Notes from Emmy:
I'm baaaaaaaaaack!
As I've been gone for a bit, I made this one a bit longer for you guys. Just under 5K words and just under 10 pages! Yaaaay!
Once again, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to get my head back to where it needs to be. Hopefully a little slice of Elody will help gain some of that desired forgiveness? Maybe? Just a little? *stares pleadingly at my monitor*
We're getting closer to the end of the intro arc and will be going into the meat of the story in the next few chappies. I'll try to get another chapter out this week to make up for the lack in updates, but if not, I'll see you lot next week.
A special thanks to my wonderful beta, LunaWolf, who catches all the things I don't and makes these chapters better with her attention to detail.
Thanks for reading. Vulpie loves ya.
Emmy

Chapter 9

 

                You know, it’s hard to not look down when you’re looking down at your own feet trying to judge where you can safely step. I mean, who the hell ever gave that advice anyways? If you don’t look down, you’ll probably make the wrong step and die, but if you do look down, you tend to start focusing on the things you can’t see. Like where the fuck the bottom of the stairwell is in relation to where you are. Okay, that’s one step. Can we do another? Oh shit! Where the hell is the bottom? For that matter, where the hell is the next step? Oh there it is, practically about to break right out of the wall it’s attached to. Yup, because this is totally fucking safe for my health.

                “You’re doing good New Girl.”

                Oh I’m doing good he says, just breathe and step he says. I think I’ve just discovered that I have a fear of heights. I’m going to need some virtual reality Valium if I actually don’t die from this. Wait, is that even a thing? Maybe virtual reality therapy too? Or maybe virtual reality brain damage? Because what the hell am I thinking doing this? I must have really taken a few too many taps to the cranium to even consider it. Wait, he called me a girl again! Yay! I’m a girl! It’s natural to feel this excited about something when you’re fuck all many feet above certain death, right? Oh look! That step is even more crumbly than the last!

                “I’m a girl!”

                “Yeah, you are, and you’re about to… Oh never mind, you got it.”

                “Wait, I said that out loud?”

                “Yeah, you did.”

                Breathe and step, breathe and step, breathe and… Where the fuck is the next step!

                “Looks like you’re going to have to jump a ways to get to that last one.”

                “Dude! What the fuck! I’m a fox girl, not a kangaroo girl. I don’t jump.”

                “Want me to come down there and throw you?”

                “Okay I’ll jump.”

                “Just remember, breathe and… Well I guess breathe and jump now. Same difference, right?”

                “You are seriously not fucking helping!”

                “I told you, I could come down there and throw you across.”

                “No, no, and no!”

                Okay fox girl who’s not a girl but is totally loving being a girl anyways, we can do this. Just breathe, and…

                Somehow I managed to make the hop to the next step, and somehow it didn’t break out of the wall. Miracles do happen I guess. Feeling happy with my trek so far, I pumped one of my fists in the air, though that nearly caused me to lose my footing so I decided any further celebratory dances could wait, preferably until I wasn’t like, on a ledge over a void.

                “Good job,” Gabin called down. “Think you can make it to the next landing down?”

                Ah shit! I was trying not to think about that. I really have to do this again? Damn, it looks like I do.

                Fortunately for me, the stairs going down to the next doorway were a little more intact, but when you’ve been playing the hop, skip and dash game over an abyss, you tend to get very edgy about where your feet go.

Finally I made it and feeling relieved, I pressed my back to the wall and slid all the way down, pinching my tail again which elicited a pretty ugly string of curses. I really needed to get better about taking care of my big fluffy appendage.

                “You safe down there?” Gabin called.

                “Yeah, I think so. Just sat on my tail is all.”

                “You are seriously the most clumsy girl I’ve ever met.”

                “I’ll take that as a complement,” I shot back.

                “Right, I’m coming down. Make sure to stay out of my way. I don’t know how well these steps are going to hold my weight so I’m not going to screw around.”

                “I’m clear, don’t worry.”

                “Good, because here I come.”

                “Hey Gabin?” I smirked. “Breathe and step.”

                “Piss off.” Even me with all my hang ups with social things could tell he was just playing around, and to my amazement, I realized that I was too. Was this what it was like to have a friend you could mess around with? Definitely a new experience for me for sure.

                Gabin’s venture down was a lot more graceful than mine. He practically skipped over each step, though I saw that one or two really wobbled hard before his weight was clear of them. But a few moments later, he was on the landing with me, a grin cracking his huge face. “That was fun. Ready to see what’s down here?”

                I nodded.

                It turned out that the next level down wasn’t much better off. In fact, it looked like there was a partial-cave in which meant.

                “No, no no no no… I’m not doing this again.”

                “Offer’s still open to toss you down there.”

                “Fine, I’m going.”

                “You’re pouting again.” The laugh as he said this made it all the more mortifying, because I was, in fact, pouting.

                The first half wasn’t so bad, but as I reached the mid-way mark and got a better look at the next few steps I got nervous.

                “Those don’t look good,” I said as I pointed with my light.

                “My advice//”

                “Don’t you dare say breathe and jump.”

                Gabin laughed. “No, I was just going to say try just skipping over them, like I did. Just don’t think about it and go for it.”

                “How many times have people died after hearing those words?”

                “Don’t know, they’re not alive to tell us who said what before they died.”

                “You seriously have a messed up sense of humor.”

                “I prefer the term unique. You going to go for it or do I need to come down there and//”

                “No, throwing,” I said jabbing my finger in time with my words at the next landing down.

                Okay, this is only a game, so it’s not like you’ll really die. That’s a comfort, right? Maybe? Possibly? Okay, it’s really not.

                I sighed and studied the wreck of stairs before me. A few of them were outright missing, which meant more jumping, but a few of them looked pretty bad. Like cracked and already broken bad. Like ‘fuck me with the hard ground below I’m going to die’ bad.

                Lining myself up with the first of the steps, I took a deep breath, Fucking breathe and step, and went for it.

                I hit the first step and pressed off of it before my weight had a chance to settle. The next one was solid which gave me a second to judge the third one, jumped and managed to save my balance as my footing wasn’t sure. The fourth one however?

                The step broke away from the wall just as I jumped, disrupting my movement, causing me to come up short. I let out a shrill scream as my hands reached out to grab the landing, finger tips just barely catching the rough concrete, my palms scraping hard against the cracked and damaged surface.

                I panicked, I admit it. Which is why when I tried to get more of a hand hold, I ended up slipping and letting go.

                Another scream tore from me, this one louder than the first. I was going to die as my body hit an unseen surface who knew how far below and became a pancake, who the fuck wouldn’t scream in these circumstances?

                Somehow luck was with me because I just managed to catch a hand hold on the next landing down, the impact all but breaking my fingers, or so it felt like. But fear was a hell of a motivator and I clung to that fucking ledge like my life depended on it. Well, it actually did, so…

“Elody!” Gabin yelled. “Fuck!”

                “I’m okay,” I squeaked out, my heart pounding hard in my chest as I clung desperately to the lip of the landing.

                “Where are you?” He called down again. “I can’t see you from here.

                “I dropped my light. I fell two landings down I think. Hold on, I need to figure out how to pull myself up.”

                The movies always make this part look so easy. I tried just, pulling myself up, but this body wasn’t physically strong. I nearly panicked again, but somehow, the fear of falling again was enough to keep me from doing so.

                “Hold on, I’m coming down,” Gabin said. I could see his light shifting on the walls around me, a clear sign that he was moving, though I didn’t know how long I could hang on like this.

                I figured I’d try one more thing I had seen in movies, but the risk of falling made it more frightening than it looked. Nothing for it though, and with that thought in mind, I started swinging my legs from side to side. My hands slipped a little bit, but I did manage to get enough swing that I could swing a leg up and over the lip of the ledge. From there, it was easier to do the scramble thing, and once I was up, I flopped onto my side and panted heavily, my breath erratic, the tightness in my chest reaching unknown heights.

                A moment later, Gabin was there, his weight hitting the landing we were on with a thump and a slight shake. This made me scoot further away from the edge and instinctively curl in on myself, my tail becoming a great comfort as I pressed the soft fur into my face and closed my eyes against the wild pressure all around and inside of me.

                “You okay?”

                I opened my mouth, but all that came out was a strange croaking noise, not at all communicative of just how fucking jacked I was from my panic attack.

                “Open your eyes,” Gabin said gently as he knelt to study my face.

                I did so and a moment later, his light was there. I tried to cringe away, but one of his large hands gently cupped my face as one of his thumbs lifted one of my eyelids.

                “You’re  pupils are completely dilated.” He pulled the light away and sat cross legged on the hard ground. “Could I touch you? I’m just going to rub your back if that’s okay.”

                My heart was still pounding and all I could think about was just how near death, well a virtual death I had come. A trimmer ran through me as I curled up tighter. I did manage to nod though, and a moment later, a huge hand was rubbing circles over my back As the big guy spoke.

                “Elody, I need you to focus on me, okay? Can you look at me? I want you to focus on my face if you can.”

                I looked up, but everything was hazy, red and unclear, pinpricks dancing in my vision as I tried to focus on Gabin’s face.

                “That’s it, you’re doing good. Now I want you to focus on your breathing, okay? Deep breath in through the nose, exhale slowly through the mouth. Can you do that for me?”

                I tried, but still I could feel the rush of wind as I fell, feel my fingers scrabbling over the concrete, fingers desperate for something to grasp on to.

                “Breathe… Come on New Girl. Just breathe with me, okay? One, two, three.” We both took in a deep breath through our noses at the same time, though my breath was a fair bit more shaky than his. “And out, one, two, three. Good. You’re doing good.”

                We sat there on that ledge for a while, I don’t really know how long because time has no meaning when you’re in that state, but Gabin was there with me the entire time I fought to gain control of my mind. Panic attacks suck ass. Still though, Gabin was there, and with the help of his gentle voice and calm words and breathing exercises, calm slowly returned to me. Before I knew it, I pushed myself off the ground and crawled into his lap, curling up in a ball yet again, my tail serving as a comforting safety line between me and reality.

                Gabin stiffened at first, but slowly, he wrapped two of his arms around my shoulders, his other two hands gently combing through my hair. It felt nice, being held like this by someone. Granted I just met this guy a while ago, but he managed to talk me down from a panic attack, no small deed, and he hadn’t said one thing scathing about my current condition. Besides, right now, I was vulnerable as fuck and needed the comfort.

                Nothing was said, just the two of us sitting there, me curled in his lap hugging my tail as his hands gently soothed away the crazy. He reminded me of my older brother Michael. Mike was always like this, or at least when we were younger. Any time Cristy or I had a problem, he’d take us into his room, sit on the bed cross legged, then have us curl up in his lap while he talked us through whatever was bothering us.

                Sadly, we were all grown up and the only one he would hold like this now was Cristy, and the only time I saw that was when one of her boyfriends cheated on her. I missed it though. He could always calm my stupid brain when it got out of control, always had the right answer, and if he didn’t have the answer, he’d make sure I knew that I wasn’t alone.

                I might have had some serious issues with the nepotism from our parents, but I didn’t hold a grudge against my siblings, because at least they were there for me, most of the time.

                “How are you doing?” Gabin asked after a while, his hands still combing through my raven and lavender locks.

                “Better,” I said, and I meant it too. I felt a lot better than I had just a short time ago.

                “Ah, maybe we should get moving then?”

                “Kay.” I slowly climbed off of his lap, already feeling the cool air caressing me where his arms had been. “I lost my light though.”

                “No, you didn’t.” He reached into a pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a familiar cylindrical metal device. “You must have flung it onto the landing when you fell.”

                “That’s convenient,” I said as I took the light in hand and powered it back on. According to the power gauge, I had about forty-eight percent of charge remaining.

                “Are you sure you’re alright?”

                “I think so,” I replied as I pulled myself shakily to my feet. “But, can we not do the stairs again?”

                “Tell you what, I’ll carry you if we have to go down any further.” He stood. “Otherwise, I don’t know how else we’d get down.”

                “Right, no elevator.”

                Gabin nodded. “Well, let’s see what’s down here.”

                We stepped into a hall that was like the one we had started down from, though this one wasn’t nearly as wrecked. There was still damage, but it didn’t seem to be nearly as drastic as upstairs.

                There were however, more turrets down here, and unlike the other ones we had seen, these lacked the same makeover treatment that we had already observed. Fortunately for us though, they didn’t seem to be powered, which was good because we would have been fried by the amount of firepower pointed down the hall in our direction.

                “I hope the power stays out,” I said as I stared at the big guns. They hung from swivel mounts  that were set into the ceiling, each with four barrels that were roughly half a meter in length and about as thick as my forearms. If those things had been active, we would be nothing more than bloody fragments decorating the walls.

                “Agreed,” He replied.

                There wasn’t as much structural damage here so it wasn’t as difficult to move around, which was a much appreciated and welcomed change from how we got here. We walked down the corridor, our lights casting strange shadows on the walls, adding an altogether twisted feel to an already eerie place.

                As our footsteps echoed back at us, I found myself once again trying to figure out what kind of place this was. Of course, I didn’t know anything about the lore of this game, but whatever this place was, it had to have been one hell of a massive complex.

                We reached the end of the hall and found ourselves faced with another door, though this one wasn’t as damaged.

                “Think you can open this one?” I asked my companion.

                “Let’s see,” he said as he stepped forward and raised his light to get a better look at the obstacle. “I’m not sure. I don’t think I can pry it open, and I don’t know if I can break it in either.”

                He pressed his hand to the metal and shoved, causing the door to rattle in its track. “That’s a good sign.”

                Handing me his light, he returned his attention to the door and shoved again, the door clattering loudly, which only got worse as he shoved two hands into the slight crack and heaved. The noise was awful, filling my sensitive vulpine ears with pure agony.

                I squeezed my eyes shut against the onslaught of deafening torture, ears going tight against my head as I clamped down on them with my palms. Fucking hell, I could even feel that horrible grinding in my bones.

                Gabin’s efforts paid off in a big way however, for a moment later with the sound of bending and tearing metal, the door shoved back into its enclosure with a massive clang and a shower of sparks that seemed brighter than one would expect in the darkness.

                “Ha!: Gabin half sighed, half cheered. “who needs keys?”

                My ears still ringing and an edgy tingle of sensory overload crawling over my skin, I smiled and nodded at the big guy. Yes, the door was open, but I was more relieved that that horrible sound was done with. With a final shudder, I shook off that edgy feeling and stepped forward and shown my beam over the space beyond as my other hand returned Gabin’s light to him.

                Unlike all the rest of the underground complex, the room beyond the door was remarkably intact. The light fixtures above boar no signs of damage other than a heavy coating of dust, and the defensive guns appeared to be fully functional, save for the lack of power. Even the walls, which looked cracked and battered everywhere else seemed more structurally sound, with only bits of broken and mangled plaster along the floor at the edges of the corridor.

                More interesting though was the door at the end of the hall, a door that had some sort of writing that even my eyes couldn’t make out in the poor lighting etched into the metal, a door that looked entirely different than the others.

                Silently, we both crept into the hall, our lights playing off the broken plaster on the floor, the slate grey stone walls, the puffs of dust as our boots disturbed the rest of this place that had gone neglected for who knows how long. There were no other doors to either side, just the one that we entered and the one at the end of the corridor.

                “Well now,” Gabin said as his light played over the oddly reflective door before us. It was obvious that there was no way to force our way through, for the door was segmented much like the pizza I had eaten before logging in. The door looked way more stable than any others we had come across up until this point, and at this distance, we could read the script etched into the heavy thing.

                “Power core and Primary Server Vault,” Gabin read aloud, that childlike glee clearly visible on his face and in his voice. “Level 3 Security Access Required. Bet you a thousand credits there’s a card slot around here somewhere.”

                I couldn’t fault his logic, but then again I had to wonder if we’d be able to even access the so-called vault beyond. No power usually meant things like ID cards and electronic stile keys didn’t work. But, then again, this was a game, and I had played other games where the logic of the world was screwy at best. Right then though, I didn’t give a damn. These dark corridors were getting to me, and I preferred being above ground, where stupid broken support beams weren’t out to get my head, literally. If there was a way to get the power back on, and subsequently the lift thingies going upward, I was all for it.

                I turned my attention to searching the wall to the right of the door as Gabin took the left. He was humming a song I vaguely recognized, a poppy thing that I really didn’t care for, but the sound was a welcome change to the scuffling sounds of our boots. Besides, he really did have a nice baritone thing going on.

                As I scanned my eyes and light over the grey expanse of stone wall, Gabin suddenly called out. “Gotchya!”

                I walked over to where he was wiping a thick layer of dust and powdered plaster from an obvious card receptacle, his gravestone smile catching in the light. “I almost missed it. There’s so much damn dust down here it’s really a miracle that I found it to begin with.”

                “You remind me of Indiana Jones,” I laughed as the big guy leaned over to blow more dust from the slit in the box-like protrusion.

                Gabin sneezed and sniffled as the dust clouds momentarily covered his face. “Who?”

                “You know, Indiana Jones, Raiders Of The Lost Ark? Temple Of Doom? He was the main character in a series of films played by Harrison Ford. You have to know that name at least…”

                “Ah yeah, didn’t he play Hand Solo?” He asked as he fished the card out of one of his many, many pockets.

                It took all my resolve not to lose my shit right then and there. “Haaaaan, Solo,” I corrected, my voice tight as I dragged out the smuggler’s first name. “Christ, haven’t you ever seen Star Wars?”

                “Heard of the movies. Really old, from like a hundred and something years ago, right? They remade it a few too many times?”

                Okay, yeah, the series had been rebooted years after Disney had bought out the franchise and made those last three episodes. Then the movies had been rebooted again several years later. None of them were even a quarter as good as the original films though. “Yes, but haven’t you seen the original trilogy that started it all?”

                “Nope,” Gabin said as he blew into the card reader one last time. “My little sister is a huge fan though. I’m not much into old movies. Too… Two dimensional.”

                “I’m going to have to change your mind on that,” I replied as he slipped the card into the reader.

                Suddenly, we both stopped talking as there was a shrill beep from the card reader accompanied by a rapid flash of green from a formerly dark space above the slit. As we stared at the reader then each other then back down at the reader in amazement, the door began to open loudly with the sounds of old rusted innards and ill-maintained hydraulics.

                Though the sound was painful to my ears, it wasn’t as bad as Gabin’s macho dude act with the last door. Still though, I gritted my teeth as my ears folded over of their own accord, my eyes squinting hard against the sonic hell. Finally, after what felt like years, it was over.

                I opened my eyes and stepped shakily to Gabin’s side, Gabin who was practically bouncing on his toes in anticipation. As the dust motes settled, we peered into the room beyond to see…

                “Gabin?” I said as I knew he could see the same thing I saw.

                “Well,” he answered as he shrugged and stepped through the door with nothing less than a devil may care stride. “Looks like not all the power’s out...”