Thanks to V1ralGam3r (congrats on getting to Hard Mode!) and all my readers for your continued support! :D And thanks for the messages of interesting ideas, Alphys! If I use them, I'll let you guys know.

Finally, I've beaten all the Mechanical Bosses! I'm scared of Plantera. :S

And, apparently, my boyfriend is reading this fic, now. If you made it this far: Hello! This is foxy!

One last thing: this was an especially difficult chapter to write. If you have a moment, let me know what you think?

Somewhere around 1:30 a.m., the party died down. Forid and I didn't sleep and Steve thought he might stay up with us. The three of us settled on a couch with me in the middle. I don't know what made Steve want to stay up, too, but his resolve died as soon as he sat down on the cushions. He rested his elbow on the armrest and his chin in his palm and then he was out. It didn't look comfortable, but I didn't want to wake him to move him.

I pointed Steve out to Forid, who grinned and pulled out a Slime Gun.

"Don't you dare!" I hissed. He pouted, but obeyed. "Thank you."

We sat in silence, since I wasn't sure what to talk about and it wasn't in his nature to start conversations. I was more accustomed to his voice, but he still hadn't said more than one or two words at a time to me. I wondered if I asked him a question that required more than one word for an answer if he would reply? Would he find some creative way to respond without words? What would I even ask?

The cry of a Zombie sounded from in front of me and I felt my head jerk downwards. I looked around, finding no Zombie, and realized I was falling asleep. Sure, I could get tired, but I pretty much never slept.

I nodded off, again. This time, my imagination created a fully formed Zombie right in front of my face. I woke when my forehead hit Forid's shoulder.

"Sorry," I said.

"Hm," he shook his head, dismissing the thought.

"Are you tired?"

He shook his head.

"I am, but I can't sleep."

He waited before responding.

"Nightmares." It wasn't a question. He was pointing out that I had nightmares.

"How did you know?"

"Skeletron."

Skeletron? As in, Skeletron told him? I played the guessing game in my head until I remembered that he was by my side, after the fight with Skeletron, until I woke up. I probably had a nightmare, then, and that's when he found out.

My eyes grew heavier. The strangled wheeze of the undead sounded so real, but I woke when I felt my cheek against his shoulder.

"Sorry, again," I said as I raised my head off his shoulder.

He let out a throaty chuckle. That was the quietest, most contained laugh I'd ever heard from him.

"I don't want to sleep," I told him. "I hate the nightmares. Always with the Zombies. I hate their missing limbs, or their extra limbs… Or when they are missing skin and I can see their flesh out in the open, like they couldn't be bothered to heal themselves. And why would they? They're doomed to be the living dead forever…"

I was rambling so that I would stay awake, but I realized that I sounded like a scared, little child, so I stopped. I chanced a glance at Forid and he looked back.

"I don't want to sleep," I told him.

He nodded, as if to tell me that he understood.

I could get up, I told myself. There were lots of tasks I could do. I could go around the building, making sure all the doors were shut. I could begin constructing Jamal's room. I could collect fallen stars, fish, mine, hunt Zombies, brew potions…

But, honestly, I was happy where I was. I enjoyed sitting between Forid and Steve. Steve was my closest friend. Forid was the brat whom I refused to acknowledge that I might be attracted to due to property ownership. And I never got to just sit with these people, despite how important they were to me.

But, maybe Forid had something he wanted to do? I could help. It would keep me awake, anyway.

"Is there something you'd rather be doing, right now?" I asked.

He thought about it and shook his head.

"Are you sure? Because, like, I'm not doing anything important, obviously."

"Nothing." He shook his head, again.

Wow. He'd rather sit and do nothing than do anything else? I blushed at the thought that maybe he'd rather sit with me than do anything else. I checked on his facial expression, but he was decidedly looking away from me.

Okay, Mensa. Calm down. Stop your wishful thinking and stop crushing on your poor tenant. He's probably creeped out.

What could I think about, instead? I could change the subject. I could figure out a complex question to ask to see if he'd answer in a full sentence.

"Forid?" As soon as I spoke, he turned his head and looked at me.

"Hm?" It was as though I had pulled him away from his thoughts. Well, him being distracted by something else was better than him being creeped out by me. All I had to do, now, was continue to not freak him out.

"Why did you move in, here?" Normal question… right?

"You asked."

"Uh, right." Rats. Not only did he respond with only two words, but I also realized that it was probably a dumb question. "But… what made you decide to accept?"

He looked away. Oh, no. I probably did what I had set out not to do, and now he was thinking of ways that he could escape me or escape this conversation. I should probably remove myself from the situation for him. I should probably excuse myself so that he didn't have to.

"You seemed nice," he answered. I was shocked that he responded. I was so worried that I almost forgot what I had asked. He didn't turn his head to look at me as he spoke, like it was hard for him to give me this information. He spoke softly. "No one ever asked… No one ever wanted me, before."

This was a sad answer. Did he think that people didn't like him?

"No one ever wanted me, either," I said. That got him to look at me. "No one ever asked me if I would move in with them. I think everyone's just stuck with me."

He arched his eyebrows upwards and there was a somber look in his eyes. Was he feeling sorry for me? But, I was the one who was supposed to be feeling sorry for him. He leaned towards my ear, close enough that I could hear his breathing as it filtered through his fabric mask.

"You want to live with me?" he asked. I took me a moment to realize he was messing with me.

"Yes, I want to live with you," I bumped him playfully with my shoulder. "Thanks for asking. I think I'll take that room." I gestured with my head towards mine.

He gave another quiet chuckle and readjusted his position to be more comfortable. His arm was resting behind me, not touching, but I was quite sure it was behind me. Were it Jamal, I would have minded. Were it Steve, I wouldn't have noticed. But, it was Forid, so I not only noticed, but I focused on it obsessively.

"You sure there's nothing else you'd rather be doing?" I asked.

"Yes."

Steve didn't wake up until late in the morning. He found Jenna, Jamal, Forid and I outside in the new building that hovered on an artificial cloud.

I built it to look like an oriental house. I was supposed to be thinking romantic, but I guess I associated romance with Asian décor and the colour red. By no means was I a romantic person, so I hoped that red paint, seclusion, and Peace Candles were enough to constitute as a good room to bring a date.

"This is perfect!" Jenna sat down at the table in the center of the room.

I was still awaiting Jamal's judgement. He was the one who wanted the room. He stepped out the back door to where I had placed an artificial tree that matched the one at the front of the castle.

"You really got a thing for pink trees, don't you?" Jamal asked when he returned. I frowned. "What? Where do you even find pink leaves, anyway?"

"I paint them," I told him, "But that's not the point! What do you think of the room?"

"Oh," Jamal looked around, as if he hadn't been passing judgement on it all along, "It works, I guess."

"It works?" Jenna repeated. "That's it? I love it!"

Jamal glanced at her and then smiled at me. "Well, that's what's important, isn't it?"

"It's very nice, Mensa," Steve encouraged me, rather like a mother, "which is good, because I think you should be exploring the Underworld, again."

"Okay," I said. I didn't really want to go back, there, but if Steve said I should, I would. "To upgrade Forid's armour, right?"

Jenna and Jamal exchanged glances.

"Yes," Steve said slowly, "You can do that. But, you also need to challenge the keeper of the Underworld."

"The keeper? Wait, is that another boss?"

Steve nodded. I dreaded going to the Underworld, before, but now I also had to fight a boss, down there. Forid must have noticed my dismay, because he patted my shoulder reassuringly before punching an open palm.

We left Jamal and Jenna to prepare for the fight. Forid had to stop by his room, and I was rummaging around in the storage room, returning materials to their proper place after construction.

"Mensa," Steve said. I didn't realize he had followed me. "Things are going to get harder after you beat this boss."

"Harder? How?"

"Corruption will spread faster. New monsters will appear in every biome. There will be new bosses and new invaders."

"Wait, Corruption will spread faster? Why would I want this?" I shut the chest I was digging through and crossed my arms. "And more, tougher enemies? I thought things were going to settle down, not get worse."

"Let me finish, Mensa – there's a bright side," Steve smiled patiently at me. "There will be more treasures to be found. A whole new biome will have the opportunity to grow. New ores will appear, underground. You'll gain abilities you never even imagined possible. You'll get your hands on a Broken Hero Sword – maybe a few that you can share.

"You won't be earthbound, anymore, Mensa. Someday, you will fly. The world won't seem so vast. And, I think this one will appeal to you the most: you will meet so many new people. There will be a new Guide. I predict you will know over twice as many names as you do, now."

"So," I said, "there are more people that need to be freed?"

Steve gave me a look that he normally gave when I forgot an ingredient to a potion, but nodded.

"And, in order to free them, I need to beat this keeper of the Underworld and allow the world to become just a little more Corrupt?"

"Yes. And, when the world challenges you the most, I want you to stay strong and find happiness inside you. Forid can fight, so keep him close. Have more faith in your villagers and try not to shoulder so much responsibility onto yourself."

"Would you relax?" I said, exchanging my Ruler for the Shield of Cthulhu. "You can always give me a pep talk when it's relevant. Stop talking like you're going somewhere. You promised to stay with me, remember?"

"Until I die."

"Yeah. I'll always need my Guide."

"And you will always have a Guide."

I went over Forid's equipment and weapons many times before we left. I was able to put together two Lava Waders with the equipment Forid and I had mined over time – thank goodness I was such a hoarder.

Together, we dug straight down, like we had done in the Jungle to find Queen Bee. I already had a mine started, but I hadn't dug to the Underworld since moving to the beach.

Marble Caves were scary, and we passed two of them on our way down, but I was quick to separate us from the threat of a Medusa or Hoplite by walling us in with dirt.

Checking the map and our depth, I was pretty sure we were getting close when we came across a Spider Cave.

"I found Scarlett in a place like this!" I exclaimed excitedly as I walled up the cave. Forid killed any oncoming spiders.

"Scared?" he asked.

"Nah, she's pretty brave."

"No, you."

"Me?" I looked at Forid. He wore a teasing grin and pointed at a spider that was trying to get in to our tunnel. "I'm not afraid of spiders."

He killed the spider and I closed up the wall.

"Bees," he said.

"That was a spider," I corrected.

"You're afraid of bees."

"Spiders aren't bees. I like spiders. They don't try to sting me from across the room. They make beautiful silk. Steve says I could have a spider as a minion, some day." And I would replace my imp with a spider in a heartbeat.

"Are you afraid of spiders?" I asked.

"Not afraid. Don't like them, though."

I smiled and we kept digging. He certainly was more talkative, now.

"Okay, when break this, we're going to start falling. So, keep your hook handy and be ready to activate your Frostspark Boots, if need be."

Forid just stared at me.

"Don't go under the lava unless you have to. I know we get seven seconds immunity, thanks to our Lava Waders, but I'd rather save that for an emergency. You should never intentionally go under the lava if there is any other option."

Still, he just stared.

"And there are Hellbats, Slimes, Bone Snakes, Fire Imps, and Demons, down there, so be on the lookout for them. Okay… Any questions?"

"No, Steve," he cracked.

"You wish I was as good as Steve." That earned me a strange look, so I decided it was time for me to stop lecturing and get a move on.

We fell through and landed on a hill of ash. I marked where we landed with a single Pink Slime block.

For all my nagging and worrying, we fared very well in the Underworld. With our overpowering Blue Moon and Waterbolt combination, even the Demons with their Scythes failed to scare me.

"Where's the keeper?" Forid asked.

"Oh, I don't know. The instructions Steve gives can be pretty cryptic, sometimes. I think we should be mining Hellstone and making you armour. Steve assured me that everything we need to fight the keeper will be here. We'll know when it's awoken."

He nodded.

We mined any Hellstone we found that wasn't submerged in lava. I reminded him that there was plenty of Hellstone that was not under a deadly, molten liquid. Oddly, there weren't any Obsidian buildings, where we were. I was actually counting on them being there – I brought an anvil with me, but not a Hellforge. I thought we'd find one along the way. If we didn't, then we'd have to go back home to make Forid's armour.

I was relieved when, in the distance, I could see a mass of Obsidian bricks. There was bound to be a Hellforge, in there. Forid pointed at it and I nodded.

"Just in time," I remarked as two Demons approached us. One of them was holding one of those dolls. "We have to kill those Demons on the roof."

Forid didn't ask why. He just kept moving to our target building, dodging Scythes along the way. I let loose a few bolts of water to lower the Demons' health and slow them down. They would be an easy match.

We reached the building and used our boots to propel ourselves to the top.

When we faced the Demons, again, I was horrified to see that they had been under attack this whole time. The bolts I sent ricocheted off the ceiling and hanging ash structures.

"Okay, I messed up," I warned Forid, "Wait for the Demons to get close before attacking."

I had forgotten about my imp. The one time I needed the imp to leave my enemies alone, after all this time of the worst aim I had ever seen, my miniature imp finally landed a perfect hit – and it was on the Demon carrying the voodoo doll.

The doll was going to land in the lava and I was too far away to catch it. But, I didn't panic. It was eerie, and I preferred the doll be intact, but I didn't know what would happen if the doll was destroyed. Now was my time to learn.

There was barely a splash.

Terror struck me as the Guide fell in the lava. A tortured wail echoed through the Underworld, followed by the sounds of lasers and the creeping sound of a creature with a dripping exoskeleton. In the direction I faced, out of the dim, distant light, I saw not a single adversary, but a wall constructed of muscle, veins, eyes, and one mouth.

I realized two things. One was that I was not ready. The second and the most horrifying: something very bad was happening to Steve, right now.

Forid must have felt a similar dread and helplessness as I did, because he couldn't seem to even turn around to see what I was seeing. It was as though he was frightened enough by the look in my eyes to be convinced that he didn't want to see what I was seeing.

In fact, I didn't want him to see what I was seeing. Tiny pieces of the wall tore themselves away from the greater mass to fight as tiny mouths. The Hungry persisted even if they were still attached to the wall by veins. The edges of the wall moved to stick to ash and tore itself away like a band aid to move forward.

Forid's shoulders rose sharply, and he took a deep breath. Before he could move his head an inch to face the monster behind him, I grabbed his face in my hands.

"Forid, I need you to look into your mirror and check on Steve. I sense that he's in danger, and I need you to protect him."

I held on to his face and looked into his eyes. The monster wall drew nearer. Forid didn't look like he wanted to stay in the Underworld, but he also didn't want to abandon me.

"I'll be right behind you," I lied. There was no way I could return home the same person after seeing what I was seeing. I took out my mirror and unwrapped it.

"Please," I said, "Protect Steve." I held the mirror up. He didn't look into it, immediately, choosing instead to make eye contact with me. I hoped he would just listen to me. I was starting to grasp that I would lose this fight, but I didn't want to see Forid lose. I hoped he would return home, unharmed, so that I could at least remember him like this: strong, healthy, and in one piece.

His eyes flickered down and he was gone with a flash of light.

Now, it was just me and the Wall of Flesh.

I pulled out my Star Cannon and ran backwards as I fired. The lasers burned through my armour. Leeches were the first to catch up to me to bite me. The pain, shock, and fear hit me so profoundly, the idea to drink a potion didn't occur to me. I doubt if I had a potion in my hand, I would do anything more than throw it at the wall, anyway. I would do anything to repel it. But, I knew I had nothing that could stop it.

The Hungry caught up with me as I stumbled over some Ash dunes. One bit my arm with so much force I thought I would lose it. A few cannon shots killed the Hungry and my arm was released, but it was agonizing to try and move it.

I was down one arm. I couldn't use my hook. Climbing became harder. But, I familiarized myself with the wall's attack patterns. It wasn't long before I figured out where not to stand for fear of being shot or bitten.

One particularly tall building had me trapped. I jumped and flailed trying to find a door into the building.

The wall caught up. Its flesh devoured me. It seeped through my armour and burned my skin. I thought I was dead when a hungry grabbed me and spat me back out.

There were more buildings to come and, with one of my arms worthless, I couldn't climb it. The wall absorbed me once me. I couldn't take it, anymore. This time, I blacked out.

I didn't expect to wake up, ever again. But, at some point, I realized that I could open my eyes.

When I did, I hated the red glow that my blurry vision interpreted.

I was still in Hell.

I could hear the slimy sound of the Wall as it moved away from me. It left me behind. Or, maybe I really was dead, but damned to spend my afterlife in the Underworld. I longed to move. I wanted to find Steve and my friends and be assured that I was neither dead nor trapped, down here.

But I couldn't move. I remained lying on my stomach, my face resting against ash that was coarse and burned my skin. It was like suffocating in bathwater that was way too hot.

I don't know how long I was stuck there, too tortured to move. Bats flew in the ceilings above me. Slimes moved through the lava beneath me. They couldn't even be bothered to kill me. It's like they knew I was defeated. After what felt like a lifetime, I started counting, if only to prove to myself that time still existed and was still passing.

I had lost count and started over many times before Forid showed up. I wanted to feel joy at seeing him, again, but all I felt was the fear that the wall would do to him what it had done to me. I must have relaxed when he picked me up. The closeness of a human, not a monster, put me to back to sleep.

"Steve!"

I stood up before anyone could stop me. I wasn't entirely healed, but I had to find Steve.

"Jamal, stop her," I dodged Jenna as she tried to grab me and headed out the infirmary door. Then, it was down the trapdoor to my room.

"Steve?" I called. He wasn't there.

Down another trapdoor and out the front gate.

"Steve!"

Night was coming. He'd need to come home, soon.

Someone grabbed my hand. I panicked and tried to jump away, but was shocked at how weak I was. Jamal kept a firm grip.

"You need more sleep," he told me.

"Where's Steve?" I asked.

"Come back to the medical room."

I tried to fight Jamal, but Jarut came to his assistance, and I couldn't shake the two of them. This wasn't right. Normally, I would have no trouble avoiding them. Someone had removed my gear. I was defenseless.

I followed them through the house, keeping my neck craned for any signs of the Guide. He wasn't in my room, the storage room, the crafting room, the kitchen, the dining room, the Tinkerer's workshop, the sewing room, or the garden. These were the only rooms I could see before Jamal and Jarut forced me back into Jenna's care.

She insisted I lie down. She pulled the blanket over me and I kicked it off.

"Can't I see Steve?"

Jamal, Jenna, and Jarut didn't say anything, but I knew what they knew.

Steve was dead.

"How did he die?" I have no idea in what manner I spoke to them. I was too far gone to observe myself. "How could he die when I sent Forid to protect him? Did you see him die? Who saw him die?"

"Mensa, please," Jenna whimpered. I don't know if I was crying, but I remember seeing tears on her cheeks.

"He lied. He lied to me. He knew he wouldn't live, but he let me believe that he would."

"What, you think he knew he was going to die?" Jamal snapped. He put himself between Jenna and me, like he thought I was going to hurt her.

"He knew. He tried to tell me, didn't he? But I was too stupid to figure it out. And now he's dead – and for what? That monster is still alive. I failed."

I covered my eyes with the palms of my hands, ignoring how the movement hurt my right arm. I took a hideous gasp of air and let it out in an abandoned wail.

"This is really bad," Jamal said over my blubbering. "Steve's dead, and our two fighters are out of commission."

What?

I removed my hands and looked at the bed closest to me. I hadn't noticed it, before, but it was occupied.

Forid lied there, looking like he was barely being held together by gauze. He was safe when he left the Underworld. When he returned to retrieve me… that's how he ended up like this.

I screamed.

I did this. Steve was dead and Forid was about to join him because of my incompetency. This was my fault. At this rate, I would lose everyone.

I scrambled to get to Forid, but there was a weight on my stomach and I was forced back down on to the bed.

"This is not your fault."

Jarut, apparently tired of watching the three of them fight to keep me down, just up and sat on me. Once it seemed like I wasn't going anywhere, Jenna sat beside my shoulder and put a soothing hand on my forehead.

"Never say this is your fault," she told me.

I didn't know what I was saying aloud and what was in my head. All I could see was Forid lying in the bed while I cried and struggled, and he wasn't moving. He was perfectly still.

I spent many hours inconsolable. Jenna, Jarut, and Jamal didn't leave. Jarut eventually got to the point where he trusted me not to run off and stopped sitting on me. Despite not leaving, I still didn't sleep. Some minutes, I would spend staring blankly, ignoring everyone around me. The rest, I spent weeping and lamenting. Jarut described it as self-loathing. Jenna described it as delusional. Jamal described it as very bad.

Alalia joined us. No matter how many times she or Jenna told me Forid would pull through, I didn't feel any less guilt for the state he was in.

"You should sleep," Jenna said, rubbing her eyes. "You'd be a lot more reasonable if you slept a healthy amount."

"Am I so unreasonable?"

"You're crazy on the best of days," Jamal stated. "Your lack of sleep makes you ramble and snowball. You panic easily, you're paranoid, and you make mountains out of molehills."

"We just want you to feel better, that's all," Jenna said.

I stared at Forid's sleeping form. I was calmer, now, and could see the rise and fall of his chest.

"Maybe you'd like to sleep in your own room and let us worry about Forid?" Jenna suggested.

I shook my head. The last thing I wanted was to be alone, and the last place I wanted to be was in my room. Steve and I used to browse through books and brainstorm crafting ideas in that room all the time. If I was in my room, it would feel like he could walk in at any moment and remind me of some important task I should have been completing. But, even though the world felt incomplete without him, even though it seemed like the world couldn't exist without him, Steve, in fact, would never walk in my room ever again.

For the first time since the first night, I didn't want to move. It's not that I wanted to stay in bed. It was that I didn't want to do anything at all. There was nothing in the world that would move me.

As day began and the room got brighter, Forid stirred. Jenna was standing at the door, talking in hushed tones to Scarlett and Bambi. He looked around and didn't settle down until he saw me. Even then, his eyes didn't crinkle the way I was accustomed to. His eyebrows furrowed and he looked very disturbed at the sight of me.

"Forid," I whispered. I tried to raise my voice, but settled on whispering when I was sure that talking would cause me to resume crying. "I'm so sorry. The reason you're like this is because I failed."

He took his time sitting up, shaking his head at me the whole time.

"And we lost Steve for nothing," my breath hitched and I clamped my mouth shut. If I was as crazy as the others seemed to think I was, it was probably for the best that I said little more. "I'm so sorry."

He stood and teetered over to my bed. By now, Jenna noticed he was awake and moved in to stop him, but thought better of it when he sat next to me on the bed.

"She needs rest," she warned Forid, "And you do, too."

He lied down. We turned on our sides to face each other. Our foreheads touched. He rested a hand on my side. I didn't know what the plan was, what his intentions were, but I appreciated that he was close. I think, after what we experienced, we just wanted to prove that at least we were alive and we had each other.

With Forid, there, I finally fell asleep.