[ Recommended Song ]: Deep End by Ruelle

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"WHAT?!" Callista's mouth hung ajar as Elijah told what he'd seen.

The latter's eyes were red when the group found him walking. "He had a blade and some pills... when I found him under a tree, he just sobbed at me. That's it."

"How many pills did he take? That fucker could've died from overdose!!" Kai almost screamed on the top of his lungs. He'd never cursed this loudly before, however, just by listening to Elijah's words, he already wanted to curse his brother's name out loud.

"He was tripped by guilt," Ryou sighed, "it's a good thing you found him, but you've gone over the line."

"I know what my mistake was, and I tried to fix it. Look where had it gotten..." Elijah lowered his head in dismay of himself.

"You played hard to get, then maybe that's on you, Elijah." A voice said coming from the kitchen with a glass of water. "Will Jace be in this situation if you listened to his side? Will he try to kill himself... if you didn't dismiss him so much?!" Tris leaned on the table.

"Why does it seem like you're making him feel guilt?" Diana stood up, "Jace was at fault too!!"

"Jace almost killed himself by overdose. Isn't that enough for you?!"

"WELL, MAYBE IF JACE DIDN'T TREAT ELIJAH LIKE A STUPID CHILDISH ADULT, MAYBE HE WOULDN'T BE IN HIS CURRENT SITUATION?! MAYBE ELIJAH WOULDN'T BE SO MAD AT HIM, MAYBE WE WERE ABLE TO SAVE SOMEONE SO IMPORTANT RIGHT NOW!!!!!!" Diana shrieked out of anger, Ryou tried to calm her down. Her chest was beating up and down from rage.

"Enough, you two!" Kiara dismissed the fight while her hands crossed above her chest. "What do you want to do, then?! Diana, Tris...Elijah and Jace were done with their argument and who do you guys are the next ones? What bullshit is this?!"

The two silenced themselves quickly and apologized. Callista sat everyone down. "There will probably be more than a few more rounds to go through, you all should have your rest."

The group was dismissed, she was right. The group needs a break from everything too, especially dramas. Elijah needed a moment to think about what his brother had said.

"Tris meant those words by heart, don't you think?" A voice from behind softly asks, interrupting the overthinking male.

"Kai," Elijah let out a soft chuckle, "it's not surprising anymore, believe me... it just strucked me, Tris' words did, a lot."

"Not surprising?" Kai turns to the male who nods. Elijah rubbed his cheek.

"He tried to compete with me, Tris, he loved Jace more than a friend could... more than a family would, he was madly inlove with Jace than I was." Continued the latter which left Kai in shock. "Did he tell you that?"

"No, but years ago... I overheard his conversation with Zack-ge. He confessed about how he admired Jace so much as a person, and honestly I don't blame him." Elijah smiles, "To have someone to be protective of you, spoils you, always put you at the top of his priority, gives you gifts, love, and quality time... that's your brother."

Kai listened to the story attentively as if he was in class having a lecture. "Was there jealousy between you two?"

Elijah was quite hesitant to answer the question, he so wasn't sure about it, so he answered, "maybe, I'm not sure if there was, however I won't deny that the tension was there."

"How? I'm guessing you both did something insane."

Elijah laughs, though those times were never great. That "era" where both he and Tris fought almost everyday because of a man before Dominic came.
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FLASHBACK:

"Do you like him?" Tris asked in an obvious irritated tone as he stared daggers at his brother.

Elijah stood up from the couch as he was playing games on his phone. The mentioned object still had the younger's focus. "Who?"

"Rafael Jace Jimenez,"

By the mention of his name, Elijah's attention were shifted quickly. "Ge, that's none of your business anymore."

This answer made Tris more vexed than he was earlier. "I'm asking, Elijah."

"Ge, he's yours for all I care." The younger said in a serious voice, Tris raised an eyebrow. "For all you care, huh?" Tris proceeded to show letters which was familiar because it had Elijah's handwriting on it. "I'm guessing you dropped this, then?"

Elijah angrily snatched the letter from his brother. "You should've threw it away!"
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"Oh..." Kai says with a little frown. The story had a corny cut in the end.

"Since that day, Tris and I regularly fought. I don't know if he still has feelings for Jace, but... I don't think of it that much." Elijah sighs, "You should sleep, Kai, go back to your tent."

The two bid goodnights to each other and went in their respective tents.

"Tris?" Kai murmured as he saw the mentioned name in Elijah's tent. He walked closer to the latter who didn't pay much attention to him. "Shouldn't you be asleep?" He asked again. There were no replies retorted to him.

"What were you doing inside Jace and Elijah's tent?"

Tris looked at him "Apologized to Elijah, I know what I've said earlier was wrong. I regret it..."

Kai didn't protest, he just minded his own business and went back to his tent. Although he had a weird feeling of doubt, he didn't let that get in the way.

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With Elijah:

When the young male entered the tent, he saw his lover peacefully sleeping (still) with a hoodie on. He laid beside his lover cuddling him.

"I'm sorry," Elijah murmurs, nuzzling on his boyfriend's neck. He never not say sorry in repeat to his lover. He thought about what Tris had said, the latter had a point.

Maybe if he, Elijah, forgave his boyfriend sooner than later, everything wouldn't have gotten this far - Jace killing himself by overdose.

While staring at his asleep lover, Elijah soon closed his eyes too, drifting to a deep slumber.

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11:30 PM

Guards' footsteps could be heard tapping on the hard-cemented floor. The grass was dead and the green leaves fell from the trees - all rotten. You can decribe these two as bald at the moment.

All of the members were dragged out of their tents. Ryou tried his best to protest against the guards' tight grip, yet, he failed.

"Don't worry," Said the guard in a deep voice. "The last round is tonight... you and your group are the only ones who lived yet did the less but flirt."

The guards stopped walking when they saw a red door. They opened it and harshly dropped the group inside one by one.

The guards left them laying on the floor. The group lifted their heads to examine their surroundings.

It was the complete opposite of what they've expected.

The room was dimly-lit as well as spacious and quiet. A lamp sat on a drawer beside the door, its light barely illuminating the room. The light was enough for them to see a few items to where the lamp's glow were pointed to.

No one can hear anything besides themselves breathing and their fast uncontrollable heartbeats. It was... a room filled with weird and mysterious things. It was as if these items were from the schools' history book and the group had already seen them once.

They weren't sure where and when did they see such or some objects that were in the room, but, they were undeniably familiar with it.

Despite its simplicity, a sense of mystery and intrigue hung in the air - as if something was hiding just out of sight.

"Where..." Kai released a deep groan along saying his word as he stood up. His face was pressed against the floor - the last thing he wants to do is face and kiss it.

Kai took the lamp as soon as he saw it being the source of light. He figured to find a switch first. He walked for a little while, pointing the lamp on the wall for a possible clue to where the switch was.

"Ouch! What the fuck? Ow shit! Goodness me! Have mercy!" The voice sounded familiar to the young latter as only curses came out from that person's mouth.

"Who's there?!" Kai asked, alert. It was a room that invited exploration and discovery, but also had a slight sense of danger and predictability. No one should let their guards down in these types of situations.

"Look down, you idiot! Don't step on my hand! I got hit by an object caused by you! Dummy!"

Kai pointed the lamp down to where the voice was coming from. "Oops..." he lifted his foot with a sheepish smile. "Sorry Jace," he apologized.

Jace's eyes wandered around the room with the help of his brother's lamp. He saw strange papers, strange pictures -- strange documents. It was a room that promised freedom and truth about the university, but warned of hidden flaws.

He looked at the papers with a bewildered look. There were articles about death.

"Death of the Vadrians? But..." Kai's voice lowered, for a while his mind was pure black.

Vadrians?

He bumped into a board with images. The history of the school was pinned, yet it lacked information.

"Gege, can you hold this?"

Jace held the lamp, "what are you even looking for? There are loads of clues here with complete information." He pointed at the walls using the lamp.

There was a book laying on the table, that exact same table where the lamp wad found.

'How did it even get there?' Kai thought as he walked closer to the book. There were pages, many of them. However, almost all of them are... blank.

Except one.

"This doesn't help." Kai groans, staring at one particular page of the book which only had short words.

"Do not trust whoever is in with you.
People deceive you by looks, it's
hard to determine by their attitude."

"It doesn't even make sense, does it?" The younger questions gis brother this time. When he looked back, Jace was already holding the lamp with one hand like a weapon.

"Gege?"

Kai was astounded once Jace tried to hit him with a flaring lamp. Luckily, Kai managed to dodge it before it could even cause him a wound.

This isn't his brother, it was... a monster.

He saw right in front of his eyes, Jace twisting while his eyes became black as his pupils were. Kai was all alone, the group wasn't with him. He picked up a sharp object that could possibly help him defeat the untamed, ferocious monster.

Kai's eyes wandered around for hope. His eyes landed on the mop beside him. It wasn't even that sharp. "Fucking great, this is my only chance by now." With those words, he grabbed the mop and took the opportunity to sharpen it with then left-over mini blade he had.

The blade was from a broken cutter, he tried to sped up his pace and hid in the closet (thank heavens he fits) while the monster was still transforming. In no way will he attack without a sharp object - it was way easier for him to meet the angels.

When the end on the mop was sharp enough, he set it aside. Kai covered his mouth to avoid making any loud noises that could atract his predator.

"Come out, Kai..."

That voice still haunts him. It was in Jace's voice, yet, it wasn't his brother. He needs to figure out how to get out... really fast.

The monster walked to the door and peeked out - nothing there. "Don't you want to play games with your gege?" The monster asked still in Jace's voice. The creature looked at the cabinet, Kai saw it and held his mop firmly.

Three...

Two..

One.

The door blasted open, yet Kai wasn't there, the only thing that's waiting for the monster was a talking baby-alive and a mop. So where is Kai? There were two closets: one was empty and two was filled with clothes big enough for a human to fit.

The monster roared in anger - smashing the things he could find. When he noticed another closet, he opened it. A blade slit right through his throat.

Kai took the lamp and the short time to grab the sharp mop and find clues. He took the bag sitting next to the table where the lamp sat and fit everything he could use. He even brought the book with him.

When the monster started healing, Kai directly stabbed the sharp mop into the heart of the creature.

"How can you do this, Kai?" The monster transformed into Jace fully. He was bleeding.

"Dumb bitch, my brother won't try to kill me unless I did him wrong." He says, lifting the object stabbed.

A door appeared infront of him. "Welcome, your second round has begun."

"Second round?" Kai questioned himself, wasn't the second round over... months ago?

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Okay, so hey there! I'm going to cut the story here, the last chapter will be updated sooner or later. I'm still figuring out the ending of it. I'll comment two emojis and reply with your favourite ones. The ending will be what emoji you'll pick.

-Ms. Khi 🦊🖤