" 𝘠𝘖𝘜 𝘞𝘐𝘓𝘓 𝘗𝘈𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘙 𝘔𝘠 𝘔𝘖𝘊𝘏𝘈 𝘉𝘖𝘉𝘈, 𝘈𝘕𝘋 𝘐 𝘋𝘖𝘕'𝘛 𝘛𝘈𝘒𝘌 𝘊𝘈𝘚𝘏 𝘖𝘙 𝘊𝘙𝘌𝘋𝘐𝘛! "

- 𝘌𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦 #2 -

❛ ━━･❪ ✧ ❫ ･━━ ❜

The first thing Glay felt when she regained consciousness was anger. Anger that bubbled in her heart like a raging fire. As she dragged herself out of the small lake, sopping wet, she felt the wound in her chest healing already. It almost felt as if Glay was forcing her own injury to mend itself. Because she was so impatient as well. She wanted them to die, suffering like she did.

"I hate them so much. So much," grumbled Glay as she trudged up the hill, each step making her chest throb. The pain slowed her down, yet kept her going. Where she was heading, she didn't know- but she did know that she had to get away and regain her energy first. Then she'd destroy that girl and the others.

She'd almost forgotten the pain of being shot. It was so unfair, really- that a single small piece of metal could cause her this much agony. Just imagining the ones who shot her, casually cleaning the blood off their floor, possibly laughing and just going on with life- It all aggrieved her so much. Another wave of pain rocked her body, causing Glay to stop in her tracks. She pressed her hand to the wound in her chest, trying to ignore the scarlet blood that now stained her palm.

Her finger itched for something to destroy. The pain made her light-headed, and hungry for revenge, desperate to make others feel the same as her. A smirk came to Glay's face as she imagined different ways of terminating that Eva.

Glay straightened more and more as the adrenaline and anticipation of getting her revenge filled her with energy. Careless, she tripped over a rock. She cursed, stumbling forward. Her legs were still unsteady and the ground was uneven. She pitched over the edge of the cliff.

"I did not just climb up a hill to fall back down again," shouted Glay to no one in particular as she fell. "Do you know how much effort it took? Dumbasses!" Glay flipped in mid-air, facing the above air, as if cursing the sky,"Screw whoever's in charge of the world- I'll kill you after I kill that girl-" Hair flew into her eyes as the wind whipped all around her.

Glay scowled as she saw the ground get nearer and nearer. Bracing herself for the impact ( which she wasn't sure if she'd survive, but screw the world, things went her way from now on ), she was prepared to face it head-on. But then, the ground rumbled and split apart.

Glay gaped as the rift widened, seeing a reddish environment beneath it. "What did the nukes do?" She said to herself as she plummeted straight into the underworld.

She had ten seconds to catch a glimpse of her surroundings. She had fallen into some sort of really, really huge cavern, because soon after Glay had fallen so deep she could no longer spot the ceiling of the cavern, only menacing dark shadows.

She saw towering, reddish walls and sharp, crimson stalagmites and enormous pits of glowing lava. The ground looked rough and rusty- something out of a sci-fi Mars environment. There were small dunes everywhere. Were those skulls she saw lying around? Awesome, skulls made amazing decorations as well as companions. Across the barren land were a few pyres- some smaller, some with a whole temple-like building around them, all lit up with flickering golden fires. In the far distance there were a few structures that looked like they might be able to inhabit people.

Glay felt the temperature become warmer. The hairs on her skin began to singe.

No wonder, since she dropped into fiery hot lava a second later.

Without warning, Glay's world turned into red and yellow and agony. Her scattered senses molded into one: pain.

It was worse than being shot. The lava burned, the sensation feeling like she was being dissolved in acid. The lava seemed to be a huge, thick blanket of spikes, penetrating her body and seeping inside her veins. Glay steeled herself, determined to endure it, but the pain only increased into another level of hell each time she felt the lava was getting mildly tolerable.

The lava kept pulling her downwards, further and further from the surface where she could possibly, possibly have a chance of escaping this hell, but no. It was like she was drowning all over- except it hurt more and this time, it really felt impossible to evade death once again.

It was so hot it was practically freezing. Trails of ice wormed their way inside her brain, muffling her thoughts and messing up her survival instincts, because Glay almost wanted to give up and let her body dissolve into nothingness. Just to end the pain.

Her exposed skin felt red and raw, and her body stung all over. The lava was like a hungry beast, devouring her flesh. Wave by wave of searing pain crashed over her body, with no mercy at all. One by one, her limbs went numb, her nerves no doubt charred and all messed up. But Glay still felt the dull ache, like the pain was determined to torture her until she died completely.

Then in a flash, the pain disappeared and her body started coming back together. The lava that surrounded her body was no longer actively trying to pick her apart. Instead it felt more like warm water, gliding smoothly over her body and wounds and healing them. The pain in her chest faded away along with the ringing in her head. She felt reborn, new. Even her clothes felt newly laundered.

Slowly she floated to the top of the lava. Glay blinked, and she felt her senses adapting to her new environment. The surrounding air didn't feel so hot, so toxic, so suffocating. She heard the gurgle of the lava, heard the sizzle of the flames, heard her own paced breathing. She smelt a faint smell of smoke, ashes, was that barbeque? Or maybe she was too hungry. This place suddenly felt like home to her- warm, comfortable, and familiar.

The lava pushed her relaxed body to a sandy, red shore. The lava waves licked at her feet. She knew with no doubt her body was completely, entirely mended.

"Oh, wow," Glay breathed after a minute, "Healing lava."

❛ ━━･❪ ✧ ❫ ･━━ ❜

"Eva, how could you? Literally. I cannot even-"

"Hey, it's not my fault that she's bad-"

"Cut her some slack at this, Eva, she's been through a war! Can't you just-"

"SO HAVE I?! AND I HAVEN'T LOST MY EXCEPTIONAL SKILLS AT MONOPOLY SO SHUT UP."

Steph and Eva glared at each other from across the long refectory table. They sat in the fixed living room, now more spacious than before. A chandelier hung from the ceiling, glimmering in the faint sunlight that streamed in from the windows. It was made by Vicky's powers, and it reflected the light so that they had a better light source in the base, but it also somehow adjusts itself to the mood in the room. Now it shined a brilliant shade of crystal blue, illuminating the table. Dust particles were lit by the rays of sunshine, swirling around the rooms.

"You don't have exceptional skills at Monopoly. I'm just saying, could you not build a hotel on the tile that you KNEW Vicky was going to land on?" Steph said, gripping Vicky's shoulders,"That's cruel, Eva."

"That's called profiting. I'm sorry you're too kind-hearted-" Eva retorted, "And anyway, it's just a game! I would never do that to my partners in real life."

Steph raised an eyebrow, "I'm becoming more skeptical of that by the second, honestly."

Vicky glanced from Eva to Steph. "Guys, let's just-"

"NO! I'm defending you! Look at her, she's pure evil!"

"OH, I'M PURE EVIL?? IT'S MONOPOLY, YOU-"

"NOT JUST MONOPOLY!"

The chandelier above shook violently and turned a shade of velvet. Silence filled the room. Vicky sipped at her bottle of boba, which she had 16 more of.

Eva replied sarcastically a minute later, "It's just a game. The money's not even real. Fine, you sensitive brat, I'll give the money back." She threw it across the board at Vicky.

"Happy?"

Steph turned her head to the side.

Cherry had retired from the game early from the start. She was usually very bubbly, but today she sat on the sofa staring at a wall and eating cherries. She had a glum expression– not really, but she seemed to be in deep consideration. Her brown beret hung on the side of her head.

"Anyway-"

Eva felt something land at her feet. Pushing her chair back, she looked below the desk, "Wha-" Her eyes widened.

"Go, go, GO!" Eva shot to her feet and tackled Vicky (who grasped her boba so tight it was about to explode) away from the table ( missing Steph, unfortunately ) "Run, get out of here!" Panic had overwhelmed her senses, because there was a bomb, and bombs destroyed the world once and Eva would not let it destroy her friends-

"What's- what's going on?" Cherry asked, jumping up from the sofa which made her beret nearly fall off her head. An anxious expression coated her face. Eva turned to her, and the expression on her face was so fierce it made Cherry tremble, "JUST GO! DO YOU WANT TO DIE?"

"Guys, it's fine!" Steph shouted, holding out her hand. The blackhole disappeared along with the bomb. Eva froze in the middle of pushing Vicky out the door. "What happened?" Cherry asked, confused.

"Nothing." Eva let go of Vicky. "Nothing. Why- who put that there? Was it always-"

Then she noticed something in the window.

There lay a familiar face: an eerie grin, narrowed eyes that glowed the color of cardinal, unkempt red hair messily put into a ponytail.

"There's everyone's favorite bird again." muttered Steph.

The windows shattered as she came crashing into the living room. She landed on her feet and one hand, villain-style, with the other hand carrying the gun she had stolen.

"AH!" Cherry let out a piercing scream.

Vicky reacted quickly and darted to the back of the room.

Eva whipped out a gun and flinged it in front of her.

"Heyyyyy." laughed the girl, "It seems we didn't have a formal introduction last time."

"I'm Glay."

"Glay? Your parents must've really hated you or something," said Eva matter-of-factly, "It's Eva."

"At least I had parents. By the look of you, you're probably motherless and fatherless."

"Looks like you want to be shot again?" retorted Eva, raising her gun to shoulder level, a bit annoyed that she'd have to repair the windows after this, but certainly entertained.

"You wish." said Glay, keeping her grin. She wasn't at all happy that they weren't more surprised, but she kept that fact to herself perfectly.

In the span of half a second, everyone got into action. Glay lept onto a wall and aimed for Eva's back, who whirled around and sent several shots in her direction, but only a few "Poom!" sounds hit the wall. Glay was extremely fast, she'd already leaped onto another wall– Steph rose into the air and sent a series of punches in her direction, one barely missing her eye, forcing her to turn abruptly. In a panic, Glay pushed herself away backwards, hitting onto a table. Unfortunately, there was a hoard of mocha boba teas and she had broken nearly all of them-

"MY MOCHA BOBA!!" screamed Vicky as she stared in horror at the devastating scene, nearly reduced to tears. Everyone stopped moving and stared. Vicky's breathing was very heavy, and her expression quickly turned into anger. She snapped her head at Glay with a savage look in her eyes.

Vicky is often known as a charmer, one that fights with persuasion and manipulation rather than strength. People often forget that she learned Taekwondo for six years.

In one swift jump, she went into the air screaming (uwu), and kicked Glay in the stomach. Glay stumbled towards the side of the table and shifted to steady her footing, but before she could attack, she stepped on a cherry-trap net made of cherry stems by Cherry who fired her cherry-blaster at Glay from across the room. Cherry's shots were deadly accurate, but the net missed her as she leaped into the air. The sudden reflex sent her crashing into the ceiling and through the roof. Glass shattered and fell, turning into bits of sharp rain.

("Woooaaah!!" said Cherry, surprised that Glay could jump so high.)

Eva and Stephanie landed on the bedrooms' roof along with Glay.

"Sorry I killed your canopy." said Glay, smirking. She held up her repeating rifle and fired at Steph. Steph summoned a black hole and the bullets got spaghettified.

"Shit." said Glay, "Fuck the gun then." She threw the gun off the building, then leaped forward and attacked both of them hands on. She was surprisingly good at short-distance combat for someone who had never trained before. Stephanie was able to serve a few hits and kicks, but Glay threw a grenade at her face and leapt away. There came a series of blinding flashes and ear-splitting explosions. Steph coughed out dust, her galaxy-like hair burned black on the rims. She was still determined to keep herself on the platform. However, from all the dust came a wisp of red hair and two hands that pushed hard on her shoulders.

Steph stumbled backwards violently. One final kick sent her falling down the side of the roof.

"One down, three more to go! Hahaha." laughed Glay triumphantly. Her eyes landed on Eva.

"Don't be so full of yourself." replied Eva, who was quite unfazed, aiming her gun as well. "You'll embarrass yourself-"

Glay forgot that she had thrown the gun off the building.

A sharp voice came from underneath.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR MY MOCHA BOBA, AND I DON'T TAKE CASH OR CREDIT!"

Vicky leaped onto the roof and started firing haphazardly. The repeating rifle shot mercilessly and sent bullets flying everywhere. There was no stopping her at this point. The more she shot, the more Glay backed up. She wasn't able to dodge and go around the bullets, as the aim span was too wide. In a matter of time, she was only a foot away from the edge of the roof.

Vicky stopped firing. Eva held her hand out, and as if clutched by an invisible fist, Glay started rising in the air, 50 feet, 100 feet, 1,000 feet, 3,000 feet– higher and higher. Eva levitated until she was at eye level with Glay. They were already in the clouds. Suddenly, Eva came to a halt. She had a dark expression in her eyes, an expression that said, "We've had enough of you. This is the end." The sky turned a shady gray, and all was silent. Eva flicked her wrist.

"Never gonna give you up." she said as she flung Glay into the air.

"Never gonna let you down." she said as Glay tumbled down.

Glay fell 7,000 feet in the air. She was already unconscious from the lack of oxygen. It was a devastating fall.

"Goodbye." said Eva, as she waved emotionlessly.

❛ ━━･❪ ✧ ❫ ･━━ ❜

"She's awake now, uwu."

All Glay could see was a faint face of a familiar girl staring back with her soft blue eyes, wearing a pink dress. Yellow fluorescent lamps covered the ceiling. Opening her eyes hurt too much. Glay closed her eyes again. There was a bit of a perfume aroma surrounding her, making her eager to go back to sleep. She was in a soft, comfortable bed, and the cotton sheets covering her felt like they were pressing her heavily against the bed, telling her to go back to sleep, to forget everything and go back to sleep-

"Wake up. Don't go back to sleep." ordered another voice sharply.

She immediately knew who it was. A sudden gush of anger made her want to jolt up from her bed and punch the person. But she had no energy to.

Glay wanted to at least scream at Eva, but then she remembered that she was completely at their mercy. They could kill her, if they wanted. Fear rippled through her heart, but Glay held it down.

"Ah, so... you decided to save me? Why?" Glay finally said after a few moments of silence. Her tone was bitter, almost with an edge of contempt.

"I originally didn't want to. But Vicky said that you were still rescuable. You had a broken backbone and a broken skull, and one of your ribs pierced through your lungs. 3 others were snapped in half. But your heart was still beating," said Eva, then adding, "unfortunately."

( Ha, thought Glay bitterly. )

Thoughts of that afternoon came back to her mind. It was terrible. She just remembered that she had already been beaten twice, by the same group of people. She had been defeated again. Again. Glay clenched her fists, a pang of shame squeezing her heart tightly.

"So what are you going to do with me now?" Oh gods, her dignity. Glay swallowed the bile that rose after saying that disgustingly embarrassing sentence.

"That's what we need to discuss. What would be the best outcome for you?"

Glay didn't want to say anything. Her throat was dry, and her mind was clouded. Eva obviously had the answer in her mind, and Glay definitely didn't have the power to change it. Why was she asking her? Was that to mock her? Would Eva use whatever answer she gave to her advantage? She didn't want to think. She didn't care to think. She didn't care anymore at this point. She didn't want to care. Or if she cared would the outcome be better? But she didn't care about the outcome in the first place. Everything was so confusing.

"I don't know," said Glay reluctantly.

The silence was loud. It seemed to go on for hours.

"Do I even have a choice?" spat Glay sourly.

Eva's eyes narrowed.

"Vicky." said Eva.

"Hm?"

"Send her to the cell in the basement."

A million thoughts and emotions rushed through Glay's mind. They were going to put her in a cell, in the basement. You have a basement? Of fucking COURSE they do. Fuck, that was so embarrassing. And she was so angry, so angry at them, so angry at herself for losing because she shouldn't- And yet it wasn't really the worst outcome, was it? Glay kind of expected them to kill her just after they revived her. That would be what I would do, anyway. They just decided to... lock me up. Glay was once again reminded of her helplessness in the situation, and her hands gripped the bed sheets more tightly once again. Crap, she hated this so much.

Shame and disappointment and somehow, embarrassingly relief that it wasn't worse swirled through her body. Then she felt white-hot rage, making her want to protest and punch someone or something and kill everybody within a five-kilometer radius. She hated them so much but then a stone weighing ten tons seemed to drop on her heart, flooding her with despair and hopelessness. She wanted her feelings to go numb, she wanted everything to disappear and please let this be a dream.

Muffled voices echoed from one wall to another.

"EVA! Don't you have a shred of sympathy?" Was that Cherry?

"I'm done trying to cooperate. She's a waste of time."

"Not everything is about efficiency!"

"Oh, so you guys favor her now? Send her to the cell. Now."

Glay had no more coherent thoughts. She almost thought she was going insane. This seemed so much like the consequences of her actions, but it wasn't fair at all. She had survived the wars, survived the end of the world, and she'd tried so hard, defied Death two times and even fell into Hell, but no, this would be where it ended. It was so dumb and unfair Glay just felt so...

And no, they weren't even going to kill her. They were going to lock her up and make her suffer this humiliation for decades, centuries, eternity even. That suddenly felt so evil. Glay gritted her teeth, wanting to open her mouth and shout a thousand insults and complaints at them. But no. She swallowed them all. All because of pride. How could she even bear to say that? They'd laugh knowing how much pain they were causing her.

Glay glared at the ones who had her fate in their hands. Eva's expression was unwavering, still stone cold. Steph looked sympathetic. The look on her face made Glay's blood simply boil- Cherry was silently crying in the corner. Vicky seemed like she was restraining tears too. Suddenly Glay was scared. Was it that bad? Was it really- could it really- but it was just a cell, wasn't it?

"I said, send her there." Eva said coldly.

"And stop with that look on your face, Steph. You're ridiculous for feeling sympathy for her."

( Thank you. thought Glay, wait, no, I despise her. )

"I won't." said Vicky, glaring, "you do it."

The last thing Glay remembered was an icy rush of cold air, and the ugly gray metal bars.

"Now without you here, there's nothing stopping me from expanding my kingdom..."

❛ ━━･❪ ✧ ❫ ･━━ ❜

a/n

remember stranded? remember gladys burning in lava? yeah we're revisiting that, but this time it's glay burning :DDD istg i freaked out a little when i remembered younger me had written a similar lava scene lmao- yes i did take inspiration from that when i wrote this scene

we have a little headcanon skit written for the rickroll scene lmao so stay tuned

i apologize for more swear words than usual in this chapter. when i wrote it i was in pain sooo

the action scene was written by my friends so props to them :D it's awesome