The darkness that Warrior Star and War Beast found themselves engulfed by was different than what they had previously encountered. It was…sinister, in a way. Each femme's ears flicked back and forth as strange noises echoed around them, and Warrior Star bared her massive silver dentals as a low snarl rumbled from her chest.
This is just…strange. She thought, sensing that War Beast agreed as the other femme took a step forward, her blood red optics glowing uneasily.
Bridge marked and locked? War Beast asked, and Warrior Star double checked her internal navigation protocols.
Yep. For now, let's follow the edge in opposite directions. We can cut in after we've established a basic boundary line. Warrior Star replied, and the two femmes looked at each other before turning and walking away from one another, the distant roar of the water far below their only guide as The Mists swallowed them both.
Can you still hear me, dark sister? Warrior Star asked, relieved when the other femme replied immediately.
Yes, loud and clear. Shall we check in with each other? Maybe every ten human minutes? War Beast asked, and the other femme agreed with her logic.
Every ten minutes, then. Good hunting, dark sister. With that, Warrior Star was walking in the thick fog once more, alone with her thoughts. Her cobalt blue optics searched carefully, trying without success to pierce the fog that seemed to be hugging her armor. Giving up on sight, she turned to sound, feeling uneasiness coiling in her spark at the different sounds that her audios were picking up.
I mustn't let this place intimidate me. I am here for Shadowfang. I'll leave the judgment of my own life for another time. She thought fiercely, her cobalt blue optics lighting up and blazing brightly enough to pierce through the fog. To her surprise, the area within a fifty foot radius of her suddenly cleared, and the fog seemed a little less dense than before.
It reacts to my thoughts? Warrior Star wondered, watching in amazement as the area cleared just a little more around her. Shrugging mentally, she decided to not look a gift horse in the mouth as she pivoted and turned deeper into The Mists, putting her nose to the ground determinedly as she swore to find Shadowfang, no matter the cost.
The moment Warrior Star disappeared into The Mists, War Beast turned, heading deeper herself as the air grew darker around her. Her ears flicked back and forth slightly as a strange sound reached her audios, a sort of shuffling-squelch. Subconsciously baring her massive dentals in an uneasy snarl, she turned her head, her blood red optics only succeeding in turning the air around her red, and nothing more. Turning her head to the front again, she kept one ear trained on the sound of the water, growing more and more uneasy as the strange sound on her opposite side continued to grow in volume. Then something sprang at her from the dark.
Whirling on her paws, she dropped her head, the…thing, whatever it was, missing her helm by inches before landing and skidding to a sharp halt when it realized how close it was to the edge. War Beast turned, intent on dispatching it, when she froze in horrified recognition. The creature was a mangled, patch-work, mashed-together set of Cybertronian remains, from many of the mechs and femmes that had been offlined by the bronze femme over the millennia since her exile. Its weird optics zeroed in on the frozen femme before a rasping, gurgling voice shattered the air between them.
"Time for you to be judged…murderer." Her blood red optics widened, then when it leaped to attack, she moved without thinking. One huge bronze paw whistled through the air, smashing into the thing's chest and catapulting it into the endless depths of the ravine below. The scream as it fell made War Beast shudder.
Twisting around to face the dark shadows and fog once more, the femme twitched, checking to make sure her lock on the bridge was still good before she tentatively made her way back into the darkness…a darkness that was a reflection of her own soul.
Is this the evil that Shockwave programmed into me? Is this what I must face? War Beast wondered as the sickening sounds of more of the Pit-spawned monstrosities began echoing around her. Moving on a little faster, she felt a snarl building in her massive chest, angry at the unsettling turn of events, and at how helpless she felt.
If this is what it takes to find the gray one, then so be it. I owe my light sister that much, after everything I have done that she has been blamed for. I must carry on. With the sounds of the evil creatures echoing ever louder around her, she raced on.
A/N: Creepy crawlies and crap in the dark. Even I am disgusted. Sorry for the short chapter and the slightly late update...the last few days have been insane.
t0mb1rd: Indeed! I like being able to show that characters still have humanity in them...it's both fun and challenging to write, which makes me enjoy writing it all the more.
Mayday 200: Welcome to the story! And thank you! I am really quite proud at how The Wanderer has been evolving...I'd have to say it's one of my best works yet. :) Yes, Jazz is dead...:(...but the reason he isn't with Andante is quite simple. Jazz has already completed his journey in The Mists and has proceeded into Eternity, while Andante is still stuck in Limbo. Something is holding Andante there...might end up seeing what in a few chapters. And I'll have to remember that about Shockwave and Driller, the next time I'm working on killing a really evil character. Appreciate the review!
Cairi! OMG, I've totally not been ignoring you! I swear! ...I still fail. Anyway! Thanks for taking the time to read and review all the chapters! I need to leave a note on You Have Found A Home...I'm such a terrible story follower. :(
sweettea1: The portrayal of emotion, and making the reader feel it, is actually one of my greatest skills as a freewriter and a FanFic writer as well. The way I see it is quite simple...if you aren't feeling what my characters are feeling (or in the case of FanFic, whomever created the characters), then I'm not doing my job right. The true art of writing, in my opinion, isn't just in correct grammar and sentence structure. It is in building a story that can drag the reader into the pages and drop them right in the middle of a world that may not even exist in our version of reality. And another thing I consider to be truly artful writing is in the writing of emotions...again, if you can't feel what the characters are feeling, then I have failed as a writer, in my opinion. I am glad you're enjoying the story!
mayalewis16: Sorry about that! My hours at work have stretched later than I anticipated this week...I'll try and keep them rolling about every day!
As always, love if you will, hate if you must. I will take anything that you care to dispense.
Until we meet again...
Kani