Descent of Nightmare (Chapter Six)

[tanadin]

 I really like this chapter. We have a few questions to ask and we learn quite a bit about the labkids and their personalities. 

Chapter list: https://tanadin.dreamwidth.org/650.html
Map of Kaldriel: https://i.gyazo.com/332b0c0172dcc60acb46a6ed078f4219.png
Rough map of Hatu: https://i.gyazo.com/ea4f9f51b9dc7b9d8b86d846f5331138.png

Chapter Six

Warmth

Mountains around Akrar, Kaldriel. November 4, 2277. Time instance 842N.

“Now, what the hell do you suppose this is?” Nathan motioned vaguely at the abandoned building in front of them. It looked to have once been a house, but it had been left alone, likely during the invasion twenty-five years ago. Someone had been here recently, though- there were tracks in the scattered snow and the magical disturbance had come from the back room. Whatever had happened had left no evidence, however, and whoever had been here had left.

“An abandoned building.”

“Not this! I mean...this. This whole situation.”

“I have no idea! Why would I know?!”

“I don’t know! I hoped you had some insight!”

“Well…” Shawn looked into the front door again. “I’d assume that those two we saw earlier were responsible for the magical disturbance, or were at least involved. They packed up and left.”

“They weren’t the only ones, though. There are far more than two sets of feet here.” Nathan knelt and put his hand next to a particularly unusual one. “I have no idea what this belongs to. Some kind of reptile, perhaps.”

“A demon?”

“Maybe. I’ve never seen a demon with feet like this, though.” Nathan stood. “They’ve covered their tracks leaving, though, or they flew out. I wonder who they are and where they are now.”

~~~

“It’s fucking cold,” Exadae complained, pulling his green wings tighter around him. “And I don’t like it.”

“That’s what happens when you walk in snow,” Lucy informed him icily. “Go figure.”

“We didn’t have snow back in the desert!”

“Holy shit do you ever stop complaining?” Everex asked, looking over his shoulder at them. “You’re giving me a headache.”

“Think about how I feel,” Twelve mumbled. “I deal with you.”

“Hey!”

Twelve flashed him a grin before re-focusing on their objective: getting down the mountainside. The going was slow and rocky, and one slip could lead to someone falling and skidding down the rocks to the bottom, where they would likely immediately die. Lucy wasn’t a huge fan of Twelve leading them down here, but they’d had to leave after Everex and Solace had been spotted.

“Hite.” Lucy groaned but tried to ignore Gyrad tapping her shoulder. “Hite. Hite.”

“Fan.”

Gyrad cringed. “Don’t call me that.”

“Then don’t call me Hite.”

Gyrad crossed his arms. “Are you cold?”

“Was it really worth bothering me for that?”

“I’ll take that as a yes. Everex, could you do the thing?”

“The thing.”

“The thing. The fiery thing.”

Everex rolled his eyes and shifted into his kirinax form, white flames obscuring his body and dark red eyes flickering in an almost unreadable expression, but one that Lucy knew was amusement. Immediately the area was warmer, earning several sighs of relief.

Gyrad bowed jokingly. “See? Better.”

“Why does he get to be Everex but we have to be our last names?” Kallen demanded, pushing his glasses up his nose with his left hand. His right hand- the pincer- clicked and spun in an unconscious nervous motion.

Gyrad looked at him like he was nuts. “I can’t call someone ‘Dramonallvaer’ in day-to-day conversation. What the hell are you thinking? That’s a pain in the ass and a mouthful. Plus, there’s two of them.”

“Doesn’t stop you with us,” Exadae noted.

“Eh. You’re Dacion One and Dacion Two.”

“I’m Dacion One,” Jack said immediately.

“You’re stupid,” Exadae corrected, shoving him and almost making him fall. Jack yelped and flapped his wings a few times to regain his balance.

“Why I-”

“Stop it!” Twelve snapped, turning around to glare at them. “I will march us right back up this mountain and then you can explain to the magical guy and especially the guy with a shotgun while we’re here. I’ll watch from a safe distance.”

Jack growled but fell silent, crossing his arms.

“I thought not.” Twelve went back to leading the way down the mountain, the others right behind her.

~~~

“Nathan. I’ve found something.”

Nathan looked up from the tracks with interest, gaze locking on Shawn, who was in the doorway. “A clue?”

“No. Just something.” Shawn waved for him to come inside and moved aside, leading him over to one of the walls.

Several photograph frames were on the floor, broken and shattered from the impact, leaving fragments of glass that crunched under Nathan’s shoes as he approached. One picture was still on the wall, however, and it looked like someone had recently wiped the dust from its surface.

“I didn’t touch it,” Shawn mumbled, “so they were looking at it.”

The photo was of two young kids- around seven or eight, perhaps- and their mother, who had an arm around each and a tired smile on her face. All three had blond hair and calculating grey eyes.

Shawn gently tapped the glass, next to the boy. “Doesn't he look kind of like Seven?”

Nathan raised an eyebrow and looked more critically at it. “Not really.”

“Before he was a cyborg! And...when he wasn’t an adult.”

“No, not at all.”

“Are you blind?”

“Of course he looks like Seven! What am I, an idiot?” Nathan demanded. “My humor is too subtle.”

“You have humor?” Shawn grinned at him and Nathan resisted the urge to elbow him in the side. Instead, he carefully took the frame off the wall and looked it over.

“I don’t think we’ll find anything else here. We should get back home. Talk to some people.” Nathan ran a finger over the glass. “And I need to get on a train to the Mainframe. I have a few questions for Seven.”

~~~

“Well this is a reasonable living space,” Solace said cheerfully as they stepped into the cave. “None of that ‘building-out-in-the-open’ nonsense.”

“No door, though,” Everex mumbled, casting a critical fiery eye on the entryway.

“That can be remedied. For now, we need to stay inside.” Twelve motioned the last of the stragglers in. “It’s getting dark, and something tells me it gets even colder at night here than it did in the desert.”

“You would be correct. Staying outside for long periods of time at night could prove detrimental to your health.”

“Is the thing telling you it’s going to be cold Kaldric?”

“Yes.” Twelve sat down against the wall. “It is.”

Lucy sighed and sat down a few feet away from her. “I wish Zast was with us. He could do some magical something to keep the cold out of here.”

“Zast’s dead,” Gyrad grumbled, crossing his arms. “So stop thinking about him.”

“He’s not dead,” Kallen snapped. “He literally said that he was leaving for awhile and would be back.”

“Over a year ago! He’s dead. Eaten by mantids or something. Get that through your thick skulls, people!”

“I’m going to freeze you into a solid block of ice,” Starren growled. “And then haul you out of here and throw you the rest of the way down the mountain.”

Gyrad stared at her with horror. “You wouldn’t.”

“She would and I’d help her.” Lucy crossed her arms. “Everex, would you mind coming closer? Because we’re good friends. Not because I want to leech off of your heat or anything.”

Twelve rolled her eyes and shifted into her kirinax form as well, shuffling closer to Lucy. Dark red flames bathed Lucy in warmth and she hummed. “Thanks.”

“I’m sure Everex, Solace, and I can all help keep people warm.”

“Except Gyrad. No warmth for him.”

“Solace.”

“You’re no fun.” She shifted into her phoenix form and landed near the group. Everyone quickly gathered around those generating warmth, even the usually solitary Deathclaw. He nudged Anni’s shoulder with his head before lying down and curling up halfway between Everex and Twelve, shutting his eyes. Anni sat down next to him and leaned against him, humming quietly.

Kallen sat down next to Lucy, between her and Twelve, and leaned against her immediately. Lucy raised an eyebrow at him.

“You look like you’re trying to be sweet, but I see through your guise. You’re really just trying to steal most of the heat I’m getting from Twelve.”

“Me? No. I’m innocent.” Kallen beamed at her.

“Mmm. Unlikely.”

Kallen laughed quietly and burrowed against her. “And now I’m leeching your heat.”

“No, don’t, I don’t have any to spare!” Lucy halfheartedly tried to push him away but he clung on and she quickly gave up, rolling her eyes. “You’re ridiculous.”

“Yep.” Kallen grinned at her.

“Just kiss already,” Sheva complained.

Lucy whipped around to glare at her, immediately switching to English. “And what does that mean? Why?”

“I’m tired of you two acting like this.” Sheva leaned back in the air. “You’re dragging this on like an awful romance movie.” Lucy blinked in confusion but didn’t bother to ask what she meant. Sheva said unusual things sometimes. “Normally, I wouldn’t care, but it’s so painfully obvious that even I’m stepping in. Is there any doubt in your mind that you two like each other, everyone knows, and nobody cares?”

“...No.”

“Then stop infuriating me and everyone you know!” Sheva crossed her arms and fell silent. Lucy glared at her momentarily before looking back at Kallen.

“Sheva?” he guessed.

“Oh yeah,” Lucy grumbled. “Being a jerk.”

“That’s not new.”

“Shut it, kid,” Sheva grumbled, but Lucy didn’t relay her message.

Kallen’s pincer hand clicked nervously, silver-blue metal flashing in the light of Twelve’s flames. “Do you think we’ll get through this?”

“Of course we will. This isn’t any worse than the desert. Just different.” Lucy frowned at him. “Why?”

“Just nervous. We’ve never seen anything like this before.”

“We’re tough,” Twelve assured, looking over at them. Her voice was rougher and lower in this form, something that always disturbed Lucy when she spoke. “At least there’s no sandwyrms here, right?” She paused, glancing over at Kaldric. “Right?”

“No creatures similar to sandwyrms exist on Kaldriel to my knowledge, no.”

“Mantids?”

“The only mantids that live here are smaller than your hand and not dangerous.”

Lucy blinked a few times. “Tiny mantids?”

“Normal mantids,” Sheva corrected. “Who needs a mantid as big as a horse?”

“A what?”

“A horse. It’s a large animal that you can ride on.”

Lucy frowned. “Kaldric, what’s a horse?” There’s no way.

“A horse is a large mammal native to Kaldriel, most commonly used as transportation. Horses are about the size of the mantids you are used to and are well-suited to carrying humanoid races from one place to another, although with technological advancements, they have become largely obsolete.” The robot clicked his jaw a few times. “I believe Sheva could have told you that.”

“She did,” Lucy mumbled. “I just didn’t believe her.”

“I’m from here,” Sheva protested. “I think I’d know what a horse is.”

“I thought you were messing with me!”

“You thought I was what? You’re still speaking Dranonic.”

Frustrated, Lucy crossed her arms and ignored the ghost. Kallen patted her arm reassuringly and Twelve dipped her head in an unconscious gesture to hide a slight smile that they couldn’t see.

“Nooo!” Lucy looked up at Krassor’s protest as Nightgale pushed him away. “It’s no fair! You’re all fluffy and won’t let me snuggle you!”

“Your feathers are full of sand,” Nightgale protested, curling up on the floor and resting her head on her front paws.

“Your fur is full of sand! We live in the desert! It’s all sand, Nightgale!” Despite Krassor’s protests, he ran his talons through his red-black feathers to dislodge some of the offending particles.

“We’re not in the desert anymore!”

“Not like we’re never going back!”

The cave went silent at that as the group slowly exchanged glances. Krassor clicked his beak nervously and lowered his wings in his approximation of a frown. “We...are going back, right?”

“I don’t know about that,” Twelve said carefully. “I don’t think we have a way back, or a reason. Why would we want to go back there?”

“It’s home!”

“This could be home. That building earlier could be home. Anywhere can be home.” Twelve sat up straighter. “Krassor, this place is strange but we can learn to live here. It should be less dangerous and easier to find food, and we won’t be limited to remaining near the oasis. This is a whole new life for us.”

Krassor lowered his wings, crossing his arms and rubbing them. “I don’t know…”

“It’ll be okay,” Starren assured, motioning for him to sit by her. “We’ll get through this. We always have, right?”

“Most of us,” Nightgale reminded, and yelped as Everex chucked a pebble at her. “What was that for?!”

“Being a downer.”

“It’s my job!”

“Your job is to be a big scary werewolf and you do that very well. Take a day off.” Everex grinned at her despite his expression being hard to read. Nightgale snorted and shut her eyes.

Korrah scooted over to Solace. “Are you safe?”

“Rahk.”

“I’ll take that as a yes.” Korrah scooped her up and lay down, placing Solace on her chest and spreading her wings out to cover her. Solace squawked in protest but Korrah wrapped her arms around her, effectively trapping her, and grinned at the group. “Look! New blanket!”

Most of them laughed but Everex crossed his arms. “Hey now. I might get jealous with her lounging around on you. I might need to get protective.”

“Ohh, maybe. I’m stealing your girl, Everex! Literally!” Korrah cackled and sat up, freeing her wings, and wrapped them around Solace as well.

Everex got to his feet and walked over to them, carefully pulling Korrah’s wings open and allowing Solace to wiggle free. Korrah lay back down, still grinning, and Lucy rolled her eyes as Solace cawed at her in protest several times before landing on Everex’s shoulder.

“Everex, no, come back,” Gyrad complained. “It’s all cold without your sweet ass.”

Everex cringed. “I might stay away.”

“Noooo,” Anni complained. “We love you for more than your ass. I promise.”

“Hmm.”

“I’ll hit Gyrad if you come back,” Deathclaw offered, and Everex immediately bounded across the room and sat down at his previous spot. Gyrad squawked in protest but couldn’t avoid Deathclaw’s tail slapping him in the face. He growled and started to get up but Deathclaw stretched out a leg, knocking Gyrad’s feet out from under him before curling up again.

The cave was full of laughter as Gyrad crossed his arms moodily, and Lucy knew that they would be okay.