(Y/N)'s POV
As I run down the stairs, a tentacle from the Witherstorm cuts me off, as well as breaking off the steps. I hold my breath and close my eyes as I jump, with Fish following behind me.

"It seems you were telling the truth," Ellegaard says as I catch up to her and Maya. "I'm beginning to feel we should get to the portal. Now. As soon as possible." She runs off, and Fish, Maya, and I do, too.

We weave our way through screaming people and other obstacles. A huge, black tentacle swoops down. I jump out of the way right as it lands on the ground, but it still manages to snatch me. I pull out my sword and hold it tightly, protectively in my hand. The sword Aiden let me make in his secret place. I swing furiously at the arm, determined to break free and get back to see him.

I almost get to the bridge, when it starts to close. I land on the half of the bridge that's not closing up, but my right foot stays behind. I pull it towards me and twist my ankle in the process. I limp hurriedly across the bridge as part of it is broken off and lifted into the air. I fortunately manage to grab hold of the other side as I jump, but I unfortunately am dangling off the edge. {Has anyone ever played Fortunately, Unfortunately? Where you make a story by saying, "Fortunately, this happened." Then, someone else says, "Unfortunately, this happened." I was just thinking about that as I wrote this.}

"Don't look down, don't look down," I mutter to myself over and over as I strain to pull myself up.

Everyone but me jumps into the portal. I just stand there, quite stupidly, staring at the giant black and violet beast. After a few seconds, I turn around and burst into the portal.

*~*~*~*

We finally make it back to the temple. I try to not get visibly excited to see Aiden. On the inside, my heart is racing and my other intestines are exploding into pink fireworks shaped like hearts. Thinking of that metaphor reminds me of our moment back at the building competition.

Gosh, it's hard to believe that was only yesterday.

"Wow, the temple," Ellegaard says. "Haven't been here since forever."

"Gosh, and look at how well Aiden, Gill, and Jesse fixed it up," I add.

"Nice job mentioning Aiden first, (Y/N)," Maya whispers into my ear.

"I listed them alphabetically!" I hiss back.

"Uh, huh."

I shake my head as I approach the door to the temple, with me still limping. I knock three times lightly. It opens, revealing Jesse.

"Hey, you're back!" she says. "And look who showed up!" She moves away, showing Lukas.

"Oh my gosh!" I come inside. "Lukas!"

"Hey," he says. Fish runs up to him and he smiles as he bends down to pat him.

I look around. "Hey, where's Aiden?" I ask. "And Gill," I quickly catch myself.

"Gill is upstairs," Lukas replies. "But, Aiden? I don't know. He was down here with us, but left a few seconds ago." His eyes dart away for a second.

"What is it?" I ask, about to turn around.

"Oh, nothing!" he says hurriedly. "Just thought I saw something. Guess my eyes are just playing tricks on me."

I slowly nod my head and raise my eyebrow.

A few seconds later, a shriek escapes my mouth as a pair of arms wrap around my waist. The person attached to these arms shouts, "Boo!" as this happens. I whip around to face Aiden.

"Gosh dang it, Aiden!" I scream. He laughs. I lightly punch his arm.

"Oh, my gosh," he says after he stops laughing. "Remember the time I did that to you in sixth grade?"

I smile. "Yeah. The first year I knew you." I laugh a little.

"Dang, I got you so good!" He starts laughing again. "I always did!"

"Oh, chorus class . . . ," I think out loud with a giggle.

"Yep!" he says. "After our water break. . . ."

"I was walking down the aisle between the seats in the auditorium," I finish his sentence.

"You literally screamed!"

"I know I did! I didn't know you were there!"

We both laugh.

"Ugh, I'm so glad to be out of school," I add. "It was so stressful. I absolutely really disliked math. I was in advanced math a grade level higher than my own, but I don't understand how. Really, I didn't understand most of what they were talking about. Even when I did, my teacher would still bother me about it! I hated it!" I take a deep breath and calm myself down. "Sorry, I didn't mean to raise my voice."

"No, it's okay," Aiden says. "I felt the same way."

I bite my lip and slightly nod.

"Oh, hey, you want to know what happened when Jesse saw Lukas?" Aiden asks, breaking the tension.

I smile. "Yes!" I laugh.

"She ran up to him and squeezed him into a hug," he tells me as Jesse's face turns red. "And they stayed hugging. For, like, a minute!" He pauses before nudging me and saying, "I thought they were going to kiss."

"Aiden!" Jesse shouts. Aiden and I burst out laughing. Now, Lukas's face was red. Although, he did look kind of pale.

"So, are we going to go upstairs?" Maya asks after a while.

"Sure," I reply.

We start heading up.

"Gosh, can't remember the last time I saw this place," Ellegaard mutters as we get up there. She turns around. I do, too. "Would someone care to explain what he is doing here?"

I see Gill standing with Magnus.

"So, I'm . . . ," I start. "I'm guessing you two don't like each other?"

"Oh, huh, yeah," Aiden says, rubbing the back of his neck. "Jesse and I kind of got in a huge fight. Afterwards, she left with Gill to go get Magnus."

"Get him?" Ellegaard says. "Did you know about this?" She faces me.

"No, no, I didn't!" I respond hesitantly.

"Well, I hope you're not expecting me to work with that pyromaniac!"

"I . . . I'll go talk to them." I walk over to the two. Aiden follows me.

"So, who are you, then?" Magnus asks as I walk up to them. "And why'd you bring Queen of the Nerds with you?"

"That's my friend (Y/N)," Gill says. "She's cool."

"Ditto," Aiden says.

I smile happily.

"I'll, ha ha, I'll be the judge of that, huh?" Magnus laughs.

"I'm getting the Order back together," I say, my smile fading.

"Yeah, after Aiden and Jesse got in that fight, Jesse and I left to find him," Gill explains. "It was crazy! There were explosions everywhere! I'm even the king of BoomTown, now!"

"King?" I echo.

"Yeah, I beat Magnus at this crazy tournament and—," he starts.

"Long story," Magnus interrupts. "You had to be there. Short version? Epic battle of explosions and mayhem, death-defying action shenanigans and pyrotechnics. . . . Ba-da-bing, ba-da-boom!" He flails his arms on the last word, imitating an explosion. "Your friend here is kind of Supreme Ruler of my kingdom now, you know what I mean. . . ."

"Well, this is unexpected," Ellegaard says as she walks to us.

"I'm not entirely sure what you mean," Magnus says, "but I'm definitely sure that I don't like it."

"Yeah, leave him alone, Ellegaard," Gill chimes in.

"Oh, you're sticking up for Magnus," she says. "That's very . . . sweet."

"Oh, my gosh . . . ," I mutter. "All of you, chillax!" I say, loudly. Ellegaard and Magnus start to walk away.

"We need to focus!" I continue. "There is a gigantic Witherstorm that we need to stop, or else it will eat the whole world!"

"It was terrifying," Ellegaard agrees, going down a step towards the map. "It came out of nowhere and just destroyed everything."

"Little too scary for you, Ellie?" Magnus says. "Couldn't just think it away?"

She scowls. "You weren't there, Magnus. I'm telling you, this thing was like nothing I've ever seen."

"Would y'all stop your fighting?" I shout.

"(Y/N)'s right!" Aiden says. "We seriously need to focus! Unless you want to die!"

"That doesn't sound pleasant," Magnus says. "But, how are we supposed to kill that thing? It would take a mountain of TNT!"

"I hate to say it, but it's true," Ellegaard says.

"Well, there has to be some way . . . ," I contemplate.

"If only Soren was here," Ellegaard says. "He might have something we could use."

"Oh, Ellie, not this again!" Magnus says. "You know I hate when you brag about you and Soren's little brainy club."

"I'm not bragging," she replies. "I think I have a legitimate idea, here."

"Fine. What are you thinking, Ellie?"

"Soren had a kind of 'Super TNT', stronger and more explosive than anything else in the world," she explains. "The 'Formidi-Bomb'."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've heard all about the 'F-Bomb' before," Magnus says.

"'F-Bomb'?" Aiden repeats, chuckling.

I force back a smile and elbow him. As cute as he is, he's pretty immature. Come to think of it, all of my friends are.

"Yeah, Soren said that dropping the F-Bomb could destroy anything," Magnus continues.

"Oh, dear gosh," I whisper. Aiden is laughing even harder. I put my hand over his mouth, but quickly retreat after he licks my palm. "Aiden!" I shriek as I wipe my hand on his jacket.

"Sorry, but you should know better by now," he says through laughing. I hit his shoulder and can't help but laugh as well.

"Anyways," Jesse says, rolling her eyes at our childishness. I may be the most mature out of my friends, but, hey, what can I say? There is a juvenile side to everyone. "Where can we get this super TNT?"

"Well, there is a little problem there . . . ," Ellegaard replies. "We don't know where Soren is." She looks at me. "You found us. Can you find him?"

We walk over to the map.

"Our map could locate him," she says. "Unless he's in the Nether of the End. But, it's worth a shot."

"We must be able to find him!" I say, optimistically.

Before I check for Soren, I decide to talk to Lukas. He's been silent almost this whole time and he's sitting by himself, with only Fish by him.

"Hey, Lukas," I say. "How's it going?"

"Well," he replies.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, I'm just fine," he reassures, but I'm not sure I believe him.

I then walk over to Aiden.

"Hey, you," I say.

He smiles. "Hey."

"I just wanted to say that you did an amazing job fixing this place."

"Yeah, thanks," he says. "Just wish I had some help with it." He looks towards Jesse, clearly annoyed.

"You did just fine on your own," I tell him, placing a hand on his shoulder.

I then get to work. I place the amulet on the pedestal, right next to where Aiden is standing, and afterward walk to the switches. I use them in the same order as before and illuminate all the lights. A red and green beam show on the map.

"Alright, there's your light and my light . . . ," Magnus says.

A new white beam flickers on. I walk up to the others.

"There he is," Ellegaard says. "Soren had his fortress deep inside the mountains. After the Order broke up, that's where he went to keep doing his experiments."

"He brought me there a couple times," Magnus says. "It always seemed a little . . ."

"Weird, right?" Ellegaard finishes. "It always seemed a little weird."

"Glad we can agree on that, at any rate," he says.

"Well, we have to get there!" I say.

As soon as I say this, a blue light flicks on. My first thought is Gabriel, but I then realize where the light is coming from. The middle of the amulet.

"Whoa," Ellegaard gasps.

"Oh, my gosh!" I say. "That's Ivor!"

"Oh, no!" Ellegaard says. "We need to move!"

"It's not too far," I point out. "We can probably just walk."

"Righteous," Magnus says. "We'll get some rest and head out first thing in the morning. Avoiding all the nighttime and monsters and everything." He says 'nighttime' and 'monsters' eerily.

"If you had seen that monster you wouldn't be saying that," Ellegaard says. "We need to leave. Now."

"I'm going to have to take Ellegaard's side on this one," I say.

"Excellent call, (Y/N)," she says. "And far more decisive than either of us are being."

"What a coincidence that it's your plan!" Magnus complains. "But fine."

We start heading out.

,.-~*'¨¯¨'*.~-.¸-A/N-,.-~*'¨¯¨'*.~-.¸

Ugh, someone please pull me away from Gravity Falls fanfics, they are making me procrastinate so much.

Shoutout to my best friend, Kylee, who does not have WattPad, for giving me the idea of Aiden scaring you (yes, she scared me the exact same way in chorus class).

I hope y'all enjoyed this chapter!

Word Count: 2,175