Jean~

I paced back and forth, unable to stay still. I was too worried about Max to do anything else…not that there was much to do but wait. Still I couldn't relax. Who knows what the spider lady was making him do, but I didn't dare go back for fear of making things worse. I tried my best to avoid imagining him not coming back, but the worry was real, and with each minute the fear grew more and more suffocating.

I looked down at my hands. The bleeding had stopped thankfully, but what I was really looking at wasn't the scratches or bandages. I was just looking at THEM. The thoughts of Max carefully tying them took up the most space in my brain, but I was still baffled and confused at how I was able to make the rock glow.

Behind me in the tunnel I heard hissing and the faint patter of legs moving. Was Max coming back and the spider chasing him?

I drew two knives, ready for whatever was coming, the flashlight in my pocket pointing up at the ceiling, but the patter of feet stayed quiet, not increasing its volume.

Were they getting farther away? The hissing grew distant as well, until I was back in complete silence. After what seemed like more than ten minutes of silence, I turned away from the tunnel about to sheath my knives, but the face of the spider woman was there staring me down in the light of my flashlight.

I screamed in pure terror and ducked, attempting to roll under the huge spider body, but she caught my leg and lifted me up to face her upside down like a worm in her web, flashlight falling to ground and breaking, bathing us in darkness.

~he has failed you~ her words echoed. ~his reward will be your bones at the bottom of the lake~ her hiss of laughter was chilling.

I slashed with my knives, cutting each leg that held me up. With a hiss she dropped me, and I scrambled away as best I could, but something silky and sticky caught hold of my back, pulling me back to her.

Max-

Jean's scream echoed through the cavern, sawing my heart in half. "NO!" I roared, agony gripping my chest. I ran harder, faster, eyes blurring with tears.

I tore through the last tunnel to the open air when I saw the Archinass gripping Jean, my mind scrambled trying not to break until...she was alive, Jean was fighting.

Jean was alive. Hot fire flared through my veins, warming me with anger. I released a breath and the sword I had collected began humming in my hand.

I charged, the spider woman whipped around hearing me coming, she moved to nab me when I pulled out my stone. The white light glared brighter than ever, and her hiss was not just that of annoyance, it was one of pain.

She wailed and thrashed, I took advantage of the moment to swipe at her leg, cutting one clean off.

Jean fell, and though I wanted to run to her I needed to keep the spider focused on me. "Jean catch!" I warned tossing the stone. It arched just next to her and the Archinass turned toward me and screeched a terrifying hissing sound that I knew would give me nightmares.

My sword however hummed, happily. I looked at it in confusion when I realized too late she was charging. In a panic I jumped, which was a stupid move considering she was like eight feet tall.

You can imagine my shock when I was propelled up in the air, arching over her easily and landing on the other side.

I blinked in absolute shock looking down at my legs.

Jean~

Hanging from a string of web, I wriggled and slashed every chance I got, not making much progress or doing any real damage. But I had to keep going, I had to either kill this thing or get away to go find Max. I preferred the second option.

Tears covered my face, fear and determination pumping through me. Then she dropped me, and it wasn't till that point that I noticed the light now filling the room. I heard Max call my name, and relief filled me to the brim.

"Max!" I called, wanting to sob and run to him, but couldn't. My glowing rock landed next to me, and I grabbed it tightly, struggling to my feet. My body ached all over, but I ran to him after he landed what should have been an impossible jump. I held the light in front of us like a shield as the creature ran toward us, then hesitated with a hiss, seeming to be hurt by the light.

Seeing this, I wanted the light to get brighter… and it did. She hissed even more, but I couldn't tell what else she was doing, all I know is that I wanted the light to get even brighter and the stone complied.

Max-

Jean rushed over to me and I wrapped an arm around her pulling her against my side then holding up the sword in front of us.

I was calmed by the feeling of her breathing. She was alive, she was alive. I shut my eyes and gripped her tighter a second.

The Archinass swiveled round, hissing vehemently, but she didn't approach.

"You will let us go." I told her. "We will leave, and no more harm need come to any of us."

"NEVER!" She screeched, charging blindly into the light. This time I ran at her, I wasn't letting her get close to Jean again. The sword hummed and I slashed, another nails on chalkboard screech came and I stumbled, pain flaring up my arm.

Seconds passed and I found myself standing over a dead spider woman, her legs curled.

Ick. I never needed to see that again.

I turned to Jean then stumbled forward. "Jean!" I yelled, tears hitting hard as my hand reached for her face. "I-I thought you were dead I-" I couldn't finish, just trembling as I looked at her, this was all my fault, that stupid Zark... if I hadn't gotten here in time.

I shook my head, my eyesight then got blurry and I stumbled again, looking down at my arm. That was a lot of blood.

Jean~

My heart ached when Max charged forward, but the best I felt I could do to help was keep making the light brighter.

I heard the gut wrenching sound of something dying, and by the hissing, I felt confident it wasn't Max. I willed the light to dim enough to see that I was right. The spider woman was dead and Max was alive.

I ran to Max, my sob finally escaping. "Max," I said through my sobs. I held his hand to my face, then caught him as he stumbled. I looked down at his arm and gasped, feeling sick to my stomach.

I lowered him to the ground and set down the stone.

There was a gash in his arm, and I was having trouble focusing on what I should do.

I took a deep breath and calmed down enough to stop crying.

"You're going to be okay Max," I said firmly. I was still scared to death, but I held it together the best I could.

I took the first aid kit out of my sad and damaged backpack, and unwrapped a set of gauze and whatever bandage wrap was left.

I'd have to clean it later, right now I needed to stop the bleeding. I carefully placed the gauze over the wound, trying not to cause more pain.

"This is going to hurt," I told him, my heart breaking. I firmly placed my hand over the gauze, putting pressure on the wound. I could feel the warmth of his blood on my hand, but I didn't care at all. I Then I used the bandage wrap and wrapped it around his arm tightly and fastened it in place.

"I'm not losing you again," I said, tears once again streaming down my face.

Max-

Jean sat me down promising I was going to be okay...wasn't that my job?

I drew in a breath. "Are you- are you hurt?" I asked, trying to look at her. She had faint freckles on her face, they were pretty.

I winced, gritting my teeth when she put pressure on the wound, my fists clenched with the pain, but I knew better than to stop her.

Once she got most of the bleeding to stop she'd need to clean and dress the wound. Some hero I turned out to be.

It was the last thing however that made me blink. "Again?" I looked up into her eyes. "Jean, what do you mean again?"

Jean~

I swallowed back the biggest sob ever. I grabbed his other hand and just held it, not meeting his eyes.

"She told me you failed," I said quietly, barely a whisper. "I thought you died. If that had been true, it would have broken me." I paused. "I couldn't let it be true."

I sniffed and whipped my nose on my sleeve. Gross.

Max-

I winced, shifting to a more comfortable position against the wall.

I released a breath and nodded in understanding, gripping Jean's hand.

"I heard you scream." I admitted, the pain returning from the fresh memory. "I thought- I thought she had killed you-" I shut my eyes tight fighting back the ache in my chest. "I couldn't- I couldn't- I-" I took a breath to try and get my stuttering under control. "I can't lose someone else." My voice cracked with emotion.

I had seen my parents sucked into a vortex, killed by a demon, my friends had been kidnapped, if Jean had been killed too...

I gently pulled on Jean's hand, pulling her into me. I hugged her softly, holding her.

"Are you hurt?" I repeated my voice hoarse.

Jean~

I leaned into his hug and wrapped my arms around him, careful not to bump his injured arm. I soaked in the warmth of his presence. We were both still here.

His stutter returned, and I couldn't help but think it was cute, but I wasn't going to tell him. I knew he was self conscious about it.

He asked if I was hurt. After falling off a ladder and shredding my hands, and being dropped twice on my head by a giant spider, I was surprised I hadn't broken anything.

"She didn't hurt me," I decided, scooting next to him to lean against the wall but keeping his good arm around me. If we hadn't been through what we had together, I would have been blushing so hard no amount of darkness could hide it. But now, I was very much at ease with him and extremely grateful to have him next to me. Admittedly there were still a few butterflies dancing in my stomach.

Max-

I sat there a while, just letting the adrenaline die down and our breathing even out.

I glanced down at the sword at my side, something told me neither of us would be alive if it wasn't for that thing, that and the stone Jean had used.

Even injured, that girl was quick in a fight.

I remembered the question Jean had asked when we first entered the caves, and managed a small smile.

"Hey Jean? Can I have some of those snacks now?" I asked

Jean~

Sitting there in the light of my glowing rock, time seemed to slow down. Nothing came, nothing went. It felt like an eternity could pass and no one would notice.

I sat up and smiled at Max, my stomach growling in agreement. I unzipped my pack and retrieved some goldfish crackers and two small packages of fruit snacks.

"Our hearty meal," I said, presenting the food, trying my best make a joke.

"Were you able to get the flowers?" I asked when I finally remembered why we came down here.

Max-

My mouth flickered toward a smile as she handed me the food. "Hey, right now, it's a meal fit for a king." I joked back, opening the fruit snacks and popping one in my mouth.

When Jean mentioned the flowers I nodded. "I was, no thanks to that." I gestured over to the corpse in the corner.

Now that I look at it…

"Hey, we should keep moving," I admitted. "I don't want to stay in this creepy place any longer than we have to."

Jean~

I smiled at him as we ate. I shuddered looking at the dead creature, no longer hungry for my snacks. "Do you feel like you can walk yet?" I asked. "You lost a lot of blood."

And that wasn't my only concern. Where do we go from here? We- I, broke the ladder, and there didn't seem to be another way out.

Max-

I shrugged, "The only way to find out is to try." I admitted. "There are more tunnels out by the pond where I got the sword. One of them might even lead out."

I looked down at the near bandaging around my arm, then at the snacks Jean had provided, then, the light.

I shook my head. I owed her so much.

"Thank you." I told Jean looking into her eyes. "For everything, you're incredible."

Jean~

The last thing I wanted was for him to stand up before he was ready. I didn't want him to faint or get dizzy from blood loss. I knew that he was right and we needed to get moving.

I smiled shyly, not really used to such praise and unsure what to do with it.

"I just wish I could do more," I replied honestly. I wasn't a doctor, so I could only pray that I wouldn't kill him by accident in my attempts to help.

"If you hadn't come back, I wouldn't be here," I said. It was true. I wouldn't have been able to save myself from the spider if Max hadn't come to my rescue.

"So let's call it even," I said, holding out my hand to help him up.

Max-

I broke into a grin, accepting her hand and letting her pull me to my feet.

I was dizzy for a second but it cleared quickly, and I stood straight, hoping the snacks would help my body replenish its supply.

I gave Jean a smile and a nod to tell her I was fine, then looked ahead at the cave we would be going down. Hopefully we would find a way out.

I glanced at Jean, then offered my hand, we got into this mess together, we were gonna have to get out together.

Jean~

I picked up my pack and the stone and looked down the tunnel next to Max. It was as narrow as ever, which didn't excite me, to say the least, and I took a shaky breath trying to calm my heart which was starting to race again.

Then, Max offered me his hand.

I wanted to throw my arms around him and thank him a thousand times. …He didn't know I'd become claustrophobic, and him offering his hand anyway was about the most wonderful thing anyone had done for me.

I took his hand, maybe a little too tightly, and together in the light of my mysterious glowing rock, we walked down the tunnel to find a way out.

Y'all I don't even know if anyone's going to read this...its been like...two years. Does Katie still exist? how is she two year from before? I hope she is a happy bean, if my memory serves she was the first fan.

What about Yakall? NaoSa? are they still writing? do they ever sit back and think of the story I wrote all that time ago and wonder what would happen next? Maybe, maybe they've moved on to better plains, maybe if I keep publishing I will find new people along the way.

ANYWHO this is my story, I was originally writing it with a friend (Which is why its formatted the way it is,) I played Max and she played Jean. (Macie and Terrence were both mine to those who are wondering.) And she is no longer available to do such things, so I wanted to publish the rest of what we had written...and then maybe see if I can take over, because although there are SERIOUS editting issues, I still believe the content itself is pretty good.

HOPE YOU ENJOY! I"M BACK WEIRDOS