onepassingnight | In the woods with no one around...

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In the woods with no one around...

[The forest is dense enough to inhibit light, leaving a dappled pattern of shadow on the ground as the thin sun filters through the leaves. There are no obvious landmarks, but Mercury walks purposefully, as if she knows the way.

For all her bravado, the distant sound of a waterfall grows no closer; and when she comes to a small pile of rocks, she stops short.

She was here just a moment ago.

Cautiously now, Mercury keeps a wary eye on her surroundings and stays alert to every noise and rustle. To be sure of herself, she slips off one glove and lays it beside the rocks.

Straightening, the senshi moves forward again. But although she seems to make progress, ultimately she finds herself back at the pile yet again - and the glove remains exactly where she left it. She is lost.

Or trapped.]

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This is the forest of the Dark Kingdom. That's why you can't just walk out of it like a normal forest. [Her eyes automatically seek out the thread.]

[he follows the glance and thoughtful lifts his hand. Light runs down the thin thread leading away from the spool in his hand to disappear less than a foot from where he is. But there's tension there. Whether they can see it or not, the thread leads beyond that point. He looks back at the woman in front of him.]

So why are you here?

[Didn't she say she belongs here?]

Who knows? Probably, someone is acting against me.

[Except she can't be sure of that. It makes no sense; and to give credit to the shitennou, if any of them acted against her it would be for a reason.

No, though she either hasn't realized it or doesn't want to, this is all the doing of her own frozen mind that refuses to go forward or backward to somewhere new.]

[she can say she belongs here but that doesn't mean he believes her. Especially if she's going to question why she's here when he asks. Another motion with the thread, another glint of running light. Calmly watching, Cloud will ask:]

Then if you're not here because you want to be but because someone is acting against you - why would you want to stay?

I've been searching for the exit.

[If that were true, wouldn't a girl who always talks about quick action, like she does, already be following the thread?

She may need to be pushed.]

[more than most, Cloud understands being trapped because of yourself. So he just watches her for a moment more. Ami is a fighter, sometimes more than she needs to be and he's rarely known her to be so still and placid. He wouldn't mind if she found a bit of stillness in her life- but not this way. Again, he'll hold out his hand and it's expectant this time.]

I will too. Come with me.

[She looks away and while she keeps the gesture from becoming childish, she shakes her head.]

You can go on.

[She knows she can't just walk out of here. She has to find the way on her own, doesn't she?]

[there's an obvious way he has of settling his feet, the thick soles of the boots seeming to almost root themselves, that's warning to anyone that knows him. He does exactly that now while hardly moving at all. The look he gives her is stern - and a little flat as if he can't really buy that she thinks that would work on him. He states the obvious anyway.]

I'm not leaving without you.

You shouldn't become involved in this.

[But even as she says it, she supposes he already is involved by the simple chance of being here. After a long pause, she reaches for the thread, barely touching it with her gloved fingers.]

Tell me now: Does this lead outside? [She'll trust him if he says yes. And that's a thought that frightens her even more than this place.]

[he doesn't even bother answer her objection. It's noise in the wind to him. She's his friend. It's the only answer he needs. Under her finger the thread vibrates out more of that inner light, zipping away on a thin bolt into the dark before disappearing into the trees. For a second, the blue glow in Cloud's own eyes reflects that glint of gold.]

I don't know. But it leads somewhere that isn't here.

[It's that, the glint, that makes her suddenly pause. She looks to the thread again. Nehellenia's spider webs? She looks to Cloud again. Nehellenia's influence? Both had come with a golden glint...

But he's acting like himself, and the people under the Dead Moon influence always became mindlessly aggressive. And as he said, even the middle of the Dead Moon tent would be away from this trap.

She can handle fighting. Both of them can. She nods.]

Let's follow it, then. [To be careful, she tries to stay behind him, no chance of him betraying her unseen at her back.]

[he doesn't like her behind him because he can't keep a protective eye on her when she is there. And he's not entirely sure that he trusts her to not simply stop moving while he's distracted and end up left behind. So he simply hands her the spool of thread and puts his own fingers on the tension of the single line that leads away from it. His eyes meet hers.]

Think you can keep up with me?

[She takes the spool with a wordless nod, and keeps moving. As they go, she winds it carefully around and around.

The irony isn't lost on her: a thread, just like in the myths of the minotaur and Perseus; a thread, when she still enjoys sewing. But she makes no comment on this for now. Instead, she keeps winding it, as though taking her focus from the task will set them back.]

[she doesn't respond to his challenge with her usual attitude and that alone just makes him all the more determined to get her out of here. He's not the best with comforting words or actions but he doesn't leave his friends when they're in trouble and he'll fight to the end for their freedom if that's what it takes. Under his finger the thread moves with each step she takes, reassuring him that she's still behind him and ahead of him there's only the dark forest. He can't even see the thread under his fingers anymore but he can feel it and he - trusts it. It's got a point and whatever that point is, it's at least a goal instead of aimless wandering. It's not too long though before he becomes aware of shadows that don't match the trees slipping along on either side of them.]

[She sees them, too, and she's alert at once. She reaches for her sword and it materializes in her hand. She firms up her grip.]

If youma were sent here, they should be easy enough to defeat.

[Except for the bounds of the trap making it easy to hedge them in. Except for the simple disorienting nature of her quickened heartbeat and that thread of fear she can't banish.]

[his own sword comes free easily but his other hand doesn't leave the thread. The shadows mill, just on the edge of their boundary, but nothing slinks over. Not yet. Cloud's brows twitch down. After a minute of tension, he lets go of the thread. They can't hold that fragile sliver of light and fight at the same time. He shifts so he's in the back now, protective and covering. The shadows continue to grow and whisper over each other in the darkness just at the edge but - still nothing steps foot closer. His voice is low as he takes up position to be rear guard.]

Keep walking, Ami. Don't let go of the thread. Not for anything.

Are you a fool? You'd be lost.

[She turns back towards the shadows.]

And these are just creatures defying me!

[Somehow that spark has come back, or maybe she's just not willing to watch Cloud be hurt for her sake ~~and have a debt to him~~. The sword vanishes, and an ethereal harp shimmers into her hands. She plays a watery glissando.]

Dark Rhapsody! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeU6r4DWwJw)

[Water shoots from the instrument, charged with her power and its own, streaming out in all directions to seek out and chase the shadows, disrupting the energy creating them.]

[Cloud had no intention of staying behind but he does make a quick grab for the thread when she hits up her harp. It's not the shadows he's worried about. If they come, they come and he'll deal with them when they do. It's the thread and that single spool of it that's important. Hence the 'don't let go' sentence. Because he's beginning to suspect that while the thread can't necessarily be taken from them - or the shadows would have tried it already - it can be lost if they get careless or distracted.

He's getting out of here. And he's taking Ami with him. That's what he's focused on. And he's been head fucked enough in the past to recognize when something's trying it again.]

I'm not staying behind. I'm letting you lead while I make sure you're safe to do it. It's the thread that matters, not the monsters.

Monsters in this forest still have the ability to kill.

[Cloud may be here, the thread may be here, but she's still having trouble breaking outside what's in front of her and what she assumes is the next step.

She asked him once, she asked Kunzite: If he knew about her betrayal and that she was supposed to die here for it, why was he leaving her alive and even keeping her at his side? The answer hadn't been reassuring, but it had been honest.

And he'd promised- she looks at the thread again, grasping at it, grasping at straws- he'd promised that if she was truly in danger here, he'd come to help her. As long as she stayed loyal ~~and obedient~~.

It couldn't be...]

Cloud, do you know something about this thread?

[If it's something Cloud knows, she can put away that foolish notion immediately.]

[it's not that the question is strange but rather that the way she asks it that makes him look at her a bit closer, still holding the spool in his hand. There's something about this place that - he can't tell if it's closer to who she hides inside or if it's warping who she hides inside. His brows come down but he shakes his head.]

I know it obviously leads somewhere. Nothing other than that.

[The thought is inescapable, even as she tries to close her mind to it: She is lucky, right now. If she chooses to believe so, someone sent this thread, someone who even now hasn't abandoned her. And Cloud right in front of her, finding it, handing it to her, is not a matter of belief.

He's here.

Suddenly, she feels more courageous.]

Then I'll make sure not to let it go.

[he's not the most astute when it comes to people but he thinks even he picks up on the subtle shift in her. He doesn't know why but he nods and hands the spool of thread back to her. In her hands it glints with it's own brief sheen of light and the invisible thread leads off from it still. He hefs his sword casually over his shoulder, looking relaxed and ready for whatever is ahead. There might even, maybe, be just the hint of challenge in his blue eyes as he says:]

Lead the way.

[It's how her world works, something she's all but forgotten: She can be her strongest with someone to support her.

She's ready for the challenge. Clear now, decisive now, she heads straight forward again, winding the thread as she goes. She is the Mercury that Kunzite would expect: strong and tall.

And this is no longer 'the forest'. This is her dream. The sunlight seems brighter somehow, enough to chase shadows away. The way ahead seems open and clear.]

[there's a marked difference this time as they start forward and Cloud finds it interesting even if he doesn't let himself wonder too hard about the change. Ami's much more sure of herself now and so he switches his concentration to keeping an eye on their surroundings, only a pace or two behind her. Wherever they're going now, he feels better about it. Ami's footsteps are sure. Everything else that comes at him, he knows how to handle.]

[Then she hears it, and smiles. She certainly controls this place now, whatever force of Fate she's usurped it from in the dream world: The sound of the waterfall is unmistakable. She turns back to Cloud.]

Hurry! The way out must be by the water. We'll have to climb.

[But now, she has no fear of earthquakes or youma.]

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spoiler: it will/can XD

awesome! we like spoilers like that :D

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and i'm out for the doctor soon but will be back in a few/several hours once i go

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