Mia opened and closed her mouth a few times. She didn't know how to respond to Jessica's question. Not that she was wondering over her own decision, but rather she was not going to wait around on a floor.
She didn't care how dangerous it was, she would take her chances and go through as many floors as she needed to in order to get back to the real world. Even if it was a foolish idea when she herself was never that strong.
While Mia knew that dying was essentially a certain outcome, she was still willing to bet on her chances. Though if Jessica was not in the same boat, then she didn't want to force her to do the same.
"I'm sorry but even if it is difficult, I have no intention of giving up on making it back to the real world."
Jessica looked up at her with distraught and confused eyes. Her disbelief was palpable.
"Why?... It's not as though we will be able to do anything anyway. We're just going to die if we try something like that, so we might as well settle down and live as long as we can with what we have for the rest of our remaining life."
Mia furrowed her brows. In truth, if Jessica proposed this before she had her fight with the rabbit, she probably would've accepted. Especially after seeing the absolutely oppressive ability that Emma had shown earlier.
However, she was determined to continue on, choosing to break before she would bend.
"Even if we are going to die anyway, I plan to die trying, even if it ends up being pathetic or sooner than I think."
Jessica furrowed her brows rather intensely.
"But why? Why would you choose to throw away your life like that? How does that make any sense when you could just live?"
Mia found herself stuck on that. In reality, she couldn't really explain her logic, as her resolve wasn't something she understood logically, but rather intuitively. For better or for worse, it was more of a feeling.
She scratched the side of her head.
"Well, weren't you going to help Jack find his father? We still haven't done that."
Jessica responded flatly and a bit harshly.
"Do you really think that he needs us to help him in any way? In the end, it's mostly just us following him around. Actually, it would probably be better for him to be on his own, since then he wouldn't have to drag anybody along with him."
It was a rather negative, but also very real and objective look at the situation. Despite technically being a winner in her fight, she had essentially lost all will to continue on as though she were the loser.
Mia swallowed hard. She couldn't help but ruminate slightly over a feeling of guilt of essentially being carried by Jack. Still, she wasn't planning on turning away from him even if she was essentially hugging a golden thigh, as shameless as that was. Those thoughts made it hard to reply, making it take longer for her to think of a proper one. Though before she could do so-
"What are you guys doing?"
Jack came over while carried by Seedy, waving with his good arm rather wildly. His cheery expression was clear to see despite most of his face being hidden behind a mask. Though Jessica and Mia both didn't say anything, leaving the three in awkward silence.
Jack tilted his head to the side in confusion.
"Um, hello? Are you guys ok?"
Mia let out a weak and clearly forced laugh.
"Y-Yeah, we're fine. It's just that... we're a bit tired and taking a little bit of a break before moving on. You can go on first to follow Emma?"
Jack watched on a little longer, occasionally blinking as he looked at them silently. He appeared to be thinking something, but suddenly smiled and waved them goodbye.
"Ok then! Go on, Seedy!"
He pointed in the distance confidently where Emma had been. Seedy similarly let out a proud roar, before they slowly inched away with their heads held up high. Jessica and Mia watched as he made off at a snail's pace and waited until he was out of earshot.
Jessica let out a long sigh before looking at Mia with disappointment.
"So you really aren't willing to stay with me?"
Her way of phrasing that question was purposely distorting the situation. And while both of them knew that, it didn't change the fact Mia felt a pain in her heart hearing that. Regardless, her resolve wasn't going to be shaken by something like that.
"If that is truly what you intend on doing, I will not stop you. But I'm not going to stay with you. I can't give up. Not yet."
The crack in their relationship was almost audible, not that they had known each other for that long. However, a strong bond was not always built on the foundation of time. Sometimes all it took was one important moment.
But similarly, all it could take was one important moment for a strong bond to crumble.
Jessica let her head tilt down and closed her eyes.
"Have it your way then."
She silently got up and began walking in the direction that Jack did. Mia felt conflicted, wanting to calm her down or at least comfort her. Yet, she couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't do the opposite.
In the end, she trailed behind her a good distance, no longer comfortable enough to walk side-by-side with her.
Emma had already reached a cage with a lock labeled with 6 of hearts.
Inside was a slightly larger than average red panda. Though given their normal size, it was still quite small and adorable.
Or perhaps more accurately, most people.
Emma gave it an uncaring look. She promptly put in the card to open up the cage, which the red panda responded by tilting its head to the side curiously, staring at her with its big beady eyes.
On the other hand, Emma immediately closed her eyes. Then, she took a deep breath, taking care to slowly inhale and exhale. While her eyes were still shut, she raised her gun and fired two times.
The red panda let out a squeal from the first shot before going silent by the second. It had died rather cleanly, though Emma muttered bitterly to herself while staring at the corpse.
"Why do you even try in futility?"
The actual distance wasn't too far, and Jack had caught up a little while after. However, upon seeing that the fight had already ended, he put both hands onto the sides of his head in distress.
"Ah! I missed it! What happened?"
The man in a suit let out a sigh.
"She resisted the animal's technique and then shot them. There wasn't much to miss."
Despite the irritation in his tone, Jack smiled rather brightly.
"Ah, I see! Thank you for telling me!"
The man in the suit didn't reply. Instead, he disappeared into the leaves of a tree. He appeared not too far from Jessica, wordlessly throwing a card at her.
"It's your turn now."
Jessica held out her hand and let it fall in. She took a look at it, saw that it was a 7 of diamonds, thought for a while, then began walking purposefully in a direction. Mia, who was watching, was visibly confused. She remembered that it was part of the rules to just quit the game, which would come at the cost of a 7, but that wouldn't hold that much value if she didn't plan on ascending through the floors anyway.
"What are you doing?"
Jessica did not respond. Instead, she continued to walk off into the distance.
While Jack was ahead, he could still see her, thus pointed in that direction before commanding Seedy.
"Off to that way!"
He turned around to look at Emma, who was still staring at the corpse of the red panda.
"Hey, we're going to have fun over there, you don't want to miss out, do you?"
Without turning around to face him, Emma spoke slowly.
"Yes... I suppose so."
Jack nodded excitedly despite the fact she wasn't looking before turning around once more.
Mia followed behind Jessica with a bit of nervousness and curiosity. Although it was a bit of blind optimism, since Jessica was going on ahead instead of quitting, Mia thought she might've been overexaggerating, or didn't really mean any of the things she said.
Eventually, Jessica had made her way over to one of the cages. Within was a crow perched on top of a tree with no leaves. It eyed Jessica suspiciously when she came close, keeping one of its eyes trained on her.
And its suspicions were correct, since Jessica was directly walking towards the padlock.
Mia initially felt a sense of relief. But as she got closer, she was just barely able to make out what the padlock read.
It was a 7 of diamonds.