Darksteel

Chapter 37; Graduation.

WARNING; This chapter contains some pretty graphic stuff. If you are a younger or more sensitive reader, I'm just telling you now that things get pretty dark in this chapter. For those of you who do not care, read onward!

                                   .......................

When Asta awoke, his head pounded, his limbs felt as though they were made of stone, and something wet was brushing against his right cheek. 

His left cheek was resting on something soft, yet the rest of his body was pressed against hard, rough stone as cold as a grave. 

Blinking his eyes open, Asta saw that the soft "pillow" he had been resting on was Nico's chest and he quickly sat up, his face turning horribly red-- relieved to see that she was still asleep.

 The thing that was licking his face, however, turned out to be Alphonse and the fox yipped wildly as soon as it saw that it's master was awake.

 Asta chuckled uneasily; well, they weren't dead, at least. 

Then he looked around them.

All around Asta lay the sprawled bodies of his Guild mates that were just now starting to stir. And despite the fact that were indeed, alive, the one downside to the situation was they were in a stone room of some kind, surrounded by four walls that had several doorways leading out of the room and into long, narrow hallways that Asta couldn't see an end to. All of it shrouded in shadow. And though the room they lay in now was dimly lit by a few sputtering torches, it was not hard to see that those were already beginning to burn out. 

Needless to say, it was not the best of situations in which to be in.

Suddenly, a groan sounded from beside him and Asta saw Adar sit up and rub his head, looking around with a confused yet unsurprised expression on his face.

"Well," the prince said, "THIS certaintly isn't my dorm room. Either that or the Headmaster needs to hire a new decorator. I'm getting a dungeon vibe..."

Jeremiah sat up then as well, his brow furrowed in annoyance. "Oh, shut up, will you? It's obvious what's going on."

"Ah, no." Asta butted in, panic quickly rising in his chest, "What IS going on?"

"They put a sleeping potion in the soup," Jeremiah explained, "They wanted to sedate us before we went to the Maze."

"What?"

"This is Graduation, you imbicile." Adar huffed, getting to his feet and peering around the small room. "And from the looks of it, we only have the clothes on our backs, our swords, or in Blue's case, an oversized dinner fork--"

'Trident.' Blue signed, frowning.

"--and a fox with a light on its head. Wonderful."

Looking closer now, Asta saw that, indeed, all their swords were there, including his blade of darksteel. 

Unfortunately, not all the Mystics were there; only Alphonse, Onyx, and Jin's owl, who was looking very disgruntled. 

Suddenly, Asta heard Nico moan from the floor, and he rushed to her side, looking at her with concern.

"Where are we? What happened?" she whispered, coughing slightly and blinking as her eyes adjusted to the dimness of the stone cell.

Yet before Asta could reply, Adar wasted no time in springing to his feet, butting in with, "It's Graduation, sweetheart, get up and grab your sword. This maze is probably filled with Monsters."

Asta gave him a look, then turned back to Nico, "Don't mind him. Are you alright? Do you need me to help you stand?"

Nico laughed slightly, "Don't be absurd, I can stand on my own. But it is sweet of you to offer."