Three days had passed since their arrival, and nothing strange had happened. Spots and Stripes provided food, informed they could give anything the group wanted if they asked nicely, and encouraged everyone to stay busy. Life in Heavenly Resort passed rather peacefully despite the threat of death looming over everyone's heads. It was as if the whole group had tacitly agreed to not to kill each other, and there was an air of peace and amity everywhere. Groups and budding friendships had emerged already, sharing the space and being generally agreeable with each other. There were a few loners, like Lucien and Khotso, but that wasn't a problem. They were satisfied with letting everyone do whatever they wanted, as long as no one bothered them.
Azalea usually spent time with Vittoria and Joanna, while Chrysanthe tended to hang out with Alistair and Dalia. The six of them had decided to gather every day in the steps of the train station to discuss whatever came to mind, mostly related to any potential clues about the kidnappers' intentions they may have found during the day. "The NPCs continue repeating the same phrases over and over. I'm sure they know nothing" Joanna had said.
"Then no one is controlling them?" Alistair asked.
"No. Those admins do whatever they want but they're still NPC. I want you all to take a look at this" Joanna opened her fist and showed what was inside: a card key. Chrysanthe took it, examining it carefully.
"What's this card for?"
"I suspect it's for entering the second floor of the Communal Building"
Azalea and Vittoria exchanged a glance. "I don't like this. There must be a trap or something in there" Vittoria proclaimed, shaking her head.
"Or there could be nothing up there" Azalea added.
"Does that matter? We have the key to that place! We can't just stand around and do nothing. I say we go there right now and find whatever we can find in there!" Dalia stood up, prepared to do as she said and storm the second floor of the Communal Building. Alistair followed suit:
"Yeah, let's do it!"
"Wait! Don't be hasty!" Chrysanthe grabbed Alistair's wrist, and Dalia stopped as well, bouncing impatiently "We don't know what could be in there. We need to plan how we'll do this"
"Chrys is right, let's think this through" Azalea pointed at everyone "We're six in total. Are we all going to go there?"
"No, that would not be a good idea. We should form a smaller group"
"They gave us permission to enter, there shouldn't be any problems" Joanna took the card key back.
"That is correct, but you alone asked if you could enter. If we all try to ascend to the second floor, there is a chance the administrators will change their minds or modify what is in there"
"Vittoria is right. So, who is going to go?" Chrysanthe leaned forward, resting her head on her hands "I'm fine with staying behind"
"I'd like to go and see what's in there. I got the card key, after all"
Azalea shrugged. From a glance to Dalia and Alistair she determined those two were still raring to go to the second floor already "I'm curious too, but the five of us can't go at the same time"
"How about we settle it with rock paper scissors?" Chrysanthe suggested "The two best among us will take the card"
It was a good enough suggestion and it'd settle the matter, so everyone was fine with it. Chrysanthe stepped aside and let everyone play the game, keeping count who had won against who. It didn't take long to define which two would go. "So Azalea and I will go in there and check the place. We'll tell you all what we find" Alistair said, taking the card key from Joanna, who grimaced.
"...tell us everything you find" she murmured, disappointed.
"You can count on us! We'll find something earth-shattering and you four will be the first ones to know. Let's go, Azalea!" The four women left waved while Azalea and Alistair walked away in direction of the rest of the floating island. Azalea tried to ignore the Monobear statues looming in the distance.
"Do you really think we'll find something?" she asked, pointedly looking above her.
"...not really. But making people optimistic never hurts anyone, does it?"
"I don't mean to sound rude, Alistair, but it does. They'll be very disappointed if we find nothing"
Alistair scratched his neck, a bit flustered. "W-Well, then let's make sure we find something. It can't be the second floor is completely empty, there'll be something for us to find!"
Azalea dared to smile. "And here I thought I was supposed to be the SHSL Motivator—"
"Perfect timing, you two! Thought you could get a bit of alone time to snog behind the good ol' Monobear statues?"
Azalea grit her teeth for a moment before lowering her eyes to the base of the statues. Sitting on top of the base was Monobear, swinging his legs, carefree. "Shut your trap, Monobear!" Azalea growled before turning to Alistair. "Sorry for that"
"...I didn't expect you to snap back at him" Alistair whispered, making Azalea giggle.
"That was nothing! You should see how Chrys is when she gets angry. It's scary" Azalea turned her attention to Monobear. "Can we go now?"
"Of course you can't! If you're done whispering sweet nothings to each other then allow me to start this announcement" Monobear pulled out a microphone from behind him, tapping at it with his paw "Mike check! Is it working? Everyone gather in the plaza for a very important announcement! This is not a suggestion, it's an order" This can't be good.
The sixteen Hostages reunited in front of the Monobear statues, with varying expressions of reluctance and annoyance. Monobear had been largely silent during these three days, the most he had done was stare at a few of the Hostages while they were walking along through the resort. Thioro had expressed relief at that, saying that this meant Monobear would leave them alone and that everything would be okay, optimistic opinion that was quickly shot down by Runihura. "He's going to try harder now that he saw we're all getting along" he had said. Looks like he's right. You jinxed us, Runihura.
"Since I know you all have a very busy schedule of bonding with strangers and demanding answers to my office I'll make this short and sweet" Monobear started once everyone was gathered in the plaza "This has been a borefest! This is supposed to be a murdergame, not a school field trip! What does a bear have to do to see some bloodshed around here?"
"Did you really think you could simply tell people to kill each other? That there'd be people jumping at the chance...?" Khotso dared to say loudly, stepping back once Monobear glared at him, with his eye glowing dangerously.
"I figured there'd be two or three itching to go to the real world immediately, but I suppose they got cold feet. That's why you're here now! I'm going to give you an extra reward if you kill someone and get away with it"
Everyone fell silent, a feeling of dread invading every single Hostage in the plaza. Whatever Monobear had planned couldn't be good at all. Monobear relished in the silence before raising his arms in the air, excited. "None of you have forgotten you're in a virtual world, have you? Your bodies are outside, but your minds have been downloaded into our servers. That's how you're interacting with this world.
Can you see where this is going?" his voice was subtly shaking with emotion.
Elaine gulped, feeling a shiver down her back. "...our minds are vulnerable"
"Exactly! Gold star for you, Coy-san!" Monobear started pacing back and forth "Your minds are irreplaceable, aren't they? They're everything you are! You'd be nothing without your minds! All your memories, your identity, the very core of your being, we have all that in our hands now! So that's the motive today!
If no one has been killed before 72 hours pass, we'll start erasing parts of your mind. Any ideas how you'll end if we erase way too much?"
"That's crazy! You can't erase our minds like that-!" Alistair pointed with a dramatic gesture but he choked at the end. This was a danger he couldn't deny just like that.
"Of course I can, don't be silly. It'll be like flipping a switch" Monobear shrugged "One day you're Alistair Sullivan, TV hero, beloved by your nation's kids...and then the next day you're a hobo walking around aimlessly without even knowing your own name or skills. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
"...he wouldn't dare to..." Patricio murmured, having gone pale.
"There's no way erasing our minds will help you obtain whatever you wish to get from us" Kamiya challenged.
Monobear ignored him, too busy with his enjoyment of the situation to pay attention to such protests. "We'll start with your memories! Your loved ones, your work, your skills, everything you have achieved...all will be progressively gone. The more we erase, the more delicate stuff we'll get rid of. Who knows? Maybe we'll get to the point where you'll all forget how to breathe, or something! Wouldn't it be fun to find out?"
So that was why it was a virtual world: the control over them. Azalea realized that, while they could shout and tell Monobear it'd be useless, their real bodies and minds were defenseless and at the mercy of the kidnappers. It really would be too easy for them to do what Monobear just threatened to do. Those monsters...!
"There must be some other way. There must be something else you want...! State your terms, Monobear!" Joanna pleaded, having taken her violin from the case she carried on her back everywhere and clutching it as if it was a lifesaver.
"What do you want from us? Why were we kidnapped in the first place?" Vittoria glared at the bear, her eyes glistening with hate.
Monobear waved his paw as if that was no big deal. "Oh, that's something for another day. For now, focus on what could happen. Isn't it the perfect motive? It's something that could even appeal to the most moral person among you. I wonder if there's someone among you feeling heroic and deciding to kill someone to save everyone's minds" Monobear's gaze stopped at Alistair. The child entertainer, offended, wrung the ends of his scarf as if that was what he wanted to do with Monobear.
"I'm not going to play your little game" he said
"Whatever. If not you, then someone else will. Have a good life, everyone! You won't know what you had until you lose it!" Monobear jumped off the statue base and started waddling towards his office, but before parting, he stopped and turned around, his voice turning serious and sinister. The bear wasn't toying with anyone anymore, he wanted make clear this wasn't a game "Or maybe not. You won't even know what you lost, will you?" and so he left after saying that, leaving he befuddled Hostages behind, in stunned silence.
After a while the gravity of the situation fell on the Hostages like a bucket of cold water. Slowly, they started talking to each other, looking for reassurance and trying to determine if Monobear's threat was credible enough. "He can't do that, can he?" Dalia asked to the nearest person.
"...I think he can. They have our minds downloaded in a machine, it'd be easy for them" Chrysanthe answered grimly, her usual smile gone.
"What do they gain by erasing our minds?! I don't understand, how's that supposed to be of help to them?" Runihura had recorded Monobear's announcement with his camera and was now rewatching the footage, as if there was something said and he missed it.
Dalia peeked over his shoulder. "They must really want someone to die"
"Or what the kidnappers want is something beyond our control" although Lucien looked as calm and sullen as usual, his hands were gripping his arms way too tightly for anyone to believe he was unaffected by the motive "Could be a ransom, or about our families, or someone we know"
"Then we can't do anything? We can't just be sitting ducks for Monobear to shoot! There must be something we're missing"
"Has no one found anything? Not even the slightest inkling of a clue?" Patricio asked to everyone, having remembered he was supposed to be the leader of the group. While Lucien informed him about what the admins of the resort had said – nothing useful – Alistair and Azalea exchanged a glance. The second floor of the Communal Building was pretty much the last chance there was to obtain information. The two stepped aside, taking advantage of everyone else being too distracted discussing the motive.
"We need to go there as soon as possible. Think we can go right now?" Alistair asked, fiddling with the card key.
Azalea considered it for a moment before shaking her head. "No...I think we should let things cool down a bit. We don't know how the admins will react to the motive"
Although Alistair didn't approve of having to wait, he didn't have any arguments right now. He passed both hands through his hair, exhaling noisily. "Fine. Let's go in three hours. We don't have long, Azalea, it's only three days"
"I know, but..." Azalea looked at the group, still arguing with each other. Monobear's motive had hit hard many of them, she knew that, but was there someone already considering murder, whether it was for themselves or for everyone's sake? Chrysanthe was especially taciturn, having walked aside, staring at the cobblestones with no expression on her face. If he was trying to rattle us all then he managed to do it. This couldn't continue like this. "...we can't let things stay like this"
Without saying a word to Alistair, Azalea returned to the group, elbowed her way to the other side and climbed onto the base of the statues, holding onto the Monobears' bodies to keep her balance. Slowly, everyone turned to face her, having noticed someone was trying to get their attention. "I know this is not a good situation for all of us" Azalea started "But we can't let Monobear know he affected us so much"
"It's our minds! There's no way we wouldn't be scared" Aleksey said.
"I know, but think of it like this: what has changed?" Azalea raised her voice further "That bear has us as hostages for reasons we don't know, and now he's threatening us directly. He wants to hit us right where it hurts, and he'll laugh while we despair. So I say we go through the one option we have:
Defy him"
The Hostages' reception of Azalea's words was hesitant and confused. Defy Monobear? "How are we supposed to do that?" Lucien inquired, crossing his arms.
"We can't deny we are scared, but we still have control over ourselves! Think of it like this: can Monobear really erase our minds? Can he get an advantage out of that? If the kidnappers had planned to do something like this to use since the beginning, they would have done it without warning us"
"Would not that mean they are getting desperate for deaths?"
"Yes! That's what's happening, Vittoria" Azalea nodded "So if they're getting desperate, I say we don't cave under Monobear's demand. Let's show him we're not people he can toy with. So what if he threatens to erase our memories and minds? If we don't yield to a threat like this, we won't yield to anything he can dish at us.
What do you say? Are you going to defy Monobear or are you going to despair like he wants you to do?"
"I'm with Lea on this. Monobear can't manipulate me" Chrysanthe was the first to declare her support, eliciting a big smile from Azalea. I can always count on you, Chrys. Thank you.
"...yeah, she's right. Monobear can erase my mind all he wants; I'm not going to kill anyone" Runihura said. Slowly, the rest of the Hostages added their voices of support to Azalea, with varying grades of confidence and enthusiasm. Some clearly didn't believe a word of any of that, but the reassurance was nice. What matters is that no one dies.
"Thanks, everyone" Azalea got off the statue, satisfied with herself. Maybe she had inklings of SHSL Motivator, after all! Sure, many of the Hostages weren't exactly jumping with renewed energy, but others seemed to be in better mood than they were before. That was good enough.
-ooooo-
Three hours after Monobear's motive Azalea and Alistair met in the Communal Building like they had agreed to. When Azalea entered the Dining Room, she found Alistair near the vending machines, half-hiding behind them. "Alistair? What are you doing back there?"
"I thought it'd be good if no one else suspected we were going to do something around here"
Hiding behind a vending machine doesn't help, buddy. "Not a bad idea, I think. Do you have the key card?"
Alistair showed the key card, smirking. "Never left it aside. The coast is clear; no one is around besides the admins. Let's go upstairs" The two entered the Petting Zoo. Alistair walked straight to the gate that'd led to the stairs, but before that Azalea decided to ask Spots and Stripes a few things.
The two admins were still behind the desk, almost in the exact same position they had been when Azalea met them for the first time. Spots directed her sewn-on frown towards Azalea, looking almost sweet. "What can we do for you?"
"If you want to go upstairs you need a key card. We don't have it" Stripes grouched, not even bothering to look at Azalea.
"We have the card key! I was just wondering what was upstairs" If they had an idea of what they could expect to find then maybe they'd be able to manage better the findings.
Stripes finally turned his attention towards Azalea. "It's just a bunch of records and files. There aren't even that many, it'd be a waste of time"
"They're about the last killing game that happened in this place"
"We're not the first group the kidnappers bring here?" Alistair inquired. If they really weren't the first ones, then...Monobear could possibly fulfill his threat if he had done it before. That wasn't a good sign.
Stripes chuckled. "It has nothing to do with you guys. We mean it"
"The group and the masterminds behind that killing game had completely different motivations and have no relation to any of you. Please don't think too hard about it"
"Unless you're interested on reading about people you know nothing about, that is. The files are upstairs. Again, it'll be a waste of time"
Alistair approached, crossing his arms. "...how did it end?"
"Their mutual killing game? There were five survivors out of sixteen"
"Maybe you shouldn't have said that, Stripes..." Spots tapped her stubby hands together, making them squeak softly "You're going to make them nervous"
"If only five survived that'd mean there were four or five cases in total...I don't think I like those odds" Azalea scratched the nail of her thumb with her index finger nail, like she tended to do when she felt nervous "No one is going to kill each other, right, Alistair?"
"I don't think we will, but if you think there's a chance there could be a murder, then let's check those files" Alistair smirked "If we know how those killers did their crimes, we'll be able to prevent anything like them from happening"
It wasn't that bad of a reasoning, although Azalea wasn't convinced reading about other murders would really help prevent anything. It was very unlikely anyone who got some plan to murder would coincidentally think of anything similar to any past crimes, but Azalea didn't say it. After all, there was a chance something useful could be found up there. Alistair insisted going up first, just in case there was something remotely dangerous up there. "How gentlemanly of you" Azalea said, not meaning it, but Alistair smiled nonetheless.
"Hey, we're partners right now. We watch each other's backs" he said, ascending up the stairs.
The second floor of the Communal Building was much smaller than Azalea thought it'd be. It had no more than an old desk and a couple shelves, surrounded by a sturdy steel fence reaching the ceiling. On the other side of the room there was another gate, this one needing two card keys to pass through "I bet those two deer have the card keys for this one"
"Think if we ask they'll give them to us?"
"It's worth a try, I guess..." For now, they should focus on what's already available instead of of whatever may be upstairs. Azalea went to the steel fence, finding a small door embedded into it. There was a keyhole over the handle and a screen nearby.
Please insert your room key
"It must be to register us in some sort of record, keep track of who enters to check the files" Alistair inserted his key, opening the door and passing through. When Azalea tried to follow him, a red light turned on and a wall of bars emerged from the floor, blocking the access to the files. Frowning, Azalea inserted her key in the door, the bars retracting immediately.
"There's no way to fool them"
"Anyone can check who has entered, I saw an option to check the records in that screen" Alistair commented, browsing the files on the shelves. There weren't really that many, only five. This floor only has five books? Couldn't the admins keep these under their desk or something?
Without saying a word, each one took a file and started reading. It was a rather detailed report, listing even the smallest details of a murder and the circumstances that led to it. A list of evidence, a diagram of the crime scene, a transcript of the trial, even detailed profiles of the killer and the victim, everything was registered in the file for perusal. Azalea read the overview of the murder, feeling the bile rising to her throat. "This is horrible...! Someone was tortured!" she flipped the page "...and the victim made most of his wounds! What's this?!"
"This one seems to be about the very first murder. Monobear overtook a virtual world called 'Jabberwock Island' and made a mutual killing game"
Azalea left aside the file she had taken, relieved to not to have to look at it any further right now. "What was the motive used?" Alistair looked away of the file.
"Do you think Monobear would reuse his incentives?"
The Motivator mulled it for a moment before shaking her head. "If the admins told the truth then the people behind this Monobear isn't the same than the Monobear from these files"
"True. Let's see..." Alistair flipped the pages until he found the information about the motive. "Monobear informed the sixteen students they had gotten their memories erased, and then offered to return the culprit's memories"
"Memories..." that rang a bell in Azalea's head. Of course! Now that she thinks about it, their memories were rather scrambled, weren't they? "Alistair, what's the last thing you remember?"
"Hm? Before coming here? I had fallen asleep in the studio after finishing a show. You may have heard about it" Alistair quickly posed goofily, making Azalea stifle a chuckle "'Azure Sparrow's Quest for Justice!' It's a popular show worldwide"
"You're Azure Sparrow?! I loved that show!" no wonder Alistair's costume looked so familiar to her! Azalea's pleased expression changed once she remembered a fact, though "But...didn't it get cancelled?"
Alistair raised his eyebrows before slamming his palm against his forehead. "You're right, it did. I think...I don't know what I was doing before we woke up in the train? That show was cancelled when I was nineteen, that was seven years ago"
"And if we look like teenagers then the avatars we're using must have been set to a moment during our teen days, but why's that? Why couldn't we appear here as adults?"
"Maybe there's something in our adult lives they want to hide"
Azalea crossed her arms, thinking. "They already have our memories, so if they're trying to hide something they're hiding it from ourselves, but why...?" None of them could think an answer to that. Trying to think of something, Alistair continued reading the file, but there was no new information, although he did comment that Monobear didn't even fulfill his promise to the culprit.
After a while, Azalea left aside the last of the files, having an idea of what motives Monobear could use. The possibility he'd offer to give back the missing memories didn't make much sense, after all, he had just threatened to erase more and more of their memories, not give some of them back. It seemed unlikely he'd bring up incidents from anyone's lives. It was more likely he'd use the starvation motive, as well as the 'Despair Disease'. That'd be cheating!
"This Monobear was just as bad as ours! Manipulating everyone's personalities just so someone would die..." Azalea said, not receiving comment "Alistair?" the children's entertainer was still reading the file of the first case with thoughtful expression, paying attention to every single word. Azalea peered at that file, finding he was in middle of the trial transcript "Alistair?"
"Hm?"
"Is there something wrong?"
Alistair passed her the file. "No, I was just taking a look at how the first death happened...the victim was their leader" Azalea opened the file, finding the victim's profile. It was mostly blank.
"What's so strange about that?"
"He died when he tried to do something to stop any death from happening. He organized a party, invited everyone, and died during a blackout someone caused" Alistair stated surprisingly bluntly, although he was frowning deeply.
"...you could have worded that with a bit more of empathy" but overall that wasn't inaccurate, for the most part "What's worrying you so much?"
"What if our attempts to keep peace and stay cordial to each other lead to a death?"
Azalea bit her lip, realizing he was right about that. It was a possibility she hadn't considered. "Then what should we do?"
"...I don't know. We can't do nothing, I know that, but I don't know what else we can do" he sentenced. That's not very encouraging...
"We'll be okay. I don't think anyone would dare to kill someone" Azalea put back the file "Let's trust everyone"
"I'm not a pessimistic person, Azalea, but that may be a bit unrealistic" Alistair took off one of his gloves and rubbed his eyes tiredly. Having seen everything there was to see in the second floor, Alistair and Azalea left the Communal Building, a bit downhearted. "So what are we going to tell everyone?"
The Motivator put her hands on her hips. "I'm not sure we should tell everyone the content of the files. Let's just say there was information about a past group, but there was nothing of use"
"Fine. I'm not sure I like hiding the truth, but okay. I'll trust your judgment on this" Alistair sounded strangely dismissive. When Azalea pointed that, he pointed with his thumb at the building behind him "Several of us know already that floor exists, it's matter of time before someone gets into that floor too"
"Not if you keep the keycard"
Alistair took out the keycard. "People will suspect there's something afoot if they find out we're keeping the keycard"
"...true. Give me a second..." Azalea thought for a moment, quickly thinking of a ruse "I got it. Let's say you're keeping the keycard as a way of being aware who checks the files. I know there's a record already but we need an excuse. That should work"
"I don't know; I still don't like this" Alistair stuck the keycard in the sleeve of his costume "I didn't think you were devious at all, Azalea"
"W-Well, one needs to have a certain amount of wiliness to live a good life, right? And I like to think I'm a very clever person!" she smirked widely, shining with pride. She truly had a high concept of herself, although she usually tried to look rather mild and demure, if only to avoid trouble "Everyone has a side of themselves they'd like to keep hidden away. I'm sure you have one too" Alistair didn't reply to that, he simply shook his head and walked away, mumbling a farewell to Azalea. Now alone in front of the Communal Building, Azalea yawned and looked at her clock. There are a few hours left of virtual daylight...wonder who I could talk with?
Why not to know a bit better a few of her partners in misfortune? Just because they were in middle of a murdergame it didn't mean she'd lock herself in her room and turn into a hermit. She was determined to continue her life like usual, get along with everyone, know people better. It was her way of defying Monobear. I'm not scared. He can announce his threats and motives all he wants, I'm not going to cower and pray she thought, walking towards the central plaza.
Free time is coming next! As usual, if there's some character you're interested in reading more about, feel free to leave a comment or send me a message.