First Order

"Up, up, down, right, left, up is the order!" Angel shouted. She was sure it was the order. It sounded like that. "Come on, hurry!"

"Right!" Jace shouted. "Do you still got the scarf? Good, hang on, this is going to be a bit of a bumpy ride!"

Jace rushed through the tunnels. Angel didn't doubt that he was a fast runner, their heists proved that, but today, he was extremely fast. He jumped over holes without stopping, slid down the tunnels, and dodged the monsters they bump into with ease. He was so fast that Angel tied the scarf around her wrist this time so she can see if the scarf decided to disappear and give them heart attacks.

That doesn't mean the other two didn't have his back though. Gill had to distract the monsters from Jace a few times when the latter's not paying attention, and once, Jace was so startled by another monster, that Angel pushed herself up, wrapped her legs around Jace's neck, spun around, and landed both of them on the ground so that they can dodge the attack.

"Normally, I would be mad that you used that move on me," Jace had grumbled as Gill cracked up when the monster face planted against the wall, "but today, I will make an exception."

"That's because I saved your life," Angel had snorted. She climbed his back and said, "Let's hurry! There are only twenty minutes left!"

Jace had just popped out of the tunnels when he crashed into someone, which happened to be none other than Jesse. She was covered with burns and slashes and winced every time she moved, but she was alive.

"Ow!" she said, rubbing her forehead. "Where did you come from?!"

"A tunnel, for your information," Jace said simply, removing his hand from his forehead. "Now if you excuse us…"

Jesse's emerald eyes drifted to the scarf tied around Angel's wrist and nodded. "Alright. Thank goodness you got the scarf. Are you alright, Angel?"

"Do I look like I'm alright?" Angel said. She had been knocked off when Jesse and Jace crashed into each other. "Yes, completely."

"What on the name of Notch happened to your leg?" Lukas asked as he, Axel, and Olivia came running towards them. His face was snatched up and dirty, and his hair was stinged at the edges, which Angel assumed it was because of the monsters. "It's like the lava incident all over again."

"It's an extremely long story," Angel said, "but I'll explain later. We have to hurry." She finished desperately The five-minute announcement had been a few seconds ago and she was getting really anxious.

Olivia eyed Angel's leg. "Okay, but please stay safe. Petra will bring you back to life and murder you if you ruin that leg. Watch out for Killers and those monsters too."

"Roger," Gill said as Jace picked up Angel again. They rushed off to the Claw Room.

Olivia was right to watch out for Killers and monsters. Twice, they had to duck in corners to avoid being seen by monsters. Twice, Angel had to use the same trick she used on Jace on Killers to stun them for a while.

The area around the Claw Room was completely crowded. By the time they reached the door, the dreaded announced came up and made their hearts stop.

"Time's up! Ooo, so close! I'm so sorry, everyone, but I'm afraid you are far too late."

"NO!" Angel screamed in despair. She shot off Jace's back, ignoring the searing pain of her burned and crashed leg and rushed off. Dimly, she noticed how Gill and Jace didn't stop her. Perhaps they were too shocked. Yes, perhaps that.

She threw open the door. The cat was gone, so was the cage, fence, chains, and platform. Angel didn't care about that. She focused on Maya laying lifelessly in Aiden's lap. Angel couldn't see Maya's face, but there was a puddle of blood surrounding them. She untied the scarf and ran inside.

She sank to her knees beside Aiden. Maya's icy blue eyes were staring at her, unblinkingly. Any life in her eyes vanished, leaving her gaze fixed, blank, and empty, which gave her the chills. There were deep, claw marks on her throat and blood dripping down her chin. The cat knew exactly where to kill her instantly. Blast that cat.

Maya is dead. She won't laugh as they play Dead By Daylight anymore, she won't roll her eyes and call Angel mom every time she scolds them anymore, she won't exaggerate Angel doing mom things, she won't do any of those things at all because she's dead.

"She didn't even get to say goodbye," Aiden said hoarsely. Tears were streaming down Aiden's face like waterfalls. Maya loved waterfalls. That thought made her even more depressed. "The moment the announcement was over, the platform lowered and the cage and fence disappeared, the cat attacked her."

Angel didn't understand why he was telling her this until she wiped away her tears and lifted her head and met Aiden's accusing gaze. Aiden must have noticed the scarf in her hands and automatically blamed her. She closed her eyes and braced herself.

SMACK!

"It wasyour fault!" Aiden spat out. He had slapped her so hard, her head snapped to the side. He flicked off the tears that got on his hand when he slapped her, stood up, and kept going. "If you were faster, Maya would still be alive! Why the hell do you have to be so damn slow?! You knew Maya could die if you don't get to the Room in time and yet, you were too late! Now Maya is dead and it's your damn fault! Do you not care for Maya?! Why do you never try even though you promised so many damn times?! I hate you! I wish we were never friends!"

Angel flinched. She was expecting all the blame and hate but the last part shook her up. She bit her lip until it bleeds and waited for more insults.

To her surprise, Aiden didn't say anymore, but there was a noise that sounded like a sword being unsheathed. Angel looked up, her eyes widening in horror and hurt as Aiden swung his sword down—

"AIDEN, WHAT IN THE NAME OF NOTCH ARE YOU DOING?!"

It was all a blur. Jesse, who had ran inside a few minutes after the announcement, stepped in from of Angel and blocked the blow with her own sword. For a second, it was their duel in Sky City again, then Jesse shoved hard against Aiden's sword and sent it chattering out of his hand.

Aiden stared at it as realization slowly dawned on him at what he almost did.

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jesse roared. Her eyes were hard emeralds staring into Aiden's soul and she was turning bright red from anger. "Killing another one of your friends does not bring Maya back, you blasted, celery eyed, idiot! It'll only give you one less friend! If I hadn't been there to stop you, Angel would be laying here, dead because of you! I don't care what excuses you have, It was bad enough that Maya's dead, what will happen if I wasn't there and Angel died by your hands? Do you really want to change, or are you the Aiden I know from Sky City?!"

Jesse definitely hit a sore spot. Aiden never liked it when people mentioned the Sky City incident. He will always flinch and change the subject almost immediately. Aiden flinched violently and sank back into himself. A look of horror and guilt replaced the rage and hatred on his face.

"N-No, I'm not." He said quietly.

"And it wasn't her fault Maya died either!" Kate shouted. Her brown eyes were blazing with anger. "She tried her best! I've sure she was desperately hurrying Jace to get to the room! I'm sure she cared about Maya! What right to you have to blame her for Maya's death?!"

"I-I don't," Aiden said, cringing. "I'm sorry, I-I was just so upset."

"Upset?!" Petra said incredulously. "You snapped at Angel and nearly killed her! You call that upset? I'll call that mad!"

"Come on, Aiden, I know you're better than this!" Gill shouted. "What happened to our promise, huh?"

"You bastard!" Jace roared. "That was an all-time low for you! And I'm including the Sky City incident!"

Aiden flinched again.

Olivia stepped towards him and placed a hand on his arm. She looked upset too, and she was trying not to look at Maya's body. "Jace, please, I know we're all upset, but we need to calm down." She pleaded.

Jace stared at her for a few seconds, then turned away and glowered at the wall. Lukas wrapped an arm around Jesse and pulled her away from Aiden. Axel followed his lead and pulled away Petra. The tension that was so thick, it was as though you can grab and hold it.

"Angel," Anna cut in, directing all the attention to her. She blushed and said, "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Seri said. She was looking at Angel with pity and worry. "You're shaking."

It took Angel a moment to realize that her hands were shaking and she was crying even more if that was possible. She took a deep breath and stood up shakingly, ignoring William and Tacey's noises of protest (they were kneeling beside her after Jesse's blocked Aiden's attack. She didn't even notice them because of her shock) and looked down at her ruined tights and boots. Her clothes were stained with her and Maya's blood. She wanted to get the blood washed off immediately. It made her feel cold, numb, and dirty. Maya's body was still laying a few feet away from them.

It wasn't Aiden trying to kill her that shaken her up. She expected that. Sometimes, Aiden would switch to his Sky City persona when he's really angry and would snap out of it before he does anything. No, the thing that shaken her up was the look of rage and hatred as he swung the sword down. It was the same amount of hatred in his eyes when he looked at Jesse back in Sky City. The same hatred that he would scream at their duel. Did Aiden really hate her that much to give her that look?

"Angel," She snapped her head up, her eyes hardening to steel when she saw it was Aiden. "I-I'm sorry— I'm really am—"

Angel used the back of her hand to wiped her eyes away and looked at him straight in the eyes with a cold look and said three simple words that made him recoil and cringe. "Save your breath."

Ariza and Mason, who was standing by the exit, startled as Angel shoved past them to the exit and left behind tension and sorrow.

Renee, Ann, Adrian, and Annabelle shared a startled look because they were pretty positive Angel's eyes flashed gold.

Power was rising in her core.