The Cave~ *creepy music*

Alright, for any of you stalkers out there, this is a thing for Peter and Danae. If y'all haven't noticed, Danae kind of has some independence issues. Which doesn't help at all when it comes to her and Peter's relationship. So the idea came up, why not try to fix that, and make her rely on him for once?

So.. here we go. The setting is a simple field of some sort. That's all that you really need to know.


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Danae


I sighed, laying back in the grass with a slight smile. The stars were beautiful tonight, not a cloud in the sky for miles. I could almost relax, pushing the slight sting on my arm from my mind the best I could. I'd angered Dad a bit earlier, my fault honestly. He'd told me to 'take care of' a misbehaving guard, and I'd instead helped the guy escape. Dad hadn't taken to kindly to that.

I'd gotten off realty easy since he had a meeting today, I could almost bet there'd be worse consequences when he got home tonight. Oh well, that was later. Right now... none of that mattered.

The main reason why was the guy beside me.. Peter. My smile grew a bit wider as I dropped my eyes from the stars to look over at him, the peaceful mood along with having him here with me seemed to make my evening. What could be better than this? Nothing, that's what.

I would just have to forget the other stuff for now, and just focus on this.

"Hey Peter?" I asked after a moment, my eyes flickering back up to the stars as I offered a hand toward him. "What's that one?"

Peter

I loved clear nights like this one...nights where you could see every star in the sky. I was glad there was an area like this, too, far away from the bright lights of the towns and cities. Quiet, peaceful...

...And of course, having Danae there next to me raised the appeal a lot.

"I'm not sure," I replied, taking her hand. "I think there was something similar on my home plane, but I can't think of the name at the moment..."

Funny...it wasn't that long ago that even being close to Danae made my face red and prickly. Heck, it wasn't that long ago that we both insisted we were friends, and only friends. And yet, here we were now...together.

I found myself giving a slight smile.

Danae

I nodded, glancing at him once again, the star losing my attention for the time being.

"Do you remember when we first started doing this?" I asked curiously, letting my mind wonder back to then. "When we first started talking again...."

My voice trailed off as I was pulled into the memories. Back then I'd been with Ezra, I could still remember how right it'd felt at the time. Then.. as I got to know Peter better..and we talked.. I started to realize just how far off we were from being right fir each other. Then there were the times when I couldn't stop crying, because of something with Ezra, and Peter was there to help me.

He was the one who fixed me when I broke, who helped me figure out who I really was. If tonight is a perfect night, I can't say its because of the stars, or the cloudless night, it's because of who I'm with, and what we've become.

Too bad we couldn't just stay like this...stay here....

Peter

"Yeah..." I replied. "Heh...it was a lot different back then..."

Back when Danae and I were just starting to be friends. And when Danae was still with Ezra. And Ezra would do something stupid and hurt her, and I'd try to comfort her, because hey, we were friends. Then Danae suggested stargazing, and we'd just lie out on the grass together and talk. It was all so comfortable and easy... I found it kinda funny that, had it not been for Danae, stargazing would never have even crossed my mind.

I remembered when I'd started to really grow disapproving of Danae's relationship with Ezra. When it had started to seem that he hurt her with a frequency that continued to grow, left her broken so often and barely did anything to fix it... Repairing had become my job, which I'd willingly and gladly done. I remembered that strange, unidentifiable feeling I'd experienced when I saw them together; I hadn't been able to place it at the time, but I now knew that it had been jealousy. At that point, I'd never thought that I had any reason to be jealous, so I just...hadn't seen it.

I remembered the conversations we'd had when she started to really see that Ezra wasn't right for her. She'd gain a little resolve to maybe separate with him, but then he'd do something to win her back. It was always something. It reached a point, though, when she'd just had enough. I remembered the day she'd finally broken up with him. I'd been with her before she did it, and I was there with her after...just long enough before I was then imprisoned in a tree.

After that, though...and after she'd freed me...we'd started to grow even closer. It wasn't long before we kind of mutually acknowledged that we were more than friends. Then there was that time with Emmeline...when Danae had kissed me. First time I'd ever been kissed...

And here we were now, lying side by side under the stars like we had on that first night. Of course, a lot of things had changed...but they'd changed for the better. I thought so, anyway.

Danae

I nodded, the smile on my lips getting a bit bigger as my thoughts ran over it all. I wouldn't go back for the world, everything.. just seemed so much easier with him around.

"Yeah.. it was..." I murmured, my eyes flickering down once more, something brushing the back of my mind.

Furrowing my brow a little, I tried to recall what it was. My free hand absently brushed the stinging part of my arm, eyes widening slightly as I realized what I'd forgotten.

"I have to go.."

Letting go of his hand I pulled myself up, nervously straightening my clothing. If I was even a bit late, it was going to be even worse when he got home. If he was first back... no. It wasn't going to happen.

Peter

I sat up, frowning. "What's wrong?" I asked. She was clearly agitated about something...and she didn't ordinarily leave all of a sudden with no explanation.

((Grr...short. Dialogue... .-.))

Danae

I hesitated, then shrugged a little, not really wanting to give him the reason. He would worry, and there was no reason to. I knew what would happen when I choose to let the guard get away, and still I did it anyways. The consequences, were mine. Peter might try to help.. and I was fine without it.

"Nothing, I just have to get home. Realized that it may be a bit bad if I'm late for erm things." I muttered, giving him an apologetic smile as I turned away, starting to walk off.

A bit away I opened my mouth to speak, knowing that what I'd said was a very poor excuse, and immediately cut as a strange noise rumbled beneath me..then a sudden drop as the earth beneath my feet seemed to disappear. A shout of surprise escaping my lips I felt myself go down with the ground, falling quickly and hard.

Then I found the ground again, with seemingly my foot and my head at the same time as I heard a snap somewhere towards my ankle, immediately falling backwards to be consumed by black as my head struck something hard, my mind going blank.

Peter

Bad if she were late for things... I was pretty sure I knew what that meant. I felt a bit of resentment for her father grow within me at the words. You know, more than I already had.

I was just getting up to follow her when the ground beneath her collapsed.

"Danae!" I shouted, starting to my feet in a hurry and running to the edge of the hole. Going purely on instinct, I switched to my subtype and jumped in.

I landed lightly and looked around. "Danae...?" No answer. I felt my stomach start to clench.

It was pitch black down here...but if Danae fell straight down, she should be right by me. I ignited my shirt at the shoulder and peered through the darkness. There she was... I quickly knelt down by her, checking for injuries. I didn't find anything serious; relief flooded through me, and I let out a breath. Okay...she was going to be alright... I took my knife and started cutting fabric scraps from my sleeves.

A low rumbling echoed from the opening of the cavern, dust starting to trickle down at first, then small rocks as the unstable entrance started closing. Then suddenly it was as if it all gave away, the larger rocks tumbling down speedily, any light provided by the outside blocked as the entrance quickly disappeared.

Peter

My eyes widened as the hole started to collapse in on itself. Acting quickly, I tossed my stuff a little ways away, picked Danae up, and ran out of the paths of the falling rocks. Once everything had settled, I lay her gently back on the ground and went to grab the items I'd thrown, looking back at the entrance as I did.

Well...we weren't getting out again that way.

I picked up my stuff and went back over to Danae, kneeling by her once more and trying to dress her injuries. Aside from the head injury, which I'd already attended to, it looked like she had at least one break in her ankle... I took my lockpicking tools from my boot and used them as a brace for her leg, binding them off with strips of fabric.

Now I just had to wait for her to wake up...

Danae

I don't know how long I was out, and at the moment it wasn't my main focus. More important to me was where hurt worse. My head, or ankle. Since there was some kind of thing around my leg, I decided it had to be my head.

OK. Ow.

I'd had worse though, I'd definately had worse. So I could deal, just gave myself a moment to push past the still hanging fogginess of my mind, before blinking slowly.

."....Peter?" I croaked, spotting him almost immediately. "...What happened...are..are you okay?"

Peter

"I'm fine, don't worry about me," I said. I was just glad she was awake... "The ground gave way and you fell down here. The entrance collapsed, though, so we'll have to find another way out. Are you alright?"

Danae

I nodded, stopping the motion as a wave of dizziness swept through me.

"Yeah, I'm fine.' I muttered, pausing for a moment then starting to attempt sitting up.

Once again that dizziness ran through me, almost forcing me back down. Gritting my teeth I managed an almost sitting up posistion, and settled a smile on my lips.

"See....just...fine."

Peter

I instantly reached for her to help stabilize her, my face flashing with worry.

"You should lie down," I told her. "You hit your head...you might have a concussion. Here, I'm going to try to keep the swelling down. This'll feel cold..."

I put my hands by her head injury and started drawing heat away. I was going to have to do that for her foot, too, but the head injury had the highest priority at the moment.

Danae

My eyes widened slightly, a bit of surprise registering in my mind, past the dizziness. As the cold grew, I felt it clear a little. Hesitating, I frowned, glancing from him towards the little tunnel going off of the cavern.

"Like I said..." I muttered, refusing to lie back down now that I was up. "I'm fine. You said we'd have to find another way out of here..."

I trailed off for a moment, losing the train of thought as the dizziness grew a little once again. Pursing my lips I concentrated, pulling my words into line again.

"Then how're we to do that if I just...lie here..?

Peter

"We're not going to do it just yet," I said, still frowning with concern. "You need to rest first. Like I said, you could have a concussion, and if you do too much while you're concussed, it could develop into something more serious..." I continued to draw heat away from the injury. "Tell me, do you feel nauseous? Dizzy? Weak? Is your vision blurry at all?"

I didn't want to bombard her with questions, but they were important. What she really needed was a doctor, but until we could get out of this cave, I was going to have to help her as best as I could. What I needed to figure out was how pressing it was... How immediately she needed attention. If we could afford to wait...

Danae

I frowned, considering how exactly to answer his question. If I answered truthfully, there was no way we'd get moving anytime soon, and that would be my fault. Yet, if I lied, and he was right about making it worse, then well...I could make it worse.

"...just a little dizzy is all. " I muttered after a moment's thought. "Nothing to horrible. Visions fine, not really nauseaous."

A half thruth would work, right? I mean, I was a tiny bit nauseous but it wasn't too bad unless I moved. My vision was fine, I mean, it wasn't the best, but not really anything to be concerned about. So, therefore, it didn't matter.

Revisiting the urge to lie back down as another wave of dizziness swept through me, I instead straightened up more, gritting my teeth with a pleasant smile. I was fine.

Peter

Though I wasn't sure if I could accept that whole thing as truth, I was glad she was at least being partially honest. That she was telling me anything at all... But of course, while I was certainly skeptical, I couldn't press her for more.

"Please lie down..." I said.

Danae

I rolled my eyes, hesitating slightly as the cavern seemed to spin around me. Chewing on my lip for a moment I sighed, laying down slowly. The sooner he was assured that I was ineed fine, the sooner we could go looking for an escape. That was the only reason I was lying down.

It wasn't like I really was hurt, because I wasn't. Not at all.

"There," I grumbled, staring up at him. "You won't go exploring without me, right?"

Peter

"Of course not," I answered, relieved that she was actually doing what I asked. "I should probably go look for stuff that'll burn, though... We need more light. Would you mind? I wouldn't go far at all."

Danae

I hesitated a little, then nodded slowly. "As long as you aren't going far..."

I blinked, furrowing my brow a little at the roof like cave junk above me. My head was still spinning slightly, but now that I'd laid down it was a bit better. Like I'd said, I was fine. It was just a little... er... okay sized bump.

That's all.

Peter

"I'll be back as soon as I can," I said, getting up and heading a little further into the cavern. I felt bad leaving her, but there wasn't really anything I could do about it. ...She didn't even have any light nearby... Guilt started to crawl around in my stomach; I hurried to gather anything flammable.

((A SHORT TIME LATER...))

"Back," I announced, kneeling near her and starting to put things together for the fire.

Danae

I barely noticed he was gone, the dizziness ruling my mind. He probably could have been gone for a couple hours, and it wouldn't have mattered. When he spoke I sighed, a bit relieved and started to attempt pulling myself back up.

"Need...help?" I huffed, ignoring the spots threatening my vision.

I didn't hit my head that hard, I mean really.. I would be fine.. just..needed a little time.

Peter

"No, it's alright," I said, gently trying to get her to lie down again. "Really...this exact sort of thing--even this whole situation--was all in my training. Just...please, let yourself rest."

Danae

I hesitated, then sighed, laying back down with a frown.

"I should be doing something..." I muttered slowly. "Just...tell me what.... I want to help. I can't just...lay here..."

Nevermond the fact the black spots in my vision were still there...and not gong away. Oh...and the fact I was barely able to form those words without pause....I could...do something.