Author's Note:

Alrighty! Here it is! Another installment of MC:OM! *confetti explodes*

Crisper: Sorry!

Me: You have GOT to stop that! Anyways, thanks for the nine positive reviews left here! Every one of them counts and it makes the writing experience much more enjoyable, not that it isn't awesome as heck already. Well, here you go, readers (including Mysticsummer7). I give you #LuckyChapter10! Hit it, Crisper!

Crisper: (hits it)

As the midnight moon hung above Aiden, the brunette's painful arms kept sleep from his weary eyes. With the sun gone, there was only slight relief for the oozing sores on his. He shifted uneasily, drowsily combing his sore, sleeved arm with a stiff, itchy hand as he tried to relieve some of the pain.

'Why does it have to be both of my arms?', he mused defeatedly as he tried to soothe his burning limbs. He weakly grabbed his sleeve and tried to pull it up but his rigid fingers were useless to him.

He sighed frustratedly, giving up and letting his arms lay limply at his side as he tried to simply cope with the itching. When the pain wouldn't subside, he struggled to his feet and plodded up dirt staircase.

'No use in trying to get to sleep', he thought frustratedly. He plopped to the floor once out in the open and gazed at the bright moon. The cool wind pushed a few dark clouds in front of the majestic night-light, but it also lifted a foul odor to his nose. He looked at his arms, growling bitterly.

'I may as well be dead, because I smell like it already', he thought, feeling embarrassed. He heard the soft sloshing of the fishing pond and looked up. He imagined the water would be a cool relief to his itching, burning arms and started to take off his jacket again, wincing as the sleeves rubbed across his sores.

"Aiden?" A phantom whispered behind him, making him flinch. He spun around, but the surprise in his eyes instantly turned to resentment when he saw Maya peering over the cracks at him. Crying had made her voice and eyes unrecognizable at first, but her blue eyes eventually shone past her reddened face.

He squinted annoyedly. "What?" He barked menacingly. He didn't shift at all when Maya's eyes fell from his and she faltered.

"I'm... I just wanted to check on you." She told him after hesitating. They locked eyes for a moment, her sea blue orbs searching his flushed face for an answer. He looked away. Her eyes crestfallen, she ducked down and retreated to their little "house".

Seeing that she had dismissed herself, Aiden started sneaking to the fishing-pond, not wanting Maya's or a hostile mob's accompaniment. Before he could fully leave, Maya's head resurfaced and he stifled an agitated groan.

"Where are you going?" She asked.

"It's none of your business." Aiden snapped, glaring into her eyes. She looked discouraged, but Aiden felt that her sudden clinginess far outweighed any sorry feelings he didn't have for her. She looked at him, her eyes tired and helpless looking. She was probably getting no more sleep than he was, and, like him, she probably also given up on attempting rest.

"Can I come with you?" She asked. He rolled his eyes frustratedly.

"Fine, whatever." He huffed, turning and walking away, no second thought about waiting for her coming to his mind. His bad mood worsened when he heard her hurried footsteps behind him and his neck stiffened. Maya stayed close but didn't say a word.

After a few minutes, they arrived at the pond. Aiden started pulling off his jacket, much to Maya's shock and unpreparedness. Not wanting any more trouble, she quietly and swiftly looked away, but caught him wincing out of the corner of her eye. A pang of guilt struck her, anxiety and queasiness hitting her with it. She wanted to help him, but she knew what that kind of a gesture would earn her. Compassion was definitely not one of those rewards.

'Out of sight, out of mind', she thought to herself, looking away from him. How awkward would it be to cover her ears and sing a mindless tune, because his grunting was starting to get loud. He sounded like he was in a world of pain then. Was she just going to stand there and ignore him?

Somehow she felt blameworthy for him. How could she stand there and act like he was fine?

"A-Aiden?"

"What do you need, Maya?" He grunted, his fingers nipping stubbornly at his jacket as he spoke. "I'm kind of in the middle of something, in case you hadn't noticed." He added spitefully. She softly gulped before continuing.

"I know. I just was asking if I could help you take your clothes off." She told him. She instantly regretted what she said as the words left her mouth.

Aiden instantly stopped and turned to face her, eyes wide with shock and jaw askew. A heavy blush fell over Maya's face as Aiden's grass-green eyes were locked on her blue ones, unsettlement on his blushing face. His unmoving gaze only made the awkwardness intensify and she looked away.

"N-not in… that kind of way, though." She stuttered quietly. Aiden mouth clamped shut as he tried to get over what she said before. She groaned in frustration, her cheeks heating up.

POV Switch

Aiden knew very well that Maya hadn't said that in a… particular way, but why was he so shocked about it?

Maybe it was just so… unexpected, he figured. He even felt his own temperature rising and couldn't help the soft blush that came on with it. He scowled at her as he mused silently.

He heard shuffling feet and looked up to see Maya nervously fiddling with her fingers, still looking away.

"I think I'll, uh… yeah, you wanted to come out here alone, anyways. I think I'll go." She said, turning to walk away.

Aiden watched her leave before turning to face the pond again. Within a few minutes, he finally coaxed his jacket off, followed by his green shirt. He gently slid into the small pond until the water covered all but his neck. It burned his arms slightly at first, but after a few minutes of silence, he felt the sting in his arms begin to fade.

He started to relax, feeling sleep coming on, but something odd rose to the surface beside him. He chanced the foreign object a look before immediately screaming in surprise as he came nose to nose with a freshly dead, withered fish. Still screaming, he sprang backwards, scooting himself along with his sore arms and screaming louder than before. His arms immediately started hurting again after being used so vigorously and he lay on the ground, blinking away the tears that threatened to pour down his face.

He heard footsteps and opened his eyes to see Maya standing over him, staring at him for a few seconds.

"What happened?" She asked.

"Nothing, okay?" He replied annoyedly.

"But I heard you scream. I'm sure something happened, Aiden." She told him, putting her arms on her hips. He scoffed, sitting up and cringing.

"Nothing happened, Maya." He repeated stubbornly as Maya walked towards the pond. He saw her flinch before dipping her hand into the water to turn around and hold up the dead fish.

"Was it this?" She asked softly.

"No." He denied, looking away. Maya threw the fish away before walking past Aiden again. "You should probably clean your arms off, instead of just soaking. It might help with… you know..." She added meekly, rushing off before he could retort. He frowned at her before scooting back to the pond.

He cupped some water in one of his hands, gently pouring it onto the other arm. It stung a bit, but after wiping away some of the pus and dead skin it didn't hurt so much. It looked considerably less gruesome, but there was still pain and the ominous, purple hue on his skin. After a few minutes, both of his arms were cleaned. He turned around to put on his green shirt, but it was gone! He glared at his remaining jacket, jerking it off the ground to see if the shirt was under it, but there was nothing but dirt. He angrily snatched his jacket off of the grassy floor and marched to where he thought Maya would be, only to find her absence. She definitely wasn't asleep, he thought knowingly. The moon was almost setting, and she would've only had a few hours left of sleep.

He heard the sound of water splashing and turned to face its direction. A way off, he saw Maya leaning over something. He heard sloshing water and he saw her poking something else with a stick. He sneaked towards her, occasionally hiding behind a tree or ducking next to a rock to avoid the eyeless glare of a zombie that drunkenly wandered by. Eventually, he arrived behind her and saw that she was actually vigorously stabbing at a green, blobby thing, thrusting it back and forth in a small hole of water. He squinted, recognizing that the "green, blobby thing" was actually his shirt.

"Maya, just what do you think you're doing with my shirt?" He asked accusingly, glowering at her as she worked.

"I'm just washing it, Aiden." She told him, glancing at him briefly before returning to her little deed. He felt a pang of remorse tap him in the chest and his glare softened into a frown. The sound of water splashing softly made him return his gaze to Maya's back and he glared.

"Fine, then." He shot back. Maya heard him plop down behind her, and she knew that he was most likely staring her down. She shook her head slightly, shoving him out of her head at that moment. Aiden remained, unmoving in heart and body. She felt his hot glower intensifying and she let the shirt alone, finally turning around to face him.

"Why are you glaring at me?" She asked.

"I'm just making sure you don't ruin my shirt." He answered rudely. She dropped the stick.

"Are you still mad at me for asking you about your arms, Aiden?" She asked accusingly.

"Pretty much, yeah. I don't let go of those kinds of things as easily as someone like you would." He replied casually, his soft, sardonic tone making the words sting more than they should've, even if Maya wasn't taken aback by his words.

"Well, excuse me for caring about you." She snorted.
"Maya, you don't care. The only thing you want is to, what was it? Oh, yeah. Help me take my clothes off. That's the only thing you've cared about since day one."

"I didn't say that on purpose, Aiden!" Maya yelled.

"Oh, you've been hitting on all three of us boys since the day you first got here, and you didn't say that on purpose?"

"Yeah. I didn't, Aiden. Now would you shut up about that? If you don't want me to wash your stupid shirt, then fine!" She marched back to the little "washer" and forked the shirt with her stick before throwing the soppy, green mound on the ground in front of him. He glanced at it with his lips in a flat line before looking at Maya who glared at him. She turned and left, leaving him alone to his own thoughts and his soppy shirt.

He started to curse under his breath, but couldn't move his tired lips to. As he tried to stand, he remembered that he hadn't slept for two nights and days. He had no doubt ruined his sleep-cycle, too, and it was only reasonable to guess that his Wither-sickness was adding to his fatigue. Before he could second guess, he suddenly found himself laying on the bare floor, his eyelids like like dark, heavy demon's wings. A low snore rose in his throat and he instantly fell asleep.

((Le timeskip, brought to you by The Feels, of course))

Sleepiness lingered in Gill's black eyes as he slowly awakened. In a corner, his blurred vision made out Maya sleeping peacefully, her body entranced with fatigue. But where was Aiden?

"Maya, Maya, get up." Gill hissed, not caring to whisper as if someone else slept there. He watched impatiently as she groggily lifted her head, pushing a few strands of brown hair away from her sore eyes. As if remembering some dreadful thing, her countenance lit up like a startled cat and her eyes darted around the room.

"What? Is that Witherstorm-thing out there?" She asked, her eyes wide with fright and threatening to spill over with horrified tears.

"No, Maya! It's alright, we're fine!" He shouted, pitying her for her fear and instantly regretting waking her up like he had. "Maya, where's Aiden?" He asked, quick to refocus on the situation. Maya's blue eyes did a double-take on the mostly empty, small room, her stomach knotting up as she did.

"He didn't come back?" She whispered to herself as she remembered their encounter the previous night. She whipped past Gill and to the stairs, and the other man followed her, no questions asked.

POV Switch

"Aiden!" Maya called as she rushed out into the open. "Aiden, where are-" She yelped as she suddenly fell flat on her face. She clambered to her knees, not caring that her nails were digging into the ground as she turned over.

She gasped at the sight of Aiden's unmoving corpse… No! Body! He couldn't be dead, could've he? He was just with her last night!

Tears burst through her eyelids and rushed down her cheeks as a loud scream escaped her throat, closely followed by Aiden's own cry of terror. Behind them, Gill screamed louder than Aiden and Maya's voices combined. Maya watched quietly as the three of them panted softly.

"What happened?" Gill finally croaked. Maya moved to speak, but only managed to choke back her pained sobs. She glanced at Aiden who only glared back, sleepiness in his dreary, baggy eyes. He simply lay his head back down, shutting his eyes with no words.

"Is he gonna be okay for now?" Maya asked, wiping a few daring tears from her eyes. Gill inhaled nervously, rubbing his neck with his hand as he looked Aiden over.

"I… I think he's just tired. I doubt he got any sleep last night." He reasoned unsurely.

"Gill… is… is it safe for him to just be out here, out in the open?"

"I'm sure he'll be fine. There aren't any monsters for now." He said, bringing a hand to his itching face. Maya sent Aiden one last uneasy stare, watching his chest barely rise and fall and hearing a whisper of a snore coming from him. "We'll probably move him later tonight, but he needs to sleep right now."

"Okay."

"You wanna come with me to catch some fish, Maya?" He asked. She shook her head slowly, avoiding eye-contact with him and Aiden. "Alright… you, uh… okay." He walked away, leaving her at Aiden's side.

Author's Note:

Okay! This is about 2,500 words, give or take 99... (I got my hands on a word-counter! Yay!), and I'll try to keep all my entries this same length. Now, another poll! Originally, this story was supposed to have at least some platonic Aidaya, but now I'm starting to ship Gillaya. But please tell me how I did! Please correct me, but no flames! Biya! Close it, Crisper!

Crisper: (closes it)