He looked at his hand, watching the rivulets of blood drop down it. It hurt. It really hurt and there was actual blood on his hand. It had been a long time since he'd seen blood.

He glanced at the broken body in front of him and then went back to staring at his hand.

It hurt and there was no respawning in this forsaken world. Where was he?

"Hey, you okay?" he heard someone yell at him and he looked to his right and saw a group of young teenagers looking worse for wear.

Hadrian was not okay. He didn't know what world he'd been dropped into and where there was death (actual death) and destruction all around him. His world had been perfect. The Games were entertaining, and everyone loved them –he had been practically living as perfect a life for himself as he thought it could be.

This world was bleak and people actually died.

He twitched involuntarily and his arm (his broken arm) was in even more pain.

"Where the hell am I?!" he snarled aloud, and if he could, he would find the person responsible for this and make them feel this insufferable pain.

No, he was not okay and if those blasted kids coming near him ask him that one more time –

"There's a huge group of us," the brown-haired kid told him, finally arriving right in front of him. He pointed to a group farther back. "The rest of us heard about some sort of sanctuary that we can head to. Do you want to come with us?"

For a moment, Hadrian wanted to snap out a no, that he didn't need help. But then he realized he was in an unknown world, with a broken arm and a clear disadvantage. He needed to exploit whatever opportunity came up for him. He was good at that. He could manipulate things to his advantage, turn his disadvantages into advantages...

He forced a smile onto his lips and gestured to his broken arm. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Thank you for running across me. I hope someone from your group or someone at this sanctuary can help me with this?"

"Ah, we don't think we have anyone, but we can double check," the boy said. Useless brat. "Hopefully that place we're heading to will have someone though!"

Hadrian kept that smile on his face, trying not to clench his jaw. "Yes, let's hope so."

Patience. He could do with some patience.

~*~*~

"You left me," the redhead accused her.

Jesse shook her head. "No, no! I wanted to get you too. I tried to run after you, I swear!"

"You left me! And now I'm dead!"

Jesse woke up, sitting up straight. She bit her lip and covered her eyes with her palms, trying to erase the image of an angry Petra blaming her. Now that adrenaline had stopped and there was time to take a breather, she felt everything piling up on her like it hadn't before. The biggest thing being the fact that she couldn't save Petra.

The face of the other girl as she was being taken away and Jesse failing to hold onto her haunted her. If only she had been faster, had a firmer grip, something! Instead, her strength had failed her and she hadn't been able to save Petra, and who knows what had happened to her.

She didn't even want to think about Ivor's words. Every time she did, a mix of anger and shame went through her.

Swallowing heavily, she looked around and noticed it was dark. Counting everyone, she noticed that someone was missing. Furrowing her eyebrows, she realized Gabriel wasn't there. Getting up quietly, more so since Reuben was beside her and fast asleep, she looked around the room they had all gathered in and didn't see him. She decided maybe he could've gone to one of the outside areas. Going through a hole, she was outside and staring at starry skies. She almost forgot she was looking for Gabriel at the sight of them, until her gazing was interrupted.

"Jesse? What are you doing up?"

She whirled around and found Gabriel himself sitting on one of the piles of stones. He looked worse than before, haggard in appearance to accompany his harsh breathing. There were dark circles under his eyes and it was clear that he hadn't been able to sleep that night, if he had been able to long before finding his way to the temple.

"Couldn't sleep. Had a...nightmare," she said truthfully, finding it was easy to do so with him. "You?"

"Same, you could say," he smiled grimly at her. He patted a stone block beside him. "Come, sit."

She carefully made her way over to him and sat down, before finding her eyes drawn up to the skies again.

"I was wondering about something, Gabriel," she started off softly. "When we came here, we found the library. It looked exactly like the one at Endercon that belonged to Ivor. And...there was a book in there. It talked about the Order of the Stone. And that Ivor was one of you guys once."

Gabriel sighed heavily. "The truth is that a long time ago, Ivor really had been part of the group. We all did get along and became good friends, family even. But one day there was a huge argument between us, most of it stemming from Ivor's disagreements with a decision the group had made, and he left us. Since then, you could say there's just been bad blood that's never been cleared."

That made Jesse winced. "Sorry for asking and being nosy."

He shook his head. "It feels better for me to be able to finally talk a bit about it. When Ivor left, the Order sort of drifted apart until we found that we just splintered and had gone on to do our own thing. I still miss them, all of them, even Ivor."

"Well, two of them are here right now and we're going after a third one tomorrow morning," Jesse said gently. "Maybe, um, even if he's a jerk and needs to answer for all this, you'll be able to see Ivor too."

Gabriel patted her leg before going back to wearily leaning his elbows on his knees and hunching over. Jesse examined him closely and felt guilt attack her again. If only she'd been faster to grab hold of Gabriel too...Maybe he wouldn't look so sick and tired...

She blinked and a thought slithered into her head about what could be ailing Gabriel, but she couldn't voice it aloud. She was afraid if she did, it would be real and there wouldn't be able to be any denial.

"Go back to sleep, Jesse. We'll have a long journey ahead of us," Gabriel told her. "You'll need the rest."

"Only if you do too," Jesse said stubbornly, and Gabriel laughed lightly and nodded.

Together, they got up and headed back in. Jesse really hoped the two of them would be able to get some more rest in. She silently agreed that it was probably going to be a long journey looking for Soren.

~*~*~

The moment dawn broke on the horizon, they were already awake and quickly getting ready to go. They all agreed that they would make their way out of the fortress and keep together in a loose formation, while being wary and on the lookout.

"Bright and sunny, ain't it?" Axel said, trying to lighten up the group.

"Sure is, kid," Magnus spoke up too, thinking it would be a good idea to have the group not think about the bad stuff.

"No sign of this Witherstorm," Ellegard said stiffly.

"Which is a good thing," Gabriel said firmly, not looking at anyone as he focused on gathering things for the journey. "Having it attack us so early on would just be a detriment we don't need to deal with. Hopefully, our luck will last out until we reach where Soren should be."

"Uh, guys."

"Someone just woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning," Magnus said snidely.

"Guys?"

Ellegard bristled. "You've got something to say, Magnus?"

"Maybe I do –"

"GUYS!" Lukas yelled and everyone's attention moved to him. He pointed outside, to where the hole in the stone wall was. "You guys hear that? I think that's people!"

For a moment, everyone just stared at him. Jesse personally wasn't sure she heard him right. Then she listened and heard it too. Voices that were getting louder as they sounded like they were getting closer to them.

The group rushed through the hole to look over the temple's walls, seeing another group of worn out people, some in various states of being injured.

"Help..." Jesse breathed. "They...they need help!"

She turned on autopilot, trying to think on her feet. "Axel, Lukas, clear out the area to make space and try to make things more accessible. Reuben, help them out as best you can, okay buddy? Ellegard, do you have any medical experience?" Because hers was limited, Axel had none, Olivia had less than her, and Jesse knew nothing about Lukas, Gabriel, or Magnus to count on them for it.

Ellegard nodded sharply. "I'm proficient enough in it and can do what I can for them."

"Magnus, Gabriel, you two come with me and help those that need help coming in here. I'll look them over, try to triage," Jesse said quickly.

The three of them hurried down and managed to meet the new group outside of the temple. Jesse was surprised to see Aiden and the rest of the Ocelots leading the group. The guard with the fear of chicken, and even the lady with the slime was there. Next to Aiden seemed to be an aggravated-looking older man, with thin glasses and white hair, dressed in a torn up purple suit.

"Right, I'll get started on this side and try to look for those severely injured and try to get those I can stabilized," Jesse focused on her task. "Gabriel to the right, Magnus to the left."

She headed forward, meeting up with Aiden. She glanced curiously at the man next to Aiden, but otherwise kept her attention on the brunet.

"You're, um, okay?" she asked him awkwardly. After all, the last time they met, they weren't really on good terms. Still, a lot of things had happened since then.

"Sore," Aiden croaked out, slumping slightly. He gestured over at Maya. "She's got a broken rib, I think, and Gill hit his head. He's been okay and mostly awake the entire time until we got here, so we're pretty sure he doesn't have a concussion."

Jesse bit her lip. "Anyone else injured?"

"More than a handful," Gill spoke up, face looking drawn and exhausted. "I don't think anyone's really bad though."

Jesse nodded. "I'm going to check through the group. Head up to the top of the temple. That's where we're all gathered."

The three Ocelots nodded and began the walk, and she watched them for a few seconds. She was about to go to task, when she noticed that one man still standing there and watching her in scrutiny.

"Hello," Jesse greeted hesitantly. "Can I help you with something? Are you injured?"

"Just scratches and bruises," he said in a dismissive tone. "The name's Hadrian. You are?" he asked, almost imperiously.

"Jesse Lucasta," she said cautiously.

"Hm...Pure light, huh?" If it was possible, his scrutiny became more intense. Then he smiled, but for some reason it made Jesse want to run. That confused her. "Pleasure to meet you, Jessica. I'll be heading up now."

He walked around her and her confusion could have drowned her in that moment.

~*~*~

After Jesse was done making splints, looking over people, and helping them up to the top floor, she went to Ellegard to see what she needed her and the rest of the group to do. Soon enough, she was seeing Gabriel cleaning people, disinfecting when he needed to, though he looked like he was straining as well. Olivia, Axel and Lukas were running around trying to get bandages, water, and what not, while Magnus was helping to hold down whoever as Ellegard worked on them.

She was about to go to her own designated task, when at the moment, there was a man with an arm that looked dead and flopping around, and apparently needed an amputation. Jesse couldn't look away and watched the operation being done in horror, seeing blood splurting out. The urge to throw up was practically overwhelming her.

"I don't think I've ever seen that," she heard someone say and saw it was Hadrian with a look of horrified fascination. "Where I'm from, you flash red and poof! You're gone, your inventory is left behind, and then you reappear in a respawn zone."

Jesse gave him a confused look, finding it was way too easy to get confused with this guy. Respawn zone? Flashing red? Poof?

"There's no flashing red here," she said slowly. "You just...die. Your body is just there. And your inventory? Stays with you, unless someone decides to pilfer it from your body."

Hadrian grimaced and recoiled. "That's...barbaric. When you lose, you lose, and to the victor goes the spoils! Taking the inventory from a body? It sounds...appalling."

Reuben sidled up to her and Jesse scooped him up, cuddling him for comfort. From the corner of her eye, she saw the other give her a bewildered look she ignored.

"This place is abnormal."

She gave him a sideways look. He was probably quite right about that.

But then again, Jesse on some days could get quite cynical when she remembered how bleak the world could be.