Gael led them down a hallway that never seemed to end. Endless twist and turns and sometimes, he would lead them down a hall that didn't even have anything. No windows, doors, not even a painting. Completely bare of anything.

With every twist and turn, Basil felt as though they were drawing further away from any escape that could have been made. Soon enough they came upon a staircase, it spiraled down so many floors Basil couldn't see the bottom.

"How far down does it go?" Pip asked leaning over to see further down. Basil was quick to wrap his arm around Pip's waist. He didn't want a repeat of what happened at the waterfall.

"No one knows," Samier answered, "It'd probably take months to get to the bottom, maybe even years."

"And we're going down there, "Basil asked, "How far?"

"Only a couple uhh, floors, "Gael answered hesitantly. His tone did not make Basil feel any better. Pip, on the other hand, was vibrating with excitement. This was the happiest Basil has ever seen him. "Shouldn't take too long."

Basil tightened his arm around Pip's waist to stop him from moving so much, "Calm down," Basil moved closer to Pip as they started walking down the staircase and spoke into his ear, "You know, you could at least try to look like you are fearing for your life. I mean, we may be walking into our impending doom."

"Isn't that the fun part?" Pip nudged him with his elbow, "I say, an adventure isn't an adventure without the chance of dying."

Basil opened his mouth to reply when Gael interrupted him, "Ah, here we are."

They had stopped on a ledge somewhere along the stairs a pair of double doors. Basil looked up, he could still see the top of the staircase. The door was ginormous, and it was red and gold, with some sort of design. Basil thought it was pretty. Pip shared his sentiments.

Gael pushed the doors open and they walked into a giant room. There were more people everywhere. It looked like a room straight out of the Victorian era. Or maybe Basil was just uncultured.

A closer look at the room showed that it was circular, with doors all along the perimeter. Gael walked to a door on the other side of the room. Basil followed dragging Pip with him because he wanted to stand and look around.

"Alright before we go in, let's get a few things straight," Gael turned around, his hand on the doorknob, "The woman in there does not take kindly to sass, so maybe dial it back." It was obvious which of the boys he was talking to. Basil looked very irate. Was he supposed to just act like he wasn't taken against his own will to someplace in the middle of nowhere?

Gael just stood there, looking at Basil, "So?"

"Fine"

"Great," And with that opened the door, but Basil didn't follow him through. His breathing tapered, and his hands felt a lot wetter than before.

Pip who had walked forward realized Basil wasn't beside him, "Bay?" He walked over and grabbed his arm, "Everything alright?"

But Basil didn't spare Pip a glance, no he couldn't take his eyes off of the person in front of him. A ghost, really.

The woman beside the desk gets up and walks toward Basil. But with every step she takes toward him, he takes one back. His stomach was tied in knots and he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he breathe?

His legs hit a couch and he walked around it, heading for the door they had gone through earlier, but his feet swayed and he could no longer walk straight. He looked around trying to find the door, but that just made his head throb.

"Bay? Hey Basil?" Pip was right behind Basil, has been since he became unresponsive. Basil didn't say anything, he just leaned over and puked what little was left of the convenience store hotdog he had eaten before their trek through the woods.

"Basil?" Hey, come on talk to me." Pip was growing more anxious with every passing second, "What's wrong with him?"

Basil didn't hear what the person Pip was talking to said, his head was throbbing he felt every beat of his heart and he could no longer see. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and he was out.

_________________________________________________

Pip was crying, hard. He hadn't cried this hard since his adoptive mom died, and he was put back in foster care.

Basil had passed out after throwing up. His skin was blue. He had looked dead. That was two days ago. As far as Pip knew, Basil didn't have any health problems. He didn't how or why this could happen. It was completely out of left field. And what makes it worse is that they wouldn't let him see Basil.

Pip was sitting on a couch outside the room they had Basil in. They said he could see him when he was stable. But Pip had no idea what that meant, he didn't care either. He tried to go in but they have someone posted at Basil's door 24/7 it seems.

They had put him in a room on what seems to be a completely different side of the house, Pip heard something about a west wing. But that didn't matter what mattered was they put him as far away from Basil's room as possible. Which meant he had to be escorted everything he wanted to sit outside Basil's room.

The longer Basil wasn't 'stable' and that made Pip worry. With all this time on Pip's hands, he was able to think of all the what if's there are. What if Basil dies? What would Pip do then? What if Basil doesn't forgive Pip for putting him in this mess?

"Pip?" Pip looked up from his lap and wiped his eyes. He had finally stopped crying. A man was standing in the open doorway to Basil's room. Pip shot out of his seat and walked to the door.

"Yeah?"

"He wants to see you."

"He's awake?" Pip tried to look over the man's shoulder but he was too short. Luckily he didn't have to because the man stepped to the side and Pip sidled inside.

Seeing Basil made Pip burst into tears all over again, "Oh my god. I thought you were dead."

Basil smiled from the bed, "Well, you don't have to worry anymore."

Pip smiled and sat on the bed and took Basil's hand, "Not funny."

"Come on, you didn't actually think I was going to die, did you?" Basil was still smiling, but one look at Pip's face wipes it right off, "Hey, I'm fine. Look at me," Basil grabbed Pip's chin and nudged his face, "Everything's fine."

Pip nodded, "Yeah okay. Move over." Basil shimmied over and Pip laid down beside. As soon as Pip was settled Basil wrapped his arm around him, "Listen, I'm sorry for dragging you into this. We should've never come here."

"Isn't this what you wanted? You know, the close encounters with death or whatever."

Pip sighed, exasperated, "I don't care about my life," he turned to look at Basil, "I guess I care about yours."

"Hypocrite," Basil said into Pip's shoulder.

"Whatever. Doesn't matter anymore. As soon as your better we get the hell out of here," This made basil laugh, "What's so funny?"

"Well, you wanted to do this whole adventure thing and I wanted to stay the fuck away. And now," Basil hesitated, "Now I want to stay."

"What?" Pip turned over to look at Basil, "Why?"

"Well, more like need," Basil closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, "I just saw someone I never thought I'd see ever again."

"Who was it?"

"My mom."