I'll Protect You (Original Version)

The princess, the knight, and the wizard all hate each other. That's not good.

Guys, let me treat you to a story.

There once was a brave princess, willing to do anything for her kingdom. Alas, a wicked witch, hidden behind the shadows at all times, decided to attack the princess, desperate for a power she didn't deserve.

The princess had no choice but to flee her kingdom, taking along with her a dark knight, shrouded by mysterious darkness that even the light of the princess couldn't penetrate.

On their way to a haven of peace, they encountered a cunning wizard. He had back stabbed the princess, hoping to make off with some gold until he crossed paths with a fire-breathing dragon. The princess, being the courageous soul she was, saved him from the jaws of the creature and sent it away.

The wizard swore loyalty to the most gracious princess, and the trio set off together in hopes to banish the evil witch so the princess may once again sit on her throne, safe and sound.

Psh, yeah right.

I wished we all cooperated. In my mind (the story took me about five minutes to make up), all of us were friendly. The dark knight, being the stoic man he was, was courteous and amiable, able to get along well with the wizard, who in turn was just as polite and cordial.

But instead, we were all fighting.

If I had known that Cross never really enjoyed the presence of Darkwood, I wouldn't have asked for Alec to sit in the middle. Everything was okay at first. Then Darrkwood and Cross began to bicker about something pathetic. I think it was guns.

To me, if it can shoot something, it's a good gun.

But noooo. These boys went on and on, and then the arguing turned into insults, petty and annoying. They were interrupting my reading so I snapped at them to shut up, and traded spots with Alec. Soon after that, the sun was beginning to prick into my eyes. I had merely asked for Cross to pull the shades down. He said he didn't want to.

You guys know me; I don't take those responses very well. Especially from a certain golden-eyed, dark haired, trained agent whose primary goal in life was to destroy me. I started fighting with him, and he started quarreling with me.

Alec then grew infuriated with us and switched back. The dense idiot then dared to ask me why I was being so mean to Cross. Excuse me?! I'm the mean one here? Seeing as how that greatly wounded the mass amount of pride I had, it was a great astonishment that I managed to choke down my flaming desire to smack him upside the head, and told him to shut up.

Alec Darkwood doesn't like being told to shut up.

On and on the cycle went. It took us nearly half the flight to finally settle down in our final seats: Alec in the middle, Logan on the aisle seat, and me curled up against the windows, music blaring through my hot pink head phones as I stared silently into the distance.

There wasn't even distance. The sunlight had bothered me so I didn't yank the shades up. Instead, I gazed at curved beige walls, my hands clasped around my legs.

I checked the time, and realized we were three-quarters into the flight. The distance between Cimeria and Paradise, Montana took a total of two days. You have got to be joshing me. Another day of this hellish torture?

Okay, so maybe I was exaggerating. Once the three of us barricaded each other out, and busied ourselves with anything entertaining, it was a relaxing flight.

A yellow light above our heads flashed, allowing passengers to visit the restroom. Cross, and several other people, rose from the blue-clothed airline seats, making beelines to the tiny compartment in the back of the plane.