Everything Remains (REMASTERED VERSION OF MY SMG4 "WHAT IF?" AU)

Chapter 6 : Really Freaked Out

Eveline was now on our side. She seemed like a pretty strong woman too. She didn't have any weapons, but she used her legs to kick the enemies with ease. A few of us were slightly skeptical, but at the same time, we knew that skill like that can be useful combined with everyone else's. As we reached the outskirts of the forest, that person we met before who tossed us further into the forest earlier was there. Their physical form had seemed to've gotten worse since last time we saw them. The blue man's jaw had unhinged slightly, and his eye disappeared and the socket was bleeding. The other man had seemingly melted, and he was more malnourished than before. His mouth was also wide open and a black void, no teeth or tongue to be seen. The stitch connecting the two seemed to be looser, a reddish black substance leaking from it. Eveline looked eager to attack the figure. They seemed to notice and held their hands up in defense. Blue man spoke first.
"Woah, easy there! We're no harrmm.."
I nodded. "It's true. They didn't attack us last time."
"What makes you think they won't now?" Eveline growled at me.
"I'm only here to warm you folks about going beyond this area. We found a creature-" He hiccuped. "My bad. Anyway, we found a creature that messed us up pretty bad. So I'd suggest if you want your lives to continue to not pass this area."
Seeing as how messed up they were, we all got concerned. Everyone then snapped out of it, everyone except for me.
"You were just one person. Or two, actually. But we've got a big group. I'm sure we can take it on." Smg3 triumphantly says, pounding his chest with his fist.
"But what about watermelon girl?" The blue man pointed toward me shakily. "She looks like she's gonna turn into jello."
Everyone turned to face me. My ears began to ring as the pressure was crushing me like large boulders. Axol walked in front of me and placed his hands on my shoulders. He wasn't rough, he was rather gentle, actually.
"Melony, look at me."
So I did. At that moment, I had realized that my breathing was more quickly paced than before.
"Breathe. Just breathe. It'll all be okay."
He rubbed his hands up and down my upper arms and back to the shoulders. I tried my best to breathe as Axol continued to soothe me. It took some time to get calm, but once I was, I was able to look at him directly in the eye.
"You dont have to go if you don't want to. You and Boopkins can stay with that guy if you want." He jerked his head over in the direction of the figure. I could hear Boopkins go "heyyy!".
"But I want to fight. I'm just scared.."
"It's completely normal to be scared. Especially with all of this going on, it'd be weird if you weren't scared. Are you sure you want to go?"
"Mhm." I nodded. Axol gently patted my shoulder.
"If you insist. I know you can do it."
"Hopefully."
Axol chuckled. The laughter didn't last long. A roar echoed in our ears. As we all turned around, we each saw a large creature. It was gooey and upon closer inspection, we realized it was a byproduct of many many Strikers merging together to create one monstrosity. My grip on my sword was tight, but I started to panic again. I dont know what it was; the creature, or the fact that this scenario is life or death. Everyone else ran to charge at the monster, they were all yelling some things, but I couldn't hear them. The only thing I heard was my own heartbeat. Axol only ran for a few seconds before he noticed my stillness. He placed his hands on my shoulders again and began to shout, but nothing could be heard to me. As the monster was about to make a swift attack on us, he shoved me into the darkness of the trees. Luckily, no one got hurt, or at least from my perspective. I dropped my sword and just sat there for several minutes. I practiced the breathing procedure from earlier during these few minutes. It wasn't easy, but I did get calm again. Well, sorta. The fear didn't really go away as much, but the great intensity of said fear did. I stood up, grabbed my sword and took a peek at the battlefield, trying to maintain my breathing so something like that wouldn't happen again. Everyone seemed to be kicking the creature's butt pretty well. Axol noticed me as he had impaled the creature with the Inkweaver and smiled a bit. He gave me a thumbs up and tilted his head slightly, almost saying "you okay now?". I nodded and returned the thumbs up, but mine was a lot shakier than his. Again, fear didn't go away entirely. Axol pulled his weapon out of the creature, dark colored blood spraying his face. I could tell it got in his mouth because he began to cough and spit. I began to laugh. The creature did go down eventually after several more stabs and hits. We all huddled back together. Everyone was breathing heavily, except me and Boopkins of course.
Smg4 clapped his hands. "Nice job everyone."
The figure limped toward us. "That was a pretty nice fight.." The blue man said and pointed to me again. "..But you, you gotta learn to not give in to your fear. That kid right there is probably years younger than you but didn't hesitate to try and fight before someone stopped him."
I could tell he was referring to Boopkins. I nodded. "I know."
"Cut her some slack." Axol said. "She isn't used to fighting. As powerful as she probably is, she's just liked to sleep."
"How do you know if she's powerful?"
"She literally had the capability to travel to my mindscape to save me from the grasp of Zero. And when she attacked me while I was possessed, they were rather strong. They can probably cut through steak within seconds."
I giggle. "I'm flattered, but don't get me wrong, I was scared doing it."
"I know you were." He pats my head.
"And also, that wasn't me that made me go in your head. It was Zero. While the SMGs were using their USBs to get him out, he sent me there."
"But still, your attacks are strong! With enough training, I know you can become stronger!" Axol encouraged. I felt a lot better after he said that. He's always good at making people feel better when they're down. I smile at him.
"Thanks, Axol. I just hope I don't get another panicky moment like that again."
"Just remember the procedure, and then you'll be okay."
The girls seemed to be looking out into the outskirts.
"See anything over there?" I said.
"Yeah. Looks like a town." Saiko says.
"A ghost town, more like." Meggy nods.
We all looked at each other before Four turned to the girls. "Lead the way."