"I can tell you, I've never seen something so horrific in my life. We don't even know when it started. Some say it's been happening for a long time. Perhaps it was just our unfortunate location... Or perhaps it has something to do with what we did to anger our creators. Well, either way, here we are now, with a reality that is more horrifying than you could ever imagine."

Darling stopped for a moment. He looked around, making sure that the two humans and the single zoner were getting what he was saying. He cleared his throat and forced himself to continue.

"Day in and day out, it happens. Time and time again..." He stopped himself, unable to continue right then and there. He gritted his teeth tightly and shook his head slowly, trying to prevent himself from becoming too overwhelmed. But oh gawd, this was so difficult to talk about. Just thinking about it kept bringing back horrible memories. "We... We wouldn't even receive any warning. It would just happen out of nowhere. One minute, we would be just fine, going about our day, as happy as can be..." His voice drolled off for a moment. "And then..they would appear..."

"Who would appear..?" Asked Rapsheeba tentatively.

Darling stared at her before looking away. Just thinking about what happened caused several chills to go up and down his spine. He tried to keep himself as calm as possible. He needed to get through with this. He had been able to do this before. He could do it again.

He was still a bit annoyed that he even had to explain at all, however. Shouldn't the humans know what was going on? They live on the other side of the barrier, do they not? They would have seen what was happening. It didn't help that he knew that this incident occurred in other places of ChalkZone. These humans had no excuse in saying that they didn't know. They...

Well it was too late now anyway. He was already in the middle of explaining the situation. He might as well just keep on going and get it over with. And perhaps, after all was said and done, he could finally understand what is happening. And from there, maybe even find a way to prevent it. The idea of a city devoid of such... terrifying things felt like a dream too distant to be grabbed. But what if it was possible?

"...bodies..." Darling's voice was soft and quiet. Yet judging from the looks of horror on the three people's faces before him, he knew that they understood exactly what he was talking about. "Most of them already dead... but the worst ones... the ones still alive for a moment... I can still hear their pained gurgles, choking to death mere minutes after they just came alive..."

"B-Bodies...?" Penny put a hand to her mouth. It looked as though she had lost several shades of her skin tone.

Rudy's eyes bulged wide open and he looked like he was about to fall down. He was struggling to speak for several moments, but his tongue kept tripping over itself. It felt like several minutes passed before he managed to speak, "Y-You mean... people were..."

"That's awful... I... I don't know what to say..." Rapsheeba squeaked out.

Darling remained quiet as he watched the three's reaction. He more that he stared at them, the more he started to think that this reaction indicative of just finding out something was authentic. Perhaps they really didn't know what was going on. Darling didn't know how, but... he knew that these reactions couldn't be faked so easily. Upon this realization, he lowered his head for a moment, feeling a little guilty for being so accusatory before. Then he pressed on, telling them more so they could get a better idea of just what was happening.

"I dread thinking about those bodies. Every time I close my eyes, I can see them. Flopping about, the unlucky few who were still alive during the whole thing. And then the ones who were dead..." He looked down at his hands. He felt his body trembling, a burning sensation underneath his eyes indicating that he was about to cry. "I've seen some bodies even land in front of people, at diners during romantic getaways, or in children's playgrounds..."

Rudy shook his head slowly. "That's just sick..." He narrowed his eyes. "I mean... I know I can't blame the creators for this, but still..." His eyes faced downward, one of his fists clenching tightly against his side. "You would think that people would be more careful about what they draw."

Penny didn't look over at Rudy when she said, "Nobody else knows about ChalkZone. They would not understand what they were doing."

Darling wasn't really sure how to take this. He's unsure if he should really believe that nobody in the Real World knows, or if there's some people who do know. He wanted to believe that the creators meant no real harm...but at the same time, some of the things were just...to specific. It didn't help that it was always a stick figure. What did these people have against stick figures...?

He shook the thought out of his head. He would try to figure that out later. He needed to first finish telling these three more of what was going on. He hadn't yet gotten into describing the bodies themselves. The idea of doing so filled him with horror. But he knew that it must be done. He closed his eyes for several seconds as he collected his thoughts. He could feel a stinging sensation in his heart and the need to throw up. He knocked those out of his head and he took a small step forward, staring intently at Rudy, Penny, and Rapsheeba. Now came among the hardest parts.

"The bodies... They always showed a pattern..." Explained Darling. "There was always something...particular about them. Variations of the same thing."

"Variations...?" Whispered Penny. "You mean that..." She seemed to figure out what he was alluding to, and she cringed. "Oh gawd.."

Rudy, who seemed to have forgotten his after at him earlier, was now looking at him with a somewhat pleading look. "Can you tell us how..."

"Yes... I hate to do this, but... you deserve to know." Darling turned his head, facing one direction. He took in slow, deep breaths as he prepared for this moment. A part of him was not sure if this was a good idea or not. But another realized that he already committed do doing this. So he might as well get it over with. "The bodies were...almost never complete."

Rudy and Penny glanced at each other. Their faces went through a series of expressions. Most of them indicated apprehensive confusion. Rapsheeba seemed to have a better idea, though, as her face showed the appropriate horror that Darling expected.

"They were just...erased without arms? Or legs?" Rapsheeba spoke. Her question chilled the air, and Rudy and Penny stiffened, now looking as horrified as Rapsheeba. They looked back at him expectantly.

Darling stared at them, his face contorting for a second before looking away. "...yes. More or less." He looked back at them and began to describe more in detail. "That isn't to say that we don't see 'full' corpses. But a lot of the corpses would be missing something. And it's always the same pattern. Either it will only be a head. Or it will be a head with one arm, or two arms. Or just missing one leg. Or missing all the limbs."

"What about missing arms but having legs?" Asked Penny.

Darling shook his head. "No. I don't know why... But I'm not particularly that curious to find out." He bit his lip firmly. He could feel the chilling thoughts surging through him. He struggled to keep his churning stomach bile under control. "But yes... The bodies are either complete, which seems to be a bit less common, and the bodies would either be missing one leg, both legs, have only the arms or one arm, have only the body, or just be a head."

Darling stopped to allow the three to get the gruesome image painted in their heads. He could see the way they looked at each other. He could see how disgusted they looked. And he could tell that they were about to throw up. He waited a little while longer before he continued.

"And another thing. The necks... They..." Darling rubbed his arms against each other. He did his best to fight against the horrible thoughts crawling in the back of his mind. He found himself rubbing his own throat as he imagined it happening to himself. "With the exception of the head-only corpses, the others..their necks would be snapped. A noose would be tied around them and their necks would always be at such odd, painful angles."

Penny gasped at this. "They always died of a broken neck?"

Darling nodded slowly. "Always. The head-only... I think decapitation. But neck breakage is the most common." He shuddered, fighting back tears as they formed in his eyes even more. But this time, he wasn't able to keep his cool for much longer. The tears just dropped down to the ground. He sniffled a little and released a few small cries. "I don't know why anyone would... And all the people that this scarred..."

"I hate to interrupt, but..."

Darling stared over at Rudy.

"What was this about cursing you? Could you explain?"

"Oh yes, of course. Thanks for...reminding me." Darling moved his hand against his head, moving back along its top. "Well, there was something else common with these bodies. They all had them... And they were sort of the opposite." He raised his hand up in gesture. His fingers pointed inward at himself. "None of us can really understand why. But for whatever reason, a word is placed with these stick figures."

The two humans appeared to stiffen at this.

"Words..?" Rudy asked, his voice dissipating quickly.

"Yes, words." Darling explained. "Along with underscores. Varying lengths, all of them. And what is confusing is..." Darling gritted his teeth. "The complete corpses were...always incomplete. But the ones that are missing something? Completed. At least most of them. I've seen some cases where this isn't the case. But usually, that's the pattern that follows."

"What kind of words...?" Rapsheeba asked, sounding very afraid, as she should.

"They would seem so random. Every day items, or names even. Locations. Every time that it happens, we of Scrapbook City fear for our lives. If the completed word resulted in such mutilation..." The mayor could not help but shudder, his mind spinning. "Then what would happen if we...use that word wrong? We end up trying to avoid it like the plague until we are certain we are safe." He put his hand to himself. "My own name... I had to abandon it cause it was on one of those corpses. I did not want to end up like the corpse... So I changed my name."

"And if 'Darling' is ever used...?" Penny asked nervously.

"Then I would change it."

The trio didn't respond. They were just looking at each other with levels of horror etched on their faces. It was clear that he had managed to describe in vivid detail what was going on. Now they have an understanding of what had happened here. Now they know exactly where he was coming from. The only thing left to do now was just wait for their response.

Darling hoped that the two humans could help him understand this. He hoped that they knew some way to stop it from happening. He hoped and prayed that, by confiding in them, he had made the right choice and that everything would improve from this point forward.

But first, he needed their answer. So he stood in silence and just waited.

sss

Rudy could feel his heart beating a million miles an hour. He could feel sweat pouring down his face as he began to hyperventilate. He tried to wipe his brow, but more sweat came, making his face constantly slick with wetness. He tried to speak. He tried to say anything. But his voice was caught in his throat and there was nothing that he could do to change that. It was like he was fighting against an inescapable destiny.

He wanted to believe that what he heard wasn't true. He wanted to believe that he was overreacting to this. He wanted to believe that he had heard wrong, that it was not what he thought it was. There had to be some kind of a misunderstanding. There just had to be...

But the more he thought about it, the more that he realized that...no, he did comprehend this right. There was nothing else that it could be. The similarities were just...far too striking to just be a coincidence. No matter how hard he wished it to be untrue, he couldn't escape the reality of the situation. He gritted his teeth tightly and struggled to keep his headache from spreading, struggled to keep his stomach as calm as possible. But it truly did seem like he didn't have much of a chance at this; the reality was just far too horrifying, far too heavy upon his shoulders. He had to accept the horrible truth.

He knew exactly what this zoner had been talking about. He wished that it wasn't true, but he knew that it was. He looked over at Penny, seeing how frightened she was at this reveal. Rapsheeba was more confused than anything, but still scared. She didn't really understand the full implications of what they were talking about. She didn't know that he and Penny knew what Darling had described. And it was nothing good.

What this zoner had described... It sounded way too much like a game that was all too familiar to him and Penny. In fact, they had played it themselves before. They had thought nothing of it. It had only been a fun, harmless game. Children around the world played it.

But as he thought of the implications of this, as he really thought about what Darling told them, the more that the realization that he and others had enjoyed this game made him feel sicker and sicker. He rubbed his stomach gently, feeling his mind spin even harder. He found it difficult to accept the reality that was given to them. He wanted to lay down and throw up, release his stomach's contents, and try to relax a little. He wanted to wake up from this nightmare. But there was nothing to wake up to. He knew that he was awake. Sometimes reality was the worst nightmare.

He couldn't help but glance over at Penny, seeing her expression. He could tell that she felt just as horrible about this as he did. He thought he could see a few tears forming in her eyes. Rudy felt compelled to wipe them, but he couldn't bring himself to move. He could only just stare at her in sympathy. He realized that, even if they got out of this, it would take him a long time for them to accept the harsh reality they had been given.

Rudy wished he had realized the truth sooner. He should have known better. He had been in ChalkZone many times. He had interacted with its people. He had made friends here. He had spoken to Biclops, who explained the principles. Even Snap had helped him out with learning about the place. Rudy knew how it functioned.

So if that were the case, then why the fuck had he never realized just how dangerous the game of Hangman truly was...?

Rudy flinched. Even the very name was foreboding. He could feel bile rising up inside of his mouth. He swallowed hard, feeling his heart pounding heavily inside of his chest. He looked over at Penny and Rapsheeba once more. He felt his breathing increase despite his efforts to keep calm. He focused on Rapsheeba. He wondered how she would look at him and Penny when she learns the truth. How would any zoner feel, actually? How would they react to finding out that the whole 'corpses falling out of the sky' were a part of some children's game?

Rudy tightened his hand into a fist, shaking it slightly. He tried to keep his reaction to himself. He tried not to let Darling or Rapsheeba see it. But he was not fooling Penny. She could tell how he was feeling. She knew him too well. He ripped his eyes away from her and looked away, making himself look like he was thinking. He was, but probably not what the zoners thought he was.

Oh gawd... How in the world did he not realize just how sickening Hangman was? How did he not see the horrific implications that game had? It involved a fucking dying body, for crying out loud. The game involved the flat out murder of a stick figure zoner. It was almost always drawn on a chalkboard. They were toying with lives here. They were creating a zoner for the purpose of dying for some stupid word. And what made it worse? The fact that a stick figure was not even needed. They could have just done a banana or a pumpkin, and still achieve the same result.

And yet for whatever reason, dead stick figures were always the choice...

Rudy had to cover his mouth and brace himself to avoid gagging all over the ground. He found it difficult to control himself. He found it hard to accept what he and other people had been doing. To think that he had been messing around with people's lives... He and others had been producing dead or dying people in a world of sentient denizens, focused on one group entirely, and horribly scarred them. He... He had no idea if he would ever forgive himself...

What was he and Penny going to tell Darling? How were they going to explain this to him? He deserved to know. They couldn't just hide this information from him. Even if hiding the truth would help him mentally, it would...still not be a good choice. Darling has been clearly haunted by this, along with his people of Scrapbook City. If they didn't tell him what happened, then how would he react when he did find out later? How would he feel about them? Was it not better to just tell him themselves? Regardless of how hard it was going to be, he did need to hear the truth.

Darling noticed their expressions. He grew nervous, rubbing his hands together. He waited for a few moments, obviously thinking that they were going to reply right away. But when the were still quiet, he spoke up.

"W-Well..?" Darling asked, licking his lips nervously. "D-Do you know what this is...? Do you know what's going on...? Please, tell me..."

Rudy and Penny glanced at each other. They exchanged worried looks and frowns of uncertainty. There was no easy way to say this. No matter how they looked at it, they were still dealing with a very sensitive topic. The only thing that they could do was just...be honest and hope for the best. They needed to get this over with as soon as possible.

Rudy decided he was the one who should speak. He looked back at the confused and frightened zoner, sucking lightly on his lip. He could feel his heart's beats getting so loud that he thought they were explosions. He forced his mouth open, and he could see the mayor zoner leaning forward, eager and scared to hear what he had to say. Finally, with one more mental push, Rudy finally began talking, his voice a little weakened from his emotions.

"I-It's a game..." Rudy managed to squeak out.

Darling froze, his body becoming slightly loose. "A game...?" He repeated, as though he didn't think he heard right.

Rudy nodded his head. He averted gaze with the zoner as shame filled up inside of him. "That's r-r-right.. A game... It's called Hangman." He looked over at Darling with one eye and he flinched when he saw the look on his face. He continued in a shaky voice, "It's a word guessing game... The... The goal of the game i-i-is to guess what word someone has ch-chosen and... If they get it wrong...more of the word is formed..." He stopped, finding it hard to continue.

However, Penny picked up. "To make it...clear..." She rubbed her hand together nervously. "The premise of the game is that...one person is chosen and they pick a word... They draw the beginning of the..." She swallowed hard as she choked out, "...stick...figure..." She took in a few heavy pants, her tongue hanging out as though she had swallowed something toxic. "...and the people playing the game guess. The more right guesses, the more the word is formed. But a wrong guess results in more of the stick figure being drawn and... when the stick figure is fully drawn, the people lose the game..."

When Darling still didn't respond after several moments, Rudy took a step closer to the bars, almost banging up against them. "I assure you... We don't... I-I mean... It's not a malicious game. We... They didn't know that it..." He put his hands to his face as he lowered his head. "Oh gawd... W-We're so sorry..."

Rudy couldn't stop himself from crying. He kept his hands against his face, kept his vision concealed as he just kept crying like this. He could feel his tears moving down his face as he sucked in shaky breath after shaky breath. He couldn't tell if Penny was crying, but he knew that she was at least on the verge of doing so. He stayed like this for several moments, whimpering softly, reality coming crashing in against him.

He wished that this wasn't true. He wished so desperately for this to be a dream. He wished for...

But it didn't matter now, did it? He could feel bitterness starting to rise up, aimed right at himself. He couldn't blame anyone but himself. After all, he was the Great Creator, ChalkZone's protector. He knew how ChalkZone worked and yet he still...

It would have been more acceptable if he and Penny were doing Hangman only before they knew about ChalkZone. But that wasn't it... They had been doing it a few times after, and they didn't even stop to think about it. Rudy had slipped up before, like when he insisted on weapons on a robot to be erased into ChalkZone. But this was the most messed up thing that he did. It was just...he was so used to the game, and had such fond memories of it, that it just never occurred to him what happened after it was erased. He felt sick knowing that he had messed up this badly.

He looked back over at Darling, giving him a guilt-ridden expression. He noticed that Darling just seemed to be...frozen. No expression outside of widened eyes. But it was clear that his mind's gears were turning. He was going to reply eventually. Rudy knew that it wasn't going to be anything good. He braced for the impact that he knew was going to happen.

Slowly but surely, Darling began to adopt a different stance and expression. His teeth became clenched. His eyes were becoming narrowed. He adopted a slightly more hostile stance, and he trembled, emotions racing through his mind. Rudy and Penny both backed away as Darling glared at them like that. They wanted to turn around and run, but there was nowhere to go to. Rapsheeba tried to ask them what the heck was going on, but neither child could speak. They could only just stare at Darling as they wondered what was going to happen to them.

Soon, the silence was broken.

"Game?! You mean to tell me that we all suffered, all been haunted, by what was essentially a game?!"

Rudy's breathing quickened as he said, "We didn't..."

Darling cut him off. "What kind of sick person would come up with a disgusting game like that?! Why would you build a game around killing someone just for something so stupid?! You..." Darling gripped the sides of his head, gritting his teeth tighter as he struggled to breathe. His chest inflated and deflated rapidly. "Of all the... I thought Skrawl was deplorable, but you...? Your kind are just... You're no saviors... You're monsters!"

"No! Please.. We weren't trying to..." Penny pleaded as she gripped the bars of the cage tightly. "You have to believe us! W-We would never...!"

"Why the fuck should I believe you?!" Shouted Darling. "Do you have any idea what I have experienced?! What others have?! Tell me, what reason do I have to trust either of you?! For all I know, you're just waiting until the right moment before you decide to kill me for your sick little amusement!"

Rudy, Penny, and Rapsheeba felt raw terror going through their minds. Rapsheeba, mostly due to confusion of the situation. Rudy and Penny, because they both knew exactly what this zoner was going on about and they knew that they didn't really have much of an excuse to give. They could not really dismiss the actions of anyone playing Hangman. And saying that it was just a game for fun did not fly well with Darling.

Darling huffed and puffed, looking as though he was trying so hard to control himself. But it was clear that he just could not relax. His growls became heavy in the air, each one feeling like it was stabbing Rudy in the heart again and again. And the way that those eyes seemed to glare into his very soul... Rudy couldn't even try to look away, lest those razor eyes cut through the back of his skull as well.

"Well... at least there's one good thing to come out of this..."

Rudy and the others flinched at how deep and growly Darling's voice had become. There was a hint of a raspy sound, as though he had finished crying and was trying to speak with a dried up throat.

Darling straightened himself up, his lip curled up into a snarl. "At least I know know what to do with you..." Darling raised up his hand and he made a slashing motion with one of his fingers against his throat.

Rapsheeba gasped in horror. "No... you can't...!"

Penny called out, "Please... listen to us!"

"We aren't your enemies!" Shouted Rudy.

But Darling ignored them completely. "I will leave you here for now. But when I return, I will have you all taken to the execution room." His eyes narrowed into slits. "You will be held accountable for your deplorable actions, as well as for the others who played this disgusting 'Hangman' game, since they cannot be arrested."

"You're making a big mistake!"

"Please think about this!"

"Let us explain!"

But it was too late. It would seem that Darling made up his mind. He turned his back to them, waving his hand dismissively at them. His rage became his current aura, encircling him like a snake around its prey. "Enjoy your final hours..." He said as he began to walk away, leaving the trio all alone in their quiet desperateness.