Chapter Nine: Salvation
Note: As always, I loved your comments on this chapter! Keep being you! This chapter was one hell of a wild ride to write...
The road forward was treacherous, much like the road behind them, but they carried onward regardless. At this point in their journey, they were tired and beyond thinking about the little things that affected them such as falling to their death into a crevice. In all truth, that was less of a small issue, but they were so tired that it didn't really matter to them anymore. The two weary travelers were practically ready to willingly roll down the mountain if it meant reaching something akin to safety. The sooner that they were able to assess their situation, the better it would be for both of them.
As V and Morgan continued forward, the older teen with the white hair allowed his mind to wander for a moment. While still paying close attention to their surroundings, he was still somewhat distracted by the conversation that they had both just participated in. Everything about this situation worried him profoundly, and he wasn't sure how to reconcile that kind of information. It seemed that no matter how far he ran from his childhood, the seemingly supernatural trapping of his reality would always find a way to catch up with him. There was a part of him at that moment that contemplated the possibility of that being among the reasons that he had grown up without his family in the first place. Was he cursed or something? With his track record, it seemed likely to some degree. While that wasn't the sort of thing that he could strictly say he believed in, he could certainly say that it believed in him. It simply wasn't possible to be this unlucky otherwise.
Morgan glanced over at him as he tested a particularly precarious section of the snow-covered rock face with his foot, unsure as to whether or not he trusted the structural integrity of what he was forced to work with. While he wasn't entirely convinced that it could hold their weight, he was willing to try if for no other reason than the fact that there was literally no other way that they could get down this side of the mountain, and he would be damned if they backtracked. It was simply too risky of a maneuver to go back into the woods. It was practically a miracle that they'd made it as far as they had without encountering any further resistance. There was no reason to push their luck.
"I don't know about you, but I don't like our chances," Morgan said hesitantly as she looked over the edge of the slippery ledge that her companion was testing out. It didn't take a genius to see that this wasn't the safest option in the world. "I mean, there isn't really a better option, but still. What if this crumbles and we fall and break our legs or something? That would make things really easy for those creeps that are after us."
V glanced over his shoulder at her, internally agreeing with her sentiments. To be perfectly honest, he'd never been very keen on heights. There were certain things that just instinctually creeped him out, and the idea of benign this high up was pretty far up that list. The only thing that made it even remotely acceptable was the fact that everything was covered in snow, so it made his depth perception less accurate. That was both a blessing and a curse considering the fact that the one thing he truly needed in that situation was accurate depth perception. Well, that and a warm blanket. It was truly cold outside, and they both needed to get out of the elements as quickly as possible.
"You make a good point. We must not willingly go to our deaths in our haste to find salvation. It would be rather unfortunate for us to tumble over the edge due to impotence and impractical thinking." V shifted uncomfortably, looking over to his left side at the woods. Something stirred in him as he gazed at the unfeeling wall of dead foliage, practically acting as a physical counterargument to his point. He wasn't entirely sure what it was, but the longer they stood there, the more compelled he felt to get the hell away from their current location. "That being said, while this is far from the safest route down, it is the quickest. And since it was my idea in the first place, I'll do the right thing and volunteer to go first."
Swallowing heavily, he peered over the edge again, regretting it immediately. That's right. I truly dislike heights, don't I? The self-sabotaging thought was almost enough to make him backtrack on his former statements, but he liked to think that he had more integrity than that. It would make little sense for him to bring them both this far only to dangle his young companion to the wolves at the critical moment. He was an adult, and it to say that it would be cowardly to allow a young teenager to go headfirst into danger because he was too scared to act first would be an understatement.
And it would be even less acceptable if he took the fact into account that she had stayed behind and saved him from their attacker when she'd had a perfect opportunity to flee and leave him to his fate. They were basically strangers, after all. She'd demonstrated resolve and bravery, and now it was his time to do the same. And while he knew this and accepted his fate, he only wished that the universe had been kind enough to present him with another obstacle instead. But then again, when did he ever get exactly what he wanted? That wasn't the nature of human existence, especially when it came to the nature of the wilderness. Mother nature hated humanity with a burning passion, and that was a fact. Maybe he could get lucky and just crack his entire skull open on the way down?
"Oh, you don't have to-" Morgan began as she took in the gravity of what V had proposed, a tinge of horror coating her tone of voice. The idea of watching her new companion plummet to the depths below shook her deeply. He didn't deserve such a fate. But before she could continue, he hushed her gently.
"Please don't. Let me do this for you. Before I lose my nerve." He gave her a gentle but serious look as he waited for her to comply. With a heavy, disgruntled sigh, he relented and lowered her arms to her side, worry evident in her face. He was a grown adult and she knew that, and if there was one thing that she'd learned in her young life, it was that adults didn't tend to make the best decisions at times, but it was probably best to just let them learn the hard way. She knew that at the end of the day he meant well, and could only hope that this particular lesson wouldn't cost him his life. He didn't deserve to die, and she didn't deserve to see yet another death that day.
With a heavy sigh and a nod of confirmation, V turned towards the edge of the rockface that could easily spell his doom. crouched down and put his hand on the ledge. Everyone had to die at some point, right? He hadn't expected to have his nerves tested so vigorously when he'd left the house that day, but here he was, looking down an icy slope and seriously readying himself to clamber down it like he actually knew how to do that. The situation had called upon him to be brave, and he knew that that wasn't something that he was capable of doing at that moment. But what he could do was take a deep breath and take things slowly. This wasn't the first time he'd been called upon to descend a great height in order to procure his salvation. This was but another unfeeling stepping stone in his path. He could overcome this.
Crouching down on all fours, he tested the edge on the ledge with his grip one last time before gripping it as tightly as he could and sliding over the edge, trying his best not to mentally consider the fact that he was now dangling just over a story up in the air. Below him was a ledge at least ten feet wide. If he could get down to it safely, then he could get Morgan to safely. And at that moment in time, that was all he cared about. Perhaps that was the kind of single-minded focuses that this situation required.
He tried to ignore the dull aching that came from the cold ice making contact with his fingers as he placed his right foot on a chunk of ice, pulling his body into an uncomfortable vertical position. His gloves were the typical cheap sort that you got from a hole in the wall general store, and as such, had not been constructed with this kind of activity in mind. They barely carried out their most basic function of keeping his fingers warm in the first place. This was asking a lot of them.
As he attempted to place his left foot on something solid below him, he quickly realized that his right hand wasn't coming loose from the ice above him. It seemed that the thin fuzzy fabric was now stuck to the ice, the combination of cheap material and heat from the palm of his hand making it impossible to pull free, at least from this position. He cursed himself internally, opting to try and recenter himself with his free hand as he tried to pull his hand out of the glove. It would have to stay in his pocket. Much to his surprise, his hand was not budging, seeming caught in the position that it was in when it had frozen in the first place.
Somewhat miffed, he yanked the appendage harder, earning him a sharp pain in his wrist, and an unsettling cracking sound for his trouble. But, much to his dismay, he knew that the cracking sound hadn't come from his wrist. There was a part of him that wished it had, but he knew that wasn't the case. V was granted a momentary second of horrifying clarity before he lost his footing and slipped downward, hitting the ice blow side first with the kind of impact that he imagined a wayward car would probably do to a fire hydrant. Morgan covered her mouth with her hand and yelped in horror as he hit the ice fifteen feet below with a horrifying crack, his left side catching a stray branch that stuck out of the side of the cliff face before he teetered to his right and made his final impact with the frozen ground below.
For a moment, V laid there and wondered if that was what death felt like. Both sides of his body ached horribly in what had to be the worst dull throbbing sensation he'd ever felt. The only emotion that he felt was profound regret, his sides now burning like he'd been lit on fire. Somehow he mustered the physical energy to be able to curl up into a ball and shiver in discomfort and squeeze his eyes shut, all the while noticing that a distant sound from above him. It sounded like he was underwater, his ears ringing and muffled as his entire upper body throbbed. He sucked in as much air as he could get into his body, yet the dreaded lightheadedness that he felt indicated to him that he might still not be getting enough air.
It was perhaps the most discomfort he'd ever felt all at once, and though there was a part of him that was sure he should probably count himself lucky, all he felt in that moment was horrible pain and immense regret for everything that had led him to that momentary outcome. Perhaps it was easier to just lay there and let the elements get the best of him? Would anyone even notice if he did that? Before he could ponder that thought any further, his ears stopped ringing, and a quiet but distant voice registered to him. It was Morgan! How quickly pain had made him forget that she was still above him!
"Holy shit, V! Are you okay?!" A horrified voice shouted as quietly as it could from about him. Morgan was leaned over the edge of the ice shelf, her messy curly hair hanging down from above him like curtains framing a window. " Try to breath slower and deeper. It might help. That's what I did when I broke my arm leg in a skiing accident as a little kid. Just calm down, okay?!"
He tried to calm himself, a potent mixture of anxiety, pain, and confusion overloading his senses and overtaking any rational thoughts in his mind as he tried to take slow, deep breaths. After a moment, the pain began to relent slightly, giving him a brief window to attempt to sit up. He needed to know if he could still move, and he needed to find out as fast as possible. With a pained, shuddery groan he pushed himself up into a sitting position on the ground, his trembling arms barely holding his weight. His hand was badly scraped, his head felt like he's been hit with a cinderblock, his eyes throbbed as they made contact with the light again, and he was certain that he was going to be covered in bruises soon enough, but he was still alive, and he was positive that with the extreme amount of adrenaline coursing through his veins, he would be able to stand.
With a low, pained groan, he stood up and steadied himself, brushing the snow off of his soon to be bruised body and collecting his shoulder bag. Part of him was sure that the garment bag had probably contributed to his fall, but he didn't care at the moment. At least nothing inside of it could break, and nothing inside of him was broken, either. At least as far as he could tell. He couldn't say for certain just yet.
"T-thank you. I think I'm alright." V took a few steadying breaths, positioning himself so that he could maintain his balance as he held his sore arms up towards Morgan. "If you jump, I'll catch you. We might both roll the rest of the way down the hill, but it's much less steep here. Can't be more than twenty feet or so."
Morgan gave him a hesitant look, her large hazel eyes containing a mixture of apprehension and concern at the prospect. She was more than certain that she didn't want to experience what she'd just seen V go through, but he did have a point. She just hoped that it didn't have to come to that. With a deep breath, she sat down on the ground and slid over the edge of the frozen embankment and towards V, hoping with everything in her that he actually managed to catch her as terror flooded her bloodstream with adrenaline.
To the surprise of both of them, V actually did manage to catch her. They both groaned in discomfort from the impact as he set her down, the pare of them rubbing their shoulders as they attempted to massage the sore muscles in their shoulder blades. Morgan exhaled in relief, the realization that they were not technically out of the wood and in the village settling in. Now if we could just get off of this damn mountain in one piece…
Suddenly, a loud cracking sound echoed through the air as they turned to face what looked to be a way down. Something hit the icy wall behind them, ricocheting elsewhere out of sight. The pair yelped in terror as the realization that something had just shot at them registered in their exhausted minds. Morgan grabbed V around the waist and tackled him to the ground, sending them both rolling down the hill. They kicked up large plumes of powdery snow as they went, a sight that they might have found reasonably funny if not for the circumstance.
As soon as they rolled to a stop, they were met with the barrel of an old rifle, several villagers with guns standing over them. One held back two barking dogs on short leashes, the two slavering hounds eager to do their master's bidding. Morgan and V sat up, immediately raising their hands as disbelief, confusion, and fear set in. What in the world was going on here?!
"Hey! Put the guns away! What the hell is your problem?!" Morgan shouted in horrified frustration. She'd had more than enough bullshit for one day. "Some crazy people are after us! Were just trying to-"
Before she could finish or V could interject, one of the men fired off a round into the air as he approached from behind the mob, eliciting a startled scream from Morgan. V placed himself partially in front of the young girl as she backpedaled, the pair completely at a loss as to what was going on and why. Perhaps a calmer approach would elicit a more positive response?
"She speaks the truth. Were being pursued. We only seek safe passage through your town. We were hoping to contact the authorities… The town we live in, Lympha, was attacked a few hours ago."
The man who had approached from behind nodded, cocking the gun and pointing it down at them as he approached. "Oh, we know, boy. We know. They told us you might be coming this way. Said that they'd leave us alone if we handed over any stragglers to them that they missed, especially if they were young like you lot. You're the only ones so far. Everyone else, well…" He looked around at the rest of the group, his eyes lingering on the dogs for a moment. "Well, it looks like your going on a little trip."
Morgan shook her head in disbelief and horror. "Your working with them?! How could you?! Their murderers! Shoot them, not us!" The anger and pain in her voice was evident as she gave them a fierce look, V sliding further in front of her to both hold her back and to hopefully block any stray bullets if things took yet another nosedive for the worse. "Were not going anywhere with you, especially back into that forest! Your all crazy!"
Laughter irrupted from the group of men as they disregarded her words. V felt a chill colder than with winter air run down his spine as he considered the reality of the situation they were in. Had he helped walk them into a trap? Were they going to die here? They couldn't fight nearly a dozen armed men, especially with the condition he was in. Had this entire plan only ended them back up in the same situation that they had hoped to escape in the first place?
"You see, that's where your wrong, little lass. Our town has lived in the shadow of that mountain for as long as any of us can remember. They promised to free us from it. And all we've gotta do is bring you to the witch vault. Pretty sweet deal if you standing where we're standing."
V shook his head, sharing Morgan's seething fury. Well, if he was going to die, then he might as well do so spitefully. "I would imagine that it is. But we wouldn't know since we actually have a sense of morality and we'd never willingly ally ourselves with mass murderers. I'll have to take you at your word."
An angry look crossed the man's face as looked down at V raising the but of his gun. "We'll see how funny you are after you meet your new friends. We weren't asking for you to cooperate. We don't need you to."
Before either V or Morgan could respond or even hope to register the reality of their situation, the butt of the gun came down on them, and everything went black. As he faded into concussive blackness, V could only hope vainly with what little faith in humanity that he still possessed that things couldn't get worse. But one way or another, he was determined to get them out of there alive. He'd made a promise, and he intended to keep it. Even if it meant that he didn't leave that place, he had to make sure that Morgan got to see her mother again. He'd never be able to live with the guilt if he did.
Mini arc my ass lol! This probably has about 2-3 more chapters before it's over. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Well, enjoyed is probably the wrong word for this, isn't it? It's okay, V is tougher than he looks, and I'm sure Morgan, too. She's got a lot of spunk in her. See you in the comments, and hopefully again next Friday. Something tells me that V's hope that things can't get much worse might be a little bit off base.
Boy, this fic is one hell of a bittersweet pain train. That angst tag wasn't playing around!