PRP~Cutie~Chocolate

[Cutie7145]

Spectre paced around the cave. Her breath let out slowly. "I wish we wouldn't have to move again. I was getting comfortable." She said. Draakon scowled slightly. 'Shh. Have you practiced with that staff-thing yet?' A little guiltily, Spectre pulled out a thick staff, with knifes at each end. 'It's supposed to help you channel your magic. Hey, you can practice two things at once. Practice with the staff, and practice fighting while standing up on a moving dragon's back.' Spectre gave a shaky laugh. "Is that the last of it?" Draakon nodded. 'All we will need. No room for luxiries..' Spectre nodded, and again climbed onto Draakon's back. 'Ready?' "Ready." Draakon burst out of the cave.

Spectre slowly stood up on Draakon's back. Her footing was actually pretty steady. Spectre tried out a few steps before starting to practice. She screwed off the daggers and practiced with the red hatchling. At first she went terribly easy on him, for Spectre had noticed the hatchling was male, but her difficulty increased as they both got better.

"I'm going to try that eye thing." Spectre said. 'Don't...' But Spectre did. Her eyes turned purple and she looked downward. "Heighten your flight, he still follows." Spectre told Draakon. She sighed and sat on the dragon's broad back.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias took a break, trying to quickly attend to his wounds. They were superficial at best, only a few burns here and there for the most part, but he did have a rather worrisome gash on his back from his impact with the tree. He couldn't quite reach it to sew it up, and so she pulled out a long piece of cloth that he had with him. Pulling off his shirt, he wrapped it around his torso, tying the knot tightly in hopes of at least stopping the blood-flow.

"Ugh . . ." he winced, closing one eye and scrunching up his face in pain.

He had momentarily lost the dragon's trail, and that irked him. This job was quickly becoming more trouble than he had expected.

[Cutie7145]

Spectre wiggled her fingers at the baby dragon. She was attempting to teach it a few words in English and in Dragon. "Say Apple." She told him in Dragon. The dragon opened it's mouth. Spectre waited expectantly and-The dragon sneezed, sending a bright red flame towards Spectre. It singed her face. "Ouch!" She cried. "Ouch!" The dragon mimicked. "Apple." Spectre said after. "No." The dragon said. Spectre rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands in irritation. "No, no, no!" The dragon sang.

Spectre had fallen asleep on Draakon's back, with the red dragon hatchling cuddled up next to her. Draakon jarred suddenly. Spectre jolted awake. "Draakon, what-" Draakon hissed loudly. Spectre looked over the side, and they had lost several kilometers from the sky. Spectre saw a black bird, like a gigantic tic, with a sword-like beak stuck into the purple dragon's side. Spectre immediately knew it was the problem, but before she could react, Draakon crashed to the ground, sending tremors through the earth. Spectre took her staff and leapt off, stabbing the bird as she went. She grimaced. The bird's blood was...orange. Spectre buried the body and cleaned off her staff. She then started to clean off Draakon's side. The red hatchling watched for anyone coming close.

[DeathByChocolate]

The sun had set sometime ago, and Ananias was surrounded by darkness. The trees grew tall and cut the forest floor off from moonlight, but he was use to walking in shadow.

He walked through the forest swiftly and noiselessly, watching, listening, waiting for anything out of the ordinary; anything that might lead him to his target's position. The soft hoot of and owl and the rustle of leaves as a slight breeze blew through the trees was the only sound that could be heard; the occasional shadow as a nocturnal animal scurried passed all that could be seen. It was apparent that the group he was hunting had gotten pretty far ahead of him.

He continued walking, ignoring the sharp pain in his back every time he moved the wrong way. As the wind blew on his back, he felt the wetness that his blood created, and it seemed that the wound was still bleeding slightly. The faint metallic smell that sometimes reached his nose on the wind confirmed this. He would have to end this soon. If he didn't get his wound closed, it could be potentially fatal.

Ananias stopped short and strained his ears, believing he heard something that sounded out of the ordinary. He had not been standing there long when he heard a crashing sound and the ground beneath him shook.

"Hmm . . ." he said with a smile, "that sounded like a dragon falling out of the sky."

[Cutie7145]

Spectre shook Draakon slightly, which was difficult, considering she was a dragon. Draakon was passed out. Spectre sat on the ground next to the dragon, and stretched. There was no waking the purple dragon up. Spectre took the wing and stretched it over her. She sighed as the baby dragon took the first watch. Spectre looked at the purple material of the dragon wing. She returned it to Draakon's side and picked up the red baby, screwing the daggers onto the staff. She clenched it in one hand and stroked the dragon with the other.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias watched from the shadows as Spectre sat waiting for her dragon to awaken. As he watched her, he thought about what his best move would be. Obviously, he had the element of surprise, which was a powerful tool. He just had to think about how to use it correctly.
He breathed in sharply to clear his head. The pain of his wound was increasing by the minute, and Ananias was finding it difficult to ignore. He gritted his teeth and stood up from his crouching position.

"Ahugh!"

When he stood, the wound on his back tore slightly, and he could not help crying out in pain. He cursed himself silently. He was hidden only feet away from Spectre, and there was no way she could not have heard.

[Cutie7145]

Spectre stood up quickly as she heard a noise. The hatchling hissed, and Spectre's staff turned to fire. Spectre held it up, and her voice was soft again. "Please, for once, just leave us alone!" Draakon stirred slightly. "No, you need to rest." Spectre turned her attention to Draakon. The little hatchling flew over to where it had heard the sound to investigate. Spectre rubbed Draakon's side in comfort. She looked over to the hatchling and ran to it, freezing as she was standing right in front of Ananias. Spectre stared straight at him, clutching the hatchling in her hands.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias looked up from where he was hunched over on his knees, one arms holding him up, and the other cradled around his torso. He came face to face with Spectre. She looked as if she were shocked to see him. Though he wasn't sure who else she thought it would be. He laughed, knowing that at the moment he must not look very intimidating. Once he got started laughing, he couldn't seem to stop himself.

"It seems you've caught me at a disadvantage," his laugh turned into a cough as he tried to stand up. He was weak, he had lost a lot of blood, and he knew there was no way he could fight this girl. "You may as well kill me now. It doesn't matter, I'm going to die anyway."

[Cutie7145]

Spectre looked at him. “I can’t kill...” She nearly whispered, and backed up slightly. “I can’t, I can’t...” She leaned backwards and took a step backwards. She closed her eyes. “I can’t..” Her voice was whispering. Spectre shook her head. Tears came to her eyes. “Please...I am tired of this...kill me...” Spectre stepped forward, dropping in front of Ananias. “You don’t even have to make it quick, if you don’t want to...I can't kill...I want to die, anyway..."

[DeathByChocolate]

A look of shock and disbelief was plain on Ananias's face. He could not believe what he was hearing. He looked at the girl before him, now at eye level, and the pain in her eyes was evident.

He clenched his jaw. Now was the time for him to be strong. He had this girl at his mercy. It would be so easy. Once he killed her, he could see that the dragon was unconscious, and he wouldn't even have to fight it. He almost laughed at his luck. From a assassin's point of view, this was the best possibly outcome. It seemed the stars were aligned for him.

Don't look in her eyes he told himself. He picked up his sword and slowly stood. He looked down at her bent head, his breathing quickening. His hand clenched tightly around the sword, turning his knuckles white. At the moment, all he seemed to feel was anger. He was angry at himself for hesitating. He was angry at the girl for looking so innocent and helpless. Do it! he ordered himself, though he already knew it was futile.

"No," he finally said in a gruff voice, "No . . . I will not kill you."

[Cutie7145]

Spectre kept wondering what was taking so long. When he spoke, Spectre's head jerked up. "What..? Why not?" Was this some way to make her suffer more? She looked at Ananias. "Why?" Her voice said softly again.She slowly stood. Behind her, her purple dragon stirred. She crouched low to the ground and hissed when she saw Ananias. Spectre still stared at him.

[DeathByChocolate]

"Why!?" he asked, his anger rising. Why couldn't she just run like any normal human being? "You want to know why? Fine, I'll tell you why. Because the guilt that would haunt me for the rest of my life after killing an innocent girl is not worth the money I'm being paid. I'm well aware that I'm not a good man, but . . . the people I kill aren't like you. They're evil, and I have no guilt after I've ended their lives. But you . . ." he trailed off, realizing he was a lot closer to Spectre than he had realized. He took a few steps back and bent his head. "You've done nothing wrong. You haven't hurt anybody."

Even as Ananias spoke, he grew more and more angry with himself for not having the strength to kill her and get it over with. But, he had already made his desicion.

"Now, if your finished asking me meaningless question, I think I'll be on my way," he said turning to leave, wincing at the pain in his back as he did so.

[Cutie7145]

Spectre winced slightly at his yelling. As he started to leave, she reached out and touched his back. The wound sealed it'self. Spectre spoke softly. "A life for a life..." She dropped her hands and turned around, going to Draakon. 'What were you thinking??' She asked, silently. Spectre didn't answer, and the red hatchling went back over to Ananias. It stared up at him with wide, red eyes.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias froze where he stood as soon as she touched him. When he felt the effects of that touch, he stood shocked. His wound was completely healed. It no longer hurt, and the bleeding had stopped. Ananias turned to look at her, but she had already started to walk away. As he began to walk forward, he noticed the small dragon hatchling at his feet, staring up at him. He was never one to become attached easily to animals, but even he had to admit it was kind of cute. He stayed motionless, looking down at it as it looked up at him.

"Umm . . . hello?" was all he could think to say.

[Cutie7145]

The hatchling blew out some flame at Ananias. "Hello." The hatchling said back. "You weren't polite. Your s'posed to say thank you." The little dragon said, ruffling it's scales. "Your s'posed to be polite, 'cause if you don't, you won't have any friends." The hatchling stood up and rubbed Ananias's leg, rather like a cat, then walked off to join Spectre, who was picking up the spilled dragon eggs and listening to Draakon's lecture. The dragon hatchling sat on the ground and looked at the sky.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias blinked, confused. He had no idea dragons could speak so young. He stood for a moment, looking in Spectre's direction. Without thinking, he walked over toward her. When he was a few, careful yards away, he stood uncomfortably wondering why he hadn't just walked away.

"Umm . . ." he began awkwardly, "thank you . . . for whatever it was you did. You didn't have to do that. You could have just let me die."

[Cutie7145]

Spectre stood slowly. Her voice was soft when she spoke. "I told you. Life for a life." She stared at Ananias. "Your welcome." She said after awhile. "I can't let people die. It makes me feel…horrible." Spectre kept staring at Ananias.

[DeathByChocolate]

Ananias looked away, clenching his jaw. He could not understand why he wasn't just walking away, but he could not bring himself to. He tapped his foot on the ground lightly as he tried to think of what to say.

"I'm, uh, sorry . . . for what I did. I know that you can't exactly trust me, but . . . I was just wondering if I could help you. When the King finds out I failed, which he will, he'll send someone else. I can protect you . . . if you'll let me. It's just . . . I owe you. I wouldn't have made it out of this forest alive if not for you."

[Cutie7145]

Spectre turned back to Ananias. She stared at his face, thinking…One human and two dragons would be enough to beat him if he lied. Besides, she needed the help. Spectre looked into Ananias's eyes. "Very well." She said simply, and turned her back again on Ananias.