The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#17 Dark Light

[Sophia]

I groan quietly as I regain consciousness. I can feel my eyes opening, blinking. But all I see is darkness. My head began to roll around as the pain began to return. I could feel my whole body now, but for some reason my arms were tucked in tightly. I tried to move them, but they felt stuck. Like something was wrapped around me. Around my whole chest.
I was tied up.
I tried not to panic, struggling only makes it worse. As I force my eyes to refocus, I begin to remember. I'm surrounded by darkness, sitting up against a rough wall. I squirmed around in my restraints, trying to find a way to loosen them. I'm still down here in the caves, and I couldn't see anything, not even the floor I was sitting on.
Wait.
Crap, I need to get back to Apollo. It's gonna get dark soon! He's gonna flip if I don't get home soon. We haven't seen each other all day. I hope he's not looking for me...

"I think it's awake" said a quiet voice. I stop moving and look around. I couldn't turn my head as easily because of the pain, and I forced my eyes to try and pick up where the voice came from. But it wasn't working.
"Yeah, it's awake."

Who is that?

I hear someone walking towards me and my heart begins to race. I'm frozen.
"Hey, eyes up here." the voice said. I look up and spot two bright orange eyes, staring down at me. They almost seemed to be... glowing dimly through the darkness. I begin to tense up and shrunk against the wall.
"W-who are you?" I spoke quietly.
"It can speak?" asked a similar voice. But this time it came from a different direction. I turned to my right and saw another pair of the same eyes, glowing a faint cyan hue. They're the only two colors my eyes can pick up, and I couldn't help but stare back.
I finally realized I was dealing with two people.

Oh no, are they twins? You gotta be kidding me,I don't have time for this. I need to get out of here. How did these guys even find me? Why are they down here, and how did they even- No, forget it. I have to get away from them somehow.

"So, since you can talk," the bright orange eyes said as he moved closer to my face. "Then you can answer our question."
No way dude, I'm not telling you anything. If you think I'm gonna say anything, then you...
He suddenly held something up to my face. It glowed a dim blue hue and my eyes became transfixed on it. Looking at the shape more closely, it looked like a flower. It was hard to tell at first, because it looked like it had been trampled on.
"Did you do this?" the orange eyes asked in a deep tone. I was hit with confusion and I wasn't sure what to say. My mouth was agape, but no sound came out of it.
"He asked you a question." said the other voice. I almost couldn't tell who was speaking because their voices were so similar. I couldn't see their faces or their mouths. Just their bright eyes glaring at me.
"I didn't do anything." I replied quickly.
"You're lying." the voices said together.
"I'm not lying!" I retorted.
"What do you think I did?"
"Do you know what this is?" the voice asked as he held the flower closer to my eyes.
"It's a... glowing flower?"
"What kind of flower?" he asked me.
"I don't know!"
The orange eyes turned to the cyan eyes. They looked at each other for a minute before turning back to me.

"They're called Moon Flowers. Every single garden of them is dead." the first voice said.
"Are you sure you haven't seen them before?" the other voice added. I shook my head, but I wasn't sure if they could see it.
"I've never seen them before. Ever! That one looks really pretty though. I'm sorry, I don't know anything, I swear! I didn't mean to intrude. I'm sorry you lost your gardens." I quickly responded. I wasn't sure if that was the right thing to say, but I couldn't think of anything better. The eyes looked at each other for another moment. I wasn't sure if they were trying to communicate to themselves silently, but I couldn't help but notice something odd about the shape of their eyes. Normally, I avoid all eye contact at all costs, but their eyes were the only things I could see clearly in the darkness and I couldn't pry my gaze away from them. But I couldn't help noticing that something about their eyes was... really odd.
"How can you prove that it wasn't you who did it?"
"How can we believe you?"
I thought for a moment. But I couldn't think of anything else to say that could convince them to let me go. Especially if it risked exposing myself in any way. I couldn't let them know who I really was. I didn't know them, there was no way I could trust them. I didn't know what they would do to me. But I had to say something to them.
"Well, did you see whatever was destroying your gardens?" I asked nervously.
"...We're... not sure." they said.
"Then how do you know if it was me?"
They went silent and looked at each other again.
"You might be true..." the second voice said.
"But we need more proof than that." said the first voice. I thought to myself again, but there was nothing I could show to prove I wasn't the culprit. I didn't think I could say or show them anything without exposing myself.
"I... I don't have proof..." I started.
"Then answer me this." the orange eyes said as he knelt down near me, "Who are you and where did you come from?"
I tensed up again. My mouth became drawn shut and I refused to utter a sound. I couldn't tell them. I couldn't reveal anything to them. But they still expected an answer, and I tried to think quickly of something they could easily listen to.
"I don't know, I just - I...uh." I stuttered. "Look, I... I'm sorry about what happened, but it wasn't me, I swear. I just... I found that giant hole up at the surface and I got curious is all. So I... I came down here just to explore, I didn't know what was down here. I didn't even know this place existed. I'm not lying, I swear. I... I didn't know anything about this place."
I saw both the eyes widen, as if they were surprised and they glanced back and forth from me to themselves.
"You came from the surface?" they asked me.
"Yeah, I just found that tunnel that lead here. I was just looking around, I didn't touch anything I swear." I stammered.
I heard them shuffle back and I stared at them in confusion as they stared at each other for another long while in a strange communicative silence.
"You must be speaking the truth." they finally said.