Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The last thing Seamus remembered was a sharp, piercing pain through his chest, and then… nothingness. Like he had fallen asleep. He hadn’t even had time to process what was happening before it was all over.

He was, however, distinctly confused when he awoke to find himself in the middle of Central Park, the pain in his chest now completely gone. He grasped at his chest. How could that be? He was so sure that he had just been stabbed, or wounded, or something. He wasn’t quite sure of what had happened, but it felt so distinct and real. And, just as importantly, how could he possibly be in Central Park? He wasn’t anywhere near there when he was attacked. Retracing his steps, Seamus recalled himself having just gotten off the 4 train at Bowling Green. He was about to get on the Staten Island Ferry to go home. Could it be possible someone had found him wounded and carried him elsewhere? But why in the world would they have taken him to Central Park?

Figuring that allowing his thoughts to race uncontrollably would do no good in helping him to solve this mystery, Seamus looked at the area around him. The Great Lawn was packed as usual, though among the groups of people cheerily playing ball games, Seamus spotted a number of people who appeared just as disoriented as he did. He momentarily considered asking them if they knew what was going on, only to reconsider when he realized what a bizarre line of questioning that was sure to be.

Wait a second… What time was it? It was definitely early in the evening when he had gotten off the train, but the sun was high up in the sky now. It couldn’t be—he hadn’t been out for a whole day, had he?! Shoving his hand into his pants pocket and rustling around for his phone, he shakily withdrew the mobile device from his pocket and checked his phone. Oh, God. It was tomorrow! Noon, no less. His mom must be worried sick! Opening up his contacts, Seamus made to call his mother. Unexpectedly though, it went straight to voicemail. Actually, that wouldn’t be an accurate way to describe it. For Seamus had not been prompted to leave a message; rather, he was immediately greeted by a series of dull beeps from the receiving end.

Okay, so Seamus had been knocked out the night before, spent the entire night in the city, and now his phone was broken. It’s not an ideal series of events, but on the brightside, he had come out of it miraculously unharmed. He knew the way home, all he had to do was take the train back to the ferry and try again. He had his phone on him at least, so he probably hadn’t been mugged. This would be easy. He’d be home in an hour and a half. Normal day in New York City.

Hopping into a brisk trot, Seamus made his way to the edge of the Great Lawn; however, his walk through Central Park was interrupted when he had unceremoniously marched directly into solid air and fallen backwards. Wait, what? He stood back up. Must’ve tripped. He walked, more carefully this time, right up to the spot where he had tripped, and found himself brushing up against some kind of invisible wall.

Oh, of course. It was so obvious, how could he not have realized it by now? People don’t just randomly black out and then wind up in Central Park. This was clearly some kind of lucid dream. No big deal.

Hold on, no, big deal! He could be bleeding out on the ground, he had to wake up now!

Seamus then proceeded to do all the usual things one did to prompt themselves awake, from pinching himself to pulling his eyelids open, but to no avail. Oh God, this was it. He was going to die lying on the concrete at Bowling Green. He was only 17. He was too young to die!

This panic was interrupted by a booming voice, being projected from what sounded like a speaker, coming from the middle of the Great Lawn. “All Players, come on over to the center of the Great Lawn for Game Orientation! We’ll be dropping the wall soon, and trust me, you do not want to be right at the edge of the Lawn when the Noise start to come out.”

Now, normally it was against Seamus’ personal policy to obey the orders of strangers, especially in Manhattan, but he figured that maybe going along with the dream would end it faster, so just this once, he chose to oblige the unfamiliar voice.

Returning to where he had first awoke, Seamus had entered into a small mass composed of the other confused-looking teenagers he had seen earlier. Above-average continuity for a dream, he thought. Hovering slightly above the ground in front of the crowd was a young man wearing a mischievous grin. He had messy dirty-blonde hair; wore jeans, a flannel shirt, and laced-up boots; and had a guitar case slung over his shoulder.

He lowered the microphone he was holding and then cleared his throat. “Can y’all hear me?” He shouted. “Good. ‘Sup, Players. Now, I’m sure some of you are feeling a bit confused right now, seeing as how y’all just died, but put that trauma in the back of your head for now,” he tapped his temple playfully, “‘cause I’d like to formally welcome y’all to the Reapers’ Game! The name’s Robert Bernard, but most people call me Bobby B. I’m Manhattan’s Game Master and I’m here to make sure you fine folks have one hell of a time this week.” He winked, then continued. “But I’m getting ahead of myself. Most of you are probably wondering: ‘What is the Game?’ ‘What am I doing here?’ ‘Can I go home now?’ All of these questions and more, my friends, will be answered in due time, so let’s start with the first one. The Game is, well, a game, where a couple of lucky contestants—that’s you guys—will be brought back to life! All you have to do is win seven measly challenges, rack up enough points, and then you’re free to go. Oh hey, that’s all three questions in one fell swoop—go me! Let’s see, some other common questions… Uhm… ‘Do I have to play the Game?’ Nope, if you wanna get erased go right ahead… ‘Does this mean God is real?’ Yup, basically… ‘What do you mean I’m dead?” You heard me… Anything else?” He then turned to face the baffled mass, positively beaming, as if his winding monologue had meant anything at all to its unfortunate listeners. “Wow, no questions? Wonderful! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some other, much more boring administrative things to do, so I’ll leave it to Jane-Jane over here to update your phones and give you the starter pins. See ya!” He then unfurled a large pair of black, skeletal wings, and flew away.

Then, a girl with jet black bob-length hair and wings emerged from the crowd and stepped up to where Bobby was floating moments prior. She wore glasses with narrow-rectangular lenses, a gray T-shirt with the logo of Japanese punk artist 777 on it, and a medium-length black skirt. She scowled, “Would it kill him to read from the script just once? He always forgets the most important parts. God…” She raised her voice and looked up at the Players. “Sorry about him, he’s just like that. Anyway, my name is Janice. I’m a Reaper, you can tell by the wings.” She gestured to the large, freakish appendages attached to her back. “We run the Game that Bobby was trying to describe to you. Basically, you all died, one way or another, but the powers that be decided that you still have something to offer the world, so we hold this Game to determine who among you are most deserving of a second chance at life. This Game takes place in the Underground, or UG—it’s like the Realground, or RG, where you came from, except that you’re invisible to the living except in officially partnered shops. Over the course of the next week, we will distribute missions, one per day, and you will compete to earn points. The faster you complete ‘em, the more points you get. For most of these missions, you’ll have to fight the Noise, manifestations of people’s negative emotions. To do that, you’ll need these.” She took a small pin out of her pocket and flashed it to the crowd. “All of you will be given a pouch of starter pins for you to channel your psychs through… It’s easier to understand if you just do it yourself.” She then walked around and handed a pouch to each and every person in the crowd. When she finished, she returned to her post and continued. “You will receive text messages from us via text message every morning. Please take out your phones.” She pressed a few buttons on her own phone as the audience did what they were instructed to. “An app should be downloading on all of your phones right about now. That’s the RNS, we’ll use that to communicate with you periodically. Additionally, to make things just a bit more challenging, we’ve also collected an Entry Fee from each of you, whatever it is that you value most in life.” She sighed. “Phew, I think that’s everything. Now then, you’ll be receiving today’s mission on your phones shortly. Try not to get erased on the first day.”

Seamus had had some odd dreams before, but he had to say, this one was incredibly detailed. So many little rules. When he wakes up, he ought to write it down. As he thought this, he felt his phone vibrate. Checking it, he saw the instructions to the mission that Janice had promised.

Players,

Escape Central Park. Your time starts now.

Peace,

Bobby B.

The other people surrounding Seamus continued to stand as they did before, bewildered and in no hurry to play along. Then, Janice shouted, “What’re you waiting for? If you just stand there, the Noise are gonna get you!” Despite Janice’s obvious irritation, the crowd, Seamus included, still didn’t seem to get it. That was until when, out of nowhere, a large frog-like creature hopped in front of them and exhaled a stream of bubbles. Instinctively, Seamus reached out to pop it. The moment his finger made contact with the bubble however, Seamus felt a searing pain travel through his hand. His finger appeared flush with blood as the bubble popped with a boom. He yelped. That was real pain. This wasn’t a dream.

Immediately, Seamus booked it, pushing and shoving his way out of the crowd. What did that message say? Make it out of the park? Based on where he was, the fastest way out would be to the east or west, so he dashed west through the grass until he reached a path. In his peripheral vision, he noticed several odd-looking birds flying above him, but he paid them no mind. Escaping was his number one priority.

On the road now, he took the first path he saw that led out of the park. Things were going well. He could see the asphalt roads of the New York City streets on the horizon. Then, suddenly, a gray wolf leapt in front of him. The beast was growling and drooling, a hungry glint in its solid blue eyes. Seamus took a step back, his body recoiling in horror when he felt his back brush up against the snout of another wolf.

The wolves began circling around him. He scanned the circle for an opening, to no avail. There had to be a way out of this. Then he remembered the pouch of pins in his pocket. That girl said it could be used to fight… something. What was it? Noise? Maybe these were the Noise she was talking about. Welp, not like he had any better options. Seamus opened the bag of pins in his pocket and grabbed a fistful of whatever pins were on the top.

Eyes darting between the circling wolves and the pins in his hand, Seamus singled out a red pin with a yellow fire design on it and focused on it. Time seemed to slow down around him. His surroundings went dark. He felt a sensation akin to an electric current flowing between himself and the pin. A small fire kindled in the darkness. Suddenly, he was back in Central Park, and the fire had singed a bit of the wolf’s fur coat.

Seamus’ eyes widened in realization. Now channeling all of his energy into the pin, he rekindled the flame, this time at full force, and the faux-wolf burnt to a crisp, dissipating like static into nothingness. He targeted the other wolf and did the same. Not even bothering to process what had just happened once the threat had cleared, Seamus continued down the path he had been following.

He ran and ran as far and as long as his legs would carry him, until finally, he had reached the short brick wall separating Central Park from the rest of Manhattan. He nearly fell over breathing a sigh of relief. He had done it. He had escaped the noise.

His phone rumbled in his pocket again. There was a notification on his phone that read “Leaderboard Update.” Opening it, he saw a long list of names with his at the top, accompanied by a point total of 100 while all the others still read 0. For a moment he forgot himself and nearly cracked a grin.

Moments after that wave of relief came over him, he was struck with a sharp drowsiness, and almost instantly fell unconscious.

Chapter Text

Seamus rubbed his eyes in an attempt to brush off the sleepiness. He was waking up now. It was all just a dream after all.

Then he fully opened his eyes. This time he wasn’t at Central Park or Bowling Green. Instead, he was inside a brightly-lit subway car. One of the sleek, new ones with the solid blue seats and sterile white walls. An announcement could be heard overhead. “This is Jay Street-MetroTech. The next stop is High Street.”

Seamus jumped out of his seat. What the hell was he doing on the A train? He never even took this line. Running off the train and onto the platform so he could get his bearings, a quick “Stand clear of the closing doors, please.” could faintly be heard over the whirring of trains pulling in and out of the other tracks and the murmuring of the people around him. It wasn’t until he finally stopped to take a breath that Seamus realized these other people were passing through him. He nearly jumped again.

Was it true? Was he really dead? He certainly thought he was about to die when he got jumped at Bowling Green, but then he woke up in Central Park as if nothing had ever happened. None of this made any sense. He took a deep breath. If he got stuck pondering this, he’d be here all day. But what to do? If he really was dead, he certainly couldn’t go home. What was it those two winged people were talking about the other day? Some kind of Game?

This line of thinking was interrupted when Seamus received a message on his phone. He opened the notification.

Players,

You’ve all been dropped off at different subway stations throughout the city. Your target is at the Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue station.

Be there or be square,

Bobby B.

Perhaps, Seamus thought, the logic of Pascal’s Wager could best be applied here. If this Game was all in his head, he wouldn’t lose anything by playing along. But, if it was real, then his lack of cooperation would spell apparent doom. The answer then became obvious.

Seamus checked to see if the GPS app on his phone was still working. Phew. It was. He punched in the name of the station. It was in Queens. A forty minute ride with one transfer. He’d done worse before. The first step was to board the F train and ride to Delancey Street-Essex Street. Thankfully, he could board the F train right across the platform.

Stepping onto the F train, everything seemed so normal. The same tired commuters, trying to catch some shut-eye while simultaneously making sure they don’t miss their stop; the same tourists, frantically trying to read either the map up on the walls or on their phones; the same trashing sounds of the train as it barreled down the tracks. The only thing different was that he didn’t have to weave around and shove through people for space.

Even though they had spent a solid chunk of time explaining this Game thing yesterday, it still didn’t make sense to him. He could barely even comprehend the fact that he was apparently dead. So you aren’t even sent anywhere for the afterlife? You just turn invisible? He knew he would become paralyzed thinking about it, so he tried to put it out of his mind.

The train carried Seamus along to York Street, then East Broadway. He could feel himself easing back into the familiar rhythms of New York City, even if the situation was different. He himself nearly joined the snoozing commuters in their daydreaming before he was jolted back to reality by the train stopping at Delancey Street-Essex Street. Though he was unfamiliar with the station, he made the transfer to the M easily enough by following the signs. Now all he had to do was ride to the end.

This mission was suspiciously simple. Yesterday, he got jumped by some wolves while trying to leave Central Park. He was waiting for something similar to happen at any moment. Then again, the message did say that the target was at his destination. Maybe he was safe until then? It sure seemed that way. Much like his ride on the F, the M train chugged on from stop-to-stop without much issue.

That was until they reached Myrtle-Wyckoff Avenue. There, among the normal flood of passengers, a strange girl boarded the train. Well, perhaps strange wasn’t quite the right word. There was nothing strange about the girl herself, who wore a gray hoodie accompanied by a matching gray baseball cap and had blonde hair colored with faded orange dye. What was strange was the way she was looking towards Seamus. She seemed to be staring directly at him. But that couldn’t be. He was supposed to be invisible, wasn’t he? Unless…

Seamus took a hesitant step towards the girl, then another. Finally, he broke into a confident stride as he phased his way through the other passengers to reach the girl on the other side of the train car.

“Hello…” Seamus began, before awkwardly fading off as the girl continued to stare directly into his soul. “Can you see me?” He finally blurted out.

At last, the girl broke eye contact, only to look down at her phone and begin typing something. Ah, of course. She must’ve just been staring out into space. How silly of him to think otherwise.

But then, just after Seamus finished thinking that, the girl looked back up at him, shoving her phone in his face. It was open to the Notes app, and the note read:

yea my name is lena. you must be playing the game too. sry, i can’t talk. they took my voice as my entry fee.

“They took your voice?!” He repeated back to her. “Er, sorry. Where are my manners? My name is Seamus.” As Seamus introduced himself, something lit up in Lena’s eyes, but she didn’t lower her phone to add anything to the note, so he continued, “To be honest, I still don’t really understand what’s happening here. I’ve been playing along because it seems like the easiest option, but…”

This time she pulled back her phone and appended something to the note:

i think everyone’s basically feeling like that right now. it’s sorta hard to believe, but what can you do?

why don’t we team up? you get more points for finishing the mission quickly, and if we work together, we should be able to make short work of the noise.

Finally, someone was making sense. “I hadn’t even thought about teaming up, but now that you mention it, yeah, that’s a great idea. I was able to take down some wolves yesterday, but it felt close. This should help even the odds a bit.”

Instead of typing out something else, Lena simply smiled at him, and they returned to waiting as they crawled towards their destination.

At the next stop though, something a bit more obvious came up. This time, a man came onto the train and positioned himself directly in the car’s doorway. Loosening his jaw into a gaping maw, he began muttering an incoherent stream of curses. After a moment, the train speaker chimed and the mildly irritated voice of the conductor could be heard. “All passengers please step all the way into the car so we can get the train moving.” The man, seemingly unfazed by this announcement, continued his tirade. As he did so, he grew in volume, attracting the attention of the other passengers. Some took to shifting in their seats, while others concentrated on their mobile devices. Others still remained in their trance-like half-sleep state.

The bell rang again. “I repeat, all passengers, please step all the way onto the train so that we can get moving.” In response, the man got even louder.

Lena nudged Seamus with her elbow. Once she had gotten his attention, she withdrew a sleek black pin from her pocket and showed it to him. The pin had a jagged, angular skull design on it. Seamus stared blankly at her for a moment before fully processing her request and then promptly opened his pin pouch to find the matching pin. He assumed that he had to channel his energy into this one like he did with the fire pin from yesterday, so he did so, and when he did, he was met with an overwhelming sensation.

“Ugh, I’m so tired. I wonder if anyone will notice if I don’t show up for work today—”

“And sent! Glad that’s been taken care of—”

“Wow, this song is surprisingly good. I really wasn’t expecting—”

“That idiot! He’s gonna get us all—”

“What’s happening—”

“Who is—”

Seamus gasped. Are these… the thoughts of the other passengers?

That wasn’t all though. Accompanying these thoughts were angular designs similar to the one on the pin, but these were shaped like the heads of different animals. As he focused in on one, he could see its head poking out of the symbol.

Ah, nope, nope! Getting into any unnecessary combat was practically begging for trouble. As he continued to scan the proximity though, one symbol stood out from the rest: a yellow one floating right in front of the rambling man. Seamus focused in on it. The thoughts of the seemingly possessed man grew louder, distinguishing themselves from the rest of the crowd.

“It’s like these teens are hellbent on making my life a living nightmare! Always throwing those loud parties down the block… I can’t get a lick of sleep! I’m on my last nerve here. If they don’t get it together soon, I oughta…”

Seamus felt a tap on his shoulder. It was Lena again, waving her phone in Seamus’ face. This time, it just said: watch.

Lena then proceeded to walk over to the man holding up the train. The conductor’s voice could once more be heard overhead: “Attention passengers, we are currently being held up by a customer who is standing in the doorway. Once the customer steps into the train, we will continue moving.” Now standing next to the man, she closed her eyes and clutched the skull-adorned pin in her hand. A moment later, the man stopped rambling as his eyes widened, as if realization suddenly dawned upon him, and then he stepped off of the train. The doors then closed, and they were on their way.

Lena typed something out on her phone as she walked back towards Seamus. When he inevitably asked her, “What was that?” she replied by flipping her phone’s screen side towards him.

apparently you can use this pin to put thoughts into other people’s heads. i told him to calm down.

“That’s it?” Seamus balked in amazement. “How’d you figure out how to do that? And also, what’s up with that pin?”

Lena thought for a moment, then wrote something else out: to answer your second question first, it’s called a player pin. apparently it’s pretty important, like your player id or something. i guess that reaper lady forgot to explain it to us. i was toying around with it and found out you could use it to read minds.

as for your first question, i got a little lost yesterday and ended up bumping into this reaper who wouldn’t let me pass until i got him a soda. i didn’t have any money to buy one, but i saw someone else buying one. i heard a thought earlier about someone having to run off to something they were late for, and thought to myself that it’d be convenient if this guy ran off and dropped the soda. i was scanning the guy as i thought that, and all of a sudden, he remembered he had someplace to be. sure enough, he forgot his soda. i told the reaper what happened and he explained how the player pin worked. it’s called imprinting.

“That’s handy.” Seamus quipped.

Then, overhead, the train conductor could be heard announcing, “This is Middle Village-Metropolitan Avenue. This is the last stop on the train, all passengers please get off the train.”

“Oh, it’s our stop. C’mon, let’s get going.” Seamus then urged Lena towards the doors and the two vacated the car.

Stepping out onto the platform, they were greeted to an above ground station with tracks on both sides. At first glance, there didn’t appear to be anything of note there. “Are we at the right place?” Seamus asked aloud. Lena in response pointed to the exit, suggesting that perhaps their target might await there. Seamus nodded in agreement and thus they proceeded onwards.

Sure enough, as they approached the turnstiles, they were greeted by a wall Reaper. “Ah, more Players. Unfortunately for you, you aren’t the first to make it here, but hey, second and third ain’t too bad. You’re not quite done yet though, walk on through the turnstiles and use your Player Pins to scan for the boss Noise.” They nodded in acknowledgement and crossed on through.

Seamus and Lena both took out their Player Pins and began scanning. Once they did, two blue Noise symbols appeared before them. “Ah, I guess since there are two of us, we’ll have to fight two of them.” Seamus mused. “Whatever, we can take ‘em. Bring it on!”

With Seamus’ bold declaration, two colossal elephant-shaped Noise emerged from the symbols. Adorned with tacky pink and yellow neon colors, they each let out a loud roar through their trunks, and the fight commenced.

Lena immediately sprung into action, activating a fire vortex pin that caught both elephants in one attack. Lena gave a fiercely determined look to Seamus, which he took as his cue to deliver on her set-up. Unfortunately, he hadn’t yet gotten the chance to test out all, or really any of the pins in his pouch. It seemed redundant to layer another fire attack on top of the one she had already unleashed, so he fished around in the pouch for a new one, when he found one that looked like it had slashes of air on it. This should do, if the design was anything to go by.

He activated the pin, and in doing so, his fists became blades of energy. He lunged at the elephant in front of him, swiping at it and knocking it back into the elephant behind it. The second elephant collapsed under the weight of the first, allowing Lena to follow up right after her fire vortex ran out of energy. Bolts of lightning proceeded to rain down on the elephants, adding insult to injury by shocking them momentarily.

As Lena continued her assault, Seamus fished around in his bag for more pins. One had balls of energy on it. Another one depicted a can of soda. Yet another, a large white glove.

Seamus reached in the bag for the next pin, only to find himself being knocked back into a wall. “Ouch!” His chest throbbed with pain. Looking up, he saw the first elephant pulling its trunk back, huffing out air and glaring down at him.

Damn it! He had gotten distracted. He pulled himself back up, but found his footing unsteady. The elephant readied another swing of its trunk. Seamus couldn’t get out of the way. He braced for impact as he saw the elephant release its trunk, but the impact never came. Instead, he heard a loud thud and opened his eyes to see that Lena had knocked it over with her own slashing psych. Unfortunately, this had left her open to be attacked from behind by the other elephant. Much like the first elephant did, this beast seemed to be readying its trunk to attack. Quickly, Seamus grabbed the fire pin and used it to catch the elephant off-guard. As the fire burnt its skin, it dropped its trunk and staggered backwards, leaving Lena safe. With both elephants now recovering, Lena took the opportunity to use her fire vortex psych again, catching both creatures once more in the blaze and finishing them off.

Seamus let out a sigh of relief as the two Noise dissipated into static. Lena began approaching Seamus and furiously typing something on her phone, but before she could show Seamus the message, the two of them were both distracted by an unfamiliar voice.

“So, this is my competition.” The voice uttered. Lena and Seamus looked up to see that a tall woman had suddenly appeared before them. She had flowing, blood red hair and a cold, calculating stare behind her dull gray eyes. Her voice was similarly chilling, holding not a hint of friendliness in her greeting, only the tempered ambition of someone dead-set on victory.

She looked down at her phone as the leaderboards updated. Lena had shot up to third, but Seamus had fallen down to second. Instead, the name “Gina French” read at the top.

She looked up from her phone and up at Seamus. “I see, so you must be the ‘Seamus’ who came in first yesterday. And here you are now in second. It appears I’ll have to keep my eye on you.” She turned to Lena, “As for you, you came in fairly low yesterday, so your arrival this early is something of a surprise. But then, I suppose first impressions are rarely accurate anyway.”

“Are you a Player?” Seamus finally asked.

“Me? Of course. Can’t you see the top of the leaderboard? I’m Gina French.” She introduced herself harshly.

“...Right. Nice to meet you.” Seamus wearily eked out.

“Hmm… I wonder how long we’ll be permitted to stay awake following our victory. Yesterday, I passed out immediately after completing the mission, but it’s been nearly twenty minutes now and I’m still awake. Perhaps we’ll have to wait until every Player finishes? We may be here for a while.” Gina wondered aloud, seemingly not directed at anyone in particular.

Lena tapped Seamus on the shoulder. since we might wake up in different places again tomorrow, why don’t we exchange contacts? that way, we can keep teaming up. She then opened up the contacts app on her phone and prompted Seamus to put his number in. He did and then she sent him a message, allowing him to save her contact.

The trio then stood together in an awkward silence as the rest of the Players came in and completed the mission.

Chapter Text

Seamus swore he was having déjà vu. Here he was again in Central Park, surrounded by a swarm of players, albeit a noticeably smaller one. As his awareness fully returned to him, he noticed Lena loitering about a few feet away. She turned around and, noticing that Seamus was now awake, approached him.

morning. looks like all the players are together today. makes things easier for us, so that’s nice.

As Seamus was reading Lena’s note, he saw the mission notification pop up at the top of the screen. He suggested, “Hey, the mission just popped up. We should check to see what it is.” Lena then opened the notification and the two proceeded to read what was written there.

Players,

We have released 100 Noise in Central Park. The small ones are worth 10 points and the big ones are worth 20. Defeat as many as you can. The mission will end when all the Noise are defeated.

Yours truly,

Bobby B.

Nearby, the duo heard a woman yawn. “Man, another defeat the Noise mission? Bobby’s sure been getting lazy recently.” Seamus looked over to identify the source of the voice. It was the Reaper girl that oriented them after Bobby flew away.

Lena tapped Seamus on the shoulder. we should ask her what she’s doing. i don’t know as much about the reapers as i’d like. maybe she’ll have some useful intel for us.

“Sure,” Seamus nodded, leading them over to where Janice was standing.

“Hey,” he called from over Janice’s shoulder, prompting the Reaper to spin in place, “you’re a Reaper, right? You mentioned that you guys run the Game the other day, but what do you do specifically? Lena here was wondering.”

She tilted her head thoroughly for a moment, then hummed. “Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to tell you. Honestly, we’ve done most of the work for today already, since we had to make all that Noise before you guys woke up. Now, we’re just here to make sure no one tries anything funny.”

“Funny?” Seamus repeated.

“Yeah, like Players trying to fight each other instead of the Noise. Or other Reapers trying to go after you guys. All that precious one-on-one action is reserved for Day 7.”

“I see.” Seamus’ eyes lit up as he recalled something peculiar. “Say, we saw you two days ago and you’re here now, but we didn’t see you yesterday. Why’s that?”

She smirked bemusedly, “You know that there are more Reapers than just me and Bobby, right? I wasn’t working with Bobby yesterday, I was on call in Staten Island instead.”

“You mean Bobby isn’t the only guy in charge?”

“Hey, I know he usually doesn’t explain himself very well, but I do think that he specified that he was the Manhattan Game Master the other day. Each borough has its own Game Master, so even though you guys are all playing the New York City Game, the rules are slightly different depending on which borough you’re playing in. Us Reapers take on jobs from all five Game Masters. I just like to take Bobby’s when I can because, despite the fact that he’s a total airhead, he gives a lot of points if you’re willing to do the tedious grunt work.” Janice explained.

“Wait, points? You guys have points too?”

“Yeah, but you don’t need to worry about that. If I were you guys, I’d worry more about starting with the mission before the other Players take out all the Noise.”

Seamus agreed, “You’re right, thank you. And thanks for all the info!”

“No problem,” she waved as Seamus and Lena broke away.

“So, how should we handle this? I don’t think they’re gonna let us split points on Noise we defeat together.” Seamus inquired.

no, but if we take on Noise in large groups and trade off killing blows, it’ll still get the job done faster than if we did it individually.

“Good point, let’s do that then.”

They began to search around for Noise and sure enough, the place was practically crawling with them. Noticing a group of four green frog Noise like the ones they saw on the first day, Seamus proposed, “How about these guys?” Lena nodded and the two quickly equipped some pins before shuffling into battle.

Lena opened the battle with the same maneuver that she used on the boss Noise yesterday, that being the flaming vortex. Seamus recognized that it would be harder to knock these smaller targets into each other than it was to do so with the elephants though, so instead of using the air slashes again, he decided to test out the force rounds. Channeling his energy into this pin for the first time, he unleashed a beam of little energy balls at one of the frogs, taking it out. He did the same for a second, before shouting over to Lena, “It’s your turn!” At that moment, Lena switched over to her own force rounds and followed suit.

Seamus wiped his hands, “Not too shabby, that’s twenty points for each of us. If we can keep this up, we’ll do just fine!”

And so they did, jumping from group of Noise to group of Noise, wiping them out in droves while individual Players struggled in their bouts against a mere one or two. It was while watching one of those Players fight their own battle against the Noise when Seamus and Lena saw something unexpected happen. They had just finished taking on two larger bear Noise for extra points when, out of the corners of their eyes, they had spotted another Player fighting a wolf Noise. Though, fighting would perhaps be a generous description of the encounter. By the time Seamus and Lena had started, the battle was already nearly over. The wolf had knocked the Player back onto the floor and before the Player even had the chance to try and get back up, the wolf had leapt forward, planting its claws in the Player’s legs. The Player let out a bloodcurdling scream, their eyes twitching furiously as they scanned for a way out. Alas, it was for naught, as the wolf went in for one final bite attack and the Player vanished into a mist of static.

Seamus gasped and took a great step back. “What was that?! They just… vanished! Like the Noise…”

Lena, however, was seemingly unfazed and went in for the kill with her air slash attack, taking out the Noise. She wiped her hands together and then took her phone out as she walked back to Seamus. As she typed, her eyelids were duly draped over their pearly orbs as if nothing of note had happened.

that player just got erased. it’s what they were talking about on the first day. just like how we can erase the noise, the noise can erase us. i saw some players get erased yesterday on the subway before i bumped into you. we’ll be fine as long as we’re careful.

“So you’re telling me even though we’re already dead, we can die again? Yeesh.” Seamus was trying to play it cool, but he couldn’t help but shake a little bit as he recalled the way that wolf tore into that Player before they dissipated. Lena reached out and put her hand on Seamus’ shoulder. He looked up to see that her expression had softened. They stood like this for a brief moment and then Lena removed her hand and jerked her head forward to indicate that they should keep moving. “Thanks, Lena.” He exhaled as they returned to the task at hand.

The hours passed by and the sun rose over Central Park as Players whittled away at and were whittled away by the Noise. The pickings were beginning to grow slim, which indicated to Seamus and Lena that today’s proceedings would soon be coming to a close. most of the small ones have probably been taken care of already, but i bet some of the bigger ones are still kicking. if we can take those guys down, we’ll be sitting pretty. Thus, Seamus and Lena switched the focus of their pursuit to the larger, higher point-value Noise.

Wandering through Central Park’s often indistinguishable greens, Seamus at last spotted two bear Noise standing up on a hill. Pointing aggressively, he cried out, “Lena, look!” Her gaze drifted to where Seamus was pointing and the two soon took to climbing up the hill’s gentle slope.

When they got there though, they realized that the bear Noise were in fact not just waiting there, but were rather already engaged in battle. Not only that, but there were two more bear Noise on the other side of the hill that were initially out-of-view. Standing in the middle, surrounded by the carnivorous Noise, was the distant Player from yesterday, Gina French.

“Gina!” Seamus shouted, “Do you need help?”

“Absolutely not!” She barked, “Don’t distract me!”

As the bears closed in on Gina, her eyes darted between them, but unlike the haphazard skirting of the now-erased Player from earlier, Gina’s eyes had a confident glint in them. All her glances appeared to be shot with direction. It was then that Seamus noticed that, despite the fact that the bears had a clear advantage over Gina in both position and numbers, all four of them were hunched over and panting, their fur coats already grazed with slash and singe marks.

Then, at last, Gina leapt up into the air and dashed forward to strike at the first bear. Moments before it was fully erased, Gina kicked off of its furry body, propelling herself towards the bear standing diagonally away from it. She did the same with the next bear, taking out three of the four monstrosities in an instant.

When Gina made to leap towards the fourth bear however, she found that it was no longer there. Landing face first on the floor, the final Noise stomped up to Gina from behind, towering over the girl and raising its large claw to take a swipe. Seamus shut his eyes and braced for impact.

A couple seconds passed and then Seamus reluctantly opened his eyes. Much to his surprise however, he found Gina standing there firm, brushing the grass off of her skirt and out of her hair. Not only that, but Lena stood across from her, the energy from a slashing psych evidently dissipating.

Gina snarled, “I told you I didn’t need help.”

oh please. you’re strong, but you’re not infallible. you nearly got erased there. i have a proposition for you.

Gina exhaled loudly through her nose. “Oh, yeah? And what kind of proposition might that be?”

seamus and i are working together. we’re the three players at the top of the leaderboard. if we worked together, we’d be unstoppable.

Gina bluntly hissed, “I’m doing perfectly fine by myself, thank you.”

In response, Lena raised an eyebrow and donned a smug grin. She gestured briefly to the space in front of her where the bear Noise once stood. Gina glared at her and then Lena turned to leave; however, her confident aura did not fade.

After a few moments of watching Lena slowly walk over to Seamus in silence, Gina commanded, “Wait.” Lena smoothly slid to a halt and then spun back around just as cooly. “We may work together for the duration of the week, but if I find that either of you two slow me down at all, our alliance will be terminated immediately. Do I make myself clear?” Lena’s grin returned. She shot a wink at Seamus and then held her hand out for Gina to shake. Gina took Lena’s hand, shaking it in two great, stiff motions before dropping it. With that, the deal was made.

They stood quietly for another moment and then Gina spoke. “Tell me. Why don’t you speak? Ordinarily, I couldn’t care less if you were the silent type or not, but I fear your lack of communication may have an impact on our performance.”

they took my voice as my entry fee. it’s inconvenient, but we’ll have to make do with text for now. speaking of which, give me your contact. i’ll make us a group chat.

“I see,” Gina muttered as she put her number into Lena’s phone, “I suppose we can work around that, unfortunate as it is. Still, your voice… That’s quite the Entry Fee.” Without moving her body, Gina flicked her eyes over to where Seamus stood. “What about you? What’s your Entry Fee?”

“My Entry Fee?” Seamus parroted. He searched the depths of his mind to see if anything appeared to be missing, but he came up blank. “Um… I don’t know.”

This time, Gina shifted fully over. “If you can’t be honest with me regarding such a basic subject, then this partnership is over right now.”

Seamus panicked, squealing, “No, I’m serious! I mean… nothing seems to be off, anyway.”

Gina stared Seamus down for a moment, her expression searing and without compassion. He could feel sweat forming on his temple from the heat. Finally, she broke the tension, declaring, “Very well. Your inability to answer is suspicious, but you don’t appear to be lying.” She paused for a beat, then, “I will be keeping an eye on you, though.”

Lena tapped her on the shoulder to get her attention. what about you? what’s your entry fee?

Gina smirked, “Me? They took my inhibition.”

Chapter Text

Though the group was in Central Park what felt like mere moments ago, Seamus now found himself opening his eyes in an entirely different part of Manhattan, where he stood in front of two large glass doors which provided a view into a white room filled with plush toys and video game cases. He lifted his head up slightly to see a large 3D model of the Nintendo logo suspended mid-air just behind the door.

As Seamus pieced together where he was, he felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and pulled it out to check the mission mail.

Players,

Your mission for today is to solve a puzzle in Rockefeller Center. The clues are scattered throughout the stores in the area. Though you may be invisible most of the time, in locations with our patented Reaper Decals displayed out front, you will become visible to the living. Look for stores with those decals to find your clues.

Shop ‘till you drop,

Bobby B.

Moments later, Seamus got a text from Lena in a group chat with Gina.

i woke up in front of fao schwarz.
where are you guys?

The Lego store. I’m going in.

hold on gina.
what about you, seamus?

the Nintendo store.

ok, for now i think it’ll be fastest if we work separately. go find the clues where you are and then report back here

I don’t know who made you the leader, but very well. I agree that that sounds like the fastest option. I will report back when I learn more.

see ya

Seamus put his phone away, having received the mission. He then noticed the aforementioned Reaper Decal pasted on the Nintendo store’s wall-sized window. It was the same design as the one on his Player Pin. He had never noticed anything like that there before. Maybe it was only visible from the UG like they were. Whatever.

Pushing open the door to the Nintendo store, he didn’t feel any different, but presumably he was visible again to the people around him, so he tried to lay low. He knew he had to look for some kind of clue, but he had no idea what form that clue was supposed to take. Besides the Reaper Decal out front, none of the products looked particularly out-of-place. Seamus thought he might stumble upon some Reaper-branded merchandise or something, but all the items for sale reflected the newest releases and popular mainstays, as they usually did.

Well, maybe the Reaper Decal was itself a clue. If the store was branded with one, maybe it meant that one of the shopkeepers secretly knew something about the Game. Following this line of thought, Seamus marched up to the counter, leaned towards one of the store’s employees and whispered, “Hey, do you know anything about… the Game?”

The employee stifled a chuckle, “Which game, sir? We have a lot of them here.”

Damn it, now he looked like an idiot. Well, best to end this line of questioning here before things got anymore embarrassing. “Er, nevermind, I’ll go look for it myself.”

Returning to the company-mandated formality, the shopkeeper tried to add, “Are you sure? We can help you look for something specific, if you want.” but Seamus had already walked away from the counter.

Turning left and approaching the staircase leading to the second floor, the store’s giant statue of Bowser caught Seamus’ attention. It was hard to miss even under normal circumstances, but in that moment, Seamus couldn’t help but notice a small object nestled between two of King Koopa’s monstrous claws. The item had been rolled up, but it wasn’t too hard to tell what it was from the red, white and blue stripes adorning the cloth.

Seamus creeped back over to the counter and then pointed the flag out to the shopkeeper. “Has that always been there?”

The shopkeeper squinted in the direction Seamus was pointed then hummed, “Huh, how’d that get there? Thanks for showing me, I’ll go take care of it.” The shopkeeper then walked over to the Bowser statue and pried the American flag out from between the turtle’s modeled fingers. As the shopkeeper unfurled the flag, Seamus peeked over his shoulder to inspect it further. What else should he find then, but a small Reaper logo in the bottom-right hand corner of the flag?

As the shopkeeper shrugged confusedly before going to throw the flag in the trash, Seamus went to message the group chat.

i found an American flag with the Reaper logo on it in the Nintendo store.

Interesting. I found a Mean Girls Lego set with the same thing on it.

i found a plush snowman with the reaper logo on it.

they don’t exactly match, do they?

The flag and the Mean Girls set might be referring to the American Girl Doll store nearby. As for the snowman, the ice skating rink is right in the middle of Rockefeller Center. Why don’t you two investigate the American Girl Doll store while I go to the ice skating rink?

what, too embarrassed to be seen in the american girl store?

Hardly. Now then, let’s continue.

Not exactly the most jovial of interactions, but a plan is a plan. Thus, Seamus pocketed his phone and set out to meet Lena at the American Girl Doll store.

The walk should’ve been fairly easy. All Seamus had to do was turn left and walk straight for a couple of blocks. Unfortunately for him, he ran into an invisible wall only a block in. It was much like the wall he bumped into in Central Park on the first day.

Seamus noticed a Reaper standing on the corner and decided that if anyone knew anything about this wall, it would probably be him. “Are you the one who set up this invisible wall?”

The Reaper, who had dark hair styled in a buzz cut, jumped a little. “Oh, a Player! Finally! Erm, I mean, yes, yes I did.”

“Is there any way I can get through, or do I have to find another route?”

“Well, you’re gonna have to get through here somehow, since this entire block is sealed off.”

“Alright… So how do I do that then?”

“Right! All you need to do is come back here wearing something from Lululemon. There should be a store…” the Reaper took out his phone and started searching something “Oh! Right back the way you came from. Sorry, I’m not from around here.”

“Lululemon? Aren’t they expensive? I don’t have that kind of money!” Seamus cried.

“You should. Defeating Noise usually gives some kind of financial pay-off. Check your account. If you’ve been fighting the Noise, there should be some money in there.”

Skeptically, Seamus did as instructed and sure enough, there was a good deal more money in his account than there was when he died. “Huh. That’s handy.”

“Isn’t it?” The Reaper smiled. “Anyway, I’ll see you back here once you’ve gotten something from Lululemon.”

hey guys, small hold up. i have to do something for this Reaper to get past his wall. it shouldn’t take too long though.

It better not.

Always warm and friendly, that Gina.

Seamus then followed the Reaper’s instructions, jogging back to the Nintendo store and then past it in the direction of the Lululemon store.

The shop felt more modest in design than the Nintendo store, being a good deal narrower, though it was by no means small. Seamus paid the difference no heed however, as he aimed to be in and out.

Frantically, he flew towards the racks of clothing, combing through solid color pairs of pants and shirts branded with the Lululemon logo in search for something that would fit him. Suddenly, Seamus’ frenzied search was interrupted by a soft voice from behind him. “Are you alright?”

Turning around, Seamus was greeted by a short woman with glasses and bob-length brown hair wearing a green cardigan and a long white T-shirt. She looked amused and concerned in equal parts. Seamus saw other people with similar expressions glancing over at him out of the corner of his eye. “Oh, sorry, am I making a scene?”

She giggled, “A little bit, but that’s okay. Do you need help?”

“Uh, I guess so… I don’t usually shop here.” He sheepishly admitted.

“Well, it’s always good to step outside of your comfort zone!” The woman chimed. She then proceeded to browse the racks in a much more relaxed manner than Seamus had been. Seamus anxiously shuffled his phone in and out of his pocket, expecting impatient messages from his teammates that thankfully never came, until finally, the woman pulled a blue shirt and a pair of black pants off of the shelves, asserting, “Here, these should look good on you.” She winked, “You seem like you’re in a hurry, but next time, I would suggest trying different styles by yourself. Find what suits you!”

Seamus took the clothes from the woman, slightly bewildered. “Thanks. Do you… work here?”

“Oh, me? No, I’m just someone who’s passionate about fashion. That, and you looked like you were panicking. I couldn’t just stand by and watch!”

What Seamus wanted to say was, ‘You must not be from around here,’ but that seemed unnecessarily rude, so instead he simply thanked the woman and let the employee behind the counter ring up the clothes.

Leaving the Lululemon store, Seamus hastily tossed the new shirt on over the shirt he was already wearing and stuffed the pants in his bag. He hadn’t meant to buy two separate articles of clothing, but he didn’t want to offend that kind tourist by putting the pants back, so he sucked it up and bought both things. Finally, he arrived back at the wall where that Reaper was standing. “Here, I got this shirt from Lululemon.”

The Reaper leaned in a little bit to confirm and then hopped back, declaring. “Yup, looks legit! You’re free to head on through.”

“If you don’t mind me asking, why have me buy something from Lululemon? I don’t really see what that has to do with the Game.”

“I dunno all the particulars of it. All I know is that having Players buy things from affiliated brands gets me more points.”

“So they… sponsor you guys?”

The Reaper pondered Seamus’ hypothesis for a moment and then responded, “They must, I guess. I hadn’t really thought about it before, to be honest with you.”

“Exactly how much do the people in the Realground know about the Game?”

“Hmm, I wish I could tell you, but I’ve never really bothered to ask before. Maybe after this mission is over I’ll talk to the boss about it. If I bump into you again, I’ll let you know.” He grinned and then held out his hand. “The name’s Elijah.”

“Seamus,” the boy introduced himself, shaking the Reaper’s hand. Seamus had to say, he really had expected the Reapers to be a little more… antagonistic. For the people in charge of this game of life-or-death, they all seemed pretty chummy. Even the guy in charge was just some loopy punk. He supposed he shouldn’t complain. No need to wish his afterlife was any harder than it already was.

As Seamus crossed the threshold of the Reaper’s wall, he decided to update his teammates on his progress:

made it past the wall.

don’t bother heading to the American Girl Doll store, i already found the clue. let’s just meet up with Gina at the rink.

got it.

Changing course slightly, Seamus then proceeded on to the ice skating rink. Gina had presumably already been for some time now, but despite that, she hadn’t seemed to have made it very far, as Seamus found her almost immediately standing right outside the entrance. She wasn’t alone either, as she was currently being flanked by two Reapers who appeared to be trying to restrain her, each one holding an arm and pulling her backwards.

Realizing what was happening, Seamus ran over to get a better sense of what was happening.

“Get off of me this instant!” Gina shrieked.

“Hey!” Janice, who was in the middle of restraining Gina’s left arm, shouted, “You’re the one who decided to start attacking a Reaper out of nowhere! It’s hands-off for both sides until Day 7! Now if you would just calm down, we could let you go!”

“He wouldn’t let me through, what was I supposed to do?!”

“God, you don’t get what you want and immediately resort to violence? Who raised you?”

Gina ignored this insult and called out to Seamus, “Seamus! If you’re of any use at all, you’ll help me out!”

Seamus stood there frozen for a moment, unsure of what to do, when out of nowhere, Lena ran up and shoved her phone in the face of the Reaper that Gina had been attempting to fight. The Reaper, cowering backwards, squealed, “Th-that’s right! Y-you can g-go through!” The Reaper then got up and scrambled to open the door to the ice skating rink.

Janice and her compatriot then let go of Gina upon seeing this, causing Gina to fall over and land on the floor. Janice cried, “See? That’s what you were supposed to do, if you would just play this Game properly! We’re gonna let you go know, but if you try to pull a stunt like this again, you’ll be erased right there on the spot, you hear me?” Then she and the other Reaper stormed away.

Gina pulled herself up and then immediately began ragging on Seamus. “Some teammate you turned out to be! Won’t even help your comrade when she’s being attacked by the enemy! Well, as of right now, our alliance is through.” She then attempted to push past Seamus and into the door the Reaper had just opened, but Lena blocked her way, simultaneously shooting Gina the nastiest look Seamus had ever seen.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Gina demanded.

Lena gestured wildly, opening her mouth to shout, only to realize that no noise was coming out. Too furious to be embarrassed though, she simply began pounding at the digital keys on her phone. Gina attempted to walk past her and through the door, but this time, it was the Reaper that blocked her way. Through chattering teeth, the Reaper explained, “Y-you didn’t give me the p-password. Sh-sh-she did! S-so you can’t go through!”

Then, Lena grabbed Gina’s shoulder, squeezed it and turned her around.

YOU IDIOT!!! what good is barreling in as fast as u can if ur just going to get erased??? youre bein ridiculous! if you plan on leaving the group then i have no reason to share the password with u. seamus and i will just go in and take the top spot.

Though this message did nothing to calm Gina down, it did at least give her pause. Finally, her enraged expression softened ever so slightly and she took a deep breath. “Fine,” she hissed, “I will concede that I was being a bit reckless. We will continue working together for now.” Then, in an apparent attempt to save face, she added, “However, this is your last chance. Do I make myself clear?”

Lena’s expression too gave way just the tiniest bit and then she wrote another note for both Gina and Seamus.

the password is john d. i found it at the American Girl Doll store.

After reading this, Gina, without a word of thanks, walked up to the Reaper and said, “John D.”

The Reaper sighed, defeated, “...That’s the password. Head on in.”

Seamus waited a moment for Gina to shut the door behind her, then asked, “Why’d you let her head in first? She could just turn around and betray us tomorrow.”

if she does that, we’ll just have to cut our losses. i’m taking a calculated risk. she still serves to benefit the group more than she’ll harm it if she tags along. after all, our alliance isn’t official or anything, so any punishment will fall on her alone.

“That’s… cold, but fair, I guess. I definitely wouldn’t want to take the fall for another outburst like that.” Seamus moved to face the door. “Now then, let’s finish this mission, shall we?”

Chapter Text

Gina’s violent behavior yesterday was concerning, but Seamus tried to put it out of his mind as he rose to greet another day’s mission. The week was almost over after all and their little trio had remained on the top of the scoreboards nearly the entire time. Just a little longer and it’ll all be over. He’ll finally be able to get back on the Staten Island Ferry and ride home.

Seamus had been around most of Manhattan, but for some reason, he didn’t recognize this area. Looking up at the street sign, he saw he was on the corner of 86th Street and 4th Avenue. Odd that it didn’t specify east or west. Turning around, he saw the entrance to the 86th Street subway station, except instead of being labeled with the 4, 5 and 6, it was labeled with the R.

Then Seamus realized: he was in Brooklyn.

Players,

Hope you’re liking the Game so far! I needed a little bit of time to set up for the grand finale, so for today you’re going to be with Old Man Jimmy in Brooklyn. He runs a mean Game, but I believe in you guys!

See ya tomorrow,

Bobby B.

This message was immediately followed by another message from the aforementioned Game Master of Brooklyn, which read as follows:

Good morning Manhattan Players,

Your mission for today is to make your way to the Bay Ridge Diner. You may not use public transit.

That is all,

Jim Chartreuse

He certainly lacked the entertainer’s flair that Bobby possessed, but no matter. Seamus opened up his phone’s GPS and searched for the Bay Ridge Diner. Oh! It wasn’t far at all. An avenue over and five blocks down. This should be easy.

where is everyone?

86th and 4th, in front of the subway.

A couple blocks up, in front of Bay Ridge Honda.

on 88th.
i’m in front of p.s. 185
on 86th and ridge blvd.
sounds like seamus is the closest

It doesn’t sound like we’ll
be able to work together today.
We ought to tackle the mission as is.

unfortunately, she’s right.
i’ll let you know if the situation changes,
but otherwise i’ll see you all tomorrow.
good luck, everyone.

good luck.

Seamus couldn’t decide if this was a good thing or a bad thing. On one hand, he wouldn’t have to worry about any awkward tension with Gina today. On the other hand, if they let feelings fester, things might be even worse tomorrow. Nothing for it, Seamus supposed, before taking off in the direction of the Bay Ridge Diner.

Almost immediately, he ran into a wall. It was probably to be expected. No way the mission would be as easy as a stroll down the avenue. Seamus approached the Reaper attending. “Hey, what do I need to do to get through here?”

“I got some Noise right here ready for you.” The Reaper barked, “Defeat them.” A Reaper symbol appeared accordingly in front of the Reaper and out of it poked the head of a bear Noise. Seamus hadn’t had to fight any Noise by himself in a while. Hopefully this wouldn’t be too bad.

The bear didn’t even wait to fully emerge to start fighting, leaping from out of the Noise symbol to where Seamus was standing. Seamus rolled out of the way, but as he knelt to get back up, the bear took a swipe at him, knocking him back. “Ow!” He yelped. He knew he couldn’t waste time recoiling though, and so fighting through the pain, he took out his fire pin and began chasing down the bear with the flame. He managed to singe its fur a few times before the bear took another great leap towards Seamus.

Seamus knew he couldn’t take another direct hit like that, so he shuffled through his pin bag for another pin. The glove pin… He hadn’t gotten a chance to use it yet. Activating it, a giant floating glove appeared in the air, which Seamus quickly realized he could control the movement of. Targeting the first thing he saw, Seamus attempted to lift a car up into the air. He was expecting some resistance, but the glove picked it up as if it were no heavier than a feather. For a moment, he considered simply throwing the car at the bear, but hit with a flash of inspiration, he instead decided to stack it on top of another car. Then another car on top of that and another one on top of that. Following the rapid assembly of this car tower, Seamus switched to his air slash pin. He then used the accompanying psych to dash towards the bear and launch himself off of it, propelling himself to the top of the stack. Finally, he switched to his force rounds to shoot at the bear from afar.

The rounds pummeled the bear, forcing it to stagger backwards. Seamus wanted to continue the assault, but his pin ran out of energy. As Seamus scrambled to grab another pin, the bear seemingly shook off the pain and took to climbing the car tower Seamus just built. Seamus tried to activate his fire psych in an effort to keep the bear from reaching the top, but it was too late. Now the bear and Seamus were back on a level playing field, only this time much smaller. The bear lunged towards Seamus, knocking him off of the car tower and onto the asphalt road below.

The back of Seamus’ head erupted in a searing pain. He was sure that if he wasn’t already dead, that would’ve killed him. He needed a moment to get up, but that moment was all the bear needed to jump off of the tower and on top of Seamus.

The bear readied another swipe. Was this it? Was he about to get erased like that other Player he saw? No… But he had been doing so well! Seconds became hours as the bear lowered its claw, the slash playing out to Seamus as if it were slow motion. Surely, this was the part where Seamus’ life would begin flashing before his eyes. Well, maybe it did, but he didn’t need to search far, as the best solution he could come up with was sourced from something he did mere moments ago.

Realizing that the glove pin must be recharged by now, Seamus scrambled to lift the top car from the stack and drop it on the bear. Positioning it as so not to also crush himself in the process, Seamus released the car from the glove’s grasp. The bear’s eyes bulged and then it fizzled out into static.

Seamus lay there on the ground for a moment, car now resting mere inches away from him, amazed that he hadn’t been erased there. He took deep breaths until the pain began to fade. The one good thing about being dead was that he was no longer able to sustain any actual physical injuries, so he wasn’t bleeding out, but his pain receptors were unfortunately still active. At last, he was able to pull himself back up with a great sigh. Now Seamus understood why Lena was so insistent on keeping Gina on the team. Seamus could barely handle one of those things by himself, meanwhile Gina was somehow able to take on four at once. Her raw strength was almost unbelievable.

“Damn, I was so sure I cooked up a tough one this time!” The Reaper cursed to himself as Seamus approached.

“Can I… go through?” Seamus wheezed.

The Reaper sighed, “Yeah, go ahead, kid.”

Seamus continued down the avenue, but not even two blocks later, he bumped into another wall. A little more irritated now, Seamus cut to the chase, “How do I get through this wall?”

“Easy,” the Reaper shrugged. “Erase these Noise.”

“Again?!” Seamus cried.

“Well, you could always sit there and not complete the mission.”

Seamus reopened the GPS on his phone. “There’s gotta be another way I can take.”

“Not likely. Every other possible route either has another wall or is sealed off entirely. Man, how’d you even make it to Day 5 if you’re this averse to fighting Noise?”

Seamus sighed, “It’s not that, it’s just—y’know what, forget it. Bring it on.”

The Reaper rubbed his hands together, “Now that’s what I like to hear!”

This time, instead of a bear, it was two frog Noise. Shouldn’t be too bad. Similar Noise had caught Seamus off guard on Day 1, since he didn’t know what they were, but now that he was actually able to fight them, Seamus couldn’t say that he felt all too threatened.

Even though Seamus didn’t have Lena with him to set up for a combo, he figured he could achieve something similar by himself. Seamus paced around the frogs, looking for an angle which would line the two of them up and once he found it, he used his force rounds to push the first frog next to the second one. Then he used his fire psych to set them ablaze simultaneously.

The frogs appeared to be decently worn down by this, it having left them panting with their long tongues hanging out of their mouths, so Seamus decided to go in for a more direct hit, preparing to use his slashing psych, when suddenly, he was knocked forward by what felt like a punch to the back. Seamus stumbled, but regained his balance before he could fall over entirely. Whipping around to confront the perpetrator, he saw a disembodied tongue retreat into nothingness.

Wait, no, that wasn’t right. That tongue didn’t just disappear. Seamus leaned forwards in the direction of the slimy appendage’s disappearance and, in the open daylight of the Brooklyn morning, he saw for a brief moment the sheen of some transparent, glassy object. Seamus activated the slashing psych he had equipped and lunged in the object’s direction. As he made contact, his target’s true colors were revealed, a large chameleon Noise becoming fully visible in the middle of the street. Seamus landed back on the ground, his psych having run out of energy, and the chameleon became invisible again.

Bang! Seamus was launched forward as one of the frog’s bubbles exploded behind him. He flew into the chameleon, causing it to become visible again for a moment, then fell face-up onto the asphalt.

The two frogs hopped towards Seamus as he tried to get up, lashing him with their tongues and keeping him on the ground. After failing to get up for the third time, Seamus used his fire psych to light the frogs’ tongues on fire, stunning them and allowing Seamus to rise.

This was bad. Seamus was surrounded by foes that had ample range to their attacks and, in the case of the chameleon, invisibility. If Lena was here, they could just attack all three of them at once, but that wasn’t going to work here.

But wait, just because his teammate wasn’t here doesn’t mean he had to win this fight by himself, right?

Seamus waited for the chameleon to send its tongue out again. Once it did, he grabbed on. The chameleon then began to pull its tongue back towards its mouth, at which point Seamus leapt off of it and onto where he presumed the chameleon’s back was. Thankfully, he judged the landing correctly and managed to successfully mount the chameleon.

The chameleon, immediately noticing the unwanted presence on its back, took to bucking wildly in an attempt to remove Seamus. At the same time, the frogs—who could not see the invisible chameleon, only Seamus atop it—sent their tongues flying in Seamus’ direction. Instead of landing their attacks on the intended target, they ended up hitting the chameleon in the way. Seamus also activated his fire psych above the chameleon’s head for good measure and soon enough, the chameleon had been erased underneath him. Anticipating this and bracing for impact, Seamus managed to land on his knee, avoiding any major damage.

Now the two frogs were all he had left to deal with, which by themselves didn’t prove much of a threat. Since he had already damaged them a couple of times earlier with his fire psych, he simply swiped at them with his slashing psych to finish them off.

Phew. It was another toughie, but Seamus had at least managed to handle it with more grace than he had the bear. Maybe he was actually getting better at this.

“Can I pass through now, please?” Seamus asked the Reaper.

Once again, the Reaper in question appeared mildly irritated in regards to Seamus’ victory. “I suppose so…” Then the Reaper cleared the wall and Seamus continued on his path to the diner.

Another block and oh, what a surprise, another wall. This time though, he recognized the Reaper. “Hey,” Seamus squinted his eyes, “your name’s… Elijah, right?”

The Reaper smiled, “Oh, you’re that Seamus kid from yesterday! Didn’t think I’d be seeing you again this soon though. Just so you know, I asked around yesterday. Turns out that somewhere up the chain of command, we are sponsored by some big brands. They don’t know what we’re doing here of course, legally we’re just some non-profit, but I guess it gets the higher-ups more money, so why not, right?”

Seamus wasn’t expecting to get such a thorough follow-up from his random question yesterday and he didn’t really know what to do with the information either, but he supposed if nothing else that he was appreciative of Elijah for being a man of his word. In the end, all he managed to muster up was a “Huh, interesting.”

“Right? Anyway, you probably want to know how to clear the wall, huh? Well! All you need to do is go buy me a water. I’m feeling pretty thirsty and don’t feel like spending the money.”

“...That’s it?”

“Sure is! I can make the wall mission whatever I want. I might not get any points from it, but I got a nice bonus from Bobby yesterday and you look pretty down-on-your-luck, so I’m willing to ease up for today.”

Seamus sighed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness, I was worried I would have to fight another group of Noise.” Then, something interesting occurred to Seamus. “Say, you said yesterday that you weren’t from Manhattan. Is Brooklyn where you usually are?”

“Yup, why do you ask?”

“You seem a lot more like the Manhattan Reapers than the Brooklyn Reapers. The Manhattan Reapers all seem like pretty chill people just trying to run the Game, but the other two wall Reapers I met today seemed like they really wanted the Noise to erase me.”

“Ah, yeah, well that’s because erasing Players is the fastest way to rack up points.”

Elijah seems like someone who would be forthcoming with information. If Seamus presses here, he might get the answers he’s looking for. “I’ve heard a couple Reapers mention points already. How do points work for you guys?”

“It’s nothing too complicated. Reapers have a point system in place to make sure they keep running the Game. If we hit zero points, we eventually get erased. You get points just for following directions, so it’s pretty hard to hit zero unless you’re going out of your way to piss the boss off, but since the New York City game has five Game Masters, points are doled out differently by borough. Bobby is way more generous with points than the other four Game Masters, so Manhattan is a popular place to work. Thing is, Bobby’s odd jobs are on a first-come, first-serve basis, so they’re hard to get. Outside of Manhattan, Reapers tend to be more aggressive so they can make sure they earn their points.”

So that’s what Janice was alluding to the other day. Still… “Not you though?”

“Eh, like I said, I have my points already. I’m not really concerned with being at the top of the leaderboard, so I’d rather avoid being needlessly cruel when the going is good.”

Seamus liked the sound of that. “I appreciate that.” He chuckled. “In that case, I’ll go buy you a bottle of water. Be right back.” Thus, Seamus casually strode up to a food cart nearby, purchased a bottle of water, strolled back and handed the item to Elijah.

“Thanks man, ‘ppreciate it. You’re good to go,” he winked, taking down the wall.

“Thanks,” Seamus nodded, before adding a friendly “see you around.”

Crossing the gate and turning the corner, the Bay Ridge Diner was at last in his sights. It was somewhat odd for Seamus, going the whole day without seeing his teammates, but ultimately, he got some valuable combat experience and intel on how the Reapers worked, which might end up coming in handy over the course of the last two days. It was with this thought in mind that Seamus opened the door to the diner and collected his victory points.

Chapter Text

Seamus hesitated to even open his eyes, as wherever he was, he felt the sting of bright lights shining down directly upon him. He knew that if he were to gaze directly at the source, he would be immediately blinded. Nevertheless, he had to proceed with the Game and so braving the terrors of the unknown, he slowly drew his eyelids apart.

When he did so, he found himself greeted by the technicolor screens of Times Square. Surveying the perimeter, he quickly realized he was also surrounded by his fellow Players. Except, something had gone terribly wrong. Where there were dozens of them at the start of the Game, Seamus now counted a measly seven, himself included. Among the seven were, thankfully, Gina and Lena, so Seamus opted to walk over to them.

“Glad to see we all made it through yesterday’s mission in one piece.” Seamus greeted.

“Hmph.” Gina grunted.

Their phones all went off, indicating the arrival of the mission mail.

Players,

Sad as it is to say, we’re nearing the end of our Game here and so for one final reprieve before the grand finale, I’d like to offer you an opportunity to prepare yourselves for tomorrow.

Hidden somewhere here in Times Square is a powerful pin that is sure to give you an advantage in combat. Inside or outside, anywhere in Times Square is fair game. All the areas outside of Times Square have been walled off anyway, so you can’t get lost.

On top of all that, Times Square will also be the location of the mission tomorrow, so you’ll have the opportunity to scope things out and make plans ahead of time.

Finally, me and Jane-Jane are going to do our best to catch you all in-person at some point today and say hi. Think of it as a congratulations for making it this far.

You have three hours to find the pin before the day ends,

Bobby B.

Gina’s whole face scrunched up. “...One pin?”

Lena studied Gina’s expression for a moment, then began to squirm as she realized what the girl was thinking. Instead of waiting for Lena to type out her message, Seamus, who also pieced together what was going on, decided to speak up on Lena’s behalf. “Well, you’re the strongest fighter on the team, so we were going to give it to you anyway.”

“...Right, of course. Perhaps you have some brains in you after all. Or maybe this is just your way to trying to make up for what you did two days ago. Either way, you have a point. Let us split up again in search of it, then.” Gina commanded.

“Where should we start, though? There’s even less direction here than there was last time.” Seamus asked.

Suddenly, Lena pointed at something in the distance. Turning to see what it was, Seamus and Gina noticed a winged figure cloaked in red. “Maybe we shouldn’t split up just yet.” Seamus suggested.

“Yes, I believe you’re right.” Gina agreed.

The trio approached the Reaper, who was hiding in plain sight among a number of other street performers dressed up in costume. Thankfully, Seamus recognized the Reaper in question. “Elijah?”

“Oh, ‘sup Seamus?”

“You know this Reaper?” Gina confronted Seamus.

“Uh, yeah, I bumped into him a couple of times this week at different walls.” Seamus explained.

“I see. You should be the one to ask him for information, then.”

“Right, I was getting to that.” Then, turning back to Elijah, “Got another job with Bobby, then?”

“Yep, I’m really moving up in the world, huh?” He beamed.

“Does that mean you know something about today’s mission?”

“You mean where the pin is hidden? Well, maybe I do.” He winked.

“Spit it out.” Gina demanded.

“Gina, it’s okay, I’ve got this.” Seamus insisted. Then, once again returning to the primary conversation, “What do I need to do?”

“For you, Seamus, just go get me some M&Ms. The M&M store is right over that way.” He pointed in the direction of the store before addressing the other two members of the party. “For you…?”

“Gina. Why do we have separate missions?”

“More missions, more hints. Don’t you want that? Anyway Gina, there’s a Levi’s store around here. Buy a full outfit and come back here wearing it.”

“Well that hardly seems fair. Seamus just has to go buy M&Ms while I have to put on a self-funded fashion show? Can’t I fight some Noise or something?”

Elijah nearly did a double-take. “Damn. I’ve never had a Player ask me for Noise before. If that’s what you really want…”

“It certainly is.”

“Alrighty then. Finally, for the quiet one over here… Try getting these costumed folks over here to leave the tourists alone. I’m assuming at this point in the Game, you have an idea on how to do that?” When Lena nodded in confirmation, Elijah concluded, “Great! If everyone completes their mission, then you’ll get not one, not two, but three clues! Good luck.” Seamus and Lena then took off while Gina readied herself for the Noise.

Whilst en route to the M&M store, Seamus got a message from Lena.

listen seamus, you did the right thing
telling gina we’d give her the pin
but under NO circumstances can we
actually give it to her.

why? she’s definitely the strongest of the three of us.

that’s the problem.
you saw how she was this morning.
we give her the pin and she’ll split
as fast as she can.

what should we do then?

hide it. or pretend we lost it.
we just can’t let her have it.

it seems a bit mean-spirited, but you’re right, it’s probably for the best.

i’m glad you agree.
good luck.

same to you.

Seamus then looked up from his phone only to immediately be stopped again, this time by someone he hadn’t seen in a while.

“Hey, you’re Seamus, right? ‘Sup.” It was none other than the Game Master himself, Bobby, alongside Janice, that other Reaper from the first day. “I just finished talking to your pals. That Gina’s really something else. Elijah cooked up some real nasty Noise for her and it was gone in thirty seconds. Lena’s no slouch either. She sure knows her way around other people’s psyches. So, what is it that you bring to the table, huh?” Bobby asked this not in a condescending way, but with an air of genuine curiosity in voice. “Well, you do seem pretty down-to-Earth. Big personalities like those two definitely need a grounding factor to keep them focused.”

“Bobby, please,” Janice sighed, “give the kid a chance to speak.” Then, making direct eye contact with Seamus, “Good to see you again, Seamus.”

“Ah, of course, where are my manners? How’s the Game been treating you?”

Seamus wasn’t prepared for Bobby to finally stop rambling, and so when he did, it took Seamus a moment to find the words. “Uh… not too bad, I guess? The day in Brooklyn yesterday was a little weird, though.”

Bobby guffawed, “Ah yeah, ol’ Jim! That’s just how he does things over there. I respect his style, but personally I think my Game is a lot more fun, since you Players get to do more than just fight Noise over and over again.”

“The Game’s not supposed to be fun, Bobby.” Janice reminded him.

“Ah, whatever, the Composer’s got no problem with it, so the way I see it, we’re all good to keep on keeping on.” The Game Master let out another hearty laugh, wheezing when he finally finished, “Anyway, Seamus, I like your style. It’s cool that you guys decided to get crafty and work together. That’s how they do it in a lot of other cities, but here it’s a novel approach. Just remember, only one of you can win tomorrow, so I’d watch your back if I were you.”

“Wait, what—”

“Toodles!” Bobby caught the wind under his spectral wings, and then flew away with Janice in tow.

“Only one of us can win?” Seamus repeated in shock. Had any of the Reapers mentioned that before? Is that why Lena wanted to keep the pin away from Gina? But wait, if Lena knew that only one person could win, why was she still trying to work together with him? Was she planning to betray the both of them?

Okay, calm down Seamus. It’s totally possible Lena didn’t know and that it was a purely tactical decision. Regardless of what Lena was or was not planning though, this put Seamus in a precarious position. He didn’t want to stab Lena, who had been nothing but helpful to him this entire week, in the back, but he didn’t want to lose either. He didn’t know if losing meant you got erased on the spot or if you had to play again or what, but he certainly didn’t want to find out.

The most sportsmanlike thing to do would be to make his intentions clear.

hey, Lena. i just met with Bobby. he said only one person can win the Game.

yeah, he told me the same thing.
gina too, probably.

what should we do?

i think we should keep working
together for as long as we can.
why make things harder for ourselves
now at the very end?
whoever wins tomorrow wins,
it’s as simple as that.

you’re right, that seems like the most fair thing to do. it’s been a pleasure working with you, Lena.

you too, seamus. :)

Finally, after all the interruptions, Seamus arrived at the M&M store. He ran in, grabbed the first pack he saw, bought it and then ran back to where Gina, Lena and Elijah were.

After Seamus dropped the pack of M&Ms into Elijah’s hand, Elijah remarked, “Dang, Seamus. I was trying to give you the easiest mission since we’re friends and all, but your teammates finished ages ago! I still can’t believe how fast Gina erased that Noise…”

“Well, thanks for trying.” Seamus half-smirked. “So, what are the hints?”

“Righty-o! Your first hint is that the pin is hidden in one of those souvenir stores. Your second hint is that it has a skyscraper design on it. And finally, your third hint is that the souvenir shop you’re looking for is on Broadway.”

“Hrm, it doesn’t narrow things down quite as much as I’d like, but I suppose it’ll do.” Gina critiqued.

“Hey, come on, I knocked it down to like, three stores! I can’t just give you the exact location.” Elijah insisted.

“Fair enough. Now I believe splitting up would be most prudent.” Lena shook her head furiously in response to Gina’s suggestion. “What? Why not? It would strictly cut down on time. The other Players might find the pin first if we take too long. We’ve already wasted too much time here as it is.” She shot a dirty look at Elijah.

if we look together we can comb through each individual store faster. it’ll take the same amount of time either way.

“If it will take the same amount of time, then why are we standing here arguing about it?” Agitation was beginning to creep into Gina’s voice. “I’ll be going off on my own now. If you two want to search together, be my guest, but you’re not helping by being disagreeable. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Then she marched off.

Lena stomped her foot in anger. She wrote to Seamus: fine, i guess we’re splitting up. text me AND only me if you find it. let’s hope she doesn’t get to it first.

Frantically, Seamus dashed in the direction of Broadway. He slammed open the door of the first souvenir shop he saw, receiving concerned glances from the customers there as he nearly knocked them over. He scoured the packed shelves of the tourist trap until finally finding a small material box full of pins. He shoved his hand in the box and rustled around looking for a pin with a skyscraper on it, but to no avail. As he flipped turned-over pins he had already looked at in the hopes that maybe he had just missed something, he felt his phone vibrate.

Uh-oh.

I have found the pin.
This alliance has henceforth served its
purpose. It was certainly something
working with you two, but I for one
intend to win tomorrow. Ta-ta.

Chapter Text

Seamus and Lena awoke in a panic. Faced with the same screen-laden view of Times Square that greeted them yesterday, they knew they had to act fast. A cursory analysis of the vicinity revealed that Gina was nowhere to be seen.

Players,

Here it is, the final day! Your mission for today is simple: defeat me. The scores are so close that whoever manages to do so is sure to take the top spot. I gotta warn you though, I’ve been Game Master here for three years and haven’t been defeated once. If I’m not defeated by the end of the day, the winner will be selected from the remaining Players. I’m waiting for you on Broadway. Just head straight forward.

Also, just for today, Players and Reapers will be allowed to fight each other, so watch out for those wall Reapers!

Good luck,

Bobby B.

“What’s the plan?” Seamus immediately consulted Lena.

if gina’s not here, she’s
already gotten a head start.
if we’re fast, we’ll bump into
her eventually. for now,
let’s just focus on finding
bobby.

Seamus nodded and the two promptly took off.

Oddly though, they encountered almost no resistance along the way. “Weren’t there supposed to be wall Reapers?” Seamus inquired. Lena shrugged in response.

It wasn’t until they reached 44th Street that they saw, on the horizon, bright lights and explosions erupting forth from a splotch of red. “Gina!” Seamus shouted. “C’mon Lena, we have to get over there!” They then kicked into overdrive, switching from a light jog to a sprint as they approached what they believed to be their former companion.

As they neared 45th where the redhead stood, it became clear that what Seamus and Lena were witnessing was indeed a fight between Gina and a Reaper, one that was evidently reaching its conclusion. By the time they got there, the Reaper was already on the ground, their face aghast as Gina continued to batter them with violent psychs.

Seamus could feel his breath running out, but he had to push forward. Continuing to run despite the fact that he could no longer feel his legs, he landed mere feet away from where the fight was occuring. If Gina noticed him and Lena, she paid them no heed. Seamus’ first instinct was to intervene, but he soon realized that such an effort would be futile as the light of the sun above highlighted the murderous gleam in Gina’s eyes.

The girl’s lip curled up ever so slightly as she activated her trump card, the pin she had obtained during yesterday’s mission. As she focused her energy into it, the ground beneath the Reaper cracked as a great spire of light in the shape of a skyscraper erupted from it, piercing the Reaper’s back and erasing them in one fell swoop.

With the Reaper’s erasure, the wall they were guarding dissipated in turn. “Gina!” Seamus cried.

In response, Gina shot a single force round at both him and Lena, knocking them to the ground and leaving them with a searing sensation in their stomachs. Gina growled, “Erasing you here would be a waste of time, but if you try to get in my way, I will not hesitate to do so. You have been warned.” Then she turned and continued ahead.

Realization shone across Seamus’ face. He gasped, “She must’ve already erased all those wall Reapers that were supposed to be blocking the way.” Seamus and Lena painstakingly pulled themselves back up. “I know we need to push on,” Seamus groaned, “but if it comes down to it, can we even defeat her?”

Lena’s brows furrowed as she shot Seamus a determined glare. Seamus took a deep breath, then conceded, “You’re right. Let’s go.”

At the end of the next block, it was much the same story. There was a Reaper guarding a wall and Gina made short work of them. The sheer brutality of Gina’s fighting style took Seamus aback. She had a keen tactical sensibility, for sure, what with how precise she was with her positioning and her constant awareness of how the surrounding terrain could be used to her advantage, but at the same time she didn’t seem particularly concerned with conserving energy, choosing to pummel her foes into oblivion rather than use just what she needed to emerge victorious. Seamus couldn’t help but pity the Reapers who, unprepared for such a combatant, had no choice but to stand there and be slaughtered by this girl.

Once again, the wall fell with the Reaper and the Players proceeded on to Broadway where Bobby awaited.

Sure enough, right there in the middle of the intersection stood a lanky fellow with dirty blonde-hair. Though he usually carried his guitar with him, it appeared he left it behind for this particular occasion. He held out his arms wide in greeting as Gina approached him, Seamus and Lena following close behind. “I figured it’d be you. You’re the first Player in a while that I think will put up a real challenge. I’ve been looking forward to this.”

Instead of returning the greeting however, Gina launched directly into battle, slinging a force round towards Bobby as her opening move.

“A woman of few words, eh?” Bobby teased as he slid out of the way. “I dig that. Let’s get this show on the road!” Suddenly, a pair of psychic speakers appeared behind him and let out a shockwave of feedback.

This had the intended effect on Seamus and Lena, who instinctively reached to cover their ears, but Gina instead opted to bear the brunt of the attack and went in for a slash.

“What do we do?” Seamus shouted to Lena over the noise. Seemingly in response, Lena dashed up to where Gina stood, recoiling from her own attack, and swiped something off of the sweater Gina was wearing. Then she dashed to the left before Gina could realize what had happened.

Seamus watched from afar as Lena closed her eyes, appearing to channel her energy into a pin. The ground began to glow underneath Bobby and a spectral skyscraper emerged from underneath him, stabbing him mid-air and then launching him back towards the ground.

“Oof!” He grunted, combing his fingers through his hair as he inched back up. “Smooth move, Lena!”

Though Gina had the perfect opportunity to launch another attack with Bobby now prone, she instead found herself occupied as a burst of rage coursed through her, directed at the girl who had just stolen her pin from right off of her. Gina looked to be moments away from striking at Lena, when she was knocked over from behind.

“Careful!” Bobby winked, now standing mere inches away from Gina, “You might be mad at Lena over there, but you’ve still gotta watch out for me! Honestly, I expected better from you, Gina.”

In response, Gina kicked Bobby right in the stomach, knocking him over as she stood back up. “You’re right. I don’t need that pin to take you out.” Not even looking to aim, Gina shot a force round at Lena to stun her before activating a psych that caused icicle skewers to shoot up from the ground in the straight line, sending Bobby up into the air and hitting him several times in a row. When Gina went in for another slash however, Bobby sprung up with his wings and took to flying above Gina’s head.

“Sorry, but you’re gonna have to work a little harder than that to get me!” Then, a bomb appeared in his hand which he proceeded to lob at the ground. Another bomb followed it and he repeated the process four more times until there were five large bombs scattered across the intersection.

Thinking on her feet, Gina propped up one of the bombs on the end of her right foot and kicked it back up into the air, exploding right as it met Bobby and sending him back down to the ground where he got caught in the explosions of the other bombs. Also caught in the blast were Lena and Seamus, who were launched backwards into buildings on opposite corners of the intersection.

As the smoke from the explosions cleared, Gina looked down at a bruised and burnt Bobby. “You talk a big game, but you certainly don’t put up much of a fight. How in the world did you go undefeated for three years?”

Bobby half-coughed, half-chuckled. “I was just warming up. After all, if you can’t handle me in my Reaper form, how can you even hope to handle me in my Noise form?”

“More talk. Enough of this.” Gina scoffed, firing off a force round.

As the round made contact with Bobby, his whole body was engulfed in a ball of light. Was this it? Had Gina actually defeated the Reaper?

Suddenly, a large black horn pierced the sphere covering the Reaper, followed by two spindly arms. Then, the ground beneath them trembled as the barrier at last shattered completely, revealing a large beetle-like Noise where Bobby had once been.

A booming voice emanated from the creature, “Congrats on making it this far, Players! I haven’t had to pull this out in quite a while. That battle earlier was just a—oof!” Within mere moments of his appearance, the former Bobby-turned-beetle had been flipped onto its large, round back by Gina, who then landed onto the creature’s body and had taken to slashing at it with continuous force.

Meanwhile, Lena, who had been observing from a distance, began to concentrate her energy once more… or at least, she had attempted to, before she realized that she couldn’t actually feel anything happening. She opened the palm that had been holding the skyscraper pin to find that in fact, no pin was there. Frantically, she scanned the premises for the pin, finally identifying it as having landed in the middle of the battlefield, right behind Gina.

Praying that he would notice the vibration of his phone in the middle of all this chaos, Lena texted Seamus: quick, the skyscraper pin landed behind gina! you have to grab it before she notices!

Lena watched Seamus with bated breath, letting out a huge sigh of relief when she saw him take his phone out of his pocket. As soon as he read the message, he made a break for the pin.

As Seamus did that, Gina’s slashing psych had run out of energy. She tried to activate another pin, but Bobby managed to flip himself back over, nearly squishing Gina in the process.

Having slid out from under the shadow of Bobby’s body as he was moments away from crushing her, Gina skidded along the asphalt back to where Seamus stood, about to grab the pin. She immediately noticed the pin on the ground and swiped it right out from under Seamus’ palm.

“No!” Seamus cried. Then Gina shot him back once more with a force round, before herself getting launched into a building behind her by an attack from Bobby’s giant horn. Not letting up, Bobby then proceeded to charge full-speed towards Gina while she was embedded in the side of a wall. His horn was mere inches away from piercing Gina through the chest when Gina’s psychic skyscraper made contact with it, pushing Bobby back in the other direction.

Now was Lena’s chance! While both Gina and Bobby were recovering, she finally had an opening. From the corner she sat in, she opened up a flaming vortex beneath Bobby’s feet. Seamus, recognizing this setup, added onto Lena’s attack by firing off an energy beam. With their powers combined, the two managed to keep Bobby, who had already been weakened by Gina’s attacks, stunned. Just a little bit more and they’d have this in the bag.

Eventually, both Lena and Seamus’ psychs ran out of energy. Bobby panted. Lena had him right where she wanted him.

Suddenly, Seamus found himself being knocked over by a force round. Except, it didn’t come from Gina’s direction. From out of the corner of his eye, Seamus saw Lena dash towards where Bobby stood. It couldn’t be!

For a brief moment, Lena stood face-to-face with Bobby. Staring the beast down, she brandished her blade of light. She raised the sword and stood on her tiptoes, preparing to lunge at him. Her feet had lifted mere inches off the ground when a voice rang out from right behind her, “Out of my way!” Lena then found herself the recipient of a mouthful of asphalt as Gina had footstooled off of her to fire one final skyscraper at Bobby.

Time seemed to stop as the giant hercules beetle fizzled out into nothingness. The surrounding city faded to white until all that remained were the three of them. For a moment, there was perfect silence, which was eventually broken by a series of footsteps. As the trio looked around to see who was producing the footsteps, they saw a middle-aged woman literally fade into view. Though by all accounts she seemed perfectly average, something about her presence caused the hair on the Players’ arms to raise.

“Congratulations, Players.” The woman’s voice was refined, her every word well-enunciated. “It has been quite some time since a Game Master was last defeated. And with three Players alive to tell the tale… figuratively, of course. Either Bobby was slacking off this week, or you three are truly exceptional Players.”

“Who are you?” Gina demanded.

The old woman let out a light chuckle, “Of course, my mistake. I am Abigail Rutherford, New York City’s Composer. The Game’s designer, if you will. Part of my job includes greeting the winning Player to grant them their reward and between the three of you, it appears the one with the most points would be…” She withdrew a phone from her pocket, presumably to check the leaderboards. “You, Gina French.”

“It could be no one else.” Gina agreed.

“Before I give you your reward though, allow me to return everyone’s Entry Fees.” Abigail closed her eyes and Seamus was awaiting the grand revelation that was surely about to hit him. He had never actually figured out what his Entry Fee was, after all, despite the fact that it was supposed to be the thing he held most dear, and yet… nothing. Absolutely nothing felt any different.

The same could not be said for Lena and Gina, however. From a few feet away from him, Seamus heard a sudden, “Aah…” Followed by a sharp, “Oh my God! I can speak again! Finally!” Seamus’ head whipped around to find that in fact, it was indeed Lena who had spoken those words. Her voice was soft, but not gentle. There was a persistently firm sense of determination and direction in her tone.

The most dramatic reaction by far though came from Gina, who had suddenly collapsed on her knees and let out a bloodcurdling scream, which promptly drew all the eyes in the area. She began tearing up and panting so intensely that it bordered on heaving. After a moment of this single panicked noise filling the silence of the void, Gina managed to get out, “What… what have I done?! H-h-how could I do that?! All those Reapers… I… I killed them!” Then she let out another scream: “No!” This lasted for nearly a minute, somehow reverberating in the nothingness, while Seamus, Lena and Abigail stood by and watched. Realization dawned on Gina’s face. “You… you didn’t take my inhibitions at all. You took my principles.”

“Indeed. Fascinating how the absence of one can be so easily mistaken for the absence of the other. Nevertheless, you managed to push through and win the Game. And so I ask: what would you like to do?”

“What would I like to do? I… I can’t go back. Not after this.”

“In that case, you ought to consider joining the Reapers. We’re currently down a Game Master, and while normally it takes quite a bit of time to climb the ranks to that position, I get the sense that you would be uniquely qualified for it.”

For a beat, silence once again returned to the void, before Gina finally mustered up her answer, gravely grumbling, “I’ll do it.”

Abigail smiled, “Wonderful.” Then, turning to Seamus and Lena, “As for you two, you didn’t win, but you did manage to survive the whole week, which certainly deserves some kind of a reward. As such, you will not be erased. Now, revival is an option reserved for winners of the Game, but you may opt to either join your fellow Player in the Reapers, or you may opt to play again. Which will it be?”

“Unbelievable.” Lena muttered. “All that work, only for Gina to join the Reapers.” She scowled, then, raising her voice. “Fine. I’ll play again.”

“Fantastic. And you?” Abigail turned to Seamus.

“Well, I don’t want to join the Reapers, so I guess I’ll play again too.”

“Hmm, a bit lacking in conviction, but a choice is a choice. Very well. In that case, Gina will be joining our ranks as Manhattan’s Game Master for next week’s Game, and you two will be rejoining as Players. Now then, allow me to collect your Entry Fees. I will be wishing for your success.”

Then Abigail faded out of the void in the same manner as she entered and everything went dark.