#fyrtff

“Okay, break time everyone!”

That day’s filming of Day 5 had been very successful and Aaron smiled as he watched the actors and crew scatter for their break. Chris was directing this particular episode and Aaron watched from the sidelines as they filmed, as Ally fought for her life against a murderous psychopath…

“Hey Aaron?”

He looked up, smiling as he saw his friend approach. “Hey Chris, what’s up?” He asked.

“So, it’s about the next scene. And I need you to go pick up a prop for me?” He explained, rubbing the back of his head. “There’s a skeleton in the closet by Burnie’s office and… yeah. Could you pick that up for me?”

Aaron nodded. “Sure thing. Not a problem!”

So he went off, searching for the desired prop and quickly finding it. Sure, it smelled a bit weird and it felt really rough, but it was the one that Chris asked for. With that in mind, he headed back towards the set to deliver the skeleton.

About two weeks passed after that.

And Burnie Burns was arrested for murder and hiding a body.

Aaron remembered the white-faced horror Chris had plastered to his face as he explained what had happened. Someone had checked the skeleton prop and even sent a bit to police because it seemed a little weird. But then everything came out and it turned out the skeleton wasn’t a prop.

Jeremy winced as he slowly woke up, his head throbbing in pain. He looked up, only to come face to face with a grey brick wall. He groaned, suddenly feeling a weight on his neck. He glanced down and put his hands to his throat.

“What the hell…!?”

Wrapped around his neck was a heavy chain, the length of it running across the stone floor and disappearing into a hole in the wall.

And five corpses were lined up against the wall.

The rest of the Fakes.

With chains wrapped around their necks.

Jeremy gasped in horror as he saw the bodies of his teammates. They all wore expressions of great pain and it was obvious that they had suffocated to death; their blue faces and red-tinged sclera giving it away. Hell, Gavin’s fingernails had been cracked and there were tiny scratches around the chain in his neck. He was obviously trying to escape in his last moments, scared out of his mind.

Jeremy sobbed, grief bubbling up in his heart. His crew... his friends… his family… were all dead. And he would be subject to the same fate soon enough.

A crackle of static. A voice.

“GOOD EVENING, ‘RIMMY TIM’. YOUR FRIENDS HAVE FAILED. BUT YOU MAY WIN. FIND A WAY TO BREAK YOUR CHAIN BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT. GOOD LUCK.”

“That is a lot of money!”

Burnie and Matt laughed as they drank, deciding to have a few rounds of ‘Million Dollars, But’ to pass the time. So far, Burnie had garnered four million and Matt had two million out of six scenarios. It was a silly game, but they did have a lot of fun.

“Okay, okay…” Burnie managed to gasp through his laughter. “I’ve got one that you’re gonna like.”

“Alright, hit me!” Matt replied, sipping his drink.

“Alright… a Million Dollars, but…” Burnie began, still tittering quietly. “Once a month, for the rest of your life… you have to kill someone.”

Matt blinked in confusion, only to burst out laughing. “Well, I would prefer not to kill someone, but if I could get away with it… and some of the guys can be annoying sometimes!” He laughed. Sure, why not? I’ll take the million!”

His laughter stopped as Burnie hefted up a suitcase and slammed it down onto the table. Matt looked up in confusion. “Uh… what are you doing?”

The bespectacled man laughed. “Well, the game is ‘Million Dollars, But’, so I owe you the money.” He explained. “So, here it is.”

The latches clicked open and the lid was lifted. Matt could only stare at the stacks of dollar bills inside, all staring at him with empty eyes.

And on top of the money was a handgun, six bullets next to it.

Fandom jokes were always weird, albeit still entertaining.

Most of the time, it was just latching onto a particular line someone said (‘People Like Grapes’ was a classic) or something someone does (‘Burnie the Sandwich Thief!’), but there were a few that just seemed to appear out of sheer observation. Those ones were often the silliest, since the fans would run with them in any direction they damn well pleased.

For example, Gus had to laugh at the ‘Joel is a vampire’ theory.

It was true that the elder was quite young looking despite being the oldest of the founding members of Rooster Teeth, but a vampire? It was probably brought on by some weird interest people had in the blood-sucking creatures, which might have only grown more and more popular recently (which may have sadly included a particular shitty tween romance series).

Gus would laugh off those kind of rumours.

If it weren’t for the fact that he just walked in on Joel drinking blood.

He had only gone into Joel’s office to hand him a report about site figures, walking in without a second thought. He looked up and froze when he saw Joel sucking on someone’s neck.

A very dead person.

With a very bloody neck.

Joel glanced up, letting go of the body and showing reddened fangs. He looked sheepish for a moment. “...I can easily explain this.” He said.

Gus just shook his head. “No, I think I get what’s going on.” He said. “So, uh… I’ll just leave this report and you can get back to, uh… what you were doing.”

He didn’t hesitate to run out of the office, trying to keep a straight face.

It had been said that midnight was the magic hour for many people.

Meg was one of those people.

True, she did have a fear of the dark, but there was something about the hour that filled her with a sense of calm instead of dread. She felt invincible during these brief windows of time, as if an army could appear before her and she would be able to strike them down without batting an eye.

She stood on the roof the apartment building, looking out on the city she called home and smiled. The lights shone brightly and the sounds of city life filled her ears.

Meg looked up the the ink black sky, counting the seconds until midnight, when her euphoria would reach its peak. When all of the energy within and surrounding her would radiate spectacularly. When he felt power surge through her.

The moment her magic powers were almost God-like.

The clock struck midnight and she could feel that familiar rush of power, unable to stop the gasp as energy wrapped around every atom of her being, swirling and urging break free.

Light burst forth from her back, a radiant spectrum of every colour possible. Shaping into beautiful butterfly wings. She laughed as the magic lifted her off her feet, wings fluttering.

Among the Rooster Teeth staff, Gavin seemed like he was one of the more jovial and light-hearted members, even if he did have his moments.

Certainly not the kind to murder as many people he could find.

He couldn’t remember what set him off exactly. Something Michael had said during a recording for Play Pals just pushed him. Next thing he knew, he was holding a pair of scissors in his hand and thrusting it into his friend’s throat.

Everything just snowballed from there.

The Achievement Hunters now knew that it had been a terrible idea for the fans to have sent in weapons, now that Gavin skulked the hallways and used whatever he could find to end another life. Whether it be the replica of Kenway’s axe embedded in Chris’ forehead or the ‘Wolverine claws’ that opened Lindsay up like a plastic bag.

The Brit continued his massacre, seeming to only get more and more brutal with every life he ended. Throats were slashed, some strangled, and there was even a decapitation (Poor Kerry only wanted to get a shovel as a prop for Day 5).

When the police finally arrived, they were presented with a heavily bleeding Geoff watching Gavin as tightened the cord of a computer mouse around Shannon’s neck until he stopped moving. The police rushed forward and pinned the bloodied Brit to the floor, who only remain still as handcuffs were slapped onto his wrists and he was dragged away.

Geoff was left in shock, unable to comprehend the massacre that he had witnessed.

It was meant to be a stupid joke.

None of them actually believed that there was any possibility that a ouija board would work, but Blaine had insisted that it would be fun, or at least good for a joke. ‘A good story to tell on Always Open!’ was his main argument.

Ashley, Barbara, Miles, and Blaine were all sat cross-legged on the floor, circling the wooden board. “Okay, hands on the… wooden thing.” Blaine instructed.

“The planchette?” Ashley clarified, raising an eyebrow.

“Yeah, that.”

The four obeyed, placing their fingertips on the small piece of wood. They remained quiet for a moment.

“Okay, so do we just… start asking stuff?” Miles asked, grimacing in confusion.

“Uh… hey. Anyone there?” Barbara called out, looking up at the ceiling as she spoke. “Oh, great spirits of the Underworld! Uh… come join us and, um, impart upon us your great… wisdom?”

Ashley scoffed. “Okay, this is getting pretty stupid. Why did I even--”

Her words were cut off as the planchette underneath the four’s fingertips jerked suddenly, shakily gliding across the board until it settled on one word; ‘YES’.

Blaine looked up, grinning with excitement. “Holy shit, it works!” He laughed. “Okay, what do we ask it?”

“What is your name?” Miles asked.

The planchette moved again with the same hesitant motions. It landed on one letter and moved into another, before stopping.

A. M. U. E. L.

“Ooh, this is freaky… and so cool!” Barbara laughed. “Or maybe it’s really ‘ghoul’?”

“Dammit Barb!” Ashley groaned. Of course it would be the Canadian to make such a stupid pun like that.

The planchette moved again, this time alternating between the same two letters; H. A. H. A. H. A.

Barbara smirked in triumph. “I like Samuel already. He knows what a good pun is.”

Blaine laughed. “Is there anything you want?” He asked.

O. V. E.

I. R. L.

Miles smiled. “That’s sad and kinda sweet, I think.” He said. He looked up at Ashley, who had been watching the whole thing play out with an apathetic expression, but it was obvious that there was something else in her eyes. “Hey Ashley, why don’t you ask a question? You haven’t said anything.”

Ashley rolled her eyes. “This is just really stupid. But if it’ll make you happy, I’ll play along.” She said firmly, looking down at the board. “Okay Samuel. Was there someone you liked?”

More movement. But this time, only one letter.

U.

Something cold bloomed in Ashley’s heart. For a joke, this was getting elaborate. She did have to admit that a lot of effort had gone into this. “‘U’? What do you mean?”

The planchette shot away… pulling everyone’s hands away from it.

It continued to move by itself.

“What… the fuck…?” Blaine asked, looking down at the board.

“Holy shit…” Barbara gasped.

“Okay, we may have messed up.” Miles whined.

Ashley remained silent and watched the letters chain up, that ball of ice growing bigger and bigger. This couldn’t be real… it couldn’t be…!

The planchette stilled.

U.

 A. S. H. L. E. Y.

 J. E. N. K. I. N. S.

She gasped.