The home stretch felt like an eternity. It was a mere corridor, as white as its fellows that comprised the doppelganger Axis Mundi, but even still the eternity it took to traverse it, with Ice and Jez in tow, almost racked Faith to the core. Around the up and coming corner, down the ramp, and past a couple of rooms, would be the A-Team, dutifully battling against their primary adversary - Nariko. She had wanted to partake in their exploits, originally; it was obvious that it was there that all the action would take place. But, she had thought better of it, in favour of helping Ice not get himself killed. They were always going to group up with the A-Team eventually, anyway - there was no way that they could take Nariko down on their own.

Alexandria had already sprinted off ahead, with Calvin and Aleecia accompanying her, and Mary had gone fled to wherever. The three rounded the corner, with Faith behind Jez, coming out into a hallways much reminiscent of the First Floor. The similarities between every area of the hospital was unfathomable, but Faith had spent enough time in Axis Mundi to get used to it. The smell of damp clothes, sweat, and metal wafted from the crossroads, beckoning them forward into the ongoing skirmish.

And a sight it was to behold. The sheer size of Nariko, the expanse of her arms and the plethora of swords she held. Faith had never seen a Carnage Sister, let alone up close. The idea that a person, human no less, could willingly stand in front of such a beast and fight it without breaking from fear confounded her. There was truly no way for any of them to defeat Nariko, not in such a small group as with four people. From behind the creature she could spy Cyrus and Krista, as well as the burned body of a patient she had yet to meet, making their way along the corridor. The A-Team were there, too, fending off Nariko to the best of their abilities.

But as they made their way down the corridor, it was clear things were wrong. Alexandria had let loose her spear at Willow, who had somehow snuck up on the group and was preparing to slaughter them on horseback. Jez had already started running towards the fight, spurring Faith to run along side her, droning out the sound of combat and speech to figure out what had gotten her friend so worked up.

The screams broke the sound, alongside the resounding, heavy thud. Jez had fallen to her knees, attempting to assist the injured, and Willow merely rode off. Blood ran freely from his eye, punctured completely by the overwhelming strength of his robot foe. But even then, there was something more pressing in Faith's mind. Something wrong. Something about the boy. Zachary... Zachary... Where had she heard that name before?

"If you find him, go have a chat with the infinite archer. Blond, kinda weird, looks like an elf. Jezebel totally has hots for him. They're together all the time."

This was Zachary Ackerson? The guy Jez had a crush on? Faith knelt beside him, beside Jezebel, taking him in. He was cuter than she had imagined, besides the blood that ran from his exposed eye socket and into a meagre puddle around his head. The blood... watching it trickle down a person's flesh, and coalesce into a crimson pool of their life essence...

"D-don't tease me, okay! I-it's just, you're the Infinite Matchmaker... S-so... Huh?! Wh-what does that mean?! Ughhhhhhh, you're so mean..."

A silent voice. Hollow, resounding. Light itself, drifting, merging, and dividing again. White tiled floors tainted scarlet with blood. Echoing in a void-lit prison. Watching as white and black fabric quickly altered colours, pressed against an open wound. Repeating the same words. It'll be okay. Just hang in there. The cold of evening air, and the steadily decreasing light, mere pinpricks in the clouds. Blare of horns. The flashing of lights.

Faith took the person in her arms, lifting them onto her knees, gently as to not disturb their injury. Something had to be done, and fast. They would die soon. A knife pierced the left sleeve of her outfit, tearing into the black and white fabric and fraying the fibres that comprised it easily. She cut across, then withdrew the blade and tore along the edge, ripping off a long strand of cloth.

Awfully adeptly, she wrapped it around the person's wound. Tightly, as tight as she could make it, tying it at one end around their appendage. It was the best she could manage, especially with her lack of medical training. They needed to get to someone, someone who knew what they were doing and could save their life. Such mediocre bandage work wouldn't do much for very long. It would be a miracle if it even stopped the bleeding for any amount of time.

"I want you to run." reality shifted back into focus. The walls blurred back into a single form, the lights stopped pulsating, the echo vanished, "Take this. And Zachary. And run." Faith stood from the floor, pulling one of Zach's gloves from his hand as she went. She pressed the handle of her dagger into one of Jez's hands, and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Get away from here. Monika will arrive any minute. Find Mercy, and help Zachary." she looked down at her friend. Her expression betrayed something fiercely wrong - her smile had dissipated, and her crimson eyes echoed murder, "I'll deal with things here."



From tucked within her outfit, Faith drew something that resembled a weapon. She stepped to the side of Zach's body, making sure to avoid it as she walked forward, and brandished her weapon. In her hand was Julia's Gladius, looted from her body after Monika's gun had torn her apart. She barely even noticed Calvin tearing off to confront Willow.
"Initiating Emergency Protocol - ZeigarEpsinTheltarYelikSalisVinkarHraegaUolienTralkeshIreima..." the words she spoke were barely a whisper, but every syllable barely sounded as though a human should be unable to produce them. As she took the next step forward, everything seemed to break down, "Initiating Protocols for Unranked Enemies. Blut-Sonnenuntergang." and despite the sounds of carnage, a single sound bellowed out across the battlefield. The lights seemed to dim. Blades of wind swept across Faith's back, scattering her hair wildly around her face.

"Willow!" she shouted, her voice carrying over the others. It was barely louder than any normal shout, but even still it sounded as though it had been magnified several times, "Your actions here today are unforgivable. By my place as the Heir to the Throne of Love, I invoke the laws of the Council and act as their judge. I find you guilty, False Queen, of Egregious Misconduct and Violence against a Sanctified Member of the Collectorate of Faith, and hereby sentence you to death." her free hand raised, and she threw the glove across the field in her general direction, intently focused on the robot.

Irregardless of Willow's answer, Faith began to advance.

---

---

They did it.

They actually managed to damage Nariko.

Yanking her cutlass out of the robot's leg, Alice stepped back as Nariko seemed to panic, the carnage sister flailing her katanas around wildly. Yet the recon wasn't worried, watching her bleed showed that her team had a chance. That they may actually pull off this night of carnage. As Zachary fired another arrow at Nariko, Alice ran up to the robot, intending to go for another hit. But the recon stopped in her tracks once she heard-

Wait a minute,

Shit, don't tell me I have to break her neck AND deal with Nariko too!

Alice thought as she watched Alexandria and a few of the other infinites ran into the room and threw her spear at Willow, who in honesty, the recon didn't know was in the room as well. She was surprised at the fact that Alexandria was considerably an ally now, yet the sound of screams snapped her out her thoughts, as Alice looked over to where the sound came from to see,

"Oh my god, Zachary!!"

the infinite archer, one of her teammates,

dead.

The recon watched in fear as Jezebel and Faith ran up to Zach's corpse, the matchmaker and Calvin advancing over to Willow, then her eyes wandered to the sister's sword. That was when she had an idea, her expression turning to one of determination. "Max, Noel, continue fighting Nariko! I'll go help fight Willow!" Alice called over to the rest of the A-team, before sprinting over and grabbing the carnage sister's sword.

Mary was still in shock as she ran, hyperventilating, and in her haste she tripped on the stairs. Fortunately she only dropped a few steps before hitting her shoulder against a wall on the turn of the stairs, wincing in pain as she braced herself against the wall, sliding to one knee. She held her shoulder, and tried to feel if she broke a bone.
"Oh god, she's gonna kill me!" She whimpered, and looked behind her, expecting an angry sword-wielding killer robot. To her surprise, Julia was no longer chasing her. She heard the awful noise of bullets, grinding metal, and fighting upstairs, and she held herself, trying to somehow calm down.
"Did they...Stop her? Oh no, they're not-!"
She wobbled up the stairs, and peeked out from the stairway towards the second floor of the Resort. She wanted to see if the other Carnage Sisters were still hanging out there, as she did hear the sound of a roaring minigun, hoping she wasn't found; the last thing she wanted to do was have the stereotypical role of the flashy woman dying that pervaded every single slasher movie.

---

As Nariko was spurting out hydraulic fluids, a glimmer of certainty settled in max’s eyes; they were on the winning side, and if they kept this up, this night would be a certain victory. Hearing Zach’s words, Max took a step forward to continue their assault. However, the cop’s attention got drawn by many of the infinites who had entered the corridor. While he couldn’t drop his guard around Nariko, it would be foolish to ignore all the people coalesced in the hallways. Either they were all here to help fight Nariko, or they had brought their own problems with…them.

One moment, Zach was readying an arrow; the next, he was absent. In a split second, Willow ran through the A-team, leaving them with one man short. Max could only shout his name before said shout got drowned out by the infinitely more agonizing screams of the archer. It was too optimistic to think that they were gonna win without casualties, and Max knew that; that’s why he immediately refocused on Nariko. Emotions are prohibited in such a situation, and Max knew that willow was a threat, but multiple people already turned to face Willow. The only threat that max should target was Nariko; that was his job.

“Keep her busy.” Was all that Max said to what remained of the A-team before bolting. He intended to circle the pharmacy to get behind Nariko for an ambush. As he was running around the corner, he could only hope that the others did their job too.

Within a few seconds, max hid behind the corner at the opposite side of Nariko, she was trapped. Max eyed the cable that Nariko almost cut through; if he could only finish the job, they could take out the carnage chassis once and for all. All that needed to be done now was wait for Nariko to be distracted, a single moment would be enough for Max to disable her rear legs or electrify her to death.

The corridors were filled with chaos. Multiple battles were happening at once and despite the greater numbers of the infinites, they were getting injured and tounsed. Cyrus had passed Ice holding an unconscious badly injured Rika that Ice couldn't process correctly. All three of them were worse for wear, but the Blood Donor didn't think he could do much for them now, or at least at this very moment. By the amount of blood coming out of Krista, he might be have to give her some blood, but there were bigger fish to fry.

Calvin, he was doing something he had criticized Ice for having done in the last trial. How could he be so stupid as to charge right for the enemy?! There was no possible way for Calvin to stop him from just barely getting up the stairs, all he could do way scream for him along with Aleecia...

Aleecia. Ice shot forward to get closer to the crying girl hugging the gauntlet to her chest. But as he got closer and closer to her, she seemed to get stronger with each passing moment. Her tears stopped, she shook her head and she said something to that Ice couldn't hear over the sounds of battle.



"I'm going to Nariko." Aleecia didn't necessarily say it directly to Alexandria, but more as a mission that was about to be executed. Aleecia slipped the large gauntlet onto her hand and pulled onto Alexandria's hand, hoping that the robot would point her in the right direction. With all that was happening around her, there was no way Aleecia could pinpoint where Nariko was.

Alexandria walked with Aleecia, guiding the blind girl towards Nariko. ”You yup, just a little further!” The carnage sister looked over her shoulder at Ice. ”Alright, just keep on going.” She released the blind girl's hand and strolled over to Ice. ”I see how you've been looking at me.” she giggled. ”But I belong to Calvie poo, so playing with you isn't a good idea. ”

“And here I was going to invite you out to brunch,” The monotone in his voice would be startling to anyone who didn’t know Ice. He shook the ceiling plaster out of his eyes and the bandages on his head finally all fell away.



Ice unfurled the chain from around his arm and aimed the shiv like a throwing knife, “I wonder what makes you tick, shall we find out?” As he motioned to throw the chain weapon, he slipped another shiv out from his pocket and aimed it at her face, running forward to slip past her as he did so.

Ice's moves were starting to get sluggish. He wasn't in great condition when the night started, and his wounds were really starting to slow him down. Alexandria was able to easily tip her head and let Ice stab right beside her head. She took hold of Ice's wrists while he was following through with his strike. ”You're only still alive because I choose not to boop you.” Ice was pushing against Alexandria forcing her to hobble backwards towards her sisters.

Aleecia moved forward to the battle against Nariko, she called out for the large mechanical beast with a breathy yell. She could hear the sounds of blades moving through the air and hoped she wasn’t too late.

“Nariko?”

With everyone running away from Nariko, poor Noel was the only one left to contend with her insidious new shape. But when Aleecia called out, The robot stopped fighting immediately and “looked” at Aleecia. It was hard to tell exactly where the cluster of eyes were looking, but it seemed like it was focused on Aleecia at the moment. Noel was able to safely back away from the robot, and Willow took her place by Nariko's side. ”And what do you have to tell my sister? Could it be?” Willow tipped her head back. ”Are you surrendering yourself to us? So we might end this night of bloodshed?”

Aleecia froze at the sound of the other carnage sister, she wanted to come closer to Nariko, but she was worried what Willow would do. Plus, she was probably the robot that had hurt that person so badly... Aleecia shuddered for a moment, then stood her ground. “I-I wanted to talk to my friend! I want her to stop fighting and hurting the infinites, but I don’t want her to get hurt either!”

“Vafancula! Let me go! Willow’s-” Without even finishing his statement, Ice tried to kick out at her and gasped, his broken rib panging angrily and forcing his kick to make no impact. “Crikey-” He spat up a mouthful of blood. As much as Ice hated anything to do with the robot, Ice knew he was in no condition to take on two different carnage sisters, especially with one of them being a chassis.

“Go save her.”

---

---

So a change of plans was in order.

After Alice had grabbed Willow's weapon, she looked back to the rest of the A-team to see...Max running away. "Dumbass!! Didn't you hear me?!" she shouted to the cop, before looking back at the reporter. "Noel, hold on! I'll be right- there?" Out of the corner of her eye, the recon noticed Alexandria guiding Aleecia to Nariko. while the dice master seemed to make Nariko stop, Willow walked up to stand besides her sister, instead of distracting herself by fighing Faith and Calvin.

The recon kept a close eye on Aleecia, waiting to see if one of the carnage sisters will start attacking as she slowly started walking over to Noel. Yet she stopped once she heard more yelling, and turned back around to see Ice struggling to free himself from Alexandria's grip.

"Oh hell no-"

While she was distracted, Alice quickly snuck up behind Alexandria and leaped onto the carnage sister's back. "I'd let go of him, if I were you. Less you want me to break your neck again." she threatened, a grin of impatience and malice on her face as she wraped her arms around the robots neck.

Jezebel looked between the knife Faith gave her and the gauntlets Calvin made for her nights prior. She then looked at Zachary's broken body. “Like...” Jezebel threw the knife off to the side and locked her arms around Zachary's chest. Jezebel was not a very large person, and carrying a man of any size was not something she could do easily by herself. She walked backwards, dragging the archer like an unconscious terrorist in one of those video games he liked to blab about. “I hope you're happy.” She watched as Faith and Calvin ran off in hopes of getting revenge.“I totally hope you're happy.”

Alice jumped onto Alexandria's back, but the robot was able to remain standing. ”I'm not going to boop anyone! How many times do I have to say it?” she giggled.

Nariko did not respond verbally to Aleecia. The carnage class chassis did not seem to have a way of communicating like the normal sisters did. But what Nariko couldn't say with words, she would say with action. The massive robot backed out of the way, giving Aleecia room to enter the corridor to the morgue. Nariko handed one of her Katanas to Willow.

”Oh? Does my sister wish to walk hand in hand with this peasant?” Willow laughed.

With the sound of Nariko moving backward, Aleecia took a few steps forward, still a little shaken. “We’ve already done that! And hugged and-” Her face got a little red at the thought of waking up in Nariko’s arms, “A-Anyway! I don’t know why she went and kidnapped Krista, but I still believe in her! So we should all stop fighting and Nariko should escape!”

”Oh my, how scandalous!” Willow twirled the katana in her hand. Damn, she might be really good with that. ”All affairs aside, Nariko has made her demands perfectly clear. No sister of mine will settle for anything less than what her heart yearns for. Which happens to be the two of you. There will be no cease fire until you turn yourself in.”

“I can’t let you hurt them anymore, but I also can’t let Nariko take Krista! ...I’m fine with going with you, but leave her out of this!” Aleecia took another step closer, knowing that Nariko would be able to protect her if Willow tried attacking.

Willow folded her arms.”Being one of my sister's concubines doesn't put you in a position to make demands.”

It was then that Max seized his opportunity. Watching everyone fight without him was almost unbearable, but his moment had come, this was it. The police officer silently started walking towards Nariko, making sure to hide behind Noel. With everyone distracted, he was sure that nobody would notice his entrance, and he kept walking until he was right behind Noel.

As soon as he reached the reporter, he started his attack. In a single flash he sprinted towards Nariko at top speed, creating as little noise as possible; knife in hand. His knife was aimed at Nariko’s neck, and if it would reach it, her head would surely roll.

With Nariko's head so high in the air, it was impossible for Max to scale her before she took notice of him. So he threw his knife at her neck, hoping to score a hit. Nariko did not attempt to to deflect the projectile, which sailed past her defenses. But between the angle and Max's imperfect throwing ability, he wasn't able to hit the robot's neck. The dagger was embedded in the massive globe of eyes, which cause a few of them to blink off. It appeared her head was more durable than Max originally estimated. She was hardly blinded, and not too pleased to have been attacked. Nariko raised her weapons once again, she would not let her guard down a second time.

”That wasn't very chivalrous!” Willow turned to look at Calvin and Faith, who were charging towards them. ”But neither is this! Sister?” Nariko and Willow turned to charge the two infinites. Nariko's swords shielded Willow on all sides, while Willow herself held her katana out in front.

Calvin slowed as he saw Willow and Nariko charging in unison. Dully, he remembered hearing Faith’s voice. He looked behind, only to see her approaching the Carnage Sisters with what looked to be Julia’s gladius. Further behind her was Jezebel, hauling Zach away. There was no chance they could retreat, not without leaving the Infinite Archer behind. Calvin re-adjusted his grip on the pick, breathing in deeply. The air felt cold in his lungs as he took step after step towards the incoming charge.

Her hand tightened around the hilt of Julia’s weapon, feeling the weight in her palm drag her arms to the ground. She wasn’t tired by all means, but her lack of strength left something to be desired. Faith’s gaze zero’d onto the two Sisters, assessing their movements as she and Calvin stood fast in their approach. Dealing with both wasn’t going to be easy, especially not on their lonesome. Of course, others would draw away Nariko soon - the Carnage Chassis was their secondary objective, after all - but despite that they would, at least for a short amount of time have to deal with it.

”Calvin.” she called out, calmly, across the way. The edge of bloodlust in her voice overwhelming the twinge of anxiety it held. ”Just hold her off until the others can draw Nariko away.” and with that, she began to run. She clenched the hilt with both hands firmly, readying a strike for the future.

Calvin nodded briefly. His mind didn’t register the voice as Faith’s, but still the instructions rang clearly in his mind. His pace quickened. He felt a lump rise in his throat, but he swallowed it back down. He noticed that he was still wearing one of his gauntlets and flicked it off carelessly as he broke into a run, the distance between himself and the Carnage Sisters closing rapidly.

Nariko and Willow were far too fast for any of the infinites that might have tried to catch up. The world record top speed for a human is close to forty-five kilometers an hour, and it's not a speed they can hold for more than ten seconds. It's also an exercise that doesn't leave one in great condition for fighting robots. The carnage sister's horses were capable of running at least twice that, and didn't show any sign of tiring. It would be a bit before any reinforcements arrived.

Willow stood up on her horse as they approached, planting both feet on the saddle. When she stood like this, Willow was almost as tall as her sister. Cavin could feel the ground tremble as Willow's horse and Nariko's hooves pounded the floor. As the distance between them closed, Willow jumped into the air, but not without retrieving a second sword from Nariko. She used her momentum from the horse to drive her forward. Willow was prepared to land on Calvin with a vertical and horizontal slash. Her horse would past them both. Nariko slowed up, but she was following Willow into combat. With her arms raised into the air, a sword swing could come from anywhere.

I think I’m going with them. The thought passed through Calvin’s head unabided. He looked up to the descending form of the regal robot. His legs turned to stone. His arms felt sluggish. But his hands felt aflame. Silently, he raised his pick, placing one hand on each end and gripping tightly. The burning sensation in his hands seemed to cool as he gripped his work and raised it towards the incoming blades. The rapid-repeat clang of the two swords clashing against the pick was abrupt and took all of Calvin’s attention. The attention was quickly diverted to the fact that he was still alive. Brought down to one knee, certainly, and with arms that ached, but he glowed in appreciation for the fact his craft had held. Willow did not seem to share said appreciation. The strike had been an all-in, and while a more competent fighter would have capitalized on the successful defence, it was all Calvin could do to stand back up.

Willow came equipped with a saber and a cannon, but she was also formidable with two katanas. As a metalworker, Calvin knew that most people who fought with two swords often paired the katana with a wakizashi (short sword) due to the fact that it was easier to use with the longer, heavier katana. Katanas were traditionally two handed weapons, and only Shona Moffett, Miyamoto Musashi and a handful of comic book characters were ever able to use two katanas with much success. But Willow had strength that far surpassed that of normal men, and the weight didn't slow her swings at all. When one sword was slashing, the other was being pulled back to follow up. Her technique looked perfect to anyone without much knowledge of swordsmanship. Willow took a step with every swing, forcing Calvin to back up while he defended himself. At the very least, the broad head of the pick let him deflect the blows with relative ease, as long as there was room for him to move backwards.

Faith let her legs carry her down the hall, closing on on Calvin’s position. She took note of Willow’s form; one strike after another, deflected, if barely, by Calvin and his craft. The Gladius felt heavy against her arms, a kind of nervous anticipation. If she didn’t do something soon, who knew how long Calvin would be able to hold off for. He would have to give out at some point. Then it would be all over. She eyed Nariko, hovering near her sister. She let her peripherals trace the Horse as it ran down the hallway, seemingly without clear direction nor directive. Despite all her prior confidence, something assured his this wasn’t a battle she could win, not without magic, miracles or wonders. But all she had was a sword, her Ignis Pouch, and her wiles. She ran, circling around the hallway along the walls and to the side. ”Check.” she whispered, approaching from the right, hoping for Willow’s attention to be strained in her attacks against Calvin - preparing the strike at her leg and topple her in a single blow.

Willow was indeed focused solely on Calvin. Everything going on in her surroundings was of little consequence to her. It would not be difficult for faith to take advantage of her lower level of awareness. But someone else had their eye on Faith as she attempted to close the distance.

Nariko.

The carnage sister lowered herself so that her eight arms and four legs were touching the ground. Then in an instant, she jumped towards Faith. The magus noticed the flying carnage sister, and changed course. But the massive shockwave from her landing proved to be too much. The air displacement alone was like an explosion. Faith was thrown off her feet and rolled across the floor. She stopped moving when she slammed into the wall. Faith
was left writhing in pain. Her body wouldn't listen to her commands. Faith's state of vertigo prevented her from rising to her feet. But through her hazy vision, she could see Willow pressing her advantage against Calvin. There was no way he could stand up to her, not when she had two swords in her hands. But Faith had bigger problems to worry about. Nariko was closing in, raising her blades above her head. Faith couldn't muster the strength to raise her own hands. It didn't take a magus to guess what was going to happen next. All faith could do was close her eyes and brace for it. As soon as Nariko's blade thrust forward, Faith's body was splashed by something warm. At first she thought it was her own blood, but there was no pain, not from a stab wound anyway. When faith opened her eyes, she could see some of the infinites off in the distance. Alice was on her knees, holding her face. That seemed strange, since she was holding Alexandria moments ago. Speaking of which, Alexandria was nowhere to be seen. That was when Faith looked over herself. Aleecia had positioned herself over Faith to block Nariko's blades, and was showering Faith with her blood.

---

Something hot was racing through Aleecia, feeling like it was burning her alive. She felt hot liquid slip up her throat and couldn’t help gagging before spitting it out. The heat was radiating off of the spot where most of her left ribs were supposed to be. She let out a hacking cough as she choked on her own blood, red dripping down her chin. Her arms, which had been holding up her weight previously started to shudder before giving out and her weight sank, falling onto the girl under her.

It wasn’t burning anymore, but everything started to feel so cold. Tiny shivers ran along her skin and she let out another heart wrenching cough. But it wasn’t as loud as her last one, why was that? Aleecia’s eyes blinked open for a second, but as she opened them, only darkness met her. The world was blank and the sounds of battle were fading away. Her sense of sight was finally leaving for good. Tears mixed with blood as she stammered feebly, “I wasn’t completely useless, was I?”

Another hack came out of her, but Aleecia couldn’t feel it or the blood that splattered more onto her front. It wasn’t like her sweatshirt was going to be salvageable anyway. “Don’t blame her o-okay? Sh-She can’t stop herself...” A hiccup followed by a choking sound slipped out against Faith’s ear.

“She’s gonna go after Calvin with her highest right arm in a diagonal arch for his neck. Save-” Her already drooping head sagged against Faith’s ear, “Keep... Izzy alive.”

Nariko's chassis was trembling. She wasn't making any sudden movements, but that would change very soon.

”Sorry… Faith… I-I’m... ”completely useless…”

When Faith thought of the Night of Carnage, they weren’t necessarily pleasant memories. Leaving their rooms the next morning, finding the corpses of their friends, dead by one means or another. But regardless of that, she had always considered them a kind of adventure. Delving into a dungeon, fighting the monsters inside for no reason other than fun, or maybe to get better at the fights. It was a life and death game, after all. With the idea of the Carnage Class Chassis, things got even better. Finally, the Nights of Carnage would have a reason, finally the dungeons would have some meaning besides mindlessly running or attacking. They would have a boss to fight, and overcome together as a group. There would be rewards at the end, too, as promised by their one and only Doctor. A true quest.

And it was warm. The kind of quest that felt like a good idea at the time. Imagining all the stories they could tell after it was said and done, glimpsing the fun she would have with her new friends, and images of crimson tiled floors and frantic, panicked actions.
”H-hey…” it’ll be okay; it’ll be great, even; after all of this is over everyone is gonna laugh and play, and things with be great. We’ll be friends, even, ”Wh-what are you…” looking at me like that for? - I told you, things’ll be fine. That’s a promise, okay? It’ll be just fine, ”Y-yeah… it’s okay, Allie… J-just, uh… w-wait here, okay? I-I won’t be long... “ her words were soft, as Faith sat herself up against the wall, holding Aleecia in numb hands, before laying her to the ground to to the side of her.

Thunder rang in Calvin’s ears. He couldn’t hear anything besides a loud heartbeat that he assumed to be his own. He wasn’t sure. All he could see was the form of the sword-wielding Carnage sister. His arms ached as he tread backwards, blocking blow after blow. He wasn’t meant for this. He had never been meant for any of this. One of Willow’s swing went wide, and Calvin swung the pick in a horizontal arc. Without pause, Willow pulled back, avoiding the slow blow with ease. He looked back, increasingly aware of his rapid approach towards the wall. Willow rapidly closed the distance, and Calvin brought up the pick to wearily catch another slash. “Fucking…” He looked up to see Nariko moving towards him, her blades poised to strike. He realized that he was about to die, and was alarmed to notice that the realization had little effect on him. He was brought back to reality by another salvo of swings from Willow. She could sense his flagging strength, and was pressing the advantage.

A conversation ran through Faith’s head. One she must have had, but in the heat of the moment and blood she barely remembered having. About programming, and the Sisters. About Nariko. Her grip had withstood long enough to leave the Gladius just a short distance away. Whatever Aleecia had said, she could only hope it held true. She walked, slowly, shakily, to the blade, leant down, and grasped the hilt. It was only a matter of time before Nariko returned to whatever little senses she had left, and even in her addled and shell-shocked brain she could reason that, whatever the Sister did next, she would be going for a slaughter. Automatically, she began a run towards Calvin and Willow, ignoring the pain in her muscles from the impact, occasionally looking back to spy Nariko’s actions. If she was charging, Faith was ready to kick out Calvin’s legs…

And let nature take its course.

Faith didn't have a lot of mass, but she was able to bring down Calvin exactly when she intended to. “Jesus fucking-” was all Calvin could get before he hit the ground, knocking the breath out of his body. Nariko's sword flew exactly where Calvin's neck was, just as Aleecia had predicted. Though Calvin's head wasn't there, Willow's arm was. Faith and Calvin were able to roll out of the way, preventing the falling arm or the spewing hydraulic fluid from landing on them. Willow turned to face her sister with her blade up. But Nariko was charging around in circles, pouncing around like a lunatic. Her swords raked the walls of the corridor without any clear target. ”Have you gone mad as a hatter?!” But of course, Nariko didn't respond. The eight-armed sister bounded back over to Aleecia's body. Nariko raised her arms and her body let out a hollow groan. It was loud enough that everyone on the floor could hear it. Then in an instant, She drove her swords into her head. The monster's legs sunk into the ground before the torso fell over on it's side, shattering the cluster of eyes it used as a head.

The monitors sparked to life, Davis's face was on the screen. “Nariko has been defeated, and conquest belongs to the infinites. He could not have been more monotone in his delivery. The night of carnage has ended. Nurses will resume their normal duties, as normal regulations are in effect.” He seened to be looking straight out at every infinite present. “Remember that battle is nothing more than a gamble. Increasing your wager doesn't just ensure you can win more, you can lose more as well. It was hard to tell, but it almost looked like Davis was starting to smile.Mas the price of conquest too high this time?” The monitor clicked off.

Willow dropped her katana on the floor”Well, I guess it's back to work then.” A veil of smoke appeared in front of a wall, and she walked inside, only to walk back out fully repaired. If it wasn't a new body.“I guess we should drag away the corpses.” willow thought out loud.

”We did it!” Alexandria walked up to Calvin and Faith, who were still on the floor. ”I was able to bring Aleecia over here so that she could slay Nariko!” She looked over her shoulder at Alice. ”A shame I had to give Alice's nose a boop with the back of my head, but she'll be fine.”

Calvin wanted to get back up. To challenge Willow again. To beat her. His body did share his intentions. He laid on the ground, looking up to the ceiling, trying to take in all the information. The night was over. He looked down the hall to see that Jez had gotten Zachary away from the fighting. At least she was okay. He turned his head over to examine the wreckage of Nariko’s Carnage Chassis. He felt a wash of relief as he noticed it was truly dead, but that relief turned to horror as he took in the slumped figure close to it.

From the moment Nariko began her march to Aleecia’s body, Faith was preparing to stand. The ache from her encounter with Nariko was already beginning to overcome what adrenaline she had in her system, but even still, her resolve wouldn’t falter to injury. Davis, Willow, and Alexandria's words fell on deaf ears. Their words naught but hollow and dull echoes as Faith crawled to her feet and ran down the hall, dropping the Gladius as she went. The moment she came within Aleecia's vicinity, she slid to her knees, entering the spreading blood pool wantonly to get at the body.
”H-hey, Allie, I-I’m back. H-how are you?” every syllable was quiet and fractured as she pulled the girl onto her lap, attempting feebly to feel for her pulse, ”E-everything’s okay now.. W-we beat Nariko, s-so everyone’s safe… I-it’s okay for you to get up now.” tears burned the edges of her eyes with familiarity. This was only her first day here; this wasn’t meant to happen, ”A-Allie? Y-you can, y-y’know… get up. I-I need to thank you for… s-saving me and all…” she touched her face, feeling the chill of flesh, and abruptly raised her head to the ceiling, ”Davis! Lower the field and let me heal her! Now!” despite her broken voice her shouting carried across the space. ”Do it now! Not even the Council will stop me from killing you! C’mon… please Allie…” until shouting turned to tears of remorse.

Calvin slowly rose. Choked sobs escaped him as he looked at the prone corpse of the Infinite Dice Master. ”I’m going to kill you.” He said quietly to the departing form of the royal carnage sister. But it would have to wait. He ran over to the two girls. Faith was holding her body closely, calling to Davis. “Aleecia?” He looked at her prone form and her ashen face. There was a sense of disbelief in his voice. ”Mercy -- Anyone! She’s -- Aleecia’s dying.” He looked down again. “God damn it!” He walked over to the prone form of the Carnage Sister, and swung at it as hard as he could. It didn’t feel good. But it felt better than looking at the corpse of the girl he was supposed to protect.

---

A tried and beaten Felix was now shambling through the halls. At this point, he wasn’t even paying attention to his surroundings anymore, which could easily get him ambushed by the sisters; but he had faith in his friends, they wouldn’t fail. As Felix got closer to the Diner, he spotted Thomas, and the free-runner unconsciously perked up to hide the fact that he was wounded.

“Thomas!” Felix shouted from a distance before closing the distance at a casual pace. “Is Mercy in the diner? I gotta ask her a few questions.” Although Felix tried to hide it, he obviously wanted medical attention.

Thomas wasn't in much better shape than Felix. One side of his face was covered in splinters, some of which had begun to draw blood, and he was no longer wearing his maroon sweatshirt. His undershirt was rugged and dirty, and his pants had several splotches of blood on them where Lucy had gotten blood on him.

When Felix had approached, Thomas was fiddling with his face, presumably to get the splinters out as carefully as possible. Felix came as a surprise to Thomas. He hadn't expected him to show up, wasn't he supposed to be dealing with the Carnage Sisters? So much for the good that has done.

"The, ah, Plague Doctor is with the designated, uh, what did you call it? Ah, that's right. 'Support Group', the whereabouts of which I was not privy to. Thomas removed his hand from his faced and looked to Felix, his eyes like two needles that were leeching information off of Felix in much the same way that a mosquito would suck the blood of their host. His observations led him to know Felix's predicament before he even told Thomas what it was, contrasting to Thomas's lackluster performance moments earlier. Regardless, Thomas humored Felix. "To what ends do you ask?"

“Nevermind me, what happened to you!? I thought you were safe inside your room-” Felix got a bit closer to inspect Thomas’ face; it looked like someone bashed a wooden chair against it, although he didn’t look like he was in much pain, so it must’ve looked worse then it felt.

“Did you fight a carnage sister too?”

”Tch. It’s merely been a long night. Nothing grievous has happened to me.” Thomas remarked.

”But you are hurt, are you not? That’s why you asked where the plague doctor was.” Thomas paused for a moment. ”If you remember what I said before, ah, at the beach; I am willing to use my talent to help you whenever it is convenient for me, and it is at the moment. If you aren’t sick, than this injury is surely within my realm of study.”

“Owh that’s right, you’re a biomechanic aren’t you? In that case-” Felix threw his shirt to the ground and turned around so Thomas could inspect his back. there were numerous cuts and bruises all over it. “I kinda got beaten with a rope and door on my back, in that order.” Felix laughed it off, but it really did hurt.

”So you fought a carnage sister. And they actually managed to hit you. I’m surprised. Aren’t you titled the Infinite Free Runner? Ah, don’t answer that. Describe to me what happened so I can try and figure out how bad you are actually hurt. You were hit in the back and... Thomas trailed off, so that Felix would have an opportunity to tell him what was going on.

“Uhh yeah-” Felix stumbled on his words, he didn’t expect Thomas to get so excited about this. if he’d known, he would’ve rephrased some things. “I got hit in the back with a rope while trying to dodge a guillotine. I mean, I know that these sisters have unconventional weapons, but this one really stretched the limits.” Felix chuckled. seemingly in pain. “Anyway; after that, I kinda realised I was outmatched. So I tried to run...but then out of nowhere, a door snuck up to me, striking me in the back again! There was some serious tunnel visioning going on.”

”That’s… hmm. Thomas looked at Felix’s back, trying to decipher the discolorations and new information into a valid diagnosis. The only thing that he actually figured out, is that he would need a closer look to solve Felix’s back injury. He reached into his pocket for the glove that wasn’t used to pad his bruise, and carefully pulled it over his right hand. ”I can only deduce that there are moderate contusions, ah, bruises in layman's terms, from your injury by looking. I’m going to take a more indepth look, you may feel sharp pain on your back. Tell me everything you feel whenever I press, run my hand over, or otherwise touch a location that causes pain in anyway.”

Felix flinched at the cold touch of Thomas’ glove, Thomas described a sharp pain, but all he could feel was the cold, maybe his back wasn’t as badly injured as he thought, moving still hurt though.

“You sound like a doc, I bet if Mercy were here, she’d think you were stealing her position.” Felix chuckled. “Maybe she wouldn’t even mind, I mean it’s not like we have been forcing her to nurse us, but being the only one who can must be straining.” Felix tried to look behind him without moving his body, and in the corner of his eye he spotted Thomas. “If you’re able to treat me, maybe you can ease her load too. Because...I’m guessing that more people will get hurt before the night is over.”

“Skills are a commodity, every bit as valuable as the food you eat and water you drink in this killing game. Mine would be wasted as a free service.” Thomas remarked, bringing his hand up Felix’s back. The bone was fine, which meant that the bulk of damage to his back was just the blunt force from getting hit. There wasn’t much Thomas could do with his limited tools that Felix would not already know to do, but he would state the obvious regardless. ”Compression and Ice for your back. If you could find a painkiller in the pharmacy, those will obviously reduce the amount of pain but will also reduce inflammation.” Thomas stopped to take a breath. ”Some doctors recommend massaging the area around the bruise but “ — Thomas looked at his hands — ”That’s errs out of my control”.

Felix wasn’t exactly sure what Thomas was talking about but he was assuming that Thomas wasn’t going to help mercy with the wounded. He did appreciate the treatment that the biomechanic gave him, so there wasn’t much resentment towards his choice.

“Thanks for the tips, i’ll check the pharmacy after the hour ends, don’t wanna bump into another sister again.” an awkward laugh escaped felix. He surveyed Thomas again, but seeing his beaten body sparked Felix’s interest once more. “I explained my injuries, but you haven’t told me anything about yours.”

”To what end?” Thomas inquired, a slight tone hinting at quizzicality behind his words. As he spoke, he began to remove the glove from his hand so that he can replace it in his pocket.

“to what e-” Felix interrupted himself with a chuckle. “I’m just curious how you got all those wounds, you must have fought a sister haven’t you? you standing here means that you did pretty decent, so I was wondering why you didn’t join the distraction teams; I could have used the extra hands.”

”What do you mean ‘you could have used the extra hands’?” Thomas responded, clasping his hands together quickly. ”As a matter of fact, I did. The carnage sister is destroyed. Something you’ve obviously failed at doing.”. Thomas tilted his head slightly and stared intensely at Felix. ”But no. ’You could’ve used these extra hands?’ You could barely do your own job! You know what happens when you can’t do your job when there are machines actively trying to kill us? People die! That’s what happens, Free Runner! But you want to complain that I didn’t help with anything. Well, congratulations. Thomas fixed his position and turned away from Felix, shooting a glance to his upper torso as he spoke. He began to walk away, but kept talking ”Complain as much as you want, and hope you find the Plague Doctor before you run into another Carnage Sister.”

Felix stood there dumbfounded. He didn’t say anything that provoking did he? Thomas probably misunderstood Felix, that must’ve been it; why else would he start rambling about failure and death when both of them were successful? In any case, Felix would need to apologize for not being clear enough the next time he’d meet Thomas. And for the record again, he totally didn’t fail his job.

As Felix reached his room, Davis’ broadcast started, and as he expected, the others had completed their job. Felix should have been happy, but some of the words troubled Felix. As he got into his bed, his mind had trouble letting go of the anxiety, but his beaten body could do nothing but rest and eventually, he fell into a deep slumber.

Daimyon waited, then waited some more. His body and his mind had got thoroughly disconnected: the former was stuck in some sort of feverish half-hunch, grasping onto the lute like a bloody sword, while the latter was speeding ahead, imagining the countless ways the confrontation with the murderous robot could go, each scenario more fantastical than the last. None of them seemed to become reality, however, and as the seconds ticked by painfully, the poet was starting to grow suspicious. Had his foe simply failed to find him? Or, heavens forbid, was she standing in the break room, cannon primed and hungry for blood? Initially, Daimyon did not want to fancy his chances, but he was only getting more anxious by the minute and he feared that a heart attack might put an abrupt end to his second flush of youth.

Reining in his own thoughts, he first looked out the open doorway, ready to get his head blown off—the fact that the realisation that no such blast came even registered in his mind was a pleasant surprise. He breathed a sigh of relief and stepped outside. His heart skipped a beat when he thought he had heard something, but his alarm was for naught. The break room was empty and silent; the only noise filtering in came from somewhere more distant. He opened the room's door—only to find the corridor empty—and his attention soon turned back towards the hospital area where he had fled from. That was, undoubtedly, where the sounds originated. They were the sounds of battle, of fierce fighting, perhaps the pivotal point of this nefarious night.

Willow must have abandoned chasing him to take the fight to the rest of the Infinites, Daimyon thought. His distraction had failed, and while he was still alive and unharmed, he felt guilty about making the already perilous odds even worse for his peers on the attacking team. His heart drew him back towards the action, but the self-conservative instinct sounded alarm after alarm in his head. Chances were, all the fighting was concentrated in the hospital, so if he was to move in the opposite direction, he could sit out the whole thing. He had already done what he could—it was not much, but there was little use of him going back into the fray now. He would have only weighed the rest of the team down. He believed in them to be able to handle the situation and took off towards the corridor that led to the resort, away from all this mess.

Then he stopped. Was it like him to hide cowardly and leave his friends to fend for themselves? Was it like the Infinite Poet to shy away from even deadly danger?

Perhaps it was. But not anymore! He turned around and looked back towards the hospital. The noise was quietening down; if he wanted to make an impact, he would have to act now. And act he did with new resolve, running back into the fight.

Only there was no fight to speak of anymore. Daimyon's heart sank as he slowly looked over the scene of a battle just finished. A man—he could not care less who—announced the end of the Night of Carnage through the monitors and the Carnage Sisters departed. The Infinites were victorious, but at what cost? The poet shuddered to think. How Pyrrhic was this victory?

The silence was only momentary; it may never have been real. But in that one moment, the picture burned into Daimyon's mind and crystallised into a still that transcended the current situation. A crying woman hunched over the motionless body of a little girl, her cracked voice telling a story of grief and denial. A man channelling his anger into vicious strikes on an already defeated foe. On the sidelines were others, some injured, their expressions ranging from disbelief to overbearing sadness, to even relief and acceptance.

Then, time restarted. The faceless archetypes became flesh and blood people again, the poet's peers and allies. The carnage might have been over, but the aftermath promised to be no less intense.
“Oh, my lord...” Daimyon muttered, standing still for a good few seconds. Once his shock had subsided however, he sprung to help. Or at least he wanted to, but there was one question: where was he to start?

His head wasn't doing so well, half of what Ice heard was overshadowed by a static noise and his breathing was cut short to small pants. He vainly struggled against Alexandria's his arms starting to burn as they held all of his weight. The sounds of battle drowned out Alice's words and he cursed as he looked up to see Alice on top of the robot. Ice had to get off, get out, get over to his friends while they still had a chance of survival. While they may have stood a chance against one of the killer robots, they wouldn't be able to against two. Ice tried to turn his body towards the battle, but his muscles wouldn't work the right way, forcing him to stare at Alexandria's torso instead. Ice flinched at the sound of metal against metal, praying to whatever god there may be that the hour would just end already.

The battle had gotten quieter for some reason, it didn't sound as though there were enough of them fighting at once. He thought he heard Aleecia's soft voice, but she shouldn't have been anywhere near them, right? Suddenly Alexandria moved, letting him go and pushing her head back to hit Alice in the nose. While the Blood Donor was worried about how injured his comrade may have been, he knew that Alexandria wouldn't do anything else to hurt her. Ice got onto his knees, ready to sprint over when he finally peered at the battlefield.

Aleecia was lying over Faith, but who would have hurt her? It took far too long for Ice to register that Allie had gotten in the way of Nariko's blow. The inhuman form didn't look like the robot who had held Allie in her arms just that morning. It was a vile spider of darkness that had squandered the life of an innocent little girl. The left over strength that Ice had mustered up started to fizzle out as he saw Aleecia's life be snuffed out. Sounds came over the speakers above, but they fell to deaf ears. Liquid streamed from his eyes, the only warmth left in place of his frozen over heart.

"Damn, tincan broke my nose..." Alice hissed, a hand over her nose as blood seeped out. She glared at Alexandria, then looked over to see the aftermath of the others' battle. They had finally defeated Nariko, but at what cost? Aleecia layed lifeless in a mourning Faith's arms, having taken a fatal hit for the matchmaker, Calvin taking his anger out on the carnage sister's remains. The recon's expression was frozen in despair, in knowing that after all this time, the dice master would've been taken away from the other infinites, one way or another.

She then glanced over to Ice, who had been struck with grief the most. Alice wipped the blood off her hands onto her skirt and walked in front of the blood donor, sitting down and placing a hand on his shoulder.

Ice was unresponsive, he seemed to be looking right through her. As Alice's hand rested there, she realized it was a lot colder than it should have been. Ever once in a while his body would give a little shudder, though no real sound would come out. Finally, after what felt like hours, the icy glaze over his eyes melted away and he started to move. "She's going to get cold... We have to move her before-" Without finishing his sentence, he started trying to get up, flinching as he did, "Allie don't worry, I'm coming."

"Careful- Careful!!" Alice said, worry in her voice as she quickly helped Ice stand up. "You're hurt, aren't you?"

Ice didn't answer Alice, but moved slowly and surely closer to Allie's body, holding onto his hurt side. He almost tripped a couple of times, but luckily his will to move helped him move at the last second. Finally, Ice fell to his knees next to Faith. His face still seeping with tears and puffy, he reached out for one of Aleecia's hands and held up to his face. He felt her lack of pulse and swayed slightly, and a quiet sob was snuffled out of him. "...She looks so peaceful."


There was another loud clang as the pick rang against the husk of the carnage sister. Tears streamed down Calvin's face indiscriminately. He turned back to look at the body. Ice and Alice were now there. He shook slightly. "I couldn't -- I didn't fucking know she was --" He looked at Ice forlornly. His grip on the pick loosened, before tightening again. He couldn't look.

Tears slipped over Aleecia's already growing cold hand. After finally being able to see and feel her body, Ice was becoming more aware of his friends around him, "It was her-" He gulped and held in another sob, "Her choice... and all of our faults, but- m-most predominantly mine, I knew...something would happen when I saw her this morning with Nariko, I just didn't want to th-" He slipped Aleecia's hand in between the two of his and bent over them. "She's far to headstrong for her own good, you know? You can't change her mind." A tiny smile slipped over his face, "I couldn't even get her to stop calling me Izzy."

"Isaiah, don't blame yourself for this. No one would've known she'd sacrifice herself for another." Alice spoke up, glancing over to Faith before she looked back at Ice. "But, I know how it feels...to lose someone you care alot for." She hesitated to say, rubbing the blood donor's back in an attempt to confort him.

"They're gonna fucking pay for this." There was a venom in Calvin's voice that replaced the anger that usually filled it. "Davis, Nariko, all of them. I-" He shook his head. His stomach churned. He turned back the battered remains of Nariko. The senseless battering had done little.

"I'm sorry."

Ice's tears and shudders suddenly stopped on hearing those names. The last drop slipped onto Allie's hand as he set it back onto her lap, "Once we get to the top floor we'll waste the robots but Davis... His days are number with his life on a string," and as he stared at the mangled body of the fallen chassis, there was only destruction reflected in his eyes.

"...Yeah, when the time comes, I won't hesitate to kill them all. That's a promise." Alice said, the light in her eyes appearing to dim a little, before she appeared normal again. "But for now, we need to survive this." The recon grabbed Ice's hand, a weak smile on her face.

"Together."

And then he couldn't stand it anymore, he pulled Alice close and buried his face into her shoulder, his tears spilling out all over again and his sobs deafening the world around him.

Alice tensed up for a moment in suprise, the recon's eyes widened, then immediately pulled Ice closer to her. "Shhhh, it's okay...it's okay..." She whispered, rocking in place.

It was not uncommon for carnage sisters to wound people in order to draw out more prey. A wounded infinite could yell for minutes before bleeding out, and without a good doctor, they were as good as dead anyway. But not everyone can give up on the damned, and the carnage sisters know this. The cruelty of the nurses was frequently underestimated.

Even with the Davis's announcement, Jezebel continued to drag Zachary's body across the floor. Night of carnage wasn't over until the injured were treated. Zachary's wound was deep, and simply wrapping bandages over it wouldn't stop the bleeding. But she was not oblivious to anything that was going on. She could see Krista “I hope you're happy.” Jezebel's voice was but a whisper. “This is so on you.” Cyrus was there too of course, moving as fast as he could. He was pulling Krista along while carying Rika, but it looked like she might be dead. “I hope you're happy, you can totally fit your tiny microphone inside her huge chello case now.” She wheezed between breaths, but she wasn't going to stop. “I hope you're happy” This time she looked at Daimyon. “I'm so glad to see your bravery has returned, barf bag.” Sweat was pouring off of her face. The makeup didn't breath very well, and Zachary was heavy for someone Jezebel's size. “I hope you're happy.” This time she looked at Calvin. “You thought you were so brave.” she looked at Alice. “So strong.” She looked at Max. “Gag me with a spoon, you thought if you had a plan, it would all work out. But you underestimated them, you sacrificed lives that didn't belong to you.” Jezebel's legs gave out and she fell onto her back. She hadn't noticed it while she was carrying him, but her glove was covered in Zachary's blood. Her entire body trembled. She'd been fighting and running all night, and she didn't have the strength to move Zachary another inch. “Why?” She said between ragged breaths. “Why won't any of you help me?”

Alexandria tip toed over to Jezebel. ”Oh golly gee! Zappy looks a little under the weather.” She bent over to place a hand on the archer's chest. ”Oh, yea. He was in for the slow boop.” She nodded. ”It's one of those boops that goes so long, you almost think someone's just saying boo! You know? Like booooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo...P!” Jezebel tried to hang on, but Alexandria was able to easily wrench Zachary from Jezebel's clutches. ”We have a lot of cleaning up to do, so you guys should think about getting some sleep.”

Jezebel tried to grab Alexandria's ankle, but she was too slow. “Give him back!”

Willow Had pulled Rika off of Cyrus's back, and was walking over to Aleecia to pick up her corpse as well. ”Well fought vagrants.” Willow leaned down to pick up Aleecia's body and slung it over her other shoulder. ”I do look forward to our next encounter. I hope your swordsmanship improves Calvin, my sisters won't always be so willing to lop off one of my arms.” With the two sisters carrying all the dead, they walked into a veil of pink smoke and disappeared.

By this point Jezebel was standing over Faith, who was still kneeling in front of where Aleecia's body was. She placed a hand on her shoulder, perhapse to sturdy herself. She still had very little strength left. But... she was wearing a smile. A dark shadow covered her face, but her eyes and mouth were lit up like a jack-o-lantern. “I totally hope you're happy.” Jezebel's voice was louder now. Anyone in the vicinity could hear her. “It wasn't quite like you imagined it would be was it? But then again it never is. It's totally what makes adventures exciting right?” She leaned in closer to Faith, but didn't quiet her voice at all. “Why are you pretending to be sad? You know I was actually really happy when we got split up. It's kind of a bummer that you're here doing the same crap you did in the other game.” Jezebel stood up. “I hope you're happy, I hope you're all happy. Because this was your idea.” She laughed like a hyena before walking towards the exit. “I just want you guys to know that next time, I'm so going to make sure nobody participates. That's a promise.” Jezebel continued to wear that smile right out of the hospital. Everyone else slowly vacated the area, going to their rooms or the support team.

---

When Noel entered the first floor of the hospital, it was apparent that something had happened here. There was a crumpled IV pole from when Alexandria attempted to hit Ice, the molotov had left a scorch mark, and the robot horse laid in a heap of its own oil. But there was evidence of far more evidence of a struggle than that. There was a chain gun sitting in a crater on the floor, with its severed mount still on the ceiling. Rows of spikes had been bent over and weren't able to fully retract. There was also a flamethrower pointed at a scorched wall, but there was no evidence it ever hit anything. As Noel neared the reception desk, she saw evidence of a struggle; there were knife or sword marks everywhere. When Noel peeked inside, she could see Denis sitting with his legs folded. His back was slouched against the wall, and there was a shattered fluorescent light fixture in front of his body. When Noel moved in to get a closer look at him, she heard someone call out from the darkness.

“Hello, Pretty lady.”

Normally Noel would’ve rolled her eyes at Denis’s quips. But this time, she was relieved the guy was alive, at least. Though she wondered if he was truly fine slumped like that. With the way the room was looking, she could only imagine what had been going on here. Could anyone use the traps besides monokuma? But he was with the rescue team, right? She moved in closer, leaning over him. ”Pro tip, don’t flirt when you aren’t looking presentable, it works counterproductive.” She responded, then looked him over. ”Are you alright, can you stand?”  

“Ah, I'm fine.” When Denis stood up, he wobbled around a bit before regaining his balance. “I was getting rest.” He adjusted his vest, but was still using the wall to support himself. “A blond lady appeared on the screens. She said she was going to kill me but...” he brushed his hair back. “Denis 's cunning and good looks won the day.” There were some heavy footsteps coming around the corner. “Oh, and he helped a lot too.” Denis pointed at the figure as they came into sight. It was Justiciar.



”Justice has been served.” Justiciar sheathed their strange blade. ”I had planned on fighting the carnage class chassis myself, but Monika is an unwholesome opponent when assisting the other sisters. I came here to shut her down.” Justiciar stepped closer to Noel. ”Davis's message was rather chilling. How did everyone else fair in the fight?”

Noel recoiled at the sight of Justiciar. Wait, did Denis say it had helped them? That seemed to go against everything the person(?) had done before.  She tried to relax slightly, but she stayed on her guard. Who knew what they were going to do next. She helped Denis up, but her eyes didn’t avert from what could still be a threat. ”Not to well. We have two confirmed dead, and I don’t believe everyone’s accounted for yet when I left. I came to check up on Denis...”  

Questions burned inside of Noel. This was her chance to question the mysterious entity. At the same time, she needed to stay cautious, especially if this was another patient. That meant that it could still kill them, unlike a carnage sister. ”So, am I to make up that you saved Denis?” Noel asked it. ”That’s… uhm… well thank you.”

“No make up needed, just make out!” Denis chuckled. “Sorry, just lightning the mood.”

”Two dead, I see...” Their voice trailed off. ”I did save him, but my main reason for being here was to disable the local internet connection. I trust that is why Davis announced the end of the night instead of Monokuma. I'm not sure such a trick will work in the future however. They have a way of learning from their mistakes. Regardless, I am sure there would have been many more casualties if Monica wasn't disabled. Champion Carnage sisters are not to be underestimated.”

Denis placed a hand on his head. “What are champions?”

Justiciar's gaze shifted from Noel to Denis. ”Each carnage sister has one of three grades that determines their role in the killing games. Champions are more efficient killers, and are usually dispatched in special instances like tonight. However, each game usually has a champion to act as a leader for the other sisters. The strongest are empress class sisters. There are not many that I know of. Alice Parker is one of them, and arguably the strongest among them.”

”I see...” Noel said, pondering and, more importantly, ignoring Denis’s misplaced comments. So this likely wasn’t the first occasion additional carnage sisters had been unleashed on games. That was going to make the occurrence of the night of carnage a lot more harrowing. At any time, Davis could just drop these on them? That almost didn’t sound fair. ”Then who is the champion of this game? Willow?” She pondered out loud. The champions didn’t seem to have differed much from the regular ones, besides Monika.

”This game is a bit different.” Justiciar rested their hand on their sheathed blade. ”There are two champions. I suspect this is because of the large number of patients. Both Willow and Geina are champion sisters.” Justiciar turned around to look at the clock. ”I should not remain much longer. The two of you should rejoin the others. Some of them will undoubtedly need to be counseled after this.”

Two champion carnage sisters? Well that wasn’t a nice surprise. Willow and Geina didn’t seem to be too different from Nariko and Alexandria. However, what did this mean for their carnage chassis? Honestly, Noel didn’t even want to know.

It was prudent for them to get back to the rest soon. There was probably much more work to be done. But there were two more questions on Noel’s mind. Well, many more really, but two most pressing. ”Why are you telling us this? I thought you were on their side?” She asked.

Justiciar continued to walk away, not even turning their head to give a reply. ”I am on the side that balances the scales... in favor of justice.”

---

He stared upwards briefly as his senses began to come back to him. Had he been asleep? And for just how long? Perhaps he had overslept? He felt really weak and dizzy. Was he alright? From what he could tell, he was lying on his back. He didn't feel a bed beneath him though. Had he gotten into a fight and lost? Did he still have his wallet? There was only one way to really make sure everything was okay, and it was not by staying on the ground. With more effort than he'd have liked, Zach managed standing up, albeit barely, and tried to recall events prior to waking up just now... but could remember nothing. It was all blank, aside from his own name. Yes, all he could remember was that his name was Zachary Ackerson.

But that was not exactly the biggest problem he had currently.

The area in which he existed was white. Up, down, left, right, backward, forward... No matter which direction he chose to cast his gaze, only a white abyss greeted his vision. Even recalling as little as he did, he knew something was amiss. What even was the place he found himself in? It made no sense. It was not as though he was blind. He could see his own hands, after all. But not even shadows existed here. It was like an untextured level in some unfinished video game if Zach could still yet give such an analogy. He felt an increasing unease the longer he tried to spot something, anything, other than himself or the white expanse. What did this all mean?

"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?" a deep voice asked from behind him.

Startled, Zachary turned around only to meet eyes with another being. A taller, barely older man with broad shoulders, fairly defined muscles, and, in contrast to Zach's expectations, a rather arrogant look on his face. Zach took a moment to collect himself mini leap he did before speaking. "What do you mean?" he asked. He did not exactly like the ominous question the man asked him. "Do you know what is going on here? Why is everything white?"

Just to be sure, Zachary gave another glance in every direction. Nothing had changed with the appearance of this man. There was naught but an ever-expanding whiteness surrounding him. Yet the new individual did not seem disturbed at all. In response to the question, he scoffed. "I'm am sure you'll remember soon enough. And even if you don't, you've always been quick to adapt to change, after all."

Zach blinked. Did that mean this young man knew who he was? Now that he thought about it, he did feel some sense of familiarity with this young guy. Was he perhaps a friend? "I.. am quick to adapt?" the archer repeated, confused as to what the man was talking about. "I don't recall... I..." Ackerson kept trying and trying to bring up memories, but each attempt left a pain in his head in its wake and nothing to show for it. Yet, he knew something was there. It was on the tip of his tongue!

"Do you need a little push? I suppose, given circumstances, that's understandable." the man continued beaming a grin at Zach, who was struggling vainly not to show the absolute confusion he was still experiencing. It almost felt like they were in different worlds, and Zach was beginning to wish he could swap places. "Here," the man began, "Does the term "street rat" ring any bells, huh?"

Zachary froze. Something was happening. Yes, he was remembering! That which was lost to him was now returning. But, what a strange choice of words to trigger it? Was there a meaning behind this? He had to know. Upon hearing the term, the world around them burst with colors and objects, sounds and smells, feelings and, of course, memories. In the distance, almost like an invisible projector was there, his earliest moments began playing. Zach watched them with fascination... at first. In mere seconds, as the memories played out, his expression turned to one of horror.

He was shown random clips of his early life, but even the moments skipped on the 'projector' returned to his memory. Vague memories as an infant were shown, a few birthdays too, and then, suddenly, everything went sour.

"Useless piece of shit!" his mother screamed at a ten-year-old Zach. She threw something at him and hit him square in the head. He would have to lie about the bruise the next day when he went to school. Unfortunately, school was no respite for him. The kids there treated him about as bad as kids their age could. They'd call him names, avoid playing with him, and tease and steal from him when he wasn't looking. Perhaps the teachers in his school were oblivious to this, which is why he never received any help.

At home, the process repeated again until, well, Zachary ran away. The final straw had been a few years later when his mother informed him of her true feelings towards her son.

"I'd be so much happier had you never been born!" she had said, meaning it. Even now, the context escaped him due to the sheer power such words had on him. The meaning was the only thing that mattered. He couldn't play it off as a joke. He couldn't pretend like he hadn't heard it. He couldn't lie to himself -- he was not welcome by his own mother, all for existing as fas as he was aware.

Zachary saw his early childhood. He recalled the emotions he felt then just as strongly as when he experienced them. Tears threatened to flood his cheeks, yet he could not look away. He hoped his memories would take a turn for the better. He hoped, but...

Being told what his mother had told him convinced Zachary to leave, even if he had nowhere to go. His father was never home, always away on business trips because that was the only way to sustain the family, given their poor economic situation. Even as a youngster, Zachary understood the gist of their situation at home. That's why he left. One less, unwanted mouth to feed. If his parents could be happier without him, then why stay there? Wouldn't that be a selfish thing to do? He wasn't very old and he wasn't very big, but he knew just enough to get by. His meals weren't a consistent part of his life when he ran away, and he somehow survived on scraps and luck for a couple of years.

"So..." Zach exhaled. "...that was me..." These memories... they weren't making him feel any better than when he was clueless. Zach would actually prefer that, now. And this was just his childhood! If things... if things were going to continue to be like this, then maybe he'd be best off without them! Zach dropped to his knees. "I... I don't like this! This sucks!"

Something about the man had changed but Zachary wasn't sure what. He looked... maybe older? Weird. More importantly, however, was how angry he also now seemed, compared to before. "Stand up!" he demanded. "Shape up, boy! You're not done yet." and with this order, Zach found himself rising once again. It was an unconscious action because he was still devastated. And now, he was terrified. Does that mean there's even more to this horror movie that was his life?

This memory was the darkest, yet brightest moment in his life. It was a defining period in his life that made him the adult he was in the present. Even having not recalled it yet, Zachary was made aware of this the moment the 'projector' started playing. He clutched his chest in feeble preparation for the moments to come.

He remembered the rain pouring that day. It had been doing so the entire week. The young, runaway Zach was cold and shivering, constantly in a state of discomfort. What kind of life was this? It was horrible and meant nothing. He lived off what he could find, spoke to nobody, and could never trust that he'd live to see tomorrow. If someone stabbed and murdered him, would anybody even care? No, probably not. His mother obviously wouldn't.

He wondered... would his father?

Zach barely remembered his father's face back then. It was rare to see him back at home, after all. Sure, he smiled and occasionally played with him, but he was married to the woman who despised him. Perhaps that was all lip service?

As the rain hammered down and Zach wondered what fate had in store for him, he noticed some suspicious activity nearby. A couple of thug-like boys were causing a ruckus. Nothing particularly out of the norm. Thugs do cause a ruckus, but his guts told him that something was terribly wrong. He wasn't sure why he followed but chalked it up to those shows he used to watch the few times he was able to. The ones of heroes and good guys, the ones where people were happy, the ones... he really envied. Plus, sitting around and freezing his ass off simply wasn't the most appealing of ideas.

Trailing the thugs (there were two), Zach found that they were planning a mugging. How silly it felt at the time. Did people normally just speak about plans to mug people out in the open? Well, to be fair, Zach was in hiding. He knew the police were searching for him, presumably to arrest him for stealing. That said, he only ever stole! He never harmed anybody, so he was not all bad, right? At least better than these two, who were going to threaten people or injure them just to get some money! Yes, that had to be it. Hearing about such cruelty lit that hero spark in his heart, the one that had laid dormant for so long! How cool! How kind! How... foolish.

Without having an actual plan, Zach stalked the two until they attempted to make their move!

And then,

Z̸̲̹͎̺̣̹̙̗̹̬̤͗̎̄̍̚͜͜ȧ̴̢̛̛̝̘̦̮͎͚͇̙͌͋͒̈́͌̓̑̀̽͛̀̇͘̚̚̚̚͜͜ͅc̶͚̲̭̥̉̑̓̒̓̈̔͛̓̂͂͝ḩ̸̢̢̛̛̛̬̖̪̟̈́͊̌̽̎̔̓́̉͊̽̓̿̃̐͋͆͘̕͝ ̷̡͍͔̜̥̥̟͉̘͉͔̗̘̥̹̎̒͌̈́̔̔̃͒̊̑̐̈̌͘͠͝͠-̸̢̨̢̢̗̖͈͉͕̦̱̦̰̭̠̫̱̣̱̦͆̍͑͌͠-̸̛̮̘͐̃̈́͗̾̋͐̇̃͆͌̇͑̅̓̌́͊̎́̕͘͝-̵̯͙͍̥̬̱̿̅͒̑͜ͅ-̶̢̣͕̤̰̭͍͕̞̬̮̹̮̘͙̩̲̻̯̼̫̲̔̾̌̽̆̎̑̍̈̇͗̄̅͋̍͂̀̇̅͒̀̎̃-̶̧̧̟̜̙̭͔͇̲͚̥̭̼̜̝͑̃̃̊͑̀̆͑̐́̓͌̂͜͠͠͠͝ ̴̢͈̙͉̞̦͕̗͕͍̟͇̟̦͖͕̋͋̇̀͑̍̎͗͌̆͂͛͌̈̎̊̎̆̿͒͘̚͝s̵̹̮̜̞̝͎̰̩̑̀͑̂̓̃̒́̎̅̄͊̄̕͠õ̶̢̭̀̎̏͝m̷̡̨̛̜͙͓͔̫̼͎͍̣̯̗̯͖͔̺̂̍̊́̈́̓͊̃̅̉̇͒̏̐̚̚̚ȩ̸̠̥͙̞̜̞̳̜̲̩̥̜̳̦̜̘̥͇̦̦̓́̄̐͊̌̐̈͗͑̚͜͝͝ơ̵̡͙̣͇̳̙͓̞̦̫̺̙̭͙̭͓͇̳̙̫͍̬̄̓̿̂̂͐̍̓͂̔̂̃͠ͅn̵̡͕͓̉̓́̈́̈́̌̈́̿̈́̅̑̚͘̕e̴̡͈̯̬̰͌̍̒́̀̽̎̽͒̋̾͐̚̕͠͝.̶̧̹̜̤͓̲̗̰̟̳̻͔̞̫͍̯̄̈́̈́̐̓̀́͜͠ ̷̨̡̬̩̪͎͓͖̜̥̣͔͚̩͎͙̮̭͈̫͈͙̮͆͐̍̀̆̌́̿͆͠͠͝B̴̥̭̭͌̈́̀͑̐́̓̇͝ư̸͎̹̺̙̼̮͚͉̣͇̿͑́̋̄͑̏̿̈́̈́̒̌̈́̎͒͊̚͘͝͠ͅt̶̛̪͍͇͓͍̖̰̻͓̮̤̣̙͉̳̺̦̼̘̱̘̐̽́͋̅̃̒̈́̈̎̓ ̶̡̛̻͖̮̙̤̫͔̻͍̣̣͋̋͊͊͗͑͑̌̊̕ͅi̷̛͈̋̀͊̈̏̈́͌͋͂̆̀̉̓̉̀̄̚ţ̸̢͙̦̺͎̜̖̠̞̠̭̇̊̃́ͅ ̶̡̤͎͌͑̑w̵̲͚͔̗̞̠̯͎͔̦͓̜̩͉̯̽̿̉̄͐͋̎̈́̏͗͆̊̊͗͂̍͂̄̉̆̈̚͠a̷̧̖̬͓̣̭͆̃͒̄̉̑̔͆̀̅͛̈́̊̔̉̽̈́̀̎̈́͘͝͝s̵̨̧̲̦͓̤̥̥͍̝͓͇̐̈́̈́̄͐͜n̸̢̮̗͖̙̩̩̠̰̻͚̙̫̭͍͆̑͜'̵̧̛͙̼͉̝͙͕̺͆͗́͂̆̐̉͘̕̕͠t̸̩̫̙̙̬̱̰̫̄͌̅̓͆͑͒̆̏̆͜ ̸̧̨̡̡̠͉̻͚̥̳̣͎͎̳̺̮̯̐̈͂̆̐̒̽͌̈́̃̕ͅͅh̴̨̔̇́̈́͂i̷̫̍͑͂̉͗͛̊̌͒̽̄̚̚s̸̟̳͎̩̠̦̯͑̓̑̇̒̓̆͠ ̵̧̡̛̛̻͉̖̱͎̣̱̬̪͇̝̮͇̦̼͗͒͛̂̀͋͠ͅf̵̡̡̢̢̡̛̟̹͎̠̗̟͉̗͎̭̯͕̤͎̈́̊̓̽̀̌̑͌̄̆̀̄̊́͘̚͜͜͜͝͠a̶̧͈͚̼͎̖̩͍̼̮̻̫̙̣̅̈́̍͜ů̸̪͇͔̱̬̼̯͇͈̰̪͖͉̪̤̲̲̖͉̝̆͜͜͝ͅĺ̵͉̱̲͎͖̺̰͈̳͖̹̯̒ţ̴̢̛̛͈̤̱̺̳̫̩̎͋̒̎͋̆̒͒͝,̶̧͓͙͇̰̥̼̲̮̲̼̆̉̑͌́̃̍̆̓̾̚ ̷̢̢̡̛̦̳̤̪̖̠̹̮̹͇̹̗̪̏̃͗͒́̎́̎͆̾͜͠į̵̣̮̘͚̞̻̪̝͍̗̫̻̜̩̻͓̤͑̈́̏̇̌́̎́ṭ̶̡͎̝̪̻͍̞̳̖̜͍͚̱̜͎͌̿̌̓̌̔̉͊̏͌̋͂̕̚̚̚̕̚̕͜͜͜͝͝͝ ̷̛̩̜͇̟͈̠͓̱̟̣̙͙͚͊̐̀̑̏̿̔̌͌͂̓̈̈́w̶͕̼̍̅̾̀͘â̸̧͙͕̠̤̰̼͈̫̲̖̩̦̫̼̺̈́̉͗̍̅̀͘͝ͅͅͅͅs̵̢̡̪͓͉̤͈̩̜̝̖͓͔͇̰̽͛̀͜͝.̷̨͈̫̤͔̯̩͍̘͔̰̤̩͕͉̣͈̲͍͖̯̎̀̃̌̿̇͛͛̆͆͐͐̔͐́͒̃̉̃̏.̷̛̛̗̘̫̖̙̟̙̜̜͕̙̰͍̏̀̅̓͗̈́̓͛̀̓̀̀̏̒̏͗̀̀͘̕͝͝ͅ.̷̡̨̼̯͇̘͍̤̠͈̤̮̤̳͍̮̀̇͌̈́͆̓̔͒̕͝ ̴̧̬̺̲͚̅͗̋̈́̉̋̎͠ä̶̹̗́̀n̵̢̢̧̛̙̼͇͇̬̙̭̯͔̹̪̞̻̰̤̳̲͇͇̬͑̓̿̅̋͌̈́́̕͠͠͠ͅ ̶̡̡͖̺͚͍͍͈̼̽̅̈́̈̊̎͂͐́͗͗̋̈́̎̒̕̕͜͝͝͠͠ͅą̵̹̻̮̠͕̪̠͔̤̙̬̥̓̄͊̒͛̈́̓̐́̽̔͂̐͛͒̉͘͘͝c̸̨̨̛̛̫͕̩̲̮̹̹̝̹͚͎͎̟͔̬̭̰̳͗̃̌̾͗͆̈̓͛̈́̾̐́̎͂̋̈͝c̶̩̉̊į̷̧̛̛̺͔̲̹͉͇̻̹̩̭̪̖̫͍͎͈̮̲̙̭̖̏̆̃̿̀͗͝͝d̵̢̛̙̺̘̈͌͐̽͌̂͗͌̊̀̈́̀̑͋̒̂́ë̵̡̡̛̱̗̤͚̙̙͈̞̪̥͍̩̤̜͎͖͓̩̱̦̟́̀̾͂̂͒̆͗͠͝͝͠ń̴̡̨̛̛̻͍͙͈̤̟̠̻͍̣͇̙̌̽͑̄̽̔̐͆͑̆̂̅̋͑͘̚͝t̴̗͓̻̖̪̟̦̏̔͛̌͋͗͒̆̓͛̕͝ͅ.̶̧̭̱̱̩̭̯͎̻͖͖̤̖̣̘̫̂̈͑̄̓̽͆̊̄̕͠ͅ ̵̢̢̺̳͈͓͙̙̟͈̠̥̪̬̖̺̻͉̻̞̙͛͜N̶̡̢̢͖̼̮͈͉̯̼͕̱̻͙̬̖̰̺̤̎́͗̈́̇͛̌̌̏̆̍͌͜͝ͅo̵̡̧̢̯̞̱̭͔͍̝̪͓̦̫̹̰̩̰̪̜̼̘̤͊́̅͊͝ͅ,̴̨̳̗̣̘̼̩̦̺̥͈̱͙̘͍͚͙̓͌̎́͋̊̀̋ ̸̡̛̥͇̪̰̲͎̰͔̾͆̋́̿͌͌̾̄̈̾̊͌̀̓̐͝͠ḩ̶̳͇̮̮̲̣͇͇͂̌ě̸̡͔̜̪͓͓͍̞̂͑͆̓̈̏ ̸̤͙̈́̂̀̽c̴̨̨̱̫̮͈̠͍̖̗͔̲͎̤̺̤̫͚̻̘̗͔̰̀́͜ǒ̵̢̬̹̻̲͇̲̩͉̫̠̬͖̤̻́̿̿̔͐͋̕̕̕u̸̯̥̼͖͆̋͐̋̏́́̅̅̎̈́̃͆̂͊̚l̶̢̍͗͊́̋d̶̡̨̡͚͍͕̬̝͍̱̪̓̆͋̈́͐̂̓̀̽̽͒̉̌͊̕͘͠ͅͅn̵̢̢̨̢̺̠͚͙̻͔̗̘̰͇̜̪͉̩̳̾̿̾̄̂̈́̂̀̿͗̓̏̀͒̎̕͘̕͜͠͝ͅ'̸̡͇̜̼̰̭̤͙̹̺͙͕̱͆͛̂́ţ̴̛͍̭̥̻̫͎́̿̾̋͑̐̄̀̂̑̅̑̚͜͝ ̶̝̐̄́̇̀̃̐̂͊̏̊d̴͉̲̲̟͔̳̩̼͍͖̬͚͇̜̒̑̌̓͐͒̊̑͛ò̵̠̜͇̭̥̰̠̮̽͐́̂͗̋̾̓̓̄̏͋̀̅̂̏̀̽͘̕̕͝ ̷̝̫̫̻̬͎̻̟̘̓̂̈́̓̇͆̾̋͊͛̀̋̀͒̈́̎̍̕͝͝ţ̵͙̠̺̙̐̿̂h̸̛̛͔̳̠̣̭͈̼̱̺̦̼̩̜̭̱͇̦̲̥̗͛̆͂̐̓͊̾̏̂̔́̓́͒̓͘͝ͅa̵̧̧̧̯̜̲̩̤̰̫̗̥̳̪̬̰̪̦̤͗́͌̎̐̀́̈̂̇̓͒̓̽̀̅̊͒̈͘͜͝t̶̡̤̮͖͚̙͖͉̅̋̔̀̎̐̉̈́͜!̶̡̨̛̛͉̲̥͈̭̰̠̞̓̓̌͌̽͋͗̒̿́̐̏̀̋̽͌̈́̽̚͜ͅ ̴̨̗͍̬̗͔͈̮̣̣͈̻͔̤͙͖͎̮̫͕̱̳̬̈͑͂́̅͐̀̒̈́̑͆͘N̸̥͙̗̣̼͍͇̿̓̈́̐̀͋̍̈́̂͛̀͛̆̇̇̚͘̕̚͠͝͝o̷̡̦̹̯̼̗̪̖͚̹̫͐̎̒̓͊͂̇͜͝͝ͅ ̴̨̢͓̪͊̊̏̀͒̒͌̀̾̒͊͐̉̌̓̅͂̐̕̚͝͝n̵̨͙̪̹͇̤̆̓̅̆͆̽ớ̷̢̰̪̥͎̝̆̕ ̸͑̂̓̈̉̉̈́̿͋̈́̀̂͛̎̄̏̒̂͂̕͝͝͝ͅn̶͇͈͖͈͕̪͉̓̏̆̌̽̂̂̍͗̌̐͘͠͝ơ̸̤̬̽̿̋̎̔͑̊̀̊́͂͑̀̒͂͝͝ ̴̨̙̪̱̫̣͙̤̣̹̙͋̿̓͊̓̌̇́̕̚̕͠ņ̷̛̬͕̹̝̤̹͉̞̮̥͖̲͇̞͈̗̖̮̜̈͗͊͒͆̌̒͐̐̈̅̏̈́͒͑̀̾̋͊͜͝͝ͅǫ̴̛̪͇̪̥̮̦̺̫̤̯͉̗̳͌̓̈́͑̽͂͜ͅn̵̢͙͚̙̭͔̉̓͋̈́̀̽͑͑̐̎̒̋́͘̕͝ ̷̛̘̹̈́̐̑̿̓̋͗͊́͒̽͗͗̀͘̚͠͝ọ̸̟͖̠̘͗͒͐̐́͊͆̑͛n̵̡̢̧̨̛̗̫͕͓̤̗͕̘͚̩̬̰̰̒͌͋̏̾̈̐̍̍͒̈́͊ǫ̶̛͉̞͙̻̫̽͒̃͐̿̇̆́̆͛̄̈́ň̵̜̹̝͙̦̬̝̜̼͕͂̈́̒̈́̍͊͐ớ̴̡̟̞͎̭̭͈̮̯͈̅̄̓̈́̍̉̈́͒͒̈̓͆́̈́͂̿̄͒͋͜n̴̨̧̡̘̱̳̝̗̙̩͕͙͇̠̆̊̕ͅò̵̜̜̼̪̤̘͈̲̭̝̩͓̠͓̝̲̠̮͖̮̅ͅͅn̷̥̮̟̩̦̥̟̯̱͖̟̿̾̿̀̍̂̍̾͜o̵̧̨̡̠̺̠̮̠͚̫̦͙̘̊̿͆̒͂̎̆n̶̢̟̜̬͉͕͇̺̝̔͂͂ͅơ̴̡̧̧̛̭̻̻̻̥͉͚͎̜̲̬̖̮̞̔̉͆̎̇̽́̅̎͛͐̽͛̈́̀͝n̵̡̢̡̘̘͓̩̳̳̰̱̟͙͙̪͖̒̇̍̍̕͠ờ̵̛̦͎͙̪̲͓́̀̐̐̐͂̎̾̀̀̌͝͝n̷̗͒̎͋̀́̎̃̑́͑̿̆͂̋̕͝͠͝ǫ̶̨̨͉̳͚̗̮͔̠̼̠̹͙̩̓̔̉͑̀̓͒͒̽̉̔̆̾̚͠͠-̸̧̢̛͙̲̳͉͓̣̝̤͈̰̱̤̰̥̼͒̂̈́̽̊̋̇̆̀͌͐̀͆̊̈́̈́̕͜͝͝͝-̸̢̛͖͍̟̟̻͙̩̮̫̥̫͚͎̦̥͓̩͎͔͙̃̓̔̈́̽̾̈́̎̀̿̿̄̍͠-̷̨̛̤̰̬̆͐̎̾̿͗̓̌̍͘-̷̧̨̨͕͚̞̥̲͚͚̙̤͖̳͔̖̳̦̩̯̟̙̦͊-̸̨̣̲̙̞̩̘̬̦̮̣̪͖̽̈́͗͒̈̍̔̊̐̆̌̕-̵͔̱̹̞̕-̶̧̨̛̠̘̥̭̓̑͂̅͑͘̚ͅ-̴̧͇̱͕̫̘̻͙͇͙̮̺͎̙̙͉͉͚͖̰͇̞̟̒͗̐͆̂̉̀͋͜͝-̵͈͕̫̖̀̔͛-̸̢̛̟̻̺̖̪͉̼̫̯̖͂̃̀̈́̓̋̔̀̃̃̿̀̉͐͐̈́̐͗͘͜͠ͅ-̶̘̣̳̭̫͇͓͍̼̏̄̓̽͛͛͛-̸̧͖͈̬̗̑̂̐̈́̌̐̄̈͘-̸̧̹̖͙̰̹̞̥͓̘̠̹̗̣͙̹̙͇͕͒́̈́̃̑̃̽̓́̃̌͘͘͠͝-̸̡͉͎̜̽-̵̡̘͉̘̼͍̯̘̜͈̮̞͙̿̌̋͐͊͋͌͋̔͘-̷̧̨̨̢̘̼̭͔̜̜̠̼̪͈̠̯͇̪͈͖̉͛͠-̷̨̡͕̻̜̰̫̦̹̼̤̘̙͒̽̋͒͋̂́̔͂͂͒̇̽̓͗̅͌̑͛͘͘͝-̵̨̛̠͓͙͚̳̖̟̜͎̫̭̖̺̈́̓̿̑ͅͅ-̴͕̞̩̬͓͇̩͙̀́̈͗̆͋̐̄̽̓̎̋̀̏̈́̾̃̅͝-̷̡̢̡̥̺̱͕͎̘̜͇̻̩̫͓̝͓̣̼̤̄̈͛̃̊͛́͐͂̃͜ͅ-̴̨̢̛̛̟͉̼̞̼͎̫͓͚͇̤̊̎̒̊̃̒̊̓̋͒̓̈́͗̒̆̓̚͘̕͜͜͠͝͝-̸̢̭̮̙͙̪̣͈͕͕͓͚̙̏̿̈́̄͗̽̑̽̈́͒̈́̓̈́͂͊̇͗̚͘̕͝-̸̡̨̮̺̘͇̘̭͑-̷̜̻̥̠̲̬̺͚͕̤͉̖̻̯̰̺̰̈́̒̂̀͜͜-̸̡̢̟̹̠̯̙͇̗̰͍͙͌́̌̏̊̓̈͋͘ͅ-̷̢͈̣͙̦̭̺͈͕̞͙̻̲̥̤͇̫́̿̌̔͗͝-̴̧̝͎̩̞̫̥̬͇̮̺͍͔̣͎̰̭̱̮̮̮̼̏͂͐͛͂̀͊̓̃͘͝-̵̡̢͖̝̳͎̺͈̙͕̫͖͍̟͎̬̻̜̗̍̓̈́̌̄̐̏̓͑́̽̓-̶̧̣͔̯̱̪͓̈͌̊̈́̏͋̃̓̾̆̃̿̃̓͝͠ͅ-̶̤̠͇͈̳̩̫̮̩͖̜͕̹̝̟̪̱͙̞̘̖̙͐̿̊̽̀͋̀̉͛̈́͠-̸̢̝͖͕̺̳̘̗̜̮̩͙͖̜̥̹̹̋̃̈́̊-̵̧̛̭̻͎̥̳͓͇͂̓̌̆͑͝-̵̝̼̤̫͚̣͍̩̯̳̟̞̜͓͔̩̘͙̤͐͆́͋͂̎̈́̀-̴̡̡̦͇̻̱͍̺͍͉̫̳͎̹̬͚̣͇͍̘̤͓́́̾͋͑͊̏̀̉̚͜ͅ-̷̟̜̮̹̺̖̹͔̦̱̝͇͂̾̅̎̒͘-̵̢̧̛͚͇̰̭̦̲̩̼̏͌̃̏̏̓̓̇̆̓̓̿̄̚̕͝͠-̸̨̛̛͖̂̓̔̊͛͑͆̃̀̑̚͘͝-̵̨̧͓̙̹͇͚͓̣͈̹̗̥̜̹̺̔͊͒̎̾̔̃̎̃́̒͐̈́́̊̓̆̚͝͠͝͠͠ͅ-̴̢̛̛̪̹̞̼̰̯͚͇͓̟͊̔̔͌̆͋̈́̇͆͑̎̐̓͌̋̕͘̕͜͝-̷̡̢̱̹̳͚̺͇̦͖͔̱͈͍̻̲̪̝̻̹͓̭͗̚-̵̡̢͔̥̫͓͇̞̭̼̣͔̠̳̟̫͚͖̞͛̑̀̎́̔̉̌̅̾̆͂̔͠͝-̷̧̼͓̞̲̙͍̘͖̙͌͌̍̌̈́͛͊̏̐́̿̽̇̀̈́̒ͅ-̸̧̘̙͔͍̲̭͇̩̼̫͎͙̀̑́-̴̡̣̳͉̝͈̮̭̰͎̮͚̥̗͗̇͊̾́͗̏̕-̴̢̭̝̯͉̮̲̣̩̫͐̓́̃-̴̨̛̤̦͎̹̥̬̳͈̠̱͕̞͎̪͉̘̒̽͒̿̿̈́͂͐͑-̵̡̧̡͕̳͇͇̜̘̭̤̞̳̖̤̻̙̳͙͔̩̻̼͖͛̓͗͐̒̎̚͘͠-̶̢̦̭̻̼̦̜̝̞͗̑͐̀̎̄̒̍̇͌̓̽̋̋̾̈́̌͂͛͒̕-̵̡̢̰͔̯̜͚̺̓̃̓̐̇̊̌̈́̐́͒͐͑̄͐̕͝͝͝-̸̧̨͎͍̥̹̟̠͔̼̺͇̘̭̬̑̊̌̋̒̅̈́͋̉̃̈͛̅̔-̵̧̼̻̤̻̟̝̥̣͇̺̩̻͔͙̻̲̞̣̦̱͆̑̃̿͌͒̇̅͋̏͐̑̅͆͂̍̍̋͐̏̊͝ͅ ̴̛̲͖̮̼͈̬͉̆͊̓̋́̂͂͜ǎ̸̡̖͓̳̱̬̓̉͘͜n̷͙̗̹̦̉̔̀̇̋̈͒͆͋̂̃̂͒̾̎̈́͂̚̕͝d̸̟͍͉̘̘̦̼̜̤͉͍̞̠̽͌͗͒̀̒̉̈́̏̇̏̄̏̐̈́̏̓̽̾̚̚̕͝͝ ̵̡̨̧̰̫͓͍̹͚̝̼̰̪͇̣͉͉̉̓̌̏͌̑͆͘͝͠t̸̡̡̢̛̛͈͇͙͇̬̖̦͈̝̠̥̒̓͛̃̍͌͜͜͝h̶̤̘͎̩͎͉̳̲̤͚͍̟̼̲̹̘͊͒͛̈́͊͒̐̏̑͊̐̇̉̈͠͝ͅe̵̡̨̧̩̜̺̞̘̜̤̤̪̞͓̙͐̀͝n̶̡̢̝͎̖͕̲̠̣͍̤͖̻̲̹̠̹̤͙͇̯̈͜ ̵͖̒̿̋h̶̪̖̬͖͕̼͖̟̮̊̊̌̿̓͛̎̌̕̕̚͝͝͝ͅę̸̧͈̯̘̪͚̠̝̅̓̂͗̑̈͊͐ ̵̧͔͋̌̐̈́͌̍͛͆̈̾̽͊̈́̇́̐̅̂͝w̷̛̭͓̑͌̔̈͒̈́̅͒̾́̒̈̆͑̔̏̊ả̷̡̟͙͓̮̳̹͕̲̹̼͐̕š̸̛͚̭̮̞̲͎̲̪̗͔̙͗́̓̆̓͑͘ͅ ̵̡̡̧̣̦̥͎̝̱̺̪̦̺̇̋̾̓̒̂̈́̽̓͒͛͋̽̃̈́͘͘̕͠͝s̵̛̲̘̗̠̟̠̲̍̉̐͒̒̓̆̓̉́̀͊̋̍͆̂̓̽̚̚͠͠a̴̛̛̦̩͈̟͇̟̭̫̟̰̔͑͐͛͐̏̈̍͊̔̇͋̈́̂́͆͝v̷̨̨̨̛͙͓̖͖̗̾̋͗̽͑̈̕ȩ̴̧̩̳͔̳̖̣̥̙͙̦̼͌̀̄̄̌̿́͌̄͛̅́͑̈̌̋͘͝d̸̡̢̲̫̩̹̬͕͇̞́͐̎̈̉̑͗́̏̍͐͛̅̔̅̊̈́̅͘ ̵̨̧̦͔̤̫̺̻̥͍̝͙̩͇̹̝̳̙͉̝̖̘͗̄̀ͅb̴̪̠̫̣̻͈͆̆͑́̐̓̌̚ͅỵ̴̢̺̰̒͝͠͠͝ ̸̧̡̱̜̭̬̠̞̝͓͙̞̫͓̬̯͖͑̀̅̆̍̑̆̅̅̆̄̉̂̈͒̊͐͋͐̕͘͘͝-̶̢̺̀͊-̸̫̱̎͆̊͒̏̃̈́̋͐̔̇̃͐̅̊̈͋͌͆̆̔̐-̸̡̛̙͕͔͖̫̖͉͔̲̉̀̌͂̅̆̃͊̈́̎͑̓̀͜-̷̧̧̡̲̪͉͔̺̠̝͙̑̔̅́͋̅̈́̐̿́͝-̴̢̭̹͎̘̗͇̇͑̌̄̍̓̋͗̽͒͜͝͠-̴̢̡̞̮͈̙̤̹̩̯̝͆͌͝-̸̧̛̛̣̣̘͇̄̎̉͑̈́̀̎̋͂̀̇̂͌̑͊̋̂̕͜͝͝-̴̨̡̢̢̝͉̺͙͓̲̦̠̩̝͈̠̻̭̼̬͊̋̈̀͌̌̀̇̐͗̀̑̑͗̆̌̍͛͜͠ͅ-̷̡̨̝̼̳̥̥̮̖̲̪͕͓͚̟̟̩̪͉̖͓̉̀ͅͅ-̶̡͚͖̟͍̌̔̓̈̓̀̈̓́̒̈̿͆̐͛̅͠-̷̢̼̪͉̯͈̙͕̦͖̙̬̮̲̙̗̙͒̓͑̈́͝ͅͅ-̷̦̰͉̞̞̞̱̬͈̰̠͖̜̜̓̾-̴̨̨̛̞̣̜̖̗̬͚̘͎̫͖̝̬̪͈̩͓̤͍̪̈̉̓̏̉͘-̷̨̛̰̩̩̦̪͎̝̖̬̰̈͌̓̿͂̄́̍̒̅̉͆̈́-̵̯̩̘̰̪̹̠̍̅̕͜ ̷̛̝͉̪̮͎̻̭͚͑̓̿̾̒͜͜͝ṫ̸̢̡̛͙̯̝̥͔̟͎̞̙̳̪͕̲̙̙̝̩͓͋͛̉̇͆̏̓̍̊̏̕͝ͅḩ̷͓̥͇͚̬̼̎̽̉̂̈̈̐̑͐̏̋͋́̂̅̑̅͊̋̈͋͒ǒ̷̢͇̹̱͇̪͕̠̳͔̦͈̣͚͔̝̍̀̓͜ǔ̶̢̥̲̥̼̠̯̹͖̟̻̜̝̮͍̜̲̣̣͇͓̥̓̈̋́͋̈́̔͌̒̅͐́͆̂̀͊̋̌̚̕͝g̶̨̡̡̬̫͉̜̤̺̭̹̹̼͖̦͖̺̤̗̥͖̲̮̈͐̽̈̊̃̃̀̾̇̑̕͘͘͝ͅh̵͙͇̼̖́̎̓̈̈́̓̉̒̈́͑͛̃̈͑̿̆͋͛͗̏͘͠ ̶̧̲̲̣̮͓̯̞̘̱͓̗̈́̍͌̄̾̈́̉̄̃͑̒̈́̾̚͝ͅḩ̶͚̭̞̲͔̼̟̬̮̗̟̻̣͚̆̐̈́͒͋̎͠è̷̡̦̭̪̦͉͇̹̼̬̖̫̣͕̳̺̹̥̹͓̏̄͜ ̶̧̗͔̝͖̏͂̈́͆͑͐͌͗̾̽͑̚̕ċ̸̨̯̱̥̱̮̯̤̹͖̟͎̙̥͖̺͎͓̺̪̬̩̤͂̂͆͒̌̄̌̊͋́̄͋̓̓̓̿͋̾͝͠ǫ̴̜̼̘̻͚͇̻̹̜̜̗̗̹̘̼̩̰̫̮̩͐̿͒̏̇̎͊̍̓̏͐́͑͆̓̉̇͛͒͝u̸̢̠̞̝̤̒̎͗͆̈́͆͗́̓̊l̴̘̹͖̠͔̯̼̥̥͉̀̕ḑ̶̗͔̩̘̯̺̹̹͖͓̹͉͖̙̤̟̆ ̴̛̛̤̆̌̓̍̒̊̈̕ņ̶̢̧̨̖͕̟͇̭̦͓̟̝͕̙̩̯̝͖̭͊͊͊͋̃͑͌́̀̇̾̈̉̾́̕̚͝e̸̢͇̳̰̟̥̰͕̜̘͓͌́͑̊͘v̴̛̙̠̹͚̖͈͙͍͇͋̑̃́̃̄͒̋̈́͝e̷̡̢̛͉̙̺̣̘̱͇̗̗͖̬̔͛͘ͅr̷̨̡̧̯͍̺̖̤̜̈́̾̔̽̋̅͆́̈̈́̽͆͘͠͝ͅ ̸̨̛̛͖̣̙̉͊̈́͒͊̏̋͋̉̎̂̅͝ǵ̸̢̭̠̗̟̰̙̙̭͉̦ę̷̧̡̛̙͖͕̣̬͇̼̮͈͔͇͔̜̜͔̯̀̌̇̑͒͋̇͒̅̄͋̅͐̅̊͜͜͠t̵̘͈̯̐͋̌̕ ̷̢̧͉̳̦̗̭̝̫̪̘̪͍̱̈́̔̿̀͛́̈́̓̓͝ǫ̵̡̛͉̫̯͉̳̲͎͓̼͈̪̗͍͓͙̫̪͊͆͋͐̎̕͠͠v̷̡̱͇̞̩̪̪̯̺̼̬͔̺̞͂͑͊͋͗͌͂͑̽̐̄͊͋̏͝͝ę̶͚͚͓̲̹̜̲̲̮͉͎̖̪̫͇̱̲͗̓́͊̒̔̈́̎͛͗͊̂̈́̄̚͜͜͝͝ͅr̸̡̛̥̋͐̅̃̓̈́͋͘͝͠ͅͅ ̶̝̼̪̖̹͇̦̯̻̝̺̬͈̒̉̈́̎̐͋̈̏̏͌̈́́̑̿́̒̔̏͝t̶̡̝͖͎͉͇̣̗̣͈͖̹̠̗̝̬͈̥̟͇̻̹̞̎̄͛̽̿͊͋͐͋̍̈́͠ḥ̶̣̖͉̖̼͚̝̙̥̙͔͔͆̋̔͆̀͆͋̍̑̐̂͘͜͝͠͠͝ẻ̵̡͍̰̙̦͈ͅ ̴̡̨̛̞̩̖̝͓̘̳͉̳̝̺̩̘̖̊̈́͆́̐̑̆͗͊̽̐̊̾̈́͒̂̋͘͜͠f̸̨̹̤̪̺̰̳̜̭͓̜̜͎̳̪̦̝͇̯̭̹͇̲̈͑̓̐̃̂̄̽̀̐́̓́̒͜͝͝͝ą̶̨̛̫͓̯̟͍̠̼̤̼͈͔̱̖̇̐̏̂̀̎̊͂̂̑̀̔̀̏͗̾̍͜͠͝͠c̵̡̲̠̯̤̹̬͇̪̞̖̝̞̝̝͖̠͆͋̑͊̆̚t̶̨̗̼͙̗͉̼̟̭̺̭͖͈̠̰̑͐͛̈́̄͂̄͊͑̄̊̓͘͝ ̴̥͚̜͕̫͙͍̙̻̩͗̓̐̐̃͛͗̇̀̈͂̈͂̏̕͜t̴̛͉͓͖͇̦̦͈̫̘͑̔̏̆̈́͑̓̈́̉̑͑̕͘͜͝ͅh̷̼͔̼͔̀͂̊̈́͆̇̈̎̇͂̓́̏̓̾̈́̊͑̀͘a̴̢̢̠̪̯̗̜͈͍̠͇͈̝͍̝̪̰̜͗̎̅̈̂̿́̎́̈͂̾̑̾́͘̕͜͜͝͝͝t̸̲̗̙̲͎̤̬̼̤̱̳͈͍̩̖̜̪͊̏̈́͆̀͐̀̔͋̈́̆̍̐̎̾͋̀͗͝ ̶̨̧̨̥͉̟͓̳͇͎̺̲͓̫͇̙̯͔̫̽̆̎̔͑͊̽̊̓̍̒̓̀̆̕͠͠͝͝-̸̡̡͇̼̙͉̜̜̼͙̝̫̤̝͕̮̰̭̩̮͎̹̥̑̆͜-̴̧̡̛̛͖̦̯͉̖͉͚͉̲̰͍̬͎͓̪͍͆̂̀̃̉̄̐̓̍̔̽͂̚͝ͅ-̸̡̛̗̥̭͎̫̃͊-̸̧͔͚̩͙̞̯̩́͑̋̈́͌͗͗̑̒́̒̈̒͛̈̾͜-̸̨̧̹̮̻̩̝̭͌̃͆̀̒̋̉̍́̓̐̕-̴͇͔̠̘̻̖͔̬̹̤͖͌͐̏͛̂̒̅̌̋͋̄̈́͂̏̈͜͝-̵̡̨̡̜̥̲͓̰̘̼͖͚̖̰̠̳̦̟͐͑͋̈̍͋̈́̈́̔̚-̵̛̖͔̹̼͎̭̪̑̆̊̓̈̆̅̃̾̌͛̉̀̀̇̚͘̕͘͝ͅ-̷̙̣̰̊̄̈̄͗̄̓͐̑͑̀͐͑̅̆̒̓̿̑͘̕͠-̸̨̧̨̪͈̞̙̙͊̃̈́̓̐̊̊͐͐̍̈́͜-̷̢̧̯̣͇͉͇͎̟̭͉̠̞͕̗̪̥̟̂̒̌̉̋̽͘͜͜͝ͅ-̷̢̫͇̪̤̼̻̙̱̯̼͈̬̰͕͗̀̓̈́̽͛̀̈͑̀͗̿͐-̵͙̪͇͎̺̭̹͎̫̝͖̮̦͕̯̳̬͕̘̭̀͗̒̒̽̅̾͛̃͛͌̀́͑̏͝-̵̧̛̛͇͍̏̏̋̈̓̈́͗͑̎̽̇̉̈̎́̆̑̎͝-̶̢̨̪̻̹̙̟̻̝̠͍̤̟̲͎̈́̓̆͑͛̿̓̀-̶̡̢̧͕̞̲̻̥̯̤̞̙̝͉͕̯̗͑̈́̌͑̋͛̈́̍̄͆̇͘͝-̶͚̹̠̝̟͚̥͈̒̀͠-̸̟̺̊̽͛̓̍͠ͅ-̶̡̧͍̪̣̣̗͎̥̥̙̄̀̈́̅͗́̈́̎̒̒͗̌̚͝ͅ-̵̧̻̙͓̖̙͔̭̘̗̏̅̽͒́͆̑͆̌̈̎͌-̴̛̛̣͓̟̰̩́͑̈́͛́͂̓͗̀̆̂̀̍͆̃͛͆ͅ-̸̧͖̖̼̰̬̙̳̯͖̜̪͇͔̯̤̠͍̳̗͓̖̰̑̉̌͗̍̈́́́͂́̑̌̍͑͊͆̚͜͝-̴̢̡̨͉̰̞̤͕͇̣̜̺͋͒́͛͒͐̒̿͒̽̌̓͛̂̃̅̇̒̈́̀̐̍̚͘ͅ ̵̧͍̯̱̣͚͙̓̾̾̑̂̀͋̿̄̀̽͐͊͂͌͐̍͒̇̍͘̕̕H̴̛̫̦̠͒̃̽͛̇͒̒͗ȅ̸̡̧̡̻͓̫͓̹̳̣͍͈͈̙̺̞͍̻̲̦̰͇̑͐̅̈́͒̀́̈́͛̉͊̽͌́̇̅̿̒̕͝͝͝͝ ̴̰̅̇̔̅́̃̇̀̈́͂̋͌́͝c̴̨͚͍͇͙͍̰͍̰̻̥̺̬̜̥̀̎̏͌̉̆̆̌͂̀͑̕̚͜͝o̷͍̪͍̪̲̪̯͍̺̱̗͇̘̮̣̽̈́̎̔̎̉̀̑̈́́̂̈́͂͒̕̚͜͠͠͝ṷ̸̻̃́̔̽͒͑͂̓͐̽̀̆̎͐̈́̽͛̋̊̌̑̚͠l̶̰̟͙̪͖̗̰̲̎͊́͊̽͑̋ͅd̸̟͖͛̒̃͒̾̏͛̈̔͒̏͆̓̉̎̾̚̚͠ņ̶̰̖̯͚̬̜̦͍̠͖̖̖͖͉̟̬̪̙͇͐̐̓̈̈̍̅̀͒͗̓̏̅͒͂̃̚̚͜'̵̨̧̢̛̻͇̪̱̩̦͔͇̖̮̺̗̥͓̥̥̣̬̟̤̻̐̉͛̈́̔̀͑͠ṱ̵̢͔͙̾̓̎̆͂͂̆̋͗̒͆̈̋̓̉͑̐̆̓̾̾͌̇͘ ̸̡̨̛̛̝͇̙̰͙͚̤̪̣̠͔͉͖͚̙̟̾̔͊̽̉͒̾̀͗̉̾̀̈̆̄̈́͂̅̕͝͝͝-̴̜̺̹̟͉͖̲̱̗͔̩̥̏̈́̈͐̈̓̇́̑͂̂̔̐͂͘͜͝-̷̤͙̙̺̩̫͇̭̯̓̌̃̋̎̚-̸̨̮̱̮͕̜̤̖̲͍̖̼͇̭͉̯̪̮̓̋̏̊̐͆̅̅̄̅̇̚͘͜-̸̻̊͐̅͗̓̇̀̈́̃̌̓̿͆-̶̧̧͈̝͈͓͙̻͖̯̦̟̗̣̻̺͖̖̉̈́̈́̎̀͂̀̔̉͂̽̔̈́̓̾͂̀̂̀̚͝͠͠-̴̡̛̜̜͍͙̼͇̬̲̹͍̞͈̘̿̾͗̂̽̾̕͜-̷͎̳͊̋̈-̸̨̺̟̼̮̞̦̙̰̖̦̘͚̙͓̱͖̰̹̞̯̱͔̔̋͋̈͌̇͐̀͆͐͐̇̎̽̌̂͐̚̕͝-̴̼̼̪̫̖͉̦̘͖̳̻̀́̈͊́̔̐͛͑̀͆͑̽́͛͆̃̽̀͐̈͝͝-̷̢̛̛͉̘̯͙̝̂̀̄̇̚ ̶̢̧̞̰͍̙͕̳̉͐̍̋̉ͅḧ̶̥̘̥̫̦̰̥͕̱͇͖̳͔̬̳̯̙̖̯͉̆̇͗͂̓̈́̒̉̽̓̀̈̃̉̅̃͐́͘͝ę̷̖̼̈́͒͑̊̎̇̆̍̎͐̈͗̓̇̃̆́̚͘͠ ̷̢̺̳̤̺͗̑͒̿͒̈́̈́͋̆͆̎͆̍̎́̿̎͛͌͝ͅn̷̨̛̻͙̲͔̮̯͇͓̙̭̤̱͕̙̮̪̰͈̼̰̭̺͌͗̓̂̊̀̄̈́̅͝e̸̬̬̖̺̫̳̳̖̹̦̞͉̥͊̾̐̅̂̅͆͒͂͐̈́͒͐̆̒͆͗̃́͘͠ͅḙ̵̜̥̠͛̓̐̐d̷̢̰̞̟͍̤̥̻̟̯͙̣̹̂̀͐̀̅̋̾͐̈́̓̈̾̅̀̋̆̄̽́͊̓̚̚͝ȩ̴͇̠̖͔̳͙̤̣̠̥̜̳̣͉͚̈́̏̾̊͆̔̂́͊̊͛̂̈́͌̐̓̋̓͛̚͘͜͠͠ḑ̶̀̉̂ ̸͈̱̠̰̥͙̈́̃̉̌͌͛͝t̸̹͎̂̃͑ǫ̴̧͎̥͚͚̣͍̑̑͜ ̵͎͋̎̈́̂̏̀̌̒͋͑̑̌́͌ͅ-̸̧̛̟̲̤͈̠̪̻̼̞̙̼͔̗̥̖̝͎͎̈́̐͋̊̂̇͑͂͗͊̎͐̿̿͘ͅ-̶̢̛͔̞̪̮̜̝͓̄͑̿̎̈́̃̉͒̾-̵̢̲͕̤͕̺̟̤̼̞͓͕͍̲̫̺̯̼̝͕͚̊̀̀̓̽̍̓̅̾̑̇̄͘̚͜͜ͅ-̶̡̧̡̧̛̹̺̟̮̺͕̘̳̼̪̺̪͕́̏̔͆͂̋̂̎̅̓̈́̚̚͝͝-̷̧̹̮̥͔̳̥͙͚̾͠-̷̧̧̝̹͉̹̰̟̻͆̇͋͂-̵̠̺̞̼̯͚̙̐̽́̐̐͋̈́͌̏̈̃̾̕-̴̨̢͎̲̭͕̰̉͊̒̓͋̌̉̓̌͆͝͝͝ ̵̢̛̭͇͇̗̱̻̦̪̞͕͉̯̞͕̳a̶̡̧̢̨͕̟̻͎̳͚̦̠̯̩̥̹͖͔̱͚̐̂̂̏̾͘ṅ̷̡̨̛͎̭̱͓͌͑̀̉͂̆͛̅͐͐̓̍̏̄̇́́̈́̆͝ḋ̴̡̡̤̭͚̖̲̯̙̝̺͕͕̦̻̝̩͓͙̟̇̅͜ ̸̨̡̨̛̳͙̥͕̬̜̦̫͈̗̼̼̣̹͉̎̀̏̆́̊͒͜͜͝-̴͈̪̲̀̒͗̑͌̒̃̔̒̑̀̇͛̽̀̒̏͐̍̈̚͘-̵̧̨̢̢̢̜̻͕̺̱̮̘̗͍̳̝̤̙͂̊͊̉̂̉͌͒͘̚͝-̴̢̡̗̬̱̺̩̪̠̗̎̒̓̃̉͒̔̊̚͘-̵̘͈͉͕̥͚̖̬͓͎̳̗̻̣̙̬̤͉̗͚̤̑͆͋͋̈́͛̅͜-̷̧̱̼̲̠̜̟͇͔͊̌͆̓̊̂̒̃͘͝͝-̷̢̘̫̺͖͉̻̹͙̗̄̊́-̷̡̢̛̛͚̰̝̺̟̣͈͎̹̳̞̪͖̦̙̀͂̈́̿́͑̇̂̿̅̓͘̚̚͝͝-̷͇͙͈̲͕̯̭̞̘̦̰̱͓̆̈̈̒̓̃́͑̚ͅ-̶̗̥̓̽̿͝-̸̨̗̻̻̯̻̱̣̻̮͚͈̥͍̭̭͙̱̋̊̂̋͠-̵͔̀̉͆̉̄̑̈́̑̀̆̓̀̑͒̈́̑͘͝ͅ-̸̧̨̳̗̙̹̺̘̲̟͔͔̬̯̖͈̝̟͖͖̬̩̰͆͂-̵̣̣̫̼͚̘̠͙͕̞̠́͑̆͛̈̅̈͆̄͐͊͋͛́̐̋̓̌͘̚-̷̮̩̳̠̬̺̘̽̌̽̒̿͌́͒́̽̅̒͆̓̌̈̍̃̈́̇̚̕-̶̨̲̞̞͍̼͇̥̟͕̍̓̾͐͒̀̓̈́̈̈́̌̈́́́͌͝-̴̛̩̻̯͔̦͉̞̲͙̥͑͑͛̏̓́͒́-̵̡͚͓̙̹͈͓̟̥͕̠̰̹̫̣͂̆̃̋̇̐̕͜͝͝-̷̪̄̃́́̇̓̾̒͑͒̽̔̐̑́̚̕͠͝-̷̳̝͈̂͂̈́̿͂̊̑̇̎̒͌̌͋̑͗̓̈͑-̸̛̤̠̣̤͖̱̮͉̼͖̣̦̄̆̑̾̀͐͆̅̋̈̽̈́̿̕̚̚͘͠ͅ-̵̨̗̣͓̠͚̰̘̘͕͓̮̟͔̩̗̩̘̤͖̏̀̀͋̉̈́͗̃͋͆͗͋͜͠-̶̻̬͓͔͇̲̩̹̬̙̖̱̱͆̆͗̆͠-̵̼̦͎̬̐̾ͅ-̶̨̢̺̞̱̝̯͍̝̹͙͇͓̤͖̞͌͜͜ͅ-̶̧̦̰͔̪̟̠͖̦̙͕̝̼̬̜͋͂̓͘-̵̬̼́̈́͋͑̀̊̿̂͛̑̔͂͗̆̈́͘͠͝-̷̢̢̼̜͔̠̹̯̜͔͚̜̥̣͊̑̉̀͌͊̓͊͌͆͌̈͂̐͑͘̚͝͝͝ͅͅ-̴̡̡̨̥͔̣̭̣̞̪̦͉͔̪͈̰̩̪͖́̒̉́̀̊̈́͆̀͐̿͐̓̍͛̚̕ͅ-̶̮͈͚͍̱̬̳̗̰͔̱̻̦̱͕͙͒̓̌̈́͛͋̄͒͊͗͂̀̔̅͝͝-̵̡̮̲̟̻̱͙̑͛̏̾̕͝-̴̢̧̪͎̞̙̗̭̟͔̗̣̪́͆-̴͖̱͈͔̠̰͊͌̐̎͆̇͌͗͋͆͋̉̎̈͗͛͒̂̎̇͝-̷̧̛̪̳̙̟̯̫̼̻̰͌ͅ-̸̧̨̡̡̢̻̦̰͍̗̤̫̟̟͍̫͖̫͇͕̲̮̑͜͝-̵̗̎̉̐̈́́̅̀͂̓͐̒̀͋͌̈̚-̸̧͔͇͕͎͉̪̟̫̤̱̗̼̰̙̼͓̫̙̋̄͌͂͑̆̑̀̓̈̒̌͌̉̅̕͝͝-̶̧̛͖̺͚̩͉͎̼̞̣̜̣̈́̾̀̏͂̆͂͂̇̐̕̚͝-̶̹̀͛-̴̛͔̦͎͋̐̊̏͛͊̌͆́̂̂-̶̡̢̨̨͓̹̘̭̳͖͖̱̤̤̺̱͚̜̫̬͕̉̽̓͐͑͑̒́̎͂̈́̽͒̌́̍̍̍͝-̵̖̪̹̲͉̘̟̪͙̘̲̞̺͇̹̰̰̼̟̤̯̂͒̈́̕-̷̧̨̡͉̰̻͔̬̤̱̞͉̦̟̟͎̞̖͍̮͚͂͗̚͘-̶̹̹͐̓̌̊̊̑̚-̵̡̢̻̰̺̣̫͎̬̖̘͉̬̩̤̋̓̊͌̔̏̂̀͘ͅ-̵̢̡̡͔̪̟̻͇͔̖͙̯͇̣͇̼̫͍͕̅͜ͅ-̸̧̡̛̠̯̱͎̯̹̳̝͉̰͖̬̫̬̗̃̌̑̄͒̓̃̀͒̅̏̎͒̎́͑̀̕̚̚̚͝͠ͅ-̷͔͕̻̳̦̗͚͕̳͎̞̻̳̪̠̥͔͎̹̂́̀̄̈̓-̶͔͓͉͉̮̝͖̦̳̓̇͋͋͝-̴̡̧̡̛̛̛̲̻̺͈̤̺̘̗̹̮̦̠̳͖̣̣͉̩̏́̍̑͊̆̏̄̈̒̑̏̑̐͊̚͝ͅ-̸̨̧̛̯͇͇̖̠͙̩͓̟̤̼̙̯͓͉̏̂́̀̽̀̓̈̉͗ͅͅ-̶͚͉̘̻̫͂̎͛͆͂͜-̷̧̹͔͇̩͛̿̀̈̓͆̏̇̎̂̓̈̽̑̈́̋̀͘͜-̵̨̥͘-̵̨̞͍̬̰̜̪̤̼̤͓͙̰̻͔͍̝̮͕̌̓͗͜-̴̭̻͚͚̮̭̹͚̘͖̍̅̍ͅ-̶̨̢͓̬̱͓̺̜̝̣͉̞̠̯̝̥̿͋͋́͌̅̑̒̆̇̓̉̉͆̕͝ͅ-̸̛̛̤̹̠͇̩̠̝̃̔̌͗͗͛̈̀̋̿̎͛͒͒͛̀̾͜͠ͅ-̶̢̢̛̲̙̥̤͚̲̥͍̝̤̦̣͔̻͍̆͊͌̇̈́́͐͆̓̍̓̔͊͗͌̌͌͆̐̂́̎͛ͅ-̶̢̫̠͕̻̻̜͈̐͂̅̍̅̌̎̔̇͒-̶̢͖͚͇̖̖͖̱͓̤͓̗̳͉̭̱̫͕̇̈͛̇̾̍͒̑̾̋̍͒̾͂́͆́́̌̏̃̃͘-̸̧͚̙͇̜͕̘̠̫͔̝͙̭̖͚͉̼̲͛̌̇̇͂̾̆̅̎͘ͅ-̵̛̛̱͔̘͉̥͍̌̽̇̽̈́̓͗͋̄̔̓̍̐́̔̔̂̈́́̕͠ͅ-̶̢͇̠̮̤̠͖͈̇͒̈́̀́̊̔͐̈́̕͘-̵̧͔͙̺̜̺̤̣̣̥̻̯̣̥͖̙̘͕̰̱̞̮̭͔̔̌̀̓͐̎͆̄̄͋̓͗̓̿͐̿̾̏͠͝-̶̨̧̡̜͈̥͇͔̲̪̹͎͉̪̪̼̎ͅͅ-̶̨͔̺̙̖̲̹̥̳̪̼̦̻͍̀̏͌-̵̛̛̖̭̠̳̻̫͔̗̽̈́̏͐̽̀́̈̎̓͛̋ͅ-̵̖̮͌́̾̅-̶̼̹̬̥̮̝̞̫̥̼͙̼̯͔͒͆-̸̨̹̪̫̯̟̝̲̠͉̈́̄̅̓̚-̵̨̤̝͇̝̺̙̻̙̦̲̮̳̤̺̪͎͕̱͈̱̬̆̃̔͛̋̀̓̄̃̅͊̆́́̅̾̄̆̅̈́̊̕̚͝-̶̧̛̛̖̘̲̲̬̠͎̬̣̳̐̿̀̎̀͆̓͋̑̕͜͠-̵̢̛͎̼̩̰̜͔̤̹̜̜̘̖̞̠̞͖̹̃̂̅̑̓̂͋͂̈́̋̊̎̇͂̏͛̕͜͜͠-̷̡̣̬̬̟͙͇̃̅͐̒̽͒͑̂͒̒́̓͘͠-̶̨̨̢̡̩̟̭͖͓̰̤̣̤͙̣͈̂͋̀̒̆̉́̽͒̃̋̈́́̐͌͘͝͝-̶̧̹̱̟̱̮̘̉̚̚-̴̢̢̛̫͉͉͈̥̜̂̀̊̑̔̂̆̉̓͆́̓̈̌̅͑͗̈́-̶̡̨̝̲̼̟̼͔̪̯̣͚̙͚͑̉̊̓͛̆̎̐̌͗͂̓̈́̐̒͐̎͘͘̚͘̚͠͠-̵̨̘͚͖͉͓̤̞̱̮̻̱̜͔̹̃͑͊̒͂̈́̿͘͠͝ͅͅ-̷̡̨̡̞͈͈̝̣̜̈́͋̿̋̅̈́̀̎̑͑͒̀͋̍̕͝͝-̵̘͇̱̲̫̗̠̲̅̈́̈́̉̉̈̔̾̆̅̔̊̈̾̎̈́̈́̕͝-̵̡̞̙̳͈̫͉͙̘̠̻͕͖̬̟̬̼̅͌́̾͊̈́͊̔̿ͅ-̶̢̲̣̰̖̟̦̦̜͕̜͈̣̱͎̱͉̎̿̈͌́͒̂͗̔̽̏͋͒̾̊̎̏͘͘̕͝-̶̡̢̖̣͍̤̘̥̦̜̫̞̞͇͕̼̯͚͚̯̤̔̽̎͜-̸̨͚͔͉̬̩̱̭̜͍̖͕̹͛̈̋̐̑̎̑̃͝ͅ-̶̢̲̘̫̲̱̪͓̫̲̍̂̃̅ͅ-̴̛̗͎̈̎̀̒̾̆͂͑̈́̈͐̔͘̕͠͠-̴̧̨͎̪̗̞̬̦̱͓̜̼̖͖̰̰̼̝̫̈̽̾̈́̒̈̉͗͌̀̕͝ͅͅ-̵̞̩̘̤͔̟͉̼͕͔̅̂̃̋͑̈́̃̐̐̉͗̇͌̄̎̌́͑́̉̕͘̚͝ͅ-̴͔͛͋̀͐̏̿́̈́͋̔̄͘͘-̸̢̢̧̧̞̫̥̫͉̤̞̻̯̱̦̪͖̼͐̇̈́̐̏̇̓̄̈́͊̽͌͋̒͆́͘͜͠ͅ-̴̢̗̲͙̦̞̖͈͍̖͛͗̿̕-̵̯̪̜̯̇́̑̃̔́̐̎̂̏̉̃̍̈́̓̈́̽͗̓̑͜͝͝-̴̛̪̩̯͍̻̖͙̱̟̖͇͖͖̱̠͖̤̯̳̫́̈̓̀̑̑͂̈́͆͒͂̌͐̋́͗̓̈́̿̐̆̽̚ͅ-̶̢̛͙̰̻̲̩̲̰̱̩̪̩̖̹̦̥̘͆͂͐͐͑̔̽̅́͜͝-̴̡̧̢̦̙̳̖̮̳̲̝͈̜̖͉͒͛̀̉̓-̸̢̨̱͎̯̺̟̬͓̤̦̖͍̱̱̘̭̈͂͋̇̎̽̉͝ͅͅͅ


It hurt. It hurt so bad. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt. It hurt.

His head was pulsing with a pain that felt like it'd been split in two with an axe and the same could be said about his heart. He couldn't watch what happened next, even if he could vividly remember it all the same. This was the moment, the very moment he'd become the Infinite Archer. And yet, he never wanted to see this moment again.

"I..." he stopped and turned to face the man once again. "...but then, I remember who you are...!"

More importantly, it was the moment that allowed him to finally recall who this guy was. The man was noticeably older this time. He appeared to be in his forties or early fifties. Tears began streaming down his face. "...Dad...!" he cried. "...I missed you so much I...!" but as soon as they began, he realized that there was still something very wrong.

Why did he miss his dad? After the incident, they were together and Zach began his life as the Infinite Archer, but...

"Yes, you're almost there, Zachary." his father encouraged.

It was then that his time as a prisoner to a hellish 'game' began playing on the 'projector'. His arrival, the dread he felt while hiding under a calm mask. The anger he felt when his captors taunted him and the rest of the 'patients', his anxiety when people tried speaking to him and touching him, and, of course, the blooming friendship he shared with Jezebel, despite clowns scaring him. He even remembered denying it when Jez called him out on this. The fear he felt when Geina almost killed him, the inability to think properly when he thought he'd assisted accidentally in Marianne's death, the irritation at being insulted by Cyrus and just how silly the trial had become, that short time he spent with Krista which had made him realize he might just be able to make friends! Of course, he also remembered getting into an argument with Jezebel over rescuing Krista, the pain he felt during it, and then...

"...I died?" he immediately asked his father. The man did not speak with words, giving a sorrowful smile in response. His dad motioned towards the 'projection'. It began to display Zachary's last moments, and the Infinite Archer watched as he helplessly tried leading his friends to victory with an odd way of using his bow, only to be overwhelmed by the sudden appearance of two other Carnage Sisters. Of course, it started skipping and stopped just as Zach's consciousness back there did -- right when a thumb found itself deep inside his eye socket.

"N-no..." again, Zachary dropped to a knee. "That's... I can't be..." rather than relief, the tears he now shed were those of a man who had lost hope. "You're... you're telling me I died like that!?" the word 'composed' could not be used to describe the archer right now, but was an applicable synonym. "That's impossible! That's horseshit! I can't believe that!" he glared, teary-eyed at his father, who still did not speak. But Zachary wasn't done. He couldn't be! This wasn't just his life he was talking about! He wasn't allowed to die like this, die so suddenly!

Planting his fist into the ground, he'd come to realize the area was beginning to darken. It was not all white anymore, but the 'sky' was shattering. The white was being replaced with black. Zachary began to panic. "There's gotta be something I can do, right?" his eyes begged his father to answer him, but he remained silent. "Please...! Anything..." the world continued to break and piece after piece, the world slowly became black.

Finally, as the last of the white was removed from the world, his father spoke to him. "Come, it's time to go."

"...then... there's nothing to be done?" realizing he was going to get nowhere, Zach hysterically laughed and fell backwards onto the floor. He raised his hand to the black sky and made a fist. "How cruel...! I've done nothing to deserve this... this escape." It wasn't the fact that he died that hurt him so bad. It was the fact he died without atoning for what he'd done. He told himself that he couldn't just die whenever he wanted. He owed it to someone not to. But, even still... he perished? Crazy killer game or not, that was no excuse. His life was more important than that! His life wasn't his own, so losing it like this was unforgivable!

But then... what could he do? Zachary's father was a strong, great man who was perfect in every way as far as he was concerned. Somebody to aspire to be. So... this man he'd been talking to was not his father.

His father couldn't be dead, after all.

So that meant this had to either be some weird illusion created by his subconsciousness to help him move on, or it was God. Or whatever deity turned out to be true. Honestly, that didn't matter. What did was that he simply couldn't go against something like that, that was for sure. But if he was God, or even the Devil, did that mean it was alright to die?

"I suppose... it's alright to leave, then." Zach sighed and slowly began to get up. His face still red and covered in tears, he offered a strained smile to whomever it was taking the visage of his father and tried to wipe away what wetness on his face he could. "Where... are we going?" he asked.

"I cannot tell you, you'll just have to wait and see." he was told.

"Can you at least tell me what it's like?" Zach asked. "Is it a bad place?"

His 'father' laughed. "I guess that wouldn't hurt. It's a wonderful place. You'll love it, I'm sure." the older man informed as he began walking off. A door appeared a few feet before him, a bright light escaping beneath it. When Zach saw this, he couldn't help but feel how cliche this all was. Really, this all sounded like some cheesy way to send a character off in a book or a movie. To give closure. He recalled how he felt that, objectively, these kinds of send-offs were too unrealistic. It was more likely that you experience nothing but blackness when you die, assuming you do not believe in any higher power. Zachary was never an optimist, so he didn't quite have any faith. Though, given his current situation... well, it would seem those kinds of fiction proved to be correct in how they handled the afterlife.

The door opened, and behind it was a blinding light. It wasn't possible to SEE what was inside, but he could certainly HEAR it. The beautiful laughter of a woman. And from that laughter, he could tell whom it was. It was a very familiar woman doing something very unfamiliar given her character. The sound of his mother having a good time, enjoying herself. He'd never heard it before. Truthfully, he never came to resent his mother. He never had that sort of confidence. It was certainly his fault she got so angry, after all. So, with a smile, Zachary took a step towards the door along with his 'father', who was smiling just as bright as he'd ever done.

It was so strange. In his entire life, he never felt like he deserved happiness. He'd been a burden to his parents and he'd stolen just to eat for a while. And then, after that he... well, that wasn't important now, was it? Still, he lived with no intention of being truly happy, for he never believed he deserved it. Yet now he had no choice but to be happy. Such a silly thing it was. He never did what he set out to do in life, but since this was death, it would seem like that didn't matter anymore.

Zach took one last look behind him, at the black world. Ignoring the door he was about to enter, the only light was from the 'projector' that had shown him his memories. It still barely displayed one last image. It was hard to discern at first being so blurry, but he had come to realize it was Jezebel. A needle piercing his heart wasn't a good enough comparison. The pain he felt from the realization she witnessed him die was many times more than that. He frowned. There was nothing to be done, but he knew that'd simply be another regret he'd have. Zachary knew there was simply no way to do anything about it.

"Forgive me, I couldn't even say goodbye."

Turning away he stepped through the door along with his dad.

“I hope you're happy.” her voice echoed. “I totally hope you're happy.”

The pain in his heart was amplified by the pain he felt in Jez's voice. He made a promise to himself that, even here in the afterlife, he would never forget his first true friend. He only hoped that she could find it in her to forgive him for bowing out so soon. But she was a strong woman. Much more mature and a better person than he. Hopefully, she and the rest of the crew could figure their way out of that mess with no more casualties. But it was in their hands now for he was retired.

And so, Zachary shut the door.

.................

...............

.............

...........

.........

.......

.....

....

...

..

.

"No, now's not the time to be dead!"

Zachary had yelled at the top of his lungs, a challenge to fate. The door was shut before him, separating him and his 'father', along with whatever it was he was being led into. Happiness? Was that what that was supposed to be? How cheap! What kind of person would Zach be if he allowed himself to be happy his only friend was sad? Zach wasn't the kind of filthy casual to play Fire Emblem on Phoenix Mode! He was a Classic, no restart (or so he claims online) kind of guy! When happiness is handed out to you like that, is it even worth it? How could he be satisfied with a victory he didn't earn? The answer was no!

It did mean the least to him that there was a chance this was anything more than some weird chuuni delusion he was having at the doors of death. Even if it was God himself wearing the face of his father, he wasn't going to allow himself to stay dead. Preferably, he wouldn't become a zombie, but if he had to... well, he was inserting his last coin in and hitting continue no matter what! He wasn't quitting this match or his team just yet! And so, with a spirit full of fire and burdens more than he was willing to lose...

Zachary Ackerson awoke.

---

The following day was not one many would meet with much enthusiasm. Bliss typically woke up early to start breakfast for everyone, but she hadn't left her room. Jezebel seemed to have vanished into thin air, and Denis was still recovering. In fact, many of the infinites would need some time to recover from their physical and mental wounds.

But not all were that way.



Lucy had discovered the wondrous study while running away from a hillbilly Junko kill bot. She had seen it on her e-handbook, but held off on coming here earlier because of all the other strange stuff going on. But now that she knew there was a good(?) killer robot guarding the place, she was confident she could study here at any hour she pleased. It was certainly less risky than getting a midnight snack during the night of carnage. She sat at one of the tables, pouring over a book. She'd need to have Thomas look at her wounds later. But for now, they had been cleaned and bandaged, which would probably be enough for now.

---

Tucked in his bed, Felix deeply slept through the remainder of the night. His body was still very sore from the beating he took, but that didn’t stop him from napping as if it was his last night on earth. In fact, if it wasn’t for the knocking on the door, Felix would’ve probably slept through the entire day as well.

But alas, it would be rude to ignore the knocking, and the freerunner had a lot of questions that needed answering.

“Give me a sec.” Said Felix as he put his legs into pants; as he equipped his clothes, he wondered who could be knocking, maybe Max wanted to check on him, or krista has a new idea to add to the plan! Deciding that it would probably be one of those two, Felix walked up to the door and was greeted by… A robot with a wild expression.

“Can I come in?” Geina snarled. ”If you know what's good for you, you'll let me in.” she looked away. ”Not like I care what happens to you or anything.”

“Can you co-what? Am I in danger? I thought you were supposed to be the danger.” The obvious confusement was oozing from Felix’s face, but after yesterday, he became very skeptical of the sisters. “You’re like Nariko, but I’m not like Krista, So if you try something, you better expect a fight!” He tried to appear intimidating, but him moving out of the doorway and gesturing for her to come in kind of ruined that.

”Yea well, try not to piss yourself, big man.” Geina stepped past Felix and looked around his room. ”A-anyway, you let Thomas look you over. I saw it on the video replay. After the Night of Carnage was over.” She folded her arms. ”But if you're brave instead of stupid, you'll get a second opinion from me.”

“So you can cuff me like Nariko cuffed Krista? Ha! you’re the stupid one if you think I’ll fall for anything that obvious.” Felix took on a battle stance, ready for anything Geina might throw at him. And then he strained his shoulder; That hurt like a motherhugger, so much in fact, that Felix lost his balance and tumbled down, towards Geina.

Geina was quick to react, and caught Felix. ”See? You're clearly hurt.” The carnage sister shoved Felix onto his bed. ”Y-you really need to take better care of yourself.” She leaned over Felix and started to unbutton his shirt. The guns on her arms were pointing directly at him.

Being shoved onto the bed did little to improve Felix’s shoulders or back, and that combined with the guns pointed at him put him in a tough spot, or so he thought. He wanted to struggle, but Geina’s words didn’t allow him to fight back, she was a nurse after all. All he could do was accept Geina’s help, but that didn’t mean that he felt comfortable around her, at all.

“Hehe, alright I surrender, I am hurt after all. But uhh...are those guns really necessary?” Felix anxiously glared at the guns.

”They scare you? They should!” The carnage sister looked away ”B-but I guess I can take them off. Just because you admitted they scared you.” With a pop, the mini guns split in half and fell off of her arms. ”I bet you're going to complain you're the only one undressing. So you know what?” she started unbuttoning her shirt. ”I'm going to beat you to it, fucker!”

Despite the awareness that Geina was in fact, a robot, Felix still couldn’t help but be completely flustered by the random undressing that appeared before him. He didn’t even know if the sisters knew what nudity meant, but the fact that his shirt was also unbuttoned raised millions of red flags.

“W-what are you doing?! Nurses aren’t supposed to undress along the patients. It’s not...uhhhh....sanitary!” Felix wasn’t even paying attention to the guns on the floor at this point.

Despite Felix's protests, Geina was already rolling her dress off of her shoulders. The nurse outfit fell on the floor with her guns. Then she just gazed at Felix, unable to change her expression.



”My body is perfectly sanitary. It probably carries less germs than a real person does.” She crawled over felix, forcing him to lay flat on his back. ”So you don't have to worry if we... touch.” Geina stopped crawling forward when she was completely over Felix. ”You know, I watched you sleep during the investigation for the last trial. It was pretty fuckin' pathetic.” Geina looked away.. ”B-but I have been watching you sleep, every night since then.”

Felix’s cheeks kept getting redder and redder as Geina got on top of him, this robot was getting very emotional for a...well, robot. This was turning into a cliche romance, but if he accepted it, wasn’t that kind of a betrayal. This wasn’t right, and Geina watching him sleep was even worse. Suddenly, the touch wasn’t the biggest issue here. But then again, if he played along, maybe Geina could end up like alexandria, an ally.

“I thought you watched over everyone at night, to make sure we behave. But... you’ve been watching over me alone? Why? What’s so special about me?”

”I-I never said that!” She rolled off of felix and folded her arms, unwilling to look at him. ”There's nothing special about you.”

“Really?” Felix finally loosened up a bit upon seeing Geina flustered herself and a small smirk crept on his face. “Guess you won’t mind if I let Mercy patch me up instead then.”

”Y-yea, go have a real doctor look at that shit!” Geina pulled her legs up into a ball.

So Geina even admitted defeat; how unexpected. Perhaps she was more human then Felix initially thought, but if they could be dissuaded, they could also be persuaded.

“Come oooon, that’s not how a nurse should react. Mercy is a plague doctor, sure she knows the basic stuff, but she’s not a trained nurse, and I’m not her patient. I trust you...as long as your father isn’t here to command you.” Of course felix did not trust Geina, but perhaps some day.

”Really?” Geina sat up and turned towards Felix. She was really nothing like a human, but if you looked at her right, she didn't quite look like a doll with blood bags stuffed in her bra. ”Well in that case, let me have a look.” She prodded around Felix's back. ”It doesn't look too serious. I do think there's something I can do though.”

Felix spread his arms to assist Geina, it really did hurt to move like that, so whatever Geina could do would be more than welcome.

”Of course you can do something! that’s why you came to me in the first place, right?” Felix chuckled.

”O-Of course I did, you big idiot! I-I was just saying...” She blinked. ”Y-you know, that you'll let me.” there was an awkward silence between them. ”I mean, I'd make you cooperate even if you didn't want me to but, yea.” She grabbed Felix's cheeks. ”It's not like you like me or anything. You only let me in here because you knew Thomas did a shit job.”

“Didn’t he!? He left before doing a single thing, and acted so weird too!” For someone who’s cheeks were being assaulted by one of the carnage sisters, Felix sure was relaxed.

”You're weird, you piece of shit!” Geina pulled Felix closer and plunged her tongue into his mouth. It tasted like rubber, almost like he was kissing the tire of an automobile.

Felix’s eyes were wide open, did he...did he just lose his first kiss to an evil robot nurse? Talk about a reverse stockholm syndrome. He did not expect his plan to work so fast, but he was pretty sure that kissing means your allies...right? But then he was choking, Geina’s tongue was starting to block his airflow, and it made Felix cough and flinch away from Geina.

“Slow down cowboy, aren’t we moving a bit too fast?” Felix cleared his throat. “My body is still really sore from fighting you all yesterday, ya know.”

”Hey! Men are suppose to worry about moving at the lady's speed, ass hole!” She stood up. ”B-but whatever! Complain about our first kiss, I don't give a shit!” She started tearing up. ”And take this, you heaping piece of crap!” Geina hurled the E-handbook at the bed, to which it bounced a few times before coming to rest beside his pillow. ”Maybe Thomas can kiss better than I can, who knows!” She jumped off the bed. ”B-but maybe come see me some time. Just bring a friend if you're afraid of getting locked inside a kinky love dungeon or something.” She ran out the door. ”N-not that I have a kinky love dungeon you I-I-idiot!”

Felix was confused once more, Geina seemed angry, but she wanted him to come visit? She was a lot like someone from a cartoon he used to watch. Maybe if he treated her like that, things would work out. With that thought, he took a look at the e-handbook, who apparently belonged to Geina. If This handbook was like the others, it would surely be the key to her room; definitely requires investigation.

But first he needed to get the rubber taste out of his mouth,

Breakfast.

Thomas was sitting in a chair, placed in front of his bed in his quarters. In front of him was a tangled mess of papers. Thomas himself was sitting oddly. One leg was left dangling off his chair, the other was pulled up to his chest. His head was resting on the back of that legs knee, and his left arm was resting on the front of the knee. His right arm dangled off the arm rest. In his hand was a chef’s knife, taken from the kitchen.

The papers in front of him were a mess of pieces of paper that were cut into squares. On each of them was text :

• Shaun Ellen - Infinite Web Designer
• Lucas Carsen - Infinite Paranormal Investigator
• Shona Moffett - Infinite Knight
• Aleecia Marvic - Infinite Dice Master
• Rika Roux - Infinite Firebug
• Mason Brady - Infinite Barista
• Quill Kennedy - Infinite Model
• Davis Gallo - Infinite Conquest
• Alice Parker - Infinite Destruction
• Carnage Sisters
• Murder
• Blackened

Next to the papers was a neat pile of similar squares. The one on the top of the paper read ‘Alice Masson - Infinite Recon’. It could be assumed that Thomas had made these squares for every infinite, presumably so he could arrange the names like a detective would with a display board.

The names were arranged around their respective cause of death. Alice’s and Davis’s paper were left in the center, only arranged around each other. It was unclear for how long Thomas had left the papers like this, staring at them silently.

Seconds passed, or minutes, or even hours. Thomas continued to look at the papers, trying to decipher anything from them. Without warning, Thomas ran his hand through his hair with his right hand and then slammed it on the bed. Nothing made sense. There was no pattern in the people who were killed. Nothing to discern. All Thomas was successful in doing was disconcerting himself.

But it didn’t make sense. The people weren’t dying randomly. What he learned about the Carnage Sister’s tonight had proved that. The Carnage Sisters were effectively people themselves. Which meant that they were able to think. There was something going on in their heads. They were able to choose. Was Davis really that insane, that he would create not only a perfect artificial intelligence, but one with a bloodlust that could only be satiated by patternless killing?

That wasn’t all. The kid, Shaun Ellen, was a killer. Thomas did not read the causes of death, or, he did, but he only glanced over it. Initially, he had assumed that Shaun was murdered. But he was a murderer. It didn’t make sense. This kid was a Web Designer, and he looked the part. Not only that, but Thomas had heard about him before this killing game. This man was suppose to be nice! For him to have killed anyone, Davis had to have contorted him, played him into killing someone. That was the only explanation with what Thomas knew. For that to have happened, Davis had to personally target him.

But before Thomas was curious about this development, he was tired. As he continued to think. he slowly began to fall asleep. And the next thing he knew, he had.

---

Before Thomas knew it, Morning had come. How the days passed. Thomas planned to continue to catalog the floors available and inquire about the past of the killing game. After these few days, he was comfortable enough to say he was now familiar with this new environment.

His quest to understand the killing game was unsatiated in this time, but he resolved one thing. He would have to understand why the past killers did what they did before he could fully comprehend this killing game. He would also have fulfill his promise to Lucy — or else. Finally, he had a certain vendetta that might need to be addressed after the casualties of the last night of carnage...

The night of carnage was over but most of the information of what happened stuck with Emily. The deaths of Aleecia and Rika hit her the hardest she couldn't believe what she was hearing, people she had spoken to only moments before were gone taken from them by Davis and all Emily could do was faint. The caretaker felt a plethora of emotions gnawing at her but only wondered why it wasn't her instead of them? They did something unlike her all Emily could do, was being carried through the night the caretaker felt a wave of guilt wash over her as she thought about how if she wasn't indisposed she could have done something for one or at least both of them.

Emily apologized to Mercy and thanked her before going to her room and sealing the rest of the world outside she couldn't show her face to the others she felt that the deaths of Rika and Aleecia were her fault, she wiped away tears and started to reconsider her infinite title. Emily was beginning to wonder if she was gifted the label as a joke or if she was only given it because of her looks.

Emily started feeling less like an infinite, or less of the one she considered herself to be. A better infinite wouldn't have let those two died. A stronger person wouldn't have had fainted when a machine was talking to them and feared for their own life. A real caretaker would've taken care of Aleecia and made sure she didn't get hurt."I'm no caretaker my infinite title is a lie." She told herself while staring at the corner of her room." Someone like myself could never rise to be anything of the sort of thing I'm just here because of my looks I am just useless."

The only time she would leave her room was during the nights, and hid away from the others during the day, feeling as if the deaths of Rika, Aleecia, Mason, and Quill were all her fault. If she told Rika to stay with the support team or even not participate, she would've still been alive and could've stopped Aleecia when it comes to Quill if she just looked more into her situation she could've prevented Mason's death. Then out of nowhere, Emily left her room leaving the door wide open, her hair was a mess, her eyes were lidded and bloodshot as if she didn't sleep for days.

Emily wasn't exactly going anywhere, just wandering through the hallways without any direction or place destination set for herself going up and down the floors without going into any rooms taking only a moment of time mumble something to herself." I'm weak..." Before continuing and ignoring anyone trying to stop her. She didn't bother speaking to anyone or acknowledging their existence, just mumbling to herself and feeling as if she was alone." It's really dark here." She spoke aloud on the second floor while staring up at the lights, then mumbled." I'm not worthy of being considered an infinite." She stood next to the Pharmacy like some kind of statue not bothering to move an inch."It's my fault their all gone, my fault they died, my fault... My fault." She ranted.

Some say when you sleep after a nice cry, you sleep better, but that didn't seem to be the case as far as Ice was concerned. The amount of responsibility he had purposefully amounted on himself felt heavy on his chest and made his sides uncomfortable as he tossed and turned all night. His feelings of comradeship with the rest of the Infinites would have terrified him when Ice had first arrived in his hellish place and it still did, but it also felt warm and earnest, not like the shell of a human he was before this. After finally giving up on sleep after getting maybe an hour or two of shut-eye, Ice got up and dressed himself. While he still wasn't the best when it came to wrapping his bandages, Ice did the best he could. Once finished, he scavenged one of his suitcases for candies and filled up his pockets before leaving his room.

It must have been rather early in the day, because no one seemed to be around. They may have already gone up to investigate the third floor, but Ice had a plan first. Moving up to the second floor, the hole in the wall seemed to be gone along with most of the wreckage. Chills slipped over the Blood Donor's spine at the reality of how efficient the sisters could really be. But just as Ice was grasping onto the handle of the Diner's door, he heard the sound of a piano.

While Alice originally wanted to spend the day in the theatre, wanting some time alone after all that had happened the night before, the recon thought that Mercy would drag her out against her will. So she instead went to the music plaza, not hesitating to approach and play the piano there and then. The song Alice decided to play was actually one of her brother's pieces, an old favorite that always seemed to lift her spirits up.

Turning the corner, Ice moved out into the open plaza to see the back of Alice's head, her hands pouring over the keyboard. The smaller girl's hands worked wonders as on an instrument Ice himself had never really seen played properly before. The Blood Donor leaned against the side of the Diner listening, his eyes half-lidded and a small smile quirking up his lips. He let out a soft sigh and continued to listen, not wanting to interrupt his companion. Honestly, he might have cried if he hadn't dried his eyes out earlier.

Once the recon had finished the song, a genuine grin had crept onto her face as she stood up from her seat and looked over to Ice, quickly doing a double take. "B-Bloody hell- H-How long have y-you been standing t-there?!" Alice asked nervously, having not noticed the blood donor till then.

If anyone looked over at Ice's face for that small second, they would have seen his mouth quirk up higher, but alas, his face soon fell down to it's ever annoying expressionless mask. He bounced off of the wall and walked up to Alice, standing before her, he brought his hand up and ruffled her hair. "Long enough."

The recon looked up at Ice for a moment, then sighed in defeat, flustered from embarrassment. "S-sorry. I just don't do well with an audience. Stage fright tends to get to me alot..." Alice explained, hugging herself. "I mean, now you're kinda the only here that actually watched me play. Bliss did, but only in the middle of the song, eheheh..."

"Then I'll make sure to sneak up on you again so you can play in peace. I wouldn't want to hold you back," He moved to stand to her side, his fingers floating over the keys.

"Eh?! W-Well, I don't mind playing the piano for a single person, it's just when there's a group of people watching that I start to freak out." Alice told Ice, scratching the back of her head.

"Shame you can't jam in somewhere more obscure, it's a bit too open here." He started to press down on one of the C keys, but didn't press hard enough to produce any sound. His hand flinched slightly before he slipped the piano closed, "Hungry?"

"Actually yeah! I haven't really got breakfast yet." Alice nodded.

Ice started for the Diner, holding the door open a second longer than necessary for Alice to grab onto it. Once he got to the kitchen, he started checking the shelves for ingredients. While he may not have been the Infinite Chef, he had been a cook for his family and he made some mean pancakes. The Blood Donor got to work, but had a bit of a problem when he had to mix everything together with only one hand. After a few useless attempts, he glanced over at the smaller Infinite.

"...Oh! Um, need some help there?" The recon asked Ice, walking up next to him.

The man sighed and looked away, "I can make something else..." He went to the fridge to look for eggs. Squatting down he cursed at himself, why the hell was it so uncomfortable to ask for help? When it had been him and the kids, he was always needed that helping hand but they would be running amok until Ice gave Jeremy the look. But thinking of that reminded him of Jeremy which reminded him of... Aleecia. Stabbed through by someone she trusted so much, someone she had fought so vehemently for. Ice braced himself against the fridge, his right knuckle turning white from the strain.

Noticing how the blood donor seemed stressed, the recon walked over and sat down besides him. "Hey, are you alright...?" She gently asked, concerned for her friend.

Ice took a second before turning his head to glance at her. He rested his head on his elbow before ruffling her hair again, "Stop worrying and.... help." He quirked his head towards the bowl before grabbing for another egg carton and standing up. What else was he supposed to do in this situation? She was dead and his attitude wouldn't help save anyone.

"Right, sorry..." Alice apologized, before standing herself up and walking over to grab the bowl.

And he did it again, went ahead and screwed everything over. Ice beat the eggs with a mechanical whisk before taking the pancake mix and starting out on the pancakes, not knowing what to say to make things better.

---

Zachary Ackerson had done it. He had survived the Night of Carnage after being assaulted by one of the evil robot sisters and come out without a scratch. Well, in his dream that was the case. The truth of the matter was that he suffered a critical injury that would have lasting consequences. This particular injury affected Zach perhaps more than it'd affect anybody else in the group. He looked around and noticed he'd been returned to his room. It was quite convenient that their rooms were what they were. He was not wearing all of his clothes, which did worry him a little, but until he knew exactly who had operated on him, he wasn't going to get too red in the face over it. He figured he would get a change of clothes, so he tried getting up.

*Thump*

His vision in the one good eye he had left blurred for a second upon nastily hitting his head on a nearby wall, but thankfully, he had done so on the opposite side of his head. Still, it hurt, though the pain wasn't too serious compared to the throbbing he felt on the back of his head. Had he hit it? Perhaps there was a bruise or something? And that's not all, he felt somewhat drowsy and weak. And his stomach was yelling at him, too. Boy, what a mess he was.

"...what the hell happened?"

It wasn't like he had retrograde amnesia or anything like that, he was just confused. He knew he'd been grabbed by one of the sisters and she'd done this to him, but he didn't remember hurting his head. Perhaps that'd happened after he'd lost consciousness? Did he have a concussion? There were a lot of questions he could ask, but to be honest, they just weren't that important to him. He was awake, which meant he was alive, which meant that weird dream he had was nothing more than that --- a weird dream. Nobody was going to take him to some weird, cheap 'happiness' before he was done doing what he needed to do. And for that he was thankful.

Still, he didn't like this new impairment. He raised a hand to the place where his eye had once been but stopped just before touching the small piece of fabric that was the eyepatch he now wore. It felt silly. He'd always associated eye injuries with war due to movies and the like, so to have one himself... felt kinda cool, too. At least, when he didn't think about how it might affect his ability to shoot arrows.

No, thinking about that is almost as bad as when the other Zach comes out... almost.

Waifu-rating in this scenario was bad. Very bad.

His mind was best placed on other things, like what he should do right now. Honestly, he felt like shit and it was likely his doctor would advise him not to move around so much. He probably needed rest. Actually, moving around at all was likely a very stupid idea. Was his wound even fully tended to? Maybe not. But unless Jezebel was here to dote on him he couldn't see himself sitting around. His belly was rumbling and he hadn't yet had a nice cup of coffee. Obviously, there was only one thing left to do after he changed, and it wasn't "be a smart person and let yourself heal".

...

...

...

Being that he was still not fully recovered, Zachary found it rather hard to walk straight. He experienced more than one moment where he almost completely lost his footing and fell to the floor and to anybody watching him, he might appear to be a drunkard. He wasn't sure why, but he had not run into anybody in the hallways as he made it to the dining room. Ignoring that fact, he pushed opened the door rather sloppily and stepped inside.

Jeez, since when was this place such a chore to get to?

He wondered this while forcing himself through the restaurant, towards the kitchen. Now that he thought about it, perhaps the break room would have made more sense to go to? He wasn't exactly the most capable of chefs and he was really not feeling it, so making something complicated (that is, anything that isn't microwavable) was currently beyond him. Yet, as he thought about turning around, he heard voices up ahead and things sounded... tense. With worry in his heart and definitely not twisted motivations like secretly hoping people would take pity on his poor self and treat him, Zach decided he could press onwards!

"Right, sorry..." was the only thing Zachary clearly caught, so he wasn't sure exactly what had happened between the two. Maybe a ship was about to set sail, only to be sunk just before it left port? Maybe one of them farted? Ideally, he would not be walking into that hot box, but Zach was going to roll the dice right now and hope they fell on a favorable reason for this atmosphere. Zach entered the kitchen. Sadly, he wasn't too stealthy what with his inability to walk precisely how he desired so they probably heard him just before he did so. He was unlikely to spook them with his presence.

Unless they thought he was a ghost, maybe.

"Yo." he casually greeted the two with a quick wave, while steadying himself with his other arm. Hopefully, his behavior would suggest that he was fine so that they wouldn't ask him how he was feeling. He really didn't want to have to lie, nor did he want to think about what he'd lost right now. Focusing on other things, no matter how stupid, was better right now and Ackerson had yet to consider the possibility that other Infinites had been seriously injured, let alone killed. Somehow, he felt he should probably steer the conversation elsewhere. Last night was probably going to be a landmine for everybody, not just him. "Pancakes, huh?" he looked directly towards Ice and gave an innocent smile. Maybe he'd be nice and share? Come to think of it, had he even personally spoke to Ice yet? He hadn't exactly been too chatty with Alice, either. They could both be dickheads in a normal setting for all he was aware.

Now he was kinda nervous. Social interaction and all that, only not with his horrible, no-good public mask. He needed to act truthfully to himself in order to gauge whether he and others could be friends. So what was he dealing with here?

Alice was an odd one but Zachary assumed, given her talent, that she'd probably 'seen some shit'. Going off movie stereotypes and all was something he both really good at doing and not doing. He knew not to, but it was often more fun to ignore that and do it anyways. He now had a picture in his head of explosions and one-handing an LMG in some trenches somewhere. Man, Alice sure was a badass. No, wait, that was Rambo. She was the Infinite Recon, no? So she was supposed to be the silent type. More like a ninja, except modern! Yeah, Zach actually had no clue, he only knew what her title was. The only thing he knew after studying her was that she wasn't exactly the most sociable people here. And neither was he.

What about Matthews?

Given his own upbringing, Zachary was really not one to care too much about Ice's own previous lifestyle. The reveal was somewhat shocking during the trial (even if it was hidden away by irritation by that point), sure, but it certainly hadn't made him anymore unapproachable than if he was simply a blood donor. The biggest problem with Ice was that Zach didn't recall the man being too much of a speaker an----

Wait, both of these people were untalkative, typically. Also, Zach was bad at doing the talking thing beyond the bare minimum! These two were both ice cubes of sorts. Cold and quiet. Hard to interact with unless you had some important goal in mind, like the NoC. How was he supposed to strike up a conversation with these two double-teaming him!? Why did it have to be them!?

REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE, coming here was a mistake!

All this thinking was just getting to be a pain, so Zach stopped doing that. Hopefully, it would lead to a desirable social outcome, and not just have them run away. Only time would tell, though. "So, quick question to you two since it's relevant: Do you guys eat pancakes with peanut butter on them? I knew this one guy who SWORE by it and it really struck me as odd ever since that people do that. But maybe I'm the weird one? Thoughts?"

He had just been getting ready to plate when of the newly golden brown pancakes when Ice heard Zach enter. While he had been planning on turning a new leaf and talking more with the other Infinites, he thought it was far too early for any of them to be up and after messing up so badly. Ice took another second to lay the pancake down before turning to see the newcomer, the Blood Donor wasn't a social person in the first place after all.

When he turned to see the Blonde, he was still holding the spatula in his hand with a bit of floor covering his slightly unbuttoned shirt. He must have looked like an angry server who had to multi-task since the chef had called out sick or something, but that didn't matter, what mattered is the barely standing elf-looking Infinite in front of him.

Ice hadn't really properly talked to Zach yet besides yelling out instructions when they had gone after Alexandria's chassis. Honestly. Ice had never thought they had much in common besides combat. Now the Blood Donor could see that the screams he had heard before were because of... his eye. While the sisters may have done something to wrap his injury up, it still looked rather gruesome, with the bandage stained red. It wasn't like the sisters had changed him into a new bandage recently either.

While Zach started to awkwardly talk about peanut butter, Ice walked over to the sink and washed his hands, setting the spatula next to the sink. As Zach was finishing up, he walked through the kitchen door past him, grabbed a chair and brought it so that it was facing him, but not in stuck in the entryway, next to the counter.

"Sit. Now." He gave the Blonde a nudge that wouldn't have done much to someone healthy but pushed him onto the chair soon after. After that, he felt Zach's forehead to check for a fever. It was a bit hotter than healthy, but nothing too worrisome, "You should get your temp checked by the Quack later, gimps slow down the immune system." Ice felt around Zach's head and slipped his fingers over a reasonably large bump. "That's a nasty dinger," he grabbed for some Ice in the freezer and threw it into a towel before handing it over. "Hold."

After that, he slipped the pancakes onto the counter next to him and placed one of his candies next to it. Ice then crossed his arms over his chest and watched him, a slight dip of frustration in his eyebrows and voice, "You should be in bed, no one wants to deal with someone dumb enough to fall over and crack his noggin' open."

He glanced over at Alice and sighed, still feeling bad about upsetting her, "You want some pancakes too? And pass the peanut butter over, though pancakes and peanut butter sounds crawny to me."

---

The tension between the recon and Ice was hard to brook, yet Alice didn't know what to say to make things better. Really, she had been silently beating herself up over it. 'Did I do something wrong? Was it something I said?' She thought to herself as she helped her friend out with breakfast. Before she could speak up, however, Zachary had entered the room.

Wait what-

"Either I'm losing my mind, or you somehow survived a robot poking your eye out. I'll just go with the latter. Glad to see you're still here with us!" Alice said to Zach, a smirk on her face. The archer then asked her and Ice about if they ate pancakes with...peanut butter?

"Um, not really? I mean, I've tried pancakes with chocolate chips before, but not peanut butter." The recon shrugged as the blood donor checked on the archer's injury, saying that Zach should have his temperature check by "the Quack". The quack? Oh, he meant Mercy. Alice did once call the plague doctor a duck on accident, so it was a bit obvious for her.

The recon nodded in reply when Ice asked if she wanted some pancakes too, and with a bit of searching, set a small canister of peanut butter next to Zach's plate.

"Look, I can't help that I worry for those I care for constantly, it's a force of habit, I can admit. But seeing you break down crying last night? I just...didn't like seeing you like that. If anything, I want you to be happy. Ya know?" Alice explained to Ice, a worrysome frown on her face.

---

---

It was then that Mercy entered the dining room, suprisingly without her mask. "Hallo Leute!" She waved hello to Alice and Ice, grabbing a cup of coffee before leaning up against the doorway, almost choking on her drink when she saw Zachary. "Holy shit, I was told you were dead!" The plague doctor nearly yelled, taking her turn to check on Zach's injury.

"So, duck- I MEAN DOC!" Alice facepalmed, cursing under her breath, then looked back up at Mercy. "How was the support team?"

"Remember the Saw movies?" The plague doctor asked back. "Well, we basically went through the same thing, but with an AI."

"Oh damn..."

"Yeah, glad it didnt last long though." Mercy chuckled, a crooked smile on her face. "But, are you okay? Ya look kinda tired."

"Erm..."

"Alice, have you not been getting enough sleep?" Mercy asked the recon, rather sternly.

"Doc, you know I get night terrors too!" Alice exclaimed. "But...yeah, I wasn't able to sleep at all after yesterday." She quickly admitted.

Mercy sighed and shook her head. "After breakfast, go back to bed, okay?" the plague doctor looked back at Zachary. "That goes for you too. You need to rest."

"Doc, I'm fine, really-"

"Ich will nur nicht, dass du ein Insomniac bist. Hör zu, du musst jetzt nicht wieder ins Bett gehen, nur versuchen, etwas Ruhe zu bekommen. Okay?" Mercy asked Alice.

"...Okay, es tut mir leid." The recon apologized.

"Seien Sie nicht." The plague doctor reasured Alice, puting a hand on her shoulder. "Also, über dich und Eis... Magst du ihn?" Mercy asked, her only reply being a light punch to the arm. The plague doctor only laughed at Alice's reaction, the recon giving her a bit of a death glare, before Mercy walked back to the dining room and sat down at a table.

Yesterday had been incredibly turbulent. It had taken Noel all of the night to record what had happened to the group, down to the last detail. It had been so grizzly, so horrifying, so terrible. How exciting! Well, except for the death. Noel could never really be happy about death. Yet, the more often it happened in this place, the more accustomed she seemed to grow. It was a troubling thought.

She tried to count them all, everyone who she had seen fall. She’d lost count. She forgot names, forgot stories. Luckily she had them all noted down. Noel was by no means mentally incapable, but there were just too many to remember now. Too many bloody memories staining the walls of her mind the darkest red. How had she not broken to despair long ago? Perhaps she was more accustomed to it than she thought already. These were the thoughts she wrote in a different notebook, a special one just for herself. A reporter was an observer, but who ever said the tale of an observer needed to go untold? Unfortunately, she didn’t trust anyone to write her tale better than herself.

She just had to make sure not to die, so she could actually tell it! That part seemed to be getting more difficult lately.

Her stomach’s famished rumble reminded her that there was more to life than writing, indeed. Her one-track mind guided her straight to the dining hall. The young woman was remarkably zippy despite her not-so-apparent lack of sleep. Noel was obviously well-attuned to skipping a night. Though obviously, she hadn’t usually spent those fighting evil tween girl robots of death. Variety was the spice of life, though, wasn’t it? No, in this case it was hell.

The dining hall was filled with plenty of distractions for the distracted mind. Food was one, but people were a much more interesting diversion of her attention. She first looked towards Alice and Mercy, who were talking German for some reason. She wasn’t sure why, couldn’t they both speak English? Maybe they didn’t want to be overheard? Noel did so anyway, but quickly found out their conversation wasn’t really interesting enough to bother.

There was something much more interesting in this room, after all. Eyeing her target, she zipped towards the table with Zach in an instant. ”What is this? Zach! Seems you’re alright, after all!” She said with a large grin. ”Seems that royal bitch didn’t get to your brain after all? Good! Losing an eye can be pretty devastating. Did I ever tell you the tale of the corporal that trained me? Told me he’d lost his bloody eye in ‘Nam. Told me he lost it to a shrapnel grenade that his enemy managed to drop just before he blew his head full of lead.” She rambled. Good ol’ corporal Bloodeye, now that was a true soldier!

Noel then acknowledged Ice. ”Cooking and being a caring worrywart? Who are you and what did you do to the infinite nanny, my man?” Noel questioned Ice’s shift in character. Where had the antisocial thug gone? Not only had she heard he was getting quite cosy with the other ice cube in the room, now he was doting on the archer? ”Oh! Could it be you have a thing for eye troubles?” She deduced, forming the connection between the three persons. ”Why would that be, I wonder? One of your siblings, maybe? Hmm…” She said, grinning widely at the blood donor.

”So tell me, how are you planning on rising to the challenge of becoming the best archer with just a single eye?” She turned back to Zach, gleaming with curiosity.

---

Cyrus woke up following a terrible night.

He silently stepped out of bed, scooting over to the mirror. It seemed his bags had only gotten worse because of this. As if they hadn’t been bad enough coming in here. Even the long stay in the hospital bed had only reduced them that much. How infuriating it was.
Cyrus took out a small make-up kit. It only took a few motions with the small brush to work away the bags to near perfection. And people thought the position of infinite politician was simply politics? Oh, if only they knew! Cyrus barely lied in politics, but that didn’t mean there were no other ways of deception. It was those methods of deceit that Cyrus was proficient in; the ways that used no words.

The politician then finished to put on his suit and straightened his back. There, he was back to looking his usual charismatic self. He took a minute to paint a false smile on his face. The other manner of deception. The only method by which nobody would find out the mess that hid underneath. Misperception was the most perfect lie. After all, you didn’t even have to tell it! All you had to do was let the rest make their assumptions. Nobody questioned themselves, after all. Cyrus didn’t need to be a liar, people were good enough at lying at themselves already.

Practicing this false smile was rather difficult, his mirror was in pieces. Shards of glass littered the floor surrounded by all other sorts of objects. Several of them were the frames of broken glasses, there were maybe twenty of them here. In fact, everything in the politician’s room looked knocked over, beat up or in a different state of disrepair. Questioning what had happened to his room wasn’t something Cyrus had to do. He knew rather well what had happened here when he returned here last night.

Cyrus thought of heading to the dining hall, get himself some food. But no, the thought of food right now almost made him vomit. Right now he’d just need to take his mind of something. Perhaps he could use that tape player now? The third floor should have opened up! Perhaps that was the best course of action now. People should be eating right about now, and he didn’t feel like confronting any of them.

Cyrus did cross a carnage sister on his way, however. He didn’t bother to check which one. “You have my permission to enter my room until midnight, nurse. My room needs cleaning immediately. Please see it done.” He commanded as he passed, looking his usual haughty self.