Dark on the Waters [Dark Data]

[Blink]

A little known fact about the mutant they called Blink was that she was tremendously good eyesight. She never knew if that was part of her mutations, or just one of the few good genes she had gotten from her parents (who were fine people, but Claire was always a little salty about being born purple). Either way, the jade pupils she were born with allowed to see at long distance very well, and kept her out of trouble when she had to accurately place a portal from one place to another.

But none of that prepared her for being in a mine shaft in total darkness with a giant golem.

"Hey, Cloud! Cloud!" She called out loudly through what she assumed was a large room. He was the only thing she could see thanks to the dim lantern he was holding. The good news was that she was feeling much better after a darkness-induced hangover and an admittedly comfortable piggy-back ride from her spikey-haired friend. As she made her way from the entrance to the shaft, over to him, she began to find out what the bad news was. "What's going on? Did you find Cole?"

"Blink, look out!" Cloud called at her. His face suggested that he could see something she couldn't, which led her to instantly panic. She couldn't teleport without being able to see where she was going, so she just ducked and rolled forward. Right on cue, a loud roaring sound hit her ears as something slammed hard into the ground behind her. She had narrowly avoided whatever it was. "Come to me! Come to the lantern!"

Blink shuffled to her feet. She looked over her shoulder to briefly catch a glimpse of the 'mine foreman' behind her, lit up only by his glowing eye sockets. His face looked pained and angry, as if he was in a constant state of stress. He swing one of his big limps at her, but this time she was way ahead of it, jumping over the thick arm as it labored underneath her. She stumbled her way over to her blonde counter-parts and slumped against the nearest pillar. 

Cloud stood in front of her and Cole, drawing his over-sized blade in one hand and holding the lantern in the other. She felt useless, unable to properly defend herself. It was frustrating on one hand, having Cloud constantly feel the need to protect her and look after her. But on the other, it was strangely welcome. She hadn't had the feeling of someone strong looking after her in quiet awhile, and the last person who did it was kind of a jerk. So having a big brother made her feel unusually nice.

"Can you teleport us out of here?" Cole asked.

She realized he was standing near her, struggling to see just as like she was. Briefly she wondered where he had been this entire time. Then when she thought about the golem, she opted not to inquire further. It was probably not a fun story. "I can't see anything. I have no idea where to teleport to."

Cloud pointed his sword-arm dramatically towards the right. "There's an opening that way. You guys head towards it, I'll follow behind."

"Cloud, don't be stup-!" Blink began to say, but it was too late. The golem had charged forward and neither Blink nor Cole could see it coming, which was why Cloud was the one who opted to stay behind. He sliced forward with the Buster Sword and matched the mine's foreman in raw power. Blink and Cole dipped out to the right, stumbling in the darkness. "Good luck!" She called back at Cloud.

Blink summoned some of her emerald energy into her hands and used that as a mini-lantern to get through the big room. She was calling out to Cole to follow, but she was also dragging him along by his wrist so she didn't give him much say in the matter. They crossed under a small opening that seemed to hold a door once-upon-a-time, into a narrow mine-shaft which barely held the both of them. Blink's glowing green hands were able to light up this small space much easier, though, so it was clear exactly what the next step was. Up.

Thanks to the tight confines of the space they were, Blink found herself face to face with Cole, right next to a ladder leading upwards. Once he realized they were nose to nose (and torso to torso), Cole quickly turned his face to the side. "Guess we got to climb," Cole finally said, doing his best to break the awkwardness.

"Oh, uh, right," Blink agreed. She looked up to try and judge how far up the ladder went. There was no telling, even with the dim light she was generating from her hands.

"Ladies first," Cole offered meakly, clearly trying to be a gentleman.

Blink thought for a moment. She knew that going up first would put her in a strange position of having her backside right in Cole's (very limited) line of sight. But just as she was about to complain about it, she realized it would be hypocritical to demand he go first just for that stupid reason. She was the faster of the two, and also could teleport them out of danger. Not to mention she had the only light source available to them in her hands. Her own awkwardness shyness aside, it was smart for her to ascend first.

With that schoolgirl dilemna in her head now solved, she began to climb the ladder. As she got further up the mine shaft, she could hear Cole shuffling up the ladder behind her. As they climbed, the main thing on their minds were how Cloud would follow them, and what they ultimately find at the top of this peak.

Cloud stayed to fight the golem, Cole/Blink are laddering together.