As soon as I stepped into the room, I felt the already familiar chill I was starting to really hate. 

"I don't like this." I muttered

"No kidding."  Skylar agreed, stepping beside me and glancing around in the darkness. 

I could barely see anything, the light from the doorway just giving off enough light to see the floor, and not much else. 

"Who do you think's in here?" I asked. 

She shrugged. "No idea. But we better get them out, fast." 

She paused for a second. "How long did you say it took for stuff to start up again?" 

"I think about two minutes or so. But they don't show up directly in your face like what it was in the beginning. I think they stay more to the background at first, like-"

I hesitated, not sure if I wanted her to know that for the entirety of the time she was fighting me, Macey was dying in the background, and I had to try my best to ignore my little sister bleeding out on the ground, because I had to get Skylar out. Because it wasn't real. 

But it felt real. 

"Like what?" Skylar asked. 

"...Nothing." I said. "It doesn't matter." 

"You're lying." Skylar said. 

"No, I'm not!"

"You are. Your voice seems to go up a bit when you're lying." 

"How do you know, you don't know if I've lied to you before." 

She gave me a look. "One. You lied when I first met you because you didn't want to let me in. And two, it happens every time you tell me that you're fine." 

"That's not true." I said, trying to purposefully lower my voice. "I'm not lying."

"You are too."

"Are not."

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too!"

"Let's get going." I muttered, changing the subject. 

She smiled a little. "I win." 

"Whatever." 

"That just further confirms that I won." 

"Oh my Notch, you are the worst." 

"So I've been told." She said, and her expression became focused. "Let's find whoever's in here." 

"Right." 

We walked further, the room getting darker as we went. 

"So, what were you going to say before you lied? Didn't seem like nothing." Skylar tried again, breaking the eerie silence. 

"Why do you keep prying?" I asked. 

"Because I want to know if what I'm going to see is going to completely throw me off guard or if I'll be able to handle it." 

"Please, you can handle anything. I've seen it myself." 

"I can handle most anything, Tyler. Emphasis on most. I don't think anyone can easily handle their worst nightmares showing up." 

"If I could deal with it, you could too, alright? You're stronger than I am." 

"Maybe in some cases." She muttered. "But probably not in all." 

"What's that supposed to me-" I started, and was cut off by a scream. 

I hadn't heard the voice that loud before, but I knew who it was, and by her reaction, Skylar did, too. 

"Quinn." We said at the same time, and we both ran towards where the noise had come from. 

"Quinn!" I yelled. "It's us! It's Tyler and Skylar!" 

It was so dark, if she hadn't spoken, I would have tripped over her. 

"Tyler?" She asked, and as my eyes adjusted more to the darkness, I could see her. She was sitting up, her knees pulled into her chest. "Skylar? How are you-"

"We're here to get you out of here." Skylar said. "Come on, let's go." 

Quinn shook her head, scooting backward on the ground. "No." 

"What do you mean, no?" I asked. "Quinn, we have to leave." 

"No!" She exclaimed. "I'm...I'm just going to end up hurting you!" 

"Give it up." 

I froze when I heard the all-too familiar voice. 

I turned slowly, and there he was. 

My dad was standing a few feet behind me, and even though it was dark, I could see him perfectly. His arms were folded, and a smile was on his face. 

But it wasn't his smile. His smile wasn't that cold. 

"She won't leave. It's better to stay here. And if you don't want to, I may just have to make you." 

My sword appeared in his hands, and he rested the blade on his shoulder. 

I tensed, thinking he may attack me, but he didn't. He only stood there, grinning at me. 

"Tyler, what are you-oh, crap." Skylar muttered, having turned to see what I was looking at. I couldn't see what she was seeing, but it couldn't have been good. 

I turned back to Quinn, hoping that my not-dad would just stay where he was. "Come on, Quinn, we're going." 

"I told you, no! I...I can't!" 

"Quinn, I trust you. You won't hurt us." 

I looked over at Skylar, but she was still staring at empty space, her grip on her sword tightening. 

"I don't have control over it! I'm going to hurt you, I'll end up hurting all of you! Just leave me here!" 

Skylar turned around, looking at Quinn, and then looking back to me. "You take the right arm, I'll take the left?" 

"What?" I asked. "I don't think it's a good idea to literally pull her out of here, I don't really know what it'll do." 

"Tyler. I'm exhausted, I'm freaked out, and right now, my mother is telling me I'm worthless. I want to leave, and we're doing that, I don't care how." 

"Your-" I stopped, deciding it was a bad idea to bring up her mother. "Alright, fine. But fair warning, my dad's got my sword, and he's blocking the door right now, so I don't know how easily I'll be able to get out of here."

"You won't." Not-Dad said from the corner. "I'll make sure of that." 

A sudden feeling of fear pulled at me. I couldn't beat my dad, I knew that. How was I going to get out of here?

I shook my head, trying my best to push my fear down. I couldn't let that happen. All three of us were leaving this room. 

I took Quinn's right wrist, and pulled her to her feet as Skylar took her left hand. She struggled against the both of us, but she was smaller than the both of us, not to mention, she was younger.

"No! I don't want to g-" 

"Quinn, I get that you're seeing your worst fears and all, but I swear, we're helping you." Skylar said. 

"You have to leave me behind! I'm dangerous!" 

"Not happening." I said. "I'm currently watching my dad because I'm afraid he's going to kill me. And if he does, it better not be in vain, okay?" 

She still only continued to struggle. 

"She's not listening, what do we do?" I asked,starting to panic. 

"I get that, okay, we're going to have to pull her!" Skylar responded, and began half-walking with, half-dragging Quinn towards the door. 

I just stood there, staring at the person who looked like my dad but wasn't, fear holding me straight to the spot. 

I couldn't fight him. Skylar couldn't help me if she couldn't even see him, and Quinn...

I was pretty sure Quinn was too busy trying to get away from us to be much help. 

Skylar stopped, staring back at me. "Earth to Tyler? Let's go!" 

"I...I can't." 

"Oh my Notch, first Quinn, now you?" 

"No, I mean, I literally can't, this person that looks like my dad is standing in the way with my sword."

"What, you can't go around him, or something?" 

I glanced back at dad, and he gave me a smirk. "I dare you."

"Uh...nope. Nope. Can't do that." 

"Then use your sword!" 

I had forgotten I even had a sword. 

"R-right..." I muttered, and thought as hard as I could, if that was a thing I could do. 

I need my sword,

I need my sword,

I need my sword.

Nothing happened. 

"Um...it's not working." 

She sighed, exasperated. "Dear Notch, just...just take my sword! I'll get Quinn out!" 

She threw her sword at me using her free hand, and I somehow managed to grab it. 

"Just as an aside, if you break that, I will personally break you." She said, and started towards the door again. 

I gulped, holding the sword in two hands now, staring at my dad. 

He sighed. "You really want to try and fight me?" 

I didn't say anything. 

"Fine then." He held the sword with one hand, moving it from his shoulder to point it straight at me. "Let's go, kid." 

He attacked first, moving at a faster speed than I had ever seen my dad go at, and kicked me down before I knew what was happening. 

I held up Skylar's sword as he tried to slash at me, hoping that it would deflect most of the blow, and it did. I managed to get my bearings just enough to kick him off of me and get back on my feet. 

Somehow, he teleported behind me, and hit me in the back with the butt end of my sword. I fell flat on my face. 

Pushing myself up onto my forearms, I watched as Skylar left the room with Quinn, both of them disappearing through the doorway. 

"See? They've left you behind." My dad said, making a deep gash in my arm, and I screamed as I fell back down. 

This time, I didn't push myself back up. 

"They don't care about you at all. You're worthless." 

He cut into my back multiple times, each deep enough so that it hurt a lot, but it didn't seem like it was enough to kill me. Was he trying to kill me? He could, right at that moment, if he wanted to. But for some reason, he didn't.

"Hey!" 

I heard a yell, and looked up to see Skylar standing there, a bow and arrow in her hands. 

"She can't see me." My dad reminded me. "There's no way she can-"

He froze as an arrow went straight through him, and his image fazed out for a second before appearing again a few feet away. 

Skylar ran towards me, pulling me up to my feet. 

"You can walk, right?" She asked. 

"I think so..." I said. I knew I was probably losing too much blood for it to be healthy. 

"Okay, well, you'd better walk as fast as you can. That was a lucky hit on my part." 

She pulled me towards the door, and I tried to walk, but my vision was starting to go black at the edges, so I'm sure to her, it was more of her dragging me towards the door. 

The last thing I remember seeing is the light on the other side of the door, and for a split second, thinking that maybe the light was actually the Aether. 

----------------------------------------------

THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO BE ATTACHED ON TO THE LAST CHAPTER OH MY GOD WHY WATTPAD WHY

At least, on my screen and a few others, the last chapter ended on the line "Deal." So, if on your screen, it didn't end there, just ignore everything that happened after that, because I'm considering this to be the real thing.