「Dreaming For Stars」TPNxReader

39} Beyond Expectations

Book 5} Chapter 39
Beyond Expectations
期待を超えて

{ There was no way they could just disappear... They're somewhere. Okay, Y/n, keep calm and think. Where could they- }
My thoughts stopped as the ground started to go down?

"What..." I muttered.
Ray's eyes went wide as the ground then caved in.
"Ray!" I shouted, grabbing him as he was closest to me.

I had Thoma in my arms, Chris was also in my arms.
Emma!
I relaxed once I saw her next to Ray.

But, not like totally relaxed, because we were falling into the ground.

I hit the ground with a thud.
"Ray?" I asked, unsure of why I was so worried to find him first.

I then winced as I felt a great weight on me, making me bang my head against the ground.
"Who is this?" I asked, touching the person's arm.
"Who is who?" I then heard Emma ask.
"Emma!" I felt so happy hearing her voice.

{ What is this place? I'm assuming somewhere underground but... } I looked around, still trying to find out who was on me.
{ It's pitch-black. The ground opened up... }

"Emma! Is Chris, Thoma, or Ray with you?" I asked.
"Yeah! Chris and Thoma!" she shouted.

"Then Ray," I started.
"Yeah, I'm right here," he told me, touching my hair.

"Well then," I started. My eyes started to adjust and I saw some of his face.

"Can you get off?" I then asked.
"No offense, Ray, but you're like kinda heavy," I added.

He chuckled, but nevertheless, rolled off of me.
He stood up and held out his hand.
I took it, giving him a smile in thanks.

We then rushed to where we heard Emma.
"Is this... underground?" Emma asked once we reached her.
Thoma was freaking out over a bug and Chris was next to Emma.

"Yeah, probably," Ray said.
"Then maybe everyone else is down here too?" I suggested.
"Let's look for them," Ray said.

"Look, Y/n!" Chris then said as he pointed to a shining light.
"Y/n!" a familiar voice... Gilda?
"Gilda?! Gilda!" I shouted back.
"It's Y/n! Y/n!" she exclaimed. I heard relief in her voice making me smile.

We all rushed over and the kids hugged Emma.
I hugged Gilda and Don, "I'm glad you both are all right," I muttered.
"Y-Yeah, we're glad you're all right too!" Don said, stuttering but turning confident again.

"What is this place?" Ray then asked, taking my hand in his after I let go of the two.
There was a lot of tree roots... and bugs.

{ The bugs and plants are nothing like I've ever, ever seen before. Even more so down here. Maybe I just don't know about them. Or maybe the ecosystem changed rapidly because of the demons. } I turned to Ray, he looked deep in thought.

{ What is going on in the world right now anyway? And how do we escape? The place we fell in from is already covered back up. We have to get to Mr. Minerva as soon as possible. To a society where we can live. }

"First, let's get out of here," Emma said, grabbing a root. It snapped as soon as she had a tight grip on it, "It's no use. None of the roots are strong enough to climb up," she then said.

"It looks difficult to get to the ground from here," Gilda acknowledged.
"Let's keep going and find an exit," Don suggested.
I looked towards the kids, they were enjoying themselves.

Gilda giggled, "They're having fun. They're forgetting how tired they are. And it's warmer down here. Maybe it's better to be down here, because we can cover our tracks from the pursuers."

I shook my head. "No. We should get back up there. Sooner rather than later," Ray said.
I nodded, agreeing with him.
"Why?" Emma asked in confusion.

"We don't know what lies ahead of us, Em. What if there's no escape route. We'd also be cornered if we got attacked. Plus... this forest is odd. The underground space too," I continued as we walked.

{ What is this? Why is there such a cavern? }

I suddenly stopped as we entered a different looking kind of place. An underground flower field...

The kids liked it, but I couldn't help but feel something bad.
"Ray... this place doesn't seem right," I muttered to him.
He gave my hand a squeeze, "I know. I don't like it either," he agreed.

Don stopped at a huge root, "So this is a dead end, eh? Hey! I think I can climb up this one! I'm going to try it!"

Emma encouraged him on that.

"Aaagghhh!" Nate then yelled in fear as he fell back.
"What's wrong, Nate?" Emma asked.
"Th- That... Up there!" he shouted, pointing up.

My eyes widened once I saw it.
Animals... dried up animals.

"So that's what this is. This is bad, Y/n. This place... this tree, this forest is..." Ray muttered.
Before anything else, Emma dashed over to Alicia and Jemima.
She swooped them up.

The entrance was closing up.
We were being trapped in.

The kids shouted in horror as they ran away from it.
"Shoot, we're surrounded. We're being trapped," I muttered, not loud to panic the kids.

"What the heck is this?" Nate muttered in horror.
"This is probably the this tree's feeding ground. These trees capture animals to eat," Ray concluded.
That made sense...

"It drops its prey in here... lures it... captures it and eats it. That's what this cave is for," I muttered with wide eyes.

"So we've all been caught in a trap?" Anna asked uneasily.
(Caught in a lieeeeeeeeeeeeee
I'm sorry)

"Everyone!" I shouted, "Gather together! Don't get separated!" I ordered as we huddled together.

{ What the hell? This is what it's like on the outside? It's not just the demons and the wild beasts. But nature is our enemy itself! We were too arrogant, about the outside, about this world! }

I started to panic as I thought. I bit on my finger to keep myself from doing anything.

"What do we do?! It's a tree, so should we burn it?!" Don asked.
"No, that's dangerous. We're in a closed space. We'd die before the tree burned down! And the smoke. Any pursuers would know our location," Ray said, gritting his teeth as he kept a tight hold on my hand.

I didn't mind that, I was holding his hand probably as tight.
"Then what are we supposed to do?!" Nate shouted.
"What do we do, Emma?" Anna asked.
"Emma?"

Emma was spaced out, until she finally said, "I've read about this before. Ray, Y/n, this is the snake of the something-or-other!" Emma then shouted.
"What?!" Ray and I asked in unison.

"One of those two books! I read it there! So this is a guide after all! Mr. Minerva's adventure novel!!" 

私は私の心を失っている、と私は怖いです

1/26/2020
Word Count: 1110