you sat and waited. your eyes dull and cloudy.
everyday went by, and seemingly, the energy drained from your body.
you glanced to the gates, then to the red car you drove in. standing up, you walked over to place your hand on the nice car.
"surely is nice for a place like this.." you exhaled, leaning on the car as you sat in the road.
suddenly, a voice, muffled but audible rang through the game arena.
you looked up, tilting your head forward.
scrunching your face, you relaxed and stood up.
"let's hear this.." you said, pushing yourself over.
your knees buckled, causing you to stop and groan in drowsiness. "sleep is so limited.." you spoke, clearly agitated.
you fixed yourself up and leaned against the large gate.
"𝙩𝙤𝙪𝙘𝙝 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙤 𝙗𝙖𝙩𝙩𝙡𝙚.." was all you could makeshift of.
everything else was inaudible.
you turned your back to face the inside of the gate. looking through you saw your companions, excluding niragi, and a team of unknown players on the other side.
you held your hand onto one of the bars at the gate.
the drowsiness sweeping over you was making you tipsy in a way, as holding onto the bar was keeping you sturdy.
blinking your eyes drowsily, you felt your knees buckle once more and you fell to the ground shortly after, the energy to keep standing slowly fading.
you questioned everything, wondering if you should cancel your plans for the jack of hearts.
"no.." you croaked, holding softly onto the bar. you felt many of emotions flood through you as you struggled to keep together.
"come on, survive, all of you.." you wailed.
what was weighing you down was the fear that you'd be witnessing your companion's final moments.
sniffling, you took a breath in and regained a structure to where you could stand. standing up, not tall, but enough where you could stand proudly.. you watched.
the groups split up into two different sides of the arena.
"yeesh.. i won't see anything from here." you shifted your weight from leaning onto the barred gate to standing on your own. you went back to a place you were sitting at, and slumped down slowly. your back against the wall, you shut your eyes.
your eyes blazed with a tint of hope, but they were mostly dull on the outside.
you shut them shortly and fell into a soft sleep as your body could not handle being awake for much longer, as the drowsiness was eating away at you.
—
you woke up to the siren and cheering of an announcer.
you groaned and swatted at the large tv with your hand.
𝙥𝙡𝙖𝙮𝙚𝙧 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙬𝙞𝙣𝙨. 𝙩𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙤𝙛 𝙘𝙡𝙪𝙗𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙡𝙤𝙨𝙩.
you could hear the faint wails and screams from inside. you sighed, and stood up.
a smile planted on your face. "they've won.." you felt your eyes finally adjust and the bluriness in the corner was gone.
feeling around your face, you felt your red, hot skin and the dry tears. scoffing, you shoved them off with your arm. you stood by the car, sitting on the front.
you watched them all swarm out a few minutes later. their faces were pale and drained. you could tell something had happened.
jumping down, you fixed yourself to a more concerned expression.
"what happened?" you questioned, walking over to them instead of them walking over to you.
arisu's face was flooded with tears. usagi had been wounded in her head.
"tatta.." arisu wails.
arisu walks over and wraps himself around you, sobbing into your shoulder.
"a sacrifice?" you mumbled in disbelief as he explained. tatta forced the wristband off of him, and died shortly after.
all you could hear were arisu's painful, despairful cries. sighing, you frowned. it hurt seeing your beloved friend cry like this.
patting his back, you soothed him.
"without tatta.. we'd be dead." usagi busted into the conversation.
"it still hurts, though." kuina responded.
"i didn't know tatta much but.." you stopped talking.
you felt bad, guilty.
you held onto arisu, letting him cry without disturbing him. it was the bare minimum. the least you could do.
"well.. i won't break another promise, let's get you to the jack of hearts.." kuina oathed, turning around to look at the blimp.
arisu's cries softened and he pushed himself off of you. you felt bad for him. he'd been through so much here. the death of his.. well the both of yours friends and many others. brutal games..
"are you alright?" you asked arisu.
he sniffled, and nodded. "thank you." he gave a sincere smile, so soft that you smiled back at him almost immediately. "the least i can do." you replied.
kuina honked the horn on the car. "quit it with the sad stuff before i tear up too..!" she frowns. "get in, we're heading to the jack of hearts to drop a little someone off." she winked at you.
laughing, you helped arisu over into the car. you let usagi finish the rest.
you sat in the front, and let usagi tend to him in the back.
you smiled at kuina as you looked back, hoping she'd get the memo.
she understood as quick as you would turn your eyes to look back, she hummed in awe and pushed her feet on the pedal.
"woah!" you shrieked as the wind pushed against you, making you fly back into your seat.
"you want to catch up with chishiya, right? gotta go fast!" she teased, a chuckle escaping from her as she held one hand on the wheel. the other clutched around your shoulder.
the breeze was nice, but intense at times. you would never trust kuina driving you somewhere in the real world.
finally realizing, you breathed in and out. "the real world.." you trailed your finger across the car's "windowsill."
"kuina," you looked over at her.
"what's up, sweetheart?" she yelled through the wind's screaming breeze as she looks straight ahead on the road.
"you'll make it to the end, right?" you asked her.
"why so sad? of course i will!" she whoops, her voice loud and firm with determination.
you smile at how determined she was, even after all she's been through. your heart was warm.
"yeah.. will you.. hang out with me in the real world, then?" you spoke slowly, considering your sentence as you spoke.
"no, of course! why would i stop after we return to the world we desire to be in? i'll take you so many places you wouldn't imagine it. i'll treat you better than chishiya does." she winks at you once more.
"really." you breathed.
"really! you're so amazing, and so calm. i love everything you do!" she praised.
"you flatter me.." you gave a cheesy smile at her.
the car came to a flat stop as you almost flew out of the car when it stopped infront of a large.. prision? insitutuon? confinement? building.
"here we are.." kuina looked up, almost in shock at the game arena size herself.
"odd for a game arena.." you commented.
she nodded.
you got out of the car, and looked back at the three in the car.
"i really hope.. i get to see you all again." you smiled softly at them, but your smile meant a lot of different things.
"you'll meet us again. if not, we'll come find you." usagi said.
"please be careful, and good luck." usagi said, her voice soft but hints of concern could be heard through her voice cracks.
"i'll be alright."
"please don't lie, y/n! we need you!" arisu called as you walked through the gates.
"goodbye, may fate bring us together again." you said as the car's screeching wheels could be heard as it sped off.
entering the game arena, you stopped at a circular table.
"oh, great.. more collars."
quickly, you placed the collar on and then put your hood over your head. "i'd rather observe first before people try to talk to me.. i'll take a eerie presence before i do anything."
you thought you'd start out on your own, and gradually move into the crowd to figure out what was happening with everyone.
stepping into a large area, you spotted the man you had originally looked for right away.
so, chishiya was here.
exhaling, you leaned on the wall and observed. you scrunched your eyebrows at some of the people, sighting them out to be suspicious.
you decided to stay in the background as you listened to everyone talk.
you placed your hand around the collar, and felt it.
mumbling, you said. "odd.. different than the one in the queen of diamonds." you said as you placed your hand back down to your waist.
you listened in to the conversation infront of you.
"did you see? there's a large kitchen with tons of food." one says to the other.
"then.. we might be here for awhile."
you scoff, and move over some more to hear another conversation.
lucky enough, you listened in to chishiya's voice with a man in yellow.
you hummed, tapping your foot.
grumbling, you listened to his voice grow lower and lower.
you were enraged at his considering teasing.
you had assumed he already knew you were there because of what he was saying.
"you see her? in the black jacket. i think she's suspicious." he says with a smirk on his face.
you listened until his whispering was inaudible.
scoffing, you knew he knew that it was you. who else would be wearing his jacket which had a large blood stain on it?
you felt pathetic, knowing he would find you out because of this jacket. you didn't think it through.
the urge to punch him was in your hand as you clenched it into a fist.
sighing, you gave up and decided to wait for the announcer, then you'd begin using your brain.
for now, this was just the calm before the storm. the games.. you assumed, would only get worse as your sanity drained day by day.
for now, you'd be a background observer.
something you were great at.