Alex's feeble heart had not slowed down ever since she heard his name. To think that Luke was so close to her...it was unsettling at best. She followed Ace's lead through a flowered, bright field, her eyes skittering back and forth and her hand resting on her sword's handle. Both Ace and Lucas had asked her who Luke was, and why he was deemed a criminal in her eyes. She answered none of these inquiries.
In fact, Alex was struggling in herself to truly find a reason why Luke was doing any of this. Sure, he was a jerk. He had generally been antisocial and unfriendly from the get go. But to overreact so much on one person...Alex couldn't recall a die hard, cold fact that she could pin against Luke for being so bad. Well, except for his extreme freak out when he tried to kill her. While Luke had done some terrible things, Alex couldn't think of what motivated him to do it all. So she kept quiet.
"Here it is," Ace said hesitantly as they came to Luke's small cabin home. "Are you sure you want to do this? We don't have to break the door down or anything." Alex surveyed the exterior. It was cozy and somehow emitted a warmhearted, uplifting feel that seemed to lure her in.
"I'm not going to break anything down," Alex said coolly. "We're going to have a respectful, calm talk and get out of here as soon as humanly possible." Lucas and Ace exchanged glances behind Alex's back. Without another word spoken, Alex swallowed down her fear and knocked on the door.
"I don't see why I have to come back."
"You know why, Joshua! We need to stick together as a group!"
"Unlike you, I am perfectly fine on my own. So go on back to your little hideout, I'm not coming back." Luke sighed, scratching his head. At this point, he was getting steamed. Usually when Josh would run off and proclaim how well he would do on his own, it would only be a matter of seconds before he crashed down on his own words, sometimes sobbing and begging to come back. Luke always told him he was welcome back anytime. Usually that's how it would go. Nice and easy. But this time, he was being more than difficult. It took all the self control Luke had to not blow up at him.
"Look. Josh. I don't know what's going on, but you know how important you are to us." Josh scoffed, rolling his eyes and shaking his head.
"I've had enough. There's no sort of authority you have over me, Luke." Josh gave him one last, angry look, his ocean eyes boiling, and then continued on his way. Great. Just great. Luke knew that tailing after him wouldn't resolve matters. Josh wasn't exactly the talking type, either. He'd come back, eventually. All Luke had to do was bide his time wisely. Luke sighed, and turned in the opposite direction. He'd left his guests alone for quite some time now, so it wouldn't be polite to dawdle any more than he already had been.
"Well this isn't exactly what I expected," Alex said, staring at the floorboards. What she had rightfully expected was a cruel mastermind at work, plotting some sort of scheme to take over the world or something. Mind, with a world as free as this, there wasn't much point in taking over such a thing. Alex shook away that train of thought, instead trying to focus on her surroundings. Most others had made themselves at home. Lucas sat on the couch in between Ace and Cadence, who were avoiding each other to the extreme, one looking to the left and the other in the exact, polar opposite direction. She wished they would get over whatever differences they had bickered about. Not speaking to one another wasn't exactly the core definition of teamwork. Alex shifted her eyes over to the maiden in black. Her hair trailed down her tanned back, her coal black eyes eerily staring back.
"Don't look at me," she countered defensively. "Luke runs out of here all the time."
"I'm not blaming you-" Alex started.
"Mmhm," Mona gave her a doubtful look. Alex sighed, feeling a bit aggravated. "What did you say he was doing again?"
"Chasing after our dumb blond, of course," Alex could feel the hatred dripping from her every word. "again," she added after a beat.
"Does he run out a lot?" she pestered. Mona didn't answer, instead giving her a look that smacked the word 'stop' into her face. Nevermind, Alex thought bitterly. She kept her mouth shut, allowing her attention to waver to something - anything new. To her luck, Lucas started a conversation, which seemed a bit odd.
"So why exactly aren't you coming with us?" he mused, gazing at Cadence. She stared daggers first at him, and then at Ace. With an air of sharpness in her tongue, she spoke, "I don't exactly think I'm welcome anymore, Lucas." He said nothing, instead motioning for her to go on. Cadence took a deep, shaky breath. "Why be in a group where I'm always overshadowed by everyone else? There's no point."
"I beg to differ," Lucas seemed to be hiding a smirk. "There's always something to learn or figure out, so it can hardly be con-"
"Oh shut the hell up," Cadence spat. Lucas raised an eyebrow.
"No," he said.
"No?" Cadence fumed.
"Nope. Not in a thousand lifetimes, my dear."
"Don't call me that, you-"
"What?" Lucas interrupted. Cadence shut her mouth tightly, her lips thinned. Lucas pressed on, "What am I, Cadence?"
"How about you both shut your traps." Alex stepped in. "I think we should be going, anyway. If Luke isn't going to show, then I'm going to go find him instead. Come on." She straightened up and headed for the doorway. The crew followed, Cadence and Mona excluded. Alex sighed. "You two, as well. Let's go."
"Alex-" Cadence complained.
"Let's go," Alex said. "We came all the way here for you, didn't we?" Cadence said nothing, hesitating a moment but soon rising with arms crossed around her stomach. She stared at the floor with a frown, joining the group as they went outside.
"I said you're coming, too." Alex stared at Mona.
"I'm not a part of your little group, remember? You can't have a reason for wanting me to tag along."
"You're our best shot of knowing where Luke is. Besides, it can't be very fun sitting here for hours on end." Alex said no more and went outside. She counted heads, noting that everyone was all together. She heard a rustle and the sound of a door opening and closing behind her. She didn't have to turn around to know that Mona was giving the stink eye to anyone that thought of opening their mouths.
"Since he's searching for Josh, Luke probably ended up by the river. It's this way." Mona lead the way, and the group fell silent. Not a word was spoken the entire way there. As they approached closer to the river, Alex realized that the path was starting to become very familiar...it was the same route to the animal pen. Mona commented on this, describing it as "something similar to a slaughterhouse," and sticking up her nose at it. Alex fought the urge to punch her in the face. Aside from her distastefulness to Mona, she was at least correct about Luke and Josh's whereabouts. The two stood below the hill, beside where the river ran steadily, appearing to be in a heated argument.
"Stop. Running. Away!" Luke panted, his face dripping with sweat.
"Stop following me!" The boy Alex assumed was Josh yelled. He didn't appear to be tired at all.
"Are you two ladies done with your squabbling?" Mona gazed down at them with an air of dullness. The two snapped their necks violently in her direction. Josh's face turned to one of grateful surprise, while Luke fought to explode with rage.
"What are you doing here?" His voice was clearly wavering.
"Not my idea, princess." She seemed to be bored of the situation already, despite Luke's swarming emotions. Luke took a deep breath, opening his mouth to say something, and suddenly stopping. Him and Alex had made eye contact. All anger seemed to disappear; he seemed to forget that Josh even existed beside him. An odd sort of smile played at his lips, and he breathed out a laugh.
"Ami?" She could tell that he hardly believed she was here.
"Alex," she said stiffly. Luke shook his head disbelievingly. "Where's the rest of the crew? You don't usually travel alone." He was playing her and she knew it. But it didn't stop the lump rising in her throat, threatening to choke her. It didn't stop her eyes from beginning to water; she bit her lip to force them back. He wouldn't break her.
"They're gone." Her stub grazed the handle of her blade.
"And you're not."
"I don't think there's anything else to discuss on that subject. Why did you take Cadence?" For a split second he looked confused, but the next the emotion was gone, and the smile returned.
"So you replaced them."
"I did not."
"You found new people that resembled them so much, and you replaced them." Alex gritted her teeth. Luke continued, "I guess your friends really meant nothing to you after all-"
"Shut up!" Alex shouted, her sword half-drawn, eyes wide with wrath. There was a moment of silence in which Alex realized that there were several pairs of ears listening. Listening, and saying nothing. Almost invisible. Alex's expression dropped like her sword did in its scabbard. She looked behind her, the startled faces of her friends gazing back. Cadence's eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open. Everyone had essentially the same look, as if they had just made a groundbreaking connection. And then Alex realized - they did. Luke had used her forgotten name. They knew. They knew that she was someone else and she had done so many horrible things and abandoned herself and-
"Why are you so mean to her?!" Cadence exclaimed. Alex's entire thought process stopped. What. Did she just not make the connection? Her heart hammered impatiently within her chest. Cadence continued, "I dunno if you have some sort of grudge against each other, but seriously - look at her! I've never seen Alex show actual emotions before! Are you really this...vile?" Silence. Luke appeared to be searching his brain rapidly to find a response to her outburst. Before he could spit out anything, there was a scream in the distance. Everyone present flinched, exchanging glances with each other to certify that it wasn't anyone nearby. Alex squinted into the distance where the river separated the grasslands from the desert, and far enough away she could see a figure sprinting towards them. As the figure approached, Alex felt something jump in her stomach.
"Steve?" she said in disbelief. There was no mistaking his tan skin, blue eyes, dark hair, torn clothes...wait. Alex abandoned all reason and darted after him. Steve crashed into the river, barely swimming across by himself. Alex grabbed and dragged him to shore, completely shocked at his appearance. His clothes were so torn they looked more like rags, there were so many scratches, cuts, and bruises on his body that she lost count, and his normally fit body was skinny and malnourished.
"What happened?!" Alex quickly pulled out a flask of water, letting him drink briefly.
"Ruins...him..." he coughed, his voice already straining itself. "Run." Exhaustion took over his body then, his eyes closing. Alex was too stunned to speak. She blinked, swallowing down all of her questions.
"Get him somewhere safe," she ordered. "Now." She helped support his upper body as Josh took the rest. He really was a beefy guy. Ace came beside her. "I got this," he said. Alex let him take over. Ace turned his head to the side. "Alex, what's going on? Who is he?" He looked so worried.
"A good friend that I can't lose." Her eyes hardened. "I'll explain when we get home." Ace nodded, his face set. Alex walked beside them, nervously glancing at Steve every few seconds. Lucas came beside her. He dragged her out of earshot of the others.
"You never said anything," he started.
"How could I?" she avoided his eyes.
"She does exist. You just don't want to remember it."
"How can she exist when I have taken a new name? I'm a different person now." Lucas' eyebrows kneaded. "I find that hard to believe. Everyone changes in their life. You have to accept that - there's no running away from yourself." Alex bit her lip. She walked faster, leaving Lucas behind her. He sighed, and didn't try to pursue anything else. Alex spent the entire walk with her mind reeling, thoughts boiling and flying through her mind.
And it's back! Oh, it's a miracle! I finally have a bit of direction for this story! I - I mean...I most certainly have direction and just needed a lot of time to put it into words. Yes. That's what I meant. Stay tuned for the next.
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