Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Shadowed Suspicion Chapter 289

[madimpossibledreamer]

I get having the next posts being “Stands So Far” might leave you on a little bit of a cliffhanger, but trust me, it’s better than leaving it until the end of the volume.

Main Points:
Jojo's Bizarre Adventure/Buffy the Vampire Slayer AU
Chapter Summary: Darling, Robin, and the Captain finally get to leave Xibalba, with guides.
Word Count: 1014
Rating: Teen
Note: HERE THERE PROBABLY BE BUFFY/JJBA SPOILERS

 

         Now that Darling is thinking about it, the Houses and corridors and the like had been decently well lit, unlike some parts of the pyramid. Then again, they’d been trying to show off, hadn’t they, with all the images of themselves all over everything. Like advertising.
         These aren’t. Just enough light is present to make sure they don’t trip and no more. It’s useful with the Queen of the Night’s pace as she all but runs through.
         No one’s talking. Darling gets that, the need to save energy and breath for whatever lies ahead, but it still bothers her. So she speaks up anyway, even though she’s still tired. She’s not going to ask Mr. Brown to heal her again, though. It’s not as if it’s much more than cuts and bruises and a scrape, which she’s dealt with before without complaining, so it won’t get in her way much, really. He’s a better fighter than she is, even with her newfound ability, so him being in better shape is more important than her.
         “I thought the whole point of having Xibalba linked to the rest was so that we couldn’t get out?” If so, where are they going?
         Awilix growls. It sounds involuntary, because she’s helpful enough when she answers the question. “The intention wasn’t to prevent anyone from leaving. It’s not as if you can stop up all exits or entrances to an underworld in any case. It was meant to slow pursuers down. Even if the Lords hadn’t felt like playing with you, which frankly never happens, the path through the Houses is actually the most straightforward way through Xibalba. If you try to go around, it’s all ominous maze and lesser demons hanging around trying to get scraps.”
         “Like that weakling, but worse,” Buluc Chabtan clarifies, and Darling winces. Sure, he’s all smug about it, and she’d rather have the wasp Lord of Death mad at her than the Lord of War, but that kind of talk is probably one of the reasons why he’d been so enraged. The others probably pick on him enough without actual excuses, and it’d probably be easier not to listen to the times where he’d been able to tell himself the actual bite behind the words was empty. “’Least they know to stay out of my way.”
         “We’re heading to an exit. Not like that slipshod mashup you lot came in. We’d actually had to scramble to get the Hall ready for visitors, rearrange a few paths here and there. Otherwise, you’d just have been wandering around lost for a lot longer than you were lost in my maze.” She laughs, grinning. “Not bad for some emergency renovations, though, if I do say so myself. Not as grandiose or awe-inspiring, but it got the job done.”
         “Wait, so this way was actually faster?” Mr. Brown sounds incredulous, and Darling doesn’t blame him. This already felt like it took forever, although that could just be because all the exercise was kind of exhausting.
         “Eh, would’ve been even faster if we’d ignored the whole ‘battle protocol’ bit, but that wasn’t going to happen,” the Queen of the Night dismisses, waving her hand.
         “I would’ve fought anyway, if the Lords had told me no,” the Lord of War agrees. He’s so matter-of-fact about it Darling can’t help but shiver.
         “Good to know.” The Captain sounds like she actually means it. Maybe the game had actually put her in a slightly better mood, restored some of her waning patience.
         “I hope you all know how to swim.” The Lord of Death is jovial as he thumps Darling on the back. It’s all she can do not to fall over, though she does definitely sway before she catches her balance.
         “It’s been too warm sitting in the Grand Hall with my fur, anyway,” the Lady of Death adds cheerfully, as they reach the end of the dark stone corridor and what looks like a well sits before them. “Swim down, and don’t stop. I know it doesn’t particularly make sense, but it is actually down. It’s too easy to get turned around in the cenotes, but if you do, you’ll drown. We can try to hold onto each other’s hands to help orient each other, but the walls aren’t smooth and they can get a bit narrow, so you’ll need a hand free.”
         “Awilix, take Darling’s hand. Buluc Chabtan, take Robin’s. I’ll use Panzermensch to follow your lead.” How this is supposed to work, Darling’s not exactly certain, but Mr. Brown doesn’t question the plan, so Darling gets the feeling this is absolutely something they’ve done before.
         The first thing Darling realizes is that the water is shockingly cold. Her breath rushes out of her in a few big bubbles, but as the soft fur-covered clawed hand squeezes her own, the panic lessons, and she realizes suddenly that there’s no pressure like when she’s tried to hold her breath before. This is no ordinary water—of course it’s not; this is the true entrance to Xibalba, Whisper conveys from a slightly amused, slightly offended Kukulkan.
         She loses track of how long it’s been, floating through the water, kicking her legs. It all blends together, the parts where Awilix has to cradle her to her chest for them to fit, scraping a little skin, and she wonders how the Lord of War alone, never mind Mr. Brown, could make it through. The wider open spaces where she truly would have no idea of direction if not for the unerring swimming of the Queen of the Night. The areas where, at last, she begins to see some change, if not a welcoming one—where the clear if dark light of the water starts taking on a dark crimson tinge. The other of the cat-lady’s clawed hands pats her own, as if to say ‘nearly there’, and while that’s a welcome feeling, because she’s begun to feel a pressure not on her own lungs but on her whole body, she can’t help but wonder, are they going to make it on time?