#(ongoing project)

I woke up to the sound of knocking on the door of my room. As I sat up with an irritable sigh, I heard footsteps echoing down the hallway – evidently whoever knocked did so just for the sake of waking me up. There was probably a reason for it, so I reached over to check my phone, and sure enough; there was a message from one of the higher-ups asking me to meet them in an hour. I doubted it’d be anything important – I didn’t really hold a major role in the company, after all (and if I had before, well… doesn’t matter now.) - but if the higher-ups call for you, you can’t really refuse them.

When I opened the door to the meeting room, I was surprised to see that it was completely empty; though, I had arrived slightly early. So I chose a seat at the table (not at the head, of course – I wouldn’t dare do that) and sat down to wait.

Just as I was beginning to worry that I’d got the wrong room despite checking the message seven times on the way up, the door swung open and someone walked in. The higher-ups at Limbus Company are pretty mysterious – most people don’t even know their job titles, let alone their names – but they all carry a distinct commanding presence with them, and this person was no exception. They didn’t so much as glance at me as they strode across the room until they had taken the seat opposite me and placed their briefcase on the table.

“You made it here early, I see. That makes things easier.”

I didn’t reply – they weren’t expecting me to.

“I presume you’re wondering why you were called here. You can rest assured that this meeting is not due to any improper conduct, and is instead because we have a… request for you.”

A… request? That seemed rather unlikely, but they left no room for rebuttal, instead continuing:

“You will have heard by now that the LCB has been dispatched, led by the individual known as Dante, to gather objects known as Golden Boughs from the remnants of Lobotomy Corporation’s branches.”

I had, in fact, heard about this – the Mephistopheles had left HQ at the start of last week, with confirmation that they’d located the Executive Manager coming through a few days later. The news had apparently come through at night, but by morning pretty much everyone who was in HQ was talking about it. I couldn’t really see what this had to do with me, though.

“However, we believe there to be more, lesser Golden Boughs across the City that the Bus Department will be unable to collect, for various reasons. These additional Boughs are not vital to the success of our plan, but they could cause issues for us if they were to fall into the wrong hands.”

Extra Boughs? That seemed somewhat odd, honestly. If they weren’t vital, but could still be a threat, why not just get the Bus Department to collect them at some point? It is their job, after all – it would make more sense to just add these lesser Boughs to their journey. What reasons could there be that would make them unable to do that?

“It is for this reason that we have gathered six additional suitable individuals in order to create the Support Department, whose mission will be to gather these additional Golden Boughs and return them to HQ - or if necessary, the Mephistopheles – in order to support and secure the mission of the Bus Department. However, this team is still lacking an Executive Manager.”

Wait a second. They couldn’t be saying-

“And that’s why we called for you this morning. We believe you to be a suitable candidate for this role.”

What.

…Apparently I had said that part out loud, as they stared at me briefly and cleared their throat as a sharp digital tone faded out.

“If you have any questions, please ask them now. We do hope you will accept this request.”

Well, that’s their way of saying that you have no choice in the matter, so… I figured I might as well ask the main question that was on my mind.

[Why-]

I was cut off by a sheet of paper being pushed towards me.

“In writing, if you don’t mind.”

…oh, right. How could I forget.

I fished a pen out of my pocket, and started to write.

“Why was I deemed suitable for this role? As far as I was aware, I’d failed the testing process previously.”

(A scathing judgement. A dark, featureless sky. Falling into the endless abyss. Panicked shouts, warped and buried beneath the frenzied ticking of a clock. A sudden, sharp pain.)

“Whilst it is true that you were not found to be suitable during the initial trial, you only failed a single test. This failure is what made you unable to take up the planned role. However, due to the nature of the objective of the Support Department, the results of that test are irrelevant to this new suggested role. Your performance throughout the rest of the trial, therefore, makes you perfectly suited for the position.”

“But I am no longer in possession of the equipment that was being tested. Do I even have the correct abilities for this anymore?”

“The replacement you were given after your failure is a prototype, and as such has most of the same basic functions as the finished model. Though it is missing some of the more advanced features, that shouldn’t prove an issue for this purpose.”

Huh. I didn’t know that – I figured they’d just given me some generic replacement after I failed.

“Any further questions?”

I just shook my head.

“Then I will state once more: we wish for you to head the LCS in its mission to retrieve the lesser Boughs that have been located across the City. Will you accept this position?”

They left no room for a refusal.

“Yes. I will.”

Some of the tension seemed to drain from the room.

“As expected. In that case, I will provide you with some relevant material.”

From their briefcase, they pulled out a small stack of files and what looked to be a pile of fabric, which they slid across the table towards me.

“These files contain the information you will need to know in relation to the six others assigned to your department, along with more details on your role and objective. We have also provided you with a uniform – you will be expected to wear it and keep it in good condition so as to maintain a positive image for the company. You will also be expected to attend another meeting tomorrow, where you will receive your full briefing. Whilst you will not be required to go through the trial procedure a second time, you may – if you wish – request testing for certain functionalities if you believe you will need it.

“Do you have any further questions?”

They nodded in response to the quiet shake of my head, closing their briefcase with a snap.

“Thank you for your compliance. You are dismissed.”

My mind was racing as I walked through the corridors, and yet I couldn’t discern a single thought. When I got to my room, the door clicked shut behind me, and I collapsed onto my bed with a sigh, quiet static crackling through the air.

After a while, I figured I should look at the things I’d been given at the end of the meeting. I picked the uniform up off of the pile, and started to unfold it. Most of it was nothing special – but when I took a closer look at the dark blue overcoat, I noticed something written on it.

“Eris”

…Looks like I was right about not having a choice in this.

I carefully re-folded everything and put it to the side, instead picking up the files that I’d left underneath. Flicking through them, I skimmed their contents, faces staring blankly up at me from their photographs.

A Wing employee, a teacher-turned-informant, a widow, a Syndicate member, a Fixer, and one file whose background was simply listed as “unknown”. The files contained details on all of them, from their previous affiliations to the District they were found in. I returned to the first, determined to read each one carefully – this information was sure to be useful, after all, though there seemed to be many areas that had been redacted.