Love Child

fadingshadesofpurple

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters (unless otherwise stated). They are all copyright Naughty Dog/SCEA.

Once again, another chapter. And once again, I aim not to disappoint. I must apologize, again, for any typos found in the last chapter. I admit I rushed it, and didn't proofread it like I should have after I had written it, since I was in a hurry to move onto something else. So I found that words were left out and stupid mistakes were made everywhere, when I went back to read it over. Anyways, I will make sure that I don't make mistakes like that in this chapter.

Thanks to all who reviewed: musicboxfan, Ecohorse and Jak Fan.

And thanks to all who read but didn't review. I hope you found the story just as interesting as the above did.

And now, the long awaited Chapter Nine...which is just as long as the previous chapter. Actually, it's longer, I think.

Chapter Nine...For those Strong Enough to Claim It

As Ashelin floated, still as can be, her senses returned to her, and she drifted slowly to the surface to catch a much needed breath of air. She tried not to gasp as she resurfaced, and instead took in a deep breath slowly, finding that the hazy, black edges that rimmed her eyesight slowly disappeared as she did so.

Now what to do was the next question?

She knew she had to get out of the water, and bandage her profusely bleeding left shoulder. Staying in the water would mean a quicker death, but she wasn't sure exactly how she would make her exit. She bobbed about for several seconds, using her legs to keep her afloat, and let her senses take in everything. The sounds of shuffling and screaching reached her ears; the Metalheads were still about, and she could see that they were a long way from where she was by following the glowing orbs atop their head as they moved about in the distance.

They were far away, she could tell, so far away that if she climbed out now, and ducked behind a series of rock formations she noted just off to the right of the pool of water, she may have a chance at safety and a good hiding spot. Slowly, gently, she pulled herself out of the pool of water, using her right arm moreso than the wounded left. She heaved herself out, trying to be as quiet as possible, and stood up, before moving as quietly as possible, watching each step as she moved, to the first of the rocks, where she ducked down behind it. After a few seconds of gasping for breath, she peaked around the top of the rock to find that the Metalheads were still oblivious, and had, in fact, moved farther down the cavern from her position.

She shifted her weight as she crouched, and slid further along behind each rock, finding a nice tall slab of one that she could lean against and begin to try to heal her wounded shoulder.

All the while she moved, she thought of the predicament she found herself in. The Metalheads were far more clever than she gave them credit for. They had known about this hidden water pool, had known that her father's men could not swim in water with their heavy armor on, and, armed with this information, could set up a wonderfully laid trap using it. Then, with the their larger numbers as an advantage over the KG, as well as their ability to blend with the shadows, they could surround their enemy in an ambush and force them into such a very well thought out trap. Then with all of the KG dead, the Precursor artifacts would be their's for the taking.

It was all so simple, yet effective.

Thoughts turned to her own plan of action suddenly. Beyond bandaging her wound, should she abort the mission and try to find a way out of the cavern? Would that in itself be an impossible task? Or should she try to continue the mission by taking out as many Metalheads as she could through stealth and then make way with as many Precursor artifacts as possible? She knew she could be just as stealthy as any Metalhead, if need be, and under any other circumstances, she would have considered the latter choice over the former in an instant.

But in her condition, not wounded, but pregnant, was it worth the risk, now that she was not only taking her own life into her hands, but the life she now carried, so tiny and small, within her.

Still, this added responsibility didn't mean that she should neglect all of her others, when she may just have a chance at completing her father's mission.

She shook her head at her own thoughts. Bandaging her wound was the first priority, then she would make plans for her next move.

From a pack she had strapped to her waist, she took out a bottle of green eco, and a bandage, drenched through and through from her fall into the abyss, but still usable. She opened the bottle, poured some of the contents of it, warm to the touch, onto the cloth, and then began to wrap it around her shoulder, tying it tightly in place as she did so.

She could feel the effects of the green eco almost immediately, as it seeped through the bandage onto her skin and then shifted its warmth up and down her left arm and shoulder. Once she felt that she had given herself enough eco, she slowly began to make plans for her next move. She stood and looked over the top of the rock she was hiding behind, and glanced off into the darkness. She knew that the shelves that housed the Precursor artifacts were directly in front of her, along a wall that was a good distance a way.

She then turned her attention to the moving Metalheads, and counted them by their glowing skull gems. All in all, they totalled out to a number of seven. Three stood along the wall where the shelves were, but further down along it, so that they weren't directly in front of her. The other five moved off into the distance, pacing back and forth, like restless animals. And she knew from their movements that there was a good chance that more Precursor artifacts could be found in that direction as well.

So the question came: to escape or to recover the artifacts? Her mind decided on the former much faster than she would have liked it too. Escape, while probably the best option, sounded far to cowardly for her nature. Besides, she found that the more she thought of her fallen comrades, the more she wanted to settle those odds with the price of of Dark Eco: the precious life blood of a Metalhead. So she was pregnant, but that didn't mean that she couldn't take care of business.

After all, she had been in graver situations, and had gotten through them just as quickly as she was about to get through this one.

She had stealth on her side, and, she noted, more than enough ammo in her gun to take out the last remaining few Metalheads. The prize she would earn would be the satisfaction that the deaths of a few good men were repayed with the deaths of a few terrible Metalheads, and her father would get his Precursor artifacts.

Her mind made up, and the wound in her left shoulder nearly healed from the green eco, she smirked, stood up, and moved forward into the darkness and towards the shelves. Here, unfortunately, only the darkness of the caverns was her cover. There were no more rock formations to hide behind. She had to make it to the wall where the shelves were, where she noted some more rock formations that she could hide behind. There, her stealthy moves would have to kick into overdrive. She would need to get as close to a Metalhead as possible, in order to deliver the fatal blow: a swift strike to the skull gem, which was akin to a strike to the heart of any human. It would crumble to its death without a sound after that. She could take out the three against the back wall with this method, and then open fire on the last five, aiming for their skull gems as well, before they would even know what had hit them.

She moved, came to the rock formations, and slid down behind them. The three Metalheads were standing off to her left, occupied with the artifacts. One was a little closer to her than the others, and he would be her first target. As he stood stationary, she picked up a small stone, held it in her hand and threw it gently, so that it made a rough noise as it hit the ground next to her.

That noise caught the attention of her prey, just as she had meant it too, and she ducked down further behind the rocks that hid her so well in the darkness. As the Metalhead walked passed her, searching for the source of the sound, she stood up, and brought the top of her pistol down as hard as she could on the Metalhead's skull gem. It produced the desired effect: the Metalhead crumbled into a heap of dark eco, dead, and the skull gem rolled off to the side.

This action also caught the attention of its comrades, which she could tell by their form and the way they moved, were two juice goons. They slowly advanced on the scene of the sneak attack. In response to this, she quickly ducked down behind the rock formation as they slowly crept up to examine the remains of their fallen comrade. She heard them both screaching and crying, as if in talk, they were trying to find the cause of death for their co-patriot.

It was no matter for them, for they were about to die just as quickly as the fallen one. She leaned back, and shifted her pistol into "Silence" mode and then stood up. Both Metalheads were facing away from her, but their skull gems were still visible, and still able to be targeted. She aimed at the one closest to her, brought it's source of life in her sights, began to press on the trigger...

...when an unidentified source of light caught her attention, as it flew through the air, illuminating the high walls of the cavern with its brightness. It arched up and into the air, then hurtled down to the ground, where it exploded in a burst of smoke and bright fire. The blast of it sent her and the Metalheads in front of her hurtling into the wall behind them. While the rest of the Metalheads off in the distance began milling around like a series of crazed ants whose nest had just been destroyed by a devilish child, letting out little cries of terror in the process.

The source of light, she found, was little more than a flare that continued to burn brightly from its spot in the center of the cavern's floor.

It served for one devastating purpose: to reveal her position to the Metalheads she was trying to sneak up on, and to reveal her as the culprit behind the death of their fallen co-patriot.

Even as she pushed herself against the wall, and attempted to reach for her gun, which had been knocked out of her hand by the blast, the first juice goon, ironically enough the one she had chosen to target first, moved in and struck her hard across the face and neck, knocking her, with a cry of frustration, to the ground.

Reaching up, she touched the side of her face, only to find bloody scratch marks. Angrily, she shifted her wieght, tried to stand, but found that both Juice Goons had fully gotten the best of her. The first one fired electric bolts of red eco from the top of its long spear weapon at her, forcing her back down with a cry of pain. The other one followed up the first one's attack with a similar one.

And so a vicious cycle began of deadly electrocution. As pain seared through her body, she let out a cry of agony, even as she desperately tried to force herself to stand against their attacks. This endeavor was futile, and she evantually gave up hope, as darkness rimmed her vision, and her hearing blurred. Before she completely surrenderd to the pain, she caught two large figures running through the entrance of the cavern.

"Metalheads!" the first one cried.

"Fire on 'em!" the second one answered.

She heard shots being fired. One of the juice goons attacking her fell to the ground, presumably dead.

But before she could analyze who these figures were, and what they were doing here, the darkness that rimmed her vision completely overtook her, and she passed out.

--------

She heard voices as she came too. Gruff voices that came from the two figures she had seen before she passed out. They stood over her now, glancing down at her as she recovered from the dizzying Metalhead attacks. "We got 'em all, every last son of a bitch," the first one said.

"And surprisingly enough, all of the artifacts are intact as well."

"But it looks like we weren't alone in the discovery of this cavern."

"Yeah," the second one shifted his gun. "It looks like the good ole Baron's been down here too. Or at least his men were."

The first one knelt beside her, and turned her face gently to face his. "This the only one to survive the attack, and it has to be a female too. Makes it hard to carry out Damas's orders regarding the Baron's men."

"Yeah, I know what you mean..."

The first one continued to examine her closely. "She's injured pretty badly. It's a shame."

"We could always bring her back to Damas and say she was one of the artifacts," the second one said with a chuckle.

"Right, and one look at these symbols on her armor and clothing, and he'd cast us both out into the desert on our asses for defying him. But it's still a shame though, nothing we can do. We should just let her die from her own wounds, and not bring about her own death."

Ashelin, who had come to full consciousness somewhere in the midst of their conversation, lifted her head up and let out a groan. This caught both of the figure's attention. "Don't you dare leave me here to die..." she murmured.

"What 'id you say?" the first one snapped as he lifted her head.

"Don't leave me here to die. I can be quite useful. Just don't abandon me."

The second one let out a hearty chuckle. "She's pleading for her life. Awww man, that makes it even harder."

She glared up at the still kneeling first figure, catching his dark eyes with her fierce golden ones. "Y'know," he said to the second one, without even turning his gaze away from her. "Who says we gotta bring her back to Spargus. We could always dump her off at the Precursor Monk Temple, and let the monks deal with her. That way, we don't have to risk incuring Damas' wrath for saving a lackey of the Baron's."

The second one answered with silence first, and then finally with words. "That sounds like a plan to me, aye."

"Lets do it."

The first one stood, and then gently lifted her. She murmured a soft "Thank You" to him, before he tossed her over his shoulder like a sack of vegetables, and both figures turned to exit the cavern.