In Another Life

[Wham Yubeesling]

(are you there?)




(are you there?)






(are you there, Verity?)

[ItzToxie]

"Wake the fuck up, Respect."










"We have a game to win."

[Wham Yubeesling]

(verity)



(verity)


(please get up)

[ItzToxie]

There was a sigh.



"...So much for dramatic one-liners."


*Clap. Clap. Clap-


"Heeeey, wakey wakeeeyy, you gotta big daaay todaaay~ There's a lotta people who wannna kiiiiilllll yooooouuuu~"

....



"Seriously girl, if you keep fucking laying there I'll kill you myself before Anthony or Ivan gets the chance."










"Somehow..."

[Wham Yubeesling]

(please)

(please get up)

(please, Verity)

[ItzToxie]

"Verity, seriously..."


"You HAVE to get up. If you don't, well..."





"You're not dead, so please just wake up. You'll have enough time to rest after this is over, or if you don't make it, but right now you don't have much of a choice in the matter; not as a threat or-"


"Verity, there's a lot of angry people left out for YOUR blood. If you don't wake up because of me, you'll wake up because of them. You're not going peacefully into the night, and if they get you, you MOST CERTAINLY won't. They won't let you."

"Verity; please. Get up."

"If not for the Respects, then for yourself. Take control while you still have the chance."






"...Please."

[Wham Yubeesling]

"I'm-






"I'm here. I'm here. I'm just...

"Where are we?"

[ItzToxie]

"The boat."


"You know you're not out of this shit yet, right?"

[Wham Yubeesling]

"Yeah, I know, just...

"Is there a point in trying to get out?"

[ItzToxie]

"You got this far haven't you?"





"You know sometimes I don't get you. Most times really. Sure, some times I think I get a grasp, I think I figure you out. You joined us because you wanted us dead, but then when the perfect opportunity comes, when Keegan's gone, when there's nothing for you to stay for, you save me. At the time I thought it was some sort of change of heart, for Keegan maybe. Later on I think it's Stockholme Syndrome. After Greg, I figured you were just keeping me around to get you to the end. I don't know. Still don't I suppose.

It isn't just that though."

The click clack clack of Fisk's metal heels stopped at the railing.


"You're a walking anomaly. I don't mean that as an insult, just so you know. It's a compliment, though I don't know how to really put it into the right words. You're the first to kill, first to make an Alliance with Alyssa, second to meet us, but hell you're the first to do some real damage to us when you shot Keegan. You should've never walked away that day, and yet, you did, AND you came back. You wanted to join us after all of that, and we just let you. You even became one of us. You betrayed Alyssa when she was your friend, and though you hated us, you were loyal to the end."


"And then there's your track record- you survive things that should've killed you ten times over. When Akeno's lacky, Jasper could wipe the floor with three of us, you and I both know what she could do when she got her hands on us. And you fought her, multiple times; on your own. And each time you did, you won.

Fucking crazy, right?"

"Hell, even that explosion in the ballroom. Fucking incinerated Mandy and what's-her-name, and you were right there in the epicenter. You know that a rooftop support beam fell right through the exact spot you were standing, right? That whole area collapsed inward, and instead of getting crushed, or burnt, or blown to pieces, you fell through, unharmed, or as unharmed you could be considering the circumstances."

"Ivan could only wish he was that invincible. Scary as he is, he's still just a man. You're different. The fact that you're still here is a fucking miracle-


huh, guess I found a word that fits better than anomaly."


"You've done all that, more too, and now you're here, not even the final stretch, you're literally touching the finish line, the trophy's right there. All you have to do is reach-"

Fisk pantomimed, then closed his fist.

"-and grab it."

He turned around.


"But now, now of all times, you want to give up? I mean, I'm not telling you what to do, if you want to get out, be my guest." He beckoned towards the railing.

"It'd be a lot less painful than if you failed, don't get me wrong, but-"


"It'd be a waste, too. All of that, after fighting so hard, the bodies you've taken, the lives you've impacted, and it ends just like that? That wouldn't be good for, well, anyone. Least of all you. You want more than that, you deserve more. Besides, if it isn't you, who's going home? Ivan? Fucking Anthony? Some other... fuckin' nobody?" His hand flapped dismissively, indignantly.

Fisk stared. He glanced out at the ocean.

"You want a point? How about just because you can?"

[Wham Yubeesling]

“...Shit.

“You’re… right. Maybe. I… don’t know. It’s just…

“I don’t even know… what I am or why I’m doing what I’m doing. Everything that’s happened has just sort of happened and all I can do is go along and do what I think… is maybe right or smart or the best thing to do but I can’t tell you what they all mean in the end. They’re just things. They just happen. I went up against Akeno and somehow every time I managed to win. I should’ve been crushed by the ceiling or destroyed or something in the fall through the floor and yet I almost walked it off. I… I tried to kill myself, jump into the ocean from the top of the cruise ship fucking day one and somehow I was fine. There’s… there’s…

“There’s something keeping me here.

“That’s… the only reason I’m still alive. Because something wants me to be. Because maybe there’s a point to me still being here. But, like…

“What’s the point? It’s not… it’s not like I can go home, after all this. It’s not like there’d even be a home. Because before this… before this I was just me. I was just some girl with no friends but Keegan who hung out by herself in the empty classrooms and played games and wrote on the internet and was just shit. At everything. Why would I ever want to go back to that? Could I… even do that, if I wanted to? I… I told myself in the mirror that I was still Verity. That there was a part of the old me that was still there, somewhere, but there isn’t. It’s gone. I’m… I’m not Verity anymore. I’m just… whatever the fuck my number even was. There’s nothing left for me back home. This… this ship is my world. This ship is the only place I’m ever going to matter, and-

“And…

“And maybe that’s why you’re right.

“Maybe the point is that there isn’t a point.

“Maybe I… maybe I can do this. Maybe I don’t need a reason. And…

“And if I do it. If I take out Ivan, and Anthony, and whoever else… maybe we can keep us all alive.

“Not just you and me. James. Keegan. Even Bacchia and the others. We can… we can make sure they never die. We can make sure they’re remembered for… who they were. Not just because they got on TV. I…

“I can do this.

“We can do this.

“What’s our plan?”

[ItzToxie]

Fisk nodded. "Always said it. Perception's reality. What people see of you, is what you are. If you control their perception, you control their reality. All these laws and meanings and theories have one thing in common. Someone saw them, and then spelled them out in a way that other's perceive it as their original vision. You have the power to change reality if you're strong enough."


"You are." There was a smile.


"As for the plan..." Fisk began to pace, the creak of floorboards moving as he stepped back and forth, left arm behind his back, right arm wrapped around his chest.


"What fucked up for us earlier was unfortunately circumstances of our own creation, our perception, and our enemies' reality. We were the biggest threats to the remaining contestants. Sure, Anthony's the biggest killer, but all he's killed was the helpless, and sure, Ivan's killed a lot but he had targets, a method. Everyone else was safe from his wrath for the time being. As for the others, well; they're nobodies, they've coasted right on by, underneath each other's noses." Fisk's right arm grasped his chin as he pondered.

"Us? We're public enemy number one. We were the only individuals organized enough to form a coherent group. Even if we were made up of multiple teams there was no chance of The Respects splintering off and falling apart, let alone when all that remained were made of the assigned team. The others stood no chance, even Ivan and whatever World War two era combat grade amphetamines his family's been feeding him since his childhood to keep him alive through all of this. Of course, their only chance for survival is to work together to get rid of us. So they did."

Fisk shrugged.

"My gangland executions and cocaine induced breakdowns involving me dancing around the ship wearing the severed faces of my enemies didn't help... My bad."

Clicking his tongue, Fisk resumed pacing.

"Buuut, their tactic for survival revealed their most glaring weakness. It's no surprise the remaining contestants hate each other, intensely; but they can put aside their differences for a common goal, temporarily. Y'see where I'm getting at? The way I see it, there's two tactics to countering this, all connected to their two biggest flaws."

"You could apply to their tunnel vision, point them in the direction of their biggest enemy, and when they've got them down for the count, ready to take them out-"

Fisk pointed his hand like holding a gun towards Verity.


"You fall back while they aren't paying attention, and then you light them all up, take them out at once while they're too focused on say Anthony, or Ivan."


"Or if you don't trust that hard; there's always option number two, play to their pettiness. Remind them they're all still enemies to each other. You play low key, and let them tire themselves out. Stay low, stay safe, and wait, play patiently. Eventually they'll turn on each other, and take themselves out. Your worst threats are already broken beyond repair, so they'll most likely die in the melee that ensues, and whoever comes out won't be much better off. Whoever's left won't be much of a challenge for you."

Fisk put his hands on his hips, beaming.

"Easy peasy lemon squeezy. Of course; you're probably wondering how you'd pull either of them off. Aren't we public enemies number one?"

There was the soft pad of footsteps coming down the hall. Fisk's face took a somber turn. He tried to smile reassuringly, but his eyes were sad.


"Fortunately for you, we're no longer public enemy number one. Unfortunately for me, neither am I." Fisk sighed. He turned to the new arrival.


"Sorry about earlier. You know we tried right?"

[MurderWeasel]

"Yeah. 's alright. I appreciate it, um, having friends. And not being killed and all.

"...by you, I mean."

[Wham Yubeesling]

"Wait-"

[Wham Yubeesling]

"No-"