Once more, it dawns on you that the Borderlands are a cruel and reckless world. Not because of the dead twin lying in an unnatural pose right next to the hatch – more because no one pays attention to her except you and her sister.
The first death has been shocking for probably everyone, but it was nothing more than a reminder of what those games are capable of. Now as you look around, every fiber of your body frozen and your ears filled with the sound of your blood loudly rushing through your veins, you realize that even in a Clubs game, you're only worth something as long as you're still breathing. The moment your heart stops beating, you become invisible.
You can't hear the desperate sobs coming from the remaining twin as she shakes her sister, but you can see it. How she tries to wake the other one up, how she begs her sister to open her eyes, to move again. As the noise inside your ears slowly fades, so do the twin's attempts to bring her sister back. Soon enough, she curls up next to her and gently brushes her cheek while truth dawns on her that her other half will never come back again.
But you are the only one who notices, no one else in this room cares the slightest bit. You turn towards the fuse panel as if in slow motion, where Hibiki and the big guy are arguing heavily; from the few words that reach your ear you assume it's about who will try to grab the key next. Chishiya and Piercing are meanwhile adjusting the fuses once more, this time with the sequence that can be seen from the other side of the carpet. No single action could indicate that someone has lost his life a mere minute ago.
Someone calls your name, and it takes a long time for you to realize that it comes from Chishiya who is watching you with a frown. He is done switching the fuses, and next to him you can see Mr. Muscle's smile turning into a huge evil grin. In one swift move, he grabs Hibiki by his metal collar, and the sight of it alone is enough to make you feel suffocated.
"Stop that! Let him down!"
Your voice sounds foreign to you, far away, but it doesn't have any impact on the big one. You can't do anything but watch how he throws Hibiki against the hatch as if the boy weighs nothing more than a feather, and the crunching sound coming from his back forces you to swallow heavily.
"There we go! No voltage." The big guy clasps his hands with a smug chuckle while Hibiki's body slumps down to the ground right next to the dead twin, and for e terribly long second you fear that he might not be alive anymore as well. But a pained groan escapes his mouth eventually, and you immediately want to run to him – but someone stops you.
"Don't."
It is Chishiya holding your arm tightly, and you hiss as his fingers clasp around the bandaged cut. "What the-? Let go!" He quickly relocates his fingers away from your wound, but the grip is still tight.
You glare at him and hate how his face is so cold and plain as he slowly shakes his head. "No."
"You can't stop me from helping a friend."
Completely unimpressed by the freezing anger in your voice, he comes closer to you. From the corner of your eye, you can see how the big guy kicks Hibiki aside to reach the hatch, and another pained sound reaches your ear and makes you flinch.
"He's not your friend."
You love Chishiya, but this is too much. It's wonderful that he wants to protect you, but not like this. "What would you know about friendship?"
Chishiya tenses for a moment, then the grip around your arm is released immediately. Darting a last glance at him, you turn around just to see how the big guy takes the key out of the hatch with ease and twirls it around in his hand as he heads to the door.
But you don't care for that now as you kneel down next to Hibiki and help him straighten his upper body. The boy has turned pale once more, but you're not sure if you have seen him with his natural face color for once since the game has started. The childish features are turned into a grimace and he takes clipped breaths as if breathing would cause him pain. It is likely that the impact has broken at least one rib, if not more.
"Hey, Hibiki. Are you alright? Say something!"
The boy tries to look at you, but instead he writhers under another wave of ache. "O... Ouch," is all he can say, but at least he manages to sit up without your help now.
A shout makes your head jolt up, just in time to see how Mr. Muscle turns around the key and places his hand on the door knob to open it. "Are you ready for the las-"
TIME LIMIT FOR THE LAST ROOM: 5 MINUTES.
At least it is satisfying to see that this monster seems to be as startled as you are about the voice. Judging by the previous rooms, you have assumed that the timer will activate as soon as the first player steps into the last room as well, but it seems like the rules are slightly different this time.
With an annoyed grunt, the big guy tears open the door and reveals an already lit up room. Confused voices reach you as you watch the other men enter, and you already have a feeling about what will be waiting for you.
There is nothing more you can do to help Hibiki right now, so you squeeze his shoulder once and get up as well. And almost as expected, the last room is not only smaller than the other ones – but it is completely empty.
"What stupid joke is this?" Piercing turns around with disbelief on his face, and Chishiya leans against one of the walls that are as blank as his facial expression.
You touch the cold material and realize they're plain concrete. It's unlikely that something is hidden behind them, and the single light bulb hanging from the ceiling can't hide anything as well. And yet the last door is sealed with a code lock, and the pass code has a total of six digits. ONE ATTEMPT ONLY is written in scribbly letters next to it, but you would have guessed so much. Not that five minutes would have been enough to try out all possible sequences anyway.
"The... last room... What... what's inside?"
Hibiki's voice is rough and interrupted by gasps of pain, and you turn to the open door as no one else seems to pay him attention.
"There is nothing! The room is empty. We just have a combination lock with six digits." You feel a dark pair of eyes rest on you, but when you look around, Chishiya is staring at the light bulb above your heads, and the other two are busy with arguing about a way to find the combination.
Judging by the sounds you hear, Hibiki tries to get up but fails. "Alright. What about... trying out common combinations? Like 1-2-3-4-5-6 or... 0-0-0-0-0-0?"
"We don't have more than one try," you shake your head. The boy curses with another groan, and Piercing throws his hands up in the air.
"It's no use. We have to search the other rooms for a clue."
He leaves together with Mr. Muscle and you step up to Chishiya. The remaining four minutes will never be enough to roam the other rooms for any kind of clue; still Chishiya appears completely calm.
"You know how to solve this, don't you?"
His eyes lock with yours, and there's a sudden fire in them, something you have rarely noticed before. Could he be angry about what you said to him earlier?
Whatever it is, it disappears as quickly as it came and Chishiya exhales a sigh. "The answer is indeed hidden in one of the other rooms. The first one, to be exact."
"How can you be so sure of that?" Of course you trust him, but there hasn't been any code in the library, has it? If he knows the code already – why doesn't he just open the door and clears the game?
"Back in the first room," Chishiya starts to explain, "I took a closer look on the map while you searched for the second key."
You remember how he had remained bent over the table while everyone else was panicking over the lack of time. While you had assumed it was his way of coping with the stress, he had in fact been trying to figure something out.
A frown appears on your forehead while you try to recreate the map from your memories. But there is nothing standing out from any other world map except the red circles around the countries. There have been five countries, but you need six digits.
"Has it something to do with the circles?"
Chishiya shakes his head. "There was in fact something else written on the back of it. A quote." He smirks and tucks his hands inside the hoodie pocket, while his eyes don't move away from yours. "I didn't understand the context back then, but I do now."
Your eyes anxiously flicker towards the timer, and you hear glass shatter and heavy curses somewhere behind you. "So? What did it say?"
"Sometimes, the truth should remain hidden in the dark."
Chishiya chuckles as your mouth turns into a grin as well, and you both lift your heads towards the light bulb. That's it.
That's how you will clear this game.