Note: I got really excited about this chapter, so I decided to write it ASAP. I think you guys are going to love this one. Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Monkey see, Monkey do...
Vanish looked down upon her feet, as if she was trying to muster some courage. To ask a favor, perhaps? Did she want to go into the tunnels with him, as partners? Did she want the lonely piece of pie, slowly crumbling onto the cool granite floor? Or did she wish to... No. Impossible, Steve told himself. They were of entirely different species! At least, that's all Steve could assume. For all he knew they could be distant relatives. He hadn't the slightest idea of where she could have been from, what she was made of, or what her history was. She was just this dark colored humanoid who had suddenly appeared beside him.
"Could I... Take you up to the surface? There's something I'd like to show you." Vanish had finally forced out of her lungs.
Steve raised his eyebrows, confused as how she would do this. "What do you mean? I can climb back upwards into my mineshaft, but I don't believe that you imply that."
Vanish seemed very flustered at this point, a little ashamed that she asked in the first place. "I can... Give you a lift? You know, teleport you along with me?"
Steve, after surprisingly little consideration, answered, "That sounds... Interesting. Sure, why ever not?"
Vanish's eyes lit up with excitement, thrilled that he had complied to her offer. She immediately grabbed him by his forearms, and lifted him off of the ground. She leveled him to her height, so they could see each other eye to eye. It wasn't hard to tell that she was absolutely ecstatic about the ordeal, which made Steve rather nervous. However, he was now able to see her appearance in even greater detail than previously. She was mind-blowingly gorgeous, to the point where Steve felt tempted to pinch himself to make sure he wasn't dreaming. In fact, he did—Only to discover that he was indeed in reality.
Her large eyes seemed even greater in size up close, and they were practically symmetrical in distance from her other features. Her small, sharp nose was quite smooth, and her long, thin lips had an indigo hue to them, which was a nice touch. But what caught his attention was the freckle on her right cheek. It was perfectly round, as well as pitch black compared to the rest of her skin.
"Get ready! This is going to be really weird!" Vanish flashed her brilliantly white teeth at Steve, which snapped him back out his thoughts.
"Whoa, whoa," Steve blurted out as she pressed their foreheads together, "What—"
Then a loud *voop*, and they were gone.
What Steve saw next was... Indescribable.
He was suddenly alone—Vanish was no longer holding him, and was nowhere to be seen. But Steve was drifting, flying, through a seemingly infinite plane of existence. Intense points of light filled the view. There wasn't a single inch of space that wasn't cluttered with them. But yet it was so dark, so empty. And the colors. The colors. Steve stared at combinations that he had never even seen, nor imagined, in his entire life. They flowed through his body, like water flows through a stream. They encased his body, sending him into a deep trance. All thoughts and emotions left him, keeping his body as an empty husk, floating through reality and time.
Steve was still alone. Hours passed, but he wasn't really aware. He didn't care. He couldn't care. He was incapable of intelligent thought. He could only concentrate on the light... The light wasn't his enemy—It was his friend. Why would he ever want to leave? He was perfectly fine right here. He never wanted to go.
Days flew by. Weeks, months, years. Decades upon centuries upon millennium passed by. But Steve didn't mind. His close companion—no, lover—the light was always there for him. It stood by him, comforting him, through the emptiness of reality. He loved the light. He always had. He always would.
Steve would talk to the light sometimes. Sometimes the light would talk back. Sometimes Steve would think about the light. Sometimes the light would think about Steve. But Steve would always stay here with the light. He was always here with the light. He would always be with the light.
Steve kept on floating, and it wasn't long before time itself had stopped. Steve had been in this place since the moment the universe was born. And he had been there when the universe had died. But Steve kept going. Because the light was there for him. The light loved him too. The light had always loved him. The light would always love him.
Steve's physicality began to leave him, but that didn't matter. Steve had already spent many eternities with the light, it wasn't as if his body mattered. As Steve broke away, and faded into nothingness, he could only think of the light. The last fiber of his being was no more, but Steve could think only of the light. The light was one with Steve. Steve had become the light. Steve was the light. Steve was always the light. And Steve would always be the light.
Steve gasped as a migraine of the greatest proportions left his body as soon as it arrived. He buckled onto the grass, violently shuddering as his body regained consciousness and mobility. Steve could only take a little bit of air in, before he immediately forced it right back out of his lungs. It pained him to even breathe. Shivering, weeping sobs of agony, curling into a pathetic fetal position, Steve couldn't take his mind off of his journey. He had spent so much time in that god forsaken place that he had forgotten who he was. His memories, thoughts, his emotions rushed back into his head, which further reminded him of the lie that was his life, his being, his existence.
Vanish looked down upon him in utter shock. She hadn't expected him to react so strongly, but it was his first time traveling through The Other Way. In addition, he wasn't suited for that kind of transportation; He was only human, after all.
She could only softly say, "Sorry... I forgot to tell you about that part..."
Steve weakly rolled his head over to look at her, eyes wide open. "It's okay... I enjoyed it."