The sunlight had already begun to fade by the time I opened my eyes again. It took a moment to gather myself mentally. The game had ended so swiftly, that I didn't have the time to rush to Damon, I couldn't celebrate my victory. The alien snatched the chance from me before I could.

Pushing myself up on my elbows, I fisted my quilt as I peered at the end of my bed. My vision blurred but when it cleared, I saw him. Damon. He sat on the corner with his shoulders slumped forward and his hands weakly folded in front of him. Realizing I was awake, he slowly looked at me with a weak smile. "I'm going to tally every time you stab me, Nina," he said.

My jaw dropped slightly before I clamped my mouth shut. I fisted my blankets tighter and did it until my fists turned red.

"I'm joking, babe," he whispered as he peered out the window. "Decisions were made for our survival and last night was out of our control. What you did was right."

"I broke your leg," I muttered as I dropped on my bed and stared up at the glowing constellation around my ceiling lamp. They used to give me peace but looking at them now only brought pain. Space and their unknown alien creatures were the torment in our lives. It didn't matter how strong I was or how far I'd come; I didn't want this.

Damon laughed as he fell back beside me. His head landed next to my thigh and he reached up, gently holding me just under my shorts. "Ah, well, you did more than break it," he snickered as he softly kissed my knee, "but that was last night and I'm better today."

I chewed on my bottom lip and shook my head. "How did we do it?" I whispered as I peered down at him. "And you, those guys ran into your house and—"

"And that's why I'm here." He inhaled sharply before pressing his head against my leg. "I can't stay in a house filled with dead bodies," he muttered.

"Dead bodies?" I popped up slightly. "That gunshot I heard—that was you?"

He nodded.

"You shot them?" My eyes widened.

"It was either me or them and shit, I needed to make sure they couldn't get you or come back for us again. It was only four of them, so it wasn't hard."

Four. I squeezed my eyes shut and covered my face. Which one of them did I agree to save?

"Hey, hey." Damon scooted up the bed and crawled on top of me. He balanced himself on one elbow as his other hand brushed at my hair until I moved my hands. Now exposed, he kissed my forehead. "We made it out of there alive," he whispered.

Tears burned in my eyes. "I may have agreed to save them."

"Who?" His brow pinched.

I chewed on the inside of my cheeks. "The other players."

He paused for a moment before kissing my forehead again. "The ones who attacked us are dead, Nina. The others will be grateful that—"

"I agreed to become captain to save everyone, including you." I touched his face. "You couldn't log in last night because they wouldn't let you. They were going to kill you unless I proved you were strong enough to survive. I said... I wouldn't be their war captain without you."

Damon drew in a breath as he tongued his cheek. Emotion passed over his eyes. He tilted his head before letting a deep, painful chuckle slip past his lips. "They were going to kill me," he whispered.

I couldn't hide it anymore; the aliens didn't have our lives in our best interests. We were expendable and they weren't ashamed to act like it. But if they wanted me, I need all of our lives to matter.

Touching Damon's face, I sighed. "I wouldn't let them do that, never," I whispered. "I was going to kill that alien last night. If he didn't agree to bring you into the game, I would've chopped his head off and died with the game."

Damon pursed his lips. "But if you had played, you would've had a chance. The last two bosses have shown me my weakness—I am a danger to myself, Nina. I am a broken man with hidden scars but these aliens see them and use them against me."

I shook my head. "I am broken with an invisible disease, Damon. You see yourself as a man filled with weaknesses but you're my strength, you build me up, and if it hadn't been for you, I would've given in to my frailty and died." I cupped his face and pulled him closer so his lips hovered over mine. "We are not perfect but we can change. We will do everything to survive. And I know we swore to protect each other but I need you to understand, if I survived this war without you, I wouldn't have a life. I would be a general, a captain without their right hand. I would be the feeble fighter without her heart."

"Nina..."

"I love you, Damon, and if my love is what you need to be strong, to survive, to battle all of your fears—take it, it's yours. Just be strong for me. Be here with me."

There were tears in his eyes. They glistened in the fading sunlight, and one droplet hit my cheek. He wiped it away with his thumb, whispering, "If we make it and there's some way, any way possible, would you marry me?"

My eyes widened as my breath hitched. "Damon—"

"It can be some alien ceremony, it can be on a random moon, it could even be in some weird ritual church on the skirts of Galaxian some shit, and we—"

I pressed my fingers to his lips. "Stop talking," I whispered, "because I'd marry you right here, right now if we could."

He exhaled. "Yeah?"

I nodded, biting my lip as I giggled. And Damon didn't give me the chance to say anything else. As another tear fell, he took my lips in a passionate kiss, deep enough that he dipped my head back with the force of his own. His tongue slipped between my lips and my heart hammered. His arm lifted my leg as he tugged half of my shorts off with his other hand. Before I could react, he moved his pants down his thighs and hovered with a quiet whisper, "Are you okay with this?"

I trembled and even in the awkward position, I wanted this and everything. "I'm more than okay."

"I love you," he said into our kiss, and in one motion, we connected with a needy cry.

***

There weren't any alarms when we logged into Quest. The world was peaceful with a gentle sound in the air like harps from the mountain ahead. And as we stepped through the portal together, Damon and I kept our hands intertwined, fingers interlocked, and our matching heartbeats vibrated within our palms. The peaceful aura of this game world wouldn't trick us.

Still emerging from the same portal we exited were the other three hundred plus players—the same the aliens blocked from games and the very same I demanded to return. I'd done what the Wiloxes wanted, Damon proved himself worthy, too. What was next?

"Do you guys know what's happening today?" a player behind us asked.

Damon and I stopped in the middle of the grass field. The trees on either side of us swayed as the wind blew. Looking back at the player who spoke, my gaze fell on a petite woman, much like myself. Her hair was black, slicked back into a bun; with her bow and arrow, I could tell she was an amazing archer. To think the aliens deemed her useless.

I bit my lip and faced her. "We're clueless like you," I said.

"Yeah?" The man beside her leaned against his sword, balancing it on the ground like a staff. "From what we know, y'all been killing it, so we just assumed—"

"Assumed you knew what's next," the woman said, finishing his sentence.

I wasn't sure if I should've been shocked or surprised or honored. For them to think that Damon and I knew the answers before they were given; it was an honor.

"I don't know what happened before," the woman muttered as she looked down at her hands, "one minute we were playing every day and the next—stuck in limbo."

I pursed my lips every player nodded and agreed. I knew they were stuck, and I knew why. It wasn't fair to anyone.

"We should know what's happening in a few minutes," Damon said. "The Wilox alien comes and—"

"Wilox?" several voices said the aliens' race out loud.

Damon and I nodded. "They'll come, like always, and tell us what's up." Damon turned in the direction of the mountain. "It's boss fifty, right?" he muttered to me.

"It's supposed to be." I faced the mountain and bit my lip. If the monstrous creatures we had fought kept the names they were given, then yes, we would fight number fifty. Yet, as lightning struck from the sky, I wasn't sure if I was ready.

The alien appeared from the storm's light and approached us. Their cloak swayed with the wind with each step. They didn't look at us until they were about three feet away. "Survivors," they said to everyone.

No one responded.

They cleared their throat. "Today we are here on the fiftieth day and announcing the newest information. For those of you who do not know," the alien lifted a slender finger and pointed it at me, "Miss Nina here will be our new army captain, and her partner," they then noted Damon, "shall become her co-captain."

I looked down at the grass. Did this need an announcement?

"And what about today's boss?!" someone called.

"We're ready today!" Another responded.

The alien grinned. "You see, today is a special day, and after days of spontaneous events, both big and small, the amount of bosses shrank to today's number," they said. "Fifty."

"They're beating around the bush," Damon hissed, then stepped toward the alien. "We're here, okay? We're ready. What's next?!"

"Well," the alien's cool smile only grew, "she is." Their finger pointed back at me.

My eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

"You are player #50." They dropped their hand and casually held both in front of them. It lifted its gaze as they peered at me. "You've demonstrated your talents on the field, against our largest bosses, and while we want you to become our leading captain, the others still need to prove their might—"

"No!" I immediately reacted, shouting at the alien with this absurd tactic. "I only agreed to become your captain in exchange for their lives," I pointed at everyone behind me and Damon beside me, "but I had not offered myself as some fucking tribute to your boss cause."

"Well," the alien shrugged, "it would only make sense for them to fight you if they want to become our army."

I bit my lip. "But we don't—"

"Wait," a man from the player's side stepped forward enough that I saw him and his two swords, "she chose to join you to save us?" he asked.

The alien nodded.

The man dipped his head. "And you want us all to fight her?"

The alien nodded again.

"That's bullshit, it sounds like she saved us." An array of agreements filled the air. "I don't know what happens on your planet, but here, we struggle, yeah, but if someone really cares, we follow them."

For a moment, my heart sang. I looked at the man before glancing at Damon. He reached for my hand and squeezed my fingers tightly.

"Yeah," the woman came forward as well, "and if you want us to join your army, wouldn't we need a captain? Why would we fight her? We need her!"

I looked down at my feet, eyeing the tips of my slender boots. Appreciation slipped over me like a warm blanket.

"Nina sacrificed her life for us," Damon said, "and she would again. Because of this, we have to do the same for her. We will fight with her, not against her."

"Yeah!" It felt like the entire crowd behind me agreed in a triumphant roar. I wouldn't be the "boss" tonight or any night. They instead would follow me into a fight. They would be beside me.

Every emotion came over me. The aliens said they adored my strength and triumph, only to want to see if the others would give me up and beat me. The players proved to be on my side. As my legs gave out from under me and I fell to my knees. Damon quickly came next to me. "Hey," he whispered, "are you okay?"

"Define okay?" I peered into his eyes.

"Fine!" the alien declared. "You've all agreed to become our army with Nina and Damon at the lead. If you decline what I just said, well," they shrugged, "you will die tonight."

"Man, none of us are going with this fucking killing Nina shit," a player announced.

"If she sacrificed herself for us, she only gets it back. She deserves it!" a woman's voice followed.

"We don't decline!" a man shouted. "We'll go to war or whatever, but we're staying!"

I looked back at the alien who had a scowl on their face. They lowered their arms and huffed at the sky. "Quest has ended at stage fifty with no fight," they said before they peered back at us. "Humans are weird feeble creatures," they muttered.

"If we're feeble, why come for us?" I cocked a brow. "We proved ourselves. Now let us live until you need us."

"Hm." The alien turned and waved a hand over their heads. The world of Quest slowly fizzled into pixels, parading through the air like fairy dust. The surviving players slowly spun and laughed as they were logged out of Quest, one by one.

Damon quickly grabbed me tightly. "Nina, this can't be it?" he hastily whispered in my ear. "We're free to go?"

"I guess," I cupped his face, "we're free until they need us."

"Fuck, that better not be tonight." Damon kissed me repeatedly. "We need this."

"We do." I scooted closer to him as our legs became translucent. I knew when the world changed, we would be back home, and eventually back in my room again. I brushed my nose across his. "Let's fight for everything we want."

His beautiful eyes fluttered as he looked into mine. "What if I already won?" he whispered.

I grinned. Even though the world was over and a war loomed over our heads, I agreed. Disease didn't conquer me and the aliens failed at their attempts to take me out. I was stronger than I seemed, wiser than day one. Now at day fifty, I was a leader with crimes that made me monstrous. No one would defeat me. Ever.

I pressed my chest against his as the world swallowed us. "I won, too."

A/N: 
World count:  24,947!
QUEST 50 IS COMPLETE!

If you all have read this far, thank you so much!! <3 I hope you enjoyed it!
COME ON ONCERS! WE GOT THIS <3