Alex -

I looked around the main courtyard. Groups of people stood around chatting. A few kids wandered around the edges. I walked up to a kid sitting on some steps. “Hey,” I said quietly. They looked up. “Oh, hey,” Their eyes were red. I reached to put my hand on theirs. They pulled it into their chest and turned away quickly. I looked down and noticed that they weren’t actually sitting on the steps, but right above them. “Levitation,” I muttered. I pulled up charachter stats, but they didn’t have any. I put my hand in theirs and shook it, then turned away to find Leo. But before I could get anywhere, my wrist started to hurt. “Crud,” I said quietly. I pulled up my map and groaned. Leo was on the other side of the courtyard and Lori had made the rule of no one within two feet of her. “For your own safety,” she’d said. I shook my head and groaned. “Good grief,” I grumbled. My wrist started really hurting. I looked down at it. There was nothing on it. I looked up at the sky. “I swear to gods, I will come after each one of you,” I screamed to the open space, hoping that the people who controlled Neverland heard me. Then, looking down, I pressed my right hand to my wrist. I ventured deep inside myself and gathered all my spark into my hand. Closing my eyes, I tried to burn off whatever was bothering my wrist. I opened my eyes to see embers falling off of my arm, and then everything was black.

Leo -

I found Alex laying sprawled on the ground. There were embers all around him, and the grass was burning. His sweatshirt was burnt. “Alex, I swear,” I sighed. Lori stood a few feet behind me. The grass around her was grey and crumbling. A flower sprouted beside my foot. I looked at it to find it was a medicinal herb. The exact one Alex needed. I squinted, trying to see if anyone was in the distance. No one. Shaking the creeping feeling I was getting, I worked on healing Alex. I checked to see the HP on his stats and found some strange messages.

HP: 0030/1000

Alex has lost 20 points

Alex: Fifth place

I grabbed Lori’s arm. “Look at this!” I cried. Lori glared at me. “Two. Feet.” I shrugged and let go of her. “Just look. What does it mean, twenty points? Fifth place? Is that what’s going on? This is all a game?” My expression hardened. “Tell me, Lori. Is this all a game?” Lori started to pale and the grass around us started to crumble. But a few seconds later, it started to regrow. It was fighting her power. “Lori?” I asked, suddenly scared. “Does it normally do this…?” She shook her head. I closed my eyes and picked up Alex. “Something’s going on here. Let’s just go.”

Alex’s HP started to recover quickly once we’d gotten him food and into bed. I gently took off his burnt sweatshirt and put on a red one I found in his cardboard box. I looked down at my own clothes. They were already turning brown from dirt. Sighing, I grabbed some clothes from my box and turned to Lori. “Call me if anything happens. I’m just getting changed.”

I came out of the bathroom with a new pair of clothes on. I had on a striped shirt with a jacket on top. The jacket was mostly for style, I used the shirt for warmth. It was short-sleeved and had two little pockets, one of which stored my flask. A warm scarf wrapped around my neck and black jeans kept my legs covered. Lori was wearing a grey sweatshirt that could have been any color, and sweatpants that were a french grey. She held a pink hairbrush and purple hairclip. Alex was sitting up in bed, eating soup. “Thanks, bud,” he said as I walked in. I shrugged. “What did you think I would do? Suck out your blood and leave you there?” Alex smiled sadly. “Just… thanks.” I ruffled his hair gently and crawled into the bed above him. “Now, I know you’ve been sleeping for a few days, so you may not be tired, but I have not slept. In three days. So please, my dear friend, let me at least try to sleep.” Alex looked at me, alarmed, then turned to Lori. “Three days?” he asked, “I’ve been out for three days?” Before I could hear her response my world turned dark. “Goodnight,” I murmured.