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Helena’s eyes pop open. She’s on the ground, scattered and torn pages all around her. Her glasses are off
to the side, cane discarded. It’s past midnight and she was passed out in her room, trying to write. “Why does this always happen...” she sighed. Normally, she would get up, make sure she wasn’t injured, clean a little bit, and then go to bed. But today, she was exhausted. Even though she was in one of her fancier and stiffer outfits that she had to wear in matches sometimes, she didn’t have the energy. Stumbling to Demi’s room to beg for a quick pick-up would be a solution, even though she wasn’t technically old enough, but Demi would insist on knowing what had happened to her first, and then she would see her writings, and... no. That couldn’t happen, especially since today’s weren’t the usual stories or essays she wrote, they were memories of her dad. Euphoria could work in this situation but she was too far from Vera’s room, and there was always the chance Vera would be in the same state she was in, but worse- passed out, completely drunk off perfume, broken vials on the ground, unable to remember anything or anyone. Helena usually hated having company or people near her, but she now wished for someone to knock, someone to find her. As Helena was left with her thoughts, she climbed the few feet until she was in her bed and succumbed to sleep.
Finally, it was morning. As Helena went out of bed, she kicked the papers to the side and tried to put on a suitable frown that didn’t make it look like she was crying (because she wasn’t, she really wasn’t, her lip was just wobbling from her exhaustion, that’s all). Pulling out her assigned clothes for today, she smiled a bit as she felt the texture of worn clothes. Most manor participants didn’t like them, but Helena thought they were comfortable and good for running in. She changed slowly, trying to ignore her greasy hair and disgusting feeling that accompanied her when she didn’t shower. The worn clothes covered her dirtiness up a bit, which was yet another reason she liked them. Helena didn’t bother to brush out her hair or even get ready for the morning, muttering that she would do it later. She started the trek to the dining room, followed by survivors who got up earlier but joined the manor games later so their rooms were behind hers. Melly ran up to Helena. “Helena, are you doing okay? You seem-“ Helena brushed her off with an even more annoyed scowl than the one she was wearing. “I’m fine.” Helena couldn’t see much under Melly’s white veil that she had to wear today, but her mouth changed into a small pout. Good. She should have learned by now that I don’t like to interact.
The dining room was a shared space between survivors and hunters, and that caused for a lot of chaos. One seat was occupied by the small sculptor, who often stabbed into her clay block harshly at various points during the conversation, which tended to halt it quickly if it was an argument. One seat had the perfumer, who, as per usual, was mixing and smelling perfumes at inopportune times. She looked lightheaded with a faint smile. One seat was completely empty. Surrounding it were several women with grey skin and raggedy clothing, who appeared to be almost dead. But Helena knew, touching that chair guaranteed nightmares for weeks and the worst match pairings you could imagine. Helena shook her head, trying to enjoy Violetta’s food. She almost fell asleep halfway through, which resulted in Tracy poking her shoulder, saying, “Helena... matches are going to be distributed soon...” Although Helena wanted to sleep her eternal life here away, she knew she was going to get matched due to her assigned clothes today. As everyone’s plates were finally cleared, there was a blinding flash of light and envelopes appeared in front of everyone’s plates. Helena opened hers apprehensively. “The Mind’s Eye, Acrobat, Barmaid, Gravekeeper. 10 AM, Sacred Heart Hospital.” Helena almost cried right then and there. Mike was impossible, always trying to befriend her with that psychotic fake grin. He took unnecessary risks and often got to the point where hunters left him to bleed out due to their anger. Demi was nice, but put on an airhead persona around certain people (one of them was Mike) which was not helpful during matches. Plus, she was always drunk which wasn’t helpful for decoding. Andrew was... a bit of an enigma. Rather new, he kept to himself and lashed out at most people who went near him, so Helena couldn’t try to discover anything about him. All of them
performed semi-well under pressure, but they weren’t the people Helena needed. She needed Emily’s shoulder, warm and sturdy, to cry on as she got bandaged by her efficient hands. She needed Margaretha’s kind demeanor that would crack a (very unfunny) joke that took her five minutes to get the courage to say, but everyone would laugh at anyways. She needed Martha’s assured confidence and steady aim with her gun. But she got who she got.
Taking a deep breath, she stood up and tried to navigate to the designated room to wait out the few minutes she had left. The other three participants slowly trickled in, Demi flipping her bottle, Andrew staring ahead blankly, and Mike with that fake grin as per usual. “Hiya everyone! It’s your favorite acrobat, the star of the show, Mike Morton!” he said, earning a chuckle from Demi and a raised eyebrow from Andrew. Helena was almost asleep. “Ready up...” she mumbled. The others complied, already bored with Mike’s prematch conversation. As the light flickered and they were transported to the grounds of the old hospital, Helena swore she heard a faint cackle.
She spawned at the second floor of the building, sighing out of pure exhaustion. Hitting her cane methodically, she saw the hunter was a smaller form, head down and weapon dangling. Yidhra. “I hope she doesn’t find me first... I don’t know if I can even try to kite her today...” Luckily no pulsing heartbeat or sensation of movement was felt and she continued tapping away at the keys she could barely see. “Mmm, maybe she decided to give Yima a break today and go friendly...” Her dreams were suddenly assuaged, however, as a ping went off on her device. “Demi Bourbon, incapacitated.” Helena sighed as the “Succesfully Leeched onto a Survivor” notification was displayed and Demi was thrown into a rocket chair. Typical for Yidhra, terrorshocking early game. Helena sent out a ping- “Focus on Decoding,” as Demi sent, “Don’t rescue me!” and Andrew sent, “Don’t move- I’m coming!” Helena frowned, knowing what was going to happen.
Yidhra sighed. Too easy, they’re dropping like flies. Andrew is chaired in the basement after my followers double hit him, Demi is about to die after my follower re-chairs her in just a second, and that makes two people dead at five ciphers remaining. She looked up. Ah, make that four. I see a certain girl was busy while I was killing her friends. I suppose I’ll save her for last.
Helena wiped away a lone tear. She didn’t even care anymore, she didn’t care that two of her teammates were dead or about to be at only four ciphers, she just wanted to feel the rhythmic clicking of the cipher on her fingers. She ran to the cipher in the shack, praying that Mike would distract Yidhra and Yima for long enough that she could finish this cipher. Her hopes were crushed, however, as Mike received a hit. “Sorry...” he said. “Thank you!” was the only response he received from Helena. As Mike got downed before Helena was even halfway done with the cipher, she got mad and started spamming it. “Thank you!” “Thank you!” “Thank you!” “Thank you!” Mike endured it without complaint, knowing he deserved it.
Yidhra leeched and chaired him, and Helena kept working on the cipher, determined to reveal the dungeon since she knew she could barely rescue on a regular day, and rescuing against Yidhra was impossible. All was quiet for a few seconds, during which Mike’s chair rose to halfway and a single tear slipped down Helena’s face, but suddenly Helena got a bad feeling. She hit her cane, and lo and behold... the imposing figure of Yidhra was directly behind her. She turned around slowly, facing the direction where she had sensed her. “Yidhra... just chair me already. I give up.” Yidhra let out a surprised hiss. “Child, how did you know I was here?” Helena gestured to her cane. “Hurry up. I want to get back to the manor.” She walked over to the rocket chair and attempted to strap herself in. Yidhra made her arms tangible to grab Helena and pull her out of the chair. Helena shivered, her hands were long, cold, and thin. “Child, why give up now?” Helena pointed to the cipher counter. “I’m not going to be able to finish it by the time your follower arrives or you leech onto me. I was hoping to get the dungeon revealed, but... one person, half a cipher until dungeon, the hunter already knowing their location? Why should I continue?”
Yidhra peered carefully at Helena, this was unlike her. She would fight until the end and yell at hunters who chaired her. Then, she noticed the eyebags, the slips of paper in her pockets, the glazed look in her unseeing eyes, the way she walked like she was about to fall over, the greasiness of her hair, the dirt that wasn’t just from her worn clothes. Oh... it’s been a bad night for her. Yidhra often went around the manor, leaving her followers in her palace of a room. She occasionally went to the survivor area at night, and saw them in utter depths of despair. Not a night went by where there wasn’t a survivor knocking on the ground door of another for comfort. Apparently Helena had decided to keep her sadness contained in her room. Yidhra materialized and sat on the windowsill.
“W-what are you doing...” Helena said suspiciously. “Waiting for Yima to get here, of course. What are you doing?” Helena was lying on the ground, scribbling on one of the papers from her pocket. “I’m writing... just hurry up and chair me.” Yidhra frowned. “Why don’t you surrender?” “I can’t unless everyone is incapacitated.” Yidhra frowned. “Let’s go on a walk.” “No. Chair me and be done with it. I’m tired.” Yidhra sighed. “Fine. Yima should be here soon. What do you want to do while you wait?” “Leech onto me or something, get me to half health so you can chair me faster.” Yidhra complied, and hit her with the leech. Why am I taking orders from a 19 year old? Quickly, she picked up a blank scrap of paper from the ground, and wrote something on it then slipped it into Helena’s pocket while she was distracted by her bleeding arm from the pickaxe.
Helena sighed. “Yima is almost here, I’ll just wait.” “For a mortal, you seem rather enjoyable. I rather hope you reconsider, I would let you go out the dungeon if you finished the cipher.” Helena shook her head. “I have a headache, I can’t decode anymore.” As Yima stumbled into the room, Yidhra sighed. “See you at the manor, mortal. One way or another.”
Before Helena could question what that meant, Yima cackled sadistically as she hit Helena again. “Mistress Yidhra doesn’t want to put you in the chair, you know.” She was promptly tied up in balloons. “Maybe I’ll just take you back to the cipher to please her...” Helena shook her head and struggled as she was taken to the cipher. “Alright, alright... into the chair you go.” Helena smiled a bit. “Goodbye, Miss Yidhra and Miss Yima. It was a pleasure speaking to both of you.” Just as she was about to blast off, the chair locks released and she received a notification. “The hunter has surrendered and you will leave the manor shortly.” As she was pushed towards the exit gate by an unknown force, her brows came together in confusion as Yidhra waved a little at her, grinning all the while.
Helena started the trek back to the manor from the gate, pulling the paper out of her pockets, reading it over and discarding most of them. Until she saw the one Yidhra had slipped in her pocket. “For one night, I’ll restore your vision. Meet me in the garden, 9 PM.”
The time arrived. Helena was sitting on the side of the fountain, before she felt Yidhra’s presence. She slithered into visibility and touched Helena’s forehead before she could speak.
Helena gasped in astonishment as the world lit up. “I... can see? I can see!” She spread her fingers in front of her face. “I can see colors again!” She turned her head left, right, everywhere, cane and glasses discarded quickly on the ground. “It’s been so long...” Yidhra grinned. “I had guessed. There’s a reason I gave you your vision back for the night.” Helena seemed to notice her again, and looked concernedly at Yidhra. “Se-“ Yidhra quickly interrupted her. “No. Why would you-“ Helena giggled. “I’m joking, I promise. What did you want me to see?” “I will show you, dear.” She took her hand gently and pulled her along.
Helena stumbled along the pavement, hand clutched in Yidhra’s. She wondered what people would think if they saw her getting dragged along like that, since presumably no one else could see Yidhra. They probably wouldn’t do anything to help. Yidhra pulled her through a wall and around the side of the house, out into an area Helena didn’t even know existed. “Where are we?” Yidhra grinned, showing off her distinctly pointed canines. “See for yourself.” Helena looked down. “Is that the star-watching cliff down there? Tracy took me once and I appreciated the thought, but I couldn’t see any-oh!“ Her eyes widened in realization of what Yidhra’s plan was. “We even have a better view up here, away from everyone,” Yidhra said as she curled her tail up. “We need to wait a little longer, but even a moment is forever, so who knows how long it will be...” she sighed. As Helena’s eyes drooped closed, Yidhra grabbed her arm. “They’re starting...” Helena shook herself back awake and clutched her knees to her chest, staring in awe as the colors of the fireworks exploded above her.
She could faintly hear the fellow survivors below, laughing and shouting, but she decided not to say anything. She thought about her time in the hospital and her nurse, and wondered if she would still run away now, knowing what she was getting herself into. Sure, the game was terrifying and her fellow manor residents have most likely killed people, but they understood her. They could guess what the others had been through as well and tried to help them however they could. For Helena, it took them a while to learn to stay away, but the one that was persistent enough, Yidhra, managed to befriend her. She thought it was odd that her best friend was out to kill her in matches and was an immortal snake goddess, but a friend is a friend.
Yidhra thought back to the lives of the thousands, maybe millions, she utterly ruined in pursuit of joy. At the manor, she couldn’t gain anything, she couldn’t lose anything. There were only a couple other gods there, so no one to judge her or be judged. There was simply the joy of the game, the manor itself, and the others in it. Every rule was so complex but the ability to learn it in an instant made it boring quickly. She destroyed everyone she played against in battle, she was above relationships with the lesser gods. But, for this mere mortal who could only put up an intelligent conversation and find her location, she had personally invited her to stargaze. Outside of the manor, she would have become her prized follower and replaced Yima, but the manor owner had banned her from turning participants of the game into her followers after the last incident. Inside of the manor, she was merely what could be thought of as a “friend.”
Friends were a new concept for both of them, and neither would have guessed their first one would be anything like what it is, but when you are lured to a supernatural manor by a mysterious letter, nothing is as it seems. Except for one thing- the fireworks currently exploding above them that they both drew their attention back to. They stared in silence as Yidhra played with Helena’s hair. As the show slowly drew to a close, Helena’s eyes were brimming with tears as she hugged Yidhra close. No words were spoken, but they understood each other perfectly fine.