Chasing Colors (ONC) | Fade to Grey #1

Chapter Twelve

Both of them jumped over the wires, extremely careful not to find out what they did when they came across a plain white sign so bright the fire almost wasn't needed. In black letters Scarlet could make out the words 'Carnivorous Cave'. Not only did she not want to be in this place whatsoever, the title of the cave made her skin crawl. Now she knew that there weren't just wires to be afraid of here, but had no idea what else they would find.

"You read that, right?" She pointed the stick toward Silver to see his face. "This cave must have been here a while now. I wonder what has been down here."

"I read it, don't worry. I don't think anything's gonna come after us."

"You don't know that!"

He laughed. "You're right, I don't. That's why I said I don't think anything will. But it's something that we'll just have to find out."

"Wonderful." Scarlet sighed, jumping over a wire. "Let's just keep going."

With Silver trailing next to her, they both continued on through the cave, watching for anything suspicious. Every sound made Scarlet jump, nerves running through her veins. Only hoping this was the last step they had to do before finding her parents, she watched the dark color fade away once again. Used to it by now, she shrugged it off. One day they would find her parents and everything would be well again. Maybe she'd even be able to see it all again. But those were things she could only hope would happen. Nothing was set in stone. Except for these wires.

So wrapped up in her own thoughts, she didn't even realize when Silver walked ahead of her. Faced toward the wall, she knew he wasn't paying attention to where he was going. Giving that same direction a glance, there was some type of writing on the wall. Mixed in with the dark color of the cave, it was too hard to read from far away. Silver stepped toward it, though too focused to look on the ground.

Luckily, Scarlet was noticing every movement he made. A pressure plate was just two steps in front of him, though he walked with no problem at all. Afraid of what the little trap might do, she created fire as fast as she could, quickly blasting the plate, careful not to burn Silver.

"Woah!" Silver yelled, bouncing back as the plate flew over his head.

Landing with a bang, the plate sizzled hitting one of the wires directly behind Silver. Lightning flew from the wire, the yellow bolting up in the air for a couple seconds before making its way back down. The plate ended up as black as charcoal, the smell of the electrocution of the pressure plate making Scarlet hold her nose and walk towards Silver. When she got as far away from it as she could she said, "You seriously need to watch where you're going. That thing could've burnt you to pieces!"

The small area where the plate once was crumbled, the ground falling beneath them. Scarlet and Silver jumped back, careful not to wake anything else. "You know, if you weren't watching, you could've burnt me too." He smirked.

She rolled her eyes at him and groaned. "This is not a time for jokes! I just saved your life!"

"You're right, I'm sorry." He grabbed her arm and pulled her close, leaning in to give her a kiss.

For the first time, no matter how much she didn't want to, Scarlet pulled away. "No, you can't just expect to make it up to me like that. I know you were just trying to be funny, but if I wasn't there to save you, you would be gone right now. You know how much I wouldn't be able to handle that."

"I know." He stroked her cheek with his hand, brushing a strand of her hair from her face. "But I'm okay. And I'm always going to be okay. You won't lose me, I promise."

She smiled, wanting to say the three words that were on the tip of her tongue, but chose not to. Being in a dark cave definitely wasn't the right time. There would be other times, at least, she hoped there would be. Instead she responded, "All right. What were you looking at when you almost tripped? It looked like some sort of writing."

"Oh! Right, that. Look!" Carefully, they made their way over to where the writing was. "I was trying to figure out what it said."

"Clearly." Scarlet laughed. "It looks like it's in cursive, but it's too dark to read."

"Shine the fire on it. Maybe we can figure it out that way."

Moving the stick toward the wall, the light brightened the writing. More sounds escaped through the walls, Scarlet started to tremble though it felt as if bugs were crawling all over her. Rubbing her arms to fling the imaginary creatures away from her she said, "There. Let's see what it says."

Worry slipped through her mind before getting a chance to process the words. What if this was from her parents and it was the last thing they ever said to her? Or maybe it was another clue and she hadn't made it to the final step yet. Maybe everyone was still in danger and they were only in more danger coming down here. She shook her head. Knowing this couldn't be good no matter what the writing stated, she had to be brave anyway. Whoever was behind this wasn't going to win the fight that easy.

After a few moments, Silver got too excited. "I know what it says!"

"Good." She chuckled. "Can you tell me what it says then?" Scarlet squinted, hoping to get a better view of the writing.

"Oh, right ha ha." He brushed some of the dirt off the wall, trying to make it clearer, though that was never going to happen. "It says 'The clock is ticking, your parents are waiting, but don't worry I'll be the one laughing as everything continues fading'." He paused for a moment before continuing. "But then it's signed, by someone of the name Ash. Do you know anyone by that name?"

"No, but whoever it is definitely took my parents," Scarlet said.

Out of nowhere, the cave started to crumble. Every piece of dirt crumbled as the ground shook. Losing their balance, the two of them screamed, unsure what to do next. Footsteps came closer, louder. There was no way anyone could be in this cave with them. But it seemed Scarlet was wrong. They weren't alone anymore. Through the earthquake in the cave, she pulled her best friend, begging for him to run as they did their best to make it out of there alive.

But it was too late.

Someone, something, strong pulled them both back with so much force that they were swept up off their feet, their screams slowly fading away from above as they were dragged further into the Carnivorous Cave.