...Not right time to mention Gradpa's illness yet.
Despite everything that had happened so far, Sasha hadn't feel so happy in her life since her days in Russia. When Papa disappeared and Grandpa went sick, no one was there to support her until now.
Today was an intense night for Aleksandra. She felt so many conflicting emotions in so little time, she didn't even know how to react half of the time. For now, she decided to stay silent and enjoy these precious moments of peace, before having to make her wish and return "home".
Aleksandra tightly holds Asha's hand and lets her guide her in the dark.
Asha's pace picks up as the two of you head towards the tunnel's exit, and you actually have a little trouble keeping up with her; she's only walking, and yet you almost have to jog to keep pace. There's not much risk of falling in this place though, and you're just as eager to get out, so you don't stop her. That is, not until you nearly trip, stepping on a slick piece of trash hidden in the shallow water--Asha catches you, pulling you back to your feet and spinning around smoothly. You thank her, then lean against the wall and catch your breath while looking at what you tripped on.
Asha simply says
"Oh", leaning over to look at the object. She holds her soul gem close, the blue light illuminating a corroded metal brooch shaped like a stylized wing.
"That's... the grief seed" Asha says, her glowing hand moving to pick it up, but pausing at the last moment.
"Um. Maybe you should hold it." she says as she lets your hand go. You give her a quizzical look, but grab it anyway, crouching down to look at the grief seed more closely. It... doesn't look anything like a seed, more like a piece of old jewelery that was thrown down a gutter. It might have once been lustrous and beautiful, finely detailed feathers spreading down from a smooth edge, but now it's dull and dirty, oxidation obscuring the fine work, particularly around the edge. You turn it over in your hand. It has a strange clasp that you've never seen before... or maybe it's just broken. Hmm. The smoothly curved outer edge, along with the jagged array of feathers on the other edge, makes it look something like one half of a broken heart. You guess the "grief" part of the name seems accurate, at least, if Asha
is right about this being the magical remnant of the witch rather than just some random piece of trash. You transfer the grief seed to your other hand, that arm still hugging your grandfather's rifle close, and then take Asha's hand again.
Asha sets a more leisurely pace when you resume walking, probably feeling guilty about making you trip earlier. Still, it's not long before you spot someone's silhouette up ahead, slowly walking along the right side of the tunnel, very close to the wall. You point them out to Asha, and she immediately says that it's just Alida. Alida stops just after that, and it doesn't take very long for the two of you to catch up to her. Alida cuts an imposing figure, standing tall between the concrete walls and frowning unhappily as she watches the two of you. Or, no--she's watching
you in particular, seemingly lost in thought.
"Alida? Are you okay?"Alida blinks, then her eyes leave you, looking down at her left shoulder. You're not really sure what's wrong with it, but her shoulder does look strange, though Alida doesn't look pained at all. Then again, you're not sure if you've seen her react to
any injuries today, and she's certainly taken a lot, even though they're not visible now.
Do move forward slowly. Keep my club on the wall to help with orientation. If I run into the other girls, try to be very careful with the badly-needed hugs to not cripple them.
Stop upon getting to an intersection, easy enough to turn around a passageway.
(Looks like you have to press your gem against the seed to use it, so not likely to happen by bumping into it by accident.)
It's not long before you get tired of waiting; it's intensely lonely sitting in the darkness, and you're not even entirely sure Asha is in the same tunnel. You look down towards the distant circle of light, and spot Tooru some distance away, making surprisingly good time for how tired she seemed to be. You sigh, and get back up carefully, holding your club out to scrape against the wall as you start to trail after her.
You've taken approximately five steps by the time Asha's voice rings in your head, saying that she can see you. You close your eyes and take a deep breath, slightly annoyed that she gets close
just after you stop waiting for her, and then you turn around and look back the way you came. Sure enough, there's a light blue glow a short distance down the tunnel, barely illuminating Asha--and behind her, Aleksandra. You stand and watch as they slowly make their way down to you.
All in all, the two girls seem to be in pretty good shape. In fact, the only hint of a wound you see on either girl is a bit of blood on their interlocked hands, and you're pretty sure the blood is Asha's. That's something to appreciate, you think; Aleksandra is easily the most vulnerable girl in the group, and yet she managed to make it through the entire labyrinth without taking any injuries at all. You frown a little as your mind rapidly runs through the many, many injuries you and the others took, any one of which would probably have permanently killed Aleksandra if she had been the victim. Today has been long and painful, and Mina... Ugh. You shake your head. Today could have been worse. Much worse. You should just try and be happy for what
wasn't lost.
"Alida? Are you okay?"You look up at Asha, standing closer now, her face a mask of worry. She's staring at your dislocated arm, which you had practically forgotten about. It doesn't hurt at all, your magic has seen to that.
Tooru slumped, barely able to scrape together the motivation to move; now that the adrenaline was fading, the pain of the wounds she'd had Asha inflict on her was starting to come in at full force. Not to mention having lost Mina; she couldn't help but feel it was her fault. It was her bomb she'd asked the girl to deliver, and she was the one that couldn't figure out where to blast the witch and get her out in time. ". . . did we at least get the seed?" she asked, exhaustion clear in her voice.
Look for the seed for a bit, while generally ambling towards the exit.
You keep your senses open while you walk, trying to detect any traces of the grief seed, but you can't sense anything noteworthy aside from Alida, and Asha a bit further away. Not even any humans, or any traces of the overwhelming despair that had saturated the area before you entered the labyrinth. You
really hope the others stumble across it... though you're not sure what happens if you
don't collect the grief seed after killing a witch. It's not like she should be able to come back after all that, right? You hope she can't, you don't think you have it in you to go through all that
again.
You reach the exit to the tunnel without incident, or any more telepathic messages from the other girls, but immediately see a problem. The exit has a series of heavy metal bars blocking it, recessed about five feet from the actual mouth of the tunnel. It's not exactly a
major problem, you're sure even a single one of your heavier talismans could blow up the entire grating, but it's another obstacle during what has already been a very long day. Also, thinking about it, detonating a talisman might be a really bad idea while underground.
While you're considering what to do about the bars blocking the exit, a small pink feline scrambles up over the lip of the tunnel, then happily trots over to the bars and sits down in front of them. Pumsy looks up at you happily, his golden eyes shining.
"Oh, Tooru! Yay, you survived!"
((Next update Monday or something, I don't know, I'm tired. Sheets haven't changed beyond Aleksandra holding some dead girl's rusty soul, yay.))
Author
Topic: Pumsy's Seeds - A ~MAGICAL GIRL~ game inspired by PMMM (Read 148943 times)