~3rd POV~

"So we just go in and map a few corridors ok?" Owen asked the younger male next to him.

"Ok! Let's go!" Oeca yelled while jumping around with a knife.

"We need 1 more person though..." Owen began before trailing off.

"Hey what are you guys up to?" Magic asked appearing from behind a tree, clearly startling the older male.

"Oh we were just discussing going into the maze-" Oeca began talking before being swiftly cut off.

"Even after what happened last time?" Magic asked clearly concerned.

"We're just going in to map some stuff and we'll be out before sun down." Owen butted in, reminding the others that he was there.

"Oh ok... so who's your 3rd member?" Magic asked.

"Oh we don't have one yet-" Owen started.

"You can be our 3rd." Oeca stated before walking off towards the 1st gate.

"I guess that's happening now-" Owen laughed.

"Yeah I guess, didn't have anything planned anyway." Magic joked while they walked over to the 1st gate to meet Oeca there.

"Now we just wait for the sun to rise. It should be up soon." Owen stated once they were all standing in front of the gate, he tightly held a small golden clock in his hand.

~Time Skip~
-Inside The Maze-

"So just this last corridor then we can head back." Owen stated while walking over to the corridor.

"You sure we'll be back before the time the gate closes?" Magic asked, clearly uneasy by how long they've been in the maze.

"Yeah. It's not even midday yet we'll be fine. Here you can even hold on to my clock for now so you can check for yourself." Owen reassured her with an slightly unsettled smile, though it was hidden well by the reassuring look. He threw the clock over to her before continuing towards the corridor.

The look was clearly not disregarded by everyone as Oeca seemed oddly more uneasy after it.

"So just down here- Oeca look out!" Owen said, yelling the last part while running over to shove Oeca out of the way as an arrow shot from a hidden dispenser.

"Owen!" Magic yelped from behind where Owen had been standing moments before.

"I'm fine don't worry just an arrow to the shin, I'll fix it up when I get back. Oeca you ok?" Owen responded while turning to Oeca.

"Yeah..." Oeca said before getting up and dusting himself off.

"Well then let's map this last area and head out!" Owen exclaimed, the uneasiness clear to anyone looking deeper.

He began to get up before flinching back down into his sitting position.

"Owen you ok?" Magic asked still stood outside the corridor.

"Yeah I'm fine don't worry about me." Owen smiled.

He got up this time trying to ignore the searing pain burning through his left leg. Eventually balancing himself and beginning a slow walk over to Oeca, who was mapping the corridor.

"You got it?" Owen asked looking over at the numbers written in Oeca's book.

"Yep let's get out of here." He said blankly slamming his book closed. He was clearly shaken up by the near death experience he just had, he had been in that situation way to many times.

The pair walked over to Magic while dodging the trap they had set off earlier. The group set off towards the gate glancing to the sky every now and again. Owen fell off to the back of the group, as he was much slower with his injured leg though Magic did slow down every now and again to wait for him. Leaving Oeca in front.

1 of the walls seemed to shift right next to Oeca causing him to jump back onto Magic and Owen.

"Ah!" Owen yelped as the arrow was shoved straight through his leg as he hit the ground.

"Oh my god Owen-" Magic began panicking before a finger poked her shoulder.

She look over to see Oeca staring at the sky with pure fear. She then instinctively looked up as well to see the days and nights spin around and around them. Owen evidently picked up on the others and also looked up, but his expression wasn't fear though, it was concern.

"We need to go now. We don't know if they'll change it to night or not and right now the gates are open." Owen stated while crawling up the wall to get to a sort of standing position.

"How aren't you concerned by this!?" Magic yelled at the older man.

"I've seen it before. Now let's go." Owen responded before slowly 'walking' towards the gates while clinging to a large vine that ran across the wall.

Oeca seemed to only now look at the wound on Owen's leg.

(Shh I drew this at like 1am on my phone with my finger in like 5 minutes and I never decided to fix it ok)

"Did that go straight through!?!" Oeca yelped stumbling back in his sitting position.

"It did after you fell on me." Owen stated still clearly focused on getting to the gate.

"O-oh..." Oeca mumbled under his breath.

"Let's just get going so we don't get attacked by anything." Magic stated while offering a hand to Oeca.

"Yeah..." Owen mumbled, he wasn't so sure they'd make it back... but he was prepared for that situation.

~Time Skip~

"Where even are we?" Oeca asked looking around at the torn apart landscape.

It quickly hit Owen to where they were.

"We need to leave now." Owen yelled, fumbling over his own feet.

"Why?" Magic asked, clearly she hasn't realised...

"Magic..." Owen muttered, quickly stopping his steps when he realised the others weren't following.

He took in a deep breath before saying anything. This wasn't going to end well...

"This is where Squidney died." Owen said while staring Magic straight in the eyes, his guilt was clear now, even the most oblivious people could see it.

The group fell silent before the sky stopped spinning, only for them to look up and see exactly what they hoped they wouldn't. The moon shone down at them from high above.

A low growl echoed through the corridors.

"We need to go!" Owen screamed, his voice wasn't of anger or annoyance though. It was of pure fear.

Oeca sprinted out of there as fast as he could without another thought. Magic just stood there looking towards the older male who was slowly walking towards her. Before grabbing onto her shoulders and looking her in the eyes.

"You need to run." Owen said calmly, though the fear was clearly there.

"But what about you?" Magic pleaded.

"I'll be right behind you." Owen reassured her.

"Now run!" He yelled throwing her to the side as the creature swiped its tail towards where she stood, swiftly slicing Owen across the chest.

"Owen!" Magic screamed.

"RUN!" Owen yelled while fumbling through his pockets, as blood ran down his chin.

Magic sprinted off as fast as she could taking off towards the gate, but moments later she heard a loud explosion echoe from behind her.

"No..." Magic muttered stumbling over her own feet.

She began to cry as she sprinted towards the gates as the sun began to rise above their heads.

She made it back to the gate which was yet to open only to find Oeca seated on the ground fiddling with a throwing knife.

He looked up to the sound of footsteps.

"Oh hey Magic, where's Owen?" Oeca asked as if he hadn't witnessed what was happening before he left.

"Oeca he's gone." Magic spat out as fast as she could, but the words still lingered on her tongue.

The gates began opening before he could truly register what he'd heard. On the other side stood a worried Graecie and concerned Mohwee.

"Your ok!" Graecie yelled as she sprinted towards them, immediately embracing Magic in a hug.

"Where's Owen...?" Mohwee asked from behind Graceie.

"We were attacked by the grievers and Owen had beeninjuredbeforeandcouldn'trunsohetoldustorunasfastaswecouldandthenthemonsterattackedhimandhesetoffsomekindofexplosive- I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!" Magic started explaining but quickly descended into muttering, then yelling and pleading.

Graecie quickly let go of Magic so she could look her in the eyes.

"O-Owen's... gone?" Gracie stuttered out while slowly backing away while pulling on her hair.

"I'm sorry..." Magic mumbled allowing her own tears to fall.

Mohwee quickly noticed Oeca seated on the ground questioning something as if still processing what happened. He understood that Oeca was a bit to young to have to experience this first hand.

"Let's just get back in the clearing and we'll have a full meet up at the election stage where we'll announce it to everyone." Mohwee stated while walking over to the younger boy to help him up.

"Yeah..." Magic mumbled walking over to Graecie and pulling her into a tight hug. Grasping tightly to the clock in her pocket... the last thing Owen handed her before it all went down hill...

"I'm sorry."

x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x

Idk I'm bored- all the series I'm watching have all ended so now I'm just sat here waiting for Outsiders smp episodes to come out. And in the meantime Ima write some angst-

~Word Count: 1556~