"I found a lamp!" Lemm called, walking down the hall to kneel at the ledge with a large lumafly lantern. "Anything interes…ting? Gods, what in—!? I know you said it was a pile of dead bugs, but this—! What in damnation!?"

He dangled the light into the cavernous room. "Quirrel?" He heard his own voice echo. Lemm put the light aside and leaned forward, listening closely.

Nothing. Silent as the grave.

"Quirrel!" he shouted as loud as he could. "Where are you!?" He waited a few seconds, then leaned all the way out and braced for a hard landing.

Once down, Lemm ran unsteadily for the far wall, where his lamp revealed one shell that retained its proper coloring, just a few shades off from the surrounding corpses.

Also, there was a nail strapped to it.

"Quirrel!" He stumbled over some bug's arm with a curse and managed to land next to his friend. "Quirrel, don't you fucking dare—" He shook the spherical shell and pried at the individual plates. "This is no time to be playing dead!"

Instead of opening up, Quirrel curled tighter.

Lemm scowled and forced himself to let go and sit down. He tugged frustratedly at one of his own horns. "Alright, alright," he grumbled. He stared, unsure what to say. "I don't know what's got you so freaked out, but I'm gonna stay here until you unwind. You do that, and we can leave. Okay?"

He frowned into the darkness. "Nothing's moving," he reported. "It's just us in here, nobody else. I've got a light now, not that our surroundings are particularly picturesque."

After a minute of silence, Quirrel uncurled a bit. A hand extended slowly from his shell to turn him over, and he relaxed until he was sitting with his knees hugged to his chest. He stared at the ground for a moment, then turned to his companion. "Lemm. They killed them. They killed them all." He shivered and rubbed his mask between the eyes.

Lemm shuffled closer. "Are you alright? What happened?" He tilted his head. "Who killed who?"

Quirrel played with the knot in his bandana, staring into the dark again. "The Soul Sanctum. They—All of th-these bugs, they didn't die of Infection. I thought—" He shook his head violently. "I'm trying to piece it together, but it's all… fuzzy."

"Are you okay?" Lemm repeated, when it was clear Quirrel had nothing more to add.

He took a deep breath. "We're not in danger," he assured him.

"That's not what I asked," Lemm pointed out. "Quirrel."

"Ah?" He met Lemm's gaze. "What, me? Oh. I just… This place triggered a memory, and I got a bit—" He shrugged. "Overwhelmed. It's—my reaction wasn't truly warranted, it was more automatic than anything." He swiftly got to his feet. "A little troubling even; it's no good to suddenly lose one's composure. Even with the Infection gone, these halls remain treacherous." His voice was just a little too tight. He adjusted his bandana. "Shall we go?"

Lemm stared up at him incredulously. "What?" Even in the dim light, he noticed the way Quirrel clutched his nail, and how his free hand twitched as he tried to maintain a calm, self-assured posture. "Sure," he conceded, standing. "We can get out of this pit, but—what kind of memory? Why'd you shut down like that?"

Quirrel jumped onto a ledge and looked back, where Lemm was beginning to climb the wall of bodies, finding easy handholds in the various limbs that curled back into the corpses like hooks. "I… I think I recognized a few… bugs. Here." He kept his eyes up, focusing on the ledge that led into the hallway above them.

Lemm paused about halfway up, turning to look at the face of the corpse he was using as a handhold. "Oh? I can see how that would be… upsetting," he ventured.

Quirrel hummed in acknowledgement as he made it to the top, and lunged into the corridor.

While Lemm pulled himself up the steep wall and over the edge, Quirrel stood further down the hall, frowning at the floor.

Lemm huffed and walked over. "Quirrel," he said softly.

He started at the sound of his name, flinching and turning wide eyes to him. "Yes?"

Lemm walked past him, casually taking his hand and urging him along. "I think that's enough adventuring for today."

Quirrel turned to him to protest, but Lemm cut him off. "Personally, I need a break from this spooky place. Unless you've got your heart set on scouring the entire sanctum today," he said, glancing over.

Quirrel visibly relaxed. "No. No, it can wait." He tightened his hand around Lemm's.