Caught in Limbo

The three girls tumbled into the stone sarcophagus, but rather than hitting the bottom only a few short feet from where they had entered, they continued falling. Panic taking hold, their voices rose up in shrill screams as they plummeted into the darkness below. An eternity seemed to pass, time slowing down as they were caught in an endless freefall.

The impact, when it finally came, was jarring. A sickening crunch was heard as their bodies slammed uninhibitedly against the uneven surface, something beneath them breaking and giving way under the force of the impact abd the shattering debris showering down on the girls in an unforgiving rain of sharp edges that buried them under their weight.

A silence followed, broken only by the sharp, panicked breaths of those trapped beneath. Fear bound them in place, a residual terror that refused to leave them. And darkness had taken over once more, so thick it was palatable, something of substance that seemed to take the air from their lungs as they struggled to regain their senses after the terrible fall.

Finally, movement was heard. Debris was being pushed away, rattling against more uneven surfaces as it tumbled down from the heap.

"Kagome? Ayumi?" Eri's hushed voice was strained as she dug herself out of the pile of debris, calling into the darkness for her friends.

"I…I'm here,' Ayumi replied breathlessly from her right.

Shifting herself carefully against the pile, slipping precariously as the fragments beneath her shifted and buckled under her weight, Eri made her way over to Ayumi. She called out to her friend, using the soft replies of her voice to find the place where she was buried beneath the debris and helping to clear the way for her to emerge. When at last their hands touched, both girls released a heavy sigh of relief and Eri pulled Ayumi out from where she had been trapped, helping to steady her on the uneven surface. They were both trembling, adrenaline surging through them to give them strength. But as they looked around them into the darkness, they knew that there was still someone missing.

"Kagome?" Eri called her name again. "Can you hear me?"

Groaning miserably, her body still tingling with the spiritual energy flowing through her, Kagome finally found her voice to answer. "Yeah, I'm here."

"Kagome…?"

Standing up, miraculously free of the debris that had trapped her friends, Kagome brushed absently at her clothing to throw off the layer of dust. "Yeah," she said again. "I'm alright, just a little dazed."

"Maybe she hit her head in the fall?" Ayumi whispered anxiously. "Maybe she can't answer."

Kagome paused her absent brushing and looked up sharply. "Guys, I'm right here!"

"We've got to find her," Eri was saying. "She could be hurt….or…."

"Don't say it, Eri," Ayumi cut her off. "I know she's fine. She has to be."

"Hey!" Kagome cried frantically. "Stop talking like that you two! I'm right here!" Waving her hands frantically through the hazy darkness, Kagome tried to capture their attention, but her friends didn't see, they couldn't. They began moving away from her, their hands groping along the uneven pile they had landed in

"I think I see one of our torches over there," Eri said. "If I can just reach it…KIIIYYYAAA!!!!"

"ERI!!!"

Ayumi was knocked back against the debris pile when Eri's sudden lurching sent her sprawling back against her. Her whole body was shaking in terror, and Ayumi wrapped her arms protectively around her friend to try and soothe her.

"Eri?" she called her name softly.

The girl trembled again, chocking on the words she was trying to force herself to say. "B…B…Bones…" she finally managed to say. "They're all…They're all bones!"

"What are you…?" Ayumi's question was cut off prematurely when her eyes finally managed to take focus. There, being illuminated by the faint glow of their dying torch, the hollow black eyes of a skull peered back at her. She screamed, her grip on Eri tightening nearly painfully as panic took over again.

"Ayumi…" Eri grunted from her strangle-hold in the girl's arms. But Ayumi's shrill scream continued pouring out of her, her body frozen in terror so acute it had stolen over everything else. Twisting herself roughly in the other's girl's hold, Eri grabbed onto her friends shoulders and shook her hard. "Ayumi! Stop this! I'm here. It's alright."

Her scream finally dying on her lips, Ayumi focused her teary eyes on her friend. She could form no words, only whimper desperately. Eri nodded in silent understanding, and carefully started pulling her friend away from the pile of bones. Once they were clear, their feet falling on soft dirt instead of crunching against old bones, Eri looked back

"I'm going back for the torch," she told Ayumi quietly, "And for Kagome."

Ayumi's hand tightened around hers, but Eri hushed her gently, whispering soft assurances to her stricken friend and promising she would return for her; and eventually, Ayumi let her go.

Kagome had watched the whole scene play out before her, but no matter how loudly she had called out to her friends, they couldn't hear her voice. It was really starting to creep her out. But, realizing that something must have happened to her when she had crossed over into the crypt, she wasn't overly worried about it. She couldn't be dead; that experience, she knew, would likely have been accompanied with first the presence of Kikyo taunting her with her glorious victory over her pathetic reincarnation followed by being cast into oblivion. It would have sucked, sure, but at least she wouldn't be stuck in this…this…limbo.

Still, Kagome wasn't about to stand around and let her friends go thinking she was dead if she could help it. And she could, she told herself firmly. She could make them see her. At least…she thought she could.

Pushing away her nagging doubts, Kagome focused on drawing up her energies. She could see them flowing away from her body in a gentle wake of brilliant light, illuminating her entire form in a soft glow of iridescence. She reached out to Eri as she approached, noticing for the first time that her hand wasn't quite as solid as it should have been, maintaining a kind of transparency that allowed her to see straight through her skin to the bones and beyond, and almost out through the other side.

Despite her resolve, she shivered. Now she was no less a specter than the spirit she had followed to this place, one with the dead.

But Kagome would not be held by her fear; she would not be swayed from her course by mere thoughts of dark images. She hardened herself, firmly blocking away any further thoughts beyond what she had set out to do.

Eri was right in front of her now, shuffling slowly ahead through the darkness, sidestepping bits of broken bone when her footfalls were hindered by their presence. She had been following the faint glow from the torch to lead her back to the pile of bones, and even in the darkness, she should have seen the shadow that passed in front of the light. But she did not see, and she kept moving forward.

Sending a silent prayer to the Gods, Kagome reached out and set her hand on her friend's shoulder. Immediately, Eri drew to a halt, her breath catching on a startled draw and her eyes sweeping frantically through the darkness to find the source of the disturbance.

"Eri," Kagome called her name, but using more than her voice to convey the message. Her powers were flowing freely around her, coursing through the air on soft currents of pure energy. She directed them to flow into her friend, for her to feel the warmth offered by the light. And under her touch, Eri seemed to relax. "I'm with you," Kagome whispered through the soft currents of energy passing between her and her friend. "Be strong for each other now. I promise, I will find you again."

Tears filled Eri's eyes as she stood alone in the darkness. There were no words, no feelings associated with touch, nothing but the knowledge that came to her in the darkness. "Kagome…" She whispered her friend's name, somehow knowing that she had felt her touch without ever really feeling it. She was here, lost somewhere in the darkness, but just beyond her reach. Silently, her tear fell from her eyes, but still she understood. She had to go forward. She had to find the way out of this crypt. For her sake, and for all her friends.

Brushing harshly and determinedly at the moisture streaming down her face, Eri started moving again towards the faint flicker of the flame.

Kagome smiled as she stood back to allow her friend passage. She hadn't been certain if she could reach Eri, but she had. She had given her friends the support she knew they needed even from this place where she could no longer reach them. Still, she knew that there was a reason for her being trapped in such a way, and the soft echo of laughter coming from the darkness beyond only proved it.

Knowing there was nothing more she could do for her friends, Kagome turned from them and began following the sound of the child's voice. Around her, flowing over the uneven surfaces of the cave walls as she followed the twisting passageway, her powers lit the way ahead in a soft blue light that parted the darkness. She walked quickly with determined strides, intent on bringing this horror to its completion as quickly as possible. She couldn't leave her friends to wander in this dark place alone for long, not knowing that somewhere in these caverns Kikyo still lay in wait and that the demon had yet to be found.

She followed to where she was being led, the haunting echo of the child's voice the only sound she heard. Her feet didn't touch the ground as she walked, and the air she breathed didn't enter into her lungs. She had been pulled into the realm of spirits, into the land of the dead, to see with their eyes and know the secrets only they could tell.

- - - - - - - - - - - -

"Eri….?" Ayumi questioned weakly as she watched her friend approach. She was carrying the torch, but in the flickering cast of the light she was alone.

Eri shook her head, knowing what Ayumi wanted to ask. "Kagome isn't there. It's like she just disappeared…" She paused in uncertainty, not sure how to explain what had happened, what she had felt, how she was unjustifiably certain that though she had not seen her Kagome was still safe…somewhere. "Don't worry, Ayumi," she chose to say instead. "She'll be fine. I know it."

Though not understanding her friend's certainty, Ayumi nodded weakly in acceptance. "What do we do now?" she asked quietly.

Eri looked past Ayumi into the winding passageway beyond. Her lungs tightened at the very thought of going any further into this old crypt, but she knew there was no way around it. They needed to find another way out. "We go forward," she said, pointing with the torch to cast light into the darkness beyond.

Together, the girls turned and began to slowly make their way through the gloom, winding through the rough passageways cut into the stone. They had only made it a short distance when they were brought to a stop. A crossroads lay ahead, the path branching out in two directions before them.

"Which way?" Ayumi asked, her eyes shifting from one dark passageway to the next.

"I don't…" Eri was cut off by the sound of something scrapping against the stone. She heard Ayumi gasp, but she quickly covered her friend's mouth with her free hand to keep her silent. The sound came again, more distinct than before, and Eri was certain that the soft scraping she was hearing was the sound of footsteps.

Pulling Eri's hand away from her mouth, Ayumi asked in a hushed whisper, "Do you think it's Kagome? Or…Yuka?"

"I don't know," Eri whispered back with a slight shake of her head. She looked back to Ayumi, her dark eyes hard as they glinted in the light of the torch. "I'm going to find out. You wait here."

"No!" Ayumi gasped fearfully. "You can't…!" But Eri had already stared moving down the passageway towards the sound.

Releasing a strained breath, Ayumi made to follow; but she had only taken a step when suddenly the path ahead erupted in a terrible wall of crimson fire. She stumbled back, her arms coming up instinctively to shield her face from the intense heat. The ground trembled in the wake of the fires, a terrible shudder the spread through the stone of the crypt and shook free large sections to come crashing down into the passageway.

Ayumi was thrown to the ground, unable to keep steady on her feet in the terrible shaking of the cave-in. All around her, the fire still burned, a terrible red that seared against the stone. And in the light of those flames, stepping forward on bent limbs of sickly green, the demon who had called up the fires emerged.

Scrambling back from the hideous beast in sheer terror, she released a shrill, piercing scream that carried through even the thick of the stone to fill the underground crypt with her horror.

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You know, it doesn't really matter that I'm not getting many reviews for this story. I like it :P It's all spooky and creepy and mysterious; just perfect for a Halloween story…even if Halloween is over for another year. Besides, I've mange to scare a couple of people (other than myself…I seriously don't recommend writing old ghost stories while alone at night), so that's good enough for me.

Anyways, that's enough for now. Later all.

Shadow