First of all, Happy New Years! I deleted On The Same Side since I wasn't really proud of it, I hope you guys that read it can understand. Also, trying a new format since I've been writing on my phone more, let me know what you think of the format and book!

"Happy birthday babe." Signe whispered in my ear, gently kissing me on the cheek.

"You make it happy." I smirked as I yawned, opening my eyes to see her face hovering over me, a smile playing on her cherry red lips.

As she drew the curtain of my window back, I could see the sun barely hovering over the horizon, the sky a collage of reds, pinks, and oranges.

"What time is it?" I winced as I clicked my phone on from where it sat on my bedside table, the bright white screen hurting my eyes slightly before they adjusted. It was four in the morning, which meant that I had gotten a total of four hours of sleep since I was up until midnight editing videos.

"It's too early!" I groaned softly as I lifted the covers over my head, curling up into a tight ball as I rolled over.

"There's a surprise waiting for you at the airport." She said as she tore the covers off of the bed. 

"The airport?" I repeated, rubbing my eyes. Why there?, I wondered as I begrudgingly got out of bed, pulling my blue sweatshirt over my head as Signe left the room.

"Hey Jack, it's great to see you again!" Mark greeted me once he exited his plane and grabbed his bulky black suitcase, releasing the handle as he embraced me.

"Why are ye here?" I asked, cocking my head in confusion.

"I saved up enough, so I wanted to visit you for your birthday as a surprise!" He exclaimed happily.

"Is this your first time in Ireland?" I grabbed Mark's suitcase despite his protests and dragged it behind me, leaving him no choice but to follow.

"Yeah, I'm always busy I guess." He shrugged nonchalantly.

"Where are ye staying at?" I paused for a moment to look at him.

"I'll find a hotel-"

"Oh no, you're staying with me." I interrupted with a grin.

"I can't ask that of you, you didn't even know I was coming!" He struggled with no avail to tear the suitcase out of my iron grip.

"Well, have fun getting a new suitcase then!" I walked out of the airport to my car. I looked over my shoulder to see Mark roll his eyes before reluctantly following me.

"Hey Signe!" Mark hugged her as he entered house.

"What do ye carry in your suitcase, bricks?" I groaned as I wheeled his suitcase into the living room.

"Duh, that's how I get my exercise, I lift bricks everyday for an hour." He replied sarcastically.

"You hungry? It's about six, I was just about to make dinner." Signe stated.

"Sure, need any help?" Mark offered. "Always!" She smiled as he joined her in the kitchen.

"Especially since Sean's a lazy butt!" She added loudly so I could hear from where I was recording in my room.

"No I'm not!" I shouted back defensively, turning the volume of Subnautica up louder to drown them out, mentally reminding myself to have Robin edit that part out.

~Mark

"What're we making?" I clapped my hands together as I examined the ingredients spread out in front of me on the table.

"I figured I'd do spaghetti and garlic bread since it's quick and easy." She grabbed a pot from a cabinet by the stove and filled it with water before placing it on a burner. I took the long loaf of bread, placed it on a pan, cut it in half, then smeared it with butter and garlic salt.

"What's that smell?" I sniffed the air with a frown, worried the spaghetti was burning.

"Oh, we have a gas stove, so sometimes it kinda smells, especially when there's food in the burner." She explained hastily.

It wasn't long until the garlic bread was ready while Signe finished up the spaghetti sauce.

"You might want to change out of that sweatshirt." She tried but failed to hold back a snort of amusement as she bit her bottom lip with a grin. I looked down at my dark gray sweatshirt and realized that it was coated in butter and spaghetti sauce.

"I'll be right back." I smiled sheepishly, removing my sweatshirt as I darted into the living room, revealing the black t-shirt I was wearing underneath.

"I'm a bit of a mess when I cook." I admitted as Jack entered the room, his hair sticking up in various places.

"Nice hair." I snickered.

"Shut up." He stuck his tongue out at me as he tried but failed to smooth it down.

"Wanna game?" He held up a controller as he picked up his plate. I glanced over at Signe for approval.

"Don't look at me! I'll be in my room working on art." She smirked, taking her plate and disappearing into her room.

"C'mon!" Jack excitedly led me to his room.

The floor was cluttered with piles of empty pizza boxes, paper plates, and discarded game cases. The only clear spot was a narrow path that led from the door to his desk.

"Sorry 'bout the mess, I kinda forgot about it." He apologized as he scooted the piles further away, setting his plate down on his desk, scooting his chair over to give me room.

"I'll get a chair for ye." Jack darted out of the room, returning with a brown wooden table from the kitchen.

"Rocket league?" He suggested, handing me a controller.

"Sounds good!" I mumbled around a mouthful of saucy spaghetti, careful to make sure I didn't spit it on his monitor.

"Hey Sean, I have a surprise waiting in the kitchen!" Signe opened the door a crack and poked her head through.

"Cool, I'll be there after this-" I scored the winning goal against his team at the last second.

"-round." He finished, glaring at me.

"You're welcome." I smirked as I dodged his attempts to hit me in the arm by getting out of my chair.

"C'mere ye douche!" He managed to pinch my arm.

"Boys boys, you're both pretty! Now who wants cake?" She asked.

Immediately Jack's attention snapped to her, exchanging glances with me before racing past Signe to the kitchen. I chuckled as I followed after him at a slower pace.

The lights were off in the kitchen and living room, the entire house now completely dark as Jack sat at the table, licking his lips as he observed the cake.

It was round with green, black, white, and blue icing that made it look like a septic eye. Stabbed through the center was a number two candle and a number eight candle.

"Congrats on turning eighty-two!" I teased as Signe entered the room.

"One, two, three!" Signe counted down.

"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Irish potato, happy birthday to you!" I sang. Just as Signe fished a lighter out of a cabinet drawer, I realized there was still a familiar scent in the air. Gas.

"Wait-" My warning was futile as Signe ignited the lighter by the stove, the whole room bursting into a ball of orange flames that swallowed Signe up instantly as she screamed. I was barely able to drag Jack out of the chair and into the living room in time as the fire quickly chased after us, the flames dancing hungrily past the doorway towards us.

"M-Mark?" Jack stammered, the light provided by the fire illuminating his face, his sapphire blue eyes filled with fear.

"We need to go." I grabbed something from my sweatshirt pocket, transferring it to Jack's as I grabbed his hand and bolted outside. The night was cool, the moon shining down on us like a white spotlight with glittering stars accompanying it. Despite the cool breeze caressing my bare arms, I was sweating with adrenaline and fear.

"I'll be right back, I need to find Signe." I patted him on the back before running back inside. The entire house was ablaze, smoke and ash thick in the air, making it near impossible to breathe.

"Signe!" I yelled, coughing as I blinked back tears in my eyes, making my vision blurry.

Only the sound of crackling fire could be heard. I took a deep breath before diving through the wall of fire that separated me from the kitchen.

"Signe!" I repeated frantically, spotting her prone form underneath the flaming rubble of the fridge. With strength I didn't even know I possessed, I lifted the fridge up and carefully dragged Signe out before dropping the fridge back down. My fingers burned a bright red and were throbbing with pain, but I didn't care. I had to save Signe. As I stepped towards the door, I heard the ceiling crack, meaning that it would cave in on top of us soon.

"Mark?" She mumbled wearily. I sat her down on her feet when I was sure she could stand. I had to time this right, otherwise we both would die.

"Tell Sean I'll always watch over him." I whispered to Signe as I shoved her towards the door before the ceiling collapsed on top of me, the world fading to black.

"Mark!" I heard Jack scream my name, which broke my heart. Everything in my body burned with pain as I barely cracked my eyes open. I was outside in Jack's arms, the rain drops gently dropping on my face. Only it wasn't rain. It was tears from Jack as he sobbed, holding me close like if he let go, I would disappear. I tried to open my mouth to console him, but the pain was unbearable.

"J-J-Ja-" I coughed, fighting through the pain the best I could.

"Sh, it'll be alright, I called for help and you'll be fine." Jack hiccuped as he smoothed back my hair, ash falling from it onto my face.

"M-my-li-ght." I reached up and caught one of the tears he shed on my thumb before a bright white light enveloped me in a blissful painless sleep.

"I'm old." I jumped when I saw an old man with short silver hair and a wrinkled face staring at me, his cold hazel eyes scrutinizing me.

"You look to be a fair judge. You have a kind heart, and you've come close to seeing me many times." He slid a silver band off of his finger and offered it to me.

"Do you want to see your friends and family again?" He asked. The jewel was a light gray swirled with black.

"Yes." I whispered without hesitation, sliding the ring onto my finger. The jewel changed from gray to orange mixed with red, gleaming like a fire.

"Welcome Death, let's begin your training." The man grinned wickedly as chills raced down my spine.