I know I disappeared—
I fervently apologize—
I've been chipping slowly at the ending chapter because i SUCK at endings and like, now I don't even know if I like it or not ;-;
BUT ANYWAYS HERE IT IS
*yeets away in fear*

Cade didn't know how long it lasted.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days—time was meaningless in a dark, crowded, cold room. He didn't know the difference between asleep and awake. He felt like he was drifting constantly, in and out. Though he couldn't see anything, he felt like everything was getting further and further away.

Everything was dark, everything was gone. Everything was disappearing, fading away. There was nothing around him. He was nowhere. He wasn't in that tiny room anymore, though he could feel, very clearly, its walls pressing in on his sides and the tiled floor below him. He was being pressed in on itself, in a tight, small space, inside his mind, his senses going haywire and shutting down. He was being squeezed to the limit, and he was panting, but he wasn't really breathing. His throbbing head intensified and amplified every feeling.

He couldn't move. His limbs were as heavy as lead, held down by iron chains, pressed together to his sides by the walls, which—were they coming closer? Was the room getting smaller? Why did the air feel so thin?

Cade faintly remembered pressing his hands to his chest, clutching at his shirt, as if it would help him to breathe.

It was silent, and still, and moving, and suffocating, and other things that he couldn't quite describe. There were no shadows to be found as it was already dark, but he felt like there was something there in the dark, watching him, staring, pinning him to the ground, the stone, with unreadable dark eyes and unknown intentions. He was falling, and floating, feeling so light yet so heavy at the same time, and neither were very welcomed sensations.

Where was he again? Why was he here? What was he doing? Why was it so dark and cramped and tiny in here?

Cade could tell he was spiraling, somehow, somewhere, in his mind, where it was starting to go into hopelessness. There was still a strand of rationality—not much, but there, at least. However, that only served to drive him further into depression.

Why? Why did Leo— No, he knew the answer.

Leo had never been his friend. Cade was utterly stupid for thinking so. It was a mystery to himself why he had ever decided to become friends with a complete stranger, a person who was clearly loyal to the very person—Aaron? Arlo? Aurum? Oh, no, that's gold—who had him kidnapped in the first place.

Cade should've never trusted him so easily. He should've known better than to trust someone so readily, especially a stranger. He should've been more cautious.

Instead, he had his hopes and trust yanked away and shattered and cracked open and crushed and stomped on. So easily done so, as well.

He had heard from somewhere that mutual trust can take years to build, and less than a second to break. He had finally seen the outcome of that.

And that—that was almost more terrifying, more devastating, than being locked in the tiny, dark, cold, terrifying room. The betrayal hurt more than one of his worst fears.

Matters of the heart—such as that of a trust thought to exist, yet not—after all, were more impactful than others.

Cade was spiraling. He was spiraling and he knew it. He couldn't stop himself. He only struggled against it half-heartedly. He couldn't bear it anymore. He wasn't getting out anytime soon anyway. He wasn't going to recover from this, even if he did. It was a fact that he knew, and could not be denied.

His emotions could not be described when he felt something change. The atmosphere, the feeling of another presence, a familiar warmth radiating above him. It was so out of nowhere and so different from the rest of the room and the state of his mind that it screeched to a halt.

Then came the voice. Breathless with relief, laced with exhaustion and also grief.

"Cade."

Cade could not believe it. Maybe he was finally hallucinating. He was surprised he hadn't gotten to this point earlier. Was this some terrible, horrible, cosmic joke?

But the presence felt real. The warmth felt real. The voice...that was Hal. That had to be. But how—?

He lifted his head.

"Hallez?"

He was surprised by his own hoarse voice.

He heard the sound of rustling of clothes, and the presence felt closer. He didn't act out when a hand touched the top of his head, his unruly hair, which was probably covered in dirt and dust. The hand wrapped around the back of his head gently, and pulled him in, cradling him. Another hand grabbed onto his shoulder gingerly, before she was embracing him.

She really was— Hallez was—

Cade bathed in her warmth, head buried in the crook of her arm, one hand coming up weakly to grab her hand and lace their fingers together, and holding it tightly. He could hardly believe it. She was here. She was here.

Still, he grabbed onto her hand as if she would disappear if he didn't, as if it was a lifeline—partly because it was. If this was... if this really was some cruel, cruel joke...

"Cade, are you hurt anywhere? What happened?"

He couldn't respond. He didn't want to, at the moment. Cade knew he wasn't really physically exhausted enough to have a reason not to respond. Mentally...well, his mentality had cracked the floorboards and had been quickly approaching the center of the Earth. It was enough to sap anyone's strength.

He noticed that his breath was coming out fast, but he couldn't stop himself. Being in Hallez's embrace was helping him. Being in the arms of a person he knew he could truly, completely trust, was different from the claustrophobic experience of a tiny room. However, it still felt like he was dying, suffocating, the air being forced out of his lungs.

It was only when he felt his face get wet that he realized he was crying soundlessly.

"Cade?" Hallez asked, alarmed. "Are you—"

He couldn't believe Hallez was here. How? Why? How, in all the world, did she manage to find him?

He was a little embarrassed. A little betrayal, a little bit of time spent in a dark room, a little pain, and he was in this kind of state?

He shook his head with what little strength he had in him. "S-sorry... I... I'm overreacting—"

"Shut up," Hal chided him, in true Hallez fashion. It had none of its usual sting, however. "You are not, I don't know what happened over the last few days, but you are not overreacting."

Cade didn't really believe that. "It wasn't really anything... that bad. I'm just, being melodramatic—"

"I doubt it. Cade, I'm not completely dense when it comes to people. If whatever happened was enough to make you...like this, then you are not being melodramatic. You've stood back up smiling with a broken arm once before and proceeded to insist you were fine and comfort us."

Usually, Cade would've shot back a humorous comment, or insisted that he did shed a few tears.

This time, he was too tired to do so.

But after just a few seconds of silence, Hallez said, urgently, "We have to move. We need to move right now. It's a miracle you haven't— they haven't—"

She stopped. Then, she pulled Cade up, and stood, slinging one of his limp arms over her shoulders.

Cade winced. Hal somehow noticed.

"Sorry," she murmured, guilt in her tone. "We... We can discuss everything after. For now, you don't have to say anything. Just hold on."

Cade didn't get a chance to respond—not that he would've—before a chilling, odd sensation came to him. It was like when you swallow too much mashed potatoes at once, and it becomes really hard to get it down, and it feels really weird and unpleasant, but not painful. Definitely not one he wanted to experience again, however.

His senses all retreated and turned off, except for a branch, which could feel the ghost of Hallez's hand in his, his arm over her shoulder, and seemed to be tugging him along one direction. He was too weak to refuse.

A dizzying, odd moment later, he was suddenly back, his senses snapping back into place. It nearly shut down again when the light hit his eyes, seemingly burning them.

He flinched, and held up a hand against the flickering glow of torches on the wall. The light still stung his eyes, however, stabbing into his retinas and hurting his brain. Dizziness—a different kind from when he'd gone through that strange thing with Hallez—crept up on him, blurring his vision. He felt himself shutting down with the unexpected sensory overload.

"Hallez. There you are."

An unfamiliar voice called out, and he stiffened in alarm. Who—?

"Fiona. Yes, as you can see, I'm here. Now how do we get out?"

There was then a familiar whirring of propellers, and a moment later, he felt Hallez nod beside him.

"This will be tricky," she said. "And we have to—"

"What about the Ancile?"

He could imagine Hallez's frown. "Right. Fiona, head to the exit and escape into the Transit with Nowad. I'll carry Cade and get the Ancile given the directions—"

"NO. No way. Hallez, I am not going to let you go off alone. And yes, carrying a half-dead rescued hostage counts as alone!"

There was a pause.

Cade wished he could offer his contribution. He couldn't. He didn't have the strength to.

"Sorry, I made a promise. Alright, Nowad, you said you saw it. Lead the way, now." He couldn't even register that Nowad, Nowad, was here, before he was half-dragged, half-helped down the corridor.

Cade supposed it couldn't be helped. It seemed urgent, whatever this Ancile was. He just wished he would be awake to witness what happened next, because he finally, after some struggling, fell unconscious, feeling safe enough to do so, finally.

†††

He woke up a few times, catching and hearing odd snippets.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY 'THAT STUPID BRUNETTE JERK'?"

Whirs and clicks.

"YOU MEAN ARVYN?"

More noises as typical of a tiny drone with an anger issue and an easily offended pride which it claims to not have.

"OH YEAH TOTALLY, HE IS A JERK! ANYWAYS—"

There was a crash behind them.

"Fiona, cover me."

Cade then felt himself slide to the ground, and then the floor beneath him seemed to vibrate. Another crash, further away.

"I know, Nowad. Carrying two people is inconvenient, but do you have any better ideas?"

Before he could hear a response, he faded back into sleep. However, what felt like very soon after, he drifted back again.

"Do you think they gave up trying to chase us down?"

"No. I think Arvyn told them to cease. I... He's doing this intentionally. He's trying to get me on his side. He said..."

A few clicks.

"You're right. We don't have time. Come on, help me blast this toilet off."

"I thought you were joking."

A brief silence.

"You— You're not joking?"

"No. I can't get all of you down there with my reaping phase. We just have to go the physical route. That means—"

"I am NOT going—"

Another pause.

A sigh. "Fine. Alright. Let's...go down the stinking toilet."

Then he drifted away again, and didn't wake up until he actually woke up.

†††

Cade did so quite anticlimactically. In a sewer. Still being carried by Hallez, who, this time around, had a glowing shield. And also, this time around, he was being carried bridal style.

A quiet conversation was going on as he regained consciousness.

"...if you didn't hear when I told you to 'open your eyes', how did you know to open them and attack without risk of petrification?"

"Well...there was going to be a risk of petrification either way. It was either to risk it, or secure my future as a statue, if she managed to kill you. And I had my eyes trained on Travis' shield, so I saw what was going on immediately. So, I jumped in."

Silence, accompanied by the almost-silent sound of propellers.

"Sorry, Nowad," Hallez's voice, clearer to him now, drifted in. "I couldn't find you. The bats were everywhere. I figured you would've already flown off."

A very unexpectedly grumpy silence.

"Again, sorry."

Cade stirred, and Hallez looked down at him as he cracked an eye open. The light in the sewers wasn't eye-piercing, at least. They seemed to be walking at a moderate pace, down a long corridor.

"Good morning," Hallez murmured. She was... drained. More drained than usual, which said quite a lot.

Cade struggled for a moment, before Hal stopped and put him down on his feet, wobbling slightly. She grabbed his arm before he could stumble into the sewer waters, however.

"Did you miss your morning tea?" Cade said, almost instinctively, as an inside joke. He hesitated. "Sorry."

"No, it's fine," Hal insisted. "Humour is much appreciated right now, I think."

"Definitely."

Cade flinched, and whirled around to see a brunette, slightly shorter than him, with curly hair and a furrow between her brows which, even though he just met her, seemed unnatural. He also caught sight of the even weirder sight: the stone statue, uncannily like a real human being, strapped to her back with two jackets and the leather straps of the same shield Cade had been accompanied with while he was captive. Wait, since when were there two—?

Fiona waved, and Cade looked at her, slightly...unsure, of how to respond.

"Hi, you're Cade," the girl said, more as a statement than a question. "I'm Fiona."

"...Nice to meet you," Cade replied, nodding. Strangers. Right. Strangers. He couldn't...completely trust them just yet, even if Hallez seemed to have no problem with her.

"Are you better now?" Hallez asked. "I would ask if you're okay, but that's a stupid question."

He nodded. "I'm fine." He left it at that.

He didn't want to discuss everything just then. He wanted to wait until they had some...privacy. Cade looked at Fiona again. She seemed likable, and unlikely to betray someone. But...frankly, Leo did too. Until he did.

Ugh. Cade knew he was being paranoid. He was never paranoid. How... How did one incident do this to him? He couldn't seem to bring himself to feel the same around new people. He couldn't help but suspect Fiona.

How has he changed so much, in such a short amount of time, with just one small incident?

Why was this happening?

He knew that Hallez could tell something was wrong. Something was off. They'd been around each other for long enough that it would be stranger if she couldn't tell.

CADE!!! YOU SON OF A GUN! YOU STUPID MEANIE LEAVING ME ALL ALONE AND MAKING ME WORRIED!! I DON'T EVEN THINK THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE IN MY CODE! I CAN'T BELIEVE HOW MANY GRAMMAR MISTAKES YOU MADE ME PROJECT!!

Despite his suspicion toward Fiona, he was pretty sure he felt just about the same for Nowad, however.

He looked at it. "Hello, Nowad. It's nice to see you too."

FAVOUR NOT RETURNED!!

"I think the grammar mistakes are of your own making. And I missed you as well."

Sad, crying emoji, under a rain cloud.

You are VERY VERY rude.

"I love you too."

Anyways...

Nowad flew up, and before Cade could avoid it, it landed in his hair, and seemed to settle in there. Cade frowned, and muttered to Nowad to get off his head. It was unresponsive.

He sighed.

Hallez was looking at him strangely. "Cade... Do you not find any of this strange? How much do you know...?"

Cade stared at her. "Uhhh...if it's about how you guys went down a toilet to escape, yeah? But also no? I can't believe I didn't think of the sewage system. But it sounded pretty nasty."

He decidedly did not think about who told him about the sewage system.

"No, I meant—"

Before she could finish that sentence, however, their surroundings suddenly changed, and shifted. Instead of the round, sewer passageways, they were in a brightly lit, white marble corridor (or was it stone...?) lined with countless windows, extending seemingly forever in both directions.

Hallez and Fiona both froze.

Cade looked around, alarm bells ringing in his head.

"I change my mind," Cade decided. "Yes, I find all of this strange. Where the heck are we?"