Chapter 31 - Unsettled Minds

To say that any of them were surprised seeing Zyro act they way he currently was was an understatement. To say that they were even more surprised more when he started screaming at the top of his lungs was an even bigger understatement.
While they had never expected Zyro to react like that to anything, it was even more confusing with the fact that it had only started when the torches had gone out and they had been left in complete darkness.
Was he afraid of the dark? He had never given any implication of that, and, Madoka figured, that since he had always seemed to be able to handle darkly lit places fairly well that it couldn't be that.
Could it?
Whatever the reason was, perhaps they could find out quickly enough to be able to calm Zyro down by making it go away if they could. But they would have to do that quickly, if they didn't want Zyro to scream himself hoarse and pass out from the apparent over-stimulation.

"What's wrong with him, I don't understand!" Maru said, standing near the opposite wall of where Zyro was curled up against, a fearful look on her face that was all for the screaming boy.
"Ren, what happened?!" Madoka questioned, looking over at the girl who had first noticed Zyro starting to act like this, practically yelling over the Ifraid Blader's screaming.
"I don't know!" Ren exclaimed, a helpless expression in her eyes, "I just noticed that he started breathing weirdly just after it went dark, and then he was like this!"

"So, what, is he scared of the dark?" Shinobu questioned, kneeling down by his best friend and looking very unsure of what to do.
"Does it matter?!" Benkei bellowed, "We gotta calm him down somehow!"

"Yeah, well, I don't think that yelling is helping him!" Kira shouted at the lot of them with irritation and frustration in his voice, which made most of them shut up. 'Most of them' meaning that that excluding Zyro, who didn't seem like he was going to quiet down for the world. "He's obviously afraid of something around here." Kira said clearly, a look of near intolerance on his face, "And, by the looks of things, yes. It probably does have something to do with the fact that the lights went out." This conclusion that there was most probably something around them that was causing Zyro to react this way was what managed to spur all of them into full-on thinking mode, trying to decipher, over the blood-curdling screaming, what it was.
However, there really wasn't much around them, so the dark had to be the answer, but was it really?
If so, than wouldn't Maru's flashlight - which illuminated the space a fair bit - be enough to at least stop him from screaming?
If not, than it probably wasn't exactly the dark that frightened him... That was when Kite had a sudden thought.

Heavy breathing: that usefully occurred when someone felt deprived of air or they were scared.
Darting eyes: he was fairly sure a person only did that when they knew or believed something was around them, looking for something, or glancing this way and that out of fear.
Curling into himself, making himself smaller.
And... Fidgeting. Zyro wasn't doing much of that at the moment considering he was freaking out, but, now that he really thought about it, Kite had sometimes seem Zyro fidget just a little when they were in the middle of a crowd, like in the Bey Stadium, but he never seemed to do that when they were over at the railing, cheering on their friends.
He had also noticed Zyro's tense posture and slightly shaking shoulders just a few minutes before, when they had encountered... Whoeverthat was, but he had just thought it out of being nervous or slightly fearful at the time, as he was sure they all had been. But thinking back on all of it, just small little things that one would think would mean nothing at the time, it made a world's difference now.
That was what caused him to come to his conclusion, the light of Maru's flashlight reflecting briefly off of his glasses as he looked up slightly.

"Claustrophobic..." He muttered in a voice that was just barely audible and full of realization. Eight looked up at his older brother in slight confusion, and Shinobu looked over at the spiky-haired brunette.
"What did you say?" The light-haired blader asked. Kite immediately raised his voice so that they could all hear him.
"He's claustrophobic!" The Leviathan Blader said loudly over Zyro's screaming, which now sounded as if it hurt to do so, but not enough to get him to stop just yet. Kite's words, however, managed to spark something in all of them, bringing them to a realization that had previously been just beyond their reach.
Of course, it had never been the most obvious thing with Zyro, considering that they had never clued in until now, but most of them still felt a little guilty for not realizing it sooner. Others, like Kira, took it as reasonable.
Zyro had done a very good job at hiding it for such a long awhile until now, which had probably been because he hadn't wanted to know. When someone didn't want others to know something, they would usually do everything they could to make sure that they didn't.
"W-well, o-okay." Madoka said with a slight nod, licking her lips a bit as she worked to think quickly, "So, um... Okay, let's, uh, stop crowding around him, it might be making it worse!"
All of them obeyed almost immediately, backing up against the opposite wall and a little further down the hallway to give Zyro some space and hopefully allow him to settle.

The boy's screaming had now died down into sobbing, his face buried in his knees with his hands on either side of his head, curling into himself as much as he could as though to hide away from the world, away from everything around him.
Nobody said anything in those few moments that felt like forever, no other sound being made but for everyone's quiet breathing and Zyro's heart-wrenching sobs. It was a moment where nobody really knew what to do or say, and even if they did they completely forgot what it was they should probably do. Just letting Zyro sit there, curled in upon himself and sobbing, probably wasn't the best idea, but nobody was really able to get their brains to work. The mangled silence around them that seemed to last forever was soon broken by Shinobu, who was the only one who really dared to speak at the moment.
"Zyro?..." The Salamander blader called gently over the raven-haired boy's sobs, which had now decreased in volume to quiet whimpering, his whole body, which now seemed so small, shivering uncontrollably. "Hey, Zyro?" Shinobu called a little more clearly, a slightly unsure look on his face for a moment before speaking again, "Are you okay now?"
The Salamander blader knew that that was a really stupid question to ask because Zyro clearly wasn't okay and he wasn't even sure that Zyro could hear him at the moment, whether or not he was continuing to block everything out or if his brain still refused to register anything but the supposed boxed in feeling that was more than likely bearing down on him. None of them were really too sure what claustrophobia was like, but a few of them knew enough about it to know that it was definitely able to be traumatizing.
But, fortunately, it appeared that Zyro could hear him now, for his breathing quickened slightly with his crying and a few resounding sobs escaped him before he was able to shake his head furiously. They could see the tears streaming down the boy's face, the pure terror and agony that embraced him like an old friend, and he seemed to be aware that they could notice.
Even if he didn't know that they noticed, he moved to cover his eyes anyway with both hands, digging the heels of his palms into them as if to forcefully stop the tears from coming out. Shinobu looked a little uncomfortable but simply nodded his head, looking like he was trying to figure out what to say.
After all, what were you supposed to say to someone who was having a panic attack? Being sad and grieving was one thing, and most of them knew what that was like to deal with (Kira especially, since he had dealt with that for quite awhile with them), but panic attacks were something that were beyond most of their knowledge.
Or maybe some or one of them did know how to handle it, but they had forgotten entirely at the moment.

What could they do to help him?...

What, what, what?...

None of them were sure what to say yet, but they at least knew that they had to make it seem less cramped in here, and, chances were, the darkness wasn't helping.
Madoka had this thought and, remembering that she still might have some matches in her backpack from lighting their previous campfires, slid her backpack off of her shoulders and set it in her lap, silently looking through it as quietly as she could, as though she was worried about disturbing the corrupted and unbearable silence that was only broken by Zyro's crying.

"What's your favorite color?" Kira suddenly asked. In this moment, it was only logical that that question had been directed towards Zyro, but it was so sudden that several of the others looked at the Bahamoote blader as if he were crazy for wanting to know what someone's (Zyro's, specifically) favorite color was at a time like this. Kira saw their looks, and he appeared to have had expected that reaction from the rest of them. He said nothing else, but simply sent them all a look that demanded they trust him on this.
Normally, someone probably would have questioned him on this - or anyone else who would ask such a seemingly random question like that - but there was just something in the air, something just too disturbing and uncomfortable about the situation, that made all of them keep silent. Seeing that all of them were willing to comply, Kira looked back towards Zyro, an oddly patient (or at least half-patient) expression on his face, waiting for the ginger-ravenette to answer.
The multicolor-haired blader could only really assume that Zyro had heard him, since he had seemed to hear Shinobu before, and counted on that, whenever he could between his sobs, he would answer. And sure enough, although the words were broken and heart-wrenching, sounded painful to say, Zyro did.
"G-green..." Zyro said brokenly, rubbing one eye with the heel of his palm as if to try and force the tears away. His sobs were still present, his tears not willing to go away, but his breathing had seemed to calm down enough for him to answer, even though it quavered.

In that moment, the rest of them could see what Kira was trying to do.
He was trying to distract Zyro from the walls around him, trying to take his mind off of the darkness and closed-in space that his mind was processing by making it process something totally unrelated from that. Thinking about it, that could be the only thing they could do at the moment. Talk about other things. Other things that weren't Alcorin or saving Gingka or all the darkness and agony that they had faced, but things that were just casual things, and let themselves at least pretend that all of this was just normal again, before Alcorin. Perhaps it would be good for all of them, as well as beneficial for Zyro to get him to calm down so that they could hopefully get some torches lit and get him into an open chamber.
Temples usually had those, didn't they?
All of them deciding this between themselves without words, they decided to go along with it.

Ren was the first to speak, albeit shakily. "I-I like green too." The Phoenix blader said, forcing a small smile onto her lips, "It's a nice color, right?..."

"Not a creative one.." Shinobu said almost offhandedly, trying to get some humor into the conversation.
"I like red, myself." Maru said, sounding at least slightly enthusiastic, "Like apples!... Do you like apples, Zyro?" Once more, it took a few moments of sobbing, shaking, and quiet tears before Zyro nodded his head.

However long they went on like that they had no idea, for there was no way for them to tell time in this mountain temple that never saw daylight, and the clock in Maru's bracelet didn't work down here either. For some reason, though, none of them seemed to mind this. Yes, they knew that they were in the domain of a psychopath who would have no problem in slitting their throats while they slept if it came to it, and yes, they knew it wasn't a good idea to just sit around in a place like this, but none of that mattered for as long as they all kept their conversation going.
For once, what could have been hours now felt like mere minutes, the conversation progressing until it was all much more natural, despite Zyro still being curled up against the wall, crying, throughout the majority of it. While they momentarily forgot about Alcorin, none of them forgot about Zyro's recent panic attack, so most of their conversation was directed towards him. They all carefully made sure that it never indulged back into the agony and despair that the last 2 months had consisted of, and they always encouraged him to answer, which he would more often than not.
They all passed back in forth the simplest of questions, like 'what are parent's names?', or 'do you like trains?', (courtesy of Ren that caused some of them to mentally face palm) or 'do you prefer books to movies?', and, even while they were currently sitting ducks in a monster's den, they all felt like just normal kids and adults and teenagers again. Not that their lives could ever really be considered 'normal' on a regular basis, but normal nonetheless.
Before long, Madoka was able to find those matches in her backpack, some of them scattered loose among the bottom and making her have to pull out most of the things that were in there before she struck it and stood up to light the torch that stood almost just above her. By this time, Zyro had calmed down, although his shoulders still shook and he refused to look up. Whether it was from shame or the fear of seeing the closed in walls around him again, nobody could say for sure. Once Madoka had the torch lit, she pulled it off of the wall of where it had been mounted, and used it to light several other torches around them so to light up the area a bit.
Kira turned off the Night Vision setting on his eye patch once things got bright enough, but Maru kept out her flashlight, just in case it was needed. Once the area was lit up enough, everyone knew that it was time for them to get moving, albeit sadly at the thought of having to venture off once more into the darkness that most of them had momentarily managed to free themselves from. Even so, none of them said anything, both for their own sake and for Zyro's.
The ginger-ravenette had mostly calmed down, at least enough for Shinobu and Kira to pull the emotionally and now somewhat mentally damaged teen to his feet. Zyro seemed to do it willingly enough, but he still refused to look up despite having his eyes open now, and he clung to both of them with his hands.
Shinobu welcomed it more than Kira did, though the Bahamoote Blader did not push him away. He just seemed surprised for the most part.

"Come on Zyro, we're gonna get going." Shinobu said softly to his best friend, "We can keep talking along the way."
Shakily, Zyro nodded his head, but didn't dare look up. "Okay..." He said, his voice now hoarse from the previous screaming, sobbing, and crying that none of them were able to get out of their heads.
So they did just as Shinobu had told the boy - they kept talking the whole way they walked through the stone corridors, Madoka taking it upon herself to stay more ahead and light more torches on their way along.
This time, Zyro was far more willing to join in on the conversation, even as he refused to look up from the floor and still shook with his fear and apprehension that none of them were able to blame him for. All of them found it incredibly strange, however, that in these moments spent here, inside of a mountain temple that was the rightful domain of a crazed demi-god, was when they had learned more about Zyro - more about each other - than they had ever previously.
A few of them even found it ironic, that a thing that could tear someone apart had managed to bring them closer to together, however slightly so.
However long it had taken them to get out of the narrow corridors that surrounded them, they had no way of knowing, but they did know that they were probably just as relieved as Zyro was when they finally came to a large, open room, dark but with an adequate amount of natural light that came from a jagged hole in the high.
It was pale, like that of the moon, but still bright enough to light the elaborately designed chamber.
Although he had refused to look the whole way, choosing, albeit shamefully, to cling to both Kira and Shinobu instead, Zyro felt it more than saw it when they came into the far more open space, immediately feeling the pressuring walls around him cease and back away.

The boy let out an audible sigh of relief, his posture instantly relaxing in a way that made him look more exhausted than anything. His clutching fingers released their almost bone-crushing hold on the two other bladers on either side of him, and, finally, he looked up from his trance-like stare at the floor.
None of them were surprised to find Zyro's face stained with tears, nor where they surprised that his eyes were bloodshot, a sight that was reasonable but no less unsettling to the rest of them. Maybe it was just the fact that none of them had ever seen Zyro like this.
Zyro had also never wanted them to see like this as long as he was able to help it, and he had tried so very hard back there not to panic, but it always got the best of him eventually. But, at the moment, that didn't matter.
He was just relieved more than anything to be in a wider open space, able to see light that poured in through the deep hole in the ceiling which gave him solace in the fact that they weren't just in some place underground with no hope of seeing the light of day again. He was no longer trapped and confined by the suffocating walls and darkness of the corridors that had been closing around him, and for that he was grateful.
But even with the wave of relief that washed over him, the previous terror and fear that had once overcome him came back to both mind and body, and at the mere memory of that overwhelming fear did Zyro feel his stomach lurch before retching onto the floor.

Kira had apparently seen the reaction coming a split moment before it happened, and had quickly moved to wrap both his arms around Zyro's waist and torso just in time to hold Zyro up before he doubled over and threw up onto the ground. Shinobu was there to help support the boy the moment after, though he himself, as well as a few of the others, had turned a little pale once that had happened.
Zyro heaved for a few moments, but he did not vomit anymore than he just had, which a lot of them were grateful for - Maru had even taken to covering her eyes the moment it had occurred. All was silent between them for what seemed like forever before finally spoke in a choked and hoarse voice.

"S-sorry..." He apologized, his tone almost pathetic with how small and feeble it now was. At this uttered word, Madoka silently made her way over towards the Ifraid Blader, and gently placed a hand on his back. It was necessarily a maternal instinct thing, but it was something of the sort that she had adapted after having Maru under her wing for so many years.
"Hey, don't apologize." The brunette said reassuringly, "It's not your fault, you can't help it.." Zyro didn't look up at her as he wiped away his tears and at his mouth with the back of his hand, and shook his head.
"N-no..." He said shakily, "I'm sorry y-you had to see all of th-that... Any o-of that.."
Ren sent her friend a reassuring smile, waving her hand off to the side a bit. "H-hey, don't worry about it!" She said, "I really don't think any of us have the right to point fingers at this point."
Zyro didn't respond to that, but still continued to look down, at the floor, though he was clearly not trying to look at the mess that he had left on the floor.
Shinobu gave a small smile at Ren's enthusiasm on not blaming Zyro for acting and reacting the way he had, before he looked back to the raven with a solemn expression.
"Zyro.." He began gently, taking his hand off of Zyro's shoulder where he had previously been holding him up (Kira himself now only having one hand on the Ifraid Blader's left shoulder), "Why didn't you tell us you were claustrophobic?"

Everyone fell silent at that question, mainly because they knew it was likely something that Zyro didn't enjoy speaking about. This was evident by how reluctant Zyro seemed to answer, and most of them expected that he might not after several moments of silence. None of them would blame him for that, though. However, they were all proven wrong when the ginger-ravenette finally did speak.
"B-because..." He started, refusing to look up at anyone, "..W-what would y-you have thought of me?... I-it's just a s-stupid fear, that's all..." Of all of the things that any of them had expected to say, none of them had expected that.
Zyro, caring what others thought about him? Caring about how people viewed him?
"You think that we'd see you any differently if we knew?" Maru questioned, a concerned and somewhat hurt look on her face.
Zyro didn't answer her right away.
"W-wouldn't you?..." He asked shakily, bring his hand up again and wiping at his eyes again, the skin now raw from him doing so so frequently.
At this question, Ren crossed her arms, a somewhat sour look on her face.
"Zyro, I didn't think you could be that much of an idiot." The blonde stated bluntly, surprising the boy and causing him to actually look over at her. His tear-stained and still slightly frightened face was painful to look at, but Ren pushed that aside as she kept talking. "You're claustrophobic. So what?" She questioned, aiming to get her point across, "A lot of people are! I don't see why we should see you any differently because of it. Though it probably would've be nice to know that beforehand, so that we could have calmed you down easier."
Zyro looked at a little sheepish at that last comment, and Ren sent him with small smile.
"Yeah, it's not that big of a deal to us." Kite agreed, "I have a phobia of wasps, myself."

"Who doesn't?" Maru questioned, shivering at the thought of those little black and yellow demons that dared look similar to bees.
Zyro smiled a little at that.
Madoka smiled as well, and looked at Zyro again. "See? You don't have to be sorry for anything, Zyro." The shop owner assured, "If anything, it's pretty normal, actually. None of us are here to judge each other, you can count on that. Okay?"
Sniffling softly, Zyro wiped his eyes again one last time, before nodding with a shaky smile.
"Okay.." He agreed.
The rest of the group smiled, and even a small one was coaxed from Kira, who looked away slightly as to make sure no one saw it. Both Zyro and Shinobu noticed it from the multicolor-haired blader, but neither of them said anything.
After all, no one was willing to disturb the brief moment of bittersweet peace that had finally come about them...

Both Takanosuke and Sakyo had not expected to hear a such a terrified scream as they were entering the temple within the mountain, and it had caught both of them off guard, stopping them in their tracks and causing both to look this way and that.
The sound did not last long as it reverberated off the walls, quickly passing through the corridor they were heading down and then vanishing to other parts of the temple. As quick as it had come and gone, both of them were quickly able to recognize that voice, despite never hearing it so terrified, so scared, so fearful.
"W-was that..." Takanosuke started, hesitating for a moment as he thought it over in his head, "Zyro?.."

"Sounded like it." Sakyo said almost in confirmation, "Perhaps that means they're here."

"Y-yeah, I guess.." Takanosuke agreed uneasily, "B-but, why would he be screaming like that? Do you think they're in trouble?"
Sakyo didn't answer the boy right away, but continued gazing down the end of the corridor where both they and the scream had come from.
"It's a definite possibility." He responded firmly, "But I doubt there may be anything we can do for them at the moment."

"What? Why?" Takanosuke asked, looking up at the elder blader beside him, a somewhat pleading and confused look on his face. Sakyo's red eyes met his own in their cold yet understanding nature.
"Because." He stated simply, "It's unlikely we would be able to reach them in time. This place is big, almost like a maze. For all we know, it might not even be him, considering what Alcorin is capable of. Chances are, we could get ourselves killed in the process."
Takanosuke looked down towards the ground, a forlorn look on his face. He knew that Sakyo was right, even though he hated to admit it at the moment.
Part of his instinct told him to go anyway, to try and find Zyro and the others if they were really here. But the more dominant part of his instinct told him to leave it and trust in Sakyo, as he had for a long time.
Needless to say, that part of him won out.
Sighing softly, the curly-haired blonde nodded. "Okay.." He said solemnly in agreement.
Sakyo could see the inner struggle within his younger companion, but he didn't say anything. He placed one hand upon the others shoulder and urged him on in the direction that they had previously been heading, and they continued on.

Neither of them heard that scream - that terrified, panic-stricken scream - again after that, but neither of them were able to get it out of their heads. It almost seemed to follow them, even though it was long gone and now muffled over by the silence that was only broken by the flickering of the torches on the walls and their footsteps.
The silence was unsettling in this place, but Takanosuke decided that he liked it more than the sound of that scream, the chill it had sent up his spine still making a lingering tingle that was anything but comfortable.
But they didn't hear anything further after that, so they both simply left it, and headed onward.
Deeper and deeper into the darkness of the temple, and further and further towards damnation.