"Why do you keep coming back here?"
Apollo looked up from his playing cards. The woman cast him an inquisitive look, which he returned with sheer confusion.
"What does that mean?" he asked. She sighed, straightening out her black blazer and motioning to the space in front of him.
"You can't look at your set. Remember?" she said. She shook her head at Apollo's blank stare, pointing to the two decks on the table. "I have 26 cards. You have 26 cards. We both flip a card at the same time. Does that help?"
"Um…sure." Apollo slipped his fan of cards to the bottom of his set, shuffling them through. "I don't think this is how you play poker, though."
"Who said anything about poker? This is War."
The woman brushed back her deep brown hair, tapping on the table. She nodded.
As if by instinct, Apollo turned over his first card and slammed it face-up on the table. The woman did the same, her fingers moving lightning fast.
They both stared down at the dueling cards, scanning their values in silence.
"Lucky ace, Justice," the woman finally said. She slid both cards into her deck, the ace and the queen disappearing into the neat stack of cards. "You won that one."
"Yeah…" The details were starting to come back to him. He rubbed the back of his neck, looking to her for reassurance. "You win if you lose all your cards, right?"
"Right. See, you know what to do!"
She smiled. Apollo shrugged. They continued playing, placing their cards down perfectly in sync.
Ace and a three. He won.
Ace and a ten. Another victory. He furrowed his brow.
Ace and a seven. Okay, that was four aces. Pretty rare. He glanced at the woman, wondering what her reaction was.
"Wow. You're doing well," she said, calm as ever. Apollo opened his mouth to say something, but decided against it. This was obviously just a coincidence. He was getting nervous for no reason.
Another round. Ace and a king.
He blinked.
"That's impossible," he said. He lifted the fifth ace, turning it over in his hands. "I just…there's supposed to be four…"
"Weird," the woman said. Apollo stared at her.
Something was wrong.
"Who are you?" he pressed. She tried to pluck the card from his fingers, but he grasped it tightly. "What's going on?"
She crossed her arms. Apollo didn't break his gaze.
"Come on. You know this," she said. She traced the curved purple pendant on her neck, her eyes growing sharp. "Don't go into shock just yet."
Where had he seen her before? Apollo combed his memories for a hint, wondering when they'd ever—
Wait. That was it.
"We've never met, have we?" Apollo said. She nodded. "Because I've only seen you in recordings."
The woman laughed. "Many times, yes. You watched a lot of my trials…and Phoenix's, of course."
"Mia Fey."
She ran a thumb along her deck, the sound of shuffling cards echoing through the white space surrounding them.
"Took you long enough."
For some reason, Apollo wasn't surprised. He knew that he should be shocked at the revelation, but rather than it being a momentous discovery…it just felt like he'd remembered an old friend.
"So I'm guessing you know what this is, then," Apollo said. Mia drummed her fingers on the table.
"Well, it was a card game," she said, "But it looks like I'm going to have to explain everything to you again."
She snapped her fingers. The cards dissolved into dust.
"It's all in your head, Apollo. We're stuck here."
Apollo watched the dust disintegrate further, fluttering into the nothingness. A pit of dread settled in his gut. "This is—"
"Yeah." She took a sip from the mug that had materialized in her hands, wisps of steam curling out of the hot coffee. "So sorry it had to be this way."
Sheer panic overwhelmed whatever was left of Apollo's sanity.
"I'm dead?!" he exclaimed, both hands flying to his head. Mia choked on her drink, launching into a coughing fit and shaking her head profusely.
"What? No!" she rasped. She cleared her throat and set the cup down, letting it vanish as well. "Of course you're not dead! How would we be having this conversation?"
"Then…I'm alive?" Apollo asked. Mia took a deep breath.
"Maybe it'd help if you think about it like this," she started. "You hate rollercoasters, right?"
"Er…yeah," Apollo conceded. "Because there's—"
"There's too much screaming, I know," she finished, rolling her eyes. "That's not the point. You know that moment where you're at the very top of a rollercoaster, right before the drop?"
Apollo's stomach twisted. "Yeah."
Her gaze softened. "What do you do, Apollo?"
"I…I close my eyes." He met Mia's sympathetic stare, his hands wringing on the table. "And I try to imagine that someone's…there's someone telling me everything's fine."
Mia reached over and clasped his hands, her expression growing somber.
"Well…this is that moment, Justice."
Apollo fell silent.
"Look, I exaggerated a bit," Mia said, squeezing his shaking fingers. "This is much slower than a rollercoaster. And you—"
"I made all this up?"
Mia hesitated. Apollo looked her dead in the eye.
"Most of it," she admitted. "The table, the playing cards—"
"I made you up?"
"That's…" Mia glanced away for an instant, before letting him go. "You can decide that, Apollo."
A deep emptiness smothered whatever anxiety had been building in his system. He waited for Mia to continue, but she only watched him in concern.
"I used to play War with Dhurke," he said at last, for no particular reason. He traced circles in the table, leaning closer. "It's the only game he could ever teach me."
Mia's lips curved into a small smile. "You were never the best at cards, huh?"
"Oh, I sucked at them," Apollo confessed. Mia chuckled. "But you probably knew that already."
"Hey. This is your world," Mia said. She pulled another ace out of the air, pressing it into his palm. "Everything we do here, everything we say here…you know it all."
Apollo examined the card, noting the scarlet stain on the edge of the spade.
"Is it really over?" he whispered. He ran his thumb along the drop of blood, trying to suppress all the complex emotions grappling for his attention.
"Not yet," Mia said. At a clap of her hands, the whole table was covered with aces of spades. "There's still time."
He swallowed, staring into the spread of cards. "Is there any way out?"
Mia didn't respond. Apollo placed the bloodied ace in the center of the table, the crimson mark separating it from the rest of the intricate designs.
"You said that I keep coming back," Apollo continued. Mia frowned, clearly uncomfortable.
"It's because you can't stay awake," she clarified. She conjured a file this time, flipping through the pages so fast that they flew into the void. "Every time you collapse again, you end up here."
A spark of hope lodged itself into the hollowness of Apollo's soul. "What if I wake up again, though? And I stay awake?"
"You've said that before," Mia stated. She brushed some of the aces off of the counter. "It's getting harder for you."
"Why?"
Mia tapped her chin. The cards began duplicating on the floor. "If I tell you, you're just going to wake up again."
Apollo shot to his feet, slamming his fists on the table. "Then tell me!"
"Oh, dear. You're just like Phoenix."
Mia stood up, shaking her head once again. Apollo pinned her under his fiery gaze, refusing to give up.
"I'll stay awake. I know I will."
"That doesn't mean anything, Justice!" Mia pinched the bridge of her nose, succumbing to frustration. "You'll forget all of this as soon as you leave."
The cards kept piling around their feet. Apollo put a hand on his chest, finding it hard to breathe.
"Please, Miss Fey," he pleaded.
A pained look crossed her face. "Apollo, I—"
"I need to try."
Mia swept back her hair and strode over to him, placing her hands on his shoulders.
"I know you want to, Justice. Really, I do." She bit her lip, contemplating her next words. Some part of him already knew what they were going to be. "But there's a reason you picked me to comfort you."
The pile of aces was so high that it reached past their knees. Suffocation was setting in.
Apollo shifted restlessly. "If I stay, what's going to happen?"
"We'll talk as long as you like," Mia soothed, her voice strong and steady. "Just us."
"Phoenix…what about him?"
Mia raised her eyebrows. "What?"
"And Trucy, and Klavier, and Clay, and…and…" Apollo said, running out of air. He cut his sentence short, trying to get to the point. "What happens out there?"
It was quiet for a few seconds. Mia placed a hand on his cheek, her eyes filled with pity.
"They'd be devastated, Apollo."
That was all he needed.
"Let me try again," he begged. He pulled away from her, wading through the cards until he was back at the table. "I know I might come back, that's fine. We can talk then. But please let me try."
Mia watched as he leaned against the chair, struggling to stand. She closed her eyes.
"Fine."
"Oh, thank god," Apollo gasped, clutching his chest. "Thank you—"
"Then listen."
In a single blink, Mia went from standing a few feet away from him to grasping him by his cerulean tie. She wrenched him closer, her eyes blazing with a determination so powerful that Apollo found himself shrinking under its brilliance.
"I'm only going to tell you one thing," she began, her tone sharpening. Apollo lurched as she dragged him further ahead. "When you wake up, remember to go back. Understand?"
"N-not really," he stuttered. "What does that—"
"Go back. Remember that," Mia interrupted. She towered over him, her grip tightening. "Repeat it."
"Go back…" Apollo said weakly. Mia shook his shoulders.
"Come on! Repeat it!"
"Go back! Go back! I'll go back!" Apollo cried. Mia let him go, seeming satisfied.
"Alright. We'll see," she said. She lifted one last ace of spades, placing it on his chest. "Don't forget."
Apollo held her wrist, unable to make sense of it. "Miss Fey, I—"
"It's been more than five minutes. You're freezing in the snow."
Apollo's eyes widened.
Holy shit. That was right.
"If you don't get up—"
I'm going to die.
