Book One: Chapter Four

Lucy gets a clue, and just more to piss off Zak, of course.

"Shut up!!"

I must have repeated those two words fifty times by now.

"Can't you just answer me?"

She still wouldn't shut her mouth.

"Hello?!"

Shut up shut up shut up shut up shut up....

I continued to make my way through the forest at my own pace, not caring whether she was keeping up or not. There was a loud sigh behind me, and complete silence following. Oh thank god...

I hopped over a fallen tree trunk with ease, landing on the wide surface. I looked down at the girl, who was standing beside the trunk, looking right back at me with olive green eyes. Her thick caramel-colored hair fell to the middle of her back, and her short bangs were swept to the side of her face.

"Okay... now that you shut up... er... you." I began awkwardly, trying to word it correctly.

"It's Lucy. Lucy White." She corrected, her tone free of any irritation. I raised an eyebrow in confusion, but shook my head, blowing it off.

"Alright then... Lucy... I'll tell you what I want to tell you, then you see if you have anything else to ramble on about. Got it?"

The girl nodded her head in response, looking up at me patiently.

I crossed my arms, and began to explain... even if I wasn't exactly sure where I was myself. "Well... You're definitely no where near home, I've gathered that for myself. We're in some insane forest, I'm not even sure what this damned place is... Just woke up here one day. I've been here for a while, like... a week or two. So I've kinda figured this place out in that time. Just think of it as some weird survival game... 'cept if you lose, you're dead. But that's obvious, this isn't some stupid preschool game." I rolled my eyes as I mentioned the thought of children's games. "Anyway, almost anything you encounter here is your enemy, unless they're like you and me."

"'Like you and me'? What do you mean by tha-"

"Didn't I say ask when I'm done?" I growled, cutting off the stupid girl as she completely disobeyed what I said earlier. Lucy flinched and looked down, mumbling a, "Sorry, continue."

I sighed, looking away, trying to think of where I left off. "Oh great," I huffed, my eyebrow twitching in irritation, "now I forgot what I was going to say next. Thanks a lot." My eyes narrowed at her coldly, and she looked up to me again.

"I said I was sorry, didn't I? I'm just really confused right now, remember I just ended up here recently." The girl said boldly, defending herself more than I thought the little princess was capable of.

I stared at her blankly in response, shifting my weight on the tree trunk. "Just... ask your questions now. I don't care."

After a short moment of hesitation, Lucy politely asked, "Uhm, can you answer my recent question then?"

"The one about us? ...Don't you know what I meant by that already?" When she shook her head no, my eyebrows raised in question. "You don't know what we are?" 

"Well, I'm a teenage girl, you're a teenage boy, and we both ended up in this weird place. What else is there to know?"

I just facepalmed. How could she be so unaware of everything... "Haven't you ever realized how different you were to everyone else? How much stronger, faster, more agile, than all the people around you? Didn't you ever notice how you could see, hear, smell, and feel things no one else could?" As I went down the list, I began to to think the worst. Maybe she's not even one of us at all... but she endured Raven's soul manipulation just like me, any normal human would have been killed by something so powerful... When I turned to her again to go on, Lucy was holding her head in her hands, shaking slightly. Was she crying? Come on, it's not that terrible.

As I thought this, Lucy lifted her head and put her hands by her side; no tears were present. "So... I really am different." She laughed half-heartedly, smiling sadly to herself. 

...Was she laughing? Is this chick mentally stable? 

"I noticed I was those things as a kid, but I just..." she paused mid-sentence, then shook her head, "I acted like everyone else instead."

There was a small pause between us, a silence so dreadfully quiet it seemed to hang in the atmosphere around us.

"Well..." I began, breaking the painful silence. "I guess you could say we're superhumans. Or something like that, at least that's how I see it."

Lucy's olive eyes stared into mine, brightening a bit when she made eye contact with me. I turned my head quickly, focusing on some random bushy plant to the right of me. God I hate eye contact...

But out of the corner of my eye, I could see her smiling a bit, although her eyes had moved away from me.

God this girl is so awkward to be around.

"Any more questions?" I asked, still looking away from her.

There was another short pause. "That Raven guy. Who was he?"

I cringed at the mention of that b*****d's name. "He's an a*****e. That's who he is." I answered simply, but when she continued to stare with questioning green eyes, I figured I had to explain. "...He calls himself an Elite. I have no idea what the hell that is, but there are more. They have superhuman qualities like us, but that b*****d... it's like he's better. And it pisses me off."

"Is he the only one who seems stronger?" Lucy asked.

"Pff, I've only encountered two. Him and some girl. But I've never interacted with the girl, I just saw them together once."

"Hmm, so what if she was actually one of us?" She continued to ask her stupid questions.

"Of course not. Raven goes against anyone like us, he would have attacked her. I've seen him fight some kids a few times, and even kill one once. Elites are bad news. They're more powerful and merciless, f*****g disgusting." I growled harshly, the images of Raven flickering in my mind, like some stupid mosquito that refuses that leave you alone. ...I wish I could squash him like one though. "...My main goal right now is to get rid of all the Elites."

Lucy nodded, and looked down, her green eyes narrowed and thoughtful. "Okay, so that thing he did with our souls. How was he able to do that?"

I groaned, coming to the one topic I didn't want brought up. But she won't shut up if I don't answer... "That's what I meant by more powerful. He can do that, we can't. Raven can manipulate souls. But he can only work with two souls. He can connect them, repel them, yada yada... And his f*****g weapon is needles. Figures, how the smallest, most seemingly harmless pointy object is his weapon."

Lucy stared at me blankly. "...He fights... with needles. A common household object. This scary rapist fights with needles."

"Yeah, but he does some weird s**t with them. He can materialize tons of them and throw weird tornado things at you, they're not exactly easy to go against."

Her olive eyes scanned my entire body up and down as I said this, like they were glued to me.

"What?" I snapped, feeling extremely violated by her wandering eyes.

She blinked and focused on my face instead, then pointed at me. "All of those wounds and tears. You got that from Raven's needles... right?"

I shifted my weight awkwardly, scratching the back of my head, and murmured a, "Yeah."

Hm. At least she's not as stupid as I thought.

But then she leaped up high, landing on the tree trunk with perfect balance. A wide smile appeared after she landed, and her face lit up. But then she turned to me, her eyes losing their brightness and softening with concern. "You know, you should probably get cleaned up, that's a lot of blood... Do they still hurt?" She gently took my arm, examining the multiples cuts and dried blood. But then my body grew hot, like the fifth layer of Hell just decided to fall on top of me, and it stiffened up until I felt frozen in place.

"That's none of your concern!" I snapped, and yanked my arm away... until I realized what arm she had taken. The arm attached to the shoulder that was thrown against a tree earlier that day. The arm that had just thrown a wave of pain into that shoulder from the violent pull. The arm I completely forgot about.

"F**k!" I stumbled back, clutching my shoulder with my free arm. It felt like it had just been set on f*****g fire. I dropped down to the surface of the trunk in an awkward sitting position, hunching over a bit.

When my eyes shifted up once, I saw Lucy in front of me. She was on her hands and knees, leaning towards me, and she wore a horrified expression across her face. "Oh s**t, what did I do?!"

I let out a quiet sting of curses, damning that Elite b*****d to Hell to frolic with demons. But I refused to respond.

After a moment of hesitation, Lucy frowned, and crawled closer to me. "Let me help you, please!" She begged.

Even if I wanted her to help, I knew there was nothing for her to do. "Just leave me be..." I growled, the intense pain turning my response colder and more harsh than intended. Then I looked away from her, focusing on the rough bark beneath me instead. But when I looked up again, she was sitting on the opposite end of the tree trunk, staring at her feet dangling over the side silently.

--

"...I have to materialize my own weapon??"

Yeah. She just got annoying again.

The two of us had wandered off, as I began to explain weapons to Lucy. And I still had to check behind me every few minutes to make sure she hadn't wandered off like a retard.

"Did I stutter? We all can. It just comes to us when we come here, 'cause god knows I couldn't do this before..." I flicked my wrists in a familiar motion, as my two guns appeared in my hands with a small flash. Lucy's eyes widened as she admired the twin weapons, until they disappeared with another quick movement of my wrists.

"Do I have guns, too?" She asked, attempting to move her wrists in the same way.

"Maybe, but I've never seen anyone else with them."

"...So how do I do it."

"How do you summon them?" I kicked down a small tree in the way and continued to walk, trying to think of a way to explain something so simple to an idiot. "Well... you just kinda... open your hand, and think of your weapon... I guess." I turned around and faced her, expecting her to try it out.

Lucy looked beyond confused, but she held out her hand, closed her eyes, and waited.

And waited.

But s**t happened.

And when I say s**t I mean nothing.

I sighed, turning back around and continuing to walk. "It's easier once you summon it the first time."

Her feet lightly pounded the earth as she caught up with me. "So how can I summon it the first time then?!"

"Be patient..." I grumbled, pushing a clump of hanging leaves aside. "You'll get it sometime."

"How did you get it the first time?"

"Uh... I think I was fighting an animal. I don't use my guns as much, usually just myself... It just appeared when I needed it."

But then Lucy skipped up beside me, leaning her head towards me curiously. "You were fighting an animal? Did it attack you?"

I continued to look ahead as I responded. "Yeah, the animals are part of the survival thing I mentioned."

"What kind of animal attacks you?" She asked, her voice dripping with disbelief. "I don't understand..."

"These animals... They're not like the stuff we've seen before..." I answered roughly, trying to contain my temper that I was quickly losing. 

Question after question after question...! Can she be any more stupid?! It's not that difficult to comprehend...

"So... what are you saying?"

I sighed loudly, and tried to explain in the most simple manner... again. "Animals. Yeah. They're different. Terrifying. Understand now?" 

My voice was full of annoyance, could she not tell?

Lucy simply stared back at me, and once again... "I'm sorry... I really don't understand."

I honestly thought that a vein was going to pop.

"For god's sa... never mind!"

I continued walking through the underbrush, not even bothering to see if she was behind me anymore.

But when I turned around, I was a little irritated to see her right. behind. me.

...I'm going to murder Raven. Kill him painfully... Slowly...

"Where are we going anyway?"

Lord, does she ever shut up?

"Just... don't fall behind." I replied bluntly, and lunged into the trees immediately. I kept jumping from tree to tree, faster and faster...

But then it hit me.

I stopped in my tracks, Lucy landing right behind me.

...Apparently she could keep up. But that wasn't important.

My hair was on end, my heart beat quickening. An animal was nearby. Lucy looked at me with unease.

"Zak... Why do I feel-"

"Shh!" I hushed her, smacking my hand over her mouth. She shot me a dirty look, but didn't continue her endless blabbering. I peeked around a tree and some shrubs, spotting a small clearing, and in it, there the animal lay. I sighed, and faced her. "It's an animal, that's why your body reacted that way. But it's just a-"

"Animal? Oh thank god, I can see what you mean now!" Lucy interrupted me, shoving me aside to look.

She didn't move as she stared at the animal.

I only smacked myself in the forehead.

"It's... so..." she began, her voice quivering a bit. "...ADORABLE!!"

And before I knew it, the brunette was racing into the clearing, and completely attacking the animal with a hug.

Of course. It was a lion. One of the only few harmless animals, that look like plush toys. 

But... I wasn't expecting THAT reaction...

As I looked over at Lucy, she was sitting on her knees, squeezing the lion in her arms with the biggest smile ever... I could've sworn I saw hearts floating around her or something.

"Zak! ZakZakZak!" She called, squealing a bit. 

I sighed, and stepped into the clearing. She stared at me with huge puppy dog eyes, almost suffocating the lion.

"Let's keep it!"

"...What? No! It'll just get in the way!"

"I'm gonna name you Poofa!"

"Wh-What the hell?!"

"Or Fluffy!"

"Didn't I say no?!"

"Mr. Snufflekins!"

"If you're gonna name it, at least make it normal!"

--

She kept the damn thing. Lucy kept that stupid cat.

We were sitting in the same clearing in a makeshift campsite, since it had begun to grow dark. Lucy was sitting on her jacket across from me, cuddling the lion in her arms. A small fire burned in between us, and I was surprised to see the lion wasn't repelled by it's flames... most animals avoid it. I could only guess that the harmless animals were different.

"You're so cute... and so fluffy... AWWWW YOU'RE JUST ADORABLE...." Lucy continued to ramble on with that disgusting mushy stuff as she pet that damn cat. She had been going on like that for at least 15 minutes now.

I narrowed my eyes as I stared at the flames licking the air, trying to tune out her obnoxious... whatever she was doing. But it wasn't working out very well.

God I wanna throw that fluff ball into the fire.

The lion had begun to squirm, and Lucy set it down on the ground, releasing it from her arms.

Yes! OH GOD YES! Run away! Run far away you disgusting pest!

But it just waltzed over to me like the retard it was.

...So close to the fire... Just one shove should do it...

"Button! Come here, boy." Lucy called to the lion.

...Oh yeah... She named it Button...

The fluff of retardation pranced back to Lucy like it didn't have a damn care in the world. 

Oh how that thing disgusts me.

After a few more moments of Lucy losing her mind over Button, she looked at me.

"Hey Zak... what if Button gets hungry?"

...She cares more about that thing's hunger than her own?!

"We'll just... discuss that tomorrow. Yeah. Tomorrow I'll tell you how to do all that s**t." I grumbled, deciding to put it off until tomorrow. I could just escape all this gross fluffy crap by sleeping... for now.

I plopped down on my side, and rolled over, so my back was facing her.

"Can't you just tell me now?"

"...Goodnight."

"You're going to sleep? I just asked a simple ques-"

"GOODNIGHT. LUCY."

My response was met by complete silence. So I shut my eyes, tried to clear out all the stupid thoughts from today's events, and slowly drifted to sleep.

Author's Note

Is this short?
...Whatever.
This would've been posted a while ago, but I lost the entire chapter I had written. So I got pissed and didn't feel like writing it all over again. So here you are, about 2 or 3 weeks after that happened.
Now good day, I'm not proofreading cause I am a lazy sloth.

Reviews

[halflives]

NOES 'TIS NOT SHORT.

HELLYESIT'SPUBLISHED. IMMA OBSESSIVELY REVIEW NOW.

That. Was. Amazing.

Zak is my new favorite character. He's so annoyed-ish and sarcastic and fhjgergpergerg i luffles him.

Lucy's oblivious -- as usual -- and that just contributes to the awesomeness of her character. LUFFLES IT.

LUFFFSSSSSS IT.

MUST READ MOOOORE. (see previous chapter for my threats~)

HAPPY KINGDOM HEARTSING.

[r]

---But s**t happened.
And when I say s**t I mean nothing.-- XDDDDD. i love that. gfghdkfgh. friggin great.

LOLOLOLOL. POOFA. FLUFFY. POOFAPOOFAPOOFA. RAYNE WILL BE ESTATIC. LMFAO. LOL'GIDKLFGYHKDUFKGIDG. i love you [nh] right now. xD THANK YOU FOR FINALLY F*****G POSTING THIS. IT TOOK YA LONG ENOUGH, THATS FOR DAMN SURE.

BUTTON. SHE NAMED IT BUTTON. SHE IS F*****G EPIC. AND INSANE.

I understand the pissedatitcauseitgotdeletedit thing. cause ive done the same thing, 'cept usually i dont wait A DAMN MONTH before retyping it. >:3 muwahaha.

Okay. That was a short review. ahwhateveritdoesntreallymatter.

Mmmm, I loved this. Annnndd Zak is f*****g awesome, as you know, and I am his number one fangirrrrl. And I WANT A F*****G LION ITSNOTFAIRGODDAMMIT. And. That's it, I think. SOOOOOOOOOO. Goodbye. Don't take abazillgillion more months to write the next chapter. :DDD Please. .____.