Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ben's Note of Sheer Awesome: So I posted the last chapter last night, and I got to thinking: should I really wait till tomorrow morning to write the next one? And then the voice in my head gave me the answer: cheese no! So, in case you're wondering, this was written at about three o'clock in the morning Mountain Time in the USA. Yep, I have an addiction. Sue me.

KCL: Cider is cider. Some people like it, others don't. And yes, I do have a stache of cake. REAL cake. Anyway, sorry your dad pulled a 180 on you. Sometimes parents are like that. I hope you enjoy this chapter… please don't kill me.

*Update* This is so embarrassing… I meant to post this YESTERDAY! I had it all typed up and I put it on Fanficiton and everything. Thing was… I forgot to put the document in the story as a new chapter. Cheese, that's so embarrassing… the chapter after this will be up sometime tonight. I'm so sorry for the long wait. (Also, to further explain Neb and Lizzie's relationship, please check out a new fanfic entitled: Her Number.)

Prompt 45: Pale

Peeta had fired three bullets: one at Bunny, one at Sven, and one at Alistair. How he did it with a simple pistol, no one really knew or bothered to figure out why. What they did know… was that none of the bullets ended up where they intended to go.

Bunny stared terrified at Peeta when a force knocked her aside. She screamed as Harry grasped his side and screamed in pain as the first bullet made contact. Bunny rushed to him and examined the bullet wound. It hit his side, missing everything important.

"You…" Bunny said.

Harry gave her a lopsided grin. "I had unfinished business," he said. "Consider it finished."

The second bullet aimed at Sven made the boy gulp fearfully. "I always knew I'd die young… no one cared, no one to mourn me. Bad, bad world," he muttered and closed his eyes, waiting for the bullet to come.

Instead, a girl cried out in front of him. Sven opened his eyes and shrieked as Maddie fell to the ground, a sharp pain in her leg. Maddie grinned up at him weakly. "You sound as scared as a trapdoor in a movie theater," Maddie said.

Sven looked at her, still frightened. "But… you saved… Peeta said," Sven said, confused.

Maddie rolled her eyes. "I'm your friend silly," she said. "We take bullets for each other. Normally it's not this literal, but that's not the point."

Sven's lip quivered. "Friend… you're my… friend?" he asked.

"Duh! Why else would I have a bullet in my leg?" Maddie giggled.

The third bullet, and the last one, was fired after a delay. Peeta spun to Alistair, his eyes filled with cold hatred. "You messed things up," he whispered darkly. "It's my pleasure to finally rid of you and your legacy."

Alistair looked back at him with the same look. "Good luck when my girlfriend finds out you killed me," he spat.

"I'll kill her too, out of spite," Peeta grinned darkly. "You deserve it!"

BANG!

"Meow!"

Peeta gasped in surprise as the gun was pushed sideways, sending him toppling over, dropping the gun in the process. Alistair blinked as Kitty appeared before him, swaying back and forth, looking frazzled and dazed.

"Kitty?" Alistair asked. Kitty sighed sadly, and turned to her boyfriend…

…a bullet hole right next to where her heart was.

"I… did… good… right?" Kitty said weakly, crying. "You… still… love… me?"

Kitty collapsed, falling into Alistair's arms. Alistair caught her, tears forming in his own eyes. "Yes," he said, holding her tightly. "I love you Kitty. Please, hang in there! We'll get you out of here, I promise! Just be strong!"

Kitty smiled at him, putting her hand on top of his. "It's… ok," she said. "I guess… I got what I wanted… I… died first… at least…. I did it for… you this time…" Kitty wheezed.

"No, Kitty, NO!" Alistair screamed. The rest of the room fell silent, looking at the couple together. "You can't leave me… you can't…

Kitty smiled and brought Alistair's head down to her's. She kissed him gently before breaking. She lightly touched his chest. "I'll… always be… here," she said. "I… love… you… Alistair Wonderland…"

Kitty's skin tone faded to a sickly pale color. Alistair sat there, his girlfriend dying in his arms. He couldn't have it end like this… he couldn't lose her… no…

"Ok, I think I let the suspense out long enough," Neb said, walking over to Kitty. "Lizzie, I need you to find me a cell phone. Sven, help Lizzie find it."

"B-b-b-b-b-b-but she's already dead! We can't help her, not now! I'm sorry, too stressful, can't think…" Sven said, gripping his head tightly.

"Sven, shut up, help Lizzie find the phone," Neb said, kneeling down at Kitty's level. "Alistair, Kitty's unconscious, and who the cheese knows where her mother is. Do I have permission to remove the bullet?"

Alistair was too much in a daze to say anything and nodded. Neb returned the nod and, somehow, stuck his fingers into Kitty's wound. After digging for a moment, he removed the bullet and tossed it aside.

"Bunny, how bad is Harry's injury?"

"Not bad, but he's bleeding out."

"Tear a piece of cloth off of something and apply pressure to the wound. He should be fine, he'll make it to the next chapter."

"What?"

"Never mind that, just do what I tell you!" Neb shouted. Currently, he was pressing both hands against Kitty's wound and applying pressure. Kitty's color kept draining from her face. "Alistair! Has Kitty ever been in a situation like this before?"

"What?"

"Has Kitty ever been in a life or death situation before?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"You're her boyfriend danggit!"

"She hasn't, not to this magnitude," Maddie called over to him. "Not in the webisode universe anyway. As for other stories? Beats me, I can't remember them all."

"That's what I needed to hear," Neb grumbled and released pressure on her wound. "She may look bad, but trust me, she'll be fine."

Alistair glared up at Neb. "How do you know?" Alistair said, his voice rising. "Her color's draining and she's dying in my arms with nothing I can do! How do you know she'll be absolutely fine?"

Neb glared at Alistair, looking very menacing. "One, I've stopped the bleeding, mostly. Two, Kitty has nine lives. Even if she dies now, she won't remain dead. Three, let's say I'm going to play God for a moment. If I say she lives, THEN SHE CHEESING LIVES!"

Alistair continued to glare at Neb before relenting. "Fine," he said. "What else can we do now to increase her chances of living?"

"Lizzie, phone," Neb said. Right as he asked, Lizzie slipped it into his hand. "Dang, we have perfect timing."

"Only for you," Lizzie said, rolling her eyes.

Neb dialed a number and let it ring for a moment. "Ah yes, Alice? Yeah, there's a cave exactly seventy-two paces to your east. Basically turn 57 degrees clockwise and start walking. Don't come in the cave though, wait about thirty-seven paces away from the entrance."

Neb hung up the phone and shoved it in his pocket. "Now then, Bunny and Lizzie, help Harry get up and prepare to start running. Sven, support Maddie. Alistair, carry Kitty. Prepare to run when I give the signal."

"Why are we running and what's the signal?" Harry asked as Lizzie and Bunny pulled him up. He soon got his answer. Not one anyone in the room was expecting.

BANG!

All eyes went to Peeta, who's hand was on the countdown timer for the charges set up. The timer had already been activated, with only three minutes to go. His other hand held the gun, which he picked up after he dropped it.

"You guys won't get out of here even if you run! If I die, you all die!"

"Neb, how are we…" Alistair began to ask. However, he stopped as his eyes went back to Neb. The brown hair boy was on his knees, grasping his heart. He looked up with an evil smile.

"That was the cheesing signal danggit," Neb said and fell to the ground, face first.

He was dead.

"NEB!" Lizzie screamed, but was silenced by another gun-shot from Peeta. He missed, a bullet bouncing near Alistair. Alistair grabbed Kitty bridal style and began to run, Sven helping Maddie behind him.

"Leave him!" Alistair said to Lizzie. Lizzie reluctantly helped balance Harry and she and Bunny helped him move. Peeta aimed his gun at Lizzie's back.

BANG!

"I find it funny you try to shoot a dead man twice," someone said. "Never get in-between an author and the character he's in love with." Neb, somehow, had come back to life and now stood in front of the gun. The bullet had successfully shot him in the heart again, and indeed, Neb fell limp at Peeta's feet.

Peeta screamed in fury. "DANG YOU NEB!" he screamed.

Alice, shocked by the call, had led Dexter to the spot the mysterious man had led her to. Sure enough, the cave entrance was where he said it'd be. She and Dexter waited at the distance he said to wait.

"You sure he said to wait?" Dexter asked.

"Yeah he… Alistair!" she called. Sure enough, Alistair bolted from the cave, Kitty still in his hands, still deathly pale. Maddie limped with Sven helping her not far behind. Lizzie and Bunny carried Harry over to where Alice was.

Alice kissed her son's forhead. "I thought I lost you!" she said then hugged him.

"It's ok mom. Kitty's injured, we need to get her back to the school now," he said urgently.

Lizzie, meanwhile, dropped Harry, making Bunny go down with him. She turned around and started to run back toward the cave entrance. However, she was blown to her back as the entrance exploded, the mouth falling in itself.

"NEB!" Lizzie yelled.

Alistair looked over at the distraught Lizzie and all his surviving friends. Maddie, despite the loss, kept her chin up and talking about friendship to Sven, who looked nervous. Bunny was hugging Harry, who seemed surprised, but hugged her back the same.

Alistair looked down at Kitty, still dying in his arms. Things are never going to be the same for us, are they? He thought to himself.

In the rubble of the cavern, something twitched. The rocks were pushed aside and coughing could be heard. A boy stood up, looking around the collapsed cave. "Danggit. Never the easy way out," he muttered to himself.

"Ah well. At least I'll see Lizzie again by next chapter, given I navigate the cave right. Wait, who am I kidding? I designed these caves! Of course I know where I'm going!"

BN: And thus the almost end of the Kidnapping Arc. What did you think? I said it'd almost be Suicide arc dark. I thought I did quite well on it, and despite myself, enjoyed writing it. I might have crammed too much into too little, but trust me, things work themselves out. In the end of this chapter, I wanted at least two people to die. Peeta was obviously one of them. I didn't want any of you to get attached to him because he wasn't going to survive the arc. If you guys did like him, sorry for killing him off. The second person was obvious to me: Neb or Kitty. Obviously, you guys forgot the title of this story. (And KCL, you were close. Only, it would be '101 Ways Kitty (deceased) and Alistair are Adorbs'.) So, I made it seem like Kitty was going to die, only to do a 180 and kill Neb… temporarily, of course. Geez, I might be one to kill off main characters, but I didn't say anything about keeping them dead. How much of a monster do you think I am?

Also, if you still haven't figured out who Neb is, I'm quite honestly the most shocked person in the world. Here's a hint: spell his name backward. If you can't figure it out then… geez. (Where else would Maddie know him from?)

I have one more thing to this arc, by the by. I have some things to wrap up before we end it. After this, we're going to have what I like to call the Dates arc. No darkness what-so-ever. I mean for these next few to be 100% cute.

Like? Hate? Meh? Let me know via review!