Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“...”

He stood in place, barely able to hide his uneasiness. He was shaking.

“I… I’m gonna fuckin’ die…”

He’s about to be executed. He’s going to die — fuck, he’s actually going to die. This is the end of Ace Markey and his miserable life.

“I knew this was going to happen all along. I had no chance of surviving this killing game.”

He never expected to die here of all places. He wanted to defy those odds, show those who doubted him that he managed to pull it off, even at the most impossible odds. But he failed, in the end. He’s going to die a painful death.

“Even so…”

He guessed it’s for the best. No one would miss a coward — a coward who didn’t want to face reality, a coward who deflected his troubles onto others to the best of his ability… that’s all he’s good for. 

“...”

He doubts anyone would miss him. Ace bets that even Levi — who he sacrificed himself for, if you can even call it a ‘sacrifice’, — wouldn’t even care that he’s gone the next day. If he does live, that is. 

Even after taking all that into consideration, he still wanted to save him no matter what. Even if it meant dying to get him the help he needed.

So maybe, his death won’t be so pointless after all.

But even so, he…

“I’m so scared.”

He’s going to die.

“I’m so scared of dying.”

He’s going to die young and it’s all his fault.

“I don’t want to die.”

He’s going to die young and there’s nothing he can do about it anymore.

“Let the execution begin.”

After MonoTV’s voice rang throughout the room, he knew the inevitable had come. He doesn’t make an effort to struggle as he’s dragged into the execution grounds, awaiting whatever punishment MonoTV decides to give him.

He just hoped it would be a quick death.

At first glance, he thought that it wasn’t that bad as he aimlessly walked around the graveyard. He thought his execution would have something to do with horses, but…

He sees the gravestone in front of him. It read Thanatophobia.

“What the—?”

Before he had a moment to react, he heard something coming from behind and instinctively ducked down. What was that, what was that, what was—?

The moment he sees the scythe’s blade embedded into a gravestone, alarms go off in his head. He goes into flight mode.

Only one word echoed in his mind.

Run.

That’s all Ace can do for now. Running for the door at the end of the room before something else launches more death traps at him. Fuck, he’s so scared!

He kept running. His nostrils burn. The stench of isopropyl alcohol is overwhelming.

And running. His body feels so hot. Everywhere in the room burns as the flames lick his body.

And running. His legs are getting tired. Those cars are going too fast and the adrenaline’s catching up to him.

And running. His feet dangle helplessly in the air. He’s losing his grip on the edge of the building.

And running. His arms and legs feel like jelly in the water. He can’t breathe as he tries to stay on the surface.

And running. His ears are going deaf from the lightning. His heart’s beating out of his chest like crazy.

When he barely managed to get to the end of the room without getting struck by lightning, he stopped to catch his breath for a moment. He’s so tired. 

“When will this end…?” he quietly muttered.

Is MonoTV purposefully making this long to prevent Levi getting his wounds treated?

No. No, this is all his fault. All his fault, like it always was. Why couldn’t he just die? Fuck, why couldn’t he just stand still and die in the past eight rooms? Why did he still have to run, to be a coward, when he knows he’s still going to die no matter what?!

He knows all too well that Levi’s dying, that Levi’s bleeding out in the trial grounds right now so why is he still running away?!

He’s killing Levi with every second that passes. He feels so useless.

He clutches at his chest. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts — his heart’s beating way too fast, he feels like he can’t breathe. He can’t calm down.

Ace’s and Levi’s lives are both barely hanging in the balance. Ace knows he’s a dead man, whereas Levi has a chance at surviving if the former dies as soon as possible. The question is, should Ace bring him down with him?

Ace already knew the answer to that question a long time ago.

“Please let this be the end… please.” Ace whispered to himself as he opened the door.

The moment he opened the door, the first thing he could see was an endless white void. What was he supposed to face there? The bars shut down on the door behind him as soon as he fully goes through.

There’s no door beyond this. This is it.

Ace is somewhat relieved. This whole thing will finally be over soon. Sure, he’ll die, but at least Levi can have a shot at surviving.

That’s when he saw the firing squad in the distance. His face goes even paler than it already was. He can feel himself backing up until his back comes in contact with the bars.

He’s going to die. They’re going to shoot him dead. He’s not like Levi! He can’t survive that!

They raised their guns. Ace clawed at his chest in desperation. He’s gasping for air and can’t breathe. His heart’s beating like crazy — it’s as if it’s going to burst.

His eyes are blurring. He’s sweating all over. He’s about to collapse. He can’t hold on.

Everything hurts.

“Ahaha… oh shit…”

He grimly laughed to himself. His heart beat, screaming for rest. At this point, might as well die from a heart attack before they gun him down.

He just hopes Levi can forgive him, even if he doesn’t care.

They took aim at Ace. He squeezed his eyes shut in fear, bracing for the eventual pain of being pierced head to toe with bullets.

And then…!

Pop!

A puff of confetti shoots out of the front man’s barrel, revealing that he has nothing to be afraid of in the end.

He was just too scared to face it. A cruel reminder that he is and will always be a coward.

But Ace couldn’t process this. His mind went blank as he could feel his body shut down.

He feels faint. He feels tired. Everything hurts. It hurts.

His legs gave way, he dropped face-down, barely able to breathe.

He can’t see. He can’t breathe. He can’t… can’t…

And then, nothingness.

It’s so dark. He can’t see a thing.

‘Am I dead?’ is the first thought in his mind.

Ace feels like he’s floating in a void. He swore he had a nightmare about this once. A dark place where all souls go when they die.

If the aftermath of death was something like this, Ace would hate the notion of it.

Now, he’s just tired.

It’s awfully lonely in the void. There’s no one here. There’s nothing here.

“This is just great.” he murmured under his breath.

He’s alone. Just as well, he thought. He killed Arei. Both of them were pieces of shit, but of the two, she made the first step in trying to be a better person. He made no attempt on redeeming himself like she did and just yelled, screamed, and shouted.

Arei was strong enough to apologize, to recognize and fix her mistakes. She wanted to become a better person. Ace, on the other hand? He would rather be buried six feet under before he could admit he was vulnerable.

Maybe that’s why she was stronger than him.

If this was a dream, then Ace could just wake up. Wake up and it will all be over. Wake up and he’ll be back in his bedroom. Wake up and return to reality where he’s constantly stuck in a bubble of paranoia.

He doesn’t feel like waking up. He just wanted to move on.

No more fear. Just peace.

He strangely feels calm.

If death was really like this, then…

He woke up.

He suddenly opened his eyes and gasped for air, breathing in heavily as he sat up in the empty room. He can feel that his gloves were no longer on his hands. He didn’t want to look at them.

Ace’s eyes darted around the room, trying to figure out where he was.

“What the hell…?”

It was the same room where he dropped dead in. The endless, white room, now dimmed, had nothing but himself there.

Ace swore he died. He had to be! He felt his heart stop, he saw his life flash before his eyes!

He can’t be alive, because Levi—

Oh God, Levi.

Shit. Did he get help as soon as possible? Did he die because he was too slow? Did Arturo save him? Did he fail? All those thoughts ran through Ace’s mind, his heart beating heavily at the thought of Levi’s condition.

If he’s alive, if MonoTV finds out Ace is alive, then that means Levi’s going to…

An image of Levi’s dead body, horribly disfigured by bullets in the infirmary flashed in his mind. He squeezed his eyes tight.

No. He doesn’t even want to think about it.

Shutting out all the other thoughts, Ace only had one question left: how is he still alive?

He was sure his heart stopped. He couldn’t breathe when he saw the firing squad, he couldn’t think—

When he shifted his hand slightly, it bumped into something thin. Next to his hand was a piece of paper. A paper that had these words in big, bolded letters:

Autopsy Report

Ace Markey

Cause of Death: Fear-induced cardiac arrest

Yep. This confirms that he definitely died right there and then.

So does that mean he’s… a ghost? Weird.

Ace quickly punched himself. Ow. Not a ghost then. Unless a really corporeal one. So… what’s really going on?

“Look who’s awake!” A shrill, annoying voice came from behind him.

“Agh! What the fuck?!” Ace screamed as he turned around to face the source. No, it can’t be.

It’s MonoTV. Of course, who else would it be? At least it’s back to normal, annoying MonoTV and not the other one.

“So you have survived your execution. I should congratulate you, but no! We’re still at 13 remaining because of you! (c" ತ,_ತ)”

He survived? But how?

“I know what you’re thinking. ‘How did I, the most cowardly of cowards, survive?’ Well, when you dropped dead, your heart rate was at 0… so, I considered you dead. Then suddenly, when everyone left, somehow your heart rate slowly went back to normal!”

Oh. He survived because of a fluke.

“Hey, what about—”

“Don’t worry, kid! The Ultimate Personal Stylist’s alive and well… but I really wish he died there and then.”

Ace didn’t hear that last part. He breathed a sigh of relief. Levi’s alive. He’s going to live.

But what’s going to happen to Ace now?

He can’t be left alive since he was found guilty, and he doesn’t want to die either. He wants to see Levi again, sure, but the problem is he’s… Ace Markey. The Ultimate Jockey. A murderer. An irredeemable man.

He’d lost any chance the moment he threw it all away for that murder plan. If only he could restart.

He recounted his entire life, and it was terrible from start to finish. He didn’t even want to be a jockey. He didn’t want to throw his life away like that. He’s so tired of being scared, being so deathly scared of everything that he couldn’t live a good life. His eyes stung with every memory of his unremarkable life.

Then he lets tears flow, his hands curled into fists as he clutches at his chest, the place where his once-stopped heart beats. It was refreshing to be vulnerable, to cry, after putting up so many walls when he was still with the group.

“Yeesh. Quit your crying! You sound horrible. （ーー；)”

Even though MonoTV said that, he lets himself cry for a while. He should be allowed to after everything that had transpired in the last 48 hours. After a few sniffles, he had calmed himself down. That’s when MonoTV began to speak.

“As per the rules, you’ll be executed because you failed to convince everyone you are innocent, therefore you are voted guilty for the murder of Arei Nageishi, the Ultimate Bowler. They are correct, meaning you are to receive punishment…”

Ace scoffed. Of course. It’s just simple rules.

“...but seeing how you survived your execution, I’m willing to make an exception. This will increase the show’s ratings, after all.”

…what?

“Huh? Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“Weeeell, you’re one of the few lucky students who survived their execution! I think that deserves a reward!”

“Oh yeah? And what’s that reward?”

“You’ll be reintroduced into the game!”

Confusion.

“...huh? W-Wait, wait a minute. I’m going to go back into the killing game. Sure. That’s fair. I failed to get away with it. But I know there’s a catch. There’s always a catch to this kind of thing.”

“Glad to see you still have some smarts in that brain of yours. Of course, you’re not allowed to live as Ace Markey, the Ultimate Jockey! They all think you’re dead.”

“Hah. Of course.”

“You’ll be reintroduced as another person. A 17th student. Another chance at life, if you manage to survive, that is. If you do, you can go back to being Ace Markey.”

A second chance. Ace is given a second chance at life. Even though he’d still be stuck in this killing game, he can have a second chance.

“But in order to do so, you have to work for me.”

And there’s the catch.

“You’ll work for me as a traitor, relaying me all information from the surviving group back to me using a phone in your room.”

“Hey, hold on. Why can’t you just watch the cameras? They’re literally everywhere so you don’t need me for that.”

‘And I swear I saw one in one of the bathrooms…’ Ace muttered under his breath, which MonoTV did not catch.

“You think I can watch every single important moment that happens through the cameras? Nah, you do it for me! Don’t worry, though. This will be a mutual, beneficial exchange between the two of us. In return, you’ll get information, motives, and plans about this killing game in advance.”

MonoTV gave him a piece of paper from God knows where, containing all the general rules of being a traitor.

Rules While in Disguise:

• Don’t reveal who you are. You now work for me. Relay any information back to me by the end of the day, got it?

• Don't yell, or scream, or shout. It gives you away since you've been screaming bloody murder the entire time you were here as Ace.

• Don't start fights. When you return to the group, you won’t be Ace to them, but as a new face. This is your second chance. They'll know you almost immediately by the way you start fights.

• Don't get too attached to anyone. As the traitor, you are going to betray everyone in the end. Don’t get sentimental.

• Don't get killed. You're not allowed to kill either, unless necessary, as you're working for me now. You are useful this way.

• Don't betray me. Or else.

*Failure to abide by said rules will result in death.

“Once you’re done reading, follow me! I’ll work on your new identity and change your appearance while I’m at it!”

He re-read through all the rules again and again. It’s basically obedience or death.

He doesn’t want to do this. He could just choose to die rather than help the people that put him and the rest in this godforsaken killing game in the first place.

On the other hand, it’s his second chance in this killing game, a chance  a few were given. He wanted to try again making friendships and trust in people without the fear of murder.

He can rebel behind the scenes, work with others in an attempt to stop this killing game. Yeah. That’s what he’s going to do.

If only he could… no. Stop thinking, just go. It would just be another fruitless pursuit with him anyway.

After carefully planning in his head, Ace then got up and followed MonoTV out the room.

Chapter Text

Two hours later, now that he looks into the mirror MonoTV had provided, he finds that his whole appearance has changed. His previously messy, maroon hair was now an ashy blonde, covered by a dark green cap, and the contact lenses he was provided with made his eyes look as gray as his hair.

His clothes had changed, too. He now wore an open dark green puffer vest with a light tan fur collar over a white shirt, the sleeves rolled up until slightly past the elbow. Black sunglasses hung on the neckline of the shirt, and on the puffer vest were two pins: one silver carnelian flower, and one silver film projector. His white jodhpurs were replaced by black cargo jeans secured in place by a grommet belt, and his usual boots were substituted by black moc toe boots.

At least MonoTV was generous enough to give him white cuffed gloves that covered his hands. The fur collar was enough to cover his neck scar, as long as no one looked too closely, and the scar that he sustained when he fell off his horse had been covered by a bandage.

“How do you like it?” it asks.

Ace doesn’t know how to feel about it, honestly.

He never had the chance to wear something as casual as this before, as his jockeying practice took up way too much of his time. He had fashion sense! He just didn’t put it to work because he was too busy wasting his life away with horses.

The dark greens do complement his silvery gray hair though, and, admittedly, he does feel comfortable wearing loose cargo pants. Only downside was the puffer jacket’s fur lining, but he can work around that. Besides, it’s the one thing that can help cover the scar on his neck.

“It looks… great? I can’t even recognize myself.” he replies as he traces his finger against the bandage’s outline.

MonoTV nods and goes quiet for a few minutes, with a buffering symbol displaying on its screen.

Ace was left to himself in the meantime, alone with nothing else but silence.

Miraculously, he had been given a second chance at life. In return, he now has to work against the survivors for MonoTV and relay crucial information that it might miss. 

Of course, Ace knew where his loyalties lied, and it was not with MonoTV; Not after what it did to all of them. Maybe in secret, he could work out a plan against MonoTV with the others and escape this hellhole.

Still, guilt ate at his conscience, so in a way this could count as a means of atonement. If he had to sacrifice himself for this plan, so be it.

He had been a dead man a few moments prior after all, so somehow the prospect of dying a second time didn’t seem like such a scary thing anymore.

But where would they plan it? Where could he talk to them without the constant surveillance of MonoTV? That’s what Ace was stumped on. There were cameras everywhere in the building.

He’ll figure that out eventually.

A few more minutes, and the buffering symbol disappeared, showing MonoTV’s usual face again.

“Aaaaand done! I’ve generated a new identity that fits you from 87 databases of Ultimates, 1.1 million databases of family lines and nationalities, 4.7 million databases of masculine-given names—”

Ace groans. “Get to the point!”

“Sheesh! Appreciate my genius, why don’tcha?!”

Ace rolls his eyes and scoffs.

“Anyway, here’s your new identity. Familial relationships and personality included! 100% guaranteed to be perceived as real!”

MonoTV prints out a piece of paper and gives it to Ace. He wonders where that paper even came from.

GENERATED FAKE IDENTITY:

Name:

Theodore Forrester

Ultimate:

Cameraman

Nationality:

American

Family:

Virginia Forrester née Peregrine (mother)

Isaac Forrester (father)

Caitlin Forrester (older sister) †, car accident

Duncan Forrester (older brother)

Background:

Theodore Forrester has received high acclaim from film critics to esteemed movie directors thanks to his natural ability to capture clear, perfect shots on cameras. When he published a documentary on the impact the Sydney Opera House had on modern architecture, he received an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film for his captivating camerawork.

Personality:

Theodore is kind and ambitious, but also down-to-earth. He doesn’t beat around the bush if the situation is dire, but is always optimistic about tomorrow.

Ace finishes reading the paper and runs the information through his head.

Theodore Forrester is his fake name, and he’s the Ultimate Cameraman. He has two siblings, but his older sister Caitlin died from a car accident, so now he only has one. He has a natural ability with perfect camera shots and won an Academy Award for a documentary on the Sydney Opera House, blah blah blah, unimportant info. In terms of personality, Theodore is usually kind, but blunt when necessary. That’s about it.

He’s a bit grateful that MonoTV gave him a basis for all this, otherwise he’d have to bullshit his way through it all. Knowing him, he’d mess up and eventually go back to ‘Ace Markey.’

All Ace did when he was in the killing game was be a little shit and cause fights, always making his voice the loudest in every scenario. So as long as he kept a low voice, which he seldom showed when he was back there, he could deter others from having that familiar feeling.

Ace had some knowledge when it came to cameras and shots, as it was a small hobby of his before he was forced into becoming a jockey. So that could definitely sell the act further if he showed them pictures.

There was only one thing Ace was concerned about, though.

“How are you going to introduce me to them?”

It would look suspicious as hell for him to just suddenly appear out of nowhere. He can’t just go ‘hey’ and be welcomed.

MonoTV hums for a moment, before leaving the room and coming back with ziplock ties and two pieces of cloth.

Ah. That’s how.

“I’m just going to tie you up and make it seem like you were kidnapped by me after loitering around the premises in an attempt to save everyone else, and I’ll just say that as punishment, you were a late addition. Simple!（＾Ｏ＾)”

“Are you sure they’re gonna believe that?”

“Well, I’m pretty sure they have this idea in their heads that anything can happen in this game, so there’s a big chance they’ll buy it!”

Not exactly reassuring.

“Anyway, it’s almost dawn and no one should be awake right now, not after what happened yesterday. You dragged it for so long it felt like a year and a half! Knowing all this, we can just go to the third floor and prepare the scene.”

Right. He almost forgot about the floors. He remembers now that a floor opened up for them after Xander’s murder trial ended, so another floor must be set to open now that yesterday’s trial is over.

“Let’s see… there’s the gallery, something like a museum but smaller, the library, small but full of books with a fireplace, and the art studio, equipped with workbenches and easels.”

Ace considers his options, but not even a second later, MonoTV interrupts.

“Actually, I’ll just stuff you in the sarcophagus in the gallery. They’ll find you soon enough anyway.”

What.

“Are you fucking kidding me?! I might suffocate before anyone can find me! Once those things are closed, it’s airtight!”

“Well, it’s a gamble we can both take, right? Besides, you’re just another unlucky student to them if they find you dead, right?”

Ace gulps and nods wordlessly. He prays that they’d be able to find him before he suffocates in there.

They both leave through the trial room and get in the elevator, with Ace trying his best not to remember the sight of the huge blood pool from a few hours before.

Levi… he hopes he’s doing well.

Reaching the third floor, he’s greeted by a long hallway with three rooms on the left side, red floor carpeting, and the walls adorned with brass wall lights. He passes by the art studio and library as he enters the gallery.

The gallery was a long, narrow, medium-sized hall, and the floor was made of white marble. The room was separated into six sections: Greek, Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, French, and Roman, each equipped with fake antique props corresponding to that region. On the ceiling were rows of simple circular lighting.

They both walk to the Egyptian section and he immediately sees the sarcophagus leaning against the wall with a display stand next to it saying: ‘Do not open! Mummy inside. Σ（ﾟдﾟlll）- MonoTV.’

Wow. Just wow.

MonoTV opens the sarcophagus. It’s rather cramped, but there’s just enough space for him to fit.

“Get in!”

“Wait, h-hold on, I still have my doubts—”

“Ugh. Get in. It’ll be fine. This is a fake sarcophagus, it’s not actually going to be airtight. I was just messing with you!”

After Ace nervously got in the sarcophagus, MonoTV ziplocked his hands and feet together, and wrapped cloth around his mouth and eyes in order to create the illusion that he was trapped here against his will.

He lies flat against the surface of the sarcophagus’s base and MonoTV closes the lid, leaving  a crevice with just the right amount of space to prevent it from slipping off while still allowing air to enter. A minute later, a door could be heard closing. Ace was left all alone again, in a dark place. He should probably get used to this.

‘I wonder if anyone would notice me right off the bat. Oh God, I hope, I really hope they don’t.’ he thinks.

He mentally prepares himself for the moment they find him, but he’s not ready to face Levi yet. Not after what happened in their last encounter, before he was sent to his execution.

Speaking of which, Ace still can’t believe how he managed to survive his execution, and was allowed to live under a new name. Maybe he should replace Teruko as the Ultimate Lucky Student, haha. Anything’s better than being a jockey.

When he’s found, when he tries to form friendships, can he trust them? And can they trust him? He sure hopes so.

‘A second chance. Another chance at trusting people, huh…’

Moments pass and Ace feels his eyelids droop, getting heavier. He was getting sleepier by the second. 

He doesn’t fight it and lets himself drift off to sleep, half-expecting to be plagued by nightmares again. This one, however, did not give him anything of the sort. It may be a short one, but it’s a good one after many sleepless nights.

Chapter Text

The morning announcement sounds, bringing about the start of a new day. 

“Rise and shine, everyone! It is now 8 a.m. Get ready for a bright and chipper day!”

To the surviving students, however, it’s the end of an old life.

Two lives were taken yesterday: Arei Nageishi and Ace Markey. Their deaths resulted in the group’s numbers whittling down to 12, and it was deathly close to 11 when Levi took the hit for Teruko after she violated the rules.

Thankfully, Arturo had successfully done all he could to save Levi. The personal stylist is now sound asleep in the infirmary, tired, and recovering from yesterday.

Still, that doesn’t magically make things better.

Everyone was bummed when they gathered in the cafeteria. Usually, at this time, Xander would try and lift everyone’s spirits, Min would read silently, nose buried in textbooks, Arei would belittle someone if not hang around with Eden, and Ace would start another argument with Nico whenever possible for the pettiest of reasons.

But Min killed Xander to protect Teruko from getting killed, which in turn got her gruesomely executed. Ace killed Arei to save his hide, which ultimately ended in failure and his death. Now, all that is left is silence. No one wants to talk. They were all just so tired.

Arei and Ace. Neither was exactly innocent, having degraded others during their time alive, but Arei was working to become a better person, and Ace was just a scared man who wanted to live, so he pushed people away to keep himself safe.

They were both human, just like the rest of them. Humans die one day, but Xander, Min, Arei, and Ace… they all died so young.

Teruko is the last to enter the cafeteria, and she almost considered walking away when she saw David’s face, shitty as ever. She doesn’t want to handle him after almost getting all of them killed in the trial.

It was quiet in the cafeteria. There was no noise to be heard besides the occasional scrapes of forks, spoons, and knives against plates. Everyone ate in silence, not knowing what to say.

“How was… um… hm.” Eden tries to ask how everyone’s sleep was, but after looking at everyone in great detail, she decides against it. The only one who seemed relatively energetic was Veronika, humming ‘In the Hall of the Mountain King’.

For a few moments, a stillness permeated the air.

And that’s when MonoTV barges in, completely breaking it.

“Hello, everyone! Wow, it sure is quiet in here. The atmosphere’s so thick, I could cut it with a knife! (*^▽^*)”

“Shut up.” Teruko almost immediately retorts. She wasn’t having this today, and neither were the others, seeing the dismay on their faces.

“So! Four of you are gone!! You guys really suck at this surviving thing. But because of that, a new floor has opened up — three rooms, all educational to help stimulate the mind. Same as before, you can use the elevator to get to the third floor - now’s a good time for you to get up there and use these facilities for yourself!”

Even after that, there was no response. While Eden and Whit looked like they were about to speak up about investigating the third floor together, ultimately, no one felt like moving.

"What's the point of that? We can just stay on the first and second floors anyway, they have everything we need. If all the third floor has is educational stuff, which would actually matter if we weren’t trapped here, we don’t have to go there." Teruko says, to which almost everyone agrees by nodding. She had a point.

“Still not budging? Ugh, you’re all as boring as watching paint dry. Fine! I left something special waiting for you on the third floor, hidden in one of the rooms. Who knows? It might provide some information on this game!”

After announcing that bombshell, a series of murmurs were elicited from the group, all talking about the ‘special something’.

“Something special? What could it be?”

“It could have information! We might be one step closer to getting out of here!”

“I’m a bit skeptical. It might be a trap.”

“Has MonoTV ever set up traps, though…?”

“That’s a fair point.”

“I still don’t trust it though…”

“This could be our big break! It’s worth a try!”

“Nico, dear, do you want to—”

“No.”

“I’m going ahead, feel free to follow me or something.”

After discussing amongst themselves, a small group of people left for the third floor, while others stayed in the cafeteria. The ones who stayed were Nico, David, and Teruko.

Teruko was left to herself thinking about the pros and cons of the gift. On one hand, it might just be nothing, and MonoTV was tricking them into exploring the third floor. On the other hand, there really was no risk in exploring the new floor since MonoTV never set up traps. Who knows. Maybe there was new information.

“Why are you telling us this? You said in the trial that you’re going to run this killing game until all of us die, so why the new information?” Teruko asks MonoTV before setting off for the elevator.

“Did I really? I don’t remember that. U・x・U” MonoTV tilts its head to the side.

Teruko groans and leaves for the third floor. She was getting curious about it anyway.

When she got to the third floor, she was met with Eden and Rose waiting for her by the doors.

“Oh, hey Teruko! Me and Rose just finished exploring the art studio, and Charles and Whit are investigating the library.” Eden explains to Teruko as she steps out of the elevator.

“So… what does that leave us with?”

“The gallery! Well, at least that’s what it’s called. It looks like it's less of a painting gallery and more of an antique shop.”

“We were about to investigate it together, so… do you want to join us?” Rose asks Teruko.

“Well…” Teruko tries to come up with an excuse but fails. She sighs in defeat. “I guess I don’t have a choice. Let’s go.”

They walked to the gallery room’s entrance and opened the doors. Upon entering, they see that each section was fairly furnished (a miracle in this place) with famous, but fake artifacts about each region. A velvet rope barred each section.

“So this is where most of the budget went,” Teruko said bluntly.

“Hey, look over here!” exclaimed Eden as she pointed to the display stand next to a sarcophagus. When Teruko and Rose walk over to Eden, the latter begins to read the display.

“‘Do not open, mummy inside’… what?” Eden scratches her head in confusion.

“It looks awfully suspicious… this might be where it is,” says Rose, a bit cautious of the sarcophagus.

“Still worth a try. Come on, let’s open it.”

Teruko pushes the velvet ropes aside and steps up on the ledge, shortly followed by the other two. The three put their hands on the lid and pulled it open with all their might. It takes some effort, but they manage to crack it open.

What it contained caused Eden to trip over herself and fall onto the floor in shock. It was not a mummy like the display stand said.

It was a person tied up with cable ties, gagged, and blinded with cloth.

“Waugh! That scared me…! Is that… is that a living person?!” said Eden, her voice shaking from fear.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting this,” Teruko says as she slowly backs away from the unmoving figure.

“This must be what MonoTV was talking about…” was what Rose was about to say before the announcement jingle rang throughout the building.

“Everyone! Please gather in the gallery room! My gift has been found!” MonoTV announces through the screens and speakers.

Click.

‘I’m guessing I’m that gift...’ Ace thinks.

He hears various footsteps approach his location,  followed by his location,  followed by gasps of surprise.

“Whoa! That’s a guy!” He recognizes J’s voice.

“Are you absolutely sure that’s the ‘gift’ MonoTV gave us? Because that is a person!” That sounds like Arturo.

“Well, he’s alive and barely breathing,” Charles says, his voice closer to Ace than anyone else’s. If Ace had to guess, he’d say Charles was observing his body.

“Should we wake him up or something? He doesn’t look dangerous…” asked Eden.

“Wait. We should check if there’s something on him before we do.”

As soon as this is said, he feels Charles touch his arm. Ace takes that as his cue to wake up, so he pretends to, making low groans and slightly moving his head.

“Whoa, wait — he’s waking up!” says Whit in a hushed whisper, likely in an attempt to be as quiet as possible. A fruitless decision, really, considering Ace was already awake even before they opened the sarcophagus. He was just pretending to be knocked out.

“Mmngh… mmm, mmng?!” He puts on his most convincing, unaware act as he tries to move his hands and feet. The cloth around his mouth muffled his voice, which helped enforce the illusion. He struggles inside the sarcophagus, flailing around as much as he can.

Time to set the stage.

“Mmngh… mmm, mmng?!” The mysterious man starts to struggle inside the sarcophagus.

“Holy fuck! What do we do?!” yells J, taken aback.

“You think I know what to do at a time like this?! No!” replies Charles. Panic slowly rises within the group as the man in front of them struggles to get out of his restraints.

“Jeez, what’s with all the… oh.” David enters the gallery. He was blissfully unaware up until this point, deliberately taking his sweet time getting here.

MonoTV appears soon after.

“Ta-dah! Do you like my little gift? (^o^)” it says, completely disregarding the panic.

“When you said ‘something special that might provide information on this game’, I thought you meant a piece of paper or a CD. Not this.” says Teruko as she gestures towards the tied-up man.

“Who even is this guy? I don’t know him!” she asks MonoTV.

This sentiment was shared by the rest of the group. No one had seen the man before, nor had they heard about him.

“I’m not telling you that! I’ll let him introduce himself once the restraints are removed. He’s not dangerous, so don’t worry about getting stabbed… wink wink.”

“You… ugh. Fine.” Teruko took the hunting knife from her pocket and carefully cut the cable ties around the mysterious man’s hands and feet. Thank God too, because it looked like his wrists and ankles weren’t getting much circulation.

The man removes the cloth around his mouth and eyes himself, breathing in huge amounts of air and blinking wildly, adjusting to the light.

“Thank you, oh my God, ow… agh, that was starting to hurt—” the man begins to say, trying to get out of the sarcophagus, before freezing in place when Teruko points her knife at him.

“Who are you? You’re not leaving that coffin until you tell us,” Teruko says, cautious of the newcomer.

“Woah! Ah… I guess I have to introduce myself, huh…” the man says as he sheepishly scratches the back of his head. He had a low voice, but it sounded vaguely unnatural.

“Well, hello. Nice to meet you all, I’m Theodore Forrester. And I’m the Ultimate Cameraman, best well-known for documentary camerawork.” The man who calls himself Theodore introduces.

“Why are you here?”

“I was—” Theodore was about to explain before MonoTV stepped in and interrupted him.

“Allow me! This kid tried to break into the building from the outside in an attempt to stop the killing game!” MonoTV emphasizes ‘kid’ with a lot of anger. She can see Theodore nervously look at MonoTV, shifting to the back as much as possible in an attempt to avoid it.

“So, I caught him! As punishment, I put him in the game he oh so desperately tried to stop. I know, I know, no need to praise me! I know I’m a genius.” MonoTV finishes before leaving the group.

“So… can I please get out now, or should I stay here some more? It was so stuffy inside.”

“Hm. Alright.” Teruko withdraws her knife and pockets it, allowing Theodore to step out of the sarcophagus and join the group.

“You’re actually from the outside world?! Oh my gosh, I knew it! People are coming to help us!” Eden says as she squeals. Theodore was living, breathing, and walking evidence that there are people from the outside who want to help them escape.

“Yeah. There were others too, but looking at everyone here… it seems like I was the only one who got caught. I’m sorry that I failed you all.” Theodore, crestfallen, apologizes to the group. Most of them understand though, and assure him that it is fine.

Some people, however, still have their misgivings. Teruko has this gut feeling that she can’t trust Theodore just yet, but she’s going to give him the benefit of the doubt for now. Right now, Theodore was being swamped with questions from the crowd.

“So what’s going on outside? What happened while we were stuck here?” Hu asks.

“Well, there was-”

“Has there been any news about Mariabella Rosales? She must be worried sick about her daughter being in this killing game!”Arturo butts in.

“Shut the fuck up, Arturo! I do not give a rat’s ass about my mom, and neither should you!” J angrily interrupts, rightfully so, as Arturo completely disregards her qualms about the subject.

“Language, Miss Rosales!” Arturo replies, angering J further.

“Um, she-”

“Our families? How are they? How are my parents?” Eden asks.

“Oh, they’re-”

“Are you really from the outside world?” David asks right in front of Theodore’s face, making the latter feel uncomfortable.

“Whoa! I am! Please don’t get all up in my face!” Theodore pleads. David obliges, only after staring at the former with a sly smirk for a few more seconds.

Just then, the ding of an elevator was heard behind them, and soon after — Levi Fontana of all people slowly made his way into the gallery room. No one had noticed that he entered the room at first, as they were all caught up in discussing and asking about his abrupt appearance in the killing game.

“Whoa, Levi! Jesus Christ, dude, you scared me. Are you sure you’re okay walking around like that?” asks a concerned J. With those words, all attention was turned to Levi.

“I’m okay. MonoTV said there was something special on the third floor, so I followed,” Levi replies. As people assess Levi’s state, Teruko notices that Levi is staring at Theodore. Maybe with a sense of familiarity? Or intimidation? She doesn’t know. That's when Levi turned to face her.

“Teruko, who is he?”

Chapter Text

It took Ace a lot of effort to keep himself calm when he saw Levi walk into the gallery. There were fresh bandages wrapped around his torso, covering the wounds he sustained when he threw himself in front of Teruko at yesterday’s trial. Other than that, Levi looks fine.

When he screamed at Arturo to save Levi as soon as his execution was over, he didn’t deny he had half-assed faith in the plastic surgeon. Arturo had angrily lashed out at everyone during the trial that he was a plastic surgeon and not a medical one when everyone pushed his buttons, Ace included, so he hoped that Arturo had enough knowledge in anatomy to perform surgery on Levi.

Ace wants to thank Arturo, but he knows he can’t do so right now. He’s currently posing as another person, after all. Still, he’s incredibly grateful that Arturo managed to pull it off.

“Teruko, who is he?” he hears Levi ask. Uh oh.

Ace realizes that Levi is going to approach him soon, which gives him some very mixed feelings. He’s happy that he’s alive, he’s afraid that he might recognize him, he’s sad that he can’t apologize for being such a shitty person before his execution…

He brushes that aside for now. It’s not important. What’s important is that Levi is going to talk to him soon. If he messes up, Levi is going to know something’s up. He quickly runs through his identity’s information and thinks about what to say before the personal stylist comes. He needs this act to work so that he can stop this killing game. No one should, needs, or has to know.

‘Sorry, Levi, but I have to do this,’ Ace thinks to himself. ‘Fuck… damnit. I shouldn't get sappy now. Keep calm, and act natural. If I want to live, if I want everyone to live, then I have to do this.’

He breathes in and out slowly, and walks back and forth, preparing himself as he puts on his Theodore facade.

'It's the only way,' he reassures himself.

Levi stares at the man with the ash blonde hair doing breathing exercises, walking around as he mumbles to himself. He seems to be in deep thought, Levi thinks, but there’s also something about the man that strikes him as familiar. He can’t understand why.

“That’s who MonoTV was referring to,” Teruko starts to explain. “Theodore Forrester, the Ultimate Cameraman. He tried to stop the killing game from the outside but got caught, so now he’s here with us. We found him tied up in the sarcophagus over there.”

She points to the open coffin. Levi nods as he crosses his arms in deep thought. Looking around again, he sees that almost everyone is here. The only one who isn’t here is…

“I’m assuming Ace is…” he starts, but sees Teruko look to the side at the mention of Ace.

He doesn’t have to finish to know.

“...yeah,” she replies.

Levi sighs as he looks back at Theodore, who is now standing still and watching the crowd intently. Not wanting to delay any further, Levi takes the initiative to approach the newcomer.

“Hello,” Levi says as he waves at Theodore, which makes the latter yelp and jump back in surprise.

“Agh! Whoa, fuck! You scared me, L—  big guy!” Theodore nervously laughs as he turns to face Levi. Meanwhile, Levi observes his outfit. A mix of green, white, and black with ash blond hair to match his similarly gray eyes. All in all, the outfit is casual, not exactly stylish but at least functional in his line of work.

“My apologies, you must have been in deep thought. I should’ve—”

“No, no, no! I-It’s okay. I was just calming myself down and thinking about how I got into this situation. Don’t worry about it.”

“Alright, then. I should get to introductions now. I am Levi Fontana, the Ultimate Personal Stylist. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” 

“Levi Fontana, huh? That’s… a nice name. I’m Theodore Forrester, the Ultimate Cameraman. Nice to meet you too.” Theodore says as he gently smiles at him.

“They all said you’re from outside, and you tried to stop the killing game, right?”

“Oh, yeah. I kinda forgot you weren’t here when I woke up… if you put it that way, yeah. And others with me also tried to stop this killing game, but looking around, I think I’m the only one who got caught. I’m more into technical stuff like camerawork than grunt work like running and jumping, so maybe that’s why I got caught…”

“It’s a shame, of course, but I appreciate your efforts. You did well.”

“Wha—?! O-Oh! Thanks! Yeah. Yeah, thanks. Thanks for that. Mhm.” Theodore blushes as he stammers, trying to find the right words. Levi slightly tilts his head, looking at Theodore making a fool of himself. It’s so endearing, yet so familiar… Levi can’t place it, though.

“Ahem… uh, while we’re here. You mind telling me what happened with all… that?” Theodore suddenly gestures at Levi’s bandages.

“Ah, it was something that happened yesterday. You don’t have to worry about it anymore, though.” Levi explains, which seems to concern Theodore more.

“I’m sorr… agh, what the hell happened yesterday for you to be like that?!”

“It’s nothing to be concerned about. I’m fine now, thanks to Arturo. It doesn’t hurt at all.”

“Either way! You shouldn’t be walking around like this, your wounds might reopen! I know you’re a big guy and all, but…”

“Like I said, Theodore. Nothing to be concerned about.”

“You can just call me Theo. And that’s not… exactly reassuring.”

“Other than that, if there’s anything you need, just let me know and I will be happy to help to the best of my abilities.”

“If that’s the case, then… would you mind helping me look around the building? Knowing the layout’s my top priority since I’ll definitely be stuck here for a while.”

“Of course.”

“Thanks. I’ll probably ask a few others if they want to come and help show me the ropes around here, too. If that’s okay with you, of course.”

“It’s no problem at all.” Levi gives him a small smile. Was it forced or was it genuine? He doesn’t know the answer to that one, either.

After that, he sees Theodore walk over to the crowd and ask around if they can help him explore the building. 

However, Levi still can’t get over the feeling that he had seen Theodore somewhere before, but where?

Ace sighs in relief as he finally finishes talking to Hu, who agreed to help him look around the building. He had managed to talk to everyone at least once without breaking character or someone noticing how familiar he looked.

He looks at the crowd. Most of them agreed to help him, save for a few. Teruko left before he could finish asking, Arturo didn’t want anything to do with him because he considered him ‘ugly’, Charles declined and left the gallery, and Nico wanted to get some rest so they immediately left for their room.

“Is this everyone?” Ace asks for confirmation. Everyone does headcounts and eventually, all of them nod in agreement.

“Great. So. Hey, everyone.” Ace says to the group, trying his best not to give himself away by raising his voice or saying too much. “Thanks for agreeing to help me look around the place. Y’know, with everything you guys have been through and… yeah, I totally understand if you guys don’t trust me, but I’m surprised most of you are willing to help. I’m really grateful.”

He gives them a soft smile, and he receives multiple warm smiles after. His heart feels warm looking at them, all happy and full of hope, and he’s the one causing it instead of destroying it.

It brings some very mixed feelings. Complicated ones.

“It’s no problem at all, Theo! Wait, is it okay if I call you Theo?” Eden asks. Ace couldn’t help but laugh a bit. When he laughed, it felt good. It’s been a while since he last laughed with no hint of sarcasm or hatred.

“Haha, yeah. Sure. You can call me Theo, Eden.” he replies.

“So, Theo,” Eden says. “Where should we go first? This floor has the gallery, which we’re currently in, the library, and the art studio. After that, we can move to the second floor and finally, the first floor where your room is.”

Oh. He forgot about the room situation. There were only sixteen doors in the hall that led to sixteen bedrooms meant for sixteen students. He didn’t hear anyone talk about a seventeenth room magically appearing overnight, so he assumed he was going to reside in one of the dead people’s rooms.

There was Xander, Min, Arei, and… him. Every time he thinks about his execution, he gets a chill down his spine.

He doesn’t want to think about it. He needs to focus on the present.

“I’m down for whatever, I don’t mind,” he replies after thinking for a while.

Eden leads everyone out of the gallery, with everyone following her. She reaches the entrance of the library and opens the door for everyone.

The library is a bit larger than the gallery, with multiple shelves reaching the ceiling. A fire roared in the fireplace at the end of the room, which everyone was protected from by a glass guard. Facing the fireplace are two gray loveseats and a coffee table underneath a plain white shag carpet.

When Ace enters the library, he almost trips over a book on the floor, barely able to keep his balance as he holds on to a nearby shelf. Thank God the shelves were affixed to the floor, otherwise he’d be as flat as a pancake right now.

“Was this place always like this? Why is it so messy?” Ace asks as he picks up the book he almost tripped on. He looks at the book for a bit then puts it back on the shelf.

As everyone tries to put books back on shelves, Ace notices a book under a candlestick on the fireplace mantle. When he tries to get the book, he accidentally knocks over the candlestick, pushing the clock off the fireplace.

Bang! Crack!

The clock broke into pieces. Gears and springs can be seen inside the wooden casing, and the clock’s face is cracked.

“Ah, fuck…” Ace curses under his breath as he struggles to pick up the parts and puts them on the circular side table.

“Oh! Theodore, what happened?” Eden asks behind him, noticing his plight.

“I accidentally knocked over the clock,” he replies. “It fell and broke into a few pieces and I was trying to pick them up… you’re the Ultimate Clockmaker, right?”

“Yeah! You want me to fix this clock, right?”

“Mhm. Think you can do it, Eden?”

“Well, of course I can! Come on, you can give the parts to me. I’ll repair it after the tour. You can stop by anytime!” Eden says as she holds out her hands. Ace dumps all the parts into her hands and watches her pocket them in her pouch.

After cleaning up, they move to the art studio. The art studio is spacious, almost double the size of the library. The farthest wall from the entrance has a big window with sheer black curtains that views nothing but a mural of a crudely drawn sunset landscape. The lighting consists of a small, brass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling and two sconces on each wall.

Ace sees Rose walk ahead and touch the surface of a workbench. There were multiple workbenches around the room, each equipped with a vise. Easels were in the middle with a black tarp underneath, and art supplies were stored in cabinets near the door.

“This is a much better place than the dressing room…” Rose says as she walks around and looks into the art supplies cabinet. “A bit dusty, but nothing I can’t manage. This room looks like a recreation of a famous atelier from the Renaissance… like it came out of a history book.”

“Oh, there’s something I forgot to mention about Rose, Theo!” Eden pipes up. “Rose has photographic memory. She can remember a lot of things, which helps a lot when it comes to investigations!”

“Yeah, but I can’t forget. Blood, corpses, weapons… everything,” Rose replies. “It’s both a blessing and a curse.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Rose… it must be hard,” Ace says as he puts a hand on the art forger’s shoulder.

“It’s fine. Thank you, Theodore.”

After thoroughly investigating the art studio, they all left the room.

“That’s all the rooms on the third floor. Next, let’s go to the second floor!” Eden says, taking the lead again.

While everyone was on the way to the elevator, David taps his shoulder. When Ace turned to face him, David had a somewhat neutral expression, something Ace has never seen before.

“Theo,” he starts. “I want to talk to you about something.”

He sees that only David and him are the only ones in the middle of the hall. No way out of this without looking suspicious. Ace sucks a breath through his teeth as he prepares for the eventual question. 

“The thing is, it’s been a year or so since we were kidnapped and put here. It definitely wouldn’t be long for the whole world to notice that sixteen students had gone missing.” David stares down on Ace, making the latter clench his fist in fear.

“How did you know where we were? There was nothing that could indicate our location. And why didn’t you call the authorities when you were trying to get us out?”

Oh shit. Is David onto him? Is he suspicious about his identity? Ace tries to keep a cool face as he tries to find a way to get out of this situation.

David chuckles to himself a bit. It sounds empty.

“Must have been trying to play the hero, huh? Wanting credit for rescuing sixteen Ultimates? Was being the Ultimate Cameraman not good enough for Mr. Forrester, hm?”

Ace breathes a sigh of relief. In his mind, of course. He realizes David is going hard on ‘Theodore’, grilling him on why it took so long for him to get help. Knowing this, he plays along with the act.

“Well, no, but…”

“Cut the crap, Theodore,” David says as he pokes Ace in the chest with his index finger. “You took so long to get here, and now four Ultimates are dead. Four out of the sixteen Ultimates are dead because you took so long to get here. They wouldn’t have died if you got here sooner.”

Even if he knows that anger was not directed at him, Ace is still scared of what David was saying. He instinctively looks to the side. He’s sweating from fear. He can’t think of what to say next. Alarm bells ring in his head as his fight or flight response is about to trigger.

“No! It’s not what you think, I—”

‘There’s no way out of this! Fuck! I have to run!’ Ace thinks. He gets ready to run, but…

“David! What do you think you’re doing to Theodore?!”

When he hears someone shout, Ace can feel his heart is about to jump out of his chest for the second time. He quickly turns around to look who had shouted and sees Hu right behind him with a furious look on her face.

“If you think you're going to harass Theodore during his time here just because he's new, I swear—!”

“Aww, Hu. I was just trying to get to know him better. I’m shocked that you think I’m trying to do something bad to him… I have done nothing malicious at all!” he says as he puts his hands together and mimics an innocent face. This infuriates Hu further.

“You—! You’re—! Ugh! You’re hopeless! Come with me, Theodore. Let’s go to the second floor. Don’t mind David, dear. He can stay if he wants.”

Ace follows her as she storms off for the elevator. He glances over his shoulder to look at David before he turns the corner.

It doesn’t take a genius to see visible disdain written all over his face.

Chapter Text

Moments later, he finally arrives at the first floor. A wave of relief washes over Ace as he steps out of the elevator, and the familiar sight of the first floor offers him a strange sense of comfort. He used to hate seeing the same bright red carpet and dull orange walls almost every day, and when he doesn't, it's because he’s cooped up in his room, scared for his own life.

He turns the corner, his gaze falling upon the familiar hall where eight doors, each bearing a nameplate, line the two walls on the side. For a moment, he glances at his old room. Somehow, it feels as if it was just yesterday that he woke up in this hellhole and screamed bloody murder with blood dripping down his neck.

This makes Ace touch his neck unconsciously, rubbing it a little before moving on.

“Finally, this is the hall where everyone’s rooms are,” Hu says, gesturing towards the hall. “However, I highly doubt you’d have a room here…”

Ace nods. Given that he was just introduced today, it makes sense that ‘Theodore’ wouldn’t be given a room of his own that fast.

That’s when MonoTV barges in. Again.

“Whoops! I forgot to open the extra room for possible late additions,” MonoTV says before somehow snapping its paws. On cue, a section of the wall between the laundry room and Hu’s room gives way, revealing a door that bears Theodore’s name.

“Ta-dah! I’ve been waiting to do that for a long time!” it says, motioning at the newly revealed door. Everyone is left speechless, either with their jaws or eyes wide open.

“That’s… convenient,” Ace says, awkwardly smiling and still in shock at what just happened. He awkwardly scratches the back of his neck. “Uh… thank you for giving me a room of my own?”

Ace mentally groaned. ‘Was that really necessary?!’ he thinks. He swears he feels someone staring at him as he turns the knob and pushes the door open.

“Would you look at that! It looks the same as our rooms,” Whit exclaims, peering inside. He runs his finger along the wall,  revealing a tiny amount of dust sticking to the tip. “Sheesh, MonoTV wasn’t kidding when it said it’s been waiting to do this for a long time.”

“Nothing I can’t manage. I’ll clean up later,” Ace says as he crosses his arms and leans against the doorframe. “Man, I'm tired. Thanks for showing me around the place. Appreciate it.”

“No problem, Theo!” Eden replies, giving him a bright warm smile. “If there’s anything you need help with, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“I will,” he says. “Thank you.”

‘I don’t know if I can,’ he thinks. ‘I’m sorry.’

After that, the group starts to disperse. Some go to their rooms while others leave to explore the third floor some more, leaving Ace and Levi standing in the middle of the hall, staring at each other.

“Oh, and Levi,” Ace says. “Thank you for assisting me all the way. It was nice of you to do all of this despite me being a stranger. Hope your wounds get better, too.”

“It’s no problem,” Levi replies. “I’m supposed to help, after all.”

“Huh? Were you supposed to? You didn't have to do this for me, though… Teruko, Arturo, Charles, and Nico left. You could have left too.”

“But isn’t helping people a good thing?”

Ace sighs, not wanting to go back and forth with Levi again. He turns his back and enters his room. “You're right. It's usually a good thing.”

“It’s just,” he quietly mutters under his breath. “You have to know when to stand your ground — do something, anything — before one thing leads to another and it fucks you over like it did to me. Don’t forget that.” 

To Ace’s dismay, Levi must have heard some parts at the end because he turns around and says, “Did you say something, Theodore?” Ace quickly turns around to face him and tries to give a convincing, reassuring smile.

“Hm? Oh, it’s nothing. See you later, Levi.”

Before Levi can reply, he quickly shuts and locks the door behind him. He groans in frustration as he slowly slides down the door, sitting against it with his head bowing in exhaustion. He buries his face in his hands as he thinks about what happened in the past few hours.

He killed Arei and subsequently lost the trial because he was the only one out of the two suspects who were able to perform the murder. Levi was shot instead of Teruko because he threw himself in front of her. To save Levi from bleeding out, he went ahead with his execution as quickly as possible, only to survive it. MonoTV struck a deal with him to work as a traitor in exchange for a second chance at life and valuable information. He became Theodore Forrester, the Ultimate Cameraman, and was reintroduced to the group.

Thinking that all of this can happen to someone is pure bullshit, but considering he’s in a killing game with a robot dog thing overseeing it, anything is possible at this point. It's only a matter of time before it becomes a reality.

Speaking of Levi, Ace is happy that he’s alive and mostly well, but he’s concerned about his reckless altruism. Maybe he should avoid him as much as he possibly can without looking suspicious. He hung around Levi a lot during his time as Ace, so as soon as Levi notices something that strikes him as familiar about Theodore, his cover is blown.

Levi had expressed his desire to understand people because he struggles with reading social cues before. Out of everyone he could have chosen, he picked Ace. While Ace was secretly happy about this choice — perhaps more than he'd like to admit — he couldn't help but wonder why Levi chose him of all people.

“I can’t understand you, no matter how hard I try.”

He sighs. With yesterday’s events in mind, he feels like Levi should’ve picked someone else to be an example. Someone like Eden, who tries her best to be optimistic and keep everyone’s spirits up.

Eden… oh God, he needs to find a way to make it up to her somehow. She didn’t exactly forgive him for killing Arei, but she still understood why Ace did what he did and recognized how unfair the killing game had been to him and how it pushed him to his breaking point.

She was initially supposed to be Ace's original target in his murder plan. However, she was lucky that he overheard a conversation about Arei trying to improve himself for her. This led Ace to strategically change his target, callously exploit their friendship, and ultimately kill Arei.

“The Ace that I met for the first time wasn’t a murderer.”

Reflecting on it again doesn’t make Ace feel any less guilty. If Eden had done that to him instead, he isn’t sure he would have reacted the same way.

Once this is over, he hopes that all he did to end the killing game would be enough atonement, even if it meant death.

Teruko. The self-proclaimed bad luck magnet. He’s never seen her bad luck in action, but he’s seen the after-effects. When he started to become more abrasive and brash to appear big so no one could make a move on him after the first trial, he noticed he wasn’t the only one who changed when he entered the cafeteria.

Though her spiel about him being a coward, him suffering because he pushed everyone away, and that he’d die because he’d rather kill himself than say sorry to anyone was painfully true, she was no different. She did exactly that and she hypocritically yelled at him for doing the same thing, and yet he can’t blame her. He has this feeling that Teruko doesn’t either, but he’s not her, so how would he know?

All he knows is that she doesn’t trust him, even as Theodore. Ace doesn’t mind that, though.

Then there’s David… lying, manipulating, motherfucking David Chiem. When he cornered him in the hall a while ago when no one was around, all Ace wanted to do was run as fast and as far as his legs could get him. If all else failed, he would’ve punched him right in the face; it would’ve served as karmic retribution too, and no one would care about it even for a second.

He played everyone like a fiddle with his motivational bullcrap. David had presented himself as this bright, confident motivational speaker who wanted to keep everyone together and prevent the killing game from continuing. Now, in Ace’s words, he’s just a shitty scumbag who believes in the worst out of everyone and doesn't hesitate to speak his mind about how annoying or inferior someone can be.

No matter how much he said about ‘trying to end the killing game’, all he did just made everyone's trust issues worse. Especially after the fact that he had planned to let him win the trial and sacrifice everyone else just so the killing game could end. He doesn’t even know if his wanting to end the game is real or just another one of his lies.

“Even now, you still have it in you to throw stones in your glass house. You’re so manipulative, boo.”

He shivers as he remembers that condescending, degrading tone, bringing chills down his spine. One thing’s for sure, Ace swears that once David gets the idea to pester him whenever possible, he’ll never hear the end of it.

He’s thankful that Hu managed to get him out of there before things got ugly, but he has some mixed feelings about her. Very mixed feelings. He saw how angry she could get since he'd been on the receiving end of her fury multiple times. When she chewed David out at the time, it was kind of refreshing to not be the object of her anger for once.

“Don’t worry, Nico, I’m on your side. I’ll always defend you. I can be reliable for you. You trust me, right?”

A frown forms on his face. He’s annoyed about Hu acting all nice around him. She defended Nico, who tried to kill him, and said stuff like how everyone was traumatizing them for recalling their murder attempt on Ace. Honestly, it was a bit cathartic when J and Charles called her out for this. Like J said, murder is murder, and Hu was defending a murderer. Nothing more, nothing less.

Nico had brought up an understandable point during the trial. They are not a child and shouldn't be treated as such, and they knew what they did was wrong. They still did it anyway because they couldn't handle the bullying they had to endure. Ace felt a little guilty about picking on Nico, but he can't just forget about the murder attempt.

Now that he has this second chance, though, maybe he can try and be nice to them.

When he was still alive as Ace Markey, he presented himself as a rude, stuck-up, loudmouthed bully mainly because he was too scared to make connections and have them easily destroyed.

It's no secret that people hated Ace for how he acted, from start to end. No one cared what he did even when he explicitly stated that he would murder after surviving the attempt, all because he was annoying, rash, and rude.

Now that he'd gone through an execution for failing to get away with it, he felt incredibly guilty for everything he did.

But as Theodore Forrester — a different person, a blank canvas, not himself — he feels like everyone's attitude towards him has changed. Mostly everyone hailed him as a hero who tried to save them no matter what it took. It feels weird to be treated as such when he got used to being labeled a bully.

When he looked into the mirror MonoTV provided him a while ago, he felt like he was reborn as a new person. He feels a little bit braver somehow like he wasn't the stupid coward who had a heart attack from fright hours before.

A part of Ace revels in this glory. Another part of him feels like he doesn't deserve this because he killed Arei.

He is well aware that this second chance comes with a price. He has to relay any information, plans, and secrets from the remaining students back to MonoTV by the end of the day or he'll be killed for failure: obedience or death.

Again, he knows where his loyalties lie, and it's not with MonoTV. He doesn't want to betray the others, even if it means forfeiting his life. He wants to live, but is his life worth the lives of many?

And if he somehow survives this with everyone else, will he continue being Theodore or return to being Ace?

Ace is dead to them — a painful memory — someone who won’t be remembered, but will be hailed as a hero if he lives to tell the tale, and Theodore is a fresh breath of air, someone who can be depended on. A new life with no history of lies, deceit, or murder, but not his real, true self. Which will he go by?

While he thinks this over, he runs his fingers through his hair in frustration, causing his cap to fall off his head. Just then, he hears a phone ringing in the room somewhere, interrupting his train of thought.

He gets up and follows the sound, leading him to the nightstand beside the bed. He opens the drawer and discovers a cell phone with a black case inside. He picks it up, notices that MonoTV is calling, and presses ‘Accept’.

“Hello, Ace Markey!” MonoTV says through the speaker. “Now that you’ve found this phone, it’s time to begin your mission as a traitor.”

“Yeah, cool. Wow. Awesome. I’m totally digging this spy thing. Really.”

“I know sarcasm when I hear it, bub! Don’t you fuck around with me!”

He pulls the phone away from his ear, slightly ringing from the sudden yell. “Okay, okay! Fuck! Don’t blow out my damn eardrums!”

“You’ve successfully infiltrated the group. Nice work. Step two of your mission is relaying all information back to me. Possible murder plans, secrets, relations, et cetera. Do this and you’ll be rewarded handsomely!”

“Yeah? And what’s this reward?”

“In short, it’s got something to do with the new motive!”

His head slightly perks up at the mention of the motive and starts pacing around the room. “I’m listening.”

“Because this is your first day on the job, I’ll take any info you can get your grubby little hands on. I’ll reveal the motive two days from now since everyone’s realized the severity of murdering someone. They’d be too scared to commit one way too early!”

Ace grimaces as he remembers Xander’s murder attempt.

“I’m sure once this motive drops, they’ll have no choice but to do so! This is one of the most anticipated motives so far! Ratings will go sky-high!”

Ace gulps. The way it said how the motive will make the others need to murder sends a cold sweat down his back. He holds his neck and runs his fingers through his hair anxiously as he thinks of the grimmest possibilities.

“What? Wh-What do you mean by that? Need to? What are you going to do?”

“Ah-ah! Not so fast! Info comes first. Relay it back to me through this phone. Deadline is tomorrow at 8 pm. Don’t keep me waiting!”

“You…! Ugh, you can’t just—”

“Remember, Ace. I executed you once. I can do it again. Work for me, or die. Info or nothing, final offer.”

He unconsciously puts a hand on his chest as he’s reminded of his execution, and breathes a sigh of irritation. “...Fine.”

“Good. Have fun!”

After that, he hangs up and puts the phone back in the drawer. He stares at it with disgust before shutting it with a loud thud and throwing himself into the comfortable mattress of the bed, quietly groaning as he struggles to keep his eyes open, surrendering to exhaustion from what’s happened in the past few hours.

Chapter Text

Eden stands in front of Theodore's door, deciding whether or not to knock. A few hours had passed since Theodore had retreated to his room after the tour, and dinner time had already arrived. When she entered the cafeteria after cooking dinner, she noticed that Theodore was the only one who never went in, and no one had seen him since the tour ended even once.

Eden assumed he was resting in his room after everything that had happened, so now she finds herself outside his door. After a few moments of thinking it through, she decides to knock.

“Who is it?” She hears Theodore call from behind the door. She quietly breathes a sigh of relief.

“It’s me, Eden,” she replies. “I was just wondering where you were. There’s dinner if you want — see, no one has seen you enter the cafeteria even once after the tour, so I was hoping maybe you could get something to eat…?”

“Ah… I didn’t think I slept that long… but wait, how do I know if I can trust you? It’s not that I doubt your kindness, I just need to be sure.”

Eden has to admit that he’s a fast learner when it comes to understanding the circumstances of the killing game. However, she is a bit worried that he might not eat tonight. It didn’t look like MonoTV was feeding him while he was in captivity before he was found.

“Don’t worry, the others already ate some. If it helps, most of them saw me cook it myself. They ate it afterwards and I’m pretty sure no one has dropped dead yet. It’s not poisoned, I swear. Cross my heart!”

After a brief silence, the door opens to a slightly groggy Theodore. He doesn’t seem to realize he isn’t wearing his cap and has a tired expression on his face. When his eyes meet hers, he makes an effort to offer her a small smile.

“Sorry, I fell asleep as soon as I arrived here… being stuck in that coffin for a long while didn’t do me any good.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it too much! Come on, let’s eat,” she says as they start walking to the cafeteria. “It’s roasted chicken with gravy and some egg salad. There’s lemon tea in the fridge if you want, but I think it’s mostly finished…”

“Do you cook for others often?”

“No, not really. Usually, most of us make our own meals. I only made dinner for everyone tonight because I felt like I had to. We lost two of our classmates yesterday, so I wanted to cook for everyone to help lighten the mood… even for just a little bit.”

“That’s… wow, that’s really sweet of you to do, Eden.”

“Thanks! Though, I think I’m pretty much the only one left who tries their best to keep everyone together…”

“Guess you gotta put in twice the work, then. Keep it up.”

“D’aww, thank you! Oh, I finished repairing the clock, by the way. I’ll put it back in the library first thing tomorrow.”

“Sounds great.”

As they arrive at the cafeteria, they notice that they're not the only ones there. Veronika and Whit are engaged in conversation as they finish up their meals.

“Hey, you two! What are you talking about?”

“Hi, Eden! Hello, Theodore!” Veronika says, waving at them with a wide smile. “Thank you for the dinner, by the way, Eden. We were just talking about the upcoming motive!”

“Haha, yeah… sure.” Whit gives the clockmaker an uneasy smile, indicating that he prefers not to stay longer than necessary. Theodore briefly leaves to get a plate from the kitchen, while Eden sits beside Whit, resting her head on her hand.

“You were saying, Veronika?” Eden asks.

“As I was saying, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now! The only motive we know up to this point is dark secrets about ourselves which MonoTV randomized between us to sow discord. We don’t know about the first motive because Xander was killed before MonoTV could announce it.”

“Yeah, that made MonoTV announce the second motive as soon as tomorrow came… it didn’t want another murder to happen before the motive was announced again.”

“Well, it snoozed, it lost!” Whit shrugs. “That’s not our fault there. If it wanted to get the killing started before Xander went ahead it should’ve announced the motive much earlier.”

“So what I’m thinking is that MonoTV assumes that most of us now understand the severity of our situation after Arei and Ace’s deaths yesterday, plus Theodore’s presence in the game, it may take two or three days before MonoTV can announce the motive… give or take!”

“I feel like we shouldn’t be talking about this as if it’s a normal occurrence… it’s like we’re already desensitized to this!”

“Don’t worry, it’s just for our survival! I don’t want another murder to happen as much as you two do,” Veronika says this without realizing that Whit and Eden exchange skeptical glances.

“There isn't much to go on since we only have one motive so far. I've been wondering about what it could be since last night. That is until Theodore appeared! MonoTV said it captured him after he tried to help us from the outside, and Theodore mentioned that there were others with him as well! Which gave me an idea: what if the next motive involved our families and friends in the outside world?”

“That’s…” Eden says as she fidgets with her fingers, worrying about her family. “I mean… it’s possible, but I hope you’re wrong about that. I don’t want my parents to be in danger because of this killing game.”

Theodore returns from the kitchen, his plate only containing an adequate amount of egg salad. He sits next to Veronika and starts to eat.

“No chicken for you, Theodore? It’s delicious!” the horror fanatic asks. Theodore initially looks at her in confusion, his mouth full of hard-boiled egg and lettuce. Realizing what she’s asking, he quickly finishes eating to reply.

“Nah, sorry. I don’t like meat. I can eat anything else, but not meat. I don’t like how it feels in my mouth.”

“Ah, that’s what I’ve forgotten! I got so caught up with showing you around that I forgot to ask what kind of food you like! Ohhh… I’m so sorry!”

“No, no! It’s fine. You don’t have to worry about it too much. And hey, now you know I don’t like meat. No harm done in the end, plus this egg salad is really delicious.”

“Yeah, Eden! If you weren’t a clockmaker, I bet you would’ve been a great chef. Tonight was sooooo good.” Whit gives her a reassuring pat on the back, and Eden responds with a warm smile, pleased by the praise.

“Hehe, thanks!”

“Back to the topic, the motive can go something like this: If no murder occurs within the next 24 hours, a randomly selected student’s loved one will die.”

“And like I said, I hope you’re wrong about that. I don’t want to kill anyone here, but I also don’t want to risk getting my family killed…”

“Which is exactly why that is the perfect motive! The pressure, the hysteria, everything! No one wants to leave it up to chance, and no one wants to kill either — everyone will be forced to make a choice.”

Veronika holds both of her hands out, palm facing up. They are both on equal levels as if they were plates of a scale.

“As days pass, the pressure builds up,” she says as she lowers her right hand and raises her left. “Will their loved one be next? And if not, should they kill now to prevent it from happening? Or if their loved one dies, should they end it now because there is no point left in living? Eventually…”

She slams her right hand onto the table. The other three flinch at the noise.

“They crack and commit murder.” Veronika finishes as she holds her hand, slightly wincing from the pain of slamming her hand onto the hard surface. “Ow! Ow, ow, ow…”

“God, that’s so fucked up,” Theodore says as he rubs the side of his neck, discomfort visible on his face. “To think that can even happen. I wouldn’t wish that even upon my worst enemy, that’s just…”

“Yeah… I don’t want anything to happen to my family, but I also don’t want any of us to die, either…”

“Your family must be worried about you, Theodore. Do they have any idea you’re in a killing game right now?”

“At this point, maybe. I’ve probably been missing for days.”

“What’s your family like?”

Theodore sucks a breath through his teeth and breathes out as he adjusts himself into a comfortable position.

“We’re doing okay. Mom and Dad’s highly supportive of my cameraman job, so’s my older sister and brother.”

“Wow, you’re the youngest? Looking at you, I didn’t think you’d be the youngest in your family. You’re more of a middle child!”

“Uhh... yeah. I think almost everyone also says that. Caitlin always liked to treat me like a baby and Duncan would always be Mr. Perfect in my parent’s eyes. They’re both cool, though. I love them a whole lot.”

“Your family sounds really nice, Theo! I’d love to meet them someday.”

“Thanks. My parents and Duncan are definitely doing all they can to try and get me and everyone else back to their families.”

“What about Caitlin? With how you described her, she must be worried sick about you too.”

Theodore looks down. “She, uh… passed away last year. Car accident. My parents haven’t gotten over her death yet.”

“Oh, Theo… I’m so sorry to hear that.”

“It’s fine, though!” He gives everyone a reassuring smile. “She’d have wanted me to get over it. There are more important things I should be focusing on right now, like getting out of here.”

“What are you four talking about?”

They all turn their heads to the entrance and see Levi looking at them with a confused expression on his face.

“Oh, Levi!” Eden exclaims, standing up from her seat. “It’s nothing important you need to worry about! Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be resting in the infirmary right about now?”

“I felt hungry so I came here to get some food to bring back.”

“Well, Eden made roasted chicken and egg salad. Lemon tea’s in the fridge if you need something to wash it down but I’m pretty sure it’s almost finished. They’re all in the kitchen, you can go grab some.”

“Thank you, I will.” As Levi leaves for the kitchen, Eden notices Theodore looking at him, his eyes following the personal stylist with the corners of his mouth twitching downwards as he holds his neck unconsciously.

“Are you worried about him, Theo?”

“Huh? Ah, I — no. I mean, yeah? I guess I’m somewhere in between. I did ask about those injuries he got but he told me not to worry about it, so if he says he’s fine, I guess it’s fine…” Theodore says as he picks at the last bit of red onion on his plate with his fork.

“What I don’t know why he’s walking around like everything is fine, though,” Whit adds. “He took four bullets to the torso! If that was me, I would have been in a coma for at least a week! And that’s just the coma period — after that, I probably wouldn’t move for a month!”

“Your body type and his are not the same, so what would be near fatal for you might not be the same case with him, Whit.”

“But still! Four bullets! I don’t think anyone would survive after being pumped with four bullets!”

“I also doubted if Levi could survive after being shot four times, but he always seems to impress me more and more…”

“Sheesh… if only Teruko hadn’t given Ace that idea to clock MonoTV, we wouldn’t be having this problem.”

Upon hearing Ace’s name, Eden notices Theodore looking uneasy. With how his hands are tightly clenched and his lips are pursed, it's almost as if he knows something about Ace.

“B-But you can’t blame Teruko or Ace for trying to put an end to this, though! They… They didn’t know what would happen next!”

“Yeah, that’s true. Still, not giving him immediate medical treatment was the lowest blow MonoTV could have ever done. Sure, let’s block off the elevator until Ace’s execution is over and ignore the big splatter of blood and the almost dying man in the middle of the room!”

“Yes, but if Ace had hesitated for even a second longer, maybe the consequences would have been much more dire.”

“Probably… yeah.”

Silence fills the cafeteria. No one knows what else to say. After a few seconds, Theodore yawns and stands up from his seat.

“Uhhh… ahem. Yeah, I think I’m gonna turn in for the night. Thanks for the food, Eden.”

“You’re welcome, Theo! Have a good night!”

Theodore leaves the cafeteria, leaving Eden and Whit with a discussion-hungry Veronika.

“...can we go back to the topic of the next possible motive?”

“I… no, sorry. I-I don’t think I want to hear any more about your take on the next motive…”

Chapter Text

Ace lies on his bed, his gaze fixed on the ceiling above him, lost in a haze of thoughts. The lights are switched off, and he doesn’t intend to fall asleep just yet, but he also doesn’t feel like doing anything at the moment. His mind drifts aimlessly as he listens to the only sound in the room — the faint buzzing of the air conditioner — which he finds strangely comforting.

A second chance at life, and yet he’s being used as a plaything once more. Like before, failure means absolute death in the gruesomest way possible, and MonoTV will definitely make sure he stays dead if that time ever comes.

Levi’s survival. Ace had a feeling that Levi’s body would be able to withstand one or two bullets to the torso, so long as they don’t pierce the heart. Four? A normal person would be dead, and for Levi, that’s a 50-50 shot. If Arturo had failed to save Levi with his rudimentary knowledge of the deeper parts of the human body, MonoTV would be looking at three deaths right off the bat.

Two of them are Levi, because of Arturo’s failure, and Arturo, of course. The third would be Ace himself, because he broke the rule of no murdering as the traitor. Duh.

Becoming MonoTV’s inside man. Thinking about MonoTV gives Ace the creeps. That stupid-looking cat… dog-thing who is probably controlled by some AI with a vendetta shouldn’t be toying with his life like this, and yet it is, and it’s so fucking stupid.

Ace felt adrenaline rushing through his veins, anger, fear, and exhilaration mashed together in his brain as he punched the tiny screen with all his might in an attempt to kill the robot. Teruko’s goading may have furthered his resolve, but he’s not going to lie — he’d been wanting to do that for a while now.

And when he felt the glass crack under his knuckles, the joy of accomplishing something, being useful, was there, even for the briefest of moments.

And finally… Veronika’s idea for the next motive. The idea is that someone from the outside world who is close to one of the participants would die if no one kills within a set amount of time. And in true Veronika fashion, she discussed that during dinner after a tense trial the day before.

Veronika freaks Ace out, and he’s pretty sure that every horrifying idea that’s ever come out of her mouth comes from a mashup of horror movie and story plots she’s read before. Ace groans to himself as he thinks the motive over. It’s such an absurd motive idea that she came up out of the blue.

And it freaks him out to think that it can happen.

MonoTV, despite doing a ridiculously incompetent job as a host, has clearly shown them that it is not merciful or forgiving towards their situation, and will not hesitate to terminate their time here should they choose to disobey. It will only lend a helping hand when it concerns the fairness of the class trial or someone is injured in critical condition, when there is no clear murderer to claim the kill.

And, if it doesn’t do that, it claims that reviews would go down and Danganronpa: Despair Time will be canceled altogether.

Which is a good thing. If that happens, maybe they will be set free. Or not. He's unsure about what'd happen next. MonoTV never told him about the TV show. If there even was one.

Maybe the TV show was just a facade, and no one is actually watching. Just some bored rich people or mad researchers wanting to see what teenagers would do when put in a life or death game.

But if such a TV show exists, then there are many people watching it, giving them — this goddamned show and its fucking goddamned director, the attention and rapport it needs to keep going. And if they’re still in this hellhole, then those watching enjoy seeing them suffer as they struggle to survive, seeing as how no one’s come to get them after four people died.

So if that’s the case, then the people behind this stupid show would obviously be given the green light to assassinate the participants’ loved ones from the outside world. They will die, and no one will bat an eye at it because it will keep the show going and raise tension between others.

With Theodore Forrester’s addition to the game, what would they think? That someone’s managed to find the place where they were abducted to, and ended up being a participant themselves? What would the audience even think of a late-game addition like him?

And if people are watching, does the viewership include his family? What about his siblings whom he took great care of? What would they think if they saw that their brother is a liar, a murderer, and a coward until the very end of his pitiful existence?

At least he’s thankful that ‘Ace Markey’ is dead. They won’t target a dead guy’s family without getting some exposure… right?

So yeah, the motive idea is stupid. Stupid, but… as much as Ace hates to admit it, a good one nonetheless. The motive threatens everyone’s family, friends, and anyone production can get their hands on it, forcing everyone into a stalemate with each other, as they are careful about whom to trust when their loved ones are in danger.

Ace sighs. Well, at least as Theodore, he’s safe — any attempts on his life would be quickly dealt with, and he doesn’t have to murder anyone. All he has to do is report any conversation, plans, and secrets between the other contestants from hard-to-reach areas to MonoTV, and he’ll be fine…

…oh God, he has to report the motive idea.

Fuck, he has to report the motive idea.

MonoTV is not omnipotent, sure, but because it tends to pop out of nowhere and invade anyone's business with its nosy screen, regardless of who they are, he’s unsure if MonoTV caught snippets of their conversation. If he omits the conversation between the four, he’d be walking a tightrope blindfolded over an active volcano, ready to burst at any moment. 

There’s a chance he will make it, but it’s a very, very slim chance he’s not willing to take.

Ace always believed in taking the high road. When there’s a choice that presents itself with as few risks as possible, no matter the benefit, he’ll take it. There’s no point in risking himself in a situation that could get him into even deeper trouble. A coward’s philosophy, but many times it's worked out in his favor.

He doesn’t consider himself lucky. He falls off multiple times during practice, he had to starve himself to keep jockeying, and he lost his best friend before coming to this place against his own will. Him out of many other talented Ultimates. Surely there was someone else more worthy than he to participate in this show? If he can call it that. Then he’d have a peaceful life. Depressing, but peaceful.

No risks, no murder game, no trials… anything that can put his life in danger, really.

And even then, the high road philosophy came into play when he was weighing his options on whether or not to go through with the murder plan. All the pros weighed heavily on backing out. He just needed to keep fighting for his life until the end of the show, and he won’t die a horrible death like Min did. There will be attempts on his life, but if he can just overcome them, he’ll survive for sure.

But fear does something to a person.

And fearing for his life, he risked it all when Arei entered the playground. There was no backing out now by then.

Fear. That familiar, stupid feeling that makes even the bravest people falter. Ace has always feared. Ace has always been fearing for his life, not wanting to die young. Not wanting to die unfulfilled. Thoughts always ran across his mind, thinking of the worst possible scenarios that could happen to him, even if the chance was close to zero.

If Ace didn’t murder, would Nico still attempt to kill him? Would someone else take the kill? Would he even make it to the end of the game if he continued being a coward and hid in his room the entire time?

If Ace had won the trial, would the people outside forgive him for dooming thirteen other teenagers who had their whole lives ahead of them? Would his siblings?

If he had survived… what then?

What would happen next?

What's going to happen to him?

Whats. Ifs. All these questions swarm his brain.

“Ugh… my head hurts like hell…” Ace groans as he clutches his head. All that thinking, the near-complete silence, and the total darkness are messing with his head like crazy.

All these sensations are attacking him all at once, and adding the whole ‘surviving execution only to be branded as MonoTV’s traitor situation to that equation’… it’s a wonder how Ace’s mind is still intact after all that.

“Anything beats this by a mile at this point…” he mutters as he gets up from his bed and switches on the light after shuffling around in the dark for a while. Before going back to his bed, he glances at his reflection on the screen and touches his cheek.

‘Ugh… look at me…’ he thinks. ‘I look so different, like a completely different person, and yet I’m still me at the same time. A better version of me. But is that version still Ace? Or is he Theodore? His own person?’

He looks down at his still-gloved hands and removes the fabric, showing the rough calluses, the scars upon scars, and the slightly discolored bruises from…

…actually, he doesn’t want to think about it right now. He has enough problems on his plate right now; he doesn’t need another to make a dogpile. He quickly puts the gloves back on as he sighs in frustration before switching the lights back off and flopping back onto his bed.

He sneaks a glance at the phone on his desk before shutting his eyes, trying his hardest to sleep the stress away. He loosens the tension in his limbs, and calms his beating heart.

‘Tomorrow’s a new day. A new day where I have to pretend I’m a different person. Ace is dead. Theodore is alive. Tomorrow, I have to make things right with the others. See what they’re doing. Yeah, that’s what I should do. As for the motive idea… hopefully MonoTV already has a better motive than Veronika’s…’

Everything in the small room are the only things that listen to his mind. The buzzing of the air conditioner sounds a bit quieter.

“...this is all bullshit…” he quietly mutters before he finally falls asleep.

Tomorrow is another day.