Don's POV

I felt like I was falling into an endless abyss. And there was no way for me to stop.

Even if I did, the force generated by my body would have been too much, and I would have shattered on impact to the hard, cold, stone ground.

If I had anything left to shatter. My heart and mind had broken into a million pieces as soon as Jon had taken his last breath, which left his parted lips in a wisp of smoky air. I stared at his limp, bloody body, wide-eyed in shock, unable to say anything. I could just barely register the state of Jon's friends, who were in just as much pain, if not more, than I was.

Ashlie was sobbing with her teeth clenched and eyes squeezed shut, tears streaking down her face like twin crystalline rivers. Her hands were curled into claws, desperately grasping at Jon's bloodstained green vest like a lifeline. As if she had been trying to be his.

Nick... looked crushed. It was as if everything that I had felt was flooding across his expression like some sick contagious disease. His mouth was open slightly, his fangs showing a tiny bit. His eyes were wide, empty, and filled with an expression that I didn't recognize. It was a combination of anger, sorrow, despair, and something.... regretful. As if he knew that he'd missed an opportunity. His heart was broken. Just like mine. But in a different way. Jon was my doppelgänger. I felt the pain that he had felt at death, and it would have only been a slight twinge had I have not started to care so much.

But Nick.... Heh. We aren't so different after all, are we? I thought.

Uni broke us out of our trance. "Come on guys," he hissed, his voice unnaturally calm and he didn't stutter once over his words. "We need to get revenge on them. It was our doppelgänger's fault that he's dead. We can't just let that go."

Ashlie shakily lifted her head, the whites of her eyes red and her cheeks stained with tears. "U-Uni, what's gotten into you? Jon just...." She cut herself off, biting her lip and casting a quick glance at Nick, who hadn't reacted. "All of this happened because Jon wanted to save his counterpart. It isn't right to want to kill them."

Uni grumbled. "But it was DDawn's fault that he's dead. Dres or Dashlie must have sent him," he crossed his paws in defiance.

"DON'T EVER TALK ABOUT THEM LIKE THAT!" Nick exploded, his eyes turning red. He leapt to his feet and glared daggers at Uni, who stumbled back in shock. I stood up as well. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?! What if DDawn did it on his own accord? WHAT IF DUNI TOLD HIM TOO?! WHAT IF I SAID THAT DUNI KILLED HIM? HUH? WHAT WOULD YOU DO? YOUR BOYFRIEND IS THE ONLY THING YOU FUCKING CARE ABOUT. ISN'T HE? You wouldn't notice if any of us died. You'd just say that it was OUR doppelgänger's fault."

His voice trailed off, his energy spent. The terrifying red light faded from his eyes, and Nick slowly slumped back down next to Jon's body.

"What is wrong with you, Uni?" Ashlie snarled. "Can't you see that he's grieving?" Tears welled up in her eyes again. "Can't you see that we're all grieving?"

Uni narrowed his eyes, but said nothing, backing up slowly.

I swallowed. "D-Don't fight," I squeaked, rubbing my arm nervously and flinching as Ashlie whipped around to glare at me, but her gaze instantly softened when she saw me for some reason. "That's just what D-Duni wants. That's why he brought us to this place. You have a higher chance of hurting each other here. It's like something in the air makes us crazy."

"Well, that's just--" Uni scoffed, before he was cut off by Ashlie's death glare, and he subsided into annoyed mumbles.

She turned back to me, and came over to stand by my side. "Thank you, Don. I knew you weren't all evil. Jon's counterpart couldn't have been that bad on the inside. I just knew it." Her voice caught as she said his name, and she forced a sad grin.

Smiling wryly, I turned and sat back down by Nick's side again. Ashlie gently placed a hand on his shoulder, and he twitched in mild surprise as she pulled him into a side-hug. Nick whispered something that I wasn't able to hear.

"It wasn't your fault," Ashlie muttered, apparently in response.

"But if I was able to get there first..." he trailed off.

We sat in silence for a little while, just gently trying to comfort Nick. I rested my hand on his knee, and Ashlie kept her arm around his shoulder. It was only a matter of time before Dawn and Uni interrupted again.

"Guys. Come on, we need to keep going," Uni pointed out. "We can't go back to the normal world unless we keep moving forward. I'm saying this in the most understanding way that I can," he growled, a sneer on his lips. As much as we all hated to admit it, he had a point. Sitting here wasn't going to bring Jon back, and it certainly wasn't going to get us out of this predicament that Duni had put us in.

Looking at the two vampires, I could see that Ashlie reluctantly agreed, but I'm not even sure that Nick even heard him. Ashlie leaned over and whispered in his ear. With a slight start, he slowly nodded, and Ashlie helped him to his feet. Uni began walking away, triumphant, but Nick and I stayed for a second longer by Jon's body.

"We can't just leave him here," I said softly, and Nick shook his head.

"Then we'll take him with us," Ashlie reasoned.

"Okay, but who will carry him?" I questioned, but I was cut off.

"I will," Nick rasped shakily, bending down. For a second he looked like he was going to collapse, but he gritted his teeth and wobbled on his feet. Nick slipped his arms under Jon's upper back and knees, and gently lifted him off the ground with little effort, the red that signified his magic changing his eye color to scarlet. I reminded myself dumbly of his species. Super strength.

Jon's body lay limply in Nick's arms, a sight that would have been adorable once, but now was just sad. His face was curled down so you couldn't see his mouth, and if not for the big red bloodstain on his stomach, it would have looked like he was sleeping. One of his arms was hanging down, so I went over and gently lifted it onto his lap. Nick looked at me with gratitude. I suddenly got a weird sense of deja vu.

"Okay. Are we ready now?" Uni complained.

"Yeah, we're ready," Ashlie muttered, standing almost protectively in front of Nick and Jon. I joined her.

Uni rolled his eyes. "Come on, let's go."

And we began walking. 

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A/N: Okay, so I was thinking. I really like this AU, and I have a lot of ideas for it. Should I make it into an actual book? Like.... A side project from CEntities? Just wondering. I wanna get your opinions on it. 

Heh, this can be considered a "short" chapter from me. It's only about 1200 words. XD

I GOT TWITCH!! So now I can actually watch the streams that Nick and Jon do. And hear Jon swear. This'll be fun. ^u^ 

Update: OH MY GOD UNI  SAW ME FOLLOW HIM AND HE RESPONDED TO MY COMMENTS. I'VE BEEN NOTICED. 0.0