A Mind of Two || A HfjONE AU {WIP Cover!}

Chapter 5 - Back Around the Bend

I was back in The Void.

I was alone.

I couldn't see anything.

I couldn't hear anything.

I felt like nothing.

I was beginning to panic.

Why are we back here? I thought to myself. Why do I feel... nothing?

In the distance, I heard the sound of falling chains — just like the first time.

I felt the presence of something — or, more likely, someone — behind me. I turned back to see if anything was there.

Liam was behind me. "Hello again... Bryce."

"Liam—?!" I sputtered, mostly out of shock, but also great relief. Liam was still here.

He smiled half-heartedly, with Shadow appearing close behind him. Its bright white eyes seemed to pierce right through my soul.

"Please, don't be afraid," Liam said, sensing my fear. "I won't hurt you." His shadow was just... standing there. Watching. Waiting.

"Liam, did you write this note?" I asked this with caution, not knowing what his dark counterpart would do. I showed him the blue sticky note.

I saw Liam glance behind himself quickly. "...Yes, I did."

Shadow was watching the two of us, not moving at all. Liam was looking at us, trying to gauge our thoughts. I got the feeling that he was trying to be as transparent as possible, his expression seeming genuine, unlike Shadow's.

"Really, it was the both of us," Shadow finally said. "I wanted to bring you here for a second time."

"That... is correct." Liam turned around, staring into his doppelganger's white eyes. "Shadow, I have something I'd like to ask Bryce. Please leave."

Surprisingly, Shadow bowed its head and walked off into the distance, fading away into nothingness.

Liam turned back to face me. "You found my notes, didn't you?"

I nodded. "Yeah, it was a team effort really — y'know, Texty and Airy helped too." I still don't know where they went, I added to myself.

"After Shadow sent us back to Airy's Universe, Texty found a string of numbers in their computer's files," I explained. "I'm guessing that was you?"

"Yep, carry on."

"We decided to go to The Waiting Room again to try out the code. When we got there, a bunch of whispers started to overlap each other and stuff, and then Texty found Stone's frequency.

"We went there — to Stone's Universe — and that's when we found the sticky note."

Liam smiled. "Those whispers were me."

I smiled back, then continued. "After that, we finally entered in the numbers to get back here, and... well, you know the rest."

"Very well explained, Bryce," Liam said, impressed by the amount of details I remembered.

After a moment of silence, he spoke up again. "So... what do we do now?" Liam's expression is more... sadder than usual. I wondered if he was thinking about his freedom — something that he didn't have anymore.

"I'm... not sure, really," I admitted.

"I thought so..." Liam sighed with a look of hopelessness.

The air suddenly becomes colder.