REALLY QUICK GUYS THIS IS SUPER IMPORTANT AND I WILL LOVE YOU UNTIL THE WOLRD EXPLODES IF YOU DO THIS FOR ME IT WONT EVEN TAKE THREE SECONDS!

IF YOU READ THIS CHAPTER, PLEASE LEAVE A BOOP OR SOME TYPE OF COMMENT IN THE COMMENT SECTION PLEASE IT DOESNT MATTER WHAT IDC AS LONG AS ITS A COMMENT PRETTY PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

OKAY THANK YOU BYE NOW

(Also, if y'all were wanting some more ships being born in this book, I think you'll like this chapter just sayin k bye)

(And also also CAN YOU IMAGINE IF GAINES ACTUALLY WAS REAL HNNGGGGGG LOOK AT THIS PICTURE, I WOULD SO MAKE OUT WITH THIS BOY *coughs* sorry fan girled a little too hard there)

Song: Disclosure by Sam Smith and Omen
~~~~
Jordan's p.o.v.

'If you'd been acting like a father instead of a brute asshole, none of this would've happened!'

Those were the last words I'd said to Tom no more than a week ago. I wish they could have been I love you instead.

Rosie and I have been trapped in the specter dimension for a whole week. Luckily, my old M.E. System is still here, and I have plenty of food and other supplies in it for us to live on. I've been trying to get my portal up and running again, but it's been difficult. It's been so long since I've done any machine work, and I've sort of forgotten some of the principles of it. Rosie's being patient with me. She's actually the one who's keeping me calm. Everyday she shows me visions of Tom, what he's doing in Urulu and how much he's suffering because he thinks we're both dead. Oh yeah forget to mention my daughter has visions now, so that's great. Mots trying to keep him hopeful, but his hope is fading more and more every moment that we're gone. I hope he doesn't do anything stupid. If he can just hold out a little longer, I'm almost done with the portal. I just need to fix the location knob.

"Do you wanna sandwich poppy?" Rosie asked me, tugging on my pant leg to get my attention.

"No thanks. Eat as much as you want though, I don't want you getting hungry." I really am hungry, but I can't eat now. I'm almost finished.

"Poppy you need to eat. You didn't eat yesterday or the other day. Eat a sandwich!" A peanut butter and jelly sandwich was waved in front of my face as I screwed another bolt, and I laughed.

"Alright I will. Thanks Rose." I took the sandwich from her hand and bit into it, savoring the taste. Ugh, I was so hungry.
It wasn't long before a juice box made it's way in front of my vision, and I laughed again. "Thank you sweetie."
And then it was a cookie, then an apple, and then another juice box. I can count on my daughter to keep me healthy I guess.

While I was working, and I know I should've been paying attention, but I could hear Rosie looking through my things. I didn't think anything of it, but then I heard a bubbling noise and I panicked because I knew what it was.
"Rosie don't go near the-"

She was waist deep in my smeltery. But she wasn't screaming in agonizing pain or melting away into the hot bubbly liquid. She was just standing there, playing with the molten gold that was bubbling all around her. "Poppy, what is this stuff? It's pretty." She cupped a handful of it and let it drip through the cracks in her hands, while I stood there with my jaw on the floor. She's immune to burns and temperature? Did Wag create a super baby or something? I know she's a demon, but good god, she's practically a god.

"It's um...it's gold. Try not to get it in your hair, okay? I have a feeling it won't come out." What other advice do you give to your child when she's playing in molten gold? I really need a parenting book...

"Poppy I have to pee again," she announced later on after she left the smeltery. I felt like groaning, but I didn't. She can't help it. She's small and she has a tiny bladder.

"Okay. Go ahead, I'll turn this way." I faced my portal and began wiring up the knob, trying my hardest to ignore the small child peeing into a bucket behind me.

"Done!" She declared after a minute or two, and I nodded.

"Clean your hands, okay?" I wish I could give her a bath or something, but all we have here is some hand sanitizer and that won't work at all. Tom was usually the one who gave her baths anyway...it would be sorta awkward for me to do it. How do you even bath a child? I don't know. I feel bad about that fact. You'd think I'd know after having her for almost three months, but Tom always volunteered to do that kind of stuff. I was too awkward to do it myself. I tried changing her diaper once and I chickened out before I actually did it. Tom always did that stuff. Tom took care of her more than I ever did.

How could I live without Tom?

All of the sudden, the portal powered on and lit up, causing me to jump fifty feet in the air. I didn't even realize I'd fixed the knob. I was too distracted.

"Wow it's pretty!" Rosie giggled, her blue and brown eyes shimmering at the sight.

I smiled and scooped up my backpack, turning the knob to Urulu. "You ready to leave this place Rose?"

"Yeah yeah! Let's go see daddy!" She cheered, taking my hand. I picked her up and sat her on my hip, sucking in a huge breath before stepping in.

Here goes nothing.
~
Toms p.o.v.

"Give me another."

"I don't know about that buddy, ya look pretty out of it. Maybe you should go home, aye?"

"I'm paying you to serve me drinks, not bitch about me. Give me another damn beer."

The bar tender sighed and sat another beer bottle next to my five empty ones. I popped off the cap and drank it straight down. It feels great to absolutely drown myself in alcohol again. At least now I'm not thinking about my husband and my baby girl both being dead. Oops.

"I thought I told not to do anything stupid."

Why can't he just screw off. This is what I want. "Shut up. I do what I want." I downed the last of my beer and waved the tender to get me another. He rolled his eyes and went to the back, probably to get another pack.

"What do you think Sparklez would say if he saw you? What would your kid think of you right now if she saw you like this, huh?"

"They're dead," I mumbled bitterly.

"They aren't dead, you idiot. You have no proof they're dead."

I threw a beer bottle at his head, but he caught it in one hand and crushed it all on his own. Good for him. God I wish he'd die or something.

"Trying to kill me ain't gonna get you anywhere corpse breath. Come back to my house. You shouldn't be here."

"I want to be here," I growled.

"You want to be here? Do you think Sparklez would approve of you being here? I've seen six guys ogling at you all night. You think he'd be okay with that?"

"They aren't doing it because they think I'm hot. They're doing it because they think I'm terrifying."

"Okay then, if you want to stay, stay. I'm done trying to save you from yourself." He stormed off into the crowd, leaving me alone again.

The bar tender leaned over the counter and gave me secretive look. "You know buddy, they aren't lookin' at ya cause they think you're scary. I know some interested guys when I see 'em."

That's stupid. No one thinks I'm hot. Sparklez was the only one. Everyone else sees a diseased drunk guy.

"They aren't interested."

"I'll prove ya wrong then. You see that guy over there? He's been lookin' you all over since ya got here." He pointed towards the main end of the counter. A guy was sitting there and staring at me, turning around blushing immediately when I saw him. He had on the weirdest looking outfit I'd ever seen. Who the hell wears khakis and a sweater vest to a bar?

Wait a second.

"Gaines?" I called out to him. He visibly flinched when I said his name. It is him. It's hard to tell without the thick-ass glasses and the gelled back hair, but it was him. He looked rough too. He had some stubble, his hair was messy, he looked pretty gross overall. It's weird seeing the nerdiest kid you know looking like this: a sort of hot hobo.

"Aye so you know 'em? Good, cause then you can get right to the banging, eh?" The bar tender let out a hearty laugh, and I watched Gaines blush even more. I rolled my eyes at the tender and slapped my money on the counter, standing up and going over to Gaines. I may not know the guy that well, but Sparklez did. He'd want me to check on him.

"Hey Gaines, what're doing here?" And how did you get in? I thought this kid was Andor's age.

"A guy can't go out and have a drink on his own?" He asked this meekly, without looking at me. He's so awkward. No wonder Sparklez liked him.

"I didn't know you drank is all. How old are you anyway?" I sat in the stool beside him. He still didn't look up from his drink.

He sighed and stirred his glass with his straw."Twenty-four."

"Twenty-four? Wow, I thought you were like seventeen or something. You're older than me."

"What? Do I act like a teenager? Am I not mature enough to enjoy my adult life?" He snapped. Though when I flinched back a little, his face went instantly apologetic. "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to be rude. I'm such a mess." He laid his head down on the counter and sighed.

"What's got you down?"

"Just...everything. Though I feel like you wouldn't understand if I told you, seeing that you sort of despise me."

"I don't despise you, whatever that means. Just tell me. I think I might understand."

He sat up and took a big gulp of his drink, before spilling everything. "I've done so much for him. I've done everything for him. I've changed for him. He still doesn't acknowledge me. I feel like a doormat waiting for a home owner to say thank you for taking my dirt." He sniffled and ran a hand through his curly locks. Oh. Well I would've guessed he was stressing over some machine, but no. This is serious stuff.

"So you're in love, huh?"

His blue-green eyes widened into quarters. "No! No, it's...I-I don't..."

"Gaines you're obviously in love with this guy. Don't deny it." I know a love sick nerd when I see one.

He sighed again. "Okay maybe so, but I know he won't ever love me back. He doesn't even care about me. I feel so hopeless. I've tried so many times to get him to at least look at me a different way. I thought maybe my appearance was the problem, so I threw away my glasses and I stopped gelling my hair. It still didn't work. He didn't even spare a second glance at me..."

Wow, this is a serious problem. He's changing his own self for some guy who doesn't even acknowledge him.

"Have you ever thought of just telling him you feel under-appreciated?

"Oh no, I could never...he would think me silly or childish. He's too mature to deal with my problems."

"Well changing yourself for someone else isn't really something you should do anyway. If he doesn't like you for who you are, then find someone else."

"I can't find someone else!" He exclaimed. "I love him, I can't just turn that off!"

"Chill out! Why do you even like this guy anyway?"

"Because he...he was there for me. When no one else cared to help me, he took care of me. I didn't mean to fall in love with him...I'm so stupid. I've ruined everything." He put his face in his hands.

That's so heart crushingly adorable. That sounds just the whole situation with Mot, when he fell in love with Dianite because he took him in and cared for him.

Wait. Oh my god. Oh. My. God.

"You're in love with Mianite."

He said nothing, but I watched him blush even harder. Oh my god he is! He is in love with Mianite!

"Gaines you're in love with-?!"

"Shush! He's still a god, he might hear you...somehow."

"Why?! Why are you in love with him?!" How could anyone be in love with that pasty evil abomination?! Especially a cheeky little innocent nerd like Gaines?

"I just told you why! He took care of me when everyone else didn't give a damn about me! Oh I cursed, I'm sorry..."

"But he's an evil pasty mastermind! He killed my daughter! He tricked us all into thinking he was good! He's like twelve million years old! Why?!"

"He used to have a heart you know! He used to be caring and forgiving and sweet...he used to care about me." He sniffled again, a few tears trickling down his cheeks. Aw shit. This really is a sucky situation. He's in love with a stone cold tin can basically.

"I'm sure he still does care about you. He just doesn't show it as much."

"Doubtful..." Gaines sighed. He downed the rest of his drink and wiped away a few tears. "Nowadays I have to scream at him to get him to notice me. He's so worked up over the world falling apart and he tells me he has no time to talk to me. He really does feel bad for killing your daughter. He refused to leave his chambers for weeks after...he didn't know she meant so much to the both of you."

"If he cared, he would've said sorry." I know that bastard and I know he doesn't feel the least bit sorry for what he did.

"He tried, through little things though...he donated some blood to Waglington for your other child, though we could only give so much before getting sickly and weak."

What? Did I hear that right? "He...he donated blood? For Rosie?"

"Yes. We didn't come face to face and give it to Waglington, but we did leave it on his doorstep everyday with a note that it was from us. He felt very guilty for what he did, ashamed even. He was very fond of you and Jordan. He didn't want you both to despise him."

"Well...why didn't he come face to face and tell me he was sorry for murdering our kid?"

"Because you hated him, and you would've tried to kill him, would you not have?"

I frowned guiltily. "Yeah..."

"Then there you go. He isn't evil...he's just...distant. Can you imagine being hated by everyone you're trying to protect? It's torture to watch, so it must be torture to go through..." He attempted to wave down the bartender, but the guy didn't see him because he was waving in the wrong direction. Wow. He's blind as a bat.

"You don't have contact lenses, do you?"

"I-I do! They're just...I don't like them."

"I can't believe you threw away your glasses to impress a guy," I snorted. I waved down the tender and nodded towards Gaines empty glass, and he nodded and went to grab whatever Gaines had been drinking.

"It was sort of a melt down moment I was having. I woke up and I looked into my mirror, and I hated myself, so I completely threw away almost everything that I owned. Except for this one sweater vest...I bought a bunch of muscle shirts and I hate them. I wish I still had my Galaxy Wars T-shirt...I hate my awful life."

Galaxy wars. Sparklez has a Galaxy Wars T-shirt. I remember because I always teased him about how nerdy it was. He doesn't wear it anymore though, he said it was too tight on him. Maybe I could bring it to Gaines one day.

Ugh. Sparklez. I miss you.

I awkwardly patted him on the back and pushed the new drink towards him. "Well...things could be worse, you know."

"Telling me that other people have it harder than me does not help the way I feel. I want to wallow in my own pity. Just let me do that."

Alright, I'm gonna take a different approach to this. Obviously the gentle advice way isn't gonna work.

"You know what? Okay, let me tell you something. Gaines, you're fine, like damn you're fine as hell. If Mianite can't see that, then he's gone blind. And I'm not gonna lie to you, without glasses and gel, you look way sexy. You really rock the whole messy curly hair look. I bet you could get any guy in this bar if you wanted to, you do realize that right?"

He blushed furiously, but the sadness in his eyes didn't fade. "The only guy I really want, I can't have. But thank you anyway Syndicate. I appreciate that someone thinks I'm attractive. I think I should get going...I have some things I have to work on." He downed the last of his drink and slid off of his stool, beginning to walk off towards the crowd.

"Wait Gaines!" I called, jumping off my stool and jogging after him.

He turned back around and gave me a confused look. "Yes?"

"I was gonna ask, and you may know nothing about this but...is there any chance you might know where Sparklez is?"

I watched his eyebrows furrow up in confusion. "What do you mean? He's here, isn't he? He used one of my portals located on the outside of town about ten minutes ago. My watch said so." He raised up his black screen watch, which read in bright letters PORTAL 67: USED 9 MINUTES AGO BY Jordan M.

He's alive. Oh my god he's alive. "Take me to the portal!" I begged Gaines. "Please!"

"Oh um, okay. Follow me, it's not that long a walk from here."
~
I shoved past three more people, trying my hardest to elbow my way through the crowd. I lost Gaines. We got in the middle of a crowd and I lost him in the massive sea of people. Now how am I gonna find Sparklez?! I sort of knew where I was, but I didn't know here the portal was! A man growled angrily as I shoved him as hard as I could to get by. A woman shouted at me in some other language when I elbowed her in the jaw, though I knew by her facial expression that she was pretty pissed.

I finally escaped into a small clearing where I could breathe again. Though it wasn't a clearing, it was an alleyway. Oh god. I hate alleys. I have nightmares about this kinda stuff. Though I guess I don't really have a choice at this point whether I want to stay in it or not.

I leaned against the wall of the place and sunk down onto the sandstone, trying to gather my thoughts. I can't call Gaines, I don't have his number. And I'm sure as hell not going back in that crowd of people. I hate this place. The people are stingy and rude, the sand gets in every nook and cranny in your body, it's so unbearably hot even at night. Ugh.

Footsteps disrupted me from my dozing off. Oh crap, if it's a bunch of thieves or something, I'm screwed. I can't look scared though, I have to look tough so I can maybe scare them off. I stood up from my resting place and stepped towards the dark figure on the other end of the alleyway. The figure took a step back, his stance remaining tall and threatening. He's scared too. Maybe I can run him off.

"You wanna fight me, mate?" I growled, taking another step forward. My accent sounds way thick and gruff, so that just makes the situation even better. The figure froze in place. What's up with this guy? He comes prowling around with a cocky attitude and then he chickens out?

"Tom?" The guy whispered.

I gasped when I recognized the voice. "JORDAN!" I attacked him and squeezed the life out of him. It was so dark and I couldn't even see him, but I knew it was him. "Oh my god...you're okay. I'm so sorry. We didn't mean to leave you behind, we-"

"I know, it's okay. I already know everything." It felt so good to hear him laugh, to feel his soft skin, to know he was in my arms again.

"Wait, where's Rosie?! Is she-"

"She's okay too. She's with Matt. I found them before I found you. I just wanted to be alone when I found you." He was hugging me just as tightly, maybe even tighter. God I love him so much.

I don't know how long we stood like that. It felt like eternity to me.

"I had a dream about this once..." He whispered, his head resting on my chest with his eyes closed.

"How did it end?"

"Not well. But it was a dream. I know now that I can beat up a couple of thugs. I can protect myself."

I smiled and cuddled into him closer. "I bet Matt was happy to see you, huh?"

"Are you kidding? He was crying tears of joy. Rosie means so much to him. I can't imagine how he was when he thought she was dead."

I rolled my eyes. If only he knew how much Matt cried in the last week. At one point, I thought Mot was gonna kill the guy. I actually went out and rented out a room in the inn we stayed in a long time ago, just so I could get away from Matts emotional breakdowns. It's hard to sleep at night when all you hear are cries of agony upstairs above you. But I guess I also kinda wanted to go to that inn room because it was the same one Sparklez, Lola, Tiff, and I stayed at when we first came to Urulu.

"You have no idea how suckish this week has been."

He chuckled against my shoulder. "Well I wasn't gonna say anything, but you reek of alcohol and sadness. Did you try to drown your feelings away with beer again?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't matter now. You're here. Wait a second, where did you go in the first place? Matt said he couldn't feel you or Rosie in the world anymore."

"It's a long story. Let's just get into a room with a bed and a lock on the door, then I'll explain after we've made up for lost time." I felt hands tug me towards the streets of Urulu, and I stumbled to keep up with the as they dragged me out into the open. The light reached us, and we could both finally see each other. Seeing his face was like a picture out of a dream. His hair was scraggly and he had stubble on his cheeks, but he looked absolute perfect to me. I didn't care if there were a thousand people surrounding us, I didn't care that we both looked like utter shit, and I didn't care about the rest of the world.

All I cared about in that moment was closing the space between us.
~~~~

Lee wat r u doing it's like 7 in the morning on a Tuesday y r u posting

BECAUSE I GOT OFF OF SCHOOL TODAY FOR SOME REASON IDK Y BUT I WANTED TO UPDATE SO HERE YA GO GUYS

Also, I think I'm gonna post twice today, that okay? Alright bye, I have more Phan things to watch :3
Leave a favorite or a comment if you enjoyed! Or both if you want to make my day extra special :D

Thanks!

- Lee
WAIT WAIT I FORGOT TO ASK: So...did ya like the whole Gaines x Mianite thing? TELL ME, I MUST KNOW

K THANKS BYE