"Alex?" I blurted, stumbling back. He cringed and I knew that I was right. "Alex Vreeke," I clarified and he opened his eyes, smiling sheepishly. "You..." My eyes narrowed. "What the hell?"

"Hey you can't blame me!" Alex accused, the name's connotation changing in my head as I realized this WAS my best friend. "You're confusing." He went to pull at his hair but it was short now and he couldn't do that. He more rubbed or scratched his head, irritated.

"What do you mean?" I demanded, crossing my arms.

"Well- You- I mean-" Suddenly I remembered what he'd been talking about. What he'd been asking and prodding and pushing about. Wondering about. He wanted to know if I liked him. My eyes went wide and a million doubts filled my head. Before I could say anything elde though, he tackled me. "Look out!" he screamed. I gasped as we landed on the ground, an unexpected roar sounding right above me.

We scrambled to our feet, him more pulling me along than anything. His hand was in mine and suddenly running. I was simply trying to keep my feet under me. "Alex where are we-?"

Another roar, like the last, cut me off, and I came more close to a raging hippopotamus than I'd ever, ever wanted to be. Closer than I ever thought I'd get the chance to be, and regretted now that I had. Alex pulled me away from the animal again and onto another path. We booked it for a second until we heard the sound of a vehicle and screeched to a halt. I slammed into his back as a jeep pulled to an abrupt stop in front of us out of nowhere. I gasped and Alex grunted and the driver seat window rolled down, the car doors opening with an almost mechanical hiss. "Well, get in!" the unfamiliar driver announced.

I shared a look with Alex before the roars behind us made us jump and we scrambled in finally. The doors closed and the man in the front started driving. Alex and I didn't let go of each others' hands, completely thrown off again. In a stranger's car. In a strange place. In strange bodies. So much was going on and all I could focus on was all the cheesy kidnapping and stranger danger videos from home as they each filled my head to bursting. I tried to focus on Alex holding my hand instead of how different his hand felt and how different my own hand felt. I focused on the air coming in and out of my lungs instead of how hot and thick the air I was breathing was. The wind through the window and the hum of the car. The familiar, instead of the alien things that happened at the most sudden, unexpected times. The jump of the tires hitting bumps and the buzz of the Jeep's engine and the vibrations and jerks from the rough terrain.

"Welcome to Jumanji!" the driver greeted, looking forward at the road. There was jungle on every side, seeming to almost close in and trap them. "My name is Nigel..." His voice faded out as I planted an elbow on my knee, resting my face in palm, even though it made the jerking and jumping worse. Alex let go of my hand and put his hand on my back, listening to Nigel as he made sure I was okay. I grabbed his leg in a vice grip and he planted his other, free hand over it. I pushed my fingers up, interlacing our fingers. The back of my hand was against his palm and it was a little awkward but it worked. My mind raced as I tried to make sense of the chaos.

Jumanji. The jungle. The game. We were playing a game before the green light and the falling. The animals and the way that the buzz of Nigel's voice sounded so basic and the way he seemed to repeat things every once in a while when I tuned in, or stated facts over and over again.

The game. We were in the game.

"Alex, we're-" I began, sitting up suddenly and catching his attention. My brain was working as if through molasses. Something disconnected, and suddenly I was somewhere else. I felt detached from my body, as my actual body felt bright and warm and humid from the air but my mind felt chilly night air and my eyes took in the nighttime lighting of faded torches and the moon overhead. Overhead... wherever my perspective was. It was like I was watching a movie suddenly.

"Cut scene," I heard Alex whisper in my head more than through my ears.

"We ARE in the game," I gasped.

"Yeah," Alex agreed.

We went through the whole background of Nigel and some bad guy, hearing about some other dude named Dr. Smolder Bravestone. I felt my mind spin as I remembered the name from the character choosing screen. The memory stopped and so did the Jeep. "This is your stop," Nigel announced.

"Wha..." I began, confused as to what we were supposed to do next.

"The rest of your companions will join you later! I have sent Dr. Bravestone a very urgent letter. Stay at the Bazaar until then. Jumanji is depending on you!"

When he started repeating some dumb rhyme about the stone from the cut scene and repeating the name of Jumanji and some crap along that line, Alex and I got out. The Jeep pulled away and Alex gripped my hand tight to remind me he was there.

"We have to wait for others to come?" My voice was slow and hollow as I tried to put everything together.

We looked around the entrance to some marketplace looking thing. "Well this is the bazaar," Alex concluded. "I don't know why I know this but I do."

We walked through the Bazaar, with all the people and food and things to buy and animals. I thought for a second. "So we're characters in a game." Alex sighed next to me. We were both taking this weirdly well after having no clue on what to do and being completely thrown for a loop... It just didn't make sense to freak out over something one can't change. It wasted time. Focus on something you CAN change. Who were we supposed to meet here and how would it help us get back home? "How do we get home?" I voiced.

"I don't know," Alex admitted.

"Rations! Get your rations here!"

"Food." I pulled Alex forward and we grabbed a roll of something that the man handing out the food gave to us. I bit into it and smile. "Cake." He bit into it too and relaxed.

"It's so real," Alex noticed. I nodded. "Let's take a bit and then look around. I'm sure there's something or someone specific we're supposed to see."

"Where do I put this?" I asked, holding up the extra bits of cake we'd grabbed. Alex's eyes suddenly moved to my back.

He took the cake from me and let go of my hand to move behind me. I had a backpack on. I hadn't noticed it before as it had been out of sight but it was big enough maybe hold the rations. "There are tools in here too, like on your belt." When Alex had put the food away, he moved to my side again. I wanted to retake his hand but felt that might be a little odd since there wasn't any real reasons to.

We walked around for hours, looking for any sign of anything. That's when he found the little hut with the little dark haired boy outside of it. He watched us approach and when we went to leave, he motioned for us to come closer. We exchanged looks before approaching the kid. He recited a rhyme about not blinking and depending on each other and blah blah blah and then moved the curtain sheet out of the way and motioned us inside. We entered the hut and saw it completely empty, except for a basket in the middle. I went to approach it but Alex caught my wrist, pulling me back before dropping my hand again.

"We're characters in a game," he said. He cut me off before I could point out we'd already established that. "Characters. In a game. We have strengths and weaknesses and such. Characters stats." My chest started hurting with the pressure and I started rubbing the different tight places. "I mean, maybe, to go home, we just have to complete the game, yeah?"

Suddenly there was a binging noise and the room was full of a transparent tannish screen. "It's... my character stats," I realized. My brain was finally working. "Woah." I read aloud. "Strengths: Electronics. Building. Mechanics. Machines. Sprinting. Weaknesses: long distance running. ....Being alone?" I looked at Alex as he patted his chest randomly, trying to pull his up too. "How the hell is that a character weakness?"

Right then Alex's character stats popped up, a golden yellowish brown. "Jefferson Seaplane McDonough," Alex read. "Strengths: flight. Mar- Margaritas? Really? Huh. Miranda Wright. Who's-?"

"That's my character," I told him, pointing my chin to the name at the top of the screen. My eyes drifted to my weaknesses again, having not read all of them, and when I grew quiet Alex looked over to me. He saw my look, followed it, and then saw what I was looking at.

"And my character is one of your weaknesses?" He asked, a little offended.

I bit my lip. "Well maybe it's, like... because I'm a mechanic right? And you're a pilot. You fly a machine and machines are my strength. But also loneliness is my weakness. So maybe our characters are... Well it would make sense that they're involved somehow. Coworkers. You fly the plane and if anything goes wrong, I fix it. But I could also function without you, because I can drive and fix a car to use to drive or something along those lines. But um... But maybe..."

"We're married," Alex finally said. I looked from his face to his character screen. It had moved from strengths and weaknesses to the information page. "Nigel said it back in the jeep. I broke down somewhere and you were there to fix the helicopter up and that's how we met. We stuck together, a good duo and such and such. I just... didn't want to believe him I guess."

My chest panged as I read along with listening to what he was saying. I looked at him. No wonder Miranda had fallen in love with him. Jefferson was hot, not going to lie... he caught me looking and smirked. I looked away, mind reeling. Not because if the game this time, but because of him. I wondered if he had known our characters were married even before now. When he payed video games, he was thorough. He was obsessed with lore and enjoyed gettin go to his character's head. There wasn't a lot about his character that shocked him because he already knew everything.

I wondered if that's why he had seemed to rebound so quickly after meeting Nigel. Why he had been steady since realizing I was here too. Maybe being his character was what threw him for a loop. Once he'd wrapped his mind around that, it was smooth sailing from there. He knew everything else.

"Is that why you asked me to come play?" My words were slow and cautious. I never addressed things like this usually but now I was dying to know. Had he only invited me because he wanted me to play Miranda? Is that why he chose Seaplane so quickly? What would he have done if I had chosen someone else?

He seemed to watch the thoughts swim in my head and his smirk softened a little." You caught me."

I looked away, blushing. I wondered if it showed on my avatar's face briefly before decided I didn't want to know.

My mind was full of thoughts. How he'd asked me to play, how he might have been planning to get me to play Miranda and then reveal it later. Or maybe just keep it to himself. How he'd asked me about liking him as Jefferson, pretending he wasn't who he was asking about. How he'd recognized me immediately, even though I hadn't as quickly recognized him. Why? Because his brain was working more clearly? Was I so used to panic attacks that I'd been having a full blown brain blow up this whole time and hadn't even realized it because Alex needed me?

Maybe ignoring it hadn't been the right move. Maybe yo didn't choose the people you loved, you just chose to ignore it or go after it. Maybe... maybe ignoring it was what would ruin our relationship, way before we even had a chance to date.

I took a leap.

"Hey Alex..." he looked at me and I felt something bloom in my chest. Courage swelled in me and I opened my mouth to continue. Unfortunately I was cut off. The basket that had been previously forgotten about now jostled around and we both jumped, jerking to look at the movement.

Okay. Basket first.

There was some sort of silent agreement as we both honed in on the basket. Getting home was most important right now. "What do you think is in it?" He asked.

"I don't even have a guess," My lips pressed together for a moment as I thought of a plan. Cautiously, I moved to the opposite side of the basket as him. "I'll lift the lid and you look in?" I suggested. "Just try and see what's inside, what we're facing." He nodded, getting into a ready position. We made eye contact and he nodded. I lifted the lid... but he didn't look inside. Instead, he jeered back. I couldn't blame him. A snake, fanged and dangerous and angrily hissing, rose from the basket, ready to strike. He called out in surprise and I was unsure if he'd said my name or simply screamed.

Panic rushed through me and I did the first thing that came to mind. I lifted the lid over the snake's head and brought it down as hard and fast as I could. Confused and dazed by the attack, the snack momentarily hesitated, giving me just enough time to push it down into the basket, holding it down tightly. I expected the basket to jar or thrash as the snake inside fought to get out again. But instead everything grew perfectly still.

"It's a game," Alex told me around his gasps as he tried to catch his breath again, eyes still wide in a mix of surprise and fear. "We're in a game. The snake won't come out unless you open the top. It's programmed to only act when the lid is off."

My tongue moved in my mouth, thick and dry. It was hard to speak. "Yeah," I managed. It came out almost muffled, like I had something in my mouth. Speaking around food or a pencil I was chewing on in class. That had happened before. Not that I had anything to muffle my speech... but that could be shock. After a second we were both collected again. "I hate this game," I cursed under my breath.

Alex sighed, rubbing his face. "Do either of us have any skills at all to deal with a friggin snake?" He was obviously irritated and I was right there with him.

"No," I sighed, running my hands through my hair. "We don't."

There was a along pause where neither of us talked. I leaned on the basket, looking at the weaved top, thinking of the animated snake that looked and sounded and seemed so real. It was real, completely and undeniably, according to all of my senses, yet my logic reminded me that no matter what fact and evidence aproached me, it was all just a game.

This is why I had always hated the concept of magic. In reality, it looked real and seemed real but there was always an explanation one had to make sense of the chaos. But real magic? It didn't follow rules. It didn't make sense. It broke science and proven fact laws. This was like that. Maybe it was magic. Maybe that's why nothing made sense, and everything was completely impossible. Your body gives you these tools to sense dangers, and handle them accordingly, but this game was using those tools to fuck with you. Taking fantasy things, and making them real. Making them dangerous. Making them something that can kill you.

But if that was true... if it was just a game, and it was made of illusions, of playing off of your senses, maybe the things that seemed dangerous and deadly... weren't.

"If this is just a game..." I mused, looking from the basket to Alex slowly. He looked over, his eyebrow cocked. "Can we die more than once?" There was dead silence. "I mean, that's the great part about games, right? You don't really die. You just respawn or whatever. You come back." Alex started scratching his arm, pushing his sleeve up. That's when I saw it. For some reason, it distracted me and I smiled. "You have a tattoo, Seaplane," I teased.

Immediately Alex looked down where my eyes were to see three dark bars on the inside of his arm. He looked at it closely, his eyes analyzing and hard. He tilted his arm and suddenly his eyes widened. He kept tilting his arm back and forth, side to side, and I was mesmerized by it. I kept quiet, feeling like there was a need for silence but not exactly knowing why. "Sometimes," Alex said finally.

"What do you mean?" I asked, moving next to him to look at the tattoo. He showed me. When he tilted his arm to the side, the tattoo faded and disappeared but when his inner arm was facing him, perfectly upwards, it was clear and dark and impossible not to see. My arms, hanging at my side, twitched. "Huh," I said. "Cool." Alex suddenly grabbed my arm, pulling it up to face like his arm was, seeming to compare both of the insides of our arms. That's when I realized we BOTH had the same tattoo. "I didn't pin our characters for the couple-tattoo kind," I told him.

I saw him work down a smile in his attempt at a serious situation and my stomach flipped. He was enjoying this "technically married" thing then. "But why do they fade?" His question brought my attention back to the situation.

I found myself shrugging. "Maybe it's a glitch. Kind of like when you watch a movie and they have a movie mistake. Or in a game when something's not in the main focus so it gets looked over by the creators. You're not focusing on it, so it doesn't matter."

Alex tilted his head. "If they were important enough to put on our characters, why not put it in the character information? Seems like somewhat of a big deal. Having a tattoo with your-" He cut off, blushing. I fought down a grin and tried to focus on the question at hand. Perhaps I was enjoying this technically married thing too.

A hum sounded at the back of my throat as I thought it over. "So it didn't mention the tattoos in the description at the beginning?" He shook his head. "Nigel?" Another head shake "Not even in the full character description?" Another head shake and I admired his endless patience, guiding me to his same confused un-conclusion instead of getting irritated at me and snapping my head off. "That is weird... Why put a detail on a body and character if it's not important enough even to mention?"

"Maybe... it's not an avatar thing. Not something NPCs can see. Just something us and other characters can see. Something for the players, not the avatars."

"For what?" That didn't make sense to me. What could we possibly need other than a general history, goal, and character skills?

Alex just shrugged. "A tell on who's an NPC and who's a player?" The basket jarred again and I looked to the opening of the hut.

"Come on," I sighed, nodding to the exit. "We can't do anything here. Let's find another way out of this stupid game than whatever we're supposed to do here." Alex nodded and took my hand as we left. When I looked at him. He didn't look back, so much so that it was almost an effort.

"Lots of people," he reasoned feebly, letting me know he could tell I was staring and why, even if he was pretending he couldn't. "I don't want to loose you in the crowd." I hummed to let him know I understood and continued walking, looking away so he wouldn't see my smile.

We walked out, past the boy, and through the crowds. We wandered cluelessly again, trying to come with any ideas or find any more hints, but all we knew was that there was a hut with a snake and something about it we couldn't find out because we couldn't deal with the snake. That, and that we were supposed to wait in the Bazaar for someone... people... who were supposed to, at some point, come find us and help.

It wasn't until some of Van Pelt's men - he was the "bad guy" of the game; Alex had spent our wandering hours explaining everything he knew and laying it out for me to understand - that we had to rush, rushing as we tried to find somewhere to hide. It had been Alex's idea to try the sewers. Or whatever was under the Bazaar, at least. It didn't seem like sewers. Just tunnels. We walked for only two or three steps before I stopped him.

"Hold up," I snapped, my eyes scanning the ground and roof and walls. It was like someone had taken neon yellow spray paint to it, outlining pullies, wires, triggers, and weapons of all kinds. Blades and arrows and many more.

Cautious, Alex looked at me slowly. "What?"

I swallowed as I realized what was all around us. "Traps," I whispered. I didn't know how I knew, but I did and I was not going to doubt that instinct. Alex and I hadn't talking about dying since the hut but I wasn't exactly sure how this whole thing worked and I was absolutely not taking chances.

Alex's eyes found me, wide with surprise. "How could you possibly..." but question faded as he answered it himself. "Your strength with machines. The traps down here have to be automated, so you can see them." I watched as he looked down the tunnels, eyes narrowed as he tried to see what I was seeing, but couldn't. The yellow outlines and the way it all pieced together, just waiting to spring free to splice and dice us.

"All of them," I confirmed, nodding. 

He sighed through his nose, having a though he didn't seem to like. "Then you should go first. Lead the way and tell me what to do when. Keep your eyes on the traps, not me," he added when my eyes widened with worry. "I'll be right behind you, I promise." His fingers interlaced with mine and squeezed my hand. I could feel the blood drain from my face even as he tried to comfort me. "You've got this."

I couldn't believe. "You trust me with your life?" It was supposed to be sarcastic, maybe be followed by a laugh, but any chance of one died at the sincerity in his eyes. He didn't have to say anything, that look was all the answer I needed.

Swallowing my anxieties, I did as he had instructed. I turned to the tunnel, eyes tracing the lines on the wall. I kept my gaze trained forward even as he let my hand go. I felt something solid form in my throat and tried to swallow it, push it down, but had no luck. Trying to steady myself, I took a deep breath in through my nose and then out of my mouth. It worked a little, calming me enough to at least form a coherent thought. We couldn't make progress where we were now. We couldn't find anything new. We couldn't get home. Something could be waiting for us, and we couldn't just wander the Bazaar forever. Even if the thugs had left, they'd be back again. We'd been told to wait but... we couldn't do that forever. We had to do something.

I had to do something.

Slowly I took a step, and then another, firming myself in my decision with every movement. After a while my confidence rose and I stepped with more surety, even as I stayed careful and attentive. I followed the yellow paths with my eyes as I walked, and found my ears tuned so perfectly into my surroundings that I could hear the machines clicking. I came almost like an instinct to jump against the wall, my arm slamming against Alex's chest as I shouted, "Against the wall!" Just in time for several spears to impale the wall. Our eyes found the skeleton there that disturbed as the spears planted firmly in the middle of it's jaw, chest, and waist.

Ouch.

"Close call," Alex gasped, trying to catch his breath as the adrenaline started to pump through both of us.

"We're alive aren't we?" I shot at him light heartedly with the same breathlessness. We moved off of the wall and kept walking and he chuckled behind me.

"Yeah, we are" he relented the gleeful relief in his voice nearing hysteria. It seemed he was finally slipping. "You were right."

I didn't waste time responding to that. Instead, I snapped, "Don't stand on the white tiles then stay still. NOW!" We both snapped into place and went motionless, just as blades flew from the walls, barely avoiding getting cut in half. My thoughts tripped trying to keep track of all the yellow paths and the sounds. It was all giving away the timing; when things happened, for how long, and why. Even when the blades slide away and left us to keep walking, Alex stayed quiet as he watched me work, not wanting to distract me.

After a moment or two, my hands extended to the sides of me. I couldn't see him but I knew that he slowed as I did. Unlike before, there was a whole second before the blade fell from the roof, through the floor merely inches from where I stood. I watched its path as if I had a million times before, and walked the second it had disappeared. My face had worked into a glare, calculating and irritated and tentative all in one go.

We got to a briefly wider part of the room where there were three different colored tiles scattered all over the floor. "Step exactly where I step." I followed the path of missing triggers, not paying attention to patterns or colors on the stone like they wanted me to. None of it made any sense anyway. I didn't stop to wait for Alex when I got to the other side, just kept my eyes on the walls and floors and ceilings head and listened to everything.

Almost silently, Alex whispered an awed, "woah," under his breath. His fingers grazed mine, as if he was debating taking my hand, but I shook myself free. I felt bad, especially when he sighed. From how sweaty his hand was, I would tell it was instinct to reach out for me when he was scared, seeking comfort. But he didn't say anything, and we both knew that this was not the time or the place to ease his anxiety. It also wasn't the time to get gushy about how I made him feel safe, not when it could mean our deaths. I could think about it later.

The tunnel grew darker and darker until suddenly it was pitch black. I only knew where and when to move because of the faithful yellow outlines. Outlines that stopped very suddenly for several feet of absolutely nothing, just to pick up again later. Which meant that it wasn't an opening, just... a gap. It was too suspicious, I didn't dare move forward as my toes stayed at the edge of the yellow path. I thought for a second before my hand reached out to find the wall. I felt around, trying to see if there was some source of light or a lever or something to explain this weird gap.

"What's wrong?" Alex asked quietly from behind me.

"Blank space," I told him. "It's just, nothing. Just for a few feet, and then even more than before. It's weird." He didn't need a further explanation - he went still and waited patiently as I tried to find something.

Finally my fingers brushed over a wood wedge shaped thing, and I wiggled it away from the wall where it was being held. "Do you have a match?" I asked.

"You probably do," he reasoned, still in the same place. I found myself groaning, unable to even think about looking for something in a bag. Hearing me, Alex's question came fast and full of worry. "What's wrong?"

"It's too dark." My jaw worked as I tried to think of an alternative. "I can't light the torch."

"How do you know it's a torch?"

That was a good question. One I couldn't make an answer to just yet. "I don't know." I leaned my back against the wall, out of ideas. "But I can't light it so it doesn't matter."

Alex's scoffed in amusement. "It's not that dark," he teased, probably enjoying it a little bit for me to be more myself again after being so perfectly focused on things he couldn't even begin to navigate.

His harmless joke made me launch off of the wall though, trying to seek him out in the dark but being unsuccessful. "You can see?"

Two hands rested on each of my shoulders as Alex tweaked me a but so that I was actually facing him. "More than you, apparently." His voice was still light and full of teasing.

I managed a smile, mostly in relief. "Will you check my bag?" I moved back to my previous position, toes on the edge of the yellow path. This way I'd be ready to go the second we'd light the torch. As well, he could access my back. There was a moment where I felt as well as heard Alex rifling through the bag on my bag. Eventually he made a sound of victory and then Alex reached over, grabbing my hand and placing the matches in my palm. There was another bit of struggle but finally I got the torch light. I looked to see what the bit of blackness was.

And I screamed.

"What?" Alex hissed, stumbling back as I stepped into him. His eyes landed in front of us and widened in understanding immediately. "Oh." The word was dry, like it was a puff of smoke instead. My toes were mere inches from a drop where the floor ended. Several feet down there was sloshing murky water that moved with the alligators inside of it. At the new movement and light they all startled, jumping up with snapping jaws and trying to get to us. We were just out of reach - a good thing too because I was frozen with shock.

Alex's arm wrapped around my waist and tugged me back into him as he took a few steps away from the ledge. Thankfully too, because my knees had started to go weak and my body was shaking and I probably would have fallen right in and died. He held onto me until I finally remembered to breathe and I leaned off of him, coming to my senses. He turned me to look at him and when our eyes locked, I felt myself relax. He smiled at me to make sure I was okay and I smiled back. "I'm okay," I told him weakly.

His hands fell away from my arms and he moved to look around for something that could bridge the gap and get to the other side. With the light it was a lot easier and he found the wood plank in an opening on the wall opposite where I'd found the torch. He pulled the plank out of the wall, moving it to the gap and laying it down. It went across well enough but it wasn't even held down or anything, and while it was wide enough to comfortably step on, it still left little room for stumbling or tripping. Another alligator jumped and its nose didn't hit the plank, but it did reach up higher than the plank, which meant that theoretically they could knock the plank away, or snatch us off of it.

"Here goes?" The joke was clipped with anxiety, but still sturdy to make it out of his mouth. Unlike me, who was so tense with fear that I couldn't part my lips let alone speak. He took my hand for a second before setting his shoulders. "We can do it." He let my hand drop and began to walk across the plank. He moved carefully, trying not to go too slow as it got harder to take a step every single inch he got further into the empty space where the alligators waited to devour him whole. When he crossed, he turned back to me with a smile that was too relieved to be encouraging as he was aiming for. "See? I did it just fine." His hands extended, stretching out to me but too far away to actually touch me. "I'm right here. Just walk until you can grab my hands and then I'll help you the rest of the way across. I'll be right here to catch you."

I gulped and finally dislodged the lump from earlier. One that had eased while I had gotten the hang of the traps, but had not gone away. One that had fully formed once again just now. "Okay," I croaked. Despite the pathetic result, it was a relief to finally be able to speak.

Seeing me start to get a grip over myself, Alex's smile finally turned reassuring. His hands shook a little, reminding me of his promise. "It's gonna be okay. I got across just fine." It wasn't a conscious decision to say it, I could tell. He was nervous for me, and trying to ease both of us with his voice. Give us something to focus on. "Come to me."

I took another long, slow, steadying breath before I gripped the torch tightly in my hand and held it out in front of me. I kept my eyes on the plank, but refused to notice the alligators and only focused on the wood underneath my feet. I looked up after a second, stretching to give the torch to Alex. He quickly took it, planting it in a holder on the wall quickly before retuning to me. Our fingers just barely didn't touch so I held my breath as I took another step. Our fingers brushed. Just. One. More. Step...

An alligator launched at me and I heard it leave the water. My eyes shot down and I froze solid again, eyes wide as a scream ripped from my throat. Everything became blurry as my brain stopped processing and I was sure it was death. I was sure I was dead, as the plank knocked off of its place and fell into the water below, splashing into the water. But... I wasn't dead. I was on my back, griped tightly by someone who could only be Alex. I blinked hard and looked around, trying to process what had just happened.

Alex's eyes find mine and we're inches away and we're both breathing heavily and holding onto each other. My hands raise from his shirt to touch his face, wrapping around his cheeks to cup them in my palms. "You..." Images finally flash through my head as I make sense of the previous chaos. The alligator knocking into the board. My legs giving out from under. Hands gripping my wrists and ripping me out of the air, into waiting arms. Falling onto the ground, into a lap. Someone calling my name. "You saved me," I finally realize.

Even when our breathing should normalize, we still seem to gasp. He moves slowly under my touch. "I just... pulled you."

I feel emotions well up, and after almost dying I don't care anymore. I don't care about what could happen or what goes wrong or who we'll be. I just care about us, in this moment, and the fact that we only made it this far by being together. "Do you like me?"

Chuckling, Alex leans his forehead against mine. We both close our eyes and his back leans against the wall and for a moment we just sit there, flooded with relief. "I do," he answers me, and it like a weight has been lifted off of him. "I really dig you." He paused, and I watch insecurity cross his expression. "Do you-"

I cut him off before he can even finish the thought, pressing my lips against his. I was tired of waiting, and from the way he melts into me I think he is too. Despite that though, he does jerk away after a second, as if burned. Just one full second of kissing him and suddenly we're left to stare at each other with faces full of shock. "Sorry," I rush. "Just because you like me doesn't mean you want to kiss me, and I shouldn't have rushed you like that."

He shakes his head, adoration and amusement taking place on his face now. He grabs my face with both hands, pulling me into a harder kiss this time. His hands are more calloused and his lips are different and we move so differently than we should, and I can't help but realize that this is my first kiss. Which makes me wonder... does it count? If this isn't my body, just my consciousness, is the kiss still mine? Still ours?

For once, I push the doubt and fear out of my head and just enjoy the moment. It counted, I decided. That's all that mattered.

When we lean away, it's his who speaks first. "Whoa." It's even more full of awe than earlier when I was being a total trap expert badass, and it makes me grin.

"Whoa," I agreed.

After another moment of basking, we finally pull apart and get to our feet. We're not out of the tunnel yet, and we can't give up yet. It's not long until we are out though, without further dramatic incident, and are back in the jungle. Not, at the very least, where we started though, so that's reassuring. In front of us a little ways, there's also a tree house thing in view and we both let a breath out in relief. Something new. Signs of other people. We take hands and make our way toward it.

There's a staircase that leads us up the side of the tree to the little open hut at the top. We go inside and look around. No one there. "It's a mess," Alex whispers, his voice worn down.

"We could fix it up," I think out loud. He looks back at me and a smile finds his face again. There's something different about the way I said 'we' that time and we both can feel it. It makes us feel warm. In the midst of chaos and confusion, the one thing we had was this and that made sense.

We were trapped in a video game. But, we were trapped together. And we would get out together. Until then, we would take one step at a time.

I sighed, thinking about it, and leaned against a table. "When we get out of here..." My toe dug into the wood underneath me. "Will you kiss me for real, in the real world?"

That makes Alex chuckle. "As if I'd say anything other than no. Smokin hot babe asks me to kiss her?" He stepped closer looping his arms around my waist and pulling me closer. "You ask me to kiss you?" I chuckled, glowing in the easy way we could finally just be like this. "Yes."

"Then we'll get out of this together," I spoke into the universe."

"Together," he agreed. "Definitely." He kissed me again and nothing else mattered. Just for a second, figuring it out and getting home and exploring the world and learning our surroundings were for another time. We'd figure out the chaos, for now, everything made sense.