Chapter 17
Rei stayed in the shadows beneath the stairs for a long minute, even after she heard the elevator go down. (I can't take any chances.) But as the silence became increasingly irritating, she sighed heavily and stood up.
(What to do first...) Looking around, she pursed her lips as she trotted over to the stairs. (I may as well get up and turn that stone before they come back.) Making her way up the stairs, she stopped suddenly at the top. (The bag!) Dashing back down the stairs, Rei silently cursed herself. (I've gotten too used to Relena carrying it. Keep your head straight...) Snatching it up, she once again, made her way up the stairs. Without bothering to look back, she shoved the door open and slammed it behind her.
The slam echoed in the huge Egypt exhibit. Scowling at the ceiling, Rei was suddenly angry. (Here I am, in some tiny little skirt, in a computer game, collecting stupid jars, alone, without Heero-) She stopped at the top of the stairs leading to the Burial Rites. (Why do I keep thinking about him? He's with Relena now, and soon they'll go back to their nice little house, white picket fence, daisies popping up in the front yard...) She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Heero being locked up in what Rei pictured as Relena's ideal home. (Poor guy.) Hopping nimbly down the steps to the Burial Rites, she suddenly found herself happier. (Whoa, what if that girl wants a family when she grows up?!) The thought of Relena dragging Heero to bed was too much and Rei had to stop and laugh out loud.
"I could just see her face..." She chuckled.
Opening the door to the Witch Doctor room, she wiped at her eyes. (Maybe this alone thing isn't so bad...) She flashed a casual wave to the witch doctor behind the drums and laughed aloud once again. "Hey, doc..."
In the Gods exhibit, the next room, Rei glanced inside the harp room as she passed it. (Come out, you little glob. I'll fry you this time.) She smiled, and gathered a bit of power in her hand, just in case. Around the corner, another set of stairs waited, these ones wide and sky blue. Rei walked up the short set and came face to face with a wax replica of Thor on horse-drawn chariot. Rei stopped to look at him. (Why am I so...giddy? Am I just happy to be alone to do this how I want?) She blinked slowly and her smile fell. (Or is it because now that they are separated from me, they're safe. The creatures coming for my power won't hurt them trying to get at me.) She sighed softly and turned away from Thor, down the side stairs into the next room.
The whole room was tinted blood red and small wax imps seemed to dance along the wall. Only a large, white and blue painted rock, though it was about the size and shape of a coffin, gave the room any feeling of reassurance. Shadows jumped along its surface, trickling across the nonsense words written there. Rei jumped away for a moment, then realized it was the glow from the lights in the ceiling that were made to flicker, like firelight. Taking a deep breath, Rei stepped down into the room again and made her way across the room, ignoring the shadows that danced and seemed to reach out for her.
(Keep calm, they're just shadows.) Her breath came heavy with apprehension as the shadows moved faster and more irregularly around her. (They're just shadows, nothing-)
Something heavy hit her back and she sprawled forward. Twisting over, Rei kicked out instinctively, hitting the zombie in the shoulder. (Get up!) Her mind screamed, but another black creature held her to the ground. Rei arched her back up and swung her knees around the thing's neck. Yanking its head to the floor under her, Rei used the momentum to spring up and slash at another one coming at her from the side. The zombies slowed and began backing her into the corner as more popped out from behind the wax statues.
A fleeting image of the boys running through the door and blowing the creatures to dust passed through Rei's mind as her back hit the wall. She swallowed hard and took a breath. (That's not going to happen. You have to take care of yourself.)
The zombies continued to advance, their blackened bodies shuffling forward, mouths grinning and baring hideous teeth. (I can take care of myself!) Rei closed her eyes and clenched her hands, letting her power shiver to life inside of her. "Bring it on..." She hissed, and when the group of rotted figures jumped for her, she let her energy blast out around her, incinerating the zombies on the spot.
She gasped suddenly, feeling the heavy weariness settle in her chest. Opening her eyes, Rei surveyed what was left of the room around her. Piles of dust covered the floor in front of her and there were two rows of melted wax along either wall. Rei sighed, satisfied with her work. Giving the room once more long look, she smiled, seeing she had gotten them all.
She turned around to the stone, still perfectly white, and reached out for it. Heat radiated off its surface, so Rei didn't let her hands linger as she pulled gently on the side and flipped it around, so the front faced the wall and the back, also white and blue, faced her. The words were no longer gibberish, but translated into very ornate English.
'Heed my words young one, hold thine head,
Keep thy enemies close, one had said,
But friends are dearer, more so than bread.'
Rei looked at the words a minute, and rolled her eyes. "That is just a little cliché, don't you think?" Rubbing her face, she turned around and made her way out of the destroyed room.
She picked up the bag easily and started out of the room. Eventually, Rei made it back to the lobby. But, before she pushed open the Egypt door, she put her ear to it and listened for voices. Only silence greeted her. (Aren't they back yet? Maybe they actually...)
Throwing her hip against the door, Rei got it open and let it slid closed again after she slipped through. She set the bag on the floor and leaned over the edge of the balcony, looking over the room. (What if they actually could get out through the front gate? What if they are running home, while I'm here, poking my way through dusted zombies and clay jars?) She stepped slowly down the stairs and stopped next to the showcase. (They could be gone already...)
She caught her breath as something rattled and a muffled voice sounded from somewhere. Then, several gunshots rang through the lobby and Rei hit the floor.
Heero's P.O.V.
"What could this thing be made of?" Duo asked incredulously, fingering the lock that had taken a dozen shots, yet only had a few vague scratches to show for it.
"Look at it, the lock is half rusted; it should have broken after a single bullet." Quatre crossed his arms, speculating.
Heero said nothing, only looked down at the gun in his hand before holstering it. "We'll have to go over it, then."
"Trowa should do it." Quatre looked up at the boy in the back of the group. "You have experience with this sort of thing."
Trowa nodded slowly. "I will need a boost. I couldn't possible jump that high."
"I will." Zechs stepped up from the back of the group. "I am the tallest." He looked around at the others, and everyone realized he was right; Treize smiled and stood up straight, showing that he was about three inches shorter.
Zechs moved up to the gate and looked up at it. Trowa stood silently beside him and looked up as well. "Are you ready?" He asked quietly.
Zechs nodded, and leaned over a bit, lacing his hands together. "Step up."
Doing so, Trowa balanced himself and reached up to grab onto the metal spikes that topped the gate. About to swing himself over, he threw a hand over the gate to balance, but stopped in midair and dropped gracefully back to the ground. He stared up at the gate in confusion.
"What happened?" Zechs straightened and rubbed his hands.
"There's something up there." Trowa's eyes narrowed in confusion. "It kept me from getting over the gate."
"Let me up." Heero stepped forward. He and Zechs stared each other down until Quatre's loud cough brought them back.
"Get on." Zechs once again leaned over and laced his hands together. Heero hesitantly stepped up on him, and reached his hand out over the gate. (Trowa's right...) His hand ran into something hard, a barrier, but he could only see plain air there. Dropping back down, Heero looked up at the gate and frowned. "It seems Rei was right." He stated simply.
"Can't we get over the wall, then?" Relena suggested hopefully. "Maybe that barrier is only over the gate."
"There's water underneath all of the walls." Quatre looked around.
"And I, for one, am not setting any part of myself in that soup." Duo crossed his arms and nodded with determination. "Who knows what kinds of things are lurking down there."
"We should try that building." Wufei advised. "If anything, we may find something that will help explain all this." He turned from them and began up the path, not waiting for anyone to agree.
Heero hesitated, looking from his hand and back up at the top of the gate. (She said this was just a computer game. Is it even possible?) Wufei was at the steps to the building when Heero jogged up beside him. "Is it possible?" He asked quietly.
Wufei paused. "We can't know anything until we get at that girl again." He started back up the steps and disappeared around the corner.
(He's right. Stop doubting and find her.) Heero followed up the stairs, making sure to check back at the corner to see that all the others were following.
The building's passages were open roofed, so every now and then, the group could look out and see the gate, or the platform they had come up out of. At what seemed to be the end of the passageways and stairs, there was a long, closed hallway, its walls decorated with scrawls of spray paint.
Around the corner, Heero found Wufei stopped at the edge of a shadowed portion of the hallway. The bricks of the walls and floor were a deep blue and seemed to be more irregular in shape that the rest of the building. Heero also stopped at the edge, and looked over at Wufei.
"They seem stable." He said simply, and Heero shifted his weight to test it in the shadowed area. When nothing happened, he moved all the way onto it, and looked back at Wufei.
The others followed behind him and they turned into the small side space, and a few soft sighs sounded as their way was cut off by a dark blue door. Reaching out, Heero tried the handles. They clattered loudly in the silence. "Locked." He confirmed.
"Then we have to open it." Wufei already had a gun out and Heero backed out of the way.
Gunfire rang in the air, but no one else pulled out anything. Relena pursed her lips and rolled her eyes at the back of the group. (We just tried this on the lock. What makes him think it will work on this ugly door?) Wufei stopped firing after a moment and walked up to the door. Several, large holes surrounded the handles and he jerked the pair of metal rods out. Looking back, he fixed Relena with an arrogant stare, as though he had heard her thoughts.
Relena couldn't keep the stare, so she looked away and focused on Heero's back instead. Her faint anger was soon replaced with self- importance. (So, looks like I won. He'd sooner shoot that slut than touch her.) A smile tugged at her lips. (The way it's supposed to be.)
Hey, this chapter was originally supposed to be shorter, but someone requested some Relena time, so I added it real quick to the end of this chapter. I'll try to put some more in the next one. Anyway, some of you may guess what happened to Rei, but you will be surprised! Please review and let me know what you think so far!
Rei stayed in the shadows beneath the stairs for a long minute, even after she heard the elevator go down. (I can't take any chances.) But as the silence became increasingly irritating, she sighed heavily and stood up.
(What to do first...) Looking around, she pursed her lips as she trotted over to the stairs. (I may as well get up and turn that stone before they come back.) Making her way up the stairs, she stopped suddenly at the top. (The bag!) Dashing back down the stairs, Rei silently cursed herself. (I've gotten too used to Relena carrying it. Keep your head straight...) Snatching it up, she once again, made her way up the stairs. Without bothering to look back, she shoved the door open and slammed it behind her.
The slam echoed in the huge Egypt exhibit. Scowling at the ceiling, Rei was suddenly angry. (Here I am, in some tiny little skirt, in a computer game, collecting stupid jars, alone, without Heero-) She stopped at the top of the stairs leading to the Burial Rites. (Why do I keep thinking about him? He's with Relena now, and soon they'll go back to their nice little house, white picket fence, daisies popping up in the front yard...) She couldn't help but smile at the thought of Heero being locked up in what Rei pictured as Relena's ideal home. (Poor guy.) Hopping nimbly down the steps to the Burial Rites, she suddenly found herself happier. (Whoa, what if that girl wants a family when she grows up?!) The thought of Relena dragging Heero to bed was too much and Rei had to stop and laugh out loud.
"I could just see her face..." She chuckled.
Opening the door to the Witch Doctor room, she wiped at her eyes. (Maybe this alone thing isn't so bad...) She flashed a casual wave to the witch doctor behind the drums and laughed aloud once again. "Hey, doc..."
In the Gods exhibit, the next room, Rei glanced inside the harp room as she passed it. (Come out, you little glob. I'll fry you this time.) She smiled, and gathered a bit of power in her hand, just in case. Around the corner, another set of stairs waited, these ones wide and sky blue. Rei walked up the short set and came face to face with a wax replica of Thor on horse-drawn chariot. Rei stopped to look at him. (Why am I so...giddy? Am I just happy to be alone to do this how I want?) She blinked slowly and her smile fell. (Or is it because now that they are separated from me, they're safe. The creatures coming for my power won't hurt them trying to get at me.) She sighed softly and turned away from Thor, down the side stairs into the next room.
The whole room was tinted blood red and small wax imps seemed to dance along the wall. Only a large, white and blue painted rock, though it was about the size and shape of a coffin, gave the room any feeling of reassurance. Shadows jumped along its surface, trickling across the nonsense words written there. Rei jumped away for a moment, then realized it was the glow from the lights in the ceiling that were made to flicker, like firelight. Taking a deep breath, Rei stepped down into the room again and made her way across the room, ignoring the shadows that danced and seemed to reach out for her.
(Keep calm, they're just shadows.) Her breath came heavy with apprehension as the shadows moved faster and more irregularly around her. (They're just shadows, nothing-)
Something heavy hit her back and she sprawled forward. Twisting over, Rei kicked out instinctively, hitting the zombie in the shoulder. (Get up!) Her mind screamed, but another black creature held her to the ground. Rei arched her back up and swung her knees around the thing's neck. Yanking its head to the floor under her, Rei used the momentum to spring up and slash at another one coming at her from the side. The zombies slowed and began backing her into the corner as more popped out from behind the wax statues.
A fleeting image of the boys running through the door and blowing the creatures to dust passed through Rei's mind as her back hit the wall. She swallowed hard and took a breath. (That's not going to happen. You have to take care of yourself.)
The zombies continued to advance, their blackened bodies shuffling forward, mouths grinning and baring hideous teeth. (I can take care of myself!) Rei closed her eyes and clenched her hands, letting her power shiver to life inside of her. "Bring it on..." She hissed, and when the group of rotted figures jumped for her, she let her energy blast out around her, incinerating the zombies on the spot.
She gasped suddenly, feeling the heavy weariness settle in her chest. Opening her eyes, Rei surveyed what was left of the room around her. Piles of dust covered the floor in front of her and there were two rows of melted wax along either wall. Rei sighed, satisfied with her work. Giving the room once more long look, she smiled, seeing she had gotten them all.
She turned around to the stone, still perfectly white, and reached out for it. Heat radiated off its surface, so Rei didn't let her hands linger as she pulled gently on the side and flipped it around, so the front faced the wall and the back, also white and blue, faced her. The words were no longer gibberish, but translated into very ornate English.
'Heed my words young one, hold thine head,
Keep thy enemies close, one had said,
But friends are dearer, more so than bread.'
Rei looked at the words a minute, and rolled her eyes. "That is just a little cliché, don't you think?" Rubbing her face, she turned around and made her way out of the destroyed room.
She picked up the bag easily and started out of the room. Eventually, Rei made it back to the lobby. But, before she pushed open the Egypt door, she put her ear to it and listened for voices. Only silence greeted her. (Aren't they back yet? Maybe they actually...)
Throwing her hip against the door, Rei got it open and let it slid closed again after she slipped through. She set the bag on the floor and leaned over the edge of the balcony, looking over the room. (What if they actually could get out through the front gate? What if they are running home, while I'm here, poking my way through dusted zombies and clay jars?) She stepped slowly down the stairs and stopped next to the showcase. (They could be gone already...)
She caught her breath as something rattled and a muffled voice sounded from somewhere. Then, several gunshots rang through the lobby and Rei hit the floor.
Heero's P.O.V.
"What could this thing be made of?" Duo asked incredulously, fingering the lock that had taken a dozen shots, yet only had a few vague scratches to show for it.
"Look at it, the lock is half rusted; it should have broken after a single bullet." Quatre crossed his arms, speculating.
Heero said nothing, only looked down at the gun in his hand before holstering it. "We'll have to go over it, then."
"Trowa should do it." Quatre looked up at the boy in the back of the group. "You have experience with this sort of thing."
Trowa nodded slowly. "I will need a boost. I couldn't possible jump that high."
"I will." Zechs stepped up from the back of the group. "I am the tallest." He looked around at the others, and everyone realized he was right; Treize smiled and stood up straight, showing that he was about three inches shorter.
Zechs moved up to the gate and looked up at it. Trowa stood silently beside him and looked up as well. "Are you ready?" He asked quietly.
Zechs nodded, and leaned over a bit, lacing his hands together. "Step up."
Doing so, Trowa balanced himself and reached up to grab onto the metal spikes that topped the gate. About to swing himself over, he threw a hand over the gate to balance, but stopped in midair and dropped gracefully back to the ground. He stared up at the gate in confusion.
"What happened?" Zechs straightened and rubbed his hands.
"There's something up there." Trowa's eyes narrowed in confusion. "It kept me from getting over the gate."
"Let me up." Heero stepped forward. He and Zechs stared each other down until Quatre's loud cough brought them back.
"Get on." Zechs once again leaned over and laced his hands together. Heero hesitantly stepped up on him, and reached his hand out over the gate. (Trowa's right...) His hand ran into something hard, a barrier, but he could only see plain air there. Dropping back down, Heero looked up at the gate and frowned. "It seems Rei was right." He stated simply.
"Can't we get over the wall, then?" Relena suggested hopefully. "Maybe that barrier is only over the gate."
"There's water underneath all of the walls." Quatre looked around.
"And I, for one, am not setting any part of myself in that soup." Duo crossed his arms and nodded with determination. "Who knows what kinds of things are lurking down there."
"We should try that building." Wufei advised. "If anything, we may find something that will help explain all this." He turned from them and began up the path, not waiting for anyone to agree.
Heero hesitated, looking from his hand and back up at the top of the gate. (She said this was just a computer game. Is it even possible?) Wufei was at the steps to the building when Heero jogged up beside him. "Is it possible?" He asked quietly.
Wufei paused. "We can't know anything until we get at that girl again." He started back up the steps and disappeared around the corner.
(He's right. Stop doubting and find her.) Heero followed up the stairs, making sure to check back at the corner to see that all the others were following.
The building's passages were open roofed, so every now and then, the group could look out and see the gate, or the platform they had come up out of. At what seemed to be the end of the passageways and stairs, there was a long, closed hallway, its walls decorated with scrawls of spray paint.
Around the corner, Heero found Wufei stopped at the edge of a shadowed portion of the hallway. The bricks of the walls and floor were a deep blue and seemed to be more irregular in shape that the rest of the building. Heero also stopped at the edge, and looked over at Wufei.
"They seem stable." He said simply, and Heero shifted his weight to test it in the shadowed area. When nothing happened, he moved all the way onto it, and looked back at Wufei.
The others followed behind him and they turned into the small side space, and a few soft sighs sounded as their way was cut off by a dark blue door. Reaching out, Heero tried the handles. They clattered loudly in the silence. "Locked." He confirmed.
"Then we have to open it." Wufei already had a gun out and Heero backed out of the way.
Gunfire rang in the air, but no one else pulled out anything. Relena pursed her lips and rolled her eyes at the back of the group. (We just tried this on the lock. What makes him think it will work on this ugly door?) Wufei stopped firing after a moment and walked up to the door. Several, large holes surrounded the handles and he jerked the pair of metal rods out. Looking back, he fixed Relena with an arrogant stare, as though he had heard her thoughts.
Relena couldn't keep the stare, so she looked away and focused on Heero's back instead. Her faint anger was soon replaced with self- importance. (So, looks like I won. He'd sooner shoot that slut than touch her.) A smile tugged at her lips. (The way it's supposed to be.)
Hey, this chapter was originally supposed to be shorter, but someone requested some Relena time, so I added it real quick to the end of this chapter. I'll try to put some more in the next one. Anyway, some of you may guess what happened to Rei, but you will be surprised! Please review and let me know what you think so far!