Chapter 12

                                    

                                          
She studied her arms as they once again stood in the middle of the puzzle. Alfred was eagerly waiting to push the buttons.
        "Alright... Top middle, left middle, top right, top left, bottom right, bottom middle, right middle, and bottom left."
        Alfred pressed each button accordingly, confident in her decisions. As he pressed the last button, a key fell from the roof and she had to quickly dodge to not get hit. It fell with a soft clank and they high-fived each other. 
        She picked it up with a smile. "We're almost there, I can feel it!" She said, her voice trembling with excitement. They rushed out of the building to the last house.
        As they entered, she felt a wave of uneasiness wash over her. The room was empty except for one thing. A blue chest. She walked over to it and saw in messy handwriting, "Toy Chest" was written on the side.
        "This is the toy box?" Alfred asked while looking around it. "It's pretty big." They peered into it. The inside looked as if it was a never-ending void. "That note on the pink building said there's a key in there."
        "I can't even see the bottom..." She muttered.
        "Is there even a key in there?" 
        "Wanna see?" A familiar voice asked and before either of them had time to react, they were pushed in.
        She hit the ground with a thud and groaned. Her body ached and she squeezed her eyes shut. She laid there, regaining her breath before slowly sitting up. Her entire body felt like she had just run a marathon. Looking down, she could see all of her old injuries that had previously been healed, were all back. Every cut, bruise, bite, and scratch were bleeding and she looked for her rose.
        Her eyes widened when she realized it was nowhere to be found. Her purse had fallen off her arm and the continents were scattered about. Quickly picking them up and shoving them into her small bag, she slung it over her arm and winced.
        She took the time to look on the ground for her rose and noticed red petals. She followed them and sighed in relief when she saw the flower on the ground a bit away. She gently picked it up and was starting to panic as it only had one petal remaining. Ever so carefully, she held it close to her and looked around. Alfred wasn't by her side.
        "Alfred?" She called out, hoping for a response. Silence answered her call and she felt her chest tighten. She gulped loudly and started staggering around. 
        She soon saw his blonde hair and rushed over as fast as she could to him. She gently shook his shoulder and he groaned.
        "Owww... I hit my head..." He mumbled and sat up. His hand rubbed the side of his head and his eyes squeezed shut momentarily. "Are you ok?"
        His jaw dropped when he saw her injuries, the fresh blood slowly dripping. He stared at her rose and saw the catastrophic state it was in. "No, oh no. (Y/N)!" 
        He stretched his arms out to bring her into a hug but stopped himself. He didn't want to hurt her any more than she already was. He stared at her, panicking at what to do. 
        "A... A vase. We need to find you a vase." He jumped up and frantically looked around. "Are we in the toy box?"
        "Gabriel, he pushed us in." She mumbled. Her head ached and her words didn't want to form properly. She took a deep breath and winced at the sudden pain in her ribs. "We need to find that key. I think I saw a way out when I was looking for you."
        "But you're hurt, really badly." He argued, raising a hand to his hair. She could see his rose sticking out of his pocket, a couple of blue petals scattered on the ground.