SATELLITE HEART [A BARLEY LIGHTFOOT x READER STORY]

chapter 23

"Okay, we've officially been walking down these stairs forever. How long has it been? Or am I just so bored that time has stretched into infinity?"

Ian glanced down at the watch on his wrist. "No, you're right. We've been going down stairs for almost two hours."

"Jeez. How many more do you think we have?" You squinted into the darkness, but you couldn't see anything beyond the six steps in front of you. 

"No idea," he said. 

"What if they go on for infinity?" 

"I mean... they have to lead somewhere, right? The emerald's gotta be at the bottom of them," Ian said.

You sighed heavily and shook your head. 

"What?" he asked. 

"I'm just trying not to think about how painful it'll be to go up these steps to get back to the top," you said. 

"Uh..." He turned and glanced back up. Even if the sun were up right now, he doubted either of you could see the outside world from here. He looked down the stairs and lifted the staff. "Boombastia!" 

A shot of colorful fireworks lit the way down the stairs. You jumped slightly at the sound and groaned at what you could see: dozens and dozens more stairs, all leading straight down. "Well, that's depressing." 

Ian laughed. "Come on."

Every few minutes, Ian would shout the same spell. Sputters of brightly lit fireworks would light your way down for a handful of seconds, giving you and Ian the same old glimpse of stone steps. Dozens of them, all covered in a thin layer of dust from possibly centuries of not being used. It grew increasingly colder as you went down the steps. 

"If I had known we'd be going down to the deepest basement known to the universe, I'd have brought a dumb jacket."

"Yeah, it's getting pretty cold in here," he agreed. 

"Is there a spell that can, like, raise temperatures or something?" You shivered. 

"No, there are only spells for cool things," he said. 

You smacked his arm with the back of your hand. "Oh, shut up," you laughed. 

He snickered and raised the wizard staff again. "Boombastia!" 

This time, instead of stairs in front of you, you saw huge looming statues of dragons attached to the walls. You gasped and Ian jumped, shouting the spell again so you could get another glimpse of the statues. that were were sure were real for a brief moment. But luckily they were completely still with no sign of moving. 

"Well, that doesn't look very promising," Ian said nervously. 

"Don't tell me we're gonna have to fight a freaking dragon at the end of all of this," you said. 

"I really hope not. Boomba---" 

You stepped down at the same time and felt your foot go through a step. You let out a scream ---- but your foot didn't go all the way through it. It pressed the stone down until it clicked, and then the statues started to move. How could you be the idiot to step down on the one trick-step? But then Ian stepped down and the same thing happened to him. 

You turned as you heard the stones move and shift now. Every single one of them shuddered beneath your feet. The statues started to crumble. The walls shook and dust and dirt fell all over you. Terrified of suffocation, you grabbed Ian's wrist and darted back up the stairs. 

"No, no, we can't!" he cried, tearing his hand away. "We have to finish the quest!" 

"Ian, this whole thing is going to come down and I can't let you die. Barley needs you!" 

"Barley needs to get better and this is the only way he can get better!"

"I'm supposed to take care of you," you told him. "I can't let you---"

Ian's eyes darted upward. His jaw dropped and he grabbed for you. "___, look out!" 

You turned and saw one of the dragon statues toppling over. It hit the step in front of you and shattered. Pieces hit your legs and you felt yourself fall over. Ian tried to grab for you and couldn't, and you fell down the steps. 

Down, down, down you fell, terrified of cracking your head against the stone, terrified of the ceiling caving in, terrified of being trapped down here, terrified of Ian not getting out and coming after you instead... 

"___!" 

You finally stopped falling at the bottom of the staircase, much to your surprise. Even more shocking, you were able to move without any ounce of pain. No broken bones. You sat up slowly, feeling nothing but the gush of warmth down your forehead. You didn't need light to know that it was blood and there was a gash across your forehead, right at the center. You pressed your trembling fingers against it. 

"___, where are you!?" 

"I'm down here," you called back. "I'm fine, Ian. I'm okay. I'm at the bottom of the stairs. I guess it didn't go on for forever." You groaned, pressing your palm to your head. "Good for me, right?" 

It took Ian a few minutes to get to the bottom. He knelt in front of you and pulled your hand away. "Oh jeez. Are you okay?" 

"I'm fine," you said, nodding. "I'm lucky I didn't break my neck or something." 

"Yeah," he agreed.

"And you're lucky you didn't die by getting trapped down here!" You smacked his arm suddenly, making him jump. "Ian, if I tell you that we need to go, then we need to go. You can't just risk your life like that. If Barley---"

"I don't care about me!" he exclaimed. "I would be stupid if I ran away from this chance like a coward. Barley needs me. He needs me this time, and I can't just let him down. He never let me down ever." His voice was breaking. "I've always... I've always been too scared. Too scared to try, too scared to really take a risk. It was Barley that pushed me to do better and try and --- and if I lose him..."

You grabbed his hand. "I-I know. I know. I'm sorry." 

He sniffled and looked away from you, pressing the back of his hand against his mouth and nose for a second. It was silent for a minute. Everything was still except for the crumbling of rock down the walls. Whatever you had stepped on and triggered, it was still rattling the stairwell.

"Can you help me up so we can keep going?" you asked. 

"Yeah," he breathed. He stood up and grabbed your arm, just under your elbow. You kept a hand pressed against your head as you shakily got up on your feet. "You okay?" 

"I'm okay," you said, shooting him a reassuring smile. "Come on, we've either done something good by stepping on that step or we did something bad. We've gotta keep going." 

"Yeah. Let's keep going."