Young Writers Society

Queenie stared Ryder down. 'A mistake' he had said. A mistake had brought her here. A mistake was keeping her here. In New York City. In what appeared to be another dimension. Where she didn't exist.

The urge to scream was growing close to unbearable.

She smiled instead.

"Actually," she said sweetly, "we don't need to be working together. We just need to be figuring out how to get back where we belong, and that might just be easier without some of the present members of this merry band of misfits."

"You're not harming anyone," he repeated. Kirux flinched a little, sensing the shift in his tone. Ryder had sounded so calm before, but it sounded like he was about to snap. There was a danger to his voice, the kind that made his keyblade disappear as he cowered behind Grim with Taber.

There was a slight glow to Ryder's eyes - not the eyes themselves, but the whiteness. And something - something that looked like shadows - was beginning to appear at his feet. It wasn’t enough to be easily noticed. Even Grim didn’t seem to.

But Kirux was suddenly very, very scared of what was going to happen if they kept pushing Ryder.

Ryder glanced over at Taber's friends.

"That applies to you two, too," he said. "I thought you all wanted to leave sooner - all the three of you are doing is wasting time right now."

Queenie's smile didn't falter, rather, it morphed in tone. Before it had been false-sweet, but now it was pure malice.

"If you want to stop wasting time," she said, her voice like the bottle containing a hurricane, "how about you tell us all your brilliant plan." She spread her arms wide, resembling a ringmaster announcing the next act of the freak show. A very calm ringmaster, on her final nerve, "How are we going to get out of here Ryder? How are we all going to return safe and sound to our respective worlds?"

She tried very hard not to be thinking about home, but the subject forced its way into her consciousness. She didn't have to think about it for long -only a minute- to realize that she didn't want to go back. She really really didn't want to go back.

She paused the conflict in her head, that thought like a glaring red sign, taking up every inch of her mind.

Still, she kept her malicious smile. She continued her act, praying to every god who wasn't in the room that her mask wouldn't crack.

"Wasting time?" Lunis rolled his eyes, not looking away from Kendrik. "Wasting time is the giant skeleton hiding from everyone because he doesn't want to admit he screwed up. Wasting time is getting angry at certain people for not understanding things like ghosts or other worlds. Wasting time is people taking my daggers from me."

Kendrik took another step forward. "And I ain't interested in harmin' him. I just wanta make sure he doesn't stab someone."

"And what's wrong with that?" Lunis said, throwing his arms out. "I have reason to be afraid, don't I?"

"I wasn't hiding because I made a mistake," Grim said. "It was because people are scared of me - I'm supposed to be Death. People are terrified of me. I wasn't going to show myself when I knew how it would turn out. And I was right - you're terrified of me right now, and you're pointing knives at me."

Then Grim fell silent, joining Kirux in watching Ryder.

"My 'brilliant plan' is that we're going to get help from Kirux, just like he offered," Ryder said. He glanced over at Grim, and the skeleton stiffened at the look - even as it softened. "What exactly did he offer?"

"He said he could use the darkness he made earlier to travel to other worlds," Grim quickly responded, not liking the fire he saw in the mismatched eyes - or, rather, the lack of it. He could hear the irritation in Ryder's voice, but his eyes terrifyingly didn't betray any of it.

They just softly glowed, though the glow was quickly growing stronger.

"He can't do it all of the time," he added, "and I think there's a waiting period. It's still the best way we have to get home - I don't trust my transportation spells right now."

Ryder turned back to Queenie, and Grim felt his metaphorical heart stopped when he saw the very noticeable darkness licking the ground around Ryder's feet. It shot up in little bursts as he bridged the distance between himself and her.

"I'm sick and tired of you acting like you're the only person who has somewhere to be right now," Ryder said, tapping his foot against the ground. "Even though you don't seem to understand the importance of it, I'm leading a resistance. The others are probably in a frenzy because I'm gone, and that's only the tip of the iceberg! I've got revenge to take care - revenge that's waited long enough, ever since my brother took away the two people I actually cared about in this world! So, Queenie, you can shut it, and Lunis, you could put the f****** knife down."

The darkness had been rising, but now it was in a wild, angry frenzy around Ryder. And while the glow for his eyes had been soft at best, it was now harsh and bright - Grim was coming to the realization that Ryder was more than the human he appeared to be.

"We're going to do whatever Kirux says we have to, because he actually knows how to get back. And if that's not satisfying for you? Like I said earlier, there's a door right there. You can go through it. Honestly, I'm too tired of everyone trying to attack everyone else to really care what happens when you leave this place. Good luck getting back home, if you can find a way."

Queenie took an involuntary step back, her grip tightening around her gun. She glanced at the door. She could leave. She should leave. She had every reason to.

She closed her eyes, took a steadying breath, and put her gun away.

She also had every reason not to. She removed leaving as an option in her mind. She couldn't stay here, she couldn't go home. She'd figure it out later. For now, she had to ensure she would be allowed to stay.

She grit her teeth and looked up at Ryder, who was definitely not human, but she had bigger problems. Then she bowed her head, relaxed her shoulders, and apologized, "You're right," she said, the words feeling like acid in her throat but sounding soft and genuine in that way that couldn't really be faked, "I'm sorry."

She just barely managed to keep herself from flinching as she said it. Those were words she had only ever said to one person, and the thought of him made her once again rigid, on guard.

Oh dear. Taber wasn't exactly happy to see the darkness that curled around Ryder. He tightened his grip on Grim's robes, uncomfortable memories starting to float their way to the surface. Sure, Ryder's glowing eyes, tone of voice, and his yelling at everyone to stop fighting reassured Taber that this was the Ryder he knew and liked, and that Ryder was angry instead of possessed. But the part of his mind that made his arms shake and made him bite his lip disagreed.

Lunis, meanwhile, shrunk bank. "I'm, not scared," he said, his growl fading into a whisper as he caught side of Ryder. The panther reached out a paw, letting Kendrik take his other knife.

"And we're not walking out of here," Kendrik said. The hound took a couple steps back, crouched down, set the knives on the ground, and partly hid behind a pole.

Nich stumbled down the alley, trying to blink the blood out of his eyes and see where he was past his blinding headache. He tried to swipe it off his face, but it was sticky and gross. He knew he wasn't actually hurt anymore--the blood didn't seem to be coming from any kind of injury he could see or feel, but that was hardly reassuring. He didn't know where he was--or why--and he could only remember his first name. Lucky him.

"Ugh," he groaned, and tried to wipe his hands off on his jeans. "Disgusting..."

Nich glanced up to see a cracked door into what appeared to be some kind of warehouse. He stumbled into the wall near it. His head was still pounding like a bitch, but at least he wasn't bleeding out anymore. Nich touched the dark stain on his stomach and frowned. He'd apparently been stabbed there, too. He could smell the blood, and wasn't that weird? Downright creepy, even.

"Where the hell am I?" he muttered, glancing around now that he could see somewhat clearer. Dank alley, no people, some forgotten trash... He cataloged quickly and frowned, wondering why the hell he woke up in a dirty alley. Hadn't he been with someone? He couldn't remember, and trying to do so just made his head hurt more.

He sighed and pushed off the wall, using it to keep him upright as he headed for the slightly open door. His balance was off too, but Nich really couldn't tell why. It was a complete mystery. As he walked, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and stared down at the screen. His shattered screen.

"Shit," he muttered and shoved it back into his pocket. Nich took a moment to centre himself and then slipped into the warehouse. He wasn't even trying to pretend to be silent--and why would he even do that anyway?--as he stumbled down a hall and then out into an open space, pressing the heel of one hand against his forehead, over his left eye. He limped out into the open space of the warehouse to find a group of people already there. And staring at him. He stared back, spotting someone with glowing eyes and what appeared to be animal-people. Shit. Nich screamed and tumbled backward into a wall with a mighty thump!

Queenie drew her gun at first, lined up a shot, and glanced at Ryder. She squeezed her eyes shut, gritting her teeth as she put the gun away with a sigh.

"Just perfect," she muttered, "another one."

Despite her apology, and the implied promise not to hurt anyone, she analyzed the newcomer the same as anyone else. Average kid, not too much muscle on him. She could take him down easy. If she didn't know that Ryder almost definitely knew about her knife from when he picked her up (an offense she still planned to hurt him for), she would make plans to use that against him, if only because she wanted to make someone bleed just about now. But there was no point in everyone else knowing exactly how thoroughly prepared she was to end lives.

She stepped back, prepared to let the others deal with this. Her mind instead wandered over to her apology. What would her dad think of her? What would her punishment be if he disapproved? Her muscles ached with the thought.

Would it be the usual?

Or would he be especially angry?

She had allowed herself to get shot, which led to this. In his eyes, this entire situation could be traced back to her own failings, and the punishment for that couldn't be guessed by her.

She crossed her arms and returned to the present moment. The kid, taller than she was but not likely to be older, was going to be another problem.

Another fault.

Another punishment.

She blinked hard and prayed again to the non-present gods that she wouldn't have to return home to face the consequences of all this.

When the scream rang out, Ryder froze.

The darkness froze, too, and his eyes momentarily dimmed. His gaze turned towards the newcomer, and it was then that Ryder felt horrible - he had known that it was stupid to use his powers, and to tap into that side of him, but he had been growing so frustrated. And, like with anything else, it wasn't good to hold that side back. It had been fighting to get free for years.

But that didn't mean it should have.

His eyes returned to "normal" - or what people thought was normal for Ryder Salvai, and not the person he really was - and the darkness disappeared into the ground.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I-I'm-"

"Nich?" Grim cut him off, stepping out of the shadows and hesitantly approaching the boy. "Are you okay?"

Kirux perked up at the sound of the name. Any fear that had been on his face - all of the fear being Ryder's fault - disappeared as he rushed over to Taber's side and started tugging on his sleeve, pointing in the direction of Nich with what was presumably a grin underneath his mask from the excited, happy glint to his different colored eyes.

It took a few seconds of Kirux yanking his sleeve, then staring at the blood-covered man Kirux was pointing to, for Taber to put two and two together.

"Nich, are you alright?!" Taber said, instantly forgetting about Ryder as he ran around Grim, making a beeline for Nich. The wolf came to a stop, set a paw on Nich's shoulder, and looked down at the man's forehead. "I, didn't bring my gauze with me, but I could try to clean it up and stuff?" the wolf said, starting to peel off his hoodie.