The Butterfly Girl: A Star is Born

#127 The New Star

"Slow down a bit, it's a little unsteady down here." the Twins called out to Teri and Apollo as they glided down towards their position. The lack of light making their journey a little more difficult to navigate, having to rely on the Twins since their senses were better equipped for the surrounding darkness. Teri and Ava slowed their descent before they crash landed below and folded their wings in, standing beside the Twins as they looked out upon the largest tunnel they had ever come across.. It wasn't much different from any other tunnel besides its size. There was no alternate path, and nothing else seemed to be hiding within it. They all hoped so, at least.
The Twins nervously shuffled on, Apollo carefully closing his wings upon his back and Teri wrapping the water around her shoulders like a cloak. Apollo and Teri walked steadily behind the Twins, having them guide their way through and helping them avoid any small obstacle that might make them trip up or injure themselves further. All of them were concerned about if they could handle whatever it was they were about to face when it came along. But they all hoped Sophia would be at the end, still alive and well. Or for the most part, just alive.
It was a very long, awkward and silent walk. They didn't come across anything that obstructed their path, but they remained alert for anything that was waiting for them. Besides everyone's shuffling footsteps, Apollo's constant grunting and disguised pain was all anyone could hear and Teri couldn't help but be worried about him. They all agreed to go on and Teri never doubted Apollo's strength, but she didn't want to face losing something else that was important to her.
"Apollo... are you really okay?" Teri asked quietly. Her tiny voice echoed on, carrying it into the unseen distance. Apollo didn't look at her, but nodded.
"Yeah, it's okay. I'm fine."
Apollo's arms limped and swayed at his side, the occasional bumping into hos sides sent little jolts of pain run up to his shoulders. But it was less painful to carry on with that than to try to actually move them. Some places in different parts of his arms were numb, but he could hardly attempt to bend his fingers. Even though Teri couldn't really see them very well, he wondered if they might be critically damaged.
"You think maybe if I try putting some water over your arms, it might help soothe them a bit?" Teri offered.
"Yeah... maybe. You can try."
The water cloak around Teri's shoulders was gently pulled away as she wrapped it slowly around Apollo's singed arms. Apollo winced a bit and bit his tongue as the cold water burned his arms a little more. But that feeling was slowly replaced by the cold and he began to feel some sense of relief.
"Does that feel okay?" Teri asked.
"Yeah... actually it does. Thanks."
Teri wasn't sure if it would help heal him, but she hoped it was enough to numb the pain. At least for a little while. She pulled the water away after she had it completely soaked for a few minutes, still wandering around blind as no sign of danger revealed itself.
"Did that help at all? Can you move your arms a little bit?" Teri asked.
Apollo tried to curl his fingers and flex his arm. The tip of his fingers gently poking her palm sent little sparks of pain, but he wasn't able to move it freely as usual. Although, Teri did help relieve most of that pain.
"It still kinda hurts, but I think it's okay. Thanks for trying."
"I wasn't sure if it would help much. I can take a look at it once we get back. Maybe it's not  so bad and it'll heal pretty quickly."
"Yeah, I hope so."
"I just... I just want to be sure everyone's really okay. We've had to deal with a lot and I'm just worried that one day something really bad might happen to one of us. I... I really don't want to lose anything else important."
Apollo tried to look over to where he thought Teri was. The Twins glanced back at her for a moment.
"Hey, it's normal to be worried, you don't have to apologize about that. I think we're all scared to lose something. I'm scared to find out if Sophie's actually..." Apollo trailed off, taking a deep breath and sighing loudly.
"I know we get hurt a lot, and I bet we're gonna get hurt even more in the future. But as long as someone's looking out for us, or we all look out for each other then we'll be okay. We're not going anywhere."
"Yeah... even if something does happen to one of us, or even all of us, that won't stop us from trying to do the right thing." the Twins added. They couldn't see Teri's hopeful smirk.
"Yeah... you're right. If you say you can go on, then I won't stop you."