As we try to navigate our way towards the shack, the masked girl's voice suddenly rings through my head. I look up in realization, as I was watching my feet the whole time we walked, and I quickly turn to Steve in excitement.

"Steve! I- My name!"

I say loudly and he slaps his hand over my mouth. I glare at him, the profanities I tried to direct towards him all muffled by his hand. He glares back and shushes me, slowly moving his hand.

"Yeah. Sunshine. Look, I know you don't like being called that, but deal with it."

He spoke in a hushed tone, rolling his eyes and I suppress an annoyed groan. Instead, I let out a quiet huff, clenching my fist.

"Not my nickname, dumbass, my actual name! It's {Y/N}!"

I whispered loudly, and he hums after a few moments of silence. My excitement slowly seeps out of me and I sigh, kicking some snow.

"That's cool and all, but what's cooler is the fact that I'm still gonna call you Sunshine."

He states, smirking. I roll my eyes at him, and mutter.

"Dumbass."

He clicks his tongue.

"That's me, Sunshine."

I fume silently, not saying anything else to him.

"What a frustrating guy. I thought remembering who you were was some important event!"

I thought bitterly, but I couldn't stay mad at him.

It's Steve for fuck's sake, and who could stay mad at him?

After what felt like hours of careful walking and crouching around, the shack could be seen through the fog. In reality, it probably only took about twenty minutes, but time felt as if passed so slowly.

"Looks like we're here."

He mumbled, looking over his shoulder at me.

"Let's see if he's still... well... alive."

For some reason, we enter through the window, rather than either of the two doorways.

"What is it with these people and not walking through doors?"

I haul myself through the window, struggling to pull myself over. Steve turns and looks at me with a raised brow.

"Really?"

"Shut up."

I pant as I finally make it through, nearly slamming my face against the old wooden floor as I fall inside. This one for some reason felt taller than the one at the other building.

Either that or I was just exhausted.

Or maybe just not athletic at all.

"There were two fucking doors Steve."

He stares at me.

"Two. Fucking. Doors."

I repeat, growling through clenched teeth, and staring daggers into him.

He just gives me an "oh well" sort of look and shrugs, turning around and going down the stairs, crouched down slightly to move quieter.

I follow after him, mimicking his stance the best I could. Everything began to get much darker the further we descended, soft unintelligible whispers echoing all around me as we turned the corner.

We descend the last few steps and through the dim, crimson light, there he was.

Rapid, shallow breaths could be heard from him as he hung limply on the back hook, menacing black claws with glowing orange spines slowly beginning to creep out from the ceiling. Steadily growing, and stalking towards him with evil intent— they were poised to strike when the time was right.

And that could be soon.

It looked like it was gonna be soon.

"Ace!"

I gasp loudly and stumble as I ran towards him. I look back at Steve, who was staring up the staircase.

"Steve! A little help?"

He jumps and hurried over, standing at his other side. We put our hands under his arms and hoist him off the hook, struggling under the older man's weight.

He cries out in pain as we pull him off, and I feel bad, but there was probably nothing we could've done to make it less painful for him. Gently, we lay him down on the bloodstained stone floor.

"Medkit!"

He gasped out, looking towards one of the walls. Turning my head to see what he's looking at I see a small medkit, and pick it up, my hands shaking as I fumble to open it.

I unzip it and see small bottle filled with deep violet liquid is the only thing it contained, I take it out, and go back to Ace.

He looks at me and then the bottle in my hands, nodding his head. With a bit of the struggle, I get the cork out and then hold it to his lips.

Hesitantly, he drinks it, holding back a cough. His face scrunches up in disgust, but he finishes it regardless.

"Tastes like shit."

He mutters and closes his eyes for a bit.

I look at Steve, concerned.

"Give it a few minutes, this one works slower."

He murmured, giving me a small awkward smile.

"You're a real good luck charm, huh? Some of these things are hard to come by in trials."

Ace stills for a bit, which makes me feel worried, but Steve seemed completely unbothered by it so I tried to force myself to relax as well.

After about five minutes, he moves a bit, grunting as he sits up straight.

"All better?"

Steve stands up, so I take the cue to stand as well. We look down at Ace as he stretches his arm, his joints letting out small popping noises.

"Kinda stiff but I'm fine."

We help him stand up and get out of the basement. I can't help but shudder as we reach the top of the stairs, not bothering to look back over my shoulder.

I don't think I'd go back down there.

Not if I could help it, at least.

The unease I felt from being down there slowly faded away as the three of us piled onto a generator, the last one.

I felt my heart begin to beat faster, feeling excited. But when I heard Steve let out an ear splitting scream and the sound of a struggle, I almost stopped working on it, my body completely tense as I was terrified, but Ace growls through clenched teeth.

"Finish the damn gen."

I nod, trembling, not looking up towards where Steve was even though the curiosity was stabbing at me. I try to tune out the next scream I hear from him, and shut my eyes for a moment, taking in a shaky breath. Within a few more seconds, they gen lights up, letting out its loud chime.

Ace looks at me, then points past me.

"Keep doing that way and you should eventually see a gate. Open it."

He orders, and began to walk away. I almost follow, not wanting to be alone.

"Wait—! What about you?"

I asked, and he stopped walking.

"I'm gonna try and find Steve."

He began walking again, and I watched him go until the fog swallowed him up completely.

Facing the direction I was suppose to go, I began to jog, hoping my shaking legs wouldn't give out from under me and cause me to trip.

"Please be safe."