Time Chains
Chapter 5
"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." -C.S. Lewis
Disclaimer: Oh, yes I own it! Just as I own the Great Wall of China, or the country of Japan.
After a series of gut-grinding questions from all five of the monkeys, and a lot of sweating on Chiro's part, the monkeys had all sent their leader to bed an hour early…grounded. It kind of sucked, Chiro thought bluntly, as the monkeys had never grounded him before. Then again, he had never given them a reason to ground him! Chiro walked sluggishly out of the bathroom in his PJs, and promptly slapped his face against the soft, alabaster pillow of his bed. His metal room was dark, save for a stream of light coming from the bathroom door he had left wide open.
Chiro yawned incoherently. Man, today was a buster ball of nerve. But at least there were no formless attacks on the city tonight and the world seemed quiet enough for Chiro to at least get the 8 hours of sleep he deserved. The boy opened his cerulean orbs to his night painted room. The skinny board of light shining from his bathroom left most of the room dimly lit, but Chiro was too drowsy to get up and turn it off. He closed his eyes once more before dropping off to sleep.
Chiro snapped his eyes open. It had seemed a few seconds ago he had been lying in a soft, warm bed, and now he wasn't. The boy looked over his side. What greeted him was a black swirling abyss. Chiro looked over to his other side. The same thing showed off. He was lying prostrate in what seemed like…air. Chiro stared up at the sky. Overhanging him was a mirror of what was below. Pitch black in all directions. Although, Chiro noted, looking at his body, that his form was glowing softly, pulsing rays of light.
"Wh-what's going on?" His voice sounded far off. Suddenly, a loud ringing in his ears took hold. Chiro instantly raised hands to cover his sensitive hearing, but found that his arms did not obey. They hung limply at his sides. The ringing got louder. Pain was exploding in his head, like a tidal wave. He was starting to get a bit dizzy. Right when Chiro was about to drop of into unconsciousness, it seemed like a voice was yelling. It was incoherent what it was saying, but as it got louder, the ringing got deafer.
"No! Leave Chiro alone! He has nothing to do with this! You brought us here for me, right?!?" From what Chiro could make out of it, the voice was defiantly feminine. A familiar feminine voice. Nova? The boy thought vaguely. But for some reason, a small voice inside his mind instantly disagreed with him. Yes, the voice was familiar, but not in the right way. It was hard for Chiro to explain the sensation of hearing it. But whoever was yelling, they were someone that must've cared a lot for him.
The yelling became much more shrill.
"Please! I beg you! Don't hurt him! He's very important nakama!" Nakama? What was a nakama? The whole abyss that Chiro floated in was unusually warm, but suddenly dropped into a icy cold, nipping at him with invisible tendrils. He started to shake. This is really starting to freak me out, Chiro thought, trying to take his mind off the cold. But it only grew colder. As Chiro felt it grow chillier, he started noticing the source of the freezing temperature wasn't coming from his surroundings, but rather from himself. Chiro's bare toes and finger tips were starting to grow numb, like he'd been lying in snow for hours.
But just as suddenly as the cold began to engulf him, it disappeared. Chiro popped his eyes open again. He was still floating on air, but the winds around him had returned to those warm waves, swaying him gently in the air. It wasn't the boiling hot that he had been feeling before the cold spell, but rather a welcoming warm, like someone he couldn't see was holding him in a soft embrace.
"That's it, Chiro. Just calm down. Everything's fine," a soft voice said. It sounded more like someone had whispered right next to his ear. Chiro recognized the voice to be the same one that had been screaming for mercy a few minutes ago. Was this a ghost holding him? Chiro felt a tiny bit drowsy as he had felt before he had dropped into a slumber. He closed his eyes. The feeling of dreams enveloped him, and in a seeming fluid moment, he had left the dark abyss.
Chiro's orbs cracked open half-way. He was back in his room. The searing brightness of the left on bathroom light flooded his senses. Argh, it's bright. I think I'll just close my eyes again…Chiro thought drowsily. Although that numb feeling one gets when they first wake up was affecting him, Chiro could just make out that he could just barley feel the strong, warm arms that had held him in his nightmare still hugging him softly. Yeah, these arms feel nice. Almost like they're real…wait-what!?! Chiro shot his whole upper body into a sitting position, with the arms instantly releasing him. By the way he was facing the bathroom, Chiro knew the owner of the arms was behind him. He turned around. But in the fluid moment he did, the body shot off of the bed and ran around it, but not without running directly in front of the bathroom door.
Chiro stared. The dark trace of the form had a pony tail that went down to its shoulder blades and what looked like a Shuggazoom Middle School uniform on. But it moved quickly to the door, never looking back. Chiro flipped his blankets off his body and swung his feet over the bed, and was on the floor running to the figure before his brain could catch up with his body. All those years of training had really prepared him.
"Wait!" he shouted without thinking. It didn't obey. The shadow person had already opened his door, allowing the hall light to flood in, illuminating both his person, and hers. Without thinking-and with a desperate attempt to stop whoever was escaping-he jumped on her. Chiro only barley registered the sight of the ground, a ruffle of a cerulean skirt, and finally-the ceiling. Chiro was laying on what apparently was the figure's arm-which was worming profusely underneath him-while he was staring strait at the ceiling.
Chiro slowly rolled over so he could see the other creature beside him. Instantly, his eyes widened and his mouth hung limply out.
"Chiro? What's happening?" Chiro could barley register Nova's frightened voice. It sounded so far off. The other monkeys were probably there, but his attention was no where near his teammates.
Author's Notes: Well, here we are! Chapter 5 of Time Chains! We've still got a long way to go, but this story is one more chapter closer to being finished! whoops for joy Anyways, Thankies to everyone who read this and is sticking around until the end. Please R&R to tell me what you think of this chapter, please! Happy reading!