With pocketed hands, Lyric cast an absent stare onward.

"Something about all this still doesn't feel totally real."

Kyoya hung his head in their stride. It wasn't a claim he could deny; after all, he was the one being dragged along in all of this—but the end result was his partner not being in good spirits. Similarly to his bouts of amnesia, he couldn't understand why the girl was able to sway him the way she did.

"With how you're shouldering all this, I would've thrown in the towel ages ago. Just lemme' know if I can give you a hand with anything, 'kay?"

She shied away from speaking for a moment. Soon, her words found her again.

"C'mon, Blue... You don't have to go to the lengths."

"Like hell, I don't. What help would I be as a partner if I just let these things get to you?"

The Seraph relented a sigh, continuing.

"I don't really know what it is. It's almost freaky, how easy you'll tag in on something totally unknown—"

"I'm just saying that you shouldn't pay it so much mind; leaving you to handle everything would leave a bad taste in my mouth..." He blanked for a moment. "...Plus, this whole thing's shaping up to be a pretty big deal. I'd hate to miss out on the fun."

"Well, now that I've up and heard it, I guess it can't be helped." Following that, a brief bout of silence quickly met its end. She lit up at the sight of something ahead of them. "Right there! Dip left onto that little path between the trees!"

A dull retort quickly worked its way out of him.

"There's a lot more than one of those."

Her eyes rolled hard enough to give him whiplash. A sassy turn in front of them had her standing before the presumed trail.

"I was gonna say to use your head, but now I'm convinced it's hollow in there. Come on, we're nearly through."

By now, he'd determined that his breath was best spent elsewhere. Kyoya followed without further word.

Claustrophobia ensued, right in line with the pathway beginning to close in on them. At the very least, being only a few feet behind Lyric kept him from getting too absorbed in his own head. The trail kept constricting, growing narrower with every passing stride and forcing the ambient light to dim even further.

Every so often, Lyric reached out and pushed low-lying branches to get through. Some of which were whipped back toward him once she'd passed. While the majority of them missed, he couldn't help but wonder if a couple were aimed between his eyes.

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The thought had kept him so occupied that he didn't even notice Lyric had stopped. He unceremoniously bumped into her back after stepping once too many.

"My bad—"

"Don't move."

Her eyes were miles wide. An intense glare was stationed forward—toward something he couldn't see.

Instantly, Kyoya's body locked in place.

A fierce tension had overthrown the grove's tranquility. It left them both in an awful state of anticipation. Lyric swiftly fell to a crouch, reaching a hand forward, straight out into the middle of the path.

She slowly, carefully maneuvered in a pattern that suggested some form of obstacle. Her precision lasted until her arm nicked something. "Ow!"

Lyric yelped and reeled back; a fine cut was drawn upon the pad of her right index finger.

Confusion was replaced by adrenaline, and that by paralyzing fear. The girl pricking herself revealed plenty.

Just as she'd come into contact with whatever had cut her, sounds reminiscent of a thread being strummed rang out into the forest.

Kyoya stared ahead at thousands of hair-thin cords, meticulously strung about the pathway. Each one dimly glistened in what little light pierced the canopy, with the one Lyric touched now laced with a fine, red coating.

"Razor wires...?"

Still clutching her finger, Lyric nodded in reply.

"No kidding... As far as I know, I was the only one who used this shortcut, but why would somebody..."

As the Seraph's voice sauntered off, so too did the grove's ambient chorus.

Predatory silence lingered as if a putrid after-taste—a telltale indicator of an encroaching threat.

Neither of them dared to so much as twitch. Movement meant either touching the wires or alerting whatever stalked them beyond the trail's edge.

A darting blur to his left challenged their decision. It ultimately forced his hand; he wouldn't be a sitting duck for any longer.

The Miscreant inched down to his partner's crouch, leaning low to her ear.

"I'm gonna give you a count."

"Listening."

"On three, we leg it."

"Loud n' clear."

Silence remained for an eternity, enduring until Kyoya shouted the command.

"THREE!"

Kyoya pulled Lyric to his side and heaved a fireball dead ahead. It seared away the wires that occupied any of the space they'd need to run straight forward. She spared no time in seeing his intention, breaking away and taking to the front. Her glaive made short work of whatever else threatened their advancement.

Frantic glances to his sides revealed their stalker to be moving; it matched them in stride even through completely wooded terrain. It was clear enough now that they weren't up against animals that happened upon them after they'd found the tripwires.

"Somebody knew about this trail?" Kyoya mused, still in a dead sprint. "Maybe it's not the most hidden, but why a deathtrap!?" Should another soul have stumbled upon this trail before the pair, Kyoya stood certain that these woods would have ended up witness to a grizzly tale.

In hindsight, he grimaced at the idea; it was still on the table.