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As soon as the doors slid open Dio ran to the results screen. For some reason he felt dread like never before. It was not his own results that had him worried, rather it was Ray, the young woman who entered in a similar fashion to him. He watched as she slowly walked out of her room, slow but fast enough to close the gap before the results started appearing. “Did she?” Dio asked referring to Ray’s opponent Clover.
“Do not let her escape, there is a chance I can make it out of this.” Ray whispered already prepared for the result. The results slowly appeared with everyone staying above zero until the final pairing appeared. As expected, Clover chose to betray with no one to stop her, teammate was already dead. Within seconds Ray felt the needles containing the anesthetic pierce her wrist, her legs giving out from under her. Dio caught her before she could hit the ground.
“Someone stop her!” Dio called out to the group. Phi raced over to Clover, knocking her to the ground before she could pull the lever. Dio sighed in relief, though it was quickly dashed as he turned his attention to Ray in his arms. “You need to stay awake. I need to know what to do in order to help you.” Dio said as he gently shook her in an attempt to get a response.
Ray’s eyes fluttered open as she smiled. “You have it already in your pocket. It is the cure for the second part of this. Luna can administer it, do not let me out of your sight until I wake up.” She said as she struggled to stay awake for as long as possible. Dio checked his pickets, finding a medicine gun with a full bottle ready to go. All he had to do was look towards Luna for her to understand what to do.
As Luna worked on the cure Dio checked his bracelet color, magenta. At lest he was a pair, only thing left was to check Ray’s color. It showed the color red. As he looked at it, the bracelet glitched until it suddenly changed to magenta. It meant that Zero was listening in and fulfilled her request to not leave his side. “It is done. She may not wake up for a couple of hours, but she will be alright.” Luna said as she removed the empty bottle from the medicine gun.
“Looks like we have an hour until the next chromatic doors open.” K said addressing the group. It left plenty of time to figure out the pairing situation. Dio hoped that their partner was not K or Clover. He watched as everyone called out their colors. Tenmyioji and Clover were both the cyan pair. K was blue. Phi was yellow along with Alice, her bracelet in reality. Sigma was red leaving Luna with green. Luck was on his side for a change. At least Luna was one of the few people Ray trusted. In all the rounds Luna never betrayed anyone even if it put her at risk, something Ray felt comfortable about.
“We need to find somewhere to wait until we can get to the doors when the open. As much as I hate it, the warehouse below may be the best spot. We can get through the door right away and we can see people coming better.” Dio whispered to Luna. It took a bit of effort to get Ray to rest comfortably in his arms. Luna led the way through the magenta door. The walk down to the warehouse took longer than usual as Dio carefully carried Ray through the similar looking halls. He found himself glancing over his shoulder frequently, worried that someone was following them.
“I am glad you found someone to fight for even if you do not see it that way.” Luna said as they stepped inside the warehouse. “Despite all of your flaws she saw something different about you. Maybe it was her trust, similar to the way she thinks about me.” She continued as Dio turned away. His only goal was to betray everyone and leave on his own. He was never there to make friends.
“You should already know why I came here. I was not supposed to get attached and yet here I am protecting someone I only met during this game. Are you going to tell them or keep silent?” Dio said looking down at Ray, her chest slowly rising and falling.
Luna lowered herself to the floor to get on Dio’s level. “Has she ever walked away even after she discovered the truth? I will not say anything on the matter. Promise that you will stay until she wakes up, otherwise you may cause her to regret that decision.” Luna asked. She was well aware of his identity as the leader of the Myrmidons. His recent actions also suggested that he was getting influenced by another timeline despite not being an Esper, likely due to Ray.
The hour passed by quickly. “Chromatic Doors have opened. Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close.” The announcement said. Dio quickly picked himself off of the floor and rushed towards the right door. Luna followed close behind with Ray in her hands. They did not stop running even after the rest of the group shouted after them. After a few minutes the door closed behind them as the scanner authenticated the bracelets.
The second door opened to a single hallway. Dio led the way until they reached a door at the end of the hall. “Security” was what the door said. Inside the room was divided into two sections. The bottom half had a set of three desks with several monitors between them. The upper level contained a couple sets of hexagonal shelves on either side of a couch. “That should work while we figure out this thing. I just hope the others are not planning on rushing ahead, can never be too sure with them.” Dio said glancing at the couch. Luna silently set Ray down on the couch and began searching for any clues to move on.
The two of them made steady progress in solving the puzzles, though it seemed like it would never end. As Dio worked on one of the side computers he noticed a strange man out of the corner of his eye. It should have been impossible since only three people had entered the room. “What is going on here? Who are you two?” The man asked turning around, his eyes closed.
“I have no idea how you even appeared here. The name is Dio anyways; Luna is standing next to me.” Dio said trying to understand what was happening.
The man frowned and turned his attention to Ray sleeping on the couch. “Call me Snake. I can only assume that I am here due to her. At least I am not a participant this time.” Snake said resting his hand on Ray’s.
Dio nearly launched into a series of questions before he stopped himself. “We can worry about this later. There is still a lot to figure out if we want to get out of this room. Since you are here you might as well help out.” He said before heading back to the computer. Snake wasted no time in working on one of the unfinished puzzles. While he was unable to see he was able to figure out a lot with his other senses.
Eventually they were able to get into the safe as that cold voice came out of the speakers. “An Ambidex Gate has opened. Forty-Five minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes.” It said uncaring like a regular machine. Of course, someone decided that they were unable to wait.
Dio swiftly picked up Ray and ran down the hall all the way until they reached the elevator. Snake and Luna followed close behind. By the time they reached the floor A warehouse one group was already gone. “Luna take the card and head inside. I will not be voting this time. Once you are able to head to the lounge, we will be waiting.” Dio said as he handed over one of the key cards. Luna grabbed it, nodding before heading off inside one of the Ambidex rooms.
Snake followed Dio through the door on the left. “You got lucky there. I should know that all too well. She gets protective over those she decides is worth her trust, just never break it. She knew all along that Clover would betray her, wish I could have prevented that.” Snake said after Dio set Ray down on the couch.
“Who are you really? I find it hard to believe that you just so happened to arrive after she collapsed.” Dio asked refusing to leave Ray’s side.
“This is not the first time I have experienced something like this. I met her around a year ago in a game similar to this. Clover is my sister and Ray never trusted her; in fact, I could say she was afraid of Clover.” Snake explained trying to not reveal too much about his past.
As they spoke Ray started to shift as the anesthetic began to wear off. Slowly but surely her eyes opened with Dio being the first thing she saw. She attempted to sit up but Dio just pushed her down. “You just woke up; your body is not going to respond that fast. You scared me back there, I thought I lost you. Anyways someone else is here to see you.” Dio said keeping his voice low as to not startle her. He stepped out of the way, letting Snake take his place.
“Snake what are you doing here?” Ray muttered still weak from the ordeal.
“You summoned me here. I guess you needed another source of security and did it without realizing.” Snake responded lightly holding her hand. Ray just smiled, happy to know that everything turned out right in the end.
After a while Luna arrived, exhausted from the results. “They were all fighting each other. We were the only ones to not betray each other.” She groaned, rubbing the side of her face. That was to be expected since the game was all about trust, something they clearly lacked. Still it meant they had the chance to keep moving until they could escape.