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It had been a long day of matches. All matches and events were done for the day, and usually, everyone would be winding down and getting ready to turn in for the night. However, The Baron had called for everyone to assemble in the dining hall, stating that there is an announcement to be made.
The dining room was filled with chatter, by survivors and hunters alike as they anticipated the surprise news from The Baron. With how abrupt the announcement was, and the fact that it was news for both hunters and survivors, they were very curious, to say the least.
Bi’an walked to the front of the dining room, and cleared his throat loudly to call for attention. Everyone quietened down, but then Freddy spoke up. “Who put him in charge?”
A few turned to him and shushed him, before turning their attention back to Bi’an.
When they were ready, he started.
“Greetings, everyone. As you all know, I went to have a talk with The Baron, and it seems, a new “variable” player will be joining us.”
A variable player? What does that mean? Murmurs started filling the room, but Bi’an cut them off.
“This new player, he will join both the hunters’ and the survivors’ faction. This concept is not new to us as some of us here are in both factions.” Bi’an looked up from his paper and took a quick glance around at a few of them, reiterating his point.
“The difference is that this new player is only here to provide a challenge. He will be on a point system, very much like our morality points. Once he reaches a certain number of demerit points, he will be eliminated and will no longer join in future matches. However, with each win that he gets, his power will only get stronger.” Bi’an was the one relaying the message, but he was unsure of what exactly that meant as well. Questions of all kinds flew to Bi’an, but he could only shrug them off with a simple, “We shall see soon enough.”
It is at least apparent enough to everyone that they had to work together to eliminate this variable player as quickly as they could.
Bi’an then proceeds to unfold another piece of paper.
“Oh and,” He took another second to read through its contents. “I was told to read this after I had relayed the message. And it seems that the first match tomorrow will be with our new friend. Anyone who is interested to watch may do so from the Spectators’ Room.”
That was odd. Usually, the Spectators’ Room was only used to watch more casual events, like Duo Hunters or Tarot.
Anticipation seeped into everyone’s bones, waiting for Bi’an to continue.
“It is not stated whether or not this player will be playing as a Hunter or a Survivor, but those who are up against him will be notified first thing tomorrow morning. That is all, and The Baron wishes us a good night.”
Chatter emerged amongst the residents of the manor. Some were excited, and some were expectedly worried. It was not new to have a new player join this never-ending game, a double-faction resident too, but why was this new player such a big deal?
The discussions slowly died out as the players made their way back to their rooms to rest for the night.
Except for Aesop, who stopped along one of the windows and looked up to the moon in the sky.
“A penny for your thoughts?” Aesop remained looking at the moon. He did not need to turn to know who it was that spoke.
“The new player.” He started out softly, “Based on the description, he sounds like any other player to arrive at the manor. But I have this eerie feeling… I can’t describe it…” Aesop turned slowly to look at the man behind him.
Joseph hummed softly. “Don’t worry too much about it, mon amour. You might not even have to face him tomorrow. Even if you do, I’m sure you’d do great.”
Aesop frowned. Joseph was right, there was no use worrying especially if he was not one of those who got matched, but he could not say for sure whether he would do well or not. He had been doing badly in his recent games, and it was starting to mess with his head a little.
“Try to get some sleep tonight, okay? If you can’t, you know where to find me.” Joseph placed his hand gently on Aesop’s lower back, a simple gesture but a comforting one nonetheless.
“I’ll try. Goodnight, Joseph.”
“Bonne nuit, Aesop.”
The next day, the Spectators’ Room started to fill with various residents coming to watch. Many of them eyed around, trying to scope out who were the lucky (or unlucky) ones to be matched with the new player.
Most of the residents were here, save for a few who opted out of watching.
“This is exciting.”
“Only because you’re here and not there.”
“I wonder what the new player is like.”
“Shh, I think it’s starting.”
Slowly, the lights in the Spectators’ Room dimmed and static noises could be heard, as if the mic in the waiting room had been turned on.
The screen lit up, a line cutting it in the middle. There were four squares on the left side of the screen in a 2x2 formation, and one square on the right.
Everyone waited impatiently and finally, the sound of the door creaking could be heard.
Light footsteps were heard, followed by the sound of a chair being lifted and moved. As the sound faded out, little blinking dots appeared on one of the four squares of the screen. A portrait of Emily popped up, and below her portrait, the following texts appeared.
Doctor; Emily Dyer
[ Ready ]
The door swung open again, with some muffled voices and heavier footsteps.
“Emily, my lady! It’s good to see you.” Kevin chirped as he entered, more footsteps heard indicating people behind him.
“Good day, Kevin.” A short pause, “Gentlemen.”
Chairs dragged across the floors and slowly, the other three boxes filled up with portraits and titles of the survivors.
Cowboy; Kevin Ayuso
[ Ready ]
Prospector; Norton Campbell
[ Ready ]
Embalmer; Aesop Carl
[ Ready ]
Joseph’s heart skipped a beat as he stared at Aesop’s name on the screen. What a joke, he thought, especially after assuring him the night before.
A feeling of uncertainty started to bubble in Joseph. He let out a sigh and slumped into his seat, no longer giving thought about how an aristocrat should behave.
“Worried?” Mary, who was next to him, asked. A rhetorical question.
“Don’t know.”
Mary hummed simply in response. They both knew the answer, nothing else needed to be said.
“Hmm, guess that means the variable player is the hunter for this match.”
“Seems so.”
Suddenly, there was a small glitch, then the square on the right jolted and a silhouette filled it. Underneath, the words read:
“Ditto”; ???
[ Ready ]
The screen faded and everyone shuffled in their seats in anticipation. The Manor Logo appeared, and then cracked together with the sounds of glass breaking.
Let the game begin.
As Aesop regained his sight, he looked around. Ah, Moonlit River Park.
He ran about, scouring the park for his teammates. Soon enough, he found Emily, who was busy kiting the hunter. He looked like a blur, a mix of a shadow and… nothingness?
There was a certain emptiness to the hunter, but Aesop just can’t quite put a finger on it.
He ran away to the other side of the map, hoping Emily could kite long enough for him to embalm her. He periodically checked her stats, and realised she was back to full health just as he dropped his coffin. Trusting that she was doing well, he decided not to embalm her. However, in the very next instance, a sharp scream was heard and Emily was downed.
Aesop was on the other side of the map, but the scream sounded much like Emily’s. He didn’t understand. Maybe a terror shock? That does not explain the sharp scream though.
He cursed himself, regretting not embalming her sooner. He took over Kevin’s cipher as he went ahead to rescue her. Aesop was busying himself with the cipher, but through communications, he saw that Kevin had saved Emily, and along the way, Norton took over the kite. Norton was the only one Aesop had not met yet, so he could not embalm him. He continued working on his cipher.
Two ciphers were done, and Norton was still kiting. Since Norton was doing well, the others decided to focus on their decoding, when suddenly, the same thing happened again.
Norton, who was far away, shouted at the top of his lungs, “STOP!” before he was downed.
Worried, Aesop looked around the map. Norton has been chaired but none of them were near him. Then, Kevin pinged, “I’m coming!”
Aesop continued his cipher and Emily came over.
“This hunter…” She started, voice quivering. “I saw things. Bad memories, I don’t…”
ZAP.
“Sorry…” Emily mumbled, for missing the calibration. She then continued to decode in silence.
Odd. Usually Emily was good at expressing her thoughts. She seemed very distraught right now, but Aesop could not think of anything to say.
“It’s okay.” He offered.
Kevin had saved Norton, and took a hit. Immediately, Aesop summoned his coffin and embalmed Kevin immediately, before running to the back of the tent to summon his coffin once more.
Just as Emily finished the fourth cipher, Kevin was downed and placed in a rocket chair. He was rebirthed but unfortunately, Norton was downed the next moment and was sent back to the manor.
“This is way mad.” Kevin cried, panting as he approached Aesop. “Norton was out of it. When I rescued him, he just stood there, and then he just dropped to his knees. When the hunter chaired me, he didn’t even try to run, didn’t stun. Hunter got him easy-peasy.”
“What happened?” Aesop was getting worried. Something is definitely worrying about the new hunter.
“I’m not too sure. But I was with Emily just now, she said she saw her past.” He said the last part in a whisper, though there was really no need to.
Her past? Things she did not want to see? Peculiar.
“Did you see anything? When the hunter was after you?”
“No, nothing. So I don’t really get it either. But it seems Norton definitely had it worse than Emily, whatever happened.” Kevin was healed up just as he finished his sentence, and Emily has primed the last cipher. It was near the bridge, but the hunter was in that area. Since Kevin and Aesop were at the other side, they pinged for her to complete the cipher, then at least they could get away with a tie.
As Emily popped the last cipher, she was downed immediately after and tied to a chair. Aesop went to unlock the gate while Kevin ran in another direction.
Aesop tried to keep his focus on the gate. Just as he was about to finish, a flash of red appeared and Aesop jumped back.
He tried to run to where the walls were, and the hunter followed. Aesop tried to kite, but the hunter suddenly stopped moving.
Suddenly, smoke appeared around the hunter and his body started to morph.
Aesop was confused, but took the chance to run over and finish the gate.
A voice then called out to Aesop. A familiar voice, gentle and kind.
Instinctively, Aesop turned to the voice and his heart stopped.
“Aesop! Oh, Aesop, my darling.” The voice cooed gently.
Aesop’s eyes widened. The hunter had morphed into a lady wearing a nice light peach dress, the bottom lined with yellow roses.
This can’t be.
Throughout the match, whenever the hunter used his skills, there was no definite imagery on the screen for the spectators to see. All they saw was a puff of smoke, and the affected survivors staring into it with shock or fear in their eyes.
Joseph had his eyes trained on Aesop, who was staring at the puff of smoke where the hunter used to be.
“It’s the same smoke with Emily and Norton.” Mary whispered.
Joseph could not sit still. What was going on? What was this smoke and why was it affecting the survivors so much?
Though it was not clear, Joseph could see Aesop tense up through the screen, eyes blown wide looking at the smoke.
“M-Mamma..?”
“My beloved child, I’ve missed you so much… Come here, I want to hug you.” Aesop’s lips quivered. Is this what Emily had meant?
His arm reached out involuntarily, but he held himself back. Instead, he asked “Why did you leave me?”
“Oh, my dear child…” Her voice grew soft, “I’m sorry… I had to… I couldn’t…”
“You couldn’t what? You couldn’t live for me?” His voice was raised slightly, but it was still steady. The betrayal in his chest slowly rising.
The lady remained mum but looked at Aesop with a sad, but endearing expression. She opened her arms once again, and cooed for Aesop to give her a hug.
Aesop eyed her warily, his heart full of contemplation. His body started to move involuntarily again, but his feet remained rooted to the ground.
“No… You left me…”
“My dear child, come with me now. I will make it up to you. I promise. I love you, my sweet, sweet Aesop…”
It was hard to see, but his eyes started to water. His blinked and his eyes flickered slightly. He took a deep breath, and slowly, he took one step towards his mother.
He inched forward cautiously, his mother’s smile getting brighter with each step that he took. He was halfway there when he paused.
“I’ve missed you… I’ve missed you a lot…” He remained where he was, though his gaze dropped to the floor.
“And so have I. Come to me, dear, and we can be together again.”
“I wish we could. I really do miss you, but…” He blinked and let a tear fall, before hardening his gaze, and looked her dead in her eyes.
Her empty, soulless eyes.
“I know that you are no more. I hope you are at peace, mother, wherever you are. And I assure you, I’m doing just fine.”
A look of shock filled the woman’s face, but in the next moment, the smoke dispersed as Aesop was picked up by Kevin’s lasso. Kevin carried him and ran out of the gate as fast as he could.
“Ditto” had morphed back and tried to catch up with them, almost landing a hit.
The two managed to escape and the game ended with a tie.
Back at the manor, those who had watched the match had moved on to the dining area. It was time for lunch, and it was also a rare time where many of them gathered to discuss the new “variable player”.
Joseph was one of the first few to arrive. He looked around nervously, but there were no signs of Aesop around.
Kevin arrived shortly, but the other three survivors were nowhere to be found.
“Are they okay?”
“Where are they?”
Voices of concern sounded out, understandably so.
Kevin simply assured them, “Emily is tending to them in the Infirmary. I think they’ll be heading to their rooms after. They will be fine, they just need some rest.”
Joseph wanted so badly to make his way to Aesop’s room, but he opted to wait, to hear a little more about their new “friend”.
As the survivors heaved a sigh of relief, William came over and patted Kevin on the back.
“That was a nice save back there!”
“Indeed!”
“You could’ve saved Emily! Why didn’t you!”
Kevin was bombarded with questions and compliments, but he simply replied, “I thank you all, but I must admit, it was Aesop’s idea.”
Confusion was visible on everyone’s faces, so Kevin continued…
During the game…
“Did you see anything? When the hunter was after you?”
“No, nothing. So I don’t really get it either. But it seems Norton definitely had it worse than Emily, whatever happened.”
As Aesop finished healing Kevin up, they received a ping.
Cipher machine primed!
That was when Aesop got an idea.
“Kevin, when Emily pops that cipher, I’ll go to the gate. You run, anywhere, but hide nearby.”
Aesop continued to explain that he’ll bait the hunter over, and when the time is right, Kevin will lasso him out of the gate.
Kevin looked at him in shock. “You… You want to play bait..?”
Aesop nodded. “Emily’s likely going down, if we go for the save, we might end up losing. We can secure a tie this way.”
“It’s a good plan, man, but what if he uses his skill on you? We still don’t know what it does.”
Neither of them had any idea, but from what Aesop had gathered, it was most likely that the hunter made use of past, hurtful memories to delude them.
He has had many painful experiences, but with this knowledge in mind, he felt like he could withstand anything. He also trusted Kevin enough.
So just as the hunter teleported over, Aesop tried to lure the hunter away from the gate, and true enough the hunter followed and attempted to lure Aesop towards a chair as well. While the illusion was very realistic, Aesop constantly reminded himself not to get sucked into it, trying his best to delay as much time as possible before Kevin was ready.
The moment he saw Kevin nearby, he let his facade go and let himself be lassoed out of the gate.
It was a simple plan, but it worked.
Everyone was impressed, but another question came.
“If he knew it was an illusion, then why is he in his room? Shouldn’t he be okay?”
Kevin shrugged, “I don’t know what he saw, I couldn’t see anything. But his face, you could tell he had been through a lot.”
Hearing this caused Joseph more distress. Aesop had always been pretty stoic, almost emotionless even when he was feeling anxious. Hearing that Aesop had been affected by whatever happened felt worrying, to say the least.
Emily appeared in the dining room and everyone’s attention had turned to her.
Questions started coming to her as well. What did she see? What happened? What was the hunter’s skill?
Emily tried to explain, as simply as she could, “I just… saw someone from my past. Someone I let down…” She was solemn, but when she looked up, she was met with confused looks.
“..What’s so scary about pizza..?” Luca mused, scratching his head in confusion.
“Yeah, nothing bad about pizza.” Naib added.
Huh?
Kevin and Emily exchanged brief glances at each other. Kevin then asked, “What did she say? No, no. What did you guys hear her say?”
“She said she saw a giant pizza, rolling about.” Patricia replied.
Emily was still confused, but it seemed that something had clicked in Kevin’s mind.
“I think… We are on some gag order magic or something.” He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Because I heard what Emily said, and it was definitely not about pizza.”
That was weird. Was a gag order really necessary?
As the discussion came to a close and everyone scattered, Joseph made his way to where he knew he was needed.
He passed the Infirmary and true enough, there was no one there. He made his way to Aesop’s room.
Knock knock.
“Mon amour? It’s me.”
He waited for a bit, then a feeble voice spoke out.
“Come in.”
He turned the knob and took a little peek into the room. There he saw Aesop, sitting at the foot of his bed with a yellow rose in his hand.
He did not need to ask – he knew what it meant, what it signified.
He closed the door behind him and went over, sitting down gently next to Aesop on his bed, careful to keep a small distance between them.
“Was that what was amidst the smoke?” Joseph started, cautiously.
Aesop’s gaze remained on the rose.
“I… I saw a flying chicken.” He mumbled.
Ah, right. The magic gag order.
“..Your mother?” He took a guess. Aesop nodded his head.
Aesop was about to continue, but Joseph placed a gentle hand on Aesop’s lap. He briefly explained about the gag order and what had happened to Emily moments prior.
Aesop blinked at Joseph, before dropping his gaze to the rose again.
“Oh…”
“But you did great. Kevin told us about your plan.” Joseph offered a smile and a reassuring squeeze to his thigh.
Aesop fiddled with the rose in his hands. Did he really?
Sure, it was his plan, but admittedly, he almost fell for the illusion.
He was expecting something painful, but he really did not expect to meet his mother again, especially after so long. She had been a beautiful but distant memory in his mind, carefully archived away into the depths of his heart.
He remained deep in thought for a few minutes, before he was interrupted by Joseph’s voice.
“Aesop? Are you feeling okay?”
He let out a sigh, stood up and walked towards his desk. It was neat, with his makeup box at the side and some bottles of chemicals lined up neatly next to it. A few brushes sprawled out on a paper towel – either being left there to dry or waiting to be washed and cleaned. His mask and gloves were also folded neatly and placed at the side.
Aesop placed the rose down gently, and spoke again.
“Yes, I’m alright. Just tired.”
Joseph eyed Aesop’s figure from the back and it was at this moment that he realised something.
He walked over to where Aesop was at and stopped just behind him.
“Aesop. Have you ever…” He tapped his chin, contemplating on whether or not to finish his question. Aesop turned to face Joseph, tilting his head with a questioning look, prompting Joseph to continue.
“…Didi you ever mourn for her? Properly.”
Aesop was taken aback, slightly offended at the question. “Of course I did.”
“No, not that way. I don’t mean telling yourself that she has moved on to a better place.” Joseph reached out and took Aesop’s hands in his. This was not going to be easy. The topic of death was something they tried not to bring up between them, knowing full well that they both have opposing views on said topic.
“I mean mourn like cry for her. Let yourself feel the pain of losing your mother and embrace the sadness that I am sure you must have felt back then.”
The way Aesop’s eyes widened told Joseph everything he needed to know. Feeling that he was on the right track, he continued.
“You’ve been staying strong for her for so long. But it is okay, I am here now. You don’t have to hold back anymore.” He squeezed Aesop’s hands lightly, a way for him to show his support without overwhelming the embalmer.
Aesop has always comforted himself by telling himself that she was now at peace and that she was off to a better place. At the beginning, when he saw her lying tranquilly in the yellow bed of roses, he felt relieved — he had not seen her this peaceful ever since his father left.
When he started to feel her absence, he had wanted to cry, but he knew there was no place nor time for him to. No one understood how he felt, not even Jerry, and he had no friends to turn to. Whenever he visited her grave alone, he always willed himself not to cry, for he believed that it would worry her, and that was the last thing he would have wanted.
Now, he looked up at the taller male, his hands in the warmth of Joseph’s, despite the lack of body heat from the hunter.
Just like that.
Just like that – it was as if Joseph had broken and demolished the wall that held back all his emotions and slowly, he felt tear after tear roll down his cheeks. He dropped his head down, letting some of his tears fall to the ground instead.
Joseph slowly released his grip on Aesop’s hands. He opened his arms slightly, and pulled Aesop in tenderly, like he was a flower that was about to wilt. Aesop let his head drop onto Joseph’s chest as he started to bawl his eyes out. Joseph’s hands found their way around the Embalmer, rubbing his back gently as he cried.
After a few minutes, the sounds of his cries mellowed out and were replaced with soft sniffles. Joseph pushed Aesop back gently, brought his thumbs up to his wet cheeks and wiped the tears away.
“Ah, even like this, you are beautiful.”
That caused an annoyed grunt out of Aesop.
With a small smile and the mood a little lighter, Joseph led Aesop back to the bed, where they now sat next to each other, Aesop’s hand in Joseph’s.
“Feeling better?”
Aesop fiddled around with Joseph’s fingers mindlessly.
“..I don’t know…” He felt oddly relieved, and also, very embarrassed. He does not remember the last time he let himself cry so much like that.
Joseph remained silent, allowing Aesop to be with his thoughts and his feelings. Slowly and softly, without looking up, the embalmer mumbled, “Thank you…”
Joseph returned a small smile and intertwined their fingers together.
“I’ll be here for you, whenever you need me.”
Aesop responded with a light squeeze, a feeble smile making its way onto his lips.
Death had always been a familiar concept to Aesop — something he strived to feel, strived to understand — but today, he let the overwhelming feeling of death consume him. Professionally, he felt mortified. Who was he to feel sadness? It is his job to guide the lost souls, not to mourn for them.
Emotionally, he was tired, but he felt light. Lighter than he had felt in a while.
He looked out the little window above his desk. The skies were still bright and a ray of sunlight shone through, illuminating the yellow rose that he had left on his desk.
I miss you, mamma. I don’t know when I’ll get to see you again, but I hope that wherever you are, you are at peace.