~Brendon's POV~

Ryan had fallen asleep quickly. I didn't even have time to talk to him about earlier. I felt uneasy looking at him rest. This past month felt different from my memories.

This Ryan was different...

I shook away the thoughts as I felt myself drifting to sleep. This was my Ryan...He had to be the same...Right?..

My head drooped on my shoulders and I passed out.

I was standing in a dark room. I looked around, but I couldn't make anything out. It was too dark.

"Hello!?" I called out. My voice seemed to echo.

"Baby?.."

I turned at the sound of Ryan's voice. He stepped out of the darkness. I wanted to run over to him, but I could see a dark red stain on his button up shirt.

"Ry?.." I reached my hand out to him, but he held his hands up to push me away.

"Don't trust me." He said, shaking his head.

"What?"

"Just don't! Trust-"

"Ryan, what are you on?" I reached out to grab his hand, but Ryan was pulled into the darkness. I ran after him, plummeting myself into darkness. I cried out as the darkness seemed to swallow me...

"Fuck!" My eyes shot open. I was sweating and breathing heavily, looking around the room.

Ryan was still sleeping peacefully next to me. But what was that dream?.. Why did it feel real?..

"It's okay...I'm okay...Ryan's okay..." I mumbled to myself. I laid back down next to Ryan. I closed my eyes and eventually drifted back to sleep, slowly forgetting the dream ever happened...

---

~Pete's POV~

The night was quiet.

Except for the sounds of nightmares... But that seemed inescapable nowadays...We all had them.

Tyler had constant nightmares of losing Josh. Brendon always woke up from darkness, forgetting the main point of his nightmare later. Frank always woke up, simply cuddling close to Gerard as he shook.

Patrick had only told me about his nightmares once...and it scared even me.

I leaned against the metal frame of the window as the sun began to rise. Patrick was laying on his back in front of me, his mouth open just slightly as he snored lightly. I should have woken him up. Patrick loved the colors of the rising and setting sun, but he was sleeping so soundly... He hardly slept like this anymore.

As the sun rose and its glow covered where I sat, my energy illuminated me. I smiled and let my eyes close. Just as the glow between Patrick and I having grown stronger, so had my own energy. I had learned to better manipulate and control it with the other's help. We had learned off each other. Gerard had been able to learn how to knock people out at a slightly further distance with the help of his psychic abilities. Patrick was finding it easier to use his telepathy as time went on. Spencer had even learned how to shoot ice out of his hand spiderman style.

I opened my eyes and smiled at the sun. It always reminded me of Patrick...Patrick was a ray of sunshine back in that place... Even if he never realized.

I trailed my fingers along his hairline, causing him to stir. "Wake up, 'Trick..." I smiled softly.

Patrick hummed in response, opening his eyes slightly. Whenever he was just waking up, or still asleep when his eyes opened, they flashed a dull yellow.

Oh how I used to love those strange eyes...

Now how they only linked to bad memories...

Patrick blinked a bit and his baby blue eyes reappeared as he yawned. He pushed himself up and smiled out the window.

"Oh, I love the sunrise..." He smiled sleepily.

"I know you do..." I chuckled, leaning over and kissing his cheek.

Patrick blushed slightly as I pulled away. He was still so innocent, despite how broken the doctor tried to leave him.

"Should we get the others?" Patrick asked after a minute of silence.

"Can...can we just take advantage of this moment alone together?.." I asked, leaning close to him again.

He smiled and leaned in, connecting our lips. Times like this were rare. We were either scouting, expanding our abilities, or sleeping and eating. This was an opportunity to just be together in the silence above the others. It was so nice to have this moment of closeness to him. My tongue pushed past his lips and his arms wrapped around me tightly. I explored his mouth for the first time in weeks while his tongue teased its way around mine.

"Why the fuck is it so bright up there!?" Someone complained from downstairs.

Patrick and I pulled apart, catching a split second of the blinding glow between us. It faded quickly when we parted, but it was definitely what the others had seen.

Sometimes I wished I could control that glow as easily as I could my own. Sometimes it made our closeness... Difficult...

"I'm assuming the others are awake now..." Patrick smiled sadly, his arms sliding away from where he held me. Our glow faded and I sighed.

"Yea...C'mon 'Trick..."

We walked down the steps of the second story and saw the others beginning to wake up.

"Thanks for the wake up call, boys." Brendon stretched.

"Don't get used to it." I shot back with a roll of my eyes.

Everyone was seeming to gather in the middle of the large room. Patrick and I joined them, looking around the group. Tyler leaned on Josh, looking as if he may pass out at any moment. Frank looked at the ground, holding tightly to Gerard's hand. Brendon stood between Spencer and Ryan, but he seemed to be leaning more towards Spencer for some reason.

We were all quiet. Everyone seemed to be afraid to continue the conversation from the night before... It was finally Ryan who stepped forward.

"We said we'd sleep on it..." He said quietly, "and...I stand by what I said..."

"I..." Brendon started, but bit his lip.

"I don't want to..." Tyler said softly, holding tightly to Josh's waist.

I was quiet, but for some reason everyone's heads turned to me. I looked around, confused, before Gerard spoke.

"Pete...You haven't been here the longest...but we all trust your judgment."

I noticed Frank give a slight nod as Gerard spoke. I looked around at the others. Their faces showed agreeance.

Fuck.

How the hell should I know what to do?..

"I don't have a good answer..." I finally said honestly. I looked at the ground before I turned back to the main group, "My gut says stay together... But Ryan makes a fair point...big groups are easily found."

"So...How would we split?.." Josh finally asked quietly, Tyler holding him tighter still.

"Pete. You take Patrick, Tyler, Josh, and Frank." Ryan said with a bit of a torn expression, "I'll take Brendon, Spencer. And Gerard. Gerard will keep the groups linked through Frank."

I could see worry fill Gerard as he looked at Frank. I didn't like the idea of separating them. Frank wasn't Frank anymore. He needed Gerard there... This didn't feel right...

"Where will we go?" Patrick asked beside me.

"We'll move along the country. Ryan answered, "Maybe find somewhere isolated enough we can avoid any more of this bullshit..."

The group fell silent again. No one knew what to say. We couldn't really be doing this...could we?

"We should move soon." Spencer spoke, letting out a small fog of chilled air as he breathed.

"Agreed." Ryan nodded, "Let's split up the supplies and get this sorted..."

Ryan walked back to where he originally stood before turning away, followed by Brendon and Spencer. Josh and Tyler went back over to the wall. Patrick and I were left with Gerard and Frank.

"I don't know if I can do it..." Gerard said with choked words,"He... He's my one and only... I can't..."

"Just temporarily..." Patrick tried to comfort Gerard, but I could hear uncertainty in his tone.

"Pat, I just..." He bit his lip and looked at Frank before pulling him into a tight hug.

"This isn't right..." Patrick mumbled, turning away. "We shouldn't separate people...communication strategy or not..." He walked back over to the stairs we had climbed down earlier and plopped down on the third step, resting his head in his hands.

I sighed and looked down. We really shouldn't... I found strength in numbers... The others were scared though. Last night was the closest they had gotten to us since escaping...

I looked back up just as Gerard was pulling out of his and Frank's hug. He was cupping Frank's face in his hands, appearing to try and tell him something, but as usual, their conversations were silent.

I hated this feeling... It was the same feeling as that place...

I shuddered at the mere thought.