AN: Writers block? What writers block? There was no writers block, none at all. I was just…stalling for dramatic effect….

SORRY! I know this took for-fricken-ever and I am so sorry about that.

Anyways, story stuff: Thank you as always to those who reviewed, you guys are the best. I've been really pleasantly surprised by some of the well thought out responses I've been getting. I love fangirling like a complete dork as much as the next questionably sane individual, but I am trying to approach this story with a bit more level of story telling than just 'omg this boy is so hawt!'

So when you give me some great reviews explaining why you liked the story it is incredibly appreciated.

That's not to say that I don't also enjoy the fangirl squealing reviews.

Actually funny (potentially embarrassing) anecdote: I've got this teddy bear named Captain Snuggles-lot who is the perfect size for squeezing, and was given to me by my father who works with planes so Snuggles is a pilot bear which makes him a Captain, so there. Anyways, he's pretty much turned into my review reading bear. Even though you guys always leave awesome reviews I still get super anxious every time I go to read them, and so I have to grab The Captain and squeeze him all the way through reading them. And when you guys start fangirling in your reviews, well, Captain gets some extra tight squeezes and me squealing/giggling in his ear. He's cool with it.

…I am completely sane, do not question me!

Moving on:

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Three Blind Mice, See how they Run

.

"Run faster!"

"Left, left!...your other left."

"This way! Oh crap, no not this way!"

"Duck under the tables!"

"Shit, they're in front of us too."

"Up here!"

"What, no! Malory get off the shelves…Mica don't join her!"

"Come on Natty we'll lose them on the second floor!"

"I must be insane for agreeing to this."

"Ha, see it worked."

"Guard incoming…"

"You three brats are in so much troub-hey! Give that back!"

"Mwhahaha, fear me!"

"Malory put that down!"

"I know what I'm doing blondie-gah! Nathaniel give it back!"

Malory made a lunge for the walkie-talkie in my outstretched hand, but it was a rather futile attempt seeing as my other hand was placed firmly on her shoulder, holding her back. Her small hands scrabbled at my bicep, trying to bend my arm, but she wasn't having much luck at that either.

"Get back here!" the walkie-talkie less guard yelled, coming around the corner.

Malory stopped trying to put me in a headlock, and again she, Mica, and I ran.

The man chased us around another corner, and suddenly we were in a sitting area alcove, with about nine irregularly shaped tables boxed in by bookshelves. Which meant the only way out was the direction we just came.

We'd cornered ourselves.

"Crap," Mica said.

Malory however, was not deterred. Without a moment's hesitation she grabbed both our sleeves and darted forward. The guard appeared just as we reached the far shelf.

"Hold it!" he yelled.

"You guys have played Pac-Man before right?" Malory whispered, as the guard began advancing.

"Yeah," Mica said, "but how does that-"

Malory darted away putting as many tables between her and the guard as possible, "waka waka waka!" she called imitating the sound Pac-Man makes.

"I said HOLD IT!" the guard yelled, moving in between the tables after her.

Mica and I had brief moment to glance at each other, and then we too skirted off between the tables, each going our own direction. The poor guard was momentarily confused, unable to decide which way to turn. He settled on lunging after Mica. But the dread-head darted around a table and then the two shuffled back and forth on either side of it. Until Malory ran up behind the guard and…yep she just yanked the poor man's pants down to his ankles. Honestly I am not even surprised she did that.

"HEY!" the man yelled. Turning to try and grab Malory. But instead he twisted himself up further and fell to the ground.

"What's going on here?!"

All our eyes snapped to the alcove entrance where another two guards had appeared. Their eyes darted over the four of us, finally landing on me.

"Get the blonde," the female one said. She and her partner began advancing on me from one side while the recently grounded guard (trying to yank up his pants) came at me from my other side. The three of them easily cornering me.

"Nathaniel!" I heard Malory call, but I couldn't spare her a glance.

Because just like in kendo, I saw my opening, and it presented itself in the slightly hunched guard still clutching at his pants. Hooking my ankle around one of the chair legs right next to me, I yanked the thing away from the table, pulling it in between me and the hobbling guard. He reached out with his free hand, ready to grab the back of the chair to push it aside, but before he could I twisted my hips, lifted my leg, recoiled, and kicked out. The chair went skidding right into the guard. He didn't fall over, but it staggered him. And before he could regain his balance, I was already running at him, stepping onto the chair, and vaulting over the man who suddenly yelled in fright and threw his arms over his head.

I landed several feet behind him right in the center of all the tables, with Malory and Mica next to me.

…

"Waka waka," Mica said.

"Okay" Malory said, "I admit that was pretty cool." The guards apparently thought so too, as they'd all frozen in place and where just staring at me.

Before the flabbergasted guards could regain their wits, we took off running again, slipping back in through the bookcases, and making as many turns as we could.

"But just so you know," Malory called to me as we ran, "you'd be really bad at Pac-Man." She was grinning.

"Great at leap frog though," Mica put in helpfully.

We lost the three guards in the myriad of shelves and books, darting around other library guests as inconspicuously as possible, and I could only hope that people assumed we were just three hyperactive kids who had never learned the walk-don't-run rule. First thing we had to do was find our way back down to the first floor. I knew the library layout thanks to my many visits, and I hurriedly led Mica and Malory towards a back corner that had a rarely used spiral staircase tucked away.

But just as I was about to round the last corner, the walkie-talkie in my pocket crackled to life, "I've got the west staircase covered," a voice said.

"Malory no!" I hissed, skidding to a stop and catching the girl around the waist just before she darted past me and was spotted by a security guard. He was positioned right around the bookcase serving as our current cover.

Mica slid to a stop behind us, quietly trying to catch his breath. "So far your plan has been nothing but running," he whispered, "doesn't Sensei make us do that enough already?"

"Shhhhh," Malory and I hissed.

The two of us carefully peeked around the corner and sure enough there was the guard, unmoving and scanning his eyes over the many study tables between him and us. He was also rather large and completely blocking the exit path we needed to take.

We'd cornered ourselves. We couldn't go back as there were already at least three security guards and Sinclair systematically moving up and down the shelves searching for us, and now we couldn't move forward without risking this guard seeing us.

"We could take him," Malory whispered.

I raised an eyebrow towards the girl huddled up beneath me, "It concerns me that you'd say that," I whispered back.

There was the sudden weight on my back of Mica leaning on me to look around the shelf as well. "No she might be right, I mean he's big but all we gotta do is knock him over and then he'll-."

"Whether or not we're capable is not the concern here," I said.

Malory shuffled beneath me, reaching for my pocket, "Give me the walkie-talkie," she said, "I've got the perfect idea for it!"

"Hold on," I said, fishing the device from my pocket, but holding it away from her, "I know what you want to do, but it will be more believable if Mica or I tell the guards to search another section seeing as we have male voices. I'm fairly certain that the woman we just saw is the only female on the security team."

Malory blinked at me once, and as if being hit with sudden realization she carefully said, "Um, yeah, that…that was my plan too…because that's the logical thing you would do with a walkie-talkie..." She really was a terrible liar.

I almost said something, but decided I didn't have time to decipher whatever strange concept she'd originally come up with.

I'd gathered how the security staff spoke with each other thanks to the random chatter we'd been receiving up till this point, and I was confident I could bluff this. Although just as I brought the device to my mouth I had a brief moment to wonder at just what the hell I thought I was doing? Mica and Malory come bursting into the Library and I just go along with all the ludicrousy brought in their wake? I was a rule follower. Castiel might claim I had no back bone because of it, but that couldn't be further from the truth. It took a lot to live up to my father's demands and to put up with Sinclair's attempts at bullying. And my life had a tendency to become a living hell whenever I strayed away from that system.

What was I expecting to get out of this, because so far it looked like it would be, at minimum, a pissed off Sinclair. Even if he never told my father about all this thanks to his own embarrassment, he'd still find a way of making me pay. Which was going to be hell enough to deal with already, so did I really want to aggravate the situation further?

Mica was looking around the corner keeping an eye on the guard, and Malory was looking up at me, her cheeks flushed from all the running, with the bright colorful outfit she was wearing adding to the effect.

…Damn these two.

I flipped the walkie-talkie to transmit, "They're in the east wing, third floor. I repeat, we've found them in the east wing, third floor," I pitched my voice low while speaking, and then we waited.

A moment later, "Copy! Mason, and Willis meet me by the grand staircase on the second floor, the rest of you, take east wing wall stairs and we'll box the brats in."

We all huddled with baited breath as the guard blocking our way turned around and went up the stairs. Then it was a rather simple walk down the staircase and off to the entrance doors. Well perhaps not simple, the hardest part was keeping the easy pace we'd all adopted. I kept expecting someone to jump out at us.

But within no time we were almost at the exit. And then we were walking past the reception table. And then we were passing the conference rooms, and then we-

"Are you sure we shouldn't be moving towards the west wing too?" a pair of guards suddenly emerged from one of the conference rooms. By the gods how many of them are there?

"Nah, we should stay here and watch the entrance, just in case. Besides it's a beautiful day wouldn't you rather be in the sun?" the second one said.

Mica, Malory and I never heard the first guards' response, as Mica quickly shoved us all into the nearest hiding place which happened to be the open doorway to conference room B. It was the room with the puppet show, evidenced by the tables and chairs all folded and to the side, and the giant painted box with curtains near the far wall. Thankfully the room was empty right now.

Mica frantically closed the door behind us while whispering, "Shit, I think they saw us."

I pinched the bridge of my nose, "Great, so now we're trapped in here."

"Well it was better than staying out there," Mica huffed.

"How is this better?" I asked, "at least out there we could have run!" What am I saying, I should be ending this whole charade, not encouraging this type of behavior.

"Well pardon me for thinking on my feet!" Mica said, throwing up his hands.

Malory suddenly popped in between us, "Hide now, argue later," she said.

There weren't a lot of hiding options in the room, just one in fact.

A few seconds later, we heard the door open.

"I could have sworn I saw them," a voice said.

"You're imagining things," another voice called, "Now come on, I wanna go stand in the sun."

"Could've sworn-" the first voice mumbled, but then the door shut and the room was silent.

Malory shuffled, bumping into Mica and practically leaning on my shoulder as she raised herself up to peak out of the puppet boxes curtains. "Okay they're gone," she said, before plopping back down, "But maybe we should hide here for a sec, that first guy sounds a bit more alert than his friend."

"I'm still failing to see how this is an improvement to our situation," I said, trying very hard not to be elbowed in the eye by Mica. The box was obviously not designed for three people, especially not when two of them were a pair of lanky teenage boys. The corner of a chest containing puppets was digging into my back, and Mica had to watch that his dreads didn't get caught in a hanging wind chime. With the three of us tangled up the way we were it was impossible not to be in each others' personal space.

Mica shrugged, putting his elbow in my other eye, "I don't mind it," he said. He then nearly elbowed me again as he put one hand against the box wall next to Malory and leaned over her, "So, come here often?" he said with what I'm sure was the cheesiest smile I've ever seen on him.

Malory raised her eyebrows in surprise. Then she crossed her arms, and said "Can't say that I do, and frankly I'm not seeing anything that's encouraging me to change that," she pointedly looked at him. There was a smirk playing at her lips, and I couldn't tell if she was just amusing Mica, or if she was actually amused by him. I felt a stirring of irritation coiling in my stomach watching the two of them.

Mica continued to grin, "You want something better? Alright, can I get a band-aid, 'cause I just scraped my knee falling for you."

"And let me guess, you want me to kiss it better?"

"Beautiful and she knows my thoughts. Girl, you spend so much time on my mind, I should charge you rent."

"Right, so how do I get evicted?"

"But I've got free wi-fi, and I think there's a connection between you and me."

"Will you two stop it," I snapped, "this is not the time or place for ridiculous antics."

Malory rolled her eyes, "Relax blondie, where just amusing ourselves. Besides, it's not like we can go anywhere until those guards move."

Mica smirked, "Excuse my friend," he said, "He's a little embarrassed but he thinks you're cute and he wants your number-" Malory's eyes got very round, and I nearly choked.

"Mica, what on earth are you-"

"-so that he knows where he can get a hold of me tomorrow morning," Mica finished, talking right over me.

…

"Mica, you're an idiot," I dead panned

Mica rolled his eyes, "Psh, I'm awesome and you know it, and I'm pretty sure the beautiful angel here knows it," he wiggled his eyebrows in the most exaggerated way possible.

Malory covered her mouth, but we still heard her aborted giggle.

Mica grinned triumphantly, and I had to work very hard to keep a scowl off my face. Malory was amused by this idiot. And since when did she giggle!? Malory is not a giggler, she laughs and smirks and grins triumphantly, but she does. Not. Giggle.

"You are both children," I said.

Malory rolled her eyes, and stuck her tongue out at me (which sort of proved my point).

"Don't worry Malory," Mica said, "he's just jealous. Nattys never been as smooth as me." The words where directed at Malory, but they were a clear challenge to me. "His pick-up lines are terrible," Mica finished with a grin.

Malory raised her eyebrows in shock, her head whipping towards me. "You have pick-up lines?" she said, clearly disbelieving.

"I…it's not like I ever use them," I said, hating the defensive tone my voice took on.

"But you have some," Malory said, disbelief still evident.

Mica rolled his eyes, "Of course he does, he's a guy. But like I said, they're terrible, especially when next to me." Mica was pushing it, he wanted a challenge and he wanted Malory to judge. Damn this idiot when he gets bored.

Malory was still looking at me wide eyed and now a little expectant.

…

Fine.

"Do you have eleven protons? Because you are sodium fine," I said, looking at her.

Malory's mouth dropped immediately.

"…I…wha….that was awesome!" she said a huge grin splitting her face.

Micas eyes tightened briefly, and then his smooth guy act was back as he turned again to Malory, "Where you forged by Sauran because baby, you are precious."

Malory's shocked face snapped to him. And then she was grinning at him. "By the gods you're a nerd."

Mica shot me a smug look.

"Well at least I know all 21 letters of the alphabet," I said with feigned casualness.

"…Um, there a 26 blondie" Malory said

"Oh yeah, I always forget U.R.A.Q.T."

Both Malory hands shot up to cover her sudden grin.

"Are you Google," Mica cut in, "because you're everything I've been looking for."

"Did you event the airplane? Because you seem Wright for me."

"Kiss me if I'm wrong but dinosaurs still exist right?"

"How is it that I know so many digits of Pi, yet I know 0 digits of your phone number?"

"Seriously," Mica huffed at me, "you're using the math lines?"

"You can't spell calculus without us," I retorted.

Malory was in a full fit of suppressed giggles by this point. Both her hands covering her mouth to contain the sound, but her eyes were crinkled in delight and her shoulders shook with her joy. I could just imagine the way she was probably biting her lower lip under her palms to further hold in the noise. Okay, so maybe Malory could be a giggler.

A sudden sound of the door opening made all three of us jump, and then we held very, very still.

"Okay children, the puppet show will be in here, no pushing. Marissa stop poking Tommy please. Everyone be sure to sit criss-cross-apple-sauce okay?"

The matronly sounding woman kept patiently instructing children, but said children quickly drowned out whatever else she was saying as they babbled and tumbled into the room. By the sound of it, there had to be at least thirty of them.

"Oh look!" the woman's voice called cheerfully, "The puppeteers are all ready to go!"

Mica jerked, realizing that a part of his leg had been visible to the rest of the room. "Shit" he hissed.

Malory immediately smacked his arm, whispering "Language! There are children present."

There was a general hubbub of noise as the various children cascaded into the room and seated themselves around the booth.

"Quiet down children," the woman's voice called, "or the show will never start."

With that ominous possibility hanging over their heads the kids quickly quieted, and soon the room was silent with anticipation from those outside the box and dismay from those within.

"What do we do?" Mica hissed.

We all stared at each other. Malory picked up one of the puppets. She held it up chest high, a questioning look on her features practically screaming: 'Should we?'

Mica paused, then nodded, picked up another doll, a jester with two bells stitched to its hat, and before he could talk himself out of it, he thrust his hand in the doll and brought it up to the 'stage'.

"Ah ha ha, welcome, welcome children!" he said, in one of the voices he frequently used when reading his little sister story books. "We have a wonderful tale to share with you all today!"

There was a chorus of "Yays!" from our young audience.

"It is a tale of, um, great adventure, full of-" Mica glanced around at the various puppets and scenery in the box with us, "uh, full of dragons! And fairy's, and a great deal of magic."

"And princesses!" a little girls voice called. And then all the little girls where squealing their delight at this idea, while the boys made various 'bleg' noises.

"Uh, Yes!" Mica said, "Princesses and princes of course. Well then, um, once upon a time, in a land far far away there was a, um," he glanced at me and the vaguely Robin Hood resembling doll I'd just put on my hand. Mica grabbed my wrist and thrust my hand and doll up onto stage, "a great prince!" Mica finished.

…

Mica elbowed me.

"Oof- uh, yes! T-this is, um, prince…Berkley" I stuttered out.

Malory face palmed.

Mica looked at me. "Really?" he whispered, "You're using my dogs' name?"

I shrugged, in a what-do-you-want-from-me fashion, then elbowed him back to tell him to get on with the play.

"Well, uh, you see, Prince Berkley was on a quest! A quest of the greatest importance. A noble quest, a daring quest! Uh…" Mica was fumbling, he was looking at me as if that would somehow give him inspiration. "For Prince Berkley had been tasked by the king of the neighboring kingdom to…to"

"Rescue a princess?" I whispered at him, going for the first thing that came to mind.

"Rescue the princess!" Mica announced

Malory face palmed again.

This time instead of calls of praise from the kids there were only groans.

"That's boring," one child called out.

"Uh, for she had been kidnapped," Mica continued, "by a dragon!" He put his hand inside another puppet that reached across half his forearm. The 'dragon' reared up on stage, roaring at our young audience.

But again…more groaning.

"We've already heard this one," one of them said.

Malory huffed and rolled her eyes, "Kids are right, this is stupid," she whispered

"Play along," I hissed, shooting her, and the little maiden puppet she had on, a look.

She stuck her tongue out at me, but none the less:

"'Oh help me, help me,' a fair maiden cried" she said, bringing her doll up and not at all sounding terrified, but she did make her dolls tiny arms flutter around in 'panic'.

Mica elbowed me to keep going while letting out a rather convincing roar.

"Oh uh, 'I shall save thee fair maiden' Prince Berkley called. And he raised his mighty sword!"

Another child groaned. "Boring", there was a commencement of agreeing sounds.

Mica and I briefly 'battled', but we weren't exactly coordinated in our efforts. Which was really ironic considering how well he and I moved around each other during kendo. But in this we kept bumping elbows and swinging our puppets at the wrong time.

But eventually-

"And then Prince Berkley stabbed the terrible beast!" I said, while Mica let out a pained roar, "and was given the chance to rush past and rescue his princess"

Malory rolled her eyes, "Oh now shes his princess huh," she whispered.

I ignored her, and Prince Berkley ran across the stage to were the fair maiden doll waited patiently to be rescued. Granted I suspect that if Malory were proficient at puppeteering she would have had the little dolls arms crossed and its foot tapping.

"Uh, my lady," I said, doing my best to make it look like Prince Berkley had kneeled before the maiden. "I am, uh, here to save you and I will take you back to your kingdom now. Princess…uh…"

I was drawing a blank. What the hell was a good princess name. I glanced at Malory, who looked about ready to hit something, and unfortunately, very very unfortunately, I said the first name that came to mind, which just so happened to be-

"Princess Malory."

…if looks could kill.

Malorys mouth was moving but words weren't coming out. I could feel Mica behind me staring at the both of us. I'm not sure if our tiny audience could some how recognize the sudden tension in the booth but they were all silent as well.

"That's it," Malory finally hissed, and then much louder so that our audience could hear. "You know what, Princess Malory is not some frilly little princess for you to just swoop in and save! Did she ask for your help? No! Did she ask you to fight the dragon? No! Did she ask for a rescue? NO!"

"But…just a few seconds ago she was saying 'save me'" I said, not sure if Malory was just acting, or if I should be trying to get her back on track.

"Well maybe it was part of some plan of hers I don't know! Point is she doesn't need your help!" Princess Malory started poking Prince Berkley in the chest, but Malory Jones was looking right at me.

"He was…just trying to help," I said, at a loss for anything else to say.

"Well she doesn't want it, she doesn't want anybody's help okay? She is perfectly fine on my own."

"So…what then? She's just going to spit in the face of anyone who offers a helping hand?" On stage Prince Berkley took a step towards Princess Malory. "Would it really be such a big deal if Prince Berkley were to help her?"

"Yes, because I'm fine!" Malory quickly pulled her hand and puppet away. "Uh, I mean, Princess Malory doesn't want Berkleys help, because um-…"

I rolled my eyes, "Why? Why would she not want Berkleys help?"

She scoffed, "Uh maybe its because Princess Malory and Prince Berkley aren't friends."

"Well Prince Berkley can still be nice to Princess Malory," I said a little irritably.

"Malory doesn't need him to be nice! How many times does she have to say it!"

"Fine! Then he wont be nice, but it'd be nice of Princess Malory if Prince Berkley could at least talk to her without getting his head ripped off."

"Well maybe Princess Malory just doesn't know how to talk to Prince Berkley because he's just so perfect and, and articulate, and that makes it really really difficult to talk to him."

"Berkley is not perfect. Far from it. He is just trying to be a proper gentelm-"

"Proper proper proper, is that all Prince Berkley can say?"

"Whats wrong with propriety? All it is, is good manners, a show of respect for who you're speaking with."

"No it's a lie! Maybe not a real lie, like saying something untrue intentionally, but good manners are rarely ever true! They're just people pretending!"

"I don't think I like these morals," I heard the daycare staff member whisper, but whether Malory heard the woman or not she continued unimpeded:

"So you shouldn't pretend to be nice to people you don't like, and you shouldn't show your respect to someone who hasn't earned it!" she nearly shouted.

"Well who's to say Princess Malory hasn't earned it?!" I shot back.

"What?"

"Princess Malory, maybe Prince Berkley does respect her."

"…What?"

Malory was staring at me wide eyed, her puppet slightly forgotten and hanging limply, looking as if it were staring at Prince Berkley gobsmacked.

Before I could answer Malory suddenly came back to life, and so too did Princess Malory.

"But-but he hates her! They never get along, and shes always frustrates him, and they had that huge fight, because shes annoying. Not that shes trying to be, honest. And she does feel bad about that fight because Princess Malory didn't mean to be so mean, and rude, she was just upset and confused and its really really hard to talk to Prince Berkley, because she knows that shes always going to say the wrong thing. And he hates her which makes it even harder to say the right thing. And-"

"Prince Berkley doesn't hate her," I said firmly, cutting her off before she could go into another ramble.

"…he doesn't? But, I thought she annoyed the ever loving daylights out of him?"

"Well, yes that's true. But that doesn't mean he hates her."

"Oh." There was a very long audible pause in which Malory just looked at me as though I'd told her that Santa Claus was, in actuality, real, and that I was one of his elves sent to spread the word. "Well….Princess Malory doesn't hate prince Berkley either," she finally said.

There was a chorus of awws from our tiny audience. I'd somewhat forgotten that they were there. Had they actually followed that strange diatribe? I don't think I even fully followed it. Mica was watching us, mouth slightly ajar, his own two puppets held to the side out of the way.

"Now kiss!" the squeak of a young girl called.

And now Mica was grinning.

Malorys attention snapped straight to me, eyes wide open.

The sound of the conference room door opening interrupted us, and then we heard what sounded like someone spewing their drink everywhere.

"Whats going on here!" a new voice shouted, "and whose playing with my puppets?!"

"Uh-oh," Mica said.

He, Malory, and I peeked over the lip of the stage, only to see a very angry puppeteer storming towards us, apparently not caring about the children that had to quickly scoot out of his way.

"Time to go," Malory said, jumping up. Mica and I quickly followed suit.

"What were you brats doing with my puppets!" the man shouts.

"You're mean," a little girl at his feet said.

There were sounds of agreement from the other kids.

Mica went left and Malory and I darted right. We circled around the outside edges of the room avoiding the puppeteer and the children. The puppeteer almost gave chase but then a juice box bounced off his head, and then a cookie, and soon the kids were pelting him with various snack foods and calling him a meanie as well as other childhood insults.

The matronly woman was trying to calm them all down, but I don't think she was having much effect. The last thing I heard before leaving the room was the puppeteer yelling "I hate children!"

Unfortunetly the commotion was enough to draw the attention of the two security guards that had stationed themselves out front. And one of them was already coming towards us and shouting into his walkie-talkie.

Dammit.

We'd been so close but now we had to run back into the library. I looked up and saw several guards on the second floor racing towards the grand staircase.

"Shit," Mica said, noticing the guards as well, "which way Nathaniel?"

"Uh, this way!" I said, breaking to the right, towards the receptionist desk. I had one last trick up my sleeve and I could only hope it panned out.

We rounded a corner and I saw what I was looking for: a maintenance door. The library staff almost never locked them. Or at least I'd never seen someone using a pair of keys on them despite the numerous times I'd seen janitors and other staff going in and out of them.

"Get inside that door," I called over my shoulder, just as a several guards jumped in front of us.

We sprinted past most of them, and Mica shoulder checked one that got directly in front of us, sending the man into the wall. Mica and I barely broke our stride. I reached the maintenance door first and wrenched it open. Mica dashed past me and inside, as one we turned to look back at Malory, who was maybe only fifteen paces away.

She was nearly there, I bunched my legs slightly, ready to dash in right behind her.

"Hold it!"

Seemingly out of nowhere, Sinclair came lunging out from behind a bookshelf, grabbing hold of Malorys forearm and planting his feet. Malory was wrenched to a stop, and for a heart pounding moment I thought the force of it might have dislocated her arm. She let out a surprised yelp, as Sinclair yanked her even closer. He was nearly two heads taller than her and his shoulders where at least three times as wide as Malorys own skinny frame. She pulled at her arm, but Sinclairs hand didn't even budge as he leaned in closer and hissed down at her,

"You are in so much trouble you little bra-OW!"

Malory suddenly kicked Sinclair in the shin and again tried to wrench her arm away. But Sinclair only tightened his hold gritting his teeth.

Mica was shouting something but the part of my brain that was supposed to process speech didn't seem to be working. I didn't even register that I was moving. But somehow I was suddenly in a dead sprint for Malory and Sinclair.

"That's not going to work girl," Sinclair grit out. "Now just hold still or-AAARGH!"

Malory bit down on the hand holding her, hard. Sinclair reared back, finally letting go of Malory. She jumped back as well, spitting out the blood in her mouth and flipping Sinclair the bird with both hands. "Screw you, you oversized, lard-assed, cock-ameed, woah-"

I didn't bother to stop when I reached her. Just twisted on one foot, tilted my shoulder down, wrapped an arm around Malorys middle, and threw her over my shoulder, all without breaking pace. I honestly couldn't say if she weighed anything or not, too much adrenaline was coursing through my veins to notice anything other than my zeroed in focus on Mica, looking shocked and holding the maintenance door open for us.

The second I crossed the threshold, Mica slammed the door shut. We were in a long cement tunnel that stretched out in front of us, with several pipes running along one wall and tiny box windows along the top of the other. About thirty feet away, there was an intersection and the tunnel split off into two unknown directions.

I stood there, panting slightly, as Mica jammed the door shut with several brooms and mops. He paused to give me a sideways glance, and asked "You alright?"

No not really. I just willfully charged towards Sinclair. That was nightmare fuel for anybody, but for me…

"Yeah, I'm alright," I said, controlling my erratic breathing as best I could.

The door was rattled a few times but the various cleaning supplies held.

I took a few more gasping breaths while Mica continued to give me that careful sideways look. Adrenaline was still pumping through my veins, making my heart hammer and my legs feel the twitchy need to keep moving. I was surprised by how out of breath I felt, sure I'd ran hard but it hadn't been that long of a sprint. And it wasn't like Malory was that heavy, heck my dufflebag weighed more when it had my full kendo gear and schoolwork in it.

Oh wait…speaking of Malory-

"Um…blondie?" I could feel her fidgeting.

Mica's eyes bounced to the girl at my shoulder, and his usual shit eating grin was back.

"Sorry," I blurted, quickly ducking down and setting Malory on her feet.

She held onto my shoulder just long enough to get her balance, then carefully snatched her hands back and held them at her chest.

And then we were just standing there…staring.

Mica took a few steps backward, "I'll just, uh, go see where these hallways lead." And then he disappeared around the corner and out of sight.

As if realizing the awkwardness at the same time Malory and I both snapped our eyes away, me with a completely unbelievable cough, Malory shuffling her feet a little.

"Um…" she started, drawing my eyes back to her, "Thanks…you know, for…that," she shrugged towards the door.

I nodded. I felt like I should say something in return, but I honestly I have no idea what. I opened my mouth, still had no idea, closed my mouth, and settled for another nod.

And there she goes fidgeting again. Honestly, that girl could not hold still.

I searched desperately for a conversation, preferably one that didn't involve the fact that I'd just manhandled the girl in front of me. 'Manhandled', oh Gods that sounds so wrong. But it really was to help her, which I did, and she'd thanked me so it was okay…I think.

My eyes bounced around her taking in the uncomfortable body language. Ugh, maybe I should apologize, or maybe I'm over-thinking this, or maybe she's just upset with this whole situation, or maybe she's just rubbing her arms like that because of her weird ruffley shirt.

And again…what is she waring?!

And before I could stop myself I was asking, "Malory, I'm sorry but…what's with the outfit?"

She blinked, before looking down at herself, "Uuuuhh, fairy costume?" she said it like a question.

I just raised an eyebrow, waiting for the explanation.

She huffed, "It's just a dumb costume, you know, for kids." Her voice petered off into a mumble "There's s'posed to be wings."

"…Okay," I said, "Next question, why are you in a fairy costume?"

"…Cause."

I sighed. She was being difficult, but at the same time I suppose it wasn't really my business what she did. As long as she wasn't causing problems back at school, what did I care?

…

Okay but why did she say it was for kids?

No, no, not my business.

Before I could accidentally blurt out another unwelcome question, I calmly told her, "It's fine, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want to."

There was another long pause in the conversation, and I got the feeling we'd be that way until Mica returned. I leaned my back and my head against the concrete wall behind me, that adrenaline rush had come down, and in its wake was that odd combination of relaxed but alert.

"I volunteer at the children's hospital," Malory suddenly blurt out.

I snapped my head forward bringing my eyes down to the once again fidgeting girl in front of me. Malory in turn had her eyes to the side, avoiding looking at me all together.

"Or well, it's not volunteering so much," she said, "it's more like, assisting? No that makes it sound like I'm helping the nurses, its…my, um, mom, she works there, part time, as part of the therapy. She's supposed to be a fairy godmother, and…and stuff. Anyways I sometimes go and help…so that's why I look like this," she finished, finally glancing at me.

I was honestly stunned. That's not the kind of thing I would expect out of most people and to find out that it was Malory Jones who was going above and beyond. It was like the cat doll. And the fact that she'd come to the library to help me. These where the actions of a kind person, a very kind person. And that was not something I associated with Malory, but…lately she'd been turning my perception of her on its head.

Quickly I tried to think of something to say so that I wasn't outright starring at her, "That's…um, actually that's really noble of you," I said. And in all honesty it was.

Malory's whole posture snapped straight in shock, but then her eyes tightened and I could tell she was expecting my compliment to be some kind of trap. She opened her mouth to retort, or maybe to question me but I beat her to it.

"I'm serious Malory," I said, "that's really good of you. Most people wouldn't even volunteer as a normal person and you go all out and get dressed up for it."

She blinked.

"I…s'not that big a deal," she mumbled, "besides, it's not really volunteering, at least not this time, I was…kind of being grounded."

"You what?"

She shrugged, "I got in trouble, so Au-Mom made me come with her to work as a punishment…or a lesson, I'm still not sure which."

"…Your mom considers hanging out with children to be a punishment?"

"I know right,"Malory said grinning, "and I actually like kids. But that's why I think that part might have been a lesson."

"Your mom sounds…like a very unique lady."

Malory nodded quickly, "Oh hell yes, last Tuesday I came home to eleven different cakes all extravagantly decorated, all over the apartment, and she was in the middle of making the twelfth. I still have no idea what she did with those things, but the twelfth one was for me and her, and she put a Lewis and Clark quote on it."

"…Why?"

"Why the cake or why the quote?"

"Both."

"Cake, I have no idea, as for the quote, I also have no idea, but it was the one Lewis wrote about being chased by a bear. Glean from that what you will."

"A unique woman indeed," I said. I tried to imagine my own mother doing anything like that. Heck just even baking, I was drawing a blank. I shook the thoughts from my head and focused back on Malory. "So, I'm guessing she's nice?"

Malory smiled a little, "Yeah, I guess she is."

"What was she upset with you for?" I asked, and then immediately wished I hadn't as Malory's face turned beat red.

"Uh-um," she stammered, "it wasn't really upset upset, or I mean she wasn't upset. It was-she was more like, um, you know, I need to teach you a lesson, or no, not like that. Not a mean teach a lesson, more like being an adult is about doing things we don't want to do!"

I didn't understand even half of her babbling, "Malory" I said.

"And she says I should apologize to you. I mean really, I think she just wants me to not be a jerk to people, she says that I am good, I'm just not good at knowing how to be good."

"Malory," I said.

"And really I didn't mean to spill paint on you!"

"MALORY!" I grabbed her shoulders, just hard enough to stop her shifting feet and wildly gesticulating hands. And then I registered what she'd said. "I get it, and…it's okay I know you didn't do the paint thing on purpose, you don't have to apologize for that."

"Oh…um, okay. It's just…"

"…Yes?"

"The paint things not what I was supposed to apologize for," she mumbled, her eyes watching her twiddling fingers.

I waited for her to elaborate, and she looked ready to but then she bit her lip and continued to avoid my eyes. "Would this have something to do with what you were saying in the puppet booth earlier?" I prompted carefully.

She nodded, still looking down.

"Does it also tie into the stuffed cat you threw at me?"

A wince, and again a nod.

"Okay, and…is all of this because of the fight we had?"

She took a deep breath, and nodded.

"Alright, well, apology accepted."

Her head snapped up and I could see the surprise in her rounded out eyes. "You…wait really!?" she said, disbelief evident in her tone.

I nodded, "Yeah really" I said, I even smiled a little to reassure her.

"But…but I had a whole speech and everything!" she said, sounding honestly a little put out. "I worked on it the whole bus ride to your house, and, and you were supposed to be all obstinate, and then I'd have to give you my reasoning and then you'd say something like, 'well be that as it may, your decisions were still rash and bla bla bla' and then I'd give you one of my counter arguments, and I came up with a whole bunch of those!"

And now I was smiling naturally, Malory was barely even paying attention to me, too caught up in her explanation of how her apology was so obviously going to turn into a debate. Her arms where waving around again, and I still had a hand on one of her shoulders, the other having been knocked out of the way by her wild gesticulating, but she was heedless to it, and to me. It was all rather endearing. I don't know if it was the eccentricity of her emotions, my body still coming down off the adrenaline high, or stress from the whole situation in general, but I was suddenly laughing.

Malory stopped mid-sentence and looked at me like I'd grown a second head.

"You…you laughed" she said, as my chuckles died down.

I smirked, "Yes Malory, that is what that noise is called," I said with only mild teasing.

"It's just, I don't think you've ever done that in front of me, in fact I know you haven't, at least not like that."

"Really?" I thought back to all of our interactions. I couldn't exactly remember all of them, but considering how most of Malory's and I's exchanges generally play out I can't say that I'm surprised. Still, it's been three months that I've known this girl and I see her for about half of my waking hours. Had I really not laughed once in front of her?

"Are you sure?" I asked.

"Yeah, I'm positive, I would have remembered that," she said.

That statement brought me up short.

"Bad news guys!" Micas voice called, as he came jogging around the corner. Both Malory and I snapped our heads towards him. "There's no-" Mica stopped. He looked at me, looked at my hand still on Malory's shoulder, then back to me with a raised eyebrow. Malory suddenly noticed my hand as well, and I felt her stiffen beneath it. Aw crap. I carefully, and deliberately took my hand away glaring at Mica and what the idiot thought was a knowing smirk.

"You were saying," I urged.

Mica quickly sobered, "Uh, yeah, there's a problem," he said. "There is a door out of here but it needs a key card to open it. The other hallway just leads to a storage room and the pump controls for that giant water fountain outside."

My earlier levity vanished at those words.

"Oh…oh boy," Malory mumbled, "there's no way to force the door open?"

Mica shook his head, "Tried it. Even if Natty and I went at it together that things not budging."

"Um, okay well what if we went back out, one of us could make a distraction while the others look for a keycard," she said.

She looked up at me hopefully, but I shook my head, "I have no idea where a keycard would be. I didn't even know they used them here."

Malory looked away biting her lip in thought, but I could see the way her shoulders slumped.

"What about one of these windows?" Mica said, "Malory you're small, you'd fit through with some wiggling. We could boost you up."

"Okay yeah, and then I'll come back and make some kind of distraction," she said, "Whats most likely to piss off that Sinclair guy and get him to come after me?"

Both Mica and I stiffened at that question.

"You know, on second thought, this is a terrible idea," Mica said.

"What? Didn't seem like he was that hard to rile. I could do it," Malory said defiantly.

"Yeah, I believe you. And that's actually the problem," Mica responded.

The two squabbled back and forth some more, but I was somewhat tuning them out.

The options before us were dismal. We couldn't go forward, obviously, which only left going back. But that scenario would not end well for anybody involved. The best we could do, or really the best I could do, is carry things out on our terms.

In all honesty it was actually quite obvious what needed to be done.

"I have to go back," I said.

"I don't think you understand how a distraction works Natty," Mica said, "The idea is for it to be not the person the bad guys are looking for."

I shook my head, not really in the mood to start up our usual bantering. "I'll go speak with Sinclair" I said, calmly. I made sure to stand straight, and speak with the necessary assured tone. I noticed Malory scrutinizing me as I brought my shoulders back and level. "He doesn't really care about you two, if I go back, and agree to go straight home with him, he won't throw up any fuss. Things will quiet down and you two can just walk out the front door. Heck, Malory you can leave now, Mica's right we could easily boost you out one of these high windows. You would fit, as long as you don't mind crawling on your stomach for a moment."

They both stared at me, and then Mica (predictably) said, "You're a fucking idiot."

Just as Malory (not so predictably) said, "You can't do that!"

I sighed. "Yes I can, and I will. Its the most logical answer here, heck its the only logical answer. I'll tell Sinclair that I'm done running and that he should call off the guards. Trust me he'll do it."

Malory scoffed, "You realize that your entire plan amounts to 'gee, I hope everyone's amicable towards this'"

Mica nodded, "Couldn't of said it better myself."

I just looked at him, "Do you even know what 'amicable' means" I deadpanned.

Mica rolled his eyes, "Of course I do, Malory tell him what it means."

"Uh, its like being friendly and agreeable."

"Exactly, and Sinclair is anything but friendly which means that this plan of yours blows."

"Okay, we're getting a little off track here," I said. "It doesn't matter whether Sinclair likes it or not, the fact is this whole escape madness we've been up to is just silly, and he'll be happy to be done with it. I should never have let it get this far in the first place. So I'm going back. I'll talk with Sinclair. And you two can be gone in less than an hour. Malory, I'll see you at school on Monday. Mica, see you at Kendo."

.

.

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AN: Dun-dun-duuunnn. No Nathaniel don't be a self sacrificing idiot! You're supposed to be a Ravenclaw not a Gryffindork!

What? What do you mean that's not how you spell Gryffindork? Of course it is. Hush, we Slytherins know best.

Actually in all seriousness I think Nathaniel would be a Hufflepuff. Sure he's intelligent but that's because he works his ass off for that intelligence. And one of the main reasons he puts up with so much crap from his father is because of family loyalty in my opinion. Castiels one too because deep down he's just a lovely goober. Lysander is clearly in Ravenclaw, and he and Luna are besties. Armin and Alexy are conniving connivers which puts them in Slytherin with Rosa. And Kentin is the only one in Gryffindork and I will even go as far as to call him a proper Gryffindor, because anybody who faces bullies on a day to day bases is a brave little bastard deserving of hugs.

You can bet your asses there's gonna be a Kentin story written into this monstrosity!

Any who, again I'm sorry this took so long to get out. The flow is honestly a little bit choppier then I would have liked but I'm not going to hold on to this thing and fret for another, oh god has it really been a year? Gosh I'm so sorry.

To all of (any of) you who are still reading this I give you full permission to bark at me if I ever take that long again.

Thankyou and have a magical day! Even you Gryffindorks ;)