Vearan

Broken and half-crumbled walls began to stand up from the cobblestones as Roku went along. But, none of them held an exit. All paths lead to new paths. He sighed quietly. Would the ruins ever end? He bit his lip. At least the terrain was changing. He paused as he entered a mostly intact, large hallway. He began to hear faint movements.... and then... Shouting? Fighting? He crouched, putting his hand to the ground.
No vibrations. And, the ground seemed somewhat... hallow, in this section of the ruins. Was he on an upper floor? But there had been dirt below the cobblestones before. He began to suspect that possibly the ruins had been built into a large hill, or possibly into the side of a mountain. This structure was surely complex. Roku straightened, clenching his teeth against a pain in his back from an injury he had yet to see, and yet to really care about. If he could move, it would be fine. He had no time to worry about something like pain. He pulled the empty sword sheath from his waist, the ties undoing themselves easily, and started knocking the tip down on the cobblestones in front of him. It was best not to take any chances in this uneasy structure.
Finally, he began moving again, keeping his sheath out in front of him to be sure not to step on any loose cobblestones. After only a short time, his sheath knocked a loose one. The stone dropped suddenly, and he back off quickly, watching and covering his ears and the structure shifted and a large patch of the hallway fell to the ground below, making plenty of noise as it hit. Roku's body shook, his head aching as if the weight of that patch of floor had fallen upon his head wound, his ears ringing. He stood for a moment like that, his sheath on the ground to free his hands for covering his ears, his eyes shut tight. Taking a few deep breaths, he opened his eyes and watched the unmoving gap in the floor, slowly lowering his hands and grabbing the sword sheath. The hole gaped from wall to wall, and below, the ground seemed to far to drop down without injuring himself. He figured his best chance was to try and pass over the gap.
The hole was narrower at the edge, and Roku tapped the stones on either side. They seemed intact, but thin. Too much pressure, and he was sure they would give way. Getting a short running start, he swiftly leaped over the narrowest part of the gap.
The cobblestone at the edge where his foot hit fell to the ground beneath him, and he topped onto the floor just past the gap. Roky winced as the cobblestone hit the ground below, but breathed a sigh of releif that he had not fallen along with it. He stood and brushed himself of the dirt that had gathered on him, and after eyeing the path for a moment, he began walking again, using his sheath to continue to check the ground. That had been a close call...

Roku took a deep breath inward as he came to the end of the hallway. A large tower-like structure ran in what seemed to be endless both up and down. Broken stairs and steps went both ways, and entrances into every direction stretched from the stairs, or, where steps were probably supposed to go. The gaps from step to step seemed almost too great to pass. Roku almost wondered if going this way had been in vain. He crouched, poking his head over the edge and listening to some faint echoes. From the way the sounds were coming, whoever it was came from one of the floors off a lower branch. He probably heard echoes of echoes, but if he focused enough, he could probably follow them. Roku lowered himself onto the closest step, and lowered himself three more steps down, until the next step was too far away to reach easily. He crouched, and reached out with his sheath, measuring the distance. This was going to take longer than he had thought...

A small girl rested upon the hard cobblestone in one section of the ruins. Nanase's body was slightly worse for wear but she appeared to be without much injury, though her sleep was far from restful. Slowly, Nanase's eyes opened to not only the dark interior but to a shattering pain in the back of her head. Gritting her teeth, Nana swallowed a scream as the pain washed through her head for a few seconds before settling back down to a dull roar. It felt as if someone had clubbed her over the head with a stick but she couldn't feel any bumps or blood. It wasn't until after this first pain had subsided that Nanase was able to take a good look around her. "Where am I...." she asked slowly. For a few seconds she seemed to just lay there, staring at the hallway in front of her. It wasn't long before a startling revelation came to the poor girl that caused her to jump into a sitting position, a movement she soon regretted as a wall of pain from the back of her head almost sent her back to the ground. This time she barely managed to hold in a scream as her teeth bit into her lower lip, drawing a bit of blood in an attempt to stop from screaming. A few tears were glistening in her eyes as the pain began to recede slowly, but that wasn't the real cause of the tears."Who am I? Nana said quietly as a few tears fell to the ground at her knees.
It took a few minutes for Nanase to collect herself before she could begin to work out something to do. She had vigorously tried to recall any sort of memory, even some little scrap in an attempt to recover anything about herself, but all she managed to pull up was of her standing in a field or a plain, and then blackness. Nanase was a calm girl normally, but this was straining her ability to stay collected. She was alone and scared in an alien environment without any knowledge of well, anything. Slowly though, Nana’s shocked expression turned into one of mild curiosity and defiance. If she didn’t know who she was, then she was just going to have to find out.

Standing slowly to her feet so as to avoid a repeat of the earlier pain, Nanase began to examine her surroundings more closely. She was in some sort of large ruin. Despite its age it seemed in relatively good condition but also impossibly big. The ruin seemed to stretch on indefinitely in all directions and if she looked up she could see a large cracked ceiling that let in some light through its crack, but it was much too high to reach. Nanase let out a small sigh as she failed to find an easy exit from the ruins and leaned lightly against a nearby pillar to try and think of what to do next.
Alright, think brain. I need to talk this one step at time. So what if I don’t remember anything, I need to get to a safe place. What would someone do in this predicament… Ah, food and water, I need to find food and water first.

Nana gave a small smile, even if she didn’t know who she was; the girl still had her wits about her. After a few more seconds, Nanase seemed to have gathered her courage a bit and set off down the hallways of the ruin. Though she was a little scared, her immense curiosity about the ruin took hold of her and her mission to find water quickly turned into studying the ruin. It was dark, broken, and easy to get lost, but it the old grey stones were also somewhat beautiful in their own way. As Nanase continued down the hallway, she began to hear some sort of noise coming from her right. It was almost a whisper of a whisper, but it sounded almost like voices. An inkling of fear sliced into her heart. It was possible that she had been knocked out and kidnapped and that her captors had placed her in this ruin. What if these voices were those of her captors? The thought left a bad taste in her mouth but it made her pause. Nanase shook her head though; no she had to go find the voices. It was just as possible that they belonged to other people that might be in the same position she was in. It was a stretch, but perhaps it was the truth.

As Nanase continued on down the hallway, she began to see other old doorways opening to still more passages appearing on her left and right. Many of them were almost pitch dark and she didn’t really want to go into those. After passing for such dark rooms on her right though, Nanase finally found one that was lit by a good sized hole in the roof. The room appeared was big and surprisingly empty, all that seemed to be in it was pillars that held the roof up. She quickly entered the room, her pace speeding up at the thought of possibly encountering other people. Perhaps they could even answer her questions about where she was and more importantly who she was.

As she neared the far end of the room, the whispers started up again. It was still impossible to make out what was being said, but she could definitely tell that it was indeed another person’s voice. Nanase slowed to try and listen to the words, to catch even some hint at what was being said, she even closed her eyes, thinking that perhaps it would help her concentrate on the voices better, this was a mistake. Nanase, not paying any attention at all to where she was walking, ran straight into a weakened wooden beam that was reinforcing part of the wall. The rotten old wood was not able to withstand the force from the collision and with a loud clattering it fell over on its side. Worse though was that the now freestanding wall could no longer support itself and began tumbling over on top of Nanase. The young girl let out a terribly loud scream and tried to run away from the falling rocks, but the wall caught her. A large stone impacted the young girl’s back causing her to scream out again and close her eyes, fearing that this was how her life was going to end. She could feel rocks slamming against her and cutting her flesh, but finally the noise stopped and all that was left was the pounding of her own heart. Slowly, Nanase opened her eyes to find herself trapped in a small bubble under the rubble. She tried to scream again but her voice was choked up with dust and her entire body was aching. It seemed all she could do was curl up in a small ball and pray for help to come and the pain to leave.

Talon heard a crashing sound, and his attention was torn from the girl on the floor to see that part of the ceiling in a room nearby had caved in. He had a gut feeling that someone was there.
Instinctively he bolted out of the room, knowing he wouldn't be far away. There was a massive pile of rubble off to a side, and blocking another pathway. Under some of it, he thought he heard whimpers, or coughing. Someone was definitely under there.
"Shoot, hold on, I'll get you out." He said, hoping the person was still alive. Immediately he started throwing the rocks off of the mysterious unfortunate individual. It was a... girl. Young, too young. At least she had the sense to cover her head. Talon freed her head as quickly as he could. Every rock he lifted held a substantial weight- she should have died, but the rocks had fallen in such a position to prevent it from happening.
She was cute, in a little-kid way, with a head of reddish hair. She looked absolutely terrified, but glad to see him. "I'll get you out, don't worry." He assured her, then proceeded to move the rocks off of her. The way they had fallen was fortunate a great deal for her- instead of crushing her they had entombed her.
"Come on, grab my hand." He clasped both of her wrists and yanked her torso free. Then he wrapped his arms around that and loosened her with ease. Not wanting to risk crushing the poor girl further, he carried her in both arms to the room where the other girl was laying and set her down.

Finally finding the strength to get back up, Alaric groaned. He only had a few scrapes here and there but nothing life threatening. Alaric turned his head as something shiny caught his eye. There on the ground was the guard's long sword. It was nothing fancy but it still looked as if it could do the job. As Alaric lifted the weapon, he found that it was quite heavy for him. "Talon could use this." Not far from where the long sword lay was the dagger that the guard had also dropped. 'I wonder why he didn't bother to retrive them?' Alaric went over and slipped the dagger into his left boot. In that instant there was a loud crashing sound. It came from where Talon and the girl was. "Crap!" Alaric sprinted back as fast as he could. There was dust and rubble everywhere and he coughed as he called out. "Talon! Are you there?" His foot touched something. Looking down he saw the wounded girl from earlier. Alaric sighed with relif and he laid the sword and dagger down beside her. He spotted Talon not far away, comming towards them with what looked like a little girl in his arms. He laid her down next to the wounded girl and the girl seemed to be terrified. Alaric looked from the girl to Talon. "Are you alright? It sounded like the whole ceiling came down."

Nana was frozen where she lay curled up, afraid that if she moved a single rock that the ruble supporting her bubble would crumble away and she would be crushed. From outside the pile of rubble, she could hear a voice but she was so shell shocked that she couldn't understand what he was saying. It was only a few moments since she first heard the voice when a sudden light burst through Nanase's would be tomb. Her eyes were still wide with shock and her dusty cheeks were wet with fallen tears. From the opening in the rocks peered a large and well muscled man. Truthfully, he looked a little scary, but the fact that he was digging her out was more than enough to overcome her fear. Plus, he looked like a nice person, if a little scary. "I'll get you out, don't worry." He said as he continued to throw rocks off of the rubble pile. He had a deep voice but it was comforting to her. Nana nodded but she still couldn't seem to speak yet.

As more of the rocks came free Nanase tried to move a bit closer to him but as she moved the rubble pile seemed to quiver, shooting a fresh dose of fear into her heart. She squeezed her eyes shut, sending up a silent prayer to the heavens that she make it out of the ruins alive. "Come on, grab my hand." the man's voice pierced through her mind and as she opened her eyes she could see his hand reaching into the rubble waiting for her to grab hold. Nana tentatively extended her hand to touch his, but her reach just didn't make it to him. Nana pulled her arm back, she was so scared to move but the pile shifted a little more and in a rush of adrenaline she shot towards the man's hand and grabbed his wrist firmly with both of her hands. With one pull the man had her halfway out of the rocks, but her legs were still trapped under the rubble. The large man quickly wrapped his arms around her torso and pulled her out carefully. Tears were still streaming down Nana's face and she was quivering in fear, but she did her best to keep herself from full out crying. The man wrapped her gently in his muscled arms and carried her to a room a little farther down the hallway.

Upon entering the room, the larger man placed her down next to a very pretty older girl. Nana was horrified to see a large bloodstained bandage on her side. Her face paled a little more, but Nanase was no stranger to blood, after all she had gotten herself into some pretty bad situations before. Nanase was still shaking from the incident of almost being buried alive when received another little jump as another man, this one smaller then her rescuer, came running into the room asking if he was alright. Nana quickly recovered from the little jump though and slowly hugged her knees to her chest to try and stop the shaking. She made a few more attempts to say something before finally she managed to struggle out a shaky "Th...Thank you" to the large man who had rescued her. "I.... Who..." Nanase was stuttering trying to come up with something to ask or say or anything. Finally she decided to just ask for a drink to help calm her down "D...do you have a..any wa..water" she managed to shake out of her quivering voice.

Roku's head picked up as a scream cut through the silence. It had been easy to hear, with his hearinging and the acoustics in the ruins. The scream came from aproximately the same direction the murmers came from. He waited a moment, listening, concentrating. After a second of short silence, more murmers came from that way. He figured that must be the way to go... But that meant going down these tretcherous stairs. He stood, tying his sheath back to his waist and examining his surroundings one more time. His eyes widened for a mere second, spotting his way down. He quickly stuck his fingered into the crevises between the cobblestones that made up the tower wall, and found footing in the indentations where strairs had once sat. His bent arms shook, and he couldn't help but give a quick peek down at the long drop down. Biting down on his lip, and trying to draw his thoughts from all the ache in his body, he started pacing himself from grip to grip, inching along the wall slowly. His ribcage thrusted tiredly, sweat beaded on his forehead. On any other day, he would have had barely a problem moving his light body across the wall, but he was injured, he was tired. Needless to say, he was having trouble.
Finally, his foot came to the next step, and he nearly collapsed on top of it. He let his knees buckle and allowed himself to sit on the step for a moment. The stress on his body had taken much of his energy, and he had a feeling that the wound on his back must have gotten worse. Roku put his left hand to his back, trying to see if perhaps he could rub away the tense, raw feeling. But even just touching the back of his shirt sent shock up his spine, and his hand came back moist with blood. I... I must be bleeding, he thought to himself, gritting his teeth and whiping the blood on his pants. For a moment, he just stared at the next few steps downward, rubbing the 6 on the back of his hand. He stood, fighting the pain that seemed to echo through his body with each movement. I can still move, he told himself. show no pain. No weaknesses.
He finally stood and began lowering himself down the steps, keeping his fingers in the grooves on the walls in case of any sort of collapse. His body was still a bit shakey, and he only hoped he could make it to the next set of steps without doing that again. Four stairs down he came across the next gap, but this one happened to only be one missing stair, and Roku managed to hop across, the only trouble he had being that he landed on his knees.
Panting, he leaned his back against the wall, staring down at the gap and watching the endless fall down he could have taken. This was begining to be too much. He'd made scarcely any progress. Roku bit his lip, trying to avoid the thoughts of what could have happened if he fell.
He stood, trying to stop his heavy breathing and his shaking. show no weakness, show no weakness, show no weakness, kept running through his head. He couldn't understand why, but for some reason, he felt afraid to go against the thought in his head. But, what was so bad about taking a break? He shook his head, tensing his body so that his shaking would stop, and started on his way again. three, four, five, six steps, and he finally came across the next entrance. He lept the two-step distance to the door and collapsed on the ground with a loud "THUD" paired with the step he'd been standing on falling to it's own doom, crashing on other steps as it fell. The noise hurt his ears, and his last bits of strength were used to draw his hands up over his ears....
But suddenly... his vision faded to blackness. He'd reached his limet after stressing himself like that...

First opening his eyes, Lynx saw nothing but darkness. About a minute later, his eyes adjusted and he was able to see even the finest detail. Still laying on the ground, staring at the ceiling, he tried looking back into his memory, not even remembering who he was. Digging deeper, Lynx only saw a few images of blood inside a house, with a man and a wife. The wife the looked at him and said, "[inaudible]...go...escape". As soon as she finished, she collapsed to the floor, with a slash driven down her back and blood pouring out of it. Lynx then looked to the side and saw the the man was on the floor, with the same slash driven down his back. He then stopped trying to remember, it was too much blood for him, he almost puked.

Trying to standup is where Lynx found the greatest vein of pain, his head started pounding as if someone were pounding a hammer into it. With each strike, he fell slightly more towards the ground. "It seems as if I'll never get up", he said to himself. As soon as he said that, he heard footsteps start pacing themselves towards him. He then sat back down trying not to hurt himself more. Lynx squinted my eyes, trying to make out the shadow beside the wall,but then as the footsteps grew nearer, he saw a little grey mouse scurrying towards him. "You must be the one making all that noise little fella...", he said as if the mouse could understand him. The mouse then quickened its pace, but it only scurried past Lynx. He only shrugged my shoulders towards the escaping mouse, "At least you know who you are...".

When the mouse left Lynx's view, he glanced around the room he was in. Cobblestone, and weed was everywhere. As he examined the room more closely, he realized that the room, were part of ruins. The age that the ruins were in, and the fact that they were still intact meant that someone was here before, not too long ago, and kept this place holding together. Also the way the hallways crisscrossed meant that someone wanted Lynx to easily get lost. He heard a small whisper, faint enough that if Lynx were to make the slightest movement, his clothes would muffle the whisper. The longer Lynx calmly sat there in the middle of the room, the more he was able to hear whispers and slight thuds. For the moment, he ignored them, but instead started looking around the room again. Lynx then looked down and laid down on his stomach. He then inched his feet up to his hands, and when his feet were as close as they could become, he then took his hands off the ground, slowly bringing them up to his waist. When Lynx saw that he was already standing up, he realized he had to find out if those whispers where from the kidnappers that brought him here, or others like him.

"I'm alright." Talon nodded to Alaric in confirmation. He noticed the poor guy looked just as shaken up as the little girl he rescued. "How about yourself?"

He realized the girl must be just as confused and terrified as the rest of them; the expression on her face when she asked for water was not a hair short of heartbreaking. The voice came back, but he didn't listen to it. Talon sat down by the girl and wrapped an arm around her. "We don't have any water, the best thing you can do is not talk. Just keep swallowing your spit." His eyes went to the other woman, still injured on the ground. He noticed the woman who went with him was gone. One look at Alaric confirmed his fear.
Failure. The word burned in the back of his skull from that soundless voice, followed by a stinging pain. You FAILED to PROTECT THEM! Followed by intense soreness in his back, right were his tattoo was. If he wasn't already sitting, Talon would be brought to his knees from the pain.
In effort to ease himself, he ran a hand through the young girl's hair and offered her a smile. Then he turned back to Alaric.

"We need to find some water. Or find someone who knows were some water is. I can carry her if she doesn't wake up." He pointed with his eyes to the woman on the floor. He wasn't sure how moving would affect her, but he couldn't just let her potentially die right there.

Yuurei let out a small "roo" as he came across a passed out boy [Roku] at the entrance to one part of the ruin. He nudged the boy's head a moment, then began walking again, not waiting for the boy to possibly wake up. Yuurei was in no mood to wait. He smelled more people. He trotted down corridoors, his heavy feet making a gentle thud on the ground. It was only about a few minutes before he cam across the source of his curiosity - a small group of humans. But remembering the arrow in his side, he hesitated, handing in the shadows and lying down in over grown weeds, almost blending with the shadows, if it weren't for his head poking out from the top of the grass. Unless someone were looking, they probably wouldn't have noticed him.
And that was normally the way he liked it. It allowed him to avoid confrontation unless it was safe. Years of attacks and guards gave him knoledge of when to wait for the cost to be safe. He watched for a while, cocking his head from side to side. A few seemed to be injured, and auras seemed to be low. He felt an urge to run over and say hello, but caution took over. He stood in a half-standing position, tempted to go into the room they were in. But he waited, letting out soft, anxious "roo"s and grunts. He wanted to visit them so much. But he would wait just another few minutes...

~~~~

Roku moaned quietly, slowy coming back to consiousness once again. how could i have let myself pass out again? he questioned, beating himself up on the inside for being so weak. He struggled to pull himself up, and leaned against the closest wall. He panted for a moment trying to find sounds of footsteps, anything, whoever might have woken him up. But whoever it was must have been long gone. He listened for a while, trying to find the source of sound he'd been following earlier, but he could hear nothing over his own panting. He bit down hard on his lip, trying to regulate his breathing. He needed to use all the time he had to find an exit, not worry about a small injury or two - though he truely had a terrible injury.
He started moving regardless of knowledge of a direction, trying to get his head back as he walked. He obviously wasn't doing to well, and that was reflected in his lack of preparation from entering this maze of the ruins. It was so different than the surroundings he'd awoken in. But at least the meant he was making progress. Roku paused every once in a while, catching his breath and listening. At least he was begining to hear murmers and noise again. He wouldn't be completely lost. But who knew how long it would take him to find the source in this condition.

After unknowingly standing up, Lynx decided to trudge off in random directions, only turning when he felt he needed to, and failing to notice arrows engraved into the walls. With his head still throbbing, Lynx only took small and careful steps, making close to no sound at all. Any louder and he would collapse from the immense amount of pain. As if reading his mind, a cobblestone below him, which he had just now been stepped on, had inched its way towards the bottom of the shaft below, making a loud boom as it hit the end. Lynx fell to his knees, avoiding the hole on the way down, and started to cover his ears in pain, and shouted, "DARKNESS HURTS!". He then fell back on his back, letting go of his ears and simply staring at the ceiling, still feeling the agonizing pain in his head. Why had he shouted that? He surely didn't mean to say that on purpose, but some part of him had. Was it his memories? Or was it simply a habit from the time before he woke up in these ruins?

Lynx now felt stupid, falling on his back simply because cobblestone made too much noise. The pain from the cobblestone started to fade away, but his head still hurt from when he woke up in this hellhole. Reciting what he yelled before in his mind, making sure not to forget it, for it might prove to be important later on. After several lines of repetition, and still laying on his back, Lynx looked around the hallway he was in. An arrow that was engraved in the wall, started to glow white. Surely this wasn't normal, but then again, what was normal? He glanced up at the glowing arrow, but felt no need to take note, or even follow it. Suddenly, a great wave of exhaustion swept upon Lynx, and he found trouble moving or keeping his eyes open. Only one thought had crossed his mind before he entered the realm of dreams: Help.

Alaric nodded. Something was wrong. The other girl wasn't here. Where had she gone? Alaric was about to bring it up but by the look on Talon's face, he already knew. Getting to his feet he shook off the thought. If they were to survive, they would have to focus on the tasks at hand alone and not about casualties. Besides, the girl on the ground was looking worse every second, and the little girl looked extremely thirsty and tired. Talon also looked parched and his own lips were cracked and dry. If they didn't find water fast, it would only be a matter of time. "I agree. We have to get moving." Picking up the sword and knife, he handed the sword to Talon. "At least we can protect ourselves now." Looking to the girl, he held the knife out to her. "Do you know how to use one of these?"

Chain sauntered in a forward direction, clearly not having any motivation or clue as to what he is doing, or where he is going. For some reason, he didn't care. Chain's thoughts seemed to be extremely bland and small, which frightened him. If he continued with the way he is thinking, he would probably just give up before he got to the exit, which scared him. He wanted to live, to move on with his life, whatever that life may be. Maybe his first priority was trying to remember who he was, or how he even got there. He let his concious focus on his brain, trying desperately to push past that beautiful, simple field... but it was like a massive barrier, blocking any intrusions. It was an oxymoron, if he could remember what that meant. Something about contradicting.

Chain snapped back to reality when he heard a constant dripping noise. At first, he thought the sound was merely to lower his mood even farther, make him annoyed and saddened. That was, until he found the source of the dripping: A small pool of water was being fed a dripping bit of water. He knew he should be overjoyed, as he was dreadfully thirsty, but for some reason, black thoughts took over his mind, pessimistic thoughts. It was as if he knew that it wouldn't be enough for him to survive, or it would prolong his measely life. He rejected these dark thoughts, but as soon as he reached the small pool, he accepted them: They were right after all. Even if he drank some of this water, it wouldn't mean he would survive. But he knelt down, his chains rattling against the cobblestone, and took a little bit of water. It was funny, since he didn't need that much to feel satisfied. He lapped a little more, than stood back up in his shakey manor. Time to move forward. Even though there was no point.

Chain's thoughts seemed to echo off of the dark, dismal walls: Bouncing back even if a little light of hope tried to push out. He looked back at his wrists and studied them to preoccupy himself. The cuffs encompassed his wrists, as if he were a prisoner that should be chained to the wall. The chains themselves were no more than 8 inches, with the final one bent horribly. He didn't know why they were attached to him, but he didn't care. He couldn't do anything about them anyway. But it was because of his somber attitude that he failed to realize a trap in front of him: Arrows were in the wall, with a simple tripwire to fling them at the unlucky person. And Chain just had to be occupied. He felt a small tug at his feet, and a twang to his left. He looked to see 3 arrows flying at him. His mind was yelling at him to run, scream, do anything, but his body stayed put. Not out of fear, but out of a strange, twisted acceptance. And he was lucky. Only one hit him, in the side of the thigh.

Instead of screaming, Chain grimaced in pain, gritting his teeth, and let out a low, loud groan in pain. It just seemed to come naturally, as if he had done this before. It scared him to think like that, so he limped forward, continuing on his way, possibly hearing people up ahead, but it could have been just the haze of pain.

Charlotte's eyes burst open. The second she breathed, the agony washed over her. Charlotte was about to scream in pain, but she stopped herself, and quickened her breathing. Her vision was doubled and her head ached. Questions swam through her head, desperate for answers. Where am I? How did I get here? Why do I feel like I've been ran over?. Charlotte's hand went to her head, and she groaned aloud. That brought another question to her mind. Am I alone? Charlotte thought back. Where had she been? What had she been doing? She couldn't remember a thing. Except one. A meadow, full of grass but empty in life. There isn't a single living creature there. But what use was that, when Charlotte was here, inside a stone room, lying on the floor and withering in agony.

Eventually the pain subdued. Charlotte sat up and got a good look around. The whole room was made of stone. Charlotte, deciding she wasn't alone, stood up, gritted her teeth against the pain and headed out to find some decent human conversation.

Talon wrapped his hand around the hilt of the sword and froze in place. The voice was speaking again, but he couldn't understand the words it was speaking- more pride. More duty. He shook the sensation away.
When Alaric offered the knife to the little girl, he immediately wanted to take the knife from his hands- the girl couldn't have been more than twelve!- but then he decided that if, heaven forbid, they become separated, at least the girl would have something to protect herself with.
He analyzed the woman on the ground with his eyes. Curious, again, he thought about her. What her name would be if she had one, if she had a family- she was young, too, only a few years younger than he. And beautiful. The pain came back like a brick wall colliding with his head. The voice yelled loudly in his head, but he couldn't understand the words.
Finally, Talon settled with gripping his temples to subdue the hurt and looked at Alaric, "Can you carry her, Alaric? I don't think I"ll be able to carry her and wield a sword.

Alaric nodded and knelt by the girl. Her breathing was uneven and raspy and the wound was showing signs of infection. This was bad. At this rate, it wouldn't be long until...... He shook the thought away. They would save her. They had to. Alaric reached down to touch the girls hand but as soon as his hand came into contact with her's, his vision went white and he cried out in surprise.

In an instant he was in a strange meadow by what looked like the sea. The meadow was atop a large cliff and there was a person in front of him. 'W-where am I?' Alaric looked and the figure was that of a girls. She was wearing a short white dress and a wide brimmed hat sat atop her head. But for some reason, Alaric could not see her face. The girl reached out to him. "Alaric, do you love me?" Alaric's mouth opened but he was not controlling his body. "Yeah!" 'What is this? I can't control my body! Is this some flashback?' The sea breeze blew away the girls hat and Alaric felt that she was smiling at him. "Well then promise me one thing. Make me the happiest girl in the world!" His vision went white again. This time, images flashed past his eyes. Fire, a small village, suffering, a girl screaming at him to run, to survive, blood, chaos, crying, people dying. Alaric couldn't take it anymore and he let out a cry of agony "Stop! Stop it! Make it Stop!" Opening his eyes, he was back in the dark tunnel. He was on his knees clutching his head between his hands sweating and shaking uncontrollably. 'W-what was that? My memory? Her memory? W-who was I before all of this?'

Yuurei jolted up suddenly, giving a slight jump, and making a good thud. If the humans that he was spying on were violent, they would probably attack him now that he had given himself away, assuming that they were being vigilant enough to hear him or spot him pop out of his hiding spot. His ears flew foreward as his animal senses picked up on a scream. Perhaps two. How exciting! So many people within the ruins that he normally shared only with a few other odd creature. But most were hostile, and offered him no chances for socialization. His ears went back to their usual spot, layed back and not listening as hard. But what of this group? So close and awake, and lively. He wanted so much to say hello to these four. He grunted and roo-ed, looking into the room and looking at the path that would take him to one of the screamers. Which to choose? It was a bit much for his animal mind to handle.
He perked up, watching one of the humans in the group have a minor breakdown, shaking and sweating. Something was troubling this human. What had happened? He wondered. He took a few steps foreward, but hesitated. What if these people attacked him? He stood for a moment, considering his other option again. Perhaps he should go check the screamers first. Yuurei let out a small grunt. What to do... What to do...

~~~

Roku paused, leaning against one wall and staring down at the trail of blood leading straight to him. His back must have been bleeding worse than he expected, and probably getting worse as he went, due to the strain he'd put his body under. He let his eyes wander to get a courner-of-the-eye look at the wall behind him, watching his blood smear the walls and drip down to the floor. No wonder why his back felt so wet. So raw. It was. He tried not to think about it, but it was hard. if only i could get a good look at it, he thought. the would could be anything. I would know how to handle it if i knew whether it were a skinned wound or just a deep cut... but... it's not as if i could take care of it myself. It's in a place i can't quite reach.
Roku sighed, rubbing the 6 that sat on the back of his hand. That little number 6 seemed to be the only thing he could rely on in these ruins. It was old, it was permanent. He knew it, even at this time when he didn't. It was a clue into whoever he might be. And that was enough for him to be a comforting sight.
He heard a close scream suddenly, and started moving. It wasn't the same as some of the one's he had heard earlier, but it reminded him that he had to get moving. He couldn't spend too much time resting. He had to hide any and all weaknesses. A voice in the back of his head told him to keep a weapon ready, and he subconsiously put a hand to his chest, where the breast pocket of an overcoat or perhaps a hidden pocket of a cloak might have been. He of course, came up empty handed and settled for placing his hand on his empty sword sheath. What had he been looking for? He wondered. But pushed the thoughts away, he needed to focus. He just hoped that there would be no more screams. Any more any closer than the last would surely cause him enough pain to make him drop to his knees. Maybe even pass out. After all, his body was already weakened. All it needed was a single blow.

The pain just didn’t want to go away and Rina was still unable to tell who or what was standing in front of her. Her vision was still blurry and she started to get a little thirsty. Rina could feel how the wound was just getting worse and worse and she was at the verge of passing out again. She wanted to resist but after a few minutes she wanted to belief that she was in good hands and that she didn’t have to worry about passing out again. She knew that it was a bit selfish but she really wanted to get rid of the pain just for a little while. And not much later, she passed out again.
Everything went black before her eyes followed by a very bright light lighting the black area up. Rina could now see the village again. It looked a lot like the village from her previous dream but this one seemed to be older as if she went into the past. She could see a few young kids playing with each other except for one little girl. She seemed to be all alone. The girl looked very sad. In fact she looked so sad that Rina wanted nothing else then to walk to her and talk to her but for some reason she couldn’t move. It became around evening in her dream and the girl was still sitting alone till suddenly a boy went to her and started to talk to her. The depressive sad look on the girl disappeared and a smile appeared on her face. Together with the boy the girl walked away, probably heading home. The light disappeared for a short moment to make place for another light. This time Rina could see a market. A lot of happy people walked around this market and it seemed to be like a normal day but then suddenly a loud noise could be heard from a lot of people playing on the drums. The people stopped with whatever they were doing just to look at a big parade of knights with in front of them the king. Rina could see how the people where getting out of the way of the knights so that they could move freely through the city. In the middle of the market the parade stopped. The king was about to say something when suddenly an arrow was fired into his direction but luckily for the king, a knight jumped before the king protecting the his life. But instead of killing the king, the knight was now killed and panic awakened between the villagers. “A raid!” Someone shouted and not much later another army attacked the little village causing the village to become a battlefield. Rina looked at how people where just being killed as if there life meant nothing and Rina wanted nothing else to run away from this horrible dream and a moment the light disappeared again.
Rina wondered why she had those strange dreams. Where those memories of her past? But almost immediately after this thinking of that she denied that idea. “I can’t have lived such a horrible life do I?“ She thought hoping that she was right about her denial. No other light showed up so Rina fell into a deep, deep dreamless sleep.
When Rina came back to consciousness, she could hear an extra voice. It seemed to be from a very young person though the voice wasn’t very loud, Rina could still clearly hear it. The voice was asking for water. This made Rina remember her thirst for water and her pain. Out of what Rina heard, she could tell that the small group wanted to search for water. Rina felt a relieving feeling going through her body by the thought of finally getting something to drink. Then she felt a hand grapping her hand. They probably wanted to lift Rina up to take her with them but then Rina realized something. She had to think of that young new girl she heard a moment ago. The girl sounded scared and thirsty… If they would take Rina with them, it would take even longer for this girl to get something to drink. Rina then slowly but finally opened her eyes and with all her power she had left she pushed the hand on her hand gently away. “Don’t worry about me… Just leave me alone.” She tried to talk as loud as she could but even that was only a silent whispering.

"Alaric, you're fine. Breathe." Talon grabbed his new friend's shoulders solidly, locked eyes with him. "Well, we're still lost and without water." He added lightly. Whatever Alaric saw could have been something that struck his memory, triggered by when he touched the wounded girl. But it wouldn't help them get out of these damned ruins, so dwelling on it was no use for any of them. They had to move.
Talon picked up one of the rocks that could mark the stone walls and started walking in whatever direction he could fit through. He marked the walls with arrows pointing in the directions he already went, so he could find out if any passages led in circles. It was a long, tiring process. They went through the same passages a few times in order for him to be certain of his bearings. He began developing a floor map of the area, very primitive, mind you, but it kept him calm. To focus on something. Getting these people to safety. Protecting someone.
In his heavy concentration, he barely picked up the uttered words of a girl. Immediately, he turned to the young one at his side, and realized that he had been keeping hold of her hand while he went through the ruins. "Did you say something?" He asked her with as best of a comforting smile as he could. When the girl said no, Talon turned to the injured one in Alaric's arms.
"Did she say something?" He asked more firmly, hoping he wasn't becoming delusional.
"...Just leave me alone." She muttered, hardly audible. Talon became frantic- she was dying, slipping into death's sweet grasp. He couldn't let that happen.
Just then, a person emerged from the shadows of a passage. He was lanky, like Alaric, but his hair was lighter and he seemed more sickly. One thing about him stood out to Talon more than anything else: a tattoo of the number 6 on his hand. A fiery hatred suddenly erupted from his core. It was the voice, yelling at Talon in words he didn't understand. He realized through another jolt of pain, that he had squeezed Nana's hand, and he quickly let it go, pressing his temples again.
No. He hasn't done anything. Talon argued with the voice. The voice was dumbfounded, then went silent. Like a cat awaiting to pounce. The pain subsided, and Talon realized he was on his knees and everyone was staring at him. Breathing heavily, he locked eyes with the new individual. "Are you alright?" He asked in a low voice.

Roku's eyes flashed open as he noticed a group advancing on him. He backed up until his back hit the nearest wall, his wound spreading blood against the stone. His hands pulled the empty sword sheath from his waiste and pointed it weakly at the group.
"Are you alright?" A strong-looking man had asked. It seemed like an innocent enough question, but something about this person in particular wanted to make him hide or attack. Though, in his state, the first instict was hiding.
Slowly, shakily, Roku lowered the sheath, holding it off at his side, but not letting go.
"I'm fine," he said, his voice a bit of a shock to him, being the first time he heard it. It was quiet, but audible. In a crowd, it would be the type of voice not to be heard. "I can still move, i'm fine. I'm fine..." He stepped away from the wall, strying to stand on his own. He tensed his body, trying to hide any pain, but he'd stepped away from the wall. He'd revealed the blood spot that his wound had left on the cool gray stone.
Roku Bit the inside of his lip, tying his sheath back to his waiste. "Your group doesn't seem to be fairing well, though." He noted, looking at one girl who was gravely wounded. But his eyes soon went back to studying this one particular person that his mind told him to stay away from. Fighting wasn't an answer, but hiding seemed like such a chicken move. He had no reason to feel such a way about this person he'd never met. But something struck him about the way this person. The way he held himself, the way he looked. No, no. It was rediculous. Roku tried his best to focus on other issues, trying to push the thoughs to the back of his mind. But he kept his fingers gripped around the sword sheath, his subconsious telling him to stay careful.

Around him seemed to be nothing but darkness, and he simply stood there, floating. Lynx had been in this world for quite a bit of time, not knowing where he was at first but later hearing voices, he realized that he was in his own subconscious. Now the voices he heard didn't seem ordinary, but they had a particular sense about them, a sense that he could trust them. Lynx couldn't understand the voices yet, but if he listened closely, he could make out what the voices were saying. He heard a man say, "Did she say something?". Faintly, a delicate woman whispered, "Don’t worry about me… Just leave me alone". A few seconds pass and the same man asks, "Are you alright?". Another man, one with a much stronger tone, says, "I can still move, I'm fine. I'm fine...". The stronger man only said, "Your group doesn't seem to be fairing well, though".

"Where are these voices coming from?", Lynx asked out into the dark. Strangely, his own voice echoed back, "Outside my dear Lynx...but it's not everyday you get to be trapped here with me". As the echoed voice said that, a man looking like Lynx started walking on the abyss and towards Lynx. The man however had black hair instead of white hair, and his left eye was red, although his right eye was still white. Lynx asked the strange man, "W-Who are you". The man only stared at Lynx. A moments later he looked down at his feet and started laughing. After he calmed down, he said, "This is perfect...You don't remember. Luckily, I still remember". Lynx then pointed his finger at the man, and asked again, "Who are you?". The man waited in silence, then replied, "I'm Kyle...Your alter ego." As soon as Kyle said that, everything faded white, and the room faded back into Lynx's blurred vision. From being unconscious for quite a bit of time, and from the pain, he moaned and turned over to his lay on his back. A few seconds later, he looked around and saw three people surrounding him. "Hmm, Who are you three?"

Alaric felt Talon's firm grip on his shoulder. "Yea..... I-i'm.. I'm fine. Let's get moving. Carefully picking up the girl on the ground, Alaric tried the best he could to make her comfortable. Her wound oozed blood as he lifted her and he got some on his hands and shirt. "You're looking worse by the second. We need to find water." Following Talon down the narrow passageway, Alaric thought he felt the girl move a bit in his arms.

“Don’t worry about me… Just leave me alone.” The girl let out a hoarse whisper. Talon turned around and looked at her. "Did she just say something?" "Alaric nodded. She's loosing her will to live. We have to act fast." Alaric didn't like this. This girl could somehow be related to his past, but if he lost her, he would have no chance of finding out who he was. Alaric whispered the only words that came to his mind. "No.... Don't run away. Don't run away from living. You're stronger than this!" Talon stopped suddenly. "Talon. W-what's-" He stopped mid sentence. There was a figure leaning heavily against the wall. By the way he breathed, Alaric knew he was wounded. Talon asked if he was alright and the man, despite his condition waved the question off like he was perfectly fine. "Your group doesn't seem to be fairing well, though." Alaric narrowed his eyes at the man. What exactly was he trying to get across. It was strange but Alaric knew that they were all safe if the man had any strength to attack. Two of them in the group were armed and if nothing else, Alaric could run if it came to that. Nudging Talon from behind he whispered, "Talon. What are we going to do? We need to get moving."

The other man felt it, too. It was an odd, instinctive predator-prey relationship that Talon's body recognized. He shoved it to the back of his mind as an irrational judgment. He didn't want to worry anyone; his job, his duty was to get these people out. To protect them.
"We aren't. Have you found any water?" Talon asked the man in the shadows. His eyes kept being drawn to the tattoo on his hand, like an itch he couldn't scratch. A fly that wouldn't leave him alone. Or something equally annoying. To prevent any misunderstandings, he made sure to keep his blade down and in a non-threatening position. He wanted to throw it on the ground, but didn't want to risk whatever consequence that would have. Especially in front of little Nanase. Though, Talon was pretty sure if the puny man tried anything, he could pin him down without much struggle.
"We're going to take him on, if he'll come with us. Then I am going to find the way out of here. How is she?" Talon whispered back.

"Find a way out?" Alaric narrowed his eyes. "We deal with that later. These two come first." The boy glanced toward the small girl behind them and looked down at Rina's face twisted in pain. "She's not doing any better. We need water! She's not going to last any longer!" Without realizing, Alaric noticed that his voice raised from a intense whisper to a panicked, concerned plea. His body broke out into a cold sweat and he began to shake. Sqeazing his eyes shut Alaric tried to stop the shaking but the only thing he saw behind his eyelids was that girl from before. Clutching Rina tight, Alaric let out a strained whisper. Why can't I remember! Who are you!"

(Sooo sorry for the lame post but I'm doing this from my phone... )

"No," Roku responded, nearly swaying on his feet but tensing his body up again, trying to keep a strong stance. "I came from an upper level, but i hadn't come across much up there..." Roku watched them intently, stuying body language, intentions. His sensitive hearing picked up on the whispers easily, but he wasn't prepared for the man carrying a girl to have a quick outburst.
The sound came without a warning, though any normal person would have dismissed the volume as normal. But with his still sore head injury, and all the strain he'd recently endured on his body, the sound dug through his mind pounded against the confines of his skull. Roku staggered back a step or two, closing his eyes and pulling the empty sword sheath from his side to use it as a support. He used the sheath against the ground to keep himself upright, breathing heavy and feeling a burning raw sensation in his arched back. Perhaps he'd opened the wound a bit more in the action. He hoped it wasn't as bad a wound as it felt. But that might have been too much to hope for.
He straightned quickly, keeping his weight on the sword sheath. His knees quaked from fatigue, but he hoped no one noticed. He was fine... He had to be... Something in the back of his mind kept telling him not show any weakness. Especially now.
"This building is bigger than you might think," he cut in, trying to make it known that he needed no reliance on others to make his way out. Though, from the wound on his back and the blood dripping through his no-longer-white shirt, it was obvious that he did. "Like i said, i came from the floor just above. And it seemed like the stairs went on forever... Though most of the steps were missing. It was hard enough to get down from this level. But there's still the chance that there could be an exit on this level...." He took a moment, examining the surroundings and trying to get a feel for what this level might be like. "based on the build, i think that the structure is built into a hill, or a mountain. Should be multiple exits.... The priority should be to find the exit, and hope that you find water on the way. If you don't find it, then the might be the good fortune that you find the exit before you die, and you can get everything you need on the outsde..."
Roku casually moved to the side wall, keeping his eyes on the group as he leaned against the stone and tied the sheath back to his waist. He took in the scene once more, rubbing the '6' on the back of his hand. Half out of habit, and half out of noticing the other man's eyes had been on the number... Something made him feel uncomfortable...