A/N: Aug 21, 2012: 2nd chapter revamped, as well. Enjoy! And as always I hope you'll review to let me know what you think! Thanks!
Disclaimer: I do not own The Lost World.
Chapter 2:
1 week later ~ ~
It was dinnertime in the explorer's household. Challenger had just made dinner and had sat down to eat it when Malone wordlessly joined him.
"Where's Marguerite?" Malone asked after a few minutes of silence and chewing.
"In her room," Challenger replied, sourly. "Sitting and staring at the wall."
"Still," Malone said in surprise. "She was in there when I left this morning for hunting. Has she even had anything to eat today?"
"No, I don't believe so," Challenger said dully.
The light in all three of them had definitely been dimmed since the accident a week earlier. None of them were communicating very well, each stuck in their own world of grief. But for one of them to be starving themselves, it was unacceptable. After all, they were all they had left.
"Well, I'm going to take some of this in to her," Malone informed.
He poured a plate and walked towards Marguerite's room.
"Marguerite, may I come in?" There was no answer. "Marguerite!" he yelled with a little more urgency.
Still no answer. Believing there to be no other choice he decided to go on in without her consent. He was really worried about her now.
He pushed open the door and walked in. He found Marguerite sitting in a chair by the side of her bed. Her eyes were open but it was just as Challenger had said, she was staring at the wall in an apparent stupor.
Malone walked over to her to tap her on the shoulder lightly, whispering, "I brought you something to eat."
"I'm not hungry," was her faint reply.
"Please, Marguerite, you've hardly eaten anything all week. I'm afraid you're going to starve to death. And I can't stand to lose you too. Please!"
His plea for her survival made her at least turn towards him, still a blank look on her face. "Please," he added.
"All right," she said. "Just a little."
He took an empty chair from next to her and positioned it across from her. He sat there, staring at Marguerite, while she nibbled on some food. She seemed so vulnerable at that moment; he'd never seen her this way before. He felt that he had to protect her from everything.
Her real protector is gone. So, I must try to protect her as best as I can. Now that Veronica is gone, too, I have got nothing to look forward to, ever, Malone thought dismally.
His eyes met Marguerite's green ones, and it was as if she knew his very thoughts because in the next moment she was exclaiming, "I miss them. I miss them so much."
She was weeping again and Malone was momentarily at a loss at what to do.
"Why did they have to leave me? Why?" she said in between sobs.
Malone, overcoming his momentary paralysis, rushed to her side. He hugged her close to him bringing her out of her chair and into his lap. He didn't have the right words to make it hurt any less, but at least he could share in her pain and make her feel less alone.
"I know, I know, shh… I miss them too," he breathed out as he rocked her back and forth. "I still feel like at any moment they'll rush into the tree-house, but they're gone…. Damn it! They're gone!" His sudden anger surprised him, but didn't seem to faze Marguerite.
She looked up at him with those shiny green eyes and murmured, "I'm sorry, Malone. You've lost them, too. I know I'm not the only one, I just… I'm sorry."
"Shh. It's ok. I know that you loved him," Malone assured her. "But, you know what, I think they'd want us to remember the good times we all shared together… Can you do that?"
She nodded hesitantly, and he added, "Good, now close your eyes." She did as told, closing her eyes, pressing herself against him. After about fifteen minutes he could hear her even breathing and he knew she'd fallen asleep. Instead of leaving right away, he stayed longer. He didn't want to move for fear of waking her. So he sat there, with her in his arms, fast asleep.
Challenger having gotten through dinner completely alone, began to worry, they had been gone for a while. So he decided to check on them. He popped his head in through the doorway and noticed that Malone and Marguerite were both fast asleep. He didn't bother to wake them. They looked so peaceful. And after many nights of tossing and turning and nightmares, they deserved this.
"Good night you two," Challenger whispered.
The minute Veronica fell over the edge she knew, her life was over. She could see Roxton falling ahead of her, tumbling over and over again in the air and she knew that his life was over, too.
Not even a miracle could save us, now, Veronica thought miserably.
They kept falling and falling for what seemed like days. The bottom didn't seem to ever want to come. Nonetheless, she saw it a minute later. It seemed, the bottom was formed from a deep pool of water. Roxton, a few feet ahead of her, hit the water first, upon impact she could see that he lost consciousness.
Veronica had mere seconds to adjust her descent before she too hit the water hard. She curled herself up into a ball. The impact was unlike anything she'd ever experienced. She was sure she'd broken every bone in her body, the pain was that excruciating. And then came the water rushing into her mouth, threatening to choke out the life from her. But she could still feel, that was something. Surely she wasn't dead then.
Her body floated upwards and when she found that her limbs still responded to her command she managed to swim in the direction that she thought was up. She broke the surface a minute later, gasping for air. Veronica stared out into the dark night, trying to get her bearings. There, there was the shore, she needed to get it. To get out of this murky water. But first, she needed Roxton…
She saw him floating lifelessly nearby, head submersed in the dark water.
Oh God, she thought frantically, please let him be alive.
Quickly, she swam over to him, lifting his head out of the water. She put an arm under his arms and began the ardent swim to shore. Once there, she managed to pull him; checking for a pulse at his neck, she found a faint one.
Hurriedly, she tipped his head back and began to press against his chest, sure that his lungs were full of that cold damp they'd been submerged in. After several tries and a few lifesaving breaths later, Roxton gasped back to life. His body arched off the ground as he coughed up all the water he'd took into his lungs.
"Where am I?" Roxton choked out, his limbs thrashed about in obvious panic.
"Roxton… Roxton…" Veronica tried to soothe. "It's me, Veronica."
His movements eased, as she put her hands against his shoulders, pressing him back to the ground. "Veronica?" he said uncertainly. His eyes focused on her and she nodded her head. "Oh no… not you, too… Where… where are we?"
She shot him a grimace. "I'm not sure…"
He seemed to accept that, laying back to rest when suddenly he burst out, "We're alive! My God, we're still alive!"
She allowed herself a small smile, accepting that small miracle. "That we are. But I have no idea where we are," she ventured. She glanced up the way they'd come. She couldn't even see the cliff they'd been standing on. It was as if they'd fallen into a totally new part of the world. "One thing's for sure, we definitely can't go back up again."
They looked towards the water, then, both looking for possible ways back. What Veronica had believed to be a little pool of water initially now seemed quite vast and never ending.
Roxton struggled against her grip, trying to get up. "Roxton, you've had quite a fall and you're in no condition to move."
"I'm fine. I just want to have a closer look at the water," Roxton replied.
Reluctantly, she let go of him; she watched him take a few tentative steps forward. Amazedly, he was all right, too. She watched him approach the water's edge. She shuddered at the thought of that pool coming so close to being their icy tomb. They'd gotten lucky. Real lucky.
Roxton knelt down and scooped some water into his hands. He proceeded to taste it, quickly spitting it out a second later.
"What? What's wrong?" Veronica asked from his side.
"Salt water," Roxton proclaimed. "Do you know what this could mean?"
"Yeah, that we don't have anything to drink," she supplied disheartening.
"Not only that," he stated, smiling. How he could be smiling she had no clue. "This… this is the ocean. We're off the plateau."
"We're off the plateau?" Veronica echoed in awe.
"We're off the plateau!" he exclaimed happily. "Tribune was right."
They were off the plateau. What the explorers had been looking for these past three years was now before them. It was a wonder, it was amazing. But, then it hit them. The others would never know.
Chapter 2, done. :)