Chapter 25: The Last Game

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There were many different things Arthur had expected upon entering the final game. After all, as the team's point man it was his job to be prepared for anything. In this case, situational analysis should have led him to at least semi-accurate predictions of what was ahead. And they did.

Following the pattern set throughout earlier games, Arthur knew without a doubt that the last game was going to be in some way grandiose and bold. After all, the man behind this had shown quite the tendency to brag at every opportunity he got. But the point man had expected this to appear in the form of an insanely elaborately dreamscape, with odds even more improbable than found in all of the previous games combined.

What he certainly had not been expecting was a meeting with the game-maker himself.

"Hello Arthur." The man had opened amiably, in a voice the point man was all too familiar with. "Interested in playing a game?"

Though at first fronted by the man's presence, Arthur knew without a doubt that the man before him was indeed the orchestrator of the games. Even before a single syllable had been uttered, with the same condescending tone that had mocked the team from various sources in the past, Arthur knew this was the man. Ariadne's kidnapper, the mastermind, the man behind the operation. He even looked the part.

He was dressed in a fine, Italian cut suit of all gray, thrown over a white button-up shirt. A black tie was just visible between the lapels. He had a bulky body shape which reflected on a somewhat rounded face, which was whiskered with a fine blackish/gray stubble. The man's eyes were clear blue, tinged with the slightest hint of yellow.

However, even after a thorough examination of the man, Arthur came to a surprising and abrupt realization. He did not recognize him. Though the man had claimed at the start of all this to be a figure from Arthur's past, the point man had no recollection of meeting him. Surely, he would have remembered such a figure, especially one who had prior knowledge about the dreamscape. But why then, was he drawing a blank?

Figuring all questions would be answered momentarily, Arthur refocused his attention on the man. "It appears I'm already playing one." He said smoothly, approaching the table and putting one hand on the back of the metal chair.

The man's eyes narrowed, though the smile never left his face. "There's that famous wit of yours. But there's no need to hide behind it, we're all friends here."

Arthur tried not to let his disgust show on his face. "Oh, we're friends now? I didn't know this is how old friends were supposed to greet each other." He gestured to the room around them.

"Then it appears you've been doing friendships all wrong. Have a seat."

Slowly, Arthur moved into the metal chair, careful not to get too comfortable. During the process, the man's eyes never strayed from Arthur's.

"I can tell by your reaction that you don't remember me," the man stated, sounding slightly disappointed. "Though I suppose that may have been too much to ask. The name's Nathanial." He stuck his hand out across the table. Arthur just stared at it.

"Ah, straight to the point as usual then" he said, withdrawing his hand disappointingly.

"I didn't come here for small talk." Arthur snapped, any anxiety he had quickly being replaced by annoyance. "I came for Ariadne."

The man paused a moment, his eyes running up and down the point man as if sizing him up. Then he sighed. "Oh fine, if its business you want to discuss, then we shall." He yawned a bit, as if the subject bored him. "Since you like directness, I'll start by easing your suspicions. Yes, it was me who was responsible for kidnapping your little girlee."

Arthur's eyes narrowed, and in an instant he felt his walls come up. "Why?"

"To draw you and your team out. I knew you cared for her, so all it took was a bit of… planning."

"But why us, what makes our team so special?"

Nathanial shook his head. "No it's not what makes your team special. Actually, it's not about your team at all. It's about you, Arthur." The man stood up purposefully. "You see, the whole threat with your team having to do me a favor if you lost was… a lie. One I made up so you would believe the exact delusion you were hanging onto when entering this game. That this was about all of you, and your skills as a team." He chuckled a little bit. "No, from the beginning you were the goal. That's why I kidnapped Ariadne, after all, to get your attention."

"My attention for what?" Arthur jumped up from his chair, meeting Nathanial at eye level. "So I could come and play your stupid little game? Is that what you wanted?"

"The game was part of it, admittedly. Though, the real purpose of the games was to give you hope." Here Nathanial plopped back down on the chair, smiling.

"What?"

"Yes, if I had simply killed her you'd just be vengeful. You'd spend your every waking moment trying to find me, hunting me down, and killing everyone I ever loved. Pulling the whole 'outside the law hero' thing. But by giving you a chance to rescue her, I could build up your hope, your hope of being her knight in shining armor and returning everything to the way it was before. I could give you a hope for a future with her, one where you protect her and keep her safe from the world you've dragged her into. Then, I could crush it, as I killed her before your very eyes." Nathanial's smile deepened. "She would have died in your arms."

"Bastard" Arthur spat, focusing every fiber of his being on not strangling the man right then and there. He knew it would be hopeless anyways, given it was Nathanial's dream they were in.

The man chuckled a bit. "Hm, have I hit a nerve there Arthur? Well then, now that you're a bit more fired up perhaps we can get into the final game."

"You're…playing?" The point man stumbled, using his confusion as a mean of soothing his anger.

"Indeed. After all, how could I miss out on the finale of my own little show?" He grinned wickedly. "Though, in case you hadn't guessed by this point, I will be the only other player in this game."

Hazy with anger though he was, Arthur was able to detect the man's point immediately. Further stressing his theme of "the whole game was about Arthur from the beginning" the final game would be played by just Arthur. Why, the point man had no clue.

He couldn't fathom why a man would go through this much trouble to break him, and him alone. Despite any injustice he may have cause Nathaniel; this didn't seem an appropriate retaliation. It was too grandiose, a worldwide travel game designed for him. Even with the vague explanation provided, it still made no sense.

"I suppose these are questions I'll have to save for later" Arthur mentally sighed, gathering his focus. After all, he had a game to play.

"Alright, what are we playing?"

"Something a little more…traditional then the last few games you've experienced. It's a bit old fashioned, but I'm sure you're familiar." Moving to the lone black box on the table, Nathanial lifted the lid, slowly and deliberately. Even before it was all the way off Arthur knew.

"Chess."

"A gentleman's game. One that pit's wit against wit in perhaps one of the more advanced forms of mental warfare to date." Nathanial rambled, pulling out the board and spreading it flat on the table as he did so. Then he reached back into the box, pulling out the white king. "Because you're the guest, you get first move."

Arthur hesitated a moment, wary at the strange nobility of the man. Then he took the king, placing it down before gathering the rest of his pieces. Wordlessly, he set up his side, moving from the front to the back, placing his queen down last. When he finished, he found Nathanial looking patiently back at him. "Take it away."

Slowly, Arthur felt his hand drift over to the set of pieces before him. Move possibilities flashed before his eyes, as the point man tried to draw back on his previous experience in chess to determine the best course of action. However, his last game had been years ago, and his previous familiarity was lost to him.

Moving his hand cautiously, Arthur selected a pawn, moving it forward two spaces.

Just as Arthur released his grip on the piece, Nathaniel's hand darted out, moving one of his pawns one space forwards in an obviously pre-planned maneuver. Though this alone would not have been enough to throw him off, the confidence with which he maneuvered his piece was a bit unsettling.

"Speedy responses won't get you anywhere," Arthur remarked dryly, hiding his own anxiety behind derision.

Nathaniel half-shrugged. "Sorry. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a bit…excited." He tittered, following Arthur's hand movement as he moved yet another pawn forward. Again, Nathaniel's response was almost immediate, though this time he chose to send forward one of his knights.

"He's too confident," Arthur thought to himself, frowning deeply. Normally excessive confidence was a pleasing thing to see in opponents, especially because it could often lead to arrogance, and then carelessness. However, the point man new from past encounters that this man was far from careless. "If I'm going to have a fighting chance, I need to throw him off of his game."

With as much casualness as he could muster, he pushed yet another one of his pawns forward. "So you meant to break me." Arthur began, starting from where their previous banter left off.

Nathaniel raised an eyebrow. "You want to talk about business again, mid-game?"

The point man said nothing, only shooting the man a look.

"Fine." With a sudden crashing noise, he brought down his knight (which Arthur had not even seen him pick up), onto one of Arthur's pawns, collecting the piece and tossing it back into the box. "I suppose we all have our own preferred styles of play. In any case, I told you, we met before somewhere long ago. Back when you were still new to the dreamscape."

"During the military training?" Arthur winced. Even compared to all of the shit he had been through since then, his first PASIV training runs had been brutal.

Thankfully, Nathaniel shook his head. "A bit after that, can't recall the year exactly, nor do I want to. But we were on rival extraction teams, both under the same instruction: get in, retrieve the security files, and get out. Pretty standard operation. However, the catch was, only one team was meant to make it out alive."

Arthur nodded slightly, having a vague memory of such a mission. Though it was all so long ago, it was hard to recall any of the details.

"We were deep enough that a death inside meant death in reality too. It made it easier for the employers."

"Lyell?"

Nathaniel nodded. "Why try picking between two teams with similar reputations, when you could just let them work it out in a dreamscape." He scoffed slightly. "At first it seemed like my team was going to win. From the start it seemed we had all of the advantages. Better extractor, better forger. Then… all of my team was wiped out. We may have had more experience with the dreamscape, but your team had killers."

"But you're still here." The point man finished, seeing at least in part where the story was going. Then, suddenly realizing the grinding halt their game had come to, he moved forward a bishop, actually taking one of Nathaniel's pawns.

As Arthur had predicted, Nathaniel paid little mind, still wrapped up in his story. "I alone survived, by running and hiding. I waited for your team to get out, and hid on the outer dream layer until they booted me out."

Suddenly, Nathaniel slammed his fist down on the table, leaving the chess pieces rattling. "They mocked me when I got out. Called me a 'weak pussy that shouldn't have been let through training'." He tightened his jaw. "Then they tortured me."

For a second there was silence, as Nathaniel sat with his tight jaw, clenching his fist so hard that his knuckles went white. Then, quite suddenly, he refocused. The wildness Arthur had seen in before in the man's eyes was gone, replaced with the condescending, confident ones of the gamemaker.

"Your team was all killers. But we could have won just by avoiding you all. We would have. But they had an expert tracker. And we were overwhelmed." Slowly, Nathaniel lifted his pointer finger, pushing his knight into yet another capture. "You're move, point man."

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A/N: Sorry for the delay on this chapter. For some reason I've only been able to pump out like 300 words a sitting, and given that my chapters are always at least 2,000 words long… it took a while. But here it is! Thanks for all of the reviews, your kind words are honestly what keep me going through all of the mental blocks. Next chapter will be the game's conclusion!