Andrew

He ran through wet cobblestoned streets and dark alleys to catch Natalie turning the next corner. She couldn’t have gotten that far. He left the gathering quickly in order to reach her. Andrew figured she was going back to the three prongs Inn. Once there, she’ll throw herself in bed and pretend that she’s asleep until she feels that his ‘transgressions’ were paid. He could not let that happen.

He might have been too direct with the words he whispered to Natalie. They were true, but... He’d normally let things play out as they were. Natalie’s rebelling phase would ebb in her own time, but today time was the one thing they lacked. Natalie needed to understand that what he said was the best outcome for both of them. He will add himself to the ranks with these hunters if it means solving the problem here a second sooner.

The air was still damp from Natalie’s recent outburst, for a while now Andrew was worried that she’d taken another route home just to avoid him until he caught her turning a corner under the dimmed light down the far end of the road he ran onto.

“Natalie!” She stopped at hearing her name. Natalie looked alone under the cast of the lone street lamp, vulnerable like she would vanish into the darkness if he blinked right now. Spurred on by this thought, Andrew jogged over to reach her.

“It’s your choice Andrew, just don’t expect me to choose others over your mum like you.” Andrew slowed almost to a halt when he heard that.

“Is that fair?” Andrew asked.

“It’s never been fair,”

“That’s never stopped us before.”

“Well, maybe it should have!” Natalie snapped, her purple eyes teaming with her anger. Andrew blinked. This was not like her. Seeing his questioning eyes, she bowed her head and sighed. “The Stars of Halo are enough as is, we failed to save children back there, and there are villages whose way of life was shattered because of my inability to see the lengths they will go to get a hold of me.” pained by her grief Natalie looked down at her hands then, “Maybe it’s best I keep my failings from being adding to there problems.”

Concerned, Andrew stepped towards her, to which Natalie took an equal step back. As she moved away from the lone light, half her body from the leg up to her waist faded into a barely visible silhouette. She was harbouring guilt, he realised, guilt for the state of Lucas, guilt for the complications that he caught wind of among the Nuzi tribe. The guilt of knowing that despite all her efforts, she still failed to save all the children from the clutches of these halo bastards. And now his mother could be next. Natalie was already trying to juggle all these priorities in her mind. There were only so many burdens she could pile on herself before it became too much.

“Maybe we could have been a little more careful, or done things a little differently,” Andrew said. “But would that have made a difference? I don’t know. Either way, I doubt your helping here is going to hurt any.”

“But then what about your mother?! Every second wasted here means-”

“-I know!” Andrew snapped. Natalie blinked to surprise at that. It took that moment for Andrew to realise that his hands were shaking. After his showing at the gathering, Andrew thought he had a better handle on his conflicting emotions, but it looks like it was all bravado. Taking a deep breath, he continued.

“I know you’ve made a pledge to do what it takes to save my mother, and I appreciate that. But I’ve accepted that whatever problem they have going here will impede that until it’s dealt with.” Andrew said.

“You don’t know that,”

“And even if I knew, would it matter?” Andrew raised an eyebrow as in implying back to something he’d mentioned to her already. Natalie quickly got his meaning because as soon as he did so, she frowned and shook her head emphatically.

“You’re wrong, there is nothing I… I have no interest in helping these people.”

“Is it because you’re remaining ignorant of their struggles? If so, then it’s like I said.” Andrew said.

“I…” Natalie hesitated, looking down at her feet. She hugged one arm tight with the other hand. Andrew stepped forward once more.

“So, which is it? Because no matter what happens tomorrow, I intend to make it to Aqua Falls regardless of the outcome here. Flynn and Sophie agree's with me.”

“Nice job involving them in all of this,” Natalie mumbled accursedly.

Was it not you who allowed them to travel with us, to begin with? Andrew thought,

“I did not involve them. They came here of their own volition.” Andrew said. Natalie bit her lip in frustration at that.

“I’m thankful that you came out here to get things moving along for my sake. If there was an option that had me back by my mother’s side sooner, I’d take it. But try to tell me that what I said before is not true. I need to hear you say that you are truly ok with leaving this village and their problems behind before I reconsider anything. Well?”

Clenching her jaw, Natalie’s eyes swam into conflict. Andrew waited patiently for her response until he heard someone shout his name from behind. Turning around, Andrew saw a girl with braided red hair jog their way towards them.

“There you are! For a moment I thought I’d have to knock at every inn to…” Her voice slowed as she got closer. “Sorry, but weren’t you chasing your friend?” Baffled, Andrew turned around to Natalie only to realise that she was not there. Besides the newcomer, he was all alone on the street. She must have slipped away the moment he turned around. Cursing to himself, Andrew peered into the night, trying to glimpse her, but to no avail. How did he not hear her leave? If she ran away, how is it that even after knowing she’s vanished, is he still unable to hear her footfalls down the street? With only him and the newcomer around, there should not have been many other sounds to mask someone trying to escape.

Damn it Natalie, why do you have to be so stubborn!?

“Is… this a bad time?” the girl behind her said carefully. Andrew realised then that he was putting on a face and so calmed himself down.

“No, it’s fine just,” Andrew took a better look at the girl then, her eyes were a sharp blue. He noted the bow and a few arrow tips strapped to her back. The most strange thing about her was ironically something Andrew had spotted many other hunters had around their necks at the gathering. It was some kind of gas mask. “You’re the one sitting by the roundtable,” Andrew said. She nodded. “Can I help you?”

The girl hesitated to ask at first. But her eyes brightened however as she pulled the mask over her neck and handed it to Andrew all matter-of-factly.

“It’s a gas mask. You’re going to face the big demon with us? You’re gonna need it. It’s spewed out poison gas. You can’t get in close without being affected.” Andrew frowned at the mask held between them like a bizarre creature caught in a mousetrap. After some frowning, Andrew gingerly took it.

“Thanks… but what about you?”

“I’ll make a new one,” she shrugged. Andrew smiled in thanks, but this only made him more unsure of what it was he will face tomorrow. He was about to say as much until Andrew caught the girl staring at him. That got Andrew’s eyes to widen a little until he realised she was not so much her gazing at him than through him. As if trying to glean something out of him. It was the look Natalie had given him once as they travelled through the desert.

“Was there something else?” he said. He’d expected her to blink back to the now and look embarrassed. Strangely, however, a fervent flame burned at the back of her eyes as she saw something in him he himself did not understand.

“You said that you saw a gigantic wolf?” she said. The question intrigued a small part of him, but Natalie’s vanishing act stole the rest of his attention. He’d love nothing more than to excuse himself and get the answer off of her before she reached the Inn.

“Yeah, I saw him. What of it?” he said, his eyes once again scanning the surrounding streets. Because of that, it surprised Andrew when the girl suddenly stepped even closer to him, her fervent eyes overflowing with relief and hope.

“You said that it could have killed you but didn’t, right?!” she exclaimed. Andrew gave a face of blank amusement to that.

Like I want to be reminded. Instead of saying that aloud Andrew said: “I said as much in the gathering,” She must have missed his point in her good mood because the next thing Andrew knew he was being bombarded with a list of other questions. ‘What exactly happened out there?’ ‘how many wolves were chasing you?’ and ’how did you escape the Alpha king’s presence?’ With a strop of his head, Andrew gave into the integration. The girl easily understood the first two questions he answered. It was when he came to the last question that she perked up.

“Griffin was bleeding?!” Andrew nodded. He was in the middle of explaining why he thought the alpha king allowed him to live. To Andrew, it simply looked like he was saving his energy for healing its wounds. Besides the sudden rush of pain to his skull and the fact that the alpha king defended him from its own pack, this was one of the main things that bothered him about the entire ordeal.

“And this all happened when the demons became a problem. Not to mention when the sentinel suddenly ran off. There’s something connecting Griffin’s wound to all of this, I know it!” she said. Andrew frowned a moment.

“Maybe it’s this demon big you guys are having trouble killing that injured him. Sure, the wolf is tough, but you make the demon sound pretty formidable as well.” Andrew said. The girl gave him a surprised look at this before casually dismissing it outright.

“I’ve seen both in a battle, got a feel for their strength first hand. The demon is a crafty thing, but if it was a one-on-one fight, then Griffin cannot lose.”

“What makes you so sure of that?” Andrew asked.

“We almost killed the demon ourselves, if it weren’t for the forest fire and… are you even listening?” Andrew realised that once again he had already turned around to make his way around the corner Natalie must have taken. Hearing her plea he walked backwards and said: “I am, but I really need to go, I’ll be among you people in the next fight so you really don’t have to brief me on everything now because-” Andrew was about to turn right at the next corner until he saw Natalie leaning against the wall. She watched him from the corner of her eye. Her face was unreadable all except a stubborn sense of pride keeping her planted in place even though it would expose her. And the surrender to her feelings of empathy. Although she wanted to run away and play in ignorance, she could not help it. Andrew’s shock at her presence quickly got replaced with this full understanding.

“-But I need you to tell me everything that happened out there with the wolves in more detail! This cannot wait for tomorrow! Everyone’s about to make a big mistake. Our way of life depends on this!” the girl said, her voice cracked at the end. She was panting now, her face red as if she’s on the brink of a breakdown. From the corner of his eye, Andrew noted how Natalie clenched the bicep of her arm at hearing the other girl’s words. Pulling his eyes away from Natalie, Andrew did his best to hold back a content smile at what she just saw before putting on his best impression of suddenly changing his mind about leaving.

“So that guy got what he wanted in the end,” Andrew said. The girl nodded. “Stiff headed fool,” Andrew mumbled. He knew his type when he saw him. People with a good tongue and little regard for the things they cannot imagine being possible. Chasing around kidnappers that seldom ever let to a find made Andrew and Natalie meet meany a practical plank.

“Sawyer has the right of it to a degree. I trust him to deal with the demons. Even if I don’t like him.” She said.

“You're wiser than me,” Andrew mumbles.

“His men’s fate is tied with ours,“ she shrugged. “It’s him lumping our guardians into the same camp as the demons where there’s a problem. I tried to stop it-make everyone sees reason but... If the wolves show up again in our next fight against the demon, then everyone here is going to die!” the girl’s voice cracked once again by the last sentence. As she took in long breaths, as if to keep herself from crying, Andrew bowed his head in understanding. Losing a village to demons was a sad thing. And even if the village survives, it’s never the same. “You said that you felt like Sawyer was bending things to his way earlier, well I know he is! But even knowing that I could change nothing, could not even convince my own people to believe me over that man! Now I’m not sure what I can do to stop it.” Andrew felt some kind of sympathy for the girl despite expecting some kind of crisis coming from her from the get-go. And if he’s feeling sympathy then… glancing over the street corner and seeing Natalie’s pain reaction to this revelation, Andrew bowed his head in a slow nod.

“Do you have a name?” he asked the girl. Taken aback, she sighed to herself as if trying to decompress.

“It’s Gracie,” she said. “You’re named Andrew right? I recall your friend saying that much,” Andrew nodded. Turning away from the street corner, he walked towards Gracie with hands in his pockets.

“Well, Gracie, here’s the deal. I can’t promise my accounts will be of any use since I told you much of it. But either way, l want to hear your story afterwards,” Andrew said. Gracie frowned.

“Sure, but… why the sudden interest?”

Was Natalie still standing there? She could have walked off, and should have given her objections. Andrew knew it conflicted Natalie. He himself was still mixed about jumping into this whole situation so suddenly. Natalie was stubborn, and it took a while to get through to her… but.

Maybe she is closer to deciding than I thought. Andrew blinked from his thoughts to see Gracie look at him, her looming question still in her eye. Andrew shrugged.

“I’ll fight with you guys either way, but hearing about your struggle here might be some healthy motivation,” he said with a toothy grin.

“You’re going to tell your friend,” Gracie said.

“Fine, you got me,” Andrew said, raising his hands. “She’s earnest, but I guess even that can be a burden.”

“The one who brought the storm,” Gracie mumbled. “If she can bring down rain like she did, then not only will that help the aqua knights in their task, but maybe the flame knights can fight with less worry about burning the forest.” It was not a question of whether she could have even how she’s able to do it. It was a statement, Andrew noted. That was the way with hunters half the time. Once they got over the shock of seeing a new power, they quickly think about ways that it can help or hinder them. “Is her presence in this fight really going to change the tides?”

“Every little helps,” Andrew shrugged.

Are you still there? If so, then I hope you’re listening? He would relay it to her if need be, but Andrew hoped that if nothing else, this will help her understand why. Even if they had a convenient way to leave now, leaving would have not been an option.

“You tell me what happened here and I’ll relay it all to Natalie myself, word for word.”