Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Who: Allen and Sheena
What: Looking for Lavi
When: Early morning the day after Lavi's capture, and spans the few days after that.
Where: All over Luceti. Though, erm, mostly around the Malnosso base, I would assume.
Summary: Well, Lavi got kidnapped, so Allen and Sheena decide to look for him. They encounter more trouble than they would expect at the Malnosso base. No, that's a lie. They expected the trouble. It just sounds more dramatic this way.
Rating: G-PG?


Allen awoke in the early hours of the morning, anxious and not at all rested. He had tossed and turned all night, sleeping only after forcing himself, knowing from experience that it would be idiocy -- if not plain suicide -- to go otherwise. Upon waking to sunlight, however, he found it decidedly more difficult to sleep, and got up, pacing and irritated as he waited for stores to open.

And once they did, Allen was there, grabbing a large bundle of food and two coats -- one for Lavi; he knew Sheena had one already -- before lugging everything over to the house next door, calming himself only barely enough to keep his knocking light.

Comments

[corrinesbell]

Sheena almost opened the door into him - she'd been waiting for his knock. She had her own bag full of things she thought they might need, but was surprised at the size of Allen's. How much food was he actually carrying?

She pulled on her coat and raised the hood, checking once to make sure she hadn't forgotten anything. Both the cards and the knives were with her, in case one proved more useful than the other in certain situations.

"I guess you're ready."

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Allen gave a tiny squeak and jumped back a step, out of the way, and hefted the pack on his back, hoping it wouldn't feel too heavy in a few hours. He didn't know how long they would be out there, and with the way he consumed inhaled food, he thought it best to be prepared.

Still, aside from the coats -- one of which he was wearing -- and food, he didn't have much else to carry. His weapon was a part of his body, after all.

"Ah... yes." Allen gave a sheepish smile, though he shifted restlessly. "If it wouldn't be too much trouble, can we leave now?"

[corrinesbell]

"Sure. That's what I was planning on." She checked first that a certain red-clothed swordsman wasn't watching, but this was far too early for him to even think about getting up. Satisfied, she headed off quickly into the trees. It would be harder to find the way there with everything covered in snow like this, but they could follow the river for a while.

She was moving pretty fast. She hoped he could keep up, carrying all that.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Allen followed, slipping into an old sense of familiarity. Traveling, searching... it seemed almost as if that was what he did all his life. He didn't mind; he was used to the conditions. This sense of doing something, even if it was useless, made him feel better and calmed his nerves.

As they walked, he tried to take in his surroundings, wondering if he would recognize the way himself, should he ever need to.

[corrinesbell]

Pieces of ice floated down the river as they walked. Not too familiar with wintry conditions, Sheena wondered if that meant the weather was warming up. That could be advantageous.

Scolding herself for letting her mind wander, Sheena turned her attention back to where she was going. Eventually they'd come to the point where following the river would lead to more danger than safety, and she needed to be aware enough to know where that was.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Allen glanced at the river absently, marking it in his mind. That was one of the easier ways to find his way there, he supposed; he just hoped that, should he need to try, he'd follow it in the right direction. Still, the mountains were hard to miss.

"We need to be careful," he murmured, though it was for more than just the obvious. Snowy mountains were not the best place to be, he knew... rather well from experience, too. A false step could be fatal, and if they got lost there and ran out of food... it would be a slow and painful death.

[corrinesbell]

"We're lucky, it's not snowing so badly today." Looking up through the snow-covered trees, she squinted at the cloud cover. "Doesn't look like it'll get too bad later, either."

They could follow the river upstream for another couple of hours without worry, she thought. The problem would come once they turned from the river and had to find a path through the mountains. The water cut a clear one, but it was also the best way to alert the Malnosso that they were coming. That wouldn't be good.

She was a little - but not very - surprised at how he kept up with her pace; it was pretty fast, though slower than normal for her.

"Let me know if you need a break."

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"Ah, I'm fine." Admittedly, Allen did most of his traveling in trains, but he was nowhere near unfit; to be such was to invite death, in his profession. Still, he was surprised at Sheena's pace. Even he would begin to tire soon, he knew.

A face flashed past his mind. Laughing green eye, eyepatch, a smirky smile--

No, he was not going to stop, not if they had a choice. After all, Lavi was in danger.

"Sheena," he murmured, more to keep his mind off of things than anything else, "what kind of experiments do they do? I-I mean, if you don't mind answering."

The imagination was always worse than the reality; Lavi himself had told him that, back when he refused to tell about his injuries. So he would not imagine, would not. He had to know.

1/2

[corrinesbell]

The question caused her to slow down, but she had to admit she'd been expecting it. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), Allen was one of the perhaps two people for whom she would answer truthfully. Still, the more she spoke, the more her hands started to shake.

"...I-I've blocked out a lot of it, I think...but what I remember...is painful." She glanced back at him once, before turning her gaze back to their path. It would be easier to talk about if she didn't have to look at him while she did it.

"I...I remember that I couldn't move. Something cold s-stopped me. ...The whole thing was cold, really. Th-the whole experience."

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

[corrinesbell]

It already seemed colder as they started into the mountains, although technically that wasn't really possible. Still, Sheena pulled her coat tighter, shifting her bag to her other shoulder as she stared up at the only likely path.

This might bring us too close to them knowing we're coming... she thought darkly. Her next thought was far less reassuring. For all I know, they've known since we started planning this.

But they'd have no choice. The snow wasn't picking up, at least, even though it was getting pretty late. She stopped where she was, perhaps waiting for Allen to say something, or even to go first. She did not like the idea of bringing herself closer and closer to...that place...again.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"Sheena?" There was a question at that, and Allen peered at her, face filled with concern. "What's wrong?"

It wasn't as if Allen couldn't guess, however. Sheena's words came back to his mind, the horrors she had gone through.

No, he could guess well enough.

[corrinesbell]

"Uh, n-nothing really. Just making sure I knew for sure where I wanted to go." She shrugged an apology that was also quite an obvious cover. "A-After all, getting lost in there wouldn't be good."

Forcibly ignoring her instinct to do otherwise, she started walking into the mountain range. "Watch your step in here, loose rocks and loose snow could be anywhere."

So saith the 'clumsy assassin'...

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"I see..." Allen didn't press on it farther, knowing how painful it must be, and knowing that it was at least partially for his sake. Though he felt impatient, he didn't, couldn't let it show, and simply waited, his expression schooled into one of calm patience.

"Thank you." And maybe it was for the warning, but maybe... it was for something more.

[corrinesbell]

She nodded, thinking, or at least wanting to think, only of what she was doing right at that moment, which was trying not to fall to her death.

After a while, she stopped again, but for a different reason this time. "It's...beautiful," she half-whispered, staring in open awe at the blue-white, snowy scene before her. Really, the whole of Luceti seemed to be beautiful, even the village. ...Pity that the ugly stain of the Malnosso was there to ruin it all.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"What is--" And then Allen saw, a soft gasp escaping his lips. It really was beautiful, he had to admit, and almost unreal. In a time of crisis like his, it was hard to imagine, hard to believe a sight like that, all at once peaceful and sad.

((OOC: Mun should sleep sometime and has no idea what she's writing anymore. XD))

[corrinesbell]

Almost smiling, Sheena kept going, edging carefully along a snow-covered ledge before needing to jump a small gap in the rock. She nearly missed the landing, only making it by overbalancing herself forward on purpose. It had been a larger gap than she'd realized.

She turned around again to wait for Allen to catch up. Hopefully he'd seen her slip and knew to be careful.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Allen blinked as he saw Sheena's slip, and, of course, nearly missed it himself, eyes wide and arms flailing. The gap didn't look that big, really.

Berating himself for being so out of practice, he followed, a sheepish look on his face.

THE NEXT DAY

[corrinesbell]

Sheena woke to something that was not absolute darkness, although it was still quite cold. Shaking her head a little to wake herself up, she rose silently, walking toward the source of the light, around a corner in the cave.

She practically ran back to Allen, dropping to her knees beside him and shaking his shoulder lightly. "Allen! Come on, get up. We're almost out."

And this time, she wasn't going to hold them back. Letting thoughts of the past get to her that way meant she'd already lost. Why was she constantly having to learn that all over again?

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"Mmm?" Allen blinked awake, and it took a while to realize that there was light. Not light from his arm, or from Sheena's card. Pale, white light... sunlight.

Certainly more awake now, Allen nearly jumped up, hope writ all over his face, before his stomach gave its protest.

Allen gave a sheepish laugh. "Ah... let's eat and then go?"

[corrinesbell]

"Uh, sure." She didn't need to eat much, but from the sound of things Allen could hold a few meals and still not be full. Which was something she'd watched every meal, so far. No wonder he had so much food with him.

"When we get out there," she said between bites, "we'll probably be pretty exposed. If I remember right, there isn't much around the base itself...no place to hide." She glanced toward the exit again, looking determined. "But we'll figure something out."

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

Allen nodded, eating as he listened and finishing in record time, with a record low amount of food eaten, as well. They'd need to save some for Lavi -- he was not willing to admit that they might fail -- and for themselves, as well, on the way back.

"We'll... have to get in without being seen, too..." Allen frowned, wondering how that was even going to be possible. But they had come too far now to give up. He supposed he'd just have to try until it worked.

[corrinesbell]

"I can probably manage that, if we go quickly." How she planned on doing that was something of a ninja secret, of course. She'd trust Allen not to tell when the time came.

Picking up her bag, Sheena headed back around the corner; she'd already kicked out the iced-over opening to the cave. She could see it, barely, beyond the last of the foothills; an imposing, dark structure, ugly against all the snow and sunlight.

They could get relatively close, hiding behind large rocks or the few trees there were, before they would be completely exposed. That was a little hopeful, at least. Nodding once, Sheena started to head down toward the end of the mountain range.

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"Eh? How?" Allen blinked in surprise. Still, he trusted her to know what she was talking about. If she said that she could do it, there was little doubt of that truth.

Again looking around, Allen followed. As his eyes came to a rest on the structure, it was clear; that had to be the Malnosso fortress. Even never having seen it before, there could be no doubt.

[corrinesbell]

She led them as close as she dared; they were still a few hundred yards away, but from that point on, the path there was completely open. As it was, they were behind a large, snow-covered piece of broken rock, which offered little cover. Between them and the Malnosso structure was only pristine, untouched snow...and a very discomforting feeling.

So close, now, Sheena could feel herself starting to shake again. She knew a lot better than Allen what the consequences would be if they failed here, and were caught. Taking a long breath, she stopped her shaking, turning around to look at Allen as confidently as she could.

"I got us this far from memory, but now it's about planning. Any ideas?"

[moonstone-curse.livejournal.com]

"Ah... Ideas..." Allen thought about it. And thought. And thought some more. Truth be told, he didn't really have any ideas when they headed out, and figured they would just... do it. It was not something they could afford not to do.

"Maybe... a... door?" Allen knew he sounded stupid, he really did. The last place they wanted to go through would be the door, he could bet. "Or... umm... the window...?"

He thought about the Ark, and how they got in there... perhaps there was a magical path in, here, as well.