O Death

[Spindarene]

((Lily Ashburg continued from We're All Mad Here))

Not knowing what else to do, Lily had started walking back in the direction they'd come from, aiming for the orchard. It was sheltered enough to hide them, but also open enough that they could run away if they needed to.

She glanced at the buildings they passed somewhat wistfully; it would be nice to have some heat, not to mention a real bathroom, but they were all too small to ensure a quick escape.

She hadn't spoken to Dougie since they'd left the beach. She wasn't sure if it was just her, but things had seemed awkward between them since the argument.

While she and Dougie hadn't always gotten along during the two years they'd known each other, this was the first time that they'd had a real fight. They'd occasionally snapped at each other on bad days, but nothing like this. The funny thing was, Lily didn't even know which of them had ended up in the right, probably because it didn't really matter. She knew that she, at least, had mostly been lashing out, trying to find an outlet for her anger and stress about a situation she couldn't control. She still didn't agree with everything that Douige had done, but she knew that she'd handled things badly. Her stomach still squirmed with guilt when she thought about some of the stuff she'd said, especially since she knew that they didn't have much time left together.

She was also becoming increasingly uncomfortable with the way Dougie was behaving. He'd been growing steadily more aggressive, especially after the second announcement. She knew that some of it was to be expected, considering what they'd heard about Jewel and especially Pia, but it still wasn't a good sign.

She'd also been thinking over the stuff he'd said to her on the beach, and while she'd been moved by his words at the time, the more she thought, the more they worried her. “If you hadn't walked over there all hunky dory, I wouldn't have had to protect you.” “As far as I'm concerned, it's you. That's it.” “You matter.”

She'd half hoped that Dougie's mission to get her home had been a reaction to what had been going on last night. They'd just found each other after being thrown into a death match; she knew she'd been more than a little emotional at the time. She'd hoped that it had  been his way of dealing with things, putting off the possibility of her death by promising to save her.

After what he'd said at the beach, however, she knew he was far from giving up. She also knew that the more he tried to take care of her, the less he would take care of himself, which meant that she would have to keep a closer eye on him.

She wanted to be angry at him for doing this to her, for putting her in this position, but the only feelings she seemed to be capable of at the moment were worry, guilt, and sadness.

Lily kept walking even after they were well into the orchard, putting off talking to Dougie until she actually had to. After a while she noticed a tangy, metallic smell that she thought seemed familiar but couldn't place.

As she rounded the outside of a particularly large tree, she saw the body of a boy sprawled on the ground next to a fishing pond. His head had been completely smashed in, and was now scattered all over the ground. There was blood everywhere.

Lily barely had time to realize what was happening before she doubled over at the base of the tree and threw up. Steadying herself on the tree, she coughed and heaved until nothing more came up, then shakily wiped her mouth with a handful of snow.

“Fuck!” she gasped as she straightened up, trying to avoid seeing the pieces of brain and skull in her peripheral vision, unable to get the sick smell out of her nose. “Oh fuck...”

[Latin For Dragula]

"Yeah. Wasn't a pretty way to go."

((Vahka Basayev Continued From Cleansing))

Someone had found Vince. Lily, if he was remembering her name right, and Dougie, that big motherfucker Pia was with for awhile. Funny little coincidence, running into him here.

Almost as funny as their matching bandannas.

Vahka let the sword drift down to rest with its tip in the snow as he stepped through the grove of trees. "Decent guy. Better partner. I'm gonna miss 'im."

His hand pushed a few stray hairs back up over his bandanna as he glanced between them. He hadn't seen anybody else on his team until now. The question running through his head now was whether it changed anything.

[The Honeless Beard]

((Dougie Sharpe, We're all mad here.))

While Lily threw up, Dougie was comparing shoe sizes in the snow, head bowed as he matched his shoe in the slightly bigger footprint, frowning to himself. He didn't visibly react to the bloody corpse that had once been a living, breathing person, instead just tugged at his beanie, frowned down at the comparison.

And wasn't at all surprised when Vahka made himself known.

His grip tightened on the bat, raising it over his head in a hitter's stance before he stepped between Vahka and Lily, his boot sliding into a puddle of pink snow, staining the brown leather.

Vahka's bandana matched his.

He didn't give a shit.

"Lily, stay behind me," Dougie said, his voice low, urgent, "and you stay in front of me, Vahka. We're leaving. We're just going to turn around and - stay the fuck back."

[Spindarene]

Lily felt like her body had turned into ice as Vahka stepped out from behind a tree, wearing a long green cloak with his bandana tied around his head, holding a long sword at his side. She stared at him with wide eyes as he casually told them that he was responsible for the body on the ground. Her breath came in small gasps as her whole body started to shake, her eyes darting between the mangled corpse and Vahka's face.

She didn't understand, couldn't understand what could make someone do this to another person. She could understand killing out of self-defense or fear, or even to get the ten kills that were needed to go home, but this hadn't been any of those things. This was killing for the sake of killing, for sadistic enjoyment. Lily stared at Vahka's face, trying wrap her head around it.

In one quick movement, Dougie stepped between her and Vahka, raising the bat.

“Dougie don't...” she whimpered as he moved past her, but wasn't able to finish. Instead, she pressed herself against the tree she'd vomited next to, feeling the rough bark digging into her back. She felt like she should be doing something, like protecting Dougie or running away, but she couldn't move. All she could do was tremble and stare.

[Latin For Dragula]

This was almost cute. Dougie, standing there like Babe Ruth, with Vahka's head playing the role of a botched fastball right over the center of the plate, and Lily shaking behind him like an umpire too scared to take charge when he fails.

Vahka gave Dougie a wistful smile and stroked the pommel of his sword. "Y'know," he drawled, "first guy I ran into here wasn't so polite about it. Shoved his gun right in my face, and pulled the trigger."

He stared into Dougie's eyes. "It didn't have the balls to go off." Exaggeration, but Dougie didn't need to know that. He was scared. He knew what Vahka was capable of, now, and he seemed to think it had a chance of getting directed at him.

His voice stayed calm and low as the sword's tip slid through the snow and came to rest over his shoulder. "If I wanted to hurt you, you'd know, and there wouldn't be a fuckin' thing you could do about it. Just like that dead bastard and his gun. So drop the hero schtick, and let's talk."

[The Honeless Beard]

"You've got nothing to say that I'd want to hear."

Dougie kept the bat high, eyes narrowed, knees bending slightly. Fear might've registered, if it weren't for desperation and rage that took over.

He wouldn't be threatened by a maniac.

"Leave. Now."

[Spindarene]

Lily's eyes flickered between the two men as she tried to get the image of Bane breaking Batman's back out of her head.

She was still shaking and her heart pounded against her chest. She'd hoped for a moment that the fact that they were on the same team would keep them from fighting, but she knew that was stupid. The teams were arbitrary numbers picked at random, holding no power over people who were trapped in a small space and told to murder each other. She'd seen someone kill someone else on the same team last season while she'd been at Regina's party, so she knew that there would be no punishment from the producers. There was nothing to stop Vahka and Dougie from ripping each other apart except her.

What could she do? Compared to Dougie she was a twig, and she didn't think that words of reason would work this time, not to mention the fact that Dougie was the only thing standing between her and dying. She didn't think she'd ever felt this helpless.

She needed to say something. She needed to do something. She needed to break them apart, keep them from fighting before it was too late.

She stayed where she was and continued to stare.

[Latin For Dragula]

Vahka let out a low, defeated sigh, and started to turn to leave. It was a feint. As his profile obscured his movement, his left hand dropped into his pocket and pulled out the secreted grenade. He stuck his thumb through the pin and promptly snapped back, glaring into Dougie's eyes.

"This," he stated slowly, "is a grenade. You take a step, one way or the other..." Cold, slim dots of vision honed in on the girl behind him, "and we're gonna see how well she plays catch."

He held his ground as he stared down the large man. It didn't have to be this way. Dougie had made his choice, though, and a bandanna wasn't going to stop Vahka from stamping this macho bullshit down.

"Are we gonna stand here measurin' our dicks all day, or are we gonna talk like reasonable folks?"

[MurderWeasel]

A voice echoes loudly from Vahka's collar.

"Vahka, you will put the grenade away. You will turn around and walk the other direction right now. You will not further antagonize your teammates. If you do not comply, you will not hear from me again, and I will do everything within my power to ensure the remainder of your time in this game is brief and unpleasant."

[The Honeless Beard]

Upon hearing Vahka's response, Dougie almost laughed, devoid of mirth. He wanted to repeat Vahka's words back to him - a murderer, who threatened a friend of his with death by explosion, asking him to be civilized?

Did Vahka have any concept of civilized, now?

Had he ever?

Dougie was saved from laughing by a voice emnating from Vahka's collar, a voice that had his softening resolve harden once more. He stood stock still, the bat still raised, as the lady finished.

"I think," Dougie bit out, nodding his chin in the direction Vahka came from, "you're far too reasonable to be a Jhamel, Vahka."

[Spindarene]

Lily felt a sharp, sick jolt in her stomach at Vahka's words. She knew that he wasn't bluffing; if Dougie didn't do exactly what he wanted, he was going to kill both of them.

Her heart pounded and her legs shook as she waited for him to throw the grenade. She looked up at Dougie, desperately wishing that she'd told  him how sorry she was for what she'd said on the beach. She couldn't believe that they were going to die like this, on the whim of a psychopath.

She jumped slightly as a female voice spoke up from Vahka's collar, telling him to let them go. While Lily had always disliked the mentors, adults who willingly participated in the show, in that moment she felt a rush of gratitude towards this woman. She appriciated anything that could help them out of this mess.

Lily knew that she should stay silent, that she should just hope that Vahka would walk away, that she shouldn't provoke him like Dougie was, but the fact that she was probably going to die in a minute made her reckless.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked quietly, staring at Vahka.

[Latin For Dragula]

Am I the only person on this fuckin' team that wants to get out of here? It sure as hell seemed like it, with Dougie going hostile the second he showed up, and the boss shooting off on him the second he got the situation under control. Couldn't be helped, for now. They needed to talk, though.

The grenade slipped back into his pocket. " 'scuse me. Gotta have a little chat with the boss."

Vahka glanced over Dougie's shoulder one last time and smiled as he put the grenade away. "Keep your eyes open, bud," he said as he turned his back.

"Be a real shame if somethin' happened 'cuz you weren't around."

((Vahka Basayev Continued in Ground Rules))

[The Honeless Beard]

Dougie hissed through his teeth at Vahka's back, his whole body remaining tense until he was sure that Vahka was going to make good on his implication. Then he relaxed in a sudden slump, arms and legs going slightly limp as he sagged forwards, slowly exhaling, letting his breath come.

He glanced back at Lily, smiled warily, and rolled his shoulders. When he was sure she was steady, he put a hand on her shoulder, tapping at his collar.

The lady had called him a 'teammate'.

"This doesn't make us, whatever, a package," he said to the open air, "and you need - get that through your head, okay?

"You did yourself - or our team," he bit off the word, tasting bitterness in his mouth, "a favour, kept us from killing each other. As far as I'm concerned, that means I don't owe you a thing. So just - stay out of this. Keep... being quiet."

He nodded, as if that settled the conversation, then glanced at Lily.

"I'm sorry... I'm just sorry. I didn't - that wasn't okay."

[Spindarene]

As soon as Vahka left, Lily's legs started to give way and she grabbed the tree to steady herself, breathing heavily.

She and Dougie had almost died. The only thing that had stopped Vahka from killing them had been a fucking bandana. This was insane. She had seen him at school, had had classes with him. The same was true for Pia and Jewel.

It was really happening, the inevitable transformation from classmates to murderers, people into monsters.

As Dougie put his hand on her shoulder, Lily's eyes filled with tears. She stared at the ground as he spoke to his mentor, trying to come up with the right words for what she wanted to say. When he finished, she looked up at his face.

“No, it really wasn't. You have to stop protecting me, Dougie. If you and Vahka hadn't been on the same team, he would've killed you on the spot. You can't keep throwing yourself between me and every threat we encounter. You're going to get yourself killed, and I can't—I won't let you die because of me. So this whole knight-in-shining-armor thing you've been doing needs to stop, right now. From now on, we handle things together.”

[Polybius]

((Brendan O'Toole continued from Aimless))

Brendan turned inward, towards the orchard that the path surrounded. The area seemed almost peaceful until Brendan came out of some bushes and found the body of some poor kid with his head smashed in.

"Holy shit."

A few feet away some blonde girl was crying while a tall black guy was comforting her. Neither of them were people he'd seen before. They were talking about something, but hell, Brendan wasn't listening. All he knew was that there were kids he didn't know next to a dead body and some vomit. He took a step back and pointed the cattle gun in their direction. Brendan wasn't sure if it'd even work from this distance, but he wasn't taking any risks with these kids. He hoped he wouldn't have to use it, anyway.

"You two have anything to do with this?"