Home; Almost Alone
"Argh!" Shun gasps.
He drags himself up onto his knees and looks up. The portal wasn't a problem. It did what it was meant to. The fact that it was fifty feet to the ground was the problem. There wasn't a lot of room to fall either. Jagged rocks protrude from both sides of the cavernous whole in the ground. They were covered in slimy water, and impossible to grip. At least it slowed him a little, he supposes. He landed quite heavily on his left knee, and it hurt. A whole lot. He pushes the pain to the back of his mind and stands up. Ahead of him is pretty much the same as the fall. The only difference being that his feet will be on solid, well, solid enough, ground. The jagged rocks protrude right down to the soft, water-covered ground.
"This must be under some sort of lake. It's too big to be any kind of waterfall," Shun comments.
Behind him, the narrow walkway gets lighter. So much so, he can't see what's at the end. However, ahead of him, is pitch, midnight black. There's nothing that can be seen down there. The few feet ahead of him that he can see, slope downwards gently, but visibly. As much as the light appeals to all humans, Shun heads downwards. Towards the darkness which rushes to cloak him after a one step.
The darkness of the caverns where he hid his prisons. Also, the darkness of the cave where he and the other members of the Thirteen resided in isolation. No, where they hid. Shun detested that place, and kicked up a fuss about having to stay there for any length of time. Until he was berated about thinking only of himself by that trusty Snow Walker. A small smirk forms as he remembers all the time he spent with them. Every day always seemed to be important with them; like he was important.
He falters in his steps. Soft splashes from the water reverberate in his mind. Shun shakes the memories away, because, to him, they're now dead and gone. He takes one more step forward, and blinding light greets him. Pure white in colour, he squeezes his eyes closed from the pain of its brightness. His eyes struggle to adjust to the sudden attack of brightness. Before he can adjust to the light, his senses pick up an imminent threat. His hand twitches back for his set of weapons, when he realises that he left them at the mansion. Leaving him without weapons and blind.
The attacker thrusts a niuweidao towards him, but Shun shifts to the left slightly, and it misses. Without giving the attacker time to withdraw, Shun grabs their arm. Making the most use of the limited space, he twists the person's arm. A loud clatter! echoes out as the niuweidao drops. Shun kicks it away and leaves the would-be attacker clutching their arm and writhing on the sodden ground.
Roxanne turns to the Brawlers with a solemn look on her face. "… Listen,"
"No!" Dan snaps. "You almost broke Alice's arm! We have no reason to listen to you!"
However, that was the wrong thing to say to her. Her eyes widen, and she lowers her head. In the other side of the mansion, Derrigan and the reptilian person stop in their tracks. They exchange startled glances. A low growl turns to air sour, and tense. Then suddenly, Roxanne lunges for Dan. Upon missing, she tries swiping at him; only to miss again. Her head snaps up. This time, her eyes glow a rusty red colour, and small fangs protrude. She snarls at them, more than ready for a fight. Dan's back hits the ground, and a loud roar comes from Derrigan. He circles round, keeping the Brawlers firmly behind him. The reptilian one hops down from the ceiling.
"Sssstop. Her, focuss on Roxanne!" he hisses.
Which is exactly what Derrigan does. He lunges for her, knocking down the wall in the process. Outside, in the pouring rain, lightning flashes now and then. It highlights strange figures going for each other, wildly striking one another with no rationality whatsoever. Loud roars and snarls and shrieks prevail over the sound of almost continuous thunder. The reptilian one laughs, shifting into his human appearance. He turns to them with a warm smile that somehow still looks menacing.
"Now kids, this is what we call a break-up," he laughs.
"A what?" Runo frowns.
"Roxanne and Derrigan," he replies. "I think this is their way of saying 'I dumped you first'."
"They're a couple?" Julie exclaims, surprised.
"Were," he chuckles. "I don't suppose Shun told you much about us. We're Gate Guardians. In order to fight our enemies, we have slight animal variances. For instance, my DNA is 11/16 human and 5/16 lizard… You don't expect us to go round fighting with our fists do you? You've seen the enemies we fight, and fists get you killed. Even animal fists."
"Then what are they?" Claus asks, interested.
"Roxanne is feral, ain't she? Wild, fierce, untameable. She's got wolf blood in her veins, and by my reckoning, it'd be a full moon tonight through them clouds," he howls with laughter. "Derrigan's our leader, so he's all better than us and the likes. He's got dragon blood in his veins. 8/16 dragon blood. He's what you call a half-breed."
"So that's why I thought I saw a tail!" Julie exclaims.
"That's wouldn't be all," a voice states.
"Oh, Miseria, what're you doing 'ere?" he asks.
"Ya'll need to grow up," she scowls at him, stepping out into the raging storm.
"Uh, and who's she?" Dan frowns.
"She would be Miseria. She's got the blood of a ray in her veins. A sting ray, that is," he laughs.
"… Sorry…" Roxanne grumbles, standing beside the broken wall, soaked through to the bone.
Miseria puts her hand on Roxanne's shoulder and beams. "Now see? We can all get along an' be nice, easy friends."
The Brawlers shudder, wondering just how she did that in less than half a minute. Alice though, is more curious about her arm.
"Roxanne, what made you think it was me?" Alice frowns.
"Why wouldn't I? There's no way in Eden or the Underworld I'm giving you any part of my notes, so forget it right now," Roxanne replies, distantly.
"What did you mean by-" Chan begins.
"Enough!" Roxanne snaps. "Shun's gone, and there's no way to get him back, or get you to him! You're wasting everyone's time by being here. However, since there's no place for you to return to, you may reside here until my brother resolves this problem your foolishness has caused."
She turns on her heel and leaves. Swiftly landing on the roof. She sits down and looks up at the skies with a near tenderness in her eyes.
"Yes, the heavens have every right to weep for whom they decide…" she sighs. "Be safe, brother."
Author's Note: Thank you for reading! This is my 5th upload today, and I'm so happy! It's only five o'clock, so there'll definitely be more. Three more, then I'll retire to my FictionPress stories. Then I'll come back here and try to get another Home; Almost Alone chapter up! Well, after Symphonic dance, Love & Hate, Don't Hold Your breath(which is already written) and To Love. I don't think this will get second upload today, and you can't get one tomorrow either, I'll be in the car, going to Manchester so I can get to Lesvos.
Go to Lesvos! It's lovely, and it has a petrified forest, and spa things from ancient times. It's not even a big tourist resort, but it's so lovely… You might want to wait until Greece is more stable though, but I'm not! I'm crazy, but I'm a fiction writer, so that's good, right? Right?
*Niuweidao - A Chinese weapon. The Dao is classed as one of the 4 main Chinese weapons, or something. I think it's sabre because Qiang is spear, Gun is staff, and Jian is something I can't remember. I've got it all listed on my story 俘虏 被监禁 though. Thank you for reading, I hope this has been informative.