lucetilogs | Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

Current Mood: anxious

Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

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.

"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.

"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'...~~

"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.

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.

"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))

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.

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.

Shaking her head slightly, Sheena just kept walking. She was starting to have a better concept of what Allen was like, outside of the setting of the village. It was both irritating and endearing.

She took a step, and the snow fell away beneath her, revealing a deep crevice in the ground. Attempts to go around produced similar results.

"...I can't tell how big this is, but we'll probably have to jump it, too."

Allen eyed the ground, lips pursed. This time, he'd have to be more careful, he knew. It felt easy traveling with Sheena, light-hearted and almost... fun, but he had to remember his purpose. One mistake here would mean near-certain death, and what would Lavi do, then?

Nodding, Allen measured the distance, approaching at a near-run and soaring over the crevice. He had been a fool, he knew, taking a chance with the previous one; after all, it was he himself who said that they should be careful.

Sheena stared after him, following the arc of his jump with her eyes. She didn't see how he could have nearly missed that first one, with jumping skill like that.

She took a running leap at it, easily clearing what she knew to be the opening to the crevice. She turned it into a roll upon landing, simply because that was easier than trying to stop herself standing.

About to pull herself to her feet, Sheena felt something shift beneath her. It was almost...familiar...

With a short cry, she disappeared into the opening beneath her along with a pile of snow. Apparently the hole was much larger than it seemed.

"SHEENA!" For a moment, Allen stared, not daring to believe what had just happened, before jumping into the hole after her, throwing caution to the wind. He didn't know how it would do any good, really, or how deep the hole was, but... if he could help, he had to find out.

"Innocence, activate!" came in a whisper, and Allen caught his claw on the side of the hole, trying to slow his descent. No, it certainly would not do to get himself hurt, too... or, even worse, land on top of her.

It wasn't an extremely long drop, but certainly one that would be nearly impossible to climb back up from. She was pretty sure she'd bounced off a few rocks on the way down, but sitting there now at the end of the fall, she didn't think she was hurt. Badly, at least.

Hearing Allen distantly call her name, she looked up. He was coming straight for her - He must have jumped! - slowing his descent by...using one hand to slide down the wall?

Deciding to figure that out later, Sheena scrambled to get out of his way.

Allen landed with a small thud and a tiny "ow!", immediately looking around for Sheena. Spotting her, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Are you all right?"

He couldn't help but look around, his gaze traveling over the rock wall, up to where they fell and back down. Where were they now? He wasn't sure they could even get back up, not with the size his arm insisted on staying...

"Yeah, I think so. Just bruised a little. ...You?" She joined him in staring up at the opening in the ceiling. Even from down here, the last stretch of rock wall was obviously unclimbable. A wind whistled around Sheena, making her shiver. She had absolutely no desire to freeze to death stuck in some cave--

Frowning, she turned around, staring into the darkness behind them. Convinced, she pulled out one of her cards, tossing it into the dark. "Pyre Seal."

The card exploded rather feebly, but it had the desired effect, lighting up the area around them. She'd been right - wherever this was, it kept going, deeper into the mountains.

"Ah, I'm fine..." Allen was still looking around, distracted, though he quickly glanced back at the exploding card, blinking in surprise at both the light and the surroundings.

"A... cave?" Another blink. "Where does it go?"

It was a useless question, though, he knew. Neither of them had any idea.

"No idea. But...it's either that, or stay here and spend time trying to climb back out." She looked at him, shrugging a little. "Your choice."

She could guess that it went through the mountains, to an extent. The problem would be finding a usable exit. ...Still, something about this felt familiar enough that she thought it might work out.

"Let's see where it leads, then..." There was no point in trying to climb up, Allen knew. It was not something that could be done. And if they were stuck in there... it would be the death of them. Their food supply would not last more than a few days, if that, and every moment they waste was a moment of torment for Lavi.

With a glance to see if Sheena was following, Allen stepped into the darkness.

She followed him, another card already in her hand. She held it up, frowning. This wouldn't have worked so well back home, but perhaps here...

The card started to give off a soft greenish light. She couldn't keep it up forever, but it was nice to know there was something useful in the fact that her barrier continued to fail to do more than give off light. At least now they wouldn't walk into any walls.

"It's getting late," she said after a long silence.

"Yeah..." Allen didn't know what else to say, what else to feel. Late... had it been a day yet, he wondered. One whole day, now, since Lavi had been kidnapped. One whole day of torment, because he couldn't do anything despite his promise to protect.

Walking in the glow of Sheena's card, he sighed, fists clenched at his side. He hated it, being weak and helpless like this. And this time, his master would not be showing up in the nick of time to save them all.

She watched him, recognizing that posture and body language. She'd seen it enough, from her friends and herself. She thought she knew what Allen would do from this point, too...but there was no way to be sure. There was also nothing she could say to help the situation; that was frustrating.

Still, she figured she could try. The hand that wasn't holding the card fell to his shoulder, and she offered him a small smile. "Don't look like that. We're doing something about it, right?"

There was a moment before Allen nodded, finally, soft and sad. Though his posture was resigned, determination still burned in his eyes. "We'll save him. We'll save him, no matter what."

"And I won't..." scarcely more than a whisper, more to himself than to anyone else, "...I won't let him out of my sight again...

"Of course we will." The urge to tell him that it was...highly unlikely...that they could get Lavi out by themselves fought to escape, but Sheena refused to say that to him. ...Even though it was the rational thing to think.

She focused, instead, on whether or not they were headed in the right direction. The cave didn't twist or turn much, and so far there was only one way to go.

"Besides, I-I'm sure he...he'll know you'll be coming."

"He came for me," Allen murmured, soft remembrance on his features. While it was true that Lavi didn't find him, he still went.

...Not finding him was not a good thing. He hoped it was not an omen, that memory.

In either case, there was only one way to find out, and Allen followed along, walking, walking and walking and walking down the path that seemed endless.

All at once, the card went out. Sheena dropped it, sighing quietly. There went the extent of the energy she could summon up and use. It hadn't lasted long at all, and now it was pitch black.

"S-Sorry," she muttered, looking at where she thought Allen still was. "I don't...um. I kinda ran out of steam." Here, once again, she was costing them time with her shortcomings. "I can keep going, though, just let me find another one..."

Rabbit--I mean, Lavi--hunting!

SEVERAL HOURS LATER...

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)

(no subject)