Disclaimer: I do not own The Mentalist, I pinkie swear!
MK: Surprisingly not much of a cream fan, but I will take the fudge ;)
Leighannamarie: Cousin! Thanks! :)
Seven-Like a Different Time Period
Everything was spinning. He felt his entire body continue to move as he lay flat on his back, eyes not wanting to open to keep the dizziness to a minimum. He heard shuffling beside him followed by leaves rustling. Automatically he turned his head towards the direction of the sound, eyes barely opening. His eyes refused to focus, everything continued to spin. He felt himself grow cross-eyed and lightheaded, feeling the ground move continue to spin beneath his body. Shutting his eyes one time, he reopened them, blinking softly as slowly his vision began to focus on the tall trees above him. He breathed in and out…they were here.
"You okay?" he turned his head, facing the voice's direction, "I think you hit the ground quite hard," he nodded, pushing himself into a sitting position and immediately regretting it.
He placed his hand on the side of his head, steadying it, "Woah, yeah, definitely hit the ground hard," he shook his head, making the feeling worse and ridding his hair of the dead leaves, "Ah- Lisbon?" he turned, looking for the petite brunette. He had not heard anything of her since their arrival and felt worried for her, "Lisbon!" he pushed himself up again, swaying on his feet as he stumbled towards a nearby tree, clutching onto it and barely cutting his palms.
Mira was standing up right next to him, trying to scan the darkened glade for any source of the state agent, "I do not see her," she spoke firmly, standing on her toes, "I doubt she could have gotten up and walked off."
Jane shook his head, "No, Lisbon would not do that, especially not here," he let go of the tree, stumbling forward before regaining his balance, "Teresa!" he shouted, eyes squinting to try and adjust to the dark night surrounding them, "Teresa Lisbon!" he shouted again, suddenly hearing the rustling of a bush behind him, "Lisbon?"
Just as if on command, Lisbon stumbled from behind a bush, her hair in disarray and her clothes slightly disheveled. Dirt was present on the side of her cheek, barely noticeable as a patch of moonlight moved from behind a cloud. Feeling of relief filled his body at the sight of the petite agent, he could not afford to lose her, and neither could the Celestial Realm for that matter. She was far too important according to Mira.
"Lisbon, are you okay?" her eyes flickered up to meet up with his, her hand reached up, holding onto the side of her head as she nodded softly, "Are you sure?" she nodded again, staggering forward and stumbling slightly, reaching out with one hand to steady herself against the tree.
"I feel…tired."
He nodded, "Yes, Um," he looked over at Mira, who was lightly walking up to them, now hardly noticeable due to the moonlight moving behind a batch of clouds, "Mira, do you have a place in mind where we could stay for the remainder of the evening?"
She nodded, "Yes, but we will have to walk a bit, I am sorry," she pointed over her shoulder, her head following as she looked over it. Will, who stood behind her automatically looked over his shoulder, a small smile becoming present on his features, "When we do arrive, I will have to ask you to stay awake for two hours, Patrick, as I do need my sleep."
"All right, that seems fair," she nodded, turning on her heel, head remaining to look after them as she gestured with her hand for them to follow her.
"Come along."
Jane looked over at Lisbon, tipping his head to the side to motion for her to follow the Halfling. Lisbon watched him, shifting her weight on her feet as she looked forward. She took one step forward, almost recoiling until he wrapped his hand around her elbow to pull her in front of him. If something bad were to happen in this forest, he would 'block' whatever ambush or attack that would be put onto them, at least until Mira would come along to 'save' them. Unless Lisbon were able to miraculously learn how to do some kind of defensive spell of some sort.
To him, the walk was not all that bad. Though he did not like the sounds of sudden movement within the bushes, it kept both him and Lisbon on high alert. The good news was that Mira had not come back to warn them of something 'bad' or 'evil' lurking in the forest. She would be able to sense it. So in other words, he felt as if he did not have to worry about this…even though he did. Like it was made known earlier to him, Lisbon was important and mortal. It was important that she were to stay alive. All he needed was a bit more information from Mira, but until then he would have to stick to what he knew so far.
For Lisbon, the walk was difficult. She jumped and moved around at the sound of a creature roaming around behind the bushes. At the very most it would be a group of pixies, those little glittery and mischievous creatures tended to like the nighttime, giving them the 'upper hand' at coming behind someone and scaring them out of their skin. Also the soft, high-pitched whispers may have tipped them off at their true identity, and maybe a few glints of the glittery dust that lit up a small space before disintegrating into nothing.
Another little high-pitched laugh sounded as leaves rustled. Lisbon jumped backwards, her head going back as she squeezed her eyes shut. Jane chuckled softly at her reaction, smiling brightly, "Just a bunch of pixies, that's all."
Lisbon's eyes opened wide, "Jane, you can't honestly expect me to believe that there are pixies here do you? Do you really think I'm that delusional?"
He shook his head, "Oh you are not 'delusional'," he quoted with his fingers, "Not by any means," he smiled, "But really, there are pixies behind those bushes over there," he pointed behind her, watching as her body turned around to narrow her eyes in the direction of the rustling leaves, "Come out now," he said softly, crouching down after a few moments, "We're not going to harm you."
"Jane, this is a waste of ti-," she stopped at the sight of a loan, glittery figure emerged from a leaf. She was unable to see this 'pixie' properly because of her size, but because she was lit up almost like a firefly, she could see the small angelic features the young…thing appeared to have, "Pixies?"
Jane smiled even brighter, nodding as he extended his hand, palms flat so the pixie could fly into his palm, landing lightly. Her small wings stopped moving, the 'pixie dust' settling around her before leaving without a trace. Jane stood slowly, using his other hand to place in front of the pixie. Lisbon watched as the 'pixie' grasped onto his index finger to keep herself steady. Jane stopped moving closer to Lisbon, who steps back.
"She's not going to hurt you," he extended his hand towards her, removing the other so Lisbon could fully see the little greenish-yellow pixie. Lisbon blinked, moving closer to study the small figure standing on Jane's palm. She crouched down, one eyebrow quirked upwards as she gazed at the small creature.
"Rosina," her little wings twitched, glittery dust emitting from them, "What is your name?"
"Teresa," Lisbon said quickly, still in shock as she gazed down at the creature, "How do you-What-How…?" she stood back up, looking over at Jane who stood up straighter, "What's happening to me?"
"For God's sake Lisbon, nothing bad is happening to you," she stepped back, hands wrapping together over her chest, "I promise."
She shook her head, "Yeah, now I'm in a world filled with tall dark trees, 'pixies', and transparent men," she gestured over her shoulder, towards the direction of where Mira and Will must have gone several minutes ago.
"You have a point, but I'm not lying to you," he nodded his head, smiling at himself, "Now we should probably head after Mira and William…" he looked down at the pixie, his eyes flickering towards Lisbon as he pushed his arm forward, letting Rosina move out, her wings beginning to move as she took off into flight. A light trail of the dust followed her, swirling around both Jane and Lisbon. The lights flickered across Lisbon's face, highlighting her prominent features as numerous other pixies began to emerge from behind the bushes. Rosina stopped, gazing back down at Lisbon, her mouth opened wide. The glittery dust remained in motion around Lisbon, coiling and swirling around her. Her eyes opened wide as numerous voices gasped around them, the little pixies moving forward abruptly, trying to meet with Lisbon.
"It is true?"
"Are you really the one to save us all?"
"Are you really that powerful witch?"
"Save us!"
Lisbon backed up, shielding her eyes. She let out a small cry, shaking her head and then trying to cover her hands over her ears. Small little pixie hands grasped at her larger ones, attempting in vain to pry her hands off her ears to get into her 'mind' to ask her these questions that she knew nothing about. Lisbon shook, stepping backwards a few steps before opening her eyes just a small measly crack.
"Woah! Stop!" Jane moved forward in Lisbon's direction, hands moving out in front of him to swat at the smaller creatures. Sounds of disapproval sounded from them as very few left, "Stop this!" he shouted, causing all this 'chaos' to stop. Little bodies moved to land on the ground, highlighting the ground around them. Their now glowing bodies licking over the skin of the two humans. Lisbon let go of her ears, opening her eyes fully to gaze down at the small pixies.
Rosina flew up, hands clasped together, "Please help us…" Lisbon tried to open her mouth to say something, but was interrupted when lights began to flicker across her face, almost becoming blinding. Numerous pixies began to fly upwards, almost moving in a swarm to scatter around, taking great flight to get away from where they were. They sped up at an amazing rate, leaving the two people on the ground to watch after them bewildered. Lisbon looked over at Jane, her eyebrows quirked upwards.
"Jane, now what was that?"
He shook his head, "I do not know," he paused, looking up at the sky once more, the creatures looking like stares moving rapidly in and out through the clouds, "They seemed desperate."
Lisbon nodded, looking up at the small dots littering the clouds. Her mouth parted as she shifted her footing, eyes scrunching up to watch as they slowly left her line of sight. A soft wind blew in, brushing her bangs into her eyes before it left. A soft whisper whirled around her, almost beckoning her…calling her to it.
"Teresa…"
Jane eyed her, shifting as he brushed his hand across hers. She looked over at him, her mouth closing immediately, "You okay?" she nodded, rolling her shoulders back as she breathed in, "All right then, now, let's follow after Mira, shall we?" she nodded again, ready to turn around and go in the direction they last saw Mira moving through the bushes.
When they pushed through the bushes, Will and Mira were not close, but within seeing distance. Lisbon looked over at Jane and just simply nodded as they began to wearily follow after their companions along the dark pathway.
Their journey was wordlessly completed. No one uttered even the simplest sound, just footsteps were heard. Occasionally Jane would glance over at Lisbon, just to make sure she was doing all right. She seemed to be fine, but was getting slightly anxious as she gazed up at the crystal clear night sky. This was how nights in this area where like, peaceful and beautiful, which was desired of the inhabitants.
Probably around two in the morning, they stood before an old wooden gate. Jane and Lisbon both came to stand next to Mira, who reached up with a fist and firmly knocked on the wood. Within moments the peekhole was slid back and dark eyes peered back down at them, "Who are ye?" he squinted at them shakily.
Mira stepped forward, "We wish to stay the night, just passing through," she gazed at the man behind the door intently, "We mean no harm," Jane saw Lisbon raise her eyebrow at the last statement. She did not understand what was really happening around them.
"All right," the man nodded, hopping down from whatever he stood on behind the solid object, "No harm," he repeated pulling on a crank to gradually open the door to the foreigners.
Mira stepped forward, glancing over her shoulder at the people behind her. Will moved up, coming into step right next to her as they started towards an old building that appeared from the middle ages. The petite agent's mouth almost dropped as she looked over at Jane, "Midieval taverns? What's next? Castles?" Jane pressed his hand on her lower back and pushed her through the gate so they could both pass through. The Halfling woman would not like to have to turn around to fetch them again. There would be a long tedious lecture on how he should control Lisbon, if that were possible.
"There are castles here, yes, just not around here," Lisbon shook her head, rolling her eyes. When she turned her head and glanced in the direction where the man behind the door stood, her eyes widened immediately.
He was nothing more than a Goblin. A short, dark creature with long pointed ears, black eyes, and wispy hair on the top of his head. The Goblin did not like being under Lisbon's gaze and bared his teeth at her, the obvious fangs sending a chill down her spine.
"I'm sorry," Jane said for her and grabbed her forearm, pulling her after where Mira and Will had gone off. He turned back to Lisbon, "Goblins are very ill-tempered," he paused, waiting for her to glance over to him, "So be viligant, you do not want to get on the wrong side of a Goblin, believe me I have been there," Lisbon was about to re-glance over her shoulder when Jane tightened his grip on her forearm. She looked at him and he just shook his head. She understood that he really did mean for her not to watch after the foul creature.
Nodding her head in defeat, she looked up and started following after the two other companions that had just disappeared into a tavern and inn. Jane made sure to follow a little after her, wanting to make sure she did not decide to make a sporadic run for it. That would be bad.
Entering the tavern and inn was a very nice feeling. The instant warmth of the fireplace hit his face and the happy late-night chatter still buzzed slightly around them as a few guests and native people sat at their tables holding up their beverages. Jane saw Mira speaking with the man at the bar, negotiating for a room no less. The man was a shape shifter, Jane could see it clearly. Possibly wolf, he could tell by the look in the man's eyes.
Mira turned away from the bar with an – to Lisbon's terms – antique metal key around another metal ring. She smiled and held it up and gestured towards the spiral staircase at the very end of the room. Jane's eyes followed hers and he felt quite relieved to go to sleep soon. He was grateful, though, that Lisbon followed Mira and Will without any fuss or disagreement. Smiling to himself, he began to follow his companions up the spiral staircase, going up two entire flights and levels. Once they had arrived on their desired floor, he could see the energy had completely diminished from Lisbon's body. He resisted the urge to place his hand on her shoulder when he saw her lean against the wall as the Halfling began unlocking the door to their room.
The door creaked as Mira stepped into it. When she stepped on one single floorboard, she heard the squeak emit beneath her. Hunching her shoulders up, she gazed back at them, "Room's fine," Lisbon pushed herself off the wall and began moving into the room along with the two other inhabitants, "Agent Lisbon, you go ahead and take that bed," she gestured towards the one by the window, "The bed may not be comfortable, but you'll be able to get a few hours," the weary agent nodded and sat down on the wire-frame bed and began removing her jacket slowly.
Mira turned back to Jane, "Patrick, could you please stay up for about two hours so I could sleep?" he nodded, knowing it would be best, even though he actually felt like sleeping, "Thank you," moved towards her own part of the room and began removing her shoes.
The window seat on the far end of the room suddenly looked so inviting.
Yes, I know there was this ridiculous time period where I did not update and I apologise. I actually just now started school so updates probably won't happen too often, but hopefully it won't take me 3 months to update anything.
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