Mark's POV

I grimaced as blood dripped onto my flannel. Felix shuddered. "That was...intense."

"That's one way to describe it," I mumbled. "What do you think they meant when they said they were our fans? I mean, were we famous or something? We don't exactly seem like the type of people I would consider popular."

Felix shrugged. "I have no idea, but that would make sense for Cry. Cry could be his stage name or something?"

Another drop of blood hit the floor in front of me. "I'm not sure, but I'd prefer if we continued this conversation somewhere else. I might throw up if we stay here too long."

"Shouldn't we wait for everyone else?" Felix asked. A drop of blood landed on his nose. "On second thought, we'll meet back up with them in Katherine's office."

"Now all we have to do if figure out where the heck her office is," I stated as I glanced around the area. I couldn't see a wall in any direction.

"Don't you think it'd be in the direction all those people were standing in? Like how an army lines up facing the opponent, standing between them and the place they're defending?"

I smiled but frowned a second later. "Doesn't that mean we have to walk through all the dripping blood?"

Felix groaned, "Yeah, but at least we'll get out of here quicker." His eyes widened. "Shit."

"What?" I hesitantly asked.

"Ethan said that there were three top floors that we had to get passed."

"What's your point?"

"This was the first floor and he said that whatever we had to face on this floor would be the easiest. He didn't say anything about there only being one thing per floor." I started to speak, but he cut me off, "To add, we had to fall through an abyss to get here. How do you think we'll get to the second floor?"

"The only thing I know for certain is that we can't let our guard down. Be ready for anything, alright?"

He nodded, and with that, we started walking in the direction our fans had been lined up in. Every time blood dropped and splattered on the ground, we both cringed. I refused to so much as glance upward.

After we had been walking for about twenty minutes, I noticed that the blood hadn't dripped on us for a while. I grinned. "I think we made it through."

Felix chuckled, "Hell yeah! Now, we just have to find another abyss to fall down or something."

I saw something glint out of the corner of my eye. I turned my head in its direction and saw two shadowed things on the ground in the distance. "Felix, I think I know where we're supposed to go next."

"Hmm? Where?"

I pointed toward the shadowed stuff on the ground. "Ethan said we would find items here too, right?"

I heard Felix gulp before he replied, "Yeah, let's go check it out."

We began making our way toward the items, and as we got closer, I noticed that one was shaped like a circle while the other was long and rectangular. We stopped in front of the items and all I could do was stare.

Felix, however, went to the mask. It was white with two large circles and a line where a mouth should've been. He held it up to his face and looked at me. "Why do you think we were given a mask?"

I shrugged. "Ethan said items were only here to confuse us."

"Actually," he began, moving the mask away from his face, "he said that items we find are only here to confuse us for the most part."

"Whatever," I mumbled. "Does it say anything on the back?"

He looked at the back of the mask and his eyes widened. "It says 'Property of Cry'."

I stared at him. "Why would you get Cry's mask? Wait, does he wear a mask under his hood?"

Felix shrugged. "I have no idea. This is probably one of the things that's supposed to confuse us." He pointed at the item in front of me. "I have a feeling yours has a purpose other than confusion, though."

I looked at the item in front of me and let out a small gasp. "What the hell am I supposed to do–"

"Don't ask me! Maybe it's something you used back in the real world. I mean, we could have been brought to this weird place for fighting against something."

I stared at the sword in front of me. "There's no way I had a sword."

Felix stared at me in shock. "You're kidding, right? There's a sword in front of you and you aren't even going to give the thought that you might've been a hero a second thought?!"

I sighed and walked to the sword. "Really," Felix continued, "that would make a lot of sense. Cry had a mask to conceal his secret identity. You had a sword. About a thousand people just showed up talking about how they were our fans and that we abandoned them and let them die."

I picked the sword up off the ground and turned it over in my hand. The word 'Kyle' was engraved into the blade. "It says 'Kyle'. It probably isn't mine."

Felix looked about ready to punch me. "You could've named it! Or maybe you have a friend named Kyle who gave you the sword!"

"I don't know, dude, this seems sketchy."

"This whole freaking place is sketchy!" Felix shouted. "Would you just take the damn sword! We might end up needing it for something. Just test it out. Please."

I rolled my eyes. "You're just trying to get me to look like an idiot."

"You don't need my help for that." He smirked.

I sighed but complied. I swung the sword around the empty air around me. "You look so badass," Felix mumbled as he stared in awe.

"Can we get going now? I feel like we're being watched." I anxiously glanced around us.

"Fine, as long as you bring Kyle."

"Are we just assuming that this sword's name is Kyle?" I asked, looking down at it.

"Yup!" Felix cheered as he put Cry's mask on and dragged me back to where we had been walking.

"Follow up question," I began once we were back on our path, "what do you think we would need this sword for here?"

Felix shrugged. "Did you expect a bunch of people to get hanged right in front of us?"

I shook my head. "So we're bringing it just in case something attacks us?"

"Would you be surprised if something did?"

I sighed as we continued walking. "I guess not."

He smiled. "Exactly!"

As we continued walking, I noticed that we had started moving upward. I looked forward, expecting to see a hill, but found that the ground was still perfectly straight. "Felix–"

"I know," he mumbled as he stopped. He glanced down so I did the same. We were standing at least a foot off the ground.

"Shit!" I yelled as I fell backward. Now I was laying on my back, slightly slanted, about a foot off the ground. 

Felix helped me up. Once I was standing again, he pointed almost directly upward. I slowly looked up and found that on top of this invisible mountain, there were two bikes.

"Are we supposed to bike down a mountain that we can't see?!" I shouted.

Felix shrugged. "I have no idea, but I think we should at least go up there."

We began to cautiously hike up the mountain. After a few minutes, we were standing at the top next to the bikes. One was red while the other was blue.

I sat down on the red bike before asking, "Okay, do you think this is another thing that's supposed to trick us, or do you think this is the way to the next floor?"

"I've got a pretty bad feeling that it's going to end up being both."

"Hey, Mark!" a girl's voice called from behind us.

"Why'd you two run off without the rest of us?" a boy asked.

I exchanged a quick glance with Felix. He took off Cry's mask, clenched his jaw, and mumbled, "Round two?"

We both turned around to find one girl, three boys, and two guys who looked about the same age as us. All six of them had bikes with them.

"No offense, but who are you?" Felix inquired, staring at the four kids.

The girl ran up to us with her green bike and started explaining, "We're the reason you went to the orphanage! I'm Reagan, and those guys are Percy, Jason, and Nate."

One of the older guys continued in a British accent, "I'm Phil, and this is Dan. We went with you."

Dan ran up to us with his bike. Once he was next to us, without stopping he leaped onto it and stood up. He put on the brakes. "And we're here to lead you dorks through the second floor!"

A/N

It's been so freaking long since Reagan was with Percy, Nate, and Jason that writing their names together almost felt weird...

I feel like a horrible person lmao

Anyways, BUH-BYE BROTATOS!