I hear Pewdie get back up as I try to get a grip back on reality. I can still feel the tentacles that were wrapped around me, as if I had been stained by them. I open my eyes and stare upwards, seeing nothing. At first, I think it's because my eyes can't focus, but then I hear Felix comment on how dark the place is.

I motion a bit my limbs to check if I'm alright, making me realize I hold onto something. I bring the object nearer to my face, revealing the knife, this same knife I had when I entered the gymnasium, that one I couldn't defend myself with, the one I kept on holding even when Pewdie carried me out of there. And all I can do when I see it is laugh.

I laugh like someone about to cry, like someone who wants to leave, like a man who's so near the limit of insanity there is only a step left until he falls down the pit to it. I double over, the knife resting on top of my head as my other arm hold my tummy. I keep on laughing and laughing without being able to stop myself, until I hear Pewdie sit down beside me.

"Are you alright, Cry?"

These words stop me square and I stare at Felix. I feel my eyes fill up with tears and I crumble. I grab onto my legs with all my might, trying to protect myself from anything that could come near. I know Felix is right by me, but I feel like I'm alone in this nightmare. It takes me a few minutes to regain some bit of my composure, and even then, I keep my head buried in my knees. When he realizes I stopped whining, Pewdie touches my shoulder:

"Uhm, Ryan?"

I look up at him and stare. His face is distorted by surprise and amazement. He opens and closes his mouth like a fish, making me let out a forced laugh. He blinks a few times before he is able to say what is weighing on his mind.

"…your mask…"

"What of it..?"

I touch my face in incomprehension, moving my fingers on the skin, until I realize it is skin I am touching, and not rubber. Unable to believe it, I let go of the knife, which fall to the floor without a sound, and use both of my hands to check myself. After some minutes of this game, I stop and look at Pewdie. We exchange a surprised look and I feel the tears invade my eyes again, this time in relief.

"I can't believe it."

"Well that's at least one good thing" smiles Felix.

I nod and look around, my mind a bit less heavy. I frown as I recognized the surroundings with my eyes now accustomed to the light.

"A forest…!?"

Pewdie looks around and shrugs.

"It's still better than the manor, I'd say."

I can see he's crept out by everything as much as I am, but by some weird mechanism, he seems adapted to our situation. I imitate him and stand up, grabbing the knife again and hold it out toward Felix.

"Take it."

"Why?"

"You're better at using it than I am." I comment with a doleful laugh as I reach out to my neck and rub it.

He examines me a moment before accepting it without a comment. He turns around and looks at the path we have to follow. The trees are so dense on each side of it I don't think one could get past them without a machete, and even then… I turn my glance to where we came from and my eyes fall on a blank wall of rocks bearing no trace of the door through which we passed.

I turn my attention back to Pewdie and we start walking, following the trail.

After a few hours of strolling in the dark and the grass, we reach a clearing. The shape of it is perfectly round and the trees seem to create a shelter with their branches for those who would come across it. I look around, checking the surroundings to make sure a creature is not hidden anywhere near, but I can't see anything.

I hear Felix sit down behind me and turn around. He looks intensely at me.

"We should lay down here for a while. It's peaceful right now, so it would be as good to get some sleep."

I walk nearer to Pewdie and sit in front of him with an exhausted sigh. My body is not especially tired, but my mind is worn out by the last events.

"I'll guard first, 'k?" He continues. "You need sleep right now, or you'll fall to the floor in tiredness."

I think about it a bit, then I lay down.

"Wake me up when it'll be your turn."

"Sure."

I close my eyes and in an instant, I stop thinking.

I don't know how longer this will go on. He was so close to breaking down not long ago, I fear for his mental health. I don't know how I manage it myself, in fact. This place is so abnormal; it's a miracle I haven't collapsed already.

Did you think you could escape?

I get my head up and look around.

"Who's there?"

I hear a shrieking laugh

Did you really think it? The laugh resonates again. This time, I know where it comes from: it's inside my head. There is NO escape. All you did was lengthen your agony, of the both of you.

I grab my temples, trying to get rid of it.

You will kill each other slowly, without even realizing it. I will have my blood, wish it or not.

I feel the presence retract. Somehow, I am as out of breath as if I had just ran a marathon. I feel a shiver run down my spine as I recall the thing's words. I can feel my face turning white and green in fear.

When Pewdie wakes me up, I feel way better than before I had lied down. My moral is higher, almost good, and my sight is clear. He hands me the knife, then he lies down in turn. I noticed his white face, but I guess he's really near the collapsing too. After all that's going on, I could very well understand it.

I sit down by my friend's side, the knife in my hand, and I look at it. How had he been able to save me from a death threat with a thing as little as this petty thing? It seems impossible. I can't-

What was that? I think I saw something white at the limit of my sight, but when I turned to look at it, it wasn't there. Could I be still tired?

Are you the mask..? Or is the mask you..?

I look behind me to catch the sight of the woman whispering in my ear, but nothing is there. I look around, now on full alert, doing my best to stay calm. I feel like I know this voice, but from where?

Don't you recall?

A flash of black darkens my vision for an instant and I fall on my butt. I know where SHE comes from now.

That's right…

I see a white mask appear, one that's right like the ones I use on internet to personify myself.

Pretty mask you had there. I like it. Its lines start distorting. But what about we try another look? The features end up into a Mad Cry face. The mask seems to be laughing at me. I prefer it like that. Don't you think it's gorgeous like this? It changes again, turning into a Lucius Cry face. This one is not bad either.

The mask disappears and I look around. I jump back as a Mad Cry mask appears a centimeter from my face and tries to bite me. It disappears right after. A Lucius Cry appears on the other side and giggles devilishly. Without a thought, I try to slash it, but I only end up splitting clouds of smoke. Two more appear on each side of me, one Poker Face and one Mad. I try to stab both, without any better result. It goes on for many waves of it, without me having any effect on them.

In the end, I see a Poker Face Mask in reach, near the floor. I stab down to get it, and for once, I touch it. I'm about to let out a victory howl, when I hear the Woman's laugh once again, as the white mask under my blade dissolves slowly. Under me, I see Pewdie, with his eyes wide open, staring at me in panic. He stays still, and I wonder why, until I spot the place where my knife landed. It planted right between his chest and his right arm, grazing both. A tiny trail of blood is already flowing down from the slashes.

I scramble away in a hurry, feeling my face whiten in fear of what I did and what could have happened. Pewdie grabs the knife's handle and uproots it from the ground. Then he looks at me, then the knife, then at me again, unable to believe what just happened. I can feel my panicked breath flowing in and out as I try to calm myself down.

"What happened…?"

I meet Felix's eyes. I see nothing else in there than pure curiosity and worries. There is no trace of judging what I just did at all.

"The dark thing… the mask…" I try to say, unable to sort out the words I want to say from those I don't want to.

"Calm down."

I obey and breathe deeply, staring at the wound I gave to my friend a moment ago. Then, I try to tell him what happened as best I can. He listens to me until the very end, not asking any question.

"I see… So it was not a daydream I had, in the end" he tried to joke before telling me his own adventures with the Voice.

The words make me shiver in anxiety when he tells me about them, and I get up.

"I want to get out of here."

Pewdie gets on his feet too.

"As do I." He turns to the entrance to where we haven't yet explored. "Let's go."

We start walking again, hoping to find an exit to this nightmare.