Tj's p.o.v.

I knew what had happened. I understood how the process worked, as it had been explained to me a hundred times over. There was a bubble, essentially, and we were safe inside the bubble. We wouldn't die inside the bubble and we wouldn't be maimed inside the bubble, not while the gods were spawning us back. The information, though, seemed to slip my mind as my brother began to bleed from his mouth and nose. He died suffocating on his own blood. He died in my arms and there was nothing I could do to save him.

"Tj?" Someone tried to pry me from the ground, but I pushed them away.

"Doll face, it wasn't real. Your brothers safe, probably spawned back already. 'Member what boss told us? They don't die forever, just a little while."

I sniffled and turned to see Derek and Nicky sitting beside me, wearing concerned looks on their faces. Derek had a wooden pipe trapped to his back. He'd been the one to shoot the dart. He killed my brother.

"He's...he's okay?" I asked. My voice sounded worse for wear.

"He's fine," Nicky told me. "Completely fine. You'll see him in two hours at home, probably sooner than that."

I looked to Derek. "What kind of darts were those?"

He pulled one from his pocket to show me. "Homemade blood clottin' darts. Poisons you and does a hell of a number on your blood. Want some more?" He held them out for me, and I flinched away.

"No. No, I don't want to do this. This is horrible. Do I have to do this?" I didn't want to see my siblings and best friends die horrible deaths and I didn't what to cause anyone's horrible death. I just wanted to go home.

"You won't have to do anything else," Nicky assured me calmly. "We'll take over from here. Look, you can ride with me on the back of the horse the whole time." He pointed at the two beautiful horses beside us that I'd failed to notice in my clouded state of mind.

"We got Timera just for you, princess," Derek said with a wink. He held out a leather gloved hand for me. I took it after a moment, and squeaked when I felt Nicky helping me up at the same time, but he was hoisting me up by my shoulders. For three seconds I felt weightless euphoria, and then I was on the ground again, back into the harsh purge-reality.

"Wait, I thought he was riding Valor with me?" Nicky asked, in a tone that sounded slightly irritated.

Derek chuckled under his breath. "He can ride whatever he wants, it's his ass."

I watched in complete confusion as Nicky gave him a dirty look, one I hadn't seen him use before. "It's not gentleman-like curse in front of somebody."

A scoff was heard from Derek. "Sorry. Didn't know this was a Christian fuckin' server."

They were having a stare down now. I'd never seen Nicky get so riled up before, and Derek's cheeks were the color of plums. What happened to being friends? The last time I checked, we were all getting along fine...what happened in a span of five minutes?

"Uh, guys?" I tried to get their attention. "I-I can switch horses in an hour, to make things fair. It's not a big deal."

Still, they kept glaring at each other. It was making me kind of upset. "Can we go?" I said impatiently.

"Yeah. Lets go." Nicky broke the stare down first, by turning to me and grabbing my hand. Once everything calmed down and I mounted Valor with Nicky, they started off towards the horizon.

It was nice to hold onto Nicky for such a long time. He was warm. He felt like home, where it was safe.

"Having fun?" I heard him chuckled under his breath. I nodded and held tighter.

If I hadn't opened my eyes for half a second, I wouldn't have seen the disappointed look on Derek's face as he looked over. But as soon as our eyes met, he looked the other way and focused on something else. I furrowed my eyebrows, looking to Nicky for an answer. "Is something going on between you and Derek?"

"What makes you say that?" He mused in a calm manner, but I could feel his sides tightening with stress.

"He's acting different. You are too. Did you say something to him?"

The straight line his lips formed remained tight. "We had a mild disagreement."

"What about?"

"It's complicated."

"Oh. Okay."

I felt him heave a heavy sigh. "I'll explain it once it's resolved. Sorry Teej."

"No, it's fine. I just want you guys to be friends again."

He smiled. The setting sun casted it's rays down on him, making his wavy hair shiny and perfect. Even his teeth seemed to sparkle as he grinned at me. "You do?"

"Yeah, you're my best friends. I want you both to be best friends too."

The hard look on his face softened. "We'll work it out. Don't w-"

"DUCK!"

Nicky did the command immediately, while it took me at least three seconds to realize Derek was the one who had screamed to duck, and that I should've taken his advice. Three seconds too late.

The butt of an axe went right into the middle of my forehead, and the force was strong enough to throw me off the horse and into the sand. The beating of hooves began to fade. I heard Nicky call out for me. My head felt funny, like it was being crushed in by two hands. The throbbing pain made my vision blurry and my thoughts a mess. Where am I? What happened?

Swords were clashing in the background. More heavy thuds against the ground. Was it another horse?

"Tj! Hey, you alright?" I was lifted off the itchy sand and into cool, thick arms. They held me by my hips and wow, did they feel nice compared to the headache I had. Breathing a sigh of relief, I let my head rest on his shoulder.

"Nicky, I feel dizzy."

"I ain't Nicks, doll face. Your head feel okay? You took a pretty nasty blow."

Oh god, I was hugging Derek. I pulled away quickly and attempted to apologize, but my words were slurring all the sudden. What if I have a concussion? I whined at the thought and went back to leaning on Derek. He chuckled and rubbed my tense back soothingly with his skillful fingers. "Just take a breather, no use in hurryin'. Nicks bout to finish her off."

Her?

"Who?" I mumbled.

"Dunno. Kinda looks like you a bit. She your sis?" He pointed at the two fighting figures in the distance. The double braided hairstyle was definitely hers. It must be Katie.

"I don't wanna watch..." I buried my face back into his black t-shirt and stayed there. He was still kinda holding my hips in a really intimate fashion. I wasn't sure how I felt about it.

"You don't like this purgin', do you?"

I shook my head, which made it throb painfully. Derek must've saw me flinch, because he raised his fingers up to my head and rubbed a center point that made the throbbing stop. An exhausted huff passed my lips. "Not at all."

He huffed too. "That ain't right. Makin' somebody do this, watch this traumatic shit when they don't wanna."

"I don't really have a choice."

"You should."

"But I don't."

His eyes went defiant. "You will soon."

What did that mean?

I didn't have time to think on it. The two figures in the distance were no longer fighting, one of them were laying still on the ground while the other...

My twin sister came barreling down the beach at the speed of light. She had pristine silver sword in hand, a sharp one. I squeaked. "Derek."

He turned his head in the direction I was looking, widened his eyes in surprise, and pulled me behind him. "Take the horse and get outta here, I got her."

I wasted no time in following his directions, running towards Valor and clumsily climbing on top of her as she neighed stressfully. An arrow flew by my head during a fumble with the saddle, and Valor started going wild. She bucked me off into the sand and took off without me. Great.

Derek was fighting Kate now. For someone who only just joined the island, he seemed very experienced in fighting somebody with a sharp weapon. Axe went against sword for ages. I wasn't sure what to do. Flee on Timera or stay and help fight. But what would I use to fight if I chose that?

The darts felt heavy in my pockets. Just one would take care of the problem.

Then the memory of Charlie choking on his own blood came to me, and I abandoned the idea all together. Nobody should die like that. Even if it's only for a few seconds.

Kate was winning. Derek was slowly digressing. I was willing to bet in five minutes, the same thing that happened to Nicky would happen to him.

He helped me. I can't just leave him like this.

Kate had dropped her bow long ago. It laid a few feet away from their battling and going near it would risk the chance of getting caught in the cross fire. But I had to risk it. He needed me.

I made a mad dash for it. After diving forward and ducking down just in time to avoid my head getting chopped off, I snatched it up for the ground. Unfortunately, it hadn't been that easy. I hissed as the white pristine metal scorched my hands so badly, I had to drop it.

A voice began to speak in my head.

Wait until she is dead. The weapon is bound to her until her death.

Uncle Dia?

Yes. You're doing well so far. I understand your hesitance in using the darts Derek gifted you, but you must figure out another way to advance on your sister. Derek is only seconds away from death. Be quick and smart, Tj.

Quick and smart. Is it even possible for me?

Okay. Think. Maybe if I put the dart in her foot? Would she still do the same thing Charlie did?

I opened the pocket Derek had stashed them in and pulled a few out. While Kate was advancing quickly on Derek, I rushed behind her and shoved the backs of the darts into the ground. Derek and I met eyes. He knew what to do.

I watched in anxious dread as he pushed Kate back as hard as he could. Her shoe sunk down on the first dart and she screamed, but it was cut short with a quick flick of Derek's wrist.

She fell to the ground, still and lifeless, her black braids framing her pale cheeks beautifully. The blood that trickled down her neck made her look as if she were wearing a dark red necklace. It took so much of me to resist going over to her, doing anything I could to save my twin, my sister.

Her body disappeared. Derek helped me up. "You okay doll?"

"I'm fine." I was not fine.

"You don't gotta lie. I know how it is."

I nodded, still staring vacantly at the spot where she had laid. Did she hate me now? Did Charlie hate me now?

"You wanna go find Nicks?" He had a protective hand on my hip.

"Yes please." In all my anxiety inducing drama, I realized Kate had rested her arm on the bow before she left. It must've spawned back with her. I sighed in disappointment.

"Hey, don't worry about it," Derek said smoothly, and with a charming smile. "We'll getchu a bow, it'll happen. Now put a smile on that pretty face for ol' Derek."

I smiled. Derek was nice.

.:.

"Taxi!" Nicky called from the distance, a giddy grin on his face as he bounded towards us. He spawned maybe a mile from where he died, thankfully. We had long since left the beach and we were now treading along the forest.

Nicky hopped on Valor with me and wrapped his warm arms around my waist. I could feel butterflies tingling my chest as I addressed him. "Where to?" I said in a funny accent, slightly stuttering as I did so.

"Wherever you're going," he said wistfully. More butterflies. My eye caught Derek staring in my general direction, and it made me feel guilty for some reason.

"Hey uh, Derek?"

He pulled out of his haze to answer me. "Ye?"

"Can I ride with you? Um, the saddle on this horse hurts me." It wasn't really a lie but it wasn't really the complete truth either. "And I think Nicky's better at controlling Valor than me."

Derek nodded happily. "Sure. Anything you need, doll face. Hop on."

Maybe it was insensitive, picking Derek to ride with instead of Nicky, but Derek needed some reassurance that I was his friend too. Nicky would understand. I tried to avoid looking in his direction as we rode, but it was hard when he was practically staring us down.

The sun had long since went down. It wasn't as unbearably hot anymore, and the night air was cool against my face as I held onto the sides of Derek's black leather jacket. The moon was so much more beautiful up close. I'd never seen it outside a window before. Not since I was 5. The stars were so bright, I could hardly take my eyes off of the sky.

I almost forgot about the monsters that lived in the night.

An explosion. I was thrown off, along with Derek, right onto my head again. I heard Nicky yell in surprise, along with the heavy thudding of horse hooves trudging around us. I heard a noise I hadn't heard in ten years, and nearly choked on my own tongue upon hearing it.

Hssssssssss...

I cracked open an eye to see the green demon crawling towards an unconscious Derek, who was a little further away than me, next to the fallen horse who was whining pitifully. My leg hurt. As the green monster from hell kept coming closer towards Derek, I crawled on my elbows to try and get to my fallen sword a few feet away. Where was Nicky?

The hissing stopped. I looked around to see the green devil had fallen to the ground dead, an arrow lodged in its ugly green head. Derek was unharmed. I sighed in relief, letting my head fall against the ground again. There was no doubt in my mind that I had a concussion.

"Unlike our other siblings, I don't intend to kill my own brother." Someone helped me to my feet, somebody with cool hands and a sturdy build. Slowly, I wrenched open one eye to be met with grey ones staring blankly into mine.

"Y-You...saved me?"

"For now. I'd like something in return for it, if it doesn't inconvenience you. Do you have an extra sword per chance?"

I pointed at the one scattered a few feet away, unused and untouched. When Eli said nothing, I realized my mistake. "Sorry, um, there's one five feet away from us. W-Where's Nicky?"

"He attacked Kandy, needless to say. He'll be spawning nearby in a few minutes. Derek seems unconscious. Would you like a healing potion in exchange for one of those fancy darts everyone is using?"

Fancy darts. Murder darts was a term I would've used instead. "It'll...help Derek?"

"Tremendously. I promise I won't use the dart on you or your team members. We want to save it for someone special."

"Who?"

He pursed his lips unpleasantly. "Charlie has a crush on Kandy. He deals with it by trying to kill her every five seconds. We heard the dart you used stopped him from tailing you completely."

Hurting Charlie like that again? "It's a really violent weapon."

"And Derek seems to be in a lot of pain."

I sighed. "Fine. Deal."

We traded. As I handed over the dart in exchange for the potion, I eyed the bow and arrows strapped snug on his back.

"Um, I know you're probably using it, but is there any chance I could have-"

"The bow?" He finished.

"Yeah?"

He pulled it off his shoulders, along with he arrow bag, and put it on mine instead. I gapped open mouthed at him for the longest time. He must've assumed I'd been shocked, because he chuckled. "I'm no good at it. But you know how Pop is. He wanted an Ianitee to have it."

"Oh." It was Poppy's bow. His best one, the one he used to kill Botan Kikoku. I gazed down at the thing, particularly at the initials carved on the handle where the fingers were supposed to go. CS and TS, along with all of our initials too. Pop had carved them in long ago, for encouragements I guessed. I'd just never seen the bow leave our family basement, and so it shocked me a little to see it out in the open. "M-Maybe you should keep it-"

He halted my actions. "No, you are going to keep it."

"But Pop gave it to you specifically?" He wanted an Ianitee to have it. And I wasn't worthy of such a bow anyway, I wasn't even sure I could still shoot.

"He would've given it to anyone who asked. I guess he just assumed I wanted the thing." He angled his head to the side slightly, obviously hearing something that I couldn't. "Did you say that sword was five feet to the left?"

"Y-Yeah, near Derek. Is someone coming?" I looked over his shoulder, but saw nothing but widely stretched open fields of grass and flowers. Nothing threatening.

"Charlie again," he sighed in a bored tone. "But Kandy's hiding and I can hear him coming a mile away, so we've got him. If you give that horse some of that potion, I'm sure it'll be back to normal." He swooped up the untouched sword from the ground, and for a moment I panicked, thinking it was going to burn him like Katie's bow did me, but it didn't. I guess if you had the owners permission to take it, nothing happened.

My attention went back to unconscious Derek and the poor horse that was whining in pain. I hurried over to them both, slipping half of the contents of the potion in Derek's mouth and then into the horse's. They seemed to pep up right away. Derek started stirring immediately and Timera stood up on her feet again. I could hear Eli walking off already, without a good-bye.

"Um, Eli?" I called to his retreating back.

"Yeah?" He answered as he halted again.

"We'll see each other at dinner, right?" I just needed some reassurance that my family wasn't going to be torn apart as soon as this thing was over.

"Of course," he replied immediately. "Pop's making meatloaf. I'll see you there Tj."

"See you," I called wistfully. He retreated off towards where I assumed Charlie was coming from, with the new sword strapped over his back.

I didn't understand why he had given me the bow. When he'd shot that creeper, he'd gotten the target right on point flawlessly. Maybe he just pitied me because I sucked at everything else besides the bow.

Derek was waking and he was in a lot of pain, if the groaning sounds were anything to go by. I hurried to his side and pushed the bottle to his lips again, before tipping it backwards. His eyes were open in an instant. "Holy shit, that's good."

I laughed, relieved. "It should be. My brother made it."

"Think he could make some more of those for me? Y'know, for recreational reasons?" He reached for my bottle but I held it away, sure that another sip would probably be unhealthy for him.

"Can't get addicted to drugs now, I need you focused." I took both his hands and pulled, while he lazily attempted to sit up. For a moment we sat in pitch darkness and simply stared at each other. I'm not sure what he was looking at, but I was having a nice time observing his intricate features I hadn't gotten the chance of noticing. He had freckles. They weren't very noticeable. Actually, they looked as if somebody had attempted to cover them with makeup, but it had smeared off. They were so pretty on him. They must've been his mother's, because Nade didn't have any blemishes on his face.

"You look real beat up, doll. Get yourself a drink of that too." He took the bottle from my hand and lifted it up to my own lips, where I took a small sip. His hand was holding my hip again.

"You look pretty with freckles," I told him.

His eyes widened. "Oh. Uh, thanks."

"You should stop covering them." I wanted to see them more.

"Well...I dunno." His cheeks were turning scarlet, and it added beautiful definition to the rest of the freckles. "We should probably be headin' out, Nicks is gonna be wonderin' where we are."

I gave a nod in agreement. We walked over to Timera, where Derek helped me on and then got on himself, but on the back. I looked at him, confused. He just smiled.

"You can do it, princess. I gotchu if you fall again."

And so with new confidence, I slipped my hands onto the saddle knot and nudged my heel into Timera's side. She took off like lightning, effectively frying my nerves, but Derek had a plan.

He slipped those hands back around my waist, allowing them to rest perfectly on my hips. It relaxed me.

I could get used to this.

.:.

When I was very young, I started developing a knack for building traps. I blame the obsession on my dad. Dad loved to hunt in the mountains, and the few times he made me go with him, he taught me how to make traps. It did all the work for you, he said. I didn't believe that for a second. Dad was naturally, in Uncle Tucker's own words, a chaotic bastard. He liked to trap things. He liked to cause as much mischief as possible when doing any task because it was entertaining to him. Maybe he livened down when we came into the picture, but I still happened to witness some of his best pranks while I was younger. One time he strung up Mot by his ankles and let him dangle from a tree for hours. He'd used a tripwire hook and a little rope. That was see all. I'd watched him build it from the window of our house and I had always wanted to build something similar to it.

And now I was. We were dead last in kills. It wasn't looking good. We needed more points to even us out with the others. Nicky promised he and Derek would do all the killing if I could just get someone to hold still long enough. I had a few ideas on how to achieve that.

"How many of these things are you makin', doll?"

"Thirty-two," I answered.

"We have a lot of rope," Nicky explained.

Derek frowned, kicking the contraption with his foot, "You think these are gonna work? They're kinda janky looking."

"They'll work," I assured him. Nicky shooed him away from my work area.

"You could try it, if you doubt him that much," he offered.

"Try it?" Derek screeched. "I'm not sticking my tail anywhere near that thing!"

"You clearly don't think it's going to work," Nicky countered, grinning. "Try it. Are you scared of a little rope?"

"I'm not scared of jack shit, ginger snaps."

"Then do it."

Were they being serious? "I really wouldn't recommend that you-"

"Fine!" Derek stepped on the tripwire. He was hanging by his ankles and screaming just moments later. Nicky shushed him, looking around to see if anyone had heard, but Derek still shouted obscenities at the top of his lungs.

"GET ME THE HELL DOWN! I CANT FUCKIN' BREATHE!"

"Shut up!" Nicky hissed, swatting at him. "You'll draw people to us!"

I could hear footsteps coming from the trees. I tried shushing him, but it was to no avail. "Derek, please-"

"SHIIIT! IT BROKE MY ANKLE, IT BROKE MY JERKIN' ANKLE!"

An arrow soared past my head. It sunk into Derek, who began to scream even louder at the pain. I reached for my dagger to cut him down, but Nicky pulled me behind a tree before I could. I tried to protest, hearing Derek's frightened shouts, but Nicky dismissed it with a wave of his hand. "He's being dramatic. He'll spawn back, but we need to make sure they don't get anymore kills."

"Fuck you, Nicks! Don't you fuckin' leave me here-"

"I'm cutting him down."

"If you go out in the open, you'll be shot."

"You egged him on. He wouldn't have done it if you hadn't insisted. We're supposed to be a team, Nicky, why would you-"

I heard the sound of arrows connecting with tree wood. Derek let out a hoarse yelp. "Ah, god!"

I moved out from behind the tree. Kate was a short distance away, stringing up another arrow as Charlie began to rush the scene. He had a glowing dagger in his hand. He had an enchanted dagger. Gods only knew what it was enchanted with. Whatever it was, it was surely meant to make death that much more painful.

"Tj-"

I strung the bow up as Charlie tried to close the distance. The arrow went through his eye and out the other side. Kate and I met eyes as he fell. She hastily tried to string her arrow up first, but I was quicker somehow. She turned, maybe realizing she wouldn't make the draw, and I let go. The arrow went in her back. She was gone just as soon as she had appeared. Derek burst out in a fit of cackles, still hanging from the oak tree.

"Holy cow, doll! You just destroyed those bozos!"

"Are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Naw! This is nothin'. Man, I ain't never seen someone shoot that good. No wonders they didn't want you gettin' a bow."

"I can't believe I did that."

"Mind doing it again?" Nicky asked nervously, pointing at a deeper part of the woods. Eli and Kandy were advancing on us. I readied my bow again, drawing in a breath.

.:.

I don't know how it happened, but I was suddenly at the top of the leaderboard. After the initial dart kill and the four kills with the bow, I scored 5 additional kills because Charlie kept coming after me alone. We were able to map out everyone's team dynamics because they were all awful. Kandy was too rash, she didn't listen to Eli. Charlie was letting anger control him. Kate had little say over what he did. She would try to follow Charlie when he came after me, but she always ended up getting caught alone.

Everyone wanted to kill us. They weren't even trying to attack each other anymore, they were only coming after us. It was getting so out of hand that the gods had created a new challenge to even things out.

"At exactly midnight, a flag is going to be placed at the top of that hill. First side to get ahold of it gets an added bonus to their scores. The points will be enough to knock us out of first place, so we kinda have to go after this thing. Any ideas on what we can do?"

Nicky looked to us. We looked to Nicky. None of us had any idea we'd come close to winning this thing. The points we'd gotten so far weren't even intentionally earned. They had been made in complete defense. We didn't have a plan and we never had, but it was apparently working.

"I dunno, Nicks," Derek shrugged. "We could just opt outta this one. We don't gotta win, do we?"

"A lot is riding on who wins this," I butted in quickly. "Dianite warned me of it."

Nicky nodded in agreement, still working at the tree limbs to create a fire. "He told me that too. We should try our best. It couldn't be too hard to get that flag, I'm sure. We have horses and no one else does, we could just rush the thing and get it easy. Right?" He looked to us again, and again neither of us had an answer for him. We were so inexperienced, it was pure luck that we'd even made it this far. It was pure luck I hadn't suffered a fatal blow yet. My stomach churned in dread at the thought of the first time I would be killed. Or maybe I was just hungry.

"You got a mean stomach there, doll face," Derek snickered. "You want some food to calm it down with?" He pulled out a small paper sack from his backpack and sat it near the barren campfire.

I hadn't eaten since five in the morning, which might as well have been counted as yesterday. I accepted his offer and reached into the bag, only to pull out a smiling gingerbread man. I sent Derek a curious look as I lifted it up. He made a grin similar to a shy puppy's. "I bake. What, you don't?"

Nicky snorted. "Tj has a strict diet of dead fish and ramen. And he has to make it himself, or he won't eat it all."

"I-I'm not as bad as I was before," I defended quickly. "Last week I ate soup that Nicky made."

"I had to force feed you," Nicky corrected me. "You utterly refused until I promised you I sanitized everything your mouth touched."

I expected Derek to be shocked and weirded out, but he simply just gave a grunt of understanding and pulled one of his own gingerbread men out of the bag. "I'm clean when I cook, wear gloves and everything. Ma used to have that same problem as you. She's real picky about cleanin' and stuff."

"So...you didn't actually touch any of these?" They looked delicious and I was starving, but that nagging feeling in my throat was preventing me from taking a bit out of the ginger man.

"Nope," he replied immediately. "Unless you count me wearin' gloves. Try one, I think they taste alright. Hey, this one kinda looks like Nicks ovah there." He held up the cookie man that looked shockingly similar to Nicky, and then promptly bit off its head in one large bite. There was another intense stare down between the two boys as Derek chewed off the rest of the cookies limbs, until nothing remained and he was licking the crumbs from his lips. Nicky's own lips were curled into an ugly frown. Derek's eyes were solid black again. What is happening between these two? Telling them to stop hadn't worked, and telling them they were being childish hadn't worked either. Maybe a little humor would do them good.

"Is Nicky is tasty to you?"

That broke them out of it. Nicky burst out into a fit of giggles and Derek wore a look of horror as he turned to stare at me. "Well, I-I didn't...I didn't exactly mean to say that-"

"But you implied it?" I dragged on innocently, withholding my own smile as Nicky doubled over in laughter.

"I didn't mean he was tasty-"

"But you really enjoyed the gingerbread that looked like him, right? So he was tasty? Gingers are tasty to you?" I wiggled my eyebrows. Derek finally let a stream of repressed laughter spill from his lips.

"Alright, I get your lil' joke," Derek said with a grin. "Now you gotta take a bite from the tasty ginger, or else Nicks might get offended."

"Yeah, taste me Tj," Nicky giggled. "Take me down your throat. Lip the cinnamon off your lips after you're done."

"Stop it!" I whined childishly. "You two are awful."

"Maybe next time you can take me in that pretty mouth of yours, doll. I'll make some Derek cookies for ya." Derek made a perverted gesture with his tongue and I hit him in the arm for it.

"If you say another one, my fist is going somewhere you won't like." I shook my fist in a threatening manner, but the two boys only rolled their eyes. I could see gears turning in Derek's head as he thought of another perverted thing to say.

"What if I made dick cookies, would you eat those? Or do you prefer vagina cookies?"

Maybe I wasn't supposed to answer after the laughing fest we had with that one, but I accidentally let something slip. "Dick cookies seem more appealing, to be honest."

All laughter ceased. As if I had just told a joke about a dying person or something. Both of them stared at me like I'd just announced I was going to run naked in a field of flowers.

"You gay?" Derek asked, eyebrows raised.

"No!" I protested immediately. "No no no, I didn't mean- I was just talking about cookies!"

Derek seemed convinced at that, but Nicky was still squinting. "But you said you preferred-"

"I didn't mean it like that!"

"Doll face, you ain't gotta be ashamed if you are-"

"I'm not like that," I snapped. "I'm not gay. I'm not like that."

They closed their mouths immediately after that, and I knew right then I'd said the wrong thing.

"I...I didn't-...I'm sorry. I should stop talking." I shoved the gingerbread man into my mouth before I further embarrassed myself.

"I'm gay," Derek blurted out.

Well. That was unexpected. As I tried to comprehend what just happened, Nicky let out a sigh and slumped his shoulders. "I'm bisexual."

And then they both looked at me. Me, with both cheeks stuffed full of gingerbread, still trying to figure out what was happening and why. Nicky was bisexual? Derek was gay? Why did they just admit that now? And why were they looking at me like that?

"So what are you, Tj?" Nicky asked me.

"Me?" I didn't know! I'd never dated before, how was I supposed to know? "I've never...had a girlfriend or a boyfriend before."

"Neither have I," Nicky assured me. "Just had some experiments in college. Parties and all that."

I was confused. "What experiments?"

His gaze lowered as he smiled sheepishly. "You know, intimate things with different people."

I gaped at him. "You aren't a virgin?"

He shook his head. "Lost it both ways."

Both? There are two ways to lose it?!

"Lost mine a year ago," Derek admitted confidently. "Boy on the east side took it. Don't even remember his name. Ain't that sad?"

Both of them were experienced. And I was the virgin. I felt so out of place, like a prickly cactus among beautifully bloomed adult flowers.

"You a virgin, doll face?" Derek smiled at me. I didn't smile back.

"I'm saving myself for someone special. Is that so bad?" I wrapped my jacket closer around my cold shoulders and crossed my legs. It wasn't their business if I wanted to keep my virginity. It was better than throwing it away to some stranger or to a random experimental fling.

"Nothing wrong with savin' yourself. Wish I had done that." Derek's expression went bitter as he dug around in the paper bag for another treat. "The jerk didn't even help me clean up afterwards."

"My experiments were similar," mumbled Nicky.

I always imagined after care after my first time. I wanted somebody who I knew would do that for me, somebody I could trust to take care of me after we shared such a beautiful experience. It was such a shame that my two best friends didn't get that experience.

"I-I want somebody who will do that for me. I guess it doesn't matter...what gender they are. I just want somebody I can depend on." There was literally no reason for me to be telling them all of this, but it felt nice to get it all out there in the open. They seemed understanding enough to not judge me for wanting things like that. Nicky even bared a bubbly smile after my spiel, and Derek was bouncing his knee excitedly as he munched on his gingerbread man. They weren't looking at me strangely like anyone else would have.

"I want somebody who I can hug up to after a long day," Nicky admitted in a longing tone. The tree branches laid abandoned next to the pile of leaves and wood we'd gathered, and so I guessed he couldn't get the fire started.

"Man, I just want somebody. Haven't had a hug from someone besides my ma in ages. Kinda miss bein' loved and all." Derek took out a lighter from his pocket and pressed the flame against a leaf in the pile. Nicky gave him a death glare as the flames started to grow.

"I've been trying to make a fire for the last hour and you had a lighter this whole time? Why do you even own a lighter? Do you smoke?"

Derek was drawn back by the accusation. "Smoke? Nah. I just like to burn things. And I didn't know what the hell you were doin', I thought you was just rubbin' sticks together for the hell of it. Anyway, hugs are nice. I miss 'em."

I wasn't one for touching, especially if it's a stranger I barely know, but Derek looked so lonely sitting there just staring at the tiny flame in his lighter. I scooted over towards his sitting spot and wrapped my arms around his waist, squeezing gently. A nervous chuckle came from him as I took in how unexplainably good he smelled. "Thanks, doll. Sweet of you."

"You smell like pumpkin spice," I concluded.

"Ma makes plenty of pumpkin bread if you evah need some. Made a batch this mornin' for breakfast."

The pleasant moment was interrupted by the sounding of a horn, which made all three of us jump in our spots. Nicky's eyes went wide and he got to his feet immediately. "They've set the flag. We have to go."

"But wait, what the hell are we doin'?" Derek asked as Nicky bounded towards Vanilla and climbed on. "We don't got a plan, we'll get ourselves killed!"

Nicky's eyes were dark as he peered down at us. "I have one."

.:.

This was kind of humiliating.

Nicky's plan was to bait the other teams into killing me on their way towards the flag. He called me a 'distraction,' but in all honesty, I was pure bait. My job was to run through the forest of trees in the direction of the flag completely unarmed, while Nicky and Derek stayed a long ways behind to check for the other two teams. When a team would go after me, I was to run in the opposite direction of the flag for as long as possible, until Derek could come save me while Nicky rushed the flag or went after the other team.

It was really dark. I still had my darts, but Derek kept my bow in case he had to shoot somebody down in order to protect me. He would need it more, as I didn't see a use for having it while I was on low ground without a horse. I felt kind of helpless. Maybe that was good though. The more helpless the more appealing to a group of killers, right?

A twig snapped. I wasn't physically prepared to run now, but then footsteps started pounding towards me at lighting speed, and I didn't have much of a choice. I took off in the opposite direction and hoped to god Derek would save me.

The footsteps didn't sound like Charlie, even though they were quite loud as they trailed behind me. I almost choked on my tongue when I heard another pair of footsteps join the first, the second pair being more swift and weightless than the first. I jumped over a log and took the opportunity to look over my shoulder after I'd done it.

Eli and Kandy were dead set on my back, and in Eli's clenched fist was the dart I'd given him. I felt like crying.

But I kept running. It was an endless forest it seemed like, with identical trees and no wide openings to escape out of. I'd never seen this part of Mianite before. It must've been the very edge of the island, the part we never used because it was supposedly dangerous. Yeah. Yeah, there was a forest riddled with never ending monsters, and a huge cliff with a large drop off at the end-...

I'm running towards a cliff.

For a moment I considered letting Eli kill me, because heights scared me more than anything in the world, but then I heard more pairs footsteps. There had to be at least four people chasing after me now, and I could hear Charlie's out of all of them. I could hear the angry grunts he made with every step, like he was positively eager to get his hands on me. I can't give up. I have to go towards the cliff, I don't want to die like this.

My asthma was kicking in, and at the worst time too. A throwing knife soared past my head and I swerved just in time to have it nick my ear. I kept my pace up though, even as blood poured down the side of my face and my ear throbbed. Where was Derek?

The opening came. It looked unmistakably safe from a distance, with just the clear sky in view, but I knew there was a drop off. How big it was, I wasn't sure, but I knew it was big. Can I even swim? Are there sharks in the water? Can I survive a jump that big?

There wasn't much time to contemplate on it. I fled through the opening just as Katie's hand grabbed my shirt and yanked hard, but I lurched forward just as she pulled. My shirt ripped away as my feet left solid ground.

"TJ NO!" Katie screamed as I sailed downwards. I wasn't sure why she had protested, she was set on killing me five seconds ago. My heart went into my stomach as I fell, not twenty feet, not thirty feet, but it had to be at least a fifty foot drop off into the ocean.

For a moment everything was fine. I felt weightless euphoria as I sailed down and down and down...

But as I hit the water, my head collided hard with a jutted rock sticking out from the cliff side. The concussion kicked back in immediately. My lungs felt tight. I couldn't move my arms, I felt horribly dizzy and tired. So I floated deeper and deeper, until I could no longer see any light or any sign that there was hope for me. I awaited death with open arms, praying that I spawned quickly after the five seconds.

I don't know how long I stayed down there until I felt something grab me around the wrist and pull me around harshly. When the pulling stopped, I felt freezing cold. My back itched. Something soft was on my lips.

"-3, 4, 5, 6, come on." Violent pushing started on my chest. It hurt, but it kind of made me feel better. The soft thing came back and blew fresh air into my lungs, making them feel less tight.

"-9, 10, 11, I swear to fuckin' god if you die..."

After another wave of air came, my body jerked up harshly and water came spilling up from my nose and mouth. I sat up quickly as it all came up, and moaned in distress at the sore feeling after it all went away. Salt water did not feel good in the nose or throat.

Somebody wrapped me up in their arms and let out a long groan of relief. "What the hell were you thinkin', Tj?"

Derek had saved me. I hugged on to him in relief and because I felt a million times more safe in his arms. "I didn't...wanna die."

He snorted angrily. "That thing your petty ass gods use, a force field aura or some shit, it don't stretch beyond the cliff. It don't bring you back. It don't protect you if you get hurt or killed."

Oh. "You mean I...I almost died?" I actually almost died.

"Damn right you almost died!" He drew me back to glare harshly at me, like I intentionally had wished for death and went after it.

"I-I didn't know. I promise."

He was still frowning profusely at me. "Nicks won us the game. But your family's worried sick, an everyones cryin' over you so we gotta go back up so they know you ain't dead. And I fuckin' can't believe you ain't dead neither, you was under ten minutes before I jumped in."

Ten minutes? How wasn't I dead? Derek must be really good at CPR. "You saved me. Thank you."

He lowered his gaze, the skin under his freckles turning a light pink. "It was nothin'. You did it for me. Earlier, with the...with the fancy bow work. You were really something."

Maybe he likes you.

I leaned forward and pressed my lips to his freckled cheek. It was the least I could do after he saved my life and risked his own in doing so. I pulled back just in time to see his face turn scarlet.

"Shucks, doll face, you're makin' it hard to stay away." I didn't know what he meant by that, but I didn't have time to ask him before he picked me up and whisked me away from that awful beach.

"Do you plan on carrying me all the way back?" I giggled.

"I guess so, since I don't got a horse to take you back on." As soon as the words left his mouth, we were transported from the beach and moved to the top of the cliff, where the entire islands population waited for us.

My whole family was in tears. As soon as Derek let me down, Poppy ran over and threw his arms around me. "Tj!" He cried into my shoulder. I wasn't sure what to do. Everyone was staring at me. Even the gods were here.

Dad came next. And then Katie too, sobbing her heart out as she clung to my back. Charlie and Eli were wiping at their cheeks silently as they looked at me with utter relief in their eyes. I didn't know my family cared so much about me.

Nicky stood by Declan and Champwan, with a red flag by his side. He looked as if he were choking and his eyes were anywhere but on me. I ruined his victory. It was his moment to shine and I ruined it by almost dying.

"The age for purging will be raised to eighteen. It will not be mandatory."

"Brother-" Ianite tried, but the red god sent her a glare to shut her up.

"I am not, nor will I ever be, your brother. My siblings were intelligent beings, they came with morals. They came with sensibilities. You have chosen to pit children against each other to determine who is the better god. You are nothing but senseless, blood-thirsty heathens. Argue with me and I will gladly start a war myself. I say it would rival the one those wizards dragged you through many a year ago. And what would those very same wizards say to a purge containing only children?"
Mianite's face was set in stone as he spoke, "There is no need to be hasty, dear brother. These terms are ones we can agree to. Right, sister?"
Ianite nodded. She seemed unhappy with her own compliance. "It is done. The laws shall be rewritten."

My family whisked me away before I could talk to Nicky, who still looked extremely shaken up and in a state of shock. I wasn't sure why that was, but now that I had my family surrounding me on all sides, I couldn't pull away and go ask. Pop kept touching my face, tracing over my cheeks, sniffling every time I winced from a brush over a bruise.

"I must look horrible," I said jokingly. Nobody laughed. Pop clung to me tighter.

It took forever to get myself alone after we reached home. It seemed like my whole family was expecting me to pass away by tomorrow morning and each one wanted at least five hours of time spent with me, and I just wanted to be alone. I finally got away for a few minutes after saying I had to take a bathroom break and I spent the time checking myself in the mirror.

I did look horrible. Despite the healing potion I'd drank with Derek, there were still many cuts and bruises on my body from the purge. The cut I received from Charlie was still there, healed up mostly, but the scab remained. It stretched from my nose to my ear, and a piece of that ear was chipped away. I hoped Nicky could fix me. The two large bumps on the back of my neck and the one of my forehead were kind of frightening too. My whole skin looked paler than usual. The bags under my eyes were new. I looked a lot worse than my siblings.

Bed time came quicker than usual. Pop gave me a healing potion and lots of medicine Declan had sent over for me. He wanted me to sleep in his room with he and Dad, but I don't think I could've taken it. They were horrible at sleeping. I declined the offer, he hugged me again, and then I was finally alone.

Alone.

It was dark. The shadows in my room looked like figures with swords and murder darts. I pulled the covers over my head and shut my eyes, to block out everything.

The moment I fell asleep, a nightmare woke me. Katie's lifeless eyes brought tears to my own. When I calmed down a little, I fell asleep again. Only to be awoken again with another nightmare. Charlie's gurgling sounds, the sound of him choking on his own blood, made me want to tear my hair out in guilt.

I went to the kitchen, drank down a glass of water, and tried to process again. Again, I woke up in sweat and tears. The chill of the ocean water felt real in dreams just as it had when I was emerged in it.

At first I thought I was dreaming again when the door to my room opened and a tall, broad figure slipped inside with a weapon-like object in its hand, but I found after pinching myself that I was not. On the brink of a scream, a hand quickly darted forward and covered my mouth to muffle the sound. "Just us, Nicky and Derek."

The light was switched on, to reveal my two best friends sitting beside me on the bed. They were dressed in their night wear. They must've snuck out.

"W-What are you both doing here? Do my dads know-"

"No, we came in through the living room window," Nicky whispered. "He came to see if you were alright, and I came to give you these." He put a bottle in my hand, filled to the brink with tiny white pills. I knew what they were. I'd seen Pop and Dad take them a million times before.

"Nicky, I don't-"

"You've been having nightmares, haven't you?"

"Yeah...but that doesn't mean-"

"Yes, it does. It's probably not permanent, but you have it and it needs to be treated. Just take two a day for awhile and you'll be okay. It'll help you sleep. Did you take a healing potion?"

"Pop gave me one before bed, I- what are you doing?" He was feeling all over my face and it was kind of making me uncomfortable.

"I could fix your ear easily. The bumps will take awhile to go down, but you should have ice on them at all times until they do. Do you feel dizzy? Is your chest hurting? There might still be some fluid in your lungs-"

"Nicky. Please. I'm fine. Can we wait until tomorrow to do all of this? I'm tired."

"Oh we aren't leavin'," Derek promised. "We're gonna stay because we know you don't wanna be alone. Right?"

I did prefer them being here instead of being alone in the dark. "How long are you both staying?"

"As long as you'd like us to," Nicky said softly. "I'm sorry it took so long for us to come over, um...me especially. It took me a little while to comprehend you nearly died because of me."

Because of him? "Nicky-"

"We been over this, you didn't do nothin' Nicks. You got us a win and doll face is still in one piece. Stop worryin' bout it." Derek ruffled Nicky's hair in the sweetest way, as if they had been friends for years and they hadn't been fighting throughout the entire purge. And Nicky was smiling. It was a miracle.

"Well...anyway, I'm sorry it took so long for us to come." He looked around the room for a moment, as if he were searching for something. When he didn't find it he looked to me. "Don't you have a night light? Or a lamp?"

Night light? Those were for little kids. At least that's what Charlie told me before I threw out my solar system night light. "I don't need a night light. I'm fine in the dark."

Derek let out a snort. "Tell that to your cold sweats. We ain't buyin' it though."

"Your dads keep a night light," Nicky informed me. "It brings a lot of comfort that you wouldn't expect. Even helps with the nightmares sometimes."

I sighed. "Charlie will make fun of me."

"Then you can make fun of him for crying over you a few hours ago. We're getting you a night light. Okay?"

Charlie cried over me?

"Okay, fine." I dispelled the thoughts before they could get too overwhelming. "Anything else you'd like to shove down my throat?" I collapsed onto my pillow and clenched my eyes shut to block out their stares. I had some trouble breathing when I felt the bed shift, and somebody else's head share their weight on my pillow.

"You got a fancy ass bed, princess. Mind if I share it witchu?" Derek's mouth was probably a inch away from my ear, and it sent weird tingles down my sides. When Nicky's face appeared in front of mine, eyes shining with mischief. "Can I join in as well?"

I don't know what possessed me to say it. I hated company. I hated people in my room, in my space, in my little bubble, but...I don't know. Derek and Nicky were different. I was comfortable with them, even though they were both pressed flush against me and every breath they made mingled with my skin and sent pleasant shivers down my spine, even though I'd only known Derek for three days and the real Nicky for a few months. I trusted them.

"Just for tonight," I said sternly. "Okay?"

"Okay," they said excitedly in unison. I squeaked when they became closer to me after the verdict was given, clinging to my back like human magnets. Maybe they needed this just as much as me. Maybe they were scared too. Maybe they felt paranoid and anxious and terrified to sleep alone in the dark.

And maybe they felt the same giddy feeling in their chests at every brush and touch we gave each other.

Because I sure did.

.:.:.:.