Promise (A VenturianTale Fanfiction)

The Land-Mine

~

"Drrrrrrr...."

"What are you doing, sir?"

"Nothing."

Toast looked over his shoulder, where Ghost was shivering and twitching uncontrollably, trying to scare him.

"That's not going to work, sir. We're taking Tea with us. I promised her." Ghost stopped his twitching, and shook his head.

"Who said this was about Tea? Maybe I just want to scare you for fun."

Toast watched as Ghost stalked around the empty Home room, where they were stuffing their backpacks with their belongings and packing again. Ghost was already done, since he said his hood was "all he really needed."

His hood. Covered in dirt and dust.

Toast shivered.

If only he could wash it.

~

Ghost and Toast, after re-packing, reunited with the rest in the common room, where a nice little table of tiny boxes sat, glimmering in the colored light that filtered through the stained-glass windows. The window depicted a small bird with purple feathers perched on a woman's hand, and in the background, a lush forest rose. It was a strangely detailed piece, and Ghost was surprised he hasn't noticed it before. Looking closer, a small white light danced amongst the colors, indicating that a portion of the window had suffered a small shatter. The hole was directly on the woman's breast, as if a bullet had shot her in the heart.

He heard that Chakalata Soup prepared all the gifts for them, but he was no where to be seen. Ghost didn't really trust him, and he wasn't all that eager to open a little silver square box labeled, "For The Ghost." For all he knew, Chakalata Soup could've hidden a land mine in there.

A very, very small land mine.

Toast had wandered away from Ghost during this, and had found his way over to where Tea was sitting, garbed with white silk and crowned with a branch/flower crown thing.

"Five Nights and Six Days,
Do turn since thy left
Whom thee stole my heart
And ran with thy theft

Return on the peek,
And dare jump to the plain
Together will we be
If thy shall slip away."

Ghost walked up behind Toast, nodding at Tea. "That was some amazing singing. Is that some sort of lullaby from here?" Tea shook her head, laughing. "Nope! It's actually a very mature song, if you listen to the lyrics closely. Like, 'slip away.' That means to die. It's quite a way to end a verse, if it were a lullaby, I'd say."

Chakalata Soup had must've somehow snuck into the common room, because the next moment, everyone was silent. The only audible voice was that crackly sound of his.

"As you all know, our visitors will be departing back to their 1st Dimension they hold so dearly. Now, as a suitable host should, I have set out farewell gifts for the group." Chakalata Soup pointed a withered finger at the table of gifts.

"So, let us send them off properly. Everyone, step forward and retrieve the gift with your name on it."

Everyone surged forward, a buzz of excited chatter humming from the crowd. Ghost held back, waiting for the way to clear up before reaching for the "present." Chakalata Soup raised his arms for attention, and said, "Now open your gifts!"

Ghost waited for the first person (who happened to be Maloney) to open their present before tearing open his.

Land mine.

Land mine.

Land mine.

Inside the little silver box, sat not a land mine, but a little slip of paper. In black ink wrote in loopy cursive, "Surrender yourself. I know who you are."

Land mine.

Land mine.

Land mine.

Toast looked as terrified as he was, probably because he most likely got the same note. They both glanced at Chakalata Soup, who had two husky guards standing on each side of him. He jabbed a finger at Toast, and then at Ghost, and the guards nodded adamantly. They then retreated back into a room marked "Kitchen."

"We should get going now. Thanks, sir, for giving us these amazing gifts!" Ghost grabbed Toast's arm and they took off running, pushing through the crowd of people and screaming for the rest of the 1st Dimension Dwellers to flee with them. Everyone got the message pretty quick, and nearly everyone escaped before Chakalata Soup's guards or even the fool himself noticed.

Nearly.

A shrill shriek arose from the building, and another wave of people spilled out of the building, sprinting to take refuge in their homes.

"Tea!" Piper shouted, recognizing the cry immediately, "I'm coming!" Ghost stepped in front of Piper to intervene.

"If anyone's going in, I am. No worries, your daughter will be safe and with us before you know it, I assure you."

Toast ran in front of Ghost, yanking hard on his arm before he could move anywhere. "You bloody idiot! You're insane, thinking you can just trot in there and run out with Tea! No, you need help, sir. I'm coming with you, sir."

"Fine, c'mon!"

The common room was empty, all except a few flipped tables and shards of stained glass and an unconscious body.

Unconscious body.

Wait.

Never mind, it had a few flipped tables and shards of stained glass and Tea.