Lady Misfortune: Daddy, I'll Be A Righteous Villainess!

Lady continues to huff and puff about not being able to take revenge while Fallon does all the work of navigating the woods and searching for a hiding place.

"What a brute! Leaving all those bruises on you and all! I would have bitten him countless times if he did that to me! He may be pretty, but he still lacks class! Yuck to him!" she rambled on and on, completely enraged. 

"Yuck to him? Is that even a thing?" he whispered mostly to himself, raising a brow. 

"That man's creepiness really went up by a hundred percent, though. I mean, just where is this place? What's with the woods and the cottage? Is he supposed to be Jason or something?"     

"Speaking of, how in the world did you find me? Where are the others?"

"Oh, I just followed you guys here. I snuck into the trunk of the car-"

"You what?!"

Fallon was so thrown off guard that he could not help but look at her – only to end up slamming right into a tree. That gave them a break in their sprint. Though surprised and concerned, Lady could not keep herself from snorting at how comical the scene was.

It then soon turned into an explosive burst of laughter. With an annoyed grunt, he stepped back and straightened himself up, rubbing his throbbing forehead while she continued to double over laughing. 

"Quit that. It's not funny," Fallon hissed.

"Pfftttt…! You should've seen your face!" Lady guffawed.

"This is not the time to be wheezing like a maniac, stupid! We should be on our way again!"

"Relax, relax~ I think we already lost that bad guy. It's been minutes, anyway. We made it far enough."

"As if you would know. All you did was talk about how it's such a shame that he looks pretty."

"Why, you offend me! I've been keeping tabs the whole time, you know! And I was just mad because of what he did to you!"   

Huffing indignantly, she crossed her arms and whipped her head away. 

He simply stared at her for a moment. As much as he didn't want to admit it, her ramblings did take his mind off of their horrid predicament for a little bit. He was so relieved that he wanted to shed tears as soon as he got out of there, but because of her, he forgot all about it. Certainly, he didn't expect that she still had the strength and courage to throw rocks at their assailant like that. Looking back, the scene is kind of amusing.

"Seriously, though, what kind of moron would sneak into a kidnapper's car? In their trunk at that? You just did him a favor by doing that…' Fallon began again, astonished to a degree and a bit weirded out. 

"I told you to get help from the others, didn't I?"

"Well, I did try to get help from Father and Uncle…" Lady said with a downcast gaze. 

"But there were these security guards who came out of nowhere. They had this camera footage that showed that you and that man were on the rooftop of the hotel."

"What? We were not there."             

"Exactly. That's why I thought it's fake. One of the guards also gave me this scary look. I told Grandpa and Granny about it because Father and Uncle already left to search for you. But it didn't work. No one believed me."

"So, you decided to come after me instead? And what would that help? Don't you know that you just caused more trouble?"

This time, Lady truly looks offended. Fallon fell silent and went stiff, then.

He shouldn't have said those words. That must've sounded insensitive and ungrateful of him. Instead of thanking her for doing everything she could to save him, he went ahead and acted like a brat who knew nothing but to complain. It was not her fault that nobody believed her, after all. This was all on those grown-ups.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…" he apologized then trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"I didn't mean that, okay? I was just frustrated. Really. I'm sorry." 

"It's alright. I understand why you'd feel that way…" she replied without looking at him.

"Also, you don't have to worry. I stole Grandpa's cellphone and turned the GPS on. They'll be able to track us in no time. We just have to wait for them and hide somewhere."

"Oh, wow, that's… That's great."

That's genius - is what Fallon really wants to say, and that's because it truly is. Now, he regrets not letting Lady explain the whole thing first. 

He's feeling guiltier by the second as she continues to look down and keep quiet. With that, silence rules over both of them. He could tell that she's genuinely hurt by what he said. 

Fallon has to say something - anything. That way, Lady will not think too much about it. 

"Hey, uhhh… I think we should go…" he started as he reached out and offered his hand to her, stealing her attention and making her turn to look back at him again. 

"Let's find somewhere we can hide in while we wait for help." 

She did not respond for a moment – just stared at him. Then, slowly, she reached out her own hand, letting him take it in his. He gave her a nod before he started to walk again and lead her away, going back to what they were doing. That entire time, she just silently peered at his back which she suddenly found to be too small and weak and fragile.       

Fallon most definitely does not know this, but the reason why Lady is very upset about the violence that has been inflicted on him is because she herself has been through the same thing – getting bruises, that is.

The only difference was that she got them from those she thought would protect her. More often than not, she would get beaten up. She would be physically and verbally abused. At this point, though, she was already used to it. She eventually became tired of resisting. 

However, when Lady saw something similar happen to someone else, she could not seem to rest easy and gloss over it. She really didn't care when Fallon said that she's just causing more trouble.

Rather than that, she finds herself thinking about what else she should do to help. She ponders if fulfilling her role as the villainess of this story is enough. Their current situation has made her realize that it's probably not. After all, her true goal is to give everyone their happy ending.   

And that should include this boy whose death will be the foundation of some of the main events in the plot.

"Here. Maybe this would do."

Lady only made out the tower of a tree in front of them when Fallon spoke up again.

It was so tall that they felt so small like never before. Cascades of leafy vines adorn its rock-hard trunk and tough-looking branches. There were also bushes and hedges everywhere – perfect to cover themselves up. Despite the caliginous backdrops, the coruscating pool of moonlight in which it's bathed makes it appear somewhat magical and enchanted.

"This place is near to the highway. But not too near that our pursuer would suspect that it's where we'd go. I made sure that the path we took was a little bit too dim to tread. That way, he also wouldn't suspect that children like us would go there…" he explained, and when he saw her looking kind of confused, he had the impression that she was wondering why he had to explain it. 

"I'm trying to reassure you, silly. We won't get found that easily."

"O-Oh, I see…" she blurted out, enlightened.

"Thanks. I didn't even notice where we're going. I failed to keep tabs. Sorry."

"You no longer have to. You did more than enough."

Lady stills at that, taken aback. That's the exact opposite of what she's thinking – doing enough, that is. But then, since it's Fallon who went and said it, it's hard not to believe. 

"By the way, can I take a look at Grandfather's cellphone?" he asked as he sat on the grass and patted the spot next to him invitingly. 

"Yeah, sure. Here you go," she answered, pulling the gadget out of her dress pocket and handing it over to him before taking her seat.

"You did a good job. I wouldn't even think of stealing anything from Grandfather regardless if it's an emergency or not. I'd be damn scared."

"I think I'll get scolded later on, though. Grandpa was actually talking with Father when I snatched it away from him." 

"Oh, they're on a call? What did you say to Uncle?"

"At first, I told him to leave the chit-chat for later when I return the phone. I still didn't know that it's Father. Only when I heard his voice did I finally get to recognize him. But I was kinda mad at him for not listening to me earlier, so I ended up calling him 'blockhead' and saying stuff like 'I'll prove you that I'm right even when I'm wrong.' Then, I dropped it."

To Lady's surprise, Fallon suddenly laughed at that.