A/N: Phew, it's been a while! Still, I've finally found my inspiration for this story and now I can update! I hope you'll all forgive me for my tardiness and, unfortunately, after this I will be postponing anymore updates until my three other stories, Freedom has a Price, Pink is the colour of Envy and Final Strike are completed (which means I'll have uploaded over 120 chapters in total and goodness knows how many words.) But, after that this story will be my number one priority! And, without any further adieu, enjoy!
In the darkness of the tunnels Max could hardly see Natalie. However, after some intense work he managed to squeeze himself through far enough to grab her ankle. His hand closed around her jean covered ankle making the girl yelp in shock as she was dragged back a couple of inches.
"Hey!" She exclaimed in protest. Natalie began trying to kick at Max as he wiggled backwards. "Let go of me!"
"Not a chance." Matt grunted. "I'm not losing you too" He insisted firmly, wriggling back further towards the tunnel opening. Then with an almighty kick Natalie once more wrenched her leg free from Max's grip and hurried forwards again. Max began struggling through the tunnel again until he heard a high pitched scream come from up ahead. His communicator began crackling.
"What was that? Max, are you okay?" A female voice asked worriedly.
"I'm okay. But I'm not sure Natalie is." He spoke grimly, pushing himself forwards. "Man this is a tight…fit!" He gasped as he shoved and pushed his way through the tiny passage. Using his hands, he tested ahead each time he made progress. Then, as he began tapping out to see if the next part was clear for him to move across, the ground suddenly vanished beneath his fingertips. Drawing his hand back, he slowly inched forwards and felt out again. There was definitely a hole, the ground completely opening up. Reaching out, Max managed to reach the other side of the chasm. Stretching out, he crawled forwards so that his torso was hanging over the hole and his legs dangled below. Max took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
"Sky, when I find you I'm going to kill you." He muttered darkly, before letting himself drop down the hole. He fell for a long while, nothing but blackness surrounding him for what felt like an eternity, making his worries grow exponentially until he landed with a muffled thump, ending up sprawled on his back. With a cough, he slowly got up and saw Natalie lying out cold only a few feet away, her left arm twisted at an awkward angle and her glasses cracked and broken. Instantly Max was on his feet and, after checking himself over for any damage, hastened to the girl's side and tried to wake her up. "Natalie, Natalie come on, wake up." He murmured worriedly.
"Wha-?" She mumbled, still not completely aware. "Ow!" She cried as the pain from her arm finally struck her, startling her into full wakefulness. At the sight of nothing but darkness around them, Natalie felt a shiver of fear crawl up her spine. "Max, where are we?" She whimpered.
"I'm not…sure." He trailed off, squinting at something lying near the rock face a couple of feet away. "Stay there, and don't move, you busted yourself up pretty badly with your landing." He told her, getting up again. Natalie rolled her eyes whilst Max paid her no heed, bending down to the ground and picking up something shining. It was black and sleek, with a couple of wires poking out either end. Picking it up he saw other pieces follow it until he was holding up a mangled mess of wiring. Taking out his own earpiece, he looked back and forth between the two objects. Although broken and smashed beyond repair, the two were identical.
"What is it?" Natalie called out nervously from the other side of the rocky cavern. Max put down the broken earpiece again before he fixed his own back in place.
"I found something. Sky definitely fell down here." He confirmed, kneeling by Natalie's side.
"Then let's go look for her!" She cried, making to get up until she cried out in pain when her leg protested.
"Whoa, easy there. From what I can see it looks like you've seriously damaged your arm. I'm going to examine it now, so this may hurt a bit." Max warned her. Natalie swallowed hard but nodded anyway. As Max gently began touching the obviously affected area Natalie let out a yelp of pain. "Alright, that's definitely broken." He announced.
"Really? I had no idea!" She spat despite the blinding pain she felt in her leg. Max raised his eyebrows and her nervousness kicked in again. "Sorry." She mumbled.
"No problem, I can only imagine how much that hurts." Max assured her. Natalie looked confused so he lifted his trouser leg to expose a jagged scar. "Dig two years ago. I slipped and fell down, well, a cliff face. Snapped my leg in three places. Ended up on plaster for a good three months." He admitted with a grimace. "Not exactly my finest hour." He added. Natalie laughed a little until she heard a ripping noise.
"What's that!" She asked fearfully.
"It's just me- I'm going to bandage your arm. I was taught how to make a sling on a first aid course in Hawaii." Max reassured the girl, rolling his eyes in the dark at how skittish Sky's friend could be. Tearing his shirt until a good part of his midriff was exposed as he strapped up Natalie's arm. "You know it was very foolish to run off like that. Look what happened." He reprimanded.
"Yeah…" Natalie hissed as he pulled the bandages tighter. "Sorry. Guess my worry got the better of me." She supposed.
"Yes, well, now you're here if I help do you think you can stand?" Max asked her. In the darkness he saw the vague shape of Natalie's head nod. Tying off the end of the makeshift bandage, Max spoke up again. "Come on, let's get you up then." He told her, moving to help her up off the cold floor. With some grunting and hisses of pain from the girl as she stood up, the sling keeping her broken arm in place as she leant against her friend's cousin for support. "Let's go." Max whispered.
"Do we have to?" Natalie mumbled unsurely. "I mean…it's so dark…who knows what's out there." She reasoned.
"Sky's out there. We're going." Max stated confidently, already striding forwards. Natalie groaned, but followed reluctantly.
"I have a bad feeling about this…" She mumbled as the pair of them ventured forwards.
At the Clock Tower all of the others were getting ready to go out, save for Sky. Jen and Katie had dragged her out shoppinh, along with Wes' credit card, to buy some outfits for the party. Sky had been slightly bewildered but allowed herself to be bustled out by the other two as they headed down to the shops. Sky had turned to Jen, confused, and asked why she was even bothering to dress up for the occasion, secretly knowing the correct answer. At the question, Jen had flushed red.
"Well, if I'm being forced into this, I might as well make the effort." She'd mumbled. Sky had just raised her eyebrows at this, but let it go. And so she, Katie and Jen were all in the shops trying to find an outfit. Katie had been sorted relatively quickly, choosing an off the shoulder yellow dress with one long sleeve. Meanwhile Jen had spent a good half an hour milling around before eventually coming to a decision in the fourth shop she went in. Jen chose a sleeveless pale pink dress with a thin black belt around the waist with a skirt that stopped just above her knee. Both girls chose simple black heels to complete their looks before purchasing their party gear. Sky had been very eager to go then until she noticed the evil glint in the other's eyes. Before she knew what was happening, she was being dragged into several stores with Jen and Katie picking out her clothes for her including, much to Sky's distaste, dresses and skirts.
"Guys, I really don't need this…" She protested.
"Yes, you do. You're not wandering around in the same thing all day." Jen stated firmly, with Katie nodding her agreement.
"You all do." Sky pointed out.
"Exactly. We've not had a chance to go shopping in ages. Now, try this on." Katie ordered, tossing a grey top towards her. With an eye roll, Sky finally submitted and allowed the two women to buy her at least a dozen bags worth of clothes. Afterwards Sky raced out of the mall without a backwards glance, unaware of the gold robot sneaking away in the opposite direction, cackling all of the while.
And I'm going to leave it there! So, until my other two stories are done I'm going to leave everything there and hope you guys will still stick with me despite my hectic (and somewhat erratic) schedule. Until then, bye for now! And don't forget to review!
JJ x