Chapter 3

A Chapter by Ellary™

On the run.

Chapter 3

Co's neck ached, as he sat up. He rubbed his head where he had been hit. He was in a cell, a jail cell. He stood up with dizziness, and looked around. Across the hall he could see Alba lying in the cell across from him. Was Ruzo the only one who had not been captured? He looked around for Ruzo, but he was nowhere. This was good; he could send help. He shook the bars on his cell to get Alba's attention. She laid there, motionless.

"Alba!" He called to her, but she made no sudden movements. "Alba, can you hear me?!" He sighed and sat against the rails. He tilted his head up, only to see a skeleton hanging from the bars above. Co flinched, and looked back at Alba's sleeping figure. How had she stood up to the men, unafraid? Even him; a man of 17, was too cowardly to do something about it. He heard Alba shift around, so he turned his head to look at her. She was sitting up right, her eyes open and all.

"Alba?" Co looked at her. But she couldn't hear him speak, it was only his lips moving, no noise was heard.

"What did you say?" She asked, but Co could not hear her as well.

"Are you trying to talk? Did you lose your voice?" Co asked.

"You have to actually speak for me to understand you." Alba looked at him.

"What are you saying?" Co shook his head, confused. He pulled a stick off the ground. He wrote in the sand.

'I can't hear you at all.' Alba followed his lead, and wrote also.

'I can't hear you either.' She looked at him, worried.

'I can hear myself. Do you think this is my Father's doings?'

'Defiantly.' Alba nodded at him. 'There must be some kind of blocking in between us that is sound-proof.' Alba's stick broke in half, causing her to jump. Co threw his head back and laughed at her startled response. Alba crossed her arms and glared at him.

'Stop laughing.' she wrote with half of her stick, but Co was laughing too hard to respond. He waved his hand, as a sign of 'alright, alright.'

When his humor charade was over, he looked around for a key, or a notch that could get them out. He saw the dial that needed to be turned. Beside it, a rat. An idea struck him. In the middle of the room, there is a slop bucket, filled with, well, slop. It was intended for his consuming, but he grabbed a little and flung it near the rat. The rat hustled towards the food, and ate it. Co felt a surge of victory, as he threw a little onto the churn, the rat ran around and uneasily climbed on, opening Alba's gate. Alba ran across the hall, up against Co's gate.

"Thank you!" She whispered as she ran to the dial to turn Co's gate. When his gate opened he ran out, past Alba.

"Follow me." He continued down the long, dark hallway.

"Do you know how to get out of here?" Alba looked at him.

"Not a clue." Co answered honestly.

"Great, just great." Alba rolled her eyes. As they neared the end of the hall, light began to shine on them. Co slowed down, and glanced around the corner.

"That's weird." Co looked around.

"What?" Alba asked, impatient.

"There's not a single guard over here." Co observed closer, making sure his eyes weren't deceiving him.

"Well then go." Alba pushed him from behind. He stumbled into the large room, but nothing happened. He glared back at Alba, referring to her careless move. She followed behind him, casually. She looked around for herself.

"What's with the sudden change in attitude?" Co asked Alba.

"I'm really not as nice as you give me credit for. You seemed interesting, so I decided to be your guardian. It had nothing to do with my mother's 'feelings,' or whatever I made up." She laughed.

"What about your Dad? You seemed really upset."

"He annoys me. I had to get rid of him somehow." Alba shrugged.

"Y-you devil." Co pushed his eyebrows together. "You're lucky you have a Father. If my Father cared even a fraction to me what your Father does for you, I would take advantage of him. Can't you just be grateful for what you have?" Co looked dead on at Alba. She looked guilty; then again, she didn't.

"Y-you're just like Ruzo-Ruzo." She took a step back. "I noticed you looked like him, but that speech, and the way you talk. It's too much!" She shook her head, and kneeled, tangling her hands in with her hair. She popped up a few seconds later."Guess I'll have to deal with it." Alba's stomach growled, causing Co's ears to perk.

"Hungry, are we?" He said in his automatic stern voice, as a continuum of his lecture. Alba looked down at her stomach.

"Yes." Alba did actually feel guilty now.

"Then lets get out of here." He walked away from Alba. Once they reached the giant door, they realized why there was no guards here to watch them.

"An ambush?" Alba peeked over Co's shoulder. "Who would want to attack this place?"

"Alba, that's my army." Co ran out to the battle field, Alba following. Co waved his hands in the air, trying to get his army to notice him. He crossed enemy lines, and once recognized, the army withdrew. Co ran after them as they retreated. As he was about to reach them, Alba grabbed his hand.

"I don't want to go back." She looked up at him innocently.

"Why not?" Co looked at her like she was crazy. Alba hesitated for a moment.

"Because-," She paused. " I can't tell you."

"What does it concern?" Co asked impatiently. He wanted her to hurry so he could get back.

"It concerns Ruzo-Ruzo." Alba bit the inside of her cheek nervously. "I have a theory, that I can't tell you." She let his hand go. "Go back if you need to, but I'm not leaving." Alba crossed her arms stubbornly. Co rubbed his forehead stressfully, not knowing what to do.

"You're so stubborn." Co shook his head, as he relaxed. He was in no hurry if he was staying here anyway.

"You're staying?" Alba squinted her eyes.

"Yes."

"That proves my theory then." Alba nodded her head. "I don't need to go back, sense you're Ruzo-Ruzo."

"What are you talking about? Are you blind now?" Co pushed his eyebrows together. "I'm Co. Co, you know, Cosani, the prince?" He stared her down, trying to shake her theory.

"I think Ruzo-Ruzo is you, but he's you if you hadn't gotten your eye messed up so many years ago. The healthy you lived on, while you formed, Ruzo Ruzo formed. He's you, only healthy."

"I'm healthy. What's all this un-healthy stuff? Why am I even questioning this. No matter how much i'm like Ruzo, i'm not Ruzo. I'm my own person. I hate the fact that you compare me with him."

"Then explain his Purple eyes. Only the royal family has purple eyes." Alba felt accomplished. She felt there was no way he could deny this.

"Maybe his parents had Blue eyes, close to purple but not quite, resulting purple." Co shrugged.

"I can't wait for the moment I get to tell you 'told you so.'" Alba was so sure on her theory, that she decided to find a way to prove it. "I'm sure Magfor will know for sure. Lets ask him."

"He's nearly 300 miles north. Just because we're not going back doesn't mean we have to become adventurers." Co slouched his shoulders, as a sign of laziness.

"You're just scared that I'll be right." Alba smirked.

"Alba, there's no way in a million years you could ever be right. Your theory is insane, and down right impossible." Co rolled his eyes.

"Do you understand it completely? I'm saying my Mother gave her life for you, right? I think sense she gave her whole life at such a young age, you didn't need all the years. So as a force of too many years, it created another you, a not mutated you. " Alba waited for his response, hoping he would believe her.

"You're stupid." Co walked away, towards his castle.

"Can't you just listen!?" Alba stomped her foot. "You had black hair when you were little, didn't you? After my mother's save to you, it was bleached white, right?" Alba stared at Co's back.

"So?" Co glanced over his shoulder.

"So!? Ruzo has Black hair and Purple eyes. Don't you find that just a little weird? Is it just a coincidence? That's what I thought at first, but after really meeting you, I knew it couldn't be." Co placed his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it, as a lack of words.

"I knew you were weird when you ate that thing off the floor, and then you sleep on the floor as well, but two me's? That's just a little... insane."

"Don't you call me insane, you... you stupid." Alba crossed her arms. "Your name is no longer Co. It's stupid."

"Whatever. If you're really not going to drop this until I prove you wrong, then lets go see Magfor." Alba felt she had already won. She knew she was right; then again, so did Co.

Co and Alba were off to see Magfor, to prove Co(or Alba) wrong.

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