A LEAP OF FAITH

Chapter 7: A high tide ride.

Mugi woke up, confused as he looked around. Where am I again? He thought. He regained his memories. Right, he thought. I'm on a mission with a bunch of idiots, and I fell down and hit my head. Wonderful.

He sat up, his body ached from the fall. He even considered being carried around again. Definitely not. The thought left his mind immediately. There was no way of telling what time it was as they were in a cave that was most likely hundreds of feet underground.

Mugi began coughing, "Shit..." he whispered and stood up, sprinting over to a dark corner. Or at least he thought it was dark. He couldn't tell. He slapped a hand over his mouth to stifle the noises of his coughing.

"Are you alright, my friend?" A familiar voice said from behind him.

"I'm-" He stopped and coughed, "fine-" Ari took a step closer to him and crouched down beside him.

"Are you sick?" He asked.

"I'm fine," Mugi repeated sternly. He continued coughing until he coughed up a small bundle of flowers.

"Oh dear, that's not normal," Ari whispered.

"I'm aware," Mugi said through gritted teeth. He hated when people were in his business.

"Does it have anything to do with those flowers on your face?" He poked his face in curiosity.

Mugi grabbed his wrist tightly, "You ask too many questions." He stared up at him, annoyed.

Ari smiled, "I'm only trying to help, my friend. You're quite the secretive boy, hm?" He ripped his hand away from Mugi with ease.

"I'm not secretive, I just get a bit aggravated when nosy ass people such as yourself ask me idiotic questions," he hissed. Ari's smile only widened.

God, he's creepy, Mugi thought. He backed up a bit, feeling intimidated by someone for the first time in his life.

"How rude, someone should teach you some manners, huh?" He stood up and looked around.

Mugi stood up as well, "You're the one that lacks manners," mumbled Mugi.

Ari rolled his eyes playfully, "I suppose not everyone can be kind. Oh well!" He clasped his hands together.

"You're so odd... and creepy..." Mugi muttered.

Ari only shrugged, looking around, he didn't necessarily know how to respond. "Well, I suppose I'll leave you alone." He walked back over to the others and sat down.

Mugi sighed heavily. Finally.

Everyone, slowly but surely, began waking up one by one.

"Good morning, everyone!" Malcolm greeted cheerfully.

"Morning." Sugar rubbed her eyes; she wasn't a big morning person. She began packing up her things, throwing her backpack over her shoulder. "Let's not take forever, guys, let's go," she said sternly.

Kiren chuckled and bolted up, he always seemed to be energetic, no matter the condition. "No need to be grumpy." He rolled his eyes playfully before picking up his backpack.

"No need to be an annoying prick." Sugar cursed under her breath.

"We just woke up; can we please not fight so early in the morning?" Malcolm muttered.

Sugar only scoffed and walked ahead of everyone, leading them around the caves. Everyone was quite tired, so no one really spoke much. Small talk was made, but the conversations never lasted very long.

"Hey, what's this?" Ebony found a spot that was filled with some kind of liquid.

"I think it's a pond..." Sugar crouched down and stuck her hand in the water. "Yeah, it's definitely water." She nodded to herself. "Sharlet, investigate this pond-thing," she instructed. Sharlet nodded before diving into the water. She swam around for a little bit before she came back up, out of breath.