Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A squeal of tires and displacement of gravel announced the arrival of an unmarked off-road jeep as it skidded to a stop just inside of the tree line.

A Nyanya woman got out of the jeep and took off a pair of shades. Deep green eyes survey the jungle with an observant gaze as her mouth upturned in a contemplative frown. She turned to her companion who had also gotten out of the jeep and had begun draping the vehicle in camouflage netting after getting their gear out.

“Rema, are you sure this is the place?” Miyo asked, coming up to the other Nyanya.

The silver haired woman nodded, handing Miyo her bundle of gear. “Yes, this is where the beacon led us.”

Miyo looked back out at the jungle, both ears perked up and rotating all around to listen for anything, “I don’t think he’s here, are you sure this isn’t some kind of trap? He didn’t even tell you about this face to face.” she pointed out.

“Oh ye of little faith” a voice spoke from above them. Both Nyanyas snapped their gazes up to the tree tops to see a steel blue mong smirking down at them. “You know, if this was all a trap, then you know I would have never went with the call Rems, no amount of pain could get me to do that” Spin smirked.

Rema rolled her eyes, “two years ago you stubbed your toe and broke down crying.”

“You don’t have proof-”

“In the middle of a crowded market” Rema finished before levelling him with an intense glare. “You better not be full of crap Spin, we’re risking a lot by secretly crossing into Mong Tribe land.”

“Why do you think I set up our meeting place so far out in the wilderness?” Spin asked as he jumped down from the tree. Rema handed him a bag, “here, it’s some extra food and water, like you requested.” Spin took it, opening it up and looking inside before pausing, he then slowly looked back up at Rema. “The med kit’s with Miyo” Rema spoke, throwing a thumb over her shoulder to her companion, “why’d you need so much asthma medication and a ventilator anyway?”

Spin’s expression fell into a serious and determined look, “you’ll see soon enough, though I don’t think I need them so much now.”

“So, we illegally smuggled medications into a tribe threatening to go to war for nothing” Miyo bit out.

“No, you can say that the reason I asked Rema to get them suddenly died last night” Spin spoke, closing the bag and slinging it over his shoulder. “Hurry, we have to get to the site before sundown. There’s a reason nobody has bothered to live this far out here, the jungle isn’t the same at night as it is in the day.”

Miyo and Rema shared confused looks, but shrugged off the creeping feeling, shouldering their own bags and following the Mong into the forest.

The two Nyanyas quietly hissed and swatted at the pesky insects that buzzed around their faces and attempted to dive into their ears. “I think I’m starting to understand why all the other tribes detested the Mong tribe lands during the wars a thousand years ago” Rema spoke, slapping a bloodsucking purple moth out her face.

“These bugs are irritating!” Miyo snapped and Spin chuckled, “don’t let Shan and her brother hear you say that” he snickered and Miyo growled at him.

Soon the sun began to get low, the remaining rays illuminating a flat stone wall in the distance. There was a small passageway at the bottom, just big enough for the trio to walk through. “How did you even find this?” Miyo asked, “I doubt it can even be spotted from the air.”

Spin smiled, “good question young lady!” he spoke cheerily, “the jungle grew over the whole thing.”

As if on cue, the passageway opened up to reveal a temple courtyard with a canopy of vines, roots and branches above, shielding almost all sunlight from entering the area. “it’s beautiful” Miyo spoke, but Spin frowned, “it’s an illusion.” He spoke lowly, causing the two Nyanyas to look at him with querying looks.

Spin set down his bag next to a remnant of what used to be a stone wall where a sleeping bag and a fire pit lay dormant, “set up your camp here for the night” he said, “it’s best to wait before going into the temple. Wouldn’t want to trip in the dark.”

As the trio set up their camp, a thought came to Miyo’s mind, “you didn’t answer my question earlier,” she spoke and Spin pressed his mouth into a thin line. “I was doing a patrol right before I got my one month leave from my duty, my partner spotted dark red smoke rising from the direction of this place. We would have went to investigate but had been given strict orders to stay away from this part of the jungle.”

“Seems like being a DV7 has impaired your ability to follow orders” Rema smirked and Spin chuckled, “more like my ability to follow orders without question. When I came back to my tribe, I began seeing a lot of things that were very suspicious and out of place. When I saw that smoke, I waited until I was off duty to sneak off into the jungle early one morning.”

Spin went over and helped Rema set up a canopy over their supplies as he continued, “I travelled for a few days before stumbling onto here, during the nights I didn’t even set up a fire. I almost blamed it on hard to scrub out superstition, but I could literally sense something wrong with the jungle, like an evil presence watching me.”

The two Nyanyas looked at him in alarm, “How come we couldn’t sense that?”

Spin shrugged, “probably cause you approached the temple another way, it’s close to the border, so you didn’t have to travel through it as long as I had to.”

“Anyway, when I got here, there was no sign of a fire, but I did find something… disturbing…” Spin spoke as he finished setting up the canopy and sat down, “inside the temple, there were bodies, I couldn’t tell what killed them, there was no sign of a struggle and there was no blood nor any marks on them. It’s like they just died on the spot for no reason.”

“But, the medical supplies” Rema began and Spin looked away, “there was one alive, a Mong Warrior. She had trouble breathing. I tried to save her, but her condition worsened. Ther were times when her throat “closed up” and she wouldn’t be able to take a breath, after those incidents she rasp out “it was strangling me”. I could never get her to tell me what it was, let alone tell me her name or what she and the others were doing here.”

“I searched the temple after burying the dead but found nothing, then I contacted you” Spin said looking at Rema, “the Warrior I tried to save died the night before you arrived, I buried her this morning before going to meet with you guys.”

There was a long pause before anyone said anything, “Spin, are you okay?” Rema asked and Spin shrugged, “Our tribe has been teetering on the deep end for centuries since the war, honestly I’ve seen worse. Death by starvation, infection, all kinds of illnesses. It’s not new to me, don’t worry I’ll be fine.”

Silence fell between the trio as the din of nighttime wildlife echoed from beyond the temple walls.

“It’s getting late, it’s best to bed down for the night” Spin spoke.

Rema and Miyo shared a glance before going to fix their own sleeping bags, setting them up close to the wall under the canopy. “I’ll wake you guys at first light,” Spin spoke, tending to the fire, “then, we can go into the temple.”

Chapter Text

The sun rose slowly, the golden rays barely penetrating the foliage above the temple courtyard.

“Up you get” Spin spoke, tending to the fire. Rema sat up, rubbing at her eyes, “ugh, I feel terrible.” She groaned and Spin chuckled, “yeah, I woke up like that too, something about this place.” Rema levelled him with an unimpressed look, “you know, I never took you for a superstitious individual.”, “Neither did I, but here we are.” Spin replied.

Rema studied his face for a moment in the silence before speaking up, “Spin, what really happened while you were here? What did you find in this temple?”

Spin froze mid motion of throwing a log into the fire. He blinked for a second before going ahead and tossing the wood in and getting up. “Come on” he spoke, extending a hand to Rema. The silver feline arched an eyebrow at his hand and didn’t move. “If you really want to know then it’s just gonna have to be you and me first.”

“Why only us?” Rema asked as she took his hand and he helped her to her feet, “Cause I don’t think this is something that’s okay to spread around. You and I are capable of keeping secrets even from our friends, I don’t know about Miyo.” Spin spoke as he walked towards the temple entrance.

“What… What the hell do you mean by that?” Rema demanded, catching up to him. Spin just pressed his lips into a thin line as they entered the temple. Parts of the temple were broken, allowing small rays of natural light in and illuminating the interior with an eerie golden green light.

Unlike the worn stone look from the outside, the temple interior was made of shiny black and white stones. The parts of the floor that weren’t covered by dust and debris reflected everything around them like still water. At the end of the room opposite of the entrance was a statue of a woman made of marbled black and white stone. The woman was standing upright with her arms crossed over her chest, a silver hilt clasped in each of her hands.

Rema and Spin approached the statue, the feline’s eyes trained on the stone figure’s face. “I don’t recognize any tribe this statue could’ve been modelled off of.” Rema spoke. The statue had what looked like large horns on the top of its head which also extended downwards like twin braids.

“I found the bodies in here, they were all in front of the statue” Spin spoke, “I could feel a dark aura here that faded, almost like it’s presence faded with the dying Mong warrior” He paused and knitted his eyebrows. “I think.. they were trying to take the silver things from the statue.”

Rema looked closer at the silver objects in the statue’s hands, “I can’t quite tell what they are” she spoke as she approached the base pedestal of the statute. Rema climbed up onto the base and stood up as Spin watched worriedly, “hey, Rem, maybe we shouldn’t”. “I’m not gonna take it” Rema spoke, the statue towered at least a foot and half over her head as Rema reached up and almost touched the silver object, “it’s... made of metal,”  She spoke as hovered her hand right above the object, “I can… sense something inside it, like… there’s bleeding” Rema spoke, as she pulled her hand away.

The sound of Spin’s choked out gasp of terror caught her attention, Rema turned half around and saw the Mong staring at the statue with wide eyes. Rema looked up at the statue’s face, “W-WHAT THE HELL?!”

She stumbled, losing her balance and falling backwards off the pedestal. She expected to hit the hard stone floor, but was instead cushioned by Spin catching her. Rema’s eyes were still locked on the statues face, where two golden irises that weren’t there before, were now staring right into her soul.

Spin scooped her up in his arms, “we’ve worn out our welcome” he hissed as he made to bolt for the door.

Stay.

It was almost her was treading in quicksand. Spin’s pace was almost immediately reduced from long strides to barely even able to move an inch. His legs wouldn’t respond right, like his bones were suddenly made of lead. The Mong sank to his knees as an unseen force weighed down on his mind. “Rem, I… I CAN’T MOVE” Spin gasped through gritted teeth.

Rema however, was still staring at the statue over Spin’s shoulder, the malevolent golden gaze still focused on her. Rema’s vision began to blur as her mind swam, her lolled back as she passed out. “REM WAKE UP” Spin spoke shakily to the unconscious feline in his arms as he tried to rise to his feet.

Stay with me…

“SHUT UP YOU WITCH” Spin shouted, grunting as he strained against the presence.

You will not escape, not from me, they did not, neither will she

Oh gods, the kid. “MIYO!” Spins shouted, “MIYO YOU HAVE TO RUN!” shit, why did I do this?

There was a loud grumbling sound that shook the temple walls, and Spin realized to his horror, that this entity was closing the temple doors.

“No…” he muttered, putting all his strength into his legs to get up. “rrRRGHH NOO!!” he howled as he managed to get to his feet and take a step forward. The big stone doors seemed to pick up speed as they swung. Droplets of sweat were forming on Spin’s brow as he gradually gained speed towards the exit, but it was no use. The doors slammed shut with an echoing bang that roused every creature within the courtyard.

“NO…” Spin hissed, sinking back down to his knees as the presence faded away.

You will not escape me, it is my time.

The sound of scraping stone reached the Mong’s ears. He peeked over his shoulder to see the statue…moving.

It extended its arms outwards like a T pose as it set its legs apart, like it was gonna attack. It held the two silver objects in its hands, and with a flick of a switch, two long blood red rods of fire or… light shot out.

He barely was able to jump out of the way as the stone figure leaped forward, bringing the two laser swords down over its head. The red beam cut into the smooth black stone like hot knifes through butter. It didn’t take Bug Tribe level intelligence to know that if he didn’t run… Him and Rema were going to die here…

As soon as he regained his footing he bolted down the room to where a hallway branched off from the main chamber. The statue stood up straight and looked in the direction the Mong went. It tilted it’s head in curiosity and slowly followed, it’s puppet like disjointed movements slowly becoming more and more graceful as an eerie foreboding silence fell back over the entire jungle once more.