Chapter Text
The night had gone by as all the states had been put in a huge mansion with a bunch of food, water, and necessities to survive. The United States and DC were gone, the reason being why they had been there in the first place.
Yesterday was normal.
Today would be the same.
At least, that's what Missouri thought.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
She slammed her hand on her phone, looking at it with her tired eyes. Wait, when did she set an alarm?
Sitting up, she grabbed her phone and scrolled through her alarms. Right there, the one that had just ringed, was an alarm that said, “NOW.”
“‘Now?’” Missouri asked herself, confused. She looked around the room, for any clues at what this might mean. A paper was on her nightstand. What was that for?
With a shaky hand, she hesitantly grabbed the folded piece of paper and read it to herself.
–
“Northhh! Turn your alarm off!” South Dakota whined, curling up on her bed.
“I didn't set an alarm! It's your phone, Southie!”
“I see the screen on your phone! It's an alarm that says ‘now!’”
North Dakota paused, then looked at her phone next to her. There was an alarm going off, one that said “NOW.” She stopped it, still hearing the alarm noise coming from the top bunk.
“Southie, there's still an alarm going off. Did you set one?” she questioned her sister.
South Dakota shook her head violently, putting her phone on snooze.
The Flickertail State shrugged. “Huh. How odd.”
She rolled on her side, desperate to go back to sleep, but then she saw a paper. She grabbed it without hesitation, assuming it was a note from USA. However, it was not.
“YOUR ROLE IS: TWIN. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! YOU ARE YOUR TWIN ARE LINKED; USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
“... South, come see this.”
Her twin leaned over her own bunk, looking down at the note, then coming to a realization.
“North Dakota, I-I have the same one. Maybe it means something?” she stuttered. North Dakota gave her a look. “Pretty sure it does. I don't know what the evil team is, but we have to work together on it.”
–
The alarm was long gone by the time Rhode Island woke up. He didn't even bother to check his phone, just sitting up and raising his arms to the sky.
“Ugh- What time is it?” he asked himself, looking at the TV he had left on screensaver mode. 9:39PM. Wow, guess he was really tired.
Then he noticed the note.
“Great, New York giving me notes again? Gosh, this is a random ass mansion, I don't need chores…”
But as he opened the note, he was proven wrong. It had big, bold words, and descriptions and such.
“YOUR ROLE IS: MUFFIN MAN. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! DELIVER MUFFINS TO OTHER STATES EACH NIGHT. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
“Aw, fuck yeah!” he snickered. “But where am I gonna get muffins from?”
Rhode Island turned around, then saw a few white boxes. Sure enough, when he went to open them, they were filled with chocolate chip muffins; ten each box. He snatched one and instantly ate it for himself, tasting Jesus’s fucking tears.
“Holy shit…” he mumbled. This was the best thing he had ever put in his mouth.
–
Idaho woke up groggy, powering off his phone.
“Hey, Montana?” he called out, testing to see if she was awake. She in fact was not, still sleeping soundly on the other side of the bed. He let out a sigh, getting out of bed to go put some pants on.
Not going to lie, this place gave him the creeps. Sure, it was like their old house, but it just had this ominous vibe. Especially…
Did he set an alarm?
He went back over to the side of his bed, powering back on his phone. There was a missed alarm; one called “NOW.”
Idaho turned to Montana. She wouldn't have set an alarm on his phone unless she remembered, too. His eyes finally darted to the paper.
“What the…”
He opened it up, reading the contents inside.
“YOUR ROLE IS: DETECTIVE. YOU ARE THE LEADER OF THE GOOD TEAM. TRY TO FIGURE OUT EVERYONE'S ROLES BASED OFF OF CLUES TO HELP YOUR TEAM, AND ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
… This had to be some sort of prank. What the hell did this mean? Detective? Leader? Who would appoint him to be a fucking punching bag?
He groaned, guessing California wanted to play April Fools ten months early.
But what if it was something bigger than that?
–
Texas was honestly already out of bed, assuming the USA had some sort of task for him to complete. When he called, there was no answer.
“Dude, I’m already dressed up, what could take him so long…” he mumbled, tapping his foot on the ground.
To distract himself, he looked around the room, noting the paintings and how… awfully similar this was to his room. Then he saw a paper on top of his dresser.
“Wow, no need to use my height as a joke,” he sneered, going over and snatching the paper and reading it, his face instantly twisting into confusion. “Huh?”
“YOUR ROLE IS: PSYCHIC. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! CHECK OTHER STATE'S INNOCENCE EACH NIGHT. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
Texas squinted. “Evil team? What kind of sick joke is this?” he snickered, tearing up the paper and throwing it in the small trash can in his room. Guess he should probably keep this secret unless other states start talking about it.
–
“Utah, shut up…” Colorado groaned, opening his eyes to notice nobody was in his room. He instantly went quiet, realizing it was his alarm. Eh, maybe he probably set it earlier…
He got out of bed, stretching out his legs and looking around the room, noticing a paper taped to his wall.
“... Jeez,” he muttered, going up to the wall to see the paper more clearly.
“YOUR ROLE IS: SPY. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! BUG A STATE EACH NIGHT TO SEE WHO USED AN ABILITY ON THEM. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
Colorado squinted, looking at the paper more quickly before giggling. “Can't wait to tell all my buddies about this.”
… Then he saw the bottom part.
“Do not show this note to anyone, or you will be the first one dead.”
“Ah shit, well nevermind…” he muttered, before ripping the paper off the wall and shoving it in his pocket.
–
Vermont had completely ignored the alarm, instead face-timing Quebec. They answered on the 2nd ring.
“Hey!!!” Quebec said with an excited tone. “Quoi de neuf? Where's Mass?”
“Massachusetts is in his own room,” Vermont softly chuckled. “And so far, this place isn't too bad. The rooms are really nice; very… personalized if I say so.”
He seemed to be pondering for a moment. “Personalized? I thought you'd never been there before.”
“Maybe you are right… but so far, this place isn't the worst!” Vermont chirped, grabbing something random from the air to realize it's a folded piece of paper.
“What's that?” Quebec questioned him over the phone, but Vermont drowned his voice out, reading the paper in his head.
“YOUR ROLE IS: MEDIC. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! HEAL ONE STATE FROM AN ATTACK EACH NIGHT; PICK THE STATE WISELY. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
“... Medic?” Vermont read to himself.
“What was that?”
He turned his attention back to his friend, and he shoved the paper inside his pocket. “Oh, nothing…!” he said with fake enthusiasm. “I got to go, call you back!”
Vermont hung up on Quebec before he could answer, and he looked around the room worriedly. Was this just him?
–
“You think sometimes we're just living in a simulation and this is all a test to see if we are worthy for the true world?”
“... Virginia, what the fuck are you on about.”
“Just think about it!” Virginia said, looking away from her brother. “The world is a dark place, and bad things happen everyday. Simple, simple.”
West Virginia groaned, shoving his face into his pillow, murmuring nonsense to her. She proudly smirked, assuming she had won before turning onto her other side, seeing the paper.
“Virginia, turn your alarm off…” West Virginia mumbled again rudely.
She hadn't even realized her alarm was going off. Swiftly, she opened up her paper to see the contents inside.
“YOUR ROLE IS: SAVIOR. YOU ARE ON THE GOOD TEAM! BRING BACK ONE STATE FROM THE DEAD. USE IT WISELY. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE EVIL TEAM!”
Virginia snickered. “Oh this one will be fun.”
–
A pillow was held close against Kansas’s chest, after having separate rooms. Neither Nebraska nor Texas wanted to sleep with her at the moment, so she was just left alone. The alarm started to go off.
“Ugh… shut up, shut up!” Kansas growled, slamming her phone with her hand, just barely glancing at the name of the alarm. “What the fuck?”
She hadn't even set the alarm. It was just called “NOW.” That was odd; maybe the USA did it or something. Either way, she wasn't answering. Well, that was until she saw the paper.
“What, you really want me to answer?” she snarled, grabbing the paper harshly. It was not what she had expected at all.
“YOUR ROLE IS: CLOWN. YOU ARE ON THE NEUTRAL TEAM! GET VOTED OUT SO YOU CAN BRING SOMEONE WITH YOU. YOU HAVE NO TEAMMATES; YOU WIN ONCE YOU GET VOTED.”
She looked at it one more time. “Neutral? The fuck they mean neutral?! Did they run out of options so they instead decided to go like, ‘oh yeah, she can be a clown or whatever!’ Bullshit.”
Kansas tore up the paper with her hands, expecting it to be some kind of joke. Maybe it was a dream. She curled back up and went to sleep.
–
Nevada was on xyr phone, playing a game or something, when the alarm went off. Xe just stopped it and continued playing.
“I don't remember setting an alarm, but whatever…”
The paper, the one xe was supposed to pick up, breezed by xem, landing on xyr stomach, urging xem to pick it up. Xe ignored it.
Then a random number texted her. Xe finally gave in, checking the message.
“YOUR ROLE IS: DARK PSYCHIC. YOU ARE ON THE EVIL TEAM! CHECK OTHER STATE’S INNOCENCE EACH NIGHT. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM!”
Nevada laughed audibly, just turning off xyr phone while shaking. “Evil?! Is this some kind of child's play?! There's no way whoever owns this house is making us play a game of heroes and villains!”
Even with the reassuring voice, xyr own, telling xem it was fake, a nagging feeling in Nevada’s head told xem that this could be something big. Maybe even bad. But that didn't matter, right? The only voice Nevada listened to was California’s voice; and xyr own.
–
The bed felt like a rock the moment Florida’s eardrums bursted. He immediately checked his phone; seeing a weird message and seeing the alarm name.
“NOW.”
“Eh, weird,” he shrugged, checking the message.
“YOUR ROLE IS: SCOUT. YOU ARE ON THE EVIL TEAM! BUG A PERSON EACH NIGHT TO SEE WHO USED AN ABILITY ON THEM. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM!”
Florida beamed over the message. “Scout? Are we playing a game?”
Even though it seemed odd, Florida loved games. He was always, ALWAYS down. And being a role called scout? Sounded like heaven. But it said he was evil…
… Maybe it's different teams. But why would he, the golden star, be a villain? Wow, whoever this is must hate him that much.
–
“Vermont? Have I ever told you how much I love you? <3”
“Yes yes, you tell me all the time. Did you get a paper too?”
Paper? Massachusetts looked around, seeing a small, thin piece of paper on the desk in the corner of his room. He quickly texted Vermont back.
“Uhm, yes. It's in the corner of my room.”
He got up, walking over to the desk and grabbing the paper. A message made him look back over; but if Vermont got this, it was definitely more important. He opened it.
“YOUR ROLE IS: WITCH. YOU ARE ON THE EVIL TEAM! YOU ARE ABLE TO BLOCK PEOPLES ABILITIES BEFORE THEY ARE USED. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM!”
Good team? Evil team? Witch? What is this, a game of Clue? Solve the mystery? He went back to check his phone.
“What does it say?”
He read it again, reading the note on the bottom. Whoever owned this place and was conducting it, he was a little concerned of what they could do, so he took it seriously.
“I can't say it. I'm a little concerned about what this place does to people anyways.”
“Ah, alright then. I won't send mine. Ily ^^”
Massachusetts didn't answer back, just kept staring at the paper; wondering if Vermont was on his side. Probably not.
–
Minnesota had her arm wrapped around New Jersey protectively; sound asleep and not waking up to the blaring alarm.
New Jersey, however, was not in the same boat. She barely reached the phone and stopped it, leaning back against Minnesota’s grip and letting out a moan of relief. Until the alarm just went off again.
“Seriously…” she muttered, before noticing the paper. She turned off the alarm again and grabbed it to read it.
“YOUR ROLE IS: AMBUSHER. AMBUSH A STATE EACH NIGHT WHEN THEY ARE CAUGHT USING AN ABILITY ON YOUR TARGET. USE THIS ABILITY TO HELP ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM!”
“... Hm.”
She put the paper in her pocket, not too bothered to care about it right now. Maybe it was just a joke New York set up or something. She turned over, cuddling up against Minnesota instead of being a bother about the weird note.
–
California was already up, about to go back into the kitchen to get a snack when the phone arose with the alarm.
“Ugh, shut up! I'm awake!” she snapped at her phone, realizing it was futile. Then she saw the message, clear as day.
“Great, fans, favorites, whatever.”
She picked up her phone, expecting it to be a person obsessing over her or something, but it wasn't. Instead an ominous message, that only read a weird paragraph of certain, specific things.
“YOUR ROLE IS: ASSASSIN. YOU ARE ON THE EVIL TEAM! YOU ONLY HAVE ONE KILL, BUT YOU ARE THE MOST LETHAL! USE YOUR KILL TO HELP YOUR MURDERER AND TO ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM!”
… Weird. Her fans were very odd. But this made the atmosphere change. Something bad was gonna happen. She knew it.
She was the bad thing that was gonna happen.
On the bottom of the message, a small note was there. Something that gave her a huge advantage.
“The murderer is…”
–
“YOUR ROLE IS: MURDERER. YOU ARE ON THE EVIL TEAM! YOU CAN KILL SOMEONE EACH NIGHT IN HOPES OF ELIMINATING A GOOD MEMBER! USE THIS ABILITY TO ELIMINATE THE GOOD TEAM.”
“.. Murderer?” Missouri asked herself. “Am I supposed to kill people?”
She looked around, suddenly self conscious of her job. This was so weird… maybe it was all fake. Maybe it was a test
for the USA to see what we would do. Hopefully, it is.
She wouldn't let whoever this was down, but…
This had to be a test. What did it mean to be an evil team member? And a good team member? What was the real difference?
Suddenly, a voice rang out.
“Welcome to Flicker!”