In the Wake of Yesterday
- Thread starter Alias=Life
- Start date
Alias=Life
Cadet
A/N: ... And a month later! I'm not going to describe in detail what I've been up to, so I'll just post the chapter and hope that you like it. I know I do 
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February 28, 3047
Somewhere in the Desanca Desert, Dreas, Contiago
“Would you stop looking at me?” he asked, staring blankly at her.
They had been cooped up in this cave for hours and by the looks of things, morning wasn’t coming anytime soon, either. His stomach was grumbling from their lack of food and her deep, piercing gaze wasn’t making this experience any more wonderful.
She broke her gaze, turning her head. She felt insulted by the accusation, “Humph! There’s not much to look at.”
“Sure,” he said, a smile creeping across his face, “You were checking me out just now, weren’t you?”
A light blush appeared on her face and she crossed her arms protectively across her chest, “No! Why would you think that? Not every women who looks at you has a crush on you, you know!”
“Men, too.”
“Huh?”
“Men look at me, too.”
This elicited a small laugh which she tried to conceal, lightening the mood and bringing a smile to his face, “That’s better. You know, if you scowl all the time, your face will stay like that. You’re so much more pleasant when you’re smiling.”
“How can you say that? You don’t even know me,” she replied.
“Well, I’ve been stuck in here with you for a solid few hours, so I know enough to say that from what I know of you, you’re always scowling. Why?” he asked.
“Because I’m pissed! I can think of a thousand other places I would rather be than stuck here in a desert cave with you!” she snapped.
“Yeah, but you’re not in any one of those thousand places. Instead, you’re here with me, so deal with it.”
They were sitting across from each other and she got up to put even more space in between him. He sighed, weary from her attitude. It could have been worse…
“Not really…”
He poked the fire they had made for warmth, which was now slowly starting to die. It was hard enough finding sticks to make it, they couldn’t afford to lose this fire, too.
“No! No, no, no, no, no!” he said, blowing on it, “Don’t go out on me!”
But it was too late; the fire vanished with a gust of chilled air. He hung his head down, wondering what to do next. When he looked up, he saw her walking out of the cave.
“Hey!” he said, standing up, “Where are you going?”
“To get more wood,” she sneered.
“But… you can’t go out there! You said yourself, the temperature drops--”
“I’ll be fine!”
No matter how hard he fought, it was clear she wouldn’t listen, so he accepted defeat. He had never met anybody so stubborn before. She really seemed determined to get her way.
“Fine! Die! See what I care!”
----------
“That ungrateful…”
She kicked at the ground, looking for some branches or anything dry that was buried in the sand. She couldn’t stand to be stuck in that cave for another second with that man.
“Who does he think he is, acting so “cool?”” she mumbled, finding a single branch on the ground and picking it up.
He was right about the temperature dropping. It wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it was when the sun was out, and standing here in nothing but cargo pants, a tank top and military vest, she would freeze to death if she didn’t find more wood soon.
“He’s the enemy! I should be capturing him, not fraternizing! But… how?” she wondered.
If she captured this guy, she’d be helping her nation… but that wasn’t why she was here. Still, she couldn’t let an enemy soldier just walk away, could she.
“Hey! Wait up!” she heard his voice behind her.
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” she replied, “I want some time alone!”
“Yeah, but…”
This was her chance. If she could catch him off guard, she might be able to capture him. He’d never suspect it from her, and as he came running closer to her, she quickly dropped to the ground, swinging her legs around and tripping him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She quickly straddled him, trying to pin him down into submission, but he was a man and she was just a girl. He was too strong for her, and he knocked her off.
“Cut it out!” he shouted, utterly confused.
They were both standing up and he grabbed both her arms, trying to get her to stop fighting. He couldn’t hit her, even if she was the enemy. She was just a girl.
Then, she did something that would be considered highly dishonorable in battle… but a survival impulse. She kicked him between the legs, hitting him in the groin. His legs buckled over and he went rolling down a sand dune, groaning.
“Keep your hands off of me!” and she went running down the dune after him.
He was finally able to steady himself, recovering from the pain. He was as mad as a hornet and wanted nothing more than to beat the life out of her… if she wasn’t a girl.
She jumped on top of him, again, sending them both rolling down the dune in a heap. He was dodging her punches, which were coming from both sides.
“What’s gotten into you? Jesus! I didn’t think I was that annoying!” he replied, stopping them.
When she was positioned on top of him at the end of their little tumble, he used his legs to kick her off, sending her over his head and rolling down the dune, once again.
“You… don’t… know… anything… about… me!” she shouted, between her spiraling.
He was running to catch up with her, “Then enlighten me! Tell me something about you!”
She finally stopped at the bottom, trying to get her baring after that dizzy hell ride. She swung at him, but he ducked, dodging her punch. He repeated her action that had initiated this all, sweeping her legs out from under her. The fall, mixed with her dizziness sent her rolling even more. It wasn’t until he realized how close they were to the river that he began to worry.
“Hey--!”
She tried to stand up, but fell backwards into the freezing water. She tried to grab onto the edge, but sand slipped through her fingers and she drifted downstream.
“Bastard!” she shouted to him, closing her eyes shut and getting sucked underwater.
He took his felgercarb off in the freezing weather, shivering, before dropping it in the sand and diving in after her. He swam over to where he saw her go under, noticing that her pants were caught on a jagged rock. Pulling his knife out from the compartment in his own uniform pants, he cut the patch from her pants, setting her free, and tightly grabbed onto her.
They made it back to the surface, both taking a deep breath of fresh air.
“Hang onto me tight!” he shouted, trying to be heard above the flowing waters.
She was too tiny to be able to fight against these waters, not matter how strong or how stubborn she might have been. She nodded her head, clinging closely to his chest and helped him kick to the edge.
He helped her out of the water and she lay, the sand clinging to her wet body. He followed her and collapsed next to her, breathing heavily. Once he finally regained his breath and his thought, he asked, “What was that all about.”
She tried to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, running away from home and all. She wanted to see how life was like outside of what she knew, but now, she was willing to take her father’s word for it and go home.
“I want to go home…,” she said, very pathetically.
He noticed how upset she was and realized there was more to her than he had originally thought. He sighed, standing up and helping her do the same.
“We’ll both be home soon. We just need to wait for our people to find us, but they can’t when it’s this dark out.”
“I know that… but… I still want to go home.”
If he thought the night was long already, things were just getting started.
----------
“Don’t look at me!” she exclaimed, motioning for him to turn around.
That sad, pathetic looking girl moments earlier was gone. The old, stubborn and demanding girl was back, “I wasn’t looking!”
“Yes you were!” she said, pouting, “I’m not going to strip with you watching! You stay on your side of the cave and I’ll stay on mine!”
He turned, obeying her demands. He had given her his shirt for warmth, since she was clearly freezing her ass off. Only his pants were wet, but he could sit in them. Her whole body was soaked and he was afraid that she’d freeze to death if she stayed in them any longer.
“Take your clothes off.”
“Excuse me?”
“Its not what you think, Miss Conceited. You’re going to freeze to death if you don’t. So… take them off.”
She shimmied out of her wet pants and tank top, placing her vest on the floor with them. She tried to ring them out, but they wouldn’t dry fast enough.
“If I have to sit in my under garments with this guy all night, I think I’m going to shoot someone,” she thought.
She walked over to where they had made a new fire with the forgotten twigs and branches that she had gathered before the fighting began. Taking three, sturdy sticks, she poked them in the ground, hanging her dripping clothes off them to get dry.
“You better not look at me for the rest of the night!” she said.
“Okay, Princess--”
“What!?” she asked, immediately and instinctively.
He laughed, “It was a joke. I was being sarcastic. God.”
She slung his shirt over her shoulders, trying to keep the cold out. For a moment, he thought he might have recognized her, but then how could he have? His nation didn’t pay any attention to the affairs of her own.
She still hadn’t apologized to him, after everything. She had never apologized before in her life and didn’t want to sound like a fool doing so. It wasn’t until she saw him dig into his pant pocket for some gauze that she truly felt bad.
He had gashed the side of his chest when he dove in to get her off a rock and was now trying to bandage it, before it got infected. However, he was having a hard time reaching it, with the position of the wound.
“Here,” she said, her voice a lot softer than what he had known, “Let me.”
She walked over to him, kneeling behind him and grabbing the gauze from his hand. She inspected his wound, “Its not very deep, but it needs to be covered to avoid infection.”
He just watched in awe as the previously stubborn, demanding, hard-ass teenager had melted away and turned into a gentle, caring woman. He laughed lightly when he saw her wrapping the gauze around his chest, staring intently, as if she was trying to get everything lined up perfectly.
“You don’t need to put that much effort into it,” he said, “As long as its covered--”
“Yeah, but I feel bad. After all, I was the one who…”
She stopped, running her fingers over the now bandaged wound. That was there because of her. He had risked his life to save hers, when he really had no reason to. She would never understand, how a person who she had been told was her enemy her entire life could be so… caring.
“I’m sorry.”
He only knew her for a short time, but he thought he’d never hear those words from her mouth. He smiled, turning around to face her, “Are you cold?”
“No… I have this,” she said, motioning to his uniform shirt, which was covering her shoulders and her tiny body.
He laughed again, pulling her tightly against his body like he did when they were in the river. Her mouth was partially opened, surprised by his sudden display off affection.
“Well, I’m cold,” he said, matter-of-factly, “And we both know you couldn’t survive here by yourself, even though you are a rebel. We need each other, so lets help each other keep warm.”
She was tense, but she relaxed as soon as she heard his words. He wouldn’t try to kill her, she knew that now. Maybe these Contiagians weren’t so bad after all. She had only known what her father had told her, but now that she saw for herself… she wasn’t so sure anymore.
“I agree. For warmth. Just for warmth,” she said, trying to inch closer than she already was.
“Of course…”
… He’d never admit that his skin was really on fire, as was hers.
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February 28, 3047
Somewhere in the Desanca Desert, Dreas, Contiago
“Would you stop looking at me?” he asked, staring blankly at her.
They had been cooped up in this cave for hours and by the looks of things, morning wasn’t coming anytime soon, either. His stomach was grumbling from their lack of food and her deep, piercing gaze wasn’t making this experience any more wonderful.
She broke her gaze, turning her head. She felt insulted by the accusation, “Humph! There’s not much to look at.”
“Sure,” he said, a smile creeping across his face, “You were checking me out just now, weren’t you?”
A light blush appeared on her face and she crossed her arms protectively across her chest, “No! Why would you think that? Not every women who looks at you has a crush on you, you know!”
“Men, too.”
“Huh?”
“Men look at me, too.”
This elicited a small laugh which she tried to conceal, lightening the mood and bringing a smile to his face, “That’s better. You know, if you scowl all the time, your face will stay like that. You’re so much more pleasant when you’re smiling.”
“How can you say that? You don’t even know me,” she replied.
“Well, I’ve been stuck in here with you for a solid few hours, so I know enough to say that from what I know of you, you’re always scowling. Why?” he asked.
“Because I’m pissed! I can think of a thousand other places I would rather be than stuck here in a desert cave with you!” she snapped.
“Yeah, but you’re not in any one of those thousand places. Instead, you’re here with me, so deal with it.”
They were sitting across from each other and she got up to put even more space in between him. He sighed, weary from her attitude. It could have been worse…
“Not really…”
He poked the fire they had made for warmth, which was now slowly starting to die. It was hard enough finding sticks to make it, they couldn’t afford to lose this fire, too.
“No! No, no, no, no, no!” he said, blowing on it, “Don’t go out on me!”
But it was too late; the fire vanished with a gust of chilled air. He hung his head down, wondering what to do next. When he looked up, he saw her walking out of the cave.
“Hey!” he said, standing up, “Where are you going?”
“To get more wood,” she sneered.
“But… you can’t go out there! You said yourself, the temperature drops--”
“I’ll be fine!”
No matter how hard he fought, it was clear she wouldn’t listen, so he accepted defeat. He had never met anybody so stubborn before. She really seemed determined to get her way.
“Fine! Die! See what I care!”
----------
“That ungrateful…”
She kicked at the ground, looking for some branches or anything dry that was buried in the sand. She couldn’t stand to be stuck in that cave for another second with that man.
“Who does he think he is, acting so “cool?”” she mumbled, finding a single branch on the ground and picking it up.
He was right about the temperature dropping. It wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it was when the sun was out, and standing here in nothing but cargo pants, a tank top and military vest, she would freeze to death if she didn’t find more wood soon.
“He’s the enemy! I should be capturing him, not fraternizing! But… how?” she wondered.
If she captured this guy, she’d be helping her nation… but that wasn’t why she was here. Still, she couldn’t let an enemy soldier just walk away, could she.
“Hey! Wait up!” she heard his voice behind her.
“Do I have to spell it out for you?” she replied, “I want some time alone!”
“Yeah, but…”
This was her chance. If she could catch him off guard, she might be able to capture him. He’d never suspect it from her, and as he came running closer to her, she quickly dropped to the ground, swinging her legs around and tripping him.
“What the hell are you doing?”
She quickly straddled him, trying to pin him down into submission, but he was a man and she was just a girl. He was too strong for her, and he knocked her off.
“Cut it out!” he shouted, utterly confused.
They were both standing up and he grabbed both her arms, trying to get her to stop fighting. He couldn’t hit her, even if she was the enemy. She was just a girl.
Then, she did something that would be considered highly dishonorable in battle… but a survival impulse. She kicked him between the legs, hitting him in the groin. His legs buckled over and he went rolling down a sand dune, groaning.
“Keep your hands off of me!” and she went running down the dune after him.
He was finally able to steady himself, recovering from the pain. He was as mad as a hornet and wanted nothing more than to beat the life out of her… if she wasn’t a girl.
She jumped on top of him, again, sending them both rolling down the dune in a heap. He was dodging her punches, which were coming from both sides.
“What’s gotten into you? Jesus! I didn’t think I was that annoying!” he replied, stopping them.
When she was positioned on top of him at the end of their little tumble, he used his legs to kick her off, sending her over his head and rolling down the dune, once again.
“You… don’t… know… anything… about… me!” she shouted, between her spiraling.
He was running to catch up with her, “Then enlighten me! Tell me something about you!”
She finally stopped at the bottom, trying to get her baring after that dizzy hell ride. She swung at him, but he ducked, dodging her punch. He repeated her action that had initiated this all, sweeping her legs out from under her. The fall, mixed with her dizziness sent her rolling even more. It wasn’t until he realized how close they were to the river that he began to worry.
“Hey--!”
She tried to stand up, but fell backwards into the freezing water. She tried to grab onto the edge, but sand slipped through her fingers and she drifted downstream.
“Bastard!” she shouted to him, closing her eyes shut and getting sucked underwater.
He took his felgercarb off in the freezing weather, shivering, before dropping it in the sand and diving in after her. He swam over to where he saw her go under, noticing that her pants were caught on a jagged rock. Pulling his knife out from the compartment in his own uniform pants, he cut the patch from her pants, setting her free, and tightly grabbed onto her.
They made it back to the surface, both taking a deep breath of fresh air.
“Hang onto me tight!” he shouted, trying to be heard above the flowing waters.
She was too tiny to be able to fight against these waters, not matter how strong or how stubborn she might have been. She nodded her head, clinging closely to his chest and helped him kick to the edge.
He helped her out of the water and she lay, the sand clinging to her wet body. He followed her and collapsed next to her, breathing heavily. Once he finally regained his breath and his thought, he asked, “What was that all about.”
She tried to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, running away from home and all. She wanted to see how life was like outside of what she knew, but now, she was willing to take her father’s word for it and go home.
“I want to go home…,” she said, very pathetically.
He noticed how upset she was and realized there was more to her than he had originally thought. He sighed, standing up and helping her do the same.
“We’ll both be home soon. We just need to wait for our people to find us, but they can’t when it’s this dark out.”
“I know that… but… I still want to go home.”
If he thought the night was long already, things were just getting started.
----------
“Don’t look at me!” she exclaimed, motioning for him to turn around.
That sad, pathetic looking girl moments earlier was gone. The old, stubborn and demanding girl was back, “I wasn’t looking!”
“Yes you were!” she said, pouting, “I’m not going to strip with you watching! You stay on your side of the cave and I’ll stay on mine!”
He turned, obeying her demands. He had given her his shirt for warmth, since she was clearly freezing her ass off. Only his pants were wet, but he could sit in them. Her whole body was soaked and he was afraid that she’d freeze to death if she stayed in them any longer.
“Take your clothes off.”
“Excuse me?”
“Its not what you think, Miss Conceited. You’re going to freeze to death if you don’t. So… take them off.”
She shimmied out of her wet pants and tank top, placing her vest on the floor with them. She tried to ring them out, but they wouldn’t dry fast enough.
“If I have to sit in my under garments with this guy all night, I think I’m going to shoot someone,” she thought.
She walked over to where they had made a new fire with the forgotten twigs and branches that she had gathered before the fighting began. Taking three, sturdy sticks, she poked them in the ground, hanging her dripping clothes off them to get dry.
“You better not look at me for the rest of the night!” she said.
“Okay, Princess--”
“What!?” she asked, immediately and instinctively.
He laughed, “It was a joke. I was being sarcastic. God.”
She slung his shirt over her shoulders, trying to keep the cold out. For a moment, he thought he might have recognized her, but then how could he have? His nation didn’t pay any attention to the affairs of her own.
She still hadn’t apologized to him, after everything. She had never apologized before in her life and didn’t want to sound like a fool doing so. It wasn’t until she saw him dig into his pant pocket for some gauze that she truly felt bad.
He had gashed the side of his chest when he dove in to get her off a rock and was now trying to bandage it, before it got infected. However, he was having a hard time reaching it, with the position of the wound.
“Here,” she said, her voice a lot softer than what he had known, “Let me.”
She walked over to him, kneeling behind him and grabbing the gauze from his hand. She inspected his wound, “Its not very deep, but it needs to be covered to avoid infection.”
He just watched in awe as the previously stubborn, demanding, hard-ass teenager had melted away and turned into a gentle, caring woman. He laughed lightly when he saw her wrapping the gauze around his chest, staring intently, as if she was trying to get everything lined up perfectly.
“You don’t need to put that much effort into it,” he said, “As long as its covered--”
“Yeah, but I feel bad. After all, I was the one who…”
She stopped, running her fingers over the now bandaged wound. That was there because of her. He had risked his life to save hers, when he really had no reason to. She would never understand, how a person who she had been told was her enemy her entire life could be so… caring.
“I’m sorry.”
He only knew her for a short time, but he thought he’d never hear those words from her mouth. He smiled, turning around to face her, “Are you cold?”
“No… I have this,” she said, motioning to his uniform shirt, which was covering her shoulders and her tiny body.
He laughed again, pulling her tightly against his body like he did when they were in the river. Her mouth was partially opened, surprised by his sudden display off affection.
“Well, I’m cold,” he said, matter-of-factly, “And we both know you couldn’t survive here by yourself, even though you are a rebel. We need each other, so lets help each other keep warm.”
She was tense, but she relaxed as soon as she heard his words. He wouldn’t try to kill her, she knew that now. Maybe these Contiagians weren’t so bad after all. She had only known what her father had told her, but now that she saw for herself… she wasn’t so sure anymore.
“I agree. For warmth. Just for warmth,” she said, trying to inch closer than she already was.
“Of course…”
… He’d never admit that his skin was really on fire, as was hers.
phoenix shotgun 47
Cadet
yay! an update!!
amazing job.
loved the end. it was so cute
thanks for the pm.
please update again soon!!!
~Kay ^_^
amazing job.
loved the end. it was so cute
thanks for the pm.
please update again soon!!!
~Kay ^_^
fieldstation
Cadet
awesome!
So... it's obvious that they like each other. Even tho they pretend they don't.
So... it's obvious that they like each other. Even tho they pretend they don't.
Tiiulicious
Cadet
Great update. The end made me wanna go awwww.
Thanks for the pm
Thanks for the pm
vaughnshoney
Cadet
Great update. Can't wait for more
Thanks for the PM
Thanks for the PM
SpygirlAmy
Cadet
aww that was great! i loved it
thanks for the PM cant wait for more!
thanks for the PM
cant wait for more!farliieansds225
Cadet
aww haha only for warmth
awesome update
loved it
thanx for the pm
cant wait for more
awesome update
loved it
thanx for the pm
cant wait for more
Agent Bristow-Vaughn
Cadet
awwwww soo cute plz update soon...
thanks,
ABV
thanks,
ABV
Alias_Country_Angel
Cadet
That was sweet of syd to do that. Can I get a pm when you update?
angel :angelfly:
angel :angelfly:
Carney4ever
Cadet
that was cute at the end
can i have a PM when you update?
thanks
Kt
can i have a PM when you update?
thanks
Kt
vaughn4eva24
Cadet
PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE PLEASE UPDATE
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!SOON!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!SOON!!!!!!
oooRevesDouxooo
Cadet
i L-O-V-E this!! can i be added to your pm list.. if you have one.. .. update again SOON
.. update again SOONAliasSydney502
Cadet
haha 'just for warmth' my ass!!
update soooooon!
update soooooon!