Felix and I swiftly open the door to our house. My Mom and Dad are both sitting at the table talking about something with grave expressions on their faces. I quickly wondered what they were talking about before my mind switched over to the best way to tell them the news. I'd made up my mind, and the decision was leaving me cold. Felix was right behind me, and I could feel the surprise coming off of him. Apparently, he hadn't expected me to be so forward with telling them. He knew I didn't like to see people sad.

The memory quickly faded. My brain apparently didn't like to see the moments where my parents were upset. I don't particularly feel like revisiting these memories either.

Suddenly, I'm walking with Aiden down a cobblestone road. It's the busy time of the year where people are stocking up on all the things they'll need for the winter. I feel like covering my ears from their annoying shouting, but Aiden doesn't seem fazed. We're walking to his house. Aiden and I had been hanging out regularly for about 5 months now, and I hadn't met his foster Mother or seen his house. I'd just offered to walk him home one day, just like he had for me months ago.

"So... you just wander over to the forest all the time?" I'm realizing that it's extremely unlikely for him to just "wander" over to the forest near my house. It made me suspicious about his true intentions on the day that I had officially met him.

"Um... something like that."

The dream skips farther along into the walk. We're passing a fruit stand where an older man is just letting a crooked, younger one take the fruit off his wrack. I grab hold of Aiden's arm and tell him to look at the stand. Aiden and I are confused at first, but before the younger man leaves, we both see a small glint coming from something small and shiny headed into the man's coat pockets. It could've been anything, a pocketwatch, a locket, or something metal except: where was the chain for the watch? Where was the rest of the necklace?

With a cautious tone, Aiden says, "You wanna check it out?"

I feel like saying yes, but I'm such a wimp and don't really feel like putting myself in danger at the moment, so I can't speak. Instead, I just nod my head very slowly making mind overtake body.

We start to tail the man who took the fruit and follow him down an alleyway. It doesn't look like a good place to be; we're in a small and crowded space with a man with a possible weapon in his pocket. To make matters even worse, we're both 14 with no combat experience.

"I've got this," Aiden whispers. "Just follow my lead."

I'd already thought up a whole backstory for us and a purpose to walk up to him, so I stop him and say, "Aiden! Wait, I've got a plan." I explain the plan to him and Aiden nods to me and clears his throat before turning around.

Aiden walks up to the man, lightly taps him on the shoulder and says once we're out of the narrow alleyway (it would look weird coming up to him in that dark place), "Excuse me, sir!"

The man growls, "I don't wanna try whatever product you're trying to sell, so leave me alone!"

"Oh, but please! I'm trying to make my way in the world as a magician, but no one will let me show them how good I am! Please understand, I'm not looking for any money or anything, I just wanna get my name out there!"

Aiden has tried hit the man's sensitive side. I assessed the man quickly when I saw him. The man would only be stealing if he was poor and didn't have much money. He'd probably been that way for a while judging by his clothing and might've once been in the same situation that Aiden was pretending to be in. Magician was a fool's trade though, and no one wanted to be that. It made me wonder if he was actually gonna buy the story.

The man sighed and said, "I suppose. I'm not in a big rush to get anywhere, so show me what'cha got."

Aiden smiles, something that could be both fake and real, and begins his fake trick. "Okay, so first, I'll need an article of clothing. The easiest would be nice, for example anything on the exterior. Your jacket would be the best." Aiden's laying it on kind of thick, but the man doesn't seem to notice anything wrong. The man takes off his jacket and hands it to Aiden. "Now... I need my trusty assistant," and he motions for me to come over to him. I practically skip over to him, and I know exactly how to do this.

"Are we doing the invisibility trick?" I innocently ask Aiden.

"Yes, so get things prepared." I nod my head and pat around my belt, trying to make it look as if things are all good for this trick. I smile and nod. The man's face is getting more annoyed by the second, and I hope he'll endure us a little while longer. "Okay, we're all set. Sir, stand back and be amazed as we magically make your jacket feel lighter without taking anything out of it."

I facepalm myself internally. Not to mention that the name of the trick doesn't describe it at all. What does making the jacket feel lighter have to do with invisibility? Well... I guess so. This man was totally going to suspect us. Why wasn't I realizing the stupidity of this plan earlier? That depended though, how far was this man willing to go to protect his fruit? I felt kind of bad for him. He probably had a family to feed and too little money so he couldn't have paid for the fruit legally. I almost give up and hand the man his jacket back, but then I remember the man at the stand and remember that he has a family too.

I started to think rapidly. What did I have on me that was about the same size as the fruit and I didn't care about? I internally sighed. Nothing. I hope Aiden has something. I hand the man's jacket over to Aiden, but not before I take an apple out of his jacket and place it in a pocket inside my cloak. I nod slightly to Aiden, hoping he'll get the message.

Aiden takes the jacket, slips something in while at the same time taking a piece of fruit out. He theatrically weighs the jacket, and starts to hand the jacket back to him. He says in an announcer's voice, "Why don't you try for yourself, sir? You can even check your jacket! There's nothing missing! Well, we'll be seeing you!" Aiden takes my hand and starts to pull me away. "Don't forget to tell your friends all about us!" Aiden yells as we continue to walk away.

It not until we're both out of the alleyway do I let out the breath I've been holding and talk. "So, where did you learn magic tricks?"

"Oh, shut up," Aiden says happily. "You've gotta admit, it worked."

"We better hurry up though, because he could be coming after any second once he realizes that we took his fruit. I'm pretty sure he had a knife in his jacket."

"Don't worry about him. He won't come back." I'm still confused as to why, but I don't question as we continue to walk back to the old man's fruit stand. When we get there the man looks his happy and normal self, but there's an upset undertone.

I ask, "Sir? Are you okay?"

"What? Oh," he looks at me and Aiden. "Oh, everything's all right, just having a tough day. I don't have... enough um... fruit to keep me going throughout the day. I'll have to stock up soon." He tries for a smile underneath his bushy, gray mustache.

"Sir, we saw that man come up to you with a knife," Aiden says with a serious tone. The man is slightly taken aback and has a look of surprise on his face. Aiden takes out his piece of fruit as I take out mine. "We got the fruit back, but don't tell anyone that it was us if anyone comes asking."

The man takes the two pieces of fruit and has a grateful look on his face. "Thank you so much Madam and Sir. And to thank you," he tries to hand Aiden and I our pieces of fruit back. "Take these, on the house!"

I try to protest. "Oh, but we can't! Didn't you say you were running low on supplies?"

"Oh don't worry yourselves darling! I'll survive, it's no matter to get some more fruit!"

Aiden takes the fruit out of his outstretched hands. "Thank you, sir!" Following Aiden's lead, I take the fruit also. I say thank you as well and Aiden and I start to go back towards Aiden's house.

After a few minutes of walking in silence and slowly munching on fruit, Aiden stops me and says while reaching into his cloak pocket, "Look what else I nicked out of that crook's pocket." He brings forth a beautiful dagger. He unsheathes it and there's a small pattern on the blade. It really did look beautiful and expensive.

"Why did you do that?!"

"What do you mean?"

"Why did you take his dagger? He may have stolen the fruit, so what we did really wasn't stealing, but that was his rightful possession."

"Relax! He probably stole it from somebody else, anyways."

"That doesn't make it right!"

"If it bothers you that much, I'll just give the dagger back to the man!" His angry tone didn't exactly fit his face. I got upset with him, knowing full well that giving it back wasn't an option.

"Besides, he could've done unspeakable things with that dagger and we wouldn't even know it! What if some random guy off the street tries to kill you because of what was done with the dagger? Hm?"

"Pfft. I don't have any use for the dagger, I'll just leave it somebody's trash can."

"Okay, good," and we continued walking. On our way there, he stops by a random person's house and drops the dagger in her trashcan.

I am now fully awake. I took in a sharp breath as I sat up beside the burnt-out fire. I remember why Aiden's dagger looked so familiar. It was the dagger that he stole from that man. He must've gone back for it once the coast was clear. It's not that I was necessarily mad at him or anything, it just kind of hurt to know that he lied to me and probably didn't feel any guilt over it. I might've known Aiden for a year, but I still knew so little about him. I was still figuring out what kind of person he was, and apparently he was the kind to tell lies.

Last night seeps its way back into my mind. I smile to myself, remembering what I did. As you can see, I was very proud of myself for saving Eliza. Having the dagger in my hand made me feel like I had control over the situation; it was a good feeling. I look around me and see that we're all sleeping in no particular order in any spot. The horses are also still sleeping off to the side of my vision. Everyone's wrapped up in their own cloaks for warmth because the fire stopped during the night and we were all too tired to go get some more wood. Eliza has a purple cloak, Felix with a brown cloak, and Aiden with a red-orange cloak. All of them wrapped up in small cocoons.

I look up at the sky, and it was dawn. I was thinking that now might be a good time to wake everyone up so we could get a good start on our day. Then I thought, Naw. I'll let them sleep a little longer. They deserve it. I just sat there for a while, listening to the birds chirping and all the other animals shuffle around in the forest as they were just waking up.

My stomach growled. I felt very weak and sick. I tried to fall back asleep, hoping it would help the pain I felt in my stomach, but I couldn't fall asleep. This is going to be a very long day, I thought as I sat up; I was giving in to the pain. I heard someone squirming a little bit in their sleep. I looked over and saw it was Aiden. He was dripping with sweat and whimpering. I went over to him to wake him up so he wouldn't have to live through the nightmare, but Aiden woke up before I could get to him.

"Huh!" He breathed in quickly. He started to shake his head and whispered, "It was just a nightmare."

"Aiden?" I asked gently. "Were you having a nightmare?" He just nodded his head yes. "Would you mind my asking what it was about?"

"I'm- I'm already forgetting what it was about anyways," and he tried for a smile, but he didn't quite make it. I knew he was lying, but it was his business and I didn't need to get involved.

"Well, okay then. Hey, does your stomach hurt?"

"Yeah," and he frowned whilst putting his hand over his growling stomach.

"We'll have to make it today, and soon. We'll miss the entry day if we wait any longer."

"Yeah. Should we wake the others up?"

"Naw. Just let 'em sleep"

"Okay," he almost whispered. "I'm gonna try to go back to sleep for a little while longer. If you happen to be up, wake us up soon so we don't sleep too late."

While I nodded my head I said, "Sure." Aiden turned around and lay back down. His breathing soon slowed and stayed constant. I knew he was sleeping.

The minutes passed by seeming longer than usual. The pain in my stomach increased so much that I felt like I might throw up. I sure hoped I wasn't getting sick, that would be awful to have to deal with on my first day of military training. Did they serve breakfast when we got there? Would we miss breakfast if we didn't get there in time? The thoughts of food and breakfast made me hungrier, and the thought of moving made me feel even more sick than I already did.

Finally, it was time to get the others up. I woke them all up gently, only having trouble with Eliza of course.

I whispered in her ear, "Wake up or I'm gonna make Aiden kiss you."

"I'M UP! Aiden don't kiss me!"

A confused Aiden said, "Wait, what?"

I called out, "Nothing!"

"Sure it's nothing," he yawned. Everyone was still really tired, and now since I hadn't gotten all that much sleep so was I.

"Alright!" Felix said cheerily. He was always too happy. "Let's get going!"

"Yeah, yeah," Eliza muttered as she got up on her horse. "Who's leading this time?"

"Not me!" Aiden said. I sure hope he doesn't still feel guilty about that. "Rose! You do it!"

"Me? What? Eliza can read the map better!"

"Well then Eliza do it! I don't care I just wanna get there so we can eat!"

"Fine! Hand the map back to me," Eliza said, sounding bored. I handed the map back to her. "Okay, let's get this show on the road. Let's ride off into the sunset, my fellow comrades!

"We all chuckled as we followed behind her. Heading off to our new lives.

Then I said, "Wait, but there isn't a sunset!"

Eliza went, "UUUGGGGHHHH." I laughed out loud and soon after so did Felix and Aiden.