Another Tribute

I'm walking around in the dark. Not sure why, I just am. Suddenly, i realize I'm not alone.

"Hello?" I yell out. Nobody responds. I carry on walking. It's begining to get foggy, and my sight blurs.

"Hello my dear," someone says behind me, grabbing my arm. I try to scream but my voice fails.

"I can't scream," I murmur.

"Best not to let everyone know I'm around," Nico McGrady says. He's paler than I remember, but just as menacing.

"What's going on Nico?" I ask him. As hard as I try to be mean to him, my voice comes out sweet and innocent. Two things I am not anymore.

"My lovely, I'm here to haunt you of course. Make your days as misreable as possible. It's my death's dream," he says, laughing that evil laugh.

"Nico, get lost," I say, walking away from him. As hard as I try to lose the grip he has on my arm, it's not going away.

"This should be fun," he says, pushing me to the ground. I move to get up, but I'm stuck.

"What's going on?" I say feebly. He smiles at me, and I get that heart melting feeling again. But I know it's fake. He sees my realization across my face and his smile turns to a frown. He takes this moment to kick my head. Hard.

"Shut up. And don't disgrace yourself by crying again. Weakling," he says, getting out his knife. That cursed knife.

"The only one who's a disgrace is you!" I say, trying to sound enraged. It comes out sweetly again. I hate this.

"Shut up," he says, stabbing me through the stomach. I try to scream again, but nothing happens.

"Probably should have done that in the first place. Then maybe I'd be alive," he says, kneeling beside me.

"I hate you," I say, again sweetly. He laughs at my inability to insult him properly.

"Aww look, you still have my mark. How darling," he says, tracing the X on my face with his fingers. I flinch.

"Not by choice."

"Oh speaking of such, let's have a look at my other creation," he says, ripping my shirt off yet again. This time it's effortless, as if he's gained strength.

"You're disgusting," I say in my cute, lovey dovey voice.

"Just as I wanted. You'll never forget me," he says, grinning at his name engraved on my stomach. This is my worst nightmare. Because he's absolutely right.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

"Auden, wake up! What's the matter with you?" Eli says, shaking me violently. As I realize the whole thing was a dream, I start to get tears in my eyes, yet again. Just as Nico would have told me I would. His memory is going to haunt me forever.

"I...had a bad dream."

"Well hey, it's alright," Eli says, patting me on the back. He looks relieved.

"How long have you been trying to wake me?"

"Only a couple minutes. Since you started screaming," he says. Good to know I can still do that.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"It's alright, you've had a rough time. Why don't we just go back to sleep?" he suggests, getting comfortable again. I nod and follow suit. About two minutes later, I realize that my efforts are in vain.

"Eli?" I ask into the darkness. He turns to face me.

"Yup?"

"I can't sleep," I tell him. I know this sounds silly and babyish. Who even does that? I wouldn't go whining to my parents back home if I couldn't sleep. I'd suck it up and suffer. Today, though, after everything that's gone on I need to complain. If only to make me feel a little normalcy.

"Come here," he says, suprising me completely. He sits up against the wall and takes my head in his lap. He starts to slowly stroke my hair, which is really relaxing. You should try it sometime.

"This always used to help my sister fall asleep," he whispers. I can see why.

"I didn't know you had a sister."

"Nobody back hom really knew a lot about me," he says. I can't disagree with him, so we sit in silence as he lulls me to sleep.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask him.

"I don't know. It just seems right," he says. I suddenly get a lot of respect for him. Here is this guy that I completely dissed and ignored, yet he still is willing to help me just because he thinks it's "the right thing to do". He completely doesn't deserve to be here. Then again, home must not have been all that great either, atleast at school.

"Well, thanks," I say, yawning. He laughs.

"Goodnight Auden."

"Nite Eli," I say, drifting off to sleep again. And this time, no bad dreams await me.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I wake up to the pond water lighting up with the day. I still can't believe this room, it's amazing. I stretch and feel more rested than I have for a couple days. Would have been a perfect morning if my stretching hadn't punched Eli in the stomach.

"Gah!" Eli says as he's startled awake.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to! I just..."

"Don't worry so much Auden," Eli says, laughing good naturedly. I laugh too, and everything is peaceful again.

"So, what's our plan of action today?" I ask him.

"Uh well we need some more food. We're running super low on the dried stuff we got in the beginning," Eli says.

"Ok, then, let's go gather some food!" I say, trying to be cheerful. Despite Eli being super nice, I'm still upset by what happened with Nico. Eli and I go out of our hole and out into the forest. We manage to find some berries to gather, but so far hunting has been unsuccessful.

"Where are all the animals? You hear them at night!" Eli says, frustrated.

"They must be here somewhere," I say quietly as we continue our search. Eli suddenly sits down and leans up against a tree.

"Of course. It's clearly a trap."

"What are you talking about, Eli?"

"All the animals are nocturnal. They're going to force us to go hunt at night, which is much more dangerous," Eli says, sighing because niether of us have night vision.

"Maybe. But maybe not," I say, finally feeling useful. My brother may not have been successful at teaching me all the traps he knew, but I do know some.

"Huh?" Eli says as I easily set up a trap. Eli looks plesantly suprised.

"Ta da!" I say, hiding it in the leaves and dirt. This could work out.

"I am so glad you know how to do that!" Eli says high fiving me. I laugh. We both decide to celebrate by eating the last of the dried fruit we have. The celebration doesn't last long. It never does.

"So, you think you can mess with our posse huh?" I pretty blonde haired girl says, stepping out of the shadows. A handsome blonde haired boy follows her, both appearing to be deadly. Careers.

"Is there a problem?" Eli says, slowly getting up and reaching for his knife. I follow suit, but realize I'm utterly defenseless. This is the moment that I realize that both of the Careers are armed with swords.

"You killed one of my best mates," the boy says.

"And we don't like people who dispatch our friends," the girls says, pointing her sword at me. Despite the situation, I start to laugh hysterically.

"What's so funny about that?" the blonde boy asks me.

"You give me so much credit. It's so flattering," I say, continuing to laugh. Eli looks at me as if I'm crazy, but he gets what I'm saying. The Careers don't look much more pleased considering I've just confused them immensely.

"So, let's make this quick. We'll be killing you," the boy says, pointing at Eli.

"And then we'll be taking you hostage for Dianca," the girl says, pointing at me. My laughing stops dead on. They can't kill Eli.

"You'll have to go through me first!" I say, rushing forward. Then I realize how dumb that was. I'm unarmed and still not at full strength because of my injuries, despite them healing.

"Stupid girl. I wish I could kill you now," the boy says, easily pushing me down. I'm once again proven to be a weakling and useless. I try to get up, but the girl hold me down with her foot. Literally just her foot.

"Any last words?" the boy asks Eli as he points his sword at Eli's throat.

"I was about to ask you the same thing," a voice says from high above in the trees. Suddenly, an arrow flies from above and strikes the boy in the throat. Just like that, he's dead. Eli looks stunned, and the girl suddenly realeases me.

"Curse you Ariella! You will rue the day!" the blonde haired girl says, running away as quickly as she had appeared. The slim red haired girl smiles triumphantly down upon the dead blonde haired boy.

"One more dead Career. This is a good day," she says. Eli and I stare at her as if she was an alien. This is the same girl that threatened to kill me.

"What do you want?" Eli asks her. She looks at him and smiles.

"I simply wanted to repay a favor."

"What do you mean?"

"I don't know why, but you both spared my life. And for that I will almost always owe you," she says seriously.

"I can't believe this," Eli mutters to himself. I'm finding it pretty hard to believe too.

"Thank you for the favor, but we're even now. You can go your seperate way," I tell her. She scowls at me.

"Actually, Princess, I was hoping I could tag along."

"If you mean forging a alliance? No thanks. Been there done that. Come on Eli," I say, walking away. Eli doesn't move.

"You want to make an alliance?" he asks her. Ariella nods.

"There's something about you two I can't forget. I would like to offer my services as an ally," she says, holding out her hand to Eli. He thinks for about two seconds, and then shakes her hand.

"Eli! What are you doing? Wasn't suffering through Nico enough?" I ask him. I think I'm whining. I can't believe myself!

"She's different Auden, trust me," Eli says, releasing Ariella's hand. She looks to me next and holds out her hand.

"Truthfully, I'd rather not be in an alliance with you Princess. Since Eli seems to be attatched to you I don't seem to have a choice. Hopefully you'll prove to be useful," she says as her outstretched hand hangs in the air. I like the fact she's honest, but it doesn't convince me.

"I don't want another ally."

"I'm not Nico, Auden. I'm not going to betray you until it's us three left. You know that's true. I just saved your life from a fate worse than death. Come on," she says, firmly keeping her hand in place. I look to Eli, but he seems to be encouraging me. The only thing that gets me to shake her hand is that fact that Eli has the right judgement about Nico. Certainly that applies to Ariella too, right?

"Welcome to the crew," Eli says, patting her on the back. She looks pleased.

"Alright, where's homebase?" she asks Eli.

"What's the rush?" I ask her.

"Truth is, I've been watching you guys. I can't figure out where you're hiding out though. I've scoured the whole forest and haven't seen you sleeping out anywhere!" she says, sounding frustrated. This makes me suspicious while ELi seems to find this amusing.

"You're never going to believe this," he says, motioning for her to follow him. She excitedly walks with him as he leads the way, and I walk behind. If she even messes up one time, she's out.