Chapter 31
A/N: The moment when Sergio said that he and Iker have unique relationship #Seriker (Nando sobbing in the background) Anyway, I love angst! This will not be a funny chapter :-( Kinda boring perhaps...
"It has been ages, we should check out on them," Sergio sighed, "What if they are taking away my girl secretly without my notice?"
"Xavi?" Iker screamed at the cave, "Xavi, are you there?"
"Oh gosh, there was no response!" Sergio panicked, "He must be doing something with my girl with his mushroom polluted hands!"
"Be respectful, Nene," Iker warned, "Nando, why don't you check whether they're inside."
Fernando went into the dark cave, after a while he got out, frowning, "There's no one inside. I do find a crawl space inside the cave, but in the end of the passage way there was a locked door. I'm sure it was locked since the handle won't budge."
"They must be inside then," Iker concluded, "Can you hear any voices from inside?"
"No, I can't hear anything except my own breaths," Fernando shook his head, "I found this paper though."
Iker was handed the folded paper. He opened it, finding that it was written with weird languages he didn't recognise, "These are words from another planet. We need the Wise to understand what it is saying. Sergio, where's the Wise?"
"I gave it to Gerard."
"I'll ask other Claudonese whether they know this language then," Iker rushed off with the paper. After a few minutes, he came back, terrified, "Guys, these are Axukish! They must have been kidnapped by Axuklians!"
"But that isn't possible!" Fernando frowned, "They got the protection badge and it would shield us!"
"Who knows if they hired some other aliens from another planet to kill them off? They can still harm without touching us!"
"Calm down, Capi, calm down," Fernando reassured.
"Puta madre!" The captain shrieked, "My job is to protect every single teammate from danger and now, everything is totally screwed up. I shouldn't really allow them to play football here, nor letting the ball in, should I?"
"There must be a way. Calm down if you want an idea," Sergio pulled Iker into his embrace, as the goalkeeper buried his head into his shoulder.
"You know, Iker, caves usually have more than an exit," Fernando grinned, "Perhaps there is another exit of the cave next to the cliff side."
"Good idea, Nando!" Sergio giggled, dragging Fernando and Iker along, "Let's go find it."
The cliff was somewhat rangy, where shallow water was underneath the mist below their feet, with the symphony of waves crashing against the shore. Along the cliff side led a narrow, grassy road to the back of the hill, between the rim of the cliff and the plateau where the cave situates.
"I am your scapegoat, am I? I bear your own burden when you are gone," Iker halted as he glanced beneath the cliff with vacant eyes. The voice echoing in his ears was more than familiar, close yet distinct, from somewhere deeper than his bleak mind could reach. His eyes glued at the mist below his feet, with the reflection of the crimson Claudon Sun. And somehow, he felt he was going to break apart.
Taking a step back from the edge, his frigid hands tended to slid off from Sergio's warm grasp, but eventually failed at the time when Sergio pulled him over.
"You like the sea too, don't you? I saw you staring at the sea. I never thought that Claudon has seas," Sergio's smile blossomed among his cheeks, as if the sheenful aurora glazed within the Iberian Sun, "Once when I was taking care my horses, my brother, Rene, told me that there wasn't clouds if there wasn't water; there wasn't care if there wasn't love. Good quote, isn't it? And it's related to here in this planet! Perhaps that's why I love horses."
There wasn't care if there wasn't love... Your brother said that, eh? Iker forced out a laugh, keeping his sarcasm to himself.
"He really does love his horses," Fernando joked, "More than human, I suppose."
"Jealous Fernando," Sergio smirked, legs leapt up to Fernando's waist with arms around his neck, "Piggyback time! Nando is now my favourite horse. I love him the most so that he won't be envious."
"You are extremely annoying, Jockey Ramos," Fernando chortled, holding onto Sergio tight like he was going to fall in any moment.
"Get down from there, now!" Iker fumed, "The cliff is freaking beside you!"
"See, someone from behind tells you to get down," Fernando echoed.
"Oh come on, Capi. Don't ruin this moment."
"Sergio Ramos, do I have to repeat once again?" Iker yanked the tattooed defender off from the blonde's back, "This is extremely dangerous. The last thing I want is to see someone falling off from such a high place in front of me again, you hear me?"
See someone falling off from such a high place in front of me...again... The next second Iker was blaming himself for saying the wrong thing.
"Yes, dad," Sergio groaned while pressing Iker hard against the wall of the plateau, "I almost forgot you're quite afraid of heights."
Iker was somewhat relieved that he didn't notice his mistake.
"I'm more afraid of losing you, nene. I can't afford losing anyone," Iker whispered, feeling his friend's bones crushing his. The sun shone towards Iker's faint smile hanging on his pale face. The light charmed his skin as his caramel brown hair quiffed slightly on his forehead. Sergio planted a habitual, friendly small peck on the goalkeeper's cheek, similar to the ones in the tunnel before matches.
"Keep on galloping, Nando," Sergio loosened his grip at the captain, hands laid on Fernando's shoulder, "Be careful at the same time, as daddy says."
The three continued their journey at the hillside, searching for every clue of another cave exit.
"Man... It's getting boring," Sergio yawned, "There's no clue where they were. Why don't we have a small pep talk while searching around?"
"Do you think we can get back to Earth and reverse everything back?" Iker suddenly asked, avoiding his gaze towards the cliff.
"Yes, of course," Sergio replied, "We aren't going to let down those who had sacrificed."
"Sergio's right," Fernando grinned, "No matter how far it takes, we must succeed, because this is why fate chooses us to do so."
"Guys, I think the chance that we can get back to Earth is little," Iker's tone became desperate, "I mean, finding the Axuko Crystal is lethal, we will all get killed, and we only got a slight chance to survive. If it isn't so dangerous, why doesn't King Skull use his own army to find the crystal?"
"It's true that their army got maybe like billions of soldiers and is way stronger than us. Apparently it's because it's too risky to make this bet, so he used us, these ten footballers, the last survivors in the destruction," Fernando was deep in his thoughts, "If his own army is not strong enough to find the Axuko Crystal, what about us? Can we even survive? Even if we succeed, King Skull won't set us free so easily."
"Gosh, you guys are so negative," Sergio frowned, "I'm starting to miss Cescky."
"It's just a warning," Iker let out an apologetic laugh, "We are treating this as our 'last hope', so we have to be more cautious, but not hopeless. One small mistake can lead to priceless consequences."
One small mistake can lead to priceless consequences. I know you know that too, Iker.
"Are you using this to tell us not to fool around beside the cliff?" Sergio scoffed, "You're the one who is hopeless."
"Shut up, Ramos," Iker mumbled, shifting his glance towards a wooden door behind a small boulder, "Guys, I think you'd love to see this."
The three climbed up the boulder with ease. The wooden vault door was embedded at the entrance with rusty hinges.
"Time to see if it's an exit of Xavi's cave or just another cave," Fernando swung open the screeching door. He seemed to be fearless.
"Are you there, Pelopo?" Hesitantly, Iker's shuddering voice echoed among the dark walls in the cave. Nobody seemed to be there.
"So it's only another empty cave," Sergio exhaled deeply, leaning against the entrance.
"I think I can hear something though," Fernando knocked the thin walls at the end of the cave, "It is Cesc's voice! They must be behind the walls!"
"And it seems they are in trouble..."
A/N: Do you guys play Pokemon Go? It consumed all my mobile data within six days and now I can't even go out and hatch an egg! What about Cytus? Their music is super amazing!