Rustle Rustle-
Aurora awoke to the sound of rustling, letting out a large yawn. Next to her, she felt a warm presence, so she snuggled into it. Her eyes opened, revealing the cave, and a pair of legs in the bottom of her field of view. Only, they weren't her legs.
'Strange. They look like Grey's.' She thought, closing them again, enjoying the warmth that radiated from next to her.
"You know, it's not nice to fall asleep mid-conversation." A voice sounded from next to her.
Hearing the voice, she regained some of her bearings.
"Most people don't take an hour to find an answer to a question." She retorted.
"Fair. Anyway, how was your nap?" Grey asked.
"Nice. I slept better than usual."
"It's good to know my shoulder is a pleasant napping spot." Grey joked.
'Wait, what?' Aurora started to freak out. 'His shoulder?!... But that would explain his legs, and the warmth.
She jumped up, her eyes spring wide open. "Huh!"
Suddenly, she blushed, flushing her face with a scarlet hue.
"It's your fault!" She berated.
"Ahaha, yes it is," Grey said with a laugh and a smile. "However, you fell asleep on me, not the other way around."
"Stop it! No teasing, this isn't the time or the place!"
"Of course." Grey nodded his head.
---
Staring at Aurora, Grey couldn't help but be a little mesmerized.
'Damn, she's pretty.' She woke slowly, so Grey saw an opportunity to joke. He'd been keeping watch for the last hour and a half since he realized that Aurora was asleep, and his arm was slowly going numb.
As he teased Aurora, he watched her blush furiously. 'If this were a cartoon, I'd be whistling now.'
At that moment, with just the 2 of them, they could be themselves.
Grey could be his overanalytical self with emotional control too good to be useful, and Aurora didn't have to act like an Ice Queen.
They both were comfortable, enjoying their time together.
'Still, she's so pretty.' Grey couldn't help but comment on her beauty a third time.
- Yes yes, you're practically lovebirds. Now, kiss! - Fallen Star teased.
---
'Why is he blushing now?' Aurora asked herself. Grey suddenly blushed, turning him a similar color to her.
"Anyway, we'd best get going now." She said, calming herself.
"True, but first, we need to fix your clothing."
"What do you mean?" She said, looking down. "Oh, yeah, that makes sense."
As a Princess, she had rules to uphold. One of those was clothing. Although it was lax, since it was only the 5 of them, and it was being recorded live, she was still made to wear a dress.
She wore a green dress that fit well from her shoulders to her waist, accentuating what was already there, and it flowed below the waist loosely, enough to give her mobility. The dress reached just above the floor, so she wore sneakers instead of heels, but that was it. Not the best outfit to fight in.
Grey, on the other hand, wore a tight, white t-shirt, showing off his muscles, and black, ripped jeans, alongside his sneakers.
They both had no armor, but his outfit was many times better.
"We could rip it, but the loose design isn't the best. Do you have shorts on underneath?" Grey said, asking the second half with a slight blush on his face.
"Of course I do. Mother always said that it's best to be prepared." Aurora said, a blush on her face too.
--- (this is just a POV switch so I can add Fallen Star to the convo)
- Man, you 2 are so sweet! - Fallen Star commented, making Grey grateful that only he could hear him.
'Shut it.' He thought, then spoke to Aurora. "I'll go ahead, so cut your dress and catch up."
She nodded in response, and he quickly left.
On the opposite side of the cavern as the entrance, there was another passageway that led further up.
Grey walked to the start of the tunnel, making 2 balls of Light.
He sent the first to Aurora, commanding it to follow her, and he controlled the second to hover above him.
'It'll take a lot of Mana, but it will be useful.' Commanding Magic to do something without a line of sight took more Mana, and giving it a command like 'follow', without a line of sight, only further increased the Mana expenditure.
A simple ball of Light should have cost ~100 Mana, but the first cost ~1,500.
He then entered the tunnel, carefully following its winding paths. He took a left turn, and finally, he reached the end of it.
Light rays attacked his face, blinding him, so he quickly jumped back, readying a Light beam of his own.
He waited for an attack to come, or for a Beast to round the corner, yet nothing happened.
'Strange... was it?' A stray thought entered his mind, one that made a lot of sense.
He crept up to the corner, sticking his head around the side.
Once again, his face was attacked by light, but he let his eyes adjust.
Slowly, his pupils relaxed, shrinking to allow the correct amount of light in.
From the blinding yellow light, a wondrous sight emerged.
Trees, hundreds of meters tall, sprouted everywhere, with leaves of orange yellow, and red adorning them. The sun shone in the sky, many times bigger than Arkusia's, and was accompanied by a second, smaller one, yet it wasn't hot. The floor was covered in green leaves, but he could see pink grass beneath it. The bark of trees was a spectrum; some were black, some gold, but all colorful.
"I guess this truly is another world," Grey muttered. "Beautiful."
He took in the sight, wowing at each new thing he saw. Everywhere he looked gave him more and more questions, all of which Fallen Star answered to the best of Its ability.
A minute later, once Grey had run out of questions, Aurora emerged from behind, tapping him on the back.
He turned around, giving his pupils a second to adjust, and spoke.
"You done?" He asked, looking at her. Now that her dress was cut, he had a chance to look at her legs, her long legs that...
'Get it together!' He mentally slapped himself, causing Fallen Star to laugh. It technically inhabited his mind, although it resided in his soul, so, in a sense, it saw it happen.
"Yeah." She said, nodding. "By the way, thanks for the Light."
"No problem."
"What are you looking at?" She inquired.
"Oh, yeah, have a look at this!" He said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of the cave.
She covered her eyes to protect her from the sunlight, letting her eyes adjust.
Once they did, she opened them, followed a second later by her mouth.
"Wow! It's so pretty!" She commented, staring up at the sky. "And the suns!"
She turned around, frolicking in the leaves, enjoying the scenery.
As if the world was fate's partner, the wind suddenly blew in, lifting the leaves into the air.
Grey stared at her, stunned.
'Once more, all I can say is... Beautiful.'
Her hair fluttered in the wind, forcing her to fix it. She still stared up at the sky as she brought her hand to her ear, tucking her hair behind her ear.
At that moment, Grey wished he had a camera. She looked like a model in a photoshoot come to life.
"Grey?" Aurora spoke suddenly, right in front of his face.
"Hah! Yeah?" He said, shaking his head. 'What am I, a regular human? Why are my emotions running amok?'
- You like her. - Fallen Star said, but Grey just shrugged it off as teasing.
"You just froze all of a sudden." Aurora told him.
"My bad, I was enjoying the... scenery." He said.
"Oh, makes sense. I was too. Let's get going now." She began to walk off, leaving him behind.
He watched her go, before realizing that he needed to move.
He jogged, catching up to her shortly, and they walked through the forest, enjoying the scenery, but being aware of the danger within.
After all, a rose has thorns.