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Chapter Text

A man in a large black coat and pinstriped gray fedora was walking down a hallway. Tall, imposing, and threatening came to mind when you had come across him. “Don Sonnelino, as they called him, of the Sonnelino family. He shows no mercy, and never holds back. The only exception, however, is at the casino. Too crowded to cause a scene, and too many important folk for people not to take notice of em’ goin’ missin’. Still, think twice before messin’ with our boss, capiche?” Chance was facing down, tied to a wooden chair by the mob. He suddenly swung his head up, saying confidently, “Heh, you think I’m scared of your boss? He couldn’t stop me before, and he won’t stop me now!” The Sonnelino boy just smiled back at him, some teeth missing, before pulling out a crowbar. Digging it into the corner of the chair from right beside Chance’s neck with a snapping noise, as he flinched in response. “I can’t wait to wipe that smug look off your face.. You’ve become too cocky, an’ now you’ve gone too deep.” He pried the crowbar out of the chair, busting out a piece of the wood, before spinning it cleanly back onto his back.

The man in the hallway continued marching forward, followed by multiple armed mafia members, preparing for any ambush. He walked confidently, with a constant smile on his face. Though this time, it was gone. His usual facade had fallen, and he had no sort of expression, and no sense of confidence in his stride. He continued. “AGH!” Chance shouted out as a mafia member kicked him in the chest. The chair was pushed backwards, though not falling. “O-ow…” A second mafia member had come before him, holding just a wooden plank. Chance’s smile had faltered, though he immediately recovered from it. “Y-you won’t get anything out of me, haha..” He knew he had already broken his demeanor of confidence, they knew he was scared for his life. The door opened, finally revealing him. Don Sonnelino. He was almost a foot taller than chance, nearly towering over him. Though, he didn’t appear as strong as he had heard rumors of… Chance continued smiling, “Well, if it isn’t ol’ Sonnelino! How’s it been!” He didn’t answer, just walking up to the chair in the dim light. “You stole my prized possession. Got anything of value for it?” Chance looked around desperately while thinking of anything he could give. He had nothing on him, as per security mandations. “Um.. not right now, but I can get you somethin’ real nice if you just let me go!” The mafioso smiled, before saying, “You know I can’t do that, Chance.”

random change to first person that i cant fit in smoothly
“Ahhhh, well then I suppose you won’t be gettin’ anything close to your ‘precious artifact’ back!~” I said, while I saw his face slowly fade. I got a bit worried, before suddenly his hand shot right towards my neck, pinning it to the chair. He kept going, pushing me back into the wall behind me. “You told me you’d have my artifact three weeks ago. I’m not staying patient any longer.” I tried struggling in the ropes to find a way to stop him, but I couldn’t do anything. My eyes began to grow blurrier, my struggle weakening, as I grew more exhausted. I was going to die. I continued my helpless struggle, as I fought for any semblance of a breath in his relentless assault. “Goodnight, Chance. And remember the name, Sonnelinos, in hell for me, will ya?” I slowly faded to black, the last thing I saw being his crooked smile

Chapter Text

I woke up.
The same spot I always do, the same spot as yesterday. “Hey, Chance, today’s the date your debt’s due, watch out for the mob.” One of the workers warned me. Wasn’t yesterday the date..? “Um.. October 6th?” The worker nodded, and I still was just confused. I walked out, continuing my routine as usual. Everything felt the exact same as the ‘dream,’ or whatever the hell that was, vision or something. Everything. Every single thing, the exact same. I noticed one of the mafia members that had been tormenting me in that random hideout. I knew I had to find a way to stop them, and I had to do something differently. I was on the upper floor of the casino, in a more difficult to reach area unavailable to the public. He wouldn’t be looking up, and wouldn’t notice me. I slowly pulled out my revolver, aiming it precisely onto the minion. Clicking the pull back, I was just one trigger away from killing him. BANG! I shot him directly in the head, killing him instantly.

The passerbys jumped back in shock, before continuing on as if nothing happened. Was this really that common of an occurrence here? Perhaps security could use some improvements. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned around with my gun aimed at their heart. I lowered my gun as I saw Itrapped before me. He had a blue suit and tie with a white undershirt, and gray sweats, along with a bowtie and a crown made of ice. The shards of ice were floating around it, almost hypnotisingly. “Chance, it’s me, Itrapped!” He had a straight, poker face while saying this, even despite his tone of voice. “Sorry for pointing that at you, heh..” I laughed nervously, as he did the same. “No, it’s fine, I saw you take that shot by the way, nice marksmanship!” I was confused at how he didn’t ask any questions, but I assumed it was nothing. “Come along, Chance, I wanna get to betting already!” He took me to an old table, with a single old revolver on it, alongside a bullet sitting nearby it. Itrapped smoothly spun the cylinder, and injected the bullet into one of them. Spinning it around once more, before snapping it into place, he finally said, “One bullet, five blanks, take turns firing until one of us is dead.” I thought for a second. “Wait, I have an idea on how to make this more interesting.” Itrapped looked a little lost for a second, before standing up with the revolver in hand. I led him back over to the center of the casino, a small table in the center with a bright light. A large crowd had gathered as they noticed that I, the owner, would be playing random frequenters. “I bet I can beat seven people at russian roulette, the seventh being you.” Itrapped looked shocked, before saying “W-well, you surely cannot be proposing you’ll win THAT many times, it’d be… it’d be impossible.” I simply smiled at him, hiding my fear, as I said, “Come on, show me whatcha got.”

A random member from the crowd came up. One of my dealers spun the cylinder, handing it to me. Click, nothing. I handed it over to the dealer, passing it to the other, as they aimed it at their head. BANG! The crowd flinched, as I put my head back and relaxed. A majority of the onlookers became too frightened to participate, before another one stepped up. The dealer handed them the shuffled revolver, before- BANG! Another shot rang out, and another body hit the floor, being dragged out. A 3rd stepped up. Click, click, click, BANG! A fourth. Click, BANG! I could see Itrappeds look of sheer exasperation and shock, as I simply winked at him from beneath the shades. A fifth, a sixth, both dead at the hands of the game. “Well, it’s your time to shine, Itrapped! Show me that you aren’t as unlucky as you’d be led to presume!” He turned around, flinging his cape to the side, before taking a deep breath. “Okay, I’m ready.” The dealer motioned for him to take the gun, but he refused and gave it to me. I quickly spun it around, before clicking a blank again. I put the revolver on the table, before spinning it towards him. Picking it up, he immediately pointed it to his chest and fired. Click. He slowly handed it back over to the dealer, who passed it back to me. Three blanks. I put the gun entirely into my mouth before aiming up and pulling the trigger. Click. The audience ooo’d, as I handed the gun back over to Itrapped. He was a bit more hesitant, a one-in-three chance. He still fired quickly, ending with a click. One blank, one real. This was my life, in the hands of a 50/50. Not the first time, so I still maintained.. Somewhat confident. I held it to my head, my breathing deepening, before pulling the trigger.

Click.
One shot left, it was over. I had won. I felt my heartrate pierce upwards, as I saw a look of pure horror come across Itrapped’s face. I handed him back the gun. He examined it, as if looking upon it for the first time. It seemed the gravity of the situation had finally hit him, as he held that revolver in his hands. After an eternity, he pointed the guns upwards, holding it at his chest. I saw his breathing slow, as he calmed down. I saw the gun barrel slowly tilt down… He was pointing it towards me. I quickly threw my hand forward to knock the gun into a different trajectory as he pulled the trigger, BANG! It had no more bullets, so he just threw it directly at me, missing. I tried reaching into my coat for my spare revolver, but he tackled me, beginning to batter me with his fists, as I tried clawing a way to escape this. Finally, I landed a kick at him from his stomach, as he tried getting back up I shoved him to the floor once more. I drew my revolver, and pointed it at his head, out of reach. “It’s… It’s over Itrapped, give up.”

He froze completely, hands held defensively in front of himself, before the lights cut out. I held my gun tight, before I noticed a strange sort of.. Light.. Energy? It came from all sides of us, before absorbing into one spot. Itrapped’s hand, as it formed the shape of a sword. Darkheart. I attempted to fire a round at him, before he deflected it with the sword. It aimed it back directly into my eye, as he charged at me, slashing and stabbing me repeatedly. He backed away, letting me fall to the floor, before a chain had shot out of the tip of his blade, him swinging it around to latch onto my neck. It was too tight for me to breathe, as he pulled it back towards himself. I tried to get a footing on the ground, pulling back, but the chains weighed too heavy, and I was brought back down to the floor, face-down. He used the chain to pull my head up, forcing me to look at him, despite bleeding out on the floor. “Chance, I know you have the key to the Banlands.” The crowd had already ran away in panic upon seeing the lights go out, with no one to help me. “I-I can give to you, just please let me go..” Itrapped looked confused, as if he had never seen me this desperate before. “I need to go free Nate and Caleb, and I can’t do that with you alive.” It was over. I lost. I couldn’t do anything, and I just closed my eyes and waited for death. I heard one final swing of Isaac's darkheart, before finally-

I woke up. Again. “Hey, Chance, today’s the date your debt’s due, watch out for the mob.” It was.. It was always the same. I was in a loop. No. Nononononono, this isn’t happening. This can’t be real. I picked up my gun shakily, pointing it at myself, before pulling it. BANG! I didn’t die. The entire world began shifting before me, as I saw a man in a large top hat, with white, glowing eyes. He appeared.. Incomprehensible, as if he was large yet small, all changing depending on how you looked at them. The sky turned dark red, and everything began to vanish. In an endless void I sat, terrified, facing the godlike entity before me. Everything began to shake, I just wanted it to stop, everything to stop, before it finally did. I was in a shack in the woods. It was calm, there were people around. I didn’t know any of them, yet I still found comfort in it. “Huh.. so I guess we’ve been forsaken to this damnation, what are the chances, I especially hope it won't happen two times!” A man in military attire looked at me. “Can you actually shut the fu-”