ｆｉｒｓｔ ｓｏｎｇ

[leekspinning]

She now found herself in a very dark place. At first, she had only looked around, trying to see if maybe, just maybe, she could get an idea of where she might have been; it was for naught, though, it seemed. She couldn't recognize anything. It was just dark.

It was then that she began to panic, frantically reaching her arms out (and being met with very limited arm mobility) and touching the sides of her current location, feeling around for a possible exit to the place.

When she couldn't seem to find one, that was when she started screaming.

Despite her lack of true humanity, tears poured from her eyes and ran down her cheeks; her voice, though synthesized, held the emotion of fear as she screamed for help, pounding on the sides of the place she found herself trapped in. Nothing she did seemed to help.

No, she needed to calm down and think logically about this. It was the only way she would find her way out, right? If nobody was around that she could depend on, she had to depend on herself.

Calming down was not something that was happening easily, though. Every time she tried, she couldn't help but return to the blubbering mess she had been only moments before.

It was now that she had to try the one thing that always managed to calm her down.

Softly at first, and then growing in volume as she continued, a song started to come from one of the sarcophagi.

Comments

[sakedrinking]

"I'll be--"

She was stopped mid sentence by the glomp, but right then she didn't care. She just hugged her sister back tightly, feeling how real and solid she was. This wasn't a memory. This wasn't a hallucination. Miku was really there.

"I'll be fine, Miku-nee..."

[leekspinning]

If Miku were more human, she might have been trembling as she clung to Haku. She didn't let go for several minutes, but finally, she pulled away slowly, looking around at the room they were in. She was quiet for a while afterward, just looking around the room in disbelief.

This wasn't Crypton ... this wasn't a stage, this wasn't a hotel, this wasn't anywhere she knew. But then, where was it?

The fact that Miku didn't know frightened her.

[sakedrinking]

"It's... a castle..." Haku said once Miku was looking around. She knew that confusion, that look of concern coupled with her best attempts to hide just how worried she was.

"We don't know where... or how we got here or why. Just... that it's a castle, and we're trapped."

[leekspinning]

"Ehhhhh?!" Miku said softly, hints of awe and wonder evident in her voice along with the standard worry and confusion.

And then, another one; this time, more panicked.

"E-Ehhhh?! Ne, but-!! We need to get back! We have a concert to do--ah!" Miku had started flailing in her own panic, and had to stop what she was saying and wince at a sudden feeling in her nerve endings. Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked to where her signals were saying the damage was.

The synthetic skin on her hands was torn in a few places, and a few bits of metal and wiring could be seen from the torn places. Some of the metal and wiring had even been smashed a little; not enough to give her any horrible damage, but enough to make things painful, and make it a little harder to use her hands. Her panic from earlier must have done this ... she had been hitting the stone walls pretty hard. It must have been their equivalent of a fight or flight response that had pushed her through helping Haku push away the lid of the sarcophagus.

[sakedrinking]

"But we can't-- ... what's wrong with your hands?" Haku said, taking her wrist carefully to look at the damage. A frown pulled on her lips. She couldn't do anything about this here. There weren't any tools for her to work with.

"This isn't good... how much does it hurt?"

[leekspinning]

Miku tried to move her hands and winced again. Pain receptors were telling her it definitely hurt. But it wasn't so bad that she couldn't keep functioning, right?

No, she had to get it fixed. If it got worse, it could be pretty serious.

"I-It hurts," Miku responded.

[sakedrinking]

"I can't do anything here..." Haku admitted after a bit. She knew that's not what Miku wanted to hear, but she couldn't lie to her sister. She lowered Miku's hands down carefully, then bent and began ripping the bottom of the white skirt she was wearing. She would have to shorten and hem it later, but she didn't mind.

"Here..." she said, taking Miku's hands again and wrapping the strips around the damaged parts. It was a temporary fix, but it would keep dirt and other things from getting in and aggravating her nerves more.

"There's some one here that might be able to help us... but I have to find him first..."

[leekspinning]

Miku nodded. She believed every word Haku said, no doubts at all. She took the opportunity to look around their current location again, the idea of being somewhere else completely still trying to work it's way through her mind.

It seemed to be way too much to believe. And yet, she couldn't deny that this was real. She knew Haku wouldn't lie to her.

She didn't know what to do, now. Some part of her was subconsciously hoping that Haku would take the lead.

[sakedrinking]

"We'll... we'll be okay..." Haku said quietly, though it was hard to tell who she was reassuring - Miku or herself. But the reassurance was there. She trusted the people there, they had been nothing but kind to her so far, and Ratchet had made a promise after all.

She smiled at Miku faintly.

"Let's go."

[leekspinning]

Miku returned her gaze to her sister, then nodded, holding out her hand despite knowing how messed up it must have been. Haku was leading. She didn't want to leave her side.

"O-Okay," she said, mirroring the faint smile, and then smiling a little bigger. Maybe if she smiled a little more, it would help both of them feel better about the situation.

It had always worked before, right?

[sakedrinking]

Haku carefully took Miku's hand, making sure to not aggravate the damages more. She pulled her along, navigating the castle as if she'd been there forever. Really... it was just a familiar route to her now. More than she wanted it to be.

[leekspinning]

Miku could tell. She was simply too shell-shocked herself to say anything about it. She couldn't help but look around at their surroundings as Haku pulled her along.

[sakedrinking]

It didn't take long to get the the common area with the modifications Toph had made to the harder to climb areas.

"I'm not sure if we're going to wind up rooming together... but you can visit me any time you want. Oh, and... don't go anywhere alone, okay?"

[leekspinning]

Miku nodded to Haku's directions. "Okay. How do we know where our rooms are?"

Wait, they give us rooms? She made a face before echoing her thoughts.

"They give us rooms?"

And then.

"Who's 'they'?"

So many questions.

[sakedrinking]

"Uhm."

Haku paused, blinking a few times.

"... the... people who brought us here, I guess? We've never seen them, though..."

Wait, was the other questions?

Oh.

"The door will open if you stand in front of it."

[leekspinning]

"Really? It will?" Miku blinked confusedly, then moved away from Haku curiously, standing in front of the doors to try them all out.

[sakedrinking]

"Yup! And the other doors will open if you have another person with you. It's... weird. No one really understands why, but it keeps unwanted people out of your room."

Haku watched her, waiting for one of the doors to respond to her.

[leekspinning]

It took a while, but one of the doors finally opened for her. Miku's eyes widened in awe, and she jumped up and down excitedly, pointing inside the room.

"Waii! It really opened!!"

[sakedrinking]

Haku just giggled quietly at that behind her hand, smiling back at her sister. A part of her was afraid of what Miku being there meant, but more than that feeling she was just happy to see the familiar smiling face once more.

[leekspinning]

Miku took a peek inside of the room, looking around for any other signs of life within it. There were three beds, and only one seemed to be claimed.

"Helloooooo?" She called in there, just in case. Upon receiving no response, though, she stepped back and wandered back over to Haku.

"I guess nobody's in there, waiii ..."

[sakedrinking]

"People like to explore a lot. They go out in pairs or groups," Haku explained, "Though you could have one of the empty rooms, too."