Sean shuddered at the thought. He couldn't imagine why Anti would envy him. He thought he had much more interesting family members that he'd want to be like. Or was it simply that he was a hollow copy of him? Hugging himself, he pushed those thoughts aside. He didn't want to make any assumptions until he spoke with him. Illinois walked up a steep path, then reached back to help him up with him. Hopping down from the steep ledge, Illinois dropped the torch and held up his arms for Sean to jump down into. The jump wasn't that far. Giving him the courage to hop down to allow him to catch him. Setting him down, Illinois picked up the torch and asked curiously. "So, what is this about you and the Blood Hunter not getting along?" Sean sighed heavily, answering numbly as he noticed how much darker the cave was getting. "It was something that happened years ago... Blood Hunter had these crazy theories that the Eldritch Horrors would return to Wonderland. He told me that he had a dream about a 'Great One' returning to find the worthy. So, he wanted me to prepare for their arrival. He said something about seeing what 'The Scourge' would do if left unchecked... I don't know. It sounded like crazed nonsense to me. I barely listened as he rambled on. Eventually, I told him to stop taking whatever drugs he was on... and it ended with us yelling at each other."

Illinois glanced back at him, mumbling under his breath. "I wish you would have listened more. It might give us more insight into what these... nightmares want." Sean huffed, gruffly stating out. "Somehow, I don't believe they want to share anything with us. Nightmares are not dreams. They don't inspire. They are manifestations of fear. They-" Sean stopped talking as a deep haunting bellow came from farther within the darkness of the cave. Freezing in place, Sean uttered out uneasily. "Illinois? What was that? Is that a... monster?" Illinois held up a hand and listened to the deep rumble and haunting wailing. Then glancing up at the flickering torch, he told Sean calmly. "It's the wind being sucked into the cave. It's echoing off the walls. It's normal." Sean shuffled his feet, asking shakily. "Are you sure? Cause that doesn't sound like wind..." Illinois took his hand, pulling him closer to sweetly tell him. "It's the wind. Feel it? The cave is deep and sound travels far." Sean stayed closer to the torchlight, asking hopefully. "Can we change the subject? I'm... getting a little freaked out." Illinois squeezed his hand, pulling him close to his side as he happily asked aloud. "Ok. Well, now that some of your family knows about us... When this is all over. Will you... make us more official?"

Sean tensed, completely startled by the question. Illinois smirked to him, leading him around the winding path as he added openly. "I mean... You were against us coming out before because of your family and mine... but now that enough of them know about us. We could... take things to the next level?" Sean snorted, blurting out. "I'm already sleeping with you. What other level is there?" Illinois slowly came to a stop, avoiding his eyes when he answered softly. "Marriage." Sean's jaw dropped, before he cleared his throat and anxiously squeaked out. "Oh... I... Well... I don't know." Illinois began slowly walking forward, stating out nervously without looking at him. "I'm not saying we should do this now. I just think that it is something we should think about... after. You know? I know we mentioned it once and I wasn't ready... but lately I've been wanting to be taken off the market. You know? Adventuring is fun... but only when I'm with someone that I care about. Otherwise, I've just gotten kind of bored with it." Sean bit his lip, mumbling out. "I see... Well-" Illinois calmly pulled him up against his chest and tilted the torch to point it at something on the wall, causing something to hiss aggressively.

Sean jerked to look, watching a snake fall from a hole in the wall. When it hit the ground, Illinois stomped his foot on the snake's head, crushing it before it recovered to strike. Kicking the body of the snake away, Illinois casually said. "Sorry. You were saying?" Sean stumbled as he stared off toward the dead snake, asking completely distracted now. "Was that poisonous?" Illinois coaxed him onward, quickly shrugging out as he said. "Very. Dead in four seconds. Anyway, you were talking about how you feel about marriage?" Sean pointed to the snake, feeling emotionally battered between the two. Taking a moment to reset himself, he told Illinois honestly. "I don't know. I can't really think about that right now. I have to fix Wonderland first." Illinois nodded, sweetly saying. "I get that, but I'm asking how you feel about it. Can you see yourself marrying me, at least?" Sean opened his mouth to answer but yelped as a startled bat hit something in its attempt to flee from the firelight. Just as the large bat flew overhead, a dusty skeleton fell from a hole in the ceiling, causing a cluster of rats at their feet to scatter with surprised squeaks. Jumping back from the skeleton, Sean yelled out. "AH!" Turning on his heel, Sean tried to run out, but Illinois grabbed his arm to keep him close as he calmly told him. "Sean. Sean! Calm down."

Sean tried to wiggle from his grip, his foot stepping on a rat that squeaked and lunged at his leg to chase him off his tail. Screaming, Sean jumped back from the rat and jumped onto Illinois' arms. Illinois huffed as Sean's unexpected weight nearly made him fall but he managed to hold him up long enough to punt the attacking rat into the wall. The rat hit the wall, then scampered away. Illinois tried to set Sean down, but he draped himself over Illinois' shoulder, shakily stammering out. "Don't put me down! I want out! Get me out! I'm done! I'd rather go back and find someone to fly us to the castle! I'm not kidding!" Illinois wrapped an arm around Sean's legs to keep him from falling, telling him calmly. "Sean. Relax. You're freaking yourself out. Take a deep breathe and chill." Sean started to breath heavily, straining out. "I can't... There is barely any air in here... I'm gonna pass out..." Dropping the torch, Illinois reached up to rub Sean's back, telling him soothingly. "There is plenty of air, Sean. Can you feel the breeze coming through?" Sean paused long enough to feel the gentle breeze on his skin, but still panted out. "I want out. Take me outside. It's not safe here. It's too dark..."

Illinois patted Sean's butt, before chuckling out as he crouched to pick up the torch. "It's perfectly safe. The person probably panicked and tried to go up and got stuck. It's fine." Sean exhaled in distress, snapping out. "It's not fine! There are snakes, skeletons, bats, and rats!" Illinois stepped over the skeleton, blurting out through a smug smirk. "Oh my." Sean smacked his back, snapping out louder. "It's not funny! You know what kind of viruses those things carry?! And if there are dead people here, then I don't want to be one of them! Now where are you going?! We need to go THAT way! Illinois?" Illinois hummed to himself softly as he continued to walk on, before calmly informing him. "You want out. I'll get you out." Sean groaned, tugging on Illinois' shirt as he whined out. "You're going the wrong way! That way is safe! I wanna go back out THAT way!" Illinois stroked his hand along the back of Sean's smooth stockings, telling him lightly. "I'm not going back. We don't have time for that. So just... sit pretty." Illinois chuckled a little, his hand going up to stroke his ass innocently. Sean groaned, muttering out. "You're enjoying this a little too much..."

Illinois playfully kissed Sean's thigh, telling him honestly. "Maybe a little. But it's distracting you, isn't it?" Sean groaned, hanging limply off his shoulder as he grumbled out. "The last thing I want is to be scared AND horny." Illinois' fingers traced the seem of his underwear along his ass cheek, casually replying. "You have nothing to be scared of... except for me. Did I ever tell you that I once had this little daydream about us making love in a cave during the Jurassic area?" Sean shook his head, uttering out dryly. "No. And probably for good reason. And before you get any twisted ideas. No! It's never going to happen!" Illinois smirked, sliding his fingers up between Sean's long legs as he purred out. "Never say never, baby. I didn't think we'd make love in a coffin... but we did." Sean rolled his eyes as he blushed. Illinois did have him there. Closing his eyes, he tried to calm down a bit. After a few deep breathes, he found himself parting his legs a little to let Illinois' fingers trail up between his thighs. As sexual as it was, it was calming too. Just as Illinois had told him it would be. It was distracting his overactive mind. After venturing deeper and deeper through the winding maze of the tunnels, Illinois asked him in a low sweet voice. "You've been quiet. Everything good?"

Smiling, Sean honestly answered. "Ya. Just enjoying the ride. Are you good? I'm not too heavy?" Illinois chuckles softly to himself, replying promptly in a loving voice. "You're fine. I might have you switch shoulders though. I'm starting to cramp up." Sean rubbed Illinois' back, telling him coolly. "If you put me down, I can walk." Illinois' hand stroked the back of his thighs while adding in a pouty tone. "But then I'd have to stop. And you know how much I love touching you." Nodding to himself, Sean smirked. He hated so much about his body and how he looked... but Illinois never saw any of those flaws and he loved him for it. Slowing to a stop, Illinois sighed and told Sean coolly. "Great. I'm gonna put you down for a bit." Sean clung to Illinois as he set him back on his feet. Stretching his legs and fixing the skirt of his dress, he turned to see why they stopped. The next length of the tunnel was partially flooded. Setting the torch down, Illinois looked over the murky grey water, telling him reluctantly. "No way around. We'll have to walk through it until we get to the lake." Sean shook his head, stating aloud. "What happened? The lake has never gotten this much water before." Illinois eased himself down into the water, gruffly muttering out as he tested how deep it was. "It happens. We'll just have to be careful."

Illinois got his footing, showing that the water only went up to his waist. Moving to stand before Sean, he reached up and told him. "The water is actually quite nice. It's warm. Come on. I'll help you in." Sean stepped back, mumbling out. "But... we don't know what's in there." Illinois glanced around, telling him with a smirk. "Dirt. Sand. Rock. Maybe salt. It's fine." Sean crossed his legs, asking anxiously. "What about fish? Or... more skeletons?" Illinois tried to hide his smile behind his hand as he wiped his lips, asking in return. "You're afraid a slimy skeleton is going to grab you?" Sean crossed his arms, blurting of defensively. "I've only got underwear on under this, Illinois. And the idea of something unwanted touching me is... I don't like it." Illinois beckoned him over, sweetly saying. "Come here. I'll carry you. Just use this shoulder now." Sean inched closer and eased out onto his shoulder. Illinois hefted him better, then picked up the torch. Wading slowly through the water, Illinois teased out. "I thought you were going to complain about getting your dress wet. Or ruining these silky stockings." Sean growled a bit, retorting in warning. "Watch it. I'm not wearing this because I want too, you know." Illinois' hand trailed up the stockings, whispering wickedly. "I know. But I love how these make your legs look and feel."

Sean opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself. Illinois kissed his thigh, whispering against his skin. "Maybe for my next birthday you'll slip into a nice silky pair for me. Maybe you'll wear that baby blue silk wrap again with a pair of silky white stockings." Sean blushed so red that his voice broke when he asked him. "Can we... not talk about that? That was a one time thing and I only did it because..." Sean bit his lip, before finishing. "Because I had been hoping you'd say yes to getting married in secret... Which you didn't." Illinois playfully bit his thigh, teasing out coolly. "Try again. I'll give you a different answer." Sean hung his head a bit, admitting honestly in a grim tone. "If things work out with Wonderland... Illinois... I don't know if I'm going to stay here. I might just... go back." Illinois started to take one last step as he blurted out. "What?! Why-?!" Before Illinois could finish his sentence, his last step turned out to be much deeper than he thought, causing him to fall into the deeper water with Sean. Sean yelped moments before he went under, listening to the soft hiss as the torch was snuffed out.

Sean twisted in the dark water as Illinois moved away from him. Panic set in as he tried to find the surface, but everything was so dark that it looked the same. Feeling a hand grab his back to pull him up, Sean burst up past the surface and coughed loudly. Trying to tread water, Sean called out. "Illinois? What happened?" Illinois coughed a bit in the dark but answered. "I slipped. There was a drop off... Are you ok?" Sean headed toward his voice, reaching out to find him as he said. "I think so. I can't see anything. What are we going to do?!" Illinois took his hands, pulling him close, while saying in a lighthearted voice. "Sean... Look." Illinois turned his shoulders to help him look and together they watched some rocks begin to glow in bright neon blues, sea greens, and yellows. Swimming closer, Mark carefully picked up one of the rocks and told him excitedly. "A syenite rock with fluorescent sodalite. A glow rock. Cool." Sean swam over to grab the wall, asking curiously. "Can we use it to keep going?" Illinois glanced at him like he wanted to say something, but just nodded. Picking up a rock, Illinois took his hand and started to swim down the narrow tunnel to a large area that had a little boat tied to a dock that was now under water.

Reaching the boat, Illinois helped Sean up inside it, then carefully climbed in too with Sean's help. After untying the boat, Illinois picked up the paddle to start rowing slowly across the lake. For a moment Sean relaxed and took a breather, until Illinois suddenly blurted out. "What do you mean that you might go back? Go back where? The castle or..." Illinois drifted off, clearly unable to say it. Slowly sitting up, Sean shrugged out innocently. "That's just it. I... I have two different lives now. One here and one there. I'm an Oyster. I should be there but... I stayed here because I fell in love with this place. With you. But... over there I feel... free. Being a king... it sucks. I'm blamed for everything, and our very relationship was strained because of it. If I stay, I fear it will only happen again. I'm doing this because it was my mistake to help create the looking glass and the vorpal swords... but when it's over. I think... I think I'm going home." Illinois set the paddle down, shrugging out. "What about me? What about us? Are you just going to... to leave me behind? Forget me again..." Sean straightened up, starting to say in his most heartfelt voice. "No! I'm not sure-" Sean stopped talking midsentence.

His face going pale as he watched a long green tendril rise soundlessly from the murky water behind Illinois. Tensing up, Sean gulped and pointed with a shaking finger. That looked a little too much like the slimy tendril from his nightmare. To Be Continued...