Last Hope [VERSION I]

|19|

--Edited (4/4/16)--

"Everyone wants to escape sometimes"

||Thana||

A hard push on my shoulders sent me running, running far in the cold freezing rain. My breathing was unsteady as I dashed, not daring to look behind me, because I didn't know who would be there. Footsteps followed me from behind, I could tell that much.

A scream from farther in the distance yelled "Go, Thana!"

I was fucked.

By then both my shoes had fallen off and I was drenched everywhere. My hair limply moved up and down at my sides, occasionally splatting a droplet of water into my eye.

It's been three weeks since I've been with Ace, Ruby, and Nico. For a while we've been traveling back and forth from the house to the library, occasionally going or stopping into town square. The long cloaks we wore kept us from getting caught. But today wasn't another one of those days.

I felt my forearm bandage, which has been tightly wrapped for days, loosely started to come undone. The throbbing pain of the scar was unbearable. I screeched in pain as I kept running.

My feet were getting behind exhausted, but I would never stop. I heard someone jog behind me slowly catching up as their armor rattled.

I remembered the time I told myself I would go back to the castle—before I ran into Ace, Nico, and Ruby. Somehow the thought, over time, evaporated from my mind. This was so stupid... I should have went back. Now whatever bad happened to them would be my fault. It always was my fault.

But something didn't stop my from running. My feet continued to quicken the pace as the person behind me came closer and closer. They yelled something, but I couldn't hear it over the rain pelting the ground.

An uncomfortable sensation was felt in my stomache. It was familiar, but that didn't make it any better. I suppressed a groan of pain and continued to move foreword.

"Hault in the name of the Empress!" I could hear the voice from behind me. It was a male voice.

If I wanted to respond, I couldn't. My throat was dry and it hurt a lot— a squealed a almost nonexistent squeal in response.

The person behind me growled and brushed my back as he got closer. The back of my body clashed with the front of armor. A scream in the distance set me off, my feet collapsed underneath me and I fell onto the dirt. Cold, wet armor landed on top of me, crushing me. The pain in my stomach grew worse. It was like knifes stabbing me on either side. I felt my eyes start to tear up. Not now Thana, not now.

I came face to face with the blonde haired boy with gray eyes. He was breathing heavily on top of me.

The sound of thunder could be heard.

How did today go so horribly wrong?
~~~

Ruby leaped up in the air and cheered. God knows why, but she did, talking as she usually did in her sing-song tone.

I laughed as the other two responded with groans. Last night the four of us stayed up late training and just, I guess, talking. Somehow Ruby found it within her to start squealing and running around the place, like a kid. Ace sat up on his bed, hair a mess and a tired expression on his face. Nico still lay on the floor, sprawled and half awake.

Ruby belly-flopped on top of Nico's back.

"Oomph!"

"Get up silly billy!"

"What is wrong with you?!" Nico sat up, causing Ruby to roll on the floor. She giggled. "What do you mean?"

Nico sighed, got up, and stumbled across the bedroom to the door.

Ace rubbed his eyes. "Goddamnit it Ruby, why are you so hyper in the mornings?" Ace asked, but I'm sure it was something they've asked her millions of times before.

Ruby lifted her head from the ground, her brown hair now tossed to one side. "Because life's to short to spend it tired and cranky all the time!"

I thought about that for a moment. And she was right—you can die at any moment. Each moment must be spent wisely and happily, or you'll regret it. I never realized how deep Ruby could actually be.

She probably didn't realize it, though. She giggled as Ace rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, well, I guess you're right." He got up and repeated the action Nico performed minutes ago.

~~~

"GEEEEET OUTTTT" A big burly man waved his chubby fist at his son as he fled the house. Clearly it had been Silas and Silas Jr... the blacksmith and his son. The boy tumbled on the ground as many other people walked the busy stone roads of the outskirts of the town square.

The four of us passed by him. He looked up at us with big, red puppy dog eyes. Ace and Nico gave disgusted looks at him, I tried to ignore him as best I could because if I actually did I would feel mercy, while Ruby didn't have to pretend, because she was looking off to the side in her own bubble.

As we made it closer to town square, a horde of nobles wearing gowns and fancy suits came into my peripheral vision. They chatted and lightly chuckled together. In the center, though, it was noticeable four tall broad shouldered men—or at least, two of them were—wearing armor.

Oh no.

I tapped Ruby's shoulder, as she was the closest one to me. She turned to me, her attention back on reality. I motioned my head towards the group of nobles.

"Oh yeah, they're always here. Why?"

It was only then I noticed the piece of parchment one of them was holding.

Princess Thana
Reward: 4,000,000 jewels.

Underneath was an accurate sketch of me. No one has seen me before, at least, not Ace, Ruby, and Nico.

Ruby must have noticed it too, because her eyes bugged out of her head. "Oh no." A look of concern was planted on her face.

Within seconds we got Ace and Nico's attention. The nobles conversation started to die down now, and their attention was focused on other things. Four men stood conversing. One had blonde hair, that was as much as I could tell since he was facing the tallest one with black hair and purple eyes. The other two stood their and listened, one had red hair and eyes and the other had blonde hair and bright blue eyes.

Ace grabbed my hand and began to walk in the other direction. But it was too late, the tallest one caught our attention. His eyes narrowed and stared at us.

I tugged the cloak I was wearing further over my head. The blonde haired boy facing away from us turned towards us as his friend pointed.

Ace gripped my hand once again and started to walk quickly. My heart did leaps. I held his hand back nervously.

If only that didn't cause them to be more suspicious.

As the ran pelted on the ground this evening, we were being chased by the three soldiers

Ace hardly pushed my shoulders and sent me running, running in the cold, freezing rain.