A sample of the story that would have been…

Cave with no Ceiling

For hours the two children walked. However, the mountain range that bordered the beach they had just arrived on was still visible in the distance. "Why is it so flat here?" Ico said to himself. He looked to his left and saw Yorda slightly lagging behind him. Compassionately, Ico slowed down so they could both be walking at the same pace.

Yorda's pale skin healthily reflected the bright sun. But the sun suddenly turned darker. Ico looked up and noticed storm clouds lazily muffling the sun. Like smoke they coasted away. But it was definitely an omen of weather to come.

They continued on their feet. The grass silently crunched beneath their feet. Yorda then said something that Ico could only perceive as gibberish, along with anything else that she said. But it was always nice to hear her voice, "Peyv luuv…"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:I couldn't use symbols to imitate Yorda's speech. So I developed a little system of letters to represent her talking. And even though the code is crackable, it's meant to represent the language barrier between them and how they are always so close and have formed a bond on something that isn't based on words.

I wish I knew what you were saying, Ico thought as he looked back and smiled at Yorda who had her eyes aimed at the sky. Ico remembered the storm cloud he had just seen and said, "We have to go faster!" Ico reached for her hand while she said, "Xeh." Ico was sometimes baffled how she was able to say some of her words. In his head, he tried to mimic the word she just said, but to no avail… They ran as fast as Yorda could move until they encountered a tree. "Hii Kipi!" Yorda said. Ico wondered if she was trying to tell him to slow down or if she was hurt. But she kept up with him and didn't slow down, so he assumed everything was fine and kept going until they got to the tree.

They took a rest under the tree and caught their breath as the rain quietly began. The tall blades of grass gently swayed back and forth as the droplets of water struck them. Yorda was watching the branches of the tree gently move in the wind that the rain cloud was making. Ico watched it with her and wondered where the wind came from. He guessed that she was thinking the same thing…

Eventually, the rain let up and Ico woke up the sleeping Yorda. Her eyes fluttered open. And for several seconds, she didn't move and took the time to heave a relaxed sigh. Without saying anything, they both stood up and looked at each other. Ico was shorter so he had to look up at her while she stretched her arms over her head. Yorda looked all around her silently while the wind softly blew her hair around. Ico observed his surroundings, too, as he searched for a good direction in which to travel.

Off in the distance, he noticed what looked like a cave among many more trees. He figured that there would be other people there to tell him where he was. Ico motioned for Yorda to follow him and she did. The sun was still out and the dew on the grass left little specks of water on Ico's clothing. Yorda was silently giggling as it tickled her feet and this made Ico smile.

After a few minutes, they reached the cave surrounded by trees. But that's all it was. Ico stopped and looked about. He noticed Yorda looking scared of it. It was dark inside further down, and she probably thought that there were more shadow demons inside there that would try to get her. But the Dark Queen was dead. And with her, so died the shadow demons. But then, to his surprise, she just ran in as if she had found something she'd been looking for her whole life. Ico ran in after her and was surprised after a few seconds of running to catch up with her that it wasn't very dark at all. In fact, he looked up and noticed that this cave didn't even have a ceiling. The sun perfectly lit up the walls all around them. Yorda was mesmerized by the fact that she was in a room with walls but no ceiling. She took in her surroundings and seemed to feel at home. A small smile crept onto her face and that made Ico smile. Then he noticed another corridor on the other side of the room that led into another chamber, which also had no ceiling. He walked in that direction and Yorda followed. It felt oddly nice being in such a weird location. What kind of cave had no ceiling?
Then he saw weird writings on the walls. He saw tall figures fighting other tall figures with spear-like weapons. The next thing he noticed was something that resembled a completely empty hourglass- no sand in the upper or lower halves, which was weird. Then there were many illegible ancient writings followed by a large arrow pointing to yet another tunnel to his left. Yorda was looking on with him who seemed slightly less confused than he was… perhaps she could read this writing? Yorda finished looking at the symbols and looked at Ico for what to do next. Her still eyes stared calmly at him while he thought.
Ico stuck out his hand. Yorda grasped it and they both entered the tunnel together.

And I'm afraid that's as far as I'll take this story. If anyone wants to take over this story, you can either email me: or IM me: SpiritStoneSword. I'll give you the alphabet Yorda uses. And give you ideas as to where the story can lead.

This whole fanfic thing has been fun. But I've got to worry about my college writings now… So good luck to the rest of you and so forth!