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The two stood there at the place the guard assigned them to play. 'Marbles' the game was; Greaseball and Dinah thought that they would win against others. They always paired up together, right? As long as they were together, nothing could hurt them. Except, once the girls heard that the game was played against your partner, their faces dropped. Greaseball tried to hide it, but she couldn't face the fact that one of them were going to die. There has to be some way they can make it out together, right?
"The fourth game is 'Marbles'. In this game, you will play against your partner. It doesn't matter *how* you play this game, but the aim is to get all of your partner's marbles. The losing player will be eliminated. You have 30 minutes, good luck!" A voice said from the speakers dotted around the room.
Greaseball looked at Dinah, trying her best to stop herself from showing any emotion. " Oh. "
As soon as Dinah heard the game, she frowned. She had sworn to Greaseball that no matter what, she would help the diesel win. But now one of them were going to die...? Dinah didn't want to lose Greaseball, but there's no other way.. this is the last 30 minutes they'll ever have together. "Greaseball..."
Greaseball stepped forward, holding her bag of 10 marbles. Dinah had the same as her.
"How are we doing this then." Greaseball's voice was as plain as ever, no emotion in it at all. Dinah looked up at her, also holding her marbles. They had 30 minutes, why not use that time? "Why are we rushing? We have thirty minutes, let's just... " She walked over to the steps they were near and sat down, "... talk, like we used to before we got in here. We can play a game that gets rid of all our marbles in the last minute."
Talk? Greaseball hasn't done that for... a while. "... Okay." She kept her speech dry. Talking too much is letting Dinah in, and she didn't want to do that even though the dining car already knew everything about her. Dinah sighed. Of course Greaseball wasn't talking much. Why did she think she wouldn't be? She thought that maybe because one of them are gonna die in the next thirty minutes Greaseball would at least talk?
Dinah nodded, then opened her mouth to speak, "What do you wanna talk about?"
Greaseball shrugged, leaning against the brick wall behind her. "I dunno." Her voice was cold, but behind that, it sounded as if there was almost another emotion with it. Dinah was in a difficult situation here, but she wanted to make this moment special, even if they were in the place where thousands of deaths have taken place.
"How about... something we've never told anyone?" Dinah said that as if they didn't already know pretty much everything about one another, but there were some things Dinah hadn't told Greaseball.
Greaseball looked at Dinah, confused. Why would she tell Dinah something she's only ever kept to herself? The look she made was nothing new, she probably looked at Dinah that way a lot. Dinah knew that look. It was quite obvious why she has said that though, no?
"Only one of us is getting out. Plus, if we say anything, the other is gonna be dead anyway, right...?" Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, but it got the point across.
Greaseball's look of confusion slowly went away as Dinah said that. She was right, but it still hurt to think that in the next twenty five minutes one of them is going to be dead. "'Kay." Dinah smiled at her. Maybe she'll find some interesting things out about Greaseball today?
"Who's going first...?"
Greaseball frowned and immediately replied, "You." It was very blunt. Very blunt. Dinah nodded then thought. There was a few things she had never told anyone. They were... pretty big things... ish.
"... Hmm.. Okay... I've got something.." What she was about to say was something Dinah didn't really want to talk about a lot, but hey, there's a chance these could be her last moments, so why not..? "Once, when I was like- ten, or something... I came home from school.. and my dad was dead. On my living room floor. U-Uhm... and when I look at who was standing before him... It... It was my brother.." Greaseball looked at Dinah, her eyes widening a bit before going back to normal.
"Oh."
Dinah looked down, messing around with her fingers. "He went to jail soon after... but.. yeah.." Dinah sighed then spoke again, "What about you..?" Dinah then looked at Greaseball, waiting for her to speak or at least tell her something. Greaseball looked at the dining car. There was a lot. One being on how she even got into the train yard in the first place.
"... Errr- I... I ran away from my parents...? It's... a long story." For once, Greaseball was going to be serious instead of speaking with that stupid smirk she always has. Someone is going to die anyway, so it's understandable. "They kept- My dad kept me usually either inside or in this training thing he made for me most of the time. Just so I couldn't be distracted from... well, training." Dinah frowned. That didn't sound very good? Being kept away from people isn't really the best way to grow up?
"He really just- made you train all the time?? What age did you run away??" Greaseball shrugged. "Well not all the time. I had breaks... just not much friends. Which I didn't need, I was and still am the best." Greaseball smirked again, until she looked at the timer. Twenty minutes left, which made her smirk turn into a scowl. "And I ran away at 15. Won my first championship at 16." Dinah had also looked at the timer. Her heart burned at the thought that in twenty minutes, the pair would be split up forever.
"Youngest racing champion, I seen that on the news." She paused, looking confused for a second. "But you get good money for winning races... so how'd you end up here?"
Greaseball seen that coming. It wasn't a bad question though, how did she end up here? "Spent all of it on like.. weights and shit.. then realised I need to pay for, uhm... Tass's repairs..." She said the last part a bit more quieter.
Dinah heard it either way. It was sweet, and a much more better reason to get out of this hell hole than her own. "That's... That's caring.. for you, I mean." Greaseball rolled her eyes at the comment.
"Oh shut up. Why are you here."
Dinah's smile faded. She thought about that question for a bit, she had been thinking about it since day one. "I..." How come she didn't have an answer?? There has to be some reason, right? "I haven't thought about it."
Greaseball stood next to Dinah in front of a wall, one marble in her hand. "What are we doing then." Dinah also stood up holding her own marble. She then looked up at Greaseball
"The one with the closest marble to the wall wins...?"
Greaseball thought for a bit then nodded.* "Yeah. Who first." Her replies were short and blunt, and it wasn't really helping the mood of their current situation. Dinah tried to smile but just... couldn't. Not when they only had five minutes left.
"You go first since your number lower than mine." She was right. Greaseball's player number was 067, Dinah was 240. Greaseball nodded then stepped forward, getting ready to throw her marble.
Was she going to die?? Was it going to be her?
She threw the marble; it landed about five inches away from the wall. Stepping back, she looked at Dinah.
Dinah inhaled, before stepping forward, crouching down to throw the marble.
...
But she paused for a minute, thinking about their conversation from earlier. And without a second thought, Dinah dropped her marble next to her foot. Then stood upright. Greaseball froze, then looked at Dinah. "Hey, what're you doing?" She walked to Dinah and shoved her against a wall, holding her by the shoulder. Dinah looked up at Greaseball.
"I lost, you won."
Greaseball only got angrier and more scared for her by the second. "Stop. Why the hell would you try to do that?" Though, Dinah's face stayed the same.
"Hey, butter fingers, what else can I say?"
Greaseball held her by the collar of her shirt, staring at the dining car for a second. Then she realised. "What you said... making sure that I won.. Is that what this is?" When she didn't get an answer, she shoved Dinah against the wall again. "You think I'll be grateful that you did this, huh? Take another throw."
Dinah tried her best to force a smile, then spoke to the girl in front of her. "And I still wouldn't be able to win. Ugh, just let me lose this thing in style, okay?" That's when Greaseball snapped.
"Dinah, that's bullshit! Stop acting cool and just do a real throw!!" Her voice was loud. Some other players could probably hear Greaseball's shout. Her breathing was heavy as she stared right into Dinah's eyes, trying to figure out what the hell this dining car was thinking.
Dinah stared at Greaseball for a good few seconds in silence. "I have nothing."
For once, a tear ran down the champion's cheek. "... What?"
*...*
"You have a reason to get out of this place..." Dinah's lips quivered. "And I don't." Greaseball's breathing was shaky, and she forced herself not to cry even more than she was doing already. She had to stay strong in this moment. Dinah's own eyes started to fill up with tears, but they didn't fall. "I thought hard about what I'd do... If I were the one who got out since you asked me earlier. No matter how hard I thought, though, I got nothing." Dinah sniffled, making sure not to let her tears go for Greaseball's sake and her own. "The winner should have a reason to get back out there. That's what's right." As she said that last part, she smiled.
Another tear left Greaseball's eyes, and she sniffled herself.
"You can do it. Don't die in here, okay? And go... go pay for Tassita's repairs... And go win the final race too..." Dinah smiled even more, despite the tears running down her face.
Greaseball's face was now messy with tears. She didn't realise how much she loved Dinah until, well... this moment, when she was about to lose her. She put her head into the dining car's shoulder for a few moments.
Dinah watched Greaseball walk away with the guard, but before she could disappear into the other room, she shouted, "Greaseball!"
Greaseball stopped in her tracks, not turning around. More tears went down her cheeks. Dinah forced herself to smile. She wasn't going to die with a frown on her face? "Thank you..." She sniffled. "... for playing with me." The guard raised the gun to the dining car's head, and Greaseball couldn't turn around. She wanted to. She wanted to turn around and see Dinah just one more time before she died, but she just couldn't.
A few more tears were visible on Dinah's face as her mouth kept switching between smiles and frowns. She felt the gun on the side of her head and her stomach dropped, but still forced a smile on her face. The guard pulled the trigger, shooting Dinah straight through the head.
Greaseball flinched, and soon after hearing Dinah's body land on the ground. She bit her lip. She bit it hard, but even that couldn't stop her from crying fully instead of just a few tears.
She just lost Dinah in a stupid game for money, she should've been the one to die. Greaseball didn't care about losing her life anyway, so why would she let Dinah do something stupid like that?
MUSIC* :: I bet on losing dogs ( Acoustic ) - Mitski