[Y/N] - Your Name
[M/N] - Middle Name
[L/N] - Last Name
I
["Talking"]
["SCREAMING"]
["Whispering"]
["Thinking"]
* - Translated directly from Italian.

[==========================]

-> [ARTISTS / SERIES USED]
- lilredbeany.

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

Y/N: ["So they know already... What about Florentino?"]

The six of the group shrugged in a comically-perfect timing. Y/N sighed and clicked his tongue in a show of annoyance and awareness, his mind already racing to every single possibility. He was sure that Elio and the group carried him here and that Florentino wasn't really giving a shit about it — Why would he? Still, there was part of Y/N that felt something was wrong. An itch in his ear, a strange pit present in his gut.

Y/N: ["Right. With how unpredictable he is, the best course of action is to assume that he knows already"] Y/N comments while glancing down at his closed fist, narrowing his eyes ["When we do return, we should probably mark some point for us to meet and-"]

Tyler: ["Woah woah woah, hold your horses there. We still have time to figure shit out, so take it easy"] The latino interrupts, raising his palms and cutting off Y/N before he could carry on ["I managed to cut you down and get to the floor, so you should be-"]

Y/N: ["Alright with a broken neck and a fucked-up leg? I doubt it. Even if I am alive back in there, I doubt I'm going to be just fine"] It was now Y/N's turn to interrupt, directing his eyes straight towards Tyler's ["Thanks for the worry, and for saving me, but-... We can't afford to slow down or assume everything will be alright. Back in there, I-"] His eyes fell to his hands again as he let out a massive sigh ["I won't be of much help to you all"]

Aiden: ["That's fine, we can take care of the Phantoms ourselves as long as that centipede monster doesn't show up"] He still sat in the same spot as before, resting his chin on both of his palms, and elbows on his knees ["Don't worry about it, Ashlyn said she had a plan, so all you gotta be concerned with is resting up and not letting yourself go crazy!"]

Y/N: ["But-"]

A hand in his shoulder courtesy of Ben, who shook his head in agreement with his cousin. Y/N glanced at him and then at the other two people who hadn't voiced themselves yet — By their looks alone, it was obvious that Taylor and Logan agreed. The girl gave him a double thumbs up, while Logan sheepishly nodded his head. A five-to-one agreement, Y/N just groaned and relaxed on the bed, closing his eyes.

Y/N: ["Fine, fine... If I die again then I am blaming you all"]

Aiden: ["Don't worry, this time I'll go back to get you!"]

Y/N: ["Not keen on owing me 100 bucks? Your family is loaded, though"]

Taylor: ["Well, so is yours!"]

Y/N: ["... Touché"]

Y/N's eyes closed again as he smirked, a small laugh being shared by most people in the room at their little exchange. It wasn't until a few seconds of silence later that Y/N's eyes opened when the door did as well. There stood the group's leader, worry very much present in her emerald eyes, but one that softened into relief when she saw Y/N sit up to greet her. As she walked closer, she drew breath in order to speak, but-

Y/N: ["Don't apologize. It was my fault for diving after the headass here"]

Tyler: ["Oi!"]

Y/N: ["Just know that... I'm not holding it against you. I'm not holding it against none of you, for that matter"] One of his previously-rare smiles later, Y/N raised his hand towards Ashlyn ["Let's figure out a way to deal with this, and then we can get to the sappy stuff"]

Ashlyn looked at Y/N's fist, and then up at his eyes. He smirked at her, a sight that, up until a few months ago, was something extremely rare. A smile of her own, wiping away a few tears from her eyes, the girl bumped his fist with her own knuckles, nodding along. As she walked into the room and around the bed, taking a seat by it, near Y/N's legs, she cleared her throat and a rejuvenated attitude of her leadership.

Tyler: ["Now that you're here, there is one thing we should talk about..."] Tyler spoke up, getting everyone's attention as he leaned to the wall, arms crossed ["Back when we were telling our parents about the Phantom world, Taylor ended up getting rather mad at how dismissive some of them were being, and-... ... The Phantoms, they appeared"]

Y/N: ["As in... Here in the real world?"]

Logan: ["It seems like we were transported to the Phantom world for a few moments, seeing as how the sky turned red on the outside..."] It was now his time to speak, softly pushing up his glasses and avoiding eye contact still ["And if you pair that with what happened back when Barron and his groupie decided to show up at the arcade, then-..."]

Ashlyn: ["... We are more in tune with the Phantom world, and maybe turning into Phantom ourselves"] The girl deduced, eyes glued to the ground and crossed legs in a lotus position ["Could it be that spending all those nights there made us... Phantom-ish?"]

Taylor: ["But that would imply that whatever transformation effect is so slow that not even months of exposure made us completely turn... Could it really be so slow?"] The girl shivered at her next thought, bringing her arms around her body to hug herself, a clear hiccup in her tone ["Could it... Could it be that the Phantoms were people...?"]

Aiden: ["What? But there were so many of them everywhere, no way!"] He dismissed the girl's thoughts, but was clearly affected by it, as his smile and eyes wavered ["So many people simply disappearing would warrant one hell of a survey around the world!"]

Y/N: ["Tons of people go missing every year, don't they? What if..."] His eyes glanced at the bed again, doing his best to hold back the worry present in them — He failed ["What if the Phantoms were the people who disappeared throughout all the years?"]

Logan: ["It's also strange that we never came across anything or anyone. No bodies, no living people — No nothing... If that is really the case, then..."] The concern in his expression was visible. The tension in the room was palpable ["Maybe it's true..."]

Ashlyn: ["... Thinking about this won't help our situation one bit. We need to focus on the present and finding a safe spot in the Phantom world"] The girl spoke up, her leader self once again taking over as she kept sitting on the bed ["My dad and I bought a few supplies off of a friend of his from back in the military days. We left a stash near where we think Y/N and Tyler fell, so that we can retrieve it later... Tyler, you got Y/N down, right?"]

Tyler: ["Sure did. From getting a closer look-... It wasn't pretty. His windpipe had clearly been crushed, and I don't know how many minutes it passed until I found him, and took him down"] At the grim topic of his own suffering and most-likely death, all Y/N did was glance at Tyler without amusement ["So, by all means, his body should be dead"]

Y/N: ["But I'm not in the real world. In fact, I barely feel much other than a cramp in my neck and leg, but if my body really is that fucked, then I shouldn't even be awake"] He spoke again, leaning back into the bed while shutting his eyes in thought ["I wonder if there ever will come a day when we can start answering questions instead of adding them..."]

Ashlyn: ["Focus, we were close to the school, and those centipede things are likely still around"] The girl comments while glancing at Y/N for a moment, and then back at the group ["The weaponry Y/N got us won't suffice against those things-... I don't think anything we can get our hands on normally will handle them. So we'll need to avoid them... Back when the Phantoms appeared here. I think that I felt that, too, just like back in the arcade..."]

Y/N: ["So you're pretty in tune with that, it seems. When we find the time we'll need to experiment with that, and discuss some other stuff"] There was a strange tone in the last words Y/N said — Only Ashlyn and Aiden knew what he meant, however ["For now, though, we'll have to find our way into the school. And see how bad my damage really is"]

Ashlyn: ["... So we'll do it like this, we'll get you and Tyler back and find shelter. If the damage can be taken care of, even if a bit, we'll do it there and then while the others keep watch"] Analytical eyes that again focused on the ground as she spoke, Ashlyn's emerald irises focused back on Aiden ["You think we can crash at your spot?"]

Aiden: ["Sure! With everything going on, I doubt my parents will mind!"]

Ashlyn: ["Perfect. For the time being, you focus on resting, and we'll focus on the rest"] The girl spoke while turning her eyes to glance at Y/N, who gave her a nod ["This is going to be risky, but-... You think you can get anything from your brother as well?"]

Y/N: ["If we assume that he knows of the Phantom dimension already, I should be able to convince him... But I would like to keep Florentino out of this if we can"] He glanced from the bed back at Ashlyn's eyes. The girl sat a small drop of concern in his face ["He is unpredictable. A genuine psycho... I don't know if we should rely on him if we can avoid it"]

Ashlyn: ["My thoughts exactly, so we'll keep him in the dark, assuming he isn't aware of the situation"] The girl concluded while getting out of the bed ["So that settles it, then. We'll get Y/N down and make our way back to the school grounds when we shift back in"]

Y/N: ["You should ask Elio to teach you CPR. He knows how to handle medical stuff really well, so if my body isn't breathing, you'll know what to do"] Y/N said while glancing at Tyler, who gave him a confident nod ["Oh, and-... Thank you all... For everything"]

Tyler: ["Never thought I'd see the day you'd soften up"] Taylor smacked him in the back of the head ["Ow-! I'm kidding, I'm kidding... But-... Thank you for saving me, too, dude"]

Aiden: ["You're welcome, my man! Just next time don't leave us so worried, alright?"] As Aiden leaped off of the footboard, his cellphone slipped out of his pocket... ["Let's hope for a speedy recovery so you won't need to be eating hospital food for long, eh?"]

A fistbump to the majority of the group, a hug from Taylor and a smirk from Aiden, everyone left the room. After a few moments, as Y/N shifted his leg to fall back into the bed, he touched Aiden's cellphone — Reaching it was a bit of pain, but he managed. As he was about to put it away, the door opened again and so walked in on the blonde, letting out his usual laugh with that same, ever-present smile on his face.

Aiden: ["Sorry, forgot about that! ... You didn't look through it, did you?"]

Y/N: ["It's got a password. And "forgot about that" my ass, you just wanted us to talk alone"] Y/N said, handing the phone to the boy, who glanced away from Y/N. Caught on 4K ["Listen, the situation is dire, so we should really focus on getting me out alive, then we-"]

Y/N went quiet as Aiden wrapped his arms around in a firm grip, but still gentle enough to not hurt. A bit too stunned to speak, all Y/N could do was groan in a mixture of pain and annoyance, but also genuine relief. His arms made their way around Aiden's body, hugging him back while the blonde rested his face on Y/N's shoulder... Until he turned his head and presented Y/N with a kiss on the cheek.

Aiden: ["Aighthaveagoodnightmymanbye!!"]

And skedaddled right after.

Y/N raised his hand slowly towards his face. He glanced down at his palm, eyes wide in confusion, shock and a strange amount of happiness. A sensation in his guts that made him want to vomit fought off another sensation that felt like butterflies in his stomach. Taking in a deep, deep breath until his lungs were full, and then exhaling until he felt his body go back to its neutral state, Y/N clenched his fist. Harshly.

Y/N: ["... You got some fucking nerve..."]

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

The ride back to Aiden's home was mostly uneventful.

The families all had means of transport, but with Elio also helping out, space was the last thing they needed. The butler stepped out of the car first, opening the door for the kids to walk out since he offered to take them, and the parents all went in a single car to make things easier and less cramped. Elio bowed down gently to the people as they walked out, closing the door behind the last one to leave, and following along.

Elio: ["... It is rather impolite for me to ask this out of the blue, but-"] His strong italian tone came up, prompting Ashlyn to glance at him over her shoulder ["How is Y/N doing?"]

Ashlyn: ["He is stable. Appeared to have suffered very little here in the real world, too, so we can only hope that his injuries in the Phantom dimension aren't so bad"] As she slowed down to walk by his side, letting the group move on ahead, she looked up at him ["And what about his brother? We haven't seen him since he went to the hospital with us"]

Elio: ["Florentino said he had business to deal with. I never bother to ask... Not only is it not my place to care, but I don't wish to deal with him"] The man said with a small chuckle and closed eyes, taking on a much more relaxed posture ["Don't tell him I said that"]

Ashlyn: ["Don't worry, I won't... If I can, I'll avoid that man at all costs"] The girl took on a more serious expression that soon relaxed with an inhale and exhale ["The last thing I want is for him to beat us up the same way that he did back in the Arcade again..."]

Elio: ["Florentino is a lot more... Careful than that more often than not. Unpredictable, I suppose I should say"] The man looked up at the skies for a moment, seemingly trying to come up with the proper wording ["But we should be fine for the rest of the night"]

Ashlyn: ["Here's to hoping..."]

As the girl wandered into the massive home, she looked around, still stunned by its size. Sure, Y/N's house was big, but Aiden's house was on a whole different level. She sighed and left her bag on the ground near the sofa that was pushed back with the rest of the group to make way for a makeshift bed in the warm and soft carpet. Ashlyn took a seat, glancing at her cell phone and Y/N's contact, gripping it rather strongly.

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

Y/N: ["Almost midnight..."]

He thought while glancing at this phone's screen, huffing and leaning back in the bed with his eyes closed. Y/N rested a hand in his face, then moving it down to his cheek before glancing at his palms. He clenched his fist and opened his palm again and again before ultimately giving up in trying to understand and sitting up in the bed. He looked at his hands for a second before letting a small smirk spread on his lips.

Y/N: ["I wish that dealing with this situation was the worst of my problems and not being dead... We really couldn't be normal teenagers huh"] He cuddled up to himself while getting himself snuggly under the covers ["Then again... If life carried on as normal I wouldn't have those 6. We wouldn't have gotten so close, and-"] He again shot a glance down to his palm ["... I guess I would've still been that moody and edgy guy from before.."]

Y/N rolled on his side. Then his back. Closed his eyes and then rolled to the left, to the right, changed positions on his pillow. Literally trying everything and even laying face-first, on his stomach — Nothing. Instead, he just opened his eyes again, staring at the wall for a few minutes in silence, trying to organize his thoughts. Alas, he finally gave up and returned to laying on his back and staring at the white, plain ceiling.

Y/N: ["But why did it have two be with 3 socially-inept people...? Aiden I'm sure of, but what about Ashlyn? And even then, what if none of us ever confess"] Darker thoughts began to loom and cloud his head as he slowly ran a hand across his neck ["... Will we even have time to do that? What if... If we never end up figuring this out and being trapped-..."] A long inhale with an equally-length exhale, he shook his head ["No. No. Focus on the present — Leaving that place alive. And then after that-... You deal with something scarier"]

He instinctively reached for where his pocket would be, as if trying to grab the pack of cigarettes he so constantly used to smoke. Alas, having given up one of his few things that helped him calm down, Y/N rolled on his side again. Maybe letting his thoughts run for a while would exhaust his mind and help him finally sleep — If moving nonstop tired out the body, why wouldn't it work with the mind, am I right?

One of said thoughts was...
"Why is this love thing so difficult?!"

◁━━━━━━━━◈━━━━━━━━▷

GASP

As if he held his breath until the very last instant before passing out, Y/N suddenly shot up with wide eyes and sweat dripping from his body. No, not just sweat. His clothes were damp, much more than if he was just sweating. He tried to move in order to look, but found his neck to be too stiff. A simple glance around and amidst the dark leaves and red sky made it clear that he had fallen asleep before midnight rolled in.

Dealing with the Phantom dimension was already a pain, now barely being able to breathe and unable to move made it all the worse. Speaking of pain, one so sharp that made Y/N want to scream took over his body. Every single sense in his body flaring up to signify him — In order not to scream, he bit down against his tongue. So hard that it began to bleed, but doing what he needed in order not to attract Phantoms.

It's not as if he couldn't move his leg. He couldn't feel it. He could easily feel the broken bone in his right arm and a few fingers as well, especially his neck, but not his leg. Fearing for the worst, he just tried to find Tyler, who should be around here somewhere. The rustling of leaves not too far off had him both relieved and worried, but still trying to find his gun, without success. It had already fallen rather far away.

Y/N spat some blood out in annoyance and fear when the figure amidst the leaves revealed its lanky self and pure-white eyes. Smiling towards him, Y/N tapped around his body with his unbroken hand, trying to find whatever weapon he could on his body as the Phantom began to move towards him. The only option he had was to try and put himself up, trying to be as careful as he could, but ultimately falling. Until-

Ashlyn: ["Y/N! ARE YOU-"]

The girl went quiet before she could finish, seeing Y/N's mangled body barely keeping itself together. His broken arm was, by itself, a pretty gruesome sight with the way that the bone was sticking out from the flesh. His twisted neck was terrible, but nothing too bloody, if not disgusting with the way that his bone almost pushed out. The leg, however, is what made Ashlyn have to hold back her tears and steel herself.

Y/N tried to speak, but Ashlyn stopped him before he could. She dashed back to Aiden that had been approaching, nabbing from his bag a syringe and running to Y/N's side. She looked at him straight in the eyes with a nod, one that Y/N met with a serious gaze that slowly opened into a smile. Ashlyn put the needle onto his shoulder after cutting off a bit from the black uniform he wore, and pushed the contents inside.

Aiden looked at Y/N's leg with his smile turning into one of nervousness. Everything below the knee was barely sticking together, most of the flesh ripped, and only a tiny bit in the front kept the remainder from falling. Ben walked by him, giving his cousin an affirmative tap in the shoulder with a nod of reassurance, making his way towards Y/N, who could hear the voices of other people talking, but decided to remain quiet.

Ashlyn: ["While Ben and I treat him, Aiden and Tyler go look for a new car for us to use. Taylor and Logan stay here to shoot any Phantoms and cover us while we treat Y/N"] The girl spoke with firm conviction, but one that didn't hide the concern and strain in her voice ["After that, we'll make our way to the school as planned once we are done with Y/N"]

No one voiced any complaints, and the formation had been set. As Y/N felt the sedatives kick in, he glanced at Ashlyn who looked at his neck with her emerald eyes filled with concern. They moved to Y/N's eyes, and all he did was give her a smirk. A rather defying one, as if telling her that everything would be alright. It was like a boulder had been lifted off of her shoulders — And yet, another one remained.

Ashlyn: ["I guess that... For a broken neck this could be worse. Strangely, now that I look at it closer..."] The girl muttered, approaching Y/N's throat with her eyes analyzing his body. Where the bone pushed against the skin before, now little-more than a minor fracture remained ["Seems like the damage isn't as huge as we thought. But your leg..."]

Y/N: ["I'll just steal from my brother and use it to buy myself a prosthetic, nothing to be worried about"] He muttered through a pained groan, one that made Ashlyn look at him with no amusement ["So I get a cold shoulder from trying to be funny for once. Got it"]

Ashlyn: ["You and Aiden are spending too much time together..."]

Ah, right. Aiden and Ashlyn... Y/N had been so focused on trying not to die after waking up from death that his mind had moved away from the topic. However, now that Ashlyn was treating his broken fingers and arms, and Ben treating his leg, he could glance at the girl properly and let his thoughts wander. Before they could go much further than "She is very cute..." he moved them to the back of his head again.

After having been patched up as well as they could with limited resources, Ben carried Y/N on his back. A thanks was met with a firm nod from the taller of the two, who walked back with the group to follow Tyler who had just come along not too long ago. They found their way to a red pickup truck. After confirming that the keys were there, Taylor and Ben made their way to the back, with the latter passing on Y/N.

He tried to calm down the girl with a smile, which didn't quite work, as indicative by her still-worried look when Y/N laid in her arms, his leg stretched in the back seat and on top of Ben's own. Once Aiden and Ashlyn climbed into the driver and passenger seat respectively, with Tyler and Logan hopping on the back, the leader of the group turned to look at him, concern having been replaced by a firm attitude of steel.

As her last thoughts came, she laid back against the passenger seat of the truck while Aiden was driving. She never took him for the careful type in the first place, but he at least wasn't as terrible as she thought he would be — With his only experience having been go-karting and all — so the ride to the school was mostly uneventful. Y/N woke up through it, but his whispers were silenced by Taylor who told him to rest up.

As the car came to a stop, Ashlyn needing to use her now-stinging hand to stop herself from smacking into the windshield after Aiden's harsh stop, she glanced at her palm with a groan. Still, seeing that everyone was alright, the girl looked over her shoulder at Y/N, who remained laying with half-lidded eyes at the ceiling. She glanced between him and the rest, finally speaking up with her voice still in a serious tone.

Ashlyn: ["How's he doing?"]

Taylor: ["He is soaking through all the bandages and the cloth, and his neck is still destroyed..."] The girl said while Y/N laid with closed eyes on her arms, a nervous look in Taylor's face as she looked down to his leg ["There were big cuts from the branches, but his leg seems to be holding on, but I doubt that he will be able to walk anytime soon..."]

Ashlyn: ["God-knows how long he was suspended with a broken neck... To still be alive is a miracle. Not only that, but Y/N was the most reliable fighter of us. With him down we are a major disadvantage, but-..."] Having taken another look at Y/N and how he appeared to have fallen asleep from mental and physical exhaustion, the girl let out a relieved sigh at seeing his chest go up and down ["I'm just glad that all of us are still going strong..."]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐖𝐀𝐕𝐄𝐒]

Ashlyn: ["Turn off the car, it is still nearby!"] Aiden immediately did as instructed, turning off the engine as Ashlyn opened her door and stepped up, gun ready ["And don't shut the doors when we get out, it might hear them slamming and then come after us"]

As everyone left the car and Ben picked up Y/N in his back again, the injured boy looked at the school building. Something so familiar that carried memories that felt so far away now — Imagine telling him all those months ago that he would be here now. Quite honestly, the scariest and most unbelievable part would be his romantic feelings, but that is not something he felt like tackling alongside all his injuries.

Ashlyn: ["Ben's dad had an idea to use the school's football field lights to ward off the centipede creature"] The girl spoke after looking at Y/N's face, and him raising an eyebrow at her ["Since the generator of the school bus graveyard worked, the theory is that the generator for the school lights work too. Time has stopped so the power supply isn't running... But I guess that due to the time paradox, the generator still thinks that power is being fed to the lights"] Y/N hummed in acknowledged for the girl to keep going, a way to let her know he was listening without needing to speak out loud ["You fell asleep probably, so I couldn't contact you, but our plan here is to manually shut down the power supply so that the generator will recognize that there's no power, and the alternator will kick in automatically... To do that, though, we need the keys to access the control room"]

Taylor: ["And since Tyler plays for the team, and I usually hang around them, we know where the coach usually keeps them. We are on our way to retrieve them now"] The girl spoke up, adding to what Ashlyn said, prompting the emerald-eyed girl to nod along ["It's strange that we have had no Phantoms encountered just yet when inside, though..."]

Ashlyn: ["Yeah, but I can hear the centipede getting closer. But it's a bit hard to tell when in a building like this..."] She spoke up, prompting a groan from Y/N who was very much annoyed — But, really, could you blame him? ["How much further down, Taylor?"]

Taylor: ["Down this hallway and just a couple more classrooms"]

Y/N's eyes fell shut again as the exhaustion took over once more. He wasn't quite asleep, since who could sleep in such a scenario? Though he felt more drained than ever, prompting his lazy, half-lidded eyes to scan around one more time. As they did, he seemed to have picked up on the same thing as Logan and everyone else when a shadow was suddenly cast across the hallway, darkening everything and everyone.

Ashlyn: ["RUN !!!"]

With what little strength he could muster, Y/N clutched onto Ben who dashed forward like the rest of the group. The monster came crashing in through the window, slamming itself across the hallway and into the other wall. The impact reverberated through the night, and while to everyone else it was already loud, Ashlyn was briefly stunned by the impact, wincing at the ringing that was now echoing through her ears.

It was almost as if Y/N and Logan had the same thought when their eyes met for a single brief moment during the chaos, and Y/N tapped Ben, and mimicked a firearm with his hand. The taller one looked at him as if he was crazy, but Y/N's serious look made him stop, just like Logan had, and pull out his gun, handing it to Y/N who had a free hand. Both him and Logan aimed at the creature, not hesitating to pull the trigger.

A couple of the shots missed, but one that found itself into the creature's eyes had it roaring, screaming so loudly that the ground shook. Ashlyn winced again, falling to her knees and putting on her ear muffs, that still didn't do much against the cries of the monster. Seeing the black goo dripping down the upside-down face of the monster, Logan drew in breath, having found within himself some strength to shout-

Logan: ["ITS LEFT EYE IS OUT!! THIS IS OUR CHANCE!!"]

Though everyone was ready to return to running, Taylor ran past everyone, snatching Logan's rifle from his back and taking aim as well. Y/N glanced down at Ben and nodded, prompting him to stop walking and let Y/N take aim once again. Together with Taylor and Logan, they opened fire against the monster. The gunshots echoed through the hallway, even the silenced pistols Y/N and Logan carried were loud.

Ashlyn, with the support of Aiden, tried to keep her ears as silent as she could, biting down into her lip so she wouldn't scream. As the bullets flew, going through the arms of the monster, through the face, and body, it began to stumble around on the outside, its massive body starting to waver. Nonstop waves of firing later is when the creature finally stopped moving, many wounds present in its head and the large, agape mouth.

Everyone silently agreed to get moving before the creature had time to recover in case it wasn't really dead, even riddled with bullet holes. With this shared sentiment, they made their way to the room Taylor was talking about, and began rummaging. Ben helped Y/N to sit down on top of a table, being thanked with a nod and a fistbump, and going to look for the keys that Taylor had talked about alongside the rest of the group.

Taylor: ["Tsc-... I can't find them! Any success?!"]

Tyler: ["Zero. Coach must've moved them again"]

Ashlyn: ["Just our luck... Does he move them often?"]

Taylor: ["Yeah, because a bunch of people keep sneaking in!"]

Aiden: ["Hmm~... I feel a minor sense of deja-vu"]

Swish swish went the knife that he carelessly twirled around, resting with his back by the door and glancing into the corridor every now and again to check if they had company. A few of the moments he would turn around and glance at Y/N, who, at one point, glanced back at him — Aiden gave him a smile, and Y/N replied with a middle finger. Though such action had been accompanied by rather soft eyes from Y/N.

Logan: ["We have three minutes left, approximately"]

Ashlyn: ["... Aiden, I hear a straggler approaching"]

Aiden: ["Mhm, mhm, I can hear it running... Aaaaand~"]

Aiden: [" +｡*ﾟ+GOT IT +｡*ﾟ"]

Ashlyn: ["There are still Phantom noises... Any more of them?"]

Aiden: ["I can't see any-! WOAH!"]

Everyone fell to the ground as the ground rumbled underneath their feet. Glancing out the window they saw the body of a centipede creature slamming against the school, and by the harsh trembling and nonstop slamming, there were clearly more. The roof and the walls began to give in under their massive weight and strength, and part of it began to fall. Y/N managed to crawl under the table he sat on, but as he turned...

Y/N: ["AIDEN !!!"]

A sudden burst of energy from the adrenaline is what prompted him to move without thinking twice. Falling on top of some of the rubble that had fallen with some more loose pieces impacting his back, digging away from them. After a few minutes of such, the sight and the smell of iron presented to him stunned the boy for a moment. The sight of the blonde laying amidst the concrete made his skin go pale with fear.

And he was not the only one, as Ashlyn too, froze.

<<<<<< I >[---]< I >>>>>>

[Published in - 01/27/2025]
[Word Count - 5.950]

Man oh man am I surprised!

I honestly thought some people had simply forgotten about the existence of this book, but the support on the last chapter had me fucking stunned!! So much so that I forced myself a lil' bit to get this next chapter out, and will likely get a chapter or two more before the end of the month from how fucking hyped I am! I still got other projects to work on, so I can't 100% focus on this, but MAN do I wish I could.

Also, I'm surprised by the overwhelming support with the twist last chapter? Relating to Y/N, Aiden, Ashlyn and all... Though that is on the slow cooker, because Season 2 shenanigans are really something else, so don't be surprised if I take my time with it. I promise I won't forget! Regardless, thank you all SO much for the amazing support and for being such amazing people, and for being here. I'll do my best to keep at it!