You really felt like crying.

Sniper was in Hibernation, and he was showing no signs of coming back out... the endless possibilities of what else could go wrong streamed through your head infinitely. This state of Hibernation was much deeper than the one before. He was completely and utterly knocked out, there was no reaching him.

It was frustrating.

There was nothing you could do except wait. If only you had the abilities of a God Candidate, you might be able to save him, or at least provide some type of support for the group. Every time you gained some bit of your confidence back, like a bird taking flight, it seemed like it got shot down from the sky ten seconds after.

Kuon might have been able to help, but she was gone now. The thought made the back of your throat lump up. Kuon was the only one who could save him on your team. Sure, Yuri was a God Candidate, but as far as you were aware, Kuon was the only one with the ability to stop whatever the hell was going on in Sniper's brain right now.

You lost Kuon, and now you were going to lose Sniper too. Your two most important people, the ones you loved the most.

Not to mention, there was a possibility Ryo was still out there. And if he was as alive as you were, he would be out to get you.

You were at a loss.

Helpless, weak.

Your ribs ached, your mind ached, and now, your heart ached. It felt like it was shriveling up ever so slowly, the constant heart racing feeling you got when you were around Sniper dulling down to leave a broken mess.

It was unfair.

Life isn't fair, life isn't fair... The amount of times you had heard that phrase from your mother was too many to count. Anytime you were kicked in the ass by this arbitrary thing we call life, those words played themselves in your head like a broken record.

Her monotone voice was cold. That statement had been told to you anytime you were down in the dumps and she happened to be there to witness it. Her and your father didn't get their success easily, and for some reason, she felt the need to remind you of that.

Every. Single. Time.

Not a warm hug, or the comforting feeling of hearing the words, 'It'll be okay.' Even though they were probably a delusion. But instead, you were met with the harsh reminder that life didn't have mercy on those who needed it most. Not the poor, nor the sickly. Not the ones living in famine or drought.

Life dealt a set of cards to each person in the world, and just like gambling, some players had a better hand than others. Some people were born into an easy life, others were not.

But in this world, such things got left behind. The amount of money you had didn't matter, your social status didn't matter. Your occupation, your family, all those things... they didn't matter here. All that mattered was your ability to live or die.

And maybe, depending on who you were, your ability to protect those around you as well.

If you told yourself a few months ago that you would be in a completely different realm, fighting for your life, you would curse your own self out and call yourself crazy. If you had told yourself that you would find some of the best people you've ever encountered in this said realm, you truly wouldn't believe it.

And if you told yourself that you would lose these people after becoming close to them, sharing your past, fighting together, and relying on each other... you would do anything to avoid feeling that heartache that came with the loss.

Sniper and Kuon were possibly the only reason that you were alive right now. You had relied on them often, and they gave you protection and kindness in return. They were good people. Too good for a world like this. They made memories with you and gave you nothing but love... and it seemed to be disappearing right in front of your very eyes.

Your mother would be laughing in your face right now if she saw the state that you were in. Glued to the ground and holding back tears, physically injured and mentally exhausted. She was a mind over matter type of person. She looked down upon anything she declared as weak. And right now, you were the textbook definition.

After initially realizing that nothing could wake Sniper up, you collapsed back down to the ground and buried your head into your hands. China Mask had made an attempt to snap you out of your sorry state, but you were grieving. You needed the little time you had before you were forced to go on the move once more. Things seemed hopeless.

But that was quick to change.

"What? The Sniper... something is starting to spark within him...?" China Mask spoke out, causing your breath to halt. You slowly lifted your head up from your hands and stared at Sniper, watching as small bolts of electricity zipped around him.

"What on earth is happening? Is he okay?" she questioned once more, shock clouding her features. The sight seemed familiar, you were pretty sure you had seen the same type of electricity appear around Kuon before.

"He's okay. I think I know what's happening to Sniper," Ein spoke out, patting the back of the baby she was holding. It appeared that China Mask handed the child over to her while you were in your daze.

You felt relieved.

"By witnessing this... now I know what happened to me. The current Sniper is the same as I was at that time." She glanced down at the phone before looking up at the ceiling, recalling the event. "But when it happened to me, Aohara was just a part of the process. Sniper and Kuon are... much more..."

You raised your eyebrows at the mention of the name. Kuon? What did Kuon have to do with this? You entered your thoughts, attempting to scratch at some type of explanation.

Ein was able to use Aohara's abilities... so he must have transferred them over to her somehow, right? Is Kuon doing the same thing? But... she's gone... how can this be?

God, this was all too confusing for your brain. Your thumb made its way to your lips, and unbeknownst to you, your teeth began to gnaw on the nail.

What the hell is happening? Kuon's alive? And she's stopping the Hibernation process from miles away?! No way, I heard the gunshot! I heard... I heard her die!

You bit down harder, your brows furrowing in frustration.

Damn it!

If Kuon were alive, you would be nothing but happy. In fact, you would probably throw a 'sorry-I-wasn't-there-for-you-like-I-said-I-would-be-but-I'm-happy-you're-alive!' celebration! But it all seemed too unrealistic, you didn't want to get your hopes up. It was too good to be true.

A sudden touch on your hand caused you to release your nail from it's captivity in between your teeth, a gasp escaping your lips. You looked down at your hand, trailing your eyes up the sleeve of the arm connecting with it. They found their way into the steely eyes of the one person you didn't expect; Sniper.

His own eyes were looking down at you with a type of fondness you hadn't seen before. It was soft and loving, and you would be lying if you said that it wasn't one of the most heartfelt gestures somebody had ever given to you. It was crazy how much a single look into someone's eyes could say.

"I'm sorry, Y/N..." He let go of your hand and lifted his gloved fingers to caress your cheek. You felt your lip quiver from the action, an indescribable happiness swelling up in your chest. "You must have been worried. But, I..."

He dropped his hand from your cheek and pulled you to his chest securely. You wrapped your arms back around him, burying your face into his chest while taking a deep breath. He rubbed your back, giving you a soft smile from behind his mask. "No, that's not right... We're alive."

After a few seconds of the touching reunion, Sniper reluctantly pulled away and placed a hand on the strap of his rifle. You watched him curiously, eyes widening at his next words.

"...Kuon?"

It seemed that China Mask was just as confused as you were, as she sent you a confused gaze after processing the words. You furrowed your brows and gave her a shrug, turning back to watch Sniper. He lifted his hand up to his hat, mumbling to himself.

"I see, she shows up when I call her."

...What the hell?

"You're asking me if this is the same as the Mask Program? No, Kuon... I think it's different." He paused. "...Yes, Y/N's okay."

"Huh?" you voiced out loud, your face twisted into one of bewilderment. He mentioned your name, was he talking to her? Sniper seemed to notice this, stopping his mumbling and darting his eyes over to you.

"Ah," he muttered, giving you a small nod. "I'll explain everything once we have time." You kept your mouth agape, watching as he turned down to Aikawa's subordinate as if he wasn't talking to a supposedly dead girl.

"Well... Kaneda, or whoever you are... First, I want to confirm something."

"Eh?!" the small Mask questioned, stiffening up his stance. His arms flew flat to his sides, and he looked up at Sniper with a slight shake.

"Your boss broke the cease-fire agreement and attacked our allies. Based on this fact, the agreement... the promise to stop fighting became invalid." He placed a hand on your back and ushered your paralyzed form forward softly, looking away from the short Mask. "So from now on, we're going to do whatever we like. No objections, right?"

"W-What?!" the small Mask protested, balling up his fists in frustration. "I don't know anything!"

"You should ask your boss for details." The confidence in his tone caused butterflies to begin swirling in your stomach. You walked forward with him, coming to a stop as he did. He crouched down and picked up the phone that had dropped out of his hand earlier, quickly straightening up not long after. "There is something I need to check here. Uzuki and the Prophet... I hope they're okay."

He made the phone call quickly, putting it on speaker phone for you to hear. It was a small gesture, one that most would deem insignificant, but it struck a chord in your heart. He was a thoughtful person, and it made you happy.

The phone rang for a moment, the sound of the ringing overlapping with the quiet chatter going on between Ein and China Mask. The two seemed to get along surprisingly well, considering Ein's quietness around new people.

"Hello?"

You were a bit surprised to hear Uzuki answer the phone. Ah, Uzuki... having to witness someone get shot directly in front of him at such a young age, you could only imagine what was going through his head. Hayami must have been pretty shaken up too. He seemed like the type of person to keep out of combat, so witnessing Kuon, one of the only people he appeared to have a liking towards in your group, get killed had to have caused some disarray in his calm composure.

"Hey there, Uzuki," you answered, keeping your voice as gentle and soft as possible. "Is the Prophet around?"

"Oh, yeah! I'll hand the phone to him!"

"Thanks," you replied, waiting for the older man to come to the phone.

"Yes? You needed me?"

You nodded towards the man next to you, leaving the rest of the conversation to Sniper. You weren't in the best of moods at the moment, and talking to Hayami would surely sour it even more. Sniper seemed to notice the slight look of distaste on your face and took it as a signal to reply.

"I'm glad to hear that you two are okay. Now, I need to ask you a question."

"What is it?"

"Kuon was able to transfer her God Candidate abilities to me while I was in Hibernation, do you understand how? The other version of myself said something about a life transfer. Her life force has been implemented into my mind, correct?" His voice was full of interest and confusion, and you pursed your lips.

She transferred her abilities over to him? No, no... not just her abilities. She transferred her entire life force over to him. It was hard for you to wrap your head around. She had died, but she was still living on in Sniper's mind? It was a strange concept.

The fact that you would never see her again still stung though. You would never get to take another picture with her, or hear her voice. All that was left of her was your memories, and God knows how reliable those are. She was living on with Sniper though, so there was a possibility that you could communicate through him.

That would be pretty tiring though, using him as a messenger. For both you and him.

You had experienced such an influx of too many different emotions in such a short time, you were drained. And as Hayami rambled on to Sniper (which you were tuning out, by the way), the only thing you could think of was what you could do when this was over.

chapter factoids:
-With Kuon in his head constantly, Sniper now has to deal with her fangirling whenever he has a moment with you. She tries to keep it down, but it's sort of hard for her, seeing as she's been rooting for you two since the day you all grouped up.
-Sniper feels very bad for worrying you so often. All he wants to do is cuddle up with you and relax a little, but it's pretty hard in such a stressful realm.
-He also has been thinking of what to do with you when you get out of this world. Maybe go on a real date? An aquarium? Or maybe a café? Oh, what about stargazing? Hmmm... he'll have to ask you what your dream date is when he gets the chance.

-
-
a/n:

i rushed this chapter so im super sorry if it isn't the best! hope you all enjoyed it nonetheless!

stay safe~ you're all awesome, lots of love<3

-aly