Cass broke through the last wall with ease and found that just to the right of the hole he had made, there were the giant doors that hid the Boss monster inside. Everyone let out a relieved breath at the sight. Even Lucian.
Gideon was still on edge, glancing around and making sure that they were right, that door did have the Boss behind it, and he wasn’t wrong. Cass understood why he was so worried. They had been chasing it all day, Cass had been smashing walls left and right. He was sure if there were demons in the dungeon with them, or more likely, watching over them like damn creeps, they had to be pulling their hair out right now.
"Should we rest here for the night and then attack in the morning?" Cass asked. That seemed to surprise the others. Edgar turned to Cass, scanning him from head to toe. Cass just smiled. Lucian shuffled, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall that Cass hadn’t destroyed yet.
"Are you tired? Is that why you’re asking?" Lucian asked and Cass shrugged.
"I thought I would beat you to the punch. I could feel you two about to ask if we should rest, and thought that I could say it first. I’m not tired, by the way. I’m still full of energy." Cass said. Edgar stared at him, as did Lucian, before Edgar sighed.
"Well, if we’re going to tackle it tonight, we should finalise our plan. If what you said before was true, the monster that’s been running away might be part of Lucian’s memories. We already dealt with a monster type that is typical for this dungeon, even if it was super early. My guess is that the dungeon Boss might be closer to Lucian." Edgar said and Cass stared at him in surprise.
"What do you mean by that?" Cass asked and Edgar shrugged.
"Haven’t you noticed? In most dungeons that are based around someone else’s experiences, there are usually two kinds of monsters that show up. Ones that are geared towards the dungeon and its spawning environment, and then a monster that is usually targeting the person the dungeon wants to unsettle. We’ve been through enough that I feel pretty confident in saying that." Edgar did sound confident, and damn it, Cass was pretty sure he was right.
He had little experience here, but he trusted Edgar in his hypothesis. Mostly because Lucian looked like he was having an epiphany. His eyes were wide, his jaw dropped, and he was looking at Edgar like he could kiss him.
So he did.
Edgar was flushed from having both men kissing him in a surprise attack in one day. Gideon looked even more shocked. Lucian slid his gaze to him.
"Feeling left out? Do you want one too?" Lucian asked, teasing the other man. Gideon swallowed thickly and shook his head, raising his hands in protest.
"No thank you." He said stiffly and Lucian laughed.
"Anyways, interesting idea. We might have already encountered it though, but we’ll see. Fighting that guy again was pretty traumatic." Lucian said with a shrug. Cass hated hearing that, but Lucian wasn’t going to let them touch it. Not now, at least. "My guess? We’ll need Cass’ magic to deal with whatever is behind that door. Probably yours too, Edgar, but my thinking is that you should save your magic for when we get out since Cass will be back to his normal power level." Edgar nodded in agreement. "Gideon? You’ll be with me, but if it looks like it’s too dangerous, come back and hang with Edgar and Cass. Depending on the room, I’ll turn into my dragon form and deal with the Boss that way. Don’t hurt me too much, Cass." Lucian said with a wink. Cass rolled his eyes, but nodded.
They all turned to the doors, before Edgar forced everyone to pause and have a quick snack. Cass was glad that he was the one looking after them, but that didn’t mean he missed the small look that crossed Lucian’s face. It looked like...disappointment. Was it in Edgar? Or himself? Lucian was normally the one who was making sure that everyone was fed outside of the dungeon, but Lucian shouldn’t be blaming himself right now.
He wasn’t himself. He was unwell, and was delaying going to get treatment. He wasn’t dropping the ball when he couldn’t even hold it at the moment.
Cass took a moment to tug Lucian a small distance away after noticing it, not wanting him to go into the Boss room thinking that way. Edgar and Gideon gave him a strange look as he told them they would be right back while Cass dragged Lucian down the hallway. They were still in sight of the other two, but they weren’t able to hear them as well.
"Hey, I could tell you were upset about something. I just didn’t want us to go into the dungeon Boss room while you were feeling that way. Is everything okay?" Cass asked and Lucian seemed a little surprised that Cass had picked up on it before his expression softened. It was something that Cass had seen before. It usually meant that he found himself twisted around the man in a way that would make the previous Cass blush.
"I’m fine." He told him, and Cass opened his mouth to protest when Lucian reached up and cupped his face. "I am, really. It’s just...odd not being the one taking care of everyone. This style of dungeon crawl is different. Not bad, just different. We are still working together, but we’re using everyone to their advantage and it’s just making me feel strange. Usually I’m the one at the front, you know? I’m the one that...everyone relies on." Oh.
Cass looked up at the man, feeling the way that his thumb was rubbing against Cass’ cheek and nodded. He understood. While Cass was living his best life, Lucian was feeling the way that Cass had felt for a long time while trying to become Cassian, or more accurately, Lord Blackburn.
"You’re not well right now, Lucian, and that’s okay. We’re just helping you out right now. You wouldn’t let me be in the dumps if our roles were reversed, would you?" Cass asked and watched Lucian’s expression soften further.
"No. I wouldn’t." He admitted. "I’m just happy that you even noticed I wasn’t feeling well." He said it so seriously that it made Cass bristle.
"Do you think that I’m that blind? Of course I noticed." Cass muttered and Lucian laughed. He leaned in, pressing a kiss to Cass’ lips. It was light, soft, not asking for anything more than a bit of comfort. When he pulled back, his eyes were reptilian, narrow, and happy in a way that Cass wasn’t sure he should be able to read.
"Mm. Either way, I’m still glad. Just knowing you noticed has lifted my spirits. Come, let’s not leave those two alone for too long. Gideon is getting jealous we keep manhandling Eddie." Lucian said with a wink, grabbing Cass’ hand and tugging him along to the others.
~
Lucian was the one to open the door. Cass and the others watched as his muscles bunched as he pushed open both doors at the same time and instead of getting a wall of water like they were expecting, nothing happened.
In fact, as Cass peeked around Lucian to catch a glimpse of what was going on in the room, he heard the soft, panicked inhale of Lucian. Cass paused, turning his gaze towards Lucian and found the man pale.
He was never pale like this.
Cass turned his gaze back to the room and realised why the Boss stopped teleporting around. The room was fucking huge. So big that it had a damn lake in it. Greenery, along with glittering stones decorated the room. The sloped ceiling sparkled like the night sky, making the cave that they were in look like the night sky.
The area around the lake’s edge glowed with moss. Cass hadn’t seen bioluminescent moss before, but it was pretty cool. It made the space feel ethereal, pretty. Too pretty for a Boss Monster room.
The room was big, as Cass said, and on the fair end, led by what looked like stepping stones, was a small stone platform. On the platform was a set of chairs and a table. The chairs were familiar. Eerily similar.
Cass felt his body go tight as well as he recognised the white wrought iron back of the chair and the white trim on the table. What the fuck was this?
Unfortunately, someone was sitting in the chair. Cass worried for a second that it was going to be Cassian, but he was wrong. Instead it was a pretty woman in a flowing white dress. Well, it looked white, but it was probably closer to a pale blue shade.
It was fancy, with pretty gossamer fabric around her shoulders that made her look even more otherworldly. She had long, pointed ears, nothing like the tiny points that Cass had, or even similar to the ears that Ser Hune had either. They were pierced, the shiny amber and silver in her eyes catching Cass’ eye even from here.
Her expression was sad. Hollow. Like she didn’t want to be here. It made her light violet eyes set in the white, almost creamy skin tone look almost ill. Her lips were thin, but Cass wasn’t dumb. He knew when someone was pretty, and this woman was. With her light, almost white blond hair, she looked like a ghost. A pretty ghost, but still a ghost.
From Lucian’s reaction, he knew her.
"T-Taniora." Lucian muttered. Cass watched as the woman, fairy, elf or whatever other being, smiled painfully. Lucian remained frozen in the doorway, and Cass knew that no matter what they had to face, they had to go into the Boss room.
"Lucian? We have to move." Cass said gently and Lucian shook himself. He sighed, shaking himself and moved into the room reluctantly. The others followed suit and the doors closed behind them.
Taniora, if that was who it really was, rose to her feet. Waiting for them to arrive.
"You have got to be kidding me." Cass whispered, more to himself. Lucian nodded.
"I agree." He muttered. Edgar and Gideon, who were in the dark about all of what was going on, were rather confused behind them.
"Um, I take it that this is more personal to you, Lucian?" Edgar asked carefully and Lucian let out a bitter laugh.
"Yeah. You could say that." His tone made it sound like he didn’t want to elaborate, and Cass didn’t blame him. If what they were seeing was true, this was either the ghost or some kind of mutated form of someone who had supposedly died over several hundred years ago.
And they were sitting at the same table and chairs that Cass sat at when he spoke to Cassian.
None of this bode well.
"Fuck." Cass muttered.