Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"I've got it this time! I can really help you guys, I promise!"

She'd heard him say that for the last time long ago. Uzi had tried to look for N for a while, but there was only so much she could do with so few resources. He was always insistent on helping her and Nori in their struggle to get by. She just wished she could return that kindness now. 

They were only, what, 15 years old when he went missing? Many years had passed since then. Of course, she always stayed concerned for the safety of her best friend. But like everyone else, even she had started to give up hope that she'd see him again.

Maybe he was okay. Perhaps he was just living his best life somewhere else, somewhere without her. That would be the best for him. So why was it so hard for her to accept that?

She couldn't ever decide if she'd prefer him to be dead, or if she'd want him to have abandoned her at a time like that. A time when he'd promised so much, a time when she'd needed him. She wanted him to be okay. But as always, she's selfish. She can't accept that he'd want to leave her.

The papers on her bedroom wall looked older, and more depressing every day. They were taped on and had little strings of yarn connecting them, all of the different news articles she could find that could serve as any sort of evidence pointing to N's whereabouts. She was sitting on the edge of her bed, staring across her bedroom at her amazing detective work. Initially, she was trying to go for a sort of crazed ramblings look, but she could only find about three pages of anything relating to N, so it kinda just looked like a sad art exhibit. Three lone pieces of paper clinging for dear life to her wall, which she hadn't touched in at least a year. But they were all she had. If she ever took them down, she'd be abandoning any hope she felt she had left of seeing him.

And yet she'd found herself in front of the wall again, now wondering if that would be the right decision. Her eyes skimmed over the articles, but it wasn't like she was reading them. She didn't need to. By now, she could probably recite them by memory. There was never anything useful in them.

Was her life really so boring that this was how she had to spend her time? Staring at things she knew had absolutely nothing of value, wondering if she could somehow find anything in them as if things would be different this time around?

One of her hands reached out, tenderly grasping onto one of the papers. It wouldn't take much effort. She could pull it off right now, toss it, along with the others. Then she wouldn't have to keep seeing them, have to keep being reminded that he was gone.

Right. Like hell it wouldn't take much effort. Physically, yes, it would be easy, but how could she ever bring herself to do that? This was all her fault, anyway. He went missing pursuing something he thought would help her. If she'd just accepted some kind of help sooner, maybe he wouldn't have gone as far as he did. So she couldn't give up hope in him now.

Tears rolled down her cheeks, which she quickly wiped away with her sleeve. Why did it have to be so hard not to blame herself? And why was it so hard not to blame him?

She didn't want to be mad at him, but it was hard to forgive him for leaving. She wasn't the only one that needed him. This wasn't just about her, his sisters were important, too. He promised he'd help all of them. She cared about V and J. They were mad at him for leaving them, and in all honesty, she was too. Concerned, but mad.

"Uzi?"

Startled, Uzi let out a little yelp, nearly ripping the paper off of the wall out of pure fight-or-flight response. Nori stood in the doorway of her bedroom, almost seeming amused by scaring the absolute shit out of her daughter. Right, she had left her door open, hadn't she? Whatever, it wouldn't be the first time she caught her staring at these things.

"Mom! Can't you see I'm like, having important character growth here?" 

Nori giggled a little, leaning on the side of the doorframe. "Yeah, yeah, I know. That's great, hope it's going well, babe. On an unrelated note, you wanna go get dinner?"

Oh. That's rare. They're hardly able to even pay rent as it is, it's honestly a miracle the two of them can afford food at all. So going out somewhere to eat? It's a rare ass occurance. One that Uzi is not going to pass up! It's not like they're actively starving or anything, but god dammit, she would do fucking anything for free food. "Oh. Yeah, I dunno, sure I guess."

"Cool. Be ready in 30 minutes?"

Uzi gave her a thumbs up, which Nori returned as she backed out of the doorway, and out of sight. Uzi turned to look back at the papers on the wall. Welp. This is the best distraction from this shit she's gonna get for a while, might as well take it.

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The car shook gently as it went through the streets of the quiet town they'd found themselves living in. Uzi sat in the passenger seat, staring out the window at the all-too-familiar roads and buildings they passed.

"Zi." 

"Hm?" She looked over to Nori, whose eyes were staring dead ahead, glued to the road. Good road safety! 

"You should stop worrying about N."

"Nah." She responded quickly, turning back to the window and away from Nori. She glanced to her daughter, and let out a quiet sigh. "You know I worry about you. I just... I don't want you to-"

"I said nah. Drop it."

The car was silent for a few moments. Nori tapped her finger against the wheel, trying to decide if provoking Uzi any further would be worth it, or if she should just do as she said and drop this for now. "... Alright. Just remember that-"

All lights in the car went out, and the engine stalled, causing it to gradually slow down. "Ah, shit, shit shit shit..."  Of course, her car just had to break down right now, just what she needed. She pulled off onto the side of the road, stopping the car dead in the middle of a bridge.

God dammit. She tries to do something nice for Uzi, and something always seems to go wrong. Her grip on the steering wheel tightened as she lightly hit her head against it, letting out an annoyed, drawn-out groan. "Fuuuuck... Alright, stay here. I'm gonna go see if I can figure this out."

She lifted her head off of the wheel and glanced back at Uzi, still staring out of her window, her gaze outcast to what she could see of the lake below the bridge. "Kay." 

Poor girl. She looks so disappointed... Well, she kinda always looks like that, part of the 'edgy rebellious teen vibe' or whatever, but it's still all the more reason for her to feel motivated to fix this! She popped the door open and stepped out, slamming it closed behind her and walking up to the hood of the car. This was all pretty futile, she knew that. She didn't know jack shit about cars and doubted she could fix whatever the hell was wrong. But might as well give it a try, right? 

"Pardon me, Miss Doorman."

A man's voice came from behind her. She looked back over her shoulder at him. Tall, blonde, well dressed-a little too well, if she's being honest, full business suit and everything-and a briefcase in hand. He's completely out of place, and he knows her name, which are both equally unnerving things.

"... Who are you?" Suspicion leaked into her voice. No part of her body trusted this guy, of course, why should she? She quickly scanned the roads around them and saw that there were no other parked cars nearby. So what, did he follow them on foot somehow? If he knew her name, he'd followed her for a reason. God, did Khan send this guy to mess with her? That fucker...

"My name's Mandy." He flashed a smile and gave Nori a little bow. "Sorry, I know this is weird. But I promise I mean no harm, I just wanted to know if you could spare a few minutes with me."

She turned her body to completely face him, crossing her arms over her chest and sighing. "Get to the point."

"Alright, damn, as you wish." He knelt, setting the briefcase on the sidewalk in front of him, and clicked open the latches before pulling it open. He reached in and pulled out a small wooden board with a hole in it, one that could be unfolded to stand up a little on its own. It's a cornhole board. Does this guy want to play cornhole with her? What the hell? He held the board up, showing it off to her. "Do you know what this is?"

"I'm not a moron, of course I do." Mandy sighed, his confidence seeming to fade more by the second. Why did everyone he talked to have to be this difficult? "Alright, alright, my bad. I'll go set it up."

He did as he said, turning his back to her, walking a few meters away, and setting it up neatly on the ground. "What's up with that guy?" Nori turned her head to see Uzi leaning against the railing on the side of the bridge, staring over at Mandy.

"Didn't I tell you to wait in the car?"

"Yeah. I got bored."

"Get bored less."

"Nuh-uh."

Mandy finished setting up the board and headed back to the briefcase, where he knelt back down in front of it and reached in to pull something else out. "Who's this?" He asked, nodding his head over to Uzi, maintaining eye contact with Nori. "Do you need to ask so many questions?"

"Nope, and I respect your desire to not give answers." He pulled out two small bean bags, one in each hand. One red and one blue. He stood back up and extended both of his hands to Nori, offering them to her. "Please pick a color."

Christ, she should be trying to fix her car, but no. This is apparently a better use of her time. Nori reached out and quickly snatched the red one from his hand, looking down at it and giving it a little squeeze, testing the weight of it a little. "Thank you. Now then, we'll each take turns tossing our bags over to the board. If you make one in, you'll get $1000. If I make one in, that's what you owe me. You can stop playing whenever you'd like. Sound good?"

$1000?

That had to be a scam. Her eyes narrowed, skepticism plastered across her face. "... Okay. And... By your own rules, I could do one toss then stop before you get the chance to throw, right?"

"Correct. If you would like to go first, that is."

"I would."

He nodded and stepped to the side, allowing her room for her first toss. "Be my guest, then." He pointed near her feet. "Just don't step over... Let's say that crack right there, and the throw will be valid."

Nori nodded, and stepped up to the crack, placing her feet as close to it as she could. Crap, it had been so long since she'd played this, were underhand throws best? Surely.

She lowered her hand down, swinging it back behind her, then forward and up, tossing the bag over to the board. It landed on it, and slid right into the hole. Wow. Beginner's luck really is real. Mandy gave her a polite, quiet clap. "Nicely done, Miss Doorman." He reached back to the briefcase and pulled out a small bundle of $100 bills, handing it over to her. She was hesitant, but she reached out and took it, counting how much money there was in total. $1000, just as he said. It doesn't feel fake either. She cast a nervous glance up to Mandy, who remained smiling at her.

"Why do you have this much money to hand out?"

"Ah, right. That must seem pretty suspicious, right? Haha..." His chuckle was met with dead silence from Nori. He cleared his throat. "Ahem. Sorry. The company I work for tries to find people who they think are struggling and help them out. Of course, we'd lose a lot of money if we just gave it out to anyone, so we like to play games. Makes it more fun, too!"

Everything about that seemed wrong, but for now, it didn't seem like this guy had any ill intent. He was hard to read. Perhaps she should have taken that as a warning a while ago, but here she was. "... I'd like to quit playing now."

"But mom," Uzi chimed in, "you know what they say about 99% of gamblers-"

"Uzi, are you stupid?"

"Yeah, a little bit."

"I know." She chuckled and pocketed her winnings and turned back to Mandy. "This money could seriously help us. I know I got lucky with that throw, and I don't feel like risking you being good at this."

"... So be it, then. But if you ever change your mind..."

Mandy reached into his pocket and held something out to her, a sort of business card. "In case you ever change your mind. Give us a call, and you can play a few more games for a lot more money. And don't worry, you won't need to risk losing any money yourself this time around."

Whatever. She grabbed the card and shoved it into her pocket, anything to get this guy to go away. She should focus on her car, shouldn't she? 

"Have a good night, Miss Doorman." 

"Yeah, whatever." He walked back to the board, picking it up along with the singular bag that had been thrown, and returning to his briefcase to set them inside before shutting it and walking away, across the bridge and to god knows where.

... Have a good night? Right, like that's going to happen given the state her car is in.

"... We're screwed, aren't we?"

"Yup."

"Great."

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The dim light above the kitchen table illuminated the card in Nori's hands. That was a long night, longer than she had expected. Did all tow trucks take that long to reach someone? So much for having a nice dinner with her daughter for once. Regardless, it was over, they were home now, and Nori was tired. Maybe her drowsiness was clouding her judgment a little bit.

She wanted so badly to believe that what Mandy told her was all a lie, just some scam... But it's not often that big companies track people down just to give them a thousand dollars. And if what Mandy said was true, that she could get a lot more money by playing these other "games"... God, it had to be a lie, but it was so tempting.

Every few seconds, she flipped the card over in her hands. On one side, there were just three simple shapes: a circle, a square, and a triangle. And on the other side was simply a phone number.

... No harm in just calling, right?

She reached for her ancient-ass phone she had set on the table, opened it, and punched in the number on the card, hesitating for just a moment, then pressing the call button.

Part of her didn't expect any answer. But to her surprise, as she held the phone up to her ear, she almost immediately heard someone's voice on the other side. Though, having said that, she didn't even realize it was actually a person on the other side at first. Their voice was low, almost unnatural in the way they spoke, to the point where she could have sworn they were some text-to-speech software.

"Please state your full name."

"Uh. Nori Doorman."

"Verifying. Please wait."

She tapped her finger impatiently against the table, awaiting a response. A few seconds passed. Then some more. How long could it possibly take to verify her? They hunted her down, dammit!

"Accepted."

Ah.

"Please head to the bridge where you were first contacted at 10 P.M. on Friday. You will be picked up and taken to the games there. Thank you for your cooperation."

"So what-"

Before she could speak up, whoever was on the other side hung up on her. Rude. She set her phone back down and sighed, leaning dangerously far back in her chair. Friday, huh? That's in two days. Gives her enough time to think.

... They'd take her to the games, huh? That made her wonder just how long she would be gone. She couldn't leave Uzi here all by herself for too long, but... The money would probably be worth it, right? Besides, despite everything, she's a strong girl. She'd be fine on her own for a couple of days.

...

Whatever. She has time to think, no need to rush her decision now.

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This was a stupid idea.

She knew she shouldn't come here, yet here she was, standing on the same sidewalk on the same bridge Mandy came to her on. She checked the time on her phone. 9:59 PM. Any second now, then! Seriously, can they speed up? It's cold out here.

Uzi would be fine. That $1000 she got came in handy when it came to getting food for Uzi to eat over the next few days! And if this was all just some weird prank, then whatever, she still got $1000, that's a win in her eyes.

Yet despite what she believed, a car pulled over to the side of the road right in front of her, and the back door slid open. An automatic door, that's unnecessarily fancy. It was a pretty big car too, seemed like it could fit two rows of passengers, with enough room for 3 people in each row if you tried.

She took a deep breath and stepped into the car, sitting in the front row next to somebody else who seemed to have passed out. Another person coming to the games, presumably? Makes sense, it seemed unlikely that they would make this whole elaborate thing just for her.

The door shut as she fastened her seatbelt. She looked over to the people in the driver's and passenger's seats. Both were wearing pink suits, with black masks covering their faces. So much for the whole 'good road safety' thing.

And then everything seemed just a little bit foggier than before. She glanced around, and quickly spotted the multiple vents in the car spraying out white gas. Oh. Welp, she fucked up, this is how she dies, this is it, goodbye cruel world.

So what, that dude next to her is dead then? Damn. "Hey! Uh-What's, uh, what's with the... Gas...?" Damn. It was knocking her out quickly. It probably would have been smart to cover her mouth, but it's a little too late for that now.

In the little time she had left, she took one last look at all of the people around her. The guy is sitting next to her, and... What, two people in the backseat? Three? And one of them is... kinda familiar...

... Uzi?

Oh... Oh, that's not good.

But it was too late for her to do anything. Another second passed, and she was out cold, along with the rest of them.

All she could hope was that Uzi would be okay.

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Chapter Text

Classical music. This wasn't what he'd expected to wake him up. His hand rubbed his eyes, trying to adjust to the almost blinding light. What the hell's going on?

He sat up slowly, swinging his legs off of the bed, his feet hitting the floor below, bringing a couple of immediate problems to his attention. Firstly, the ground is hard, like concrete. This isn't his bedroom. Last he checked, he had a carpet, and he wasn't aware of any cement trucks bursting through the wall recently. Secondly, he has shoes on. Did he sleep in his shoes? No, he's not that stupid.

Though he could hardly see anything just yet due to the wrath of the sun god Ra attacking his retinas, his eyes fell to look at his feet. White shoes covered them, a stark contrast to the black he usually wore. They aren't his. Along with that, a hideously bright teal tracksuit adorned the rest of him. Cool, he's a prisoner. Can he add this to his dark and twisted backstory? 

It was quickly brought to his attention that he was not alone here, not even close. He could hear at least dozens, if not hundreds of other footsteps and confused voices surrounding him from all directions. Looking at his feet was getting boring, might as well take a look around.

The room he was in was massive. Metal frames of bunked beds lined the walls, and on the furthest wall was a large set of doors with a massive screen above them. He stood and slowly walked out into the center, where many other people in equally shit clothing had slowly started to pile in from the sides, most looking just as confused as he was.

... Oh, right! He'd called in to play some games or something, right? Shit, that gas messed with his head, he almost forgot. They could have at least let him keep his hat... His hand raised and ran through his hair. Yup. He feels bald without that thing.

Looking around, he quickly noted all the people around him. This must be a pretty big operation, huh? There were indeed hundreds of people, and everyone had three-digit numbers on their shirt on a small patch where a breast pocket might usually be. He looked down, grabbing the patch on his own shirt and reading it; 069.

"Heh. Nice."

...

Welp! He's bored! Time to make a friend!

He wandered around the still-growing crowd, looking at everyone and their numbers, trying to find the highest possible number he could. He doubted they meant anything, but it would be cool to have someone with a high number!

102... 255... 283... Ooh! He spotted someone with the number 455 leaning against one of the metal frames near the back of the crowd. That seems pretty high! He doubted there were many more than 455 people in here anyway!

With too much confidence in his walk, he approached 455, stopping at the bed across from her and leaning on the frame. Though, now that he was closer... She didn't seem that friendly. She was deliberately choosing to stay away from the rest of the crowd, eyeing everyone else quietly, arms crossed over her chest. Also, she has a ponytail! How is that fair? He should be allowed to have his hat then!

"Sup. The name's Thad, Thad McDude." Might as well shoot his shot, right?

"I don't care."

All right, good start! Heh. Yeah, he could almost feel the joy expelling itself from his body by the second. She didn't even look at him. He felt like a neglected dog on the side of the road. Too early to back down now, though! "Hey! If we're going to be playing games, we should get into groups, shouldn't we? We might need to get into teams for a game anyway, so we should build trust now! Right?"

The girl stayed silent for a moment longer, which she eventually broke with a sigh. "If I agree to that, will you shut up?"

"Probably not."

"... All right, whatever." Fuck yeah! That's one point on the board for the Thadster. He tried his hardest to suppress doing any physical celebration. "Great! You're not gonna regret it, I've got your back!" He flashed a quick thumbs up and sat on the bed Lizzy was leaning against, kicking his legs slowly off the side. Lizzy's eyebrows furrowed, her head turning to look at Thad, his words finally processing in her head. "Hold on a sec, did you say your last name is McDude?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

She blinked a few times, trying her hardest to gauge if he was fucking with her or not. "... Nothing. Whatever. I'm Lizzy, by the way. I'd say nice to meet you, but that would be a lie."

"Gotta say, I'm a fan of the enthusiasm." He flopped back onto the bed, resting his hands under his head. "So like, you play Fortnite?"

"Heeeeey besties!"

Oh god, there's more. Maybe that was for the best, she did not want to be a part of whatever conversation Thad was about to have with her. She glanced over to see two other players approaching, 030 and 409. The taller of the two, 030, was likely the one that spoke up given how much less she seemed to hate existing, actively waving over at the two of them with a little bit too much enthusiasm and a smile that looked way too forced. And most importantly, her hair's white. Is that natural? That can't be natural. Credit where it's due, it at least doesn't look too terrible on her.

Speaking of 409, she seemed much more reserved, and maybe even a little annoyed with 030. Poor soul, maybe she was also being forced to stay around an annoying ass piece of fucking shit. Long purple hair flowed past her shoulders-what the hell is up with these people's hair color-and her arms were crossed over her chest, her expression looking just about as dead as an expression can get. Yep. A fellow tortured soul. "I couldn't help but watch you guys from afar and hear you talking about grouping up. Ya got room for two more?"

"No. Also, that's a weird way of saying you were stalking us."

"Ignore her!" Thad sat up and peeked around Lizzy at the two of them, giving them a thumbs up. "I think she hit her head or something. You guys can join us!"

Lizzy groaned, rolling her eyes and gently smacking the back of her head against the frame. "I hate all of you already. And for the record, my head is fine, I don't know why he said that."

"I'm glad you all seem just as excited as me! I'm V, this is Doll!" She nudged Doll with her elbow, who only gave them a small disinterested wave.

Lizzy could feel her brain caving in. "... So what, is this some dumb social experiment where everyone pretends to have a stupid name or something?"

"Hey!" Thad snapped his head to look at her. "I knew it! You think McDude is a weird last name!"

Nobody spoke for a moment. They all stared at Thad.

"... Alright, maybe it's a little-"

"It's stupid, I agree with her." Doll finally spoke up, nodding over to Lizzy to indicate that she was referring to her.

"Whuh-Hey! She never said it was stupid! She just-she vaguely implied that!"

"No, it's stupid." Despite her best efforts, a smile forced its way onto Lizzy's face. Even if these guys are annoying, it's at least fun to bully them a little bit. Or more specifically, just this McDude guy. Group bullying. Yup. Yeah. She needed this. Uh-huh.

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"Uzi Doorman, what the hell are you doing here?!" Nori's grip on Uzi's wrist was tight as she pulled her daughter out of the crowd, and up to the side of the beds. "How did you even get here?"

"I-I'm sorry, I-"

"What if something happened to you? What if this was dangerous? You shouldn't have followed me!"

Uzi was silent for a few seconds.

"... If... If you thought this place was dangerous, then why'd you come here? What if something went wrong? What would I do then?"

Well, she raised a good point. It wasn't too smart to leave Uzi alone, was it? But when faced with such a good opportunity, was she given a choice?

... Yes, she was. And she chose to risk Uzi's safety by leaving her. That was a mistake. She never should have tried this shit, she got too greedy. "Okay. That's fair. I'm sorry, Uzi." Her arms wrapped around her daughter. Uzi's eyes closed, a little annoyed grumble coming out of her, but soon enough she accepted the hug and leaned into it, holding onto Nori tightly as she felt her head rest on top of hers. "We're both okay. That's all I care about, alright?"

A little smile tugged at the corners of Uzi's mouth. She got a bad vibe from this place, but... It couldn't be too bad. At least she wouldn't be alone here. "Alright." Nori pulled away from Uzi, setting her hands on her shoulders and glancing down at her number. "Aw, look at that, you've got number 3... Only one more than mine! We're like number buddies!"

"Huh?" Uzi looked down at Nori's shirt. Yup, player 002. "Oh. Yeah."

"How cute is that?" All joy and whimsy left Uzi's body. She smacked Nori's arms away and sat on her bed and crossed her arms. "Ew. Gross. Don't refer to anything relating to me as cute."

"But it is! You're cute."

"Stop. The fuck? Stop that. You're stupid. And dumb a little bit and I also hate you."

Another pair of footsteps slowly made its way toward the two of them, stopping a considerable distance away. "Nori?" It was a man's voice, one that instantly made both Uzi and Nori's skin crawl. They turned to look at him, Uzi instinctively taking a step back, half hiding behind Nori.

"... Khan." To say Nori's tone held aggression would be an understatement. No part of her felt anything positive as she looked at her ex-husband. His hands were clasped together nervously, and he found it hard to even make eye contact with either of them.

"Listen, Nori. I'm... I'm sorry about everything. Maybe we can-"

"Can it. You walked out on us. Don't come back acting like you give a shit about making things right."

"I know, I messed up. I can be better, I can-

"Fucking hell, it's your fault we're even here to begin with! Honestly, I'm almost happy to see you here, since it means you must not be doing much better than us."

Stepping away from Uzi, Nori took a few steps up to Khan, practically ready to kill him if he tried to do anything. Her voice lowered, her head tilting up to meet his eyes.

"Get the hell away from me, and get the hell away from my daughter. In fact, how about you do something nice for once, and leave this place before you win anything for yourself? Your sorry ass doesn't deserve it."

"... Honey, I-"

A loud smack reverberated across the room. Khan raised a hand to his face, holding it against where Nori struck him.

"Never call me that again. Go away."

Like a statue, Khan stayed still for a few seconds, before he nodded and turned his back to her, walking down the steps from the beds they were standing beside, and off to god knows where. She didn't care as long as it wasn't here.

She felt a hand grabbing onto hers and turned back to see Uzi. The poor girl looked scared... She gave Uzi's hand a little squeeze and gave her a warm smile, trying to push away the anger that had built up inside her. She'd be fine. She would make sure of it.

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Eyes stayed locked on someone far away. His foot tapped rhythmically on the ground, the metal frame under his foot ringing every time his foot hit. 216. Of course, that'd be his number.

He rubbed his eyes with one hand, before using it to brush silver strands of hair out of his face. It was hard to take his eyes off of Khan, yet he stayed distant. He couldn't get too close. Not yet, N knew better.

"You feelin' all right, dude?"

A distraction finally offered to take his attention away from that failure of a man, and he looked to his side to see someone else resting against the railing of his bed, the number 299 on his shirt. He was almost incentivized to ask if 299 himself was all right, the right side of his face was disfigured, almost like part of it had been burnt off. His arm didn't seem to be doing much better. It's gone. Completely gone. "Most of us are out trying to figure out what's goin' on. You kinda look sad here by yourself."

"Is that how you usually greet people?"

299 shrugged. "Honesty is the best policy."

His eyes narrowed. "... True, I guess."

299 held his hand out to N. "The name's Orion. Thought I'd get to know someone around here, don't wanna be completely alone."

He sighed, but after a moment of thinking, he reached out and shook Orion's hand. "Sure, whatever. I'm N. Happy to meet you."

"Likewise." Orion sat next to N, choosing not to question that this guy's name was just a singular letter. "So, I know this might be a lil' too personal too quickly, so no hard feelings if you don't want to answer... But what did you do to end up here?"

N stared at Orion for a few moments longer, lost in thought, before staring back out to the crowd of players, scanning it over, finding Khan once more. "... I... I didn't do anything. Honestly, I don't really know why I'm here yet. I have a good enough idea though."

Orion stayed silent for a few seconds longer, waiting for N to continue. "... As far as I know, everyone else chose to come here. Is that not true for you?"

"No, it is. Auughh, this is all so complicated..." He held his face in his hands for a moment, to which Orion gave him a confused look. "... Alright, damn, didn't think that question would give you an existential crisis, my bad." N chuckled. "No, no, it's... It's my fault I'm here, really. Just not exactly how I intended, I guess."

There was a brief silence from Orion as he waited, expecting N to continue before realizing that was the end of that. "... Gonna be real dude, that didn't clarify anything."

"Yup! And your confusion will be worse if I elaborate, so I won't."

Orion shrugged. "All right, your choice. Keep your secrets, magic man." N gave him a confused look before continuing. "Well? How about you?"

"Oh, nothing special. You see, I worked at an auto repair shop a couple months back. Long story short, movies aren't lying when they say that cars randomly blow up. Not even sure what went wrong, but something must have been reeeeal fucked up in that car. That's how I ended up like this." He pointed to the damage on his face. "Honestly, I'm lucky the damage wasn't worse. To myself, I mean-dude's car was wrecked."

"What." N stared at Orion, absolutely dumbfounded. "Yeah, nothing special, he says." 

"Yup. Long story short, the owner of the car is suing me for the damage, and lord knows I do not have the money for that. Hell, I can't even get a half-decent lawyer to cover me." 

"Sounds like the problem is on their end then. If you were just doing your job, then it's their fault for putting you in danger, right? Sue them back or something."

"Hah. I wish everything could be that easy."

"... Yeah."

He nodded, and looked back out to Khan. "We have that in common, then."

--------------------------------

It didn't seem like he'd be able to fix much here. Of course, Khan knew he messed up with Nori and Uzi, but the reminder still felt like a slap to the face, both literally and figuratively. And what, was he gonna get some money here then just... Leave? Go back to how his life before. God, this wasn't going to get him anywhere.

He stared at the bed bunked above him, lying on his back with his hands resting on his stomach. 

"Tough luck."

A voice pulled him out of his thoughts. He looked to the side of the bed and saw a woman whom he almost mistook for Nori, given her similar purple hair. "Sorry, I just saw everything that went down, and... I get it. I don't have a good relationship with my daughter either, so we're in the same boat."

A grunt came from Khan as he sat up. "Okay. What do you want?"

"To team up with you. Everyone else was doing, it, and I was feeling left out. I'm Yeva. You?"

... This seemed like as good of an opportunity as any. At the end of the day, getting an advantage in these games would still be better, despite what Nori told him. Right? "All right, Yeva, I'll join ya. I'm Khan, it's a pleasure."

"Pardon me, you two." The two of them looked to the new, unsettlingly familiar voice, their sights landing on player 001. They recognized him instantly, of course they did, it was the same guy that brought them here. "I think I remember you two... Khan and Yeva, right?"

"... Yup. You were, uh... Morry?"

"So close, bud! It's Mandy. Nice to see you two again! Mind if I join you guys?"

This felt wrong. The recruiter was also a participant in the games? It wasn't like they were at a shortage of players, so why include him? Yeva squinted. "... Why are you here?"

"Okay, I'm sensing some skepticism in the room, but that's fine! Justified, too, I'd also be alarmed if I was in your position." Neither Yeva or Khan said anything to him. Must not be the talkative types, huh? An awkward chuckle came from Mandy. "So, uh... Haha... Can I join you guys?"

The two of them looked at each other. "I guess I don't see why not, but what do you think?" Khan asked, his voice barely a whisper. "Shit, I don't know. He looks kinda weird, but not like a threat."

"... I'm right here, I can still hear you guys..."

"Come on, you can trust this guy!" Mandy jumped as a hand slapped him on the back, and his focus quickly went to the person behind him. Another player he recognized, and one he certainly wasn't too fond of. He had bright blue hair, maybe a little too bright, at least enough to annoy him a little bit. Player 023, Henry. He was dragging another player by the wrist, one Mandy recognized, but couldn't quite remember the name of, the number 404 being the only label referring to him... Oh well, there's 455 of these guys, he can't remember them all. Anyway, he looks bored out of his fucking mind, similar to how he was earlier when they'd played cornhole... Probably why he didn't remember him. He never paid much mind to the dull ones.

"I remember this guy, guessin' you guys do too? Lemme tell ya, he was a real good sport, I love this guy." A small grunt came from Mandy as Henry wrapped an arm around his shoulder, shaking him around playfully. Despite his annoyance, he tried to keep optimistic. "Right, glad you enjoyed playing... Uh... Did you want to join-"

"Yup!"

Khan and Yeva looked at each other once more and shrugged. "Oh well," Khan piped up, "I don't see why not. More people is better, right?"

"Agreed!" Henry exclaimed and moved away from Mandy, sitting next to Khan on his bed. "Oh, and don't bother asking for that guy's name." Henry gestured over to 404. "I know he's a teacher, but that's about all he told me. Honestly, he seems like he hates me, I don't know why he teamed up with me."

"You seem like an idiot." 404 finally spoke up, his voice just about as monotone as one can get. "Thought I'd leap on the grenade and team with you before anyone else could."

"Hah. You're funny." Henry gave him a thumbs up. Yeva sighed. What the fuck did she get herself into? "... Uh... So, Mandy... How did you end up here?"

"Right!" Anything to distract him from this stupid blue-balled fuck. "So, I've been recruiting people for a few years, right? But I've never actually seen these games, so I asked to participate myself this year and they said yes! Said I wouldn't be paid for my work this year, though, so I guess I better hope I win."

"Well, good luck, then. I think you joined the literal worst team in this whole place." They all looked over to 404. "Hah. Hahah. Yeah, I'm a little stupid, he's probably right." 404 rolled his eyes. At least Henry's self-aware.

--------------------------------

A loud alarm blared through the room, causing most players to jump a little as the large doors at the end of the room opened, and multiple men wearing pink suits and black masks walked out, the same ones Nori had previously seen in the car. She could now more clearly see the symbols on the front of their masks as well. Some had squares, some circles, some triangles... They really like those shapes, don't they?

"Greetings, players." The one at the front of the group spoke, in that same unnatural voice she heard on the phone. Now that she was hearing it in person and not through the crappy quality of her phone's speakers, she could tell that it was going through some kind of filter. Why did they need to stay so anonymous like that?

"Thank you for participating in the game. Over the next six days, you will all participate in six games, with the remaining players splitting the prize money amongst themselves at the end." The TV above the door turned on, just displaying '$0'. "As of now, the prize pool is at $0. The prize will increase with every game, with the maximum reaching 456 million dollars."

Instantly, everyone in the room seemed much more attentive. If that was true, then it was now clear that this wasn't some bullshit game show or anything. This could completely alter someone's life-hell, that much money could easily alter the life of everyone here forever, even spread across all of them.

"However, before the games begin, we would like to make sure everyone is willing to participate. We believe in the freedom of choice, and would like for everyone to sign a contract before they can officially play in the games. If you wish to leave at any time, please enter the door to the right of the stage. You will be escorted out once everyone else has made their choice."

The large door opened back up, and a few more guards came out, some holding small unfolding tables, and some holding papers. They quickly set the tables up and one guard stood behind each of the four of them, the rest of the guards retreating back through the door.

"Please line up to sign your contracts now."

Some players went quickly up to the tables, quickly glossing over the contracts before signing. Others, like Nori, were more hesitant. She looked to her side at Uzi, who was already staring up at her. "... So uh... No harm in at least reading it, right?"

"Agreed. Let's go." Uzi walked off to join one of the lines. Damn, she's kinda reckless. Just as she raised her!

Nori joined her, standing behind her daughter and waiting patiently as the line slowly moved forward. Her eyes stayed focused on the front of the line, where person after person signed the contract. Not even one person was backing away. That's probably a good sign, right?

Slowly but surely, they made their way to the front of the line, and soon enough it was Uzi's turn to sign the contract. She looked over it quickly, then picked up the pen she was provided and signed her name. "Yeah. This is pretty basic, I think we're good." She gave Nori a thumbs up as the guard took Uzi's freshly signed contrast and put it to the side, taking a new one from the pile and setting it on the table in front of Nori. She stepped up and took a look down at it, reading the conditions it had listed.

1. After signing this contract, a player cannot exit the games until they end.

2. Refusal to participate in a game, or abide by its rules, will result in elimination.

3. If at any point a majority of the players agree to end the games, they will end immediately, and all remaining players will get sent home with nothing.

4. Aggression toward any of the guards will result in elimination.

... That was it? It's almost concerning how little there is, given how high the reward is. Almost. Not enough to get her to leave, especially if Uzi's gonna be stuck in here now. Man. This was a mistake, wasn't it? No matter now, though, without any further thought she picked up the pen and signed the contract herself.

She stepped away from the table and to Uzi, the two of them walking over to the side of the room and watching the rest of the players sign the contract.

--------------------------------

"Thank you for your patience. Here are the results."

The screen switched from displaying '$0' to '456'. "Out of the 456 people brought here, all of you have chosen to stay. Therefore, 456 players will be participating in the games."

God dammit! Thad looked over to Lizzy's number. 455. So close to being the highest one, he was almost there...

"The first game will now begin. All players, please follow the guards through the door to your left."

A small door to the left of the platform slowly swung open, another one of the guards standing still on the other side for a moment before turning his back and walking away. "Looks like that's our cue to go, everyone!" Mandy's voice pierced the silence. He was the closest to the door, along with the rest of his group, so he was the first to follow the guard. The other two went in shortly after, and soon all of the players were funneling their way in.

N remained where he was, waiting until everyone else left before standing, walking over to the door himself with Orion trailing close behind.

"You seem hesitant, bud. Come on, we'll just be playing a few games, where's the harm?"

His hands found their way into his pockets. He kept moving forward, not looking back at Orion for even a moment, though his eyes stuck on one of the cameras for just a moment as he passed.

"... Yeah... What's the worst that could happen?"

Just a few games, huh?

Such bullshit.

--------------------------------

Chapter Text

Gears turned, and metal creaked loudly as the ceiling of the massive room began to move. Dirt fell through as it pulled open, the two halves of the ceiling splitting apart and revealing the bright sky above, the first and perhaps last sign of the outside world J would ever see. Thank god.

Was it strange of her to think like that? She's not crazy, right? This place clearly has something odd going on. They're offering the winners almost half a billion dollars, with no extra cost? That can't be right. They seem so secretive about this place, too. All of the workers wearing masks, gassing the players before coming here, and not letting them know pretty much anything about what the fuck is going on or where they are? Yeah. Weird. Maybe it's just paranoia talking, but she feels like somebody is going to get hurt here, and god dammit, it's not going to be her.

J stayed near the back of the crowd as everyone pooled into the field. Could it even be called that? It may as well be one; it was a very large rectangular room with a dirt floor, and two dead trees in the back with some weird creepy doll thing between them. Gross. A white line was on the ground near the entrance, one that the guards instructed the players not to walk past, so they were all crowded near the back, huddled almost uncomfortably close together.

"That thing's creepy, huh?"

The fuck?

She looked to her side and saw another much shorter girl standing shoulder-to-shoulder with her. Player 357. She had to be less than an inch away from actually pressing against her. Personal space is a dead concept. "... Uh. Yeah."

"Any idea what they're gonna make us play?" She turned her head to look up at J. Little freckles covered her cheeks and nose, a black bow was placed nicely atop her hair (no, Thad will not be getting his hat), and god, those eyes... They had such a lovely green color, and with how wide she was smiling, it was tricky to tell if there were any thoughts behind them. In other words, she looks a little stupid.

Alright, that was a bit much for a first glance at someone she knows nothing about, but come on, she's cute. "Nope. No clue." J shrugged and looked back over to the doll. "This place is big, though. We'll probably have to run around a bit if I had to guess."

"Aw, but my legs are kinda short... " J snorted and placed a hand over her mouth, trying her hardest to suppress laughing any further. "Oi! That's not funny! It's not my fault I'm this short!"

"I-I know, I'm not laughing at you. That was just kinda sad, which made it funny."

"Okay, mean."

"And?"

"Your hair is pretty."

"... Thanks?"

357 giggled and brushed some of her hair from her face before falling to the ground and crossing her legs. "Sorry, I just wanted to come tell you that. The color's really nice! Is it hard to keep it like that?"

Flattering. J can only get compliments from strangers. That must mean her personality is really charming. She found herself playing with one of her pigtails without realizing it. She's not that easy to fluster, right?

"Hah. Uh, it's actually natural. My siblings and I are all like this."

"Ouhhwohh..." J chose not to question whatever sound that was supposed to be. "That's so cool! How does that like- What is- Why? Is that too personal?"

"Uh... No? It's just my hair. And honestly, I dunno. As far as I know, it's not killing me, so I don't question it."

"... You've never like... Seen a doctor about it?"

"Nope."

Part of her is beginning to question if her recklessness is why nobody finds her personality as charming as she does. "Oh well. It's cool! You said your siblings are also like that? I might have seen one earlier. Did you come with them?"

V is here, too? Damn. It seems like her life didn't turn out well after N went missing, either.

"Oh. No, I didn't, just coincidence. You probably saw V; she's uh... She's a mess. Don't get near her."

"... Her? I thought she was a dude."

"... It could have been N. My brother. But probably not. I'm pretty sure he ran away to Canada or something."

"Oh... Is your name also a single letter?"

This girl really can't stick to one conversation topic, can she? Or perhaps she just decided that this was too personal of a topic to stay on. "Yep. J. I don't know why our parents did that."

"Cool!" Does this girl think everything's cool? "My name's Tessa! Or just Tess for short. That's not much shorter, is it? Oh well. Nice to meet you, J! Do you mind if I stick with you?"

Her smile was so innocent. It almost made J feel bad. If things did begin to go poorly here, this poor girl didn't seem to be able to handle it well.

"... I don't see why not. Go for it. What's the worst that could happen?"

------------------------------------------

"You keep lookin' at other people. What's up with that?" Orion questioned, tapping his foot against the ground as he waited for the game to start. The last few players had just entered, and the doors shut behind them. It couldn't be much longer now.

No response came from N as he stared off into the crowd. A few seconds passed, and Orion stepped up to him and waved his hand in front of his face, causing N to blink a few times and look over to Orion with a completely blank and confused expression. "Hm?"

"Dude. You good?"

"Oh yeah, sorry. I think I just saw someone I know over there, that's all."

"Oh, sick. Wanna go find them?"

"... Nah." He shook his head. "The game's about to start anyway, it uh... It can wait. Yeah. Heh."

Orion raised an eyebrow at N but didn't question his nervousness any further. "Alright, that sounds good." N nodded and scanned the crowd quickly again. There was no sign of J this time, but he knew he saw her. That stupid white hair he and his siblings had was recognizable anywhere. There were just too many people here right now; he couldn't catch much more than that small glimpse of her.

He stumbled forward, feeling someone collide with him from behind, but not hard enough for him to lose his footing. "Shiiiit, sorry, bro! No hard feelings, man, good luck." N turned to see some annoying blue-haired fuck, pushing his way through the crowd and up toward the front with his group. "Oh. Uh. No worries?" He gave them an awkward smile, staring as they passed, the rest of the group members not even bothering to look at him.

Oh hey, that's Khan, fuck.

He froze up, hoping Khan wouldn't recognize him, and by some stroke of luck, he didn't. Maybe it was too long since the two of them had seen each other, or maybe Khan wasn't looking at everyone to try to find any familiar faces in the same way N was. Regardless, he walked past, and N let out a relieved sigh. He's not dealing with this shit. Not today.

-------------------------------------------

"Could you be any louder?"

Mandy set his hand on Henry's shoulder. "Sorry, I don't wanna be rude, it's just... Y'know."

"Nah, I get it, no problem bro! I'll quiet down!" Mandy looked back to the rest of the group, who shared an equally distraught expression at the fact that Henry did not, in fact, quiet down. "Did you have to bring this guy with you?" Yeva whispered over to player 404. "Believe me, I didn't want to. Whatever, I doubt he'll last too long anyway."

The same alarms from earlier, alerting the players that the guards were about to enter the room, blasted across the field. All players went silent as a voice shot out from multiple speakers lining the walls.

"The first game will now begin. You will be playing red light, green light. Make it to the end of the field within 5 minutes, and do not move when the doll says red light."

Most players seemed relatively amused by this, Khan included. "Hah! Red light, green light? Easy! I used to play this with my friends all the time; I'm basically a master!"

"You don't seem like you have friends." 404 chimed in. "Yo, man, keep the negative attitude out of-"

The voice came back, blessing the group's ears as it cut off Henry's bullshit. "The game is about to begin. All players, please get ready. The game will officially start when you hear the doll say 'green light.'"

No more speaking. Everyone went silent, apart from a few murmurs among the crowd. Compared to how loud everyone just was, this was almost a sensory deprivation chamber.

The doll's head at the end of the field quickly made a 180-degree turn, facing away from all of the players and toward the back wall.

"Green light!"

The five of them began moving, some quicker than others. While Yeva and 404 stayed closer to the back, Henry and Mandy rushed forward, perhaps a little too quickly, and Khan was somewhere in the middle. "Christ almighty... So much for sticking together, huh?" Yeva watched as Mandy sprinted far ahead, further than most other players. Why the hell is that guy so fast? And more importantly, why is he being so reckless? Is he stupid or something?

"Red light!"

The doll's head snapped back forward, and it was as if time stood still. For everyone except for Mandy, that is.

He panted, stopping as quickly as he could, but he was going far too fast. He skidded across the dirt for a moment and struggled to keep his balance toward the end. "Oh, fuck, shit-" He mumbled to himself, and slowly he tipped over and fell to the ground.

404 and Yeva glanced at each other, and Henry sighed from behind Mandy. "Shit, man, I told you, don't go that fast!" Mandy chuckled as he got up, brushing the dirt off his tracksuit. "You're one to talk, you're right behind me!"

"Player 001, eliminated."

The voice came back, just rubbing salt in the wound. "Hahah... Well, that's unfortunate, huh? It was fun while it lasted, I guess! Maybe Henry was ri-"

A loud bang sounded out, and Mandy collapsed to the ground.

-------------------------------------------

Uzi tagged closely behind Nori, almost clinging to her back as they walked cautiously. They were going pretty slow, slower than most people, but better safe than sorry. The field was big, sure, but still manageable. They should still make it.

"Red light!"

It crept Uzi out how everyone just froze, not moving a single muscle. Part of her almost believed that she was some cool superhero with time-freezing powers or something.

"Uzi. Nori."

Uzi heard a voice somewhere behind her. Her heart felt like it dropped to her feet when she heard it. It was different than she remembered, but she could recognize that voice anywhere. Instinctively, she tried to turn her head to look over at the source.

"Don't move! Neither of you move, don't look at me, don't even speak without covering your mouths. Okay?" N spoke to them in a loud whisper. "You can't lose. You can't. Please trust me on this." Uzi swallowed hard. It took everything in her body not to move, but she did as she was told, and so did Nori.

He quickly glanced at the front of the crowd, seeing Mandy stand up and brush himself off. Shit. "Okay, listen, things are about to go downhill fast. Whatever happens, do not run away. You hear that? No matter what. You will only lose if it sees you move. Stand still, and you'll be fine. That's-"

A loud bang, and Mandy was on the ground. Many players jumped, some moved too much, and some went up to Mandy to see what was wrong out of pure instinct. Yep. Shit's about to get crazy.

"... W-What-"

"Stay quiet!" N shouted, not letting Uzi get anything out, then took a deep breath. "Sorry, just-"

Another bang.

Then another.

Then somebody screamed.

And before anyone knew what was happening, all hell broke loose.

Plenty of people started running, trying to get back to the doors. Screams flooded the room, mixing with the loud pops of each gunshot as each new person tried to escape. "Shit, shit-Guys! We have to get out of here!" Khan shouted and turned on his feet to make a dash to the doors. "Khan, no!" Yeva attempted to shout out, but it was too late. It was only a matter of seconds before Khan, too, went limp and fell face-first into the dirt. 

Uzi was shaking. God, she hates loud noises, and this is just about as loud as it gets. The stress of probably getting shot dead isn't helping, either! She started pulling from Nori to run away, turning her body a bit, and she was already beginning to move one of her legs. Nori flinched, too, seeming just a moment away from reaching back to try to stop her.

"Uzi, no!" With her body turned, she could see him now. Her suspicions were confirmed. He was a lot taller, but apart from that, there was practically no difference. Tears poured out of her eyes. This is all too much, way too much for her to process all at once. 

His arm was wrapped around his face, his mouth buried into his elbow. "Stay completely still, both of you, please! You'll only get eliminated, or-or killed, if you move! Please, I know you don't have any reason to right now, but trust me!" There was desperation in his eyes and voice, but that's not why she stopped. Just seeing him was enough to stun her into freezing like a statue.

Slowly, the screams began to die out, and the two stayed frozen, staring at each other. Nori could feel the sweat dripping down her face while she resisted every urge to turn back, to see N for herself, and to make sure her daughter was okay. The growing silence should have eased Uzi's mind, but it didn't. God, how could it?

And eventually, the noises stopped altogether. It seemed like a majority of people were left, but that by no means meant that few people died. Everyone who moved was piled up near the doors leading out, or scattered across the field, and those who remained didn't move a single muscle.

Green light.

Though the doll's head turned, nobody dared to move. Nobody except N, who dashed in front of Nori, standing in front of the two. "Cover your mouths."

Nori slowly raised one of her hands and did as he said, covering her mouth like he did. Uzi stayed still, staring out at the bodies that littered the ground. "Uzi-"

Red light.

He stiffened up, staring over Nori's shoulder and over to his friend.

Was it wrong to call her that now? After all this time?

... No time to think about that. Not yet, they can talk later.

"Both of you, stay behind me, okay? We-"

He was interrupted by another gunshot. Some players flinched, including Uzi (a little too much), and then another shot was heard. Thank god she's hiding behind two people taller than her; she'd be dead by now if she weren't.

"We have to keep going. That doll's the only thing that can detect if you move, so if you stay behind me, it won't see you. Nori, you're calmer right now, so Uzi should stay behind you."

"... Damn right. I'm not letting her run off on her own." Of course, she also recognized that this was N and didn't want to put him in danger. But for some reason, he clearly knew more about this shit than they did. If anyone should be in front out of all of them, it should be him.

He nodded at her, his body relaxing a little bit. "You'll both get out of this. I promise."

Right. He knows he's not here to help them, but he can't help feeling like that.

Maybe this was right. Maybe he can finally help after all.

-------------------------------------------

Mandy's body was still on the ground. Lifeless. A small pool of blood had already begun to pool near his head, soaking into the dirt. Moments ago, this guy was alive. He looked happy. Sure, he wasn't the only one who died, but Henry really felt like he knew this guy. It made it feel more real.

Out of everyone in the group that remained alive, he was by far the closest to Mandy's body. All he could manage to do was stare down at him, entirely frozen in place, his heart pounding hard enough in his chest for him to question if someone had replaced it with a jackhammer.

That could have been him.

He was almost going just as fast as Mandy. It's a miracle he didn't fuck it up, too. Why isn't he dead? Mandy is. Why not him? Did he get lucky? Whatever god blessed him with that, why couldn't they have done the same for the hundreds of other people that just got killed without another word?

... At least he was the first to go, right? He never had to live with the guilt of knowing he was sending people to their deaths.

"Keep moving."

Startled, Henry jumped hard as he felt a hand on his back. Yeva stood at his side. With quick glances around, he noticed most other players moving, apart from those still immobile.

Green light must have been called, then. He hadn't noticed.

"We're on a time limit if you haven't forgotten. See?"

She pointed in the direction of the doll. Above it, there was a large screen with a timer ticking down. There were about four minutes left.

Red light.

The doll's head snapped back to face them, and he froze. Panic set in. "Chill out, dude. Keep yourself together for just a few moments."

He could hardly hear her voice due to how quietly she was speaking. He couldn't even muster the courage to open his mouth; how could she be so much more confident in a time like this?

"I wouldn't usually waste my time with someone like you," Henry heard from behind him, undeniably 404's voice, "but it's life or death here. You're not dead yet, so keep it that way."

Green light.

Deep breaths, Henry.

One foot in front of the other. It's that simple. Just don't think about it. Don't think about everyone dead. Don't think about how that could be you next.

404, now at Henry's other side, looked over to Yeva. "We're going too slow. We have to ditch him."

"What?" Yeva snapped back. "We can't do that. Even if he's a little annoying, he's still human."

"Bold of you to insult somebody right next to you."

"Look at him." She pointed her thumb to Henry. "Dude's shell-shocked or something. I don't think he's paying attention to either of us."

"Which is exactly why we can't bother risking our lives."

"Speak for yourself."

"Gladly."

404 picked up the pace to walk at a relatively decent speed away from the other two. Yeva scoffed. "Jackass..."

-------------------------------------------

"So if we get out of this, you guys wanna kiss or something?" Lizzy faced V and Doll as she walked, directing the question toward both of them. V's head perked up, a smile that was far too happy to be natural finding its way onto her face. "Oh, hell yeah!" That was easier than she thought it would be; V already seemed willing, if not a little too excited about this.

"Didn't you keep saying you hated us before the game?" Doll spoke up for the first time in a while.

"Yeah," she shrugged, "but you guys are hot."

"Damn right I am!" Contrary to Doll, V doesn't appear to ever shut up. "We'll probably all die here too, so might as well do it just for funsies, right?"

Green light.

Thad walked alongside the other three, his hands shoved into his pockets. One of his eyebrows was raised, his eyes fixed on Lizzy. "Wait, so like... Lesbians are real? I thought they were a myth. Like Bigfeet."

"Huh." Finally, someone made Doll show an emotion other than pure annoyance. Not that confusion was much better. Lizzy felt at least one blood vessel in her brain burst. "Yes? Also, it's Bigfoot."

"Damn, my bad. I support you." He flexed one of his arms for no apparent reason. Nobody was watching.

"Thanks?"

"No problem, broski." He gave a thumbs up, which, to his delight, Lizzy actually saw.

Thad lowered his hand and shoved it back into his pocket. "Doll didn't answer your question, by the way. You gonna kiss her or nah?"

"Not interested."

Red light.

"Oh well. Worth a shot," Lizzy said. "You should consider it though, I'm kinda a baddie." 

"... Okay?"

Score. She's two for two, nice.

"Not gonna lie, this lesbian thing is kinda cool," Thad said. This feels like some weird third (or fourth?) wheel situation, but he doesn't seem to mind. 

"What, do you want in or something? I'm sure Lizzy would love for you to join us!" Lizzy smacked V on the back of the head, breaking all laws of the known universe by reaching that high in the first place. The joke is that she's short. Thad laughed.

"Nah. I don't think I'm ready for a relationship, given the whole crippling debt thing. I should get that sorted out first."

"Oh well, fair."

Green light.

V was the first to cross over the finish line, followed closely by the rest of the group. "Man, that was easy! If the rest of the games are like that, getting this money should be a piece of cake!" V stretched out her arms, then sat on the ground and faced back to the other side of the room, watching the rest of the remaining players make their way to the end.

Thad scratched the back of his head and moved to one of the nearby trees and leaned on it. "I, uh, I dunno if I'd say easy. A lot of people did die."

"Well, you didn't. Focus on that, kay?" Lizzy gave him a pat on the back and went to sit next to V.

"... I'll try not to."

-------------------------------------------

Uzi wanted to peek past Nori to see N but was too afraid. Like if that doll saw any part of her body for even a split second, she'd be going straight down to hell (she is not going to heaven, and on a completely unrelated note, she violently regrets not clearing her search history before coming here).

But she could still hear his voice, so close, not in some old recording for once. She could talk to him now. If only it weren't in a situation like this, where he's throwing himself into danger to protect her.

He's in danger.

He could get hurt.

Uzi's mind began to race. She wasn't scared about dying anymore. N was her new top priority. She can't lose him again, she just can't. She remembers how much it hurt the first time. Never again. "N-N? No, you-"

Green light.

"It's okay, Uzi. I'll be fine, I promise. We just need to move, come on." He began to take slow steps backward, facing the two of them the whole time and making sure not to move too fast. Knowing she had no other choice, Nori reluctantly followed, with Uzi not far behind... Dammit. He's right. How the hell could she help him in a time like this?! He's like-He's fucking massive, holy shit. He used to be so short; now, he might as well be twice her height. The point is, she would not be able to block that doll from seeing him, no way in hell.

Red light.

Damn, they barely even made it a few feet. At that rate, they would never reach the end in time. They'd have to-

BANG!

N flinched. Right, people are still dying. He shouldn't get too wrapped up in his own head; getting pulled out of it too harshly could be the death of him. Uzi took a glance over to him, mustering the strength to move. Is she stupid for that? Probably. But she felt the need to verify that he was okay.

Green light.

The sounds of footsteps slowly started to pile on top of each other as more and more players began to move. Slowly, N picked up the pace, attempting to guide Nori and Uzi to the best of his ability. "... Okay, gonna address the elephant in the room here, hi! It's me. We can discuss that later, just try not to think about it now, okay?"

"How am I supposed to not think about this?!" Uzi piped up, her sudden burst of energy surprising both Nori and N. "You-You vanished for-"

Red light.

Uzi froze, remembering that she was right on the verge of death if she made one more move. Cool, it's good to see that it's just as easy to forget her problems around him, even if she's yelling at him. Was she angry? Yeah. Happy to see him, of course, but above that, absolutely fucking livid. He goes missing for however long and shows back up like some knight in shining armor to help them? That's a little fucking convenient. Where the hell has he been all the other times she needed him?

"... Now's not the time, Uzi. I'm sorry. We can talk after this game, just... Get through this for me, okay?" He peeked behind Nori, attempting to give Uzi a quick smile before realizing his mouth was still covered, so that was pretty damn useless. Why is he even covering his mouth? He's not facing the doll. Whatever, better safe than sorry. "Yeah, you've got some explaining to do, bud." Oh! Nori's relevant here too, right. N was so focused on Uzi that he basically forgot that he definitely fucked her up a little, too, when he generously abandoned them for half a decade. "I will, I promise, just please, for the love of god, focus on not dying right now!"

Green light.

He didn't notice gunshots that time. At least, he didn't pay attention to them. Good sign, death doesn't bother him anymore, so that's healthy. The same couldn't be said for Uzi. Nori was keeping her composure relatively well, all things considered. Still, Uzi looked like she was on the brink of a panic attack and (somehow) a midlife crisis, assuming she didn't have one already.

Whatever. Walking backward is too slow now. He whipped around, facing back to the doll and swinging his free arm behind him, extending his hand. "Nori, grab my hand. Grab Uzi's, too. Lean on me for stability if you think you need to."

Nori did as he said, gripping both of their hands relatively tightly. N began to speed walk forward, going just about as fast as he could without making any of them sprint full-on.

-------------------------------------------

Red light.

"We're almost there. We can probably make it this next time, alright? We'll have to go quick, though."

Nori nodded, despite knowing that N couldn't see it, so he took their silence as confirmation that this was probably a good idea.

Green light.

Now or never!

He knew he was probably faster than the other two, so he didn't go at full speed but went much faster. The three of them ran across the field, the finish line getting closer and-

Red light.

Fuck. That was a short one, much shorter than N expected.

He came to a stop as quickly as he could and felt Nori ram into his back, knocking him forward a bit. A little too much. He gathered his balance as quickly as he could, and as soon as he was able to, he froze, his eyes darting up to meet the doll's.

Their eyes met.

It was looking at him, it saw him move, he knew it did.

Everything seemed to freeze. N knew he should be about to die, yet for some reason, he felt like...

Green light.

Of course. They couldn't let him die now.

"Go! Holy biscuits, go!" With the equivalent pressure of being at the bottom of the ocean leaving his body, he took the last few (admittedly rather large) steps to the finish line, pulling Nori past it with him and then letting go of her hand. Honestly, the two of them could have been screaming their heads off at him just a moment ago, but he was too focused on not shitting his pants to hear them. Once past the line, he fell to his knees and closed his eyes, trying to focus on his breathing.

That was too close. In all honesty, N mainly was lying to himself. He suspected he'd survive, but he could never guarantee that. But he was okay. That's what mattered now.

When he opened his eyes, he saw Uzi standing before him. Somehow, he still had to tilt his head downward just a little to make eye contact with her despite being on his knees.

"... Heh... So, uh-"

Maybe she's faster than he gave her credit for. In the blink of an eye, she had thrown herself into his chest, her arms wrapping around (and nearly crushing) his waist.

"... Oh... Uh... I missed you too?"

An awkward smile covered his face as he returned the hug, trying to ignore the tears forming in his eyes. She was in danger here, but part of him felt like she might be safe, like he was finally doing something good after all.

-------------------------------------------

Tessa clung to J's arm like a lost dog. Something like that would bother her in any other circumstance, but in this case, it didn't. It was honestly a pretty damn good idea to steady yourself on someone else, especially in a game like this, where any slight movement could be the death of you.

Part of her was almost glad Tessa chose her over everyone else. The death didn't bother her much. It was unfortunate; of course, she was worried for her safety, but she could manage herself just fine. Tessa did not seem to share that same mentality; the poor girl was scared out of her mind. It was honestly a miracle she kept calm enough to realize that running away would kill her. She must not be as stupid as J initially assumed; if she were, she probably would have been booking it the moment Mandy fell.

Her breath was shaky. J could tell by the look in her eyes that she was fighting every instinct in her body telling her to book it for the doors.

"Green light!"

After a deep breath, J began walking forward, dragging Tessa with her. This had the unfortunate downside that J would definitely get moved in some meaningful way if Tessa went down, but honestly, she didn't care. If she protected this girl? Cool. If she dies trying? Even better. Maybe she'll feel like her life means something if it's spent helping another.

Or that would make everything she's ever done worthless because she died for no fucking reason. But lying to herself is fun, so she'll keep doing that.

"... You holding up okay?"

She didn't look down at Tessa, but she could feel her shaky nod against her arm. Her eyes were shut tight to block the sight of the corpses littering the ground around her, so J was her only real source of knowing where she should be going. "Uhm. I'll be fine, I think. Hah. Hahah."

"You will. Just take deep breaths. Try to calm yourself down."

Red light.

They froze in place. J could feel Tessa's grip on her arm tighten. "... What if I can't? If I shake too much, I-I could-"

"Shh. Stop worrying about it." J spoke quieter than her, hoping the movement of her mouth wasn't about to get her killed, but she doubted it was. It was definitely an automated system detecting them, and if it were that sensitive, then everyone here would be dead already. "Even if you're afraid, that's okay. That's a pretty proper response to knowing you're maybe about to die. But it won't kill you unless you do something stupid. Alright? So keep walking, and you'll be okay."

"Green light!"

J tried to start walking forward as usual, but Tessa stayed still. For how much shorter she is, she's pretty damn strong, her grip on J's arm was holding her in place pretty well. She looked back at Tessa, pulling on her arm lightly. Not trying to pull it away from her, just trying to move her along. "Hey. C'mon, we're on a time limit here."

"I know! You think I don't know?! I just-I-" She cleared her throat and looked down. J stared at her, a little taken aback by how loud she was, but mostly indifferent about it.

"... Sorry, sorry, I'm just... I need a sec. I shouldn't lash out."

J paused and took a quick peek back behind her. The clock read 1:31. It was not long, but they were pretty close by now. And some others were starting to make it to the end, so that was a motivator. Anyway, they could probably spare a few seconds. "... Nah. Let-"

"Red light!"

Annoying ass doll.

"Let it out. I don't really care. Might make you feel better, who knows?"

Tessa kept silent for a little while.

"Green light!"

J blinked at her. Man. This is just kinda sad now.

"I hate this stupid game!"

Oh.

Tessa sprinted forward, basically dragging J along the floor behind her as she ran. "Wh-This is not what I meant!"

"Fuck this game! Fuck this stupid fucking game! I wanna go fucking home! I don't want you asshole's dumb fucking money!"

Having gotten apparently bored of swearing, Tessa leaped onto the ground and on her stomach. J fell right along with her. "What the fuck? What was that?! Are you trying to get us killed or something?"

Red light.

"He... Heheheh...." Tessa started to giggle a little through breaths that were too heavy, considering how little they just ran. "You were right! I feel a lot better now!"

"I didn't tell you to do that! You could have killed both of us!"

"Oh, come on, it's fine! If we lay down, it's probably hard for that thing to tell we're moving at all!"

"Yeah, but now we must get up quickly enough to make considerable distance."

"..."

"Do you think about the consequences of your actions? Pick a struggle, lady."

"It was a good idea on paper!"

"That paper is on fire."

"I'll set you on fire, bitch."

"Damn?"

"Sorry! Adrenaline's kicking my butt right now! Honestly, I think I'm about to pass out."

"Please don't."

Tessa giggled yet again. She does that a lot. "I won't! Not until we're done, at least!"

Green light.

"Ooh! That's our cue!" 

She shot up to her feet and pulled J up as quickly as possible. "Okie dokie, off we go!" Her legs carried her forward as quickly as they could. J kept up the pace, stumbling but soon finding her footing. "Isn't this a little reckless?!"

"Yep! Fun, though! Right?"

"Sure, whatever you say."

Tessa jumped back onto the ground, and J followed her lead this time.

Red light.

"Oops, that one was close!"

"You know what else is close?"

"..."

"..."

"I meant us. Like close to the finish line."

"Oh!"

Green light.

"Say no more!" She goes back to her feet. J was right; there was basically no distance left to the end, so they didn't have to move much more to make it.

Once past the line, Tessa let go of J's hand and did a few almost cartoonish jumps, raising her hands into the air each time. "We did it! We made it, Jaybird!"

"Don't-Ough-" J was cut off by Tessa ramming herself into her chest at full speed, pulling her in for a hug. She was about to tell her not to call her that because nicknames are stupid, but... Whatever. She seems happy, best not to ruin that.

-------------------------------------------

That was... Honestly, it was surprisingly uneventful.

Yeva had expected a lot worse from this game. After the absolute massacre that occurred in the first minute, she might as well have gone through all of the stages of grief in an instant. Yet here she was, alive, past the finish line with Henry beside her. Unfortunately, his grief stages still seemed to be hitting him.

He sat on the ground, legs tucked into his chest, staring down into the dirt. He was annoying before, but Yeva preferred that over seeing him like this. This is just sad. It's a miracle he even made it, but she's glad he did. She's happy she could help him make it. It was close; in fact, she still felt the fear dispersing from its body, but they made it with little to no interesting events happening along the way.

Apart from 404 leaving them, that is. No wonder the guy hates being a teacher; he can't even be bothered caring for one dude for more than 30 seconds. Even if it is life or death, he could have stayed back just a little longer, right?

And it was now that she realized she was staring right at 404. And that he was right in front of her. Wow, she must have spaced out hard, huh? "If you have something to say, just say it."

"Oh. No, sorry, just thinking."

404 sighed. "Listen, I know you must be mad. I get that; I can't blame you, I guess." He uncrossed his arms and set his hands on his hips. "But can you blame me? I didn't think the dude would make it even if I did help. And my survival is important to me, too. I wasn't leaving him to die, just-"

"It's fine," Henry spoke up, talking for the first time since Mandy had died. "I get it, too. I'm-Shit, of course I'm grateful Yeva helped, but... I kinda wish she didn't risk her life for me..." Yeva made a few quick, annoyed glances between them, then groaned and rolled her eyes. "Alright, whatever. I don't blame you, just kinda annoyed in the heat of the moment, I guess."

She looked down at Henry. "You're welcome, by the way." A faint smirk came onto 404's face. "Nice passive aggressiveness."

"Thanks? I think?"

The doors back toward the start of the room opened, and some guards stepped out of them, two moving to stand at each side of every door. "Today's game has concluded. All players, please head back to the dormitory."

Despite having cleared the game already, the tension in the room went down at least a little bit as it was confirmed that those who remained were safe—for now. The ceiling began to close back up, and at that moment, most people realized that there were no actual lights in the room and started to rush back before it was too dark to see at all.

Yeva looked down at Henry, who had started to get up on his own. At least he was calming down a little, but he still looked like he was on the verge of a breakdown. She glanced at 404, who, to her surprise, was staying back to wait for them.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just thought you'd leave again."

"I no longer appreciate the passive aggressiveness."

-------------------------------------------

The dormitory felt emptier, not just because of the lack of people but also because about half of the beds had been removed while they were out playing the games. For them to do that much that quickly, they'd have to have a bunch of people working on this. But is that even surprising? They were giving away so much money; of course they had many employees.

Most people had moved back to the beds, with rarely anyone talking. And among those people, a small group of 4 sat near the corners.

"Heh. So uh... Man, where do I even begin..."

N rubbed the back of his neck, looking to the side nervously as he sat on the bed. Nori and Uzi stood before him, and Orion sat on the bed behind them. Glad to see he's alive! He abandoned him when he saw Uzi, but at least he didn't seem mad about that...

"... Man, this is hard! I, uh-I'm like-Uh. I uh. So I went missing, right? Because uh. Uhm. So. So uh."

To his delight, the buzzer that had earlier signaled the first game starting sounded out, and some guards entered through the door. "I'll explain later, great! Let's go check that out!"

He shot up and walked out into the center of the room. Nori narrowed her eyes. "... I don't like that guy." She said before walking to follow him into the slowly forming crowd. Orion followed behind her, not saying anything, and Uzi was left alone. She disagreed with her mom. She liked N still, even after everything. But he was being a little off...

"Here are the results of the first game."

The guard spoke, and the screen above the stage turned on, displaying "Number of players : 456".

This number slowly began to tick down, growing exponentially quicker, until it stopped at 281.

"175 players were eliminated, and 281 of you are left. As such, the prize pool has increased by 281 million dollars. As it will be evenly distributed among the winners, each player would receive $617,021.28 if the games ended right now."

"Eliminated? They were eliminated?!" Someone spoke up near the front of the crowd. "They died! You didn't tell us that would happen when we came here!"

"Yeah!" Someone else piped up. "Let us go home!"

One by one, more people shouted until the guard spoke again.

"I understand that some of you are disappointed. We believe in the freedom of choice and will allow you to vote for your freedom. Please stand by."

Two of the guards walked back out of the doors behind the stage. Soon enough, they returned, carrying a small podium with two buttons. One was blue and had an O on it, and the other was red and had an X. They walked up to the front of the stage and set it down.

The screen changed, displaying a large X and O, the number 0 below both.

"Everyone, please stay back. The vote will now begin. We will go in the order of player numbers, starting with 002."

Nothing happened for a while before Nori realized that that was her and stepped through the crowd, walking with a little too much determination over to the podium, slapping the shit out of the X button, then returning.

The number under the X on the screen ticked up, now displaying 1.

"Player 003."

Uzi recognized much more quickly that that was her number and stepped up, much more nervous than her mom was. She could feel everyone watching her. Ew. Whatever, get it over with. She hit the X.

More players went up, and the results were not looking good. People were voting for the games to continue. And not just a few people-At least half of the votes were in favor of this shit going on. That's concerning!

"Player 023."

Henry slowly made his way to the podium, being sure not to hit the wrong button. Sure, he was in debt, but he couldn't afford for this to go on.

X.

"Player 030."

V walked up and gave the O button a nice, gentle press down. "Oh, god..." N muttered under his breath. "That's-That's V!" Uzi pointed to her, as if it wasn't clear who she was talking about. "I know, keep it down! Biscuits, why is everyone I know here?"

"Player 048."

Yeva's turn. She stood at the podium for a while, longer than most players so far, lost in thought. What did she want? This place sucked, but so did her life. How could she return to her life?

But this isn't just about her. She knows that. Other people want to go home, too.

X.

"Player 069."

"The best number!" Thad shouted as he walked out of the crowd, holding two fingers up in a peace sign above his head. Lizzy facepalmed, trying to hide her secondhand embarrassment.

He approached the podium and slapped the X hard enough to break the button. They had to get another.

"Player 085."

N shouldn't be surprised to see J walking up to the stand anymore, but he is. "That's-" 

"I know who it is, Uzi. I'm not happy about it."

"Why?"

"... Because they're my siblings? And they might die?"

"Oh yeah."

Like Yeva, J also took a moment to think before resting her hand on the O button and clicking it down. She returned to the beds, giving the crowd a quick scan and spotting Tessa, who gave her a nod. She nodded back.

Time passed. The votes started looking worse and worse, and N grew increasingly worried. "Player 216." Then it was his turn! Splendid!

He took a deep breath and walked out of the crowd. Any hopes he could ever have of V or J not knowing he was here are gone. He could almost feel both of them looking at him. Both of them had voted to continue too, damn... Just how much did his disappearing fuck them up?

That wasn't important right now. He needed this to end. He cast a glance at the screen and read the current results. "X: 59 / O: 67". Damn. At least he could contribute to what he knew was best. He hit the X button and looked up, staring into the guard's mask behind the podium. "... Cowards." He muttered before stepping away.

"Player 299."

That's Orion's call! There's no need to think about this one too hard!

X.

"Player 357."

Tessa skipped up to the button and hit the O without a second thought. J was honestly surprised she actually did it.

"Player 404."

404 rested his hand against the X. Morally, he felt like this was right. As he said earlier, he didn't know these people, and he values his survival, so this was right. Right? Besides, the other two in his group voted to stop, too...

...

O.

Sucks to be them. He'd rather die fighting here than return to his mundane life.

"Player 409."

It was hard to convince herself that her vote meant anything at this point, given the current results, but here Doll was, pretending this meant anything.

X.

"Player 455."

And last but certainly not least! Lizzy walked up, feeling absolutely no pressure in this decision whatsoever.

X : 132 / O : 149

Yeah. Her vote meant nothing here, so she just hit a random button and walked away.

"The vote has come to an end. The majority voted for the games to continue. Thank you for your choice."

"Hold on!" Someone stepped forward and raised his voice to the guards. "The games can continue, but those who voted for it to stop should go home!"

"Clause 3 of the consent form!" N stood up and yelled out. The others in his group just looked up at him, wondering what the fuck he was doing. "'If at any point a majority of the players agree to end the games, they will end immediately, and all remaining players will get sent home with nothing.' That's true, right?"

"Correct." The guard stated.

"Great! So I'm not happy about it, but nowhere in there does it say that those who voted against this can leave, so we're all stuck here. Correct?"

"Correct."

"Cool. By the way, thanks for being very descriptive in that form!" He sat back down and groaned. The player who spoke up was silent and walked back, annoyed, to his bed.

"God, this place sucks... Sorry, it would have been mayhem if I didn't stop that there..." The others just stared at him for a moment. That didn't make him look any less suspicious, did it? Great.

-------------------------------------------

"Thanks for voting with me!"

Tessa's legs swung off the side of her bed. J sat across from her. "What, did you think I wouldn't? I want these games to continue too, I didn't just do that for you."

"Nope! Though we won by so much, I guess it didn't really matter..."

"True. Though I admit, I'm surprised you wanted to vote to continue."

"Why? Everyone's here because their lives are screwed up, right? Why go back? Either we die here, or we get a buttload of money. It's a win-win!"

"Morbid, but I agree. Though, you looked terrified during the game. What happened to that?"

"I got over it."

"..."

"..."

Part of J felt like teaming up with this girl would get her killed. But she seems at least a little sane, so she'll stick around for longer. "You're weird."

"Heehee, yep! And I embrace it!"

"Doesn't that just make you weirder?"

"Surely not!"

J chuckled, then leaned back onto her bed to lay down."Whatever you say, princess."

"Woah. Don't call me that, it'll make me feel all kinds of ways."

"What."

Tessa let out a loud laugh and moved over to J. She laid down beside her, lying on her side and facing J, who blinked and turned her head to her.

"Hey."

"... Hi?"

"Too close?"

"A little?"

"I can mov-"

"No."

"I'm getting mixed signals here, mate. "

J smiled. "Yeah. I dunno, it's nice to have someone I can be close to, I think."

"Agreed!"

Yeah. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all. She's got this idiot here to keep her sane through this, right? Yup. That can only end well.

-------------------------------------------

N lay back on his bed and rubbed his eyes. Nori stood up and moved to be next to him. "Why do you have the form memorized?"

"Hm?"

"The consent form. You recited that clause three shit word for word. There's no way you memorized it all that fast. What's up with that?"

"... I have a good memory?" He smiled awkwardly at her. It was a lie; she could tell it was. Something's up with him, and she just doesn't know what it is yet. "Don't give me that! You've been acting suspicious this whole time, you-"

"H-Hey! Mom, uh, let's not start any fights! Okay?!" Uzi stepped in front of her and tried to push her away, and at that moment, Nori realized she probably looked a little bit too mad. "Right. Sorry, just... Whatever. I need time to think. I'll be back. Feel free to come with me if you want, Zi."

Nori walked down the steps of the beds. Uzi gave her a blank stare while she walked away, then sighed and sat beside N. "Uhm... Sorry about her? I like. Kinda get it, but... I don't think you're suspicious at all. Or I guess I kinda do? You know what's going on, and that's weird, but um, it's also useful! So, uh, I won't question it?"

"This is awkward, I'm leaving." Orion flashed a peace sign before walking away, too. Honestly, she forgot he was there. N chuckled, waving at Orion and then facing back to Uzi. "It's okay, Uzi. I'd be weirded out, too, if I was her. She's in shock I think. I'm surprised you're doing so well, you looked uh... A little mortified in the game?"

"Huh?! No, I didn't!" N felt the life drain from his body after Uzi punched him in the side. Damn, she can hit hard. That was likely harder than she intended-regardless, he probably deserved that. "I bet I looked really cool! And tall!"

"W-Why tall?" N asked as he gripped his side.

"Because I am!"

Through mild gasps, he laughed again. "Yeah, yeah, whatever you say."

"Hey! That's mean!"

"No regrets!"

"Bite me!" She fell back onto the bed, laying next to him and staring at the bottom of the bed bunked above them. She wanted so badly to be mad at him, both for leaving and implying he was short, but it was so hard. He's so much like how she remembered him. And honestly, knowing either of them could die at any moment, she wanted to savor that. Whatever's going on with him? She doesn't care. She'd like answers, but if he doesn't want to give them, then so be it. She can't waste her time trying to get something out of him.

They could get through this. She knows that.

She won't lose him again.

-------------------------------------------

On the beds above N and Uzi, someone lay at the top, lying on her stomach and looking down over the edge at the group, her head resting in her hands and legs kicking slowly behind her. Her unsettlingly bright orange eyes stared down at the two of them, because she thinks colored contacts are cool or something. She hummed quietly, tilting her head to the side a little. "Hehe... It looks like we've got a fun lil' varmint here, now, don't we?"

-------------------------------------------

Chapter Text

Despite the doll having already called out 'green light', nobody moved an inch. It was only moments ago that this game seemed simple, even tedious. Not anymore. All of the hundreds of people here were on the brink of death with one wrong move. Yet through the pressure, a smile tugged at the corners of Alice's lips.

"Red light!"

She waited, watching the doll as its head turned back to face the players. If it's red light, then that must mean...

BANG!

Perfect! She saw someone in the distance fall out of the corner of her eye. The gunshot startled a few players a little too much, and they soon fell as well. Part of her wanted to look directly at the bodies, to see the action, but of course she knew that wasn't the best idea.

Her suspicions were confirmed. You lose the game, you die. That was apparent by now, but the extra confirmation was nice.

As much as she would have loved to stay focused on those dying around her, something else grabbed her attention from somewhere off to her side.

"That doll's the only thing that can detect if you move, so if you stay behind me, it won't see you."

Though she'd heard him talking before, she only began to focus on his words when she heard him say that. She couldn't face him just yet, but her curiosity was so close to getting the better of her already.

He's talking like he knows something, something that most here are clueless about.

"Green light!"

Still keeping her distance, she faced the direction of the voice, her eyes darting between the players until they landed on him.

Player 216, standing in front of two other players, the three of them having equally ugly hair.

"Ohoho... Now what's this?" Her gaze stayed locked on 216, not daring to look away for even a moment as she followed them, listening, but keeping her distance to avoid being spotted. He was too focused on those two to notice her, regardless, but better safe than sorry!

Her smile widened. It was clear that she was at a disadvantage. Someone knew more than her. But as far as she was concerned, she just found her ticket out of this place.

------------------------------------------

"So, whatcha planning on doing with the money?"

J rolled her head over, looking at the girl lying beside her. "Hm?"

"Like... The prize money? When you win?"

"When I win?" J scoffed. "That's wishful thinking. Besides, as far as I'm concerned, there will be one other person with me. If I win.”

"I appreciate it, but answer the question!" J's finger tapped against the back of her hand, both hands folded neatly over her stomach. "I... guess I never thought about it." Tessa's mind blanked for a moment. "... Isn't that the entire reason you came here?"

J shrugged. "More or less. Of course, I know money will help; I can pay off debts or whatever I need to do. But then what? Sure, I’m in deep shit, but I'll still be getting millions more dollars than I need. Besides, when you saw how many people were here, did you really think you'd be the one to get out?"

"... I mean..." Tessa's expression softened. She rolled onto her back and stared up at the bed above her. J felt guilt creep up on her. Maybe that was wrong to say. She was basically just reminding Tessa that she was probably going to die here. "Oh, uh, sorry. Didn’t mean to bum you out, uh... Just saying."

"No, you're fine." Tessa sighed. "I know you're right. I just… I want to think I’ll make it. It’s... weird, and uncomfy to think that I probably won't, you know?”

"Don't say that." Moving quickly, J grabbed a hold of Tessa's hand, causing her to look back over to her. "You'll make it out. I'll make sure of it. I am not letting anything here get to you." Tessa's heart skipped a beat. Yup. Staying here was worth it.

"Uhm. Heh. I. Uh. Flattering?" Her cheeks flushed, and she again found herself unable to look J in the eyes, pulling a smile onto J's lips. 

J started to let go of her hand, but Tessa's grip tightened the moment she tried to pull away. Her smile grew more amused. "Alright, princess, I'll stay." 

"Good!" Tessa pouted and slowly crept closer to J on the bed. "... I like… I have nothing outside of this place. So it's nice that I have you here. That's, uh, why I wanted us to stay."

"... Tess... You-"

"Tess? We're using nicknames now? Can I call you Jaconator?"

J stumbled over her words for a moment, trying to recover after that absolute bomb to her sanity. "You-I'm-What? You already call me Jaybird, does that not count?"

"Oh. Yeah."

"... You know, I was hoping you'd say that it was a joke, but now I'm thinking you actually wanted to call me Jaconator."

A concerningly long period of silence fell over the two.

"Don't call me that."

"My bad. I killed the vibe. Just go on with what you were saying. We can pretend this never happened."

"I don't even-The hell were we-Oh. Yeah, uh. You stayed for me. That’s, uh, that’s sweet, I guess? I don’t know."

"Hehe, yep! You're pretty! And, uh, nice. That's more important, should have opened with that. So uh, yeah, I wanted to stay."

"... Nah. I wouldn't say that I'm nice. Like, not usually. I just... Found someone worth being nice to, I guess."

"Aww…” Tessa shut her eyes, creeping closer still to J.  "I’m kinda curious, if you’re not planning on doing anything with the money, why’d you even vote to stay?"

“Hmm… Well... You asked me to stay, so I did. That's about it."

“… And I decide if you should risk your life, why?”

“I don’t know. You're cute?”

“Oh. Okay, charming, but that sounds like an unhealthy way to make decisions.”

“Eh. Not like I have much to get back to, either. That's why I'm here in the first place. And again, you stayed too, don't act like I'm the crazy one here.”

“Of course I did! What if we never met again if we left?”

“ ... That's it? That’s the only reason you stayed?”

J felt Tessa nod against her shoulder. Man, she hadn’t even realized she got that close.

“You could have just asked for my number.”

“But that might come off as flirting!”

There was another moment of silence. J blinked. “I think we're well past that stage already.”

“... True. But my memory sucks! I'd forget it instantly!”

“I could just ask you then?”

“Nuh-uh.”

A sort of amused grunt came out of J. Maybe this girl’s stupidity is growing on her. “The fuck you mean 'nuh-uh?'”

“I don't like it when people bring up good points. It makes me feel dumb.”

“You're a little bit dumb, yeah.”

“That's supposed to be the part where you call me smart and cool and stuff.”

“Nuh-uh.”

Tessa grumbled, yet smiled into J’s shoulder, wrapping her arms around the girl’s arm. “Meanie.”

------------------------------------------

"There you are." Thad was lying on one of the beds, trying to take a nap until he heard Doll. "Whueh? Oh, shit, hey." He rubbed his eyes, sitting up and trying to fix his hair, which had somehow already gotten messy from lying down for just 10 minutes. "What's up?"

"Nothing much. Just thought you guys abandoned me or something, I couldn't find any of you." She crossed her arms. "Speaking of which, any idea where the other two are?"

"No clue." Thad swung his legs off the bed and stood up, stretching a little bit. "Probably making out somewhere, if I had to guess."

"Unusual."

"What, were you not expecting this?"

Her eyes narrowed. "Don't say that as if you didn't find out lesbians are real thirty minutes ago."

"How was I supposed to know?!"

"Do girls really avoid you that much?"

"No. I avoid them."

"... That's somehow worse."

"What? I like being alone. Sue me."

"In a 'I have no friends and I'm depressed about it' way, or a 'I hate everyone' way?"

He gave Doll a confused look and sat back on the bed. "... Neither? I just don't live in a very populated area. There's hardly anyone my age to talk to, and those who are are usually drug addicts. Or in prison. Usually both."

"Ah." She sat on the bed across from Thad. "Tough shit."

"Agreed! But you get used to it."

"Tougher shit."

"No offense, but your conversational skills kinda suck right now."

"Toughest shit."

Thad stared at her for a moment, then smiled. "Alright, you're funny. I like you. Anyway, I might as well ask. Why are you here?”

“Nothing special over here. Single moms aren't the most financially stable.”

"Whoa, you're a mom?"

Doll deadpanned. "... No, that's not-"

"You're the daughter."

"Yeah, that's what I was getting at."

"Yeah."

"Glad you figured that one out. Good job."

"So you're getting money for your mom. That's nice!"

She blinked a few times. "... Yes?"

"You're getting it for yourself."
 
"She's a bitch."

"Fair."

She crossed her legs, and her tone grew more serious. “What do you think? Does that make me a bad person?”

“Hm... I think…” He kicked his feet slowly off the side of the bed, pondering the question for a moment.  “... That you should make that decision on your own. You need to support yourself before you rely on validation from other people.”

She shrugged. “Reasonable. But you could have just lied and said no.”

“At least I'm honest?”

“Yeah. Something like that. Anyway, how about you? Got any crazy stories to tell?"

"Nah, I'm just broke as fuck."

"Get a job."

"No. I'm scared of those."

"That checks out, yeah."

------------------------------------------

"Glad to see you two are getting along so nicely." Nori stopped by N and Uzi, the two sitting beside each other on one of the beds, whatever conversation they were having coming to a pause.

"Mom. Stop being passive-aggressive, we’re not doing this again."

"What? I'm not. It's nice to see you two together again, that's all. Real cool that he fucked you up for six years and now you're both pretending it didn't happen."

"Mom!" Uzi snapped back at her. N nervously reached a hand up and scratched the side of his face. "Yeah, uh-"

"Just-Just drop it, okay? Let me be happy for a second! I don't need you ruining this!"

Nori took a deep breath, trying to steady herself, glancing between N and Uzi. "... No. No, Uzi! I let this go before, but I can’t again. I tried, okay? I tried to think this over, but this is just-This is weird! Nothing about any of this makes sense! I just-" She pinched the bridge of her nose and took another breath, lowering her voice a little.

"Why are you so calm about this? Both of you." She removed her hand from her face, using it to gesture over to N. "Is it not strange that he's back now? And oh so conveniently knew about that last game?”

She pointed at N, her focus shifting to him, who kept glancing over to Uzi. She wasn't taking this very well, even if she was trying to hold herself together. He could tell.

"You know more than us. More than anyone here, as far as any of us know. Why on earth would that be the case? Are you working for them or some shit? Do you-”

"Alright, Jesus, just stop." He stood up, moving slightly between her and Uzi. "I get it. I'm sorry, alright Nori? I know that doesn't-"

"Don't call me that." She scowled at him, and he just stared at her for a second, growing a little frustrated.

"... Ms. Doorman?” He sighed. “Listen. We don't have to get along. Get mad at me if you want. That's valid. Just leave her out of this. You’re acting out of anger, and that’s not helping anyone."

She glanced behind him, back at her daughter, the one she was trying to protect. As far as she was concerned, N was a hazard. “... I don’t care-”

"I can't undo my mistakes. All I can do right now is try to make things better. Can't you just let me do that?"

She paused, thinking over what he said. He was right, in a sense. It wasn’t like he could just hit some button that magically made everything okay; he’d have to work for it. But letting him do that felt like such a mistake in itself. “... Not until you tell me what the hell's going on with you.”

“Alright. I was a player here a while ago. You happy?”

“... Huh?”

Uzi looked up from her lap to the back of N’s head when he said that. He played before? Is that why he went missing? 

No, it would clear up some things, but that can’t be it. That leaves too many unanswered questions.

“I said what I said, Nor-Ms. Doorman. Can we please stop fighting now?”

“... Whatever. That clarifies fucking nothing, but whatever! You're lying to me, to-to both of us, and-”

"Then prove it."

Nori opened her mouth to speak a few times, but couldn’t manage any words. She grumbled to herself, turning away from the two and walking down the stairs away from them, speaking back over her shoulder at him. "Just don't hurt her any more than you already have."

He watched her leave, eventually turning at the bottom of the steps and walking out into the crowd to do god knows what. "... Well, I guess that could have gone worse.” He sat back down beside her, finally looking back at her and seeing the tears she was trying to hide. Yep, that all probably sucked for her to witness.

"Zi, hey, it's okay. It’s fine, really.."

Feeling his hand on her shoulder, she jumped a little, but quickly accepted the gesture. "... I'm really sorry about her. I-I don't know why she did that, I-"

"It's fine. I’m still surprised you trust me, honestly.”

Uzi shifted a little, fidgeting with the zipper on her tracksuit. "She doesn't believe you at all..."

"I noticed, thanks." He gave her shoulder one last squeeze before letting go, leaning forward a little and resting his arms on his lap. "... Do you believe me?"

"... I mean… Uh…"

N nodded. "Alright, fair enough."

"N-No! I, uh, I want to believe you!"

"... But?"

"But... some things just don't add up still."

"Alright, such as?"

"I mean... You were a player? That's like-That's so vague!"

"There's not much more to say, honestly. I played games here. I uh... I was told I could get money if I won. I thought I could help you guys if I got it. So much for that, right?"

"..." He glanced over at her. Yup, this could be going better.

"You still don't believe me."

"... I admit, I uh. I have like, a lot of questions?"

"Then keep asking."

"... I guess... The only thing I really want to ask is, uh..." She rubbed her eyes, wiping the tears and trying her hardest not to let more form. Why did talking about this have to be so hard? "Why didn't you ever come back? If you played here before, then you either won, or left because of a vote, right? So like..."

She went silent.  He stayed looking at her for a moment, then looked back forward. "Right. Listen, I'm... I am sorry about that. I know that doesn’t excuse it, I did a lot of dumb stuff, I really am sorry. It's just… I couldn’t come back. It’s more complicated than that.”

"Is it?"

"A little." He looked to the side. “I know you deserve a complete explanation. But I just... I can't give you that. Not now.”

“Why even offer for me to ask questions if you won't answer them?!”

“Yeah. Good point.” He pressed his back against the back of the bedframe and crossed his legs, his hands resting in his lap.  “I’m sorry. I’ll answer soon enough. I’m just… Scared, I guess?”

Her expression softened. “… N-”

“No.” He reached back out, setting his hand back on her shoulder and giving it a light squeeze, flashing a saddened smile at her. “I’m not saying that for sympathy points. It’s messed up for me to not tell you what’s going on. That doesn’t become any less true just because I feel bad about it. You’re allowed to be mad at me for that.”

“… I don’t wanna be. I am a little, I admit, but it’s like… not your fault?” She set her hand on top of his, internally freaking out at the thought of hand-holding for just a second before continuing. “I trust you. I know you’re lying about something, but it’s okay. You’re like… a good person and stuff. If you’re lying, I’m sure you have a good reason for it. It’s probably not just to spite me or something.” She sniffled. Damn. This shit’s sappy as fuck. Either that or she’s massively overplaying it in her head, arguably more likely, but she’ll refuse to accept that.  “I know you don’t wanna hurt me. That’s all I really care about.”

“... Okay.” He closed his eyes and slowly wrapped his arms around her, hesitating a moment to make sure she was alright with it before shutting his eyes and resting his head on top of hers. “I missed you.”

“... Gross. You’re gross.”

------------------------------------------

The buzzer sounded, and a few guards entered through the door at the front of the room. Interest quickly gathered among the players, along with a sense of unease. They weren’t coming back for another game already, were they?

Luckily for them, that did not appear to be the case. The guards brought in some tables and began setting dozens of small metal tins on each of them. Was it food? It better be.

It seemed unlikely that this was a trap, so 404 was among the first few players to head toward the front, though he still kept his distance. It sure smelled like food, so they did the bare minimum at least. Not great food, but food nonetheless.

They made no sort of announcement, simply relying on the players to come and get food for themselves, which 404 did happily, Yeva following closely.

“You think there’s any chance they’ll give us anything above prison food?”

“They'd better. If they had the budget for all of this, then they could spare a good meal.”

“Agreed.”

They quickly reached the front of their table’s line, each getting handed one tin by the guard behind it. 404 stepped away from the table and immediately was disappointed when he pulled off the lid.

Mashed potatoes and a small can of water. It could be worse, but can that even be considered a meal? Oh well, at least they were given forks.

“... Better than nothing.” He moved toward one of the walls near the front and leaned back against it, Yeva doing the same next to him. “I guess so. Not a big fan of mashed potatoes, though.”

“Neither am I.” He tapped the side of the tin gently with his fork, staring down at the food. “It’s kinda hard to even have an appetite right now, isn’t it?”

“You could say that again. I don’t know about you, but my main concern right now is wondering if I’ll be alive tomorrow. Not eating.”

“Yeah.”  He paused, then put the lid back on the tin and bent down to set it on the floor next to him. Maybe he’d eat that later, or give it to Henry or something. Maybe he’s a fan of unseasoned mush. Speaking of which… “Have you seen Henry anywhere? I haven’t heard from him since that last game.”

“No, me neither. Poor dude didn’t seem to handle that last game very well.”

404 nodded. “Yeah. Guess I can’t blame him. I’m still a little surprised I’m alive at all. Part of me feels like I am dead, and this is just a weird afterlife dream or something.”

“I feel that. Like, I’ve already dodged death once, it’s like… I guess I could go through that again? I already feel dead.”

“Exactly. Not that I want to, though.”

“Mhm.”

They fell silent. God, this is awkward. You’d think being a teacher would provide at least some level of conversational skills, but nope.

“... Your daughter hates you, right?”

Caught off guard, Yeva choked on her mashed potatoes for a moment. “I’m sorry?”

“You mentioned it. Listen, this is personal, so you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. But why would that be the case?”

Her posture shifted slightly, clearly a little uncomfortable. “Why do you want to know?”

“Like I said, you don’t have to answer. I get it. I’ve just been wondering. I’ve been around kids long enough to know that if they hate their parents, it’s a real fifty-fifty on if it’s just a phase, or if the parents themselves are actual psychopaths-like, the bad kind. If possible, I’d like to know which is the case for you.”

She thought about it for a moment, then nodded. “Alright. I guess that makes sense.” Her finger tapped against the side of the tin, her nail clicking against it rhythmically. “It’s just a phase thing, really. Nothing much to say, she’s never liked me. But I like to believe I’m doing my best.”

“...” 404 stared at her for a second, waiting for her to say more, yet she never did. But her expression said enough, hints of sadness and guilt were on her face. “... Sorry. I probably shouldn’t have-”

“No. It’s fine. Questionable of you to ask, but I’d like to talk about it, I think. If that’s alright.”

“Yep. I did ask, after all, yap away.”

“Alright. Fuck, where do I even start…” She poked at what remained of her food with her fork as she spoke. “She’s always kinda been like this. I don’t think I did anything wrong. At first, I did think it was just some stupid phase she’d grow out of, you know? But it’s been years now. And maybe she’s just like that, but… Is that even any better? Did I fuck up raising her? I mean, I love her, of course I do. I want what’s best for her. It's just… It hurts that I can’t seem to provide that for her. I thought that if I got the money from here, I could use that to help in raising her… Guess I'll just die instead, right?"

She felt herself getting a little emotional and had to take a moment to hold back her tears.

“Nah.” He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Kids really love trying to be independent, and breaking out of that can be hard for them sometimes. If she hates you, I doubt it’s your fault. If you don’t know what you did wrong, then either you’re innocent or ignorant, and I don’t see you as an idiot.”

“... Thanks.” She finished her food and shut the lid on the tin before tossing it to the side, the canister loudly rolling across the ground. Littering is bad, but it was probably morally justified in this place. If they could kill hundreds, they could get a damn janitor. “This place has made me rethink a lot of stuff. I just… I don’t think I tried hard enough to make things better in the past. Maybe I can do that for good ig I get out of here.”

“I think you’ve got it in you.” To her surprise, he smiled. He didn’t seem like he was even capable of that. “You’re one of the few good people I’ve met.”

“I appreciate it. You, too, honestly.” It felt funny saying that. She didn’t even know his name.

This will not change. 404 is fine.

------------------------------------------

"Pardon me, ya two!"

Whatever talk J and Tessa were having over their amazing meal was interrupted by a voice that already annoyed J. Maybe it was something to do with the way she spoke, or maybe it was just because she was interrupting the two of them. Regardless of the reason, when she turned her head to face player 017 by the side of the bed, anger was already plastered across her face. "Whoa, partner, don't gimme that look!"

"Your accent is too stereotypical and it pisses me off."

"So harsh, I’m so hurt.” 017 set her hands over her heart, giving an exaggerated frown before continuing.  “C'mon, don't be like that! I'm here to help you fellas!"

"No, I'm gonna be like that. We don't want your help."

"Jaybird!" Tessa squeezed J’s arm. "She hasn't done anything! Give her a chance!"

"Alright. What do you want?"

Alice blinked at J. Damn, that was a crazy switchup.

"... Well! Firstly, the name’s Alice. And wouldn’tcha know it, I just so happen to know a lil about your dear brother if ya wanna hear."

J quickly sat up, ripping out of Tessa's grasp, much to her dismay. "What?"

"Ooh, that got yer attention, now didn’t it?” Alice’s smile quickly faded when J leapt out of the bed, gripping her by the shoulders. “I haven’t heard shit about him in years, and at this point I’ve figured it must be for a damn good reason. So why is he here now, and why would you know anything about him?!”

“... My my. Quite aggressive, are we? It’s not that deep, girlie. I just saw him earlier, heard him sayin’ some weeeeeird shit. Figured the two of ya must be related or somethin’ since you’ve got the same hair. Can ya let go of me now? I assure ya, I’ll tell you everything without feeling threatened.”

J’s grip on Alice tightened for a moment. She glanced back behind herself, at Tessa, who seemed a little frightened by her hostility. Then, slowly, she let go of Alice. “Fine. But this better be good.”

“Sure is! I think he works for the guys runnin’ this.”

“Oh.” J was taken aback. “Isn’t that uh… A bit of a big thing to assume?”

“No need to assume! He knew more about this game than anyone else! I saw him talkin' to some purple-haired weirdos, warnin’ them ‘bout the big creepy doll thing before it even shot anyone!”

“... Uzi. Of course.”

“No clue who that is. Anyhow! Just thought you should know!”

“... Thanks, I guess? Not sure what to do with this information, though.”

“Guess I can’t blame ya. Alright, see y’all later!”

“Uh. No thanks.”

“My poor heart can’t take all of your bullying!” She shouted obnoxiously over her shoulder as she left. J took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself and slowly lowering back onto the bed. Tessa just watched, unsure of what to say.

“... Sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“Oh! It’s, uh, it’s okay! Just uh.” She’d sat up herself now, concern sprawled across her face. “What’s up? I think she was just trying to help… I know you mean no harm, but don’t you think you were being too harsh?”

“Shit. Maybe? I don’t know. I guess I got a little more upset than I reasonably had to, didn’t I? She was annoying, though. And kind of weird. Right?”

“I guess a little bit…”  Like a moth to a flame, Tessa wasted just about no time creeping her way back over to J and resting on her shoulder, J happily letting her do so. “You wanna talk about something? I feel like you’ve got some built-up anger in you.”

“... Maybe. I guess. I don’t know. Sure, I suppose, there’s not much to say. He just went missing a few years ago. Things got fucked up in my family after that. I knew I couldn’t blame him, because anything could have happened to him. But after I saw him during the vote, I just… I don’t know. He’s just fine. Was everything that happened for nothing? What the fuck could he have possibly been doing?”

“I see. Yeah, I guess I can understand why you’d be upset, especially with her barging in on it like that.”

“Yep. I admit, I may have slightly overreacted, though. Maybe she was just trying to help, even if I got kinda nothing out of that…”

“... You got uh… Validation that something is messed up about him? Because? He’s doing weird stuff here?”

“... Good point. I like the optimism.”

------------------------------------------

The dorm room was quieter than before the game. Not by much, yet it was noticeable that there were fewer people. It should be easier to find someone in the crowd, but searching among hundreds of people is never an easy task. Lizzy groaned. She thought everyone grouping together to find food would make finding Thad and Doll easier, but no. "Ughhh... I think we should stop looking for them. What if they died or something?"

"You're quick to give up. No wonder you're here, you abandon all your hopes and dreams like that?"

"Maybe, but at least my head isn't a disco ball."

"Rude."

"It's because of your hair."

"I gathered."

"Your hair is weird."

"I got the joke, thanks."

"Did you eat mercury when you were a baby?"

"Fuck you."

"Alright. When and where?" 

V stopped walking. Lizzy stopped a few steps ahead of her, looking back and meeting her confused, if not a little amused gaze. "You're weird. Did you know that?"

"Says you. You were getting reeeeally into that make-out sesh, I kinda think you were-"

"We don't need any more details, thank you very much!" The two of them looked down the staircase beside them, seeing Thad waving at them with Doll sitting on the bed opposite him. "Oh. He's not dead." V snorted and, to the dismay of Doll, walked down the stairs and sat next to her. "You guys are mean," Thad spoke between bites of food, enjoying it much more than he should. "Why must bad things happen to good people?"

"If you're here, I'm willing to doubt the good person part." Lizzy sat beside Thad, leaning against the edge of the bed frame. "Are you implying that poor people are inherently bad?"

"No, I'm implying that if you're so poor that you're willing to stay here at the expense of your own and other people's lives, then you're inherently selfish."

Thad stared at Lizzy, a little taken aback by her aggression. "... I voted to leave?"

"Oh. My bad, I thought you voted to stay."

"... Didn't V?"

Lizzy's head slowly turned over to V, who was picking at her teeth, paying seemingly no attention to the conversation. "... I don't get what point you're trying to make. She sucks."

"You weren't saying that five minutes ago!"

"Oh, she’s listening. Hey V, you suck."

"I can if you want me to!"

"Jesus, can you two get a room already?" Doll rested her head in her hands, wishing she could just sleep at this point.

"I wouldn't mind that.” Lizzy smiled. “You can join if you want."

“No.”

“Damn, alright loser, your loss.”

Thad abruptly stood up and ruffled his hand through his hair. “... I’m gonna go walk around for a bit, I think. I need to move around. Gonna get anxious if I sit still.” The others watched for a second as he left, but V and Lizzy quickly brushed it off and continued chatting.

To Doll, however, something felt off. She got up and followed after him, not saying anything to the other two idiots.

She caught up to him quickly, standing a considerable distance behind him. “Hey. Feeling okay?”

Thad took a deep breath, but let out a relieved sigh. “It’s you. Cool. I heard someone following me, and not gonna lie, I was kinda nervous it’d be one of them.” He stopped walking near the middle of the room, Doll doing the same as he turned back to her.

“... Weren’t you the one who went to them? Are you regretting your choice already?”

“Yeah, a little bit.”

“I get that. They’re a bit annoying.”

“That’s not what bothers me. I can handle annoying, that’s like my territory. They just-” He tapped his foot against the floor. “I don’t know. I’m getting total ‘we’re gonna kill you for funsies’ vibes from them? Like me specifically? I think they want me dead?”

“Okay, yeah, makes sense. They’re self-centric.”

“Right?! Which, again, I don’t care about that! But like, damn, just leave the group!” He stopped for a moment. “... Then again, I did kinda pressure Lizzy into joining-But that’s besides the point! She can still leave!”

“... Uh.”

“I’m being hypocritical, aren’t I?”

“A bit.”

“Frick.”

“What. Just swear. Don’t say that.”

“My bad gang.”

“Don’t say that either?”

“Alright. My bad. Uh. My bad uh. My. My bad-”

“Just stop talking.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“... I’m joking. Just want that to be clear.”

“Oh!” His mood immediately improved. “Okay, cool. Thought you were going to kill me, too.”

“No? If I’m being honest, I don’t mind you. You’re just a social dude. Not my type, I’m practically the opposite, but I can’t blame you for being like… Normal?”

“Heh. Well, you know what they say. Leans on expensive car. Opposites attract.”

“Oh.”

“I’m always like this. I’d like to apologize in advance.”

“You mean stupid?”

“Yep!”

“Yeah, I noticed. But uh… You’re cool, I guess.”

“... Thanks. You too, pooks.”

“Never mind. I hate you.”

“Same.”

A loud noise that resembled a trumpet played through all of the speakers around the room, followed by a voice. "Attention players. The lights will be shut off in 30 minutes."

"Ah. Alright, I'm fine with that. I'm tired, not gonna lie."

"Same. Should we head back?"

"Eh, I'll probably just sleep in some random ass bed or something."

"Fair enough, you do that. Uh. Good night?"

"Yup, night night!" For some ungodly reason, he bowed at her, then quickly turned and walked off in an arbitrary direction. Doll watched him walk off for perhaps a concerning amount of time, slowly beginning to smile. "... Idiot."

------------------------------------------

"Hey."

Henry sat with his back to the wall, arms wrapped around his legs, which were against his chest. He didn’t seem to notice 404. “Hey,” he stated louder, finally snapping Henry out of his head and back into reality. He looked up slowly at 404, whose expression looked much less stern than usual, perhaps even with signs of empathy on it. “I knew you’d be around somewhere. I came to ask how you were holding up, but…”

He took a second to look Henry up and down. “Yeah. That’d probably be a stupid question.”

“... Yeah.”

“You should get to a bed. There’s plenty of extras open, I think. I’m sure it’s more comfortable than the ground, and you need some good rest anyway.”

Henry shook his head. “How am I supposed to sleep? I could die tomorrow. I’d rather spend the little time I have left conscious. Feels like it’ll last longer.”

“Can’t blame you for that.” 404 knelt, getting down to Henry’s eye level. “But listen to me-and I’m going to be a little harsh here-you will die if you don’t sleep. You’re already going to be acting out of stress. Adding an all-nighter to that will make you do much, much worse. Believe me.”

He noticed that Henry was shaking. Maybe he was being a little too harsh, but it seemed worth it. Henry took a deep breath. “... You’re right. I know you are. I just don’t think I could. I’m…” He gripped his knees, fingers digging into the cloth of his pants. “I’m not ready to die yet. Not… Not like this, not until…”

404 raised an eyebrow. “... Until?”

“... I’m just trying to live my life like anyone else, you know? I know I’m not hurting anyone, I-I want to think I’m a good person. A little annoying, sure, but I just-that’s just how I am! But-But I don’t want to die knowing people hate me. I usually don’t care if someone dislikes me, I just move on. But dying knowing that? That I’ll leave this world hated? It’s-It’s so-”

“Bud.” 404’s voice was much more stern than before. “Listen to me, okay? If someone hates you, that’s their fault. Yeah, you were a bit annoying to me at first, but hateable. You want me to be honest?” Henry nodded. “If we weren’t part of a team, I’d have forgotten you a week from now. That’s probably true for most people you’ve bothered. But there are bound to be some people who enjoy your presence, and those will be the ones who remember you. You won’t be remembered as some annoying shithead. Most memories people have of you will be good, even if you died right now. Okay? Now, I’m no therapist, so I don’t know how to calm you down. Try breathing, I guess?”

Henry managed a small laugh through shaky breaths. “Hah… Man, that was almost at least a little sweet.”

“‘A little sweet’ is just about as good as you’ll get from me.” He offered a hand to Henry. “Come on, you wanna get up? At the very least, walking around will probably help.”

“... Yeah.” He took one last deep breath and reached up to grab 404’s hand.

“Wooooow, that was sooooooo beautiful!”

Both men were startled by a voice from the beds beside them, where Alice was lying on her side, watching the two. “People’re tryna sleep here, though. Can’tcha keep it down a lil’?”

“... You’re being louder than either of us.” 404 spoke while grabbing Henry’s hand and pulling him up to his feet, already reverting to his usual annoyed nature.

“Teehee, I know, I’m just kiddin’ you guys.” She practically rolled off the bed and shot up to her feet. “The name’s Alice. Poor lil’ me couldn’t get in a group earlier, would you two mind lettin’ me join? I’m feeling veeeery left out!”

“... Uh.” 404 rubbed his eyes. His mood was rapidly approaching rock bottom.

“What? I promise I’ll be helpful to ya!”

“Why us? Can’t you find someone else?”

“I tried. Got turned down a few times. And now you guys are takin’ my well-deserved rest from me, so I thought I’d ask ya next!”

“Yeah… Sorry about that.” 404 side-eyed Henry. “Be honest, do you think she cares? She’s playing with us.”

“Oooh, I am? Great! Thanks!~”

“What. No, that’s not-” He groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Whatever. I don’t care, I’m too tired to argue against this shit.”

“Come on, dude, it can't be that bad…” Henry reassured 404, but the words didn’t seem to get through to him. “Yeah, I’m sure. Just-” He sighed, turning to Alice. “You, what’s your name?”

“Alice! Pleased to meetcha.”

“Alright, Alice. I don’t trust you. Not yet, at least. Nothing personal, but you’re weirding me out. Not saying I’ll never trust you, just that you haven’t earned it yet.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Johnson!”

“... I’m sure that’s a reference to something, but I don’t care enough to think about it.”

Henry nodded. “It was. Nice.”

“Nice.” Alice’s smile grew wider and she held her fist out to Henry, who bumped his fist against it. 404 sighed and turned to walk away. Whatever. She’s already much more annoying than Henry ever was, but maybe he needs someone to be friends with in some form right about now. They can geek out over nerd shit together. That was probably a nerdy reference, right? “Alright, I’m going to bed. You should do the same. Both of you. Not my decision though, do whatever you want.”

“Yes sir, Mr. Johnson!”

“Stop that.”

------------------------------------------

There had to be more to this place, Orion was sure of it.

Money can’t just be created from nothing. If the prize pool can go as high as 455 million dollars, assuming at least one person will be alive by the end of this, then there just has to be something more going on.

Yes, lives are on the line. This place was intense from the start. But that doesn’t explain how they got half a billion dollars to give to these people. Hell, with how big this place is, their budget must have been much more than that. Even the red light green light space was massive, and that ceiling opening up must have cost a hell of a lot for something so pointless.

Whatever. Some people have money to blow, he gets that, but why like this? Why on such trivial things? Does the prize pool even need to be this big? Any average person would be equally motivated to get the prize whether it was 4 million or 4 billion dollars. Once the amount is high enough, it becomes difficult to process just how much it is. People may recognize it as different amounts, but it quickly reaches a point where the amount is incomprehensibly high. At that point, it's all just 'a lot of money' but no real sense of just how different it is.

So why half a billion? That’s too much money, and it has to be coming from somewhere.

It’s not like he’s the first person to notice things are off. A couple hundred people dropping dead over a children’s game is odd to say the least. But it wasn’t the deaths that concerned him; it was how this place managed to be such a huge operation without getting caught.

The amount of research he could perform while in here, however, was very limited. It seemed that nobody could leave the dormitory at night, so he was left there to look for any little things he could.

Entertainment.

That’s why this was all being done, right? You’d have to be bored as shit to kill almost half a thousand people, then drop enough money to buy the sun on some random guy. The only reason that made any sort of sense to him was that whoever was running this was doing it for fun. And if that was the case, then they surely left something for people to find, any little clues or secrets that would shake things up, right? It’d be no fun to watch people talk about random shit and sleep for hours.

Lucky for him, it didn’t take him long to find anything.

“Hey.” He stood over N and Uzi’s bed, the two of them lying awake and talking to each other quietly until he interrupted them. “Sorry, don’t wanna bother you guys or anythin’, but you got a sec?”

The two looked up at Orion, then back toward each other, then at Orion again. “Uh, yeah, we're good. What’s up?”

“Alright, I’ve found something I think you guys might want to see. Come look at this.”

Uzi rubbed her eyes and got out of bed, with N following closely behind her. “Okay, but can we make this quick? I’m kinda sleepy…”

“Sure thing, it won’t take long.”

He led them toward the back wall, behind all the beds, stepping silently to avoid waking anybody up. The space behind the beds was cramped, but still somewhat easy to maneuver.

“It’s not far from here, just a sec… Hey, wasn’t there another one of you guys? Like another purple one?” He walked along the side of the wall with the other two, squeezing his way past the bedframes.

“Yeah. My mom. She’s mad at us, I dunno where she went.”

“Damn.” He stopped, looking up at the wall.

On the wall was a simplified drawing, with one person facing a wall and a few people sneaking up behind him. “Now I might be wrong, but I’m pretty sure this is supposed to be red light green light.”

N nodded. “Yup. They leave drawings of what the games are, but they’re usually too vague to get a good idea of what’s coming.”

Orion looked back at N, glancing at Uzi a few times. “... What’s up with this guy?”

“That’s what I’m saying! He-”

“Shhhshshhhsh! Shush!” N placed a hand over Uzi’s mouth, gesturing at all the people sleeping around them. Uzi growled until N eventually let go of her. “Blegh. Jeez, your hand tastes yucky. Anyway, he's played here before or something.”

“Yeah, I kinda got that vibe. Whatever, it’s none of my business. Worst-case scenario, he has an advantage. I don’t care.”

Uzi and N looked at each other, then back at Orion. “... Okay?”

“Anyway, there are a few other drawings. I don’t know what they mean, but I figured you guys might wanna take a look.”

“Sure. Couldn’t hurt, I guess.” Orion nodded, and the three headed off once more.

As N said, the drawings weren’t exactly the most descriptive. The next featured two people wearing crowns and holding a large flag, with two people clashing swords in front of them.

“Any ideas? This one was the most confusing to me.”

N squinted, trying to make sense of the drawing. “... Yeah, no clue. I guess they’ll have us sword fighting at some point? Not sure what the guys with the flags are about, though.”

“Maybe they’re like…” Uzi shrugged. “I dunno.”

“Wow. Thanks, Zi, good input.”

The next drawing wasn’t much more helpful either. It showed two people sitting at a table, both holding cards in one of their hands, and pointing a gun at the other with their other hand.

“This one seemed simple enough. Thought it might be poker or somethin’.”

N nodded. “Yeah, that’s probably as good a guess as any of us could do.”

The fourth drawing was a wider shot, with multiple people running around, some seemingly chasing others, and some bombs being thrown around.

“This one was interesting. The bombs are throwin’ me off. Almost makes me think that they’re just gonna start makin’ up shit for us to play.”

“I wouldn’t put it past them. They can do whatever the hell they want. Why stick to kids' games? They’re bound to get boring eventually.”

The fifth was the simplest of all of them so far, just two people running past a wall with two people on the other side. Or maybe it was supposed to be a mirror? “Gonna be real, I have no idea whatsoever for this one.”

“Yup. Same here.”

“Cool.”

And last but not least, the sixth drawing showed two people on their knees, both rolling dice into a circle on the ground in front of them. N paused when he saw it.

“Here’s the last one. At least, I didn’t find any others, but that's six games and six drawings. Guess it’s somethin’ to do with dice, but that’s pretty vague, as this guy said.”

He gestured to N, noticing he was looking at this one a little strangely compared to the others. Not like he understood it, but it seemed he might know something. Uzi seemed to have noticed as well, already going to his side and grabbing his hand. “... You good, dude? Do you uh… You know what that one is?”

N snapped out of it, glancing between Uzi and Orion for a few moments, his vision finally settling on the former. “Yeah! Uh-No? Like. Yeah, I’m good. No, I don't know what it is. Thought I did for a second, but nah, this is different.”

“... Alright?” She had the feeling something was up, but honestly, she felt too tired to even question it at this point. She could ask him about that tomorrow.

“Alright, that’s it. Thought you guys might wanna see that. Sorry I brought this up this late, but I figured it’d be better than doin’ it in the morning. They might start the game right when we wake up, so I wanted to get y'all to this as soon as possible.”

“Yeah, thanks. I guess we can sleep on this; any theories might help us prepare. It’s better than nothing, right?”

“Yup, that’s what I thought. Anyway, I’m gonna head to sleep now. See you guys tomorrow?”

“Yeah. Seeya.”

Orion waved and headed off, weaving his way back out from behind the beds and wandering the walkways to find an empty one.

“Guess we should go to sleep too, right?” Uzi asked, to which N set a hand on her shoulder. “Yeah. You look tired.”

“Mhm.” He smiled. “Alright. Let’s go get you to a bed.”

She nodded and walked off, easily slipping out of the cramped area.

He went to follow her, but then stopped, turning to look at the last drawing one more time for just a moment, the smile on his face fading.

“... Biscuits.”

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456.

For years, that many people have gone missing annually. Hardly anyone else ever seemed to notice, but there were signs that she wasn’t crazy.

Her brother was one of them, years ago. Since then, she’s wanted to find out what happened.

She’d made countless forum posts, YouTube videos, and even a few podcast episodes about the phenomenon, and while most people lumped her in with the crazy conspiracy theorists, some believed her. Some had also noticed it, and not just around where she lived.

It wasn’t just one country. It happened in most countries around the world, with 456 people going missing in each one. Though the exact days varied depending on the country, it stuck to a strict schedule everywhere.

The number always varied a little as well. This was bound to be the case; there would always be a disappearance that wouldn’t get reported, or unrelated disappearances that skewed the results mildly. But across multiple decades and many different countries, and only taking into account the likely targets, the sample size was large enough to determine that the average was around 450 to 460 people.

She checked the date in the corner of her computer screen. August 15th. Oops, she’s a day late, the disappearances in the USA happen on the 14th. For all the preparation she’s done, she feels a little stupid for not setting an alarm or something.

Not that it mattered much, those who vanished always seemed mostly random across the country. It wasn’t like she could predict who it’d be and do anything about it. Actually, that wasn’t completely true…

She spun on her chair and looked at her walls. Countless newspaper articles, missing person papers, and any texts or images she felt were some sort of evidence were taped to the walls or ceiling, tied together with yarn, or scattered across the floor. It was a mess, yet one she understood.

Every single victim, in one way or another, was struggling with money, a large majority of those being people who needed it very urgently, often in cases where their life might even be on the line.

Not that that was helpful. In terms of patterns, that was it. While that does narrow it down, there's still bound to be millions of people who fulfil that singular condition.

She tapped her foot against the floor. It had been less than 24 hours since the disappearances here would have happened, so there likely wasn’t much to go on. From all the stories she’d read of the victims, it seemed they rarely just vanished-in fact, most of them seemed to be aware that they’d be gone for ‘a few days, with many friends or family members of the victims claiming they had told them this before they vanished. In other words, most people probably weren’t reported missing just yet.

Surely there would be at least one report, though. It’s unlikely, but 456 people is a hell of a large sample size.

“Annoyed sigh. Late start…”

She powered off the computer and pocketed her phone and keys that were previously on her desk, grabbed her jacket off the edge of her bed, and headed to the door of her hotel room, giving herself one quick look in the mirror before stepping out.

She’d spent years preparing for this. This time, she was going to figure this out.

Something was going on, and she’d be damned if she wasn’t going to find a way to end it.

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