My eyes burned as I attempted to open them, my consciousness was slowly making its way back to me. Disjointed memories of dreams and nightmares left a bitter taste in the back of my mouth. Rubbing at my dry eyes I tried to remember any of their details, they were sore to the touch and warm. I winced as my head throbbed, an image of my friends’ dead bodies flashed into my mind''s eye, and unfortunately it was followed by the mage that I killed. A small groan escaped me, why did I try to remember any of that in the first place. Nightmares should just be forgotten in the morning.


    Master? Are you okay? I blinked and squinted at my surroundings, but my dry eyes refused to cooperate with me.


    I need water. I can’t remember the last time I drank some… I should really try to stay on top of that more.


    Okay Master. Here, drink.


    Water flowed into my mouth as I parted my lips. I fought against the urge to cough, my throat was scratchy. How long had I slept? I didn’t think I was this dehydrated before when I fell asleep. Though, I was supremely exhausted so it’s possible the need for rest trumped the others. Hunger twisted my stomach, I sat up and blindly stumbled towards the kitchenette. Caro probably cooked something while I was asleep, I hoped there was some left over for me to reheat.


    “Mia? You doing okay?” Reid’s voice resounded from my left towards the door of my camper. His blurry silhouette appeared as I turned towards the sound.


    I coughed a couple times before I was able to answer him, “Yeah, I’m fine I’m just hungry well and thirsty, but mostly hungry now.”


    “Yeah that’s not surprising you’ve been asleep for twelve hours. You should really rest more, you’re sick.”


    “No, I’m fine. We needed to set out soon anyways, Rosalynn wants to find her group and we need to level more. I’m so close to reaching level 20.” The fact that I had been asleep for so long didn’t register at the time.


    “That doesn’t matter right now, you need to sit down. You overworked yourself, we can’t go anywhere with you like this.” He caught me by the shoulders and started leading me back to the couch I had just escaped.


    I furrowed my brows, “Stop. I’m going to get food, and then we’re heading out.”


    “I’ll bring you the food okay? And then I’m going to check on your health and try to heal you as much as I can, okay?”


    I grumbled a few complaints under my breath as I snuggled my way back into the pile of blankets on the couch. Where had they come from? My mind drifted in and out as I waited for food. A strong fatty smell started to fill my surroundings, it wasn’t appetizing, but my mouth was already watering. I was so hungry, why was I so hungry?


    A few more minutes passed as I dipped into a light sleep. A short dream where I was cooking with a huge hotdog man entertained me during my wait. Soon, Reid arrived with a bowl of stew, well really it was mostly broth. “Here, eat.” I wanted to complain that he didn’t give me much meat, but I couldn''t because I didn''t have enough energy. I slowly slurped down the food, vaguely I could feel Reid looming over me. Grimacing, I handed the bowl back to him, I couldn’t finish all of the food.


    “Very good. Now I’m going to check your condition again, okay?”


    I wasn’t fighting the sleep that was taking me again, the warmth of the stew in my stomach and the soft blankets were taking me away from Reid. “Yerhmm…kay” I drifted off again as a golden glow enveloped me and filled me with it''s comforting warmth.


    ~~*~~


    “-know it was this-”


    “-top, she’s fine, just be a little pati-”


    “-been waiting for almost t-”


    “-be up soon. Okay?”


    “How do you know that? I thought she would be up yesterday, but she wasn’t.”


    “I never suggested that she would be up yesterday. Plus it isn’t like we have much of a choice other than staying here with her.”


    “She’ll be fine in here while we go off and hunt. We’ve basically stripped this place of resources.”


    “You don’t know that for sure.”


    Rosalynn groaned.


    I awoke again to a debate, I didn’t bother trying to piece together what they were disagreeing about as I slowly pulled myself into the land of the living yet again. “What? You guys are leaving? Did you find them?” A silence followed my question, I frowned as I rubbed at my still sore eyes. I squinted at the figures of Reid and Rosalynn next to me. I couldn’t make out their expressions as my vision was still blurry with sleep.


    “No, we haven’t found them yet. How are you feeling?” Her voice was much softer than it had been before.


    “Uh, I think I’m okay. My head hurts and my eyes are tired, but I’m fine.”


    “Yeah right, you always work through things like this when you shouldn’t. I’m a healer, but I can’t replace rest. Your body is tired. You can’t keep treating it this poorly.” He admonished me, but his voice was gentle and sorrowful.


    “I see, I’m sorry. I’ll try to be more mindful from now on.” I pushed myself up from my cocoon on the couch. A wave of dizziness hit me, I sat up too fast and got lightheaded. I let out a soft ‘oof’ and cradled my head.


    “You’re crazy, why did you fight for so long anyways?” Rosalynn asked with a small chuckle. Despite her making light of it, it did seem like she was worried. Though, I supposed she wasn’t worried enough to wait here for me to wake up. I wasn’t sure how long I was asleep, but the one thing I could assume from their conversation was that it was longer than Rosalynn wanted to wait for.


    “I was worried… I thought one of us had to complete it. Or that if I couldn’t complete it I’d die or get stuck wandering that maze for longer. I was just worried about what might happen if I gave up, the instructions were vague…” I groaned as I got to my feet, I ended up leaning into Reid as I led him towards the bathroom.


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    “Still…” Reid wanted to protest, I couldn’t blame him. It was hard to say I shouldn’t have done it because none of us knew what would happen if we gave up. At the same time it was hard to say I made the right decision either.


    “I know… but can we talk about this later? I gotta pee.”


    Reid sighed as I gave him a pat on the back before going into the bathroom. I sat on the toilet, I didn’t really need to pee. Well, I did, but it wasn’t the real reason I had gone into the bathroom. I wanted to check the GGC and take a moment to collect myself. I lazily scrolled through the chat, things had been very quiet since I had gone to sleep, which wasn’t surprising since there wasn’t much to see.


    “How many days was I out?”


    [“Seeker of Magic and Knowledge” expresses that your friends are dramatic and says that it wasn''t even two days.]


    [“Traveling Spring Painter” disagrees with him and states that you should treasure yourself more.]


    [“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” sighs and says that while the fight was entertaining it would be advisable to never do something similar in the future.]


    “Yes, yes I know.”


    [“Whispering Playwright behind a Mask” pouts and complains that the whole reason you chose your class is so that you wouldn’t have to do that.]


    [“Reflection of an Empty Throne” whines that the others spoil you too much.]


    [“Abandoned Bloodied Sword” tells you that you did a good job.]


    [“Playful Cat Hates Yarn” questions why the three of them had a change of heart when they were praising you previously.]


    [“Traveling Spring Painter” rolls her eyes and says that of course she would change her mind if your health declines.]


    I closed the GGC, my head was pounding too much for me to continue reading their petty squabbles. Pinching the bridge of my nose I wondered if I would be useful in a fight when I felt like I’d just been out on a bender the night before. I’d definitely be able to manage on my own this way, but I didn’t really want to force myself to push through how shitty I felt.


    I considered using mana to reinforce my body. I would be able to travel easier, but that would use up my mana extremely quickly. I might not even be able to travel for more than a few hours that way. It was an effective method of enhancing my abilities, but I wasn’t really skilled at using it so I always ended up wasting mana. Really I was just haphazardly pushing mana into my body without a real method behind it so I was already glad it wasn’t causing any physical damage.


    Master? Are you okay? Why are you just sitting in there? Do you need help?


    I’m fine… I just wanted a moment alone.


    Okay, then are we starting to explore again after you come out? The other humans want to leave.


    Yeah, I gathered that… I’m just not feeling very good so I’m a bit worried I won’t be able to keep up with everyone.


    It’s okay Master, I’ll help you.


    Thanks.


    I groaned, it would be best to go ahead and do what I said I came in here for and then join the group outside again. We had a lot to talk about, and – apparently – places to be.


    ~~*~~


    “So I was out for a whole day huh?” I asked casually as I turned the corner to an apparently empty room. I scanned the area, they must have gone outside. I leaned on the doorway of the camper as I repeated my question. For the first time since we''d come down there I was happy with how dim this area was. Caroline, Reid, Rosalynn, and Noel were huddled in a circle discussing something as I appeared.


    “Yeah, do you know how worried we were?!” Caroline swung around, she was clearly upset. She seemed to be the only one that was angry about it. It wasn’t surprising, I had been stressing her out since the awakening after all.


    “I know I’m sorry. I didn’t know that everyone could give up and I was worried about what would happen when we did. What if I had given up sooner and ended up dying or being stuck in that labyrinth for even longer?”


    This elicited a frown from both of the Gallaghers. I gave them a small smile, I didn’t want to ignore their worries. They were right, I should take better care of myself, but at the same time, how could I have known? What should I have done differently? There was a long uncomfortable silence and Caro looked like she might cry, I stretched my arms out and beckoned her towards me. She groaned, but hugged me anyway.


    “I’m sorry. I know it''s scary, I don’t want to get hurt. I don’t want anyone to get hurt.” I said as I rubbed her back. I hoped I was being comforting enough, I wasn’t ever great at comforting people when they were upset, but lately it felt like I’d improved. Maybe it was all the danger and death. “Well I’d like to hurt that bastard that we fought before we met up with Reid, but that’s neither here nor there.


    Caroline chuckled, finally I got a smile out of her, “Yeah, both sides took damage in that fight, but we definitely came out on top.”


    “So what was it like? The labyrinth? The challenge?” Noel asked. I glanced over at him confused, this was one of the first times I’d heard him ask a question casually. I wondered if it was because he had already heard some of it from the others. Caroline pulled away from me and looked at me expectantly, it seemed that everyone was curious about my experiences there. Though really, there wasn’t much to say about it. I just slashed at monsters for days.


    “Uh… I mean it was a labyrinth. Twists, turns, traps. It sucked. Those little dudes were cute and easy to kill though. The bats though…” I shuddered, “Those things were the worst. They ruined me and Aureus’ normal fighting style.”


    “Huh, we had very different experiences then. I didn’t hate the bats as much as the wommi creatures. I hate being swarmed like that. They’re not hard to kill, but swinging my hammer constantly like that to keep them off of me was the worst. Really drained my energy.” Rosalynn commented while miming her swipes at the monsters.


    “Why didn’t you just limit their ways to approach you?” I asked.


    “It just doesn’t suit my fighting style, I’ve always been at the frontline so... I didn’t fight for nearly as long as you did, but I got about a day''s worth of fighting done before I decided to give up. I really don’t understand how you managed that.”


    “Ah… well I wasn’t alone. I had good help.” I said smiling as I rubbed Aureus’ head. I could feel his embarrassment and internal complaints about me treating him like a baby. “Plus I spent the whole time at the top of a tower just attacking the ones that popped up. At the beginning it was like whack a mole.” I laughed to myself.


    “Oh I tried something similar, but after a while my ability to do damage couldn’t keep up with how fast the monsters were climbing up.” Reid commented.


    “Did Theo just give up immediately?” I asked as I searched the area for him. I couldn’t see him, “Wait, where is he? Did he go somewhere?”


    “Oh he went to look around the area, the both of us are pretty desperate to find our group again.” Rosalynn offered, “But about his experience in the labyrinth, I’m not sure. He’s been pretty quiet since we left, well I mean he’s always been sorta quiet since I found him, but especially so lately.”


    “Really? I never knew him to be a quiet man, he’s always been pretty talkative, or well he was I guess.” I responded awkwardly. I wasn’t sure how to approach the fact that he was around or what I should say about him, or really how I should treat him.


    “Yeah it was always hard to get him to shut up.” Caro said pointedly.


    Rosalynn gave us a small polite smile before she said, “I know y’all have your own reasons for disliking him, but at the very least I would appreciate it if you could understand his position relating to the Underhollow. I won’t ask you to like him, but he is doing his best to contribute despite how hard the first day was for him.”


    I wanted to say that I didn’t care how hard it was. I wanted to say that we all were struggling after it all started. I wanted to get angry and say that she had no right to ask me to understand him. I wanted to, but I didn’t. I liked Rosalynn and I couldn’t bring myself to direct my anger with Theo towards her.


    Not to mention it didn’t seem like she was fond of him. It seemed more like he was an annoying coworker she had to deal with, but despite that she didn’t want us to harbor biases against him unfairly. I had to respect her for that. The silence after her statement began to stretch for too long. I looked for words to say, I didn’t want to lie to her, but I couldn’t exactly say I didn’t care what happened to him either. The group sat in the silence until Theo arrived.


    “Hey! I think I found something!” Theo said excitedly, but quickly noticed the uncomfortable energy around our group. Eventually his eyes landed on me.