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Silver's whole body was sore.
He opened his eyes forcefully and sat up, rubbing the burn scars on his arm. Across the room, he could see Dingle asleep. Neo's bed that was a few blocks away was empty. Silver tensed up.
His worry didn't last long as he noticed Neo's fishing rod was also missing. His teammate must've gotten up early to gather materials. And he realized he shouldn't be nervous since most teams were still asleep.
If there was death lightning he would've woken up because of it.
And he would recognize the sound anywhere.
Head throbbing, he slid off his bed and grabbed the rod that laid on top of his personal chest. Yesterday's nether trip was awful. And it was not because of the headache he got from the smell of smoke everywhere he went.
Just before Silver clicked the button to the staircase leading towards the surface, he glanced around the bedroom. For one, to see Dingle was still safe on the comfort of his mattress. And two, to make sure their items were protected.
His eyes landed on another empty bed near his own and his jaw clenched. A heart of the sea necklace sat on the pillow.
The one which belonged to Quals.
Suddenly struck with grief, he quickly pressed the stone button and slipped through the block wide gap that had opened. He recoiled back at the sound of the wood dragged back to its original place.
"Hey Silver."
He looked up to see Neo with his back facing towards him and sitting on the dock. Silver climbed the last step of the staircase and walked towards him.
"Hey… How did you—"
"Dingle's probably still asleep at this time," The hooded person turned his head, "It's barely past sunrise, really early for him to wake up. And, I can recognize your footsteps."
The other put up a finger, "Actual—... Yeah– you're right. Didn't know you have memorized my footstep pattern though." He continued his walk, eventually stopping at the edge of the dock beside his teammate.
Neo shrugged, "Safety reasons. I'm always up before any of you." He laughed, the bucket beside him shook. Peering over at it, Silver could see it only contained some small fish and a variety of random, not useful items. But then it went quiet.
“Quals usually would be up with me, but… you know.”
He pursed his lips, not knowing if he should’ve broken the silence. The one standing up didn’t answer. He only bent down and sat beside him, in between them, the iron bucket.
The early morning was quiet. It was the hours where all teams were peaceful. Even the ones after them wouldn’t ambush until it was at least noon. But it had gone more still as the teammates didn’t say anything to each other.
“I’m sorry,” Neo reeled his fishing rod back in as something pulled on it. He scoffed at the tattered leather and threw it back in the lake. He sighed and turned to Silver “I could’ve done something to save him, I was only close enough to pull you out of the way—”
“You couldn’t have saved him, Neo. That’s the thing.” Gold eyes stared back. Though Silver couldn’t see Neo’s eyes, he could pinpoint where it would be under his mask.
His friend tried to retort, “But—”
“But what?” He cut him off, “You tried your best. In the midst of all the smoke, you managed to run in to help Dingle to safety after you made sure I was safe. Quals was- too far in, and CommonHat is unpredictable. Who would’ve known their team rigged what looks like a naturally generated structure…”
Neo breathed out and shook his head, letting his curiosity take over him, “I’m- Wouldn’t you have known if it was naturally generated?”
“What do you mean by that?” He raised his eyebrow, confused. The other now looked somewhat irritated.
“You’re the organizer of this event. And as far as I know, you were the one who sent out the application forms,” He brought his rod over his shoulder and swung it back towards the water. His grip on the stick tightened. “You helped with this death event and yet you put yourself in it. I don’t understand how you wouldn’t know all these— major and minor details.”
He huffed and loosened his fists, “As far as I know you’re on the admin team too. The ones who control every disastrous event.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore, he’s dead. And even if we’re planning to bring him back, he’ll be dead for a while.”
Silver bit his lip and lowered his gaze. The warm water hit his legs as the rod moved with its surface. He was repulsed by the feeling of fabric sticking to his skin and carried himself back, pulling his legs up to his chest. All while holding onto his own fishing rod strongly.
Looking down at the well crafted tool, he thought out loud, “I could apologize for everything but… I have no fault in this.” He looked back up at Neo, “I can only say sorry for not being careful enough. But this whole event wasn’t because of me.”
“I had the idea to make these events because I want to get my name out there. And I met some of the most talented people I know because of it.”
He elbowed his arm, “Including you, Neo.” The one beside him managed to snicker, not expecting that compliment. But his face turned serious again.
“But if you- If you don’t know about all these things... Who-”
“Marbar does. She’s a good head admin,” Silver smiled at the thought of the administrator. “All these world events are with the intention of giving us a challenge. She’s not evil, nor is the rest of the team.”
“All I can hear is that you’re in love with Mar.”
“Hey— Shush.”
They laugh with each other, forgetting about one’s short-lived rant. It was a hearty laughter that seemed so genuine. Something that is shared with not only teammates, but friends. And that’s what they were.
From the start, it was their team against the world. Silver had accepted that everyone would be after them, and with their pacifist ideals, they couldn’t stay on the surface for long. They would run every time when they didn’t have a powerful weapon.
He needed to protect his team. They lost one, they couldn’t lose another. Especially when Dingle was- sometimes, clueless. All four were dependent on each other and now, even Silver didn’t know what to do himself now that Quals wasn’t there to help.
In some ways, they had to finish what Quals had started.
Neo seemed to share his thinking, “He had always loved the water. Maybe we can… build a conduit? It will be useful for us too since we build underwater most of the time. When he gets back he will be ecstatic.”
“Yeah,” The other nodded, “I like that idea.”