Viola made her way down the tunnel, her left hand clasped with Eks’s right. Overhead, the red luminescent fungus began to thin as the girls continued to press forward. Their steps were relaxed, the two of them traveling at a casual rate.
“I think we have a problem,” the bunny girl vocalized as she came to a stop. Her girlfriend stopped beside her. “How are we supposed to continue now?” Viola hunched over, releasing Eks’s hand in dismay. Before them, the tunnel vanished into inky darkness. “I forgot how dark these tunnels were.”
“It’s not a real problem, is it?” the red-eyed cat girl commented playfully, her white tail swishing.
“I have no idea what you are hinting at here.”
“Think for a moment. We don’t have those lanterns anymore, but what do you have?”
“What do I have?” Viola brought her right hand to her chin in thought, her white bunny ears twitching. “What do I have?”
“Any idea?”
“I-I’m still thinking.” She looked into the darkness than back at Eks. “I got nothing. Unless…”
“You figured it out?”
Viola brought her hands to her bunny ears. “I have cute bunny ears. Does that count for something?”
Eks sweatdropped, replying, “As cute as they are, that isn’t what I meant.”
“In that case, I got nothing. What’s the big plan?”
The blue-haired cat girl rolled her eyes in exasperation before tapping the Dragon Stone Earring her girlfriend was wearing in her left ear. “Get it now?”
“Oh right! Those give me fire magic, so I can pretty much be the lantern,” Viola responded with a nervous laugh. “It isn’t like I forgot I had fire magic or something.”
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“You totally forgot, didn’t you?”
“Okay, I forgot, but I remember now.” Viola took a step back and raised her right hand in front of her. The orange-haired bunny girl extended her pointer finger as if she was pointing at something overhead. With a thought, she ignited a ball of flame at the tip of her finger. The light wasn’t that bright, but it did work as an alternative torch.
“Good job,” Eks complemented before getting a mischievous grin. The cat girl bounded in front of the bunny girl, pivoting around and extending her right hand towards the black abyss before them. “Now to restart our journey into the darkness,” she said melodramatically.
Viola giggled at her girlfriend’s antics, but soon found said girlfriend crowding against her left side. “W-What do you think you’re doing?!” A blush spread across the bunny girl’s cheeks.
“Don’t mind me, Vi. Just huddling up to my torch.” The cat girl pressed closer to the blushing bunny girl. “You’re cute when you’re flustered.”
With that, the light went out. “Y-You made me lose my concentration. Kya!”
“What’s this thing? There seems to be two of them.”
“Cut that out! That’s my chest!” Viola yelped, the darkness hiding her ridiculous blush. Sure, she was wearing her armor, but she could still feel the touches. A moment later, she had summoned another ball of flame, her face still quite red.
“S-Sorry,” Eks said awkwardly, a sheepish smile on her face.
“I-It’s fine. It was dark after all. Let’s move on.”
Eks nodded in agreement, and the two set off. For a time, they walked in silence, the both of them stealing occasional glances at one another.
“Uh… Eks… Do you want to hold hands?” Viola finally asked, a slight blush on her cheeks. In response, the grinning cat girl grabbed her left hand. Somehow, the bunny girl could feel her partner’s warmth through their armor. “This feels right. Wonder when we’ll find the others though. I hope they didn’t get eaten by a mimic or something. Wait! Is that light up ahead?!”
In the distance, a faint light could be seen. As the two girls approached it, it became more distinct, displaying two figures within it, a male human and a female elf. They had found the rest of the group. They had found Elron and Elise.