Ico
III : Communication
Through some unseen power, the minute the boy had rested his hands against Yorda's, it seemed to trigger a strong sense of trust. Language was a barrier, but only one compared to many other ways of communicating; she merely expressed her newfound trust with a faint squeeze of his hand.
"Now how do we get back out of here...?" He gazed around the dark tower, then noticed two statues leaning against the wall. "Come on, this way."
As he began walking, the girl remained staring at the walls until the last minute, nearly stumbling onto her face. It seemed that she had the accuracy of a four-year-old as far as walking was concerned, which was enough for Ico to hold her back up.
"Sorry." He began walking slower, making sure she was keeping up with him. Watching her, he noticed she seemed to gaze around the room as if stuck in a daydream; it seemed, also, that everything to her was new. Though she was, quite clearly, older than he, Ico felt as if she was some younger sister who needed to be directed the right way.
Reaching the statue, he let go of her hand and began to feel around the statues; there was nothing. Sighing, he looked around for another exit.
Meanwhile, through dreamy mists, Yorda took some steps forward to the statues, responding to a natural curiousity that had grown in her mind. When her foot was lightly set down one step before the two, the statues suddenly shifted.
Both jumping back, the children watched as the statues slid apart, revealing a doorway. Outside, a long, weathered bridge could be seen against the blue sky and seas; occasional seagulls swept their way down over the castle.
"You... You can open doors? Why didn't you say so?"
"Eou?"
"...right..." He began walking, and realized he was missing a companion. Looking over his shoulder, he could see her staring, confused, at him, standing stock still. "Come on..."
"..." She did nothing.
"Come. On." He turned, facing her.
"..." She shifted her weight slightly, silent.
Walking over to her (and using a great deal of patience for someone that young) he held his hand out, then placed her own within it. Closing his hand around hers, he then calmly stated, "Come."
Yorda looked at the locked hands, seemingly comprehending it.
Letting go of Yorda's hand, Ico then took it again and repeated the command. "Come."
"C..."
Letting go a third time, he walked two steps away then held his hand open to her. "Come."
Slowly, she stepped forward, gently laying her hand in his. "C...come..."
"When I say 'come', you put your hand in my hand. Okay?" He let her go again and began walking to the door, knowing she wouldn't move. One step outside the door, he called, holding his arm out, "Come."
As commanded, she caught up to him and took his hand, squinting in the sunlight. Stepping out into the full outside, Yorda suddenly acted as if she had entered a wonderland. With her eyes completely open, she gazed around the scenery as if she had never seen such a place before. For once, she felt the warm breezes, and could see the birds that called to her day by day.
Ico gladly stood still for a minute to let her take it in, "You've never been outside, huh? There's better places than this, but I guess you've got to start somewhere."
After a minute, he began walking, making sure she wasn't tugged too hard. "Let's go."
The peaceful little walk quickly came to a halt when, with a well-placed step, most of the bridge suddenly fell down, crashing against some rocks below. Ico had, thankfully, jumped back in time, but had nearly toppled his companion over.
"This place is turning into dust!" Regaining his nerve, he found the gap created wasn't too much of a challenge to just leap over. Letting go of Yorda, he took a leap over onto the stone.
With a few startled gasps coming from Yorda, she watched him panickedly lunge forward as the bricks he was standing upon gave way and fell down below. Lying on the steady path, clinging to the sides, Ico took a minute to recover, then stood up. He could feel the stones under his feet slowly slide, but they seemed to stay steady.
"Okay, um, your turn."
Yorda stared, looking a bit frightened, as the breezes blew past.
"Come." He held his hand out.
With a few awkward, quick steps, she leaped off the edge; but with a minimal amount of thrust, she hardly made it across and quickly felt herself fall, letting out a loud yelp.
With a jolt, she felt her arm being held, around the wrist, as her friend began to pull her up.
"Don't worry, I won't let you fall!" Ico backed up, steadily, pulling her up.
Resting a hand against the stone, Yorda was about to pull herself up when she fell back down with another yelp, the brick in front of her tumbling down. Ico nearly fell over headfirst, but he had his feet braced in a deep groove running between two bricks.
"Okay, I've still got you, don't worry!"
Slowly the girl was pulled onto the path- the brick beneath her began to shift- suddenly she was dragged upright and run across the bridge, as some of the bricks behind her fell down into the waters. Reaching another open doorway, the two came to a halt, finding some time to catch their breath.
"That was close..." Ico panted, leaning against the wall, "But we made it."
"E... Eu..."
"Huh?"
"Eouler'a!!" Yorda shrieked, pointing at the doorframe behind Ico.
Glancing back, he saw a handful of black creatures rise from the floors. They were all rather, small, scurrying about in a mad frenzy. Of course, they instantly came for the two.
Grabbing Yorda, Ico ran in (since it was safer to, of course, run around in a room instead of a bridge) and stood in front of her, waiting until the creatures came close. At this point, he was wishing he had brought his stick, since they all came at once.
Using what he had, Ico suddenly stuck his foot through a creature, which quickly disintergrated. Stomping his way through the shadows, he gave all his might into flattening the fiends; finally, they were all gone...
"What are those things? Are you okay?" Ico looked back at Yorda and jumped.
"Ico..." She whined, as there was one of the shadows scurrying up and down her figure.
Running to her, he waited until it ran to her side and he suddenly gave it a kick; hitting the wall, it disappeared.
"Are you okay now?" He looked her over, finding nothing out of the ordinary, "Good."
The room, rather drab, had a big box within it; nothing more could be seen.
"Dead end?" He began to walk around the room, searching the walls.
Yorda, however, slowly walked up to the box, staring at it. Something about it was terribly out of place, it occurred to her, so she pointed at it and silently watched him search the walls. Slightly annoyed by the lack of attention, she called, "Ico."
"Huh?" He looked back, noticing her pointing. "What about it?"
She remained still, pointing at it.
He walked over to it, and stared for a moment with her. Then he gave it a slight push and noticed it was relatively easy to move. "Oh, I see, you think something is underneath?"
Pushing his weight against it, he found the box to glide across the floor; upon moving it from its original spot, he heard quite an amount of noise. Out of nowhere, a stairwell materialized, leading to a door.
"...this place is scary."
Both of the kids stared at the stairs for some moment.
"Well, come on."
Instantly two hands met, as Ico began climbing the stairs, his companion right behind him. Through the rising doorway, he spied something move across the floor.
"Not MORE of those things... I think I'm going to need the stick."
Turning around and dragging a confused Yorda along, he left her standing before the gap. Looking as upset and confused as she could, she merely stared at him as he leaped across the gap and scrambled back to the previous room.
Loosing interest, Yorda turned around and began to gaze at the scenery. Moving forward, she was inching her way to the newest-found door, not much paying attention to the shadows bouncing up and down within.
Ico came back out with the now flame-free stick, hopping over the gap.
"Yorda, I'm-"He paused. "Where did she go? Hey! Yooooorda!"
"Ico!" A weak reply came from the doorway.
"Hold on, I'm coming!" With his stick at the ready, he sprinted his way into the room and landed straight in the arms of a shadow. Being cast aside, he rebounded and began to smack at the creatures, not seeing Yorda.
"Yorda! Where are you?!"
"Ico!" Another weak reply came from the corner of the room.
Upon looking back, he saw the girl was being pulled into a shadow. Running to her, he grabbed her by the arm and gave a mighty pull, freeing her from the hole. Moving her so she was behind him, Ico then stood, stick at the ready, set to protect her.
As they came closer, Ico swung the stick at them, knocking them apart. After a minute of bashing, the shadows seemingly gave up and sunk into the floor. Before relaxing, Ico took a minute to glance around the room.
"You okay?"
"..." Yorda just looked at him, with an expressionless face.
"You shouldn't wander off, it's dangerous to be alone."
The room was akin to the storage room, as there was a large pit separating the room. However, it wasn't as deep as the one from before. A closed door was seen on the opposite side; Ico could easily get across, but he knew getting Yorda over would be another story.
"Now stay here and don't move." He began to search the room, then noticed a switch in the pit. Climbing down, he walked over and gave it a pull, causing the door to open.
Walking to the other side, he climbed the ledge, then turned to face Yorda. The girl wasn't paying much attention at this point, so he loudly commanded, "Come."
With a start, she began to walk to him, then hesitated at the ledge.
"Just climb down. Come. Hey, where are you going?"
She had backed up several steps, and suddenly took off the edge in a faint sprint. Ico leaned out, trying to catch her, but he missed her entirely. Falling to the floor, Yorda remained deathly still for a moment.
"Yorda!" Ico gasped, "Are you okay?"
Within a minute, she pushed herself back upright, looking dazed.
"Come on, I'll pull you up."
She wandered to the edge, reaching up to him. However, she couldn't reach him, even on her tiptoes. Yorda quickly gave up, staring at him with a bit of a frown.
"Uh, oh, hold on." He had looked back and noticed a box. Getting around behind it, he began pushing it to the edge. Upon seeing it, Yorda backed up some distance.
"Out of the way, something's coming down!" He shoved it off the edge, then called, "Now come."
Climbing up the box with some difficulty, Yorda tried to conquer the ledge, but needed a helpful pull. After both children were on the same level, they took off again, hand in hand.
Through a door and up a staircase, they took a turn around a wall and found a strangely shaped seat. It looked to be a couch carved from stone, resting against the stone walls.
"Hey... I guess I could use the rest." Ico walked to the seat, pulling Yorda along. When he sat down, she did too, with not a question in her mind. "I think we'll stay here for a little while, okay?"
Glad for the rest herself, Yorda leaned back, glancing about the room.
"I'm glad I found someone else... I don't feel so alone anymore..." Ico leaned against the back of the seat, "I wonder if you're a prisoner, too? You just don't look like anyone I've ever seen before."
Yorda, silent, continued to look around, dazed.
"Don't you worry about anything, because I'm not going to leave you, okay?" He yawned, "I think I'm going to close my eyes for awhile, tell me if something happens."
Letting his head rest, he let his eyes slide closed, and before he knew it, he had drifted off into dreams. Yorda, silent, watched him for a moment, then spent a minute or two gazing around the room. Finally, she rested her head gently against his, mindful of his horn, and closed her eyes.
For a moment, or maybe even a few minutes, everything was okay.