I don't really have anything to say tbh.

Actually

Wait jk lol

K bye

•    •    •

~ Sky ~

I laughed at Amber's statement. She sounded so serious when she said that she was going after Brad's killer. But after a few seconds, my laughter faded. Her facial expression was still serious.

"Are you serious?" I asked, just to be sure.

She nodded.

I swallowed. "Amber, I'm not sure how possible that is. We don't know who they are, where they went, what they look like... We don't even know their gender."

"We know that they're a skilled archer that wears a black coat, and went east."

"You saw their coat?"

She nodded again.

"Fine. But there are plenty of people that are archers. And wear black coats."

"Not as good as that. The black coat is just a way to narrow it down slightly. Better than nothing."

"Okay... But what about where they went? East isn't exactly a good start."

"It is if it's the direction of a large city." She grinned. "Marstamian."

"Mar-stah-mee-in?" I sounded out the word she said.

"Marstamian. City of Redstone. Everyone goes there to check out the amazing inventions there, even murderers. Plus it's basically the grand central station for transportation. If I were an assassin on the run, I'd try to get away from the witnesses as soon as possible."

I ran my hand down my face in frustration and thought. "Assume this guy does go there. You'd just search the whole dang city for one guy? What if he leaves already?"

"I'd have to be resourceful." She sat up straighter. Her eyes were red from crying, but that was the only hint from her face that she felt any emotion.

"Amber..." I didn't want to tell her it couldn't be done. It actually could be, but with a very, very, very low chance of success.

"You don't have to come." She told me. "I'm not asking you to. But I have to do this. I have to bring justice to this villain."

I sat there, staring at the mountainside. Finally, my mouth moved: "Then I guess you shouldn't do it alone."

"Really?" Her face lit up.

"Really really. When are we leaving?"

Amber smiled. "Thank you, Sky. We should leave as soon as possible."

"It's afternoon, and we shouldn't travel at night. We can leave tomorrow morning."

She looked away. "I just hope Cameron would be okay with us going."

"He's a cool guy," I said, "he'll let us."

• • •

"No."

"What?" Amber and I asked at the same time.

"No. N-O. Means not any, and is used to give a negative response. No."

"Why not?" We both said again, which made us look at each other.

"We need to stop doing that." Amber told me.

"Because." Cameron slammed the stack of folders he had onto his desk. "I'm not letting two kids—"

"Teenagers." I corrected him.

"Fine. I'm not letting two teenagers go on a journey on their own where they could potentially get killed by anything."

"Then come with us!" Amber explained.

Cameron put some folders away in a filing cabinet. "I can't. Too much work."

Something told me that he was also too depressed to do anything adventurous or extreme. I didn't blame him, so I sent Amber a silent look telling her to not push it.

She pressed her lips together. "Okay. That's okay. But we have to go. I really want to do some sight seeing, and you know Marstamian is the best place to go to."

I came up with the plan of just making it seem like an innocent trip instead of a manhunt. Plus, we weren't technically lying. We just weren't telling the whole truth. If Cameron asked us if we were going there to look for a killer, and we said no, then yes, that would be lying.

"Last time I saw you, you were mad with the world. Now, maybe two hours later, you want to go sight seeing?"

"It helps with the closure." She shrugged. "I just need to get away for a little bit."

Hearing her say that made me feel bad for Cameron. He was stuck in the town where his loved one passed away in.

Cameron ran his hand through his hair. It looked like he was about to say no again.

"I could invite my family to go." Amber offered.

That made an impact on Cameron's decision. With three new people attending the trip, it seemed safer. He looked at me. "You're planning on going? I thought you would want to stay here."

"I wasn't so sure yet." I admitted. "I mean the town is great, don't get me wrong. But I really don't think I'd like to settle down in a place for too long. This adventure would be great for me."

Cameron let out a huff. "You remind me of myself when I was younger."

He was in his mid twenties. He's not that old.

"Fine." The town leader tossed his hands in the air in defeat. "But you better take your family with you. If they say no, then don't even think about going."

"That is a great idea." Amber nodded. She hugged Cameron, who hugged back after a few seconds of surprise. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." He murmured, his mind elsewhere. After she stepped back, he asked, "When do you plan on leaving?"

"In the morning." I answered. "We want to get out there as soon as possible."

"I understand. Will you need supplies for your trip? Or will your family provide?"

"You know how cheap my dad is." Amber gave an innocent smile.

Cameron gave a little chuckle, which was basically a hearty laugh from him at the time. "Yeah. We can get you guys some things."

"Thanks again." I said.

"You know," Amber started helping Cameron with filing the papers, "I'm really looking forward to this trip."

~ Cole ~

I didn't even bother to leave after nightfall. I left immediately.

As soon as I made it to the house, I jumped off the horse and ran inside. I didn't even tie the horse up. I needed to get out of the area before those people caught up to me.

I bursted through the front door and  went around the house for supplies. I had half armor and a weapon, and some blocks, but I traded my iron pickaxe for a diamond one. I also got some more food (more steak. I'm a fan of steak). And since there was no more diamond armor, I had to get out iron leggings and boots. I decided against a bow. If I couldn't shoot, then there was no use bringing it. I had searched around for horse armor, but I couldn't find any. I just needed to be careful.

About five minutes later, I had everything I needed. I looked out the window before I went outside in case anyone was out there. However, there was no one.

I went over to my horse, who never moved from the spot. He was simply grazing.

I climbed onto him, and looked at the map. So I had to cross northern plains, a forest, and what I think was a taiga. No problem. I should reach my house in a few days.

Something made me hesitant about it, however. If these people knew where my house was, and they knew I was going there, then wouldn't they go there as well? I could walk right into a trap or an ambush.

No... I just needed to make it there before them. Then I could fight for it. I had plenty of traps and tricks to fend them off with.

I gently kicked the horse's side, and he started off on a trot. Soon, we were cantering away.

• • •

Did I ever mention I was antisocial? Because man, I am really bad at small talk. But I guess I should've learned how to carry a conversation so I could've avoided talking about shoes to a bad guy.

My horse (who I had not named yet) continued to gallop across the plains. There wasn't anything interesting about it. We did speed by a few herds of cattle and sheep, but that was about it. I didn't even see many cave entrances popping out of the ground.

After maybe forty minutes of switching between trotting and cantering, I decided to give my horse a break. Somehow I found a lead in the basement of the house before, so I held the rope as he grazed (at least, I'm pretty sure he's a male).

However, about a minute in, I heard a scream. It wasn't a scream of fun, it was the sound of shock and horror. It was coming from behind the hill I was resting against.

"Stay here." I whispered to the horse as I let go of the lead. He didn't seem to care about it.

I crept onto the hill and fell flat on my stomach so no one saw me. I took in the scene that was in front of me.

A family was being harassed by two GATU members on horses. Their lime green hoodies told me they were just rookies, nothing serious. However, they were apparently trying to rob a family of four. The mother was near two horses (with luggage) clutching a young boy and girl, who seemed to be twins around the age of four. The middle aged father was standing between the GATU members and his family. He carried only an iron pickaxe, and obviously wasn't a fighter.

"Please," he begged, "our family has nothing. We're just innocent travelers."

"Then what's in the bags?" One of the GATU thugs asked. His voice was muffled from he creeper mask he wore, but his question rang out.

The father glanced at the chests his horses carried. "Only a few things. Food, blocks, things we need in order to survive."

"You wouldn't mind us having a look-see, would you?" One dismounted, giving the other person his horse's reins.

He got halfway to the father when I popped up.

"Excuse me good sirs!" I waved my hand high at them.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked at me.

"Who are you?" The guy on the ground asked.

"I'm a representative from Canavere City's building corporation." I made my way down the hill, which I'm sure didn't look very heroic as I almost tripped. "We're talking about building a new train station here."

The horseman asked, "In the middle of nowhere?"

"You don't look like a representation." If I could see behind the mask, I'm sure the GATU member narrowed his eyes.

Right after that whole encounter, I thought of many possible answers I could've said. However, I just blurted out, "Shoes."

"What?"

"I mean... I like shoes." I pointed to his black sneakers. "Cool sneakers."

"What are you, a wise guy?" The horseman asked, dismounting his own horse. He kept a hold of both reins with one hand.

I stopped talking and took a few seconds to think of something to say. I hated small talk. "Of course we'd build a train station in the middle of nowhere." I gestured toward the family. "People like this nice family could make a town out here. And how would people get to it or even know it's here if there isn't a station?"

The empty handed GATU member tilted his head. "You're awfully stupid."

"Nah nah," the other one intervened waving his free hand as if calming his partner down, "he does have a point."

"I rest my case." He snapped. He pulled out a diamond sword. "Now Mr. Representative, I suggest you hand everything you have over to us, and we'll let you walk freely."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the father had backed up so he was out of the two members' sight. He was slowly creeping toward the horses.

I kept talking to keep them distracted. "Or you can be a great supporter of the soon-to-be train station."

"Why you little—" he started walking toward me.

I was about to pull out my own sword and just deal with the two of them the hard way, but the father had reached the horses. He smacked both of their back ends, and the steeds reared up. The GATU member that was holding them let go in shock, and the horses ran away, one nearly trampling him.

"No!" The one that was about to charge me cried. His back was turned, so I pulled my sword out and slammed it against his, loosening his grip and letting his sword fall to the ground. I kneed the back of his own left knee so he was bent backwards slightly . Finally, I ended with my sword right under his chin, and my one hand grabbing his elbow and putting it behind his back.

"Who the nether are you...?" The guy grunted.

"The guardian of this land." I said the first thing that came to mind, which sounded pretty cool. "And I suggest you never come back."

I moved my sword away from his face and shoved him forward. His buddy, who was still on the ground in shock, got up. They both ran after their horses.

I stared at the two idiots running away together in the distance. "Well that was horrible."

"Horrible?" The father asked, walking over to his wife and kids. "You saved my family."

"You helped too." I smiled, picking up the diamond sword on the ground.

"Those GATU people are such trouble." The wife muttered. It was the first time I heard her speak. She had a shaky voice.

The husband asked, "How can we repay you?"

I shook my head. "No thanks necessary." After all, they had so little.

"Thank you cowboy!" The little boy said slowly, a large grin on his face.

"James." The father laughed. "Sorry, he likes to hear stories about cowboys and Indians."

"It's fine."

"Horsey!" The girl shouted in glee, pointing to my horse that appeared at the top of the hill.

"Oh crap." I climbed up the mound again and took the lead off my horse. I mounted him, and trotted down the hill back to the family.

"Here." I held out the sword to the father. "An iron pick won't do much in a fight."

He stared at the blade, and gingerly took it as if it were a bomb. He finally said, "Thank you. Again."

"Where are you headed?" The wife asked.

"North." I pointed in the direction they were heading away from. "Back home."

"Well I hope you find it." The father helped his son onto one of the horses.

The little girl went up to my horse and asked, "What's his name?"

"I don't have one for him."

"Name him Shoelace. Cause you like shoes."

"Anna." Her mother scolded her.

However, I smiled again. "Shoelace. I like that. Thanks, kid."

The girl giggled at me, and shyly ran into her mother's arms.

After we said our goodbyes, I continued on my journey.

• • •

So Amber and Sky will be going after the criminal that murdered Brad. And Amber's family is going with them...? How will that turn out? Will they find the murderer? And how is Marstamian going to be? I'm really crappy at redstone so I hope I can describe it well.

Also, Cole did some things which was cool. Who else can relate to his social issues? And will he ever get home?

Rock on, my little rebels.