Welcome to Poptart, chapter 2! Enjoy!
I own Kiara...tha's it...
I
"And here we are! Home at last!" Jareth said, looking out at small hill where a field held a two-story house in the middle.
"But, I thought you said the next town was a days' walk," Kiara said, confused.
"I did. But this isn't the next town, now is it?" he said. Kiara shook her head and muttered 'smart-ass'.
Walking through the yard, they came to the house where Jareth opened the door and they all walked in.
"Sheno! Mel! We're back!" Jareth yelled. He got no response. "Sheno? Come on, Sheno, you weren't that mad at me," he said, walking upstairs.
Kiara raised an eyebrow and looked at Roy who had got three drinks out of the kitchen and offered one to her. She took it as Roy explained.
"Sheno was really mad at him yesterday for some unknown reason. So Mel brought her back here while me and Jareth stayed in Topaz," he said.
"So why was she mad? If I'm not being nosy," Kiara asked.
Roy shrugged, "All I know is that she started going off about everything and nearly broke down." Jareth came down the stairs, confused.
"They're not here," he said.
"That's weird, I wonder where they are?" Roy said. They began to name the places Mel and Sheno could've gone. Kiara walked around the living room, taking a drink every now and then. She saw something glitter out of the corner of her eye. She turned to look at the coffee table, she put her drink down and picked up a small glass sphere. It looked like it had smoke floating in it. Her eyes narrowed, if this was what she thought it was, she might have a bigger problem on her hands than just not knowing how to get home.
"Guys?" she said. They turned to her, stopping their conversation. She held up the sphere, "Does this belong to anyone you know?"
"What the heck is it?" Jareth asked. Roy shook his head.
"That's what I thought," Kiara said. She then threw the sphere at the wall and watched as it shattered.
"Hey! What the hell was that for?" Jareth yelled, looking at her like she was crazy. Kiara just pointed to the wall where the 'smoke' crawled up the wall and took the form of a cloaked figure. Jareth just stared and Roy mumble a 'What the hell?' An odd voice filled the room as it spoke.
"I believe it's Jareth and Royazali, correct? If you're as smart as they say, you've probably already realized I have your friends."
Jareth and Roy tensed as they heard this, Kiara could feel the anger rising in both of them. By the voice, they could tell it was female, they just couldn't tell what species she was.
"Don't worry, I won't hurt them as long as you do as I say. I know you've met someone rather odd today and I have some unfinished business with him. You are to bring him to me at my palace in Crystal Lake. You have three hours to bring the Fordbidden One to me. Good luck!" The smoky figure faded away.
Jareth was totally confused and ticked off. What the hell was that chick talking about? They hadn't met any guy today, the only 'odd' person they met was- He turned to look at Kiara who looked just as confused.
"What the hell was she talking about?" he asked. Kiara was looking at the floor then her head snapped up and her eyes widened. She slapped a hand to her forehead.
"Kiara?" Roy asked. He was just as worried and confused as Jareth was.
"Who the crap is this 'Forbidden' guy she talked about?" Jareth asked, trying to get answers.
"Hiei. Hiei was supposed to be here, not me," she said, looking at them. Seeing the confused looks she explained. "When we were after the guy I told you about earlier, Hiei jumped out of the way so he wouldn't get hit. Well, I was dealing with a smaller target because he was annoying me. I didn't see the guy come at me and I got hit. And somehow, wound up here," she said, running a hand through her hair.
"So what the hell are we supposed to do?" Roy asked.
"What d'you think? We're gettin' Sheno and Melanie back!" Jareth exclaimed.
"Don't even think about leaving without me," Kiara said, "It's kinda my fault anyway."
"How'd you know what that thing was anyway?" Roy asked.
"You can find them everywhere back home," she said.
"Where exactly is 'back home' to you?" Jareth asked, he wanted some answers first. They hardly knew anything about this chick!
Kiara sighed, better just get it over with. "Demon World."
"What?"
"Where?"
"Demon World, it's the 'plane,' if you will, where most demons live," Kiara said, "That meaning, I am a demon."
There was silence in the house as Kiara let the information sink in. What she didn't expect, was their reactions. It was like they didn't think it was weird for a demon to be walking around in the middle of humans.
"So, you're not even in the right world?" Jareth asked.
"Not even in the right time," Kiara said.
"So what can you do, exactly?" Roy asked, curious. The only run-in with demons they had, didn't turn out too good.
Kiara grinned at him, "How 'bout I explain on the way?"
II
On the way to Crystal Lake, Kiara told Jareth and Roy of her powers and training and a few missions from 'back home'. Only stopping for extreme emergencies, they made it to their destination in a little over twenty-five minutes. Finally arriving, Jareth plopped down on the ground to rest momentarily.
"Jareth! What are you doing? I thought you wanted to save Sheno and Mel!" Roy exclaimed as he watched Jareth lay down in the dirt.
"They can wait! I'm beat!" Jareth said. Roy finally sat down also. Kiara just looked at them and shook her head.
"You guys are just out of shape," she said.
"Hey!" Jareth said, raising his arm from his laying down position, "It's been awhile since we've traveled this long, okay? ("You've only walked for two hours!" said Kiara.) Man I'm gettin' too old for this."
Roy looked at him skeptically, "You're too old for this? I'm five hundred!"
What?
Kiara's mind went crazy. He was how old? He only looked around 16! How was he supposed to be 500?
"Woah, woah, you're how old?" Kiara asked.
"Well, technically, I'm 17, but I was sealed away for 500 years. Then I got woke up and met Jareth down the road, and everything just unfolded from there," Roy explained.
"That's," Kiara started, trying to force her mind away from thinking about how old Raith might actually be, "Really weird. But okay, I'll go with it. Even though you're old enough to be my great grandfather, it's all cool."
"Just one 'great'? I was thinking more like seven," Jareth said, grinning and standing.
"Well, maybe for you, but I'm 200," Kiara said. Jareth blinked. He shouldn't be surprised, Roy was, quite literally, ancient. Why couldn't a demon be really old?
"And now I feel really young," Jareth said. Kiara laughed and Roy stood, looking out at Crystal Lake trying to figure out how they were gonna get Sheno and Melanie back. Looking out at the water, he saw something under it. Almost like a tunnel, but where was the entrance?
"Roy, what have I told you about thinking?" Jareth asked, walking over to him. Kiara walked to the waters edge and looked out.
"It looks like there's a tunnel underneath the water, but I dont see an entrance anywhere," Roy said.
Jareth raised an eyebrow, "So how do we get in?"
"Well, in Ocarina, you had to use the Zora tunic and swim to the entrance of the water temple. I think, and then the ice temple you had to jump across the icebergs," Kiara said, contemplating on what to do. Jareth and Roy exchanged confused looks but shrugged it off.
"Can't you just make a bubble around us as we go down there?" she asked. Jareth looked at her funny.
Kiara shrank, "This isn't Slayers, nevermind, sorry."
"Actually," Roy said, "I think I can, you're talking about using a wind spell, right? Sure! Let's try it!"
"Cool!" Kiara said. They stayed close to each other and Roy cast the wind spell and created an air bubble around them and they walked into the water and down into the tunnel and a spring of sorts shot them up the the surface. They fell onto an ice floor and stood and looked around. Parts of the floor were covered in ice, a closed door was on the other side of the large room.
"Oh, no," Kiara said.
"What the hell is this place?" Jareth asked, standing.
"Hell," Kiara said, "This is pure hell, I hate ice dungeons, though they're not as bad as water temples. If you guys see green penguins, kill 'em. Don't hesitate, kill it."
"Why?" Jareth asked.
"They're evil and they have teeth," Kiara explained.
"What's a penguin?" Roy asked. Kiara just looked at him like he was crazy and Jareth stopped her before she could talk.
"A penguin is a flightless bird that lives in cold places," Jareth said. Roy nodded.
"Like that one?" he said, pointing behind Jareth and Kiara. They turned and saw five green penguins coming at them, sliding on their bellys. Kiara yelled and set them on fire, ten feet away.
"Wow, you really dont like those things, huh?" Jareth said. Kiara shook her head and looked around the room, the door didn't look locked so she carefully walked over followed by Jareth and Roy. There was a button on the wall next to the door, just begging to be pushed. So Kiara did just that, and the door opened.
Looking into the next room, they saw three very large metal boxes on an ice floor with what looked to be a switch in the middle. Beyond those was a locked door with bars in front of it.
"Yay block puzzles!" Kiara said, walking in. Jareth and Roy walked in and looked around. Kiara climbed on top of one of the boxes.
"Come on, guys, climb up. I'll need more than one set of eyes." They climbed on a different box and tried to figure out how to one box on the switch.
"Hey, Roy? You don't have anything in that magic arsenal of yours that makes blocks appear out of no where, do you?" Kiara asked.
Roy blinked. "No, no I don't," he said, confused.
"Dang it! Where's Knight when you need him?" Kiara said, jumping down.
"Who?" Roy asked, also jumping down.
"I don't even care," Jareth said.
"Anybody got ideas?" Kiara asked. Roy raised his hand slightly. Kiara nodded as if saying 'go ahead.' Kiara took a block, Jareth took one and so did Roy. After a few minutes of pushing block after block, and laughing at Kiara because she fell on the ice, they finally got a block on the switch. Looking to the door, the bars were raised into the ceiling. Kiara pushed the button on the wall and the door opened.
"You know, I could've just stood on the switch and then teleported to the other side of the door," Roy said as they walked through the door. It closed behind them and Kiara stopped.
She turned to him with a look of bewilderment on her face.
"Why didn't you just say so?" she asked.
Roy shrugged, "I thought you knew what you were doing so I didn't say anything,"
"What did I tell you about thinking?" Jareth asked.
Pinching the bridge of her nose, Kiara said, "You can teleport, I need to remember that."
"You're going to abuse my powers, aren't you?" Roy asked. Kiara smiled slightly.
"I'll try my hardest not to," she said. Roy shook his head.
Moving along in the dungeon, they encountered more penguins, ice-wolf creatures, and abominable snowmen. All the while finding keys to locked doors, healing potions (which worked), and finally arriving at the location of the 'Boss Key' as Kiara called it.
"I. Hate. These. Things!" Jareth yelled as he shot at the creatures with chi blasts.
"I totally agree!" Roy said, fighting off ice-wolves with his dual-bladed lance. He eventually turned his lance into two swords when he noticed that the enemies were still coming.
Kiara was using her fire to melt her opponents. But she was more focused on finishing the dungeon. It had taken them thirty minutes to get to the entrance and another hour and a half to get this far, they were going to have to speed things up if they were going to get Sheno and Melanie back safe.
In a way, she was glad it was her here instead of Hiei. He never would've helped them unless it concerned him directly. Kiara also got the feeling Jareth, Roy and Hiei wouldn't have gotten along that well.
Then there was that feeling of how she missed her friends and she could even hear the conversations about this little trip.
"What the hell possessed you to help them in the first place?" Hiei would probably say.
Cause they needed my help! They had no idea what was going on, and it would be my fault if they lost their loved ones because I was sent there in your place.
Then Kurama and Sera would say, "They made you laugh, didn't they?"
Hell yes, they did!
Kiara smiled until she saw a giant eyeball-like creature floatiing toward her. Rolling out of the way, she slashed it with her sword. She turned just in time to see a yeti come at her with a sword the size of her. Moving behind it, she slashed it's back just to watch as her sword broke in two. Her eyes widened as it turned around to face her. She stared up at the giant and was reaching for her gun when it screamed in pain then exploded. She looked to see Jareth standing a few yards in front of her with a smirk on his face.
"So you freak out when your weapon breaks?" he said.
"I paused because my sword doesn't break when I use more than once," she explained. Jareth nodded jokingly and rolled his eyes while Kiara made a face at him.
While they made faces at each other, Roy walked to the chest that appeared out of nowhere when the last enemy was killed. He opened it and found a key with what looked like a deep blue piece of ice embedded in the top.
"We came all this way for a key when Jareth could've picked the lock?" Roy asked aloud. Kiara and Jareth stopped making faces and turned to Roy.
"Tried it, didn't work," Kiara and Jareth said. They looked at each other with odd looks and shrugged it off.
"So now that we have the key, where do we go?" Roy asked turning to the others.
"We go back to the beginning," Kiara said.
"Why?" Jareth asked.
"Cause the boss room is in the basement, duh. It was at the very beginning to the right," Kiara said.
"So let's go," Roy suggested. Kiara stopped him.
"Do you really want to go thru all seven floors, fighting bad guys again?" she asked. They both shook their heads. "Then can you teleport us to the beginning, please?" Kiara asked with her hands clasped together. Roy sighed and everyone gathered around him to be teleported.
III
Arriving at their destination, they headed to the right and down a few sets of stairs and hallways, finally finding the door to the boss room. They stopped in wonder of what lay ahead of them.
They looked at one another. Each wondering why they had stopped.
"Why did we stop?" Roy asked.
Kiara shrugged, "I guess the author just wanted us to because she needed to have a suspenseful moment."
"Can we just get this over with?" Jareth asked. He didn't like the way she said that. Just imagining someone controlling his every move was really creepy.
Roy, who had held onto the key, unlocked the door and watched as the chains surrounding it fall. He blinked and pushed the button on the wall to open the door. Jareth walked through first followed by Kiara and Roy.
As they looked around the room, Kiara said, "Look left, look right, look left again. And then the door closes."
"Huh?" Roy said. The door closed behind them, blocking their path until they defeated the monster. Roy turned to looked at the door, just out of reflex while Kiara stayed put and Jareth walked out into the middle of the room.
Roy heard a loud thud and thought he heard the ice floor crack, but he couldn't tell for sure since he also heard Kiara gasp in horror. As he turned to see the monster they had to face, he found himself attacked, not by the monster, but Kiara.
"Kill it! Kill it! I am so gonna have nightmares about this! Ugh.." she said, clinging to Roy. As he looked up to find Jareth, he also found a giant spider made entirely of ice.
"Hey! Little help over here?" Roy heard Jareth yell from the other side of the room, he pried Kiara off him and went to help.
Kiara was sitting on the ice floor, looking out at the two fighting, she felt helpless and got angry with herself realizing how she acted when she saw it. Her body temperture was rising with her anger and she realized that the floor was melting. She stared at her hand, now wet beceause of the ice, and heard shouts of pain and her head jerked up to see Jareth and Roy get knocked across the room by one of the many legs of the spider.
Looking to the beast, she noticed a dark blue patch of ice on the back of it's abdomen. She took the key to this room out of her pocket and saw that the blue was the same color as the patch on the spider.
So the key is a hint? Good thing I kept this.
Quickly standing and pocketing the key once again, she melted the floor underneath her and re-froze it around her feet by taking all of the heat out of it. She then formed an arrow of out fire and aimed it at the blue patch.
And here's another thing I'm stealing from Slayers today.
Guys? I've got an idea.
She quickly told them of her plan and watched as they stood and took their positions. She released the arrow while the spider was distracted and it hit the dark blue patch. The spider immediately turned its back on Jareth and Roy and started running toward Kiara.
Ignoring her undefined fear of the blasted creatures, she braced herself and when the time was right, she melted the entire floor under the beast and waited for its legs to hit the actual floor and then froze the floor, trapping it in it's own element.
"Now!"
Hearing her shout, Roy ran in with his dual swords and cut half of the creatures legs, finally sliding over to the door where Kiara was. Jareth watched as it fell, shrieking in pain. As it hit the floor, still trapped, Jareth lept into the air using a trampoline-like leaf Kiara conjured and fired a huge chi blast at the monster's weak spot. It threw its head back and roared in agony. Jareth landed in a crouch and as it exploded behind him, he stood.
Kiara and Roy raised an eyebrow and looked at each other.
"Show off," they said at the same time.
"What d'you mean 'show off'?" Jareth said. His companions shook their heads.
Kiara patted him on the shoulder, "It's okay, Red, we still love you." She laughed at his reaction to her words and he yet again yelled at her not to call him that.
"Uh, guys?"
Kiara and Jareth looked to Roy who stood in the center of the room where a pedestal had appeared with button in the middle, a glass sphere on one side and a necklace with a yellow gem on the other side.
Roy grabbed the sphere and tossed it at the wall to see the smoke rise up and take form once again.
"Hello, all. I hope you had fun, and I hope you're all in good spirits, because I have news for you," the voice said. They were all eager to hear about the whereabouts of their friends. As they listened, they grew weary. What was this sphere doing here if this was the right place?
"I lied. You're friends are here with me at my real palace in the desert," they couldn't see her face, but they all could tell she was smiling, having tricked them into coming all this way just to tell them Sheno and Melanie weren't here.
"You have ten hours to make it here and defeat this monster to get your friends. Have fun!" The form faded and everyone was highly ticked off at themselves for falling for the witch's tricks. Kiara being the least irked, she took the necklace, assuming they would need it later and hit the button on the pedestal, warping them outside to the banks of Crystal Lake.
IV
Not a word was said on the way back to the house where they would rest and get necessities. Jareth immediately went upstairs and stayed there for a while. Roy wandered around outside occasionally kicking a rock here and there and looking up at sky. Kiara sat on the couch looking at the necklace and key.
The key was oddly made and it fascinated Kiara. She'd seen and collected a lot of keys in her life, and never before had she seen such an elaborate lock and key. She turned her attention to the necklace. The gem was held by a simple gold fixture, but it was odd, she had seen this kind of gem before, but where? She thought about it for a while.
Oh, duh.
It was a portal gem! Why didn't she realize it before? She had a portal gem embedded in her sword back home! She stood and held the gem in her hand and fed it some of her spirit energy to activate it. A swirling yellow portal appeared and she held the sides of it like that of a door frame and stuck her head through only to pull back and close the portal because she got a face full of sand.
She found her way into the kitchen and washed her eyes out with water. Drying her face on a towel, she couldn't help but think of what the witch was playing at.
What on earth did she want with Hiei? And why try bring him here of all places? Well, it would be out of his element, entirely. Having to help people he didn't even like, much less ask them for help.
That and Kiara couldn't shake the feeling that this witch was going to drag them around all points of the compass.
"You ready?"
Kiara looked to see a somber-looking Jareth standing in the doorway of the kitchen. Kiara hadn't known him for a day, but she could tell that this was not the normal Jareth. This was the Jareth that was ready to kill someone if they didn't find Sheno and Melanie. Kiara nodded. He turned to go outside to get Roy, Kiara followed, grabbing a bag of food and water they already packed.
She would have to tell them her thoughts now before one of them did something they would regret later.
V
It's done, Katie! XP I hope i did good! Please let me kno if i messed up anywhere, k? I have to get in the shower now, so yeah...review please! XD