too good of a timing

Under Foreign Skies : Part 1

"I was wondering when you would show up."

He attempted to keep the quake of uncertainty and indecision out of his hushed voice, even as he flinched and moved his hand to shield his eye from the miniature sun floating in front of him. Master of putting up a front as he was, he wouldn't let these circumstances get in the way of pathetically projecting a show of obviously faked strength. The light buzzed back, amused.

*Oh? You were waiting for me? You aren't looking so great. An 'I told you so' just might be in order.*

"Yeah, whatever, man."

*You are lucky to be alive, you know. If you hadn't been such a-*

Subaru, incensed, decided to ignore the incredibly subtle, and equally surprising, tone of concern- masked as it was by reproachful derision.

"Shut up. At this point, it's not like whatever sketchy shit you are trying to pull over on me can be much worse than the situation we put ourselves in. We have nothing to lose, so just get on with it already."

The slightest of pauses was followed by a sudden brightening of both the light and its voice as it responded.

*Great decision! Follow me, if you would.*

Subaru, careful to extract himself from Ram's hold without waking her, forced himself to his feet, relying more on the wall beside him than his own legs. After steadying himself, he leaned over, and tucked the closed cell phone into Ram's grasp before partitioning off half of the remaining lagmite chalk and piling it up next to her. He glanced up to see the light vibrating impatiently in place, and started walking towards it. In response, the clearly elated spirit zipped forward, seemingly forgetting just how slow Subaru was going to have to go. He sighed, and began limping into the dark after the light, scrawling poorly formed, half-hearted marks along the wall as he did so.

'Here's hoping this doesn't get me killed.'

He glanced back at Ram, who had subconsciously curled in on herself, holding a phantom arm and clutching the phone to her chest.

'She needs the rest- I will check what the spirit has to show me, and get her if it's worth it. No need to give her false hope. Damn it, I can't believe I idolized her so much. Thinking back on her sleeping face, she's just a 17-year-old girl afraid to lose her sister. Why did I think I could dump all the responsibility on her?!'

Subaru was confused. He had been following the spirit for some time, but they had only been retracing their tracks back towards where they had initially fallen into the mines. He reluctantly drew yet another sloppy arrow under the one already there to hopefully avoid getting confused. On the upshot, the Spirit's light was bright enough to navigate by on its own. He had only tripped a few times on unseen rocks and roots, and that was mostly due to the missing eye and his newly lost depth perception.

"Are you sure this is the right way? Ram and I already explored this path yesterday."

The Spirit halted suddenly, gently floating in the middle of the tunnel. Subaru stared at him.

'What? Did he get lost? Can spirits even get lost?'

*It's here.*

Somehow, without really moving, the Spirit gave the impression of gesturing towards one of the walls. Subaru turned his head and looked closely at where it was indicating, but saw nothing besides dirt.

"What do you mean 'here'? It's just a dirt wall," said Subaru, confused.

*It's right here, even though it seems changed it a little,* the Spirit buzzed as it lost some of its luster and slowly approached the surface it indicated.