Sweet Persistence

The sound of hoofs hitting the ground one by one was echoing through the surrounding forests. Some mushrooms were crushed under the weight of a man in hurry who didn't have time to watch where he was going. Leaves were rustling, disturbed by the two rushing passengers.

While the other one was invisible moving through bushes as a professional assassin she was, the other one was galloping through the forest as if he was a part of a horse race. The trail Natalia was following was becoming weaker and weaker. They didn't have much time left.

"Hey, Natalia! How close are we??" Hylos asked, knowing he couldn't keep up with her pace for much longer. They've been sprinting for hours now and even for a centaur like him, it was too much.

The girl suddenly popped out of nowhere and replied: "We're close. At least I hope so. Actually, I don't even know, the trail is becoming weak but it is still persistent so please just move forwards. You'll have time to rest once we're there." She said before jumping into a bush again and rushing forwards, once again going invisible. He could just follow her by watching the movement of the leaves.

The forest around them was becoming thicker, the trees darker and the further they went, the more darkness could be sensed in the ground. Less birds were singing, everything was more quiet. One thing's for sure. They passed the border between Land of the Light and Land of the Dark.

"Ah." Natalia gasped. "I've lost the trail." She said, slowly becoming visible in front of the centaur. "Everything around here feels the same now." She said. "Sorry, I can't lead you any further. We've either reached the location or the magic dust was blown off course by the wind but judging by the place we ended up at, I'd say the second option is true." She sighed.

Hylos stopped. "N-no. It can't be-- How didn't you realise something was going wrong earlier? No. This must be the place." He said, not accepting loss as an option. "Let's look around, there must be something here." He said seriously.

Natalia sighed. "You're really a tough nut, aren't you? Unfortunately, the stubbornness won't help you. Look at this place! It's all the same in miles, what do you think we'll find here?" She asked rolling eyes.

"Odette." He said. "As simple as that. They know we'd be looking for them so they need a very good hiding place with minimal chance of somebody finding them. That's why they know they have to hide their base well and place it somewhere nobody would ever think there is something - other words, here!"

After hearing him like that, Natalia backed off, there was no use fighting him now. "Well, good luck with that. Tell me if you find something." She said, being stubborn as well.

The centaur watched her angrily for a moment before chuckling, his face getting a relaxed note. "Right. How about both of us calming down and thinking over this once again." He said, his complete stance, voice, expression changing in less then a second but Natalia remained all the same.

"I already said what I had to. There is no way we'll find anything here even if we look across every single step of this forest. Get over it. There is no way. We should head back." She said, sitting down on a tree trunk covered with moss.

The light was occasionally sparkling over some of the grass chunks where it could make its way through the dark treetops. Calm voice broke the silence that covered the forest for a moment after what the assassin said. "Then head back." His voice was serious and cold, yet full of will to fight to his last breath if needed to find and save the girl of his dreams. "I'll stay. I'll search every last bit of this forest, every rock, every leaf until I find her."

The white haired girl that was standing in front of him sighed deeply. She knew if she left him, it would just make her look bad in the eyes of the world and her chance for climbing into the hall of fame. She wanted people to talk about her for generations afterwards and she simply had no other choice than sliding with Hylos.

"Fine." She muttered. "I'll try finding the trail again." She said, not believing she was going to do this. It is such a waste of time, she thought, it'd be smarter if she just gave up but no, something buried deep inside of her forced her to keep going forwards, to accept his terms and accept him as a leader.

The centaur simply smiled and said: "Thank you. Let's split up and just yell if you find something, no actually, come find me, don't yell because they could hear you." He then winked her and said: "I may have underestimated you in the beginning."

She smiled back and walked further into forest, trying to locate anything. Why was she even doing that? If she was under his command all the time, stories would speak of him, not his 'assistant'. She sometimes thinks too much, maybe she should just let it go and work for the greater cause, she just had to pick her side, does she slide with the centaur who is at a high rank in the land or with her own blood, her brother?

***

The three in the cellar, not knowing how close their saviors actually are, just sat there and continued talking about matterless reasons. Alucard finally collected himself up and recovered from the shock when he was hit with another strike that just made him blush. He didn't even know himself why did he react like he did, he didn't know what he felt towards the moon elf who was still sitting in his lap and this huge age gap just made him question all decisions and moved he made towards her.

Miya gazed at him weakly. She had a feeling he was much older than her but then again, that might be why she felt so safe in his arms, he was giving away the note of matureness she couldn't often find in the rest of the guys of her age. "What's the matter?" She asked. "A-are you okay?"

He sighed and gazed at Odette. "Why are you talking this way? I thought a princess would know better than teasing everybody she meets." He said, desperately trying to change the theme of the conversation. Until he found out what he wants himself, they couldn't talk about what he wants either. If he was confused before, now he is confused even worse.

"Hehe~ Sorry. I didn't think you'd be so much against me telling her how you felt before you got enough courage to say it out loud. Come on, it's clearly visible on your face." She said with a small grin.

"Whatever..." He muttered. "Just stop." He said, pulling away from both her and Miya. He left the elf sitting on the ground instead sitting in his lap. That's not what Odette was going for nor what he'd do if he was clear headed but at the moment, he first acted and then thought.

"Well, seems I got somebody upset." The Swan Princess sighed. "Look. Sorry. I didn't mean to do any harm to any of you two. I should've shut up earlier." She admitted, standing up.

Miya nodded. "Yes, you should have." She agreed. "But now it doesn't matter, does it?" She asked gazing in Alucard's direction. "Let's not talk about it anymore, okay?" She suggested. "Please. We have more important matters to take care of, such as... Perhaps escaping from here?"

"You're right. But how?" Alucard said, a hint of despair noticeable in his tone."

Odette then started speaking. She stood in the middle of the room, right inbetween Alucard and the metal door that were separating them from the outer world. "So. First, maybe we can trick a guard or somebody who passes by into letting one of us go to the bathroom, the most innocent looking one, and then beat them, take the keys, find the room where they keep some weapons and use them to escape!"

"Yes! The plan is perfect! In your head. There is no way that'd actually go as planned and we'd be able to escape like that. Simply no." Alucard said crossing arms.

"Um... Guys? What is that over there?" Miya asked pointing at the shiny eye watching them from a small hole in the metal door. Her voice was both confused and scared in the same time.

"Who- what?" Odette asked raising an eyebrow. She slowly approached the door while the other two kept safe distance and stood away from a possible enemy. "Who are you?" The Swan Princess asked.

The figure on the other side whispered: "Shh. It's me." Odette had no troubles recognising the voice. "Natalia? What are y-you doing here?" She asked.

"Hylos and I came here looking for you. We split up to find you after following the magical trail you and Lancelot left. Now that I'm sure you're here, I have to go find him. Trust me. I'll be back soon and we'll get you out of here." She whispered.

The other girl's eyes widened. "C-can't you just open the door now?" She asked just to be met with another wave of Natalia's voice. "No. I can't take care of you weaponless alone, and it seems you have some company here that could use being saved too."

"Ugh- I understand. Go. And please don't get caught." Odette said to what Natalia replied with a chuckle. "You're speaking to a trained assassin. Do not worry about my stealth." After saying that, she disappeared into the darkness once again, going to get some more help before saving the three from their cell.

***

Just few minutes after the girl left, the well known knight with his rapier and the stance that was saying how he was better than everybody else, walked in the cellar. "Odette, my beautiful Odette, as I promised, I'm back for you. The room is ready, my sweet flower." He said and walked closer to her.

The girl stepped away. "L-lancelot! Stay away! You're sick! I want to have nothing with you." She said, fear alarming her body to stay back. "Y-you kidnapped me!" She muttered.

He sighed. "Love is madness and you know it very well." He said, walking closer to her and rising her chin so she would look at him. "Come on, come with me and I promise I'll make it up to you." He said offering his hand to her. "Just trust me this one more time." He spoke softly.

"Wha- No! Don't listen to him!" Miya yelled. "Stay with us! Remember what that girl sa--" She started but the rest of the sentence was muffled by Alucard's hand that grabbed Miya and whispered into her ear: "Shhh! We don't want them to find out.

Lancelot's attention then suddenly moved to elf princess. "What did you just say? Please repeat it to me." He said, his tone sounding very suspicious.

This wasn't going well for them. If he forced them to speak, Hylos and Natalia would get ambushed and stuck with them, Odette knew it. She had to make a distraction for Lancelot so he would forget about it and focus on something else. She had to make the sacrifice.

"Ah- Fine." She grabbed his hand. "I'll trust you this one more time." She acted confidently and realistically, watching him as she used to while she still felt unimaginable attraction to him. It's funny how much one's opinion can change in matter of seconds. She let herself fall into his arms.

He was surprised by the sudden action but quickly caught her and embraced her, pecking her nose. "Thank you, my lady. I won't betray you again." He promised, his arms now warmly wrapped around her. Like that, they walked out of the room and closed the door behind them, leaving the two confused lovebirds alone.

Once they were out of the room, Lancelot picked up his princess and carried her down the corridor and up the staircase which led them about two levels above to the place where light of the day was able to enter their room through small gaps and cracks. The room was decorated minimalisticly yet one thing stood out from the rest - the bed that was big and looked very soft and comfortable.

He slowly placed her on the top of it and said: "Here sweetheart, welcome to our new room." There were rose petals all over the bed, all around Odette as Lancelot sat down next to her and added: "I'm glad we're finally together alone, with nobody to interrupt us."