(A.N. Yay! I finally finished chapter two! I made it zanier, longer, and a touch fluffier as well. Most of the writing was done while listening to Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and P!nk. Also, a small peek into Amber's past, that's a bonus! Okay, I got nothing else, so read on!)
*Stephano's P.O.V.*
I know there's a Barrel there, just in the doorway. I'm not sure if it knows we're here or if it's just a scout. And I won't know until it makes a move. I watched intently, its round shadow inched closer. If I could have, I probably would have stated sweating a little. If this Barrel finds me, it'll report to the King Barrel. If that happens, they will find me and I will be destroyed. I can not let that happen. Just as the Barrel started to creep through the door and into my vision, the strangest thing happened. The girl rolled over in her sleep and let out a low growling noise. The sound reminded me of a bear woken up during hibernation. The Barrel retreated, most likely thinking there was an animal in the room. After the threat was gone, I let myself wonder why the girl was growling.
"N-no...my TomatoBot...freakin French...battle."
I guess that answers my question, and raises a lot more. If I could, I would have laughed. This girl interests me more and more the longer I know her.
"Scone...I choose you..."
Yeah, It'll be a challenge to be bored around her, that's for sure.
"Scone used...dry...it's very...effective..."
*The next morning* ('cause people sleep at night)
I had managed to get some sleep through the girl's strange sleeptalking. I woke up when some light started to make its way into the castle. I meditated for another hour or so, enjoying the pleasant calmness until the girl awoke. I noticed her roll onto her back at the edge of the bed, one arm hanging off. I hope she wakes up before she falls off. She scrunched up her face and seemed to awkwardly fight against her green bed sheets. She grumbled and tried to roll onto her stomach, aka, she rolled onto the floor, flailed, and made a startled squeaking noise. That was actually kinda cute. Her sleeping habits, that is. I reminded myself, I'm only traveling with her until I find Pewdie and get my power back. The girl pushed herself into a sitting position, looking around confusedly. When she seemed to finally get her bearings, she got up and stumbled to a window. She grabbed for the faded curtains, but they disintegrated in her hands. Grabbing again, she flung the old curtains open, she leaned out the open window.
"Bonjour, world! I am Amber and I will conquer this day!" She bellowed out to the trees that surrounded the castle. Followed by her pulling her head back in and collapsing against the wall.
"After some hot ginger tea..." I pondered what she said...Amber. This girl's name is Amber, well what do you know. Now I can finally stop calling her "the girl". Amber, it's actually a nice name, amusingly fitting. Amber, now mostly awake and lucid, picked me up.
"G'morning, Sybil, another beautiful day full of near death experiences and wandering scary halls for hours." I wanted to smile, I don't mind traveling with this girl, Amber. It was quite pleasant to be near her, to a degree at least. Amber tied her empty lantern to her hip and picked me back up. She made her way out of the room and down the corridor. She wandered from hall to hall through the seemingly endless castle. At one point, most likely from boredom, Amber started tapping a stick on the stone walls as the past them. I tried figuring out what tune she was tapping, but gave up after a few minutes. But my main guess was Pop Goes the Weasel.
After another few halls of wandering, we came to what looked like the castle's old ball room. With the morning light pouring through the gaping holes in the roof, it lit the room nicely A few piles of rubble and some broken crates littered the floor, leaving a tripping hazard. Amber gasped and ran to a pile noticeably larger then the others. She set me down and started pulling away chunks of stone and wood. Amber finally cleared the junk and was left with something that has a faded white cloth over it.
"Is this...?" She trailed off and yanked the cloth off. Revealed was a grand piano, still in good condition.
"Ohhh, yes yes, now you are a real beauty. If only I knew how to play." Somehow, that's extremely amusing. Amber ran her hand over the polished dark wood, which had been protected by the cloth and rubble, she whistled. After a few moments of looking over and pressing a few keys, Amber smirked.
"Hell, I do know one song." She pulled the bench from under the piano and sat down. She placed me on top. Amber cracked her knuckles, and started to play. The tune was cheerful, very happy and playful. I realized that the song was Camp Town Races. I wanted to laugh, of course that would be the only song she could play. It felt nice, being here and just...being. For a moment, I let myself forget everything. I forgot Pewdiepie, the Barrels, the Bros, everything. I just enjoyed the golden morning sunlight and the cheerful music, as well as Amber. For just a moment I felt at peace.
But, the peacefulness was suddenly crushed under a gut wrenching sickness that suddenly overtook me. It was as if lumps of burning coal were filling my stomach. Everything felt hot and painful, what's happening to me!?
*Amber's P.O.V.*
My fingers slid from key to key, the piano worked beautifully, like it was bran new and not at least a hundred. Each note clear and perfectly blended into the next. I remembered when my father taught me the song, I was five. He taught me others, but I only remember Camp Town Races because of the memories with it. Me playing, my mother singing and my father strumming on a banjo. Such a happy time, seventeen years ago, I'll never let myself forget. I almost started singing too, but before I could, he sound of metal hitting the floor startled me and I stopped playing.
"Ah! Uh, what?" I looked to see that Sybil had fallen off the edge of the piano. I looked down at him, and noticed he seemed to glow. I squinted to be sure, and he was defiantly glowing. I could see the gold he was made of start to warp. He glowed brighter, and started growing, that's when I got up. The statue glowed brighter and warped into a larger shape. The light was so bright I couldn't see. I stepped away, till I stumbled and fell backwards over a broken crate. The light dimmed, and I heard a grunting noise. I looked over the crate, and saw what looked like a solid gold man kneeling by the piano. My jaw dropped, no...this is not...
"Sy-sybil?" I stuttered, this can not be real. The gold man looked up and scratched the back of his neck, he looked kind of uncomfortable.
"Umm, 'allo there. It's actually Stephano, but, uhh, yes you do know me as- hey are you ok?"
My mouth opened and closed similar to that of a fish. My sanity suddenly dropped and I scrambled backwards, still staring at the person kneeling a few feet away. I felt dizzy, and everything went black.
*Stephano's P.O.V.*
I watched Amber have a panic attack and pass out. It would have been amusing if had not been because of me. I sighed, I'll just explain my situation to her when she wakes up. Maybe I should see if she's ok, though I doubt she suffered a concussion. I moved to check on her, but stumbled and nearly fell on my face.
"Eh, I should make sure I still have basic motor functions first." I mumbled, grabbing the edge of the piano. It took me a minute to stand up, I haven't moved on my own in quite a while. But I got up, and after a few minutes of walking, stretching, and falling, I felt confident enough to not fall on my face from taking a step. I sat down to have a quick look over and make sure I was all there. Then I started thinking,
"How did I get my power back anyway? This shouldn't even be possible since the Barrels took my power in the first place." I glanced to Amber, still unconscious.
"Who knows, maybe she had something to do with it." I mulled over the idea, "Maybe she did, I'm not completely sure how I got my power in the first place. Hmmm, I know I got my power sometime after Pewdie found me. Maybe..." I trailed off, my eyes going back to Amber. Suddenly feeling just how lucky I was that she found me, otherwise I would still be under the floorboards in the dungeon. I needed her to find me, to save me. If she hadn't...I shook my head.
"No, I don't want to think about that." I noticed Amber stir, she must be waking. She sat up and ran a hand through her short hair. She opened her eyes and looked at me, a mixture of confusion and wonder evident. We stared at each other for about a minute before she spoke.
"Wa-Who are you?" I smiled a little and ignored the almost "what", at lest she caught herself.
"My name is Stephano, but you would know me as Sybil." Her mouth made an O in understanding, she glanced around.
"So, uh, Stephano, why are you all...living and stuff?" I shrugged.
"I've never really know that myself, I'm just like this." She nodded, bit I'm not sure if she understood.
"Sooooo, why were you in the floor when I found you?" I grimaced, why that question?
"So me and my old friend, Pewdiepie, were-"
"Who's Poo Dee Pie?"
"It's Pew-die-pie, and he was my first friend. So me and him were running from the Bro and-"
"You were running from someone's brother?"
"What? No, the Bro is the monster with the claws and the ugly maw."
"Oh, you mean the Servant Grunt."
"We call it the Bro. So we were running from it when we ran into the Barrels."
"What does that have to do with the story?"
"The Barrels are me and Pewdie's enemys."
"Okay?"
"So the Barrels attacked us and my power to turn human was stolen. They took Pewdiepie and left me under the floorboards. Then you found me and you know what's happened since then."
"So let me get this straight, you're a magic statue that's friends with some gut named Pewdiepie, you got attacked by barrels and were trapped under the floorboards until I found you. And Pewdiepie was kidnapped by the before mentioned barrels. Did I miss anything?"
"Ehh, as unbelievable as it sounds, that is all correct."
"I would label that whole story complete bull crap if it was not for the fact that you are made of solid gold." I nodded, but wanted to clarify one point.
"I actually have a zinc core, just to note." She nodded, obviously not caring.
"So how are we going to get him back?" My eyes widened, I didn't expect her to be so quick to want to help me. Well I'm not looking a gift horse in the mouth.
"I haven't gotten that far yet." I noticed a smile tug at the corner of her lip, amusement danced in her eyes.
"Starting from scratch? That's fine, I think I know where to start." Amber hopped up and held her fist in the air.
"Wait here, I'll be right back!" I watched her run down a hall, I guess I'll just wait then. A few minutes later, Amber was back holding something paper. She set it down on the piano and unrolled it. I looked over her shoulder to see it was a map of the castle.
"Where did you get this?" I questioned.
"I just channeled my inner Marry Sue and let luck do the rest, plus I saw it earlier." I decided not to ask what a "Marry Sue" was.
"So what's the plan then?"
"Well, if we use this map here then, according to layout of the castle, Pewdie will have to be here." She pointed to a place in the west wing of the castle, near the heart of the Barrel coven. She seemed sure, but what if she's wrong?
"Are you sure he'll be there? That place is crawling with Barrels." She nodded.
"It's the only place with proper holding cells, a kitchen nearby, and completely solid walls. If he's not there, he's either not in the castle or...you know" It was a grim thought, but I have to consider it. I grimaced, the thought of Pewdie dead made me sick. But I have to hope he's here, in the place Amber pointed to on the map, alive.
"I know it's a bit of a long shot, and you don't want to be caught by them, so here's my plan." I raised an eyebrow. What may be a plan to her might be seen as uncoordinated to others.
"So I can sneak into this place using the Grunts as cover. They're pretty dumb so I can-"
"Wait," I stopped her. "You plan to sneak in with the Bros? You do realize how dangerous they are." She shook her head, her hair swinging gently.
"Not with them, use them as cover. I can use the laudanum with some gun powder and various other stuff in the castle as a crude bomb. In the right place where the Grunts stay and I can get them stampeding like scared cows. The Barrels will be too busy getting them back under control to notice one girl slipping in. You don't like the plan do you." It wasn't a question, she knew it.
"Other then the fact that you plan to set off a bomb near mutant beasts that want to kill. Sneaking into a area of the castle you know little about, that's full of enemys need I remind you, and without any help. This couldn't go wrong." Amber rolled her green eyes, knowing I just made several good points. She rolled up the old map.
"I'll be in the laboratory starting on that bomb if you think of a better plan."
I wanted to say something, to tell her no, but it was our only plan. I watched her leave the room, her words still hung thick in the air, taunting me with their truth.
*Amber's P.O.V.*
I spent the rest of the day in the laboratory separating the laudanum into is basic parts and mixing the needed ingredients with gunpowder. I found an old lantern to be the shell, the glass sphere the fire would have been in was the perfect size. I found certain elements that I broke into tiny bits and added to my bomb for colors. It was starting to get dark when I attached the fuse, finishing it.
"Not my best work, that's for sure, but it will work." I walked to the sink to wash the chemicals off my hands, I heard the door open. I knew who it was, I could smell the sand and spices form across the room.
"I just finished." I didn't turn to him, I just moved back to the table to make sure the bomb was ready.
"I don't want you to do this." I kept my eyes down, giving the fuse a gentle tug.
"Did it take you all day to figure that out." His footsteps came up to me.
"N-no, I just.." He trailed of and nether of us spoke for a few minutes. I had run out of things to test on the bomb, but I didn't want to look at Stephano. I carefully wrapped up the bomb in old towels, cradling it like a extremely dangerous baby. I stepped around Stephano and made my way out of the laboratory. I could hear him following close behind.
"Wait." I paused, Stephano stepped in front of me, I forced myself to look at him. In one fast movement he unsheathed his sword and slammed the blade deep into the wall at my right.
"Don't do this! You shouldn't risk your life just to help me." His molten gold eyes stared straight into mine.
"Well I don't have any other ideas to save your friend, do you." I forced myself not to tighten my grip on the bomb, not wanting to set it off. Stephano's shoulders drooped, then he almost forcefully grabbed my shoulders.
"Don't you get it, I...you..ah!" I stared at him, not sure what to say. Stephano seemed to realize he wasn't getting anywhere and let me go. I watched him pull his sword out of the wall, a large gash was left in the wood. He turned and started walking away, calling one last note to me.
"Fine, do what you want, it's obvious you're not concerned about what happens to you."
I stood there, completely frozen, not sure what to do. I wanted to yell for him to stop, but the words refused to leave my mouth. I could only watch his retreating form fade into the dark hall. The bomb in my arms suddenly felt as if it weighed a hundred pounds. I turned down the corridor to my left, making myself focus on my mission.
*small time skip*
I made it to the Grunt's holding pens, which was a large room with only one door as a way of entering or exiting. I was able to slip inside under the cover of some boxes of what I could only think was food for the monsters. Although it smelled far to rotten and sulfurous for anything to eat. I left the doors partly open, knowing that would be the direction the Grunts go when the bomb goes off. I inched my way to the back of the room, moistening my lips with anticipation. I knelt down, bomb in my right arm, tinderbox in left hand. The Grunts looked fairly docile at the moment, but that was about the change. I set the bomb down, lit the fuse, and rolled it. I scrambled away to the side of the room just as the fuse disappeared into the shell.
"Here we go!" I braced myself.
First was the explosion, it was loud and bright from the gunpowder. The Grunts were startled into a small panic. Then minerals caught, mini explosions of color sent them charging out the door in a stampede. I pulled a cloth over my noise so I wouldn't inhale the cocaine, that was to keep the Grunts panicking well after they should have calmed down. As I slipped out of the pen, I got my first look at a Barrel. I took a mental picture for later, I need to keep going during the commotion.
With most of the Barrels dealing with my distraction, getting close to the holding cells was easy enough. And even when a Barrel came a little too close, black clothing in black halls is pretty hard to see. I existed one hallway to find I was near what looked like a throne room. I know this because A really fat Barrel was lounging on a couch wearing a dull gold crown. I could see several halls on the far side of the wall. I smirked, must be my lucky day because I could get over there just from sneaking behind the piles of boxes that were everywhere. When I got to about the middle of the room, I heard someone walk in the same hall I did. The King Barrel hastily got up and waddled over to meet the mystery person. I crouched behind the stack of crates, listening carefully. I could hear the King Barrel talking to the person, but I couldn't see who it was. His voice was slow and scratchy, like he hadn't eaten or drunk anything for awhile. But he must have been very important because of what King B was saying.
"Hey we do have him, he just needs to stay here a little while longer. See, he's hurt, badly. If we move him it could make it worse."
There was a sharp slapping sound.
"My friend will be here in two days to retrieve the gamer, if he is not ready by then the entire castle will be burned to nothing."
I covered my mouth to prevent a gasp, the castle burnt down?! I can't let this happen! I have to know who is making threats like this! I carefully peeked around the boxes, being incredibly cautious not to be seen. I saw King B, I leaned a little further. I saw who it was, and then I had to cover my mouth again.
"...you have got to be kidding me."
I moved back to stay hidden, struggling not to make noise. I have to tell Stephano, this must mean Pewdiepie is here and alive. I kept moving down the room, still using the boxes and other various supplies as cover. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, that is, until I bumped a bottle that fell to the floor with a loud shatter. Immediately I hear shouting and footsteps, I panicked. Turning tails I sprinted down the first hallway I saw. This seemed to be the wrong one, for all it led to was a storage room. I just wanted to scream, why oh why couldn't I be a total Marry Sue and just pick the right hall?! Or better yet, I thought as I hid myself under large sacks of something that felt a little too squishy, why couldn't I of just STAYED HOME?! I squeezed my eyes shut when I heard the door open. The Barrels were in the room, and they knew I was in here too. I forced my breathing to stay as close to nothing as my lunges would allow. It was easy because whatever was in the bags stunk. I heard items move around as they looked for me. And, for the first time in nine years, I prayed. Please, what ever God or Goddess exists, let me get out of this situation. Let me survive this, and I will forever give up swearing, creepypasta,...and porn.
"019, are you sure you saw her run this way?"
"Ummm."
"Uh huh, yeah, you're on Grunt watch for the next three weeks. Come on men, we're wasting time. The intruder's clearly not here."
The Barrels shuffled out of the storage room with one last comment that sounded something like "Grunt watch is for pigs" I wasn't sure though.
After the footsteps faded away, I peeked out from under the sacks. The coast looked clear, but I wanted to wait just a little longer to be sure.
"But I'm not waiting under these bags." I muttered, shoving it off me. I flinched when the bag made a squelching sound as it hit the floor. I looked around the room a bit more closely since I'm not in any immediate danger. I found a small vile of Laudanum, I pocketed that just in case. I noticed a grated vent near the ceiling. It looked big enough to crawl through, if I could reach it.
"Now how do I get up there without making too much noise?" I shrugged and started moving boxes into a pile beneath the vent. After about twenty minutes of stacking, assessing, and restacking, I had a crate pyramid that looked stable. I crawled up the stack and got to the grate, it came off with surprising ease.
"Well I doubt anyone thought someone would try to take it off with force anyway." I set the grate on the pyramid and climbed into the vent. It was stone inside, like it was carved rather then put together with bricks, but it was hard to really tell it was so dark. I was moving in a mostly straight line, only turning when that was the only way. Now and then, when the vent split off into other directions, I felt drafts of both warm and cold air. That must mean the vents are still used, interesting. Finally, I came to another exit to the complex air system. I tried pushing the grate off, but this one was stuck fast. I looked around the room the vent opened into, like the normal bedrooms found throughout the castle. I moved around in the vent until I was on my back with my feet on the grate. I braced myself and kicked it hard. The metal holding the grate on was resistant, I got ready and kicked again. The metal groaned and started bending. I held my breath and kicked one more time. The grate finally came loose, I was able to pry the rest off with my hands. I tossed the now bent grate into a random corner as I jumped down. I did a few stretches before leaving the room. I wandered until I found a familiar hall, the one with the gash from Stephano's sword. I ran my hand over the mark, careful of splinters. A small eave of guilt washed over me, I'm the closest thing Stephano has to a friend and I just unnecessarily risked my life. I turned to the hall Stephano had gone through and started walking. It wasn't hard to find him from there, he was in the ball room by the piano.
"Stephano." I called, walking to him, he didn't respond, "I have good news, Stephano?" I knelt down next to him. Ever so gently, I nudged his shoulder. His head tilted to the side, his eyes were closed and his breathing was even.
"Heh, I guess even you need to sleep sometime." I whispered, not wanting to wake him. I realized how tired I was, so I settled down next to him and nodded off as well.
(A.N. This took FOREVER *frothingmoughfreakouttableflip* but I'm really happy with how it turned out. If anyone thinks I'm making Stephano too OOC, just let me know and I'll try to fix it. I've got chapter three started and Pewdiepie Shimejis are taking over my desktop. I think that's all for now, have a good day.)