Bright: Alright, I admit it. I've been doing my impersonation of an ostrich. I've had my head in the ground. Err... I have been thoroughly and completely stuck. I've re-written this countless times but I'm now officially conceding defeat and passing the little I've written off to my co-author with much whimpering hoping she can write me out of the corner I've written myself into. Ehh... maybe it's long enough to just post.
For you entertainment here is the alternate version of this chapter.
"Ow! Dammit!"
"Hn!"
Trapped in the cave eventually starvation sets in. Quatre dies first. Heero then stoically chews on him for a while for the sake of survival. Unfortunately, a wing bone gets stuck in Heero's throat and he dies. Heero's last thought is, 'Hn... I thought that only happened with chicken."
Wufei, Duo and Trowa having seen there friends buried entirely, move to the Kazba and open a Karaoke bar serving pixie stick, beer and fried chicken.
Wufei is grumpy about it. Duo thinks it's a blast. Trowa is indifferent.
The End.
Ag (now Yume): sweatdrop
Chapter 7: Lost In Darkness
Darkness is a strange thing. The longer it continues the less power it has thought Quatre following Heero by sound alone now. He had been forced to focus on moving forward without breaking a leg, tripping over something or loosing Heero in the darkness. At first, Quatre had found himself babbling an endless stream of commentary about nothing not even listening to himself talk. "Ouch that was a rock. What is it with caves and slime? Do you like tea? My father does a lot of importing and exporting. He has a monopoly on the southern market. He imports carob and tobacco too but I'm not really much of a chocolate person and the smell of tobacco kind of oozes over everything like oil. It makes me queasy. Iria is crazy for chocolate. She makes these faces when she eats it and is all oooh, ahhh. It's so funny. Heero wait up! Has every rock down here been honed to a razor's edge? This once I went to market and this camel..."
Heero responded not at all until Quatre fell silent on his own for a moment. "You'll find it easier to follow me if you listen instead of talk," Heero spoke stating fact without kindness or cruelty.
"How are you doing it? I never hear you trip," asked Quatre sometime later.
Heero could hear Quatre's breathing. He had recognized the fear almost immediately and waited for it to pass because it was all he knew how to do. Fear is overcome by being forced to confront that which you fear. Heero thought about that for a while wondering if it was really true. He had been trained ruthlessly. There was nothing he feared. Then again what was there to fear when you were a sword and nothing but a sword? His latest employer Wizard J was paying well. J had insisted on more very specialized training, brutal training. Emotions are the strongest magic of all J had taught. You must surpass them until all that is left is the sword and the mission. Odin, Heero's mentor who had died before Heero started dealing with the creepy old wizard had said it was important to always follow your emotions. What happened then if you followed fear, regret, melancholy, anger J had argued. For now Heero kept all of it locked away biding his time. The fledgling phoenix was the most emotive creature Heero had ever met. Quatre was lonesome, scared, determined, cheerful, friendly, tired, happy... everything that a person could be Quatre was all at once. Heero watched. Who was right, Odin or J?
"Hn," Heero grunted not bothering to answer just dismissing the question.
They traveled along in silence for some time until they came to an underground stream and what seemed like a dead end.
"Hn."
"What is wrong?" Quatre asked softly.
He's not afraid anymore, noted Heero staring through the darkness into the general direction of the phoenix. "This cave is a dead end. We're trapped." Heero stated dispassionately.
Quatre did not answer. He went to the water, stepped down into the stream and then was silent and still.
Hours passed. Heero sat on a rock in silence calculating how long it would take to shift the rock away from the rock fall. The litchen and water would sustain them for a short while. Chang's experimentation indicated the phoenix was stronger than he appeared to be.
Quatre giggled then there was a splash and some coughing.
If you are pissing in that water, I'm going to throttle you, thought Heero striding over to pull Quatre out angrily. He grabbed a fist full of feathers and hauled the boy out.
"Heero," Quatre called happily ignoring the mercenary's rough treatment. "There are fish. They were nipping at my toes. There is a current. This has to lead out!" (B: There was no water piddling involved for anyone who didn't figure out that Heero was just being snotty.)
"We're going back to try and shift the rock fall," snapped Heero not bothering to explain how short a time a person could hold their breath, how cave streams tended to twist and maze, how impossibly unlikely a stream escape was.
Quatre returned with Heero and helped him shift rock. For a long time they didn't speak.
It was awkward heavy work.
Duo frowned. They had escaped pursuit but they had a duty to the phoenix. "Hey Woo!" Duo called with forced strained sounding cheerfulness. "I have been around you too long I'm starting to think like you. I was just thinking DUTY, DUTY, DUTY!"
Trowa, watching silently, noted that there was no sincerity at all in the imp's mocking grin.
Wufei exploded! "Of course we have a duty to them you impossible BAKA! MORON! BRAIDED AIR HEAD!"
Duo nodded weakly, forcing a playful chuckle at the dragon's expense, but his grin faltered.
Wufei didn't notice and continued ranting. "IMBECILIC IMP! CRANIALLY COMPROMISED CRETEN! DUNDERHEADED DOORNOB!" Wufei's insults continued full steam but he didn't seem to be directing them at Duo in particular for Duo had given up on the pretense of grinning and wandered off to pet Fang.
Neither of them noticed Trowa slip off silently. Wufei was still ranting.
When Trowa returned Wufei and Duo had fallen silent and seemed to have been patiently waiting for him to return.
"Need some alone time with the trees?" Duo quipped. He had meant it to be a joke but it came out sounding somewhat mean. "Sorry. I didn't mean it like... I just..."
Trowa shook his head silently dismissing the need for any apology. "Town near here." Trowa held up a map that showed, obviously sketched by some elf-interrogated villager, all the known caves in the area.
Wufei took the map and studied it. "We were here when we were attacked. There's no cave showing here. These caves all cluster around water areas. The caves must be limestone. Water erodes the stone creating pockets, voids in the solid stone." Wufei continued muttering something about glaciers and soil composition.
A pained expression passed across Duo's face. . "Dumb it down Wu-zer."
Trowa was silent and expressionless listening to Wufei. Wufei stopped mumbling and looked up. "They're trapped in a cave with no known entrance or exit."
Quatre sighed in relief as he dropped himself down. After trying to move the rocks for what seems like forever to the blonde-Heero told him it had only been an hour- he was grateful for the break, even if they were trapped.
Heero was less cheerful than his younger companion. They hadn't made any progress. There were so few options left to them. The first was to continue to move the rock and hope they would break to the surface. The other was risking the stream as an escape route. They could wait for the others but there was a chance that they would miss them or cause the rocks to fall on top of them. There was a slim chance on a safe rescue. Moving the rocks was the best choice.
"I'm thirsty," declared Quatre, gaining the other's attention.
"Hn. Then get a drink. The stream's not that far from here. Just don't fall in."
Quatre remained on the ground a little while longer before standing. "Alright. I'll be back in a bit." He careful walked down the cave, his hand running along the wall. Heero watched him until the shadows swallowed him up.
Quatre hated the darkness. He always had. There seemed to be something hidden in the shadows. He never knew what it was or what it wanted, but it was there and unnerved him. Quatre took a deep breath. He had to stay calm. It wouldn't help to panic.
The sound of moving water whispered into his ears. His small smile turned into surprise when he tripped over a rock for the umpteenth time. Another thing he hated about the dark. He could never stop tripping.
"Great," Quatre said from his position on the floor. "I'm trapped in some underground cave with no way out, it's so dark I'm tripping over my own feet, Heero thinks I'm a crybaby, and I'm scared!" A few tears escaped his eyes and dripped onto his hand. "I shouldn't be here. I'm not strong enough or brave enough. I'm useless." He curled up against the wall, legs drawn to his chest and head buried in his knees. He cried.
Duo was pacing. He had been pacing since Wufei explained the situation. And he hadn't stopped pacing. It was getting on the dragon's nerves but he didn't say anything, knowing the imp was worried for his friends like he himself was.
"We just gotta find 'em! I'm sure Heero's doing okay, waitin' for us to get our lazy asses in gear, but Quatre... Kat's still new to the outside world. He's just beginning to understand his powers and all the crazy things happening around him. Kat's still an innocent kid."
"Don't doubt his strength," said Trowa.
Wufei nodded. "Quatre's powers manifested once before in a dire situation. Maybe it will happen again. In the mean time, we should find the landslide."
"Why?" asked Duo.
"When Heero realizes there is no exit to the cave, he'll go to the landslide," explained Wufei.
"And he'll try to move the rocks!" finished Duo. "Then what are we waiting for!?" Duo took to the skies and began his search.
Trowa nodded to Wufei. "You go ahead. I'll go into the town and get some supplies. We lost some in the landslide."
Wufei nodded. "Take Fang with you." He too took to the air, his dragon wings beating strongly to catch up to Duo.
Trowa called to Fang before venturing off.
Quatre pushed himself to stand, the crying fit taking some of his energy as the tears dried. He walked the short distance to water and washed his face, taking the occasional sip of water. He spun his fingers in the water, giggling as the fish chased them and tried to take a bite.
"Are you really trapped in this cave? How could you live in such darkness without knowing any light?" Quatre sighed and stood once again. It was best to head back to Heero before the older boy worried. Then again, could he really worry? He seemed so detached from the world and the others.
"You have an important purpose. You can't afford to take risks on behalf of something as insignificant as a sparrow."
But nothing it insignificant, thought Quatre. I wonder what made him say that.
Suddenly, the ground shook under him. Shouting in surprise, he fell.
Heero sat up straight when he felt the earth shake. He jumped when he heard Quatre's shout. He ran down the cave, barely able to stay on his feet when the ground shook again. This wasn't and earthquake, he realized. This was something different.
He found Quatre curled up with his head covered. Rocks and dirt was falling from the ceiling. Not enough for a cave in, but it still worried the human. Then it hit him. The smell! It was similar to the explosives he had got from Howard. They very things he wished he had since the discovery of no exit was being used right above them!
Another explosion caused more rocks to fall. He rushed over to Quatre and covered the young blonde. Quatre gasped in surprise before clinging to him. He was scared, Heero realized by the shivering. Beyond scared, he was terrified. Heero held onto him tighter, feeling a need to protect the young phoenix that when beyond duty.
The explosions stopped and the dust settled. They waited a little longer before sitting up. The sunlight burned at their eyes. A rattling sound echoed from above as a form appeared in the sunlight.
"Well, well, look what we have here," said a feminine voice dripping with venom. "A trapped guardian and hissss charge. I'll help you out. Jusssst give me the Phoenix and I'll be on my way."
"Never," declared Heero. He pulled out his sword and squinted his eyes at the light. Just his luck. An enemy appears and he's blind as a bat.
"Oh I'm ssssorry. I wassssn't aware I wassss giving you a choice."
Yume- And that's a wrap for this chap.
Minako- Rhyme!
Bright- Good job, Ag-er Yume.
Yume- Yes. I was on a roll when Bright sent this to me. I hope you enjoed this.
all- RnR!