Red Like Roses [Closed]

Vidalia rolled her eyes once more in regards to Tala's use of marks. Regardless, she did as she was told and took a few steps back to allow Tala to open the bars and allow the girl, who is named llya to step through and join the girls.

It seems as though she's the granddaughter that they were looking for. Of course, the mission wasn't over yet, the trio still needed to find Hitomi...

Oh and Solomon too, we can't forget about him!

llya wanted to know the name of her two rescuers, so Vidalia might as well answer instead of rudely ignoring her. She did track her down with her teammates after all, because she was sure nobody would.

"Just call me Vidalia." She introduced herself as she waited for Tala's input and to where to search next for Hitomi and Solomon.

Solomon slowed his breathing and took in their situation carefully. He could try breaking through the stone but that might lead to welcoming results. He ran their options in his head but not a lot of them were good.

"Well, for now I suppose I can get to work on-"

It was then that he noticed one of the orbs becoming askewed. He got up went towards it, stepping over the moving corpses on the ground and started investigating it. He pinched his chin in thought and tried to wiggle the orb.

Well, she could hear Tala and the others again...and they...

Siiighhh.

They'd found the girl too...Hitomi had really really hoped she could've done something today...Her face began to turn red with a mixture of anger and embarrassment. She wanted to get back to Tala, she wanted to get out of here, and she wanted her mask back...Slowly she rose and turned to the wall.

Her foot rose

And slammed against the wall.

She didn't care if it was made of stone. It was thin enough to HEAR Tala, maybe she could begin to break it down. It was better than sitting her and moping after all...So, she continued kicking, not even minding if it wasn't doing much to the wall.

It was something.

The orb would easily plop out of the depression when Solomon tried to remove it. In an instant, the light trailing on the ground from the coffin would vanish, as if shut off. The two would also hear something like the grinding of stone. The source, if they paid close attention enough was a wall to the left. A vague bit of what appeared to be daylight was creeping in from below and there were depressions on the slab's side. Was it another door? Whatever the case, it seemed to react with the removal of power of the stone.

As for Hitomi, the wall wouldn't give way, but it would make a distinct thud sound.

***

"Tala," the woman said happily. "As for the necromancers, well, we're not sure if all are gone, but we'll be here to protect you if they do pop up."

The granddaughter Ilya gave a sigh of relief.

"That's good to hear," she said. "They come down sometimes for food, so it's strange they'd be gone all of a sudden. They were here this morning."

"This morning, you say?" Tala asked.

Ilya nodded.

Tala pinched her chin carefully and started heading in one direction.

"Well, let's keep an eye out then, hm?" she said, keeping her voice cheery.

It wasn't long before she heard the thud against the wall. Tala gripped her scythe and looked at it.

"Hang on," she said.

Tala would look at the area.

"If I'm correct, then this might still be the room Hito--err, Lucy and Sol are stuck in," she said.

She was about to give it a thud herself when all three of them would hear rattling in the distance.

"I wonder if I can..."

Tala raised her arms up again, trying to cast marks against the wall. However, as the marks tried to place themselves on the wall, they almost instantly flickered.

"What? But...I just used magic earlier!" Tala said in frustration. She tried to cast more spells, but nothing was happening.

She grunted.

She then cupped her hands.

"If you can hear us, we found the girl! We're going to try and break you out okay!?" she said.

Her voice echoed through the empty hallways.

Ilya covered her own ears.

"Is it...really a good idea to shout if the necromancers might be around?" she said.

"It should be fine," Tala reassured. Vidalia would note that Tala was oddly refraining from mentioning the bodies.

Ilya would turn to Vidalia.

"How about you? Can you use magic?"

Vidalia listened to llya's not suspicious story about what had happened and how one minute they were serving her food, the next, they all went missing. Unknown to her, most of them were dead, killed by the beast presumably.

"Huh... They went missing you say?" Vidalia wasn't going to put two and two together and suggest that llya might secretly be the beast, but she had her suspicions, which she was going to keep quiet about for now.

The trio soon reached the door, where Hitomi and Solomon were supposedly trapped in. "She's called Lucy now? What happened to Hitomi." That girl had a lot of nicknames, unfortunately Tala still couldn't cast her marks.

"No, I prefer not to use those marks." It was overrated in Vidalia's world. She walked towards the wall.

"Besides, maybe we need to put more strength into it then wisdom." Vidalia tried to push forward, maybe the wall was weak and can easily break through to allow them to get to Solomon and Hitomi/Lucy.

If they haven't tried that already.

Solomon hummed under his breath, looking down at the orb in his hand, then the others. He went to the others and started pulling them out, through each one over his shoulder unceremoniously as he did so.

As Valen removed each orb, the lines of light on the floor would vanish one by one. Hitomi's ears would pick up that the stone slab on the side had begun to open gradually as he did, and by the time he was done, they would have a new passage open to them.

A gust of cold wind would rush in from the outside, and they'd see that there was the faint glow of torches from the outside.

***

On the other side, Vidalia's efforts did nothing and the wall wouldn't budge. Tala clicked her tongue.

"I'm getting reaaaal tired of this stupid catacomb," she said to herself.

It wasn't until the three heard the grating of stone in the distance that Tala would turn.

"That...that sounded like a door opening," Tala said. "It could be them, but let's keep cautious, okay?"

Tala kept her rune light and would guide the other two along with her.

***

Each group would find themselves entering a well-lit portion of the catacomb. It seemed to have been recently traversed considering the presence of torches, and this didn't sit with Tala at all. It meant someone had been down here, and it could be anyone. Eventually each group would reach another wide and circular room where more slabs where, and the they would see each other on the opposite end of the room at the other entrance.

Tala's eyes widened and suddenly a heavy weight seemed to have been lifted from her shoulders.

"Hitomi!" Tala gasped.

She instantly rushed forward to hug the rabbit Enkidu tightly.

"Oh gods, oh gods, I'm so glad you're okay!" she said, practically squeezing the taller woman. "I'm so sorryyyy! It was a horrible idea splitting up! I should have listened..."

Without letting go of her, Tala would look at Solomon, her eyes wide and her mouth a wavy line.

"Thank you so much for being with her," she said. And then, addressing both of them, "What happened to you two?"

The girl named Ilya meanwhile stuck close to Vidalia.

"Are those your teammates?" she asked. "I take it then we'll be fine leaving together right?"

Ilya then looked around the area.

"Hm, we still have a dilemma," she said. "If they came out from a trapped room, and we came from that other area, that means there's no other way out, still. We're still all trapped here."

Vidalia continued to walk with the two, with Tala lamenting that she had enough of the catacombs that they were in. "You're not the only one." She wants out of this place as soon as possible, as well as find Hitomi, oh yeah, and Solomon too.

Fortunately, Hitomi and Solomon soon appeared just as Vidalia thought about them, reuniting everyone once more, although as llya pointed out, they were stilled trapped at where they are. "Yes, unfortunately the guy is with us." Although llya had a point.

"Well then, now that we're all together we should focus on trying to find an exit so we can finally leave this place once and for all before the monster finds us." Although, trying to find a way out of here will be hard, unless there was something her and Tala missed while going down the catacombs.

"Did you two find anything?" She asked Hitomi and Solomon.

When the stone slid open, Solomon glanced between it and the bodies before going to his box and slinging it on like an oversized pack.

"Come. We might be able to get back to the others," Solomon stated.

~~~~~

As they reached the room, Solomon spotted the others and slowly walked to them.

"Oh, you found your quarry?" Solomon noted with a smile towards Ilya. "Well, I've got good news and bad news. Good news is, the necromancers are dead. The bad news is, the necromancers are dead."

Solomon explained the magic circle construct and the room they were in as well as the contents of the notebook he and Hitomi found.

"Whatever they were planning, it resulted in all of them dead," Solomon stated. "But, that does not necessarily mean they failed. I could not decipher the purpose of their ritual but it could still pose a danger."

Solomon picked up his top hat and dusted it with his hand before straightening it back on his head.

"And without the necromancers, we have no one to tell us their exact purpose and intent. For now though..."

Solomon untied the sack attached to his belt and tossed it into Tala's arms without warning. If she pulled apart the draw string, she'd find apples, a bread loaf, a cheese wedge, and a water canteen.

"Those folks could probably use a rest. This room seems safe so take some time to regain your bearings," Solomon said. "I've got one last thing to do in that room we were in, so don't mind me. If I figure something else out, I'll make sure I let you know."

Solomon tipped his hat curtly and walked back the way he and Hitomi came, heading back to the sealed room.

Hitomi was absolutely overjoyed when Tala finally came into view, though she didn't exactly show it. At the very least she weakly returned the hug, but her embarrassment was written all over her face. Her ears dropped and her lips had pulled into a small frown. She was going to ask Tala if they could all just leave, finish this stupid mission and go home.

Before she could, Tala turned to Solomon and thanked him for being with her. Hitomi stiffened, her ear twitching slightly. Then Solomon explained everything and tossed a pouch at Tala, saying that everyone could rest, THEN decided to turn and walk back into the previously sealed room.

If Hitomi could yell, she would've.

There wasn't a single thing she got to do. Tala had up and thanked him for being with her. Like Hitomi needed some kind of babysitter. Honestly, given her performance this mission, she was more a liability...No wonder Tala was so worried.

Her emotions ended getting the better of her. She stomped against the ground, stood stiff a moment, then turned and stomped to a corner, crossing her arms and facing away from everyone. She wasn't going to up and leave everyone, but she was through interacting.