Chain Mail and Butterfly Wings

As Aiden had estimated, it took two more days until we saw the other side of the mountains. However, just as we began to hike down--and the snow from two days before already made it difficult--new snow began to fall, first slowly and I could only sigh at the fuzzy feeling it gave me.

And then it got worse.

Can you say “snow storm”?

Before it completely blinded us and we lost our sense of direction, I spotted a nearby cave, which we took shelter in. If I said I wasn’t proud of finding shelter, I’d be lying. I was downright smug about it.

“So, who found this cave again? I have this vague feeling that I know them…someone I know pretty well, I think…I don’t know, Aiden can you help me out with this? I can’t seem to remember exactly who it was that found this place…was it…? No, no, no…Man, I just can’t seem to--”

Aiden cut into my sentence, “Alright, alright, I’ll praise you already. Great job finding shelter Angel, now we won’t freeze to death or be buried alive…or at least I won’t freeze to death.”

“Ha, ha.” I rolled my eyes. “A joke about the poor circulation my body has when it comes to cold weather. You’re funny,” I said sarcastically and Aiden laughed, at least he thought it was funny.

Oh, right, did I mention that since we’ve been camping out in the snow with no blankets and me practically freezing my ass off, Aiden had to give me one of his three layers of shirts. Yes. Three layers. The guy totally spoils himself. So I’ve been doing slightly better at not freezing at night, but Aiden still keeps offering to hold me while I sleep. Of course he phrases it differently, referring to it as “offering his helpful Angel warming services”. Whatever, he can lie all he wants, I call it “Aiden trying to feel me up while I sleep”.

“This sucks,” I complained, crossing my arms over my chest and pouting.

“What? Are you cold? You know I could offer you my--”

“Angel warming services, I know.” I rolled my eyes as I finished his sentence for him. “For the fortieth time, no thanks. Besides, I’m not cold. This sucks, because it’s only a little past noon and we’re stuck in a cave because the sun is blotted out by damn snow,” I finished.

“Oh. Well, I don’t think it’s so bad,” Aiden replied, leaning against the wall as he sat down.

“Oh really? And why might that be?” I asked, although I was just talking to pass the time, then again I was also curious as to why delaying our departure was a good thing.

“’Cause, now that we’re trapped in this cave, I can learn more about you. And you can’t go anywhere.” Aiden smirked when I frowned at his plan.

“I don’t think so. I think sitting in silence sounds much more pleasant,” I retorted with a snort, always the lady.

“Come on Angel, don’t be like that. I’ll even answer some questions you have for me if it’ll make you cooperate better.”

My eyebrows shot up at this. Really now? Maybe it would be worth it to answer some of his stupid questions if I could ask my own stupid questions. “Fine then,” I said finally. “But whatever questions I ask you have to answer…truthfully,” I added last minute, finding the loophole that Aiden would obviously find as well.

“Of course. If you answer mine truthfully,” Aiden raised an eyebrow in questioning.

“Fine, fine,” I grumbled, sitting down as well. “First question?” I inquired, preparing myself for anything.

“What’s the deal with your second suit of chain mail? You’re wearing damaged chain mail right now and you haven’t so much as glanced at your spare.” Aiden raised a curious eyebrow.

I frowned, weighing the possibilities of being hug-attacked again. Just don’t lapse into the past, I ordered myself. I opened my mouth to answer but was interrupted by Aiden. “The truth, remember,” he reminded me with a grin.

I rolled my eyes and began again, but stopped. “I’ll tell you, but you have to promise not to hug me,” I pointed at him absently as I spoke.

“Wha--?”

“Promise!” I ordered before he could fully express his confusion.

“Alright, I promise not to hug you,” Aiden grumbled, sounding depressed at the forbidding of contact.

“Okay. The chain mail was my father’s, from when he was a soldier. It’s one of the few things I have left of him,” I said quietly, half-hoping Aiden didn’t hear me. I never liked telling my sob story and I knew that holding onto my father’s old chain mail wasn’t considered healthy mentally, but I kept it anyway. I couldn’t help it.

“Oh…I see,” Aiden said, my reply obviously wasn’t one that he had been expecting. He looked up at me through a portion of his bangs--which needed to be cut soon--and asked, “You sure you don’t need a hug? You really shouldn’t keep your emotions bottled up, you’ll end up snapping on someone,” he said knowingly with a small smile on his lips.

He was trying to lighten the mood, that was considerate of him. But, no hug for me.
“I’m good, my dad’s been dead for two years. I should be over it by now.” I grimaced in my attempt to smile. On the inside even mentioning my father was like pounding a nail repeatedly into my heart.

Aiden moved to stand but I quickly reminded him, “No hugging! Remember?”

I saw Aiden stiffen at the reminder and I wasn’t sure but I thought I heard him curse softly to himself. “But Angel, I don’t want you to suffer, I want you to feel better. Whether you believe it or not, hugging helps.” He sounded dead serious, which prevented me from snorting at what he had said.

Almost mechanically, I grinded my teeth together almost pulling up a long buried image of my father, but I quickly repressed it. “No thanks. I’m good,” I said through clenched teeth and then quickly added, “My turn, right?”

Aiden was reluctant but relaxed and sat against the wall opposite of me. “Fine,” he grumbled, clearly irritated that we were moving on to a different conversation.

I pushed my mouth to one side as I thought, then to the other side as I thought some more. What did I want to ask him? Every question that came to mind was either about him being an assassin or about his fiancée and if I asked about her I knew I would just be torturing myself.

…So assassin questions it was.

“There’s something I don’t get about you,” I said, prepping him for my upcoming question. “If you’re known practically world wide as such a great assassin, then why…well…I guess you just don’t act like an assassin should. Or at least not like I would picture one.” I knew I hadn’t formed an actual question very well, but I didn’t want to ask him flat out why he acted so strangely.

From the way he was talking I could tell he was smiling, “I was wondering when you might ask me that. So, you’re wondering why I act the way I do. Right?” I nodded and Aiden continued, “For one thing, why would I act like any other assassin? It would be easy to spot me if I was skulking around in the shadows with a cloak on. If that doesn’t scream ‘assassin’ I don’t know what does. Besides, just because I’m good at killing doesn’t mean I have to be some crazed cold-hearted loner.” He shrugged his shoulders. “I was raised like any other kid. And I was just a kid that happened to be good at fighting, and I converted it to killing. That’s life for ya,” Aiden finished.

“Well, then does that mean--?” I couldn’t finish my sentence before Aiden interrupted.

“Wait, wait, wait. I believe it’s my turn Angel.” Aiden sounded like he was scolding me, which was hilarious in itself.

I held my question on the tip of my tongue and nodded for him to continue.

Aiden didn’t even have to think for his next question, which led me to believe that he had already been thinking about it. “Will you, please, let me hug you?” He somehow managed to make his eyes shinier, like he was on the verge of tears and my next words would break him to pieces they were anything but “yes”. I was surprised I could even see his eyes in the dim light, let alone see that they had gotten shinier.

Just let him give you the damn hug, I shouted at myself internally, and was thankful for the darkness that hid my hesitation as I battled with myself. “I don’t think so,” I replied sharply, as if racing my brain before it could betray me and change my words to something more positive.

By Aiden’s short silence, I could tell that I hadn’t hidden my hesitation as well as I thought I had. “Please, Angel?” he pleaded a second time, this time adding, “I promise you’ll feel better.”

“How old are you?” I asked suddenly, taking him by surprise.

“What? Uh, twenty. Why?” Aiden answered uncertainly.

“You’re older than me by two years and you’re more childish than me!” I exclaimed, hoping beyond hope that he would drop the topic and forget about it.

“I don’t care. Is that a yes?” he asked hopefully, standing up before I could respond.

“No! No it isn’t!” I said quickly, raising to my feet as well without even thinking.

“Oh…” Aiden said dejectedly then seemed to brighten up and ducked out of view, somehow finding shadows to hide in deeper into the cave.

“What are you doing?” I demanded nervously, twisting my hands together and trying to see through the shadows to where Aiden was hiding, but failing miserably.

“What was that Angel? You say you’re not ticklish? I could’ve sworn you were…” Aiden’s voice echoed off of the cave walls and I frowned, realizing what he was planning.

“You’d better not,” I murmured threateningly, knowing he had to be somewhere close by, so I backed up against my wall, glaring in random places.

“Don’t worry, Angel. I only promised I wouldn’t hug you, right? Well this isn’t a hug,” Aiden sounded downright gleeful.

“Aiden, I swear to God, I will kick your ass all the way back to Castle Burdock,” I threatened, still finding it impossible to spot him despite my frantic searching.

I heard him exhale on my right and stumbled left, only to stumble right into him. How the hell did he do that? I didn’t have time to find the answer to the question before he gently prodded my side with his fingertips. I tried to keep from laughing, but only managed to turn a snort of laughter into a snicker. “Aiden!” I objected, pulling away from him, despite my giggling.

“What’s that Angel? I can’t understand you, you keep laughing.” I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was smiling as he continued to assault my sides with careful prods.

A snort of laughter escaped me the next time Aiden attacked me with several jabs at my side. I squirmed away from him--or at least where I thought “away” was--but managed to bump into him again, making me wonder what awkward position he was in to block my escape and yet keep tickling me at the same time.

“Aiden…stop…it!” I objected between giggles, and I finally reached out with one arm to where I thought Aiden’s head was to try and hit him. Instead, I managed to plant my hand roughly on his chest. He hesitated. Big mistake.

I put all of my weight into my arm and pushed Aiden sharply against the wall--which I hadn’t known was nearby--and used my free hand to knock his hands away from my sides. Once that was done, I stiffened my fingers and struck the pressure points in one of his shoulders, while the other hand I grabbed in my own and pinned it to the cave wall beside him, adjusting my grip so that I was holding onto his wrist.

I was breathing heavily I realized, and tried to catch a breath, it was a mixture between maneuvering so quickly and laughing my ass off at something as ridiculous as tickling. What kind of guard was ticklish?

“You done?” I asked, once I was alright with breathing.

I couldn’t quite see his face, but I had a feeling he was still smiling. “I guess so, since I can’t move my left arm, and you’re holding the other one hostage,” Aiden replied, sounding just as cheery as he always did.

“Jeez,” I exclaimed with a huff of air. “I think I almost pissed my pants,” I pointed out and let go of Aiden’s arm and took my hand off of his chest.

I was trying to ignore the fact that even through two layers of shirts I could feel his well-toned pecs. I ordered myself not to melt on the spot, and my body complied, since it was too cold to melt anyway.

“That would be unfortunate, considering we don’t have any extra pairs of pants lying around,” Aiden mocked and I heard him walk and stand next to me, now allowing his silhouette to be seen due to the light coming from the mouth of the cave. He spun in a half circle and his left arm flapped against his body. “Could you fix this now? I won’t tickle you anymore. Promise.” Aiden’s facial expression was hard to see, but I grabbed his other hand, feeling carefully to make sure his fingers weren’t crossed.

“Alright. But I’ll need more light to find the right points,” I commented, dropping his hand and walking to the mouth of the cave. I shivered when a gust of wind rushed past me and turned my back to the cold.

Aiden was close behind and stood more in the light so I could see better. I easily found the counter points, although I had to feel around his broad shoulders from time to time to make sure I was still in the right general area. “There,” I said once I had pressed against the last counter point, putting more tension into the muscles so that they weren’t completely useless.

Aiden flexed his arm with a grin--which I could now see since we had gotten to the mouth of the cave. “Thanks, Angel,” he said, his arm now dropping to his side.

I shivered once again and hoped that Aiden hadn’t seen and tried to cover it up with a nod. One bad thing about caves, they absorb the weather around them. So, whether or not we were kept from being buried in snow, it was still cold as hell (not literally obviously) in the cave. “No p--” I started to stutter as my teeth chattered and cleared my throat to cover it up. “Problem,” I finished, glad that the lighting made my expression hard to read.

However, Aiden apparently had really good eyesight. Because it took him no less than a second to throw his arms around me and pull me tight against him.

“H-hey!” I exclaimed, pulling away from him, although by now you’d think I would know how useless of an effort this was.

“You’re cold, Angel,” Aiden told me firmly, refusing to let go, and in fact tightening his grip on me when I attempted to pull away.

I scrambled desperately for a reason for him to let go of me before my mind plagued me with thoughts that I really shouldn’t have been having. “You promised not to hug me!” I reminded him, still fighting against his grip, and still failing at getting free.

“Yeah, well, I’m no good at keeping promises,” Aiden said with a sound of amusement in his voice.

I only relaxed when my muscles refused to strive for such a futile goal. I heaved a breath of air and breathed back in, cursing myself when I caught a whiff of Aiden’s strangely spicy, yet cinnamony…no that wasn’t it. I couldn’t describe the smell with words other than: He smelled strongly of guy, and not sweaty, fat guy, but hot guy. You know, when you walk by a guy and he smells really good and then you look at him and he’s really hot? Yeah, that smell.

That was it, the selfish voice in my head took over for a brief moment and I couldn’t stop the words from coming out of my mouth in a whisper, “You smell--” I caught myself just before the next word came out, pinning my lips together, hopefully he didn’t hear that.

“What?” Aiden pulled away from me and held me at arms length.

Lady Luck…is a bitch. I don’t care what people say. And Lady Luck, sorry if you’re reading this, but it’s true, you really are.

I recovered quickly and replied in a disgusted tone, “You smell. Jesus, when was the last time you took a bath?” I demanded, smiling gleefully to myself at my quick thinking and acting skills.

Aiden laughed, taking no offense to the words, apparently he didn’t mind smelling bad. “Well, you don’t smell much better, you smell like those dungeons at Castle Burdock.” He wrinkled his nose to show his disdain for the smell, and to intensify the fact that it wasn’t a good smell.

Alright, that stung a little, since I knew it was perfectly possible for me to smell like that place. But then again, I was wearing two of Aiden’s shirts, so maybe I was getting worried over nothing. He was bluffing right? Yeah, he was bluffing. I don’t care what you say, I think he was bluffing.

“Hey. The snow’s slowing down,” Aiden said cheerfully, drawing me away from my self-assurances.

I looked out of the mouth of the cave curiously, and the snow was indeed slowing down. Already I could see objects that were hidden by snow: scraggly dead trees, boulders, twiggy bushes lacking leaves and any other scenery you could expect to see in the mountains.

I had forgotten Aiden’s hands were on my shoulders until he pulled me against him again, wrapping his arms tightly around me. “You warmer?” he wanted to know, looking down at me with a raised eyebrow.

I sighed, knowing the answer. I nodded once and Aiden grinned in triumph.

“See? I’m not that unpleasant to hug am I?” Aiden asked with a small laugh and--much to my surprise--pressed his lips carefully to my forehead.

It only took a fraction of a second for me to realize what had happened, and my body reacted immediately, and in the worst possible way. My face turned an unnatural shade of red and I fainted.