Going Home and... a Prophesy? (Chapter 22)

He chased me for almost a half a day before he tired out. I ran for a couple hours after he stopped and then rested at the edge of a small pond hidden in the trees. I had no idea where I was, but I knew I had to make sure Faalan never found me and to get myself home, back to my own time.
As I stared at my reflection in the water, I felt as if my heart would never stop hurting. But I didn't have time to think about it more, because I saw a glowing blue portal appear beside me.
My breath caught in my throat. The only person I knew who created portals such as these were Khanna. But wasn't she long dead? And didn't she tell us that she didn't know how to create these time traveling portals?
The portal grew bigger, and then Khanna gently stepped out of it. The swirls of sapphire shrunk, and then disappeared completely.
"Hello, Fala." All I could do was gape at the girl who had died, what seemed like yesterday.
"I lied to you, and I'm sorry. But I knew in my heart that this was the right thing to do. You were destined to come to this time, to rescue the past from your great grandfather. And I was destined to die. I've seen myself die in the future. In a couple of days in my time, I will die at the hands of the knight. But before I die, I will send you home."
"Why, Khanna? Can't you save yourself? Can't you do something?" I stammered. I didn't want her to die. I wanted her to be in this time, happy with Faalan.
"Because it is what will happen no matter what." She gave a sorrowful smile. Her eyes were burdened with the knowledge of things one should never know.
"What do you mean?"
"Even if I escape death at that one moment in time, it is my fate to die. No matter how much I can try to delay it, I know I will die. So, I will let myself die." She was so mature at heart, and we all had never seen it. She knew so much but covered it up with her playful acting.
"Now, it is time to send you home. Goodbye Fala."
"No! Wait!" There was nothing I could do as I was sucked into the shimmering blue portal behind me. The last thing I saw was her sorrowful golden eyes, those so much like Faalans', before the portal surrounded me completely.
Moments later, I was shot out of the portal and into the seat I had been it before I had been taken back into time. The cafeteria was filled with noise, and it seemed no one had noticed what had happened. Of course, that was all because no one talked to me because of my lack of a gift and my ancestry. No one even noticed the change in
clothes.
My body threatened to break into violent sobs, but I held the urge back. I quietly slipped to the nurse's office, telling her that I felt sick. She checked out my internal systems, and said that nothing was wrong. I insisted that I felt awful, and she finally agreed to letting me go home for the rest of the day. Then, she sent me to the principal's office to inform Principal Bukiri of my leaving.
The halls were empty, for the students were either in class or at lunch. It was easy and quick to make it to the office. Not only was it nearby the nurse's office, but without other people, it was much simpler to get through the corridor.
Tapping lightly at the door, I waited for her voice to let me in, and then I pushed the door open.
"Oh, Fa- what sort of outlandish clothing are you wearing?!" I suppressed a snicker and sat down into the chair in front of her desk as a distraction.
"Err... Never mind about my clothing." I murmured softly.
"Well, what brings you here today?"
"First off, the nurse told me to go home because I was feeling sick."
"Okay, then what else do you want to tell me?"
"I know what my gift is." I stated simply. She gawked for a couple moments before collecting her composure again.
"And what would this gift be?"
"I can affect people's emotions and movements using music." I thought about my description of my powers, then added quickly, "And
animals."
"That's...interesting..."
"How so?"
"There's never been a gift like yours before, and on top of that,
there's even a prophesy that may concern you."
"A prophesy?"
"Yes."
"What is it?"
"The texts have been lost in time, but it tells of a girl who will come into her gift late and ultimately save the world."
"But I can't be the only person who has been a late bloomer."
"That's true, but the prophesy goes on to say how the people will be entranced by the music she plays."
"I guess I can see where you're going with this... Even so, other people can play instruments."
"Well, I won't keep you. Go home, rest, get better, and come back here tomorrow. I'll have a new schedule for you now that you know what your gift is."
"Thank you, Principal Bukiri." I replied, quickly leaving the room. I closed the door behind me and then leaned against it, going through my thoughts. I took a deep breath, then proceeded towards the exit.
A prophesy about me, eh? Life could get interesting.

AN: OMG last chapter! Hope you've enjoyed thus far and read book 2 when I start posting it! Thanks for reading!

Breakup, No Matter How Much it Hurts (Chapter 21)

"H-how-" I stuttered, still not trusting my eyes. It couldn't be possible. It couldn't be!
"How are you here?!" I cried out, still not trusting what my eyes were seeing.
"I must be dreaming. I have to be. This can't be real." I muttered to myself, closing my eyes and pinching my arm. It hurt.
"I'm awake. But this can't be! How?!" I still didn't trust myself. Much as I wanted this to be real, I believed that it was impossible that this was happening. But it was happening. And it was very real.
"How, Faalan?" I whispered, finally giving in to believing what my heart wanted. I reached out, touching his cheek, making sure he was real and that I wouldn't go through him. His cheek was soft against
my finger as I made sure that he wasn't an illusion. He pulled me towards him, his arms wrapped around my in a warm hug. I practically melted in his arms, and leaned my head on his chest, listening to his heart beat.
"Faalan..." I murmured, before my eyes filled with tears. They fell down, glittering like diamonds from my face and onto his shirt. I was about ready to accept that he was the real thing, when I realized that someone could very well just be impersonating him. After all, there were people who were skilled at transformations. I pulled back, standing up and glaring at him warily.
"What's wrong, Fala?" he asked, confusion in his eyes. That pained and bewildered expression cut through my heart. Now I was sure that he was the real thing. But, as I realized with a jolt, I'd have to cut my connections with him anyways. I wasn't supposed to be with him. This wasn't my time. I could possibly destroy the future by staying here.
"You sick person! How dare you pretend to be Faalan?! How dare you!" I screamed, my heart breaking into pieces by my own words. I knew that it was the real Faalan from the tears blooming in his eyes, but I had to continue. I had to make sure that we would separate. I loved him with all my heart, but this was for him. It would be better for him to be hurt this way than to suffer the agony of separation.
He stood up, taking my hands. I ripped them away, tears cascading down my face as I saw the jolt of shock and hurt rip through his body.
"Fala! It's me, Faalan." He looked desperately into my eyes, pain radiating from him.
"You lie! He's dead! I saw him die! Get away from me!" I cried out, moving backwards. He began to move towards me, those beautiful golden eyes pleading me to understand. I understood, but I had to go on with this, no matter how much it hurt me.
With my arm feeling like a block of lead, I watched as if it was in slow motion, as I raised my hand. It seemed to take an eternity for my hand to reach his face, bruising his cheek and turning it red from the force. And then, everything went back to normal speed.
I spun around, not daring to look at his face. I knew if I saw his face, I would melt into the desires of my heart. But I would have to remain strong. I ran away, speeding into the safety of the trees. Behind me, I heard a person's yell of surprise. It wasn't Faalan, that much I knew. I believe that to be the surprised yelp of a villager seeing me run from the scene of Kaija, along with Faalan standing nearby. I'll never know if that was true or not. Or at least, I don't think I ever will.
I could hear the soft steps of Faalan behind me, striving to catch up to me. It was all in vain though; both he and I knew it. I was faster and he was tired from keeping up whatever illusion he had put up to convince Kaija and me that he was dead for a time. Well, that's what I suspected he did.

AN: OMG! Second to last chapter! I've already started writing book 2, though I don't exactly have a name for it yet... I think I'll probably continue to edit this until book 2 is done and then I'll start posting it. Book 2 will be posted on a different blog.
And btw, I wrote a short story called Tale of a Vampire. It's on my Random Stuff blog. Please leave comments if you read it! Thanks. ^_^

Change From What We Thought Before (Chapter 20)

Both Faalan and I visibly tensed. Faalan's face twisted into an expression of fear and shock, and I'm sure mines was as well. A shadow fell over us and we both looked up. Kaija's expressionless face looked at us.
"Long time no see." he said, his eyes cold and unforgiving.
"Y-you t-too!" I nearly yelped, forcing a smile.
"Nice try, but I'm not going to fall for that. You're afraid, aren't you? Now that you know, I'll have to kill you before to tell any more people than you might have already told."
"Kaija, don't do this. You can stop." Faalan pleaded, getting to his feet and backing off.
"Please, Kaija." I begged, also scooting back and then standing up.
"No. I plan to finish this. And I will. After I get rid of you two, my plan will be complete and then I will take over this land."
"Then you give us no choice." Faalan glanced at me and then rocks began to float around me. I knew what he wanted of me, and I lifted my flute to my lips.
Quick as lightning, Kaija stuffed something into his ears. He gave a
feral grin and looked at me.
"You can play as loud as you want, I won't be able to hear you. I've worked on these sound blocking devices for quite sometime now. I had a feeling that you would be going against me sometime. But I still know what you're saying. I've practiced reading lips for quite some time."
"What about me taking them out then?" Faalan said, raising his hands to face Kaija.
"Oh, that shouldn't be a problem."
It took me a several moments to realize that Kaija's voice had come from behind us and not in front of us. I whipped around to look at Kaija. He had a evil grin on his face. Why was he smiling like that? Then, the metallic scent of blood became present in the air. I looked down at Kaija's arm. It was thrust out, and as I looked
further, there was his hand, holding one of his signature twin swords. And the crimson liquid that was trickling down the curved blades; Faalan's blood. The blade was only half as long as it was normally. The rest of it was plunged deep into Faalan's abdomen and sticking out of his back. Some shreds of pink flesh and beige organs hung from the tip of the bloody, glistening sword. My fingers trembled and my flute fell from my fingers, thudding gently against the ground.
"Faalan!" I shrieked, my chest constricting. I couldn't breathe; my heart tightened and pounded loud enough for me to hear in my ears.
Faalan's face was in an expression of complete shock as blood bubbled out from his lips. Kaija roughly jerked his sword out of the dying boy's middle. He gave a sneer and with two quick motions, he wiped the blade on Faalan's clothes, leaving bloody stains on the two sleeves.
Faalan stared blankly at the gaping hole in him before his legs crumpled beneath him and he fell face forward onto the ground, his lifeblood spilling to the ground.
"No! You can't die, Faalan! I've already lost Khanna! I can't lose you too!" I screamed, shaking my head wildly, hoping that this was a dream, hoping that this wasn't real. But when I stopped, he was still at my feet, he was still on the ground, he was still bleeding, and most horrifying of all, he was dying.
I sank to my knees and gently tried to turn Faalan over onto his
back. By now, I didn't care that Kaija was standing there, I didn't care that he wanted to kill me. All that mattered now was to save Faalan before he died.
Shakily, I fumbled for the flute on the ground and managed to get it to my lips. A few shuddering notes floated in the air. Nothing happened to the giant bleeding wound in Faalan. I played some more. Why wasn't he healing?! Why?!
"Don't... It's too late for me, Fala..." I looked down at that beautiful face, that face that was now twisted with pain. I could tell he was trying to hide the immense pain he must have felt then.
"I have to try, Faalan! I can't have you die too!" There was a whoosh above me just as I leaned forward to press my hands to his wound, to try and stop the bleeding. I turned around and saw Kaija with his double swords. He evidently had just tried to chop off my head.
"Fala... Take care of yourself... Don't let him kill you too.."
"No, don't you dare say that! You're not dead yet!" I cried out, getting to my feet and facing Kaija, unconciously trying to shield Faalan from him.
"Still trying to live? You know you're weaker than me. You've always been the weaker one. Every single time you fought me without your instruments, you lost to me. I crushed you easily, like I would to a fly. You don't have a chance."
"Shut up!" I screamed at him, tears falling from my eyes for the first time since Faalan had gotten stabbed. The whole reality of the situation had finally come crashing down on me. Faalan was dying, and there wasn't anything I could do about it. Kaija was ready to kill me and I had no decent weapon. Sure, I had the two daggers that Faalan had given me for just in case, but what could they do against Kaija's twin blades?
I glared at Kaija, keeping my eyes on him as I leaned down to pull out the two daggers. I weighed them in my hands as I straightened up and shifted into a defensive pose. The one in my right hand was slightly heavier and longer than the one in my left. If I used the right one for parrying and the left for attacking, I might be able to
hold him off long enough to tire him out.
I couldn't afford to try to attack him unless he gave me an opening. He was strong in offensive, but not as good in defensive. Even so, he was highly trained in weapon usage, especially with his swords. I did have a slight advantage though. I'd seen him fight so many times that I could almost safely predict his movements. He'd only
fought me a couple times and never really watched me fight. I was the more flexible and quicker than him, so I could dodge his attacks more easily than he could for mine. He probably still had the upper hand though, for he was larger and he was the stronger of us.
Giving a savage scream, Kaija ran at me, his two swords drawn out in a cross in front of him. He slashed both at me as soon as got close enough, just as I predicted, and I jumped up, neatly missing the two deadly swords cutting the air underneath me. I landed gently on the ground and jabbed forward at his chest with the left dagger. He leapt back, taking his two swords with him. They swung back into a cross in front of him, his signature defensive position.
I pulled my arm back and went back into a defensive position, the right sword held out in front for defense and the left near my side, ready to strike. Kaija gave a smirk and his swords began to rotate in a circular pattern, basically defending his front and sides. He began to walk forward as the blades whipped through the air, faster and faster. I could hear the swish of the swords clearly now.
He was trying to make me attack him, and end the battle early. If I tried to attack him, I would most definitely be cut up. In training, he always stopped before he would cut me. But I'd seen a dummy become shredded and I didn't want that to happen to me. We were no longer training. This was real and he wouldn't stop this time.
Carefully watching his movements, I circled him slowly, trying to find an opening. The only places left exposed from the protection of the dancing swords was his back. He wouldn't freely show his back to me, so I'd have to find a way to slip around him when he was unaware. If I were to try leap above him, he could easily slash above and kill me.. Besides, that opportunity would only come if he were to crouch, because I couldn't jump that high. I
could try to slip under his legs and the windmilling swords, but that was pretty risky. Once again, he could easily slash me into pieces. The only options left were to slip around his sides or distract him to turn him around and then attack him. I didn't think either of them were going to really work.
Out of the blue, he leapt forward, knocking me down with his feet, his swords stopped. He pinned me down, his knees digging into my exposed stomach. The blades stopped only a hair away from my neck, shining brilliantly, as if they were waiting for the blood to come. My breath caught in my chest. I couldn't breathe as I stared at the swords that could end my life in an instant.
"Any last words?" came Kaija's cruel voice, his eyes filled with the anticipation of bloodshed. I opened my mouth, about to say something, when his eyes widened in shock and pain. He stumbled back, swords dropping from his hands, just barely missing me by inches. With an expression of agony, he reached behind him and pulled out a dagger covered in blood; his blood.
"Wha-" He began, before blood foamed out of his mouth and trickled down his chin. The dagger fell from his fingers and as I stared blankly, kept feeling as if I had seen it before.
Meanwhile, Kaija had fallen to his knees, and as I watched him silently, his blood spurted from the wound in his back and from between his hands cupped over his mouth.
"Don't look." commanded a voice that rang all around. I couldn't pinpoint where the voice came from, but in spite of the fact that it was most likely unsafe to close my eyes now, I followed the orders given to me. There was the sound of a blade whipping through the air and a thud.
"You can open your eyes now." I wasn't sure what to expect, so I allowed myself to expect the unexpected. What I saw was so unexpected that I couldn't believe it was true.
My eyes widened as I took in what was in front of me. A concerned face looked at me as I felt arms encircling around my waist. My heart stopped when I recognized who it was.

Confrontation (Chapter 19)

Faalan and I had been travelling for several hours when he suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere. Skidding to a halt, I turned around to face Faalan.
"What is it?" I asked, concerned.
"We're less than a mile away from Kaija now. I... Even though you told me what happened in the future..."
"Are you worried, Faalan?"
"No. Yes. No, it's not that." He put his hands to his face, obviously struggling with something on his mind.
"Faalan?" I went to him, placing my arm around his broad shoulder.
"Just in case I don't make it..." he murmured, turning towards me. I was confused for a second, and my whole body went rigid with shock.
His eyes were closed, lips gently caressing mines. My body almost melted as an arm circled around my waist, pulling me towards him. I closed my eyes, relishing in the moment. His body was warm against mine. One of his hands snaked up and slid around my neck, subtly pushing my face closer to his. I let my other arm go around his shoulder. He gently stroked the back of my neck, and a shiver of delight ran though my spine.
With a feeling of reluctance, he pulled his face from mines, panting slightly. I tried to control my own panting, though it was hard. He leaned a little forward, forehead resting on mines, gazing deep into my eyes.
"Fala... I love you..." He whispered softly, his breath soft on my face.
"Oh, Faalan..." I murmured softly, looking deep into those beautiful, golden eyes of his. No answer was needed to tell him that I loved him back.
He gave me a kiss, one filled with happiness and worry. When he pulled away, his hands left my neck and waist, and I shivered from the loss of his warmth and wished that he hadn't left.
"Now we have to go." He stood in front of me, eyes determined.
"I know, Faalan. I know." I took a deep breath in and closed myeyes, gathering myself in preparation for the fight. Then, I opened them.
"Ready?" Faalan's calm voice rang through the trees.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I replied, giving a weak smile.
"I know what you mean..." He mumbled under his breath.
We walked forward, and after a certain point, I found myself lifted into the air. I looked at Faalan questioningly.
I don't want him to be able to hear us coming. My eyes widened a little when I heard his voice. His mouth hadn't moved, but I could hear him loud and clear. I was about to open my mouth to reply, but then his voice came again.
Don't talk. Think what you want to say to me. I'll be able to hear it.
How are you doing this?
My powers aren't limited to just reading minds and moving things with my mind.
Oh.
Now concentrate. We can't afford to mess anything up now.
Gotcha.
It was strange talking to someone in your head. I wondered what else he had picked up when he went through my head.
We moved at a rather slow pace, slower than we usually did, but that was most likely for caution. I narrowed my eyes, carefully scanning the land for any sign of movement. Several times, my eyes caught movement from some leaves, but it was only a small woodland creature.
After a couple minutes of moving forward, we suddenly jerked to the side, ending up behind some bushes.
What is it, Faalan?
If you were to look over those bushes, Kaija would be there. But don't look. He's looking around.
Now what?
When he's not looking, we come out and attack him.
What kind of a plan is that?!
Um... An impromptu one? There was a sense of a nervous laugh in his voice as it ran through my head. I gave a mental sigh and slipped my flute out as quietly as possible. I looked at Faalan and he held up three fingers. I nodded, showing him that I understood. One finger went down. Then another. And then as the last one was about to go down, which would have signified to time to attack, we heard a voice.
"Don't bother. I know you're there."

AN: Mushy scene + suspense = funfunfunfunfun!!!! ^_^
By the way, I started a blog for the purpose of putting up character descriptions and other information about the character. Not all of this information is found in the story, so it all depends on if you want to know stuff that isn't known in the story or not. It shouldn't take away from the original story, just that it gives you more information on the characters.
Although, I haven't exactly written anything in particular for that blog. It may be a while before I get any information up.

Travel by Night, Sleep by Day... For a While Anyways (Chapter 18)

In the following weeks, Faalan became nocturnal. He slept during the day while I gathered food and water for him to eat and drink when he woke at night. I would also fix torn clothing and heal small wounds that we accumalated during our travels. I would go to sleep at night and he would travel then, carrying me with his mind. Little conversation passed between us other than a few brief words of gratitude or greeting.
We covered a lot of distance, but I wasn't completely pleased with the system of travel. I missed talking to Faalan; missed looking into his golden eyes and his brilliant smile. He and I became rather distant, not knowing what was going on inside the other. At least it was that way for me. Who knows if he was scanning my mind every so often.
I didn't know if he missed me too, but I knew I missed him. There was an ache in my heart when I looked at his sleeping form. I tried to stay up during the night when we travelled, but I always fell asleep before I had a chance to really say anything to him.
One day, Faalan decided to stop being nocturnal. He stayed up the whole morning, gathering food and filling our water bags with me. My heart rejoiced at him being by my side, even if he didn't say much due to fatigue. it took many days for him to transition back into his original sleeping patern, the pattern he had before he became nocturnal.
After Faalan had recovered from his change in sleeping time again, we traveled faster and covered much more distance. Often, we would have races, and in this way, we pushed ourselves to the limits, increasing the distance covered.
Kaija moved often, and we have to shift our direction to continue our travels in his direction. The whole process took longer than we had predicted earlier, for he moved faster than we expected, but soon, we were nearing his location.

AN: This is more like a transition chapter. It's not important but it's there because I needed a way to transition fro one chapter to another.

Teleportation Complications

I let out a soft groan as I made my way out of my drowsiness. Rubbing my eyes and yawning, I began to stand up. Well, attempted to stand up would be a better way of putting it. There was a tug on my scalp and it jerked my neck back when I tried to stand up all the way. It also effectively caused me to gag, since I had tried to get up reasonably fast. I sighed, sat back down, then turned to inspect what had caught on my hair.
My breath caught in my throat when I saw what it was. Faalan had somehow tangled his hands into my hair during the time we were sleeping. Tugging gently, I tried to untangle my hair from his hands without waking him. After a couple minutes of this, I gave a huff and crossed my arms, glaring at the mass of hair and hands. There were times that I wished my hair wasn't waist-length.
Though I wish I didn't have to do this, it was unavoidable. Besides, it was that or cut off my hair and I would never do that. As gently as I could, I nudged the sleeping boy. He seemed so peaceful, and it seemed almost a sin to disturb his slumber. But I couldn't really get anywhere like this, so I was left with little choice. I suppose I could have just waited for him to wake up on his own accord, but it was really not very productive of my awake time.
Faalan let out a soft moan, shifted positions, and settled down again, still asleep. In his moving, he had managed to futher entangle my hair in his hands and now I had to lie down beside him or else my neck would snap. Or at least that's what it seemed like
I poked him sharply, still trying to wake him up as gracefully as possible. Every single attempt I made at waking him up quietly failed and soon, my face ended up inches away from his. I couldn't move, for his hands were extremely knotted into my hair. I had had enough.
"FAALAN!!!!!!!!" I screamed into his face. I just couldn't take it anymore. My head was starting to hurt from the constant pulling on my hair and I had already wasted a half an hour just trying to wake him up.
Faalan's eyes flew open and I saw his muscles tense.
"Oh no, please no." I whispered, fearing the worse. Which just had to happen.
He sat up sharply, his arms flying up into the air, taking my hair, head, and body after it.
"Owowowowowowow!!!!!" I screeched, my own arms spinning wildly, trying to regain balance as I was jerked to my feet by my hair.
It took him a moment to realize that his hands were stuck in my hair.
"Oh dear." was all he said.
"Oh dear?! Is that all you can say?!" I was starting to get very annoyed. I just couldn't help it.
"How long have I had my hands stuck in your hair?"
"I don't know! Ever since I woke up, which was around a half an hour ago, I've been trying to get your hands out of my hair!"
"Uh.... Right... Let's see...." He began to gently pull his hands out of my hair, looping and unlooping strands and sections of brown knots with his fingers and with his powers. I sat down beside him, hoping that this annoying predicament would end soon.
He sat there for an hour, patiently removing his hands from my hair. By then, the sun was shining brightly and the grass shone with dew. The sky was clear, not a cloud in sight. A soft breeze blowed, causing the patches of grass to ripple like a green wave. Despite my annoyance at my current situation, I couldn't help but admire the
beauty of my surroundings.
Another half hour later and his hands were finally free from my tangled mass of hair. The problem I faced now was how to untangle all of this hair. Sections of it stuck up and it was knotted so much that I could scarcely think of where to begin.
" I am SO sorry, Fala." Faalan murmured, looking down at his feet.
"It's okay. Can you try and untangle my hair now?" I looked up hopefully at him. If he could use his powers to fix my hair, I wouldn't have to struggle with it for hours.
"Well... I can try, but it might hurt a bit."
"I've already gone through enough pain, I think I'll be okay."
"Alright, then. Brace yourself."
I was seized with the temptation to tense, but as I had learned from past experiences, things tended to be less painful if you relaxed, because then whatever was happening didn't need to rip through hard muscles. It depended on the situation, but in this case, it was probably a better idea to relax. So as best as I could, I forced my muscles to relax and I nodded to Faalan.
There was a jolt of pain that ran along my scalp and tears formed in my eyes. It was painful for a couple of seconds, but after that, it was only sore, and I could deal with that.
I picked up a lock of hair and then slowly examined my entire head of hair. The hair had been neatly unknotted and was extremely soft.
"Nice job, Faalan. Thank you." I smiled at him, grateful for his help.
"You're welcome." He smiled back, golden eyes warm with happiness. There was one thing left that I had to do though. When he untangled my hair, he had taken out the hair tie that I used to keep the ends of my hair in place. I picked of the hair tie and tied it back into place.
"You ready to teleport now?" I asked, standing up and grabbing my instruments.
"Yeah, just give me a sec." He stood up and stretched a bit, wincing at the sound of cracking bones in his back. His stretching gave me the urge to stretch as well, but I didn't want him to think that I was
copying him. So, I rolled my shoulders and then waited for him to finish.
"Ready!" he declared, beaming. Then, he gently tried to take my hand. Willingly, I allowed his hand to slip into mines, sending tingles of joy up my back. His hand was smooth and warm and it closed around mines firmly, but not too hard.
He closed his eyes and I could tell that he was concentrating for the massive effort needed to teleport the great distance. Or maybe he was re-checking Kaija's position, for he shivered slightly and an expression of fear flickered across his face. Whatever it was, he was in deep concentration. After a couple moments, colors swirled
around us, and then we were in a different place, but still in a wood. The plant life was different though, and the area was more shaded and ominous than the wood we were in before.
"Faalan...? Where are we?" I whispered softly, though there was no one to hear what I said except Faalan.
"I...I don't know. We should have ended up only a short distance from Kaija. Something happened. I have to find him again..."
I stood in silence as the boy's brow knit in concentration again, but this time there was a hint of worry as well. It was eeriely quiet for minutes, and then he spoke.
"I found him. But... He's still so far away. I only managed to get us a small part of the way. We'll have to walk the rest of the day until I can get enough ener-" His eyes suddenly rolled and he tipped over. Sliding underneath the place he was to fall, I flung out my arms and caught him before he hit the ground. He must have been so exhausted from the massive effort of teleporting us across the land. And his energy was only able to take us part of the way.
I looked down at the unconcious boy in my arms, gently brushing his hair out of his face. With no clue in which direction to travel, I couldn't do much to help him. All I could think of doing was at least giving him a peaceful and useful sleep. So, I put him down carefully, making sure that he didn't hit his head to hard, and then I sat down
beside him. The lyre almost seemed to jump into my hands as I took it out. It seemed almost eager to be played. My fingers flew over the strings, pouring out a quiet melody.
It didn't require too much effort to help Faalan sleep well, for that was what I wanted anyways. If I had wanted him to get up, it would have been hard to play a tune to help him sleep. But since I didn't, the task didn't use up much of my energy.
Continuing, I played until my knuckles ached and I couldn't take it any longer. Reluctantly, I replaced the lyre to where it usually was and let my hands fall into my lap. There was nothing more I could do except to build a fire and find food. Though I was a little worried about leaving Faalan alone, I managed to set up a fire quickly and
gather some wild berries. Khanna, before she had passed away, had taught me many of the safe wild berries. This knowledge proved useful, and it allowed me to eat without killing. I would kill if I had to, but I didn't want to.
The fire cast flickering shadows all around, causing me to feel slightly jumpy. It took a while for me to relax. I stared into the fire after my small meal of berries. I passed quite some time in this fashion, having nothing better to do. There was a rustle behind me and I turned at the sound of Faalan's voice.
"Fala?"
"I see you've woken up now."
"What happened? Why is it dark now?"
"You fainted. I didn't know where to go. We've been here for hours."
"Well, so much for teleporting."
"Yes. But now you can try your other idea."
"Huh?"
"You wanted to travel by night while carrying me with your powers."
"Oh. I suppose you're right. You should sleep now."
My mouth chose that moment to open in a giant yawn. Faalan gave a little chuckle and I found myself rising from the ground.
"Just try to sleep like you would normally and I'll make it so that you're comfortable, okay?"
"Thanks, Faalan." I laid down, curling up into a ball in the air. I felt the wind blowing past me and the crunch of Faalan's feet crushing leaves. My eyelids grew heavy, and they closed on their own accord.

AN: Well, so much for teleportation, right? I wanted them to be able to do it, but then the story would be no fun, so... I did that.

The Start of a New Chase (Chapter 16)

"Fala?" a voice made its way into my head. It took a while for the word to make sense in my mind. When it finally did, I blearly lifted up my head, trying to open my eyes.
"Mmmnn?" I mumbled, trying to remain awake.
"Would you mind letting go of me?"
"Hn?" My mind still wasn't working properly. I looked down to see my arms wrapped around something...or maybe someone. Then I looked up. I was hugging Faalan.
"Oh, yes!" I yelped, letting go of Faalan, my face flushing.
"Thank you." A amused smile crept its way onto Faalan's face before he turned away to do whatever it was he wanted to do.
I covered my mouth. I could feel my face heating up and I was sure that I was blushing madly. My only explanation for what I had awoken to was that I hugged Faalan in my sleep. I had never done anything like that before. I wondered what had driven me to do such a thing.
I sat in this position for a while, desperately trying to cool down. By the time Faalan came back with some wild fruit in his arms, I was completely cooled. He sat down in front of me, spreading out the fruit.
"So..." he began.
"So...what?" I asked, picking up one of the strange round orange fruit.
"You don't mind if I ask you a slightly embarassing question, do you?"
"Uh.... Depends on what the question is..." I took a bite of the fist-sized fruit, purple juice spilling down my chin. It was a very interesting fruit that I had. I examined it as I chewed. It had smooth orange skin that was easily broken, and soft purple flesh inside. Though, it wasn't exactly soft. It had a slightly crunchy texture to it, but was squishy at the same time. The sensation was extremely strange and new to me, but I enjoyed it. I took another bite, closing my eyes and trying to pick out the flavors of the fruit. It had a strange flavor. Though it tasted a bit like a plum, it tasted a bit like a hybrid between a peach and an apple. Surprisingly, the combination was very good and I took a couple more bites before looking up at Faalan.
"Well... Did you like hugging me?" He averted his gaze and fiddled with his fingers before grabbing one of the strange fruits and taking a bite.
"Um. Ahem. I guess. Sure. I like hugging you. And what did you think of it?" I laughed inwardly. Since he asked me that question, I suppose it was fair to shoot the question back at him.
"Erm...." He looked down at his hands, and then took another bite of his fruit. His cheeks were tinged a slightly darker shade of pink than usual. Was he blushing?
"Yes." he said simply, his face exploding into an even darker shade of pink. I resisted the urge to laugh out loud. He was so cute when he blushed like that!
I continued eating the fruit, and much to my surprise, there was no pit in the middle. Where was the seed of this fruit? Glancing at Faalan, I could see that he was trying to hide his flushed face. I choked back a giggle and finished the last of the orange and purple fruit.
"Faalan?" I asked.
"Hn?"
"What is this fruit? I've never seen anything like it."
"Eh? Oh, that. It's called a zinka."
"Zinta?"
"No, zinka, with a 'k' sound."
"So, a zinka?"
"Yes."
"Where is the seed of zinkas?"
"Uh.... Hm. I never thought about that before. I don't really know."
He and I shrugged and we both sat silently for a while, just eating the strange fruits that were called zinkas. Afterwards, we wiped our sticky hands on the grass. As for our mouths, Faalan had his cloak to
wipe his mouth, but I didn't want to use the hem of my, well, Faalan's mother's dress, to wipe my mouth. Plus, it would lift the skirt of the dress up, which would be way embarassing. I desperately looked around for something to wipe my mouth with, but I really couldn't find anything.
Faalan evidently saw my problem after a moment of confusion, for he
walked towards me, lifted the edge of his cloak, and gently wiped away
the juice. I flushed a little, lowering my eyes.
"Thank you." I murmured softly.
"You're welcome." he replied, turning away and gathering his things. I followed suit, strapping my lyre to my side and slipping my flute into place.
"Well, let's go!" Faalan said cheerily, a smile spreading across his face.
"Okay!" I couldn't help but smile when I saw him smile. Though I wondered how he could be so cheery, it didn't really matter. It was good to see him happy. But we really did have a lot of problems on hand.
Kaija was killing people and we had to stop him. The only problem was that Faalan was still thought of as a killer and knights were still hunting him. Having been dropped into this unfamiliar land, I didn't really know my way around. I didn't even really know my way around in my own time, let alone here!
I gave a small shrug as Faalan broke out into a run. A grin crept its way onto my face and I speeded after him. I reached him in a moments. I'd always been the faster one in training. He grinned as well, and began to run faster, to match my pace. We raced through the woods like this for sometime, though I watched Faalan carefully to make sure I was going in the right direction. As fun as racing him was, we still needed to make our way to the nearest village.
The wind whipped through my hair and leaves crunched underfoot. Trees became a blur all around me. The only thing that stayed in focus was Faalan, who was moving at the same speed. I wanted to go faster, but I knew that this pace was better for Faalan and less energy consuming.
After what seemed like hours, Faalan and I stopped at the edge of the forest, nearby the village. We took a few minutes to catch our breaths, and Faalan flopped onto the ground, leaning on a tree. I chose a tree across from him and sat down in a slightly more gracefully manner than his.
"How are we going to go in without you getting caught?" I asked, looking at the boy in front of me.
"Well, we could choose a disguise, which would be better. Though you could use your gift, it would be better to not have people under your spell for conversation purposes."
"A disguise sounds good, but how are we supposed to do that? I don't have anything else on me except for some dried food and my instruments."
"Hm... I still haven't looked at Kaija's bag completely yet. Let me check and see if he has anything worth using."
Faalan turned the bag upside down and a couple items fell out. There was a coiled rope, three daggers in sheaths, two waterbags, a flint and striker, and a set of clothing, including boots.
"The only thing I can think of now is for you to change clothes, keep the cloak on, and hope to find some sort of plant to use as dye for your hair. If we change your clothes, we might be able to mislead a few people. The cloak will be good to hide your face, and for extra security purposes, dyed hair will come in handy."
"Alright. Let me change and then we'll see."
He stood up and walked deeper into the woods with the change of clothes. I felt my face heat up slightly and I turned my head away from the direction he was walking. There was some rustling and momentarily, Faalan was sitting across from me again, his old set of clothes in his arms.
"How do I look?" he asked, looking down at himself.
"You look...sorta different. But not much."
"Wonderful. Now what?"
"Hm.... Let's try to find some dye for your hair."
"Sure."
We searched for a long time, taking out the juices from plants and trying to see if they would work as a dye. We failed miserably. There just weren't any plants that were really suitable for dying. His hair was a little too dark for dying anyways.
"That failed." he said, slumping against a tree in defeat.
"Yup. No kidding." I sighed, putting my head in my hand.
"What else could we possibly do?"
"I suppose I could try to cut your hair. Though I will probably do an awful job."
"There's nothing else we can do, right? Might as well do it."
I picked up one of the daggers on the ground and unsheathed it. He sat down and I stood over him, staring at his hair for a while.
"Here goes nothing..." I muttered to myself, picking up a lock of hair.
After a while and much struggle to cut his hair properly, I was done. I took a step back to admire my handiwork. Or rather, my disaster. It didn't work out so well. His hair came out shorter than I wanted and was a little uneven on the bottom. But then, he shook he head, and bits of hair flew into the air. As I looked again, it didn't seem so bad. Maybe I didn't do so bad after all.
"How do I look?" he asked, looking up and trying to see his hair.
"Well, it looked kinda bad before, but now it actually looks okay." He gave a little smile of thanks and then our attention went to the other items in Kaija's bag.
"Do you want a dagger or two?" I looked up and saw Faalan looking at me.
"Only if you don't want them." I never had really found a need for weapons, considering that I was always holding instruments when I was fighting, though I had learned how to use them during training.
"Well, I already have a dagger, but if you take two and I take the remaining one, we both have two. Plus, I don't really see the need to have four daggers."
"Alright then." I picked up two of the daggers. Then I realized, where was I supposed to put them?
"Having some problems?" Faalan asked.
"Yes. Where am I supposed to put them?"
"Considering that you don't have a belt, the next best place to put them would be..." He took the daggers from my hands and knelt down. I blushed a little, but watched patiently. Carefully, he looped the bit of leather on the sheaths that normally went around the belt around the sandals I was wearing.
"How does that feel?" he inquired, looking up at me. I took a couple steps back and a couple steps forward. I couldn't feel any difference, even though I had thought it would have created some heavy weight on my legs. I couldn't even feel the daggers move around.
"I don't feel any difference at all! Thanks, Faalan!" I smiled and gave him a quick hug. Upon letting go, I sat down and turned my attention back to the leftover items. It seemed that Faalan had already taken the third dagger, for it was nowhere in sight. Now there was the coil of rope, the waterbags, and the flint and striker.
"I can carry all the things except for the second waterbag. Can you take that?"
"Of course." I picked up the water bag and connected it to my side belt. Though it was an extra weight and was a little too close to my lyre for comfort, it was better than having no waterbag at all. I'd have to tune the lyre more often, but it was worth it. Becoming dehydrated was not a pleasant prospect.
Upon looking up again, I saw that the other items had disappeared.
Where did all that stuff go? I could understand that Faalan was quick, but there was no significant bulge in his cloak from all the items. How did the boy carry all that stuff?
I didn't dare ask him, so I shrugged and waited for him to decide on what to do.
"You ready?"
"Yes. Let's go." I looked at him expectantly, and after a moment, he realized that I was waiting for him to go.
"Oh, right. Eh he..." He turned and made his way to the village.
"Faalan! Your hood!"
"Hood? Oh, yes!" He flipped up the hood of his cape and lowered his head slightly so that most of his face could not be seen.
"Is Faalan a common name?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Because if it's not very common then people might be able to figure out who you are if I call you Faalan."
"Faalan is a fairly common name, so it shouldn't present too much of a problem."
"Good."
By this point, we were almost in the village. Only a few more steps and we would be on the dirt roads of the village.
There were a few suspicious looks at us, but nothing that told of a possible attack. I was a little tense at first, becoming nervous from all the stares, but when I looked at Faalan, he gave a reasuring smile, the only thing that I could really see under that hood, and I relaxed.
"Excuse me, sir?" Faalan had made his way to an elderly man watching us with no suspicion.
"Yes, young man?"
"Have you heard any rumors about the-"
"Di Zuce attackings?"
"How-?"
"Everyone's been asking. It seemed only natural that you would be asking too. Are you hunting the di Zuce like all the others?"
"Um...."
"Thought so." The man laughed, his voice raspy and cracked. After a moment, he began to tell of what he knew.
"Well, so far, we've heard the the di Zuce is moving north, and quickly. If he continues at that rate, he'll make it to the ocean.
We're assuming that he'll turn around and head back, attacking other villages. From what we do know, he's trying to wipe out humans in general."
"What do you think he will do about the islands?"
"When he finishes with the mainland, he'll most likely get himself a boat and head out to the islands."
"Do you have any idea on what his motive is?"
"No clue, but if he wants to destoy the human race, what does he think he's going to do after that?"
"Is there anything else you know?"
"Nope. That's all I know. Is it sufficient?"
"Yes, thank you for your time."
Thoughout this time, I had remained silent, letting Faalan do the work. But I felt slightly guilty. I made a silent promise that I would try to help with the questioning of the next person. Faalan moved on, going to an elderly woman. I helped to ask this time, but she knew no more than the man. We moved from person to person, gathering all the information we could. But all that we could manage to dig out was that he was moving north and quickly. It was very frustrating, for we couldn't find any specifics as to where he was. I worried about how many deaths Kaija had already caused.
We thanked all the people we had asked and then made our way out the village, taking shelter underneath the trees. The sky was beginning to get dark again.
"Well, that was really successful." Sarcasm laced his words.
"At least we got some information, right?"
"I suppose so. But it's still annoying. We weren't able to get any specifics and it will take too much time to just move north and search all the villages north of here. Can you imagine how many villages there are?"
"A lot?" My remark just seemed to make him all the more angry.
"Yes, a lot! Gah! What are we going to do?!"
"Um..." I didn't know what to say. I didn't want to make him more angry, but I felt as if I needed to respond somehow. He paced around angrily, punching trees while he was at it.
"I've got it!" he cried out, making me jerk up in surpise from my sitting position.
"Got what?" I asked, unsure of what he was talking about.
"I've got an idea on how to cover more ground in less time."
"And how are we supposed to go about executing your idea? Whatever this idea of yours is?"
"We can travel at night, and I can carry you with my powers while you sleep."
"And what about you? You need sleep too. As much as you wish you were, you aren't a superhuman. You'll collapse from lack of sleep quickly if you try to do that. What I suggest is that you project your mind and search for Kaija's mind. As soon as we figure out where he is, you can teleport a bit and we can walk the rest of the way to him."
"Oh. Why didn't I think of that before?"
"I dunno. I didn't think of it earlier either. It might have saved a lot of time..."
"Well, let me try it then." Faalan closed his eyes and his brow furrowed with concentration. I held my breath, hoping that it would work.
"I've found him. He's many miles north in a village. He's...killing people right now. He has such a twisted mind. He's enjoying the killing. His pulse is racing with excitement. The scent of blood exilerates him. He's tasting the blood and liking it. And then he's killing more. And more." Faalan shivered and his eyes flew open. I trembled at the thought of being in Kaija's mind. It must have been awful for Faalan to be in there.
"So... Should we try to teleport now? Or do you want to rest first so that you can store up your energy? He's sounds pretty far away."
"Yes... I think I'll rest for now and tomorrow morning I'll teleport us." Faalan seemed a little out of it as he said that, and he sunk to the ground, collapsing in his exhaustion against the nearest tree.
Within moments, the boy was fast asleep. I gave a little smile and then put my lyre and flute into the tree he was sleeping under. Then, I settled down beside him and slowly, I fell into the dream world.

AN: I like writing fluff. ^_^ Originally, I was going to stick with the whole Kaija and Fala thing, but someone told me it would be boring and that she really wanted Falaan and Fala together. So... With some help with the twist in plot, we now come to the current stage in the story.

Confusing Feelings (Chapter 15)

Faalan and I managed to bring down a few small rabbits to eat. We could have caught more, but it seemed cruel to kill too many. We settled with one for each and one to divide between us. That way, each of us had around one and a half. Faalan levatated them and roasted them over the fire as the both of us got lost in our thoughts.
Presently, the scent of rabbit floated into our senses and I gingerly took the rabbit that hovered before me. It was hot, and it burnt my fingers and tongue, but it was worth it. When Faalan and I finished our individual rabbits, we moved onto the shared one. I tried to split it as evenly as possible, but somehow, I ended up with more. Despite my attempts to give Faalan some of my "half," he wouldn't take it.
We picked up our things, put out the fire, and began to walk towards the stream. Well, in Faalan's case, he took the bag of supplies that Kaija had left. Who knows why he left it, but all the better for us, right?
Upon reaching the stream, we washed our hands, took a drink of water, and made our way to a tree. I carefully placed my flute and lyre in the branches of the tree, for I didn't wish to sleep with them on me. It wasn't that it hurt to sleep with them on, it was more that I didn't want to risk crushing them in my sleep. Faalan also put whatever he was carrying in the tree and sat down at the roots of the great plant.
It was almost completely dark now, and I could just barely see the outline of Faalan. I quietly sat down beside him and out of the corner of my eye, saw him lean against the tree. Though it was probably a good idea to sleep now, I had a lot of things on my mind. I had trusted Kaija and fell for him for a time as well. My affections for him had completely disappeared ever since I learned what he had done. He had killed people in cold blood. He had turned against both his friend and me. I could never love a person like that. So now the only person I loved was Tahi, who I hadn't seen in ages. Or was he really the only person I loved?
Turning my head, I gazed at the sleeping figure beside me. I had considered Faalan my great grandfather for so long, so I hadn't allowed myself to think of the possibility of loving him. But now that I knew he wasn't my great grandfather...what were these feelings of affection I had for him then?
I looked up at the stars through the leaves of the tree. Everything had been so confusing. From an outcast at school, I had been swept up into an adventure that was life changing. I had learned my own gift, and many new skills. If only I could go back to my peaceful, boring life. But I couldn't.
There would be more time to thing of such things tomorrow, I reasoned, and leaned back onto the tree beside Faalan. I smiled slightly in the dark, then closed my eyes to fall into the waiting arms of sleep.

Explainations (Chapter 14)

"Dammit!" Faalan muttered, giving the ground a vicious stomp. He looked tired, and I could understand. First off, he already didn't have much energy, yet he chose to teleport us in spite of that. I was slightly surprised he didn't faint.
"He's gone..." I murmured.
"He's clever, that one. He even covered his tracks."
"Hn?" I suddenly realized that there were no footprints except for the ones that Faalan and I had just made. I silently cursed under my breath.
"What did he do, Faalan?" He gave a deep sigh then sat down.
"This may take a while. Please sit down." He gestured to the space beside him and I sat down by his side.
"Do you remember Khanna telling you about our mother and how the villagers didn't and still don't like us?" I gave a nod, and he continued on. Though I wondered how he knew, since he hadn't been there, I assumed that he had read Khanna or my mind and learned of this.
"Well, Kaija told us to assume his last name, because his family line is well respected."
"Wait. You're telling me that your last name is not nu Azamoni?"
"No. That's Kaija's last name."
"Kaija's my great grandfather?! And he kissed me too!!!!" I spat onto the ground, trying to clean out my mouth. I had kissed my great grandfather!!!!!
"Are you alright?" Faalan asked, putting his hand on my shoulder. I gave one final spit.
"Ugh. I am now. Sort of. But do continue."
"Well, Khanna and I assumed Kaija's last name as our own. It seemed innocent enough, and his suggestion was helpful at times. Though some people could recognize who we were by what we looked like, most people
had only heard of our last name, di Zuce. You came and you know everything until my "disappearance." Kaija took me aside the day before, telling me to play a trick on you, because you seemed so upset and heavy hearted. Wanting to make you smile, I agreed and played along. What I didn't know was that Kaija had something else planned.
I waited for him to come or give me a sign. Kaija came at night, sneaking up behind me. I didn't have time to react. Within seconds, I was bound, gagged, and knocked out. He put me into the pit that you found me in, probably not realizing that you stumble upon it.
"How long were you in there?!" I nearly shouted, realizing that Faalan probably hadn't eaten during the whole time. My realization was confirmed by the growling of his stomach. He gave a little embarrassed chuckle.
"I think around 3 days now."
"Oh my gosh, you must be starving!" I pulled out a small pouch from the folds of my dress and handed him it.
"Sorry, but there's only a little dried meat."
"It's better than nothing. Thank you." There was a moment of silence as Faalan wolfed down the miniscule amount of food.
"Ah, much better. I'll need to find some more food later though. But I should finish my story first."
"But-"
"Let me finish." I sighed and nodded.
"Kaija began pacing back and forth, ranting about how he was going to kill all the people who wouldn't side with him. He talked about a master plan to take over the world, becoming the dictator.
Apparently, he'd also been killing villagers at night."
"The night attacks! Those were by him?!" I cut in, completely shocked.
"I heard it from the man himself. Unfortunate as it is, I believe that it is true. Kaija had this planned ages ago, as he continued to tell me of his plan to take over the world. But when you came, you got in the way. He had to find a way to make you think that I was the one doing it, so that he wouldn't be killed. His original plan apparently was to just start killing and then blame it on me by leaving weapons I had given to him as gifts. Those weapons had the di Zuce emblem on them, so it would have led the people to think it was Khanna or me. Actually, he managed to kill off a village and leave a di Zuce weapon, which is why those knights came after Khanna and me.
Later on, he made an impromptu plan to get me away from you. From there, he managed to get me to teleport me away. He pretended to be distraught about the loss of me and then in the cover of night while you were sleeping, he captured me. Then, he continued in his efforts to convince you and the people that it was me who had killed all those villagers, by keeping to part of his old plan, putting the weapons I had given him as "evidence" that it was me, since Khanna was killed by that knight. And then you know what happened after that."
"I found you, and Kaija disappeared?"
"Exactly."
"But where is Kaija now?"
"He must have realized that you found me, and fled. But it's still dangerous for me. There are knights after me still."
"And now we have to stop Kaija..."
"What does he do, Fala?"
"Huh?"
"You're from the future. You must have heard something about this, right?"
"Uh...."
"Don't worry, it's safe with me. And though we may try to change it, we may not be able to change the course of history anyways."
"Well.... He ends up killing thousands of people, but rumor says that in the end is killed by two mysterious strangers. But...somehow, he has or had some children. After all, I wouldn't be here unless he had descendants,
right?"
"Oh dear... Who could the mother be? And do you think those two strangers could be...us?"
"I don't know. I've only known him for a short while. Compared to the time you've known him anyways. And...there is the possibility that the two strangers are us."
"Could it be...that girl who had a crush on him so many years ago?"
"Huh... Perhaps. What was his relationship with the girl? And why was he hitting on me all that time?"
"Um... I don't know really. He never mentioned it. I don't know about his hitting on you. I never got around to asking why he was hitting on his great granddaughter."
"And, why didn't you say anything? You knew what my last name was and you knew that Kaija was my real great grandfather. Why?"
"Because I didn't want to risk angering Kaija. He made me promise that he wouldn't tell anyone."
"It might have saved a lot of trouble..."
"Maybe."
I gave a sigh and stood up.
"Well, now that I know the truth, we better get you some food."
"Sounds good to me." His stomach gave a loud rumble. "And to my stomach too." He laughed, and I joined in. For now, the mood had lightened a bit. But I knew that in the near future, we had to go hunt down Kaija.

AN: Well.... This chapter explained a lot. I suppose I gave too much away in one chapter, but I wanted to do that. Although, there's more fun stuff to come.

Another Disappearance (Chapter 13)

We searched high and low, going though many towns. I had to find Faalan before he killed too many people. The risk of changing history didn't matter anymore. I didn't want him to die at the hands of the knights. I didn't want him to die in the first place, but dying by our hands, to me, was better than dying by the knights.
There were several rumors of night attacks and many slaughtered villagers. No one had seen the assailant, but it was clear that something had killed them. According to the rumors, it was impossible to tell how a villager had been killed, for they were so brutally dismembered that parts of the body were everywhere. It was horrifying and I felt the need to move faster and find Faalan soon.
We were walking through the woods again, towards yet another village when Kaija and I stopped in a small clearing, the last rays of sunlight glowing weakly onto the ground.
"We'll stop here for today." Kaija said, flopping down onto the ground and beginning to start a fire.
"Can you get refill the water bags and find some firewood?" he asked, throwing the containers to me.
"Sure." I replied, catching them and turning around to the direction of a stream I had spotted earlier. As I walked through the quickly darkening woods, I wondered where Faalan could be. He had teleported away with that frightening expression on his face.
I jerked to a halt. What was this? There was an enormous pit in front of me, in the middle of the ground. What in the world was this doing here? I peered down, trying to see what was in the pit in the dimly lit area. My foot slipped and I fell forward into the pit. I landed with a thump, my stomach smashing into the ground and my arms
scraped from the skidding.
"Aaammmaaaaa!" There was a muffled voice from in front of me. Groaning, I pushed myself into a sitting position and looked up. Squinting, I managed to make out the outline of Faalan. Wait, Faalan?!
"Faalan?!" I yelped. It was then that I noticed that he was bound. His hands and feet were tied tightly together, the bonds caked with blood. He was gagged with a cloth. The golden eyes that had glowed with so much energy before (well actually, they were ice cold when I last saw him) were dull and lifeless. From the markings on the ground, it was clear that there was a struggle. He was most likely so weak that he couldn't use his powers properly now.
Fumbling with the gag, I managed to untie the rock-hard knot behind his head. He gave a loud gasp, taking in a huge breath of air. His eyes darted wildly around and after a moment, he grabbed my shoulders, his face only a few inches away from mines.
"Where's Kaija?!" he demanded in a loud whisper.
"What are you talking about?! Where were you?!" I replied, almost angry but mostly shocked.
"I teleported maybe a couple miles away. I waited for Kaija to show up, or to show some sort of sign that it was okay for me to come back. It was all a joke. Kaija and I planned it together. Except I didn't realize that Kaija had a more sinister plan."
"A more sinister plan?"
"Yes. But let's find Kaija now. Before it's too late."
"Before it's too late for what?"
"Later. Just take my hand."
I gently placed my hand on his waiting hand and in an instant, we were in the clearing where Kaija was setting up camp earlier. But where was he now? And what did he do?

The Chase Begins (Chapter 12)

"Why?! Why, Faalan?!" Kaija shouted, flinging his swords at one of the few standing trees nearby. The swords imbedded themselves into the thunk and quivered from the force of the throw.
"Why..." The anguished boy fell to his knees, covering his face with his hands. As soon as I was convinced that he was done with his destruction of the trees, I flitted to his side, kneeling down and running my hand through his hair soothingly. I had a feeling he might take advantage of me being so close, but at this point, I didn't care. Kaija was extremely upset and definitely needed comfort.
His body shuddered as he tried to choke back his sobs. The sobbing became quieter and his body relaxed after a while. All I could do was to sooth him, gently trying to ease his pain.
"We have to find him." He looked up, silver eyes still teary.
"I know." I murmured, closing my eyes. A few last tears trickled down his face before his
swept them away with his arm.
"How are we supposed to find him? There's no way of figuring out where he went..." I muttered to no one in particular, trying to find a way to find the missing boy. I knew my great grandfather would eventually kill thousands of people unless someone interviened. But then I would change history and could mess up my own time.
"We travel and listen to rumors." I turned to look at Kaija, who
apparently had heard me.
"What did you say?" I asked, not trusting what I had just heard.
"We travel and listen to rumors, following where they lead us. They will at least give us a general idea of where he's been. Perhaps if we move fast enough, we can catch up." I nodded, but how were we supposed to catch up if the boy could teleport? It was hard enough to follow people when they were running around, but teleportation made it even worse.
"I know it seems hard, but there's nothing else we can do. I still shudder to think about his steely eyes boring into me. We have to stop him before he kills everyone."
"But how are we to stop him? He said he would kill us if we tried to stop him. The only way I can think of is..." I trailed off, knowing the answer to the problem.
"We have to kill him." Kaija whispered, already knowing the answer.
"I couldn't bring myself to do that..."
"What else can we do? If we capture him and hand him over to the knights, they'll kill him. If we capture him and keep him with us, he might kill us. There's no way around it. As much as I hate the answer, killing him seems to be the only way to stop him. He's filled with too much revenge to convince him otherwise."
"Can't we find someone to hypnotize him or something?" I asked, not willing to believe that the only answer was death.
"Perhaps, but the person needs to look into Faalan's eyes for a certain amount of time, and Faalan won't stay still that long. That is, unless we find someone who can make him immobile, but then he could probably teleport his way out. There's no way to hypnotize him." I gave a sigh of defeat, knowing the Kaija was right. I knew that he didn't want to kill Faalan either, but there really wasn't much else we could do, other than just leaving Faalan to his revenge. But then Faalan would most likely end up murdering people until he was killed or until he killed all the people he felt was enough for his revenge.
"Let's start now, I guess." Kaija said, not sounding particularly confident. Of course, no one really could feel confident about having to kill their friend for the welfare of the world. He began to walk off in some direction, which I guessed to be the direction of another village. I followed reluctantly, not wishing this to be happening.
And so, the search began.

AN: Not the most interesting chapter, but it's gonna get better, just you wait!

Plans (Chapter 11)

I heard talking. I stayed in my unconciousness, taking comfort in the dark. But slowly, I opened my eyes, feeling like there were weights on my eyelids. It took a while for everything to focus, but when it did, I saw a set of golden and silver orbs looking at me.
"Faalan...Kaija..." I rasped, my voice coming out weaker than I had thought it would.
"Shh... Don't talk..." Faalan murmured, placing something against my lips. Liquid moistened my lips, and I opened them, realizing just how thirsty I was. He carefully tipped the container until every last drop was gone.
"Better?" Kaija asked, sitting beside me.
"Yes." I said, sitting up and looking around. All around us were the bloody carcasses of the slain knights. It was a horrible sight to see, and my stomach lurched at the sight. It was even worse than the run-in with the previous knight. I gagged and held a hand to my mouth, trying to surpress the urge to hurl. It was then that I looked down at myself. There was a large rip in the dress where the knife had hit my shoulder, and the dress itself was stained with the blood of many lives. My hands were caked with dried, brown blood.
"Are you going to be alright, Fala?" Faalan questioned, holding a hand out to help me up. Gladly, I took the offered hand and nodded slightly, standing up.
"Good. Then let's get going." The boy released my hand, his eyes turning cold. The iciness in his expression sent a chill down my spine. Just moments ago, his eyes were full of warmth and concern. And then in a moment, they turned hard. Was he that angry at the death of his sister?
Kaija seemed slightly shocked as well, but he shook his head and stood up, following Faalan. Slightly unsteady on my feet, I stumbled my way after them, trying to keep up.
"Faalan. Kaija. Your wounds..." I called after them, noticing their various injuries.
"I'm fine, Fala." Faalan snapped, not even turning to look at me.
"I'll be alright. But thanks." Kaija replied gently.
"Oh..." I mumbled, taken aback by Faalan's harsh reply. Looking at Kaija, I faked a smile and he turned back forward, convinced that I was okay.
Following them in silence, there was no conversation between us until Faalan spoke up.
"I suppose we should talk about what we plan to do."
"What is it that you want to do?" Kaija inquired quietly.
"I want revenge. Revenge for my fallen sister."
"How do you plan on carrying out your revenge?" I asked, already knowing the answer.
"I'm going to kill them; kill the people who would want her dead; kill the people ordered to kill her; kill all of them. If you dare to get in my way, I will kill you too." He turned, glaring daggers at us. Kaija, worried, took a step towards him.
"Faa-" He started to say.
"..lan" His voice was barely a whisper as the boy disappeared. He swore as he whipped out his swords, slashing at the trees. He screamed in fury as trees, branches, and leaves fell to the ground. I stood on the side, unsure of what to do. He continued on his angry rampage, eyes filled with regret, sadness, and anger.

AN: And now I will keep you suspense! Fear me! ^_^

Fight (Chapter 10)

We walked on in slence, the only sound being the animals and our footsteps. There was a rustle of movement to our left. We all stopped, tensing, looking to the left. There was another movement to our right. Faalan closed his eyes.
"There are 20 knights surrounding us at the moment." he whispered, voice almost unhearable. Kaija and I nodded slightly, just enough for Faalan to see. Taking out my flute, I prepared to play. Kaija pulled out his double swords and sunk into a defensive stance. Faalan's eyes become unfocused and rocks began to float around him, forming a moving shield. Knights burst out from the shadows, behind trees, and behind bushes. How very subtle. But I guess they realized that we knew they were there, so secrecy didn't matter much anyways. Fire, water, light, darkness, and earth flew into the air.
Through the din, I tried to blow loud enough to capture the knights under my spell. It was difficult to make sure Faalan and Kaija weren't affected because they were moving constantly.
Kaija weaved in and out, brutally slashing at the knights and dodging. Faalan's flying rocks ripped through the heavily armored men. They both had gained a large amount of scratches. Along with the scratches, a long gash ran across Kaija's back, and Faalan's shoulder was cut.
Blood stained the ground, turning the dried leaves underfoot a crimson red. I managed to make a few knights to become frozen, and Kaija stabbed them with his swords. But I couldn't do any more unless I walked into the center of the battle. I originally wanted to make the knights stab themselves with their swords, but then the music would only make the knights reach with their right hand to pull out a sword that was in a certain position on their left. For the knights whose swords were slightly more forward or backward or on their right side, their hand would miss. In the end, I settled with freezing them.
For a while, I had just stood on the side, afraid to get hurt. But watching Faalan and Kaija's determined expressions and their wounds, I couldn't let the battle continue like this. If they kept going at that rate, they would soon be over-powered by the knights.
I began to walk forward. I heard the concerned shouts of Faalan to stop. Ignoring him, I dodged attempted attacks of the knights. Many became frozen in their spots. Kaija, taking advantage of the situation, quickly beheaded them, their heads dropping to the ground with a thump.
I winced as a thrown knife grazed me, earning me a scratch across my hand. It began to hurt to play as I moved my fingers. Blood trickled down my arm and my hand began to throb. Another knife cut into my leg. Blood flowed quickly and I began to feel light-headed from the loss of blood.
The knights seemed to have figured out that if they kept out of earshot, they wouldn't fall under my spell. I tried to play louder and managed to freeze some of them. As they fought off Faalan and Kaija, they threw knifes at me from a distance at irregular intervals. One knife eventually sunk into my right shoulder, and I screamed, my voice piercing through the air. The flute dropped to the ground as I fell, landing hard on my injured shoulder's side. My teeth gritted in pain and tears began to form. Faalan shot stones through the last of the knights and ran to my side. Kaija joined, leaning over me.
"This is going to hurt, Fala." Faalan murmured apologetically, turning me onto my stomach. What was he going to-
An intense pain, even worse than before, ripped through my shoulder.
Tears fell from my eyes and I cried out. Then, the pain subsided slightly. When I looked at my shoulder again, I saw that the knife was gone and only a bloody wound was left. I looked up to see Faalan holding a bloody knife in his hand.
"Sorry..." The brunette looked down, averting his eyes.
"It's...okay.." I gasped, a shudder running down my spine.
"Please...hand me...my flute..." I choked out, after failing to remove the lyre from my side. The smooth, cold instrument was placed gently into my hands. By who, I don't remember. I tried to sit up, yelping in pain from my shoulder and my injured leg. The ground slipped from underneath me and swelled like the ocean. After a few failed attempts, Faalan's gentle hands propped me up. Through teary eyes, I looked into his eyes, giving wordless thanks.
My hands shook as I lifted the flute, pain ripping through my shoulder. My hand as well, began to send jolts of pain through my arm. Eventually, the flute reached my lips, and I played a few shaky notes. The wound in my shoulder began to close. In a couple of minutes, all that was left of the deep cut was a large scab, one that would most likely go away in a few weeks. Too weak to even sit properly, I slumped down the ground and succumed to the dark folds of unconciousness.

AN: Yayayayayayayayayayayay! Fight! I love writing fight scenes even if they come out completely horrible!

Restock (Chapter 9)

By now, there was little food, and we would have to restock soon. But it meant being found. We had to decide what we were going to do.
"Now that we are all here, I believe that it is time to figure out
what we are to do." Faalan started.
"Skip the talking and get to the point." Kaija complained.
"Well, we are almost out of food and water, and we have to leave the safety of the treehouse. We will be found, and the question is, are we going to fight, then come back here or fight and run away, never to come back here?" I said quietly.
"If we come back here after we fight, there is the possibility that the villagers will track us down and have the knights attack us. If we run and travel constantly, there is the danger of running out of supplies or being killed by robbers and thugs." Faalan added.
"I think we should travel." Kaija stated simply.
"Why, pray tell?" Faalan questioned.
"Because if we travel, we won't end up holed up in this treehouse after getting supplies. That would cut off any possible route to escape. At least in the wild we will be able run from the enemy."
"He has a point." I mumbled, unsure of which choice to go for. I knew one choice had to be chosen. They were both dangerous and risky. The question was which one to go for.
"Then we will travel." Faalan decided, ending the discussion. I was slightly annoyed that I didn't really get a chance to put in my input, but I couldn't argue, since that would probably have been my choice had I thought about it more.
"Uh... Guys?" I called after them, as they were leaving to get their things. I didn't need to bring anything because, as I thought guiltily, the boys provided for me and protected me. I never really needed to anything, even on previous travels, because I didn't have much in the first place, and the boys had always carried all the stuff. I felt a little bad about it, but it just happened.
"Yes?" Faalan said, turning around.
"I don't know about you, but I really need some new clothes." It was true, I really needed some new things to wear. During the weeks I had been here, I hadn't been able to obtain new clothing and was still wearing the same clothes I had worn when I first arrived in the past. There were now tears and rips in them and the seams were beginning to weaken and stretch. Plus, it didn't really fit in with times. I would stick out like a sore thumb if I kept wearing what I was.
"Oh... Forgot about that..." murmured Faalan, looking at his feet.
"I have nothing that you could possibly wear. I left all of my clothing in the cave when we ran away from...you know." Kaija said, looking around in random directions, avoiding my eyes.
clothing." he managed to choke out. "Or maybe my mother's clothing as well." It seemed talking about his mother was less painful than talking about "Well...I suppose you could try Kh-" Faalan started, but his voice broke off. Trying again, "Kh-khan-na's clothing." It seemed that he was more comfortable talking about his mother than Khanna. But of course, he had lost Khanna more recently than he had lost his mother.
"Thank you... I will wear whatever you can provide for me." I said finally, after a moment of trying to choose the right words. Faalan said nothing, walking to and opening the door to the room dedicated to his mother and began to rummage through boxes. Clouds of dust flew into the air, causing the boy to sneeze several times. Kaija stood outside of the door, looking inside, unsure of how he could help. I just waited inside the room near the door, trying to get in the way. Finally, he pulled out a dress and a pair of sandals.
"You can try these one. My mother wore this when she traveled." he said, not looking at my eyes.
"Thanks... But I thought you said that wearing no shoes was better!" I objected, though I took the clothing and shoes from his arms.
"I did, but these....they're different. My mother was the one who told me not to wear shoes. Yet she wore these constantly. I believe that there is something special in them. Except I don't know what it is, since my feet most definitely will not fit inside them. I thought that maybe your feet would." he said, words pouring out of his mouth.
"Alright. Whatever you say... I'll try them." I mumbled before slipping out of the room and going into another. I really didn't know what the real purpose of the room was, but it was there, so I used it.
Then, closing the door, I slipped off my old clothing and tried on the new clothing. The dress fit well, though the length of the dress was a little strange, considering it only went up to be knees. But it was clean clothing, so I couldn't complain.
After much consideration, I decided to keep my old shorts; I wasn't comfortable wearing skirts or dresses without some form of pants.
Then came the shoes. The leather sandals were cool against my skin and did not rub irritatingly, as I thought they would. As I stood up, I felt a normal stream of energy rush up through my feet. Perhaps this was why Faalan's mother wore these. But the question was why were these shoes able to transfer the earth's energy through them when no other shoes were able to?
Finally, I slipped on the side belt with my lyre and the pouch with my flute and opened the door to see Kaija and Faalan waiting expectantly. Beside the two boys was a single sack. My guess was that Faalan had his things all tucked away underneath his cape. I still couldn't figure out where all that stuff went, but it was there.
"Wow... You look good..." Kaija complimented.
"Uh... Thanks..." I murmured, blushing slightly. for I'd never had a boy compliment me on clothing before. Faalan said nothing, only giving a sad, but approving nod.
"So now we leave." Kaija declared, turning away and begining to walk to the edge of the balcony. I followed suit, and Faalan joined us after a moment. He closed his eyes and there was a tingle that came from the ground before the three of us began to float up from the balcony. Then, we moved from the balcony and descended, landing gently on the ground.
"Getting better, Faalan." I remarked quietly, noticing how his skills had gotten better. I used to get bruises from the landings, but now I just landed gently on my feet.
"Thank you." he replied softly.
We walked in silence. I couldn't figure out how long it took, but it seemed like hours. But when we finally neared a village, Faalan looked into my eyes and I knew what he wanted from me. I pulled the lyre out from my side and lightly strummed the strings, checking to see if any were broken. I had to make sure that the music didn't affect Faalan and Kaija when we went in.
As we walked into the streets, the villagers seemed to bear a strong resentment against us. They clearly recognized Faalan, since I heard one of the villagers mutter something about a demon child. The villagers began to close in and their intentions did not seem good, for some began to pull out daggers.
Letting the lyre draw me in a little, I began to play a soft, soothing melody. This was the easy part. What was hard was having to make sure it didn't affect my companions. This took much concentration, and my lips pressed into a thin line.
The whole process of making sure the music didn't affect them was a little complicated. In a way, I could see as the sound waves and I guess, magic waves flowed out from the instrument of choice. It wasn't really visible, but I could sense them. In my mind, I had to create an invisible barrier of willpower surrounding the people I didn't want affected so that only the sound waves would reach them and not the magic waves. The magic waves either would be absorbed into the barrier or bounce off the barrier. I wasn't really sure why some were absorbed and some weren't, but it worked at protecting the ones I wanted to protect.
In my sub-conscious, I could see that the villagers had stopped moving and had began to fall asleep. Some tried to fight it, but failed, collapsing to the ground.
Continuing to move through the streets, Faalan and Kaija picked up neccesary equipment and food while I played. They left money, which was fair enough. The only thing that worried me was that there was always the
possibility of encountering a deaf person. This could prove to be dangerous, since my music could not affect people who didn't listen. I could always play loud enough for people to hear it through their covered ears, but I couldn't make the hearing impaired be able to hear.
I was nervous, and occasionally, my fingers would slip a string, creating a sour note and causing some people to stir from their magic induced sleep. This only made me more jittery. I was truly glad when we left.
I replaced the lyre in its place by my side and looked down, unsure of what to do now, both in the now sense and the future sense. I didn't know how to help with the situation now, and I didn't know how I would be getting back to my time either. When I looked up, Faalan and Kaija were looking at me worriedly.
"Are you alright?" Kaija asked, his eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine, thank you. I'm just...unsure of what to do." I mumbled.
"What do you mean, unsure?" Faalan questioned.
"I don't know what to do to help now. Also, this isn't my time. I don't know if I can even get back to my time."
Faalan sighed and moved his hand to his forehead. He shook his head a little before putting his hand down and looking at me again.
"Well, let's try to not worry about that for now. What we do need to worry about is the knights after us. I mean, me." Faalan said, trying to comfort me. It didn't really work. But I put on a smile and tried to ignore my inner turmoil.
"That's true, I guess." I agreed, nodding slightly.
"We should get moving..." Kaija muttered. We nodded our consent and began to walk.
"The knights will eventually hear of our little trip to the village and will come here after us." Faalan said, his words almost lost to the wind.
"Will you fight them, Faalan?" I asked worried. But I didn't need to ask. I already knew.
"Yes." he said determinedly.
I had been worried about this for quite sometime, though I tried not to think about it. I knew he was a murderer in my own time, known for killing thousands. Quickly, I pushed my thoughts away, hoping that Faalan hadn't heard it in my head. Looking at him, I watched for any change of expression. There was none. I inwardly, I gave sigh of
relief.
If he had heard it, I might have changed the course of history. Even so, I didn't want him to kill thousands of people. Faalan was most likely bent on revenge of Khanna's death. He probably would kill anyone who tried to attack him that was one of those who wanted him exterminated. That included the knights and the villagers. But he
hadn't killed the villagers when we were in the village. Though, with a jolt, he did have a rather cold expression on his face. Apparently, my sub-conscious had kept the image of his angry, determined face when we were in the village and chose to bring it up now. Wonderful.

AN: Fwee! Boring chapter, but it leads to a more interesting one!

What to Do? (Chapter 8)

The days passed quickly, with me avoiding Kaija, and Faalan trying to get Kaija and me to talk to one another. I couldn't look at Kaija. My feelings were mixed and uncertain. Before I met Kaija, I was certain that the one for me was Tahi. But now, I wasn't sure. I hadn't seen Tahi for what seemed like years and Kaija was there. Kaija and Tahi were so different, but they both made my heart leap. My head told me that I had promised to myself to be Tahi's forever, yet my rebellious heart allowed itself to fall for Kaija. Why was I falling for someone I had just met recently? Even if he was a source of comfort, I was supposed to remain faithful to Tahi. Why now?
Tahi was quiet and comforting. Kaija was loud and rash, though soothed others in his own way. So different, yet both so lovable. What was I going to do?
Tahi lived in my time, though it seemed I would never make to back home. Kaija lived in the past, and he was with me at the moment. If I was able to get back to my time, who would I choose?
Their looks, their personalities, their...everything was just so different. Tahi was black haired, and Kaija was blonde, almost white haired. Tahi had dark brown eyes, while Kaija had silver eyes. Tahi was calm and sensible, while Kaija was firey and spirited. I would be better off with someone more reasonable like Tahi, but my life would be more interesting around Kaija. Everything was just so confusing!
What was more was what was happening at home. Would people be worried about me gone? Or would they not care, since I had been giftless when I last met them? How did Tahi react to my disappearance? Did he forget about me? How would I explain what had happened to me in the past when I went back? And would my time change because of my being here?

AN: I'm not so great at writing about people's feelings, hence the very short chapter...

Into Hiding (Chapter 7)

"We have to hide." Faalan stated. He now was recovered enough to think rationally after an hour more of crying and shaking. Well, relatively rationally.
"Well, let's go then." Kaija said, heading into the woods. Faalan and I followed silently, sadness hanging like a cloud around us. We made it to Faalan's house with no attacks. I felt safe now, but I knew that we wouldn't be able to remain holed up here forever. Our supplies would run out eventually and we would have to leave. The others probably knew too, but they didn't say anything.
Faalan shut himself in Khanna's room and Kaija started working out in the training room. I headed to the balcony where I had first learned of my gift with Khanna. I unbuckled the lyre from my side and strummed the strings, striking a mournful chord. The instrument called to me, and this time, I followed it.
Peals of flowing music flew in the air as tears streamed down my face again, staining the wood of the lyre and my clothing. The birds and animals seemed to cry out in harmony with my lyre, adding to the music. The last chords were swept away from the breeze and the sounds of the forest returned to normal. I rebuckled the lyre to my side.
My heart was heavy and it felt like it was being torn in half. I stared forward into the woods, not focusing on anything; just lost in thought.
I stayed like this for a while until a creaking noise behind me made me jump up, and I whipped out my flute to my mouth.
"Relax, Fala. It's just me." Kaija said quietly.
"Oh.." I murmured, putting the flute back into its case.
"I heard you playing."
"I see..."
"So... Faalan told me you're from the future."
"Did he?"
"Yes."
"Well, I am. But now..." I remembered something vital. My heart skipped a beat.
"What is it?"
"Khanna brought me here with her portal. I can't go back unless I find another way back." My heart pounded. How was I supposed to get
back home? I knew no one else who could move people through time.
"That would be a problem..." he murmured softly into my ear.
"Hey, what are you doing?!" I yelped, struggling to get to my feet.
"I can't hold it any longer. I just want to be with you. There's something about you that...that makes my heart pound."
"Stop! If you do this, you could change history! You could mess up the future! I'm not supposed to be here!" "I can't..."
"Yo-" I was cut off as his lips pressed suddenly to my own. He wrapped an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer. I broke him off, pulling away, gasping.
"Fala!" he cried out, reaching to me.
"No. Just leave me alone." I said icily, glaring at him. I turned my heels and strode away, leaving him with a shocked expression on his face. I collapsed into a heap in a random room and let my mind float off into nowhere.
"Fala?" a gentle voice called, snapping me out of my mindlessness. The door creaked as a ray of light shot into the room.
"What do you want?!" I snapped, whipping my head around, squinting at the bright light.
It was Faalan, looking worried and sad.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Faalan. I thought you were Kaija." I mumbled.
"What did he do?"
"He..." I stroked my lips with my fingers, wondering how to explain it.
"He didn't! He went and kissed you?!"
"So it seems, Faalan, so it seems." I whispered to no one in particular.

AN: All these chapters seems really boring now, I'm aware of that. There's nothing interesting really until a couple chapters later.

Danger (Chapter 6)

A tall man dressed in black armor stood before us, his chestnut stallion pawing the ground and snorted beside him.
"I am here for these two." the knight said, pointing at Faalan and Khanna.
"Why do you want us?" Faalan replied cooly.
"These two are demon children and by request of the villagers, are to be executed. If you do not comply, you will be taken by force."
"We will never come with you!" Khanna shouted, eyes blazing with fury.
"Then I have no choice." He unsheathed his sword, the metal blade glinting in the light.
"Leave him to me." Kaija murmured quietly, pulling out twin swords.
"I can't let you do that, Kaija." Faalan said quietly, with sad eyes. His arm jerked up suddenly and his hand smashed into Kaija's head. Kaija's eyes widened, then closed as he collapsed to the ground. I scurried to his side, making sure if he was going to be okay.
"I'm sorry, my friend, but I can't let you get in trouble on my account." he whispered mournfully. Both he and Khanna sunk into defensive poses, Faalan with his fists up and Khanna with her palms facing the man. The knight let out a battle cry as he charged towards my two friends, holding his sword above his head, ready to slice them down. I watched, concerned and worried about what would happen. I wanted to interfere, but if I did, I might end up like Kaija. I would rather watch and try to assist them by telling them if there was an attack coming. Or...maybe not. I was never so great at predicting movements.
Khanna's fingers twitched ever so slightly, and a portal appeared in front of the knight. As soon as he disappeared into it, another one appeared in the air and he fell out, falling towards the ground. He landed with a loud thump and he muttered to himself as he stood up.
"I didn't want to do this, but I guess I have to." he said. He lifted an arm and all the armor became like water, flowing to his hand. Apparently, the man's gift was to do with metal. His sword's blade, which was lying on the ground, also became liquid and flowed to his hand. A large mass of quivering metal lay in his hand. What he could do with it, I had no clue.
Suddenly, the metal jerked out and struck Khanna, piercing through her chest. Her eyes grew big and blood spurted out of her mouth as
she fell backwards. The metal shot back to the man, now stained with Khanna's blood.
"Urg... Faalan...." she choked out, blood spilling down her chin.
"KHANNA!!!" he screamed, running to her side, cradling her in his arms. I followed suit, gently stroking her head to try and calm her shaking.
"I...I'm dying aren't I? Yes...of..course... Re...member... Faalan...brother...I... I love you." she gasped out, her life blood pouring out of her heart and mouth, staining the vibrant, green grass underfoot.
"Khanna..." I whispered, looking into her pain-filled, golden eyes.
"Fa..fala... I lo...ove...you too..." she sighed out with her last breath. Her eyes dulled, and a filmy white mist covered her them. Her body grew limp and she moved no longer.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! KHANNA!!!! You can't die on me! You can't, NO! I promised I would take care of you, I promised..." he sobbed, tears streaming freely down his anguished face. I said nothing, only stared at Khanna's still form, my own tears flowing to the ground. I couldn't say anything. My throat constricted with sadness. The world was spinning around me. Colors blurred and the last thing I remembered was looking at the ground before it was all dark.
"Fala?" came a shaky voice. I forced open my eyes, trying to remember what had occurred.
"Thank goodness you're awake now." I found myself staring into worried, silver eyes. It was Kaija.
"Wha' happ'nd?" I slurred, my mouth unable to function properly.
"Khanna's dead. Faalan killed the knight in a fit of fury. When I regained conciousness, I found him hugging her body, shaking and whispering that he loved her." I jerked up, looking around at my surroundings. The knight lay face forward in a pool of blood. The corpse was pitted with holes and massive cuts ran deep into it. His horse stood nearby, looking peacefully around and chewing on a clump of grass. Faalan was covered in blood, crying over Khanna's body. I couldn't say anything. My stomach turned at the gory scene and I couldn't hold the feeling rising in my throat. I turned my head away, bringing up what I had eaten. As I convulsed, Kaija rubbed me gently on my back, not joking at all.
"Ugh... Sorry..." I whispered, voice quivering.
"No biggie." he murmured softly into my ear.
Nearby, Faalan lifted up his tear stained face. The pain and agony in his eyes was enough to break anyone's heart.
"Please. Help me bury her." he choked out. No explanation was needed to know that the person he was referring to was Khanna.
He lifted up a section of dirt with his mind and both Kaija and I lowered Khanna gently into the pit.
"I love you, Khanna." Faalan whispered softly, stoking her pale cheek one last time. Then, the dirt lowered over her and she was gone.
Kaija pulled Faalan into a hug, silently comforting his friend. I could do nothing but close my eyes and hold the tears in.

AN: I planned to kill Khanna from the start, but I still feel kinda bad for killing her. She was kinda the comic relief... But I suppose now things have to get serious anyways.