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Liam gazed at the land that stood before him. He had spent months in a place that was like a personal hell to him. Everyday seemed the same as he felt himself descend into madness. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t let himself become like the person he hated the most, the person whose body lay near the very pond in which he lost his only way home. Sighing, he walked towards the cave, pushing the vines away. Liam sat down at the computer, knowing that this day would be like any other.
Months eventually turned into years, with no progress being made. Liam still hadn’t talked to the contestants, despite having spent hours thinking about doing so. Everything he had figured out was simply useless. Airy’s a fricking idiot, if he could figure this out, so can I, he thought, searching the computer with the same emotionless expression that the past host once had. Time simply continued to pass, Liam losing himself with every day that passed, even forgetting his own name.
~
Soda Bottle lay next to Scenty, as he watched the clouds drift through the sky. The everlasting daytime, the lack of anything but grass, he despised it. It was a constant reminder of the stupid person who took him from his life, from Liam. Scenty suddenly spoke up. “Do you think we’ll ever see Backpack again?”
Soda Bottle sighed.
Backpack.
The man who somehow managed to convince him to try and stop Airy, by following some crazy notes. Sure, he annoyed the crap out of him, but Soda Bottle missed him more than anything.
“It’s pretty unlikely, but it’s nice to hope so.”
“I wonder where Airy is. It’s been- I don’t even know, actually. It’s pretty hard to tell when it’s always day.”
Unbeknownst to the two, Airy was gone, and he was never coming back.
Soda bottle looked at the rest of the people around him. All the batch two contestants were in their inanimate states, and the mold on Moldy’s body had taken her life once again. It was pretty much just the two of them. They were stuck in a horrible place,
But at least they had each other.
~
Backpack, on the other hand, still repeated the very same thing he did everyday he was there.
Soon, he didn’t need the cast anymore, but the crutch was permanent. He had almost everything figured out, yet one thing remained a mystery - how to get the contestants back. He missed the moments he shared with his friends, having not interacted with anyone in years. Backpack barely remembered anything about his friends. Their faces, voices, names were nothing but a distant memory. At this point, he hardly felt even human anymore.
This was his new normal.
What he once saw as something he wanted to escape more than anything, was now his home. He was dead to everyone he once knew, even himself.
~
Scenty took in her surroundings. Nothing had changed about the world around her, but she was barely the same, no longer Amelia Euler.
Amelia was a calm, kind yoga instructor.
Now she was just Scenty, the nobody who resided on the Plane.
Just thinking about her life before ONE was strange, it felt like a faint memory, like a dream. She had long accepted that she was never going home, but was Earth really her home anymore? It’s not like the Plane was though, but rather she felt as if she didn’t belong anywhere.
“Soda Bottle?”
“Hm?”
“Do… you want to go home?”
Soda Bottle let out a small laugh. “Is that even a question? There’s nothing I want more. Why?”
“Its- just-” Scenty sighed as her eyes welled up with tears.
“I don’t even know if I want to. Its been so long since then, and it’s like- it’ s like I don’t even know how to live normally anymore!” She sobbed.
Soda Bottle held her close. “I’m sure we’ll get home, somehow, and when we do, I’ll help you adjust.” Scenty wiped her tears, and pulled him even closer. “Soda bottle, one more thing.”
“Yeah?”
“Thanks. You know, for being there for me.”
~
After a decade of the same, uneventful days, something changed. Backpack did what seemed impossible. He found out how to get them back.
Backpack thought about the years he spent at that computer. What would he get out of this? Sure, this was something good for his friends, but for him?
Why didn’t he want to do it?
Backpack couldn’t believe the thoughts that just entered his head. He began to type in the code to send them back, but he found himself unable to press enter.
Why should he let himself be lonely?
“Since the beginning, there has been no one more deserving to leave this hellscape other than you!”
Why should he let himself rot away while everyone else went home?
“You just can't move on with your life, can you?!”
Who cared if he was just letting history repeat itself?
“I spent the next years making sure the next competition would be better, and now I think I’m doing a pretty good job.”
Who cared if he became the person he despised?
He did, or at least he used to.
He was nothing like the man he was 10 years ago, but rather like his worst enemy from back then.
Backpack looked back at the Plane and sighed. He turned on the mic used to communicate with the poor people stuck in a world almost worse than hell. It took him a moment, but after what seemed like ages, he finally spoke.
“Hello contestants. I am your host-”
He thought for a moment.
“Air… Backpack. I am your host Backpack.
“And welcome to this competition…”
He wanted to stop speaking as soon as possible, yet still continued as if the words were not his own. Backpack stared at the same planet he was on all those months ago, and it now belonged to him.
“Called ONE.”