Aiden's POV

"You'll need a quill. Juniper, you got one?" Sheldon asked.

"Yep!" Juniper said, reaching over to a little pot. She plucked a white feather from it and handed it to Darling.

"Thanks!" Darling said, "Do you have the ink too?"

"Yeah, I'm starting to run low on it, though, so be careful with it," Juniper said as she held out a small container of a fluid that glittered in the light. Darling dabbed the pen into it and held it up.

"Uh... what'cha doing?" Maya asked.

"Everything about this plan is giving me the jeebies!" Katcha said into my ear. I waved her off and continued watching what Darling would do next.

With a swipe of her arm, Darling drew a line through the air. It sat there in the same nave blue color, levitating in mid-air.

"Okay, that's it! You're getting out of here, Aiden!" Katcha said, pointing away. I just continued to ignore her.

"Now, Jesse, right?" Darling said. Jesse nodded.

"Open it."

Jesse stepped forth and cluelessly put her hands on it.

"Here, I'll help you," Darling said. She stuck her fingers on the line and pulled it apart, making a hole in the air.

"Whoa..." Jesse said, steeping back.

"Don't worry, it's safe," Darling reassured, stepping into it, "See?"

Jesse put her foot into it, then stepped inside. We followed her in as it closed behind the last person.

Inside was a giant, open space that was dark purple in color. Books twice the size of us glowed in the dark lighting up the floor.

"Welcome to the Fourth Wall!" Darling said, "Every time an author writes a story, it appears in here."

"So, where is... dead character land?" I asked, trying to hold in my excitement.

"It's behind the entry point," said Darling, "Follow me."

She turned and started down a steep slope leading into a darker part of the place.

"Just watch your step," she warned. We carefully walked down behind her into the dark part. The air already started feeling colder as goose bumps pricked my arms. Down below on flat ground was a smaller (but still taller than us, just smaller than the other books) black book that only glowed just bright enough to be seen. Faded blood stains were splattered across the front of it.

"Do you even see that?!" Katcha said, "Blood! There's blood on there! Blood! Are you really just going to skip right over like, 'Oh, there's blood splattered all over this cold, dark thingy that some freak-show is leading me to! Awesome!'" Katcha waved her arms around as she spoke in a mocking voice.

"Relax, okay?" I said, "If going in there means we're gonna get Petra back, I'm all in. Besides, it's full of dead people that weren't even killed there, so I won't get hurt."

"But doesn't that sentence just sound the slightest bit ookie to you?"

"Sure, but we'll just be in and out." I was beginning to get annoyed with Katcha's pestering.

"Okay, I'll wait for you outside just to make sure you get out safely," Darling said once we neared the book, "Just to make sure nothing goes south."

"And... things would go south because...?" Jesse asked cautiously.

"Oh, you know, portal malfunctions. I'll come look for you if you're in there for too long."

"Thanks. So, how do we get in?"

"It's easy, really," Darling pulled apart the old pages, "Just go in through there. Take this quill to get out. You saw how I used it earlier, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Then I'm sure you'll be fine. Now, you should probably get going; your friend could already be denigrating." Darling was about to let us go, but she added,

"One last thing, if your friend is starting to disintegrate, do something that stimulates her. Emotionally or physically, although I wouldn't recommend you hurt her."

"Thanks," Jesse said.

Lukas's POV

The inside of dead character world was much colder than I expected, but I guess that makes sense, right?

It was also very dark, but still had just enough light for us to see. Laying limp on the floor, dangling by their necks on the walls, were hundreds of lifeless bodies. Most looked like they were only asleep, while others were mutilated in the form in which they died.

"Gah!" Jesse squealed as she jumped away. I spun around and came over to her to see what was the matter.

"I think... I think I found Nightmelody..." she said, looking on the lifeless figure of someone we once knew.

"Wow..." I said, shaking my head, "That's so weird, seeing her like this. It's... awful."

Jesse cast me a look of confusion, making me realize she probably had a different opinion.

"But, hey, that means Petra should be here, right? I mean, if Nightmelody hasn't denigrated yet, right?"

"Yeah, you're right!" Jesse said, "But then, how will we revive her?"

"We'll figure that out later, let's just find Petra," I said.

We searched deeper into the dark tomb, still no sign of Petra.

"Petra!" Maya called, "Are you in here?"

"Petra!" Aiden called.

"Petra!!"

"Shh" I hushed, holding out my hand, "I think I heard something."

And I did hear something. It was the sound of a jacked-up guy's arm falling off the bone and splatting onto the floor.

"Never mind," I said, quickly looking away and trying to forget the image, "That wasn't her."

"Lukas!" Maya scolded.

"Just don't look at it!" I said. Aiden started walking away, muttering something like, "Yes, I know. I know! I did see that! Now would you stop bothering me and make yourself useful??"

"Petra!" Jesse cried. She grunted as she dragged another man off to the side and fell to her knees. Maya, Aiden, and I rushed over. Lying on the ground was a girl with ghost-white skin, red hair, and a blue bandana. It was her.

"Petra," Jesse repeated, putting her hands on Petra's shoulders, "Wake up! Wake up!"

The rest of us watched in suspense, waiting for something to happen.

"Jesse," Petra said in a weak, hoarse voice.

"Petra!" Jesse grabbed her and scooped her into a hug, practically crushing her body. The color in her skin seemed to return to normal as she returned Jesse's embrace. When Jesse backed off, a healthy, but slightly weakened Petra sat with a tired smile on her face. She turned her gaze toward me, and a smile spread across my lips.

"Petra," I said, smiling so wide I almost couldn't see. She reached in and wrapped her arms around me, squeezing me tighter than I expected.

"I thought I would be here forever," she whispered in a trembling voice. We let go from the embrace, then Maya squealed happily and gave her a quick squeeze.

"Let's get out of here," Jesse said.

We began to leave the clustering of lifeless characters to the open area where we could draw our way out of the world. Petra needed to hold onto me and Jesse to stand up straight because of how weak she still was.

"Almost there, easy now," I softly reassured as I caught her from almost falling.

"Thank you," she said, "I'm good."

We were about to make it away into a clear area, but Petra let out a cry and fell to the ground, slipping off me and Jesse.

"What? What's wrong?!" Jesse exclaimed.

"My leg..." Petra said. The part above her knee was turning gray, below the knee was going transparent, and her foot had turned to dust that spilled across the floor.

"Oh, no," I said, sitting down, "Petra..."

"It's too late," she said, "I'm disintegrating..."

"No, you're gonna be fine..." I said, "We'll work it out."

"Wait," Maya said, "We have to stimulate you! Physically or emotionally!"

"Maya," Petra said, "You already have. It's been so long since I've seen human life around here, and seeing you guys should have restored me." She paused. "But it didn't. I'm... going to die in here."

"No!" Maya yelled, "You can't!" She brought her hand to Petra's face and slapped her cheek. Her leg remained the same.

"Come on!" Maya yelled, slapping her again, "Wake up! Wake up!!"

"Maya! Maya!" I said, holding her back, "Don't hurt her." Maya backed away, tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry," she said.

Aiden's POV

"Aiden!" Katcha said, "Kiss her!!"

"What?!" I exclaimed, not caring that I was in front of everyone else. They all cast me a weird look, but didn't say anything.

"You know, get that stimulation going!"

"Are you crazy?" I whispered, turned away, "I can't just... do that!"

"Aiden, throw away your pride for a minute, will you?"

"It's not pride, Katcha. Kissing someone out of the blue is just creepy!"

"Okay, first, have you even seen where we are yet? This should not be considered 'creepy' after being in here!" Katcha said, "And second, this is a life-or-death matter. If you kiss her, it might me awkward, but you would have saved her... probably."

"I'm sorry, guys," Petra said weakly as more of her leg started to disappear, "You're too late."

"No!" I said, forcing myself forward and pressing my lips against hers. Katcha wildly flew around us, singing at the top of her lungs,

"BUT I... CAN'T... HELP... FALLING IN LOVE... WITH... YOU!!!"

I felt a hand gently caress the back of my head and pull me in. I soon realized that Petra was... returning the kiss.

"LIKE A RIVER FLOWS, GENTLY THROUGH THE SEA! DARLING, SO IT GOES! SOME THINGS... WERE MEANT TO BE...!"

My heart was beating at a million miles an hour by the time I backed away. Petra's face was red but smiling.

"Petra!" I exclaimed, "Your leg!"

She hurriedly looked down at it and tried bending it a little. It materialized itself again until it was as if nothing had happened.

"It's as good as new!" she said, jumping up happily, "Thank you, Aiden!" She flung her arms around me and squeezed tightly. Katcha was off to the side, laughing her head off.

"So, now, let's go," Jesse said, "Is everyone here? Aiden, Petra, Lukas, and, hey, where's Maya?"

"She went back down there!" Lukas said. Maya had gone back down to the groups of lifeless characters, frantically searching for something.

"Maya!" Jesse said, running down to her. The rest of us followed.

"Brian... Brian... Brian!" she whispered, her voice shaking with emotion.

"Maya!" said a weak voice.

"Brian!" Maya cried, "Is that you?"

She did find him, but he was mostly faded away already. He still had a bullet hole stuck in the middle of his forehead where Gabriel had shot him. Maya picked up his mostly gone body and put her forehead against his, tears streaming down her face.

"I waited too long... I'm so sorry," she whispered as Brian faded from view. Lukas came over to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulder.

"Are you okay?" he said in a low voice. She wiped a tear from her eye.

"Yeah, let's keep going," Maya said as Lukas helped her up. As they walked back, something caught Lukas's foot, causing him to trip.

"Whoa--!" he exclaimed, catching his balance, "What on Ear—GAH!" he quickly jumped back and away from the thing.

"Lukas?" Jesse said, coming over, "What's the matter?"

On the ground, laid Nightmelody, sprawled out across the floor. She was starting to fade, but not too much. She feebly lifted her head to get a look at us. Her eyes darted around the group, then her voice spoke up, still sounding like it had somewhat of a song in it.

"I--... I'm...so  s-sorry..."