Chapter 25: To Our Surprise
AN: I AM SO SORRY I SHOULD HAVE HAD THIS UPLOADED MONTHS AGO PLEASE FORGIVE ME! Keep an eye on my profile for updates.
-April 10, 2009-
Sylvia's POV
Feeling a pair of eyes drilling into my back, I halted my steps, not bothering to turn around, "Yes, Sora?"
It took him a moment to speak, "Why did you volunteer her? She could have been hurt!"
Rolling my eyes, I turned to face him, "I don't have to explain myself to you."
He clenched his fists," No, tell me why."
I snorted, "Yeah, that's gonna make me do what you tell me."
At the sudden pain on my ear, I rubbed it gently, glaring at Elena who was frowning, "Don't be a bitch." She turned to Sora, "Don't bother with her. It's not worth it."
Taking a deep breath, I grit my teeth, facing Sora, "Sorry. She's fine."
His air of worry dissipated slightly, "Shouldn't you have been the one in the cage then...?"
"Why?" I blinked, genuinely confused.
He clenched and unclenched a fist, looking nervous, "Well, it just seemed like you'd always be there to look out for her."
A giggle escaped my lips before I could stop it. I shrugged, answering instead, "I promise she's fine."
Sora nodded slightly after a moment, "Okay..."
I rubbed a hand over my face, "Seriously, Sora. I assure you. She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."
Elena muttered under her breath, "Most of the time it's her looking out for you." I elbowed her in the stomach.
To my surprise, a light pink stained his cheeks, "I-I know she can... I just-"
Donald began squawking angrily, "Hey! Back on track, you guys!"
Suddenly to our right, a cat began to materialise atop a large boulder near us, slowly pink by purple stripe. Tail, torso, and then head. Donald screamed, "Who are you?!"
A wink was aimed at Elena, Hazel, and I each, "Who, indeed?"
"Cheshire cat!" Hazel grinned widely in all but matching size to said cat.
"Cheshie!" I squealed before I could stop myself.
"Yes, my dears? Then again... You know each answer I could have given." Elena's eyes grew the size of dinner plates. Hazel's grin threatened to split at the ends.
I choked on an intake of air, "This is an absolute dream..."
"Maybe yes, maybe no." He answered vaguely. This answer sat very uncomfortably in my stomach.
"Maybe both." I answered to distract my thoughts.
"Indeed! Poor Alice. Soon to lose her head and she's not guilty of a thing!" The cat examined its claws nonchalantly.
"Hey! If you know who the real culprit is, tell us!" I rolled my eyes at Sora's inquiry.
"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers, but doesn't always tell." A grin narrowed in on the girls, "The answer, the culprit, and the cat all lie in darkness." He began to disappear stripe by stripe, until only his grin remained. With one last chuckle, it disappeared as well.
"Wait!" Sora called.
The cat's voice echoed, "They've already left the forest. I won't tell which exit. However. Someone may know that there are four pieces of evidence in all and three are a cinch to find."
Sora frowned, "The fourth is tricky?"
"Tricky indeed!" The voice echoed.
"Should we trust him?" Donald asked, warily.
The cat appeared once more on the boulder near us, "To trust or not to trust? I trust you'll decide with whom!" And with that said, he disappeared once more.
A grin slapped onto my lips, "Okay. We'll split up into teams." My eyes narrowed at Donald, who dared open his mouth. He shut it, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Hazel and Goofy, Elena and Donald, and you and me, Sora." I instructed shortly.
With a unanimous mumbled agreement, everyone went in separate directions. Sylvia whispered in my ear as they walked away. I noticed her whisper in Elena's further away.
Hazel's POV
"Come over here, Goofy." I dragged him through a wall of leaved branches into a small clearing with variously sized mushrooms. I searched around the area but the pink box was nowhere to be found. I frowned, rubbing my head in thought.
The patch of grass next to my feet suddenly caught fire. Goofy and I quickly took down the red nocturnes that had suddenly materialized around us. I then noticed a set of paw-like footprints on the ground leading out the branches we came through. My eyebrows furrowed. That was very different. I fell to my knees, ignoring Goofy's inquiries, and began digging carefully around the footprints. I frowned, looking around before ordering my companion to grab a large leaf.
With the footprints carefully piled onto the leaf, I stood up, "Let's go find the second evidence. Something tells me it's close by." Without giving him a chance to respond, I headed deeper into the forest. I carefully moved through the trees with the leaf in my hands. Eventually we came upon a patch of mushrooms. A few shadow heartless appeared. Goofy easily defeated them. Once again there was no pink box to be found. However, above the smallest mushroom was a small white stream of smoke.
An idea popped into my head, "Goofy, empty that potion you had and capture that smoke." He obliged with a questioning glance. There wasn't much in the jar, but there was enough.
"The others can handle getting the rest." I lead my companion back to the Queen's court, ignoring his non-verbal questions as best I could.
Elena's POV
"This way, Donald." He shook his head in retaliation insisting on the opposite direction. An angry growl erupted from my lips, "I know which way. Come on." I was faltering slightly under his suspicious glare, but I held my ground. Finally, he agreed and followed.
We traveled deeper into the forest until I could no longer recognize the layout. This wasn't right. I searched and searched. I turned to argue with Donald for squawking, only to observe a fight against a few red nocturnes. I dove in to help. After they had disappeared, he faced me with a questioning tilt of his head.
I bit my lip with narrowed eyes at the ground for a moment before letting out a quiet, "Oh!" I ran closer to the duck and picked up the jagged black stick-like figures on the ground.
I winced at the damp, cold, and slithery feeling. I quickly grasped a large nearby leaf and wrapped them up, handing them to him afterward, "Antennae. Let's head back. The other's have it handled."
He looked ready to protest before changing his mind and following behind me back to the Queen's court.
Sylvia's POV
I watched my friends disappear around different corners before smirking at Sora, "Alright. Let's go find that tricky one."
"What? Why do we- Okay fine," Sora stopped himself before smiling unsurely, "Might even be fun!"
I led him through the forest. Ten minutes went by and we were lost. I glared behind me at Sora.
His eyebrows furrowed, "What did I do?"
The glare lessened only to a frown as I began trifling through the bushes. No luck. There was no box. An hour later, I found a dark opening in a large tree. I grasped an annoyed Sora by the shoulder and dragged him through. He protested until they turned to screams. My own screams were not far behind. It was a fluke that both of us grabbed a hold of the faucet on the wall on the way down.
I grit my teeth, looking to the left, "You gotta be fucking kidding me. Sora, look! There are claw marks on the wall over there! We gotta get a chunk of the wall."
I hauled myself up, taking a deep breath and jumping towards the ledge, only to fall short. I let my forehead bump against the wall gently, "Shit."
I heard Sora's intake of breath, "Are you okay?"
"Yeah." I hauled myself up onto the flat edge. I frowned, "But there's nothing I can dig the wall out with."
I yelped, clinging to the fireplace bricks to the side and Sora jumped the gap without falling short. My glare increased, "Show off."
He grinned, Keyblade suddenly in hand, "I have an idea. Just stay against the wall. I don't want to smack you accidentally." As he began carefully stabbing the wall around the claw marks with the bottom of the Keyblade, I was glad I listened for once.
When the wall was weakened, I stopped him and worked the wall chunk out with my hands. With the piece in hand, I grinned at the boy beside me only for it to fade at his worried expression, "Um... How do we get down?"
I looked over the edge with a slightly frown, "Didn't think of that." I glanced to the right, "Bricks. We gotta climb down. Carefully."
Sora audibly gulped, "You first?"
I snorted despite my similar anxiety, "Pussy." I pulled my shirt away by the collar slightly and stuff the wall chunk into my bra. I snickered at the dark blush and avoiding gaze on Sora's face. Carefully and quite slowly, the two of us descended down the fireplace, safely landing on the ground. I led Sora back to the Queen's court.