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"Do ya think Varian and Nuru are okay?”
“Probably.”
“Do ya think they’re lost like us?”
“We’re not lost, Yong. We’re…finding our way out of here.”
“…it sure feels like we’re lost.”
Hugo had to keep himself from groaning at Yong. The two of them had not only managed to get separated from their party but found themselves in the middle of a labyrinth of some sort. Initially, it was supposed to be a shortcut for their group to take towards the next city in their journey for the Eternal library.
“Shortcut my ass,” Hugo mumbled.
“Huh?…did you say something?” Yong asked, looking up at him.
“No,” the blonde replied curtly. “And hey- keep up! You don’t want to get left behind, do you?”
Yong quickened his pace, staying close to Hugo at the threat of being split up. When the group had first learned about the labyrinth, they were informed it was a secret technological passage that could cut their travel time to a week instead of the two months it would take to go around the northern mountain ranges. Finding the secret passage was easy and so was entering it, but finding their way out was proving to be a nearly impossible task. The maze consisted of multiple hallways and rooms with one door to enter in through and two to three doors to exit. But no matter how many doors they went through, there was no telling how far they were in the maze. Even worse, there were instances that one of the halls/rooms they would access was one they’d gone through earlier in their trek.
They had tried drawing out a map, leaving marks on hallways and rooms they’ve visited, and using their tools to navigate the maze, but the team couldn’t figure out how to progress further. The entire place was aggravating and slowly driving them crazy.
At this point, Hugo could feel the insanity of the maze getting to him now that it was just him and Yong. But he couldn’t lose his nerve. Not yet.
Instead, he focused on the path ahead, an L-shaped hallway that led to another automated door. The door swooshed open as the two approached it, showing another hallway up ahead with the similar wall colors and tile flooring. Unfazed, as this had to be the 100th door they’ve walked through, the blonde stepped through, making sure the kiddo behind him was close. After they stepped through the doorway, it closed behind them with a clicking sound.
“Varian? Nuru?” Yong called out ahead, hoping they were close by. No answer. The older teen could see his companion being more disheartened at the possibility of never reuniting with Varian and Nuru again. He could understand why Yong was so concerned about finding them, since he was the reason why they got separated in the first place.
At some point in the party’s venture through the secret passage, Yong had gone up too far ahead of them. When the kid stepped through one of the doorways, it began to close before the others could go through. Hugo, quick on his feet, managed to slide through the doorway before it shut, but when the two tried to go back, the automatic door was locked. Hugo and Yong struggled to reopen it as it clicked for half a minute before unlocking again. Still, when they looked through the reopened door, the previous hallway had changed completely, and Varian and Nuru were nowhere to be seen. The two had called out for Varian and Nuru, but there was no response, and Hugo concluded that each pathway was soundproof. From this point on, he and Yong were on their own.
“Come on, maybe they’re close by,” Hugo tried to encourage him, but even he couldn’t muster a hopeful tone strong enough to cheer Yong up. After another 5 doors, Yong started to trail behind again.
“Hugo..,” he whined. “I’m not feeling so good.”
The engineer looked back to see his teammate looking worse for wear. He wasn’t sure if the kid was sick or just tired from the constant walking, but he looked pale and ready to puke. While he would prefer for them to keep moving forward, he figured the small break would give him the chance to think of another plan other than roaming blindly.
“Come on, Sparks, let’s take 5,” Hugo suggested, walking back to where Yong was before sitting on the floor. Yong plopped down next to him, relieved to get a bit of rest. The blond removed his glasses and rubbed his eyes a little before putting them back on. He placed his hands in his pockets, feeling whatever items he had in them that could be useful. He felt his lockpick tools, a pocket knife, compass, and broken pieces of his old mechanical mouse he kept for sentimental value. He didn’t have any water or food on him to give to Yong; their rations being held by Varian’s donkey, Prometheus, when they entered the passage. Yong carried a small satchel with him, but all he had in it was his firework powders and materials. Hugo hoped that they could find their way out, or at least rejoin Varian and Nuru again before either of them started to get hungry or thirsty.
“I’m sorry.”
The words were so sudden, Hugo twitched in surprise at Yong’s apology.
“I didn’t mean to get us lost,” the kid continued. “And I don’t mean to hold ya back either.”
“You’re not holding me back,” the teen interrupted him. He was not going to have a kid feeling guilty over a situation Hugo himself couldn’t get them out of. “And it’s okay. If I had to choose someone from the gang to get lost with, I’d prefer it be you.”
“…Really?”
“Yep.”
“Even over Varian?”
Hugo scoffed, not understanding why Yong would think he’d prefer being stuck with that goody-goody alchemist.
“Especially over Varian,” he promised. “Being lost with him would definitely drive me nuts.”
“I don’t know,” Yong chimed in. “I think both of ya would actually get along, and even find an answer to this maze.”
Hugo stared at Yong with a raised eyebrow.
“Well…,” Yong corrected. “Maybe after you two finished fighting on who got who lost. Plus, you like eachother, don’t ya?”
Hugo nearly choked on air.
“W-what?! No! Why would you think that?” the blonde sputtered. Yong gave him a puzzled look at his response.
“Well, because we’re all friends,” Yong responded honestly. “As friends, we gotta like each other at least a little bit.”
Embarrassment settled on Hugo’s face, realizing he mistook Yong’s meaning of ‘like’.
“We’re not friends,” he sighed. Instantly, he noticed Yong looked rather hurt by his words. “I mean-…What I meant to say is we’re teammates. It’s different. You don’t have to like your teammates. And I do not like Varian. Or Nuru.”
“…or me?”
“…I didn’t say that,” Hugo spoke softly. “Honestly, I think you’re the only teammate I like. I guess.”
That was enough for Yong, who gave Hugo a small smile.
“Well, I like you too Hugo,” Yong stated. “And if you’d like. We can be teammates and friends.”
“Heh…maybe,” he mumbled, taken aback by the offer. Hugo wasn't in their group to make friends. On the contrary, he was only using them to find the eternal library as his boss, Donella, ordered him to. It would be best for him to not create any sort of attachment to these nerds. Still, it puzzled him to know the genuine offer of friendship could stir up these feelings in him.
“Anyway,” Yong continued. “I’m sure you and Varian would have solved this maze together a lot quicker.”
Hugo considered Yong’s words but shook his head. Hugo could tell that if he was lost with Varian, they’d spend more time bickering on whose idea was best than navigating this hellscape. “I think you’re wrong. I think you and I could solve this maze before Varian and even Nuru could. They may have the advantage of all their experience from experiments and research during their time as a fancy princess and royal engineer, but we got something better.”
“Better?”
Hugo smirked, proud of himself that the kid’s complexion became less pale as took interest in his words. “We have intuition. Guts! That’s something no amount of studying can get you. You’re just born with it.”
“And ya think I have guts?”
“Are you kidding me?!” Hugo scoffed. “You have loads of guts! How many times have you almost blown yourself up just this past week?”
“16-no…17 times,” Yong answered. “But that’s cause I keep failing- “
Hugo cut Yong off and placed his hands on the boy’s shoulders, making sure he was looking straight at him.
“But you don’t give up,” he explained. “You take what you learned from your failures, and you try again. Even if the next try can be just as dangerous, you still do it. The science you study is hazardous and for someone to practice it everyday requires guts of steel like yours.”
Yong’s lips curved into a wide smile, touched at the compliment. With his eyebrows straightened and eyes lit up with determination, Yong no longer looked ill. “You’re right! I do have guts!” The kid got up off the ground, standing proudly and ready to take another shot at getting through the labyrinth. “And we’re gonna find our way outta here.”
Hugo grinned as Yong held out a hand to him to help him up. He took the kid’s hand in his, being pulled back up to his feet.
“So Sparks, what does your gut say?” Hugo asked as they walked toward the choice of 3 doors, one straight ahead, one on their left, and one on their right. His ally closed his eyes to focus. For half a second, Yong’s complexion seemed to blanch again.
“My gut feels dizzy,” the boy confessed, smiling a little sheepishly when he opened his eyes. “Like we’ve been going in circles.”
Hugo chuckled at first at the kid’s answer but suddenly froze, his body stiffening.
“Hugo? What’s wrong?”
“…that’s it.”
“What’s it?”
“I think you’re right Yong, we are going in circles!” Hugo beamed, reaching back into his pockets.
Yong gave Hugo a confused expression. “And that’s a good thing, why?”
Hugo took out the compass in his pocket, taking note that they were currently facing west. He grabbed Yong’s hand and stepped through the door straight ahead. The blonde continued to stare at his compass as the door closed behind them with the clicking noises starting. Slowly, but surely, the arrow on the compass gently nudged until they were facing north, although neither had turned directions. Once the clicking sound coming from the door stopped, the arrow remained still.
“These individual pathways are slowly rotating,” deduced Hugo. “Every time we enter a new room or path, the doors lock, and we’re being turned around. That’s why we’ve been so lost and why we’ve ended up in rooms and pathways we took before. You figured out the problem, Sparks!”
Yong laughed as Hugo placed his hand on top of his head and messed up his black hair.
“Well, it was my gut that found out the problem.”
“But now that we know what the problem is, we can find our way out.”
The two moved along, and Hugo found a pattern on how many times the pathways turned clockwise and counterclockwise, using the compass. The two of them figured that as long as they stayed heading northward, through each doorway, there wouldn’t be a chance they’d end up in the rooms and halls they were in before.
Finally, the two entered a room that was very different from the rest of the maze. The walls were covered with light up panels, all shining a gentle yellow color. The only three panels that were lit differently were a red one in the center of the low ceiling that hung above them, a green panel at the bottom of the right-side wall, and a blue panel that blinked and traveled across the left-side wall in an indiscernible pattern.
In the center of the room was a red control console. Hugo walked up to the console as Yong investigated the wall panels. There were a small number of controls on the panel, but the issue was he couldn’t decipher what each control did.
“I think this is Varian and Nuru,” Yong piped up, looking at the blue blinking panel that slowly traveled along the yellow lit wall. He ran over to Hugo and pointed at the red panel in the ceiling. “And we’re here!”
“Which probably means our exit is the green light there,” Hugo suggested. “Now to find out how to get Varian and Nuru here and get us all out.”
The older teen looked closely at the switches and buttons, trying to determine which ones looked more worn out and pressed. They mustn’t have been the only people to use this secret passage before, so those who have taken this route before them would have left some remnants of their actions.
“Hey Sparks, you got any charcoal powder on you?”
“Yeah!” Yong exclaimed, reaching into his satchel to pull out the black powder. Hugo gently sprinkled the charcoal across the panel before softly blowing it away. The dust remained on three of the controls, sticking onto the oils left on them by previous travelers.
“Now…which control to try first…” Hugo mumbled.
Yong looked at the panel before looking up at Hugo. “…what does your gut say?”
Hugo grinned at Yong before proceeding to push down on a blue button that opened all doors in the labyrinth. Next, he pulled down one of the switches which stopped all pathways and rooms from rotating. Lastly, he pressed on the green button to his right. Panels from the red light on the ceiling to the green one on the wall turned green, making a pathway from the control room to the exit, lighting up the matching rooms in a greenish hue.
“Ha! Just as I predicted,” Hugo smugly stated. “See Sparks? We solved this maze our way.”
“With our guts!” Yong cheered, raising his fists in the air. The kids’ excitement was contagious, and Hugo raised his fists as well in victory, chanting ‘Guts! Guts! Guts!’ with Yong. He was sure they looked silly, celebrating their victory, but he had to admit it was fun basking in their success. Eventually the two settled down and decided to go back and find Varian and Nuru. As Hugo turned to look at the panel once more, something caught his eye.
Surprisingly, one of the buttons that wasn’t lit up before was now blinking orange. The older teen peered down and took a closer look, seeing that there was a faint bit of charcoal powder on it that he hadn’t noticed before.
“Hey, hold up, Yong,” he called as Yong was about to walk away. “I think we forgot something.”
The kid turned to look at the panel, seeing the blinking light as well.
“Huh…what do ya think it does?”
“I don’t know…”
Whatever this button was, it was pressed before, so it was needed...right? Hugo moved his finger to press down on it but paused for a split second. Something felt off. Hugo couldn’t understand why they would need to press on any more controls now that they had a path out of the labyrinth.
Still, maybe he was overthinking this. Maybe the button would reset the maze. And if so, the two of them could just open the pathway again with the panel. Hugo waived away his concerns and proceeded to press the button. The two heard a click and turned to the right-side wall to see a secret panel open. The blonde made his way towards opening, peering in to see a secret hall. The entry was narrow, allowing only one person to go in at a time.
“Hugo?” Yong called, still back at the panel. “What is it?”
“Looks like another pathway,” Hugo answered, walking into the entrance. As he took another step, his face slammed into something hard. The teen hissed in pain, holding his nose and realizing the pathway was fake. It was an optical illusion to look like a hall. Hugo had fallen for the stupid trick and had walked face first into a wall of a small room, not a hallway. “What the-“
“Hugo!” Yong cried out in warning, rushing forward toward him. Whatever Yong was trying to warn him about, he was too late.
Hugo yelped out in pain again as the panel behind him shut quickly, scraping his shoulder blade. Suddenly, everything went dark. Hugo felt as if he were in a void. There was no source of light in the small closed off crevice he was stuck in. There was barely any room for him to turn around, but he managed to shift his body to point back at the panel door that had closed and locked him in.
Outside, he could hear the faint cries from Yong, calling his name.
“Hugo! Hugo, are you okay?!”
“I’m okay!” the trapped teen yelled back, hoping the kid could hear him. “Open the panel!”
There was a moment of silence before he heard Yong respond back.
“I can’t! There’s no handle! And the button isn’t working!”
He wasn’t sure if it was the claustrophobic atmosphere or the fear in Yong’s voice that was setting him on edge. Hugo placed his hands against the wall in front of him, searching for a lever, handle, anything that could get him out of this room. Aggravatingly, there was nothing. He continued feeling each wall around him, cussing out when there was nothing but smooth surfaces surrounding him.
“Hugo?!”
“I-I….I’m here!” he called back, surprised by his own stutter. “I can’t open the door from inside!”
“Hugo! I’m gonna get help!”
“W-Wait!”
Wait? What the hell was Hugo saying? The best idea would be for Yong to find Varian and Nuru and bring them back here to get him out. It was a rational plan, and it wouldn’t take long for Yong to find them. But for some reason, being left alone in this trap made Hugo’s insides scream.
“I’ll be right back! I promise!”
“Yong! Wait!” Hugo shouted. “D-Don’t lea-….Don’t g-g-“
What was happening to him? Why was he losing his nerve now? His throat felt tight as a lump formed within it, making it even more difficult to speak. No yelling would have helped though, since by the sound of pure silence, Hugo deduced that Yong had already left. He was alone, locked in a suffocating pitch-black room. And suffocating was the best word to explain it as the teen could hear his breathing turn more erratic, as if his body couldn’t get enough oxygen. The sound of his heartbeat pounded in his ears, and Hugo wondered what was making him react this way. The hairs along his arms stood up.
His fight or flight responses were kicking in, sensing nothing but danger. The worst part was he couldn’t do either. This hellhole was making Hugo physically sick. Was this room spinning? It had to be since Hugo started feeling lightheaded and dizzy.
The walls were not closing in on him, but the thief felt like they were. He pushed against the walls and started hitting them, doing anything he could to get out of there. Terror spread through his veins and it wasn’t long before he started screaming for help, tearing through the lump in his throat.
“GET ME OUT OF HERE!!” he begged. “GET ME OUT!”
Pure panic set in, causing Hugo to lose it. He continued screaming for help, begging for someone to let him out.
Someone had to let him out.
Please someone let him out.
---
“Let me out!”
A very young Hugo trembled in fear as he waited for a response before calling out once more.
“Please guys, this is enough, let me out already,” he pleaded. It was his first week in the orphanage and the other kids had decided to play a horrible initiation prank on him. In the beginning, the group suggested playing a game of hide and seek. One of the older kids partnered up with him, telling the little blonde about the best hiding spot. Together, they ran down into the basement and the older kid suggested they hide in a dusty storage trunk sitting at the back of the room.
“They’ll never find us here,” the kid had assured, having Hugo crawl in. “Everyone else is too scared to go near here anyway.”
But before Hugo had a chance to ask why the kid themself wasn’t joining him, it was too late. His ‘partner’ closed the trunk and locked him in it before laughing and heading back upstairs. He wasn’t sure now much time had passed since he got locked in, but the game of hide and seek had to be over already. Hugo kicked against the lid of the trunk, but all that did was cause dust to swirl around the dark space and make him cough and struggle to breathe. As the dust settled, he shifted his position in the trunk, trying to find a better angle to push against the top of the case. His attempts were futile, as it did not budge an inch. He dug his nails into the faint crack below the lid, doing his best to pry it open. Hugo yelped in pain as his hand slipped, causing him to break one of his nails.
“Someone PLEASE,” he cried. The poor child sobbed, wondering if anyone would find him. What if he was going to be stuck here forever? What if they left him in the dark cold basement to never be found? Slowly, he began losing hope, because even if someone did find him, they probably wouldn't let him out anyways. He was just another orphan and no one would miss him. Losing hope, he curled into a ball and cried, the sobs shaking his shoulders.
“...hugo..”
The voice sounded so far away, Hugo barely heard it. He was too upset to answer back. He held himself tighter, wanting to be home.
“...hugo…”
What he would give to just be back home. To be somewhere he was missed and to be held by his parents.
“Hugo…snap out of it.. ”
The sorrow in his chest began to fade, leaving a numbness inside him. The small Hugo preferred the cool sensation of apathy washing over him, letting himself get lost in it. This was better than the misery and helplessness that racked his body before.
“Hugo!”
---
Suddenly, Hugo felt a small pair of arms wrap around him, snapping his senses back to reality. Blinking in confusion, he looked around the room to ground himself. He was on the control room floor, resting on his knees. In front of him was Varian, who had a hand on his shoulder, looking straight at him with the most concerned expression he'd ever seen on the alchemist. Behind Varian stood Nuru who looked just as troubled. The group had found a way to get him out of the trapped room, but Hugo couldn't recall being released from the prison. Feeling warmth around his waist, he looked down to see Yong hugging him tightly, his face buried in Hugo's chest.
“Hugo, are you okay?” Varian asked, causing him to look back up. It was Varian's voice he had heard before, trying to wake him up from some…memory?...more like a nightmare. “We got you out, but you…”
Varian seemed unsure how to explain it. He turned to Nuru for help.
“I what?” Hugo rasped, his hand shooting up to his neck as his voice came out strained. His throat felt raw, burning with each word he spoke.
“We used the console to get you out,” Nuru explained. “We caught you as you fell to the floor when the wall opened back up. But when we got you out, we could not get you to speak or move. It was as if you were in a trance of some sort.”
“What happened in there, Hugo?” Varian pressed. The alchemist could see that Hugo was just as confused as the rest of them. The tone in his voice became gentler, as if he was trying not to frighten him…as if he had an inkling as to what Hugo experienced. “Where did you go?”
“I don't…”
Hugo took a deep breath, trying to collect his thoughts, and gently placed his hands on Yong's shoulders. Yong finally loosened his grip on him. The kid backed up to look up at him.
“I promised I'd come back with help,” Yong explained in a shaky voice. “I didn't know-...I didn't mean to-”
Hugo realized Yong was trying to apologize to him for leaving him behind. He recalled calling out to the kid before, not wanting to be left alone. Slowly, shame colored his previously pale face. How embarrassing could he be? Getting spooked from the dark to the point of pleading for some kid to stay with him? He looked up to Varian and Nuru, seeing the pity in their eyes.
Oh no. There was no way he was going to let this group pity him. He was not going to stand by and let them think he was some weak and jittery mess. Hugo Rottewange was not afraid of the dark or small places. There must have been some other explanation.
“Don't apologize,” he quickly ordered Yong, pushing himself away from him and standing up. “I'm fine. The trap must have poisoned me with some gas. I had trouble breathing a-and hallucinated.”
“Are you oka-” Varian began, but Hugo cut him off.
“I'm fine,” he assured, walking past them to go towards the exit. The sooner he was out of this damn labyrinth, the better. Varian followed closely, Nuru and Yong behind him. “Now that I'm out, I can breathe. I feel fine.”
“But Hugo-”
“You don't have to worry about me.”
“Hugo, please wai-”
“There’s nothing wron-”
“Hugo-”
“I said I'm fine!” the blonde hissed, turning back to the team. The trio froze, their faces filled with even more unease, which pissed him off more. “What?!”
“...you're crying,” peeped Yong. Hugo touched his face. Sure enough, he felt the tears that were rolling down his cheeks. Fuck, when had he started crying? Had he been crying this entire time? Ashamed, he quickly wiped his eyes and turned back toward the exit.
“I'm fine,” he spoke once more. “Some of the poison is probably still in my system. Let's get out of here.”
The four of them stayed silent, exiting the passage. As they continued their travels, Hugo kept his distance from the group. Yong would try to catch up to talk to him, but Varian would hold the kid back.
“Give him some space, Yong,” he heard Varian advise. “When he's ready to talk, we'll be here.”
---
A few days had passed since they left the secret passage. Hugo had thought that by now, the team would go back to their usual dynamic, but he could feel the others treading carefully around him. At the start, when he would talk to them, Varian would try to pry about what he went through back in the maze, but he would shut that topic down, swearing he was fine and they needed to move on. Nonetheless, It looked like the group didn’t believe him. Maybe it was because that was a lie, and he was sure they all knew it was a lie. Every night since the labyrinth, he would have nightmares of being locked in a small room or box, and would wake up with a start. Hugo wouldn’t be able to get back to sleep afterwards, so at best, he was running on 3 hours of sleep a night. Varian would offer him sleeping aids and continue to try and talk to him about the nightmares, promising him that talking about it would help.
While he had a feeling Varian was right, he refused. He would tell the alchemist it was all just a side effect from the poison in the trap and would eventually go away. He could tell Varian wasn’t accepting this explanation, but he wouldn’t push further.
The lack of sleep made Hugo more irritable, but the three seemed more forgiving of his irked attitude than they usually would. Still, the mood between them was gloomy and tense. He would try breaking the blue atmosphere with a sarcastic joke or snarky remark, but their reactions were off. Yesterday, when Nuru had gotten herself tangled in a spider web while lost in thought, he joked that the web was a great addition to her stuffy clothes. Instead of receiving a chastising look or comeback, Nuru calmly removed the web from her clothes and shrugged at his words, giving him a slight awkward smile.
Really? he thought. I insult her and she smiles?
He could stand Varian’s overly friendly inquisitive nature, but Nuru’s kindness was too much. Hugo had to nip this in the bud and fast before he blew up on them. But first, he needed to fix his sleeping issue. The blonde would have an easier time convincing them he was back to being normal if he managed to get a good night's sleep without waking up in a panic.
—
Later that night, Hugo woke up with a start, nearly shouting out for help. His breathing was shaky and his heart pulsed rapidly in his chest. It took him a few seconds to realize that he just had another nightmare and sat safe and sound in his tent. Frustrated, he threw off his blanket and placed his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes with the tips of his fingers. Hugo took a deep breath, but froze when he heard scuffling outside his tent entrance. The blonde reached for his glasses and placed him on, getting a clear look of a person’s shadow draped across the fabric. He knew that silhouette instantly.
“Sparks,” he called. “I know you’re there.”
Sure enough, the kid opened one of the flaps, smiling sheepishly as he peered in.
“I..uh..heard you moving around,” the boy lied, having actually heard Hugo groaning in his sleep. “And I couldn’t sleep, so I thought, we could, maybe, not sleep together?”
Hugo raised a brow at this. He sighed and put on his boots before stepping out of the tent.
“Beats waiting for morning here,” he replied. At the very least, Yong didn’t seem to change the way he interacted with him as much as the others. Hugo was grateful that Yong would try to act the way he hoped the rest would. The kid never brought up what happened in the maze and when he spoke to the older teen, it was either about his firework experiments, what they saw on their trek to the north, or random ramblings. “So what do you want to do?”
Yong gave him a bit of an apprehensive look, unsure if his idea would be interesting enough.
“I found this really cool part of the forest with Nuru earlier,” he answered. “I think you’d like it.”
“An impromptu hike through a dense forest in the middle of the night?” the blonde asked. “Sounds safe, I’m down.”
“Good!” Yong beamed, before remembering everyone else was asleep and lowering his voice. “Bring your blanket and pillow.”
“Why would I need-”
Yong was already running back to his own tent, collecting the same materials he instructed Hugo to get. Groaning, Hugo grabbed his blanket and pillow before joining Yong, who led him away from their campsite.
“It’s right over here,” Yong announced, his voice louder now that they were further away from their sleeping crew. The two entered a large clearing, the trees opening up to show a small hill. Yong ran up the hill before placing his blanket down on a soft patch of grass. When he noticed Hugo was still standing under the trees, he ran back toward him and pulled him along. “Come on! Ya gonna like this!”
Hugo let Yong pull him toward the hill, slightly smiling at his enthusiasm.
“I’m coming, Sparks, you don’t need to yank me so hard,” he joked.
“Put your blanket here,” Yong instructed, helping him spread out the cloth and place it next to his. Satisfied, Yong grabbed the pillow from Hugo’s hands and placed it down before sitting on the blankets and patting the spot next to him.
“Okay, okay,”Hugo sighed, sitting down. “Now what?”
“Lie down,” Yong answered.
“Are you telling me you took me away from the campsite where we were sleeping to a random part of the forest to sleep instead?”
“No, I’m telling you to lie down.”
Hugo reluctantly did as Yong ordered and gazed up. His eyes widened, seeing the vast starry sky up above, illuminated by the full moon and infinite stars stretching across the galaxies. At the campsite, the large trees had meshed together, blocking the view of the sky. But here, the clearing gave them a gleaming picture of the celestial bodies above them. It was mesmerizing, grand, and Hugo never felt so calm.
“Nuru was showing me some of the constellations,” Yong spoke softly. “Like that one.” He pointed up to a set of stars that formed something similar to a pot. “That’s Ursa Major. Wait…no, that’s Ursa Minor. That’s Ursa Major.”
Hugo listened to Yong point out the constellations he learned and could understand why Nuru was so entranced by the stars. Their constellations glowed carelessly hundreds of lightyears away and he started to form respect for the novas. As the kid continued to ramble, changing the topic to the different gasses that formed the twinkling orbs, Hugo felt his body relax and had to stifle to yawn.
“Feeling tired?”
Hugo looked at Yong who seemed rather pleased for someone who’s audience was dozing off. “You’re not boring me, Sparks. I swear. I just haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
“I haven’t either,” Yong confessed. This surprised Hugo. He didn’t realize Yong was suffering from insomnia as well. He figured the kid had lied about not being able to sleep earlier.
“...how come?” Hugo asked.
“I think,” the kid began. “I just don’t like sleeping in my tent anymore. I know it’s safer for me, but I can’t explain it. Ever since the-"
Yong froze up for a second. Hugo could tell he was trying not to mention the maze, afraid it would put him in a sour mood. Instead, the firecracker redirected his thoughts. "When I look up from my sleeping bag, I just see the roof of my tent, and it makes me feel restless…and kind of lonely. But here, under the sky, I don’t feel that. Everything is open and there’s so many stars, so I don’t feel like I’m by myself.”
Hugo listened thoughtfully to Yong, sympathizing with the nervous boy. No…not sympathizing…empathizing. Being under this sky made him forget about his nightmares that he was too embarrassed and reserved to divulge, but Yong laid next to him comfortable enough to reveal his fears.
“...you’re not by yourself,” the older teen pointed out.
“I know,” Yong responded in an embarrassed tone, taking Hugo’s words literally. He turned back to look at the sky, too self-conscious to look at Hugo.
“No-...what I mean is…”
Hugo hesitated for a moment.
“Can I ask you something, Yong?”
“Yeah.”
“Back at the maze, you mentioned that, if I wanted to, we could be teammates and friends.”
“I did.”
“Is that offer still on the table?”
Yong turned towards Hugo, taken aback by his question. Hugo knew this was going to cause problems for him down the line. Donella had warned him not to get too close, but he couldn't stand by anymore and let this kid think he was on his own when with him.
“Yeah!” he answered enthusiastically. Hugo had to stop himself from laughing at Yong’s eagerness.
“Then, since we're friends now, you can let me know when you feel like you're by yourself,” Hugo instructed. “And as your teammate and friend, I’ll remind you that you aren’t.”
Yong nodded, smiling gratefully at him. The two looked back at the sky, both yawning as sleep began to take them.
“Hey Sparks, did you know this place would make me sleepy?”
“Maybe.”
“How did you know?”
“I guess I just felt it in my gut.”