• ~Plan of Rescue~
    A sharp gasp of air cutting through a peaceful autumn day signaled his body that it was time to move: he was careless. As Christian bolted for the woods, he could hear the thundering voices of the guards behind him, "There he goes! Into the forest!" Those cries cut through him with a pain of regret; he thought his 'fool proof plan' was free of kinks. Christian severely underestimated the mentality of all the king's men.
    Christian swiftly made his way, dodging monstrous trees while skipping through the low brush, hoping the bulky meat heads (who apparently have some kind of IQ) would be forced to slow down. For a split second, he was out of view: he jumped into a large bush crouching down.
    Peaking through the thin branches, he felt like a wildcat watching his prey. This change of imaginary thought helped his heart rate drop. He watched the guards as they looked around quickly, grunted, and finally retreated. Christian took a sigh of relief, shaking his head at the fools. He crawled out of the bush and sat against the bark of a near by tree to rest.
    Sitting in a calm silence, his eyes started to wander, and his senses began to acquire life. It was hard to take notice of such peaceful beauty when you're being chased by a dozen hefty goons. Not far from where he sat, a large creek glistened. Christian smiled, envisioning the water running from something too as it moved quickly. It didn't do such a great job of hiding, looking like a scar on the perfect body of the forest floor.
    The song of birds soon grasped his attention, a chorus of random notes and pitches. Christian looked up, trying to spot them. All that came into view were branches and a bright sunlight pushing through them, making the tree tops glow, seeming holy.
    Christian took another close listen to his surroundings, just to make sure. There was no sound of guards, only the melody of song birds and a slight breeze that lightly brushed through his brunette hair. He sighed in annoyance, too slothful to move. Taking his time, he stood slowly, brushing himself off "Well, better get moving before Slade gets too worried." he began to make his way again.
    Day quickly turned to night as Slade moved about the kitchen nervously, his hand sliding through his golden hair every two seconds. The kitchen was quite homey, warm, and clean; Slade was always one to keep things neat. The rest of the house was the same, very old and with few personal items or furniture. There were no paintings or decorations. The home was very plain and small, but to their liking.
    Slade continued to huff around the kitchen, almost carving into the floor with all his pacing. He was beginning to worry; more so about his nicely prepared meal getting cold than Christian's safety, "Where in the world is he! He's never this late coming home… What if… What if he was captured and he isn't coming back… And now they are after me!" Just as his neurotic thoughts started he heard a slight creaking of a door. It came from the next room where the front door remained, unlocked and unguarded; here little Slade stood, unprotected and unarmed. Beginning to panic, Slade began to calm himself down (in his own way). Alright Slade, this is it. Just grab something and wait for them to come into the kitchen.
    He took a deep breath and slowly reached for the closest object to him. With frying pan in hand he slowly moved to the opening of the kitchen and leaned against the wall. He listened carefully as the intruder moved across the dark living room. Slade gripped the pan tighter and tighter, his knuckles turning white as he waited in stiff silence. After what seemed to be eternity, the intruder was just a step or two away from entering; as soon as Slade saw a piece of the man… WAM!! He hit the 'bad guy' right in the face with all his might! And just as fast as he hit the man, he was able to identify him. That mop of copper brown hair, a few inches taller than Slade, his lightly colored body frozen from shock with a frying pan still in his face.
    "Slade…" a muffled voice came from behind the dark gray circle.
    "Ye… Yes, Christian?"
    "May I ask, why there is a pan in my face?"
    Slade gulped and removed the pan slowly from his face, leaving Christians whole face crimson red. "Sorry Christian! I didn't think it was you!"
    "Slade who else would it be?" Finally able to move again, Christian stomped to the faucet, switching on a cool stream of water and cupping it in his dirtied hands, splashing his face multiple times.
    "I'm sorry, but if you were home when you were supposed to be none of this would have happened!" Slade began to move around the kitchen franticly, itching to do something, putting away different objects, organizing spices "Here I am, sitting at home, waiting. I thought you had been captured, rotting in a dungeon, and now they were out to find me!"
    Christian turned the water off and dabbed his hands and face lightly with a towel, throwing it roughly back in its place on the sink. His deep green eyes took one look at Slade before shaking his head as he walked over to the table. Christian sat like a lump, resting his head back against the wall "You need to calm down Slade; I'm beginning to feel like I'm married."
    Slade paused and looked around at himself, throwing his hands up in the air "YOU SEE WHAT YOU DO TO ME!? You a**." Slade pulled out a chair and sat across from Christian, watching as his friends smirk grew "So… Why are you so late?"
    Christian sighed and looked down "Well, I did get caught and I was captured, but only for a brief moment! I snuck out of there so easily! But they followed me for a while, only I escaped quickly!" Christian’s voice escalated and dropped as he told his story, like an exciting memory from years ago.
    Slade shook his head, his brown eyes sternly focusing on Christian, as if he was a child. "I told you this would happen sooner of later… Christian, you need to plan better and not just go! You need help."
    Christian glanced up at his friend; he could see the concern look in Slade's face glowing in the golden light of the flame lit lamps around the kitchen. "I tried to get help, but no one will. No one will help me rescue Kana!" He slammed his fist on the table "The village doesn't care and her father, the all mighty king of our cowardly land, doesn't want to move in! He wants to wait until they can work out a deal, but we all know how that will…" Enraged, Christian stood and took a few steps, “Only Choice I have is to save her on my own! I won't let that god damned king do anything to her!"
    Slade took a deep breath, his eyes following his friend in concern, "I know how you feel Christian. I may not have the same history with her but I do know this isn't right… That's why I made a decision. I can help."
    Christian looked back to his friend and smiled "Thanks Slade, I could use the help."
    "That's is?… No 'Oh Slade! Thank you, but I couldn't ask you to do that!… none of it?"
    "Nope, you offered. You're stuck."
    "Damn it. Here I was thinking I could still be lazy."
    ((This is a maybe))
    Slade leaned back in his chair "So… any ideas on how to save Ms. Kana from the evil clutches of the dirty king Gannon?"
    Christian looked him in the eye with a smirk of excitement "Well, here's what I had in mind…"
    BANG!
    Just before Christian could say a word of his plan, a loud noise made them alert. "Move men! They're in here!" The king's men had found them.
    "Damn it! I could have sworn I lost them earlier today! How did they find me?"
    "Well Christian, I don't think we should stay to find out, come on!"
    Both quickly hopped out the kitchen window and ran out into the night, smiling in amusement.