Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Any last words you’d might want to say to the audience to swing them one direction or another?” Hetch asked calmly, but not coldly.

It was clear that was aware that he was talking about someone’s life here, but simply didn’t care. He was happy with either choice. It wasn’t the same way of not caring that ‘The Hero’ or ‘the taken’ displayed when under the control of Showfall Media, no he was fully in control of himself but still continued to do this. Maybe it was because he’d seen so many people die and come back that death didn’t have meaning to him, maybe it was because he was truly heartless.

It didn’t really matter, and in truth most of the audience wasn’t even paying attention to Hetch anyway, all arguing with each other on what they should do.

Let him rest

He’ll just be replaced with someone else

Maybe we can save him if we let him live

We can’t kill someone!

Showfall want him alive, we can’t do what they want

The voting bar which had started with over ninety percent voting for live had slowly crept to only sixty percent.

The chat froze, or at the very least slowed to a crawl as the next words were spoken.

“Let me die! Please! Just let me die.” Ranboo cried.

His response was almost instant. But to an audience who had a life in their control and accidental blood on their hands from choices they didn’t know would lead to death the seconds passed all too slowly. Yet too fast at the same time.

There were tears clear in Ranboo’s voice even if the camera was too far away to see them streaming down his face.

“I don’t want to keep doing this… I don’t want to keep on doing this.”

The camera zoomed in, now truly showing his anguish and sincerity in his words. There was a hidden desire for a third option in his words, there had been the whole time he was shouting, an option to be let go and go back to what his life used to be, if he could remember it. The audience didn’t know if that was possible, nor was a third option open to them. The best they could do was not vote. But thousands already had, many once again switching their vote, some voting for the first time now that they knew what Ranboo himself wanted.

Guys we can’t keep putting him through this!

50/50

Save him

Free him

This shouldn’t be our choice

The vote was nearly split fifty/fifty now. The bar going further to one side than back to the other, a precarious situation where no one could tell what way it was going to swing. 

If they could somehow make it land perfectly even on both ends, maybe, just maybe, that would give him a chance. Maybe that would lead to the third option. It was a long shot, but it was the only one they had.

“Strong words from our hero,” Hetch almost mocked.

He was the only one here who truly had control of the situation. The only one who could truly let Ranboo free if he wanted to, and twistedly the only one who didn’t want that.

“Just let me die!” Ranboo shouted over Hetch, “Please.”

Live

Die

Oh god this is terrible

This can’t be the end…

Let him rest!

But it did sway the audience enough, with the way the vote kept bouncing they knew they weren’t going to be able to get it to land perfectly and stay there. So they should do what he wanted at the very least.

“He’d rather quit than keep going, keep entertaining you, the masses.”

“I don’t want to keep going.”

The camera kept moving almost nauseating as the two spoke over each other seemingly trying to get the audience to pick their choice. Showing how little time was left of the clock and Ranboo himself. How horrible a situation had to be to be begging for one's own death.

The mask!

Live

What are they doing?!

They aren’t happy with his choice

Die

We need to save him

Die

Live

There has to be a way to free him…

The vote seemed to be solidly sticking towards die, but it was still no more than a few percentage away from swapping. Though it was clear from earlier that just a few good words could sway enough people. It’d have to be from Ranboo himself as virtually no one was taking into consideration what Hetch’s plight was. The fate seemed oddly certain now, still with ten seconds to go.

“What do we think about that audience? Has he earned his rest, or do we want to see me play again?” Hetch asked, seemingly trying to sway the vote with no more than ten seconds left.

“Just let me die, I can’t live like this,” Ranboo pleaded, “I saw… everything, I saw everything. Just let me die.”

“And you’ll see so much more,” Hetch responded smugly.

His face replaced every screen, including the timer. And as it did Die began to slowly, yet all too quickly, was beginning to lose votes. Pushing Live to win at the last seconds.

No! What are you guys doing?!

This is what Showfall Media wants!

Let him live!

Let him rest

“No nonono,” Ranboo sobbed, “Please, just let me die.”

“Ah, well it seems the audience has made their decision, Ranboo. Are you ready to hear it?”

This isn’t what we picked!

Nono, let him die!

Let him rest

What happened

I’m glad?

Snowfall didn’t like our choice…

“Pl - please..” Ranboo mumbled, maybe praying that he got the option he wanted.

The audience could only wonder what was going through his mind. Was he wishing to remember all that happened before? Was it the mask flashing that was shutting him up? Was he regretting the option he picked? Did he believe in the audience to have chosen what he wanted? He hadn’t trusted them earlier. Maybe he knew or suspected that the audience had made him suffer. Maybe he’d resent them forever never to trust them as they attempt to free him.

Live or Die, no matter which option any one audience member chose there was still a resounding feeling of wanting what was best for him, just the ‘best’ couldn’t be agreed upon it seemed. If he didn’t trust them, then maybe he truly would be suffering for eternity. 

The bar was gone as Hetch cruelly kept Ranboo in suspense. He was the only one that didn’t know, and he was the one it affected the most. Just like everything else this seemed like a game to the masked man as he spoke slowly.

“The audience, has voted, for you, to live.”

And just then two of the brainless, no longer human, guards walked into frame. They could have been there the entire time as far as the audience was aware. They began to untie the wires around Ranboo’s hands. Revealing that there were also wires going into his hands, only those paying the closest attention could see the blood against the red backdrop.

“What?! No! No please!” Ranboo shouted, struggling against them, “Don’t put me back in! Please!”

The guards were stronger than him though it seemed, they likely had inhuman strength being made of wires and metal. The camera only slightly panned over to see him getting dragged away. He was fighting with everything he had, only for one of them to tap the back of his mask. He went quiet, now easily walking with the two, as credits began to roll. Another cruel reminder that Showfall saw these real people as no more than actors and characters. People the audience had grown to care for and lead to their death’s names next to the name of a skeleton as if they were equals.

Maybe the workers were the same. Could they still be human?

This is why we should’ve let him die

What the hell guys??

I think I regret my choice

What have we done?

Chapter Text

It was weeks before anyone got any notification from Showfall, giving many time to speculate on what had happened in the last ‘episode’ for lack of a better word.

Whether everyone but Ranboo was fully dead, or if they could be saved too. Were they really given the choice on Ranboo’s life, or did Showfall take it back. What could the audience do to bring this place to an end.

Discussion boards had been quickly decreasing in membership. So many people had been interested in the story as episodes were happening but lost interest once it seemed to come to a close. Though for others the final only sparked more questions and interest, leading to a lot of fruitless digging into nothing and everything.

There were some viewers who were so concerned by the ending, and certain it was real, that they attempted to call the police. Though many who said they were going to go to the police came back either saying that they were dismissed by the officers, or they joined the many that stopped talking altogether. It wasn’t all too suspicious or surprising, they could have just felt like they were being ridiculous for believing it after talking to someone else. There were a paranoid few though who were certain that some of the people who stopped were taken by Showfall, or killed by police who were paid off by them.

No one had any evidence, but one thing was clear; they were on their own in this.

It came as a surprise to virtually everyone when they got a notification for a new episode. Unlike the first three, there was no warning or advertisement for it beforehand. There was a spam of people on the forums trying to ensure everyone who was available would be aware and be able to join in. But, as they discussed, once the show was actually starting nearly everyone would stop messaging in the chat boards to help keep things organized.

Only those designated with the role of communication and organization were allowed to message unless answering a question, or doing something asked by said group. Other delegations included: those who would watch the background for anything out of place, people who would try to convince people in the chat to vote one way or another on any given decision, people who would solve ciphers if they came up, and even some people who were solely dedicated to watching Ranboo’s mask to see when it changed.

Sure all these things could be understood by one person if re-watched enough times after the fact, but any of it could be important in the moment, helping them make better choices to hopefully bring an end to Showfall sooner rather than later.

The mask and the meaning of the lights was probably the most important as their choices - they’re effect on Showfall - could only go through Ranboo. Solid red and no lights were both fairly obvious, being under Showfall’s control and free to make their own choices respectively. The only uncertainty was when it was flashing, some thought it was fighting for control, others figured it was Ranboo being fed information, most were waiting for more evidence.

The stream started on a count down like always though most were more antsy than normal for it to be started. They could all remember what it was like watching the first stream, less than a month ago, having no clue what they were getting into. But now they knew, now they felt morally responsible for saving this young adult’s life, and, if they could, hopefully saving the others as well.

As the countdown ended Squiggles appeared in the corner, standing matter of factly.

‘Are you ready to see our hero again?’

Of course Showfall didn’t care about the response from the audience, the show was going to start no matter what they said. But the chat was cheering it on, whether they believed it to be real or not. Some truly were just here to be entertained.

The screen changed to show Ranboo, his mask luckily seemed to be off. They were face down on a desk however, with their arm mostly covering most of it, making it impossible to tell if the mask was still broken. Though it was doubtful they didn’t have replacements for the mask seeing how important it was.

If we can figure out the genre quickly then we can be better equipped to know what to do.

That’s where the analysts came in, trying to pick apart every detail of the set as it faded into view. They could see him once again tapping SOS, which was instantly noted and written in the forums by the decoders. Even though they knew it was so obvious that many casual viewers knew of it too. It was made even more obvious this time compared to the last as their tapping against the desk made a sound, even if it was hard to hear against the soulless corporate music Showfall played.

Highschool drama maybe?

It was a bit surprising when someone else walked into frame, up until now the show had always started with Ranboo in a room alone. Even in the second episode The Puzzler wasn’t actually in the room with him, only the rat, or drone, whatever you wanted to call it. But now there was another person gently shaking Ranboo awake. Even more surprised to see that the person shaking him awake was Charlie.

He’s alive!

Our slimy boy!

So security didn’t kill him??

As Ranboo stirred awake their mask came back on. The audience could only hope it didn't mean that they were actually going to watch ‘the Hero’ instead. It was much harder to help him when he barely reacted to anything. The only way to help him was to give him options. They just had to ignore that he had to do what they told him to.

“Hey, you awake? You slept through, like, most of the class,” Charlie noted, his name card showing up on screen.

Squiggles appeared in the corner, arms crossed with our(?) head bowed, feigning sadness. Referring to Squiggles was mildly confusing at times with the mascot using ‘we’ pronouns that was expected for everyone to use.

‘What a bad student…’

As if it wasn’t Showfall that had made Ranboo be asleep in the class in the first place.

“Huh? Oh, uh yeah, guess I didn’t sleep well,” Ranboo admitted, though he was looking around the room clearly confused.

It was clear now that the mask was in fact repaired, if not replaced entirely. Ranboo luckily still sounded like themself. Not like ‘The Hero’ he’d been for most of episode two, or NPCboo, as others were calling him. Their mask flashed a few times before stopping on solid red once more.

So far the mask didn’t seem to be signaling anything in morse code, but those who were on codes began to look into it anyway just to be sure. Even if the code would be something from Showfall and therefore not that useful, any little bit they could get was vital.

“Yeah, you’re just lucky the teacher didn’t call on you,” The audience heard Sneeg say off camera, before the angle changed revealing not just him but three other people in the room.

It was in fact a classroom. All of them were wearing the same style of jacket Ranboo had been wearing, but in different colors in place of the red as if it was the uniform for the school. Some of the people on the forum tried pausing their stream, or taking a screenshot to see what was on the board. The only thing that was really clear enough to see was the symbol which was basically always drawn on the board by the teacher in every classroom. It was larger than in most classes that weren’t actively discussing what it meant, but that still told them almost nothing, they’d have to hope for a better shot of it.

“I guess I was, yeah,” 

“We should lock ‘em out while they’re gone!” A high pitched voice cheered.

Snowfall’s ‘helpful’ guide came up as the camera focused on the person, telling the audience their name.

Crumb

Their face was oddly blocked out by a square box, but not one that seemed to be there in person, it was just there for the camera. It was like they were trying to censor his face to the audience. 

Box like those old photos?

Who?

I’m already confused

Are they all supposed to be in the same grade?

We need to try to look into this person later, she’s got to be important.

Do you guys think they have a voice changer too to make it more difficult to identify them?

“Oh hell yeah,” The woman in purple agreed, going over to the door, “Wait, does this not have a lock on it?”

One of the cameras zoomed in on the door. There wasn’t exactly a good view of the lack of lock, then it panned up to her face.

Jaiden Animations

“Alright, plan B. Jordan, help me move this,” Charlie ordered as he moved to the front of the room.

“Uh, alright,” The man in yellow, who seemed to be the oldest of the group, agreed casually.

The two picked up the teacher’s desk, neither seeming too worried about the items that fell off or that the computer had still been plugged in. It crashed to the floor shattering, no one really reacted to it.

'Computers are expensive and education is important!'

Squiggles looked angry this time, banning our fists together. We disappeared for a second, before coming back up with new text.

‘WHAT ARE THEY DOING?’

But if Showfall truly didn’t want it to happen they would have just stopped it. They were likely the ones who planted the idea in ‘the casts’ heads in the first place.

Once the large teachers desk was in place, fully blocking the door, the first choice of the stream popped up. Three choices of what to examine. The board, a bookcase, or one of the other students' desks.

Vote swayers, we need to see the board.

That was agreed by basically all the forum users even before the message was sent, and seemingly already a large amount of chat, with just over sixty percent of the vote. It became slightly more popular before the vote ended and Ranboo began to walk towards it. He carelessly walked right over the shattered class from the computer screen.

Npcboo strikes again

They’re going to get glass in their feet

Why does no one care about the computer?

Though as Ranboo and the camera moved closer to the board it became obvious that it offered nothing of interest. Or at least nothing that popped out right away. It all seemed standard.

Though just like the students it didn’t seem like it could decide what grade or even what class it wanted to be, having things as simple as 2+2=5, and things as complicated as the whole human evolution scale starting back from jellyfish.

Still many viewers took screenshots sending them to the forum to be analyzed more closely by others to look for something off, maybe a hint at how everyone is being brainwashed and controlled. But that was something they could look into between episodes, not like there was much they could really do at the moment even if they did find something.

Ranboo just hummed as they looked at everything on the board.

‘Look at all that useful information!’ Squiggles’ form came up, appearing happy.

“Trying to catch up on the lesson you missed while you were asleep?” Crumb asked, waking up beside Ranboo.

“Yeah, I’d rather not have to retake the class just because I can’t stay awake,” He agreed.

“Don’t worry, I took really good notes, I can share them with you later,” They assured, “As long as you don’t mind a few doodles.”

“Not at all, might help me keep my attention.”

“Or distract you more.”

“It could do that too,” Ranboo nodded.

Crumb turned to the board as Ranboo began to walk back to the center of the room. It seemed like a bit of an awkward end to the conversation, but what could really be expected when everyone in that room was brainwashed.

They could see Crumb now in the background drawing on the board, removing the cat in the evolutionary line to redraw it in his own style.

Go for bookcase next 

While all the form users agreed with that the majority of the audience wasn’t on the forum. The vote sawyers could only do so much being one message in thousands. They couldn’t really reason with chat, with how fast it went. They could try to explain that they could learn more from the books than the desk, or that the desk had more of a chance of being the ‘correct’ answer making this end earlier, giving them less information to work off of - and some did. But not enough people would read it, not enough people would care. It was quite frustrating.

Ranboo walked over to one of the student desks. Just as had been the case last time, the camera switched from the security one in the back of the room to the drone following behind him as he moved.

“Hey, mind grabbing that one and helping us stack them? I’m trying to make a fort!” Jaiden stated proudly.

“Uh, yeah sure,” Ranboo agreed, carrying it over to the door at the front of the room, “Where should I put it?”

“Just wherever really,” Jaiden shrugged.

Ranboo froze for a few moments, almost as if waiting for a vote but there was no pop up, and he eventually just placed it on the last empty part of the teachers desk.

“That looks good,” Ranboo stated to themself, with a firm nod and dusting off their hands like it’d been hard work.

Charlie walked up carrying one of his own, placing it on top of two of the student desks, beginning to make a pyramid. He turned around facing the camera and it was hard to tell if he was looking into the camera or past it.

“Do you want to help us too, or are you just going to stand there?”

“I don’t know if they can speak,” Jaiden faux-whispered to him, “They’re always just sitting at the back of the class with their camera.”

“Ha, imagine not participating in class,” Ranboo fake laughed with smug self-deprecation.

Charlie laughed with him, though a bit more genuinely, “Anyway, this forts almost done, want to grab the last one to put on top?”

Ranboo agreed, him and Jaiden grabbing the last two. Ranboo had ended up needing Charlie’s help to not knock the whole thing down.

“Up top!” Jaiden cheered, raising a hand for a high five.

Both of the other two high fived her, after Ranboo she shook her hand like it was in pain.

“You guys give aggressive high fives,” She laughed.

The camera abruptly changed back to the stationary camera, and for the first time the person with the camera was actually visible to this one. The audience could now see that they were also wearing the same uniform everyone else was, though where the colored trimmings were on everyone else, theirs was just black.

The three building the fort split up, walking in their own directions, Ranboo back to the center of the classroom, Jaiden to the white board with Crumb, and Charlie… well he actually just stayed in front of the fort almost unmoving.

Is Jaiden also going to draw cats?

They’re all NPCs today

Is he okay?

Oh no Charlie’s glitching

We got some artist in class

Despite there only being one option left the audience was still given the choice to vote on what to next. Big shock, they chose the book case.

‘Decision, Decision’ Squiggles said, waving our hand as if almost gesturing for someone to follow.

When Ranboo and the camera person walked up to the bookcase they were greeted by Sneeg and Jordan, finally getting the text prompt for the latter.

Captain Jordan

“What are you reading?” Jordan asked, as though the conversation had just started despite from the wide angle it seemed like they had been talking for a while.

“I uh, it’s…” Sneeg flipped to the cover, “It’s you know, this one. Just kinda picked up a random book.”

“You just randomly picked up ‘World History: A Guide to the Past’?”

“Yeah, I thought it sounded interesting,” Sneeg clearly lied, “What is this anyway, an interrogation?”

He snapped the book shut and shoved it back into the shelf.

oh no, our boy still can’t read

It’s okay Sneeg, we won’t judge you

Jordan better not be making Sneeg uncomfortable, I’ll fight him

L + Ratio + You can’t read

Remind me what grade they're supposed to be in? This seems like high school, yeah?

“I was just curious,” Jordan held his hands up in surrender, “What era were you reading about?”

“Uhhh…” Sneeg looked to Ranboo for a second as if asking for help, “The one where we stopped being cats.”

“Like right after, or…?”

“No, I was reading about this exact moment in time. Yeah of course I was reading about it right after.”

“There are a lot of interesting things that happened in the world after we stopped being cats.”

“Yup, there sure is, and I read about it all the time.”

‘Reading isn’t for everyone, 1 in every 10 people don’t know how to read’ Squiggles noted, ironically in written text.

“I could tell you my favorite parts of history,” Jordan offered.

“You mean the parts you lived through?” Sneeg mocked, “Sure, sounds interesting.”

Jordan nodded, as the two walked away from the bookshelf.

Two new prompts then came up. Book, or Talk. Book was so unanimously chosen that no one even bothered to message in the forum about what they should do.

The camera guy, disappointingly, didn’t move to look at the book at all, just showing the cover as Ranboo thumbed through it.

“This just doesn’t talk about evolution or cats at all,” They informed, before putting the book back on the shelf.

Ranboo then walked over to the group without having to be prompted.

Our guy is learning how to make choices on his own <3

“Now that the teacher can’t get back in, what should we do?” Sneeg asked.

Apparently no longer having a conversation with Jordan who wasn’t even standing near him any more.

“I don’t know, there’s not really much to do in an empty classroom,” Jaiden shrugged, moving to sit on a desk and dangling her legs off the edge.

Jordan looked between the group and the door a few times, “We didn’t really think this through, did we?”

“Nope,” Sneeg popped the ‘p’.

“There has to be something interesting we can do,” Ranboo noted.

Just as he did a poll appeared off to the side with everyone’s names as an option and the prompt of ‘Who should you talk to?’

If we can, we should go for Crumb. There has to be a reason his head is blocked out.

The timer counted down from 45 as the group all chatted idly, in the end it was Crumb who won the vote with a little under 30%, Jaiden and Charlie weren’t far behind, and oddly Sneeg got the least. Maybe it was because the viewers knew him well enough to make him no longer novel, but they didn’t know enough to care for him in the same way they did Charlie.

“Hey, what do you think we should do?” Ranboo prompted the shorter.

“I think we should do a drawing contest,” They giggled, “Do you like my cats?”

She seems to have a pretty solid art style with those cats. Someone take screen caps of them and we’ll see if we can’t find something that matches it later.

Cats weren’t the only thing drawn on the board however. There was also a person with a fairly distinct hairstyle drawn a few times.

‘Graffitiing valuable knowledge space, the teacher isn’t going to be happy with this,’ Squiggles waved our hand again.

“They’re lovely,” Ranboo nodded.

“I’m drawing all of us if we were cats.”

The camera moved to show an image that had previously been blocked by Crumb filled with even more cats. One of the cats had a box drawn and scribbled out over their head, another had a mask covering the bottom half of the its face, one had glasses, the fourth had a baseball cap, fifth had the same hairstyle as the people - though clearly less practiced - and the last had yet to have anything distinct about it.

“It’s hard to do it properly with only white chalk.”

“I mean I can still tell who’s who, so that’s good.”

“I drew the lines on your mask like whiskers! I think it looks better.”

“I mean I like my mask, but they look good as whiskers.”

What?!

Wow, the brainwashing must be strong.

Crumb hummed in thought, “I’ll make it better then, come back later and I know you’ll like it then.”

“Alright, I’ll make sure to do that.”

As the next prompt came up, and Jaiden won the vote.

“What do you think we should do?” Ranboo prompted Jaiden.

“Honestly, I was hoping to just go for a nap at first.”

“Fair enough, I was clearly tired earlier.”

“Yeah, you were just fully passed out. You seem to do that a lot.”

This is actually pretty chill. Seems like the first episode it, non-serious and low stakes. Maybe like we’ll have time to understand stuff and banter before anyone starts dying

“I just have trouble staying awake, I guess.”

“You should probably get that checked out, I think that’s called narcolepsy.”

“Probably should,” Ranboo agreed, “Thanks for the advice.”

“Any time, buddy.”

And Ranboo moved on now to Jordan who ended up beating Charlie out in the third poll. Clearly the chat wanted to interact with the new people first. And who could blame them. They learnt from episode two that the new people could and likely would die at any moment, though for now the classroom seemed safe.

Was the teacher going to kill everyone? They’d find out with time, they supposed.

“What do you think we should do?” Ranboo once again asked, now to Jordan.

‘Someone needs to get a new line’

“I think there’s some board games in here somewhere we could probably play,” Jordan shrugged.

“Doesn’t the teacher only have like, really obscure games?” Ranboo asked.

“Yeah, but it's better than nothing.”

“I don’t know, then we have to all learn the rules and everything… I feel like everyone will already be bored by the time we even start.”

“That’s fair, maybe we can find something else then.”

“Hopefully,” Ranboo agreed.

That seemed to be the end of the dialogue tree and they were left with only two choices. Considering the earlier polls it wasn’t too surprising when Charlie won this one.

“What do you think we should do?”

“You know, I’m starting to feel like I need to go to the bathroom,” Charlie noted, not really answering the question.

“Oh, uhhh…” Ranboo looked around, “There’s a plant, I guess.”

“I don’t want to pee in a plant,” Charlie basically whined.

“It was just a suggestion, I don’t know how badly you need to pee.”

“Definitely not that bad, at least not yet.”

Alright, just like… let everyone know before you do.”

“Of course,” Charlie nodded.

The audience was luckily spared from voting on a useless poll and Ranboo, after moving back to the center of the room, instantly went to talk to Sneeg.

“Hey, so I was thinking we could play Simon Says,” Sneeg spoke before Ranboo could.

The fact that he reacted differently led many to question the minds of the audience. Was he at least somewhat aware of himself or the world around him? Was he broken? He seemed more self-aware, at least more than the last time they’d seen him. They wondered if they could reach out to him, metaphorically, of course.

“But who’d want to be Simon?” Crumb questioned, walking towards the two, “It’s always so boring to be the person just telling people what to do.”

'It’s always better to follow than to lead.' Squiggles agreed.

“We could maybe take turns being Simon,” Charlie suggested.

Jaiden then chimed in, “We could also have Simon have to do or not do the task too.”

“And you only get one chance to not fail, ya fail you’re out,” Crumb stated excitedly.

“That all sounds good to me,” Ranboo agreed.

“Who should start?” Jordan asked.

“You could, dude. Then we like, go in a circle,” Sneeg offered.

“Uh, sure,” Jordan agreed, “Simon says stand on one leg.”

Everyone did just that, each picking different legs, some looked more stable than others. Jaiden suffered the most, flailing her arms out to try to catch herself or re-balance, but it wasn’t enough and she had to put her other leg down to avoid face planting. 

“Aww shit I already los-”

Her words were cut off, with her grabbing at her chest. A mix of horror, fear, and pain filled her face as it seemed like she was struggling to breath.

“Are you alright?” Crumb asked, concerned as they uncertainty held their hand out to her.

Jaiden gave no response, instead she collapsed to the ground.

Noooo Jaiden!

‘Heart problems don’t help with balance.’ Squiggles noted oh so helpfully.

“What just happened, did she have a heart attack because she lost?” Jordan questioned, clearly panicked.

“Nah dude, that doesn’t even make sense. It’s just gotta be a weird conscience, let’s keep playing. Simon says-”

“We should at least get her to a hospital!” Jordan interrupted Sneeg’s attempt to continue the game.

“I think she’s just napping,” Ranboo countered, “I think… yeah she’ll be fine.” 

“Yeah, that makes sense,” Crumb accepted.

Jordan had a confused look on his face for a few seconds before seemingly agreeing.

“Alright, so is it my turn then?” Sneeg clarified.

“Yeah, because he just went,” Charlie agreed, pointing to Jordan.

“Right, so… touch your ear.”

No one moved.

“Come on you’ve got to do something at least a bit more difficult,” Ranboo chastised.

“I thought that would at least get someone…” Sneeg sighed, kicking at a piece of the shattered computer monitor.

“You need to at least wait a round or two before trying to throw in a curveball,” Charlie noted, like this was an obvious rule.

“Yeah well, I wanted to do it now.”

“Okay, okay, shut up it’s my turn,” Crumb huffed.

“You didn’t say Simon says so now I can’t shut up or I’ll lose,” Sneeg replied smuggly.

“That wasn’t my turn,” Crumb denied, “Simon says draw a little guy on the board.”

“Easy enough,” Ranboo half mumbled.

Everyone walked over to the whiteboard, it wasn’t surprising to see Crumb draw another cat. Charlie drew what looked to be a popsicle with a face, Sneeg drew a guy who had a face who had a spade at the top half of their head, Jordan was clearly trying to draw something a bit more detailed, but it wasn’t going as well, and Ranboo was just drawing a stickman.

NPCboo can’t draw anything without us

Look at these artist

Aww Jaiden’s drawing in right next to them all, it’s like she’s still here <3

‘Such beautiful drawings’ Squiggles cheered.

“Simon says laugh like you’ve just heard the funniest thing,” Ranboo ordered.

The room was filled with awkward and forced laughter, that kinda became somewhat genuine? It still felt very uncomfortable though, at least to the audience. Maybe it was because they knew more of the horrors than ‘the cast’ did themselves when they were like this.

Once they were all done laughing and calmed down Charlie spoke up excitedly.

“Simon says, dodge!” 

He suddenly pulled out a fucking gun, and before anyone actually had any time to react, he shot Crumb.

Nooooooo

Crumb!

Where did he get a gun??

“Oh, that wasn’t the fake gun.”

“What the heck man!?” Jordan shouted.

Squiggles popped up appearing angry, ‘Someone in the props department is getting fired’

“She should’ve just been better,” Sneeg replied nonchalantly, “Anyway, it’s your go.”

“I don’t think I want to play if Charlie just has a gun he’s going to use.”

“I’m not going to shoot it now that I know it’s real,” Charlie assured.

“Come on man you have to go or the game can’t continue,” Ranboo insisted.

“Alright, fine, I’ll do something simple then,” Jordan huffed, “Simon says touch the floor.”

He squatted down, Sneeg tried to bend himself in half like he was touching his toes for some reason, before seemingly seeing the other two bend down normally to do it and copied them.

“Simon says-”

“Are you just skipping my turn?” Sneeg interrupted Ranboo, “That’s fine, yeah cool, I’m just not important enough.”

“I forgot the order, I knew I was after Crumb.”

“No, you want to go, you can go.”

The two argued, their voices overlapping both trying to talk over each other at points.

“No, I really didn’t mean to, you can just go.”

“You sure, you’re sure you’re not going to try to butt in?”

“Yeah, yeah man, I’m sure.”

“Alright then,” Sneeg nodded firmly, "I think, Simon should say for us to all sing Humpty Dumpty.”

“Does that count as-” Ranboo started, but was cut off by Sneeg singing.

Charlie started almost right after, with Ranboo following after. Jordan was understandably hesitant before eventually joining in, creating this cacophony of no one singing at the same time. It didn’t seem like anyone was trying to sign it particularly well either. No one was singing awfully exactly, but the mix just made it awful as a whole. Luckily the song was short and they were all done fairly soon.

“That’s enough of that. What if we like, made a fort out of books,” Ranboo suggested, walking over to the bookshelf.

“Ah, you didn’t say Simon Says!” Charlie cheered, stopping Ranboo where he was.

“Dammit, I meant to, I actually just wanted to make the book fort.”

“We could just stop playing this and build a book fort instead,” Jordan suggested.

“We can’t just stop mid game!” Sneeg said incredulously. 

“I…” Jordan’s argument seemed to die in his throat.

He just wants to live

Why’s he not arguing more?

Book fort building would probably be just about as interesting as this

Free Jordan 2023

“Simon says, stop,” Charlie ordered, and in an instant everyone froze.

Despite episode one showing Sneeg could stand still for - what felt to him like - eight hours, he began to stumble backwards uneasy on his feet as he ran into the teacher’s desk. That made the other desks on top unstable and they all collapsed onto him. It didn’t really look like it killed him, but he stopped moving, so it seemed implied?

Sadge

At least it didn’t look like a painful death?

He’s been Taken by the desks

“Well,” Jordan began, his voice clearly filled with an unimaginable amount of stress, “Simon says scream.”

In unison they all shouted, Jordan in terror, destroying the eardrums of those unfortunate enough to not have the foresight to remove their headphones the second Jordan finished his sentence.

‘So much prettier than the other song’

It was oddly well synced any less pitchy then them singing Humpty Dumpty.

Poor Jordan stuck with the NPCs

My ears!

He’s handling this well

How much control does he have over his own actions…

A little more warning would be nice 

"Simon Says,” Ranboo emphasized, “Build a fort out of the books.”

“Didn’t you already do that?” Charlie questioned.

“No, I told us not to do it.”

“Right!”

The three then began to take books off of the shelf attempting to build up a pyramid of books, like one would with some cards. It didn’t work too well, but apparently it was close enough. Most likely because if Showfall didn’t count it they’d have to kill their hero.

“Simon says put a desk on another desk,” Charlie decided.

“Are we sure this is a good idea?” Jordan asked, though he was complying.

“Don’t see why it wouldn’t be,” Ranboo shrugged, having already completed the task.

Jordan didn’t reply, just looked over to Sneeg’s body. Which, the camera angle changed to almost zoom in on it. It was odd how quickly they moved on despite standing in the middle of several bodies. At least in episode two they had the excuse of ‘out of sight out of mind’ and they still mentioned the people who died occasionally. And yet here they moved on.

“How about… everyone eat glue?” Jordan prompted next, very uncertain.

“Easy!” Charlie cheered, turning around to one of the shelves.

“Wait, Charlie!” Jordan tried to stop him.

But he was already in the bucket of glue bottles, opening the cap.

“There’s plenty for everyone,” Charlie dismissed as he took a big drink from the glue bottle.

Charlie whyyyy??

They’re all children I stg

Nooo

Why are they so dumb?

And then there were two

Charlie began to cough violently.

“Oh no, it went down the wrong pipe-” Charlie heaved, “If I drink more, it’ll fix it.”

‘Don’t drink glue, kids’ Squiggles stated proudly.

It obviously didn’t help and Charlie just coughed more until he was gasping for air and collapsed to the ground still writhing in pain for a bit before he was finally actually dead. It looked extremely painful.

“Can… we agree to stop playing?” Jordan asked, a mix of horror and hope in his voice.

“Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, but is there like… a specific way to end it? I feel like there needs to be a specific way to end it.”

“I don’t know, I was just thinking that we just stop,” Jordan shrugged.

“How about this, Simon says, stop playing?” Ranboo offered.

“Yeah,” Jordan agreed, before he seemed to realize something and became really afraid, “Wait, that’s a contradiction because to stop I would still be doing what you say and be playing, but if I don’t stop I then I’ll die. But by stopping I’m not actually stopping, because it’s what you-.”

Part of the roof caved with a bang, burring Jordan under the rubble.

Ranboo sucked a breath in, “Whoops, sorry buddy. That’s… yeah, that’s just my bad actually.”

Yeahhhh that went as well as I expected

Jordan noooo

Who exploded the roof??

“Well, I should get out of here,” Ranboo said ‘to himself’, though really it was Showfall making them speak to the audience.

He pushed the teacher’s desk out of the way of the door with a quiet ‘excuse me’ to Sneeg.

The video changed to another camera that was outside the room, just like every time before it felt different, smoother, than when it was in the room. Like now that they were one step closer to reality, now off of the set, everything was more real. There didn’t need to be any filters slowing everything down. 

Though Ranboo began to wander down what looked to be a school hallway, turning in another door as the stream ended.

A cliffhanger??

Not getting yoinked?

Are they out in the mall again?

Everyone is dead! Again! Whyyy

Everyone collect yourself and regroup in five, we have a lot to look into.

Chapter Text

Even though they were told to take five minutes no one really did. Those who knew their roles were getting right into trying to figure out who those people were, making theories about this or that, or even trying to decipher the blurry or cut off words on the board.

There was also a surprising influx of new people. In hindsight it made sense, with each new episode the show became more and more popular. During the break there was a lot of talk about it all over social media, of course more people would be checking the show out now that there was more. And now that what felt like a clear cut ending wasn’t really an ending at all even people who were watching since the beginning were clamoring for answers rather than taking it at face value. It was a good thing that people were able to find the forum so easy, though it still felt like so few people. They’d need more than this to take down a whole media conglomerate the better.

Some had naively hoped that they’d be able to help through the actions they could pick for Ranboo, but most knew better. The only influence they had over the show was already Showfall approved, and Showfall would never let them do anything that would jeopardize the show. If they wanted to make a change they would have to do things outside of the show.

But that was an issue for later, once they knew how they could stop it. Now they just needed information.

SandMan74: Crumb’s box has to mean something right? Why would they be on the show and have their face blocked out?

Exho: I agree, especially since the box was red. In the first video it seemed like the red boxes were for people with authority. Yet they were (probably) the youngest, they didn’t seem to have more influence than anyone else and mostly stayed in their corner.

G0ldenG00se: I feel like it’s also worth noting that other than the main three Crumb is the only person to not get two names

SandMan72: They were the one who suggested the game I’d say that gives them more influence. Closest thing we have to a villain this time around

REDACTED replied to G0ldenG00se: That’s not completely true, Valkrea (the rat) also didn’t have a second name. Though that may be something to think about later.

The forum was lucky to have REDACTED on the forum. As ominous of a username as they may have the chaos they were already under in frantically scrubbing every frame for a clue would likely be infinitely worse without their leadership. They weren’t the boss mind you, no one was, they weren’t even the person who made the forum in the first place. They were just someone that everyone seemed to listen to, for the most part. Squabbles were still bound to happen. But they were a good voice to rally around and make sure no clue got forgotten.

Pugqail920: That’s true @Sandman72 we didn’t even get the Hetch this episode

582AdditinalPies: yeah did anyone else just get a weird feeling from this one? it almost felt non-canonical to me. no hetch no villain only one room no announcement 

SandMan72: No Frank

RGBglowstick: TRUE!! We’re missing out on the best boy!

Exho: He could have been removed from the show after his deceased note was seen, too much backlash from using a dead body. @SandMan27

SandMan72: It’s only a plastic skeleton how much backlash could they really get?

There was a sigh from several users, whether they were engaging in the conversation or just lurking, they could already feel the on coming argument.

G0ldenG00se: He’s just made to look like a skeleton, he’s actually a rotting corpse

Number3: Anyone notice that the slime in ep 1&2 were supposed to be slime? There was a red bucket that said slime in ep 3!

SandMan72: 1) How would they even do that? 2) How would Sneeg throw a heavy corpse around easily? 3) Why would they want to do that even if they could? Just think of the smell!

REDACTED: Yes @Number3, we’ve also established that wires are likely the same for the workers/drones. We'd prefer to stay on topic of this episode right now.

Number3: Oh sorry

G0ldenG00se: Why would they want to torture people in endless cycles of death?? Idk they’re fucked up people, that’s why they do it!

REDACTED: Don’t worry about it, just trying to stay semi-organized.

SandMan27: You really think this shit is real?

G0ldenG00se: How can you not? The crying, the screaming, it’s all so real!

REDACTED: @SandMan27 @G0ldenG00se it’s not important if it’s real or not, we’re all here to get to the bottom of a mystery. Let’s focus on that, why was there not Hetch?

SandMan27: I still think it’s insane to believe that this is real but yeah. Looking into it is way more entertaining than arguing.

G0ldenG00se: Fine.

John3000D: I had an idea about that actually

John3000D: I think Hetch was supposed to be there, but he was supposed to appear on the teachers computer

Pugqail920 replied to 582AdditinalPies: Now that I think about it more the whole episode did have a different feel to it. They all felt a bit more robotic. Even Jordan wasn’t able to question things as much as Austin was

John3000D: No one reacted to it being destroyed because it wasn’t meant to, they weren’t programed with a response to it

Exho: They’re control seems to be getting better, which is scary since it’s only been one episode.

John3000D: And they couldn’t really do anything once it was, short of dragging a whole new computer into there

John3000D: It was the only piece of technology in the room

Number3: Those are really good points! But Ranboo already knows not to trust Hetch?

MiserableMoth6: Not if his memories were wiped

John3000D: From what we saw with that mask in episode 2, they likely are

G0ldenG00se: That’s so horrible to think about… they just got memories everything back for it to be ripped away again

TerribleUsername: I looked into Crumb, the most I’m getting is a movie from 1995, named after an old controversial cartoonist, and an indie rock band. Maybe Showfall’s trying to say anything with them?

Exho: God, why’d you have to put it into words @G0ldenG00se

TerribleUsername: I tried to look up the cat too, and got a cartoon by the cartoonist the movie was made after, so I think that’s more likely. Fritz the Cat, if anyone wants to look into it more. I’m not sure if it’s relevant at all since Fritz looks nothing like the cats Crumb was drawing.

Pugqail920: Do we really think they would want us to go over media that isn’t owned by them?

Derick_R-I-C-K_: They do seem like a greedy corporation that would want to keep all their views to themself.

TerribleUsername: Just reporting what I found, plus it couldn’t hurt to check during another big break.

SandMan27: I got nothing better to do in my spare time I could watch it

TerribleUsername: Actually, I’ve looked into it just a little bit more and I no longer think it has anything to do with this… Fitz the Cat is not for kids…

Derick_R-I-C-K_: Let’s be honest, this show shouldn’t be watched by kids either.

TerribleUsername: Yeah, but it’s a different kind of not for kids. And a lot more obvious about it

582AdditinalPies: @SandMan27 want to make it a watch party?

SandMan27: Fuck yeah I do, I’m free for the whole day if that works for you

582AdditionalPies: dm me

Derick_R-I-C-K_: Oh I see what you mean now. Yeah, probably good to move onto the next piece of information.

TerribleUsername: Yeah, back into my search I go!

MiserableMoth6: Good luck, we were really given nothing to work on for these guys

It really shouldn’t come as a surprise or disappointment that they weren’t able to find anything immediately. They still had yet to find anything online about even any of the main three, apart from the livestream Charlie was doing for the third episode, under an otherwise blank account named after his character from the first episodes. It had only been created days earlier, the video he reacted to was only uploaded the day before the stream. Other than that and the show, the three were ghosts who, based off of the complete lack of paper trail, very well could not have existed before Showfall. The cast for episode two was the same. Not even a photo of them online, no friends or family who filed a missing persons profile.

Some would say they were wasting their time even trying. But they had to find something eventually, right? Showfall may be a huge media conglomerate, but they aren’t perfect even if they wanted to pretend like they were. Sooner or later one of their cast members was going to have something online somewhere that they were going to find and from there… well it depended on what they found, but it’d help them.

Exho: I wouldn’t really say ‘nice’ ‘gay’  or ‘horder’ was really that informative @MiserableMoths6

MiserableMoth6: Yeah, but most of their intros were at least things we could look into. Like the wooden duck factory or the financial crisis

Number3: I feel like those had to have been implanted memories, right? Like Ethan wouldn’t have been in the workforce back in 2008, or have a fiancee

RGBglowstick: Why are we trying to find out who the actors are anyway? Isn’t that an invasion of their privacy. They probably don’t have their names out there for a reason

Grantedv: I have a theory about Crumb actually. So they’re outfit was orange, just like Austin’s and there was one kid that Austin struggled to remember the name of, likely the only real one

Derick_R-I-C-K_: So they’re actually Sally/Soosie or whatever her name was? Makes sense, there’s no one to look for you if you kidnap the whole family. It doesn’t explain why they’re face is blocked though.

Grantedv: I’m not sure on that one myself. It’s just a first day theory.

That_Lamp replied to RGBglowstick: Not trying to start a fight but for us who thinks it’s real we’re trying to look into who the people were to see if there’s a pattern to the kidnappings or if there are any family or friends that are looking for the just for any information really on who they were so maybe we can somehow use that to break them out it’s all a long shot but we’ve got to try

Jarick: Or it could be time fuckery too

RGBglowstick replied to That_Lamp: seems a bit strange to me still, but I see your point

Pugqail920: Has anyone found anything about the old shows yet? Hetch definitely made it sound like there was more before this, maybe we could find more information from old shows when Showfall was less competent?

Exho: @Jarick What do you mean by ‘time fuckery’?

Jarick: With all the technology they seem to have (mind control, teleportation) I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a way to stop people from aging. Even if it was just digitally. If they can make guts look like spaghetti…

REDACTED: @Pugqail920 Nothing yet, Showfall has so many old shows and the ones we’ve looked into have completely different feelings to them than this. And no shared cast either.

Pugqail920: That’s a shame, I think we should look into those more.

Jarick: On it!

G0ldenG00se: @SandMan74 @582AditionalPies you can also watch old Showfall shows see if it has “the vibes” and see if you two still don’t believe it?

SandMan74: Because you asked, no.

582AditionalPies: i’m down

Pugqail920: I think we should all look into it. Start from more recent stuff and work our way back.

REDACTED: Agreed, anyone with the free time and the ability to watch old shows. Make sure to share with everyone what you’re watching, even if you don’t think it’s anything, that way we don’t waste time having everyone watch the same things.

It seemed the list of things to look into and questions was ever growing, without conclusions or answers. But that was the life of a theories, wasn’t it? They all knew their answers wouldn’t be clear cut, and they weren’t bound to find anything groundbreaking today, but the longer they put off looking into something the longer it would take to find anything on the subject.

They signed up for this, unlike the people they were watching, they could step away from this nightmare at any time if they wanted. And they’d keep searching until that changed.

Chapter Text

Just like with the previous grouping of episodes the next one came two days after then previous. The forum users were much more prepared for the stream to be sprung on them, so despite the chaos of the previous days they felt a lot more ready for anything Showfall would throw at them. Not to mention if this followed the pattern - if it could be called that with only one generation - of the first three episodes this episode would give them a lot more information than the last anyway.

To start the countdown timer was already more informative. Instead of being on a white screen with the Showfall logo, it was over footage of a camper driving on mostly empty roads. The Showfall logo was semi-transparent over top of it. The timer was much more prominent. There were cuts in the footage for whatever reason. Something to be theorized over later.

The forum began to quiet down as the chat sped up, people filtering in as the counter slowly dwindled to nothing. The beginnings of more disguised untold horrors, which would only reveal themselves to those who paid enough attention to notice.

‘Who’s ready for another trip?!’ Squiggles asked excitedly.

As the counter ended, the camper disappeared under a canopy of trees and the footage faded out, gradually changing to show the outside of that camper door. Once it was fully on that screen the door to the camper opened to, unsurprisingly, reveal Ranboo.

It was presumably meant to be the same door he went through two days ago, at least to him. His mask was still on, which also wasn’t surprising, but was disappointing. 

Ranboo | The Chosen

It was odd that Ranboo was getting a different title this episode than episode 2. But the audience supposed Charlie was given different names in episode one and two, so it wasn't that out of the ordinary. Besides, this could give them more information about anyone else that appears in this episode. Not that they were particularly helpful last time. Still they weren’t really complaining.

Ah yes, a school in a camper this makes sense

Portal door is back?

Is it just me or is this wrong…

We need to get good photos of the trees and any plants to try to figure out where this is takes place, and if it’s maybe the same forest that we saw in episode 1

If the trees were consistent and they could figure out just what type of tree it was, along with some other plants they’d hopefully be able to see, they could pinpoint where Showfall was filming this. At least in theory. And theories were enough hope for the forum users.

“Took you long enough to show up,” An unfamiliar female voice chastised, though it sounded friendly enough.

Ranboo looked around himself as his mask flashed a few times, “Uh, yeah, I just got a little lost.”

“Sounds about right, you can never get your directions right,” Another voice laughed, this one with a distinct British accent.

Ranboo walked through the trees, many images of the different trees being sent to the forums as he did, until the two could be seen. And a third ‘cast member’ who was honestly a shock to see.

Ethan?!

Yooo fish man’s back!

Oh no is he a hobo now?

So Hetch was telling the truth????

Our boy is back!!

His existence destroyed any theory of only the main cast being able to die and come back over and over. It seemed like this meant it could be anyone. It made the forums’ future rescue plans more difficult than they had anticipated, but the more people they could save the better. It wasn’t like they were far into actually planning the rescue anyway. Plus they were going to completely take down Showfall, so if all else failed they would just save everyone then.

“Come, sit,” The woman, wearing an elegant dark purple dress, offered.

The camera shifted to an angle that was closer to the woman, her title card coming up.

Kristin Watson | The Partier

“You’re not already drunk are you?” Ranboo sighed, though he did comply.

The camera was back to showing the whole group, Kristin and the man in green sharing a log in the center while Ethan was on a log to the right and Ranboo now on the left. There was a small fire started in the middle of all of them.

“What, are you some prude now?” Ethan, wearing the same outfit he was in episode 2, questioned.

Ethan Nestor | The Idiot

An unemployed idiot was really nothing to go off of. Assuming they were even accurate to who the person was before they got taken into this twisted show.

‘A familiar face!’ Squiggles cheered.

“I’m not drunk, I’ve only had one drink,” Kristin answered before Ranboo could.

“Try one case,” The man teased.

Phil Watson | The Dad Friend

Oh, the shared last name was very interesting, not in a good way. It could also serve as an explanation for why there were no missing persons reports. Maybe whole families were taken by Showfall rather than just individuals. 

It granted credence to that passing theory of Crumb being Austin’s kid. Though at the same time the clothing colors seemed to not mean as much with Kristin and Phil not sharing the same color, Kristin's color was actually closer to Ethan’s.

Husband and wife??

Aww I love these two already

I hope they don’t get too lovey dovey…

If we get a choice, don’t vote for them, we must protect them for as long as possible!

“I’ve not had a whole case,” Kristin refused.

“We’re here all weekend, you don’t want to run out so early,” Ranboo noted.

“Fine,” Kristin sighed, “I’ll make a drinking game, any time something interesting happens then I’ll drink.”

“That’ll be much better,” Phil smiled, patting her on the back.

Before anyone else could say anything the most generic ghost ‘ooOOOooo’ sound played. It still made all four of them jump as though it was a loud sudden noise, not the gradual fade in that it was.

“Oh geez, I wonder what that was,” Ranboo questioned in his default, unfazed, tone.

Though any suspense that maybe could have been created was ruined by a new camera angle, it was partially blocked by leaves and branches, but it still showed the ‘ghost’ or what looked to be someone with a white bed sheet over their head.

‘He seems friendly’ Squiggles stated.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Ethan decided, standing up from his log seat.

“Ethan, what are you-” Phil started.

“I’m not going to be a pussy,” He interrupted in a higher pitch, mocking tone.

“Ethan!” Phil shouted after him.

He made what looked to be a half-hearted attempt to stand up before just sighing and shaking his head.

“He’ll come back when he’s bored,” Kristin assured.

“Or he’ll circle around because he gets lost,” Ranboo laughed.

“Like you’re one to talk, mister,” Kristin teased.

Phil began to laugh, only to get cut off by Ethan screaming. Though now the camera didn’t cut to what was being shown.

It was hard to tell if it was incompetence, or avoiding showing too much gore. They could always have something else to sensor it like the goo or wires. The three looked to be in shock, but not really horrified in the way a normal person would be hearing and possibly seeing their friend die in front of them. Though fairly soon a bloody shoe was thrown in front of all of them.

Kristin was the first to move, getting up from her seat and throwing it into the fire between them all. She took a drink when she sat down. Meaning she only saw Ethan's death as 'something inserting'.

“You just, I - why??” Phil questioned, clearly unable to even process what just happened.

“I don’t want that as a reminder all weekend, we came here to have fun, not be sad. Remember?” Kristin explained.

“But, he just died shouldn’t, we should’ve kept that as evidence, or something!”

“Evidence of what?” Ranboo asked.

“Of murder, or whatever that was!”

“I don’t think that was murder, probably just a bear.”

“Well now we won’t know, will we??”

“Yeah, and now we can enjoy our time,” Kristin hummed, planting a kiss on Phil’s temple, “You shouldn’t worry so much.”

Phil visibly relaxed, “Yeah you’re right, sorry sweety.”

‘They’re so cute!’ Squiggles cheered.

More than a few forum users, and even some chat members, noted that the control seemed to be firmer than in the original three episodes. Both Phil and Jordan being stopped from their line of questioning when it risked ruining the atmosphere. They had likely improved it either because of how bad Austin’s questioning was of the two not reacting to Ethan’s first death, or made a way to re-apply the control after Sneeg’s attempted escape. Though they still didn’t know how any of that worked. If they could force more control onto people without having to put the mask on them or hit the button on the back of Ranboo’s mask. If that was the case it could make things extremely difficult. Getting them all out when they could wirelessly be re-controlled would be nigh impossible. At least without shutting down what was causing the control, which wouldn’t be a bad idea anyway. Just another thing for the forum and to somehow figure out. Or maybe they were just smart enough to have Kristin hit something similar to the button of Ranboo's mask?

“Did you guys remember to bring the marshmallows?” Ranboo asked, changing the topic.

“It would be a bad idea to bring out food if there’s a bear around,” Phil noted.

He seemed much more calm then he was only moments earlier. It was hard to ignore how he was now agreeing to the bear theory without reservations.

“Do bears eat sugar?” Ranboo questioned.

“It’s close enough to food that I wouldn’t want to risk drawing its attention any closer.”

‘That “bear” seems quite hungry’ Squiggles noted with that sorta throwing something over the shoulder we did.

Ghost bear?

It already knows where they are though

Cocaine bear strikes again

Why would Squiggles go along with it being a bear? We all saw it isn’t

Wrong white powder

“Overly cautious as always,” Kristin tsked.

“Or maybe you’re just reckless,” Phil teased in return.

“I’m fun,” Kristin countered.

Phil opened his mouth to speak but someone else spoke first. Walking in from seemingly behind the camera as they did.

“Look at we got here, a whole herd of dinguses,” It was Charlie that was speaking. His usual green seemed to be replaced by camouflage for this episode.

Charlie | The Bully

The same stalk cheering that played in episode one played again. Though he didn't pause to look at the camera at all.

“Dinguses? Wouldn’t the plural be Dingui? Or maybe it would just still be dingus,” Kristin asked, with each sentence seemingly talking more to herself than the others.

“What are you doing here?” Ranboo demanded a bit antagonistically.

“I come out here all the time, the real question is what you chuckle heads are doing here. These woods are dangerous, you all probably wouldn’t last five minutes alone,” Charlie stated.

“We’ve been fine so far,” Phil denied.

What about Ethen????

you were just wanting to leave though

Screw safety, it’s entertaining!

There’s a poorly disguised ghost in these woods!

I’m guessing now that Charlie is going to be the ghost, he was a demon why not a ghost? He is the villain after all.

Super safe and normal, mhm

“That’s pure luck, you dweebs don’t have what it takes to survive out here.”

“And you do? I’ll have you know I’m a very good fighter,” Kristin huffed, sounding more drunk than she had last time she spoke, despite - as far as the audience could tell - she hadn’t drank any more.

“You’re more likely to piss it off than win.”

“It is a bear right?” Ranboo asked.

“No one knows, everyone that’s seen it dies.”

“It’s a bear,” Ranboo stated confidently.

“I…” Charlie sighed, “Yeah, sure you can think it’s a bear you numbskull.”

“Prove that it isn’t a bear,” Ranboo challenged.

“How am I supposed to prove it isn’t a bear?”

“Take a photo of whatever it is.”

“You know what? I will.”

He matched off, though it was in the opposite direction of where Ethan had gone. It didn’t seem to matter though as screams could be heard all the same.

“Oh god! This is so much worse than last time!” He screamed before falling back into frame.

He had green goo oozing out from scratch marks that now covered his arms, legs, even some on his face. He was trying to quickly crawl or shove himself away from the ghost, though one arm stayed on his stomach. Seemingly holding in a wound that was there.

The injuries definitely seemed more like they were from a bear then what was to be expected from a ghost. Though since ghost weren’t real Showfall could really get away with making injuries from a ghost look like anything.

“Fucking Christ…” Phil mumbled, standing up from his seat and slowly approaching Charlie.

It was clear that he didn’t know what to do in this situation. Maybe because the usual things he’d do if he had control over himself weren’t available to him, like being able to run away, or call the police. Maybe his fight or flight instinct was just normally freeze anyway.

He wasn’t able to reach Charlie before what looked like a ball of fur the size of a person either leapt out of the woods from the same direction, or was thrown out. It was hard to tell which. There was more screaming - which was worryingly becoming an afterthought - as Charlie was seemingly struggling to get the fur monster off of him. Though based on the way he was writhing around it didn’t actually seem to be that heavy.

“See I told you it was a bear,” Ranboo noted as though a guy wasn’t being mauled right in front of him.

Charlie was slowly being dragged out of the shot by the thing while screaming for help. To Phil’s credit, he looked like he wanted to but wasn’t being allowed. They likely all would if given the chance, but he was the only one standing, taking small steps in Charlie’s direction but that was it. The closest any of them were to any semblance of free will.

Most eyes were on Charlie or Phil, but those who were looking elsewhere noticed Kristin took her shot for ‘something interesting’ happening. And maybe she was aware too, aware enough to know she wouldn’t want to remember this and was trying to get drunk enough that the memories of this horrible situation would never be able to recover even if she managed to break out and get everything else back.

Once the screaming had finally stopped, and Charlie was presumably dead, Phil began to stumble backwards. He nearly tripped over the fire pit but was grabbed by Ranboo before he could actually fall in.

“Careful, we don’t want to start a forest fire,” He warned.

Phil laughed awkwardly, “Yeah right. Uh, well, I think… I think I forgot something back home.”

“Oh what was it? Maybe I packed it,” Kristin suggested.

“No it was… milk to… to you know, sober you up later.”

It was far from a convincing lie. But it was human. It was a little sliver of the real Phil. The human under the brainwashing and reality altering. Another sign of hope for the forum that they can be broken out, even after it had seemingly been reinforced less than half an hour earlier. Hopefully if/when the forum got to them they wouldn’t need to further traumatize the ‘cast members’ to show them reality.

“Alright sweetie, don’t take too long,” Kristin smiled.

Phil didn’t waste another second, running into the woods behind them in a way that felt oddly reminiscent of Sneeg in the second episode. So it wasn’t surprising that most of the audience was expecting that he’d be dragged back onto set kicking and screaming just the same.

That was, until the gunshot. Neither Kristin nor Ranboo really reacted to it. Unless they were to count Kristin taking a big chug from her can, as she had for the last two deaths. Which if that was a reaction, it was hard to tell if it was just a part of the joke or the real human underneath trying to drown her sorrows of her husband’s death. Assuming that was their actual relationship and not something Showfall made up for extra drama. Though if they were trying to add more drama they weren’t really having the ‘characters’ react enough for that.

But Showfall also didn’t seem to understand anything about the human condition or human relationships. Having enemies help each other out in fights, friends being antagonistic of each other, or the murderer apologize after he kills people. Those aren’t how people act, none of this is how people act. Maybe that’s what made it so intriguing.

“You sure you don’t want a drink?” Kristin offered, holding out her drink.

“Yeah, that’s not my thing.” Ranboo refused.

“Alright let me know if you change your mind.”

‘Nothing wrong with a little bit of peer pressure.’

“I won’t.”

“You never know~”

“Sorry, I’m back, took longer than I expected,” The familiar voice of Sneeg came in as he walked out of the forest from the same place Phil went. 

Phil | Back with milk

Sure enough, he had a jug of milk in his hand, and was wearing an outfit that was largely similar to Phil’s though it was blue, of course. Another extent of striping away ‘the cast’s' identities. Not even their names were sacred. Which might be why the forum users were having such a big issue finding them under the names they had now. They were false identities given to them by Showfall itself, which also explains why some of their names were so strange.

yes phil

What the hell is happening anymore?

‘Yay! More Phil!’ Squiggles cheered.

The second we disappeared we just came up in the corner again.

‘It must be magical milk.’

“It’s alright honey,” Kristin smiled, before taking yet another sip from her can.

Just as she was about to put the can down, Frank - who looked like he was being held up by wires - was brought into the scene. For whatever fucked up reason, he was wearing a skeleton suit. Though before anyone could truly process the implications, he ‘shoved’ Kristin off of her log and into the fire. The plastic skeleton - or even the rotting corpse for that matter - wouldn’t have enough force to push a fully grown woman that hard. And yet it worked, the fire seeming to explode upwards, likely meant to be because of the beer still left in her can though it was far more extreme then the likely little alcohol that would be left in there. The flames almost completely engulf her. Unfortunately for her it wasn’t enough to kill, she was just left to writhe and scream as the flames burned her clothes and skin. She eventually managed to push herself up and run off into the forest.

‘Yay! Frank is back!’ Squiggles cheered.

“No, you need to stop, drop and roll!” Ranboo yelled after her, before turning to Sneeg, “She’s going to cause a forest fire.”

“Who?” Sneeg asked in return.

The mask flashed a bit as if he was buffering trying to think. Or maybe some message was being given to him.

“I don’t know, anyway, care to sit?”

“Yeah, uh, why do I have this?” Sneeg asked, holding the milk up.

He shrugged before just placing it down, and righting Kristin’s chair and sitting in it.

“It sure is a choice of a drink when camping,” Ranboo noted.

“Hey, there’s nothing wrong with chugging a jug of milk.”

“In one go.”

“Yeah.”

“Alright, do it, I dare you.”

“Alright I will,” Sneeg decided defiantly.

He twisted the cap off, and did begin to chug it. Though a lot also spilled out of the sides, soaking into his shirt.

‘Chug! Chug! Chug!’ Squiggles encouraged.

Someone began to come up from behind Sneeg as he was about halfway through. It didn’t seem like the monster from before, but seeing as the monster was ever-changing it was hard to tell. However, it was definitely more human than before.

“It’s nice to see everything’s already set up,” The new person, dressed in a green and black hoodie.

Sneeg just came a thumbs up, too busy chugging milk to actually reply.

Mathew Patrick | The Conspiracist

He reached into the same box Kristin had been taking out the beer, pulling out a can of his own. Though it was notably different from the ones that were grabbed earlier. Those cans had been mostly light blue with touches of white and black, while these were clearly gray with big red lettering on the side.

“Oh cool, you got my-” The camera angle suddenly changed to one heavily zoomed in on the can, “-refreshingly tasty Diet Koce.”

‘I want to try Koce now!’ Squiggle stated, ‘Now drug and alcohol free.’ 

They were just doing blatant advertisements now? The advertisements for their clothing line felt out of place enough in the first episode, and that didn’t have the characters pointing it out. This was egregious. And for how big of a media corporation Showfall was, and how much they repurposed items for their sets, or had largely no set at all, you wouldn’t think they would need the sponsorships. Or if they did, the costumes would be more than a white sheet thrown over a corpse's head. Not like most of their staff were even people anymore, they didn’t need salaries, especially not ones that the popularity of their shows wouldn’t be able to pay for.

“Of course,” Sneeg hummed, “I knew you were coming no way I wasn’t going to get you some Koce."

“You’re a great friend Phil,” Mathew stated, patting Sneeg on the back before moving to sit next to Ranboo on the log.

Though only a moment later, with no words exchanged he stood up and moved to the log on the opposite side of the fire for seemingly no reason.

“What, do I stink or something?” Ranboo asked jokingly.

“No it’s just…” Mathew trailed off, tapping his fingers on the side of his Koce can, “Felt weird to sit so close to someone I barely know.”

“What do you mean, we’ve been friends for years?”

“We’ve been in the same friend group for years,” Mathew corrected, "We have barely talked.”

“To be fair, that’s because you don’t show up to a lot of hang out,” Sneeg butted in.

“I often have better things to do.”

“What, like study, you fucking nerd,” Sneeg jabbed, “I’m kidding, it’s good that you care about your grades.”

“I think you’re making a big deal out of nothing, it’s not like we were sitting right next to each other,” Ranboo noted, “And we can’t become friends if you don’t give me the chance.”

“I…” Mathew sighed, “I don’t know what it is about you, but you’ve always given me just a strange feeling. Like dragging us all out here in the middle of secluded woods? How do I know I’m not going to be killed?”

“First of all, you came out here anyway, so that’s on you. And secondly, it was Phil’s idea to come out here, not me!” Ranboo defended gesturing to Sneeg.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa. No one’s going to get murdered,” Sneeg tried to reassure.

Though at least for the audience it was a mute point since there were already four people dead. It was a bit too late for any reassurance like that.

“All I’m asking is why do you wear a mask all the time if you don’t have anything suspicious going on.”

“Wooowww,” Ranboo drawled.

“Dude!” Sneeg interrupted, “That’s not cool, you know he has a medical thing.”

“No, I don’t. I don’t know anything about him! What I especially don’t get is how he just showed up in the friend group and is suddenly like the most important person that everyone wants to be around. It’s like everyone for-”

The sound of a gun interrupted Mathew, and he was now bleeding from his chest.

“Ah shit…” A semi-familiar feminine voice could be heard quietly.

She walked on screen and-

Jaiden!?

Two people back in the same episode

Is she in the main cast?

‘It’s like a cast reunion’

To not only have two returning people, but someone from just the last episode felt strange. Though it could be a good thing. Maybe Showfall had a limit on how many people they could mind control at a time, so they had to reuse people. That’s probably why they had the main cast to begin with.

Jaiden Animations | The Stranger

“Sorry, I could have sworn I put the safety on this thing after I accidentally shot a leaf earlier,” Jaiden apologies, seeming to analyze the side of the gun.

It was the same comically long gun the Puzzler had.

Can’t even afford a new gun prop with that Koce money?

yooo long gun pog!

“I mean he was being kinda rude,” Sneeg shrugged.

“Yeah I don’t even know what he was talking about,” Ranboo hummed.

This had to be the longest they acknowledged a dead person the entire show. So radically different from The Warehouse, where they kept mentioning everyone else who had gone with them had died. Now they seemed to have an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing going, with an ever evolving cast.

“I’m just going to…”

Jaiden put the gun down then started to drag Mathew’s body out of frame.

“There we go,” She dusted her hands off as she walked back, picking her gun up once more.

“So of all weapons you could bring, why a revolver?” Sneeg asked.

Jaiden shrugged, “I’m not allowed more powerful guns because I’m a bit jumpy, or trigger happy depending on how you look at it.”

“It’s smart to have something to defend against the bear,” Ranboo noted.

“Wait there’s a bear?” Sneeg questioned.

“Yeah, or at least something I think is a bear. We already talked about this Phil, don’t you remember?”

There was almost malice in the words he said, though not the way he said them. It just felt cruel to ask a guy whose mind was being reset every few days for a new show if he remembered something. Especially since Sneeg hadn’t actually been there for that conversation, and it was the real Phil instead.

“Oh, right, yeah.”

“So far all I’ve shot are two leaves…” Jadien admitted.

“Really??” Ranboo gave her an almost disapproving look.

“I told you I was jumpy!” Jaiden justified.

“Alright, alright,” Ranboo relented, raising his hands in surrender.

“Just an idea, but maybe you shouldn’t be holding the gun all the time,” Sneeg suggested, “Especially with so few shots.”

“I mean… I guess, but I just feel better holding it. You know?”

“I get that,” Ranboo agreed, his hand gipping at something that wasn’t there.

It didn’t seem like morse code, the pulses were too sporadic. But some form users decided to look into it anyway, see what he could possibly be spelling if it was. There wasn’t much for the codecipherers to look into right now anyway, so might as well. It wasn’t SOS that much was certain.

“Oh, there you guys are,” A new voice interrupted.

How long was this going to keep going, at this point it felt excessive. The audience got the message, there were a lot of people Showfall could use. Too many. Though surely that meant the forum users were bound to find information on at least one of them eventually, right?

The man was wearing a blue and black checkered sweater.

Jack Manifold | The Loner

“Yeah I definitely remember you.” Sneeg stated in his sarcastic way.

“You… invited me here,” Jack pointed out.

“Uhhhh…” Sneeg trailed off, looking to Ranboo for help.

He only got a shrug in reply.

“Come on dude, I’ve gone to your birthday party since we were both five.” Jack complained.

“I invite everyone, doesn’t mean I’m going to remember you,” Sneeg shrugged.

“If it makes you feel any better I wasn’t even invited at all,” Jaiden chimed in, “I was just wandering in the woods and now I’m here.”

“Not really,” Jack admitted, “If anything that just makes me more uneasy.”

“Ah well, I tried,” Jaiden shrugged with a half hearted smile.

“Anyway…” Jack mumbled as he walked to the other side of the fire, “Inviting ‘everyone’ is just us three?”

“No there was…” Ranboo stopped, his mask once again flashing red at seemingly random intervals.

He spoke again much quieter, so quiet that a lot of the audience missed it entirely.

“There were other people, right?”

It was almost strange after a whole stream of nearly instantly forgetting about the dead hearing Ranboo question it. Though by the volume of it, it was fair to guess that it wasn’t something Showfall intended for him to question. It was the same as when he’d question why he couldn’t run from the fight against Charlie in The Cabin.

“Just because there are only three of us here doesn’t mean that’s all I invited,” Sneeg argued.

“I know I wasn’t invited but I feel like I’m being forgotten in this conversation,” Jaiden butted in.

“Just because there’s only four people doesn’t mean I only invited three,” Sneeg corrected.

“Thank you,” Jaiden nodded.

“I’m still hurt that you forgot me, Phil.” Jack noted.

“I’m sorry, I guess?” Sneeg shrugged.

“Convincing,” Jack replied sarcastically, “You know what? I shouldn’t have to put up with shitty friends, I’m going to go find people that’ll appreciate me.”

With that he marched off.

Justice for Jack

Hell yeah! You do deserve better!

The only indication of what - presumably - Frank was dressed as this time was what looked like white ribbons that appeared on the screen for a few seconds. Jack’s screaming could be heard off screen. Which Ranboo actually reacted to, not in the way a normal person would react to hearing their friend shouting in pain. He just turned around to look at it, though he wasn’t facing the camera so no one could tell what his facial expression was. It was still kinda progress, and helped to support some people’s theories that the mask flashing was it breaking. Though others would argue that it supported their theory that the mask flashing was a sign of them remembering things, in this case remembering that wasn’t right. It wasn’t normal to just sit still while friends, or anyone for that matter, screamed, at the very least they should be running. They shouldn’t be alright watching this, especially watching it while doing nothing.

Very few chat members reflected on how they were accidentally describing themselves.

“So did you guys bring games, or did you just plan to tell ghost stories?” Jaiden asked, taking Ranboo’s attention back from the dead or dying body.

“I didn’t bring much,” Sneeg admitted, “I had a jug of milk.”

He kicked the mostly empty jug for emphasis.

“It’s a good thing that it wasn't a bucket,” Ranboo joked.

“What?”

“You know, like kicking the bucket? Never mind…”

He seemed to have lost the confidence of ‘the hero’ becoming more human, more - the audience could only assume - the him before the shows. He seemed awkward and uncertain, but very kind and considerate. Trying his best to save Charlie when it would have been easier, and maybe more successful, had he gone on his own. They all clearly cared for each other, it arguably made it more tragic.

“Aren’t I supposed to be the one making dad jokes?” Sneeg asked.

“I mean I’m not prevented from making dad jokes,” Ranboo shrugged.

“Still, you’re kinda stealing my bit dude.”

“Maybe you need to do it more so I don’t have to.”

“Maybe I will.”

“I vote no puns or dad jokes,” Jaiden butted in.

Just then what sounded like stock witches laughter played. Based on the direction the three turned, it seemed to have come from behind them.

“I think she agrees with me,” Jaiden commented.

“Bullshit, it was laughing at you for being wrong,” Sneeg argued.

“Mmm, no,” Jaiden argued in return.

“Don’t talk back to me!” Sneeg huffed, which was the first time he actually sounded like a dad.

Jaiden held her hands up in surrender, “Sorry.”

“You were totally right though,” Ranboo held up his hand to block his masked mouth from Sneeg. As if the hand will somehow prevent him from being heard, even though the metal wasn’t.

“Thank you, I’m glad you get it.” Jaiden replied, doing much the same thing.

The witch laughed again, though this time a broom was stabbed through Sneeg's stomach at nearly the same time. He glanced down at it as blood slowly dripped down.

“Well that was just uncalled for,” He tsked, turning around, “We needed to have a conversion about your behavior and proper play.”

And he just walked off, seemingly mostly okay - all things considered. It was like it didn’t even hurt him. That was the smallest - though very deserved - mercy they could all receive.

“Phil-” Ranboo began to call, but cut himself off, “I’m sure he’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, it didn't look too major, especially if he’s smart about it,” Jaiden agreed.

Though the way she was now looking at her gun and fiddling with it told a different story. Maybe there was some part of her that knew she wasn’t the protagonist and would have the same fate. A small part of her that remembered the last episode from only two days ago.

“It’s Phil, being the smart one is basically his job,” Ranboo assured.

Though Showfall seemed eager to end the episode as all too quickly a zombie sound effect played. It made Jaiden jump and shoot into the forest.

“You really are jumpy,” Ranboo teased.

But the camera changed to the one that earlier showed the horrible fake ghost costume. Though the border of the frame now had small squares that switched from gray to red and back. The same sort of glitching that happened in episode two that revealed the connection between slime and blood.

Frank | The Monster

Though he didn’t look like the plastic skeleton they’d seen every other time. And they couldn’t assume it was just because of the costume, since all the others in the episode were poorly done outfits that could easily be put on and taken off in five minutes. But this… this was grotesque. Most of the body wasn’t actually bone, though there were certainly parts where the skin and muscle were peeled off enough to reveal the skeleton. There was little hair on the body's head, but not in the way that Frank had gone bald, but that it wasn’t growing anymore and was falling out since his death. They could see the rotting top gums in his mouth, the bottom jaw being completely ripped off, presumably from the Puzzler’s cane, some of the muscle from the cheek still dangling where it should have been. His left arm looked like it had been put back together with a nail through the elbow, the surrounding area being mostly bone. The nail was clearly there to have kept him together, they didn’t seem to care too much about that now, especially with the back of his skull now shattered to pieces against the forest floor. The audience could only hope this would mean they would stop puppeteering a corpse around and making Charlie and Sneeg act as though he was a real and alive person.

This was not a sight anyone had expected to see, though no one could now doubt that Frank used to be a real person. And hopefully this would make more people realize the horrors of this media corporation. This is what happened to their cast. Maybe, just maybe, this could lead to a large portion of the audience protesting, or at least speaking out against Showfall.

After what felt like too long of a pause on that gorry sight, the camera angle turned back to the one the rest of the show had been.

“Let’s get out of here,” Jaiden stated.

“Yeah, yeah that sounds like a good idea,” Ranboo agreed, though he continued to stare at the corpse.

This was presumably the first time he’d seen Frank without the filter. Every other time while he understood him to be dead he probably looked like the plastic skeleton like he had to the audience.

After a moment more the two surviving members walked away and back into the camper where the episode had started. Surprisingly the camera angle changed again to show the inside of the vehicle. There was a small TV above the drivers and passenger seats that sprung to life, with a familiar masked figure appearing. The screen didn’t glitch like it did for the first two episodes when he appeared, though Ranboo’s mask did flash as he stepped away from it almost on guard.

Fuck off Hetch!

Finally something that feels normal

Where were you last episode?

Wait so Jaiden get’s to live

Why is Hetch still here? I thought he left now that we know he sucks ass.

ya better explain what the hells going on hetchy boy

Boooo

“Congratulations,” Hetch praised, “The two of you get to move on. Though we’ll have to go through some minor changes first.”

The screen turned off again.

“What? What did that mean?” Ranboo asked, voice wavering slightly.

“And who was that?” Jaiden added.

“I… I don’t know, but something tells me he’s not on our side.”

Jaiden looked like she was considering that for a moment. “I don’t see what you mean, but I’ll trust your gut.”

Ranboo nodded in reply.

“Now let’s get out of here, yeah?” Jaiden asked, moving to the driver’s seat.

Ranboo in turn moved to the passengers.

The final shot of the stream seemed to be stock footage of a similar camper driving on the road, just like the start. The audience was once again not told when the next episode would be.

It was probably too optimistic, but maybe this could be the last episode if they were able to find where it was being recorded via the trees. Then the forum users could just call the local police to that area and get Showfall shut down.

Chapter Text

TheHackyKitty: Hey, I found something interesting at work today by accident that I thought you guys would want to hear. Generation_1.zip

Cautious, but intrigued, many form users copied the link. Some ran it through scanners to check to see if there was a virus attached, while others just haphazardly downloaded the content from the stranger without a second thought. It wasn’t as though TheHackyKitty had never spoken here before, so it was likely fine.

Everyone who did open it was greeted to twenty-seven different sound files, varying in lengths from three seconds to over seven and a half minutes long. 

RGBglowstick: How the FUCK do you ‘accidently’ get music files from Showfall?!

TheHackyKitty: Okay, accidentally may have been the wrong word. I mean that I didn’t know what I was going to find, and that I did it instead of actually working.

Some people began to quickly flip through the songs as soon as they recognized the placement in the shows where they belonged. While others took it more slowly, listening to each song to hear if there was something out of place. A hidden message in them perhaps? Others began instead to look through the signwaves or other code to look for anything visually.

No one had payed the music too much mind, instead giving their attention to the words being spoken over them, or the visuals of the series. It didn’t help that some of the songs were too quiet at times to be heard at all. So to now have every song divorced of any other noise accessible to all of them could be extremely helpful. Even if it was only the first three episodes - it was clear from the titles alone that there was nothing from four and five. It maybe wouldn’t be as helpful as other evidence, but the group would take any crumb of information they could get.

The songs seemed to be conveniently in the order they were used, which made the job of those flipping through and trying to place where their songs were much easier. And made the song ‘Access Granted…’ stand out.

TraumatizedSuperman: Hey, does anyone know when access granted takes place? It sounds familiar, but I don’t really remember it playing in episode 3

MayhapsAMagpie: The sound was pretty quiet we probably just missed it tbh

TraumatizedSuperman: Yeah, I’m thinking the same. Time to go back and rewatch the episode for the hundredth time, I guess…

John3000D: At least you can put it on in the background not pay full attention to it

John3000D: And if the order is correct it has to be before the button, so you don’t have to watch any of the completely terrible parts

For many people, especially those who believed that the show wasn’t played by actors, it was nearly impossible for them to watch the final scene of the episode there. Hearing Ranboo shout about wanting to die and knowing they failed to give that one wish in the one time of free will he had… it was easier not to think about. And those who believed it was just a show were thrown into the trenches of analyzing that scene instead.

SandMan74: I think it’s just the same song as the title cards

MiserableMoth6 replied to SandMan74: And Holding Portal

Duck_Enjoyer: Yeah, Access Granted just has a different start to the others

TrumatizedSuperman: Still doesn’t tell me where it would be in the episode…

DonHapton: yeah i don’t remember there being anything like that playing between the beginning of the episode and the button.

TheHackyKitty: That one confused me too. Afterall, the rest of the titles are things that make sense with what happened in the episodes, but the closest thing to any sort of access was when Ranboo went into the server room and that song didn’t play.

XxBlendedPizzaxX: I think I need to rewatch the episode.

BannanaforBrains replied to DonHapton: I think we’re putting too much stock into the order of songs. Who’s to say that it wasn’t meant to be somewhere entirely? Went unused? Or could even be for future episodes?

Number 3: Kitty, you make a good point! Do we think that it should have played then? Or maybe it would have played if Ranboo had put in the red code?

MayhapsAMagpie: That would require showfall to have even given him a chance to pick the right answer im convinced that the red wouldnt have done shit and then the fucker would have blamed it on us like it wasnt set up to fail

REDACTED: If there was an actual choice there, one that they had two routes prepared for that could actually mean a lot for us. That would mean that they are still in there, and that there is a way to deactivate the control Showfall has over them.

EnergyWhosShe: live or die also sounds like the intro cards and the portal

179thCoffeeAddict: Wasn’t Sneeg breaking out in episode two enough proof that they're still there?

REDACTED: Not necessarily as it could have been planned like Ranboo’s ‘break out’ at the end of the ep.

179thCoffeeAddict: Oh I guess that’s true yea

Derick_R-I-C-K_: If only we had a way to prove that was where the song was meant to be, but for now we have to believe that there is actually hope for them.

TerribleUsername: Slight change in topics here, but why the heck is there a motif shared between The Puzzler’s theme, The Button, and Live or Die??

TerribleUsername: Like, at 1:56 in The Button, 2:56 in Live or Die and 2:47 in The Puzzler are the exact same or near the exact same, I swear. I don’t know what it means, especially since his death felt more final than all the others

Duck_Enjoier: I can definitely hear some similarities, but it might just be Showfall being lazy/reusing parts. There’s a lot of songs that share bits, it’s common in music

TerribleUsername: I know that. It’s just that all the other re-uses make sense to me. Like Live or Die, Holding Portal, and Title Card having the same intro make sense because they’re all songs that play when acknowledging that it’s a show. A New Victim and A New Villain are both Sneeg songs. The Hero and A Previous Life are both focused on Ranboo. But I can’t for the life of me understand why The Button and The Puzzler would have any similarities

Grantedv: We saw Ethan come back in the last episode and have Frank, a literal skeleton in the cast, and you’re going to try to act like the Puzzler is fully dead.

TerribleUsername: Though I also think I’m starting to get all these songs mixed up and all the clicking is starting to sound the same so maybe it’s nothing.

Pugquil920: @TerribleUsername I definitely think you’re onto something. I hear the similarities too. And overall the Puzzler just felt like he knew more than the others. Maybe he was working with Showfall which is why it’s there?

TerribleUsername replied to Grantedv: The ‘terminated’ shrine just made it felt more final.

Grantedv: It just doesn’t make sense, you’re both trying to claim Puzzler is really important and that he’s dead?

TerribleUsername: Maybe he was important in the past and now has outlived his usefulness? Idk I’m just throwing theories out there.

WitheredSpirit: No, I completely agree. If we trust his word he was around for sixty fucking years, you don’t just stick around for that long and not become important. And it would be impossible to have only one person running the whole of Showfall, making sure that everyone is in the right places doing things at the right times. When he was bleeding out on the floor, who was directing the employees to be where they needed to be?

John3000D: I doubt that he’s running it alone, but that doesn’t mean it’s the puzzler who’s working with him. He froze just like everyone else did when Sneeg was brought back

WitheredSpirit: He could have been acting. Or, for the sake of realism, get whatever it is that makes them controllable, done to him too.

John3000D: By that logic any of them could have had that done

John3000D: Next you’re going to say that Ranboo’s actually evil too and wanted to be where he’s at

WitheredSpirit: No, of course not. I’m not an asshole, nor am I dumb. The Puzzler just seemed to know more. Hell, he referenced the audience, the only other person who did that was Hetch.

Grantedv: I still don’t think that means anything, he could have been referring to a different, fake, audience, since to him he was the one recording this all and was making money off of what he does

WitheredSpirit: He also knew that the audience was making a choice for who got to continue forward, and mentioned us saying the mazes were too easy. That’s not an imagined audience later.

John3000D: He also got our choice wrong

TerribleUsername: He did! And him being able to make a mistake like that feels important, doesn’t it? Like he also accidentally killed Ranboo. Which could have been planned, but what if it wasn’t?

Number3: If A New Villain is referring to Sneeg, then why is there also Vicious Snag?

WitheredSpirit replied to TerribleUsername: Exactly! You get it!

Grantedv replied to TerribleUsername: I don’t feel like we have enough evidence for everything with The Puzzler, but alright

That_Lamp replied to Number3: I think one is when Sneeg is turned and the other is during the fight

582AdditinalPies: are we really going to get anything from the music? how many of us actually know shit about motifs or cords? 

MayhapsAMagpie: We dont need to be experts to pick up on things a few years of band is more than enough for me to be able to recognize motifs and i wouldnt be surprised if there was someone here that actually tried to learn it

REDACTED: It doesn’t hurt to turn over every stone. Besides this is the first real piece of evidence that we were able to get for ourselves rather than have Showfall give it to us so it’s important to analyze.

SandMan74: I would actually think that information we aren’t given is less valuable. But I guess that’s part of the difference in me thinking it’s just an ARG and you all thinking it’s real for some reason

Duck_Enjoyer: Wait, people think it’s real?

WitheredSpirit: It amazes me that we can watch the same show and have people not think it’s real

SandMan74: And it amazes me that so many people can look at a work of fiction and see people getting tortured, but to each their own

WitheredSpirit: I hope that one day we’ll get to laugh at you and prove to you that you’re wrong

SandMan74: So you hope people are getting tortured?

REDACTED: @SandMan74 @WitheredSpirit fighting is unproductive. And no one here hopes anyone is getting tortured

WitheredSpirit: What the fuck?! Why the fuck was that the concultion you jumped to??

SandMan74 replied to REDACTED: Yeah yeah, I’ll go back to talking to actually sane people again 

WitheredSpirit: Why are you even here if you seem to hate this group so much?

SandMan74: I don’t, the group is interesting. I just think you’re all very wrong

REDACTED: Second warning you two

WitheredSpirit: I don’t think I should be getting equally as scolded as the guy that just accused me of enjoying torture, but whatever.

G0ldenG00se: oh thank god, someone else who’s willing to argue with that fucking dick. if you want someone to vent to my DMs are open.

WItheredSpirit: Thanks

TrumatizedSuperman: @TheHackyKitty Do you think you’d be able to get the soundtracks for the more recent episodes?

TheHackyKitty: I didn’t see them anywhere when I was checking today, but I can look again tomorrow.

REDACTED: That would be wonderful if you could!

Pugquail920: Be careful while looking into this out in public. We don’t know how close of an eye Showfall will be paying. While more information is valuable not getting in trouble is more valuable.

TheHackyKitty: I appreciate the concern, but no one really pays attention to what I do at work as long as I get the things I need to do, which I’m good at!

With a lot more to dig into in many ways. Listening to the songs, slowing them, reversing them, transcribing them, looking at the signwave files to see if there was an image or something in it. And a promise of more the forum felt like they finally actually had something to go off of.

-=+=-

The next day everyone who wasn’t busy sat at their computers eagerly awaiting a message from TheHackyKitty. Whether it was a message of success or even just saying she had been unable to find anything. Of course they were working off of the assumption that her work schedule was the same as the day prior - which they had no evidence for. The normal idle chatter and theories being thrown around as time passed by.

But something much more interesting came along that distracted them all from what they had been waiting for. A video titled 'Coming_Soon' which showed Showfall’s logo plastered over the otherwise fairly normal ‘Please stand by’ image.

The video started on a black screen with static in the background, which wasn’t surprising to the audience. Not until the first words appeared.

What you are about to see actually happened. Live.  br> Just not here.

Though of course it happened here. They were there to witness the live event, vote on all the options. Unless they were now going to share a completely different story. Maybe one before this. Maybe the live event that had made Hetch refer to ‘the last time’ someone broke out. It would certainly be helpful to the forum if that were the case.

You, the Audience, are about to see a story in its purest form.

‘Purest form’ raised many questions, and looking into the description of the video those words were repeated. It was hard to take those words at face value knowing everything they do about Showfall.

'The Holding Portal' began to play, as the image that was used the previous time it was played was as well. It was nice to be able to put a name to the song they heard so often. But it was interrupted fairly quickly by the same please stand by image, though with text talking about a fake technical difficulty before the whole image glitched out. The black screen that they were then faced with was interrupted by crickets, showing the outside of a cabin that didn’t exist. The cabin was in a mall, it had no exterior. 

The crickets were replaced by static as they saw the same first shot as they did in episode one, which felt like it had aired so long ago now. Though the image was now cropped, filling up less of everyone’s screens. Sound effects that weren’t previously there in the live stream made the scene that the forum was now well used to almost seem intense as Ranboo once again woke up on the couch, before it cut back to please stand by for the second time.

But none of this would be what would really catch the forum’s attention. It was all very interesting as it first came up. The messages from the first people seeing it almost gave a live commentary to the video. But 'A Forlorn Look into Yesterday' began to play as a title card came up. It wasn’t Generation Loss: The Social Experiments that threw them off either. Though it did bring the line 'just not here’ into question.

Three simple words threw the rest of the teaser out the window, as fake neon lights spelt out The Founders Cut.

VibeChecker420: What the fuck does it mean by ‘founders cut’ are they supporting this??

TruamatizedSuperman: They have to just be using the title because there’s no way that the founder would support something so horrible

179thCoffeeAddict: Maybe we were all just wrong if the founder says it’s fine it probably is. Probably just a show and we read too much into it

John3000D: Well Hetch said the founder put him here so I don’t know why you’re all surprised

SoySauceKitty33: This is just like George Orwell’s 1984

SandMan74: Fucking told you all you were reading too much into this shit

VibeChecker420: This all feels so wrong… I think I need a moment to think about this.

Duck_Enjoyer: Oh holy shit, this show really is real!

Exho: Genuine question, how do you go from not believing it’s real. Seeing that and then thinking it’s real? I feel like it should be the other way around, if anything @Duck_Enjoyer

Duck_Enjoyer: Well the founder’s always been kinda sketchy to me. I mean no one even knows who he is

Exho: The anonymity is just for the founder’s safety. It’s much easier than needing bodyguards constantly.

Duck_Enjoyer: It’s just always rubbed me the wrong way I guess

DonHapton: i have to disagree. i think this means everything’s fine, the founder wouldn’t lead us astray. i’m going to be leaving the forum tbh

Derick_R-I-C-K_: The way I see it there are three possibilities that we can get from this teaser. 1, the founder’s name was slapped on without the founder really knowing what this series is. 2, the founder does know this series, knows everything that is happening is just a work of fiction and we have all been working ourselves up over nothing. 3, the founder knows that everything happening in Showfall is real and supports it.

RGBglowstick: What the hell is happening? Why are people leaving?

Pugquil920: If this truly is real and the founder is supporting this we need to consider what that means for us, and think about how we proceed

RGBglowstick replied to Derick_R-I-C-K_: WAIT WHAT?! What the FUCK did I miss?

Derick_R-I-C-K_: New vid

RGBglowstick: Oh god

BannanaforBrains: I’m not putting too much thought into this until we get this ‘founders cut’. Then I will go from there about what I think.

TerribleUsername: What do we even do if it is supported by the founder? Pugquil is right, it would mean a lot and not in a good way.

REDACTED: We will keep doing as we have been, people are free to come and go as they're comfortable with. Though I would recommend anyone who has their real name in their user to change it, just in case.

VibeChecker420: You don’t think that the founder would come after us for this, do you?

REDACTED: I’d rather not take chances personally. We don’t really know until we have more information.

TraumatizedSuperman: This is a lot more intense than I think a lot of us signed up for. But you’re right, at least we can still walk away from it