The soft patter of Yun's footsteps echoed throughout the cave.
It has only been a short while since Yun had entered the cave, but the dense darkness all around him didn't show for that.  After the last light of the outside world had faded into black, Yun had taken out a small oil lamp that he took from the camp the previous night but didn't use.  The soft glow of the fire was the only thing in the cave piercing through the pitch black.  Even though the light was small and didn't illuminate much, Yun could still tell that the cave was deep and filled with several, sharp stalactites and stalagmites, as well as a couple natural springs of water.  The spring water was murky from the minerals and dust, and some of them gave off a sulfur like odor.
Walking further into the cavern, Yun finds that the tunnel split off into two.  Looking down to the cave floor he finds that the water was trickling towards the tunnel on the right.  The herb they were looking for only grew when there was a lot of water, and knowing that Huan went into the cave looking for the herb, Yun deduced that it we only logical to go down that path.
The tunnel went downwards at a steady decline and the ceiling was quite low.  He followed the sound of the trickling water downwards until he reached the end of the tunnel.  The tunnel ended suddenly which almost caused him to walk into the wall.  It was even darker at the end of the split off tunnel than it was in the main one.  Yun moves the lantern around the small space at the end of the tunnel, and finds that it really was the end; there seemed to be no split offs nor drops.  He turns around to go back up to the main tunnel, but slips on the floor made slick from the water.
"Ow."  Yun winces from the impact, but had luckily not hit his head.  He looks to his elbow to make sure he wasn't bleeding, but as he does so he sees something glint out of the corner of his eye.
"The herb!" He exclaims in a hushed tone.  Rushing to get a glass vial out of his bag, he hurriedly picks the herb before gently placing it into the vial.  The herb's moss-like stem was covered in dew and its fat leaves were a dark, green-brown.  The mild sulfur smell that the leaves were giving off signaled that Yun would have to thoroughly wash the plant, but to him, such a trivial thing didn't matter much.  Rushing back to his feet -- but still being careful not to slip again -- Yun quickly makes his way back up to the main tunnel.  It wouldn't be long before the herb dried out and died, and therefore rendering it useless, so there was really only a short window of time to find Huan.
Yun finds himself back at the crossroad he was at previously.  "I don't remember that being there before." He whispers to himself.  Coming from the tunnel across from the one he had just come from was a soft green glow.  Yun could only hope that didn't mean that the Yin Demon had taken Huan over again.  Proceeding with caution, Yun carefully makes his way through the left tunnel.
This section of the cave -- unlike the one Yun had found the herb in -- was level, and was rather dry.  Surprisingly, the further he went into the tunnel, the stronger the slight breeze he felt coming from the end became.  The wind was brisk and quite cold, and almost felt like the wind that would be felt at the top of a mountain.  Yun began to become worried that what awaited him at the end of the tunnel was a cliff drop off and that Huan had walked over the edge for one reason or another.  His walking pace begins to pick up to a frantic run; both the green glow and wind getting stronger and brighter still.  Seeing that the tunnel opening was nearing Yun's pace quickens again.
"Idiot!  You better not have died on me."
Bursting out of the tunnel Yun finds that the tunnel had opened up into another small cavern.  A slight sigh of relief escapes his lips when he finds that there was no cliff.  However, all the same, it made no sense why there seemed to be a cold breeze circulating around the room and there was a green glow with no source.  Yun looks around the circular cavern; the ceiling being high and dome like.  His eyes follow the patterns of snakes that covered almost all of the cave's wall.  In following the wall, Yun notices that there was one corner where the light didn't reach.
"Huan?"  In the darkness sat the raven haired girl with her knees hugged into her chest.  Her head was down and her hair was cascading down her shoulders and back in pitch black ripples.
"Stay away...." The words echo off the walls, but there seemed to be no source.  "Don't come any closer...." The voice says, but the words only seem to invite the green light to move closer.  "I don't want to hurt you...  Just leave me alone!"  The echoes reverberating off the walls increase to a volume where the sound waves became visible.  Yun reaches up to cover his ear from the deafening noise.  The sheer magnitude of the noise even causes the light to be pushed back a bit.
"Demon Magic" Yun concludes.
"Leave this place!  Just leave me here... Please.  I'm a monster.  It won't be long before she finally takes me, and then swallows up everyone else as well.  It's better to just leave me here; then it will only be me who perishes.  I am scared of what she will do; what I will do.  I don't want anyone else to become broken like me."
The light inches closer once again, despite the darkness trying to bite it back.
"Stop.  Just stop trying to save me.  Not everyone gets to have a happy ending.  And I am one of those people.  The darkness will never leave, but at least of it consumes me alone, then at least a few lives will be saved."
"Idiot.  Letting the darkness consume you won't create less of it, it will just make it stronger.  You would think you would know that by now."  Yun says as he walks towards Huan's crouched down figure.  "No, not everyone gets a happy ending, but you can never get one if you let yourself believe you don't deserve one.  Believing is half of the battle.  I shouldn't have to keep reminding you."
"How do you have so much confidence?"
"Because I am a pretty boy genius of course, and I'm always right.  Now stop wallowing in self-pity and let's get out of here." Holding out his hand Yun waits for Huan to take his hand.  "Jae-ha and I won't always be here to drag her out of the darkness.  This is her life and her happiness.... And she has to want it for herself."
"Yea.  Let's go." Huan says as she takes his hand to be helped up from the cavern floor.  With a newfound confidence, Huan begins to walk out of the cavern; the light illuminating her.
"Yea."

・・・・

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