That “night” I slept as soon as my head hit the bedroll. It was the quickest I'd fallen unconscious since the whole event of the Gates and Dungeons appearing, unless blacking out counted. My slumber was sound and solid.

I dreamt of nothing, and as the bleariness of waking beckoned me slowly from restful darkness, I came to notice a warmth perfectly curled behind me, further stretching over my waist and grasped in my own hold; a blanketing that was as comforting as it was foreign. Only as my mind caught up to the soft exhales tickling against my ear did I dimly come to realise what these things indicated.

Wren had set up her bedroll deeper down the labyrinth entrance hall; she had explained she liked the way the sunlight danced in the shimmer of the crystals, almost like a nightlight. Which meant there could only be one person here laying with me, since Gigi, Jye, and Tam should've been on their watch shift.

Wakefulness didn't so much as shake me as lightning bolted thought into reaction, accompanied with a flush of embarrassment. I rolled out of Axel's embrace, cheeks stinging.

Heart hammering in my chest, I cast a careful glance around to see if anyone had witnessed what had taken place. Jye and Gigi seemed to be chatting amicably whilst Tam was leant up against one of the maze walls, arms crossed and eyes locked on the one entry.

Thank God for small mercies. Tam, with all her little asides, would never let us live it down, and Jye would definitely react, though I had no idea how they really felt. They appeared to hate Axel but were also attracted to him. Then again, they'd shown similar interest in Tam. Maybe the giant was just an absolute horndog that was attracted to anyone pretty. I didn't know whether to consider it an insult that they'd never displayed an inkling of desire towards me. Maybe they just suspected and respected my identity? Still…

The heat that had been trapped between us was dissipating in the flurry of panic that beset me, my heartbeat now slowing.

Sitting ramrod straight, at least an arm's length away from Axel, I turned to check if he was awake and aware of what comfort the both of us had sought in our sleep. But no. He was still under. I spared a moment then, to scrutinise whether or not he was faking it. I hadn't seen, or bothered to look at, the blond's sleeping face for quite a long time. Though he did appear properly asleep.

I didn’t often see him while his defences were down like this.

There was looseness around his closed eyes, a slight flutter in his thick lashes as he dreamt, and the tension held in his jaw was gone. Whatever torment took over him sometimes was nowhere to be seen. He looked younger, more innocent, when asleep. It made me miss the Axel I'd known when we were children. I'd loved that kid. How he'd become the man sleeping there still baffled me to this day.

Though with the addition of the weirdness about him, it was easier to see where that child had gone, hidden away under traits that he'd grown into or adopted. Underneath all that posturing, my best friend was still there. Was still there in the moments between others. It was nice getting that back. I don’t think I ever realised how much I’d missed it.

Before, he'd said I never hated him.

He was right

I could never hate him.

“Take a picture, it'll last longer, babes,” came Tam’s voice, her frame casting a shadow over me as she approached from the wall.

Embarrassed but not knowing why, I said, “Keep your voice down.”

The brunette lifted the chunky necklace from her chest to check the watch I'd given her.

“Well, y'all ain't due for your wake up call for another hour or so.” She gave me an appraising look. “But based on your expression, you’re not gonna grab any more Z's.”

I had to admit I didn’t feel tired. My sleep had been restful. In spite of my sleeping arrangements.

She continued, “You caught me headed to do a quick perimeter check.” Her arms crossed in front of her chest. “That wasn’t so much as a invite, but I'm sure you'll take it that way “

“Yeah, I’ll come.”

Tam’s eyes rolled and I stood to follow her.

Using [Channel], I activated [Focus] once we got further away from Gigi so that our abilities wouldn't overlap ranges. Who knew what would happen when there were two people attracting ranged attacks. Would the projectiles be torn between the two and end up taking collateral somewhere in between? I didn’t want to find out the hard way. I waved briefly to Jye and Gigi to acknowledge them, and the two of them nodded back before they started talking again. Considering how bizarre Gigi was, what could they even be discussing?

Tam gave me a sidelong look from under her lashes, the judgement in them making their brown hard and steely. “You're a strange piece.”

“What?”

She raised an eyebrow.

“Even between the ginger Neanderthal and the toy size tank and your broken beau and the child prodigy and me. Out of the whole bunch of us, you're the weirdest of the lot.”

There she went again, with the stupid idea that Axel and or I liked one another. It was something she seemed to truly believe. I guess she could join the small group of friends and family members who thought the same thing. That included my parents who still thought the two of us would end up together as they'd been planning since Axel had come out and I'd never really not not come out. I'd just let them think whatever they wanted. I usually did.

I said, “That kind of sounds like an insult.”

“It sure as hell ain't a compliment.”

“I’d argue I'm the most normal out of all of you.”

“Yeah, most would think. But that's what proves you’re a bonafide freak, sugar. You’ve gotta be a whole nother level of messed up to be… well, the way you are.”

I frowned.

“That’s a little presumptuous.”

“No presuming about it. I nearly killed you, sweetheart. And you're walking instep with me like we've been friends for years. You trust me for some forsaken reason. It’s like your guard is never up.”

I considered her words. “I trust the collar.”

“And what about Gigi? Xe’s got no such leash on.”

She had a point, but I wasn’t sure what she was trying to say.

“Xe’s nice.”

Tam swung her full face my way, incredulousness rife in her tone. “‘Xe’s nice’? That's really your given reasoning? So, you're saying if I had just nicely asked for some food, you would've up and given me some?”

I nodded pertly. “Yes.”

“Christ, you really are nothing but sunshine and daisies, aren’t you?”

I stopped mid-stride, eyes wide. Is that really what she thought about me? That I was some hippie living in lalaland? Her mischaracterization churned inside me. She knew nothing about me.

The brunette had continued walking ahead, not caring that she was leaving me behind.

“The world can be shit, Tam. I know that. I’m going out on a limb every time I do something here. From trusting you to, hell, even taking this next step.” I started forward again. “But you know what? It’s better than everything I’ve done for the past two decades. Since my sister died. Since she was killed. You want to know what happened after that?”

Tam turned back to look at me. Was that pity in her eyes? Impossible.

“Nothing, Tam. I couldn’t fucking tell you anything important that happened since then. I was a shell of a human. Nothing really mattered. I can count on a single hand the amount of people who made it through whatever excuse of a person I was to make a real connection with me. And that’s not living. It wasn’t living.”

Putting everything into words like this was relieving. Being able to say it out loud. It was true. The day that my sister had been abducted and cruelly and senselessly murdered, I’d shut down. Mrs. Brown had said it was a trauma response. But to me, it was something that just happened. I stopped trying to form connections with others. It wasn’t that I suspected them. It was that I was simply incapable of opening up and trusting. Up until the Gates, I’d never given it a second thought.

This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it

I said, “Not taking the chance to trust others means you’re not alive.”

The woman’s top lip curled up in distaste.

“Please. That sob story just proves my point. I’m struggling to get a peep of what the others see in you. A sad backstory is a dime in a dozen, sugarpot. We’ve all got one. It’s cliche. As a matter of fact, if my wife were here, she’d–” Tam bit off the rest of her words, eyes widening.

I missed a step.

“Your wife?”

Her sharp brows furrowed, expression flat. “Put that tidbit out of your head.”

I immediately glanced down at her left hand, seeking the metal that proved her words, but found the piece of jewellery missing. However, her ring finger still had the telltale paling of a band between tanner skin.

That one slip up had given me a glimpse into Tam’s character. I understood the woman walking beside me in a way I hadn’t before. She hadn't been fighting for her life when she'd attacked me. She hadn't been keeping secrets for her own gain. There was a woman somewhere she loved who she was trying to get back to, and everything she did was to ensure she'd find her again. And everything I did was a risk to their reunion.

I couldn’t help but think if this were a story, she would’ve been the protagonist. Actually, if I considered it, everyone else in the party had equal right to be main character: Axel with his overpowered stats and secret torment. Jye with their glitch and complex personal background. Wren with her two-class system and strangely savant wisdom. Even Gigi and xir foreknowledge and levels.

All of them but me. I wasn’t anything special, not really. You’re not meant to think that about yourself, but in this case, it really was true. But that just meant it was more crucial for me to try and help them. My party members were all weird as fuck, as Tam had pointed out. And somehow I’d managed to finagle myself into the fray with them all. So, maybe the way I protected them was protecting them from themselves. I was already performing that role for Axel.

Perhaps that was my part in this whole thing, to see them through this.

Softly, I inquired, “Where is she? Your wife.”

Tam shook her head. “I don't know what you're on about.” Then she lengthened her stride and out stepped me so that I was walking behind her in moments.

I repressed a sigh as I pinched at the bridge of my nose. Too much too soon.

“Hey, don’t get too out of range. [Focus] only extends so far,” I said to the braids on the back of her head.

Her pace slowed almost imperceptibly.

Well. Gotta celebrate the small victories. Prior to our conversation, she probably would’ve spat at my feet and deliberately walked further away.

We’d reached the back of the shrine, following along the walls. On all three sides, the enclosure around the shrine was closed off. The only entrance was the one that led to the shrine’s entrance. I didn’t really understand the purpose of a perimeter check. But it had been nice to get up and stretch my legs. It actually wouldn’t be a bad idea to extend that to the rest of my body.

Letting out a yawn, the vestiges of sleep still clinging to me, I rolled my shoulders as we began wrapping around the left wall to finish the full lap. Then, thinking back to the karate lessons I’d taken for a single month since I’d received a voucher from a friend, I began to repeat the warm-ups I’d learned; tucking an arm into the bend of the other and pulling it to my chest, folding a knee forward with a slightly widened stance and lunging slowly, rotating at my waist with my arms lifted. Then to finish it up, I turned my head from side to side. Lastly, I tilted it down and up.

Down and–

A movement from above caught my eye.

The arrow was a silent blur through the air. I didn’t think. I threw myself to the floor closer to the direction of the party. Its sharp jagged point plunged into the dirt, scattering debris from its impact. At the angle it had been travelling, it passed directly through where I’d just been standing. Of course, [Focus] was redirecting ranged assaults to me.

“Attack!” I yelled, heart in my throat. “We’re under attack!”

Like my words had been the signal our ambushers had been waiting for, the snap of a dozen bow strings echoed from behind the wall. Keeping in mind the mana cap of [Focus], and praying that Gigi was still outside of that ability’s range, I borrowed xir [Shield Wall].

Activating it was a very different matter than all other abilities I’d used so far, but I didn’t have the privilege of thinking about it. The shield, glowing the same blue as our menus, summoned above my head in a sparkle of light. Just in time to cover me from the volley of arrows that came raining down.

I heard something still thunk to my feet, but it had landed with less force. Looked like just the broken head of an arrow? I glanced back up through the partially transparent shield and watched, gut clenched, as it and the ground around me became buried in fletches, soon resembling the back of an echidna.

The shower of arrows trickled to a stop.

Were they setting up for another shot? How many people were there? That attack had come over like a cloud of projectiles. Was it an ability? I’d heard the bows, but the usual static hiss of a skill being activated hadn’t sounded. Nor for that matter had I heard it when I’d summoned the shield. What was happening?

“You good, Lee?” came Axel’s voice.

I cast a glance around to see that the rest of the party was peeking out from beside the shrine as a precaution. That must've meant Gigi had turned xir [Focus] off on the group’s approach. Thank God.

“Yeah. I’m doing fucking spectacular.”

If the volley was an ability, maybe there was only one attacker. If it was one person but they came from the trio we’d seen, then where were the other…

“Keep an eye on your backs!”

I heard the sickening clang of metal against metal as Axel’s blade met another’s just out of my sight, a few expletives slipping from his lips. The attacker quickstepped back and a fireball from elsewhere descended. Axel used his [Swift Footed] trait to dodge it. The flame seared into the floor, leaving a black scorch mark.

Fuck, they’d snuck up on us by using the arrows as a distraction. And had me pinned down.

Still, if there were only three of them, we could do this.

Suddenly, the familiar hiss of abilities activating sounded in my head. I don’t know why they’d stopped. It was possible that meant it was unreliable. I’d never followed up on asking the others if they heard the same thing. I had simply assumed they had. Shit. Maybe all along it’d been a glitch like Jye’s entire system. It wasn’t beyond imagining. But who was activating what now?

I didn’t have to wait long for an answer, as I heard the chorus of bow strings once again.

“Incoming!”

The shield above my head looked half cooked. I didn’t know if it could withstand another battering. But burning anymore stamina on one seemed like a waste right now, even though the bar was slowly regenerating. The shrine’s roof wouldn't provide any cover even if I managed to sprint the hundred metres or so to it; its overhanging eaves barely extended a hand's width. I also had to keep some stamina in reserve, just in case I needed to borrow another skill.

What to do.

If I didn't keep [Focus] up, the arrows would be directed at the party who were dealing with the other attackers. If Gigi activated xir [Focus] while mine was still active, who knows what could happen. We’d have to test it once we made it out of here, but it wasn’t a risk I could take, not right now. Shit, shit, shit. I wanted to help everyone… but we all had our roles. Gigi had more health. Xe was meant to tank.

If xe took the brunt of this, it would give me more time to think.

“Gigi, sub in for me.”

“Can do!” shouted Gigi.

Three [Shield Wall]s formed horizontally in the air, creating a stepping stone of cover between me and Gigi, as the next volley began to fall. The first few arrows bit into my shield, cracks forming where the tips had sunk through the translucent blue material. The shield creaked, groaning against the onslaught. It would not hold much longer. Once it shattered, I could probably take one, maybe two, direct arrows to my body, so long as they didn't hit anything arterial.

More arrows began their descent, arching high in the sky, all tips pointed toward me.

I took a deep breath, thought about praying but didn’t, and ran for Gigi’s [Shield Wall] coverage, pumping my legs under me as fast as they’d let me go. Momentarily after I left its cover, my old shield exploded in a cascade of light. I would’ve been roast spitted had I remained there, for sure.

While running, one bastardly arrow glanced against my calf, nicking my skin as it planted itself into the ground. I barely felt the sting of 1 HP loss, attention stolen by the shadow of the main arrow wave closing in.

Springing off the balls of my feet, I dove beneath the closest [Shield Wall] I’d been heading toward. I ate shit, colliding with the dirt floor at full momentum, and all my breath flattened out of my lungs as I skidded to a stop, gasping, just skirting under the safety of the glowing blue shield. Gigi looked to have made xir first one too; a solemn concentration on xir face. Given the wide area of effect, it was a good idea for xem to remain under cover too.

The final arrows plunked against the shield above me. I took a moment to gain my breath and then scrambled up. As I did, the eerie resounding thwack of the bow strings sounded. Fuck, the next wave already?

I couldn't even think about whatever Axel was doing and how his battle was going. I had no idea what any of the others were doing either, but abilities were activating pretty much constantly, a burr of hissing in the back of my mind.

“Let me know when you can activate [Focus].”

I wasn't sure about the cooldown since that information wasn’t supplied when I used [Channel]. I hoped it was short. I should've fucking checked with Gigi.

“I'm ready now!”

Despite having taken one volley, Gigi's shields were holding stronger than mine. That’d figure. As the next storm of arrows thumped down, no cracks formed in the one guarding me. They were still taking damage, though. It wouldn't make sense to stay here, even with their higher hit points. I just didn’t have enough health to tempt fate like that. And neither Gigi nor I had enough stamina to keep summoning [Shield Wall]s to protect us infinitely.

But at the very least, they would last a while as Gigi took on the archer’s focus. Oh. I guess that's where the name came from. And if xe ended up having no shields left, with xir 100 HP, Gigi was sure to last longer than me against the hail of arrows. Speaking of, the last few of the current round smacked into the shield above me, followed by silence. No more bow strings releasing.

The attacker must’ve been reloading/regening/on cooldown. It was safer to run now than when the arrows were dropping.

“Go, go, go!” I screamed.

Gigi sprinted forward, and we passed each other, shoulders brushing. Taking that as my cue, I swapped [Focus] for [Thick Hide], trying to take into consideration that I’d be getting closer to a melee battle. I heard a tss and hoped Gigi was activating xir [Focus]. Well, the next volley would let me know.

It’d either target Gigi, or we’d all be fucked.