The Ruins

Virginia was keeping watch over the camp one morning, several months later. The fiasco with the Ark of Destiny had left them wanted outlaws, and there was no way she would allow her team to get caught. Knowing their luck, they wouldn't even be given a fair trial. It would just be execution for all four Drifters. So she had ordered everyone to take turns keeping watch, dividing the night into four parts from twelve to eight AM. Her watch was the hours of six and seven o'clock. Jet had taken first watch, just because he was the one who stayed up late to think anyway. Clive was next, followed by Gallows. When the watcher's hours had ended, he would wake up the next person. And after her watch, Virginia woke up the entire team.

'I can't believe all that has happened,' she mused, 'I only wanted to save the world, and now here I am, two months after victory, trying to save our skins. Maybe I'm only being idealistic, but I must stick true to my beliefs. What would my mother say if she heard I was killing innocent people caught up in the hype?'

The woman turned to Jet, sleeping peacefully. She was relieved, for the first week or two after their little trek through Deus ex Machina, he'd suffered from chronic nightmares. Many a night Virginia had got up to go to the bathroom, or get a drink of water, and find him suffering in his dreams. She'd longed to hold him in her arms, tell him everything was going to be ok, but held back. After all, he wouldn't like that at all.

Suddenly, the female Drifter heard the sound of footsteps behind her. She'd always prided herself at having extraordinary senses for a human. Mainly the senses of sight, sound, and smell. Virginia could tell you what her mother or Aunt Shalte was cooking from clear across town, if the window was left open. But now wasn't the time to have a trip down memory lane, she had to go and protect her friends from this intruder in their camp. The woman drew her Duel Pistols, and turned to face whomever had come here.

"Chill out, wild girl. I'm not here to turn you in to the Ark. If I went there, I'd get arrested as well. They've got a bounty on me and my gang going back a year or so. But I do have a job proposition for the four of you," said Leila. Virginia eyed the newcomer, and figured out that she must be the girl that Gallows had spoken of two and a half months ago, even though the thief hadn't given the Drifter her name yet.

Virginia told her, "Sorry, I just have to make sure that we're all safe. In this world, we have to make the assumption that everyone we don't know is an enemy. I will turn as if I'm going to fire, then I can see if I actually need to. Besides, you did sneak up behind me, and I was getting just a little bit jumpy over that; a person who sneaks up on you usually wants to do something they don't want others to see them doing."

Leila looked at the other girl. "Well spoken, Drifter. Now I need you to wake the others up, we have to go to these ruins I just found right away. Who knows who'll show up if we don't have them excavated at this time. As it stands, we might already be too late, these ruins might have been entered before I came."

. . .

"I refuse!" exclaimed Jet, "There's no way you or anybody else is going to get me in this ridiculous costume. It's degrading, it's embarrassing." Virginia was holding up a clown costume, with bright red hair and pants. Clive had one with green hair and pants, Gallows's had a yellow theme, and the color scheme of Virginia's costume was blue. Each one had red floppy shoes, and a white shirt. The pants were baggy and attached to the body by suspenders. They would all have to wear regular pants of the same color, also given to them by Leila, underneath. Off to one side of the team, said female thief was getting out face paint.

"You have to all go in dressed like clowns. Else the ruins will not accept you. I can't go in for two simple reasons. First of all, Gallows owes me, and making him do something embarrassing is just the way to get paid back. Second of all, I'm deathly afraid of clowns. One scared me when I went to a carnival at only three years of age. And a good leader doesn't trust her gang members, they'd just use it as an excuse to gain more power from her. So that's why all of you have to go in," Leila informed the angry Drifter boy.

Virginia pleaded, "C'mon Jet, it'll be fun. We're all going to get to dress up like it's Halloween, I just love Halloween. Too bad there's not going to be candy. But anyway, we're all doing it too, so there's no good reason you can't get into the spirit." She gave him these big eyes, ones he couldn't refuse so easily.

"Oh, alright. Whenever you get that look on your face, I know you won't let me alone until I do it. Since it's either get dressed myself, or you bothering me until I do and maybe forcing me by having Clive and Gallows pin me down, I'll put on the stupid costume." He disappeared behind a rock wall near their position, hiding the blush on his face. It was almost as if he would have enjoyed the last part of his little tirade; well, not the part with Clive and Gallows, but the part where Virginia forcibly dressed him. But he'd only thought that for a second before pushing those perverted thoughts out of his head. He wasn't Gallows.

Everyone took turns dressing behind the rock. After they were done, Leila put on their face paint and brought them to the ruin. Once there, she melted into the shadows. The team was left alone to look at the entrance, and ponder how in the world they'd get inside of this thing. Gallows tried to ram it with his massive body, but that didn't work. Clive lit up a grenade he'd borrowed from Alfred, but the door remained intact. Jet attempted to pick the lock with the edge of his boomerang, but the lock was far from broken.

"There has got to be some way," Virginia thought out loud, "But I'm not sure exactly what it is. And we don't have the keys." She paced, hoping to think of something. But since she wasn't looking where she was going, Virginia tripped, slammed into Jet, and the two of them ended up in a doggie pile on the ground.

"G. . .get off of me!" demanded Jet, blushing more furiously than he ever had before. Virginia broke off right away, she too was blushing. They turned their faces from one another, and Gallows snickered.

Suddenly, the doors began to open. Virginia wondered if they had hit a switch when they had fell, but nothing appeared to have been triggered. However, they had no time to ponder it, the ruins and the treasure inside was their main objective. All four Drifters went in, in order to face the unknown that lay in wait for them. Virginia took one look into the darkness, and smiled, they would make it through this.

- - - -

Teefa's Last Words…

Yup, a comedy romance, just like Slayers. I was inspired by that episode with the tower of dolls. That episode was just too funny. Jet and Zelgadis do act alike, don't they? Except Zel's not as cold as Jet; hard to believe when you think about how he acts from about episode five or six onwards. Let's see, I've got to think of some better ways to work this, it has to be funny. I need some comedy for each of the puzzles.