"I'm hungry," were, predictably, Mitch's first words upon waking up.
"You're always hungry," Ty said, standing up and stretching with a loud yawn. "So I've learned to stop registering your complaints."
Sky yawned, too. Shifting slightly, he could see that Ember was asleep next to him. Her long eyelashes were tangled with each other. In the red light of the sunrise, her hair appeared to be a deep shade of rich purple, with light lavender streaks running through it.
He hated having to wake her up, since she'd barely slept at all the past few days, but there was no choice. They had to get to the Ender Stronghold by nightfall, so that they'd have the whole next day to explore it. There was no time to waste, as Team Crafted's vote on what to do about Seto relied on the information he, Mitch, Ty, and Ember were to procure.
Tentatively, he shook her arm. "Em," Sky whispered. "Wake up." No response. "Ember." She didn't stir. "Ember!"
She gasped, twisting. "No… no… I wouldn't… I didn't!"
"What?" he asked, before realizing that she was talking in her sleep.
"No! Sky, no, no, no, NO!" Ember cried out.
"Ember!" Sky shouted, shaking her. "Wake up!"
"No! I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!"
"What's going on?" Ty said, turning.
"EMBER!" Sky yelled.
Her eyes snapped open, huge, purple, and scared. When she saw Sky's face, her pupils grew wider until they dominated her eyes. "S-Sky?" Ember whimpered, shrinking backwards.
"It's me," he said, reaching out and touching her arm softly. "It's alright. I guess nightmares are going around this morning."
She pulled away, clearly terrified. "Y-you d-don't h-hate me?" Ember shivered.
What? "Ember, why would I hate you?" Sky asked, sliding closer to her. She flinched, but this time did not move back, as he caught her hands.
"M-my nightmare," she explained, crawling into his arms. He held her close, feeling Ember trembling against his chest.
"I don't hate you, Ember. I could never hate you." Sky could see beads of cold sweat across her forehead, sense the tension in every muscle of her body. "I'll never hate you, Em, I swear. Understand?"
"Y-yes," she said, releasing the word in a huge, shaky breath. Her eyes were slowly shifting back to blue, and the purple tone to her hair had mostly disappeared.
"Are you okay?" Ty asked, anxiety written on his face as he sat down beside them. Ember pressed against Sky, her bony, skinny shoulder hard against his ribcage.
"I'm alright," she replied, smiling weakly as Sky began to absentmindedly play with her hair.
"That wasn't the question," Ty said, mock-frowning. "Are you okay, or are you not okay?" Sky laughed at that. It was good to see Ty back to himself, or, at least, close to it. Ty noticed Sky watching and caught his eye, giving him a tiny little grin.
"I'm okay," she mumbled.
"Glad to hear it! Sky, I'm going to start packing up camp. Are we taking the tent with us?"
"No!" Sky said, startling even himself with how much the idea appalled him. No. That tent was evil.
"Fair enough. Mitch!"
"Hmm?" Mitch said, looking over at the three of them. "Why is Ember crying?"
Everyone stared at Ember. Sure enough, she was crying, silent tears trailing out of the corners of her eyes. "Em? What's wrong?" Sky asked.
"Nothing," she answered quietly. "Just… a really bad dream."
"Okay," he said, wiping the tears off of her face. "If you want to talk about it, just tell me."
"I will."
"Hey, Mitch!" Ty called again.
"What, Ty?"
"We need to pack up camp. Since you and Sky couldn't set up the tent, that pretty much means we've got to put out the fire."
"See? It was a brilliant strategic decision!" Mitch said as he grabbed a bucket and headed off to the pond. "We knew what we were doing!"
"Mmhmm," Ty sighed, rolling his eyes and following Mitch after snagging another bucket.
"We did!" Mitch protested, just audible across the distance.
Sky turned to Ember. "Are you going to be ready to get going?"
"Yeah." Slowly, she untangled herself from Sky and stood up. Sky stood too, looking down into her ice blue eyes. Why did she look… guilty? Splash. Suddenly, water was everywhere, and Sky didn't have time to dwell on the matter.
"I do bad! I do bad! I apologize! I do bad!" Ty yelped. It appeared that he had dropped his bucket. According to some strange logic that no one really understood, the water had spread, increasing in volume at a ridiculous rate.
"No! Why, Ty? Why?"
"Sorry!"
"At least the fire's out," Ember said with a small smile.
Sky grinned at her. "At least that. We should probably get moving now."
"Agreed," Ty and Mitch said at the same moment.
Time passes, with little to no event.
They'd been walking for six hours when they came upon the creepers. It was a flock of the beasts hanging around the entrance to a cavern. "Ty, check the map," Sky whispered tensely. "And please tell me that we're going around them."
Ty stared at the map. "Sorry, Sky. The Hissing Caverns are the only way under the Diamond Sea. And we'll definitely be caught by squids if we try to take a raft."
"Daaaammmnn," Mitch groaned, extending the syllable.
"That pretty much sums it up," Sky muttered. "Aren't the Caverns supposed to be crazy hard to navigate?"
"Yeah," Ty agreed. He scanned the map again. "Oh, look, over two hundred people died last year alone!" He looked up. "That's down from four hundred the year before."
"Thrilling. I can barely contain my excitement," Sky said dryly. This would be… interesting.
"I've been through the caverns," Ember said suddenly. "I can lead us."
"Great!" Mitch yelled enthusiastically. A little too enthusiastically.
Every creeper in the area turned towards them, mouths dropping into identical frowns. Shit. With a unanimous hiss, the creepers advanced upon them.
"Battle plans, Ty?"
"Run like an ocelot!" Ty decided, already sprinting back the way they'd come. "There's a cliff this way. Maybe we can parkour up!"
Sky raced after him, Mitch close on his heels. The hissing of the creepers faded somewhat as they increased the distance. Ty had outstripped them with his breakneck pace almost immediately, and so he was waiting for them at the base of the cliffs, breathing hard. "Are you up for this?" Sky asked, concerned. With the injuries to his wrist, and the energy he'd just spent running, Ty didn't seem like he'd be in great condition for trying to climb a sheer rock cliff.
However, Ty gave him an exhausted grin. "Of course. Geez, this is going to be awesome. Did you see how unstable most of the handholds are going to be? And how far between the ledges are?"
"Ty, we're being chased by creepers. I don't think that that qualifies as 'awesome,'" Sky hissed.
"Whatever. That just adds to the challenge. And- what the hell is Ember doing?" Ty shouted, staring at something over Sky's shoulder.
Sky wheeled, and felt his mouth drop open. He'd thought that Ember was right behind him. Instead, she'd stopped running, about two hundred yards away. The creepers had nearly caught up with her. "Guys, don't stop! Keep moving! I know what I'm doing!" she called. "Go!"
"Ember!"
"Go, Sky! I know what I'm doing!" She looked perfectly calm, standing still on the crest of a hill.
"Let's do what she says," Mitch said nervously, turning back to the cliff face and clambering onto a ledge. Ty followed him, grabbing Sky by the collar and trying to drag him up.
"Ty, let go of me," Sky growled. "I have to help her."
"She knows what she's doing, Sky. You need to get moving. Like Ember said."
"Ty…"
"You wouldn't let me hurt myself. It's my turn to pay a bit of that back. You are not turning into crazy chivalry boy and running suicidally off to a pack of creepers to 'heroically defend' a girl who, from what I've seen, can more than take care of herself," Ty said brusquely, glaring into Sky's sunglasses.
"Alright," Sky mumbled, dropping his eyes.
"Good." Ty released Sky and hopped lightly onto the next rocky outcrop. Sky followed him up, hating himself with every jump. Shouldn't he help Ember? What was he doing, leaving her like this? But Ty's argument made sense. Ember seemed to know what she was doing. And yet…
A huge roar came from behind him. The noise deafened Sky; the light blinding him; the heat burning his skin. Turning slightly, he couldn't see anything except smoke and the fading light of the fiery explosions. And a small figure falling down from the enormous height to which it had been blown.
Ember.
I think I'll end this here... Thanks for reading! A new chapter will come as soon as I'm able! Review if you have the chance; I always love feedback. And the bunnies still have me prisoner... Ten follows and I go free! Please help me out!