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The elevator dings as it hits a new floor, your heart pounding fast in your chest. You barely managed to survive the last floor, an ichor spill with Shelly, Goob, Dandy, and Scraps, and only two of your teammates managed to make it out alongside you. Now, as the elevator door opens, you release your held breath and step onto the stage of Vee’s floor.
You instantly tense as the lights go out, but it’s nothing you can’t handle as long as there’s not any mains. Which, you quickly realize, seems to be the case. Because only a few seconds after beginning to descend down the stairs, Vee’s popups crowd your vision.
You curse in frustration, quickly closing them and jumping when Rodger puts a hand on your shoulder. “Are you sure you don’t want to stay by the elevator?” He asks, leaning over to look at your face with a concerned expression. Not surprising that he could read you so easily.
”No.” You say quickly, brushing his hand away then biting your lip. “I’ll be fine. I’ve made it this far, right?” You reason, but you don’t sound too convinced of your own words. You didn’t know if you could handle another floor, but you weren’t going to let your team do all the heavy lifting and feel like a burden.
Rodger shares a glance with Looey, but steps back to give you space. “Don’t be shy to ask for help if you need it, really. It’s not a problem if you want me to stick by you.” Looey offers, but you shake your head.
”Thanks, but no.” And with that, you walk off towards the closest machine.
You glance around the large dark space, hearing footsteps and heavy breathing in the distance, but you know to stay quiet and focused on floors like these. One missed skill check and you could be nothing but another black puddle staining the floor of this place. You only have two hearts, and you weren’t too keen on losing any.
The first two machines go smoothly, only have to get off once or twice to avoid a passing twisted. But as you’re just about to finish the third machine, you hear the sound of software beeping, and someone losing a heart. You flinch, pausing on your machine and thinking briefly if you should go help, but the sudden appearance of twisted Boxten breaks your train of thought.
You quickly dodge his lunge, then lead him around a few fallen boxes in an attempt to get him off your trail. And while that seems to do the trick, you notice that your stamina is near zero. You pick up and drink a pop from off the floor, then walk back towards your machine.
Thankfully it seems that whoever got hit managed to get away, because you finished your machine without hearing anyone dying.
You continue walking around, dodging twisteds while taking note of each one in your head. Boxten, Shrimpo, Vee, and one other that you’re unsure who. You realize it’s Ginger, and spend a solid minute trying to get her to go away.
You breathe a sigh of relief as you watch Ginger limp away, sliding back against the wall and holding your head in your hands. How much more of this could you endure? With the constant risk of you—and your teammates—dying, you couldn’t stop stressing, which may serve to put you in even more danger.
After calming yourself down, you stumble back out onto the main area, and start working on the closest machine. It’s at this moment though, that you start to worry why you haven’t seen your teammates in a while. Surely they were just distracted and probably not getting much work done, hence the many machines you still had left to do, but the silence was concerning.
After finishing your fourth machine, you decide to try looking for them. It wouldn’t make sense for both of them to be dead, but no other explanation seemed to settle the sickness in your gut. Neither of them were even at one heart when the round started either, and they’re smart enough to handle themselves.
You slowly feel more and more desperate, searching faster and even considering calling their names in case you just aren’t trying hard enough. You don’t try it though, not wanting to announce your location for all to hear. But the reckless thought slowly seems more and more like the only option, as you realize you’ve searched everywhere without a sign of either of them.
After another search of the whole map gone in vain, you wipe away the wetness from your eyes and force yourself to suck it up. If they’re dead, there’s no point dwelling on it until you’re safe. And you still have a few machines that need completed.
With only 3 machines left, you head towards the last spot you remember seeing one, and start turning the handle.
In the distance, listening to the dreaded footsteps of twisted Vee getting closer and closer, you pull back to hide, but realize you’re stuck in a skill check. You suddenly hear the same electronic sound from before, and swing your head around to see Twisted Vee staring at you from a few feet away.
A grin spreads across her illuminated face, ichor splattering on the ground from her elongated limbs. It’s a horrifying sight. As soon as you finish the skill check, you book it towards the nearest display case in hopes to lose her. But after only running a few strides, you suddenly hear the sharp cry of Looey calling your name, loud and panicked. You swing around, expecting to find the balloon toon rushing in your direction, but instead get the wind knocked out of you as your slammed into the display case by a strong arm.
Glass shatters, and you feel it digging deep into your skin. You cry out in pain, and Vee leans down in front of you.
You hear your name again. This time, Rodger’s voice. But it’s not him. It’s her. She’s using a voice that never belonged to her. That belonged to your friend.
Vee’s grin widens, a Sadistic light filling her eyes at your realization. She looms over you, leaning down so that her bright screen is level with your face. “You came back for me. I knew you would.” She giggles, bringing a cold hand up to cup your cheek. The action fills you with dread, but also presents an opportunity in your head. Her words, though. Came back for her? She couldn’t mean…
She suddenly looks over her shoulder, face souring at twisted Yatta looking over towards you. “Look at me.” She demands, pulling your face back to hers. “You owe me this.”
Floor 12. You took the Medkit on floor 12, claiming that Vee would be fine. She wasn’t. She got hit by Sprout and died.
Your body trembles, adrenaline pumping through your body and you realize you need to act. Vee notices though, and yanks your face flash against her screen. Her face looks pissed, and her grip on you is tight. “You promised you’d keep us safe. You’d keep me safe. You lied.”
You kick her away, making her stumble back and yell in fury. Carrying yourself to your feet, you charge blindly into the darkness, hearing her curse as she tries to locate you. You must have damaged her screen, because the distant light flickers as you look back.
You manage to run all the way backstage, tucking yourself deep behind a rack of clothes and breathing heavily. You promised you’d keep her safe, and now you’re facing her again. As a twisted. It’s all your fault Rodger and Looey died. It’s all your fault she’s so mad. So what were you going to do about it?
Vee is screaming your name from far away, as you slow down your breathing and wipe away tears. You had to keep going. So you stand up on wobbly legs, and quietly start working on the nearest machine.
You count in your head the seconds it takes to complete the machine, barely hitting skill checks and cursing when you hear a twisted go by. Vee isn’t nearby though, as far as you can tell, which is all that matters to you. You’re scared to find out what mights happen if she gets her grip on you again.
The machine dings to perfection, a sound that luckily goes unnoticed to most twisteds, and you step back to duck behind a crate. Vee’s frustrated calls of your name have ceased, which means you’ve lost any idea of telling where she could be. The light of her screen may still be reliable, but it might not even be working anymore thanks to you. So you pray to whatever god may be out there, that you’ll get through this floor in one piece.
You dart across the open space towards the nearest room, but slam hard into something in front of you. Dread washes over you, as you hear a familiar sound.
”I thought you wanted me around.” Her glitchy voice hisses before you, and before you can lift a foot to run she clamps her hand around you arm, lifting you up to where you’re dangling in front of her. Her face flickers to life, and she looks frustrated. “Or perhaps that was just while I was alive. Or it wasn’t even true in the first place. Why else would you risk my life for a Medkit?”
You want to scream, run, beg for mercy, anything, but your mouth goes dry as you try to open it. She’s right. But you never knew she would die. You never wanted this.
Her expression hardens as you stay quiet, and she drops you hard back onto the wooden floor. You try to scramble to your feet, but her microphone tail slams into the side of your head, making you scream in pain as you hold your bleeding head.
”You’re a worthless liar.” She growls. “Selfish too.” She continues, crouching down above you. And maybe she’s right. You risked her life for your own, even after your promise. Maybe you deserved this.
She brings her hand around your head, feeling your bleeding wound and smiling. “Now you’ll understand how I felt. How that betrayed of trust felt.” She pulls away. “And you won’t even defend yourself.”
”I’m sorry.” You whisper, voice trembling. You meant it. But Vee looks unconvinced. “Please, I never meant for you to die. I’m so sorry—“
”Shut up.” She barked, your mouth instantly closing. “I’m sure you are sorry. You should be.” But despite her cold words, she pulls your head against her hard metal chest. Her arms are trembling. “You deserve this.”
You do. You know that now. But the pain is unbearable. She shifts your position as you groan and cry in agony, wiping your tears away with the back of her hand. You let her. “I trusted you. You’d never let me down before. But I guess my trust didn’t matter when you took that Medkit.”
Your vision starts to blur, and you wonder if you’ll see her again. If she became twisted, would you? “I’m sorry.” You whisper.
Vee holds you closer, face going dim. “I know.”