Emelyn loosened her hold on his waist as they moved to re-enter the ballroom where she had everything set up. Walking with him over to her air mattress, she tugged back the blanket so he'd feel free to have a seat while she dug through her bag, leaving her flashlight on and putting it down beside it. She could see him half look down at the mattress, toeing it with one of his feet.

"What is this?"

"An air mattress," she said. "I just set it up. Sit down. It's more comfortable than the dungeon floor, I can assure you."

Emelyn lifted her head to watch him take a seat, noticing that he was shivering slightly. Stopping her searching, she walked over to the mattress and grabbed the blanket she had tugged aside, wrapping it about his shoulders like a cape.

"I won't be able to phone for help until the morning since I can't get a signal out here, so try to survive one more night," Emelyn said as she walked away from him to go back to digging through her bag.

All she could find to drink were a few bottles of water and a tomato V8 to change things up. Digging a bottle of water and the bottle of V8 out, she walked over to sit down beside him on the air mattress, noticing that despite the blanket she had put about his shoulders, his shaking hadn't gotten any better.

"This is all I have on me. I know you said you were thirsty, so try some water."

Emelyn uncapped the water, holding it towards him. She watched him warily stare at it for a while before putting the bottle to his lips. Soon he turned his head aside, coughing violently as the water ended up on the floor beside the air mattress. Reaching out a hand, she rubbed his back as he handed the water bottle back to her.

"I can't..."

"Oh well...maybe you're hungry too and need something more substantial. Want to try this?"

She held up the V8 bottle. His eyes zeroed in on the red liquid it contained. Soon holding it in his hand, he tilted it to the side, watching as the flashlight lit the contents up better.

"Try it," Emelyn said. "Not a lot of people are a fan, but maybe you will be like me."

Nodding, he put a semi-trembling hand over the cap, twisting the cap off and putting the bottle to his lips. Emelyn watched him closely as he eventually brought the bottle away without immediately regurgitating the contents.

"You like it?"

He nodded, his trembling still present but having subsided some as he immediately put the bottle back to his lips to chug more of it. Emelyn went back over to her bag, shifting things aside to see if she brought another. If not, that one would have to suffice for the night.

"Thank you," Emelyn finally heard him say.

Lifting her head, she looked at him as he put the empty V8 bottle aside. In the light the flashlight afforded her of him, she saw that he looked slightly better beneath the unkempt hair dangling down from his head.

"You're welcome," she said. "Are you gonna be able to hold on until morning?"

Nodding his head, she let out a sigh of relief as she grabbed one of the water bottles before sitting back down beside him on the air mattress. Uncapping it, she took a drink noticing that he turned to watch her do so.

"So how did you end up here?" she asked as she brought the bottle away from her lips, "and what's your name?"

"Christopher," he said, answering her latter question while ignoring her first for a moment before adding, "I used to be stationed here."

"Stationed? I take it that was a while ago?" she asked as he nodded again.

"You don't talk a lot you know," remarked Emelyn. "My name's Emelyn by the way. If that matters or anything."

"Emelyn," he repeated, a small smile twitching across his lips. "What a fascinating name."

"Thanks," she said, taking in the state of his appearance again. "I wish I had some new clothes to offer you. You must be freezing."

"This blanket is working fine," he said, wrapping said blanket more about his broad shoulders. "Thank you for that."

"Of course," Emelyn said. "I can only imagine what you've been through down there. It must have been awful."

Looking at him for a moment as she watched him push his hair out of his face for what felt like the hundredth time, she moved to stand up and go through her bag again.

"I may not have a change of clothes for you, but do you at least want me to help you tie your hair up?"

Finding the hair elastic she was looking for, she walked back over to him and stood around the back of him. From what the flashlight and the moonlight afforded her of his hair, it looked as if it hadn't been combed in forever. The strands were all twisted and intermingled with each other as if holding on to each other for dear life.

"Tie up my hair?"

"Yeah, I have a hair elastic. Just sit still and let me see what I can do. It's gotta be better than what you're dealing with right now."

Nodding, Christopher sat still so that Emelyn could attempt to untangle parts of his hair with her fingers. She was trying to detangle it enough to be able to attempt to tie it up into a bun with her hair elastic. It took her a few minutes to war with his hair until she eventually got it in a good enough bun to suffice for the night. Stepping back afterwards, she asked, "Better?"

Shaking his head back and forth, he eventually resorted to nodding his head up and down again. Relieved, Emelyn moved to sit down beside him on the air mattress. In her head, she wondered how he had gotten imprisoned in the dungeon. The most logical conclusion that her mind could come up with was that some gang used the ruins as their hideout and had kidnapped and imprisoned him for some reason. Her eyes turned from him to look about the ballroom they were sitting in. She always knew that exploring haunted places came with a chance of running into crooks or criminals, which is why she always came prepared. Tucked into one of her pockets was a pocket knife. She could feel it practically burning its presence into her thigh as she looked back over at Christopher.

"Are the people that locked you up in the dungeon going to come back and get us this evening?" asked Emelyn. "Do I need to be concerned?"

"I don't think so. It's been a while since I've seen them."

Nodding, she sat back down on the air mattress beside him. Her hand accidentally brushed up against his and she noticed how stone cold it still was.

"Do you want another blanket?"

"No. One blanket is enough."

"But you are as cold as ice."

"Emelyn, I'm fine, but thank you."

Nodding she got up to go grab the flashlight that had started flickering, unscrewing the back to dump the dead batteries out and replace them with new ones from her pocket.

"When morning comes and my ride comes back, I'll take you straight to the authorities in the village so you can report what happened to you."

Christopher didn't say anything as he just nodded instead, watching as Emelyn stood up with the flashlight in her hand.

"Are you going to be okay for a moment if I go explore the rest of the castle?" she asked. "I came here to explore the ruins after all."

"May I accompany you?" he asked as he stood up.

"Are you able to?"

He nodded and Emelyn decided not to fight him. Starting to walk out of the ballroom, she entered the main hall again and walked towards the staircase.

"I haven't gotten to explore the upper level yet," she said.

For half a second she didn't think Christopher was even behind her since his steps were silent, turning to look over her shoulder and see that he was only a few feet behind her with the blanket still about his shoulders. His head was trained upwards at the darkness and Emelyn watched him look half wistfully upwards before training his eyes down to focus on the base of the stairs.

"Are you alright?"

"Fine," he said. Emelyn noticed that seemed to be his favorite answer, nodding her head as she moved to walk up the stairs with Christopher, her silent shadow, only a few steps behind.

When she reached the top, she saw that the landing bowed out a bit to create a balcony of sorts that could overlook most of the ground floor. Emelyn half wondered if the castle's original owners woke up every morning and surveyed their castle grounds before going about their business.

"I wonder what the original owners were like," she said as she stood there.

Her question remained unanswered as she turned to see that Christopher had disappeared on her. She cast her flashlight about, but couldn't seem to figure out what direction he had disappeared in.

"Guess I'm exploring by myself," she mused, moving to start exploring the upstairs.