Chapter 16: Darkest Before Dawn

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"Are you sure about this?" Zezy asked as they walked through the silent halls.

"I'm sure of nothing," Xelqua responded.

Sitruat snorted at that as Xelqua dragged him through the dark hallway.

"It's..." Sitruat began, his fingers intertwined with Xelqua's, "It's familiar," Zera said, his voice uneven and chipped.

Xelqua squeezed Sitruat's hand and tugged on it gently as they walked, trying to calm Sitruat's nerves. "We have been living here for more than a few years now, so of course it would be familiar," Xelqua explained dully, looking over at Sitruat.

"It's still weird," Sitruat sighed as he stared into Xelqua's wildfire eyes.

Xelqua gave Sitruat a lopsided smile, "You don't have to be here, you know. It's not to late to go back home," he said, trying to carefully give Sitruat an out.

Sitruat frowned and shook his head. "No, I'm staying right here beside you," Zezy said, giving Xelqua a small smile that made his stomach turn into fluttering moths.

Xelqua almost melted into him then and there, with that ungodly most wonderful smile turned on him.

Feeling the warmth that was creeping into his cheeks, Xelqua gave Sitruat his own unholy abomination of a smile.

A shiver ran down Sitruat spine when he saw the way Xelqua was smiling at him. And Sitruat couldn't help but feel his own remorse and sorrow creep into his own eyes as he saw Xelqua's warm and loving smile.

Pain flashed in Sitruat's eyes, but The Strawberry Blonde couldn't see it. Sitruat closed his eyes tight, and took a deep breath as he tried not to cry.

His Strawberry Blonde still needed him to be strong, especially if he wanted to get them both out of this hell.

But it was so hard, especially when Sitruat saw how much The Strawberry Blonde loved him, even when he couldn't even remember him.

A stray tear fell down Sitruat's cheek, but it was quickly brushed away. Sitruat tried to put on a brave smile for his lover, but it was wobbly and weak.

Xelqua, on his part, could see none of this as he smiled at Sitruat and led the way down the dark hallway.

A tear did fall down Sitruat's cheek then, but Xelqua never had a chance to see it as Sitruat quickly brushed it away with his free hand.

...

After a while, a few wrong twists and turns, and one or two chance encounters with a wall, Xelqua finally saw that same soft yellow stone walls.

Xelqua ran his free hand over the soft, almost porous, stone. Zezy came up beside him, still holding his hand.

"What is that?" Sitruat asked as one of Xelqua's wings brushed against his back and wrapped around his shoulder slightly.

"I have no idea, but if I had to guess, a wall," Xelqua said in a deadpan tone.

Xelqua smiled as he heard Sitruat loudly groan, Xelqua could practically feel the way Sitruat was looking at him.

"I've never seen stone like this here before," Sitruat commented as they continued to walk down the hall.

Xelqua hummed in agreement, carefully watching out for that giant ass gaping gash in the ground that he almost fell into before.

Sitruat was quiet for a moment, his pace slowing down before he spoke the "golden-haired" boy's name softly.

Xelqua hummed in response, urging him to go on.

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