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Gale opened his mouth to say a Single ******** Word, thought better of it, and promptly snapped his mouth shut again, a look of clear suspicion mixed with the inevitable exasperation that always associated itself with Caelius (if it even was Caelius, Gale wasn't quite sure that it was) evident on his face. He turned his head sideways to glance at Otto, under the distinct impression that he was probably going to owe him something big for this, and simultaneously deciding that he was not going to do anything at all about said owing.

With a growing feeling of regret welling in the pit of his stomach, Gale shrugged off his coat, folded it very neatly, and handed it to one of the techs on duty, who merely snorted, tossed it aside, and went back to reading whatever book was keeping them occupied.

Gale's face was its usual grumpy one as he stepped through the portal into...

...not Neverland, that was for sure.

He remained utterly silent as they passed through the town, Gale stubbornly resisting looking at any of the faces that pressed out against windows and then scuttled away like insects dragged out to the light. He had no idea where they were, or why His Majesty had decided that this was a prime spot for a vacation, but he followed silently along beside Otto and behind Caelius with a growing feeling of apprehension.

This apprehension only escalated at first the outside of the building and then the inside, Gale's eyes roaming from wall to wall, window to window, door to door to try and grasp some sort of clue as to what the hell was going on, but to no avail. A million questions were bursting to be let out, but true to his "orders," Gale asked none of them.

(At least, not yet.)

The receptionist looked...well, like a receptionist. Gale squinted at her, trying to decipher any clues to her identity, but the moment the word "parent" slipped from Caelius' lips, Gale's attention was completely diverted. He nearly got a crick in his neck from snapping his head around to stare at the Death Lead, expression a mixture of surprise and disgust because Caelius as his father gave him the heebiejeebies.

He snuck a glance at Otto, teeth grinding together, but then Caelius said "Summers" and Gale about had a heart attack. The look he gave Caelius (or rather, Caelius' back, since that was all he could currently see of him) was a mutinous one. A hand seized his upper arm, startling him, and Gale twisted around, attempting to wrench himself free, but to no avail.

The last he saw of Caelius was his "father" standing in the room.

Gale did not want to go down that hallway, he did not even want to be here anymore, he wanted to get out of this damn place because it was creeping him out - except there was no way to do that without blowing his cover, and that could get them all into trouble; and as much as he'd have liked to see Caelius and Otto get their comeuppance, now was neither the time, nor the place.

And then they were alone in the room and Gale was still trying to figure out everything that had just happened. He stared at the gown, then at Otto, at the gown again, and then back to Otto.

"What the ruddy hell."

There was something in the room that was intruding with their weapons, and the more the Hunters communicated, the more tired their weapons would feel until a slow sleepiness overtook them, as if they were hibernating. It made their heads feel oddly quiet and empty, and made them feel a little less like Hunter and a little more like victims.

There was a loud buzz outside, the door clicked and then opened, a woman, average height and build wearing a simple sweater and jeans walking in. On one hand was a clipboard. She stared at them for a long second, and then sat on the desk behind her, clicking her pen and immediately ticking off a few items on the list, scrawling a few words.

"You'll want to put that on honey, you're going to be uncomfortable otherwise." That was in reference to Gale's little act of nudity rebellion. "All right, vitals seem good, you don't seem to be missing any body parts, you clearly seem to understand most of what I'm saying, and your previous supervisors only seemed to lightly abuse you. We're off to a good start." She made a clicking noise with her tongue against the roof of her mouth. "A good start indeed. Let's get the prep started. Room 19 is free." She tapped her headset.

The door opened, and two guards grabbed a firm hold of Gale and Otto, the former unfortunately not actually having time to get changed. They went through another yet abandoned hallway and then into a small room indeed marked with the number nineteen. Inside were two familiar looking pods, glowing red, made of a darker black metal.

"Hold them down for a second, kids you know." She arrived and closed the door after them, taking out a small needle, filling it with a bright red substance. The needle was tapped on once, twice, and then she pulled at Gale's arm first, expertly injecting all contents before he even knew what was going on. Otto was next, and the security guard practically held the Hunter so tight at some points it felt like he was going to snap- and then she was finished with Otto as well and removing the needle tip, discarding it into the biohazard trash bin. "Well, that's that-"

- Almost immediately the room begin to blur and take on a strange aura. Everything turned dark red as a voice slowly said sweet dreams.

Darkness.

And then the world around them exploded in colour. It was bright red first, but then it adjusted, rich hues of red, red trees, a gentle red sky, red birds and odd insect-like beetles flying past. In the distance hung a large darker red moon, oddly fragmented.

In the not so far distance were two children, easily younger than Gale and Otto. They were simple shirts and pants with bare feet, their faces smeared in red markings. Paint perhaps. Both of them were holding crude weapons, makeshift spears from red trees, leaves, strange glittering red jewels, and both of them froze and stared straight at the two Hunters.

Immediately they both moved forward, weapons on the offensive. The taller of the two gripped their weapon tightly. "Your fragments. Give them to us."

Tenya's silence wasn't out of the ordinary lately. She often toned herself down to keep Otto calmer in these hectic and emotional times. However, she felt far away. As if she wasn't even there anymore. It was mildly distressing. He felt unarmed and naked. Actually, he was only in his boxers and that dumb gown, so he was fairly naked-ish. That b*****d Gale kept his clothes. Otto wished he'd been that rebellious. Or at least kept his pants.

The woman came in. As the situation continued on, Otto felt himself become increasingly unsettled. This was awful. His heart beat rapidly. He was scared.

The needle was the scariest part. The pod, the men holding him still as the one with the needle approached. It was horrifying. His breathing became erratic as they got closer. He squirmed and fought in vain. Nothing he could do. His fear grew stronger as the fluid was jammed into his veins. It wasn't long before everything faded away to black.

He awoke to red. He shot Gale a look of quiet fear. What was happening? Either this was the work of the needle, the pod, or both.

Creepy children did not make things any less unsettling. "Want what? What ********' fragments?" Otto grumbled, holding his arms close to his body. Gale was going to die when they were through this. If they got through this.

If he thought about it later, he should have known Caelius would do something like this.

The children moved faster than Gale would have thought possible; he didn't even have time to properly register the black dust that littered the ground, or the fact that Otto was still standing next to him, as surly faced as ever, or that he would probably really regret ever asking Caelius about that damn map in the first place.

His scream was deafening to his own ears half strangled as blood gurgled from his throat; but it didn't last long, a few seconds at most, and Gale coughed, blood spattering over his shirt. One arm raised automatically; a limp attempt at grasping for something to keep him steady, but there was nothing there to hold him up, nothing to stop what was happening. Dimly, sluggishly, he thought he might have been calling for Jinhai, for Otto, for anyone -

His eyes were still wide with shock when he collapsed, a crumpled, bloody heap on the ground.

When he awoke several moments later, it was with a watery sounding cough and a gasp, his throat dry, his entire body twitching. Gale's head jerked, his eyes flying open, and he lay there on the ground for a long moment, trying to figure out where he was, if he was still alive.

Well, he was breathing, that was at least positive. Slowly, he pushed himself into a sitting position, still struggling to get air into his lungs, and looked down at himself, at the gaping black emptiness that sank into him over his chest. Horrorstruck, Gale reached a hand up, pressing his fingertips to his temple, and turned sideways.

Otto was still there, unhurt, but there were bodies behind him in the water - the two children that had almost killed him.

Was it really "almost?" Gale pushed himself to his feet, swaying unsteadily.

"What the hell," he said shakily, stumbling back towards Otto.

"Oh no, you can't do that. That's against the rules."

The trees were talking. The trees next to Otto and Gale, dark red tree trunks splitting into a horrific set of smiling teeth. A single eye popped into existence wedged between several tree branches. "Those are the rules. There is only one winner." The eyes and mouth disappeared, but the something continued to ring a mocking laughter.

"You better run. Peter Pan is going to get you, all the bad kids who want to grow up and leave. The gloaming is soon and if we catch you then you will be just like us forever."

As the last of the words disappeared, the sky turned darker, everyone's figure suddenly casting odd shadows. While Otto's shadow was complete, Gale's was visibly missing. Nothing else but their bodies cast shadows. The sky grew even darker still, until only the outlines of shapes were visible -

- And then a large hand appeared out from the fog, just a horrific hand in the shape of a child's. It flattened the trees surrounding Otto and Gale and then began to dissolve at the fingertips into multiple worms, ones with strange cavernous round mouths that hungrily squirmed towards the two. There was only one direction to run, up the singular cobbled path towards what looked like a building at the very far end, an unfamiliar-shaped building.

Crack-

- And amidst the chaos, Gale's leg simply dissolved, and without symmetry he fell flat on the ground, easy prey for the insects. The strange blackness was spreading through him, it didn't hurt, but it left him entirely incomplete. He was just invalid. He would become just like them forever.

Escaping was against the rules. Waking up meant growing up. Peter Pan was the enemy. Otto tried to make heads or tales of this twisted fairy tale they'd been absorbed into. Once again, himself and Gale seemed classified as children, despite their fairly mature age, or so he'd thought. Not mature enough.

Otto recoiled in horror as the trees dissolved and one of his worst fears began to chase them. Run, he heard. With a shove from Gale, Otto was running as fast as he could. Not bugs. Why bugs? They may not have been the centipede looking things he was scared of most, but they were gross and terrifying nonetheless. The teen kept running, focusing on the sound of his feet on the ground until he hear Gale scream for him.

He turned suddenly, finding his rival laid on the ground sans one leg. The bugs were going to eat him. If Otto just kept running, he'd be fine. But then Gale might not be.

He hated Gale. He was pretentious, dressed funny, and simply rubbed Otto the wrong way. But he was calling for him. There was not an ounce in Otto's soul that could allow him the will to leave someone behind who needed him. He'd never live with himself knowing he ran to save only himself. Much like he was used to doing.

Otto ran back, his nerves going haywire in fear of being caught by those bugs. Wriggling, flesh eating bugs. He hoisted Gale up and hooked his shoulder under his arm, and began to run while half dragging him to what he hoped was safety.

Yards Run: 6
Total Yards: 6/10
Turn: 1/3

There were children already there, clustered around the building. Most of them were complete, but all of them were missing something. Their center, a gaping hole in their chest just like Gale.

At the arrival of Gale and Otto they began to crowd around the two, reaching towards Otto especially.

"Please," they whispered and clung onto Otto's shirt, his arms his hair. "You can do this. Free us. Free yourself."

In the distance a long shaped loomed. Peter Pan was approaching, a collosal mass of disproportionate arms and legs, mechanical and headless.

"You can do it!" the others encouraged.

Written on the door of the entrance were the words: Heart.

"A complete heart," one of the kids whispered, "a whole heart like yours. I can feel it in the center of your chest, it's so warm."

One of the kids pushed Gale forward so he was closer towards the door. At the other side of the door was a familiar voice, one that struck a chord to Gale. It sounded familiar and not at the same time and filled him with a desire to reclaim something that was once perhaps his. Another kid handed Otto a knife.

The teen hissed, his heart racing as small children pawed and grabbed at his clothing and hair. What did they want with him? Were they going to tear him apart too?

Otto stared at the children as they spoke, sparing a glance at the horrid creature known as Peter Pan in the distance. They could feel his heart? It was warm? He was the only whole one there.. He winced away as they tried to hand him a knife, at first thinking they intended to take his heart like they'd ripped out Gale's centre.

Otto hesitantly took it, looking down at Gale as he seemed to cower. "I don't know.." He uttered quietly in response. He tried to tug away from Gale's grip on his leg, looking back out to the mass of arms and legs that made up Peter Pan.

It was getting closer. It was coming for them.

"Gale, let go. I'm gunna try and end this."