Six Will Stand (First Draft)

Chapter 2

After making an unanimous agreement to leave the castle, the five of them began to head toward the nearest town. After walking for a little less than half a day, the sun was high in the sky, it's rays less harsh than before; there was the distinct scent of decaying leaves and sharp coldness. Cade smiled. He loved autumn.

"Ah, fall. The season of color!" Fai nudged Cade. "Right, K-Dee? Remember that time when we built that huge pile of leaves?"

Cade laughed, now almost fully recovered from the earlier events. "Yeah! And you got stuck in the middle of the pile and couldn't move? We had to dig you out, but we just ended up making tunnels through the whole thing!"

"That's the one!" The redhead smirked. "Hah. That was a fun day...." Fai put his hands behind his head as he walked, closing his eyes. "I've always loved summer the best, though. The greatest time to swim!"

"Spring is the best," Marion literally cut in, pushing herself in between the two walking boys. "That's when it rains a lot and flowers bloom."

"Hmm, yeah, rain can be pretty fun..." Fai tilted his head, thoughtful. "And I suppose winter has its perks, too...."

"Like building snow forts and snowmen?" The small girl pushed a bit of her long blonde hair behind her ear.

"Exactly!" The redhead grinned, ruffling up Marion's hair.

Cade shook his head, laughing at the two of them. "Yeah, snow forts and snowmen are pretty fun," he admitted, earning grins from both Fai and Marion.

"Hey, what're your favorite seasons?" Fai turned his head around, calling out to Caleb and Josh behind them. "It'll help pass the time until we finally get to the town!"

Caleb smiled good-naturedly. "I'm with Marion; I always loved spring. My favorite thing is always the first sights of green after the cold winter. Not to mention being able to go outside without freezing your butt off." He looked at his brother. "What about you, Josh?"

Josh didn't respond. He was staring off into space looking at absolutely nothing. Caleb rolled his eyes and waved his hand in front of his twin's face. "Hey, buddy. You in there?"

Josh swatted Caleb's hand away, looking irritable. "Leave me alone; I'm thinking." He then resumed his previous stare.

Caleb shook his head, but he was smiling. Earning a confused look from the others, he explained, "He gets like this sometimes. It could take any amount of time from five minutes to two days until he'll be back to normal. At this point, all we can do is wait." The five continued on in silence, a relaxed comfortable silence, on their way to the town.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Riv lurched forward and fell to the ground yet again. She really wished Cade would stop moving so she could walk properly. She got up for the umpteenth time, groaning, but being careful not to be loud enough so that Cade would hear. She wasn't sure exactly how this whole thing worked, but she thought that he would hear her if she talked even at normal volume. She didn't want him to freak out. She fell again as the ground moved under her feet. Grunting, she hoisted herself to her feet. Getting irritated about it wouldn't make it stop.

She kept walking along in the dreamscape, keeping her eyes peeled. Since she was some sort of solid feeling spirit, her blindness was no longer affecting her. She could see as clearly as she could before the accident.

She sighed. There was a part of her that wanted to stay here forever, and the other part of her said, Don't be an idiot. You don't want to be alone for the rest of your sorry little life. Besides, as long as Lycoris was here, she would never be safe. She remembered the legend, but her plan was a bit of a stretch. She just had to hope it would work.