Master of the Mountain (Cole x oc)

The Two Blades

I awoke to voices, "The blades! That's all that matters! Find the blades!"

My eyes widened. That was Lloyd! I heard his steps in the next room over. And someone else's... Cole!

I mustered my strength and called out, "Help me," I managed to wheeze.

"Lloyd," a second voice spoke. Yep, that was Cole. Their footsteps drew closer, I succeeded in pulling myself up from the floor just as the two enter the room. Lloyd threw down his torch as he caught sight of me.

"Oh my gosh," he uttered. They both rushed over to me. "What happened?"

"I... he..." I murmured, but I couldn't continue. I choked down a sob, causing me to sway, losing my balance. Cole reached out as I began to crumple to the floor.

"I couldn't do anything," I sobbed, "I couldn't stop him."

Cole held me tight, "What did he do?" he whispered softly.

"Unspeakable," I breathed.

"Cole, we have to get her out of here," Lloyd urged.

"Just wait," Cole insisted. He held my face, locking his eyes on mine, "What did he do Celine?"

"He took it," I mumbled, "and I couldn't stop him."

"I'm gonna kill him," Cole stated, anger burning in his eyes. He stood and helped me up with him. I wavered slightly, but regained my balance.

"Cole, look," Lloyd pointed to a covered podium in the back of the room.

"Get her out of here," Cole directed, "I'll investigate."

Lloyd guided me towards the exit, but I resisted, "I wanna see."

I watched as Cole cautiously approached the pedestal. He lifted the cloth, revealing the green skull. It suddenly spring to life, "Thieves! Interlopers! Intruders! Trespassers!" it screeched. Green smoke filled the room and the sorcerer flew down from the hole in the ceiling.

"You have made a grave mistake being here!" he asserted.

"Now you will pay!" the skull hissed as it zoomed up to be with its master, who launched it back at Cole. He dodged it expertly.

"We have to get out of here, NOW" he yelled as he raced towards us.

We hurdled out of the caves just barely ahead of the Skull Sorcerer. As we reached the end of the cave, we noticed skeletons making their way up the stairs.

"This way!" Lloyd shouted.

We jumped down the rock face of the ledge. Reaching the bottom, I staggered, but managed to keep going. The rest of the ninja were busy freeing the other creatures and fighting off more skeletons. We continued to race down the cliff path before running into even more skeletons.

"There! The cages!" Lloyd exclaimed, pointing to cages swinging from the ceiling of the cave. We all jumped for the closest one. A skeleton threw itself at us as well, catching Cole's foot. He yelped, before kicking it off. Lloyd leapt from the cage, tucking and rolling when he hit the ground. Cole followed suit. I hesitated, unsure if I could stick a landing from this height.

"I'll catch you!" Lloyd offered. Reassured, I dropped down, managing a tuck and roll without breaking anything.

"This way!" Nya yelled, and we barreled towards the exit, the creatures following close after us. Not minding where I was going, I tripped, falling to the ground.

"Celine!" Cole whirled back to help me up.

"No, no! Go with the others!" I protested, but he stopped anyway.

"I'm not letting you alone with him again," he insisted, helping me to my feet.

Once I was grounded, we made a break for the exit.

"Cole! Celine!" Kai shouted after us. But it was too late. The sorcerer shot down boulders with the skull and the exit was blocked off.

"Change of plans!" Cole cried

We veered right as the sorcerer continued to fire at us from the skull, ducking and dodging the shots.

"Over there!" I shouted, pointing towards another exit. We sprinted for it, sliding beneath a mino that stood in our way. We skidded into the cave and swiftly dropped behind some large boulders just as the Skull Sorcerer flew into the cave. He looked around before uttering a bone chilling "Noooo!"

We waited silently for the sorcerer to retreat. I listened to the beat of his wings as he departed from the cave, letting out a breath I didn't know I was holding.

"That was a close one," Cole uttered.

"Tell me about it." I moved to stand, but could barely pull myself upright.

"You need to rest," Cole said, worry riddling his face.

"I'm fine," I argued as I steadied myself.

"Celine, I'm serious. You just went through trauma I couldn't even begin to imagine," Cole pleaded.

"I said I'm fine."

He shrugged as I grimaced at the pain I felt everywhere as I leaned against the boulder.

"We have to find a way out of here," I stated, beginning walking the opposite direction we had come from."

"Yeah, we have to warn King Vangelis."

I whipped around, "No. I don't trust that guy. I'm not going to do that."

"Really Celine?"

"I'm being dead serious. I. Don't. Trust. Him."

"You don't trust anybody," Cole muttered.

"Excuse me?"

"I said you don't trust anybody. Maybe you should try it sometime. Not everyone is out to get you Celine."

"Well how would you like to be stabbed in the back by everyone you thought was your friend, huh? I trusted one to many people in my day, Cole. How do you think I ended up on Chen's Island? Because I trusted that it would be a safe environment. Instead, even though I was a minor, Clouse and Chen both stared at me and made inappropriate comments about my body. I used to trust my parents, until they used everything against me. 'you can trust us Celine.' 'we won't tell anyone Celine.' And then they used it to manipulate and guilt-trip me. My best friend in high school turned their back on me when I needed them most. They exposed me to the entire school all because I trusted them with a secret. That's why I don't trust anyone Cole. And don't expect me to trust some random king that we know literally nothing about."

The exertion of yelling made my steps falter. Cole reached to catch me, but I threw his arm away.

"Don't touch me." And with that I passed out.