Flicker [CLOSED APPLY FIC] ✔️

NINE.

As they had suspected she would, Sol never came back.

"I can't believe this," Maeve sighed.

"At least..." Nellie swallowed. "At least we still have the knife, right?"

"Yeah, I guess." They paused. "Should we be... trying to find the others?"
"You mean trying to kill the others?" They shuddered.

"How else are we going to stand a chance?" She said defensively, crossing their arms.

They went silent, considering their options. Before this game, they could swear they weren't as calculated.

"Okay," Nellie spoke finally. "If they don't come for us tonight, we'll go looking for them as soon as the sun rises."

"That's the difference between you and them," Maeve said bluntly. "They're happy to murder in the darkness, cold-blooded and brutal, but you need the comfort of the light." 

"You're not including yourself in that sentence?" 

Maeve shrugged. "The only comforts I need are the spirits. If they're on my side, I'll be damned if I can't win this war." 

Nellie inhaled to say something, but they stopped short. They could see a message from the game heads across their vision, and it wasn't pretty.

Give S0l back or else.

"What the—?" Maeve frowned, scanning the message a final time before it disappeared.

"We didn't take her!" Nellie cried out helplessly.

"No, idiot, but the others probably did."

"What?" Nellie frowned. "Why?"

"As blackmail, I guess, or maybe to bait us out. The game is near an end, and I guess they want to win."

"So..." They thought for a moment. "If it's bait, we should wait here, right?" 

"No," Maeve laughed. "If it's bait, we don't give a fuck and go anyway. This is the finale, and besides, if they're distracted by Sol, we could sneak up on them."

"Ohhh." 

"We could win."

—

"Guys, guys, let's be civil about this," Sol laughed nervously, wincing as Maisie used vines from a nearby tree to tie her hands behind her back.

"Civil?" Li asked, and to Sol, it almost sounded as if they too were going to laugh. "Civil? Like the game heads where, when they threw us in here?"

They stepped closer, fingers clasped around the dagger.

Sol gulped. In the moonlight, their eyes gleaming with triumph, Li looked terrifying. Li looked like they were willing to kill Sol, and like they would smile whilst doing it.

Sol took a deep breath. She had one last arrow in her quiver, and she knew now would be her last chance to use it. "You mean like I was, when I threw you in here, don't you, Alice?"

It was a whisper, barely audible, but Sol could tell that Li heard. 

Maisie must have heard it, too, because her hands stilled, and she seemed suddenly short of breath. Looks like Li hadn't shared their motive with their 'teammate'.

Li did laugh now, but there was no humour in it. "You're a real bitch, Marisol."

She managed to summon up one of her signature grins. "You think you're the first person to tell me that? Joke's on you: I've been hearing that all my life."

"Well, this time you'll know it's personal, because I know you, and I mean every word." Li leant in, lifting Sol's chin up to face her with the blade.

She flinched, not at the coldness of the blade, but at the coldness in Li's eyes. They truly did mean it.

Maisie finally spoke up, her voice breaking through the tension and forcing Sol to drop her eye contact. "Someone better explain to me what the hell is going on or I'm going to choke Sol to death with these vines." 

A/N

Hey guys! In case you missed my announcement, I'm back! :)

I don't know who reads this anymore, but this is most likely going to be the penultimate chapter! The climax will hit and then we'll have the aftermath, and the end of the story! 

I've had so much fun writing this, even though I was supposed to finish it by this time last year (oops) and all of my author's notes have been like 'I'll finish it this month guys' (oops again). I feel like I just went crazy and decided to do whatever I wanted with this story, and I had fun, even though I killed off wayy too many characters for this to still be successful. 

Hopefully you've enjoyed it so far?

(Also this is my first time trying the schedule feature so I hope this actually posts)

Lots of love, Im <33