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Grian hung up the phone, hoping Jimmy would understand his message or at least someone else would. It was a miracle that the Watcher didn’t catch onto the hidden meaning but Grian wasn’t complaining. Anything that helped him escape was alright by him.
“So what’s the place like?” he asked, out of both curiosity and a need to convince the Watcher he wasn’t trying to leave. “Where you go when you’re not doing… all this.”
“Quiet. Good for thinking.” the Watcher paused before continuing, “You can hear the trains sometimes, at night.” He stopped speaking suddenly and froze, as if he just revealed something top secret, before relaxing again, “You’ll see when we go there soon.”
The minutes ticked by incredibly slowly as Grian waited for others to arrive. He didn’t expect them to show up immediately but the darkness of night had faded to early morning now and no-one had come. At every slight noise Grian’s heart would jump and he would look out the window that overlooked the street only to see, not the police car he was expecting but maybe a bird or a stray cat or, even worse in his opinion, absolutely nothing. He had almost given up all hope when a knock echoed through the house, too loud to be a bird.
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Scar was exhausted. He had spent the last 48 hours pretty much non stop searching for Grian with no leads. He had been sent home under orders to have a good night's sleep before returning tomorrow morning. He understood in theory that he wasn’t much help running off coffee and pure anger and that he needed sleep but he couldn’t even close his eyes without seeing images of where Grian could be now. He was probably in some basement somewhere, injured and alone while Scar was cozy in bed with a purring cat curled beside him. He wouldn’t even consider the alternative, that Grian wasn’t being kept prisoner by the Watchers and that they had- No he couldn’t even think the words.
Scar had been lying in bed for no longer than 45 minutes when his phone rang. He picked it up and, upon seeing it was Ren, answered faster than he ever had before.
“Scar, get to the station, we have an update on the case.” Ren said urgently. Before he got an answer he hung up, leaving Scar holding his silent phone. There were two things that would make Ren act that way, a new clue from the Watchers or a body and by all things holy and unholy Scar wished it wasn’t the latter.
He sped through the streets at breakneck speed, glad he saw no one. He burst into the station to see everyone gathered around Tango who seemed to be recounting something.
“What happened?” He asked,“Any good news?”
Ren put his hand on Scar’s shoulder, “Jimmy got a call from Grian about 15 minutes ago.”
“He kept repeating something about ‘an oak tree at 2.13’ according to Jimmy.” Tango said. “We think it’s a code for something, do you have any idea what he could have meant?”
“Oh… I’m not sure,” Scar thought hard, “Maybe it's an address? Tango can you search for a 312 Oak Street?”
Tango gave him a quick nod, “On it.”
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Despite Grian’s hopes the knock at the door wasn’t Scar. It was a stupid hope anyway, why would he knock if it was him? The Watcher that had arrived had told him that they were transporting him to the secret headquarters but Grian wasn’t really listening, he was just hoping Scar would arrive in the next 5 minutes. But hoping only did so much and now Grian was blindfolded in the back of a black car, never to see his friends or Scar ever again.
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Scar was too late. It was obviously the right place but there was no one there. The dishes by the sink were still wet, as if they had been very recently washed. The room where Grian must have been kept was empty. Grian was gone, possibly never to be seen again, and he knew it was all his fault. If he was just a tiny bit faster maybe Grian could be beside him now. When he left the house he sank to his knees and couldn’t stop the tears from falling to the pavement. He could faintly hear Ren telling the others to search the area but he didn’t care anymore. A hand rested on his shoulder and he looked to see Tango beside him.
“You did all you could.”
“No, if I did he would be here.”
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After he arrived at the Watcher hideout and unblindfolded, Grian was shown his room for the foreseeable future. It had a bed, a desk and chair and a small kitchen area (if a mini fridge and a microwave could be called that). It was very normal for where he knew he was, ignoring the fact everything was black and purple but that was to be expected he supposed, the Watchers seemed to be the kind to like branding. He was informed that he could put in an order for groceries once a week or he could eat in the cafeteria downstairs and that the Head Watchers requested a meeting with him later. He only half paid attention, taking in everything about his surroundings instead. The Watcher, upon realising she was basically being ignored, left silently leaving Grian with nothing but his thoughts.
An hour or two later Grian was awoken by a loud knocking on the door. He opened it to a Watcher that looked to be not even an adult yet holding clothes for him, dark like the Watchers (well the other Watchers now that Grian was joining them) They weren’t wearing a mask and were avoiding looking directly at him.
“The c- the council are ready for you when you get changed,” the young Watcher said quietly, holding out the clothes for Grian to take. When he did they practically ran down the hall without so much as another word.
The council consisted of about 20 Watchers, all wearing the mask that the Watchers that had first trapped him wore.
“You are now one of us and will need a fitting name,” one in the centre told him, they all nodded among themselves before the one in the middle continued, “So what will you choose?”
“Xelqua, I’ll choose the name Xelqua.” At this the smiles on the masks seemed to widen.
“Welcome Xelqua.”
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[A month later]
Scar stood still. He felt his world crashing around him and he didn’t care anymore. News came in that a body matching Grian’s description was found in a warehouse that was set alight on the outskirts of town. It was apparently unrecognisable but Scar didn’t want to see it anyway. He had accepted that he would never see Grian again yet this made it even more real. He would never wake up next to him on a lazy Sunday morning. He would never deliver him hazelnut coffee again. He would never be able to stay up late talking to him about nothing. He would never propose to him and they would never grow old together. All because of the Watchers. And that made his blood boil.
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[5 years later]
Scar woke early as usual and got ready to go to work. He stopped in to get some coffee, making some small talk to Lizzie. She had recently got engaged to Joel and was showing the ring to anyone who was within 2 metres of her. He was happy for her but he couldn’t stop thinking about how he could have had a future with Grian like that. He ordered his coffee, a hazelnut latte, and continued on his journey to work. When he passed by the permit office he sped up to try to stop the memories returning. They were far too painful, highlighting how he failed Grian.
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Xelqua walked down to the council room, mentally preparing himself for the meeting to come to discuss his most recent game. As far as he knew, nothing went wrong but he still stressed out every time he had to meet the Head watchers. The fear of no longer being useful crushed down on him and he knew if he was no longer useful they would most likely dispose of him in the way they disposed of the person who looked like him five years ago. He knew that would probably be for the best, who knew how many died due to his puzzles, but the selfish part of his brain was determined to stay alive and he knew he was now nothing if not selfish, only out for himself.
The council meeting went alright as usual, not great but that was to be expected from the council. There was always going to be something wrong with the puzzles, whether they decided they were too difficult, too easy, too slow or too fast depended on the day. Today they decided it was too similar to the last one. But that could be changed next time they said, leaving Xelqua to plan out the details from their vague demands. He hated it. He spent his days planning puzzles that claimed the lives of countless people and his nights regretting everything. He had tried to escape multiple times in the first year but it only resulted in him having less freedom and having to create even more puzzles and after a while he gave up, even if he did escape he would likely end up in a prison cell for the rest of his life. And then Scar would know everything he had done. If Scar even remembered or cared about him anymore. Xelqua wouldn’t blame him, it had been five years since his ‘death’ and in some ways Grian had died leaving only Xelqua.
It took a few weeks to finish the puzzles but he was sure the council would approve. Despite himself he was excited to show off his creation and he wanted to see how exactly it would play out. He felt guilt at that want but it didn’t dampen his curiosity. He had only a week before he was to oversee the puzzles, enough time for the council to decide who pissed them off the most or who they believed would make a good Watcher to be a participant. Xelqua was never allowed to see the list but he preferred it that way, he wouldn’t put a name to the voices that haunted him when the world was silent.
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Scar’s day started off normal: wake up early, coffee and a chat with Lizzie, get to work maximum ten minutes late, sit down at his desk to solve another missing person case. He knew the culprit, the Watchers, but he had no way to stop it. If there was more of a pattern it would be easier but there seemed to be nothing really connecting the missing people other than the fact they all disappear on the same day and then show up around the city dead a month later. Each time it happened was random too, it could be ten months since the last one or it could be a few weeks. It was frustrating that there was seemingly no way of preventing it but that didn’t stop Scar from trying. He knew two things about the one who created the puzzles, they were a Watcher and they were absolutely irredeemable.
It was only when he was walking home that his day took a turn for the worse. He was deep in thought about the most recent case, the bodies had been found less than a month ago so he felt it was unlikely that there would be more disappearances for another month or two. That was his mistake, while he had his guard down someone came behind him and knocked him out.
The room he was taken to was reminiscent of the room Grian had been kept in years ago yet Scar knew for a fact that they were not the same room. There was a digital display on the wall, the green light the only thing keeping the room from darkness. The display read 8:00:00 but as soon as Scar sat up the numbers started going down. Too fast yet too slow.
A robotic voice echoed through the room “You have eight hours, go.” Scar looked around the room, checking for anything out of the ordinary. His hands were handcuffed behind his back, preventing him from moving his arms much.
Two hours had passed before Scar noticed anything peculiar about the room. One of the bricks cast a shadow and when he pushed his shoulder against it, it moved. He continued to use his shoulder to loosen the brick before standing up and lifting it out with his hands, still tied behind his back. The brick came out and fell to the ground. He stuck his hands into the hole, hoping nothing bad was in there, and closed his hand around a cold metal key. He immediately tried to unlock his hands. After a minute of wriggling the key around his hands fell free. One of the walls started to glow faintly, revealing eyes, all looking different directions seemingly at random.
The timer had gone down to 4 hours before he noticed something else. The colour of the timer had changed from green to yellow, drawing his attention to it. He ran his hand around the edge feeling for anything that could help him. A small knife sliced his fingers causing them to bleed but the knife gave him less of a disadvantage so he was still grateful for it. In the yellow light he noticed something he didn’t before, the key had numbers engraved on it. 12, 6, 10 and 16.
After an hour and a half trying to work through all his clues the voice filled the room again, “Another participant has taken an hour off you to gain half an hour for themselves.” As the voice filled the room the timer’s numbers decreased, now reading 01:09:56. The light turned a blood red helping with the panicked atmosphere. He noticed all the eyes on the wall had different numbers of eyelashes and he started to frantically count them, finding the eyes that correspond to each of the numbers. As he did he realised that they all looked towards the same point, towards an eye that stared straight at him, following him as he moved. He pressed his hand on the pupil and upon doing so he heard the door swing open. He was free.
Or at least he thought he was. When he exited the room he only entered a bigger room, with twelve glowing timers on the wall, a number above each one. He looked around, seeing 11 other doors with numbers on them. His door had the number 5 on it, corresponding to the display showing his time. It was stopped on 00:49:21, the time the door opened. The other displays showed 00:00:00 with one showing 00:11:35, most likely the person who took an hour off him. Scar sat watching their timer run out, hoping that they would solve the puzzles before the timer ran out. They didn’t. After their timer ran out three figures entered, wearing masks covering their faces.
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The timer was a good idea, it caused the players to feel a sense of panic that they hadn’t in previous games. There was only one winner so the council wouldn’t complain that the puzzles were too easy. He entered the room where the winner was, to offer them a place with the Watchers.
He was on the floor when they entered, looking up when he heard footsteps. He looked familiar, yet Xelqua couldn’t place where exactly he knew him. But that was irrelevant right now, either he chooses to join them and he can find out who exactly he is or they kill him and it doesn’t matter.
“You have a choice, join us or die.” Xelqua told him.
“I would never join you,” The man spat out, each word stained with hatred, “You are the worst kind of people, killing and harming for your selfish enjoyment.” At that the man threw a knife at them, lodging itself in Xelqua’s mask, cracking it and preventing him from seeing. He must have noticed it in the room, it was meant to be in case there were two winners and there was a fight, meaning the more observant would still win but Xelqua regretted it now. He took off his mask, the man would be dead soon anyway there was no point in hiding his face.
“Grian?” The man’s eyes widened, “Is that really… I thought you were…” Xelqua stiffened, so he did know the man.
“Who are you?”
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“Who are you?”
Scar almost started to cry, finally reunited with Grian and the man didn’t even recognise him. And Grian was going to kill him.
“It’s me, Scar.”
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“It’s me, Scar.”
Scar. Dear Void it was Scar. He was going to kill Scar. He pulled the knife out of his mask, already forming a vague plan.
“Who?” He disliked lying to Scar in this way but it was necessary.
“You know… Scar, the police officer. You… you know me, we… we were…”
“Oh, that Scar, tell me did you ever look for me?” He made sure the other Watchers were distracted while he placed the knife behind one of their backs. “I waited and waited but, I guess you never came.”
“I’m sorry, I should have been faster, I-” Scar’s apology was cut short by Grian sinking the knife into the Watchers back. The red soaked his hand before he ripped it out again, only to embed it into the other Watcher’s face.
“Quick, run!” Grian screamed out to Scar, who was frozen in the middle of the room, “Get a phone, call for help and don’t look back.”
“But-”
“Don’t. Look. Back.”
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Scar ran through the door that the Watchers came through. He heard the sound of fighting behind him but he didn’t look back. He could only hope that Grian wasn’t the one losing. When he left the room he saw a phone laying on the table and he called Ren’s number.
“Hey, I need help,”
“What? Why are you calling at this time in the morning? And from an unknown number! I swear to Void if you need me to pick you up from some bar.” Ren sounded like he had been woken up from sleep and, checking the time, Scar saw it was 4.30am.
“No, the Watchers took me.” At that he heard Ren gasp over the phone.
“Where are you? Are you alright? Can you leave?” Ren almost instantly properly woke up, “Stay on the line until you’re safe.”
“I’m fine but I don’t know where I am but I can find out.” He ran outside the building and looked around, “I appear to be near the docks, in a warehouse.”
“Good, if you move let us know, I’ll call you back when I finish calling Pearl, call Tango if anything happens in the meantime,” Scar could hear the sound of Ren’s car starting and speeding off before he hung up.
A sound came from the warehouse, the door opening. He turned quickly but it turned out to only be Grian covered in blood.
“Long time no see, Scar.”
“Yeah, I’d ask what you’ve been up to but,” He vaguely gestured towards the warehouse, “I think it explains itself.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t have any explanation for that. Tried to escape,” he let out a bark of humourless laughter, “didn’t work.”
“It’s alright, no one would blame you, you were obviously forced.”
“I would blame me. Anyone who wouldn’t is stupid or gulliable.” He sighed, “They were a good kid.”
“Who?”
“The Watcher I stabbed in the back, we were close friends. Or as close that you could be as a Watcher. They were barely twenty, had their whole life ahead of them. They had plans, they wanted to be a fashion designer. Ever since I first arrived we had plans to leave,” Grian rolled his eyes at himself, “Void listen to me now, responsible for the deaths of who knows how many and only crying over the one I knew. The council would think I’m pathetic, Void even you must think I’m pathetic.”
“You’re not pathetic,” He was interrupted by the phone ringing, Ren was calling back. “Sorry if I don’t answer this Ren will think I’ve died.”
“Okay.”
“Scar? Everything alright there?”
“Yeah, I’ve got someone else with me now.”
“What! Are you ok?”
“Yeah, it’s Grian.”
“Isn’t he-”
“Dead? No he’s here,” Grian looked over at him and Scar gave him a small smile, “When will you be here?”
“We’re in the area, we’ll probably find you soon.”
“I’ll see you then,”
The next hour passed by in relative silence, other than a car passing by. When Ren arrived, Scar exchanged few words with him before guiding Grian into the backseat. He let Grian curl up into his arms.
“I missed you, Scar.”
“I missed you too, Sunshine.”