Chapter 6:Road to the Evil Sorceress II

[Rayden]

"Too bad we can't huff and puff and blow the house down like Big Bad Wolf...." Rayden joked, somewhat half-heartedly. "Maybe someone can dress up as grandma and ask to be let in? Then send a signal if anything's wrong."

Ariadnialla sighed. Sometims she wondered about Rayden, like maybe someone dropped him on the head when he was a kid.

{I can't believe that you're actually suggesting this. Can I say idiot?}

[ST]

Rayden's suggestion made Hadrian snicker again, a bit louder this time. "Nice Ray-ray, chicks dig that when you're thinking!" he said to Rayden and made a thumbs up. "That's certainly way better than being annihilated altogether. Brave guinea pig, anyone?" He was supposed to not mean that, but the smile plastered on the hacker's face made it ambiguous if he really did.

"You and your stupid ideas." Selphie mimicked the boys, and deepened her voice exaggerately. "Lets blow the thing up, let's crossdress, let's have a guinea pig, ha ha ha, snicker snicker!" She took a deep breath and composed herself ending in a dismantling grunt. "I've had enough of this ridiculous meeting," she barked, stepping forward to the front door. Sending a sharp glance at the young SeeDs behind her, she continued. "If you're too afraid to come in and face the music then shame on you, shame on your instructors, shame on Balamb Garden for having you as SeeDs, and shame on--" Within a second, Selphie was sucked by an unseen force inside the cottage and a muffled scream resonated the air. The door closed shut in a blink then opened partially once again like nothing happened.

"Selphie!" Quistis blurted out, snapping to alertness. She shot a glance at the boys before following. "Might I inform you that this is a serious mission, so take it seriously AS a group or there'll be consequences later," the usually composed instructor ended dangerously, then turned on her heels to run inside.

"Damnit, Quistis will you wait?!" Seifer wielded Hyperion and followed to where Quistis disappeared to. "What are you staring at?! Come on you lame-ass punks!" he hollered at the group and ran past the front door.

The moment Seifer had disappeared inside, the door quickly shut close before anyone could approach it. Huge chains and thick padlocks started to materialize--not only around the door--but around the little cottage, sealing any entrance shut.

And the group was left standing outside--without any superiors to supervise them. The mellow aura and the cool breeze that was hanging in the air completely stopped.

[Myacu]

I don't believe it...

Jax stared at the cottage dumbstruck. They had lost all three of their leaders within seconds.

Silently pulling out his rifle, he quietly stated, "Better be on alert."

[Diego Stanton]

Deo stared at the cottage in terror. There was no muffled screaming or any kind of noise at all coming from inside the cottage. The air was calm and tranquil. Too calm and tranquil. The silence creeped Deo out more than anything.

"I knew we should have blown it up!" he exclaimed. "maybe I can break off the chains. Stand back you guys."

Deo carefully planted a few hissing bombs in between the chains and ran backwards a few feet as each bomb exploded. Deo immediately ran back to the cottage and fanned away some of the smoke with his hand.

Nothing.. The chains didn't have a scratch on them.

Huh. Plan A didn't work... So plan B... plan B.. Drake, what was plan B?

/That would be run away./

Deo took a deep breath in and held it. Running away was not an option. His eyes searched around looking for another way into the creepy cottage. Immediately his gaze latched onto something and he let out a big woosh of breath in excitement.

"Hey, there's a chimney!" Deo pointed.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Surprisingly, Deo's bomb didn't work on the strong chains that were encasing the little cottage. Shortly after, the bomber man spotted the chimney on top. The chains weren't that too complicated to penetrate from up there...however...it was too high, and they didn't have a ladder.

"Hey you're right," Hadrian said, looking up. "But guess what?" he added in a sing-song tone. "How the heck are we going to crawl up there, there's no ladder."

[Myacu]

"How the heck are we going to crawl up there, there's no ladder."

Jax scoffed at his teammates remark. Somehow, it had allowed him to loosen up again. He tapped Hadrien's arm with the tip of his rifle. "Ladder? Perhaps you've heard of a little something called muscle."


Without waiting for a response, he nonchalantly walked away, holding Ravaner against his shoulder as if it were a parasol. Surveilling the cottage with a little more caution, he announced, "We can probably climb up if we use these chains as leverage."

[Stella]

"A Chimney? You can not be serious" Stella said her voice flat as she stared disbelievingly at the boys around her.

"Who do you think you are, Santa Claus?" she said with a snicker.

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian scratched his neck and glanced at Jax. Since there seemed to be no way in but that chimney, and to top it all off, they need to get inside immediately, he concluded that it might be their only shot. Shrugging, he began, "I guess if there's no other way in, we don't have much choice but--"

"A Chimney? You can not be serious" Stella cut him off. Hadrian almost forgot that they weren't all boys in here. "Who do you think you are, Santa Claus?" She snickered in her own girly way.

Hadrian smirked. "Ohh, the rose among the thorns finally spoke," he teased. "So there are actually girls who don't want to get down and dirty huh?" He paused and nodded. "To tell you the truth, I don't want to go up there too, but hey, what can we do, right?" He shrugged and started walking to the thick chains. "Don't worry, if you get dirty, we'll all brush the dirt off of you." He slipped a glance at Rayden, then to the boys. "Right guys?" He grinned.

[Rayray]

Rayden strode forward to study the chains. They appeared rather ordinary but he knew they were anything but. How else could they survive an explosion and not have the slightest damage? He doubted his Flare magic would work too...if the heat from those bombs couldn't do anything to it, what more a simple Flare...


"Chimney's the way to go then..." Rayden muttered to himself as he walked back towards the rest.

He caught Hadrian's little comment at Stella and meaningful glance at him, smirking lazily in response.

"Ah, Stella Babe. You really don't hafta worry about the soot and dust from that chimney. If you're willing to be the last one down, I'm sure most, if not all of it would've rubbed off on our clothes. And Hadrian's little suggestion is always available at your request." Rayden leered at her, his eyebrows raising up and down in exaggerated suggestiveness.

"If that still doesn't appease you...well you can always wait outside for us to finish our business. But, you really don't strike me as the passive type. Please don't tell me I'm wrong?"

[Stella]

Stella huffed and rolled her eyes resting a hand on her hip.

"After going through that nasty room I think I am beyond dirty but thank you so very much for the offer Hadrian, and you too Rayden for backing him up so nicely" Stella said her voice dripping with sarcasm. She shook her head, trying to keep her cool.

"I'm SeeD remember, girl or not, I'm not worried about getting dirty. What I am worried about is one of us getting stuck" she said eying the chimney cautiously. Just the thought of going down that thing was making her heart drum a fast beat agaisnt her rib cage.

[miyavi]

"Aa, doesn't look like we have much of a choice, though," Sho remarked for the first time in a long while, watching the house with wary, anxious eyes. "There aren't any other openings to get through... the windows are shut and the front door doesn't look friendly."

He stretched. "We should at least make sure there aren't any freaky ash monsters in there, though," he said.

"I say we send a scout before we all get stuck in there. And I vote Geeker Boy to go."

[Hadrian D'arcell]

Hadrian nodded sincerely as Rayden comforted Stella. He had a gut feeling Stella wasn't going to buy their chivalry, but it was a nice try though.

"I'm SeeD remember, girl or not, I'm not worried about getting dirty. What I am worried about is one of us getting stuck" Stella stated, eyeing the chimney cautiously.

"Getting stuck..." he mumbled to himself as he studied the chimney from above.

Before he could reply, Sho suggested to send him as a guinea pig. Gee, that's the greatest idea of the century. Hadrian thought, narrowing his eyes at Sho. "Not so bold now, are ya?" He cocked his head. Why the heck did it always have to be him? "Fine, I'll do it, forget the voting," he announced nonchalantly, gripping the chains and preparing to climb. Treating chains like ladders wasn't exactly a smooth ride, but soon, Hadrian made it to the roof. The breeze was still nonexistent, and Hadrian felt a bit awkward.

Peering down on the others, he called, "Hey come on up here already, aren't you going to see daddy off?" He laughed.

[Stella]

OOC: Just want to say that I'm not making my character be difficult just to be a pain or to attention whore or anything. She is claustrophobic. That's why the aversion to going down the chimney. ^_^

---

Stella looked up at him and slowly shook her head. There really was no reasoning with these people. Somehow she was managing to keep her composure.

"I don't know if this is such a good idea... some one or some thing could be waiting at the bottom for him" Stella said glancing over at Rayden.

[ST]

don't even worry about it, Al we don't think Stella is an attention whore AT ALL XD!!

---

Hadrian

You look down the chimney and don't see a fire or anything down it. In fact, you can't see anything. It's pitch black all the way down the hole. Disregarding Stella's warning you jump in without any hesitation. After all, you don't want Sho teasing you about being afraid to go down the chimney the rest of your life.

Instead of falling straight down, the chimney catches you and swerves you left and right, almost as if you were on a slide. Eventually you're spat out the end and go flying facedown into a pile of ashes and wood. Now you have a few splinters and black soot in places nobody wants to have splinters or soot.

You stand up and dust yourself off. Looking around you see that you're in the living room of some kind of extremely wealthy mansion. All of the furniture looks priceless. There are bear rugs and lavish chandeliers. You try to find some way to inform the others of what's inside the cottage when you feel a prescence behind you. Whipping around, your jaw almost drops open.

Lying in an extremely sexual position on the couch is the most gorgeous woman you've ever seen in your life. She is the epitome of beauty. You've never wanted anything this badly in your life. You can't even remember what your mission is as the woman on the couch clouds your mind with lust.

"hello Hadrian," she purrs and motions you to come towards her.

You decide you don't want to inform the others of what's inside the cottage just yet.

---

Everyone else

Half an hour has passed since Hadrian disappeared down the chimney and no word from him.

"What the heck is he doing in there?!" Deo complained. "If he hasn't contacted us yet, something must be wrong. Should we go in after him?"

---

(you guys can jump in the chimney now if you want or create a new way to get into the cottage

[Rayden]

Rayden looked up towards the roof. Still no sound from Hadrian, which was starting to worry him.

"Guess there's only one way to find out." Rayden muttered back to Deo. He swivelled his glance around at Stella. "If you don't wanna follow you can try finding another way in, but good luck to that."

With that, he grasped the chains and hoisted himself up to the roof and slid down the chimney.