What if... (hfjONE-shots)

...Airy Returned to Earth (Pt.2)

'Sup my Edgelings!

Thanks so much for over 3,000 reads! I'm honestly just blown away! I never expected this fic to take off like it has!

I have counted up the votes, and the official name of this AU is...

Dying Sanity AU (DSAU)

I must say that I've been absolutely dying to write this chapter. This storyline was only supposed to be a one-shot angst dump, but now it's a full-fledged AU. I'm really happy with how it's turning out actually. There will definitely be one more part (at least).

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"DO YOU UNDERSTAND HOW WORTHLESS YOU ALL ARE?!?! SUCH A ****ING WASTE OF TIME!!! I HATE WAKING UP EVERY DAY KNOWING I HAVE TO COME HERE AND SEE YOUR SORRY FACES!!! I WISH YOU'D ALL-" Liam screamed down from the sky, pure fury masking his own guilt and pain. The loud clanking of him aggressive typing on the keyboard banged like thunder. The noise was inescapable. There was nowhere to go to make it even the slightest bit quieter.

Bryce sighed in exhaustion, his eyelids drooping. The never-ending daylight combined with the constant yelling from above made sleep nearly impossible. He laid on the ground and stared up at the only two clouds in the sky. In a rare instance of appreciation, Bryce thanked Airy for at least giving him something to look at. Sometimes they'd even change shape. Woooooow....

A teal glass cylinder suddenly appeared above him, blocking his view of the clouds. "...Hey..." Amelia said dully, the bags beneath her eyes mirroring Bryce's own misery. She was the only one left from his world... since Charlotte died...

"...Hey..." Bryce answered. Nothing else needed to be said. There was nothing else to talk about. If they started a conversation, it would only be a repetition of one they already had. A dull, relentless cycle of nothingness slowly eating away at their sanity. Best to just ignore it all and accept the numbness, afterall, there was nothing they could do...

Pastel green grass spread endlessly into the distance. There was nothing... nothing here... no rest... no food... no purpose... nothing happened... no entertainment other than listening to Liam's sanity crumble as the pressure of freeing the others destroyed him from the inside.

They were never getting out were they?

Never...

Never...

N E V E R......

Suddenly Bryce felt someone tightly grasp his arm, and he sat up with a gasp, eyelids flying open. He blinked and sighed, relieved to see the walls of his apartment surrounding him, and feel his mattress beneath him.

He was back on Earth... not on the Plane... the dreams were so real... sometimes he wasn't sure what was real, and what was an illusion... he used to hallucinate a lot from sleep deprivation...

Now... what woke him up?

A constricting hand cutting off the blood flow in his arm quickly reminded him.

Bryce turned to see Airy vaguely illuminated by the silver light of the crescent moon shining through the window. He stood beside Bryce's bed, clinging to his arm and trembling, mumbling something unintelligible.

Bryce rubbed his temples and huffed in exasperation, "What is it now Airy?"

"F-F-Fire... e-e-v-v-erything-g-gs-s-s... on f-f-fire..." Airy coughed out as if he was choking on smoke. His wild eyes darted around frantically as though he truly saw the violent flames.