Odd and Ulrich ran towards the sound. They arrived at the main room, where Kiva was standing with a look of shock. A vase was in pieces on the floor, and her 'step mother' stood next to her, yelling at her in some foreign language. She saw Odd and Ulrich and waved.
Odd ran over to her and grabbed her hand. "Ki, none of this is real! We're in an alternate reality. One that never exists to us. And we have to get out, now! Please get us out, like you did last time..."
The strange, nonunderstanding, distant look came to Kiva's face.
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"I'll help you, Ki. Come on, think about sleep... Tired, yes, you must be tired. I'm going to close my eyes, and I want you to do the same. Focus, all on falling asleep and nothing but falling asleep... Listen... To my voice... That's it... Almost there..." Odd and Kiva collapsed to the ground, asleep. The stepmother waved her hand as if to say they were crazy kids.
Kiva suddenly had everything rushing back to her.
She ran to the controls. Typing in the code, she found the familiar countdown time. "T minus five." Then she took the time to fall backwards. "Whew. Thanks for reminding me. I don't know how we would have gotten out if you hadn't done that."
Odd sat next to her. He didn't trust this place, or any other place having to do with it.
As if reading his mind, Kiva nodded. "I'm scared too."
"We'll never get out of here alive, will we?"
Kiva was silent for a minute.
"Maybe not. Think though. There's nothing we can do to get out. So, we have to face this. Being this way doesn't save us, even though we so want it too. Something tells me that as long as we have any hope at all, we'll be okay. But that's really up to us."She took a breath. Odd hugged her, and she could tell he was crying inside. She held him, rocking back and forth, humming a song she had written the other day. When was it now, anyway?
"We're going now, Odd." She felt him nod and they felt the same empty process as before. This time they landed on the ground with a thump. Kiva's eyes opened quickly. She helped her friends to their feet without and word, and lead the way ahead. She paused to count the doors. Nine in all. Seven to go.
To door was opened slowly. Kiva stepped in, as if she were simply going in to solve some unanswered question in her mind.
The others followed hesitantly. Once they were all inside, the door closed by itself.
Yumi and Ulrich were holding hands tightly. Jeremie and Aelita were clinging to each other. The wideness of their eyes was contagious.
"WELCOME TO LEVEL THREE. YOU WILL WISH YOU HAD NEVER MESSED WITH ME SOON ENOUGH." the hollow, deep voice echoed.
Author's note: I do understand that only Kiva and Odd have been active the whole time. But it is hard to advance a story, manage writers block, and keep up with six characters evenly. But I'll try. Also, I like writing this in a font on notepad, but I lost the name of the font. I must find it. Also also, the shortness cannot be helped, because that was the perfect break point. You're going to have to be very patient with me now.