Hey guys. Long time no see. So I had planned on completely finishing the story before updating, but I kept getting messages to update so heres the next chapter. It isn't beta-read cause I just wanted to get it out. Thanks to those who stuck around. I really plan on finishing the story this summer. Theres only 2-3 chapters left, so it shouldn't take too long.
Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Jean POV
Jean headed down what felt like the millionth hall, and he was starting to think he'd be stuck in these tunnels for the rest of his life. He felt like he was going in circles — everything looked the same — but there was nowhere else for him to go. Whenever he tried to go back, he'd find the path blocked by tunnel wall, as if he came from a dead end. The walls seemed to be shifting all around him.
But the worst part was the silence. He hadn't encountered anything since he managed to escape that Acromantula. And maybe he should be grateful for that, but really, each passing second of nothing just made him more anxious and worried about what could be next.
"This is getting ridiculous," he groaned as he turned around yet another corner.
But when he looked down the next hall, he saw a wooden door at the end.
"Finally!" he exclaimed, picking up his pace. He rushed to the door, elated at the new change in events, pulled it open, —
And almost threw himself over the edge of a cliff.
Pebbles tumbled down into a lake that lay below, while Jean, terrified after almost dying, stumbled backwards and tried to catch his breath. He could just hear the plop of the pebbles hitting water over his panicked thoughts.
"This is insane," he gasped, his heart pounding in his chest. He looked over the edge of the cliff and saw a steep drop of about one hundred meters, the bottom of which was filled with water. Around him were the walls of the cave he now found himself in. There was no other door, and his feet were planted on a ledge no bigger than an average city balcony.
Dead end? he thought to himself. There seemed to be no other option. Thus, he sighed and turned around, ready for another hour of mindless walking.
When he turned around, he saw the door from which he came shut. That's weird, he thought, I could have sworn I left the door open.
But just as he was considering that, the walls started to shift around the door, swallowing it. It looked like it was sinking, and Jean stared in horror, frozen as his only exit disappeared before his eyes.
"No…" he gasped, coming to his senses, he quickly rushed to the door — or what was left of it. "No no no no NO NO NO!"
He banged on the wall, where the door once stood, shouting "NO!" over and over. Slowly, he lost steam, reducing his shouts to whispers and his punches to weak hits until, ultimately, he gave up.
Are you kidding me? he thought, resting his forehead on the wall, breathing hard. He groaned, turning around and sliding down the wall until he was sat on the floor. His hand stung from the scratches he had gotten from the wall.
Now what? he pondered, frustrated, running his hands through his hair. But he already knew. There was nothing else for him to do.
He was stuck.
But maybe, if he hadn't been pounding the wall and shouting so much, he would have noticed another door appear on the other side of the cavern. Maybe he would have noticed it open and close, without a person coming through, before it too disappeared.
Maybe then, he wouldn't be so sure that he was stuck. Or that he was completely alone.
Alec POV
"Stop worrying, dear, I'm sure Jace is fine," Magnus said, putting a hand on Alec's leg, which, unnoticed by Alec, had been bouncing up and down until Magnus stilled it.
Alec looked at Magnus and was met with a look of concern and sympathy. He sighed. Magnus was right. Alec had not said a word since Jace went in the tunnels. He just watched the opening, waiting for someone to come out, while thinking of all the things that could go wrong. He had no idea what was in there and he couldn't focus on anything but the fact that countless of people had died in the tournament. But it did no good for him to worry. There was nothing he could do about it, and worrying over something you can't change wouldn't help the situation.
Besides, Jace was pretty skilled, and he did well in the last two tasks. If there was anyone who knew that Jace could handle himself, it was Alec. He watched Jace grow as a wizard throughout their years of friendship — he as seen what he can do. He was never one to back down from a challenge.
"I know," Alec told Magnus. "I just hate that I can't see what's happening. It's killing me!"
Magnus grabbed his hand. "It'll be okay. I know you're worried about him, but he'll be fine. He's more than capable of taking on whatever they throw at him."
Alec sighed and rested his head on Magnus's shoulder. He felt Magnus place a kiss on the top of his head.
"I just don't want to lose him."
Jace POV
"Immobulus," Jace cast off-handedly, for what felt like the hundredth time. He'd just about had it with these Cornish Pixies. Every five steps another one of them would come flying out of nowhere and try to grab him by the ears. It wasn't like he couldn't deal with them; it just got annoying, having them mess with him for a couple second before he got the upper hand and could hit them with a freezing charm. They were like flies buzzing around your head— not a real problem, but incredibly irritating.
His fingers were itching for an actual challenge; he hadn't faced anything truly difficult since being trapped in the room of mirrors, and, to be honest, he was getting a bit bored. Couldn't the game makers come up with anything better? Some twist, something to make his blood rush and his adrenaline kick in? The best they could do was pixies? What was this, a pop quiz for second-years? Winning just seemed too easy at this point.
He was in the middle of swatting away another of those annoying creatures when he noticed the door at the end of the corridor. It's about time, he thought, before casting off another freezing charm to get rid of the last of them.
He made his way towards the wooded entrance, but just as he was a few steps away, a swarm of the Cornish Pixies attacked him out of nowhere, surrounding his head and filling his ears with their high pitched giggles and squeals.
His ears started to sting from their tiny grabby nails and trying to lift him. He tried to cast a spell but he wasn't able to concentrate long enough to do so. Soon enough, he was caught in a tug-of-war battle with one of the pixies over his wand. It wasn't long before he gave up and just started swatting at them erratically.
His back was flat against the door at this point and, whilst fighting off the pixies with one hand, he used the other to search for the doorknob behind him. Once he found it, he acted quickly; he twisted the knob, made one last swatting motion, and opened the door. In a split second, he made his way in the room and shut the door behind him and took a moment to catch his breath.
Thankfully, none of the pixies made it into the room with him.
"'Ello, are you okay?" A vaguely familiar voice called.
Jace looked up and saw none other than Jean André.
"Yeah, I'm alright, I guess," Jace replied.
It was only then that he finally took in his surroundings. He and Jean were in some sort of cave, and both of them were stuck on cliff-side ledges, but on opposite sides of the room.
"Where are we?" Jace asked Jean.
"I do not know," he said simply, while Jace looked over the edge of the cliff. "I would not do zat if I was you," Jean called again. "Eet is a long fall."
But when Jace looked down he saw that it was just filled with water, not more than one meter below him.
"It doesn't look too bad to me," he told Jean.
Jean moved towards the edge in disbelief. "Zat is weird," he said, getting a good look. "When I got 'ere, ze water was about a 'undred meters away."
"Wait, have you just been sitting here?" Jace questioned, puzzled. When all he got was a shrug, he added, "well, if you're just gonna sit there, suit yourself. I have a tournament to win."
But to his horror, when he turned around, all he saw was cave wall. The door was gone.
"You zink I'm just sitting here for no reason?" Jean ask incredulously. "You zink I don't want to win? I am stuck here, just as you now are."
"There has to be a way out," Jace assured himself.
"You zink I haven't thought of zat myself?" said Jean, rolling his eyes. "Zere is no way out, trust me. Until you came 'ere, zere was no other door but ze one I came through. And, like your door, eet disappeared."
"Are you sure there isn't anything else?" Jace challenged. "Any other way? Come on, tell me you've thought of something!"
"Zere is nothing!" Jean responded, exasperated. "I 'ave been in 'ere for so long and I 'ave tried everything."
Jace sighed, giving up. He slid down the wall until he was sitting, mirroring jean across the room. "So that's it, huh. Are we just supposed to wait?"
"Maybe," Jean shrugged. "Maybe zis is something we 'ave to do together. All three of us."
"So, what, we wait for Viria to arrive?"
"I guess."
Silence.
"Jace?" asked Jean after a while.
"Yes?"
"Uh, I'm sorry about Camille and what she did to your friend."
Jace groaned. "Please don't bring her up," responded Jace, preferring not to breach the subject.
"I know eet is probably something you don't want to talk about, but please can you just let your friend know I'm sorry?"
"It wasn't your fault. There was nothing you could have done. It was all Camille."
Jace barely registered how hard he was squeezing his fist until he looked down and saw that his knuckles were white.
"I know. I still feel bad," Jean said, his voice fading to a whisper as he looked down at his lap. He was twiddling his fingers and his hair fell in his eyes.
"Okay," Jace resolved, taking pity on him. "I'll let Alec know."
Jean perked up at his response, and, seeming content, relaxed a bit.
Jace rested his head against the wall and looked up at the roof of the cave, trying to think of what to do next. Maybe Jean was right, and this challenge required all three of the champions to be there. But, if he was right, then who knew how long they'd be waiting there? Jace grew impatient easily and he wasn't exactly thrilled about his current position.
But maybe Jean was wrong. Maybe he could figure a way out by himself. Maybe that was the challenge and Jean was simply not capable to figure it out. Maybe—
Something wet seeped into Jace's shoes, and then a second later he felt it reach his finger tips.
What the hell? Jace thought, bringing his focus back down. He found himself surrounded by a shallow level of water and, looking a ahead of him, he found that the water came from the center of the cave, where the cliff fall should have been.
Except now the whole cave floor was covered in water. And it was rising.
While Jean and Jace were both distracted in their own thoughts, neither of them noticed the rising water level. But now, as it reached their ankles, it became a pressing concern, and both of them scrambled to their feet.
"I knew zere was something weird about the water!" Jean cried. "When I got 'ere, eet was many, many meters away, but when you came, eet was closer. But I didn't zink anything of eet." He groaned, muttering, "stupide, stupide, stupide!"
The water seemed to be rising faster now. Quickly, it submerged Jace's calves. "What do we do now?" Jace yelled.
"I don't know!" Jean replied.
It was becoming painfully obvious that they were running out of options. There was no hole in the cave that the water could seep out of. They both knew that soon the whole place would be flooded.
And, eventually, they'd run out of air.
"There has to be some way to stop it," Jace pondered. "Help me look for something."
The two frantically search for anything that could be of use, but after finding nothing but more cave wall, the started to feel hopeless. And it didn't help that they felt ridiculous, just splashing around like crazy.
And the water wasn't stopping.
"This is hopeless!" Jace cried, frustratedly. He just didn't know what else there was for them to do. They had checked everywhere…
Except, perhaps… the hundred meter drop in the center.
"It's down there," Jace mumbled to himself.
"What?" asked Jean.
"It's down there, at the very bottom of this whole place," Jace explained, getting excited. "You said the water was a hundred meters away when you got here, right? Well, I bet you the answer to this whole task is down there."
"And 'ow are we supposed to get down zere?"
Jace hadn't thought of that, he had been too caught up in finally figuring out something. "I don't know," he admitted.
But he felt like there was something he knew, something Clary had told him about. He could see her, plain as day, when she told him, he red hair falling around her shoulders. She had been telling him about past Triwizard Tournaments, challenges the champions had to complete and the spells they used.
There was one, from about 20 years prior. They had to go deep into the Black Lake for an hour and save someone close to them. What was the one spell that two champions used?
"Ugh, what was it?" Jace cried. The water was up to their waists.
Jean just looked at him questioningly, his head cocked to the side.
"The spell they used? Do you know? The one that gives them their own personal bubble of oxygen around their mouth…" Jace trailed off, trying to remember. Clary had been insistent on him learning as many spells from past champions as he could and he knew that one was on the list. But what was it?
Jean wasn't being helpful, as usual, and Jace was becoming increasingly frustrated with himself. If only he could remember the it…
"Aha!" Jace cried, the name coming to mind. "It's the Bubble Head Charm!" Without waiting another second, Jace cast the charm, and suddenly he found a bubble surrounding his head.
Jean looked at him in shock, and when he didn't seem able to cast the charm himself, Jace remembered another spell, similar to the one he used, and he pointed his wand and yelled, "Ebublio!" and watched as Jean got his whole body trapped in a giant bubble.
Despite now having a secure solution, Jean didn't look too happy at his current situation. He seemed to have no control over the bubble, and Jace tried not to laugh as he watched Jean stumbled as the bubble rolled around.
"I don't zink I like sis very much," Jean groaned after falling again, finding himself laying against the bubble.
Jace chuckled. "Okay, well, I'm gonna go down there and see what I can find."
"What? Don't leave me 'ere!" Jean cried.
"What? Sorry I don't think I heard you. The bubble is muffling your voice," Jace replied with a smirk. At Jean's look of offended disbelief, he added, "Have fun up here, hamster boy. I'm off to save the day."
The last thing he heard before he dove under was Jean's cry of outrage, and Jace couldn't help but laugh.
He swam down into the abyss. Strangely, the lower he got, the brighter his surroundings became.
But that wasn't the strangest part of it.
He could have sworn Jean only mentioned the cliff and the water at the bottom. He certainly didn't mention the lively aquatic life he now found himself submerged in.
The walls had bright green seaweed and blue coral, and occasionally he saw a starfish there. Swimming all around him were bright glowing fish in every shade and shape and size. It all was so vibrant that Jace couldn't believe it was real. It was almost as if he had stepped into an animated kid's film, or into another world, even.
Where did this all come from? Jace pondered, his eyes wide in amazement. He continued his way downward, heading towards the light source, and drinking in what was one of the most amazing sights he had ever seen. He even saw a mermaid here and there, and while he knew the mermaids of the Black Lake could be quite vicious, these seemed to be more tolerant of outsiders. Still, they may or may not have hissed at him as he passed them. Jace chose to believe they didn't.
Suddenly, all the fish dashed away, into hiding spots in the plants. Jace looked around in confusion as the scene around him dimmed, loosing all its previous life and cheerfulness.
He glanced downwards, and saw a growing black dot. It seemed to be getting closer to him, albeit slowly, but with the bright light behind it, Jace couldn't quite make out what it was. He made to swim closer when he felt something tug him back by his cloak.
Turning around, he saw that it had been Jean who pulled him back. He must have figured out the Bubble Head Jinx, deciding to follow Jace.
"What are you doing?" Jace asked him, a bit annoyed that Jean had pulled him back.
All Jean did was shake his head and proceed to drag Jace closer to the walls.
Finally Jace managed to shake him off, but just when he was about to ask exactly what Jean's deal was, it suddenly got darker. Jace looked down, and he noticed that the black dot he saw had become much closer and much, much bigger and —
Jean pulled Jace flat against the wall just in time, fore just then the dark shape rushed by them.
It was only then, as the light filled the space once again, that Jace got a good look at the creature, but he wished that he hadn't.
Right above them, slowing down to a stop, was a giant squid. And while this should have been a comforting thought, since the only other giant squid anyone knew was the nice one in the Black Lake, Jace could immediately tell that this one was not going to be as friendly. He saw its glaring eyes, and its tentacles were lined with sharp teeth, as if the creature would tear apart its prey before even putting it in its mouth.
And what's worse, it seemed to be looking for the two champions particularly, the two intruders, as it frantically looked around, before retreating back downwards. But on that way own, it saw Jace and Jean staring at it with wide eyes.
Without a second though, Jace shot himself towards the creature, twisted his body so he headed forward with feet first, and struck its eyes with the soles of his feet, before bending his legs and springing upward from the giant squid, who was twisting frantically with shut eyes, as if it was trying to will away the pain.
That should buy me some time, Jace thought, before crying out to Jean, "Get up here, Jean!"
Jace saw Jean nervously swim past the still distracted squid. When he got to Jace, he asked, "Now vhat do ve do."
"We have to find a way to take down the giant squid, or at least distract it long enough so we can get past it and find some way to get out of here," Jace explained.
"Got eet," Jean responded. "I zink I know vhat to do."
Turning back to the squid, Jean pointed his wand and shouted, "Stupefy!"
The squid froze below them.
"This von't last for long. I'll go past eet and see if zeres a way out. You stay 'ere and distract eet when it regains movement. Buy me some time?" Jean requested.
"Sure thing," Jace replied. "Go. I got your back."
Without another word, Jean swim down, maneuvered around the giant squid, and Jace watched as he moved further and further away, getting smaller and smaller.
Unfortunately, Jace's moment of peace didn't last. Not long after Jean left, Jace saw the creature begin to twitch.
"Alright," Jace said. "Let's see what this thing can do."
Before Jace could make his first move, the giant squid dashed towards him, having gained back full control of its body.
"Arresto Momentum!" Jace cried, waving his wand. The squid suddenly slowed down, giving Jace time to move to the side. Everything the squid did now was in slow motion.
"This is too easy," Jace smirked.
But he spoke all too soon, for just then the squid wrapped an arm around him in the blink of an eye. The spell seemed to have worn off. It probably wasn't strong enough on such a big target. Luckily for Jace, he wasn't caught with a tentacle, in which case he would have probably been cut to pieces by the teeth at that moment, but still, Jace didn't think his current situation was any better.
The arm started pulling him closer to the mouth, lined with razor sharp teeth, and opening wider and wider.
Nope, Jace thought, definitely not better. He struggled, trying to free his arms, but to no avail.
As he neared the opening, there was nothing he could do but scream.
Jean POV
Jean swam downwards as fast as he could. He didn't know how much time Jace had, but he knew it probably wasn't much.
The further down he got, the brighter his surrounding became. It was almost blinding, but he didn't let that slow him down. instead, he closed his eyes and kept one arm stretched out as he swam. Before he knew it he had reached a solid surface. He opened his eyes and —
All he saw was a glowing orb. There wasn't anything else down there. It was just a smooth surface.
Well now what are we supposed to do? Jean wondered, at lost as to what other option they had. Why else would there be a giant squid? Surely it was guarding something? What was this challenge supposed to entail? What was the goal?
Oh. Realization dawned on Jean. It's the squid. We have to defeat the squid.
Feeling elated from figuring something out, Jean quickly pushed off the ground and started swimming upwards as fast as he could. His burst of energy helped him swim faster and he could feel the adrenaline pulsing through him.
But when the squid came in sight, he knew something was wrong. There wasn't any fighting, and at first, he couldn't see Jace anywhere. But then he noticed Jace's blonde hair, attached to his struggling body, which was wrapped in one of the squid's arms.
And he was currently being pulled into the squid's mouth, a scream tearing from his mouth.
Jean knew he had to do something to save Jace. He rushed towards the squid, but before he could cast a spell, one of the squid's other arms reached out and caught him. He felt the suckers stick to him, and suddenly he was as hopeless as Jace. He felt paralyzed, and realized he didn't know what else to do. He was going to die. He was sure of it. Each second brought him closer and closer to his impending doom.
Suddenly there was a flash of light, and Jean felt the arm loosen around him. He quickly swam out, noticing that Jace was doing the same. The both swam quickly away from the giant squid.
Looking back once they were together, they saw that the creature was writhing in pain, it's eye squeezed shut.
"What happened?" Jace asked.
Jean looked frantically around for the source of the light but couldn't see anything. He looked back at Jace and shrugged, just as confused at the situation as Jace appeared to be.
"Well, whatever it was, it bought us some time," Jace resolved. "Did you see anything down there that could help?"
Jean shook his head. "No, but I zink zat ve 'ave to defeat ze squid. Eet is ze only zing ve can do."
"Alrighty then," said Jace, raising his wand. "Let's take this thing down." Without another word, he shot off towards the squid. Jean saw a flash of white light from Jace's wand and the creature flinched back again, still healing from the first hit it experienced.
And then Jean was off.
"Confringo!" he shouted, striking the squid with a mini explosion. It retracted in pain, its eye still shut.
Jace and Jean continued to hit the squid with all the spells they could think of, but no matter what they did, nothing was working, and the squid was slowly gain strength. They were running out of options.
On an off chance, Jean shot a spell towards the eye of the squid. A flash a fear sparked in its eye, and a tentacle quickly shifted to block the course of the spell.
An idea popped in Jean's head.
"Hit eet's eye!" He screamed to Jace. "I zink zat ees his veak spot!"
After a few failed trials, Jean added, "I'll distract eet! Zen you can hit eet."
He casted a spell at the side of its head, drawing its attention to him. He could see Jace out of the corner of his eye trying to stay out of the squid's sight, but Jean knew he had to do something to give Jace a direct hit. So, in what might just be the craziest decision of his life, he swam speedily towards the squid… towards the mouth of the squid.
"Now!" he yelled to Jace.
Time slowed down. The squid's eye shifted its focus to follow Jean's path towards him, pulling his gaze far from Jace who was floating above and in front of him. A flash of red sped towards the squid's eye, just as Jean got closer and closer to the widening mouth, lined with its sharp teeth. Just before he was captured in the creature's jaws, he changed direction, and the mouth clamped shut.
Before the squid could try and get Jean again, however, the spell hit its eye and it suddenly froze up, like a statue, and plummeted to the floor, narrowly avoiding Jean.
And then, its body seemed to melt into the rocks, and the ground floor began to rise, just as the water in the room was sucked out. Jace and Jean swam as fast s they could to the surface, just before the ground reached them, and all the water from the room disappeared, leaving no evidence of a cliff's edge or rising water level. They were now in a simple cave room.
They both got rid of their bubble-heads and found themselves lying on the floor breathing heavily, relieved that it was over.
"Well," Jace gasped. "That was fun."
Jean chuckled, "zat ees one bay to put eet." The two fell silent. Then:
"Vat do you zink saved us? Ze zing vith ze light sat hit ze squid," Jean pondered.
Before Jace could answer, they both heard what sounded like the shifting of rocks. Sitting up, they noticed that the tunnels had come back — the two ways from which they came!.
Both rushed to their feet and turned to their respective sides.
Jace looked back at Jean. "Whatever it was, it doesn't matter now. We still have to finish this tournament."
"You're right," Jean settled, turning to got.
"Hey," Jace said, stopping him. "Good job. I couldn't have done that without you."
"Merci," Jean responded with a smile. You vere very good as vell. Good luck for ze rest of ze games."
"Good luck," Jace echoed. "May the best man win." He gave Jean a little wave, before turning and running back down his tunnel.
And, without sparing another second, Jean turned around and did the same. He had a newfound respect for Jace, and was glad they got to work together for once. But still, despite their teamwork, Jean wasn't about to let Jace have much of a lead on him. No, Jean wanted to win this thing…
But, both of them failed to notice that there was a third tunnel that opened up. And, while the two were saying their heartfelt goodbyes, a little specimen quickly dashed down its tunnel, unseen by the others in the room.
Someone else had a head start on victory.
Thanks for waiting so long. I hope it was worth it. Next chapter should be up before the end of the month (and will have a new pov, and probably the winner of the tournament...)
Comments are always appreciated and encouraging :)
