The rumbling made it hard to argue with Jonas' assertion. Elmo had no idea what it was about, but somehow it felt like the area they were in was colder somehow. He couldn't quite put his finger on a reason, but he had a bad feeling about it all.
Elmo still felt rather embarrassed from when Jonas had woken up. He was certain that Jonas had felt his erection and worried what Jonas thought about that. If he was disgusted or repulsed, Elmo would accept that, but he didn't want that to happen. As such, she couldn't bring himself to say anything about it. Primarily out of fear about what Jonas' answer would be.
When they made it back to the river, couldn't help but notice a rising sense of fear as, not only did the roaring of the waterfall sound louder, but even before they got close to the river, or even where the bank should have been, they were walking through an inch of water. Cold and wet.
Whatever the rumbling had been about, Elmo could tell that the water level was rising. Whether this was a regular occurrence in here or not, it was clear if they didn't leave, there was a risk that they'd become permanent residents in there.
"Put your clothing on," Jonas told Elmo after taking a few steps in the rising water level. "It may be wet, but since we're jumping in the river again, it's not like its going to matter."
Elmo nodded, even though he knew his gesture wouldn't be very visible in the darkness around them. While the idea of wearing damp, cold clothing wasn't really appealing to him, he couldn't argue with the logic. If he was going to go back in the river, it didn't matter if the clothing he was wearing was still wet or not. It'd be wet again soon enough.
"Sure about this?" Elmo asked, feeling rather hesitant at jumping back in the water, unable to forget the sensation of not being able to breathe while trapped in a cave where there was no surface to reach.
"No," Jonas answered simply as he was putting the damp clothing on. "Not at all."
Elmo sighed. He couldn't say he was surprised at that response, but wasn't able to think of anything to say more than that. So reluctantly, he started putting his own clothing back on. He wished there was another way, but with circumstances the way they were, their choices were rather limited with what little they knew about the area they were in.
Next thing Elmo knew, he was standing next to Jonas above the main body of the river, where the current could clearly be felt. The level of the water was up to their ankles and even the moss that Jonas had set near the river were entirely submerged.
"Ready?" Jonas asked, pulling Elmo out of his thoughts.
Elmo sighed. "No, not really," he admitted, dejectedly. "Let's go."
Jonas nodded, and jumped in the water. Elmo was only a moment behind, scared at what they might find. Not to mention how close they were to the top of the passage the water was flowing through already.
However, as he fully entered the current, he felt like all control had been taken away from him. The world felt like it was spinning around him, despite being unable to see anything. Not only was there no left or right, but it felt like there was no up or down.
He felt like his lungs were burning and about to burst when suddenly he felt his head break the surface and the current disappear to where it was almost nonexistent. He lifted his head and gasped for air again. While he didn't know how long he was in the water, it hardly felt like he'd been without air for long, but his lungs begged to differ.
When he was able to calm his lungs down, he opened his eyes, not expecting to be able to see anything. What he saw shocked him. Not only was there light, but whether it was the moss from before or something else entirely, he was surrounded by crystals that seemed to magnify that light and illuminate the entire cavern. While it wasn't as bright as a regular lightbulb, it was much brighter than a candle.
Elmo heard something moving in the water nearby and saw Jonas swimming to the shore. Elmo hesitated for only a moment, not sure what else to do. While it didn't look like the water level was rising here, he couldn't say if that wasn't going to happen once the previous chamber had filled, but this chamber at least seemed like they'd have a better chance at being able to find a way out before they'd have to really worry about that.
"Do you feel that?" Jonas asked as Elmo started to climb out of the water.
"Huh?"
Elmo had no idea what Jonas was talking about. He wasn't even sure he heard him correctly.
"There's something in the air," Jonas explained, looking around, like he was expecting to find something waiting somewhere around them. "It's distant, but it's there."
"What're you talking about?" Elmo asked, looking around himself.
He saw that the river that had brought them to this area opened up and created a bit of an underground lake that emptied through a waterfall a good distance away from them on the other side of that lake. The crystals looked like they made whatever the source of light was change into a myriad of different colors. Elmo could count at least all the seven colors of the rainbow with several beyond that.
"I'm not really sure," Jonas answered quietly after a few minutes. "Maybe it's because of my enhanced senses, but I can tell there's something here. I don't know what it is, but that it's here."
"Can you tell which direction it is?" Elmo had a feeling that he wouldn't want to find out whatever it was that Jonas could sense.
"Not really," came the answer, sounding as if the issue wasn't anything to worry about, despite sounding that way a moment ago. "Let's see if we can find another way out of here."
Elmo felt his body start shivering because of the temperature of the air around them and the water that was still dripping out of his clothing. Elmo wanted to start searching at once, but also didn't want to start freezing either.
So, he took the time to remove his clothing, and draped it over some crystals, glad that there was something that he could hang it on. Even if it was more of a technicality of that term. Elmo doubted that Jonas would be upset with him for doing that, but he still couldn't help but take care of that quickly so that he wouldn't have to find out if Jonas wouldn't be happy with his delay.
As Elmo started to search around, he couldn't help but berate himself for worrying about what Jonas thought of him. It was clear to Elmo that Jonas wasn't going to return his interest, no matter how much he wished otherwise. If Jonas was going to return it, he was certain that Jonas would have already.
While it hurt to let it go, he knew that he'd only hurt himself more if he pursued Jonas when Jonas wasn't open to such pursuit.
Even though he tried to focus on finding a way out of this cavern, he couldn't stop his mind from continually returning to Jonas. Maybe if he hadn't needed to try and warm him up through skin-to-skin contact, he'd have a better chance at letting the whole matter go, but since it had happened, he couldn't stop thinking about it.
Part of him had hoped that Jonas would have spoken to him about it when he woke up, but when he didn't, it felt like it was a door slamming in his face. Like it was Jonas directly refusing to return the interest Elmo had towards him.
Slapping himself, Elmo felt like his mind was going in circles, not allowing him to think about anything else. He knew it wasn't helpful but he couldn't think about how to change it.
He hadn't even liked anyone like this before, so he wasn't sure how to handle any rejection about it. Especially when he was in such an unfamiliar world. Where he didn't have anywhere he could go to in order to find peace.
This cavern that existed in this dark world seemed peaceful, but with what Jonas had mentioned about something being around, he wasn't sure how safe it was. Peaceful didn't always mean safe. A point he'd learned often enough when he was in high school.
As Elmo wandered around the cavern, his mind far from where he was walking. Even the sounds surrounding him weren't able to penetrate his preoccupation with other matters. It wasn't until Jonas touched his shoulder and shook him that Elmo was brought back to the present.
"Huh? Wh-what?" Elmo stammered, startled at the jostling.
"I think I might have found something," Jonas answered, a smile evident on his face.