[play the music for better effect :) ]
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NUMBER 14 — CONNOR
Every single muscle in his body tenses stiffly; his blood runs cold as he takes quick, sharp breaths. His hands shoot to the front of his head, gripping tightly as his frontal lobe thumps like the force of a hammer pounding in nails. He opens his mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.
In the blink of an eye, the torturous pain stops ever so suddenly; panting, he drops back down.
WHAT JUST HAPPENED?
He sucks in a breath of air, closing his eyes as he tries to speak.
SCHLATT?
But he hears nothing come out his throat.
He involuntarily pushes himself up from the ground, and gets up on two feet.
WHAT?
He tries to lay back down. But he can't; Instead, he feels his legs pick up and shuffle quietly over the leaves to his backpack.
His fingers dig into the depths of his bag, hooking around a metal handgun. He smiles. But that's not what he's feeling.
I JUST WANT TO GO TO SLEEP.
He turns around, adjusting his grip on his pistol. With slow, swift steps, he spontaneously walks past some trees. He sees Schlatt resting beside a log.
He walks past Schlatt, heading towards the arch of trees where Technoblade is.
He feels his adrenaline rise drastically, pumping a rush of blood through his veins.
IS THIS A DREAM?
He swats a tree branch standing in his way, revealing a spacious area from within the bushes. He sees Technoblade lying down on the floor with his back facing him; Dark, crimson, dried blood is painted along the grass floor and his body.
He realises now, what is happening. He opens his mouth to scream, but nothing comes out.
NO, NO, NO. I DON'T WANT THIS. I DON'T WANT THIS.
He stops walking, and his shadow his towering over Techno's still body. He lowers the pistol in his hand, cocking the handgun as he aims it at Techno's forehead.
A grin crawls along the corners of his lips.
NO, STOP. PLEASE. STOP. I DON'T.. I DON'T WANT TO KILL MY FRIEND.
But before he's able to pull the trigger, he feels something cold slice along the back of his neck.
✧༺✖༻✧
TECHNOBLADE
His eyelids snap open, and he jerks around to see Connor standing in front of him with a pistol in hand. He crawls back, elbows on the ground with his sight is transfixed on Connor.
Half his body is hidden underneath the shadows of the trees surrounding them. His brown hair hangs over his face, and his eyes are glowing a crazed, cyan blue. Before Techno has the time to do anything, Connor's legs give out from beneath him. He falls, collapsing to his knees as he cranes his neck around. While it is dark, Techno can see rivers of blood spilling out from back of Connor's neck.
He looks up to see whose the victim of this, and sees an emerging, hooded figure stand from behind where Connor once stood.
He purses his lips.
"AntVenom?"
Taylor grins, bending over with his hands on his knees as he pants. He drops the knife from his hand.
"Told you," he breathes shakily, "Truce is a truce, remember?"
A truce?
Oh right, he almost forgot about the truce they made. Admittedly, he finds himself actually surprised that AntVenom had stuck to the truce. Pulling a move like that could be seriously detrimental to his game. And he's already in a vulnerable position.
Taylor frowns. "You forgot?"
"No, of course not. I'm just.. Surprised that you were actually serious."
"I'm telling you man, I don't want to pull anything."
Techno looks down, scratching the back of his neck. "... I could have died. I don't understand why you would go through the effort to save me. Taylor, why'd you do it?"
"Why'd I do it?" He repeats, and he gives him a downcast but genuine smile. "I.. I just kinda missed having someone to talk to. Since Captain's... Y'know."
His voice trails off, leaving the two fall silent as the crisp, yet heavy air of the illuminated night coils around them.
Now he knows. Why Taylor is fighting.
AntVenom has no motive to become God, nor no intention to kill Technoblade.
He just wants to survive. He misses having friends. A family. And a life.
He did not kill Cooper out of spite. He killed him so he could unlock his ability to give himself a sense of security.
He can only presume that when CaptainSparklez had died, Ant would have been nearby to witness the event. He probably abandoned him because he was too scared.
Just like any human, AntVenom is afraid of death.
This man isn't an idiot. He's just a coward.
Ant's gaze falls to Techno's as he murmurs.
"I'm sorry... For doing that to your friend."
"You mean killing Cooper?" Techno tilts his head, "Is that what went through your head when you blew him up?"
"Wh- No. No! I didn't want to, I swear! Please believe me—!"
"Oh, I do believe you."
He looks at him, narrowing his eyes. "But a man who only ever wallows in his own self-pity to try make himself feel like a better person is nothing more than a coward.
We may have killed someone, but there's a vast difference between us murderers, AntVenom.
Because I at least have the balls to own up to the fact that I am one."
AntVenom's left speechless for a minute.
"I thought sticking to the truce would maybe earn some trust from you. But I guess that's not gonna happen, huh?" He laughs nervously.
"HankVenom," Techno smiles at him, and his fingers slowly inch closer to the knife Ant had dropped. "What do you mean? Of course I trust you."
Ant blinks, stumbling along his words at the unexpected response. "Wait, seriously?"
Techno laughs. "No."
Swift reflexives kicking in, he grabs the knife and readies to aim.
"I loathe people like you. And making that truce was the worst mistake you could have made, Taylor."
He ditches the knife at him, and it darts across the air before skewering into Taylor's right eye.
- - -
Ant screams, falling down as he tries to pull the knife out. Techno remains calm, standing up as he brushes the dirt off of him.
He turns to look at Connor, whose laying lifeless on the ground.
"I can't believe you stole my kill," He mutters under his breath.
Suddenly, a man runs in, kicking down a bush in his way. It's Schlatt, and his face is a petrified mess. He stops, eyeing Technoblade from his head to feet, before turning his attention to Connor's body.
He freezes, paralysed in utter terror as he drops his phone from his hands. Tears form around the outskirts of Schlatt's bloodshot eyes; His legs are trembling, only just barely supporting his weight. His hands are shaking , and sweat is pouring down his forehead.
A long minute passes before Schlatt's consciousness is somewhat able to sink back into reality. He rushes over to Connor's bloody body, dropping on his knees.
"C...Connor!"
His disorientated shriek tears raw through his throat as he puts his hands on both sides of Connor's cheek, turning him around to lay on his back. He almost drops him from his hands as he takes in the sight of his bloodied face.
Pools of fresh, everflowing blood is streaming down from Connor's bottom lip; His face is a ghostly pale, and his cobalt eyes have lost it's colourful gloss of life.
"Connor...?" Schlatt whispers again, leaning close to Connor's face as he taps his check with his hand. "Buddy? G-Get up, man. Stop m-messing around. Connor, wake up. Y-You can't leave me, not now."
But as much as he tries to convince himself that, it's useless; Schlatt knows very well that Connor won't wake up.
A cry slips from his mouth, and he puts his head in his friend's chest before bursting into racked sobs. Techno watches silently as Schlatt's muffled cries echo throughout the night.
"C-Connor, no, no, no," He chokes on his words, tears of his heartache rolling down his face with his head in his chest, clinging onto Connor's damp shirt. "You can't die now. It's not fair, it's not fair! It's not..."
"There's nothing you can do." Technoblade says gravely, "He's dead."
Schlatt's shoulders stop shaking, and his cries quieten. Techno bends down and rips out the knife from Taylor's eye, wiping the blood on his shirt.
Without looking back, he calls for Schlatt. "Well c'mon. I'm tired, and I need to find somewhere else to sleep, because this place is covered with b—"
A fist to his jaw from Schlatt stops him from saying anything.
"WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?" He screams at him.
"What was that for?" Techno frowns, rubbing his cheek. Schlatt looks mortified.
"Connor just died! And all you care about is sleep? How the fuck can you sleep after seeing our friend die right in front of you?!"
Techno doesn't know how to answer this.
"What the fuck happened to you?"
Rivers of tears spill down from his blotchy eyes as he yells at him.
"You never used to be like this. You're.. You're a monster. I mean, I couldn't give two shits about Hank over there — But Connor!! He's dead! And you don't even seem to care, you sick son of a bitch! I SHOULD HAVE NEVER SAVED YOU THAT NIGHT. I SHOULD HAVE JUST LEFT YOU TO DIE JUST LIKE HOW YOU LEFT CONNOR."
He throws another fist at him, but Techno catches it an inch away from his face with the palm of his hand. Schlatt's arm drops, and he puts his head in his hands.
"It's my fault. It's my fault he's dead, isn't it? Because it's always my fault. For everything. I-If I just didn't lash out at and yell at him last night, none of this would have happened. I- I- I failed h—"
"It's not your fault."
He looks up at him. "Why?"
"Because Connor tried to kill me in my sleep. That is, until AntVenom had jumped out from nowhere and killed him. But he's dead now, too."
His face is solemn as he speaks, staring attentively into Schlatt's eyes; he's left speechless.
"Connor would have probably done this whether or not you had an argument," Techno says, "You shouldn't put yourself to blame. He died at his own fault, and he should have been alerted of his death message. I'm too tired to think of why the hell he would do that, but what happened happened. Now I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, Schlatt."
And he walks off, leaving Schlatt all alone as he stands beside the body of the only man who had ever accepted him.
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NUMBER 13 — JOKO
The gust of tranquil, dawning wind blows gently through his hair as he holds his phone up in front of his face.
USER 7 HAS SLIT USER 14'S NECK
USER 14 HAS REACHED A DEAD END.
USER 1 HAS STABBED USER 7'S EYE OUT.
USER 7 HAS REACHED A DEAD END.
CONGRATULATIONS. YOU'RE THE FINAL 5!
" 'Bout time Ant died." He mumbled.
Of course Techno was involved.
"Joko?" he hears a voice call from behind him, "Why are you wearing a shoe on your head?"
"Good morning Trav," He answers, keeping still; not moving his gaze away from the sunrise on the sea's horizon before him. His legs are crossed, sitting only a meter away from the ledge of the small cliff.
Travis crawls over to sit beside Joko, who is balancing a shoe on his head.
"Two people died last night." Joko states bluntly.
Travis goes silent, and Joko continues to elaborate. "AntVenom killed 14. And Technoblade finished off Ant. We're the final five."
He closes his eyes, almost unable to believe that it's actually real.
He was in the final 5. He had managed to outlast 10 people.
When the game had first started, he had no clue on what to do. It was all so sudden. One minute, he was living a stable life with his girlfriend, and the next he had found himself running away from home.
From there, his motives and plans were scattered; head empty, numb with shock, the only thing he was able to bring himself to do was to survive. And the only way to progress in the game was to kill.
He had planned on going solo until a few weeks ago, his diary had alerted him of something; A nearby hospital on the verge of exploding with multiple players inside, and according to his diary, if he gets involved, he'll make an ally. He considered the idea— It would definitely be useful to his game.
So he did. An hour prior to the hospital's destruction, he snuck into the police station using his key card, and stacked up on supplies — Specifically, emergency fire blankets.
After doing so, he made his way to the hospital and ran into the underground parking lot. Seconds before it went up in flames, he jumped over a boy, holding the blanket around them both as he dragged him out to escape.
He has no idea how he managed to survive it, but he did.
And that boy he saved was Travis.
He managed to find out that Travis had been allies with Technoblade — AKA, the kid God claimed had the highest advantage in his game. And it didn't help that he also found out he was a 5 in strength.
After the explosion, Joko helped Travis out of sight, falling into the forest near the collapsed building.
Travis seemed to have passed out, meaning that he was left alone with Joko. He was notified almost immediately after that Techno was going to try to find and re-unite with Travis again.
And that was when Joko knew — He knew that this game was more than just survival. Being strong was only a small factor contributing to this.
The real key to winning is strategy. He had to use deception; perception; and conception in order to win.
He had to get Travis to put his trust in him before Techno could get his hands on him again. Even if that means having to manipulate him using fear.
Because if there was one thing stronger than trusting out of faith, it's fear; Faith cannot save you, but fear can.
Fear is an ideology that connects people in ways more twisted than hope; Faith in someone only lasts for a certain period of time. But fear. That can last forever.
Being killed was already a fear in this game, but that wouldn't be enough to pull at Travis's sense of faith. Joko had to dig deeper into finding out the kind of person Travis is — What could possibly be more terrifying than dying?
But the answer came clear to him. What he feared most is being betrayed.
He didn't want to do it, he really didn't. But the only way to get him on his side was to change his way of thinking — To make him believe that the very thing he had believed in had turned against him.
Making Travis believe that only Joko could be the only he could trust.
For someone with a 4 in intelligence, it was sure easy to make him fall completely in his hands. Sure, he had to do a little lying to get his hands on his phone, but it was the only way to stop him from having contact with Technoblade.
And so, his goal was then to use Travis as his way of eliminating Techno - and that had been his plan for a while.
Until God set the bounty on him, which messed up everything.
He doesn't want to be free. He wants — No, he needs to be God. He needs to be God to...
No, I can't think about that right now.
So instead, Joko had to move to another strategy. A strategy that would both involve the death of Techno, and heighten his chance at becoming God; And that is having Travis kill him instead. Not only Travis would be free, but that would also mean his biggest target would be gone, and from there he can cruise the game easily. On the plus side, he'd also get Travis' catchphrase. He asked God about it earlier in his encounter, and it is very much possible.
What had made Joko's job even easier, in fact, is that Techno seemed to have converted without his help. His new bloodlust is completely out-of-character of him, but he can only assume it's Techno finally deciding to use his power to his full potential.
And now, with Connor gone, their alliance of three has broken. It will probably only fall from here, so now would be the perfect time to strike.
"Joko." Travis finally speaks, breaking him out of his train of thought. Joko turns to look at him, dropping the shoe off his head as it falls into his lap.
"You didn't answer my question. Why are you wearing a shoe on your head?"
Travis' profound glare cuts through the thick atmosphere between them. Joko just shrugs.
"Bored."
Travis' eyes narrow at him. "Joko. You are Joko, aren't you?"
Joko blinks. "Of course."
Travis stares at him hard for a little bit, before returning back to his usual, optimistic self.
"Okay then!"
But then Travis says something that almost makes Joko fall off the cliff.
"So, can we go kill Technoblade now?"
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