⏳ --

Had I made the wrong decision keeping my relationship with Eilian from Steve?

I couldn't stop thinking about it. I couldn't help but struggle under the weight of my own guilt. We'd promised never to keep secrets from each other. We'd promised we'd always be open with each other. And I'd broken the promise. He'd been so open about Peggy, and I hadn't returned the favour about Eilian. I kept something I should've been open about from him. It was a stupid decision to make, a decision I should not have made. And I regretted it more than he probably knew.

I didn't think mentioning the more than friendly relationship I had with Eilian was important. I'd never really considered it a relationship at all. He certainly didn't. The way he had always seen it, I was a fling; a pawn on his own personal chessboard. And when I'd finally opened my eyes about how he saw me, I saw him the same way. The guy was my mentor, my friend. My savior. Eilian didn't compare to how important Steve was in my life. Steve was much more than all those things. So much more. And I blew it.

"You okay?"

I blinked, the starting of the new conversation knocking me out of my thoughts. "What?"

"Are you okay?" Nat asked again, sitting behind me on the Parthenope. "You seem a bit out of it."

"I'm fine. Really, I am."

"No, you're not. I can tell that you're not." She leaned in closer to my ear. "Are you thinking about Steve?"

I swallowed. I didn't want to talk about it; the fight, the awkward silent treatment we were throwing at each other, the hot springs incident. I didn't want to talk about any of it. But if I didn't say something, Nat wasn't going to leave me alone.

"Did I make a mistake?" I wondered softly. "Had we moved too fast? Had...Had I fallen for the wrong–"

"Stop," she interrupted. "You didn't make a mistake. You hadn't moved too fast. You have not fallen for the wrong person." She sighed, grasping for her next words carefully. "We all knew that your relationship with Steve was gonna complicated. You're both two very different people. The strongest link you two share is that you both know pain, and that's not what you should build a relationship on." She gripped my shoulder. "Listen to me, we're all under pressure here, you especially. If Steve cared, and I know the hell he does, he'll give you your space for now, because you're gonna need it. An entire race is relying on us to save it. There's no time for relationship troubles now. Deal with it when we get home."

There was a point to be made in her words, and it reached me just fine. As ironic as it sounded, there really was no time to squabble over our relationship issues. We could argue about it after we saved all of time. That way we actually had time to argue.

Far in the distance, natural formations stood in the bleak darkness. I didn't know how long it took us to reach them, but we'd finally made it to the Killing Caves. We were close to Gilliam.

★     ★     ★

⏳ --

Torches burned dimly on either side of the cave's entrance, flickering ominously in the darkness stretching out for miles. A wooden post stuck out of the ground nearby, a warning that losing your way in the catacombs was an easy feat and so enter at your own risk. The cave's mouth was separated into three corridors leading into the labyrinth: tombs of importance, tombs for the wealthy, tombs for the ordinary. And so Gilliam could be anywhere.

We dismounted the Parthenope. As I slipped off mine, I felt it shaking. Even at the touch of my hand it jumped suddenly. They pranced nervously and dug their sharp claws into the ground. I had a sick feeling that we weren't going to be riding them back to the camp somehow.

We made our way towards the cave entrance. I heard whimpering coming from behind me, and I watched, sighing, as the Parthenope turned tail and bolted back the way we'd come.

"Well, that's just perfect," Clint grumbled. "How the hell are we gonna get back to the camp now?"

"That is not our priority at the moment," Astra said. "We must find Gilliam before it is too late."

Steve perched his hands on his hips. "Three tunnels–"

"Three groups," I interrupted. I knew he had the same idea, and I knew where he was going with it; he and I were going to have to go together, something I didn't approve of. I didn't need protecting. I didn't want protecting. I wanted to get Gilliam and get out. I didn't want to discuss our issues like I had a feeling we were going to if I'd let him handle this. "Stark, Barton, Wanda. Nat, Sam, Cap." I turned to Astra. "You and me."

Her purple eyes flicked from me to Cap before she nodded. "Fine."

Steve slightly stepped towards me. "Hold on–"

"Come on," I ordered to Astra, and she followed me towards the first tunnel that led to the important tombs.

I shivered as he grasped my wrist. I kind of missed the touch of his skin on mine. "Be careful."

I sent him a chilling glare as I ripped my arm from his grip. "I can take care of myself."

And then Astra and I entered the tunnel. I heard Steve taking the lead with the others, and then the voices behind me trailed away.

It was dark, even as Astra and I held up glowing hands to light the way. We couldn't see ten feet in front of us. All my senses were completely heightened; my eyes stretched out ahead to try and see, I could smell something rotten and damp, I could hear only our boots crunching on the dirt below, the walls were sharp as I ran a hand along it.

Although the rock corridor was wide, I felt claustrophobic, like being trapped in a box that stretched out forever; like an animal locked in a cage.

I'd never been to the Killing Caves before. I was never in the Chronos enough to travel to it, nor was a really allowed. Only Walkers granted special permission by the Lord and Lady of Time were permitted to enter. I was okay with never coming to the caves anyway. They were...unnatural; creepy and the stench of death surrounding every nook and cranny.

"Please tell me that there's no minotaurs around here," I hissed to Astra.

"You have read too many stories, Andromeda," she replied.

"No, the minotaur in the Daedalus' labyrinth was the real deal."

"Says who?"

"P–"

"Actually, I do not want to know."

The corridor widened into a small circular clearing. I created a ball of golden light and raised it as high as the ceiling allowed, revealing a hall of tombs built into the wall. Shrouds in the Walkers respective colour covered the bodies. There were probably hundreds of these halls, the corridor ahead and to the left and right leading to another and another and then to another chamber. It was no joke that it was easy to get lost in these catacombs. Hopefully we could find our way out, because I didn't see any golden ball of thread we could've used. 

"We are in the minster chamber," Astra said. She pointed to a body with a dark green shroud behind me. "I recognise Diagonon's shroud."

"I'm going to take a wild guess and assume that Eon would keep Gilliam in the very centre chamber of these catacombs," I interjected.

"You would probably be right."

"Then we have a long way to go."

We decided that the best way to find our way back was to leave balls of lights in chambers in colour-coded order: gold, purple, gold and purple, two golds and one purple, three purples and two golds, one gold and four purples.

The deeper we descended into the catacombs, the more noises I heard: scratching and feet pattering on dirt. One thing I knew for sure was that the sounds were too gentle to be a mighty minotaur (thank, god).

Suddenly, the pattering feet intensified and multiplied. I whipped my attention to my right as the sounds got closer and closer.

"You sure there's no creatures down here?" I whispered.

"I said there were no minotaurs. I never said there weren't creatures here," Astra hissed back.

I gripped her wrist. "Run."

We charged down the corridor and burst into a chamber. We didn't bother to leave a marker; we just kept running and running. I pumped my arms harder, propelling me forward. Adrenaline shot through my veins, accelerating my heartbeat.

Whatever was chasing us was getting closer and closer.

My lungs and throat burned as I heaved, trying to get further and further away from our pursuers. And Astra wasn't waiting for anyone. By the way she was running, she was prepared to leave me behind if I conveniently tripped. 

I lost count at how many twists and turns we took and how many chambers we charged through, but whatever was chasing us was still on our tails.

Exhaustion was catching up to me. My pace was slowing and my limbs began to ache. We couldn't keep this up forever. Either we were going to get caught or we'd lose our pursers, and the former seemed like the more likely outcome.

And then I ran into something solid, knocking me backwards to the ground.

"Shit!" a voice growled.

I recognised it. "Watch your language, Stark."

He held out his hand and I took it, him pulling me to my feet. Wanda and Clint appeared from the darkness next to him.

The feet running behind us turned to a walk. Cap with Nat and Sam rounded the corner to meet us.

I breathed out, hands resting on my knees in exhaustion. That was enough exercise for one day.

I looked up. There was only one corridor open to us ahead. I hoped it led to the centre chamber, and I walked through it.

❈Author's Note: Hey, there!

This is sort of one of those (shivers) filler chapters. But Act 2 will be better written for about 90% of the time. I spent yesterday planning it all out and it's going to be pretty action-packed rather than a complete drag like Act 1 has been (sorry for that).

Anyway! I hope you enjoyed the crappy filler chapter. I'll make up for it with a special surprise before Act 2 begins ;)

If you liked this chapter, please consider giving it a quick vote! Thanks for reading!