Nia didn't hesitate to drag Val off to a dark corridor, not stopping even when Val tried to tug back. Once they were far enough away from the ball, the younger stopped and whirled around. There was a look of betrayal in her eyes, "What the hell is this, Val? Why do you have them?"
Val looked back and forth before sighing, "Listen to me, Nia. We don't have the time to deal with this right now, okay? We're going to be in so much trouble—And that's if we get out of this. I promise I'll explain everything when we get back to the house—"
"You're from the island too, aren't you?" It dawned on Nia, "You lied to me. You said that you met me at the White Lotus facility."
"Alright, alright, I am from the island too," Val threw her hands up in frustration, "But I—I didn't actually meet you until the White Lotus—"
Nia made a sound of annoyance, "You're still lying to me! Do you really think I can't tell when you're lying?! Just tell me what the hell is going on!"
Val ran her hand through her hair, looking around, "Okay, fine, you want to know the truth? I'll tell you; I've known you since I was literally four! And then I was taken by the White Lotus when I was eight, then you got taken two years later!"
"Since I was two?" Nia's eyes widened, "How—What…How is that even possible?! I understand that I might not remember our time at the White Lotus because of repressed memories but for me to have known you since I was two? How could I not remember knowing you?" She looked up at the other, "Why did you lie?"
"...Because you didn't remember," Val said quietly, "And it's better that way. You don't want to remember all of that."
"But why—"
"Because I know you, Nia, and I know that if you did remember everything, it would kill you inside!" Val burst out, "If it were me…If it were me, I'd wish I would never remember it."
Nia looked at her, "But shouldn't I get a choice in that?"
Val didn't respond.
They both stood in silence for a moment before the older finally sighed, "Listen, I know this is not the ideal situation, but we really really do not have time to talk about this. Like I said, I promise I'll properly explain everything once we're out of here but right now, we've got to—Well, honestly, I have no idea. I was just going to drag you back to the base but—"
"The Wings are upstairs somewhere," Nia interrupted, "I'm sure there have to be other people who know where it is, we just need to be subtle in asking. The boy I was dancing with before said he'd seen it before."
"Oh, really?" Val's expression was unreadable.
Nia raised an eyebrow, "Yeah, he said he and his boyfriend snuck in once when they were transporting the Wings."
"Ah, I see," Suddenly, it seemed like Val's mood had lightened a bit. It took Nia a moment to realize what had happened and she snorted.
"Oh my God. Were you jealous?"
Val spun on her heel, moving back towards the ballroom, "Nope, nope, not at all. Why would I be?"
Nia kept giggling, "You were, oh, that's priceless. I never thought you were the type to get jealous, Miss Valon."
"Well, we never really talked about that, did we?" Val turned to look at her, stopping so abruptly that Nia almost bumped into her. She pulled the younger aside, leaning on the wall in front of her, "Yeah, we're platonic partners. But are we exclusive? I know this isn't a typical relationship. What happens if you meet someone you like the same way you like me? Would you want to be with them as well?"
Nia sighed, "I don't know. Honestly, I didn't think I was capable of feeling what I feel for you, so I'm thrown for a loop as well. I mean, I'm literally part of the reason this isn't a typical relationship. Honestly, I'm more worried about you than me. I wouldn't want to be the reason you don't end up with someone who can love you the way that I can't. Even if it's possible for me to feel this way about another person, we've got to take into account that it just isn't likely to happen. But for you, there's a much larger chance that you could meet someone who…You know."
"I don't need that," Val said firmly, "Like I said, my feelings for you aren't really describable as romantic or platonic or whatever. I just know I love you. It doesn't matter if you don't love me the same way, I just want to be with you in whatever way works for us. I don't need anyone else."
"Well," Nia looked down, almost uncharacteristically shy, "I certainly don't like anyone else the way I like you right now. If this relationship was going to be an open one, it wouldn't be for my sake," She reached out to rub Val's arm, "You don't need to worry, you're—Well, you're the only one I need. I don't want anyone else the way I have you either."
Val seemed to release a sigh of relief at that, "So, we are exclusive?" She quirked her lips up into a smile.
"Yes, dumbass, we are," Nia reached up to smack the back of the other's head, "I can't believe you even considered that I'd want anyone else. I mean, come on, just try and imagine that."
"I don't know, that boy you were dancing with was kind of cute. Not my type but well, you know."
"I literally just met him."
Val shrugged, "I mean, Risále started crushing on Bella after literally seeing her once. I don't know, there was always a chance."
Nia stared at her, "God, I will never understand alloromantics," She muttered, "Okay, so, what's our next move?"
"Well, like you said," Val looked back at the ballroom, "Someone's gotta know something about where the Wings are. You're not the only one that did a bit of investigating, now I just need to get more information."
"I can help as well—"
"Oh, no you don't," Val glared, "I have a plan, and I cannot be worrying about someone else sweeping you off your feet while I'm working on this. Just sit at one of the tables and avoid our people. If they see us, we're screwed."
Nia pouted, "You're no fun," She muttered, "You're not even a full two years older than me, you don't have to be so protective over me."
Val sighed, "Trust me, you'll realize why I don't want you to do this. You'll probably thank me as well. Now, come on. Let's go."
When they returned to the ballroom, it didn't seem like anyone had noticed their re-entrance. Pulling her over to one of the back tables, Val situated Nia there as she looked around the room, seemingly searching for someone.
"Who are you looking for?" She asked.
"Just someone I met before I saw you—Ah, there she is," Val seemed to have her eyes set on a young woman who was standing near a pillar, "Stay right here. I'll be back in a few minutes, alright?"
Before Nia could even ask, Val was already heading over to the woman and the white-haired girl sighed, sitting at the table and fiddling with the tableware. She watched as Val stepped closer to the woman, leaning on the pillar next to her before saying something that Nia couldn't make out.
The other woman smiled, raising an eyebrow, and seemed to smile as she responded, turning to face Val, leaning her shoulder against the pillar.
Val seemed to giggle at something the woman said, subtly placing her hand on the woman's shoulder. Nia huffed before looking away. So, this was what Val when she said she had a plan and that Nia would thank her later. For obvious reasons, she would have preferred to not flirt with people at all so no wonder Val thought she'd prefer to stay back on this one.
The woman took Val by the hand and led her to the dance floor, putting one hand on Val's waist and clasping her other hand before leading them into a waltz. Nia rolled her eyes, she could have just found that boy from before and talked to him. Val didn't have to do all of this.
Out of the corner of her eye, though, she saw a familiar woman with short blue hair walking with a man with long brown hair and purple highlights.
"Oh, fuck," She muttered, quickly ducking under the table. She crawled to the front of the circular table, lifting the tablecloth so she could still see Val out on the dance floor. It seemed like the other girl had also seen their friends and smoothly turned herself and her dance partner so her face wouldn't be seen.
A few moments later, Val pulled back from the woman, bowing gently and saying something. The woman simply nodded in response and stepped forward, taking Val's hand and gently leaning down to press a kiss to the back of it. Nia rolled her eyes. How dramatic.
Val smiled and gave the woman a small wave before turning away and starting to make her way back to the table. For a moment, she looked confused to not see Nia anywhere until she looked down to see the younger girl waving frantically to her from under the table.
"What the hell are you doing down here?" Val asked, crouching down as Nia moved to make room for her under the table. The older crawled under and they sat across from each other.
"Our dearest friends almost saw me, this was the quickest way to stay out of their line of sight," Nia shrugged.
Val hummed, "Fair enough. The woman I was dancing with had been talking to me before I saw you. I think she was just hitting on me and trying to impress me but she mentioned her brother was a guard here. When I asked about the Wings, she told me what she knew."
"Huh. Interesting. So, what did she say?"
"Upstairs, we have to go down the main hallway. There should be a spiral staircase on the second left. When we go up, there should be a simple wooden door. Apparently, it looks nothing like a door to a treasury, it's just…There. I'm assuming there are more safety precautions but this girl didn't seem to know about them."
Nia nodded, "Alright, but how do we get up the staircase without anyone noticing us?"
Val grinned, "We don't need to. I guess you haven't noticed but plenty of couples have been sneaking off up the stairs. We just need to act like them."
"Oh. Oh," It dawned on Nia what Val meant, "Yeah, that makes sense. I guess it wouldn't kill me to act that way with you."
"I'm so flattered."
The two of them peered out from under the table, looking around to make sure that none of their friends were in view. Quickly, they made their way towards the staircase, ducking and weaving around people to blend into the crowd a bit. They were almost clear to go up the staircase when suddenly—
"Hey, pretty princess, where are you going?" Nia turned to see that the woman from before had grabbed Val's hand. Nia narrowed her eyes but she had to admit, the tone that the woman had wasn't threatening in any way, just curious.
"Ah, Miss Yuna," Val said, a bit of surprise coloring her tone, "Well, I'm not really—Er…"
Nia interrupted her, "Let's go. Come on."
The woman seemed to finally notice Nia, and she raised an eyebrow, "Ah, I didn't even see you there, my apologies," Something about that irritated Nia a bit, "Miss Violet, is this your…Friend?"
Val opened her mouth to say something but Nia grabbed Val's hand and tugged her closer to herself, wrapping an arm around her waist, "We should go, now, babe," She said.
"Oh," The woman looked surprised, "I didn't realize you were…My apologies for my advances earlier, then. I didn't know that you were not available. You're a very lovely woman, Miss Violet. I'm honored to have had the opportunity to dance with you."
With that, the woman smiled and walked off. Val turned to look at Nia but Nia didn't even wait to look back. She simply tugged Val by the hand towards the stairs, the two of them moving up it quickly.
"Okay, so, are we going to talk about what that was, Miss Naenia?" Val asked as they cleared the stairs and moved into the hallway where they couldn't be seen from the ballroom.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Nia said quickly.
Val crossed her arms before looking at her, "I didn't think 'babe' was a thing that we did. Unless that's something new we haven't talked about yet."
Nia rolled her eyes, tugging Val into one of the hallways as a patrolling guard walked by, "I was just trying to get out of the situation as soon as possible and the quickest way to get her to back off was to make it seem like you and I were dating. You were the one that said couples come up here. So, I acted like we were a couple," She said quietly, not looking at the other girl.
For a few moments, Val was silent. Nia sighed and stopped as well, turning to look at her, "Oh my God," Val had a grin spreading on her face, "You were jealous, weren't you?"
"I was not!" Nia exclaimed, "Why would I be jealous?! It's not like she's a gorgeous woman who's really nice and treats you really well plus she's interested in you!"
"Okay, are you jealous of her or me?"
Nia groaned, "Can we let this go, please?"
"Absolutely not. Not after you made fun of me for being jealous earlier. Why were you even jealous? It's not like I flirted back seriously or anything, I was just trying to get information," Val said as they came towards the left turn.
"This was what I meant with what I said earlier. Why don't you like her? She seems perfectly nice, she's attracted to you, I can't see a reason why you should go for her other than the fact that I'm here," Nia explained.
Val rolled her eyes, "This again? I don't care how many times I have to say it until you get it, but…," She put her arm around Nia's shoulders, "She might be perfectly nice, and yeah, she's pretty. But she's not you. I said it before and I'll say it again. I don't need anyone other than you."
They were at the spiral staircase now, and in the darkness, Nia could feel her cheeks heating up, "Bleh, that was so romantic, never say that again," She muttered, but a few moments later, "I don't need anyone other than you either."
Nia went up the staircase first, seeing that it was a very narrow spiral staircase, and Val followed after her. They weren't even hallways up before Val groaned, "Damn it, I should have never worn a long gown," Within seconds, she had ripped the skirt at the waist and tore it off, adjusting her black leggings that were hidden under, "That's better."
Val was about to throw the cloth down the stairs but Nia grabbed her wrist, "Wait, be quiet for a second," They both held their breaths, listening intently. Then, they both realized what they had heard and looked at each other in panic.
There were the rhythmic footsteps of the patrolling guards.
"Nia. Nia!" Val whisper-yelled, grabbing the girl and tugging her down so they were both crouching, "Come here, get closer," Nia didn't hesitate, tucking into Val's side without asking any questions, "God, I sure hope this works," Val muttered before taking the cloth of her skirt and draping it over the two of them.
It was dark enough that from the bottom of the staircase, looking up wouldn't have actually revealed both of them under the cloth, they would have just blended into the shadows. The footsteps of the guard came right up to the bottom of the staircase before going quiet. Then, as soon as it had arrived, the footsteps moved away from them, getting fainter and fainter until they could barely be heard in the distance.
Val and Nia sighed in relief as Val let the cloth fall off of both of them, "Take your shoes off," Nia said, completely out of nowhere.
"Huh?"
"Metal staircase. Heels," She pointed at the shoes, "Not a good combo."
Val cursed, "Why the fuck didn't I think of that before?" She pulled off the shoes, setting them aside, "Alright, let's go, quickly now, before someone comes back."
The two of them moved up the staircase as fast and as quickly as they could until they were met with a decently large wooden door, although it was nowhere near as large or luxurious as the other doors in the castle. It looked out of place in such an opulent palace.
"They probably didn't bother to renovate this place," Val said quietly, "It must be why it looks so different from the rest of the castle."
Nia stepped forward, putting her hand on the handle of the door and turning it, "It's unlocked," She murmured.
Val put a hand on her shoulder, "Wait," She said, reaching into the pocket of her leggings before pulling out two small contraptions. She pressed a button each and instantly, it expanded into a bow and quiver of arrows.
"Good thinking," Nia said as Val strapped her quiver to her back, holding her bow in one hand. Nia pulled out the dagger that had been tucked into her dress, "You ready?
Val nodded.
The room they stepped into was completely dark, and the torches in the room were only lit when Nia closed the door behind them.
They both stared at what was in front of them.
"What the fuck am I looking at right now?"