The horses settled in next to the cabin without a sound. The small team of heroes had committed a crime by stealing the sturdy group of racehorses, but it was for the better. The only one who was truly against this was Gordon, but he was against everything so it didn't matter.

"Food?" Alex chirped. They were all scrambling around the house to find anything they may have forgotten about. Gabe was standing next to her, peering down at the list while clutching her hand tightly.

"Yep, got that." Dare answered as he checked through everyone's bag.

"Potions?"

"Uh huh."

"Weapons?"

Dare held up his bow to examine it. "Yes."

"And everyone has their collar on, right?" Alex felt the slight but comfortable pressure on her neck. She was ready to take this woman out of power, but she was still nervous. Gabe was even worse.

"We have the extra healing potions, right?" He asked.

"As I've already said, yes."

"For sure?"

"Most definitely."

"...Positive?"

"Yes." Dare hissed with a cold glare sent Gabe's way. He shut his mouth, still not completely satisfied. "Humans." Dare muttered as he was filling up the bags.

Alex gave him a small peck on his cheek to ease his nerves. "You don't need to worry, you'll be alright."

He peered down at her with a sad smile. "It's not me I'm worried about."

Alex rolled her eyes at the seemingly mushy comment. "I'm immortal so I can't die. And it's just The Assassin, it's not like she can hurt me."

Notch, who just happened to walk past at that moment, stopped suddenly in front of his sister with his eyebrow arched. "Yeah, it's not like she's ever hurt you before."

The smirk etched into her face disappeared. She subconsciously rubbed the bandage on her arm. "But she won't be able to if we attack her first and limit her ability to recover."

Notch smirked at her and walked away muttering under his breath. "Easier said than done."

"What was that about?" Gabe whispered near her ear. Alex shook her head, hinting for him to drop the subject. A wave of dejection floated off of him when he pulled away from her side.

Wilson suddenly came bouncing into the room, his spirits unusually brightened. Dare even stopped what he was doing to stare at Wilson's erratically different behavior. "What the nether are you on?"

"Absolutely nothing." He said, a smile beaming across his lips.

"Then why are you acting like this?" Gabe questioned.

"Because we need a little optimism before the battle and if it came from somebody like me then I thought it would lift everyone's spirits."

"You have that big of an ego?" Dare asked with a monotone voice, making it way funnier than it should've been.

"I hate all of you." Wilson muttered with his arms crossed.

Gabe left his place next to Alex and slapped a hand on Wilson's shoulder. "How about you do something useful and go help fill the bags for the trip. I have to go grab a few things of my own."

Wilson, who was back to his old sarcastic, moody self, pushed right past him but took his spot next to Alex (but obviously not as close). He glared over at Gabe almost as if to say are you happy now? Gabe shrugged and took off down the hall into Steve's room.

"So...Wilson..." Alex started off awkwardly. "We haven't really had a chance to get to know one another."

Wilson chuckled derisively either towards himself or Alex, she didn't know which. "Yeah, that's true but there really isn't anything to learn. I had a pretty ordinary childhood with very little excitement."

"How'd you get to know Donny and Gabe?" Alex asked. That seemed to be quite a conversation starter since she could see his eyes light up a little.

"Well, we've known each other since childhood. I met Donny first when I was about six, and he was five at the time. My parents decided that we needed to move closer to the city and we traveled on horseback with all of our stuff in wagons. On our way there we took a small break in this really tiny town and since it was so little I was allowed to go exploring. I made it towards the edge of the city limits when I noticed a boy about my age covered in ash, curled up next to the grocery market."

Alex quit filling the bags and was focusing all of her attention on Wilson. Dare had walked off into the kitchen to get something to eat even though it was like four in the morning. Wilson suddenly dropped his voice into a low whisper.

"When I walked over there to meet him, he had been asleep. But I didn't wake him because I was so shocked at what I saw. See, he didn't just have ash on him, but he had several burn marks as well. And they were obviously new by their color and the surrounding skin. Eventually he woke up but no matter how many times I asked he wouldn't tell me how he got those marks. So I changed the subject and we made conversation about things that interested us.

"We instantly became best friends." Wilson said with a laugh. "I brought him back with me to meet my parents. When I did, they started going into extreme parenting mode and asking Donny what had happened to him. He finally opened up, probably annoyed by their prying, and told them that his house caught on fire. The stove was left on and it quickly caught on the wooden house."

He pursed his lips, like he was unable to go on. The memory must've been rooted deep inside of him considering how emotional he was getting. But he took in a deep breath to calm himself, and continued. "He said that out of his entire family, he was the only one who survived. We decided to follow him back to the house for him to show us, and there they were. Mother, father, and two sisters...all covered in ash.

"My parents refused to search the rest of the house after seeing his dead family but I snuck in there to make sure there weren't any others. I ended up finding a crib with the slightest amount of damage in the wreckage. But he wouldn't ever give an explanation and actually pretended like it didn't exist. So I ignored it for his sake and he's been apart of this family ever since then." He finished his story, but Alex felt that something was off while he had been explaining the ordeal. It was like he wasn't fully telling the story.

"What aren't you telling me?" Alex asked. Not rude or sarcastic, but more of a gentle and sympathetic voice.

Wilson glanced over at the opposite wall of them, contemplating whether or not he should trust her. Finally, he turned back towards her. "This will probably sound really rude considering Donny's situation and all of the evidence to prove his story, but I just don't believe him. Something was off about the entire situation, and a lot of weird things that only I seemed to notice but were most definitely there."

"What were the weird things?"

Everyone was out of the living room. It was eerily quiet in this particularly odd conversation. Wilson didn't seem to notice, or simply didn't care. "The outside was only slightly burnt, and the shell of the house remained intact. That meant that the fire had obviously occurred on the inside, that much is for sure. But his story said that the stove caused the fire, right?"

Alex nodded.

"Then why was it that the kitchen had the second-least damage in all ten rooms of the house? If that was the source of the fire, then wouldn't it have the most damage?"

He didn't exactly expect a reaction from her and returned to filling the bags. Alex would've joined him but was too concentrated on the details of his story.

"What was the room with the least damage?"

The wall must've been a comfort for his sore eyes as he stared intently at the beige paint. His body stood ridged and his face was stone. Alex wouldn't of caught the whisper if it weren't for the slight quiver of his bottom lip that took her attention.

"The nursery."

Alex stopped breathing. Time had stopped around her, yet was speeding faster than physically possible. Her chest tightened, threatening to break her ribs, which would then penetrate her heart and her immortal self would mean nothing anymore.

The nursery.

She couldn't compose herself. The bathroom was about nine steps away, eight if her strides were long enough. The walls were crashing around her fast and that seemed to be her only escape.

It was a blur. The door lock clicked under her shaking fingers, her head leaning against the wooden door. Inhale, exhale. Over and over again.

It wasn't helping.

The nursery.

Inhale for seven seconds, exhale for eight.

The nursery wasn't damaged.

Close eyes. Inhale, then exhale.

It couldn't be. It was an accident.

Inhale, exhale.

It had no connection. Just an unfortunate accident.

Her breathing finally returned back to its rhythmic pattern. The walls didn't feel as if they were caving in on her. Everything settled down around her.

There was a faint, hesitant knock on the door. "A-Alex? Are you alright? I didn't mean to freak you out."

Alex quickly swiped her hand across her damp cheek and fixed herself in the mirror before opening the door.

"Alex...did I say something wrong?" Wilson asked, his voice childlike. However it wasn't a demeaning tone, referring to Alex as the frightened child, but more like he was the child himself.

She shook her head, which allowed more tears to spill over. Wilson glanced nervously over his shoulder before stepping into the bathroom and locking the door behind him. Alex wondered what his intentions were until he pulled her into a hug. They stayed embraced in the hug for a good while until Alex pulled away.

"I'm sorry. I'm not usually this emotional and very few things trigger me but..."

Wilson shook his head and sat on the floor, motioning for Alex to follow. "No, no. I understand. For twenty years I've had to calm Donny and Gabe during their nightmares."

The mention of Gabe sparked Alex's interest and temporarily pulled her away from her thoughts. "Gabe had nightmares?"

Wilson nodded solemnly. "We met Gabe a few years later, and he had been on his own as an orphan for years. But unlike Donny, we have no idea what his situation was. Whatever it was though, it wasn't good."

"You said he had nightmares?"

"Yeah. See, Donny would suddenly wake up and crawl into bed with me as I comforted him. Gabe, he was different. He would pretend to be the strong older brother, protecting us from danger. But at night, things would change." Wilson's eyes began to water, but he refused to break eye contact with Alex.

"It would happen at the same time every morning, 1:13 a.m. His breathing would quicken so fast that it sounded as if he weren't breathing at all. Then he'd clutch the blankets so tight that his knuckles would bleed. His face would contort in pain, and you could tell it was torturing him. After that, it would vary from time to time. Sometimes he'd scream, other times he'd cry."

Alex kept staring at Wilson and she hardly felt the tears flooding down her face. But it was because she was distracted by the ones traveling down his cheeks.

"The...the worst one was about seven years after Gabe was introduced to the family. The nightmares were still frequent but their intensities weren't as great. That night...it was horrible. I heard the breathing and his whimpering like normal. Donny was lucky to be sound asleep that night, since his nightmares began to fade away.

"I stayed awake in a half-sleep sort of sense, just to make sure it didn't get too bad. Eventually he calmed down and it was over, so I went back to sleep. A few hours later...I was woken up again. A blood curdling scream rang throughout the house, the source of it not six feet away. I jumped up, and Donny joined me, but we were both too scared to do anything."

Wilson closed his eyes, letting the tears flow. He didn't bother to wipe them away before continuing.

"Gabe was clutching his arms instead of the blanket, and his fingers dug so deep into his skin that blood was pooling everywhere. Mom and Dad came in and woke him up, but he ended up passing out from the blood loss. After that night, Donny and I moved our beds closer to Gabe's and we took shifts every night to watch over Gabe. Ever since then, things have gotten better and he rarely gets them anymore, but I can never be too careful."

"That must've been horrible to see."

Wilson nodded. "It was. They are my brothers who went through something horrible, so the least I could do was keep them safe and protected. That night, I felt as if I had failed."

Alex watched Wilson. Something about him, about how defeated he was, reminded her of her childhood. She couldn't quite grasp the memory, but the way he was the protector of his siblings reminded her so much of someone she couldn't name.

"Well, I think you've done a pretty good job. They both seem like happy people and neither of them have had nightmares since they've been here."

Wilson's lips tugged into a small smile. "I guess that's true. Donny hasn't had them for years, and I think that's due to the sketch book he carries with him. I guess it relieves the stress. And Gabe's have definitely gotten better since we took this guarding job. Not to mention you..."

Alex peered up curiously. "Me?"

"Yeah. You know, he really likes you. I mean, seriously likes you. That night when Steve and Gabe fought, it upset him so much. He said he'd never forgive himself."

"Oh." Was all she could muster. She hadn't realized that Gabe basically adored her.

A few moments of silence were shared between the two of them. Both were in their own world, sadly remembering details that seemed long forgotten.

Wilson coughed to break the silence. "Well, this has been an interesting evening."

"It certainly has," Alex answered with a laugh.

"God, I get really emotional." Wilson said with a disapproving shake of his head.

"It's alright, I'm glad you told me."

"You're glad that I got us all depressed and upset right before the biggest battle of our lives?"

Alex's smile returned. "Maybe your life. I was once in a battle with the Ender Dragon and the Wither at the same time."

This gained a very much needed laugh. "Quit bragging."

Their moods were suddenly lifted, as if they hadn't trudged through their darkest moments. However, they neglected to keep their voices down, which attracted the attention of a few others beyond the bathroom walls.

"Is everything alright in there?" A voice asked, following a soft knock.

Alex quickly wiped her eyes the best she could and silently fixed herself in the mirror while Wilson patiently waited for her.

When she was finished seconds later, Wilson opened up the door. His stomach suddenly dropped when he saw the mortified face of Gabe and the slightly agitated one of Dare.

"Sorry. Alex had a panic attack and I went in to calm her down." It wasn't a total lie, and they both seemed to buy it after looking at her red rimmed eyes.

Dare coughed to break the silence. "Everything is packed, ready to go. We just want one last check to make sure everyone's got their items and cloaks, then we are off."

Dare turned on his heel and quickly left the scene, leaving Wilson, Gabe, and Alex in the bathroom doorway. Gabe gently grasped her hand and softly rubbed her knuckles. He couldn't make himself look into her eyes.

"I'm sorry. Whatever it was about, I'm so sorry." His voice whispered. Then, in an even quieter tone that wasn't meant to be heard, he said, "We should've never met. Then none of this would've ever happened. Then you wouldn't be in my nightmares, and I wouldn't have to be afraid that the nightmares would come to life."

He let go of her hand, leaving a lost, tingly feeling. Without a word, he walked out of the house. She knew what he meant. She knew that was her goodbye. And, with angry tears in her eyes, she turned back to Wilson who heard everything.

"It's time."

•••

Hello people. Yes, this update is insanely late. Yes, this chapter was horrible. Yes, I've got a lot of stuff going on in my life that makes everything 10 times harder. And yes, Gabe broke up with Alex.

Should've killed him when I had the chance.

He's not a bad guy, he just feels like Alex would get hurt with him around.

That is the stupidest thing I've ever heard. An I'm Steve's twin, so that's saying something.

Yeah, yeah. Anyways, the reason why this is so late is because I've been having a lot of issues with this book among other things. I've realized, after attempting to reread it, how God awful this book is. And how ridiculously long it is. Why do you guys read this? I'm serious, why? I'm not fishing for compliments because there aren't any compliments to be shared.

With this book being soooooo long and hideously gross, I don't know if I should do a sequel. I want to, but I truly don't know.

I think you should make a sequel.

That's only because you want to be famous.

Yep.

So yeah, I thought I'd let you all know what's going on. See you later.

-Crazy