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“Have you ever played marbles before?” Aesop shakes his head as he clenches the pouch in his hand. He lied to the fortune teller, he has played the game before, when he used to play with the kids in his neighborhood before Jerry all went downhill. Eli taps his lips in a thinking position, “I’ve never played it before, perhaps we’ll learn along the way.” He gives the white haired male a smile, something Aesop is never used to with the man.
When they first met in these games, Eli had only ever shown him kindness and stuck with him thick and thin. Saving him in the first game, helping him pick a shape in the second, sticking up for him during the third, now here they are in the fourth game. Aesop will do everything he can to make sure Eli will win no matter what, he owes it all to him that he is here, breathing . Besides, Aesop has nothing to go home to, Eli did, a beautiful wife and a future of a family in store, Aesop will not take that away from him.
Aesop snaps out of his thoughts as he hears bickering. He turns to spot a scarred face and a man quite shorter than him. “Obviously I’m going to win so let’s just wait until the last minute to do this.” Naib insists, Norton rolls his eyes and sighs. “Fine, come up with a game then in the meantime.” Aesop sees the shorter smile and starts chatting with Norton, completely shrugging him off.
Hearing a rattle of marbles, he turns back to Eli who was fidgeting with his pouch as he looks around at the other players. Aesop looks down at his before, taking a deep breath and tapping on Eli’s shoulder grabbing his attention. “Hm? What’s up Aesop?” He drags him away in a secluded area to go sit, passing by a stubborn painter and an enthusiastic inventor.
“Luca, can you hurry up and guess.” Luca hums as he rubs his chin with an irritated Edgar slowly becoming more and more impatient. “Even.” Taken back, the painter slowly unclenches his hand revealing four marbles. “How much did you bet..” Edgar asks him and Luca reveals his hand showing three, he’s so fucking screwed.
Luca was a future inventor that had a bright mind but after an incident with his mentor he ended up in jail and having to end up paying big debts. Edgar finds him annoying, he wants the money to fund himself in his paintings and succeed in the art industry to defeat competition that doesn’t deserve to have their art on display. He doesn’t understand why Luca would go through this shithole when he has better things to invent, He finds it selfish of him .
Naib glances up at the timer in the wall, reading only 10:38, he is sitting on the stairs while Norton leans against the wall. “Did you come up with a game?” He hears him ask which he responds with a shrug. “Nope, nothing comes to mind yet, why don’t we chat still? We have plenty of time.” He pats to the empty space next to him, Norton scuffs before glancing up at the timer before heading over to the stair below Naib and sitting down.
Naib smiles, “So? What are you going to do with the money once you win?” Norton gives him a deadpan look, he looks down at his bundle up fists and sighs, leaning back against the wall connecting the stairs. “Everyone is here for the money, to pay off their debts, to survive out in that hellish world; yet, I’m here for none of that. I came here to be rich even if my life is on the line, I have nothing waiting for me at home.” Naib doesn’t say anything.
A gunshot rang across their ears as one of the players slumped down to the ground, causing people to flinch but Naib and Norton barely made even a peek. “Greedy for money huh Campbell?” Naib finally speaks up, Norton nods his head. “Like I said, nothing is waiting for me at home. My dad died, my mom is gone and wants nothing to do with me. My co-workers are dead and I’m jobless. What are you going to do with the money?” Naib gets caught off guard by the sudden change of subject.
“Well, it’s just me, my mom and my three siblings back in Nepal. I was hoping to quit doing underground shit and give them the money to support themselves to move over here.” Norton tenses, of course, Naib has more reason than his greedy self, he does a fake laugh to mask his worry. “Really are selfless aren’t you Subedar?” Naib shrugs as he stretches his legs and arms out.
The shorter one looks down at the other, “You don’t want anything else?” Norton shakes his head. “You sure? Like, go buy a plantation? Go somewhere else? Anything?” There was no response.
“...The beach.” Naib starts bursting out laughing.
“Really? The beach? Nothing too big with you huh Campbell? Here you are being greedy and everything yet the beach is the closest thing you want to go to? What do you even want to do at the beach?” He slows down his laughter.
Norton thinks a bit. “The ocean.. There’s a lot of rocks or minerals to look at.. Nice view..” Naib smiles and puts a hand on his shoulder, causing him to look up at him.
“That’s way too much even for you, you can do all kinds of stuff at the beach, there’s beach volleyball and the food that you can have there can be so good! My mom makes momos’ for us and her signature mango pineapple is worth a taste! Once we get out of here together I’ll definitely have my mom make us some-....” Naib dies down his words as he realizes, dread filling the air. “Haha… only one of us is getting out alive… Sorry.” Norton doesn’t say anything.
Gunshots fire one by one slowly, Edgar ignores the noises as he’s frustrated with how Luca is beating him on this. He was down to his last marble and he can’t afford to die in this wretched place, let alone lose to the inventor in front of him who’s placing the marbles in his pouch.
He gritted his teeth and grabbed Luca’s collar. “You’re cheating. There’s no way you are able to get those right every time. Do you want me to die?! You can barely remember shit and somehow you’re able to get them right!” He violently shakes Luca, stressing the inventor more. He stops as a gun is pinned up against his head and slowly lets go of him. He takes heavy breaths, he looks over at the guard before looking back at Luca who’s looking at him with confusion and slight fear. “Luca… I don’t want to die here. Neither do you, but please.. Let me win…” The desperation seething through his voice as it cracks, he wants to get out and win the money, alive . He goes on his knees, he’s begging now.
Luca looks down at his pouch then at Edgar. He kneels down to Edgar, “Maybe there’s another way to do this… For the both of us to get out alive..” Edgar looks up and nods.
“Maybe there’s a hole in this game we can find…” Edgar slowly gets up alongside Luca as well. He starts thinking, “There has to be a second round to this right? Winners to losers or people who refused to play.. They have to figure out something for those people, a second round is the closest thought.” Edgar looks up and grabs Luca by the shoulders. “We have to scout the people who are still alive. If we’re able to do that we can draw both our marbles and win.”
Luca nods, he gives him a smile with a fang sticking out. Edgar smiles back, “Take the other side, I’ll check this side.” Luca starts heading but gets stopped by the painter, “Luca, wait.”
Edgar comes up to him and points at his pouch. “You shouldn’t carry that around, people will get desperate and try to take your marbles.” The inventor glances at his pouch. “Here.”
Edgar grabs the pouch and takes off his jacket, he makes an improvised shoulder pack, putting the pouch inside the folds and wraps it around Luca. Luca once again smiles and gives a ruffle to Edgar’s hair. “Thank you, let’s get out of here together Edgar!” Jogging off, Luca was out of his sight, Edgar clenches the pouch in his hand.
Aesop sweats as another gunshot goes off. He was losing against Eli which is good because he honestly doesn’t deserve to win compared to him. He was down to one last marble, but something was off about the fortune teller. He excitedly hides his marbles despite Aesop seeing him take a certain amount out, causing the embalmer to pick the wrong amount.
Though, this time, Aesop isn’t able to see the amount he took out of his pouch. “Odd…” Eli hums before slowly showing his hand, revealing nine marbles. Aesop caught off guard, he takes the marbles out of Eli’s hands. It was Aesop’s turn, he grabs just three of his marbles, and hides them with his fist. “Even.” Something was wrong, he opens his hand and reveals his three marbles as well as Eli, He betted nine. Aesop shakingly takes the marbles.
He was winning .
Naib looks up at the timer. 5:54, there’s still more time and they are still talking. “You know, I’ll show you Nepal’s beaches…. Haha I keep making these mistakes. Guess I really want to get out of here with you.” Norton chokes back his breath and doesn’t say anything again. They were obviously enjoying the time together yet it was running thin.
“What game have you come up with.” Norton demands, Naib sighs before leaning back. “We still have time, let’s continue talking.” The scarred man stands up and glares down at him. Naib stands up as well, they were eye to eye. “Fine. Let’s play then.”
Luca stumbles a bit as he looks around, 5, 8, he counts as he walks by people. Watching people fall nearby doesn’t matter to him anymore since him and Edgar will get out of here together. Luca finally counts up the people and starts heading back.
“Edgar! Edgar?” He looks around the meeting place and doesn’t see the painter anywhere, he turns around to see the back of Edgar leaving with the guards, confused, he rattles his pouch and takes it out. He opens it to see rocks, defeated. Tears start streaming down, he hears a guard behind him. “Edgar…” He gives one last smile. “I hope you get out of here…”
Edgar flinches as he hears the gunshot behind him, he clenches the sides of his pants and doesn’t look behind him as he walks forward.
Player 077 Eliminated
“It’s simple, whoever gets the marble closest to the wall gets it all.” Naib points out the wall in front of him. Norton nods and gestures for Naib to go first, he shakes his head, “Your number is first, so you go.” Norton rolls his eyes, he rolls his marble and it stops inches away from the wall. He steps to the side for Naib to go.
Naib hesitates, he looks at his marble and the marble before him. Norton watches from the side as he waits for Naib to roll it but instead he hears a thump and watches the marble slip from his hand. The brunette turns to look over to Norton, “Guess I lost.” Horror and anger filled Norton as he grabs Naib’s collar. “Go again.” Naib doesn’t say anything. “Go again.” Norton says with desperation leaking, when Naib smiles at him, he snaps.
“GO AGAIN!” Both hands are on his collar, shaking, desperately holding on. “I lost Campbell.” Naib grabs onto the hands that's holding onto his collar, he gently squeezes them. “Take the marbles. You won.” Norton wasn’t budging, he slowly hoists Naib up and slams him against the wall. The brunette gets caught off guard before seeing the tears streaming down.
He smiles again. “You may have nothing out there for you but you still have a future Campbell. I guess it’s morally wrong to let someone who has nothing, win compared to someone who has everything. But I’m selfless aren’t I?” Slowly, Norton crumbles, he leans into Naib’s chest as he still holds onto his collar, trembling. Naib musters up a hug as he wraps his arms around Norton’s back. “Win and get out of here alive okay? Be rich and greedy as much as you want… And… Go to the beach and have so much fun.”
Naib tries to suck up the tears that were threatening to fall. He wants to look strong still in his final moments. “Please take care of my family if you can.. Even if it’s just a little, I know they’ll understand… I wish.. We could’ve met at a different time… I’m so sorry.” Norton doesn’t say anything as he eventually lets go as he goes to pick up the two marbles on the ground, he goes to the guard who was waiting and he shows him the pouch. His back was facing Naib, he'd never noticed the sad smile he was giving nor the tears that were finally breaking free as he walked with the guard.
“Norton!” He stops in his tracks. “Thank you.. For being with me… I hope we get to talk again.”
A gunshot behind him goes off as he flinches, he clenches his fist as he doesn’t dare look behind him.
Player 249 Eliminated
Eli has one last marble left. Aesop knows this, so all he has to do is just guess wrong and bet all his marbles so Eli can win. Right? Aesop can’t stop trembling as he stares at the blind-folded man in front of him. He hasn’t said anything and Aesop can’t stop stressing over the outcome of the last turn, but before they can continue, Eli gets up suddenly. Confused, the white haired male stands up as well.
Eli looks up at the timer then back at Aesop, he gives him a smile. “They really painted the walls to look like the sky, it’s very realistic!” What is he doing? Aesop becomes more confused on why the brunette is making small talk all of a sudden. “The sky reminds me of home so much.” He takes off his blind-fold and Aesop finally gets to see the beautiful midnight blue eyes that are swirled with satisfaction.
He smiles as he turns to Aesop, catching him off guard. Eli walks closer to him and grabs his hands. Aesop starts sweating from sudden contact but stares in horror as Eli gives him the last marble. “E..Eli?” He stumbles on his words, his throat running dry as he stares at the man, confused and terrified.
“I knew. I knew you were pretending to get them wrong.” Dread fills the air as Aesop was choking in it. The smile never leaves Eli’s face, he gently holds onto the other’s hands, too early to let them go. “Once I knew you had one last marble, I had to make a choice. Either I win and let you die or let you win and die with no regrets. Yet… I know doing any of those will hurt the both of us… But for once, I’m glad to have lost if it means for you to win and live.”
Eli must’ve lost his fucking mind, Aesop can’t accept this at all, he shakes as he tries to give Eli the marble back into his hands but Eli wasn’t letting him. Tears were now flowing down the embalmer’s face, he couldn't accept this, he was going to live and Eli, the one thing that has given him hope, is going to die.
The brunette is noticing his dilemma and drags his arm out, letting go of their hands, pulling him into a hug. Eli nuzzles his face into the embalmer’s neck, holding him tight. “You must understand, I know I’m throwing my life for someone who I just met but I knew something was special about you that I was suddenly attracted to. I know I have a life out there, I know I have something compared to you… But for some reason, I can’t let you die in this place. It’ll forever be, my greatest regret ever, if I let you die here.” Aesop sobs onto Eli’s shoulder as he holds on desperately.
“Thank you…. For everything Eli…..” Aesop cries out, Eli's smile softens as they both hold onto each other as if nothing else matters. The brunette slowly lets go of Aesop as the other still holds onto him, a guard starts approaching them as the time is running out. Eli doesn’t notice the tears were streaming down as well, he wipes away the ones on Aesop’s cheek.
“Go now…” Aesop lets go as he walks away but stops in his tracks, he turns behind him to look at Eli one last time who was giving him a smile even in the end. “I’m sorry...” A barely audible whisper he gives him, one last wish. Eli’s smile dims as the guard points a gun at his head.
“Goodbye Aesop...” A gunshot rang in Aesop’s ears as he watched the man who gave him everything in such a short time, fall to the ground with a pool of his own blood.
Player 392 Eliminated
When they all got escorted back it was silent. Edgar is eating his sandwich on his bed, Norton staring at his own with no emotions visible, and Aesop bundles himself up into a ball on his bed as he stares at the sandwich in front of him. The remaining survivors said nothing, the silence was enough to tell that what they went through was the hardest.
The three people with nothing to go back to, lived.
While the three people who did, died.
‘How selfish and selfless can you be Eli…’ Aesop curls back up, only Eli’s words filling his mind now.