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Traversing through the murky depths of the Palace of the Dead was unmistakably a dangerous endeavor. An expedition that should only be undertaken by the bravest of the brave, recommended only to adventurers who were armed with a keen sense of adaptability. With the unpredictable nature of the sprawling dungeon's ever-changing layout, it was imperative that intrepid hopefuls who dared explore the accursed labyrinth were always on their toes. Never letting their guard down, not even for a single second, lest they be caught by whatever nasty horrors lurk in the shadows, which patiently lay in wait for their chance to pounce on any unsuspecting prey.
Crystal and Kaori were all too aware of the impending dangers that awaited them as they proceeded cautiously from floor to floor. And thus, the pair allowed themselves to freely scout the outer floors of the palace, scrounging up any pomanders that their eyes laid upon to prepare themselves for the deeper floors.
And before they knew it, they were soon trudging through the ghastly corridors of the 63rd floor.
"How are you holding up, Kaori?"
Crystal glanced at her wife, who had been sending furtive peeks toward her back. Her question bounced off the cracked concrete walls, and echoed off further into the misty hallways that lay deeper ahead, giving the Miqo'te a slight jump as her head sheepishly swiveled back to face Crystal.
"I'm fine. I just—" Kaori peeped behind once more, before shaking her head with a sigh. "I keep hearing sounds, or voices. And you know that these monsters can spawn anywhere around us at any time. Maybe… I'm just overthinking things."
Kaori's hair fluttered in wisps as she came to a halt, tickling her nose while her hands gesticulated toward the entrance of the floor. Her ears were drooping, and she had a hand ready behind her back, tightly gripping her staff. Kaori was usually capable of remaining composed in most situations, but if Crystal had to guess, the numerous invisible land mines she'd unintentionally triggered in the previous floors had left her shaken and overly cautious.
Even in this moment, Kaori looked like an ethereal woman of dreams. The woman who had helped guide Crystal out of many a rut herself. And now, the same woman who appeared to be a nervous ball of emotions, ready to unravel and burst if left alone for too long.
It was now Crystal's turn to take the lead. She knew that all too well.
Instinctively, she took Kaori's hand and slipped her fingers through hers, feeling an instant warmth spread across her palm. Her other hand cupped her wife's cheek, and she watched, slightly amused, as her touch made Kaori's slitted eyes widen.
"I'm here with you," Crystal comforted her with a murmur. She took a step forward, tiptoeing slightly, and nuzzled their foreheads together. "My horns let me pick up on footsteps easily, especially in a dungeon like this. So if I hear something, I'll let you know immediately—"
She felt her muscles tense up. What had previously been silence, save for Kaori's steady breathing and her words, was now broken by hushed, lumbering footfalls that came from the hall ahead, though subdued even to Crystal's enhanced aural sense.
Raptors, most likely. And there were two of them, judging by the light pattering of their feet and the scraping of slender claws across the rugged ground.
"—like now."
Crystal drew back and was about to turn back to face the front, but paused when she noticed Kaori searching her expression with a soft gaze, before giggling to herself.
"W-what is it?" she couldn't help but ask. Though, she felt relieved that Kaori seemed to have lightened up. There was just that inexplicable feeling of safety and comfort about seeing that smile of hers that bubbled in Crystal's chest.
Kaori shook her head, and cast her eyes down to where their fingers were intertwined. Lifting them, she planted a kiss on the back of Crystal's hand. It was a simple act, and one they had performed on each other many times by now, but it never failed to make Crystal feel like she was freefalling off the edge of the peak of Kugane Tower.
"It's nothing. Let us keep going then," she reassured Crystal. "I feel much better now, thanks to you."
Her soft voice was like velvet on her horns, and Crystal couldn't help but briefly scoot closer once more, feeling her heart melt when their shoulders touched. It was tempting for her body to go lax, but she couldn't afford to let her guard down now. She sheepishly cleared her throat and settled for a brief squeeze of Kaori's hand before finally letting go, drawing her spear from her back to assume her battle stance.
"Okay. Get ready to cover me. I'm going in."
Crystal shifted her focus to scrutinize ahead, armed with a newfound resolve to see them through this floor unscathed. As they edged through the passageway, backs pressed against the chilly wall, her steely glare settled on the emerging silhouettes that guarded the entrance of the adjacent hall. The final barrier standing between them and the Cairn of Passage on this floor, its unlit purple orb resting innocently on its stand at the opposite end of the chamber.
"I'm going to charge the first one on the right." She quietly motioned to Kaori while waiting for her to catch up. In this tunneling connector that ran from hall to hall, Kaori's face was difficult to make out, and her dim, apprehensive features flickered against the wavering flames of the dungeon's braziers, but Crystal pressed on. Time was of the essence, and they would be spotted first if they waited for much longer. "We dispatch it before the other one notices, so we won't have to deal with both at the same time."
She felt a gentle bump on her back as Kaori's stretched-out hands fleetingly clutched at her armor. Giving it a single tap, Kaori indicated her readiness, and the whisper came back, ringing loud and clear in Crystal's horns.
"On your go."
Promptly, Crystal dug the balls of her feet into the ground. She exhaled, feeling the energy flow down her body and into her calves. With a slight bend in her knees, she swiftly propelled herself forward with Spineshatter Dive, spear in hand, ready to sink its tip into the exposed neck of the still unaware raptor.
All seemed as if it was about to proceed according to plan, and Crystal was mere ilms away from her target, when a strangled cry echoed from behind her.
"Crystal! Watch out—"
A flash of light, and then, a sudden explosion that rippled from beneath the wedges of cracked concrete. What happened next all felt like a blur, but Crystal vaguely felt her body being flung in the opposite direction like a rag doll, as if she were being roughly shoved by someone. She was thankfully clad in armor, which shielded her skin from the brunt of the blast, but she couldn't ignore the stinging pain from the bits of rubble that pelted at her mouth through the gap in her helmet.
A withering groan of agony slipped past Crystal's tightened lips as she collided squarely into an uneven surface, and it ended up with her tumbling to the ground with a resounding thud.
Her back hurt. Assaulted by a heated, throbbing pain that stemmed from the point of impact, which was slowly starting to spread outward like a parasite, locking her torso in place.
For a split second, total silence was all that greeted her, before the muffled screeching of airship alarms began to hum a maddening song around her horns, drowning out all else. With the side of her face planted to the ground, she spotted a tattered piece of cloth from her gloves out of the corner of her bleary eye. It had been singed to a crisp, and sunk haphazardly in front of her in an almost hypnotic, zigzag motion.
With everything it took in her aching body, Crystal pushed her head off the ground with her arms and forced herself to sit upright, leaning her stiff back against the wall.
Further ahead on the right, she could dimly make out the carcass of the raptor that was caught in the blast with her.
I guess that's one way to take it down…
She sighed. The blunt impact that she'd sustained threatened to knock the wind out of her lungs, and her breathing was labored, but she could still carry on. She just needed to compose herself.
"Cry…"
In her daze, past the high pitched wails that rang incessantly in her horns, a muted voice reached her.
"Crystal…!!!"
She followed the general direction of the voice, and when her eyes refocused after what seemed like an eternity, she let out a gasp.
There stood Kaori in front of her, desperately fending off the remaining raptor with her staff. The bulky head of her weapon was wedged between the monster's snarling teeth, saliva spewing from its semi-opened mouth in its rabid attempt to crush through its reinforced wood.
"It's not going to hold on for much longer," Kaori managed frantically, her arms wildly flailing to leave herself and the animal in deadlock. "You have to finish it off, Crystal!"
Kaori's voice…
Without a second thought, Crystal grabbed her lance which lay to her side and staggered to her feet. She could still feel her thighs shake as she propped herself against the wall to steady herself. Cursed inwardly, she willed for her legs to obey what she needed them to do for her. Just this one time.
Otherwise… otherwise…
It was as if Crystal's horns were being tightly encased in cotton, and she was still having trouble seeing, but she quickly erased the morbid thought from her mind. Kaori's safety was paramount, and it was all that mattered to her in that instant.
She could feel blood rushing into her brain, fueling her with that familiar, slight rage that accompanied her in battle. With all the remaining strength that she could possibly muster, she gathered herself and bent her knees once more.
"JUMP!"
Thankfully, Kaori recognized Crystal's intention with that single word, and swiftly yanked her staff from the raptor's frothing mouth, before diving to the farthest corner of the chamber. Crystal leapt off the ground, a blue aura swirling around her feet, and almost crashed into the rocky ceiling as she reached her peak point. Nimbly, she maneuvered her body to aim at the raptor headfirst, and with a roar of finality, came crashing down with a fiery eruption of fire.
One not unlike the explosion from the hidden land mine, ironically.
Crystal bounced back and staggered on her weakened feet. Pain wracked her body in full force, and she could feel her legs crumble, but Kaori rushed up to catch her fall, her arms securely wrapped around her waist.
"Kaori…"
The Miqo'te let out a weary sigh and allowed her legs to give way too, slowly sinking the pair down to rest on the hardened ground.
They sat in silence for a few minutes to catch their breaths, disregarding the possibility that yet another raptor could be summoned nearby, or worse, their larger sarcosuchus relatives that were notorious for dominating the surrounding floors. They hadn't the energy to concern themselves over that, and to Crystal, she was simply relieved that they had both made it out of that encounter alive.
Though. the question of why her wife would rush forward to save her like that lingered on Crystal's tongue. Putting her life at risk like that when she clearly still had mana to spend…
It worried Crystal. She didn't want Kaori to recklessly charge in like she did. Not especially as a White Mage.
She shot an inquisitive look behind her, where Kaori was resting her back against the wall. Words mechanically rose to her lips, but when she met Kaori's softened gaze, they extinguished just as quickly before she could utter anything.
That unique shape and color that she never saw from anyone in Eorzea, to have bore witness to countless memories of their time spent together.
And…
They would bear witness to so many more. Till death did them part. And today wasn't that day.
She sucked in a breath, and wondered if her distraught showed on her face. And evidently, it did, with Kaori embracing her even more tightly, resting her chin on Crystal's shoulder.
"The raptor was right in front of you, and it takes 2.5 seconds for Holy to stun it. I couldn't risk having you lose a body part in exchange for that."
Crystal's mouth gaped open once more, a comeback already rising up her throat, but she stopped herself. She knew that she'd do the same for Kaori if their positions had been swapped. And she knew that Kaori would do it again in a heartbeat, given the opportunity.
"Mm," Crystal murmured, and eventually let herself rest her weight against Kaori. "We'll definitely have to be more careful as we go deeper in the Palace in that case. Although…"
She paused hesitatingly, before swiveling around to properly face Kaori.
"Just… promise me that you'll be more careful, okay? And I promise I will be too. Try to be, at least," she rambled, her words trailing off into the airless silence of the dungeon.
Kaori nodded, leaning in further until their cheeks were touching. And then, she tilted Crystal's jaw with a finger, beckoning for their lips to meet.
To seal her promise to Crystal. To make it out of the Palace of the Dead safely.
"I will," she whispered softly.