A Thief's Treasure (15 page)

“Yes.
 
Let’s do this,” I replied confidently.

She smiled and with another flash of light the room was back to normal again.
 
Darren was on the ground opposite of me.
 
I walked over to him and placed him on his side.
 
The wound had stopped bleeding, but I could tell he had definitely taken a beating.

“Are you okay?” I asked.
 
I shook him a little bit and he started to stir.

“Y-yeah.
 
I am.
 
Are you through?” he replied.

“Sure am.
 
Now that
Karakan’s
gone I also am a lot more comfortable and feel a whole lot safer now.”

“Good.
 
Cause I don’t want anything to hurt you.
 
Ever.” he said almost forcefully.

I blushed and helped him up.
 
He winced in pain a little bit but that was only for a fleeting second.
 
We stared at each other for a moment before my lips were against his, all the worry and fear that I had dissipating when my plush lips touched his.
 
He kissed fervently and I felt his tongue snake into my mouth and together we did a dance alone with one another that only we could feel.
 
After what seemed like hours we pulled away, both of us trying to catch our breaths.

”I’m so damn happy you’re alive,” he exclaimed.

“Me too,” I replied.

“Well I’m even more so.
 
Because I have wanted to tell you something for a while but I wanted to wait until we got rid of
Karakan
first before asking. I know that’s kind of cheesy but I had to think of a great place to say this.
 
I figured at the top of a ruined palace with my girl who has part of her breast hanging out because she just saved the world was the best time to do it,” he teased.

I blushed profusely and put my hands around my chest, covering the part of the breast that was exposed.
 
“Well sorry I was just trying to get the damn rune out.
 
Your mom should have checked the suit’s zippers before giving them to us again,” I retorted.

He chuckled and gave me a hug.
 
“It’s fine, I don’t mind seeing you like this.
 
It goes to show that I have an amazing girl who will stop at nothing to make sure that everything goes right and that we can have a safe and peaceful world.
 
This however is different.
 
I don’t want you to just be the awesome partner I save the world with, I also want you to be my partner in life as well,” he stated.

I was confused as to what he meant but after a moment he went down on one knee.
 
He unzipped his jacket and from the pocket that his mother had conveniently sewn was a box.
 
He fiddled with it for a moment before opening it, presenting it to me like it was a prize at the county fair.

“Alyssa, will you marry me?
 
I’m not bullshitting either, I have wanted to ask for about a week but I didn’t want anything to stand in the way.
 
I wanted to make sure we both were safe before I popped the question, and now that I have will you take the
honor
of joining me as not only part of the best alchemic clans, but also as the number one woman in my life?” he asked.

I almost started crying I was so shocked.
 
I couldn’t believe he was doing this.
 
This was all too good to be true, and I felt like I was on cloud nine and wasn’t going to come back down.
 
“I will.
 
I fucking will.
 
I will definitely take your hand in marriage,” I replied happily.

He smiled and got up, grabbing my ring finger and placing it on there.
 
Immediately he pulled me into a hug that seemed to last forever.
 
He grabbed my lips and kissed them fervently.
 
I replied with the exact same passion, a mixture of desire, love and happiness overfilling me.
 
We continued to kiss for a while before we both realized that it had been about twenty minutes.
 
We pulled away and looked at one another, our breathing ragged but grins present from ear-to-ear.

“Let’s go find the others,” I stated.

“Great idea,” he replied.
 
We grasped each other’s hand and walked out of the ruined palace.
 
Apparently the other door was not a bomb like he said, but it was just an easier way to get in here.
 
I flushed at my stupidity but he ignored it, and soon we were at the landing on the top floor.
 
We ran down to meet Lori, Renee and Chris and they all looked happy as a clam.
 
Lori was playing with the little doll she carried and Renee was helping to take care of a small wound on Chris’ leg.

“How did things go down here?” Darren asked.

“Pretty good.
 
it was a crazy fight.
 
Lori did quite the number on their little bitch.
 
I wasn’t so lucky; William got me in quite the situation and stuck a knife in a part of my leg.
 
It healed pretty quickly now due to Renee’s magic, but damn it hurt.
 
All of a sudden after however, they disappeared into a white fire.
 
It was weird but I didn’t question it, I was just happy that that traitorous son of a bitch had finally taken the trip to hell that he deserved,” Chris replied.

Darren chuckled and wrapped his arm around me.
 
“Well you have her to thank for that.
 
And she also got a little gift from me,” Darren said confidently.
 
He showed off my ring to them and they looked at me with happy smiles.

“That is awesome Alyssa.
 
Congrats!” Renee exclaimed.

“Thanks.
 
Now do you guys want to try and find the others?” I asked.

They both nodded and after a minute Chris was back to normal.
 
We went down to the second floor where the same story had been told by Armando and Leila.
 
They had much more significant wounds but Renee had treated them and soon they were able to move.
 
We went to the first floor where one of the three girls was in critical condition and the other had a broken leg.
 
Both Chris and Renee were on them and after a little bit they were both able to move.
 
The girls got together and looked at us, looks on confusion present.

“So where did they go?
 
Those little bitches just disappeared into the air like they were nothing,” Amanda asked.

“We used the Great Rune and I got rid of all dissidents.
 
Now everything is safe and there is no more evil in the world” I replied.

She rolled her eyes and looked at me for a moment, scanning me over as if she could tell something was wrong. Renee had given me a piece of cloth to cover my breast but she wasn’t focused there.
 
She was looking at my hand.
 
“Where’d you get that ring?”

“Darren gave it to me.
 
He proposed to me up there,” I said confidently.

I could almost see the hatred present on her face, but I ignored it.
 
We continued to walk once the three of them were able to move.
 
Even though they were all livid that I had nagged their crush, I didn’t really acknowledge it.
 
Why do you have to acknowledge the flies when you already have the prize that you want?

We walked down and both my parents and Darren’s were there.
 
They were both very ragged from the battle but they weren’t injured.
 
Darren and I walked up to them and gave them each a hug.
 
After doing so we looked at them with smiles on our faces.
 

“How did it go?” Darren asked.

“Well they all seemed to just disappear right after we had taken out their main guy so that kind of sucked.
 
We had a few injuries but thanks to your parents Alyssa they were minimalized.
 
The troops had gone back to the Alchemic Council and she gave them the report.
 
They were very satisfied at your progress there Alyssa and they hope that someday you might join them there,” he explained.

I flushed.
 
“Thanks.
 
I might think about it.
 
I kind of have other things to think about right now,” I replied.

“That was the next thing I wanted to go over.
 
They all said congrats on your engagement.
 
They all know that Darren is a great guy and if he’s not let me know and I’ll whip him into shape for you.
 
I wish you both the best of luck in your future,” he replied.

“Same here.
 
Even though we only lived with you for a little bit we were able to see how you’ve grown in all those years.
 
We wished we could have been there, but your foster parents and Darren’s parents had been what we wished we could be.
 
We will be there for you all the time and we’ll help you out with everything and we wish you the best of luck in your life,” my mother stated.

“Same.
 
You’re a great girl and we will welcome you into our family with open arms,” Eliza said.

“That we will.
 
We love you honey and we only want to see you happy,” my father added.

I hugged all of them, tears spilling down my eyes.
 
The others looked at me warmly as well, and even though there was some jealousy I could tell that all these people were there for me.
 
It was a very new thing, and I definitely could get used to it.
 
We walked out of the palace and back to the caves, where we packed up everything.
 
Apparently the Alchemic Council had started to rebuild everything and conveniently enough we could go back to our old home.
 
I wanted to go with my parents however and after we grabbed our belongings we parted ways with Darren’s mother and father.
 
We walked with our parents and with each step I could feel a new me coming out and being shown to the world.
 
It was an amazing feeling, and even though I would live at my parents for a few months before getting our own place courtesy of the Alchemic Council, I could feel the freedom start to course through me that hadn’t been there before.
 

The whole feeling was amazing, and if it weren’t for that thief stealing me and my heart that night I would have never ended up in the place that I am today.