Emil swore as he lost grip of the plank he was holding and more debris came tumbling down. Every time he thought that he had found a way through the wall of wood and concrete, another flood of it came cascading down from the floor above. If only he could remove enough for Sigrun to hear their calls! This time he had not protested when his captain suggested that they would split up, he did have Lalli with him after all. How could he have known what mess they would get themselves into? Deciding that he was doing more damage than good at his attempt to dig himself out, Emil turned to look at the mage. Lalli had given the pile of debris that obstructed their way a soft scratch before curling up in a corner across the small room. He must have realized how futile it would be to try to move it and opted for trying to get in contact with the other mage. The Swede could barely see him in the dimly lit space and took a few steps closer, lifting his lantern. The red light danced over the seated boy, casting disfigured shadows around him. His eyes were shut and his brow wrinkled in concentration, making Emil wonder just how these mage things worked. It had taken him a while to understand that the nightmares that the Finn was having were somehow connected to his powers, but Tuuri's explanation had been rather vague when he had asked about it. He figured it was one of those things that you just had to experience yourself in order to understand. Maybe he could get Lalli to explain it once his Swedish had improved. Emil slowly trudged over to the other youth and sat down beside him, careful not to break his concentration. They had grown closer during the last few weeks and the mage had done some stumbling attempts to learn to communicate with him.
"Lalli?" the name came out as a whisper and Emil reached out to gently touch his shoulder. Blue eyes immediately fixed on him, scanning his face while trying to figure out what he had wanted. "Is it not working?" Lalli stared at him for a moment, brows furrowed slightly as he tried to puzzle together the meaning in his head. The message seemed to have gotten across, because the boy shook his head.
"No. Need sleep." The mage let out a frustrated sigh and slumped against the wall.
For once, now that he really needed to, Lalli was unable to fall asleep. Instead his eyes trailed along the ceiling, the walls, the floor, every crevice he could find, searching for a way out. His focus shifted to Emil. The cleanser had been livid at first, yelling, swearing and furiously throwing rubble around him as he tried to tear down the wall that kept them captive. But now… He looked pale, his face damp from sweat and his eyes kept darting around in the small room. Lalli could tell that he was scared, probably on the verge of having a panic attack from being trapped. Trapped. A shiver ran down his back and Lalli wondered if he too wore a similar expression. He felt a strong desire to communicate with the blonde, but the strange language was so different from his own. Even though he had learnt the words, they kept on playing games with him as he tried to speak, always escaping from him when he needed them and then springing to his mind when he least expected them. Unable to form the words he wanted to, Lalli reached out his hand and carefully wrapped it around Emil's trembling ones. The other youth stiffened in surprise and then a soft chuckle escaped from his lips. The mage could not understand his words, but some of the tension seemed to have disappeared from his features.
Emil turned one of his hands so that it was holding Lalli's and relished in the strange comfort it gave him. Sigrun would probably soon notice that something had happened to them. However, she only knew what part of the building they had gone to and without knowing what had happened it could take hours for her to find them. Even if she went to get Mikkel it would get dark outside in an hour or two and it would simply be too dangerous to keep on searching without knowing what could possibly be lurking in the shadows. For the first time since the ceiling had caved in behind them Emil actually looked at the room, trying to figure out what kind of place they were trapped in. His thoughts had been too focused on how to get outside and he had completely disregarded its contents. The room had probably been quite small to begin with and what remained was about the same size as their sleeping quarters back in the tank. It looked like it could have been some kind of storage room. The remains of a wooden shelf had crumbled against the floor and had what looked like tin cans scattered around it. Emil grabbed the lantern and placed it on the floor, so that it was aimed towards the shelf. He gently lifted Lalli's hand and laid it down the other's lap, giving him a small smile. Then he rose and trudged over to the shelf to take a closer look. He shifted the broken planks away with his foot before squatting down and picking up one of the cans. Any possible food that had once been in it was long gone and a quick inspection of the others told him they were in a similar state. He grumbled in slight annoyance, but even if there had been some food in them, he was not sure it would have lasted for ninety years anyway. He took a small stroll around the room, but there was nothing else worth looking at, so he went back to Lalli. As he sat down the mage once again offered him his hand and Emil gratefully accepted it.
There was not much for them to do while waiting for their potential rescue, so Emil tried to keep them cheery by telling stories. Lalli was not quite sure what they were about, but listening to the other youth's voice was soothing and the blonde seemed to relax more when his mind was occupied with storytelling. Eventually Emil's words became almost inaudible, escaping his lips in a stream of undistinguishable sounds that were constantly being interrupted by yawns. Soon enough the words stopped flowing and his head tilted back, eyes closed. Lalli rested his head against the cleanser's shoulder, waiting for sleep to invite him. It did not take long before the room faded from his view and he opened his eyes to find himself in the dream world. Lalli stretched his arms into the air with a yawn and then got to his feet. Something felt off. A strange sensation that he had not experienced there before coursed through his body. It was a tingling feeling coming from one of his arms. Curious as to what could be causing it, he brought the arm up in front of him and immediately spotted it. There was a small blue flame floating next to it, following his arm as he waved it back and forth. He carefully poked at it with his other hand and his finger went straight through it, a gentle warmth caressing his skin. Wherever it came from it did not seem harmful. Deciding that he might just let the tiny light be, Lalli turned his focus towards his mission and hurried towards the place where he would usually meet the other mages. Hopefully Reynir would have already fallen asleep and was waiting for him to show up. He guessed that his cousin would have been fretting over the whole thing all evening and forced Reynir to go to bed early in an attempt to find them. If he was lucky the other youth would have also gotten a hold of Onni. Or maybe that would not be so lucky, considering that the older mage was worse than his sister at worrying.
Water splashed beneath his feet as he ran towards their usual meeting place and he let out a small sigh of relief when he saw that Reynir was already there.
"Lalli? Lalli!" The other mage started waving furiously upon spotting him. Then a flurry of incomprehensible words washed over Lalli. He had no idea what the redhead was trying to tell him, but he seemed excited.
"Lalli! Reynir!" they both spun around to see Onni approaching. There was a deep wrinkle between his brows, so he must have understood that something had happened and was most likely imagine all kinds of terrible things happening to his sister. Lalli quickly described what had happened and where the others could find them. His cousin looked quite horrified, but stopped midway of starting what probably would have been a lecture of how dangerous the outside world was. Instead he faced Reynir and explained the situation. The redhead's face lit up and he nodded eagerly in Lalli's direction. Good. Now that the situation had been dealt with the Finn did not feel like spending more time with the other mages and turned to leave. "Wait, Lalli!" Onni's hand clasped his shoulder, holding him back. "I never thought I'd tell you this, but next time I'll teach you how to avoid bringing non-mages here." What? Lalli stared at him, unsure of why he was being told this. Onni pointed towards the little flame swaying back and forth next to him. He still did not understand what his cousin was trying to say. "Yes, Lalli, your little friend there. You know they can't protect themselves here, we have gone through this." Lalli continued to stare at him, unable to connect the pieces. He had never heard anything about bringing people without magical powers there, but he knew that older mages would teach younger ones to enter the dream world by holding their hands as they fell asleep. Oh. So that's what it was. He glanced at the small flame, feeling a little guilty of bringing it to such a dangerous place. He picked it up and sheltered it between his hands, its gentle warmth caressing his palms, as he headed back. It was time to wake up.
Opening his eyes, Emil had the sense of having been elsewhere and just now coming back to the small, dimly lit room. For some reason he had dreamt that he was flying and there had been water, an endless amount of water. He tried to remember if there had been anything else, but the details were swimming around in his mind, just out of grasp. Feeling that it was somehow important he tried to focus, but his thoughts were disrupted as Lalli started stirring. A knot of nervousness tangled in his stomach, coldness pulsating through his body. Had the mage managed to contact the others? Emil watched the other youth in silence, restraining the desperate urge to inquire about the results before he had properly woken up. Lalli must have sensed his distress, because his eyes flicked up to meet his and he gave a quiet nod. Emil had never felt so relieved in his life and he let his head fall down on the mage's shoulder, half laughing and half sobbing.
They did not have to wait long before sounds started coming from above. Dust rained down and the debris started sliding and pouring down on the floor. Neither of them uttered a single word and simply waited. Lalli glanced at Emil. The blond was hunched together, still holding his hand in a firm grasp and eyes following every movement of the wall before them. He looked as if he was so focused that he almost forgot to breathe. Lalli did not know for how long they just sat there and stared, but all of a sudden they could distinguish voices on the other side. They both watched in anticipation as the last pieces of rubble shook and fell down to the floor, light pooling in from above.
"You guys still alive?" Sigrun's all too cheery voice rang through the air, ripping through the silence that bound them. Emil scrambled to his feet and practically threw himself over Sigrun and Mikkel. Lalli watched in amusement as the Swede regained his composure and tried to convince the others that he had harbored no doubt that they would find them. The mage got to his feet and stretched his back before walking past the others and heading up the stairs. He heard Emil sigh in delight as the first rays of sunlight hit his face. An arm wrapped around his shoulders and the other youth's face came into his view, a large grin plastered across it.
Emil could have sworn that he saw a faint smile grace Lalli's features before the boy wriggled out of his grasp and sped towards the exit. A hand smacked against his back and Sigrun hollered from laughter at something she had just told Mikkel. Emil joined her, not sure what he was laughing at, but to relieved to even care. He followed them out of the building, breathing in the fresh air. He could not wait to get back to the tank, have something to eat and then crawl underneath the blankets of his bunk.