I'm gonna be honest.
I actually thought L had gotten hitten in the head with one of those wall pieces and was going crazy now.
Cause let's be real, there couldn't be anything behind me but the cave wall right?
Yeah.
Wrong.
I spun around and was face to face with a huge, gaping hole in the wall, shaped exactly like an arched doorway.

"I think you opened it," he said, sticking his head through it.
"Me? How the heck could I have made.....that?"
"When you tried to save me. I think it has something to do with how you glowed blue..."
"The blue light did touch the walls."
"Yeah," he brought his head back and looked at me, "it definitely has something to do with your...glowing."
I nodded, joining him by the doorway. It was pitch black inside.
"Should we...go in?" I stuck my head in further, listening to how my voice echoed off the walls.
"We don't have anywhere else to go," L stepped in front of me and held out his hand. 

I let my hand slowly fall into his this time.
Was there heisitation?
Yes.
My brain was screaming at me, telling me that this wasn't a good idea.
But this time, my heart overpowered it.
As L's hand closed around mine, I felt safe.
Like nothing could touch me because he was there.

"If we get killed, it's all your fault," I said as he pulled me through the doorway and into the dark.
"Don't worry," his voice answered from right beside my ear, making shivers run up and down my spine. I nodded but I doubt he could see it. Honestly, you couldn't even see 2 inches a head of you.
We could be 2 steps away from a bottomless pit and not even know it.

"L, wait," I squeezed his hand, making him stop. I could tell he was giving me a funny look in the dark but I ignored it. I lifted my free hand, making a little ball of fire appear on my palm then gently throwing it into the air. It floated beside our heads, casting an eerie shadow across the walls of the underground cave.
Ahead of us was a winding staircase that led further down into the cave.

"Uhhhhhhh," I looked at the staircase then back at L, "do we have to?"
"Well we kinda don't have another choice," he walked us over to the staircase, "The doorway disappeared."
"WHAT?" my voice bounced off the walls. I spun around, expecting the see the big, gaping hole in the wall but nothing was there.

Ok.
Slightly panicing.

"So....we have to go down the spiraling staircase of death?" I whimpered, tightening my grip on his hand.
"It's ok. I got you."

I let my fireball float a head of us as we slowly climbed down the stairs.
Honestly, the spiraling almost made me kinda nauseous.
It kept going on and on and on and on.

"I'm about to just fly down the rest of this thing," I sighed, leaning my back against the wall. "My legs are pretty much dead."
L knelt down in front of me, letting his half exposed back face me.
"What're you doing?"
"Get on."
I would've backed up even more but my entire back was already on the wall.
"What? You can't carry me."
"Why not?"
"Cause.....I'm too heavy," I started walking down the stairs again, leaving a good 4 or 5 step gap between us. "Plus it's kinda dangerous. You could get hurt."
I could hear L coming down the stairs.
I wanted to keep walking, but my feet wouldn't move.
"One," he appeared next to me, turning me around to face him, "you're not heavy at all. And two, I'll be fine." He knelt down again, looking over his shoulder this time. "Now get on."
I leaned forward, slowly wrapping my arms around his neck. He brought his arms back and lifted my legs up so that they hooked onto his sides.
"Told you I'm fine," he started walking down the stairs again. I clung onto his back tightly, breathing in his scent.

Cause when this whole game is over, when everything is said and done, we'd still be on opposite sides of the world.
It didn't matter how close we got now.
None of it's real.

"What's wrong?" L asked, turning his head slightly.
"What?" I broke out of my daze, "Why? Do you think something's wrong?"
"You're strangely quiet for someone who doesn't shut up."
"Jerk."
"Well it's true."
"You can put me down now."
"Ok, sorry," he chuckled, sending vibrations through his body, "You're just kinda fun to troll."
"Woooooow."
"No but really. What's up?"

I opened my mouth to tell him but the words wouldn't come out.
It's not that I couldn't tell him...it's more like I didn't know how to phrase it.

"Are you thinking too much again?" L kinda answered his own question. I didn't even have to say anything so I just nodded.
"Honestly, whatever happens in this game happens. It may be virtual reality but everything else is real. The feelings, the actions, the emotions. All of it."
"I know....but-"
"But what?"
"Once this game is done, none of its gonna matter. We're on opposite sides of the world and on top of that, you're a celebrity back in Korea. And I'm just...."
"You're ___________________ and I'm Myungsoo. We're still the same people outside of the game. Nothing's going to change."
I turned my head and looked at him right as he turned to look at me.
Our eyes met and the shivers returned.
"I hope you're right," I looked away, lowered my head so that it was resting on his shoulder and closed my eyes.

I'm pretty sure I fell asleep cause the next time I opened them, I was leaning against L's chest.
He was asleep with one arm draped across my waist.
We were both laying on the ground with our legs entangled with each other's.
I slowly picked myself off of him and stood up, looking around at where we were.
It basically looked like the bottom of the hole we fell into before except this time, there was no sun.
The only thing that was lighting the place up was my floating fire ball and even that was barely lighting up a corner.

I lifted both of my hands up this time with my palms facing up.
More fire balls materialized and floated off into the air, lighting up the entire cave.
"That actually looks pretty cool," L said from behind me, making me jump a little. He stood up and joined me at the center of the cave, looking up at all my little fire balls. "So I guess you are useful after all."

I wasn't even gonna say anything back.
At this point, I'm pretty sure he knows what I'm gonna say anyways.

"What now?" I looked around, half expecting to see another sketch looking door way appear on the wall.
"I actually have an idea," he gave me a look that made me wanna take a few steps away from him, "but I'm not sure if it's gonna work."
"What....is it?"

I probably shouldn't have asked.
Why the heck did I even think about asking?
L just looked at me and I knew right away what he was thinking.

Author's Note

title quote: "in between the flowing white clouds"~In the Summer