Chapter 4

AN: Sorry for the delays nn;; I had writer's block xX but I've mustered up enough inspiration and ideas so hopefully this'll work out. So yes, enjoy.

Falling water pounded down on his face. He didn't know how long he had been lying there, everyone had left and silence ringed throughout the ancient city. He was not injured but he felt no reason to get up, he could lie there for all entirety, it didn't matter. But he chose to lift himself up, to look down at the rain-soaked ground. The rainwater mixed in with stale blood, the smell of the killed was inescapable. He looked to his side, a building made of aging stone had collapsed, a hand lay out from underneath the rubble....

He was standing in the sunlight, his clothing dry and he was far away from the nightmare he had woken up in. The ground was wet although it had not rained in days. Tall grass surrounded him and swayed in the gentle breeze. He took a few steps and found a passage. An old stone passage hidden in the wet marsh, he didn't know where it would lead but he had seen it in his dreams. He nodded to himself and entered the passageway underground....

He stood in a village. Various black mages made their way around, in and out of shops and house, all filled with happy and aware mages. Warm sunlight poured in and sparkled in the clear stream that passed through the village. He sighed deeply, there were no humans, no fear, no fighting. This must be paradise....

"Mr. 114? Wake up! Wake up! It's morning now!" Mr 57 sang happily above no. 114's resting place. He woke with a start and found himself back at stone forest, a gentle sunlight poking in through the stone leaves. He shook his head slightly, wasn't he just somewhere else...?

"You had that dream didn't you?" Mr. 239 asked sleepily from the other side of their site, a slightly amused look on his face.

"Dream...?" No. 114 wondered out loud.

"It's when you see places and people and stuff when you sleep, you feel like it's happening but it isn't." Mr. 239 explained. "You had that dream, about the village with only black mages, right?"

No. 114 paused, "Yeah." He nodded to Mr. 239.

"I've had that dream! Isn't it great? We want to go there! Mr. 239 thinks it's far away so that means it'll take a long time to get there." Mr. 57 had said it so fast it took a moment for no. 114 a moment to figure out what he said.

"Yeah, so we'll have to get moving right away." Mr. 239 yawned loudly, he hadn't slept all night and it starting to get to him. He sat down on the ground and pulled a rolled up piece of aged paper out from his bag. "Come over and look at this..."

No. 114 stood up with slight difficultly, he felt better from the rest but his arm was still badly damaged making it hard to push himself up. He walked over to Mr. 239 and sat down in front of him as Mr. 57 filled up a gap to his side. Mr. 239 had unrolled the paper revealing it's contents, it was a diagram of something important with mark labeling certain parts and many messy notes about treasure, routes, secrets and looting were scribbled in odd parts.

"This is a map, it's a picture that shows where places are and how to get to them." Mr. 239 explained to Mr. 114. He paused for a minute looking at the map then asked, "You came from Alexandria?"

"Huh?" No. 114 questioned, what was Mr. 239 talking about?

"Never mind." Mr. 239 mumbled going back to the map. "The passage underground from the dreams was in a marsh, a big muddy place, and the only marsh is here..." He pointed to a large coloured blob on the map labeled 'Qu's Marsh'. "And we're here..." He pointed at another blob labeled 'Evil Forest'. "So to get there....We could go through south gate just over here..." He ran his finger over to a mark labeled 'South Gate: Ground Passage'. "But...." Mr. 239 looked up at Mr. 57.

"'But....'" Mr. 57 repeated giving Mr. 239 a questioning look.

"But last time we went through one of those it... didn't go well." Mr. 239 explained looking back down at the map. "So we could go up through this 'Ice Cavern', it's dangerous but there won't be any humans. And that'll take us to..." Mr. 239 paused nervously looking down at the map and what came after the Ice Cavern. He rolled the map back up and stuffed in back in his bag.

"We're going to 'Ice Cavern'?" No. 114 asked.

"Yeah..." Mr. 239 mumbled rubbing his eyes. "I'm going to go look ahead, make sure the humans have left. You two stay here okay?"

No. 114 nodded confusedly, all this was so new to him and he was still getting used to it. They wanted to go to the village that they all saw in their dreams, it seemed perfect there, but Mr. 57 said that it was far away... How would they ever get there?

"You're going... by yourself?" Mr. 57 broke into No. 114 thoughts. He suddenly jumped up and grabbed onto Mr. 239's sleeve, a pleading look in his eyes. "Don't leave me alone! Please...?"

Mr. 239 stayed silent for a moment then gently removed Mr. 57's hand from his arm and held it in his hand. "You won't be alone, Mr. 114's here now too. And I'll be back in a second." Mr. 239 clamed Mr. 57, his voice soft and soothing.

No. 114 watched them; it was what he was best at. They seemed so close, like they cared for each other more than themselves. He had never seen people act like that. It was so nice, he wished someone would feel that way about him. But suddenly a small fear touched no. 114; Mr. 239 was leaving him alone with Mr. 57. What happened if Mr. 57 snapped and tried to cast magic on him? What would he do? Why was Mr. 239 leaving them alone...?

"You'll be right back?" Mr. 57 asked, his voice coming back to his usual carefree tone.

"Of course," Mr. 239 nodded and turned to no. 114, "Don't worry."

No. 114 wondered if Mr. 239 could read minds.

With another nod to reassure Mr. 57, Mr. 239 turned and disappeared into the stone foliage. Mr. 57 sighed slightly and turned to No. 114, he tilted his head and seemed to be wearing his usual smile.

"You two are really close." No. 114 mumbled, he was still nervous about being alone with Mr. 57 but decided that Mr. 239 wouldn't leave them alone if he was worried about Mr. 57 snapping.

"Yep! Mr. 239's my friend! He helps me out and makes sure I don't get hurt." Mr. 57 said happily. No. 114 shuddered slightly at Mr. 57's comment about how Mr. 239 makes sure that he doesn't get hurt.

"...Friend?" No. 114 asked quietly, there were so many new words to learn.

"Yeah, I think Mr. 239 said it meant... A person that you trust and like being with that you look out for. He said friends don't hurt each other that they make sure you don't get hurt and you do the same for. Me and Mr. 239 are good friends." Mr. 57 paused contently then turned to Mr. 57 with a great idea. "We should be friends!"

No. 114 was surprised at Mr. 57's idea; he had never been a friend and didn't know if he'd be a good enough friend for Mr. 57. But before he could reply Mr. 57 grabbed no. 114's hand from his good arm and held in tightly in his.

"Alrighty! We're friends now!" Mr. 57 announced and squeezed his hand gently. "Friends?"

No. 114 felt shocked at Mr. 57's sudden decision but felt so happy that Mr. 57 wanted him to be his friend.

No. 114 squeezed back, "Friends!" He announced.

"Yaaay!" Mr. 57 cheered, letting go of no. 114's hand and starting jumping up and down in joy. No. 114 jumped back slightly, startled at Mr. 57's sudden actions. At the same moment, Mr. 239 stumbled back into the clearing looking at Mr. 57 confusedly. When Mr. 57 realized his other friend had returned he stopped jumping and instead decided to inform Mr. 239 about the news.

"Me and Mr. 114 are friends now!" Mr. 57 explained joyfully.

"That's good." Mr. 239 nodded sleepily. "I looked ahead and the humans have gone away so it's safe for us to keep going. Are you guys ready to go?"

"Yep! I wanna go to the village!" Mr. 57 cheered happily, becoming friends with no. 114 had put Mr. 57 in a really good mood.

"How about you Mr. 114? Ready for your first traveling experience?" Mr. 239 asked no. 114, he knew that Mr. 114 was still new to all this and had a bad experience beforehand; he wanted to make sure their new friend wasn't too nervous.

No. 114 nodded. He wanted to go to that village too, even if it was very far away, he was ready to go.

"Okay then, let's head out." Mr. 239 announced, he only hoped that going through the Ice Cavern would be easier than he had heard before... Because, they had Mr. 57 with them....

Short chapter, I know. Sorry nn I promise the next one will make up for it. If I included the next part in this chapter I would have made a chapter longer than the last one oo So hopefully this'll tide you over for a bit. The next chapter should be done within the next few days so you won't have to wait too long.

Oh, by the way, I was thinking of writing a separate fic about 239's background story. Would anyone be interested? I'll probably still write it if no one is but if you are I might get around to it sooner nn So anyways, please leave a review!