Takeda almost forgot he blew up some wolves in the tunnel when they were being chased.

He was reminded by the overpowering metallic smell of blood that suffocated him in the dark cavern. To drive the point home, his foot slipped in something soft, and the wet squelch echoed around them. He tried to adjust his footing as best he could, but no matter where he stepped he slipped and stumbled on the gore of the dead wolves.

It made him think of Sub-Zero. Bits of him lying in the snow.

The others weren't spared, either. The wet sucking of boots lifting up and slapping down filled the whole tunnel. Luckily Cassie lifted her arm, purposefully keeping the light of the glow stick off the ground. The four of them crowded around her, subconsciously hoping to get out as quickly as possible. After what seemed like forever of crushing things underfoot, the snow crunched clean and the light at the end peeked through the darkness.

They exited the cave, and the first thing Takeda did was suck in a deep breath of clean air. He glanced around at the others and saw them just as visibly relieved as he was that they were in clean air and clean snow again. Before he could stop himself, he thought of going down into the spider caves. Suffocating himself again. Dirty cave water and stale cave air.

The dread of going down there ached in his spine, resisting every step he would take towards it on their way back.

"Which way was it?" Cassie asked.

"Straight ahead, then make the right up there," Jin said, nonchalantly scuffing his shoes on the snow. "If we make a left, we'll end up at the dead end where we found Sub-Zero's ice."

"Right. Let's go." She sounded confident, but as Takeda scanned her face, her eyebrows were furrowed and her mouth was turned down into a frown. Cassie holstered the pistol to her back, and Takeda figured she didn't see the wolves as much of a threat anymore. He felt the same, that they were long gone and probably wouldn't be back for a while, but he was hesitant to let his guard down completely. Instead, he kept his fingers close to the kunai on his belt. They passed the blood-stained tree, stepping over the puddle in the snow, and filed under the stone archway, and the instant Takeda emerged from the other side, the voices of the souls in the mausoleum echoed in his head.

"Takahashi... Takahashi... Sento..."

"Leave me alone," he boldly sent, and put up a block around his mind. Still, he couldn't stop the shudder from creeping down his spine. He felt their influences and consciousnesses pounding against the block. He felt their urgings and their tugs on his mind to look down into their faces. They dragged him closer and closer to the edge of sensation, of being overpowered and overwhelmed by them again. He kept his eyes down on the snow, feeling as though he had to force his footsteps to lean away from it. They pushed and knocked on his mental walls, trying to force their way in. Probably to take revenge, he thought bitterly, since he did try to force his way in earlier.

They turned the right at the mausoleum and started down the narrow path that would take them back to the 'L' when Cassie groaned.

"The fuck is that?"

With the mausoleum safely at his back, Takeda raised his eyes. He kept the block strong around his psyche, but ignored the pull on his eyes to turn around. Cassie was standing in front of a black gate built into the stone barrier on their left.

" . . . Cass . . . it's just a gate," Jin said. Wrought iron and heavy-looking, the bars looked to be fused shut in the middle, keeping it closed.

"Okay, but that definitely wasn't there when we came past here last time," she said. "I didn't see it. Did you guys?"

Takeda looked at it. Admittedly, he missed it, but there were vines, thorns, bushes, and berries weaving in and out of them, disrupting the shape. "Look how overgrown it is," he said. "We probably missed it 'cause it blends in with the wall. And because I had an episode with the souls in the mausoleum." They had dragged him towards it, he remembered, and he blew right past everything to get to the building.

Jin walked up to it and gave it an experimental tug. It refused to budge. Refused to even shake. "It's locked from the other side," Jin said. "Look." He pointed to the backs of the hinges, facing the other way. "Let's just leave it for now. If it's like the Fountain Courtyard, we'll need something with a little more fire power to bust through."

"Sssshrceproerasrhssssss . . . " the souls hissed, their voices jumbling together and breaking through the block he let slip. He caved, shifting his eyes to look sidelong down the stairs at the cluster of faces. Still rolling and swirling on top of each other, fighting to break through the front. He strengthened his block, quieting them and forcing them out one-by-one. With each new face he saw, it became harder and harder to look away. The more he gazed at them, the more they looked sad or despaired rather than angry and vindictive. Some even looked to be crying. Some were clearly in pain, and some had their eyes closed in peace. They probably just wanted someone to talk to them individually, he knew. Some probably had a message to deliver, and they were forced to keep it for hundreds, probably thousands of years. Pity ached in his heart, and he almost reached out to one. Almost.

"Hey," Jacqui said, breaking the spell over him. She grabbed his arm, and the small jarring worked to ground him. She tugged him back towards the path. "You okay?" she asked. "Are they still talking to you?"

"Yeah. They're trying," he said dryly, shaking his head. "I have them blocked out."

"Oh," she acknowledged, but quickly pulled his arm again. "Let's go," she said. "Let's get away from this place. I don't like how they mess with you."

"Me either." He allowed her to drag him back towards the path, and when he turned around he saw Jin and Cassie already a ways ahead, ducking under the rocks that arched over the path to the 'L'. They ran to catch up, bringing up the rear as they crunched over the dead branches and bushes. His mind felt empty without the constant chatter of the mausoleum, but it didn't take long for the looming energies of the Spider Caves to replace them. He could picture the opening of the cave in his head, even before they turned the last corner into the first area, Boneland, where the webs covered every inch of rock that raised over the wall.

His heart started to beat hard in his chest. The maw of the cave opened up in front of him, ready to swallow him up, and his breath quickened to a nearly audible pace. His feet felt heavy, and a cold sweat built on his hands and face. Their pace slowed with each step until the four of them were fanned out in front of the entrance.

"Time check?" Cassie asked softly, and Takeda knew she was praying for a reason to stall.

"We don't . . . have to do this," Jin offered.

"Yes, we do," Jacqui countered. "For Kenshi and my dad, and Sub-Zero, too. Everyone."

"Time says seven hours, eight minutes."

Takeda sent out a pulse of power towards the three of them, scanning for any emotional reaction similar to the one he was having. Cassie felt scared, as he did, though as he pinpointed her emotion and burrowed deeper into it, he could tell she wasn't scared of the spiders. Instead, she was more scared of what they would find. Sub-Zero's mutilation seemed to affect her the most, and he could feel her hesitation rooted in a fear of finding others in a similar way. Jin was more flighty and tense than actually scared of the caves, like he was ready to go down, but would take off at the first sign of trouble.

Jacqui felt most like him, with an overall dread of the entire situation. She dreaded having to go down there at all, she dreaded facing any threats, and she dreaded thinking what could have happened to Kenshi or Jax and what state they would be found in. Though, he realized, she had a strength powering through it that even he didn't have. She had the flare of moral imperative behind her fear, that no matter what was down there, she would brave it anyway if it meant saving those she cared about and those he cared about as well. He wanted to save Kenshi and Master Hasashi as well, but from the courage he felt in her mind, she was already ready to die for Jax.

He retreated from them, and watched their faces instead for the translation.

"Right. Okay," Cassie said. Do we want to rest early, or do we want to go down there?"

Nobody answered.

"Guys?"

" . . . Let's go down," Jacqui said, her power flaring in her eyes instead of her fear.

"We don't have to rest," Jin said. "But if we want, we can prepare. I was kind of hoping to meditate a little before we go down there. It'll take, like, ten minutes." He shrugged, hoping to add a casual air to the request.

"Good idea," Cassie said, latching on to another moment of freedom from the cave. "Jacqui, let's make sure we're locked and loaded. Check your gauntlets, and your regular guns. If you need any ammo, let me know."

"Will-do."

The girls wandered away to a nearby tombstone to prop their bags against, and Jin met eyes with Takeda and nodded. Takeda sat down in the snow for some breathing while Jin stayed standing for some chi kung poses. Takeda tried to read the energy around him as a starting point to orient himself, but the only thing he could feel was the black, swirling mass of the cave. It interrupted his abilities to root himself and find a baseline for his breath. Instead, he opened his eyes and stood up, matching Jin's stance.

"Wanna join in?"

"Sure. Show me what to do."

"Breath in, lift your arms in front of you, fingers to the ground. When you get to the top, push out to the sides and exhale." They repeated the motion several times, then Jin changed his. "Keep your feet planted, palms out, sweep your arms to the right slowly. Inhale. On the exhale, come back to the middle, then inhale and sweep the other way." Takeda copied his motion, "Are you breathing?"

"Yep."

"Knees bent, put your weight on your left foot. Bring your arms up, inhale, bring your right foot forward, sweep it out into an open stance. Exhale, bring your arms down, and bend your knees. Inhale, arms come up, right arm crossed over left. Turn to the right, exhale, bend your knees down and shoot the bow," he said. He pushed his right arm straight out, palm out, and drew his left elbow back into a fist. He drew up again, circling his arms around and down, then up again, left crossed over right, and repeated the pose to the other side.

When they were finished, Jin closed it with some breathing, but Takeda simply watched. He met eyes with Jacqui and Cassie, and Jacqui held a thumbs up to him. When Jin opened his eyes, he drew himself to full height. "Are we ready?"

"Yeah," Cassie said. "We're ready."

"I'll take point," Jacqui said. "Cass, wanna bring up the rear this time?"

"Can't wait!" she said sarcastically, throwing an enthusiastic punch across her body. At least she was making quips again, Takeda thought. Maybe the rest was what they all needed. "Jin, mark the time that we enter."

"Got it. Marking it at . . . " he trailed off, waiting for the minute to turn. " . . . seven hours and twenty minutes."

Cassie handed Jacqui the glowstick, and she held it out in front of her.

"Let's go."