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The Gang™ fell silent as they traversed the network of underground tunnels; they were all taking this rare opportunity of safety to cool down from the series of dangerous circumstances they had somehow found themselves pressed with. This moment of reprieve was very much welcome to all of them.

And when the silence got unnerving, idle chatter began to pick up. Some found amusement in watching Blair mess with her newly-discovered powers.

"Do it again!" Kai pressed, pumping his fists into the air while Gen watched in anticipation.

Blair feigned a reluctant sigh before flicking her wrist, and all at once a vine erupted from the dirt beneath them. Adam and Mira jumped in surprise as the vine surged past their knees and wrapped around Kai's waist. "Hey!" they complained, annoyed. Gen clapped in amazement as she watched Kai get lifted off the ground and spun around.

"Whoa," he chuckled out, giddy and grinning in delight at his friends.

Blair shot Adam and Mira a crooked grin, a bit sheepish, "Yeah, sorry guys. Still working on it." The redhead was plopped down with a sudden 'thud!' and her grin turned smug. "That was on purpose." The two shot her a good-natured roll of the eyes as the chuckling girl in blue pulled Kai to his feet.

Kai lightly punched her shoulder, "Come on, it wasn't that funny!" Despite the complaint his voice was light and amused, not very affected by the stunt he'd been victim to. Still, he made sure to catch the blonde's attention and stuck his tongue out, being playfully flipped off in return.

Gen fondly shook her head at the two's antics, tittering between her words, "Sorry, sorry. It was just so unexpected." The others rose their eyebrows. "O-Okay, not too unexpected. This is Blair, after all." Blair smirked and, in an exaggerated fashion, made to swing her arms around the girl in blue.

Gen ran over to Adam and Mira, squealing as she just managed to dodge Blair's swinging limbs; the girl sought refuge between the two, and they shared an amused look before grabbing her hands in their own. Gen beamed up at them, slightly bashful but satisfied with the gesture.

Mira shot her gaze away upon being fixed with that look. All she could think was, 'sHiT-'.

"Don't we have a flashlight in that bag?" Mira suddenly asked Adam, hanging her head in an attempt to have her bangs cover her reddening cheeks.

Adam squinted at her and switched his gaze between her and the girl holding their hands. He blinked at the sudden realization before squinting harder at her. She scowled back at him, and suddenly they were glaring competitively over the timid girl's head.

Unaware of their antics, Gen found herself idly wondering what their next stop was, slightly swinging their clasped hands back and forth.

"Right," their leader dug into the satchel with his free hand as the others crowded around him, subtly avoiding the exasperated look that the blonde of the group was shooting both him and Mira. For the record, Kai had absolutely no idea what the hell was going on but was aware of the tension that had seemingly appeared from thin air.

"Dead batteries," came Adam's frustrated response as he shook the flashlight around. In an instant the cavern walls shook as Toros' roars echoed all around them. Although she knew they were well away from him, Blair couldn't help but flinch as the not-so-subtle reminder of their would-be-deaths came to mind.

"So where now?" she and Kai chorused as they all stumbled around, losing their footing.

"Anywhere but here," was the leader's only response, and the five found themselves running off into the passageway beyond them.

The rumbling calmed down, but there was no comfort seeing as they were all collectively traveling in complete darkness. There were some animal squeaks, and Kai flipped out as per usual. "Chill, it's just mice," Adam assured the boy from his spot among the group. He felt a hand grip the hem of his shirt and smiled a bit to himself.

"It's okay, Kai. I'm a little scared, too," Mira softly admitted, doing her best to assure her friend. Blair silently walked along before falling victim to a well-aimed jab to the side. "--Yes, terrified," she hastily added in a less-than-convincing tone. How Mira had aimed so accurately, she could only wonder.

"Who said I'm scared? You think I'm scared? I'm totally fine." Kai floundered around for words, doing his best to defend his pride as a man.

This entire trip- if you could call it that- had so far been spent with the heavy awareness of him being surrounded by attractive girls; hell, Blair was actually pretty cute, bullying aside. Maybe these weren't the best circumstances to try and shoot his shot, but he wasn't about to let Adam outshine him in the manly department.

"In fact, I-AgH," he yelped out mid-sentence in a panic, "Something's grabbing my shoulder!"

Adam said it was just him and Kai tried to laugh it off, "I knew that."

Blair almost laughed at that but was quickly silenced by a pinch to the side, "ThIS iS ASsaUlt--" She cursed Mira out internally, unaware of the smallest among them slithering her hand away from the supposed crime scene.

"Everyone, try to grab each other's shoulders," Adam ordered the group, keeping his grip on the redhead. Gen let go of the hem of his shirt only to find her hand caught in someone else's. She blinked desperately in the darkness to no avail, a little flustered.

A hot breath hovered near her ear and she almost choked. "Just me," she heard the boy lowly mutter, and she found herself grateful for the darkness hiding her face, their fingers slowly interlocking.

Adam sighed out in relief when he felt her nod against his back. Glad that move hadn't blown up in his face. 'Adam 1, Mira 0.'

Meanwhile from her spot ahead of them Blair found herself heating up, both from embarrassment and anger. "Kai," she found herself taking a breath through gritted teeth, "that is not my shoulder."

The hand was swiftly yanked back and a rushed apology was spewed out.

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Finally being exposed to light once again, the group of five walked alongside each other.

"I hear a voice humming, up ahead" Gen notified them all, leading to her being fixed with several surprised looks. She sheepishly chuckled, crossing her arms and gripping her elbows, "I'm, um, really trying to be more helpful with the whole super hearing thing."

Everyone made sure to give her an understanding nod, and she mouthed 'thank you'.

Kai took a breath and Blair shot the others a squinty-eyed look, somehow just knowing he was about to spew some inane bullshit. Gen held up a finger towards her, not wanting to shoot down the redheaded boy so quickly, "Give him a chance, please!"

"Guys, I've been thinking. " He clapped his hands together in a double finger gun pose. "I'm pretty sure we're dead." Gen's smile fell, and she made a whining sound from the back of her throat. Blair shot her a victorious look.

Mira tossed an arm around the brunette's shoulder and frowned, "Kai, stop talking like that."

"We're not dead," Adam added, glaring at the redhead. He let a beat pass before unhelpfully tacking onto his statement,"...yet."

Gen and Blair sent him a bewildered look, the latter taking it upon herself to smack him upside the head. "Ow!" he yelped out, and she basically hissed in return. Gen muffled a sigh into Mira's shoulder, too stressed to chastise the two and very much appreciating the taller girl for petting her head.

"You're the one who came up with the death theory!" Kai flung his arms up as they walked on. "Now you don't believe it?"

Blair stopped her hissing fit to roll her eyes, "So then this is, what, purgatory?"

Adam's brows furrowed and he looked around at all his friends," I don't know what's going on, but we're not dead."

Gen finally lifted her head and half-frowned at him, "Promise?" She hated how vulnerable she sounded at that moment, asking the boy to make a promise he most certainly couldn't keep. She knew the group was depending on him for answers, maybe too much; adding to his burden left a sour note in her mind.

Adam nodded at her regardless, quirking up a small half-smile, "Promise. Besides, if we're dead, why are all these things trying to kill us?" She sent him a thankful look and he rubbed the back of his neck, the corner of his mouth reflexively lifting.

"There's light up ahead!" Mira cut in; they all redirected their attention to the path paved ahead of them, spotting a glowing corridor. A spark of hope ignited in their chests. "Must be an exit," Adam soundly concluded, and four of them picked up their pace.

"No," Kai protested squeakily, "Don't run towards the light. That's what happens just before you die!"

Everyone chose to tactfully ignore his oh-so-helpful advice and dash onward.

"Hear that?" Mira whispered as they collectively came to a sudden halt. The humming was loud enough for everyone to hear this time; to their ears, it registered as female. They all shared a wary look and Adam took it upon himself to check things out, "Yeah. Wait here."

He went on ahead just as Kai caught up with them, the rest sharing a worried look. "I'm going with you," Blair quietly called after the darker boy, jogging on over to his side; she knew that as it stood, the two of them were the only line of defense the group had.

Gen instinctively wrapped her arms around one of Mira's, causing the girl to shift her gaze over to her. Realizing what she was doing, Gen started to pull back only to be swiftly tugged back into their previous position.

'Oh,' she thought as she carefully looked away from Mira's warm look. Desperately trying to ignore the flushing of her cheeks.

Meanwhile, Blair and Adam pressed their backs to the wall and peered around the corner of the archway. Their eyes widened at the sight of a very out of place, pristine-looking kitchen- dining table and all. A woman dressed in what could only be deemed as 1950's housewife attire, an apron tied around her as she put a tray in the oven.

The two teens shared a baffled look and waved the others over.

The five watched her stir something in a pot, still humming cheerily to herself. Kai sniffed the air and hummed in delight; Blair subsequently sent him a 'really?' look, and he shrugged defensively. She smirked a little, shaking her head at the dork's antics.

"So weird," Mira muttered.

"H-How is...? Wha?" Gen floundered around for words, looking amongst her peers as she absentmindedly pressed herself into Mira's side.

"I know. Should we go in?" Adam proposed. Blair made an unsure sound from the back of her throat.

"No way. It could be a trap," Kai shot the notion down in an instant, making an 'X' with his arms.

Mira sighed and stalked forward, throwing caution to the wind, "Whatever. I'm starving."

"Mira! Not alone!" Gen lowly hollered after her, sending a concerned look to the rest of the group. The boys immediately sent a pointed look to Blair and she slowly dragged a hand over her face before following after the animal-whisperer, "Boys."

Hesitantly, the two girls wandered over to the woman's side, going unnoticed. They shared a cautious look before Mira tapped her shoulder, "Uh, hello?"

The unknown woman yelped in surprise and dropped her ladle before tripping over her feet and falling to the ground. The two girls leaned over and offered her a hand, apologizing for spooking her.

The woman accepted their hands and gasped in delight, brushing off the apologies, "Oh, you're here." With their help, she pulled herself to her feet and wrapped the two in an embrace. "How wonderful! How wonderful! I've been expecting you." The girls hesitantly smiled, waving over the other three.

Adam grabbed Gen's right hand and began ambling forward. Her free hand grabbed Kai's right and they were suddenly walking along in a train-like formation, the redhead being the caboose. "You coming?" Adam asked the other boy. Gen smiled reassuringly over her shoulder.

"Adam, no!" Kai protested, yet didn't yank his hand back; he followed along.

The woman cupped the two girls' cheeks, making Blair very uncomfortable, but she kept her mouth shut and only shot her a painful grin. "I should probably warn you that we're not alone." Mira carefully grabbed the woman's shoulders which resulted in her letting go of their faces. "Is that okay?"

"Why, what do you mean?" The other three popped into her view and she gasped before laughing in surprise. "Oh! Well now. Come in, come in."

She waved the five teenagers over to her dining table, "Oh, how I do love some good company." She pulled out chairs for Mira and Blair as the others -save Kai- followed suit before going back to her stew. "Sit and rest your feet. I hope you're all hungry."

Gen sported an uneasy look but pointedly darted her eyes between Kai and the empty seat next to her as his stomach gurgled. "Let's just play along," she murmured low enough for only their group to hear, cupping his hand in hers and shooting him a pleading look. She was just as suspicious of the circumstances as he was, but she wasn't looking to inspire conflict so soon.

He looked between her and the nodding blonde before sighing out in compliance, "Well, worst case, I'm already dead. And if not, I'll die with a full stomach." He finally sat down.

Gen smiled as her ears picked up a near-silent mutter of 'hear, hear,' coming from the group's vine witch.

The mysterious woman went around passing out bowls of stew- or was it soup?- among the five. She laughed a bit at the sight of a full table. "Goodness. Are there any more?" She booped Mira's nose. "Are you hiding anyone in your pockets?"

Gen laughed a bit at the scene across from her, watching Mira giggle at the gesture. "No, it's just us," Mira chuckled out, "Promise." The woman simply tittered once more and served up the last dish to Kai.

"Mmm. Smells delicious," Mira complimented her.

Adam and Gen discreetly scrutinized the contents of their bowls, sharing a doubtful glance. Blair was much too hungry to be wary, and so she began politely digging in.

"Well, eat up, then, 'cause it tastes even better."

Apparently, Kai wasn't taking the hint to be subtle seeing as he was openly staring at the soup in suspicion, "What exactly's in this soup?" Gen sent Adam a wide-eyed look and he only grimaced in return, shrugging a bit.

The lady didn't seem to have a problem with it. "Oh, just some vegetables," she casually replied, beginning to stroll off. That seemed good enough for everyone but the anxious Gen, as the rest elected to start slurping. The blonde woman popped back in, "And bones I steal from Toros."

Adam and Mira promptly spit out their soup as Blair's face fell; she carefully placed the half-finished bowl down, sporting a thousand-yard stare. Gen took note of everyone's facial expressions, feeling a bead of sweat roll down her temple as she slightly pushed her designated bowl away from herself.

"Gives it that special flavor," the cook added.

The Gang™ found themselves turning to face Kai, who continued to slurp away, moaning at the taste of his first meal since waking up. He ended up finishing the entire thing, even going so far as to lick at the bowl. Gen released a polite 'ahem,' and he seemed to finally notice the raised eyebrow looks he was receiving. "What? I'm hungry," he lightly snapped.

Gen slightly rose her index finger, "There's, um, nutritional value? I think." Trying to come to the redhead's defense.

"Bones, Gen," Blair simply uttered, dropping her head into her hands, "Bones."

Adam shook his head a little and spoke up, catching the attention of the stranger; she was feather dusting a painting. "Excuse me, but we're a little lost," he slowly began, choosing his words carefully.

Gen's mouth quirked up into an unassuming smile, her tone soft, "Can you tell us where we are, exactly, Miss?" Maybe it was the journey itself or the fact that her friends were surrounding her, but she'd been slowly finding herself sounding a bit more confident in her speech as of late.

The lady turned around and gestured at them with the feather duster, "Why, you're here. It's where you need to be."

They all shared looks of visible confusion; Blair wasn't sure if it was the bone juice she'd just consumed, but something wasn't sitting right in her gut.

"Uh, okay," was Mira's measured response as she swiveled her gaze around her friend group. "But we think there's been some mistake."

Kai took a breathe and looked at the lady over his shoulder, feeling supported when the brunette next to him curled her fingers into the gaps between his. Blair, kept her gaze fixed on the woman, leaning over to grip his right shoulder in a show of silent support as well. "Yeah," he finally squeaked out, feeling a touch empowered, "We-we just wanna go home."

The woman laughed once more, "Of course you want to go home. Everyone does."

"--'Everyone'?" Mira echoed, uneasily playing with a small bunch of her hair. 'Cute,' was the thought shoved into the back of Gen's mind. Now was not the time. She furrowed her brows at the others.

"What do you mean, 'everyone'?" Adam questioned the older blonde.

"Hold on," Kai interjected, frowning softly, "Can you guys remember what your homes look like?" Blair's hand slid off his shoulder as her face went numb in shock. He felt Gen's hand tighten its grip.

"No," was Mira's minute, heartbroken response.

"How can we get home when we can't remember where home is?" Adam ran a hand through his hair before obscuring the lower half of his face with his hand. Gen closed her eyes as a pained expression wormed its way across her features.

She felt a hand clamp over her shoulder, and a cold chill crossed her spine. "Oh, don't worry." The woman hovered between her and Kai. "There's so much more ahead of you." What was that supposed to mean? Hell, not one word of her's had been making sense.

"Besides, you can't go home, not until you meet him."

"Who's 'him'?" Adam ventured once more, both him and Mira keeping their eyes glued on the hand residing upon Gen's right shoulder. That particular girl was keeping herself busy by watching the woman dust Kai's head off. A timer bell 'ding'-ed, breaking the woman out of her actions. Kai was left with a cowlick Blair found herself snickering at.

He made sure to pinch her hand in retaliation, finding victory in her slight pout.

"Goodness," the woman cupped her own cheek and gasped, "I almost forgot the cookies." She waddled away to the oven, grabbing some mitts.

This gave the five a moment to talk amongst themselves behind her back. Blair rested her chin on her left hand, hunching over, "We gonna discuss the spooky prophet shit, or?"

Gen nodded along furiously as she worked to fix Kai's hair for him (he totally wasn't holding his breath or anything).

Mira snorted a bit at the prophet bit, "She bakes cookies. How can you not trust her?"

They were all caught off guard by a loud 'clang!!'; they swung their collective gaze over to see the tray of cookies on the ground. They watched as the woman tensed up for a long moment before turning to face them over her shoulder; one of her eyes twitched, "You don't trust me?!"

They all froze in place and waited for her next move. Once more they were thrown for a loop when she started laughing heartily as if she'd heard something hilarious. Perturbed looks were swapped before Kai elected to bite the bullet and raise his hand a bit.

"You got any milk to go with those cookies?"

Gen slowly pulled his hand down, not looking away from the woman, whose laughter was warping into something like a cackle. 'Bless his little heart', she offhandedly thought as she heard him gulp. The woman's laughter bellowed on as they watched her drop her face into her hand.

All at once, her hair unfurled and she threw her hands up, revealing her now ghastly appearance.

Before anyone could blink she had flown across the table and onto the boy; his hand torn away from the brunette's. The force of her power sent him crashing back into his chair, the chair itself scraping across the floor as they slid into the set of drawers behind them.

The four others quickly rose to their feet.

"Okay," Kai struggled to formulate words as his attacker pinned his arms down, "forget the milk." She giggled and leaned her face forward, craning her head a good 180 degrees. He yelled out in shock before she threw her head back and sniffed in delight, laughing once more.

"Ah! Sweet, young breath," her movements became unhinged as he writhed beneath her, "Mine! Mine!" She grabbed his face and his eyes rolled back as his soul started being sucked out of his body. Something hard crashed over the back of her head and she was knocked to the ground.

Adam stood over her with a bone in his hand, the others hovering back in shock. All at once, Kai's soul flew back into his body and he was gasping for breath; Gen ran over to kneel by him as he crawled back into a seated position, "Kai, are you hurt?!"

"I didn't need your help. I could've knocked her out, too." He took in a deeper breath and let Gen pull him to his feet. She was too distraught to care for personal space, throwing her arms around him in a relieved hug; she pulled back and cradled his face in her hands, looking for around for any obvious sign of injury.

"With what? Your bad breath?" Mira sassily shot from his other side.

Blair ran her hands through her hair, "I'd say that's karma for not reading the room, you little sunshine shit." Totally brushing off any worry she'd felt for the redhead.

Kai gently pulled Gen's hands off of him, visibly sulking, "I told you it was a trap." He assured her he was alright before forcefully gesturing at the knocked out woman in order to emphasize his statement.

"No time to gloat. Run!" Adam ordered. The group shot away toward another tunnel connected to the kitchen, only to see an exact replica of the woman pre-transformation walk out of the shadows.

The five backed up as she walked closer, offering a dish, "Who wants ambrosia salad?"

"Huh? But how'd she--?" Kai started before cutting himself off; they all turned to see the original attacker still knocked out on the floor.

The woman before them gasped, dropping her plate in shock at the sight of her look-alike. The plate shattered and numerous insects came crawling out of the food. The Gang™ watched her transform before their eyes as she clutched her head. Her dress becoming weathered as her skin turned gray. "What have you done to my sister?", she cried out with a grin, showing off her yellowing, crooked teeth.

She surged forward, tackling Mira to the ground in one fell swoop. The girl beneath her groaned out in pain as her soul began exiting her body against her will; the woman lifted her by the face, the link between her and the girl's soul growing stronger as a result.

"Get off her!" Adam cried out and swung, only for his weapon to get caught in the witch's hand as she was cut off from her meal. She yanked the bone away from him, inadvertently pulling him onto her back. They struggled around as he yanked her to her feet.

Kai swept the bone off the ground as Blair joined his side, summoning two vines from the nearest patches of dirt. They swung around but only managed to hit Adam's head multiple times as he was still struggling with the witch in his hold.

"Stop hitting me!"

"Stop moving!" the duo chorused in irritation.

Out of nowhere came a cry of, "Duck!" and Adam was lucky enough to lean away from his captive; a chair came crashing over her head. The three slowly faced the brunette, who blew some stray hair away from her face as she watched the witch keel over.

"Cool, cool, cool..." she muttered in what seemed to be her own disbelief, nearly tripping over herself in shock. Adam rushed over to her side to support Gen while Kai and Blair grinned at her.

Mira's soul was returned to her body and she shoved the woman off of herself with a grunt. The sight of the girl safe got Gen feeling steady again, and she peeled herself off of Adam in order to help Kai pull the girl up.

"Go! Get outta here!" Adam yelled once they were all on their feet.

They all went back to running, leaving the small kitchen scene and entering the tunnel ahead of them. Adam was the last to go, making sure the rest had gone ahead of them. He whirled around upon hearing familiar cackling behind him, seeing the first witch on her feet and approaching.

"Adam!" Kai called out and threw the makeshift weapon over.

Adam successfully caught it; the witch leaped forward and was cracked across the face. The force of the blow sent her flying into the oven, the door shutting on her. Wretched screaming echoed and soon faded away as purple steam wafted out from the over door's gap.

"Sweet move, Hansel," Mira complimented as the others grinned at the boy's (latest) stunt. The timer bell rang as Gen beamed at him with clasped hands.

"Let's go, Gretel," Adam ran past them, grabbing his favorite brunette by the arm and pulling her along. His free hand shoved the bone into his satchel.

"Would that be me...?" Gen trailed off, quirking her brow with a tiny playful grin.

He just coyly smirked back at her.

"Keep your eyes out for a third witch." Kai glanced back at the others. "They always come in threes."

"Kai, I- what?" Blair stuttered out in confusion from her space just beside him.

"You don't know where your home is, but you know witch rules?" Adam probed on, raising his eyebrows. "That's ridiculous."

"Seriously? Who says witches come in threes?" Mira tacked on.

"He was right about the trap," Gen reminded them.

Something rumbled and they all stopped in their tracks. "What was that?" Mira gasped as they all gazed ahead of them. They were silent for a moment, and Gen squinted her eyes as her ears picked up the tiny sounds of scraping coming to a halt.

"It's probably nothing. Come on," Adam urged and started walking; Gen's hold on his hand tightened and she halted him by placing her free hand to his chest. He glanced down at her but she merely kept her eyes trained forward, "...Wait." The rest of the group stopped as well.

Her hand fell off his chest and the sound of something clattering reached all of them. Adam's eyes narrowed; he slowly went for the weapon in his bag. Gen's brows furrowed, knowing the tunnel's foundation was most likely throwing off the sound's direction.

With a slow breath, she closed her eyes and focused as best she could. Straining her ears, she sped through all the options.

Not ahead.

Not quite behind.

More like...

"Boo."

"Ａｂｏｖｅ!!" she warned her friends; their heads craned back to see the witch cackling above them, hanging off the ceiling. She skittered along the ceiling ahead of them and dropped to the ground, crouched on all fours.

Everyone's eyes darted around as she hopped wall to wall, quickly approaching them. Right as she leaped into the air in front of them, she was sent flying back ahead of them by Adam's swing; her body landed at the mouth of the passage. Adam went on ahead of them and poked her with the bone.

"She's out cold. Let's go." He waved them over and they ran with him past the body.

Except for Kai.

He stuck around to pick fun at the beaten enemy, "Ha! Not so scary now, are ya?"

"Kai, what are you waiting for? Come on." Adam stopped in his tracks and turned to face the boy. The girls ahead of him patiently waiting.

The redhead only went on to chuckle and blow a raspberry. Satisfied, he turned to join the others; his ankle was suddenly grabbed and he was pulled to the ground, screaming.

"Yoohoo!" the now awake witch teasingly cooed.

Kai desperately kicked at her hand with his other foot until she let go. An elongated plant stem wrapped around his torso and he was tugged onto his feet and over to Blair's immediate right. Together the group of five dashed out the mouth of the cave and into the desert.

"Remember, death is your friend!" they heard the witch sing after them as they kept moving across the open sand-scape. "Death is your friend!" No one saw what happened but they heard her yelp and scream; Gen caught the sound of something sizzling.

They finally stopped running and turned back, only to see the witch retreating back into the shadowy cavern. "Okay, that was nuts," Mira commented as they began walking off.

"As opposed to devil dogs and talking cow people? What's it all mean?" Kai pressed, throwing his hands out, only for a vine to crawl under his shirt sleeve and wrap itself around his lower forearm; it ripped itself out of the ground. He could only send a questioning look to the blonde of the group.

"We're in a desert, you basically have a sign on your back screaming, 'Kill me!', and it would seem I'm destined to repeatedly save your ass." She rattled off the reasons with ease, raising a finger with each one."I'm just preemptively getting ready to do so."

He smiled, a bit touched, "So, like a good luck charm?"

She felt her cheeks heat up and shoved him away by the face, stalking off to the front of the group. "Wear the damn plant." She gritted her teeth and starting mumbling to herself.

Sensing her irritation, which wasn't quite so hard to do, the other four decided to leave her be. Adam decided to answer Kai's earlier question, "It means we can't stop till we find a way out of this craziness." Gen nodded along, knowing there wasn't much else they could do.

"So we're just gonna wander around?" Kai shot back, looking around the open desert they'd found themselves walking through. "Oh, maybe that map you guys found had something on it. Can I see it?"

Adam peered back at him over his shoulder, "All it had on it was the forest and the lab. This place wasn't there, I checked."

Kai didn't let that deter him, "Let me have a look anyway."

Adam's tone became irritated, "Why? I told you, it's--"

Everyone, even Blair, ceased walking. "Can I just see it, please?" Kai pouted, pleading as his voice verged on desperate.

Mira lightly gripped his shoulder, "Let him see it, Adam. He was right about the witches."

"Yeah, Adam. I was right about the witches," Kai crossed his arms and grinned haughtily.

Blair groaned and pinched the bridge of her nose, cooling off a bit, "Just hand it to Red for a bit."

Adam loudly sighed in defeat once he felt a light tug on his arm. "Fine," he relented, peering down at the smaller, smiling girl. "But it's pointless." He let her dig into the satchel and hand the folded map over to Kai.

Mira and Kai unfolded the paper as Blair walked over to them. "Thank you," Gen quietly cooed, her smile sweet and her voice melting away his annoyance. Adam simply hummed back, closing his eyes and casually dropping his face to lean on the crown of her head. Her heart picked up in speed, but she brushed it off and leaned up to run her fingers through his hair.

"Look. The pyramid. Oh, and here's the desert. "

The two hummed in confusion, darting their eyes over to the three peering at the map.

"Get out," Mira playfully punched the redheads' shoulder as she let go of her half of the map. Blair smiled, not smirked, smiled; Kai felt the plant on his forearm gently tighten its grip.

The other two quickly joined them, Adam lifting up the left half of the map as Kai held the other part. "I swear those weren't there before," Adam cupped his chin.

"It updated," Gen realized.

"This isn't a normal map," Kai added on, his voice gleeful.

"Nothing in this place is normal," Blair and Mira chimed together dryly.

Adam chuckled, "I hear that." He swiped the map from Kai's grasp and turned to face the direction they'd been heading in. "The map shows where we are now, but we need to find out what's over here." He pointed at the blank square patch that was next to the pyramid and lowered the map.

The wind whistled through the air, blowing grains of sand up into the open space before them. "Nothing."

Mira sighed, "This is crazy. I can't do this anymore." She fell to her knees; Gen walked over and squatted down to hug the girl, petting her head soothingly. Mira dug her chin into the other's shoulder, "I'm tired, I'm sweaty, I'm scared, and there's a good chance I accidentally ate Minotaur poop. I give up."

The three left standing shared an unsure look before Adam tucked the map away and crouched down to join the two on the ground. "Mira, you can't give up." He firmly gripped her shoulder. "We need to keep moving. It's the only way out of here."

"But we will get out. I promise." His eyes flicked from her to the brunette and Mira slightly nodded, hugging the girl in blue back. "Okay," she sighed again.

The three rose to their feet and Mira wrapped an arm around the shorter girl's waist, "I just needed to feel sorry for myself for a bit. Moving on." She grinned slyly at Adam, tugging a flustered Gen along by her waist.

Adam shook his head in frustration but couldn't stop a good-natured grin from working its way across his face. If his friend wanted to play this way, so be it. "Game on," he muttered to himself and jogged after them. Blair squinted as she and Kai followed after them, feeling a headache coming on from the latest turn of events. 'Is this a shoujo manga, or?'

"So, you ate Minotaur poop?"

"Oh, be quiet."

✿✿✿✿✿

The heat of the sun beat down on all of them. Everyone panted, hunching over as they walked like zombies. The redhead stopped in his tracks and turned to his left. "Kai, we need to keep walking," Adam wearily chastised.

Kai pointed, "Water."

Everyone faced where he was pointing and spotted an oasis ahead of them, sparking hope in their tired souls. "Water," Mira and Blair echoed; everyone started weakly running towards the sight.

"Why can't we reach it?" Kai mumbled out as the oasis seemed to get further away from them the more they tried to close the distance.

"Because it's not real," Adam informed them as he stopped running.

"It's a mirage," Gen confirmed as the sight of water faded away from their vision.

The others stopped running and Kai fell to his knees. Everyone was red in the face.

Gen stumbled and though he was tired beyond belief, the strongest of the group crouched down, facing his back to her as a sort of invitation for a piggyback ride. Too tired to argue, Gen simply climbed aboard. He stood up once more as she wrapped her arms and legs around him; her skirt rode up to her upper thighs due to the position, and he found himself gripping her bare thighs.

"...love you," she mumbled into his neck, too delirious to think straight. The sound of a distant rumbling reached her ears, but she was much too tuckered out to care.

He rapidly cleared his throat and started walking off, "We need to get out of the sun before our brains fry." Doing his best to ignore, well, everything going on with the girl on his back. He would reflect on this later when he wasn't dehydrated.

Kai looked over his shoulder and started laughing, ignoring the very pointed comment of 'too late,' coming from Mira and Blair. "Wish you could see what I'm hallucinating right now."

The others turned to see what he was facing and seemed to see what he was seeing. Adam sighed, "Three crazy dudes on horseback?" Gen perked up and raised her right hand to shield her eyes, giggling at the sight. Her chortles picked up when Blair flopped onto her back, deciding to let the elements do as they will with her.

Mira laughed, "Weird. I'm seeing them too."

As the three figures galloped closer, the three teens (technically two) standing got a better view of them.

Adam's grip on the giggling brunette tightened, "I don't think we're hallucinating." He and Mira took off running, leaving the two others behind.

Kai giggled as the stranger on the light brown horse swept him and the passed out blonde onto his horse. The one in armor caught up to Mira and grabbed her as well. Adam and Gen were snatched up by the bandaged up one and shoved onto the back end of his saddle. Due to the limited space and the fact that she was passed out, Kai had to hold on tightly to his friend to keep her from falling off.

Mira leaned back in her own saddle, "This is a dream, right? It has to be a dream."

Kai politely tapped his kidnapper's shoulder, keeping the blonde wrapped close to his chest, "Um, Mr. Creepy Dude, sir? I hate to bother you. Quick question: Is this all a dream or are we dead?"

"We're definitely not dead," Adam called out from the back of the line of horses, leaning over to face Kai with the brunette girl cuddling close to his back, quietly laughing to herself. "Maaaybe," she teased, grinning widely as she also leaned over.

Mira sensed tension and leaned over as well.

"Right. Like, there definitely wasn't a third witch, and there definitely wasn't a desert on the map, and there definitely wasn't-- um..."

"That's all you were right about, dude." Adam slightly tightened his grip on the hands locked across his torso.

"Okay, that's definitely a couple."

✿✿✿✿✿

The wind kept on howling as they all found themselves cantering into what looked like a desert junkyard of sorts. Still quite delirious from the desert heat, Gen quietly 'ooh'-ed and 'aah'-ed at the sight.

Adam lightly pat one of her hands, keeping his amusement to himself, "Any idea where we are?"

"Uh, some kind of weird crash site?" Mira answered as she looked around as best she could.

Kai surveyed the area, tightening his grip on Blair's form before tapping the shoulder of his captor (who glared back at him), "Um, Mr. Creepy Dude, sir? Don't mean to be a backseat driver, but quick question. Can you tell us where you're taking us?"

The man didn't respond, resulting in the boy slumping over the girl in his arms, sulking.

"Uh, guys, I think we're here," Mira slowly told them as they spotted a hooded figure lingering next to half of a plane, surrounded by some parts. Oh, and the figure held a scythe.

Kai gulped and shuddered as Mira audibly whimpered. Gen perked her head atop Adam's shoulder, making a sound of awe. "Still think we're not dead?" Kai squeaked out before burying his face into Blair's hair.

Adam tensed up as he stared at the figure they were nearing.

"Whaddya think?" Gen playfully drawled, squeezing him a bit.

"-' Death is your friend'-." he slowly spoke.