Tired. I’m getting so tired now. I feel like my life, my energy, is being sucked right out from me. We’ve, correction, he’s been running for so long it seems. I wonder how he does it, run this fast, at a constant pace. I haven’t fallen yet thank goodness, and he doesn’t seem to be fatigue at all by this run; not like me, my eyelids are getting so heavy, and it’s getting so hard to breathe. I should tell him, I don’t want to die. Or at least I don’t think I do. I don’t know what I want anymore. Though I think I want to sleep. Yes sleep sounds amazing. No, wait I have to stay awa-

The girl lost consciousness.

“She lasted longer then I anticipated. If she stayed awake for another few minutes, I’d be in trouble.” The mysterious man said while putting her down against a tree.

“Yes that would have been bad, wouldn’t it, Darius.” A boy about 17 laughed, while appearing from behind the tree the girl was now resting at.

“Hello Zane. It’s nice of you to drop by. How’s Marius and Avo doing?”

“Oh you know, Marius is being all Marius about it, and Avo, he’s stressing and blowing this completely out of proportion, as usual.”

“Well that’s good then, I see nothing has changed since I’ve been gone these past few years.”

“Yeah, but it’s not the same with out you in the clan. No one to talk to really; they’re all a bunch of stiffs I think.”

“Oh come now, I’m sure there’s someone in there for an obnoxious guy like you to annoy?” Darius jokingly said.

“No, not really.” He sighed in reply. “All they care about is this stupid girl you’ve got. If she’s such a threat then why not just kill her now? I’ll gladly drink her dry.” There was a hunger in the boy’s eyes.

“See this is why you’ve got no one to talk to. You haven’t controlled your hunger, it’s a sign of weakness and childhood.”

“ I lost my childhood a long time ago Darius. And besides, I was merely stating that we should kill her. Why let her blood go to waste?”

“We can’t kill her and you know it. She’s an important member of our enemy, and if she dies now, then how are we going to get Cyrus back?”

“Oh yes Cyrus, he’s so important. Why don’t we just replace him as our leader? He’s gotten old now, he’ll only bring us down.” Zane spat out bitterly.

Darius furiously pinned Zane against the tree and threatening whispered in his ear.

“Don’t ever say that again about a fellow member of our clan. Especially about a great leader like him, you got that? If I ever hear you speak out of terms again I’ll-“

Zane cut him off, “you’ll what? Kill me? Go ahead. It’s not like I have anything to live for.”

Darius loosened his grip on Zane. “You know I can’t do that Zane. I could never kill you.” His voice softer, calmer.

“Then stop defending the man who sent you away.”

“He didn’t have a choice. I disobeyed a direct order.”

“An outrageous order! To kill a child, even if he was from them, I wouldn’t do it. I may hate his clan, but I have no grudge against him. He didn’t kill my mom.”

“ Well it seems that you have gotten older. You’re not blaming the whole, but the actual ones responsible. Good for you.”

Zane chuckled, “whatever. At least I’m not the one still holding a guy to a tree with his body only a few inches away.”

Darius dropped him, and Zane crashed to the earth. Darius laughed as Zane got up angrily and brushed dirt and leaves off his pants.

“Hey! That wasn’t very nice you know!!”

“No, but it was funny,” Darius snickered in reply.

Zane still fuming sat back on the ground. After cooling down for a few seconds, he looked up at Darius who was looking up at the tree branches; imagining the sky above.

“After you bring her back, you think they’ll let you stay?”

“Well considering that they got me from my isolation, no. Not really. I’ll just be a tool to them. And even if they did, I’ve gotten used to being by myself. Being around all those people would just be a strain.”

“Oh…well then can I come with you when you go again? I’m tired of being alone.”

“And what about Sora? Are you just going to abandon her? What about your great plans for getting her back from them? Rushing into their territory and rescuing her?”

“Sora” Zane said longingly.

“Yes Sora.”

“What if I come with you, and we rescue her? Then we could all roam this territory together!” He said excitedly.

“Zane…I’ll think about it.” Darius sighed. “Come on, we have to get this girl to our kin.”

“Yeah, heh what was I thinking? Why’d I want to go with an old man like you? Besides we’re keeping them all waiting, Marius and Avo are probably furious at us for being so late.” Zane forced out a laugh.

Darius picked up the girl who had slept through it all.

“I’m sorry Zane.” He said softly and started running forward with Zane behind him.

XxXxXx

Authors note: I’M REALLY REALLY SORRY!! Sorry for taking so long to type this up….well retype it. The first time was just horrible, I don’t know what I was thinking when I typed those few paragraphs. I’m still really sorry though!! I’ll hopefully explain any questions bout the new people mentioned in this chapter in the next one….well maybe the one after the next one. the next one I’ve got something else planned….yeah….sorry!!