Down, down, down… The fall was agonizing. What Vash had hoped would be nothing more than a short drop turned into several seconds of plummeting with what remained of what was previously supporting him. He finally hit solid ground, his feet getting the brunt of the force before the rest of his body fell to the floor in a heap. His bag made a loud THUD as it landed right next to him. The only thing left was dirt and cement that sprinkled onto him as he laid there.

"Ow…" He groaned as he rolled over, slowly pushing himself up to his feet. He looked back up through the gap in the ceiling.

"Nai!"

The shout just echoed back at him. No word from above. No sign of his brother following either. That didn't make sense… Wouldn't he have followed just behind? Something was off. Was he in trouble?

Vash shook his head, trying to dispel the weariness. Worrying wouldn't help. The only thing to do was get his bearings and find a way back up. Easier said than done given how dark it was… Only the faintest flickers of light could be seen a little ways down from where he was. He would just have to feel his way around for the time being.

Putting left hand out, he took small steps to the side until his fingers made contact with a cold, solid wall. That was a start. He plucked his bag from the ground and traced his palm along, making sure to stick close as he walked. Just one step at a time towards the light as it pulsed like a heart beat. That was all he had to focus on. But as he ventured forth, he realized something; shouldn't he have just fallen into a dirt hole? Why was the space down there so vast? He couldn't hear anyone or anything else. Was it even being used? It didn't change his current predicament. Still, it would've been nice to know if he was going to encounter some trouble up ahead.

Vash…

His feet stopped. There it was again. He thought he'd just been hearing things back at the lake. Maybe it was the same case here. Was he losing it? The stress of the journey might've been getting to him after all. …No. No, he couldn't think like that. There was definitely something calling to him. It took the form of a voice that was vaguely familiar to him, but he couldn't quite place it. Didn't make him feel any better about moving forward. What choice did he have? Mustering up the courage to press on, his feet moved again, his heart racing in his chest.

His careful and slow progression brought him closer and closer to the little light. With it came a pained… humming? Breathing? It was hard to categorize. He wasn't even sure the light was the source of it. For all he knew, it was coming from farther down the tunnel. The only confirmation was when he got right next to it. He crouched down, the sound ringing slightly louder. As the light dimmed, then brightened, dimmed, then brightened, Vash was able to get a closer look at what was causing the strange phenomenon. It was a small, white, mucus-y… form. In between pulses, it turned from a butterfly, to a frog, to a bass, to some conglomerate of creatures. Vash's throat tightened as an uneasy feeling gripped him. The form instantly reminded him of what he'd seen at Clara's house. Should he back away? Leave it there and continue onwards? No… Something was different this time around. The sound it was making wasn't eerie in a threatening sense. It was just… in pain. That had to be why it was lying there.

Perhaps it was foolish to stay where he was. Perhaps it was naïve to believe that there was any benefit in interacting with such a thing. But Vash didn't move. For a few seconds, he just stared at it, feeling its weak hums pass through him. How was he supposed to just walk away from that? He swallowed and took some deep breaths, pushing his nerves away. He set his bag aside and gently held his hands out towards the form. As his fingertips slid under it, it twitched, almost recoiling from the touch.

"It's alright. I'm not here to hurt you." Vash spoke softly to it. He wasn't even sure if it could hear or understand him. Yet something told him it could.

"I'm gonna try something, okay? It might help with the pain. Just stay still."

He closed his eyes and brought his head down further, meeting his hands halfway so that he could touch the small form to his forehead. He took another deep breath as lines of light appeared on his face. A warmth built up inside him and radiated from his touch towards the form. He waited a few seconds, trying to ensure it had ample time to take effect. His eyes opened as he brought the form back down and raised his head. To his genuine surprise, the form was glowing brighter. It was maintaining its shape for much longer as it settled on a butterfly. Vash couldn't help but smile as he watched it flap its wings and float up on its own. Its hums were more pleasant in tone like a child who had just recovered from an illness.

With a sigh of relief, Vash rose to his feet and gathered his things, the lines on his face dissipating. He had expected the form to fly away, which it did for a few feet. But then it turned around, just hovering there. Vash tilted his head at it slightly.

"Are you waiting on me?"

There was no response. Just the melodic hums and the now constant light hanging in the air. Curious, Vash followed along, the form continuing onwards as his guide in the dark tunnel ahead of them. He was finally getting a better sense of his surroundings. The tunnels were shaped by concrete that was marred by cracks that snaked like veins. Though there were bulbs strung intermittently along the way, they were dead and useless. There were remnants of old doorways, but the handles were long rusted, making it impossible to open them. Only the sound of Vash's boots pressing into the ground with each step bounced back to his ears along with the musical hums of the form.

Eventually, the form sped up its flight, going ahead of Vash just enough to mark a location along the route. It landed gently against the right wall which illuminated a set of bars. Vash walked closer. He glanced at the form briefly before looking inside the rusted iron bars. The form's light wasn't enough to show the full interior of the cell, but it was just enough that he could see part of a human form in the corner.

"Is someone there?" He asked tentatively.

The figure stirred. "Wh… Who is it?"

Vash raised his hands up slightly. "It's okay. I'm just a traveler. My name's Vash."

"A traveler? Then… You're not with them?" They asked with a hint of hope in their voice.

"You mean the people up there?"

"Yeah."

Vash shook his head. "No. I came in from out of town."

The figure slowly rose to their feet and dared to walk forward to the bars in front of Vash. Coming into the form's light, Vash could now see a middle-aged man. He was holding his left side with his right hand, stumbling forward with a limp and grasping onto the bars with his left hand. His eyes looked desperate, exhausted.

"Please… Please, you have to help me out of here!" His voice was hoarse. It was unclear if it was from overuse or underuse.

"I will, I promise. Just hang tight for a minute."

Vash inspected the cell, looking for an easy way to either pry the door open or unlock it. There was a cheap padlock holding the cell door shut.

"Stand back and cover your ears."

The man did as he was told. Vash took a step back and pulled the gun from his side. He looked down both sides of the tunnel, listening and waiting. Still no signs of anyone… He aimed at the lock and fired. The blast reverberated in the walls around them. The padlock fell to the floor with a metallic clink. Vash stepped forward again and pulled the door open. The man limped forward towards him.

"Thank you."

"Of course. We should get going before anyone notices. Need a hand?"

Vash offered the man his shoulder. The stranger accepted the assistance, using Vash as a crutch.

"What's your name?" Vash asked as they started walking.

"Bernardo."

"It's nice to meet you." Vash smiled at him.

Bernardo gave a small, labored laugh in return. "You seem awfully chipper for someone who ended up in a hellhole."

Vash chuckled. "I guess it's just a habit. I try not to sulk if I can help it."

"Persistent optimist, eh? Don't see many of those anymore."

"Do you know the way out?"

"No. You're telling me you don't?"

"I just kind of… fell down here. Through a hole in the ground. And there's no way to get back up that way."

Bernardo took a deep breath. "That figures. Would've been too lucky if you just waltzed in here undetected and knew an easy way back."

A thought crossed Vash's mind. Even if they didn't know a way to get out, maybe something else did. He glanced over his free shoulder back at the form. It fluttered back up from the bars and flew in front of them, providing light once again. It continued onwards at a steady but manageable pace. Vash kept his eyes trained on it as he started moving again.

"I don't know how the hell you managed to see enough to find me. Even my eyes haven't adjusted after being down here for God knows how long."

Vash glanced over at Bernardo. "Oh… Well, y'know. Living in an underground bunker for a while after everything made me used to it, I guess." He smiled nervously. It didn't exactly feel nice to be coming up with this many lies.

Bernardo tried to take a breath that was cut short. "I'm sorry to hear that… No one should have to go without sunlight for that long."

The two were silent for a minute as they made the sluggish journey. A question popped back into Vash's head as they went.

"Can I ask how you ended up down here? What did the people upstairs want with you?"

Bernardo cleared his throat as his voice rasped. "Them? They wanted me to kowtow to their 'ideals'. To their mission. That was after they'd threatened me and tried to target my daughter. 'Think of her future' they said. 'You want her to end up dead before she hits puberty? You wanna be a dad who didn't do everything in his power to help her live?' Every possible piece of manipulation they could gather, they used. Only reason I finally went with 'em was when they started taking people by force. I couldn't let them take my little girl… So I told her where to go, where to hide. And then I let them have me."

Another shallow breath. He coughed. "All of this is just in the vain hope that she's okay, that all of this was worth it. Because after what I've seen, there's no way in Hell they would've saved her."

The only response Vash could give was silence. He had to process what the man had just told him. If it was what it sounded like, then these people…

"I'm sorry." He finally said. "What's your daughter's name?"

Bernardo opened his mouth to answer. Then the third pair of footsteps started. The echoes gave away their slow, leisurely gait. The two captives stopped their own feet, listening, waiting. A separate, yellower beam of light started to round the bend of the tunnel towards them. The form of the butterfly fluttered over to the side, revealing a divet in the wall just big enough to fit a person. As quickly and quietly as he could, Vash brought Bernardo to the spot to have him shuffle inside the slot. Only once he was sure Bernardo was out of sight did he shuffle in after him, his hands pressing against the frigid concrete that was just in front of them. It was by no means a comfortable fit, but it would have to do.

The butterfly rested on top of Vash's head as he turned it to the side to keep a lookout. Just in case. Placing his hand on his holster served as extra precaution. The men could feel their breath reflect back to them from their hiding place. The stranger's footfalls moved along, painfully slow for what the captives would've liked. A bored sigh paired with it just as the owner eclipsed with the gap in the wall. Vash watched the person go straight by. If they'd moved their flashlight even an inch to their right, they would've at least caught a glimpse of what was stowed away.

10… 9… 8… 7…

Once he reached 1, Vash felt secure enough to pull himself and Bernardo back out. Neither of them spoke. It felt too reckless. Focusing on how to get out of that endless pit was paramount.

The sheer number of jail cells wasn't lost on Vash as they moved. There hadn't been a single space of wall on their right that hadn't been filled with one. Bernardo was the only living proof that they had ever been used. Harsh as it was to imagine, there could have been a time when they were all filled to the brim: cages meant to contain those deemed as lesser, unworthy, or unruly. How many people trapped in such things were truly guilty of anything?

A melancholic hum resonated from the form as it beat its wings against Vash's hair to lift itself up once again. It outpaced the two men to give an idea of where to step. That patrol had to have come from somewhere. The question was how much further they had to go. Bernardo stifled a cough. The air was getting staler by the second. An ever creeping eagerness to get out of there wasn't helping.

Finally, a doorway was revealed by the form's light not too far ahead of them, this one with its handle fully intact. A tug was all it took for it to open. Vash poked his head into the opening, scouting for anyone that could be coming their way. But the only thing waiting for him was a lone ladder leading up to another door. He carefully helped Bernardo into the space, gesturing for him to climb the ladder first. They were so close now. Just a few more–

Vash…

Vash's head snapped back out towards the hall. The form was hovering there as if waiting. Its steady tune was patiently suspended. Vash felt entranced by it, uncertain. Surely it was unwise to follow such a thing further when they were so close to the exit. Yet… he couldn't help but trust it.

"You coming?" Bernardo whispered as he turned to look down at him from halfway up the ladder.

Vash hesitated. He gritted his teeth and shut his eyes tightly, trying to isolate the priority of the different voices.

Vash…

"I'm sorry." Vash looked back up to meet his gaze. "There's something I need to check. Go on ahead. If you can, find my brother. He'll help you."

"How will I know if it's him?"

Vash smirked. "Twins. It'll be hard to mistake him for anyone else. Here." He pulled the gun from his side and reached it out. "If you run into any trouble."

"You sure?"

Vash nodded.

Bernardo slowly took it. "Alright… Thanks. I'll give it back once you're outta here. Be careful."

"You too."

The creaking door closed behind Vash as he went back to the one thing that'd been by his side since falling into this misfortune. He stared at the form intently. It flew onwards. He made sure to faithfully maintain a short distance, gulping as his stomach tied itself into a nervous knot for what was ahead of them.