Lilybug: Shadow's Reign

Chapter 4: Fractured Families

"Well, we have no other choice. In order to get through to the outside, I have to burn down the door and the surrounding land, which I can do, but even being around that shadow stuff can cause sadness," Ryder stated. "Are you all ready?" He asked.

"Ryder, may I speak with you real quick?" Lexi asked him. "Sure, what's it about?" He replied.

Lexi ushered Ryder to move to another spot of the bunker, so that the Hunter wouldn't overhear.

Lexi began to whisper, "Its about Ruby. She told me that she lost her family to Shadowclaw, and when she had that flashback, well... She saw you as her father figure." Ryder was shocked, but tried to keep calm, "So... what exactly are you implying?" he replied.

"What I'm trying to say is that maybe you could try to, well, be a father figure to her or something like that, considering you're old enough to be one, plus she has been here for about six years now, and somehow, she hasn't aged at all." Lexi explained.

"I'll do my best, but first we have to make sure we can get out of here." Ryder answered back.

Ruby was sitting in a corner, trying not to think about what Shadowclaw did to her family, to her life.

Ryder walked over to Ruby. "Hey kiddo, are you feeling okay?" he asked her. "Yea, I'm... I'm fine..." she responded, looking away from Ryder, indicating that she is not feeling happy.

"Are you sure?" he questioned her, clearly seeing that something was wrong. "I said I'm fine." she still responded, wanting to be left alone. "Well, if you do want to talk to me, just let me know," he answered, leaving Ruby to be alone.

"Were you able to speak with her?" Lexi asked Ryder. "She just wanted to be left alone," Ryder replied. "She said she was fine, but I don't think she is telling the truth..."

"Okay..." Lexi answered, slowly grabbing Ryders' hand. "I hope she's going to be okay..." she told Ryder. "Yea.." Ryder responded, not noticing Lexi holding his hand.

The Hunter noticed a small bit of corruption leaking from the ceiling. "Hey lovebirds!" he shouted to Lexi and Ryder, "We gotta get moving, the corruption is trying to break inside."

Lexi was not pleased with what the Hunter did, but she knew that helping everyone escape the corruption was far more important at the moment.

"Well... We kinda can't escape, because the corruption sealed all the doors shut." Clawz told the Hunter.

"So I guess we are kinda screwed," the Hunter replied.

"Oh look, a secret exit that no one anticipated," Lily nonchalantly pointed out.

They all used the new exit to escape what could have been a disaster. But Shadowclaw was hunting them down, and she was going to take down the weakest link first, The Hunter.