Hi guys!

So…it's taken me absolutely forever, but I've finally finished the first of my concept arts for this story! I've been trying to draw Mark, Jack, Matt and Alix to let everyone see how I am visualising them in my head, and I've finished the first one! Admittedly, Jack is the easiest out of everyone to draw because his outfit is by far the simplest. I'm hoping that some of you can check it out?

I'll say it now, I am not an artist in the slightest, I've never done something like this before. So please bear that in mind, I'm just doing my best. See it here (just take out the brackets at the start):

(h t t p) s: / / skyewillows . tumblr post / 173379937179 / first – of – my – concept – art – for - my – fanfiction – story

If the link doesn't work then you should hopefully be able to find it by searching for me on Tumblr. I go by SkyeWillows on there as well.

Special thanks for reviews: Subtle Shenanigans, sarahlucylu, Tifflinck, Chrisblue1030

Disclaimer: I don't own anything relating to Markiplier, JackSepticEye or Matthias/Hi5 Universe. If you wish to use anything relating to my own universe, please ask first.

By the way, this is a long one! Enjoy!

Chapter 12: The Price To Pay

When the group set out the next day, they were all relatively subdued. Mark and Matt noticed as soon as they had awoken that morning that something was wrong with both Jack and Alix, but neither had found the courage to face them about it. When Mark had briefly alluded to Jack's quietness, the Irishman swiftly shrugged him off. The first half an hour of their journey had been spent in a slight atmosphere of tension. The two older men had frequently swapped looks of concern, and they only heightened when they realised Jack and Alix were actually avoiding each other. Something had happened through their watch that night, and whatever it was had left things awkward between them.

Unable to take any more of it, Mark marched up to Jack and grabbed him by the arm. "Hey! What the fuck, Mark?!" he exclaimed as Mark continued his rapid walk, bringing him further ahead of the group.

Mark didn't look at Jack as he pulled him further away. "Come on, you and me need a chat," he replied sternly.

Alix stopped for a few seconds as she watched them leave, and had to stop herself jumping as she felt a gentle arm on her shoulder. She turned to see Matt smiling at her sympathetically. "Those two aren't the only ones who need to talk," he said knowingly, seeing her guard instantly raise. Alix turned to leave again but Matt's grip on her shoulder tightened ever so slightly. He took it as a good sign when she paused again. "Alix, it's okay. You can open up to us; I know you've buried yourself in this world in an effort to survive, but you are still your own person in this place. As much as you may have lived this past year as Ayala and Cassie, you are Alix." He thought back to the day before, to the look he had seen in her eyes as they hid from Dark and Anti after their battle. The emptiness which had shown ran deep. "You aren't inconsequential, not to us." He gave her a couple of seconds to mull over what he had said before going on. "Please, Alix."

She sighed deeply before turning to look at Matt fully, letting her guard down. "You say that, Matt, but I really don't matter, not like you three do. You three are famous YouTubers who inspire millions of people each, and what am I? I'm a computer programmer who has been officially dead for a year. I don't have a place in the outside world anymore. Dark was pretty accurate in what he said yesterday: I'm a remnant of a dead woman. All I am now is a bunch of 1's and 0's woven together to resemble the mind I used to have. And…I am the reason you three are stuck in here. If I'd never come up with the idea of the Dreamscape none of this would have happened. You'd all be in the real world, living your lives peacefully." Her eyes lowered from Matt's. "Like you should be…"

Matt realised what was going on now. "This is why you and Jack are avoiding each other, isn't it? You fought over this last night, didn't you?"

Alix nodded solemnly. "Something like that."

Alix had awoken halfway through the night, ready to take over from Mark and Matt for her stint of the night watch. When she'd emerged from her tent, she had been shocked to find Jack was alone outside, staring intensely into the fire. Upon hearing her emergence he gave her a faint smile, which she returned shyly. Despite having now known the three of them for a couple of days now, Alix still felt inferior next to them. She came to sit next to him on the log by the fire, and soon realised there was something serious on his mind. When the silence had stretched for ten minutes, Alix spoke up. "Jack?"

Jack turned his gaze away from the fire again and gave her a gentle smile. "Yeah?"

She frowned at him slightly. "Are you okay? I know I don't really know you, well, at all really, but you don't strike me as someone to sit and stare in silence." Jack sighed and looked away again. "What's wrong?"

"I'm just…thinking."

"About what?" Jack didn't answer her. Alix left it a few seconds before she tried a different tactic. "You know…I never really got the chance to thank you properly." Jack spun back to her. "For before, for saving me from Dark. If you hadn't managed to break me free, I don't think I'd be here right now."

Jack gave her a tight smile. "You don't need to thank me, Alix, I just did what anyone else would have done."

Alix raised an eyebrow at him. "Right, cause anyone else wouldn't have used that moment of distraction to run away? You guys could have just fled with Matt, you didn't have to risk yourself attacking Dark. You didn't know that was going to work; you could have just pissed it off and been forced to fight him." Jack looked down and Alix took an educated guess at what was eating away at him. "Anti isn't your fault, Jack."

The Irishman scoffed. "You know that's not true, Alix. Either he's based off my imagination, at which I'm swearing at myself for having such a fucked up head, or worst case scenario Matt is right about him – Anti is a sub-personality of mine. If that's true, then he's been living inside of me all this time. The thought that he's always been there is just- It's terrifying."

She tentatively put a hand out, but hesitated before committing to her action. Eventually Alix placed her hand on his forearm, catching his attention again. "Jack, everyone has their dark side. We all have that little part of ourselves that we seal away and never let see the light of day if we can avoid it. It's not your fault that this place allowed your nightmare to come to life. That…is my fault."

Jack shook his head at her. "No way, Alix. None of this is your fault."

"Isn't it though? I'm the one who came up with the idea of the Dreamscape. I'm, in essence, the creator of this place. When I first thought of the applications of it, I didn't dream that we'd even had such control over people's minds. I swore to make sure it could never be used to access anything other than surface thoughts. The fact that it's been used in such a way against the three of you – it sickens me." She looked down with tears in her eyes. "If you three don't make it back, I'll never forgive myself."

He quickly brought her in for a hug. Alix froze for a couple of seconds before embracing him back. The physical contact tore at her heart even more. She'd never thought she'd have this kind of interaction with anyone again, and it was terrifying her. It was beginning to give her a taste of life again: and she didn't know if she could take it. "This doesn't end with us escaping, Alix. We need to save you too."

Alix shook her head against his shoulder. "No, Jack. I'm not a part of this. You three need to escape and get away before you become victims of this place too."

Jack pulled back and looked at her hard. "I am not leaving you here, we still have so many more options to explore before we give up."

She scoffed and stood, walking away a few steps before spinning back to him. "Like what, Jack? I have no body to go back to! I'm dead! I have been for a long time! This is my reality now! I'm a-" Her voice broke slightly, causing Jack's heart to twist in pain. "I'm a ghost, and echo of a woman who once lived." Silence settled between them for a few seconds and Alix could see Jack struggling to accept the idea.

He really is that amazing a person, she thought.

Letting all of the fight go out of her, she stepped back to him and looked him in the eye, smiling sadly. "Jack, there are some things you just can't change or fix, no matter how hard you try. You can't save everyone."

Jack stood for several seconds before shaking his head at her. "I'm not giving up that easy."

Matt listened to her re-telling of the events of the previous night with a sad smile on his face. He could empathise with both of them. The rational side of his brain knew Alix was right: there was no way back for her, really. But his heart and the other part of his mind agreed with Jack. They couldn't give up that easy. She sighed deeply as she finished, turning to look at Mark and Jack. The pair of them were on the verge of shouting several metres ahead and her heart hurt at seeing them at odds with each other.

"Well, I don't know if this well help any but…I agree with both of you," Matt stated. Alix spun back to him in confusion. "With what we know now, there really isn't a way back for you. But who's to say that's how it will be in a year? Five years? Or even ten years? You've been by yourself thinking about this for a year, but things have changed in the outside world. Technology is moving so fast now, there's no telling what we might be able to do with a bit more time. So, while you're right that you are technically dead and have no body to go back to, that may not be the case in the future." He gave her a serious look. "Alix, if the chance ever came up…if somehow it was possible for you to return to the outside world, would you? You've already grieved for the life you lost, and those who loved and knew you have moved on. Would you want to go back?"

Alix opened her mouth to answer, but hesitated, not sure of the answer herself. Matt smiled at her. "Hang on to that uncertainty, for Jack's sake. Even if it turns out there isn't a way, I think the hope of a chance will do his mind the world of good. He would do anything in his power to help someone in need. I know you are probably scared to hope, but it isn't necessarily a bad thing. The hope of a future might give you a better motivation to fight. The will to live is a powerful thing.

She smiled at him earnestly, accepting his points. "Very true. Thanks, Matt. I'll definitely think about what you said."

About fifteen metres ahead Mark finally stopped, rounding on Jack with hard eyes. "All right, what's the deal?"

Jack looked at him irritated. "What?"

"Something is going on with you, you're not subtle when you're annoyed. There's something sitting in your head and you need to get it out. So, spill."

The Irishman glared at Mark. "Does the phrase 'back the fuck off' mean anything?"

Mark glared back. "Don't give me that bullshit, Sean. This isn't like you, you aren't normally this moody."

"Yeah, and this is something that doesn't concern you, so get off my back."

"Well fuck you too, asshole. Way to make a guy feel loved."

"I'm sorry, I'm not the one who dragged someone to the middle of nowhere to snap at them to stop moping around! So if all you're going to do is snap at me, I'll leave."

Mark grabbed onto Jack arm before he stormed away, earning an icy look from the Irishman. The half-Korean took a long, deep breath before restarting the conversation. "Okay, so maybe I was being an ass, but this isn't like you, Sean. What's eating at you?" Jack's posture eased at the gentler tone from Mark and he hesitated before answering, eventually turning to look at Alix and Matt. The pair were still deep in conversation. Mark followed his line of sight and decided to take an educated guess at what was on Jack's mind. "You can't bring yourself to leave without knowing she's going to be okay, right? The thought of escaping and leaving her behind is killing you."

He nodded sharply. "It fucking sucks, man. She doesn't deserve any of the shit she's been through."

The older man sighed. "Most people don't deserve what they go through, Sean, but it still happens anyway."

Jack snapped his arm away from Mark's grasp violently. "Don't give me that shit, Mark! If it weren't for Damien trapping her here, Alix would still have a life! And if we're right about our theory of him and Dark, it means this is all because Damien wants you. So how is any of this fair?!" In his outburst Jack didn't quite realise how his statement came across: not until Mark went white in the face. He swore at himself as he replayed the words in his mind. "Shit, Mark, I didn't mean that as it came out. It sounds like I'm blaming you for all of this and I'm really not. I'm just really angry at, well, everything really. Angry, confused…and feeling a little helpless."

Mark nodded at him slowly, trying to rein his emotions back in. He really couldn't lose it now. "I know, Sean. I really do know. How do you think I feel? At least we know why Anti is after you. Dark is such a huge mystery and it's almost tearing my mind to shreds trying to figure it out. All I can think is that its taken on the guise of Darkiplier to get inside my head. But as for the why, I really couldn't tell you. And if Damien is controlling it, then why does he want me?" He was suddenly at a loss for words. "When you put it like that, this really is my fault in a way. Damien used Alix's vision to get at me. And he's dragged you two into it too. God, imagine what would have happened had more people said yes to this. How many others could have been lost in here with us?"

It was a sickening thought, one Jack chose to ignore. "Mark, like you said before, this is all speculation. We've no idea why any of this is happening, and we won't get any answers inside here." He saw the guilt on Mark's face at the train of his thoughts and hated himself for his big mouth. This was not what he'd wanted to happen at all. "Dude, I'm so sorry. That whole thing came out completely wrong. I just hate how something that came from me, be it my mind or a part of my personality, is causing such danger for my friends."

Then it hit Jack: he wasn't the only one in this situation. "Oh god, you're feeling it too, aren't you? That same guilt." Mark nodded at him mutely after some thought. The pair stared at each other for a few seconds before Jack's eyes hardened, coming to a decision. "This place is messing with our heads badly, which I think Damien wants. Why else go to all the trouble of bringing Anti and Dark into the equation? So let's leave this conversation and get the hell out of here."

Mark gave him a questioning look. "Are you sure you are willing to do that, Sean? I know you don't want to leave Alix behind."

Jack gave him a tight smile. "Just because I'm leaving this place for now doesn't mean I won't come back." Mark's eyes widened at him. "We get out of here, we confront Damien, then we work on finding a way to help Alix. I know it may not be possible, but I feel I have to try. And when we're on the outside we should be able to delete the code containing them. We do that, they won't be able to hurt anyone ever again."

The other man chuckled darkly. "That's all we are at the moment as well. That really doesn't make me feel very safe right now."

That earned a wince from Jack. "Good point. We need to shift our arses." The pair heard branches cracking under feet and saw their companions approaching. Matt gave them a friendly smile while Alix managed a tiny, but genuine one. Jack scratched the back of his neck. "Hey, um… sorry about his morning, guys. I guess I really wasn't being fair to all of you. Especially you, Alix. I'm not angry at you in the slightest, but I was pretty much taking it out on you."

She shook her head at him. "No need, Jack. This place really does mess with your head. Fortunately for all of us, Matt is keeping his pretty well screwed on." The oldest member of the group chuckled at the compliment. "You guys all good? That looked like it was getting intense for a second there."

Mark chuckled. "Alix, you've seen our videos. I think intense is synonymous with Sean and I." That comment earned laughs from all the others, breaking the tense atmosphere at long last. "I think we're as good as we can be until we get the hell out of here. Why don't we keep heading onwards to achieve that?" That comment earned nods from everyone, but Matt's posture soon tensed. It didn't take long for the others to notice. "Matt?" Mark asked in concern.

"Is it them?" Jack questioned quickly.

Matt's face screwed up in concentration. "No…I really don't think it is. The footsteps sound way too heavy, and the pattern of them doesn't add up either." His eyes widened in realisation. "It's an animal, but its big. Brace yourselves, it's heading this way!"

The group all prepared themselves for battle, Alix and Mark ready at the front while Matt scaled a tree rapidly and Jack scrambled atop a large boulder. "Matt, can you tell what it is yet?" Mark asked as he kept his eyes peeled.

"I'm not psychic, dude, I've no idea! All I know is that it's big, it has four legs, and its on its own!" Then he heard something else which caught his attention big style. "And I hear…crackling?"

Mark looked at him in disbelief. "Crackling? You mean like static?"

Alix's eyes lit up in realisation. "It's a Thundermane! It's dangerous, be careful!"

Jack looked at her in suspicion. "Please tell me the name is not a clue to what it does…"

Before Alix could answer, the monster burst through the trees about fifty metres ahead of them. The three YouTubers' all stared in shock at the creature charging towards them. It was almost ten metres tall, comprising of the head and tail of a wolf, body and mane of a lion and twin horns of a rhino. Its eyes shone a luminous purple and matching colour electricity crackled between the two horns on its face. When it clocked the group ahead it gave a fearsome rumble which was somewhere between a wolf's howl and a lion's roar. It quickened its pace, rampaging toward them with a bowed head. Matt fired an arrow at it and the projectile landed square in the creature's eye. While this blinded its right eye, this only served to enrage it further. With a screech of fury it hastened its assault. Not wanting to risk Mark or Alix getting hit by the creature, Jack erected a shield a few metres ahead of them, injecting himself with a stamina boost to better prepare for the force.

Not even that could hope to stop the monster.

The barrier of light shattered at the point of contact with its horn, the combined momentum, electrical energy and weight of the creature overwhelming Jack's shield in an instant. He let loose a soundless cry as he was thrown back several feet behind, landing on the ground hard on his back. Jack felt his breath catching in his chest, unable to draw in air properly as he realised his whole body was going numb and cold. Then the pain registered.

A shaky hand came to rest on his ribs, right above his abdomen and he went rigid as he registered sticky contact. He weakly managed to pull it up and saw it stained red with blood. His vision swam and was going dark alarmingly fast, and he barely heard a scream of pain in what seemed to be the far-off distance. Even then, he still knew it. Jack's voice was barely a whisper as he managed to breathe out a tiny plea of help before everything went dark. "Ma-ark…"

He fell limp and stilled.

None of the others saw the devastating result of the attack, Jack's shield having collapsed far too far for any of them save Matt to see: and even then, he believed it merely a trick of the light from the Thundermane's lightning. Alix and Mark stayed together to the last moment knowing that if one of them split off early it could doom whoever the monster charged after. In that final second they both dove away, Mark to the left and Alix to the right, leaving the monster to charge past where they were both standing. Matt let loose another arrow into the fiend's neck, earning a roar in return, before it ground to a halt and spun back. Lightning arced from its twin horns and Mark hid behind his shield, screeching as the metal conducted the electricity. Alix raced to his side, injecting him with both a stamina serum and a blue healing serum as Matt fired again, landing perfectly in the Thundermane's other eye.

Now the monster was blinded, but still a threat. Alix dragged Mark closer to a nearby tree and shouted for Matt to take cover as they saw a large ball of electricity forming between the fiend's horns. With barely a few seconds to spare they all got behind the shelter of the wood as the energy was let loose in a torrent of bolts, striking everything in the immediate area. Matt had dove to a lower branch of the opposite side of the tree and looked over to where Jack should have been standing, his breath catching as he saw he wasn't there. Then it suddenly registered he hadn't seen a trick of the light. It had been Jack's shield. "Jack!" he shouted as loud as he could, but no sound was making it through the maelstrom surrounding the monster.

Desperate to end the fight, Matt drew his bow and quickly broke cover to fire at it again, striking the monster's open mouth. The flurry stopped a moment later, giving Mark and Alix their chance. With Mark now fully healed, the pair charged and dove under the Thundermane's belly, driving their weapons straight into the soft tissue. It wailed in agony as Mark's shield struck a wide area while his sword went deep, perforating anything it touched. Alix's detached axe tip and small sword also did devastating damage, and the combined attack proved too much for it. Just as they saw its balance going the pair withdrew, getting themselves out of harm's way. The beast tumbled to the ground, defeated.

Alix and Mark stared at the fallen carcass for a couple of seconds before Matt's panicked cry caught their attention. "Jack?!"

Spinning around to look at the area, they soon realised the Irishman wasn't there. Alix's stomach hit the floor as a horrible suspicion built in her chest. "No!" She bolted to behind the boulder Jack had been stood upon, Mark and Matt right on her heels. As they came to where Jack lay a scream of horror escaped Alix as she saw him, drawing the others' attention. They too froze at seeing him.

Jack was completely motionless on the ground, eyes closed and skin pale. His green tunic and white cape were dyed red with his blood, as was the ground around him, from the massive hole in his abdomen.

"Sean!" Mark was the first to race over, drawing a red healing serum from his inventory and plunging it in the injured area. Alix and Matt were barely two seconds behind him, Alix shaking at what she was seeing. She placed her ear over Jack's chest, praying to feel or hear anything. When silence was all she got back, she whimpered before starting chest compressions.

Mark and Matt both looked at her in shock. "The serums only work if his heart's still beating!" she told them tearfully.

They shared a look of horror before turning back to her. "What can we do?" Mark asked fearfully.

"One of you will have to give him air, this alone won't be enough," she responded quickly, counting compressions in her head. Mark didn't even hesitate before nodding. As Alix began counting out loud, she shouted when the moment came. "Now, Mark!" Mark plugged Jack's nose as he gave him mouth-to-mouth, desperately trying to bring his friend back far enough to let the serum do its work.

"Dammit, Sean, don't do this!" he begged just before Alix shouted again, repeating the process. They went through five cycles before she felt a flutter beneath her hands and stopped, instead bending over to listen to his chest. She cried in relief as she felt and heard Jack's heart beating again.

Knowing he was going to need the extra help, she pulled out a stamina serum and injected it just above his heart. At the other two's looks of fear and confusion, she explained to them in an unsteady voice, still recovering from the scare. "His heart's beating again." The other two exhaled shakily in relief. "The stamina boost should help speed up the serum's work."

Matt sat back in an effort to slow his own racing heart as Mark stared at the near-fatal wound on Jack's body. "Jesus…what happened to him? He wasn't anywhere near that thing!" asked Matt.

Alix looked at them sadly. "Unfortunately, this is the greatest problem with the Aura Mage class. If their shield ever breaks under the strain of an attack, they will take the full force of it, regardless of whether it was aimed at them or not. Jack must have had a shield raised when the Thundermane first charged us, and it broke clean through. As a result, he was struck with the damage that would occur as if it had hit him normally. Judging from that wound, it's simulated as if he was impaled by one of its horns. This is the price of the shield's power."

Mark glared at her. "Wait a minute, you knew this could happen to him?!"

She nodded at him. "Yeah, but I warned Jack when I started training him. He knows all this already."

That caused the other two to freeze. "Wait…so, Jack knew this could happen to him? He knew he was essentially putting his life on the line any time he used his shield to block an attack?" Matt replied in a stunned whisper.

Alix sighed. "He knew, but he was learning his limits pretty well. He's an extremely powerful mage, I wasn't ever too worried before now as I has seen what he could block. This was just too far."

Mark gulped at realising how close they had come to losing Jack. No kidding it was too far. Why the hell has Sean been putting himself on the line like this? He already knew that answer: because that was just who Jack was.

About a minute later the wound was all but healed and Jack began to cough as he heaved in deep breaths. He hissed in pain as the puncture was not completely closed and his chest hurt from the compressions. The others laughed in relief as he spoke to them. "Okay, who stood on my chest?"

As their laughter subsided, Matt explained to him. "Oh dude, that would be you getting it lightly. First, that monster hit your shield too hard and you get a stab wound almost as wide as you are. Then, your heart all but gives up on us and we have to do CPR to get you back." Jack's eyes widened in shock. "Standing on your chest? That would be Alix's compressions. As for the mouth-to-mouth…well, let's just say the Septiplier shippers would have gone nuts."

Jack groaned as this registered. "Oh wow, really Mark?"

Mark held his hands up at the look he was getting from Jack. "Don't look at me like that, dude! It was a matter of life and death for you, literally." The half-Korean swiftly turned his gaze to Alix. "Wait a minute, Alix why didn't you ask if either of us could do compressions? This would have been way less fucking awkward if you'd given him mouth-to-mouth.

Alix went scarlet as the blush rapidly spread across her cheeks. "Are you kidding me?! That would have been a hundred times worse!" She then smirked at Mark, knowing how to divert the attention away. "Just as well I can't get out of here, otherwise I could have told someone about the fact that Mark was kissing you, Jack."

Jack and Mark both groaned as Matt almost fell over laughing. "Don't worry, Alix, I will happily spread that around!" he sniggered, earning a rapid backhand to the arm from Mark.

Mark glared at the older man. "One, if Amy or Signe or anyone finds out about this, you are dead, Matt. And two, it doesn't fucking count! It was mouth-to-mouth!"

Matt smirked at him. "Don't you mean the 'kiss of life', Mark?"

Jack shook his head on the ground, coughing as he soon found his face full of purple powder. He spluttered and aimed a half-hearted glare at Alix before she pointed to his abdomen, and the now vanished evidence of how close he had come to dying. Jack's expression soon turned to one of gratitude, at which she gave him a broad smile back. Their attention was brought back when Mark swore at Matt in response. "Oh fuck you, dude!"

The four of them paused before all of them burst of laughing at the conversation, but the relief was not far from anyone's minds. That whole situation had nearly ended up so much worse.

Off in the distance, two shadowed figures watched the scene with interest. "Well, that was highly informative."

The other figure sneered. "I need Jack-a-boy alive, you moron! Your pet almost ended him!"

Dark glared at the shorter form of Anti. "It's not my fault that Jack had no care for his personal safety, is it? Besides, it now gives us a large advantage. Mark and Matt will not allow Jack to put himself in so much danger again, which means we don't have to worry about him being such an impediment. Fear brings rise to caution, and with that caution…we strike."

Anti's glare soon turned to a cruel smile, turning back to the scene of the opposite group. "Enjoy your moment, bitches. We'll have you soon enough."

Aaaaaaaand, that's it for this chapter! Sorry it's so long, but this one is very important, and I was determined to get it right. Please let me know what you thought of it all! I'll be back soon!

*Smooch*