Re: SPRING~ The World Ends With... [a TWEWY fanfic]
CHAPTER III
Modest Mouse - Bury Me With it - YouTube
GM, Fiend
I leaned back in my chair. I’ve sent the mission, The Game had started. Now, I get to relax. Once the time is up, I’ll introduce myself to the surviving Players. Congratulate them. Then crush their hopes; make them wish they’d of died in the first place. I felt myself start to doze off.
Knock. Knock.
“Ugh,” I groaned. “Come in!”
The door opened and I immediately sat up. “Norman? Why are you here? The Game’s started-”
“I know, that’s why this visit has to be quick. Rarely are promotions given to Reapers during the Game.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrinkled post-it note. “‘By order of the Composer, Fiend is relieved of GM duties-’” he paused, smiling at me. “Don’t look so angry.”
“You- you bastard!” I jumped from my chair and ran at Norman. “I worked my ass off to get to where I am! You think you can take this away from me!” I punched at Norman, but he sidestepped and grabbed my arm.
Chuckling he said, “You’re receiving a promotion.” Puzzled, I just stared, waiting for an explanation. The only positions about GM are Conductor and Composer, and I had just met with them, they’re alive and well. “We’re equals now, Mixer.”
Mixer? “A new position?”
“Not necessarily; this position just isn’t required for the Game to play out. You should feel honored that you get to fill it, the first in 500 years.” Letting go of my hand, he shuffled behind me then took my seat. “A new room will form, it’s yours to take. I will be taking this one.”
I stepped outside the door and a new door was coming into existence between the GM and Conductor’s doors. The title “Mixer” appeared above the door frame. “What exactly does the Mixer do?”
Norman came out of the GM room. “Whatever they so wish.
Mix the Game up a little.”
---
Darren Bounds
The monsters closed in.
Noise. That’s what Quark called them. They can be destroyed, but I don’t have any hope without a partner. They’ll just keep coming. Backing into the brick wall of a building, I looked at the alley to my left. Three Noise blocked that path. I reached into my pocket and pulled out three of the pins that appeared there when the Game started.
One of these has to work.
I grabbed the Player Pin and two others, one with a picture of an iceberg and another with a picture of dirt rising from the ground. Focusing on the pin with the iceberg, I stared at the three Noise blocking the alley. For the first few moments nothing happened, then in a spectacular flash ice came into existence around the Noise, freezing them into place.
Hell yeah! As a catlike Noise pounced at me, I ran at full speed toward the alley. By just an inch the Noise missed me.
THUD!
Someone ran straight into me as I turned into the alley and we both fell back on our asses. I was angry,
Watch where you’re going! Scared,
The Noise are gonna get me. Then relieved, as I realized the obvious,
This has to be another Player!
“Make a pact, quick!” The voice was raspy, older, a middle aged man. Noise were closing in from both sides of the alley. Grabbing the man’s hand, the world around me shifted, the air around us was pulsation. Then the sensation stopped and all the Noise halted in their place; they backed off. We helped each other to our feet.
I burst out laughing. Then tension was great just a few moments ago, and now everything was fine. Another Player; a partner. Looking at my new partner, I evaluated him. He wore sweats and a black t-shirt. All his clothes were stained, and his hair was oily. There was a faint smell of alcohol coming from him.
Homeless. Alcoholic. No matter. Still have to trust him.
Leaning on the wall I said, “We’re golden.” I held out my hand to shake his. “I’m Darren.” He stared at my hand for a moment, but didn’t shake back, instead he looked up at my head, but not into my eyes... Silent, I put my hand back to my side. I realized he was staring at my bullet hole.
He turned around, looking in the direction of the Space Needle. Looking at the timer in his palm he said, “Let’s go. We only have thirty minutes.” Then he started walking.
I ran after him. “We’re stuck together for a week; you can tell me your name.”
“No.”
“Why?”
Unreasonable...
“There’s no reason for you to know.”
“It’s hard to trust someone that is a mystery.”
“Don’t trust me by me then; trust me by that I trust you.”
“You trust me?”
“You seem honest enough.”
It didn’t take long before we were just one block away from the Space Needle. We still had fifteen minutes to spare. I gazed around, wondering if any other players were arriving as well. There was no one.
“It’d seem that everyone else faced greater threats,” my partner said. “Or maybe, they couldn’t find a partner. Taken by the Noise.”
“Maybe we’re just earl-” I ran straight into a wall. But there was no wall to see. Recoiling from the shock, I backed up and just stared. I felt the wall with my hands and followed it. It was solid, invisible but still solid. There was no going around. “We’re so close! How do we-” I noticed a man to the right, leaning on the invisible wall.
My partner answered echoed my thoughts. “A Reaper.”
The Reaper noticed us. He was smiling, laughing at us. “It’s always fun to see an idiot Player run into a Wall for their first time! The look on your face- hilarious!”
“You placed this here,” I accused, “you’re sabotaging the Game!”
“Not sabotaging; that’d be against the rules. I’m just doing my job.” He stood up and walked towards us. “To clear the wall, you must clear the objective.” Noise phased into existence all over the street. “Eliminate the Noise.”
I looked around. Tens of dozens of Noise. Nothing else to do but either- “Fight or die,” my partner said, pulling out a pin from his pocket. A car parked to the left of me lifted from ground into the air, rising high above use. Then it dashed forward and toward the ground, crashing into the Noise, destroying each one in it’s path. Some dodged, and I saw the perfect chance to help. Using the iceberg pin I froze the Noise in the car’s path.
---
Grey Ruffner
The objective, easy; the Noise, not as difficult as I’d of thought. The real goal today was to find a partner. So I headed straight to the Space Needle. Everyone would head there in the end, so I’d find a partner then. With ten minutes left on the the timer, I found myself looking straight up at the Space Needle. One thing was obvious; there was conflict some ways away. The strange sounds of what I assume were Noise and two human voices, although I couldn’t quite tell what they were saying.
Another voice came, yelling to my from behind. “Wait!” I turned around. A girl was running up the street. A mob of Noise chasing from behind. Water and, less often, lightning shot down at the Noise, slowing them down.
I ran straight towards her.
A Player. Someone to make a pact. I looked at the Noise behind her. If they overtake her before we make a pact, then I’m dooming myself by getting close. I make it, we both live; I don’t, we both die. A large purple bear-like Noise jumped up above the other Noise and straight at her.
“No!” I yelled. The Noise landed on her, in just a few moments she’d be torn to pieces. Then they’d get us. We won’t live, I can’t save us, because there’s no way I can save her.
We’re going to die, Tory.
Piercing sound hit my ears. Shrieking. Not her scream though. The bear-Noise. Something had shot through its side. Next, a gust of wind hit the bear-Noise, knocking it off the girl. A person ran out of a side road and to the girl. The Noise was about to overcome them, so I pulled out my next pin, with a picture of flame on it, and used it.
A wall of flame appeared between the girl and the other, separating them from the Noise. The other person grabbed the girl’s hand and they made a pact.
I still have no partner. Despite that I should be hurrying to find someone else, I approached them.
I felt the hate growing inside me. My would-be partner was stolen. The girl looked at me and said, “Thank you- um, I’m Carolin.” But I was looking at her partner.
“Grey.”
Her partner was also a girl. “Heather.” She stepped back some steps. “Look, I’m sorry, but I don’t plan on dying out here.”
“Right. I don’t either.” I turned and left back toward the Space Needle. My time said 4:30. Time was running out. My walk turned into a sprint. I approached what I assumed to be the designated area, which was marked with four stickers with a similar style of art to the Player pins. 3:45. I saw two men rushing toward the designated area. I ignored them, and kept searching for someone else. But there wasn’t any.
No one. 3:00.
“HELP!” It was the voice of a boy, and I turned in the direction I heard it come from. I noticed Carolin, who was getting into the designated area, pause in shock. I dashed in the direction of the voice. “The Noise!” 2:30.
Faster, faster, faster. Turning a corner, I ran into an alley. I saw someone else, about my age, running from a mob of Noise.
“This way!” I called.
He noticed me, but the Noise had already flooded into the alley, so he ran past. The group split up, I had become their next target. “Run down the next street,” he called to me. 1:15. I did what he said, and turned onto the next street. 1:00.
We won’t have enough time to get back. We ran at each other, then grabbed hands. Immediately a pact was made. The Noise went still. 0:45. “My name’s-”
“Introductions later- run!” We ran back from where I came. 0:30. I pushed on, my brow started to sweat. 0:20. My partner was barely keeping up, he was stumbling some, but he didn’t fall behind. 0:10. The designated area was in sight. Carolin, Heather, and two others were waiting. 0:08. “Hurry!” 0:05. Just a few more steps. 0:03. 0:02. I dove. 0:01. 0:00.
---
Carolin Foy
He’s here too. Matthew. 0:03. 0:02. Matthew and Grey dove for the goal. 0:01. They weren’t inside. They lost. 0:00. The timer disappeared from my palm. We weren’t outside the Space Needle anymore. This was the white place from earlier, where I met Quark.
The only other with me was Heather. “So I guess we wade out here for now; might as well lay down,” she said, then suddenly fell backward, landing with a thud. I reacted in shock, thinking that’d of hurt, but Heather just looked up into the white nothingness. I got onto the floor and sat up with my legs crossed.
“I doubt we’ll be here long,” I said.
“Maybe. Maybe I’ll wake before then. I hope so. This dream isn’t a very wonderful one.”
I wondered if she really believed this was fake. “Dream?”
“Yeah. There’s no way this could be real.”
“Of course, all a dream,” a voice echoed. Then it laughed. “Oh, Heather, this must be fake, there’s no way you’d of been killed the way you did.” I knew the voice from somewhere. “Ugh- I sound too much like Quark, antagonizing you.”
No. Not him.
Norman appeared in front of me, looking down on us. “Hey, Care, you’re doing pretty well to have made it passed the first day.”
Heather sat up. “You know him?” she asked.
“My brother.” A lump grew in my throat. I assumed Norman must of been a Player at one time. He’s disappeared before, more than once. One of those times, I thought, he’d of been in some sort of accident. And so he told me those stories about what it was like in the Underground. But he helps work this place. “You’re one of them, a Reaper.” I stood up and faced Norman. “How- Why? Norman-”
“I go by Common here.” He frowned. “Not everything is under someone’s control. I’m sorry, Care; just know that if anyone does survive all seven days, I hope it’s you.”
Heather jumped to her feet. “You’re the GM, aren’t you?”
“GM?” I asked.
Norman looked down. “The Game Master. I decide everything for this game.” Then raising his head to look at me he said, “I am the enemy. On Day 7, the final mission is always the same: defeat the GM.”
“You or me,” I said.
“I’ve been at this business for years, but this is my first time as GM. I’ve eliminated Players, there’s too much blood on my hands. I deserve to die. but I don’t plan to.. I don’t plan on killing you either.” Norman stepped away from us. “I’m almost out of time, I can only talk for a few more seconds.”
“Fine- but you have a plan? You don’t plan on either of us dying, so you have to have a way out, right?”
Heather spoke out, “He only said he doesn’t plan on killing you. He plans on you dying before Day 7.”
I looked to Norman for answers but he didn’t supply any. He just turned away, threw something to me, and then disappeared. Heather and I stood in the white place, a blank pin in my lap.
---
Grey Ruffner
Matthew and I stood in the white place. Common had already left, alerting us of how the rest of Game would play out and why we survived, despite not making it to the designated area. Only one team has to complete the mission for all the surviving teams to pass to the next day.
We talked for some time; there was something we had in common: there was someone we each know that is trapped in this Game. Neither we expected to see.
For Matthew it was Carolin. He told me how he died, trying to stop her from killing herself. But it was all a ruse, she was kidnapped, and when he got to the top of the building, he was shot, lost his footing, and stumbled off the building to his death.
“When I woke up here, it was all I could think of,” he’d told me. “I wanted to know if she was alright, if she survived. I hoped she did. I tried to find out from Quark, but he only laughed in my face. During today’s mission, I found a newspaper, and found out she fell from the building, but took she kidnapper down with her. She killed herself to stop him. Now that I know she’s here, though, I want to make sure she makes it back. I won’t do anything stupid; I’m not going to get you condemned so I can save her, but I’m will do what’s within my power.”
For me, I didn’t know how to react. It wasn’t a friend, someone that’d I try to get out alive. It was the man who killed me and almost- no, not almost, if I die he’s dead, if I live he lives. This man killed me and my brother.
“We’ll figure this all out,” Matthew assured me. “Even if that guy killed you, to get rid of him will be to kill Darren. He didn’t do anything to no one.”
Right. I thought.
But I want to kill him. I want to see him dead, sprawled on the ground, covered in the blood I’ll make him shed.