⊱ ────── {.⋅ ♫ ⋅.} ───── ⊰
𝐶𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑛𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑆𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑦 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠
𝑂𝑛 𝑦𝑜𝑢𝑟 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑦
𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒, 𝐼'𝑣𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝑡 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒
𝐺𝑜𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢'𝑙𝑙 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑣𝑒
𝐺𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑚𝑒 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒 𝑡𝑜 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑔𝑖𝑟𝑙
𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐌𝐲 𝐆𝐢𝐫𝐥 𝐛𝐲 𝐆𝐞𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞 𝐄𝐳𝐫𝐚
⊱ ────── {⋅. ♪ .⋅} ────── ⊰
Nico, Alex, Livvie, Gert, Chase, and Luna had exited the Hotel and made their way across the street. From behind a wall they were waiting for Molly to walk out of the Hotel.
"She's been inside way too long" Nico says turning her head to look at the group
"Okay, so we're going in, right?" Gert asks the group before Luna can as they both were worried for the youngest members safety even if they knew she could take care of herself
"If we go back in, we gotta be ready to fight" Alex informs the group looking over at Nico who didn't have her staff
"I don't know" Nico mumbles but it was loud enough for everyone to hear her
"What do you mean, you don't know? That's Molly" Gert says looking down at Nico who was a step down from her
"No offense but the people who have no powers are the ones calling the shots" Nico says not feeling comfortable going against a group of men without backup to safety save their friend
"Stars!" Luna mumbles shaking her head not believing there was someone calling the shots in the matter
"I can mind-control a dinosaur. That sounds like a power to me" Gert says breaking the news to the outsider who looked at the purple head with wide eyes
"And how does that help us in this moment?" Nico says with her eyebrows furrowed
"Nico, I pulled us both out of a pit and made steps out of the ground so we can walk down them. I don't give a fuck about you not having your staff," Luna states taking everyone by surprise at her curse word. The blue-eyed girl looks away from the teens and over at the hotel seeing some guys wearing black exit the side door, "We are going after Molly"
"What the hell is going on?" Livvie asks Alex needing more information about his friends
"There may have been some things I didn't tell you about us" Alex states meeting Livvies eyes
"Yeah, no shit," Livvie responds and then looks over at Gert "And did you say 'dinosaur'?"
"I'll explain later. But right now, we have to save Molly" Alex says nodding at Luna who nods her head in thanks
From across the street at the teens could hear Molly's voice saying, "Get off me!"
Molly was being escorted out of the Hotel from the secret door by a man wearing black holding her clothes while pointing a gun at Molly's back. Recognizing the leader of the group all dressed in black Livvie speaks up, "That's AWOL. Tamar warned me about him. This isn't good"
Hearing that the guys Molly was being held by were bad-bad people Gert couldn't help but spiral, "What if they lock her up? What if they feed her lies and they brainwash her? What if she gets Stockholm Syndrome?"
"Gert, no. This isn't a One Direction song" Luna says and once she processes the words that left her lips the brunette couldn't help but shake her head while her cheeks heated up in embarrassment
Across the street Molly was being forced inside a black SUV, the cops having sat on both sides of her so she couldn't escape them. Once AWOL closes his passenger door, the car drives down the street past the teens.
"Now what?" Nico asks as the car was getting away quickly
"We follow her," Alex says taking a step towards the sidewalk making the teens follow his lead and with no cars on the street they run across towards the car while Alex instructs the teens, "Somebody call Karolina. We're gonna need all hands on deck"
Gert quickly started the car and soon they were driving down the street with the plans of getting Karolina and tracking Molly down.
Molly was in an abandoned warehouse room cuffed to a chair with AWOL trying to intimidate her, but she then learned that he was just one of Flores' men. When Flores arrived at the place, he believed Molly to be harmless and so he sent AWOL and his men away.
Without missing a beat, the teens quickly got out of the parked car with Karolina by their side. Not knowing what they were walking into they were prepared for the worst. Yet when they blasted the doors open, they were met with something definitely unexpected
Molly held Flores over her head as he tried his best not to move, already scared with how unbalanced he felt being carried by a teen girl.
"Molly put the corrupt law enforcement officer down," Gert says seriously but Luna couldn't help but smile at the golden-eyed girls tactic, "It's not worth it"
"Sure," Molly says taking a step back and then drops her hold on Flores. The dirty cop falls to the ground faced down in pain, allowing for Molly to walk over him and to her family.
"Told you she'd be fine," Nico says as the almost 15-year-old walks towards them
"Sorry to worry you guys," Molly says as Luna wraps her warm around her shoulder and kisses the side of her head not being able to hide her smile "Who's hungry?"
~~
With Karolina having joined the teens, the drive was more than uncomfortable. There was no space when it was just the seven of them but add an extra person and the car was more than crowded.
As they drove down the street Molly broke the silence, "You know what? I almost forgot. That Flores guy, he took my phone"
"Then he's tracking us," Nico says turning her head to the side looking at Molly who had called shotgun, "That's right out of the Minoru handbook"
"You know what that means. Everybody toss your burners" Alex says making the teens all take their burner phones from their pockets. Luna who was sitting on Chase's lap couldn't help but apologize as she took the burner phone out of her back pocket.
The teens then all throw their phones out of the car windows and let them fall on concrete waiting for a car to run them over. "Problem solved"
"Just one question" Karolina speaks up looking around the car from her spot between Alex and Chase
"You mean, like, why did we just treat the streets of our beloved city like a Taiwanese landfill?" Gert asks from the driver's streets making Luna nod her head in agreement while Karolina shook her head that not being close to her question
"Who's this?" Karolina asks turning her to the side where a stranger sat next to Alex
"I'm Livvie. Who are you?" Livvie asks before getting excited "Do you have a bionic dinosaur too?"
"The dinosaur isn't bionic," Luna says with a smile at the girl's giddy interest in the dinosaur that had caught her attention
"I'm Karolina"
"That's my friend Livvie. She's coming with us tonight" Alex informs everyone in the car which just confuses everyone
"I am?" Livvie asks making Alex turn to look his friend
"Thanks for making the decision for all of us," Chase says as Luna mindlessly draws random shapes on his grey jean jacket with her hand that rested on his shoulder
"Including me," Livvie says making Alex know he messed up
"I'm sorry," Alex apologizes before sharing what he had thought of his decision. "I just meant that you should come over tonight and then we can decide what we're gonna do in the morning. That's...if you wanted to sleepover"
"Do you want me to?" Livvie asks not being able to hold back a smile
"If you want to," Alex says with a shy smile making Livvie look away as she bit her lip
"Stars" Luna mumbles not wanting to hear someone's love life thriving at such a close proximity, even if she was happy for Alex. "Love a good rom-com but can we skip to the next scene, where are we going?"
"Gert, take her home. We can't afford any more risks" Nico orders their designated driver
"No, Gert, we're going to the hostel. Take a right," Alex orders
"Bad idea. It's not safe" Nico disagrees with Alex's idea
"This is stupid. Livvie has more than proven herself to us" Molly says agreeing with trusting Livvie with where they were living
"I have to pee, and we're running out of gas. We're going home" Gert shares having made the decision for everyone and since she was behind the wheel no one argued with her
~~
The teens arrived at the hostel just when the sky started to change colors, the sun ready to set. Walking into the hostel Livvie couldn't help but notice the chandelier giving the darkroom light allowing for her to see how big the underground house was, the mansion staircase speaking for itself
Luna and Alex high-five each other goodnight before she walks up the stairs with the rest of the teens who slept upstairs. Karolina turns to look at their new friend, "Welcome, Livvie. Make yourself at home"
"Oh, and if you're hungry, we're really good at dumpster diving," Molly says with a smile making Luna shake her head and mouth 'no we're not'
Looking away from the staircase Livvie turns to look at Alex, "How did you find this place?"
"Dumb luck, I guess," Alex says before finding a way to simplify the big turn of events the day they had less than a week ago, "Yeah, we were chasing this guy who stole Chase's Fistigons—that's what they're called, the robot gloved—and Old Lace, that's the dinosaur, Gert's a classic movie buff—anyways, Old Lace tackles this guy, Karolina falls through that skylight, and boom! Underground mansion."
"Was Karolina okay?" Livvie asks looking up at the ceiling not knowing the blonde had her own superpower.
Alex then explains how Karolina was fine, she hovered because she was glowing. Livvie found it absolutely crazy but believed his words. Alex then learns that Livvie had never thrown away her phone because it contained evidence proving that Darius couldn't have murdered Destiny. Livvie had footage of Darius at her birthday party, and she also had footage of leaving the hospital. Alex promised to save all of her photos and videos, if she would allow him to deactivate her phone so it couldn't be traced. Saying yes meant Livvie had demands, one being no more secrets between her and Alex, the other she wanted the meet the dinosaur
~~
It was a new day and Gert was sitting on the end of her bed holding out a leaf for Old Lace to eat. The Dinosaur only stood still in front of Gert moving her head when Gert would try to feed her the food.
"I don't understand. She's never been like this before," Gert tells Molly who stood worried and confused looking at Old Lace, "Old Lace, you have to eat something. Okay, watch me. I'll eat it first"
Gert was ready to put the leaf in her mouth, "Whoa! Wait! You're gonna eat a palm tree?"
"Maybe if she sees me do it, then she'll eat. It's the sacrifice we have to make as parents, Molly" Gert says having yet taking a bite of the palm tree leaf in her hand
"We have crackers," Molly exclaims wide-eyed having found a solution for Gert not to eat a palm tree, "They're cardboard bland and they're easy to digest. I'll be right back"
Molly walks out of the bedroom closing the glass door behind her and when she spots a certain hazel-eyed boy she calls out his name, "Chase"
Chase turns around from walking towards his room, "Molly"
"Cool. We're no longer strangers" Molly says walking over to him, "Luna and Gert need your help. It's Old Lace. She won't eat"
"And they want to use me as bait?" Chase replies placing a hand on the balcony railing
"Don't be a jerk," Molly says not finding his comment funny
"Luna hates me," Chase says glancing away from Molly and towards Gert's room where he believed Luna was, "I drowned her dreams in a chocolate waterfall"
"You didn't drown her dreams. Its an application. She can get another one online," Molly says with a smile before she tries to fix her favorite couple, "Luna was just...afraid that you wouldn't support her decision"
"Wait she said that?" Chase asks worriedly if that's how Luna really felt
"Not really. Um, I'm kinda getting really good at this whole advice thing" Molly says with a shy smile keeping a positive mind on the outcome
Chase turns away from Molly as he holds on to the railing with both hands looking over at the chandelier before turning his head to look at Molly, "I know but after everything that went down in the hotel...I think we're over-over"
"Is it that unfair for Luna to consider a future without you?" Molly skeptically asks not knowing if she stepped over the invisible line
"No. No, not at all. It just...it hurt my feelings. I thought, 'we're a couple and we're gonna figure things out together' but..." Chase pauses listening to the sincere words leaving his mouth "God, if my teammates heard me talked this way right now--"
"Who cares what those idiots think? I'm sorry," Molly says only to quickly change her mind "No, I'm not sorry. You and Luna don't have to be boo'ed up in order to make sure Old Lace is safe"
At Molly's response, Chase couldn't help but chuckle at her words knowing the youngest teen out of everyone in the hostel was right. Chase watches Molly walk down the stairs before he walks over to glass doors that had fabric covering the room's view. Chase was ready to knock on Gert's door knowing Luna had been staying with her but before he could knock Luna speaks up, "Hey"
Chase turns around to see Luna walking over to him with her sneaker in hand while she wore the other one. Luna stops a few feet away from Chase standing next to the railing as he asks point at her hand, "What happened?"
"I-I stepped in Dienonychus vomit" Luna shares not knowing what to say as they hadn't talked since the hotel, "Something has been up with Old Lace, I mean Gert's fine not- um...I'm sorry. I'm sorry I didn't tell you about MIT or MassArt. I just- I was operating from a place of fear"
"I get it," Chase says walking over to Luna and stands by her side "And you're... super smart"
"Well..." Luna interrupts not believing she was smart or at least super smart
"You're smart, smart enough to get into MIT. You are also scary passionate," Chase shares making Luna chuckle taking every one of his words as a compliment that made her smile so badly, she couldn't hide it, "and you want more out of life but I want you to feel comfortable telling me things. Especially if...we're a couple"
"We are..." Luna says with a smile, "can we um- just start over? Maybe help in figuring out what's wrong with Old Lace?"
"Yeah. I'd like that a lot. We have kinda been wingin' it"
The couple walks into Gert's room to help Gert with a sick Dienonychus whose been vomiting and tossing all night. Since it wasn't a normal situation, the teens tried to believe that it could be something that Old Lace ate.
~~
Alex had told the teens that Livvie knew of an amazing place that serves Caribbean food and since there was no food left at the hostel everyone agreed. Only thing was they weren't going to the restaurant because of the food, Alex had other plans but the teens didn't know that. Packed in the car the teens were happy to get out once they arrived at the parking lot, and walking through the restaurant doors the teens were able to immediately spell the delicious food being served.
"Oh, my God, it smells so good," Molly praises turning her head to look at their new friend, "Great place Livvie"
"Oh, it was Alex's choice but thanks," Livvie says looking around the room for a table big enough for them all
"Yeah, it's apparently very popular here, so..." Alex trails off trying to keep his lie short
"Can we sit anywhere?" Gert asks Livvie since she was the one with experience in visiting the restaurant
"Yeah, just grab a table," Livvie says making the teens walk over to an open space
"Yo, AWOL, what's up?" A worker shouts from behind the counter once he sees the cops who walked through the eating establishment
Molly having heard the name turns around only to notice the men dressed in black, "Those were the guys who grabbed me. What are they doing here?"
AWOL was speaking to the cashier as he was tired of having to wait for his food every time he walks through the doors. The teens had yet to sit down and half of them were looking at the dirty cops while the rest were trying to divert their attention.
"Who knew dirty cops liked to eat clean?" Gert asks looking over at how AWOL spoke to the worker
"Wilder," Chase says making everyone turn to look at the teen who had the brilliant idea of going out "This is not a coincidence"
"You tricked us," Nico says looking at Alex with a blank look
"Okay, we're not here just for the food" Alex vaguely responds but that just killed everyone's wish of eating
"I told you they wouldn't like it," Livvie says as she didn't want to lie to the teens she had just met
"No, we don't," Chase says strongly before leaning closer to Livvie and whispers, "Like what, exactly?"
"Alex's small-fish-eats-big-fish plan" Livvie explains having an inside to Alex's plan
"Stars, how is AWOL your idea of a small fish?" Luna asks Alex with her arms crossed against her chest
"Small fish can be deadly. There's pufferfish, which is small but very dangerous" Gert says sharing the information she knew about fish
"Don't forget about stingrays. They're vicious" Karolina chimes in
"Is every girl a frickin' marine biologist?" Alex says slightly raising his voice before calming down "I got this, okay?"
Alex walks over to AWOL interrupting him intimidating the lady behind the counter, "Hey, you got a minute?"
AWOL turns around to see Alex only to chuckle at the teen and turn back to the worker, "Anyway, like I said, this thing better be good--"
"Once you're done harassing this cashier, I wanna talk to you" Alex speaks up stepping in front of AWOL's and interrupting him once again "All right? One on one, man to man"
"Ahh. Man to man!" AWOL says with a chuckle while looking over at his partner "Get up and get outta here, kid. Come on"
As AWOL reached for his plate on the counter Alex slides it away making the cop standing before him ask, "Did you just touch my food?"
At AWOL's question Alex doesn't back down nor does he move from standing in front of the cop, "Yo! Did this kid just touch my curried goat?"
"Looks like it," One of the workers standing by the counter says
"Yo, tell me that you did not just touch...my God. Damned. Curried. Goat!" AWOL says each word getting louder than the last
"Didn't realize curried goat was such a big deal. But I got an offer for you that's gonna make you forget all about lunch" Alex says not once showing that he was intimidated by the man standing before him
"Oh, really? And who the hell are you to be offering me anything?"
"I'm the guy that knows you framed Darius Davis for murder," Alex says making AWOL's partners walk closer to Alex
"You just messed up," AWOL says pulling out his gun from his holster and turning to the customers enjoying their meal "Drop the gate! Everybody out. Now. We have a situation with fugitives who are armed and dangerous"
At the cop's words, every customer gets up from their seats and starts to make their way out of the restaurant trusting every word that the cop was saying. Once everyone but the runaway teens, including Livvie were the last people in the restaurant one of the cop partners closes the front door and closes the gate.
"Y'all them hotel kids, huh?" AWOL says as he points his gun at the teens who were standing shoulder to shoulder to each other "You shoulda bailed with everyone else. Mitch"
Mitch, who was one of AWOL's cop partners takes his gun from his holster and points it at the teens. With a gun pointed at them, AWOL speaks up, "On your knees, hands behind your head"
"Great plan, Wilder" Chase says as the teens raise their hands and start to kneel down
"Down!" AWOL shouts just as the rest of the three partners point their guns at the teens making Alex walk in front of his kneeling friends
"Let me talk to you for two minutes," Alex says as he stood with guns pointed at him and his friends "Okay? I'm not-we aren't the enemy"
"You talk too much," AWOL says lowering his gun
"I was just trying to get your attention"
"And now you got it." AWOL says walking forward to Alex and pointing the gun at him wanting him to kneel just like his friends, "Come on. I could kill everyone in here right now... and get away with it. You know that, right?"
With the guns still pointed at them, Nico stands up with the staff in her hand pointed at the corrupt group of cops, "Pause"
The cops couldn't move and were aware of it as the teens stood up and walked out of the restaurant leaving behind the cops who couldn't anything other than their eyes
"After everything we've been through you would think it wouldn't be that big of a deal but I did not like have a gun held to my head," Chase says as the teens walk past various cars where customers from the restaurant had been hiding behind wondering what was happening inside
"Alex, I know what happened with Darius was awful but getting mixed up with these guys is not gonna fix it," Karolina says as she walks next to Alex
"Agree. No more fishing, okay?" Nico says looking back at Alex but not waiting for him to reply "Alex, we're dropping this. We take down our parents another way"
"Or...maybe we just move on." Chase speaks making everyone look at him confused wondering what he meant by 'just move on', "We let it all go, we focus on the future"
"Alex?" Luna questions as she looked over at the teen wondering if he was going to be okay with moving on without getting justice for his friend
"Yeah. I'll just take Livvie home" Alex says making him and Livvie turn away from the teens and they walk towards the street
The rest of the teens watch them leave before pilling into the car ready to head back to their home. The teens arrived at the hostel and went their own ways to spend their time apart but once the sun had set the house started to become filled with a roaring Old Lace.
"We definitely left her alone for too long today. She is not happy" Chase says he walks up the staircase towards Old Lace with Nico following behind him
"She's just not feeling well," Gert says walking down the staircase with Luna right behind her "She would never hurt us, right, Lacey?"
Old Lace then roars right at Gert making her take a step back not getting close to the dinosaur, "oh, my—okay. Sometimes I'm wrong"
"Are these your emotions, or Old Lace's?" Nico asks the girl who was linked with the roaring dinosaur standing before them
"I don't know," Gert says as she just looked at Old Lace growling at everyone in front of her
"Gert, this is your superpower. Old Lace always listens to you" Luna says just as Molly walks down the stairs with Karolina asking, "What's going on?"
"I-i I don't know. I-it's like our connection's gone. It's like- it's like the polarity's been switched" Gert explains making the teens look at her wondering what that meant for the two. If Gert's link to Old Lace was somehow distorted to the point where Old Lace couldn't emotionally connect to Gert, that changed how they viewed the roaring dinosaur
~~
A new day had arrived only this morning was different from the rest as all the teens, except Alex, woke up to find Livvie wanting to talk with them. They didn't wake up Alex as the meeting was supposed to be about him. With everyone in the dining room gathered around Livvie, she starts to speak up, "Sorry to say this, but I know you guys rely on each other, and I think it's important for you to know the truth. I'm telling you, he sold us out. He made a deal with AWOL"
At the news, the teens start to ask questions not understanding how Alex would be possible of such a thing and all the noise in the dining room had woken Alex up as his room was two doors down. As the teen walks towards the dining room he can hear Chase say, "You gotta be kidding me"
"And that's not even half of it," Livvie says as there was still more she had to tell the teens about Alex's secret meeting with AWOL last night when he had walked her to her house, the corrupt cop had been waiting in her home
"Livvie," Alex says making everyone in the room go silent and turn to look at him "What are you doing here?"
"Letting everyone know that you're a liar, who went behind out backs and made a deal with AWOL all because you hate your parents," Livvie says looking directly at Alex knowing that she wasn't going to keep his secrets
"You ratted me out?" Alex asks Livvie walking closer to the dining table
"You're putting all of us in danger" Livvie exclaims knowing that not only were the teens in danger with AWOL but so was she for having a connection with them
After Livvie's remark walks over to the table with a tray of muffins while asking, "How could you, Alex?"
"Yeah, what were you thinking?" Nico asks looking over at Alex as she stood next to Gert and Molly on one side of the table
"He wasn't" Chase quickly responds making Luna look over at Alex wanting him to explain everything
"Or I'm thinking so many moves ahead that you can't even keep up. I'm meeting with AWOL today and he's giving me everything we need to ruin PRIDE. Then we take it to a guy he knows at City Hall, someone that Flores can't get to" Alex explains to the teens, but his plan didn't sound well structured as there was so many holes in it, like how AWOL had all the power
"'A guy he knows'?" Gert questions making Luna look back from her spot, the brunette was standing on her feet with her arms crossed and resting on the chair Chase sat in "Do you know how IDTV that sounds?"
"How can you so easily trust this corrupt cop?" Luna asks wondering if Alex had a backup plan for if anything in his plans with AWOL went south as in the cop turning against him
"What other choice do we have?! We have to find a way to get over PRIDE's head!" Alex shouts standing his ground
"So you're gonna let that asshole AWOL and his entire squad of assholes go free?" Molly asks angrily as she walks over to Alex
"Look...my strategy has never changed, okay? I said I'm taking down PRIDE, so I'm taking down PRIDE" Alex says making everyone hear the various amount of 'i''s Alex was using
"You're taking down PRIDE?" Molly asks not believing that they were suddenly not on the same team
"Who are you right now?" Nico asks
"There's no 'I' in team Alex," Chase says making everyone look over at him confused but he just obviously explains with certainty, "Coach Alphona told me that one"
"Oh my stars" Luna mumbles under her breath with a slight shake of her head while trying to cover a smile
"You made a deal with a criminal, Alex. Which is exactly what—what happened to" With every word Gert tried to say it was as if she the words couldn't escape her lips and she was forgetting her words mid-sentence "—what happened to our parents, which is—which is—which is bad, is the point that I'm trying to make. My tongue feels weird"
Luna walks towards Gert and turns her so she can see Gert's worried expression while she places her hands on Gert's shoulders only to see that nothing was physically wrong and so she looks over at Alex, "Stars, Alex! She's already under enough stress with what's going on with Old Lace"
"What's going on with Old Lace?" Alex asks having not been in the house when Old Lace was freaking out around everyone
"She's sleeping finally, but she's been freaking out. And you'd know if you were thinking of anyone else other than yourself" Nico explains looking at Alex unhappy
"I never thought I'd say this to you of all people," Chase says standing up from his seat looking over at Alex, "but be smart, you're still a TARDIS-loving dork who can't see without his glasses. You're not some gangsta"
"What about what you've done, hu?! Stole a car. We robbed our school. Some of you have done a lot worse than that" Alex says looking over at Nico knowing that the last remark was meant for her killing Jonah "You know what? You're all a bunch of hypocrites"
With those final words, Alex leaves the room to go have his meeting with AWOL. Leaving the teens alone, none of them going after him. With nothing planned the teens all spent their day doing whatever they could find in the house to help pass the time.
With the sun setting upstairs in Gert's room Luna was checking up on the girl only to see her sitting at the edge of her bed leaning over in pain.
"Ohh, it's way too hot" Gert mumbles with a gasp as she keeps breathing unevenly "And it's so cold. Ahh! This is not good. So not good"
"You probably have a fever," Luna says walking over to where Gert sat on the edge of her bed. Gert dismisses Lunas guess and tries to stand up needing to check up on Old Lace, "Come on take my hand"
Gert takes Luna's hand which the brunette spins around so Gert's arm could be resting over her shoulder. Allowing Luna to support Gert as they walked downstairs to where Chase, Nico, and Molly were trying to calm down Old Lace who was wheezing uncontrollably
"She still looks terrible. I'm worried" Molly says as the dinosaur was still acting out but no longer acting out in anger only this time in pain. Old Lace was surrounded by various blankets and pillows as they had made her a spot to rest right next to the last step of the staircase
Old Lace wheezing and roaring falls to the floor making Chase pick up a blanket and put it over the dinosaur, "It's gonna be okay. All right? Just sweat it out. That's right, it just means you're getting better"
As two teen girls make their way down the first set of stairs Gert suddenly stops making Luna look over at her worried, "Do you need a minute?"
Gert nods just as Chase looks up seeing them making him speak up optimistically, "Hey, Gert. Think she's getting better"
"How is she feeling better when I feel like I'm dying?" Gert asks as she starts walking once again with Luna holding on to her
"Hey" Luna whispers over at Gert, "don't say that"
Just then Old Lace starts to act up once again making Molly reach out to pet her, "Calm down. Calm down, girl"
With four more steps to make it downstairs, Gert loses her balance which makes Luna have to hold her up with all that she could. Chase having seen how they both almost slip down the step walks up towards them speaking the teen who was sick, "Maybe we should go to your room. If that's what you want"
Feeling like she wasn't going to lose her balance Luna lets go of the staircase railing and looks over at Gert expecting her to correct Chase's patriarchal and archaic way of speaking for her. "Gert, what do you need?"
"uh...I-I just need to sit," Gert says staring confused at the couple before her. Gert lets go of Luna's hand while moving her hand over the brunette's shoulder so she can make it down the steps by herself. As she makes it down the steps by herself Gert faints making her body fall to the ground with Luna trying to reach for her, but it was too late.
Seeing Gert laying on the floor without moving made Luna's world start to slow down, nothing was moving at a regular speed.
As Chase and Nico rushed to Gert's side and Nico caressed the fallen girl's face while saying, "Gert, just breathe, Okay? We need you to breathe"
All Luna could feel and hear was her heart beating loudly in her ears and with each blink, time around her started to speed up a bit faster. Unlike when she saw Graciela's dead body this was different because Luna knew Gert wasn't dead but her mind was telling her differently, and with Nico and Chase covering Gert from her sight Luna started to breathe heavily.
"I don't get it. It's like they're both sick, or..." Chase trails off as he glances over at Old Lace who was wheezing loudly "...dying"
Luna heard the worlds leave Chase's mouth making her realize he was talking about Gert, Gert dying. All Luna suddenly feels was her mouth start to taste like aluminum, the sensation making her mouth start to water. One of her five senses was drowning out all the noise so she couldn't hear Molly shouting at Gert to wake up
Knowing what the feeling in her jaw meant Luna quickly runs towards the kitchen knowing it had the closest sink. Luna let her spit fall into the sink so the aluminum sensation would leave her mouth and she wouldn't throw up the context in her stomach.
A/N: I updated quickly because I have an online interview tomorrow and I'm nervous but also because I'm already writing the next chapter which I'm excited about