TW: Canon character death, suicide.
Holo blinked her eyes open, willing the blurriness away and trying to remember where she was. She knew she had been there a long time, not sure how long exactly…
Her eyes adjusted to the light, there was a woman standing over her, holding a strange torch, it was cylindrical and emitted a flameless blue light.
"She's alive!" The woman called, turning to someone out of Holo's sight.
"Impossible, this tomb has been sealed for hundreds of years!" Came a man's voice, to her disappointment it was not Lawrence.
The woman turned her attention back to Holo, rolling her eyes before kneeling and meeting Holo's eyes. "Are you alright? Can you speak?"
Holo shifted around a bit, mind racing as she struggled to remember how she had gotten here.
"Easy, don't move too fast." The woman cautioned.
Holo froze as she remembered.
She and Lawrence had entered this tomb in search of a child, a little girl who had wandered in and gotten lost, her father offered to pay well for her safe return.
She and Lawrence had found the girl and were leaving when they triggered a trap, Lawrence had gotten the girl out but Holo had remained trapped. The heavy stone door had sealed her in with no hope of getting away.
She had hoped he would find a way to get her out, she had waited for so long before falling into the dreamless sleep that this woman had woken her from.
"What is your name? Can you speak, wolf girl?" The woman was asking.
Wolf girl? Holo reached up to touch her hood and found it gone, she realized as she moved most of her clothes had turned to dust and fallen away.
"I am Holo The Wise Wolf." She answered finally.
"Nice to meet you, I'm Amanda." The woman smiled, holding out her hand. When Holo didn't immediately take the offered hand and shake it she retracted it as the man walked over.
"Oh my dear sweet doctors and elves, she is real." He said.
"How long have I been here?" Holo demanded, taking note of her dry rotted clothing and the odd style they wore.
"Well, It's hard to tell exactly but this tomb was sealed several hundred years ago." The man answered.
Holo looked away from the pair, not wanting them to see the tears she couldn't stop. Lawrence was long dead. She felt a hand rest on her shoulder a moment later, glancing up she saw that it was Amanda.
"I know this is hard, a shock to have been woken so very many years later. Just know that we are here for you, you are not alone." She offered sympathetically.
"How did you find me?" Holo asked as she wiped at her tears.
"An old journal, it was written by a man of the name Lawrence, he spoke very fondly of you. Actually the second half of the journal is more like letters to you, he tried so very hard to get you out of here… I just felt I should try and finish his work." Amanda explained calmly. Holo nodded, trying to hold back more tears.
"Come on, lets get you out of here and get you some food." The man said, offering a hand to help her up. She took it and stood, glancing around at the all too familiar tomb though it had aged considerably. The rest of her clothing fell away in a rotted dusty mass and she looked down to find the pouch of grain still around her neck, some how it had not aged and that brought her a faint smile.
"Here." The man said, offering her his coat. "Until we can find you something better."
"Thank you,..." Holo replied, accepting the garment and letting her sentence trail.
"Oh! Yes sorry, My name is Drew." He chuckled as she put the coat on. It was made of odd fibers she'd never seen the likes of before.
Amanda lead the way out of the tomb, past the door that had been Holo's bane these years, it had large holes in it now with heavy steel cables threaded through, apparently this is how they had moved the heavy stone door of three feet of thickness.
Holo squinted as they climbed the stairs, she glanced around seeing large machines, one of which was hooked to the door with the cables, all these things had small or large black wheels.
"As I live and breath, Holo in the flesh, real as the world itself." Came a wizened old voice.
"Indeed she is." Amanda chuckled as Holo turned to follow the source of the voice, it was a scrawny old man with white hair and beard. Amanda lead them around to the camp where the old man had been waiting.
"Holo, this is my grandfather Charles." Drew smiled.
"A pleasure to meet you at last, my lady." The old man smiled and bowed.
Holo offered him a faint smile, still in pain from the loss of Lawrence and not really wanting to get too attached to any humans at the moment.
"Oh, but you must be famished! Amanda, if you would be a dear and…" He started but Amanda was already digging through an odd blue and white chest. The chest, chairs and tents where all alien to Holo, none of them made of materials she knew.
Holo sat in the chair offered to her, it was odd, cloth stretched over metal frame designed to collapse on itself. Once she was seated Amanda walked over and handed her two slices of bread with meat and cheese between and a bottle with a label displaying an apple and marking the contents as "Apple Soda" it was then Holo realized her enormous hunger and she devoured the food in under a minute, all of it tasted good, the "soda" Had an odd fizziness to it.
"More?" Amanda chuckled holding out another roast beef sandwich. Holo graciously accepted that and two more before she was full.
"Thank you." She smiled, for a moment forgetting why she was there.
"I've got a tent set up for you now." Drew said from behind her.
Holo turned to see that he had indeed set up another of the odd dome shaped tents, this one red, for her. The door was unzipped allowing her to see the sleeping bag and extra pillows and blankets as well as a bowl of fruit and several bottles of water should she have want of any of it.
"Thank you." She said again, giving him an appreciative smile.
"No problem." He smiled back. Holo turned back to the others who were finishing their own sandwiches.
"So why exactly did you come for me? You spoke of a journal…" Holo asked, trying not to think on the fact that her friend was gone.
"Yes, you see Drew, my brother, and I were browsing a antique bookstore when we found the journal, the writer of it spoke so vividly of you I couldn't help but believe him that you truly existed. When I showed it to my grandfather here he said that he knew of you and was amazed that you might be within reach. Drew thought we were both crazy but was nice enough to rent us the truck and equipment needed to open the tomb once we found it." Amanda explained.
"I see, and the journal, you have it still?" Holo asked.
Amanda nodded. "I suppose you should read it, if you really want to… It's a bit sad."
Holo sighed and nodded. "I should."
The sun was dipping low on the horizon as Amanda stood and walked to her own tent, digging around and returning with the journal.
"There is a light hanging in your tent, just turn the knob to the left to turn it on and back to the right to turn it off again." Drew smiled.
Holo nodded and sat with them a bit longer, holding the journal. Even after so many years it smelled faintly of Lawrence and that was a comforting thing. The stars were starting to make their debut for the night when everyone decided to settle in, speaking of returning to the city at first light.
Holo settled into her own tent, turning on the little lamp hanging from the top, it's ghostly blue glow was odd to her. She opened the journal and Lawrence's handwriting greeting her. She could read it in his voice which made it hurt more and she was wiping away tears as she read.
He started the journal right after she had been trapped, accounting of his attempts to get her out. He had marveled at how such a thing had been created in the first place.
He hired many many people and even tried black powder. Nothing got the door open and he quickly went broke in his panic to rescue her.
He gave up on opening his own shop.
It wouldn't be right, I must free her first. I will find a way.
After that he tried like mad to find help but he had little coin and his health had begun to wane. That is when the journal turned into letters to her.
Holo, I am so sorry. I failed you. I have done all I can. I pray for your well being, all I can think about is you, trapped and alone… This is my fault. If only I had turned the coin aside, you would still be free. I cannot so much as look at apples without feeling the guilt of what I have done to you..
I cannot give up here. I will free you!
There were several more like that, depicting his lone attempts to get the door open.
I refuse to give up Holo, however, my body is failing me. The illness has taken hold and I will not be so lucky as to live to tomorrow I am guessing. Still, I refuse to give up. I have a plan, even though I have failed at getting you out I will leave everything I know in this journal and hopefully someone out there will be able to free you. I do not know how long it will take but I am sure it will. Holo, please forgive me.
I did all I could, It just wasn't enough.
Forgive me.
After that was a brief list of what he had tried that did not work along with several theories he had not been able to try, including boring holes into the door and attaching strong ropes that would then be tethered to a team of horses and pull the door free, basically what her rescuers had done. After all that was maps and detailed directions to find the tomb.
After turning the last page Holo noticed a bulge on the inside of the back cover, peeling back the paper she found the wheat he had carried.
She took that, placed it in the pouch with the rest and cried openly, everyone else was fast asleep by now and she managed to stay quiet enough not to disturb them.
Holo felt so very alone, everyone she cared about was gone, the world she had known was greatly changed, she could feel it. It hurt. It hurt so badly, she wanted only to return to what she had known, to those she had cared for.
The pain grew unbearable and she left the tent, standing in the moonlight. She couldn't' even find the strength to give it song or to muster the want for wine.
The loneliness throbbed through her like plague, leaving her cold and pained.
she walked over to the low burning embers and placed more wood over them, blowing softly to make the fresh wood catch. She watched it dance, looking to the moon with tear filled eyes. Without giving it much thought or even looking back to the fire, she dropped the pouch into the flames.
They hungrily ignited the pouch and its contents.
As the wheat turned to ash Holo the Wise Wolf faded away. Holo felt no pain as her body faded away, at least nothing that compared to the pain of her losses.
Then all was silent.
She felt her surroundings change, soft soil beneath her bare feet and sunshine on her skin. The sound of the wind through fields of wheat and the smell of the warm summer plane.
"I never thought I would see you again." Lawrence said, amazed.
Holo opened her eyes to find herself in the biggest wheat field she had ever seen and Lawrence standing right in front of her, her other friends standing behind him. Tears fell and she couldn't find the words to express how she felt so instead she hugged Lawrence and cried as he hugged her back.