The young men were in shock. They stared with petrified forms at the body of Terra splayed out on the tearoom floor. The silence was suffocating, but to their surprise, the sound of footsteps echoed momentarily through the halls behind them. Hollis winced and, on instinct, turned in the direction of the sound.

     "Don't bother. He's gone by now."

     "How do you—"

     "He was probably only staying to see our reactions and darted off into his door the moment he was satisfied." Hollis couldn't see the face Ambrose was making, but the tone of his voice and the tenseness of his body said he was angry, severely angry to an extent Hollis didn't want to see.

     The silence returned and hung over the two for a length of time before Ambrose came to a stand. "We need to get out of here. I'll wake up and call the authorities."

     "W-wait. What..." Hollis needed to ask, but he couldn't remember what he wanted to ask. He'd never been put in a situation like this before, so he couldn't figure out what to do. 

     "We have about three minutes to get out of here before the mindspace closes. I'll take you to mine and you can stay there until we set up a meeting with the others."

     The brunette wasn't sure how to handle this. He never had imagined something like this happening. The killer had pinned the blame on Terra, and then immediately went and killed her? Why? Was he just toying with them? Watching them react out of pure curiosity? Could someone really be that cruel? This was a dream world, but these were real people. He really could be that cruel...

The pair promptly left the fleeting mindspace and entered Ambrose's gold palace. The sun was bright and warm, and the cream-colored bricks forming the groundwork outside the building blinded Hollis for a moment before his eyes adjusted. Once they entered, they headed straight to the wall on the far side of the singular room. Ambrose peered over to Hollis before saying, in a low voice, "You can't let anyone know this is here, alright?"

     Before Hollis could even respond, Ambrose pressed against the ornately designed wall and a door swung open. Hollis's mouth was agape. "I had no idea this was here."

     "No one does. And hopefully, it stays that way." With that mischievous, troublesome sneer, he pushed the door open the rest of the way and Hollis entered.

     The moment he stepped foot in the room, he was taken aback by the sheer quality of it. A large, luxurious bed sat in front of a row of floor-reaching windows braced by shining gold. The walls had intricate patterns that resembled things such as flowers and vines, trees and even hands. A large bookshelf rested opposite the bed and knick-knacks and other beauties rested on tables and were mounted to the walls. It looked like a room for a prince.

     "Wha...what's this?"

     "I come here to rest when I get tired or bored." Ambrose spoke in a casual, lazy way as he sauntered into the room. "All in all, I don't need it, so you can use it." He smirked. "It'd be more useful to you than me. Those windows there are one-way, so no one on the outside can see you in here."

     Hollis's gaze drifted over to the stunning windows and many small items in the room, and that soft, fluffy blanket over the massive, king-sized bed. The warm, golden hue of the room made him feel comfortable. "I... Thank you."

     Ambrose let out a laugh as Hollis crossed his arms and turned his face out of view. "Man, you can be so cute...despite your age."

     "I don't know how to feel about that, so I'll pretend you didn't just say it."

     "I'm only teasing. Lighten up, alright?"

     Hollis had no intention of doing that.

     He glanced back to Ambrose, who seemed to be taking one last look at the room. He was smiling.

     Hollis released a slow sigh. He was amazed by this performance. The reaction the taller boy gave to seeing Terra's body was terrifying, intense. He managed to shove it all down and put on a smile for him. Compared to himself, Ambrose was a much more emotional person, so on some level Hollis was worried about what was really going through his head.

     Tightening his grip on his arms, he said, "What are you going to do now?"

     "Hm?"

     "About this...situation. I mean, I'm sure you don't want to think about it right now, but..." Having been listening intently to Hollis's every word, Ambrose scoffed and stepped closer, running his hand over the older boy's short, feathery hair. "Don't worry about it. I'll take some time to, uh...recuperate. Um, I'll set up a meeting with everyone and we'll discuss this. Just don't worry about it."

     So, that's what he did. 

     He had rested on the bed and tried not to think about what was happening. His focus had diverged into concern over his own mindspace. He feared that if he stayed away too long, something bad would happen to it. He wasn't sure if that was possible, but it was a fear that was creeping up. While he thought about this, he tried to forget that he was in Ambrose's mindspace. What exactly did that mean? He was in his head? That thought turned his stomach and thus, he tried his hardest not to think about it too much.

     This barrage of thoughts reminded him that he had really forgotten how complicated life was, how strange it was. He hadn't even noticed it was so strange until he lost his memories and could see everything from a fresh point of view. He remembered reading books that took place hundreds of years ago. Life seemed much simpler back then. It seemed hard and rough to live through, but things weren't as technologically complicated as they are now. He wondered what life would have been like had he grown up in a simpler time like that. He would most certainly be a completely different person. All of the work and struggles would have shaped him differently.

     He shook his head as the questions kept rolling. It seemed that the more he remembered, the more wide-reaching his questions became. He needed to slow down a little or he might go mad!

     Just as he attempted to slow the pacing of his mind, the door at his left swung open and in came Ambrose. Hollis pushed himself upright in the bed. He wasn't entirely sure how long it had been since they last spoke, but he knew it had to have been over a day, maybe two.

     "Sorry for the delay," Ambrose chuckled, running his hand across his neck. "A few things happened and I couldn't make it back any sooner."

     "Well, you don't have to say that. I don't even know how long you've been gone." His brow perked as he spoke. He had neglected, since the moment they first met, to ever mentioned he couldn't keep track of time. He figured he didn't need to mention it, but he was getting to a point where he desperately wanted to know the length of time that passed, especially considering he was on a time limit. He probably had around three weeks left before the life support was turned off. Maybe.

     "Oh, I see. I guess I should have known that." Ambrose squinted as he wore a sheepish smile. "It's been around two days. Everyone on the forum heard the news of what happened to Terra." His voice seemed to grow darker the longer he spoke. "Due to that, everyone decided not to leave their mindspaces."

     "As far as I can tell, you didn't drop by at all."

     "That's right. I didn't sleep, not well anyway." With a sigh, he dropped down on the bed next to Hollis. "It takes me a while to get to sleep, you know? And if I wake up I just can't get back to sleep. When I'm under pressure, it's a bit harder to get to sleep!" His chuckle was clumsy as he dropped his head to the side. "But I see you're doing well...so I'm glad for that at least."

     Hollis scrunched up his brows and gave a rough punch to Ambrose's solid shoulder. He didn't so much as wince. "What are you glad for? I'm just some guy you happened to run into. If anything, you should be focusing on your real friends."

     "You're one of them. Remember?" His lips curled into a sneer as he side-eyed the smaller youth. "If anything, I can't help but feel more protective of you. You're smaller than the other guys, and you still don't really know about this place, right? I do what I can to protect my friends, and that includes you."

     "You're awfully cheesy. I hate hearing people talk like that in real life."

     "We're in a dream, so it's fine." He laughed as he rose from the bedside. "Anyway, the others should be here in a minute. Let's get out of here."

     "Wait. What exactly is going on?" Hollis climbed to his feet, shoving his hands into his pockets. Ambrose gave a lopsided smirk as he made his way to the door. "We're having a meet-up. We need to discuss what to do now that, well..."

     "I get it."

     "If everything goes right, I'm hoping we can get some clues to the killer's true identity."

     "And I won't get in the way?" Hearing a slight note of concern in Hollis's question, Ambrose gave him a pat on the back. "Don't worry, guy. This'll be fine the way it is."

     After exiting the room, Ambrose closed the door. The main hall was typically empty, but as before, a table seemed to appear from nothing but lights in the center of the room. Chairs on either side of the table showed up after and, at the head were the two chairs that Ambrose and Hollis had occupied during that previous meet-up.

     As Hollis took a seat, the pair could hear a slight commotion coming from beyond the doors on the other side of the hall. The doors swung open and in walked Tic, followed by Shyed and Noodle in their usual sluggish ways. Seeing this, Ambrose smiled in a warm, gentle manner—though his eyes held little comfort in them—before taking his seat.

     The others followed and sat in their own chairs. The atmosphere was tense, as was to be expected. 

     Ambrose was the first to speak.

     "Everyone is aware of what has happened, right? We all understand what this is about?"

     There was a heavy sense of trepidation lingering among the three guests. Suddenly, Tic answered. "Yeah, we all know what this is about. So, can you answer something for us?"

     Ambrose winced before saying, in a tone of clear surprise, "Yes. What is it?"

     "You're sitting there trying to act all professional and crap, but what about that rumor? I heard you were the last person in Terra's mindspace. What's that about?"

     Ambrose relaxed himself once again, his features completely unreadable. "That's true. I was the one who found her and called for the police." With a flick of his finger, a small blue box appeared. "She had sent me an empty message, which is what sent me to her mindspace in the first place."

     Hollis groaned under his breath. They were called here to talk about Terra, but it seemed like Tic was more interested in interrogating Ambrose.

     "We all saw that picture," Tic continued. "How do we know you didn't go and kill Terra?"

     "What kind of question is that?"

     Stunned, everyone present turned to Shyed. Her small, child-like features were contorted in a way no one had seen before. Her mouth was crooked and her jaw clenched ever so slightly. "Did it never dawn on you that someone had created an alter pajama? Why would Ambrose ever think about killing Terra? What's the point?"

     Tic seemed to take great offense to this opposition. "What are you doing? Who do you think you are? You're the one that showed us that picture in the first place!"

     "Ambrose told us to search and I found something he might be interested in. What was I supposed to do? 'Oh! I found this picture of the killer! It looks a lot like our leader! Guess I'll just keep it to myself!'"

     "Shut it! You know what I'm talking about! You started this crap and now you're trying to back out!"

     "I-I was with Ambrose!"

     Before the taller boy could say anything to stop this, Hollis had raised his arm and shouted out, not really thinking about what he was doing. "I...I was with Ambrose when we found her. He didn't do it." He wanted to mention seeing the killer and Ambrose fighting, but he wasn't sure if that would help or worsen the situation. So much of this was uncertain, especially seeing the way the others were starting to act. If Ambrose didn't mention it, he wasn't going to. Like Shyed said, Ambrose was the leader here.

     "So," Tic began, leaning back into his seat with a strict stare. "You were with him? You saw everything? You were with him the whole time? He never left your side?"

     "W-well, not exactly." In reality, he saw everything after Ambrose had already gone in. "I mean, I saw it, but only after he..." Being honest wasn't feeling so good right now.

     "So, he could have tampered. He could have set it up to make him look like the good guy—"

     "You're being a real ass right now." Shyed leaned forward, rage clear as day in her voice, on her face. "You were so quick to turn on him. I can't believe you!"

     "You're feeling awful chatty, what's that about? Now that Terra's gone, are you trying to replace her?"

     The small girl winced, her gray eyes shooting wide and her breath hitching in her throat.

     "Tic, stop it. Don't drag her into this anymore than you have. Talk to me." Ambrose shifted in his seat to face the large man. This was the man he once deemed his good friend.

     "Aren't you so heroic. Do you have any clue how suspicious you are?"

     Ambrose wore a vague sneer. "I've been told that a lot, so I'm aware of it."

     As they spoke back and forth, a small straining laughter caught everyone's attention. All focus drifted over to Shyed who had dropped her head. The longer the laughter went on, the clearer it became that it was not laughter, it was sobbing. Noodle reached over and rubbed her back with a gentle circling motion. His narrow, intense glare set on Tic.