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Breakout (as told by Negra)

"Well, well, what do we have here?"

I pulled my head away. What happened was pretty much expected. After I sent Hannah and Cole away, I was overwhelmed by fallen students. Now I'm stuck here in what was originally the Overlord's prison.

He chuckled, "You put up a valiant fight. So much so that I'm willing to give you one more chance to join me willingly. We'd rule side by side, and you'd be able to save your friend from destruction."

I headbutted his nose. He pulled back and held it, blood leaking through his fingers.

"Very well. Help her up." one of the fallen grabbed me and roughly pulled me up. The Overlord jabbed his hand into my solar plexus, knocking out my breath and my powers. I fell to the ground, feigning weakness, "That was very disappointing. Though you shouldn't be here to know my disappointment." He turned and started to walk away.

"Sir, what should we do with her?"

"Leave her here. She can't do any harm. I doubt she could even move the door."

And they left me there, unbound. Once the door was closed, I waited a little longer, wondering why the Overlord was being so lax. He's been in my head, he knows how strong I am without my powers. Unless . . .

I walked to the door and pushed it open, no one was guarding the door. I jogged to Nya's room and grabbed some weapons, I'm sure she won't mind, as long as I don't lose any of them. After checking that all of them had the anti-death sheath on them, I walked to the door and poked my head out. There were quite a few fallen ones prowling the courtyard. I started walking slowly, hoping not to draw attention.

"Hey! Stop!"

I did the opposite and ran, everyone in the yard was chasing me. I flipped over someone in front of me, landing on my hands and pushing off. My hands had landed on my scythe that no one else could move, so I took that with me. I barreled out of the arch and kept running. The force field had died about five minutes after I sent away Hannah and Cole, but that was long enough. I was running in fog now. I could hear my pursuers behind me, trying to find somewhere to hide.

I tripped and landed in a patch of Brambles. I painfully pulled myself through and emerged on the other side, scratched and bruised. Everything was hurting and it was getting hard to breath.

Suddenly, I stepped on thin air. I landed on my foot, but my foot landed on an incline and I rolled, getting even more banged up because of the rocks and the weapons I was carrying. I tried to get up at the bottom, but my ankle gave out. I must have sprained it in the fall.

I could hear them gaining. I saw a small ledge I could hide under and rolled underneath. No one thought to look there, they thought I had kept on running. They searched for a little longer, then left.

As soon as I was sure they were gone, I started humming softly.

Return (as told by Hannah)

"Melody, you need to come to the fire sometime. You're going to freeze."

Melody shook her head, "I'll be fine Hannah. Your dad will have a fit if you aren't there by meal time though."

I sighed, I knew she was right. I also knew that it would take everyone at camp to drag her away from the rock. "I'll bring you some food."

No answer. I walked towards the center of camp. After Negra brought Cole and I back, Wilder led us to a clearing of mist a spider scout found. All of the remaining adults helped calm students down, set up camp, and help the injured, including Wilder, who fell and broke his arm. My dad was serving the meager soup we could make. "Dad, could I get a bowl for Melody. She's not coming today."

He poured two bowls and handed them to me, "Tell her that if she's not here for dinner, I'm going to drag her here myself."

I smiled, "Yes sir." I turned and started heading back to Melody's rock. Ash and Sulfur joined me on the way there. We continued in silence. Sulfur had been visiting Melody a lot recently, though she wouldn't say why. This is one of the few times Ash went with her.

Melody was standing on the rock, alert. "Melody I brought-"

"Shh."

"Dad said that-"

"Shhhhh." She shushed me, twice! I saw a small smile flit across her lips, "It is her."

Sulfur asked the question we were all thinking, "What?"

"It's Negra! It's very soft, but she's humming."

I couldn't hear a thing, "I don't hear anything."

Melody however, was gone.

I heard someone running up behind me, and almost punched Wilder in the face.

"Friend!" he held his good arm up to block his face, "I was coming to tell Melody that one of my Scouts found Negra. Where is she?"

"You just missed her. Did you at least bring Nya along?" Skylor didn't make it out in time, Kai hasn't taken it well.

Nya caught up to Wilder, "How can you still be so fast, with a broken arm?" She caught her breath and straightened up, "Alright, let's go."

Sulfur, Ash, and I followed Wilder and Nya to the bottom of a steep slope. I could hear voices.

"What do you mean you didn't bring Nya? How are we supposed to find our way back?"
"I'm sorry, I didn't realize my relief bothered you. I'm just glad you're alive."

"You didn't even bring anyone who could carry me in case I couldn't walk, which I can't."

We got to where we could see Melody and Negra just as she sucked in a breath and held her head. "Are you okay?"
Negra looked over at us, "See, Wilder was smart. He brought a group of people to help." Alex crawled up onto her shoulder.

I noticed her ankle was splinted, "What happened? And why do you look like you fell in a patch of brambles?"

"I fell down this slope and either sprained or broke my ankle. I did fall in a patch of brambles."

"All right." Ash walked over to Negra and Melody, "Help get Negra on my back."

Sulfur raised an eyebrow, "That's awfully generous of you Ash."

"It's obvious that this is how it has to go. Wilder can't carry her because his arm is broken, and we don't have a stretcher. Nya needs her hands free to lead us back, and it looks like Negra brought the entire armory. We'd need two people just to carry it all."

Negra smiled, "He's right. I'm glad your reasoning skills have developed."

Ash muttered something as he pulled Negra onto his back.

"Ash, I hope you don't mind, I've gone through a lot, and I'm about to pass out." And then Negra passed out.

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