A Twist in Fate

Delta stood there at the railing of the bridge, looking over into the water of a small stream below. It was midday and he had just finished his job for the day. He sighed, "Why do I have to do this?" He seemed to be oblivious to anything but his own thoughts at the moment.

Luna came suddenly out of the bushes. She headed towards the stream with the intention of drinking out of it. She had not noticed a boy standing a few feet away. As she got closer to the stream, she became aware of the boy. Her first reaction was to slip away quickly before he noticed her presence, but her legs did not let her move.

After a moment Delta shifted his weight, only then noticing the girl. He noticed a frightened look on her face. He looked down at his clothing, checking for any stains, and after seeing none called out to the girl. "Hey you, you okay?"

Luna opened her mouth, yet no words were able to come out. Finally after staring at the ground, for what seemed to be a decade she was able to build up the courage to speak. With a shaky voice she said, "Me? I..I.. I'm okay" as she stared down at her dirty torn up clothes.

Delta saw how nervous she was, and thought that she was scared of him. Most people were due to his dark red hair and amber eyes. "Well you should try getting a new change of clothes. Those look like they are falling apart." Delta said with a bitter tone he didn't want to have.

She looked up at him and stared into his eyes. For a moment she had almost dropped her guard. But quickly her eyes shifted back to the ground. "They are all i have left, but they will do for a bit longer." Luna said trying to hide the tremble in her voice.

Delta took a moment to respond to that. He noticed what distance there was between them, and how loud there conversation could get. Hoping not to scare her, he said. "Give me a moment. Let me walk over to you." He said as he stepped off the bridge. He kept both hands up as to show he meant no harm. "I hope my appearance doesn't scare you, seems it does for a lot of people. Now what do you mean you only have one pair of clothes left?"

Luna hesitated and took a step back, as ready to run. She stopped herself from running and spoke softly, as if feeling less afraid. "I am not afraid of your appearance." As she lifted her eyes once again, watching him walk towards her. " I've been on the road for a while now, clothes become damaged. Once they are irreparable i throw them away. This is all i have left." She said as she looked down at her appearance for a quick second, only to look back up at him.

Delta let his guard down for the moment. "Are you alone?" he was hoping otherwise, but knew better than to think that way.

"Why do you ask?" Luna asked as her guard came back up.

"Jeez can't a guy ask a question?" Delta replied bitterly. He sighed, knowing this wouldn't go any. "Look if you are alone and your clothes look like that you are probably close to broke right? It's good news for you I just got off a job so I have some extra cash if you need anything." He offered nonchalantly.

"I'm sorry. I'm just not the best at speaking to people, but i'm guessing that was obvious." she said trying to loosen up. "Look, how about we start over. I'm Luna." she said as she looked into his eyes. "As for your money, I don't accept charity. It's your money and you worked for it. I'll get by, i always do." At first her voice was firm but as she kept speaking her voice began to sound sad.

Delta was starting to get mad, but tried not to show it. "My name is Delta. Nice to meet you bright eyes." he said putting out a hand. "At least let me help you in someway?" he asked. In his mind he wanted to make sure this girl was okay, but tried not to show it too much.

Luna looked at his hand hesitantly, and then proceeded to shake it. " How about we make a deal, since you seem so keen of helping me and i wont accept charity. How about i help you with something and that way i basically worked for it?" She looked at him, giving him a small smile.

Delta frowned, knowing that taking her on a "job" could cause her to get stuck in the life, and he wouldn't want to do that to anyone. He sighed, "Okay give me some time to think of what you can do. First though, as your new temporary boss, I say we go get some food. What kind of food do you like?"

Luna's stomach began to grumble softly as the topic of food was introduced. It had been a couple days since she had eaten a good meal. "I could eat." She said in a mellow tone, trying to hide the fact that she was starving. "As for what to eat, well i leave that in your hands. I'm not picky."

Delta thought for a moment. His eyes brightened as he got an idea. "Yakisoba! I know a great place that makes it to perfection! Follow me." He said leading her to a cafe. As he sat down he said. "I am going to have yakisoba but they have plenty of other choices. Anything on the menu is yours." Delta said slightly boasting.

Luna took a few moments staring at the menu intensely. Finally she peered her eyes over the menu, "Yaki udon sounds pretty good right now." She said trying to be cautious of the fact that a total stranger was buying her a meal.

After they ordered, they sat there awkwardly. Delta looked around thinking. "What kind of task can I have you do that isn't too dangerous..." Just then a man in a large coat and a hat walked up to Delta, spoke in his ear, left an envelope on the table, and turned to leave. Delta turned pale hoping that this job wasn't going to be deadly. He opened the envelope and read what he was to do, and breathed a sigh of relief.

"You okay there? For a second i thought you were going to faint." Luna asked suspiciously, and becoming uneasy. "i don't want to sound nosy, but what type of magic do you use?"

Delta's walls went up for a moment. "I'd rather not say in detail, but I use requip magic mostly. Some Shadow-make as well as of recently. I'm okay now, just swallowed wrong. What is your magic?"

"Understandable, just trying to make a little small talk. I'm not very good at talking to people." Luna said as she played with a noodle in her bowl. "As for my magic, Take-Overs."

"Woah that sounds awesome! How long can you keep a Take-Over going for? What kind of Take- Overs do you have? Which one is your favorite?" Delta stops himself before he get too hyper, not knowing where the excitement came from. He cleared his throat before saying, "I mean... That's cool..."

Luna's eyes became wide as she tried to analyze all the questions. "I can't really answer all your questions, I'm sorry." She said with disappointment in her voice. "All i will say on the matter is i use Myth Soul, most of my Take-Overs derive from Mythological creatures."

Delta sat there with his mind going crazy. ''Myth Soul? I wonder what kind of creatures that entails? I wish I could see at least one of them... ''Suddenly Delta had an idea. "Hey so I figured out what we can do for you to pay off some new clothes. In this envelope I have a job to escort someone through a nasty area. We can split the detail to make it easier to protect them. Then we can take you shopping and whatever is left is yours. How does that sound?" Delta asked half hoping she would agree, the other half still cautious of his family finding out.

"It sounds great!" Luna said excitingly, she quickly caught the excitement in her voice and cleared her throat. "I mean, that works." After agreeing, Luna began to feel doubt herself, ''what if I get him hurt? everyone who's ever been around me gets hurt. I shouldn't have agreed to this, but I can't back out now. If I do he will know somethings up.''

Delta paid for the bill before saying, "Let's take you to get at least one more change of clothes now. I don't want you to get sick or anything while working." He lead the way to a local shop which he thinks has some nice looking girl's clothes. ''I hope she likes what she sees. I don't know of any other stores in the area.''

Luna looked at him with confusion. "Why are you so keen on helping me anyways?" She asked as she looked around for something simple. She finally picked out a pair of plain black shorts with a plain black top, nothing to showy.

Delta paid for what she picked out before answering outside. "I... My family has asked me to do some crazy things in the past. Things I am not proud of. Thanks to my magic... people have been known to call me a reaper. So I try to help others, even in small ways, to try and counteract my guilt. It's a selfish reason to help you, but... yeah... Ready to go? We have to meet them at the train station." he said with a very gloomy look in his eyes. He turned away from her ashamed and started walking towards the station, thinking that she would for sure run away.

"Well at least you have a fam..." Luna caught herself suddenly, hoping he hadn't been paying attention to what she had just said. "I mean, let's get a move on. We don't to be late." She said staring at the ground. ''Should I ask about that? Probabably not...'' she thought.

Delta smiled softly as she started to follow. ''She doesn't seem scared, more like just shy. I wonder why she cut herself off so suddenly?'' he thought as they approached the station. He stopped before going inside, pulling out a large hooded sweat jacket for her. "I'm glad you wore all black. It helps with the look. I want you to keep the hood down at all times. You don't want to be caught with me while we are working. It will be bad news for both of us." He put on a jacket himself, then leading to a rear car of the train.

Luna put on the jacket and raised the hood over her head. She tried tucking in all her green curls but it seemed nearly impossible to hide them all. She looked up at him and thought, ''I wander why hes so cautious about me being with him. I hope he doesn't get hurt because of me''. She caught herself staring at him, and looked back down hoping he hadn't noticed. "Just a little heads up, me and vehicles don't go well together." She said trying to give a nervous giggle. "I've got an extreme case of the Motion Sickness, best not sit to close."

Delta turned towards her seeing small wisps of her green hair poking out, but with her face completely hidden. ''Good. I can't tell who she is from here, so no one else should either. ''he thought. "I think we should be okay. This train care has been modified to keep it from shaking, or feeling like it's moving at all. It will also be sound proof so I think you will be okay." He opened the door to see someone sitting on a bench seat against one of the walls. It was an older gentleman with jittery eyes.

"Let's just hope my body decides to agree with the train modifications" Luna said letting out a little smile. She became lost on her thoughts for a few moments, I'm basically a nobody, so it would be impossible for people to recognize me as is. She took a peak forward only to see the older man, for a second her fears took over her body and she began to shake. For people and her didn't really mix well, but she tried to conceal her shaking from Delta. she began to think, ''How can it be that I didn't run away from Delta, yet I'm afraid of everyone else. What's different about him?''

Delta bowed before the man, not saying a word. He took Luna to the side and whispered to her in her ear, "''Don't say anything until I say so got it? We don't know who he is or why we are escorting him. We must stay quiet to be anonymous." '' he pointed to the far wall motioning that he will be standing there. He stood there, watching the Luna and the man, who looked increasingly jumpy. He sneaked a thumbs up for her to see to let her know everything was okay as the train began to move.

Luna took took a deep breath, and tried calming her nerves. She couldn't stop the shaking, but she tried her best to keep it hidden from Delta. At this point she felt safer with him, and didn't want him to send her way. She didn't want to go back to being alone wandering again. Luna took a second and nodded to Delta as to show him that she understood.

The man decided to speak up finally. "Y-y-you two can protect me right? T-t-this item is very valuable. I can't let them get it." he said with a squeak.

Delta Nodded to the man, then looked around to try and see if he sensed any disturbances. Suddenly there was a soft thud on the roof. Delta looked up to see a blade cut through the roof like butter. Delta grimaced, summoning his Death scythe. I hate using this scythe but they told me to use this as a "calling card" or something... he thought as he pointed towards the blade in the roof.

When Luna noticed the blade in the roof she quickly began to Take-Over as Echidana. He body began to glow white as her eyes glowed blue. She quickly began to form a white tail and her hair began to turn pink. I hope I can stay in the form as long as possible, I want to prove to Delta that it was worth me tagging along, she thought to herself.

Delta noticed the glow, seeing Luna change before his eyes. Woah that's awesome! he thought to himself. Soon the roof caved in and three men jumped down in all black. One of the grabbed the man while the others faced off towards Delta and Luna.

"We are here for the man. Fight us and you will lose." one of the men said. Delta sighed when he spun his scythe before striking the floor with its tip. The cabin of the train car was engulfed in darkness, allowing Delta to see but no one else. He moved over to Luna and grabbed her hand to give her the ability to see with him. The others in the car became disoriented and confused as where everyone was. They called out to each other frantically. Delta's and Luna's escortee was cowering in a fetal position waiting for it to be over. Delta leaned over and whispered to Luna "You want to get rid of them?"

"I think so..." Luna said with doubt in her voice. ''I guess he forgot that being part snake gives me the ability to sense motion, so giving me the ability to see through the darkness wasn't very necessary. But I'll just let it slide.'' She let out a giggle while lost in her thoughts. As the sound of the giggle came out she snapped out of her thoughts and became aware of what needed to be done. She whispered to Delta, " I don't have any attacks, the best I can do is a death grip. It will keep him from being able to move while you're able to do what needs to be done." As she waited for a response she found herself once again trapped in her thoughts, Reaper, huh? I should have been afraid of that when he told me, but I just thought of him to be different like me. It seems like he's done somethings that have left him with mental scars, that's no different then me. The darkness though, this is something I've never seen before and to be honest it's kinda scary. To think that he's got tons of more abilities, I wander how they are, and if they are just as dark as this one.

Delta sighed while thinking out loud unknowingly, "Killing wasn't supposed to be part of this job. I really don't want to do that in front of Luna. I don't want to scare her anymore... did I just say that?" he asked turning towards Luna's face slowly to see her reaction. He sulked for a moment, seeing only the fear that he thinks is there. He shook his head before saying. "Nevermind that. Grab our employer over there and hold him tight. I will remove these guys from the cabin once you have.... without killing somehow..." he said quietly at the end. Inside his head he was kicking himself, thinking ''man you are an idiot. Why would you let that slip?? You were doing so well too!''

Luna looked into Delta's eyes, although his eyes were a dark and unwelcoming she could see that he was sweet underneath it all. She quickly began to think of an alternative idea, to killing. She grabbed his hand for a second and in a sweet understanding voice she said, "No killing, we can tie them up or do something. I could possibly get Sphynx to put them to sleep till we are far enough away."

"That sounds like a good idea. But I don't have any rope. I can pick them up and drop them off beside the tracks. Can you make them fall asleep first?" Delta said, hoping to see some more of Luna's magic before the attackers were removed.

"Yea that sounds good." She said with hesitation in her voice. Luna knew that changing again was going to leave her exhausted afterwards, but she had to do what needed to be done. She began the transformation to Sphynx, her hair became white as snow and big ears began to show. Her eyes became cat-like and her agility increased. Luna became a little wobbly and her balance was a little off. I'm already beginning to get tired, oh no! We have to do this quickly. She thought. "I need you to clear the darkness to get to them and ask the riddle."

Delta noticed Luna's wobble. I hope she is okay. he thought. He tried to shake off his fears and said "Okay. Here I go." He said as he tapped the butt of his scythe to the ground, dispelling the darkness. He focused again as the attackers saw what was happening. They grew startled at the sight of the Sphynx.

"What the heck??" one of them said before shadows started to stretch from Delta and towards the men. Once the shadows touched them they were forced to sit on the ground, unable to move. "Let us go! What are you, a demon?" they asked Delta, noticing the shadows leading to him.

Delta winced as he heard the insult. He brought up the Scythe to his neck, the dull side pressing lightly into his shoulder. "Answer her anyway you can and I won't be forced to kill you. Deal?" he asked threatenly. He looked back at Luna and tried to smile reassuringly, but it came off more as a devilish grin.

"Let play a game shall we?" She said staring into the men's eyes, as in leaving them in a trance. "The terms of the game are simple. You get one chance to answer, and once chance only. I give you a riddle, I'll repeat it twice. And You will have 30 seconds to answer. Answer wrong, and you'll be put into a deep sleep to which only I can wake you from." She said giving a small grin to Delta. "Ready for the riddle? Listen closely and good luck. Many have heard me, but no one has seen me, and I will not speak back until spoken to. What am I?"

One of the men decided to yell out an answer before thinking. "Sound!" he said. The other two men looked at him with disgust. the second man tried to headbutt the one who answered, but couldn't get close enough. "You idiot!" he said. Delta laughed at them. "They seem more like a comedy troupe than anything." he said.

Luna stopped giggling at Delta's remark, she cleared her throat and said, "I'm sorry to tell you this, but that is not the right answer. Sweet dreams." Before the men were able to say anything, Luna's eyes glowed green and the men drop to sleep. At the exact moment they slept she ran out of energy and went back to her regular form. She suddenly fell to the ground exhausted.

Delta dropped his scythe to catch Luna before she fell. "Are you okay?" he asked. He looked over at the men sleeping on the ground, and at there employer still whimpering in the corner. "I think we did good here huh? Thanks for the help." he said as he brought her against the train car wall to lean against.

"Yeah, this is the first time I've done two Take-Overs so close in time. It took a lot out of me. I just need to take a breather." Luna said, barely being able to get the words out. "Thanks for making sure I didn't high five the ground with my face." She said trying to let out a little giggle.

"You're welcome" Delta said, glad she was okay. He turned towards the attackers. "Now to get them out of here." He opened the back of the train and grabbed his scythe once more, shadows then pulling the three men out of the door and to the side of the tracks. With three soft thuds the men laid unharmed to the side of the tracks. Delta sighed and put away his scythe. "Now that that is over, what should we do?" Delta said, going to the wall adjacent to Luna and sat down, oblivious to their employer at this point.

"We have to get off the train and walk. I can't keep them asleep forever, and staying on the train makes us sitting ducks. Once we are far enough away I'll awaken them. We need to find somewhere to sleep, in the forest. Somewhere where we can be hidden, at least for the night." Luna stopped herself abruptly, noticing that she was being to knowledgable about being in the forest. "We all need rest. The poor man is all shooken up, and you and me used way to much energy. Or at least I did."

Delta nodded. ''She seems to have a knack for this. ''he thought. "Okay. Lead the way. Hey you in the corner, the one who paid for us? Yeah the danger is gone for now. Get up and let's go." Delta said. The man whimpered loudly for a moment before slowly getting up. "By the way, do you have a name or something we can call you? I'd rather not have to 'hey you' again."

The man was still jittery when he let loose a typical name. "H-how about T-tom?" he said.

"Well Tom, I'm Luna. Nice to meet you. They is no need to be afraid anymore. Everything will be okay." She said looking into his eyes. Some people would say that Luna's could put you in a trance for their icy color gave them a transparent calming look, yet still they brought out a hint of sadness from within. She then turned to Delta, " when the train begins go slow down, or there is a time that it is safer looking we will have to jump off. We can't make it to the next stop/ town, it's to dangerous. There may be more people waiting there. Best to find an alternative route. Once we are off and on the ground we just go searching. I've been in these woods before, I know a couple good spots."

"How do you know of these spots?" Delta asked her, remembering something she said earlier. "Have you lived in the woods before?" ''She seems to know what she is talking about. Has she done this before?..'' he thought, suddenly Tom spoke up. "Wait, are we going to j-jump off the train??" he looked scared, as he had thought the train car would have been save enough.

"Yes we are, but while we wait for a save place to get off, why don't you rest for a while. We will let you know when we are leaving." Delta said. Tom calmed down a little and decided to lie down. Delta returned his attention to Luna, looking straight at her hoping for some answers.

"I've...Umm... Let's just say I've been here and there. I have no set home. I sleep where I can, and eat when I can." She looked down ashamed at her lifestyle. "I didn't choose it, but it is what it is." She couldn't bare to see Delta's reaction, so she kept her head down. I ''feel like I can open up to him, but the last time I opened up to anyone people died. I can't risk it, I barely survived the last time I caused people pain. I don't have the strength to go through it again,'' she thought to herself as her eyes began to water. She quickly wiped her eyes hoping he wouldn't see any tears roll down her cheek.

Delta noticed Luna's change in emotion. He saw a tear run down her cheek. He wanted to catch it, but decided against it. "...At least you are free to do what you want." Delta said instead. "My whole life I've been forced to work like this, forced to... kill... if need be. These jobs usually make me do that. I hate it." he was looking away now. ''Reaper. I can't escape the name. My stupid family created that persona for me. ''"I just want to help people... but I'm forced to do it in a less than lawful way, and not always good people. I'd join you if I could, but I don't have anyone to teach me how to leave, or how to use magic differently..."

She looked up at him, she wanted to just give him a hug. Have him just let everything out, and know that he didn't have to kill. "Killing isn't the only option sometimes, in extreme cases maybe so. I've killed a couple people, and I'd change it in a heartbeat. Having to carry the guilt isn't easy, believe me. See like today, we could have killed those men. But we didn't. We found a way around it where no one was hurt. Family is a difficult thing, but they love you. Although it's complicated and they may not show it, they do love you." She stopped herself and began to think about her family, and how she wished they had loved her as much as they had loved there more extravagant lifestyle. "I was the cause of my parents in happiness, and because of it my father would make sure I knew how unhappy he was everyday." She looked away In time to clean her face from her tears. "You have given me no reason to see you as a Reaper and for that... to me you're Delta, someone who helped a person like me. Even if you say it was for a selfish reason, I just see someone who took time out of their life to help me. And for that I am forever grateful." Without thinking Luna impulses had her hugging Delta. The height difference between them made it so her head layed perfectly over his heart, and she was able to feel each one of his heart's beat. The beating of his heart was a relaxing sound to Luna causing her to fall asleep, maybe even just pass out from exhaustion.

Delta slowly smiled at Luna's speech, but was soon startled as she hugged him. "Luna! Wha-" he said but when he looked down, she had already started to sleep from exhaustion. With her head on his chest, Delta wasn't sure what to do. ''Should I wake her?... Nah I will let her sleep. She has had to use a lot of magic today.'' He decided to hug her back while she slept, watching over the car. He watched over his shoulder to check for a slowing of the scenery before it started to lull him to sleep. He fought sleep before thinking. ''Oh what the heck. Her warmth is making me sleepy.'' At that moment everyone in the train car had fallen asleep, Delta's head now leaning on Luna's.

A couple hours past and finally Luna woke up. At first she was a little confused on how she come to be laying on someone, then quickly noticed that she had fallen asleep in Delta. Her first reaction was to pull away quickly, but seeing he need a good rest she softly pulled out of the hug. Enough to where he'd still be able to lean on her and sleep, but she'd be able to look out for a place to jump. Seeing that Delta was asleep she took that time to be able to pull the hoodie off and let her head feel air. The sun was starting to set, so they'd need to be heading out soon. ''I can't believe I fell asleep on him, gosh Luna you're so dumb sometimes. He probably thinks you're weak!'' She though to herself as she sat watching the view. Letting out a small giggle she looked at him and whispered softly, "You were right, no motion sickness."

A few moments later Delta woke with a start. "Something isn't right." he said turning his face towards Luna. His nose almost ran into her face and he pushed away against the wall of the car before impact. That could have been awkward, he thought as he stood up with a small blush. "Here come to the window." Delta said holding out a hand to Luna to help her up. "We are speeding up, not slowing down. I wonder why?" He asked himself while looking out.

Luna caught herself giving a little smile, possibly blushing a bit. "You okay there, you really banged yourself against that wall." She took his hand and got to her feet. "That's strange, I don't have a good feeling about it. If we are going to jump we have to d it now." She said with a slight bossy tone. "We have to wake Tom up. He's not going to want to jump, but we will push him if we have to."

"I'd rather not push him." said Delta with a small chuckle. ''She can be sassy? Interesting.'' He thought as he went over to Tom and shook him. "Yo wake up. We are getting off here. Either you jump with us or we are pushing you off. Your choice." Delta said. Tom woke up groggily and it took him a moment to process what was said.

"Where are we?" he asked Delta and Luna.

"It doesn't matter. Something has made the train speed up. It would be save to assume that they got a message to rush to the next station for an ambush. Let's jump now before we get to a cliff or something." Delta said picking the man up and pulling/leading him to the back door of the train car. Just then Delta remembered something. "Luna, go slowly as you walk out of the door if you need to. The charms only work inside the room to stop the shaking." He said. ''I hope she can make the jump. ''he thought.

"Thanks for the advise." She said chuckling. "Tom just hold on to Delta when jumping off, it will be over before you know it." Luna walked over to Delta and whispered to him "He's old, be careful, he can get hurt easily. Don't strain yourself, but help him as much as you can." She was still very exhausted and she was barely able to stand.

Delta noticed Luna's exhaustion still. ''Jeez she's telling me to be careful? She's in worse shape than I am.'' he thought. He mumbled annoyed at himself for his next idea. "Tom." Delta said. "You will be jumping with your arm around my shoulders on one side. Luna?" He said looking at her thinking, He suddenly grabbed her by the hand and pulled her close enough to wrap his arm around her waist. "Tom let's go now." The man yelped as he grabbed on. With Luna basically being dragged at this point. Delta and Tom jumped off the side of the train, Delta turning allowing Luna to land on him first and Tom rolling on the side of the tracks.

With a thud they landed. ''Not the brightest idea I had all day but if she got hurt it would have been bad. ''"Tom you okay? Luna?" He said letting go of her.

"I'm fine." Tom said irritated. He took an envelope out of his jacket to check it before putting it back.

Luna looked at Delta in shock for a couple moments, she was confused on how quickly everything had happened. Her heart was racing, she didn't understand why Delta was impulsed to do that so suddenly. "Yeah...I'm fine." She said in a small voice. She cleared her throat and tried to get back into the right mid set. " we are close to a good cave I know, there will be water and some berries to eat. The cave will give us shelter for the night, where we can all get the rest we need. Especially you Delta, I don't know how you've managed to stay in one piece this long." I wonder what Tom has in that envelope, but it's none of my business. Luna thought as she stood up and was dusting off her knees From the dirt while checking for any scrapes. Suddenly she looked at delta again, with fear and disappointment in her eyes. "I forgot the hoodie!"

Delta looked towards the train, seeing as it was almost out of sight already. He sighed before saying, "Don't worry. I can always get a new one. If you need one you can wear mine. I guess hiding how we look doesn't matter much now anyways." He looked up the hill trying to discern the cave she had mentioned. "So there is a cave up here Luna? Why don't you lead the way and then we can take turns on watch while we gather supplies." Delta went over to Tom and motioned him to go ahead and walk behind Luna, with himself behind Tom. "Ready when you are bright eyes." He said with a reassuring smile.

She looked back at him and gave him a smile. "Bright eye, huh." She murmured. They began to walk into the forest, collecting Berries along the way. It took about an hour of waking, but they finally made it to the cave. This cave had been Luna's home for a solid month after she had fled her home village."Welcome to our 5 star resort for the night." She said trying to lighten th mood. I don't expect rich people like them to see how precious this place actually is. They probably just see this as a hole in the mountain. She thought as she finally took a rest against one of the walls of the cave. A few moments later she impulsed herself off the wall and said, "I'll go get some fire wood, I left some stocked up from the last time I was here."

Delta tried to laugh at Luna's small joke, but he only felt sad. ''She's stayed here alone hasn't she? ''He felt guilty for complaining earlier that day about his family after seeing this. As she got up to leave he stopped her. "Hey... be careful okay? I made sure our tracks weren't noticable but they will still search for us. Be quick okay?" he asked her, trying not to be heard by Tom. He walked over to Tom after Luna left the cave and sat next to him.

"So Tom how about we talk for a bit while she is gone. What is it that you hired me for?" Delta asked, knowing that prying into the affairs of his clients could lead to trouble, but curiosity got the better of him this time.

"Well... I have blueprints of a weapon a dark guild is trying to build. I am trying to get away from them and take it to the magic council. Thanks to you I'm not dead yet, and neither were the men from earlier thanks to the girl." Tom said as he sighed. "I don't know how a sweet girl got caught up with mercenaries though. Such a shame."

"She isn't 'with' mercenaries. She is with me. We... we are business partners for one job only. It just so happened your job request came at the same time as our deal was struck." Delta replied, now filled with some anxiety as to what his family would do if they found Luna.

Luna had walked out to go get the fire wood, but had gone back to ask Delta about something. As she came to the cave entrance she had made it in time to hear the end of the men's conversation. The only words Luna took great attention to were, "patners for one job only". For a while she had forgotten that this was a one time thing, she became safe in the idea of finally not having to be alone. Having the reality check weighed on her greatly. Before Delta or Tom could notice of her presence she scurried away. As she walked towards the wood pile she thought to herself, how could you have been so stupid as to forget this wasn't permanent Luna! Tears began to roll down her face the more she thought about it. I've got to calm myself down so that when I get back delta doesn't notice I was crying. Pull yourself together! It's no time to turn soft. She gave herself a sorta pat to the cheek to gain focus again.

Tom looked at Delta noticing the emotions showing on his face. "you must care about her don't you? I can understand why you wouldn't want her around. I know your kind of business. It isn't always a simple as escorting an old man around. No... she seems too sweet for that. You have the right idea to protect her, but maybe she needs more than that." he said.

Delta looked up at the man with confusion. ''What does that mean? ''He thought. "More? What do you mean?"

"I mean I overheard the conversations you two have had, and seen how she looks at you. She feels connected to you. She doesn't seem as closed off from you now as she did when you two first entered the train car. Plus you two slept together. She trusts you." Tom said.

Delta's ears began to burn at the last comment. "Yeah... don't mention that again. It's a bit embarrassing." he said to Tom. Delta stood up and looked outside. "I do care about her. I just don't... I can't protect her any farther than this one job. Not now anyways. I'm not strong enough..." He said out loud. He walked to the mouth of the cave thinking. "I'm going to go check on her. Stay here okay? Call out if you need help." Delta said.

Luna knew she needed to calm herself down and make herself seem okay. So she sat next to the wood with her legs curled up and her head resting in them. Taking deep breaths she stared at the ground and drew swirls with her fingers in the dirt. Luna began to think out loud, "I can't let myself feel safe with him anymore. It can't work. He's going to leave me after this, because that what was agreed upon. I need to remember how I was before, I've got to shut back down again and I need to remember that I am alone. That's not going to change." She said trying to fight back the tears. "No more tears Luna, you shed enough of those when you killed your parents. It's time to be strong again. Once the job is over I'll probably come back to the cave, so I need to keep some wood as a back up for my first night back."

Delta walked out towards the direction of where Luna left before. He came up behind her quietly and overheard her conversation with herself. ''Damn it why did I let her get close? You knew you would hurt her... wait. Did she just say she killed her parents?!'' Delta took a quick breath and said, "Luna?"

Luna's eyes became wide. She was frozen, she knew he probably had heard something. Weather it had been talk of the cave or even worse her parents. Her heart began to race and she felt as if she couldn't breathe. As she began to try to get herself to stand up her body was shaking so much it was impossible to try to hide it. "Wh... What are.. Yo..you doing here?" She said staring into his eyes with fear. "I...I can get the wood." As those final words came out of her mouth she collaps to the ground. It seemed that all the events of the day and now adding Delta's knowledge about something she had said, had made her black out.

"Luna!" exclaimed Delta as he rushed to her, catching her head as she fell. "Tom come here!" He yelled. Delta lifted Luna up in his arms as Tom found him. "Grab a couple of logs and get back to the cave. She fainted." Delta commanded. Tom grabbed some logs as Delta ran up to the mouth of the cave and got inside. He laid Luna down on the floor and he pulled his hoodie off, laying it on her like a blanket. "It's going to get dark soon. I need to light a fire..." Delta said with a very intense stare. ''She will be okay. She will be okay. She just fainted...'' he thought anxiously. Tom put the wood in a pile as Delta summoned a pair of swords. He breathed and one of them became covered with flames and the other water. Delta looked around and found a couple of bowls. After lighting the fire with the one sword, he filled the bowls with water to drink. He unequiped the swords and stumbled back to to Luna where Tom was watching her.

"Her breathing is okay, she just seemed to be exhuasted."Tom said shakily.

Delta leaned against the wall of the cave and slid down next to Luna. "Good." he sighed. "We all should rest after today..." He said before falling into a half sleep state, keeping his mind awake to listen for a change in the sounds outside. Tom leaned against the wall as well and fell fast asleep, snoring.

Once Luna had fainted she began to have flashes of her memory. The last thing on her mind before falling was her parents, she began to flashback to the day it all happened. As she slept she cried and began to sweat. She suddenly woke up at the exact moment she had seen her parents dead. With a small scream her eyes opened and she stood up as an impuls reaction. Her breathing was heavy but quick as if she was having and anxiety attack. Once her mind was able to focus better she began to look around, seeing the small fire glowing over both Tom and Delta's face. "I need air." She whispered as she picked up delta's hoodie. She began to dust it off and put it on as she began to stumble her way out of the cave. Once reaching the mouth of the cave she sat against the tree nearest to the cave entrance, making it easy to keep a watch on everything. She began to think to herself, maybe I should leave now. He will be better off if I go now, I won't be in his way.

When Luna had screamed Delta jerked open his eyes, to see only that Luna had woken up from earlier. ''Should I say something? ''He thought when she whispered I need air. He watched her covertly as she left the cave and sat against a tree. He stood up quietly and walked out to her. He leaned against the mouth of the cave looking at her. "Luna? You okay?" he asked her quietly but enough for her to hear. "Did I startle you earlier or was something bothering you that made you collapsed?" a tone of worry was evident on his voice, even if he tried to hide it.

She quickly turned her head to see delta standing at the cave. "I'm okay. Everything is fine." She said in a quiet voice as she tried to force a small smile. She then looked away, and look towards the horizon. "Me collapsing was nothing. I'm fine." In that moment Luna was trying so hard to make sure she didn't lead into whatever he had heard. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, "Best thing about this place is the sunrise. I know a really good spot to see the sunrise, and we have time to get to it. It's not far at all, and there we can keep an eye out for Tom. Want me to show you?" Luna extends her hand out, she hoped that deep down Delta would grab it. Although she knew she shouldn't do it, she couldn't control it.

Delta was relieved that she felt fine. "I'm glad you are okay. If you want to show me lead the way bright eyes." He says grabbing her hand. He helped her up to her feet, but didn't let go of her hand right away. ''What is it that upset her then? What made her scream? ''He thought as they started walking, mostly unaware of what was going on except in his own thoughts.

Luna had a sigh of relief when Delta chose to grab her hand. She led him to the side of the cave where there was a little upward path on the mountain. It took a good 15 minutes of walking but at the end of the path there was a little ledge, where the tree line hit perfectly underneath. Once she made it up the mountain she let go of Delta's hand and just began to walk straight towards the ledge, where she then sat down and dangled her legs off the end. "Well are you going to come sit down? The sun is starting to come up." She said as she looked back at him, giving him a smile.

Delta stood there for a moment, captivated by her smile. He noticed he first rays of the sun coming over the horizon, back lighting her green curly hair. "Wow..." he said softly. He caught himself before he went further. "I mean...this view, it's amazing..." He walked over and sat down next to her. "I'm glad you are showing me this. I don't often get a chance to stop and relax like this..." Delta said slowly. I wonder what she is thinking right now?

Luna kept her eyes looking straight at the horizon as the light bounced off her eyes causing them to seem translucent. She sat there in silence taking in and relaxing. She then took a glance over at him and said,"I'm glad you like it, I found tranquility and I feel at peace up here. It has a calming effect to it, wouldn't you say? I remember my first time finding this place..." She stopped herself abruptly. She wanted to bring up little facts about her life and having to be alone, but she kept remembering that it would be of no good to anyone.

"Why did you stop?" Delta asked, looking at the sun. "Talking is a good thing. If something is bothering you, talking about it will help too... Not that I should say anything. I hold in my pain too. I don't like what I do but it happens... I try and ignore it mostly. Probably not the best idea right? haha..." Delta laughed quietly. He turned toward Luna. "You know, you are one of the only people outside of my family that doesn't seem to be afraid of me... or my magic. I want to thank you for that. In return... well, I want to get to know why you hold back your past. I promise... I promise I won't judge okay?" ''Why am I so interested in her? ''he thought at that moment.

Luna's eyes widened as she heard Delta's words. He wanted to listen, something that Luna desperately longed for. She turned to him and look into his eyes.At first she was ready to let everything out, but then the reality of him leaving angered her. "Talking will get me no where, it's not like we are even going to see each other after this job, right? I mean you said it. One job only..." She stopped herself noticing how mean she was becoming, and he of all people didn't deserve it. "I..I'm sorry. I didn't mean it like that. I don't know where that came from." Her head dropped down and she began to watch her feet dangle of the edge of the ledge. After a brief pause she took a deep breath and said,"I don't know where I can start... How about you just ask a question, and I'll answer it. And I promise I'll try my best to not get defensive."

Delta felt a ting of guilt within him. ''So... that's what is bothering her. She must have overheard me say that to Tom. ''"Luna I... It's not like I wouldn't mind staying with you for longer... It's just..." He stopped to breathe. "I don't want you to get caught up in my world. It isn't pleasant. What you were able to do for me today, what you did so I wouldn't kill the men? Yeah... That would never fly with my family. To them, it is kill or be killed. No matter what." Delta was looking down now, watching the wind blow through the tree line below. "I want you to be safe. I want to protect you. My only way to do that after this job is to separate myself from you. It's... going to be okay." Delta was frustrated now at his own situation. He clenched his fist for a few seconds before grabbing a pebble and throwing it off the ledge. "Nevermind that for now. We are together here and now right?" Delta looked over at Luna with a half forced smile. "My first question I guess... why do you want to stick around me?"

While listening to Delta speak all Luna could feel was that she was being selfish. He had spoken time and time again about his family yet not once had Luna actually taken it to consideration. All she wanted was not to be alone. "Because...well...because I'm finally not alone, and I finally feel like I don't have to be completely shut down. The first time I saw you, I had the option to run before you saw me. I still don't know what stopped me. I've spent my whole like basically alone.... I know it's selfish of me to want to stay around you. I finally understand your conflict with your parents. I just didn't want to go back to sleeping in caves alone and eating every once in a while." She took a look at Delta, trying to see what emotion his face would convey. The sun was now hiting them directly making the whether feel a lot warmer. As a result of the heat Luna decided to take off Delta's hoodie. As she began to pull the hoodie off her back it got caught on her shirt pulling the shirt upwards a bit as the hoodie came of. As she slipt the hoodie completely off she hadn't notice that some of her scars on her backs had become visible.

Delta looked like a mix of happy, sad, angry, and thinking. "So you like being with me? Haha... I've never heard that before..." Delta said to her. He looked towards the sunrise again. "I wish I could stay with you longer, but right now would not be a good idea. I like you Luna, I really do. That's why we have to separate after this mission." He looked at her again to see her reaction, knowing that it would be sad. Suddenly he had a thought. "You know... we may bump into each other again in the future? I mean, how many green haired girls are there in the world? You are one of a kind. If we were ever in the same area, I'd never miss seeing you haha." He started to get embarrassed.

At first her face conveyed an expression of sadness, but she came to terms with what she knew had to happen. She took a deep breath and looked back to the sunrise, in a solemn voice she said "I get what you are saying. I can't really say anything else. These were the terms agreed upon at the beginning and we need to honor them. If we meet again someday, well that will be something to look forward too haha." she said letting out a little laugh.

"Well why don't we plan for it? Or try to?" Delta suggested. It would be fun to have some time off anyways now and again. he thought. "Maybe like on holidays or something we can choose a place to try and meet. If we are there then okay. If not then one of us should send or leave a message for the other. Pen pals maybe?" He was rattling of ideas, trying to make the mood brighten. He stopped suddenly, looked at her and asked, "What would you want to do most that is comfortable for you?"

"We can't force anything. If we are meant to see eachother again it will happen. It's like you said, not many girls with green hair. If you really want to try, you'll probably find me in caves. You can leave me little notes in caves, you never know I'll probably stop at it one time or another. Haha." As the mood began to lighten up she saw that the sun was almost at its highest point for the morning. She began to stand up, "Well that was nice, time to go back. We don't want to worry Tom now do we." She dusted her shorts of as she began to walk away.

Delta watched her walk back to the cave. "That... I don't like this at all." he said to himself. He stood up and grabbed the sweatshirt that Luna had left. He remembered the scars that were on her back. ''I wonder what those were from... is it okay for me to ask? ''he thought. "Luna! Hold on!" he called to her, hoping to stop her before she got too far away.

She quickly turned around, "yeah?" She said in a mellow tone.

"I-" Delta cut himself off. ''I don't think asking her that would be a good idea. I want to help her, but those scars looked old. Nothing I could do about in only a couple of days right?'' he thought. "I... was wondering if you knew of any good food sources up around here. I'm a bit hungry heheh." He said rubbing the back of his head, trying to play it off cool.