Wow... I'm like, written out, if that makes any sense. This'll be the second chapter I've wrote in one day. And it's friggin' long, especially compared to what I usually write (it's nearly 5000 words long!).

Random Fun Fact: I was listening to an English version of Caramelldansen the entire time I was writing this. I love that song. It's so infectiously cheery you can't stop smiling whenever it plays. ^_^ Long live Caramelldansen!

Anyways, I put a lot into this particular chapter, and I hope it shows.

13 In the Ruins

"Dance to beat, wave your hands together, come feel the heat, forever and forever. Listen and learn, it is time for prancing, now-"

"Kabe?"

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

"..."

"AHHHH!"

"Kabe-"

"AHHHH!"

"SHUT UP!"

"AHHHhhh..."

"One more word, Kabe. One more."

"Sor-"

"Shh!"

We'd been scouring the ruins for about a half hour, and we still hadn't found any way for us to go inside. After the first ten minutes, I'd suddenly become paranoid after discovering a large spider skitter out from behind a collapsed brick wall I was investigating. I was a huge arachnophobic. Seriously, I'd rather be in a room with an anaconda than a tarantula. I'm not even joking.

Still, I didn't want to just sit back and make Sheena search by herself, so I decided I was going to sing a song that was so infectiously cheery that you can't help but smile, that being Caramelldansen. I'd been singing the English version since the spider, so... yeah.

And it'd kept my mind off of spiders, and then Sheena spoke and I panicked. I know, I'm amazing like that.

A few minutes passed, and I'd settled for simply humming Caramelldansen.

"Kabe," Sheena tried again, this time from off behind a pillar. I was checking out the Chosen's pedestal for the fifteenth time.

This time, I managed to look up without freaking the fuck out. Go me. "Yeah?"

"What is that you're singing?... or rather humming now?"

"It's called Caramelldansen."

"Caramel... dancing?"

I nodded. "Yep. It's insanely fun and happy. It keeps me from thinking about whatever dangers we're probably about to run into."

"Kabe, like I said before, it can't be that bad if the fortune teller's done this before."

"Sheena, like I've said before, she also knows the location of every trap in the place, and we don't."

"Look, all the training I've gotten from just being a citizen of Mizuho should protect us from that. Plus, Corrine can scout ahead for us."

I lowered my head. "Sorry, I'm just being a nuisance"

"Naw, it's fine. I enjoy your company. You're good for comic relief, if nothing else."

"Oh. Well, golly gee, thanks for that."

"Hah, you're welcome!" She walked over to me, inspecting the door below us. "In all seriousness though, you've already saved my life once. Y'know, with the worm."

"Again, that was just a fluke," I reminded her. "And if you want to get technical about it, Linda's the one who saved you, since she gave me the Wingpack."

She crouched down, examining further the door in the platform. "You could accept a compliment when you're given one."

Rubbing the back of my head, I crouched down with her. "Sorry. I'm not used to it."

As I looked at the door, something occurred to me. "Speaking of Corrine, where is he?" Glancing around, I couldn't see any trace of him.

"I told him to keep a look out in case we're about to get ambushed."

"Ah... Tell him I say thanks, then." I turned back to the door below. Remembering my elven blood, I focused my senses on the door, feeling an immense power sleeping somewhere beneath it, some strands of red hot mana seeping out... making a trail?

Standing up, I glanced around the area again, focusing as hard as possible. All around me, strands of red mana seeped out of every area, one especially large fume of it venting just to the right of the platform Sheena and I were stood on.

Walking over to examine it, I began to scrape away some of the sand there, eventually revealing yet another door, this one shaped much like a trap door of sorts.

"Sheena! I think I found it!" I gripped the side of the door, not able to budge the thing at all. "I need help, though!"

"Sure thing," she called, jogging over to me. Gripping the other side, she managed to heave a bit of it up. Clearly, she was doing most of the work, but both of us eventually managed to move the stone plate-door-thing, revealing an entrance at last. Kindling a small flame in my hand, I looked down into the pit we'd found. Several fallen pillars made a stairway of sorts that would let us head down, though how far down I couldn't tell.

"Nice, Kabe. How'd you find this?"

"I used my awesomesauce-times-three elven blood to look for where mana might be seeping out, and there was a hell load of it coming from over." Standing up and stretching, I continued, "And, lo and behold, an entrance. Yay us."

"Ah, so you're a half elf, too?" She spoke, more as a statement than a question.

"Yeah... apparently."

"Man, Martel's not cuttin' you any slack in the social department. You look completely human, aside from your ears... but they're barely pointed, and they're hidden under your hair, anyway. I don't think many'll notice, so you'll be fine."

Reaching up, I realized she was right about my hair. Wow, I'd forgotten that I'd literally been four days from my next hair appointment when I'd vanished from Earth, so my hair was quite a bit longer than I liked. Though, considering the circumstances, that's actually a good thing. "Okay, that settles it. I'm never cutting my hair again."

Sheena laughed. "Oh, fine. Then you'll probably need one of my hair ties. You need to keep your hair out of your eyes in battle." When she saw my grimace, she continued, "You won't need one for a while longer."

I sighed, relieved. "Sorry, I just don't like to fuss with my hair much. Takes too much effort."

Sheena called out to Corrine before replying, "Y'know, you'll probably never get a boyfriend with that kind of mindset."

As Corrine bounded up and onto her shoulder, I went, "I care about my appearance, but I don't try to go all out or anything, just make myself look presentable. Most of the time, I never had much more to do besides... help out at home. I never had much of a social life."

"Not much of an outdoorsman, huh?" As she spoke, she slowly descended down into the pit, cautiously creeping down the pillar staircase. "I bet you hate this trip we're taking, then."

"Not really." I followed after her. "It's probably been the most terrifying and exciting couple of days in my entire life. And besides, how many people can say, 'I was specially selected by a high tech operation out of millions of people in Tethe'alla to go to the declining world on a incredible mission'?"

"You've got a point." Now that we were both down here, I lit another palmflare and gazed around. There wasn't a whole lot in this little hallway. It looked a lot like the one in the game, decaying stone pillars on either side of us... yet it seemed surprisingly sturdy, as if only the outer part of the ruins were... well, ruined. Cobwebs hung off of every little crevice in the ceiling.

Oh, geez, cobwebs.

Sheena walked foward, oblivious to my fear. "Ahh, ahhhh, no, dun wanna be here."

She turned around to me. "Now what?"

"I'm a huge arachnophobe." I pointed up. "Webs. Spiders. Me no likey."

"Kabe, it'll be fine. Besides, if either of us got poisoned, we have some Panacea bottles."

"That's not the point. They're really creepy. Like... seriously, disturbing. Their eight, skittering legs and their beady little fangs and their weird, bulbous asses and-gah, I REALLY don't want to be here."

She sighed. Corrine piped up, "Kabe, don't worry! I'm pretty sure they're much more scared of us than you are of them!"

"And for the twenty-seventh time in my life, I must reiterate that that little phrase does not help me. Christ, I can't tell you how many people have told me that."

"Kabe," Sheena tried.

"I mean, I realize people all have their own little phobias. People constantly tell them that they're pointless and to suck it up. Does that help them? I believe the answer's a resounding no."

"Kabe," she tried again.

"And besides that, I hate killing spiders. The way all of their appendages kick around postmortem-ugh, I need to shut up-Sheena, make me shut up, I scaring myself, here."

She said nothing, simply pointing to my shoulder. A few seconds passed, when she finally said, "Spider."

I didn't move for a full twenty seconds. "Sheena, you better be fucking joking."

She facepalmed, walking over to me and grabbing something off of my shoulder. I looked in sheer terror as she held a little quivering spider in between her index finger and thumb. She walked a bit away and sat it on a fallen pillar.

Turning to peer at me, she spoke, gesturing with her hands, "There. It's not dead, it's not bothering you, we can go."

I faced down, following after her like a scolded child. This was not going to be fun for me.

"...dance to the beat, wave your hands together, come feel the heat, forever and forever. Listen and learn, it is time for-AHHHH!"

"AHHHH!"

Both Sheena and I screamed in unison as we reached the end of the hall and walked through the doorway. The entire room ahead was filled with lava. No, really, it was all lava. A giant ass room filled with lava.

Okay, so this place wasn't at all like the game. Joy.

"Wh-huh?" Sheena went when she gathered her wits. "What do we do now? Where else is there to go, here?"

If this had at all been like the game, there would've been passages on either side of us back out in the hall to head down. But they weren't there.

Taking a cautious step foward onto the small balcony-like rock that jutted out before us, I glanced around the room. Seriously, it was as big as a football field. Nothing but lava about ten feet below us, a good twenty feet of nothing rose up above us, and the ceiling housed several stalactites, each just waiting to impale the three of us... or really, just the two. Corrine could easily dodge. Looking to my right... there was a small cliff that led to another doorway on the rightside of the room. But there was a problem.

The cliff was really fucking small. It was only large enough for one person to sidle along.

"Whatcha lookin' at?" Sheena questioned, walking up to see what I was staring at. "Oh, there is a way to go." Without any hesitation, she walked up and sidled along the wall. After taking a few steps, she turned to me, motioning for me to follow.

"No-ho, ma'am. I refuse. I'll fall. I guarantee it. I will."

"What did I say about calling me ma'am?"

"I don't care. I'm not going."

"Kabe, it's actually not that bad. Look," she started, inching her way back to me, holding out a hand, "just hold on and I'll guide us the rest of the way. Okay?"

I stared at her outstretched hand dubiously. "You sure? I mean, if I screw up, I'll take you with me."

She shook her head. "Didn't you listen? I said I'll guide us. It'll be fine. Trust me." She gestured with her outheld hand, enticing me to come foward.

"Well, I've always wanted to be cremated, so I guess at least one of my wishes'll come true."

I grabbed onto her hand as she sighed. Pressing my back to the wall, I stared down at my feet, watching in fascination as they moved. Eventually, I could see straight down into the lava.

"Oh, christ," I mumbled, now fully feeling that wave of intense heat rising up from the lava, almost losing my balance. Only Sheena's iron-knuckle grip on my hand kept me from falling.

"Sorry. When it first hits you, it's pretty strong, huh?" I nodded, afraid that speaking might make the air pressure in here change and thrust me into the lava below.

...It could totally happen. Shut up.

"Okay Kabe, we're at the corner. It's not that complicated to navigate, just keep an eye on your feet and hold on." I nodded again. Oh god, I never imagined myself going through some kind of Lara Croft-esque area in my entire life. Life seriously wasn't making sense these days.

I continued to watch my feet as they slowly reached a solid platform much larger than what I had been inching along on.

Finally there, Sheena let go of my hand. "See? It wasn't that bad."

Corrine nodded hyperly. "Yeah! You did real good, Kabe!"

I released a breath I hadn't realised I'd been holding, then started panting, almost hyperventilating. Had I held my breath that entire time? It'd had to've taken at least four minutes to get across.

"Kabe?" Sheena started, holding onto my shoulders.

"I'm... fine," I gasped. Giving myself amount, I took a deep breath, evening out my breathing. "I think I held my breath that entire time."

She laughed at me. "Nice job, Kabe."

"Well, it's really more of an accomplishment than anything. I didn't think I could hold my breath for that long."

Turning away and heading through the doorway we'd reached, she retorted, "Sure, whatever you want to think of it as."

I had a thought then as I was following Sheena. We ended up in a hallway similar to the one at the start of this place, but I wasn't interested in looking at any possible hieroglyphics. "Say, Sheena, do you think we're going the right way?"

Turning to look at me, she replied, "Kabe, we're going the only way."

"I know that. I'm just saying that I can hardly imagine the fortune teller as one to go through all that just for her herbs."

"Hey, appearances can be deceiving. We don't know anything about her physique. For all we know, she could be Sylvarant's leading wrestler or something."

"A wrestler. Really." I briefly entertained the thought of her duking it out with Regal. Wow... yeah, I couldn't see that happening.

"The point is we know absolutely nothing about her."

"Not even if she'll actually pay us anything for getting these herbs," I muttered.

"She seemed trustworty enough."

"Appearances can be deceiving~" I sang back at her.

She only sighed in response.

As we continued down this hall, it began to arc to the left. The light from the lava slowly began to dim as we continued, until I had to make another palmflare... which, unfortunately, put me as the leader. Because of the situation, it couldn't be helped, so I just kept my complaints to myself. I was never much of a leader, always the follower.

As we continued, I saw a decent sized stick sitting on the floor. Lighting the end of it, I handed it to Sheena. "Enjoy your light, Ms. Leader."

"Kabe, seriously."

I just laughed as I resumed my role as the follower.

Not much else happened as we made our way down this seemingly neverending hall. The light from Sheena's makeshift torch drew disturbing pictures all over the walls as we went. To say the least, they didn't calm my nerves any. Without any kind of conversation to occupy myself, my mind went all over the place. Places it really shouldn't be going at all.

Unconciously, my mind slowly began to delve back to the days just before I'd ended up here...

Until Sheena told me that a light was coming from the other end of this arcing hallway (which, impressively, was still arcing around. I think it may be some kind of spiral that heads deep underground). I wasn't really in the mood for flashbacks, anyway.

"Is someone else here?" I whispered.

Nodding wordlessly, Sheena delved behind a nearby pile of debris, nestling herself between the wall and the pile, motioning for me to do the same. I kneeled down beside her just as she blew out the torch.

Using my mana sense, I looked down the hall and the red glow that danced across the curved walls, growing ever closer. Eventually, I did make out some kind of mass of mana... but it wasn't of a person, certainly. It's shape was humanoid, which scared me.

Seconds passed. Sheena and I continued to stare through a small opening in the debris. Seconds turned to minutes. The glow continued to increase in brightness.

At last, the creature that'd I sensed appeared around the corner. A large, muscled and flaming body came forth, a single green eye in the middle of its chest. One arm held a flaming sword, the other I could sense some kind of mana upon... something shaped like shield, naked to the human eye, but it was there. Oh god, it's one of those Fire Warriors. Geez, I'd hated those things. I can't imagine I'd be able to handle fighting one in real life, though.

"Kabe," Sheena spoke in a quiet mumble. I glanced to her. "I'm going to throw one of my exploding cards back the way we came. If it works, it'll go investigate the noise and pass by us, then you blast him with a water spell. Can you do that?"

"I... yeah, I think so," I barely uttered. The Fire Warrior slowly continued foward, oblivious to us. I began to focus my thoughts on the mana that would create water as Sheena threw the card back behind us, an explosion sounding off. Its attention caught, it hobbled foward, past us, apparently not thinking to check behind the highly suspicious pile of debris. My spell finished, I silently uttered, "Aqua Edge," several discs of water skating foward and blasting into the Fire Warrior's back.

Surprisingly, instead of just hurting it, it turned the warrior's back black, burnt. It turned around, noticing us at last, it's single green eye questioning what we had done to it, but it was too late. The entire creature's body was slowly burning, his skin crisping off, the smell of burnt flesh wafting through the air. At last, the emerald eye blackened, but not before managing one last look of, "why?" it's body crumbling into a pile of ash, the light from its body disappearing, casting us in darkness.

Sheena and I stayed silent for several moments.

"Wow," she eventually managed. "That was... gruesome."

I fumbled for the stick, lighting the end of it, before handing it back to her and standing up, both of us leaving behind the poor creature.

We were several steps away from the fallen Fire Warrior when at last I uttered, "Poor thing."

Sheena looked at me incredulously. "Poor thing? That monster was dangerous. I could tell that just by looking at it."

"But still, we could've fought it fairly..."

"And end up killing ourselves in the process." She put a hand on my shoulder. "Kabe, trust me, we were right in this. All that creatures like that do is aimlessly wander around and kill anything they see simply because of its survival instincts. We have a bigger, more important mission, okay?" I nodded.

Silence returned to us for a few minutes.

"...You've never killed another human being, have you?" she eventually asked.

"...No. I know it's eventually gonna happen during this mission, be it the Chosen or something else, but I can't imagine how I'll handle something like that."

Her hand returned to my shoulder, squeezing it reassuringly. "It'll be fine, Kabe. I'll be there, okay? Whatever troubles we face, we'll take them together."

I looked up to her, a grin forming on my face no matter how I tried to fight it. "Heh, you'd make a great motivational speaker." I took a deep breath. "Thanks."

She offered me a friendly smile, removing her hand. "Anytime."

At last, we reached the bottom of the hall, a large door with an indentation of an angel upon it before us.

"Wow, what do you think this could be?" Sheena went in awe.

"Probably something for the Chosen. I think this place is actually one of the seals," I said without thinking, then cursed myself.

She turned to look at me. "You think so? And Yuan told you that the journey had only just started, so we could wait here and ambush them."

Trying to think of a way out of this, I said hurriedly, "Well, we can't be completely positive that they're on their way now." I paused, hopefully not to noticeably. "Look at it this way. They may be weeks from here, and we couldn't wait out for that long. And if they do come here, I'd think it better we strike them from some place where we'd be able to retreat easily if we have to."

She closed her eyes. "That... actually makes sense." Her eyes opened. "And if we did fight them here, it definitely wouldn't be easy to escape if things turned badly."

I sighed. 'K, that's settled. Continuing on, I said, "We're also on the job, so we couldn't even if we wanted to."

"Okay, you've made your point. Just remember, though I'm sure neither of us really wants to have to murder the Chosen, it will come."

I looked back up to the door. "Yeah... I know." It suddenly occurred to me that it could really happen. With me here, things could change so drastically... Colette could actually die. I mean, I certainly wouldn't help that happen, but...

I shook my head, clearing away these thoughts. I just had to be extra careful. That's all. Glancing to the right, I saw a large crack in the wall, large enough that a person could fit through.

Sheena'd noticed just as I did. "Hey, Kabe. You see that?"

"Yeah. Let's hope that's the grove."

Sheena delved in first, me following close behind. Emerging on the other side of the wall, it quickly became apparent we didn't need the torch for now, so she blew out the flame.

On the other side of the wall, there was a beautiful, quiet, serene little grove, blue crystals resting in small alcoves in the walls around us, giving off a subtle blue glow, giving the place a calming feel. Many small, green shrubs dotted the area, each the same as the other, a thin amount of water flowing across the hard rock ground. Apparently, only one kind of plant grew here, which made things so much easier on us. But...

"Amazing," I said breathlessly. The place was breath taking. It held a demure, gentle grace. Damn, I wish I had my camera with me.

"I know," Sheena responded after a few moments. "How could such a place like this exist in some old, lava-y ruins?"

I shook my head. "I don't know, but I'm glad it does." The sweltering temperature that I'd somehow managed to ignore back out in the hall became all too apparent, as the damp cold in here was such a welcome relief. I hated wet clothes, but I was sure they'd dry pretty quickly back out there, so I layed down in the inch-high layer of water coating the cool stone.

"Ahh..." I sighed contentedly. "Now I don't want to leave."

"I know," Sheena replied, sitting down next to me.

I thought back to mine and Sheena's previous conversation, and I realized something. "Wow, hah," I laughed.

"Hmm?"

"I just noticed how ridiculous our weapons are."

"What do you mean?" Sheena asked, turning to face me.

I propped myself with my elbows, looking at her. "Think about, you use these little pieces of paper to fight-"

"To be fair," she interrupted, "they're enchanted with a special art passed down in Mizuho. They're more than just pieces of paper."

"I kinda figured that. But to the ordinary person, what do we look like?"

She thought for a moment, before a smile cracked on her face. "Some girl who could give a mean papercut and a guy with an umbrella." She snorted. "Yeah, we're pretty intimidating alright!" She let herself laugh.

I let a chortle or two escape as well. "Well, at least they'd know I meant business with mine when I show the blades underneath the cloth."

"Yeah, but it's still an umbrella."

"It's dangerous."

"You use something that's generally used for protection from the rain to protect yourself in battle."

"It's dangerous. And sharp."

"And you could have some kind of lame catchphrase, like, "Want a stroll down destruction lane? I promise you won't get wet!'"

"Okay, you fight with fucking paper, and you're giving me shit about my weapon choice?"

She laughed again. "Still, it never dawned on me just how ridiculous our means of defense are."

I sat back, in a good mood thanks to our banter. As I layed there, I realized just how tired I was.

Yawning, I asked, "You as tired as I am?"

"Yeah," she nodded sleepily. "It feels like it just hit, too."

Corrine, who'd been sitting silently on Sheena's shoulder for the past few minutes, began to snore lightly. Giving him a hard poke on the forehead, he woke up, staring at Sheena, clearly not pleased at having been woken by her finger.

"Hey, Corrine, I hate to ask, but do you think you could keep watch for us outside in the hall?"

Shaking off his stupor, he nodded. "Sure! But why?" Wow, how could he already be so perky?

"Kabe and I are really tired. I promise you later you'll get to sleep for as long as you want, but for now, could you...?"

His small mouth twitched into a smile. "Yes, Sheena!" He lept off her shoulder, dashing through the crack in the wall, calling out, "Don't you worry, you sleep as long as you want!"

I sat and watched the whole exchange. "Are you sure we'll be fine in here?"

"Yeah. I'm pretty sure nothing can really get us in here, and if something does try, Corrine can tell us."

I let myself relax, picking myself up and crawling over to a random shrub on the other side of the grove, plucking a handful of leaves to make as a pillow before laying down again, yawning as I did so. "'Mkay, g'night then." And just like that, I was out.

"Kabe!" a quiet voice echoed.

"Hmm?" I mumbled groggily, making myself sit up. Corrine was sitting in my lap, Sheena asleep beside me.

"Stay quiet!" he whispered.

When I tried to ask why, he just shook his head, then set to work waking Sheena up. Only a few moments later, and she was up. Like with me, before she even had a chance to say a word, Corrine was quietly chattering his warning.

With us both up, he turned around, pointing his nose towards the crack in the wall. Sheena and I glanced at each other, both of us still not completely conscious, before slowly crawling foward, sloshing through the water. Once we were close enough to peak through, we did so.

On the other side, all I could see was a black, skeletal leg. It moved away, another leg replacing it, until it had stepped far away. It's knees were visible then. The creature continued to kneel down, an incredibly large sword embedding itself in the ground, apparently acting like a can for one of the being's arms. I was sure that our noisy sloshing through the water was what alerted it to our presence. Damn our curiosity.

Eventually, it'd croutched down low enough so that we could see it's face. It took all of my willpower not to scream. A large, black skull was staring at us from the other side... or I assumed it was. It's eyesockets were empty, the same as the stare we received from it, but there was a certain danger about. Demonic, golden horns curled out of either side of it's head. It's gravelly, monotone voice spewed out at us. "I...FIGHT...STRONG ONES."

Oh my god, what was the Sword Dancer doing here?

INSERT LINEBREAK HERE

One of several humorous typos I caught while profreading was "Fire Warios." I'm not even joking.

And the linebreak deal up there is because Fanfiction isn't letting me put a linebreak there for some reason.

Anyways... yeah, Sheena and Kabe are in some serious trouble, obviously. And since I'm such an evil bitch, I'm making a cliffhanger. I know, I'm terrible.

...Y'know, this means I've probably been listening to Caramelldansen for six straight hours, now. Somehow, I'm not sick of it. Seriously, it's such a fun song. XD

Anyhow, if you like, please review!