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It was dark and cold, and if it wasn't for the lantern floating near them, Ace was sure they wouldn’t even be able to move from where they were. If it had been any other situation Ace would've found it nice. His feelings towards the night and stars being complicated, hadn't really helped all that much. The only reason he kept moving forward was because of the other boy next to him.
Not that either knew where they were or knew each other all that well.
“This place sucks.” Deivy complained.
Ace hummed in acknowledgement as they kept walking.
“We don't even know what we're looking for!” He continued.
The other was stomping compared to Ace's careful walking, twigs and leaves being crushed with every step. At least he didn't seem as sad as when they first met.
“Im sure there's something.” Ace tried to comfort him.
“It's probably going to be another stupid doppleganger..” the other boy muttered.
Ace wasn't sure what that meant, not really but he thinks he'd rather deal with whatever that was then…..
Yeah. Maybe just neither.
“Do you think we should stop somewhere?”
“How should I know? I wouldn't trust any of this anyways. Like a horror movie.” Deivy answered with a scoff.
It lulled into silence again, the only sound by the trees and wind around them. Ace wasn't sure if he should keep talking or not, but he also didn't like how quiet it was.
“So..” He started. “What's a doppleganger?”
Deivy's head turned to him, his odd eyes seemed to narrow at him for a moment.
“Exactly what it sounds like dude. I was dealing with a fake me! It was stupid! But there was also…” The angry rant started to trail off as Deivy seemed to get lost in thought.
“Also?”
“Nothing. None of your business.”
“Okay…” Ace replied.
The silence returned, a bit more suffocating than before.
“Do…Do you think we'll run into one?” Ace asked quietly.
Deivy didn't answer for a moment.
“I dunno. Maybe? I mean this isn't the same place where I was, probably not.”
“Are you sure?”
“Well no- but it doesn't look the same, and trust me id know, so..”
Ace tilted his head at the other. “Okay then.”
“What about you?” The other suddenly asked.
“Hm?”
“Should we be worried about some weird thing? What did you deal with?” Deivy continued.
Ace paused, thinking it over. He wasn't really sure he wanted to talk about that.
Not after what happened.
He wasn't even sure how he was here anyways.
“I-” The sentence got caught.
The other boy groaned, throwing his hands up a bit.
“Oh come on, i tell you but you wont tell me? That's so unfair!” He complained.
Ace tried to respond, because really he should in case it was here but the words just wouldn't come out. Deivy watched as he struggled to speak about it, every cut off sentence and stumbling.
“..Nevermind. It's fine or whatever.” Deivy eventually said.
“Sorry.” Ace spoke quietly.
The other didn’t respond and they both went back to being quiet. This time Ace didn't feel like trying to talk.
They had to have walked for a while now that he thought about it. Surely they would've run into something. But so far, there hasn't been a thing.
“I don't want to keep walking anymore,” The other said quietly.
Yeah, neither did Ace.
“We could sit down for a bit?”
Deivy hummed.
“I guess…”
The two walked over towards a bigger tree, sitting down at the base. Looking at the sky provided nothing, no moon to look upon and no stars to be seen. Though, Ace thinks he's fine with that.
“It feels depressing here.”
“Kinda.”
The lantern spun around the two resting boys, as they sat. Ace kept looking up, he wasn't sure why, when he felt a weight land on his arm. Turning his head, he saw Deivy out cold, leaned against his arm. Ace smiled a bit and tried not to move too much as he adjusted himself to lean against the tree more.
He'd let him rest for a little while. They probably both deserve it.
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It was brighter out when Ace’s eyes opened. He didn't remember falling asleep but nothing seemed to have happened. Deivy was still asleep, hands clutched around Ace’s arm.
He probably should wake him up, they had to keep moving after all.
He shook Deivy’s shoulder, the other grumbling as his sleep was disturbed. His eyes slowly opened with a yawn, head turning to the side towards Ace. He seemed to just stare for a moment, maybe fully waking up, before fully processing the fact he was leaning against him. Deivy shot up and away from Ace, embarrassment written on his face.
Ace wouldn't mention it.
“What time is it?” Deivy asked.
“Uhm…Morning probably? I don’t really have a clock or anything…”
Deivy let out a groan.
“Lets just keep going then. This sucks.”
Ace stood up and followed after Deivy. He wasn’t really sure they were going to find anything, but there wasn't much else to do.
“Whatd you do before this?” Deivy suddenly asked.
“Huh?”
“Like, what games did you play? People you hung out with?”
Ace lit up.
“Oh! Well I made some places on Roblox and I hung out with my friends. We made videos together, and Dragon was in charge of it!”
Ace’s grin faltered as he mentioned Dragon. He missed him a lot, just like he missed Sixty and Purple too. He hoped they were okay, not getting involved and having so much fun making videos and making stuff.
Knowing Dragon though…
Ace shook his head, looking back over at Deivy. He was giving him a confused look but dropped it as Ace looked at him.
“That's cool…I made videos too.” He eventually responded.
“Oh what kind?”
“Tutorials on World Tower Defense.”
Ace had no clue what that was, but he grinned at Deivy.
“Cool! What about your friends?”
“..What about them?”
“Tell me about one of them! I mentioned Dragon.”
“You didn't even really say anything about him?” Deivy responded.
“Oh- Well he's my best friend! We did all sorts of stuff together!” Ace replied happily.
Deivy didn't respond for a moment and Ace didn't make him.
“I have a friend named Geo. They made videos with me.” He eventually said.
“That's fun!”
Deivy only shrugged, not saying anything else. The two kept walking quietly. With the conversation over, they hoped they'd finally be somewhere, but everything looked the same no matter what.
“I-”
“SHH-”
A hand landed over Ace’s mouth as Deivy stopped walking. Ace’s eyes darted around while Deivy seemed to tense up. He didn’t get what was wrong, there hadn't been anything-
-SNAP-
Both turned towards the noise before meeting each other's eyes nervously. The noise of snapping twigs seemed to get closer with every second, the steps seeming unhuman and unstable.
“What are we going to do?” Ace whispered.
“How would I know!?” Deivy whispered in return. He continued, “The lantern will probably take care of it, if it's a doppleganger.”
“And if it's not..?”
“Uhm-”
As Deivy went to respond, he was cut off by a figure stumbling choppily into view. It looked like a statue if you were to ask Ace, completely gray and stone like. It was missing a head and held an axe in one hand that really made him worry.
“Is that a doppleganger?”
“No..”
“I hope the lantern works?”
Deivy didn't answer back, moving a bit in front of Ace as the lantern moved in front of them. The thing across from them didn't seem to move and Ace wondered if they could just sneak past. That maybe it couldn't see, until it started moving straight for them. The two tensed up unsure whether the lantern would work or not.
As it nearly reached them, the lantern’s light zapped out and hit it. It made it pause for a moment, chipping a small piece off it, but other than that it didn't seem to have done much.
“Run?”
“Run.”
The two dashed past the still unmoving creature, holding onto each other. After a moment the stumbling steps seemed to follow after them.
“What are we going to do!?”
“Again, how would I know!? The lantern can only do so much apparently!” Deivy yelled back.
Ace turned his head to look behind them, the creature getting closer. His eyes widened in shock and he closed them for a moment.
“Aughh I don't want to die again!”
“You don't want to WHAT!?” Deivy looked back at him in alarm, nearly tripping over a branch.
Ace smiled at him nervously.
They kept running, the thing behind them showing no sign of slowing down or stopping. Ace was sure they wouldn't be getting out of this at this rate. He wished he could do more, have something like Deivy’s lantern, but he had nothing.
“This really sucks.” Deivy muttered.
Ace had to agree.
With both being convinced this was going to go horribly south, they hadn't expected to hear a sudden gun shot behind them, causing Ace to jump. They both risked a glance behind them, slowing down.
Behind them, the creature stood still, a gunshot through its arm. Another rang out, and its leg was the next to break, causing it to tilt to the side. Ace and Deivy looked at each other as they backed away. A gun was definitely way worse than whatever the statue creature was. They can't really outrun that if it turns its sights onto them instead of the statue.
As another rang out, they spotted a figure. It was a young boy, probably around their age, with a shotgun in hand. Bandages were wrapped around one side of his face and he was dressed in a lot of purples and blues.
With the final shot, the boy lowered the gun and moved closer. He stared it down, a glare on his face that turned to a grimace as he kicked the side of it. As he looked up, he seemed to notice the two, turning sheepish.
“Uhm..Hello…”
“Uh Hi” Ace replied.
“How the fuck do you have a gun?” Deivy asked.
The other didn't seem to expect that question and blinked.
“It’s..mine?”
The other turned back to the statue.
“Sorry you had to deal with that.” He spoke.
“You know what it is?” Ace moved forward, tilting his head.
“Uhm, yea. It's a Stone Men. They're kinda annoying.”
‘How’d you even know it was here?”
The other boy’s head turned to Deivy. “I hadn't at first, but I heard running and the branches breaking and investigated.”
“Isnt that stupid?”
“Maybe, but there hasn't been anything like this so far, or at least that's what Sean has said.”
Neither knew who Sean was but this boy seemed to trust his word on things.
“So we were unlucky?” Ace tried to joke, but neither really laughed and Deivy only crossed his arms.
The other boy didn't say anything and just shrugged.
It was awkward for a moment.
“Soo…Do you stay around here then?” Deivy eventually asked.
The other nodded, pointing behind him.
“Yea we stay at a house. It's uhm..Nice.” The boy replied. He seemed to think for a moment. “Im Jacob by the way..”
“Oh I'm Ace!”
‘Deivy..”
The two followed after Jacob as he led the way, small conversations between the three. Ace liked it, it reminded him of his friends before…
Yeah it was just nice that's all.
They eventually came to a treeline, a house with its lights on sat just a bit further. Jacob seemed to pause though.
“Is something wrong?” Ace asked in concern.
Jacob looked at him before looking at the ground. “Not really. It's just- Well…”
The front door of the house slammed open and a man stormed out, spooking the three.
“What were you thinking!? Just when I thought I hadn't gotten to Brandon about not running off without telling me, you do it?” The man scolded.
“I hadnt meant to..”
The man sighed, dragging a hand down his face. He looked tired in Ace’s opinion. As he moved his hand, he noticed the two behind Jacob.
“Who is this?”
Jacob glanced behind him. “Ace and Deivy. Uhm Sean-”
“There's two more!?” The man, Sean according to what Jacob just said, threw his hands up. “I asked for one thing. One!”
“Sean-”
“But no of course not, it has to send more here. Wherever here is!”
Jacob sighed before trying again. “Sean-” Sean seemed to finally notice, pausing. “There was something out there.”
“What do you mean?” Sean tensed up.
“There was a Stone Men. I uhm, dealt with it but i don't know if there is more or…” he trailed off.
Whatever he was going to say was lost as Jacob didn't continue. Sean didn't say anything for a moment.
“I'll check around later, let's just get you all inside.”
As Sean finished speaking, another young boy ran out of the house.
“Mister Sean, there's more rooms!” the young boy stopped next to Sean, bouncing on his feet.
Sean ruffled his hair. “Thanks kiddo.” He looked towards the other two. “We’ll get introductions done and over with when we get inside.”
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Jacob was still holding his gun as Sean and Brandon were getting Deivy and Ace comfortable in the living room. He was still stuck at the front door, staring down at it.
It helped someone, multiple even, so why did he feel so awful when he held it. When he used it. He just wanted to break it, drop it on the floor and forget it existed, but he already knew it wouldn't work. He had broken it when he first got here and saw it, and yet it was perfectly fine the next day and he never wanted to leave it where Brandon could see it or even mess with it. Not that he thought he would.
He heard footsteps approaching him and he looked up, Ace stood next to him, looking at him with concern.
“Are you okay?”
Jacob didn't really know what to say to the question, so he didn't answer that.
“Shouldnt you be in the living room?”
“Was I supposed to stay there?”
Jacob shrugged. “I guess not, but Sean will wonder where you are when he gets back.”
“Well we can go together!” Ace smiled.
Jacob stared at the other. Ace seemed to falter as Jacob didn't respond.
“Alright.”
Ace grin returned as he moved to hold his arm and bring him over towards the living room. It was lively, as Brandon and Sean returned and Deivy asked question after question. Jacob got comfortable on the couch watching, a small smile appearing on his face.
He could worry about the gun another day.