Jax x Reader ~Enemies to Lovers~

Chapter Eleven: The truth behind the maze.

"Great," Jax sarcastically groaned. "Then we'll just have to continue aimlessly walking around until we find more people?"

Gangle nodded slowly. "Yeah..."

With that last word she exchanged to us, the three of us started walking. We didn't know where we were walking or what the objective was, knowing it was pointless to try searching for the "middle" of the forest--if there even was a middle to begin with.

"Oh, Gangle, just so you know...the path ended up turning into one big circle around the forest. There's no ending. We might possibly be trapped unless the escape route is in the woods somehow," I let the girl know. She looked even more worried from my words, her ribbon hands covering her mouth in shock.

"A...big circle? So we're trapped!?"

"Cool your jets," Jax sighed. "It's not that big of a deal. We'll be fiiine."

So now he's acting more normal and less tired and vulnerable now that Gangle is here rather than just the two of us? Does that mean he feels comfortable being more tired around me, or is he just trying to lure me to a false state of comfort just to prank me somehow with it later on?

Whatever. It doesn't matter and I shouldn't let it get on my nerves or something. We continued walking, however. Thankfully there seemed to be less thorns in this area, which means we might get closer to the middle...if there is a middle to this whole thing.

"What happened to your arm...?" Gangle's voice broke me out of my thoughts as I looked at her. Before I was able to answer her, Jax answered for me.

"A thorn cut it," He spoke. "Nothing too big. We'll just have to get Caine to fix them up."

I could tell he was lying with how nonchalant he is now. When it was just the two of us, he seemed to be freaking out and genuinely worried. Now? He's acting like he genuinely doesn't care.

Gangle's eyes widened, however. "W-Wait...a thorn made their arm have a glitchy slash in it? What are these thorns made out of...?"

Jax shrugged, though when he glanced at me, I could see the worry seeping out of his eyes. He just doesn't want to show it to Gangle...for whatever reason.

"It's made out of something that hurts like hell," I answered with a slight grimace. "Seriously. It was painful. I mean...it's still a bit painful, but I would like for Caine to heal my avatar sooner or later."

Now that I was thinking about the slash, blooming pain blossomed in my arm as it felt like the cut was pulsating against my skin like how a normal gash would be in the real world...except more stinging than normal. It didn't really bother me all that much, it was just more uncomfortable and annoying than anything. Now, if my entire body was glitching, that would be another story.

"A-Are you okay?" Gangle questioned while closer to me while we were walking.

"Yeah...I'll be fine once this gash gets healed. I'm starting to wonder if Caine wants us dead."

After I said those words, somebody suddenly ran into me, making me fall to the floor. "Ow..." I heard myself groan as I slowly opened my eyes to see who ran into me. Kinger.

"Kinger?" Me and Jax gasped at the same time, while Gangle just squealed in mild happiness.

"Y/N? Jax? Gangle?" Kinger listed off our names with a small gasp as he stood up from running into me, making me do the same. "Oh, thank God you guys are here! We were all separated!!"

"Yeah, we know that," Jax growled. "By the way, did you scream earlier?"

"Huh? Scream?" He repeated.

Jax facepalmed with a loud sigh. "Around 20 minutes ago we heard you scream. At least, me, Y/N, and even Gangle who wasn't even with us heard you. What was that about?"

Kinger stayed silent for a moment while staring off towards the distance before speaking. "Ohh. There was rustling in the bushes next to me and I got scared, so I yelled and ran off."

"That's it?" Jax groaned. "At least it wasn't a red herring."

"A red...what?" Kinger wondered with a quizzical glance.

"Nevermind. Do you know where Ragatha, Pomni, or Zooble are?"

Kinger looked at us for a moment, his reactions completely delayed before speaking. "Nope."

"Aw..." Gangle sighed while glancing at the ground.

"Time to continue going through the forest," I mentioned with an annoyed moan.

"Sadly," Jax grumbled before we all started walking once again.

Parts of me were worried that we won't find the other three, but knowing we're at four people instead of two like we were 15 minutes ago, it makes me feel a bit assured. My eyes glanced at my gash again with a sigh. What were these thorns made of in the first place? Could we possibly...die here? Sadly, I guess there's one way to find out.

~~~

This chapter isn't the best, but it's okay enough for me to post it. I do hope you've been enjoying this book so far though, since I'm trying to update this as much as I can until the book is finished (just so I can have the glory of finishing at least one book), but we'll just have to wait and see what happens when it comes to my writers block. I hope you'll have a wonderful rest of your day!

-Sincerely, CB