CHAPTER 24

                                    

                                          
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"Ugh..."
A small hamster groaned, cracking open her eyes to see a clear blue sky. She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, her back aching as she called out.
"Minju-unnie?"
Yuri froze as her surroundings subtly shook, slowly letting her hands fall from her face.
'Oh my God.'
Yuri stared below her, seeing that she was sitting on glass, very high up in the air. She whipped her head around, realizing that she was surrounded by glass walls.
An echoing voice shook her back to reality, "you better not be too loud..."
She thought the voice sounded familiar, but before she could think more of it, the box she was in shook again from the unknown voice.
'You have to be kidding me...'
Yuri looked around from her sitting position in the middle of the room, trying not to look down to avoid staring at the sheer drop.
The hamster was terribly fearful of heights, just staring at a skyscraper or a tall roller coaster made her stomach flip. But the fact that if she was just a little bit too loud, she'd fall to her death... 
She couldn't slow down her breathing.
'I'll be okay, this is going to be over soon. I'll be back in my room, sleeping on the bed next to Min-'
"Ah!"
A bloodied and mangled man jumped out from in front of her, only to disappear. Her sudden yell violently shook the glass, which made her clamp her hands over her mouth.
'Don'tScreamDon'tScreamDon'tScream.'
She couldn't even move from her position, even with her slowly sliding her legs closer to her, the glass shook, threatening to break.
Yuri made a noise from her throat as she got scared again, the slightest of sounds making her surroundings rattle.
She trembled in her spot, hugging herself into an upright fetal position, hiding her face in her knees to hopefully avoid any more freaky illusions.
She felt ghostly hands all around her, but she didn't dare look up. Tears began to trickle out of her eyes as she cried as silently as she could, her shoulders shaking from the tension as she feared for her life.
'Is this how I'm going to die?'
~ ~ ~
'Come on... There has to be an exit somewhere...'
A blonde duck ran around the concrete halls, careful for any guards as she passed by rows of empty cells just like the one she was in. Her hope for finding an exit was running out, and she paused to catch her breath.
Then her senses fired up, and she quickly looked around.
Fear.
Yena suddenly felt an immense amount of fear, enough to mess with her own thoughts as she tried to calm her quickening breathing.
"Where's that coming from..."
Then she froze, letting the emotion circle into her head to see who it was. Her eyes widened as she found out who the fear belonged to, a skill she could only do if she was mentally close to the person.
'Yuri.'
Since the hamster was the duck's girlfriend, Yena could easily decipher Yuri's emotions due to their close bond. The only other person she could do it to was Hitomi, considering that the Japanese girl's power made her emotions well felt.
Yena began to run again, pushing the fear away enough to keep her determination but to still be able to track down where Yuri was.
She pinpointed the emotion to a locked room, so after Yena made sure no one was in sight, she plucked a bobby pin from her hair, working on the lock of the door.
Yena pushed it open, seeing her girlfriend curled up into a tight ball while crying in the middle of a concrete room. 
"Yuri!"
The hamster startled, looking up to see Yena somehow inside the glass box she was in.
"Yen-"
The glass rattled from her voice so Yuri clamped her mouth shut, hugging herself close once again.
"Yuri, it's me."
The younger girl softly whispered, "d-don't c-come c-closer... Y-you'll... fall..."
Yena tilted her head, "what do you mean? Why are you whispering?"
Yuri grew desperate, the box trembling more as they continued to talk.
"C-can't you s-see? This is all g-glass... I-If w-we t-talk t-too much... We'll fall d-down..."
A thought dawned onto the duck, making her understand why Yuri was speaking such nonsense.
"Yuri-yah, this room is playing tricks on you. See? I'm not going to fall."
Yuri's eyes widened as Yena walked inside the room with ease, staring up at her with teary eyes as she held out her hand.
"Take my hand, I promise you that you won't fall."
The hamster hesitantly reached out, feeling a bit more comforted when she felt the duck's hand as she shakingly got up.
But then the glass violently shook once more, causing Yuri to push herself into Yena, hugging the girl tightly.
"I got you, I got you. Just hold onto me okay?"
Yuri took a shaky breath, "o-okay..."
The younger girl kept her eyes shut as she let Yena lead her forward, hoping her girlfriend was right.
"See, we both didn't fall."
Yuri slightly pulled away from Yena, glancing behind her to see that she was right, she was just in a room that was concrete on all six sides. The interior was the same as the hallway they were now in, creating a prison-like ambience...
The younger girl let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding, letting Yena cup her face.
The blonde girl wiped away Yuri's tears with her thumbs, "you're okay. I'll always protect you, Yuri-yah."
The hamster tried to match the duck's smile, "t-thanks... Yena-unnie..."
"Now let's go, if we were both here, that means the others are here somewhere too..."