Error - 404 Not Found

Chapter 2 - The Never-Ending Pathway

~~~~~~~~~
Yuno's POV
~~~~~~~~~

Awkward silence is the only thing that accompanies Klaus, Mimosa, Langris and I as we journey through this damp, dark, and desolate dungeon.

The dungeon is quite a different environment than its surface, surprisingly. It appears to be a typical dungeon or cave, if I'm being honest here. Sodden, damp gravel wraps around the entire walls and floor, making the whole area colourless and miserable. The only light that ensures our ability to see a couple metres in front of our feet, is the oil-lit lantern that Klaus holds in his shivering, pale right hand. I don't even blame him for shivering. After all, it is undoubtably less than 0 degrees celsius in this section of the dungeon. None of my squad mates and I had packed suitable coats, as we would have never predicted it to be this cold.

After hours upon hours of walking down a single pathway and discovering not a single lead nor trap of any sort, our situation is definitely starting to feel unusual. Ominous, even...

If I wasn't sure before, I am undoubtedly certain now, that something, whatever that something may be, is off. Somewhat... peculiar. The time of the outside world, or the time we've spent trudging along in this godforsaken dungeon is completely unknown to us.

Walking...

Endless walking...

The same scene over and over, and over again...

My eyelids are struggling, fighting against the temptation...

My mind is overflowing with sheer dizziness and fatigue,

as I feel myself begin to shut down, and collapse...

All of a sudden, a certain brunette's yelling awakens me, and snaps me out of my half-asleep state. "Hey, Klaus! Yuno! Langris! Let's... play a game!" Mimosa chirps merrily, skipping in front of the group whilst presenting us with a genuine closed-eye smile. "Sure. What kind of game Mimosa?" Klaus replies, all while fixing the cork on his oil lantern.

(Note: I don't know a single thing about oil lanterns, okay~ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

"Hmm." Mimosa ponders. "How about... I spy?" she continues, remaining impossibly jolly all the while.

At the exact moment when Mimosa mentions her idea for her choice of game, Langris bursts out in pure laughter, topped with a hint of mockery. "Pfft! Are you actually serious?" He manages to say, throughout constant attacks of howls and roars of laughter. When he finally composes himself, he casually wipes a tear of laughter from his eye.

Mimosa pouts, sticks out her tongue, and says in an ever-so-slight whining tone, sprinkled with a hint of sarcasm, "I'm serious! I 'sincerely' apologise, it was the only game that I could think of to lighten up the mood. Hmph." However, she isn't able to retain the irritated expression on her face for long, as a giggle manages to escape her lips.

"Okay Mimosa. Let's play I spy. You first." Klaus said agitatingly, while attempting to calm Mimosa down. As soon as Mimosa hears that her proposition for a game was accepted by the bare minimum of one other person, she cheers,"Alright!", as she punches the air above.

Sigh. I raise a shivering hand towards my aching forehead, as I painfully ponder to myself. This entire, childish charade is doing no good for the unpleasant migraine that I currently seem to be suffering from. Although, I must admit, this conversation appears to be quite... Intriguing.

"I spy... Something solid and grey." Mimosa continues, as she has seemed to decide that the one to begin the game would be her. Though, it seems that this sentence in particular had pushed Langris over the edge. He completely loses it, howling in laughter, rolling all over the floor. I simply sigh, and say, (I MADE YOU A SANDWICH! Just kidding.) "A rock, Mimosa." Whilst being nonchalant all the while, as I don't find childish antics such as these, 'humourous'.

"Wow! How did you guess Yuno?" She questions me. It pains me to say, but I'm quite sure she is literally, quite literally, being serious. Perhaps the rock that she spied was simply her brain...

"You're just dense, Mimosa." I answer back, retaining my aloof facade.

"Well... Fine then! I spy something obnoxious and rude!" She screeches, returning to her tsundere mode. Langris begins to smugly declare, "Well, I-" though, was cut off when Mimosa adds;

"And tall."

Langris, and practically all that were currently inside the dungeon, simply deadpans.

"I'm glad that I'm well known around the royals." I reply, still not interested to take part in this pharce.

Oh, if only Asta would see this tsun-tsun side of Mimosa.

"I wish Asta was accompanying me on this mission... Oh my! Just imagine how romantic it would be...!" Mimosa fantasises, as she exasperatingly fangirls, forgetting that she was well within earshot.

She rambles on,

and on,

and on...

~Time Skip~

After a couple more hours of utter boredom and languidly trudging along the dungeon's desolate interior, Klaus finally came to the decision that a camp ought to be set up for the night... or day... whatever the time currently is.

The reason being, we had finally found a small niche along the dungeon's passageway that seemed safe, and secure for the four of us to rest within.

Oh come now.

You truly expected me to admit that I was becoming fatigued, in front of my squad mates no less?

Not a chance.

On the contrary, the rest of the bunch seem quite awake, compared to the ignominious state I was currently expressing. Anyway, pushing all of those notions to the back of my mind, I began unpacking my tattered backpack. The only necessities that I had brought along with me on this mission were: a bland sleeping bag, a flask filled with plain ol' water, and some mediocre-tasting food that I had picked up in a passing town along the way to the dungeon.

I lullingly lay my sleeping bag on the cold, damp floor, along with the rest of my teammates' belongings. I exhaustingly depress myself onto the soft material, however, I can't resist the propensity, the temptation of resting my haggardly-expressed eyes for one measly second.

One second turns into two seconds.

Two seconds turn into three,

and so on.

As my consciousness begins to drift away into the deepened slumber that awaits me, I sense something...

...leering at me.

Before my body is able to respond to the sudden sense of perturbation, it falls, along with my mind, into a deep, much-needed sleep.

~~~~~~~~

Falling...

Sinking...

A pale, bloodied arm stretches out from the sliver of light that can just barely be seen by my half-lidded, bloodshot eyes....

As the bare tips of our tender fingers meet, the scene before my eyes crumbles, eroding away...

A silver light blinds my eyes, forcing them shut for all eternity...

~Chapter 2 Finish~