Sky's Great Simping Adventure

Part 14: TOT (tear of trials)

"LUKE!" I screamed at the top of my lungs as I slid onto the floor.

Thankfully, Luke was still breathing, although it was very slight.

"Luke!" I shouted, "Please wake up!"

Tears started to flood down my face.

"SOPHIA!" I cried, "PLEASE HELP!"

A light shined from behind me. I assumed it was another projection but wouldn't dare look away from Luke.

"Oh crap," I heard Sophia say, "What happened?"

"He fell and hit his head because of that damn disco ball!"

"OH," Sophia's voice was full of concern, "Ok.. hold on.. I'll google what to do."

"Can't you just make a stupid healing potion or something!?" I shouted back frantically.

"I wish I could!" She responded quickly, "Really! But I have no idea what it would be made of. Sand and ice creatures are one thing but they're already made of existing things! I'm so sorry!"

"Well then please hurry!" I shouted.

My hands were shaking as I stared at Luke, waiting for a response.

"Okay!" Sophia shouted from behind me, "How's breathing?"

"Faint," I said while double checking, "Wait.. no.. he isn't breathing!"

I could feel my heart sink. It was hard to control my own breathing.

"Its okay!" Sophia tried to reassure me, "You're just going to have to give him cpr. You know how to do that."

"I do?" I asked, tears still streaming down my face.

"Yep!"

I looked back at Luke and got into position.

Guided by muscle memory, I began to press down repeatedly. Every so often, giving him breath. After repeating the cycle, three times, I heard Luke inhale deeply.

I started crying again.

He took a deep breath and opened his eyes.

"It's okay," He said softly, "I'm okay."

"You scared the crap out of me!" I said, hugging him.

He hugged me back.

"Sorry," He said while wincing a little at my hug.

"Don't apologize."

"Really," Sophia interrupted," I'm the one who should be sorry. For your troubles i'll give you some pain medication." 

All of a sudden, a bottle rolled right in front of me.

"Here," I said, pouring two pills into my hand and handing it to Luke.

He took it and then brought his hand up to my face, wiping away a tear.

"Thank you," he said while looking at me, "for saving me."

I nodded, "I would never just sit by and let you die."

We looked at each other for a moment.

Sophia was the first one to speak, "I still feel bad so... I'm just gonna go ahead and give you the last item. Again, I'm really sorry."

The projection from behind me faded away. Luke pointed behind me. I turned my head to see a microphone roll toward us.

"So.." Luke said, "An ice pawn... A disco ball... and a microphone.."

An idea sparked in my mind.

"The trials." I said quickly.

Luke looked at me, waiting to explain.

"The first trial was an ice giant, hence the sculpture. The second trial was a duet; microphone, and the last trial was a dance battle that had a disco ball."

"Okay..." Luke said while sitting up, "So which one do we choose?"

"Well," I said, contemplating for a moment, "I honestly don't know."

Luke reached into his pocket to look at the very first clue.

"May I?" he said while reaching for the other pieces of paper."

"hmm.." He said, "Oh. could it have something to do with Sophia? All of the clues have smiley faces on them."

I thought back for a moment. 

"Well the ice giant was made by Sophia... but then again everything in the trials were."

Suddenly a realization occurred to me.

"Its the disco ball." I said promptly.

"How do you know?" Luke asked.

"Its the only one that Sophia used to project her smiley face. The other two trials had projections shining on the walls but the dance trial had a projection coming from the disco ball."

"You're a genius," Luke said.

I stood up and held out my hand, "Couldn't have done it without you, partner."

Luke smiled and grabbed my hand as I helped pull him up.

"Can you stand okay?" I asked.

"Yeah," he answered, "Lets call for Sophia."

Immediately, a smiley face projection shown from the center of the room again.

"Figure it out?" She asked.

We nodded.

"Its the disco ball," I said, picking it up off the floor.

"Great job!" Sophia cheered.

Suddenly the door from before unlocked, revealing a way back outside.

"What about the second part of the trial?" I asked.

"Well..." She said, "It didn't feel right making you do a stupid cooking competition now that Luke had that little brush with death."

Luke chuckled, "A cooking competition?" 

"I thought it would be cute..." Sophia said shyly, "anyway, here is your memory, Luke."

Luke held out his hand to me as his eyes went white. I grabbed it and waited with butterflies in my stomach.

When he came to, his face was pale. 

"What was it?"

"I..." he took a deep breath, "I'm... a private investigator."

I looked at him for a second.

"Oh come on! you had me worried. That's really cool"

He laughed, "yeah, sorry but I had to!"