Key:
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"Speaking, or in-text quote"
'Thoughts'
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Year 16 AL, Visibility Zero
The morning of Luka's journey to the Cave of Treasures was very...
...tense.
The young Hero had been the last to wake up out of the three and upon leaving his tent, he found the sight of a disheveled Lona and a brooding Alice awaiting him by the remnants of their campfire from the night before.
Lona had given him a shaky smile and a quick "Good morning!", to which he responded with a quiet wave.
Alice had just kept brooding, keeping her arms folded tightly around her body. To Luka's dismay, the Lamia's golden eyes held a very disturbed look in them.
Luka - due to his exhaustion - couldn't muster the energy to wonder why Alice was upset and had silently started packing up his tent. The process had been an arduous one, as his lack of sleep was making him groggy and unfocused.
A couple of hours later into the morning, the trio were searching for the fabled Cave of Treasures, which was a bit more of a hassle than Luka had expected. Especially because of his still half-tired disposition.
"Guess I should've gotten Amira to mark where it was on my map..." Luka muttered to himself, looking up and down a rocky cliffside in frustration. "...Though somehow I doubt that she even knew exactly where it was. Or even worse, she'd want something in return for that." Luka shuddered at his own mumbled musing.
The day he shared a moment of intimacy with Amira would be the same day Heaven itself fell out of the sky.
"H-Hey, Luka..." The purple-haired boy turned, looking over to Lona. The white-haired Elf looked very much concerned, "...Are you okay? You look sick."
Indeed, it was an expected observation. Luka's eyes were bordered by dark rings, and his skin was paler than usual. If you young Hero hadn't fallen ill, it looked as though he was about to. But, being the dutiful boy that he was, he attempted to wave off her worries. "I-I'm fine, Lona. I had a bit of trouble sleeping, but I'll be alright." Luka immediately regretted saying more than what was necessary, as Lona frowned at his comment about not getting such a good night's rest.
"About last night..." She started, taking a couple of steps closer. "...I'm sorry that I passed out on you like that. I had meant to... uh... help you finish, as well but you... did a very good job on your part..." She said, the last part coming out as an embarrassed whisper.
Luka was quick to try and mitigate the Elf's worries. "No, no, th-that didn't bother me. Really! I... e-eh..." Luka turned away from Lona, finding it difficult to maintain eye contact. "...L-Let's just focus on finding that cave, now. Alright?"
Lona's frown deepened at his seeming aversion towards her, and she silently watched as he continued hiking up the cliffside in search of this fabled Cave of Treasures. The Elf glanced down to the side to the coast where Alice was. The Lamia, who had been intently observing the two talk, immediately looked away to the sea as the Elf looked at her. Lona felt a pit in her stomach, a terrible idea that she may have accidentally intruded onto the two's odd relationship coming to her mind.
From what she had noticed so far this morning, it would make sense.
When Lona had first woken up and left Luka's tent, she immediately found the sight of a forlorn-looking Alice awaiting her outside by the campfire. The Elf, despite being somewhat wary of the lavender-skinned Lamia, had asked her fellow Monster what was troubling her.
All Lona had gotten in response was a very quick but also very heated glare.
At first, the white-haired Elf had assumed that this was typical behavior for Alice. After all, the one thing Lona had noted very early on was that Alice seemed to have a quick temper about her. However, when Luka eventually exited his tent, she began picking up on certain details about the fellow white-haired Monster.
There was still a troubled look on Alice's face when she watched Luka pack up his stuff, but it was a different type of troubled look. When Alice had looked at Lona, it was obviously out of annoyance. But when the Lamia looked at Luka, however, she seemed to be actually upset. As in, dismayed.
Maybe Lona was just looking too far into things, that could certainly be a possibility. But the observation alone had given her reason to start believing that there was more to how Alice felt about him than what was at first obvious. And that, coupled with how distant Luka was now acting, made the Elf feel as though what she had basically begged the boy to do with her last night might've been a mistake.
An absolutely amazing mistake that she wouldn't ever take back, but still.
But now all the Elf was left with were two standoffish traveling partners and her own conflicted heart to deal with, and she wasn't sure which was worse. This is why when she caught up with Luka, she immediately had to verify what was really going on here.
"Luka..." Lona said cautiously as she reached his side. The purple-haired boy kept his gaze averted, but responded in earnest, "Y-Yes, Lona?" The Elf felt bad upon hearing the quiver in his voice, but she pressed on. "...Alice is your friend, right?"
Luka paused, seemingly confused by the out-of-blue question but had no hesitation in his answer. "Yeah, I'd say we're friends. Why do you ask?" Lona tried to act nonchalant as best she could, but she could feel Alice watching them from the shoreline. "I-I was just wondering, since she seems to act a bit strange to you sometimes."
Luka glanced at Lona with a curious gaze, before looking down to his aloof traveling partner below. "I'll be honest, I don't entirely understand why Alice acts the way she does sometimes. She's something of an enigma to me..." He trailed off, biting his lip in thought. "...But she's been with me since the start of my journey, so she's the closest friend I've ever had, despite how she can behave at times."
Lona felt a stabbing pain in her heart upon hearing him refer to Alice as his closest friend, but she pushed through it. For there was still another question she had to ask. "Luka, forgive me for asking, but..." She hesitated, not entirely comfortable with what she was about to say. "...What we did last night, have you and Alice done the same before?"
She felt bad upon watching the boy freeze, his entire demeanor regressing in an instant as a deep blush spread across his cheeks. "W-Well, th-that's... y-you... erm, uh, h-hey, what's that up there!? I-think-that's-the-cave-let's-go!" He exclaimed as he very anxiously began walking faster up the cliffside. Lona frowned, the boy's response wasn't a yes, but it may as well have been one. And upon confirming this, things began to make sense to Lona.
Lamias, infamously, were very jealous and possessive Monsters by nature. Once they had chosen a partner, they pretty well made sure that only they could have their fill of the man. Alice seemingly allowing Luka to go against this was a bit odd, but now her moodiness suddenly made sense. If Alice had "choosen" the boy as a partner, then she would obviously not what Lona around.
The only thing that was strange now was the fact that Luka didn't seem to realize this. Either he wasn't aware of this fact, which would be very strange, or he didn't care. From what Lona could tell from the boy, it seemed to be the former. This conclusion was a very conflicting one for the Elf to come to. But it started making her wonder if traveling with Luka was still a good idea or not.
"H-Hey, l-look guys! I think I found it!" Both Lona and Alice looked to the purple-haired boy, who was standing up on a clifftop looking down at them. "If this isn't the right cave, then I don't know what is!" Indeed, Luka had found a very large cavemouth on the side of the rocky coast. The mouth opened an almost perfect half-circle, and it looked as if it went very far into the mountain behind it. Lona and Alice came up to the boy, peering inside along with him.
Alice, for the first time that day, finally spoke, her face morphing into an unpleasant scowl. "Hrm, it smells like fox in there..." Luka turned a tired eye towards Alice, "Are you not a fan of foxes?" He asked harmlessly.
"...No. They are terrible creatures." The Lamia answered, her scowl deepening. Luka looked a bit perplexed but didn't prod into the seemingly sore subject. Instead, he turned back to the cavemouth, "Eh...okay... let's go see if Poseidon's Bell really is in here or not." He took a step forward but stopped on that foot, "Ooo, wait one minute!" He said, shouldering off his traveling bag.
He unzipped the bag, rifling through it before finding the item of interest: His Father's sword and its sheath.
Luka presented the weapon to Lona, missing Alice's deeply upset look as the Elf stared at him. "Just in case..." Luka said, "...I want you to be able to defend yourself if need be." Lona took the sheath from his hands and wrapped it around her waist. Then, her eyes fell to the weapon with a thankful gaze. "Okay, I-I'll do my best." Lona said, taking the silver blade in earnest before sheathing it.
Luka took his traveling bag and placed it by a bush by the cave's entrance, making sure to rezip it. 'The extra weight would just weigh me down in there. If there are Monsters, I'll need as much mobility as possible.'
With that, the trio ventured into what they believed to be the right Cave, finding the inside to be a bit curious. Even as they went deeper into the cave and the sunlight behind them retracted, the inside remained curiously lit. This was due to the scattered torches kept every couple of meters along the strange white-black walls.
Luka ran a hand over the rocky walls, noting how they seemed to be purposely carved out in some way. 'Strange, they aren't completely flat, but they're flatter than what naturally occurs, at least from what I know.' He was taken from the thought by Alice speaking up.
"I wouldn't even breathe on the walls if I were you. With this being a pirate's treasure trove, there's sure to be traps hidden all about." Luka quickly took his hand off of the wall as Alice continued, "You'd be doing yourself a favor if you messed with as little things as possible while we're here. Monsters wouldn't be the only reason why people rarely leave this place alive."
Luka hadn't even thought of the cave being possibly booby-trapped, but it did make sense. After all, pirates would certainly go out of their way to make sure only they could reach their treasure. "I see. Thanks, Alice." Luka said, now looking about the walls with a lot more caution. However, a curious thought came to his mind: If many people did perish while venturing in here, shouldn't there be evidence of such a thing?
As if hearing his thoughts, Lona nervously chimed in as she walked up beside him. "I-If that's so, does that mean that this cave could be haunted?"
Silently, Alice gulped.
"Well," Luka began, unaware of the wide-eyed Lamia slowly sneaking up behind him. "I'm not really an expert, but I'm sure that it's possible. There could be souls of people who were trapped here for decades still residing here."
Alice slithered closer.
"W-Well, how would we know if there were any?" Lona asked, a bit of fear coming out in her tone. Luka shrugged, unsure. "I mean, we probably wouldn't know. I don't think you can see them unless they want you to, or something like that..."
Alice was right behind Luka now, which garnered a questioning look from Lona, who noticed Alice's terrified expression.
Luka, none the wiser, continued. "...In fact, there could be one in this room right now, and we might not even know. Who knows, maybe there's even more than one! There could be two, or ten, maybe even..."
Suddenly, Luka felt something warm pressed up against him. More specifically, this something came in the form of his traveling partner Alice. Slowly, the purple-haired boy turned to look at the Lamia in confusion, as she was currently hunched down behind him and had her face nearly pressed against his own. Normally, the closeness would cause him to become nervous, but Alice's fear-filled eyes offset Luka's usual anxiety.
"...What are you doing?" The young Hero asked in a hushed tone.
The lavender-skinned Monster's golden eyes darted to look at him. "I-I dunno what you're talking about." She muttered.
Luka elaborated, "You're awfully close to me right now, is something wrong?"
Alice's face twitched, her eyes darting around the cave. "N-No, you are awfully close to me. Y-You must be the one with something wrong!" She declared forcefully.
'Is she trying to gaslight me?' Luka thought as he continued to stare at the Lamia incredulously. Suddenly, before he could respond, something scurried in the shadows ahead of the trio. Lona gasped upon seeing this, her frightened mind making her see things that weren't there.
"Luka! I-I think I saw a ghost!" The Elf proclaimed loudly as she pointed into the darkness.
Apparently, this was Alice's breaking point.
"EEEEEEH!" The Lamia shrieked, before coiling her long red tail around Luka's body and wrapping her arms around his chest. The young Hero let out a loud "Gah!" as he fell, his traveling partner smothering him against the ground with her large - but comfortably soft - body.
A small dust cloud was kicked up from the impact, and subsequently, Luka was thrown into a coughing fit as Alice writhed in a panic on top of him. "Ack, Ack!" He coughed, "A-Alice, please- ACK! - Get off!" Lona watched on in bewilderment as Alice smushed Luka with her body, much to the poor boy's verbal displeasure. After a couple more moments of wrestling, Alice froze and sniffed the air. Her wide eyes narrowed, a single phrase coming from her lips.
"Thin-fried Tofu..." The Lamia vanished, leaving a somewhat bruised Luka to shakily stand from the ground. Lona came to his side and helped him up by grabbing his arm and lifting him to his feet. "Where did she go?" Lona asked with confusion in her eyes as Luka dusted off his clothes with a great deal of annoyance.
"Oh, that's just..." He stopped, realizing something. "...Wait, if she's gone... then..." The purple-haired Hero didn't reach for Angel Halo yet, but he made sure to keep his guard up all the same as he peered into the darkness ahead.
He glanced over to Lona, whose right hand twitched as it held on to his Father's sword. "F-Follow me," Luka said, before turning back towards the corridor awaiting them. "This could get treacherous..."
However, despite Alice's sudden disappearance, Luka and Lona did not immediately run into another Monster. Instead, the Hero and Elf duo found themselves continuing for several minutes before they reached what seemed to be an intersection in the cave's tunnel system.
There were three paths: One to the left, one to the right, and one that continued forward.
'Oh great. Where do we start from here?' Luka thought, unable to find any start that would be preferable here. Naturally, there was absolutely no hint as to where they should go, as each path looked exactly the same as the other. From his side, the voice of Lona spoke up. "How about we mark where we came from..." The white-haired Elf suggested, before drawing a large "X" on the floor before them, "...And then mark whichever path we go down after that?"
Luka smiled at her, "Right, process of elimination. Good thinking, Lona!" He exclaimed, his words eliciting a bashful smile from his friend. "You're w-welcome, Luka." The purple-haired Hero turned back to the paths with a small shrug. "Well, I'd say we just go down the left path first and see what it holds for us." Lona simply nodded, following him down the leftmost corridor after making another "X" on the ground behind them.
The two walked down the path for a couple of minutes, nothing much happening for a while. However, the sound of a voice caused the two to pause. It sounded high-pitched and frantic, almost as if whoever the voice belonged to was in a panic. Luka frowned and very slowly crept forward, his feet sliding across the dirt ground as silently as he could, Lona following suit.
"... -gonna be so mad at me! I-I can't believe I got lost that fast..." Luka gave a short hum of surprise, the feminine voice sounding a bit younger than what he had expected. Still keeping himself cautious, just in case, the young Hero continued to creep towards what seemed to be his next encounter with a potentially hostile Monster.
The Prophet and his Elf companion found themselves having to take a left at the end of the corridor, and standing on the other side of the turn was their Monster. She was facing away from them. Even without a front view, Luka could tell from the silver-furred Monster's pointed ears and two fox tails that it was a Kitsune. She also seemed young, as her stature was taller than that of one of the Four Bandits, but she was shorter than Luka by about half a head.
The Kitsune had to be probably the most properly dressed Monster he had seen thus far, barring perhaps Gob the Goblin. She seemed to be wearing a light-pink sleeveless kimono top and had dark gray wrist guards at the end of each arm. Beneath those were a pair of black spandex shorts that fell right above her knees. Lastly, the silver-furred Kitsune wore a pair of black sandals with white socks.
The purple-haired boy watched on with growing confusion as the jittery fox Monster continued to frantically talk to herself, not noticing his approach. "...And on top of everything else, a H-H-Human is here too!? What could possibly happen next!?" Luka raised a brow at the comment, wondering if he should change his initial guess from potentially hostile to questionably hostile.
The young Hero looked over his shoulder to Lona, who gave a quiet shrug. Luka promptly turned back around and started to quietly "sneak" up on the shorter fox from behind. He got within a little over a meter of the Monster girl before she froze, one of her fluffy ears twitching right before she whirled around.
"U-UWAAA!" She shrieked, her red eyes wide with shock. Luka took a moment to look over her further, noticing the fox Monster's youth very quickly. She had to be a couple of years younger than he was, that much was certain. She was also...
...Kinda cute, honestly.
Luka raised his hands, attempting to look non-threatening for the Monster's sake. "H-Hey there," He began, offering a kind smile. "My name is Luka, and I'm-"
"H-Here to attack me, aren't you!? I knew it, I just knew it!" The Kitsune accused, pointing a damning finger in his direction. Luka's smile deflated at the claim, but he tried to salvage the situation despite that. "Er, no, not really. Unless you're doing something evil, I would never think about fighting-"
The silver-furred Kitsune shook her head, not at all convinced. "Nu-uh, that sounds exactly like what a blood-thirsty Human would say. You can't fool me!" Her twin tails twirled frantically behind her as she ranted, apparent very intent on taking her first impression and rolling with it. Lona looked incredulous as she stepped forward, "Luka isn't bloodthirsty. He's a very nice Hero, actually." The purple-haired boy was about to concur, but the small fox Monster seemed to become even more distressed.
"OH! So not just a Human, but a Hero too!? Now I know for sure that you're lying to me!" The paranoid Kitsune pointed another accusing finger at Lona now, "Let me guess then, Hero, this must be your Elf love-slave then, HUH!? I know it, I can see it in her eyes!"
Luka faltered, his face slowly becoming a bright red. "Wh-Wh-What!? N-NO! L-Lona i-isn't m-my... my..." Luka was unable to even finish properly, spurring a now squeamish-looking Lona to step forward, "I am not his slave, everything we did last night was mutual!" Luka, though appreciative of Lona's effort to clear his name, found that the white-haired Elf's words were maybe a bit too revealing.
"...L-Lona, w-w-why did you h-have to t-tell her that specifically?" The young Hero stuttered while turning to the Elf, momentarily forgetting about the trembling Kitsune. Lona looked down at the boy with a twinge of worry, "W-Well it's the truth... It was mutual, wasn't it?" Quickly, Luka put himself on the backfoot.
"Tha-That's n-not what I meant, I-I'm just saying that y-you didn't n-need to c-c-confirm that w-we..." He coughed, facing away from Lona, "...D-Did things." He finished with a whisper. Lona still looked a bit forlorn, not sure if what Luka was being completely honest. Meanwhile, the Kitsune was becoming increasingly distressed as the two talked between themselves.
"E-Enough!" The fox proclaimed, stomping on the ground with her sandaled feet. Luka and Lona turned towards her as she continued, "Either way, I can't let you pass!" Lona looked past the fox, seeing nothing more behind her but a rock wall. "Pass... where? This is a dead-end."
The silver-furred Monster frowned, looking back to the wall behind her before aiming a glare at the two, "Fine! Then I can't let you leave!" The Kitsune held her left hand out palm-first, keeping her right hand by her side with her fingers outstretched. She smirked, though her red eyes were still fearful. "Which means that we must duel!"
Luka's face fell at the declaration, "Must we? I really don't wish to fight you, honest." The Kitsune's ears twitched again, and she hollered back, "Begone with your lies, Human, and face my foxy fury! You won't be getting Poseidon's Bell on my watch; I promise you that!" The purple-haired boy's eyes widened, "So Poseidon's Bell is here then?" The Kitsune froze, her heart falling into a deep pit of dread upon realizing her slip. "Uhhh, n-no it's not. There's no Bell here."
Lona raised a finger, "But you just said that you wouldn't let us get Poseidon's Bell. Which means it must be here, then." The silver-furred fox gulped and wiped away a bead of nervous sweat that had formed on her forehead as she replied, "N-N-Nope, I-I didn't say anything about a Bell. Y-You're just hearing things."
Luka glanced up to Lona, "I think she's lying right now."
The short fox stomped a sandal onto the dirt ground again, her face showing indignation. "I am not a liar!" She yelled, her voice bouncing off the walls of the cave and bringing the other two's gazes back on her. The Monster crossed her arms in a huff, "For your information, I am one of Tamamo's most trusted Kitsune! That's why she brought me here with her in the first place!"
Lona recoiled at the fox's words, "Wait, T-Tamamo is here? As in the Nine-Tailed Fox herself!?" Luka looked up to the Elf, a twinge of worry hitting his heart. "Who's T-Tamamo?" He asked, the name being somewhat familiar, but he couldn't place where.
The silver-furred Kitsune waved her hands around wildly, "U-U-Uh, f-forget that I-I said that! N-Nobody else is here, n-nobody at all!" She stammered, trying in vain to cover up her second flub. Lona turned to Luka with fear-ridden eyes, "Luka, Tamamo no Mae is the strongest of all the Kitsune..." She leaned forward, "...And one of the Four Heavenly Knights."
Luka's eyes widened at the revelation. 'This is insane! I was completely outclassed by Granberia just days ago, and now another one of the Heavenly Knights is in this cave right now!?' His mind raced, unable to comfortably digest the information. The silver-furred fox's gaze darted between the Hero and the Elf, a great deal of worry in her red eyes now at how much she just accidentally let slip. With her anxiety reaching a boiling point, the cornered Monster dashed forward and pushed past the two.
"Gah!" Luka yelled, falling against the stone wall and busting the back of his head against the hard surface.
"E-EH!" Lona exclaimed, hitting the wall behind her to a lesser extent.
Luka clumsily pushed himself off of the wall, hissing as he felt something warm running down the back of his head. He reached around with his right hand and hissed upon touching the small cut, even his careful movement shooting pain through the back of his head. Sure enough, when he retracted the glove, he found that there was a fresh bloodstain on the brown fabric now. Lona rushed to his side, grabbing him by the arm.
"Luka, a-are you alright!?" The white-haired Elf exclaimed, coming in close to look him in the eyes. The young Hero stumbled a bit, having difficulty trying to right himself after the head trauma. Despite his obvious pain, he turned to where the Kitsune had run as he replied. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm fine, let's just go find that fox!"
The purple-haired boy started running down the corridor, a bewildered Lona following quickly behind while shouting after him. Luka didn't stop, intent on keeping chase after the silver-furred fox. Soon, he came to the four-way stop that he and Lona had just been at, seeing that the fox had stopped at the intersection, standing on one of the two "X" marks they had made on the ground. He could hear the Kitsune muttering to herself, looking between the three paths in a panic. Her ears twitched and she spun around on her heel, recoiling at the sight of the fast-approaching duo.
The silver-furred Kitsune raised a hand, causing Luka and Lona to stop. In the short Monster's hand was a small black bag, tied together with a small brown string. She opened her mouth and exclaimed, "Foxy Technique: Smokescreen!" She then promptly threw the bag onto the ground, a quick flash flaring from the small bang that followed, and the cave was quickly filled with smoke!
Lona ran up right behind him, stopping just shy of the boy. "W-Wait, if you just go running around in here, you might end up encountering Tamamo!" Luka's gaze forwards, darting between the two unmarked pathways. "I know that, which is why we need to hurry. The best chance we have here is to find Poseidon's Bell before we run into her."
Luka finally decided to just pick a path and run, but Lona stopped him by latching onto his shoulders with both hands. He whirled around, giving the white-haired Elf a questioning look. "Lona, what are you-" He stopped upon noticing the Elf's obvious distress. Lona grabbed his arms before pulling him closer, "I'm telling you, Luka, you wouldn't stand a chance if you fought Tamamo! She'd beat you within seconds!"
The young Hero shook his head, "I don't care, I need to get that bell to get to Sentora, it's my only chance!" He tried to wrench away, but Lona kept her fierce grip. "Please, d-don't do this!" She begged as she tried to pull him away, but the boy planted his feet on the ground. He leveled a stern look at the Elf, causing her to pause as he opened his mouth.
"It's my responsibility as a Hero to do this, Lona. I can't just turn around now, and I won't." He raised his head a bit higher, a righteous fight lighting inside of him, "S-So you can either help me, or I can do the rest of this by myself..." He trailed off, not explicitly wording what he meant, but the meaning was clear either way. He still thought of the Elf as his friend, but he couldn't allow himself to be held back in his goal.
Lona's gaze became sorrowful at his words, finding herself unable to do much more than stand there and stare into his fiery gaze. She felt her heart hurt, his ambition being both admirable and lamentable. It would be foolish for him to face something as powerful as Tamamo, but she had endeavored to help the boy on his journey, so...
"O-Okay," Lona said as she let go of his arms. "I'm right behind you, then." Her shaky tone failed to support her words, but the Elf followed anyway as Luka turned and ran down the dimly lit stone hall once more.
After running for quite a bit, the two slowed down to a much steadier pace, walking the cave pathways now as it seemed that the fox had successfully outran them. The odd torches lining the walls continued to lend their dim lighting, even as deep as they had made it so far inside the Cave of Treasures.
At times, the two saw remnants of what appeared to be triggered traps, such as large rocks lying haphazardly in the middle of the path, or spikes jutting out from the walls. 'Strange, no bodies anywhere. I wonder if that silver fox did this, or if that Tamamo character had been through here already...' Luka bit his lip in thought, '...Probably the latter, honestly. That young fox didn't seem so sure about where even to go, let alone being observant enough to notice and trigger all of these traps.'
Then again, there could even be other Monsters at play here. So far, they've only confirmed two, which were foxes. They haven't even encountered any naturally cave-dwelling Monsters yet. But at the back of his mind, Luka knew that there must be some close, for Alice still hadn't returned...
Lona twitched, putting a hand on Luka's shoulder to stop the boy. "Hey, do you hear that?" She asked, spurring the young Hero to pause his thoughts and listen closely. Sure enough, he could hear what seemed to be very faint crying coming from somewhere farther down the hall!
"D-Damn it!" The familiar voice of the fox they had been chasing yelled out, the distress clear in her strangled plea.
Without thinking twice, Luka sprinted further down the stony corridor with Lona right behind. The walls and ceiling suddenly widened as the hall led the two into a larger and even dimmer cavern. Huge columns of rock jutted from the floor and ceiling, helping to further impede the duo's visibility. Eventually, however, they found the fox they had been chasing right in what seemed to be the middle of the cave room.
However, the position they found her in was a bit precarious.
The silver-furred fox was suspended in midair, her body wrapped and tangled up in a huge cobweb hanging from the ceiling of the cave down to the floor. The young Monster thrashed wildly, but the effort did nothing more but further ensnare the fox in the trap. Luka felt pity at witnessing the sorrowful display; as much trouble as the fox had given them earlier, he couldn't say that she deserved to be stuck here.
"What should we do with her?" Lona whispered to the boy as the fox continued to thrash in the web. Luka quickly responded, "Well, I don't want to leave her here, though I'm not sure what to do after releasing her." The white-haired Elf seemed a bit doubtful at the boy's decision but didn't argue as he began his approach. The fox seemed to finally hear the two, being able to turn her head just enough to look at the two.
The fox's red eyes widened as she froze, the thick webbing that entrapped her waving around in the aftermath of her struggle. "D-Don't come any closer, H-Human! Or e-else I may have to st-start getting serious!" She proclaimed, though her bravado was significantly dampened by her embarrassing position. Luka shook his head as he drew closer, "I'm not going to hurt you, if that's what you think."
The boy's pale blue eyes looked over the webs as came within arm's length of them. The white thread-like lines were thicker than any regular spider and were obviously strong if they had ensnared the fox beside him. Luka thought against feeling the substance, not wanting to even take the chance of getting stuck alongside the trapped Kitsune.
Skitter Skitter
The two Monsters and Hero tensed at the sudden noise of light scampering before several torches in the room were quickly snuffed out, leaving the already dimly-lit room even darker than before.
Skitter Skitter
"What w-was that!?" Lona exclaimed, hurrying to Luka's side. The young Hero didn't reply as he tried his hardest to scan the room for any sign of what or who had just snuffed out most of the lighting. He heard the fox in the webbing shakily call out to them, "Aha-haa, u-uh you know, I-I th-think I-I'd actually really appreciate if you cut-me-out-right-now!"
Luka tried to steady his breathing, turning to Lona ever so slightly. "H-Hey, try to see if you can free her, Lona. I'll keep an eye out for-"
"Tee-Hee-Hee, One-Two-Three! What a splendid feast, all for ME!"
The sound of a high and lofty voice cackling from high above made all of those on ground level freeze.
Skitter Skitter Skitter
"One little Kitsune caught up all nice. A wonderful little appetizer, best served with rice..."
"U-UWAA!" The silver-furred fox in question yelped, furiously pulling at the silk jail that entrapping her. Lona quickly unsheathed the silver blade Luka had given her, her dull brown eyes looking wildly around the darkened cavern as the voice grew closer.
Skitter Skitter Skitter
"...A juicy Elf, all plump and grown. I'll make sure to use all your meat, right down to the bone..."
Lona shivered as she felt the unseen Monster's eyes looking over her, making the white-haired Elf greatly unnerved. Luka stood as still as he could, trying in vain to locate where the Monster stalking them was at. The young Hero felt the hairs on the back of his neck bristle as the voice finally acknowledged him.
"...My, my, what luck to have caught such a pretty little boy. If you taste as good as you look, I'll keep you as my love toy!~"
Skitter Skitter Skitter Skitter
Suddenly, Luka felt something warm and sticky grab him by the arm. He moved to pull off the substance but was violently yanked away from the main group, sliding several meters across the floor of the dark room with a yelp.
"LUKA!" Lona's yell reverberated throughout the cave as the boy was dragged away by a thread of white silk. The white-haired Elf moved to give chase, but another volley of web came from above, striking Lona in the face! She frantically clawed at the sticky substance, the web completely taking away her already hampered sight.
Meanwhile, Luka tried to push himself off of his stomach, but something light but large roughly landed on his back and forced him to collapse once again with a grunt. "Ahh-ha-ha! Now that I have got you..." A voice whispered right behind his ears, "...How about I bundle you up for later when it's just us two?" Luka panicked at the Spider's suggestion, and he abruptly spun around, managing to roll the Monster off of him.
Skitter Skitter Skitter
The Monster quickly scuttled off into the darkness before he could even catch a glimpse of anything more than a pair of bright orange eyes, leaving the boy to stand alone in near-total darkness once more. Luka jumped to his feet, practically ripping Angel Halo off of his back. He raised the grotesque blade high as the unseen Monster's voice bounced around the cave once again.
"Pretty little boy, you cannot escape my cave. Once your friends are dealt with, I will make you my slave!~"
"AHHH!" Lona screamed as a sudden slam echoed around the stony room. Luka scrambled, dashing back towards Lona and the Kitsune. There, in front of the now completely terrified Kitsune, he found that the Monster that had been terrorizing them had pinned Lona to the ground. Even with the poor visibility, he could tell that the Monster was either an insect or an arachnid. Multiple segmented legs sprouted from her body, and a large, rounded abdomen waved around behind the Monster as she held Lona down.
"HEY!" Luka screamed, "GET OFF OF HER!" He charged forward, swinging Angel Halo at the Monster. The arachnid girl swiftly jumped and skidded away to face the boy, her orange eyes glowing dangerously. With the Monster now standing still before him on the dim illumination left by the few torches remaining, Luka could finally make out what he was dealing with.
She was a Spider girl, that much Luka could tell now that he could see the eight abnormally long and gaunt legs protruding awkwardly from the bottom of her small pale-green torso. As he had seen before, the Monster had a large abdomen, and now he spied the two oval-shaped magenta spots on either side. The Monster's upper body was curiously young-looking, her figure being very underdeveloped.
At the very least, her budding breasts were covered with a dark green bra, though an uncomfortably small one at that. The only other piece of clothing that the Spider wore were the matching dark-green gloves on her thin, spindly arms. The Spider girl's pale face held many odd-looking magenta-colored markings on it, the thin lines curling up on her forehead in a strange and curly U-shaped pattern. Finally, the Spider's face was framed by not just her shoulder-length white hair but an odd set of mandible-like limbs as well.
Luka looked down to Lona, who had only just now successfully gotten half of the web off of her face. The purple-haired boy slowly slid forward towards his Elf-friend, keeping his gaze level with the Spider girl. Eerily enough, the pale-green Monster stayed standing absolutely still, her orange eyes still glowing as her mouth formed a twisted grin.
"Lona, are you alright? Did she hurt you?" Luka asked as the white-haired Elf struggled to her feet, still pulling on the web left attached to her face. Lona was obviously distressed, her body shaking uncontrollably against her efforts to stay calm. "N-No, she just rattled me a bit..." Lona replied, stumbling a bit towards Luka. He quickly grabbed her by the arm and pulled her to the side, taking a step forward as he did.
"Aww, so cute of you to be the big brave savior! All the more reason for me to take my time and savor..." The Spider started crawling towards the large webbing that she had caught the Kitsune with, much to the fox's visible distress. Luka dashed over to the web, intent on keeping himself between the Spider and the trapped fox. "St-Stay back, I won't allow you to harm anyone else!"
The young Hero white-haired Monster cackled at him, "Fufu, no need to worry for them, not anymore. Once I have you all to myself, breeding is all you will care for~" The Spider girl suddenly lunged forward, launching her legs forward in an attempt to tackle him and Lona at the same time. Luka was quicker than his friend to respond, swiftly parrying away the startlingly quick attack but failed to capitalize as the pale-green Monster retreated into the darkness once more.
Skitter Skitter Skitter Skitter
Luka found himself back on square one, simply standing in wait as the unseen Spider girl stalked them and plotted her next move. 'Come on, there's got to be something else I can do...' He thought while keeping his eyes constantly searching where he believed the Monster was hiding. '...At this rate, she'll be able to easily pick me and Lona apart at her own leisure.'
The young Hero wracked his mind for a moment before turning to look at Lona, who seemed a little worse for wear. "Hey, Lona. Can you try cutting the Kitsune out of the web again?" He whispered. The white-haired Elf gave him a confused look, "I'm not sure if that's what we should be focusing on right now, Luka." Came her hushed reply.
"I know, but I have an idea..." Luka whispered back, pausing as another series of skittering sounded from above. "...And if it works, it'll make this a bit fairer." The white-haired Elf bit her lip before finally giving a nod. He watched as his friend went over to the shaking Kitsune, the poor red-eyed Monster looking as though she was going to faint. The young Hero frowned at the sight; even if the fox had wound up getting them stuck here in the first place, he didn't wish for her to be so distressed.
Luka tentatively began to creep away from Lona and the Kitsune, hoping that he was making sufficient bait of himself. If his intuition was correct, the Spider girl would fall into his trap and attack him first. However, if he was unlucky, his efforts would just get Lona attacked again.
Skitter Skitter
He gulped. Somewhere, a piece of loose rock fell onto the ground, causing him to flinch.
Skitter Skitter Skitter
Luka heard something sharp scrape against rock, and he quickly rolled to the side! He heard the Spider girl land loudly against the ground beside him and he quickly clasped his hands together in response.
"Shield of Heaven!"
The bright white dome lit up the whole room as it surrounded Luka and the pale-green Monster girl, effectively trapping her inside with him. Luka heard the Spider girl gasp as he stood, now gripping Angel Halo in both hands as he spun around. He faced the Monster, whose bright orange eyes looked at the barrier in confusion before locking eyes with him.
"Ahh, now I see. You must be eager to be close to me." The Spider teased, but the tone of her voice did not match the hint of worry that seeped through her facade. Luka took a step forward, "One last chance t-to back down..." He said, idly noticing how Lona had frozen while cutting the Kitsune out. Both she and the fox were watching him now. He stood a bit straighter, "...If you wish to give up, I will allow for it, as long as you promise to-"
The Spider giggled, effectively silencing the purple-haired boy. "Fufufuu, you're certainly a silly one. I am too hungry to let you just go and run." The Monster slowly strode forward, meeting his challenge head-on. Luka steeled his face, slowly shuffling his feet into place. With no other choice, he made his move.
"Thunder Thrust!"
Luka shot forward, aiming Angel Halo straight for the Spider's abdomen. The Monster saw it coming and jumped to the side, but she hissed in pain as the attack nicked one of her legs. The young Hero shot past and hit the wall of his own barrier, smashing into it clumsily. He stumbled after bouncing off of it, having to stomp a foot to right himself.
"DUCK!" The yell of, surprisingly, the silver-furred fox cried out.
Without thinking, Luka followed the warning, dropping to the ground as a volley of web passed overhead. Luka pushed off the dirt floor and only had a moment to process that the pale-green Spider girl was now zigzagging towards him. He raised his blade with a yell, meeting the Monster head-on as she pounced towards him. It was an ugly connection, Luka managing to cut off one of the Monster's right legs at the "knee" but getting promptly sent flying into his barrier once more in the process by the sheer force of the Spider colliding into him.
He struck the ground hard after bouncing off the barrier, landing forearm and stomach first onto the dirt below. Exhaustion from the night before combined with his current pain, was starting to take effect, making his rise much more difficult than it had been earlier. Thankfully, his opponent seemed not to be too concerned with having to capitalize on this as he made it to his feet once more.
"Oh, taking off one of my legs? That just won't do." The Spider exclaimed, raising the severed limb. "But I'm not mad. You'll make up for it when I get to rape you." Luka's whole body recoiled at the Spider's demented words, her bluntness sending shivers of distress through his body. The Spider's long abdomen suddenly bent to point at Luka and thick ropes of web shot out at the young Hero!
Luka was able to barely sidestep the webs, but unfortunately, this made it to where he was completely open to the Spider's next move. The Monster sprinted forward and aimed low with one of her long legs, sweeping him onto his back with a cringe-inducing thud.
"AAHH!" Luka screamed as two of the Spider's long legs stabbed into his arms, the force being strong enough to bring if it wasn't for the Enrikan armor he wore underneath his clothing. Luka involuntarily dropped Shield of Heaven, leaving the room in darkness once again. The boy could see nothing but bright orange eyes looking down on him from above, a maliciously lustful gleam in the frightening gaze. Then, he felt something start to cover his legs.
Looking down at his feet, Luka noticed in horror that the Spider was beginning to wrap him up in her webs! "Now I'll wrap you up all good and tight, so you won't be able to escape me tonight~" The Spider sang, "Once I've used your friends to get full and fed, it'll be up to you to get me full and bred~"
Luka strained to kick his feet, but the cocoon slowly enveloping him halted any progress he could hope to have. The Spider's face began to come closer as he struggled harder, the glow of her orange eyes revealing a devilish grin. Her fangs were bare, some strange liquid dripping from them. "Just a little bite, and you'll lose your will to fight!" She exclaimed, her sharp fangs coming closer and closer to the struggling boy's neck. "My venom will weaken your brain, so you'll have no choice but to be my purple-haired swain!~"
"HIYA!"
The Spider whipped her head around in surprise at Lona's battery, but it was too late for her to respond as Lona charged in. The Elf's great yell was followed up with a brutal thrust aimed straight for the arachnid's exposed abdomen!
Luka cringed at the Monster's scream, watching as the gleam of his Father's silver blade stabbed right through. The tip of the sword came out through the bottom of her abdomen, spewing dark red blood all over the floor and the web covering Luka's lower body. The arachnid quickly and clumsily retaliated with a screech and spun her body around to kick away Lona. The Elf flew away into the darkness with a shrill cry, her body crashing and rolling across the dirt ground into the darkness.
"LONA!" Luka yelled as the Spider above him - with the sword still stuck in her abdomen - hissed and scurried into the dark after the white-haired Elf, leaving the young Hero to struggle against his web prison.
Luka raised Angel Halo in his now freed hand and began slicing away at the webs covering his legs. He didn't waste time straining to see what was happening as the sound of the two Monsters struggling filled his ears. Instead, Luka sped up frenzied cutting, eventually able to release himself and rush to his feet. He charged towards the two, his heart dropping at the sound of his Elf friend's sudden yell of pain. Seeing the faint outline of the Spider starting to turn towards him, he pooled his magic together to end the fight once and for all.
"DEMON DECAPITATION!"
Luka's scream bounced off of the walls of the cave, the sound following the young Hero as he flew forward and slashed at the Spider's throat. The attack hit dead-on, causing his opponent to freeze, her hands coming up to cover her compromised esophagus. Luka watched, body tensed, as the Spider twitched. A loud choke came from her throat, and the Monster began to fade away. His Father's sword fell from where her abdomen had been, landing on the dirt ground with a thud.
The young Hero had to take a moment to hunch over and breathe, his muscles burning from the taxing battle he had just gone through. Luka felt as though his heart was beating right out of his chest from the force of the pulsing. He looked to where the Spider Monster had been standing just moments before, watching as a much smaller spider frantically scuttled away into the darkness.
"Ohh..."
Lona's nearly inaudible groan caused Luka to jolt, and he quickly pushed away his pain as he hurriedly stumbled over to the white-haired Elf still lying on the cave ground. The purple-haired boy quickly dropped Angel Halo, falling to his knees as he got to his friend's side. "L-Lona!" He cried, grabbing onto the Elf's arm. Through the dim illumination of the remaining torches, Luka could see Lona struggle to sit up. Faintly, he could make out his friend clasping a hand on the left side of her face.
"I-I'm fine, she just scratched me a bit." Lona said though Luka could see a small trail of blood running down her cheek. A hot wave of shame hit the boy upon seeing the evidence of her injury. 'I should've been able to protect her better, that had been way too close. She could've been seriously hurt.' He thought with a frown.
"H-Hey, c-can I please go n-now!?" The sound of the Kitsune's voice broke Luka from his thoughts. He looked over to the silver-furred fox in question, whose entire body was shaking uncontrollably. The young Hero felt a twinge of pity run through him at the sight. Truly, even if the Monster had helped get them into that mess, it hadn't seemed to be her intention to do so. In all honesty, Luka couldn't consider the Kitsune to be all that dangerous.
Luka rose from the ground, Lona shakily following suit. "As long as you promise not to give us anymore trouble while we're here." Luka said, removing Angel Halo from his back. Quickly, the Kitsune nodded her head. "O-Of course! No trouble from me! None at all!" Quick to oblige, Luka began carefully cutting away at the thick cobwebs around the fox. She flinched at each of his strikes but was left unscathed in the end and eventually was able to drop out of the spiderweb, though a good amount of the white stringy substance was left covering her.
"Ew-EW!" The fox exclaimed, trying her hardest to dust off the sticky webbing.
In an attempt to be helpful, Luka tried to reach over and pull off the thick number of webs attached to the Kitsune's two tails, but the fox nearly jumped away, clutching the tails close to her body. "H-HEY! You can't just grab them like that!" The fox pointed an accusing finger at the boy, "What, y-you think just because you freed me that you can cop a feel!?"
Luka recoiled in horror, "WHAT!? N-NO!" He yelled, "I-I was just trying to help clean you off, I promise!"
The Kitsune's red eyes narrowed at him, "Ohh, likely story. Well, I'm not falling for your indecent tricks, Human! Go fondle your Elf friend if you want some action!" And with that awful accusation, the silver-furred fox ran out of the dark room, but not before tripping over a rather large rock sitting hidden on the floor. She yelled out a quick "GAH!", before quickly picking herself up again and leaving through the dimly lit exit.
Luka sighed, lowering his hands in defeat. He hadn't meant to come off as a deviant, he had honestly meant to help. 'I guess that Kitsunes don't let just anyone touch their tails, then. Must be some sort of cultural thing...'
"Why'd you let her run off like that?" Came the confused voice of Lona. Luka looked over the white-haired Elf, who seemed awfully perturbed. "Now that she's free, she'll no doubt let Tamamo that you're here looking for Poseidon's Bell."
Luka shrugged his shoulders, "Well, that might be true. But I couldn't just force her to do what I want..." He said, before moving towards the exit of the dark room. "...That's just not something I have the heart to do, and I don't believe that it's right in the first place." Lona seemed to consider his words as she retrieved the sword Luka had gifted her before following the boy as he entered the better-illuminated hallway.
"She's right, you know. Letting that fox go was a bad idea."
Both Lona and Luka were surprised to see Alice waiting in the hallway, thankfully seeming much less spooked and more like her normal self now. "Honestly, you should've sealed her away. Or even better, you should've just let that Spider eat her." Luka gasped, horrified at the suggestion. "ALICE! How you possibly say something like that!?"
The white-haired Lamia gave a nonchalant shrug, obviously not seeing the issue with the awful suggestion. "It's just the natural cycle of life. It was just a Kitsune, nobody would've cared that much." Alice smirked, "In fact, letting the Spider eat that Kitsune before you sealed her would've made all of this much easier for you. I believe the Human phrase would be to kill two birds with one stone. Though I would personally prefer to kill two foxes with one stone."
Luka huffed, "I don't kill birds or foxes. Neither would be Heroic of me to do." Either way, Luka moved to walk alongside Alice, who snickered at him. "Ha, I'd disagree. Annihilating that Kitsune would have been the most Heroic thing I've seen you do yet."
The purple-haired boy shook his head, his face twisted in concern. "S-She was just a fox, are they really that awful to you!?"
Alice - with the utmost seriousness - replied, "Absolutely."
The Prophet and the Monster Lord continued their small bout of bickering as they continued down the hall, Luka remaining steadfast in his belief that brutally murdering a Kitsune for merely existing was going too far while Alice argued that it would be merciful on his end, somehow.
Lona dejectedly followed a little way behind, suddenly feeling herself to be a third wheel once again.
Had a bit less personal time to write this chapter, so it took a bit longer to get out than I thought it would. But we're nearly the next large step in this story, which I am very excited for. Chapter 42 will prove to be an interesting one, I think, and will be another significant divergence from canon in more ways than one. So, stay tuned for that.
Deadinside378: But of course, and so continues Luka's continued involuntary pattern of getting himself into trouble.
chronotimeguard: Considering how I've written Marcellus so far, you can consider it genetic. Had to get it somewhere.
espioll: Yeah, if need be, I could do a move. Or, begrudgingly, I could probably fabricate a "safe" version of this story. Although that would be a major pain in the butt, so I'd rather not have to do that.
TheextremelypassiveUchiha: Thank you very much for the kind words. I'm glad to see that others are seeing that what I'm trying to make here is something truly special. It's a lot of work - and probably isn't perfect - but it is my personal passion project, and I am looking forward to writing it until it is good and done.
