Instead of the expected welcome and so-earned gratitude, the fierce, cute blue-haired girl- Tsunami? - whipped her head to Glory, shouting:

"Go! He's coming! He's coming to kill us all!"

~

"What?" Glory said confusedly. "Tsunami, what are you talking about?"

Tsunami shook her head. "Save yourself, Glory. He's coming. He told us he would kill us all! Go while you can..." She shook her head furiously to shake off the force of the drugs. "Ugh, the stuff they've been putting into our arms...they're strong as hell."

Glory was trembling. "Is it...him? M-Morrowseer?"

Tsunami grimaced. Everyone else started to wake up, one by one, making Glory almost smile with gratitude. "Who else?"

She shook her head, not saying a word. She barely managed to bend down to inspect her best friend for any sign of injury. Thankfully, there was none. Just dizziness.

"I'm not leaving you again, Tsunami. Not for safety, not for riches or money, and definitely not to save my own pathetic life," she replied firmly.

"You never left us, Glory," Sunny whispered. "Don't hurt yourself with the past. Look at yourself now! You're a shining star, for goodness sake!"

Glory grimaced. "Well, a star about to burn out. Well, I never got to apologize for what I did years ago. It was a bad and unforgivable thing, guys, and I hope you guys know how much I hate myself for it every day. It was selfish of me."

Deathbringer jumped into the conversation as Glory helped Tsunami up. "What are you talking about? Oh, the story of leaving them for me, right? There's isn't much. We only shared like, a kiss or tw-"

Tsunami raised an eyebrow, punching her arm weakly with a mocking grin. "We leave for a few days and you get yourself a new sexy assassin wannabe?"

Deathbringer snorted. "I'm a certified assassin, thank you very much. And have you looked at yourself in the mirror lately? Because you're knockout gorgeous. What's your name, by the way? You're cute."

Glory rolled her eyes. "You forgot playboy," She muttered under her breath. Was Deathbringer just hitting on Tsunami? And worse, was Tsunami looking him over? She felt impatient. Maybe a little jealous. Really little, though.

Which was hilarious, considering the situation they were in. "Quick, Morrowseer might come any second!" She said impatiently.

"I have a boyfriend," Tsunami said suddenly. "Or do I? He didn't ask me, out yet, but it feels like we have since beginning of time..."

"Aw, you guys have such romantic lives!" The rainbow-haired girl exclaimed excitedly behind Glory. "The closest I went to having a romance story is between a little snail I found in the rain! We even shared an umbrella together...like the song. Umbrella by Rihanna? Anyone?" Kinkajou sighed. "Ah, the good days."

"Can you stand, Sunny?" Glory whispered, trying to ignore Kinkajou's chatter as much as possible.

"Yeah. Thank you so much, Glory!" Sunny beamed at her, and it warmed her cold, stony heart. She missed the good old days when they used to share a small sandwich together in what Kestrel called the "Dungeon," a dark, bug-filled place they had to go whenever they did something "wrong" or something she didn't like.

"Glory, is that you?" Clay said, blinking his eyes open sleepily. Glory quickly went to him, giving him a smile.

"Clay," She whispered. "I missed you so much, big guy!" She shouted, wrapping her arms around him. He let out a squeak.

"If you guys want to get out of here alive, you should probably go now," Peril said coldly behind them. "Also, one of your friends happen to be bleeding."

Glory turned to Peril in surprise. Of course. Deathbringer is injured.

"I'm fine," Deathbringer said with a nod. But it was visible he was sweating in pain. "I'm not even losing much blood."

Glory sighed. "Peril is right. We better go now. Can you move, Deathbringer?"

"I'm a trained assassin. Even at my state, I can move better than any of you." He seemed cold, distant. "And you've been loud enough for all the people in the building could hear you. Morrowseer probably knows you're here."

"I..." She was speechless. She always thought of herself as smart and responsible for her actions. But now, she was so eager to see her friends once again that she was reckless. Too reckless.

Reckless enough for Morrowseer to notice.

"Where are we?" Starlight whispered, and Glory quickly gave him a hug, making him grunt. When she released him, he was blinking his black eyes very fast, like he we calculating every piece of information in the room. "Glory? Is that you? What are you..."

"We don't have time," Glory said quickly.

"Then what are we doing? Let's go while we can," Tsunami snapped.

Peril piped in. "I know a secret passageway that I'm positive nobody knows," she said lowly. "Do you want to go through there?"

Uh, duh. "Yes, please." She reached out and grabbed her friend's hand. Sunny and Clay. "Thank you so much for this, Peril. It means...more than the world to me."

Peril shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Well, whatever. I want to escape as much as you do." Maybe she's always like this, Glory concluded. She haven't seen the outside world, and she's older than me, for goodness sake! Of course she would be excited as heck.

"Let's go, then," Peril whispered. Her eyes studied the task again, furrowing in determination. "Wait, so you want me to go first? I...I don't want any of you hurt. If there's someone in there, I want the responsibility to fall on me. If I yell, make sure you run." She gave them an awkward smile that didn't reach her eyes. "I mean, I've hurt enough people."

A silent pause.

"This speech is really inspirational. But if you're sure, yeah." Tsunami said. Then she sighed. "I don't really like ya, but be careful."

Peril nodded. Then she took them to the front of a small curtain and opened it, revealing a door. Glory was pleasantly surprised when she saw the perfectly decorated wall come apart to a secret passageway.

"I'll signal if it's all clear. Two taps, got it?"

"Two taps." Glory nodded.

Peril crawled in without an another word. They embraced themselves, their shoulders tensed, but finally, the two taps everyone was longing for sounded at the other side.

Glory motioned everyone to go in.

The light shimmered at the end of the passageway. As she got nearer, nearer...Her knees began to hurt, by she was so close...the light became brighter...like heaven...like the Hollywood lights...

When she came out, she realized two things:

First, that Morrowseer wasn't coming to kill them, he was waiting to kill them.

After all, he was a man of great determination and patience.

The most shocking thing was a fire-red haired girl that stood next to him, her eyes empty, like a puppet. A woman was next to her, a hand on her shoulder, a smile on her blood lips.

Betrayal.

"You may go now, Peril. you have done your part," Scarlet ordered coldly.

Peril nodded. She grimaced, like she was in pain. Glory was too angry to care.

"And of course, you may take him with you," she whispered. Yet, everyone heard her.

Peril nodded again. She walked up to Clay, grabbed his wrist, and pulled him out the room, ignoring his protests. The door shut behind them.

Morrowseer smirked. "Welcome, my friends. Did you really think you could escape me?" He leaned closer to them, his breath mix of cigarettes and alcohol. "Now it has come. The end.

"And I will kill all of you."

He brought a gun up to them.

Glory closed her eyes. "You won," she whispered.

"I know."

That was when he shot Starflight in the eye, and blood splattered everywhere like red ink.

~

It was a rainy day when he kissed her.

It was short and sweet, covered with smiles and lips on lips.

But mostly, there was this one little unspoken thing between them. At least between her.

Power.

She never loved him. But she knew he could make a star out of scraps, make fire out of flowers.

And make a Hollywood star out of an useless orphan girl.

He loved her for now. And that was what she needed. A small card, a small price, for her future.

"You're different, Glory. You were born to shine. You were born to be a star," he murmured in her ear.

Just kisses after kisses. Endless possibilities. Talented acting. One-sided love.

A day after, the girl packed her bags. Her friends were sitting down quietly on the floor, because there was nowhere else to sit down.

"Are you coming back for us, Glory?" Sunny asked timidly. She seemed close to tears.

"You better come back knockout gorgeous," Tsunami huffed. But her eyes were getting watery, too.

"Rich, too. Buy yourself all the hotdogs in the world!" Clay piped in cheerfully.

"And all the books, too," Starflight added.

"Of course, guys. It's only for like couple months. That's what Edward said." she shrugged. "No biggie at all."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

The day after that, the girl left.

The girl didn't come back.

She never came back.

~

Edited and written poorly because I gotta get sleep XP My eyes were closing like five seconds ago.

Please vOtE and tell me in the CoMmEnTs what you think! ❤

Moon ouuuuut!