Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Fine lights

Touch is everything, it is what brings things closer.

For example, Aesop Carl grabbed his scissors and put them close to the dead body he was embalming. Joseph Desaulniers was adjusting his camera multiple times to get just the perfect angle.

In most occasions they were not the most wonderful pair, in fact there many more better pairs in the manor that the group liked much more than those two, however the two seemed to click, whether it be from the habit of mourn, or maybe an interest of something so little it gather no importance from anyone but themselves.

Joseph was a gentleman as many claimed, his touches were not so gentlemen like however, he touched the arms or legs of survivors all the time, and would cup the jaw of theirs to scare them, however Aesop was harding to read, as his journal was locked away in a dark corner. One day, seemingly after both Joseph and Aesop matches that they unexpectedly lost at, the two happened to be in the same place. The garden. The garden was filled with many plants; vines, marigolds, tulips, roses, orchids, many of the sort. Aesop wanted to see the Marigolds; he had heard from a certain lady that they blossomed a lot of this season. Joseph was there to take photos of the flowers.

‘It could blossom more..’ Aesop thought as he touched the petals of one of the more bloomed flowers. The air was tense, one was weaker than the other, unfortunately Aesop was at the end of THAT stick. He would listen in, staying quiet as possible in case Joseph was anything like the other hunters; hungry for torturing others. There was also absolute silence, the only noise to be heard was the sounds of a morning bird and Joseph’s camera making the occasional click! sound. Aesop risked it and looked over at him, Joseph was too focused on his camera to simply notice Aesop’s existence and presence there.

“Les fleurs présentes ici sont vraiment splendides... n'est-ce pas ?” Joseph asked, Aesop flinched and nearly vomited from being too nervous, especially since he was aware of what the hell Joseph just said to him. Joseph stood up from his camera stand and fixed his posture, then turned to look at Aesop.

“My apologies, the flowers are wonderful this time of year, isn’t it?” He said, his accent was sharp but his tone was smooth like cream, coffee cream is what Aesop would describe his tone as. Joseph walked over to the marigolds, Aesop did a quick nod, “yes they quite are…” Aesop said, Joseph touched the petals of one of the few flowers that blossomed, “where are you from?” He asked, straightening his back, Aesop looked at him as he did so, he was much taller up close than afar to his camera.

“I’m from England…” he said, Aesop never really knew where he came from, only from where Mr. Carl came from, so he goes with that. Joseph looked at his eyes, which made Aesop drift his eyes away. “I'm from France…moved to Britain young” he said in a soft tone, Aesop knew little of France, only known for the revolution and the death of the queen, ‘Mary…Mary something…’Aesop thought, “During the revolution?” Aesop asked, Joseph chuckled, “somewhat…my family moved shortly after my brother passed, start of the revolution…” he said calmly, “you seem young, not the fashion I once knew” he said.

That's right, Mister Desaulniers was not from the same time period, if anything he should be in his grave lying peacefully, hopefully with two loving parents next to, or at least nearby him at his final resting place. “I was born late 1880s, sir.” he said, when it came down to things such as his birth and birth parents, Aesop was good at knowing as a stranger he met at a Bar. Joseph looked at him, “I see…” he said, then he fixed his coat, “when’s your next match…..?” he said, pausing for a moment so he could think of his name. “Aesop….Aesop Carl..” he said quite low, but loud enough to hear, “yes..Aesop..I remember now, that lady….who, used her fan as a weapon…”he said, he thought for a minute before snapping his fingers, “you scared her, I remember!” he chuckled. “Apparently you ‘brought back the dead’” he said, quoting what the lady who used her fan as a weapon said.

That was last week, Aesop had about 10 matches, only two he succeeded in. One was with a young lady who was named “Geisha”. She lost that match due to her rage after getting hit with two flare guns. Aesop happened to piss her off more by using his embalming skills to save someone by the end of the game, usually Aesop would need to use the coffin for himself however he wasn’t chased and the other “players” were friendly, which is rare.

Aesop knew he pissed her off with that, it pissed off every Hunter to unfortunately having to find that coffin. Aesop narrowed his eyes down, “yes that was me…” he said in a calm tone,
The taller man smiled with a slight chuckle, “fascinating…” he paused, “you must have a strong memory, huh?” He said softly. Aesop stared at him for a moment before nodding, “I guess you could say that, it comes naturally to me” he said calmly.

He smiled, “I would love to see that in my matches.” He said calmly and gently held a flower, “I feel I could outsmart you” he added, Aesop looked at him with a surprise look on his face, “oh?” Aesop said, trying to keep his glaze onto Joseph. Joseph smirked, “why yes, all it takes is a camera”he said calmly as he slowly walked back to his own camera, gently caressing the top of it and pointing the lens near Aesop and the Marigolds, Aesop had his back facing the camera as he was looking at the flower that Joseph touched, Joseph took a photo quietly, or as quietly as he could.

“So when’s your next match, Carl?” He asked, Aesop looked back at him slowly, “I hear that it’s tomorrow.” He said calmly, “Though I do not care for these.” he added.

Joseph chuckled, “I see…” he said calmly as he looked back at his camera.

“Well, I shall go…” Aesop said and waved goodbye. Joseph smiled and took another photo of him as he left. “Goodbye Carl,”he said calmly.

A goodbye is everything to the soul, a goodbye could be forever without you knowing. I’m sure Joseph felt that way too when he waited for his return in the manor.

Aesop Carl was murder by a fellow teammate. It wasn’t specified who did it. Though his body was never found around. None of the teammates confessed to who did it, nor the location of the body.

Joseph even asked who was in charge of the team, she didn’t even know all of them didn’t escape, she couldn’t track him even with her mirror.

It was just a claimed mishap. Because Aesop was now dead his room remained unlocked, Joseph was one of few who went to see what his room was like.

His room looked barely touched, he left some tools out on his desk, his bed was made the morning of, it was almost like he didn’t exist. Joseph pulled out his camera and quietly started to take photos. His match was in two days, he wondered if he would find Aesop’s body there.

Joseph hated dead things, the idea of making a team member bleed out by his antics was never in his book, he HATED death, the less he had to think about it, the better, which is why he was prone to putting team members in chairs then sending them on their way. So thinking of Aesop being dead around the area, the odor…the bugs..the decay…Joseph flinched as he raised his head from the Camera flash. He looked around before leaving quickly, he couldn’t let his mind go twisted like that.

He accidentally bumped into Michiko, one of his ‘friends’ in the manor. “Oh sorry Michiko…didn’t see you there” he chuckled nervously. She smiled lightly but covered herself with her face, “it is quite alright.” She said and looked behind her to see where he was leaving from, “were you just in…their room?” She asked, “I’m sorry for the loss..” she added.

Joseph smiled and rubbed the back of his neck, “oh no…I was just more curious on the aesthetic of the one who passed on, he was a very clean person I’m assuming” he added, Michiko looked over, “I hope he is one of few who gets to return…or at least be found…” she said, “do you have a match today?” She asked turning her attention back onto him, Joseph shook his head with a smile.

“No, not today, I have one in two days, however if we wish to watch,” he said as he fixed his hair slightly, Michiko nodded with a smile, “of course, Joseph, could you watch me today? It’s just before lunch”she said, Joseph chuckled and nodded, “of course, with such a unique weapon who would miss it?” He said calmly.

Two days later, it was sun down, it was time for Joseph’s match, the last match of the day, before dinner. Joseph was ready for dinner, he heard it was going to be steak and mash potatoes. It reminded him of the noble life before he entered the manor and became a ghost. Though he usually spends his dinners alone.

He started to make his way to the ring. Michiko smiled, “good luck” she whispered, Joseph chuckled and walked in quietly.

It was dark outside, Joseph smiled as he started his camera. Ready, set, go.

As he flashed his camera, he walked in quietly and started to walk around, soon he heard a mumble. He looked over and raised a brow. He snickered and as he sensed a teammate nearby.

“Naughty player” he said, he walked towards that direction, as he walked closer, he saw a player laying down, they were under a bunch of bushes, he chuckled, “silly player doesn’t know how to hide”he snickered as he turned the corner, he looked in the bushes and horror struck.

Some survivors could be injured in these games, but what didn’t occur in his mind is that It wasn’t long since Aesop went “missing” so logically speaking.

His body didn’t decompose.

Joseph looked in the bushes and found him lying uncomfortably peacefully. His face was bruised, and there was mud all over him, his clothes were tattered, ripped, anything. For yet such little time knowing Aesop, it was shocking to find him in such a state, a state that lacked dignity, it was like pure hatred formed when Aesop died.

He stared in horror, he switched out of the camera world FAST, but when he looked at the same spot, Aesop wasn’t there.

Aesop.

Wasn’t there.

How couldn’t he be here?? The camera is supposed to snap the EXACT moment. You could never take him from someone else, you COULDN’T take him from someone else.

No one had grey hair
No one had his skinny bod that was enough to carry bodies for embalming
No one had his reddish eyelids

It didn’t make sense he was just there!! He was just there, Joseph gulped as he stared at the ground, he walked away and formed back to the camera world, trying to ignore that mishap.

Maybe the survivors were trying to stun him mentally? Joseph was the only one to not like death out of his group of hunters!

He looked around and found the “coordinator”her name was Martha, this was the first time he got to meet her!

Well that couldn’t go any more wrong.

By the mere end, Joseph couldn’t tell how many ciphers were left until the gates were opened. He just was flared by Martha, his ears were ringing, he was on the ground trying to recover from the flare.

“Damn it…” he mumbled as he wiped his face, as he looked around the ground. As he opened his eyes, he noticed yellow petals around him, he raised a brow.

No one had yellow petals on them, and the abandoned hospital doesn’t have those flowers, at least not anymore. As he rose his head up from the ground, he saw the dirt all horrid and moved. He got up carefully and found one of the survivors knocked out in front of him.

“What the hell.” He said softly as he looked around slowly, he looked at the poor guy, meek, and his glasses were broken, it seems that they probably got scared and fainted. He rolled his eyes and grabbed the survivor up and shoved him to a chair.

As he watched over the chair, the survivor regained consciousness, now scared he found himself in that situation. Joseph sighed as he heard footsteps, he looked over and found the boy with the hooks coming at him, the hooks jiggled on his waist as he ran up.

Joseph rolled his eyes as he swung, but the hooks guy ducked which made Joseph’s sword get caught on the chair. The Hook guy managed to rescue and they both started to run. Joseph groaned as he snatched his sword out, nearly breaking the chair. He rushed over and slammed the Broken glasses guy down using his sword.

Unfortunately that cipher was ready, and now the gates were unlocked, luckily he stabbed the glasses guy down, so he dragged him to the nearest chair.

He sighed as this was a horrible loss. He was just willing to get one of them out, but that gun girl was NOT willing. He looked over and groaned. He readied his sword from the dirt and cleaned it off. He prepared his stance, what he didn’t notice was that she was holding another flare gun.

He sighed as he was just ready to take the fall, maybe if he fainted it would be seen as an exhaustion thing so he wouldn’t get flamed so much by his peers. The gun girl aimed her flare but a coffin blocked it from hitting Joseph, he jumped back as he saw it rise up. The gun girl was also taken aback.

“What the??” Joseph said as he looked at the gun girl, the glasses guy screamed as he tried to escape the chair himself, which was silly in retrospect.

The coffin door fell and something….well someone, floated out of it, Joseph jaw dropped,

“I will punish thee” was all that was said from the someone, that someone was Aesop, or at LEAST looked like Aesop. Aesop slowly pulled out his scissors and jumped onto the gun girl and took her down.

His clothes were dirty, ripped, he also had a growth spurt, his hair was ragged, he looked tired. Joseph looked him up and down slowly.

“Carl?”He said softly, dropping his sword. Aesop glared and floated down and grabbed his sword then shoved it to his hands, “focus.” He said, “stay up” he said and regressed to using his feet like a mortal, than whatever he was doing..

He walked back to the survivor and yanked them up and shoved them to another chair, lack of any care. Joseph was just so…taken aback. Aesop pointed behind him, Joseph blinked and swung his sword fast and managed to hit a survivor all the way down to the ground, Joseph stared.

“What on earth?” he said, so taken aback.

After the match, it resulted in a tie, but what the hell do we do about Aesop. They walked back inside the arena walls. Michiko rushed over, and stared at Aesop, “the people of the manor need you both.” She whispered

Chapter Text

A few days ago, Aesop Carl had met Joseph Desaulnier, a renowned photographer who was supposed to be his mortal enemy. Aesop was the prey, and Joseph was the predator. Yet by some strange fate, Aesop actually enjoyed talking to Joseph. Aesop paid attention to the clock above the doorway, he always was “on-time” to things, merely because he always gave himself five minutes to get to said location. In the manor, nothing happens in five minutes, usually it takes longer for something to happen, especially if you were Aesop. Who happened to never ever be caught in the middle of something, which would be called luck in his case.

Aesop looked at the clock again quietly, “I shall be going now…goodbye Desaulniers…” he murmured. Joseph stood up straight from his camera as he grew a smirk against his face.

“Goodbye, Carl..” he said, a little bit louder than Aesop. Aesop gave him a light nod before rushing out the garden.

As he walked out into the main hallway, an older guy walked over. This older guy is named Naib, he isn’t much of a talker just like Aesop, so when Aesop saw him he kept walking. Naib grabbed his arm and pulled him back and pinned him to the wall using his collar.

“What were you doing with that…thing.” He asked, Aesop raised a brow as he grabbed Naib’s wrist slowly.

“I was watering the plants and he happened to come in.”Aesop said as he nudged Nai off him. Aesop started to walk away before Naib grabbed his shoulder.

“We’ll be careful around those things, he could’ve eaten you” he said, Aesop rolled his eyes, “his figure is quite small, I doubt he could eat steak in one sitting” he said and kept walking.

By dinner time he knew who his teammates were: Naib, Ganji, Patricia. This was a strong team, though their hunter wasn’t revealed yet, maybe some kind of mind game to throw the team off. Aesop ate his dinner quietly, though Patricia sat down in front of him.

“Hello, you must be one of my teammates, hm?” She asked, Aesop looked around then he slowly nodded.

“Yes, is there something you need?” He asked, he set his fork down and looked at her…neck. He couldn’t find himself to remain in eye contact, though he knew it’ll be impolite to not look at someone, though he doesn’t know it’ll also be impolite to stare at a weird limb either.

Patricia hesitated then cleared her throat. “I would like to see how you act, so I know what to expect tomorrow, also I wish to know more about your coffins” she said, fixing her hair a bit.

Aesop raised a brow before biting into his meal, a light soup and bread, not the most favorable or nutritious meal, but filling.

“Um, okay…” he paused as he looked around his small space at the table, “my coffins work as follow: I try my best to remember your appearance, then I make a mannequin, and once you are carried to the rockets I’ll be able to save you” he explained as briefly as he could.

She stared at him, which made Aesop lower his gaze.

“So is it like puppets?” She asked, he shook his head slowly, “no, I have no control over you…” he said calmly as he could. She stared at him and slowly nodded.

“I heard that you usually use it on yourself…how does that work?” She asked, Aesop looked up and bagged her again, “same steps, just with me..” he said calmly and continued to eat, “though I will try not to use it”he added.

Patricia nodded calmly, “I see..” she said and continued to eat dinner herself. The two ate in silence, Aesop liked comfortable silence.

After dinner, he was walking back to his room but then Ganji Grabbed his collar, “Carl” he said as he yanked on him.

Aesop looked him up and down, “Gupta” he said as he looked at him, his eyebrow raised.

Ganji clicked his teeth, “I heard around you were talking to one of those big guys” he said, Aesop rolled his eyes and grabbed Ganji’s wrist, “it was more like they talked and I responded” he said, Ganji gave him a look.

“That is the SAME thing!” He said, Aesop rested his eyes, “well then yes, yes I was, can I be let go now?” He asked, Ganji glared at him as he let go of his collar but nudged him.

“Don’t you talk to those…those things” Ganji yelled, “do you not realize what could happen? They will eat us up and spit us out!” He added.

Aesop rolled his eyes as he started to walk off, “Goodnight Gupta” he said quietly as he walked away, Ganji groaned loudly, which made Aesop smirk a bit, though luckily no one could tell with his mask.

That morning, Aesop ate alone again, which was always a risky move for when you would have a match that day. I mean, it’s better to talk about your strategy now than at the table where the hunter is behind the nearby curtain. Though Aesop was always alone, he usually went with the flow of his matches, most of the time it would score a tie, so why stop his half wins if it’s working?

He watched his teammates whisper quietly to a nearby table, Naib was staring at him hard, though Patricia would smack his arm if it got too obvious, though everything was obvious to Aesop.

Once he finished his meal, he stood up quietly, putting back on his mask, the one thing to cover him from over-expression. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall. He had 30 minutes until his match, which would be 25 minutes since he needs to walk to the match. He knelt his head down as he started to think, what could he do for the next 25 minutes in such a manor?

He looked outside at the plants, the Marigolds were blooming so beautifully. For such beauty required maintenance, which he happened to know how to do.

He quietly walked to the outside door, he looked around before he slowly turned the doorknob, he didn’t want to hear another word about his own affairs. As he stepped outside, it was quiet, no camera in sight, Aesop looked around as he shut the door behind him, only when the door clicked did he take a breath.

“I know that feeling” Joseph said, he was behind the door, smirking. Aesop flinched and took several steps away from the door, he looked at him, Joseph wore his usual outfit, his camera in hand.

“If I had known you would be out here soon I wouldn't have packed up so fast”Joseph chuckled as he rested his hand on his hip. Aesop looked him up and down. He paused as he opened his mouth to say something, yet he couldn’t figure out how to say it. Joseph smiled at his confusion, Joseph went closer to Aesop, “what are you up to?” He asked, Aesop looked at him, awkwardly at his ear. “The flowers” he said pointing behind him as he backed away again.

Joseph smiled, he took a few steps to his right to look over at the flowers, “the flowers?” He raised a brow, Aesop narrowed his eyes downward, then to his side. He turned around and walked to the flowers. Joseph smirked and walked closer to him, “Will I hear more words from you?” He teased, Aesop just kept focusing on the flowers.

Joseph stared at him before chuckling, he knelt down a bit lower to meet Aesop’s eyes, “you excited for your match today?” He asked, Aesop gently watered the plants.

“Ehh, it’s whatever, I'd rather be doing many more than those matches” he said. Joseph smiled ear-to-ear. He snickered a bit as he fixed his bangs.

“Well, I heard your opponent is named…hmm…” he paused as he looked around, “Alva, I believe…” he said calmly. “I’ll let you in on a secret, since we’re the bestest friends ever” he said, then got really close to Aesop’s ear, Joseph started to whisper. To know if Aesop was actually listening would be impossible.

After a moment of this, someone slam open the door, Joseph straightened his posture as he looked at the door frame.

“My, what could have a door done to be subjected to such harm?” Joseph joked. Aesop slowly looked over to find Ganji glaring at him.

“You…!” Ganji paused as he stared at Joseph, who was only giving Ganji a smirk to look at. Joseph moved his hands behind his back. Aesop turned his body to fully face Ganji.

“Ganji..” Aesop said as he looked at Ganji’s face, which looked like it was going to burst at any moment.

“It’s time to get ready. Our match is starting soon.” He said, then slammed the door, though faint you could hear Ganji’s stomps on the floor. Aesop rolled his eyes as he looked over at Joseph, “goodbye, again..” he said, Joseph chuckled as he waved.

“Do Play well, and please come to my room after your match…I’m on the second floor”Joseph said as he looked over at the marigolds, which had been lightly sprayed with water.

Aesop slowly walked to the door again, then he froze, he sighed as he rested his hand down to his side, “I will.” He said, then he moved his hand back onto the doorknob and slowly turned it.

Joseph smiled as he watched Aesop leave, such a quiet man, the one thing a photographer could love, peace. Joseph looked at the flowers again, this time pulling out his camera, he hummed as he started to take more photos.

The match had begun.

It was a common rule that each and every member of a team would pick a separate cipher just to get more decoding out of the way. Aesop was lucky to be placed in a corner of the arena, giving him much access for hiding.

He set his coffin down on the ground and began his decoding.

“Pi is 3.14159…” Aesop mumbled, his fingers clicked on the broken keypad, this cipher machine was admittedly tough and overly sensitive to incorrect answers. As he was typing the ciphers began to connect to an unknown source, luckily Joseph had warned him of this, so he wasn’t too afraid. All he had to do was hope his teammates were good at stalling.

As he kept typing, he realized it was a long time before any cipher was completed. Aesop was more of a slow decoder because of his inability to understand certain prompts the machine gave him. He isn’t to blame, who would remember all of pi?

He raised his head up slowly and looked around, luckily for him this Alva guy wasn’t looking for him…hopefully of course. He shrugged as he lowered his head back down.

“All animals that start with E?? Are you kidding me??” He mumbled again, he started to think from the top of his head. As he started to write in some answers, someone, someone behind him pulled him into an arm lock. To say he was caught off guard would be an understatement. Aesop clawed at the arm holding him, he try to use his legs to push himself out, but this person was too strong.

How could he not hear him????

He started to scream slightly, half of his airways was blocked so he would have to scream so loudly to even have his voice escape the corner he was in. He started to steady his balance again and started to slam this person into the wall, “Off me!!” He shouted, not able to say ‘get’. Aesop slammed himself and this person against the wall several times until the person behind him let go.

However,

However when this person let go of Aesop, they didn’t make sure Aesop had their balance, nor that the area was ground safe. So when Aesop tripped again the balance issues, he landed headfirst to a rock. Aesop couldn’t see much, in fact he couldn’t make out any details of the person who did it. Was it Alva? Was it Naib?? Was it Ganji? Though Ganji was pretty loud so highly doubt that.

All Aesop knew…was that he was staring at his corpse.

Chapter Text

The clock ticked against the wall, Joseph and Aesop were seated across the manor people…allegedly, as they couldn’t see them because of a big veil covering them, like a confessional.

Despite the number of rules broken, and a dead guy being brought back to life, they were given just a slap on the wrist. As the two left, Aesop looked around them, it was a clear hallway with no paintings, no one went in that hall unless they had to. Joseph stared at him for a brief moment.

“We should probably get you cleaned up…and a new pair of clothes ....and well” Joseph paused, Aesop turned to him, oddly looking at his eyebrows now, it was more obvious to tell where Aesop was looking since they were (almost) the same height.

“Figure out exactly what happened?” Joseph said, raising his eyebrows a bit, Aesop raised one eyebrow.

“That’s simple, I landed on a rock and died. The end” he said, despite how cold that came out he just didn’t want to think about his own death, ironic for a man to fiddle with dead bodies all day suddenly revolt against dealing with his own.

“Well usually you don’t just land on rocks now. Something had to have happened, and no one said anything”Joseph said, he crossed his arms as he looked Aesop in his eyes, even though Aesop was looking elsewhere. Aesop’s eyes widened only a tad bit, but rested again fast, Aesop was good at his poker face but not everything could be sealed. Joseph smirked at him.

“Knew it, you're just as curious” he said, Aesop’s eyebrows furrowed, “not at the moment, I just got out of dirt.” He said calmly, Joseph grinned as he fixed his hair a bit, “okay okay, I’ll drop it for now” he said and pulled him along, “I have spare clothes…” he said, Aesop could only sigh as he walked with Joseph.

As the two exited the hallway, Michiko rushed over, “what happened in there??” She asked a bit too fast, Joseph flinched a bit as he smiled at her, “oh you know, those manor guys trying to scare us as always” he joked, he let go of Aesop as he gave a recap to Michiko.

Aesop’s eyes narrowed away from the two and looked around the dining hall, when you die then come back to life you start to enjoy the little things. Aesop looked at the small meek people he once called his neighbors, or teams depending on day. Now they were his “prey”. When he looked closer he found Patricia staring at him, not that much of a problem. Though Aesop didn’t like the staring.

Patricia got up and rushed back into the hall where her room would be. Not saying a word to Aesop, let alone a wave. Aesop started to think about her reaction a bit as Michiko grabbed his face.

“You are covered in dirt! they just let you walk in like this??” She said, “your clothes are torn too!” She said, then she looked at his hair too.

Aesop stared at her, “can you let go of me” he asked, despite the blunt words he said this rather polite, Joseph chuckled as he nudged him playfully. “Forgive him, he’s rather more blunt than all the other guys,” Joseph joked.

“Say Michiko, you’re pretty good with your outfits, can we get some assistance on a temporary outfit for our dear friend?” He said, Aesop glanced over at him, well he really glared at him, but Michiko agreed so fast it wasn’t even noticeable. Thus Michiko AND Joseph dragged Aesop down the hall to Joseph’s room.

“What the hell.” Aesop said looking around, Joseph’s room was three times (if not more!!) the size of Aesop’s room, let alone anyone!

“Watch your mouth, there’s a lady present” Joseph mocked, Michiko chuckled as the two looked into Joseph’s closet.

“How did you get such a big room??” Aesop asked as he walked around, not only did he have a big bed, his room
Had a bathroom included! For him he had to go to a more public bathroom where the showers barely had any privacy, luckily however it was separated amongst genders.

“What are you talking about? It’s the same as any of us” Joseph said, “how do you feel about the color white?” Joseph hummed as he faced a white button up over Aesop to see how it’ll look. Aesop was so shocked he didn’t even care about the color.

“I really don’t care” Aesop said as he walked towards the window, Joseph had a whole view of the green house!

“Are you going to get in the shower anytime soon, Carl?” Joseph teased, Aesop flinched a bit then nodded as he unbuttoned his tipped coat.

“Yes sorry, this room is just, very different from mine…” he said, he gently set his coat on the side table of the bed, since it was far too dirty to put on the bed but far too clean to put on the floor. Aesop walked to the bathroom as he unbuttoned his undershirt and closed the door behind him.

“Black will always match, so black pants are a must” Michiko said, Joseph nodded, “we can throw him in this blue button up, I don’t wear it anymore, it’s not my color” Joseph said, Michiko nodded in approval, as the two set down the outfit on the bed there was a scream in the bathroom. Michiko turned fast, startled by the noise.

“Mister Carl, are you okay?” Joseph said, rather too calmly for someone who just heard bloody murder. There was a brief silence. Michiko stared at Joseph and Joseph looked at her, he sighed as he knocked on the bathroom door.

“One last chance before I open the door, are you okay Carl?” He asked, he waited a good five seconds before he opened the door. Aesop was leaning against the counter, looking at himself in the mirror. His lower torso was only but bones, it wasn’t that shocking to see yourself decayed after you become a “hunter”, though Aesop was still new at this.

“What the fuck is even happening.” Aesop said and he kept touching his bones, Joseph stared at him, “you died, you were put there for a while, i imagined some parts of your body to be…y’know” Joseph said, Aesop paused as he removed his mask. Luckily his face was intact. Somehow.

He paused then rushed to take off his belt, Joseph raised a brow at him being so fidgety. Aesop snatched his belt off and looked in his pants, he took a sigh of relief before he grabbed onto the corners of the counter. Joseph smirked and chuckled.

“Happy that part’s still there?” He joked.
Aesop turned to him slowly, “this is already a nightmare.” He said, he slowly turned back to the mirror as he examined his own face and hair.

Joseph looked at him then sighed, he left the bathroom for a moment, “michiko, can you do me a flavor and leave us alone for a bit, Aesop, has a personal issue..” he said, Michiko flinched as she started to open her mouth, though no words came out.

“Of course!” She said and rushed out of his room. Joseph smiled and waved, once the door clicked he walked back to the bathroom.

“Now politely, you need to calm down”he said, Aesop glared at him, he walked closer up to his face.

“Calm down? CALM down?? Do you not realize that I literally just crawled out from the ground after meeting my demise and now I’m supposed to act natural and be this new person?” He said, he started to poke at Joseph’s chest, “you haven't a CLUE what is happening! You aren’t even decaying yourself?? How dare you tell me to calm down?!” He shouted. Joseph stared at him and grabbed his arm tightly.

“Have you forgotten? All of us are dead.” Joseph said, as calmly as he could. Aesop just glared at him. Joseph pushed him against the counter as he started to roughly unbutton and untie his clothes. He practically tore through his clothes all the way till his torso was revealed. It wasn’t as horrific as Aesop, but most definitely not human. It lacked the organs, fat, tissue, and maybe even muscle in his torso, he was just a skeleton with skin to cover it up.

“You don’t even want to know about the lady with the big red dress” Joseph said, Aesop stared at him for a moment, then narrowed his eyes to the floor.

“You make it sound so easy.” Aesop said bluntly. He clenched his fists quietly.

“It’s not. It’s really not” Joseph said, “death is the worst thing to ever happen, yet we all have to look forward to it.” He added, Aesop looked up and straight at him.

“Now I know you are upset and everything, but it could be a lot worse.” Joseph said as he looked at Aesop. Aesop tried to hold contact this time since it was serious.

“Now can you try to calm down so you can get all that gunk off?” He asked, Aesop stared at him for a moment, he narrowed his eyes downward towards the floor. He took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror.

“Alright…I’m calm now” Aesop said as he looked at the counter, it was covered in fine marble, the newest trend of the time as of late. Joseph smiled and grabbed his shirt off the floor, “good, I’ll be waiting out here” he said and left the bathroom quietly. He shut the door behind him and dropped his clothes to the floor with a heavy sigh. He walked to his closet and pulled out a spare button up, one he traditionally wore when he had his wine nights.

Joseph watched the clock above his doorframe. Tick, tick, tick, tick. By 20 minutes, Aesop came out, his hair still looked disastrous. “Desaulniers..” Aesop murmured, Aesop looked over at Joseph who was laying on the bed. He still couldn’t probably find his way to look Joseph in the eye so he looked at his legs instead, and they were long, and just the right amount of meaty, wait what was he thinking?

Joseph looked over and sat up.

“Yes Carl?” He said as he gave out a light yawn.

“Can I have the clothes?”he said, pointing at the outfit laid out of the bed next to Joseph. Joseph looked over at him then at the clothes, then quickly back at him.

“But your hair is still dirty?” Joseph said getting up, Aesop raised a brow, “no it’s not,” he said. Joseph looked at him then touched his hair. Aesop backed away fast and Joseph revealed his hand to be covered in mud. “Yes it is” Joseph grinned.

Aesop rolled his eyes as he turned back to the sink in the bathroom.

“If you need help I won’t mind, Just make sure your towel doesn’t fall down” he said, Aesop groaned and tightened the towel around him, Joseph smirked and waltzed his way over and forced him to bend down slightly. He grabbed some of his shampoo and started to really scrub into his scalp.

“Are you trying to clean my hair or my brain?” Aesop remarked, tumbling slightly as he grabbed Joseph’s arm. Joseph chuckled as he kept going, “we need to clean all the gunk out of you” he said and started to wash his hair out, more and more gunk came out of his hair. It was just quiet between the two, a few hums from Joseph every time he washed his hair again and again, as there was a lot of mud in Aesop’s hair.

“Did dying feel weird to you?” Aesop asked, Joseph looked at him for a slight moment then hummed.

“No, I was expecting death, so I didn’t notice anything weird” he stated, “though waking up again after death was certainly a shock” he added as he rubbed his fingers through Aesop’s hair to see if it had anymore hidden gunk.

“Why?” He asked, Aesop stared at the sink for a long moment.

“I remember how I was dying, my head was beating like a heart, my ears were ringing, all I could see was blood, I couldn’t even tell where the blood was coming from, it was too bright yet everything was getting darker, I felt my body moving but I wasn’t the one moving, nothing was working how I wanted to” he stated as he kept staring at the marble counter, Joseph was sweating a bit at the details. He gulped quietly.

“I was left to rot, ironic for an embalmer, no?” Aesop added, Joseph blinked and didn’t know how to respond, luckily his hair was finally cleaned out, of course he’ll have to clean out his sink later.

“How about this, I’ll throw you a funeral for you” Joseph said calmly and turned Aesop around, Aesop had these tired eyes you couldn’t well tell what he was feeling.

“After you get dressed, I’ll have you lay down on my very, cozy bed, and we have a funeral for you,” he said calmly, smiling as finished. Aesop raised a brow at him.

“You do know Embalmers don’t work with-“ “sh sh shhh” Joseph said putting a finger on his lips, Aesop sighed.

“Fine whatever…can I get my clothes now?” He said, Joseph chuckled and walked over and grabbed some spare clothes.

“Here you go, your highness” he said, holding them for Aesop to grab, Aesop grabbed it and looked at it, then his towel fell over. There was a loud and long silence that followed, a light breeze too. Joseph looked down for a second then cleared his throat.

“Well I see where the extra height wen-“ Aesop slammed the bathroom door and locked it, it took Joseph a long time to compose himself, he was trying so hard not to laugh.

Chapter Text

Once Aesop stepped out, he found that Joseph was shuffling his bed a certain way. Aesop raised a brow as he watched him do so.

“What are you doing?” Aesop asked once he got close enough, Joseph hummed as he turned around.

“Well Carl, here is your makeshift coffin!” He chuckled, then he grabbed Aesop and slammed him down into his bed. Aesop stared at him a bit surprised.

“Now you just lay here, and I’ll gather the props” he smiled, then Joseph left his room without a word.

Aesop rolled his eyes and calmly laid down, resting his eyes for a moment.

Aesop was running from the hunter, spider lady? Bear man? He couldn’t tell, as he turned the corner, something came from that corner and hit his eye, and he fell onto the rock, his head started to burn and he felt like his neck was twisting as the pain got more severe, a figure stood before him as the light from Aesop’s eyes started to fade away, Aesop grabbed his throat as he reached for the figure, but to no avail.

“Aesop…”

“Aesop….”

“Oh Aesop…wake up now!” Joseph said, Aesop gasped slightly as he opened his eyes quickly, he looked around to find more hunters before him.

“Um…hello?” Aesop said, a bit surprised, Michiko smiled as each one held a yellow flower. Joseph smiled as he cleared his throat.

“We are gathered here today, to honor the memory of Aesop Carl” he started, Aesop paused then sighed.

“Oh heavens..” he mumbled as he laid back down. Trying to ignore them but how could you ignore them?

“Some May knew him as prey, some might have known as a friend, or maybe a lover” Joseph joked, Aesop side eyed him quietly as the others giggled. Norton cleared his throat and landed on top of Aesop, “OH WHY IT HAD TO BE YOU” he yelled, giving that funeral drama, Mary grabbed a tissue as she faked weeped.

“I’m overstimulated.” Aesop thought as Norton was clinging to him, many funerals he had attended in the back but surely he has never seen this?!

“It…it is time to close the casket” Joseph said trying to hide his laugh, “NOOOOOOO” Norton cried out, the others started to giggle, Aesop just sighed as he and to rest there.

Joseph grabbed a thin cloth to put over Aesop to resemble the casket, “NOOOOOOOOOOO” Norton yelled, he was doing quite the performance, Joseph bit his lip to not laugh as he placed it onto Aesop’s face. Norton collapsed to the floor and faked wail. Aesop wanted to go back to his room.

Later on, the funeral was finished, and Joseph was cleaning up the mess. Aesop was helping quietly.

“I hope the funeral was…at least a quarter to your liking” Joseph chuckled, Aesop looked at him, "I know that Norton won’t go to any funeral I’m hosting”he said quietly, Joseph snickered at that.

“However my memories are starting to come back a little” he added, Joseph paused and then got super duper close to Aesop, Aesop paused and then backed away slowly.

“Well spill,” Joseph said with a big grin on his face. Aesop narrowed his eyes for a brief moment, then took a deep breath.

“I thought I was dead at the start of the game, but I saw myself running when the gates were opened…” he explained, “I don’t think I was dead for that long.” He added quietly, Joseph stared at him, he crossed his arms as he began to think.

“I guess that means we have to ask Alva what happened.” Joseph said calmly, Aesop raised a brow, “Alva? It was Alva?” He asked. Joseph paused as he looked at him, he raised a brow back at him but somehow he looked even more confused than Aesop.

“Who else would it be?”