Spiders?!?!

It was just a normal day..the sun was..well, kinda shinning..more like peeking behind the clouds, every now and then completely breaking through. Back to the topic, it was a normal day of doing nothing at the army barracks. Pharris was simply sitting at the table, honestly doing nothing..I had tried to make conversation with him but he ignored me. Rhain, Xyle, Aeren and Torrin were entertaining themselves with a game of Old Maid..I didnt quite understand that game, but I played when I had something to place as a bet that wasnt valuable to me, and I had tried to play today, but all Rhain would let me bet away was my necklace and no way was I going to do that! Locke and Chantelle were having a day dedicated to each other..nice for them but terrible for me...I wasnt in to the mushy stuff at the moment..probably becasue I hadnt seen Shand in almost two weeks. Eroll was talking politics with Sapphir and Sidra was just sitting there eyeing her many weapons then the door...I wondered why she just didnt get up and practice, she hated politics anyways. I called Micaela but she wasnt free until later that day...when? around one in the afternoon..what time is it now? ten in the morning..yeah, I had time to spare..but spare on nothing..

I decided to go to my room and listen to music..it's a tradition of mine to listen to it when I have nothing else to do. On the door was a small, dark brown eight-legged creature, just sitting there...I nearly screamed seeing how close it was to my face but resisted. I quickly rushed in my room, grabbed a shoe and squished it where it was, not really caring about the mess at the moment. I looked at my shoe when i felt something go over my hand..sure enough, there was another spider slowly making its way across my shoe. I threw it down on the ground and ran in my room then jumped on my bad. *Just my luck..* Then, on my light purple wall, I saw another dark spot crawling up it. I stopped yet another scream forming in my throat..*where are they all coming from?!* Paranoid, I scanned my room but quickly wished I hadnt..It seemed like in every corner, on ever wall, was a spider and not small ones either..average sized ones, some of them were actually pretty big. I counted..sixteen..not including the one I killed on my door and the one I left on my shoe..this time, I couldnt stop the scream that escaped, it just came out..loud. Even I could tell that silence had come over the house and I was upstairs, isolated from everyone...my scream had stopped all activities.

(i keep waiting for people to break in and try in their own little ways to save you but it doesn't happen! x) haha, ill have dolan and shand break in and save you, if you want... it'll be random and somewhat nonsensical, but hey, what's fanfiction anyway?)

(haha sorry...I was kinda busy with the other ones actually and my brain completely forgot this one xD If you want them to come in, then sure, that would always be fun )

I quickly tore apart my bed and curled up in a ball under the covers, silently praying that there werent any spiders under there with me...I'd really scream then...
I heard stomps coming up the stairs...I looked out from under the covers just in time to see something fly through the air and stick into my wall. I stared at the knife for a few seconds until I felt a tug on the covers, then on my arm...next thing I knew, I wasnt on my bed but being dragged backwards...I looked and saw Chantelle looking at me as she followed...if Chantelle was here, then that means..
"Locke, what are you doing?!" We stopped and Chantelle helped be stand up.
"We heard you scream." Chantelle tilted her head.
"I think the whole house heard you scream." Locke looked back into my room then walked into it.
"That doesnt mean you have to go throwing knives around!" I looked around Chantelle at the knife still in my wall, "My parents are going to kill me!" I glared at Locke's back.
"That was me,actually." I looked at Chantelle shocked.
"You threw that?!" She nodded. There was the sound of more stomps up the stairs. I waited and saw Eroll, Sapphir and Sidra, who had grabbed every weapon she owned just to run up here...
"What's wrong?" Eroll looked down at me then went into my room where Locke was throwing every piece of furniture I owned down, looking for something...or someone.
"It's nothing that needs all of you to rush up here ready to attack, I promise." I eyed Sidra and her many weapons. She frowned disapointed. I looked up at the cieling and spotted another spider...I practically jumped on Chantelle who stood still out of confusion. Sapphir looked up at it then frowned.
"Dont tell me you screamed because of that." She pointed up towards it as I continued to hug Chantelle for dear life.
"Not just that! There are sixteen of them in my-" I was cut off by Xyle who was followed by Aeren, Rhain and Torrin.
"What's going on?!" I sighed again.

Shand heard the ruckus coming from Samantha's room and simply barged on in, with Dolan, Aleric, Lunath, Cinaed, Seth, and Daric on his heels.
Samantha looked up from where she had buried her head into Chantelle's shoulder, with a confused look on her face. "...what are you doing here?"
"Sound happier to see me, or i might take it as a hint and leave," Shand grinned nefariously. "And this is a fanficion. Flipping ANYTHING can happen."
Considering this, Samantha nodded in acceptance.
"So where's the spider?" Aleric asked, positioned well behind Dolan.
"And did you find its web? And the carcasses of its victims?" Dolan asked matter of factly as the rest stared at him in horror. "What?... you can find out a lot about a spider by what it eats."
"And people by what they say," Seth mumbled.
"So is this all taken care of so Xyle and I can talk now?" Daric asked impatiently, as if that were the only reason he had come, and saving Samantha from peril had been a mere excuse.

I still hung onto Chantelle, more terrified than I had been before Dolan had entered...who says that infront of someone who's deathly afraid of spiders? Dolan obviously...Xyle looked around.
"I'm not gonna lie...I'm afraid of spiders too." Everyone looked over at Xyle shocked.
"You're kidding, right?" Aeren crossed his arms. Rhain stood behind him, trying not to laugh.
"Yeah, I'm serious." Daric simply nodded as Xyle spoke.
"Then, shouldnt you two be the ones terrified in a corner?" Chantelle asked...I was probably hugging her tighter than she really wanted. "Besides, your hug wouldnt hurt Xyle like it is me." That was a yes..
"Sorry." I let go and looked away at the wall, only to see another spider...I threw myself at Xyle who was backing away from that wall. "Sidra, kill it!" I yelled as I grabbed onto Xyle's arm for dear life as he continued to back out.
"Daric, help her kill it!" He yelled.
I could see Sidra's smiled as she sorted through her weapons to find the perfect one for the job.

"Taking too long!" Dolan declared calmly as he flattened his hand and simply smashed the thing against the wall. Shand's head tilted as he watched various bodily fluids begin dripping out from where Dolan's hand was still on the wall.
"Anyone wanna bet on what parts are stuck to his hand and what parts are stuck to the wall?" Shand asked, his voice similar to that of a little kid's on Christmas.
Sidra glared angrily at Dolan for stealing all her mojo.

I hid my face behind Xyle's back as he froze, "No, I dont want to guess, I want to leave this terrible place!"
"Samantha, this is your home." Sapphir raised an eye brow and opened her mouth to speak again until their was a loud crash beside her. Everyone looked at Sidra who simply walked away with her armful of weapons. As she walked by me for the stairs, I grabbed her arm while still holding onto Xyle's.
"Wait, dont go! I need you!" She turned to look at me.
"You dont need me with him around." She glared at Dolan then walked down the stairs.
"What did she break?" Torrin asked as he scanned the room, "Oh wait..." We all looked at the broken mirror and its many pieces that were scattered on the ground.
"My parents are gonna do more than kill me!"

"Random song time!" Shand smiled, clearing his throat.
"She doesn't have to be upset about it," Dolan mumbled, taking his hand discreetly off the wall and wiping it down the front of his shirt. "Just because she's too slow doesn't mean she doesn't have skill, just that-"
"...AND AS I STARED, I COUNTED THE WEBS FROM ALL THE SPIDERS! CATCHING THINGS, AND EATING THEIR INSIDES!!" Shand bellowed with his eyes closed. When he opened them, he saw that everyone was looking at him. "Blink 182, it's a classic... I thought it was appropriate..."
"You gonna do somethin' about that?" Lunath, hiding behind Dolan with Aleric, pointed timidly to the dark splotch of spider remains that scarred the wall in roughly the shape of a human hand.
"You know, I think cologne kills 'em dead too," Seth suggested quietly, studying a book he had grabbed and randomly opened.
"Why would Samantha have cologne?" Dolan asked, rolling his eyes.
"Well I think the idea is that anything wet and strong and obnoxious, if used in the right quantities, will either drown them like rats or burn their precious little eyes out of their heads," Shand explained.

"That's it, I'm leaving!" I pushed away from Xyle and headed down the stairs after Sidra, "I dont have cologne, obviously, but I do have fingernail polish remover which is far worse!" I yelled up the stairs.
"She just left us." Chantelle stuck her head out the door and looked down the stairs. There was another loud crash from my room.
"Looks like Locke just broke her desk." Aeren watched his father calmly as he destroyed the room.
"When should we tell him she only screamed because of spiders?" Rhain watched Locke as well, listening to him when he occasionally said something to Eroll.
Sidra came back up the stairs, "I was told my 'skills' were requested but I'd better be fast about it." She glared over at Dolan again.
"Who told you that?" Xyle looked over at her.
"Samantha...she told be to only bring half my weapons this time...she fears for her furniture..and her life..." Sidra tilted her head to the side as she looked for a specific knife through her armful of weapons.
"Where did she go?" Torrin walked to Sidra's side and took some of the weapons out of her arms.
"She's curled up in a ball on the couch downstairs." Sidra was now fingering the knife she had chosen.

"AHHH! She needs moral support," Shand declared and rushed out of the room, then reappeared a few seconds later. "Which way is the couch downstairs, exactly?" Chantelle sighed and followed Shand out to show him the way.
"So...should we just call an exterminator, or what?" Dolan folded his arms, obviously rather bored.
"I'm sure we can take care of this ourselves," Seth offered. "Especially since the whole us trying to even call somebody who isn't Micaela or Samantha would end without anything to show for it."
"Ah, true," Dolan scratched his head. "So, I mean, what do you propose we do? Are we just gonna break out all our various knives and start hacking at stuff? That seems slightly counterproductive in terms of-"
"XYLE!"
Everyone turned to see that Daric had made it over to where Xyle was, and the two were now locked into a hug that seemed like it would last forever.
"Can we ix-nay on the mushy stuff?" Seth stuck out his tongue.
"Oh, man up," Dolan mumbled. "So Sidra, are we gonna just hack at stuff, as you seem inclined to do, are do we have a more intelligent plan?"

Sidra stuck her tongue out at Dolan, "Hacking stuff is always the best solution, especially when one is told,'I dont care how you do it, just kill all of them!'."
"I have a hard time believing Samantha didnt give you limits...she made you, she knows what you'd do." Sapphir was begining to pick up the pieces of mirror off the ground, "Plus, we dont want to anger Mr. and Mrs. Ellis."
"Too late." Aeren looked at all the destruction in the room...every piece of furniture was pushed down on the ground, some split in half...the bed was on the opposite side of the room and the curtains were ripped off the rods.
"Locke really got into the search." Eroll folded his arms and watched as the assassin continued to destroy the room.
"Should someone stop him?" Torrin began to walk over towards Locke who turned and glared a "dont touch me" glare causing Torrin to back away behind his father.
"You should take that as a no." Eroll sighed.
"I love this!" Rhain came rushing into the room, snapping pictures with a camera he got from who knows where. "This has to be saved for furture generations!"
"What are you talking about?" Pharris walked in from no where.
"All of this!" Rhain motioned towards where Locke was continuing to destroy the dresser.
"All I see is a mad man, Rhain." Pharris eyed his son, "Two of them, actually."
Rhain sighed, "All of the Locke-ness...hey, that sounds like the sea monster...anyways! All of the Locke-ness must be saved for future generations in the Locke fan club!" Rhain smiled like he was opening a present on Christmas day.
"I dont know you. You are not my son." Pharris turned his back on Rhain and continued to mummble to himself.
"And then, Miya jumped up on him and took him all the way down! You should have seen it Daric!" Xyle was practically yelling his words as the brothers continued to hug...they had been having their own conversation on the side.
"Guys, can we just kill the spiders?" Sapphir stood up with her all the mirror pieces.
"If we're lucky, we'll find more." Sidra smiled to herself as the thought of more things to hack at, shoot at, all that good stuff.

-Downstairs-
I was rocking back and forth on the couch...How had all those spiders made it into the room, I didnt know...and I wish I did so I could make sure this wouldnt happen again..Also, how did all of Micaela's characters that were here make it here? I know it's a fanfiction but still...
"Samantha?" I turned and saw Chantelle...she was by herself, which was odd for her.
"Yeah?" I contiued to look around to see if there was anyone else.
"I brought you some moral support." She smiled amused which was enough to concern me. She looked behind her and didnt see anyone.
"When you say 'moral support', what do you-" I saw her eyes wander off and I followed them to my side where I saw Shand sitting on the couch...*How did he...?*

Shand remained perched hesitantly on the far end of the couch, a wide, cheesy, maybe a little frightened smile on his face and his hands folded a bit too properly in his lap. He didn't want to send her over the edge or anything.
"Uhh... I came of my own free will." He started off. She just stared at him. *eh, tough crowd... gotta step up my game*..."And bearing gifts." He slowly reached over behind Samantha's ear and, with a flourish of his hand, brought out a small, shiny purple stone and held it in front of her. "Gosh, when's the last time you washed behind there?" He winked.

(MEANWHILE....back upstairs.......)
"Well if you wanna smash everything, go ahead, fine by me, not my house," Dolan held his hands up in front of Sidra. "Just don't pin my name in with any of this."
"Well where's the fun in that?" Seth muttered, wishing to himself that he could be included in the smashing...he was getting pretty bored.
"What's all the noise about?" Jurrien stood at the door, peeking hesitantly in.
"Little bugs," Seth said flatly.
"Spiders, which are obviously unwelcome here." Dolan rolled his eyes. "And which some people need axes to exterminate." Sidra folded her arms and looked in the other direction.
"Oh, that's a waste of time." Jurrien stepped in. "Where're they?"
"Uh, everywhere," Seth motioned all around.
"No worries," Jurrien walked over to the wall, picked a spider off by its leg, and stuck it in his pocket. Seth looked horrified as Jurrien continued.
"What...what are you gonna do with those?" he asked anxiously.
"Eh, either eat them or take them home and release them in our house. Haven't decided yet." Jurrien smiled sarcastically.

(you can go back downstairs now if you desire x) )

Sidra watched as Jurrien,"let them go!?" she was disgusted,"you're a guy, right?!"
"Sidra!" Sapphir walked over to her sister and grabbed a hand full of hair and pulled down.
"what's your problem?!" Sidra tried to pull her hair away
"you were rude!" Sapphir let go and crossed her arms
Aeren cleared his throat and walked to the broken desk and picked up the bottle of finger nail polish remover," alright, Seth, you said we could use stuff like this right?" he poked the bottle then opened it," I don't see how this is going to work ." he sniffed at the open bottle then quickly put the top back on while coughing.
"too strong for you?" Rhain wAlked over and took the bottle, copied his brother's actions right down to the coughing fit. After he was able to breathe again, Rhain threw the note at Seth," take it!"

(downstairs)
"well it's nice to know you came down here out choice and not by force...it's really ... Comforting." I examined the purple stone he was holding and noticed he was sitting a kinda far away,"I'm not going to bite you, Shand." I frowned and her Chantelle laugh
"well, now that you're down here safely, I'm going to stop Locke from destroying what's left of your room." she turned back towards the stairs and walked up them to the floor of chaos.

"Nothing wrong with spiders," Jurrien mumbled under his breath, slightly miffed. "Especially when Vered can't stand them either..."
"Ohhh that's right," Seth started to grin. "He'd probably throw a fit worse than Samantha... here, lemme get a trash bag for those things, stuff 'em all inside!"
"If I wake up tomorrow morning with spiders in my mouth, I can't guarantee that either of you will still have heads when I'm finished with you," Dolan glared at them. "But otherwise, you have my blessing to torment Vered. It'll be fun to watch."
"Shame you didn't bring your big hammer thing," Seth mused as he began to try to shove some spiders in his pockets too, but he obviously didn't have the 'magical touch' like Jurrien did. "That would've been fun to smash stuff with."
"And probably a lot more productive than slashing things with knives," Dolan glanced over at Sidra.

(downstairs....)

"Well, you know me, I didn't want to make things worse... I have a tendency to make things worse," Shand rambled, curling the stone into his palm. He blew on his hand and then opened it to reveal that it had disappeared. "Wonder what other kinda semi-precious stones you've got hidden around here...the pillager/plunderer in me is dying to find out."

Sidra threw her hands in the air, obviously giving up, "Sorry that I'm slow and stupid!" She stomped out the room
It was quiet until Pharris yelled, "Sidra! Wait!" He ran after her.
"Pharris! Sidra is my wife!" Torrin yelled after him, still holding many of Sidra's weapons. He grabbed one, dropped the others then ran after Pharris.
"Uh...I know you're not in love with him like you are Locke..." Aeren looked over at his mother, "shouldnt you stop Pharris? He is your husband."
Sapphir shrugged, "There is no stopping Pharris...I've learned that over our time together."
"Well, since the Intertwined Camp has this covered...who's up for a game of cards?" Rhain smiled at the group of people who werent collecting spiders and werent watching people collect spiders. "We can play Sevens, Old Maid, Spades..." He trailed off as his brain began to think of all the games he knew of.
"How about Trashcan?" Xyle had finally listened to the conversation instead of carrying on with Daric...he was still right by his brother's side but his attention was turned to Rhain.
"You cant place bets in Trashcan!" Rhain threw his arms up, "How am I supposed to gamble you out of anything if you cant bet anything!?" Xyle shrugged causing Rhain to facepalm, "And so is the life of a gambler in a house of unskilled card players."

(Downstairs)
I stared at his hand shocked, amazed and slightly entertained."Well, you havent made things worse so far." I smiled then looked around my house, "And, even though I know I might regret saying this, feel free to look around if you're really curious...I'm actually not sure what we have."

A wide eyed smile took over Shand's face for an instant before he could mask it, which he did quite well.
"When...uh, when the situation is under control upstairs, I might have to do that." With a charming grin, he held his closed fist up, then opened it slowly to reveal that the once-empty palm was now full of sparkling jewels- rubies, sapphires, others of strange colors and shapes. Shand sighed and shook his head. "Shame on me... you know, I can get a little ahead of myself sometimes. Don't have much patience with things like waiting."


"So I heard there was some kind of emergency or something?" Searc stuck his head in the door and moved into Samantha's room slowly.
"Yeah, we've got pest problems," Seth answered.
"...But I don't see Shand anywhere," Searc mused.
"Where do you guys keep coming from?!" Xyle asked, almost in horror.
"Do you want a straight, technical, scientific answer for that?" Searc waited a moment. "Yeah, didn't think so....so you guys came to kill pests and didn't bring any spray?" He pulled two cans of bug-killer out of his jacket and held them almost like guns. "I can't believe I'm related to half of you." Calmly, he walked slowly around the room, spraying every surface with the stuff until there was not a single moving, living spider in the room.
"Now what to do with the bodies," Dolan folded his arms.
"That's something you should be good at, getting rid of bodies," Searc cut his eyes over to Dolan before spraying one last crumpled spider a few more times, for good measure.
"Hey...speaking of cards.... where'd Shand go, again?" Rhain asked, a sly smile forming on his face.

I eyed Shand's hand, "I wonder about you sometimes. You'd be quite the magician if you werent stealing your props from people during the show."

"Downstairs with Samantha." Chantelle commented, walking in the room then to Locke's side, "Locke, it was just spiders...you didnt need to destroy her room."
Locke frowned, "I know."
Aeren tilted his head, "You knew...yet you did it anyways?"
"I didnt know at first, ok? And once I get started, there's no stopping me." Locke added, disappointed his son didnt know that about him.
"It smells so bad in here." Xyle threw his hand over his mouth and nose.
"All the more reason to leave and go outside for a nice game of cards." Rhain smiled slyly.

Shand's mouth dropped open as he pretended to be offended. "I would never steal props!" His hurt-feelings face melted into another side-grin as he closed his hand and turned it over, then opened it and moved his fingers slightly, showing that all the jewels had disappeared. "There's a huge difference between stealing and borrowing, you know..."

"Ahhh, so I see." I smiled, "Well, I'm sorry I accused you of stealing then if you were really just borrowing...what was I thinking? Accusing a pirate of stealing...how silly of me." I eyed his hand again, still shocked and entertained..

"tsktsk," Shand shook his head. "So, in the spirit of borrowing, I think it's time to return..." He opened his hand again and in his palm was Samantha's ring. He smiled and waited, knowing that she had probably never realized that he had taken it off her hand.

I eyed the ring in his hand then looked down at my hand,"that has to be impossible." I looked back at him,"when did you take it?"

"Alright, Daric amd Seth,, I'm going to teach you how we play cards over here at the army barracks." Rhain smiled as he looked around at the group of people who had decided to play a game with him. Somehow Rhain managed to get Seth and Daric to play along with him, Aeren and Xyle. "it'll be alot of...fun." he smiled again as Aeren sighed
"yeah, for you... Can't we just give you our stuff now and save ourselves from losing?" Arena watched as the cards landed in front of him on the floor of my room
"where would the fun be in that?" Rhain continued to smile as he dealt each person a hand

"The best prize is a surprise and sometimes the greatest wonder in life is not knowing, Love," Shand winked as he slipped it back on his finger. "But what does matter is that I borrowed it, and it is now returned, and I am therefore vindicated and not a thief. This time."

"If I end up leaving here without something that I walked in here with, I'm going to be very, very upset," Seth said as he sat down cautiously across from Rhain.
"Well that'll be your fault, then, won't it?" Searc asked with a rare smile.
"Eh, if things take a turn in his favor we'll just beat him up." Daric said, taking his hand and glancing down at it. He looked up at Rhain's terrified face and wide eyes and laughed. "I'm just kidding... kind of."

I laughed,"alright, alright' I learned my lesson, you're not a thief at the moment." I looked back down at my hand and shook my head,"I still think that should be impossible."

Aeren sighed as he took his hand,"Rhain has few talents but gambling is one he actually has and is extremely good at."
"thanks, it comes with years of...hey! What do you mean few talents?!"
Locke sighed as he watched the group on the floor from the bed," I think he meant just that." Rhain shot him a hurt expression... One that actually made Locke regret his words," not that I agree with him." Locke added quickly

"I laugh in the face of impossible. Sneeze in it sometimes, too." Shand glanced toward the stairs. "It's gotten really quiet up there.. you wanna go check it out? I'll go first and I'll carry a frying pan..."


"Shame Vered's not here," Seth mumbled.
"What, you want to lose all your valuables to two good gamblers instead of just one? Count your blessings," Searc shook his head.
"Or Shand. Shand should be here."
"DONT SAY THAT!! TAKE IT BACK!" Searc demanded.
"Fine, I take it back..."
"Hey guys, what's going on," Shand said from the doorway, a frying pan in one hand and Samantha's hand in the other.
"See what you did." Searc said hatefully. "It's all your fault."

I facepalmed ,"Rhain... You're not seriously trying to gamble them out of stuff, are you?"
"I never gamble anything out of anyone, they offered what they wanted to bet... It was their own choice, my friend." he turned around and smiled towards Shand and I slyly," care to join, Shand? You can join to if you wish, Samantha, but you know my condition for you." the new smile on his face was a mixture of the one before it and an evil one.
"over my dead body." I frowned
"that could be arranged with the people we have here in the room."
"they wouldn't." I glared over at Rhain
"you never know" he smiled again,"for the right price I'm sure they would."
I looked at the group that was sitting on my bed watching the gambling group in time to catch the last part of Locke rolling his eyes