Don't Leave Me-Luxa, Boots, Aurora, and Temp's journey through the Labyrinth
Okay, oneshot number…three, I think! We took a vote on 600 feet below a WHILE ago, for those of you who didn't know, and this is what they said I should write about. In this story, you will see what went on in the Labyrinth just after Luxa and Aurora caught Boots and Temp during the serpent attack. It is third person, mainly Luxa POV. Hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer…I do not own Luxa, Aurora, Temp, Boots, or any other part of the canon Underland chronicles. If I did, I'd probably be somewhere in Hawaii tanning on a beach and taking in all the love everyone has for me. xD
"Ares, get her, Ares!"
"Luxa has her! Luxa has her and Temp!"
"Get in the tunnels!"
These cries were circling around Luxa's brain, but the young queen paid no mind to them. She had caught Boots and Temp, Boots landing in her arms, Temp on Aurora's back behind them.
"Ouch! Hi! Hi you!" Boots waved in Luxa's face, oblivious to the dangers around her.
"You must stay still, Boots! Pretend…pretend you are a statue, right? Stay still!" she cried, whipping out her sword and aiming in the direction of the serpent that was lunging at them. She had one arm around Boots's torso, protecting the little girl to the best of her ability. She knew it would be her fault if anything happened to the toddler, and that Gregor would never forgive her. If they ever got back to the rest of the group. Because now it was looking a little tough.
Boots loved to pretend, and she was sitting as still as a statue, following the rules of the "game". "I doing good, right?" she giggled, looking up at Luxa. Luxa gave a quick nod and focused her attention back on the current conflict.
Suddenly, a tail came straight for Aurora. The golden bat flipped to the left, but it was still coming right at them.
"Aurora, the tunnel! Dive!" Luxa cried to her bond, who immediately dove into the nearest tunnel, which happened to be the one that was half under water.
Aurora was having trouble keeping herself in the air, as the tunnel was only about six feet high. She could do it, but she was going to tire fast. They needed to do something, they needed to get back to their friends.
But it was too late now.
Huge waves kept the entrance covered by water at all times, and there was no way out but through the wall of water, witch wasn't exactly something they were going to attempt to break through. All they could do was cling to Aurora, who was using all her strength to keep them in the air.
Suddenly a huge wave came through the tunnel, down and back all the way. It sent Aurora tumbling from the air, taking her passengers along with her. It was a minute before the wave calmed and they could float.
"Mama!" Boots cried. Luxa looked over to her and saw that she had on a lifejacket. And Temp as well. The queen swam over to Boots and clung to her lifejacket.
"It is okay, Boots. You are okay." She soothed the girl, who buried her head in Luxa's chest.
Aurora couldn't get herself back up out of the water in the air, and she wasn't much of a swimmer. She could make it a few feet, but that was it. And her strength was wavering. Luxa wanted desperately to go help her bat, but she knew she would only add to her difficulties.
"Cling to I, cling to!" Temp's voice pierced the air as he called to Aurora. Aurora got herself over to Temp and latched her claws onto his life jacket, breathing deeply. They were all safe, although extremely tired.
Boots hiccupped, tears still running down her face. "Where Ge-Go? Where is he?" she wailed.
Luxa immediately noticed the danger they would be brought to if Boots continued wailing like that. The gnawers might think they were dead now, but there was no chance they would think the same thing if they heard the sobbing of the baby that, according to the Prophecy of Bane, they wanted so desperately to kill.
"Boots…you really must be quiet." Luxa insisted, desperately trying to soothe the girl. At least the constant waves that came by were drowning out her sobs a little, though probably not enough to block them out of a rat's acute hearing.
But the little girl's question was still running through the young queen's head. Where was Gregor?
"Oh, Aurora, what are we going to do?" she cried desperately to her bat; not entirely expecting an answer.
"I do not know." Aurora sighed, still clinging onto Temp's life jacket, which could not have been a comfortable position for a flier. Luxa had to admit, her muscles were tensing up from clinging to Boots as well.
"Are the serpents still pursuing us?" the young queen asked, knowing that bat ears were more competent to hearing than human ears were.
Aurora listened for a second, but then shook her head. "They have retreated." She confirmed. There was a pause. "Shall we risk the rats and try swimming farther into the Labyrinth? It cannot be much farther until the tunnel is high enough for me to fly once again."
Luxa thought for a moment. Yes, if they went farther into the maze, they might be able to locate their friends and help Gregor reach the Bane, although it was a long shot. There was no guaranteeing that any of them had survived. And they would meet up with the rats. Their only other options would be to float there until someone…or something…found them, and that would be nearly suicidal, considering the type of creatures that dwelled in the area they were in. And then they could wait for the waves to subside and swim back out into the Tankard, but there they were risking serpent attacks, more of them, and of course, they would not be able to get back. There was no way Aurora would be able to fly over the Waterway without rest. So there was really only one option, and that was Aurora's suggestion.
"Yes, let us. There is nothing else we can do." She agreed with her bat and turned to Boots. "Boots, I am going to let you ride on my back while I swim, okay? Cling onto me," she instructed the little girl, who giggled and latched obediently onto Luxa's shoulders. She straightened herself upright, though, and—
"Ow! I bump head!" she squealed, rubbing the top of her forehead.
"Bend down, okay?" Luxa told her, and Boots rested her head on Luxa's spine. The eleven year old began to swim. It was harder with Boots clinging onto her, but she was able to manage. Aurora seemed to be better off, and Temp was clinging to her back. But then again, fliers were used to carrying passengers. And Luxa could not call herself experienced in the art of being a living raft.
Boots began to complain once again. "Too cold." She sniffled. "No swim anymore."
"We are almost there, Boots." Luxa comforted, hoping desperately that her own words were true. She had no idea how long it was going to be before they reached solid ground.
But fortunately, the water gradually got shallower and the tunnel got higher, and soon Luxa was able to stand up straight and touch the bottom of the pool of water. She lifted up Boots with sore arms and began to walk. The cavern was still too low for Aurora, though, so she took small, rapid bat steps alongside her bond, with Temp scurrying up the rear.
Finally the water vanished, replaced by stone. Good, hard, perfect, solid stone. Oh, Luxa had never been so overjoyed to feel it beneath her feet, relieving her of the waterlogged sensation she had been experiencing. She sank to the ground and closed her eyes. She felt Aurora beside her, and boots was already curled up in her lap, immediately asleep. She heard Temp click softly,
"Sleep, you all, sleep. Watch, will I."
In a normal situation, Luxa would have been reluctant to take up this offer, because they were in the middle of a labyrinth in the gnawers' land, with the risk of being killed on the spot very high. But right now, she was too exhausted to care. Besides, she only needed an hour or so…
"Luxa!"
Luxa abruptly awoke to someone hissing her name. She leapt to her feet and saw Aurora standing in front of her, listening hard. Temp was sitting over a still asleep Boots, looking watchful.
"What is going on, Aurora? How long have I slept?' the young queen asked urgently.
"It has been four hours; I did not want to wake you. But there is a gnawer coming!" the golden bat hissed. Luxa immediately drew her sword and stood at the front of the group.
"How many?"
"Just one!" Aurora responded. Luxa took a deep breath. They could fight off one.
Suddenly there was a moan and a big gray heap of fur dragged itself around the corner. It didn't look prepared to attack, though. In fact, if there was one word Luxa could use to describe the rat that came around the bend, it would be pitifully demented. But it looked kind of familiar...
"Twitchtip!" Luxa gasped in surprise, dropping her sword. It didn't matter, though, because even if this rat was an enemy, it could not possibly have attacked them in the poor state it was in now.
The sorry excuse for a gnawer lifter its head up. "Luxa?" Twitchtip muttered, blinking a couple of times. "You're alive?"
Luxa looked at the rat quizzically. "Well, obviously. Why would I be dead?"
Twitchtip flicked her ear. "I scented water between us after you and Aurora had caught Boots and Temp. We all thought you had drowned."
Luxa immediately perked up. "Who is 'we all'? Do you mean the others? They're okay? Why are you not with them?" she blurted out. Twitchtip held up a paw to silence her.
"Yes, they're all fine. At least they were before, I don't know about now."
Luxa's eyes widened, and the rat sighed.
"Well, I guess I'll start from the beginning. During the serpent attack, one of those beasts had me in its mouth by my tail and had bashed in my nose. Howard saved me by severing it," at this point she exhibited her bleeding stump of a tail, "and Andromeda caught me in her claws and flew us all over to a cave opening. A few minutes later, Gregor and Ares joined us. But we were all worried about you, and I said that before, I had smelled water between us. Ares went to call for Aurora, but…no luck."
At this point, Boots had woken up and toddled over to investigate the new arrival.
"Ow!" she said, and pointed to Twitchtip's nose. "You have ow." She nodded. "You need band aid."
Twitchtip bent down to be eye level with the little girl. "I don't have a band aid, but I'm okay." She said, brushing her muzzle against the toddler's forehead. Boots giggled. Twitchtip straightened up again.
"Continue?" Luxa prompted her, eager for every crumb of information. Twitchtip bobbed her head.
"Yes, as I was saying, we all thought you were dead. So then the Overlander forced Howard and Andromeda to take Mareth home and tell them what had happened to you. And then Gregor, Ares, and I went deeper into the maze to find the Bane."
The rat paused, somewhat dramatically.
"But how could you smell him with your nose injured?" Luxa questioned.
"I had gotten a whiff of the Bane's white fur before my nose was destroyed. So with that information and the knowledge I already had of the Labyrinth, I guided them as far as I could. But eventually, I couldn't go on, and…that was the last I saw of them from there. I was trying now to get back to the cave I stayed in when I lived here." As she finished, her eyes drifted to the ground and she winced painfully.
"Do you still plan on doing that?" Luxa asked, without thinking.
"I'm not sure." Twitchtip paused, and then smirked. "Why? Can I flatter myself that you could use my help?"
Luxa narrowed her eyes, pride taking over sensibility. "I never said that!" she argued. "We do not need your help." Her eyes remained narrowed. Twitchtip stared her down.
"Are you sure?" she questioned. Luxa nonchalantly crossed her arms. "Oh, come off it, Luxa," the gray female croaked. "You know you need my help. And if I'm willing to give it to you, it would be quite stupid to refuse."
Luxa raised an eyebrow. "You are hurt. You could not possibly travel very far."
"Ripred was right. You really are far too stubborn, Luxa." Twitchtip accused. Luxa opened her mouth in furious protest, but the rat silenced her.
"I can at least lead you out of the Labyrinth. I did live here for a few years. And if you don't get back, your instability of a cousin will have to take over. If she dies or else abdicates, than a new royal family will have to be chosen. And then what?"
Luxa sighed. Aurora brushed her wing against the girl's cheek. "We could use her help, Luxa." The bat said softly. That had Luxa decided, as she trusted her bond above anyone else in the world.
"Alright, fine. Twitchtip, lead us out of here."
The rat nodded. "You got it."
And they were off, Luxa, Boots and Temp on Aurora's back, keeping pace with Twitchtip. The rat occasionally paused to listen (since she could not sniff any longer) or to rest for a few minutes due to her injuries. But otherwise, they went nonstop.
Suddenly, the gray gnawer stopped short, ears perked. Aurora's head snapped up as well.
"Oh, no." Luxa muttered, recognizing the gesture. "How many?"
"A dozen, at the least!" Aurora fretted.
"They're coming from behind." Twitchtip added.
Luxa did some quick thinking. There was no way they could make it out of the maze without alerting other rats of their presence, but how could she fight with Boots in her arms? And Gregor would never forgive her if she let anything happen to his little sister.
Just then, the rumbling of charging rats grew louder. "Aurora, land!" she cried. The golden bat touched down to the stone floor and Luxa slid off with Boots, who was beginning to get scared.
"Mama!" she whimpered. "Ma-maaa!"
Luxa pressed a finger to the little girl's lips to quiet her, and beckoned to Temp.
"Temp, You must take Boots and get her away from here!" she told the roach urgently.
"Run I, with the princess, run I?" Temp clicked.
"Yes, run you with the princess! We will hold off the path for you! Quick!" she cried, and settled a whimpering Boots on Temp's back.
"I ride Temp?" she seemed to perk up. Well, that was no surprise, considering the first thing she had done in the Underland was ride a roach to Regalia.
"Yes, you ride! Now hold on, Boots!" Luxa gave Temp a nod and the crawler took off, Boots giggling.
"Go straight for as long as possible, you'll come to a forking path! Take the left one and follow it, I'm pretty sure you'll find an exit into the Dead Land!" Twitchtip cried after them. Temp flicked his antenna in confirmation, and soon his shape became just a speck down the long passage.
And then there was a bloodcurdling battle cry as the rats entered the tunnel.
Luxa leapt in the air onto Aurora's back, and after making sure Twitchtip had a hold of herself, dove at the oncoming pack of rats.
Her sword quickly made contact with an ear, causing the gnawer that was (or had been) attached to it to cry out in pain and lunge for Luxa's face. Aurora swerved out of sight and avoided the deadly claws, but suddenly another one was there, and it slashed it's claws right across Luxa's face in a curved motion, leaving a gash from her left temple all the way down to her chin. She screamed in pain, and Aurora fiercely slashed out at the rat that had done it with her deadly bat claws. When it drew back, she positioned them in a different spot, and Luxa's sword went wild, although her vision was somewhat affected by the flood that had spattered across her face.
On the ground, Twitchtip was not faring so well. The rats were taking advantage of her missing tail, and lunging at her from behind. One opened up a slash just below her right shoulder blade, and the female gnawer gave a screech of pain. Luxa knew the rat wouldn't be able to hold much longer. They had to fight these rats to retreat!
But in a few minutes, it was proved that they were far too outnumbered to do that. They would have to retreat themselves.
"Aurora, do you think it has been long enough for Temp to escape with Boots?" she asked her bond.
"I believe so. Luxa, we must get out of here. Look at Twitchtip!" Aurora gestured to the rat.
Twitchtip's fur was a bloody, matted mess, and nearly all of the crimson liquid was her own. Aurora quickly swooped down and grabbed the rat in her claws. When she had a good hold on her, she took flight down the tunnel as fast as possible.
There were only about five rats who were coherent enough to chase after them, and that they did. But after a while (and a few slashes from Luxa's blade) they, too, ended the chase. After about a half hour, Aurora landed, letting Twitchtip down gently on the ground.
"You must leave me." The rat rasped. "From here, you should be able to follow a winding path out. I'm not sure where it leads, though. But whatever you do, keep going straight and do not let the spiraling confuse you."
Luxa stared at her. "But we cannot just leave you here to die!" she argued. The rat shook her wreck of a head.
"You must. Remember, your people need you. And I was doomed to die soon, anyway." She said bluntly. Luxa sighed.
"Goodbye, Twitchtip." Aurora bowed her golden head.
"Thank you, for all that you have done." Luxa said, softly but firmly. "You have been invaluable to us, and that will not go forgotten. Remember that."
Twitchtip, eyes closed, flicked her ear in comprehension. With that, Luxa mounted Aurora once again, and the pair flew off, to the endless task of navigating the treacherous Labyrinth.
Twitchtip: And then I was doomed to die, not alone in the Labyrith, but in a vile, isolated pit, tortured to death just because of the horrors of my past, and--
Lulu: Shut up. Now. Nobody cares about your dramatic narrating.
Twitchtip: But they all love me, right?
Lulu: Yup. You're irresistable.
Twitchtip: Ha. I thought so.
Luxa: You are turning into Ripred.
Twitchtip: (crossly) No, I'm not. I'm not a big, egotistical maniac who acts like he's got a stick up his--
Lulu: Okay, that's the end of that! Hope you liked it!
Twitchtip: Fine. Go ahead, interrupt me. -sticks tongue out at Lulu-