Chapter Text
Myla’s singing should’ve been audible by now and yet the only sound Ghost could hear was the soft flap of Grimmchild’s wings just behind them. It was a bit unsettling even though she was probably just taking a break. She couldn’t be expected to mine all the time after all. Hopefully she wasn’t sleeping though because Ghost wanted to chat, it had been a while since they’d last seen her.
Despite the lack of song and clink of mining, Myla was right where she’d been last time Ghost had been here. She stood with her back to them, seemingly staring at the crystals in front of her.
As they approached, Ghost purposefully kicked a loose crystal fragment on the ground to announce their presence – that wasn’t really necessary now that Grimmchild was here to make some sounds for them but old habits died hard. Moving sluggishly, she responded, turning to face them.
Grimmchild hissed and reared back, preparing to spit a fireball. Ghost jumped up to grab his tail and yank him down, causing the fireball to hit the crystals above Myla’s head instead of Myla herself. She didn’t even flinch; the Infection had gotten to her.
Not completely though. Her otherwise empty eyes had a dot of orange in them, a signifier of the Infection. But she didn’t attack or even raise her weapon. That’s how Ghost had found both Sly and Bretta, meaning she could be brought back… hopefully.
Trusting Grimmchild to behave now that it was clear she posed no threat, Ghost let him go and stepped closer to Myla. Like with Sly and Bretta, their presence prompted her to start speaking to them, rambling mostly nonsense. But… that nonsense didn’t clear up like it was supposed to, if anything it seemed to be getting worse.
Was… Ghost too late? Was she too far gone? Was it only a matter of time before she lost what little bit of mind she had left? Was Ghost going to be here to witness that? They’d only talked to her once but… she’d been really nice and her song beautiful if a bit strange. … No! They weren’t going to stand for this.
They put their hands on her shoulders and shook her as hard as they could, rattling her miner’s helm off her head and her pick out of her hands. But when they stopped her eyes still had the orange deep within them. Her rambling had stopped though which wasn’t good enough so… They grabbed her hand and started pulling her away.
Thankfully unresistant she started walking with them, maybe even squeezing their hand a little. Grimmchild followed, still hanging his head and making mildly displeased sounds; sulking because of the interrupted attack. He’d get over it though.
The exit to the surface was thankfully pretty close but the Crossroads were roiling with Infection, making the trip rather dangerous. Not daring to leave Myla’s side, Ghost let Grimmchild handle the enemies that approached. Which improved his mood immensely as Ghost had known it would.
When they finally reached the rope hanging down from the well in Dirtmouth, getting Myla to start ascending was surprisingly easy. All Ghost had to do was put the rope in her hands and she started climbing. They followed a short distance behind her, ready to catch her if she fell.
Ghost and Grimmchild reached the top shortly after she did. They reached to take her hand again to guide her to the bench and Elderbug but before making contact…
“Where am I?” she asked, turning to face Ghost. The orange gleam in her eyes and empty stare was gone! She was free of the Infection! “And uh… where is my pick and miner’s helm?” She glanced all around but of course didn’t find them. Ghost would have to go fetch them for her later even if they wouldn’t be useful to her up here. First, they had to make sure she wasn’t going to go back down though.
They waved to get her attention and gestured for her to follow.
“I suppose you can’t explain, huh?” she said as she started walking with them back towards Dirtmouth. “It has been a while since I’ve been to the surface though, perhaps I could use a break from mining. The air had been getting rather stuffy down there lately anyway.”
Ghost nodded their approval. They were going to fix the Infection somehow but until the it wasn’t safe for normal bugs to wonder through or hang out in Hallownest. Up here on the surface was much safer.
Zote was still babbling endlessly to Bretta just outside Bretta’s house. He didn’t look up as they passed by but Bretta did, eyes locking onto Ghost before shifting to Myla. She didn’t say anything though before turning her attention back to Zote so Ghost continued towards the bench.
“Oh, you’ve made another friend, huh?” Elderbug said as the three of them approached.
Ghost nodded once. Saving Myla from the Infection counted as befriending her, right? Even if it was only their second meeting.
“Who might you be?” Elderbug addressed Myla this time.
“Uh… I’m Myla. I was mining and then… suddenly I was out by the well over there.” She gestured back towards it. “I don’t remember how I got here.”
Satisfied, Ghost turned and left them to chat. Elderbug would explain things and encourage her to stay. Ghost and Grimmchild would go get Myla’s helm and pickaxe for her and then maybe she would sing for them a bit. After that, they’d return to their quest to save Hallownest from the Infection. Or maybe they’d return to the Coliseum of Fools to do the other two trails that they hadn’t been in the mood for last they’d been there. Or maybe they’d explore some other part of Hallownest they hadn’t seen yet. Didn’t matter, they were off on another adventure.