The Season Finale: Part 1

"Hey, you're up?"

As the feeling of consciousness came back to Wendy, she was greeted with Vanessa standing over her.

"I'm up." Wendy groaned.

"Okay, okay. Amber is away right now, so I was asked to tell you about tomorrow. Or…this morning. You must have been hit pretty hard"

"What's happening today?" Wendy asked.

"Todays the finale. We have to fight Silvia and the hosts, and then we get to go home."

"Sounds good." Wendy nodded. "So do we kill Silvia?"

"No! Well, not unless we really need to. Which we won't! Silvia's our friend."

"She sold us out." Wendy replied coldly. "First chance I get, she's getting the pole across the skull."

"Wendy, she had reasons." Vanessa replied. "Her plan was to sacrifice us to help her brother get into school. I don't like what she did, but I get it."

"Good for you." Wendy snarled. "Still fighting her, though."

"But we don't have…" Vanessa caught herself and started talking again.

"What if they had your sister? If they asked you to be the mole and kill Eric or Yun-Yeong to save her, you'd do it, right?"

Wendy stared at her for a second, mulling over the question. Her puzzled look eventually changed to one of anger as shocks leaked out of her, and she grabbed her pole. She swung it across at Vanessa, who narrowly dodged it and watched as it clashed against the bed she was sitting against, flying across the room enough to dent the wall. A small dent, but a dent, nonetheless.

Wendy pointed the pole at Vanessa, looking like she was doing everything in her power to not let the shocks fly out of her.

"If I hear you mention them one more time, I'll kill you myself."

"Okay, okay." Vanessa said quickly as her breath left her. She scrambled back onto her feet and went back towards the door.

"Also, Wendy? One last thing." She said, glancing into the hallway. "This might be a bit inappropriate, but th-thanks for killing Micah."

Wendy glanced at her for a quick second, before fixing her gaze back on the pole. "No problem."

Vanessa left the room quickly, bumping into Amber as she did so. Three small objects fell from her hands but were quickly returned by her shadows.

"Bought you and Wendy some protein bars." She started, fixing her hair as her eyepatch was showing. "Good luck out there."

"So, were you two able to plan anything?" Vanessa asked. "You left ten minutes ago."

"We doubted we could predict anything they're throwing at us, so we called it off."

"Ah, right. So what now?"

"Wait for the challenge to start, I guess."

"Well, besides that. Actually, do you have any plans once all this is over?"

"To be honest, I never really thought about it." Amber sighed. "My main enforcers are dead, so probably laying low while I find more talent."

"Can I join?" Vanessa asked.

"Nope. No offense, but your powers seem like they'd be more of a hassle in my work."

"Oh, right. Of course. But…if you need a place to hide out, we live on the same level. So you could stay there. The guys are pretty strong, although I don't know what their approach to helping you would be."

"Not taking the housing?" Amber asked.

"I have a place to live back home, and it's pretty good. And again, you could stay there."

"I'll keep it in mind." Amber nodded, opening her bar and taking a bite. "You want the strawberry or the mango?"

"Mango, please." Vanessa replied. Amber gave her the bar, and she opened it up and started eating, the protein on the inside being a fruity gushy mess, with every bite being pure bliss. She looked at Amber, her eye lighting up at the food, her veneer of elegance evaporating as she tore into the bar.

"So, anyway." Vanessa replied. "How have you been dealing with…you know, Aurora."

"Oh, that?" Amber closed her eye, letting out a heavy sigh as she did so. "It doesn't hurt to think about her anymore, I guess. I guess Lloyd dying helped with that. But if you're asking if I'm ready to get back into dating, not yet."

"Oh, you think that was it?!" Vanessa yelled. "That wasn't it at all! It's just that…you know, Huang died during the game too, so I thought I'd ask to make sure you were okay."

"Yeah, I am." Amber replied, walking towards the main hall. "But hey, I'll probably need to stay at your place at some point. So mind if I get the address of your place?"

"Uh, yeah. 15 stepsville, level 3."

Amber took out her shadows and carved the address into the wrapper of the bar, before folding it and putting it in her pocket.

"Alright, I'll keep it in mind."

Amber sauntered her way over to the main hall, where Cyrus was waiting along with the other boys.

"You give them the food?" He asked.

"Yeah." Amber nodded. "Any news on when the challenge starts?"

"No notifications yet, anyway." Cyrus confirmed.

Just then, there was a knock on the door. It opened to reveal Silvia, who calmly entered.

"Is everyone here?" She asked calmly.

"Vanessa and Wendy are still getting ready." Amber replied calmly.

"Well, we're not starting without them." Silvia sighed. "Can you go get them?"

Amber typed up on her watch, and Wendy and Vanessa came in soon after.

"Welcome to the final challenge." Silvia started, not showing any emotion in her voice. "Your current goal is to unlock the gates from the city. This will be done by entering an eight-digit code into the gates of the city. The first four digits belong to Leonie, and the last four belonging to Kalea. If you enter the wrong code, everyone who entered a number will die. And should nobody here die during the challenge, a vote will be held to eliminate two people."

"And you?" Andrei asked.

"While I'm against you, I'm still a participant in the gauntlet." Silvia answered. "My goal is to assure two deaths to guarantee a placement into the final five, and I'm just gonna say it now, I'm gonna try to get there. And before you ask, I don't know the code either, but it's possible I'll get it if it makes the show more interesting. And if it comes to a vote, then I'm on the chopping block. And with all that said, I wish everyone here the best of luck."

Silvia calmly walked out the door.

"So, the challenge starts now." Odebode sighed.

Cyrus made his way over to the door, opening it to embrace whatever the hosts had in store for them. And just as he cracked it open, the area in front of him exploded. He was quickly able to cover his body in bones enough to shield any major damage. He stepped outside to meet Kalea and Leonie alongside Silvia, with Leonie holding her hand up to her mouth in a bad attempt at hiding her laughter.

"What, weren't expecting that?" She chuckled, looking at his bewildered face. "Come on, it's the last day! We're throwing all the budget at you!"

The others came out of the building.

"O-kay! So, Silvia gave you the rules. You have to get the numbers off us. And I don't know about Kalea here, but there are only two ways you're getting them off me. One is theft, two is murder! You guys ready for that? I know I am!"

Leonie ran away as fast as she could, giggling like a child as she did.

"I…won't have the same approach." Kalea said quietly. "However, I will only give the code to one person. Amber, it's you who's getting the code."

Kalea threw up a wall of crystals, with faint footsteps being heard behind it. Just as they got too hard to hear, a beeping noise was heard from their watches. Cyrus checked it, and two red circles were on it, each going in opposite directions.

"These where they are?" Odebode asked.

"Pretty much." Silvia replied. "For them, it'll show up once every five minutes for ten seconds. I have no signal, so I can appear at any time. Good luck, guys"

And with those words, Silvia began her dash into the city.