Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Ughhhhh…

I shift on the surface I’m laying on, which is way too hard and cold to be my bed. It’s very uncomfortable, and I’d gladly get off of it, if not for the fact that I feel like I recently got run over by a truck. I must have been really tired last night, because I don’t know why else I would possibly have passed out on the floor. When did I even lie down? Is this what a hangover feels like? I don’t drink…

Slowly, unwillingly, I lever myself up onto my arms, blinking groggily at my surroundings... which I don’t recognize. What the- am I still asleep? This looks like the inside of a dingy elevator or something…

Finding myself more awake all of a sudden, I start to look around with some degree of actual alertness. The room I’m in is small, cubical, and made of metal. There’s a fire extinguisher in one corner, a fire extinguisher box in another corner, a couple of weird posters on the walls, and a large machine with a screen on the front attached to the back of the room. Directly underneath it is an odd looking safe, and to its right is some sort of big red lump of cloth, with what looks like shifting machine parts peeking out from under-

The lump suddenly stands up and turns around. I nearly bang my head against the wall as I scramble back — staring down at me is a tall, yellowish-white robot, with glowing orange eye panels, an almost insectoid mask, and a long red cloth draped around its shoulder that falls down around the rest of its body like a toga. Before I can even really process its appearance, it begins to speak to me in a calm, measured tone.

“I see that you are awake. Please, do not panic. I know I must look frightening… though I admit, I cannot tell precisely what I look like right now.”

…that voice. That… armor. Am I looking at K right now? K, as in the game character? How-

My thought process cuts off as I happen to look down at myself for the first time since I woke up.

Stockings. Short shorts. Spotted pink bra.

What the SHIT.

I don’t scream, but I must make some sort of noise, because K begins trying to reassure me again. I don’t hear a word of it. Why the hell am I in Virtue’s Last Reward?! Why am I a girl- no, why am I Clover?! What- just, WHAT?!

I spend roughly 30 seconds freaking out before my mind calms down enough for me to think properly again. The conclusions I immediately come to, however, are almost enough to make my heart stop.

Please tell me this is a dream, or a simulation, or something, because if this is real, then I am utterly screwed. I’m sure that there are worse universes to be bizarrely and randomly dropped into, but at present none are coming to mind. Due to the way this game’s plot is entirely reliant on a massive time loop, I am currently an unknown variable in a situation that is going to fail if literally anything about it is not known — if everyone doesn’t do exactly what they need to do/did, then the information Sigma/Zero used to set it up was faulty. Except, it can’t have been faulty, because his experience in the Nonary Game is what he used to set it up to begin with. In other words, I may literally break time here if I say or do the wrong thing — and the "wrong thing" is essentially anything.

“Miss? Miss, are you alright? I promise, I will not hurt you.”

K is currently holding his hands up, having backed away and bowed his head slightly. He must think I’m not responding because I’m scared of him or something, since he seems to be trying to be as unaggressive as possible. Panicking aside, I suppose I should probably reply at some point…

“I… I’m fine. Just a bit… freaked out, I guess.” I tell him as I stand up, my voice coming out exactly the way I remember Clover’s sounding.

“That is perfectly understandable.” K replies, sounding slightly relieved that I finally spoke. “I apologize for my appearance. I’m fairly certain that this is some sort of suit, but I’m not quite sure how to get it off.”

Do I play along and act like I don’t know anything about him? I guess that seems like the safest course of action, at least in as much as any action can be considered “safe” in this scenario.

“You’re ‘fairly certain’…?” I ask, feigning confusion.

“Hmm.” K places a hand behind his head, appearing to be thinking. “I don’t… remember… to be honest, I’m not quite sure who I even am. Are you perhaps experiencing something similar?”

I shake my head no, feeling Clover’s long pink hair tickle my back. “No, not at all…”

I know who I am, I just seem to have been a bit bodily displaced is all.

“You’re saying you have amnesia?” I continue.

“Well… yes. I suppose I do.” If K could visibly frown, I’m certain he would be doing so right now. “If you aren’t experiencing the same problem, perhaps you could tell me where we are, and why we’re in here?”

“Ah… sorry. I have as little idea as you do.” I tell him, blatantly lying.

“I see.” K says, placing a hand on his chin. “That is regrettable. You do not know who I am, correct?” I shake my head no. “If that is the case, perhaps we have been kidnapped.”

Not a bad conclusion, but not technically correct. I guess I — or rather, Clover — technically was, but you’ve lived here your whole life. Although granted, it was not inside this little cube we’re currently stuck in.

“Are you familiar with that bracelet?” K asks, pointing at my wrist.

I hold up my arm. As expected, there sits the Nonary Game Bracelet, its face proudly proclaiming me to be a green pair with 3 BP. It’s heavier than a normal watch, but not enough to be hugely impactful on my arm movement.

“No… where did this thing come from?” I make a show of trying to get it off by wildly pressing the buttons. “Does it come off? Who the heck put this on me?”

“I would assume the culprit to be whoever put us in this room.” K notes. “Perhaps this armor was placed on me by them as well, as it appears to have been built to accommodate a bracelet of my own.”

He shows me his arm as proof of this. Before I can respond, the hum of something flickering on suddenly emanates throughout the room.

“How’re you feeling?” a smirking, self-satisfied voice asks.

K and I look as one at the small monitor built into the wall just above the “elevator” buttons. A small white rabbit wearing a miniature set of Chinese clothes has appeared on it.

Oh joy, look who it is.

“I am Zero III! The king of this kingdom!”

I listen to the half-deranged sounding AI talk for a short while, but it quickly becomes evident his message to the players at this stage is exactly the same as I remember, holding nothing of any real relevance beyond the announcement of his name and the Nonary Game. Deciding I’m going to get no new information from this, I return to my whirling, frantic thoughts.

Okay, I’ve got to calm down. In a situation like this, I need to be as logical and careful as possible, or everything could come crumbling down around me in a spectacularly short period of time. Let’s think about this... the information on how the game eventually proceeds that Sigma-Zero used to set up this game in the “past” comes from the “present”, wherein he went through the game himself. It’s a classic self-fulfilling time loop, at least in that regard. So… maybe things have already changed retroactively, and my presence has therefore already been accounted for? Perhaps the scenario to follow doesn't have to be identical to the game's, since it will have been set up with my actions in the roughly 20 or so timelines “to come” in mind, rather than the original Clover’s. In fact, now that I think of it, if we assume that this plan could only have been set in to motion if it ends up working in some reality, then I shouldn't even have to worry, right? Right! We’re already in the AB game, and since time isn’t broken, there shouldn’t be anything to worry about!

…although then again, that’s WHY time might break. I know how this situation is supposed to proceed, and in the VLR universe time doesn’t retroactively change. You can “trick” it in a couple of ways, or alter the flow of parallel timelines which were initially going to proceed identically to the original, but you can’t change things in an already defined timeline outright. Which means unless this is all taking place in an entire parallel set of timelines, which is a bet I can’t possibly risk, any action I make that Clover didn’t goes against the way this universe’s time physics are supposed to work.

I bite the inside of my lip. While the fact that the stable time loop isn’t already broken could be taken as a good sign, now that I think about it, Sigma/Zero never saw what went on inside Clover and K’s cube, and since his viewpoint is the only important one here, it may not matter what I do regarding things that happened “offscreen”. Time might actually only break when we get out of here, and I’m not still unconscious the way Clover is supposed to be. I guess I could maybe knock myself out again somehow, but K would surely tell the others about that, which also didn’t happen in the game, and thus might just as easily... god damn it, this isn’t fair! It’s not like I had any control over when I woke up! And even if I somehow did, I wouldn’t have known NOT to do so before-!

“Hey, you! Pay attention!”

My gaze snaps back to the monitor. Zero Three stares back at me with an unamused expression.

“I am a very busy bunny, and I do not. Have time. To repeat myself.”

Er… sorry? Wait, is he directly addressing me? Did he do that at all in the game, before you actually escaped the AB room?

“And, as it happens, you don’t have that time either!” Zero shrugs, continuing in a much cheerier tone. “You’d better get out quick, because that elevator you’re in? It’s gonna fall in a few minutes. Waaaaaay down.”

“…oh dear.” K says, sounding rather disaffected. I guess he always sort of sounded like that in the game, but it is kind of jarring to hear someone actually talk like that. Personally, I'm more worried about what might happen when we DO get out than what will happen if we don't, especially as these aren't even elevators. That being said, Zero Three could still “punish” us if we fail to even try, so I guess we don't really have much choice.

“So, hop to it! I’ll see you later. Have a nice trick!”

The screen goes blank, and K turns to me.

“We should make haste to escape.” he tells me, as if that isn’t just stating the blatantly obvious. Although then again, since Zero pointed out how I seemingly wasn’t paying very close attention, he might think he actually needs to.

“Yeah, we should.” I agree.

Practically hearing the “SEEK A WAY OUT!” music play in my head, I turn to the wall and begin pulling the brightly colored knobs off the bar, my body moving almost on autopilot as I continue desperately trying to form a viable plan.

Alright, assuming I don't cause a critical spacetime error a few minutes from now, and ignoring the fact that I already may have nixed the viability of this idea by sheer virtue of waking up, do I just go along with the normal timeline as best I remember? As long as I don’t reveal to anyone that I’m not Clover, and take the same actions she did, then by almost the same principles that Akane used to be “K” in the timeline where she lived, I shouldn’t actually affect anything. But even if I somehow managed that, given that I really only remember the broad strokes of this game and thus can’t even hope to replicate Clover’s actions exactly, the best timeline ends with everyone besides Sigma and Phi left to deal with living in a doomed future. All others end with “me” either dead, stuck on the surface of the moon slowly running out of oxygen, or trapped in here forever with the others. Or rather, trapped until the Radical-6 everyone was secretly infected with takes full effect I suppose. Wow, okay, I hadn’t even considered all that when I said I was screwed regardless; if time doesn’t fall apart the second we walk out of here-

“Excuse me, Miss…?”

It takes me a moment to realize K is talking to me. I spin around to face him.

“Uh… C-Clover.” I answer uneasily.

“May I ask what you’re doing? I’ve no issue with it, but I imagine it will be easier to escape if we’re working together.”

“Oh, uh…”

To be honest, I don’t really know why I'm doing this; I just remember that the knobs need to come off at some point in the process of getting the code you need to escape.

“I guess these knobs drew my eye since they’re all so brightly colored, and they seemed to be loose, so I just sort of took them off?” I say. “I mean, it can’t hurt, right?”

“Hmm… I suppose not.” K concedes. “I’ll get the other two.”

K moves away to remove the other handles while I examine the rest of the chamber. I don’t think I have to try too hard to recall how it worked in the game — this was the first puzzle room, and thus not particularly hard to get out of. Which is honestly something of an issue for me, as despite skipping directly from denial to acceptance in regards to my presence here, I still feel like I need more time to figure out what to do.

I suppose that in the short term, I just need to survive stepping outside this room, followed by the “game” that comes immediately after. Long term however, I ideally need to figure out how I ended up here, and somehow reverse the process. Consciousness travel is the obvious answer for that, but 1) Clover’s body should have been occupied, because she’s not capable of consciousness travel so far as I remember, 2) I’m not Clover, so even if she could transfer her consciousness I most certainly shouldn’t be here, and 3) this is a VIDEO GAME! At least in the version of reality I exist in! How the hell can I even be here?!

My mind briefly stutters as I glance at K, suddenly remembering something else. Wait... there was a scene at the end of Virtue's Last Reward — a “secret ending”, of sorts. A consciousness of unknown origin woke up in “Klim”, which was heavily implied to be the player... does that have anything to do with this? It’s not quite the same situation, and the ending got declared non-canon later, but maybe there’s somehow actual precedent for this, at least from this universe’s perspective?

Clutching tightly to that thought, I quickly review what I remember about that scene. If I recall correctly, Akane treated the player as a theoretically higher dimensional being, who could freely observe multiple timelines and travel between them — something proven by the fact that the player had been doing exactly that all game, through Sigma. She also vaguely hinted about how you’d be traveling to the Nevada test site soon, which was referencing the sequel of Zero Time Dilemma, again something that the player did in fact end up observing.

...implying that Akane may in fact know about “entities” like me, and thus may also know something about how I can get back to my own dimension.

Well, in that case, my plan is now to do everything I can to steer myself into the “true” ending timeline so that I can speak to Akane. She almost certainly won’t be willing to drop the facade of being K before then, since that would cause the whole Schrodinger’s Cat gambit that allowed her to live to begin with to fall apart, but at the end of the timeline she’ll have already done everything she set out to do, and will have no reason not to help me. Non-canon or not, that secret ending is hope, at least, that maybe I’m not stuck here permanently.

…I just have to not die along the way, and also hope I don’t cause spacetime to divide by zero the second I step out of this box.

I tell K to take the fire extinguisher pin out and use it as a key on the fire extinguisher box, which isn't a terribly difficult leap of logic, since there's a poster on the wall literally demonstrating how to do so. Meanwhile, I busy myself with the old people and babies poster, and move to punch the numbers of such into the matching railings, indicated by the tiny plaques on their sides.

The latter turns out to be a considerably more difficult task than one might imagine. The solution is all but self-evident, but it requires crossing the room to input — something that Clover’s four inch heels are making very difficult for me. I’m basically walking on my tiptoes here, and as if that wasn’t enough to throw me off balance already, gravity itself feels extremely wonky. Not completely off, which I assume is due to the tandem effect of the Radical-6 and the moon partially canceling each other out or something, but enough to make me extremely wary of falling over every other step. I end up having cling to the edge of the room to get to the other side, using the wall to support myself.

K quickly opens the extinguisher box, revealing four small socket wrench heads. While we’re attaching them to the handles we pulled off the bars, I find myself lamenting something else as well — Clover’s fingernails. I don’t particularly care about how they're painted a pale shade of silvery-white; it’s more the fact that her nails are less nails so much as miniature half-inch long DAGGERS. I don’t feel like I remember her possessing near literal claws in the game, but apparently she does, and while I suppose it’s good to know I have the option of gouging someone’s eyes out if need be, they’re incredibly difficult to handle anything with. Manipulating small objects with tooth-like points sticking out of your fingers is a real exercise in frustration. I’m fairly sure they’re fake to boot, but trying to peel them off doesn’t work, so they must be glued in place somehow... how incredibly annoying.

Regardless, we manage to get the socket wrenches together eventually. Given the literal color coding that’s been done for us with the handles, it’s immediately clear that they're meant to match the similarly colored screws on the elevator panel. Unscrewing and removing the panel reveals a tilting puzzle with a memory card inside, which also doesn’t take long to solve, and a small green memory card soon pops out of it. I slip the card into Clover’s shorts — good thing it's so small, because these pockets won’t hold anything bigger — before turning to the elevator buttons.

Let's see here. The rabbit placard is supposed to represent Zero Three I guess, so...

I press the 3 button, and a similar memory card in red pops out from a slot in the wall. Satisfied, I wobble across the room and stick the two cards into the obvious card ports of the machine K was hunched over next to earlier, causing the screen to light up with a pattern of stars, suns, and moons…

Surrounded by blue.

“Well done. I believe we can enter this combination into the safe.” K says.

“Yeah, I guess we can…” I agree vaguely, slightly confused, since I know what a blue code means.

Unsure of what I’ll find, I slowly lower myself into a crouch and tap the buttons of the safe to create the indicated pattern. The safe clicks open, and I pull out the contents before standing back up.

“What is that?” K asks, looking confused.

“I’m… not sure.” I reply, staring at the golden-colored folder in my hand.

Actually, I know exactly what this is, but from K’s perspective I definitely shouldn’t. Truth be told I’m not sure how I’d explain it anyways, because in-universe, it makes no sense for this to exist. In the game, Sigma can pick up a secret file from every escape room by finding a secondary passcode, which usually contains extra information relating to terms, science, and thought experiments mentioned in the dialogue. The other characters will see Sigma get the second combination and open the safe twice, even mentioning as such aloud, but they never comment on the files themselves, nor do they ask to see them, or really react to them at all. Sigma also clearly isn’t toting them around with him everywhere, nor does he ever attempt to share them with anyone else — in other words, they have no plot impact, and once taken out of the safe they aren’t even tangible items. They aren’t supposed to impact the story at all… yet this doesn’t seem like it’s going to just vanish out of my hand, and K is asking about it, so it’s clearly real. I’m not really sure what to think about this.

“…hang on a moment.”

I walk back over to the elevator buttons, still using the bar on the side of the wall to support myself. Usually the difference between getting a green escape password and a blue file password is just a single difference in how you solve the final step, and since the baby and old man buttons are locked in, and the sliding puzzle is already finished, this is the only thing in the room that can still be manipulated. Seeing as how there’s no penalty for being wrong, I decide to just press the buttons in one by one without bothering to think about it.

I start with the button at the very top, and a blue memory card immediately pushes its way out of the slot. Wait, the answer was zero? Why-

Oh, right. Duh. Not sure why that didn’t come to mind first, actually.

I slot it into the machine alongside the green and red cards, and this time the screen turns green, displaying a different pattern. Closing the safe, I input the new pattern and reopen it, this time finding a key inside.

“A different code results in different contents?” K notes as I hold it up for him to see. “How does that work? A trick back, perhaps? And what exactly is the purpose of that folder?”

“I dunno.” I tell him, trying to sound confused. “It doesn’t look like we needed it to escape though. Let’s just get out of here, we’ll look it over outside.”

K nods in agreement, and I walk over to the elevator panel again, finally starting to get the hang of doing so without a hand on the wall. The key opens the plastic door covering the button (couldn't we have just smashed that open), which I press, causing a hatch in the ceiling to open.

I look at K. He looks at me.

“Hmm. Miss Clover, if you would step over here for a moment?” K asks after a few seconds, positioning himself beneath the hatch.

I comply, assuming he’s going to tell me to climb up on his shoulders. Instead, to my surprise, he bends down and lifts me off the ground in a bridal carry.

“Hey! W-What are you-”

I don’t have the time to say anything else, as I’m instead forced to cling on for dear life as K leaps off the ground and out of the hatch…

Chapter Text

K's suit must assist his jumping ability, because even accounting for the moon's lower gravity, he easily goes over 20 feet up, over twice the height of the AB room itself. When we land, with a remarkably soft impact, I'm almost surprised he doesn't bounce off the floor.

"…I could have done that myself you know." I tell him as I push myself out of his arms, crossing my own irritably. "And some warning might have been nice."

"Ah. My apologies." K says, seeming about as apologetic as his tone ever gets. "I assumed this would be the simplest solution, but I suppose I should have asked first."

I look over at the people clustered around the number 9 door, bracing myself, until I realize that the crowd appears to be two people short. Dio, Quark, Luna, Alice, and Tenmyouji… apparently, we aren't the last to escape as Clover and K were initially supposed to be, which I guess means we're postponing the moment of truth until Sigma and Phi actually manage to get out here.

Everyone is staring at us, which I'm not sure how to react to. Shock is evident on most of their faces, though Tenmyouji seems to be alternating between looking warily at K and squinting at me, while Alice…

"Clover!" she calls out, sounding worried.

I do my best to smile. "Alice!"

I walk over to her as fast as I really can in heeled shoes, inwardly grimacing. I've already decided on playing the part of Clover for now, and keeping events as close to how they went in the game as possible so I can reach the true ending. However, Alice knows Clover better than anyone here, so she's a lot more likely to notice something wrong than the others. I'm not sure how, or even if I can bluff my way through this…

I don't have any time to really come up with anything, as Alice meets me halfway to her, grabbing me by the shoulders in a semi-embrace.

"Are you okay? Are you hurt?" she asks, looking me over.

"No, I'm fine… a little off balance, and kind of sore from lying on the floor, but otherwise fine." I reply.

Alice looks over at K, flinching at his appearance, before turning back to me.

"Who or… what is that?!"

"Oh, uh, that's K." I tell her, watching as K begins approaching, and the others start tensing and backing away. "I was kind of scared of him when I woke up, but he seems nice enough, armor aside."

Alice pulls me in close, suddenly choosing to whisper in my ear. "Don't think like that Clover. You of all people know that in a situation like this, we can't trust anyone, especially not someone wearing something like that."

Crap, that's right. Alice doesn't have any idea what's going on beyond that she thinks the Myrmidons are involved, and as a member of her organization Clover would naturally be suspicious too, especially of the 7 foot tall guy who can't even be confirmed as a person.

"Right, sorry." I whisper back.

"We'll talk more later, when we're alone." she continues, looking over at K again. "For now, keep the airhead act up in front of these people. It'll help keep attention off of us."

Oh, lovely. She's planning a private meeting, where I'm going to have to act exactly the way Clover would in front of a person she considers a very close friend. Even if I know VLR's story, these two would know way more about each other than just what the game showed. In fact, given how long it's been since I played it, I probably can't hope to replicate even what little conversation we did hear between them. It's not like I took the time to memorize every single line of dialogue. Damn, I should have told K I did have amnesia, if I hadn't already told him I didn't it could have covered for so much-!

My internal lamenting is interrupted by the sudden noise of a hatch opening on top of one of the AB rooms. Everyone briefly turns away from K as a white haired girl leaps out the hatch and lands on the roof, crouching to pull up an old man in a jumpsuit with gray, neck length hair. They quickly spot our little group, and after a moment of discussion they drop to the ground and begin walking over.

Well, I don't FEEL as if the universe is collapsing…

I let go of a breath I hadn't even realized I was holding. Thank goodness. There are plenty more pitfalls to avoid here, but at least the one I was most worried about doesn't seem to be an issue.

As the pair gets closer, I can't help myself from staring at Sigma's bionic eye. Seriously, how does no one ever bring that up? The metal eyepiece jutting out of his head is pretty obtrusive, and you'd think someone would question it, especially given how distrustful everyone is of K for looking like a robot. Not that I'm planning on saying anything about it either, since that could mess up quite a lot of things, but really? Then again, I suppose no one ever questions Dio's ringmaster outfit, Clover's (currently my) lack of an actual shirt, or Alice's… ring either, so I guess they're only interrogating K because his appearance is obviously intimidating. Everyone else is free to be as weird looking as they like.

"Uh… hey there! Any of you guys know what the hell's going on here?" Sigma asks the moment he gets close enough for any of us to hear. His voice is surprisingly strong for someone over 60 years old, which I guess is why he never noticed a difference in the game. "And… what's with the guy dressed like a robot?" he continues, squinting at K.

"That's what we'd like to know." Alice says as K lingers near the outside of the group, keeping his distance.

"I assure you, I am not a robot." K protests in a rather robotic tone that does not remotely help his case. "At least, I don't think I am."

"You don't think?" Phi repeats, raising an eyebrow.

"I can't seem to remember who I am… or anything else, for that matter."

There's a round of shocked faces for everyone again, besides me.

"Seriously?" Sigma asks, disbelievingly.

"Yes. I have no idea where I am, who I am, or… even what day it is. If any of you happen to know any of those things, I would very much appreciate if you shared that information. Not knowing one's identity is… vexing."

Dio immediately starts going off on K about how we can't take a guy wearing a robot suit and whose face we can't see seriously, and asks if we're supposed to assume someone forced him into the armor, which sounds vaguely familiar to me. K's response and Tenmyouji's follow up about how calm he seems are equally so. Is this the normal dialogue? I'd say that's a good thing, since it means less changes I have to worry about potentially affecting the path to the true ending, but no one's introduced themselves yet, and that was supposed to happen first, so it can't last.

"Hey, you. Clover, was it?" Tenmyouji suddenly speaks up, looking at me. "Do you believe this guy?"

I definitely don't remember that line, which makes sense since Clover was probably still unconscious during this scene. Since the "normal" course of events is already ruined to some extent, I guess I'll just give him my honest opinion.

"I guess? I mean, I don't really know him, but he was perfectly nice while we were stuck in that room." I answer, shrugging. "I don't think he's going to hurt anyone at least, and I do think he's telling the truth about his memory."

That doesn't exactly satisfy everyone, but it does seem to lower tensions a bit. Tenmyouji in particular seems to lose most of his accusatory tone, even if Dio still doesn't seem remotely convinced. After that, the group begins asking K questions about pretty much every personal subject under the sun: his birthday, his favorite food, even the last time he went to the toilet (which I imagine might be rather difficult in a suit like that), but as expected he doesn't remember a whit of it. Luna concludes he has generalized amnesia, which K attempts to make a very bad joke about, and which Dio continues to call bullshit on.

"Well, whether it is or not, it doesn't seem like we're getting anywhere with this." Tenmyouji concludes. "Since the rooms should all be empty now, I assume this is everyone. We might as well introduce ourselves."

Everyone seems to either agree with or have no issue with that suggestion. Tenmyouji goes first, followed by Quark. My eyes wander over each person as they announce their name, recalling everything I know about each of them in turn. There are so many secrets between this group's nine members, and I know virtually all of them… not that I can use that information, or even really mention it since that would probably screw a lot of proceeding events up, but it's kind of weird to consider.

"I'm Alice, and this is Clover." Alice says, introducing me simultaneously.

"Huh. I take it you two know each other?" Sigma asks.

"Yes. Clover and I are… coworkers." Alice finishes vaguely. I notice Sigma squint and mutter something under his breath at that, but decide to ignore it.

"And just what are we supposed to call you?" Dio asks once we get around to K.

"Hmm…" K places a hand on his chin, clearly giving it some thought. "Well…"

"If you're not gonna admit you're lying about this amnesia shit, just make something up." Dio snidely comments. "Call yourself 'Asshole' for all I care, just pick something."

"…I suppose you can call me… K."

Everyone seems a bit nonplussed. "K?" Dio protests, looking caught between being annoyed and confused. "The hell does 'K' have to do with anything?"

"I don't know." K answers. "I feel as if it's somehow important, however…"

…whoops. I just realized I told Alice his name was K before he actually had a chance to come up with it. Hopefully she didn't notice that…

"Alright then." Tenmyouji says, looking around at everyone. "Now that that's settled, I'd like to make sure of something. Besides those of us that can't remember, we were all gassed and grabbed, right?"

Weird that he'd be the one to bring that up, since I know that he himself wasn't.

"Yeah, sounds about right." Sigma replies. "I got in my car, tried to start the engine, and white smoke started pouring out of the AC…"

"I believe we all experienced something to that effect." Luna chimes in. "The smoke seems to have acted as some kind of general anesthetic. When I woke up, I was in one of these 'elevators'."

Sigma then chooses to ask the rather stupid question of whether we all woke up in the same elevator (would we have even fit?), leading to the "reveal" that Alice, Luna, and Tenmyouji woke up alone, while Quark woke up with Dio and I woke up with K. They start talking about the bracelets and what the solo/pair assignments could mean as something occurs to me — come to think of it, how did Alice manage to get out of her room without realizing she suddenly had super jumping powers? Tenmyouji and Luna already know where we are, so it wouldn't have surprised them, but Alice doesn't, and I don't recall her ever bringing it up in the game. Sigma never does either, despite how I believe he explicitly notes Phi's incredible "flying" abilities at one point, which Phi herself doesn't even seem to question. Is that a plot hole, or just something none of those three found interesting enough to mention for some reason? Should I ask Alice about it? I don't really want to rock the boat any more than I already have, so probably not…

Discussion eventually ceases, with no one really knowing what else to say. Phi wanders off towards the "Two milkmen go comedy" graffiti written in what looks like blood at the back of the warehouse, while Sigma begins fruitlessly trying to open the magenta Chromatic Door, which is honestly kind of funny given that it doesn't even have a handle. I've no idea what exactly he thinks he's going to accomplish just shoving on that thing, but perhaps he simply feels compelled to at least give it a try. I'm about to go join Phi, since I don't really remember what the message was an anagram of or if it was remotely important, until I'm suddenly interrupted.

"Hey. Clover, right?"

I turn around and almost wince. Dio, everyone's least favorite character, appears to be attempting to talk to me.

"What's that folder you've got?"

I blink, honestly having forgotten that I've been holding that at my side this whole time. The others turn to me as well, most of them apparently having not noticed it until now.

"You mean this?" I say, holding the folder up. "I'm not sure. It was inside the safe in our room, but I haven't really looked at it yet."

"Well why not? There could be important information in there." Dio points out. "Hurry up and-"

"He he he… eee he he he he he he… eee he he he he he he he he he…"

Everyone looks around wildly as Zero Three chooses to giggle manically over the intercom for a few seconds before projecting himself onto the wall.

"Welllll now. Looks like someone found one of the secret archives! Congratulations, Cleaver!"

I startle at the rabbit AI directly addressing me again.

"You'd better not tell anyone what's in there yet! I do have a plan here you know, and I can't just have you revealing things out of order."

"So that folder IS important!" Dio exclaims, rounding on me.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that." Zero replies, waving a paw nonchalantly. "I just don't want its contents spoiling you all on what's to come. It's far too exciting! Eee he he he he…"

"Why you…" Dio's temper swings back around as he turns back towards the wall. "Show yourself you little bastard!"

As Zero begins mercilessly baiting Dio, I look down at the folder in my hands. Was that call out some sort of indication that Zero knows I'm not really Clover? I... kind of hope it was, since that would imply Sigma-Zero knew when he was programming the AI, which in turn implies I'll at least survive long enough for it to become known I'm not her at some point in the timeline. Since I only plan on revealing that when I talk to Akane, it would be near ironclad assurance that I'll be making it to the true ending. Unfortunately, that seemed more directed at my having found the file than anything to do with who I actually am…

"Ooooh, you mean you want to see the person who's controlling me?" Zero coos in response to Dio demanding to see the man behind the curtain. "Well, in that case, maybe you need to take a look around!"

"What are you talking about?" Dio scoffs. "This place is empty! There's no one here but-"

"What he's saying," Phi mutters, loudly enough for everyone to hear, "is that the real Zero could be one of us…"

"Well done, Phido!" Zero praises. "Minus points for needing a hint, however. You're cleverer than that, aren't you?"

The group looks more confused than surprised by this potential revelation. "How can that be?" Quark asks, speaking up for the first time since he told us his name. "You're speaking and responding to us right now…"

Zero goes on to tell everyone that he's an AI, before finally beginning to explain the Nonary Game proper. I start listening more carefully once he gets to that part — unlike in the elevator, I figure this time I should try to actually pay attention to him. Sure, I theoretically already know the rules here, but it's been a while, and I want to make sure I remember everything correctly. Though, annoyingly, Zero's… theatricality means he is not exactly doling out the information quickly. It takes him over two minutes just to explain the function of the number 9 door, which I feel could have been summarized in all of 10 seconds: here's the way out, it opens once and once only, don't get left behind.

I've never been the most patient person. By the time Zero starts explaining the bracelets, it occurs to me that I could probably get all this stuff from the file if I wanted to. The early ones were basically just term glossaries, and since Zero told me not to "spoil" things, this one almost certainly goes over what he's talking about right now. He just said not to tell anyone yet, not that I couldn't look at it myself, right?

I scoot to the back of the group and flip the folder open. There's a single sheet inside, which I quickly skim over. Yep, basically just a glossary of terms and objects relevant to the Nonary Game, though it's a lot less useful as a reference than I thought it might be. It does go over what the AB rooms are, explains what a quantum computer is, and mentions how and why the bracelets might kill us — well, actually it just heavily implies they will, oddly enough — but for some reason, it also covers the phrases Zero Three uses before he leaves, makes a joke about AI standing for Artificial Insemination, and pointlessly talks about how unsafe the elevator doors are, rather than utilizing the space for more useful information. Well, I guess these were mostly just meant as a "bonus" for the player to collect, so they're free to be a little silly… which only highlights how weird it is that they now seem to be included in the rather more serious plot.

Zero has moved on to talking about the AB rooms and the keycards needed to access them, which I'm fairly sure I haven't forgotten anything about, so I continue ignoring him. There's nothing else to gain from looking at the file any longer, so on another note entirely: what was that thing about "keeping up the airhead act" Alice mentioned? I guess she thinks my acting like a ditz will help us here somehow? Did Clover do that in this game? That's kind of distasteful to be perfectly honest, and either way, I think that ship may have already sailed. I solved the first room pretty much on my own after all, and while it was relatively simple, I was also the only one to get the secret file. Besides which, a lot of the people here are going to be suspicious of everyone else regardless, so it probably doesn't matter how intelligent I act in regards to drawing attention. That said, I don't want Alice to think I'm just ignoring her… but this is a minor issue all things considered, so I suppose I'll just cross that bridge when I get to it.

I tune back in just in time to hear Zero literally reviewing what we've gone over so far. Nice to know I've missed absolutely nothing by almost completely ignoring him.

"Cleaver, can you tell me what the three primary colors are?" he suddenly asks.

I tilt my head at the unexpected question. "I… assume you mean red, green, and blue, not red, blue, and yellow. But why ask me?"

"Because. You're the only person I haven't talked with yet." Zero snappily replies. "No reason to go mute around me, communication is a wonderful thing. And yes, of course I don't mean red, blue, and yellow. You're not in elementary school anymore Cleaver, you should know better!"

I glare at the projection for a moment, which Zero giggles at.

"Now, what colors do you need to make Magenta?" he asks, drawing out the name of the color.

"Red and blue."

"How about y-"

"You use red and green to get yellow and blue and green to get cyan." I say impatiently. I kind of want to sarcastically ask if we should just intuit the rest from that, but I can't think of a way to phrase it that doesn't sound stupid, and it probably isn't the best idea to tick Zero off, no matter how annoying he is. We shouldn't have to deal with him much longer anyways.

The rabbit sniffs huffily at my preempting him before resuming his explanation. Man, I forgot how long these little infodumps took. Didn't we just establish that we only have 10 minutes left before the doors open? How can this feel like an eternity? Can't be the Radical-6; that makes things seem sped up, not slowed down. I'm doing my best to look as though I'm still interested, but I'm increasingly less concerned that anything about this scenario is different from the one I'm already familiar with, besides my being in it. VLR lets you skip dialogue you've already heard for a reason, and this would be that reason.

I'm a little surprised the whole death penalty thing hasn't been mentioned yet. Does that come later? I thought for sure it was part of this scene, but maybe Zero doesn't explain that until the first AB game, which I suppose makes more sense now that I think of it. Honestly, I'm not all that worried about the bracelet killing me regardless — I'm far more concerned about all the OTHER potential causes of death this game presents. If I recall, just going by things seen onscreen, I could get murdered by Dio, blown up by antimatter bombs, or fall victim to plague-induced suicide. Lovely. Hopefully I won't have to deal with any of those, but each of the three main timelines beyond the first Chromatic Doors has one of those as an overall theme, so that's probably not really possible.

An activation sound suddenly plays, and the Chromatic Doors slide up into the walls.

"Chromatic Doors have opened." Akane's voice rings out over the warehouse. "Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close."

I glance over at the doors in question. Zero still isn't gone yet, but I guess that means it's time to move on. I should- shit, I should have started thinking about this sooner. I need to get to the true ending, which means I need to end up in the bomb timeline. How did that one start? I think Sigma and Phi went to… darn it, it definitely wasn't the lounge… I'm pretty sure it was the crew quarters? Yeah, the first bomb was under one of the fold out beds, it was definitely there. It may not actually matter who goes there as long as someone discovers the bomb, except that I don't remember if Dio even planted them in the murder and sickness timelines. Much like how Quark somehow doesn't get sick in at least one of the timelines but does in the other(s), I don't fully understand the factors in play there. It's not worth risking.

So, I need to make sure I'm in the timeline where Sigma chooses to go to the crew quarters. Problem is, I have no way of making Sigma want to go to the crew quarters. The pairings are ultimately left up to him in the game, and he makes his choice at close to the last second every time, so I'm not going to have much chance to object if he chooses to go to the lounge or the infirmary. How would I even justify asking a team I'm not even paired up with to go to a specific door, unless- wait, there's a much easier way! If I insist on K and I's partner, then I can "choose" where the others go — once one team is decided, everyone else only has one option. I need Sigma and Phi to go through the cyan door, so they need to pair up with… crap, maybe I should have been listening to who had what color after all.

"Well… death." Zero says nonchalantly.

Everyone looks horrified. It takes me half a second to catch up with them, as I missed the context, though I think I can guess what it was. Sure enough, Zero finally begins explaining how the bracelets can kill us if we don't follow the rules. For the love of- he's choosing to do this NOW of all times?! Oh wait, of course he is, he wants us all as stressed as possible. It's only natural he'd choose to run down the time we have to decide who goes where.

Once Zero finishes lighting a fire under everyone's collective backside and finally disappears, Phi quickly starts going over our options, which means I get to hear everyone's colors again. In order for Sigma and Phi, the red pair, to access the crew quarters behind the cyan door, they need to go with Alice, the red solo. Which means K and I, the green pair, need to insist on… Tenmyouji. Damn, what reason can I give for that? A 19 (I think) year old girl requesting to pair up with a strange dude in his 60s. Right, no one will question that whatsoever, especially since Clover would probably be far more likely to want to pair up with Alice… hold on, maybe that's it!

I tap Alice lightly on the shoulder from behind, and begin whispering in her ear.

"Alice, we should try to gather information on these people. Don't request me. We can find out more on different teams."

Alice seems surprised, as one might expect. "I agree that we need to figure out who and what we're dealing with, but are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll ask to pair up with Tenmyouji, you ask for Sigma and Phi. We'll have a better chance of getting our choice that way."

Alice slowly nods, and I back away, just as Phi finishes explaining the option I'm hoping we take. Luna frantically begins asking that someone pick, deferring to Sigma at first, but conveniently proceeding to suggest that either I or Alice pick once he protests being put on the spot. It sounds like she's going to go on to suggest any of the others as well, but I don't think I'm going to have a better time to make my move.

"I'd actually like to pair up with Tenmyouji and go through the magenta door." I say, cutting Luna off.

Several people, including both Tenmyouji and Sigma, turn to give me bewildered looks. Multiple "Huh?"s go unheard as the announcement that we only have one minute left plays over top of them.

"Now there's a choice I didn't expect to hear…" Phi murmurs, crossing her arms.

"And as it happens, I'd like to pair up with Sigma and Phi to go through the cyan door, so that works out perfectly." Alice continues, which seems to shock Sigma.

"Wha- wait, why would you want to go with-"

"What, am I not good enough for you?" Alice pouts indignantly, placing a hand on her collarbone and giving him a sly look.

"No, I just don't understand-"

"We don't have time to argue about this." Phi interrupts. "That's two people who want Option C. Does anyone have any objections?"

"That means me, Mister Dio, and Miss Luna would be going through the yellow door, right?" Quark asks. "I'm alright with that."

"Yeah, think I'm all right with that as well." Dio says, giving Luna an appraising look.

"Don't see a reason to say no." Tenmyouji mumbles, still looking at me with a puzzled expression.

"Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close. Nine… Eight… Seven…"

"We need to hurry!" Luna cries, prompting everyone to make a break for it towards their doors. Thank goodness the magenta door is the closest one to where we were standing, because I don't think I could have run to the others quickly enough in Clover's shoes.

"Three… Two… One…"

We slip into the room, just before the final announcement plays.

"Zero. Chromatic Doors closing."

The door descends, and the three of us are swallowed by the darkness.

Chapter Text

For a few moments all three of us are completely blind, since the tiny room we're now standing in has no lights. Then a dull white glow of some sort moves over the room, presumably scanning the bracelets present, before a door opens up in front of us. Breathing out a sigh of relief, I move out into a relatively clean grayish-teal hallway, K and Tenmyouji following just behind me.

Okay, I managed to make it into the bomb timeline. Just gotta hope things keep going right.

"Oh yeah, sorry for not asking for your input back there, K." I turn and say apologetically.

Truthfully, it didn't even occur to me to do so, but doing so may have made things more difficult anyways, so I don't really regret it. Better to ask for forgiveness than permission and all.

"It's quite alright." K replies evenly. "I had no particular preference on who to go with in any case."

"Yeah, on that subject," Tenmyouji interjects as we continue moving, "not that I really mind, but why exactly did you want to pair up with me?"

I place a hand on the back of my head, idly rubbing Clover's weird hair ornaments. "I dunno… you… kinda feel familiar, for some reason? I guess I just sort of wanna know why…"

Given that Tenmyouji is in fact Junpei from 999, and knows that Clover is the girl he went through the second Nonary Game with, I think this is a pretty decent justification. Telling him he seems faintly familiar should make perfect sense, at least to the man himself, and quite neatly explain why I'd want to pair up with him.

Sure enough, Tenmyouji nods, seeming slightly cheered. "Well, I can't say why you'd feel that way, but I do appreciate it. Thanks."

I smile in response. Tenmyouji may be familiar with Clover, but to a much lesser degree than Alice, and a hell of a lot less recently. Any personality quirks I may show that he doesn't remember Clover having he can probably explain to himself as having been picked up between now and the last time he saw her. Thus, I can probably relax a little.

The Lounge is just up ahead. I walk up to it, the door opening automatically upon my approach, before suddenly freezing in the doorway as several things occur to me, followed by an extremely unfortunate conclusion:

Chapter Text

Opening the safe finds another dark gold file waiting for us inside. Funny, for some reason I half expected it to change to a silver file because K and Tenmyouji helped out. Admittedly, without the framing of a video game around this scenario that would be extremely weird, since the safe most definitely does not have the space for a triple back. But it's weird that the folders exist without that framing at all, so I don't think it was unreasonable of me to anticipate that.

"Another one of these…" I murmur as I remove the file from the safe. "Do we wait to look at this until later, or do it now?"

"Hmm…" K looks at me. "Come to think of it, we still haven't even looked over the first one, have we?"

"No, I did." I reply. "I took a quick look at it while Zero was wasting our time back there. It only has one sheet of paper in it, and all it does is explain things we already know and give useless little pieces of trivia. Feel free to take a look if you want." I gesture in its direction.

"Actually, I don't know if I trust that we're not working on some sort of secret time limit." Tenmyouji says, looking up at the ceiling. "Unless we actually need that to get out of here, I think it can wait. Do we?"

I flip the file open and scan it over. It's a slightly better reference than the last one, but bestows roughly the same amount of new information, which is to say none at all. "I don't think so." I say, setting it down on top of the other before stepping forward into the corner. "If we do, it'll only take a second to find out though. We've only really got one obvious item left."

Removing the small gold needles from my pocket, I take a moment to attempt to place them in the little sun-clock thing hanging on the wall. However, even in heels, Clover is not tall enough to reach it, forcing me to stand on the couch.

"Are you certain those go there, Clover?" K asks, just as my foot nudges one of the pillows and reveals a magazine, which Tenmyouji picks up.

"Pretty sure." I answer absently, finding a new challenge in trying to balance on the unstable surface of the couch in Clover's shoes. "They look like clock hands, this thing looks like a clock, and I don't see anything else in the room they could go to." The needles click in with the fastener, proving the theory. "See? They fit."

"Hmm. Take a look at this." Tenmyouji says aloud, brandishing a magazine that was lying nearby. "Total lunar eclipse, December 31st, 2028, at 4:50 PM…"

I don't even bother listening to the rest of what he says, because that's all I really needed. I rotate the now very obvious clock needles around to 4:50, which leaves them on "Green Sun". To my confusion however, there is no reaction whatsoever. Hmm, I'm certain that was supposed to do something. Maybe I need to activate it somehow-

An extremely bright beam of light abruptly shoots out of the center of the clock, striking me directly in the face. I cry out and flail backwards, losing my already tenuous balance as I begin to topple off the couch. My fall is thankfully arrested midway by a cold metal hand, letting K gently push me back up into a position where my face is NOT directly in front of the light.

I hear Tenmyouji stifle a laugh as I groan and sit down, squeezing my eyes shut tightly, but still seeing a big bright blob in the center of my vision. Alright, that was dumb, and not a little humiliating. How did I manage to forget that would happen when it's probably the most memorable part of the room?

I shake it off after a few seconds, and stand up to see that the intended path of the light beam takes it right into the semi-transparent globe, which refracts it into five distinct circles of light over the letters on the wall. The globe now has the words "Blue Planet" lit up from within, while the wall reads "Red Moon"… though the four red letters spelling out "Lion" are also still visible.

"Well, looks like we have our answer." Tenmyouji says cheerfully. "No idea what that 'Lion' is there for though…"

Me either, truth be told. I can't remember all the places the whole "lion eating the sun" thing is referenced in VLR, but I feel safe in saying this is the one that makes the absolute least sense to me. If it was a solar eclipse it would be fine, but trapped inside a lunar eclipse, the "lion" it is about as far away from eating the sun as it can possibly get. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it…? Whatever, it's not that important, and K is already mixing the next set of drinks.

A minute or so later, I key the second safe password into the safe. "Let's see… a map…" I hand that to K. "Two keycards…" I hold on to one of them and give the other to Tenmyouji. "The key we've probably been looking for…" I slip that into one of Clover's mini-pockets. "And a list of additional rules… written in Rabbitese." I sigh lightly upon seeing that. Zero Three's ongoing attempts at lapin based wordplay are already starting to get on my nerves.

After giving the "rules" a quick look over (which just say that any doors we've already opened are free for us to use after we escape the room, and anyone can go through them), we grab the secret files and move to the exit.

"According to this, we are currently on Floor A." K notes, staring at the map. "Shall we attempt to proceed forward after escaping, or move back to the warehouse? I have no strong opinion regarding either option."

"I say we go forward." I reply. "Dunno how far we'll be able to get, but we may as well try." We can't get past the second set of Chromatic Doors, but we can at least see them in advance.

"I'd like to get back to Quark, but as long as it's quick I guess I don't really mind." Tenmyouji says. "Let's just get out of here first."

I nod, take out the key, and turn it in the lock. The door slides up, allowing us to step outside into a hallway not much different from the one we entered from. K and I immediately begin proceeding down it, but halt when we notice Tenmyouji has yet to exit the room. Just as we're about to walk back to see what's wrong, he finally emerges and swiftly walks over to us.

"Sorry about that. Let's go."

I raise an eyebrow, glancing down at the martini glass in his hand.

"What? We already got out, and I didn't hear any rules against taking it." Tenmyouji protests, taking a small sip of the martini. "Mmm… that is pretty good. Can't quite place the flavor though."

I figuratively throw my hands up and start moving down the hallway again. He has a point, there aren't actually any rules against removing objects from the rooms they started in. I just didn't think he'd really try and drink any of that stuff.

At the end of the hallway is an elevator. Before any of us can comment on it, the sound of loud panting, as if from a team of wild dogs, comes running up behind us. We turn to see both of the other two teams sprinting in our direction, thankfully slowing down before anyone actually crashes. Sigma is holding a golden file under his armpit.

"Uh… hey…" I greet as most of them put their hands on their knees. "Why are you guys in such a rush?"

"What, you ain't in a hurry to get out of here too?" Dio snipes, still out of breath.

"I am, but somehow I don't think running around like headless chickens is gonna help that much." I reply.

"How strange… we all managed to meet up." Luna comments, having regained her breath first. Probably by virtue of not actually needing to breathe.

"Not that strange." Phi says. "Let me see that map."

A quick exchange of information occurs regarding how everyone found a map in their respective rooms, and all of them exited to hallways that ultimately led here. Phi urges us into the elevator immediately after, declaring that we can share our findings later.

"Huh? Where the hell'd you get booze in here old man?" Dio asks, noticing Tenmyouji's martini as the surprisingly spacious elevator starts heading down. "I know I could use a drink."

"We went to the lounge." Tenmyouji nonchalantly replies as he takes another sip. "Turns out they've got a whole bar in there."

"You're not worried about that being poisoned?" Alice asks, hiding her probing with a semi-teasing tone.

"Eh, if we're stuck playing this game to begin with, and whoever's doing this went to all the trouble of making these bracelets, I doubt they did anything to the drinks. If they wanted to kill us outright, they'd have done it while we were all unconscious."

Quark looks like he wants to say something, but is interrupted by the elevator door sliding open. We step out into a small room, and are confronted by the next set of Chromatic Doors. As expected, this is as far as we can go... and Dio, as probably should have been expected, immediately starts complaining about it.

"Oh, what the… this is exactly the same as the last floor!"

Well, if you think magenta is green, yellow is blue, cyan is red, and imagine this tiny room as a giant warehouse, sure. Exactly the same.

Sigma makes another pointless attempt to open one of the doors by force, followed shortly thereafter by Alice informing everyone that according to the watches, we have over two hours before they're scheduled to open. Dio proceeds to throw another miniature temper tantrum about how we have nothing to do until then, which everyone else proceeds to largely ignore.

"Looks like we don't have a choice. We have to head back." Tenmyouji mutters. "Clover, could you show everyone that page we found?"

"Er… I don't think I actually picked it up." I sheepishly admit. "K, did you grab it?"

K rubs the back of his armor covered neck. "I'm afraid not… eheh…"

"If it was a page titled 'Supplementary Rules', we found a similar one in a safe in the infirmary." Luna says.

"Yeah, I've got it right here!" Quark exclaims, fishing a folded piece of paper out of his pocket and holding it up.

"Same here." Phi says. "According to what it says, we can get back into the warehouse now. Which only makes sense, given that we found these." She holds up two keycards with a sun and the word 'Ambidex' on them. Weird, I thought Sigma was usually the designated item bearer. "Did anyone else?"

Everyone nods assent. "Just as I thought…"

"Well, since we're on the topic of sharing things, what's that under your arm, Sigma?" Dio asks, his tone calmer now, but still containing the suggestion of a sneer.

"Oh, this?" Sigma asks, bringing the folder out into plain view. "There was a second safe password in the crew quarters, which got us this. We think it's like the one Clover found back in the elevators. In fact, looks like she found another one too."

All eyes turn to me. "Well, actually K got us this one, but yeah." I hold out the folders in my hand, displaying them like a pair of playing cards.

"Great. Either of you two care to share the contents with the rest of us?" Dio prompts. "We still ain't even seen what was in the one from earlier."

"We already looked over the one we found." Phi says, crossing her arms. "Sorry, but the contents are effectively useless."

"Same here, for both files." I add. "They pretty much only tell us stuff we already know."

"I'll be the judge of that." Dio replies disdainfully.

"Fine." Phi says with ill hidden irritation. "There is at least one thing about them worth discussing, I guess. But let's get back to the warehouse first. If we want to get enough BP to leave, we'll have to return eventually, regardless of what these have in them."

"What, and do what Zero wants?" Dio sneers. "You think I'm gonna just keep dancing to the tune of a damn cartoon rabbit?"

"Well, feel free to stay here then." Tenmyouji remarks, looking like he'd very much like to toss the rest of his drink in the fake ringmaster's face. "If you want to stick yourself in self-imposed solitary confinement for the next two hours, I really can't see anyone here objecting."

"Tch… at least it would keep me away from you, you self-satisfied old turd."

"Well, make a decision." Alice says as she presses the elevator button, showing that I'm obviously not the only one who thinks we don't need to hear any more of this, "because the rest of us are leaving."

Everyone boards except for Dio, who after several seconds of stewing wordlessly climbs in as well. When we get back upstairs, we decide to pass through the lounge to let everyone skip a bit of walking.

"So this is the lounge…" Alice remarks as we enter. "Looks like we managed to get in here easily enough. Which means the crew quarters should also be open."

"The infirmary too, I'd assume." Dio adds.

"Huh. Why are all these rooms so dark?" Sigma wonders aloud. "You'd think whoever is running this place would install better lighting."

Well, the sun beam in the corner seems to have turned itself off while we weren't looking, but if you'd been here when it was on? Trust me, there was light aplenty.

"The infirmary is better lit, but… I kind of like this room as it is." Luna says, smiling and bringing her hands beneath her face. "It seems… cozy."

"It's well stocked, I'll give it that." Phi comments, staring at the bar. "These do look nice… maybe Tenmyouji has the right idea."

After Sigma drags Phi away from the alcohol and Quark and Tenmyouji have a small, sweet little bonding moment about root beer, we exit and return to the warehouse. Zero Three is projected on the wall again, laid out with his eyes closed and a little snot bubble at the tip of his nose. Once everyone steps fully back inside and the door shuts behind us, he pretends to snap awake, rubbing his eyes and yawning. Cute.

"Oh, you're finally done? You were taking so long I hopped off for a little nap."

I settle in for another wait at explanation junction, hoping that this one is shorter than the last. Having to act interested as Zero slowly sprinkles bits and bobs of information in between his casual insults and name calling is not going to be easy for me if this goes on for too long.

Thankfully, the AI ends up being a lot more succinct this time, and after a few minutes claims we'll probably learn better by doing than hearing, prompting the group to distribute the keycards and head over to open the AB rooms. Everyone just sort of picks at random, which lands K and I with the 3rd room to the left — the one Sigma and Phi came out of.

I swipe the keycard, and Akane's recorded voice rings out over the intercom that we have 45 minutes to finish as the door slides open. I wonder why we're given that long? Was that a planned feature before Sigma-Zero knew that the players would always need those 45 minutes for something, or- wait, no, he always knew, but only after- gah, nevermind. We really don't need them in this timeline anyways, at least not right now, so-

"Hey! Guys!" Sigma's voice yells out just as we've stepped inside. "Guys, get over here! We found someone!"

My veins turn to ice at the shout as K immediately rushes back out of the room. I run out after him, only to trip on Clover's shoes, almost twisting an ankle as I just barely manage to catch myself on the side of one of the rooms.

No... it can't be...

My stumble ends up resulting in everyone besides me making it over to the room first. I make it there a few moments later, just in time to see Sigma and Phi turn over a prone old woman in a purple dress, revealing a bloody, lethal wound.

Akane is dead.

Fuck.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

"So…" I say, breaking the quiet that seems to have descended upon the group. "Now what?"

"Yeah, we still have a while before the Chromatic Doors open." Quark adds.

Everyone checks their bracelets to see that we have 41 minutes left before then. Wow, only 41 minutes? A single timeline of this game really doesn't take all that long, does it? Ignoring the whole Radical-6 time perception thing, this game could be finished in less than a day.

"In that case, we should go and see if we can find any other exits." Alice says, holding her head with one hand. "Maybe there's a vent system, or a disposal shoot. Something Zero overlooked."

K concurs with her, as does Dio, surprisingly.

"Let's split up for now." Phi suggests. "Hmm… given the contents… let's look around for the next 30 minutes. We can regroup in front of the Chromatic Doors about 10 minutes before they open to share what we found."

"10 minutes?" Dio squints. "Ain't that a little early?"

"No. We'll need a bit of extra time to discuss things." Phi states cryptically. "Everyone alright with that?"

No one objects, so we all begin splitting off in different directions. I start making my way towards the crew quarters, wanting to be alone so I can attempt to SHIFT… except that Alice appears to be following right behind me. Ohhhhh dear, I think she wants to have that "talk" she mentioned earlier. And no one else is walking this way… crap, I'm not getting out of this, am I?

Resigned, I enter the cyan door and head into the front-right room of the crew quarters, figuring that I might as well get this over with. Alice walks in after me, an unreadable expression on her face, before shutting the steel door behind her.

"This is probably about as secure a place as we're likely to find around here." Alice says. "So let's talk, Clover."

I nod, sitting down on the thinly-padded metal bed chained to the wall. Before anything else, I should probably at least try to head off any questions about what Zero was implying back there…

"Alice," I start, "what Zero said back there about me knowing the rules- it turns out that the file we found in the lounge said something about that, but I'd only skimmed it. I didn't know, I swear I would have told you, I'd have told everyone-"

"Shhhh, Clover. I believe you." Alice says soothingly as she sits down next to me, forestalling my false confession. "More importantly — are you okay?"

Huh?

"Um… well, I guess I'm alright…" I mutter.

"Are you sure?" Alice asks, moving closer. "I can't imagine how you feel, being forced into yet another Nonary Game. You don't have to hold it in for my sake."

Oh… that's right. Clover was forced into not one, but TWO Nonary Games before this one, so she was really scared when she woke up in VLR and found herself in a third one… and I haven't been acting like it even remotely affects me. Damn. Maybe if I fake having put on a brave face, and then let it crumble in front of her, that'll be enough? I can't really cry on command, but it's the best idea I've got on short notice.

"I… no." I say, adding a bit of quaver to my voice. "I'm not… I'm not okay. I can't believe that this… that this is…"

To my surprise, my voice breaks for real, and true, genuine tears begin trailing down my face. With all the stress and panic this situation has been putting on me, maybe it shouldn't be such a shock, but somehow it catches me off guard. Alice hugs me tightly, which I return, crying into her shoulder.

"I'm scared…" I sob. "I don't wanna die… why is this ha- happening…?"

"I'm here, Clover." Alice whispers, rubbing my back in soothing, circular motions. "I need you to be strong, okay? We will get out of this alive. I promise…"

-~.~-

-~.~-

A few minutes later, I've managed to calm down, at least for the most part.

"Thanks, Alice." I say gratefully, wiping my eyes. "I really needed that."

"Of course." Alice says, smiling, only for the expression to fade a moment later. "I need you in work mode for the moment, okay?"

I assume that means she's going to actually ask me questions now. I sit up straight and breathe in deeply, preparing myself. "Right."

Alice's expression shifts, becoming more… professional, I suppose. "Have you tried to contact your brother yet?"

I nod, having predicted she would ask that much. "I tried almost as soon as I woke up, and a few more times after that. It isn't working. I haven't been able to contact Light at all."

While technically a lie, Clover really did have that problem in VLR. Unfortunately, in all likelihood it's because her brother was dead by this point, whether by Radical-6, the nuclear fallout from the response, or the chaos that ensued immediately afterwards.

I hug my arms and look away. "I hope he's okay…" I say, knowing he's probably not.

Alice gives me another quick, warm hug. "I'm sure he's fine. Sounds like we can't send a message to the outside though…" She brings one of her nails to her lips. "Do you still have those files you found? We found one in here too, and I'd like a closer look at the others."

I fish the pages out of my pocket and hand them over to Alice. She scans over them briefly, taking about a minute before handing them back to me. "Those seem a little more informative than the one from the crew quarters, but I don't see anything new."

"Some of it was new before we finished the AB game, but Zero just told us all of it afterwards." I reply. "So yeah, nothing helpful. I still should have noticed the bracelet point rule though…"

"I'm actually glad you didn't." Alice says, to my surprise. "Zero mentioned he would have penalized you if you told anyone before he did, remember? I wouldn't have wanted you dying just to prevent me from losing a few BP."

Oh, right. Not a rule that existed in the game, for obvious reasons. That's… sweet of her to say, considering that her life is on the line now instead. She really cares about Clover…

"In any event, how did information gathering go?" Alice prompts me. "Did you learn anything?"

I look down. I could tell her a lot of things about K and Tenmyouji, but I think I'll just stick to what was actually said. "Well, K is as hard to get a read on as you'd imagine. He always sounds kind of emotionless, and he still either doesn't remember anything, or is acting like he doesn't. He was able to solve the puzzle to get the file, so he has decent reasoning skills at least, but I couldn't really figure out much about him."

"That's fine, I doubt I could have done much on that front myself." Alice says. "What about Tenmyouji?"

"Tenmyouji seems… nice, I suppose." I tell her, hoping my "analysis" won't be too sparse for her. "I'm guessing you already figured out he's probably a pretty regular drinker, and that he's most likely related to Quark somehow?" Alice nods. "Well, he wasn't much help solving the puzzles in the lounge, but he did seem to be making a serious effort to lighten the mood. He kept cracking jokes about stuff, which I think was mostly for my sake." Er… what else… "Oh, on that note, I'm not sure why, but he really seems to trust me."

"Hmm? What makes you say that?" Alice asks.

I place a hand behind my head, wondering how to go about explaining this. "Well… remember back when K and I first came out of the AB Room, and Tenmyouji asked if I thought K was telling the truth about his memory? I said I did, and he calmed down a lot right after that, like my word somehow meant more than anyone else's. And he said some stuff in the lounge that kind of implied… well, I dunno. It was why I figured he'd ally, and he did. I don't really get it, but for some reason he just… believes in me, I guess."

"Strange…" Alice says, not seeming sure what to think about that. "Well, we'll tentatively call him trustworthy for now then, but if you get the chance, try to find out why he'd act like that."

I nod, essentially giving her the non-verbal form of lip service. All these lies don't exactly feel good, but I can tell her the truth if the need actually arises, which softens the blow a little.

"Now for what I found out." Alice pronounces. "Sigma is somehow both intelligent and clueless at the same time. He managed to figure out the passcode to get that file, and solved quite a few of the puzzles, but it took him a while to figure out a few really basic things for some reason. He's also a bit of a perv. He was practically drooling over Phi and me, as well as a poster in the other room with scratch-off clothes. Why that was incorporated into the escape method I don't know, but if you want Sigma to do something, seduction might be a decent bet."

…yeah, not happening, but I'll be sure to keep that in mind, thanks.

"There's also something else about him that's incredibly… you know what, I'm sure Phi will be bringing it up, so I'll let you find out with everyone else in a bit. It's hilarious." Alice says, stifling a laugh. "As for Phi… she was a lot more difficult to get a read on. It didn't help that we were all investigating separate rooms. Sigma was in and out a lot, but I barely saw Phi. Honestly, at the moment I'm more wary about her than anyone else here. Try not to get grouped with her if you can help it."

I nod again. That's probably fine. Not exactly difficult this round, since it's literally impossible with us both being solos.

"That's about it, I think." Alice concludes as she stands up, her back to me. "But… there is one more thing, Clover."

I don't like the tone she said that in…

"What's that?" I ask nervously.

"When you and K first came out of the AB room… you told me his name was K. But when he finally introduced himself, it sounded like he'd only just come up with it."

Shit. I've been praying she hadn't noticed that...

Before I can try to babble out some pathetically inadequate excuse, Alice continues. "Also, just now you walked directly here, without any prompting from me. How exactly did you know this is where I wanted to speak with you? I hadn't told you yet, and this should be the first time you've even seen the crew quarters."

My mouth hangs open. I didn't even think about that — I just walked to where I remembered Clover and Alice talking early on in the game automatically. I screwed up… there's nothing I can really tell her.

Alice turns and focuses on me, causing me to cringe. "Clover… are you seeing the future?"

…

That was not the question I was expecting. Is she thinking that…

"I… maybe?" I start tentatively, latching on to her idea. "This does all feel kind of… vaguely familiar, actually. And you're right. I don't know why, but I somehow just sort of… knew K's name, and that we'd be coming here to talk… do you think it's esper related?"

Alice smirks. "I think I can say for certain it is, actually. Congratulations, Clover."

I look up, doing my best to seem confused. "Congratulations?"

"Up until now, you've only been able to resonate with Light through the Morphogenetic Field." Alice states. "This is the next step up. You're resonating with yourself through parallel worlds."

I'm not sure what expression is appropriate to make in response to that, so I just keep my look of slight confusion plastered on.

"SOIS hasn't seen it much, but we know that it's possible." Alice continues. "Seems you're a stronger esper than we thought…" She trails off, looking thoughtful. "Unless…"

I tilt my head to the side. "Unless?"

"Do you remember what you were taught back at the base?" Alice asks. "About what happens if espers are placed in close proximity to each other?"

"You mean how some espers get stronger around others?" I say, trying to be as vague as possible about how I word my answer, as I have no idea the depth of Clover's actual knowledge on this subject.

"Right. But more specifically, the stronger ones absorb the power of the weaker ones, leaving only one person able to truly use their abilities. It's why we kept the other receiver-transmitter pairs almost completely separate from you and Light."

I shift uneasily at that, disliking the reminder of how VLR describes esper group mechanics. Given that I'm currently banking on that not being true, I can only hope that Alice is just plain wrong here. Guess this means it probably was either Alice or Clover who explained this to Sigma in the game though.

"Do you get it?" Alice asks. "If you're stronger than usual, then that means…"

"…that there might be other espers in this game." I finish for her, receiving a confirmatory nod in response. "Do you think that could be a problem?"

"Honestly, given the reasons the first two Nonary Games happened, I should have considered this before now." Alice says, berating herself. "But no, I suppose it shouldn't matter that much. If you're the one receiving the benefit, other nearby espers shouldn't be able to use their abilities anyways. I don't know why whoever put us here would want that, but we can definitely use this to our advantage. If you 'remember' anything else-"

The door swings open. Sigma stands there, obviously not having expected to find the two of us in here, at least if his stupefied expression is anything to go by.

"Oh, uh. Hi? What are you two doing in here?"

"Nothing that important." Alice says as she moves to leave. "If you'd get out of the way?"

Sigma awkwardly stands aside to let Alice by. She turns back and looks at me briefly, giving a parting wave.

"Talk to you later, Clover. Make sure to inform me if there are any new developments regarding what we discussed, okay?"

I smile and nod eagerly. "Right!"

Alice walks away, and I hear the door down the hallway open and shut behind her. Sigma is, quite irritatingly, still hanging around in the door.

"So, what were you two talking about?" he asks.

I raise an eyebrow. Like it's any of his business?

"I don't know Sigma. Girl stuff? Maybe co-worker stuff? Not to be rude, but it really doesn't involve you."

"Er, sorry. I was just curious…"

I roll my eyes. "Right. So are you just going to hang around in the door all day, or…?"

"Well, no, but could I talk to you for a bit?"

Ugh, he's not going to give this up, is he?

I check my bracelet for the time. Still 20 minutes or so until we need to head downstairs.

"Fine, I guess. What about?"

"Well…" Sigma casts his eye(s) around the room. "Have you found anything yet?"

"If I had, I would have told you when you walked in." I tell him. "I haven't really gotten to look much yet. I was too busy having a minor breakdown for the past few minutes."

"O-oh. Sorry. Guess being stuck in a situation like this must be hard on someone like…"

He trails off, probably realizing how insulting it would sound to finish that sentence. I let it go, since he's not really wrong. Someone that knows every bad thing that could potentially happen in this game, trapped in a body not their own, whose life currently rests on mastering a skill they have no experience with and which they might not even possess within a very limited time frame... yeah, this IS hard on me, thanks. And you're not making it any easier by wasting an increasingly large chunk of said time.

"Sigma, I'm sorry, but I really do have stuff I need to get done." I say in the ensuing silence, exasperated. "I know that sounds ridiculous given the situation, but I'm serious. Could you please go talk to someone else for now?"

"Stuff? What do you mean, 'stuff'?" Sigma asks.

"Just- stuff, okay?!" I almost shout, my temper beginning to fray. "I can't really explain it to you, so don't ask. You'll probably figure it out on your own eventually anyways — god I hope so, at least. Now could you PLEASE stop bothering me?!"

"Wait, what is that supposed to-"

I leap up and throw the door shut again, giving Sigma just a moment to move back and avoid having it slam into his face. Screw off already you overly-persistent jackass! I get that you're not trying to be a nuisance but you are really, REALLY being one right now!

I hold the door shut for a few moments, but the handle remains unturned. Presumably, Sigma finally figured out he wasn't going to be getting any pleasant conversation out of me right now and left. Finally…

I sit back down on the uncomfortable "bed" and close my eyes. Alright, I'm alone. Now how did they do this… I don't recall the specifics, but I need to think of both where and when I want to be, right? While I would love to skip straight to the part where I'm no longer in this game, I should probably start small if I want this to work — how about just before we entered the first Chromatic Doors? Is that exact enough? That's one of Sigma's "nodes" so I'm going to assume yes.

Concentrate… concentrate…

A short while later, I peek my eyes open, and am once again confronted with the dingy, dull green walls of the crew quarters.

Yep. I'm screwed.

Chapter Text

I force myself to breathe deeply through my nose, trying to calm myself down.

This is bad. I've now tried thinking of different times, different places, tried to envision my "soul" moving out of my body, and even attempted to recall the information from back when I was trying to induce an out-of-body experience in hopes that it might somehow help. I've gotten absolutely nowhere thus far, as the fact that I'm still here plainly attests. Damn it, am I really even doing anything right now? Or am I just sitting here ~imagining~ myself getting shot into a different timeline while not doing anything that would actually accomplish such? How would I even tell the difference for something like this? It's not like I've ever done this before; I don't even know what it feels like to "resonate" with someone, assuming it feels like anything at all.

Again the thought strikes me that this might not be working because esper powers don't work the way I'm reasoning, and I just plain don't have the capability to do this. But that's not particularly helpful, so I discard the thought almost immediately in favor of trying to figure out what else could potentially be the problem. Let's see… could it be the lack of pressing danger? That's supposedly what usually triggers a SHIFT, but given my foreknowledge of what lies ahead, I feel like this whole situation should qualify as danger aplenty. If not that though... I suppose in ZTD's penultimate scene, everyone was holding on to each other when they mass SHIFTed out. Do I need to be in even closer proximity to other espers for this to work? Maybe I should grab hold of Sigma and Phi or something, and then try. Now I kind of wish I hadn't chased Sigma off…

I check the time on my bracelet. Fifteen minutes left, so five minutes until Phi's meetup time. I guess I'm not making much progress like this anyways — I might as well head down now, and keep trying once I get there.

I stand, finding myself again thinking how nice it would be to kick Clover's shoes off entirely (if only the floor wasn't so cold), when my eye catches on the aluminum foil sheet covered by the glass top of the "table" to my left. It was presumably used by Sigma's group to solve some sort of puzzle when they were trying to escape from here, but something about it strikes me as important for a reason beyond that. Didn't someone do something with this at some point...?

My eyes widen as I remember. Yes, someone most definitely did — in Luna's ending, she used this to remove her and Sigma's bracelets. Aluminum foil can fool the heartbeat sensor. That was the method I couldn't think of earlier!

I open the glass cover and carefully pull out the foil underneath. I can't really take the bracelet off without causing a major commotion with everyone else, and in truth there's not any pressing reason for me to do so right now anyways… but, as Tenmyouji pointed out, there's no rule preventing us from taking things from the rooms. So, just in case…

I carefully fold the aluminum over on itself, trying to keep the sheet as intact as possible, and slide the resulting square into my empty back pocket. I gotta say, I'm getting way more use out of Clover's short shorts than I would have thought possible just a few hours ago. The rest of… her is still pretty inconvenient to be stuck with, but at least carrying things has somehow yet to be an issue. Plus the material is tight enough across the rear that I'm pretty sure the aluminum and papers won't get crumpled or torn, which is… alright, that's kinda reaching. I'm looking for any positives I can find at this point.

I briefly check out the other three rooms of the crew quarters before I go, making sure there aren't any bombs hiding under the beds, but find nothing. I suppose I didn't really expect Dio to set any, seeing as Akane is dead, but I'm glad I checked. Sure, I probably couldn't do anything about it even if I'd found one, but I'd still rather know than not.

I end up bumping into Luna and Phi on my way back to the elevator. Though it's somewhat hard for me to tell given that her default expression is a frown, Phi appears to be distinctly unhappy about something.

"Something wrong Phi?" I ask as I fall in step with them, vaguely curious.

"No." Phi bluntly replies. "Clover, you still have those files, right?"

"Yeah, they're in my pocket."

"Did you look at them already?"

I squint at her. "Of course I did. I mean, I just skimmed the second one at first, but I looked at the whole thing later. Why?"

"Just wondering. Can I see them?"

Figuring it can't really hurt, I pass the pages over. Phi raises an eyebrow.

"Where are the folders these were in?"

"In one of the AB rooms where I left them." I huff, starting to get annoyed. "Any reason for the sudden interrogation?"

Phi says nothing as we walk into the elevator and begin to descend, too engrossed in the documents to bother responding. Figures. I'm not getting those back, am I…?

Emerging from the elevator on the floor below, we find Alice, and surprisingly Sigma have beaten the three of us here. The latter gives me an odd look as I walk in, probably due to how our last encounter went. Yeah yeah Sigma, I'll apologize later, assuming I'm still alive to give you one.

"Hey guys." he eventually says. "Or, well, girls."

"Hello Sigma." Luna greets back.

I stay quiet, instead simply giving Alice a silent wave, which she returns.

To my surprise, Phi does in fact hand back the files I gave her, before finally looking around and noticing we're still short a few people. "We'll wait until the others arrive to start. No point in going over all this twice."

The room falls silent in record time. Shrugging, I put the papers away and sit myself down in front of the red Chromatic Door before closing my eyes to make another attempt at SHIFTing. Hopefully just having Sigma and Phi in the same room as me will be enough, since I don't really want to try justifying my sudden and inexplicable need to grab hold of the two of them.

Come on… come on… work…!

"…heh. Stuck in a small room, surrounded by four beautiful women." Sigma suddenly says, breaking my concentration. "This is like a dream come true. Don't worry ladies, there's plenty of me to go around..."

I open my eyes to glare at him for that. Phi makes a disgusted noise, Alice glares right alongside me, and Luna very quickly looks away. Sigma just grins sheepishly in response. Ugh, dude, even if you WERE still in your 20s like you think you are, how exactly did you expect a room of girls — well, three girls and one "girl" — would react to that kind of skeevy non-joke? Keep it to yourself, if you absolutely have to think it.

Thankfully, the awkward air Sigma just put in place is broken when the elevator door opens up again a moment later, revealing K, Tenmyouji, and Quark.

"Where's Dio?" Phi asks as they walk out to join us.

"Do we really care?" Tenmyouji "mutters" loud enough for the entire room to hear.

"We informed him that we were heading down here, but he did not seem to regard it as particularly important." K says.

Phi looks vaguely annoyed by that. "Fine. Guess we'll start without him then. First off, seeing as how no one has said anything yet, I assume that none of us found a way out?" she asks, waiting for everyone to regretfully confirm this to be so before continuing. "In that case, did anyone happen to find anything else that could be important?"

As the discussion begins, I resume my efforts, albeit with my eyes open now. It's hard to concentrate what with all the talking, but with everyone important gathered in one place this is my best chance to pull this off. Come on, SHIFT! Do it, me!

"Well, there was a newspaper clipping in the infirmary." Luna contributes. "It was an article that mentioned a plague called Radical-6 sweeping the land, killing off tens of thousands of people."

"A plague…?" Phi mutters, looking thoughtful.

"Does that mean we're in some sort of quarantine?" Sigma asks.

"I doubt it." Alice replies. "If this is all for our safety, it doesn't really make much sense that we're being forced to play a game that could kill us. Besides, a disease that dangerous would have made national news. Has anyone here ever heard of it until now?"

Silence and a smattering of no's is the response. Alice crosses her arms. "Didn't think so. For all we know, that article was planted by Zero to throw us off the trail of whatever is really going on here. On another note, K want to share what we found out?"

K nods. "It seems as though we may all have been unconscious for quite some time." he says solemnly. "While I cannot remember my own kidnapping, Alice and Sigma were abducted on two different days."

The statement prompts the pair to share which days those were, Sigma having been taken on Christmas morning, and Alice three days earlier.

“...and with no other frame of reference, it's impossible to know how long we've been out.” Phi quietly notes. “Can’t have been too long though, or our muscles would have degraded... anything else?”

"Well, the infirmary has both Soporil and Tubocurarine in stock, not that we need any more of those." Tenmyouji puts in. "Doesn't look like the place has been used too much. Far as I could tell, everything is fully stocked."

"Yes, I noticed that as well." Luna adds. "It's very well supplied. You should be able to treat anything short of a fatal injury there."

"Well, maybe you could." Tenmyouji replies. "None of the rest of us have medical training-"

The elevator door opens again, and Dio swaggers in like he owns the place, halting all conversation as everyone naturally turns to look at him.

"What? I'm here before the doors opened." he says defensively, shrugging. "I miss anything?"

Phi just looks at him for a moment, her expression unreadable, before replying. "Not really. We were just about to discuss the files you were so interested in earlier."

"Oh, so we're FINALLY going to be allowed to find out what's in those things, huh?" Dio places a hand on the tip of his hat and smiles smugly. "'Bout time."

"Unless anyone had anything else to add?" Phi inquires, eyes sweeping the room. "We've only got a few minutes left until the doors open, so make it quick."

No one has anything to say, least of all me given that I'm sort of occupied at present moment, so Phi continues. "Alright then." she says, withdrawing a golden folder from within her clothing… and immediately handing it to Sigma. "Sigma, you take over."

"Wha- why me?!"

"I've done the talking up until now." Phi answers plainly. "Now it's your turn."

In other words, she doesn't want to be in charge for the moment. Fair enough I suppose, I wouldn't want to be doing all the talking either.

Sigma stumbles over his words for a second before starting in. "Okay. Uh… if everyone remembers, Zero Jr. called these 'secret archives'." he says, brandishing the folder. "They seem to have been placed inside the room safes, and are accessible through an alternative combination you can find in each room. We have three of them right now... unless someone got the one from the infirmary?"

Phi speaks up again. "I tried, but couldn't. I'd guess we've been locked out since the initial team to go through didn't get it while escaping."

"Oh… I'm sorry…" Luna apologizes.

"It's okay Luna." Sigma reassures her. "I'm not really sure how helpful these are anyways…"

"What do you mean?" Dio says crossly, pointedly glancing at me. "That rabbit sure as hell kept acting like they were, didn't he?"

"Well…" Sigma waffles. "…you'll see. Anyways, inside each one is a single page of paper with small tidbits of information on it." An embarrassed expression crosses his face as he apparently considers something. "Uh, why don't we start with the ones Clover has, since she found the first one."

Everyone turns towards me, causing me to send Sigma another glare. Really? You're passing the buck to me now? I'm already racing the clock as it is. Gah…

I have a large sigh and stand up, pulling the files out of my pocket and unfolding them again. "The one from the AB room was basically just an overview of terms about the Nonary Game. It's literally all stuff Zero told us about immediately after we got out. Well, what isn't random trivia and bad jokes, anyways."

I pass the page to Tenmyouji on my right, with the intention of having the group pass it around to look at. "The one from the lounge is essentially the same thing — we all know pretty much everything in it already. If you were wondering what Zero was talking about earlier, it does mention the death-by-BP thing, but I didn't do more than skim it before leaving the lounge, so I didn't know. Tenmyouji and K can back me up there."

I pass the page to Luna this time, on my left. I probably didn't really have to mention the BP thing, since no one has even asked about it since the warehouse, but I'd prefer to cover my bases.

"Sigma, back to you." I say as I sit back down and resume my silent endeavor.

Sigma fidgets, looking somewhat embarrassed. "Er… could everyone just take on faith that the only important thing we found in the archive from the crew quarters is that there are seven types of Chromatic Doors? The rest of it is kind of useless, not to mention boring-"

"Oh but Sigma, that's not true at all." Alice cuts in, making Sigma appear to briefly panic. "It also mentions something called 'Erotic Units' and Tenmyouji's collection of adult films, doesn't it?"

Tenmyouji stumbles in place, while Sigma looks visibly relieved. "Well, yeah, but those aren't really that important, do you think?"

"Well, it also has that adorable little cat story, which I personally found very entertaining." Alice says with a devilish grin. "I'm sure everybody would love to hear it."

"Ah… I don't think-"

"Here, I'll even read it out." Alice says, swiping the folder from Sigma's hands. "Ahem: 'Sigma has a strange verbal and possibly psychological tic which causes him to make cat puns whenever he talks about cats…'"

The files make it back around to me, and I stow them back in my short shorts as Alice proceeds to regale us with a bizarre little tale explaining the "origin" behind the cat speak tic I'd forgotten Sigma even had, involving magic cats, curses, and a literal happily ever after ending. The room is quiet once she finishes, until Sigma suddenly decides to speak up.

"I know that all sounds crazy, but it's true! Really!"

Most of the group openly stares at him. I don't think anyone in here expected him to defend what Alice just read out, Alice included.

"Seriously?" Dio snickers. "You're telling me you can talk to cats, and can't help but talk like a cat whenever they come up in conversation? Have you gone senile?"

Sigma blushes like a schoolgirl, prompting Phi to interject. "Whatever the cause, he really does have a verbal compulsion. It came up while we were trying to escape the crew quarters. Funny as it may be though, combined with that bit about Tenmyouji's 'videos', I don't like what this implies. How many people have you shared that story with, Sigma?"

"…just the girl in the story, and my parents." Sigma mutters. "It was private…"

"In other words, it seems whoever put us here knows some very personal things about us." Phi concludes. "Things they probably shouldn't be able to know."

An uneasy air descends upon the group, though to my knowledge at least half of the people present pretty much have to be faking their unsettled expressions. Before the feeling can linger for too long however, an activation sound cuts through the room. I'm forced to stand again as the door at my back slides up, and the five minute warning announcement plays. Oh no, I'm running out of time!

"Looks like we're out of time to talk about this." Tenmyouji says as I attempt to double down on my SHIFTing efforts. "We need to decide who's going with who."

"Yes, but who should decide that?" K asks. "As with the last round, a single choice will automatically make everyone else's for them."

"I think those of us with the least BP should get to decide." Alice declares. "I mean, they're the ones at the greatest disadvantage, so it only seems fair."

"Convenient that you happen to be part of that group..." Sigma quietly comments.

"And whose fault is THAT?" Alice scathingly retorts, quickly shutting Sigma up.

"Hey, wait a minute." Dio complains. "Why should you pick? You got your choice last time!"

"Maybe we should at least go over our options before we start arguing." Tenmyouji growls.

God damn it, this isn't working, and all the noise going on around me definitely isn't helping. Do I wait until we finish these rooms and hope I get a less conspicuous chance to do this before somebody ends up dead, or just go for Plan Grab and pray I'm successful? Phi isn't even close enough to Sigma right now for the latter option to work, but I guess I could just forcibly drag one of them over to the other. Then again, I'm not confident that I could even manage that in this body, and how the hell would I explain myself it doesn't work? It would definitely make them suspicious of me, which would likely ruin any chance I might get to try properly later…

Phi is rapidly summarizing our options again, but I already know that my personal options for the round boil down to either going with Luna and Quark through the green door, Alice and Tenmyouji through the blue door, or Sigma and Dio through the red door, and so spend the time warring with my indecision instead. Unfortunately, I still haven't come up with my answer by the time she finishes.

"Now that that's settled, I'm going with Clover this time." Alice says, the mention of my current namesake temporarily pulling my attention back to the conversation. "I trust her far more than I do any of the rest of you."

"I like that option too." Tenmyouji adds. "After last round, I think I can trust Clover not to betray me."

I briefly acknowledge the two of them with a small smile, despite my inner anxiety. Sure, they're only partially basing that judgment on things I actually did, but it does feel nice to be the first choice.

"Afraid I can't say the same for you, K." Tenmyouji continues as I go back to attempting to debate the pros and cons of my options. "You did tell me it was mostly her decision after all."

"That's alright." K replies neutrally. "I would rather not go with Alice in any case, nor Luna for that matter."

"Oh… how come?" Luna asks, sounding marginally hurt by the comment. "I was hoping to go with either Clover or you, since you two chose ally last round."

"It's nothing personal." K assures. "Both of you only have 1 BP, so I highly doubt either of you will be willing to risk allying next round. Even if you promised you would, I would not necessarily be able to trust that. But if I betrayed to protect myself, and you kept your word, I could… kill you. There is much less risk if I pair up with Sigma and Dio, who both have 6 BP."

"Well, that's too bad." Dio smirks. "Because I want to pair up with Clover."

My head snaps around. What the heck? Alice, Tenmyouji, and even Luna I understand, but Dio?

"Like everyone keeps saying, she chose ally last round." Dio smiles, holding the brim of his hat up. "I think I like the sound of that. A round where I don't have to worry about being betrayed would be pretty nice."

"I didn't realize I was such a hot commodity." I can't help but say aloud. And if he thinks I wouldn't betray him in half a second, he's got another thing coming.

"You do want to come with us, right Clover?" Alice prompts.

I cross my arms and consider for a moment. By now, I think I've made up my mind — risking everything on a single chance is a last resort sort of deal. As dire as things will likely very soon be, no one's been knifed (bar Akane) or succumbed to the suicide plague thus far, and we haven't discovered any bombs, so we haven't reached that point just yet. By default, that means I'll be proceeding through the next puzzle room and waiting for a better opportunity. But, as I'd kind of been counting on having escaped this timeline by now, I haven't really thought about who I'd prefer to team with. I suppose since the Alice situation is mostly resolved, I don't need to be as worried about pairing up with her as before, so I guess…

"Yeah, I'd like that." I reply, trying to put some enthusiasm in my voice. "I mean, you're my first choice, but honestly I guess I'd be okay with Luna and Quark's group too. So long as I'm not stuck going with Dio, I think I'm alright."

"Hey!" Dio snarls. "The hell'd I ever do to-"

"You really think I've forgotten about what you said back in the infirmary?" I shoot back before he can even finish. "You've been nothing but rude and accusatory towards me this entire time; why would I ever want to pair up with you?"

"Then that's four votes for Option B." Phi notes as the one minute reminder plays. "I'm fine with that, so Sigma, Quark, unless you have something to add, that's what we're going with."

"I don't really mind." Quark says. "I'd be okay going with Miss Clover, Miss Phi, or Mister K."

"And I guess that means my vote doesn't really matter, huh?" Sigma says, looking away with a hand behind his head.

Uh oh. Sigma not getting to choose again? Maybe I should have betrayed last round after all, because I'm really screwing with the timeline splits now.

"Wait a second!" Dio objects. "That means we're stuck with the robot!"

"As I have said before," K states in a firm tone, "I am not a robot. I would appreciate if you would stop referring to me as such."

Dio glares scornfully in his direction. "Well, you sure as hell look like one. Either way, I don't see why Sigma and I should have to pair up with the walking tin can."

"Perhaps I was wrong to suggest this then. I will say that while you were my first choice, you are quickly making the others seem far more appealing." K responds in about as harsh a manner as I've yet heard him use.

"Just deal with it!" Phi shouts as the ten second countdown starts. "Time's almost up! Get through the doors!"

With no time left to figure out something else, our groups quickly hurry past the primary doors and into the small scanning rooms. The concluding countdown only serves to remind me of the noose rapidly tightening around my neck, and the sound of the door sliding closed feels a lot more final this time.

I hope I made the right choice…

Chapter Text

Once the secondary door releases the three of us, it doesn't take long before we come to a three door nexus with a suspicious looking lever at the center. Alice and Tenmyouji banter for a bit regarding who exactly is going to activate said device, which Tenmyouji eventually ends up losing. He pulls the lever with seemingly all the bitter crankiness that he can muster, but the brewing bad mood is forgotten entirely the moment we step into newly unlocked room.

I find myself marveling right alongside my teammates as we take a proper look around the area we suddenly find ourselves in. Before us is a startling beautiful landscape of greenery and rushing water. A giant tree stands to our right, while in front of us is a small stream, fed by a miniature waterfall that falls from a wall of rock. The stream winds around the room, followed by a narrow boardwalk that lends the image of a pleasant garden path. The only thing that breaks the atmosphere are the strange, transparent seeming panels that make up the "sky" that hangs above.

Seems we ended up going down the route that grants access to the B. Garden, which looks rather more majestic in person than it did in the game, not to mention a hell of a lot bigger. Compared to the rest of the base, it's also remarkably pleasant. I feel relaxed by the mere ambiance, and that's coming from someone who doesn't really spend much time outdoors. The fact that it's far warmer in here than everywhere else has been thus far also helps.

"Where ARE we?" Alice asks aloud, not seeming to really expect an answer as she turns in place. "We can't be outside, I can see the ceiling."

"Dunno." Tenmyouji replies anyways. "The panels up there make me think of a greenhouse, but the door said it was some sort of garden. Wonder what it's for."

"Growing food, maybe?" I say absently, pointing to the small patch of growing vegetables a little ways past the tree. "Though I guess that looks more like someone's hobby garden than anything else, so maybe not."

"Well, here's the exit." Tenmyouji says, turning to the door to our left, the safe sitting out in plain sight on the floor beside it. "Think maybe they forgot to lock this one?"

As it turns out, no, they did not forget. I guess the cursory attempt just felt necessary, even though we all pretty much assumed it wasn't going to work.

"This place is huge." Alice notes, seeming slightly exasperated by that fact. "We should split up to search, or we'll never get out of here."

"Agreed." Tenmyouji nods.

I hesitate, but ultimately end up nodding as well. I'd actually been planning on letting them take charge for this room so I could keep concentrating on my increasingly futile-seeming efforts at SHIFTing, but I may have to help here in order for us to even finish in time. While there isn't any nominal time limit, if I remember correctly Dio is going to open an AB room the second he gets back, which will get our entire trio executed if none of us are there to enter a vote in time. Guess I was getting tired of failing anyways. Maybe a break will help…

Following the miniature boardwalk, Alice heads off towards the back of the room, while Tenmyouji advances towards the tiny waterfall in the corner. After quickly looking around for anything of interest and finding nothing beyond a weird panel in the wall with an x-shaped hole in it, I follow after, heading for the small shed just past Tenmyouji. I don't remember much about this room, but I know there was digging and metal detecting involved, so the shovel I can see in there seems like a decent place to start.

Hefting the seemingly unused digging implement, I also notice a small bronze key lying on the ground, and subsequently pocket it. Moving forward brings me to what looks like a large signpost displaying an overhead map of the garden, which Alice is currently standing in front of, muttering to herself.

"Alice?" I say as I approach, breaking her from her contemplation. "Something wrong? Beyond the obvious, I mean."

"Oh… not really, Clover." Alice assures me. "It's just… who would install all of this in the middle of a warehouse? Why would someone build this here?"

Probably so that they didn't go stir crazy from being stuck on the moon and unable to go outside for years on end. I mean I'm sure there's a purpose beyond that, but that's the one that immediately comes to mind.

"Hmm… well, in any event, what do you suppose this means?" Alice asks, changing the subject as she takes a closer look at the map. "This map looks like an aerial view of the room, but these drawings on the right have to be important. They take up more space on the sign than the map itself."

I give it a quick look. There are pictures of grass, a mushroom, and a flower, each with an arrow beneath it pointing to a differently colored metal box. Seems pretty obvious to me.

"Well… I found a shovel. It could be like a treasure map." I point out. "The boxes are the chests, and the pictures are the Xs that mark the spot."

Alice gives the idea a few seconds of thought. "Hmm. Not a bad idea… there's that mushroom near the entrance, so that's probably one of them. But what does the grass mean? There's grass everywhere in here, so how does this indicate any-"

A sudden cry of surprise rings out from our left, cutting Alice off as she and I both quickly swivel in its direction. The source appears to have been Tenmyouji, who's still over near the waterfall, clutching at his pants for some reason. We both run over to him — well, hastily tiptoe over in my case, as I've yet to figure out how to run in heels — alarmed.

"What happened? What is it?" Alice asks, slowing down as it becomes evident that Tenmyouji isn't actually hurt.

"Nothing. I just found out how stupidly this bench is designed is all." Tenmyouji grumbles, gesturing behind him.

"What's wrong with it?" I inquire.

"Just sit down if you wanna find out." Tenmyouji vaguely replies. "Anyways, have you two found anything yet?"

"A map to buried treasure, possibly." I respond, raising the shovel. "And also something to dig it up with."

"Really now?" Tenmyouji says, looking intrigued. "Interesting… who's gonna be doing the digging then?"

"Are you volunteering?" Alice replies with a semi-playful tone. "I mean, Clover and I are both women, after all. Surely you don't expect us to do it."

I look away. While I wouldn't exactly object to having someone else do the manual labor part of this, the reminder of my current sex wasn't exactly necessary.

"Yeah, well, I'm almost 70 years old." Tenmyouji retorts, raising an eyebrow. "So surely you don't expect me to do it either. Unless you're a whole lot older than you look..."

"Hmmph, as if I'd share my age with you." Alice sniffs haughtily. "It seems we're at an impasse then."

…I think this is just good natured teasing right now, but I also think I should cut this off before it turns into an actual snit.

"Um, there are three spots you know. Maybe we could all just do one each." I suggest, which earns a sort of tacit approval when no one objects. "Anyways, have you found anything Tenmyouji?"

"Eh… so far, just this weird looking pipe." Tenmyouji replies, lifting up a small length of metal with a strangely octagonal head. "Those buttons on the podium thing to the right don't seem to do anything, and I think there might be something behind the waterfall, but I can't reach it."

A strange expression suddenly creeps on to his face. "Hey Alice, you want to give it a try?"

"What? Reaching behind the waterfall?" Alice asks doubtfully. "I'm fairly certain my arms aren't any longer than yours are."

"It's, uh… more that I couldn't straighten mine enough to properly check." Tenmyouji says, clapping a hand to his right elbow. "Water's coming down harder than it looks, and, well, old bones."

What, seriously? He's in worse shape than I thought.

"Someone's got to check though, and you're taller than Clover." Tenmyouji continues. "So unless you want to be stuck in this room..."

Alice looks slightly annoyed, but eventually relents. "…fine."

She steps towards the waterfall, rolling up her right jacket sleeve as she peers into the endlessly cascading veil. "Well, I think you're right that there's something back there." she announces as she stretches her arm forward. "If it's a switch, I might be able to-"

Alice suddenly stops mid-sentence, inhales sharply, and recoils from the waterfall for no apparent reason. I blink. She moved so fast that I doubt she'd have withdrawn quicker if she'd stuck her hand into an open fire… but she hadn't even touched the water yet. Huh?

"Something wrong?" Tenmyouji asks with a strangely forced sounding casualness. "It's just water."

I turn to Tenmyouji, who now looks almost expectant, then back to Alice. Um, what? Someone care to inform me why everyone but me is suddenly acting all weird?

I walk over to Alice, noticing her grim-looking expression as I move to her side. "Alice, what's-"

Alice holds up one finger towards me in a "hush" gesture, then closes her eyes and reaches forward again. Slowly, her arm pierces through the waterfall, until her hand is touching the back of the hollow. Some of the spray bounces off and hits me, causing me to shiver — brrr, that's cold.

About 20 seconds later, Alice pulls back, shaking off her now wet limb as she reopens her eyes and breathes deeply.

"Whatever's back there, it's not a switch." she announces, sounding somewhat aggravated. "Felt more like a series of indents. I think we'll have to be able to see them to do anything with them. There must be a way to turn the water off."

She turns back to Tenmyouji, who just stares at her for a moment or two before slowly nodding.

"Yeah, guess so..." he replies, his tone still seeming slightly off.

Meanwhile, I just stand off to the side of the two, feeling highly confused. Is there some sort of hidden subtext here I'm missing? What is going on?

Alice walks off without another word. I trail after, feeling sort of concerned, and catch up just as she removes a silver key from under an out of place flowerpot. Tenmyouji's footsteps come up behind me a few seconds later.

"Didn't we agree we were going to split up to solve this room?" Alice asks aloud, not turning around.

"Well… it seemed like a good idea at first," I slowly admit, "but I don't think we can get a full understanding of anything if we're all looking at only one part of the picture. It'll be a lot easier to get out if we're all on the same page."

Honestly, now that I think about it splitting up is actually kind of counter-productive, given how a lot of these puzzles and mechanisms usually require the item from a different puzzle to do anything with them. Also, the group certainly didn't split up in the game, unless the implication was that they were yelling all their dialogue to one another from across the room.

Alice sighs, but doesn't object as Tenmyouji and I join her in front of the small garden. Neither of them say a word to each other, and I don't know what to even ask, so I decide to let the subject of… whatever just happened back there drop for now in favor of working on the room. Speaking of which, cucumbers, onions, and tomatoes seem like strikingly odd choices for a garden if you ask me, but then again I haven't been living on this base. Maybe Sigma, Akane, and Kyle really liked them or something. There's also a split pepper lying on the ground, despite there being no peppers plants growing here, making it obviously suspicious. I grab it up to give it a closer look.

"This pepper has a coin embedded in it." I note as I pry the little yellow disc out. "Don't ask me how someone got it in there, but they did."

"Really? Weird..." Tenmyouji mutters. "Think there are any others?"

"Even if there are, we're not splitting open every piece of produce in this garden searching for coins that might not even be there." Alice declares. "Unless we get stuck on something that looks like it requires them, let's move on."

Thinking that's probably a good idea, I pocket the coin and follow her lead further down the boarded path. The river ends in a little circular pond here, with another one of the lion-eating-the-sun motifs displayed at the bottom in mosaic form. There's a gravestone with a metal detector lying on it just off to its right, and beside it is a patch of white flowers, which…

I gag at the awful scent that suddenly invades my nostrils, cringing backwards so hard that I nearly end up knocking over Tenmyouji.

"What IS that?!" I cry, trying not to breathe in.

Alice wrinkles her nose, her expression morphing into one of disgust. "I think it's this patch of flowers…"

"Looks like skunk cabbage." Tenmyouji comments, not looking all that bothered as he strolls right up to it. "As the name implies, it's not the best smelling of plants."

I stumble forward and thrust the shovel into his hands. He looks confused for a second, until I explain, my voice sounding extremely nasal due to the fact that I'm now pinching my nose shut as hard as I can. "This is one of the clues on the signboard, which means there's probably something buried under this stuff. Please take this one, I think I might pass out if I have to stand near these things much longer."

Seriously, Clover must have a better sense of smell than I do, because this is horrible. The game probably mentioned these things, but the sheer repulsiveness of their odor was most definitely not communicated. I'm starting to feel physically nauseous.

Tenmyouji accepts the shovel, and I all but sprint away from him to the left, where Alice is now examining the set of scales on top of the small table that stands there. In her hands are a small paring knife and a golden key, which were previously sitting on top of them. I release my nose and gasp for clean air, feeling like I just escaped a field of toxic gas. Thank goodness the smell doesn't seem to carry far.

"Are you okay Clover?" Alice asks, turning towards me.

I nod as I continue to draw in air, realizing I probably seem like I'm being overly dramatic at the moment, but also not particularly caring. God, they should call it corpse cabbage. Why would anyone plant that?!

Evidently trusting that I'll get over my sensory-induced issues, Alice turns back to the scales and removes a weird, semi-cylindrical piece of metal from the drawer at the bottom. The top looks sort of like a thick screwdriver, and ends in a weird, sort of x-shaped point, while the bottom is shaped like an octagon.

"There's a lot more stuff just lying around in the open this time." Alice comments.

"Yeah, way more." I agree. "We should probably figure out where some of this is used so we don't have to keep toting it all around the room. That metal thing probably goes in the panel on the wall back there, so maybe we should go place that first." I say, gesturing towards the area we entered from.

Alice nods, and begins walking in that direction. I follow behind, but take a moment to cover my nose and grab the pipe Tenmyouji set on the ground nearby before hurrying to catch back up. Just as Alice inserts the metal thing into the wall, I attach the pipe to the other end, creating a handle.

"Well done." Alice praises. "Let's see if this turns the waterfall off then."

She gives the handle a quarter turn, and the sky rapidly dims, bathing the room in shadow.

"Looks like it's just a glorified light switch." Alice says, looking around with mild disappointment at the newly darkened room. "I guess if the 'sun' is gone, that means it's nighttime now… I wonder why that would be important."

"Probably those." I say, pointing out the various glowing star patterns that have appeared along the length of the miniature river.

"Hmm… I see." Alice replies. "Has anything else changed?"

"Not that I-"

"Hey! Can we turn the lights back on please?" I hear Tenmyouji yell from midway across the room, utterly ruining the otherwise tranquil atmosphere. "I can't see anything!"

I bemusedly turn the handle back to its original position, returning the room to daytime. Tenmyouji appears to have unearthed the first box, and is trudging over to us with it, the shovel, and the metal detector all in hand, though he looks like he's having trouble finding a way to carry them all at once.

"Thought I was gonna trip over my own feet for a second there." Tenmyouji gripes, placing the golden box down in front of us and hefting the metal detector. "Oh, and I'm guessing we'll probably be needing this for one reason or another."

"Most likely." I agree, as Alice kneels down to unlock the golden box with the golden key, and withdraws a small strip of torn paper.

"Hmm, just a couple of dots...? Looks like we probably need the full page to do anything with this." Alice muses as she looks it over. "Mind holding on to this for me Clover?" she asks, holding the scrap out to me. "My outfit is a little short on pockets."

"No kidding." Tenmyouji whispers under his breath, just loudly enough for me to catch.

I take the paper, slipping it into the same pocket currently holding the hidden file pages. I'm beginning to run out of room myself, truth be told. These pockets were clearly not intended to ever be used in any truly meaningful capacity, and they're already holding the previous round's AB room keycard, the two hidden file papers, a square of aluminum, and the bronze key and yellow coin from this room. As unexpectedly functional as Clover's microshorts have been so far, I'd still gladly take something with a bit more storage space… and some better insulation, for that matter.

My thoughts are interrupted by a loud beeping as Tenmyouji runs the metal detector over a raised mound of grass just across from the empty shed.

"Hey, looks like there's something under here." he says aloud.

"That's probably the second box." Alice replies. "We should check the mushroom under the tree next."

Sure enough, the mushroom results in more beeping.

"Here, give me the shovel, I'll get this one." I volunteer.

Tenmyouji obligingly hands over the garden implement, and I begin spooning up dirt. It's not an easy task — once again, Clover's overly long nails are getting in the way, and her body is clearly not built for anything particularly strenuous to begin with. You know, aside from Quark, I wonder if there's a single character in this setting it would have been less convenient to get stuck as, at least physically speaking. Gah.

As it becomes clear that I'm not making particularly fast progress, Tenmyouji starts using the metal detector to scan the ground nearby. After about a minute of him finding a whole lot of nothing, Alice speaks up, looking vaguely irritated.

"What are you doing? We already know where all the boxes are."

Tenmyouji shrugs, continuing to scan. "Yeah, but who says those are all this is for?" He replies, taking a moment to grin. "Besides, I haven't gotten to use one of these things in years."

Alice scoffs. "In case you've forgotten, this room is enormous. It's pretty unlikely you're going to find anything by just waving that thing around at random."

…correct me if I'm wrong, but that is how one usually uses a metal detector, isn't it? Why so snippy, Alice?

"Well, the coin I found in that pepper was made of metal, so maybe he could try waving it around the vegetable patch?" I innocently suggest as my shovel finally hits something hard.

"Hmm... good thinking Clover." Tenmyouji replies as he strolls around the tree to do just that.

Alice gives me a strange look and taps me on the shoulder as I work the silver box free of its earthen prison.

"Clover, we're trying to keep a low profile, remember?" she whispers. "We may all need to help to get out of this room, but we still want to be underestimated. Don't just start handing out free advice."

…oh, right, that. Yes, I do remember, but… ugh, I'm just not willing to put on that sort of act on top of the one I'm already kind of performing, especially given how pointless I know for a fact it would be. Thankfully, I think I can justify refusing to do so.

"I know Alice," I whisper back, beginning to pull the box out of the ground, "but Tenmyouji mentioned earlier that he was worried there might be a secret time limit on solving these rooms, and with the way the other Nonary Games were designed, I don't know if he's necessarily wrong. Honestly, I think right now we should be more worried about finishing quickly than not drawing attention."

Alice is silent for several seconds before she speaks again.

"…I have to admit, that's a valid point, and this room is probably too big to risk wasting time." she quietly replies, handing me the silver key. "Just don't overdo it, okay?"

I pause, a bit surprised that Alice didn't require more convincing, before silently nodding as I unlock the lid of the box and summarily slip the dotted paper scrap inside into the same pocket I stored the other in. We quickly move over to the final "treasure" spot in front of the shed, just as Tenmyouji returns to us with a tomato, an onion, and a cucumber in hand, looking rather pleased with himself.

"Looks like you were right Clover." he says, setting the metal detector on the ground as he holds up the pieces of produce. "Think we're gonna need something to cut these things open though."

"Like this, perhaps?" Alice asks rhetorically, placing the paring knife she's been holding into his free hand.

"Perfect." Tenmyouji smiles. "Now, if I recall correctly, it's your turn to do the digging Alice."

Alice sighs. "Fine. Clover, hand me that."

I pass her the shovel, and she quickly gets to work.

…okay, maybe not that quickly. I take it back; maybe Clover isn't the most inconvenient character I could have ended up as after all, because Alice seems to somehow be having an even more difficult time at this than I was. Admittedly, I think that's mostly because she's trying to keep her ring from swinging around too much and exposing her chest, which prevents her from really bending over to any useful degree. Not that she particularly needs to worry, because Tenmyouji isn't even looking at her, he's actually looking at… me, for some reason?

I turn towards him, wondering why I'm being stared at, when he suddenly opens his mouth and speaks.

"Say, Clover. Have you ever heard of a man named Wim Hof?"

I blink, baffled by just how out of nowhere that question was.

"What?"

"He's also known as 'The Iceman'." Tenmyouji elaborates, seeing my confusion. "He's most famous for climbing up Mt. Everest in nothing but shorts, but he set a lot of other records for stuff like taking the world's longest ice bath, and running a marathon above the Arctic Circle."

…oh hey, I think I do know who he's talking about, actually.

"You mean the guy who can supposedly control his own body temperature?" I clarify.

"You got it." Tenmyouji smirks. "Pretty incredible, huh?"

Well, I did find him on a list of "People with Real Superpowers", so I suppose so. If I recall, he supposedly uses some sort of special meditation and/or breathing technique to keep his internal temperature constant? They even publicly tested it, I think. Of course, in this universe, he's probably long dead.

"Yeah, it's pretty cool." I admit. "What brought him to mind though?"

"Dunno." Tenmyouji shrugs. "Guess I was just wondering if there might be anyone else out there with that sort of ability."

He takes a moment to look pointedly at Alice, who gives no indication that she's listening to either of us.

I frown and tilt my head to the side, crossing my arms beneath my chest. Wait, is he implying…

Several things suddenly begin sliding into place. Oh- oh, so that's what that weirdness earlier was about! Tenmyouji thinks that Alice is All-Ice, so he challenged her to stick her arm under a waterfall — an icy cold waterfall — thinking she wouldn't be able to do it, but since she was, now he thinks... you know, that's actually a fairly decent hypothesis, all things considered. It's wrong, but in the context of all the sci-fi stuff that happens in this game, someone theoretically having control over their personal body temperature is actually quite plausible, especially since there's even an actual real world basis for it.

Regardless, why exactly is Tenmyouji so fixated on this All-Ice thing? I mean, I'd be curious too, but what does he expect to get out of it? And why bring this up with me, especially when we're standing right in front of Alice? Is he trying to probe for information based on our reactions, or…? Oh, that's probably why he was referencing her age earlier too, isn't it? That flew right over my head.

"No idea, but I wish I could do that." I eventually remark. "So far, every room besides this one has felt like a walk-in freezer."

Now that I've figured out why he brought it up to begin with, this topic ultimately seems harmless enough. In the end, Tenmyouji's still chasing the answer to a mystery that doesn't really exist, so as with back in the lounge, I don't see any real problem with it.

"Maybe you can." Tenmyouji says, looking thoughtful. "I mean, it's supposedly a learnable skill, after all."

"Really?" I idly reply.

"Yep. Going by what the guy has said on record, you just need the right mental frame of mind, and-"

"As fascinating as this topic is, in case you've forgotten, we still have the rest of the room to solve." Alice cuts in. "You could at least work on getting whatever's in those vegetables out."

Tenmyouji opens his mouth to reply, then closes it. "…fair point. We can talk later. Here, Clover, could you hold these for a moment?"

He passes me two of the pieces of produce, and begins using the paring knife to slice into the tomato. A red coin is quickly extracted, followed by a white one and a green one from the onion and cucumber, respectively. I fish out the yellow coin from my pocket and hand it over to complete the set.

"Hard to believe these were in the vegetables… just how long has this all been planned out for?" Tenmyouji mutters.

Yeah, really. Now that I think about it, this puzzle is actually a pretty huge clue that this whole setup has been in the making for years and years, isn't it? I never noticed that while playing the game proper.

Tenmyouji puts all four coins in his right hand and slowly moves it up and down. "These are heavier than they look. Wonder where we use them… I'm gonna go look around for that."

I don't follow Tenmyouji as he walks off, instead wandering off on my own after telling Alice that I'm going to look around a bit more. I end up back in front of the tiny pool and headstone that the room's miniature river terminates at. Now that the skunk cabbage is lying off to the side buried under a mound of dirt, the air over here is a lot more tolerable.

I crouch down in front of the grave, tracing the inscription of "Tu fui ergo eris" it's been marked with, my gaze lingering on the tiny keyhole on its front. Kyle should be directly underneath me right now… or rather, he would be, if Akane wasn't dead. Which reminds me.

Sitting down next to the pool, I use the moment's rest to make another attempt at SHIFTing. This goes just as poorly as the last dozen or so attempts, as determined by the fact that nothing has changed when I open my eyes again. I sigh. I didn't really expect it to work right now, but I had to try...

Noticing that Alice is pulling the final box out of the ground, I return to her side and help her heave it up and out. I take the bronze key from my pocket and hand it to her, allowing Alice to unlock the box and unearth the final slip of paper. We put the three pieces together on the ground, revealing a small vertical pattern of red dots, with a long red arrow going down the edge of the page.

"...well, seems obvious to me what these are for." I say, looking over at the three red buttons on the podium that stands beside the waterfall.

"Same here. Want to do the honors?" Alice asks.

I shrug, and walk over to input the button combo indicated by the page. Alice follows, as does Tenmyouji, who walks up to us with a disgruntled look on his face.

"I sure hope we didn't need that scale back there for anything important, because ah... it kinda broke." he informs us somewhat sheepishly, causing both of us to freeze in place.

"Wait a second, you broke part of the room?!" Alice almost shouts, swiveling around to glare at him.

"Yeeeeeeeah." Tenmyouji says, holding the back of his head with one hand. "Sorry. I barely touched it and the thing fell apart. I'm guessing it was pretty old."

Alice looks about ready to start verbally tearing into him, and I honestly can't blame her, as I'm fairly certain we did need that scale in order to properly measure the coins' relative weights. If Tenmyouji broke it, without managing to do that first... well, we might be in trouble.

"Okay, that's not good, but let's not panic just yet." I say aloud, hoping to keep my partners from getting into a row while simultaneously trying to reassure myself. "We haven't come across anything that needs weights yet, right? Let's hold off on yelling at each other unless we do."

Alice still doesn't look happy, continuing to glare angrily in Tenmyouji's direction, but says nothing further. Tenmyouji winces.

Somewhat unsure myself now, I press the buttons on the podium as the paper strips indicate, and the waterfall ceases to flow. With the way cleared, the three of us step into the tiny alcove it hid, trying not to accidentally push each other off the side of the narrow walkway. There's a small metal panel in the wall, containing four small holes in a line with < signs between them.

"Looks like this is where the coins go." Tenmyouji says, holding them out. "Less than signs... wait a second, is this what that scale was for? Ranking them by how heavy they are?" he asks, sounding rather befuddled.

"Yes, I would assume so." Alice snaps, obviously still mad.

"Can't I just judge that by hand?"

Alice and I both turn and blink at him for a second. That's... a very good point, actually. Without the framing of the video game, it shouldn't exactly be hard to tell when one coin outweighs another. In fact, even if he gets it wrong, I don't think there's anything stopping him from just trying every combination until he gets it right.

"Perhaps... but there's probably a trick to it." Alice points out. "What if they don't come out once you insert them, meaning we only have one chance at getting this correct? What if one of them is made of a material that feels lighter than it really is? It could even be that-"

Tenmyouji steps forward and inserts the coins, and the panel swings open to reveal a computer screen showing nine stars of various colors.

"...it really is that simple." Alice says, holding a hand over her face. "Well, that turned out to be a lot of fuss for nothing. Sorry about that."

"It's fine." Tenmyouji replies, looking rather surprised that worked himself. "Can't really blame you for getting mad. Lucky that scale wasn't important after all, I guess."

Alice shakes her head, evidently still in slight disbelief, before turning her attention to the screen. "Stars... like the ones we saw when we darkened the room. Clover, do you remember what colors those had and what order they went in?"

I do not, and Tenmyouji didn't even see them, necessitating another quick flip of the day-night switch as a refresher. After all three of us take the chance to examine the glowing shapes in the river again (and just admire the garden in the dark for a bit), we turn the sun back on and return to the alcove, where I tap the purple, blue, yellow, green, and red stars in order. The screen turns green — looks like for the first time thus far, we actually found the non-secret password first.

After memorizing the combination, we move to the safe near the entrance. Alice does the honors of opening it this time.

"Let's see. Two key cards with moons on them…" she says, handing one to me, "a map of Floor B, which I assume is where we are right now... the key to the room… some sort of diagram… and a piece of paper that says 'IG = immunoglobulin'."

She holds the latter two out to me and Tenmyouji to look. The diagram is the one that shows the timeline of Sigma's consciousness, which isn't terribly important to me, so I don't focus on it for long. As for the other paper… I actually don't remember what the purpose of this was. Immunoglobulin is like… something inside the body, right? Why is that important again? Gah, why couldn't I have been dropped into the universe of a game I played somewhat recently?

I'm not alone at least, as neither Alice nor Tenmyouji seem to have any idea what to make of the page either, nor the timeline one for that matter. Tenmyouji eventually ends up folding them up and sticking them in his shirt pocket, along with the map. Alice gives a token protest, but perhaps due to the earlier "argument", she doesn't push it much.

"So, are we going to try and get the file password too, or are we just leaving?" I ask.

"We should probably at least attempt to get it before we go." Alice replies. "Any ideas as to how we might do that?"

"Yeah, actually." Tenmyouji says, walking back over to the recessed panel. "I noticed something else about those stars. Let me try… this."

He taps the screen several times, though it's covered by his back from where Alice and I are standing. Sure enough though, I see the outer edges of the screen turns blue, and Tenmyouji begins walking back to us, looking slightly smug.

"Well that was fast." Alice notes.

"Yep." Tenmyouji replies with a grin as he crouches down to unlock the safe again. "Same colors, but ordered by size, if you were wondering."

Punching in the second passcode, he pulls out the expected golden file, and immediately begins pouring over its single page of contents.

"Nicely done." Alice says. "We can look at the file later though. For now, let's get out of here and meet back up with the others."

Tenmyouji doesn't respond. After several seconds of silence, Alice raises an eyebrow.

"Are you ignoring me? Come on, let's go."

Tenmyouji still says nothing, his gaze so focused on the page in his hands that he appears to have stopped blinking. Just when I'm beginning to think he's gone into some sort of meditative trance, his head suddenly snaps back up, turning towards Alice.

"Back from La-La Land, are we?" Alice sarcastically asks, an undercurrent of annoyance running through her voice.

"I knew it…" Tenmyouji mutters.

"Hmm?"

Tenmyouji looks down at the paper again, and begins reading off one of the entries. "Ice-9 is a special form of water with a melting point of 36 degrees Celsius. In other words, it freezes at room temperature. There is a rumor that says all the water in Alice's body is actually Ice-9. Who knows whether it's true or not, but if it is then she always has to keep her body temperature above 36 degrees Celsius."

He punctuates the final sentence by looking up at Alice accusingly, pausing for a brief moment before he continues.

"Well?"

Alice crosses her arms, looking thoroughly unperturbed. "Well what?"

"You don't have anything to say about this? It's clearly referring to you."

Alice rolls her eyes. "What exactly are you expecting me to tell you? Yes, I've heard that rumor before, and it's ridiculous. Isn't that obvious?"

“…really now.” Tenmyouji flatly replies. “Is that your final word on the matter, All-Ice?”

Alice’s expression melts into a scornful glare. “Oh, now I see. You’re one of those conspiracy nuts…”

I quickly look back and forth between the pair as they begin glowering at each other, trying to figure out what to do. Of all the possible team combinations that could have found the file describing Ice-9, why did it have to be the one that contains the only two people the subject is remotely relevant to? We should have just gone on without it…

“Come on, just admit it already!” Tenmyouji insists, his tone growing more accusatory. “You’re All-Ice! I know you are! This folder practically proves it!”

Alice snorts derisively. “Proves what? That you’ve fallen for the same absurd urban legend so many others have? The one that Zero probably wants you to fall for, if it’s mentioned in that file? News flash, Ice-9 is fictitious. It doesn’t exist, and neither does the so-called ‘All-Ice’ you seem to be fixated on.”

"Uh, guys? Can we maybe calm down…?" I ask, trying to intercede, only to be summarily ignored by both parties.

"You're not fooling anyone!" Tenmyouji accuses, beginning to sound genuinely angry. "I've seen you before, MET you before almost four decades ago, and you looked exactly the same as you do now! There's no way you could still look like that if you're not her!"

"You met someone who looked like me." Alice scathingly replies, glaring daggers in Tenmyouji's direction. "Up until today, I've never seen you before in my life. And I most certainly am not that old you ass!"

Alice steps forward and angrily grabs the file out of Tenmyouji's hands, bringing it up to her face to examine herself. "Look, this even explains that Ice-9 is just an idea pulled from science fiction! Seems you conveniently overlooked that part while you were…"

She looks as though she has more to say, but abruptly trails off instead, her expression first shifting to shock, then fury. "Wait, what?! That's highly classified information, how did they-?!"

Before I can even ask what the issue is, Alice shoves the folder at me, pressing it into my hands.

"Clover, look at this."

Confused, I rapidly begin scanning over the page, trying to figure out what so very quickly sidetracked her from the whole All-Ice thing. Okay, there's entries on Ice-9, tu fui ergo eris, integer factorization — oh hey, there's one on immunoglobulin! — Morphogenetic Field Theory, H, and SOIS. Wow, this might be the most useful file we've found thus far. I don't think she's talking about the Ice-9 or the Morphogenetic Field entries, since neither of those are exactly classified... what's "H"?

[H: This refers to Gentarou Hongou. He was one of the [REDACTED]. He was the person who supervised the kidnapping of the children who participated in the Nonary Game in 2018. He is the CEO of Cradle Pharmaceutical, and a devoted follower of Free the Soul."]

...huh, I'd actually forgotten that Hongou/Ace was a follower of Dio's cult. What's with the redacted part though? Don't think that was there in the game; that's weird. Is this what Alice is upset about, or-

Wait. There's an entry on SOIS. The department whom Alice and Clover are a part of, the existence of which is supposed to be top secret.

…ah. So that's why she's pissed.

"That's... not good." I say. "Zero definitely shouldn't know about that."

"Definitely not." Alice echoes, sounding more distressed than I've yet heard her. "I think it's safe to say we've been compromised."

"What are you two talking about?" Tenmyouji interrupts, scowling. "Our conversation isn't finished yet, Alice."

Alice turns and scowls right back. "Yes, it is. We have bigger problems right now than listening to you rave about your inane delu... sions..."

Alice trails off again, swaying on her feet as if she's suddenly gone punch drunk.

"Um, Alice? You okay...?" I ask uneasily.

"…speaking… too… fast…" Alice slurs, taking a stumbling step forward. "…world's… spinning… what's… happening…"

…oh no.

"Seriously?" Tenmyouji scoffs. "You're going to fake being lightheaded, just so you don't have to-"

"I don't think she's faking!" I frantically inform him, hurriedly propping myself underneath one of Alice's arms to support her. "Quick, help me sit her down!"

The genuine worry in my voice must be obvious, because Tenmyouji's expression softens, and he gingerly helps me lay Alice down on the nearby bench. She's holding her head as if it's throbbing, and her breathing is shallow.

"Any idea what's wrong with her?" Tenmyouji asks, now apparently fairly concerned himself.

I do. I wish I didn't.

"...Clo… ver..." Alice murmurs softly.

I bite the inside of my lip. I haven't really thought about it in more than an abstract sense up until now, but regardless of which timeline is chosen or what choices are made, someone ultimately ends up succumbing to the Radical-6's full effects early on in the game. Usually, it's Quark. But when it's not, it's…

I look down at Alice again, who appears to have passed out where she lies.

…damn it....

Chapter Text

I get Tenmyouji to agree to put off exploring the rest of this floor until we get Alice to the infirmary, which he thankfully agrees to. Seeing as she's out cold, we end up having to carry her, which is an awkward affair, particularly given the rather narrow hallways. Tenmyouji is quiet as we go, Alice's episode having completely killed his conversational momentum. That's just fine with me, as I'm having a bit of an episode myself right now.

It feels like every time I turn around, there's something new for me to worry about. Perhaps that's to be expected in this sort of situation, but this is different, because it's not me I'm concerned about this time. If I remember correctly, it's either right before or right after this round's AB game that the Radical-6's suicide-inducing effects will cause Alice to stab herself through the heart with a scalpel. That gives me next to no time to figure out how to stop it from happening, and even with my prior knowledge of what this facility contains, my options are… limited. I could take the scalpel ahead of time so Alice can't use it, but that won't stop her if she becomes actively suicidal; she'll find a way to off herself regardless. We could put her in one of the cold sleep pods and place her in stasis, but I don't remember if that room is ever open in the same timeline as the B. Garden. Other than that… damn, wasn't there anything else?!

I desperately wrack my memory for a solution as a lump begins to form in my throat. Is there really nothing I can do? I… surely there's… something...

I bow my head as I fail to come up with anything. This game isn't designed to leave the players any easy outs. Most likely, there's not-

"An Ambidex Gate has been opened." the facility intercom suddenly alerts us. "Forty-five minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes."

Tenmyouji briefly startles at that, before becoming incensed that someone opened a door before everyone's gotten back. With Alice weighing us down however, we can't really move any faster than we already are, forcing him to temper his anger for the moment. The distraction does help me to get my mind off my increasingly despairing thoughts however, allowing me to draw my focus back to simply keeping Alice's lower body well supported. Best not to think about this right now…

Eventually we come to a door that leads us into another warehouse, about as large as the one on the first floor and with three white doors on the back left wall. I don't pay it much mind, and urge Tenmyouji into leaving the room quickly so we can take the door on the right back to the elevator. Once back upstairs, we manage to slowly make our way to the infirmary, where we find Luna… looking over Quark, who's lying on the examination table, also unconscious.

"Oh dear. Alice too…?" Luna asks worriedly as she looks up and notices us walk in.

"Quark!" Tenmyouji yells, quickly helping me lay Alice down on a bed before running over. "What happened to him!?"

"While we were searching our room, he suddenly collapsed." Luna explains. "We brought him here as soon as we got out."

"Collapsed? Oh no…" Tenmyouji mutters, staring down at his adoptive son.

"Where's Phi?" I ask, turning to Luna. "Wasn't she with you?"

"She went to the warehouse to inform the others just before you came in. They'll probably be here in just-"

Before Luna can even finish her sentence, the door on the other side of the room opens, and Phi, Sigma, K, and Dio all run in.

"Clover, Tenmyouji-" Sigma starts, before noticing Alice on one of the beds. "-wait, what happened to Alice?!"

"Pretty much the same thing that apparently happened to Quark." I tell him, my voice betraying my anxiety. "Just after we finished the room, she got really dizzy, said we were speaking too fast, and passed out."

"Both of them… is it the same cause?" Phi asks no one in particular, holding a hand to her chin.

"…ngh! C'mon kid! Get a hold of yourself!" Tenmyouji suddenly shouts, grabbing Quark's shoulders and shaking him back and forth.

"Hey, stop that!" I cut in, running over and pulling his arms away. "I'm just as worried about Alice as you are about Quark, but that's not going to help him and you know it! You'll just give him whiplash on top of whatever he already has!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?!" Tenmyouji cries. "I have to save him!"

"'Save'? That seems a little extreme…" Dio says, shrugging. "Maybe he just has anemia or something."

"No, that's not it." Tenmyouji refutes, shaking his head. "I know him better than any of you. He doesn't have anemia. He's never just… collapsed, before."

"Well then call an ambulance and stop freaking out about it." Dio sarcastically suggests.

"You son of a bitch!" Tenmyouji yells, raising a fist. "This is serious!"

As much as I'd like to see Dio get punched, we have bigger concerns at the moment.

"Luna, the ADAM can diagnose what's wrong with them, right?" I ask.

Luna looks rather surprised at my suddenly addressing her, but nods. "Um, yes... at least, it should be able to figure out the most likely cause of their symptoms."

Tenmyouji whirls around.

"You have to take a look at him then!" he cries. "Please! Quark needs your help!"

"Alice too." I tack on.

I may already know what they're infected with, but maybe there's something I've forgotten, or even something they missed in the game. Maybe…

Luna's expression firms. "Okay. I'll see what I can do."

She sets about scanning Quark with the ADAM first. The others wait tensely for the results, while I start searching the medicine cabinet, trying to see if there's anything potentially useful here. Maybe a mood stabilizer or something could help ward off the worst of the Radical-6's effects…

I notice Phi giving me an odd glance out of the corner of my eye, but ignore it, as I'm not really concerned about her right now. What I am concerned about is the fact that besides the Soporil and Tubocurarine that Tenmyouji mentioned earlier, none of the jars in here have any labels, leaving me clueless as to what the vast majority of them do. Who's responsible for this?! Why in the hell would you not mark what a chemical is and what it's for on the bottle?!

Luna's face grows dark as she finishes scanning Quark, but she doesn't say anything just yet. After requesting Tenmyouji and K's assistance in moving Quark to a bed and Alice to the examination area, she begins scanning Alice as well. When she finishes…

"Well, I… I know what's wrong with them. Both of them." Luna says quietly, biting her lip. "I feel so terrible saying this, but... they... Quark and Alice have an infection. A viral infection."

Phi and Sigma are the first to catch on.

"Oh no..."

"Dont tell me..."

"Yes... they've been infected with a virus called Radical-6."

Everyone balks at the declaration.

"The disease we assumed was a hoax?" K asks, looking as sympathetic as a man in full body armor really can.

"It can't be... that isn't possible..." Tenmyouji desperately tries to rationalize.

"Have you heard of this virus?" Sigma asks Dio, seeing that he reacted as well. "You weren't there when we talked about it, after all."

"Yeah, but I was there when Quark found the article." the other man replies, holding the brim of his hat. "I didn't really believe it. I mean, how could-"

"It doesn't matter!" I interrupt, unwilling to waste time on Dio pretending to be ignorant about his cult's own virus. "Luna, is there a way to cure it?"

"W-well, ADAM says there's an anti-viral serum called 'Axelavir'. It's the only way to counteract Radical-6. If we can inject them with some, they should... they should be okay."

I nearly smack my forehead in disbelief. Axelavir! The chemical this base made specifically to cure Radical-6! There's a jar of it that's used to cure Quark and Alice in some of the timelines; how did I forget that? We just need to find it, and… damn it, can we find it? I know it isn't in the infirmary, it wasn't that readily available, but where was it...?

"Where is it?!" Tenmyouji asks, echoing my thoughts. "Shouldn't it be in the infirmary somewhere?!"

"We looked around, but we didn't see anything." Dio says.

"I don't trust a damn thing you say!" Tenmyouji yells. "I'm asking Luna!"

"I-I'm sorry, but... Dio's telling the truth. We didn't find anything." Luna replies. "Clover was just looking through the cabinets, maybe she..."

I shake my head preemptively as Tenmyouji turns to me. "You looked through them earlier, so you should already know. Barely any of the jars in there are labeled, and there isn't any Axelavir among the few that are."

Tenmyouji looks down at the ground, gritting his teeth.

"I don't suppose anyone found any while they were searching the rooms downstairs?" I ask.

"The archives didn't have anything like that." Sigma replies, shaking his head. "Not that we found, at least."

"Neither did the pantry." Phi confirms.

Shit... I think it was in one of the safes, so if they didn't find it…

"Yeah... the B. Garden didn't have any either." I say for the benefit of the others, looking away.

"Oh god, then... then he's going to... both of them are...." Tenmyouji mutters.

"Maybe we can just pick a medicine and hope for the best?" Sigma suggests.

"That's way too dangerous Sigma." Phi replies. "You can't just administer an unknown substance to people without knowing what it is; you could end up killing them."

"Alright, well, maybe there's some in one of the rooms we didn't search?" Sigma tries again.

"It doesn't matter if there is, Sigma." I say, despair setting in. "The other rooms are locked off. The only places we can go are the places we've already been, so unless we just missed something-!"

"Q-Quark?" Luna suddenly says.

Everyone turns around to see Quark standing beside the divider. His eyes are both open, but seem dull and glassy.

"Quark! Oh, thank god! You're awake!" Tenmyouji cries, moving forward to embrace his adopted son.

"Get away from me!" Quark shouts, startling Tenmyouji into backing off.

"What...?"

With no further words, Quark lunges for the scalpel lying on the nearby cart. Thankfully, due to him having been moved to one of the normal hospital beds to make room for Alice on the one attached to the ADAM, he's not in immediate grabbing range of it.

I, however, am.

My arm already in motion, I quickly snatch up the small bladed tool and dodge around Quark to shove it down the open drain of the nearby sink, the pipe beneath it too deep and narrow for there to be any hope of getting it back out. Quark rams me aside and goes for it anyways, all but throwing himself at the basin and frantically scrabbling at the opening in the bottom. When he proves unable to reach far enough down, however-

"QUARK!" Tenmyouji yells fearfully as his adopted son begins smashing his head into the dirty mirror above the sink, presumably trying to either break off a sharp piece of glass or induce some sort of brain hemorrhage. Thankfully, Sigma rushes forward and grabs hold of Quark's arms before he can do it more than once, dragging him away before he can further injure himself.

"Let go of me! I have to escape! I HAVE to!"

"Hnngh! How is this kid this strong?!" Sigma grunts. "Guys, I could use a little help here!"

At that, the rest of the room finally springs into action. Each of them grabbing and restraining one thrashing limb, K, Dio, Phi, and Sigma manage to wrestle Quark back on to the hospital bed he just got out of.

"STOP IT! LET GO OF ME YOU JERKS!"

Tenmyouji stands there with his head down, unable to even bring himself to look at the scene unfolding in front of him, until Sigma's yelling finally penetrates his depressive reverie and he moves over to help. I just watch, knowing there's not much I can do to assist anymore. Even if I could help hold Quark down, which is in question given how easily he just shoved me aside, there's no room to do so with the five other people crowded around him right now.

"DAMN IT! BASTARDS!" Quark screams. "WHY WON'T YOU LET ME GO?! I HAVE TO GET OUT OF THIS BODY!"

I wince as Quark starts ranting and crying about how he needs to die so his soul can escape, getting progressively louder and more unhinged sounding as he continues. Seeing and hearing this in person is... very different to experiencing it through the lens of a video game.

"Luna! Are there any tranquilizers in here?" Phi asks loudly, trying to be heard over the horrid racket Quark is making.

"N-No... W-Well, I mean..."

"What?!"

"There's Soporil Beta..."

"Soporil?" Dio questions.

"It's the same anesthetic as the one in our bracelets..." Luna says, barely audible over the din.

"Good! Perfect!" Phi declares. "Hit him with some of that!"

Tenmyouji protests, but Phi assures him that Quark will be fine. With another bit of prompting, Luna rushes to the desk at the left of the room and pulls a pistol-like object out of the right drawer — the injection gun, if I recall. Meanwhile, I run to the cabinet and grab a jar of Soporil, trying to make myself useful in at least some fashion. Luna accepts the container from me and loads it into the gun before hurrying back to Quark, the others squeezing aside to make room for her.

"Okay! I've got it!"

"Good!" Phi yells. "Wait until he's… Now! Do it now!"

Timing it against Quark's thrashing, Luna swiftly darts in and depresses the injector's trigger against his leg. Quark gives one last anguished howl before his movements start to slow, and his eyes droop down into sleep. After several seconds of silence, everyone steps away from the bed.

"We need to… check and make sure he's okay…" Tenmyouji insists, panting heavily alongside the others.

After we exchange Alice and Quark's positions again, Luna runs another quick scan on the latter with the ADAM and confirms that everything is normal aside from a growing bruise on his forehead, mollifying most of Tenmyouji's concerns. Phi asks how long the anesthetic should last, and Luna tells her it should keep for at least a few hours.

As Dio starts talking about how abnormally strong Quark seemed and Luna begins explaining how that's probably the virus' fault, I walk back over to Alice, staring down at her sleeping form. Is she going to wake up and try the same thing Quark just did? I actually don't remember the Radical-6 ever rendering her unconscious in the game… not before she ran off with the scalpel, at least. So I don't know what's going to happen. Can we preemptively anaesthetize her just in case? Should I ask?

I turn around to suggest the idea to Luna, only for it to suddenly occur to me upon seeing the others in such close proximity to each other that once again, everyone in the game is in the same small room. I... should really be trying to SHIFT or something right now, shouldn't I? Can't lose sight of that…

I move slightly closer to the group and give it a try, but my attempt ends up being halfhearted at best. I just can't seem to muster the will or concentration to make a full-fledged effort, my brain continually flickering back to the woman lying asleep just a few feet away from me instead of focusing on the task at hand. Oh, come on, me! Forget about Alice! Forget about this timeline entirely! I can't afford to focus on things that won't even matter soon…!

"We're lucky Quark didn't get his hands on that scalpel." Sigma says in response to something Luna said, his gaze turning to me. "Good job with that Clover."

I jolt at being addressed, my thought process temporarily drawn back to the present. "O-oh? Um, thanks… it was nothing."

"I second Sigma's opinion." K follows up. "With how Quark was acting, I've no doubt he would have attempted to stab himself had he managed to obtain something sharp enough to do so, and the rest of us failed to react quickly enough to stop him. It is likely only thanks to you that this did not end far more poorly, Clover."

"I didn't even realize he was going for the scalpel to be honest." Sigma continues, rubbing the back of his head. "How'd you figure that out so fast?"

Er...

"What's going on…?"

An unexpected voice suddenly speaks up from behind me. I whirl around to see Alice slowly sitting up from the bed.

"Alice!" I exclaim.

"Clover…? Hang on, I'm a little dizzy." Alice says, gingerly holding her forehead.

For a moment that scares me, but it seems to wear off pretty quickly, leading me to breathe a low sigh of relief. She's lucid... which is a little odd actually, since that's again not in keeping with how I remember things, but I'd much rather just be thankful than fret about it.

"Oh, you're awake!" Luna says happily as she and the others join us on the other side of the divider. "Welcome back!"

"She's not gonna go crazy on us too, right?" Dio asks, clearly skeptical.

"Crazy?" Alice repeats, taking a moment to push herself off the bed and into a standing position. "What's that supposed to mean? Why would I go crazy?"

"Well, you've got the same disease Quark does-"

"Dio, wait-!"

"-and seeing as how we just had to wrestle the kid into submission and stick him with Soporil," Dio continues, completely ignoring me, "I'd say it's a valid concern."

For god's sake, could he have been any blunter?!

"The same... what?" Alice stares at Dio uncomprehendingly, then turns to the rest of us. "Alright, I'm lost. Anyone care to tell me what's going on? Or, for that matter, how I got here? This is the infirmary, isn't it?"

I sigh. I don't want to do this...

"Alice, what's the last thing you remember?" I ask.

"Suddenly getting dizzy while arguing with him about a truly ridiculous topic down in the garden." Alice replies, gesturing at Tenmyouji. "Mind filling me in now?"

Hesitant but resigned, I begin explaining. It takes a bit, but with some help from Tenmyouji, a display of the unconscious Quark, and the occasional comment from the others, we manage to jointly recap to Alice what's gone on since she passed out. Since Dio's already pretty much let the cat out of the bag, it's not really possible to break Alice's infected status to her in a particularly gentle way... but surprisingly, she remains almost unnaturally calm when the topic is broached, doing nothing more than raise an eyebrow in response to her diagnosis. Strange, Alice isn't usually this stoic...

"...and then you woke up." I finish. "That's about it."

"Right. So, let me get this straight." Alice says almost immediately. "You're saying I'm infected with a disease. A disease that's supposedly the cause of a widespread plague, but which we established no one here has ever heard of. That we only know about because of a possibly forged newspaper article, which was left right out in the open for us to find. And that you were able to diagnose solely through the use of a strangely convenient piece of medical equipment, presumably provided to us by the very same person who trapped us here to begin with."

...oh, so that's why she took it so well. She doesn't believe us.

"You understand why I'd have trouble accepting that conclusion at face value, right?" Alice asks, crossing her arms under her chest.

"I do see what you mean," Luna replies, "but the ADAM-"

"-can't possibly be trusted." Alice points out. "That thing could have been tampered with in any number of ways."

"True," Phi acknowledges, "but I doubt Quark just up and decided to try and kill himself for no reason. Unless you have an explanation for that, we don't really have much choice but to accept the disease as real."

"Are we sure it isn't just that the pressure of the situation got to him?" Alice asks. "I mean-"

"How dare you..." Tenmyouji suddenly interrupts. "Quark would never do something like that if there wasn't something wrong with him!"

"You can't know that-"

"Yes I can!" Tenmyouji snarls, steamrolling right over whatever Alice was about to say. "I know just about everything about him!"

"Alice, I know you weren't awake for it," I interject, hoping to stop a fight from breaking out, "but there was definitely something wrong with Quark. Even for a suicidal person, that wasn't normal behavior. Please, just trust me on this..."

Alice stares at me for a long moment, before looking away and audibly exhaling.

"...fine. I suppose that even if I can't trust the evidence, I can't technically rule out the possibility either."

Tenmyouji mutters something doubtless less-than-flattering about Alice under his breath, but I can't bring myself to really care. I'm just relieved that she's at least willing to entertain the idea that Radical-6 is real now, even if she's clearly not truly convinced yet.

"So, assuming I do have this supposed virus, what exactly are we planning on doing about it?" Alice asks. "Is there anything that can be done?"

"There's supposedly a cure for Radical-6 called Axelavir, but we don't know if there's any in this facility." Phi explains. "To be safe, we'll probably need to use Soporil to put you under until-"

"NO!"

Alice's response is sudden, loud, and extraordinarily vehement, enough so that our entire group takes a collective step back from her. After a few seconds, the wild look fades from her eyes, but not from my mind. What the hell was that about...?

"...sorry. I didn't mean to shout." Alice apologizes, her expression having reverted to one of perfect composure. "There's just no need for anything like that, is what I meant to say."

I'm kind of nervous to refute her after that bizarre outburst, but I do it anyways. "I'm... pretty sure there is, Alice. Even if it isn't Radical-6, you still passed out, so something is definitely wrong..."

"I feel fine now though." Alice replies, apparently unconcerned. "If that was because of the disease, perhaps I have a partial immunity to it."

"That seems… unlikely…" Luna says.

"I'm with Luna." I say, knowing that the fact that the opinion came from her probably makes it a pretty definitive answer. "Alice, is there a reason you're so against the idea…?"

Alice looks at me as though the answer should be blatantly obvious. "Clover, think about the situation we're in right now. Our lives are hanging in the balance. I'm not letting myself be put in a medically induced coma for an indefinite period of time when by doing so I might not ever wake up again."

"But if you start acting like Quark-"

"Do I seem like I'm acting like him right now?"

"No, but the Soporil can-"

"Clover," Alice cuts me off, clearly irritated, "I am perfectly rational right now, and I plan on staying that way. I promise you, I don't need it."

I bite the inside of my cheek and turn to the others, several of whom look somewhat uncomfortable watching Alice and I argue. "Someone, please, help me convince her?"

"Well... I don't know Clover." Sigma says, rubbing the back of his head. "She does seem a lot more stable than Quark…"

"I must admit, while I too am concerned, Alice does have multiple valid points." K notes. "Whether we like it or not, our lives currently depend on continuing and finishing this game, which she will obviously be unable to do if she is forced to remain unconscious while it proceeds. Additionally, unlike Quark, she does appear to be clear of mind. Perhaps she truly is partially immune to the effects of the virus?"

"Heh, maybe." Dio adds, smirking. "Honestly, I'm starting to think she might just be right. We don't know if any of this Radical-6 bullshit is real. Maybe it really is something Zero made up just to make us all paranoid. I say let her do whatever the hell she wants."

"I'm on your side here Clover," Phi says, her hands in her pockets, "but somehow, I get the feeling my opinion doesn't really matter here. Sorry, can't help you."

"If she's really that against it, I suppose we can't force it on her…" Luna softly concedes.

Temyouji remains silent, and my heart sinks. Here I am trying to save Alice, and not only is she completely refusing to listen to me, but I apparently have no support whatsoever. Why is she being so stubborn to begin with?! I mean, I get why she's concerned, but-

"Ten minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes." the intercom suddenly rings out. "All players, please enter your votes. If no vote is recorded before the deadline has passed, any non-voting parties will automatically ally."

"Sounds like we all should be heading to the AB rooms." Alice remarks as the announcement ends.

"Not every player has to participate." I remind her. "I trust Tenmyouji to vote ally again."

"Well, I don't." Alice bluntly replies. "I'm not willing to leave this round up to chance in the event that he suddenly decides allying with you is no longer in his best interests."

"You don't need to worry." Tenmyouji says before I can respond, his expression dour. "I'm not participating this round. I'm staying here to watch over Quark."

"Oh. That's... perfect!" I exclaim, perhaps a little too enthusiastically. I guess he just decided that, because this is the first any of us have heard of it, but that works out for me.

"See Alice?" I say, turning back to her. "You don't need to be concerned. As long as you and Tenmyouji both stay here, your vote will default to ally, which means there's no way he could pick betray… in fact, maybe I'll just stay here too, that should ensure that all of us-"

"I'm afraid that won't work." K interrupts. "Our group found some supplemental rules in the archives. They state that at least one person from every group must vote each round, or else the entire team is penalized."

...oh, right. I'd actually forgotten about that rule.

"That reminds me." Tenmyouji says irritably. "Who was the person who opened an AB room before everyone else got back?"

Good question. I didn't really care earlier, but I'm less than pleased about it now, since it means I only have so long to argue Alice around to my point of view when there was really no reason I had to be on a time limit. Although, I'm fairly certain I can guess the answer anyways, since it was almost certainly…

"Dio." Phi says, not looking terribly thrilled about it herself.

…yep, gold star, me. Although… wait a minute...

I turn towards Dio. "Weren't you with K and Sigma?"

"Yeah." Dio replies nonchalantly. "So?"

"Your team was the one that found those rules, and you STILL opened a room before everyone got back?" I ask, glaring at him.

"We tried to stop him, but…" Sigma starts, then trails off.

"Hey, come on." Dio says defensively. "It's not like I knew any of this was gonna happen, and I figured there was no way it was gonna take 45 extra minutes for your groups to finish on top of how long it took us. The faster we get this game over with, the faster we can get out of here. Sue me for trying to speed things up a little."

"Speaking of which, we can't really afford to stand around discussing this any longer." Phi says. "We've wasted too much time talking already, and if we're too late getting back to the AB rooms, we're all going to end up getting 'penalized'. I doubt any of us are fond of that idea."

Everyone seems to agree on that point, at least. Phi turns towards me. "You three figure out the rest of this yourselves. Just make sure at least one of you shows up before time runs out."

With that, she begins ushering everyone else out of the room. Sigma and Luna throw a couple of brief backwards glances at us, but ultimately leave as well, and a few seconds later the room's occupancy has dropped by over half. Only myself Alice, Tenmyouji, and a sleeping Quark remain.

"So… what do you think?" I ask Alice, the atmosphere having turned somewhat awkward with everyone else's abrupt departure.

Alice gives me an exasperated look and sighs. "Fine, Clover. I'm willing to stay here for this round."

I smile-

"…but I'm still not letting you inject me with Soporil."

-only for it to immediately drop away.

"Alice, that defeats the entire purpose of you staying here!"

"I'm not changing my mind on this Clover." Alice insists, one hand on her hip. "Give it up and head to the warehouse."

For the love of- what the hell does it take to convince her?! I've got nothing left! I have no idea how I'm supposed to prove to Alice that Radical-6 is real and she really is infected with it without telling her that-

...I'm an idiot.

"Alice," I start once more, "I-"

"Clover, seriously! Just drop it already!" Alice all but shouts, her temper clearly beginning to fray.

"No, Alice, I-!" I plead. "Just- listen!"

I move in close, putting my mouth right near her ear so that Tenmyouji won't overhear us.

"Alice, I know that Radical-6 is real." I whisper to her.

"No you don't!" she hisses back. "We have nothing to go off of besides-"

"No, I know." I repeat, emphasizing the word. "Remember that talk we had earlier about me seeing the future?"

It takes a second for her to get it. Her neck snaps around, her eyes widening as she looks directly at me.

"O-oh. I see." she says, now at a normal volume. "Then you… you're sure?"

I nod.

"And... I have it?"

I nod again. "So do you believe me now?"

"Y… yes." Alice stutters, clearly shaken by the information.

"It was that simple the entire time?" Tenmyouji mutters from off to the side. "Just what did you say to her?"

"That's private." I deflect. "Now that we're finally on the same page though Alice, please, you need to let us sedate you. It's only temporary, and you'll be in danger otherwise..."

"..."

"Er… Alice?"

"…I can't." Alice says weakly.

"What?"

"I can't." Alice reiterates, voice so tiny it's barely audible. "Please don't."

What the…? What is this reaction?

"Uh... you okay there, Alice?" Tenmyouji asks.

"Please..."

Alice steps back and slumps against the wall, not crying, but looking more frightened and vulnerable than I've ever seen her. I... honestly have no idea why she's acting like this; she never does anything even close to this in the game so far as I recall. Even when she broke down and confessed everything to Sigma in the B. Garden, she didn't seem nearly this... cornered...

"Alice...?" I try.

She says nothing in response, and it quickly becomes evident that neither I nor Tenmyouji are going to get anything more out of her. She's practically shut down. Argh, there's no time for this!

Grabbing the injection gun off the desk where Luna left it and loading it with a fresh jar of Soporil, I thrust it into Tenmyouji's hands.

"Clover, what-?"

"Here. I don't know what's going on with her either, but if Alice starts freaking out or acting erratic — like, more than she is right now I mean — use it. If not, just leave her be. That's the best compromise I can come up with at the moment."

Tenmyouji gives it a brief moment of thought before answering.

"Alright, I can do that."

"Thank you." I tell him honestly, before turning to Alice one last time.

"I'll... be back soon, okay?"

Alice squeezes her eyes tightly shut and slowly, jerkily nods, which is more of a response than I was expecting. Slightly encouraged, I finally leave the room, the door shutting behind me with barely a sound.

Chapter Text

I spend a few moments in the hallway connecting to the warehouse just standing in place, thinking. Try as I might, I cannot come up with any explanation for Alice's behavior back there. She seemed downright terrified, but not even of the Radical-6... so, of what? The Soporil? I mean yeah, it's the stuff in our bracelets, but it's the Tubocurarine that actually kills us. The Soporil is honestly a mercy if you think about it...

Shaking my head, I decide to try and not let it bother me for now. Hopefully by the time I get back Alice will have recovered from... whatever that was, and we can figure out some alternative solution. There's nothing I can do about it until then.

As I enter the warehouse, I'm surprised to see Phi leaning up against one of the AB rooms, seemingly waiting for me. The others are nowhere to be seen, presumably having already entered rooms of their own.

"I see you managed to convince Alice to stay behind." Phi says.

I nod absently, and begin walking towards one of the rooms on right. Before I can even get close to it however, my arm is suddenly grabbed from behind. I spin around to find Phi latched on to it, staring at me with a rather intense expression.

"When this round finishes, we're going to have a talk, and you're going to explain everything you know about our situation. Understood?"

I blink at her in confusion. "What?"

"I've been suspicious for a while, but you know more than you're letting on, don't you?" Phi accuses, her tone brooking no argument. "That scene back there pretty much proved it."

"Wha- because I was trying so hard to convince Alice that she's sick, when she was utterly refusing to believe it?" I ask, stunned. "How does that prove anything?"

"It's not that." Phi says calmly. "Or at least, not just that. What I mean is that until Quark went off the deep end, none of the rest of us had any idea that the virus would cause him to try to kill himself. I mean, who's ever heard of a suicide plague? But when he woke up, you immediately tossed the only bladed object in the room down the sink. Sigma and the others might have passed it off as you just reacting quickly, but I saw you. You started moving before Quark did. Meaning, you knew exactly what he was going to attempt."

…alright, that's admittedly more damning than what I thought she was talking about.

"I'm not saying I don't appreciate you stopping Quark from grabbing that scalpel," Phi continues when I don't reply, "but if you know about Radical-6, I'm guessing you probably know a little more than that too. You'd better have a good reason for not informing the rest of us, or it's going to be a really unpleasant talk."

With that, Phi releases my arm, scans her moon card at the AB room she was leaning on, and walks inside. The entrance closes behind her mere moments later.

After taking a moment to process what just happened, I tilt my head back and sigh. It's not that I'm the only one who already knows about Radical-6, it's just that I'm apparently the worst actor — er, actress — of the group. Honestly though, whatever. It's not like Phi really has anything to back up the implicit threat she just made, so of all the things I'm worried about right now, she is not one of them. Don't have a clue what I'm going to tell her though...

As I fish the moon card I got from the B. Garden out of my pocket, a stray thought suddenly occurs to me. Moving over to the rightmost room, I peer around its side and quickly spot a small white rag with disconcerting red patches on it sitting right out in the open on the floor. I pick it up and nervously scan my card in the card reader of the adjacent room, ducking inside as soon as I can.

As I press the start button on the touch screen and the doors close behind me, I unfurl the handkerchief, revealing the still bloody knife that Dio used to kill Akane. I immediately rewrap it, having confirmed all that I needed to. Good, now Dio won't be able to use this... well, as long as I keep it well hidden, anyways. I don't know if it's even a concern right now, given that he's yet to actually kill anyone directly thus far, but I'd definitely rather be safe than sorry. This is the one method by which I might die that I can actually control, so I'm not just going to ignore it. In fact, I might want to keep this on me for self-defense purposes... although...

I look down and lament, not for the first time, Clover's minimalistic clothing choices. Yeah, unless I want to flat out advertise to everyone else that I'm carrying a knife I obviously didn't have before, I don't think that's happening. I'll just hide it in here; that way even if Dio does go looking for it, it'll be inaccessible once the doors shut us out until we finish the next round of escape rooms.

Looking around for a good spot, my eye lands on the empty fire extinguisher box at the back right of the room. Opening it, I place the bloody knife and handkerchief inside before closing it back up. It should be pretty well hidden there. With the puzzles necessary to escape the room already complete, I doubt anyone is going to think to open that up again.

"Thirty seconds remain until Ambidex Game polling closes."

Standing up, I hit the ally option on the screen without really thinking about it. Even if I wasn't the only member of my group playing this round, I have next to no investment in this. Knowing that it's impossible to truly leave this place really takes away from the tension of the choice. Not great, given that I actually need to be stressed in order to SHIFT- wait, did I seriously- gah, I forgot to keep trying to do that, again! The whole Alice situation has been way, way too distracting…

I spend the countdown of the last ten seconds making another attempt at ejecting my consciousness into another timeline, which once again turns up no real results. As the end of the round is announced and the doors reopen, I decide to give it up until everyone's in one place again, no matter how that hasn't seemed to help me very much thus far. That decided, I walk back outside, antsy to get back to the infirmary.

"You son of a bitch…"

Surprised, I look over to my right. Sigma is staggering out of his AB room after a smirking Dio, one hand cradling his nose and mouth. I'm not the only one to notice, as the others, still exiting their own AB rooms, are also staring at the pair right now.

"Did something happen?" K asks.

"Yes something happened!" Sigma yells, furiously pointing at Dio with his spare hand. "He punched me in the face so he could pick what he wanted is what happened!"

Everyone turns towards the smirking faux-ringmaster, who looks far too pleased with himself.

"What? Yeah, he didn't agree with my choice, so I laid him out."

…well, looks like I have my answer as to how the AB room decision between those two would go...

"Despicable." Phi says with an air of disgust, crossing her arms and looking away.

Luna rushes over to check on Sigma's wound, a large bruise already visibly forming on his skin, while I just narrow my eyes in Dio's general direction. K, surprisingly, says nothing.

"Results from round two of the Ambidex Game will now be displayed." Akane's voice informs us over the speakers. "Please direct your attention to the results screen."

As one, we turn to see the results...

Luna+Quark: ALLY
Phi: ALLY
Tenmyouji+Alice: ALLY
Clover: ALLY
Sigma+Dio: BETRAY
K: BETRAY

"Points have been assigned or subtracted accordingly. Please check your bracelet to see your updated Bracelet Points."

I don't even bother looking this time, since there's hardly any point.

"Well well, would you look at that?" Dio smugly announces. "Looks like I was right to pick betray, huh Sigma? Knew we couldn't trust a robot."

"Screw you…" Sigma replies through gritted teeth.

"Oy, you should be kissing my ass right now! I just saved you from losing points." Dio says, crossing his arms and raising a finger in annoyance.

"Actually," K interrupts, "I primarily made the choice I did because I assumed something of this nature might occur. You were not particularly subtle about your thoughts concerning my trustworthiness, after all."

"Oh please! You just wanted to get enough points to escape and leave everyone stuck here. Don't bother denying it, bastard!"

"I could accuse you of the very same thing." K replies calmly. "Either way, it does not justify physically attacking your partner."

"Yeah, seriously!" Sigma adds.

"That so?" Dio says, sneering derisively. "Well, sorry if I didn't feel like leaving my fate in the hands of the guy who's deluded enough to claim he can speak cat."

"I told you, I'm not-"

"Crazy? Cracked in the head? A few yarn balls short of a basket?"

"Dio, I swear, I will punch you right back if you don't-"

"What, stop?" Dio taunts. "Nah, pretty sure I'm safe. I'd bet you're probably as weak as a kitten anyways, and too much of a scaredy-cat to try taking a swing. Too much of a pussy, one might even say-"

"Alright, THAT'S IT!" Sigma roars. "I've had just about enough of mew! You are the WORST purrtner that anyone could pawsibly-"

As his brain catches up with what his mouth just said, Sigma cuts himself off and flushes while Dio almost doubles over, howling with laughter. Jeez, give the guy a break you jackass, it's not that funny…

"…heh." Dio grins, his laughter tapering off. "You know, hearing a guy your age talk like that is actually kinda creepy. Old farts should not be using speech I'd expect more from a toddler or a teenage girl."

"Hey! I'm no older than you!" Sigma protests.

Dio full on cackles at that. "Your dementia must finally be setting in, because I reallllly doubt that."

Wait, they aren't supposed to be referencing his age that explicitly-

"So do I, actually." Phi interjects. "What are you talking about Sigma? There's no way you're as young as he is."

"Of course there is!" Sigma exclaims defensively. "He can't possibly be that much younger than me! I'm only 22 years old!"

A moment of flat silence passes through the group.

That… definitely wasn't supposed to happen…

"You're… you're not." Phi slowly replies, sounding rather off-balance from Sigma's claim. "There's no way. You look like the oldest person here, period."

"Wha- no I don't! What?!"

Sigma looks around wildly, obviously desperate for someone to refute the two of them, but finds only faces of doubt and disbelief in varying degrees.

"Sigma, are you okay…?" Luna asks.

"Mirror. I need a mirror…"

"Heh, looks like the old timer's finally lost it." Dio casually remarks as Sigma's voice turns ragged and begins trailing off into a series of incoherent mumbles. "Bets on what's wrong with him?"

"It isn't Radical-6 again, is it?" Phi asks worriedly.

"I don't think so..." Luna says, a concerned expression crossing her face as she watches Sigma sway almost drunkenly on his feet. "At least, this doesn't fit with the known effects of the virus so far."

"I would tend to agree." K adds. "Sigma simply seems... confused, at the moment. Regardless, I suggest that we move him to the infirmary to ensure he does not accidentally hurt himself."

Luna nods in agreement, while Sigma's gaze swivels to K, his normal eye widening. Rapidly stumbling forward, he all but throws himself at the armored man, staring into the yellowish metal that covers him with a near manic intensity. Unfortunately for him, it isn't anywhere near well-polished enough to reflect more than vague blurs.

"Sigma, you are unwell." K says gently, preparing to restrain him. "Forgive me, but I must-"

Sigma twists, his eyes alighting on the bracelet on K's left arm. Tearing away before K can grab him, he wrenches his arm up to his face, twisting the bracelet on it back and forth to try and make it catch the light. Realizing what he's doing, I look down at my own bracelet, bringing it close to my face and tilting it to try and get the right angle. After a few seconds, I manage to make out a dim image of Clover's face staring back at me from within the dark, polished looking surface.

So these are reflective enough for that. Which means that any second now, Sigma is likely going to-

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!" Sigma screams.

…see himself…

"Sigma!" Luna and Phi simultaneously cry out.

One of Sigma's hands frantically reaches up to his face, fingers curling around the bionic eye he didn't know he had and tugging on it as if he's trying to tear it out by force. Then suddenly his normal eye rolls upwards in his head, and he crumples to the floor, unconscious.

…well. That happened.

"Man, people are just passing out all over the place today, huh?" Dio comments.

Phi shoots him another nasty look before running over to Sigma's fallen form, followed by Luna and K. I run over myself a few seconds later, my mind awhirl.

Given what went down between Tenmyouji and Alice earlier with the whole All-Ice thing, perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised about something going completely off the rails, but... that was one of the biggest reveals of the game just now. Sigma wasn't supposed to know about his age until after literally everything else is already resolved. Should I have tried to prevent this, somehow? I barely realized what was going to happen before it did, but maybe if I'd said something early on... well, too late now. I suppose if I ever manage to get out of this timeline, I'm going to have to hope the others aren't completely different as a result of what just happened here. Lovely.

Once again I find myself helping haul an unconscious body off the floor, the four of us lifting Sigma up in tandem and slowly carrying him towards the infirmary. Meanwhile, Dio walks off in the opposite direction, apparently to inspect the number 9 door. Ass...

Luckily, the infirmary isn't far away, so we don't have to carry Sigma long. About half a minute later, the four of us shuffle into the room... and are greeted with the sight of Tenmyouji kneeling on the floor, holding his stomach. Oh, for the love of- what now?!

"Tenmyouji?" Phi says, sounding shocked. "What happened?!"

"Alice..." Tenmyouji moans in a strained voice, as if it pains him to talk.

...Alice?

I frantically look around the room. She's not here-!

Letting go of Sigma, leaving the others to set him down on the examination bed, I run to Tenmyouji's side.

"Where's Alice?!" I almost shriek.

"She's gone..." Tenmyouji wheezes. "It was just like Quark... she just suddenly stood up… started saying we were all going to die... wouldn't listen to me..."

"What about the injection gun?!"

"Tried that..." Tenmyouji feebly gestures to the right side of the room, where I notice the tool lying discarded on the ground. "...she smacked it out of my hands... kicked me... took me down almost instantly..."

"How long ago?!"

"Can't have been more than half a minute…"

Without another word, I leap to my feet and burst out of the room, heading for the next floor down. Alice goes to the B. Garden in the game when this happens, right?! If I don't get there in time-!

The short elevator ride feels like an eternity, my mind spending the entirety of the wait fretting over every little thing I could have done differently. Ten minutes, we weren't even gone for ten minutes! Damn it, I should've known the Radical-6 would hit Alice in full at the worst possible time; how else does it ever work in this sort of scenario?! She shouldn't have the scalpel at least, but that doesn't really guarantee anything; please, let me make it!

The second the elevator lets me out, I scramble back to the B. Garden as quickly as I can (falling once along the way because of my stupid heels) and duck under the door before it's even fully raised. Inside, I find…

Nothing.

My head turns rapidly from side to side. The room is empty, just like we left it, and despite its size there isn't anywhere to really hide. She's not here?! Then where...?!

Barely thinking, I rush back to the Floor B nexus. As I arrive, the elevator doors open again, revealing Phi, K, and Dio.

"Have you found her?" K asks, his tone grim.

"No, I haven't!" I yell, already shoving myself through the green door. "Check the pantry and the warehouse!"

Leaving the others behind in record time, I sprint down the hall towards the archives. If I can't rely on knowledge from the game, I'm just going to have to check everywhere Alice could have possibly gone!

I eventually find myself at another three door nexus, panting heavily and aching from a second shoe-induced fall, fairly certain that I pulled a muscle in the process this time. Tugging on the lever at the center to open up the door on the left, I stagger at an only slightly less frantic pace down the revealed hallway, my lungs still burning from lack of air. Thankfully, my destination isn't far now, and a few seconds later the door of the archives automatically slides up in response to my presence. I stumble inside... and stop dead.

The room I've just entered is fairly tall, its walls lined with bookshelves over twice the size of the door. At the center left is a large desk with a mechanical scale and a small ink bottle sitting on it, the latter knocked on its side and dripping its contents all over the soft blue carpet below. The shelves directly above the desk appear to have had the books they housed pulled out and haphazardly thrown around the room, as if someone grabbed and tossed them out of the way in order to use the shelves as handholds. Presumably, they were trying to reach the ledge at the top.

That someone is lying in the center of the floor, her neck snapped backwards at a truly sickening angle.

A lump wells up in my throat as I stare at Alice's body. Turning away, I leave the room and lurch down the hall at a much slower pace than I arrived. The door at the other end slides up before I get there, spitting out Phi. She opens her mouth to speak-

"Alice is dead in the archives." I tell her, monotone.

Having headed her off before she could say anything, I brush past the girl without another word, heading back to the nexus. I… I need to be alone right now…

When I step out of the elevator back on Floor A, I find Luna and Tenmyouji standing there waiting, the latter supporting himself via a hand on the former's shoulder.

"Oh, Clover." Luna says. "We were just about to head down to help."

"Did you find Alice?" Tenmyouji asks.

"Yes." I whisper as I walk around the pair, never once meeting their gaze.

I end up going to one of the rooms in the crew quarters, the one place I can think of that I'm likely to have any privacy. As soon as I've closed the door behind me, I curl up in the back corner and immediately break down. Heavy tears stream down my face, my body trembling as I weep without restraint.

Why did she- why did she have to-! It's not fair! Why couldn't I- I should have… should have insisted she let us use the Soporil on her, no matter how much she didn't want to be, why didn't I just insist?! I knew this would happen, and yet I…! I...

I let her die…

I don't know how long I sit there, but my tears eventually slow. I don't feel any better however, and a small part of my mind begins to wonder if something is wrong with me, as I honestly don't understand why this is affecting me so badly. Why do I care so much about this? Why do I care at all?! Alice isn't important in the ultimate scheme of things! She dies in almost every timeline, has no truly critical role to play besides helping Sigma get one of the bomb codes out of Dio, and until literally hours ago, I only knew her as a fictional character, and not even one I was particularly attached to! So why… why am I…

A fresh wave of sobs overtakes me, and I bury my face in my knees. Is… is it because I'm Clover? Are her own feelings for Alice somehow carrying over to me? It's got to be something like that; I've basically been fixated on her ever since she collapsed in the garden, and while Alice may have held me and let me cry on her shoulder for a bit, surely I can't naturally be this upset about her death when I barely even knew her. There's got to be some physical component in play here; there has to be… right...?

The sound of the door opening startles me from my thoughts. I look up to see who it is... only to see Dio standing in the doorway, blocking my access to the hall.

"What are you doing here…?" I murmur, instantly on guard as I hurriedly stand and wipe the tears from my eyes.

Dio smiles, one hand in his coat pocket and the other on the brim of his hat. "Calm down there Clover, I just came to find you. Phi and Luna were worried you might be about to do something stupid, so I offered to go look for you."

Dio, volunteering for anything that doesn't ultimately benefit him? Yeah, right. This is bad; why would he be here, if not to… no. Surely, without the knife, he wouldn't try...

"Why are you actually here?" I ask.

"Uh, didn't I just tell you?"

"Yeah. I just don't believe you." I clarify, glaring at him with as much ire as I can muster. "What's in your hand?"

Dio frowns, but pulls his other hand out of his coat, holding up his empty palms in a placating manner. "Nothing. Hey, I know you're upset about Alice and all, but that doesn't have anything to do with me. No reason to be so suspicious, I'm just here to help."

I bare my teeth as he walks into the room. My back is already against the wall; I don't have anywhere to go…

"Back off, Dio." I growl, though it hardly comes off as intimidating with my voice still all tremulous from crying.

"Look… I can empathize." Dio says, ignoring me. "I… I've lost someone close to me too. I won't say it gets better, but what I can say, is that-"

"Go AWAY!" I shout, cutting him off. "In case you didn't realize, it's a little too late for you to try playing the nice guy!"

He halts, apparently considering that, then shrugs.

"Alright, fair point."

Balling his hand into a fist, Dio lunges, aiming to punch me in the ribs. Having already expected an attack, I manage to dodge to the side, and Dio's fist impacts the wall, causing him to recoil in pain. I clamber over the metal bed, trying to get to the door, but before I can get there an arm lashes out from behind me and grabs me around the waist, sending me crashing to the floor. Dio's weight comes down on top of me and smashes my chest into the ground, eliciting a heavy gasp of pain from me and giving my attacker the chance to tighten his grip. Shit!

I thrash wildly as Dio tries to pin me to the floor. Unable to turn around, but knowing our rough positions, I bring my head up as quickly as possible to smash into his face. I feel the back of my skull hit teeth, and a satisfyingly pained cry rings out from right above me, but the arm around my waist doesn't loosen enough for me to escape it. I do manage to get my own arm free however, which I blindly reach backwards with in hopes of perhaps shoving one of Clover's nails through an eye-

Dio manages to get his other arm around me, and I feel something sharp settle across my throat. I freeze, and Dio laughs.

"You fucking bitch... gotta give you credit, I didn't expect you to put up that much of a fight."

I'm dead. He's going to kill me; I have to SHIFT now.

"Where the hell did you get a knife from?!" I scream, legitimately unclear as to how the situation I'm in right now is even possible. I already took care of the only two blades in the facility!

"Funny story, that." Dio drawls. "I had a better one, but it seems to have gone missing. Luckily, while everyone was running around looking for your dead friend, I just happened to find this one lying on the floor in a room set up to look like some sorta giant garden."

…the paring knife. God DAMN IT-!

"Hey, that was the one you went through, right?" Dio says, his voice practically radiating smugness. "Thanks for leaving this out for me to find. Really, I appreciate it."

"Why are you doing this?! Because I didn't want to pair up with you?!" I ask, desperately trying to stall for time. Come on asshole, you never know when to shut up in the game…!

Dio laughs again, not bothering to try and make it sound non-maniacal. "Nah, that's just a bonus. I was gonna do this from the start. Don't feel too bad though; by the end of this game, I plan on being the only one to walk out of here alive."

SHIFT! SHIFT already! How is this not enough fucking crisis to activate it?!

"There's no way you won't get caught." I spit. "The others aren't that stupid."

"Eh, maybe." Dio admits. "But they're down three people already, and everyone who isn't out like a light right now is busy dealing with the body downstairs. Without any witnesses, I'd bet I can blame this on Zero easily enough. Or, maybe I'll make it look like a suicide! The poor teenage girl, hysterical over the loss of her only friend, decides to join her in death. Kinda poetic, huh? I'd buy it. Besides, even if the others do see through me, I've always got my trump card…"

Why isn't this working?! Shit, there's got to be something else I can use to keep Dio talking! Something, anything-!

"Why even bring bombs in here if you're just planning on killing everyone yourself?!" I try.

I feel Dio tense in surprise, but he seems to get over it much faster than I would have expected, his voice dropping into a snarling hiss. "I don't know how you know about that you little bitch, but it's not gonna matter in a few seconds, so I think I'll just leave you to wonder about it in the afterlife. So long."

Wait-!

Dio's hand moves to the left. A burning pain envelops my throat, and I choke, feeling as if something just went down the wrong pipe. A spray of blood exits my mouth, coating the ground beneath me with flecks of red.

No...

The arm uncurls from around my stomach as Dio stands back up, setting the paring knife on the floor next to me. I try to push myself up as well, but the world suddenly starts spinning around me, and I collapse back to the floor before I'm more than a few inches off of it. I manage to shakily bring a hand up to my neck, finding it covered in a warm, sticky liquid that seeps between my fingers like water from a broken faucet.

I can't... breathe...

Dio steps over top of me, deftly avoiding the rapidly pooling puddle of blood as he strolls out of the room. I desperately want to curse him, to spit in his face at the very least, but I can barely even lever my head off the ground. My killer looks down at me for a final time, grinning, and slowly closes the door, the slam of the metal a death knell in my ears.

I gasp again, every attempted breath more agonizing than the last as I slowly drown in my own blood. More tears slip down my face as my thoughts begin to slow, feeling as if they're being dredged up from the bottom of the ocean.

…I failed... I couldn't do anything...

Darkness begins encroaching on my vision, threatening to blind me.

...why... why did this... happen...?

My body feels numb.

...too much wishing to be in.... any world other than my own... I guess... careful what you wish for... and all that...

Unable to keep it raised any longer, my head slumps to the floor. A single strand of curled pink hair falls down in front of eyes that I can't seem to keep open.

...don't even get to die... as myself... in the end...

...heh... what a joke…

...

..

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

I am floating. Bodilessly drifting through a void of nothingness. Everything feels far away.

A glowing line gradually comes into view. Small, pulsing nodes are spaced unevenly across its length, seeming to crook the line where they lie. I look down upon it with my nonexistent eyes, regarding it with all the uncaring incomprehension of a soul trapped within an endless dream.

As I drift closer, an unseen force seems to pull at me, steadily drawing me down towards the line. I can't summon enough conscious thought to care, and so just let it happen, feeling nothing but a vast, overpowering sense of detachment. Soon, I find myself slowly gliding towards one of the strange nodes, which thrums like a beating heart in the distance.

The closer I get to the node, the stronger the pull seems to become. Unable and unwilling to resist, I continue to accelerate until I'm hurtling downwards towards the node like a meteor in freefall. Before I even know it, its light engulfs and swallows me completely.

There's a sudden falling sensation, and then...

"You do want to come with us, right Clover?"

...what?

I blink reflexively, my mind still playing catch up. I- I'm-?

"Clover?"

My eyes dart over to the speaker. Alice. Alive. Not dead.

Not... dead?

My hand snaps up to my throat. It's whole. Intact. Clean. But… it wasn't. Just a second ago, it was...

"Clover...?"

I slowly look around the small room, finally starting to process what's going on. I'm... back at the doors. Everyone's here... Sigma, Quark, Luna-

Dio.

I scramble backwards, my back slamming into the wall behind me. My heart flips into overdrive, pupils dilating as my breaths start coming short and fast, too fast, no, I can't breathe again, no, NO-

"Clover?! What's wrong?!"

"She's started hyperventilating!"

"Some sort of panic attack?!"

"The hell are you looking at me for?"

"We don't have time to deal with this! We need to make a choice now!"

"Fine! Luna, take her!"

"Wh-what? Why-"

"You have medical training, right?! Help Clover!"

I feel somebody pick me up and thrust me into someone else's arms.

"Everyone, get to the doors!"

My vision blurs, and I sink back into darkness.

Chapter Text

When my eyes open again, I find myself staring up at a low ceiling, lying on something flat. As the fog of sleep lifts from my mind, I slowly pan my eyes down, hoping against hope...

…nope, still Clover.

I quickly sit up and look around, unsure of exactly where I am. I appear to be in a bed — one of three, all of them sheetless, lined up beside each other in a neat little row. To my right is a sink with a dirty mirror hanging above it, while the rest of the room is hidden by a dark blue room divider… I'm in the infirmary?

Footsteps from the other side of the room draw my attention. A second later, Luna rounds the divider, and spots me sitting up.

"Oh, you're awake!" Luna says with undisguised relief. "Wait right here, I'm going to go get the others."

Before I can ask or even say anything, she's already left. Questions dying in my throat, I let myself slowly lean back against the wall, trying to process everything.

I made it. I can SHIFT. In fact, not only can I SHIFT, but my memory apparently stays with me in its entirety, unlike Sigma and Phi's until the very end of the game. That's incredibly useful. Not having to rely on "flashes of insight" should give me a huge advantage in making it to the correct timeline…

I draw my knees up to chest, quivering.

…if only I hadn't had to die for it to work. That was the single most terrifying experience of my life — though, I guess that's only natural, seeing as how it literally killed me. I can almost still feel the paring knife pressed up against my throat, and Dio's weight bearing down upon my back… even though I took precautions, they didn't make any difference in the end. I shouldn't have isolated myself; I should have known.

I squeeze my legs tightly, wishing that the sensation comforted me more. The fact that I had such a huge advantage information-wise and yet still ended up dead by Dio's hand is honestly an extremely depressing thought. Worse, I only managed to go back as far as the second set of doors: Akane is still dead, and I still need to make it to a timeline where she's not. But it seems like in order to do that, I'm probably going to have to...

I shut my eyes, squeezing back the oncoming tears before they can fall this time. No. I'll figure out how to SHIFT without dying; I will. I know it's not an absolutely necessary step of the process, and now that I've done it once, surely-

My mental self-reassurances are interrupted as the door slides up, and an entire throng of people rush into the room. Alice, heading the pack, is the first to spot me.

"Clover!"

Alice runs to the side of my bed, and I stand up just in time for her to envelop me in a tight, obviously relieved hug. Even with her strange chest ring pressing into parts of my anatomy that I'm still not exactly used to, I can't help but feel comforted, particularly given the state I last saw her in. I find myself hugging back almost immediately, smiling despite myself.

"Alice..."

I look over her shoulder at the watching crowd, which thankfully seems largely content to let us have our moment. After a little while, Alice breaks our embrace, which the others take as their cue to speak up.

"Welcome back." Sigma starts.

"Grandpa was worried about you." Quark says, smiling. "We're glad to see you're okay Miss Clover!"

"Indeed." K adds. "I believe we can all agree that it is good to see you are alright now."

"Yeah… had us pretty nervous for a bit there."

The last voice sends ice racing up my spine, and I flinch backwards as Dio steps past Phi and Sigma to the front of the group, trying to force myself not to panic. Have to stay calm… don't want to pass out again…

I quickly wrench my eyes away, trying not to focus on the man who murdered me. He wouldn't try anything while everyone else is around, right? Then again, I'd thought he wouldn't attack me without his knife, but that just made him go find a different one-

"Clover?" Sigma says. "You're still with us, right?"

I shake my head to try and clear it. I need to focus on the here and now.

"Y-yeah." I stutter out. "Hey, everyone… what did I miss?"

"After you passed out, I did my best to regulate your breathing." Luna explains. "Your respiration stabilized before too long, but you didn't wake up, so I carried you to the next room."

"Miss Luna said we should still check you in the infirmary, so we solved all the puzzles as quick as we could, and got you back here as fast as possible!" Quark adds.

Looks like I was out long enough to miss the escape room entirely… I'm not sure if that's a problem or not, but right now I'm leaning on the side of not.

"Thanks. Both of you." I say. "Sorry to have caused so much trouble."

"Our team escaped and made it back here not long after." K adds. "Sigma's team showed up about ten minutes later."

"I'm just happy you're awake." Alice says. "You really scared me back there…"

"Well, let's not celebrate just yet." Tenmyouji interrupts. "I'm glad Clover's awake and all too, but we can't just forget what we found out."

The mood of the room abruptly darkens. I look from face to face, trying to figure out what's wrong, but can't discern anything from them.

"What's wrong? Someone mind cluing me in?" I ask, when no one speaks up after several seconds.

Alice bites her lip and turns to look me straight in the eye.

"I'm sorry Clover, but… you're infected with Radical-6."

…

I sit back down on the bed and lower my head into my hands, unable to stop myself from letting loose a small giggle at Alice's solemn pronouncement.

"Clover, that wasn't a joke." Sigma says seriously.

I know it's not, but the irony of this situation is too staggering for me not to laugh at it.

"So, you used the ADAM on me while I was out then?" I ask, raising my head again.

Alice nods, her expression still grim. "As soon as we escaped and made it back here. Luna wasn't sure why you started hyperventilating, so she scanned you, and… the machine diagnosed you as positive for the virus."

Not exactly surprising, seeing as how literally everyone here except Luna would show positive for said virus. Though, come to think of it…

I lean over and count the number of heads. Everyone still seems to be up and about, Quark and Alice included… I guess no one's actually been hit by the Radical-6 yet, somehow? That's strange. And makes me the only one who's suspected of being sick, apparently.

"Don't worry," Alice says reassuringly, "I promise, we'll find a way to cure it."

"…you can say that, but I don't really see how." Tenmyouji says dolefully, looking away.

"Yeah, have you forgotten where we are?" Dio asks, raising a finger and tilting his head to the side. "Luna already said she can't cure it with anything in here, so what exactly do you think-"

"Did I ask for your input?" Alice says irritably, speaking over him. "We'll find a way."

I just sit there, watching the others talk. I don't know how to convince them that Radical-6 isn't why I collapsed, and frankly I'm not sure I even want to. It's a convenient excuse, really.

"Until then though, you'll need to stay here, okay Clover?"

...or maybe a not so convenient excuse.

"Wait, what do you mean?" I protest. "If we can't treat the virus anyways, I don't see how me staying in the infirmary helps."

"We barely have any idea what the effects of Radical-6 are." Alice explains. "All we know is that it caused you to hyperventilate and fall unconscious, but there could be any number of other symptoms. If something else happens, it's best for you to already be here, so you can be treated as fast as possible."

…right, most of the group doesn't know that Radical-6 causes suicide, they just know that it's supposedly deadly… and now they're getting the wrong idea about it on top of that. Damn, I really don't want to be stuck in the infirmary. Not only is it bad to be left out of current events, but staying in one place and having everyone know about it is practically inviting Dio to come kill me again. Luckily, I have what might be the perfect answer for this.

"Alice, the ADAM isn't trustworthy. We found it in here after all — it could have been tampered with in any number of ways." I say, using her own words to make my point.

"Yes, it might have been." Alice admits. "But we can't take that risk."

I stare at her for a second. What the- are you- Miss Hypocritical here- arrrrrgh, the humor of this role reversal is still not lost on me, but I'm not finding it quite as funny anymore. Okay, so if that didn't work, then… this is still after I told Alice about "seeing the future", right?

"Look, Alice, you don't need to worry about me anymore." I say, trying to put the same sort of emphasis on my words as last time. "I'm sure of it."

"I would not be so certain." K says. "The newspaper clipping we discovered seemed to indicate the disease as being highly dangerous."

"No, I just- I know I'm not in any more danger, alright?" I say, giving Alice a pointed look and willing her to understand it.

"Huh...? Clover, what are you talking about?" Sigma asks, confused.

"It's a private thing between me and her. You wouldn't understand." Alice says aloud, then drops her voice to a whisper and speaks directly in my ear. "I'm sorry Clover, but I can't accept that. Even if you mean it, I can't trust that your judgment hasn't been compromised by the virus too."

…you've got to be kidding me.

"Don't worry too much Clover." Dio says airily. "Luna's already agreed to stay here and watch over you, since she's got the most chance of being able to do something about it if anything does happen."

I shudder, squirming away from the sound of his voice again. No, I can't stay here, I can't- actually, wait, I shouldn't even be staying in this timeline, let alone this room. I know I can SHIFT now, and even if I only managed it in... the circumstances that I did, maybe now that I've actually experienced it…

Closing my eyes, I try once more to eject my consciousness from the timeline. When nothing happens, I reach for the feeling of how it happened before, trying to draw on that for reference… only for my mind to immediately connect it to the sensation of choking on my own blood, the memory sending another full body tremor through me before I manage to wrench my thoughts away from the subject.

"Luna, she's shivering!" Alice says worriedly, placing a hand on my forehead. "Is that another effect of the virus?"

"Not that any of us would know, but I'd actually guess that Clover's just cold." Tenmyouji remarks. "It's hardly any wonder; we're all cold. This place doesn't really seem to have been built with comfort in mind."

"Yeah, and she's… not exactly wearing much…" Sigma adds, rather obviously eyeing me. I let it slide, too caught up in my own head to pay him much mind right now.

"...oh." Alice says, evidently not having thought of that. "Well, just bear with it for now, Clover. We'll be out of here soon."

I acknowledge her with a sort of shaky nod, no longer willing to argue the point.

"That's a nice sentiment and all, but it's only going to come true if we keep looking for a way out." Phi says, the only words I've heard her speak since she first entered the room. "We need to get back to it. Come on."

The white-haired girl moves to the door and walks out of the room without another word. Realizing that she's probably right, the others begin to trickle out after her, most of them wishing me well as they go. Alice, now at the back of the group, gives me a final parting look and a promise to check in soon before the door shuts itself behind her, leaving me alone in the infirmary with Luna again.

"Just lie down and rest for now, okay?" Luna soothingly instructs as quiet falls over the room.

"…yeah, alright." I say dully, flopping back down on the uncomfortably hard bed.

Luna seems to accept my words despite my unhappy tone and sits down two beds away from me, presumably wanting to keep close while also trying not to invade my personal space. I don't know why she's even bothering, since there's nothing she can do if the Radical-6 really does kick in, but I guess she promised the others or something.

I sigh, staring up at the ceiling. Great… so, to summarize, I've been semi-permanently confined to the infirmary, I still can't SHIFT on demand, and I probably have a touch of PTSD from Dio slicing my neck open. Hard to believe my situation has somehow gotten even worse, but apparently I have a real talent for making that happen.

I roll over on the bed, pressing my face into the overly firm mattress. What the heck am I going to do about Dio anyways? Since I seem to be trapped in this timeline for now, I have no choice but to think about it, especially since it's entirely likely he's going to start killing people again the second he gets the opportunity. I guess if I'm ever allowed out of here I could try to take him by surprise; ambush him before he does it to me or anyone else… but even if I succeeded, his bombs are on a failsafe, so they'd probably activate and blow everyone up anyways. That would admittedly be a quicker way of going out than having my throat slit again, but I'd really prefer to find a way to move timelines that doesn't involve me getting killed, especially since I have no guarantee that will even work a second time. I certainly can't seem to do it now after all, and even just trying was…

Shivering at the thought, I roll back over, finding my previous position uncomfortable. I can't let what Dio did to me affect me like this; I'll never manage to SHIFT again if I do. Usually nothing does affect me like this, honestly. Granted, I've never been murdered before, but other negative experiences have always tended to affect me more… abstractly? No, that's not the right word. "Clinically", perhaps? There just... usually feels like there's a certain degree of separation between an issue and how I actually process it, kind of like I'm always looking at things from an outside perspective, even when a problem directly affects me. This, though… I don't know if it's because of how it happened, or because of the severity of the event, or just because I have Clover's brain right now, but I can barely even think about my own death without panicking, which is completely unacceptable given the circumstances. But I can't really force myself not to panic…

I groan quietly and bring my hands up to clutch my face, not seeing a way to move forward.

"Are you alright Clover?" Luna asks, clear concern in her voice. "Do you have a headache?"

…well, even if I don't know what to do right now, I suppose gathering a little more information couldn't hurt.

"No, but I do have a question." I reply, looking over at her. "Did the others already open any of the AB rooms?"

"Oh, um," Luna says, seeming a little startled by the sudden inquiry, "yes, I believe they did that just before you woke up. We weren't sure when… or, even if you'd awaken, so it was agreed that it would be best not to wait."

Okay, so that leaves me with probably… somewhere around 30 minutes before the AB room decision happens? And then a break afterwards before the next set of doors. That's at least a fair amount of time to come up with a new plan of attack, I suppose.

"Alright... and what rooms did everyone go through again?"

"Quark and I went through a room known as the GAULEM Bay." Luna replies. "I believe Tenmyouji, Alice, and K went through the Control Room, and Sigma, Dio, and Phi went through a place called the PEC. I'm not… entirely sure, I'm afraid. They were only mentioned in passing."

Yeah, but you'd know anyways, so I have little reason to doubt any of that.

"Was there anything else you wanted to ask me?"

I glance over at Luna, deliberating. There is, actually: I'd kind of like to ask her about SHIFTing. The only time I've done it so far, it wasn't really under my control, and it's become pretty clear by now that even aside from my newfound issues there's something I'm just not doing right.

The problem is… I'm not sure how much Luna really knows about the subject? I would think that she has to know something, since she's definitely aware of at least the broad strokes of how this whole plan is supposed to work, but she's also a robot — a GAULEM, that is — with no personal experience with SHIFTing, or anything else involving the Morphogenetic Field for that matter. Not to mention she has a rather vested interest in seeing said plan not get screwed up by some random unknown consciousness from outside the universe that just happened to somehow end up in Clover. So…

"…no, that's it." I tell her.

"Okay then. Feel free to tell me if you think of anything else." Luna offers.

That ends the conversation, and the room is plunged into silence once again.

I spend more than a few minutes just lying there on the bed, idly fidgeting with Clover's strange hair ornaments as my mind circles itself like an empty ouroboros, completely failing to come up with any feasible way to make progress. Why does my grand objective have to hinge upon a skill that I'm so clearly terrible at? Hell, my objective in part is that skill, and not only can I not use it properly, but if I don't manage to unlink the concept from my recent more-than-near-death experience such that I don't flash back to the memory just thinking about using it, it's going to end up being a one-time only deal- ouch!

As I take a moment to disentangle my hand from where one of its nails got snagged in Clover's bright pink curls, the door on the other side of the room — the one Luna and I can't see — audibly opens. My heart starts beating faster as footsteps sound out, worry that the visitor might be Dio briefly overtaking me. The person rounds the divider…

"Oh, hello Phi." Luna greets as the girl comes into view.

"Hey Luna. Clover." Phi says in return, her eyes slightly lidded.

My heart begins to calm. Just Phi... nothing to worry about…

"Is something wrong?" Luna asks.

"No." Phi replies. "I'm here to give you a break, actually. I figure it's not really fair to you that you're stuck in here while the rest of us are off investigating, so I can take over watching Clover for a little while if you'd like."

…well, maybe a little something to worry about. Phi said that casually, like she's just trying to be nice, but I don't buy it for a second. She is way too suspicious of everyone else for the vast majority of the game to just spontaneously do nice things for them, not to mention she was the one urging everyone out the door not too long ago. Phi mentioned in the last timeline that she was suspicious of me even before I preemptively grabbed the scalpel away from Quark, so I'd guess that she's planning to try and interrogate me or something? This would be the perfect time and place for that... or at least, it would be if Luna wasn't here.

"Oh, it's alright, you don't need to do that." Luna says. "It's no trouble."

Phi's annoyance at that answer shows on her face, but she quickly smooths it over.

"Are you sure?" she persists. "Even if it's just for a few minutes, I wouldn't mind."

Wow. Subtle.

"That's... kind of you," Luna says hesitantly, "and I don't mean to offend, but..."

"I have taken first aid classes before, if that's what you're worried about." Phi interrupts.

"Oh?"

Phi nods. "I'm obviously no doctor, but if Clover starts showing any other common viral symptoms, I should be able to treat them about as well as you could."

"I see." Luna says, looking thoughtful. "Well, there is one thing I wanted to do. It shouldn't take too long, but if you could take over until I get back-"

"Sure, of course." Phi interrupts again, looking increasingly impatient and seeming as though she'd like to just physically shove Luna out the door. "I was the one who offered after all, so go ahead."

"Ah, wait one moment." Luna says, turning to me. "Clover, are you okay with Phi taking over for me for a short while?"

Phi looks at me and grimaces, presumably thinking I'm going to try and veto the whole idea. However...

"Yeah, I'm fine with it." I say. "I don't mind at all."

Phi's eyes widen in surprise. True, I'm hardly particularly eager for her to try and grill me for information, but at the same time, I rather want to know why it is Phi thinks I'm so suspicious when I haven't done anything obviously questionable yet. Besides, just like last timeline, Phi doesn't have any real leverage that could force me to tell her anything, so I'm not truly all that concerned about talking to her. At least it will give me something constructive to do.

Luna nods. "Alright then. I'll be right back."

With that, Luna stands from the bed and walks out of the room. As soon as the door closes behind her, Phi turns toward me with a rather less-than-friendly expression, clearly unhappy about something. I sit up, preparing myself for the coming cross-examination as the white-haired girl walks to the side of my bed, opens her mouth, and says:

"How do you remove the bracelets?"

I blink. "I- what?"

"I know you know how." Phi continues, crossing her arms. "Tell me."

I stare at her. She... okay, so she knows I know how to do that, but how does she know? It's not like I've removed my own bracelet, and I don't recall even so much as hinting about it to anyone else. Even if Phi saw the missing aluminum, she shouldn't know what that means. In fact, if she did, she wouldn't need to be asking this question to begin with. Is this some sort of test, or-

An important realization strikes me.

"You," I start, "you're from later on, aren't-"

"That doesn't matter right now!" Phi nearly shouts. "Just tell me how to remove the bracelets!"

...jeez, unpleasant much?

"How about a little courtesy first?" I say, rather annoyed. "I don't see what I've done to you to warrant being treated like the enemy."

I get that she suspects me of being up to something, but if this is Phi from much later in her own, personal timeline, you'd think she might have realized by now that I'm not working against her.

Phi glares at me. "Look, you're the one who told me to ask you, okay?" she says, sounding highly frustrated. "So, just… please!"

My eyebrows shoot up. I was the one who told her to ask me?

That… changes things. If that's true, then…

"…fine." I say, considering my next words carefully. "But I want to know something in exchange. If I really was the one who told you to ask me about this, then… I should have given you a certain secret phrase to tell me. What was it?"

Phi's expression flattens, dropping into a near unreadable mask. She stares silently at me for several seconds before finally replying.

"Against all odds, luck remains."

Relief flows through me, and I smile widely, my grin threatening to burst my cheeks. Yes! That was the phrase I just came up with, which means I must manage to SHIFT again at some point, because this Phi already spoke with future me in a different timeline! I've confirmed my own eventual success!

Highly satisfied with this unexpected turn of events, I happily fish the square of aluminum foil out of my back pocket and hold it up in front of me.

"Is that… aluminum foil?" Phi asks, squinting at it.

"Yep." I say, still grinning.

"How is this helpful?"

"If you slip a piece under the top of the bracelet, it should block the heartbeat sensor from reaching your arm." I explain. "Once the bracelet doesn't detect a pulse anymore, it unlocks."

I hold out the foil to her in case she wants to test my words. Phi doesn't take it from me however, instead seeming merely contemplative.

"Where did you get this from?" she asks.

"I took it from one of the puzzles in the crew quarters." I reply. "Why, did you want your own?"

"Got it." Phi says, not actually answering me. "Thanks."

Without another word, Phi moves away, props herself up against the wall next to the mirror, and proceeds to start staring off into nothing for no apparent reason.

...um, alright then. Not really sure what's up with her... I guess I'll have the chance to find out later though, given what I just learned!

I lay back on the bed, giggling softly to myself. Phi doesn't know it, but there was even a little word play referring to the real me in that phrase I asked her for. "Luck remains", hehe… what a surprising way for things to turn out! I would never have expected to be able to outright confirm my future survival like that. That's a huge load off my mind, knowing for absolute certain that I'll manage to continue SHIFTing...

...or at least, some version of me will?

My mood somehow manages to fall even faster than it rose. I was so giddy that my spur-of-the-moment plan worked that I forgot: stable time loops don't necessarily assure anything in this universe. Events aren't circumstantially guaranteed by them, a timeline just stops being the "true" one when it can't fulfill the conditions of a loop anymore. I could still screw up and fail; the me that told Phi to ask about the bracelets might have just been a different me from another timeline, who also learned how to SHIFT. Having come up with the phrase on the spot isn't a foolproof measure of knowing; an alternate me could have come up with the exact same thing for the exact same reasons. After all, we'd think just like each other.

I frown. Although… is that really how it works? I think that's how Zero Time Dilemma explains it, with all the various timelines already existing alongside each other from the start, but up until now I've been operating under the assumption that each line only comes into existence once someone SHIFTs back to change something. That's what the interface of Virtue's Last Reward implies after all, and also just what makes the most sense to me, especially because — and this just occurred to me — ZTD's version of the concept opens up a really weird question: if all the alternate timelines exist even without any SHIFTing being required to create them, then wouldn't the Sigma we follow all throughout VLR have, in all likelihood, gotten forcibly jettisoned out of his body at some point by some other him in another timeline? They would have had the exact same potential and requirements to SHIFT, right? And if they all exist simultaneously, then-

I shake my head. I'm getting myself confused; most of what Sigma does in Virtue's Last Reward was probably just him resonating with himself in alternate timelines through the Morphogenetic Field rather than SHIFTing outright, so that isn't actually an issue.

Or... no, it was SHIFTing, wasn't it? The player is sort of led to assume it's just Sigma receiving information through the MGF at first, but the end of VLR reveals what SHIFTing is, and that the AB Game had been meant to train Sigma and Phi in that specific skill all along. So, how the heck did that work then? Sigma replaced his alternate selves countless different times, yet none of them, despite being in equally SHIFT-prompting conditions, ever replaced him?

And that's another thing, actually: the switch of consciousness. ZTD states that when someone SHIFTs, they replace the consciousness of their other self, completely exchanging places with them... which is rather horrifying come to think of it, in that it means I probably sent another version of myself to my own death out of absolutely nowhere. Ignoring that for now (and forever), we know this to be true, as Sigma's two 40-year jumps are completely dependent on the concept.

...except, that being the case, how did I end up traveling back to where I did? I supposedly should have replaced my alternate timeline self there, but I came back to the door choice before a choice was actually made. Meaning there was no alternate self, because the timeline hadn't split yet, something that should be true by both VLR and ZTD's conflicting rules. Sigma does that too in the game, usually traveling back to just prior to one of the AB Game's decisions instead of just after, but if I take into account how SHIFTing is presented as working even just in VLR, then that... doesn't seem possible. I mean, it was probably just a detail intended to make gameplay flow smoother by reminding the player of what came prior, but since almost everything else about the interface was meant to be taken literally- arrrrrrrgh, this doesn't make any sense!!!

The sound of the door opening again thankfully interrupts my increasingly confused thought process. I sit up to see Luna walk in, carrying a couple of small pillows I recognize as coming from the couch in the lounge.

"I'm back." Luna announces.

"Hi Luna." I say. "That was fast."

"I did say it would be." Luna says, smiling as she turns and gives Phi a small bow. "Thank you for watching over her."

"You're welcome." Phi replies almost tonelessly.

Without any further ceremony, she turns and walks out of the room. Yeah, really starting to wonder what's going on with her...

"Here you go, Clover." Luna says, distracting me from that mystery by walking over and holding the cushions out to me. "I checked all the open rooms for something to help you keep warm, but I'm afraid that these were all I could find. I'm not sure how much they'll help, but hopefully they're better than nothing."

I blink at the unexpected gesture before taking the offered pillows, hugging one to my chest and placing the other between my legs. The cushions aren't any warmer than the room is, but my body heat begins to seep into them as I keep them pressed up against me, making them increasingly more comfortable.

"Thank you, Luna." I say gratefully. "This was really thoughtful of you."

The cold wasn't why I was shivering in this specific instance, but that doesn't mean I haven't still been feeling it this entire time. Anything that can help me ward off the near-fridge level ambient temperature of this place is highly prized at the moment. Besides, even if Luna hadn't found anything, just the fact that she bothered at all without even being asked was... kind of her.

"I'm glad." Luna says happily. "Please, do tell me if there's anything else I can do to help you feel more comfortable."

"No, I think I'm fine for now." I tell her. "I should... get back to resting, I suppose."

Luna nods, and I lay back down again, a tiny smile tugging at the corner of my lips.

My time in this universe hasn't been a pleasant experience thus far. Not by any means.

But... at least it's not all bad.

Chapter Text

I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point I must have either slipped into a daydream or outright drifted off again, because the next thing I know, Alice is standing above me with her hand on my shoulder.

"Clover?" she calls, gently shaking me as she tries to get my attention. "Clover, are you awake?"

I blink, rubbing my eyes as I try to disperse the clouds from my mind. "Yeah, I think…? Sorry, give me a sec."

Shaking my head and setting the pillows aside, I sit up and look around. Along with Alice, Tenmyouji is also in the room, looking slightly grumpy, while Luna has mysteriously vanished.

"Um, what's going on?" I ask. "Where's Luna?"

"We sent her on ahead to the warehouse." Alice says. "The AB choice is coming up soon."

"Oh." I say, slightly confused. "Okay... so, why aren't you two there then?"

"Well, I'm here because Alice doesn't trust me not to lock her out of the room." Tenmyouji gruffly replies.

Alice twists her neck around to give the man a quick glare. "Don't act like you wouldn't do the same. All three of us will be out of here in just a moment, so stop complaining."

It takes me a moment to process that statement properly.

"...wait, all three of us?" I ask, surprised. "You're letting me leave the infirmary?"

Alice turns back to me and reluctantly nods. "Much as I dislike it, this game is probably more dangerous to people who aren't participating than those that are, so you should at least come play the round. Besides, the warehouse is only one room away from here, and it's not as if pressing a button will take that long. Assuming you feel up to it, it should be alright."

I can almost hear the unspoken "...I hope" at the end of the sentence. Still, it's nice to see that Alice isn't a total hypocrite, and this is a good chance to show her that she doesn't have anything to worry about anyways, so if she's willing to let me...

"Of course I'm up to it." I say with a smile, quickly standing up from the bed... maybe a little too quickly, as my vision briefly fuzzes over from the sudden change in blood pressure, and I stumble forward a few steps due to the accompanying dizziness. It goes away within a couple of seconds, but when I look up at Alice a moment later, I can tell that just made her even more concerned. If she was planning on saying something however, she doesn't get to, as Tenmyouji ends up preempting her.

"Not to hurry you ladies or anything," Tenmyouji says impatiently, "but we don't have much time left before we all get locked out of the AB rooms anyways, so if we could maybe move this along?"

"Two minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes." the intercom suddenly speaks up, almost as if prompted by his words.

Newly aware of exactly how little time we have left, I quickly nod at Tenmyouji and move around the divider before Alice can change her mind... only to immediately be greeted by the sight of Akane's body lying on the examination bed.

I try not to flinch, abruptly realizing I'd forgotten that was here — someone must have moved it while I was unconscious so I didn't wake up to the sight of a corpse. Or maybe they just wanted to scan it with the ADAM again for some reason-? Whatever, this definitely isn't the time to question it.

I hurry over to the door, then down the attached hallway, Tenmyouji and Alice on my heels. After a brief wait, the door at the end spits the three of us out into the warehouse.

Of the six AB rooms, only two are still open, the card readers of all but the ones on the far left and the far right indicating they're already occupied. Tenmyouji immediately powers walks over to left one without another word, clearly not interested in being held up any longer.

"Hey, wait up!" Alice yells in obvious irritation as she turns to me and presses something into my hands, which I realize a moment later is a key card with a moon design on it. Oh, right, having one of these is kind of important, isn't it?

"Luna left that behind for you." Alice says in brief explanation, before spinning around and hastening after Tenmyouji as another announcement plays.

"One minute remains until Ambidex Game polling closes."

"Hurry, Clover!" Alice yells, throwing me a last quick glance over her shoulder.

Taking her advice, I sprint towards the only remaining room, thankfully managing to not trip over my shoes this time. Rushing like this to make it in on time feels kind of nonsensical to me, seeing as how this whole ally/betray song and dance is still entirely meaningless, but I do see now why Tenmyouji was so agitated. Could Alice have possibly cut this any closer?

By the time I get into the room and press the start button, Akane's voice is already warning me that I only have thirty seconds left to make my choice. Once again however, it's an exceedingly easy one. I don't think there's a single potential pair in this game less likely to betray their opposition than Luna and Quark, and I have no reason whatsoever to do so to them. I do wait until the end of the countdown to actually press ally this time, just to try and add some gravitas to the moment, but it doesn't really end up feeling any different, leaving me slightly disappointed as the doors slide back open again.

I exit the AB room at a much more sedate pace than I entered it, slipping the moon card into the same back pocket I've been putting everything else in. As I do, the room to my right opens as well, and Dio and Sigma walk out. I deliberately avoid looking at the former in order to focus on Sigma instead — looks like he didn't get punched this time, though he doesn't look particularly happy either. I'd assume that's because he knows Phi isn't dumb enough to pick ally with Dio as his partner, and thus already figures this round is going to be a wash for him. Yeah, sometimes that just happens in this game…

I join the others as they emerge from the remaining rooms and cluster around the wall. No one seems particularly surprised by my presence, so I guess Alice must have said something before she came and got me. The expected announcement plays out a few moments later.

"Results from round two of the Ambidex Game will now be displayed. Please direct your attention to the results screen."

I do so, and watch as the boxes slowly fill themselves in:

Luna+Quark: ALLY
Clover: ALLY
Tenmyouji+Alice: BETRAY
K: ALLY
Sigma+Dio: BETRAY
Phi: ALLY

…huh?

"Points have been assigned or subtracted accordingly. Please check your bracelet to see your updated Bracelet Points."

That… no, didn't Sigma and Dio already have…

"Hey!" Alice suddenly shouts.

I spin in the direction she's looking to see Dio standing over by the exit, his bracelet already pressed to the scanner. Before anyone can stop him, he pulls down the lever beside it, and a small chime plays as the LOCK display changes to OPEN, the massive gate to its right beginning to slowly move upwards until it's fully receded into the ceiling.

"The number nine door has been opened." the broadcast system states. "It will remain open for nine seconds."

"…that's it then." Tenmyouji mutters defeatedly.

I don't understand! There's no way Phi should have picked ally in this situation! Why is this even happening right now?!

"Dio!" Sigma yells, running over to the false ringmaster. "Why would you do that?!"

Dio smirks. "Why wouldn't I? Now, are you coming, or-"

His words are cut off as Phi suddenly sprints over and rams into him shoulder-first, sending Dio crashing to the ground. She follows up by jumping onto his back, holding his thrashing limbs to the floor while everyone else watches on in shock.

"What the fuck?!" Dio shouts. "Get off me!"

"Phi, what- what are you-?!" Sigma sputters, grasping for words.

"Hurry!" Phi yells back at him. "Before the door closes!"

"I don't get it!" Sigma protests. "Why did you tell me to let Dio choose if you were going to-"

"Just GO, Sigma!" Phi shouts.

Sigma reluctantly looks back one last time, then quickly turns and slips through the already closing door. It shuts behind him moments later, the metal slamming down in an extremely final manner.

"The number nine door has closed. This ends the Nonary Game. Thank you for your participation. As the game is over, all doors other than the number nine door have been unlocked. Escape is not possible. Please enjoy your stay."

As soon as the announcement ends, Phi stands back up, letting go of Dio and quickly stepping back from him. Dio immediately leaps to his feet, teeth bared in a furious snarl.

"You FUCKER!"

He rears back and throws a punch at Phi, which she dodges backwards to avoid. He tries again, not letting up, at which point the others seem to break out of their collective trance and rush over to intercede. I do the same, more out of not knowing what else to do than thinking I can do anything to stop the fight.

Dio's furious attacks have no method or control to them at all, but the frenzied intensity behind them still manages to back Phi up against a wall. Just when it looks like he's about to actually land a hit however, K moves up behind Dio and grabs hold of his arms, forcing them to the man's sides and keeping him in place.

"LET GO OF ME!" Dio screams, thrashing in K's grip.

"Please, stop…" Luna pleads.

"I understand why you are angry, but attacking Phi will not help us." K adds. "You must calm down."

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"Oh, give it a rest already, Dio." Tenmyouji says. "It's pointless now. You're stuck in here just like the rest of us."

"Grandpa, we can't just give up!" Quark protests.

"We're NOT giving up!" Alice yells. "I don't care what that announcement said! I refuse to be trapped in this place for the rest of my life!"

While the others are busy processing what just happened, I instead round on Phi, who's just standing off to the side and watching.

"Phi! Sigma said you told him to let Dio choose what to do?!" I say, on the verge of yelling myself. "You knew he was bound to betray you; you had to have! Why did you-?!"

I don't even get to finish my sentence before Phi abruptly drops, her body collapsing to the ground like a puppet whose strings were just cut. I gape in open-mouthed astonishment at her crumpled form, lying motionless on the hard metal of the floor.

Did… did she just intentionally end this timeline?! I mean, it was going to end eventually regardless, but- but not this early, not this fast! I still can't SHIFT without dying! And with both of the powerful espers suddenly out of the picture, I probably won't be able to do it any other way!

My breathing turns erratic again as an intense dread sweeps over me. I- I can't- I don't want to die again! I haven't even gotten over the last time yet! Of course I haven't; it's only been a few hours since it happened, and I wasn't even AWAKE for most of that!

"A- alright, fine!" I shout at Phi's empty, unmoving body. "Leave me here to die even after I helped you! See what I care!"

My yelling draws the attention of the others, who were evidently too busy dealing with Dio to notice Phi falling bonelessly to the floor.

"Oh dear, Phi!" Luna cries out, rushing over to help. A few seconds later, Alice, Quark, and Tenmyouji follow, and K releases Dio to do the same. The latter is left simply standing in place, still boiling with anger at his now-unconscious target, but presumably unwilling to go through everyone else to get to her.

"Now what?!" Alice questions, staring at Phi's collapsed form. "What's wrong with her?"

"Yeah, why did Miss Phi suddenly fall asleep?" Quark follows up. "Is it because of that virus again?"

"I'm not sure." Luna says quietly, feeling for Phi's pulse. "I can't say it's impossible, but she also may have just fainted from an excess of emotional stress…"

"Well, that's her own fault if so." Tenmyouji mutters. "Still, I guess we should at least take her to the infirmary-"

"Don't BOTHER!"

The others turn to me as one.

"What do you mean, Clover?" K asks. "Phi is unconscious. Even if the only obvious means of escape is now sealed, there is no reason we should not-"

"Because it's pointless; she's not gonna wake up again!" I answer before K can even finish. "Her consciousness has vacated the premises, and it isn't coming back! Her body's nothing but a useless shell now... though I guess we could maybe use it for food, seeing as how we're all going to end up starving to death in here! Assuming we don't just end up killing ourselves before we hit that point, at least!"

A small, distant part of me can't help but note that something about what just happened actually seems kind of... off, but I'm too angry right now to pay it any real mind.

Meanwhile, everyone just seems rather mystified by my outburst, looking back and forth at each other as if silently asking if anyone knows what’s going on. After a few moments, Alice suddenly seems to realize something.

"...damn it." she says, her already deep frown somehow deepening even further as she raises a hand to her forehead. "The Radical-6... I thought it might have been affecting Clover more than she's been letting on. Seems like it's making her outright irrational now."

K nods. "Ah, that would make some sense. In that case, we should get Clover back to the infirmary as well."

"It's not because of the damn disease!" I snap.

Alice shakes her head and walks towards me, visibly concerned. "Please, Clover, let's just-"

"I'm NOT Clover, alright?!"

Alice stops in her tracks, eyes widening at my unexpected proclamation. A part of me hurts at seeing the sudden distrust in her expression, but my resentment overrules it. Alice can think whatever she wants of me. Why should I care? The SHIFTers have already left the building, and nothing I say or do in this timeline matters anymore, so I'll have my temper tantrum if I damn well please!

Alice's face slowly turns from shock to a sort of restrained anger, my claim apparently serious enough to keep her from automatically dismissing me this time.

"Clover, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really hope you're just delirious from the virus at the moment." she says, voice wavering with heavy uncertainty. "If you are, then I'll apologize later. But if you really aren't her, then- then who the hell are you?!"

"Alice, you can't actually be taking her seriously right now." Tenmyouji says flatly. "She's just spitting nonsense."

I look away from the two of them, sighing bitterly. "No, I meant it. I'm not Clover… I would have said something earlier, but there's not really a good way of explaining that I'm a consciousness from another reality who accidentally stole your friend's body, especially since I still have no clue how to get out of it. You can understand why I wouldn't want to just put that out there, right?"

My response once again seems to leave everyone momentarily baffled.

"A consciousness from another reality…?" K repeats.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Alice says, voice growing steadily angrier. "Don't lie to me! Who ARE you?!"

"What does it even matter?" I say listlessly, unwilling to put up with being given the third degree when it's virtually pointless under the current circumstances. "I'm not Clover, and that's all you really care about, right? I'm not a member of the Myrmidons, if that's why you're concerned."

Alice gasps, and Dio's eyes widen as he seems to snap out of his silent seething.

"How do you-" Alice starts, but then stops, biting down on her lip to keep herself from saying too much. "No, that information is highly classified... you shouldn't know about that unless..."

She trails off, and I laugh, the sound devoid of any actual humor. "Oh, I know a lot more than just that. Shall I drop a few more bombs? Let me think..."

I start ticking off fingers. "We're currently in the future, after most of the population of Earth has been all but wiped out by a combination of nuclear meltdowns and Radical-6, a plague that causes people to perceive the passage of time incorrectly and inevitably drives them to suicide. We were all infected with said plague before we even started playing this game, and will likely succumb to it fully at some point, probably starting with either you or Quark."

Quark startles at my mention of his name, and Tenmyouji's gaze snaps to him for a moment.

"We can't really escape, even if we play this stupid game to completion, because we are literally on the moon, and there is absolutely nowhere to go outside." I continue. "K's a clone, Dio's also a clone, and IS a member of the Myrmidons by the way, Luna's a robot, and- oh, let's go ahead and end this bomb-dropping session literally, Dio brought four antimatter explosives in here with him that could blow up this entire base at any second."

Every expression in sight has turned to one of complete astonishment in the wake of my tirade. It makes me feel a little better actually, since at least now I know I'm not the only one feeling utterly overwhelmed.

"Do you want more? I've got more!" I exclaim, throwing my arms up. "Some of it doesn't exactly apply anymore, but I'd still be happy to tell you!"

"Th-that…" Alice says shakily. "That can't be-"

She doesn't get the chance to finish, as Dio ends up rather loudly interrupting her.

"How the FUCK do you know about that?!"

Everyone turns to face him, whereupon Dio seems to realizes that he's made a mistake.

"No, wait, I… she's just…"

Dio spends about half a second trying to climb out of the hole he just dug himself into before giving up and pulling a bloodstained knife out of his jacket.

"Stay back!" he warns.

I cringe away. When did he- must have been while I was stuck in the infirmary.

Quark and Luna both yelp at the sight of Dio's weapon. The fake ringmaster isn't done though, as he proceeds to lift his hat and grab what can only be the detonator from beneath it. He holds the small metal box out at us like a ward, his finger hovering over the large red button at its center.

"Any of you get any closer, and this entire place gets fucking annihilated!"

"Miss Clover was right, he does have bombs!" Quark cries.

…I guess that's how this is going to end then. Like I thought earlier, at least death by antimatter explosion will probably be a lot less drawn out than drowning in my own blood.

Dio's frantic breathing tapers off into a near-manic chuckle. "I don't know how you know who I am," he says, glaring at me, "but that won't stop me from completing my mission. I may not be able to get out of here anymore, but I'll make sure you all end up coming with me in death!"

"Sure you will." I say with an only partially feigned lack of care, leaning back against the nearest wall. "Hey, remind me what the deactivation passwords were again? That's been bothering me since I got here."

It doesn't really make any difference what he answers, since neither Sigma nor Phi are still present to hear any of it, but I guess I'd still kind of like to know.

"What, you don't know them already?" Dio sneers.

"My memory's not perfect; I'm not gonna remember a series of letter codes I last saw literal years ago." I reply, my fear of him having largely given way to resignation. "I do remember that they were just one letter shifts of other phrases though. Feel free to share those instead if you'd prefer."

"Fuck you!"

"Yep, same lovely Dio as always." I blithely reply. "As pleasant to talk to as you were to listen to."

"Are you crazy?!" Tenmyouji shouts at me. "I don't care what reality you came from, don't TAUNT the bastard threatening to kill us all!"

I shake my head. "Like I said, we're all dead anyways, be it by starvation, bomb, or disease-induced suicide. So honestly, what does it really matter? Go on Dio. Do it. Complete your mission."

I can see Dio's teeth clenching together. He still hasn't pressed the button.

"What, scared your soul isn't going to be 'reborn' the way you were promised? I wonder, do clones even HAVE souls?"

"Shut up!" Dio snaps. "You think this'll be the end of me? If you know so fucking much about the Myrmidons, then you should know that there will always be more!"

"Well hurry it up then. My patience is wearing thin."

A lie. I'm obviously in no hurry to die again; I was literally just on the verge of having a panic attack about it. I do need it to happen before this timeline fades out of existence however, or whatever the hell is or isn't going to happen to it since the game never really made it clear, so I can't just put it off forever.

"You'll wait as long as I fucking TELL you to!" Dio screams, by now having completely lost any semblance of poise. "You can't do SHIT to me!"

"Is that so? I think you underestimate me!" I say brightly, one of 999's bad ends coming to mind. "You know how Zero Jr. calls me Cleaver? That's because I once axed half a dozen other people to death. Though, I guess you could argue that technically never happened…"

I barely even know what the hell I'm saying anymore. Can he just set the damn bombs off already?

To my surprise, Dio instead roars in anger and charges at me, the bloody knife held out in front of him. I freeze for a moment at the sight, before a combination of panic and utter indignance spurs my limbs back into working order. No, no, I REFUSE to die like that again!

As Dio rushes forward, I tense my legs in preparation — then, just as he's almost upon me, I spring upwards, the moon's lower gravity taking me at least 10 feet into the air.

Dio crashes into the wall I was standing against, his knife scraping off of it uselessly, and looks up with a startled expression just in time for me to come plummeting back down and stomp my heel straight into the crown of his head. He falls to the floor with a cry of pain, the knife and detonator both flying out of his hands, while I land surprisingly softly just a few feet away, though I end up on my rear upon failing to get my feet beneath me in time. Hah! Fuck you, Dio!

*beep beep beep*

Off to my left, the detonator starts beeping, and doing so extremely fast at that. Alice runs over and snatches it up off the floor before Dio can recover, while I go for the knife, instantly feeling a lot safer once the weapon is in my hands and out of his.

"Shit, did that thing just activate?!" Tenmyouji cries, hurrying to Alice's side.

"I think it did!" Alice replies, gritting her teeth as she frantically twists the tiny box in her hands in search of a way to turn it off. "Why did it suddenly-?!"

"Hehahahaha…"

Despite the bloody cut on his forehead from where my shoe impacted it, Dio laughs all the same, not even bothering to get up off the floor as he lolls his head to the side to look at Alice.

"It activated because there's a failsafe on that detonator." he explains through a quickly growing smile. "If it's ever separated from my person by more than a meter, it automatically sets the bombs to explode in 30 minutes time."

…which I guess is a good thing, since you apparently don't have the required nerve to set them off yourself.

Dio's claim elicits a full spectrum of horrified expressions and denials from the others... all except for Luna, who says nothing, and simply looks sad. As Dio staggers back to his feet, he locks eyes with me again, grinning maliciously like he's somehow gotten one over on me.

"Don't even think about moving." I order, still holding his knife out in front of me.

Dio complies, remaining almost stock still, but never once losing his grin.

"If these bombs are truly on a time limit, then surely there must be a way to stop them before they go off." K says, one hand held to his chin.

"You're right, there is." I confirm. "It doesn't matter though. Dio won't give us the information we'd need to do that, and there wouldn't be a reason to use it even if he did."

Alice turns to look at me, a scathing glare in her eyes. "Maybe you have a death wish, but I sure as hell don't!"

Spinning on her heel, Alice marches up to Dio and grabs hold of his collar, baring her teeth at him in an angry snarl.

"The bombs, they're the type that have emergency deactivation passwords, right?!" Alice demands.

"Yeah, they are." Dio says casually. "Didn't you hear Little Miss Shirtless there mention?"

Alice ignores him. "Tell us what they are, right now, or I promise you will wish for death before I'm done with you."

Dio laughs in her face. "Well, I guess I could give you the passwords. Might be kind of funny to watch you all scramble around like ants, desperately trying to figure out where the bombs are. But it'd be pointless, because in order to use them, you'd need the password input device. And guess what...?"

Dio reaches down into his left coat pocket, then withdraws his hand a moment later, now holding a small gray machine about the size and shape of a blackberry phone. Alice's eyes widen, and she immediately lunges for it, but before she can get a hold of the device Dio throws it directly at the floor, the impact immediately breaking it in half.

I blink. Wait a second, that was supposed to have been in the control room's safe, wasn't it? But from what Luna said, Dio didn't go through there, so how did he-

Oh, right. Dio killed Akane in this timeline, so no one ever took the input device from him. He's just been carrying it around on his person this entire time.

"Whoops, looks like you won't be using that any time soon." Dio says, shrugging as if it what he did was just an accident. "What a shame, am I rig-?"

Alice punches him in the face. My heart cheers as Dio is sent sprawling to the floor again, one hand clutching at a badly bleeding nose. His other hand however thrusts down into his right coat pocket, coming out a second later with a tightly clenched fist.

"Is that- no, STOP!" Alice shouts, just as Dio cups his hand over his mouth and visibly bites down. Barely a second passes before he starts convulsing on the ground, letting loose a pained-sounding groan with each sharp, jerking motion.

"Hehehe..." Dio chuckles though an increasingly strained voice. "There's nothing you can do now..."

...right, he keeps a cyanide capsule on him. Yet another thing that I'd forgotten about this game.

"…my duty in this world is now complete..." Dio says, coughing weakly as he does. "…soon, I shall be born again into the new one… oh Holy Brother… with this, I pray I have redeemed myself…"

A particularly intense spasm suddenly hits him, but as soon as it ends Dio musters the strength to lever his head off the floor anyways, just enough to face the rest of us. Blood is still running freely from his wounds, trickling downward and coating his face in horrific streams of red.

"…as for all of you... may your filthy... corrupted... souls... be purged..."

With those charming last words, the light finally goes out of Dio's eyes. His head slumps down to the ground, a wide smile still stretched across his face.

"God DAMN IT!" Alice shouts, frantically kneeling down and feeling for a pulse.

The others cluster around the fresh cadaver as I lower Dio's knife, my attention less on the dead man's body than it is on the incessantly beeping detonator. Man that thing is annoying... the beeping is stupidly fast and high-pitched, way more than it really needs to be to signal what it's intended to. Why would anyone design something to go off at such a-?

The answer comes to me just as Alice stands back up, presumably having determined that Dio won't be getting back up again.

"Alright," she says, sounding like she's just barely holding herself together, "everyone listen up. We only have a little under half an hour to find Dio's bombs, so we can't waste any time."

...actually, I'm pretty sure we have even less than that. Our group's collective perception has been being slowed by the effects of the Radical-6 ever since we woke up in the AB rooms, but because Dio's bombs and detonator weren't taken and reprogrammed in this timeline, they should still be working on real time instead of Radical-6 time. Hence why the latter seems so darn annoying right now, I assume.

"This place isn't that small, but there's a limited number of places to hide a bomb like the ones Dio described that we wouldn't have already noticed." Alice is still speaking. "If we spread out and all go through different rooms, it shouldn't take us all that long."

I do some quick mental math. If I'm right, then practically speaking, we probably only have what, ten or eleven minutes left? I'm not completely certain that's right, but the proportions sound more or less correct.

"Once we've found them, we reconvene here. After that, we'll need to figure out a way to stop them that doesn't require the deactivation passwords or the input device, and use it to neutralize the timers."

I shake my head. Even if I remembered where all the bombs were (I don't, bar the one from the crew quarters) and freely volunteered that information, there is no way any of this is happening in as short a time period as we have left. I open my mouth to inform everyone of such-

"Just stop, Alice." Tenmyouji suddenly interrupts.

Alice whirls towards him, eyes flashing. "What do you mean stop?! I-"

"I mean exactly that. Stop." Tenmyouji reiterates. "There's nothing we can do at this point, and you know it."

"Grandpa..." Quark says softly.

"Though it pains me to say it, I must concur with Tenmyouji." K says, his already near-monotone voice sounding even graver than usual. "It seems to me that we possess neither the time nor the means to prevent Dio's bombs from detonating. I suggest that we instead take the chance to make peace with what is to come… while the opportunity to do so still remains."

Luna bows her head, her expression a mixture of sorrow and resignation.

"It's over…" she whispers.

Alice's eyes dart from person to person, settling on me last, before slowly panning back down to the detonator in her hand.

"I... I guess you're right..." she says after a moment, the final embers of resolve having gone out of her voice. "This is the end…"

The words I was about to speak die in my throat, and I turn away, unable to bring myself to look at any of the others' faces. I... didn't expect this. I should have, but this is just such a horribly sad way to go out. At least when this scenario happens in the game, everyone is still fighting to survive, doing their utter best to stop the bombs even while knowing that they probably can't. But now, with increasingly imminent death hanging over them, they've all decided to just… give up. To lay down and let themselves die, because that's all there is left to do.

Guilt swells in my chest. This is my fault, isn't it? I've done nothing since Sigma left but reinforce just how pointless trying to escape our collective demise is, and while I didn't actually say anything untrue, I shouldn't have gone off on everyone the way I did. Dio wouldn't necessarily have used his bombs if I hadn't revealed their existence, and while we are ultimately doomed, it didn't have to happen like this. In my anger, I essentially took what little hope remained for everyone else and snapped it over my knee, and now they're all going to die feeling nothing but sorrow and bitter resentment.

Biting my lip, I look up to see that everyone else seems to have started dispersing in different directions. I can't stop what I've already set in motion, but… I should probably still apologize, for the things I said. I have to at least say something, if only to loosen the icy claw that seems to have grabbed hold of my heart.

Alice's movements are slow and lethargic as she walks towards the crew quarters, the beeping detonator abandoned on the floor behind her. Quickly setting Dio's knife aside, I hurry to catch up with her.

"Alice- Alice, wait." I call out.

Alice stills, slowly turning to face me over her shoulder as I come to a stop.

"I… I'm sorry." I say, swallowing down a lump in my throat. "I shouldn't have said all that. I panicked, and I freaked out, and I said a lot of things that just made everything worse. I didn't mean to set off Dio like that, or act like the real Clover doesn't matter, or that you don't matter. I'm just… scared, and I knew this was coming, but I thought I'd at least have more time to process things after what happened before, and… and I…"

I grasp for the words to continue, but none come to me. I look up at Alice, silently pleading with her to understand.

…and Alice turns away again, walking off without speaking a word.

I just stand there staring after her for a moment, feeling like I've just been stabbed again. Knowing that I have no one to blame for this but myself, I try to will myself not to cry.

I don't succeed.

I've barely managed to dry my eyes before I find Tenmyouji and Quark in the lounge, sitting side by side at the bar. In one hand, Tenmyouji absently swishes a drink, while his other arm curls tightly around his adopted son. Quark seems to have taken off his hat, and is hugging it to his chest for comfort.

As I walk up to them, Tenmyouji looks over at me and scowls, his expression severe enough that I flinch back slightly at the sight.

“Tenmyouji, Quark.” I start, my voice small and shaky. “I just wanted to apologize for-”

“Look, Clover,” Tenmyouji snaps, “or whatever the hell your real name is. I don’t really care whether you’re sorry or not. It’s too late for it to make any difference.”

He takes a sip of his drink, then pulls Quark even tighter to his side. Quark leans into the hug, sniffling quietly.

I swallow, reminding myself that Tenmyouji isn’t wrong, and force myself to continue.

“...I know it is. But I still want to at least say-”

“I don’t care.” Tenmyouji interrupts again. “If you really want to apologize, then hurry up and leave. I’d prefer to spend what little time I have left with Quark alone, if you don’t mind.”

He turns away, and my heart breaks a little more. It doesn’t hurt as much as it did with Alice, but his refusal to even so much as hear me out still feels like a slap to the face.

Closing my mouth and trying not to burst into tears again, I stumble backwards and leave the room as quickly as I can.

When I find K in the infirmary, I deliver my entire apology to him with my head facing the floor, feeling lower than a slug. He says nothing as I do, but doesn't stop me or leave, merely listening on in silent contemplation until I've finished. Once I have, I stand there miserably awaiting his judgment for what feels like hours before he finally speaks.

“...I accept your apology.”

I look up at him for the first time since I entered the room, shocked.

“…you do?” I ask, almost whispering. “Just like that?”

K nods. “I see little point in holding grudges at this stage of things. Perhaps you did react rather poorly, but we have all been extremely stressed as of late, and it sounds as though you have had even more reason to be so than the rest of us. I can hardly blame you for eventually failing to hold it in.”

I smile weakly. Well, at least someone forgives me…

“I only wish that I had more time to understand everything you spoke of earlier.” K says. “…unfortunately, it seems as though that simply isn’t to be.”

I look down again. “It’s… not really important now anyways. None of it is.”

With that, we both go silent, neither of us seeming to have anything left to say.

I make a brief attempt to locate Luna, but ultimately give up when I can’t find her anywhere on the upper floor. She knows this facility better than anyone else here, and it’s possible there are places she can access that VLR never even featured. If she doesn’t want to be found, it isn’t going to happen.

I end up wandering my way back to the now-emptied warehouse. Both Dio’s body and the detonator are still lying on the floor where they were left, the latter still beeping away. There can’t be much time left now…

I walk over and pick up the detonator, turning the small rectangular box over in my hands. My finger hovers over the button for a moment before I draw it back — as tempting as it is to just get it over with, I don’t think I can bring myself to be an even more direct cause of what’s about to happen than I already am. Instead, I simply close my eyes and wait, silently praying that this won’t be the end of me.

If I make it...

*beep beep beep*

…If I manage to SHIFT again…

*beep beep beep*

…I’ll do better, next time.

*beep beep beep*

I promise.

*-beep!*

For a fraction of a second, a wave of heat greater than anything I could even imagine rips through me, simultaneous with a blinding light that instantly sears through my eyelids. Then the both of them envelop me, and I know no more.

Chapter Text

Once again, the glowing line lies below me, surrounded on all sides by naught but endless, undulating darkness. It seems to have grown a new branch, though it's a small and stunted one, endlessly shedding small particles of light from the sphere that caps it. The rest of the line remains unchanged, each rounded node thrumming in an almost hypnotic manner as the streams of time flow through them in thin, brilliant rivers.

Intellectually, I notice these things, yet I can't bring myself to truly care about them any more than the last time I was here. Instead, I simply let myself drift, languidly admiring the view as I weightlessly float through the void before me.

Eventually something seems to tug me towards the line, reeling me in like a gentle, ethereal fishing hook. I slowly draw closer, picking up speed as I go, until the light of one node is all I can see, and I find myself falling once again...

I blink rapidly, disoriented from my sudden return to physical existence. I- did I do it? Did I manage to SHIFT- no, dumb question. I'm alive, so obviously I must have... thank goodness…

The relieved sigh I let out at that turns to one of frustration halfway through as I look down at myself. I'm still Clover, which wasn't exactly unexpected, but is still a little disappointing. Additionally, while I'm glad to have miraculously survived my own death for a second time over, it still had to actually reach that point for my mind to move timelines, and I still had no real control over any part of the process. Where and when even am I now-

"Clover?"

I startle and whirl around. K is standing beside me, giving me what I can only assume to be a quizzical look.

"Are you well?" he asks. "You seemed rather distant for a moment."

"Uh- yeah, I'm fine." I automatically reply. "Just... spaced out, is all."

K nods, seeming to accept the excuse as I take in our surroundings. We're in an AB room...

"One minute remains until Ambidex Game polling closes."

At the same time the announcement rings out, I notice the files in my left hand. This must be the first ally/betray vote then, just after we found Akane's body. I've gone another step back... but still not far enough. Damn it.

"Hmm. To ally, or to betray…" K starts.

As he repeats the same lines he did the first time around, weighing the pros and cons of our two options, I quickly hold a silent debate with myself over the very same question. I'm not going to resolve my SHIFTing problems within the next minute, so we have to make a decision on this before I can do anything else. But we already allied last time, so if we don't betray now, am I just going to end up going down the exact same path I did before?

I barely manage to suppress the involuntary shiver that ripples through me at the thought of reliving either of those "endings" again. That… shouldn't have to happen though, right? Based on what's happened so far, the events of the Nonary Game clearly aren't immutable to change, and I have all my memories of what to avoid. As long as I do things differently, there's no reason things should progress the same way, whether we pick ally or not. I don't know which one is likely to give me more time to get better at SHIFTing though-

"Thirty seconds remain until Ambidex Game polling closes."

-argh, there's no time to think about this!

I quickly give K the same reasoning at last time and hit ally again, just before Akane's countdown hits zero. Better the devil I know, I suppose...

I take a moment to re-fold the files and stick them back in my pocket, dropping their folders on the floor again as the doors slide open. Stepping out of the room and moving over to the results wall, where Zero Jr. once again resides, I try not to react to the sight of everyone else as they emerge from their own rooms and gather around as well. While slightly disconcerting to see everyone alive and back to acting perfectly normal, when what feels like mere minutes ago I watched more than half of them consign themselves to their imminent deaths, it's mostly just a huge relief… mostly, at least.

My holdout on that statement comes in the form of Dio, who I nervously scoot away from as he saunters over to join the rest of the group. Unfortunately, everyone else being alive again means he is too, and while perhaps slightly lessened by having gotten to drop kick him in the face not too long ago, my death-induced fear of him is still acutely present. As soon as I get the chance, I need to grab and hide his knife again, lest he manage to reclaim it like he did last time.

"Let's get ready to rock!" Zero Jr. announces, still in a far-too bombastic way to feel remotely appropriate to the situation. It hasn't actually been that long, but it feels weird having him back. "AM. BIDEX. GAAAAAAAAAME! Rouuuuuund one! The resuuuuuuults! If everybunny would please direct their eyes to this monitor…"

As the others focus in on the holographic display, I instead decide to focus on figuring out what my plan for this timeline is, since I never intended to be here. Thankfully, I already know what's coming, so as long as I keep away from Dio, and don't blow up on everyone again — at least not in a way that leads to everyone being blown up again — I should be able to avoid the pitfalls that led to such unpleasant ends before. That should in turn give me plenty of time to figure out where I'm going wrong with SHIFTing at will. I'm not entirely sure I can really make any more headway in that regard — it's not like I haven't been trying before now, and there's only so long I can consider a subject before I start repeating myself — but I have to try.

"Here are the results from your game! Now, lettuce check the numbers on our bracelets."

Since I already know the results, I ignore Zero Jr.'s announcement in favor of continuing my current train of thought.

Even if I don't figure out how to SHIFT without having to die to accomplish it, the fact that I've now managed it twice makes me significantly more confident that I can keep any future potential deaths from "sticking" the way I've been hugely concerned about. While I'd still like to figure out how to move timelines in a way that doesn't require my becoming a cadaver in the process, what's likely more important is figuring out how to "steer" myself when I do, since both times thus far I've just been sort of pulled back into the timeline at random, without any real say in where I end up. That said, how exactly am I supposed to-

"It appears we chose poorly, Clover." K says from beside me in a vaguely unhappy tone.

I blink and look up at him, my focus broken. What? Chose poorly? Didn't we just get...

I finally look over at the results.

Dio + Quark: BETRAY
Luna: ALLY
Clover + K: ALLY
Tenmyouji: BETRAY
Sigma + Phi: ALLY
Alice: BETRAY

I turn towards Tenmyouji, my lips parting in surprise. He stares back at me, eyes slightly lidded, with his mouth set in a thin, hard line.

"…why?" I ask, unable to articulate myself any better.

"Sorry." he says, seeming honest, but unregretful. "I wanted to trust you. Really, I mean that. But in the moment, I just... didn't feel like I could."

His brow furrows for a brief moment, as if even he isn't exactly sure why he felt that way. At the same time, the reason hits me like a bolt of lightning, and my eyes widen in shock.

He... he must have resonated with himself through the Morphogenetic Field. Of course Tenmyouji can do that; he literally has almost this exact same scenario play out with Sigma in the game — something I already considered earlier — and the fact that he's an esper is the entire reason Akane even wanted him here to begin with. I didn't even... think about... that...

K is saying something to Tenmyouji, but I fail to process any of it, too busy hanging my head in regret. Damn it, I really shouldn't have done what I did last timeline. I'd thought that without the actual SHIFTers present, nothing I did past that point would make any difference, but I got so wrapped up in the importance of SHIFTing that I managed to completely overlook what the concept is based on, even though I'd literally been thinking about it in detail before Alice came and fetched me from the infirmary. How was I so stupid as to forget that…?

My current expression and stance must make me look pretty pathetic, because Tenmyouji's face seems to be growing increasingly guilty the longer he looks at me. Maybe he only unconsciously remembers the previous timeline then, or doesn't remember anything but the feelings from it... better than the alternative, I suppose. But even if that's true, it doesn't change that on some level, he does remember — remembers that I said I'm not really Clover, and all but deliberately got everyone killed — and that's going to color every interaction he has with me from here on out. Sure, the Bracelet Points may not really matter, but pushing away potential allies certainly does, and I just majorly screwed myself over in that regard.

Eventually Tenmyouji looks away, averting his gaze from me entirely, and moves over to where Quark is again protesting his innocence to Luna. As he leaves, I turn to K, the mood between us heavy and melancholic.

"...sorry." I say. "About the vote, I mean. I just... I thought..."

I pause for a moment, close my eyes, and sigh. "...I thought wrong, I guess."

"It is indeed rather unfortunate." K replies. "I cannot say for certain that I would not have voted the same, however. There is nothing that can be done about it now in any event, so let us simply be more cautious in the future."

Cautious... yeah, that's probably sound advice. Especially since...

I look over at Alice, who's currently speaking to a visibly upset Sigma, looking honestly rather amused at his anger.

Tenmyouji's vote isn't the only one that changed. Alice betrayed Sigma and Phi this time, while they allied with her. Which means that she also got information through the MGF, and... she might remember the last timeline too. It's not a certainty — in fact, it's more likely she was just influenced by the outcome of the other time we made this choice, and she probably doesn't even recall it as anything but a strong gut feeling that she would be betrayed. But I can't completely write off the prospect that she remembers more than that, and if she does… then there's a distinct possibility that Alice now hates me.

I squeeze my eyes shut and look away again. I can't think about this right now. It won't do me any good anyways. I'll find out what Alice knows later, and... deal with it then.

The other two group discussions soon come to an end, and Alice prompts Zero Jr. to explain when the next round will happen and how long this will go on for. Like before, I try to make sure that it at least looks like I'm paying attention, but it's not all that easy. With all the repeated and drawn out tidbits of information, combined with my current less-than-positive mood, it's hard to even pretend that I'm genuinely focused on any of it.

Unable to concentrate on the screen, my eyes start flickering from person to person, considering my plethora of potential problems. Even if I disregard Dio, as well as whatever issues I may have just made for myself with Tenmyouji and Alice, there's also Phi to worry about. I'm still angry with her for her part in how the last timeline ended — while I admit the miserable note it concluded on was mostly my fault, she's still the one who "ended" the line in the first place, and thus kicked everything off.

More importantly however, I have no idea why her future self would be so hostile towards me to begin with. Her disdain was fairly unmistakable, given how obviously terse and angry she was while speaking with me in the infirmary, and with what she did during the AB round… maybe she only let Dio reach 9 BP because she needed Sigma to escape for some reason, but it honestly felt more like she did it out of spite than anything else. If so, as the only other SHIFTer still around, I can only assume it was deliberately aimed at me. But even if something happened between her and Clover in the line she came from, I don't remember Phi acting that petty in VLR. Not to that degree, at least…

Wondering if I'm just imagining things, I glance over at the other girl again-

And find her staring right back at me.

Both of us instinctively freeze upon meeting the other's eyes, then quickly snap our heads away from each other in eerie synchronicity. I force my gaze back to the wall, my mind racing even faster than it already has been.

...she's watching me. Why is she watching me? Everyone should be focused on Zero Jr. right now; this is important stuff to know if you haven't already heard it! Is this another Phi from "later"? Or...

My panic begins to subside. Or maybe, she's just more concerned with who the real Zero is than what Zero Jr. has to say. After all, Zero would presumably already know what his proxy is going to say, and thus wouldn't need to be fully concentrating on him... is that why Phi was suspicious of me back in the first timeline? She was watching everyone during these infodumps, and noticed how uninvested I was in them, so she suspected I might be the real Zero? I mean, I've been trying, but it's already been made fairly clear that acting is not necessarily my strong suit. It's been good enough for everyone else, but if Phi is specifically looking for signs that I'm faking my reactions, she's probably finding them.

I cross my arms, frowning at the thought. It's a bit childish, but the idea of Phi being suspicious of me for not paying attention when she's also not paying attention rather irritates me. I suppose if she's looking for someone who didn't seem surprised by the game's rules, she isn't wrong to pick me out of the crowd, but still-

"You. Die."

I abruptly realize that Zero Jr. just announced how the bracelets can potentially come off. Keeping Phi's scrutiny in mind, I try to put extra effort into my faux-horrified reaction this time, though I worry that just made it look even faker. Luckily I don't have to keep it up for long, as the AI continues on to explain how the bracelets sense bioelectricity, then gets right back to taunting everyone.

"But if you're lucky, you might get to see a few of them come off during the next round!" Zero Jr. cheers. "…Oops, I guess it's not going to be very lucky for some of you, huh? He he he he…"

"Next round?" Tenmyouji repeats.

"Uh-yup."

"What do you mean?" Alice asks.

"Well, do I have to explain everything?" the AI pouts. "Somebunny might die during the next round of the AB game! ...There, that's pretty clear, right? If I had to guess, I'd say it's going to be Moony, or Potassium, or maybe Cleaver…"

Alice's gaze snaps towards me, an alarmed look on her face.

"Ooooooor… it might even be all three of them! He he he he he…"

Zero Jr. then proceeds to repeat the same speech as before about what will happen if anyone's BP falls to zero, which doesn't hold any real surprises for me. What does surprise me however is that once he finishes, Alice starts repeating herself as well.

"What the hell?!" Alice yells. "This is important stuff! Why didn't you tell us about this earlier?!"

I blink at her, slightly confused. Yeah, it's important, but she came out ahead this time, didn't she? Why does she seem just as angry as when she didn't?

I glance down at my bracelet. Maybe… maybe she's worried about me, since I only have 1 BP now? Does that mean she doesn't remember anything about the last timeline after all? I can't imagine she'd be this riled up for the sake of someone she doesn't know, and who she thinks stole her friend's body...

"Is there anything else you conveniently left out?!" Alice is still saying. "It's not fair to make people play a game without explaining all the rules!"

"I think it's fair..." Zero Jr. replies. "After all, it's not like anyone else knew..."

I wait for him to continue, and call Phi and I out for knowing about the 0 BP death penalty in advance... but he doesn't, instead just ending his sentence there. Huh. I didn't expect that, but I suppose it would be a little difficult to sell that to everyone when both of us lost points this time. Small mercies.

A few sentences later, Zero Jr. points out the new bracelet colors and pair assignments, prompting me to check mine. I'm now a cyan pair… I guess since the choices during the AB game were different from last time, these are too. Great, so I'm once again heading into a completely unknown situation. Because that went so well the last two times.

I sigh, then listen for whoever my partner is as everyone starts announcing their new designations. Quark, Luna, and K are on their own this round as the cyan, yellow, and magenta solos. Alice and Phi grimace at each other upon noticing their matching yellow bracelets, and Dio and Tenmyouji do much the same as they realize they're the magenta pair. Which means...

I turn to look at Sigma, who's just walked up to me.

"Looks like we're a team for the next round, Clover." he says, in that slightly awkward way one does upon speaking to someone they don't really know.

"Uh... yeah, I guess so." I reply, feeling equally awkward, if for a different reason.

…well, these pairings seem like a recipe for disaster. Or a recipe for great unpleasantness, at least. I don't see Tenmyouji and Dio getting along any time soon, Alice literally just betrayed Phi, and Sigma is... probably going to make more skeevy jokes at me. Yeah, this does not bode well.

Zero Jr. performs his insulting faux-tearful goodbye act again, wishes us all a nice tragedy, and disappears. A brief silence falls over the warehouse, which I choose not to break this time, and so Dio ends up being the one to speak up instead.

"That little piece of shit..." he mutters. "If I could get my hands on that little fucker, I'd squeeze him until he popped."

My god Dio, get a new favorite vocabulary word.

After Sigma denounces that visual as rather gross, Quark takes my place in asking what we do now. The same suggestion of splitting up and searching for possible exits is made, the only difference from the last time I lived this being that we apparently have 43 minutes left instead of 41. I guess Zero Jr. not calling me and Phi out saved us a minute or two.

Phi tells us to meet up ten minutes before the doors open again, and everyone begins to disperse. I guess that means I can go try to figure out my SHIFTing issues — again — and hopefully not just end up chasing my mind in circles like I did earlier-

I suddenly feel someone's palm on my shoulder, causing me to jump slightly in alarm.

"Clover?" Alice says softly as I turn to face her. "Follow me."

…oh, right. This.

Chapter Text

I trail after Alice as she leads me through the cyan door, feeling even more nervous than the last time this happened. What does she know? What is she going to say? What should I say? Why did I have to go and make things so much more uncertain for myself?!

When we reach the crew quarters, Alice moves into the first room on the right, and I wince — this is the same room Dio killed me in. As if I wasn't uncomfortable enough already…

"This is probably about as secure a place as we're likely to find around here." Alice says. "So let's talk, Clover."

My stomach clenching, I nod uneasily and walk inside. I sit down gingerly on the miserable excuse for a bed and try not to look at the floor, recalling all too vividly how it looked coated in my blood.

"First things first:" Alice says, "are you okay?"

I open my mouth to tell her I'm fine... only for my words to utterly fail me. After what happened last timeline, barely half an hour ago from my perspective, I just can't bring myself to say that.

"...no, not really." I end up mumbling back. "I screwed up. Badly."

Alice shakes her head. "Well, that's all you could really expect for trusting someone you don't even know. Honestly, what were you thinking? I know you've been taught better than that."

She thinks I'm talking about the round results. Which I guess means she doesn't remember or know anything the last timeline after all? That's good... that's...

I swallow, feeling like a hole just opened up in my chest for some reason. Alice is back to not knowing who I am, and she doesn't hate me. I should be happy about this. So... so why aren't I? Instead, I just feel…

My eyes begin to ache as I bring my knees up to my chest, curling in on myself as the memory of the look on Alice's face when I told her I wasn't Clover flashes through my head. In my mind's eye, it seems to superimpose itself over her current expression, the images beginning to bleed together into one.

...oh. I see. It isn't that I'm upset that Alice doesn't hate me.

It's that, if she realized who I truly was... she would.

I know that now. Proved it to myself beyond any shadow of a doubt. And that... hurts. It shouldn't; I barely even know Alice, but I already realized earlier just how abnormally attached to her I am now, and- god, why did I do this to myself…?

"I- I'm sorry... really…" I whisper more than say, barely able to get the words past my lips.

Alice's expression softens.

"Hey. It's alright." she says, sitting down on the bed next to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "You're behind on points, but you can make that up next round. You just have to make sure whoever you end up grouped with trusts you enough to pick ally."

The fact that Alice doesn't even know why I'm apologizing to her somehow makes it hurt all the more. Her attempt to comfort me almost makes me want to tell her the truth again; to remind her that she doesn't truly care about me, not the real me... and yet, I find myself leaning into the warmth of her half-embrace anyways. Despite my misgivings, I just can't seem to find it in myself to pull away.

"I'm sure you're scared right now." Alice continues, rubbing small circles into my back. "Angry, too... I know I certainly am. But we can make it through this. I know we can."

The words soothe me more than they have any real right to. None of what Alice is saying is meant for me — I don't know if I could possibly be more aware of that than I am right now. But even so, it's just so, so incredibly nice to feel like there's someone here with me in this situation who's on my side, other than myself. Even if Alice doesn't realize who she's talking to, and at least part of why I feel this way is probably just because of the body I'm currently occupying, it's impossible for me to deny how much it seems to help.

I feel myself quivering, and not from the cold. Maybe- maybe if I just pretend I'm really Clover for a bit, even to myself...

"Remember, we're in this together." Alice says softly, turning the half-embrace into a full one. "If you need me..."

No, please don't say it. Please...

"I'm here for you."

My will crumbles, and I shakily loosen my arms from around my legs to tightly hug her back. Tension immediately begins to drain out of me as I do so, even as I strain to hold back sobs.

I never truly earned Alice's trust, and maybe I've even already proved I don't deserve it. But I... I need this.

I need this…

-~.~-

-~.~-

It takes me a few minutes before I finally pull back from the hug, feeling marginally better, but utterly embarrassed. Here I was going on about how I was going to try and avoid repeating what I did the last time I went through this timeline, only to immediately go and do almost exactly the same thing I did the first time I had this talk with Alice. Now who's the hypocrite...

I take a moment to wipe away the small, traitorous droplets that have once again gathered at the corners of my eyes. At least I managed to keep myself from having a full on breakdown this time — honestly, it might have just been healthier to let myself do that, but I've done way too much crying as of late already, to the point that I'm honestly starting to feel kind of pathetic because of it. Upsetting things are almost certainly going to keep happening, and if I can't figure out how to get past them without falling to pieces every time, I could easily end up making the same sort of mistake I made the last timeline again. Alice can't always be my emotional support, especially when I'm still so conflicted about her at the moment that relying on her even more might just make me feel worse...

...god I'm a mess.

"Feeling any better?" Alice asks.

I nod slowly. "Yeah... sorry about that, Alice."

Alice shakes her head. "No need to apologize Clover. It's not like I couldn't guess you'd be upset about being trapped in a third Nonary Game."

I wish had the excuse of it being my third time in one of these things, but no. This one is proving enough to break me all on its own.

"You're not wrong..." I admit. "I hate that I'm trapped in this place. Trapped in this game... in this situation where I could potentially die at any time, and I don't even know how or why. To be honest, I'm really scared I'm going to screw up even worse than I already have, and end up either dead, or stuck here forever. It feels like I'm doing everything wrong..."

I pause, silently drawing in a long, slow breath before continuing.

"...but, I'll try my best to stay positive, and keep myself together." I say. "I mean... I made it out of the last two, right?"

I make an attempt to smile, the effort made somewhat easier by the fact that everything I just said was, technically, completely true. Alice smiles back, so I guess it must not look too terribly fake.

"That's a good attitude to take, Clover." Alice says. "But that's no reason not to be careful. Remember, you still only have 1 BP right now."

She pulls back from me slightly to look me dead in the eyes. "I don't plan on letting either of us die here. So whatever happens next round? Make sure you pick betray."

I flinch back slightly at her suddenly commanding tone.

"It would be best if whoever you end up grouped with trusts you enough to choose ally," Alice continues, "but as long as you choose betray, you won't lose any more points regardless. That should at least ensure that you stay alive, no matter what your opponent chooses. It's the only logical option."

I consider objecting for a few moments, but eventually just nod. I won't feel good about it, but Alice has a point, as I'd really rather not add "death by bracelet" to the list of ways I've been killed thus far. Sure, doing so could trigger another SHIFT, but my goal is to manage to cross timelines without dying at all, not to just find new and creative ways to repeatedly commit suicide. I don't know if I could make myself do that anyways — my first two deaths were traumatizing enough without actively seeking them out.

"K and Luna both only have 1 BP left too though." I remind her. "I don't really want to get either of them killed either, if I can help it."

Granted, Luna wouldn't actually die even if she hit 0 BP, but everyone would still think she did, and they'd see it as my fault. K though, I really could kill by choosing betray, and with the way his bracelet is built into his suit, I'm pretty sure the aluminum foil won't work to detach it the way it should with everyone else's. Better to just avoid the potential for those scenarios entirely.

Alice frowns, but thankfully doesn't seem any keener on the idea of game-induced manslaughter than I am.

"You're right… we should make an effort to get you grouped with Quark then." she says. "Now, I need you in work mode, alright?"

With that, the conversation returns to a more familiar track, allowing me to mostly regain the rest of my composure in the process. Alice asks me the same expected question about attempting to contact Light, then takes a brief look at the files I brought along before asking if I learned anything about my group members during the last round. I tell her roughly the same things about Tenmyouji and K that I did before, though I omit the part about the former trusting me, since he pretty clearly showed otherwise this time around. Alice responds in the expected manner, but when it comes time for her tell to me about Sigma and Phi, things change slightly.

"Now for what I learned." Alice says. "You're paired with Sigma this round, right?"

I nod, and Alice grimaces. "I should warn you then, he's something of a dirty old man."

"Yeah, I noticed." I mutter quietly to myself.

Alice raises an eyebrow. "Did you now?"

...not quietly enough, apparently.

"Er, yeah." I say, having little choice but to reply. "It's kind of hard not to pick up on, talking to him."

Alice raises an eyebrow. "Well, I can't deny that, but when did you even talk to him while I wasn't around? I don't think he's said anything too overt in front of both of us."

"Uh..." I stall, frantically thinking back to when Sigma and I could possibly have interacted out of Alice's sight this early in the timeline. "...it was… when we were returning to the warehouse through the lounge, before the AB round. You'd already gone ahead, and while Sigma and I were leaving the room, he made a passing comment about my..."

I look down and just sort of gesture vaguely at myself, assuming Alice will get the idea. I feel a little bad for slandering Sigma when he actually didn't say anything this time, but it's not like it wouldn't have been perfectly in character for him to do so.

Alice rolls her eyes, but seems to take it in stride.

"Well, it's only to be expected with outfits like these." she says. "Just remember Clover, it's all part of the job."

I tilt my head slightly to the side, confused. Part of the job? What is she-

A vague memory brushes at the fringes of my mind. Oh- oh! That's right, Zero Time Dilemma did try to explain Clover and Alice's outfits! I don't remember exactly when, but I think it said that SOIS has its members dress in really outlandish costumes when out in public, specifically to divert any suspicion of them being secret agents? It was something like that, at least.

…yeah, that still makes no sense. At all. Sticking out from the crowd in a really bizarre way has no actual advantages over not sticking out to begin with. That justification is just plain asinine, to the point that I'd honestly have preferred if they just never addressed it at all. No wonder I'd completely forgotten that little factoid up until now.

"It could be useful anyways." Alice continues. "Sigma isn't stupid. He actually solved most of the puzzles in the crew quarters by himself. But if he's too busy thinking with his lower head to reason with his normal one-"

Oh gross.

"-he'll be that much easier to manipulate." Alice finishes. "Keep that in mind if you need him to do something while you're paired with each other."

I nod at her on the outside, while internally shaking my head. Hard. I really didn't need to hear the "seduction" suggestion again, especially in regards to the 60-year old man who doesn't yet realize he's a 60-year old man.

The conversation thankfully moves on after that, with Alice laughing about Sigma's cat-speech and warning me about Phi. I refrain from telling her how Phi was watching me during the talk with Zero Jr., not seeing any real value in doing so, and not wanting to explain why she'd be suspicious of me to begin with.

"That's about it, I think." Alice says as she stands back up. "But… there is one more thing, Clover."

I startle slightly upon hearing that, the sentence serving to remind me that last time, this is when Alice brought up how I knew K's name before he actually thought of it. Shoot, can I explain that some other way this time around? I don't really want to say I was "seeing the future" again, lest the topic potentially trigger her remembering a future I'd much rather she forget. But I have no idea how to justify my knowing what K would call himself ahead of time…

Cursing myself for not being able to think of anything on the fly, I hesitantly respond. "Y-yeah? What is it?"

Alice turns to face me, her expression oddly conflicted.

"I…"

She suddenly stops. A long, pregnant moment goes by before she finally resumes her sentence.

"…you know what? Nevermind."

I blink at her. Er, alright then? I'm relieved, but also confused... Alice clearly had something to say, so why did she stop herself? Is it because I didn't "lead" her to the crew quarters this time, so she's not as sure about her theory? I really don't need any more questions right now...

"Come on, we should get out of here and start looking for exits." Alice says as she opens the door. "I doubt we'll actually find any, but we have to at least try."

I stand, still a little unsure what to think, but all too happy to get out of this room, which I've only been partially succeeding at putting out of mind. I'm stopped from actually entering the hallway however, as Alice pauses in the middle of the doorframe, then turns towards me again.

"...Clover?" she says slowly. "If you-"

"Oh, hey Miss Alice!"

Whatever Alice was about to say is cut off by the sudden arrival of Quark and K, who step into view just past her in the doorframe.

"Ah, and Clover as well." K says, peering over Alice's shoulder. "Are we interrupting anything?"

Alice looks back at me, squints for a moment, then shakes her head and smiles. "No, not really. It was nothing too important."

I give her a slightly questioning look, which Alice seems to ignore. Well, I have no idea what she was about to say, but if it was about my "future knowledge" as I suspect, then I guess I'm glad she got interrupted. I'm not quite sure why K and Quark are here though — I was expecting Sigma, not this slightly odd pair. Granted, I'd rather not have had to deal with Sigma's incessant questioning again, but at least I'd have seen it coming... and he also wouldn't be stopping us from leaving, like K is right now. I don't think it's intentional, but his bulk is keeping Alice from being able to step fully outside, essentially blockading us inside the room I'm becoming increasingly antsy to leave.

"These are the crew quarters, right?" Quark asks, looking around before turning back to Alice. "Mister K and I haven't seen them yet, so we thought we'd come check them out. Have you or Miss Clover found anything?"

Alice shakes her head. "Sorry, but we haven't."

Not that we've really been looking.

"Hmm. Perhaps we would be better served looking for an exit elsewhere then." K observes.

"Well, we could have missed something." I chime in, trying to speed the conversation along. "Maybe you'll find something we didn't? Alice and I have been here too long anyways... and um, on that note, K? Could you move, so we can get out?"

"Ah, of course." K replies, stepping backwards and scooting closer to the opposing wall. Alice takes the opportunity to at last exit into the hallway proper, and I follow on her heels, quickly closing the door behind me as I do. Finally…

"My apologies." K says in a mildly embarrassed tone. "I keep forgetting just how large I seem to be in this suit."

Alice shrugs. "Well, in any event, Clover's right that we've been here too long. If you think this place is worth searching further, we'll let you two take it from here."

K seems to think it over for a few moments, then nods. "I suppose a quick look around couldn't hurt. Good luck to the both of you."

He opens the door across from the one we just came out of, and walks into the room beyond.

"Hey, wait for me Mister K!" Quark calls. "Seeya Miss Alice, seeya Miss Clover!"

With that, he follows K into the room, slamming the door behind them as he does.

Jeez, that was... abrupt.

Chapter Text

In the silence created in the wake of K and Quark's "departure", Alice clears her throat.

"Let's split up for now, Clover." she says. "Be sure to grab anything useful you find, and make sure to tell me if anything... interesting... happens."

"…right." I reply, feeling slightly unnerved by how she phrased that. "See you soon, Alice."

Alice nods, then turns around and walks to the other end of the corridor, exiting into the passage that eventually connects to the other two unlocked rooms. The door slides shut behind her, and I suddenly find myself the only one in the hallway.

I sigh. I'd have thought I'd feel more relieved to finally be left to my own devices again, but in truth, I mostly just feel mentally worn out... having to constantly be worried about so many different things is utterly exhausting.

Still, I have some "free time" to think over my major issues again, which I need to try and take advantage of while I still have the chance. Such moments have proven to be a real rarity thus far, after all.

I take a moment to consider where to go for this. There's no way I'm staying in the crew quarters for any longer than I already have — even if K and Quark weren't still hanging around the place, with the way my skin was starting to crawl being blocked inside that room, I think I would rather be literally anywhere else at the moment. Unfortunately, only three other rooms have been unlocked thus far, which makes my alternatives fairly limited if I want to be alone…

Maybe I should just head back to the warehouse? If the others are all still looking for alternative exits, I doubt anyone is in there right now.

Deciding it's at least worth checking, I turn around and exit the crew quarters the same way I came in. Being pretty much right next door, it only takes me twenty seconds or so to get to the warehouse — and coming back from the cramped crew quarters, the massive room seems even larger than usual. I can't help but briefly compare myself to an ant, trapped inside of a giant terrarium, fruitlessly searching for a nonexistent exit...

Trying to put that thought out of mind, I quickly scan the area, not spotting anyone in the process. Okay, good... I'd still rather not just be standing around in here in plain sight though. I'm supposed to be searching for an alternative exit right now, like everyone else theoretically is, so if someone suddenly comes in and asks why I'm not doing anything, I won't have any good answer to give them. Is there anywhere in here where I won't be in the immediate view of someone entering?

I look around again, but unfortunately, this is probably the worst possible place one could pick to play hide-and-seek. The area is completely open, with the AB rooms being the only notable objects in the entire space.

I give the rooms a second look. Could I maybe get behind one of those? No, there's not nearly enough room for that. I suppose I could get on top of one, but even with the hatches they're pretty flat, so that wouldn't be much of a hiding space either. Maybe if I just tuck myself behind the room in the far back...?

I take a moment to examine the angle from each of the Chromatic Doors. Actually, yeah, that would work fine — there's no immediate visibility of that corner from any of them, which should make it the perfect place to just sit down and not be noticed for a while. Guess I'll do that then.

With that settled, I walk over and move behind the rightmost AB room… and immediately recoil backwards as I nearly step on Dio's bloodstained knife.

I try to still my suddenly racing heart. Right, this is here... actually, I was going to get rid of the knife again before Dio came to retrieve it, wasn't I? I'd already totally forgotten. That could have been really bad, so I guess it's lucky I ended up coming here anyways… if only I felt even remotely "lucky" to so much as be laying eyes on this thing again.

I gingerly pick up the bloody piece of metal by one of the few still-white sections of the cloth wrapped around it and hold it out at arm's length, as far away from myself as I possibly can. Even knowing this technically isn't the weapon that ended up killing me before, just knowing both what it is and whose it is serves as more than enough of a reminder to make me cringe.

Not wanting to hold on to the weapon for any longer than I absolutely have to, I turn to the AB room beside me. While it's almost flush to the wall, there's a wide enough crack for me to easily toss the knife behind it, which I immediately do, my throw landing the blade two rooms further down. The sound of metal on metal rings out for a moment before it settles in the darkness of the crevice, making it difficult to even see.

There — that should be fine, right? It's far enough out of reach that Dio won't be able to retrieve it even if he notices it's there, and the B. Garden isn't currently open, so the paring knife is also completely out of play. That should keep me safe from either of them, at least for the moment.

Unless...

A chill runs down my spine. Unless, that is, Dio comes looking for his knife right now, and finds me standing right next to where he expects it to be. He should be significantly less dangerous without a weapon, but I absolutely do not trust that to stop him from trying something if he finds me alone. I need to move-!

I take about two steps backward before forcing myself to freeze in place.

No... stay calm, me. Dio shouldn't come looking for his knife until the second AB round ends, at the earliest. I know this, because that's how it went the first time I went through this timeline, and unlike the AB choices, nothing I've done in either of the last two timelines should have changed that. Dio doesn't even know what the Morphogenetic Field is, and there's no hint given in VLR that he ever learns anything from it. Stop panicking...

Not feeling nearly as reassured as I'd like, but knowing I can't afford to waste any more time worrying about this, I do my best to settle my spiking paranoia as I sit down on the cold metal of the floor, leaning up against the side of the AB room. I then check the timer on my bracelet, which tells me that I have a little less than 20 minutes before I need to head downstairs.

That doesn't feel like anywhere even close to long enough. I haven't even gotten a chance to properly process my second death yet — sure, it was nothing compared to the first one, to the point that the impact of my own actions immediately prior were more upsetting than anything else about it, but I still died, which is hardly made much less horrifying by the fact that it came too fast to really hurt this time.

...then again, it's not like I really want to linger on the subject. Perhaps it's even a good thing I have limited time after all, as it means that simple pragmatism compels me to keep moving forward. The subject of my previous deaths is upsetting, but my time would be better spent figuring out how to avoid having something like that happen again, which is why I'm here in the first place.

So let's do that.

Forcing my thoughts back onto the topic I actually came here to consider, my immediate instinct is to try to SHIFT again, right here and now. After all, both of the times I've actually managed to do it so far have been conducted while not within the immediate presence of any other espers. As such, that clearly isn't an absolute necessity, even if it may still help.

After another moment's thought however, I decide to hold off trying to leave for now. The concept of SHIFTing at will still feels too heavily linked to my memory of Dio killing me, and until I manage to get over that, I'm likely not going anywhere unless — or more likely, until — I die again, horrifying as that is. Besides, even if I succeed in expelling my consciousness back into the MGF without fatal assistance this time, it won't be all that helpful unless I can direct myself to the part of the larger timeline I actually want to be in, which I've thus far had no real control over. I need a solution for that, else I'll be stuck hopping from branch to branch at random, hoping for blind luck to take me where I want to go… possibly forever.

Swallowing, I quickly brush that thought aside, trying not to think about it in favor of actually concentrating on the issue.

So far, it seems like as soon as my consciousness leaves the physical realm, I lose all motivation to care about… anything, really. It's like my mind is covered by a shroud of apathy, which only removes itself again when I reenter the timeline proper. Which is weird, because I don't recall anyone in the games mentioning an inability to direct which timeline they SHIFT to — although, I suppose I don't actually know how much control they have over that to begin with. Technically, the player controls where Sigma goes next in VLR, and we don't actually know what it's like for Phi, since we never directly see her viewpoint. The two of them do manage to target specific timeline branches and sections on more than one occasion, but that's only after they've already unconsciously SHIFTed at least a dozen different times… maybe I just need to do it a few more times myself to gain more control then?

I squeeze my eyes shut and shudder. Considering the circumstances it's taken me to SHIFT so far, I really don't like the thought of that. Surely there's some other, preferable explanation that makes some decent modicum of sense.

Let's see... Zero Time Dilemma has everyone simultaneously SHIFT to a specific "safe" timeline at the very end of the game, with all nine of them focusing on their destination in concert to do so. In which case, maybe my inability to direct myself thus far is just because I wasn't thinking of any particular part of the timeline I wanted to go to? I had a time and place in mind during my less imminent SHIFT attempts, but in both of the instances in which I actually succeeded, I was slightly too busy actively dying to think of a specific destination. Could it really be that simple though...?

Finding myself unable to come up with any other hypothesis that sounds even remotely plausible, I ultimately conclude that yes, it really could be. I guess next time something kills me, I'll just have to try and keep focused on SHIFTing to the start of the timeline — I truly hope it turns out to be that easy.

Alright, that's my first big issue maybe-resolved, with at least a hypothesis to test the next time I get the "opportunity" to do so. In which case, I suppose I should also try to tackle the second, directly-related issue.

Namely, why can't I SHIFT except upon being killed?!

I let my head thump against the side of the AB room I'm leaning against in fatigued frustration. Of all the questions I've yet to answer, this is probably the most important one to resolve, because if I don't, that "minor" case of PTSD I'm pretty sure I've picked up is only going to get worse and worse, and I'd really rather not end up a complete basket case by the end of this.

It just doesn't make sense though — yes, SHIFTing is easiest when one is close to or actively dying, but it isn't supposed to work only in those circumstances. Is it possible there's just something crucial I'm forgetting about how the process works?

I wrack my brain for a moment, but I honestly don't think that's it. I'm almost certain I remember the three main requirements for SHIFTing correctly, and all of them should be present and accounted for. I've definitely got stress covered, and the danger is so clear at this point that I've literally been traumatized by it. I suppose it could be that the danger didn't reach the required "threshold" until it became physically imminent, but that doesn't seem right either — there are multiple endings in VLR where nothing is directly threatening Sigma, but he still manages to SHIFT away from the timeline due to the perceived direness and/or hopelessness of the situation. Also, if you take the interface literally — as, again, it's implied you're meant to — Sigma SHIFTs multiple times when there's no apparent danger at all beyond the situation at large. In which case, that shouldn't be a valid reason that I'm failing to do the same.

I sigh again, the action failing to express even a bare fraction of my worries.

There is still the "epiphany" component I suppose. I'd sooner assume that was the issue over the other two requirements, since I've already technically solved all the escape rooms here before. I barely even remember anything about them after years of not playing the game though, so I doubt that-

My eyes widen as something suddenly occurs to me.

Wait... the escape rooms aren't supposed to be the only source of "epiphany" in VLR. In fact, they might not even be meant to be the main source. Everything about the Nonary Game is presented as one large mystery, with answers being slowly doled out and available only through the act of traversing multiple timelines. I, coming in with that knowledge already, don't need to do that… but, what if that's the reason I'm having so much trouble SHIFTing to begin with? Because I already know so much about the situation itself?

My mind races as I consider the idea further. I don't remember most of the small stuff, but I do know pretty much all of the broad details, which means this situation isn't nearly as uncertain for me as it is for Sigma and Phi. Up until the very end of the game, they still had huge overarching questions to resolve, while, aside from some confusion over the finer points of SHIFTing, my only big questions are how I got here and how I get out. There's far less for me to discover, no larger puzzle for me to put together…

Shit. This makes far too much sense, and it's something I have no real solution for. I can't just make up new mysteries for myself to solve, but nor can I force myself to forget what I already know. And if I'm not learning anything, never having those critical moments of "realization" that I apparently need, I might not be able to SHIFT in any way other than dying...

In fact, I might stop being able to SHIFT at all.

I grit my teeth, trying to push down the increasingly familiar rising panic in my chest. No, no, I can't think that way! Surely there are other things I can "solve" that go beyond the scope of the video game's version of events. I mean, assuming I've got the right of it, just figuring this out should qualify as an epiphany all on its own, shouldn't it? And there have been other odd things I've been wondering about too, like the existence and acknowledgment of the secret files, and why Future-Phi seems to have a problem with me... there's been plenty of stuff like that, right?

My jaw relaxes, my heart gradually slowing down again as I consider that further.

Yeah- yeah, that could work, couldn't it? Now that I think about it, I've actually got quite a few unsolved mysteries stacked up at this point. I just haven't really cared enough to have more than a passing curiosity in most of them. If all I need to do is be more invested in actually answering those questions, then I can probably do that — I'm usually pretty good at puzzles, aren't I? At least, I'd like to think I am...

I slowly stand back up, my mood finally beginning to brighten a little. If I really did just figure out the answer to both of my major issues, then I think I might actually be able to do this. Yes, I've made some bad decisions as of late, and yes, I may end up dying again at some point, because that's just what this game is largely about. But as long as I'm able to learn from my mistakes, I should be able to make up for them in time, and as long as death isn't permanent, I can find a way to push past it — no, I will find a way to push past it.

No matter how long it takes, no matter what I have to do, no matter who I have to be...

I'm going to live.

Chapter Text

Trying to keep a hold of my somewhat-improved spirits, I glance down at my bracelet, finding that the time has just about come to head downstairs to the second set of Chromatic Doors.

Guess I'd better be going.

As I move to exit the warehouse, I make the very conscious decision not to reenter the crew quarters again to do so. Not only would I prefer to avoid my initial site of death as much as humanly possible, but last time I left from there at roughly this point in time, I ran right into Phi, and to be perfectly honest I'd just really prefer not to have to talk to her again right now. Maybe later, when I've sorted through my thoughts on her a little better, and she's hopefully at least a little less suspicious of me.

This in mind, I avoid the cyan door and make my way through the yellow door instead, deciding to take the path through the infirmary. In doing so however, I end up running into someone else anyways — two someones, in fact.

"Hi again Miss Clover!" Quark says brightly, turning and waving at me as I enter the room.

"Hiya, Quark." I reply, waving back as I approach. "...you too, Tenmyouji."

Tenmyouji, having apparently taken Quark off of K's hands at some point, doesn't even so much as acknowledge me, simply continuing to stare at the medicine cabinet he's currently got his head buried in. I feel a small, sharp pain in my chest at that, but try to ignore it.

"You two heading downstairs yet?" I ask the smaller half of the pair, figuring that I'm not going to get a response from the larger one.

"Grandpa wanted to check what kind of stuff this room has in it first." Quark replies. "We're gonna walk down together in just a minute."

I nod absently. "Right. Well, I get the feeling your grandpa doesn't really want me around, so I'll leave you two alone."

I start moving towards the door, only for Quark's eyes to suddenly light up. "Oh hey, wait a second!"

He plunges his hands into his pockets, rummaging around in them for several seconds before pulling out a large pink-and-black lump. He then holds the item out to me, at which point I realize that the lump is actually a fuzzy, scrunchie-like bracelet.

"This is yours, right?" Quark asks. "It matches your outfit."

I glance down at my matching pink-and-black spotted "top" for a moment, before quickly looking back up at the offered item.

Well, he's not wrong. Plus, I think I actually remember having this on my wrist when I first woke up — when did it fall off?

"...uh, yeah, it is." I say. "Thanks. I didn't even realize I'd lost it."

Mostly because this isn't exactly my normal wardrobe.

I take the bracelet and slide it back onto my right arm (my left one already equipped with a similar, but significantly more dangerous accessory), sitting it next to the small silver chain loop already residing there. Despite the elastic inside the band, it's actually a fairly loose fit — so much so in fact that I'm pretty sure it'll slip right off if I so much as rest my arm at my side. No wonder I apparently dropped it.

"Where was it anyways?" I ask, sliding the bracelet further and further up my arm, until it finally stays put just below my bicep.

"I found it on the floor in the AB room me and Mister Dio used." Quark replies with a grin. "I kinda forgot to give it to you earlier, but I remembered this time!"

Ah, it probably fell off just after I woke up then, when I was still distracted by the shock of the situation... or maybe it was when K did that rocket jump through the roof.

"You know, Grandpa feels pretty bad about picking betray." Quark suddenly says. "I think he wants to tell you he's sorry."

"Quark…" Tenmyouji mutters, his eyes narrowing as he speaks for the first time since I entered the room.

"What?" Quark asks, innocently looking up at his caretaker. "You are sorry, right Grandpa?"

"This isn't something you need to-"

"You got all quiet when Miss Clover walked in," Quark continues heedlessly, "and you keep looking around with that weird face you only get when you're feeling really bad about something. If you wanna apologize, you should just say so. You're the one who taught me that, remember?"

Tenmyouji stiffens, then almost immediately slumps, his apparent willingness to argue the point rapidly leaving him as he sighs in defeat.

"...so I did."

With that, Tenmyouji slowly turns around to face me, his expression drooping in apparent regret.

"For what it's worth, I am sorry about betraying you, Clover." he says, self-consciously rubbing the back of his head. "I didn't mean to put you in more danger than we're all already in. Guess I'm just more paranoid than I thought I was... think you can forgive me?"

I blink. He's asking my forgiveness, when I still feel like the one at fault? He really must not have received much from across the MGF other than vague feelings then, just like Alice... damn it, now I feel even guiltier than I did already.

Still, while I may not feel like I deserve it, of course I'm going to accept Tenmyouji's apology — like hell I'm going to burn this bridge twice over when he's the one offering to repair it. Though, I can't just act like what he did doesn't affect me, because it does, even if it might well have been justified in a way, so I'm going to have to be careful about how I phrase this.

"Well… I can't exactly pretend it didn't happen." I finally reply, feigning hesitance as I cross my arms and look away from him. "This was kind of a big deal, Tenmyouji."

Tenmyouji closes his eyes, stoic and accepting of my apparent refusal — but I'm not finished.

"That being said," I continue, prompting the elderly man's eyes to pop back open, "I don't really like holding grudges, and even if you betrayed me, I still think that you're ultimately a good person at heart. So... I'm willing to try and move past it if you are."

Tenmyouji takes a moment to process that, then smiles at me. "Of course. Thanks, Clover."

He raises one hand to the back of his head, still seeming rather sheepish. "Promise I'll make it up to you. Somehow."

I smile back at him. "I'll hold you to that."

...though, honestly, I doubt I'll truly be able to. Still, the fact that Tenmyouji is making the gesture is nice, even if I doubt he'll actually get a chance to follow through on it.

With the air between us somewhat cleared, the three of us end up walking our way to the elevator together in relatively comfortable silence. After descending to the lower level of the facility, we move into the antechamber containing the second set of Chromatic Doors.

...where everyone else is already present.

"Well, look who finally showed up." Dio says. "Took you guys long enough."

I scowl, hiding my expression behind Tenmyouji's back. Apparently our conversation in the infirmary held us up long enough that we ended up being the late ones this time, rather than Dio.

"It is good to see that the three of you are alright." K says. "We were beginning to become concerned."

"Sorry about that." Tenmyouji replies. "We miss anything?"

"Yeah, but you can catch up later." Phi says. "Clover, you still have those files from earlier, right?"

I nod, and from there the conversation proceeds much as expected, with the topic of the secret archives being the main point of discussion. Having no reason to listen to it a second time, after passing my pages along and checking to make sure Phi isn't watching me, I turn my thoughts inward again.

Okay... so. If I'm going to be trying to improve my epiphany levels — if you can even have "levels" of that — I should probably start by going over what questions and mysteries I actually intend to try and answer. That seems like a logical first step, right? Yeah, let's go with that.

Thinking it over, I dismiss my more major questions right off the bat — on subjects such as how I ended up in this situation, where Clover's mind might have gone, or why any of this is happening to me specifically, I can do nothing but wildly speculate, as I have no way of gaining any real insight into them right now. Instead, I think I'd rather focus on the smaller mysteries that have popping up here and there, whose answers are presumably closer at hand, and which I therefore might be able to actually "solve". Stuff like why Alice seemed so scared about the idea of being anesthetized, and why Tenmyouji is so invested in the mystery of All-Ice, and especially what was up with Future-Phi asking me how to remove the bracelets, along with my other assorted minor questions.

I nod to myself. Some of them are probably less important than others — I wouldn't be surprised if a couple of the things I've been wondering about turn out to be trivial to answer, or else completely irrelevant — but I'm not going to dismiss anything outright unless I'm absolutely certain it's pointless. Under the circumstances, finding answers to my questions is more important than whether or not they actually matter anyways... or so the theory goes, at least.

I cross my arms. There is of course also the oddity of why the described mechanics of SHIFTing don't seem to line up exactly with my actual experience with it, and the clear discrepancies between how it functions in VLR and ZTD, but I've dwelled on those topics an awful lot already, and I'm not sure there's much point in continuing until I've actually done it a little more-

"Chromatic Doors have opened." the walls suddenly declare, snapping me out of my thoughts as the doors in question slide upwards. "Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close."

"Looks like we're out of time to talk about this." Tenmyouji says, exactly as he did last time. "We need to decide who's going with who."

"Yes, but who should decide that?" K asks. "As with the last round, a single choice will automatically make everyone else's for them."

"Why don't we let the people who are at the greatest disadvantage right now decide?" Phi asks.

"What do you mean?" Sigma asks.

"The people who only have 1 BP." Phi clarifies.

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that be you, Sigma, Clover, K, and Luna?" Alice suddenly cuts in. "In other words, most of the group? I hardly see how that helps."

"And what would you suggest?" Sigma bitterly replies, obviously still upset about the last AB round.

Alice shrugs. "If we're going to decide by majority anyways, we might as well make it fair and just take a vote from everyone, don't you think?"

I nod in silent agreement. Normally I'd actually be more in favor of Phi's method, but the plan is to get me grouped with Quark this round, so I'm perfectly fine with Alice giving herself a say in the matter if it helps us stack the odds in favor of that.

"Fine." Phi says, capitulating surprisingly quickly. "Who do you want to go with then, Alice?"

"I think I'd like to go with Luna." Alice replies.

"Alright, we'll call that Option A." Phi says. "That would mean that K goes with Dio and Tenmyouji, and Quark goes with Sigma and Clover... I'm actually fine with that. Anyone else?"

"I'm not." Tenmyouji says. "I'd much prefer it if Quark went with me. I can keep him safe that way."

"And I'm sure as hell not grouping up with the tin man here if I can help it." Dio snidely follows up. "I'd way sooner go with the kid than him."

"That is unfortunate." K says. "I would have liked to go with you and Tenmyouji, myself."

Tenmyouji gives K a weird look upon hearing that, but K doesn't elaborate on his reasoning. I'd assume that it's similar to last time, in that he doesn't want to accidentally kill anyone if he feels he has to betray.

"That's three votes for Option A then, and two for Option B." Phi says. "Luna, how about you?"

Luna looks down. "Option B... I'd like to go with Sigma and Clover, if I can."

"And I'm okay with going with Grandpa if that's what he wants." Quarks adds with a smile.

I bite the inside of my lip. Shoot, that's four votes for Option B. If Sigma and I don't both vote for Option A, then we'll end up going with Luna, which would mean that come the AB round, I'll have to either blatantly ignore Alice's earlier instructions, or almost certainly "kill" Luna. Neither of which are exactly ideal scenarios...

"One minute remains until Chromatic Doors close."

"Quick, anyone else?" Phi hurriedly prompts.

Sigma opens his mouth to speak-

"Yeah, me." I interrupt, drawing everyone's attention to myself instead. "I want to go with Quark. He seems like a pretty cool kid, and I'd like to get to talk to him a little more."

Smiling widely — and falsely — I turn to my partner for this round.

"You're okay with that, right Sigma?"

In the face of my somewhat leading question, whatever Sigma was about to say seems to leave him, rendering him momentarily speechless. Come on, quickly!

"Uh... yeah, I guess that's fine." he eventually says.

My smile becomes more real. "That's five votes for Option A then, right?"

"Guess so." Tenmyouji says.

He looks over at Quark, then nods at me with what seems like tacit approval. A pang of guilt hits me upon seeing that, as the only reason Alice and I even pushed for this choice is because Quark is the only one here I can safely betray, but I'll deal with that when I get to it... if I even get to it.

"Oh come on, seriously?!" Dio protests, glancing at K.

"You cast your vote, and you lost." Phi says matter-of-factly. "Looks like it's decided-"

"Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close. Nine... Eight... Seven..."

"-and just in time." Phi finishes in a rush. "Come on!"

The tiny room briefly becomes a scramble of bodies, everyone bumping into everyone else as we rush to our respective groups and doors. Thankfully, Sigma and I are already standing next to the red door, and Quark is only a few feet away, allowing us to make it through the opening just before the countdown hits zero.

"Chromatic Doors closing."

The door shuts behind me, prompting the bracelet scanner to begin rising over us. I sigh in relief — it was a close thing, but Alice's plan worked out in the end, with just a tiny bit of manipulation on my part. Sorry Sigma, I-

I stumble in place, despite the fact that the door leading out of the scanning chamber hasn't even opened yet. Wait a second, did I just cheat Sigma out of getting the final decision at the Chromatic Doors again?!

I glance over at Sigma's shadowed form, the lack of light hiding my grimace. Damn it, how the hell do I keep managing to do this? Has he managed to decide even a single one of the door choices thus far?! I can't keep-

No, hold on. Sigma did still have a choice that time, right? I may have lead him towards the one I wanted, but he had the option to refuse, and his vote was ultimately the deciding one. As such, the timeline should still split there like it was supposed to, right? I mean, unless for some reason Sigma literally can't bring himself to vote against me when he comes back to that particular juncture a second time. Assuming this isn't already the second time, in which case-

I toss my head back and groan under my breath. I really can't worry about this right now...

The door opposite the crimson one at our backs finally raises, light spilling back into the small room as another long hallway is revealed. The three of us begin proceeding down the corridor in a rather awkward silence, all will to initiate conversation seeming to have left us in the interim.

...and then the silence is broken, and it somehow gets even more awkward.

“I'm sorry, I have to ask this, or I'll never get it off my mind.” Sigma suddenly says, looking over at me as he does so. “Clover, why aren’t you wearing a shirt?”

And so it begins...

My first instinct is to glare at Sigma and tell him that I have the right to dress however I want. My second instinct however tells me that, likely motive for asking aside, that's not actually an unreasonable question, as I've been wondering pretty much the exact same thing since the moment I got here. Unfortunately, I can't actually say that, nor give Sigma the insipid “official” explanation behind my outfit without also explaining SOIS.

Meaning, I'm stuck just making something up instead.

“For your information, this is technically a top.” I say, verbally stalling while I try to think of a convincing enough reason. “As for why I'm wearing it rather than something more 'substantial'... let's just say the place Alice and I work at tends to get really, really hot at times. It honestly only makes sense to dress in clothes that we won't immediately end up sweating out of.”

Come to think of it, that might even be true to some extent. I'm not really sure where SOIS's main “base” is located, but Alice did make her first appearance hitchhiking in the middle of the Nevada Desert...

Sigma raises an eyebrow at me. “No offense, but I'm kind of surprised your outfits meet the workplace dress code.”

“There isn't one.” I say, deciding it probably can't hurt to let this small tidbit slip. “In fact, we’re actively encouraged to dress as oddly as possible.”

“...seriously?”

“Seriously.” I nod, shivering slightly as I do so. “Of course, had I known I was going to be kidnapped and taken to a freezing cold... whatever this place is,” I gesture at the metal walls surrounding us, “I would have made sure to throw on a couple extra layers first.”

Seriously, I'd kill to have a jumpsuit like Sigma's right now. Even if it would make me look like an extremely tacky mechanic.

“I could lend you my hat for a while if you'd like, Miss Clover.” Quark chimes in.

I look over my shoulder and smile at him. “Thanks Quark, but I imagine you need that hat even more than I do. Besides, I don't think it'd sit right on my hair, do you?”

I reach up and pat the pair of fuzzy ornaments nesting atop the crown of my head, which would naturally prove a significant impediment to any attempts at hat-wearing.

“I guess you're right.” Quark laughs. “Tell me if you change your mind though!”

I nod in agreement. A few seconds later, the three of us emerge into a chamber nigh-identical in appearance to the one leading into the B. Garden.

“Three different doors...” Sigma says, looking around the room.

“Which way should we go?” Quark asks.

I shrug. “Whichever way we're allowed to, I'd assume.”

Not seeing anyone else about to do it, I step forward to pull the lever at the center of the room-

“Wait!”

I startle and freeze at Sigma's panicked cry, my hand still outstretched towards the lever.

“Don't just pull that without thinking!” Sigma continues. “What if it's a trap?! For all we know, it could explode the moment someone touches it!”

I sigh exasperatedly. “I appreciate the concern Sigma, but I can't really imagine we're being forced to play this huge, intricately-designed 'game' with about a hundred separate rules to it, just so Zero can randomly blow one of us up with a booby-trapped lever before the second round even starts.”

Before Sigma can protest any further, I reach out and yank the lever forward. A moment later, the door directly across from us dings, and slides up into the ceiling.

“See?” I say as I walk into the newly revealed hallway. “Nothing to worry about.”

Sigma doesn't have a response for that — or at least not an external one — and so we once again continue on, Quark lagging behind just a little. Jeez, this is taking longer than I thought it would...

Finally, at the end of the hall, we come across another door, which slides up as we approach it to reveal a medium-sized room in the shape of a quarter-circle. At its center is a dual-level table of the exact same shape, covered in various strange-looking devices, as well as the safe we'll eventually need to open to leave. Four rectangular alcoves are built into the room's two flat walls, each containing a roughly chest-level shelf on which to work, connected by a tall shelving unit occupying the corner. In contrast, the curved wall is made entirely of narrow glass tanks that stretch from floor to ceiling, each of which is filled with a mysterious, glowing green liquid.

Ah, the laboratory. Can't say I remember much about this room... or really anything about it, honestly.

“What is this place?” Sigma asks, peeking over my head to look into the room, his roving gaze catching on the liquid-filled tanks. “...and what is that?”

“Lemon-lime flavored soda?” I suggest.

Sigma gives me an odd look, not seeming to realize I'm joking.

“...somehow, I don't think that's it.”

I shrug. “Well, the door did say this is the 'Laboratory', so maybe it's some sort of experiment then?”

Although, I don't particularly recall anything about the Nonary Game that would require a bunch of radioactive-looking goop bubbling away in giant fluid tanks... unless...

How did they grow K again, exactly...?

I shake my head to dispel the slightly creepy thought. “Let's just start looking around so we can get out of here.”

Sigma nods in agreement. We step into the room...

And behind us, Quark abruptly collapses to his knees.

Chapter Text

"Wha- Quark!" Sigma cries, spinning around in tandem with me.

"Why did we come here...?" Quark mutters in a dazed tone. "What's the point...? We're just going to die..."

My heart seizes. Oh no, the Radical-6!

"No, we're not just going to die... we have to die... all of us... it's the only way for us to be free..."

"Wh- what are you talking about, Quark...?" Sigma says, looking increasingly freaked out the longer that Quark speaks.

"Just end it... end it all..." Quark rambles. "Free the body... free the mind... free... the..."

Before he can finish that all too ominous line, Quark's eyes roll up in his skull, and he collapses backwards in a dead faint. Sigma lunges forward and manages to catch Quark before he can fully hit the ground, thankfully preventing the young boy's head from smashing into the floor.

"Quark! Are you okay?!"

When Quark doesn't respond, Sigma puts a hand to the boy's chest, presumably to check that he's still breathing. Upon confirming as much, Sigma lets out a sigh of relief, though he still looks extremely troubled.

"What the hell was that...?"

That would be an event I really should have been more prepared for. It happened in the original VLR after all, as well as the initial timeline I went through, even if it didn't happen in the last one for whatever reason... although, isn't Quark normally supposed to have this little episode before everyone enters the Chromatic Doors, not after? Ugh, why has so much of my meta-knowledge turned out to be so utterly useless?

"Any ideas, Clover?" Sigma asks.

I nod, opening my mouth to suggest that it might be the effects of Radical-6 — and freeze, abruptly remembering that we haven't actually "discovered" what the symptoms of the virus are just yet. If I even vaguely imply that I already know them, when I really shouldn't... no, I can't say that.

"I- actually no, I don't have any clue what that was either, Sigma." I say instead. "Here, bring him into the room."

Sigma seems slightly confused by my instant reversal of stance, but does as asked anyways, lifting Quark up in a cradling hold and cautiously sidling into the laboratory. He lays Quark's prone body down next to the glowing tanks, looking a little regretful that he doesn't have anything to rest the young boy's head on.

"It was like he just suddenly went crazy." Sigma says restlessly as he straightens back up. "But why?"

"I don't know, but I doubt it's anything good." I reply. "We should try and get through this room quickly so we can get Quark back to the infirmary as soon as possible."

Partially because that's just the best place for us to take care of him, but also because I really, really don't want Quark to wake back up while we're still in here, fully suicidal and out of his mind, with only Sigma and I to try and restrain him. Given just how strong he proved to be last time whilst in the throes of the virus, I'm not sure that the two of us alone could actually stop him from killing himself this time, and I'd rather not have to find out.

Thankfully, Sigma seems to agree with me, and we wordlessly disperse throughout the room — or, well, "disperse" in the sense that we walk a few feet away to examine different things. The room isn't actually large enough for us to truly distance ourselves from each other, but that's probably for the best anyways, given how these escape rooms tend to work.

I crouch down to investigate the open cubbyholes beneath the second alcove on the left, which appears to have a fume hood and a chemical drain built into it. Meanwhile, Sigma moves over to the shelves in the back, which are stocked with a bunch of cylindrical, metal-and-glass containers — much like the one stuffed underneath the alcove I'm looking in.

"Okay, I've got... a jar of seeds, looks like?" I say, pulling the cylinder out into the light.

"Same here." Sigma says, pulling an almost identical-looking container off the bottom shelf. "There's two more of them on the table as well."

"Huh, right you are." I say, taking the container from Sigma's outstretched hand and placing it with mine at the front of the table, next to the one already sitting there, then reaching around the bizarre-looking microscope on the right to grab the container there as well. "What's with all the seeds?"

I look back up at Sigma just in time to see him slowly lid his eyes at me, his lips suddenly quirking into a broad smile... only for it to drop just as quickly as he turns away again, shaking his head.

"Not the time..." I hear him mutter under his breath.

...he was about to make some horrible "seed" related innuendo, wasn't he. I've got to be more careful with what I say around this guy — good on Sigma for showing some self-restraint this time though.

"There's some other stuff here too." Sigma says, attempting to brush past the comment he just almost made as he pulls some more containers off the shelves. "We've got some sort of clear mystery liquid... a root that kind of looks like a severed hand..."

He turns to show me the container before placing it on the table, and I flinch back slightly — he's right, that does look like a hand, albeit a rather grotesquely stretched out one. Did they grow it that way on purpose? Surely not.

"And also... this."

Sigma pulls down the final non-empty container, inside of which is-

"Oh, eww." I say, unable to stop myself from grimacing upon seeing the dead frog floating in the jar.

"Hey, be nice." Sigma teasingly replies. "He's not that ugly. Besides, maybe if you kiss him, he'll turn into a prince."

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, maybe, but seeing as how that frog has been sitting in a chemical bath for who knows how long, I have my doubts that the resulting 'prince' would be in the best of shape."

Sigma nods. "You're probably right."

Having said as much, he smirks and pops the lid off the frog's container, filling the nearby air with a rather strong disinfectant scent.

"Sure you don't wanna give it a try anyways?"

I level the flattest glare I can manage in his direction.

"I'll pass, thanks."

Sigma chuckles and closes the container back up, then joins me as I move to examine the leftmost alcove. This one doesn't have any storage space beneath it like the one to its right does, but there's a tray sitting inside of it, emblazoned with another lion-eating-the-sun design, and on it rests-

"A scalpel?"

I shiver a little as Sigma picks up and examines the silvery tool. Another damn blade... this facility has a lot more potential weapons in it than I initially thought it did.

"Still cold, huh?" Sigma asks, evidently having noticed me shudder.

"Yeah, but that's... not really the issue." I say, taking a few steps back. "Just, keep that thing pointed away from me, alright?"

'And far away from Quark.' I privately add, glancing back over at our third team member's prone form.

Not having any use for it just yet, Sigma sets the scalpel back down and moves to examine the wall of tanks, while I turn my attention to the table in the center of the room. Even ignoring the seed jars, there's a fair amount of stuff sitting on it, including a pair of odd-looking machines taking up a good chunk of the table's surface. One is trapezoidal and blocky, with a pair of small cylinders jutting from its top, while the other is a larger, hollow cylinder (someone up here apparently really likes cylinders) with some sort of thin, tube-shaped canister hooked up to its interior. There's also a bundle of black and yellow wires extruding from the latter's base, which are themselves connected to a black, flat-topped dome thing with what almost looks like miniature blast doors on its side.

I take a few seconds to investigate the mystery machines, but don't find much that wasn't obvious at a glance. The trapezoid has a pair of tiny screens on its side, but they're not on at the moment, and there's no apparent power switch to change that. It doesn't seem like we can do anything with either of them — which is weird, because usually these rooms don't contain completely pointless objects. Maybe something else in here will activate them?

Shrugging, I move on, picking up the two metal binders laying on the table instead. Spotting a similar binder set inside one of the alcoves on the right, as well as yet another jar of seeds, I grab the latter and place it with its brethren without comment, then lay the binders back down and open up all three of them at once.

"...oh hey, I think this room may actually come with instructions?"

Sigma turns away from the tanks, his normal eye widening a fraction. "Really? For what?"

"Well," I say, scanning over the revealed pages, "this one is for 'Hydroponics', which I think has to do with that big pipe network over there?"

I gesture at the installation occupying the rightmost alcove, where three interconnected pipes lead down from the ceiling, dividing into five before leading straight down through the counter below. Their open ends poke into the top of the five smaller cubbies beneath, each of which contains a mostly empty beaker back lit by a brightly colored number panel.

"This next one is for 'DNA Extraction', and I'm pretty sure is for that weird-looking blender over there." I continue, this time more certain of my answer as I gesture again, this time to the alcove on the left of the pipes. "And this last one is about... Frog Dissection."

I pull a face, looking from the frog container to the scalpel and back.

"Well, that seems like a pretty clear hint." I say. "If a rather disgusting one."

I mean come on, there's not even anywhere to wash our hands in here! Seriously Sigma-Zero, even if your hands are robotic, that's hardly an excuse for ignoring basic sanitation practices!

"I take it you'd prefer I handle this?" Sigma asks, already picking up the frog in question.

I nod. "Please. It'd be kind of hard for me anyways, what with my nails."

Since Sigma's hands are occupied, I start reading the next steps aloud for him. Sigma obligingly follows along, pouring the preservation liquid (ethanol, according to the instructions) down the nearby drain, then extracting the frog from its glassy prison and laying it out beneath the fume hood. Seeing the dead amphibian lying there, limbs splayed and belly up on the cold, hard metal, I can't help but feel a small pang of sympathy for it.

"Poor little guy..." I say, quietly bowing my head as Sigma slowly lowers the scalpel towards the frog's stomach. "I'm sorry we need to cut you open, Mr. Maybe-Prince. I promise, we wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't absolutely necessary. I hope you can understand."

Sigma pauses for a moment to aim his one normal eye at me. "What happened to 'ew, gross'?"

"Just because I don't enjoy the sight of floating frog corpses doesn't mean I can't feel bad for him." I reply, breaking from my almost-mourning pose. "I mean, would you want your body to be preserved after death in a jar on a shelf, just for someone to come along and dissect you who-even-knows how long later? I doubt the little guy willingly donated his body to science either — he may just be a long-expired frog, but I wish we could at least treat his remains a little better."

Sigma shakes his head at me, seeming a little amused.

"I didn't realize you had such strong feelings for this frog." he says. "Are you sure you don't want to try and-"

"Oh, get on with it already!"

Thankfully not belaboring the joke, Sigma turns back to the table and lowers the scalpel, slitting the frog's stomach open with one quick cut and revealing something round and blue inside. Without any of the hesitation I would have displayed in his place, Sigma reaches in and pulls out the object, which turns out to be a small, half-blue and half-clear orb with an odd protrusion on its front, filled with some sort of weird-looking goo.

"Seems Mr. Maybe-Prince here had a kidney stone." Sigma comments.

I giggle. "Yeah, and is it me, or does it kind of look like it came out of one of those plastic toy vending machines?"

"Huh?"

"You know, the kind that you see at supermarkets with the cheap little prizes inside." I elaborate. "Those little plastic boxes that cost like a quarter or two each? Usually have gumball machines next to them?"

"Ah, those." Sigma says with an air of realization as he looks back at the capsule in his hand. "Huh, you're right, it kinda does. Don't think we'll be finding any prizes inside of this though, unless you're into weird frog goo."

He looks around the room. "Now, where do we put this?"

I glance over at the microscope again — or, more specifically, the four round indents on top of the squat, cylindrical attachment (more cylinders?!) hooked up to its front.

"One of those, maybe?" I suggest, pointing.

Evidently not having any better ideas, Sigma walks over to the instrument in question, bending down to look into the lens.

"Huh, can't see a thing." he notes as he straightens back up. "It's pitch black in there. You're right though Clover, looks like this should fit, so maybe if I do this..."

Sigma fits the extruding bit of the half-blue capsule into the top of the microscope, which it fastens into with a satisfying *click*, then bends down to look into the lens again.

"...then absolutely nothing will change." Sigma deadpans.

I snort. "Well yeah, we probably need to fill all four ho-"

I catch myself, knowing exactly how Sigma will reply to that particular wording, and quickly rephrase.

"-all four slots first before it'll start working. Doubt these would be here otherwise."

I hold up two empty versions of the same capsule Sigma just inserted, previously sitting on the same tray I placed all the seed jars on, and lightly squeeze one to pop it open.

"You're probably right." Sigma sighs as he moves back from the microscope. "Anyways, looks like that's all the loose items in here, so let's get blending."

On board with that plan, I start moving towards the appliance in question, but Sigma is closer and gets there first. Seeing as how he's already started looking over the DNA extraction instructions, I decide to let Sigma handle this one himself, sidling up to watch as he grabs the root and the jar of liquid and sets them next to the blender. A few seconds later, he also walks over to the fume hood and, to my surprise, takes the waste tank out from underneath the counter, which I didn't even realize (or remember) could be removed.

"Not that I'm doubting you, but why do we need that?" I ask, slightly puzzled.

"The instructions say we need ethanol for this process," Sigma replies, hefting the waste tank onto the counter, "and this what we've got to work with."

I frown. "Okay, but if we're trying to extract DNA from the root, isn't all the frog residue floating around in that stuff going to contaminate the sample?"

Sigma shrugs helplessly. "Maybe? I don't see any other ethanol in here though."

I point at the container of clear liquid. "What's in there then?"

"Saline solution, apparently." Sigma replies. "It says so underneath the lid, and we need that too."

Still concerned, I take another quick look around, but Sigma's right. This room is fairly small, and we've already picked up pretty much everything we possibly could, save for the empty jars on the back shelf.

"I... suppose you've got a point." I say uncertainly as Sigma tosses the root into the funnel-like attachment beneath the blender. "Let's just hope this works then."

Sigma closes the lid and starts up the blender, which whirs to life surprisingly quietly for how powerful it seems to be. In just a few seconds, the root has been thoroughly pulped, at which point Sigma opens the lid back up and carefully pours some saline solution into the funnel, the liquid inexplicably turning a vibrant neon green upon contact with the root pulp and slowly starting to drip into the beaker below.

"You know, this is kind of making me feel like I'm back in biology class." I idly comment as the liquid gradually trickles down. "Any moment now, the teacher is going to walk in and yell at me for not wearing safety goggles, or pulling my hair back."

"Or having a lab coat." Sigma adds. "Seriously, where's the lab coats? They're the coolest part of the job. What kind of sub-standard scientist forgets to stock their lab with those?"

I snicker. "I guess whoever designed this place must not have been very bright, huh Sigma?"

Sigma nods in honest agreement, and it's all I can do not to bust out laughing.

Once all of the now absurdly colorful liquid has collected in the beaker, Sigma opens up the waste tank and pours some of the unfortunately froggy ethanol in, causing the mixture to take on an almost jello-like consistency. Finally, he removes the beaker and scoops some of the contents into an empty capsule, causing the transparent top of the plastic orb to take on the same neon green color as the mixture.

"And that's how it's done!" Sigma says, sounding inordinately pleased with himself as he slots the new capsule into the microscope and peers into the lens again. "Still nothing to see in here though, and, uh..."

We both turn to stare at the remaining root-saline-ethanol jello sitting in the beaker, which we have no way of easily getting rid of since we're currently using the waste tank. After a second or two, I just grab an empty container off the shelves and dump the excess material into it, though the beaker is still left slick with slime — once again, I really hope this puzzle doesn't care that much about cross-contamination.

"Alright, now what?" I say.

"I'm guessing we just do this again?" Sigma hazards. "We've still got an empty capsule, and a bunch of seeds to use for material."

"Right, but which kind?" I reply, gesturing at our collection of jars. "There's five different varieties of seed here, and we've got a limited supply of ethanol."

Sigma scratches at his shoulder. "That's true... maybe we need another clue. Let's come back to it later."

Well, I hope later is soon, because I don't see much else in here we can fiddle with other than the pipe network. Aside from the weird table machines that is, which might just be totally useless — are they seriously just here to make the room look appropriately science-y? I swear at least one of the things was somehow important though...

Frustrated by my inability to remember, I put the subject out of mind for the moment and move with Sigma to the rightmost alcove, picking the hydroponics folder back up in the process.

"Man, look at all these pipes..." Sigma muses. "This looks complicated."

"It looks complicated, but I don't think it actually is." I note as I skim over the (extremely brief) instructions. "We just need to get a ratio of one part fluid to ten parts water for each beaker... huh."

I guess I have to rescind my earlier statement. Assuming this works as stated, there is running water in here — it's just incredibly inconvenient to use or access. Like, there's not even a drain in the floor in case any of it spills, or there isn't a beaker under all five pipes, so it literally can't be used for anything other than this puzzle. Inconvenience, thy name is Zero.

"Does that mean those numbers are units of liquid then?" Sigma asks, glancing up at the glowing red '40', '80' and '40' over each respective pipe, and then at the '3', '3', '2', '5', and '3' behind each of the beakers. "In that case, I think we just need to use these handles to change which way the pipes send down water, so that each beaker gets the proper amount."

I raise an eyebrow, a little surprised at how fast he figured that out. "I think so, yeah."

Although... we don't have any surplus of the fluid that's already in the beakers, do we? And the instructions say they're all different kinds...

"Do not pull the lever without double-checking your answer though." I add. "I don't think there's any way to reset this puzzle, so we may only get one shot at it."

I'm not entirely certain about that — to my admittedly-limited recollection, there aren't any puzzles in VLR where the player can permanently lock themselves out of the solution — but I just don't see any way we could possibly "redo" this one if we get it wrong.

"Shouldn't be a problem." Sigma says confidently as he starts flipping handles. "I am proving to be a rather awesome scientist, if I do say so myself."

I roll my eyes. "Somehow I think it'll take a little more than what we've been doing for anyone to consider you a 'scientist'."

Sigma stops for a moment to cross his arms at me, as though pouting. "Oh come on, can't you just let me have this? Where's the accolades? The awards? The recognition of my scholarly excellence?"

Unbidden, my lips curl upwards into a smirk. "Oh, my mistake. Just a second."

Clearing my throat, I plaster on my brightest, widest smile, then turn to look Sigma directly in the eye.

"Ahem... congratulations Doctor Sigma!" I exclaim, clapping wildly. "I always knew you could do it! Those guys with PHDs in Biochemistry haven't got a thing on you, who can cut open frogs and solve moderately difficult escape room puzzles!"

Sigma does a few exaggerated bows in my direction. "Thank you, thank you! I couldn't have done it without the help of my lovely assistant, who carried out the truly crucial tasks of staring over my shoulder the entire time while making snarky comments!"

Laughing, I open my mouth to fire back- then abruptly snap it shut.

What am I doing? What are we doing?!

"Clover?" Sigma says, the grin slipping off his face a little. "Something wrong?"

"Yes something's wrong!" I exclaim, visibly startling him. "We're supposed to be hurrying, remember? And instead we're just standing here doing some sort of impromptu two-person comedy routine! We need to focus!"

Sigma's gaze briefly flickers over to where Quark still lies, and his tone quickly sobers. "Right."

He turns back to the pipes with renewed concentration, while I turn away and try to force my brain back on task.

I didn't even notice the two of us had fallen into such an easy conversational rhythm. Sigma is a lot more fun to talk with than I'd honestly expected him to be... not to say that's a bad thing, but we somehow managed to get so caught up in our own banter that we practically forgot about Quark, which is especially egregious in my case, given that I know what's likely going to happen when he wakes back up again. As Sigma himself pointed out when we started this room, this is not the time to be cracking jokes.

Determined to not accidentally extend our stay here any longer, I move away from Sigma to ensure I don't distract him again. I also take a moment to remind myself that Quark isn't the only reason I should be doing my best to focus right now — the whole point of these escape rooms is to raise our "epiphany points" after all, meaning it's likely in my best interest to solve as many of these puzzles as I can. I don't know how much any of it will help in my case, if at all, and I still don't regret passing off dissection duty, but the fact remains that I shouldn't just be sitting back and letting Sigma do this stuff for me.

I frown. Sigma is already working on the pipes though, and it would likely just be counterproductive to have both of us trying to figure them out at once. In which case, what's left for me to do? The seed blending? We still don't know which kind to put in, and I doubt that we have enough ethanol left to try them all at random...

Anxiously tapping my foot, I pick up the trio of folders again, scanning over them to check if we missed something. Which, as it turns out, I did — peeking out from under the hydroponics instructions is a second sheet of paper, which I somehow passed over the first time I looked. Pulling it free, I find that it explains that there's a connection between the beaker fluids and the seeds... presented in the form of five distinct syllogisms.

Perfect.

Moving in front of the quintet of seed jars, I set myself upon the logic puzzle. It doesn't strike me as a particularly difficult problem, but between the renewed franticness of my thoughts and the fact that I can't write anything down, it takes me a lot longer than I feel it should — so much so that by the time I've got it figured out, Sigma looks ready to pull the lever on the pipes.

"Hey Clover, come check my math?"

I walk over and do so, finding that his configuration looks correct — apparently the answer is literally just to make all the handles face straight down, dividing every juncture in half.

"Looks good to me." I say.

"Let's do this then."

Sigma throws the switch, and trickles of water flow down from above into each of the five beakers. The little red lights above them each turn green in succession, then stay that way, presumably confirming that we got it right.

"Great, let's get these seeds in them." I say, already moving to do so.

"Wait, what?"

"There was a logic puzzle in the hydroponics directions explaining what to do next." I quickly explain as I pop seeds into their corresponding beakers. "I solved it while you were busy."

"Okay, but weren't you the one who said we should check-"

I toss a seed into the final beaker, and something in the wall immediately makes a thumping noise, at which point a tiny half-red capsule comes tumbling down the chute beneath the switch.

"...nevermind then."

"Sorry, just trying to speed us along." I say a little sheepishly.

Sigma shakes his head.

"Alright," he says, picking up and placing the third capsule in the microscope, "just one more to-"

The screen next to the microscope lights up in white. Sigma tilts his head at it, clearly not having expected that, while I immediately lower my head to the eyepiece.

"It's working." I announce.

...for a given definition of "working" at least, since this definitely isn't showing what the microscope's eyepiece is actually pointed at. Instead, I seem to be looking at a small, rectangular screen displaying six rows of colorful tabs, framed against a background of neon DNA strands. Each of the rows is paired with another, and each of the tabs is labeled with either a "G", "C", "A", or "T".

"It is?" Sigma asks. "We haven't even gotten the fourth capsule in yet."

I don't respond, already working to figure this out. There aren't any instructions to be seen, but given what I'm looking at, along with the very on-the-nose background image, it's not hard to figure out that this puzzle is based around DNA base sequences. As such, I probably just need to shift the rows around — which seem to be controlled by the dials on the side of the microscope — until every G connects to a C, and every T connects to an A. Annoyingly however, when any one row moves, so too does another. All except for the fifth one that is, in which case I probably need to make sure I match that one up last-

"Clover?" Sigma suddenly says from behind me. "Need some help?"

"Ah- no, I'm fine." I haltingly reply, still twisting dials. "Don't worry, I've got this."

"You sure?" Sigma continues.

"Very sure."

"Alright, just let me know if you want-"

"Sigma, could you please just stop talking and let me focus!" I snap.

The words come out somewhat harsher than I intended, but the distraction Sigma is providing really isn't helping me- wait, there!

I make one final move, and all 36 of the tabs lock together — whereupon a surprisingly loud rendition of the "COMPLETED" jingle issues from somewhere on the machine, almost directly in my ears.

Yelping in surprise, I stumble a couple steps back from the eyepiece, thankfully managing not to trip over my own feet in the process. Steadying myself and grumbling internally at the aural jump scare, I look to the screen on the microscope's right, and am pleased to find that it's now lit up in bright green.

Sigma is already looking at the passcode, seeming a little stunned — as well as oddly disappointed? — but quickly wipes the expression from his face when he notices me staring.

"Nice job, Clover!" he says in way of congratulations. "That's only the normal password though. Should we try to get the other one too? If there's another one of those files inside, it could be important."

I shake my head. "We can't risk taking the time for that. We need to get Quark to the infirmary."

Sigma seems to hesitate for a moment, but ultimately concedes as I start punching the passcode into the safe. It swings open just as obligingly as the others, and inside I find the expected contents, including a map of Floor B, a pair of moon cards, and the exit key for the room. That isn't all though, as there's also a small brown book of some kind, propped up against the safe's back wall, as well as a thick glass bottle filled with bright purple liquid, the label on the front of which reads-

My breath hitches.

Axelavir.

Chapter Text

Almost laughing aloud in relief, I pull the medicine out of the safe, smiling widely as I do.

So THIS is where it was! I knew it had to be in one of the safes! Oh, this makes things so much simpler; if we can just get Quark upstairs and inject him with this before he wakes up again-

“Clover?” Sigma says from behind me. “What's that?”

I freeze, having momentarily forgotten he was there.

“Ah... I'm not sure.” I reply, showing him the tiny container. “The label says 'Axelavir', and it kind of looks like a medicine vial?”

I'd love to just tell him what this is, but we haven't scanned Quark with the ADAM yet, so Sigma doesn't know what Axelavir does or why it would be useful — ergo, I shouldn't either.

“There's also all this other stuff.” I continue, hurriedly pocketing the vial before Sigma can ask any follow up questions about why I was smiling at it. “We have two moon cards, a small key, a map, and some sort of journal, apparently?”

Extracting the rest of the safe's contents, I pocket one of the moon cards before thrusting the rest of the items into Sigma's arms. This does its intended job of distracting him, as he ends up frantically bobbling the objects back and forth for a couple of seconds, trying to keep them all from falling.

“Woah, woah, one thing at a time!” Sigma protests, managing to set the items down on the table. “I've only got two hands here...”

I quash the urge to tell him that's technically not true, depending on what one qualifies as “hands”, while Sigma picks the journal back up and starts flipping through it... whereupon his normal eye immediately narrows into a disbelieving squint.

“What the...? What language even is this?”

Not being able to actually see it from where I'm standing, nor really remembering what the purpose of that journal was, I just shrug.

“We can examine this stuff in more detail later.” I say. “For now, let's just hurry back upstairs.”

Which is even more important than when I said it the first time, since we can actually cure Quark now, and thus may be able to avoid having to wrestle him into sedation again.

Sigma nods. “Yeah. Here, you get the door.”

He pockets the journal, the map, and remaining moon card, then moves to where we left Quark. Meanwhile, I take the key back and slide it into the ornate-looking lock to the right of the exit door. A simple twist of the wrist, and “LOCK” switches to “OPEN”, prompting the door to slide upwards and reveal another hallway.

Nodding approvingly, I turn back around to see Sigma now holding Quark in a fireman's carry... as well as giving me a slightly unhappy look.

“Um...” I squint. “Something wrong?”

“Not really.” Sigma says, though with a clear note of disappointment in his voice. “The way you opened that just felt kind of... lackluster, is all. I know we finished the room quickly, but couldn't you have at least done a countdown, or something like that?”

...seriously?

“I'm sorry if I didn't open the door with enough ceremony for you, Sigma,” I reply with not a little sarcasm, “but I kind of think we have bigger concerns right now, don't you?”

Sigma at least has the grace to look a little sheepish at that, to which I just roll my eyes.

“Come on, let's go already.”

Well aware that I'm likely slower than him, I step aside to let Sigma leave first, then follow him out, glancing back at the interior of the laboratory for a final time as I do. Honestly, we did end up finishing this room pretty quickly, though with Quark liable to wake up and go ballistic at any moment, I'm certainly not complaining. I suppose I'm ultimately just glad we didn't end up having to waste a ton of time messing around with either of the mysterious table machines-

I blink, squinting at one of said machines again. Huh. I didn't notice when I was looking at it from above, but from this angle, I can actually see the words “IG Replicator” engraved around the lower rim of the device.

...and IG... equals immunoglobulin...

I very nearly smack myself.

“Clover?” Sigma says, already having started down the hallway. “Aren't we going?”

I fail to move, my realization having struck me with sudden indecision. The IG Replicator — AKA the machine that can make more Axelavir — is all of ten feet away from me, probably already prepped for use. However, Sigma is also all of ten feet away from me, and I'm still not supposed to know what the Axelavir is for, let alone what the replicator is for, so I can't exactly just stroll back in and use it apropos of absolutely nothing, at least not without looking ridiculously suspicious in the process-

“Clover...?” Sigma repeats.

“S-sorry.” I stutter, forcibly wrenching my gaze away from the lab as the exit door slides shut, hesitation having made my choice for me. “Spaced out for a moment... yeah, let's go.”

Still looking at me a little oddly, Sigma nevertheless sets off down the hallway, moving away at a fairly brisk pace. I trail after him, doing my best to keep up without tripping over my own feet — though while my eyes stay fixed on Sigma's back, my thoughts remain focused on the tiny glass bottle now pressing rather uncomfortably into my hip, and the horrible, creeping feeling that I may have just made a massive mistake.

It's certainly true that just now wasn't a particularly good time for me to use the IG Replicator. However, I kind of suspect it may have also been the only time — once we get Quark to the infirmary and scan him with the ADAM, the machine will identify not only that he's infected with Radical-6, but that the infection can be cured via Axelavir. At which point, Sigma will most likely want to immediately use the medicine on Quark... not knowing that the IG Replicator needs a sample of said medicine in order to make more, or that the replicator in question even exists. And, without revealing I know things that only Zero is supposed to know at this point in the game, I'll have no plausible excuse to stop him from doing exactly that.

I bite the inside of my lip. Quark may be the first to show symptoms of it this timeline, but everyone in this game except Luna is infected with Radical-6, and will succumb to it eventually if it isn't treated. In the last two lines, we didn't even have the option to avoid that, because no one ever opened up the laboratory. In this one though, we do ... and I'm still not taking the opportunity, for fear of Sigma becoming as suspicious of me as Phi. It's an admittedly valid concern, since I really don't need him attempting to interrogate me too — but in choosing to prioritize that, I likely just condemned everyone else in this timeline to an inevitable death by suicide.

Including Alice. Again.

Unable to stop myself from quailing at the thought, I shake my head, trying to keep things in perspective. As horrible as it is to those stuck in this timeline, I need to keep focused on the big picture — on myself, and my own, individual future, which with any luck won't be here. And hey, at least my delayed realization of the IG replicator's purpose should help with my epiphany problem...! Although, then again, does that even qualify as an epiphany? I didn't really learn anything, I just remembered something that I should have already known to begin with. I certainly don't feel very accomplished for it; in fact I mostly just feel stupid for overlooking it, like I did with the paring knife in the B. Garden two timelines ago-

My eyes widen in sudden panic. Shit, the scalpel! We just left that sitting underneath the fume hood in the laboratory, right out in the open! I didn't even try to hide it! If Dio can't find his knife and goes looking for a new weapon again, then I might as well have just handed him one on a silver platter-

“Clover, are you feeling alright?”

I snap my gaze back up to Sigma, who's paused in the middle of the hallway just to turn around and squint at me.

“Seriously, you don't look so good.” he says, sounding legitimately concerned. “You're not sick too, are you?”

...I am. But, as with everyone else... there's nothing I can do about that.

“I'm fine.” I mumble. “Just worried about Quark, I guess.”

“Same here.” Sigma quietly replies. “Maybe we should we pick up the pace?”

I shake my head ruefully. “Sorry Sigma, but I can't really-”

“An Ambidex Gate has been opened.” the intercom suddenly interrupts. “Forty-five minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes.”

I glance up at the ceiling in astonishment. Wait a second, did Dio manage to get back first again? Sigma and I practically speedran that room; how in the world did his team finish before-

“What the hell? Who opened one of the gates?!”

Before I can actually respond to Sigma's outcry, he suddenly reaches out and grabs hold of my wrist.

“Come on, we need to get upstairs!” he urges, already starting to move again.

“Wait, Sigma I- WOAH!”

Once again I fail to finish my sentence as Sigma starts outright running down the corridor, towing me along behind him as he goes... and not seeming to realize that the shoes I'm wearing are not remotely conducive to such speeds, even were I better practiced in them. Shit-!

Desperate not to lose my balance and end up breaking an ankle or worse, I stop even attempting to balance on the back of my shoes and just put all my weight on the front, lifting the heels off the ground entirely and going from my tiptoes to very nearly en pointe as I frantically stumble after Sigma as best I can. At roughly the same time, it occurs to me that I probably could have used my difficulty with these shoes as an excuse to tell Sigma he should just go on ahead, then quietly slipped back into the laboratory to make more Axelavir as soon as he got out of sight. It would have been a perfect excuse, and a fairly innocuous one at that, but it's too late now...!

Thankfully, the hallway from the laboratory doesn't actually lead to the second floor warehouse like the one from the B. Garden did, instead looping back around to the Chromatic Doors and the elevator everyone first entered from. As soon as we make it back to the latter and step inside, Sigma hits the button to take us up, finally letting go of me as he does.

“Unbelievable...” he grumbles, readjusting his hold on Quark, “who would-”

“Are you a complete and utter moron?!”

Sigma flinches away as I glare him down. “Wha-”

“I'm wearing heels, Sigma!” I shout, hands planted on my hips. “Shoes which, if you weren't aware, aren't exactly built for running in! I was barely keeping on my feet that entire time you were dragging me down the hallway, and if I'd fallen while you were still grabbing onto my arm, I probably would have pulled you and Quark down with me!”

Seriously, what the hell was the thought process there?! Thank god Clover's shoes are at least flexible enough to have a little give in the front, because otherwise there is roughly zero chance that we, or at the very least I wouldn't have been sent sprawling!

“I realize that we're in a rush,” I continue to rant, “and I'm not particularly happy with whoever opened an AB gate either, but calm the hell down! The announcement said we have forty five minutes to make it back, not forty five seconds!”

In the face of my brief tirade, Sigma visibly slumps.

“Right... wasn't really thinking about that.” he admits, looking more than a little guilty. “It's just- who would even open one of the rooms before everyone else got back?”

“I have a guess.” I fume, crossing my arms under my chest. “Not that I particularly care at the moment.”

Of all the potential dangers contained within this facility, Sigma just being plain thoughtless isn't one I really expected I'd have to be worried about, but apparently that was my mistake.

“Sorry, Clover.” Sigma says, wincing. “My bad.”

I sigh as the elevator doors slide back open.

“Fine... just, please don't do that again. We'll figure out who opened a room later. Getting Quark to the infirmary still needs to be our top priority for the time being.”

I look back at Sigma with an unamused expression. “Let's maybe not run this time though, if just so you don't risk accidentally hitting his head on a wall on the way?”

Sigma abashedly agrees, and we start down the hall, thankfully now moving at a more reasonable, less potentially literally-breakneck speed. Even at a much-reduced pace, it doesn't take us very long to reach the infirmary's back entrance, and a quick look around as we walk into the room is enough to know that there's no one else inside at the moment-

I cringe a little as I silently correct myself. Barring Akane's corpse, at least, which is still lying on the furthest bed behind the divider. Forgot that was here again... you wouldn't imagine a dead body could so readily slip one's mind, but between all the other things I've been worried about of late, it's a lot easier than you'd think.

“We should probably examine Quark with the ADAM before anything else, right?” Sigma asks, paying the corpse no mind.

Trying to do the same, I nod. “Stands to reason.”

I've already essentially lost my chance at making more Axelavir, so I suppose I should at least endeavor to cure Quark as quickly as possible, before he wakes up and goes nuts again — and to do that without giving anything away, we'll need to actually “discover” what's wrong with him first.

Sigma moves over to the examination bed, taking a moment to remove Quark's hat and place it on the nearby desk, then another to ensure that his head is properly supported as he gently sets Quark down. Meanwhile, while Sigma is otherwise occupied, I take the scalpel from the nearby medical cart and surreptitiously slip it down the drain of the sink again. I may have forgotten about the one in the lab, but that's no reason to make it easy for Dio.

“There.” Sigma says as he steps back from Quark. “I guess we'll have to wait for Luna to get back to actually use this thing, but hopefully-”

He breaks off as I walk over and pick up the wand sitting on top of the ADAM, switching the machine in question on as I do so.

“Clover?” Sigma says, his normal eye blinking at me. “You know how to operate that?”

“Not exactly,” I admit, “but it didn't look all that difficult, so I'm gonna give it a shot anyways.”

I mean, I'm no doctor, but all Luna did with Akane's body was briefly run the scanner over it from a short distance away. Maybe there's some sort of nuance to the process that I'm just missing, but it certainly didn't seem terribly complicated.

Sigma looks a little unsure, but ultimately shrugs and steps aside.

“Well, alright. Guess it can't hurt.”

I nod, then begin slowly moving the scanner around Quark's body, gradually hovering it over each part of his prone form. Which feels more than a little absurd — between the shape of the ADAM's wand and the way that it's apparently used, I don't really feel like I'm performing a medical diagnosis, so much as I am scanning a giant, human-shaped barcode. Not that I'm questioning Luna's undoubtedly expansive medical knowledge, but this particular task could probably be handled by just about anyone who's ever worked a cash register before.

Regardless, my efforts soon bear fruit, as the screen to my right begins printing out results. Placing the wand back on top of the machine, I quickly skim through the information, while Sigma waits off to the side for me to finish. Finding essentially exactly what I'd expected to, I adopt my best solemn expression, then turn around to give Sigma the bad news.

“Well, the ADAM knows what's wrong with Quark.”

“And?” Sigma asks. “What is it?”

I close my eyes for a moment, wanting this to look right.

“It... says that he's infected with Radical-6.”

Sigma stumbles back a step, his mouth falling open in shock.

“Radical-6?” he repeats. “Seriously?”

“Yes, seriously.” I confirm, glancing back down at Quark. “Doesn't seem like coincidence, does it? Of all the things he could possibly be sick with, for it to be that...”

I keep my wording vague, trying to make sure I don't accidentally allude to knowing more about the virus than the newspaper article implied. Phi already called me out on that once before; I don't need it happening again.

Sigma tilts his head slightly to one side, his shocked expression shifting to one of minor confusion.

“Wait... Clover, you've heard of Radical-6 before?”

I turn around and blink at him. Huh? Why would that even be in question? Even if he might have extra memories from SHIFTing, from his current perspective we both found out about the virus at the exact same ti-

I freeze.

...uh oh. I think, whilst I was busy trying to avoid repeating the way I screwed up previously, I may have just screwed up again in an entirely different way. Because right now, I'm not just supposed to not know what the specific symptoms of Radical-6 are, I'm not supposed to know about the virus at all, because in this timeline-

“When Luna mentioned the newspaper article about Radical-6 that she found in this room, you weren't at the meeting yet.” Sigma elaborates, his statement mirroring my own realization. “You only showed up later with Tenmyouji and Quark. None of us there at the time had ever heard of the virus, or the plague that it implied had occurred... but you have?”

I try not to panic, or at least to not show that panic, even as I feel it starting to creep across my features.

“Clover...?” Sigma says in a low tone, frowning when I don't immediately respond.

“I- I mean, I still passed through the infirmary on the way downstairs...” I say, frantically grasping for a viable excuse, and cringing at the one I come up with.

“Okay, but the article wasn't even here by that point.” Sigma replies. “I'm pretty sure Luna took it with her after her group initially escaped the infirmary.”

He squints at me, and I curse internally, knowing that I'm likely only seeming increasingly suspicious with every passing second — in other words, the exact scenario that I've been trying to avoid. If I don't say something that satisfies Sigma soon, he's probably going to start thinking I'm Zero, in which case...

Damn it, can't be helped.

“...fine.” I admit, sighing as I do so. “Yes, I've heard of Radical-6 before. Prior to ending up in this place, I mean.”

Sigma's frown grows a little less harsh, but doesn't fully leave his face.

“How?” he asks. “And if so, why try to hide it?”

“It's... for a good reason...” I mumble, my words sounding unconvincing even to my own ears.

“And that reason is?”

“W-well...”

I don't end up getting to finish that sentence, as we're suddenly interrupted by the door at the back of the infirmary sliding up again to admit the rather frantic-looking trio of Alice, Phi, and Luna into the room. Oh thank god, a distraction!

“Clover?” Alice starts as she spots me, seeming a little out of breath. “You're already here?”

“Were you the ones who opened a gate?” Phi asks, seeming more than a little cross.

I quickly shake my head. “Wasn't us. We were still making our way back upstairs at the time.”

“Figures...” Phi mutters to herself — just before her eyes land on the room's smallest occupant, and suddenly go wide. “Hang on, what happened to Quark?!”

Alice and Luna gasp in tandem as they too notice the still form of the child laid out on the examination bed behind us.

“He collapsed, not long after we all broke into teams.” Sigma explains. “Clover and I had to run through our room as quickly as possible to get him back up here.”

Luna swiftly moves to Quark's side, grabbing up the ADAM's wand as she does so- only to stop dead as she realizes that the screen is already displaying results.

“Oh... you've already diagnosed him?” she asks, sounding surprised. “Which one of you performed the scan?”

“I did.” I admit.

Alice shoots me a subtly annoyed look, which I realize after a moment is probably because operating theoretically-complex machinery once again runs counter to playing dumb like she recommended. Once again however, I can't really bring myself to care that much, as I've kind of got bigger problems to deal with.

“The results... weren't great.” I quietly add.

“This is...?” Luna whispers, now scanning over the results herself. “Oh no...”

My eyes nervously flicker over to Sigma, but he thankfully remains silent, not choosing to use the easy potential segue. I guess he's not suspicious enough of me just yet to bring up that I have preexisting knowledge of Radical-6 in front of the others, or at least is waiting to hear that “good reason” I mentioned before doing so, but I know the question is in his mind now... damn it, I should have just told him that Quark told me about the virus when I met him in the infirmary before the meeting. He was with Luna when she initially went through the room and found the news article, and while it would have been easy to disprove in the event that Quark wakes up later, Sigma likely wouldn't have had any real reason to question it... but once again, it's too little, too late for that.

A door abruptly opens again, though this time it's the infirmary's front entrance, allowing K and Tenmyouji to come walking in as well — minus one team member.

“Ah.” K says, detached as always. “It seems as though everyone has already gathered again.”

“Looks like it.” Temyouji agrees, eyes panning around the room. “Though, why is everyone just standing around in the-”

His gaze settles on Quark, and immediately turns panicked. “Wait, what?! QUARK!”

He scrambles over to Quark's side, very nearly ramming Luna and me aside in the process. K looks on in what I assume to be concern, even as Phi turns to him.

“Dio isn't with you?”

K shakes his head. “Our group had something of an... internal disagreement. As a result, Dio declared that he had no desire to wait with us for the rest of you, and left for the time being.”

...I really don't like the sound of that. Hope he doesn't find his way to the lab...

“Come on kid, say something! Anything!” Tenmyouji pleads, desperately checking Quark for a pulse before rounding on everyone else. “What happened?! What's wrong with him?!”

Luna looks down with a mournful expression. “Well...”

“He has Radical-6.” Sigma rather bluntly interrupts.

Those of us who didn't already know recoil in surprise, while Tenmyouji's eyes go wide. “What...?”

Sigma quickly recaps what happened again, this time explaining in slightly more detail how, just as we were about to enter the laboratory, Quark suddenly fell to his knees and started babbling nonsensically, then just as suddenly fell unconscious. Luna jumps in mid-way to explain what little we currently know about Radical-6 to Tenmyouji, not that I imagine he personally really needed the refresher.

“As soon as we got back here, Clover scanned Quark with the ADAM, and... that's how we found out.” Sigma solemnly concludes.

Tenmyouji stumbles, almost swaying on his feet.

“No, that- that can't be right!” he insists. “Clover must have just used the machine wrong or something!”

Luna slowly shakes her head.

“I'm afraid that the scan appears to have been performed properly. The ADAM's diagnosis is most likely correct...”

Tenmyouji's gaze sinks to the floor in despair. “No... Quark can't be...”

His breath audibly hitches, before he looks back up with what almost looks like terror in his eyes.

“There must be something we can do!” he all but screams. “How can we cure him?!”

I ready myself, expecting Luna to start explaining the virus's one potential remedy in response — but to my surprise, K suddenly steps forward instead.

“Perhaps the treatment center's cold sleep pods?” he suggests.

“Treatment center?” Alice curiously repeats.

“The room that our group visited.” K elaborates. “It contained a trio of pods meant for cryogenic storage, which were additionally noted to be capable of curing illnesses and repairing injuries... supposedly, at least. None of us were capable of testing that claim at the time, but as we now have someone in need of such, I see no reason not to at least attempt to make use of them.”

...oh right, those things that Alice, Phi, and my current body were stuck inside of several objective hours ago. Kind of forgot they did anything other than freeze people.

“Fine, let's try that!” Tenmyouji says frantically, not sounding particularly confident in the proposal, but clearly too panicked at the moment to really care. “I'll carry Quark!”

I barely manage to stop myself from objecting. Now that I've been reminded of their existence, I'm pretty sure there was a scene in the game proper where it was shown that those pods couldn't actually cure Radical-6, only stop it from getting worse. While that's not totally useless, we have a much better solution right now; I just need an opening to say as much without making myself look-

“There... is another option.” Luna hesitantly, and to my personal relief, speaks up.

Tenmyouji pauses mid-motion. “There is?”

Luna nods.

“ADAM says there's an anti-viral serum called 'Axelavir'.” she explains, nigh-identically to how I recall her doing so two timelines back. “It's the only known way to counteract Radical-6. If we can inject him with some, he should... he should be okay."

Desperate hope flickers across Tenmyouji's face. “Where is it then? In here...?”

Luna falters.

“I... don't believe the infirmary has any in stock...”

For a brief moment, Tenmyouji looks utterly crushed, before his expression twists itself into a scowl. “Why even bring it up then?! If we're truly trapped in this place, where else could we possibly find something like that?!”

Deciding that's probably my cue, I pull the small jar of medicine from my pocket and hold it out in front of me.

“Right here.”

Everyone turns to me, various expressions of surprise plastered across their faces — well, minus K, since I can't see his face.

“Wha- Clover?” Tenmoyuji says, his furious distress nigh-instantly replaced by shock as he reads the tiny bottle's label.

“Sigma and I happened to find this back in the laboratory.” I explain. “It was in the room's safe... a sort of secondary reward for escaping, I guess.”

Sigma blinks, then gives me a rather funny look. I take it he's figured out that, in addition to the Radical-6, I already knew what Axelavir was used for as well, and thus why I was so excited about finding it in the first place. It's a pretty natural conclusion to make, based on what I ended up having to admit to him... ugh, why couldn't he be just a little denser?

“W- well what are we waiting for then?!” Tenmyouji exclaims as soon as my words have fully processed. “Luna, you know how to inject that, right?”

“I do.” Luna confirms, smiling slightly as she turns to me. “May I administer the medicine, Clover?”

I nod, handing over the medicine in question. “Of course.”

Not sure why she even asked, since it's not like I was going to refuse her. Unless she was asking if I wanted to administer it, but I hardly have the knowledge to do this part myself — operating the ADAM was easy enough, but that by no means makes me a medical professional, and there's no way I'd risk screwing this whole process up when we have someone I know can do it better. That dose is only enough for one person, after all.

A small spark of hope abruptly rekindles within me at the thought — isn't there a chance that Sigma will bring up the replicator himself around now? It's certainly possible that, should he have already SHIFTed to the correct times and places, he already “knows” what the IG Replicator is, and will run the Axelavir back to it on his own given proper prompting, which this very well might qualify as. True, I've seen no indication of that from him thus far, and given how much I've already unintentionally screwed with everything, I'm not certain he'll have had the opportunity to gain that information in any timeline he might have already been through, but-

...but nothing, apparently, as Sigma remains silent, merely watching along with everyone else as Luna locates the injection gun and loads it with the vial of Axelavir. No one seems to be bringing up the possibility of anyone else here having Radical-6 either, and I certainly don't want to be the one to do that given what I already accidentally revealed to Sigma, so I'm forced to stay quiet as well — leaving me to merely sigh internally as Luna quickly and efficiently injects the Axelavir into Quark's left thigh.

Well, that's that then. I guess I'd just better hope I can get out of this timeline before everyone else's infections kick in.

“Here's hoping it works.” Sigma comments.

“Yeah... hopefully.” Tenmyouji says quietly, no longer visibly panic-struck, but still sounding fairly uncertain. I suppose that's only reasonable, given he's currently gambling Quark's well-being on a supposed miracle cure for a virus that he's personally known for many years to not have a cure at all...

I take a quick moment to look around the room. With the immediate crisis averted, everyone mostly just seems varying degrees of relieved, which shows in their expressions — barring K's, obviously, and Phi's, who's still frowning.

“Something wrong, Phi?” Sigma asks, evidently having noticed the same thing I did.

Phi shakes her head.

“It's nothing.” she says dismissively, glancing over at the medicine cabinet. “It just seems... awfully convenient.”

Despite how she's currently facing almost directly away from me, her comment still manages to make me feel like she's psychically staring a hole in the back of my head. Great, she's still riding the “Clover is hella suspicious” train of thought, isn't she? And now Sigma might be boarding it as well...

“Well,” Phi continues, now addressing the rest of the room, “since Quark is apparently taken care of for the moment, let's all take a few minutes to discuss our findings. Clover, you said you and Sigma went to some sort of laboratory?”

“...er, yeah.” I reply, caught a little off guard. “Weird-looking place, but we didn't find much of interest there other than the Axelavir.”

“Well, that's not quite true.” Sigma points out. “We found a small journal in the safe as well, but it's either written in code or in some sort of foreign language.”

Phi hums to herself. "Interesting... we should take a look at that later. Did you also manage to get the 'secret archive'?"

I shake my head. “Sorry, no. We prioritized getting Quark help rather than risk looking around any longer.”

Phi frowns at me, but before she can say anything, K suddenly speaks up again.

“I'm afraid that our group similarly failed to obtain the treatment center's file. Assuming there was one, at least.”

Alice makes a disgruntled-sounding noise. “Why's that?”

“Because-”

The door slides open for a fourth and final time.

“-Dio unlocked and left the room before we could do so.” K finishes — just as the man in question steps into the room.

Chapter Text

Chapter Text

Alice thankfully doesn't give me any indication she needs to talk this time, and everyone else goes their separate ways within a minute or so, allowing Sigma and I to walk off together with neither fanfare or notice.

"Alright, so-" Sigma starts as we pass through the front door of the lounge.

"Not here." I cut him off. "If we're really going to talk about this, it needs to be somewhere more private, where we're less likely to be interrupted. Like I said, there's a reason I haven't told everyone else about this already."

Sigma raises an eyebrow at me. "Well, if you really think it's that important that no one else hear us, the crew quarters has doors with-"

"No." I refuse before he can even finish, holding back a shudder. "...anywhere but there."

Sigma squints at me in apparent confusion, but doesn't question my reaction, at least not aloud. "Where would you suggest then?"

I think about it for a moment, honestly not entirely sure where would make for a better alternative, before abruptly realizing that I can probably kill two birds with one stone.

"How about we head back downstairs?" I suggest. "The laboratory should work."

That's where I want to go after this anyways, and if Dio happens to already be there... well, at least I'll have back up.

"Fine." Sigma mutters, matching my stride as we step back into the hallway leading to the elevator. "This better not just be some sort of ploy to waste time before the doors open."

I turn my head and blink at him. "Huh? Why would I do that?"

"No idea," Sigma flatly replies, "but after that act you put on in the AB room, I kind of have to wonder if I can even trust anything you have to say."

I wince, actually a little hurt. Not that I don't understand why he'd see things that way, but I didn't really expect that plan to hurt my relationship with Sigma as well.

"I wouldn't have done it if I felt I had any other choice." I ultimately say as we step back into the elevator. "I promise I'm not going to be repeating that performance... and I am sorry about that."

Sigma grunts. "If you say so."

I sigh under my breath. Don't think I'm going to be making up for that one for a while...

The good news is, I have managed to come up with a plan for how to deal with the coming conversation. One that I feel is even a fairly decent one, in that it mostly just boils down to being honest... in a sense, at least.

Once the elevator releases us, it doesn't take us too long to retrace our previous steps to the laboratory. Intense trepidation fills me as the door slides up, leaving me ready to spring away in the event that Dio comes charging out with the scalpel in hand — but nothing of the sort happens, and all that's revealed is an empty room.

I step into the lab and quickly look around. No one else here, and the scalpel is still sitting under the fume hood, right where we left it.

My body relaxes. Dio hasn't been through here yet. I made it in time.

...now I just have to make it through this conversation.

"Alright, we're here." Sigma says as he follows me inside, the door sliding shut again behind him. "Ready to talk?"

I nod. "I suppose I can manage that."

I take a moment to lean back against the table before continuing, knowing that this might take a while.

"So, you want to know how I know about Radical-6, right?"

Sigma silently nods.

"Well... let's just say I learned about it through my job."

Sigma squints at me with his one normal eye. "That... doesn't explain anything. Especially not why it would be some sort of big secret like you were implying."

"It does, actually." I reply. "See, my job grants me access to certain information that most people aren't privy to. I'm not really supposed to let anyone know about it, but... since you've already figured this much out, I suppose I might as well just tell you."

Sigma frowns. "So what is your job then?"

I smile.

"I'm a member of a government intelligence service. One whose existence isn't actually known to the public at large."

My blunt statement seems to rather thoroughly confuse Sigma, to the point it takes him a few seconds to actually parse what I just said. I can tell once he has though, as his expression rapidly shifts from mere confusion to something verging on utter bafflement.

"Wait a second..." he eventually says, the words slow to emerge from his mouth. "Are you telling me that you're a secret agent?"

My smile becomes a full-on smirk as I straighten up and cross my arms.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you. Guess I should reintroduce myself — Clover Field, field agent of the Special Office of Internal Security."

Sigma boggles, his mouth falling open as I barrel on ahead.

"We're in charge of tracking down and investigating various elements that could potentially pose a wide-scale threat to the nation. Terrorists, political splinter cells, extremist religious organizations, you name it."

Lucky I read that entry about them in the file from the B. Garden's safe two timelines ago, else I don't think I'd actually have remembered pretty much any of that mission statement.

Sigma's brow visibly furrows.

"O... kaaaaay..." he sounds out, not sounding particularly convinced. "Let's say I take you at your word about this. What does that have to do with you knowing about the existence of Radical-6?"

And here we come to the reason I'm telling you any of this to begin with.

"I know about Radical-6 because it isn't just a virus." I state in as serious a tone as I can manage. "It's a bioweapon, created by the terrorist organization Free The Soul."

"Free the Soul?"

"An underground religious cult led by a man known as Brother." I elaborate. "They're dedicated to creating a 'new, purer world' by wiping out everyone who doesn't share their views."

"And they're planning on using Radical-6 to do that?" Sigma asks.

I nod, ignoring his still rather skeptical tone. "Hit the nail on the head. SOIS hasn't uncovered all the details yet, but we do know that the virus was intentionally designed to be as lethal and contagious as possible. If it's unleashed on the world, it could easily cause a global pandemic, and leave utter catastrophe in its wake."

"If it's unleashed?" Sigma repeats. "You're saying that hasn't already happened. So why was there a newspaper article reporting on the virus in the infirmary?"

"...I don't know." I reply in a low, frustrated tone. "I just know that it can't mean anything good. Either the article was fabricated, in which case whoever kidnapped us knows about the virus too, and is probably in deep with Free the Soul... or Free The Soul has already released the virus, and we've been asleep for a lot longer than we thought."

"Or both, seeing as they also provided us with a counter-agent for the virus." Sigma points out.

I nod. "That's also possible, yes."

Sigma hums. "I don't suppose you know anything else about Radical-6?"

I shake my head. "Like I said, we don't have all the details yet. Free the Soul isn't really possible to infiltrate, so our knowledge of them beyond the broad strokes is limited. I was actually in the process of investigating them personally, before I ended up... here."

With that, I fall quiet. Sigma does the same, seemingly occupied with simply trying to process and evaluate the excess of information I just dumped directly in his lap. I try not to fidget under his gaze, my doubts returning in force as silence lingers over the room.

...god, what was I thinking telling him any of that?! What a stupid idea! Even though none of that was actually false, save for my not truly being Clover and the fact that SOIS probably didn't know about Radical-6 specifically until it was already too late, if I were in Sigma's place I would absolutely think that was one big lie, and a pretty terrible one at that! Clover's backstory is just too ridiculous to be taken at face value, especially after I just established myself as moderately untrustworthy. What possessed me to come up with this asinine idea-

"Alright." Sigma finally says. "I believe you."

I struggle to keep my own mouth from falling open, honestly kind of astounded he bought that, for all that it's mostly technically true. I rally as quickly as I can however, determined not to waste the out I've bought for myself.

"Glad to hear." I say, trying to match Sigma's now-serious tone. "Listen though, you can't tell anyone else about this, alright? I know that might sound like an excuse, but I'm really, really not supposed to let my cover be blown. So just... keep it quiet, okay?"

Sigma nods, looking almost excited now- then suddenly pauses.

"Wait a second. Alice said that you two are coworkers, right? So does that mean she's also-?"

"Ssshhhhh!" I frantically hush him, barely restraining myself from outright putting my hand over his mouth as I half-fakingly, half-seriously look around to make sure Alice didn't somehow step into the room when neither of us were looking. Once I've confirmed that, I look back at Sigma, glaring a little.

"Do not finish that sentence." I whisper. "And what I just said about keeping this quiet? That goes double, if not triple, for Alice."

Sure, my "cover" may not matter in the ultimate scheme of things, since SOIS has already long since failed by this point in the future, but I still really, really do not want to try and explain to Alice why I spilled not only the organization's existence, but also a bunch of other confidential information about it, "myself", and her to a guy that she doesn't know from Bob, all because I lost track of which pieces of information I was supposed to know in this particular timeline.

"Anyways, we should get going." I say, stepping back from Sigma. "I'm sure I'm not the only one you wanted to speak to before the next round."

"You're not wrong." Sigma replies, glancing over at the door. "Uh... thanks for trusting me with this, Clover."

I raise an eyebrow at him. "You didn't exactly give me much choice in the matter, but you're welcome."

Sigma scratches at the side of his head in embarrassment, even as he wordlessly opens the door we came in from and steps back out of the room. I don't immediately follow, instead waiting until it shuts again before turning to the scalpel.

Time to take care of this thing.

Gingerly picking up the medical blade, I glance around for a moment, then move over to the shelves at the back of the room. Once in front of them, I lever myself up onto my tiptoes, then toss the blade as far back as I can onto the highest shelf I can reach. It lands behind half a dozen glass jars, completely out of my line of sight.

There. It's not necessarily the best hiding place, but the scalpel shouldn't be visible just from a casual once over of the room anymore, which is what I was truly worried about. I highly doubt Dio is going to literally climb the shelving unit just in case there's a potential weapon on top of it, so that's probably good enough.

Dusting off my hands, I walk back around the table, giving the IG replicator another once over as I do. Which... damn. Now that I give this thing a second look, there's even another empty medicine vial already plugged into the thing, presumably to serve as a receptacle for synthesized fluid. I just didn't see it initially because it's inside one of the glass tubes crowning the replicator, and is also made of glass itself, so it kind of just looked like the room's lighting was distorting the interior. If I'd been even slightly more observant, or remembered this thing's purpose just a little sooner...

I shake my head and look away. No use dwelling on it — what's done is done.

In any event, now that Sigma's gone, time to refocus on my larger scope goal. Which, at least for the remainder of this timeline, is really just to stick around long enough to learn something, solve something, and in turn hopefully make SHIFTing easier and/or controllable for myself in the process. In which case...

My gaze drifts up to the ceiling. Alice is probably my best bet. So far as my mental list of mysteries goes, she's the person with the most questions still surrounding her that I'd wager I have a decent chance of "puzzling out", and likely the easiest person here for me to get a private talk with to boot. Thanks to my choosing to betray Quark, she should also at least trust me for the immediate future, which makes now the best time to try and ferret some answers out of her and up my epiphany levels.

Nodding to myself, I open the door and step out of the lab. I wonder if she's still upstairs, or if she came down here? I'd assume the latter, since it would make sense to check out the newly-opened rooms. She's not in here though, so maybe the rec room, or the treatment center?

As it turns out, no, Alice is not in the rec room or the treatment center, neither of which presently appear to hold anything of much interest. In fact, I end up fruitlessly traversing the entirety of the second floor of the base — what's currently open of it, at least — before finally giving up and heading back upstairs, figuring she must be in one of the earlier rooms.

My second guess turns out to be correct. Passing through the back hall, I finally find Alice in the lounge, sitting on one of the barstools with a mostly-full cocktail glass in one perfectly-manicured hand.

"So what's- oh, Clover." she greets, seeming a bit surprised to see me.

"Phew, there you are." I say as I sit down next to her, glad to be off my feet again for at least a little while. "Was starting to think I'd never find you again. I figured you'd be investigating the new rooms downstairs."

Alice rolls her eyes. "Well, that was the plan, but Tenmyouji waylaid me before I could even leave the warehouse."

I glance down at the glass in her hand. "What, for drinks?"

Alice laughs.

"No, something far stupider, unfortunately." she says, sounding rather exasperated. "He was annoyingly persistent about it too. Wouldn't drop it even when I refused to indulge him, and was too fixated on the subject for me to even probe him for more information. He only left once Quark suddenly started speaking gibberish."

I blink. "Quark? Gibberish?"

"Yeah, the kid was here too." Alice replies, idly sipping at her cocktail. "It was weird. He just sort of started... babbling? It was like someone hit fast forward on his mouth; even sounded higher-pitched. I figured it was just a side effect of that serum you gave him, but Tenmyouji got worried and took Quark to the infirmary to look him over."

Wait, then she must mean-

Oh.

A smile ghosts over my lips. Well, I feel a little better about my earlier choices now — though I failed to specifically realize it at the time, at least one symptom of Radical-6 most definitely was still present at the time Quark entered the AB room, meaning the virus indeed hadn't fully abated yet. Guess the mental time dilation is wearing off for him now... not sure how we're going to handle or explain that in the round to come.

"Anyways," Alice moves on, "Sigma didn't look too happy about the outcome of the AB round earlier, so I assume you had to work around him to pick betray? If so, well executed."

My expression droops.

"Thanks, but... in retrospect, I probably shouldn't have." I quietly reply. "Sigma and I had just saved Quark from that virus, and even before that, the chances of him betraying us were pretty minimal."

My gaze drops to the floor. "Honestly, I feel sort of terrible about it."

Even with this recent revelation, I can't really think of what I did as anything but a bad move anymore, now that I know the outcome.

Alice leans over and wraps an arm around my shoulder.

"I get where you're coming from, Clover, but think about it for a moment." she says consolingly. "Even if you were willing to bet your life on Quark not choosing betray, if he gets out of here on his own, he can't realistically do anything to help the rest of us escape. He's just a kid, and we still don't know exactly where this place even is."

She looks me in the eyes. "On the other hand, we have the authority to not only call in a rescue for the others, but to have SOIS and any related branches of the government come down on whoever it is that kidnapped us. It may sound egotistical, but it truly is more important that one of us gets out than anyone else here."

"...yeah. I guess." I say, averting my gaze.

Her logic makes sense... or at least, it would if this situation even remotely resembled Alice's current perception of it. Hell, SOIS probably doesn't even exist anymore. Unless I suddenly decide to come clean about an awful lot of things though — again — there's not much I can do but stay quiet and silently accept her logic.

"Besides, from what I saw, you got away with betraying without really making any enemies anyways." Alice continues, smiling down at me. "Nicely done with that speech. That was clever of you."

"I wasn't trying to be clever." I deny, frowning at her as I pull away. "I really meant all that."

"I'm sure you did," Alice replies, still smiling, "but that doesn't mean it wasn't clever anyways. You played Tenmyouji's own guilt against him well enough to stop him in his tracks, got Quark to forgive you outright, and even managed to justify yourself to everyone else well enough that they'll likely still trust you later. All told, that was nearly a best-case scenario. So like I said, nicely done."

Not really knowing how to feel about Alice complimenting my supposed talent at manipulating people, I just nod, choosing not to reply to that. I didn't seek her out to talk about the last AB round anyways; I have other things to discuss.

"Can I ask you something, Alice?"

"Of course." Alice easily replies. "What is it, Clover?"

...er. Come to think of it, how exactly do I bring this subject up in a way that won't seem like a complete non sequitur? Any of the subjects I have in mind, for that matter? I can't really ask Alice about her apparent fear of sedation, since she didn't have that freakout in this timeline, and while I still want to know maybe if she noticed anything odd getting out of her room, I'm not exactly sure exactly how to naturally bring that up... but I have to at least try.

“Do you feel... off, at all?” I ask, tentatively.

Alice squints at me a little. “What do you mean?”

“It's just- when I got out of the AB room, I noticed I felt kind of strange?” I continue, slowly working out my words as I go. “It's... as if there's something's weird about the air here. My movements don't feel right, and it's throwing me off. I was just wondering if you'd noticed anything similar?”

Alice leans back and thinks for a moment. “Hmm... now that you mention it, I have been feeling a little disoriented. Probably has something to do with how long we were kept unconscious for. If anything though, getting out my own AB room was a little easier than I thought it would be.”

“Just a little easier?” I hazard.

“Uh, yeah?” Alice says, waving me off. “I mean, it's not like I couldn't have climbed out of that hatch pretty easily even on a normal day.”

I give her a quick once over.

...seriously?

“Yes, seriously.” Alice replies, at which point I realize I said that out loud. “We both went through the same training, you know.”

She pauses for a moment, considering. “Well, maybe not the exact same training. The esper division of SOIS tends to be hyper-focused on the information-gathering aspect of your skillset, which I still think is a mistake...”

She trails off into a grumble for a moment before resuming. “Regardless, I know we both had the same basic physical and combat training. That was made a requirement for all agents a while back, just to make sure no one would be left totally helpless in the event of disarmament or capture.”

...wait, so her seeming lack of athleticism is an act? Really? That's...

Just like the “airhead” suggestion she's been encouraging me to put on, come to think of it. Okay, wow, this probably should have occurred to me a bit sooner.

Alice frowns. “Did you really not remember that?”

“Ah- no, I did!” I hastily reply, nervously fiddling with my hair. “I... guess I just forgot exactly how much stronger you are than you look, is all. Told you I felt off.”

Alice's frown lightens, but doesn't disappear. I'm thinking that perhaps I shouldn't linger on this topic any longer.

“Er, another thing... this is a bit embarrassing to ask, but, how come you're not cold right now?” I ask, hastily switching topics. “You're wearing almost as little as I am, and I'm freezing.”

If I weren't specifically watching for her reaction, I'd have missed it. Alice's eyes widen fractionally, and she stiffens for the briefest of moments- then I blink, and it's gone, her composure instantly reasserted as she smiles.

“Come on Clover. You should know better than anyone that I'm simply too hot to be cold.”

Alice strikes a pose and winks at me in exaggerated fashion, and I laugh as I think I'm expected to, even as I silently note that she didn't actually answer the question. She just turned it into a joke, allowing her to ignore the actual substance of it. So she is hiding something...

I wonder for a moment if the real Clover knows the secret already, but why would Alice be so cagey about it in that case? It's not like there's anyone else around, and we've not been acting like we're worried about this base having hidden cameras or the like.

It can't... really be related to Tenmyouji's theory, can it...?

"Hey, why don't we walk and talk?" Alice suddenly suggests as she stands up from the barstool, setting her drink down on the counter. "Now that I think about it, Quark's babbling could actually have been something more serious, like the first sign of a stroke. Let's go see if they've at least figured out what's wrong."

I'm not terribly thrilled by the suggestion, as I know that isn't it, and I can't exactly probe Alice for more info in front of other people, but she's already heading out the door. Hurrying out into the hallway after her, I privately note that I'm ironically getting kind of sick of the infirmary — I don't really feel the need to say hi to Akane's corpse again. But, if Alice is heading there...

Sighing, I content myself with simply dogging Alice's footsteps back down the hall for the moment, trying to figure out exactly what she could be hiding. The infirmary isn't far, so we reach it within less half than a minute, the door sliding up as we both step forward.

...and are greeted by the sight of Quark and Tenmyouji's blood-covered bodies.

Chapter Text

I stumble several steps back, utterly horrified. What the FUCK?! This wasn't-

"Oh god!" Alice shrieks. "Are they-?!"

She hastily moves to Quark and Tenmyouji's side, doing her best to skirt around the mess scattered across the floor, before kneeling down and checking each of them for a pulse.

"...nothing." she hisses after a moment.

Quickly rising back to her feet, Alice returns to the door we just entered through and gives me a hard look.

"Clover, stay here for now." she orders. "If whoever did this comes back, drop the act and drop them. I'm going to go collect anyone I can find nearby... and possibly take down whoever did this myself."

It doesn't even occur to me to object that I by no means possess the capabilities to "drop" anyone before Alice has booked it back out of the room. I'm left utterly alone in the infirmary, with nothing but a pair of fresh corpses to keep me company.

Feeling tears beginning to form at the corner of my eyes, I try to hold them back as I did earlier, but it's too late — the traitorous beads of liquid are already starting to fall. No, no, no, cut it out with the crying already! Stressful, horrific situation or not, I can't keep doing this! Hell, why do I keep doing this?! I've never been one to hold back my tears, but I don't cry THIS much! Is Clover's body just that much more inclined towards this than mine is, or-

Comprehension abruptly dawns. No, scratch that — rather than being specific to Clover, far more likely to blame for my recent weepiness is the fact that crying usually reduces stress, at least in part, by literally releasing some of the chemicals causing the stress from one's body via the tear ducts. But every time I SHIFT back to a timeline where I haven't had a breakdown yet, those chemicals are coming right back. So while I'm getting the emotional benefit from crying my eyes out every time, the physical benefit is resetting, making the tears considerably more likely to later return for a repeat performance. That is beyond annoying...

And I'm avoiding the actual subject.

I wipe my face with one arm and sniffle as I glance back up at the bodies, the sight of which is no less appalling than it was a minute ago. I very nearly wretch when I focus on the details — Tenmyouji's head is badly bloodied, to the point his hair is now more red than white, while Quark...

Appears to have had his throat cut open.

I shiver uncontrollably, the memory of the very same thing happening to me replaying in my mind against my will.

It's Dio. It has to be, right? Suicide wouldn't look like this, and no one else here has any reason to kill these two, let alone in such a violent manner. Hell, in the original game, I'm pretty sure Quark was never explicitly shown or confirmed as dead in any timeline, even when everyone else was — and I think I now understand why.

My grief begins to give way to rage, my contempt for Dio somehow swelling even further. Just when I thought I couldn't hate him any more, he does this. It's not like I didn't realize he was willing to kill a child, but to actually see it, especially in this form, is just...

Tearing my eyes away, I look around the room again, taking in the details I passed over during my initial horror. Aside from the bodies, the floor is covered in numerous shards of glass, along with a large puddle of off-color liquid that's seeping into the puddles of blood. The source of both is obvious — lying on the floor nearby is a broken bottle of white liquor, presumably taken from the lounge at some point. The bottom half of the glass has been smashed to bits, leaving the remaining half with a makeshift crown of sharp, jagged edges... several of which have been stained with an already-drying crimson coating.

I grit my teeth and turn away. I'm such a fool... I shouldn't have believed we were safe from something like this just because Dio didn't have a blade. Nearly anything can be a weapon if you apply enough force, and apparently Dio is willing to improvise when deprived of his usual tools. Hiding the knife and scalpels may have made things less convenient for him, but ultimately didn't stop him from just finding something else — it's like I didn't learn anything from my first death at all.

My self-flagellation comes to an end a couple minutes later as the door behind me slides back up, Alice returning with the others in tow even faster than I'd expected... barring the likely culprit, that is. Perhaps that's for the best though, if he's resorted to this.

Everyone is rightfully horrified by the sight of the bodies, with Sigma and K letting out near-identical gasps of horror, and Phi flinching back like she's been physically struck. Luna is the only one who immediately rushes forward, deftly evading the puddles of blood and alcohol as she searches Quark and Tenmyouji for a pulse.

"I already checked." Alice says solemnly. "They're gone."

"How horrible..." Luna says quietly as she steps back from the bodies. "Who would do such a thing...?"

I struggle not to just blurt out the answer here and now, but figure we need to all be on the same page first.

"This can't have happened long ago." Phi says, directing it at everyone in the room. "What has everyone been doing for the past 30 minutes or so?"

"Luna and I have been together since the end of the AB round." K says, glancing over at her.

Luna nods. "It's true."

"Sigma and I met up at the treatment center before we came back up here." Phi adds, narrowing her eyes at him. "I don't know what he was doing immediately after the AB round ended though..."

Sigma sputters. "Wait, you suspect me?!"

"I suspect everyone until proven otherwise." Phi sharply replies. "We need to establish alibis before we can make any real conclusions, so if you've got one, say so."

Sigma's gaze flickers to me. "After the round ended, I went back to the laboratory with Clover so we could talk about... something."

Phi and Alice both give me odd looks at that, but I nod in confirmation.

"We did, and it wasn't a short discussion. Unless you only just met up with Sigma before Alice found you, he's clear."

Phi turns to Alice. "What about you then?"

Alice lets out a short, disbelieving laugh. "Are you serious? You don't honestly think I'd have found and brought you all back here if I did this?"

"That's not an answer." Phi replies, sounding almost disinterested.

Alice glares at her and folds her arms. "Clover and I were talking by ourselves for at least fifteen minutes before we came across these two. She can vouch for me."

"I'm sure she can," Phi says in a low tone, "but that still leaves a period of time beforehand that no one seems to have had eyes on you."

I almost groan. Really, Phi? Yes, I guess Alice theoretically could have done this, and was apparently even the last person here to have seen Quark and Tenmoyuji alive, but like hell do I believe that this was her. This is just wasting time!

"Look, does it really matter?" I interrupt before this pointless inquisition can continue. "I'm pretty sure that if this was done by anyone here, that person would show some sign of it. Quark and Tenmyouji don't exactly look like they died... peacefully, yet none of us are spattered with blood, or hurt in any obvious way."

"And there's someone else that we seem to have forgotten." I add as the others process that, deciding that if no one is going to bring it up, I will. "Someone who seems to be missing from this group?"

"Clover's right." Alice concurs. "I didn't find Dio anywhere, and he was the first one out of the warehouse, meaning he'd have had time to grab a bottle while no one else was in the lounge to see it. Assuming he's not dead somewhere as well, he's obviously the most suspect."

"Perhaps," K says, hand on his chin, "but regardless of who truly did this... why do it? What was their objective in murdering these two?"

He has a point. Were Quark and Tenmyouji just targets of opportunity, like I was? Or did Dio specifically target them for some reason-

"Where are their bracelets?"

Phi's words cut through the room like a knife. Glancing back at the bodies again, I realize she's right — both corpses' wrists are now bare of the watch-like device that the rest of us still wear.

My mind whirls as Sigma puzzles aloud over the equipment's absence. The bracelets come off after death, so if they're not here, then Dio must have taken them before he left. But why? What's his plan-

I freeze.

"He killed them to kill us."

Alice's eyes snap towards me. "What?"

"Quark was half of the magenta pair, and Tenmyouji was half of the cyan one-" Phi says with widening eyes, clearly in the process of arriving at the same conclusion I just did.

"-and since Dio himself is one member of the yellow pair, then as long as he doesn't show up at the next set of doors, we won't have a complete set of any of the pair bracelets!" I frantically follow up, almost breathless. "Meaning no one will be able to pass through, and we're all going to get lethally 'penalized'!"

Fucking SHIT, he's unbelievable!

"Are you sure...?" Luna asks, her voice trembling slightly. "He'd die too, wouldn't he?"

He would... but I'd bet he's willing to.

"We need to find him now!" I all but scream as I whirl towards the door. "Quick, everyone split up, I'll search-"

Someone grabs me and spins me back around, my shoes causing me to totter for a moment before I re-stabilize.

"No way, that's a terrible idea!" Sigma protests, his hand still latched onto my arm. "If we're right about this, Dio has already killed two people! None of us should be looking for him on their own!"

"We might not find him in time if we don't!" I retort, frantically fiddling with my bracelet until it displays the time we have remaining. "We've barely got five minutes left before the doors open, and they'll only stay open for another five after that!"

Sigma grits his teeth, knowing I have a point.

"In that case-"

"We split into pairs of two and search this place systematically." Alice orders, not allowing time for anyone to contradict her. "Clover, you and Sigma check the magenta and green door paths. Luna, K, you've got cyan and blue. Phi and I will check the Floor A warehouse and red. If you find Dio, incapacitate him by any means necessary and get those bracelets off of him. Regroup at the next set of doors when the announcement goes off, whether you've found anything or not — hopefully at least one of us will have."

There's no time to argue about it, and at the moment I could hardly come up with a better plan anyways. Immediately grouping up, all six of us rush out of the room with our respective partners, sprinting through the halls and rooms as quickly as possible to find our wayward player, and likely murderer.

Somewhat absurdly, my primary thought as we blitz through the empty lounge and down the elevator is that I really must be getting better at running in these shoes. Without Sigma literally towing me along, I don't trip even once, allowing us to make it through the green door in record time — but the room we find beyond is just as empty of human presence as the lounge was, the treatment center no different than when I passed through earlier. And before we can do more than confirm that-

Chromatic Doors have opened. Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close.

Sigma and I look at each other with identical panic-stricken expressions, then book it out of the room's other door.

By the time we make it to the entrance of the Floor B warehouse, the three minute warning has also gone off, as the hallway leading to it from the treatment center is stupidly long. Sigma and I are left panting as we burst through the door into the meet up spot, where we find-

"DIO!" we shout in tandem.

He's leaning up against the wall between two of the pure white doors, his expression the picture of pure nonchalance — this in spite of his blood-covered clothes, the ragged scratches covering his face, and the six-foot lance that he apparently picked up from somewhere.

"Well well," Dio drawls, tipping his hat to us in greeting, "look who finally decided to come join the party. What took you so long? These two already beat you here."

He gestures to K and Luna, who evidently did arrive first, but are stuck uneasily hovering around Dio's periphery, unable to get closer to his rather lengthy weapon. K looks as though he's considering risking it, hunched over in a highly aggressive stance, but isn't moving just yet.

"You know perfectly well what kept us!" Sigma yells as he stomps closer, while I cautiously follow on his heels. "You're going to pay for what you've done!"

Dio smirks. "Doubt it. All I've done is saved myself some valuable time."

"You-!" Sigma spits, warily eyeing the lance. "Where did you get that?!"

"The rec room." Dio easily replies, leaning the haft against his shoulder. "Would've been nice to have upstairs if I'm honest, but... well, I made do."

I grit my teeth. Damn it, why didn't the treatment center have any weapons? Should've grabbed a bottle myself on the way out of the lounge; at least I'd have something to throw at him-

Another door slides open, and Phi and Alice come bursting into the room. They freeze momentarily upon spotting Dio- then immediately start picking up speed again, both of them wearing the same perfectly furious expression. Surprisingly, Dio doesn't even seem to care, merely laughing as they approach.

"Hey now, what's the rush? Don't you want to hear how it happened? How I killed them?"

The pair of women stutter to a halt.

"Honestly, it wasn't even that hard." Dio shrugs. "Had more difficulty figuring out what I was gonna use to do it than anything else. Gotta hand it to the kid though, he was fast. Little bastard nearly clawed my eyes out..."

He smirks. "Well, at least until I finished off his gramps. One quick whack to the side of the old fart's head, and the kid fell apart. Dropped to his knees and just started bawling his little eyes out. Gotta say, it was real nice of him to practically present his neck to me like-"

Alice abruptly resumes her charge, sprinting at Dio full tilt. He startles a little and grabs up his weapon, thrusting it forward as she comes in range — only for Alice to smoothly duck underneath the stab, grabbing the lance's handle as it passes by her head. Yanking the weapon out of Dio's hands, she snaps it in half over her knee, giving Phi the opportunity to rush forward as well and shoulder check Dio in the sternum.

Dio wheezes as he's sent crashing back into the exact same wall he was just leaning against. Momentarily dazed, he's unable to stop K from striding over and restraining his arms, his suit-granted strength locking Dio's limbs over his head like manacles... not that Dio seems terribly worried about it, not even struggling in the man's grip once he recovers.

"Heh, did I hit a nerve...?"

Luna frets silently and Sigma growls impotently as Alice and Phi start rapidly rifling through Dio's coat pockets. They toss aside his cyanide pill, a small rectangle I recognize as the password input device, and a pair of handcuffs that I didn't even know he had... but no detonator, oddly.

And no bracelets.

"Where are they?!" Phi snarls into Dio's face.

"What, those glorified watches?" Dio smugly replies. "Sorry, guess I must've dropped them at some point. And if I'm not mistaken..."

"Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close."

"...time's up, fuckers."

A growl works its way up my throat even as panic settles in my mind. Shit, he planned this too well, we really are going to die to these stupid bracelets-

Wait, the aluminum foil!

I plunge my hand down into my back pocket, frantically searching for the only thing that can save us now. Come on!

"Nine… Eight… Seven…"

My breath hitches as I realize I don't feel the foil present. What? Where the hell is it?! Did someone pickpocket me, or-

My blood runs cold.

I... I didn't take it. I was so frantic to get out of the crew quarters earlier, so incredibly on edge at the idea of staying in the room where Dio slit my throat open for even a second longer, that I completely forgot to grab the foil again before I left-!

"Six... Five... Four..."

"Luna, quick! If we drag him through one of the doors then we can still-"

I hear what sounds like a foot hitting flesh, followed by a cry consisting of more rage than actual pain — neither of which I actually see as I spin on one heel, starting back towards the elevator on pure frantic instinct, even as the rest of my mind tells me there's no point.

"Three... Two... One... Chromatic Doors closing."

The trio of doors slides shut behind me-

* Ptch-! *

-and I gasp as something sharp slides into my wrist underneath the bracelet, the sudden pain causing my heel to slide out from under me, sending me toppling to the floor. Fuck!

Gritting my teeth, I try to stand back up, but a haze has already started descending over my mind, my limbs going numb alongside my thoughts. I manage to get one leg back underneath me, but it crumples the moment I try to put weight on it, and I'm left sprawled out on my side on the warehouse floor, lacking the strength to even attempt to get back up this time.

No... this can't be happening again...!

All around me, I hear the others begin to fall to the floor as well, groaning as the anesthetic sends them first to their knees, then to their stomachs and backs. From where I've fallen, I have an obnoxiously perfect view of a now-released Dio as he willingly follows the trend, calmly, if shakily lying down on the floor some twenty feet in front of me.

"Clo... ver..." Alice moans from somewhere off to my right.

I open my mouth to respond, but the words won't come.

"Why... do this?" I hear Phi manage to spit out, though I can't actually see her from where I've collapsed. "You'll die... too..."

Dio laughs drowsily.

"That's... what you think..."

Through eyes that feel like they're being weighed down by ever-heavier sandbags, I watch as Dio slowly reaches into his boot, then just as slowly pulls out something that, through my increasingly bleary vision, I can only tell is vaguely gun-shaped. Rather than try and point it at any of us however, Dio raises it to his own neck, and, with what looks like a truly monumental effort, depresses the trigger. I hear a sharp rush of air, followed by a small, satisfied sigh.

What... was...?

"Swiped... from safe..." Dio says as the object falls from his nerveless fingers, clattering to the floor beside him. "Counter for... tubocurarine..."

Fury flies through me, even as my mind continues to cloud over.

That was the... neostigmine gun...!

Dio lets out a single, almost choked-sounding chuckle, his head lolling back up to face the ceiling.

"We're all... gonna sleep now..." he whispers, a contented smile on his face. "But I'll be... the only one... to wake up..."

I'm... going to...

Through the twin fogs of unconsciousness and anger seeping into my brain, I barely even register the feeling of the second needle piercing into my skin, injecting a tiny stream of deadly fluid directly into my veins.

...KILL him...!

My last, fragmented thought before my eyes permanently seal themselves shut, is that I think I was supposed to do something the next time this happened...

Chapter Text

...here... again...

Vague shreds of thought flit through my mind as I float within the void, staring down at the crooked, shining line below for the third time now.

...or. Is it the third time? I feel as though that's true, but I also feel frayed. Scattered and loose, like an errant breeze. Perhaps I've simply forgotten the countless other times I've been here prior? Or is this the first time after all, and I merely dreamed the rest?

Unless... this is the dream...

Something compels me to try to reach out; to grasp at what lies below — but of course, I don't have hands, making such a thing plainly impossible.

I'm not even sure why I tried.

The node below looms large as I slowly, placidly drift downward. Though tiny and dim compared to those that stretch out behind it, the leaking trail that caps the sphere seems strangely beautiful all the same.

And yet...

...no...

The downward drag ceases.

...wanted...

...return...

...the start...

My course adjusts, and I begin gently floating towards a different node, much closer to the far end of the line. It's considerably brighter than the one I was falling towards before, with many more connections.

Which is... important, isn't it?

I'd frown, if I had a mouth. My memories feel like I'm peeking at them from behind a curtain, just transparent enough to know there's something there, but too opaque for me to catch an actual glimpse. I just can't seem to grasp any of them...

What were they...?

The question leaves me as I fall again, my thoughts seeming almost to break free of me entirely as I do, trailing behind me like the tail of a comet.

Oh well...

I snap back into awareness just as furious as I left it, every muscle in my body tensed, still hopelessly attempting to combat the Tubocurarine flowing through my system. My eyes dart around wildly, narrowing into thin slits as they zero in on the top-hatted murderer to my right, the sight of him contorting my expression with hatred-

“Good? Excellent. It looks like none of you have any questions. Yay.”

Startled, I instinctively look back at Zero Jr.

Who's... on the wall again.

And I'm standing up, and have a folder in my hand.

Wait... then...

My breath hitches as an announcement plays.

“Chromatic Doors have opened. Five minutes remain until Chromatic Doors close.”

I look over just in time to see the doors — the Warehouse A ones, which is where we apparently are — slide up into their frames, and my anger instantly flips over to nigh-ecstatic glee.

I- I'm back! Before the first chromatic door choice, before Akane's body was discovered! I have another chance to reach the true timeline, another chance to live! And considering how relatively lucid I just realized I was in the MGF, despite not managing to focus on a specific moment before being ejected into it, epiphany theory has been proven! Or, well, at least really heavily supported? Maybe just highly correlated, assuming the cause wasn't- oh who even cares right now, I did it!!!

Not wanting to give away my rather tonally-inappropriate mood to the others, who I initially all but glossed over in my fury, I take a few steps back as Dio starts yelling at Zero Jr. again. Phi is standing next to me, so I turn slightly away from her to keep my expression hidden, knowing that I'm at risk of breaking out into a face-stretching grin at any moment. Even as the artificial rabbit reveals the death penalty for not being inside the doors on time, my mind is a million miles away.

I'm here. I'm- well, not safe, but I've finally made it back to the starting line. Now I just have to succeed where I failed before, and navigate my way into the bomb timeline.

...or rather, the timeline where Akane is alive, as the two may not actually coincide anymore. Frankly, I've changed too much to take anything for granted at this point. With the MGF and SHIFTing in play, the effect of my actions in the timelines I've already been through could easily have altered the others into something completely unrecognizable to me.

In fact, based on the future Phi I met, I'd count on it.

I slowly draw in a breath. That's okay though — if I can control my SHIFTs now, even if only well enough to get myself back to this single point in time, then I can try again and again, until I eventually find the timeline where Akane is safe to reveal herself. I doubt it will by any means be pleasant, at least not given the way I've had to exit the last three timelines, but so long as I don't just repeat the same actions, I will get there eventually.

And, speaking of not repeating actions...

I do a quick mental review of what all I'm supposed to know right now, not wanting to accidentally give myself away again like I did with Sigma. It's... basically nothing, right? Pretty sure it's literally just that I woke up with K in a fake elevator, the bracelets are dangerous, and I got the secret archive. We don't even know the AB game rules yet. That should be simple enough to keep track of, right?

I turn my attention back to the group at large. Zero Jr. has already left, and Phi is going over our group options again. This is right about where I cut in last time, but I don't really know what door choice would be best for me at this juncture anymore, so...

Perhaps I'll just go with the natural flow of things?

The warning of our depleting time rings out again. When Luna desperately asks Sigma to pick a door this time, I keep quiet, for once simply waiting to see what happens.

“...I'm thinking we'll go through the yellow door with Tenmyouji.” Sigma says after less deliberation than I expected, looking to his teammate and the man in question. “That sound good to you guys?”

Phi answers in the affirmative, as does Tenmyouji, though he doesn't look terribly happy about it.

I look around. If Sigma is going with Tenmyouji this time, that means K and I are paired with...

“Clover, Luna, and I will be going through the cyan door then.” K surmises.

...yeah, I can work with that.

“Sounds good to me.” I say.

“I'm alright with that.” Luna adds, smiling gently at me, though I think that might just be her neutral expression.

Alice turns away from a shrugging Dio to give me a pointed look, rapidly shifting her gaze between my partners, then back to me. I nod as subtly as I can, acknowledging what was undoubtedly a non-verbal order to gather information on them, as usual, which Alice responds to with an even subtler one.

“Ten seconds remain until Chromatic Doors close. Nine… Eight… Seven…”

“We need to go! The doors are closing!” Tenmyouji shouts.

“C'mon guys, move!”

We hurry to our respective doors. Feeling considerably steadier on my feet than I was three timelines ago, I manage to make it to the cyan door a solid two seconds before it slams shut, though I'm still the last member of our trio to make it inside.

The three of us wait through the scanning process in silence. It feels a bit odd to have completely ceded any influence on the door decision this time, but considering just how many timeline splits I may have prevented from forming before, I'm mostly just glad that Sigma got to make the ultimate decision again this time.

...unless my choosing to stay quiet technically still made that my decision?

I shake my head. No, that's silly. All that really mattered for the splitting of the timeline here was that we went to a different door than last time, not who specifically decided which one, and assuming otherwise would be pure egocentrism. Besides, my initial concerns about that were predicated on thinking I couldn't just jump back in time myself, and seeing as that future Phi managed to travel to a branch I was already in while fully aware of the trip she'd just made, I clearly can't be impacting the other two SHIFTers' development all that badly, no matter how I may have muddled things. I've probably been a little too worried about this for the last couple timelines, frankly...

The door in front of us slides up, and we collectively step into the small, circular room preceding the one we'll actually be spending an extended period of time in. Neither of my partners this round seems particularly inclined towards conversation at the moment, so I just silently follow after the robot and the man who looks like a robot as we pass through the second door.

Within moments, we arrive at our actual destination — a short, dull gray hallway, containing four numbered metal doors I'm already unfortunately familiar with.

I shudder behind the other two, but do my best to repress my nerves. I'm really not keen on the idea of being locked in here, even for just a short while, but being so unnerved by this place screwed me over in a big way last timeline. If I don't want that or something similar to happen again, then I've got to get past it somehow.

...besides, I've died three times now. The first time only even still stands out because of how personal, painful, and drawn out it was. If anything, I think I'm kind of growing numb to it.

“This is a somewhat smaller space than I expected.” K notes, comparing his own height to one of the doors. “The door said that this was the 'Crew Quarters', correct?”

“Yes.” Luna confirms. “Do you think that means people might live here?”

“Hmm...”

K steps forward and turns the wheel of the door with the large white “01” printed on it. It swings open with a creaking noise, revealing the minimalistic room within.

“This does indeed appear to be a living space,” K glances at the bed built into the wall, “but I cannot imagine only four of these rooms to be enough for any manner of 'crew'.”

“Maybe there's more of them elsewhere?” I suggest.

Not that I don't know full well there are, having already seen the Floor A map. We can't access them while the game is ongoing, but they do exist... which actually strikes me as a bit strange, given only three people and a bunch of robots ever actually did live here. Maybe at one point Sigma and Akane considered having guests over.

Maybe those guests are us.

We shuffle to the end of the hallway, where I commence the now-familiar ritual of trying to open the still-locked door.

“No good.” I say, not that I expected any different. “Looks like we'll need to find a key.”

“Indeed.”

“I'll try my best to help... or to at least stay out of the way.” Luna adds.

I barely refrain from rolling my eyes at that, knowing perfectly well that she likely knows literally every solution to every puzzle in this entire base, having undoubtedly assisted in setting most of them up to begin with.

“Given how small these rooms appear to be, it may be prudent for each of us to take a separate one, if only so we do not end up crowding each other.”

While I don't necessarily agree with K's assessment, I nod anyways. K enters Door 1, and Luna enters Door 2 a moment later, leaving me with Door 4 by default, since the wheel to Door 3 is currently tethered shut by a familiar pair of handcuffs.

So that's where Dio got those from...

A scowl works its way across my face.

I have to do something about Dio this time. Something more direct than just hiding potential weapons from him. He's essentially killed me three times over, and I refuse to leave him free to do it again. Though, I suppose I only have myself to blame for this latest one. The one time I actually needed the foil, and I didn't have it...

I step into Room 4.

Not letting that happen again.

Chapter Text

My immediate plan to remedy my lack of foil is, itself, foiled by the fact that there isn't any placed under the glass top of the desk jutting from the wall yet. Instead, there's a tiny metal cylinder that's rather obviously meant to be the end of a key set atop it.

I pick the cylinder up and slip into my now empty pockets, taking note of the horizontal markings carved into the wall above the desk this time. The fold out "bed" hasn't been pulled down out of the wall yet either, so I do so, revealing the expected dull white outline of a human body, a hole in the fabric where the right ankle should be. Creepy as ever...

Tossing the archive file I'm still holding on the bed for the moment, I pan my gaze around the fairly bare room. Whatever puzzles this places contained, they must not have been too memorable, because I don't recall any of them — though I can't imagine the important bits will be hard to find, given how bare bones these quarters are. Other than the desk and bed, there's just a landline phone sitting on a small table extending from the wall, a tall locker with nine buttons set near the handle that I'm pretty sure I can't open yet, and...

A wall poster of a tanned, red-headed woman posing on a beach, her chest and pelvis obscured by silvery gray scratch-off foil.

Who I can't help but notice looks more than a little like a slightly older Clover.

Shaking my head, I step up to the poster and mechanically start scratching off the silvery section, my fake nails more than long and sturdy enough to serve this particular function. Leave it to Sigma to include a set piece like this in his escape room puzzle. There better be a swimsuit under here...

As I work at the poster, I frown, still considering the Dio problem. I need to strike first this time, somehow — maybe even ensure that he dies early, just so he can't cause any more problems. Is that even possible to do without his fail-safe setting off the bombs though? I'm pretty sure he was killed by K in at least one timeline in canon, and it didn't kick in then... maybe it only works if he's already armed the bombs? Might actually be the same with the detonator, given he apparently removed it from his person last timeline...

I exhale. God, I can't believe I'm seriously considering the logistics of committing premeditated murder. Would that I could think of a better option, but Dio has been more actively hostile thus far than even the game proper led me to expect, and I don't know how else I could possibly-

The phone suddenly rings, startling me out of my morbid thoughts. Breaking from my task, I walk over and answer it.

“Hello?”

“Ah, hello Clover.” K's voice says from the other end of the line. “I take it your room has a phone as well? It seems the numbered buttons at the top connect them to each other.”

“Guess so.” I reply. “I take it it's not usable as an actual phone?”

“Not so far as I can tell. I of course tried several emergency numbers first, but this phone does not appear to have an external connection, nor a way to type in more than four digits at once. I also attempted to call Room 3, but there is apparently no number associated with it.”

“Meaning you can only call Rooms 1, 2, and 4?” I summarize. “Feels like it'd be simpler for you to just walk over here and talk to me in that case.”

In fact, even in the context of the video game, a phone line connecting rooms all of fifteen feet away from each other seems incredibly pointless. There's undoubtedly some other purpose to them, I just don't recall-

I glance back down. Ah.

“Wait, the display on my phone changed.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, it says '25**'.” I read off. “Probably part of a code or something? I'm guessing Luna's room has a phone too, maybe call her and see if the same thing happens.”

“I shall.”

I hang up, turning back to both the poster and my prior thoughts.

Seriously, is there any better way to deal with the threat Dio poses other than just... killing him? I suppose I could let the others know of the threat he poses early, but they'd have no reason to trust my word over his, other than his general unpleasantness. Could I maybe trick him into revealing his true intentions somehow? I'm pretty sure Sigma did something like that in the game, though I'm not sure it would work for me even if I remembered the specifics. The easiest way I can think to get the threat Dio poses across would be to get proof he stabbed Akane, but I don't actually know if she's dead yet, and in fact I'm really hoping she isn't in this line, since this entire endeavor becomes kind of pointless otherwise.

My eyebrows scrunch inwards. Whatever I do, I need to do it soon. Dio almost certainly can’t have planted any of the bombs yet, and everyone is still alive at this point, meaning this first round is undoubtedly the best time to deal with him-

The phone rings again. Blinking, I do the same as before.

“Yes...?”

“It seems you were correct, Clover.” K's voice sounds out again. “Luna's phone gave me the other half of the code. I managed to connect to Room 3 with it, but it seems we will need a tape for its 'answering machine' to function.”

“Huh. Good to know. Keep at it.”

I hang up and again return to my previous task, shaking my hands to remove some of the silvery gunk that's accumulated under my nails. It's proving surprisingly slippery, but I'm making headway, having gotten most of the foil off the poster by now. However... well, there IS a bikini underneath, but unless there's information secretly hidden in this woman's tan lines, I don't think there's anything actually useful accompanying it. I must be forgetting something again; what is this poster actually fo-?

The ringing of the phone once again crashes straight into my train of thought. Narrowing my eyes, I pick it up for a third time.

“Clover, have you heard of-”

I hang up before he can finish his sentence and leave the room, deliberately not closing the door this time, and walk a few feet over to throw open Room 1's as well.

“Hey, so maybe we just leave the doors open?” I suggest, raising an eyebrow at K.

“...I suppose that would make more sense, wouldn't it.” he admits, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head through his suit as he hangs up his phone, the receiver of which has a little three part screen attached to the back of it.

“Yeah, probably.”

Even for something this, I don't need to be updated on every little bit of potential progress via a phone call that could just as easily be conducted through some cups and a piece of string.

“What were you saying again?” I ask.

“Ah, well, I found this.”

He holds up a book with a stylized illustration of a pair of cats sitting on the cover. The one on the left is pure black, while the one on the right is pure white, and also upside down. Both of them are surrounded by their opposing color, akin to a yin-yang symbol, and the pair are facing each other.

“It appears to be about a rather fascinating quantum physics thought experiment called 'Schrodinger's Cat'.” K explains as he leafs through the pages. “Have you heard of it?”

“...I am familiar with the concept, yes.” I dryly reply.

Considering its relevance to Akane, the axis this whole situation hinges on, I'd be kind of screwed if I wasn't.

“Oh?” K hums. “Perhaps you can assist me then. I imagine this book being placed here signifies that it is a clue of some sort, so I'm reading through it right now.”

...that's a logical thought, but even if it was used in escaping this place, I'm pretty sure the game did not actually require you to read it to do so. In fact, I think it was just here to bring attention to the concept and coincidentally activate Sigma's cat-speak tic — so I should probably steer K onto other things.

“You might be right, but it'd take you a long time to read through that entire thing, and we don't even know if it's important.” I point out. “Maybe save looking through it in detail for if we get stuck?”

“Hmm... it seems a bit of a shame, but perhaps you're right.” K admits, closing the book and setting it back down on the safe for the moment.

“Find anything else?”

“This-” K motions to the cushioned slab behind him, which looks just like the one in my room, save that the hole is positioned over the silhouette's left knee. “-and these-” He gestures at the symbols above the glass-top desk, which look more like odd triangles than the horizontal lines I saw in Room 4. “-though I'm not quite sure what they mean just yet. There is also another safe...” He points at the metal safe beneath the phone desk. “...but we obviously cannot open it yet.”

I nod. “Shall we go see what Luna's doing then?”

K nods back, and we leave the room to join Luna, who startles slightly as the door to Room 2 swings open behind her.

“Oh- hello you two.” she greets us. “Is something the matter?”

“No, we just figured this would be easier if we talked to each other.” I explain, stepping inside while K lingers in the doorway. “Find anything yet?”

Luna shakes her head. “Just that.”

She points to the desk, where a small piece of metal that looks a bit like the pin to a wind-up toy rests. Recognizing its likely use, I pick it up, fish the other piece of metal from my pocket, and slide the former into the latter, causing them to snap together with a satisfying click.

“A key.” K notes with what sounds vaguely like delight. “What could it be for?”

“I have an idea.” I reply. “There's really nothing else we can do in here though?”

Luna shakes her head. “Not yet, I don't think.”

I glance around the room. It's just as sparsely decorated as the others, with the familiar desk-phone-bed-locker combo, and I admittedly don't see anything to do either, beyond to pull the still-folded wall bed out. I quickly do so, revealing the same chalk-like outline as both other rooms I've been in, this time with a hole in the left arm.

“How morbid...” Luna says quietly. “These rooms are already so colorless and somber. It feels like too much to add this.”

“Morbid?” K repeats. “My room had an outline like this as well. Is there something particularly strange about it?”

“Oh, um-” Luna stutters, seemingly caught off guard by the question. “Well, they usually signify... do you really not know...?”

Ignoring Luna pretending like she doesn't know exactly why K would be ignorant of such things, I brush past the latter, stepping back into the hallway, and slide the tiny key into the handcuffs locked around Door 3. A quick twist, and the cuff locked around the bar on the wall opens, leaving the chain dangling from the front of the door. A very simple solution, for this place.

Turning the newly-freed wheel, I walk inside without fanfare, and find... a room nigh-identical to the others, as I already knew it would be. K and Luna follow me in a moment later, once again proving that splitting up for this game's escape rooms will never actually last — though true to K's earlier concerns, having all three of us in the room at once does make it feel a bit cramped, especially once he pulls out the bed again.

“The right arm this time.” K says, hand on his chin. “What exactly are these meant to signify...?”

I ignore him, my focus instead on the locker at the back of the room. It looks different than the others for some reason... are the lights around the buttons supposed to be lit up?

Suspicious, I walk over and try the handle — and the door swings open.

“It was already unlocked?” Luna says with clear surprise. “I don't think I ever would have noticed that.”

I narrow my eyes where she can't see them. Yeah, I'm sure you wouldn't have, but only because you making major progress on your own would sort of defeat the point of making everyone else go through this in the first place. The espers need to solve puzzles and have epiphanies, and since Luna is a GAULEM, she's more of a proctor than a participant. It's literally more helpful for her not to be helpful, so I can't exactly blame her for not handing us the answers.

...and yet, knowing that, her acting impressed that I noticed something that I was clearly intended to notice feels just a little condescending. She might even actually mean it, but...

Shaking my head, I look down, any irritation I might feel at being patronized vanishing the instant I notice the large roll of silvery sheets stuffed into the locker. Yes-!

I grab the roll of foil in a sudden fervor and almost frantically start unrolling it, hardly even caring who's watching as I move to tear off a piece. Not going anywhere without a piece of this again, Dio will have to tear it away from my-

“Um, C-Clover?” Luna suddenly interrupts. “Maybe we should be a little more careful with that?”

“Yes, those markings look rather important.” K adds.

I blink at the two of them, confused, until I realize there's a bunch of shapes and lines marked on the outside of the aluminum. Oh, right, this wasn't just for the bracelets, it's for- eheh.

“Fair point.” I say, feeling slightly abashed. “Hold that end for me?”

Luna obliges, taking hold of the foil's end as I roll the rest out over the floor, forcing K up against a wall as he tries to get out of the way. By the time the foil starts “running clean”, we've discovered four distinct sets of symbols, separated and grouped together with clear purpose. I move to tear the foil apart-

“Allow me.” K breaks in, holding up what I first identify as a large USB drive, only to realize upon spotting the edge sticking out of it that he's actually holding a box cutter. “This was on the desk when we walked in. I imagine this is why.”

He kneels down and slices the foil with the blade, making four perfect cuts through the thin metal... though to be honest, I think just folding and tearing it would have worked just as well. Hell, I could probably have used the tip of my nail to split it, it's just aluminum foil.

Whatever the case, we're left with four large marked sheets of foil, and quite a bit left on the rest of the roll. Setting the latter aside for the moment, I select a sheet that looks like a bunch of vertical lines next to half a K and an R, and — having already seen and remembered how this worked from what was left behind in previous timelines — slide it under the glass top of the nearby desk. The flipped reflection of the symbols carved into the wall above the desk join with those of the foil beneath it, clearly forming the word “LOCKER”.

“This does not seem like a particularly necessary message.” K comments. “Perhaps those in the other three rooms will be more useful?”

“Shall we check them then?” Luna asks, hand over her heart... or, where her heart would be, I guess.

“Yes.” K replies simply, looking down at the thin sheets of metal. “...though, ah, perhaps one of you should carry the foil? This suit does not seem made to handle more... delicate tasks.”

“I'll leave that to Luna, if that's alright.” I cut in. “I want to take another quick look around before moving on. Just to make sure we haven't missed anything.”

Thankfully, neither of my partners questions me as they leave to check the other rooms. The moment K and Luna are no longer in line of sight, I scoot behind the door with the roll of foil in hand and quietly tear a generous chunk of it off, sliding the resulting square into my back pocket.

Phew. Safety net reacquired... not that it'll save me from-

-The slamming of a metal door. Blood seeping through my fingertips. Gasping for air that will not come-

The roll of foil drops from my suddenly-nerveless fingers as I squeeze my eyes shut and brace myself against the wall. No, don't think about it, don't think about where you are right now; think about something useful, something actionable, something-

Forcing my eyes open, I grasp at the door and pull myself around it, latching onto the handcuffs still hanging off of the handle.

-something like these, maybe? Could be useful... can I take them? Even if not to use on Dio, then at least to keep him from finding and using them on anyone else, as he pretty clearly planned to last timeline. I just need-

I pat at my pockets, only to once again find myself stymied by my outfit's total lack of storage space. I could maybe just barely fit the cuffs in my back pockets if I put a single cuff in each one, but the chain would be left hanging out, and it would be incredibly obvious I had them if anyone saw me from behind. Unless I stuck them down my- no, no, that's not gonna fly. Scratch that idea; I can't use these, or at least can't carry them around.

In which case...

I pull the key still set inside the right handcuff out and slip it back into my pocket, leaving the handcuffs themselves hanging right where they are, one side still locked around the handle.

...neither can anyone else.

I pull back from the door just as K suddenly reenters the hallway, walking back over to Room 3 with a black square in hand.

“A cassette tape?” I question as he re-enters, feeling obligated to at least ask what he's doing.

“Yes, this was in the locker in Room 2.” K says, setting something in his other hand down on the shelf as he does so. “I believe I need to place this in... here.”

He slots the cassette into the top of the phone, then immediately leaves the room without further comment, leaving me staring at his retreating back. Huh. Can't complain about his efficiency I guess, but somehow I expected slightly more commentary? Also what did he just-

My eyes widen as I realize what K just left behind. Wait a sec...

I walk a few steps forward and lift the box cutter from its perch. The tiny rectangle is heavier than I'd expect from something its size, the metal dense and high-quality. While it's considerably smaller than the handcuffs, even this would be too bulky for me to keep in my skin-tight pockets without it being obvious I have it.

However...

Carefully retracting the blade, I lift the tool to my collar and gently, hesitantly slip it into the left side of my top. The tightness of the fabric keeps it in place as I straighten back up, while the fur collar outlining the cups hides the concealed weapon surprisingly well.

...this might actually work. I do feel slightly humiliated to be resorting to Victoria's Secret Compartment, and it's a little uncomfortable, but I can deal with that. Better than being left defenseless again.

The cassette in the phone abruptly starts spinning, and I wince as the sound of Zero Jr's voice breaks out over the hallway, pointlessly tinny and needlessly pre-recorded. Man, how loud is that message meant to play? Maybe leaving the doors open wasn't a great idea after all.

Deciding I should probably get back to actually helping, if just because I can only realistically pretend I'm still checking this room for so long, I leave Room 3 and walk back over to Room 4, where I started. Luna is inside of it now, staring at the now mostly scratched-off poster. To my surprise, not only has the correct foil sheet has been placed on the glass desk in my absence, but the locker has also been opened.

“Huh, good job Luna.” I say idly, having been almost certain I'd have to enter the code and open the latter myself.

Luna looks over at me and... blushes? Wait, did Sigma seriously give her the ability to do that? I mean I guess he did want her to be lifelike, but I thought her skin was-

“T-thank you...” Luna mumbles, breaking my train of thought. “Here.”

She pushes an oversized plastic coin into my hands, refusing to meet my eyes for some reason.

“I think it's for that poster?” she continues, still acting weirdly embarrassed. “Though you seem to have already made significant progress without it.”

I turn the coin over, then glance down at my nails. Is that really what this coin was for? If so, feels like this particular section of the game really kind of skimped on the internal logic. Both this and the box cutter are kind of extraneous for the tasks they've been set out for, so long as you have access to... well, hands.

“I have to say, I'm a little surprised?”

I look up at Luna again, confused.

“About what?”

“I just didn't think you were the kind of person who'd appreciate something like this.”

I stare at her cluelessly, glancing back and forth between her and the poster. Appreciate- huh?

“I'm afraid I am still unable to open the locker in Room 1.” K announces as he walks into the room and rejoins us. “It appears to at least be active now, and I have discovered a sequence of shapes, but the code itself remains-”

He trails off as he spots the poster on the wall, staring silently for a moment before resuming.

“...Clover, did you model for this?”

“Do I look that tall or tanned?” I ask with half-lidded eyes.

“No, but I noticed the resemblance too.” Luna chimes in. “They even have the same little pink sticker under their eyes.”

Hey, my sticker is a flower, hers is a star! If you're gonna slander me at least get it right!

“What's this?” K asks before I can protest this point, rubbing his armored finger over the fragments of silver-gray still clinging to the paper.

“It's scratch-off foil. It's commonly used on scratch cards, or to obscure information that isn't meant to be seen.” Luna answers.

“I see.” K glances back at me, posed in such a way that I can practically feel the raised eyebrow. “...this doesn't particularly feel like the time for this sort of thing, Clover.”

This sort of- what is he implying-

“I didn't expect it either.” Luna agrees, hands clasped together. “She doesn't really seem like she'd be her own type, does she-”

“HEY!” I shout, flushing. “What are you two insinuating?! It's not like I put the thing here, and of course I scratched off the foil, it's part of this room's puzzle!”

...I think. It is, isn't it? Surely it's not just decoration for- I mean just because I didn't find anything under the foil doesn't mean-

I glance back at the outline on the pull-out bed, then back at the cutesy accessories and tattoos the woman on the poster is wearing. Oh RIGHT!

Shoving K aside — or rather, K lets himself be shoved aside as I raise the plastic coin and use it to scratch at the woman's cutesy arm and leg accessories, which are positioned in the same places the torn away sections of the beds were. Sure enough, they peel away just like the other foil — I just didn't remember or realize they were foil, because they were deliberately made not to look like it. They're actually pretty well hidden even to senses other than sight; the accessories aren't raised above the paper at all like the other foil was, and they don't even have a noticeably-different texture from the material around them.

The coin does actually make the task slightly easier, if only by degrees, so within short order I've revealed a 6 in a star on the woman's right bicep, a 1 in a circle on her left forearm, an 8 in a diamond on her right knee, and a 9 in a triangle on her left calf.

“See?” I say, relieved. “We actually needed to scratch all this off!”

“Yes... though not the foil that existed over her torso or hips. Which appears to be the only part you initially made any effort to remove.”

The audible mirth in K's usually monotone voice brings the red right back to my face.

“Because it was way more obvious! And it's not like I would've known until- oh, forget it!”

I shove the fake coin into a pocket and pout as both my partners visibly hold back laughter. Stupid Sigma, your horny puzzle prop is getting me accused of your vices in your stead! And really? Out of everyone in this game, this pair is the one to stab me in the back like this? Luna could be innocently vicious at times — I distinctly recall her implicitly agreeing that Sigma looks he lives in a garden shed — but this almost feels targeted, especially since she should already have known about this poster!

“Ahem... all humor aside, I believe this may be the final code we need.” K says, blessedly dropping the previous topic. “The shapes line up with the ones from the foil, which I imagine will open the locker in Room 1.”

All too happy to move on from the prior subject, I let K take the lead as we move back to the locker in Room 1. He starts punching in the numbers via the its strange, addition-based lock, but I frown upon noticing what he's punched in actually adds up to.

“Shouldn't it be 1689?”

“Two of the shapes on the poster were upside down, compared to the sequence on the foil.” K calmly replies. “I took that to mean that their numbers should also be flipped. Do you disagree?”

“Oh... no, I just hadn't noticed.” I backtrack, glancing over at the foil in question. “Nevermind.”

He's right. Pretty sure that detail tripped me up when I first played the game as well, so you'd think I'd have remembered the trick. I don't feel like I'm really on my A-game right now... possibly because the closer we get to solving this room, the closer I in turn get to discovering if I'm now in the correct timeline. To discovering if I'm talking to K right now, or to Akane.

It's starting to weigh rather heavy on my thoughts.

The lights on the locker turn blue, and K pulls it open, revealing a small, glowing green screen, already lit up with the trio of symbols we need. I move over to the safe beneath the phone and punch the combination in, revealing the same combination of key, keycards, and page of rabbit-speak extra rules I recall obtaining from the lounge, what feels like a small eternity ago. I pass one keycard to Luna and pocket the other, letting my partners discuss the page of rules I already know on their own.

“Before we proceed, I feel I should point out there may be another code for us to find.” K says just as I'm about to walk out and unlock the door. “Clover and I discovered as much back in the room we awoke in, which led us to discover the file you saw her holding earlier.”

He looks to me, I suppose for additional input, but I've got nothing to really say to that anymore.

“What did the file actually contain?” Luna asks.

I shrug. “Just a bunch of terms and explanations we all heard a few minutes later anyways. Nothing useful.”

“A different one might be more so, however.” K points out.

Luna nods. “If it could have additional information about our situation, we should probably try to find it, shouldn't we? It could be important.”

“Maybe?” I reluctantly admit. “We can stick around and try to find another secret safe code or something if you two really want, but we might want to hurry up as well. Just because that rabbit didn't give us a time limit to get out of here like he did with those fake elevators doesn't mean there isn't one.”

I also already know what the Crew Quarters file covered, and it was nothing I really feel needs to be brought up or reiterated this timeline, so I'm not exactly keen on going out of my way to help find it this time.

“A fair point.” K muses. “I'm not certain how long we've been in here for either... perhaps we would be better off safe than sorry. That said-”

He leans down, grabbing the Schrodinger's Cat book from the top of the safe again.

“-I shall be taking this with me, I think. While apparently not needed for this room, the fact that it was deliberately placed here leads me to believe it still might somehow be related to our larger situation.”

...you have no idea how simultaneously wrong and right you are, K.

Despite her previously-stated opinion, Luna doesn't seem too upset by K's change of heart, and we all file out into the main corridor. I twist the key in the lock, and the exit slides open, ejecting us from the Crew Quarters' hallway back into a slightly-less dingy one.

The moment of truth approaches...