"So, uh, who wants to go first?" Asked Sid.

Lincoln walked in first, followed by everyone else; the group stepped immediately into a large hall. The hall was well-lit due to the numerous lanterns on the spiral staircase. In the center was a sun/moon dial built into the floor, with the light from the blood moon shining down on it.

"Looks like the clock is already ticking; we better get moving."

The group started running as fast as they could; Ronnie Anne, Clyde, and Sid were amazed by how they could keep up with Lincoln.

"Wow, I don't even feel out of breath," said Sid.

"I placed enchantments that make the wearer's body peak physical condition, strength, speed, endurance, stamina, etc.," explained Lincoln.

"So we're superhuman while wearing the suits?" Asked Clyde.

"Pretty much, but soon the effects will pass on to you, so you'll be like that in or out of the suits, sorry side effects,"

"I'd say that's one great side effect; I could always use more back support; having a large chest can be murder on the back sometimes…right, Ronnie Anne?" Joked Sid looking back at Ronnie Anne.

"Sid!" yelled Ronnie Anne.

"Aww c'mon, bestie, I was just teasing,"

"No, look out for the…door!" Said Ronnie Anne as Sid slammed into a door.

"Ow, I deserved that," grunted Sid pulling herself off the door.

After recovering, the group examined the door, finding it had writing on it.

To Claim The Prize And Gain The Gem

See Each Room Through To A Happy

Or Bitter End

"What's that supposed to mean?" asked Clyde.

"If I had to guess, we have to face whatever challenge is behind that door to proceed, and turning back isn't an option," said Ronnie Anne.

"Well, let's do this," said Lincoln.

The door then opened, allowing them inside before closing after they entered. Outside the tower, several Jeeps drove up, with ten men stepping out; they were all members of La Sombra, armed to the teeth as their leader spoke.

"Alright, boys, you heard the boss; we go in and get the treasure; anyone else we find in there is to be killed on the spot,"

"Sir, yes, sir,"

The men ran in as a unit, ready to claim whatever they could find. Back with the group, the moment they stepped through, they found themselves in a moonlit forest area. Confused as the door closed behind them, Clyde reached for the door but found nothing.

"The door is gone,"

"Guess they were serious on the 'see it through to the end' part," Sid remarked.

"What do we do now?"

Ronnie Anne then noticed a small light from a distance. Climbing to the top of a nearby tree, Ronnie Anne began adjusting the lens on her mask with a dial on the side, allowing her to zoom in, spotting another door. While making tech-based improvements to the costumes, Lisa, as per Lincoln's request, installed a scope system into Ronnie Anne's mask, allowing her to improve her archery and measure the distance of a lock on target. Dropping down, Ronnie Anne went to inform the others of her findings.

"Guys, I just saw another door about three miles from here,"

"So all we have to do is walk through this forest for three miles to reach the other door. That seems easy," joked Lincoln.

"Lame-O, don't say that; whenever someone says that in the movies, things become less easy," said Ronnie Anne.

"Sorry,"

"Do not compare this to a movie; you know the black guy dies first in these things," Clyde stated.

"What about the ones having sex? Don't they usually die first?" Sid asked.

"Only in slasher movies." Ronnie Anne corrected.

"Guys, you should really check out the stars right now instead of talking about movies," said Lincoln

Everyone looked up to see the stars moving around, spelling out something.

They fly at night; you'd better run. These winged things are not much fun.

Everyone was confused by the riddle in the sky until they heard a hideous screech among the trees.

"I'm not the only one who heard that, right?" Asked Sid nervously.

"Yup," everyone replied.

Suddenly something flew out of the trees, fast slamming into Lincoln before pinning him to a nearby tree.

"LINCOLN!" Cried, everyone.

The creature revealed itself to be a man-sized bat creature. As Lincoln struggled with the monster, it opened its mouth, attempting to bite down on Lincoln's head. However, its teeth couldn't break through the helmet and instead broke. With the creature howling in pain, Lincoln took advantage and headbutted the creature stunning it. As the creature stumbled backward, it turned to the others just in time for Clyde to deliver a hard left to its jaw, breaking it; Ronnie Anne followed up by shooting two arrows into his shoulders; finally, Sid slammed her Bo Staff down on the top of its head splitting its skull causing the creature to fall face down.

"Is it dead?" Asked Clyde.

Everyone was ready to breathe a sigh of relief until the creature sprung back up, only for Lincoln to jam his sword into its back into its heart, killing it.

"Now it is," said Lincoln, twisting the blade.

"Okay, I am officially freaked out," said Sid.

"Eh, I've dealt with worse," said Lincoln, swiping the blood off his sword before resheathing it. "Have you ever seen my sister Lola when she loses a pageant or Lori when she goes 5 minutes without a text reply from Bobby?" joked Lincoln.

…Elsewhere…

As the rest of the Loud family sat together, waiting for an update, Lola and Lori looked at each other.

"Lola did you just,"

"Get an urge to smack Lincoln for a smart-ass comment he made, yes…yes, I did," replied Lola, confusing her family.

Back with the group, Lincoln was still laughing at his joke when suddenly it was cut short by screeching.

"Oh, no, not another one," said Sid.

Suddenly everyone started hearing more screeching, showing that there was more than one this time as glowing eyes appeared among the trees.

"Uh, guys…Run!" Yelled Lincoln.

The group ran as fast as they could as a hoard of bat creatures chased them; Sid and Clyde stayed in the front due to having melee weapons knocking whoever was in front aside, while Lincoln and Ronnie Anne covered the rear with Ronnie Anne using a crossbow to shoot down as many as she could while Lincoln used his guns. After long-running and fighting, they finally made it to the other door. As everyone dived through, the bat creatures stopped, unable to pass the barrier keeping them in. They screeched one more time before flying off as the door closed.

"Okay, starting to think I misjudged the situation," Sid said.

"Well, we can't turn back now unless you wanna go back in there," said Ronnie Anne.

"Nope, I'm good,"

"Okay, let's keep going," said Lincoln, running up the stairs.

Back with the unit, they had just entered the first room; confused about the area, the men began looking around.

"What the hell is all of this?" Said one man.

"I don't know, but maybe we'll find something rare to sell," said another.

Suddenly the men heard screeching as one man asked.

"What was that?"

Climbing the stairs again, the group then came upon another door on their way; entering, they found themselves in a small room where the other door was across from them. Lincoln noticed a section in the middle with multiple holes on both sides and the ceiling while the floor looked like panels between the two doors.

"Hey, there's writing'" said Sid.

Crack The Code The Door Will Open

One Wrong Step

Forever Broken

"Any ideas?" asked Clyde

"I think we have to step on the panels a certain way, or we'll most likely activate a trap," said Sid. "And judging by the pattern, these are dance moves…I got this; time to put my dance skills to use,"

"Sid, are you sure?" asked Ronnie Anne.

"Just stand back and let me and my best of Twelve Is Midnight playlist do all the work,"

Sid checked the steps carefully before memorizing the layout and turning on her MP3.

I'M BACK

by twelve is midnight

Feat. Alisa.

The moment the music started, Sid jumped in, landing on the first panel resulting in a spike shot out at her, everyone gasped, but she dodged before stepping onto the next panel. Sid gracefully dodged every spike while stepping on each panel. As the song ended, Sid performed a backflip onto the final panel deactivating the trap and opening the door.

"Alright, Sid," cheered everyone as they ran across to the other door.

"All bow to the power of K-POP," roared Sid as she left.

Moments after the group left the first door open, the members of La Sombra walked through, licking their wounds. Though most survived the bat creatures, three weren't so lucky, as they were killed and eaten.

"What the hell was that, and why are we going deeper here? We need to get the hell out of here!"

"Punta, if you want to go back through that door, be my guest; I'm not stopping till we find that treasure," threatened the Leader.

"Yes, sir,"

"Now, let's get moving; this room looks safe enough,"

Back with the group, they had been climbing the stairs for a while when Lisa called through their headsets.

"Everyone, you have at least an hour left, and my instruments are beginning to pick up seismic activity," warned Lisa.

"The tower is getting ready to decent,"

The group then came face to face with another door.

"Let's hope this is the last one," said Lincoln, entering immediately and seeing a sign that said.

Although the past cannot be changed

Find a way to through the Maze

The door opened without any trouble, and the four walked through. They had to stop because it brought them to a ledge overlooking a giant stone labyrinth.

"Wait, are we supposed to find our way through this maze?" Clyde asked.

"Honestly, I'm not surprised. Frankly, this entire tower reminds me of most dungeons I had to go through. Fighting monsters, avoiding traps, traversing corridors, whoever designed these places must not have had too many ideas to work with." Lincoln commented.

"Then tell me you have a way to find what we're looking for." Ronnie Anne asked.

"There's always a way inside these places themselves to do that. Most people think dungeons were created to hide something that wasn't supposed to be found, but the usual case is that they're actually tests for those brave enough, or dumb enough, to go looking for what's inside. Clues have to be built inside to at least give them a realistic chance of getting to the goal; otherwise, your 'champion' ends up being some guy who only won via dumb luck or is too stubborn to quit."

"Well, there's no way there aren't more traps in this maze, and splitting up isn't going to help us at all." Sid pointed out.

"I can't even see a place to start looking for the exit." Ronnie Anne added, looking over the maze. There were no visible marks or signs or anything to indicate that one particular part of it was more significant than another. If they went in, they were really going in blind unless there was something else she wasn't seeing.

There was a rumbling, and from below, a stone staircase came into being, allowing them to descend into the labyrinth.

"Well, looks like we're doing this," Lincoln said, stepping forward and prompting the others to follow him.

Once inside, they saw how tall the walls of the maze were. They were easily twice the size of Clyde, maybe 2.5 times his height, with no visible way to climb up, so it didn't seem like they'd be able to get a better look ahead now. An interesting note was that wavy lines were carved into the walls, almost resembling a river.

Naturally, it being a maze, it didn't take them long to reach an intersection. In this case, the hallway split left and right with no forward, so they had to pick one or the other. The group checked to see if there was any hint whatsoever as to which path to choose or not choose.

"Look at the floor." Ronnie Anne said, making everyone look. In the intersection, the floor was decorated with random symbols. Each was designed like some kind of connect-the-dots.

"I don't recognize any of these, but somehow they look familiar," Sid commented.

"Hey, doesn't this one look like the Big Dipper?" Clyde asked, pointing to one below his feet.

"Wait, that's it. These patterns must be constellations; every civilization uses the stars to guide them. These have to be the key to finding our way through the maze." Lincoln stated.

"So, how do we navigate using an ancient star chart?" Sid asked.

"I think everyone who mapped the stars knew about the Northern Star, so the map is probably based around that. Maybe we pick the hallway it's closest to?" Ronnie Anne suggested.

"Worth a shot. Let's go that way." Lincoln agreed, so the quartet went down the right hallway.

Halfway down the hall, they all felt a chill.

"Lincoln, I thought these suits could handle the cold." Ronnie Anne said, shivering a little.

"They can." He replied, shivering a little too.

Four dark shadows appeared on the walls, frost forming at their edges, then each jumped off the walls and pounced at each of the teens. They tried to fight them off, but the shadows blinded them all and made them feel really cold, like they had walked into a freezer. But then, the shadows disappeared, and so did the cold, but now each of them was all alone.

"Ronnie Anne? Clyde? Sid?" Lincoln called out, seeing none of his friends. He looked around everywhere, and not only was he alone, but the maze was no longer the same. Now he stood in the center of a four-way intersection.

And this was true for Clyde, Ronnie Anne, and Sid too.

"Guess I have to pick a path," they all said.

Moving forward, Lincoln took the left path, Ronnie Anne took the center-left, Clyde took the center-right, and Sid took the right. Moving along the path, Lincoln noticed a dim light from a distance.

"Is that the way out?"

Lincoln started running until he found himself outside; however, he quickly realized something was wrong.

"Wait, this isn't the jungle or San Lorenzo; this is…Royal Woods!?"

To Lincoln's shock, he was standing in Royal Woods in the middle of the night. Lincoln couldn't help but feel a sense of nostalgia as he looked around, which only confirmed something was wrong. After returning, Lincoln took time to traverse Royal Woods at night, learning all the changes to his town while he was gone. Lincoln knew exactly where he was, but things were off. He was standing in the back of Royal Woods High, but things were different, namely the trees, as they were shorter than the last time he saw them; in fact, they were the same height they were six years ago.

"Did I travel back in time? If so, why?"

Suddenly, Lincoln heard a scream that sounded like a female, but Lincoln recognized it.

"That sounded like, oh no,"

Lincoln rushed to the front; upon arriving, he saw no one but found his old bike leaning against the statue, confirming everything. Lincoln was in the past, that scream came from his younger self, and this was the night Sam raped him. Lincoln rushed in, not knowing what to do, as he ran through the halls, trying to remember the room. Finding the room, he realized he was too late; Sam had his younger self pinned.

"Sam, what are you doing? Please let me go; this is not you!" Begged younger Lincoln.

"Maybe this is the real me; I don't care anymore. Even if we do find who took the photo, that will not make my father come back!" Cried a mentally broken Sam.

Lincoln watched in pain, reliving the horror of that night from the outside looking in. Lincoln wanted to save his younger self, but deep down, he knew he couldn't change the past.

"Let's just enjoy the moment," said Sam as she kissed young Lincoln. Lincoln squatted down, placing his hands on his helmet where his ears should be, trying to block out the sound of Sam's cries and moans.

"Now we'll be together forever, my little boy!" Moaned Sam.

"Please…Stop this, Sam!" Begged young Lincoln.

Suddenly everything faded to black around Lincoln before he found himself now standing in his old bedroom, just the way it was the last time he saw it. Lincoln then heard crying and whimpers coming from his bed as he saw his younger self wrapped up in his blanket, curled up into a ball.

"Why did she do this to me? Cried young Lincoln.

Lincoln knew he was reliving what he already went through, and this whole thing was an illusion; he still felt the need to comfort himself.

"I know what you're going through is hard, and it will take time to heal, but you will heal and become stronger, and eventually, you'll find the strength to forgive Sam,"

"How can I ever forgive her, for what she did to me, to us! Why should I ever even try to forgive her?" Replied the younger Lincoln, surprising him that his younger counterpart could hear him.

"if not for you, then the miracle that will be born from this, be strong for her,"

"For who?" The younger Lincoln asked.

"You'll understand in a few years. But trust me, she doesn't deserve to see you as a hateful uncaring person. The pain you feel now, don't share it with her. You'll never truly heal from this, no one ever does, but you'll learn not to hurt others because of it."

"Okay, I'll try,"

Suddenly everything faded away, including Lincoln.

As Ronnie Anne made her way down her path, she wondered and worried about the others, hoping that they're okay.

"I gotta find them,"

Ronnie Anne continued to run until she came upon a door, but not just any door.

"My room?" Said Ronnie Anne in confusion. "Wait, it doesn't look right."

She could hear some commotion downstairs, making her curious. Careful since she was certain this was part of a trap, she slowly opened the door to hear what was happening.

She heard footsteps coming up the stairs, ones that sounded in a hurry, and then a 12-year-old Ronnie Anne burst into the room and went right through the older one. Right through, as if Ronnie Anne was nothing but a ghost, and then sat on her bed curled up crying.

"What's going on?" Ronnie Anne asked the younger one, but if she was heard, she was being ignored.

The door opened again, and Bobby walked through before closing it. He didn't look too different, but Ronnie Anne knew this was Bobby from before he married Lori. He ignored her and walked through her, sitting down next to his younger sister.

"It'll be okay, Nini," Bobby said in a soothing tone.

The younger Ronnie Anne briefly glared at him with tears in her eyes. "Don't give me that. If it were Lori, the last thing you'd want to hear would be, 'it'll be okay.'"

"Oh no, I know what this is." The older Ronnie Anne said.

Bobby gulped and nodded. "You're right, but it's still true."

Ronnie Anne punched her brother in the arm; it was not a playful punch. He winced and rubbed his arm while she turned away from him.

"You lost a friend, and it hurts; I know nothing I say will make you feel better. But I will be here when you need me." Bobby assured her before he left the room.

"He was more than just a friend." The younger Ronnie Anne said to herself. "And I never got the chance to tell him,"

Seeing her younger self's saddened state, Ronnie Anne sat on the bed next to her and began gently petting her, despite knowing she couldn't really touch her.

"I know he meant a lot to you and still does, but Bobby is right; things will get better, and you'll get better," said Ronnie Anne.

"How do you know? We lost him to Stella, and now we lost him forever," the younger Ronnie Anne cried.

"It'll take some time, and over the years, when this day comes back around, the pain will come back too, but each year you'll be able to handle it better; then one day, he'll come back to you."

"He'll come back?" The younger Ronnie Anne asked.

"Yes, and when he does, don't hesitate to tell him how you feel. Don't make excuses or let how others will react make you hide anything again," said Ronnie Anne as her younger self smiled before everything faded to black.

Clyde was running down his path, desperate to find the others.

"Where is everyone?"

Clyde kept moving until he noticed the floor started turning into tiles the further he went; soon, he found himself standing in a school hallway; the hallway was decorated with orange streamers and pictures of Lincoln hanging from the ceiling. Clyde realized he was back in Royal Woods Junior High, and judging by the calendar, he saw it was a week after Lincoln's funeral; this realization caused Clyde to have another realization.

"Wait, this is the day that Rusty-"

"It was me. I did it!" yelled a voice.

Clyde recognized the voice and took off running; making his way outside to the schoolyard, he saw a huge crowd gathered. Realizing that he could phase through the people standing there, Clyde made his way to the center, finding Rusty on his knees, crying.

"I made that photo of Lincoln; I did it to get back at him for dating Stella; I didn't mean for things to turn out like this; I'm sorry!" he cried.

Everyone gasped while Clyde felt the gut punch of that revelation all over again, as people in the crowd started yelling at Rusty.

"YOU!" roared another voice.

"Oh, no, that's,"

The crowd parted to Clyde's horror; he saw it was his younger self standing there. Seeing the hate and rage in his younger self's eyes actually horrified Clyde and made him question if that was really him there. Suddenly the younger Clyde charged Rusty, tackling to the ground. Clyde watched as his younger self beat on Rusty while he did fight back. Eventually, Zach, Liam, and Stella appeared, using their combined strength to pull Clyde off.

"You backstabber, you killed my best friend; I'm gonna bash your face in!" yelled his younger self.

The scene then faded to young Clyde sitting outside of Principal Ramirez's office with Meryl sitting close by. Clyde's dads were in the office with Principal Ramirez while young Clyde hung his head crying over everything in anger, while Clyde watched until he decided to say something as he kneeled in front of his younger self.

"Listen, I understand what you…we did it out of anger; we were betrayed, and we lost the closest thing we had to a brother, but we can never let that anger control us again,"

"How can we do that when we're so angry!?" Replied younger Clyde.

"It felt good in the moment to wail on him, didn't it? Yeah, it did, but how good do you feel now?"

"Like I didn't hit him enough." The younger Clyde hisses, clenching a fist.

"Hitting him more won't bring Lincoln back, and hurting him more than he already feels will only ruin things for you. If you go down that route, your anger will destroy you as much as it'll destroy Rusty."

"But what am I supposed to do? Pretend nothing happened?" The younger Clyde asked.

"No, when we're angry we think we have only two options, to run from it or throw it in someone's face, but there's a third option. We can be stronger than our anger and turn it into something positive. It's ok to feel anger, but don't let that anger ever consume us again." said Clyde.

"I won't," said the younger Clyde as everything faded away.

Sid was becoming more nervous the further she went, her only companion now was her MP3, and her Twelve is Midnight playlist.

"Okay, this is getting creepier by the second,"

"Ronnie Anne, please talk to me," said a familiar voice.

"that sounded like…"

Sid took off running towards the voice; she started running faster when she heard a response.

"Go away, Sid, just leave me alone,"

Sid found herself outside Ronnie Anne's door, but she wasn't alone. Sitting in front of the door was her younger self, who was pleading for Ronnie Anne to come out of her room. Sid instantly remembered that it was 2 weeks after Lincoln's death, and she hadn't seen Ronnie Anne because she was shut up in her room.

"Please, bestie I just want to help; it's what Lincoln would have wanted,"

"What can you do? you can't bring him back, and eventually, you'll leave me like he did just leave me alone Sid please,"

"But Ronnie Anne, you can't hide in," Sid started, only to be cut off by the door opening and an angry Ronnie Anne standing before her, eyes red with tears but also angry.

"I said go away! I hate everyone right now, and if you don't get lost, I'll add you to that list too!"

Hearing that still hurt Sid today, and her younger self looked like a slap to the face would have been kinder. The younger Sid shedded a single tear before meekly apologizing and walking away, Ronnie Anne slamming the door behind her. She then went up to her room with her future self following and sat on her bed, burying her head into her knees and quietly wept. Sid kneeled down to talk to her younger self.

"That hurt to hear, I know, and all you wanted to do was help, but she didn't mean it."

"Why would she say that if she didn't mean it?" The younger Sid asked.

"She's hurt, her heart is broken and all she feels is pain. She's too hurt to know what she's doing to anyone else. I guarantee that the next time you see her she's going to be so sorry she ever said that."

The younger Sid looked away. "What if I don't want to see her again?"

"You see, you know you don't mean that. No more than she meant what she said. She's still your bestie, she's just going through something tough, and the best way to help her now is to give her the space and time she needs to recover," assured Sid.

"But what if she never recovers?" Asked her younger self.

"She will, and your friendship will be stronger because you'll be there when she needs you,"

"Really?"

"I'm you. Would I lie to myself?"

Suddenly everything faded to black before everyone opened their eyes. To their confusion, they were still standing at the last door they were at.

"Did you guys?" Asked Lincoln.

"Get transported to the past," said Clyde.

"Relive a past traumatic event from the outside looking in," said Ronnie Anne.

"And comfort our younger selves," finished Sid.

"Lincoln, do you read me?"

"LISA?"

"What the heck is going on? You four have been standing still for 45 minutes!"

"45 minutes!" They yelled.

"You got 15 minutes left, and the seismic activity is getting stronger,"

With no time to process what they went through, Lincoln opened the door and rushed in, with everyone following. Instead of finding a maze, they were in a large chamber with a lone pedestal in the center; floating above it was a large red gem the size of a volleyball with an emerald cut.

"That's it? I was expecting more," Said Sid as they ran for the gem.

"Doesn't matter, let's grab it and leave before something else…" said Ronnie Anne.

Suddenly the wall exploded, knocking everyone back. Quickly recovering, everyone readied their weapons as someone stepped out of the smoke revealing herself to be Leanne.

"Hello, Loud; I see you got some new friends,"

"I figured you'd find a way to get here, by the way, nice horns,"

"That's right; I still need to pay you back for what you did to me!"

"Pretty big talk when you're alone," said Lincoln.

"Who says she's alone, Loud?" said a from the smoke.

Lincoln tensed up hearing that voice before three figures stepped out of the smoke.

"Blade, Mina, and…. Adonis!" Lincoln said with disgust while they smugly looked back.

"Thanks for doing all the work for us, Loud, but we'll take it from here,"

End Of Ch. 10.