[3rd]

"Blaza? Where are you?"

Akik walked around the yard, his tail lashing with worry. Blaza had been with him, but he had very suddenly disappeared when he wasn't looking. He doesn't do things like that. If he needed to go somewhere, he always told Akik. And if he had wandered off, Akik would have found him by now.

Feeling like he had been up and searching for half the day (which he might as well have been), he sat down with his back against a tree, sighing deeply.

He felt the presence before he saw who it was.

Akik perked his head up, looking around warily. It was a presence he had never felt before, a powerful one.

Powerful and dark.

He stood, now alarmed, his gaze drawn to the forest.

Where glowing, blood red eyes stared back, accompanied by a sinister grin.

As the figure turned, the eyes disappeared from his view.

"Hey!" Akik called, running after the figure. Somehow he knew they had something to do with this. He pushed brush and bracken out of his way as he ran. The figure was just up ahead, like a shadow weaving through the undergrowth.

When Akik finally reached an open clearing, the figure was gone.

-----

[Addie]

A dark void expanded all around me. It was the place Inferno had taken me to meet with the not evil characters (I would say protagonists, but not all of them are protagonists). It was the same void that seemed to show up every time I write any form of paranormal activity in stories.

Anatox was already there, her green eyes glowing slightly in the low light. Gradient was also there, illuminating the small area where he levitated a few inches off the floor.

Anatox looked up as Harm and I entered the space. "Good, you made it."

"Hi," I waved.

"You know you're gonna get in trouble if someone finds us," Harm said strictly, "What are you doing?"

"Helping you. Because I, personally, don't see the child creator-" she motioned to me, "Attacking Xirox."

"Technically, I'm not-"

"In my eyes, you're a child. Deal with it," Anatox snapped.

I remained silent. I'm thirteen, it could go both ways.

"Anyway," Anatox continued, "Let me hear your side of the story."

So I told her what happened. Prismarine had attacked me, I fought back, and when Inferno and Harm found me he purposefully made it look as if I was on the winning side and morphed into Xirox somehow.

I didn't think she'd believe me, but she nodded along as I explained.

"I knew there was something off about him the moment he showed up at the cabin," Anatox scoffed, "Always seemed real distant. Like he'd been traumatized and never really got over it."

"Well, the Between really doesn't seem like a great place to live," Harm pointed out.

"Well, what're we gonna do about this?" I said, "I don't doubt that Inferno would try to kill me on sight, even if it means she gets hurt just as bad."

"And that's why I've called some friends," Anatox smirked. "Should be here any second now."

Sure enough, as soon as she said it, two figures appeared in the corner of my vision. One was Zane, and with him an orange demon hybrid with red wings and horns, Dusk. Two more appeared shortly after, Dawn and Twilight. Twilight glared at his brother as he noticed him. Dusk awkwardly looked to the side, not meeting his accusing gaze. Zane put his hand on Dusk's shoulder as if to comfort him. Dawn didn't seem like she was planning to stop her sons if they just so happened to start strangling each other (among other things I could imagine them trying to do).

Already seeing this not turning out great, Anatox cleared her throat to get their attention. "Guys, no bickering. I can see how this is turning out, and I need you to focus. The past is the past, get over it."

Twilight grunted and seemed to teleport to the other side of Dawn, putting her between him and Dusk. He grumpily looked at Anatox. "Never told me he was gonna be here."

"Well, when he heard Vizor had gone missing he wanted to help, so either deal with it or go back to the cabin," Anatox said, agitated, "Your choice. Both Harm and Gradient can teleport us back, so we really don't need you for that."

Twilight huffed, seeming to process that for a moment. He didn't leave, so I assumed he had decided to stay and help.

"Now that that's over with," Anatox rolled her eyes and looked back at me. "These guys all wanted to help find the missing characters and bring them back."

"At least we're not alone doing this," I sighed.

Even if it was help from characters that didn't tend to get along.

"Soooo..." I said, unsure, "What now?"

Anatox smiled.

"We go find the bad guys."

-----

[3rd]

I can't believe she would just attack him unprovoked.

Inferno clenched her fists, her claws drawing blood as she dug them into her palms. As obvious as it is, she tends to hold a grudge for a while.

Her tail tip flicked irritably as she tried to calm herself. When she got angry, she became Scorch, and when Scorch came out, things tended to break. Including people. And she didn't feel like angrily killing people today.

She didn't feel the extra presence in the room for a moment.

Her ears perked. Who was this?

Inferno stood up, wincing slightly as her rib started hurting again, and turned to face the newcomer.

It was a girl with pale, almost white skin and blood red eyes. Her cape fell behind two crimson, reptilian wings, and her maroon wolf ears and tail were nearly identical to Inferno's.

Inferno's hand moved to her pocket, where she kept her box of matches. She could tell who this was before she introduced herself.

"Crescent," Inferno growled.

Crescent smiled. "Hello, Inferno. What a delight to finally meet you."

She spat the word "delight" as if it was venom on her tongue.

"I know why you're here," Inferno said, "And you won't take me like you took the others."

Crescent laughed. Her voice was childlike. "Oh, silly, I know that."

The vampire reached into her pocket and retrieved a black pen. It was identical to Addie's. "I'm gonna have to take you... a bit differently."

Crescent scribbled something onto her palm.

Suddenly, a burning agony overtook Inferno's senses as she fell to the ground. She felt like she was on fire. And she was. But the fire was invisible.

This pain. This PAIN.

She'd felt it before. Addie had been using her in a roleplay. She had lost herself in a fit of pyromania, and someone - Rainbow, that was her name - had been forced to burn her to stop her.

It had been unbearable.

But here it was again, burning, burning agony that spread throughout her body, the unseeable flame weakening her, weakening...

Crescent's malicious ruby gaze and gleeful grin was imprinted in Inferno's mind as the world around her faded to black.

-----

Sorry for not updating this ;w;

1145 words