I woke up to the swaying of my body. At first, I thought I was still dreaming because I didn't feel myself walking, but I was moving with my eyes facing the ground.  It took me a full second to realize I wasn't dreaming and freaked out.

"Woah! Calm down! It's just me," a familiar voice said.

"J-Justin?" I sputtered.

"Yes idiot," he grumbled. "Ouch, you kick hard."

"Put me down!"

My body was suddenly flipped over, and the world was straight again. I stumbled around, my legs a little wobbly and glared at Justin who was staring at me weirdly like draping me over his shoulder with me still sleeping was completely normal.

"What happened?" I asked, glancing up at the sky. Judging by the sky color and the smell coming from the campsite, it was almost dinner. Not only that, but... I looked besides me. All the villagers were out and were staring at us like we were exotic animals. 

"You fell asleep with me—"

Hurriedly, I covered Justin's mouth before snatching his wrist and dragging him away from the crowd. I found a quiet place and let go of his wrist there.

"Ouch," he complained, even though he didn't look pained in anyway.

"Don't say such misleading things so loudly in front of everybody!" I hissed.

"Hmm?" Justin grinned crookedly and raised an eyebrow.

"Look here—"

"There you are!"

Just when I was about to blow up, Catherine appeared, holding a familiar bundle of white cloth. She bustled over to us and threw the white cloth over me, blinding my vision for a moment. When I could see again, Catherine was tying a red string in front of my neck. I touched it in surprise.

"You forgot to wear your cloak," she said. "I got it washed and cleaned for you."

I grinned gratefully at her. She motioned her heads back out into the open. "C'mon, dinner is ready."

As we followed Catherine out into the opening, Catherine abruptly stopped in front of us. "Sakura...there might be a lot of people staring at you today so try not to feel that pressured alright?"

"Alright?" I said, not quite sure what she meant.

It didn't take long for me to realize what she meant. Immediately when I arrived inside, everyone stopped talking and stared at me. I didn't like the attention. At all. 

Especially since Mom always locked us in the house and consistently strictly ordered us about what to do, May and I have never had friends before. Now that I had a whole village of stranger boys staring at me, I couldn't exactly walk right without tripping over my own feet.

"Are you alright?" Justin muttered, an expression of worry on his face.

"Fine, fine," I muttered, starting to get fidgety again.

I could feel Justin stare at me, and in the back of my brain I knew he didn't believe me. "What color is my hair?"

"Fine, fine."

"What's your name?"

"Fine, fine."

Justin sighed; I realized I had no idea what Justin had just asked me. "Wait, what?"

"Do you think we should just bring her back to the room and deliver her dinner there?" Catherine asked Justin anxiously.

"Too late," Justin muttered, his eyes fixed up front.

I followed his stare to three boys walking towards us. Curt, Jake and... My eyebrow lifted in surprise. The boy who I had saved was trailing behind them. Besides me, I felt Catherine's eyes shot lasers at them and heard some pretty unpleasant words Ethan would flip out at if he had heard them underneath her breath. I nudged her, and she responded with an indignant snort.

"Look who came up," Justin said, his voice flat and dry when they reached us. I elbowed him. Of course I had to be stuck in between Catherine and Justin. 

"Sorry," I nervously laughed. "He gets cranky at times when he doesn't get enough sleep."

"No it's fine," Curt half smiled, half stared at Justin.

An awkward silence fell over us. And it wasn't helping that Catherine and Justin were both putting on a go-away mood while the villagers around us stared at us like we were some piece of juicy meat.

Jake then suddenly pushed the boy forward, and he stumbled in front of us. I ignored Catherine's threatening atmosphere and tried to fix a welcoming smile at the boy. The boy pushed down his red bangs and looked down.

"ThankyouforsavingmeandsorryforallthetroubleIcausedyou!" he said in all one breath.

I clapped politely, not sure what he just said, but it was better than doing nothing. Then Justin hit my head. "That was an apology, idiot."

"Oh," I said embarrassed. "Haha. It's alright. It's not your faul—"

Catherine coughed loudly. "Sorry, I got something in my throat."

I twitched. "Justin, why don't you bring Catherine a cup of water?"

"What?" Justin asked unhelpfully. "Why me?"

I wished Tristan or Yuri was with me right now. Unlike these two, Tristan and Yuri were much more aware of other people and the atmosphere.

Curt cleared his throat. "Why don't we settle for dinner today and talk tomorrow? I'm sure everyone is exhausted."

"Thank you," I sighed relieved. I bowed my head towards them formally, and they did the same.

When they were out of earshot, I turned on Justin and Catherine. "That conversation got nowhere because of you guys! Look how uncomfortable you made them!"

"I don't like them," Justin and Catherine chorused.

"I didn't ask for your opinions," I sighed and rubbed my forehead. "Let's just get dinner."

There was a line for dinner when we got there, but it went by quickly. When it was our turn, I gave them my bowl for the servers to put rice and meat. They took one look at me and started to shove food in my bowl. I don't think the proportions they were putting in were normal, but I took it and politely thanked them.

When I got out of line, I went over to Justin and Catherine and looked inside their bowls. Compared to theirs, mines looked like a giant.

"Why did you get so much food?" Justin asked, stealing a handful of meat from me.

I moved the bowl of out Justin's reach.

"I know right?" Catherine complained, taking a chunk of rice from me.

"Missssss!"

I almost dropped my bowl of food from the impact knocked into me. A golden head popped up and smiled stupidly at me.

"Yuri," I groaned. "You're heavy."

"Oh!" he cried, realizing the situation. "Whoopsie daisy."

When I stood up, I saw Tristan standing behind Yuri. "Where were you guys?"

"That's what we should be asking you." he responded. "We tried to split up and find you and Justin, but we couldn't find you. Where did you guys go?"

"We bumped into Curt and his friends when we came in," I said, my eyes averting towards Justin's for a split second.

"Oh? What'd he say?" Tristan asked.

"I don't know," I eyed Catherine and Justin who looked back at me like a couple of angels. "I couldn't tell you even if I wanted to."

"Well after eating your big batch of dinner," Tristan said, looking at my food. "Go back to sleep. Your body still needs to rest up."

"Curt's letting us stay?" I asked.

Tristan nodded. "After when you were put back into the house, Curt came up to me to talk and said he was alright if we wanted to stay in the village for a while."

"That's good," I sighed. "We were able to gain their trust."

"Well after risking your life for one of these boys," Catherine grumbled. "Who wouldn't?"

"Hey," Justin said, casually leaning on a tree behind us. "You know how we got Ethan to help us?"

We turned towards Justin curiously. His eyes moved to mines. "Don't you think it would be a good idea to try and get this village to fight with us too? We can get more backup."

"No," I immediately responded. "Everyone here is like sixteen and under. I'm not going to risk the young boys who live here their lives to fight for my cause."

"Really?" Justin asked me delicately. "Then why are we here?"

I stared at Justin. "What are you trying to get at?"

"Okay let's calm down here," Tristan intervened as the atmosphere between us turned chilly.

"You're the one who brought me here when this village wasn't even on the main trial," I said. "I came because I thought this was part of the journey. But I'm not going to bring innocent people into this cause."

"Are you stupid?" Justin asked. "This isn't about what you think. Don't you think they would want to join us because of what the king does to them? They know they're in this state because of him. We can use their hate to our advantage—"

"If they were so passionate about taking down the king, they would've went out by themselves and tried to make a difference," I shot back.

"What are a few ten year old boys suppose to do?"

"Exactly! We can't do this—"

"But now that they have reinforcements like us," Justin said. "Don't you think they're ready to step up? I think you're basing this argument of yours off of your personal feelings which right now, are not at all practical."

I was stunned. Partly because I didn't know how to respond, but partly because I couldn't believe Justin was even suggesting this in the first place. How could he say this?

I shook my head and felt myself back up. "I can't believe you."

Thrusting my bowl of food to Catherine, I turned on my heel and walked out of the opening. I had no idea where my room was, but I kept walking. When I couldn't hear anymore noise from the campsite, I groaned and sank to my knees. Taking a deep breath, I looked up to the black starry night.

The oldest one here was Curt, and he was only my age too. I can't risk such young lives to fight for our desires. They still had a future ahead of them—

A sudden tap on my shoulder made me jump up. I instinctively bent towards my boot for my dagger but stopped when I saw it was just a boy. Taking a closer look, I realized that it was the red-headed boy, the one I had saved from the cliff.

Scrambling up to my feet, I opened my mouth to talk to him, but he jumped back. I didn't realize how register how abrupt I was and moved more slowly this time. 

"Uh..hello," I said awkwardly.

"H-hello," he responded. "Umm...I guess I didn't make it quite clear that I wanted to thank you for risking your life for me. I-I was caught off guard, but ummm what are you doing out here by yourself?" 

"Ahh...." I trailed off, not sure how to answer him. "I...I was trying to get back to my room but I forgot where I was put."

The boy blinked at me and then motioned towards me. "I'll show you."

I thanked him and followed him. While walking there, I tried to make some landmarks so I didn't have to ask someone again to lead me back. Near middle section...a left...a right...two houses down...

The boy stopped at a large, brown house at the edge of cliffs. "Here you go."

"Thank you," I bowed my head towards him.

"No need," the boy frantically said. "I wish I could do more though..."

I watched him scratch his head, his cheeks flushing red a little and said, "Why don't you come in and give me some company?"

"Really?" he exclaimed surprised.

I nodded and opened the door, motioning him to come in. He hesitated for a moment before stepping into the house. It was very warm inside compared to the chilly, wind air outside. Luckily, Catherine had left the chair she had sat in when she came in to put medicine on me so I didn't have to worry about getting the boy to sit something on. I rested on the bed while the boy awkwardly sat in the chair.

"What's your name?" I said after a few moments of silence.

"Hayden," he replied.

"Hayden huh," I repeated. "That's a nice name your parents gave you. What—"

I stopped for Hayden suddenly stiffened up. He looked down at his shoes, and the house suddenly became very quiet. I didn't know why he did so until I realized what I said.

Parents.

I haven't seen a single adult since I've been here. And that only meant one thing. When we first arrived here, Curt had accidentally spilled it out before Jake stopped him.

"It's not like anyone cares about us. We're just orph—"

Orphans. That's what they were. That explains why there aren't any adults around here. Although that doesn't explain why there weren't any girls here.

"Heh," Hayden laughed weakly. "I can tell you already found out."

"Y-yeah," I nodded. "Sorry, I didn't mean to pry or anything."

Hayden sighed and leaned back in the chair. "It's the village's secret. It's exactly why we don't like other people staying at our village."

"So the silence when we first entered the village was just a fake right?"

"Yeah. Jake saw you guys coming when he was resting on one of the tall trees and hurried to warn us. Usually, travelers don't even come so far out so we were surprised when you seemed like you knew where you guys were going."

"Yeah we did know," I admitted. "But we don't have any bad intentions..."

I realized Hayden was staring at me with a strange feeling of wonder and excitement in his eyes and fell silent. It took him a moment to realize I had stopped talking and blinked. He opened his mouth and then closed it. Again, he opened his mouth and then closed it.

I tilted my head to a side. "What's wrong?"

"You..." he trembled. "You're her, aren't you?"

"What?"

"The reason why the king is in such a rush to get you," Hayden breathed. "Oh my gosh. My queen."

He suddenly got up from his chair and took a knee before me. I blinked. What in the world is going? What queen?

"What...what are you talking about, Hayden?" I tried to ask him.

"You're her!" he cried, lifting his head up. "You're the queen! You've finally come back to save us all, right? From the evil that lives in that so called palace of his? Oh the things that he has done to us—"

"Hayden," I tried. "I'm not the queen—"

"You have to be her!" he cried, staring at me with a crazed gaze in his eyes. He suddenly reached for my chest; I pushed him away and covered my chest as he fell back. 

"Save me!" Hayden wailed, coming for me again.

I shrieked as Hayden grabbed my shoulders and pushed me against the bed. He bored his eyes into mine and shook me. "You have to save me! He's going to keep coming after me and torturing me!"

I didn't know what to do. Hayden didn't seem like he was in control of his body anymore. He was violently shaking me, but he was also shaking himself. His eyes kept darting back and forth from my face to the door.

I tried to sit back up and get Hayden off of me, but everytime I tried, he pushed me back down with surprising strength. 

"Who's coming after you?" I asked. "Who's torturing you?"

"He's going to come after me! He's going to kill me!" Hayden wailed.

Before I could try to get anymore out of him, the door suddenly banged open. Within a second, I felt Hayden's body get thrown off of me, and somebody pull me up. Catherine and Yuri were staring at me worriedly while Curt and Tristan where on the ground, dealing with Hayden who was now screaming on the top of his lungs.

I heard a whack  before Hayden's wails fell silent. A strange silence fell over us as we stared in shock at Hayden's now still body before I heard the sound of something hitting the wall behind me.

Turning around, I saw Justin holding Jake's collar and pushing him against the wall.

"Put him down!" Catherine shrieked. "You're choking him!"

"Hey!" Curt roared, standing up.

"Justin," I said, trying to keep my shaking voice steady.

Justin turned his wild and angry eyes on mines; I almost flinched at the fierceness of his eyes but stared back at him, trying to calm him down. He kept my stare for a few more seconds before roughly letting go of Jake in disgust.

Jake sank to the floor in a fit of coughs; Justin stepped over him without other glance at him like Jake was just a ball of dust on the ground and walked over to me where he grabbed my hand and pulled me up from the bed. He turned to look at Catherine, Yuri, and Tristan before saying shortly, "We're going."

The way Justin said those two words were absolute; there was no argument to it. The three of them stood up silently, ready to leave, but I resisted as Justin tugged my hand. 

"No," I said in the deadly silent room. "Not now."

"You..." Justin growled. "I'm not in the mood to argue."

"Nor am I," I shot back. "But we can't leave now. We can't. There was something Hayden was saying to me that might give us a hint to helping us get closer to knowing just what's going on."

"I don't care," Justin breathed. "This place is complete trash. I can't believe—"

"Justin," I squeezed his hand. "Just moments ago, you said I shouldn't let my personal feelings get in the way of my judgement. Stand by your words."

Justin glared harshly down at me, but I wouldn't back down. Eventually, he let go of my hand and turned his head the other way. 

I turned back to Curt who was still next to Hayden, staring back and forth between me and Justin with a petrified expression like Justin was going to chop his head off. I didn't blame him—there's nothing scarier than seeing Justin angry, but I would have to deal with him later.

"Curt," I said, crouching down to his level. "You have some explaining to do."

~~~~~

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