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“...run it by me again?”
It was another long spiral. Fanny got out nearly immediately during the last challenge. One had constantly been on her mind ever since Ice Cube’s elimination. She took this time to try and talk to Tennisball. He was smart… Now with the challenge over, she had an opportunity to talk to both Tennisball and Golfball together. The two of them together could surely help her out with this, right? She had already been babbling to TB for a bit. She just had to try and explain what was happening again– except this time to Golfball. She had never gotten along with the girl, but at the same time, they have never explicitly been enemies. Plus, Golfball was always at the very least reasonable. Sure, cynical, but she didn’t rule anything out just because it sounded stupid… Surely she could plead her case effectively to her.
“Okay so… The algebraliens, right?” The two scientists made note of how Two was still in the room with them. Two didn’t acknowledge what Fanny was saying however. It was… odd. How many times had they heard this song and dance before from her to not even be interested enough to perk up? “There’s a new one. Yes, there’s Four and Two but… someone named One is here too.”
“One,” Golfball repeated. She didn’t seem all that interested in what Fanny had to say, but she was listening at least.
Fanny nodded and then walked over to the side of the room, pulling the whiteboard that she and Ice Cube had noted down all of their evidence and experiences on. Fanny could make it out perfectly, however, the two balls just looked baffled at what Fanny was showing them. “Does any of this make sense to you?” Fanny asked.
GB squinted at the board before looking at Fanny with a mixture of a confused and judgemental look. “Not in the slightest,” she said matter-of-factly. Fanny sighed and looked at TB.
Tennis ball spend a longer time looking at it than Golfball did. He was trying at the very least. Fanny appreciated that a lot. After a few seconds however, he looked back at Fanny and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but I have no clue what any of this is trying to say.”
Fanny glanced between the board and the two of them. She sighed. That would explain why Two didn’t listen when Icy and her tried to explain to them what was happening at the very least. She felt slightly better getting a reason for that, but GB was still looking at her judgementally and TB had a mixture of confusion and pity on his face. Mentally, Fanny could tell One was laughing at her– wherever she was. Fanny took a deep breath. She then got an idea.
“My mouth,” she said. “It was ripped off during the balance beam challenge,” she pointed out. “One… She’s the one who got my mouth back.”
Golfball wasn’t amused. She sighed. “Look, I can't just… believe something this crazy with no evidence,” she said, looking back at the board. She tried to make sense of it, but it was just nonsense to her. “You’re a decent person. I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but I just have no clue what I’m looking at.”
TB nodded in agreement. “How would she even get your mouth back-?”
“She’s making these deals. I don’t know why… she made a deal with Ice Cube too. That’s how Icy got her legs back,” she said. She thought for a moment and looked back at the board. “Tennisball. When you powered down Robot Flower, did you even do anything to get her back?” she asked. Tennisball looked nervous. He was a bit surprised that he was called out like that.
He glanced at the floor. “I didn’t really get past looking at her code. I didn’t have time to try anything before she woke up back to normal…” Fanny nodded and then pointed at Basketball’s photo on the whiteboard, however TB and GB couldn’t tell what the hell she was pointing at on account of the distortion. Fanny realized this and sighed.
“Basketball,” she said. “She was missing for the entirety of the challenge before that. It’s not… impossible to think that One got to her. It would explain how Robot Flower was set back to normal.” Her tail swayed idly behind her. TB seemed to be following along, but GB still seemed uninterested.
“She was murmuring something about a number and you going missing the challenge before that…” TB muttered. Fanny smiled and nodded. Tennis ball looked at Golfball for reassurance, to which she seemed far more skeptical than Tennisball.
“That doesn’t make sense. You could have just died and been recovered with your mouth,” she pointed out. “Or got it through some other means. I don’t know. None of this makes sense,” she murmured. She was cynical, but smart. “Two” –Fanny took mental note of how they were still in the room with them– “and Four have never mentioned anything about another number. For all we know, they’re the only ones.”
Fanny was trying to be patient with Golfball, but she was starting to get annoyed. “Why do you think we would be saying something about this if it didn’t actually happen-? You think I would just make something like this up to waste your time?” She asked, her tone becoming accusatory. She couldn’t help it. Her default attitude was aggression.
That didn’t please GB. “I don’t know,” she said back plainly. “This could be made up or it could not be. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact I don’t understand anything you’re saying.” She took a step closer to Fanny, getting defensive in response. “I’m looking at the facts here, and the fact is, none of this is provable,” she said.
“Well what do you want me to do?” Fanny raised her voice and her tail swayed defensively behind her. “This number has been tormenting me for half a year now. You want me to just… do nothing?! Just sit by and let her win!?” Fanny was typically a reactive person, but she was getting frantic now. Normally she responded with anger, but now there was an undertone of desperation in her antics.
TB noticed the two girls starting to get hostile with each other and took a step between them, sighing softly. “Okay, okay. Stop.” He guided GB away from Fanny, getting some distance between the two again. Golfball begrudgingly obliged and took a step back. “It could be real or there could be another explanation. It doesn’t matter who is correct right now.” Both GB and Fanny seemed annoyed by the possibility of them being wrong. Tennisball mentally cursed at himself for his choice of words. “The point is, we don’t know.”
Fanny narrowed her eyes. “I do know,” she said. “It’s your bossy-bot of a partner who won’t listen to me,” she spat out, glaring at Golfball. Fanny never typically insulted people to their face, but her temper was getting the better of her.
“That’s it,” Golfball yelled, before promptly storming out of the room. She left the door wide open as she left, letting some light into the room so it wasn’t only being lit by the window now. Two seemed to have a vague reaction, but they didn’t do much besides glance at the door and then go back to their silent rotting.
Tennisball looked at the door and looked like he wanted to chase after Golfball and get her back, but he hesitated. He glanced back at Fanny and huffed. “Sorry about Golfie,” he murmured hesitantly. Fanny’s gaze softened at the apology. She felt bad for him for having to constantly deal with someone as stubborn as her. Tennisball turned back towards the board, trying to take another look. He still seemed just as lost the first few times. “Look… I… can’t say I believe you… but if what you’re saying is true, I want to help you.”
Fanny eased slightly at Tennisball’s willingness to cooperate. He was far better than Golfball in her head. She sighed softly and avoided eye contact, opting to look at the floor instead. “I… appreciate it. And uh. I’m sorry for lashing out too.”
Tennisball let out a chuckle. “I’m used to it. Golfball normally draws that reaction out of people.” He gave Fanny a smile, trying to lighten the mood. He looked back at the board and looked at it for a little longer. “Look… It’s been a long time. Perhaps we could pick this up another time-? It might give you a chance to get some more evidence to convince Golfball,” he suggested. Fanny seemed disappointed, but she understood not everyone could be cooped up in Two’s room for days on end like she could so easily.
“Yeah. That’s fine,” she decided, taking the board and wheeling it back into the corner of the room. She sighed, but didn’t stop Tennisball from leaving.
He took a few steps towards the door before pausing and looking back. “You have a lot on your mind,” he pointed out. “Make sure to take a break sometime.” He paused before glancing back at the door. “My team normally hangs out at the benches outside the hotel. If you ever need a distraction or just someone to talk to, you know where to find me.” He flashed one more smile before walking out of the room, leaving Fanny alone with Two once again.
Alone with Two and her thoughts.
…
It had been hours. Or… maybe it had been days-? Fanny wasn’t sure. It’s been at least a night since Tennisball and Golfball had left her alone judging by how the sun was out now. She had locked the door to Two’s bedroom and went into another one of her spirals. Anytime it felt like she was getting closer, anytime she felt like any progress at all was made– something inconvenient happened to put her back at square one. That or her reasoning was just completely unproveable, and it would be a waste of time trying to explain it to anyone. Annoying. It was all so annoying. She was getting fed up with this One business.
Normally she had Icy to keep her company and pull her out of the room whenever she spent too much time fixating on the work, but with her eliminated it only left people to wondering what she was constantly up to and if they should interrupt her or not, which almost always ended with the conclusion that they should leave her alone. Now that Ice Cube had been eliminated though, it was just her and Two, and Two was unresponsive as ever.
Part of her wondered if One was watching her somewhere, laughing at the pathetic mess she had become. She had everything together before she made that deal. Now it seemed like every little inconvenience ticked her off and got to her on a personal level. She had always been negative and responsive, yes, but that was all anger. Now she was doubting herself and everything she had been working so hard on. It was too much for her.
“Two,” Fanny said, walking over to Two’s bed. She looked down at them, a nearly unreadable expression. Two managed to glance at her, but other than that, they didn’t really give much of a reaction. “Please, help me out here,” she murmured, getting desperate. She sat down next to Two’s bed, leaning against it. Two was unresponsive, but Fanny knew that they had to be listening. They were constantly out of it, but not stupid.
Fanny sighed and brought her legs up, trying to fight back negative feelings as she talked. “You do know a One, right?” She asked, to which she got no response. It only pissed her off more, but she sighed and kept talking. “She said she was an old friend. Please.. You have to know something,” she murmured. Her tone was frantic and desperate. Days without sleep and this constant threat looming over her head that no one could seem to see except for her was slowly destroying her.
Two didn’t respond as usual. They stirred slightly on their bed, which gave the impression that they had at the very least heard what Fanny said, but they didn’t acknowledge it. They just still laid in their bed, fighting back tears as they typically did.
Fanny hesitated. “Gaty,” she murmured. She was leaning against the bed and wasn’t facing Two, but she could feel their gaze turn to her at the name. “One had something to do with her. Her and all of the others. I know she did… I just know it…” The room was silent besides her heavy breathing and her tail clanking against the ground as she tapped it anxiously. She heard Two stir again.
“You want her back,” Fanny murmured. “I get that.” The electrical fan seemed to bite back what might have been a curse or might have been tears. Even she wasn’t sure. “But in order to get her back, we need to stop One from taking anyone else.” She glanced over her shoulder but couldn’t quite see Two on the bed. She noticed a little more stirring though. “...I don’t know if Four and X are involved,” she whispered, her voice softer and less harsh. It was more hopeless than angry. “All I know is that One is hurting people.”
No response.
“I… get you need time to process all of this,” she added, hesitantly standing back up, looking at the board with all her One research. It felt like it was just taunting her at this point. “But… please… whenever you can… I could-... Me and the other contestants could use your help.” She stood up fully and glanced back at Two. They were still unresponsive. She huffed and walked back into the corner of the room, curling in on herself and fighting back tears.
Two never responded. Not that Fanny expected a response. They had hardly muttered any words for these past few months. There was no chance that they would say anything when the conversation turned serious. They never dealt with seriousness well. Neither did Fanny to be fair. She sighed and glanced out the window.
How long had she been in here? How long had it been since she slept? This One stuff had been stressing her out so badly she never spent time with her team anymore. Hell, she hardly even spent time to get food or take care of herself. Everything she did was somehow tied back into this One stuff, and even if it wasn’t, the thought was always lurking in the back of her head. The stress was finally starting to get to her. She hesitated before laying down on the ground, papers crumbling beneath her. There was a bug crawling around on the roof. Maybe it was the same one her team had let in here all that time ago. She stayed still, watching it scudder around on the ceiling for a bit before she eventually lost interest and glanced back at the board.
The drawing of One was definitely taunting her at this point. She just wanted to forget about all of this and have things go back to normal. She stared intensely at the board until eventually her exhaustion finally caught up to her. Her eyes fluttered shut, and finally, the stress and thoughts of One subsided as her mind made way for sleep.
…
“Fanny?”
No response.
“...Fanny??”
The electrical fan stirred on the ground, her consciousness slowly coming back to her as she was forced to acknowledge the knocking on the door. No one had interrupted her in–... How long had it even been…? What could they possibly want? She grumbled and considered just rolling back to sleep.
She heard shuffling outside the room and someone –presumably new– began knocking on the door more insistently than the last one.
“Fanny!” The insistent knocking continued. No response. She wanted to stay unbothered in the dark of the room.
“So help me, girl, I will break this frosting door down.”
…was that Snowball-?
She hesitantly lifted herself up and stopped laying down on the floor. The room was dark and in the exact same state as when she fell asleep. She glanced out the window. It seemed like the sun was setting. Or rising… she couldn’t tell. Her movement must have been audible from the outside because Snowball had stopped knocking and now it returned back to the gentle knocking from before.
“We just want to check on you. Please?” That was Tree’s voice. Was Marker out there too? Fanny blinked past her haze of tiredness. Part of her still wanted to ignore it and continue isolating herself… Something in Tree’s tone though made her pause. He didn’t get serious too often. She hesitated a little longer before begrudgingly getting up and walking towards the door.
Two was awake, it seemed. Fanny wasn’t sure if they needed to sleep, actually. The least she could do was open the door so that they weren’t bothered on her behalf during their bedrotting, she thought.
The knocking stopped as she approached the door and hesitantly unlocked it, creaking the door open. She glanced outside. There were only three people. Snowball, Tree and Marker. She understood why Tree and Marker were checking up on her– but she wasn’t fully sure about Snowball. They hadn’t talked in quite some time. Had she really been spending that much time in Two’s room that she managed to get Snowball worried-? She thought for a moment before opening the door fully. Her drowsiness was noticeable. She could tell by Tree’s worried expression and Snowball’s look of pity that she definitely didn’t look at her best. She didn’t say anything at first.
Marker was the first one to come in. Before she could react, he pulled her into a hug. She was surprised and initially fought between moving away or staying still, but she eventually relaxed into the hug and allowed it. Marker looked worried. He normally was super energetic, but right now he had mellowed out and seemed to have a more serious undertone– or at least serious for him.
Tree gently tapped Marker. “I thought I told you not to crowd her,” he muttered, but he noticed that Fanny didn’t seem to mind the hug, so he didn’t pull Marker away.
Fanny was at a loss for words. She had been alone (besides Two) in this room for days now.. She had forgotten that people would get worried and check on her eventually. Judging by Tree’s comment, they had likely talked about going in to check on her before. She had to fight back conflicting feelings. After a few moments she finally pulled back from the hug, looking at the three with confusion. She waited for one of them to speak first.
After a moment, Tree cleared his throat. “Is everything alright, Fanny?” Straight to the point it seemed. “You’ve uh… been isolating yourself here ever since the challenge, and even a bit before that.”
She wanted to say something, but any words got caught in her throat. She hated being unable to explain anything. Her emotions were overwhelming her, and even if she had a clear head, she would just sound crazy on account of One messing with everything. She just glanced to the side and sighed.
Snowball walked past her and over to the corner she had her whiteboard and all of her research jumbled up in. He didn’t look worried per se, but he was certainly concerned. “Is this all you’ve been doing for the past few days?” he asked. Fanny didn’t respond.
Marker stood by Fanny, willing to offer another hug if it looked like she needed it. He wasn’t good with words– but it meant something that he was willing to stand by her at the very least. Tree on the other hand walked by the two and over to Snowball, definitely looking worried for Fanny as he saw the mess of research she had been fixating on. He glanced back at her and sighed before beginning to pick up some of the papers and tidying up the little area. “This isn’t good, Fanny.” Snowball moved out of the way for him and opted to sit on the edge of Two’s bed.
She kept looking at the floor. “I-...” She glanced between the three, unsure what to say. She had expected someone to come in eventually, but mostly just to check if she had died or not. She wasn’t expecting them to be this worried about her. She took a shaky breath and tried to clear her head before continuing. “I’ve been busy,” she murmured, not having a good excuse as to why she was doing this to herself.
The papers crinkled as Tree picked them up and got the occasional glance at some of them. None of them made sense to Tree of course. He had spoken to Tennisball and Golfball yesterday. They claimed she was on some crazy episode and wasn’t quite feeling herself, but something about that description didn’t sit right with Tree. Looking at the nonsense she was scribbling and the drawings that looked just barely understandable, he was tempted to believe it– but he knew there had to be some other explanation. It was just a gut feeling. Even if he couldn’t understand it, he had faith in his teammate. He finished picking up all of the papers and sat them on the nightstand next to Two’s bed.
Tree glanced around the room. It was a mess. Granted most of it was from Two, not Fanny. He huffed and began picking up around the room, picking up month old meals from the kitchen and throwing them out. He was worried about Two, but he wasn’t exactly close with them, so it was hard to help them out.
“What does any of this mean?” Snowball murmured, glancing at the papers and the whiteboard.
She tensed. “It’s… um… hard to explain,” she decided to say. If she tried to explain she would just look crazy, but if she said nothing she would look even more crazy. One had locked her into a spot where she can’t tell anyone about this.
Tree paused. He glanced back at the board and then at Fanny before taking a shaky breath. “Have you eaten anything lately?” He asked, still tidying up. Fanny glanced away at the question. She clearly hadn’t. She hadn’t even left the room after all. The bunch looked worried.
Snowball turned slightly and poked Two, trying to see if they were alive. He looked uncomfortable around Two. They weren’t in the most flattering state right now after all. He glanced between Two and Fanny. He paused before saying something. “Look, you need to get out of this room and eat something,” he decided, standing up and walking over to Fanny. He put a hand on Fanny.
She looked a mixture of surprised and uncomfortable. “Hey-!” She used her tail to whack Snowball’s hand off of her, but he didn’t let up. He put a hand on her head, similar to the way an older brother would tease their younger sibling.
“Nope. You don’t get a say in this,” he decided. Seemed like whether she wanted to or not, Snowball was going to eventually drag her out of this room if she didn’t go willingly.
Marker hesitated and also put a hand on Fanny, but it wasn’t in the same firm way Snowball did. More of a comforting way. “He’s right,” Marker said. “Everyone was planning on meeting up and having Lunch out at the picnic tables today,” he said. “You should come with us.”
Fanny seemed like she wanted to decline the request– but truthfully she knew it was about time to get out of this room. She glanced back at her whiteboard and debated whether or not she should get back to work or just leave, before ultimately coming to the conclusion they were probably right. “I guess I can,” she murmured.
The group seemed to lighten up at that. Tree continued picking up around the room before finally finishing up. He stretched slightly. “After lunch me and Marker were going to go to the roof to hang out with Black Hole. I’m… sure he’d appreciate seeing you.” Fanny paused. She had sort of forgotten about Black Hole. She felt guilty. Since the world almost collapsed the two of them had been so busy with their responsibilities. Black Hole with the rift in the sky and Fanny with trying to get to the bottom of the One situation. She didn’t respond to that, but Tree had a feeling she would come around.
“You’ve been in here for 3 days, Fanny.” Marker said. Had it really been that long-? “We aren’t letting something like this happen again,” he decided, looking at Tree, who nodded in response. Snowball likely wasn’t included in “we” since he wasn’t a part of the team, but he gave a thumbs up anyway. He might not have been as close with Fanny as the other two, but he didn’t seem fond of leaving her on her own in here again to lose her mind. Marker smiled. “No clue what you’re doing, but you can’t let it take control. Otherwise you might end up like… Y’know.”
The words lingered in the air. No name was said, but everyone knew what he meant. On the bed, Two was still staring at the ceiling, having not moved for months. All of the contestants were worried about them, but they had completely shut themselves off. The only person that would regularly check up on Two was Fanny– and now that she was spiraling too, it was becoming less often. She tensed and looked at Snowball and Tree. They didn’t say anything, but judging by the looks on their faces, it was clear they were thinking the same thing. They were all worried about her ending up bedrotting and shutting down like Two did. She stayed silent.
“... Thanks,” she murmured hesitantly. She definitely would not have left the room on her own free will. These 3 coming in and checking on her made her feel better.
Tree walked over to the door and reopened it. “Of course. We care about you. Please, remember to care about yourself.” With that, Marker and Snowball walked out after Tree, fully expecting Fanny to follow after them. They knew she would.
Fanny glanced back one more time, but this time she didn’t look back at the whiteboard. She looked at Two. They were still staring blankly and didn’t seem to acknowledge her lingering behind.
“Two?”
They took a moment before looking at Fanny, but they didn’t acknowledge her more than that.
“...I’ll bring back something for you to eat,” she said. She hardly talked to Two. Most of their conversations nowadays were just her trying to convince them that something was up with One. She figured though, if no one else was going to, she might as well make sure Two was okay the same way her friends made sure she was okay. “I… know you miss Gaty… but you have to get out of bed eventually.” She turned back around and took a few more steps towards the door.
She paused, glancing back again. Two was still looking at her. Her tail swayed behind her before she used it to turn the light off. “Just… know we’re here for you,” she finally murmured, before finally walking out of the room.
...