As I have proved with my Fire Emblem stories: when things aren't explained for me, I make them up myself.
Chapter Four – Well, This Sucks
I must have only been out for a few seconds. The tremors had gone, but I could feel and hear Maya next to me, shaking my shoulders and yelling my name. I was just grateful she wasn't slapping my face, like I'd seen in the movies. Still, I hadn't heard her this panicked since the very first time we met. A pervasive image in my brain was that of a teenage girl crouched next to Mia's body, sobbing, and I blinked to clear my head as fast as possible.
"Maya, I'm okay. It's all right, stop shaking me. Oof!" I'd tried to look up at her, and pain shot through my head. Not that looking was doing any good. My phone had gone out again.
"Oh, thank God." The panic faded from her voice a little. The silence and dark were unnerving, and I could hear the tremble in her voice. "Nick, I think I found your phone. How do you – " We both exclaimed and covered our eyes as it suddenly lit up, blinding in the darkness. Both of us laughed shakily, grateful for something to be amused at.
I tried to sit up again, but Edgeworth was sprawled across me, head pillowed on my chest, and my left arm was entirely trapped underneath me. Except for my arm shrieking in protest, and the fact that we were surrounded by rubble and dust, this might have been a comfortably intimate position. I managed to swallow a semi-hysterical laugh, and gulped a breath. Why were unconscious people always so heavy? "Maya, help?"
I managed to squirm out from underneath Edgeworth, though Maya wasn't much help. While she was calm again, her hands were shaking. "Okay, now I can sit up." I clutched my arm, the one that had been trapped underneath me; something must have broken when I landed on it, judging from the amount of pain shooting through my wrist.
"Do you think Mr. Edgeworth's all right?" asked Maya concernedly, holding up the phone. Its pitiful light bathed our surroundings in a bluish glow.
"I think so. You know how terrified of earthquakes he is. I'm pretty sure he just fainted." I hiked up a little more, grateful to find a wall behind me. "Ow. Hey… you're okay, right?"
"No," she answered, but firmly, and I saw a tiny smile. "I'm still hungry."
"Well, I hope we get rescued before you resort to cannibalism," I retorted, looking around. The phone's light didn't project very far, but then, it didn't have to. Part of the stairwell had broken apart, chunks of concrete scattered around on the floor, and door back into the parking garage was totally blocked. The ceiling inside the garage had indeed collapsed – strangely, the first thing that came to mind was whether or not the homicide division, located just above the garage, had survived.
"That was a really big earthquake, Nick," said Maya suddenly, breaking the silence. I looked over to find her gnawing her lip, eyes worried. "I wonder…"
I suddenly followed her train of thought and tried to summon a smile. Kurain Village was two hours' ride by train, and Hazukara was even further off. "Don't worry. Pearls and Iris and Sister Bikini are fine. Everyone in Kurain is, too." Dimly, I tried to remember what I'd learned about earthquakes in grade school, and an absurd urge to shake Edgeworth awake came and went. He probably knew everything there was to know about quakes. "It… it felt like a shallow-centre quake. Probably just local, right?"
Maya eyed me suspiciously, but she knew less about geology than I did, and she eventually shrugged. "Well, there's an easy way to find out what's going on." She kicked off her sandals, and assumed a meditation pose.
I just goggled. "What?"
"Come on, Nick," she said impatiently. "I'll channel Mia. Then she can ask Pearly what's going on and maybe get us rescued!"
I realized my mouth was hanging open, and with an effort closed it. "But… right now?" I looked up the stairwell. "I was going to try climbing up, seeing if there was a way out."
She looked up at the stairwell doubtfully. I had to admit that I sounded braver than I felt about the endeavor. Bits of concrete were dangling from wires, and the whole stairwell looked like it could collapse any second. "Um… are you sure? This is kind of like… a flaming bridge."
"It is not!" I said, and felt my cheeks flame red. She grinned at me, though.
"I'm just kidding. If you really want to give it a try…"
Well, it was either give it a try or admit that I really was too afraid of heights to hazard it. I stood up quickly before I could suddenly become to intelligent (and self-preserving) to risk anything. The first part of the stairs was fine, but the landing was where it had started to collapse. One step at a time, I made my way up to and across the landing, trying to avoid the biggest cracks. The landing stayed stable, and I found myself holding my breath as I stepped onto the next flight of stairs. Part of the railing had bent outwards, three steps missing altogether. I would have to jump.
Sighing internally – what, again, had made me think this was a good idea, besides the darkened, forbidding door on the next landing? – I balanced on the edge, and braced myself. I could feel Maya watching as I jumped across the three-foot gap, clinging onto the shaky railing for support, and heard her sigh as much as I felt my own.
It all seemed to be going well, and then as I stepped forward onto the landing, a groaning, scraping sound arose. "Nick, don't –!" Maya yelled out, before the concrete gave way and I fell back down into the stairwell, right where I'd been before.
All the breath knocked out of me, I saw stars for a moment; the fall had been from a moderate height, and worse yet, I'd landed on the same sore ankle and caught myself with the same bad wrist. Everything hurt much more now. Blinking hastily, I managed to prop myself on an elbow; Maya was crouched over Edgeworth, her hands over her head. Little bits of concrete were scattered everywhere, dust coating her hair.
Slowly she straightened up and glared at me, though when she scooted towards me I could tell she was worried, too. "That went well."
"Oh… be quiet," I wheezed, and shook my head slowly. "Ugh… definitely not the way out."
Her eyes were still on me, but Maya made a small "humph" noise, clearly indicating that she'd told me so. I laughed, and finally she grinned again. "My way's a little less dangerous, if you'd like me to try it."
I waved a hand casually, still trying to get my breath back. Ow. Ow. Ow. "If you like." Then a thought occurred to me. "Wait, how can Mia ask Pearls anything? Would we have to call Pearls and ask her to channel Mia?" Pearls was literally the only person I could think of who could channel Mia, but there certainly wouldn't be any cell phone reception in this little cement box.
"No, silly." Maya assumed a meditation pose once more and spread her robes out somewhat fastidiously, flicking off bits of dust and rubble. "If Mia calls Pearly strongly enough, Pearly can channel her."
"It works both ways?" I asked dubiously, fascinated. Spirit channeling defied all logic, to me.
"Yeah," said Maya, quite confidently. "If the medium has a strong, trusting bond with the spirit who's calling, they can channel them without a second thought. It's especially easy, I think, if the medium has channeled that spirit before."
Well, that would make it easy. Pearls had channeled Mia half a dozen times now. I felt almost a little guilty for summoning Mia so glibly, but… if the quake had been serious enough to partially destroy the police building, we might be waiting for some time to be rescued. That is, if someone didn't find out where we were.
"Well?" Maya said impatiently. "Turn the phone's light off, Nick! I need to concentrate."
But her voice was soft, and in the ensuing darkness I heard her sight in satisfaction. Sometimes I had the sneaking feeling that Maya was always there when I was in trouble simply because she was so good at getting out of it.
Channeling wasn't always instantaneous, and I was uncomfortable. I'd managed to prop myself up on my elbows, but it had long begun to hurt. The urge to shake Edgeworth came and went again – this time because I was worried. On a whim, I slipped off my jacket, folded it, and tucked it under his head, my wrist throbbing like crazy. There. It was probably a blessing that he was out cold, having slept so little in the past few days.
Another urge, to lie down beside him and sleep myself, stole over me. I laid a hand between his shoulder blades: he was breathing so regularly and slowly that I couldn't help feel jealous that he was so relaxed. Oh well. In all likelihood I had a minor concussion and was suffering from shock: it was just as well that I didn't sleep.
"Hello?" said a tentative voice. "Hello… is… is anyone there?" It was Mia.
Seized with relief, I hit the light on my phone. Mia's serene face was always transformed when framed by Maya's hair and outfit, but now it was altered with confusion as well. "Mia."
"Phoenix? Is that you? What's the matter?" she asked immediately, and we moved towards one another, my light bobbing.
"Earthquake," I said simply. She reached out to take my hand; hers was very warm, and I suddenly wanted to put my head on her shoulder and sleep. "We're stuck in the basement under the homicide division. Maya told me you could probably help, that somehow you could maybe… call Pearls."
"Mmm-hmm," she said, but her eyes were worried.
"Maya seemed okay," I ventured after a moment. "And I'm sure… well, I'm almost sure Edgeworth's perfectly okay. He sort of fainted on top of me."
Mia just blinked at that, and in illustration I shone the light behind me. "Oh," she said, and I realized she had thought Maya and I were the only inhabitants of this sad little cinderblock cell. "Phoenix, did you know that the back of your head is bleeding? And you've got a huge bruise on your forehead."
"Really?" I said in surprise, and reached behind my head. Indeed: the entire back of my head was bleeding, sticky runnels of blood tracing their way down the back of my neck. I felt a little faint for a moment, but remembered Ema telling me something about head wounds bleeding more than others. "Well, that explains why my head hurts so much!"
Mia glared at me, but it lacked the blowfish appearance of Maya's glares. "What?" I tried to grin at her. "Hey, I'm okay. But could you help me get Maya out of here before she eats one of us?"
Unable to keep from smiling at that, Mia shook her head. "All right. Listen, Phoenix, I'll try and call Pearl to channel me, and leave her a note if she does. Or I'll even… well, that might not work…" she mused to herself, with a Maya-esque pensive look.
Her brow abruptly cleared, and her eyes rested on me with concern again. "Just make sure you stay all right. If I come back and you're not here I'll be mad."
I nodded, doing my best to look obligingly meek. "Okay. Mia… thanks."
She smiled again, sweetly this time, and squeezed my hand. I turned off the light, with a pang of regret. It was the same as every time. I loved Maya and Pearls dearly, but there was always a drop in my stomach and a sudden, biting tinge of wistfulness whenever Mia left. I knew she was happy where she was, but was always painful to think it might be the last time I saw her.
