-Elizabeth." He said, "I know you are here" He was creeping up on the corner where Elizabeth was hiding on the other side.

Elizabeth looked around and saw a back door. 'I have to run' she thought.

1...

Sir John was took another step towards the wall.

2...

And another.

3...

And another...

Time seemed to stand still.

Hearts racing.

The tension in the room gravitating higher, higher and higher.

The air became thinner making it harder to breathe.

Short breaths... slow and silent.

Elizabeth suddenly changed her mind and jumped around the corner to face Sir John.

"Get out" she said. Failing to hold back her fear as it's evident in her eyes.

"You are coming with me" he replies back in a cold icy tone that could ruin any warm day.

"No" she could let her fear overcome her, she had to keep fighting.

Alexander was unconscious. Laying on the ground with slow and steady breaths signaling that he is in fact, not dead.

Here in this moment Elizabeth had to make a decision.

"So, are you going stay and fight, or surrender now and make it easy" Sir John says, once again dropping the temperature to the freezing point.

In Elizabeth's mind there were three options.

1. Stay and fight

2. Surrender

3. Run

'If I stay then I will surely lose the fight. I do not want to surrender, ever.' She thought. 'I have no choice then... I must run' she looked Sir John in the eyes and said...

"Neither"

Elizabeth bolted out the back door and into the woods as fast as she could, but she could hear Sir John behind her, gaining speed.

His foot steps were getting closer and closer.

Soon they entered the forest...

The chase went on and on, through the trees and over large rocks and stumps. They were both running as fast as humanly possible.

Elizabeth was running to save her own life.

Sir John running for an entirely different reason, one not yet revealed or yet understandable to the mind.

The trees were like a maze, twisting and dangerous. If you get lost you're lost forever.

'I think I am far enough from the kingdom' Elizabeth thinks, 'I cannot run for much longer'

She slows her pace slower and slower until she is just standing. She turns to face Sir John again for the millionth time in history.

Déjà vu, it kept happening. No matter what, Elizabeth found herself staring into the same cold eyes as before. Sir John's eyes.

'I cannot keep fighting' Elizabeth thought to herself.

"I give up" she said. Just loud enough for him to hear.

The sun was setting below the horizon, creating an eerie glow of light through the trees of the darkening forest.

" took long enough" Sir John said. No emotion whatsoever.

This moment. It was the one moment that Elizabeth never thought could possibly happen.

Her surrender.

But before Sir John could take one more step towards Elizabeth, a sound could be heard in the distance.

Alexander's voice...

He was yelling for Elizabeth.

"Do not say a word" Sir John said coldly.

Soon they could hear footsteps, Alexander was getting closer.

"He's getting too close!" Sir John says in a low whisper so that Alexander wouldn't hear.

"Well, what are you going to do? Right now you are just standing here doing... Uh nothing" Elizabeth told him. She didn't care if he got mad. Its not like her situation could get any worse.

"We have to go farther into the forest" He said.

"Why 'we'?" She whined, meaning she didn't want to go with him.

"You are the one who surrendered" He told her. He guided her deeper into the forest.

The sun had set and the moon had come out. Night was here.

The only available light was the dim glow from the crescent moon.

The warmth was limited and weak, yet they were still walking through the forest.

"It is freezing out here!" Elizabeth said. By this time Sir John had her hands tied together to make sure of no further escape.

"It is not" Sir John replied, sternly. He didn't even glance over at her.

"What if we stay here," she stopped walking, "make a fire, and get some rest. I'm tired"

"How about we keep walking until I say not too" He stromped back towards her.

"I am not walking any further, I refuse" she stated.

"You are the most stubborn person I have ever come into contact with" He says with an unnecessary cold tone, Instantly intensifying the conversation.

Yet Elizabeth did not seem flustered or scared.

"I'm flattered, really I am" She says, acting dramatic. Does she know Sir John is getting angrier at her? Yes. Does she care? No.

"Fine, we can stay here for tonight" He says, he did not want to be arguing all night,

Elizabeth smiles victoriously.

Sir John lights a fire in between them, the warmth traveled quickly.

It created a beautiful light, yet it casted many shadows amongst the trees.

It was silent, other than the crackling of flames and crickets of the forest.

It was almost awkward... Neither of them seemed to know what to say.

Although each of them knew exactly what the wanted to tell each other, neither had the strength to pull themselves together and just say it.

'Why is it so quiet yet so loud?' Elizabeth thought, 'I can but cannot think clearly. Is it from lack of sleep? Stress? Or maybe it is the reoccurring thoughts of the past coming to haunt me'

'Do I have a second voice in my head? Every time I make a decision, whether it is important or not.. something, someone keeps telling me no' Sir John had a constant battle in his head. His own past vs his own future.

-------- Flashback --------

Two years before it all began.

Elizabeth, with the same cunning and sly persona. Was simply taking a mindless stroll through the ever so green forest. When she heard a loud... Sound.

"What is that?" She whispered to herself.

'Where is it coming from?' At this point she was determined to find the cause of this consistent crashing sound.

She followed the sound, through trees until she found something... Magical.

It was a waterfall.

"How did I not find this before?" She asked herself.

She took a few more steps towards the waters edge and looked down.

'Seems to be very shallow water, unusual' she thought.

Suddenly the sound of feet behind her broke the thoughts.

She turned around non-panicky to see who it was.

"Who are you?" She asked the stranger.

"I am Sir... Yes... Sir John of the royal guard. And you are under arrest for grand theft!" He said.

"Well, I am truly sorry to disrupt your plans but, no-one can catch me." She said, feeling the challenge.

"And I have never lost a fight" he replied, adrenaline flowing through him. Fighting was his passion. He has always loved the fight. Climbing to the top using only brute strength to claim victorious, what he didn't realize was how many people he would have to push down to achieve this goal.

"Then this will be interesting" she said. Even though Elizabeth had been running from danger her whole life... she never turned down a fight, but that might get her in trouble because she won't always win.

Then the fight started.

Sir John went with a punch to the stomach, but from that far away Elizabeth easily saw coming and dodged.

The fight created some sort of pattern. Punch, dodge, kick, back away, and repeat.

In the moment it was hard to tell who was going to win, but ultimately Sir John won the fight with a dagger to her throat.

"I win" he said.

"That is where you are wrong" she said.

'What?' Sir John thought.

Then Elizabeth twisted Sir John's arm, taking the dagger and throwing it into the waterfall.

Why did she throw it and not use it? There were two answers.

1, she didn't was not Sir John to take it back and use it

2, ... It was funny

"I never lose"

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So, do you like the flashback? Do you want more flashbacks in the future or just the facts revealed in the present time frame, (although I use past tense). Tell me what you think! -Jess