Mark's POV

As Thomas, Jack, and I ran in the direction Robert came from, we heard him get off the ground. He yelled something in a language I'd never heard before, then started following us.

Dark laughed in my head.

What's so funny?! I demanded as we turned a corner.

He's speaking the native language of the Underworld. I haven't heard anyone talk like that since we were forced to learn it in elementary.

So what?

He yelled something about needing a weapon, I think. What you should be more worried about is the fact that we now know exactly who's taken over Robert's body.

Jack pulled me sideways to keep me from hitting a wall and yelled something about me needing to watch where I was going. Once I was on a steady path again, I replied, Who? Also, is this information going to make any difference in me wanting to beat the shit out of whoever it is?

Dark snickered, Hopefully, it'll make you want to kill him more. The only person I know who still speaks that language is Felix's dad. The guy who lied to everyone here in the Underworld and probably traded some crazy shit to get to the human world.

"Great," I mumbled to myself.

Jack pulled me around another corner before making us stop. Once Thomas jogged over to the two of us, Jack smacked my arm. "Dude, what the hell is going on? We're running for our lives and you seem completely focused on something else!"

Kiss him.

I almost fell over. "What?!"

Thomas looked taken aback, but tried to get us to quiet down before Robert found us. Jack, however, seemed ready to rip my throat out. "What do you mean 'what'?! Are you kidding me?! Mark, it's like you're trying to get us killed! You have to focus on what's happening!"

If you kiss him, he'll shut up and Robert might just take the wrong turn.

"No way," I muttered through gritted teeth.

Jack blinked and stared at me with his mouth hanging open slightly. Thomas was staring at me too, but he quickly got out of his trance and screamed, "Duck!"

I fell to the ground, but Jack was frozen in place. I watched as a baseball bat slammed directly against the side of his head.

His body fell to the ground and blood began dripping out of his ear. I felt my heart stop as I stared at his motionless body.

Thomas jumped over me and started fighting Robert with his table leg.

I quickly picked up Jack's body and put my head against his chest, trying to find a pulse. I felt tears fill my eyes as I didn't hear anything. I moved my fingers to his neck, then to his wrist. Still nothing.

The tears slowly fell down my face. Jack couldn't be...dead. That wasn't possible. No one was supposed to die.

I shook his lifeless body back and forth. Blood started streaming out of his mouth. I fell backward and covered my mouth with my hand.

I dove forward again and picked him up off the ground, cradling him in my arms. I put my head against his shoulder and let my tears pour out. "C-Come on, Jack." I sniffed as more tears came flooding out. "Don't–Y-You can't–"

Mark, you have to go. You have to run.

I sobbed a little too loudly. Dark, I'm not leaving him.

Dark didn't reply. He just left an urge for me to get up and run away. I ignored it and pulled Jack's body closer to me. I wiped some of the blood away from his mouth, and felt my heart shatter when I realized his skin was already growing a bit colder than it should have been.

I failed.

I didn't save Jack, I just got him killed.

I squeezed my eyes shut as I continued to sob against Jack's shoulder. This isn't what was supposed to happen.

"Mark, we have to go or we're all dead!" Thomas yelled over his shoulder just as Robert swung his bat down on the table leg, snapping it in half.

"I-I can't l-leave Jack," I managed through choked sobs.

Robert snickered as he approached me. "I didn't think you'd break so easily. Funny how the death of one insignificant person can do this to the strongest of us."

"Move!" Thomas shouted.

This time, I didn't. I didn't want to. I let the baseball bat slam right into the back of my head.

Dan's POV

Once all of us had walked out of the room, Nate and Tim threw John's unconscious body through the door. Percy then closed and locked the door.

Phil, still holding Sam's body, asked, "So, where should we start looking for Mark and Jack?"

After Jason put Percy's arm around his shoulder, he replied, "Well, for now, we should probably follow the hallway Robert went down. If he wasn't walking to where they are, he was walking to where they were. That's at least a start."

Once we all agreed, we began making our way in the direction Robert had walked in. Phil led us all and instructed me to follow behind and make sure no one else decided to run off on their own. Tim was right behind Phil, glancing over his shoulder to make sure Sam was okay. Jason and Percy followed behind him, and Nate walked beside me.

Nate was staring at the floor while he walked and seemed to be deep in thought.

"You doing alright?" I asked in a hushed voice, just in case Robert was lingering around somewhere near us.

He shrugged. "Can I ask you something?"

"Sure?"

"What happens if we're too late?"

I stared at him for a split second before looking back at where I was walking. "What do you mean?"

Nate hesitated for a second before replying, "What are we supposed to do if someone died? How would we explain their death to their family? If it's one of you guys, how would we explain it to your fans?"

I stopped walking. He took a few more steps before realizing I had stopped. Once he did, he jogged back to me. "Sorry for saying that. I know we'll all be fine–"

I interrupted him by bracing him in a hug. He didn't pull away, but he also didn't hug back. Nate just stood in my embrace.

"Don't be sorry. I've been thinking about that since the first few days we got trapped here." I pulled away from him, but kept my hands planted on his shoulders. "To be completely honest, I don't know what's going to happen. Neither does Phil or anyone else. I'm pretty sure the voice doesn't even know exactly what's going to happen. That's likely why she demanded Mark and Jack be found immediately."

Nate tilted his head. "You think the voice is afraid of us because we're unpredictable?"

I nodded. "Yeah, and if she's afraid of a bunch of idiots like ourselves, I think she isn't as cunning as she's made herself out to be. I mean, what kind of plan is so fragile that it could fall apart at the hands of thirteen-year-olds?"

Nate grinned a small smile before he hugged me tightly. "You know, for a YouTuber, you give really good advice. Like, not joke advice. Solid, helpful advice."

I hugged him back but pulled away quickly after hearing a distant voice scream, "Did you just murder Mark?!"

Nate and I exchanged a quick glance before we bolted in the direction the voice had come from. We turned a corner and slammed into Jason and Percy.

All four of us fell forward onto the floor. Percy groaned a quick, "What the hell?"

Tim whirled around whispering, "Shh!"

Jason, Percy, Nate, and I laid facedown on the floor while we heard Robert state, "Too easy."

We heard footsteps walk down the hallway in the opposite direction as us. We stayed completely still for a few minutes after we couldn't hear the footsteps. Jason and Nate bounced up first and helped Percy up.

I pushed myself off the ground a couple seconds later. Phil turned around to face the rest of us. "You guys heard that guy say something about Mark being murdered, right? I'm not just imagining stuff?"

"Unfortunately, yes," I answered. "But Mark wouldn't have actually gotten himself killed, right?"

Phil shook his head. "His driving force was to keep Jack safe. He wouldn't let himself die unless..."

Phil and I made eye contact before we both broke into a sprint in the direction Robert had been in. We ran down a hallway, then turned a corner.

Thomas Sanders was laying on the ground with a hole punctured through his stomach.

Mark Fischbach had a pool of blood surrounding his head.

And Seán McLoughlin was nowhere to be found.