Crossed Fates

Chapter 39: The Mystery Of The Infected

It was quiet in the depths of the forest. Crickets chirped, and the twigs snapped beneath Luke's feet.

Luke: "Man, I hate the dark... What the hell is Rin doing? Why the hell ain't she answering me?"

Jesse: "Luke?  Why are you calling Tyler 'Rin' all of a sudden?"

Luke scratches his head.

Luke: "Ehh... How do I explain this?  Basically there's someone living inside of him, and she sometimes controls him. You can tell when she is if his right iris is glowing red. Which it is right now."

Jesse: "Huh? Really? Why didn't I know about this?"

Luke shrugs.

Luke: "Couldn't tell you. Maybe it just wasn't relevant."

Jesse: "Wasn't relevant?"

Luke: "To tell you at the time. You know what I mean."

Jesse: "Okay."

They both look ahead. Rin just keeps walking forward.

Jesse: "I'm gonna stop Tyler, then."

Luke: "Uhh... I dunno if that's-"

Jesse runs forward, and taps on Rin's back. She turns around and stares at Jesse.

Jesse: "Are you okay?"

She looks back at Rin. She notices the glowing red eye, and she gulps in fear.

Jesse: "U-uhm... T-Tyler?"

Rin: "I can hear something. It's been bothering me ever since, Space Lady."

Luke: "Space Lady?"

Rin: "Yes. Black hair lady with the weird green sparkling hair on the inside part."

Jesse: "What are you hearing, E-Err..?"

Luke: "Rin."

Jesse: "What is it you're hearing, Rin?"

Rin: "I don't really know... but for some reason I really want to see what it is. I forced Tyler to give me control so I could check it out."

Luke: "And it's leading you through this forest?"

Rin: "Yes."

She stops walking.

Rin: "...Entrance."

Jesse: "Entrance?"

Luke: "Entrance!"

They stand next to each other. They have found a brand new dungeon's entrance.

Jesse: "Yeesh... This place is scary, I don't like it."

Luke: "Well, it's dark, but fear not! Your Paladin is here..! To light up the dungeon so you guys can see."

Jesse: "Phew."

Luke: "C'mon. Do you seriously think that I want to adventure out in the dark?! Do you, Rin?!?"

Rin: "I am used to being in the dark."

Luke: "That is not what I asked..."

Jesse: "Are we seriously going in here? It's so late into the night... I am a little frightened to be out here."

Luke: "Well, hasn't Tyler been training you with that sword of yours?"

Jesse nods, and she clutches onto it.

Jesse: "Yes. It is a two handed blade. I feel very comfortable wielding it."

Luke: "Well, maybe you'll be able to put it into use here! Say, I had a sword once, but it was smaller than yours. A short blade, it was."

Jesse: "Oh? Whatever happened to it?  I've only seen you with that cool shield."

Luke sighs.

Luke: "I tried attacking the Shadow Prince a while back, but that sucker just snapped. Uh gave me a really shitty sword, I can't lie."

Jesse: "Oh... I mean, he is very cool. I think it's in character that your sword happened to snap while fighting him, at least."

Rin: "...I am going inside the dungeon. The noise is getting noisier, and my curiosity is getting noisier as well."

She begins to walk inside.

Luke: "Ay! Don't just walk off, Rin!"

Both Luke and Jesse go and run after Rin. The dungeon is extremely dark, so Luke opens his palm and creates an orb of pure light. It brightens up the area around them.

Luke: "Huh, this dungeon is..."

Jesse: "B-B-Bloody..."

Rin: "The noise... It's in here."

She continues walking forward.

Luke: "Ay! You stupid... w-wwhatever you are again! What'd I say about walking off?"

Rin stops, and looks over to Luke.

Rin: "Oh. My apologies... I suppose I should be following alongside Tyler's leader."

Luke: "Yeah, if you're part of Tyler, you're part of the Peeps, and I am the leader of the Peeps, baby! So you should be listening to yours truly!"

Jesse: "Are we going to continue forward to look for this noise?"

Luke: "Yeah, I suppose we might as well. We're already here, and I'm sure Rin would just go ahead and look for the source of the noise anyways."

Jesse: "True."

Luke: "Alright, let's continue forward. I can see Rin getting impatient."

Jesse looks over at Rin. Her face is completely blank, like it always has been.

Jesse: "Huh? But... her facial expression is-"

Rin: "If you are able to understand a being's inner feelings, then you can see them express their inner feelings as if it was their facial expression."