The next day and the day after went by smoothly. The supplies were safely delivered as well as a small brigade of horses, leaving us with enough for everyone to have their own.
I personally split the soldiers into separate groups, making sure they all had two days worth or food and water and their choice of weapons. I also took the time to explain the full plan an extra few time to the groups themselves, answering any questions that needed to be asked.
Finally, I went to split up Squadron Five and the three extras.
"Levi and Mila, take Evergreen. Bryce, you and Rosy'll be in Maple. Theo and Mercy, I'm trusting you to protect Clover in Rosemary. Make sure she stays safe." I raised my finger to stop a complaint coming from Theo. "No. You do what I say without questions. Chris and I'll take the smallest group through Orchid. Everyone understand?"
They all nodded in agreement. Theo didn't fight me, seeing how serious I was.
"Good. Go find your groups and mount up your horses. We leave on my command. Chris, come with me."
We split and went our separate ways. Chris and I found the small group of soldiers who were anxiously waiting for us. I got on the piebald mare that I'd ridden in. Chris had his own brown stallion that he'd hand picked. I unconsciously kept my attention on the sword that was tied to his waist.
"Ready?" I asked, looking at him.
"Not really. But we can't wait, can we?"
I nodded and we were off. I decided to lead my group out first. The rest followed closely behind us. Through the opened gates we went, abandoning the castle to the desert. Maybe another group of bandits would take it over in the future. Who knows. Maybe they'd be rebels, like us. Maybe the new government would screw up and they'd be going against us. Maybe I should've blown it up. Rosy had to have had some explosive in there, right?
To my left, Levi and Mila were splitting off with their group. With a final glance, we nodded each other the best of luck and hope. Next went us. Waving goodbye, I blew a kiss off to Theo and he smiled back.
The journey through the desert was long and harsh without the usual bickering I was used to. No one to argue with. No sister to complain with. No flirt to joke with. No sweetheart to talk with. And no Theo, to stand with me. That one had to hurt the most. Even though it hurt, I knew we'd meet up in Pacific Rose, where we'd be back in the fiery puts of hell to fight the devil himself.
Now that I thought of it, I don't think I've really been away from them all in the past few months. We'd been together through everything. I was caught by one of them, escorted by another, slept in the same room as two of them, sparred with all of them. Hell, I was even in a tournament with them. Not to mention fighting smugglers and human traffickers with them, even if we always seemed to get hurt. Were we really unlucky to always get hurt or really lucky to still be alive?
"Lena!" Chris yelled, snapping me out of my trance. I turned to face him. "I've been yelling your name for the past ten minutes. I think we should stop for the night."
Looking around, I noticed it was dark out now. At some point the moon had gone up and the stars decided to shine. My thoughts really got me far, huh?
"Yeah," I finally replied, slowing my horse, "you're right. Let's stop for the night and get some rest."
The others behind me slowed to a stop as well. We all dismounted. I instructed three people to start fires and they did so happily. We didn't set up tents, they were to heavy to pack. We did, however, have thin blankets that we wrapped around ourselves to protect us form the sand. Not that we needed them. The desert outside Maple was warm during both the day and night. And for those who got cold more often, they had the fire to sleep around.
I took first watch, walking the perimeter of the campsite which was much bigger than I would've liked. Still, I was traveling with a group much larger than I would've liked to, but that was unavoidable.
"Hello, Little Fighter," Chris said, stalking over to me with a smile on his face.
"Why do you still call me that?"
"It's a fitting nickname, don't you think? You proved it in the fight two days ago, and the fact that you're still alive proves it. You're defiantly a fighter. And you're not exactly big so, you know, you're little. Little Fighter."
"Fine, then I get to call you Mr. Ass Hat."
"You can't be serious."
I shrugged at him. "Fair is fair."
"Fine, I get it, Lena, or is it Shadow?"
"Lena's fine."
"You know, we didn't exactly get news in the prison. I hadn't heard about you until a year or so ago when someone got caught and was trying to turn you in to save himself. He yelled everyday about how he knew where the invincible Shadow was."
"Invincible Shadow? I wish I could've heard that."
"He was executed for murder. The next time I heard about you was from Rosy. She was actually bragging about how the mighty Shadow had taken her captive. She seemed pretty honored. Actually I went asking around with the soldiers and apparently I missed a kickass criminal when I got caught. Still, I never would've thought it was you."
I didn't reply, instead I looked out in the distance at the barren landscape which was scarcely dotted with cacti. Seriously, how do you reply to something like that?
"I've been meaning to ask you, Lena, what do you plan on doing after all this?"
I looked at him now, again not sure how to reply.
He studied my blank expression for a bit before he asked his question. "You're not planning on surviving, are you?"
I gave him a weak half smile.
"Do you wanna die?"
"No one really wants to die."
"Then why?"
"Because I want everyone else to live."
"And what does that have to do with you dying?"
"Well, if everything goes like it should, which it probably will, it'll be me verses the Kaiser and his men. I don't want the others anywhere near all that. It's not that I'm planning on dying, per say. More like, I'll probably die."
"You know what? I was wrong about something. From all the stories I heard about how much of a ruthless killer you are, or were, I thought there was none of that little girl left in you. That I'd taken it all away. But I was wrong. You've still got that same personality."
"What're you talking about?"
"Remember? When I had your little sister, Mercy I think -right?- you took me on by yourself so she could run. You're trying to do the same thing now. You wanna shield those kids from any real danger."
Kids. I wasn't sure about them all, but they were decently close to my age. In the physical sense, we were all more or less kids. In another, I was aged and dying.
"For different reasons. Then I was just trying to protect my little sister. She was all that mattered at that second. Now, I have a family I want to survive. They mean more to me than anything in this world, and I don't want to loose them."
"But that's not all, is it."
"No, it's not. I'm a criminal and a murderer. I've screwed up so many times and ended so many lives. I don't even remember how many."
"So you want to repent?"
"Something like that." I stopped for a second to breath. "Chris, can you do something for me? After everything's said and done, take care of them."
"Me?"
"Yes, you. I have a friend in the city named Ravi. If I die can you make sure he does the same? I want to make sure they live good lives after me."
"I don't think they can."
"What?"
"Those kids, they rely on you. Especially that one guy who follows you around like a lost puppy- looks like one too. I don't think they'll know how to live without you, I don't know if they'll want to."
"That's why I'm asking you to help them. You and Ravi both."
"Isn't that awfully selfish of you? You drag them into a revolution and then leave them behind with two unmarried dad's." I laughed at the bit of joking in the last part.
"Yeah, it is, isn't it." I smiled a bit, though I'm not really sure why. "Chris, will you take my selfish last request? Take care of my family for me after I die. Make sure they get around okay without me. If you can, help them to forget about me. No matter how much they hate you."
"Fine, since I can't convince you out of it. I'll take care of you're so called family." He let out a gruff little laugh. "It's a bit ironic that you're asking me of all people. After everything I did to you."
"I know, but I know I can trust you. You went to prison and let me survive and Mercy too. You changed the night you met me."
"Maybe I did, maybe I didn't."
"You did, and I know it." I looked at him, letting an awkward silence fall between us. "Welp, since you're awkae, why don't you take patrol?"
"Wait, what?"
"Night, Chris," I said running off before he could stop me. "Don't forget about any of this. I'll come back and haunt your sorry ass if you do."
-Author's Note-
Yes! Double update! Even if this chapter is short, I'm still glad I wrote it. I also feel it's a bit poorly written and rush. I promise I'll come back and edit it one day in my life. Probably.
Thanks for reading, guys!