Chapter 2! I warn you now, this chapter starts the crossover. I'm not going to ruin the crossover,but I do suggest you read Part 2 in this series first: "Fated to Live: If I Were an Angel"
If you don't like crossovers..well, this series is full of it so...take it or leave it.
Enjoy.
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The deep blackness cleared after a time. What I expected to see was the ceiling of a warm, cozy room, hot nurses at my every beck and call, and the girls I had brought here safe and sound. Alas, it couldn't be further from where I actually was. The first thing I remember is feeling hot, very hot. Next, my eyes cracked open are were flooded with a ominous orange light. Opening them wider I noticed metal bars blocking my vision. "A cage. Great" , I thought to myself.
A cage most likely meant I was a prisoner. Of course it meant I was a prisoner. People don't keep honoured guests in cages that's for damn sure. My head throbbed. The only thing that hurt more than my head was my stomach. I remembered the punch I took and I surprised myself that I didn't straight up die. I moaned and groaned as I rolled onto my back. Staring at the cage's black ceiling I wondered how long it would be before they decided to eat me. The trolls that is, or whatever one of the nasty beast people had taken me. "Oh! You're awake!" , came the voice of what I could only assume was a goddess come to tell me I was actually dead and I need not worry any longer.
Upon hearing this sweet female voice I attempted to sit up. Bad idea. Getting halfway up I immediately let out a yell of pain and fell onto my side. I clutched my injured stomach, what more could I do? "Mr. Prior! Are you ok!" , came the concerned voice of the female. I knew this voice. I tried to think through the clouds of pain and put a face on the voice. After a moment it hit me.
"Kaorin?" , I said weakly.
"Yes, it's me.", she said,hoisting me into a sitting position. She did so with such grace and skill that I didn't feel a mote of pain. "Where's everyone else?" ,I gasped for breath.
"I..I don't know...", she said with a nervous shiver, "I hope Miss Sakaki is alright"
"You didn't see where they took them?", I asked.
"No!" ,she sobbed and broke into tears.
" Now, Kaorin,", I attempted to comfort her, "We have to be brave. We can't be crying. If we cry and puss out and whine we're just going to get ourselves killed"
" But..But..", she sputtered between bouts of sobs, " Those...creatures took me...they..ohh...I fainted and now I'm in a cage and I dunno where everyone else is and..I should have never agreed to come with you!" ,she said with an attempt at anger.
"You can't blame me. Not fully at least. You agreed. Hell, do you think I want to be in this cage? We have to plan, Kaorin. The faster we can escape, the faster we can find the others." ,I said confidently.
You need to be confident around cowards. With this situation there is no other choice. It's either do or die, and I sure as hell wasn't going to rot in this cell.
She gave a long sigh and a sniffle. I wiped away the tears that were running down her pale cheeks. "Ok, Mr. Prior. We should try and escape. Staying put would probably be a mistake.", she agreed.
"Excellent." , I said as I painfully got to my feet. The cage was cylindrical and it allowed me to see the rest of the room. The room, or cave since it was hewn from rock, was fairly circular and contained three other cages. Only one of which contained another prisoner. This prisoner though was still unconcious upon the floor of the cell. No guards of any sort were in sight and that was very surprising. I had never been in a prison before that didn't have guards watching the cells all day and all night.
I looked around for any means of escape. The lock on the cell door looked pretty fragile and rusted. I grinned and began to shake the bars violently. The clattering was tremendous, but the lock didn't budge.
"Shit.", I cursed.
Kaorin was standing beside me then and peering at the lock herself.
"Any ideas?" ,I asked.
"Actually, yes.", she said, "There's an urban legend on Earth that says you can pick a lock with a bobby pin"
"A bobby what?", I asked, confused.
She reached into her black hair.
"This.",she said, holding up a small black hair clamp..thingy.
I took the odd metal object from her fingers.
"So I just...umm..", I said, confused as what to do to the lock with this mechanism.
" The myth says to just push it in and try and seperate two things inside of the lock.", she looked as confused as me.
"Ok, then." ,I said unenthusiastically and inserted the pin into the keyhole.
I felt around inside for two things I could possibly seperate when the entire cell door fell to the ground with a loud clamour and took me with it. I crashed atop the metal bars and rolled off of them onto my back.
"What the hell?" ,I questioned still lying on my back.
"The hinges..rusted off." ,Kaorin told me as she gingerly stepped from the cell and onto the rock.
"Help me up, will ya?", I asked her.
She helped me to my feet without much pain. This was certainly looking up. A teenage girl and a lost priest stuck in a very hot, very dangerous place looking for their friends without getting mutilated. This was definately on my "To Do" list.
"Might as well...", I began, but was interrupted by a high pitched voice.
" Hey, Help me out of here"
I looked over my shoulder to see the prisoner I had seen earlier awake and standing at the bars of his cage. He couldn't have been more than three feet tall with large ears and a cute, almost animal-like, face.
He wore a red robe stitched with a complex white pattern that nearly went down to his ankles.
"How?" ,I asked the strange being.
"Knock the door out. I don't care. Just gimme outta here!." ,the little thing squeaked as it jumped up and down.
"Umm..", I hesitated.
"AWW! He's so cute! Prior, go let him out!" ,Kaorin said, face flushed with heat and adoration for this adorable being.
"Fine,fine", I said as I trotted over to his cage.
I planted my feet firmly on the ground and took hold of the bars. I gritted my teeth and began to pull. Immediately pain flared in my stomach as I strained to detatch the bars. Veins showed on my arms as my muscles struggled to pull the door free. My vision became clouded and I thought I was going to pass out when a creaking noise sounded. I fell on my rear end, metal barred door in my hands. I grinned victoriously.
"Thank you mister!", the creature sang as it trotted from the cage. It walked funny, didn't look like it had any knees.
"No problem." , I panted as I stood up.
"Mind helping us..umm.." ,Kaorin said.
"My name is Shihu-Danhu and yea, I'll help you." ,the little creature said with a bow.
"Good!" ,Kaorin said happily, "Now we can search for Miss Sakaki and...the others.", she added "and the others" as an afterstatement.
"Sure, I know Halvung pretty well.", the little creature said enthusiastically.
This was great. Stuck in an incredibly hot cave with a midget for a guide. We're all gonna die, I swear it.
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Working on Chapter 3 now. Hope it's turning out ok. Any suggestions, ideas, etc. would be awesome. Rock on.
-Peace