A/N: And here we are with Chapter 8! Thank you to all my reviewers for last chapter, and a special thanks to FierceDeityMask for editing this one as well! I still have no clue what you meant about misplacing verbs with direct (or maybe it was indirect?) subjects, but thank you for attempting to teach me as you fixed my mess!
Now, without further ado, enjoy! :D
Freezing air whipped past Lance and Anna's faces as they fell at terminal velocity. Distantly, Lance registered Matt and Natalie screaming after the falling pair and he hoped that it wouldn't be the last time he heard them before he tightened his grip on Anna's arm and swung his gunblade with as much force as possible into the cliff rushing past his face in a desperate attempt to slow his and Anna's fall. The terrible shrieking sound of metal on stone filled the air, and the breakneck pace of their fall began to gradually slow. Lance gritted his teeth in pain as he felt his arms jerk from the sudden resistance. The gunner slammed into the cliff side and he groaned from the impact before the adrenaline rushing through him dulled the pain. His heart rate picked up further than the fall had done when he realized Anna's arm was slipping from his grasp. He tightened his grip, but it didn't seem to help.
"Anna! You're slipping! I need you to hold onto my arm or you're going to fall!" He shouted, trying to be heard over the wind rushing past them. His already racing heart sped up even further as she didn't seem to hear him. "Or, she's passed out," his mind unhelpfully suggested. "Anna! Grab! On! To! My! Arm!" he yelled desperately as he felt his grip slip further.
Anna was in a state of terrified shock and had heard Lance the first time, but was unable to make her body respond. The second scream of her name snapped her out of shock-induced stupor and she flung her free arm up to grab onto Lance's wrist in a death-grip.
Lance briefly closed his eyes in relief when he felt Anna grasp his wrist; another few seconds and she would have been lost. His eyes snapped open again and he forced himself to look down. They were still falling way too quickly, but it was notably slower than it had been a few seconds ago. The frigid air rushing past his face caused his eyes to water and his eyelids reflexively screwed shut. He could only pray they would slow down enough to survive hitting the ground.
The time they spent falling seemed to stretch on indefinitely and Lance began to wonder if maybe they would never hit the bottom because the chasm truly was bottomless. Sweat beaded his forehead as he clung to his weapon and he gritted his teeth against the ache forming in his arms and shoulders from supporting both his and Anna's weight. Their fall had slowed considerably by this point and Lance began to think that maybe they would be okay; or at least as okay as they could be having fallen down a huge chasm in the middle of a monster infested cave. Suddenly, his gunblade ran across a long crack in the stone and slipped free of the wall, causing Lance's heart to stop for a second before his back slammed into the ground with Anna landing on top of him. Pain exploded throughout the gunner's entire body and it took all of his willpower to avoid passing out.
"Pain is good," Lance told himself, his breathing ragged as he tried his best to keep from releasing a scream, "pain says you're still alive. You survived the fall. Now just avoid thinking about what might be broken. Focus on something else, anything else." He tried concentrating on his breathing, but that just reminded him of how much his chest ached from its impact with the cliff. Then, he tried to see where they had landed, but it was pitch-black. Finally, he decided to focus on Anna's breathing since it was the only thing he could hear besides his own. That was when he realized the ranger was still lying on top of him.
"As much as I enjoy having a woman draped over me, my ribs would certainly appreciate it if you got off," Lance ground out from between clenched teeth. The resulting surprised jerk from Anna forced a hiss of pain out of Lance, followed by a low groan of agony as she rolled off him and jarred his aching ribs.
Anna's heart was still beating three times too fast, but aside from that, she had escaped the fall with no repercussions; however, judging from the quiet noises of pain coming from the man next to her, she knew the same was not true for Lance. A sudden wheezing laugh from Lance caused her to jolt into sitting upright as she stared into the blackness in the general direction it came from. "…Lance?" she ventured hesitantly. She hoped the fact that he was laughing didn't mean he had suffered a concussion.
Lance took a shallow painful breath, "I was just thinking about what Natalie said about not surviving a fall down the chasm. Maybe Matt wouldn't, but it looks like we did."
Anna released a slightly hysterical giggle before sobering slightly, "Thanks to you, Lance. If it had just been me falling, I would definitely be a human shaped stain on the cave floor right now." Her eyes widened in the darkness as the realization of what had happened set in, "Holy Godcat, are you okay? Is anything broken? Can you stand?"
Lance let out another painful sounding chuckle, "Dunno if I want to try standing just yet, but I think I'll live; although, it'll probably be for ten years less than I would have before our unplanned cliff diving. I probably have a massive bruise on my back, my arms and shoulders ache something awful, and my ribs hurt like hell; I think I cracked a couple when I hit the wall while we were falling. Not bad, all things considered. I'm lucky it wasn't worse. It'll have to wait until we get back to Matt and Natz, though. Assuming we even can get back to them." He paused briefly and took a few shallow breaths before asking, "How about you: anything serious?"
Anna shook her head before realizing he wouldn't be able to see the motion in the dark, "No, I'm probably also missing ten years, but other than that I'm fine." She began shuffling in the pouch at her waist for her ocarina, "You're in luck, by the way. If the ribs are just cracked, then I can heal them, along with any bruises or scrapes you might have. No need to suffer until we get back to the other two; and we will make it back." Locating the small instrument, thankfully unbroken, Anna lifted it to her mouth.
"I forgot you can use healing magic. How does it-" Lance broke off as a soft melody filled the darkness, echoing off unseen walls. An ethereal, green glow appeared around Lance's body and illuminated the area they were in. Anna was kneeling close to Lance's left side, her eyes closed in concentration, a small ocarina at her lips. The gunner could feel the healing magic flowing over his body, healing the bruise on his back before it seemed to melt into his chest to mend the cracked ribs. The song ended, and as the glow faded out, Lance took an experimental deep breath and was immensely pleased to feel no pain from the action. Finally sitting up, Lance noticed that, while his arms and shoulders still ached, it wasn't as bad as before.
He whistled softly in admiration, "Not bad, Anna. It hardly hurts at all now, thanks." Hearing her inhale sharply, he frowned and asked, "Does something hurt after all?"
The ranger let out an embarrassed laugh, "No, it's nothing like that, don't worry about it. Now, what are we going to do for light?"
Lance's frown deepened at her evasive response. He reached into the pocket where he had tucked the small red crystal Shawn had dug up for him, pulled it out, and pushed some mana into it, causing it to glow. He stared at Anna's now illuminated face, searching for any sign of pain. He could see she was uncomfortable and was avoiding his eyes. "Be honest; if something hurts, you should say so now. Hiding it will only be a detriment later if we run into monsters, especially while it's just the two of us. Now, what hurts?" Anna shifted before making a move to stand which Lance stopped by grabbing her wrist.
Anna huffed, "Nothing hurts, really. It's stupid, okay? Now let's get going; the sooner we start, the sooner we'll be out of here, right?" She attempted unsuccessfully to tug her arm out of Lance's grasp a few times before sighing in defeat. "Fine, fine, I still say it's stupid, but if you insist. It's just that you've never used my name before." She was thankful for the red light covering the blush she was sure was painted on her face.
Lance blinked a few times and released Anna's wrist with a faint hidden blush of his own. An awkward silence fell between them before Lance broke it with a stupid comment, "Hey, that was the third time I've used it," he grinned at the confused look Anna sent his way, "I used it twice while we were falling!"
Rolling her eyes, Anna couldn't quite keep the smile off of her face, "Of course, my mistake. C'mon, let's see if we can find a way back up that doesn't involve climbing this cliff."
The two began walking and it wasn't long before they spotted a narrow crack in the wall that, upon closer inspection, led to a small tunnel. Anna had only just slipped through the crack before she slipped right back out again and motioned for Lance to be quiet. Leading him back a few paces, Anna leaned in close, "There's a big, blue, floating enemy sleeping just inside the tunnel. It has icy armor and an equally icy sword attached to its arm. Should we kill it or try to sneak past it?"
Lance inhaled sharply, "An Ice Elemental. I'd rather not have to fight it since they're very fast and use strong magic. They're weak to fire magic—which I can do—but I think we should try sneaking past it. Anything else you noticed in there?"
Anna shook her head, "Other than the fact that the walls and floor are shiny, which likely means ice, I didn't see anything else. I probably don't need to tell you to watch your footing."
"Great, bad terrain, an Ice Elemental, and there's only two of us. Elementals are pretty big, so luring it out here is a no go," Lance grumbled before sighing. "I guess we'll just have to do our best to be quiet. I'll go first."
Anna nodded and watched Lance ready his weapon, just in case, and slip through the crack before doing the same. Lance was already halfway across the small room heading for the tunnel on the opposite side when Anna noticed a small chunk of ice suddenly break away from sheet that had formed on the wall. "Lance," Anna hissed warningly, trying not to awaken the sleeping elemental. Lance glanced back at her whisper and she saw the Ice Idol totter towards him. Anna watched the gunner's shoulders rise and fall in a resigned sigh before he pulled one of his flares from his pocket and pointed at the Elemental and motioned for her to take a shot while it was still out. Anna nodded and drew her Sky Feather Back to full draw with three arrows nocked on the string. As soon as she saw Lance light the flare, which immediately glowed a brilliant red, Anna released her three arrows at the Ice Elemental in a Combo Shot. Two of the arrows slammed home in the creature's chest, but the third glanced off its icy armor and skittered across the cave floor until it hit came to rest at the wall.
The monster let out an unearthly shriek at the violent awakening and immediately launched a massive Ice Shard at the ranger in retaliation. Anna dove for the floor dodging the frozen spear so narrowly she felt the wind of its passing tug at her hair. The chunk of ice shattered against the wall behind her, scattering tiny shards across the cave floor. Anna tried to roll back onto her feet, but the slippery footing caused her to tumble forward and she barely kept her head from connecting with the floor. Opting to stay down, the ranger kneeled and, holding her bow horizontally, drew another arrow back.
Meanwhile, Lance had crushed the Ice Idol in one fell swing only to be tackled by a second one that popped off the wall. The gunner hit the ground on his side and while he was sliding away, took a shot at the second Idol, shattering it as soon as the bullet hit. The recoil from his shot made Lance spin on the ice before he dug his gunblade into the floor to stop himself. "With all the times I've spent sticking this thing into walls and floors recently, I might as well retire it to be a pick," Lance thought sarcastically while he stood up to see how Anna was doing.
The archer's fourth arrow, which had been aimed at the Elemental's head, had instead taken off the creature's frozen horn when the beast had ducked out of its path. Unfortunately, this did nothing to stop the creature as it advanced towards where Anna knelt on the floor. The Elemental raised the chunk of sharpened ice it had attached to its arm and prepared to bring it down on the girl who was trying to find purchase on the slippery floor to back away. Just as the frozen sword began its downward stroke, a shot rang out and blazing fire engulfed the creature's entire arm. The sudden blast of heat melted the ice Anna sat on and she took the opportunity to spring to her feet and stab the shrieking creature right in the middle of its forehead with an arrow. The cries of pain cut off abruptly as the Elemental collapsed on the ground, dead.
Anna stepped back and took a few calming breaths. Lance was already seeing if the creatures had anything worthwhile on them and came back with some gold and a few pieces of the Ice Elemental's frozen armor and an Opal he had found frozen in one of the Idols. The two then continued down the next tunnel, which they were pleased to note sloped upward sharply. They didn't say much until Lance heard a strange clicking sound and glanced back to see Anna shivering rather heavily. The sound caused by her teeth chattering.
"Cold, Anna?" Lance asked, before realizing what a stupid question that was. Of course she was cold; they were at the bottom of a cave where the walls were covered in ice. Plus, she was obviously shuddering. "She wasn't shivering before, though, what changed?" he wondered.
"It wasn't so bad earlier, but now my clothes are wet," Anna said. "That said: I'd take wet clothes over being in two pieces, any day. Nice shooting, by the way," she grinned. "I'm glad were not fighting with each other all the time, right now; this hike would be way worse if we were. It's kinda nice to be on good terms with him," Anna thought with a smile.
"Thanks, you too," Lance said absently. "Wet clothes, huh? I doubt she has any changes on her and a blanket would get in the way; though, that would be better than her getting hypothermia. Oh, wait, I know." He stopped and set his pack down to dig through it, ignoring the curious look he got from Anna. "Here we go, you can wear this until we're out," Lance held out a long black coat with a few badges pinned to it.
Anna gratefully took it and shrugged it on, immediately enjoying the extra warmth it trapped, "Thanks, that's much better. Where did you get this, you seem a little young to have been an officer in the military." She caught a brief wince from Lance as he picked his pack back up, "You don't have to tell me, if you don't want to."
Lance waved his hand and started walking again, this time walking next to Anna, "Nah, that's okay. I had it made for my attempt at world conquest."
"You attempted to take over the world? I don't remember hearing anything about crazy red-heads with bullet-shooting swords trying to take over the world," Anna said skeptically.
Lance shot her a slightly wary glance, "Did you hear about a robot army trying to do a hostile takeover?" He paused until she nodded, "Well, those were mine. I took over a few abandoned factories and a satellite laser right after the Matt and Natz had stopped some megalomaniac with gold hair from blowing up the world ; that was their first world saving quest. I figured I could build a solid empire with a robot army before they recovered, but obviously that didn't happen. I think they must have pushed out immediately to stop me, because it wasn't too long before they blew up my first factory; a couple weeks, at most." Lance's red eyes were unfocused as he remembered their fight. "Anyway, it wasn't long before they challenged me at my home-base. I thought they were a couple of wimps and that my Valkyrie Tank and I would be more than a match for them. I was wrong; it wasn't a quick or an easy fight, and I almost killed both of them, but in the end they blew up my tank. I barely got away from the blast."
Anna's jaw had dropped by this point, "And they didn't kill you? Not that I think they should have, or anything, but why not?"
Lance shrugged and shook his head with a rare, fond smile on his face, "Dunno, you'd have to ask them. Personally, I think I was the first human they had fought and they couldn't bring themselves to kill me. I was sure they were going to at the time, though. Matt was standing over me with his sword still in hand, but he just said something like 'GG, well played' and invited me to join them."
"Wow… And I thought his agreeing to help me despite my shooting him was ridiculously nice of him," Anna said with a laugh. "Do you think they're looking for you right now?"
"They're probably looking for both of us, not just me. Matt's taken a liking to you. So has Natz, for that matter," Lance corrected before snorting, "Assuming they aren't just standing there, anyway. I wouldn't put it past them to think we'd choose to climb back out."
Anna blinked in mild disbelief, "Really? I've only known them for a little over a day now." She then gave Lance a crooked grin and nudged his shoulder, "and what about you? Do you like me?"
"If I didn't like you, you wouldn't be standing here right now," Lance said flatly.
Anna opened her mouth to respond, but stopped before a single word was said. The two came around a bend and stepped out into a large cavern with a few glowing crystals at the far end. They could both hear distant curses and sobbing. The sounds were distorted by the echoing, but were unmistakable as Matt and Natalie. The gunner and the archer exchanged a brief excited look and took off running down the next tunnel. They broke out into a much brighter cavern and saw they had looped around to come out on the same side of the chasm as the swordsman and the mage. Matt was swearing an oath of vengeance on all golems for killing his friends while Natalie was attempting to say a few words of farewell through her sobs.
"I can't believe they're actually still standing here," Lance grumbled in disgust. "And they think we died! You'd think they'd have a little more faith than that." He took a deep breath to shout over to them but Anna clapped a hand over his mouth to prevent him from calling out to the two kneeling near where they had fallen hours earlier. Lance gave Anna a disgruntled look, clearly wondering what was up.
The ranger's face was lit up with a mischievous grin, "I wanna scare them!"
Lance stared at her in disbelief for a few seconds before sighing, "Fine, whatever. I'll be over here while they stab or burn you. And just so you know, I'm going to laugh when they do."
Anna waved away the warning and ducked out of sight behind some boulders, making her way to behind the two. He watched in mild interest as she slipped over to some large crystals that grew over the unaware would-be mourners' heads and shimmied silently up them. Once she was at the top, she jumped down to land next to Natalie with a loud "Boo!" Predictably, Natalie screamed in surprise and leapt behind Matt who brandished Heaven's Gate at the prankster.
Confusion promptly filled the swordsman's blue eyes as he stared at a laughing Anna wearing Lance's Officer Coat. "How the heck did she get that? There's no way Lance would hand it over to just anyone, which means…" he gasped in realization and raised his sword higher, "Natalie, watch out! The impact of the two hitting the ground must have fused Lance and Anna together! Who knows how it'll react now?" the fused mutant slapped a palm to its face in exasperation while simultaneously laughing.
"Seriously, Matt?" a familiar voice called from behind him, "Another stupid statement like that one and I'll start wondering if you jumped down after us and hit your head too hard on the bottom." Matt twisted to see Lance leaning against the wall not too far away. Before he could say anything, though, Natalie shoved past him to tackle the fused-mutant-who-wasn't-actually-a-fused-mutant in a large hug.
"Anna! Lance! You're both alive! I was so certain you'd died!" Natalie exclaimed ecstatically.
Lance snorted as he made his way over to join them, "A fall down a cliff might kill someone weak like Matt, but not me." He and Matt shared a brofist.
"What's Anna doing with your coat, Lance?" Matt questioned. He never thought he'd see anyone else wearing it, Lance guarded the thing jealously.
"Eh, she got wet and was cold is all. I'll get it back from her when we get out of here."
Anna returned the mage's hug and gave Matt a high-five when they separated, "What do you guys say we get out of here now? I've had enough spelunking to last me a lifetime." A round of agreement later and the four friends set off to where they could see the day light coming in from the outside right between the thickest clumps of crystals yet.
A/N: The team's back together and Lance and Anna are on better terms! Next chapter will feature another epic boss battle! See you then!