It is truly amazing. Three chapters in as many weeks! W00T! Go Slywolf!
Chapter 21: Life
Part 41: Hope
The wind howled now, and the snow blew harshly into their faces. Ness no longer knew where he was, what he was doing. Saria had just opened up a door in the forest, some old relic of an ancient civilisation, and they had fallen through. She hadn't told him what they were looking for, just begged him to trust her.
And he couldn't help but trust the girl he loved. "Saria?" Ness asked, softly. "Are you..." he turned around, and gasped in alarm.
She had fallen to the ground, her skin almost blue with cold. "Can't... Can't go on... So... So cold..." she shivered, curling up.
Ness forgot his own discomfort, and raced to her side, picking her up and cradling her against him. Covering her from above, he began to push through the storm, hoping against hope that he would make it to those distant hills. And that he would be able to find a shelter.
Ness pulled himself into the cave, gasping in relief as he put Saria down. He shivered, still feeling a chill and knowing he had to find some way to keep the cold out. The boy looked around, searching for something that was in sufficient qualities to keep the wind out.
He looked at the snow, and slowly remembered what he had been told, long before this nightmare had begun...
Ness ducked as Popo threw the snowball, and ran back, trying to get back to his own stockpile. Not paying any attention to where he was going, he suddenly crashed into a pair of legs. "Whoops..."
"Well. Will you look at that? A walking potato." Link growled, returning to his work. "Come on, Roy... Put some back into it..."
Roy grimaced, and lifted the immense ice-block up and onto its companion. "Boy, I love visiting the mountains... Don't you, Marth?"
Marth shoved another block in place. "Yep... And after we get this done, we'll be nice and warm in between ski-runs. Shouldn't take us more than twenty minutes, what with our strength and that."
Ness coughed. "What do you mean, warm?"
"If we keep the cold air out," Roy replied, tolerantly, "than we'll be comfortable even if the snow is mildly cold. Besides, we'll be clearing the floor of sn...oh crud. We should have done that first..."
Link and Marth both fell down.
Ness nodded, and started to use his powers to pile snow in front of the cave's entrance. He patted it down, and then set up a closed entrance of lightly packed snow, before turning to face Saria. "Saria?" He asked, worried.
Her eyes were open, but she wasn't seeing anything. He ran to her side and desperately checked for a pulse, even going so far as to put his head to her breast briefly to listen for a heart-beat. He sighed in relief when he finally got a weak beat, and then collapsed in thought.
He knew he had to dry her and get her warm, but he didn't know how. Or, rather, he did know, it was just difficult to work up the courage to do. Finally, though, he slowly reached forward and started to untie her tunic.
Being who he was, he did his best to look away, tried to keep his eyes averted. But Ness couldn't manage it. He slowly became lost in her curves, his eyes tracing her simple beauty. 'I am going to be in so much trouble...' he thought, soberly, as he started a fire and placed her clothes around it.
Slowly, he started to remove his own clothes, stripping down to his fortunately dry boxers. 'If these were wet I'd be in even more trouble...' the boy thought, knowing that he wouldn't have the nerve to remove them.
Ness pulled the sleeping bag out of his sack, and lay it on the ground before picking up Saria and placing her in its warm confines. Slowly, carefully, he lay down next to her and zipped the sleeping bag up, pulling her close to him and praying that some warmth transferred into the girl.
Otherwise, he would never be able to justify in his own mind the situation he was now in, or the enjoyment a treacherous part of his mind was having.
Saria slowly woke up. She couldn't remember anything that had happened since she had collapsed. She didn't know why she was warm, didn't know where she was... And... She shrieked when she felt something around her waist tighten slightly, and painfully forced her eyes to open. 'I must have...faint...'
She was staring right into Ness's sleepy eyes, which blinked once or twice before he pulled back, abruptly, to a sitting position. The girl felt the object around her waist withdraw, rapidly, and she realised that he had been holding her. "Ness...?" Saria asked, slowly sitting up. "What happened...?"
"You... You were blue, and your skin was cold, and I... You're..." Ness closed his eyes and looked away quickly. "I didn't look..."
Saria looked down, and almost shrieked again when she saw that she was naked. That moment passed the second she reached across and touched Ness's mind with her own. What she found made her smile, at the sheer honesty, the regret. "You did. And you enjoyed it. But... The important thing is you tried."
Ness shivered. "I'm sorry...really..."
Their eyes slowly moved to meet each other, and they stared at one another for almost a minute before Saria whispered, "Don't be...", reaching out and pulling him back towards her. "I'm not..."
Ness leaned forward to kiss her, and when he pulled back, he found her lips were still on his. "I love you, Saria..." he whispered, softly.
Saria tilted her head on its side, a variety of answers coming to her, before she finally settled on, "Thank you..." they drew closer together, neither of them knowing why this was happening, but neither wanting to stop.
And sometimes, love does come at first sight. Sometimes, something just happens that makes it right, that makes it necessary.
And sometimes, love is what you need to keep going.
Almost an hour later, Saria slept again, curled up against the bo...the man she loved. Her smile was satisfied, and her dreams were full of hope.
Part 22: Despair
Ash and Misty looked around the corner, both of them nodding to the other before slowly stepping across the hallway. Neither of them spoke. Ash pulled open the door, and nodded.
Jessie, James, and Meowth walked through, followed by Brock. "Thanks, twerps..." James said. "Now, come on... The lab is this way."
Brock reached out to hand Misty her Togepi back. She waved her hand, silently. The little pokemon was happily asleep in Brock's arms.
Ash looked down the stairs, his eyes wide. "I never thought..." huge machines loomed in the distance, performing unknown work. And overhead, through it all, the unknown twisted and turned.
Misty pulled him down when a voice came from the darkness below. "Another failure, Giovanni... kill the pikachu... Wait. I...I can sense the piece our master's want... It's right above us..."
Giovanni's voice cut from the shadows. "Be silent, witch... There is no one there..."
"I can feel it..." there was the sound of running feet. Our heroes, and Team Rocket, froze.
Then Togepi squealed, and the passageway collapsed, sending our heroes flying. Flying into nothingness... Except for Brock.
Misty clutched her egg-pokemon to her, shuddering. The area around them seemed pleasant enough, but...
Ash looked around. "What happened to Brock?" He felt something tug at his sleeve, and looked down to see Pikachu. He gasped in relief.
Jessie and James, though, were staring at a scene that was taking place on a smoky glass... Before it blinked out.
Veran looked down at Brock, contemptuosly. "Hrmm..." she simply snapped her fingers, and grew into an immense spider. "Dinner time..."
Finally! I no longer have the Pokemon crew hanging over me. It was vaguely unsatisfying, that second part, especially when compared to the first, but don't worry! From now on, I'll be keeping things at a near fever height of quality, plot-wise and otherwise.
