The pocket watch caught Fabian's peripheral vision as the hand began to move. Eddie's hand made it to the tenth hour. With as fast as he's been growing more evil, it could be sooner than later for when he became completely evil. For now, it was stuck at the tenth hour though.

Patricia and Joy went into Fabian's room.

"We've declared something," Patricia announced.

"What?" Fabian asked.

"We need to go out and find Eddie and bring him back here," Joy explained.

"I'm not just gonna let him be out there," Patricia declared.

"He's at the tenth hour on the pocket watch," Fabian revealed to them. "By the time you get to him, he could be completely evil."

"I'm willing to risk it." Patricia breathed through her nostrils. "For him."

"Make sure you keep it secret," Joy commanded.

"But Joy, um-" Fabian tried to say.

"Thanks so much, Fabian," Patricia said before her and Joy left the room.

Fabian went after them, but they had already shut the door and were outside by the time he got to the foyer.

"Ok..." he murmured.

Fabian went back to his room. He realized Joy had left her door open. He could see the dog, Erik, sitting on her bed, staring straight back at him. Erik barked enthusiastically. Fabian sighed and went into his room.

~~~~~
Patricia and Joy had their flashlights in their hands.

"Alright, we just need to find him and hope he's still ok," Patricia instructed.

"You really care about him," Joy observed.

"Of course I do. I love him."

Joy and Patricia hurried through the forest, unsure if they were going in the right direction, but still just walking on. They began calling out Eddie's name.

~~~~~
After a while, Jerome, Amber, and Alfie left the kitchen. They passed Joy's room, seeing that Joy was absent but Erik was there. They figured she was in another room until Fabian came out of his room.

"Hello," he instantly said, realizing they were there.

"Hi," Alfie raised his eyebrows.

Fabian looked pretty guilty. Jerome, Amber, and Alfie stared t him silently.

"You know, we're actually just waiting for you to tell us what you look so guilt for," Amber stated matter-of-factly.

Fabian took a deep breath in and then a deep breath out. "Ok, Patricia and Joy-they've gone out to look for Eddie. They didn't want me to tell anyone-"

"-and you didn't?" Jerome cut him off. "They're out there in a dangerous forest with a potentially dangerous guy; you do realize that Fabian, don't you?"

Nina was overhearing them and stepped out of her room.

"We need to go find them," Jerome declared.

"I'll join you," Alfie volunteered. Him and Alfie hurried outside after grabbing their flashlights.

"I should go too," Fabian decided. "Nina, you should stay, just for the sake of your condition." Fabian kissed Nina on the forehead and grabbed his flashlight. "Amber, can you watch Nina for me?"

"Of course," Amber nodded. "But remember, she's not a dog, Fabian."

Fabian gave a uttered a fake laugh and then sped out after the others.

Amber let out a quick sigh as she faced Nina who was standing in her doorway.

"Our boyfriends' have some issues going on..."

"Tell me about it," Nina agreed.

~~~~~
Eddie could eventually hear Patricia and Joy's voice as their calls echoed through the woods. He had to decide whether he want to reveal his location to them or just keep moving on, further away.

"Don't trust them," a voice whispered in his head.

Actually, this time it wasn't just a voice. It was his own voice he heard. And it's very tempting to trust your own voice. He knew it was an effect of him becoming evil, and he shouldn't believe it, but his subconscious told him otherwise. That it was just something to be trusted, not questioned.

Eddie remained in the same spot, not trusting the inner voice and doing his best not to let the subconscious take over.

~~~~~
Fabian caught up with Jerome and Alfie since they hadn't gone far by the time he was out there. He made sure he had the pocket watch in his pocket as he joined them in the search.

"It wasn't my fault, Jerome," Fabian suddenly said.

"I never said it was," Jerome told him. "But you're really not catching on. You're doing everything wrong."

"What do you mean?"

"You should've told someone they ran off, or at least gone after them yourself. You were risking their lives."

"Are you trying to be an authoritative figure? Why are you this controlling against me?"

Jerome stopped and faced Fabian. Alfie stopped as well and observed them.

"I'm not controlling anyone," Jerome explained. "And I especially don't have anything against you. But I feel as though I have an obligation, as a member of Sibuna, to give my input on things and frankly, I have input on your recent decisions. You know I was right when I said you can't make the Paragon's choices, and you can't just let group members risk their lives."

"Jerome is on a role," Alfie commented.

Fabian sighed. "I know you're right. So, let's get looking for Patricia and Joy."

Jerome nodded. The three of them resumed their walk. They could faintly hear voices calling for Eddie, so they followed those quickly, knowing those voices belonged to Joy and Patricia.

~~~~~
Amber and Nina were sitting on the ground in Nina's room. Erik came padding inside, and they allowed him to because he wasn't hurting anyone. He just walked around, investigating, and occasionally laid down.

"How do you feel about me and Jerome?" Amber asked Nina.

"Now that you're together, it seems much more natural that you two are together. I'd never see it coming before."

Amber smiled. She looked down at Nina's hand, seeing the engagement ring from Fabian. "Wait! When and where and was it for an engagement and why didn't you tell me Fabian proposed?!" Amber exclaimed in one breath.

"Um, yeah. Fabian proposed-"

Amber squealed before Nina could answer all her questions. She squeezed Nina in a giant hug.

"You should've told me!" Amber instructed. "This is a big deal! Fabian proposed to you! Fabian. If I hadn't known any better, I might've proposed to you for him."

"When in doubt, I can always count on you," Nina laughed.

"Well, it is the Millington way."

Nina hesitated for a moment and then said, "Hey, thanks Amber."

"For..."

"For getting my mind of the bad, stressful things. Just for calming my nerves and being a best friend with the Paragon."

"I'm not best friends with the Paragon," Amber retaliated. "I'm best friends with Nina Martin, you know, the girl who will always be the girl I knew even before she knew she was the Paragon? Wow, that is confusing."

"Not really," Nina smiled as she hugged Amber. "It made perfect sense to me."

~~~~~
So, this chapter has ended on a positive note. I guess it deserves to, considering the other chapters. Hope you enjoyed! In place of discussion questions for this chapter, I'll just reveal what you may or may not experience in the further chapters:

• Joy

• Sadness

• Anger

• More Sadness

• I'm just gonna say it: you'll be hit in the feels so hard, it may hurt

• Suspense

• Fear

• And more! Just understand, when I say you'll be experiencing strong emotion, I mean that you won't be able to control these feelings, at all. Just take it into consideration.

But thanks for reading!