Webber's POV

We could hear a storm raging above us. The sprawling cave system beneath the surface echoed with the gale winds, and every once in awhile we'd stumble across a snowdrift that had sneaked in from the surface. Naturally, we numbly ignored them, still partially frozen from the Ocean's icy water and still terribly shaken from the encounters with the skeleton and... him. Every time we closed our eyes we saw those two mangled corpses. Every time a drop of melted frost dripped from the ceiling and landed on us our mind instantly saw it as blood.

The guilt was by far the worst part.

The guilt of chasing them away because we were angry.

The guilt that we might cause their deaths.

Worst of all...

The guilt of making them think we didn't need them.

We needed them. We needed each other. We looked up at a crack of pale light from above, shining down on barren rock. We had been walking through a field of light-producing flowers for... most likely all day now. It hadn't gotten any warmer as the day progressed, but it hadn't gotten much colder either. In fact, it was probably safer down here than it was up there. It didn't really help our situation much considering but at least we knew it could've been worse. The light from the flowers kept us safe from the darkness, but it illuminated our poor condition all too well, namely the shards of ice frozen to our fur and whiskers. We almost unconsciously ran our claws through the clumps, as though trying to be presentable again. We allowed our eyelids to droop shut, walking without really looking where we were going. If we walked into the darkness who really would care? Nobody would even notice we were gone...

Perhaps it was pure luck? Or maybe there was some greater force watching over us that day, although that was something that, in our mind, had been debunked thousands and thousands of times. No matter the reason, destiny saw our predicament, our readiness to die.

And whatever the reason, destiny just wouldn't have it.

Maybe it had been hours, maybe days. Or maybe, it was only a few minutes, but after some time of walking alone in that field of glowing berries, we happened upon the greatest stroke of luck that we had ever had upon entering this part of the world.

We happened upon WX.

Which, perhaps, probably shouldn't have seemed like such good luck, but we saw each other from afar. We didn't question how he got here. We didn't question why we were so happy to see him. We didn't question anything. Before we even knew what we were doing he was right in front of us and we literally hugged him. He let out a faint noise of protest, perhaps a mixture of disgust and shock as well, and shoved us away, looking fierce.

Though... did we see our relief mirrored in his eyeless gaze?

"SO, YOU DID FAIL."

Oh, right, now we remembered why we yelled at him in the first place. Feeling guilty again, we looked away.

"THAT'S SURPRISING, HONESTLY. YOU NOT DENYING THE FACT THAT YOU CAN'T SURVIVE WITHOUT US, THAT IS."

"You don't have to berate us..." I responded quietly, still feeling faint with glee. "We know what we did was stupid, you don't have to tell us."

How in the world did he manage to look evensmugger?

"You're in the same situation, aren't you?!"

"WELL," he spread his arms and motioned to the field, looking the slightest bit helpless. "IT APPEARS SO."

"Were you really going to try to lecture us on something you did as well?"

For a moment he was silent, examining every inch of our frost-clumped fur and every ice-tipped hair. "AT LEAST I DIDN'T NEARLY FREEZE TO DEATH ON THE WAY DOWN," he pointed out.

"You obviously didn't have such a graceful descent." We looked pointedly at his shoulder, which looked like it had been smashed, most likely when he fell.

He narrowed his 'eyes'. "DID I NOT HIT YOU HARD ENOUGH TO BREAK YOUR JAW LAST TIME?"

"Already on the threats? Can't we wait to try to kill each other until we're, you know, not each other's only hopes of survival?"

He sighed, one of those 'that's a good point but I don't want to admit it' sighs.

"As soon as we get back you can make all of the scary faces you want," I promised, smiling pleasantly.

"AND FIND WILSON," he insisted.

We tipped our head. "Wilson won't want to come back," I scoffed. "He's too confident in his own powers. Moron, he's going to get himself killed..." Our voice faded out as the 'know-it-all' look became more and more apparent on the robot's face. "Don't you-"

"YOU DO REALIZE THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT YOU WERE DOING." WX crossed his arms. "I DON'T THINK HE'LL BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT US. IT'D BE A PITY TO STUMBLE ACROSS HIS CORPSE." Despite his fairly harsh words, actual hints of concern crept into his expression. He cares, he just really, really, really hates showing it.

We can understand that...

"Well anyway, standing around here doing nothing isn't going to help. What do you suggest?"

"THERE'S NOTHING THAT WAY," he started, pointing at where he came from. "EXCEPT FOR A HOLE VERY VERY VERY HIGH UP. AND UNLESS YOU ACTUALLY HAVE SOME USEFUL SPIDER TRAITS LIKE CLIMBING THERE'S NO WAY WE CAN GET UP THERE." He promptly grabbed the nearest light fruit from its plant and took a bite of it. "AND IF WE GO ANYWHERE ELSE THE FIELD ENDS." He was silent for a moment before adding quietly, "AND I AM NOT CERTAIN YOU CAN LAST MUCH LONGER WITHOUT A FIRE..."

"We'll be fine," I insisted, suddenly worried that even he noticed that we were off. How bad is it really?

Another flash in our mind: crimson blood, loose bolts, crying, screaming.

"WHATEVER YOU SAY... BUT IF YOU SUDDENLY DROP I'M NOT COMING BACK FOR YOU." We couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

"If you suddenly drop it'll be us holding the knife," I quipped without even thinking about it. He looked almost amused for a moment before he started heading to our right, where the field seemed to go on.

"COME ON, LET'S FIND A WAY OUT OF HERE."

We continued walking, just like before. Unlike before, though, we weren't alone, and although WX himself was as cold as the stone we walked on we didn't care. We didn't need him for warmth, we needed him because we felt weak without him. We lapsed into silence, neither of us having a reason to say anything and, at least for us, the concern of another cave-in was heavy on our mind.

Speaking of which, destiny decided that today wasn't fulfilling enough so it stepped in again. This time, it made itself known once more with a bang.

Or, a clatter more like. A clatter of rocks falling from the ceiling. Both of our gazes snapped to the roof at once, the idea of a cave-in suddenly becoming more of a reality. Fate was being nice this time around, though.

Only a small circular portion of the ceiling fell away, a giant heap of snow falling into the newly created hole as well.

In the meanwhile, we heard some sort of... grumbling noise in the distance.

In the circle of light produced by the hole, a shadow appeared. A very unbelievable and very familiar shadow. "WHAT...?"

"Heyyyy Wilson, we were just talking about you!" We called up to the man, who looked more confused than ever.

"The shadow creep was right!" He shouted back, beaming. WX had his face buried and was muttering something along the lines of 'this can't be happening'.

"Let us guess! Your friends are in danger and/or dying and/or dead!"

"And they're right here," Wilson added sheepishly. "But yes, you're right as well. What are the odds!?"

We exchanged a glance with WX before returning his grin. "So, you know how you're up there and we're not?"

He laughed to himself, a sound that echoed through the caves almost endlessly. "I get it, you knuckleheads. I didn't realize it'd be so far down...it's too far for a vine or a branch or anything..."

We tipped our head, listening to that growling sound growing a bit louder.

"NO ROPE?"

"Too far." He shook his head and disappeared for a moment, probably trying to wrack his brain.

Around that time is when the first worm attacked. It was so sudden, so uncalled for, that the enormous creature rising out of the ground was enough to send us flinching so hard we nearly fell over. Dark fur covered its entire, long body is purple and midnight-blue stripes, and jagged teeth were everywhere in its gaping maw as it roared to the ceiling and dove back underground.

We were getting very tired of panicking at this point.

There was a pause when everything was quiet again before the worm surged upward again, one of its dagger-like teeth scraping our abdomen as it moved just passed us. We growled. The wound already stung but it wasn't anything compared to some of the things we already had to deal with.

Wilson continued to watch from above, his gray eyes becoming more and more concerned with every passing moment. His eyes widened and he disappeared from view once more, but we were too busy trying to dodge the worm to really notice. When he reappeared, he had the 'I'm-about-to-do-something-really-stupid' expression. "Use the worm to get up here!" He called after a moment's consideration.

"What!? Are you insane!?"

"When it comes up grab the stem on its forehead!" He called back. "It might be the only way!"

"YOU'RE CRAZY!" WX protested, but before he could complain very long the hit him with its tail so hard he fell and slid a few feet.

He was right. That might be the only way.

Putting on a brave face, we narrowed our eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'M FINE," WX insisted, getting back to his feet and looking angrier than ever.

"Then follow my lead." Before he could protest again, the worm resurfaced. The very second its head rose from the ground we were moving, and then we were on its head, holding onto the plant stem sprouting from its head. And then, once again, before we knew it we were on the surface again with the help of Wilson. We were more than content to sit on our hands and knees and breathe.

Before we had even finished catching our breath WX had joined us on the surface, looking just as shaken as we felt. And of course, just like he always had been, Wilson was crouched at our side, concern etched into his face as he gently patted our back. We didn't say anything- we couldn't in fear of just collapsing right there, but we smiled at him. The most legitimate smile we could manage, and we could see it in his eyes. That's all he wanted. That's all he needed. Finally, we managed to get enough of our strength back to surprise hug him, and he didn't hesitate to hug us back. "Thank you," I whispered. "Thank you..."