Chapter Eight: The Escape from the Chasm

A/N: Another slightly mature content warning for one part when they're in the chasm.

The three men moaned in pain. "…Hey, everyone okay?" asked Sinbad.

"Yeah… it seems like we were saved thanks to the moss down here," someone replied.

Another one groaned, "My body hurts everywhere, but just being alive after falling from that height is a miracle…"

"That's for sure. I hope Hinahoho's okay up there, too… sure Tet and Tora are with him, but they had to strike up that deal!"

Ja'far got huffy, "Why would they do that to us?!"

"I don't know but we will make it back alive! They believed in us enough to say that to the queen!" both Sinbad and Mystras exclaimed.

"You're both just saying that to get laid," sighed Ja'far. "NOW PUT SOMETHING ON!"

Sinbad and Mystras looked at him with confusion, "Why?"

"Do want people to see you like that when we get up there?!"

Sinbad smiled, crossed his arms and said in the smuggest way, "Well, the person I want to see me like this has already seen me naked, so, it's not like I particularly care anymore."

"WELL I DO! Put on something!" yelled Ja'far. "I'm not letting women see me naked!"

Sinbad found some leaves. "Found something," he said, picking up the leaves.

"They died, didn't they?" asked Tettia as she sat at the edge of the chasm of which they were pushed into. She had gone out and sat at that edge ever since Sinbad, Ja'far and Mystras were pushed over. "We never shoulda made that deal, Tor. We shoulda just accepted her offer without saying how much faith we have in them…"

Tora leaned on her best friend and wrapped an arm around her. "I know they're alive, Tet. They must have a good reason to keep us waiting, but fuck, I hope they come back quickly. Hina's not looking too good."

"He's been used as a fuck-toy since they left… a few weeks ago. Mira hasn't told her girls to let up on poor Hinahoho."

"EXACTLY MY FUCKING POINT! ALSO, you and Captain Moron still need to happen, officially!"

Tettia laughed loudly, "True! For Ali!" She stood up from the ledge.

"Where are you goin', Tet?" asked Tora.

"I'm going to asked Miri to allow me to go down there and help those dumbasses. They need it," said a determined half-Fanalis.

Jumping up immediately, Tora grabbed Tettia's right arm. "Tet, don't get crazy! You really fucking think Mira will actually let you go down there and help those damn idiots?! That wasn't part of the goddamn agreement! They're supposed to prove themselves to her by doing this alone!" she exclaimed.

"But I can't lose Sinny, Tor! I love him," retorted Tettia. "It's worth a try!"

Tora groaned loudly and reluctantly agreed, "FUCK! FINE! Let's go!"

"Yay!" Tettia exclaimed. The duo started to walk back towards the Artemyra Royal Palace. Once they reached the palace, Tettia and Tora walked into a room, where Mira was seated, watching over her girls. "Mi~ri~" cooed Tettia.

Mira looked over at the half-Fanalis. "Yes, Tet? What is it that you want?" she asked.

"Well, I was gonna ask you if I could go down into the chasm to help them."

"What?! Why would want to do something like that?! For those men?!" asked a hysteric queen.

Tettia looked Mira in the eyes and said, "Because I genuinely have feelings for Sinbad, Mira. And I can't bear the thought of living a life without him in it. So, please, let me go down there and help them get out."

Turning her wine-red eyes towards the redhead's purplenette best friend, the queen asked, "She is not being serious, is she, Tora?"

"I'm afraid she's being one-hundred percent serious, Mira," sighed Tora.

Mira looked at Tettia. The look in the redhead's crimson eyes was almost overwhelming. Finally, after a good while of looking into Tettia's eyes for validation, she caved and said, "Fine. I give you my permission to go help them. However, Tora stays up here with me. Since I know how much you two can do together, your best friend must stay behind."

Tettia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Thank you so much, Miri!"

"You're welcome, Tet. I can see the look in your eyes, as well — you would have gone with or without my permission, yet you asked as to not anger me," said Mira.

"CORRECT! But, I'll wait until nighttime to leave. That way none of your girls think I am betraying you."

Mira sighed, "Even though they will ask questions when you are nowhere to be seen tomorrow. What should I tell them? To not worry about it?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed Tora with a grin.

Laughing, Mira replied, "You two are impossible."

Wrapping an arm around each other's necks, Tora and Tettia snickered, "We know! But we're impossible to hate!"

At the bottom of the chasm, in a new area, Mystras, Sinbad and Ja'far had gotten accustomed to life at the bottom of the chasm. As he had a log in his hand, he grew infuriated and finally Mystras screamed, "WHAT ARE WE DOING GETTING SO ACCUSTOMED TO LIFE HERE?! It's strange, isn't it?! Please remember why we're here!"

Ja'far and Sinbad looked at him, sweat-dropping and with blank faces at his outburst. "Why we're here…?" the purple-haired captain said. "In order to live," the white-haired and purple-haired men both said in unison.

"THAT'S NOT IT!" yelled the young knight, throwing the log onto the ground angrily. "This is the Artemyra Kingdom! We were thrown into this valley after Tet and Tora struck up a deal with the queen! That we'd live and make it out of this damn chasm! Don't you want to get out of here?!"

"…Now that you mention it, that's true."

"Yeah, I remember now."

"Then, you guys…!" exclaimed Mystras.

Sinbad held his kabab over the fire as he said, "But, this is an unexpectedly good place to live."

"It's a much better environment than when I was with the organization," said Ja'far.

Mystras groaned and said, "Sinbad! Do you not care about Tet?! Do you think that she has been sitting around waiting patiently for your return?! We've been gone for weeks, I'm sure she waited for maybe a week, then I'm sure she's already given herself away to another man! After all, she is a beautiful woman, I'm sure some other men have made advances towards her."

Sinbad hesitated, but ultimately answered with, "Living down here reminds me of what it is to truly live."

Mystras fumed with anger. "… I don't need that sort of understanding… I want to get out of here as soon as possible… and when I get out, I'm going to have some fun with Tet myself! Seeing as you won't be able to!" he exclaimed.

Now that almost had Sinbad grow angry. "Really now?" he hissed.

"Yes, really!" Mystras lied. He would never touch Tettia, other than a hug, because he knew how Sinbad felt about her — and how she felt about Sinbad.

When night fell, Mystras set out, trying to find a way out of the chasm. That was when the unexpected happened. The young knight heard a voice from above and when he looked up, he faintly saw a falling Tettia. "Oh god!" he exclaimed, dropping his torch and held his arms out.

Tettia landed in his arms, her face scrunched up, as if she was prepared for the hard impact with the ground. When she opened one of her eyes, she noticed she was being held. "M-Mystri?!" she exclaimed in surprise.

"T-Tet?! What are you doing falling from the sky?!" asked a hysteric scarlet-haired knight.

Stepping down from his grasp, Tettia patted her clothes. "Well, I was sick an' tired of waiting around for your dumbasses, so I decided to jump down here to come and FIND you! Since you three can apparently not uphold your end of the deal! Mira was against me coming down here, but eventually allowed me and only me to come down here. Tora, my best friend who I'm never apart from, wasn't allowed to come with me — do you know how PISSED I am?! NOW WHERE ARE THE OTHER DUMB-FUCKS?!" she exclaimed angrily.

She angrily stepped and slipped on something and she immediately grabbed onto Mystras's arm. "Wow," exclaimed the knight, as he caught her with his other arm wrapping around her waist. "What did you slip on?" he asked as he looked below her foot and noticed meat. "I have to take this back to Sinbad and Ja'far!"

Tettia picked up the meat. "Then, take me to them!"

Mystras smiled and said, picking up his torch from the ground, "Of course."

The two went back to the camp. Tettia smiled and whispered right before they went into the hut where the other two slept, "I have a funny idea."

"What is it?" asked Mystras.

"Well, I was thinking that I take off my clothes, too," she said with a smirk.

Cue massive blush from our lovable knight. "D-do you really want to?!" he whisper-yelled.

She shrugged, handing him the meat. "Yeah, I don't give a fuck who sees me naked. …Okay, I give a bit of a fuck who sees me naked. But I know you won't do anything to me when I sleep next to Sin," she said, taking off her clothes.

"O-okay!" he said, entering the hut. He laid down in his bed, which was next to Ja'far's.

Tettia smiled and nuzzled up beside Sinbad, on his left side. "Oh~ I can't wait for him to wake up~" she cooed, kissing his cheek. "Goodnight Mystri~ Thanks for catching me, by the way."

"N-no problem…"

Sinbad stirred from his slumber and felt a warmth that was previously not there wrapped around the left side of his body. He knew it was not Ja'far, nor would the young former assassin ever cuddle up to anyone willingly. Opening his golden eyes, they were immediately drawn to a streak of red, wavy hair. T-Tet?! his mind thought, scrambling at the thought that she had been there. Surely this had to be a trick of the light, a part of his mind tried to rationalize. Yeah right, if it were, I wouldn't be feeling warmth on my left side, his mind snapped. "N-no… way…" he muttered, his eyes widened when his mind wondered off as to why he was so warm on his left side. In an attempt to prove that she was not in the state of attire his mind had conjured up, he peaked under the leaf-covers. "Ffffuuuucccckkkk…" he muttered as he saw her utter lack of clothes.

Even though he was very quiet, Tettia had been stirred from her slumber. She felt that Sinbad's whole body had heated up and she smiled devilishly to herself. Upturning her crimson eyes, she smiled contently. "Oh, good morning, Sin," she said quietly. Swinging her left leg around his waist, Tettia had hoisted herself up (leading to her having straddled the young Sinbad), a devilish smile replacing her previously content one. "You look so excited to see me," Tettia whispered, leaning in close to his ear.

"Y-you're… here…? Now…? Is this a good dream," he asked, reaching up to touch her face.

Tettia covered his hand with hers and kissed it. "Oh no, this is all too real. I came to get you, Sinbad. I can't go losing someone else I love, now can I? I lost you once… and I don't intend on losing you again," she said, leaning down to kiss him.

He gladly kissed her back, feverishly and passionately — as if he needed her kiss like he needed water. Weeks of built up emotions were released in that kiss: mainly weeks of missing her, which had felt so much longer than mere weeks. Pulling her closer by her waist, he successfully deepened the kiss. And wow did he just notice how well they molded together, as if a match made in heaven. He wanted the kiss to never end, but alas, oxygen was an essential part of living, so they had to pull away.

"Oh yeah, you really missed me," she said, quietly gasping. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I must put my clothes on before the others wake up." Getting up off Sinbad, she walked over to the entrance of the hut, where her clothes were strewn. Quickly, she put on her clothes and then returned to straddling Sinbad. "Okay, I'm back~ Sorry, but I don't want anybody else seeing me in a state of dress, or lack thereof, but you," she hummed, combing her fingers through what hair of his she could.

"Glad you think that, I'd have to kick them out if they had woken up when you were still naked," Sinbad said with a smirk, sitting up. "Now, care to tell me why you're here?"

Smiling, she answered, "I already told you, handsome: I came to get you… and Mystri and Jaffy. Miri wasn't exactly up for me joining you three morons down here, but she did agree only on the condition that Tora remained up there with her. We have to get out of here fast, I don't like being away from Tora for too long — especially since she's the one I know most of all."

Sinbad chuckled, "But it's so nice living down here, Tet."

"You dumbasses are naked, Sinbad," sighed Tettia.

"Yeah? And?"

"And I'm not living down here with three naked men for the rest of my life. Especially since I'm the only one with clothes on. We are getting out of this fucking chasm, Sin. You, me, Mystri and Jaffy. Hinahoho is being used up there and are you not even the slightest bit worried?"

"But it's a good place to live down here."

Tettia pinched his cheek and hissed, "We. are. getting. outta. this. godforsaken. chasm. understand. me?"

Sinbad whined loudly. "OWWWWW! Let my cheek go!"

His whining caused Ja'far and Mystras to stir from their sleep. "Sin, what are you whining about?" asked a sleepy Ja'far. It did not take him long to see the blur of red on top of Sinbad. "Who's that?!" he exclaimed.

"Morning, Jaffy," Tettia said with a sweet smile.

Ja'far fell backwards, blushing. "T-Tettia?! What a-are you doing h-here?!"

"Oh, I can to get to three lovely men… out of this godforsaken chasm," she said. "Oh, also! Mystri and I found meat last night."

"WHEN DID YOU GET HERE?!" yelled a now confused Ja'far. At the sound of meat both Sinbad and Ja'far jumped up. "ALSO: YOU FOUND WHAT?!" Mystras got up, as did everyone and the went outside. The fresh meat was on a leaf plate. "F… fresh meat?!"

Sinbad looked at the meat. "It's a little spoiled in places. But… it's a great piece of meat!"

"Wh… why is something like this down here?!" asked the young killjoy. "Tet, Mystras, how did you find this?!"

"Last night, while I was exploring the valley, Tet fell from the sky. I caught her and then she slipped, leading us to find it on the ground. We found it in this processed state," explained Mystras.

"So… in other words… Today we'll have a fresh meat party!" exclaimed Sinbad as he and Ja'far punched the air.

Both Tettia and Mystras fumed and exclaimed, "NO! Please use some common sense. This is obviously processed meat that was cut into this shape by people. It's strange that something like that just fell down here, isn't it?! It can't be a coincidence. Someone purposefully left it here. This will become a clue to discovering an escape plan!" As they said all that, the content duo started to cook the meat. The two redheads fell to the ground and exclaimed, "Aah! You're eating it!"

"I like mine rare. Tet, what do you like your meat?" asked Sinbad.

"No! You have to cook it properly," said Ja'far.

Tettia and Mystras cried with each other as Sinbad started eating the meat. They all heard a crunching noise. Spitting into his hand, Sinbad found precious stones. "What are these stones?"

"Ah, those are gemstones. Now that I think about it, there are a lot of rockslides in this valley. We just always ignored them because we can't eat the rocks," said Ja'far.

Sinbad laughed, "Yep. Cause they're not edible."

Tettia slumped over onto Mystras, sighing, "Gemstones… GEMSTONES are valued less than meat here… what the fuck…? Those two really don't have the will to leave anymore, do they?"

"No, they don't. And now that you're here, Sinbad is content," he said, tears pricking his eyes still.

"Hey, Mystras," said Sinbad as he took the knight by the shoulder. "Good job! This is definitely an important discovery. I'll help you figure out what's really going on here! So, take us to where you found Tet and the meat!"

"S-sure…" he agreed.

"We go at nighttime!" exclaimed Tettia.

"Yeah!"

Night fell, Mystras and Tettia lead them to where the half-Fanalis had fallen from the sky and where the meat was found. "This is where I found Tet and the meat."

Ja'far and Sinbad gasped and exclaimed, looking at all meat. "What's all this?! There was nothing here during the day… but not that it's night, all this meat has appeared?!"

Tettia and Mystras looked at the meat and the knight said, "Yeah… all this in one night. Who would do this and for what purpose…" he looked at the two men and saw they were gathering meat. "PLEASE DON'T GRAB ALL THE MEAT WHILE I'M TALKING!"

"Mystras, Tet… I'm also curious about the origins of this meat. But we should gather up all the meat first. This meat was delicious," Sinbad said, drooling a bit.

"What are you saying, you idiot?! Figuring out the fucking truth should come first!" exclaimed Tettia, who grabbed the meat from Sinbad's hands. "This might be a clue to help us escape!"

Sinbad reached for the meat she took, but she pushed him away. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY MEAT?!"

Ja'far gasped as he saw one of the huge birds used by the citizens of Artemyra. It swooped down and took the meat from the ground. "Sin! That bird is stealing our meat!" The young killjoy looked back and saw more of them. "And these ones too!" Soon the birds had left. "The meat… the birds took all of it…"

"…no way…" cried Mystras, "But I thought it could be a clue to get us out of here… and now you're telling me this is just a feeding ground for those birds…"

Tettia sat beside him and rubbed his back, "It's okay, Mystri. Even if that happened, you still have us."

He sniffled, "Thanks, Tet!"

"Yes. Perhaps we've managed to stay alive until today… because fate has been on out side," said Sinbad.

The next night, they went back to the valley. "Ja'far, Mystras, Tet, we'll gather up all the meat again today! Pick up every piece before the birds come to get it! Don't leave a single piece behind! Give it your all!"

Tettia sighed heavily, "Oh, I'll give it my all, Sin! Give it my all kicking your ass out of this fucking chasm!"

"Sinbad, you said things like 'It's alright. Fate is on our side,' but in the end, you really just wanted to eat all this meat!"

Sighing, Tettia gathered up the meat. As did Ja'far, throwing piece by piece of meat into his basket. "Don't worry, Mystras. Sin has some kind of plan. Even if we think this is meaningless, he's the type of person whose actions can change fate. So, let's believe in him. Isn't that right, Tet?"

"Oh yeah, sure. If that's the case, then tell me why I jumped down here to bring your dummies back?" snorted Tettia, glaring softly at the white-haired killjoy.

Sinbad walked up beside her and wrapped his arm around her waist. "Because you missed me so much, you couldn't bare to be away from me any longer," he said. "Oh! Look, you guys! This one is fresh and not rotted! It'll be delicious!" he exclaimed, running over to the piece of meat.

"What were you saying, Jaffy?" asked a smirking Tettia.

Mystras looked blankly at Ja'far, saying, "To Tet and myself, he doesn't look like anything but someone who wants to eat meat…"

"It's just your imaginations. Got it, you two? Your imaginations," retorted killjoy.

That was when a huge piece of meat was thrown down. Tettia looked at it and said flatly, "Oh look, a giant piece of meat."

"I-it's so big… one person couldn't eat it all. It makes all the small pieces from before seem like a lie," said Mystras.

"It really does," Tettia said, ever flatly.

Mystras drew a knife carved from rock. "But, it's too big for us to carry home, so let's cut it up into smaller pieces…"

Tettia stepped towards the piece of meat and drew one of her daggers from within her clothes. "Step back, Mystri… I got this. Steel cuts better than stone, yeah?"

"WAIT, TET!" yelled Sinbad, grabbing her wrist.

Blankly looking at him, she sighed, "Huh? What? I thought you were content with wasting around down here?"

"Not true! That was a lie! I've… been waiting all this time for this piece of meat to come… and of course it's not so we can eat it. This is our destined transportation," he said with a smile.

Sighing, Tettia withdrew her dagger. She looked at Sinbad with a growing smile. "You idiot!" she laughed hysterically. "But, fine, fine! We'll get out this way!"

The birds had grabbed the large pieces of meat that the four of them had grabbed onto. There were two blondes, one looked over her shoulder and said, "They brought it back this time."

"That takes care of all your complains, right? So, collect the gems…" the other said.

The men got to picking the gems out of the pieces of meat. That was when the naked trio and their clothed female friend were seen hanging from three pieces of meat. The two blondes looked at them all, both clearly shocked. "KYAAAAAAA! WHAT THE HELL ARE THEY?!" the blondes screamed as they all landed.

"My strategy succeeded," said Sinbad.

Tettia, upon landing, had fallen to the ground with a loud THUD!. She was laughing so hard, her sides had begun to hurt and tears streamed from her eyes. "OH MY FUCKING GOD! THAT WAS GOOOOOOOLDEN!" she laughed loudly, rolling around on the ground. "I-I can't breath!"

"There were things stuck to the meat, so I thought it must mean something… now I get it. The reason behind it all," said a hardened eyed Ja'far.

"Huh? What are you talking about, Ja'far?" asked the knight.

Ja'far looked around and said, "They throw the meat down into the valley, and the birds bring the meat back that has the gems stuck to it. Then it's their job to collect all the gems. The valley is full of snakes, so people don't go down there. No one would think that we were taking the meat that was thrown down to collect the gems. If birds can't bring back the meat, then they can't collect the gems. I'm sure they were thinking about that."

Sitting up, yet still remaining on the ground, Tettia said, "Therefore, dropping larger pieces of meat could only raise the ability that the birds would bring it back. For example, if they dropped a piece of meat big enough for a person to hold on to… then that person could be carried up with the meat. And we used that to our advantage."

Sinbad grabbed some cloth and made some clothes from it. "That's right. And it let us easily escape from the valley," he said. The way he looked in those make-shift clothing reminded Tettia of when she first met Sinbad in Balbadd; she almost said something, but reminded herself that she had been sent back in time. "However," continued Sinbad, "The men of Artemyra, who we never saw within the city, are… to think that they are being made to work in a place like this… could it be that all of you are being treated unfairly by the women…?"

"Being treated unfairly?" one asked.

"Ah ha ha. That's not it at all," laughed another one. "Were you thinking we were slaves or something like that?"

Tettia stood up from the ground and said, giggling, "Sin, you goofball. They're just ordinary house-husbands. For generations, women have been the only ones able to control those birds in Artemyra, therefore most of the hard labor became part of their role. In exchange, the men took on the household duties and protect the home, while also doing this sort of job on the side."

Sinbad looked at them with disbelief swirling in his orbs. One of the men said, "I don't know how it is in the rest of the world, but our lives here are free of discomfort. If our women didn't work so hard, we'd be all out in the cold!"

"My wife has been so cold lately, but I don't want a divorce!" exclaimed another man.

"Mine is busy raising children, so it's impossible for her to work."

"Women have it tough, don't they? Working day after day."

The trio looked at the men with unbelieving eyes. "Artemyra's societal roles for men and women are the complete opposite of ours," said Ja'far.

"… It seems a bit strange. But, everyone seems to enjoy it," said Mystras.

Tettia and Ja'far said in unison, "Yeah, they really do."

The blondes shooed the men, saying, "Hurry up and get back to work! We'll clean things up here."

Sinbad smiled. "That's right… let's go greet the Queen and let her know that we've returned alive!"

"YES! TORA I'M COMING BACK TO YOU!" exclaimed Tettia, bounding in front of the trio.

Catching her by her waist, Sinbad stopped her and pulled her to him. "And where do you think you're going, Missy?"

"To Tora?"

"Nope~ not without us."

"Sin~! Let me go!"

"Think she's okay, Mira?" asked Tora, laying in Mira's bed.

Mira looked over at Tora, who was obviously worried about Tettia. "I'm sure she's fine, Tora. That one is a strong one, even if she is a half-Fanalis," she said.

Tora laughed, "Don't I know it, but she just jumped off the edge at night. What if she fucking got herself hurt?"

"Well… why don't you ask her herself, Tor?" asked a voice from the the window.

Both Mira and Tora scrambled to look towards the window. "SINBAD?!" exclaimed the two.

Tettia poked her head from behind him. "And this bitch!"

Tora shot off of the bed and dragged Tettia into a hug. "Bitch! You were gone for days! I didn't know if you were alive or dead!"

Hugging her back, Tettia said, "I know. I know! This idiot just was content with living in the chasm for a while! I'm glad to be back! Now, Miri, they upheld their end of the deal. You now have a trade route with the Sindria Trading Company."

Mira was happy to see that Tettia had lived the jump. "Of course. I am glad that you are alright, Tet," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, your majesty."