Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Basketball's desperation was climbing with each hallway she checked. Each one was quiet, too quiet for her liking. Quiet meant no murders happening in that area, and that meant One wasn't there either. Basketball frowned. Where was that algebralien?

All of this had happened so fast, this strange zombie phenomenon that started without warning and spread like wildfire. Basketball had been so busy trying to keep herself and her team alive, she didn't even know that One had been infected too at first. But she learned soon enough. It was when she rounded a corner that she saw One, now the most sickly shade of green, tearing objects limb from limb as they screamed and pleaded. She didn't even bother to bite them first, she just killed for the sake of it and only fed once it was done. So now, Basketball had a new objective beyond simple survival: find One, and stop her reign of terror in any way possible.

Unfortunately for her, though, One was starting to catch on to Basketball’s strategy of luring her away to protect the others, and had managed to disappear from her sight completely. Now it was Basketball’s turn to seek in this twisted game they were playing. And so far, she was doing very poorly at it. But not all hope was lost, as a sound from upstairs caught her attention. A loud thumping, like clumsy footsteps running across the upper floor. Basketball sprinted up towards it without a second thought.

"Hello?" She softly called out as she entered the empty hallway. No response. It was dark, but even so, she could tell One wasn't here. How infuriating, she thought with a scowl. She lingered for a few more precious moments before taking a step towards the next flight of stairs.

And then, Basketball froze in her tracks as a sense of dread loomed over her. She suddenly couldn't shake the gut feeling that something was very wrong. It was the feeling of being watched that all the contestants had grown used to by now, but much worse, much more anxiety-inducing. As if on cue, something quietly gurgled behind Basketball as she stopped, further making her blood run cold. Of course. She should've known this would be a trap. Although not wanting to, she slowly turned around to face the source of the noise, heart beating loudly in her ears. All she could do was stare.

The first thing Basketball saw was the eyes. They were wide and unblinking, wider than she’d ever seen them before, and positively bloodshot. They were locked onto her with the careful intensity of a predator, sizing up its prey in the moments before it pounces. They were looking at her hungrily.

“... One?” Basketball’s voice trembled. The next thing she saw was One’s mouth, twitching as it emitted the same horrible gurgling again. It almost sounded like they were choking on the pale foam that dripped past their lips. Basketball also couldn’t help but notice the dark crimson stains that covered said lips.

“One, I… I know you’re not you right now,” she tried. “But this has to stop. I’m not letting you cause any more damage.”

One stepped forward, maintaining eye contact even as their body spasmed uncontrollably. Basketball instantly took a step back.

“I mean it,” she said, failing to hide her terror. And although she was afraid, Basketball felt a twinge of sadness beneath it as she saw the state One was in. She didn’t like seeing them like this. She didn’t like the way they were looking at her right now, as they inched closer and closer.

“Please. I know you’re still there.”

One still didn’t respond. She was moving towards Basketball at a steadier pace now, and the inventor couldn’t contain her panic anymore. Her legs shook as she backed away.

“One, please. Please don’t hurt me,” she said, nearly a whimper.

Maybe it was Basketball’s imagination, but she swore she saw One pause for a brief moment. Then, a grin spread all the way across the algebralien’s face. It was wide and unnatural, nothing like her usual charismatic smile, and it made Basketball shudder. Before she could react any further, One suddenly teleported behind her, knocking her to the floor. She couldn’t do anything but cry out as One tossed her around again and again, animalistic in both strength and aggression. It was unlike anything Basketball had ever seen from her, and between the bursts of pain and the thrashing, she couldn’t help but wonder: had One always been capable of this? The thought scared her almost as much as One herself did.

The scuffle had quickly spilled down the stairs, all the way into the kitchen (curse her own bounciness, Basketball thought to herself). Basketball felt so disoriented as she crashed into the kitchen floor that she barely noticed how One was no longer attacking. When she finally did, she looked around her and understood why. The knife block was knocked onto the floor right beside her, blades glinting in the light from the window, and One had clearly noticed it too. Ice-cold dread gripped Basketball’s heart like never before.

“One—”

She barely had time to gasp the name out before the number pounced, having Basketball pinned to the ground in the blink of an eye. Straddling her waist, One leaned in close, close enough for her to smell the decay of their body and see the sadistic fury in their eyes. She squirmed, no matter how futile it was, as the helplessness took hold.

“One, please, it’s me!”

One leaned in even closer. Their breathing was ragged, and for the first time since being bitten they spoke in a rough, strained whisper.

“You’re pathetic, Basketball.”

And with that, the blade of a kitchen knife sunk down into Basketball and tore her rubber body open. Her vision faded to black before she even had a chance to scream.

Much later, Basketball came to with a start as her newly repaired form tumbled out of the recovery center. A quick look around after gathering her bearings told her that the zombie problem was solved now, and that she should’ve been able to breathe a sigh of relief with everyone else. But she didn’t.

As Basketball surveyed the area, her eyes landed on One, and her body tensed up as she did. One was fine now, because of course she was, why wouldn’t she be? She was back to her usual charming shade of blue again, and back to talking and smiling the way she always did too. Everything seemed to be normal once more. But somehow it wasn’t quite the same, not to Basketball. She thought back to the host’s aggression and cutting words, and her question from before rose to the front of her mind again. Had One always been capable of this?

… One claimed that such a thing wasn’t true. But Basketball still refused to look her in the eye for the rest of the night.

Chapter Text

The bluebells said it was all their fault.

Although, perhaps that wasn't the best way to put it; Two couldn't hear anything from within their grave, and the strange star-like flowers planted above them left no room for any other plants to flourish. But as the roots of those flowers wrapped tightly around their body, Two could feel those of many other plants weaving through the dirt that pressed against them on all sides. Two could feel the silent whispers the roots carried along just for them.

Somewhere, distantly, the orange lilies joined in on the bluebells' usual murmurs, saying that Two must've been a terrible friend. It was the only explanation for why she did this to them, nothing more than simple punishment for upsetting her so greatly. They shouldn’t be crying into the earth over it like they were. Maybe if they’d just kept their mouth shut and had more faith in her, the flowers said, maybe this wouldn't have happened. Maybe then she would love them.

The bright and colorful chrysanthemums cried out next, speaking of dark eyes that sparkled as if they held the night sky itself within them. Of a sweet, relaxed smile that never quite reached those eyes, and all the words Two wanted to hear the most. She said that the two of them would be together forever. And Two believed her when she said it, because they loved her. Even as the love began to mix with involuntary fear whenever they looked at her, it was love all the same. Was it still love they felt when they looked up at her from a freshly-dug pit, helpless and struggling? They figured it had to be. They loved her no matter what. And yet, they still betrayed her trust in the end. The situation they found themself in now was their own fault.

Their own fault. The rue that sprouted from the ground on the night Two was sealed away jeered and shouted about how it was all their own fault, and how they deserved this fate. It was beginning to sound much like she did on that night. And with no other voices to rescue them, Two clung to every word like it could bring them back to her and make things right again. They stewed in their guilt for days on end, which turned into weeks, months, and soon years that all blurred together into one. The plants’ words reverberating through the ground became all that Two was, repeating again and again in the same tired loop.

All their fault. They were a terrible, horrible traitor. They loved her. They hurt her. They were an awful friend, an awful person. All their fault.

And undeniably, they deserved this.

But then something happened to that loop. Before Two could fully process the way that something in the dirt had shifted, a painful jolt coursed through the roots that bound them and sent electricity flowing through their body. It burned, and it silenced the whispers so suddenly that the lack of noise that followed felt oppressive. Confused, Two reached out for the plants again in desperation as soon as the shock wore off. But to their surprise, nothing reached back. The whispers didn’t return.

It was in that moment Two realized that the earth above them was loose, looser than it had been all this time. Loose like the roots that didn’t hold on to them quite as tightly anymore. They didn’t make the connection at first. They only laid there like always, with eyes screwed shut. And then it dawned on them, slowly at first, as if they were afraid of chasing the revelation away.

There was light. It shone brightly against Two’s eyelids, and even more so when those eyes fluttered open for the first time in years. A small, steep opening had formed in the ground over Two, having caved in as a result of the lightning strike, allowing for a peek at the brightest blue sky Two could ever recall seeing. It sparked a steady murmur from the hawthorn flowers, distant and fuzzy as it made Two’s chest ache in a strange yet not unpleasant way. That was when they heard it: there were voices too, though not any they’d come to recognize down here. They were voices of people on the surface, living people who were so close by that Two could’ve called out to them if they were able to.

All of a sudden, Two felt as if they’d been woken from a long, deep slumber. As if they’d been pulled from the bottom of the ocean and miraculously came back to life, the air cold and foreign against their skin. For the first time since being sealed away, Two felt as if they were alive.

And with that life came a sense of longing, a yearning for things Two had never yearned for before. They wanted to meet these strange people who were wandering the gravesite. They wanted to claw their way to the surface to greet them, and to see this new planet in all its beauty. They wanted out of here. But that couldn’t be right— didn’t they deserve to be here? They’d been so sure about that all this time. But now that their mind was clearer than ever before, Two didn’t know what to believe. All they knew for certain was that they couldn’t stand to watch the days pass by from within the ground, and that they wanted to be with those people on the surface more than anything. So whether they deserved it or not, they began to pull at the roots of One’s flowers with what little power they had left, newly determined like never before.

Day and night, Two pulled and pulled. It was difficult to do in the weakened state they were in, but for once, the situation at hand didn’t feel so hopeless anymore. The presence of people occasionally nearing the gravesite was a lifeline for the algebralien, a reminder of what they could soon have. It gave them the strength to persevere and struggle against their bindings with everything they had. But as the binds slowly loosened, so too did Two’s initial confidence. One was here on this planet, after all— they soon learned that from the conversations on the surface. That meant if Two were to leave here, she would no doubt catch them. That was enough to make them rethink everything, to make them want to give up and stay where it was safer. But they thought about the people on the surface again, trapped up there with One just as Two was trapped under here, and with that Two's decision was made. They had to help those people. They had to stop One once and for all, no matter the cost.

With those words echoed by bird’s-foot trefoil flowers, Two put all of their energy into one final yank of the roots, and just like that, the feeling of tendrils around their limbs finally faded.

Two hit the bottom of the pit before they had any time to react. They still didn't have time to react when the dirt made the first impact on their body, sending panic through their mind. They realized now what was happening. All of their cries and struggles did nothing against the earth that she packed in tight on top of them.

But the dirt was loosening now, and days turned into weeks as Two struggled against it the moment their body was freed from the roots. With limited scraps of power, all they could do was dig around themself bit by bit, getting closer to the surface each day. It was tedious work, but Two knew they couldn't give up.

They couldn’t give up. Two had to keep trying to get through to her in any way possible, apologizing and pleading as desperately as they could. They begged her not to do this. But all she did in return was strike them again and remind them that this was their own fault, so they should just be quiet already. She really was set in her ways after all. Two’s attempts at resistance dissolved into quiet resignation and pitiful, heartbroken sobs after that.

But now, Two’s resolve was stronger than ever as they grew closer to escaping. They no longer felt so helpless, knowing how close they were to their goal. They could hear people talking about the latest challenge nearby. It sounded clearer than ever. They were nearly there.

Throughout all the time that Two was buried underground, their last moments before being sealed away kept replaying in their mind. They remembered it with such painful clarity, the way that the tears still streamed down their face and the dirt had nearly overtaken them completely. In a split-second decision, they had decided to call out to her one last time while they still could.

”One,” Two gasped out. “One, I— please. Wait. Can you at least tell me if… if we were ever friends? At all? Was I a friend to you?”

One finally stopped for a moment at that. She stared down into the grave, and Two stared back. The moon behind her was large and full, its glow giving her a soft halo of moonlight, but even in the darkness her face was crystal clear to Two. She looked at them with an unreadable expression, smiling in a way that made their stomach drop. She chuckled softly to herself over Two’s words, before turning her attention back to the last of the dirt. Without a single word, Two’s vision was overtaken by darkness, and they were left to grapple with their unanswered questions for years to come.

It had haunted Two. It still did. But they wouldn’t let that stop them anymore. Because maybe this wasn’t their fault after all. Maybe, just maybe, they could make things right by taking a stand against One. At the very least, they had to try.

With the final, parting words of the goldenrods, a pale green hand burst out from the ground.

Although it took some effort, Two managed to pull themself up through the ground, coughing at first as the clean, foreign air filled their lungs. They looked around in disbelief as they gathered their bearings. The flower garden they’d been buried in was a startlingly peaceful and secluded little place, and the sky overhead was painted in the colors of the most beautiful sunrise. They could’ve cried at the sight of it. They were finally free.

Two focused their attention next in the direction of where people usually came from. In that direction was the contestants that they would very soon meet, along with One and all the dangers that came with the mission they were about to embark on. A world of terrifying uncertainty, and exciting new adventures. Despite their fear, a smile slowly began to spread across Two’s face as they continued to stare at the people-filled hotel in the distance. They spoke towards it, unable to hide the sheer glee in their voice.

“Hi, guys!”