Uh, not much to say, so here’s chappie 3. ^^;

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Chapter 3 – You Can Trust Me

I trudged along behind him, watching him carefully as to not lose him in the dark. He had led me all the way across the city and we finally reached the field that led out of town. I was suspicious as to where he was leading me, but I still felt comfortable around him. The snow was softly falling and, looking back, the streetlamps gave the roads an eerie glow. I almost thought that I had seen someone follow us. Being cold and tired, I just tried to ignore it, pretending it was just a cat or something. We finally reached the bottom of a steeped hill.

“Are we going to climb that…?” I asked. He turned around and saw that I was shivering. If I could have seen my face, I bet it would have looked exhausted. “You’re tired already? Here let me carry you then,” he said gently. “Uh, um, no thanks. I’m okay. Just watch!” I stuttered, and started blindy running up the hill, running more or less away from embarassment, than wanting to go up. He started walking up after me, at his own pace, his strides being calm and like he had been here many times before. Halfway up, however, I tripped and slid down, crashing into him as well. I was sitting on top of him, and we were both in a mess at the bottom.

“Ah! Oops!” I said, panicked, and quickly jumped back up to my feet. I could feel that my face was red. “Sorry about that…” He didn’t seem to be hurt or anything, but I apologized anyway. He sat up and started chuckling, “You’re crazy, violent, AND clumsy.” “And what is that supposed to mean?!” “Oh, nothing, nothing. Maybe we should have just taken the easy way up.” “There was a shortcut…?” I twitched. If he could have just said that sooner, I would have saved myself a lot of embarassment. We walked around to the other side and there was, obviously enough, a rope ladder that led to the top. “What the- What kind of hill has a ladder leading to the top?” “This kind of hill, I guess,” he joked. “It’s attached to a treetrunk at the top, so no need to worry about falling again.”

We finally got to the top and sat down, with our backs leaning against the tree. I on one side, and him on the opposite. I had stopped shivering, too, once I saw how beautiful the view was from here. We were high enough that the city below us was unnoticable. The dark night sky was sprinkled with thousands of shimmering stars, their light illuminating the hill. I could also make out some familiar constellations.

“Hey look, there’s that King Slime constellation,” I pointed out. “Heh, yeah, I see it. And look there’s an archer and mage…” He was behind me, so I turned around to see what he was doing. I then noticed he was wearing a quiver on his back. I wonder how I didn’t notice this sooner, seeing as how I’ve been following him all this time. I started to think about what had happened earlier. I thought to myself, “Why does he have that? I didn’t know he could fight, I thought he was just a regular, peaceful guy… What if he was the one who…”

My thoughts were interrupted by the sight of a falling star. I turned back at him, “Did you see that?” a sound of excitement was in my voice. But that excitement died down when he asked me, “You ever wonder why stars fall? It’s because a life has ended, right?” I didn’t really understand his question, but I spoke to it anyway, “The life of that star, yeah.” His voice seemed distant, like he wasn’t really there and deep in thought. He didn’t respond to my answer, so I tried to change the topic. “So…-” but I was cut off by another question. “Have you ever known someone who’s life ended?” The serious sound of his voice, the strange wording and deep meaning behind his question, it made my heart ache. A few minutes passed. If it was just anyone who had asked me the same question, I would not have answered. But the atmosphere and gentle expression on his face just made me feel as if I could say anything to him.

I turned back around. “My mother died a long time ago… I was still young back then, so I don’t remember how she died. But every now and then I’m always plagued with this dream… and… someone else I knew died, too. A little boy died with her.” “Do you remember who he was?” “I used to always tease him about how weak he was, but I was good friends with him. He always seemed to wander to our mansion, and he was also really close to my mother. Come to think of it now… I’m not even sure if he had parents of his own… Oh, and this may sound strange, but I had a childish crush on him, too.” “Does it hurt when you think about that?” “Well, yeah, it did before… but I guess I got used to it now. And I’m not saying that I don’t miss them anymore.”

It kind of felt like I was at confession. I couldn’t see him while I spoke, because he was on the other side of the tree, and maybe that was a good thing. “You know… I’ve never told anyone this before… but ever since my mom and that friend of mine died, I haven’t been really close to anyone. I shut everyone out except for my sister. Maybe that’s why I hate my father so much… I don’t even know why I’m telling you all of this, you probably don’t care.” He waited awhile before replying, “If I didn’t care, I wouldn’t be asking, would I?” Despite what he just said, his voice was kind, and he didn’t sound like he was correcting me. The way he worded things reminded me of the arguements I’ve always lost when I was small. “You don’t have to worry… sometimes it’s easier to just tell someone these kinds of things, anyone. You can trust me.”

We both sat there in silence, after. It seemed like hours were wasting away, but I knew it was only minutes. I was deep in thought and I whispered very quietly to myself, “Maybe sometimes, I wish I could have gone with them…” He seemed to have heard me because I heard him shift his head in my direction. I looked back and he wasn’t there. When I turned back around he wasn’t in front of me either, like I thought he would have been. I slowly stood up and then felt arms embracing me. I thought he was trying to hug me to comfort me, so I mumbled, “What do you think you’re doing? I’m okay, jeez.” But then his grip was tighter and more violent, and I felt a cold blade put to my throat. “W-what?!” My eyes widened with fear. “I’m… really sorry about this,” said a sad voice that sounded exactly like his. I didn’t know what was going on and I didn’t want to believe that whoever held me was him. “It isn’t him…” I thought. “It can’t be who I think it is… it’s just some assassin, trying to kill me… it’s not him…” But when I turned my head around, I saw the face of the person who had just told me I could trust him.

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I’m taking a break from Maple for awhile, so the next chapter might not be out that soon.
But thanks for reading~
Kio