Brian gripped (Y/n)'s hand tightly as they walked through the crowded sidewalks. It was a cloudy day, but it wasn't cold to either of them. The temperature was almost neutral with a slight breeze. He thought it to be the perfect weather, and the people travelling the streets in light jackets must have thought so as well.

The laughing of his Starlight after his silly joke made him smile. It was the highlight of his day every time he heard it. The sweet sound ringing inside of his ears pleased his heart in a way that he hadn't felt much before.

"Do you want some food?" He glanced down at her. She was wearing a yellow hoodie that was nearly the same color as his and black pants, complimenting his outfit that was the exact same.

She hummed before nodding. "Where should we go?" Her eyes trailed over his face before moving to look at the restaurants in her limited vision.

"Do you want to go to Phantom's?" At the sound of the restaurant, her eyes lit up like stars and she nodded quickly. A laugh left his throat, and he pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "Then to Phantom's we go."

They swung their intertwined hands gently as they walked, weaving through the many people in an attempt to get there faster. Brian knew that most of the streets were filled with college students, recognizing the passing faces of Cameron and Hunter with Stacy and Lukas.

He was happy.

He felt normal.

It was surreal.

He ignored his gut dropping at the sudden realization and tried to keep a smile on his face. Frustration began to fill him, close to exploding in a way that an egg explodes in a microwave. He noticed his grip tightened when (Y/n) tried to pull her hand away, so he quickly let it release the pressure, mumbling a quiet 'sorry' in response.

"Brian, what's wrong?" His eyes trailed over to hers when she pulled them aside and to a stop. The worry in her expression made him feel guilty. Her free hand came up and pressed against his cheek ever so gently. He wanted to melt at her touch.

He hesitated to speak before letting himself spill out the words. "This is a dream, and I know it. I'm so upset that I can't actually live a happy life with you because everything was ruined by the fucking Operator and Alex. We're going to be dead by the end of this nightmare anyway." Her face faltered at his words.

Brian leaned his head down, and before his lips could make contact with hers, a groan left her throat. Through his rambling, he hadn't heard a gunshot, but was merely unsurprised when blood started spilling from her stomach. He braced himself to feel a bullet make contact with his skull.

Hoody slowly blinked his eyes in the dark space, a frown resting on his lips. He missed the pleasant dreams he had sleeping near (Y/n), or even just watching her relaxed face when he wasn't able to sleep.

His head hung, soreness running through his neck muscles as he lifted it to rest against the cold wall. Every movement he made strained his aching muscles. The burn on his arm was so sensitive and still stung. The kick to his chest made it decently hard to breathe. The bruise on his cheek throbbed.

This was so not his week.

He sighed through his nose as he dug through his thoughts. He was mostly focused on getting out of here and getting back to his soulmate, but he couldn't even guess if that was possible or not. He hoped she was okay, and if Skully wasn't making sure that she was okay, then he'd scold them.

He needed her to be okay. For both of their sakes. He had ignored it previously, but he was noticing how much he needed her by his side. She was essentially his rock to keep him stable.

Soulmates needed their other half to feel whole. It was almost cruel, in a way.

Without his Starlight, he knew he wouldn't have been able to keep it together for much longer if he hadn't gained the courage to finally drag her into the alleyway. He had seen her mark on her way to hang out with her friends, causing him to drop whatever he was going to do, and he just waited. It was a terrible way to start their adventure together, but he had hoped he made it up to her with the game of UNO.

Thinking back to it, he felt guilty for how harshly he had treated (Y/n) in the beginning. Since he had become Hoody, his emotions felt screwed up. He wasn't the sweet, empathetic Brian he used to be; he was much colder and less in tune with emotions.

But he could feel that slowly begin to change the more time he spends around her.

He was becoming the softer person he used to be. He started to care less about hiding himself from her. He actually revealed his face to her. It was hard to pull the mask off, but he knew that she wouldn't judge.

Hell, she helped him through a damn panic attack.

His eyes trailed to his right arm where he knew, even if he couldn't see, that the name Starlight was written in the handwriting he had adored. Before anything with the Operator happened, he would stare at it for several minutes every morning and every night, memorizing it, not caring if he knew it better than any other mark on his body or not. He had some silly love for a person he didn't know with a nickname he would create.

After staring at the name, he would then stare at the handprints that wrapped around as much of his forearm that they could reach, burning the sight into his head. Even if they were gone now, he would still be able to trace where they were located on his forearm.

The soulmate mark had become something special to Brian. It reassured him and comforted him in some of his darkest moments. It was almost funny to him how a little mark was the only thing that kept him sane until the Operator was able to make him snap.

Hoody didn't care as much about the mark, and as time went on, he almost forgot it was there. There were some nights after his fall, however, where he would waste hours upon hours staring at it. He had thrown the love away, but couldn't bring himself to hate the person behind the mark, no matter how much he may have wanted to.

If he was in this situation as the same Hoody he was a month ago, he would've just convinced Masky to just end him. It's not like he was of much use to the fight against the Operator anyway. He wouldn't have cared if it was done in the most painful way possible either.

In this situation as the Hoody he currently is, he wasn't going to beg for a death caused by Masky's hands or weapons. No, he was going to make it out alive because he had a reason to live. He didn't care if he had to break his own bones just to get out of this damned place.

He would get back to his (Y/n).