If You Feel Better

Chapter 38

Everything looked the same as everything else. Beige spikes stood tall from the floor and hung low from the ceiling, and smaller ones filled every space in between. The walls of sandstone thinned and widened intermittently, veins of white and pink minerals tapered throughout. The slow dripping of water could be heard, echoing in every corner, but was nowhere to be seen.

Nothing in this cave stood out as dangerous to Bakura. It was quiet, not an animal or insect to be found. But it seemed this cavern went on forever, and he didn't want to leave the princess by herself for much longer. He wasn't afraid of something bad happening to her. He didn't trust her. He considered leaving the rest of the cave unexplored and turning back when he finally came upon the back wall of the cavern naturally. There had been no jackals or snakes or any other creatures that they would have to worry about. It was completely safe as far as he was concerned.

He turned and headed back, navigating the pitch blackness with expert level precision. It was no different than to being in one of his lairs. Even though the outside was blanketed in a dark shield of dust, it still brought in enough light to make the way to the entrance distinct. The storm blew just as strong as when it started, giving no indication that it was letting up any time soon.

Laying against her rock by the entryway was Aya. She had not moved like she promised. She gave no response to his reappearance. She was too busy tossing rocks at a particularly thick stalactite above them. She had gathered a small pile of rocks, clustered close to her side, blindly picking one and tossing it along the same path as the one before.

Bakura plopped down next to her, putting himself between her and the opening where the storm raged on. "What're you doing?" he asked, watching one of her stones miss the stalactite completely.

Without moving her eyes from her target, Aya responded "I'm playing a game." She threw another one, hitting the spike at the base where it connected to the ceiling. The rock bounced off, ricocheting hard left.

"What game?"

"I have to hit the stalactite at the base where it's the widest. Then, if I hit that, I move down lower where it gets a little thinner and hit that. And then I move down lower where it's thinner and hit that. And then I keep hitting it lower and lower each time. And it gets thinner and thinner as it goes down so it gets harder and harder to hit. But if I miss one, I have to start over. If I hit one all the way down at the tip, I win." She threw another rock, barely avoiding missing by an inch. The rock rebounded away just like all the others. "Did you find anything in the cave?"

Bakura rested his arm against his bent knee and watched her throw one stone after the other. "Not much," he answered. "There's a pool of water deep in there. So perhaps that'll be useful if we need to be here for an extended period of time, but there weren't any animals or anything we need to worry about."

Aya nodded, tossing another rock and hitting the next spot on the stalactite dead on.

Bakura watched the stone soar away, crossing his arms in boredom. "How's your leg?"

Aya tore her gaze away from the spike to her hurt leg, turning it side to side, and flinching when it twisted a certain way. "It still hurts, but you're probably right. It's probably just bruised or sprained. I just need to rest it." She threw another stone, hitting the spike much closer to the tip.

Bakura watched her hurl another one, finally missing the stalactite and having to start over. "Having fun?" he asked stoically.

She shrugged, taking a break and shaking out her throwing arm. "Is there anything else to do?"

Bakura shrugged in response, scooting just a little bit closer and watching her throw another stone. It bounced haphazardly away, the clatter as it hit the floor reverberating against the walls. He rolled his eyes and audibly sighed. "Give me a stone," he ordered, holding out his hand for one.