"Why should we believe you?!"

"I-! See here-!"

He was baffled till he looked at me more and more, and his demeanor changed to one that had enough.

"Really, I wasn't…"

His hand said otherwise as it twitched holding the pistol. Then his eyes looked at the thing with pain and anger. It looked like he was struggling with demons in his mind. Something that filled me with no confidence to part ways. So I reached my hand out to him, taking him away from these thoughts as he sat on that rock,

"Face it Dutch, you can't get rid of us that easily."

Telling him this, I let my grip off him. Giving him time to think. The tired man looked at me then to his gun again. After a while, all his struggles that were on his face disappeared. He stood up and holstered the firearm.

"I suppose there's no backing out of it."

"Yeah."

"Then what? What will we do?"

"I reckon we'll figure that out as we go. Right, fellas?"

John and Uncle nodded, somewhat relieved Dutch was forthcoming about going with us. After all, people past the tipping point are the hardest to reason with. I've experienced that time and time again.

"See, now let's-."

"Hey, you're still here?!"

We turned to see Bill and Javier jogging back from the way they came. Neither looked like they were stopping anytime soon.

"Yyyeah?!"

"You might want to clear out of here! That girl is back!"

…

"Girl? What girl?!"

They said nothing and Bill tripped in front of us as Javier reached down to pick him up, "Come on, let's lose her!"

"Don't you think I'm trying?!"

I had enough of this tomfoolery, "Now what in blazes is going on?!"

"Yoo-hoo!~ ShoeBill!~ Jabiru!~"

"It's no use…"

Bill looked strained as he stared down the path he came from. The rest of us who were confused, looked down that same way. Down that path, a little girl with long golden brown hair was seen skipping in a light dress that was worn. She had on a huge smile that contradicted her entire attire. Compared to the lives we had seen in this place, she was a complete one eighty.

We said nothing as she came near, as we were still trying to process things. Even so, as she stopped in front of us I tried my best to figure out what was the issue.

"Hey there little Missy."

She still smiled,

"Hello, Mr. Eagle!"

…

"... Eagle?"

"Yep! Though, you look different. Head's all white and shiny. Kinda like a bald man."

Panic shot through me as I ran my hands quickly through my scalp, feeling the hair that was still on me. I sighed in relief as Dutch, John, and Uncle laughed. Bill and Javier didn't change from their apprehension, keeping their attention on the girl's words.

Said girl then looked to John, "A falcon. Yellow beak with a black tip…"

The laughter started to die down as she went around the group, naming us as birds…

Her finger moved to Uncle, "You're like a vulture, or a turkey mixed."

"Turkey?!"

I would have laughed if she wasn't strange already, but she then looked at Dutch with awe.

"A Phoenix! Wow!"

It was official, the girl was nuts. Either way, it was nothing for Bill and Javier to lose their cool over.

I walked up to the kid while keeping my distance,

"Well, don't think I've ever been referred to as a bird. But what's a girl like you by yourself all the way out here? We aren't far from a battlefield."

"Oh, that's ok! I've been on my own for some time, and I can tell when someone means bad by me from some distance away."

"...Er.. Right, well, that still begs the question why you're here?"

Her smile faded, being replaced with a straight laced look,

"Oh… Am I bothering you?"

"Uhh, no? But-."

Instantly her lips curled back up,

"Well that's great then! My name is Sonia."

…Think we have a problem child on top of a loon.

Sonia went on looking at everyone there, and stopped at Bill and Javier, and spoke with concern.

"Oh no! You're both hurt!"

The child rushed to them and looked at them top to bottom. Both men had turned their heads away, as if ignoring Sonia would make her disappear. They tried at least, but both spares a glance from the corner of their eye. When she was done, the Looney girl let out a sigh of relief,

"You'll be fine…"

My patience was wearing thin at this moment, so I asked with a firm tone, "Sonia, was it? Look, you mind explaining why you just ran up to a group of strangers, Old men mind you, in the middle of nowhere?!"

"I already told you, I could tell if you meant me any harm."

"Eh, well that doesn't explain anything really. Where are your parents?"

She shrugged, "Dead probably, I never knew them."

"Well then who takes care of you?"

"Umm, nobody at the moment. But I don't know why that matters."

I was losing my patience,

"It matters quite a bit, young lady! It'll direct me towards who to yell at for not teaching common sense to a little girl!"

"Hey! I have common sense!"

Before I could retort more, John came over to us with his hands raised in a silencing way. We did so instinctively, and heard something in the distance. The clashing of steel, followed by a yell or two. Sonia held her hands to her mouth while looking down the road Guts had gone and said in a tearful way, "A bird fell down…"

…

Nothing was said from any of us men as we picked up our stuff and started running down the winding path the teen had taken minutes prior. Our gang had passed many turns around rolling hills, and a narrow valley. As we drew closer, the sounds became more distinct. Sounds of galloping horses, struggle of fighting, and a call for one name among the shouting.

"Griffith!"

Whatever was happening, deep down I knew Guts needed help! And if this Griffith so much as made a scratch on the boy, I would skin his hide!

Javier called out from behind me, "I think it's on the other side of this hill!"

I ran off the path into the grass, and made my step ascent up the small mountain. By the time we made the top, all of us were at our limit for the day. Glancing down the valley, I knew I could go for a few rounds more after what I saw down there. The Giant Slayer laid fallen forward, with a small army surrounding him. And one such soldier was pedestaled a top a horse. His hair was too girly for what position he was in, and seeing his face while Guts was dead or barely holding on made me sick seeing him! I was ready to move in to kill when a shot rang out beside me! It was Dutch! He had aimed in the air, and grabbed the attention of the men below. The man proceeded to simply call out, "Excuse me, Gentlemen!"; As if they were decent folks!

Whatever Dutch was planning, I hope he'd get on with it for the boy's sake!

End Chapter