She scrambled down the crevice towards the small window they had passed. He followed her at a distance, unable to keep up, cursing as he ran.

"You're going to get yourself killed-is that what you want?" She didn't reply, absorbed in her new mission of finding a very large rock. "Because if that's what you're looking for, I sure as hell can arrange something!"

"Yes, keep threatening me, very clever!" She haphazardly threw a rock towards him before continuing her search.

"You're a real idiot, do you know that?"

Finally, she found a rock large enough, and hefting it up, threw it at the window. The glass cracked but didn't shatter. He reached the top of the crevice, trying to climb down without falling, but he was less steady than her, less sure.

"Damn it, Violet, stop! If they see you, they'll kill you, I promise! Breaking into secured bases is generally frowned upon!"

Heaving the rock over her shoulder, she threw it down with all her weight, another splintering crack running through the air.

"Just stop, damn it! Stop it! The others won't know you're in there, everything's already in motion, it's too late!"

Lifting it again, she brought it down hard, not caring as the jagged edges bit into her hands. Finally, the glass splintered and then shattered. She knocked loose the pieces at the edges, and quickly dropped in, falling a few feet to the floor.

Her thin shoes did little to absorb the shock of the impact, and a sharp pain shot through her legs. Her left ankle rolled uncomfortably, folding beneath her. Grimacing, she straightened up. The floor opened into two seemingly identical hallways, forking away from her. She glanced back over her shoulder just in time to see him rush to the window, his hands gripping the circular pane with white knuckles.

"Okay, good, you've made your point. Now come back!"

"Not yet." She turned to leave, but pausing for a moment, picked up one of the longer shards of glass. She could hear the exasperation in his voice as he cursed, his shoulders too wide to slip in after her.

"I swear to God, Violet, you are not ruining this! I don't fucking care if you become collateral damage, do you understand that?"

"Good, then you can finally leave me alone."

Holding the shard in her right hand, she took off down the hallway to the right, towards the heart of the building.

The building was quiet. She has expected more bustle, more action, but she didn't meet a single person. Her footsteps echoed uncomfortably, her ankle throbbing painfully as she ran through the halls. There had to be someone.

The lights overhead beamed like landing strips, dividing the ceiling in halves, beckoning her forward. She continued to walk nervously, flanked by walls of doors on either side until she reached what appeared to be the main room of the building. The walls surged out, forming a circle that surrounded her. She traced the room with her eyes, trying to find something, anything.

It was empty; not a book, not a jacket, not a person. The lights were on, a large chandelier drawn down from the center of the ceiling, looking like a monument to crystal teardrops.

She couldn't have much time left; if she wanted to do anything, she had to do it now.

"Hello?" She called out, her voice frantic and afraid. There was no reply, no response, no sound at all. She felt her heart speed up, trying to burst out of her chest. "Hello," she called louder, again only getting her echo in reply. "Think," she chided herself, scrunching her eyes shut and tangling her hair back in her fingers, "Think! What do we know, what information do we have?" She strained her memory, trying to find something, anything, that would be helpful.

There were three other doors besides the one she had come through leading out of the room, two of which opened into staircases leading down. She looked around, desperate for a clue. They had to be somewhere, and she knew there was nothing behind her, so she had a one in three chance. If the twin hallway to the left had been anything like the one she'd taken, there'd be no one there. Choosing quickly, she headed for the door straight across from her, tearing across the floor, her heartbeat in her ears.

The hallway slowly sloped down, with intervals of landings containing a single door. She heard nothing besides her own frantic breathing and the sound of her footsteps pounding down the stairs.

It seemed to go on for an eternity before it finally opened into a large triangular room. She gazed up at the tall ceiling, the words "The world is quiet here," emblazoned upon a large beam that hung over the entry. There were shelves, hundreds of shelves, all standing empty, looking over her. A library. An empty library. She felt a sudden jolt of hope-they were supposed to hide everything in their libraries, yes? Maybe there was a secret door. She felt along the wooden panels of the wall, knocking desperately, hoping for something helpful to appear.

"Hello?" She called out again, loudly, banging on the wall.

"What are you doing, come on!" She jumped as figure grabbed her arm, pulling her along. A girl, young and with a mess of tangled curls piled on her head, tugged her roughly. The girl frowned back at her over her shoulder, "You're a mess, what were you doing?"

"I was looking- I needed to find-"

"Everyone's already gone, we're the last." She pulled her roughly, stopping in front of a large bookshelf that she swung open unnervingly easily, revealing a doorway behind it, "In any case, you'd better get back and clean up before inspection."

"No, listen," Violet gripped her tightly by the shoulders, "this building is about to collapse-"

"Well, duh." The girl shoved her off, pushing her into the open doorway.

"No, I'm being serious, there's no time!"

"Exactly, so you'd better hurry."

"Please, I'm being serious!"

The girl stared at her curiously, "Did you hit your head on something?" She reached up and began twisting Violet's face to the side to get a better look.

Violet shoved her off, "There's no time for this! Look, I have to talk to someone, we have to go!"

The girl rolled her eyes, "Yeah sure, after you." She gripped her arm tightly, guiding her down the long dark passage, "But first let's just stop off at the infirmary."

"I'm not sick! We're all in danger! The building-"

"And everything around it is going to collapse in flames, so I've heard. Geez, you really are an ace reporter, aren't you? Listen, what class are you in?"

"Class? I-" her words were cut off as the hall ended at a door affixed with a keyboard. The girl quickly typed something in, and the door clicked open. She pulled Violet through the passage.

There were a few others, all walking about casually, as if they weren't in imminent danger. All of them were wearing the same sweater as the mysterious girl, but in different colors. The room seemed similar to the large circular room upstairs. She was momentarily distracted by the oddness of it all.

The girl began to pull her along again, "Come on, infirmary's this way."

"I don't- why won't you listen?" She felt her face flush as she raised her voice. A few nearby conversations quieted at her outburst. She hadn't time to be embarrassed, though; she was going to save their damn lives if it was the last thing she did. "The whole building is going to collapse! Entirely! It's going to go flat! With everyone inside!" A few nearby specters laughed quietly to themselves. Anger pooled behind her eyes, creating the familiar pinprick of frustrated tears.

A boy in a blue sweater came up to them, nudging the curly-haired girl lightly, "Do you need some help?"

"No, we were just on our way now, weren't we?"

"Please, just shut up! And let go of me!" She pulled her arm away roughly.

"Violet?" She pivoted, recognizing the voice. A figure with dark unkempt hair stepped towards her cautiously, his eyes wide behind his spectacles.

It took a moment to convince herself that she wasn't seeing a ghost or some product of a fevered imagination. But there he stood, regarding her with the same astonishment that she felt before running towards her, hugging her tightly. She cried out in amazement, her joy overwhelming her as he lifted her in their embrace. She set her feet back on the floor, cupping his face in her hands, overwhelmed.

"Klaus?"

He smiled and she hugged him again, her heart overflowing her chest.

..

...

..

AN-

Holy crap.

We made it.

I literally cannot stress enough how weird it is to be wrapping up this book. This book wasn't supposed to exist. This entire story was supposed to be five chapters that I wrote on my phone and then forgot about until I pulled it up to laugh at years later. I have no idea how the hell we got here (lol!) but I'm not entirely sorry that we did.

Thank you so much, lovely readers and dear Heathens for sticking it out for 53 more chapters.

I'm going to be taking a short break from writing this story to get my life somewhat in order, but until then, I'm hoping you'll like the minific which I've prepared to fill the time- Kindling. It's a bit different, but I'm honestly p excited about it.

As always, your messages, comments, and drawings mean the world to me. Keep talking to me/yelling at me/telling me what you liked and what you hated; I love every bit of it

And, as always, dear Heathens,

Thank you and

Cheers