Stacy's words shocked me as she spoke, the venom in them even worse than what I could even imagine ever coming from her mouth. "You're a selfish bitch! You ruined my fucking life, you whore." Her eyes flared as she snarled.

I tried to push myself up, but the kick she landed on my side made me crash right back down to the floor. A pained groan left me at the impact, and I knew there was going to be a bruise. She reached down and grabbed my hair, tugging my face towards hers.

I didn't know where this strength of hers had come from, but it did not feel natural. "I don't know what you did to me," she started, causing me to furrow my brows in confusion. "But this weird mark showed up, and I'm having these hallucinations. People think I'm crazy! Even Lukas thinks I've lost my mind."

Before she could continue on, there was a click and the barrel of a gun was pressed to her temple. "Release her." Hoody commanded, causing Stacy to freeze. My scalp felt like it was on fire as she released it, individual strands of hair falling from them. "Now back away." I kept my eyes on her as she took four steps back, her glaring eyes switching between us.

"Why am I not shocked your soulmate is a fucking killer? Is he from the same place as the mark?" I spared a glance at Hoody, and he had followed her with the pistol, keeping it pressed to her temple. His face was covered by his stitched mask, but I could imagine the hard steel color of his eyes as he glared at her.

"Show me your mark." She went to protest, but the barrel of the gun was pressed harder to her skull. The muscles in his arms flexed as she pulled down the collar of her shirt. Just above her heart was the same mark I had on my hip and the same one that Hoody had on his left shoulder blade.

The 'X' crossing over a circle.

Nerves swirled in my gut, and I saw a twitch from Hoody's finger that was hovering over the trigger. "Starlight, grab my phone and text Skully to come here. The password is the same as yours." I grabbed his phone, inputting the same password I had on my phone. I sent the text quickly and saw him guiding Stacy to sit down in a chair while he stood in front of her.

I moved to get up, wincing at the pain in my side, but I forced myself to stand up while ignoring the pain. My vision started to go white, but I took a few deep breaths and waited for it to go away before I walked to stand next to him. I pressed my hand lightly to his back, but he didn't mind the touch.

Stacy's eyes tracked the movement with a sneer. "I cannot believe you willingly touched this filth." The barrel of the gun knocked against the center of her forehead.

"I'm better protection than you'll ever have." He responded back with the same disgusted tone. "And I am no killer." He spat the last word out, his shoulders tensed.

She gave him a look of disbelief, scoffing. A knock on the window took the attention of everyone except Hoody. I made my way over to it and peeked behind the blinds. At the sight of Skully, I hurried to let them in, keeping the blinds shut.

They walked up to the two, causing me to trail behind. Hoody didn't spare them a glance as Stacy studied the new being in the room. I could hear her breathing pick up as her eyes turned to me, the look in them pleading.

"Star, please." I flinched at the nickname, averting my eyes from her begging ones. "Are you…are you behind why Hunter disappeared?" She whispered, causing me to step back at the reminder.

My heart began to pound loudly in my chest, feeling like it would burst through my ribcage. My fingers twitched as I glanced down at them. My chest heaved as I shakily moved to sit down on the bed.

"How could you?" I felt my palms press onto my ears, trying to block her out. "He loved you! And you killed him! You disgusting bitch. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you.." She let out a broken sob as she pressed her forehead to the barrel of the gun. "Just kill me already."

I let out a hiccup as tears streamed down my cheeks, rocking myself slightly. "Skully," Hoody commanded quietly before I saw his hand reaching for me. I let it slowly wrap around my throat, and I grabbed onto his forearm, letting myself look up at him.

The red eyes of the mask stared back at me, seemingly emotionless if not for the stitched frown. The emotions that began to muddle with mine showed how he actually felt. I knew he sympathized with me, but he hadn't been lying when he said he'd never killed anyone.

"I'm here." He whispered, kneeling down, reminding me of when we found him. "Take off my mask for me." I messily pulled it off with one hand, holding it close to my chest. His emotions were dulled a little when I removed one of my hands.

I stared into his liquid eyes, feeling the tears slow ever so slightly. A scoff came from Stacy, and I bit my lip to choke back a sob, refusing to look in her direction. "People are wrong when they think I've lost my mind. You're taking comfort in weird ass fucking killer in a stupid mask. Two of them, actually!"

Hoody's fingers tightened as his eyes turned back to the hard steel. She continued to babble as his lips pulled into a frown, holding eye contact with me.

"Did you even consider letting me in when I was begging for you to open up back at that barn?"

My eyes flew wide open as I turned my head to her the best I could with Hoody's hand on my throat. "I tried!" I argued back, my voice raw from emotion.

"You left me out there."

"It wasn't my choice."

"Then whose was it?"

I couldn't force out an answer.

"It was my call," Hoody stated. "I didn't know anything about you, and I only cared about getting Starlight out with me. I could care less about anyone else other than Skully."

"Shocking." She was being very obviously sarcastic as she rolled her eyes. "You would be the type to only care for yourself. Fuck everyone else, I guess."

I saw his jaw tense out of the corner of my eye. He kept his gaze on me, and I turned back to meet his eyes. He forced his fingers to relax against my skin as he exhaled through his nose.

"You two are so gross. Of course only someone so vile could love someone the same as them."

"Shut up." Skully's voice was firm, and I saw them glaring down their nose at her.

"If I say no?"

"We'll kill you ourselves. Unlike him, we aren't afraid to murder."

A laugh of disbelief left her throat, the sound turning hysterical. I glanced at Hoody to see him standing up. "She is too far gone. Get rid of her."

"What?" I asked weakly, standing up on weak legs. "What do you mean, Hoody?"

"She's gone crazy. The sickness has gotten to her. She can't return from this mental state." He sneered at me, daring me to challenge him.

And I took the challenge.

Even after all that Stacy just said and did to me. I couldn't even guess why I was doing this. I just was.

"Then how did you come back from it?" I could feel Stacy's unsteady eyes on me as I took a deep breath to brace myself.

His eyes were the hard steel color they used to be when they looked at me. "I never even got that far gone." He did his best to intimidate me with his height, and as much as I didn't want myself to feel that intimidation, I did. "She was trapped in the forest for hours without any sort of protection from it."

"I won't let you just 'get rid' of her!" I argued back, digging my nails into my fist as my old habit of chewing the inside of my lip began acting up.

"We can make her one of us." All eyes turned to Skully when they spoke. "She is becoming a victim of the Operator. I can put her out of her misery now rather than later, but your Starlight cannot see the process and it needs to happen in the woods."

Stacy shot forward as an act of defiance, but she just got thwacked across the face with the barrel of the gun. I flinched at the sound it created as a yelp left her lips, her neck cracking the slightest bit as it swung to the side.

Skully readjusted their aim, the barrel of the gun pressing roughly against her temple, forcing her head to face the opposite way from me. "It's either you become one of us, or you die." I let my eyes bounce between the three others in the room.

I felt helpless. So fucking helpless.

Tears stung my eyes once more as I looked down at my feet, fists clenched. My bottom lip caught between my teeth, and I squeezed my eyes shut in an attempt not to cry. I heard shuffling before a hand slid between my clenched fingers. "Starlight," Hoody whispered, but I didn't give him my attention.

A sigh escaped his nose as he pressed his face against the top of my head. I refused to hold his hand back and refused to give him any notion I was paying attention to him. More shuffling was heard, and I was slightly concerned by it.

Not like I could do anything anyway.

"(Y/n)." He spoke firmly, his fingers suddenly pulling my chin up. I kept my eyes shut, knowing I might see the hard steel be the wonderful liquid mercury. I froze when his lips brushed mine, his forehead resting on my own. "Don't give up on me yet. We have to do what we can to get through this."

"But is this the right way?"

"At the moment? Yes." I sighed, my eyes stinging as I pressed my lips against his.