Orion leaned up against the rock wall, looking out into the distance as tears clouded his vision. He couldn't get Zeke's face out of his head, his utter shock of Orion's action staining his thoughts.

He didn't like him, not like that. He never did, and he never would.

Orion wasn't sure what made him so tempted to tell him. Zeke had never shown any romantic interest to him before. He just played around with him like best friends do, nothing else.

Memories of himself and Zeke flowed into his mind. Every time Zeke shined his beautiful smile at him, his laugh making his entire face light up. Every time Zeke signed to him and he signed back in a big group, everybody else looking at them in confusion when they burst out laughing. Every time Zeke hugged him or merely touched his shoulder and Orion's heart started beating out of control, wanting to kiss him right then.

But those times were gone. Part of him wouldn't be surprised if Zeke was back with the others at that very moment, spreading the news that he was a fag that thought it was okay to kiss him.

However, the other part of him wasn't able to believe that Zeke would do something like that, even if Orion screwed up that badly.

"Orion?"

Oh no. Not now. He couldn't face him right now.

Orion didn't look at the boy, hiding his face in his arms as he prayed for his tears to stop. He heard Zeke sit next to him, but he still didn't respond.

Zeke sighed. "Orion," He started, pausing for a minute before continuing. "Please look up." He didn't. Zeke sighed once again.

"Look, I need to talk to you."

He couldn't do it. His heart hurt too much, his guilt too powerful. But he didn't dismiss Zeke.

"Orion, will you please look at me?!"

Orion was caught off guard by Zeke's sudden outburst. Too scared of what he would do if he didn't listen to think clearly, he looked up. Zeke's hair was all in his face, his face still pale. Orion felt a few tears coming but he desperately held them back.

"I want you to know... I'm not mad." Orion was too upset to respond. "I just to ask you something." His voice dropped to a whisper.  "Why didn't you tell me you were gay? I feel bad for not noticing it before."

Orion's hands shook, but he tried his best to answer. I thought you would be disgusted and never want to hang out with me again. I thought you would hate me.

"Orion," Zeke said, shaking his head and moving closer to Orion. His heart stopped as Zeke put his hand on his shoulder. "I could never hate you."

After a moment's hesitation, Zeke grabbed Orion's hand and covered it with both of his. "You're my best friend. I'd love you no matter what."

Orion's heart jumped, but then Zeke quickly took his hands away, realizing what Orion was thinking. "I just..."

He didn't have to continue for Orion to understand what he was trying to say. He looked away, closing his eyes. It was too painful to hear it.

"I don't..."

Stop, Orion said without thinking.

"I'm sorry, Rion. I really am."

A few tears flowed down his face. He wiped them with his hands before signing, Just go.

Silence. Then, he heard Zeke stand up, walking away slowly. He didn't wait until he stopped hearing Zeke's footsteps to start letting out his sobs.

***

The three had waited by the fallen boy's body for ten minutes, hoping that a miracle would occur and he would wake up.

But he didn't.

Sparna, Liam and Marisa were all devastated to have lost their friend. They had all thought that he would have made it the longest, since he was physically the strongest and knew his way around with the beasts, and they would never guessed you would reach his end by berries.

Marisa had known William since they were in ninth grade. They bickered over stupid decisions in movies together, went to their favorite place to eat every Friday after school, and even told each other their secrets. Marisa was the only one to know about William's secret crush on Talon in junior year, and while it was obvious to most, William was the only person that Marisa ever directly told that she liked Zeke after she met him on the plane. 

They were best friends.

Even though Sparna and Liam hadn't known him very long, they wished he had more time to spend in the world.

"How come he's dead and not you, Sparna?" Liam asked. He hated to talk about it around Marisa, who was still crying over William, but he needed to ask that question. "I mean, you don't even feel sick?"

Sparna shook her head. "And his mouth was purple while the berries were pink. It doesn't make any sense."

"Maybe it's because you didn't eat enough."

"But I still would have felt a little sick. William said he only ate a few, which means he ate somewhere between 3-6 berries. And they killed him. So if they were poisonous and killed him that quickly, but he only ate a few, I should at least be coughing right now."

"And if the berries you said sucks the poison out were the berries you gave them-"

"They were! I'd swear my life on it!"

"Let me finish. If they were the berries you thought, they should have helped him if he got poisoned."

That's when Marisa interjected. She needed to say something to distract herself from the painful memories that flooded her head. "Are you suggesting that he wasn't poisoned?"

"Possibly," Liam said.

"Then how did he-" Marisa cut herself off, rotating away from her friend's body. Her whole face was pink, her eyes still watery. "You know. What else would have caused it?"

"I'm not sure," Sparna said, voice sounding as though she was in deep thought. "Do you have any more of those berries."

Marisa looked at her like she was crazy. "If you are about to eat more I swear to god I will throw them into this woods so you can not find them!"

Sparna shook her head. "Just give them to me, Marisa." 

Marisa sighed, and reluctantly, she grabbed the basket next to William's body-which she couldn't look at without crying again-which still had some berries in them. Sparna took it and set it down, picking one up and smashing it on her palm. Liam jumped, confused on why she did that. She held her hand out, showing the two.

Pink mush was smushed on her palm, and Marisa crossed her eyebrows. "And..."

"It's pink," Sparna said. When Marisa was still confused and asked her to explain, she did. "William's mouth was stained purple, not pink."

"I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention to his mouth while he was dying!" Marisa choked on her last word. Liam put his hand on her back, and she put her other hand on top of his hand. That small act of comfort surprisingly soothed her.

"It's okay, Marisa," Sparna said, hopefully calming her down. "But it was something that I noticed. So why?"

After a moment of thinking, Liam had an idea. "Did he maybe ate different berries?"

"We would have found them. Plus, he would have told us," Marisa said hoarsely.

"Is it possible he had an allergic reaction?" Liam suggested. After a minute of contemplation, Marisa and Sparna looked at each other, then turned back to Liam.

"You might be right, Liam," Sparna said. "It would explain why his mouth turned purple, and why he died and I didn't."

Liam suppressed the proud feeling in his stomach. He shouldn't feel happy. A guy just died less than fifteen minutes ago, it was a time to mourn. He grabbed Marisa shoulders, pulling her into his chest. She moved towards him, falling into his arms as she let out some more sobs.

"Screw you, allergies," She said under her breath. 

Sparna looked around near the trees, seeing if she could spot what she was looking for without moving. Luckily, she did. She quickly got up and ran towards it, holding some in her hands when she came back. In her grasp was a bundle of yellow and white flowers, it's petals so delicate and pure that even the slightest tug would break them. She moved William's hands onto his chest and laced his fingers through the stems of the flowers so that he held them close to him. 

Marisa looked at what she did and choked on one of her gasps, turning her focus on Sparna, who came beside her and wrapped her arm around her. The three sat in embrace for who knows how long, the fallen soldier peacefully holding flowers beside them as his soul ascended into the universe.

***

Finally, after so long, everybody went to bed. Talon offered to stay awake and until they came back, waking everyone up if they still didn't come back after the four hours were up. She had already rested for quite a while. 

Jayed closed his eyes, but he still couldn't sleep. Quinn was near him, fast asleep, but Jayed's mind was busy. Weird, since he hadn't slept in a while. He let his thoughts wander, relaxing as much as he could on that hard stone floor, and tried to drown out the sounds of snoring that filled the room.

He had almost fallen asleep when he heard the coughing.

Jayed's eyes opened, rather quickly, since he wasn't tired, and he turned to Quinn, who was facing away from him. "Quinn? You okay?" Jayed got no answer. The coughing continued, growing bigger and bigger. Jayed moved toward him, moving his body so that he was facing him.

Quinn's face was almost completely drained of color, his eyes bulging red. He held his hand to his chest as he choked on his coughs. "Can't. Breath."

Jayed, panicking, lay him down on the ground, holding his hand as he spoke to him. "Just try and breath, Quinn," He said, shaking. He tried to sound calm but he didn't do a very good job. "Deep breaths. In, and out. In, and out." 

Quinn tried to do as he told, but they turned out short and choppy. He continued coughing harder and harder, and when he coughed so hard his head slammed on the ground when it finished was when Jayed let out his first shriek.

"Help!" He cried. He could hear some people running to his aid, but his focus was all on Quinn. "Help me, please!"

"Jayed," Quinn whispered, face showing obvious signs of pain. He was crying.

Tears streamed down Jayed's face as Quinn started coughing up brown and green muck so big that it shouldn't have been able to get through his throat in the first place. He silently prayed for Quinn to stop coughing and for him to just be healthy again as he cried over top of him, giving him advice as well. Lany came up beside him, trying his best to feel Quinn's forehead. His eyes went wide.

"He's burning up," He said, mouth wide open as he looked around at everyone else. He pushed through the crowd, yelling "Out of my way!" as he did so, running to the supply of water they had saved and grabbing as much as he could carry. He brought it back to a panicking Jayed and choking Quinn, telling Jayed to tilt his head up so that the mucus didn't travel back down his throat.

Lany did his best to give Quinn as much water as possible between coughs, biting his lips as he watched Quinn squirm in pain. Once he had finished giving him the water, he jumped as he vomited it back out. He grabbed his arm, holding it down onto the ground as he closed his eyes, whispering something under his breath.

"Come on, Quinn, come on!" Jayed begged quietly, voice almost too frail to make out what he said. Eira joined Jayed and Lany, pressing her eyes together as she forced herself to think of something to do that would help.

Then, Quinn's coughing died down as he closed his eyes, body completely still. Jayed shook his head. "No, no, no, no. Quinn?" He rocked his friend back and forth, but there was no response. Lany checked his pulse, looking up at Jayed after doing so. He said nothing.

"No! Please no! Quinn, talk to me! QUINN!" Jayed didn't let go of his hand, squeezing it and begging for him to stay. His whole body felt numb, like he had to really try to move or even say something. "Please wake up, Quinn," He whispered, voice full of heartbreak and loss. Everyone else was in complete shock, Lany unable to close his mouth.

Jayed fell on top of Quinn, hugging his immobile body. He sobbed on top of him, shutting his eyes. He was gone. His best friend was gone.

***

A/N

Wow. Chapter Twenty. My goal is to finish this book by the end of summer, so I'm working over time on it.

Also, don't worry, I'll get back on the main plot in the next chapter, I just needed to tie up a few loose ends with the side plots, including explaining William's death and Orion's coming out to Zeke.

Oh. And sorry about what just happened. It hurt me too, trust me :'(

As I told you, this book will be getting more violent and deaths will occur more often now since were still fifteen characters left before the death in this chapter occurred. Which meant that only five died so far. And I'm not planning for this book to be too much longer.

You guys might think I'm an emotionless monster for killing off so many characters in such brutal ways, but it actually takes me a long time to emotionally prepare to do these, like Quinn's in this chapter. It took me so many tries, and every time it hurt. I really will miss writing about the characters that pass in this book. I really will.

RIP our lovely boys William and Quinn. We will miss you <3

-Puffin