Ico
VI : Glimmer
"Let her go!"
Bringing the stick against the shadow's body, it dropped Yorda and fell back. Rushing her to her feet, Ico ran her to the corner, quite pleased by the effectiveness of the position. Even though fighting the creatures were tough, the strategy Ico had used before seemed to be the best option, and he found it to more than prove itself when none of the creatures could reach his friend. There weren't as many here as in some other rooms, a welcome relief.
After they were all gone, they found themselves in a wet pit. Above, a wall rested, green grass tickling it's edges. A chain provided passage for Ico, but there wasn't a way to bring Yorda along. However, on the wall, an iron grate stood shut. Figuring there was a way to open it, Ico scaled up the chain and disappeared over the edge. In the concrete path, grates were above square holes. Walking to them, Ico noticed one was clear. Jumping in, he grabbed the attention of Yorda.
Running to the gate, she held the bars, staring in at him. For a moment, she was reminded of her cage, which caused her to reach her hand through the bars.
"Hold on!" Splashing down the path, Ico came into a square room, with two switches on the sides. Stepping on one, the front gate slid open. Immediately Yorda seemed to appear at his side, somewhat startling him. "You're fast when you want to be, aren't you? Follow me."
Leading her to the opposite side of the room (which made the gate slide shut with a clang) he put her on the opposite switch, which opened a backdoor. Instructing her to stay, he disappeared out of the second door.
Staring at the walls, Yorda found herself to quickly become incredibly bored. She began stretching, and messing with her hair. Footsteps sounded above her, which didn't bother her much- that is, until a face peered down a hole and quickly chimed, "Yorda!"
With a jump, she looked at the hole and spotted Ico. Walking to him, she reached up and grabbed his arm. Being pulled out, she was led to some statues. The statues slid apart with a flash, and the two ran in.
They found themselves on a metal platform, which had a switch in the middle of it. Yorda moved to the corner while Ico pulled the switch- with a lurch, the elevator began to move up.
Reaching the top, they found themselves on a rooftop. There was a huge ledge, which led up to the next level; Ico could climb up around the side, but Yorda was most definitely stuck. Leaving her momentarily, Ico climbed up and began to look for a way to bring her to him.
She stood, silently, stretching once or twice. Following that, she began to walk around the rooftop, staring at glimmering seas. A breeze tickled her hair, the soft brown covering her lavender eyes. Turning, she heard something being shoved close. Looking at the ledge, she saw a box topple down- running out of the way, she suddenly felt her foot sink into the stone roof.
"Come on!!" Ico held his hand down- with all urgency, Yorda stepped free of the black puddle just as shadows began to rise up from within. Climbing the box, she grabbed Ico's arm and was roughly dragged up, and was pulled to the corner. The monsters, spreading out wings, flapped up and to the two, dropping down around them.
With the same effort of all fights thus far, Ico valiantly protected his friend from danger. After all foes were slain, Ico wearily marched Yorda to a couch-shaped bench and plopped down. She sat down beside him, glancing around.
"Man, those things are annoying, huh?" Leaning back against the cool stone, Ico let out a sigh, "They're like nightmares..."
"..." Yorda was busy examining her hands, watching how she could make her fingers move.
"You act so young... were you in that cage forever?"
"..." Of course, not understanding a word said, she made no reply.
"At least we're out now."
They rested on the couch for a few minutes, then rose.
Walking to an open window blocked by a crate, Ico gave it a shove then helped Yorda climb through. Coming in after her, they found themselves back in the room with the pit. Ico shoved the box to a wall, which actually led up to the next passageway. Upon doing so, he heard a shriek.
"Not again!" With his stick, he dove headfirst into conflict. He hit the shadow that had Yorda so hard that it fell over against the rest of the creatures, causing a general domino effect. Yorda quickly crawled across the ground and fell back into the water-filled pit, clambering into a corner and ducking.
Up above, the monsters suddenly realized she was gone, and began to actually flee from the boy. Chasing after them, he smacked their sorry hides back into the afterlife, then began to call for Yorda. He got a response of splashing.
"Yorda?" Walking to the open hole, he bent down and let his hand hang. Upon contact with another cold hand, he pulled up, and found himself face-to-face with a shadow which had Yorda flung over a shoulder.
"Gah!! Let her go!" He smacked it across the face, knocking it back into the hole. Reaching down, he quickly grabbed Yorda and pulled her out, staring down the hole as if it were a deathtrap. Yorda, standing behind him, yelped when the shadowy hand reached through the grating and grabbed her ankle.
"No! Bad!" He hit the hand, which disappeared quickly with a shake.
For a minute, nothing happened, as the kids stared at the holes.
"Where did it go?"
"Eoule!" Yorda suddenly hit the ground as it came swooping past, quickly landing and lurching to Yorda. Right when it was about to grab her, Ico hit it across the head, causing it to tumble over and disappear.
"There we go. Are you okay?"
Helping her up, he did a quick look-over and found her to be fine.
"Great. Come on!"
Running to the crate, he climbed up, then helped Yorda onto the ledge. They crawled out another window, and found themselves on the higher level of the rooftop from before. A bridge needed to be extended to a row of statues, the switch being high on a platform.
"Stay here. I'll be right back." Ico ran and jumped up to a chain hanging from the platform. Pulling himself up, he pulled the switch and extended the bridge. Down below, he suddenly heard a shriek. "Oh! Yorda!"
Startled, he had ran to the edge. Suddenly he found himself fighting gravity, trying not to fall. Down below, while leaning back, he saw the dark creatures begin to haul Yorda off. His shoes slipped on the wood, and he suddenly fell down headfirst.
Landing on his face, and taking a moment to recover, he scrambled upright and leaped his way to the shadow Yorda was being pulled into. Grabbing her arms, he yanked her out, then began running to the statues.
"Come on, as fast as your feet can go!"
Stumbling along, Yorda looked over her shoulder, watching the monsters come after them. With a sudden burst of speed, she caught directly up with Ico- both of the kids tripped off the end of the bridge, sliding against the stone floors.
Yorda slid off entirely, letting out a scream. Her arm was suddenly caught, Ico having caught himself on the edge. With much struggle, he got back on the rooftop and hauled Yorda up. Directly behind them, the shadows landed- with urgency, Ico almost literally flung the girl at the statues.
Awkwardly stumbling into a trip before the statues, she fell just as a flash of light played- all of the shadows suddenly disappeared with quiet wails. Lying against the cold stone, panting, she opened her eyes and saw Ico lying just beside her.
Both panting, they lied for a moment, then got up.
"I'm sorry if I hurt you..." Ico pulled her upright, "But we made it!"
Before fully recovering, Yorda found herself pulled through the archway.
In the next room, a HUGE circular window let soft light through. The opposite wall had a huge, wooden circle set within it, possibly being another window. There were several pathways, and a couple of metal doors blocking two of them. But the most curious thing was a glint that Ico saw when gazing through the room- looking back, he found a sword had been lodged into the wooden window.
"That's strange..." He gazed up at it, then found his hand to be empty. Looking to the side, he found Yorda to be scaling a ladder and heading straight for a bench. Climbing out himself, he meandered over and gladly flopped onto the seat.
"You've got good eyes. If only you could tell me everything you see!"
They both sat in silence for some time.
Yorda was staring off into the distance, not focusing on anything. Through her eyes, very faint thoughts could be detected; in her mind, she was watching herself being led by a warm hand through the castle.
Meanwhile, Ico was staring up at ceiling, leaning back against the bench, thinking of how it felt to be abandoned... but he also remembered how he felt to find someone else there. Someone else seemingly abandoned. He also thought about how it felt to be helping that person- to him, it was the greatest thing he could think of in his relatively short life.
"Your mother..." He broke the silence with a thought, "She doesn't... love you... does she?"
Yorda blinked, startled by the sudden noise.
"She says she does... but... she doesn't. I guess... at least she says she does... Mama never even said that to me." He closed his eyes with a sigh, "Nobody's ever said that to me. Do you know what it means when she tells you that?"
Silently staring at his face, Yorda slowly grew a faint look of confusion. Warm tears were running down Ico's face- slowly, she reached her cold hand to him and touched one that was working it's way down his cheek.
Sniffling, he opened his eyes and looked at her.
Yorda then touched the other tears softly, thus erasing them. Slowly she pulled her hand back, holding it, looking at him with the same amount of concern as before.
"You... you know how I'm feeling... even if we don't understand each other, don't you?"
She again reached over and gently touched his face, wiping off another stray tear.
"De'sree hisatante..." Her voice came out as a soft whisper, "Neun de'sree histante, ne."
"I... won't cry anymore." He straightened himself up and wiped his face off, "Because I don't want to make you sad anymore."
Rising, he prompted Yorda to get up. The room they were in didn't hold many promises at the moment, so they ran through a door. An identical window was set against the wall, closed. A strange, circular column was standing in the middle, embellished with the same kind of pictographs seen on the statues. Walking to it, he stood upon it and found nothing to happen.
"You come up, too." He pulled Yorda up- reaching the top, the switch suddenly glowed; sinking down, it made a staircase rise up to the window. For a minute, they stood still, but finally climbed the staircase. Up near the window was a switch- without hesitance, Ico pulled it. Two torches were revealed in sphere-shaped holders, one on each side of the window.
"Like candles." Walking to a torch, with Yorda right behind him, Ico reached the end of his stick up and lit it. "Excuse me, out of the way!"
She moved to the side when he turned around, walking the lit end to one of the holes. Sticking it in, the wick caught aflame and glowed gently. Walking to the next one, Ico did the same, then blew out his stick.
The window suddenly began to make noise, as the heavy wood pulled apart. Soft sunlight drifted through, a faint breeze accompanying. Climbing up, Ico found they could get outside easily, and pulling Yorda along, he jumped straight out the window.
Landing on the ground (and catching Yorda, who didn't come down as gracefully as she could) he then stared at the strange contraption sitting upon a stone base. The head of the structure was fanned out, wide like a bowl. However, unlike a bowl, it was facing the window, and was nothing but a frame.
"What is that?"
He was suddenly tugged as Yorda headed for a ladder.
"Up there? Okay." Ico climbed up first, then waited for Yorda to reach the top. Running in through a door, they found themselves on a higher level of the previous room. A switch awaited them- with another pull, the candles revealed themselves in the middle window.
"I'll be right back, don't jump or anything." He lit his stick, then took a flying leap off the ledge to Yorda's dismay. Upon landing, he scrambled to the torches and began to light them. Meanwhile, wanting to stay in contact, Yorda suddenly ran off the edge with a slight leap- falling onto the floor, she remained still.
The window opened, the sword dropping down on the other side.
"Great, now Y-"Ico turned around, spotting Yorda lying on the floor, "Yorda!"
Running over, he gently nudged her. She looked up at him, with a bit of a pout.
"Don't just jump off things like that. You're not in condition to fall that far. Can you stand?" Ico gently pulled Yorda upright. She seemed fine, which was a relief. "Okay. Come on."
Walking to the room, where the sword had fallen, Ico left Yorda near the couch while retrieving the blade. Upon doing so, many black shadows suddenly rose from the floors.
"Oh, come on!"
Instantly, Yorda was beside him.
"I didn't mean you!" Wielding the blade as best he could, he suddenly sliced through a shadow- the weapon knocked them back farther than the stick, and less hits were required to fend them off. Making quick work of the creatures, Ico gave a faint grin to Yorda.
"We got a new trick. Bet they weren't expecting it, huh?"
She suddenly backed up from him, staring at the blade.
"..No, I'm not going to-"
Yorda suddenly fled to a far corner, staring silently.
"I'm not going to hurt you!" He held his free hand out, "Come."
Hesitantly, she walked over, then slowly took his hand.
"See? I'm not going to hurt you at all."
Slowly relaxing, Yorda kept an eye glued on that sword.
"Don't worry." Gazing about the room, he noticed there was a huge window on the face of the wall that led to the outside in this room, as well. It was shut tightly, hinting a switch was nearby. Looking around, he spotted a rope, which was hanging onto an iron door...
"Hmm..." Walking Yorda over, he climbed up to the rope and suddenly sliced it in half. The door instantly fell through a crack in the floor, revealing the sounds of rushing water. Walking down to the new door, with Yorda in hand, they found themselves in a makeshift sewer system.
Water was running down the sloped side- up above, a pressure-activated switch awaited. Walking to the slant, Ico tried to climb up but quickly slid back down, getting very wet. Yorda, on the other hand, had walked over and placed her feet in the cold running water, quite pleased by the gentle rush against her ankles.
"Uhm... wait here." Looking at the walls, Ico could see pipes running all over the place. Crawling up, he began to make the long crawl to the top.
Kneeling down, Yorda kept herself entertained with the waterfall. Getting on her knees, she tried to climb up, but was pushed down by the water. Then she slapped her palm against the stone, making a splash. With a very faint sense of joy, she began to splash more, eventually sitting in the running water. Drenched, and happy, she contently splashed up a mess- that is, until all the water stopped.
Confused, she felt the stone and found no more water was running down.
"Yorda, come!"
Suddenly she crawled up the slippery surface, sliding every so often. Making it to the top, her hand met with Ico's.
"You got yourself all wet, you silly." Taking her hand, she led her across a recently-created bridge. "Just don't start shivering or anything."
Through the door, they found themselves on a balcony. Off on the other side of the room, a row of statues were placed against the edge. There wasn't a bridge running across, and there was no way to create one.
"...Are we stuck?"
Yorda walked to the very edge, then jumped back with a gasp when a block appeared in the air before her. Covered in glowing symbols, it stood silent, leading to air.
"...Wow. Come on." Leading her onto it, another block appeared before it, followed by another and then another. The bridge appeared piece-by-piece, until they were before the statues. They slid apart, revealing the balcony- and a switch.
"Ah. Here we go." Looking down, Ico found that they were above the room with the still-shut window. Dropping the sword down, he walked to a corner and found a pile of sticks. Grabbing one, he ran to a wall torch.
"Don't jump down. Really." Lighting it, he leapt off the edge, causing Yorda to gasp.
She suddenly took off after him, leaping down. Quickly traveling through the air, she landed on the floor just beside him, with a loud yelp.
Quickly lighting the torches, Ico, having known she would do that, ran to her. Suddenly everything began to tremor, as he pulled her into a seated position. Silently, the two glanced around the shaking walls.
The huge dish-shaped object from before suddenly activated. With a burst of light, it suddenly directly reflected concentrated sunlight through the huge windows. Outside, above the two main gates, a round statue was hit with the concentrated beam.
The round orb, within a metal cage, began to slowly spin- gaining speed, it suddenly shot off a wave of energy for the first half of the gate. The surface of the closed gate began to glow, the rumbling coming to a dead halt.
"What just happened?"
The children stared at the steady beam of light in silence.
Rising, and helping Yorda up, Ico stared at the beam. "Come on, let's go see!"