We didn’t say anything about it when Jye noticed us, and we broke apart, with cheeks perhaps a little more red, but that was just the blood flow regulating to my body, obviously. The rest of the time was uneventful as my mana came back up enough to start using [Healing Hand] to boost the speed at which my health regenerated. Thankfully, Tam hadn’t been paying attention, too distracted by cataloguing everything she’d looted from Anna’s body. I didn’t want to have to suffer whatever she’d make of what happened.

I wasn’t even sure what I made of it all. So I definitely didn’t need the cutthroat’s commentary and opinion on my previous conversation with Axel and his confession and that apparently he’d liked me when I’d liked him, but he’d never stopped. Which was insane. How had I never noticed? It was a little tragic. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure how I felt.

He liked me, I guess?

And I… Well, I don’t think I could imagine a life without Axel. He’d always been there, somewhere. Without him, I don’t think I’d have much left. So, yes, I’d been ready to die in his place only hours ago, but it was a different emotion that inspired the action compared to the crush I’d had on him when I was just a kid. Compared to what he felt towards me.

I just wanted him to be safe. And reflecting on his expression as he’d cried over my nearly dead self, maybe even deeper than that, I think I never wanted him to look like that again. I wanted to take away that sadness that came over him, even if I was the one who caused it.

Was that how Axel felt about me?

Having someone admit their love for me was not something I’d ever expected. Hell, it wasn’t even on my bucket list. The very concept of it was like one of the stupid icebreakers they get you to do when you’re starting a job somewhere and they asked you what you’d do if you won a million dollars. It was a hypothetical “Ah, wouldn’t that be nice?” kind of thing that I only ever thought about when I couldn’t sleep and the clock was drawing nearer and nearer to my morning alarm.

I’d never really thought about the kind of future I genuinely wanted. So much of my life was that auto-pilot “do this and then this” that what I desired never really came into view, always existing either in my periphery or not even allocated any space in my mind. Last time I’d nearly died (again, such a fucking wild sentence to think), I’d realised I’d wanted to protect the people in my party. That it was something I sincerely felt was a purpose to my life. It’d given me motivation to continue existing.

My near-death experience hadn’t clarified anything this time. If anything, I’d come out of it more confused.

At the very least, I just knew that Axel had needed my support for that moment. And maybe I’d needed to be genuinely relied upon too. For that short time, we were able to take strength in each other. Whether or not I reciprocated his feelings, what had happened had been more like a pro quid pro thing than anything… more.

That wasn’t to say I doubted Axel’s words.

Axel definitely thought he was in love with me.

The weirdest thing was how, other than the words being spoken, nothing else had changed between us.

“I’m gonna pretend I didn’t see nothing,” Jye said, apparently to no one, as they helped me pack up the bedroll before we all set off to finally retrieve Wren.

About time. I was still a little worried about what might be lurking within the walls of this inner labyrinth, so I requested that we all retain the same no-shouting rule we’d instituted when Anna had been running around unchecked. Thus we’d all been walking without conversation, though “in silence” would’ve been a stretch.

At my insistence, Tam had deposited Anna’s corpse into her inventory, muttering under her breath the entire time very unsavoury things. We’d since begun the walk to the room Wren was locked in with Tam grumbling all the while.

“See what?” I responded to Jye.

The giant’s red brows furrowed in confusion. “How you and Axel were like all over–” Their eyes widened and then they grinned. They brought a finger to the side of their nose to tap it a few times. “Oh, I see what you’re doing. Got it. See what? Yeah, nothing.”

“Why would you pretend not to see Lee and Axel embracing?” Gigi asked from my left. Fuck, Gigi must’ve seen us too. Xe didn’t talk much unless addressed and I must’ve completely ignored xir presence. Thinking back on it, yeah, xe had been right next to Jye at the time.

Like an owl, Tam’s head swivelled almost 180 degrees to lock wide eyes on me.

“They were what now?”

“Hugging,” Axel supplied nonchalantly. I opened my mouth to defend us from whatever Tam’s mind was cooking up, but he continued, “The dude almost died. Can’t a man hug his friend without suffering accusations?” His blue eyes narrowed. “Or do you not want to break the cycle of toxic masculinity?”

Tam scoffed and turned away, clearly not keen to get baited into an argument. I had no doubt she’d had this particular conversation more than once in her life. Curious, I let my gaze slip from Tam’s back to Axel, who was walking on the other side of Jye. The blond had handled the situation pretty well, all things considered. Though I guess all that socialising he’d done had to have granted him some catalogue of skills to draw on when called upon.

I don’t know why he’d decided to keep the lid on our… conversation. He wasn’t exactly the private kind of person. Did he still not fully trust the others? With his words, he’d pretty much gaslit Jye, Gigi, and Tam into thinking the moment of comfort he’d sought, the emotions he’d confessed, had been nothing but his platonic concern for me. I struggled to read his expression.

He looked tired, the bags under his eyes more pronounced than ever. Had he… had he been watching over me the entire time I’d been out? Huh.

As if sensing my gaze, Axel’s eyes met mine. He waggled his eyebrows at me, grinning widely.

“Admit it, you’re impressed.”

I snorted. “You wish.”

“Yeah, nah. There’s only one thing I wish for and that isn’t it.”

“What is it then? Bottomless mimosas? A better anime adaptation of Beserk? A world where we actually got to watch The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself?” I asked, smiling. There were more things I could think of on Axel’s wishlist but figured I could probably drone on all day if I didn’t stop there. “What do you wish for?”

Instead of responding, he tilted his head, still maintaining eye contact with me.

Oh.

Maybe I’d been wrong. Maybe something had changed.

I really hadn’t expected Axel to be so… to put it plainly, down bad for me. Or be so unapologetically open about it.

Wait.

Wait, wait, wait.

No. I was right. Nothing had changed.

I just finally understood what his words and actions actually meant. From him having the Warheads on him to him carrying me away from the Minotaur, from him wanting to call me by my name to what he had implied he wished for right now. All along… all along, it’d been me, for me? This entire fucking time and I’d just been blind to it. How was that even possible?

He… he really did lo– care about me.

But why? I’d never done anything worthy of it.

Jye made a face, their gaze flicking back and forth between me and Axel. They said, “I’m getting the vibe that I’m cockblocking something here. I can swap places, if you want, guys.”

“No, no, no, that’s okay,” I began, not allowing Axel to get a reply in edgewise, my own words pelting out of my mouth like machine gunfire. “Besides, we’re nearly there, aren’t we, Tam?”

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Yep,” she said, popping the “P.” “Just around this turn and we’ll be at one of the walls.”

Even though I’d had time to reflect on the whole thing, it hadn’t really fully sunk in.

We turned down the last left corridor and found ourselves at a deadend.

“Kid, you in there still?” Tam asked, raising her voice.

Wren’s tone was panicked. “Tam! Is everyone okay? I got the notification that Lee was at critical health!”

The brunette cast a cursory glance over Gigi, Axel, and I, all sporting healing injuries and then said, “Yeah, everyone’s entirely spick and span.”

“We’re fine,” I said as reassurance.

“I didn’t even get a scratch on me!” Jye remarked.

“I’m so happy to hear your voices.”

Guilt roiled inside me, but I quickly repressed it. We couldn’t have done anything before. Swallowing back the emotion, I pushed positivity into my tone when I asked, “You ready for your taste of freedom?”

The young girl was silent for a moment. “I don’t know about that. When I got the notification that the challenge was finished and the Dungeon was available for clearing, the lights came on in here. It revealed a… kind of lock on the ground I didn’t see before. I think… I think this is the exit room.”

So, if we destroyed the wall, there was the risk of damaging the lock that cleared the Dungeon. Man, fuck whoever designed this. All the traps and puzzles were so stupid. And why had Wren been teleported into the final room? Pinching at the bridge of my nose, I said, “Can you describe what you’re looking at?”

“There’s a divot under an old carving. I think something is supposed to be put into it.”

She went on to explain that the carving looked like a woman sitting behind a contraption. When prompted to further describe the device, Wren was unable to name it. She was a ten-year-old after all. She tried to give us the general shape, but it was like playing blind charades.

A woman behind a contraption. Connected to the labyrinth. The final room after the Minotaur was defeated. While I was thinking, Jye, Axel, Gigi, and Tam were offering suggestions of what the device could be. They went through dozens of things, from a log splitter to an old camera. None of them really made sense. Half of what Gigi said was censored.

Contraption. Minotaur. Labyrinth.

Of course!

“Wren. Have you seen Sleeping Beauty?”

“Yeah, I love Disney movies.”

“The contraption. Does it look like the thing the princess pricks her finger on?”

“Kind of… It looks different, but if I squint, all the right shapes are there.”

The others looked to me.

“It’s a spindle. The carving is a woman spinning thread.”

Gigi frowned. “How does this help us?”

Sighing, I said, “I don’t know.”

“Nice work,” Axel added, sarcastically. For someone who said they loved me, he was awfully fucking mean to me sometimes.

“You thinking Ariadne’s string?”

I nodded at Jye, surprised they knew the name.

“Don’t look so shocked, man. Mythology’s cool. And with the whole Minotaur thing, it makes sense.”

“String, you say.”

Tam’d been quiet the entire time, so this comment was unusual from her. Perhaps feeling the weight of the party’s gaze, she said, “Don’t kill a cat for being curious.”

“They literally made a saying about that,” Axel replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

I added, “You’re never curious about anything except when it involves mocking us.”

“Hey now, sunshine, that ain’t true. I’m plenty curious, I just don’t speak is all.”

Even with the four of us staring her down, Tam didn’t seem like she’d break.

“What’s curious about it?” Wren asked, her voice muffled by the wall between us.

Tam’s shoulders slumped, and she let out a defeated sigh.

With an annoyed expression, she lifted a hand and plucked an item from thin air. She’d retrieved something from her inventory. It hovered above her palm for a moment before it settled onto her skin. The item was barely larger than a fist.

“Anna had this on her. Didn’t think it would help. Still don’t think that.”

In Tam’s hand, she held a skein of golden thread. No, rather it wasn’t golden but gold thread. The sheen of it was unmistakably metallic and it sat heavy in her hand. The party stared in silence for a moment. Jye whistled. I recognised the glint. It was the loot that dropped when the Minotaur had been slain.

“You were gonna share this with us when?” I asked.

“Never, if I had my way, babes.”

Rolling my eyes, I held out my hand. “Give it here.”

“Don’t wanna.”

Stepping in quicker than sight, Axel closed the distance and snatched it from her before depositing it into my hold. All things said and done, Tam probably could’ve put up more of a fight. She’d let Axel take it. Her concern for Wren was obviously winning out, but not enough to stop whatever farcical show she was putting on.

“You’re welcome,” Axel said, his pinky lightly brushing against my hand as he released the thread, his skin warm. I glanced up and I realised I couldn’t tell if the touch had been intentional or not. There was a very cocky expression on his face, in the bend of his brow. For once I found myself not hating it. In fact, as I tried to focus on the matter at hand, I recognised instead that it had just been comforting.

No time to unpack that.

I examined the skein, bringing it closer to my face, taking in the unusual material. It was cool to the touch and heavier than it looked, surprisingly hefty for such a relatively small item. As a hobby, my mother bought second hand jewellery and then sold them again. She’d needed a model for the marketing photos and so I’d handled my fair share of gold and silver. Testing the pliability of the skein, I came to the realisation that the thread was likely entirely gold. Not like it’d be valuable anymore when we got back to the real world.

“I never got into mythology. Too much incest for my taste,” Tam said. “What’s the thread got to do with anything?”

“The hero, Theseus, uses it to trace his steps back to the start of the labyrinth,” Jye answered. “Though he does dump Ariadne later on an island. Dick move, really.”

“Thissy-who?”

Gigi’s brows were furrowed. “I thought these names would be moderated.”

“Shut your mouth, you alien,” Tam hissed.

Annoyed, I growled, “What are you two talking about?”

“[REDACTED],” Gigi said, then frowned. “I see. It is censored when I speak about them.”

Jye’s brow furrowed but they didn’t say anything, probably stifling their reaction to the glitched noise.

“That’s right, and keep it that way. Mumma says we can’t tell them anyway.”

I sighed, accepting that I should’ve known this conversation wouldn’t go anywhere.

“This ball of yarn isn’t gonna be a lick of help, besides. Obviously we’re supposed to use it inside the end room.”

“It could be magic!” Wren’s excited voice said from the other side of the wall.

There were weirder things that had happened. The kid could be right. Maybe the golden thread did hold some sort of magical power. But what could it possibly do to get us to the final room? And how did I make it do something?

Looking back down at the skein, experimentally, I said, “Activate.”

Nothing happened.

Axel smirked, and I wanted to smack him.

“If you’re so smart, you try getting it to do something!” I shouted, embarrassment heating the tips of my ears.

Frustrated, I lobbed the skein at him. He ducked under it, the skein unravelling as it sailed through the air. It plunked to the ground, continuing to roll towards the deadend wall.

“You were meant to catch that,” I said, trying to repress the irritation.

“And you were meant to reject me. The future is full of surprises, isn’t it?”

I blinked, my anger deflated by his unprovoked admission. Axel had thought that… I’d just shut him down? That I’d reject him?

“Why would you–”

“Not to interrupt your little loving tiff,” Tam began and I opened my mouth to disagree and realised I couldn’t find the words to defend myself since technically she was right. She continued, “but…” She gestured forward to where the skein had stopped rolling.

The four of us who’d not been paying attention boggled.

A trail of thread had released, leaving a line of gold string along the ground to the deadend wall… and partially through it. The skein was rolled halfway into the stone wall. Without questioning it, I stepped forward and kicked the item further. It disappeared completely, leaving only the single thread behind.

On the other side of the wall, Wren let out a little yelp of surprise.

“How did you…?” she began and then didn’t say anything else. We watched the thread on the floor shift a little bit as Wren apparently picked the skein up.

“Should I put it in the divot?” she asked.

I glanced at the party and silently got their agreement.

“Do it, Wren.”

Taking a deep breath, our eyes glued to the thread, we watched as it minutely shook with Wren’s hidden movements.

“I’m placing it.”

The thread stilled.