Water Voices

Chapter 3: The Dead Grove

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“I got this feeling that they're gonna break down the door
I got this feeling they they're gonna come back for more
See I was thinking that I lost my mind
But it's been getting to me all this time
And it don't stop dragging me down”

“Tranquilize” – The Killers

- - - -

“I wouldn’t touch that water,” Duo warned sullenly, a pout firmly affixed on his face. Trowa looked up at him from where he’d been looking into the lake with his flashlight. “It made my clothes stink, so I would not touch it.” He sighed wearily, taking a cautious sniff at his tank top. “What I wouldn’t give to go back and roll around in that puddle I fell in earlier. At least that water was clean,” he mumbled. “Now I’ll die a smelly mess.”

Wufei gave the other boy’s shoulder a slight shove, causing the brunette to look up at him. “Stop being such a drama queen, Maxwell. We’ll get out of here eventually.”

“I thought you said false hope would get us nowhere?” the brunette shot back smugly.

“Touché,” Wufei acknowledged, sitting down next to the American. “I suppose now’s a good time as any to take a rest.”

Duo made an unintelligible sound and let himself fall down on his back, staring up at the ceiling of the cavern. He kicked off his shoes and socks, both of which were still wet. “As long as you guys are here, check out the top of cave like I told you about.” At his beckon, Trowa came over and sat down with them, turning off the flashlight so they could see the natural glow of the mineral veins. After a few minutes of their eyes adjusting to the darkness, the faint patterns became clear, earning sounds of awe from Wufei and Trowa.

“Wow,” the Chinese boy said in admiration. “That’s quite a sight.”

“Yeah,” Duo said with a yawn, turning onto his side to curl up. “I’m glad you guys found me,” he mumbled, pulling the still sodden blanket out of his pack to make into a pillow. “I was going nutty down here before... Without... without any...” His sentence trailed off before he could finish, a quiet snore leaving his mouth after a few moments.

Wufei studied him with a calm look. “He’s out like a light,” he told Trowa quietly.

“It’s been a long day,” the taller boy agreed, stifling his own tired yawn. “For all of us.” He stood up and turned the flashlight back on, keeping it averted from the exhausted Duo. “I’m going to see if there’s anything we can use to make a fire. He shouldn’t be sleeping in those wet things.”

“I’ll help you search,” Wufei replied, pulling over his pack to look for his flashlight. On an afterthought, he set the light on the ground near Duo’s hand, and in his sleep the braided boy grabbed onto it. Wufei stifled a chuckle and got out the third flashlight from Trowa’s pack, getting up to aid in the search for any kind of firewood. They spent about five minutes combing the large cavern fruitlessly, until they arrived at the edge of the underground lake, staring out at the water thoughtfully. “How do you think it formed down here?” Trowa wondered aloud to Wufei.

“I’m not sure. Though I would like to see these shadows Maxwell was talking about, let’s see if they’re out and about,” Wufei mused curiously, focusing the beam of light on the water’s surface. Like cockroaches scattering with the flick of the light switch, they saw a great swarm of dark shapes disappear in a flash, leaving the water’s surface without so much as a ripple. They stared at the eerie scene for a while, occasionally seeing the shadows flirt with the edge of the light as if curious, yet too cautious to actually venture within the illuminated circle. “We should get back,” Wufei finally said, averting his light from the murky depths. “If he wakes up and we’re not there he’ll flip out.”

Trowa nodded in agreement and they headed back to the spot they’d left the braided boy. They found Duo still curled on his side, the flashlight gripped tightly in his good hand as he slept. The two settled near him feeling exposed in the middle of the cavern floor, but they didn’t want to wake Duo or try to move him, so they stayed. One by one the lights went out and they drifted off to sleep, cradled by the eerie silence and suffocating darkness.

- - - -

Duo jumped in alarm when he heard something out on the water, pushing himself upright to stare unseeingly into the darkness. Once he realized there was something in his hand, it was a relief to figure out it was a flashlight. He pressed the switch and shined the light out at the water. It was still and placid, but he could have sworn it was a splash that woke him. Maybe it was one of those fish things he’d seen down there, breaking the surface for some air perhaps. He sighed wearily, not at all feeling rested, so he pointed the light at his watch to see what time it was. The digital face read 1:43 a.m. Curiously, Duo pointed his light about to check on his friends, but found only the pile of their packs where they had been thrown earlier. Duo’s stomach knotted and coiled as he continued search, but did not spot them. “Hey guys!” he called anxiously. “Where are you?”

His voice echoed all by its lonesome against the walls of the cavern, fading into a ghostly whisper before leaving all silent once more. Now Duo was starting to get alarmed. Where the hell did they go, and why didn’t they tell him? That is to say, if they had gone willingly? But who else would be down here in this funhouse of tunnels that would kidnap just those two and not him as well? The brunette whined in alarm and stood up, pointing the light around. “Trowa! Wufei!” he called louder, receiving no answer just as his last attempt. “Shit!” he cursed. He didn’t know why, but he wanted to check the water, so he headed over to the underground lake and shined the flashlight on the surface.

The water was still and murky as usual, and he could see nothing of importance. He’d warned them to avoid the water, so surely he wouldn’t find anything out here. Maybe they’d headed back up the tunnel to check for a way out and didn’t want to disturb him? But he’d specifically told them not to wander off alone, or leave him alone for that matter. He’d had enough of being isolated by himself in the darkness, he didn’t need them futzing around elsewhere without telling him they’d left. Damnit.

Just as Duo was about to turn away from the lake, something tickled his hearing faintly. It sounded like whispering, and it was echoing almost inaudibly throughout the spacious cavern, bouncing from wall to wall and ending up distorted. The sound gave him the creeps, and he shivered when it slowly faded away into silence once more. This whole place was one big freak show.

“Duo.”

The brunette looked up when he heard his name, searching the area for his friends. “Wu? Trowa?” he called out, certain that it had come from the nearby area. It sounded near, despite the quietness of it.

“Duo Maxwell.”

He frowned. “Hello? Where are you?”

“Maxwell’s Demon,” the voice breathed in a ragged hiss, sending a cold chill up his spine. Duo shined the light in the direction the voice had come from, but that was out in the middle of the lake...

“Duo...”

The braided boy was starting to breathe faster and faster, and when he pointed the light a little farther out, it illuminated a shape. It wasn’t either of his friends, and it wasn’t an animal. In fact it looked to be shaped like a human, but it was... standing on the surface of the water. It was an inky black in color despite the bright glow of the flashlight, looking like a dark specter from one’s deepest nightmare. Duo stood stock still at the edge of the lake, staring at the still figure out on the water. When its head picked up to focus in his direction, he jerked subtly away, ready to run. The flashlight in his hands was trembling, making the light waver on the figure, but it did not disguise the step forward it took.

Duo scrambled back in fear, only to find his feet had no purchase as he fell backwards into thick, murky water that choked him on his startled intake of breath.

“Maxwell!”

Duo shot upright with a strangled yell, his chest heaving with quick, deep breaths that didn’t seem to bring him enough oxygen. His entire body was chilled by a cold sweat, and his hand ached from the tight grip he had on Wufei’s collar... Wait, Wufei? He looked up, realizing it was indeed his Chinese friend crouched next to him, illuminated by the beam of light from the torch Trowa was holding. They were staring at him in concern, and it took Duo a few moments of confusion to realize they’d never been gone, but it was just a dream. A freaky dream...

“Are you alright?” Wufei asked cautiously, letting the distressed American hang onto his shirt until he felt the need to let go.

“Yeah,” Duo breathed, shakily pressing the back of his free hand against his forehead. “Just a nightmare,” he told them. He sorely released his hold on Wufei’s shirt, flexing the tired fingers out of their death grip. He sighed, wiping damp strands of bangs out of his face. “This place really has me on edge, is all. Sorry for waking you guys.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Wufei told him, giving him a pat on the shoulder in a rare show of comfort. “It’s about time to get up anyway.”

Duo caught himself before he could say ‘it can’t be!’ because of the pitch black. He had to remind himself that it was always dark down here, so he checked his watch, which read 7:24 a.m. Before he could help it, a whine of distress left his throat. “It should be light out...” he whispered longingly. “God I want out of here. Let’s have something to eat and try again.”

So the boys ate their remaining sandwiches, their low spirits preventing them from sharing too much conversation while they ate. It was too depressing, being in the dark caves and tunnels for so long. They were all on hair-trigger as well, which didn’t help their sense of peace. When the three were done eating, they packed up their stuff and headed for the tunnel that led out of the cavern, but not before Duo took one last look at the underground lake. Good riddance.

He, Trowa and Wufei trudged up the tunnel that led out, which coincidentally had not moved while their backs were turned, contrary to their luck as of late. Duo was feeling quite iffy as of late in regards to the structure of these caves, distrustful of something he could not place. It wasn’t the structural integrity that worried him so much, but just the place itself. He swore things kept changing on them. The Gundam pilots were some damned thorough guys, and Duo didn’t think it was possible that all this shit was happening because they were taking wrong turns and overlooking places they had already been. It just didn’t settle right with him, making him jumpy and suspicious. Damn paranoia, he thought sullenly. But he did not try to dispel those thoughts, because paranoia had saved his life more than once in the past.

These rambling thoughts filled his mind until the silence became stuffy. “Music?” he asked the other two, earning sounds of assent from them. Duo took the music player out of his pocket and turned it on, pleasantly filling the silence with something other than their echoing footsteps. The mood gradually lightened a considerable amount through this tactic until they could strike up conversation. It seemed a little easier after some sleep and some food to not fall into pessimistic silence this time. Duo’s hand hurt less today and he wasn’t sopping wet anymore, so that was helping as well. So they hiked higher up the tunnel, coming across the occasional side passage that they bypassed to keep heading towards the surface. Wufei’s markings that he’d made on the floor the previous day were nowhere to be found, conspicuously absent.

Likewise, they eventually came across the fork in the tunnel that they had not been able to relocate the night before. This was disturbing, since it was a wide passage in either direction and most definitely hard to miss. They stood before the branch in the road skeptically. “We took that one last night,” Duo said quietly, pointing to the one on the left. “So I guess we take the other if we don’t want to fall into a pit.”

Trowa stared somewhat distrustfully at both passages. “Yes,” he agreed, heading towards the tunnel on the right. “This one will have to lead us back out to the main cavern we started out in.”

Duo personally felt like the whole damn place was moving things around to screw with them, but he didn’t mention this to his friends, who surely would dismiss him as going stir crazy in the dark tunnels. He hoped that was really what was going on, because he couldn’t take another set back down in this place. It would be just too much. He just wanted to get out into the sunlight, breathe the fresh air, and feel the wind on his skin once more. He missed those things dearly.

“Hey, look at that,” Trowa said suddenly, pointing to something on the ground some feet ahead of them. They came closer to the arrow etched into the floor, pointing in the direction they were going. “Well, we finally found one of your directions,” he told Wufei, who looked confused.

“Thankfully,” the Chinese boy said. “But what happened to all the other ones I made up until now? I know I marked every single new entrance that we passed on the way down to the lake.” He didn’t mention it to the others, but he did not remember drawing anything just out in the middle of the floor. As far as he could tell he had only marked in front of branching tunnels. But how else would the arrow have gotten there? He repeated this over and over, and his doubt started to quell. So he remained quiet as they continued up the path, keeping an eye on his friends while letting Duo’s music relax him somewhat. The American’s insatiable urge to make the important things bullet-proof had come in handy. Though that wouldn’t help them fifteen minutes into the walk, when an ominous crack beneath their feet made the three pause in alarm.

The ground beneath their shoes shifted a fraction, like slowly splintering ice. For a few moments they just stood still, no one daring to breathe. “Go one at a time,” Trowa said calmly, looking at the others. “Who wants to go first?” he asked.

Wufei gripped his flashlight tightly. “I’ll go,” he said. He carefully began moving forward, easing towards the edge of the tunnel where it might be more structurally sound with support from the wall. For a few moments no one spoke, but when the floor in front of him crumbled away, he instinctively stumbled back in surprise to avoid the pitfall. In one heart-stopping moment, the abrupt shift in weight caused the unsteady ground to give in and collapse, taking all three boys with it into the dark below.

The descent down the sharp incline was rough as they tumbled head over heels down a rocky slope littered with stray bits of jagged debris. Hands reached out for a way to stop the fall but there was nothing to hold onto. At the end of the painful slide, the three ex-pilots fell into a sore heap on top of the loose rocks, a cloud of dust settling around them. It took a few moments for anyone to move, but they started to disentangle their limbs from each other after some tense seconds. “This trip just keeps getting funner and funner,” Duo groaned tiredly, picking up his nearby flashlight to examine his scraped and bloody shins.

“That’s not a real word,” Wufei corrected half-heartedly, pushing himself up. His elbows had gotten the brunt of the fall, and stung bitterly from the bits of dirt and rock embedded in his raw skin. “Everyone okay?” he asked.

“Well enough after our third tumble,” Trowa replied quietly. “I think we all need patching up, though,” he added, taking in the various scrapes and cuts they’d all acquired on the way down. He gingerly took off his back pack, trying not to aggravate his sore shoulder as he did so. He easily found the well stocked first aid kit and they set to work. It took about ten minutes to clean up all the skinned limbs, taking into account Duo helping Wufei with his elbows and Trowa helping the American to re-dress the large cut on his forehead. After everything was cleaned, disinfected and bandaged, the group took a moment to assess the fall they’d taken. It seemed clear that they would not be climbing back up the way they came, judging by the steep incline and unstable footing, so they stood up gingerly to head out another way. When the three ex-pilots shined their flashlights into the newest cavern, an amazed feeling overtook them.

“Woah,” Duo said with wide eyes.

Before them spanned a sea of lifeless trees long expired in their underground, unlit tomb. Possibly green and lively at one point, they were now twisted visages of what once was. Brittle and darkened with age, bare and snarled branches snaked towards the sky as if searching for the long lost sunlight. It was a dead forest. A graveyard of still standing death, buried in their own mass grave underground.

“How the hell would trees grow down here in the first place?” Wufei asked in a baffled voice, staring out at the sea of preserved trees.

“Got me,” Duo replied, equally confused. He started towards the dead forest, shining his light at the first one he came upon to inspect it. “They seem pretty damn old,” he told the other two as they came up behind him. He felt the trunk with his free hand, pressing slightly with the tips of his fingers and rewarded with the crackle of old, brittle bark. They seemed quite old indeed, enough so that Duo definitely would not trust climbing in one. “They sure defied the odds, though,” he mused with some admiration. They had to have had some will to live to adapt down here. The question remained, if they had lived long enough to grow to such height, what had killed them if not the lack of sun?

“This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder,” Wufei sighed, nudging the braided boy to get him moving again. The three continued through the dead forest, scanning in all directions with their torches in an attempt to locate any exits from the cavern. It had just seemed like they were nearing their original starting point again, and now here they were at least twenty feet down from where they’d just been. It was starting to wear on the boys, mentally and physically. It was all they could do to hope they found a way out before their supplies diminished.

“Hey,” Duo said slowly, pausing in front of a tree when they had gotten about a quarter of the way through the grove. He shined the light halfway up the trunk, illuminating a drawing carved into the bark. It pictured a man standing on water, with what looked like shadowy figures hovering around him. All at once Duo’s previously forgotten dream came back to him, and a tremendous shiver ran up his spine and gave him chills. “Just a dream,” he muttered to himself quietly, jogging a little to catch up with Wufei and Trowa. He did not need to get separated from them again and stall their escape of this underground prison. But as he left the tree with the eerie drawing, something latched onto his ankle and pulled him into the air with a jerk. Duo let out a strangled shout of alarm as he went upside down, dropping the flashlight to the ground with a loud ‘clank.’

Between the pulses in his ears, the American heard his friends come running over. Before he’d even been struggling in the air for two seconds something above him gave a loud, dry ‘snap’ and he fell to the ground-

-head first.

Duo lay on the ground in a fading stupor, just long enough to see something bobbing high above him near the ceiling of the cavern. The approaching swathe of light dimmed and was swept away as darkness took him, muffling the concerned voices into a comforting lull of white noise in the back of his head.

- - - -

Ooohh nooo head injury?!