"...Biggums, you ok?"

I snapped out of my thoughts and looked at Mitch. His brown eyes twinkled with concern.

"...Not really.  I'm still a bit stressed from the deaths."

"I don't blame you. It's only been 2 days since Ty died. I swear...if we ever find this mastermind...." Mitch grumbled.

I chuckled lightly. "Life sucks here, G. We seem like friends, but the moment we're given an opportunity to escape or some other motive, we turn. I feel like this might be one of those days."

I looked up at the clock on Mitch's wall. It read 11:30 AM.

Mitch yawned loudly and stood up, stretching. I winced as some of his bones popped.

"Wanna go get some lunch?" Mitch asked.

I smirked. "Yeah. Can you help me up? I'm lazy."

Mitch scoffed and grabbed my paw, yanking me off the bed rather fast. I yelped as I ran into Mitch.

I backed up slightly and stared into his eyes. He looked...content.

We both looked down at our joined hand and paw and quickly let go, blushing. Well, Mitch blushed. You could never tell if I was blushing or not.

"Ermm...l-let's go." Mitch stuttered nervously.

I nodded and we both left the room, almost running into Sky and Sub.

"Oops! Sorry!" Mitch apologized.

Sky smiled. "Nah, bro. It's fine. On another note, look at Sub's drawings! Holy mother of budder!"

We all laughed except for Sub. He was laughing silently.

"I think it's a self-portrait or something."  Sky commented.

Sub showed us his drawing.

"Dayum, bro!  That's awesome!"  I exclaimed.

Sub smirked and turned to a blank page.

'I've been spending a lot of my free time drawing.  It's...comforting in a place like this.'

He looked around to emphasize his last sentence as we read it.

Mitch sighed.  "Let's not dwell on this.  Let's just go eat...and then Mario Kart the rest of the day?"

I fist-pumped.  "YASSSS!  ALL DAY!"  I yelled happily.

We all laughed and walked to the lunch room together.

*In Spongebob Narrator's Voice*

8 hours of racing later....

1st:  Baccaman

2nd:  Skydoesracing

3rd:  Mitchthecanadian

"Hahahaha!  I won again!"  I exclaimed.

Mitch rolled his eyes playfully while Sky sat back and groaned.

Sub had stopped playing about 30 minutes ago and went to a different spot in the game room to keep drawing.

I sat the controller down and smirked.  "Dis bacca's got a streak going!"

Mitch seemed deep in though before his face lit up.  "I've got an idea of something we can do...Jerome, what's your preferred...oh, wait.  Never mind.  I remember."

I tilted my head slightly in confusion as he stood up.

"I'll be back in a couple hours.  I'll show you what I'm talking about tomorrow since lights out is close."

I nodded and he left, the door creaking shut.

Sky sighed.  "That was fun....  I wish we could be this happy and carefree all the time."

I looked over at Sub.  He glanced up at me and nodded before continuing his drawing.

I pulled my legs onto the couch and wrapped them with my arms.  "We could...if it weren't for that stupid MonoKirby."  I muttered.

"Did someone say my name, boyo?"  THAT voice asked.

A puff of smoke appeared above the TV as MonoKirby walked off of it, landing on the floor in front of us.  His height went up to my knees, but he was still intimidating.

I snarled at him.  I didn't want to be anywhere near him.

From the corner of my eye, I could see Sky scoot away from me slightly.  I didn't blame him.  Baccas are frightening when they're angry.

MonoKirby only smirked.  "Hi, Jerome."

I only glared at him.

MonoKirby crossed his arms.  "Hmph.  Someone's in a mood today, boyo."

"Because you're here."

I heard Sky stifle a laugh.

MonoKirby stuck out his tongue.  "At least the mastermind is happy when I visit them, boyo."

I rolled my eyes.  "Because you're practically conducting the murders.  This mastermind likes death for some insane reason."

MonoKirby only giggled creepily.  "Hehehe!  Bye!"

He disappeared in a puff of smoke.

I groaned and laid back, thinking about random things.

About 10 minutes before lights out, the door creaked open.  I turned to see Mitch smirking, his hands behind his back.

I arched an eyebrow.  "So what game did you come up with?"

He chuckled quietly.  "It's a super fun game.  Now, don't freak out, ok?"

He pulled his hands from behind his back.

In one hand was a life-size wood sword.  It was sharpened to perfection.

In the other hand was a life-size wooden axe.  It also was sharp.

I glanced at the weapons and back at Mitch.  "Um...huh?"

I was confused.

Mitch only laughed at my expression.  "I'll tell you more in the morning."

He smiled at me and left.

I rubbed the back of my head and sighed before heading off to my room.

~TIME SKIP TO NEXT MORNING AT BREAKFAST~

I was sitting at the table eating raw fish when Mitch came in.  He had the sword and axe in his hand, yet he walked like everything was normal.

Everyone just gaped at him as he walked up next to me and set the weapons on the table.  He winked at me and went to the kitchen to get breakfast.

Sky walked up to the weapons and picked the sword up, examining it.

"Huh.  Perfect condition."  Sky muttered.  He placed the sword back down and walked off.

I just looked at everyone and shrugged.

Some sighed, some chuckled, the rest went back to normal conversations.

Wow.  They aren't scared about the fact that these could kill them?

I sighed and continued eating my fish.

Mitch came back in with his food.

As he sat down, I put my fish back on the plate and turned to him.

"Care to explain 1:  How you even made the weapons and 2:  Why?"

Mitch smirked.  He likes to smirk a lot.  That, or the author is running out of facial expressions to write.

"1:  I took the sharpest knife from the kitchen and went to the library.  There was a shelf in the back with no books, so I pulled off a couple boards and made these."  He gestured to the sword and axe.

"2:  PvP.  Usually that ends in extreme injuries and/or death, but I'm thinking more touch with the weapon.  Or...if you're adventurous...we can legitimately fight.  Without killing, of course."  He finished.

My eyes probably lit up like stars.  "Bro, why would you even suggest 'touch' with the weapons?!  Of course I'd legitimately fight you!"  I exclaimed happily.

Mitch grinned.  "Let's do it when the table is clear.  It's long enough and wide enough, not to mention it adds to the difficulty."

I nodded.

We sat and ate in silence.  After about half an hour, the table was clear.

Ross, Barney, Sky, Sub, and Nick stood around talking about Notch knows what.

Mitch grabbed my empty plate as well as his and put them up in the kitchen.  He came back out and grabbed the sword, tossing me the axe as well.

I caught it easily and tested it out.

I would've preferred a Betty, obviously, but...diamond might kill Mitch, and I don't want that.  I guess a Bob is ok.

Wooden axes are Bob, stone are Rick, iron are Freddie, gold are Gina, and diamond are Betty.

Mitch jumped up onto the table and beckoned to me to do so as well.

The group came over.

"What you dirts doings?"  Barney asked.

Mitch only grinned and turned to me.

"Ready?"

I flipped Bob and held him tightly.

"Always."  I replied.

"En garde!"  Mitch said loudly.

I noticed Sky leave the room as Mitch seemed to back away from me.

I scoffed.  "You scared of the bacca with an axe already?"

He only smiled before running at me.

I knew that position he was doing.

I ducked as he flew over me, his wooden sword coming down not hard, but enough to hurt a little right where my head was.

I whirled around and blocked his next strike with the broad end of my axe.

I heard more people come into the room, but I had to stay focused.

I backed up and let the force of his arm that WAS pushing on the axe to propel him in a slight circle, catching him off guard.

I used this to aim a weakish attack to his back, but he used his momentum of being off balance to roll away.

I examined his movements as he rose up.  He was analyzing me.  Trying to find a weakness.  Trying to find a hole in my defense.

Baccas don't go down easily.

We have 2 weaknesses.

1 are those...vile creatures.

The other...is getting easily distracted.  Baccas technically always have ADD.

I didn't know if Mitch realized that or not.

Suddenly, he got this look in his eye.  I did NOT like that look.

He turned and jumped off the table onto the ground opposite the others.

I frowned.  "You can't do that!"

He laughed.  "Hey, I never said that you weren't allowed to jump off.  I just said be on the table to make it harder."

I humphed.  "Ok.  Whatevs."

I jumped onto a chair, one foot on the back and one in the chair.  The chair tipped back towards Mitch.  I was chair-surfing.

I jumped up at the peak of the fall and landed neatly in front of Mitch.

"A sword beats an axe any day."

I scoffed, still looking at Mitch.  "Says who, Ross?"

"Says Fire Emblem logic.  See?"

He held a picture up to the readers to prove his point.

"Sword beats axe, axe beats lance, lance beats sword."

"The heck is Fire Emblem?"

"Not relevant."

I rolled my eyes and focused back on Mitch.  His eyes were wide.  Then he chuckled kinda darkly.  "Baccas get easily distracted, huh?"

I froze.  "Umm...no?"

*cough cough*  "AKA yes."  *cough*

I glared back at Nick before looking at Mitch again.

"Anyways...."  I spoke.

"Yeah."  Mitch answered.

He lunged at me, his sword pointed towards me.

I panicked and held my axe horizontal, Mitch's sword's tip hitting the broad part of the axe.

It threw me off balance and I tumbled backwards, my axe still in its position.

Mitch kinda landed on top of me.  He put his sword under my axe and flicked up really fast, causing my axe to fly through the air and away from me.

I noticed the others came to this side of the table to see what was happening.

Mitch held his sword to my throat.  "Seems Ross was right."

I smirked evilly.  "You both obviously forgot one very important thing."

"And what would that be?"

"I'm a bacca."

I contracted my legs in and shoved upwards, causing Mitch to fall off and backwards, his sword clattering next to my axe.

I pounced on him, sat my knees on his legs, and held his wrists down.

I smiled kinda devilishly.  Mitch looked up at me, silent as a rock.  Wait, that's still as a rock.  Whatever.

I stared at his deep, brown eyes.  I kinda got lost in them.

I think he got lost in my black eyes.

*AHEM*

We both jumped slightly and I quickly got off Mitch, clasping my paws behind my back.

Mitch was blushing as he stood up.

Jin leaned over to Sky and said, "#Merome."

Sky snorted.

I glared at Jin.  "Hey!  Too early in the book for that!"

Everyone laughed as they dispersed to do whatever they do.

*TIME SKIP TO BEDTIME CUZ I SAID SO*

I stretched a bit before checking my door was locked and hopping into bed.

I wonder...if he even feels the same way....

I closed my eyes and fell asleep.

~DREAM~

I opened my eyes to see a starry sky.

I thought I'd been at that hope castle.

I sat up and looked around.  Something about this place...was...so familiar, but I couldn't place my paw on it.  Trees and homes.  Bacca homes.

I stood up and walked towards a particular home.  I don't know why I did, but it was like it was calling to me.

I opened the door and walked in.

A mother bacca and a father bacca were talking frantically about something.  An attack?

The mother bacca ran to another room and quickly came out with a half-asleep bacca, maybe 6 years old, in a black suit looking----wait.

I wear a black suit.

THAT'S ME!

I suddenly became way more interested.  These were my parents.

The mot---my mother put shoes on the little me's feet.

"Mama, I'm tired.  What's wrong?"  Little me asked, rubbing his eyes and yawning.

Father had left to a different room and came back with...Betty!

"Jelicia, go.  Take care of Jerome.  I'll hold them off as best I can."

Mother nodded, tears streaming down her face.  Little me was now fully awake.  "Mama?  Mama?  Why are you crying?"

Mother wiped away her tears and picked up Bob, the only axe I could hold without falling.  "It's nothing, sweetheart."  She cooed.

She rushed out the door, little me in one arm and Bob in the other.

I quickly followed them outside.

That's when the screams started.

Raiders.  Bacca fur traders.

Mother ran one direction, seemingly away from the screams.

Then, a whooshing sound filled my ears as an arrow hit Mother straight in the heart.

She fell, protecting little me from further harm.

"Mama?  MAMA?!?  WAKE UP, MAMA!!"  Little me cried.

I felt tears prick my eyes.

I heard the clanking of armor from behind us.

We turned at the same time.

The first thing I saw...was a black-and-red checkered hoodie.  The exact same one that Mitch wears.

But the face...was different.  The blue eyes shown with greed and joy for death.  This couldn't be Mitch.  He's the same age as me.  This...man might've been in his late 20's or early 30's.

He picked up my mother and looked at me.  He seemed to contemplate whether to kill me too.

"He's too young...."  He murmured.

He walked off with mother's corpse.  Little me sat down on the ground in shock.

More men filed past little me.  Some were empty-handed while others had baccas.  Friends.  Neighbors.  FATHER.

The final man to leave the village turned to little me and said something.  But...the voice didn't sound like it was talking to little me.  It was talking to ME.

"Jerome!  Wake up!  You're in grave danger!  Please!"  A feminine voice cried.

MOTHER.

I glanced one last time at little me before wiping my face and willing myself to wake up.

~END OF DREAM~

My eyes shot open, but I didn't move.  Someone was in my room.  I could sense their anxiety.

I kept my breathing slow so it seemed like I was still asleep.

I knew my eyes would adjust to the dark eventually, but by then, it might be too late.

I shot up fast, frantically looking around.  The figure was right next to my bed.

Before I could further react, a fist hit the side of my head.  HARD.

I fell back onto my bed, my eyes closing once more.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OMG This is probably the longest chapter I've ever written in my whole life.

Thanks for all the reads and votes!  :D

Smash that vote button at hyper speeds, Hyperfans!

-Becca  <3

2,560 words (not including these or words)