Young Writers Society

The moment the pain faded away, Kaito immediately perked up. Aquarius did as well, though it was less noticeable than it had been with Kaito. He stretched a little, then gave Mal a big grin. "I feel better now," he said. "Thank you!"

Aquarius gave a small smile of his own. "Thank you," he quietly said.

Eugh, smiles. He didn't know how to deal with those. At least they weren't hugging him.

Mal gave an awkward smile. "No problem," he said, edging towards the door. After a pause that he knew went on for way too long to be natural, he remembered what it was that he was supposed to be doing. Grabbing onto the door handle, his smile faded away. "Now, let's go see what happened to the ship."

"What about Lunis?" Aegeas said. The lion looked back to see the otters heading towards him, leaning against each other. "Shouldn't we wait for him?"

Mal frowned. Pulling the door open, he looked out into what had once been a hallway and said, "You know him - if he's not already here, he will be soon."

There wasn't much hesitation before the group began to head out into the hallway. Ari thought it was funny how they had all ended up in pairs - there was herself and Zion, of course, but that was a given. Then there was Aegeas and Kellach. Mal and Lunis made up another pair, even though it didn't seem like either one liked being thought of in that way. There was Kaito and Aquarius. She didn't like how Kaito kept looking at her; it made her a little uncomfortable, if she was being honest with herself. But Kaito and Aquarius was cute together - it was clear they were close even before this happened.

And then there was the most surprising pair of all: Pride and Apophis. The latter kept dragging the former around, and now was no exception. As the others began to file out of the room, Apophis grabbed onto Pride's hand and pulled him towards the door - the homunculus kept struggling to break free, but the god's grip was just too strong.

Sure enough, Lunis popped out of the shadows as soon as Mal took a couple steps into the hallway. Not that Mal was particularly surprised - it was a cheap trick, and less petty than most of Lunis's stunts, but Mal had seen it coming. And, admittedly (not that Mal would admit it to the panther), Lunis had shown up at the right time.

The hallway was a disaster. By some miracle, the ship had landed upright. It hadn't landed intact, though - pieces of metal and wood littered the floor, while the ceiling sagged and creaked. Entire rooms had crushed their way into the hallway, making it narrower and more bumpy.

Lunis held out a hand to stop Mal. "Do you want to keep going?" he called back to the others. "It doesn't look like it gets any better from here."

"We probably should," Apophis guessed, peering down into the hallway. It looked like a disaster - it wouldn't be easy to navigate now. But it still looked possible, even for the homunculus who had finally stopped squirming in his hand.

Kaito let out a sigh. "I wish I didn't agree," he miserably said, clinging to Aquarius's arm. Apophis didn't want to make any major assumptions, but it seemed like Kaito was almost scared.

Turning back, Mal rolled his eyes. "You all don't have to go," he said. "It looks pretty safe out here. We just need to find some food or water, or see if there's anything that got jostled by-"

The lion felt an arm wrap around him. Mal had just enough time to look up and hear Lunis say something - "Let's go, then," - before his vision turned into a blur of brown walls and black fur.

"Let go of me!" Mal shouted, but Lunis kept on jumping over gaps, squeezing through crevices, and bouncing between walls.

"Splitting up doesn't sound like a good idea," Kaito commented. "That's what always happens right before people get killed in horror movies."

Ari gave a confident nod in agreement, already in the process of climbing through the rubble. "There is strength in numbers," she added. She glanced over her shoulder. "Zion, want to go back to being my shadow? This might be easier if you do.

Zion nodded, suddenly going from a very solid figure to Ari's actual shadow. Pride, Apophis, Kaito and Aquarius all stared at the sight, but Ari continued on - completely oblivious to their reactions.

Apophis let out a sigh and looked down at Pride. "Do you need help-"

"I'm good," Pride said. "I have the advantage here, anyways."

Kaito had to agree. When the remaining four went to follow Ari (and Zion), Kaito found himself struggling to easily maneuver his way through the remnants of the ship. Apophis - who was only slightly shorter than him - had a far easier time getting through.

"Are you okay?" Aquarius asked, sending him a concerned look.

Kaito just puffed out his cheeks and let the air out in one frustrated breath in response.

Squeezing his way through holes, jumping over gaps, and grabbing onto whatever ledges and handholds he could get his paws on, Kellach still noticed how frustrated Kaito was. Since Kaito was a little bigger, those exasperated sighs made sense, but Kellach couldn't help but find them annoying.

So, when Aquarius brought the topic up, Kellach turned back to Kaito. "Do you need any help?" the otter said. He extended a paw to Kaito. "This place sucks, but I've been through worse, and I can help you get through a lot of this stuff."

"And you do like showing off," Aegeas mumbled, flashing a smile as he walked by Kellach.

Kellach tried his best to not let a grin showed on his face, without a lot of luck.

"Thank you for the offer," Kaito quietly said, "but I think I'll be alright."

Aquarius sent a worried glance in his chosen's direction, noticing that he wasn't making any eye contact as he maneuvered through more of the broken ship. He wished he could just hug him, but Kaito had managed to fall behind in an area that made hugging more than a little difficult.

"I just wish I was smaller again," Kaito muttered - Aquarius knew it was just supposed to be a comment to himself, but it was hard not to hear it with his slightly better hearing.

Awww - he really did want to show off. But a no was a no, so Kellach turned back and kept on moving. Until he heard that comment. Grabbing onto the edge of one of the ship's many holes and swinging his way through, Kellach beamed. "It's pretty great," he said. Then he frowned. "I could probably make some of these gaps and holes bigger, if you want." He turned back to Kaito and flashed a knife. "It shouldn't be too hard - this whole ship is kinda beat up."

Kaito immediately perked up.

"You would do that?" he asked, a smile beginning to sneak its way onto his face. The sight made Aquarius smile, too - he hated seeing when Kaito got so upset over his current appearance. Then Kaito hesitated, looking around at the broken remains of the ship. "Are you sure it wouldn't damage the ship's structural integrity?"

Grinning and looking at the splintered woodwork, Kellach said, "Nah, it's a big ship. What's the worst that could happen?"

On hearing that, Aegeas immediately turned around. He ran and tackled Kellach to the ground before Kellach could get to work on the nearest gap.

"I, um, have to agree with Aegeas..." Aquarius quietly said, staring over in Aegeas and Kellach's direction. Kaito gave a nod. Even though he wanted to get through this hall easier, he really doubted the supposed safety of damaging an already unstable ship.

"You're stifling my creativity!" Kellach said as Aegeas reached down and pulled his knife away.

Aegeas pulled Kellach onto his feet, wrapping his arms around Kellach's shoulders. "I'm stifling your stupidity," said Aegeas. "And now I'm going to have to keep a close eye on you, so let's get going."

Rolling his eyes and crossing his arms, Kellach let Aegeas drag him away.

As Aegeas began to drag Kellach, a giggle slipped out of Kaito's lips. Aquarius thought he had misheard his chosen for a moment, but then another one followed.

And another.

And another.

Soon Kaito was leaning over in laughter, tears streaming down his face as he tried to stop the giggles erupting from him. Aquarius looked at the sight and found that he couldn't help but giggle, too - it was a funny sight, and it was hard not to laugh when Kaito was.