"Ho!?"

Van let out a loud gasp. He knew that his eyes were now open, but the only thing that his eyes could see was darkness. He could feel his cheek touching something cold… no, it wasn't only his cheek, his chest, stomach, legs were all cold.

​​

Was he currently planted on the ground somewhere? Van thought as he closed his fist, feeling a ground of dirt bundle in his palms.

"Where… where am I?" Van could not help but let out a whisper, his words quickly bouncing towards his ear.

"!!!"

With this familiar sensation entering his ears, Van quickly moved his hands.

"N… no… no," Van's words started to stutter as he was not able to stretch his arms fully before it was blocked by something. His fears were right, he was currently trapped somewhere.

"A… anyone?" Van's breaths started to whimper, he tried to lift himself up, only for his bare back to feel something warm blocking it.

"No…" He whispered, his breaths getting even stronger and even more erratic. "A… anyone!?"

"No… no," Once again, Van stuttered, his arms and legs slowly folding as he curled up into a ball. "Anyone… anyone!?"

Once again, only the sound of his voice echoed through this confining darkness that Van now found himself in. His stuttered breaths and his heart which drummed uncontrollably was as if a choir that harmonized with voice-- an orchestra of his deepest fears.

"Please… please enough," A single tear suddenly trickled from his eye as he started to gasp for air, "I… I can't breathe, please…

...father. Please… let me out. Please… I... I would behave," his whimpers were becoming high-pitched as the single tear became many, the ends of his mouth moving downwards as his jaw trembled.

"No, no, no… please… let me--"

"Shut the fuck up, boy!"

"!!!"

Van quickly opened his eyes wide as soon as he heard another voice entering his ears, he rotated his body and lied on his back as he tried to look around. But alas, not even a single light permeated.

"Is… is anyone here?" Van sniffled.

"...I'm right in front of you, boy."

"M… miss Charlotte!?" Van squinted his eyes as he tried to determine where the familiar voice was coming from. He was sure of it, the pitch and somewhat roughness of the voice came from Charlotte, "Miss Charlotte!? Where are you!?"

"I already said I am right in front of you."

Van could hear a light sigh and a warm breeze flowing across his face, slightly pushing his head down.

"Oi, what are you doing!?"

"S… sorry," Van quickly retracted his hands, Charlotte truly was in front of him, or rather, on top of him. Realizing that someone else was with him, Van's body started to calm down as he let out a long and deep breath, "Where… are we, Miss Charlotte?"

"Underground," Charlotte quickly replied.

"U… undergrou--"

"!!!"

Before Van could finish his words, he remembered the last thing he saw before he blacked out. How a colossal boulder, almost as wide as a city, emerged from the clouds.

Swallowing…

...Swallowing the New Wall and their base whole.

"Harvey and the others!?" Van once again shouted.

"Lower your voice, my ears are ringing!" Charlotte roared, and as soon as she did so, a slight cracking noise rumbled in the confined darkness as the ground that served as their casket started to tremble, "And worry about others later, we have even more problems now."

"Miss… Charlotte you…" Van whispered as she realized why Charlotte was on top of him, "You… protected me?"

Van could finally remember everything now. As he stopped to look at the effect of the colossal boulder, Charlotte rushed towards him and covered him from all the debris and dirt that threatened to rip him apart pore by pore.

"...Why?" Van breathed, "Weren't you… trying to kill me?"

"What?" Charlotte quickly replied, "Why would I try to kill my future grandson-in-law?"

"..."

"Anyway, you think you're strong enough to survive?" Charlotte then asked.

"Survive?"

"I am going to move now. There might be a chance that everything will come crashing down on us," Charlotte let out a short sigh, "I couldn't move since I might squash you accidentally. I also don't know how deep we are underground."

"That…" Van could only let out a tiny hum as he thought of Charlotte's words.

"...Or," Charlotte prolonged her word, "You can get us out of here."

"Me?" Van breathed, "...How?"

"You'll drill with your hands," Charlotte said, "That way we won't disturb the structure of the rocks that much."

"...Can't you do it?"

"If I did it, there's a good chance this whole thing explodes," Charlotte sighed, "I… We also do not know if there are others… near us," Charlotte then said, her words sedated. When the colossal rock fell on the New Wall, she and Van were only about 300 meters away from it, with how strong the impact was…

...It wouldn't be impossible that someone was washed away near them.

"I… see," Van nodded before his eyes started to release a web of golden lightning. And as soon as he did so, Charlotte's face quickly presented itself to him, almost making him jump.

So stupid, why didn't he do this earlier, he thought as he cursed himself with his stupidity. And so, with a sigh, he turned around and started digging to his left. Like a mole, he started pushing the dirt with his hands and pushing them back. But as he was about to dig again, he heard something humming in his ear.

"--inefficient."

"Did you say something, Miss Charlotte?"

"You really do move in a creepy way," Charlotte said, "But you're not doing it efficiently."

"...Digging efficiently?" Van could not help but furrow his eyebrows, "Is there even a more efficient way to dig us out besides… digging us out?"

"Try vibrating your hands, it should push out the dirt and even some rubble like it was butter."

"...What?" Van could only raise his eyebrow as he listened to Charlotte.

"Just do it," Charlotte clicked her tongue, "You were doing it fine with your whole body earlier while you were crying for help," she then said with a slight chuckle.

"..."

"...Please forget about that."

"Get us out of here and I will forget it."

Hearing Charlotte's playful tone, Van could only let out a long and deep sigh as he once again went into superspeed.

'Vibrate… my hands,' Van thought as his hands started to shake. He squinted his eyes, a bit doubtful as he slowly placed his hands in the dirt, and to his surprise, his hand penetrated the ground with ease. But still, he could still feel a lot of resistance, and digging the dirt away would still be faster, he thought.

'But…' Van let out a sigh; since Charlotte told him it would be faster, there's probably something he was doing wrong…

...or maybe his hands just weren't fast enough.

"..."

Van then took in a deep breath as he focused most of his attention on making his hands shak-- vibrate.

"Oho, this brat finally got it," Charlotte could not help but let out a smirk as she heard a buzzing noise enter her ears,

"...Even I can't do that."