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The door opened with a hellish creak. The inside of Adrien’s room was like a void, dimly lit by collapsing stars. Luka tried to walk forward but abruptly hit a wall, there must be a maze to keep people out. He brushed his hand across against the right wall and followed the turns. He couldn’t see much, but he could hear gunshots in the distance. Whoever was making that noise, he sure didn’t want to find out.
The maze was vast and winding. Behind every corner hid an unspeakable horrorterror. Bones of the fallen littered the grounds, intertwined with their armor. Luka drew a sword from one of the skeletons, prepared to fight for his life, as well as Adrien’s.
All at once, a hundred arms came raining down. Luka tactfully dodged and sliced off several of the monster’s limbs, though it seemed to barely have an effect. There was no way he was going to win this fight. Luka wiped the sweat from his brow and charged at the beast head on. The monster followed, and sprinted at Luka, letting out a blood curdling scream. It seemed like the two were going to collide, but Luka quickly pivoted and kicked off the wall, safely running past the monster. He hid behind the closest wall, taking a minute to breathe. He could hear the monster whimpering, it must have been confused.
Luka looped the sword into his belt and continued walking. The gunshots grew louder; he must be getting closer. Luka pushed on, hoping that Adrien would be at the end. He rounded the corner and saw a white light shining from nearby. The closer he got, the more unbearable it was, until it consumed his entire field of vision. But amidst the glow, he saw his silhouette: it was Adrien. He tried to reach out but he could hardly see.
“Luka?” Adrien turned his head around, his eyes filled with remorse.
“Adrien, what’s going on?”
“I-I, don’t come any closer.” His voice quavered. Luka took another step.
“Is everything okay? What is this?” Before any of his questions could be answered, Adrien was sucked into the white light.
“Adrien!” Without hesitation, Luka blindly raced into the light.
Luka awoke to the sun beating down on him; somehow he had gotten outside. He raised a hand to his forehead and looked around. He seemed to be in the middle of a field. He couldn’t find anyone around, but he could still hear gunshots. Then it hit him.
“Adrien?” He frantically turned around, but his love was nowhere to be found. “Oh no, no, no, no, no…” Luka covered his eyes, hoping that he’d realize he was just dreaming, but he was still lost. All he could see was a city in the distance, and… was that Mr. Banane? What was he doing here?
“Hey!” Luka waved his arms around, hoping to attract the friendly face. But when he turned around, he did not look happy. Luka was suddenly regretting his choices. The banana charged straight at him, holding a broad gun. It was time to get out of there.
Luka bolted as fast as he could towards the city, the banana following in pursuit. Gunshots were narrowly missing him, whizzing past his ears. There was no way he was going to out run him. As soon as he made it to the city, he ducked behind a dumpster. He could hear the yellow feet pitter patter past him, hopefully he was in the clear.
After a few more minutes, Luka stood up, brushing the dust off of him. He rounded the building and was faced with a billboard: Welcome to Tilted Towers.
“This is definitely not Paris.” Luka folded his arms, unsure of what to do next, though it didn’t take long for him to be interrupted.
“Luka!” He turned around to see Adrien running up to him.
“Adrien!” The two crashed into a hug. But as soon as the initial happiness wore off, Adrien seemed standoffish.
“Adrien, what is this place?” Luka put a hand on his shoulder, hoping to comfort him.
“I-” Adrien stared down at his feet. “Promise you won’t tell anyone.” He looked up at Luka with large eyes. Luka wasn’t sure what he was talking about, but of course he would keep his secret.
“You can tell me anything, Adrien.”
“The truth is… I play Fortnite.” Adrien clenched his body, waiting for the whiplash.
“Okay… what does that have to do with this?”
“Well, I was playing earlier and I found this ball, and before I knew it, the screen was opening up,” Adrien held his arm, “I tried to keep you safe, but I can see you came in anyways.” Luka let out a laugh through his nose.
“Of course I came after you, I wouldn’t leave you here.” Luka wiped away a tear forming on Adrien’s cheek. Once again, the two embraced.
“Thanks, Luka.” Adrien sniffled, rubbing the worry out of his eyes. “Okay, so I’m guessing that in order to escape, we just have to find that ball again. It’s just past the city.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
“Oh, and here,” Adrien handed Luka an Auto Shotgun and a handful of ammo, “you’ll need this.” Luka cracked an unsure smile. He was going to have to figure it out on the fly, because there were already people headed their way. “Let’s go!” Adrien ran into an alley, with Luka close behind. They hopped over a fence and slid down a hill, landing them at the shore of a lake.
“The ball is down there.” Adrien pointed to the center of the lake. Below the depths lay a glowing orb releasing waves of energy. The two found a boat close by, and started the engine. But just then, a team of people came rushing down the hill.
“Hurry!” Adrien screamed, preparing his gun. Luka slammed the gas pedal and the boat zoomed forward. The enemy team began firing at them. Adrien and Luka managed to evade the shots, but the boat was taking a critical amount of damage.
“I don’t think the boat’s going to make it,” Luka admitted, struggling to keep it afloat.
“We’re almost there, let’s swim for it.” Adrien grabbed his gear and dove in head first. “Grab my hand.” Luka got up from his seat, ready to plunge into the water, when an explosion went off by the shore. The two looked over and spotted a rocket arching over to them.
“Adrien!” Luka launched into the water and pushed his lover out of the way. Adrien couldn’t see anything, but he heard the rocket hit the water, creating a violent explosion.
Adrien swam up to the surface, and found Luka’s unconscious body floating. It was becoming hard to breathe. They had to get out of there. Now.
Adrien wrapped his arm around Luka’s limp body. Taking a deep breath, he dove down, furiously kicking his legs. He could hear shots entering the water, just barely missing him. He was so close, just out of reach of the ball, but Luka’s body was weighing him down. Adrien kicked harder, he had to make it, he had to save Luka. Adrien stretched his arm further, until his finger finally touched the glowing orb. All at once, the world filled with light.
Adrien shot up, suddenly remembering what had just happened. He turned to his right to see Luka, still unconscious.
“Oh please, please Luka.” Adrien held Luka’s head, hoping the touch would wake him up. That’s when he remembered— he frantically checked his pockets and, yes! He still had a chug splash on him. He quickly cracked it open and poured the blue liquid over Luka’s body.
The silence was deafening. But Luka then started to cough. Adrien wiped the tears from his eyes and pulled him into a hug. The two didn’t need to exchange a single word. They held each other tight, and never let go.