Chapter Text
Book was tired from running around the entire hotel for the fourth time. It was slightly absurd, yes, but she was looking for someone. She hasn’t seen Needle since the storm began. While she was technically supposed to be eliminated, Two didn’t actually know where Needle was. After the second run through, Book had asked Four if they knew, and he said no right before throwing her out of the kitchen. She even asked X on the third run, and they didn’t know either. After the fourth run, Book was done trying to look around. It was one in the morning already. She decided to just go lay down on the grass outside. Not even her room could be comforting to Book. She just wanted to see her best friend again.
Unfortunately for Book, there was someone she didn’t exactly want to see outside.
“Hey Book! You wanna make a cross team alliance?” Pencil ran up to Book as soon as she walked out of the hotel. Even more unfortunately, no one else was outside.
“Oh my pages, Pencil, no.” She started walking away. Pencil followed right after her though, like a puppy.
“Come on! Why not? We were great together!”
“Why can’t you ask me later?”
“You’re here right now.”
“I don’t want to talk to you, Pencil. I’m looking for Needle.”
“If you’re so desperate to go find Needle, then...then go into the forest or something. She probably ran away after finding out she was kicked out. Anyone reasonable would.”
Reasonable? Book supposes that Needle is reasonable. After all, she managed to make it to the final two in a previous contest. While Book did beat her, that would just make Book reasonable too. They would then both be reasonable people. If Book lost though, she wouldn’t run away, or would she? She might, since Needle did too. Technically, it made sense, and if Needle did it, then Book might, to be with her best friend, and because it’s a reasonable thing to do.
Huh, Pencil being helpful. Book almost hopes that she’s wrong and lying, but she has only checked the hotel. She hasn’t looked around it too much, considering they don’t go out too often unless there’s a challenge going on, so Pencil did have a good idea. It’s a change, one that Book would consider good. Maybe once she finds Needle, they can both talk to Pencil. If she’s changed enough to suggest this idea, then maybe she’s changed enough as a person. Maybe they could even be friends again! No, no, that’s a little too soon. Just maybe though, they could really start an alliance, a small one.
“I guess that is reasonable. Thank you, Pencil.”
“Really? So will you join—?”
“No, but I’ll...think about it.”
“Will you really?!” Pencil hugged Book, lifting her into the air. She was incredibly excited at the idea of an alliance, just like the old days.
She pushed herself away from Pencil. “I will think about it. I don’t want to hug you, yet.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, think about it! Yeah, yeah, yeah!” She started doing a little chant, just like she used to. Something inside Book was tugged a little, and she gave her a small smile.
“I’ll see you soon, Pencil.”
“Bye Book!” She waved ecstatically. Book gave her a small wave back. Less energy than Pencil, but she had hope. She really hopes that they can all get better and be friends again.
Pencil lied to her.
It’s been however long since Book had left the hotel, and now she was lost in the middle of the forest. That’s just perfect for Book, who has already wasted the whole day. It was just the cherry on top that she’s now lost. She hasn’t seen any one person, and she really, really wanted to lay down in the grass like she did earlier.
…
Maybe she could afford to lay down for a bit. The next contest shouldn’t be for a while, and Needle was still missing. Maybe it was too harsh to say that Pencil lied to her. She could be right, and Needle could be here. Book just wanted to take a little break first. That tree trunk over there looked...ok enough to lay against. It would be fine to take the smallest break after spending who knows how long searching.
She sighs as she lays against the trunk. It was not at all comfortable, but it was something. She settled herself against the trunk and closed her eyes. A little nap can’t hurt anyone.
Book opens her eyes to a clean and very blue room. The floor was a strange olive yellow, and was incredibly smooth looking. It looked pretty unnatural, but so did the walls, with stars that look like they were done by an indecisive child. There was also the giant yellow spiral in the wall that produced the light in the room. Book looked around and spotted a lamp with a mobile of planets attached to the top of it, but both were off. Maybe she was right in assuming a child decorated this room, or that it was meant for one.
“Hello Book!”
Book jumped in her seat. She somehow didn’t notice the number in front of her, staring. “What? Who are you?”
The number waved her foot and rolled her eyes. They were uncomfortably casual with Book. Did she know this number? “Oh, no one to worry about. After all, you’ve been worried about Needle all day.”
“Needle? You know her?” She inched forward in her seat. This is the only person who remembers Needle. It’s proof Book isn’t insane! She didn’t make Needle up, and Needle was with her in the other games. Book wasn’t alone.
“Of course I do, I just talked to her yesterday.” That didn’t make sense. It’s been a day already of going insane and walking in circles with the only person who “helped” her being a liar.
“Yesterday? She’s been missing since...” How long has Needle been missing? How long has Book been looking for her, now that she thinks about it.
“Well, one would lose track of time when all alone. I doubt Needle knows how long it’s been since our meeting.” Book stared at the number in horror.
“What? Where is she?”
“Good question, why don’t we see?” The alien—One is likely her name, if Book had to guess—had summoned a TV from the ceiling. Quite an old one too, very unlike the contestant. It had dials and was very clearly a CRT—wait, that’s Needle.
She was alone in a dark field of daffodils. It’s been maybe about 46 hours? One could add a few minutes to that. Maybe about 3 minutes? She has definitely lost count. She could not tell time based on the incredibly slow movement of the solar system model that took up the sky. She wasn’t even sure if that model was moving. All she knew was that it was one of the few things that she could look at. There was nothing else near by.
No one else was here. No one was going to find her.
“Needle! Where is she?” She asked One, though the respond was just a giggle. Book squirmed in her seat. She couldn’t recognize the place based on what she’s seen, which is strange because she is a map book. That likely meant she wasn’t in Goiky, possibly Earth.
‘This is bad.’ She thought to herself. Needle could possibly be with one of the numbers. She was supposed to be with T—the host after all, but maybe she’s with—?
“’Oh, where is she? Where’s Needle?’ You’re getting kind of boring with the same old question. I thought you were concerned about her, but if you’re dallying around with this one question, then I don’t know anymore~” One droned off.
“What? I am concerned! You aren’t answering my question of where she is, though!” Book was yelling at this point. Hours of walking and running around the same hotel, then being told that maybe Needle was in the forest by Pencil, and believing her out of all things! Of course Book was concerned! She just wanted to see her friend again.
“Yelling won’t get you anywhere. It just makes you look...needy.”
Book was glaring at One now. In her heart, she was hoping that Needle would appear and slap the number. Breaking through the wall, or the ceiling, heck, even through the yellow spiral mimicking the sun, or the floor. Just anywhere. But after about a minute, no one showed up.
“...Don’t call me needy.” She grumbled. One simply smiled at her.
“You know, since you’ve came here, you’ve been making demands of me. ‘Where’s Needle?’ I showed you where Needle is. Then, you get angry at me, and I make the slightest comment about you. But apparently, that’s too far, even though you’ve been nothing but rude to your host. You’re really painting me like the bad guy here, when I’ve done nothing but be kind and try to show you where your friend is.”
This was absurd. Book wasn’t the bad guy here. She’s just been looking for her friend. Her friend that she misses very much, and hasn’t talked to since she got eliminated, and that no one has cared about. She’s being reasonable here. She was a reasonable person after all, it’s in her definition! She opens her mouth to argue such, but it was suddenly closed shut.
“How about this, I’ll say I’m sorry for name calling you, and you’ll say sorry for being rude to me. All you have to do is sign this deal that says such.” A paper and pencil appear on the table in front of the them. Book glares at One, and the number sighs before doing an unzipping motion over her mouth. Book takes in a breath before reading over the contract. Despite being a dictionary, she can’t actually read the contract.
“Um, One? I can’t read this.” She waves the paper to One. The script wasn’t even the same as the one within Book, though she wasn’t an encyclopedia of language, so she couldn’t identify which it could be. It was likely One’s main language, whatever she calls it.
One crosses her legs and doesn’t even look at Book as she answers the question, “Well, I can, and it does say exactly what I said it would.”
“That’s not how a contract works, One.”
“Well, you can always not sign it, and we can just forget about Needle, since you want to be mean.”
“Wait, why would not signing this mean you don’t help me with Needle?”
“Would you want to help Pencil if she asked you to do something?” Book shudders at the mention of her name. One did have a point, but this simply wasn’t how contracts worked. Maybe in whatever world the numbers came from, it was. That didn’t matter though. If the contract wasn’t valid, then there’s no harm in signing it. It was still very strange, but what wasn’t strange with these numbers.
She takes the pencil and signs the contract. Right as she lifted her pencil off the paper, they both disappeared from the table. One had a strange smile on her face, but she was the last thing that Book wanted to look at. There wasn’t much better in this lonely room, but Book would rather be in a void than be here with this one.
That was Book being childish though, and she couldn’t afford to be childish right now. “So, Needle. Will you tell me where she is?”
Book looked up at One, though she looked a bit annoyed. “The apology?”
Book sighed. She forgot she was dealing with essentially a child. “I’m sorry for being mean to you, One.”
“Thank you, Book! I’m sorry for calling you needy, even if you are.”
“Oh, come on—!”
“Now, let’s talk about Needle. You want to see her?” One had an almost teasing tone in her voice. It was starting to get on Book’s nerves, but she calmed herself down. She’s not an angry person, she’s a reasonable one. She can be reasonable. She nodded her head, and One hummed a familiar tune. It was Needle’s team name. Has this number been watching the competition to know that? Or did she find out from Needle? Or someone else, even? Has she done this before already? How many more are—?
“Okay! How about this, I can send you to wherever or whoever you want, in exchange for a favor. Does that sound reasonable?” Another paper and pencil appear in front of them. Book shrugged her shoulders and grabbed the pencil. She still couldn’t read the contract, but at this point, she figured One didn’t know how a contract worked. A reasonable person would, and this is basically a child in front of her, more than Grassy, or Rocky.
She signed the contract and just like before, the items disappeared as soon as she had finished her signature. Looking up at One, she had a strange grin on her face. It felt foreboding, but Book couldn’t tell exactly why. If anything, Book was probably reading her face wrong. She wasn’t all that great with other people, only with Needle. Everyone else has pushed her away, or she pushed them away, or—that’s not what matters right now! She had a deal to see Needle now, and she was going to take it. Surely, whatever favor that One asks of her won’t be that bad. She’s childish after all. She probably couldn’t even hurt a fly.