Once Again

Chapter Forty-Six - Moonland

Dedicated to RecoveredPotential for giving this a shot, even though you said you didn't know what Monstercat was. I hope you're enjoying it :)

Moonland

Echo scrambled out of the tent after Tristam, watching in fear and confusion as he ran away. The leader looked like someone was forcing him, like he wanted to run back, but he couldn't. Echo watched him burst out of the camp, and only a few minutes later, he heard a blood-curdling scream. Something was horribly wrong.

"What's going on?" he asked, pushing back into the tent.

"He's crazy," Alyssa muttered.

"Sol-lar," Braken said, coughing.

"He wants to kill us all," Puppet hissed.

"No," Braken insisted. "It's S-Solar. Solar t-takes over him a-and makes h-him do sca-ry things."

"You need your sleep, Braken. Be quiet," Echo said firmly.

"Ta-ake me to M-Moonland-d," the other boy wailed. "It h-hurts so bad-d ... I'm s-scared, Isaac. I'm scared ..."

Echo stayed silent as Braken began to cry again, each gasping, wheezing breath shaking his tiny body. The feelings of fear and guilt battled for attention, leaving him exhausted. He was terrified of what they'd find if they went to Moonland, but he hated sitting here and listening to his friend dying. He was being torn apart. He didn't know what to do.

"Pl-please, take me," Braken begged.

Finally, the guilt won over. "Okay, okay," he murmured. "I'll take you and Rogue. We'll be in and out, and you'll be okay, alright?"

"Okay," Braken breathed.

"But what if -" Alyssa started, grabbing Echo's elbow.

"We'll be okay," Echo assured her. "Stella's gone. There's nothing to worry about."

Fij immediately agreed when he proposed his plan, and as the healer let him in, Echo could see just how badly Rogue had been hurt. He was deathly pale, cold and clammy to the touch, and his breaths were shallow and uneven.

Echo helped Braken sit up, leaning all of his weight against him, and took the two Raiders' hands. "Here goes nothing," he muttered, and then the tent melted into darkness.

...

They were surrounded by nothing. Deep, dark, absolute nothing. The ground was solid beneath them, but that was it. There were no stars and no light.

"Wh-where are we?" Braken asked softly.

"This is it," Echo murmured. "Moonland."

"Where a-are the sta-ars? Isaac ... what-t if ..."

"They're here. I know it. We just ... have to find them."

Rogue suddenly screamed and bolted upright, scrambling to his feet. Where he'd been laying a moment before, a star shattered. "What's going on? Where am I?" He yelped in pain and tripped over them. "Echo, is that you?"

"Rogue? You're awake?" Echo said in disbelief. "Are you ..."

It sounded like Rogue hit himself and then yelped. "Well, I'm not bleeding. It's closed up ... I can't believe ... I'm dead, aren't I? And you ... Leo finally killed you, too."

"No, I'm alive."

"If we were d-dead, it wou-wouldn't hurt," Braken said, his voice strained.

"Then what ..." Rogue sounded panicked and confused. Echo wished he could see his face. "How ..."