(Because GosengXHoryang)
Floor 38F, the cool breeze of the eternal Fall season of the floor came by as two teams of regulars took their tests. The moment one of the thousands of red leaves dropped, the supervisor announced;
"GO!"
Then, the Lightbearers focused, the Spearbearers took their positions, the Fishermen came out, the Wave Controllers did their thing, and this sentence is long enough as it is so I won't even mention the Scouts! The Exam was a simple one, which was a surprise in the Tower of God world where every Exam is either a mangle of rules and loopholes or just a strength test. But my lack of creativity and numerous fourth wall breaks aside, the rules were simple. The testing area was what looked like a tree, with two branches from the trunk, and three twigs from those two branches. This made six possible paths, to which each team would randomly split up and enter through, and they would all finish at the end of the "trunk." The two teams would meet in the areas where the twigs turned into a big branch, and where the two branches would meet into the trunk. The team with the most members at the end of the trunk would pass and go to the next floor. See, simple right?
The first opposing pairs met; the Lightbearer and Wave Controller completely overwhelmed the Defender and Scout duet. The second pair met; the Fishermen and Spearbearer fought on equal ground against the two other Spearbearers, but eventually won all while the other pairs had been duking it out. I could describe the battle into further extent, but then I'd be here all day, and I have got a thing called sleeping to do. Still, the anticlimactic climax with the Scout, Fishermen, and Wave Controller looking down at the one Light Bearer who willed their way through was slightly disappointing. But alas, as the supervisor called out the winning team and sent them one their way to the next floor, the losing team trudged back to their home in a depressed state.
"Well, there's always next time, right?" The Vice Leader said, trying to soften the mood as every ate in silence. And a sound of nodded and mumbled sighs of "true" sounded throughout everyone else, except one person.
"I know how much going up would have meant for you, and I'm sorry it had to turn out this way, but can you at least try to be positive?" The Vice asked from across the table.
"You know that you are the only one of us that managed to get to the end right, so you got something to smile about right?"
"... Sigh, I know where you're coming from, and I know that your situation is hard to go through, especially on a day like this, so I won't force you to try and cheer up"
And that was the end of the one sided conversation, as the silent regular left to the room down the hall.
"Yo Vice, I'm new here so I'm just wondering, why is she like that?" One of the Fisherman asked.
"Well, who wants to tell him the story?" The Vice answered his question with another question.
"I'll explain it. You see, that teammate of ours was once part of another team, and that was Team Sweet and Sour-" The Wave Controller started.
"Wait like, the ones who won the Workshop Battle and then dissapeared?!" The Fisherman frantically asked.
"The very same. You see, she had a friend who fell into a coma state for reasons we don't know shortly after the Battle was over. And her teammates told her that they were going to find a way to bring him back. So while they left to the Hell Train, which would bring them closer to finding a way to get him out of a coma somehow, she stayed behind to look after her friend. She managed to bring him up the floors with her as an item, because of a technical thingy in her friend that made him considered a weapon. And eventually, she met us" The Wave Controller stated.
"Wait, the Workshop Battle was years ago, do you mean he's been-?!" The Fisherman started to ask.
"Yes. He's been like that for years, and she's had to bear it. And too make this story worse, she recently received a message from her old teammates. Two of them died on the Hell Train trying to find the cure for her friend's condition..." The Wave Controller finished.
"That's just depressing man..."
"It is"
And so the clocks ticked by, and the days shifted back, all while the team trained to not fail again. The eternal Fall of the floor never changed, as if a mockery of any real world logic until one morning. The morning of the exams, the cool Fall seemed to turn into the coldness of late Winter of once. And that morning, a rather tall man knocked on the door of the Team's place.
"Hey Markus, can you get the door?" The Vice called from across the house, getting all her Gear ready for the exam.
"Alright fine sheesh, I got it! I swear if this is another door to door salesman I'll- woah... Well, uh, you're tall" The Fisherman mumbled out loud as he saw a certain Devil at the door.
"Is there a regular named, Yeo Goseng here?" The Devil's arms asked.
"Uhh, yea, why?" Markus replied, stunned for a moment.
"Good to know" The Winged man said as he walked past Markus, nearly pushing him over in the process.
The man went through the back hall, and found Glasses, by the Hibernating Bear. And when Glasses had realized that the Devil's arms were behind her, a "CASANO" echoed through the house.
"Calm down, I've come here... to fix Ilmar" Casano stated, to which Goseng simply said
"I'msorryWHAT?" - in disbelief.
"I was sent down by your noisy blonde friend to fix Ilmar" Casano repeated. Goseng fainted just as the rest of the Team rushed in to see the source of the shout.
"Why is Goseng unconscious?!"
"Yo, I knew I shouldn't of let you in!"
"He kinda tanked past you dude"
"That's not the issue here!"
The Team murmured about as Casano had to calm them down.
"She fainted. I'm here to fix her friend. You all need to take her and yourselves to an exam soon. I'm not here to kill anyone" Casano lackadaisically assured them.
"Oh, well you probably should have opened with that last one big guy. But it's true, we need to go, it's 8:50!" The Leader realized as they awkwardly had to leave with Goseng in a Lighthouse.
The Exam had came in a similar fashion to last time only this time, Goseng stayed unconscious for the whole time. It was hard going on with a one person handicap, but they had done it somehow, because I need this fic posted on Valentine's Day and I may or may not be sacrificing proper pacing with upload time. One way or another, thoughts done it. And Goseng eventually woke up in familiar looking bed. The exact same one Horyang was in and- Horyang was fully awake, right next to here, smiling and crying at the same time. And so was she.
"Casano left shortly after I was conscious. What happened when I was gone?" He asked
"I missed you so, so much..." She answered.
And there, watching from a crack in the door was the rest of the Team.
"Well that's the first time I've seen a Bear with Glasses"
"Don't ruin the moment!"