Chapter Text
(Juliet’s POV)
I didn’t notice the other blue dots until I was already inside the safe room. I hadn’t seen a single other person since starting this godforsaken crawl, and I hadn’t expected that to change so suddenly. The sound of another human voice really should have been comforting. Instead it nearly scared me out of my skin.
I slammed the door shut the minute I crossed the threshold, then I braced my hands against it, attempting to catch my breath. I made it. I was no longer in danger. I should be able to relax now.
I almost died.
My health climbed slowly out of the red. I could see it in my HUD, but it felt like it wasn’t improving at all. My right side was in agony where I’m sure I had several broken ribs. The acid burns across my upper back were brutal. I’d exhausted my mana. My inventory was devoid of scrolls and potions. I would simply have to wait this one out.
I almost died.
I hadn’t found a safe room in over a day. I was exhausted. Desperate, even. When I finally saw one appear on my map, I jumped at the opportunity despite the risks that awaited me. The mob blocking my only way there turned out to be a small group of Brindled Vespas. There were only three of them—I didn’t think it would be too hard to squeak by.
I thought wrong, obviously.
The speed boost from my sandals had so far been enough to keep me (relatively) safe, but this time I had run out of luck. My lack of armor left me too vulnerable. The only weapons I had were a couple of knives—close range and hardly effective in the hands of someone who never learned to fight.
I shuddered. I really almost died.
I couldn’t make my brain calm down. My chest felt constricted in a way that had nothing to do with my injuries. I wasn’t ready to die. That revelation was pretty ironic considering how things were going before the collapse happened.
It’s okay—you made it. You’re okay now. I kept repeating those words in my head. I was alive. Barely. But I was alive. That had to be enough.
My guildmaster was right—if I didn’t join a party soon, I wasn’t going to make it. The floors would only get harder. I really needed to learn how to fight. He’d said the sandals could be powerful if you knew how to use them, but so far they’d only provided me with a convenient means of escape. The time until level collapse was ticking down steadily no matter how much I willed it to stop. I managed to kill a single neighborhood boss on the first floor. Sheer dumb luck, honestly. I made very little progress since then. Too bad you didn’t get experience points for simply surviving.
There had been times when the dark thoughts almost got me—the kind of thoughts that infiltrated your mind like ants at a picnic. In a place like the dungeon, death was the easier option. Unfortunately for the bastards responsible for this place, I didn’t do “easy.” My fighting spirit simply refused to be diminished.
Okay, that was a lie.
It wasn’t my fighting spirit at all. This was pride, plain and simple. Stubborn, awful pride. I guess I would literally rather die than let them win.
“Jesus! Are you okay?” a male voice exclaimed. It startled me so much that I whirled around too fast and my back thudded against the door. My ribs screamed in protest; a pained gasp escaped me.
“Sorry,” the man said again, standing quickly from where he was sitting. The chair nearly toppled over. It looked like he was going to approach me, but he seemed to stop himself at the last moment. “I didn’t mean to scare you, but you don’t look so good. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I noticed right away how blue his eyes were. That surprised me for some reason. I fixated on that blue. Don’t ask me why. Maybe because it was my favorite color. It was a calm color. Soothing.
Those blue eyes were looking at me with genuine concern. A beat passed and the words he spoke finally registered. I figured I must be in pretty rough shape to warrant an observation like that from a total stranger.
“Yeah, I’m okay…” I said, but it sounded unsure. Even to my ears.
The man was tall, definitely over six feet, and impressively muscular. His face was quite handsome. Strangely enough, he wore no pants and was completely barefoot except for some sort of enchanted toe ring. His feet sparkled. His boxers had little hearts all over them. His whole ensemble was something of a spectacle. It seemed familiar.
Through the haze of pain and fatigue, a memory gnawed at the edges of my mind. I had seen him before. During the recap shows.
The pieces started clicking into place.
This was the guy that took on a rage elemental and helped senior citizens through the dungeon. His whole thing was bombs and naked legs, apparently. He was practically a legend and the second floor hadn’t even ended.
This was crawler Carl.
“Look, Mongo, it’s another crawler! And who might you be?”
My attention snapped away from Carl to the source of the more feminine voice coming from my left. I locked eyes with a fluffy, flat-faced cat adorned with a jeweled crown on top of her head, a sparkling crupper, and a butterfly charm attached to her collar. Princess Donut. Next to her was a small feathered dinosaur who was eyeing me warily and baring his sharp, little teeth.
When I didn’t immediately respond, too stunned to speak, Princess Donut turned to Carl and tilted her head in my direction. “She looks traumatized, Carl. Is it because you’re not wearing pants?”
Carl started to say something, but I managed to find my voice before he could. “It’s not the pants! Really. I just wasn’t expecting to ever meet you two.” I paused, my eyes flicking between the first two crawlers I had seen since descending those stairs. “Or anyone, for that matter.”
Something was welling up inside of me. The feeling was big enough that it threatened to suffocate me. I shoved it down as best as I could.
“I’m Juliet.”
Of course, they could already see that, but I didn’t care. It felt like my luck was finally turning around.
I only hoped it stayed that way.
***
(Carl’s POV)
I noticed the blue dot approaching minutes before the door to the safe room flew open and a woman came barreling inside. She slammed the door and held it shut with both hands as if frightened that something had followed her. Nothing on the map indicated anything was nearby except a few scattered Brindle Grubs.
Juliet. Level 6.
She was visibly out of breath. No skulls and only one star appeared next to her name. I was surprised by her lower level, especially considering that she seemed to be alone. I wondered if she started out that way, or if she had lost someone like so many of the others had.
I gave her a good once over. She wore a pair of golden, leather sandals that had four little wings, two for each foot, jutting from the straps around her ankles. They looked exactly like a picture I saw once in a book about Greek mythology. Their enchantment was prominent, practically humming with power. They gave off a bluish glow.
She was petite. Really petite. Probably a whole twelve inches shorter than me. She had the kind of well-toned physique that indicated athleticism. I guessed her age to be early twenties. Her blonde hair was braided messily and hanging over her left shoulder, caked in grime and blood. She was dressed in torn, dirt-covered joggers and a low cut tank top that looked like it used to be white but was now more of a brownish gray.
Donut was ecstatic to meet a “fan” and launched into a detailed rundown of our time in the dungeon. Mongo quickly grew bored with the conversation and went to sleep on a nearby chair. As I listened to Donut’s lengthy recap, I kept a surreptitious eye on Juliet.
I quickly got the feeling that she wasn’t hearing a word of anything Donut had to say. Her eyes had glazed over the same way I’d seen Mordecai’s look when he was checking his menus. I highly doubted this was the same thing, but something was off about it. She began noticeably trembling. Donut was lost in her own story and continued to chat in an animated fashion. Halfway through her explanation of who Ferdinand was, I watched Juliet’s complexion turn a sickly pale color. Her breathing even seemed labored. I immediately recognized the symptoms for what they were: she was going into shock.
“Hey, you should probably sit down,” I said, interrupting Donut in the middle of her exposition dump. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”
Donut shot me a glare for the interruption. Her expression changed to one of concern the moment she took a good look at Juliet’s pallid face. “Oh, dear, Carl has a point. You really don’t look well.”
“Yeah. I should probably sit down,” Juliet mumbled, but she only stood there, frozen with her back pressed to the exit door. Instead, much to my and Donut’s surprise, she sniffled loudly. Tears suddenly started leaking down her dirty face. Before either of us could say anything, she let out a sob loud enough that it startled Mongo awake. The young dinosaur made a distressed chirping sound and quickly scurried to Donut’s side. He looked between the three of us with confusion.
Juliet’s knees buckled and she slumped to the ground with her face in her hands. Her whole body shook as she sobbed. It was utterly heartbreaking to watch.
I looked at Donut who was watching this unfold with the same horrified expression that I’m sure was mirrored on my face as well. Our eyes met. She tilted her head towards the crying woman, begging me silently to do something. I frantically shook my head no. She narrowed her big, glowy eyes at me.
Donut: CARL, DON’T BE A BRUTE. SHE NEEDS TO BE COMFORTED.
I shook my head again.
Donut: CARL.
Carl: You do it then!
Donut: REALLY, CARL? JUST BECAUSE SHE’S YOUNG AND PRETTY, YOU’RE SUDDENLY SHY? I CAN’T HUG HER PROPERLY LIKE YOU CAN. SHE NEEDS YOU.
Goddamnit, Donut.
With a sigh, I walked over to where Juliet was crouched and knelt down in front of her. Her sobs seemed to increase in severity.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, and immediately regretted my stupid choice of words. Of course it wasn’t okay—we were trapped in a murder dungeon. Nothing about this was okay. I reached forward and gently patted her knee.
The moment I did, Juliet unfurled and flung herself into my arms. The surprise of it knocked me off balance and I fell backwards onto my ass. She clung to me with her arms around my neck, practically straddling my lap. Her tearful face was pressed against my shoulder.
My eyes screamed at Donut to help me, but the traitor looked to be enjoying my discomfort.
“How about I have Gunther prepare some hot tea?” She didn’t wait for an answer before trotting away and calling for Mongo to follow. I looked over and I could just see the bopca’s wide eyes watching us from behind the counter.
Just like that, I was left to deal with Juliet alone.
A flood of memories washed over me and I thought briefly of Bea. Whenever she would cry, I was never very good at knowing what to do. One time I was fumbling my way through a pep talk, and she’d stopped wailing long enough to tell me it would be better if I just didn’t talk.
I used that advice now and kept my mouth firmly shut. My arms, which had been hovering awkwardly around Juliet’s small frame without actually touching her, finally closed in. When I hugged her properly, I was struck by how warm she was. I let out a slow breath. A strange tightness pulled in my chest and expanded rapidly.
With everything we’d been through in the dungeon so far, I hadn’t realized how much I missed being needed like this. Her vulnerability in front of a total stranger was heartachingly human.
I was glad for the reminder.
My hands started to rub soothing circles against her back. I rested my cheek on the crown of her head. It wasn’t long until Juliet’s sobbing died down to quiet whimpers and sniffles until eventually she fell silent once again.
***
(Juliet’s POV)
I really couldn’t tell you why I started sobbing the way I did. I guess the weight of the past however many days had finally caught up to me, and I was completely overwhelmed.
The isolation. The fear. The insurmountable grief. Once I chose to enter the dungeon, I had to put all that aside and focus on simply staying alive. I’d built a wall to keep those emotions at bay, but that wall was so paper thin that it only took the smallest spark of hope to burn it all down.
I was utterly mortified.
Carl didn’t say a thing the whole time I clung to him and wailed. He held me tight, rubbing my back with his large hand until I eventually calmed down. I expected him to release me as soon as the tears stopped, but neither of us made any effort to separate.
It felt… indescribably good.
Like a reminder of the humanity this dungeon seemed to strip us of any chance it got. I wondered if maybe Carl needed this as much as I did, but I dismissed that ridiculous thought as soon as it formed. Still, it warmed something inside of me. To think I could be of any help to someone like him…
Well, that would be worth the embarrassment, at least.
“Are you feeling better?” Carl asked after a few long moments of silence. His voice was low and I felt the words rumble in his chest as he spoke them.
I nodded. His arms around me finally loosened, allowing me to scoot back, too embarrassed to look him in the eye. We rearranged ourselves so that we were both sitting cross-legged on the floor. The cold tile grounded me, clearing my head of the storm clouds, but my shame remained. That’s when I noticed the notification:
New achievement! Big girls don’t cry!
Except, in your case, they most definitely do. After surviving unimaginable horrors, you finally reached your breaking point in front of the first people you’d seen in days
Very cool.
Very dignified.
A truly unforgettable first impression.
At least your public humiliation was entertaining for the viewers.
Reward: You’ve received a Gold Crybaby Box!
Inside the Gold reward was a never-ending box of tissues. The description didn’t say much more than that. It looked like any other normal Kleenex brand box with a pink and green floral design on the cardboard, but this one had a gold sticker on the side that boasted: Now with infinite more tissues!
I couldn’t help but laugh. When Carl saw why, he started to laugh, too. We sat on the floor together laughing and laughing until the bopca delivered the cup of tea Princess Donut ordered for me. Even then, I could only manage to give him a thumbs up in lieu of a “thank you” because I was laughing too hard to speak. More tears spilled down my face, this time from laughing so hard.
I plucked a tissue from my new box to wipe them away.