A/N: I know, another one. And even after I had told myself I didn't need to start any more because I have so much to do. However, this literally kept me up two nights in a row because I could not get my brain to shut up about it. So, here we are. It will be a slow burn, but in the end, we will have both an Ignis/OC and Gladio/OC. I hope you like the first couple of chapters! Thanks for reading and cheers! Edit: Yes I changed the name. For some reason, this one felt more accurate than Ephemeral Serendipity. Anyway, enjoy!
Chapter 1
A group of people was gathered near their tour director. The woman was pointing out the beautiful stalactites and stalagmites in the large room around them and waxing on about the new scientific discoveries that could be gleaned by looking at the ancient layers of stone. It included information that scientists had recently discovered how the rock formations could assist them in predicting any impending earthquakes.
Most of the people in the group got a chuckle out of that, as the New Madrid Fault system was known for having many tiny earthquakes, but nothing large enough to be significant. Most of them hardly did more than rattle the floors as though someone was jumping in the house and maybe made a little noise.
As the group moved onward, thoughts of those discoveries and earthquakes faded fast as they came to an underground waterway that splashed noisily across the rocks on the other side of the cavern. Most people were caught up in thoughts of what might be able to live in a world without light.
Their guide had just asked them to return to the cart so they could move down to the next cavern, but most of them stopped before they got there. It had started out small. Several in the group didn't even notice what it was, only that something felt off. However, that changed quickly. Dust started falling from the roof, and a couple of people nearly panicked when they saw the jagged rock formations above their heads begin to wiggle and dance as even the walls and floor began to shake.
It was an earthquake and not one of the ones they were used to. The poor guide tried to keep everyone calm and headed toward the cart to leave, but most people started running back toward the exit. Only five of them raced to the cart. Unfortunately, it seemed that, for the moment, fortune favored the less intelligent. Three of the people managed to get into the cart, but the ground opened beneath them, and their screams faded fast as the cart plummeted into the darkness below them.
The two women that had still been running tried to stop and keep from falling as well, but the nearest one was too close. She barely managed to grab the edge as she fell and cursed aloud as the motion jerked her shoulder painfully. The other woman skidded to a stop and fell to her knees to try and pull her sister back up, but it did little good. The ground was still unstable, and before either of them could do much, it crumbled beneath them, and their screams were swallowed by the depths below them.
Groans echoed off the cave walls as a young woman shakily pushed herself into a seated position. She had to blink a couple of times to clear her blurry vision, only to wish she hadn't. She was in a much smaller cave than before, which was obviously not meant to be part of the tour. The only reason she could see that much was that the cart was to her right, and its headlights were still on despite it being upside down.
It took her brain a moment to take it all in and then remember that she shouldn't have been alone. Her panicked voice cut through the thick silence. "Dia! Dia! Can you hear me?"
The young woman felt relieved tears instantly spring up when she heard her twin groan from the other side of the cart. "Yeah, no need to shout."
Dia pushed herself up using the side of the cart to balance on and looked around for a moment before she called back. "Cia, we weren't the only ones that fell. Do you see anybody else?"
Both women shared a worried look before they stood on unsteady legs to see if there were any others in the cave with them. It did not take them long to find the last three. Cia felt bile rise up in the back of her throat when she saw several limbs sticking out from under a pile of rock. Her first instinct was to try and save them, but Dia grabbed her arm. "Don't. They—they're already gone."
The tears had finally started to fall down Cia's cheeks, but before she could even ask what was next, her sister grabbed her arm and pulled her back toward the cart. She put a finger over her lips in a gesture for silence. The motion made Cia's heart race even faster. Especially when she strained to listen and heard something chittering around the corner. She turned widened eyes back to Dia and mouthed the words 'what now?'
Dia pulled her down to crouch next to the cart and pointed to the stuff that had fallen out and scattered in the space left underneath. Her voice was barely a whisper when she said, "Look for anything that might be helpful. If you can get under there, they should have emergency stuff somewhere in the cart. I'll take one of the rails that were knocked off for now."
Cia took a deep breath to calm herself. It helped that she knew her sister was always the one to keep a cool head in extraordinary circumstances. She gave Dia a nod as her sister picked up one of the side rails that had been knocked off the cart. She then pulled out her phone to see if the flashlight still worked. Surprisingly, it wasn't even cracked, even if she didn't have a signal. That wasn't shocking, considering there was no telling how far down in the earth they were.
She pushed all of those thoughts aside and managed to squeeze under the cart. Thankfully there had been no windshield to break, but she still had to be cautious to not move things too much. It was only being held up by the bar across the middle, and she didn't want to be the reason it collapsed.
She noticed most of the things she saw scattered around came from the few purses that had been left in the cart while they walked around. She had to swallow back another bout of bile that threatened to escape at the thought of the people that once owned them. When she looked up at the seat, she noticed a long box sticking out a few inches. It looked as though it had been pushed under the seat. She gently started tugging on it to see if it would dislodge without moving anything else.
However, she barely managed to move it a few inches before she froze when she heard her sister cry out. "Holy Shit! What the hell is that!"
That exclamation was quickly followed by a guttural growling noise and a couple of wet thunks. Cia called out as she tried to wriggle her way back out again. "Dia! Are you all right? What happened?"
She froze once more when she heard the stern note in Dia's voice as she responded, "Don't come out here! I—I've got it for now."
There was a brief pause as Cia tried to hear if her sister was fine. When the only sound was her labored breathing, Cia relaxed a little. However, she nearly jumped when Dia said, "Did you find anything? Anything that could be used as a weapon?"
Cia's stomach was churning with worry, but she swallowed and said, "Not yet. I'm still looking."
She heard her sister shuffle around for a moment before she said, "Hurry if you can. And don't come out unless you have something to defend yourself with."
That statement made Cia's skin crawl. She was already barely containing her panic, and she didn't want to think of what could have possibly rattled her sister. Instead of answering, she went back to pulling the box back out.
She rolled on her side to avoid all the falling objects that came tumbling out as soon as the box was free. When the last thing clattered to the ground behind her, she tentatively turned back and gasped. Among the emergency items, another purse had been hidden, but this one had something unexpected.
Dia must have heard her because she said, "What is it? Are you hurt?"
Cia shook her head, then rolled her eyes at herself before she said, "No, it's fine. I just found some stuff that could be useful. There are at least a half-dozen pull flares and one of those thermal blankets. That's not all."
She paused as she reached out and pulled the purse closer to verify it was what she was thinking. When the metal glinted, she said, "There is also a gun. I see an extra magazine as well."
Dia let out a relieved breath before she said, "That's something. Hurry up and get out here and bring the flares too. I don't know how long the lights on the cart will keep on. Grab anything else you think might help us find out how we can get out of here."
Cia had no idea what that might entail, so she dumped the purse and shoved everything that looked like it could be helpful inside the oversized bag. She then started wriggling back out and pulled it out after her.
As soon as Cia was on her feet, she froze. Her sister was watching the bend in the cave like a hawk with the rail held in front of her. The grip she had was so tight, Cia could see her knuckles turning white. What was really concerning was how Dia was ignoring the blood running down her arm. Dia might not seem like it to others, but Cia had never seen her sister so scared, and that alone frightened her to death.
As soon as Cia opened her mouth to say something about it, Dia shushed her harshly and whispered, "I think more are coming. Don't panic, and promise me you won't waste bullets. I know you can do it."
Cia felt her heart falter for a moment before it started racing. She didn't have to wait long to find out what her sister had meant. A few seconds later, two nightmares came around the corner and rushed them. She screamed at the sight of the things and wondered for a moment if they had fallen all the way to hell. The things looked like actual demons—from the tips of their pointed tails to the end of the horns on their heads.
She was jerked from her panic when Dia yelled as she took a swing at the closest one like she was trying to hit a home run. There was a sickening crunch before the thing was flung across the cave and into the far wall. Cia somehow managed to pull herself together to shoot the other in the head before it could reach her sister.
Both girls were shaking. The fear was made worse when the two things disappeared into black mist. Cia ran to her sister's side and grabbed her arm. She let go just as suddenly when she felt the wet sleeve under her fingers. Somehow, she managed to say, "What were those things?"
Dia shook her head but refused to take her eyes off the side of the cave those things had come from. Luckily, the cart was between them and the other bend in the cave. Dia's voice was low when she finally said, "I don't know, and right now, I don't care. Did you check your phone? Is there a signal?"
Cia didn't bother looking again, but she felt her heart drop as she said, "No, I checked earlier."
Dia cursed under her breath, but only for a moment. She finally looked at Cia as she said, "We can't stay here. I think there is light coming from the way behind the cart. We'll head that way, but I want you to make sure and have a flare ready. If those things come in more than pairs, you will have to use the flares as makeshift explosives."
Cia was almost overwhelmed. This just went from a horrible situation to something far worse in the span of a couple of minutes. When Dia caught sight of the panic, she lowered her voice and tried to speak calmly. "You can't lose it now. I have faith that we can get out of here. If I give the word, then all you have to do is throw that flare into the group and shoot it. It may not stop them all, but it will not waste bullets and should give me a chance to bash their heads in. Got it?"
Cia was still shaking so hard she wasn't sure how she held onto the gun, but she nodded anyway. She just had to keep reminding herself that it was both of them. If she failed, then they could both die.
Both girls froze when they heard the sound of falling rocks, and Dia pushed Cia behind her as she faced the direction the noise came from. However, they both nearly fell over in relief when they caught the echo of words. Human words that sounded like they were coming from human males.
Dia stepped closer to the bend in the cave and called out. "Hey! Can you hear us? We fell and need help!"
The voices paused for a moment, but Cia felt profound relief when a male voice responded, "Stay there. We're coming!"
Dia had backed up until she was standing right in front of Cia again. It was a safety precaution that Cia wasn't about to complain about. Both girls did fall back against the wall when four young men came around the corner. It didn't even matter that one of them was visibly armed. The girls gave each other a smile before the tall blonde made his way over the rubble to greet them. "Please let me see to your wounds." By that point, Cia was too overwhelmed to appreciate just how sexy the man's accent was. They were saved, and that was enough for the moment.
The man already had Dia's sleeve pushed up and was looking at the wound, so Cia turned to look at the other three. Two of them were crouched next to the pile of rubble that the rest of their group was buried under, and the last was on the other side of the cart, looking around and under it.
The man next to them was still working on Dia's arm when the giant of a man by the cart stood with a frown and said, "What happened here? How did you get all the way down here with this?"
Cia sighed and tried to put her thoughts together in a way that would semi make sense. Maybe. She was still trying to figure it out too. "Well, Dia and I were on vacation, and we decided to take a cave tour. While we were down in the middle of it, there was an earthquake. Most of the group ran back toward the entrance, but we ran to the cart along with—with those guys."
"The next thing I know, the ground is falling away from our feet, and we woke up here about fifteen minutes ago—give or take a little. We saw that the rest of our group—well, Dia said it would be pointless to try and get them out." Cia had to pause and swallow a few times. Now that the adrenaline was fading, the terror of the dead bodies on the other side of the cave was even worse. Not to mention, they could have ended up just like that if they hadn't gotten lucky.
By that point, the man was done with Dia's arm, so she stepped forward and put a hand on Cia's shoulder to comfort her, as well as let her know she would take the rest. At least Dia's voice wasn't shaking when she said, "I could already tell they were gone by the time we woke up."
She then looked back behind the men and couldn't hide a shudder before she continued, "I had Cia look for anything that might help. It was a damn good thing too because we were attacked by—"
She cut off, and her brow furrowed as she looked down. It was several seconds before she looked back up with a frown. "I don't expect you to believe me since the things disappeared as soon as I killed them, but I swear they looked like—well, demons. I've never seen anything like them."
The short blonde with impossible hair looked at Dia with wide eyes as he said, "You killed daemons, and that metal rod was all you used?"
All four men turned to Dia with looks that ranged from shock to disbelief. However, the giant across the room didn't let them comment. Instead, he turned to the black-haired boy and said, "We can get the rest of their story later. The longer we stay here, the more trouble we'll have. It would take too long to escort them all the way back up just to have to come down here again. Since we are almost there, why don't we take them with us, and then we can drop them off with the hunters. Let them come investigate later. We have better things to do."
The male in question looked around with a frown before he said, "Are you sure it would be alright to leave them like this?"
As soon as the question was out, the tall blonde next to the girls sighed and said, "Gladio is right, Noct. As much as I wish there were more we could for them, we simply don't have the time. Let us help the living and send back the hunters to help the dead."
Before the man had even stopped speaking, the two girls looked at each other with widened eyes. A silent conversation seemed to pass between them before Cia looked at all the men and said, "Did you just say—"
"Noct and Gladio?" Dia finished for her. The way the girls looked suddenly had everyone's attention back on them.
A/N: I know, we have barely scratched the surface, but we are headed into the weekend, and I will have time for another chapter as well as one on my other story. I hope you have liked the start. Thanks for reading and cheers!