p style="text-align: center;"strongHi so... sorryy. It's been so long since the last update. I kind of lost inspiration yet again and had no idea for the bigger plot and stuff. Turns out there were two chapters I didn't upload and forgot about so I will upload these two first, however I'm finally writing another one! Hopefully you can see the difference in writing style. br /Thank you for being so patient./strong/p
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p style="text-align: left;"The inside of the house was calm. It was strange, walking in when there were no lights on, or seeing the family photos had a thin coat of dust on top. It was oddly… serene? Relaxing? As if they'd stepped into a time lock – nothing moved on the outside. What mattered was here and now. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Until the light was turned on. But even then, even now that Link could see every detail of the kitchen just as it had been that afternoon, there was still something strangely fulfilling about being back, as if nothing had happened. His mum could still be in the living room, watching the TV, waiting for him to come home./p
p class="MsoNormal""Link?" br / He hadn't realised how stiff his posture had become, not until Red had rested a hand on his back. Link relaxed into the warmth. br / "Let's just get to the basement, alright?" Vio eased himself past and into the centre of the room, squinting at the counters, "Where's the entrance?"br / "O-" Link cleared his throat, raising a trembling finger to point at the cupboard under the stairs, "The ladder's in there."br / "Right." Vio rushed over to the old wooden door and flipped a latch up before yanking it open. "Yeah, I see it."br / It wasn't that Link wanted to. It was like an instinct that was hard to bottle. He told himself that trying to look into the living room would be a bad idea, yet why was it that Red had to stop him? br / Hand on his friend's arm, Red stood between him and the living room door, giving him a little smile, "You don't need to see that."br / "I do." Link's response was completely involuntary, the words skipping his brain and moving directly to his mouth. He didn't want to, did he? br / "No, you don't." Red's tone was firm, yet he fixed Link with a kind gaze, "Let's get into the basement and get this over with."br / "Yeah." Link croaked, allowing himself to be dragged to the ladder, "Yeah okay." br / They stopped before the cupboard, watching Vio descend into the basement below. Link was given a light / "You first!" He heard Red chime from behind. Link wouldn't have guessed the kind little boy would be so into this. br / Without objection, Link did as he was told and turned to back down the ladder, chuckling to himself when he heard Red mutter "Don't fall down that would be very very bad."br / He was about to reply when something else happened. Something very, very bad indeed. The cupboard door slammed shut. br / For a moment Link remained silent, still processing what had happened before he called out "R-Red?" br / No reply. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness, but he could still only just see his hands on the fourth rung down. br / "RED?!" br / Still no reply. br / Clumsily, Link pulled himself back up, running to the door and smacking a shoulder into it. It wouldn't budge. "Red?! This isn't funny!" He pounded the door with the butt of his palm, once, twice – "RED!" br / "What's the matter?!" He heard Vio shout from / "I-I dunno!" Link gasped, "The door just shut!" He heard a few mumbled curses and a frustrated shout. br / "With Red on the outside?!" br / "Yeah!"br / "DAMNIT!" After the scream came a clatter and a bang. Link couldn't blame him if he was having a tantrum – what was happening?! What if-what if- oh goddesses what if-br / "REEED!" Link bellowed, punching the door with the side of a shaking fist, "RED!" br / "Link there's no point just screaming at a door! Get down here!"br / "B-but-"br / "Just…" Vio sounded deflated, "If we get this thing now, we might be able to help him. And have you ever been down here before?"br / "No. Mum always said the ladder was wobbly."br / "Well it's not so get DOWN HERE!"br / Again, Link couldn't blame Vio for being a little on edge. He climbed quickly down the ladder, skipping the last five rungs./p
p class="MsoNormal"Whether it was the lack of light or Red's presence, the basement was dark, dingy and… quite creepy. Metal shelves lined the knobbly walls, cluttered with different tools, polishes and weapons, no doubt his dad's. The floor of the room was busy with crates and cardboard boxes, all labelled in a scrawl of black marker, piled and teetering like towers of poorly-wrapped presents. br / "Do you think it'll be in one of the boxes?" Link mumbled, mind still scrambled from the loss of Red. br / "No. In the legend, the hero had to go through whole dungeons to get his goal. You shouldn't be any different. I'm thinking that this is the entrance room."br / "Are you kidding me?!" Link hissed, still looking the shelves over, "A whole dungeon?! But Red-"br / "The longer you complain, the more time we waste! The door closing like that's probably the magic of the dungeon or-or something along those lines. He'll be fine – he can look after himself. Wh-what are you doing?!"br / Link had his phone out, typing frantically, "I'm texting Red!"br / "You're not going to have any-"br / "Damn no signal." br / "Of course not, you dope! We're in a basement!" Vio massaged his head, "Just pick a few weapons and we'll find the entrance. Quickly!"/p
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p style="text-align: left;"The inside of the house was calm. It was strange, walking in when there were no lights on, or seeing the family photos had a thin coat of dust on top. It was oddly… serene? Relaxing? As if they'd stepped into a time lock – nothing moved on the outside. What mattered was here and now. /p
p class="MsoNormal"Until the light was turned on. But even then, even now that Link could see every detail of the kitchen just as it had been that afternoon, there was still something strangely fulfilling about being back, as if nothing had happened. His mum could still be in the living room, watching the TV, waiting for him to come home./p
p class="MsoNormal""Link?" br / He hadn't realised how stiff his posture had become, not until Red had rested a hand on his back. Link relaxed into the warmth. br / "Let's just get to the basement, alright?" Vio eased himself past and into the centre of the room, squinting at the counters, "Where's the entrance?"br / "O-" Link cleared his throat, raising a trembling finger to point at the cupboard under the stairs, "The ladder's in there."br / "Right." Vio rushed over to the old wooden door and flipped a latch up before yanking it open. "Yeah, I see it."br / It wasn't that Link wanted to. It was like an instinct that was hard to bottle. He told himself that trying to look into the living room would be a bad idea, yet why was it that Red had to stop him? br / Hand on his friend's arm, Red stood between him and the living room door, giving him a little smile, "You don't need to see that."br / "I do." Link's response was completely involuntary, the words skipping his brain and moving directly to his mouth. He didn't want to, did he? br / "No, you don't." Red's tone was firm, yet he fixed Link with a kind gaze, "Let's get into the basement and get this over with."br / "Yeah." Link croaked, allowing himself to be dragged to the ladder, "Yeah okay." br / They stopped before the cupboard, watching Vio descend into the basement below. Link was given a light / "You first!" He heard Red chime from behind. Link wouldn't have guessed the kind little boy would be so into this. br / Without objection, Link did as he was told and turned to back down the ladder, chuckling to himself when he heard Red mutter "Don't fall down that would be very very bad."br / He was about to reply when something else happened. Something very, very bad indeed. The cupboard door slammed shut. br / For a moment Link remained silent, still processing what had happened before he called out "R-Red?" br / No reply. His eyes started to adjust to the darkness, but he could still only just see his hands on the fourth rung down. br / "RED?!" br / Still no reply. br / Clumsily, Link pulled himself back up, running to the door and smacking a shoulder into it. It wouldn't budge. "Red?! This isn't funny!" He pounded the door with the butt of his palm, once, twice – "RED!" br / "What's the matter?!" He heard Vio shout from / "I-I dunno!" Link gasped, "The door just shut!" He heard a few mumbled curses and a frustrated shout. br / "With Red on the outside?!" br / "Yeah!"br / "DAMNIT!" After the scream came a clatter and a bang. Link couldn't blame him if he was having a tantrum – what was happening?! What if-what if- oh goddesses what if-br / "REEED!" Link bellowed, punching the door with the side of a shaking fist, "RED!" br / "Link there's no point just screaming at a door! Get down here!"br / "B-but-"br / "Just…" Vio sounded deflated, "If we get this thing now, we might be able to help him. And have you ever been down here before?"br / "No. Mum always said the ladder was wobbly."br / "Well it's not so get DOWN HERE!"br / Again, Link couldn't blame Vio for being a little on edge. He climbed quickly down the ladder, skipping the last five rungs./p
p class="MsoNormal"Whether it was the lack of light or Red's presence, the basement was dark, dingy and… quite creepy. Metal shelves lined the knobbly walls, cluttered with different tools, polishes and weapons, no doubt his dad's. The floor of the room was busy with crates and cardboard boxes, all labelled in a scrawl of black marker, piled and teetering like towers of poorly-wrapped presents. br / "Do you think it'll be in one of the boxes?" Link mumbled, mind still scrambled from the loss of Red. br / "No. In the legend, the hero had to go through whole dungeons to get his goal. You shouldn't be any different. I'm thinking that this is the entrance room."br / "Are you kidding me?!" Link hissed, still looking the shelves over, "A whole dungeon?! But Red-"br / "The longer you complain, the more time we waste! The door closing like that's probably the magic of the dungeon or-or something along those lines. He'll be fine – he can look after himself. Wh-what are you doing?!"br / Link had his phone out, typing frantically, "I'm texting Red!"br / "You're not going to have any-"br / "Damn no signal." br / "Of course not, you dope! We're in a basement!" Vio massaged his head, "Just pick a few weapons and we'll find the entrance. Quickly!"/p