~5~

Alex was slow to stand. Everything around her was dark, a pure jet-black that it made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She gulped, turning around slowly – listening to the damp footsteps of her shoes on the floor. The room slowly lit up, blue light turning to a soft white, allowing her to see around her.

Despite her vision returning, she completely tripped over a woman lying on the floor – unconscious.

Alex landed on her butt, wincing and giving a grunt as she sat back up. This woman had been one of the real fighters – thick into the combat.

Wasn’t her name Bella? Or something close to that? Alex frowned for a second, before crawling towards the woman on her hands and knees. She paused and looked down when her hand fell on something. The songstress tilted her head, blinking at the device.

The baton that Odile had given her…

I hope she’s alright… Alex turned her attention back to the woman.
“Um… hello?”

No reply.

There was a rumble, drawing the girl’s attention up.

There was a… thing… a humanoid thing about three times the size of Alex, lumbering towards them. That rumble had been a moan, something it emitted again from seemingly nowhere. It didn’t have a mouth; instead it had grotesquely huge arms and a pale, screaming face in its chest. Lines on its body glowed red when it made another call.

Alex’s eyes shot down to the woman – she didn’t look like she was going to wake up soon. Her gaze fell back to the baton.

This was about to suck.

Snatching the baton, Alex examined it and found a small button on the side, making the baton extended to about five feet. She gulped, changing her grip so she had a firm hold on it in the center.

“Ultima please,” Alex carefully stepped over the woman, her heart pounding. “Don’t let me die horribly.”

Bella groaned.

“And don’t let that thing step on her either…”

The creature trudged forward, lifting a giant arm and swung.

It was in that split moment, Alex remembered she had no idea how to fight. There wasn’t a bad bone in her body – she only had good bones one would say. Good bones that definitely did not want to be pulverized.

She yelped and ducked, falling to the floor much like a typical girl would. She looked up, mouth ajar as that massive arm was being thrust down to kill her. The songstress rolled, popping out behind the creature.

Which, didn’t even turn to look at her, it was marching for her friend.

“Oh! No! No, no no no!” She ran back to it, futilely smacking the thing in the back. “No! You don’t want to kill her! You want to kill me!” She kept hitting it – harder and harder but it just kept moving. It was looming over the woman now, forcing Alex to instead, grasp the pole like a bat and swing as hard as she could at crystal protrusion on the monster’s shoulder.

There was a crack, and the crystal formation when flying off into the wall, shattering. The creature howled, its once dull rumble echoing through the halls. It slowly turned; almost looking like it was going to fall over, before it was facing her.

Alex stepped back, accidently shrinking the baton back to normal size. “oh… well…” Its shadow was cast over her. “I suppose, I would be angry if someone lobbed my.. shoulder… guard off too..”

The lines glowed red again, and it raised its arm.

And then she was on the floor.

And gun shots were going off.

And as she opened her eyes, she was staring at a very familiar face. He was smiling down at her, like there was nothing wrong with their current evil-fiend-of-doom predicament.

“Nova?” She questioned, and his smile turned cheeky.

“I’m making a habit of saving you.”

Alex’s eyes flicked to an incoming arm. She wasn’t very strong, but she used all of her strength to roll them out of the way, resulting in her sitting awkwardly on top of him.

He blinked a tiny amount of blush appearing on his face, while Alex’s flooded red.

“Nova,” Eden snapped, trying to get him to focus. “Ignore the cute girl for a second and help Jin.”

“Eden!”

On the opposing side of the cieth, was Markus and Nova’s hammer-wielding fiend. The huntress was slightly supporting herself on the wall a little ways back, trying to clear her head.

“Grab Bellaevis!”

“Go help them,” Markus ordered Kite, as the duo split up. He hurried to the now slowly gaining consciousness Bellaevis, who simply seemed confused. For such a large man, he nimbly made it to the other side, hurrying to the huntress’s side. “There’s more, more then we can fight. They saw me and Kite.”

Eden looked at the team.

“Let’s go!” She ordered them all back. “We have to run – there’s more!”

The group began falling back, putting as much distance between them and the monsters as they could. Admittedly, Eden had no idea where she was going, but every direction she picked seemed to be void of whatever the hell was chasing them. When they came to an old, grummy looking elevator, the group paused.

“Well…” Nova crossed his arms. “That looks promising.”

Eden frowned, staring at the contraption. It was big enough to carry them all, just… would it?

“What were those things?” Markus questioned, still carrying the out-of-it Bellaevis.

“Fiends.” Jin noted.

“No,” Eden opened the elevator doors, checking the interior. “They’re ceith.”

Alex gasped, the rest were silent.

“But no one has been out here for ages…” the songstress quietly noted. “How long have they been wandering around this temple?”

“I don’t think the fal’Cie gave the curse an end.” Markus looked at her, frowning. He looked back at Eden. “You don’t know where that goes.”

“We’re dead if we go back.” The huntress didn’t hesitate as she stepped inside and turned to face them.

“We might die down there.” Kite frowned, his voice showing a hint of displeasure.

Alex joined Eden, Jin was next, followed by Markus – leaving only Nova and Kite.

“I can guarantee you, if you stay up here, you will die when those cieth find you.” Eden crossed her eyes, looking at them both with an icy stare. “Riding the elevator to its destination gives us slightly better odds.”

Nova stepped in next, and issued for Kite to join them.

Kite didn’t say anything as he entered. Eden reached and pressed the panel, activating the lift.

It began its decent, casting them all in pure darkness.

Nova chuckled. “May the odds ever be in our favour.”

“Shut it Nova.” Eden grumbled.

He chuckled. “Yes ma’am…”

~ + Tag EVERYBODY + ~

If you do not respond to this post I will assume you do not wish to continue this RPG anymore. If that’s the case I will work you out of the story (in a violent fashion, given where we are). We’re in an elevator going deeper – one of you guys can move us along.