Nova

Chapter 17: The Tunnels.

Meryl

It had been three hours since Knives had nearly drowned, and neither Kestrel nor Knives had yet to wake.

Milly had fallen asleep against the side of the cavern, and Vash was exploring our new surroundings.

I could still see the hole where we had fallen through, but those creatures were nowhere to be seen. What little light that had been coming through the hole was

virtually gone now, making the odd blue glow on the ceiling shine even brighter.

The glow itself was like nothing I'd ever seen before, but the ceiling of the cavern was too high to get a good look at what exactly caused it. Before Vash had left to explore he said he'd look for some closer to the ground.

I pushed myself up from my seating position and went to check on Knives and Kestrel. We'd laid them out on either side of our makeshift camp, because when

Knives wakes he probably won't like the idea of having received mouth-to-mouth by a human.

I checked their pulses, both were beating with stable intervals.

I pulled the blanket back up to Knives' chin, for some reason he was fidgeting in his sleep a lot, as if he was having a nightmare.

I shook my head sadly and backed away to make sure Kestrel's blankets were still right.

"Are they OK?" Milly's voice drifted over form behind me.

I turned, and smiled, "Yes. I just hope that they wake soon. There's no telling when those beasts will appear again."

Milly nodded, stood and stretched, "Ooh! I could really go for some pudding right now!"

I laughed, "Jeez Milly."

She laughed.

Vash

I heard the girls laughter as I came back from a virtually fruitless search.

I could find nothing that would indicate a way out. There were various twisting tunnels that seemed to go on for miles. I'd found more caverns of varying size

and even a small river as out of place as the underground lake.

But I did find out what that odd glow on the cavern walls was. Some sort of luminescent moss. Probably had a luciferin*-like substance in its composition.

(AN: *luciferin is the substance in a firefly's abdomen that makes it glow.)

"Find anything?" asked Meryl as I settled myself next to her.

"No exit. This place is huge. I found a bunch of tunnels and more caverns. This network of tunnels and

caves goes on for miles I think."

"I wonder what created them." Milly said rolling her gaze across the ceiling.

I pulled my hair out of my ponytails and ran my fingers through it, "I think sandworms. I found a couple of sandworm skeletons in another cave."

"Sandworms? They also go to the surface, so there must be an exit somewhere." Meryl said hopefully.

I nodded, "Yeah, somewhere."

Meryl sighed, "Oh man, what are we going to do? We barely have enough rations to last us a week."

I shook my head, "We'll figure something out."

Meryl leaned her head on my shoulder, "I can only hope, Vash, I can only hope."

Kestrel

God.

I felt like my head was in a vice.

Blood pounded in my ears, my heart thumping in my chest, and my muscles screamed in painful protest as I strained to sit up.

"Oh! Miss Kestrel! You're awake!"

"With as much pain as I'm feeling right now, I would hope so." I muttered through clenched teeth. I could barely open my eyes. I found that even the small amount of light there was in the cavern was too much for me.

"Huh?"

"Nevermind. Private joke. Damn where's some aspirin when you need it?"

"Oh, sorry I don't have any." Milly said sadly.

"That's OK, the pain lets me know I'm still alive."

"Oh. Ok." She said in a very confused tone.

I felt the cool edge of a cup pressed against my lips, "Here have some water." said Milly.

I slid my fingers around the cup and took a sip. It was like heaven. I had no idea what overusing my powers would do to me, the Master Healer in Lanoth had heavily warned against it. He's said that it had unforeseeable effects, anything could happen, from just being drained of power for awhile to dying.

I didn't know what in the hell I was thinking when I healed Knives, nothing probably.

I hoped he was all right.

"How's Knives?" I asked her.

"Still unconscious."

"Oh. How long have I been out?"

"Close to four hours."

I winced then laughed, and tried to open my eyes again. I blinked rapidly and let my eyes adjust to the dim light.

Looking around I noticed Meryl and Vash gone, "Where're Meryl and Vash?"

"Mr. Vash and Meryl are exploring the caves."

I peered around, getting a better look at the structure of the caves, "Hmm, sandworm tunnels."

She looked surprised, "You know what they are?"

I nodded, "We have 'em back home, my sister and I used to explore them all the time when we were kids."

Milly smiled, "Oh how fun."

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Ten brothers and sisters!" She smiled even more brightly.

I laughed, "Oh, wow. Talk about contributing to the population."

"You want help standing up?" she giggled out.

"Yes please."

Milly helped me stand and worked my sore muscles, hissing through my teeth as pain shot up my limbs, "Yikes."

Knives

*Dream*

Everlasting dark.

I don't know how long I floated there in complete darkness. Maybe I was there only for a minute. Maybe for a year. A hundred years. Time ceased to exist.

I ceased exist.

I merely floated there like an entity. Unaware of anything or anyone. No. No, I could feel them. I could sense their eyes watching me. They waited in the dark.

Ready to devour my soul.

I could feel their nails reaching out grabbing at my immobile limbs.

I tried to shake them off, but it was useless.

I was fighting a losing battle.

The invisible demons swirled around me, threatening to tear me apart. Threatening to reduce me to nothing more than a lost soul amongst all the others.

Then...

A glow pierced the darkness like a divine blade, shunning the dark with it's light.

The demonic nails receded and they hissed in fear. She stepped through the light and reached out her hand for me to take. The searing light silhouetted her face,

and I squinted trying to see who she was.

I grasped her hand and she pulled me into the light. The light brightened and she disappeared, but her presence surrounded me, soothing my mental wounds.

Bringing my mind closer to consciousness.

*End Dream*

Kestrel

I was sitting cross-legged, watching Knives' fitful sleep. It was sad to see him struggle like that. I touched his brow and tried to use what little power

I'd gained back to ease his mind. He let out a soft sigh and seemed to calm down.

"Better be careful," Meryl said, she and Vash had returned not fifteen minutes ago.

I looked at her, "Why?"

"He wakes up and he might just attack you."

I placed my hand into my lap and scooted back.

Suddenly his eyes shot open and he locked gazes with me. At first he seemed not to recognize me, but almost immediately afterwards, his eyes narrowed and he looked away.

"Hey Knives!" Vash cried happily, "How do you feel?"

"Like crap," he muttered.

"What was that?" Vash asked.

"Nothing."

Vash helped Knives to his feet, and gave him some water. It was basically the same procedure that happened with me.

"What happened? Last thing I remember I was underwater." Knives asked, squinting out at the lake.

Vash flinched and shot me a look, "Uh, Knives you... you nearly drowned."

He blinked, "Drowned?"

Vash nodded then said quietly, "Kes' saved you."

Knives looked confused for a moment, but when it seemed to finally sink in, his eyes widened, "How."

"CPR" Vash said even quieter.

Knives choked, then suddenly looked enraged, "What!?"

He violently whipped his head towards me and glared.

I gave him a small, rather confused, smile and waved my fingers at him in a hesitant greeting.

"I cannot believe that you would even dare to touch me in that way, you filth!" Knives yelled with a look of disgust on his face, "If it weren't for Vash I'd kill you!"

I stood my ground, my confusion and hesitancy thrown to the wind, and tried to give him a stubborn frown, "Would you rather I did nothing and let you die? From

what I see that would have only solidified the idea that we are selfish beasts, wouldn't it? Proving that all along you were right."

Knives squared his shoulders and looked like he was about to lunge.

"Well guess what? I saved your life. Live with it!" I continued.

"You human's only save the lives of others for your own personal gain!"

"I don't want anything in return! And had I known that what I would get from saving your life would be your undying arrogant attitude, I would have left you to drown!"

I turned to leave, then as an afterthought, turned back, "On second thought... I wouldn't have let you drown. You want to know why? No? Well I'll you anyway.

Because had I let you drown I would be no better than you, you selfish ego-maniacal bastard!"

I spun around and stormed down one of the tunnels, "You're welcome!"

Knives

Stupid human.

"You know Knives, you really should be grateful to her."

"And why is that?" I muttered.

"I think that even if I had gotten to you first, I wouldn't have been able to save you, not without her help anyway."

I looked at him curiously, "What do you mean?"

"You were too far gone by the time we got you to shore, she was using her powers as well as CPR to save you."

Her powers? "How do you know?"

"For some reason I could sense it. The amount of energy that she put into it was... incredible. I could sense most of it going to your heart and to your

brain. She had to keep the oxygen going to your brain and the blood flowing through your heart, she used the CPR to give you oxygen. So really I don't see why you can't at lest thank her."

"Never."

Vash shrugged and sighed, "I'm just saying--"

"Well don't. I don't want to hear it."

Vash

I suppose it was the next morning. The light from the hole in the ceiling was at a different angle now. Opposite that of when we had fallen in here.

We, meaning Meryl, Milly, Kestrel and I, decided that we should try and find an exit. Knives stayed out of the conversation entirely, choosing instead to sulk, shooting Kestrel death glares while cleaning his water logged gun.

Kestrel had chosen to just ignore him, acting as if he didn't exist.

It was actually kinda cute in a way. I laughed to myself and watched the two. In fact now that I was watching then I noticed her shooting Knives glances when

he wasn't looking.

But unlike Knives' looks, which were filled with disgust and hate, hers were of curiosity and confusion. And I could see in her eyes... a need... to understand.

I grinned evilly to myself, a wicked thought rolling around in my brain.

"What are you smiling about?" asked Meryl, smiling.

"Oh nothing. Nothing at all."

Meryl raised her eyebrows, "Sure. Ready to go?"

I grabbed my bag at my feet and hiked it over my shoulder, "Yep."

The five of us, Meryl, Milly and myself, strategically placed ourselves between Kestrel and Knives.

The walk was rather uneventful, we'd basically been walking around blindly from one tunnel to the next, not really picking any specific path.

The blue moss was gently illuminating our path as we walked.

Conversation was close to nil. Everyone seemed wary of it, because any sound we made echoed through the vast caverns. Sometime I could hear water dripping from a distance, small screeches from sand rats, rocks falling from the tops of the caverns, and wind blowing from some yet unknown exit.

Suddenly a animalistic roar blasted its way towards us from the dank recesses of the cavern.

I stopped in my tracks and held up my hand to keep everyone quiet.

A second roar reached us, closer this time.

"Shit, lets get out of here!" I said and pulled at Meryl's hand, dragging her after me down another tunnel. The others had no choice but to follow.

Somehow we ended up in a cavern about four times the size of the one where that underground lake had been.

"Whoa." Kestrel said from behind me.

"It's huge." Milly said in awe.

Not only was it huge, but it had a plethora of glowing moss all over the ceiling and walls settled in a striking array of color.

I looked back at Knives and saw that he'd completely forgotten to keep up his whole 'I'm a bad ass, fear me' act and looked completely floored. Not to mention

that he'd somehow cone to stand right next to Kestrel.

I grinned and squeezed Meryl's hand affectionately.

A roar broke off our reverie and we all turned to see eight of those beasts coming towards us.

Everyone reached for their respected guns, Meryl's derringers, Milly's stungun and Knives and I got out our colts.

Kestrel, having no weapon, could only back up and find a hiding place behind a large rock.

No one said anything as we all spread out.

One of the beasts lunged forward and reacted I quickly by shooting both its thighs. The other seven took that as their cue and moved forward like crazed demons of hell.

From that point on it was pure pandemonium. These things were seriously tenacious. The one I shot in the thighs somehow managed to get back to his feet and attack again.

It was like these things had no sense of self preservation. They were literally fighting to the death.

Knives of course was happy to oblige them, outright shooting them in their heads. I knew nothing I said right would change his mind, so I said nothing and let him work how he pleased.

There were only two left when another group of them joined the last two but this time I counted close to thirty.

"I'm out of bullets!" Knives yelled from his cover behind a tall stalagmite.

"So am I." I said.

I glanced at Meryl and Milly who had long run out of ammo. Damn. What now?

Suddenly an array of bullets fired from out of nowhere and all the remaining beasts fell to the ground.

I turned slowly toward the area where the bullet had come from and saw a figure silhouetted in a shadow cast by the glowing moss.

"Well, well, well, I'm dead for a couple of months and look at what trouble you've gotten yourself into."

I choked, instantly recognizing the voice, "Wolfwood?"

Many thakees to Foo, she can work through all my writing 'stakes!

I hope you all liked this. You know I've been planning the sentence by Wolfwood almost since I began writing this? Crikey.

Reviewer Responses

Saroya: Yes, writers blocks are evil. Very evil. Kill all writers blocks!

Neptune Butterfly: Working VERY hard I am. Oh darn, you all got spring break, huh? PFt, I didn't. : ( Me be homeschooled. Oh well.

Lord Hustino: I hope that Knives' reaction was interesting, I have a feeling it was a little too quick. But hell, I'm still recovering from the evil Writers Block.

Rosebud: Intense is good. Yes Knives and Kestrel will make a cute couple. But first I have to figure out how to practically get them together. I'll go study soem KnivesOC fics and see how they do it, and try to make my own twist. And all your comments make me happy.

Writers Block barbecue

First you take Vash and Knives' guns and shoot it. Then you get Inuyasha's sword and chop it into a million pieces.

Then you get Ranma to use his Shi Shi Hokkodan on it. Then you get Vash and Knives to use their angel arms on it.

Lastly flay over and open fire for 20 minutes and add barbecue sauce.

Serve immediately.

Yield: 20 servings.

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