Honesty is the Best Policy {Comic Edition}

Chapter 42: Yet Another Desert Chapter

I promise this is the last sand-filled chapter you're going to have to wade through. But I dunno, maybe you like your fanfictions covered in sand. Who am I to judge?
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It wasn't long before the dim glow of what Honest guessed was the moon peeking through the thick cloud cover faded away and was replaced with the warm glow of a lamp hanging just out of Honest's reach. It swayed slightly, its light reflecting off the dark stone walls of the small room she was now sitting in.
Where was she?
Spinning around, Honest found a table. It was made of the same dark stone as the walls and floor. There was a lone white candle there, unlit, as well as a bundle of lavender, the latter of which was covered in thick spider webs and dust like it had been lying there for a long time. The rest of the room was empty aside from a staircase leading down behind her.
Honest was startled from her observations of the room by a disembodied voice. "You have a task for me, or have you forgotten?" It sounded clear as day as if the person were standing right there. However, there was no one around.
"A task…?"
Suddenly, from behind Honest, came another voice. "Honest! We've opened up the mine, and I want you to follow me and some others down there to scope it out." A hedgehog man came up the stairs behind Honest, and she stood up.
Before she could even attempt to reply, she was suddenly outside and standing in front of what looked like a boarded up mine. There was a badger that looked like Sticks but, when she turned around, her bright pink eyes proved that she really wasn't Sticks at all. Plus, she was wearing some sort of spacesuit or something. "Spacesuit" being just something that looked otherworldly, not actually something you would wear to space. She was standing to one side of the mine entrance while a blue wolf was opposite her, wearing a similar outfit.
"Are we ready?" It was Honest's voice, but she hadn't tried to say anything. The badger and wolf nodded. However, how was Honest ready? She supposed it was just an old mine, probably filled with dirt and old mining equipment, so what was there to be scared of? Still, Honest couldn't help but feel nervous when the rotting wood was torn away and a cavity was revealed on the other side.
Stepping through the maze of wooden supports and discarded trash from the previous users, as Honest made her way further inside, the interior of the mine got darker and darker until the three mobians began to have trouble seeing anything. It wasn’t just simply dark, the mine seemed to be filled with a dark turquoise gas, one that made seeing very far nearly impossible. It was even blocking the entrance from view, causing Honest to fear that they might not be able to find their way out.
Soon, Honest reached the deepest level of the mine. It was almost pitch black here, and there were now walls between the posts, making it seem even more like a maze down there. Her badger and wolf partners were long gone now, probably exploring some other part of the mine. Whenever Honest held still and there wasn’t any other noise, she swore she could hear footsteps. Slow, unsteady footsteps as if their owner or owners were tripping over something with every step. Honest stopped before she turned a corner and just listened. A faint breathing sound was audible, seeming to be coming from just around the post. It was shallow and airy, each breath only lasting a millisecond. Then, suddenly, the culprit took one long, deep breath-
All Honest did when she awoke was gasp, but it was enough to cause Scourge to jump almost to the sky. “What the heck?!”
Honest slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position, her sleep-mussed hair hanging in front of her face. “That’s what I should be saying. You’ve been making noises in your sleep all night, and they’re giving me nightmares!”
“Like… What kind of noises?”
Honest tossed her hands into the air. “You’ve been breathing like something’s chasing you and pounding the backs of your shoes in the sand- look what you did to your jacket!” She gestured to the end of Scourge’s jacket which was now partially buried in the sand from him kicking his legs all night.
Scourge looked where she was gesturing and then back up at Honest, a scowl on his face. “Have you ever stopped to think that I might be having nightmares as well?”
Honest’s previous angry look melted away and was instead replaced by sad purple eyes and a pouty lip. “I’m sorry. What was your nightmare about? If you talk about it, maybe you’ll feel better.”
“I-I’m fine,” Scourge replied, thrown off by her sudden look of concern. “It wasn’t all bad, it just-” Suddenly, Scourge felt eyes on him. He turned and saw Mephiles about ten feet away from them. He was just standing there… menacingly.