🍪 yina 𝗓 ᶻ

@und3ad-mutt @ribbed-scythe @idkwhatto-namethis @nothers @yourlocaltrasheater

@ang3l-d1nn3r @puppy-monst3r @orisaspirin @bunnyb0yy @blindweb

@worstwolverinesbf @wardenofbanland @weirdest-worlds

“Just stay here, bitch.”  Nam-gyu grunts, looking at the bloodied prongs of the fork.  She sneers at him, but doesn’t say anything back.  She doesn’t need to turn him against her, not when she’s so damn close to the amount of money she needs.  Just one more game.  One more game.  “Sit here all pretty and quiet, let the man handle things.  Gonna find those dumb pussies, kill who I can over there.”

It’s a gross plan, one that makes her skin crawl, but the rest of the Os seemed pretty set on the idea.  She wants to tell him to not go for Min-su or Se-mi, but they both are the main sources of his vitriol.  The idea of that nasty fork stabbing either of them and ending their lives makes her want to slap that cold smirk off his lips as he looks at her.  He sits forward and pokes her forehead with his stickied finger.  “Don’t go gettin’ all soft now, yeah?  You don’t even gotta do shit.”  His voice makes her sick, he’s so damn proud of his little plan.

“Yeah, yeah.  You’ll be the man, you’ll do it.”  She says, waving him off. She doesn’t want to play into his mindset, but she knows it’s the safest option.  Safety over responsibility, she’ll pay for therapy later on if she has to.

He slaps her shoulder harder than he needs to, “damn right, good girl.”

No more words are shared between the pair, hell she doesn’t even glance at him as she climbs down a bunk and rests her back against the wall.  She knows it’s not worth going to bed, she isn’t even able to close her eyes when the lights go out.  How much time passes between the lights going out and Nam-gyu patting her shoulder to let her know it’s time?  It can’t have been too long, but it feels like a lifetime.  She thinks of Se-mi and Min-su one last time, nodding to Nam-gyu and pulling her knees up to her chest.  She’s never been one to get her own hands dirty, especially not actually dirty.

The screams don’t take too long to fill her ears and she jumps immediately, covering her ears but not daring to close her eyes.  She tries to count, tries to keep track of how long it takes, but she loses count time and time again.  All she can do is sit there, useless and utterly alone on the “safer” side of things and cower like a child.  The flickering lights do little to ease her anxiety, she doesn’t allow her gaze to go over to the chaos on the other side, and definitely doesn’t allow herself to think of Min-su and Se-mi’s bloody, gurgling bodies.

Everything that happens afterwards feels like some kind of fucking fever dream. A fucking rebellion?  Led by that one guy, no doubt…  It doesn’t work out, of course it doesn’t.

She can’t tell if she’s relieved when Nam-gyu pats and rubs her shoulders while standing behind her on the O voting side, at least he’s still alive?  At least he wasn’t killed when he went after God knows how many X voters  She’s not alone?  Goddammit, how pathetic.

“Got that bitch.”  He whispers, sounding more and more excited as they walk into the game room center.  “Shoulda seen her fucking eyes, dude- it was unreal!”  She can’t even talk back, she just feels… fucking empty at the news.  “Couldn’t find that pussy Min-su though, wonder where he hid at.”  He makes a tsking noise, shaking his head, “don’t matter, we’ll find him next game and get him then.”

“You don’t even know what the next game is.”  She groans, already fed up with his bullshit.  What time is it anyway?  They’re all relying on the audio cues for morning, night, and games after all.

“True that.  You’re so smart.” He says, though his tone sounds more mocking than genuinely complimentary.

The game room is small, the amount of players seems larger than in the dormitory.  The rules for the next part were exceedingly simple, crank the machine, get a ball, stand on the corresponding side.  She goes right after Nam-gyu, closing her eyes and hoping to get on the side as him.  Luck wasn’t on her side and she lets out an audible “fuck.”  He doesn’t seem too upset that she’s not on his side, he’ll figure it all out.

The following moments make her want to cause an uproar like the other blue team members- they got a damn key while the other side got knives?!  Talk about fair…  What the fuck is this bullshit.  She doesn’t try to switch teams, by the looks of it that was a bust idea anyway.  His footsteps break her from her pity party, “you aren’t even gonna attempt to switch?  C’mon, I know you got it in you.”  His voice is damn sing-songy as he ruffles her hair, “I ain’t gonna be able to protect you, you know.  Not when I gotta-” Nam-gyu makes a stabbing motion and a grotesque noise imitating stabbing.

“Didn’t expect you to.”

“Don’t go pouting on me now, girl.  You know you could try to switch with Min-su.”  Her head immediately jerks up at the name, something that catches his interest.  A shit eating grin spreads along his lips, “oh?  You seem rather excited to hear that name, huh?  What- are women into pussies these days or something?  You and that cunt both had a soft spot for him, huh?  Unbelievable.”  He doesn’t sound really angry, more like he’s just putting pieces of a puzzle together.

There’s no real time to talk, not when she and the rest of the blue team are directed to go into the doors and ‘hide’.  She glances at Min-su as she walks by him, their eyes meeting for a second before she looks forwards and goes through the double doors.

Her plan is simple on paper- she just needs to wait out the clock.  She can’t rely on other players, the only living members of Thanos World aside from her are both on the red team and she doesn’t honestly trust Nam-gyu and she doubts Min-su has what it takes to pass the game, much less defend her if she found him.  She doesn’t take her sweet time, she instead goes head first forward.  She knows she should be more careful, should plan further, should try to remember her steps, but she’s so focused on just surviving that she can’t.  Slowing down to focus on anything other than getting through the clock, other than finding the fucking exit, it’s meaningless.

She jumps at the cue for the seekers.  She’s already found that her key can only open some doors and she’s already utterly lost.  It doesn’t help that every single hallway is the exact same and the ceiling feels like it’s barely above her head. “Goddammit…”  She mumbles her breath, jiggling the doorknob as if it’ll suddenly unlock.  She’s been lucky enough to not run into any of the red vest players, at least not ones that seemed interested in tailing her- that one older guy who was handcuffed to the bunk earlier seemed to be going after someone else and ignored her completely.

She finds a room that’s not been unlocked yet and goes in, closing it quietly behind her.  It’ll give her a chance to think, a chance to figure something out.  Maybe if she finds some corpses she could steal their keys?  The idea of being so close to a dead body, much less touching one, makes her blood run cold but maybe it’ll be her only chance.  When she steels herself to her idea, she opens the door and jumps back instantly, her eyes widening. “Se-mi…?”

Min-su?  Min-fucking-su?

“Where’s Se-mi?”

If she didn’t know any better she’d say he’s under the influence of some shit, but she doubts Nam-gyu is in the mood to share his pills with him and even if he was, surely Min-su wouldn’t be stupid enough to take one, right?  But he seems so off, so confused.  And asking for Se-mi?  Sure with everything going on maybe he somehow missed it, but surely he’d know.

A lightbulb goes off in her head and she calms down as he babbles out Se-mi’s name again and holds out his hand as if asking for her to help him.  She can use this to her advantage, at least maybe she can.  He’s clearly in no shape to actually hurt her.  He just looks so damn lost.  It’s honestly sad, she feels a pang of genuine empathy towards him.  He’s not cut out for this games- hell, neither is she- but maybe he’ll be her saving grace.

“Help?  Help me find her?”  He mumbles, jerking his hand out again.  “She’s around here somewhere.  Please help.”

She looks down at his hand, it’s trembling.  She takes his hand and interlaces their fingers, offering him one of those sweet smiles while putting on a soothing voice, “of course, Min-su.  We’ll find her.  Together.”

He seems placated by this as he nods and swallows audibly- poor guy.  She doesn’t have time to think about her using him nor the way he’s putting his faith in her to find someone she knows is dead and cold.  

“She’s tall- she’s tall and has short hair.”

“I know.”

“She’s around here, right?”

“I assure you, she is.  We just have to find her.  She’ll be happy you’re looking for her, Min-su.”

Her throat burns after saying that.  She squeezes his hand without meaning to, but he squeezes her back and it brings her down to earth. 

Every so often he pipes up again, talking more than he has since the beginning of the games. It’s cute- er, would be cute if not for the whole death games going on around her.  Sometimes it’s about the way her hands feels his in his, sometimes it’s about the way he likes her eyes- not Se-mi’s but hers- and sometimes it’s just to ask where he is.  She’s not sure how to answer that, so she just stays quiet or changes the subject with a compliment for him or praising him for being such a good friend.

Try a door here, take stairs there, exchange in conversation, it’s  a pretty easy going time honestly.  She tries not to think about the fact that Min-su isn’t going to pass this game, that she’s using him.

“Hey, Min-su?”

There’s no solid response, but he makes a humming noise.

“I like you, you know?  You’re… You’re not like everyone else.  You’re stronger, I think, than everyone else around.”  He stops walking, making her stumble slightly.

“I think you’re strong too.”  He says, he looks like he wants to say something else, but he just opens and closes his mouth before giving up.

Now that her feelings are out of the way, she can do this with no regrets, right?  That’s what she tells herself anyway.

Finally they arrive at another door and she unlocks it and- Exit, exit, exit.  She found a goddamn exit!    She releases Min-su’s hand and shoves past the woman that’s already at the door.  Min-su lets out a pathetic but Se-mi before lowering his hand.  She’s so excited she looks back at Min-su and points before she realizes she’s stuck with him.  No sweat, right?  Just do what she’s been doing and wander around the halls with him.  But then that woman starts taunting him.  She feels anger bubble up in her, not enough to actually interfere but enough for her to want to interfere if she weren’t so chickenshit.  Min-su’s face contorts from confusion into anger as he stabs her.  She feels herself back up against the exit and just watches in horror.  Min-su, the quiet, confused, scared Min-su taking the life of someone.  It feels like it’s happening in slow motion and like it’s sped up at the same time, her head spins with anxiety as his face drops into one of pure anguish.  He drops to the floor and skitters back like a scared kitten as her body flumps against the wall.

“Se-mi, no, I’m sorry- I’m sorry, no!”  He cries out, raising his trembling hands up as if trying to ward off the sight he’s seeing.  She looks at the exit once more, fidgeting with her key as Min-su cries pitifully behind her.  She has the one needed to go through and she considers it for a long moment before glancing back at him.  He passed…  He’s safe…  She’s at the exit and she could be safe, but she- “Please!  I’m sorry!  I’m sorry!”

She sighs and releases her grip on the key she’s holding and allows it to slip through her fingers to the ground before she closes the door to the room and then sits beside the petrified Min-su.  She’ll wait out the time.  She’ll cross her fingers and hope that she’s able to make it.  She can’t leave him, she doesn’t think she ever could even if he begged.    “It’s okay.”

“B-But-  But I just killed Se-mi!”

She wraps an arm over his shoulders and tucks his head into the crook of her neck.  He’s sweating and her tears slicken her skin.  “Min-su, baby, no… You’re okay, you didn’t kill her.”  She knows her words are probably meaningless, whatever the fuck has him acting like this is no doubt stronger than her words could ever fucking be but it’s better than just sittign there and letting him go crazy with guilt.  “She was already dead.”

“Wha-?”

“She died last night.”  His body goes rigid and she holds him tighter when he starts to breathe harder against her.  Fuck, that’s not what she wanted to happen…  She brushes fingers through his hair and starts to practice her own breathing.  If she’s going to calm him down, she has to be calm.  “Listen, it’s okay.  It’s not your fault.  Everything is okay.  You’re not responsible.”

He wants to tell her she’s wrong, that he just killed her, but when he looks back over to the dead body it’s not Se-mi at all, it’s not Nam-gyu either.  “But I just-?” He’s so confused, hsi head hurts and his throat is so dry it’s bordering on painful.  “I’m so…?”