Plot element for later introduced.

Chapter 10: He's Back?

Celia stared in horror as the bookcases drew closer and closer to falling on her. She heard footsteps quickly approaching, but was unable to look to see who it was. She expected to be crushed and braced herself for the pain, but instead, she was tackled out of the way of the cases. She and her savior rolled across the ground. Her eyes were tightly shut but after feeling that they had stopped she cautiously opened her eyes to see the person holding her, and smiled, "Jay… thanks."

He smiled at her, relief flooding his system at seeing she was unharmed. "You know I wouldn't stand by and let you get crushed,"He replied as he picked her up then brushed himself off.

Ethan, annoyed with the trouble that Reva had caused, began scaling the bookcase in order to get her down. He stopped when he was level with Reva. "Let's get going." He grumbled, annoyance clear in his voice, as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Before he could register anything else the next thing he knew, he was flying backwards, "What the-." He grunted in pain as he hit the ground.

Reva scoffed, looking down at him with an annoyed expression of her own, "He knows I don't like being touched… idiot." She turned back to the task she had set for herself, not bothering to apologize or ask if he was intact.

Jason and Celia turned to see the others running towards them, but they stopped when they heard a thud. They all turned their attention in the direction of the sound to see Ethan sprawled on the ground. "Ow… what was I thinking?" He asked himself as he shifted to push himself up.

Luke walked over to him and held out a hand to help him. "What did you do?" He questioned, a curious look on his face, as he pulled Ethan up.

Ethan began to brush himself off. He paused, slightly embarrassed to have been defeated so easily by the one he was supposed to guard. He grumbled in reply, "I tried to get Reva off the bookcase, and she threw me."

Luke gave him a look before shifting his gaze to stare at the girl in question, confusion was etched across his face, "She threw you?"

He nodded, feeling better about the situation since the others were too distracted with Reva's new found strength, "It surprises me too; she's the smallest one here."

Reva finally reached the same height as her goal and reached out to it. She put her hand on the book, and pulled it, but instead of coming out, it stopped midway and clicked. She smiled to herself satisfied that it had worked and looked around the room, trying to spot any changes. She noticed that a door had appeared in the wall and immediately knew that that was her new goal. She jumped from the bookcase and landed next to the group that had been gathered around Ethan. She completely disregarded their looks and began to stroll towards the newly emerged door. The others followed the girl as she continued on.

As Luke followed the others he paused for a moment to look back into the room, "What would a library be doing here?"

"Is that important?"

Luke jumped before looking around to find the source of the familiar voice. He couldn't remember the owner but knew that he had heard it before. "Who's there?" He questioned as he looked around but saw no one. Confusion spread across his face once more as he continued to follow the others.

"Don't you recognize me?" The voice asked.

Luke stopped in his tracks and shouted, "Whoever you are, come out already!" The mystery behind the voice was really starting to get to him. He felt like the answer was just on the tip of his tongue.

The rest of the group turned to him, expressions of bewilderment etched across their faces. Tear stepped forward, more concern than anything else on her face as she put a hand on his shoulder, "Luke, what's wrong?"

He sighed, feeling bad about causing Tear to worry, "I'm hea-" He began before he cut himself off because of the voice.

"You haven't figured it out?" Annoyance was clear in the tone. Luke could easily tell that whoever it was, their patience was wearing thin.

Luke held his head, "I'm going crazy!"

"Calm down, this is your voice you're hearing, right?"

Luke nodded, "It's my voice, but…"

"You really are an idiot, Luke. I thought you would've gotten smarter."

Jade joined Tear next to Luke. "You're hearing your own voice?" He questioned, a calculating look on his face as he awaited an answer.

Luke nodded before admitting, "He's calling me an idiot."

"Fine, how about ."

Luke gasped, a shocked look plastered on his face as he nearly shouted, "It called me dreck! Only one person has ever called me that!"

Jade crossed his arm, the calculating look still carefully placed, "You're saying that…"

Tear put her hands on her hips, "Asch is communicating with you?"

"They're right, I'm back."

Luke smiled slightly, the shock having been washed away, "Asch, what are you doing here?"

"Helping you out of course," Asch replied, his tone making it sound like it should be obvious.

Reva's curiosity was immediately sparked when she heard the conversation. Her eyes lit up with wonder as she pushed the two out of the way, "Luke, you're saying that there's another person inside of you?"

Luke scratched his head, slight confusion dusting his face, "Um… kinda."

Reva dragged Luke down by the collar, "Hello there, my name is Reva, and yours?" Luke simply stared at her, and she frowned was disappointed about the lack of response that she was given, "It appears that he can only communicate through your mind."

Luke smirked, an unlikely expression for the boy, "Not exactly, kid. My name is Asch."

He turned to Tear and Jade, "Hey you two."

Jade readjusted his glasses. "You as well, Asch."

Reva grinned widely, her interest peaked, "This is incredible… I've never heard of such a phenomenon occurring. I wonder how this is even possible… I'm going to enjoy this." She whispered to herself.

Asch walked over to Ethan, a look of caution across his face, "Should I be worried?"

Ethan shrugged, and replied, "To be fair, I don't know you."

He sighed, and his demeanor seemed to completely change before he spoke, "It's Luke now."

He shrugged again, not knowing the answer, even though he was the one that knew Reva for the longest, "I don't know but keep an eye open."

Luke stalked away from him and towards Jason, who was at the head of the group, farthest away from Reva. He didn't want to be anywhere near someone as strange as Reva. Especially when she had a dangerous gleam in her eyes.

Jason scratched his chin, having completely disregarded the previous situation in favor of concentrating on the present, "What next…" He tapped Celia's shoulder to get her attention, "Hey, where do you think this thing will be?"

She sighed. "Well, let's see… it would be logical to think that it would be in the deepest part of the cave…Wherever that is."

Jason looked at the ground, an idea forming in his head. He acted before thinking about the consequences. "Draco Blast!" He punched the ground, only to scream loudly, "Dammit!" He lifted his fist off the ground and began rubbing it, "This sucks…"

Cameron scoffed, giving him an annoyed and irritated expression, "Jason, what were you thinking?"

Ace walked past him, casually letting out his thoughts about the situation, "He wasn't."

Luke sped ahead of the group, looking for any more clues to the location of the fonstone, "Where could it be?"

Rea walked behind him, "We've gone down a few floors. We should be there soon."

Luke ran behind Tear, and gave Reva a cautious look before muttering to Tear, "I don't trust her. I have a feeling she might do something weird."

Reva gave him a deadpanned look before sighing and turning away to continue walking. Dealing with it at the moment was not something she really wanted to do. She'd been called weird and other variations of it almost all her life, so she thought she'd be numb to it by now. However, that small sting still lingered; not that anyone would be able to tell. She had become a master at hiding any feelings of hurt.

Jason went around punching walls, trying to break them in hopes of finding their destination. Everyone else just watched, wondering how long it would take him to figure out that it was an effort in vain. Some of them were wondering how long it would take him to break his hand, while Ace and Cameron placed bets on it, Reva joining in at the last minute.

Celia walked past everyone and stopped in front of Jason, and by the expression on her face, she was not amused, "Jay, you're going to break your hands." She scolded, her tone making it clear that he wasn't allowed to continue with what he was doing.

He scoffed and stopped punching, "Damn, that was dumb. Where are my orange gels?" Celia reached into her bag and pulled one out before handing it to him. He wolfed it down and let out a large sigh of relief, "That feels better."

Emma noticed a hole in the ground, "Wow, a pit." She walked over and peered down into it, leaning further and further over it, "I wonder what's in here."

Ace quickly grabbed her by the collar, and yanked her back before she fell in, "Be careful, honey."

Emma pulled away, a sheepish look spreading across her face, "Sorry about that; didn't mean to make you worry."

Ethan walked over to the hole and inspected it, a curious look on his face as he shifted around it to get a better look into it, "Interesting. Maybe this is where we have to go."

Jade strode over next to him and leaned slightly over to him, "Ethan, you do know there won't really be a way to get back up, right?"

Ethan straightened up and chuckled nervously, the close proximity to Jade unnerving him slightly, "You're right."

Jason paid no heed to anything that anybody had said. Instead, he leapt down the hole with no foresight about the consequences. Celia followed after him, concerned about his brash actions. A few of the other members were shocked while the rest were either concerned or indifferent about it.

Cameron sighed at their actions and walked over, "This is probably the only choice we have, so…" He shrugged before jumping down.

Emma agreed with what Cameron said. She quickly broke out of Ace's grip and rushed back to the hole. A grin was spread across her face as she followed the others and jumped down. She held no fear for any consequences that might occur for jumping down.

Ace 'tsk' ed, a look of irritation crossing his face as he watch her jump down the hole, "Dammit!" He jumped down as well, wanting to make sure that she was alright.

Everyone else still above decided that it would be a bad idea to let the more reckless members of the group be down there by themselves. As a result, they jumped down after them, annoyance, irritation, concern or indifference masking their faces.

Emma looked around the room they dropped into, the grin still plastered on her face, "Well, would you look at this. The floor is made of ice," She commented as she tapped the floor with the tip of her boot, to check its thickness.

Jason looked at it, and chuckled, a smile coming to his lips, "This is going to be fun. C'mon, guys!" He began skating on the ice, surprisingly enough, he had little difficulty.

Reva joined him, a bored look on her face as she asked, "Where are we going?"

Ethan caught up to them, "Hey, guys, we could just get to the other side. It seems kinda obvious." There was a path across from where they dropped. An obvious sign as to where to go and also the only path they could take.

Cameron walked onto the ice, "I can't believe we didn't see this earlier." He carefully walked over to the other side with no difficulty, "I'm done, so get going!"

Ace ran onto the ice, but soon regretted the action, "Bad idea!" He shouted as his feet slid out from under him. He ended up landing painfully on his back and hitting his head on the groaned as the soreness spread across his back.

Celia walked carefully over to him, concern written all over her face, "Are you okay?"

He held out a hand, knowing he wouldn't be able to push himself up on the slippery ice, "Kinda," he muttered as she tried to help him up. They both ended up on the ground instead, Ace's weight having been too much to balance out for Celia.

Jason walked to them, an exasperated look on his face, and began dragging them along the floor, "I should've known that would happen."

"Sorry," Celia muttered, embarrassment replacing the previous concern as a blush was dusted across her cheeks.

Emma skated gracefully across the ice, her ever-present grin still there as she looked over at everyone else, "It's not that bad, guys!"

Jade skated across as well, having no difficulty at all with ice, "We have practice, so this is quite simple." His ever-present smirk was giving them a condescending feeling. Eventually, the rest of them reached the other side of the floor where a large door was waiting to be opened. With a small tap from Jade it opened. "Interesting,"He muttered, analyzing it for a quick moment before they all walked through and found a large stairwell at the end of an equally sized hallway.

Emma knelt next to it, giving it a wondering look, "Wow, this is a big stairwell."

Ace looked down as it descended into a void of unknown, a concentrated expression on his face, "I wonder… is our target down there?"

Luke put a hand on his hip, as he looked down it as well, "It has to be. I don't know what else would be at the end of this."

"Maybe another hallway and door? Or maybe it'll be another stairwell? What about an intersection of hallways? There's also the possibility that it'll just lead us to a large group of enemies," Reva listed, as she walked towards the stairwell. "Whatever it is, we're not going to be finding anything out if we just stand here and wonder about it," She finished as she started down the stair.

Jason began running down the stairs after her, "Well, let's get going then!" He was closely followed be Celia, who had no intention of letting Jason wander off on his own.

"I think that's the most I've ever heard Reva talk," Ethan remarked to himself, his mind still trying to process what had just happened.

"She didn't seem to be in the best of moods. I think it's the cold," Ace informed, as he walked past him down the stair well.

Ethan snapped out of it after hearing what he had said and tailed after Ace. The others soon followed and discovered that down the stairs was a large gap,and across it another door.

Ethan peered into the chasm below, trying to calculate how deep it might be before deciding that it was just too deep to want to fall down, "Wow, would you look at that…"

Reva scanned around the area, trying to find a solution to the problem, "I see platforms out there,"She muttered, her eyes locked onto the platforms.

Jason followed her gaze, and on both sides of the chasm, there were several crystal slabs floating in the air. Reva guessed that their floating was due to the concentration of fonons in the chasm and that while it may be enough the support the platforms, which were comprised of the same kind of fonons, it would do nothing to support them.

Celia shifted her gaze around as well, an analyzing look spread on her face, "There has to be something we can do to make a bridge."

Cameron noticed a crystal stalagmite on one of the platforms, and an idea began to form in his head. He drew his blade, "Azure Edge!" He called a blue projectile shot out at the stalagmite and it glowed. The platform it was on moved and aligned with the door across the way.

Luke chuckled, having figured out the simple solution to the puzzle just like everyone else, "I see, we have to hit the platforms, and they'll slide into place."

Jade nodded, "Very well." He began casting, a green fonic circle surrounding him. "Oh, darkened storm cloud, loose thy blade and run mine enemy through! Thunder Blade!" The large spear struck the platform, and it slid over. Reva, Emma, and Tear assisted Jade and Cameron. Soon, there was a bridge of crystals created thanks to the efforts of a few of the group members.

Emma ran across it, before spinning to look towards the other, "Let's go guys! We're almost done!" She shouted then turned back around and continued going.

Reva began walking across it, "A lot less complicated than I thought it would be." A disappointed sigh escaped her mouth, "I was hoping for something more challenging."

The rest of them crossed over, and Luke looked back at the bridge, "Soon, we can get out of here."

"It wasn't that bad," Asch remarked.

He scoffed, a bit irritated with Asch, "Whatever."

Jason opened the door to reveal a large room behind it. It was pitch black and colder than the area they were just in. It gave several of the group members chills and many on high alert. Reva tightened her grip on her lance; not liking the feeling that place was giving off. She could tell something unwanted was in there but also knew that their goal was in there as well. Glancing at the other members, she saw that most of them felt the same way as her. Tear had a tightened grip on her staff and a hand hovered over her knives. Ethan looked uneasy about the place, while Cameron looked cautious. It was barely visible to anybody but Jade had tensed, and seemed as though he was expecting a fight. Luke didn't seem to be paying much attention; most likely having a conversation with Asch.

Cameron scanned the inside, but couldn't see anything except the dark, "We should proceed with caution. We don't know what's in here."

Jason walked past him into the room, confidence rolling off his person, "We'll be fine, let's go."

Reva shifted her gaze to Jason. Her eyes were narrowed, feeling a bit irritated about his relaxed demeanor. From the stories her brother told her, she knew that was the last thing a person wanted to do when in unfamiliar territory. She shifted her lance and followed after him, also knowing that being alone in unfamiliar territory was a bad idea. He may not be someone she knew, but that didn't mean she could let him get himself killed. A few of the other group members with the same mind set followed after Jason and Reva. The others soon followed after them.

Abrupt end. Next chapter is the end of this dungeon.