~*~
Disclaimer, etc. in part one
~*~
Authors notes: Wow, there are two reviewers out there who are VERY smart and have really predicted something that's going to happen in the story! I don't want to give away who it is because it'll spoil the story, but man... You guys are SMART! *grin* But anyway, once again you guys have made me feel so great with your reviews! I'm MORE than happy and proud to present FOUR CHAPTERS IN FOUR DAYS! YIPPEE!!! Audrey, your motivational skills strike again...
veggie5 - I'll try to answer your question about passing the test in this chapter *g*)
Alanna - "Zanga Mall"... *snickers*
CrimsonCat - Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews on my past few chapters! Trust me, there will be plenty of M/R around the corner because I'm a BIG M/R fan. Plus, if you read the summary for the story, it's supposed to sorta center on their relationship *grin* Hey by the way, what does "Dai stiho" mean? I see it in all of your reviews...
Mayhem Mountain (7/?)
by: Brandy Leigh
~*~
Marguerite didn't know how it had happened, but somehow she had managed to find herself in the middle of the woods. She had no recollection of leaving the campsite, or better yet, Roxton's arms. The last she remembered she was lying comfortably in his embrace, enjoying the warmth emitting from his body. Nonetheless, there she was, alone in the dark without so much as a rifle.
Frantically, she tried to get her barrings to figure out which way would lead her back to the others. Everything around her looked the same, each direction a tangled mass of trees and vines. It was nearly impossible to see anything in the dark of night, not to mention it was terribly unsafe.
"Roxton!" she shouted into the darkness. "Veronica! Challenger?" Getting no response, she cursed under her breath. "Damnit, where is everyone? Hello!"
With a frustrated sigh, Marguerite turned full circle to see if anything at all looked familiar. Once she had turned, there was a soft rustle of leaves behind her. Spinning back around with wide, panicked eyes, she called out again.
"Hey, who's there? Malone, is that you? If this is some sort of joke, I swear..."
She was rewarded by complete and utter silence. It was then she realize just how alone she really felt. There was no noise around her whatsoever, not even a cricket or a bird. It was way too quiet for something not to be wrong.
As if you confirm her suspicions, the rustling returned. This time it seemed louder, closer. Before Marguerite could spin around to see what it was, something large and grey exploded from the trees. Not even allowing her time to run, the creature landed directly on top of her. It was a bloody heavy thing, perched on her chest nearly cutting off her air supply.
Marguerite struggled to push the beast off of her, but to no avail. She looked up into it's yellow eyes which seemed to almost glow in the moonlight. It almost seemed to smirk as if it knew that it was causing her breaths to become less frequent by sitting where it was.
"Get off me, you beast!" she cried, pushing against it with all of your strength.
The creature just bared it's teeth in a ear piercing growl, then lowered it's face until it was just centimeters from Marguerite's. The stench of it's breath almost suffocated her worse than it's weight, and she fought back the urge to vomit. She knew that if she didn't do something right away, she would surely be dinner for this monstrosity.
"Roxton!" she screamed weakly, for the beast was quickly draining any strength she had left. "For the love of God, help me!"
Suddenly, she heard it. His voice.
"Marguerite!" It was Roxton, and he'd come to rescue her.
"Oh God... Roxton!"
But he could not get to her, for another breast much like the one on top of her burst forth from the trees. It tackled him, throwing him to the ground. The last thing she remembered seeing was the beast lowering it's head, opening it's mouth wide. Then, she heard Roxton scream.
Marguerite awoke with a small shout, sitting straight up in the tent she was sharing with Roxton. She looked around frantically, trying to find the beast which had had her pinned to the ground. She couldn't see it but she knew it was there. She was shaking with fear, glancing around like a lost little child.
"Marguerite! Calm down, it's okay! It was just a dream," Roxton said soothingly. He had awakened when Marguerite jumped up from his arms shouting.
Marguerite looked down at him with wide, frightened eyes. She couldn't believe that once again she had been tricked into thinking that her dream was reality. She was actually quite glad that Roxton had decided to wake her this time, for this was one dream she wished she had never had.
"Oh God," Marguerite muttered as she slumped back against Roxton.
Wrapping a protective arm around her, Roxton smoothed back a few damp strands of hair from her face. He noticed that she was shaking and her chest was heaving as she breathed heavily with short gasps. Whatever she had been dreaming about had truly frightened her.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Yes, I'm fine," she lied, but her emotions deceived her and she buried her head in his chest with a sob.
"Hey, shh, it's okay," Roxton said as he stroked her back. "Everything's alright now, it was just a silly old dream."
"No it wasn't just a silly old dream!" Marguerite exclaimed. "Some crazed beast was killing you and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!"
Roxton sighed and pulled back from her so that he could look her in the eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile before trying to calm her down. He was always good at making her feel better when she had nightmares, which is why she ended up spending most of her nights asleep in his room.
"You're just worked up from all the excitement we've had the past couple of days. It's enough to drive anyone to nightmares," he told her.
"But it felt so real," she said quietly. Roxton had never seen her this vulnerable.
"I know, love. But trust me, nothing's going to happen. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."
Marguerite just nodded slightly and placed her head back on his chest. She just wanted to feel the comfort of being in his arms. She knew that as long as she stayed there, everything would be alright. Nothing could get to them as long as they were together.
When morning arrived, the two found themselves wrapped up in each other's arms. Neither one of them wanted to move for fear of breaking the safety of each other's presence, but before long Challenger was calling for them to come out and get breakfast. Reluctantly, they pulled away from one another.
"How are you feeling?" Roxton asked Marguerite before they exited the tent.
"I'm okay now," she said with a small smile.
Roxton nodded slightly, then brought his hand up and softly placed it over her chest where the bullet wound had been just the night before. A look of sadness passed over his face, and he bent down to softly kiss the area. Marguerite just sighed and looked into his eyes when he glanced up at her.
"It wasn't your fault, John," she said quietly.
"I still feel responsible," he told her.
Marguerite just leaned down and let her lips softly graze against his. He sighed deeply and eagerly deepened the kiss, pulling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, grateful for the chance to share such a moment with him.
"Come on you two, breakfast is getting cold," Challenger called form outside their tent.
Marguerite groaned with frustration as Roxton pulled away, and he lightly touched her cheek with a smile.
"Later," he promised.
She nodded her head and reluctantly removed her arms from around his neck. With a sigh, she opened the tent and greeted the blinding light of the morning sun.
"Glad to see you two have decided to join us," Veronica said with a smile as she slid two plates across to them.
"Eat well," Julian told them. "We have a long day ahead of us."
Marguerite narrowed her eyes at the girl, now becoming immensely annoyed by her presence. Here she was, a guest who ran into their home practically begging them for help, and she was bossing them around like she was in charge of them all. It made her sick.
Julian looked up and caught Marguerite glaring at her. She smiled in return, and nodded her head. Marguerite just snorted and looked away, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she was getting her all worked up.
Once breakfast was eaten and everything was packed, the group once again set out towards the mountain. It seemed the closer they got, the further away they actually appeared to be. It was quite baffling, and no one could quite understand it.
"How much further?" Malone asked once they had traveled for quite some distance.
"I am not sure, it's hard to tell," Julian replied.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I could use a break," Malone said warily.
"You and me both," Marguerite said as she let her pack drop from her back.
"Well I guess that settles it," Roxton said, lowering his pack to the ground also. "We'll take a quick break."
Marguerite sat down on a boulder on the side of the trail they were traveling on and turned her aching neck from side to side. She wanted nothing more than to turn around right then and head back towards the treehouse. She could sure use a nice bath at the spring and then a relaxing evening listening to one of their records on the balcony.
After a few moments, memories of her dream the night before came rushing back to her. This time an unknown beast wasn't the culprit of the vision, but a hungry raptor was hovering over her in it's place. She was pinned to her spot on the ground, she couldn't move for fear that it would lash out at her.
Back in reality Marguerite let out a slight whimper. Roxton looked over at her and realized that she was as pale as a ghost and was staring out into nothingness. She was trembling with fright much as she had been when she awoke from her nightmare last night, and Roxton was sure that she was having some sort of a relapse.
"Marguerite?" he said as he knelt down in front of her. He looked straight into her eyes but it was almost as if she was looking through him. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Roxton brought a hand up to her arm and stroked it gently. He didn't know what was bringing this on and it was actually starting to scare him.
"Marguerite, listen to me. I need you to focus, okay?" he said softly. "It's me, Roxton. Come on, let me know you can hear me."
By now the others had begun to catch on to what was happening and Challenger came up behind him with a worried look on his face.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I don't bloody know, Challenger. It's as if she's in some sort of a trance," Roxton replied with more than a tinge of worry in his voice.
Challenger knelt down in front of her as well and peered into her eyes.
"It's as if she's not seeing us, but rather something inside of her mind," he said.
"Well I think that's pretty obvious," Roxton stated angrily.
Suddenly Marguerite yelled out in fear and began to collapse. Roxton managed to catch her just in time before she fell to the ground. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, looking down to see if she was conscious. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was clutching on to him for dear life.
"What the hell is happening to her, George?" Roxton asked frantically.
"I don't know, John. She must be trapped in some sort of vision."
"No, I..." Marguerite said softly, slightly pulling away from Roxton. "I'm okay."
"Are you sure? What happened?" Veronica asked softly as she offered her some water.
Marguerite graciously took it and drank a few sips before handing it back to the younger woman.
"My dream," Marguerite said, looking up at Roxton. "It was back, but it was different."
Roxton sighed, and he and the others listened to Marguerite tell them about her vision. None of them noticed Julian off in the distance, grinning from ear to ear.
~*~
End part seven
~*~
Authors notes: AH! A FILLER CHAPTER! EVIL! Well, this was just my pathetic attempt to get out another chapter by the end of the day... but I failed miserably. It's after midnight, WAAAAAH! Can we still could it as four chapters in four days? Pwease? I'll reward you by a very good next chapter, I promise! Anywho, review, review, review! It's the only way I can know if I'm forgiven for the delay and the *gasp* filler chapter!
~*~
Possible questions answered in part 8...
What are the cause of Marguerites dreams and visions?
What is Julian up to now with her bloody evil self?
AHA! Now you know why Marguerite is so familiar with Roxton's room! AHA! Okay, I promise I'll go into more detail soon... *g*
You'll have to read to get the low down, yo...
Disclaimer, etc. in part one
~*~
Authors notes: Wow, there are two reviewers out there who are VERY smart and have really predicted something that's going to happen in the story! I don't want to give away who it is because it'll spoil the story, but man... You guys are SMART! *grin* But anyway, once again you guys have made me feel so great with your reviews! I'm MORE than happy and proud to present FOUR CHAPTERS IN FOUR DAYS! YIPPEE!!! Audrey, your motivational skills strike again...
veggie5 - I'll try to answer your question about passing the test in this chapter *g*)
Alanna - "Zanga Mall"... *snickers*
CrimsonCat - Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews on my past few chapters! Trust me, there will be plenty of M/R around the corner because I'm a BIG M/R fan. Plus, if you read the summary for the story, it's supposed to sorta center on their relationship *grin* Hey by the way, what does "Dai stiho" mean? I see it in all of your reviews...
Mayhem Mountain (7/?)
by: Brandy Leigh
~*~
Marguerite didn't know how it had happened, but somehow she had managed to find herself in the middle of the woods. She had no recollection of leaving the campsite, or better yet, Roxton's arms. The last she remembered she was lying comfortably in his embrace, enjoying the warmth emitting from his body. Nonetheless, there she was, alone in the dark without so much as a rifle.
Frantically, she tried to get her barrings to figure out which way would lead her back to the others. Everything around her looked the same, each direction a tangled mass of trees and vines. It was nearly impossible to see anything in the dark of night, not to mention it was terribly unsafe.
"Roxton!" she shouted into the darkness. "Veronica! Challenger?" Getting no response, she cursed under her breath. "Damnit, where is everyone? Hello!"
With a frustrated sigh, Marguerite turned full circle to see if anything at all looked familiar. Once she had turned, there was a soft rustle of leaves behind her. Spinning back around with wide, panicked eyes, she called out again.
"Hey, who's there? Malone, is that you? If this is some sort of joke, I swear..."
She was rewarded by complete and utter silence. It was then she realize just how alone she really felt. There was no noise around her whatsoever, not even a cricket or a bird. It was way too quiet for something not to be wrong.
As if you confirm her suspicions, the rustling returned. This time it seemed louder, closer. Before Marguerite could spin around to see what it was, something large and grey exploded from the trees. Not even allowing her time to run, the creature landed directly on top of her. It was a bloody heavy thing, perched on her chest nearly cutting off her air supply.
Marguerite struggled to push the beast off of her, but to no avail. She looked up into it's yellow eyes which seemed to almost glow in the moonlight. It almost seemed to smirk as if it knew that it was causing her breaths to become less frequent by sitting where it was.
"Get off me, you beast!" she cried, pushing against it with all of your strength.
The creature just bared it's teeth in a ear piercing growl, then lowered it's face until it was just centimeters from Marguerite's. The stench of it's breath almost suffocated her worse than it's weight, and she fought back the urge to vomit. She knew that if she didn't do something right away, she would surely be dinner for this monstrosity.
"Roxton!" she screamed weakly, for the beast was quickly draining any strength she had left. "For the love of God, help me!"
Suddenly, she heard it. His voice.
"Marguerite!" It was Roxton, and he'd come to rescue her.
"Oh God... Roxton!"
But he could not get to her, for another breast much like the one on top of her burst forth from the trees. It tackled him, throwing him to the ground. The last thing she remembered seeing was the beast lowering it's head, opening it's mouth wide. Then, she heard Roxton scream.
Marguerite awoke with a small shout, sitting straight up in the tent she was sharing with Roxton. She looked around frantically, trying to find the beast which had had her pinned to the ground. She couldn't see it but she knew it was there. She was shaking with fear, glancing around like a lost little child.
"Marguerite! Calm down, it's okay! It was just a dream," Roxton said soothingly. He had awakened when Marguerite jumped up from his arms shouting.
Marguerite looked down at him with wide, frightened eyes. She couldn't believe that once again she had been tricked into thinking that her dream was reality. She was actually quite glad that Roxton had decided to wake her this time, for this was one dream she wished she had never had.
"Oh God," Marguerite muttered as she slumped back against Roxton.
Wrapping a protective arm around her, Roxton smoothed back a few damp strands of hair from her face. He noticed that she was shaking and her chest was heaving as she breathed heavily with short gasps. Whatever she had been dreaming about had truly frightened her.
"Are you okay?" he asked softly.
"Yes, I'm fine," she lied, but her emotions deceived her and she buried her head in his chest with a sob.
"Hey, shh, it's okay," Roxton said as he stroked her back. "Everything's alright now, it was just a silly old dream."
"No it wasn't just a silly old dream!" Marguerite exclaimed. "Some crazed beast was killing you and I couldn't do a damn thing about it!"
Roxton sighed and pulled back from her so that he could look her in the eyes. He gave her a reassuring smile before trying to calm her down. He was always good at making her feel better when she had nightmares, which is why she ended up spending most of her nights asleep in his room.
"You're just worked up from all the excitement we've had the past couple of days. It's enough to drive anyone to nightmares," he told her.
"But it felt so real," she said quietly. Roxton had never seen her this vulnerable.
"I know, love. But trust me, nothing's going to happen. I'm right here, and I'm not going anywhere."
Marguerite just nodded slightly and placed her head back on his chest. She just wanted to feel the comfort of being in his arms. She knew that as long as she stayed there, everything would be alright. Nothing could get to them as long as they were together.
When morning arrived, the two found themselves wrapped up in each other's arms. Neither one of them wanted to move for fear of breaking the safety of each other's presence, but before long Challenger was calling for them to come out and get breakfast. Reluctantly, they pulled away from one another.
"How are you feeling?" Roxton asked Marguerite before they exited the tent.
"I'm okay now," she said with a small smile.
Roxton nodded slightly, then brought his hand up and softly placed it over her chest where the bullet wound had been just the night before. A look of sadness passed over his face, and he bent down to softly kiss the area. Marguerite just sighed and looked into his eyes when he glanced up at her.
"It wasn't your fault, John," she said quietly.
"I still feel responsible," he told her.
Marguerite just leaned down and let her lips softly graze against his. He sighed deeply and eagerly deepened the kiss, pulling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his neck, grateful for the chance to share such a moment with him.
"Come on you two, breakfast is getting cold," Challenger called form outside their tent.
Marguerite groaned with frustration as Roxton pulled away, and he lightly touched her cheek with a smile.
"Later," he promised.
She nodded her head and reluctantly removed her arms from around his neck. With a sigh, she opened the tent and greeted the blinding light of the morning sun.
"Glad to see you two have decided to join us," Veronica said with a smile as she slid two plates across to them.
"Eat well," Julian told them. "We have a long day ahead of us."
Marguerite narrowed her eyes at the girl, now becoming immensely annoyed by her presence. Here she was, a guest who ran into their home practically begging them for help, and she was bossing them around like she was in charge of them all. It made her sick.
Julian looked up and caught Marguerite glaring at her. She smiled in return, and nodded her head. Marguerite just snorted and looked away, not wanting to give her the satisfaction of knowing that she was getting her all worked up.
Once breakfast was eaten and everything was packed, the group once again set out towards the mountain. It seemed the closer they got, the further away they actually appeared to be. It was quite baffling, and no one could quite understand it.
"How much further?" Malone asked once they had traveled for quite some distance.
"I am not sure, it's hard to tell," Julian replied.
"Well I don't know about you guys, but I could use a break," Malone said warily.
"You and me both," Marguerite said as she let her pack drop from her back.
"Well I guess that settles it," Roxton said, lowering his pack to the ground also. "We'll take a quick break."
Marguerite sat down on a boulder on the side of the trail they were traveling on and turned her aching neck from side to side. She wanted nothing more than to turn around right then and head back towards the treehouse. She could sure use a nice bath at the spring and then a relaxing evening listening to one of their records on the balcony.
After a few moments, memories of her dream the night before came rushing back to her. This time an unknown beast wasn't the culprit of the vision, but a hungry raptor was hovering over her in it's place. She was pinned to her spot on the ground, she couldn't move for fear that it would lash out at her.
Back in reality Marguerite let out a slight whimper. Roxton looked over at her and realized that she was as pale as a ghost and was staring out into nothingness. She was trembling with fright much as she had been when she awoke from her nightmare last night, and Roxton was sure that she was having some sort of a relapse.
"Marguerite?" he said as he knelt down in front of her. He looked straight into her eyes but it was almost as if she was looking through him. "Hey, can you hear me?"
Roxton brought a hand up to her arm and stroked it gently. He didn't know what was bringing this on and it was actually starting to scare him.
"Marguerite, listen to me. I need you to focus, okay?" he said softly. "It's me, Roxton. Come on, let me know you can hear me."
By now the others had begun to catch on to what was happening and Challenger came up behind him with a worried look on his face.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"I don't bloody know, Challenger. It's as if she's in some sort of a trance," Roxton replied with more than a tinge of worry in his voice.
Challenger knelt down in front of her as well and peered into her eyes.
"It's as if she's not seeing us, but rather something inside of her mind," he said.
"Well I think that's pretty obvious," Roxton stated angrily.
Suddenly Marguerite yelled out in fear and began to collapse. Roxton managed to catch her just in time before she fell to the ground. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her, looking down to see if she was conscious. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was clutching on to him for dear life.
"What the hell is happening to her, George?" Roxton asked frantically.
"I don't know, John. She must be trapped in some sort of vision."
"No, I..." Marguerite said softly, slightly pulling away from Roxton. "I'm okay."
"Are you sure? What happened?" Veronica asked softly as she offered her some water.
Marguerite graciously took it and drank a few sips before handing it back to the younger woman.
"My dream," Marguerite said, looking up at Roxton. "It was back, but it was different."
Roxton sighed, and he and the others listened to Marguerite tell them about her vision. None of them noticed Julian off in the distance, grinning from ear to ear.
~*~
End part seven
~*~
Authors notes: AH! A FILLER CHAPTER! EVIL! Well, this was just my pathetic attempt to get out another chapter by the end of the day... but I failed miserably. It's after midnight, WAAAAAH! Can we still could it as four chapters in four days? Pwease? I'll reward you by a very good next chapter, I promise! Anywho, review, review, review! It's the only way I can know if I'm forgiven for the delay and the *gasp* filler chapter!
~*~
Possible questions answered in part 8...
What are the cause of Marguerites dreams and visions?
What is Julian up to now with her bloody evil self?
AHA! Now you know why Marguerite is so familiar with Roxton's room! AHA! Okay, I promise I'll go into more detail soon... *g*
You'll have to read to get the low down, yo...
