NOVEL NEXT B 2 C 19: Another Rises
B 2 C 19: Another Rises
As I collide with Lu I scream and cry out, “Lu! Lu are you okay!? Please be okay! I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please be okay!” The two of us go tumbling rapidly into our crevice, and we end up a mess of tangled limbs, stuck in the miniature hallway, legs wrapped around one another and faces pressed to one another’s.
Lu giggles in response. She nuzzles my nose with hers before answering, “We’re okay. Told you, you’ll never fail me, you’ve always got this, you’re my hero, always have been, always will be.” I burst into tears at her faith, drawing ragged, sobbing breaths.
I stammer, “Lu, I, I, I could have killed you, I was so, it was so close, I almost killed you.”
Lu interrupts before I can finish my thought, “But you didn’t. You won’t. You’re okay. Shh, it’s okay.” Since we’re a bit stuck together at the moment, Luni plays with my hair with her one free hand, but she can’t move the arm it’s attached to. She titters lightly as she makes a playful jibe, “So, are you stuck or are you just happy to see me?”
I gulp as I blush. I’m not sure if Lu knows the connotations attached to that phrase, and I don’t have the equipment that’s implied. I don’t have any equipment. I think. Shapeshifting seems to be a possibility within my repertoire though. Shaking the thoughts free from my head, I find myself bursting into laughter before replying, “I’m always, always happy to see you. I absolutely adore you Lu. I love you beyond words, as I do with Teuila, and Lil.”
Luni tips her head upwards slightly to nip at my nose. She ponders a bit before responding, “I know Reggie, I love you too, obvee. Still, y’know, know what I mean?” I could swear she’s salaciously wiggling her eyebrows, as I feel fuzz tickling my brow.
I gasp in shock at my own distractedness, “Oh, oh! Right! Right right right, I’m so sorry, yeah, yeah we need to, um, maybe if you just put your foot right there against mine, err no, maybe against my thigh? Can you reach it higher to shove with more leverage? Ow, okay, maybe not. What about your free hand, can you push my head away a bit? Ow, ow, ow, okay, no, no, ah, hahaha, stop, hahaha, my head won’t bend that way Lu.”
Lu and I devolve into a fit of laughter before she makes a suggestion. “Maybe you could, you know, and then you and I could, you know.”
The vague implications set my heart fluttering, til I realize what she meant. She meant I could use my inventory magic, then we could move around because we’d have enough room.
Lu telepathically sends, “Sure, exactly that!” Somehow the devious grin she implies across our mental wavelength causes me to suspect I guessed wrong. I can’t think of what she might have been implying now, if not my inventory magic. Well, other than, uh, certain activities. But we don’t have that sort of, I mean no one does. No one has that kind of relationship. This world doesn’t have any of the related activities. Anyway, she also couldn’t have meant that, she doesn’t have my weird broken memories where things like that exist. I think she just likes teasing me.
Lu, riding my mental wavelength, comments on my train of thoughts, “Darn right I like teasing you, you’re fun! But maybe you should get on with your plan, huh?” I can feel her wink against my face.
Oh, right. We’re really jammed in here good, wow, it’s a wonder neither of us got seriously injured from this. I mean, I guess Lu is kinda, um, padded. She’s curvy, soft, fluffy. What was I doing again?
“Inventory stuff with rock?”
Oh, right! Hah, hah, ahem. Wow, why is my heart rate so high? Must be panic amiright? Just me and my normal boring old panic. I claim enough of the stone surrounding us to first carefully set our arms down so that we won’t fall and get further lodged together.
“Why so cautious? Would that be so bad?” Lu teases.
I pause before replying, “You know, Lil once called Teuila a menace and meanie because she kissed them once, but you’re going to give me a heart attack with your teasing. I think you’re the true menace or meanie Lu. But, uh, heh, no, I guess it wouldn’t be that bad. It’s really comfy snuggling you this close. Argh I’m getting distracted again, you punk!” Lu bursts into laughter again at my reply when she ascertains how successful she was.
I claim more stone, just enough for each of us to set down one foot, so at this point, our only things entangled are one of each of our legs, our midsections, and faces.
Lu starts to comment, “I see the order was very carefully selected.” She pecks my cheek.
She starts to continue but I interrupt. “Bup bup, no more of that. Yeesh, what are you doing to me? We’ve got firebreathing beasties spawning out there as we speak.” I claim more of the stone around us so that we can carefully bend away from one another.
Lu however, instead of finally extricating herself, just embraces me tightly. She calmly states, “You needed a break. You won’t be taking another one for two days. I want you at your best, my hero. Like I said, you’ve got this, but that doesn’t mean it won’t hurt you if you don’t get some help. I also said I love you.”
My jaw hangs ever so slightly slack, and my right index finger can’t decide whether to point, or tap my thumb near my chin. I try to form a few words, but can’t. Lu’s taking care of me even now, somehow she’s done it from afar, as well as throughout time itself. Here she is, doing everything she can to keep me from rushing in and out, back into battle. My face adopts a slightly sad smile as I stroke her cheek with the back of my right hand. I nestle my chin into the hair that adorns her head. I think her hairstyle might be called a bob with bangs? I don’t know hairstyles. Mine is literally just an unkempt mane. Te’s is a bit of a mohawk, or halfhawk, or something like that. My eyes droop a bit as we lean into a slightly stuck position once more. My breathing slowly calms, and I feel myself drifting to sleep in Luni’s embrace.
I awaken to Lu sleeping in our shared embrace. Kissing the crown of Lu’s cranium, I gratefully state, “Thank you Lu. You’re absolutely amazing, phenomenal in so many ways. If this world had romance, you, me, Lil and Te, I’d want us all together like that, forever. Maybe I’ll remember to tell you sometime when you’re awake. I couldn’t do any of this without you. Sometimes I forget just how much you’ve done for me.”
Lu’s hand strokes my cheek, betraying the fact that she wasn’t asleep for my admission, she lets out the family squee of glee. “Heeee.” My heart flutters but I give Luni a playful shove. We finally extricate ourselves, and Lu heads forth, leading me into our dugout. Upon entry I spy Teuila still in her Valkyrie form, cuddled tightly around Lil. Lil is in their base form.
Slightly panicked, I ask, “Lu, why didn’t she drop her form yet? There’s something wrong with it right now.”
Lu shushes me slightly, “You’re going to have to borrow it from her, to fix it. You’re going to feel like you’re on fire, and be on fire for two days. I wanted you to get as much peace and joy as you could before this. It’s going to be a lonely kind of hell for you. Lil can’t join you either, and if you don’t do this, Teuila will suffer permanently. Also if you don’t do this, we probably won’t survive when the cragbeasts learn to dig. I have to help you help Teuila, so I’ll be a part of your hell for two days. This is part of why some of my powers will be leaving me soon.”
My heart sinks as tears well in my eyes. How do I absorb all that? She knows this is how it has to play out, how it was going to play out, and yet she’s willing to subject herself to a shared hell for two days? She signed up for this, well in advance? How giving, kind, caring, loving, and wonderful is this woman? I pull Luni to my body, wrapping my arms around hers one more time. It sounds like it’s the last affection I’ll be getting for several days, so I kiss her cheek lightly and stroke the back of her head.
I try to calm the fluttering of my heart, and breathe evenly as I request, “Okay Lu, show me what to do.”
Lu leads me to the slumbering Teuila, she hasn’t recovered much from her burns even though she’s been sleeping for however many hours I’ve been missing. Lil isn’t looking too much worse for wear at the moment as far as I can see. Their spherical form is mostly encompassed by Teuila’s body, so I can’t see much of it at the moment though. Lu begins plucking strings on her harp, strumming slowly. I swear radiant notes fill the air, and the notes slowly become an absence of light, like floating shadows. These umbral notes are entrancing. Lu assertively directs me, “Touch her, and with all of your love, all of it, ask her to give up her form for now. Convince her with one touch that you’re saving her. Don’t tell her it’s going to hurt you as much as it’s hurting her right now. You’ve suffered so much, she couldn’t bear it. But because you’ve suffered so much, you can bear this. You’re the only one of us who can. She doesn’t need to know that though. When you’re connected, give her the other bag. Go on.”
I do my best to follow Luni’s directions, but my love feels infinite. An infinite well that I share among all those dear to me. Lu specifically said to pour all of my love into this touch though. I try to shut off the rest of the world, to virtually destroy all other memories from my mind, save those intimate moments with Teuila. Shedding every other thought I’ve ever had, I think only of her as I stroke her cheek. Leaning in, I kiss her left brow. All I can think is that right now, I want to see her in her base form, to show her that I’m unafraid, and how much I love her. Somehow my desire reaches Teuila, her form glows and shrinks, while mine darkens and elongates. My thumb brushes her cheek once more. I’m just borrowing this. This power is yours, it always was, it always will be. Here, this is for you too, now you finally have inventory magic like Lil, and someday it’ll be able to hold as much as Lu’s special bags.
Luni was right, everything burns. I remember this pain. The pain of having gone berserk and having lost nearly all senses, save those of my danger wraps. Fire begs to explode from my shoulder blades. I couldn’t stay in this resting room with them even if I wanted to at the moment, I’m afraid various powers would lash out and harm those I’m trying to protect.
Lu whispers into my mind, “I’ll anchor you, you can do this. I’ll be on the shelf. Keep me safe, um, please?” Her assertiveness, teasing, and everything else finally drips away, leaving only the bashful, shy, loving Lu.
It virtually breaks my heart to imagine how hard she was pushing forward to buy me every moment possible before doing this, and how much she’s going to be taking on for me over the next two days. I’ll do my best to deserve your aid Lu, and of course, to keep you safe.