I stared at the wall blankly. It had been an hour since we discovered that we were trapped inside what is called the dollhouse in the middle of nowhere surrounded by trees and a big electric fence, but the shocked expression had yet to leave my face. Who was keepijg us here?. What on earth had we done to cause them us so much? I started to think about the video that I came across of in the vault. I turned to face the other girls who were sitting around the dining room table, looking just as shocked and horrified as I was. I was going to tell them about the video, but then quickly realizing that there was a high possibility that Whoever was watching our every move, I opted out of saying anything. The silence in the room felt eerie; we were all so shocked about what was happening hence why we didn't know how to communicate with one another like we normally did.
"Well this is fun isnt it?" Neptune asked after the hour had passed, completely breaking the silence in the room. I turned to look at her, and caught her eyes meeting with mine. I scoffed, not completely sure if it was the stupid side of Neptune talking, or if she was only being sarcastic to lighten up the mood in this cold, dark, and miserable place.
The four of us exchanged looks; without a word slipping out of lips we were able to say as much to each other as if we did talk. We were able to do so because of the two years we'd spent having each other's backs. Although with Neptune it was different. One minute, she was devising an escape plan with us, and then complacemt the next, She was difficult to read, even for me.
But that didn't matter anymore. What Neptune said gave me enough courage to say what I said next.
"Its great," I responded when no one else would. Though my voice was only dripping in sarcasm, I put on a noticeably fake smile to put more emphasis on my statement. "I wonder what's next? Maybe Iris heart is here "
"Noire!" Vert started before I cut her off.
"No Vert! " I shouted angrily, lifting myself off my chair with great force. "If this person wants to keep us trapped in here as his dolls, I want to know for how long before he plans on killing us."
"Let's not be pessimistic Noire ," Blanc stated in her calm, soothing voice, manifestly speaking as Histoire would. "You always were the downer of the group. Let's try to have fun."
I wanted to grab onto Neptune's shoulders and shake her abruptedly, shouting in her face that she was the worst CPU , that she will never get more shares, and I almost did for a second until I remembered that Neptune was lazy and stupid . She was always worried about Peashy , pudding and napping, in spite of the events that had just occurred.
"I hate to say it but Noire is right ," Vert argued, catching herself before she accidentally blurted out.
"What if we never get out of here guys?" Neptune worried.
"We have to!" I snapped. "We're not going to let them win!"
My hands flew to cup my ears tightly as the stupid alarm unexpectedly blasted through all the rooms in the dollhouse. We all looked at one another as we cringed at the sharp and loud noise painfully piercing through our ears. Getting up from the dining table, we each jogged our way back to our replicated rooms before the doors shut behind us and we were trapped yet again.
I sighed with exasperation. If there was one thing I wasn't going to do, was let afoire or any of the villians . I promised myself I wouldn't.
I paced around my room for a short while, knowing fully well that Whoever was watching my every move through the surveillance cameras he had stored in every inch of the dollhouse. In every problem or situation, there was always a solution. What was this one? How were we supposed to escape this dollhouse?
I let myself fall backwards on my bed, knowing that I would have to ponder on this thought longer than I had with any problem that I ever had to encounter before. In all my life, I had grown to believe that every problem was to be solved with reason and logic. Uni called it 'The Noire Way.' Now that I was stuck between these four walls with no way out, everything I had ever believed in was slowly starting to vanish out of my mind and into non-existence.
I lied awake while staring at the ceiling of my 'bedroom.' I had never been so terrified about what was to come, for this was a whole new level of intensity , and I knew that the nightmare had only just begun. I start to think about Uni and the other CPU candidates , do they care that were apparently missing? M does anyone even know were gone? How could they not know were missing? A sudden noise made me jump in shock. I sat up from the bed and watched the door as my heart pounded hard in my chest. I sighed with relief when Blanc appeared.
"It's you," I whispered under my breath, sighing with relief
"Come on, we have three minutes," Blanc replied urgently in a serious tone. She was back to being Blanc, which I was relieved about. We need the giant axe/hammer wielding maniac again , which usually made me doubt if she was on our side or not. However, when it came to our secret meetings in the middle of the night, I was almost sure she wasn't playing us. Almost.
I nodded my head and followed her down the hallway.
"Why aren't the girls coming with us?" I asked with a puzzled expression in a whisper.
"Because I need to talk to you alone," she answered back, also in a low whisper.
"Okay, what is it?" I asked once we got to the end of the corridor and stopped.
"What did you see in the vault? I need to know," she inquired demanding with a cold hard glare. I looked at her skeptically. I wasn't sure that I trusted her completely with the information. It wasn't that I didn't like Blanc , because I had grown to like her, but we were getting so many mixed messages from her, and she wasn't exactly the most trustworthy person that I knew.
"Why should I tell you? How do I know you're not working for Them?" I questioned while crossing my arms stubbornly.
Blanc rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Noire , you need to trust me. You were in the vault longer than I was, so did you see anything that could help us find out ?"
I couldn't help but notice how ironic the situation was; Blanc was helping us find out who was trying to destroy us , when less than one year prior to this she was the target herself. I unfolded my arms, and prepared to speak.
"Okay, fine yes. There was a few things blue prints to this place for one , info about us and the other CPU's and cadidates .'"
Blanc's eyes widened. "And did you see anything else?"
I hesitated. "Yeah…" I said, but was unable to finish my sentence.
"Noire, we're all in this together," Blanc said in a harsh tone. "I'm trying as hard as I can to show you girls that I am still on your side. That I am not letting them win."
I stayed silence for a few seconds after that, until I realized we weren't getting anywhere with my resistance so I finally spoke.
"I saw Something called end game-" Mona cut me off.
"Wait what is end game? What the hell does that even mean? " she asked with a look of disbelief and anger.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Yeah well I would have, but then Neptune interupted me , amd we had to flee" I retorted with an icy glare. "You realize we only have around one minute right? So we can't just waste time talking about pointless things."
"Alright fine," she responded with the classic Blanc eye roll. "So what do you think it means?"
"I don't know. I've been trying to figure that out. It has to be clearly related to Usright?"
"I have no clue. But I promise you I will find out," she stated with much determination.
I sighed when I looked down at my watch. It was almost time to go back into our rooms, and we hadn't come up with many answers at all.
"Yeah maybe, but we can't discuss this further, we have to go back to our rooms now," I said, slightly moaning in frustration. "How on earth are we going to discuss our theories, and find out who them is, when we only have three minutes of freedom to do so?"
"I know that it feels like torture Noire but if we stay on their good side, we might get more answers." I rolled my eyes. I didn't want to let them win, but I knew that Blanc was right. I also knew that if we acted out again the consequences would be severe. I reluctantly nodded my head, and then Blanc and I headed toward our replicated rooms.
The next morning dawned much too early; I had barely slept the entire night. Them was constantly on my mind and it was killing me that I still couldn't figure out who he was.
As I started to hop out of the bed, I noticed a box that was lying on the head of the bed, with a little red note on the top. I crawled over to the end of the bed and picked up the small note, opening the elegant looking box, for I was curious about the contents. I opened it to find a silk blue cocktail dress with pearls sewn into the seams, as well as a matching bracelet. I shook my head in a disgusted manner; I found it really creepy that the same person, who was torturing us, also happened to be sending us gifts. I then glanced at the note, and read it, 'Noire we're having a party and you're invited!' I rolled my eyes, closing the box and tossing the note aside. I frowned up at the camera and hopped off my bed. I really hoped that Them was getting the message; I was no longer going to play his warped game, and be his little 'puppet.'
After putting on my orange jumpsuit on again, I exited my bedroom, and Vert , Blanc and Neptune were waiting for me in the hallway also wearing their orange jumpsuits.
"Morning," I stated, faking a slight smile, but it merely turned back into a frown. Being happy in this prison/dollhouse was hard to accomplish.
"Morning Noire " Vert responded while smiling happily, but I could tell despite her outward positive attitude that deep down being stuck in the dollhouse was killing her just the same.
"So did you guys get gifts from them?" I questioned curiously. The girls nodded their heads simultaneously.
"Yeah, we're going to a party. I'm excited!" Neptune exclaimed with a simulated perky manner. I knew that she wasn't actually excited, but all of the pretending was driving me insane. I just wanted to tell the truth, that I didn't want to be one of their puppets anymore. It was time that we as a united front took a stand.
"You're excited Neptune?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in suspicion. "Well I'm not. I'm not excited to be stuck in this god damn prison. I'd rather be stuck in a real prison than be in here!" I felt like screaming until my lungs fell out. I was frustrated, tired, lonely, upset and most of all I was homesick.
"Noire," Vert warned.
"No, Noire is right Vert We shouldn't be doing this. I don't want to feed into his little creepy ass game," Blanc contributed with a shake of her head.
"Okay, guys stop. Think about what will happen if you keep on arguing about this. There isn't any point at the moment," Neptune stated, trying to bring peace to our slight argument. "Where's Peashy and plutia anyway?" she asked curiously while glancing around the empty hallway.
"I have no idea," Blanc replied, sighing as her eyes started to fill with worry. "I hope their okay."
"Peashy will be fine Neptume probably off doing something for Annoydeath" Vert said, trying to reassure her.
A little while later, Vert , Blanc , Neptune and I were sitting down on the dining table, and we had just finished our breakfast. Peashy walked up to us, dressed as Normal ,
"Hey Peashy where were you?" Neptune inquired.
"Probably being the ever so perfect daughter for Annoydeath " I said under my breath, though I wasn't as quiet as I thought I was.
Blanc glared at me, and it seemed as if Blanc's true side was accidentally showing. "Wow Noire , good one. Did you have a bowl of bitchy for breakfast or what?" she questioned. I realized that all my snappy comment and crappy attitude was probably making Them suspicious, so I knew that I had to change my attitude.
I faked a forgiving smile. "You know what? You're right, I'm sorry. I'm just really tired and was taking it out on you guys, but that isn't an excuse." I felt like kicking myself. I didn't want to suck up to Them, but I knew that it was probably one of the only ways to keep us safe.
"That's okay Noire ," Neptune replied, quickly forgiving me. "I'm actually organizing a house party for us. It's going to be great, trust me."
"Why a house party?" Vert asked with both a curious and confused manner.
Peashy chuckled like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Because the popular girls always throw house parties of course, so if we want to be popular then I have to throw one. And I promise you, you won't wanna miss it."
I then realized what was happening; Them wanted Peashy to recreate the party that Neptune hosted somewhere back in 2008 or 2009. I couldn't remember when exactly because my head was starting to spin with questions, but I did remember a conversation that Vert and I had back then. She said something similar to what Peashy had just said.
The party Neptune had thrown years ago ended badly. Vert and Blanc had gotten into a really huge argument over something and Neptune refused to tell me what it had been about. Remembering that much, I had a sneaky suspicion that whatever Them was planning on getting out of this party was going to end tragically.
After getting ready with the dresses and gifts Them had presented us with, Neptune , Vert , Blanc and I entered Peashy's house party. The room was filled with colorful lights and loud party music that almost made my eyes blind and my ears bleed. Pesshy really did recreate Neptune's party. My eyes scanned the room some more, until they landed on some of the most disturbed things I had ever seen. There were mannequin versions of our sisters
My eyes widened as large as dinner plates.
"Oh my god," I managed to choke out, pointing my index finger at the objects before us.
"What's wrong Noire?" Neptune asked worriedly, guiding her concerns by the shocked look on my face. The girls followed my hard gaze to what was in front of us.
"Oh my god," Vert gasped.
"This is beyond creepy," Blanc commented with the same amount of disgust as the rest of us.
"What is this? A creep party for his dolls?" Neptune hypothesised.
"And we're his dolls too?" Vert wondered.
"I have no idea," I responded, while still staring at the dolls with a stunned manner. It was probably one of the most creepiest things that them had ever done, and I was as frozen as a statue. I then heard the click clacking sound of stiletto's, and turned around to see Peashy walking toward us (she was also wearing the exact same outfit that Neptune wore the night of the original house party might I add).
"Hey girls!" Peashy smiled and stood next to Neptune I couldn't believe it. I wasn't sure whether Peashy had known about the creepy mannequins making an appearance at the party beforehand, or if this was all new to her and she was just pretending like there was nothing creepy about it. If that was the case, Pesshy was a better actor than I mistook her for.
"This is not what I expect this party to be," Vert said, taking a deep sigh.
"Oh cheer up! Maybe you'll meet the love of your life tonight," Neptune responded, slightly sarcastically. I wasn't surprised that Neptune was being sarcastic, because I figured that it was probably how she dealt with being stuck in the dollhouse for so long.
"Sure she will. Because I bet Vert would just be so in love with those creepy dolls," Blanc shot back with a fiery glare.
"Okay, guys calm down," Peashy stated calmly. We stood there for a while, until Peashy took initiative.
"Well, this is a party after all, so lets get our dancing shoes on!" Neptune exclaimed excitedly, almost sounding like the old Neptune the one we knew before.
I was getting frustrated at how overly perky she was being, but I could tell that it was taking all the strength that she had left to pretend to be so happy and enthusiastic . especially when we were all so miserable. Neptune started to walk towards the center of the dance floor, and we hesitantly followed her, even though we would have much rather stayed in the same position the rest of the night. Hot N' Cold by Katy Perry begun to play. Neptune , Vert , Peashy and I started to dance. Blanc stood in the middle of the dance floor, refusing to take part. I didn't blame her; it felt more like a funeral than a party, but I also knew that if it looked like we were having a good time, maybe Them would give some extra clues. So for the first time since I got there, for the first time in a very long time, I tried to have fun.
"Blanc you will dance or so help me!" Peashy said, reaching out and taking her hands to yank her toward her, but Hanna rebuffed her attempts and relinquished.
"Not a chance. I'm not dancing around those creepy mannequins," Blanc reciprocated with an abhorred expression plastered across her made up face.
"Blanc, stop being such a buzz-kill! You're ruining my party that I worked so hard to set up," Pesshy said while pouting.
Blanc snorted, a bored look on her face. "There is no chance in hell that im going to dance and you little bitch cant make there is only one person that can make me and guess what shes not here!" Blanc sighed, walked to the food and beverages, and begun to snack on the corn chips. I glanced at Neptune, who looked guilty. Finally she was being the real Peashy in front of the cameras, and not The little puppet.'
"Blanc I'm sorry!" Peashy shouted out to Blanc . "Just come here and hang out with us," Peashy added with a soft tone. Blamc turned around, while puckering her lips stubbornly.
"Okay fine I'll dance, I'm just not going to look at those creepy mannequins." She walked to us, and we danced along to the music. Even though I was still miserable, for a couple of minutes I had managed to forget about where I was, and I was having fun, though I knew it wasn't going to remain fun for much longer. The music stopped, and we sat on the large green couch.
"I'm going to go make myself up in the bathroom," Blanc announced, and got up. I figured that it'd be a good time to discuss our theories on them with Blanc alone, so I decided I would casually follow Blanc to the bathroom.
"I should do the same," I responded, while getting off the couch. Blanc nodded her head, taking note of my subtle attempt to try to get time alone with her, in order for us to talk privately without Them watching our every move, and started to walk toward the bathroom.
"Well, uh I need to make myself up too. Noire I'm coming with you." Vert said, getting off the couch. We both began walking toward the bathroom.
On our way, I spotted a figure hiding behind the shadows of the furniture in the dark room. The figure was no less than six feet tall, and it was obviously a male. Thinking this was my opportunity to unmask Them once and for all
The loud alarm noise blasted through the dollhouse once again, and we all returned back to our rooms, cupping our ears and cringing at the sound as the doors closed on us again.
I let a few teardrops stream out of my eyes, down my cheeks. Now that I was alone again, I gave myself the privilege of letting my guard down. Something I seldom did.
As the dollhouse got deeper into the night, and I was still lying in bed with my eyes wide open, I heard a knock on the door, which I assumed it was Blanc or one of the other girls. I walked to the door, and opened the door to find Vert standing there with a flashlight.
"Vert what are you doing here?" I asked puzzled, shielding my eyes away from the blinding light of the flashlight which Hanna was annoyingly pointing right at me.
"I found a phone earlier today, we might be able to call someone," she whispered. My eyes widened,
"A phone? Vert, why didn't you say anything before? Where did you find it?"
Vert rolled her eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Noire I couldn't say anything while them was watching us. I found it inside one of the cushions of the green couch we were all sitting on. Now come on, we don't have a lot of time left." She gestured for me to follow her. She walked into The so called living room, and I followed closely behind her. "Here's the phone," she passed me a Nokia mobile phone, and I tapped several buttons on the phone, but there was no signal.
"No signal?" she inquired.
"No," I replied. "But there might be a way," I shook my head and began to pace back and forth, staring at the signal on the crappy Nokia phone. I sighed and glanced around, my gaze falling to the air vent. I stretched my arm toward it and watched the signal bar again, hoping for at least one bar.
I pressed the phone into the air vent, my heart jumping. "Dial tone," I said with a sigh of relief.
Our eyes widened hopefully as I dialed 911. My heart raced as I spoke quickly to the operator on the other end of the line. I cursed as I was put on hold, pulling the phone away from my air.
"Call Uni or Nepgear" Blanc suggested.
I nodded and quickly dialed Nepgear's cell phone number, holding the phone to my ear as my hands shook. I waited as the line rung until Nepgear answered.
"Hello?" Nepgear answered groggily, her voice croaky from sleep and I could imagine her rubbing her eyes.
"Nepear! You've got to help us, we've been kidnapped by the, and we're stuck in some sort of dollhouse-" I stopped talking when I heard a loud peep, and brought the phone away from my ear to look at it.
"What? What happened?" Vert asked anxiously.
I shook my head and hung up the phone, realizing that I had lost connection.
"We lost connection!. Isn't that just great? We're probably never going to get out of here," I said, taking a deep sigh.
"Don't worry, Nepgear will find us, I know it," Vert comforted. Well, at least one of us still had hope. I was starting to go back to my old ways, where I believed that hope only breeds eternal misery. But I was also starting to question if that was the best way to think in these circumstances.
"Look I want to believe that, but he doesn't know where we are. We don't even know where we are."
"Yeah but it's Nepgear we're talking about. I believe in Nepgear, and I have faith that she'll be able to track the GPS Coordinates and figure out what we are in. SHe won't be able to figure out the exact address, but she'll be able to narrow down where it is. I'm almost sure of that."
I nodded my head understandingly, impressed with Vert's knowledge. I had to admit she was finally starting to show her true potential when it came to academics. With her getting a high SAT score and effortlessly getting accepted into many colleges to choose from, while I needed to go all the way to Leanbox, helplessly waiting anxiously for an interview that only ended disastrous for me, I had to admit to myself that I was slightly jealous of her intellection.
For years and years I was only known as 'Lonely heart ', but when I started hanging out with the girls again after Neptune's mysterious disappearance and Blanc's initial torturing us phase, I couldn't help but feel better about myself, and less insecure about my intellectual brain. My friends just assumed I would be able to figure everything out and put the pieces together which I was usually able to do. But now that Uni had told me off after I accused Rei of being behind all of this, I was starting to realize that knowing too much was not always a good thing. It could ruin friendships.
"You're right," I admitted fictitiously. "It could happen." I then checked my watch to see what time it was, freezing as the realization dawned on me. "Oh no."
"What's wrong?" Vert asked worriedly.
"What time did you pick me up Vert?"
"Three o'clock, why?"
"It's five past three!" I panicked, latching my hand onto Vert's arm and dragging her out of the living room and into the dark hallway. We concurrently sprinted toward our replicated rooms. I attempted to open my bedroom door, but it wouldn't budge open. My last resort was to bang, kick and scream on the door, and that was exactly what I did.
"Help! Please, Vert and I are trapped outside!" I shouted at the top of my lungs and Vert did the same. Nobody answered and I was beginning to worry. I breathed heavily as I turned to face Vert, and we both stared at each other with mutual displays of worry. We had no idea what we were going to do, but one thing was for sure; the next couple of days were going to be disastrous...
In a small room filled with computer screen a crimson coloured robot watched the CPU's on the screens before chuckling to himself .