A/N: another short chapter. ugh. midterms are coming up and work is pwning my lazy bum.

Thank you so much for the reviews. I knew the links were broken...but I didn't think anyone was too bothered looking at the doodles but here they are~
deviantart .com/art/Mui-Character-Sketch-Ivan-138525338
deviantart .com/art/Mui-Ivan-Character-Design-136446126
deviantart .com/art/Mui-Isaac-Character-Design-136446527
deviantart .com/art/Map-of-Mui-136446840

Warning: Shounen-ai eventually.

I hope I can make the next chapter a bit longer...but I saw an opening for a close to this chapter and pounced it. Trying to crank out one chapter per week to make up for my lack of writing recently...and working on a ton of other stories on top of this.

Anyway, please read and review!

Chapter 4:

It’s been a week since I met Alex in Demani Forest and though I had my misgivings about the man at first, he’s quickly become a close friend. He has a lot to say, it’s easier to mention the things that he doesn’t want to talk about than taking all day to think about the things that he does. He bottles up in seconds if I ask him about his home. It’s almost as if he’s ashamed…either of it or himself, maybe it’s a little bit of both.

After that, he barely speaks no matter how I try to bring up different subjects. Maybe there’s bad blood between him as his village or it could have been burned down by the government for some reason. It would explain his determination to help me…maybe he’s gone through the same thing.

Though, his dark moods put a damper in the journey, I quickly learn not to bring up things about his hometown and he slowly recovers, returning to his more cheerful mood, telling me about the continent.

“There’s amazing things all around, you don’t have to go to places like the Capital or big towns like Lunette…you just lose the wonder in the crowd.” He smiles brightly, pulling me over to a patch of trees, lowering his voice as he pushes some bushes back, revealing a small nest hidden at the base of the tree. Three tiny birds sat in the nest; mouths wide open, letting out a series of rapid chirps that seemed to blend in together.

I blink, leaning into the bush to get a closer look at them, “Where’s their mother?”

He chuckles softly, still smiling at them as he knees down, “No doubt nearby, gathering food for them.”

I shake my head, for some reason I can’t take my eyes off them, “I didn’t think there were any birds out here…I haven’t seen any since I left home.” I glance over at him, his smile fading and he frowns at the birds, furrowing his brow slightly.

“That’s because they know the dangers of staying out in the open. Hunters set traps around the continent, specifically designed to catch songbirds…once they catch some, they take them back to places like Lunette and sell them for as much as they can. Rich people keep them as pets, leaving them in small cages, hoping they will sing for them…” He sighs, leaning back and letting go of the bushes, the nest going back into hiding. “The birds are smart though, they’ve migrated to the west where the hunters only go after they’ve caught more birds…once the hunters are there, they don’t have traps left to catch anything else.”

“That’s so…terrible…why isn’t anyone doing something to stop them?”

He started to walk down the path and I hurry after him, glancing back at the trees. “People do try to stop them…it’s just, they don’t have enough influence to do any good. Besides, the Emperor protects the hunters from such influence…and punishes anyone thoroughly for speaking up.” I bite down on my bottom lip, trying not to think about what the punishment could possibly be.

A dark structure looms ahead in the distance, awkwardly outlined by a field of multicolored flowers spreading out behind it as far as the eye could see. Strange lights flicker on the top of the structure, on and off, on and off. I pause in the middle of the road, the building still far off, entranced by the lights.

Alex stops a little ahead of me, turning back to look at me before glancing back at the building, folding his arms across his chest, “That’s the encampment…I’m sure the technology is new to you…it’s nothing like the Capital…but it’s very different from the villages back west.” He frowns, staring at the building hard, his eyes darkening, “Are you ready? We’ll have to sneak around once we get inside…I don’t know how many soldiers going to be there.”

“Do you really think…my father is in there?”

He sighs, slipping the cloth from around his harp, starting down the dirt path again, his heels picking up loose dirt as he plucked at the glistening strings absently. I blink, about to ask him why he was playing but he looked distracted. I hurried after him quickly.

I stand back a little ways as he walks straight up to the front door, “A-Alex…” I hiss after him. He smiles back at him, hiding his harp under the cloth again. The large door is open slightly but there isn’t even a whisper from behind the door.

He frowned, letting go of his harp and pushing it to his back. He steps forward, leaning against the door. It lets out a loud creak and we both tense, expecting the soldiers to come running out and surround us. We wait for a long moment, nothing happening, barely breathing. He glances back to me and nods, stepping into the building.

Hay lines the floor of the large square room, the gray stone walls stretching up to the sky around us. Alex steps into the middle of the room, kneeling down and touching the ground, some of the hay scattered in areas, revealing the wooden floor underneath. “It looks like they left in a hurry…but they were here…maybe just a couple of hours ago…”

“What could have made them leave so quickly…?” A pained groan reaches us from nearby and I glance around quickly, spotting a pair of familiar boots protruding from behind a large crate. “D-Dad!” I rush over to him, fishing into my pack from the vial as I kneel down next to him.

My heart tightens in my chest at the sight of him. He looks worse than he did before I left for Lunette, dark shadows under his sunken eyes, his skin waxen and chilled, his hands almost frozen. I bite back tears, uncapping the bottle and pulling him up carefully, trying to get him to drink.

He stirs slowly, looking up at me with blurry eyes, “I-Ivan…you came…” My hand starts to shake and he grasps my wrist gently, pushing the vial away, “That…won’t do me any good now…”

“B-but…I…tried so hard to get to you…” I clutch at his hand, pressing it against my cheek, trying to stop shaking as the tears flow freely, “I tried so hard…you can’t…you can’t give up…”

He shakes his head slowly, taking a gasping breath that shakes through his entire body and he looks past me, smiling gingerly, “Ah…Alex…I see that you’re taking care of my son…”

I hear hay rustle behind me as Alex shifts, “Toviel…you’ve raised him well…he doesn’t need much protection from me…but you should have told him more about the world.”

He laughs, starting to cough, blood bubbling at the corner of his lips and I turn away quickly, squeezing my eyes shut tight. “I thought that I would have more time for that…he’s still so young…I wanted to show him around Mui myself…let him meet you…all the others…and especially Robin…” He sighs softly, closing his eyes for a moment, “They would get along so well…they would be good for each other, don’t you think…?”

Alex laughs bitterly, almost painfully, turning away and glaring at the ground, tears threatening to fall from his eyes, “I don’t know, Robin is very stubborn…he never liked meeting new people…”

He reaches out slowly, his hand quivering as rests his palm against my cheek, “Ivan…there is something I need to tell you…something about you and Sheba…”

“S-Sheba? Where is she…? Why did they take her? Why did they take both of you…?” I shake my head, the tears coming harder now, “Why did they even come to our village…?”

He sighs, giving my hand a weak squeeze, “I can’t…answer all your questions, Ivan…you’ll have to stick with Alex and his friends if you want your answers…he’ll help you…I trust him…so you can trust him as well…” He shakes his head slowly, “…I never planned on telling you this…but it looks like I need to…Ivan…a woman brought you to us years ago…she said you washed ashore…you kept crying and crying until your mother held you…you fell asleep as soon as you were in her arms…”

I knew…all along, I knew…that I wasn’t their son by birth…I don’t look anything like them, I’m the only one in the village with these eyes…I knew but I refused to think about it, refused to acknowledge it.

“Sheba…she washed onto the shore near Aolani…much as you had…but you appeared in a different place…much farther from us…so the idea that you two were in some way connected…it never really came up…not until you were older…”

He takes a rasping breath and I clutch at his hand, “D-Dad…you shouldn’t…”

He sighs, shaking his head, “I don’t have…much time left…and there’s no one else that can tell you…what I have to tell you…” He holds onto my hand gently, “You and Sheba…have you notice just how much you two look alike…out of all the villagers back home…none of them look…anything like the two of you…how could that be…”

I blink at him, “Sheba and I…?”

“It’s just…speculation…but I think you’re related…” He started to cough again, bringing up more blood and he shakes his head somberly, “There’s…still so much I could have taught you, Ivan…but I guess…I’ve let you down…thinking I had more time that allotted…”

“Y-you never let me down…I learned so much from you…”

He smiled softly, waving my hands away as he lied back, “You…do an old man proud, Ivan…I often forgot you weren’t really my son…they’ve taken Sheba to the Capital…but don’t worry, they don’t plan on hurting her…they think they need her…but it’s really…you that they need…”

I blink, “Me? Why me…?”

He shakes his head, glancing at Alex, “Once they realize that Ivan and Sheba are connected…you’re going to need to stay close to him…Robin already knows…” He sighs, closing his eyes, “I’m…so proud of you, Ivan…you’ve become so…strong…” His voice becomes softly and I lean over him quickly, shaking his shoulders, not sure what had come over me.

“D-Dad…?” He doesn’t stir, is body going limp as I continue to shake him, tears burning in my eyes, “Father!” Alex touches my arm and I try to shove him away but he catches my wrist, pulling me back with ease.

“Ivan…calm down…” I bite down on my bottom lip, shaking my head and pressing my hands against my eyes.

“I-I couldn’t make it in time…even after everything…” I turn around to look at him, “And it’s my fault that they came! They wanted me, right!?”

He sighs, looking away slowly, “I’m…not sure of that yet…” He took me by the arm, leading me away from the body, “There’s nothing left for us here…we have to go.”

Instead of returning to the path, he leads the way past the encampment and steps onto the field, the hill sloping down slightly. It’s a rainbow of brilliant colors but my body is still cold, everything is lost in blur of muted tones, even Alex’s voice seems dull and faded, a bit of pain hiding in his calm. He looks like he wants to say something to comfort me but isn’t sure how to go about it, glancing back at me constantly, maybe to make sure that I’m still following him.

He glances back at me and I tilt my head back to look up at him, going to say something but his eyes widen and he grabs my wrist, pulling me after him as he starts to run. I stumble, hurrying after him, “Alex, what’s going on?”

Before he can answer, there’s a shout behind us and I glance back, letting out an involuntary gasp. Men dressed in dark robes with gold and crimson trim, leather belts wrapped loosely around their waist with long scabbards resting across their thighs. Standing around the encampment, they were about to head inside but they spot us at the last moment, maybe recognizing Alex, and start running into the field in a tight group.

I press my hand to my ribs as a stitch begins to form, it seems like we’ve been running forever and the men are still chasing us, determined to catch us, some of them beginning to draw their swords. Alex tugs the cloth from around his harp, tossing it to the ground, stopping and turning around, shoving me forward. “Keep going straight. Don’t look back; run as fast as you can.”

I stumbled forward, glancing back at him, about to ask him but he’s already facing the men, standing perfectly still as he strummed at his harp. I bite down on my bottom lip, shaking my head and running through the field again, trying to ignore the shouts.

Alex will be okay, right? He saved me from those bandits…I still don’t know how he did it but he did. So, he should be okay…I hope.

The shouts die down as I make it halfway through the field, gasping for breath, wondering if it’s safe to stop yet, maybe just for a small break. I shake my head, running forward a bit faster. Suddenly, my foot goes straight down through the ground and I go with it, falling down into a dark pit, too shocked to let out a scream.

It could have been minutes or hours since I fell. I should have been dead but my legs were only a little sore from running so much. There’s a pale beam of light drifting down from the darkness above, the hole I had fallen through. Strange glowing flowers grow around me, pale blue fireflies floating around them, buzzing softly.

I sit up slowly, blinking as I spot a pair of weather-worn boots in front of me. I glance up slowly, my eyes following the boots up to a pair of strong legs, a torso and then…my heart skips a beat at the sight of those familiar pale blue eyes and lips no longer hidden by the scarf now loosely draped around his shoulders. He smiles gently, leaning down and holding his hand out for mine, “I’ve been waiting for you, Ivan…”

-Continued in the Fifth Chapter of the Book of Mui-

-gasps and giggles- My, my, who could it be? -frowns at the chapter- maybe I'll go back and rewrite the entire story once I finish it.

-bows- Please look forward to the next chapter~

Alex: -rolls his eyes- I hope I survive.