Wow...I was just scanning through the other chapters of this story and I realized that I need to start checking this stuff over. I counted numerous errors. Stupid ones too. Well, whatever. I thank all who review this story and a special thanks to TL-Chan who is a consistent and loyal reviewer. Anyways....On to the chapter.
Disclaimer: I don't get the point of these. I seriously doubt that anybody on this site actually owns the stuff they write about. They don't, that is, unless the writer is an author or director in disguise who decided to screw with us. I DON'T OWN SPIDER RIDERS (no matter how much I plea for ownership)!!! Did you get that?
*Warning* A little angst in Hunter but it only lasts for a little while, mostly because of the memory of his parents' deaths.
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Chapter 7
"Hunter, wake up!" his sister's voice pleaded. He opened his eyes to a darkly lit room. His sister, Blaze, had lit a candle to brighten the darkness a bit. The lack of wind and thunder above the ground told Hunter that the storm was over.
"Blaze?" he whispered, his head jumbled.
"Yea," she answered.
"What's going on?"
"You hit your head closing the door. The storm is over and mom and dad still haven't woken up." Her voice was thick with fear and worry.
"Have you called 9-1-1 like we're supposed to do in an emergency?"
"Yea, I did. Right after the door was shut I called. They're on their way." Hunter nodded. He sat up and almost passed out again because of dizziness. "Hunter? Are you okay?"
"Yea." He stood and immediately leaned up against the nearest wall. Blaze eyed him.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hunter didn't answer, he was focused on not passing out. Just then, a voice called to them from outside the door.
"Where are you?" a voice called. Hunter and Blaze looked at each other quickly, grins spreading momentarily across their faces.
"We're in here!" they called in unison. The door creaked open. The light was blinding to the young children. When the momentary blindness passed, a woman, wearing a paramedic's uniform, was standing in the doorway.
"Are you kids alright?" the paramedic said, eying the twins.
"Well, I'm fine, I don't know about Hunter, and our parents haven't woken up yet," Blaze said, her voice slightly strained. Though they had been hit by lightning, both twins hoped that their parents were alright.
"Hunter's your brother, right?" Blaze nodded, her eyes flicking to her brother quickly before locking back on the paramedic. "What's wrong with him?"
"When he shut the door by himself, it closed too quickly and knocked him on the head." Her voice shook nervously. The woman frowned slightly.
"Come here, Hunter," she said. "Let's check that head of yours." She was good at working with kids. Hunter hesitated before moving towards the paramedic. He relied heavily on the wall in order to move. He eventually made it up the stairs and he felt Blaze's eyes on his back. The paramedic had seen all she had needed to see. Instead of making him walk the rest of the way, she walked over to him and picked him up.
She carried him to the ambulance. Blaze followed. There were people standing around the car. Apparently, she had gone first to make sure everything was safe. "There are still two more people in there," she said to her crew. "I've got to check this one. He hit his head and he can't stand properly." The paramedics left.
The women set him down on the edge of the open ambulance. She then began checking his head over. "Ah hah! Here it is." She pressed down on a point on his head. A sharp pain lanced through his head. Hunter yelped, more shocked than hurt.
"Stop!" Blaze yelled. "You're hurting him." The lady smiled at her.
"I know. I needed to find where the door hit your brother." She jumped off of the car and looked at Hunter. "That's quite a bump you've got there."
"Yea," he agreed, rubbing his head where she'd pushed. The rest of her team returned with one stretcher held between them. The parent on the stretcher was their father. He had numerous burns on his skin.
"Weren't there two people down there?" the lady asked. One of the medics shook his head 'no.' Her eyebrows furrowed, but then shrugged and walked over. Hunter and Blaze watched as the woman's head lowered slightly and turned towards the twins, not masking the sadness in her eyes. Hunter knew that something was wrong. "I'm sorry, Hunter, Blaze, but your father is dead."
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Hunter sat up, his heart pounding. He scanned the dark room to find that he was alone. It's been a while since he'd seen that memory. Tears leaked out of his eyes against his will. His mom and dad...He hadn't seen their faces since that fateful day. He went to his father's grave before he'd begun to search for the Inner World. His mother was still missing though he distinctly remembered Blaze and their dog dragging their mother into the shelter.
He pulled his knees into his chest and pressed his head to them, his tears soaking his sweatpants. Shadow, currently in manacle space, heard the movement. The battle spider was worried for his rider. "Hunter?" he asked. He wasn't even sure that Hunter was awake.
"Shadow?" Hunter asked back, his voice cracking. Shadow strained his eyes in order to see his rider in this dark room. Hunter was sitting up in bed, his legs pulled up, and his head hovering over his knees, looking towards his bedside table. Tears on his face glittered in the scanty lighting.
"Hunter, what's wrong?" Hunter never cried, so something had to be wrong. He saw Hunter swallow and wipe his tears.
"Nothing, Shadow. I'm fine." Shadow sighed impatiently.
"You are not. You were crying." Since it was dark, Shadow missed Hunter's glare. "Okay, fine, if you're not going to tell me then go back to sleep." Hunter sighed as he lowered himself back on his mattress.
"I'll tell you later," he whispered as he dropped off into slumber. Igneous walked in as Hunter fell asleep.
Noticing that the person he was going to check on was asleep, he instead whispered, "How's Hunter?"
"Not sure," he answered. "He woke up a few minutes ago, crying silently. I just convinced him to go back to sleep." The Spider Rider's commander nodded.
"Okay." He placed the back of his hand on Hunter's forehead and pulled away quickly. "Temp's still high." Shadow had already assumed as much.
"How's Sparkle?"
"Still recovering. She feels guilty about whatever has happened to Hunter." There was a yell in the room next door. "Oh, Corona's up."
"Really? Huh, you'd think I would've heard, she's right next door."
"Don't worry about it. You've had other things on your mind. She should be released later today."
"That's good. Igneous, shouldn't you be out protecting Arachna? There are only three riders actually able to fight. Lumen's too worried about Sparkle, Corona hasn't been released yet, Sparkle's self explanatory, and who knows what's wrong with Hunter." Igneous sighed.
"Good point. I'll be leaving then. Call me if things change."
"Will do." Igneous left, leaving Shadow to worry about his rider in peace.
--
Melinda knelt stiffly in front of her master, still sore from her battle with Hunter. "My Lord, Hunter is a lot stronger then we first anticipated. He was able to beat me without the keys," she reported, her voice tense. Her master was not one to accept failure and in this case his bite was worse than his bark. "But, I found something interesting about him. Something that could be used against him."
"Well what is it?" her master snarled impatiently. Melinda flinched.
"He would do absolutely anything for his friends. A trait apparently shared by all those annoying riders."
"Hm... A useful bit of knowledge." The psychic could hear the thoughtfulness in his voice. She guessed what he might be thinking.
"Do you want me to take control of Corona, sir?"
"Yes." There was a slight pause. "But wait a little longer before you use her. Let Hunter recover from this victory, because it shall be his last."
--
Corona found herself anxiously waiting for the doctor to finish analyzing her wound and release her from this prison. She really wanted to go see Hunter. From what Igneous had said, he was pretty bad off. His fever refused to go away.
The doctor finally finished his examination. "You're free to go," he said. Corona sprang up and ran outside. As usual, there were people rustling about, going on with their usual chores. Igneous nearly crashed into her as she was walking next door to Hunter's room.
"Hi, Corona," he said quickly. He locked eyes with her, relief evident on his face.
"What's up?" she asked.
"Hunter's up and he's finally acting normal which could mean he's finally on the way to recovery." He pushed the door open for her. She walked inside, a small smile playing on her lips. Hunter was sitting up on his bed, staring off into space. He looked at her as she walked in and grinned.
"Hey, you're up. I was beginning to think that you would never wake up," he said. He looked absolutely horrible. He was pale and looked like he'd lost weight that he couldn't afford to lose. His clothes hung loosely on him. On his right shoulder, she could see a dark bruise that looked extremely painful. Despite all of this, Hunter's eyes were shining brightly.
Igneous followed her in. "I should say the same thing about you," he said. Hunter rolled his eyes. Corona pushed Igneous gently.
"Leave him alone, Igneous." She turned back towards Hunter. "What Igneous is trying to say is that we're glad you're alright."
"Hunter?" Shadow asked from within Hunter's manacle. "Why did you collapse once the storm started?" Hunter's emerald eyes dulled and he looked down.
"N...No reason," he said, obviously lying through his teeth. "I guess my condition caught up with me."
"Liar," Shadow accused. "What's wrong?" The rider's leader bit his lip.
"I...uh...My parents died in a thunderstorm and since then I've always been terrified of them. I'm not really sure why I passed out." He looked up suddenly, his eyes blazing with fury. "Get out," he said scarily calm. Igneous and Corona stood there dumbly as if struck. "I said get out!" he yelled, his fever influencing his emotions. "I bet you're happy knowing that your leader's a coward. Now, leave!" He then tore his blue manacle off of his wrist and threw it at Igneous who caught it easily. "Take Shadow with you!"
"But Hunter..." Corona started.
"I said GET OUT!" They complied quickly and shut the door behind them, slightly scared by their leader's sudden outburst. A crash of a vase breaking could be heard inside Hunter's room. Corona shot Igneous a 'what have we done' look.
Later that evening, when Igneous thought Hunter had cooled down a little, he went inside his room to return his manacle. "What do you want?" Hunter asked when he heard Igneous enter. His voice was muffled by the pillow his head was buried in.
"I came to return your manacle," he answered. When Hunter didn't respond, he continued, "And to apologize. We had no reason to pry."
"Put my manacle on the table next to my bed." Igneous did as directed and sat on the end of Hunter's bed.
"Can you accept my apology?" Hunter glanced up at Igneous, lifting his head a little bit so he could see. He sighed and flipped himself over.
"Apology accepted." Igneous smiled quickly.
"Thank you." Igneous eyed Hunter. He didn't look any better than he did earlier today. If anything, he looked worse. "You know, Hunter, you've got to stop playing around with your health. That was the second time this week you could've died on us." Hunter smirked at his concern.
"I know." Igneous rolled his eyes.
"You know, huh? Then make me a promise. Allow yourself to rest and regain your strength until you're fully healed." It was Hunter's turn to roll his eyes.
"Fine if I must agree with you, then I promise. But the moment that Arachna's in serious danger..."
"No!" Igneous cut him off. "No loopholes. You stay here and recover. We'll do all the work. And if I catch you out of here then I'm locking you in the infirmary until you have healed." Hunter winced, not liking that at all. A messenger came into the room and whispered into Igneous' ear. His hazel eyes widened. "Okay, thank you." The messenger left. Hunter gave Igneous a curious glance. "That was a report from Lumen. Corona's gone missing."
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Tehehehe... cliffhangers. They make me happy. Uh... sorry about the cliffhanger to those who don't enjoy them. It was just calling out to me. Before I say goodbye I have a question for you: How long does it take for someone to kill a spider?
My answer is an hour...with me and my brother trying to kill it. Amusing, huh? Here's a random thing I found out today. The definition of manacle. It makes no sense for its use in Spider Riders. Here's the definition: manacle (n)-an iron ring on a chain that is put around the wrist or ankle of a prisoner.
Interesting, isn't it? Well, I've got to go. I'm catching the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. YES!!!!!!!! I'm proud to be a Harry Potter fangirl! I refuse to write a fanfic about it, though. That series has been tortured enough. See you soon.
May your hearts stay strong
DarkAngel555
(Oh, sorry about me freaking out during the disclaimer. I was a little bored.)
