A/N:
Mara: So! Today is RK's birthday, and seeing as it's her birthday, I decided that I needed to get her a present, which I'm going to give to you! So here it is, after such a long time! Chapter 6!
Now, I apologize for the long wait, RK had massive writer's block and took forever for her part of the chapter, but I finally kicked her butt in gear and we finished it in time for today.
As usual, neither myself nor RK owns Abyss, only our original characters and any side plot we decided to create for our amusement.
We would especially love it if we could get more reviews, let us know what you like, such as if you enjoy our writing, what we've added or how we've written Valeria. Or give us constructive criticism. That's more than welcome, we want to get better, it's one of the things we thrive on.
Or if you just want to wish RK a happy birthday, that'd be cool too, she messaged me earlier and said her day has gone to hell and has yet to get any better.
Enough about that, hopefully you enjoy the chapter and have a good day as well. Mara, out!
It was already feeling like a really crappy day.
The group had been walking for a couple of hours and the heat just seemed to multiply the more time wore on. Valeria was sure she looked like complete crap, and honestly, she wouldn't blame someone if they took pity on her and put her out of her misery. Not that anyone in the group would. Half of them weren't that willing to take a life, and the other half seemed to think she was alright. That, or Jade would tell them to leave her alone.
Even riding on Nyla's back was wearing the blonde knife wielder out - and that was saying something, since she wasn't doing anything except lying on the creature's back. It had also probably been about an hour since she used the last of the water within the many canteens she'd filled, so her strength was at its end.
Occasionally one of the girls came over to check on her; even Natalia, which shocked Valeria completely. They hadn't been able to offer her any water, due to theirs being very low, but the occasional healing arte from Tear or Natalia worked wonders for a little while.
A little bit past midday, her senses picked up something very weakly, like a trickle of something that hesitantly brushed against the furthest of her feelers. Sitting up, she held her hand to Nyla's neck, stilling the Arka as the girl closed her eyes and actively tried to feel whatever it was the brushed against her.
The trickle came from the feeler towards the northwest, meaning that if they continued on their current path, then they would likely skip the Oasis, which none of them, most of all Valeria, could afford right now.
"Hey!"
The rest of the group stopped, each of them looking back toward where Nyla and Valeria stood a few paces back. Most of them looked tired, especially the two nobles. Except for Jade, since somehow that bastard didn't ever seem like he was tired or out of breath.
"What is it, Valeria?"
Looking from Tear toward the northwest, Valeria nodded her head, "I felt the barest of pressures from a fonon; the Oasis is that way."
The females at least looked relieved at that revelation, happy that they would finally be able to relax a little around the presence of water. Valeria was more than relieved, she was ecstatic to finally be in the contact of some water and its fonons.
They took the lead, occasionally changing direction any time Valeria felt a different pulse from the fourth fonons. Luckily they only ran into one group of small desert wolves, and the swordsmen took them down without issue, allowing them to move on.
The moment the pressure of water fonons intensified, Valeria sat up completely on the Arka's back, already feeling a surge of strength falling into her fonslots.
Within the next hour or so, the water fonons were abundant in the air, cooling down the surrounding area a bit, though most people who didn't normally feel fourth fonons wouldn't be able to tell the difference. But for Valeria, it was a welcome relief, especially since she could actually see the crystal that helped to form the water of the Oasis.
As the group finally reached the tents that surrounded the waters, Valeria leapt from Nyla, dashing past the line of people looking for a drink from the cool spring and dove headfirst into the water, ignoring the cries emanating from the people running the collection of gald for the spring.
The moment she resurfaced from the spring of water, Valeria was met with a glare from the lady running the spring; she also noticed that Jade was holding back Luke from copying the blonde's actions of jumping into the small source of water as well. Sighing, Valeria rose and walked back to the bank, not even bothering to dry herself as she walked over to the lady.
"This is the only water around for miles, how could you just jump in there? Now it's contaminated and no one will be able to drink it!" the lady scolded.
"With all due respect ma'am, the water is just fine." Valeria tilted her head to the side and shook her head. "I'm a pure fourth fonist, meaning fourth fonons are my only form of fonic artes. This also means that I can control them better than normal fonists and it's nearly impossible for me to contaminate them."
"Seriously?" Luke exclaimed, suddenly looking at her like she'd grown another head.
"Yeah…. I found that out the hard way, that and another fourth fonist had the same thing happen to him," Valeria looked longingly at the water once more but figured she'd worn out her welcome for the moment. "He was a partial teacher to me awhile back. Once I learned all I could from a normal fonist."
That wasn't the only thing her teacher had taught her. He had told her about some ancient texts that he and a few others had been studying about the capabilities of single use fonons, especially if they were used by pure fonists. It was thanks to him that she found out about the ability to dry herself and others, and how she learned the possibility to heal with just the fourth fonon instead of the seventh, though according to him, no one has managed to use many, if any, of the fourth fonon healing fonic artes since ancient times.
Shaking her head, Valeria walked past the lady, using her fonic artes to suddenly dry herself as she walked. Luke caught up to her moments later and looked as though he wanted to ask her something when he suddenly doubled over and clutched his head. Valeria jumped back in shock, looking up from him and over at the others questioningly as Guy ran over.
"Luke! Is it those headaches again?!"
"Headaches?" Tear questioned, coming closer as well.
Guy nodded, his hands clutching Luke to keep him from completely collapsing, "Ever since he was kidnapped, he'll occasionally get headaches, or sometimes even hear voices."
Valeria's eyes widened and she got a thoughtful look on her face, though she kept her thoughts to herself, only glancing at Jade out of the corner of her eye as the Colonel watched the incident with detached interest.
Luke grit his teeth before muttering, "Who...the hell...are you?!"
He was silent for just a moment before he muttered a name Valeria was so used to hearing by now that she wasn't entirely shocked to hear the Fabre heir say it. Though the circumstances for him to mutter the name were definitely odd.
"Asch…. Where are you?!"
Seconds later whatever had caused the red head's headache faded and he sat there panting for just a moment, oblivious to the worry that was hanging over his head from the others surrounding him. Valeria moved over to Nyla then, turning the Arka around as she dug through the bag on the creature's side to grab the wing pack.
"Luke! Are you all right?" Valeria heard Anise question.
As Valeria turned around with the item she'd grabbed from the wing pack, she watched in amusement as Mieu bounced over to Luke as well, acting more worried than any of the rest. It was a little confusing, considering how poorly Luke always treated him. "Master, do you feel sick?"
When Tear moved over to Luke, Valeria took that moment to take Natalia's water canteen from where it was hanging on the girl's quiver. Opening it, she threw in a couple of herbs and swirled them about before handing the water to Tear, "Here, this should help his headache and give him some strength."
As the melodist handed the water to Luke, Natalia glared at Valeria, "That's mine!"
Valeria shrugged. "You're the only one with a canteen to swipe, plus I have a feeling Luke drank all of his a while ago."
Before the girl could say anything else, Guy stood, tilting his head at Luke, getting them back on track. "Hearing imaginary voices again?"
After finishing the rest of the water that was in the pack, Luke managed to stand on shaky feet, shaking his head at the question. "I doubt that was just my imagination..."
"You said something about 'Asch'... did you mean that Oracle Knight?" Natalia questioned.
Luke nodded, though he looked annoyed, "The voice I heard was definitely Asch's. He said he was with Ion in the Zao Ruins..."
Anise gasped, suddenly becoming excited at the thought of finding the Fon Master, "Ion's there?!"
"The Zao Ruins?" Jade frowned slightly, "From two-thousand years ago?"
The redhead turned to look at him, tilting his head when he saw Jade's expression, "Where are they?"
"I'm afraid I don't know. I'd be most grateful if the leader of this mission would find them for us..."
"You really like to be a jerk, don't you?" Luke complained while Valeria strove not to giggle at how much sarcasm there had been in Jade's words.
"Not at all. I'm so good-natured and honest, it almost hurts," Jade replied, acting as if insulted.
Valeria couldn't help it any longer, she burst out laughing and had to bend over to clutch her side at Jade's response, "Puh-lease! I know that's a lie!"
Tear looked at the laughing girl before sighing as her gaze turned to Jade, "Colonel! Please stop teasing Luke. Luke, let's ask the people here in the oasis."
The others began wandering off in different locations, Luke heading off with Guy for a moment before the blond swordsman muttered something to him. Valeria watched as the young noble came back, looking dejected for the moment.
"What's up?"
Luke glanced at Valeria and sighed, "Guy said he had something personal to take care of and asked if I would go with Natalia."
"Is there something wrong with coming with me?" Natalia asked, her arms crossing.
"N-no! I just wanted to go with Guy…"
Valeria laughed as the two walked alongside her and Jade, Tear having gone off with Anise to ask around elsewhere. She didn't really want to babysit the two nobles, especially since she wasn't sure where she stood with them, but at the moment it looked as though that job fell to her, Jade and Nyla. If Jade thought to leave without her, he had another thing coming.
After questioning a few different people, they wound up back by the spring of water and the glaring Order lady. Valeria smiled softly, but made sure to stand on the other side of Jade and away from the woman, not wanting to get into it with her again.
The lady kept a close eye on Valeria but turned her attention to the others, seeing both Luke and Natalia eyeing the water heavily. "Would you like a drink from the spring? Its water is blessed by Lorelei and purifies you when you drink it."
Natalia smiled, "That sounds heavenly."
"The donation for the water is one-hundred gald."
"What?! It's just water! Why should I have to pay?" Luke complained.
The lady opened her mouth to respond but Valeria poked Luke's arm, "Think, we're in a desert, they're in a desert, where there's no water around for miles. This is what they have, so they have to be careful with it."
Natalia nodded, "I see your point…. Luke, pay the lady please."
Valeria watched in amusement as he took money from his pouch and placed it in the outstretched hand of the Order lady. When the lady offered Valeria some, she shook her head and continued to watch as the others drank the water the lady had refilled into their bottles.
"Whew... I really needed that," Luke said, whiping his hand across his mouth.
Natalia nodded, looking in amazement at her bottle, "It certainly was refreshing."
Luke shook his head, glancing off to the side where the shade was, "I could just stay here forever... I really don't want to go back out there."
Valeria had to nod about that, even if she hadn't had any water, "I know that feeling... It just seems to be getting hotter and hotter the longer we're out there. At least here there's a breeze and water… I really don't want to be out there in the sun anymore."
"I know what you mean, the thought to remain here is tempting..." Natalia agreed.
"Then I presume the two of you are ending your journey here?" Jade commented, looking from Luke to Natalia, completely ignoring the fact that Valeria had also commented that she wanted to remain here. "Well, I'm sure it's provided you both with plenty of valuable experience, the sort you'd never have obtained at the palace. Farewell, until we meet again."
"W-what are you talking about?! Nobody's returning to the castle yet! Come on, Luke!" Natalia stuttered, grabbing at Luke's arm.
"How come you didn't mention leaving Valeria here!" He looked accusingly at Valeria, struggling to keep Natalia from knocking him over. "Hey! Relax. Can't we rest a little bit longer?"
"No! We're going now!" Natalia ordered.
"All right, all right! Stop pulling!" Luke ordered, getting dragged further away from Jade and Valeria.
"Well well, she certainly seems easy to handle," Jade commented, an amused smirk adorning his face. He glanced at Valeria. "Don't you think so?"
Valeria looked at him, frowning, "You're not funny. Also, if she believes we're leaving now, she's got another thing coming. I want to stay here for the night and recover some of my energy, especially if we're going to be going all the way to the ruins."
Jade was looking at her now, his thoughtful gaze boring into her, "You sound as if you know where they are."
Valeria shrugged, "Nyla and I may or may not have run across something that resembled ruins awhile back."
Jade raised an eyebrow, "So I take it this isn't your first time around this area?"
"This area, it's my first time. Nyla and I never really made it here before, we kinda got lost. The ruins on the other hand, we did manage to get to. Kinda. It was really rough on us, I'd run out of water and Nyla was trying to remain moving since it was just the two of us. Luckily a caravan of people spotted us and gave us water. We would've traveled with them, only they were going the opposite way that we were," Valeria sighed, "Long story short, we found the ruins, not the oasis. If memory serves, it's to the east."
"And you thought you'd keep this knowledge to yourself?"
"Everyone ran off before I could say anything," Valeria retorted, crossing her arms.
Jade said nothing as he led the way toward the inn set up in the only building built in the oasis. Seeing nothing more she could do either, Valeria decided to go collect Nyla from the trees near the water and followed after him.
The following morning the group got up and left the Oasis, Valeria grumbling under her breath about not wanting to leave the water. Half the group apparently agreed, especially once they were halfway through the day with the heat getting worse and worse. No one was really talking much either, just wanting to keep moving without wearing themselves down, which was hard to do with the occasional light sandstorm that would blow their way.
By the time day three began for their group, they were slowing down more than they'd anticipated, not wanting to leave the small sand dune that Jade had once again found for them, saving them from being completely in the open for the storms that kept appearing out of no where.
At the moment Anise was cooking something over the small fire that they were hesitant to make, not wanting any extra heat to go along with everything around them. But with the only remaining food they had needing to be cooked to be edible, options were pretty low. While she finished up and handed out the food, immediately putting out the fire, everyone else was lying down, trying to relax even with the heat still high and making everyone sweat.
Talk was still seldom, especially while they ate, but occasionally the group talked about the plan for them when they got to the ruins or even about random topics that had been on their mind for a while. Valeria was at the edge of the group, her gaze facing toward the open desert and munching on an apple, her last one until she got to a marketplace again. Luckily for Nyla, the group had decided to share some of their food with the Arka, so she wouldn't have to go hunt for herself, though she had hunted for the entire group days ago. Finally, after they finished eating, Guy stood and shook himself off.
"This sand is crazy... it's getting all over the place. I could probably make a mountain with all the sand that'll come out of these clothes."
Tear nodded, brushing off her gloves, "Yes, I wouldn't mind a good shower myself."
Valeria sighed, looking longingly at the water pale in her hand, "A shower would be nice, but I would just appreciate having water in the air…."
A strange look passed across Luke's face before he stared off with a hungry look on his face, "Mmm... shower..."
Natalia's sharp gaze quickly fell on the Fabre and she crossed her arms, "Luke! You are the worst! How could you?!"
The redhead quickly looked back and had a confused look on his face, "W-what?! I'm not doing anything!"
"Luke! If you've got time for dirty thoughts, pay more attention to rescuing Ion!" Anise ordered, her thought on the manner clear as she stood.
The red-head blinked, a blush forming across his face, his voice getting flustered, "I-I'm not thinking anything! Leave me alone!"
"Disgusting! I can't believe you're that kind of person!" Natalia scowled at him, looking as though she was seeing him in a new light.
"You pervert!"
Luke glared at Anise, seeming annoyed by her accusation, "Argh! Shut up already!"
At this point Valeria couldn't keep herself calm anymore and started laughing, rolling over to bury her face in Nyla's fur even as Jade came towards where the two were sat, Guy at his side. "...Well Guy, it seems you got lucky."
"...Lucky?"
"You're drooling. They'd have been on you in an instant if they'd noticed," Jade observed.
Valeria looked up at that moment, a grin on her face as she got her laughter under control, "I could only imagine what the girls would do if they saw that, almost makes me want to alert them."
"Please don't… " Guy looked nervous then, casting a fearful look her way. Then he seemed to recover when it looked like she wasn't going to be saying anything to the others, "But wait, why aren't you getting on Luke as well Valeria?"
Standing and dusting off her clothes, Valeria looked away for the smallest moment before looking back at the blond, her tone suddenly glacial, "When you grow up around lewd comments being thrown your way all the time, having a teenage boy who thinks about showers while in the desert isn't much to be worried about. "
Guy blinked at her while Jade adjusted his glasses, eyes locked on the blonde girl. Before either could comment, it appeared like Luke had enough of the others getting on his case for he stalked past them in a huff.
"Come on, let's just find those stupid ruins already!"
Valeria snorted in laughter before climbing aboard Nyla and following the teen, ignoring the looks she got from the two she left behind.
By midday, the group was tempted to stop, even Jade seemed a little tired from all the heat beating at them from all angles surrounding them. Right as they were about to take a break though, Nyla's ears perked forward and she stiffened, Valeria holding a hand to the Arka's neck, noticing that the creature had either scented or remembered something around them, so they both began to look around.
Off in the distance was a small speck that looked vaguely familiar to the two, so they began to head that way, ignoring the complaints that Luke began giving after he'd sat down. Luckily for the rest of the group, Natalia was quick to order Luke to shut up, which he did, after muttering how annoying the Princess was. That exchange had Valeria amused, though she knew better than to mention that aloud, or else the red head would begin complaining again.
Not even an hour later, the ruins finally came into view, right how Valeria remembered them: crumbling, cracked and really ancient looking. It took them another fifteen minutes to circle around to the front of the ruins where the entrance was but the group was happy they'd finally made it.
Valeria, still riding on Nyla's back, nodded in satisfaction, "Really glad I remembered this location, though it seemed to take longer to get here..."
"Inside here, huh?" Luke questioned, putting his hands on his knees and crouching to rest a moment. Natalia approached the entrance and glanced in before looking back at everyone, a concerned look blooming on her face.
"It looks dark inside..."
Valeria shook her head, arms resting on Nyla, "It actually isn't too bad inside, plus it's an added bonus to be away from the scorching sun and the sandstorms that kick up. I'm actually amazed we'd not run into too many of them. Don't ask me how though, but the ruins give off some unusual light once you're down on the inside, only the stairs are dark."
Natalia looked confused, "So you've been down there?"
"Yeah... It's the reason I knew where the ruins were. Nyla and I escaped a sandstorm the last time we were in the desert because of these ruins. Though we didn't get too far in, I knew we didn't have enough water for the task and who knew what kind of monsters are in there. Besides bats, we ran into a crap-ton of bats."
Throughout her explanation, Valeria watched as Jade walked around the entrance, looking around the ground and through the air with an intense look on his face, "Perhaps it's because of the wind, but there aren't any landship tracks about. I'm a little worried that we may have missed them..."
Anise shook her head at Jade, "Even if that is the case, there could be clues about Ion inside, we have to check it out. Let's go!"
Seeing as none of them could think of a reason to argue, they headed inside, following behind Valeria and Nyla as they led the way, occasionally stepping out of the way of a massive crack within the stairs of the ruins. Before long they reached the bottom and began to head further into the ruins, though the group was forced to stop once they reached a fork in the road.
"So… Which way?" Guy questioned, peering to the right before looking left.
Valeria shrugged, she actually had no idea which way to go, seeing as she and Nyla hadn't actually went this far in the last time. They'd been content to stay near the entrance on the off chance they needed to make a hasty escape, that and they'd really only planned on being there until that storm had subsided, and no longer.
Still… Something in the back of Valeria's head made her look toward the left, as if something was calling out to her, telling her to go that way.
"Not exactly sure which way, but let's try the left."
Since no one else had any reason to doubt her, they began walking, once more in silence. While they walked, Valeria went through the information she had. Apparently this wasn't the first time the God Generals took Ion, not that any of the others knew where they'd taken the Fon Master before, though Valeria believed it had something to do with the reason they were in these ruins.
Now that Valeria thought about it, she recalled something in the papers that Drayden had gotten her, she just hadn't had a chance to look at it while coherent, the heat messing with her more than she'd thought. Later she'd try and look at them, especially the info she'd actually asked for.
She left her musings as they approached a dead end, nothing really special about it. Frowning, she wondered why it was that she felt the need to come this way, especially since they now had to double back. Her thoughts once again stopped as she finally let her eyes fall on something she'd missed during her first glance around the area.
In the corner near a ledge was a orb of sorts, orange and brown in color, floating in the air.
The others were looking around the rest of the small area, so Valeria nudged Nyla to head towards the orb, then dropped from the Arka's back once they were close.
Reaching a hand out, Valeria's fingers brushed against the glowing orb, recoiling moments later as a jolt hit her. Hissing, she dropped to the ground and held her hand to her chest.
"Valeria!"
"I'm fine, Jade…" Looking back, Valeria let her eyes fall on the fuzzball, "Mieu, come here."
The cheagle looked confused for a moment, clearly not used to Valeria asking for him since she normally kept to herself. Luckily, Luke gave the little guy a shove, albeit a bit roughly, and he came over a moment later, "Yes?"
Valeria didn't say anything, just let the cheagle see the orb. He seemed to get excited, and bounced over and began to stand under it. "Second Fonons!"
Valeria nodded, struggling to stand as the rest of the group came over. "Yeah… A largely concentrated amount."
Natalia moved close to it, staring in awe, "They're so pretty!"
Anise tilted her head to the side, "What? How come we can see fonons?"
"This area is most likely a fon slot," Jade commented, walking to Valeria and helping her stand. He took her hand then, holding it up and away from her chest. He frowned, noticing the skin on her hand looked bruised and red.
Valeria scowled at him, "I'm fine! It's not a big deal."
Natalia seemed to notice that she was hurt and came over, taking her hand from Jade and blinking in shock, "Did the fonons do this to you?"
Now Valeria sighed, since she saw no way out of this. At least this kept her from having to explain fonons to Luke. "Yeah… But they likely won't do this to other people, especially if that person is able to use second fonons. My body just can't handle excess fonons like those."
"But wait, then how are you affected by healing artes?"
"It's different if the fonons are just boosting what's already in me, as opposed to combining with what I have to create different artes like you do when you pull fonons from the air to use artes… Um… Yeah, I can't really explain it since I don't understand it myself, I'm only telling you what's been told to me." Valeria took her hand back once Natalia was done, nodding her thanks to the girl.
Valeria wasn't surprised when moments later, Mieu's Sorcerer's Ring began to glow, absorbing the Second Fonons. She'd suspected that the ring was capable of that after learning that Mieu was just a baby cheagle, especially when his fire was stronger than it should be. The cheagle looked confused for just a moment before he went over to a cluster of rocks that was nearby and head-butted it.
The shocked look on everyone's faces amused Valeria to no end, especially since Jade seemed just as surprised as the rest of them. Needless to say, the cheagle came out just fine while the rocks were now broken into a pile of crumbled, smaller boulders. What did they think the second fonons would do?
Mieu made it especially more hilarious when he started bouncing up and down and trailing around Luke. "Wow! I feel like I can break anything!"
This only seemed to annoy the redhead, since he kicked Mieu away from him moments later. "Shut up, Thing!"
Seeing as this was getting no where, and they seemed to be in a dead end anyway, Valeria nudged Nyla, not bothering to get back onto the Arka's back since she really needed to stretch her legs, even if she was immensely tired. "Luke, enough with kicking Mieu, let's head back to the fork, we need to find Ion."
The others agreed, slowly making their way back to the fork in the path, though Jade and Tear seemed most interested in Mieu's new power now, the Colonel even asking to see the ring to check it out.
Valeria listened with veiled interest as he came to the conclusion that there was another fon verse slot but since there likely wasn't going to be any other fonons in high quantity here, both he and Tear seemed to agree that they'd have to keep their eyes open in other locations if given the chance.
Not that Mieu seemed to care, he was just amazed that he got to be even more useful, which Valeria thought was actually kinda cute, if his voice wasn't so high, and he wasn't so energetic all the time. Not that she'd say it aloud anyway.
Once they passed by their previous spot, they continued on, Valeria in the lead for some reason. She didn't think she knew anything more about the ruins anyway, plus she'd been the one to lead them wrong before, but the group didn't seem to mind. Occasionally they ran into a few monsters, but nothing most of the group couldn't handle, even Valeria, who was even more worn down now, and trying to save the remainder of her water bottles by keeping them on Nyla. All she had with her was half a bottle and a couple of gels just in case she needed a sudden boost.
By the time they got towards a long set of stairs, Valeria was toward the back of the group, finally convincing the others that she actually had no idea where she was going and telling them that she'd rather follow behind. Luke was walking right in front of her, seeming to not want to lead anymore than she did.
Right at the bottom of the stairs was a massive section of rocks, making Valeria wonder if the God Generals had even come this way. Mieu seemed excited though, since it allowed him to be useful to the group again. He quickly set to breaking apart the rocks.
Right as he cleared them out of the way, a tremor went through the stairs and they suddenly began to crack. Seeing this, everyone was quick to leap off the stairs, though with Valeria being at the back, and the stairs crumbling too fast, she didn't make it, yet she managed to clutch the ledge before she actually fell completely.
"Valeria!"
She wasn't sure who yelled out, since there were a number of voices and a growl. She also wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hold on. It had been too long without water and the heat just kept draining her so her strength was at its limit, making it so that she wasn't even able to pull herself up.
Cheering could be heard around her, the spectators rooting for their chosen combatant. Most of them were cheering for her opponent, not that it surprised the blonde, since Shadow seemed the more likely winner. Especially since she currently had no weapon to use against him and was dangling from a ledge.
Movement caught her eye as Shadow crept closer, his knife held in front of him pointed at her. He was coming in for the finishing blow, and it was either allow him to do that, or drop and risk a dangerous injury.
The choice was made for her in the next moment, when he lunged for her and the ledge she'd been holding onto broke apart from the rest of the structure.
Valeria shook her head, trying to get that stupid memory of her past out of the way. Using the last bit of her strength, she attempted to lift herself, getting her arms above the edge of the rocks before she looked up. All she saw was a form rushing towards her, forcing her mind to panic and lose it's control on her muscles.
She lost her hold on the ledge and dropped, seeing the shocked look on Luke's face as he reached out to try and stop her from falling right as he faded from sight and she fell into oblivion.
A/N:
Mara: Cliffhanger? Oops? Ha!
On another note, the next chapter, which should hopefully be done any time now, is going to be a new POV, anyone (besides our beta!) wanna guess who the next POV is going to be? C'mon, guess. If you get it right, I'll give ya a cyber cookie! The gooey chocolate chunk kind, not the virus kind!
Let me know what you thought of the chapter, review!