Lily was in darkness, no dreaming. It was comfortable to not think, to push all the events that had happened furthest from her mind. She simply floated in mindlessness. She began to wonder if this darkness meant she had escaped Moon and was in between sleep and waking. Lily thought of her mom and dad, doing their morning routines like usual. That was the morning she wanted to wake up to. In the darkness, Lily started to hear muffled voices. Her heart quickened, eager to wake up. I have to wake up, she thought frantically. With every ounce of her being she wished to be awake and slowly she dragged herself out of the thick darkness...

~

Lily’s body felt heavy and ached. Her dazed eyes found themselves staring at the ground passing by. Even though her limbs struggled to move she was moving. Blinking the sleep from her eyes she realized her head rested on something hard. She let out a weak groan and turned her head. Chrys’ face was in full view, pouring sweat and scowling hard.

“Chrys...?” Lily croaked.

“Jesus!” he shouted, and suddenly Lily was jolted, her body dropping to the floor like a ragdoll. Her arms and legs were pins and needles and her face pressed against the mud. She gave another groan but couldn’t move. “Fuck, sorry, you just scared the shit out of me.”

Much to her displeasure, Chrys gripped her arms and pulled her to sit up. Leaning awkwardly to the side Lily slowly looked around her. They were surrounded by trees and shrubbery.

Why?

Lily looked down at her night gown, watching the stars still twinkling through the mud-stained fabric. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. It was supposed to be all over, but she was still here. She was still in Moon, asleep and having to cope with the horrors she had seen. Lily felt her throat tighten and a sob wanted to break free from her quickening breath. She had to keep trying to survive despite her body having given up, her mind driven past exhaustion. Her arms no longer hurting she touched her face, feeling the skin on her fingertips. She began digging her nails into her cheeks.

“Why am I still here...!?” Lily blurted out, hysteria taking hold. “Why?!”

I don’t want to be here- I want to go home! It hurts- I want to go home I want to go home I want to go home-

“Hey!” Chrys barked. He had a hard grip on Lily’s wrists. Lily looked up at him, her mind coming back together from the edge of breaking. His face, dripping with sweat displayed fear. He looked at Lily like she was fragile, unpredictable.

“Sorry...” Lily whispered. Where her nails had been on her cheeks started to sting.

“It’s fine, just...” he trailed off, looking troubled in his own way. “Never mind, can you stand?”

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Lily nodded and stood up. She felt stiff from the mud that dried on her skin and clothes.

“Where are we?” she managed to say. Half of her didn’t care, but it seemed like the right thing to say instead of the desperate cries she wanted to do.

“No idea.” Chrys sighed. Lily suddenly saw how tired he looked.

“Did you...carry me this whole time?” she asked.

“Wasn’t that long, don’t worry about it.” he shrugged. His lips were set in a long grim line, like he was holding something in. Lily felt too scared and tired to even ask him how he was. “Let’s just keep moving. There has to be something here we can find.”

In solemn agreeance the two began walking down what seemed like the only dirt road around. Surrounding them were groups of tall thin trees that blocked them from seeing anything far off. The sky above was still the same blue and purple and the actual moon of Moon sat fat and bulging in the sky, mocking the two beaten up kids. Lily wondered what kind of attraction this world they tumbled into could have.

Every world within moon was created to be explored either for its otherworldly quality, like an upside-down sea, or it housed some kind of main entertainment, much like Festival Square. Lily shuddered to think what if other worlds had been...infected like Festival Square had been. She found herself wishing they ran into other kids rather than another town that could have raging shadow monsters hiding in dark houses.

The road began to go upwards and soon the two were panting as they trekked up what felt like a never-ending hill. After an hour the scenery hadn’t changed, and the road still stretched out frustratingly straight.

“Chrys,” Lily puffed, “did we...used to get this tired...just being in Moon?”

“Shit...we can’t summon things and now...it’s like we’re really here and not dreaming.” He wiped sweat off his brow and looked back at Lily who had significantly lagged behind. “Let’s take a break.”

“I...I’m fine...”

“I’m not gonna carry your ass later so we might as well rest.” he said, a dry smile on his lips. Lily pouted but her silence said enough. They both plopped onto the ground, thinking their own thoughts for a moment.

“Maybe,” Lily began, “Maybe everyone is actually okay...”

“What? Were we in the same dream?” Chrys said, baffled.

“No I know, they- I know what happened but in the real world, maybe all they did was...just wake up.”

Chrys frowned, pondering the idea. Moon may feel real and hold millions of children within it, but at the end of the day, it was just a dream. Or at least that was what it was supposed to be. So how come they couldn’t wake up? Something didn’t sit right with him thinking it was just a case of a stubborn nightmare, but he definitely didn’t want to voice the idea that those siblings they just met could have...

“Maybe.” was all he could manage to reply. Lily felt a bit disappointed, unable to get a more reassuring response.

The rest of their break was silent and they simply either stared up at the sky or into the forest.

“Should we really be sitting here out in the open?” Lily asked, getting nervous about the open road and the forest’s shadows.

“We’ve been walking for hours, if someone was going to find us they would have by now.”

As if someone had been watching them, toying with them, the foliage beside them began to ruffle. They were immediately on their feet, leaping back to face where they heard the sound from. With breaths held they prepared to see the chilling smoke creep out from the dark and into the road, those yellow eyes pop out from the bushes and glare at them with hunger.

Then something dived out of the bushes and the two let out a cry. Before them was no monster but a kid, heaving out of breath and deep red hair tumbling over their face. Chrys and Lily stared, giving worried glances to each other. Clutching her chest, Lily worked up the courage to speak.