Red-X moaned. Landing face-first on a cold stone wasn't a good thing to experience. He muttered a curse as he used his hands to help him get up. He hoisted himself, sitting on the cold floor. He rubbed his forehead, which had taken the hardest hit when he landed. He hoped he wouldn't get it bruised or swollen—he despised having his perfect face flawed even when it was a part of his consequence as a thief.
He blinked his eyes and looked around with one hand still pressed his forehead. He was in a room that looked like a storage room. It was dimly lit—the only light came from the small windows hanging high on the wall. Weird—the light indicated that the sky outside was the dawn sky, slightly pinkish.
"Where the hell is it?" he questioned himself. He swept the room with his eyes—it was a small room with nothing but full-length cupboards propped on one wall. The cupboards were old and made of something like polished woods.
On one wall, there was a small door which reminded him of wooden doors from the medieval era. He blinked, feeling slightly out of place.
He was in the middle of getting on his feet when he heard there was another low moan in the room. He froze, standing still.
The moan came from the darkest corner of the room, and when he squinted, he saw something crumpled on the floor. It was covered in dark cloth.
He gingerly approached that thing, and realized it was a small person. A kid, perhaps, if not a midget. He tentatively moved a hand, reaching the cloth to see who it was, but stopped his hand a few inches before the cloth to see if it would move. The figure didn't move so he reached the cloth. He pulled the cloth carefully only to discover that it was a part of a cloak. The part he pulled was the hood.
A pale, beautiful face was revealed, along with the silky dark hair. His eyes widened in shock.
Raven.
She moaned again, squeezing her eyes shut before peeling them open slowly. His gaze met the amethyst eyes.
She hoisted herself instantly and feral eyes stared at him, ready to fight. Red-X immediately dragged himself away from her.
"Whoa, whoa," he said, lifting his hands as a gesture for Raven to not attack. "Easy. This room's too small for us to fight in."
She produced a muffled sound and he realized the X-tape was still on her mouth. She removed the X-tape and let out a cry of pain as she did that and he cringed, imagining the pain. Red mark with X shape was left on her pale face—he bet it hurt.
The black energy spheres were surrounding her hands once she was able to move her mouth again. Raven threw the black balls on him and he quickly moved around the room, leaping here and there to save himself from the spheres. It was difficult to avoid them when he was in such a small space. Fortunately, the cupboards were empty so the insides didn't spill out when Raven's spheres hit them.
"Azar—"
"I don't feel like using the tape on you again, Sunshine," he tilted his head to the side with a cocky grin. He got on his feet as he'd just landed in crouching position. "Your face looks awful with that mark."
She snarled, but stopped attacking him anyway. She landed on the floor and they were standing with the farthest distance possible between them.
"Where are we?" she asked, her slitted eyes stared into him as if trying to look past the mask.
"No idea," he shrugged. "But I'm sure we're no longer in the museum—just stating the obvious."
Her eyes widened. The word museum was like a cue to her. "You idiot!" she spat him. "You took the crown out of the box!"
He showed her his empty hands. "Apparently it's not with me now, thanks to you. Besides, it's just some stupid urban legend."
"It threw us here!" she hissed. "There's no other explanation."
"I don't believe in folklores, Sunshine," he sighed at her irrationality. "Maybe I accidentally hit the teleport button. You were grappling with me, so I brought you along."
"Then get us back," she groaned. The spheres on her hands vanished and she stood still with eyes fixed on him.
"Alright, alright," he said, amused. He'd never seen Raven so desperate before—she was never precarious. "Take my hand. We're teleporting back to the museum."
He offered his hand and Raven reluctantly held him on the wrist. He clutched her small wrist gently before pressing the button on his belt.
They should've been transported back into the museum, but they didn't. They were in that room, still.
"C'mon, c'mon, come on," he muttered as he kept pressing the button again and again until he gave up. "Great. It's not working."
"What do you mean, it's not working?" she asked, perplexed. He met her gaze and saw worry in those purple orbs.
"The Xenothium wasn't drained. There must be something wrong," he replied. Deep inside, he was afraid that what Raven had said was true—it was because he took the crown out of the box. He remembered how it glimmered when there was no adequate lighting to cause it so. "We cannot teleport."
Raven loosened her grip on his wrist and took a step aback. "It's not a part of your game, right?" she warily asked.
"No," he shook his head. "I like playing games, but not when I'm about to get my number one. Come to think of it—I came to steal the Red Hat, why would I want to teleport somewhere else without it?"
She frowned. "So what are we supposed to do?" She looked around, and from the look on her face he knew she found the room was weird. It felt like a room that would be in a castle or an old-styled mansion.
"Finding a way out, of course—unless you want to be a damsel in distress. I'm not gonna stick around and wait for a princess to save me," he gestured toward the door with his head. "You're coming with me?"
She hesitated. "Is it a ceasefire?"
"Well," he shrugged, "if you'd like to think so."
She looked at the door and then back at him, hesitantly. "Okay," she nodded, even when she looked unsure. She stood still, and he knew she expected him to walk first.
He was the guy anyway, so he started toward the door. He somehow felt responsible—apart from the fact that perhaps it was his fault that they were there, he also found Raven was actually not as brave as he thought she was. She might be powerful, but she was still a girl anyway. He couldn't expect her to be as bold as a man, he knew, but still, finding her slightly vulnerable was something new.
The door creaked when he pulled it open. Then, they were in a narrow corridor with stone walls and floor. There was a big wooden door at the end of the corridor, and smaller ones like the storage door on each side at intervals. There were torches on the walls between the doors, making it both bright and eerie.
They were walking toward the big door when suddenly it was pushed open. Red-X felt that his cape was being clutched by Raven as the door shrieked.
A man in a suit appeared as the door was open. He was in the middle 50s or so, shoulders slightly hunched. His hair and moustache was grey, wrinkles decorated his friendly face. Minus the brass oil lamp he brought in his hand, he reminded Red-X a lot of one of his servants back at home.
"I was wondering about the noise in one of the storages," he told them. His smile was friendly, but Red-X had a feeling that he couldn't trust that man. "Apparently we have visitors. Come with me. My master would like to meet you at dinner."
Chapter 3 will be up in a week or so because I'm on exam period. Please tell me how you think of chap 2 (and if Red-X is too OOC) C: Hope you like it!