Dawned

Chapter 12

Duncan held onto Xavier. He didn't want to leave his friend again, like he did with Mary and the spiders. He had created a shield around them, right before they collided with the ground. When the dust settled, he looked at Xavier. He had his fall broken by Duncan, which kinda hurt. He wasn't responding. "Xavier!" Said Duncan. He checked his friend's pulse. Thank god, he's still alive. He wasn't sure what to do. He had fallen into the Great City. They needed to find someplace safe.

Duncan lifted up his unconscious friend, and dragged him to a nearby building. They settled down, and he realized too late the darkness in the corners of the room. They couldn't leave now, but they didn't need to. The darkness couldn't get them if they weren't alone. Duncan laid down, and tried to fall asleep. He looked over at Xavier, and the sight of a familiar face helped him fall into a dream.

***

Xavier woke up. He was in an apartment building. He saw Duncan sleeping near him. He got up and tried to look around, but when he did a darkness began to enclose him. He quickly walked back to Duncan, and the darkness dissipated. He woke up his friend and asked what was happening. Duncan explained the fall, and said they couldn't leave until sunrise. He then laughed. "This is kinda like when we were in the Spiders Quarry." He fell back asleep. Xavier was half awake, so the sun seemed to rise much quicker than usual. He woke up Duncan, and they left the building.

They began walking towards Cheshire City, but they had to climb up to find it, since neither of them knew their way around. They reached the void, and hopped onto the cart. When they got to the other side, Tasha, Joseph, and Basil were waiting for them. They were glad the others were ok. They began walking to the school, and explained what happened with the train. When Joseph fell off, he died, and woke up in the Great City. Tasha woke up in Cheshire City, where she told Basil what had happened. Vin his somewhere in the train, and had managed to avoid the monsters.
The group became silent for a minute, not knowing what to say.

"Well, what do we need to get out of here now?" Asked Tasha. "Well, we have Brax, but we need to figure out how to use him to help us." Brax was still in the mirror, and not happy about what was happening. "We also need to find a way to create a tear. Me or my wasp, Xavier or Chill could work, but our best bet is my wasp since all the other options could be, you know... dangerous."
"What exactly happened with your wasp?" Asked Basil. "I don't know. But it definitely was not normal." Said Joseph. "We could ask Varnic." Said Tasha. "I really don't want to have to go to the wasp nest again." Said Duncan. Xavier agreed. "Well, you two can stay here, and me Basil and Joseph can go back there. You know how much Sarah likes when I visit her."

Their group of three went to the Great City to catch the train, and Duncan and Xavier went to the school in Cheshire City. They went to their classes like normal, and Xavier learned stuff like how lots of people here was abilities, like superpowers. He assumed that most of his friends had them. Class ended, and as Xavier walked out, he saw a poster:

"PRE-NEW DUSK DAY DANCE.
Date: Dicember 25,  5:00 P.M. - 10:00 P.M.
Will be held at the school gym."

He went to the spot where he met Joseph, which seemed to be their friends meeting spot, as Duncan was there too. He asked what todays date was. "Dicember 25, why?" Xavier's body shook with anxiety. This was his chance. "I was just wondering. Did you mean December though?" He sighed; he had backed out. "I meant Dicember; the years are twice as long here, and Dicember is the 24th month of the year." Duncan smiled as him. "There's a school dance today, would you like to go to it?"

~~~

"Sure, sounds like fun!" Replied Duncan. He had been to a different school dance, and it was pretty fun. Xavier seemed worried about something. "Are you good?" asked Duncan. "Yeah, I'm fine," responded Xavier. He didn't seem fine. Then, something shot down the hall in front of them, then stopped at the end. They looked over to see Verity holding the collar of a student. "How many times," she said, "do I have to tell you? No speeding in the school! Do that in the courtyard! Not everyone can defend themselves you know!" She dragged the student by the ear, presumably to the principals office.

"There goes Rodney again." Said Duncan. "He's part of the air class, and Verity always has to chase him down when he flys down the hall like that. Speaking of the courtyard that Verity mentioned, you want to go eat lunch there? It's got great light" Xavier nodded, and followed him there. Duncan wanted his friend to feel less stressed. He concluded that it must have been about what Joseph told him.

They got there, and the was the sun shining onto the grass. But there was no sun closely outside the void, so it was a bit odd that it was there. "So, how is there sun in some parts of this dimension, but not others?" Asked Xavier. "Well, it's something about how each part of the Dawned Zone is its own little world, with its own little sun." Said Duncan
"You seem to know a lot about this dimension."
"Yeah I guess so. It's probably because I've been in this school all the time. Before I helped you get your wasp, I had never actually been outside the void pocket." They sat in silence for a moment while Xavier ate his lunch. He still looked sad. Duncan didn't know how else to cheer him up, so he used his last resort.

He leaned over and hugged him, and he didn't notice that Xavier's cheeks turned red. After a few moments, he felt Xavier hug back. He let go, and saw Xavier smiling. He had succeeded in cheering him up. Xavier got up. "I'm gonna go to my next class. I'll see you at the dance!" He said as he walked back into the school. Duncan finished his food, and noticed that Xavier had left his tray. He picked it up, and brought them both back to the cafeteria. He was exited to go to the dance. It would fun; even more so since nothing really ever happened here.