I'm wondering how chapter thirty can have 433 reads while thirty-eight has 645

uhh

whatever

roll with it XD

WARNING: More than pain. Honestly, you shouldn't have even gotten this far into the book if this chapter is going to bother you.

Games

Ch 39: Dealing With Loss

The GameMaster splays his hands out, and Ty goes flying up into the air. "Here you go, Skybrine!" William shouts happily, spawning a bag of popcorn next to me in my cage.

To my horror, my body disobeys my commands yet again as my hands reach down and grab the popcorn, quickly popping a piece into my still smiling mouth.

Ty (who is still suspended in the air) swallows hard after seeing my actions. Then he looks down, basically just accepting his fate.

No, no! Ty, no, you can't accept it! You have to fight it! You can't just give up, you can't!

"What about you?"

What do you mean?

"I mean, what about you? Haven't you already given up?"

Well, what can I do? I'm freaking paralyzed!

"So is Ty, but you don't want him to give up."

That... That's different.

"How? Ty is just as incapacitated as you, maybe even more so. He's being held in place by William, too, but he's also got something else holding him down – you."

What- me?

"You. He cares about you a whole lot, and he thought you felt the same way. And yet here you are, eating popcorn and watching with a grin as he is murdered."

I- oh. B-But, I can't help it!

"Or can you?"

Rather confused, I fight to take back control of my body. I can't- this is impossible! The GameMaster is so much more powerful than me.

"You are Skybrine."

Yeah, I am.

"And you accept that?"

I guess now isn't really the time to deny it.

"So, Skybrine, save your more-than-a-friend."

I'll try.

I strain to regain control, but really all I'm getting from this is pain. My hands are still shoving popcorn into my mouth, which is still grinning maniacally. Nothing is changing.

Oh, but Ty. The GameMaster is still holding him in midair, and the twisted man is spawning sharp objects left and right of him. "Last words, Ty?" he asks semi-politely as he moves all the sharp things – knives, daggers, swords, arrows, axes, pickaxes, hoes, everything – only centimeters from Ty's body. He centers the sharpest sword directly over Ty's heart and then waits patiently for an answer.

"U-Uh... Well, I guess if this is it for me, I should probably stop being such a wimp," Ty sighs, turning his attention over to me. "Um, Sky? Yeah, at, uh, at some point I think I accidentally fell in love with you, so... I don't know. It doesn't look like you care, but I figured it would be nice just to get it off my chest before I left, you know?"

I feel my lips turn up a little more into a smirk. Then a dark laugh escapes them, and I internally gasp because how is the GameMaster even capable of being this cruel?

And maybe it's the look of total and utter despair in Ty's eyes, or maybe it's the way the GameMaster smirks at me victoriously, or maybe it's the sound of my father's voice telling me to stop being such a weak little failure, but somehow I manage to gain just enough control to mouth the words, "I'm sorry."

And that's enough to turn Ty's frown into a tiny smile.

And that's just enough to give me the strength to break out of the GameMaster's paralysis. "Stop! Let him go!" I scream, stomping on the popcorn and banging on the bars again. "We can switch places, it's okay, just let him go!"

"How did you-"

I narrow my eyes and growl at him. "Put Ty down."

"Ha, I don't think so, Skybrine."

"I will literally tear your head off," I hiss, glaring at him.

"Don't you dare!"

Get rid of these bars.

"What? Why?"

Because I'm your son and you should maybe start giving a crap about my well-being.

"I'm not really-"

And if you don't do it, I will murder William.

The black bars slowly peel over themselves until there's a big enough hole for me to crawl through. "Did you just- how did you get-"

I stomp up to the GameMaster, sending him the most violent glare I can manage. "Put. Him. Down."

The GameMaster's eyes widen, and he starts to lower Ty. But then- "Wait. You can't do anything to me. You're powerless."

"Powerless, huh? I have words, I have family members," I remind him, stalking closer still.

He grimaces. "More than you know..."

"What?"

"Nothing."

"No! Freaking answer me already! I'm tired of having so many things kept from me!"

"Turn around, Skybrine."

"Wha-" I start angrily as I spin around.

Ty.

Ty, with a sword piercing his chest, the sharp tip barely visible as it pokes out of his back.

No one can survive that.

The GameMaster cackles and drops his hold on Ty, leaving him to fall ten feet to the ground, and I run over to him. "Ty!" I yell as tears begin to stream down my face. Of course, he doesn't reply. He doesn't even flinch as I lift his lifeless body onto my lap. "No, Ty, please!"

I swallow hard and close my eyes for a few seconds. Then I gently push Ty's body back onto the floor as I stand up, opening my eyes and wincing at the blood on my gloves. I take a deep breath, carelessly wiping my hands on my jeans, before walking right out of the Challenge Room.

"Sky, wait!" someone – I think it's Jason – calls. "You c-can't just leave!"

"Please, Sky, just come back!"

"We promise not to hate you anymore!"

"W-We just... need each other right now."

Ignoring their depressed shouts, I continue my march out of the Spawn Area and over to the Living Quarters. I can hear the GameMaster laughing, but I grit my teeth and ignore that, too.

"Son? What are you doing? Don't you want to mourn your friend?"

I have different ways of dealing with loss.

"Sky!" Seto's voice drifts across the biome, but I don't slow my speed at all. "Wait, we're coming with you." Ten long seconds later, Seto is speed-walking next to me, pulling Jason along with him. "He couldn't handle it. He got a closer look at Ty's body, and then- he just broke down."

Jason lets out a sob, clinging onto Seto's arms as they walk.

"I'm sorry for, um, for not believing you, and for hating you..," the sorcerer apologizes. I nod in a mix of acknowledgment and forgiveness. He sighs. "But, can I ask about that whole popcorn deal?"

"GameMaster," I spit out, not stopping my walk.

"Oh," Seto says quietly. "But how could he-"

"Power surge. From the Pain Transfer."

"Oh. To be honest, I normally wouldn't have believed you, but... well, Ty would have believed you, so..." He sniffles. "Notch, I'm so sorry, I just-"

"It's okay."

"Sky, hold up!" Ian's voice shouts, but I don't stop.

"We can talk later!" I respond.

Half a minute later, I push open the door to the Living Quarters with Seto, Jason, and four panting people behind me. "How could you just leave like that after Ty-" Mitch begins, and I feel a pang of hurt in my chest.

Jerome glares at him and pushes him back slightly, hissing, "Dude, shut up! There's no doubt in my mind that Sky is hurting more than any of us."

Mitch nods slowly. "Yeah, I- I'm sorry, Sky."

"It's-" I blink away more tears. "It's fine."

"Notch, I am so, so sorry, Sky," Ian cries, holding onto Quentin, who is also crying lightly. "I just- We shouldn't have pushed you away during the last few Challenges, and I feel like we could have done something more for Ty, and I just-"

"P-Please stop," I whisper painfully, because I don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about how Ty is dead, how there is a sword through his heart, how his blood is literally on my hands. I don't want to think about how I will never laugh, never talk, never live with him again. I'll never get to hear his perfect voice or see his perfect face, no, never again.

I'll never get to be happy about how he loved me.

Even though he could never have loved me as much as I still love him.

No. No, I don't want to think about that.

"Sky?" Quentin asks quietly. "Are you okay?"

I snap out of my trance as I remember my plan, the entire reason I just stomped over to the Living Quarters. "Yes," I growl. "Yes, I am perfectly okay."

I shove my bedroom door open and walk inside quickly, immediately moving over to my bed. The others follow me, frowning questioningly. "What are you-" one of them starts.

I pull on the lever that's hidden on the wall under my bed, and the bed flips up against the wall, revealing the spiral staircase. My friends (I can call them my friends, now, right?) gape at the newly revealed steps, and I smirk slightly.

I don't allow myself much time to gloat, though, before taking the stairs two at a time and running over to the corner of the secret room, where the budder chamber is. I place my hands on the glass tube, ready to draw out the power, but then I remember something crucial.

"Please kindly remove your faces from my room," I demand sort of calmly as I glance back at all my friends coming down the staircase.

While the rest of them continue to look in awe around my secret budder room, Jason keeps on bawling in Seto's arms and Seto asks me a question. "Why?"

"Because if you don't, you could be and probably will be fatally injured."

Seto raises an eyebrow in surprise but still pushes all the others back towards the staircase. Once they've all gone up it, I can see them peeking down into the room. I chuckle as I place my hands on the tube again. "Close your eyes," I instruct the spies.

The entire room is encased in a blinding yellow light.

Several long seconds later, the room returns to normal, and I realize I'm on the ground all the way on the other side of the room. My sunglasses have been knocked off, and I'm incredibly disoriented.

Jason is the first one down the stairs, despite being pretty much traumatized by Ty's death.

No, we're not thinking about that.

"Sky! Sky, are you okay? No, I can't lose you, too!" Jason panics, tugging on my shirt sleeve.

I take a deep breath and sit up again, blinking several times to clear my blurry vision. "Oh..," I moan, holding my head. "That hurt much more than I expected it to."

"You did that on purpose!?" Jason screeches.

I shrug, grabbing my sunglasses from him and flashing him a smile. "I had to get my powers back somehow."

whelp

there goes ty