9
On the fourth day of Rise of Iron, my true love gave to me:
Four giant spiders!
Petra walked across the hard metal floor, deep in thought. It had been almost a year since the Battle of Saturn. There were rumors of something deadly stirring in the Cosmodrome; whispers of "ironsbane" and "plague" among the few Guardians that still visited.
Oddly enough, the number of visitors had dropped around the same time the whispers had begun. That was three days ago. Three days of no answers, tight-lipped Guardians, and odd behavior around Variks. They were giving the scribe a wide breadth, and if she didn't know any better, she'd say his feelings were hurt by it. She'd asked about it, but they'd simply answered that it was "just a quarantine precaution". Quarantine for what?
Though these were mainly the thoughts that occupied her mind, a larger part of her worry was over the still MIA Prince. Almost a year, and with all their searching, all the effort they had put into finding him, and there was still no sign of Uldren? Almost a year without contact with civilization... what kind of state would he be in? Would he still be alive? Was he out there right now, on his last legs, starving or bleeding to death, dying of thirst or being tortured into insanity by their enemies?
He would choose insanity over giving away any Awoken secrets, she could be sure of that. Whether or not the search for Prince Uldren was a lost cause after all this time... she didn't know the answer to that anymore. In the beginning, she'd been certain they could find him. When evidence had started pointing to mars, she'd been sure, he'd be back within a week.
That week turned into a month.
That month turned into several months.
Now, those several months were turning into a year.
She'd held out a brief hope, during the campaign against the Wolves that had hunkered down on mars, that the Guardians might find something of a clue as to where he may be.
That hope had long since faded. She'd asked a few Hunters how long some of their caliber were known to stay in the wilds for. Most told her that by a year, even the most experienced Hunter would have gone insane from the isolation by a year; Uldren, who was most certainly not a Guardian, would most likely be dead or insane by now. On a planet like mars... with so little water...
A howl of terror interrupted her thoughts. Her hand shot to her knife, and she rushed towards Variks's tent. She pulled back the curtains forcefully, dreading the worst.
Rouge Silent Fang, finally deciding to take revenge? Misguided Guardian, convinced they were doing the right thing, or that they had been wronged? Horrific household accident(those were always a possibility)?
"Kill them!" Variks screeched from where he'd scrambled on top of his makeshift bed, pointing. "KILL THEM DEAD!"
She looked at what he was pointing at...
In time to see a spider the size of her torso launch itself at her.
NOPE! She flung herself backwards and to the side, and the arachnid of unusual size(let us call it an A.O.U.S.) overshot her, landing on it's eight feet. She screamed, jerking as she felt and saw another one crawl across her leg.
"SOMEONE KILL THESE DAMNED THINGS!" She yelled at the top of her lungs, throwing her knife at the one that had jumped on her and kicking the one that had crawled on her. Variks burst out of his tent, making a mad dash for the Eververse kiosk. When he got there, he scrambled to the top of it, and took out his shock pistol, growling and pointing his staff at the oncoming arachnids spear-style.
A few of the Guardians who had paused upon hearing the commotion double-took and, in some cases, even jumped, at the sight of two more A.O.U.S. following the scribe, crawling over Petra to do so. One huntress screamed and jumped up on top of the kiosk with Variks. That was the last sight Petra got of them, because just then, the spider she had kicked landed on top of her.
She gripped it's pincers as it tried to bite into her neck, her heart pounding in her throat. Something that probably wasn't saliva dripped from it's fangs. Oh, please it can't end like this! Killed by a spider, in her own outpost!? If Prince Uldren was alive, he would probably facepalm when he found out that the acting regent-commander of the Awoken had been killed by an arachnid of unusual size.
How did these things get here, anyway!?
"Hold still!" A nearby voice told her. She was suddenly aware of a Warlock in ornate, knight-like armor at her side. he got down on his side next to her, and threw out his right hand palm-first, sending the spider flying back, engulfed in flames.
"Thanks for that." she told him gratefully as he stood up, helping her to her feet. He nodded.
"No problem." he said.
"DIE YOU BUTT-UGLY BASTARDS!"
Both their heads snapped around in time to see a female Titan smash her fists down on the general area or residence of the other two spiders. One was desitigrated by arc energy, and the other was send flying back behind the long table. Slowly, Variks crawled down from the kiosk, and the Huntress followed him, staying behind the scribe.
"Do ya' think it's dead, guys?" she whispered. The Titan breathed on her fist before rubbing it on her shoulder.
"Nothing can survive a Fist of Havoc, sista'!" she bragged.
The spider flew out from behind the table, making the distance between itself an the three of them in the space of a moment.
"IT'S FREAKING IMMORTAL!" The Titan screamed, eyes wide with horror.
The Hunter snatched Variks's staff from him, screaming, and hit the spider with all the force she could muster.
And she hit it repetitively.
"DIE! DIE! DIE YOU SON OF A THRALL! DIIEEE!" she screeched, hitting it with each word. Petra ran forwards when the spider was nothing but pulp; they didn't need a bigger mess for the Frames to clean up than they already had.
"Hey-hey! Easy!" she shouted, hands held out. "Back down Guardian; I think it's dead now."
Panting heavily, the Huntress stopped. One of the spiders legs, sticking out of the pile, twitched, and she brought the staff down again.
Slowly, Variks pried his possession out of her hands, before patting her on the head.
I just had to write this. The temptation was too strong to write Variks with arachnophobia. Stay tuned! Next time, we visit the Iron Lords, back before the Ironsbane was even rumored of...
I'm so glad this is getting such great reception! For some reason, when I updated yesterday, FFN didn't display it as being updated. Just in case you lot were wondering... I AM currently writing/planning a sequel to the epitome of ridiculous, my Mass Effect one-shot, Fish. If you haven't read it, go do so NOW. But be warned; it is a product of April 1st immaturity, and as such, it may be too much for some of you to handle.
Also, someone pretty please go read and review my Star Trek:DS9/ Harry Potter crossover, Siblings. It's my masterpiece, but I've begun to lose my passion for it because it never gets any love! It's four chapters, with over 16,000 words! People usually dig that!
Read and REVIEW!