Alrighty, this update came up faster than I could have fathomed. I'm gonna try and get a few stories updated tonight, although my internet is acting kind of funny. I'll have it fixed soon that way I can upload this. Anyway, here's chapter 9.
"Well…guess we're out of luck," Cagalli stated sadly from the back of the cave.
They went in and stormed the place; they would have torn the whole things apart if there was anything to tear apart. The viciousness in their search had no effect on whether or not Milly was there, unfortunately, and their search was a lost cause.
"Dammit, why they hell did that thing take Milly anyway? She didn't do anything wrong," Athrun punched the wall once in anger. Even though he and Milly never really interacted much ever since she found out that he had been the one who killed Tolle, he was still just as worried as the rest of the lot were.
"None of us did anything Athrun, going after people just must be in its nature. Besides, you heard what Murrue said, she suspects it's after her, because she can sense it," Cagalli explained while running a hand along the cool surface of the cave wall.
"That's what I don't understand," Athrun began again. "This just doesn't seem real at all, how can this actually be possible?"
"I don't know Athrun, but that doesn't matter anymore, what matters is that it's happening, and we have to stop it from continuing on and concentrate on getting out of here alive. Now come on, we should get back to camp, make sure Lacus is alright. It's creepy in here anyway, we were already stuck in here once, and I'd rather not do that again," Cagalli brushed past him and grabbed his hand to pull him along.
They hopped across the rocks just as they did only hours before, trying to get out as fast as they could.
"I don't get it though…why Murrue? She's a perfectly normal human being, a Natural! How could something like this happen?" Cagalli was now the one asking questions.
"But so is Mu," Athrun reminded, starting to make a point. "He's a Natural, but he's able to do that Newtype Flash, am I wrong?"
"No, no, you're absolutely right…but he could do that with Rau Le Cruze, and he was human…this thing…is far from being even remotely human,"
"That's true, but still, it's possible, I can't think of anything else at the moment,"
"But…then, wouldn't that mean that Murrue's a Newtype then?" Cagalli queried.
"Well, we won't be sure until we have more facts, and I really don't think that we'll get many of those. It doesn't matter anyway, once this is all over we won't have to worry about it anymore," Athrun chose that moment to look up and take in his surroundings, they were nearly there.
"I guess…but I can't shake that nagging feeling that something bad is gonna happen to her…" Cagalli trailed off, not really wanting to finish that thought.
"Don't worry, Cagalli, I'm sure she'll be fine. None of us are gonna let that thing get its filthy claws on her…and if it thinks otherwise, it has another thing coming," He reassured taking her by the waist and leading her in the direction of camp, they could already see the light to the campfire burning through the thick brush.
"Ouch, damn rock!" Yzak yelped as he slipped on yet another moss covered rock.
He'd lost count of how many times he fallen on his back side from slipping on lose rocks or slippery ones. He was soaked through to the bone.
"Man, there's goes this suit,"
Dearka on the other hand, hadn't said a word since they began walking in the water. They could've been walking along the shore line, if not for the pain in the ass bushes Kira and Murrue climbed through lining it, trapping them in the creek. If they were to be attacked then…
'It feels like it's been hours since we last saw her. Where are you, Milly?'
Yzak watched him silently from behind, finally calming down after his little episode. It was a sobering experience, seeing Dearka, the spitfire, bottling everything up the way he did. He wanted to say something to get him out of his reverie, but, his words wouldn't bring Milly back, so there was nothing he could say. He kicked angrily at the rocks in the creek. Of all the things that could've happened, they had to lose Milly, and right under their noses. That was the last thing they needed.
"Hey, Yzak," He heard Dearka speak, but not looking up from the rushing water.
"What's up?"
"You don't think that thing just killed Milly off and left her somewhere, do you?" His fists clenched as he said this, voice tight with worry.
"So that's what's been bothering you this whole time, huh? No, I doubt that, I think that it wants us to come to it, so it can get us all at one time. Going after her like this is the worst way to do it, but we don't have much of a choice now do we?"
"You're right; we're doing what it wants. But, the fact that we know that puts us at an advantage,"
"It would have been," Yzak corrected.
"What do you mean would have?" Dearka stopped and looked at him in question.
"What we should have done was went in a group, that way, we could have been ready for it when we found it,"
"You saw what that thing did to us the last time we were in a group though, right? We don't stand a chance, if we go in a group we'll all get shot down in one try," Dearka yelled.
"True, but now we know how strong that thing is. We could have made weapons, or a plan, something,"
It was then silent, and they continued to wade through the water again.
"Besides, we don't even know if we're going in the right direction. We should go back and re-group," Yzak suggested and Dearka whipped around angrily.
"You think I'm just gonna give up! If you actually believe that I'll just turn around and stop now, you're wrong!"
"Come on, Dearka, you're a solider, you fought a war, you know that you can't always win by doing things the way you want them to go. We'd be a lot better off if we all fought. Every single last one of us,"
Dearka lowered his head. "I thought we were done fighting, Yzak, I thought hat it would all go away when the war ended,"
"Well, the world isn't a utopia, and it never ill be, so don't expect it to work that way," Yzak let his head drop at the thought.
It was silent.
"…Alright, let's head back,"
Yzaks head shot up. "Wh-what?"
"Do you wanna go back and re-group or what?" Dearka asked firmly, a smile plastered onto his face.
Yzak smiled back. "You bet,"
They both clapped hands together and shook on it, and were then off in the opposite direction of where they were heading.
Back at camp, Mu managed to get himself propped up against a tree stump. He was sitting watching the fire, thoughts plaguing his mind. Where was Murrue? Was she alright? When would she be back? Lacus had boiled some water for him and let it cool off, and put it in a small hollowed out piece of wood they'd found in the woods. He took a sip, and left if next to him, seemingly forgotten.
"Mu, I'm sure she's fine, Kira wouldn't let anything happen to her," Lacus tried.
He acknowledged her slightly by smiling a little and nodding his head, but nothing more than that. His gaze soon returned to the blazing fire, entranced by the brightness. Lacus sighed, giving up, there was nothing she could do to sooth his spinning mind. It was hen she heard rustling in the bushes, and she stood, thinking it was that thing. She grabbed a tree branch they'd been using to poke at the fire and readied it. Mu saw her and piped up.
"Hey, what do you hear?"
"Something's in the bushes over there," She whispered back, not wanting to spook whatever it was.
Mu then wished that he could do something to protect them both if the worst came to worst. He backed into the tree a little more, his back ramrod straight.
The rustling continued on, getting louder and louder with each slow passing second. The tension in the air was suffocating, the two figures by the fire filled with fear. If this was the end, they wished that they could've at least said good bye to the ones they loved.
Lacus and Mu deflated once the rustling stopped and two figures stepped out. It was Athrun and Cagalli, not that thing.
"Jesus Christ, here I was, letting my life flash before me expecting Leo the lion to pop out, and it's you too," Mu yelled, feeling like an idiot expecting his life to end like that.
"Heh, sorry, HEY, you're awake!" Athrun realized, happy to see his friend back to the world of the living.
"You gave us a real scare their old man. I thought you were cat food for sure back there," Cagalli spoke as she walked over and sat next to him on a log.
"Hey, you don't think I'd die that easily do you? You just wait till the next time we see that thing, we'll disown the son of a bitch, I'll make sure of that,"
"Careful, Mu, I'd hate to see you get too cocky there," Cagalli laughed.
"Hey, you're one to talk!" Athrun retorted for Mu.
"Hey!"
They all laughed at her annoyed face. Lacus stood by, chuckling at their behavior. She was happy to see everyone coping with the situation better now. Her frown twitched a little when she looked out into the woods.
'Be careful, Kira.'
Kira watched Murrue closely. About 20 minutes before, she started to feel that thing, and she had a head ache from it. Now, she really wasn't feeling well. It was almost like the closer the thing gets, the sicker she feels. She sat hunched over, shaking; she told him she felt nauseous, which probably mean that the thing was close.
'At first I thought she might be able to do a Newtype flash, but now, I'm not so sure. Either she has a pretty intense ability to flash over, or this is something completely different,'
Kira looked around, seeing if the thing was near by, but as far as he could see it wasn't around. He could feel his body starting to tense up on its own out of fear. Could they make it out of this alive? He was pulled away from his thoughts when he heard Murrue's soft voice from right next to him.
"Kira, I think I'm gonna be sick,"
He promptly grabbed Murrue and pulled her over to some bushes and held her hair back as she threw up. This was where drew the line. That thing had to be right on top of them and he didn't want to be here when it found them. But they had to find Milly, and following that thing home might be the only way. When he noticed Murrue wiping her mouth he let her hair go. He rubbed her back a bit until she stood up to her full height.
"Are you okay?"
"Yeah, but…I don't understand. I usually just get a splitting head ache,"
"Yeah, but the thing was never this close before, save for that other time, but we don't know what happened their," He then thought of something. "Maybe you're pregnant,"
She punched him playfully on the arm, causing him to laugh. "That's not possible, me and Mu havn't done anything yet," Before he got the chance to think of a comeback, they heard branches cracking from above them.
Murrue grabbed Kira's arm and they both slowly tilted their heads up to the tree above them. Low and behold, there was the culprit of the cracking noise…their 'panther' in question.
"Murrue…run!" Kira exclaimed in a whisper and grabbed Murrue by the wrist and ran in the opposite direction of the thing.
They could hear it jumping from tree to tree, following them. They would need a miracle now. They picked up a lot of speed, running faster than they could've ever imagined. They jumped over logs and fallen trees, not even slowing down for air. Just as they were about to out run the thing, Murrue's foot caught on to a branch and she tripped. Kira went to pull her back up, and in that little amount of time, it caught up with them. It landed right in front of the downed brunette and the violet haired boy beside her. When Murrue looked up, she let out a horrendous scream.
Mu's ears picked up on the high pitched noise back at camp. He immediately knew what is was…a scream. By then everyone else realized. Even in the depths of the woods Yzak and Dearka heard and stopped to look in the direction the scream came from.
"Murrue," Mu whispered, feeling his heart sink.
