huff
I'm sorry this took so long buuuuuuuut
I got kittens! :D
3 adorable kittens I named Cole, Lloyd, and Zane, and they take up a rather large amount of my time (read: I play with them instead of doing useful work)
so that's why this is late lol
Review replies:
ninjachief: ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Ebony: We'll see.
Amber: She doesn't want them starving to death before she can collect their bounty.
Dreamcatchers: Thanks! ;)
Windy: They are adorable, aren't they?
KRR: idk I mean it appears to be canon so
"Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O!" Indigo sang, as loud and off-key as she could. "And on this farm he had some… bees. E-I-E-I-O!" In the doorway, Mira growled under her breath, pressing her hands over her ears.
"Will you shut up?!" She snapped. Indigo blinked.
"Nah. With a bzz-bzz here and a bzz-bzz there, here a bzz, there a bzz, everywhere a bzz bzz-"
"Shut up, or I will make you shut up!" The blond snapped.
"You do that." The ghost shrugged. "Old McDonald had a farm, E-" Abruptly, the room around her swirled with random colors, and she fell back with a squeak. Not this again. After a few moments, the colors faded, and Indigo stared at the ceiling for a few moments before shakily sitting up.
"Now will you shut up?" Mira snapped, folding her arms.
"Did… you do that?" Indigo asked in surprise. "The colors?"
"Yes, and I'll do it again if you start singing again."
"Are you an elemental master?"
"Yes. Of illusions." The ghost girl frowned.
"You wouldn't happen to know a girl named Reena, would you?" The blond girl's eyes widened.
"Yes, she's my cousin. You know her?"
"Yeah, I met her in Morro's castle. She made me see things and hear things every time Morro went to interrogate my boyfriend." Indigo crossed her arms bitterly. "Just my luck. I get away from one hallucination lady only to be kidnapped by another."
"Hmph." Mira folded her arms back. "I still think you're lying."
"If I was lying, I would've come up with something more believable. Like 'I'm a poor little girl who got murdered by heartless brigands and this is my mom Bansha please let us go kay thanks'."
"That's not very convincing either."
"I would come up with something better. Anyway, my point is, why would I lie about something that sounds so stupid? What's the point?" Mira frowned.
"…maybe because you planned to use this argument to try to get us to believe it."
"I would also try to get you to believe the truth, wouldn't I?" The blond girl pondered this for a few moments before finally saying,
"It's time for Nico's shift." And walking out of the room. Indigo sighed, lying back down on her cage floor. At least she had made some progress. Not much, but some was still better than none. Lying down on her back to look at the ceiling, Indigo wondered when they would get out of here – and whether they would leave alive.
TheDarknessReturn
"Guess what!" Lloyd was startled out of his half-sleep by a loud voice, and looked up, blinking sleepily. Clair was walking towards him, two sets of handcuffs in her hands. Uh oh. "Morro finally accepted my message, and I told him that you're my prisoners, so, tldr, I'm taking you to his castle! You get to leave, aren't you excited?"
"…no?" Morro's voice came from above him. "As much as I hate this place, his castle is worse."
"Well, sucks to be you." Claire reached down to grab Lloyd's hands, but he yanked them away.
"No." He said stubbornly.
"Uh, Morro said he wanted you two 'unharmed and in chains', so… tough luck." She tapped his shoulder, then grabbed his wrists despite his attempt to dodge and binding them with one of the sets of chains. She then shoved him aside – with surprising strength – before chaining Morro's wrists as well. The ghost didn't resist, his hands were too fragile to do much of anything. They had started healing, but the slightest injury would probably make them break again. "Now get up, or I'll have Gray drag you."
"What are you getting out of this?" Lloyd asked, trying to stall her. Stalling probably wouldn't do any good, but he might as well try.
"Nobility status for Gray and I, and hundreds in gold coins!" The black-haired girl grinned, throwing her arms up above her head. "I should thank you. Running into you two was the best thing that ever happened to me."
"I'm not inclined to say 'you're welcome'…" Morro muttered. "Lloyd, help me up?" The blond scrambled to his feet, taking one of the wind master's wrists and helping him stand.
"Now get moving! March! Mush! Heel!" Claire snapped her fingers, turning around and heading towards the exit. Morro and Lloyd exchanged glances, then followed, trying to shake the feeling of dread that hung over them.
Claire and Gray escorted them to the castle, Gray taking the rear and glaring at them ominously from under his hood as Claire lead them through the alleys. Lloyd shifted closer to Morro as they approached the imposing castle – he really wasn't looking forward to getting his legs chopped off, or whatever equally horrible thing the other Morro planned to do to him. They stopped at the gate, and had to wait for admittance before it opened, letting them into the courtyard. As they headed down the wide, stone walkway, Lloyd turned and hooked his cuffs over Morro's head, hugging him around his neck. Morro, unable to hug him back due to the fact that his own wrists were chained, just rested his chin on Lloyd's shoulder. The blond hugged him tight for a minute, squeezing his eyes shut. He and Morro would probably be separated, he wouldn't see him for who knows how long.
"Move it." Someone shoved him, and he lifted his head to see Gray standing behind them with a cross look on his face. Slowly, he let go of Morro and started walking again. After a couple minutes, they entered the castle, and walked down a long hallway for a while before making it to Morro's throne room. The king was sitting on his throne on the far side of the room, his chin casually resting on his palm. Since he didn't move to get up, Claire lead them down the carpet towards his throne, stopping about ten feet away from him.
"So you did manage to capture them." The ghost said at last.
"Of course I did." The dark-haired girl folded her arms. "They're yours. Now where's my reward?"
"I'll arrange for it immediately. Talk to Reena." Morro's double gestured to a girl standing at the far side of the room, and Claire and Gray headed towards her. "As for you two…" Morro 2 hopped off his throne and walked towards them, prompting Lloyd to step back a little. "Unless you have some kinda of healing magic, I'm going to guess you're a double of Lloyd like he's a double of me." He addressed Lloyd, gesturing to Morro. The blond stayed silent, shuffling another step back. "Answer me!" Morro 2 drew back a hand to hit him, but Morro 1 swept his leg under both of his, kicking his feet out from under him and sending him crashing to the ground with a grunt.
"You'll pay for that!" the ghost king snapped as he struggled back to his feet. "There's no one to save you this time. You will both be locked up here forever. And I'll do whatever I want with you. Except…" He turned to Lloyd, his face hard. "Surely you've seen what I've done to your counterpart. I can easily do the same to you – or worse. However, I might be persuaded not to, if…" the ghost trailed off.
"…if what?" Lloyd prompted after a few moments.
"If you tell me what's going on."
"What do you mean?"
"Tell me how this-" He gestured to Morro 1. "-is possible. Why are there two of me? Why are there two of you? Explain this to me, and I won't hurt you." Lloyd hesitated. Was there any real harm in telling him that?
"…how do I know you won't break your promise and hurt me anyway?"
"Why would I do that? You beat up one Lloyd, you beat up them all. There's no gain to be had by chopping off your legs, except as incentive to get you to tell me what I want to know." Lloyd glanced at Morro, who shrugged.
"I…" It couldn't be a good thing if Morro knew where they came from, but would it be worse for him, the green ninja, to be severely injured or killed, or for the tyrant to know about their timeline?
"Answer me now!" Morro 2 grabbed his shoulder, shoving him and causing him to stumble backwards with a yelp. He opened his mouth to speak, but the ghost king grabbed him again. "I said answer me!"
"UNHAND MY SON THIS INSTANT!" Lloyd's heart leapt at the familiar voice, stumbling as Morro shoved him to the floor. Struggling to his knees, the blond turned to look over his shoulder, and his face broke into a grin.
"Dad!"
Tank vs burst - who will win?
~FFF