"Why hasn't anybody done anything yet?"
"I don't know - maybe because we're stuck in between a floor? It's not even like we stopped somewhere at a floor. If the doors open, we're going to have empty space below and above us. We're physically stuck," Wylan explained to the both of them for the millionth time. A good three hours had passed and Matthias had grown irritable, an expression Wylan could sense easily despite the pitch black. Nina on the other hand, had long announced that she was tired and then proceeded to lie down on the other side of the elevator.
Matthias shot her a dark look. It was strange, but Wylan could see that easily as well. Perhaps his eyes were getting accustomed to the absolute darkness.
"Aren't you the least bit concerned for your life?" he asked her.
She didn't miss a beat. "What? We have enough oxygen. I'm betting that people are trying to solve this issue. We got to a college, for engineers and tech-heads Matthias. Somebody's got to have a solution."
Defeated, Matthias addressed Wylan. "What about you?" he asked. "Don't you have anything you can do?"
Wylan bit his lip, shoving both hands into his pockets and carefully taking out little bits of mechanics he had collected in the TrainWreck. He had no idea what was what in his hands, so he could only rely on touch alone. If he accidentally dropped something… well, then they would not be in a safe and contained environment for much longer.
"I have a battery, a connector, a wire cutter, and a vial of acid," he finally volunteered. "But we already have an airspace so I don't think the acid is going to be very effective. Also, considering the darkness I think there's more of a chance we'll accidentally burn our hands off rather than get anything done."
Both of them seemed alarmed.
"Who carries around a vial of acid?" Matthias asked sounding unsettled.
"I need it for a project," he explained. "I'm developing a kind of flash bomb, and because the danger rate for college students who live off of campus is so high, I'm hoping this kind of thing will help them if they're in trouble. It's like… a smaller version of pepper spray, except easier to bring around with you and triggered easily."
They both (hopefully) seemed impressed. "Have you built it yet?" Nina asked.
He shook his head. "The prototype has been built roughly, but I think I got the measurements wrong. It's much stronger than it's supposed to be, so I'm hoping nobody's touched it yet."
"And you left it alone in the TrainWreck?" Matthias' tone was doubtful.
"Not one of my better choices," he replied. "It's probably blown up half of the lab by now."
Nina laughed at that. "That's hilarious," she said.
"That's terrible," was Matthias's reply. "Nina, how can you laugh at that? Do you know how dangerous that is?"
Wylan bit his lip at that but Nina's answer was sharp. "Okay Matthias, what's your problem?" she finally asked. "I get that being stuck in an elevator for three hours sucks, but we've got nothing to do so we might as well talk."
"My problem is that you always take danger lightly!" he replied incredulously. "Whenever there's anything dangerous going on, you always charge straight in, never mind that you could get yourself hurt."
Wylan tried coughing but they both ignored him. His ears were bright red as he guessed what road they were quickly going down.
"Oh so just because I'm not like the girls back in your home town? Just because I won't go around skipping and have an attitude like a delicate flower? Because I have told you for the longest time ever that I don't wait around. And then I went and defied myself by waiting a ridiculously long time for you to do something, and I've made myself clear. You haven't told me anything," Nina shot back.
He stared at the ground, silently wanting to murder himself. He felt like an intruder. He tried coughing again with no avail.
"So why won't you?"
"Nina, do we have to do this here?"
No, please don't.
"No, we have to do this here. Right now. I'm sick and tired of avoiding this issue and it's driving me insane. Either you deal with this right here or Matthias Helvar, I'm never going to kiss you again for the rest of your life. We'll still be married obviously, but I'll never kiss you."
He tried coughing once more, but when there was no response he knew it was too late
Just kill me now, he begged. Please, I'm begging you, God-I-don't-believe-in. What did I do to deserve this?
Several seconds filled with Wylan's silent cursing passed before Matthias spoke.
"Nina…" Matthias started. "Nina…" he began again.
The girl was silent, evidently waiting for Matthias to fully construct a cohesive sentence.
"Nina, meeting you was a disaster."
Wylan paused at that, right before he would have began banging his head against the wall. If Matthias was hoping to win Nina, there wasn't a big chance of that happening with what he was currently doing.
Nina seemed to agree. "Thank you," she said curtly.
"A disaster I am grateful for every day," he continued. "Meeting you has widened my sight so much… It helps me move on from the teachings of my stepfather, and for that I am truly grateful that you are in my life. You shake my earth, and my beliefs."
Nina began to reply but Matthias continued to speak. Wylan at this point, considered killing himself right there. He had no intention of hearing Matthias's ending. He had heard enough. Five minutes ago.
"You are a disaster," he continued. Wylan silently smacked his forehead. "A cyclone, an earthquake. A storm capable of shaking everything anybody's ever known."
"I," Nina started, "am a delicate flower."
"No," Matthias disagreed. "You are so much more than that. In my home town this isn't what women do. They don't act like you-"
"What do you want from me?" Nina asked, and Wylan felt like nodding. He also felt like he was in the middle of the most dramatic radio show ever, except he was in the middle of it and felt like killing himself. Repeatedly. With his own fingernails.
"Do you want me to ask like those girls?" she challenged. "Blush at everything you do, prick and preen at every gesture of affections. Because-"
"-no Nina," Matthias responded. "I don't. But I have no idea what I'm doing because you're so different. But I love the unknowingness of it."
There was a beat before he finished.
"And I love you."
"I'll even go for the acid, Wylan thought to himself. I can probably unscrew my ears right off with wire cutters. I don't think I'll ever want them back.
There was a long silence before loud sounds of kissing filled the air. He was pretty sure he also heard a groan, and for a second he was glad there was pitch black darkness everywhere. He was so so glad.
"Guys!" he finally broke, loudly shifting his position and wrapping his arms around himself. He was sure he was as bright as whenever Jesper flirted with him. Possibly even more (if that was possible).
There was a long unsteady beat.
"... Wylan?" Nina asked uncertainly. "Wylan?"
"I'm still here," Wylan said nervously, wrapping his arms around himself even tighter. His cheeks and ears burned uncomfortably.
"Wylan?" Matthias repeated. "Y-y- oh shit. You're still here."
"Yeah," he replied. "Yeah I still kinda am."
"I'm guessing you heard all of that, right?" Nina asked as another shuffling was heard. He guessed they were detaching themselves and turning to face where they thought he was.
"Yeah, I tried to interrupt you but you wouldn't stop so I just settled for wanting to use the acid on myself," Wylan said, biting his lip hard. "Sorry about that."
"We should be sorry," Matthias said quickly. "I'm so sorry I completely forgot you were in here and… "
"Yeah," Nina agreed. "I'm so sorry I got caught up in the whole thing with Matthias and that must have been so uncomfortable for you and-"
Suddenly a loud banging filled the air, and there was a loud clunk as an object fell from the ceiling. Wylan sagged with relief as he realized it was probably the help. Finally!
"Nina? Matthias? Wylan?" an unfamiliar voice said.
"Inej?" Nina responded shocked. "Oh my God you're… on top of the elevator?"
Wylan quietly tried talking to Matthias. "Is this the girl Kaz has a crush on? The one on the top of the elevator right now?"
"Meet Inej," Matthias whispered back.
"You know she can probably here you two," Nina deadpanned. The voice from above confirmed it.
"Yes, but it's rude to interrupt. Especially when he's never met me before. Hi Wylan, I'm Inej."
"Kaz's girlfriend," Nina helpfully explained.
"You keep repeating that and I won't get you out of here," Inej responded.
"You can get us out of here?" Wylan asked shocked.
"Yes," Nina and Matthias said in unison.
"I'm guessing Kaz has a plan for this?" Matthias asked.
"Yeah," Inej said casually from the top of the elevator. "We have a plan."
A/N: I traditionally write on Google Docs so in order to transfer the writing I have to copy and paste it. Unfortunately, that method isn't very effective often because much of the formatting goes away and leaves me with a lot of mistakes to edit out. Therefore, I'm sorry if anything is out of place of very confusing to you. A lot of sequences and unnatural words were added to this document, so I had to cut them out and also italicize and bold anything that normalized itself. If you see anything else that seems out of place, please just tell me and I'll fix it.
On that note, thanks so much for the response I got after updating the previous one! I repeat this way too often, but I absolutely love to hear that my readers enjoy my story (with full credit to Leigh Bardugo - that woman owns everything). Even the silent readers count too - just knowing my story is being read means a lot to me.
Thanks for the feedback I received after the last one, and if anybody has anything more they want to share about this one (plot holes, inconsistencies, real-life connections, comments) I would love to hear it.
Also, I apologize for these authors notes which are progressively growing larger.
