Lost In Termina Ch8

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Chapter 8
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Underground.
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Jace walked back to the hole he'd found in the ground and began down it. He looked to Iris, who was looking quite nervous like before. The blond boy sighed. "You staying or something?"
"No..." She sounded irritated at his tone, and followed after him and Silver Keaton. The inside of the tunnel looked freshly dug into. Jace examined the walls around him with a bit of interest, as Iris clung close to both Jace and Keaton. Jace was actually looking over the tunnel and internally thinking of how sloppy it was... Being a tunneler critic, typically.
"It stinks down here..." Iris complained.
Jace responded. "I guess having a sensitive sense of smell can have its down sides."
"Tell me about it." Iris added in disgust.
Keaton remained quiet as he lead them both in. He soon broke his silence with, "I trust you've had some experience with the dragalfos?"
"Yes." Jace replied.
Keaton nodded, as if he'd been glad to hear that.

After making a few shifts and turns through the sloppy tunnel-job, they made their way into a much nicer looking system. Jace looked around, soon recognizing the place. "Wait, this is the way to the old Observatory... Well, the tunnel connects to it anyway. The secret passage was closed off years ago after the old man there passed away. That was long ago, though..." He was pretty much just chattering to himself, seeing as Iris was too busy watching everything else around her, and Keaton almost seemed to not be listening.
They approached a water way that had platforms standing out of the ground all through the way. You could tell the water used to be high, due to the stained line across the wall. It was so low now though, that it only reached to Iris and Jace's chests. Iris was still hesitant on getting in it, but seeing as Jace and Keaton pressed on, she had no choice. She felt a chill go up her spine when she dropped into the water, and she squeaked loudly when the cold water touched her chest, causing Jace to jump and turn in a frantic manner. She just gave a deku grin that had "Sorry" written all over it. Keaton waited over on a higher ledge ahead by now, seeming the least effected by the sudden silence break.

Jace reached the ledge and climbed up. Skits just sat on Iris' head, expecting her to jump at the slightest sound anytime now. She reached the ledge and Jace helped her up. They then continued on, Iris now shaking from the cold water on her. And Jace shaking his head to sling the water off the tip of his ponytail only made it worse, since she was behind him. He hadn't realized he'd slapped water in her face, however. For once, she ceased to complain and just wiped it off with a glare.

The way lead on into a huge empty square room with a single ladder leading up to an opening in the wall. There were a few broken jars here and there, but it looked like they'd been sitting there for years, and were never touched. Iris couldn't help but throw her gaze around the dark room, which was only lit by a single torch. Proof someone had been in there recently.
She drew closer to Jace till she was standing right next to him upon noticing the ginormous sets of thick web on the ceiling. She gulped as she tried prying her view from it, but the glaring of glowing eyes, more than likely Skulltula's, only made her stare harder. Her fear of spiders only made it worse. Her overreactive mind kept making her think one would drop from the ceiling any minute now. Jace noticed, but didn't seem to be bothered by it much, but kept his bag around the front of him if his knife was needed. He couldn't have cared less about himself, but cared for Iris' safety.

Keaton pulled his disappearing act again, reappearing atop the ladder in the tunnel way above. Jace, instead of following straight after, let Iris up the ladder first, then followed after she was up by the keaton.
Iris' eyes grew upon seeing the painted-blue walls covered in stars ahead. They walked into the circular room, and she gazed up. There was a stair way that lead up to another story. The building was covered in dust and cobwebs. Jars were broken, and some things looked like wild animals had gotten into them, such as holes in crates and boxes. Speaking of vermin, Iris gave a disgusted look upon seeing a dead rat with a monstrous, bloody bite taken out of it laying near the wall.
"Well, something's been here..." Her tone dragged nastily.
Jace responded using a disgusted sound. "Ugh..."

The keaton began "The dragalfos used this place to hide. No one of common has been here in years." he paused, making it apparent that the rat's demise was more than likely from a hungry dragalfos, before continuing. "Follow me."
Jace and Iris did so, being quite surprised to find a tunnel way leading further underground behind the pile of boxes. Keaton walked in, then poked his head out. "It's clear, come on."

Iris and Jace looked around. The large tunnel way was lit with torches as it lead down. The ground was pounded into a lame stairway, and it eventually curled around. The keaton stopped them when they reached a certain level. He turned to them. "I'm afraid I don't have a connection with the fairy now, so I yet know where they're keeping her. Just to let you two know."
Iris didn't seem very surprised that something like this would happen. Iris sighed lowly as she crossed her arms. "That's great..."
"I guess we'll have to look then, won't we?" Jace soon added.
"I guess so..." The deku girl held a tone of uncertainty. Skits looked off elsewhere, gazing around at the tunnel.
The keaton gestured them to follow.
Jace turned to Iris and Skits, then turned back forward to follow. Keaton lead them to a dark room that was circular that lead into three ways. The ninetailed fox put his nose toward the floor, then turned to the left.

Iris leaned in to speak to Jace with a whisper "_{How do you know we can trust him?}"
The keaton laughed, "I can hear you young one, no use whispering." He paused to turn his gaze toward them slightly. "Do not fret. I'm not going to hurt you. I was told you were the jumpy one."
Iris just glared. Apparently, the Great Fairies had a good enough connection with each other to at least share information.
"I have every intention of helping. I don't know if you yet realize how much danger Termina is in." The keaton held a serious tone.
Iris nodded. "Um, yeah. Everything is dying."
"I guess you need me not to explain that much. But... That's not what I meant..."
Jace looked concerned. "What do you mean?"
"They've already drained some of the power from the Fairies they had before. With this power, they plan on bringing a dark being to full power, a demon of sorts..." The keaton responded.
A chill creeped down Jace's back upon hearing that. "A demon?"
The keaton nodded, as if he himself hadn't wanted to believe it. "I was told by the Great Fairy of Wisdom at Snowhead, but she doesn't know what it is. She heard them talking about a high commander. He himself is this dark being, as the Great Fairy claimed. I've never seen him, though. But I heard that even in his weakened form, he is amazingly powerful."

Jace looked back, knowing hearing such things would make Iris nervous. "I'm sure we won't run into him, though." Jace tried comforting her.
"W-where is h-he at?" Iris asked.
The keaton shrugged. "That's something I was never told."
Iris wanted to say something, but remained silent. She tried running her mind over seeing such a thing. She remembered the large dragon she'd seen at Snowhead's dragalfos fortress, but guessed that they wouldn't make a mindless beast like that a commander. It wasn't even smart enough to speak, let alone plan something… Plus? It was dead. She began to get uneasy, seeing as she'd seen many powerful creatures just at the first fortress before she knew she was in Termina. The autumn-leaved deku girl shook her head to pull herself from these thoughts, quite aware that it would just make her uneasy- or more so than she is now. She tried finding something else to focus on, but there wasn't really much around her except the repetitive torches lining the path way. Skits was walking -almost hopping- behind her closely. Being an animal, he could sense Iris had become uneasy slightly. And being a brotherly-figure, he'd looked up to her in concern.

She took in a deep breath, still throwing the gaze of her flaming-colored orbs around the tunnel way. She stared at the floor to look at the straight, dirt-clodded path. Iris' thoughts were crossing each other to the point of not being able to really focus on anything directly. The deku girl was still mostly unintentionally pondering over the dragalfos and what their true intentions are for the things they're doing. She soon looked up slightly to stare at the blond-boy's ponytail in front of her as it swung slightly. She blinked, her focus was pulled to his bright blond hair-like leaves, even pulling her attention away from her dragalfos-centered thoughts. But she soon found her mind changing subjects in the process. She would never tell him herself, but she did like the way his hair looked. Peculiar, soft feather grass... It was certainly different from Lost Woods deku scrubs.

'I could see why other girls would like him.' As much as she herself hated hearing these words fly through her secretive mind. Another of her begrudging thoughts whispered, 'He's sort of attractive.'
Her face flushed red lightly at hearing herself think that. 'Even to me…' She paused, before continuing 'Why am I even thinking about this…?' She continued to converse with herself, as Skits was now beside her hopping to keep up. Skits knew when she was tuning everything out, because she'd stare in one direction either blankly or make facial expressions to herself about her thoughts without saying or doing anything else. She wasn't as jumpy, but more fidgety. The fact that she was staring at Jace, with a focused expression- just made Skits roll his eyes, but figured there wasn't really much else he could do about the way she felt. Skits was only a bird. And Iris would probably either snap at him for interrupting her thoughts or just tell him a lie, like she was staring at a bug, or something in that direction. But Skits wasn't stupid. He'd realized Iris was a little attracted to Jace last night. With that, Skits only hated the team up with Jace more. He just hoped Jace wouldn't turn around and look at her since she was so quiet, seeing as she's usually a motor mouth.

'I wonder if everything he says he thinks of me is true…?' Iris added on.
And of course, Skits was right. Jace stopped to look back at her. "Iris, are you okay?"
Iris bumped into him, nearly bumping snouts. She stopped herself and squeaked, then her face turned red quickly. Her leaves seemed to twitch, the sudden voice in the outside world made her jump. "What the heck!? Why'd ya' stop, idiot!? Speak up next time before you stop in front of me!"
"I was talking to you before, continuously, but you would never answer me." He responded. "I thought something was wrong."
Iris blinked. "...Oh." She felt a little embarrassed with herself for going off on him because she tuned out. "Maybe I just didn't feel like talking with you." she huffed.
Skits almost laughed out loud at the obvious lie, but managed to stifle a tiny chuckle lowly instead. But the fact she hadn't stopped blushing seemed a little obvious that she was lost in thought about Jace rather than simply not wanting to talk.
"Okay." Jace held a tone of humorous disbelief as he turned ahead to face Keaton again.

Iris looked down at Skits, who was giving her a "Really, Iris?" look. She just cut her eyes and mumbled, "What...?"
The keaton shushed everyone as he approached voices, his ears flicked. "Stay quiet..." He looked out from behind the wall, flexing his ears back and forth. "Wait here." With that, he disappeared.
Out there was a lizalfos guard. The keaton appeared behind him and stalked up quietly, before attacking. Not even giving the guard the chance to react, he tightened his wide jaw on the beast's neck, and killed it quietly and quickly.
Iris gulped, putting her hand over her chest.
"He'd make a scary assassin." Jace commented. Keaton stood on the dead lizalfos, and motioned Iris and Jace over. He turned to walk into the door way the guard was watching. Iris reluctantly came out first, as Jace wasn't far behind her.

Keaton had gone into a trot through the small hallway, before stopping to look out at a large area below that lead down a ladder. It was into what seemed like an underground base. Iris looked dumbfound, and even surprised Jace.
"You mean I've been living in Termina for sixteen years now, and this has been below my feet...?" Jace said. "Kinda' disturbing knowing how largely colonized they are."
Iris looked around. The whole area was filled with dragalfos ordering underling lizalfos around, forcing them to create weapons and what looked like armor.
"I'd guess this is where all their weapons and stuff are made?" Iris asked.
Keaton nodded. "Ores and special metals can be found deep underground here in the mines they've made. Some of Termina's strongest can be found here."
"I'll need to see if I can't get my hands on some." Jace smirked.
"Don't think of stealing anything Jace..." Iris mocked, referring to when Jace was telling her the same thing at the Great Bay fortress.
"Hey, it's not really stealing… If anything, this doesn't belong to anyone."
The keaton looked down. "Be careful, these guards here are strong. A good hit from these beasts to a deku scrub would be more than a kill. More like mutilate."
Iris could've lived very many long, beautiful years without hearing that. "Thanks for drawing that image up..."

Keaton smirked, before disappearing.
Iris jumped, "Wha- Where'd you go!?"
'I cannot aid you here I'm afraid. Look down, to the mine at the far left of the room.'
Iris was a little creeped out that she could hear him in her head. Skits' eye's went wide. "Jace, do you hear him?"
"Yeah. I see him over there." Jace answered
'Good, I'm not crazy.' Iris thought.
'By the way, little girl, quite a cute conversation you were having with yourself earlier.' Keaton finished with a snicker. Iris' face flushed with embarrassment, having no intention for anyone to have heard her in the first place.
Jace laughed, "What's he talking about?"
Iris sighed, before lowering her bangs over her eyes. "N-nothing, just nothing. Let's just go..." She replied grudgingly.
'You both have thoughts that amuse me. Iris, you and your secretive mind. You're not as hard as stone as you let off... You hide so much?
Why is this?'
Iris groaned, well aware that Jace was hearing him. 'Keep what you know to yourself. It's rude to go through people's thoughts and secrets, I'd think.'
Jace couldn't help but laugh and feel a little creeped out himself that he could even hear Iris' thoughts. It was strange, but awesome at the same time to him.

They climbed down the ladder, carefully watching below and hoping a guard wouldn't catch them.
Keaton gave a sudden chuckle in their minds. 'Wow, Jace. You really are a truthful fellow. Opposite of Iris.'
Jace grew a little interest in what Iris was usually hiding upon hearing that. Though Keaton's nosiness was a little frustrating. Keaton soon grew quiet before speaking once more, losing his playful tone. 'Except for that one thing. Such an awful thing, yet, you treat it like it's no big deal on the outside. Brave soul you are. You still hide from others to keep it from being known. You know, if only you'd ac-'
'Shut up, Keaton!' Jace's thoughts rang sour. 'Stay out of our heads!'
Iris giggled- which earned her a cold, offended glare from Jace. She just found it funny that he was the one being annoyed by the nosey keaton, but she wanted to know that only secret now.

"Just ignore him." Jace sounded cold with his tone. "He's just screwing with our heads..."
The keaton realized he was taking it too far and fell silent. Because what Iris couldn't see that the keaton could; mentioning that had hurt Jace badly.
Iris was burned by Jace's sudden attitude change, and felt nervous to even talk to him as of now. He turned a corner, eyeing a dragalfos' back, before gesturing Iris to follow sternly. She didn't hesitate to make it across unnoticed by the turned dragalfos with Jace.
The deku boy had ahold of his rucksack, in case the need of a knife came. They snuck under a weapon's table and followed it a ways, making sure not to make contact with any of the lizalfos' feet, and trying to keep out of the dragalfos' sight.

Jace managed to lead them through the place unnoticed. They almost got caught a few times. Jace had calmed down a little by now, but still found himself sending an ice cold glare at Keaton- who was hiding behind the rock wall when they got there.
The fox gave a bit of an apologetic smirk, as he flashed his front canines. "I can be nosey."
"That's something you need to work on." Jace grumbled as he walked by.
Iris simply watched and gazed back at Keaton, wondering why she and possibly Skits were the only ones in this party to not feel so bad about the situation before, but rather only curious. She shrugged it off, before following after Jace and the continuing Keaton.

'Can you still hear me, Iris?' Jace asked in his head, to see if Keaton was still using his magic. Iris looked to him, making him believe she'd heard him.
"Why're you gawking at me?" Iris asked.
'Nope.' Jace finished in his head. "No reason."
Jace paused, before a sudden stop that was followed with. "Oh my gosh!" caught the group's attention.
"What!?" Iris exclaimed. Keaton simply stared at Jace.
Jace continued "...The Indigo-Go's never told us what time they're playing tonight..."
The keaton and Iris exchanged stares, before cutting their eyes at Jace.
"I don't deem that important, Jace." Iris grumbled.
"I know, It's just I'm really excited to see them with you, they're amazing." Jace replied.
Iris rolled her eyes. "Music is the least of my concerns right now. It should be the least of yours, too."
Iris looked ahead again, as she held Skits in her arms- a usual sign she was uncomfortable.
The path they took was an abandoned mine, looking like it hadn't been used in a while. Iris examined the walls, seeing tiny specks of shining ores that remained from larger ones that were pulled from them. Her glowing souls only made the shards glimmer brighter. She wanted to grab a few, but some were wedged in there pretty deep, it'd probably take quite a bit of strength to rip 'em out.

Silver Keaton stopped when he approached a ladder that lead up. Jace gestured Iris to walk up after he climbed up to check for danger. The fox was already up there by the time Iris reached the higher level. This part seemed less mine-like. More like a room used for resting and eating. Iris didn't even want to know what was sitting over on the large table-pounded mound of earth. It looked like some kind of uneaten meat.
Jace poked his head out of the room, hissing softly. "Aw crap."
Outside was a large room lit by torches filled with resting dragalfos warriors. These guys were huge compared to what he fought at the Great Bay Fortress. He gulped, before pulling himself back into the room. "We're dead if we go out there. And we might get caught if we go down the opposite hall. All I have are knives, and these guys are massive."
The keaton smiled his wicked smile. "Allow me-" He eased out of the room feeling confident, disappearing.
'When I say go- run!' He spoke in their heads once more.

Keaton appeared in front of the guards, catching their attention. The mighty dragalfos began towards him, shocked as to how he got in there.
'GO!'
Jace grabbed Iris' hand and ran down the hallway. Skits remained in one of Iris' arms. When Jace turned the corner, he looked back toward the scene with Keaton. They sure weren't trying hard to catch him. One would've thought they'd never get him. One raised his weapon, however, and Jace forced himself to look away. A harsh-sounding yelp caused fear to zap both Iris and him. Jace turned back to Iris slowly, she could tell by the sorrowful look on his face that something awful had happened to the poor fox. Iris was about to look, but stopped herself. The clatter of the dragalfos stopped, and they laughed at their fallen prey as if someone had told a sick joke. This caused a deep anger to boil within Jace. He would've gone out there, but he'd have only put Iris and his own life at stake.
'Keaton…?' Jace asked through mind.
... Silence.
Iris could hear Jace, but could make no contact with Keaton as well.
'Are you still with u-…'
Iris could no longer hear Jace. Her face dropped slightly upon loosing the connection with Jace as well. A sign the magic had died. Jace shook his head. "Nothing..."
The deku girl's leaves drooped. Jace leaned on the wall with one hand on his forehead as he stared at the dark ground of the tunnel way. The keaton had helped them only this far, and fate had already taken him. Jace was now completely wary of just how ruthless these guys are. They're much worse than those he'd seen before.
The blond boy looked to Iris- who only looked more terrified, with the addition of sorrow added to the mix.
"Hey." He whispered gently. She looked up from her solemn gaze to the ground. "Let's go... He would've wanted us to continue..."
Iris nodded. She followed Jace, now even more scared…
Jace's hand was balled into a tight fist and he growled. 'If only I was bigger and stronger.'

Jace walked her through an underground tunnel way again. It didn't look like part of the mines, but more like the fortress Iris had first encountered in Snowhead. Except the walls were all part of the earth, rather than stone and brick. It was becoming extremely hot underground. Both scrubs didn't seem to mind the heat, however. They soon approached a circular room. The underground fortress of the dragalfos seemed more like a maze than anything. Every hall seemed the same, and appeared to have led to similar rooms, only holding different purposes. Jace was getting really frustrated by now. He'd wished Keaton was still with them...

After making a small turn in the room, Iris yipped when she spotted a lizalfos skin laying ahead of them. Jace kicked it out of the way with disinterest. He and Iris soon came to a path way shaped like an X. Jace grumbled at the shape of the pathway, and seemed a bit irritated. Iris didn't know why it bugged him so much, but she figured this whole place had already gotten on his nerves, so that would help explain his quick temper. Maybe not wanting to make guesses on which way to take. Jace seemed to give each path a good long stare, before deciding on the path to the upper left. Though, Jace hadn't known that each path, excluding the one they came from, led to the same place, only connecting with different paths along the way. It was like being in a giant ant colony. Every path seemed to somehow be connected.

Iris gulped. The path way was extremely long and dark, with the exception of the blown out torches. It sent chills up her spine.
"I think we're finally getting somewhere..." Jace spoke, passing the hall and walking into a chamber filled with doors.
Iris looked a bit nervous. "Something doesn't feel right, Jace..."
"It's alright..." He tried to lamely to sooth her. He was eager to get out for very many reasons as of now. One of 'em to fill out Silver Keaton's wishes of saving the Fairy. Jace stopped and examined the oddly shaped room's choice of doors, all of which seemed fancier than the whole fortress itself. They were like specks of gold on a black mat. Y'know, hard to miss.

Skits seemed to shiver and hid behind Iris. Iris knew something was wrong now... "Jace let's go!"
"Hold on! I think I found it!" Jace responded in an excited tone as he approached a large door. It was locked tight. "Hey, still got that hair clip?"
"Y-Yeah... But-"
"Alright, let me see it, quickly." Jace added.
Iris was getting kinda' mad at Jace, but was too scared to really react as she usually would. She reached behind her hair, before someone's presence a ways off caught her attention. She spotted two glowing eyes from the hall she and Jace came from, but she about burst into a happy shout at the sight.
"Jace, look!!!"
The blond boy turned to set his eyes on the silver and blue keaton, expressing joy upon seeing him alive. "K-KEATON! You're alive!!"
He didn't hesitate to turn and walk to him. Iris walked slightly ahead, but Jace gave a sudden stop. He noticed Skits hadn't followed her, but rather backed away, seeming almost too terrified to follow. Jace shot his head up, and he noticed… That Keaton's eyes were different. He had slit green pupils. Not to mention having a darker attitude. Something just didn't seem right. "Iris, no!!" Jace shouted, grabbing her arm and pulling her back.
"What!?" She exclaimed.

An awful sounding cackle sounded from the devilish fox, "You're not as stupid as you seem, golden-boy." He paused "I thought I'd outfoxed you~!"
Jace growled, "What's the meaning of this!?" He got in front of Iris and he reached for a dagger in his rucksack.
"Then again, you did come all this way for nothing... What a pity." The keaton seemed to shine his teeth brightly upon finishing his sentence.
Jace sent a sharp glare, pulling the dagger out of it's sheath. "Who's side are you on... Answer me, now!"
Iris glared, growling lowly under her breath. What was the meaning of this??

"The winning side, of course~!"
Jace glanced over, seeing something large approach from the corner of his eye. He immediately reacted by shooting the figure a glare. But next thing he knew, dragalfos were surrounding them, leaving the dark keaton the only one guarding the exit.
"I bet you're afraid, aren't you boy...? It would be the wisest thing to be anyway..." The keaton seemed to growl in delight.

Jace pushed Iris out of the way when a few of the surrounding beasts began attacking, not giving Iris a chance to act. Jace was knocked around a bit, but managed to hold his ground. Iris simply stared like a deer in headlights. She was sure that to a human warrior, a few nasty beasts like these weren't much, but she expected a deku scrub to have been long gone in a fight like this not a even a second after the fight had started. But there Jace was, taking 'em on boldly, taking a lot of hits as well, unfortunately... Jace grunted painfully upon being whacked in the face by a swift tail, knocking him across the room a few feet. He landed roughly on his side, but this didn't stop him. His powerful tunnel-scrub arms and legs simply would not fail him. He jumped right back up, and reached the battle ground in time to keep them off Iris and Skits, ignoring the painful scrape under his eye. She had no idea what to do but to watch in terror. There were so many!

Jace was slung into the air, only to come down with a devastating and painful slash to a dragalfos' chest. It roared painfully, just before getting punched by one of his own, due to the other one missing his real target. The dragalfos that threw the punch suffered a hit to the head, when Jace jumped off the dragalfos from the weak spot on its head hard.
Jace was stuck dodging the attacks of another active dragalfos. The beast wore armor over his head, so his weak spot was covered. Jace rolled under the dragalfos, missing the beast's pounding fists. Jace grabbed the beast's swinging tail, and ran up. He fought to stay on the dragon and cut at the straps of the armor took. Some came loose enough for him to jab his knife into. It soon dropped with a heavy thud in front of Iris. Jace stood on it's head panting, as he wiped at the crimson sap-leaking scraped on his face.
The keaton laughed, and brought the other guard's to a halt before they could attack. "Enough. As fun as this is, we weren't told to have entertainment. Capture them men, you know where to take them..."

The dragalfos growled as they closed in on the three little trespassers. Jace tried his best to continue his attack on them, but there were too many at a time... "Keaton, You traitor!!!" Jace roared angrily.

The deku boy tried reaching for Iris' hand to run upon spotting an opening. But as soon as his hand touched hers, her reach was pulled from his. A short muffled cry soon followed. He turned, given only a brief moment to call her name, before a sharp pain had hit the back of his head. Everything seemed to fade out and into black, hearing Iris' final cry for help, before sound became silent....




To Be Continued...