Crow (NoochZahHutt)

Part Twenty-Six

 I'd thought the minecart was snug with one person in it. Now that I knew what it was like to squeeze two people in, my previous ride seemed roomy and comfortable.

As it turned out, neither of us knew how to get to Balamb from Guardian Beach, so we were taking Crossroads back to Genesis first, then taking a horse to Balamb. I was sitting on Mat's lap, essentially. Mainly because he was taller.

We didn't talk a whole lot though half of the journey. There's not a lot to talk about when you're speeding through Hell.

And then, about halfway through, when the cart was on a poorly-made bridge above an ocean of magma, a creature walked out onto the tracks.

It was a pig, I think. But it had a dull golden sword and zombified features. It looked like somebody's fursona, basically.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" I yelled, gripping the sides of the cart and desperately hoping it could understand English. It didn't budge.

"What? What's there?" Mat asked. He couldn't easily see around me.

"There's a...thing..." I said, not sure what to call it. "A...zombie...pig..."

"A what?" Mat replied, trying to see around me. He bumped my shoulders and the cart started to shake.

Then the cart collided with the creature's legs. It growled menacingly. The cart was pushed back at high speeds, backwards across the bridge.

"We're going the wrong way!" Mat yelled.

"No shit, Sherlock!" I replied. "Jump out once we get across the bridge!"

I got on my feet, crouching down and gripping the sides of the cart so I wouldn't fall out. Mat did the same. I stared at the ground, waiting for it to change from the rickety bridge to blood-colored stone. And then I jumped.

I rolled onto the ground. The rock did not feel like rock, as I had expected, but it felt kind of slimy. I sat up, and looked down at my clothes - they'd been stained red. I glanced over at Mat, who had jumped the opposite way I had. He was also observing his stained clothing.

The cart was long gone. There was no way we were getting it back.

"Welp," I said, popping the "P", "I guess we have to walk."

"I guess so," Mat agreed. He stood up and attempted to brush himself off, but he only ended up with demonic handprints on his shirt. He shrugged and walked past me, towards the bridge.

"Wait," I said, standing up quickly which proved to be a challenge with the slippery ground, "be careful!"

He turned around as he was about to step on the bridge and looked at me. "I'll be fine, dude!"

I walked towards him. "Okay."

We began the daunting task of shuffling across the bridge. I stuck to stepping on the wood parts of the track, while Mat was more reckless and just walked wherever. I found myself reaching for his hand. The atmosphere of this place was giving me an anxiety.

"You okay?" Mat turned his head to face me. I swallowed hard and nodded quietly.

"Watch where you're going," I said. He turned around and concentrated more on walking.

A moment of silence. Then a scream. We both jumped and looked around.

"That wasn't me, I just want to clarify," Mat said. I nodded.

BANG

The sound had come from our left. The bridge had been partially blown up. We were stuck.

"W-where..." I stuttered. Something else sailed over our heads, another explosive no doubt. The screaming continued.

"We have to jump!" Mat yelled. Without hesitation, he ran and sprang off his robotic leg, flawlessly landing on the other side of the gap. I froze. I was freaking out. "Petey! Dude! Snap out of it!"

My eyes were wide. My heart was beating quickly. I vaguely heard Mat calling my name.

"What the fuck do you want to die?!" Mat yelled. "BRANDON!"

I shook my head, trying to get rid of the heartbeat in my ears. "Uh...yeah. I mean, no! I don't want to die," I said, shifting my weight onto a different foot.

"Then jump, dude!"

Another explosion sounded somewhere near me. I ran, and everything seemed to go in slow motion as I jumped...

...I was above an ocean of lava, oh god...

...I planted one foot on the edge...

...but the second foot didn't quite make it...

Okay, I'm just trying to be dramatic. You all know I didn't fall, or I wouldn't be telling you this story. I did almost fall, though.

My second foot slipped, but I quickly grabbed onto one of the rails. My feet were dangling above the lava. One of my shoes had fallen off.

"Mat..." I said, my voice strained. Every ounce of my concentration was focused on not falling.

Now he'd frozen. His human eye was darting around nervously, and his human hand twitched slightly, but other than that, he wasn't doing anything.

"I'm...I'm..." Mat began, sounding panicky. What was he going to say?! He was what? Why wasn't he trying to save me?

I was freaking out. My grip was slipping. I couldn't help but wonder if Mat wanted me to die. I'd never found out exactly what in his views had changed about me - what if he was just faking? What if he didn't really like me anymore, and was just waiting for an opportunity like this?

"HELP ME!" I yelled aggressively. Mat seemed to snap out of it, and blinked a few times. He stretched out his human hand. I grabbed onto it and he pulled me up.

My sock slipped on the stone and became soaked in the red liquid. I used my other foot to get a good hold and climb up, still gripping onto Mat's hand. And then we ran.

Once we were off the bridge, I leaned down on my knees, breathing hard. "What...the...FUCK...was that," I said, between huffs.

"That red liquid must have gotten in my joints!" Mat exclaimed, holding up his human arm in defence. He seemed almost too defensive, for some reason. "My robot parts were frozen, I swear!"

"You seem oddly quick to defend yourself," I accused.

"Do you not trust me?" Mat asked. I wasn't actually sure if I could answer. So I stayed quiet, and stood up straight. "Is that a no?"

"I...I don't know," I said.

"What have I done that's untrustworthy?!" Mat exclaimed. Suddenly I felt bad about doubting him - but still. I had no proof of anything. "HALF OF MY BODY WAS IMMOBILE, WHAT DID YOU WANT ME TO DO?"

He was yelling now. I felt the urge to yell back. "I DON'T KNOW, TELL ME?!" I waved my arms wildly. "IF THAT WAS REALLY THE REASON YOU WEREN'T HELPING ME, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST TELL ME THAT?!"

"BECAUSE!" Mat yelled, pulling at his hair with his human hand. "I WAS PANICKING!"

"Just..." I said, looking at the ground. "Just forget it."

I started walking, oddly, what with my missing shoe and all. I was covered in a strange red liquid, I didn't know if I could trust Mat anymore, I was stuck in HELL, and my anxiety was acting up so bad I could barely breathe.

And things weren't about to get better.

~~~

#RIPPetesShoe2016 (My twitter is @ Cosmiic_Owl feel free to spam me)

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