Trigger warning: Panic attack. Read safely :)

BANG!

Becky looked up from where the needle was about to go into Hannah's leg and looked toward the source of the sound. Tom looked down to see a bullet fly into his arm, making him release Hannah and double over in pain. Hannah saw her chance she shoved off Tom's other arm with relative ease. She stood up, being careful to stay well away from the needle. She knew from experience that one of the ways had a lot of Wiggly crazed people due to ToyZone being that direction, it also had a lot of dead ends, so her best bet was to run in the direction of the bullet, although she didn't know who the source of the bullet was and whether they would also shoot her. Not really having any other option Hannah ran in that direction, hoping to god that it was the right decision.

Hannah had only been running for a few seconds when she was stopped in her tracks by arms wrapping around her. Thinking that she had escaped death so many times, this must be when her luck finally runs out. Although she knows this is probably the end, she won't be giving up without a fight. She wiggled as hard as she could, trying her hardest to get out of the grip of whatever was holding her.

Woah, calm down banana, we don't want you getting bruised.' Hannah couldn't believe her ears, she recognised that voice.

'E-Ethan?' She asked tentatively, still not allowing herself to look up, for fear of it not being Ethan.

'Who else?'

'I thought you were dead!'

'There's no damn way I'm gonna go without a fight, not when I know what I'm fighting for.' Hannah felt tears pour down her face as she hugged Ethan as hard as she could. Ethan enjoyed the hug but heard footsteps quickly approaching.

'I hate to break up the reunion Banana, but I think we better split!' Ethan picked Hannah up and moved her onto his back.

'Hold on tight Banana, this is going to be the best piggy-back of your life!' Hannah held on as tight as she could. Ethan began to run, hearing the pounding footsteps close behind.

Ethan felt a drop of sweat make its way down his face. He slowed to a walk, stopping running for the first time in around ten minutes. Although he was a lot stronger than he looked, carrying a nine year-old on his back while running had definitely taken its toll. He listened closely, thankfully not hearing the footsteps that had been following them the entire time. It hadn't taken very long to get rid of Becky and Tom, but as soon as they lost one group of shoppers another one immediately replaced them. "These fuckers really want this stupid doll" Ethan thought, completely sick of all of this happening over a DOLL. Ethan thought that since he had finally gotten the crazy shoppers off his tail they better get back to Lex. Before starting to run again, Ethan realised that he better check in with Hannah.

'You good back there, Banana?'

'Yeah.' Hannah's voice wobbled as she said this, giving away the fear that was slowly consuming her.

'It's gonna be okay Banana, I promise, we made it this far. We're gonna get back to Lex now and then we're gonna save these people, okay?'

'Mhm.'

Ethan began to run again, making sure to not draw anymore attention to them. They snuck around corners and soon the bathrooms were in view. The only problem was that they were going to have to cross to the other side of the corridor to get there, a corridor filled with shoppers searching for the very thing that was still clutched in Hannah's arms.

'Hey Banana, is it possible for you to get that toy back into the backpack?' Ethan felt Hannah moving around on his back as Hannah tried to move into a position where she could get the Wiggly into her bag.

'Can't do it.' Hannah whispered, sounding defeated.

'That's okay, we'll just have to make a break for it.' Ethan said, sounding as calm as he could, although inside he was just as scared as Hannah.

'Hold on tighter than you ever have before Hannah.' With that Ethan began to run as fast as he could across the corridor. He noticed some heads turn in his direction and some began to run toward him. Ethan somehow found it in himself to run even faster. He made it to the bathroom as hurriedly did the knock, cursing his past self for making it so complicated.
"Knock Knock, Knock Knock Knock."

'Ethan!' The door flung open and Ethan raced on, Lex shut the door immediately behind him. He collapsed on the floor, barely maintaining consciousness. Lex enveloped Hannah in a giant hug, Ethan joining in soon after, once he had caught his breath. They stayed like that for quite a while, until there was a loud bang on that door. Hannah jumped at this, and although Ethan was quick to assure her that nothing could get through that door, it was too late, that bang sent Hannah over the edge. She immediately began to sob, all the fear being released at once. Lex and Ethan looked at each other, not sure what to do. Ethan was the first to act and softly lifted Hannah onto his lap, wrapping his arms around her and gently rocking her back and forth. Hannah by now was having a full on panic attack and was shaking violently and having trouble breathing. Ethan noticed this and thankfully knew what to do.

'Banana, I need you to follow my breathing.' After he said this he took a deep breath in and then breathed out. Hannah tried to do this but was interrupted by the sobs that kept tearing through her body. Ethan decided to take a different approach.

'Breath in.' Ethan softly whispered, taking in a deep breath after he said this. Hannah copied.

'Breath out.' Ethan said softly, breathing out with Hannah.

They continued doing this as Hannah's breathing slowly returned back to normal. Lex watched in awe at how wonderfully her boyfriend handled such a stressful situation. Lex felt a bit left out, not knowing what to do. That was until she remembered vaguely something that her dad used to do to get her to sleep, back before he disappeared. Whenever she was having trouble getting to sleep he would sing to her. She remembered a particular song that she loved. So she began to sing for Hannah, the same way that her dad used to sing for her.

'I've been alone
Surrounded by darkness
I've seen how heartless
The world can be.' Ethan looked up as Lex sang, a look of recognition in his eyes.

'And I've seen you crying
You felt like it's hopeless
I'll always do my best
To make you see.' Ethan joined in the singing, knowing this song off by heart.

'Cause baby, you're not alone
Cause you're here with me
And nothin's ever gonna bring us down
Cause nothin can keep me from lovin' you
And you know it's true
It don't matter what'll come to be
Our love is all we need to make it through.' Lex and Ethan sang together, their voices melting together to make a soothing melody. As they continued to sing they watched as Hannah slowly fell asleep on Ethan's lap, enjoying the beautiful song.

Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, it was really fun to write, we will get back to the original story soon but I thought there could be some bonding time for these precious people. At the time of writing this I'm at 169 reads, nice. You all need to look after yourself in these trying times, I'll try to get more chapters out so you aren't bored ;) have a great day and sleep well.
Love y'all!!