Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

PROLOGUE: A HEAVY BURDEN

*****

November 28^th, 1982…

Jerome Walker stood in his study, staring out the window and had another of the artifacts in front of him, and he was having an internal debate of whether hiding each artifact was going to be of any good. He’d hidden the first artifact three days after the birth of his great-granddaughter, and he had three more artifacts to hide.

The primary problem was wherehe should hide them, having acted rashly when he hidden the first one over a month ago, and now he felt that he should think carefully of where to hide the remaining three. And he had a strong feeling that he needed to choose carefully.

‘I need to be smart,’ Jerome thought, picking up the artifact, and exited his study, heading for the front door, ‘can’t act rashly, that’s what they want. I’m not just a businessman, but I’m also a marine, and I have a family to protect…even the black sheep members of said family.’

He exited the house and headed down the road to the amusement park, he knew where he would hide the second artifact.

*****

Jerome stood outside Pi Pie Pizzeria, which was one of the main food stops in the eatery district of the park, and served some of the best pizza throughout all of the state of Utah.

The exterior was made out of brown bricks with a mixture of red, white, green, and black bricks thrown into the mix to resemble pizza toppings, the golden letters of the large sign glittered in the sunlight, and both the doorframe and the door handles, which were shaped like spatulas, gleamed as well.

He gripped one of the handles, pulled the door open, and stepped inside the building to hide the artifact before he had any second thoughts.

*****

Seven minutes later, Jerome exited the pizzeria with a pizza box in hand, having prepared himself a pizza after hiding the artifact somewhere inside, and he did this partly to reward himself for what he considered to be a job well done, and partly out of hunger since the stress was putting a strain on him physically, emotionally, and mentally.

‘And it would’ve been rude of me not to have a pizza while at a pizzeria,’ he thought, ‘even if it’s one that I own. But it’s done…just two more to hide, but I can worry about that after I’ve had some food and some rest…can’t overdo it and burn myself out at a time like this. This is my heavy burden to carry. My and my alone.’

Once again the figure watched from the shadows, eyes fixed on Jerome’s back, and was silently cackling to themselves that their plan was moving forward. ‘He has no idea that he’s playing right into my hands by hiding the artifacts.’

The figure hadn’t been sure if it would’ve been able to influence the marine turned businessman, for attempts had been made with the other Walker owners after the traitor had been sealed away, but without any success, and it had started to look like influencing Jerome was going to be another failure until his great-granddaughter had been born.

And its’ plan started to see results when the first artifact had been hidden away.

‘Just two more artifacts need to be hidden away,’ the figure thought, pleased with the progress, yes it was slow progress, but it was still progress, ‘and when the final two have been hidden, then you will have served your purpose, Jerome Walker. You won’t be needed much longer, that I can promise you.’

Feeling pleased and smug, the figured disappeared into the shadows once again, leaving no trace that it’d ever been there.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER ONE: PIZZA PUZZLE PIECES

*****

It’d been just a few minutes since the retrieval of the first artifact at the cost of Joe’s life, which had the group realizing that whoever they were going up against, they didn’t care who died, and that you could be the strongest person and the room and still lose your life. And while for some, they would probably just want to give up and declare defeat, Dawn and her friends weren’t about to do that, they weren’t going to give up.

It’d also been two hours since the long nightmarish night had begun, and the harsh reality of what they were going up against was weighing heavy on all of their shoulders. Especially with the note that had been with the artifact, and the threat that’d been found mere minutes ago.

*****

The group was still in the living room, pondering over the two notes with Yandel walking back and forth, not quite pacing, for he was deep in thought, looking at the situation the way he would look at a difficult computer code, some were debating over the two notes, Dawn was looking shell-shocked with Aqua, Sally, and Lily-Rose doing their best to be supportive, and Bella was looking torn between throwing blame on her friend and dropping the topic altogether.

“All right, what do we know with what we have?” Yandel asked, bringing an end to the debates. “Give me the list, people.”

“We know that there’s a killer who has trapped us here,” Amy said, counting off with her fingers. “Has been responsible for the deaths of Koda, Kyle, Noah, and now Joe. We have only tonight to find the artifacts, which is likely to lead to more deaths, and if we don’t get out before sunrise, we’re going to be stuck in the 80s forever. Have I left anything out?”

“That pretty much covers it,” Héctor agreed, and turned to look at their hostess. “Señorita, we need the next chapter in your great-grandfather’s book.”

Dawn didn’t react right away, not until Sally picked up the book in question and placed it in her hands, and she blinked, returning fully to reality. “Huh? Oh yeah…ok, let’s see where he put the next artifact.” She pulled herself together, opened the book, turning to the next entry, and began reading it to her friends.

“‘November 28, 1982. It has been some time since I hid the first artifact, and I have been thinking long and hard where to hide the second one’,” she read. “‘I feel that I was in some way rash with my first decision, and that will probably proven to be a mistake on my part. And so I am being more smart and careful of where I will hide the remaining three artifacts. So this time, I chose a place that is more secured, I hope, and the only clue I will give to start the search is held in the kitchen. Look for the ingredients to make something round and tasty, a nationwide favorite, and will sometimes have a certain fruit added to it much to the disgust of a certain chef’.”

“We need to go to the kitchen,” said Gima, pulling Dawn to her feet. “And from there we can figure out the rest of the clue.”

Agreeing, they left the living room and followed William and Misty to the kitchen.

*****

They entered the kitchen, where Peter MacGarry was busy preparing sandwiches for the group, and he looked at them questioningly. “Yes, can I help you?”

“Peter, normally I wouldn’t intrude into the kitchen like this,” Dawn informed him, “but there might be a clue somewhere in here that we need to find that has to do with ingredients, making something round and tasty that’s a nationwide favorite, and will sometimes have certain fruit on it that disgusts a certain chef.”

“Hmm,” Peter pondered this and set his knife aside, which he’d been using to cut tomatoes. “I think I’ll let you have access to the kitchen so that you can solve this puzzle, and I will be in the pantry, where I actually do need to get something.” And with a nod of his head, he exited the kitchen.

Taking that in stride, the group spread out to search the kitchen for the SAE symbol that would help them with figuring out the clue, and with the size of the kitchen, there was a lot of space to cover with the various cabinets and cupboards that covered most of the walls of the very large space.

As they searched the kitchen, making a point of checking everywhere while William and Misty watched, Sally was checking a shelf that was lined with various cookbooks, and she spotted the SAE symbol, along with the Freemason symbol, on the spine of the book.

“Found it!” she exclaimed, pulling the book off the shelf and turned to her friends as they gathered around, opening to where there was a bookmark with the Freemason symbol. “It’s a cookbook, which means…look!” She showed them that the bookmarked recipe was for a pizza.

“Now the clue makes sense,” said Axel, grinning. “We need to find the ingredients for a pizza!”

“And Chef Gordon Ramsey hates it when people put pineapple on pizza,” Dawn added. “Ok, we got the recipe, so we just need to find the ingredients listed.”

Gima nodded and frowned when he took a closer look at the ingredient list. “Uh oh…look.”

They all looked at the list and their hearts dropped, for most of the ingredients had parts blacked out, which was going to make this difficult, and Amy muttered a few choice words under her breath, which the brunette wisely chose not to lecture her on at this time.

Sally set the cookbook on the island in the center of the kitchen, keeping a hand on the page to keep it open, and looked at her friends. “Ok, since whoever’s behind this has do some serious redacting on the ingredient list, we’re gonna have to piece this together like a puzzle, and gather whatever ingredients you can find so we can go from there.”

They nodded and split up, moving to different parts of the kitchen, searching for possible ingredients, which they would bring over to the island, and after a couple of minutes, they managed to gather various versions of the following ingredients:

Different types of flour, including gluten-free flour.

Cans of dry yeast.

Onions.

Tomatoes.

Mushrooms.

Pepperoni.

Black and green olives.

Various cheeses.

Cans of pineapple (because why not).

Various herbs and spices.

“Do we have everything?” Lily-Rose asked, certain that they’d searched the entirekitchen more then once.

“I hope so,” said Héctor. “If not, then we’ll have to ask Chef MacGarry to exit the pantry.”

Dawn picked up one of the bags of flour, almond flour, and she noticed something. “Wait, we might not have to. Look, the A for almond is underlined.” And sure enough, there was a line under the A for the almond flour.

“That’s definitely a clue,” Aqua agreed, “we need to check the rest for any underline letters and write them down. Here.” She took over on keeping the cookbook open to the right page so that Sally could write down the letters, staring with the letter A.

“Got an underline I for the onions.”

“Same with the olives.”

“And with the garlic.”

“The P for pepperoni is underlined.”

“So is the P for the black pepper.”

“The P and one of the Es in green peppers are both underlined.”

This was going to take a while.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER TWO: PIZZA PUZZLE SOLVED

*****

It took a while, but eventually they managed to find the following letters, which Sally wrote down, and it was a sizable number:

PPPIIIEEZZAR.

Yandel counted the letters. “Twelve letters in total. So…what does it mean?”

“Maybe the letters spell out something related to pizza?” Amy guessed, sitting on one of the other counters while sucking on a lollipop. “I mean…the clues to pointing toward pizza for a reason. Right?”

“That’s a very good point, Amy,” said Gima, impressed, and he looked toward Sally. “Sally, can you-?”

“Already on it.” The author began writing the letters in different orders, trying to find a way to use all of them, and as she wrote, words started to form.

PI PIE PIZZERIA.

Dawn gasped, staring at the final result. “Pi Pie Pizzeria! That’s in the food district of the park!”

“And back to the park we go,” said Bella sarcastically.

Ignoring her sarcasm and accepting flashlights from William and Misty, along with their coats and jackets, and headed outside to return to the amusement park.

*****

The trip to the amusement park was fairly uneventful, having made the trek often enough that they just walked along the road, and it didn’t take quite as long to reach the entrance to the park like the first time they had to do it without the limo. And from there they walked along the paths, conserving the flashlights as all the lights in the park were lighted, and made it easy to see where they were going, despite how creepy it felt with the lack of any other people around.

*****

“Damn,” Axel muttered when they reached the food district, which was practically the center of the whole park, and saw all the various places where you could get something to eat. “Food district is right.” And his stomach grumbled a little. “Oops, my bad.”

“It has been a while since any of us had anything to eat since dinner,” Bella agreed, “and I have a feeling we’re all a bit hungry. Should’ve gotten those sandwiches before we left.”

“Too late now.”

William produced a set of keys, which Dawn recognized having belonged to Koda, but before she could ask him of how he came to have the keys since they went missing after the late caretaker had gotten electrocuted, he unlocked the doors to the pizzeria, and moved aside so that they could enter the building.

*****

The group let out a collective gasp when they entered, the atrium was large with a high purple ceiling covered with neon yellow lights shaped like stars, the walls were painted a light brown covered with all kinds of 80s kid posters, the carpet was purpled with a gold star pattern, and to the right was the prize counter with all kinds of prizes on display on the shelves, the doorway to the kitchen, a set of pizza slice-shaped doors that lead to the main dining area and stage, and to the left was where the play area and arcade was located.

“Ok, before we do anymore searching for clues,” said Héctor, eying the doorway to the kitchen, “can we do some pizzas first please?”

“Yes, time for pizza,” Dawn agreed, taking the lead and headed for the door with Héctor on her heels, and the rest followed, except for Bella…at first.

‘This isn’t the time for food!’ she thought, half-tempted to search the dining area for clues herself, and that was exactly what she decided to do. ‘I’m going to look for clues! Let them stuff themselves silly.’ And she headed for the doors to the main dining area, grasping the handles, which were shaped like pizza cutters that didn’t cut her hands much to her relief, and pulled them open to enter the room beyond.

*****

Unaware that Bella had snuck off, the others were busy admiring the large kitchen, chatting, and making personal pizzas, even Lily-Rose was making her own gluten-free and dairy-free pizza with pineapple.

This was a rare chance to relax, to actually enjoy themselves, and they all knew that sometimes the best way to work on a problem was to take a step away from it and focus on something else. And what better way to do that then fixing pizzas with friends?

Yandel, finding a chef hat, put it on, strutted around the kitchen, and spoke in what had to be the worst Scottish accent to ever be used outside of TV shows, pretending to be Gordon Ramsay and leaving all of his friends in stitches with laughter.

“You don’t put pineapple on pizza, young lady!” he mock scolded with his fake accent, waving a spatula at Lily-Rose and her pizza. “That is blasphemy! It is illegal!”

“Oh put a sock in it, Ramsay!” Lily-Rose retorted, trying and failing not to laugh as she snatched up a spatula and waved it at him. “My pizza, my way! Take that!” And they were soon having a mock sword fight, making their friends avoid getting hit as they fell over each other, laughing at their antics.

*****

Meanwhile, Bella let the doors shut behind her as she took in the dining area, which was quite large with a checkered carpet that was a mixture of brown, red, green, black, and white to represent pizza ingredients, long wooden tables covered with green/blue tablecloths, neon lamps of various colors, party-themed wallpaper on the walls, and directly across was the stage, which was covered with red velvet curtains.

‘Ok, this would be a cool place to have a party for a kid,’ she thought, for it did remind her bit of parties at pizzerias when she was a kid. ‘But now isn’t the time to daydream, time to look for clues.’

Bella moved away from the doors and began search the room, making sure not to skip over any part of the place, determined not to overlook any possible clue, slowly making her way to the stage, choosing to look there last, and so far, she hadn’t found anything that looked like either the SAE symbol or the Freemason symbol.

‘Grr, it shouldn’t be this hard to find a clue!’ she thought with growing frustration, and she was starting to regret not going into the kitchen for pizza. ‘I really shouldn’t be doing this on an empty-!’ She gasped and jumped back from the stage, almost certain that she saw the curtain move a little. ‘Yeah…time to go!’

Bella turned and fled back to the doors, really not wanting to risk peeking through the curtains to see if something had made them move or not, and she was halfway across the room, dodging around the corners of the tables-

-when the lights suddenly went out!

“AAAHHH!!!”

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER THREE: ARCADE ABDUCTION!

*****

Dawn and her friends were finishing eating their pizzas, feeling more relaxed, and happier then they had prior to the start of the nightmare that they were currently in the middle of living through – and that was when the loud scream reached their ears, startling them all.

“What the-?!”

“Who-?!”

“Where-?!”

“Where’s Bella?!” Amy shrieked.

Realizing that the politician was missing, they ran out of the kitchen, choosing not to worry about the mess since their friend’s wellbeing was more important, and back into the atrium.

*****

The group reentered and skidded to a halt when they saw that the doors to the dining area were now chained shut and there was a paper lying on the floor. Axel carefully approached the doors, bent down to retrieve the paper, and retreated back with it in hand, privately relieved that nothing happened since seeing doors chained shut like that wasn’t a good sign.

He read the note to his friends, and his heart sank. “‘Your friend had entered a restricted area not yet ready for any of you, and is now being held in the penalty box. In order to get your friend back, and not mess with my grand plan, you must go straight to the arcade to search for clues. Hurry, you have only thirty minutes or else your foolish friend will pay the price by going straight into the voting pile’.”

“Dammit, Bella,” Gima muttered, “getting into trouble at a time like this. Ok, looks like we’re now on a rescue mission.”

Dawn sighed. “Let’s just go and get her out of this mess.” And she lead the way to the arcade.

*****

The arcade/play area were very 80s themed, much like everything else, with all kinds of arcade games scattered about in a series of semi-circles going outward to provide enough space to move among the games.

Lily-Rose’s eyes lit up at the sight of the arcade games. “Ok! This is my kind of scene!” And she hurried forward to start examining the games, and she was in full gamer mode.

Her friends chuckled and followed suit in check the games for clues, which wasn’t that easy, and a few even checked the play area for possible clues. And yet they were going to find those clues since they only had a limited time.

*****

“I found a clue!” Lily-Rose called out from where she was kneeling by the TRON arcade game, and her friends hurried over. “It’s right here, just under the control panel,” she added excitedly, pointing to the underside of the slanted control panel, and underneath it was the SAE symbol and a letter “T”.

“Good job, Lily-Rose,” said Axel, giving her a hug. “Now we know what to look for. Letters!” He also gave her a high-five, and the group scattered again to search the games, this time looking for letters on the underside of the control panels of said games.

*****

`“10 minutes left!”` came the announcement over the speakers mounted on the walls, making them all jump, especially since the voice was distorted so they couldn’t tell if it was male or female. `“You don’t have much time left!”`

Sally rolled her eyes and returned her attention to the letters that had been found so far, having written them down as they were called out:

TTRSIE

“That’s six letters, guys,” she announced, “have you found any other letters?”

There was a chorus of negatives, which meant that they had, very likely, found all of the letters, and they regrouped around Sally as she worked on the letters until she got the word TETRIS.

“Is there a TERTIS game here?” Amy asked, looking around.

Dawn also looked around, certain that she’d seen one in the arcade, and pointed toward the south end of the room. “Over there!” And she lead the way to a fancy-looking TERTIS machine that control panel consisted of two large balls with one being red and the other being green, which meant that two could play the game at the same time to compete against each other.

And off to the side was a glass box, shaped like a hockey penalty box, and sitting inside it with an expression that was a mixture of fear, shock, and frustration, was Bella. She was gagged and her hands were tied behind her back.

“Bella!”

`“Congrats! You found your friend with time to spare! And if you will check the envelope taped to the penalty box, you’ll get your next set of instructions.”`

Bella was making muffled noises, negative noises of some kind, as Yandel retrieved the envelope that was taped to the side of the glass box, and took it back to the others.

Lily-Rose took the envelope from him, opened, removed the note, and read it. “‘To spare your friend from a crushing death, two must be voted to take part in a deadly game of TETRIS, and only the two voted for may remain in the arcade to take part in the challenge. If anyone tries to remain in the arcade after the two have been chosen by vote, they will be punished’.”

She stared at the note for several hour-long-seconds as the others exchanged uneasy looks since this meant another final death challenge, and then her expression became eerily calm, something that only Dawn noticed. “Well, time for another vote.”

William entered the arcade and went over to the hockey game table to set up the card decks for the vote with Misty at his side.

Dawn, however, went over to Lily-Rose to speak with her. “Lily-Rose, can you and I talk alone for a-?”

“No,” said the gamer, stepping away from her.

“But-”

“No, we are voting and that’s final.”

“But-”

This time, Lily-Rose stepped close so that she and her friend were nearly nose-to-nose, and hissed. “We. Are. Voting. And. That’s. Final.”

Dawn blinked and scowled. “Fine.” And she walked away, feeling hurt.

Lily-Rose watched her go, but didn’t try to apologize, her mind was made up.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FOUR: VOTING TENSION AMONG FRIENDS

*****

“Everyone, please gather around to vote for who will be taking part in the final death challenge,” William called out, not really giving any of them a chance to discuss of who to vote for, and they gathered around. “With Ms. Lee unable to take part in this vote, her cards will be removed for the time being. Please choose now with Miss Whitlock going first.”

Bella fumed from inside the penalty box.

Lily-Rose stepped up to the table, chose a card that she handed to him, and then went back to stand slightly apart from the others, keeping her expression neutral.

Everyone took their turns choosing a card that they handed to William, and when the last vote was casted, he gathered them up and began shuffling them.

Yandel noticed how Dawn kept glancing over at Lily-Rose, and he was growing concerned since he noted the tension between them after how the gamer reacted to the note, and how she lashed out at the brunette moments ago. ‘Clearly there’s something going on here that I don’t know about…’ And he was worried that it was something bad.

*****

After a few minutes of shuffling, William drew the first card and revealed it. “Lily-Rose.”

There were gasps among the group, but Lily-Rose was looking calm, almost as if she’d been counting on being voted for, given that she was the gamer, and Dawn wasn’t thrilled based on how she was gripping the strap of her bag that carried her great-grandfather’s book.

‘She voted for herself,’ the brunette thought, hating that her friend was using this as an excuse to go a certain route that would leave everyone heartbroken when they figured out why, ‘she did this on purpose…and I can’t talk her down this time.’

William shuffled the cards once again and then drew the second card, revealing it. “Amy.”

Amy, who’d been enjoying a lollipop and clearly hadn’t been paying attention, almost chocked when she heard her name. “Me?!”

‘Crap, I was hoping it would be someone who could outdo even me,’ Lily-Rose thought, having intentionally voted for herself to go into the final death challenge as a way out forever. But now…no she had her plan and she wasn’t going to give up on it. ‘I can still go through my plan…just need to adjust it.’

“The vote is final,” William reminded them, “and as per the instructions left by the killer, we must leave you both here while the rest return to the house, guided by Misty while I wait outside for whoever emerges with Ms. Lee as victorious.”

The friends told both Amy, who was looking scared, and Lily-Rose good luck before heading out, and Dawn only paused once to look back at the gamer, who was determinedly looking away. Once again hurt, she left them both behind, slamming the doors of the pizzeria shut behind with a loud bang that echoed throughout the building.

*****

The trek back up to the house was uncomfortably silent, for it wasn’t lost on the others that there was clear tension between Dawn and Lily-Rose earlier, tension that had grown due to the results of the vote, and hadn’t faded since the brunette was storming ahead of the rest without a word.

“Is there something going on between Dawn and Lily-Rose that we don’t know about?” Héctor whispered to Aqua as they got closer to the house. “I’d never seen either look so salty before.”

“I’m not sure,” Aqua admitted. “I’ve known both of them for quite a while, but if there’s something negative in their lives to cause this tension, then I don’t know about it.”

‘But the question is what?’ Héctor wondered.

*****

Once they were all inside the house, Dawn rushed up the stairs, muttering about “needing alone time in her room”, and was soon out of sight before anyone could say anything or even try to stop her from leaving.

Misty cleared her throat. “Chef MacGarry has food waiting for you in the dining room, if you need any.”

Although it hadn’t been all that long since they had the pizzas, most of them headed to the dining room jus to have something to do while they waited, but Yandel headed up the stairs to search for a certain brunette, and he had a strong feeling that leaving her alone at a time like this wasn’t the smartest move to make.

*****

It didn’t take Yandel very long to locate the master bedroom, recalling where it was from the tour earlier that night, and he pressed his ear to the door, listening before knocking on the door when he heard muffled crying.

“Donny, babe? Can I come on?”

All he heard was additional muffled crying, which he took as a sign that he could enter, and tested the doorknob, finding the doors were unlocked. And so he opened the door, stepping inside.

*****

Yandel did take a moment to admire the décor of the master bedroom as he shut the door behind him, before moving around the bed to find his friend huddled in a corner near the big bay window with a blanket wrapped around her so that her head was hooded to the point that her face couldn’t be seen, and he sat down next to her, not saying anything.

This went on for several minutes, with her muffled crying and her friend sitting next to her in silent support, waiting for her to voice what she was feeling when she was ready. And after another two minutes, the brunette finally spoke in a muffled voice.

“Lily-Rose has tried to end her life before.”

Yandel gasped a little, having suspected, but he hadn’t been sure until that moment. “How so?” he asked, now putting an arm around her shoulders, and Dawn leaned so her head rested on his shoulder.

“It was a few years back,” Dawn told him, letting it pour out of her in a flood, her voice was choked with tears. “I knew that Lily-Rose struggled with depression, among other things, and we had spent the day at the beach, just having what I thought was a good day together before going back to her place. And it was when I was in the kitchen, fixing us some popcorn for a gaming session that I noticed that one of the knives was missing, and I had a strong feeling that I needed to go upstairs to check on her, which I did.”

She swallowed, sniffled, and then resumed speaking, needing to get it out. “I…I found her in the upstairs bathroom with the knife, she was standing by the sink, and she was about to cut herself on the wrist. I did freeze at first, just for a few seconds as she looked at me and I looked at her, and I asked a single question without evening trying to grab the knife, I asked her “Why”. And…I guess she hadn’t expected me to ask that, because she confessed that she’d been getting pressure from her parents about stuff, it was getting to be too much, and she needed an out. She hadn’t intended to do it when I was in the house…but the need had gotten too strong, and when she finished telling me this, she looked between me and the knife before she handed it to me. The second I accepted it, she sank to the floor and began crying, and I put the knife out of reach before I sat with her and comforted her just by holding her, which was what she needed.”

“You saved her life that day,” Yandel remarked and she nodded. “I’m guessing that she still struggles with depression, and sees this as an out.”

Dawn nodded. “Yes…and I’m worried that she’ll try to throw the challenge so that she can…” She stopped, unable to voice the fear. “But…there is something that I just realized.” She sat up and looked at her friend. “Something that my dad told me once. ‘Choosing to die is easy, but choosing to live, that’s the challenge’. Maybe that’s why she didn’t go through with it when I was there, because I didn’t try to stop her or encourage her, I only asked the question.”

“And who knows,” said Yandel thoughtfully. “Maybe when she goes through this challenge with Amy, she’ll come to that realization on her own once again. I mean, yeah, we don’t know for sure what the final death challenge is about, or what kind of twist might happen. But…you never know.”

Dawn nodded again. “Yeah. Thanks for listening, Yan.” And she shoved off the blanket, giving him a tight hug.

“No problem,” Yandel responded, returning the hug. “That’s what having a gay friend is for.”

They both giggled over their shared joke before ending the hug, getting up to put the blanket back on the bed, and, together, they headed back downstairs to wait with their surviving friends.

It was time for the dreaded waiting session.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER FIVE: GOODBYE TETRIS BLITZ

*****

Meanwhile back in the arcade area of the pizzeria, a message appeared on the screen of the Tetris game for Lily-Rose and Amy to read together while Bella watched from within the penalty box.

“‘In order to free your friend and win your prize, the game of Tetris you both must play. But be warn. If you try to cheat to win, all will die. If you try to cheat to lose, all will die. Only one can win both prizes. Step up to the control balls to begin the game’.”

‘Crap!’ Lily-Rose thought as the messaged faded from the screen and was replaced with the GAME START image. ‘I was going to- but now- how?!’ She gritted her teeth as she stepped up to the green control ball.

Amy swallowed, stepping up to the red control ball and glanced over at her. “Good luck, Lily-Rose.”

The gamer swallowed and nodded. “Good luck, Amy.”

Together they worked the control balls and clicked the game start indicator on the screen. The usual Tetris music started playing as the screen switched to the typical screen of a square with a line near the top that you had to avoid crossing, and the colored, differently shaped blocks began descending toward the bottom.

At first it was pretty easy, and both Amy and Lily-Rose used the control balls to move and rotate the blocks as needed to fit together before they couldn’t be moved anymore, and their respective scores being shown on either side of the screen in their respective colors went up at a fairly steady and even pace.

But five minutes in, the music picked up the pace a little and the blocks started to coming down a bit faster, which made it a bit harder to get them into ideal positions, and the first time that Amy missed getting a block into a good spot – there was a loud BANGING noise behind her.

“Aah!”

The game briefly paused, confusing them until a new message appeared on the screen that made their hearts sink. “‘From this point forward, every time you miss a block, it will land on the floor behind you. Take a look’.”

Reluctantly, both Lily-Rose and Amy turned to look behind them when they saw how wide Bella’s eyes had gotten, and they both squeaked in fear when they saw a human-sized and very real version of Amy’s missed block embedded in the floor just a dozen feet away. And it was surrounded by the smashed arcade games that’d been in the way.

“That- that isn’t good,” Lily-Rose gulped, now starting to regret her attempt to end it all for herself. “Amy…I don’t want you to die…I was trying-”

A loud beep from the game forced them to return their attention to it as the music and dropping blocks resumed, and they did their best to tune out everything except the game, cringing only whenever one of them missed a block and there was a loud BANGINGnoise behind them, indicating that they were getting closer.

*****

15 minutes had passed, the music was going faster, the blocks were coming faster, and while Amy was struggling big time, missing more blocks so that the BANGING noise behind her was almost constant by this time, Lily-Rose’s hands seemed to be working the control block on their own, for she was fully engrossed in the game to the point that she was tuning out everything else.

Lily-Rose was now in her element, her love for games, just like her favorite female character from the Danganronpagames, Chiaki Nanami the Ultimate Gamer, and all that really matter at that moment was the game itself.

‘Block here…block there…rotate…shift…rotate…place…shift…rotate…place,’ she thought, working the controls as if in a trance, barely aware of anything else, and barely flinched whenever she did make a rare mistake that caused a human-sized block slamming into the floor behind her.

*****

Amy, however, was sweating big time as she struggled to keep up with the speed of the incoming blocks, not liking how her pile seemed to be getting closer and closer to the dreaded line that, if she crossed it, would mean game over…and in a very final way.

‘I’m not good at theses kinds of games!’ she thought, panicking as she missed what should’ve been an easy block, and the BANGING noise got even closer. She was running out of room and out of time! ‘I’m going to die! I just know it!’ And because of her panicked state, she wasn’t aware that one block had managed to land on the very top of the pile, crossing the line.

BEEP!!!!!

Both girls jumped, Lily-Rose out of her game trance, and they blinked when they saw the words in bold blood-red letters flashed across the screen: GAME OVER. AMY LOSES.

“NO!” Amy screamed, turning to Lily-Rose for help. “I don’t want to die! Help me!”

“I- I- I-” Lily-Rose stammered and reached for her friend, but a glass wall went up between them, slicing the arcade game in two, destroying it, and she had no choice but to retreat to the penalty box as a section on the lower part of the destroyed game popped open, revealing the artifact, a note, and a key.

She grabbed them while Amy was trying to find a way to escape, but she was completely surrounded by glass walls, making that impossible, and a creaking noise made her look up to see that a section of the ceiling directly above her was starting to slide open.

Lily-Rose realized what was going to happen, dashed over to the penalty box, unlocked it with the key, pulled Bella out without bothering to remove either the ropes or the gag, and pulled her out of the room as fast as possible. She hadn’t wanted Amy to die, but she also didn’t want to witness her death either.

“No, come back! Help me!” Amy screamed, banging on the glass with her fist as hard as she could, trying to get out of there before it was too late…but they were gone. “I hate you both! I hate you all!”

She backed away from the glass wall, glaring at the doorway that her so-called friends had fled through, and as a growing whistling noise from above got louder and louder, signaling that her death was coming, she let out a very loud and angry scream of rage as a very large Tetris block came hurtling out of the hole in the ceiling and-

KA-SPLAT!

Amy Poole was no more!

*****

Outside the pizzeria, William was waiting for them and helped Bella free herself of the ropes and gag. “We should return to the h-” he began.

“Shut up!” the politician snapped at the butler and whirled to face Lily-Rose, stepping close so that they were practically nose-to-nose. “Listen and listen good, the next time you want to exit life, don’t drag the rest of us with you! Others will call you selfish for what you wanted to do to yourself, and I don’t care if you one day are successful! But you’re not going to do it with an f*cking final death challenge that puts the rest of us at risk! Do you understand?!”

Lily-Rose froze, staring wide-eyed at Bella for several hour-long seconds, but then she turned on her heel, and fled from them and in the direction of the park’s entrance.

Bella huffed and followed after her, along with William, after a few seconds of standing like a statue because of the sudden shouting.

Chapter Text

Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.

CHAPTER SIX: TENSE REUNION

*****

Meanwhile, the group had left the dining room after, somewhat, eating some of the sandwiches, and went back to the living room to wait for the return of their friends. They hadn’t question Dawn and Yandel when they had arrived, much to Dawn’s grateful relief, and she chose to wait until they were in the living room to give them all the reason for the tension earlier, deciding that this needed to be shared.

*****

“Man, that sucks,” said Axel, shaking his head. “I have a few family members who struggle with depression, but they haven’t attempted that…at least not that I’m aware of.”

“It explains why Lily-Rose reacted to that note the way she did,” Gima remarked, shaking his head. “It’s not the most ideal way to end one’s pain…but it kinda makes sense, too. And before you come after me, I had a sister who failed an important class in high school, and she felt that our parents would disown her for this. So, she went out to the nearest train track, climbed up, and – and she couldn’t do it since she saw another girl do the exact same thing from the other side of the tracks. Seeing someone else do what she was about to do, it scared her so badly that she changed her mind.”

The room became silent, for this was a big news drop for all of them, and no one knew what to say to any of this.

“Gima…” Dawn whispered. “I…I had no idea.”

Gima shook his head. “It wasn’t something that I was ready to share,” he told her, patting her hand. “But given what’s going on tonight, I felt ready to share.”

“Guys, someone’s coming!” Héctor called out, having been peering out the window and saw a single figure running up the road with two others in the distance. “And they’re running!” And no sooner were the words out of his mouth that they heard the front door banged openly, and Lily-Rose ran into the room, clutching the artifact and the note, tears in her eyes.

The group jumped up as the gamer shoved the items into Sally’s hands and threw herself onto Dawn, sobbing into her shoulder as she clung to her, babbling through the sobs.

“I’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorryI’msorry!”

Dawn held her friend close, rubbing her back with one hand as she moved over to the couch, which Aqua and Axel vacated, and got the gamer to sit down with her. “Shh, I know, I know…it’s going to work out…just let it out.”

Sally felt awkward holding the artifact and the note, but she also didn’t want to disrupt what was going on either, and she was about to go to the fireplace – when the front door banged open loudly a second time, startling the group and making Lily-Rose whimper, tightening her grip on Dawn, who reacted by holding her closer.

For that was when Bella came storming into the living room, stopping short of the coffee table with an enraged expression on her face, and she pointed an accusatory finger at the trembling and whimpering gamer.

“Her selfish desire to die got Amy killed!” she shrieked, shaking with rage. “She wanted to die and Amy paid the price for her selfishness!” And she took a step forward, clearly intent on striking her target – only to be restrained by Axel and Héctor. “Let me go! She murdered Amy! Let me go! She needs to pay!”

Dawn’s expression turned cold, she gently and firmly pulled Lily-Rose behind and into the waiting arms of Yandel, took a step around the coffee table, and-

SLAP!

The sound of that slap echoed around the room, silencing everyone, especially Bella, who was now looking stunned with a reddening mark forming on her face from where she’d been slapped hard by the brunette.

“Don’t. You. Ever. Say. That. About. Anyone. Ever. Again!” Dawn snarled, her eyes were bright with anger, and she was shaking. “This isn’t all on Lily-Rose, and you know it! You snuck off and got yourself taken by the killer, and that lead to this situation. We’re all under a lot of stress, and going after each other isn’t the answer. Did Lily-Rose vote for herself to go into that challenge with a certain intent in mind? Yes, yes, she did. But she has struggles, just like any of us, and unfortunately that was what she thought was the best way to get out of her own personal pain. Now just shut up for once in your life, Bella!”

Once again silence fell around the room, but this time it was because there was nothing else that needed to be said after all of that.

Bella stared at the brunette for a long moment before pulling her arms freed, and she went to stand by the living room entrance with her arms folded, fuming in silence.

Dawn took several deep breaths and turned back to Lily-Rose, who was now sitting on the couch with Yandel, and had a wide-eyed tear-stained expression on her face. “Lily-Rose, you feel ready to tell us what happen during the challenge?” she asked gently.

The gamer nodded and shared with them about how she had been intending to purposely lose the challenge to give herself an out, but the rules for the challenge made it clear that any kind of cheating would’ve lead to three deaths instead of just her own, and so she had no choice but to play the Tetris game the best that she could.

“…and I won,” Lily-Rose whimpered. “Amy died because I won!” And she dissolved into tears once again, burying her face in her hands, her shoulders shaking with guilt and shame.

No one said anything, letting the silence return, for it was needed.

*****

Once Lily-Rose had a chance to calm down enough to be able to focus, she collected the artifact and note from Sally, and added the artifact to the first on on the fireplace mantel.

“Two down…two to go.” She then opened the note and read it. “‘Heavy are the prices that are paid sometimes, huh? The prices you all will have to pay haven’t ended yet, for you still have two artifacts to go, and I promise that it will all get harder with each challenge to come. So, who will pay the price next? Who will live through the night?’ I really don’t like this jerk.”

There was general agreement to that, and if they were going to make it through the night, they would need to get their acts together.

That was for sure.

To Be Continued…

*****

I have so many, so many regrets.

So many lies, so many broken ties.

I wish for my old life.

Wish I could fix my strike.

Cause no one truly escapes the night.

Oh, won't you help me escape the night.

Oh baby help me escape the night.

Escape the night.