The Randomness That Is Me

Intertwined Pasts

     Cassia groaned as she slowly came to. She opened her eyes and cursed under her breath when she saw where she was. "Sh*t." She was in the circular stone chamber, tunnels leading from the chamber along the walls. She looked around at all 12, each with its own symbol above the archway. This was the place of her nightmares, she had hoped to never return here again.
     She got up warily, keeping an eye out for any traps. That'd be something they found funny, allowing her to think she could escape then hurting her with some stupid trap. Its happened often whenever she ended up here.
     "I know you're there, don't make me come get you!" She called out.
     A soft padding noise is heard from one of the tunnels surrounding the chamber, and Cassia whipped around to face the noise.
     A wolf came out from one of the tunnels and headed towards Cassia, a look on its face that looked almost like a smile.
     Cassia glared at it, speaking when it came within her 5 foot personal space bubble. "Stop."
     The single word, spoken with so much contempt and hate, caused the wolf to stop and sit back on its haunches. It then looked at Cassia with a look similar to if she had just kicked it for no reason.
     Cassia kept glaring, furious that her tormentor chose this form. "You've had your fun Clancy. Turn back into your normal shape and tell me why the hell you brought me back here."

(Back with Yoi, still in the neko dimension)

     Yoi kept going, closing her eyes as to enchant her sense of smell further. She stopped when she hit something strawlike. Upon opening her eyes she saw a woven brown basket. It was half filled with apples, the other half spilled out as the basket was resting on its side.
    Yoi paused, then gave the air another sniff to double check. She realized this had Cassia's scent all over it. She lifted her nose and sniffed again, wandering in ever widening circles in the clearing until the scent stopped at the base of an apple tree. Another's scent mixed with it, one almost... familiar. Yoi sniffed harder, trying to pinpoint what the scent was.
     The scent was suddenly recognizable, pushing Yoi into a memory.

-flashback start-

     It had been almost 5 hours since James had been taken, and Yoi was still curled up under her bed, crying silently while hugging the two squid plushies close.
     The rest of the house was silent, almost tomblike in the sense of dread and dispair that hung over everything like a black cloud.
     The silence was broken by the soft creak of the front door opening. A young woman walked through, then stopped in shock as she saw the destroyed living room.
     She made a beeline for the painting of a nether star on the wall, remembering that James always left notes for her there. Taking the painting off the wall and flipping it over, she saw a folded piece of notebook paper. She pulled it out quickly and replaced the painting on the wall. She unfolded the paper and read it quickly.

Clancy if you are reading this, it means I've most likely been taken or killed by Him. You know who I'm talking about, you were the one that warned me he would try to take Yoi. As I am no longer here, I need you to look after Yoi. You're the only one I trust for this task, don't hand her off to anyone else until she's 6 years old. That's 4 years from now. When she turns 6, take her to the Squid Dimension. Number 26. Make sure its the 26th dimension, the squid lord there owes me a favor. Give him the note you will find within my stuffed squid toy. Hopefully I had time to give it to Yoi, but in case I didn't, there is another copy in my room's safe, the one behind my headboard.
In the meantime, teach Yoi. She's a dimension jumper like you, but she doesn't know it yet. Teach her how to control it. Please Clancy, I'm relying on you to follow this letter.
~J

     Clancy's eyes widened as she finished the letter. Racing upstairs, she pushed at Yoi's bedroom door. It was still blocked by the objects James had piled against the door. She pushed harder and fell into the room as the pile of objects gave way suddenly.
     She stood up quickly and brushed herself off, then looked around for Yoi. "Yoi? Yoi its me Clancy! Please come out, James told me to fetch you."
     Yoi's ears perked up at the familiar voice. She peeked out from under the bed, still holding both plushies. When she saw it was Clancy she dropped the plushies and came out from under the bed completely, then ran at Clancy and hugged her hard.
"Jam-james is g-gone." She sobbed, squeezing Clancy's waist.
     Clancy looked down at Yoi, the bent down and looked her in the eye. "Yoi this is very important. Do you have James' stuffed squid?"
     Yoi let go of Clancy and looked at her, the question of 'why' clear on her face. She didn't voice her question, instead she crawled back under the bed to get the plushie.
     She emerged clutching both squids, the silently handed the one James gave her to Clancy.
     Clancy took the toy and picked at the seam in the back until she saw a bit of paper poking through. She carefully pulled it out, then scorched the seam back together with a small flame from her hand. She handed the toy back to Yoi, then took her hand. "Its time to go Yoi. James told me to take care of you, and you aren't safe here."
     Yoi nodded timidly and clutched both plushies to her chest with her free hand.
    Yoi and Clancy walked out of the house and got in Clancy's car. She drove off quickly. The last thing Yoi saw of the house she had lived in all her life slowly disappeared over the horizen.

    -flashback ends-

Yoi couldn't figure out why Clancy's scent was mixed with Cassia's but it didn't matter right now. Yoi sat back on her haunches and tried to puzzle out where Cassia had gone.

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Until next time,

~©@$$/@