A/N:I have returned! And I am very pleased that I finally got a review last chapter. Thank you very much, jasmine, and if you're reading this again, this chapter is dedicated to you!
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu Yu Hakusho or Tomb Raider.
Chapter Ten—The Darkness of a Tomb
I've acquired new evidence that leads me to believe it is the Scion, itself that is, in some strange way, a vast library of information to rival even Alexandria. I am now convinced that, if I can obtain it, I will finally discover what happened to my beloved Amelia.
We read the next journal entry on the flight here and we were now climbing up a steep cliff to the monastery that we had seen Pierre standing in front of—the entrance to Saint Francis Folly. Right in front of the large doors were the remains of a campfire along with a cooking pot and three empty cans. I picked up one with a picture of refried beans on it and tsked.
"Pierre, you litter bug."
Meanwhile, Yusuke and Kuwabara hauled open the massive doors. I only stared once the inside could be seen clearly; it looked rather cheery inside because the domed roof had fallen in on itself and let the sunlight shine down on the colossal, white, stone pillars typical to Grecian architecture. Still, I was hesitant because of a sneaking suspicion that things were about to take a turn for the worst. I had been experiencing this anxiety since The Lost Valley when the T-Rex battle had been harder than it should have been and the encounter with Qualopec in the last tomb had heightened my senses to code red. All of my group could testify that I had been unusually quiet, even for me.
However, the unease didn't stop us from going in; after all, we couldn't get home unless we did. Just like when we had entered the tomb in the mountain cave, once we were all inside, the huge doors slammed shut, putting an end to any thoughts of turning back.
We hadn't progressed very far into the large room when two lions raced toward us, looking for an easy meal. I showed them that we would not be that meal, nor would they be eating any others.
Not a second later, an arrogant Frenchman's voice echoed throughout the room, "I suppose you're more of a dog person."
"Natla doesn't honor her contracts Pierre," I spoke from experience. "I'd move on if I were you." I began sneaking around the pillars in search of the crazy bald guy before he snuck up on me.
"No, mademoiselle, Natla and I understand each other. I find things for her and she rewards me handsomely. But you seek the very thing she does. That is why you are not trusted."
"I trust my instincts." But at the moment, they weren't doing anything for me. I had the feeling he was behind me somewhere (What bad guy isn't?), but I couldn't get a bead on him with this place's crappy acoustics.
"And that is why you are in second place. I am a professional, mademoiselle. I focus on the job and I get paid."
"There's more to life than money, Pierre."
"This isn't life, mademoiselle, it's business. Your compulsion prevents you from seeing the difference."
I slid around the side of another shadowy pillar and then backed into the middle of the room where my group—who had stayed put—would be able to watch my back.
"It hasn't prevented me from getting a piece of the Scion. How's business for you?"
I heard two clicks as he un-cocked his guns and I finally pinpointed the loser. "Touché. So then, why don't we see whose compulsion gets them the next piece?"
I listened for a few moments afterwards in hopes of hearing where he was going, but (What do you know?) not only was he good at finding things for crooks, he was also good at stealth.
"He was behind you the whole time," Kurama kindly informed me.
"I know, I had a hunch. Besides, if I didn't see him first, Hiei would have so I was safe."
Now that our lives weren't in immediate danger, I took a moment to figure out the puzzle of this room because, as far as I was concerned, there was no way out unless we could climb walls and go through the open roof. We couldn't, of course, so it looked like our only other option was the gate on the opposite end of the room which, confusingly, had a gate on a ledge above it.
Since the roof had caved in, it had broken off the tops of the gigantic pillars and cut chips in the sides that would be great for climbing. Up above where we had come in was an alcove but what was in it, I couldn't see clearly from this height. Two balconies on either side of the room would be a great help for us to get up there.
As I walked to the other end of the room, all the while looking for a chip in the stone low enough for us to climb, I stepped onto a circular pressure pad that opened the smaller gate above the large gate on the opposite end of the room. But as soon as I stepped off, the small gate slammed shut again so we would have to find something to leave on it.
The best chip for climbing turned out to be on the last pillar on the right side and, after gaining some height with the aid of a couple more gashes in its side, we could use a flip-jump to get to the pillar on the left side. This one was much taller but after some climbing we could reach the top and jump from there to another pillar and a balcony, working our way backwards to the gate above the entrance door.
From the balcony, I could make out the image of a golden ball on a pedestal in the alcove that would be perfect for the pressure pad down below. We hopped down to a lower balcony which had a convenient hook by it that would make for an easy wall run to the other side. I performed that task and then helped the rest of my team over.
Unfortunately, as we had learned throughout the beginning of this escapade, things are never easy and the alcove with the golden ball was blocked off by a gate. Interestingly on the wall opposite the gate, there was an image composed of glowing dots that released a sparkly smoke. All the dots came together to depict a hero with a sword, holding the head of a beast.
"It looks like a constellation," Tiara commented.
"I would guess that that is what it is intended to be," Kurama agreed. "The Greeks had an affinity for heavenly bodies. I believe that this is a portrayal of—"
"Perseus after he beheaded Medusa," I interrupted and then because of his shocked expression announced, "I read up on my Greek Mythology. This is definitely a piece to the puzzle."
I indicated a pressure pad in front of the picture and Dusty took the liberty of stepping on it. Instantly, all the bright lights shut off, leaving much less brilliant circles where they used to be. She tried stepping on the pressure pad again but the lights didn't turn back on.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to break it," she apologized.
"No, no, this is another piece to the puzzle," Kurama said and then I followed him in pacing the room.
We didn't even make half a lap before we recognized the same image on a wall down a dead ended hallway just like the one we had entered through. There were only two dots on this one, one being on Perseus's blade and the other being on Medusa's eye, and neither was glowing because they were jewels instead of the circles on the other constellation.
"There is no smoke coming from these," Kurama said, gently running the pads of his fingers over the jewels. I wondered if his Youko side was yearning to steal them. "Perhaps it is trapped inside."
"Trapped," I muttered, and then our eyes met as the puzzle was solved. "Dusty trapped the stars."
"They must be freed," he added and we went back to the other constellation.
"Stand back," I called and shot out the blocks on the points that corresponded with the other image.
Smoke was again beginning to wisp from these two points and the sound of rock grinding on rock told us that the wall with the other image had moved. The opening it created revealed a hook to carry us over to two more balconies and I left the rest of the group behind to see what the point of this was. In the second balcony was another copy of the Perseus/Medusa picture with glows coming from Perseus's hand, the small of his back, and one on each foot.
I hurried back to the first constellation and reset it with the pressure pad before shooting out the matching blocks and releasing the stars. Finally, our objective for climbing up here was reach as the gate cutting us off from the golden sphere was raised up.
"I'm guessin' we should pull it off o' there, aye?" Tayg asked me and he and Kuwabara attempted to push it off of the pedestal.
The metal creaked from being strained but it didn't roll off. It was Christy who spied the problem.
"Wait, guys, there's a metal rod inside that's holding it on there."
"How do we get it off?" Kuwabara asked, clearly disappointed that he didn't get to show off his muscles.
"Hn, there's a handle on either side," Hiei said, just loud enough that I heard him. Sure enough, there was a handle on either side of the sphere and they looked like they came off.
"Tayg, tug on that handle and see if that panel comes out."
He did and it popped off without problem. Kuwabara got the other one and the rod inside slid out onto the floor, releasing the golden orb to fall off the pedestal. The two boys guided it over to the edge of the alcove and then pushed it off. There was a solid, metallic clank! when the ball met the ground but it otherwise remained in tact. We got down to the ground and then Tayg and Kuwabara also rolled it over to the pressure pad.
The gate up above the exit slid upward, giving us access to the next room and we used the same pillars from before to reach it. The next room also had a gate that had to be opened in order for us to proceed. The staircase down to the floor from where we were had a section missing and so I sent Yusuke down first to see if it was safe to jump across.
He made it without fault and called up, "There's another pressure pad for that ball down here….and there's a switch to open the gate to the last room so we can roll it in here."
"Go ahead and pull it," I called back.
He did and then walked into the last room to get the sphere while the rest of us hung out. A second later we heard lion roars and Yusuke came running back to the stairs before stopping and laughing. "What am I running for?"
He whipped out his brand new shotgun and blasted those cats to kingdom come and then resumed his mission, soon returning with the orb and pushing it onto the pressure pad. The large gate slid up and the rest of us leapt over the gap in the stairs so we could follow it.
The dark hall wound downward and it steadily got colder as we got deeper underground until the tunnel opened up into a very tall room. This room was centered around a tower in the middle which I knew had five levels to it, two of which were currently in ruins. The rest of the walls and paths had definitely seen better days but they weren't as demolished as some parts of the tower. Apparently when the roof of the monastery above fell in, so did some rocks from the ceiling in here.
From where we were standing, we were within jumping distance of the topmost level and once there, we noticed there were a switch on either side of us, both of which were too far away to jump to on our own. However, from the far end of this level, we could see two shelves that would aid me in my trip over there. Each shelf had a hook on it and since only one shelf was out at the moment, I latched onto the other one with my grapple and pulled it out, too. I jumped onto this one first and then used the other one, working my way left until I reached a pole that would swing me over to the switch.
After that switch was thrown, the torches on either side of it lit up and a shelf slid out of the wall beneath where I stood, making for a quicker route back to the tower. I jumped back and then turned in time to shoot down a bat while Hiei decapitated a second one. Catching the corpse of the one he took down, I turned back to instruct my group of would-be tomb raiders.
"This level will help you all build your jumping skills but be careful. In some levels you can survive most falls but here, one false step will give you a one-way ticket to the bottom." I dropped the bat carcass over the edge and our sensitive ears pricked up, waiting for the impact. Several second later, we heard a faint splash as the corpse hit a puddle on the ground floor. "Keep that in mind, we're going to make our way down there as soon as we get that other switch. Who wants to go this time?"
"I will," Hiei volunteered and then gave the switch a questioning glance, knowing that he couldn't jump that far now.
I studied the paths around the room and realized that there was rock lining where there used to be ledges leading up to the switch. Now to reach them.
Ah, there it is. A shimmer of gold had seized my attention and I found a hook on top of a loose-looking column set into the wall a level below us. My team followed me down and then I latched onto the hook, enlisting the aid of Tayg to pull in down.
The column was just long enough to reach the level below us and would serve as a good makeshift bridge to some ledges that would take Hiei close enough to reach the rock lining. However, there was also a medi-pack over there and I wanted it.
I climbed down another level and then stepped up onto the bridge and took a couple steps toward the supplies….
Crack! The column sank down a couple inches as the end fell apart a bit and then it didn't move anymore.
I had gasped when it happened (an odd characteristic of mine—I don't scream when dangerous things happen to me) and stumbled to my knees, but now that I wasn't falling, I slowly stood back up and took careful steps to reach the prize I had wanted. Hiei came after I was across and I gestured to the ledges that would carry him to the left side of the room.
"There's your route. I'll meet you back over on the tower."
By the time I had inched my way across the precarious column, Hiei had stepped up to the switch and pulled it. A gate ground up somewhere nearby and when I looked behind us, I met the sight of a door across the way with a name I had never seen before.
"Hephaestus," I read. "They weren't in the old version. Who are they?"
Hiei joined us and we began exploring for a way to reach the doorway.
"Hephaestus was the god of technology—blacksmiths, metals, sculptors…." Kurama answered, happy to know that I had not learned of this and he could still provide information. "He was worshipped by industrial centers. The legends say that he was the son of Hera and sought after Athena. So much so, in fact, that he tried to rape her….although, he was unsuccessful."
"Athena? Zeus's daughter? The Goddess of War?" Tiara gaped.
"What kind of idiot was he?" Yusuke inputted.
Kurama shrugged. "The rest of the story is rather unpleasant but it is how the Greeks believed King Erichthonius of Athens was born."
A puzzled tilt of my head prodded him to reiterate, "He tried to rape Athena, Kat," with a suggestive look.
It came to me, and I wished it hadn't. Clutching my head to rid it of naughty images I cried, "Okay! I'm not going to ask anymore."
Lalo cocked his head at my antics. "I don't get it."
Tiara patted him on the head. "I don't think we want to understand."
"Is that a target?" Dusty asked, pointing up to the level we had just climbed down from.
"Well frick," I said, meaning that she was right and we all clambered back up to the second level.
I shot at the target and a shelf below it slid out of the wall a bit. I shot at it a few more times and then it was out completely so we could use it along with some ledges and a pole to reach the Hephaestus room. We had to be careful as we were going along the wall to get inside since the ground below was sloped and Kurama, as graceful as he is, almost slipped to his doom.
The hallway inside took us to a gate with spears on the inside and another gate on the other side. A switch was on the wall which raised the gate and opened the spears. Yusuke entered the area between the spears to see if he could lift the gate on the other side which hadn't opened. When I heard a familiar thunk….thunk…. of a timer, I knew that was a mistake.
Hiei knew it was, too, since he had been with me the last time we had heard that noise. At the same time as I yelled "Yusuke!", Hiei grabbed his shirt and all but threw the detective out of the way of the spears as they came snapping back together and the gate slammed back down.
Tiara stared at the trap even after the rest of us knelt to check on her Guardian. I could only guess that she was imagining what would have happened if Yusuke had stayed in there. Then she sank to her knees and hugged her Guardian tightly while he just sat there, looking kind of stunned.
"Why don't we just climb the gate?" Kuwabara asked, acting along with his suggestion. He didn't get very far before the metal squealed underneath him and the whole gate fell off, sending the rest of us scattering so we weren't crushed.
"Well, that was a brilliant idea," scoffed Dusty. "Here's another: Why don't we just climb those cracks in the wall and go through the hole above the gate?"
I looked up where she was directing our attention and noticed that there was indeed a hole up there. How does she find that stuff and I don't?
"Hn, but that would be too easy," Hiei said.
"If you want a challenge," Dusty retaliated, going to climb the wall. "Then you should go fight in another tournament, not against a gate."
Hiei growled and I placed a hand on his shoulder chiding, "Chill, Eneco. You have to be the mature one here, you're older than her."
He raised an eyebrow at the nickname, but simply Hn-ed again and pursued the rest of us in scaling the wall. After we dropped to the floor on the other side, we traveled along another short hall to a room with what looked like a disco ball hanging from the ceiling. Though, it was the only disco ball I had ever seen that could shoot lightning out of its facets and each time it did, it raised some of the floor tiles.
"Hephaestus replaced Thor," I mumbled to myself. Thor was the God of Thunder in the Germanic culture who carried around a large war hammer. In the old game, the disco ball had been the sign of entering Thor's room, but now Hephaestus had replaced that god and overtaken his electrified disco ball.
"There's a big, long gate on the other side," Christy informed us. "How are we going to open it?"
"Four of those tiles are up all the time, no matter what," Tiara said.
"Pressure pads?" suggested Tayg.
"It's worth a try," I agreed. "There's a gap over between the gate and the electrified tiles. Hiei and I will get the ones on the right side and the rest of you guys can head over to that gap and get the two on the left."
Kurama was in front of the group with Christy so he stomped on the first tile and it actually did sink into the floor like Tayg thought it would. Hiei and I waited until they were all over to the gap; Dusty, being the last one, stomped on the other tile but her timing was off and the disco ball shot out a beam of lightning that snagged her ankle. Tayg pulled her out of the way and supported her so she could rest her foot. Catching Dusty, though, had changed the pattern of the disco ball's beams, although we didn't realize it at the time.
I took the first tile and Hiei ran to get the farthest one. After I hit mine, I ran over to the gap as the tiles changed but because Hiei had started after me, he didn't have time to move after he stepped on his and opened the gate. The electricity shot out and caught him, paralyzing him in mid-step as the current spiraled up and down his body.
My Guardian growled, trying to suppress his cry of pain, but as the flow grew stronger, he let out what I thought was as close to a yell as I would ever hear from him. I would later discover just how wrong I was.
But at the moment, that noise was enough that I couldn't resist reaching in to pull him out. Not a good idea—I was also drawn into the flow. Currents traveled up the metal rods in my spine, my ears dropped back in pain, and my tail bristled. I could hear my team behind us yelling things to each other but what they were saying didn't make sense to me; I had to get us out of here before we were both killed.
"Distract…." Hiei ground out but it gave me an idea.
Somehow, I managed to pull my gun out of its holster—being on the edge of the current, I had more range of movement. I pointed at the ball and the others shrank back into the adjoining room before I released the shot.
The result of the bullet connecting with electricity was an explosion that blew my Guardian and I out of this room and into the next. The ball sparked and began flinging currents wildly.
Oh my God, my back! I screamed in my mind. I was on my stomach, my head pounding, my back hot and aching, and there was this horrible screeching sound in my head…. Wait, that isn't in my head. Why is there cold metal on my face?
Hiei grabbed my shoulders from where he was laying on his back beside me and rolled us out of the way as a giant hammer crashed down on the pressure pad where we had just been laying. I coughed from the dust that was kicked up and felt myself being lifted slowly from the ground and into a sitting position against a wall. Some of the feeling was gradually returning to me and I concentrated on moving my fingers first.
Tiara, Christy, and Dusty ran to me and squeezed me in a hug, but I couldn't lift my arms to hug them back yet.
"Are you okay?" they asked simultaneously.
"I'll be fine," I said, but it was hard to concentrate on what anyone was saying, let alone myself.
They backed up as Yusuke began giving out orders and I was hazily able to watch him drag some sort of bust into a small indentation on the floor. Hiei sat down next to me with a heavy sigh.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"My shoulder aches again and I have a few burns." He shrugged.
"Sorry." He lifted the hand of his aching shoulder and put it on my shoulder for a moment before letting it fall limply back to his side. Yusuke pushed a large white block past us and over to the hammer that had almost squashed us.
My head slumped after him so I could watch what he was doing but instead my gaze focused on a picture beside me of Hephaestus pounding an anvil with a large hammer. As I was examining this, Yusuke had set off the hammer and it crushed the white block he had been pushing. The block had actually been a mold and another bust was revealed to be on the inside. Yusuke pumped a fist in the air excitedly and pulled it back past us to another indentation on the floor.
"He's lame," I mumbled, but Hiei caught it.
He snorted in amusement, but when I didn't join him, he questioned, "The detective?"
"No, this guy," I tapped the picture with my index finger. "Hephaestus—he's lame. Look at how he's hunched over his anvil and his feet are turned at awkward angles. I can relate. ….But not right now." I pushed against the wall behind me and very slowly rose to my feet, Hiei alongside me.
"Hey Three-Eyes," Yusuke called upon seeing us up. "How are you feeling?"
"Why?" demanded Hiei.
"Kurama figured out how to get the third statue but we need someone fast to retrieve it. You have to crawl up on top of the hammer and then get onto that ledge and then the ledge above the key and then swing to the block."
Without a word, Hiei went to accomplish his task. I had zoomed in on the part about the key and had finally taken note of the miniature gate in front of a pedestal with a glowing key on it. It looked like three busts needed to be put in the small indentations on the floor to open the gate. Hiei was on an upper level to my right and currently pushing another mold to the floor while favoring his sore shoulder.
The mold exploded into a shower of white chunks and a bust was standing neatly on the floor. Tayg dragged it over into the last indentation, forming a triangle of busts on the floor. However, this did not open the gate.
"Damn, I thought for sure that would work," Yusuke cursed.
"Wait, it still might," said Tiara. "Look at the gold diamonds by each statue. One end is longer than the others on each one and they're all pointing to…." She walked into the middle of the statues. "....Here."
Dusty, Kuwabara, and Christy all took stations at a statue and turned them so they were facing the appropriate direction. The pressure pad that I was standing beside popped a little higher out of the floor. Hiei had returned to my side and stepped on this since he was the closest.
The hammer came down, jarring the locks on the gate and bringing it down also. Hiei stuffed a medi-pack into my backpack at the same time as Tiara brought me a silver key with an amethyst jewel on it.
"Good, now let's get the hell out of here," I advised.
The way back to the tower room was much easier since the disco ball had gone back to a less erratic pattern that we could get past without injury. The gate on this side of the double-gate/spear trap was strong enough that one of us could hang onto it without it falling off like the other one. Pulling the switch on the wall and raising it was enough height for us to reach the hole above the gate again and climb out to the tower room.
As we stepped onto the threshold of Hephaestus's room, a long shelf slid out from beneath us, providing an easier path back to the tower.
"I did a lot of useful stuff that time," Yusuke boasted as we made our way back onto the tower. "I should be a lead tomb raider, too."
"What are you talking about, Urameshi?" Kuwabara demanded. "I did more than you, I should be a lead tomb raider!"
The rest of us just rolled our eyes because the rest of us had done just as much as those two bozos had. Besides, if they were constantly going to argue like this, what made them think I was going to let them be a secondhand to me?
"Oh will you two shut up? I don't feel like you masculine bullcrap right now," I snapped, but neither heard me as they started throwing rude retorts back and forth and slugging one another. "C'mon, you morons, I don't have the patience for your shenanigans right now," I pleaded, attempting to usher them away from the edge of the platform.
Stupid idea. As I pushed them away from falling to their horrible demise, they both thought it was the other and turn on me so that I got slugged double time. The punches were so hard that I was thrown backward and introduced to the same fate I had just saved them from.
Numerous cries of "Kat!" and "Katie!" faded from my ears as I fell but it was the one cry of "Onna!" that brought my dazed mind back to life and my eyes centered on one of the two shelves above me with a golden hook. My hand grasped onto the grapple on my belt and I threw as hard as I could….
The claws gripped the hook and I almost got whiplash from the sudden stop. So surprised that that had actually worked, all I could do for several minutes was pull myself into a sitting position in midair and breathe deep.
Then my teammates dropped down onto the level of the tower beside me and Christy yelled, "Kat!"
In relief Hiei sighed, "Onna," and then remembered that I was still hanging by a grapple line. "Swing over and I will catch you."
I took a quick look in his direction and then turned my attention to the ground, wondering if a drop from this height would be enough to kill me or if it would just break a few bones. People had fallen from two stories before and survived, hadn't they?
Hiei identified the look and growled, "Don't even think about it."
Who was I kidding? I was no Lara Croft and I would never even come close. Sure, I had brought this collection of people this far and even if we did make it out of here alive, how would we get past The Obelisk? Atlantis? The Great Pyramid? We didn't stand a chance. Especially if all they could do was argue and taunt each other all the time.
"Onna," Hiei's growl deepened warningly.
"Like you care," I muttered, still concentrating on the floor.
"Kat, c'mon," Yusuke pressed. "We don't know how long that hook is going to hold. Swing over here and we'll talk about this."
I sighed and, with another hopeless look at the gathering of wannabe explorers, started swinging my legs back and forth. Suicide is a cowardly death, I could almost hear Hiei saying, but I was a coward. I guess I could die with more dignity if I went out with my dirty tomb raider boots on.
I recalled the grapple and was caught by Hiei's arms. I pushed him off right away, glared at him, and told him, "Stop pretending. It doesn't suit you whatsoever." I then dropped down to the first level and used a broken ladder to get down to the ground.
Ignoring whatever protests and efforts made to stop me, I walked over to a set of stairs that went up to a switch and pulled said switch.
"Kat, I'm really sorry," Yusuke implored me when I still ignored him and walked back to a piece of one of the upper platforms that I could use to reach the ladder again. "Why are you so mad about that?"
"Why am I so mad?!" I whirled on him. Was he that stupid? "I almost frickin' died!"
His expression morphed into sheepish. "But you didn't."
"Yeah, no thanks to you." I only took a few more steps before I suddenly sagged into a puddle and drew my knees up to my face. "This is useless. We're never going to make it out of here alive! We're done!"
~TIARA'S POV~
"She's losing it," Yusuke murmured, staring at Katie worriedly.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"Before you moved here…." With a curious glance from Kurama, he added, "And before you and Hiei met her, Kat had a breakdown. She was really depressed and….well, I guess you would say she went insane for a while. She started doing really weird stuff and it had Christy, Kuwabara, and me wondering if she would make it through."
"What kind of weird stuff?" Dusty asked.
He shook his head. "If you want to know, you better ask her, it's not up to me to say. But the point is, when she gets really overwhelmed or sad, she has mini breakdowns. This might be something big enough to break her entirely." He turned to Hiei. "You have to do something."
"I do?"
"You're her Guardian," Yusuke told him.
"You heard her, detective. She doesn't want me to talk to her."
"She doesn't want you to pretend like you care, midget," Kuwabara inputted. "Be sincere."
"I suppose you think I should take your advice, fool?"
Yusuke sighed and then turned to the eloquent redhead of our group. "You better go do it, then."
Kurama frowned uncertainly at Hiei and then approached Katie.
"Kat." He carefully laid a hand on her shoulder since she had started to sob. "Please, you have to come out of this. We need you."
"Come out of this?" she sniffed. "How? We're all going to die here."
"Don't say that," Kurama gently scolded. "You've gotten us this far."
"Kurama, ever since The Lost Valley, I've almost gotten us killed numerous times."
"No, Kat, you've almost gotten you killed numerous times, and that was because you refused to accept help from any of us." He pointed toward the rest of us. "Look, you have plenty of able-bodied people with you who are glad to help. All you have to do is ask. Assign us jobs and we'll do them without objection. I will help you whenever you need me, no matter what the problem is."
"He's one hell of a pro at pep talks," Yusuke smiled.
Katie considered us and then her friend in front of her. "Promise? No matter what it is?"
Kurama smiled. "Yes, I promise. That's what friends do, and you have many. But for now I think you should rest; that last room shocked your system and I'm sure that doesn't help."
Katie snorted sarcastically. "You're so funny, fox boy. But no, I want to keep going. I want to get home."
Kurama frowned disapprovingly. "Kat, a friendship is like a highway, it goes both ways. You have to take the advice of your friends, too, in order for it to work."
"Fine," she conceded. "Let's head up to Poseidon, it's the closest open room."
~DUSTY'S POV~
"I'm worried about Katie," I told Tayg.
"Aye? 'N' why is that?" he asked, sitting cross-legged beside me. "She was well 'nough t' stand watch."
"I know," I said. "But she was complaining about her back hurting. What if she damaged it? I don't want her to have another surgery. And her thoughts about killing herself today really scared me."
The Irish dude pulled me into his lap and hugged me. "She's a'ight. After wha' th' fox boy jus' told her, I think th' muscles 'r' jus' tense now; she jus' needs t' rest."
Hiei was looking at us. He now had his left arm bandaged as well as his right and his legs were also wrapped up to the knee. He scanned everyone else who were asleep in various places in the hall and the room by the gate-spears-gate trap except for Christy who, I think, was having the same conversation with Kurama and hugging.
The black clad fire youkai rose and walked down the hall to the threshold of the door where Katie was standing guard.
~KAT'S POV~
I heard soft footfalls behind me and my nose picked up Hiei's scent. Whatever it was, it was really good. Like a combination of smoke and pine with faint traces of death mixed in. After all the time I had spent with him, I never really thought about it.
He peered over the edge. "Hn, aren't we on a restricted schedule?"
"No, not at the moment," I answered, rubbing the base of my neck. "Pierre needs all four keys to escape this place and we have one. He's probably just waiting for us to make our move—wherever he's hiding."
A moment later, a crystal dangled in front of my face on a makeshift cord of bandage wrap. I slowly took it from Hiei's grasp since at the moment it hurt to raise my arms very far. He sat beside me and remained silent, staring out at the scenery and contemplating the day's disheartening events.
"It came from the smith's room. The wrap will have to do until I can get a proper chain for it. There are some strong metals forged in the Makai."
I carefully reached up and tugged gently on the chain of his tear gem. "Like this one?"
"Hn." He gave me an expectant look and I held the crystal back out to him.
"Will you put it on? It hurts to raise my arms very far."
He did as I requested and then squeezed the sore muscle. I swatted his hand away and he narrowed his eyes at me before forcing me to stay still so he could sit behind me and massage my neck and shoulders.
"Quit being so cranky, Eneco," I chuckled.
"Why do you keep calling me that?"
"It's my nickname for you. It means 'fiery one' in Spanish. I thought of it after I came up with Lalo for Tiara's Brionian."
"Hn." I translated that as If you insist of calling me something other than my given name, then I suppose I approve of it. It's amazing how you can get something so complex from the tone Hiei says one word in.
The heat was relaxing my muscles and the pain was progressively receding. He worked his way down, pressing on the muscles around my spine and coming to the small of my back.
I knew he was trying to make up for today. In his mind, he felt that he had failed because I had gotten hurt and almost killed. If the latter had happened, I suppose he would have, but, luckily for him, it didn't.
"You don't have to do this," I assured him.
"Yes I do," he insisted. "It's because of me that you're hurting now."
"Don't blame yourself," I yawned after a bit. "I don't." I snuggled back into him; I was getting way to comfortable.
"I can't protect you if I am defeated so easily." He put an arm around my waist, the other atop my head and ruffled my hair, bumping my right ear.
My tail starting thumping against his leg and that little tickle caused a whimpered sigh to bubble up my throat. He jerked his hand back thinking that it was a sound of pain but when I snuggled closer, he placed it back.
"Don't beat yourself up." I yawned again. "Just don't leave me and we'll be fine."
~HIEI'S POV~
Why wasn't she angry with me? It was because I was too slow that she got injured. Perhaps she isn't so bad. I shouldn't let my emotions get the best of me but….
I put an arm around her to keep her from falling over the edge and rubbed her head like a dog would appreciate. I accidentally bumped her ear and jerked my hand away thinking I had heard a pained whimper but when she nestled against me, I realized it was a sound of content.
That's….interesting. I'll have to talk to the fox later.
"Don't beat yourself up." She yawned again. "Just don't leave me and we'll be fine." I buried my nose in her white hair and was assaulted by the scent of vanilla….coconuts?
"I won't leave you," I promised into her hair. There was no answer; she was asleep. Somehow, though, I felt that I would be letting her down soon enough.
I sighed.
~KAT'S POV~
I awoke across the room from Christy and her Guardian, my head on my backpack and Hiei's cloak over me. Hiei was resting beside me, sitting with his head on his arms which were atop his knees. His katana was tucked in the crook of one arm and he looked as though he hadn't been sleeping very long at all.
My shoulder was stiff and I had a crick in my neck so I finally decided to lay on my back until everyone else was up. However, when I rolled over, it woke my Guardian.
"Are you ready to leave, onna?" he asked.
I nodded and called across the room, "Christy! Kissy Nae!" Next I tried the couple in the corner. "Feather Duster! Dusty!" Well, Dusty and Christy wouldn't wake up if you dropped an atomic bomb on them so I tried my last resort. "T! T-Rex! Tiara! Holy jeez! I'm going to throw something at them. ….A shoe."
I bent down to take off my boot and then decided against it. "My boots have too many laces to put back on. Let me use yours." I grabbed his foot.
Hiei let out a sharp hiss of pain and instinctively backhanded me.
"Ow! Fudge! What did you do that for?" I whispered hoarsely.
"Don't touch me, onna." Can you say bi-polar, boys and girls?
"So you slap me? What the hell did you do?" I asked while holding my stinging cheek. Hiei turned his eyes to his boot and then slipped it off, showing the bandages Kurama had put on a while ago. There was blood beginning to seep through and there was some of what looked like a burn poking out of the top.
"What the flip?" I cried. "Did you burn yourself?"
He glared at me. "You think I would injure myself? It's that damned snow you made me trudge through back in Peru. It got inside my boots."
"Oh, duh Shorty, he's a fire youkai," I reminded myself.
"Looks like the lil' fire youkai got kinda buggered up, aye?" came Tayg's voice.
My Guardian turned his glare to him and then put his boot back on, giving a curt, "Hn."
Everyone else was now getting up, probably from the loud slap. Tiara rose from her spot with Yusuke and came to crouch in front of me.
"Are you felling better?" she whispered.
I nodded and scooted closer to Kurama. "I have a question for you."
"Alright, what is it?" he said, sticking to his promise.
"How come it feels really good when someone touches my ear?"
Kurama smiled. "Foxes show affection by nibbling ears and rubbing heads. Your instincts tell you that such an action is a way of them saying 'I love you'."
"Oh." Tiara and I looked at each other, smiled, and began rubbing heads.
~KURAMA'S POV~
I chuckled at the girls' antics. There was never a dull moment with them around. Christy stirred in my lap.
"Who do you love?" she asked still half asleep.
I smiled. "You."
"Nu-uh," she argued, catching me off guard. "You just told someone you loved them and it was not me."
"I was merely explaining the ways of how foxes show affection." I gestured to Tiara and Kat.
"Well, what are they?" she asked.
I smiled again, bent down, and began rubbing my head against hers which sent her into a giggling frenzy.
Kiss her! Youko's voice rang in my head. I don't want to rub heads, kiss her now!
Now is not the time, I told him.
Why not? he demanded.
There are too many people around.
I don't care!
You will if Yusuke and Kuwabara catch us.
Youko growled and sent me a mental image of him sitting in a corner, pouting and tail twitching.
~KAT'S POV~
"Foxes," Hiei shook his head.
Christy raised a finger pointedly but did not look at the Koorime. "I would remind you that I am not a fox, but I'm having too much fun right now."
"Hn, this is a stupid waste of time," said the dark youkai.
Now Christy looked at him, "Whatever. You're just jealous 'cause no one will rub heads with you."
"I would not engage in such foolish things," Hiei retorted.
"Well we will so go over there and be quiet," I told him. He rolled his eyes and snatched his cloak from me before going across the room to lean on the wall.
"Pissy pants," I mumbled. Tiara got up and practically skipped across the room as Yusuke awoke and rubbed heads with him, too. There was a twinge of jealousy in my gut and I looked out of the corner of my eye to Hiei. He was also watching my friends.
Christy grinned at me. "You two need to make out or something." She faked a gasp. "What? I didn't say anything." I buried my face in my backpack and laughed a little. After that last bit of alone time with him, I sort of wished I could, but not enough to try. Stupid emotions!
Kuwabara and Dusty woke up some time later and we returned to the second level of the tower. At this point, we could see a switch across from us but to reach it, someone would have to climb up to the third level and just down. We had Tayg do it. The door that opened was even with the second level but could only be accessed from the third. The doorway read Damocles.
"Oh no, I can't do that one," I panicked. "The old one was hard enough, I can't—"
Kurama grasped my shoulder and smiled encouragingly at me. "If anyone can do it, you can."
I slumped at his faith in me and the way he could always replenish my strength just by saying one sentence. Without further protest, I began the ascent to the third level where we had to tug down another pillar to be a bridge for us. We gathered two medi-packs from the area around this and then moved left over some ledges and climbed a few cracks down to get to the Damocles room.
There was the usual gate-spears-gate trap, but the hole above this one was clogged by a stone block. Fortunately for us, there was a hook for my grapple on the end and we jerked it out of there. Then Yusuke decided to test the strength of the first gate by climbing onto it and bouncing up and down.
"Feels strong enough to me," he said. "But I don't think I can reach the hole from the top. Why don't we try riding it up? Somebody pull the switch over there."
Tiara tended to this job, approving of this method more than the last. However, the gate barely got five inches of the ground before it slid back down its runnings, showering sparks.
"Alright, maybe it isn't strong enough," grumbled Yusuke.
"But it is strong enough to pull itself up," Tiara said.
"So we'll push the block under the gate to hold it up and we'll climb over," directed Dusty.
So that's what we did and it wasn't long before we were all successfully on the other side, walking the hall in silence to the puzzle that was Damocles. A pressure pad led us into the exact room and I became even more paranoid and twitchy, waiting for something sharp to fall on one of our heads.
In an effort to try and occupy my mind, Yusuke commented, "Why were you so scared of this place? There's nothing here."
He was right. For the moment, there wasn't anything hazardous to our health but it was only a matter of time. I scanned the decorative Grecian pillars and the odd pattern of red and white checkered tiles with strange slits on the floor in between.
"You don't know who Damocles is?" I asked quietly.
"A guy who liked checkers?" Kuwabara guessed while catching sight of the weird tiles.
"No," I spun around to the rest of my friends. "None of you know the legend of Damocles?"
Kurama gave me a small smile since he obviously did but didn't see how the legend pertained to this room. "Why don't you tell us, Kat?"
"Damocles expressed how much he wished he was the king, not for the power, but for the constant protection the king had. To disprove Damocles's belief, the king sat Damocles on his throne during a feast at the castle. At the end of the feast, Damocles looked up and saw a sword suspended above his head by a single piece of horsehair which the king had put there just to show how much danger he was in everyday."
"What 'appened t' th' lad?" Tayg asked. "Did 'e die?"
"No, he didn't," I replied and then softly supplied, "But we might."
"Why this time?" Christy asked.
We had made it across the room and into a smaller adjoining room with the Damocles Key laying on a set of circular stone steps. This didn't seem harmless at all….until you looked above and spotted the chandelier with giant swords rather than crystals hanging off of it.
"Oh sh—" Kurama laid a hand over Christy's mouth.
"I'll go," Dusty volunteered when on one else did.
"Notta chance," blurted Tayg, his accent jumbling his words. "I dunna know much 'bout raidin' tombs but I'm smart 'nough t' know tha' those swords 'r' gonna fall when ya grab tha' key."
"Then I'll have to get out of the way before that happens," Dusty spoke stubbornly. "Don't argue with me."
"You—" Tayg began again but Dusty interrupted him.
"You stand there and be quiet. I like you, Tayg, I really do, but you're breaking my concentration. Shh!"
Not wanting to distract her and get her impaled, Tayg clammed up as Dusty cautiously walked up the stone steps and stooped to pick up the key….
Then every sword plunged down from the chandelier. Smaller swords snapped out of the slits in the red and white tiles behind us and squares in the ceiling moved to make room for more blades ready to fall. I grimaced at the sounds of blades bursting out of the floor in unpredictable patterns.
"Dusty!" Tayg cried frantically.
From the other side of the stone steps Dusty came walking carrying both the silver key with a ruby stone and a medi-pack.
"I told you I would get out of the way in time."
Tayg sighed in relief. "Aye, that ya did."
"Hey Katie," Dusty pulled me from my nervous haze. "Part of a walkway fell down over there. You can use it to get up above the swords and I bet there's something important up there."
"Right," I agreed, anything but enthused about getting very high off the ground again.
But she was right. The pathway above the swords was near to some windows in the wall dividing Damocles into two rooms and on the windowsill of the one of the right was a lever. I pulled this and watched out the window as some swords on the left side of the room sank back into the floor.
Once back on the floor, I informed everyone, "This Damocles is more complicated than the last one but I know they didn't cut out the swords falling from the ceiling."
We should have kept an eye on the retard, though. He had strayed too far, looking for the other traps that awaited us and tripped the first sword. How convenient for him that Yusuke had been listening to my warning and saved his unintelligent best friend by pulling back on his shirt in the save fashion Hiei had saved the detective earlier.
"You frickin' wackadoo!" I shouted. "There's always one in front of the door. Don't you watch movies? If you would have listened, you would have heard me tell you to walk slowly on your way out and try to steer clear of a deadly path, if you can."
"Heh, sorry Shorty," the buffoon apologized.
"Perhaps Hiei and I could scout ahead and trip the traps," Kurama suggested and I approved this with a nod.
No one got skewered and when I reached the place where we had to cross over the red and white tile death sentence, Dusty was already hard at work studying the pattern that wasn't as unpredictable as I thought.
"The first one's safe when the pattern starts over. Then the second one on the left, the second one straight from there, the second one on the right and the third one from there since that's the end of the tiles. A pair should be able to pass through safely."
"Alright, um," I drew in a deep breath and took on my leader attitude again. "Yusuke, do you want to take Tiara and Lalo and go first?"
"Sure. Which ones are safe?"
"One, two, two, two, three," Tiara repeated.
When they made it over safely, it was all water under the bridge for the rest of us and then our scouts went forward to trip the rest of the blades in the ceiling. I had to go back around to the side of the room we had just come from, but on the other side of a set of blades dividing it. There was a switch on a spinning wheel up above the door and as far as we could see, the only way to reach it was by climbing on top of the Grecian pillars. Since I was the only one with a grapple, I was the only one for the job.
"It's not going to stay open for long," Tiara said and tried to lighten the mood by joking, "We'll have to leave someone behind."
"I vote Hiei," Kuwabara said seriously.
"Hn, you forget fool. You're the only one without a charge here. You're the only option."
Kuwabara slumped. "Are you serious?"
"No, idiot," Hiei snapped. "The fairy onna was trying to make a joke and you missed the punch line."
"Shut up, shrimp!"
I left them to argue while I picked my way over to a top of a pillar that had been knocked off. It made a perfect platform to climb up to the other side of the windows. There was a very thin white pole that I had to partially climb and then do a flip-jump to reach a pillar. There were only two pillars on this side and I had to get to the three on the other side to reach the exit switch. This required a wall run and then flip-jump over the blades below to get on the appropriate pillars. From there, though, it was no big deal to reach the exit switch and, every several grueling turns, the door below was high enough for my gang to sneak under. I had to perform a doge roll to keep from getting cut in half by the thick door but then it was easy for us to leave the horrific (for me) room.
"That switch that I pulled on ground level opened Atlas," I said once we were back on the tower. "It's up close to the top of the room so we should probably do Poseidon on the way." I turned to my group and singled out the youngest of us….aside from Lalo, but he didn't count. "Dusty, this is for you." I held my shotgun out to her, which was actually a funny sight to see a scrawny fourteen year old holding. At least she could keep the end up. "You were a lot of help in there. I'm bumping you up to my second in command."
Then I turned to Kurama. "That doesn't mean that you can slack. You're still Chief Puzzle Solver."
Dusty pumped a fist in the air excitedly and then holstered the powerful gun in the shoulder holster I had given her. Then, as her first action as second in command tomb raider, she took the lead in getting us down to the first level of the tower.
A shelf could be pulled out near the first level of the tower and cracks and ledges to the right of it gave us access to Poseidon. Water had pooled in the hall to the usual gate-spear-gate trap, and I just passed this off as a perk of being one of the lower doors. It hadn't yet registered who Poseidon was.
"No alternate routes or blocks to hold open the gate. I'd say it's a safe bet that you can actually ride this gate to get into the room this time," Yusuke said.
And he was right. We rode the first gate to reach the hole and when we had set foot into the hall on the other side we were attacked by….three rats. Annoying but easy to dispose of. The room they were "protecting" had only a square pool in the middle and murals of, I assumed Poseidon, riding on….sea horses?
"Wait a minute. Who exactly is Poseidon?" I asked my foxy friend as we walked around the room looking for a puzzle.
Kurama smiled. "The symbol most associated with Poseidon is the trident. He was the brother of Zeus and Hades—the God of the Sea."
"The God of the Sea?" I repeated. "Then who was Neptune?"
"Ah, you see, Neptune is the God of the Sea in Roman Mythology," he clarified
"I'm guessing the puzzle for Poseidon is underwater considering there's nothing here," Tiara said.
And she was right. This whole leader thing was a lot easier when you had people doing the work for you half the time. There was a lever to open a gate under the water and that took us to a new room. This would be a very beautiful place to stand and admire for a while if you weren't trying to get home. Just looking at the place gave me a pleasant feeling. The Poseidon room had two levels and water was up to the first one; the roof was domed with a skylight. Too bad we couldn't escape from there. We were currently standing on a circle with swirly water designs and there was a bridge connecting it to the middle circle where a column was holding up the second level. There was a switch facing us and a bridge with blue tile to the right of that column going to a circle. That circle was adorned with a fish statue, water spouting from its mouth.
We first climbed up the column to the second level. There was another fish to the left but this one had a brick blocking its mouth. That seemed a little, heh, fishy to me so I pulled it out….
And was promptly blown onto my rump by the rush of water that had be building up inside. Laughing, I turned onto my side and watched the water level rise up to be even with this path.
"I guess that was to reach that switch, right?" Dusty didn't even wait for a reply before she dove into the water and pulled the lever. When she came back, she announced, "It opened a gate on the floor and let out a wooden platform. But it's stuck so we're going to have to drop the water again."
It took me all of thirty seconds to realize we would need a wooden platform that could float to reach an opening above the locked gate with the Poseidon Key inside.
"Hn, there's a brick over there," Hiei spoke from beside me. "It could be used to stop the other statue."
I took his idea and jumped into the water to reach the brick he had spotted. Who would have thought that I would miss swimming so much after all the water we had dealt with already? I pushed the block into the water and it sank down onto the same circle as the other fish statue.
"Okay, put the cork in that one," I called across and Christy took care of this.
Once the water stopped going down, I dove into it and climbed out by the other fish statue and plugged this one up also. The water drained into grates on the floor and the wooden platform was free to be dragged wherever I wanted it.
After making my way to the floor, I latched onto the platform with my grapple and dragged it over to where it would be right under the alcove we needed once the water rose again. Instead of making me climb all the way back up to the top level, however, Hiei climbed down and pulled the plug on the first fish so I just rode the current upward. He joined me for the ride and Christy took care of the second fish.
While Hiei and I took a breather, Kuwabara was sent to get the key. This was a big laugh because aside from being clumsy, my dumb friend was also very tall and had to get on his hands and knees to fit through the hole above the gate. He came back with the silver key holding a blue-green stone not too long after he disappeared through the opening and then we were out of there.
Our last stop for this level was a door with the label Atlas on it which we could only arrive at after making use of the shelves at the top of the tower and some ledges below it.
"Atlas?" read Kuwabara. "A room full of maps?"
"No you retard, we're in Greece, remember? Atlas has a legend behind him, too," I said and then commenced the tale as we rode the gate into the next puzzle. "Atlas angered the gods and was punished by Zeus to carry the weight of the heavens on his back. Someone named Heracles collected apples nearby and went to reason with Atlas. Atlas agreed to pick apples for Heracles if Heracles would carry the heavens for a short while. Atlas tried to leave Heracles with the job forever but Heracles tricked Atlas and so Atlas was cursed to carry the heavens for all eternity."
When we came into the puzzle room, I pointed across a pit and up the hall to a golden sculpture of Atlas, hunched over under the weight a giant golden globe.
"The world, and if you don't have the strength to surpass Atlas, then it will crush you." I scanned over the group and then turned back to the puzzle. "There are holes up there and I'm sure that poles will come out to get back across the pit. I'll do it."
"Kat," Kurama said unsurely.
I smiled. "It's okay, Kurama. I can do this one. Promise."
I grabbed onto one side of a nearby turning wheel switch and Dusty grabbed the other side. Together we were able to crank it enough that a temporary floor stretched out over the wide pit.
"Why don't we just keep the floor there?" wondered Kuwabara.
"Jeez, Kuwa, even I think that's obvious," Tiara said. "That globe is going to come rolling down the slope and if it rolls across the pit on the floor, it will squish us all."
"Exactly," I replied as Tayg took over my place at the turning wheel.
As soon as I was on the other side, they let the floor retract and I had a momentary feeling of uncertainty that I would make it back across before I caught sight of Kurama's confident smile. I slowly walked up the slope to a ledge that I could climb on the left. I could see a switch up there and once I pulled it, my guess from earlier proved correct as a pole extended from a hole on either side of the pit.
I hopped back to the floor and watched the globe very carefully. In the last game, if you walked too close on the ramp, it set the boulder off but I walked right up to Atlas and his globe did not fall off his shoulders. At his feet was two sets of spears guarding the key and underneath them was a box of shotgun shells; I picked these up, thinking they might be the trigger.
They weren't and it wasn't until I studied the globe with a flame steadily burning inside that I noticed the target by each of Atlas's arms. Backing further away from the globe, I shot the target on the left side. Atlas's grip slipped a little, he hunched over a bit more, and the first set of spears retreated back into the floor. I backed up a couple more feet and shot the right target.
Atlas's grip slipped entirely and the globe came crashing down. I kicked into fourth gear and sprinted back down the slope with the death ball grinding down the walls behind me but still hot on my trail. Just when I thought I couldn't run anymore, the ground fell out from in front of me and I jumped up to the pole and flipped off to the safety of my friends. The globe broke through the poles like twigs and then fell to its end down the seemingly bottomless pit.
I handed the shotgun shells to Dusty. "Here. Divvy these up with Yusuke. I'll be right back."
After the initial adrenaline wore off, Dusty and Tayg rolled the floor back out and I returned for the sliver key with the emerald stone that was the Atlas Key. Then we rode the gate partially back out of here and used some poles to get to the hole.
Back outside, we climbed our way back down the tower to ground level. Once there, we used the keys in the keyholes with jewels that corresponded with those on the keys. Each time, a bar over the door slid back and finally we could leave. Hopefully the darkness of this tomb would stay behind as we moved onto our next mission: to serve as gladiators in The Coliseum.
A/N: Whoa! That was probably the longest chapter I have ever written on any of my stories! Sorry, I hope at least some of you like to read things in large quantities. Anyway, this worked well last chapter so....I want at least--let me say that again, at least--one review before I update again. The next chapter will be dedicated to you if you do so. Thank you!!
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