The air around him was cold and crisp, but the hot sweat beaded on his forehead and trickled down his face, before the wind blew it off behind him.

It wasn't particularly windy that night, but he was running. As fast as he could, and seemed to be in a panicked state. He ran through the woods with reckless abandon, not seeming to care that the low-hanging icy branches whipped at his face. It was nothing compared to what he'd been through.

"No... no, no, no, damn it, damn it, damn it." he cursed quietly to himself.

"Mom was right. She was right. I shouldn't have thought about running away." he went on. "But maybe I should have... earlier?" he then wondered, shaking his head a little.

"Whatever. Need to escape, need to-" he said to himself, before he felt the ground disappear from beneath him. It seemed he had run out into a somewhat steep hillside, and was now tumbling down through the snow, before he had a rough landing near a cluster of barren bushes, as well as a few large rocks.

"Nngh... ow..." he moaned, as he shakily got to his feet. He was already starting to feel tired, he'd been constantly on the run for almost 48 hours, he could feel the weakness in his torso, and to top it all off, he swore he heard footsteps coming closer, and in his direction.

"No!" he whispered.

"I thought I had picked a good direction!" he said, before taking a step forward to run, only to have his ankle give out from under him. It seemed he had sprained it, and he collapsed to the ground once again.

"Ah!" he exclaimed shortly, before slapping his hands over his mouth to silence him. He then moved his blonde hair away from his deep blue eyes, and wiped some of the freshly fallen snow off of his pale face.

He then crawled behind the large rocks that were there, and pulled his knees up to his chest.

'Please don't find me, please don't find me, please don't find me...' he prayed internally, as he squeezed his eyes shut and tried desperately to hear if the footsteps would walk away from his location.

"......." he was silent as he heard the fire crackle. He opened his eyes, and saw the light coming from it, from the other side of the rocks.

'...who...?' he wondered.

'Do they know I'm here?' he asked himself. 'Is this just... coincidence?' he asked further.

He then shook his head some, and tried his best to ignore the fire... he had to stay hidden. It was his only chance for survival.

However, another 5 minutes, later, he sighed quietly.

'If this is where I die, it's where I die.' he told himself.

He then got up, and... very slowly and quietly... made his way to the edge of the rocks, where he peered around, slightly sticking his head out, to see what was going on.

'....huh?' he thought, as he saw the bare arms and short pants that they were wearing.

'What kind of manner of dress is THAT?' he asked himself. 'Especially in THIS weather...' he added, before sighing quietly and watching them skin the hares.

"....." he continued to be silent, before biting his bottom lip.

Was it proper to just walk up to someone like this? Did they mean him harm? If they didn't, was it rude to invite oneself to a warm campfire? Did this person even WANT company? Would approaching them make them hostile?

He froze when she addressed him, and invited him to join her by the fire.

He remained silent for a moment, before slowly making his way towards her.

"Th... thank you." he said quietly.

"It... it is." he confirmed, before finding a nice flat rock and sitting down on it.

"I... I didn't expect anyone else to be here." he then admitted.

"This is... a pretty dense and remote part of the forest."

His eyes widened when she said all that.

"I..." he stammered.

"I... that... I mean..." he stuttered further, before hanging his head a little.

"I shouldn't be surprised." he mumbled.

"I honestly thought I had managed to lose them by ducking and weaving through this forest at seemingly random patterns." he said further.

"But it seems I owe my survival to you." he went on.

"Thanks, but... why?" he then asked her.

Again, he was silent as she made her offer.

"Safe...?" he asked.

"I..." he stammered, seemingly unable to form words.

"....yes." he then said.

"I am interested." he told her.

"Whatever the future holds by going with you, it has to be better than dying alone here in the cold, or being hunted down and killed." he reasoned.

"...wonder if they're still looking for me..." he then sighed.

"......" he didn't quite know what to say in response to that.

So he decided to go with the last thing she said.

"Yes." he replied.

"It has been... a very long time." he told her.

"I've gone for too long without rest OR food..." he admitted, before his stomach growled... which was immediately followed by a yawn. And the yawn allowed her to see two distinctly sharp teeth inside his mouth.

"I have no idea any longer." he then said.

"I just know I've been on the run for close to 2 days."

He shook his head.

"At this point, it wouldn't matter to me." he said candidly.

"But it's Jaden." he told her.

"My name's Jaden." he repeated, as he looked at her.

"Um... I have a question." he then said.

"Aren't you cold?"

"I... okay then." Jaden replied.

"That's handy." he said, as he looked deep into the flames of the fire.

"....very warm." he commented.

"And the food smells so good." he said further.

"Like... REALLY good..." he said further, a little drool escaping the corner of his mouth. It was clear to her that he hadn't eaten in a while. And the smell was like heaven to him.

Jaden nodded in response.

"Yes. 2 days." he confirmed.

"And why? Because people want to catch me." Jaden replied.

"They want to catch me and kill me." he told her.

"They don't like who I am, and they want to kill me." he said further.

"I cannot stop for a rest, as they will find me. And they will kill me." he stressed.

"And I have nowhere to properly hide."