Bloody Mary

Chapter Thirteen~The Survivalist

Chapter Thirteen~The Survivalist

Edward and Marianna's feet met with the leaf and grass laden ground in soft crunches. Each step caused them both to swat away overhanging leaves and branches that blocked their way through the dense foliage. They walked on in complete silence as they searched for a suitable fresh water source. To Marianna the silence was preferred, but to Edward it was a form of psychological torture.

He found himself clearing his throat, causing Marianna to glance at him from the corner of her eyes.

"Are you alright?" She questioned thoughtfully. He bobbed his head in response.

"Aye."

The two lapsed into silence once again.

He was dying to speak with her, dying to question her until he was fatigued. Edward, being a calm yet curious child, had never truly felt impatience toward anything. He was a tolerable child, but knowing whom the person beside him really was only caused fuel to his flame. If the crew were to find out... He didn't want to know what would happen to her.

"How long have you know Carlisle?" She finally questioned, allowing him to release the tension from his shoulders. To be honest, she was questioning why her comrade looked so tense. She simply assumed he was uncomfortable in the jungle territory that had begun to surround them.

"Since I was a boy. We were born a few months apart and our mothers were close friends. Our fathers worked together."

"Ah," she smiled warmly at the thought of such a close-knit companionship between the two families. Visions of two young mischievous boys playing together in fields, mothers watching with laughing eyes swarmed her thoughts, and she almost found herself laughing lightly. "It sounds like a happy existence. One not many would choose to leave behind. I assume your reasoning is the same as Carlisle's then?"

In confusion Edward tilted his head and gave her a look displaying his question. Marianna saw this, and then returned her gaze to the front. "Carlisle told me the night before we left his reason for abandoning such an easy life. In her opinion such a life is painful. He would cast his eyes upon the poor and the shamed and feel nothing but pity. Not for them, but for himself, for he needn't face a hardship like those men and women. They had to earn their livings, but he was born into it. He asked me, 'what is the use in living if you everything is simply delivered to you?' and I told him, 'nothing'. There is no use in living effortlessly. It's simply a pain in your heart that cannot be fixed, even after you pass on."

Edward stared on in amazement of her words. Of course he knew she was a deep thinker. She was one of the most educated on the crew, but he hadn't expected that. She was seventeen at the most, so how in world could she speak as if she were aware of such emotions? The information he had received on her past was a poorly detailed story on how she had grown up living on the street having to fend for herself and her family.

But, he realized, that was most probably a white lie. Just like her identity.

Of course, that was something we was going to keep to himself. And for her safety, of course. Imagine the crew finding out they had woman ordering them around on that ship... Things would take a turn for the worse. But alas, he thought as he gazed upon her face, she was the only woman he had met who had risked her life for someone she was only bound to by a label. She treated her crewmate like brethren, which is what they should be considered as. It was strange that a woman would figure that out before most of the crew.

"Oh, don't give me that look." She teased lightly, and resumed a steady gaze ahead of her. "I may be young, but my mind is definitely not void of understanding and intelligence."