Author's Notes:

Repairs have been made to the last chapter. And in doing so, I've got this short piece. Hope you all enjoy it! We'll get some more action in the next chapter!

Octavia still ran as fast as she could from the specter that she saw not too long ago. She wasn't going to die today, that wasn't at all on the list of things she wanted to do today!

But as she looked back, she stopped running. The specter she thought was there was no more. It was gone, thank goodness. But she still didn't feel safe with the precarious situation they were stepping in. As she walked forward some more, she felt her head pounding against her. It rattled and pounded, making her hold her head and cry from the pain.

"Agh, oh god...", Octavia moaned, her back hitting the side of a wall. Her teeth grit together, and she could feel the pain immersing through her. But it didn't help when she could feel stronger pain hitting her stomach. She held onto her stomach, nearly bent over about to fall.

But she wasn't about to let that stop her. Slowly moving, she kept walking forward with the pain in her head and her stomach.

"Octavia!"

Octavia winced from the loud sound, holding her head again. "V-Vinyl, please... please, no loud noises..."

She looked up and she was thrown off by a surprise hug from Vinyl. Her eyes sleepily looked at the tuft of blue hair near her, and she could hear the sound of heavy crying. She moved her hands up and she patted her on the back.

"V-Vinyl? W-Why are you crying?"

"O-Octavia... I'm so sorry... I am so so sorry," Vinyl sobbed, holding her friend as close as possible.

"Vinyl... w-what's wrong?"

Vinyl pulled out of the hug, her cheeks heavy and her hair tattered.

"O-Octavia, I... I have something to tell you."

Octavia's eyes winced, but she tried to keep them as open as she could.

"I-I... I'm.... I'm the reason your father is in jail!" Vinyl cried.

"W-What?" Octavia moaned.

"I'm the reason he's in jail! I didn't know how to tell you, but I'm the reason he's in prison! He was going to kill my mother and father at gunpoint, and I didn't no what else to do!" Vinyl cried.

Octavia's eyes tried to stay open, but she did hear and understood everything that Vinyl had spoken to her, under that sad mess. Her hand slowly went up, gracing Vinyl's cheek. Vinyl looked back up and could see a weak smile coming on Octavia's face.

"V-Vinyl... its okay. Y-You did... you did the r... right thing," Octavia tried to speak.

"B-But, he's in jail, don't you miss him?"

Octavia sighed, and she held onto her stomach some more. "Vinyl... ever since I've gotten older, my father has wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He said it right out in the open he didn't care about me anymore, and he hurt my mother. If anything, I'm happy I don't have to see that disgrace anymore. Don't beat yourself up about it, lass."

Vinyl sniffled. "R-Really?"

Octavia nodded, but she groaned as she held her stomach again.

"Octavia, what's wrong?"

"N-Nothing, its fine. I'm fine."

"No, you're not. You don't sound well."

Vinyl raised her hand to Octavia's forehead, feeling her temperature.

"You're burning," Vinyl gasped. "How long has this been going on?"

"I-I don't know, I-I guess... maybe an hour, hour or two... i-it doesn't matter, I... excuse me for a second!"

Octavia leaned over a railing, looking at the downstairs. Vinyl wondered what she was doing, but she cringed as soon as she heard the sound of Octavia retching, throwing up the contents in her stomach.

"Octavia?"

Octavia gasped and panted as she let her contents out. "V-Vinyl, I-I'm fine, its just a small sickness."

"This isn't small. You weren't this sick when we came here. I don't recall you ever being sick when we got here. Actually... wait a minute. Octavia, what was the last spot you went to?"

Octavia raised a hand up, and she pulled herself off the railing, collapsing onto her behind. "I... I solved a puzzle in the boiler room. There was a furnace, very poor construction into it... r-rusted, old... lots of smoke..."

Vinyl caught on.

"Okay, that's it. Octavia, I'm sorry, but as your friend, you're out of the game."

"N-No, Vinyl, you don't need to--"

"You're sick, Octavia. You've been exposed to something highly toxic, and its making you sick!"

Octavia moaned some more as she held her stomach. Knowing what to do, Vinyl reached for her radio and spoke.

"Vinyl here. Please, if anyone has their radio on, please, pick up."

"Lyra here, what's going on Vinyl?"

"Lyra, where are you? Is Bon Bon with you?"

"Yep! And Starlight Glimmer. Oh, and Flash is here too. And Muffins," Lyra explained, "We've got a big crowd. What's up?"

"Listen, I need you two here as soon as possible. I don't know where Amethyst is, and there is a high chance Octavia has been exposed to some possible toxic fumes," Vinyl stuttered with some stress in her voice, "I don't know if I'm correct in assuming so, but that's the most as I'm going to guess at this point."

"Understood! Bon Bon and I will be there shortly. Green Ninja, out!"

Octavia moaned some more. "Oh gosh..."

"Octavia, look at me."

Octavia's eyes winced as she looked up into the magenta colored eyes of her best friend.

"Its going to be okay. We're going to help you," Vinyl said, starting to calm down.

Octavia slowly nodded, breathing heavily.

"Just breathe, its going to be okay."

Octavia breathed some more, holding onto her stomach. "W-Where... where is Amy?"

Amethyst's body still stayed unconscious and out cold in one of the old factory rooms. Her body was sprawled through the destroyed desk, and she wasn't awake. The only sound even left in that room aside from some of the crackling of peeling paint and walls, was just the music coming from her media player.

Back outside

"Alright, Starlight, sorry, but we've gotta leave ya right here with these two."

"What? What's going on?" Starlight asked.

"Friends are hurt right now. And since you three are innocent, we need you all out of the danger zone," Bon Bon said, grabbing her medical supplies. "We'll be back real soon, just call us if you see something. Okay?"

"Okay," Starlight nodded, confused as Lyra and Bon Bon ran as far as possible.

With the two of them gone, it just meant Starlight to stand alone with Flash and Muffins who stood in complete silence. The two of them looked at each other and then back at Starlight.

"So... got any hobbies?" Flash asked.

"Well, uh... I like... kites," Starlight chuckled, nervously. "What about you?"

"Well, I like music," Flash said, holding his guitar.

"And what about you?" Starlight asked, looking at Muffins.

"Um," Muffins blanked. Instead, she just reached behind her, grabbing the tray off the bench which had a few muffins held. "Muffin?" She offered with a sheepish grin.

Unbeknownst to anyone, there was some activity going on that they didn't know. Not even the revealed Markless knew of such. But down in the boiler room, with the old furnace, something bad was beginning to unfold. The grate in front of the furnace rattled and shook, until it fell down with a hard slam. But it didn't stop. A small spark of flame jumped from the furnace, dancing on the ground. It only lasted for a second, and then went away.

The sparks however began to multiply more and more. And more and more began to burst, until the sparks began to ignite into small flames. But soon more and more began to jump, and a small fire began to burst. All the way down in the basement...