My semester ended. I'm sorry for the somewhat late update. But thank you for your patience.

Chapter 6:

A chaotic neutral character follows his whims. He is an individualist first and last. He values his own liberty but doesn't strive to protect others' freedom. He avoids authority, resents restrictions and challenges traditions. A chaotic neutral character does not intentionally disrupt organizations as part of a campaign of anarchy. To do so, he would have to be motivated by either good (and desire to liberate others) or evil (a desire to make those different from himself suffer). A chaotic neutral character may be unpredictable, but his behavior is not totally random. He is not as likely to jump off a bridge as to cross it.

But if he were given an ultimatum that would change his decision, he would have to jump off of the bridge instead of cross it. It is also the person's perspective rather than what is expected, because crossing the bridge might be more dangerous than jumping off.

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The entire building was suffocating. The air was filled with alcohol and sex and Maria's nose was beginning to twitch at the stench. The music was pounding in her ears as she walked around the Beach's premises with a limp in her step. The bullet that lodged itself in her leg from the previous day wasn't as embedded as she thought. It missed an important vein and artery that could have been more damaging if the maniac that shot her had aimed a little more to the left. With An's help, it was taken out with ease.

Every direction that Maria looked brought on a sound of disgust. It was the middle of the day and the people that were surrounding her were drowning in the sins of pleasure. The very sight of this much debauchery was enough to make any sane person vomit.

"You look like you're about to murder someone," a familiar voice spoke beside her.

Maria turned to face Nariko, an eyebrow raised with unamused eyes.

"Well, even if you wanted to you can't kill anyone. Only ones allowed to kill anyone are the militants," she continued talking.

Maria's attention was captured. "Militants?"

"Yeah. They're the only people allowed to carry any form of weapons in this place."

Maria understood why her bat was taken from her after she was allowed to leave the basement. In replacement of her bat was a long stick that looked as if it was ready to break if any extraneous weight was put onto it.

"So I'm guessing that Niragi and Aguni are militants..." she stated

"Not just militants, but Aguni is the leader of them and Niragi is second in command."

Maria sighed heavily. She despised Niragi more than she had despised . There was something about him that made a taste worse than bitterness creep onto her tongue. She wanted nothing more than to watch his blood splatter on the ground. She wanted nothing more than to see his blood on her bat.

Maria's murderous aura was put to an abrupt stop as she remembered Nariko in front of her.

"Where do they put outsider's things?" she questioned.

"I'm not allowed to know. I'm only a regular."

Maria sighed, a heavy form of disappointment weighing on her shoulders.

Maria looked around once more. Her eyes landed on each person in the bar; either fucking each other to the point of oblivion or drinking to get rid of their despair.

"So, Nariko..." she motioned to the brunette. "Why are you here anyway? Shouldn't you be with your boyfriend?"

Nariko's face turned sour. "That buffoon is not my boyfriend and never will be. I'm here because Hatter is looking for you. The executives want to speak to you."

Maria scoffed. A small group of people taking control over a good portion of Borderland habitants was something of a farce and a false image. She didn't want to subject herself to the same thing that was happening in the real world.

"If you don't go the militants will find you. And it won't be an easy fight if they do..."

Maria thought about her situation. She was handicapped and couldn't fight anyone even if she wanted to. Her leg was still bandaged and she couldn't run as fast as she wanted to. She wouldn't be lucky if the other militants held guns along with Niragi. She had no choice but to go to the lion's den with her chin up.

"Alright... Show me the way."

Nariko motioned for Maria to follow her. It didn't take long for the two women to reach the room from before. The doors leading into the room were just as grand in the daylight as it was in the moonlight. Albeit the sun was up, the door was still as mysterious as before. The taste of her tongue was slightly bitter as she stood outside of the door.

"I can't go in with you," Nariko spoke up behind her, "but good luck."

Maria tsked. Her hand rose to the door and knocked before placing itself on the door knob and opening it. Her head turned towards the center of the room and noticed the disappearance of the table that was previously there. It was moved to the side and replaced with a few people. Each of the executives were standing around each other, Hatter standing by the table with various playing cards displayed across. Maria payed no attention to the others as her main focus was the man who had summoned her.

"Ah! Maria, you're finally here! Please have a seat." His hand motioned towards the single chair in the room.

Without a word Maria sat in the chair, the piece of wood stood under her left arm as she stretched out her injured leg.

"I do apologize for the lack of introductions yesterday but we were quite busy for the night. I am Danma Takeru, but at the Beach I am known as the Hatter."

The man tilted his head as a way of bowing. "You must have questions about the Beach..." he began. She watched his body move to the back of her chair, turning her head forward once it began to strain her neck.

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly. She didn't care too much why it existed but more of how. How could they get the electricity to work? How are they getting fresh water and where are they getting the liquor?

"But don't worry. No matter what, all is welcome to the Beach!" The Hatter leaned closer to the tanned female. She could feel the weight of his arms push down on the chair as she tensed from the closeness. "Any question you have will be answered with this..."

With a snap of his finger two men paced quickly over to the wall behind the people standing in front of it. Each man stopped at each side of the wall and pressed their hands against the parts that stood out. The wall was then shifted to the left and slowly the display of cards littered the wall. Some were crossed out while the majority weren't. It confused Maria more than it worried her.

"Why are there some crossed out?" she voiced.

The Hatter chuckled and walked towards the wall. "A lot of people come to the Beach with one question; how can we end this nightmare?"

Maria noticed how Hatter dodged her question with one of his own. She grew suspicious of the sidestep.

The Hatter walked around Maria. Once a few steps in front of the wall his arms raised as if he was praying to the wall before him. "There's only one way to truly end this nightmare..." There was a slight pause in his words that made Maria uneasy. "We have to clear the games... and collect all of the playing cards."

Maria used the stick that was under her arm to straighten her back. Her hand slightly wavered but soon found its grip on the brown wood.

"So? Collect all the cards and what happens then?"

"One person gets to leave..."

Maria sat quietly behind him, waiting for him to continue his explanation.

"It's nearly impossible to collect all 52 cards with just one person. That's why, it's better that everyone works together to obtain the cards so that each of us, one by one, can leave this country..."

The Hatter turned to look at the injured girl still seated in the chair. She couldn't see his eyes through the sunglasses that he wore but she could feel the intensity of his eyes through them.

"And how can you be so sure that it'll work? No one in this god damn place knows what the hell is going on, let alone how the hell to get out."

The Hatter smirked and made his way over to the table. He sat on it, one leg still on the floor while the other dangled from the table.

"I can't reveal everything, but I do have a credible source." The Hatter stood up from the table and stepped in front of Maria. Her eyes raised to meet his but tsked once she realized his glasses were in the way of his eyes. "But I know that you'll do your part in helping us collect our cards... though you don't seem to have any?"

"I don't carry them on me..."

"Such a shame..." one of the men standing to the side dropped what looked to be one of the phones the games provided. Maria recognized it as the one from her last game and raised her eyebrows at the piece of technology. "I had An bring your valuables in my room until you awakened. Though, the only items you seem to have on you were your bat and phone."

Maria's head tilted to the side, resting her head on her left hand at the oddness.

"Hmm..."

Maria looked away, her eyes focusing on her injured leg that was sprawled in front of her. She processed the Hatter's words but realized there was one thing off that she noticed from his speech.

"Wait... why did you call this a country?" she questioned, looking back up at his glasses.

"We've been issued visas...," he pointed at her and walked away back to the wall of cards, "it's been hypothesized that we've entered this country on accident, therefore we've been given visas for our stay. If we came here accidentally, then there's a way for us to return."

"That's a pretty big hypothesis... But I can't blame you for it, with how everything is set up, that's the best hypothesis yet..." Her left hand mindlessly tapped on the wood that she held. Her mind went back to her apartment and the cards that she left on the table before she left. Her mind wondered over to the cards she had collected. She knew that she needed to play another game, she didn't need the phone that the games provided to remind her.

Her stomach growled from hunger, her face contorting into a grimace upon the realization of not eating. She was too distracted with surviving that she never had a chance to eat something. She spoke trying to distract herself from it.

"How the hell is there working electricity anyway?"

"Gas fuels are used to power the electricity as well as using the rainwater for our water supply," An spoke up.

Maria eyed her and noticed that she was standing in the middle of the room, no longer standing by the side of the table as well as the woman with the black skirt. Men stood on the outskirts of the room, as if they were blending in with the wall with their tacky beach shirts. Maria also noticed that the man with glasses stood to the side near the table, while some of the others that she saw last night were not in the room.

"We even have secure firearms around the country," Hatter motioned. "Only the martial sect are allowed to have firearms."

The door to the room opened and Maria lifted her head from her hand to see who was entering. A frown grew once she saw the familiar smirk on an irritating face following after the familiar man with the cargo pants.

"While it may be true that we are to unite and collect the cards..." he continued, taking Maria's eyes away from the two executives, "there are three rules in this Utopian Beach. Rule number one: always wear a swimsuit; you can't hide firearms which makes the Beach the safest place there is! You're free to drink, take drugs or even have sex if you want! Rule number two," Hatter walked back over to the wall of cards, facing away from the injured woman who rested behind him, "All playing cards belong to the Beach. The more cards you collect, the higher the number you will have at the Beach. Once everyone collects enough duplicate cards, soon everyone on the Beach will be able to leave."

Hatter then began pacing back and forth in front of Maria. That same bitter taste was coating itself on her mouth as he explained the rules. She couldn't help but feel that this was all a lie, that it was just something that he was feeding everyone to make everything seem better than it actually was. It was irking every fiber of her being.

"And lastly, rule number three: death to all traitors. Everyone vowed to help the first person to go back, those who don't will never be forgiven by the Beach." Hatter turned to face Maria once more. She noticed, with the angle of the sun, that his eyes were more intense than she realized. It was as if this was his last form of hope that he was giving himself. She knew he was lying to himself. She knew that he was in pain. She knew he was hiding his pain for the sake of the people of the Beach.

Although she didn't agree with his extremities, she understood him. She understood that he was doing this to give everyone some form of hope.

Maria chuckled with disdain and looked away. She could feel eyes on her from every angle.

"I don't give a damn about leaving any time soon. But I can see the hope in your eyes... I've said this once before... but because I understand what you're trying to do I'll say it again... Hope is the worse feeling that humans can have. The only thing hope is good for, is nothing."

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A heavy and irritated sigh escaped Maria. She didn't understand why everyone, or Hatter, decided to subject themselves to the fantasy she was witnessing in her lawn chair under the trees.

She had willingly agreed to becoming a part of a "Utopia" even though she didn't believe it to be one. She didn't believe that there could be one. But there was something about Hatter that she saw in herself. Maybe it was the fact that he was trying to fill a hole that was too deep to fill that made her empathize with him. Or maybe it was because he was so desperate to get his life back that reminded her of w. She knew what it was like to try so hard for something she knew was impossible.

But it was all a lie. It was all a form of escapism. It was all a form of hope for a new life that they could never reach. She couldn't blame them as well. They had found happiness and relief in their escapism, something that she could never accomplish. Maria had experienced too much for her to dive into her deepest dreams and fantasies.

She grew jealous under the tree. Her irritation and hatred for everyone's partying grew into jealousy as she realized that they had a way to escape, unlike her. They had a way to find some form of happiness, unlike her. She tsked as she threw her can of beans to the ground and grabbed her stick from the side of the chair. A small gasp of pain escape as she moved her leg too fast.

"Damn it..." she mumbled. She looked at her leg. It was going to be a pain if the game she was going to play involved running.

The sun set next to the trees causing Maria to shield her eyes from the suns bright rays. The golden orange globe shined bright as she walked back inside. Maria was glad that she was allowed to keep her leggings on until her leg had healed. Her sports bra made it convenient for her to not change into a bikini top.

She looked at her key that displayed the number 084. It didn't matter to her whether she left first or last. Either way, she would be living in a hell whether she was in the Borderlands or the real world.

"Hey," a familiar female voice spoke next to Maria. "So you're number 84..." Maria continued walking without looking at the girl that followed closely to her. "It's not a very high number. How many games have you played until now?"

"How many games have you played until now, Maria?" Hatter asked. He eyed her through his sunglasses. She knew he was staring intently at her, but she didn't pay attention as she stood by the door.

"11," she responded shortly.

"11... How long have you been here in the Borderlands?" he questioned.

Maria didn't respond. "She's been here a little over two months..." Niragi cockily answered.

The red headed woman kept her body faced towards the door. Her hand raised to open it but stopped after Hatter began speaking again.

"Since you will be joining this Utopia, we will be needing you cards..."

"Otherwise?"

"Rule Number Three: Death to all traitors..."

A small squeak came from her mouth. A squeak that was trying to hide a small bout of laughter caused the others in the room to smirk. Their smirks slowly disappeared once they heard her laughter.

"I'll make you a deal... Keep me alive in tonights game and you can get my cards." Maria looked over to the wall with the crossed out cards and looked at the ones they didn't have.

"And what the hell makes you so special to keep alive?" one of the men on the wall growled.

"From the top of my head... I have one of the diamonds, one of the clubs and two of the hearts that you need."

"Well well well... We will keep you safe as much as the games allow us to."

"Maria?" Nariko worryingly spoke.

"11," Maria responded after remembering the conversation from earlier, "I'll show you later, I don't have my cards on me..."

"You don't have your cards on you? But people normally keep their cards on them..."

Maria continued walking with the slightly shorter female. Nariko was questioning her on many things, causing her irritation levels to rise as each question was thrown at her.

"Nariko, please stop talking, my head is going to burst."

The woman quietly shut her mouth. Maria noticed a small blush on the females face as she looked away in embarrassment. Another sigh escaped her lips as she turned

The sun began slowly falling down in the horizon as Maria and Nariko made their way into the building. The main hall was massive in structure and the atmosphere was the same as outside. The loud music from both inside the building and outside made its way to Maria's sensitive ears. She winced slightly from the pounding of the bass that reverberated through the walls.

Her eyes wondered the big room and noticed a figure hiding in the shadows. She couldn't tell what they were wearing, whether it was a sweater or if they were completely shirtless but she could feel the hatred radiating from their body. Their posture changed and looked as if they were turning around.

"Nariko?" Maria questioned without looking away from the figure.

"Yeah?"

"Would you like to help me get my bat?"

Nariko looked confused. "Why would you need your bat?"

"Just in case I need it for the game tonight..." she muttered, her eyes still trained on the figure ahead.

A siren in the air took her attention from the figure in the shadows as she looked around the room to find the speakers that was blaring such an awful sound.

"What the fuck is that?!" Maria choked out.

"It's almost game time. Everyone should be gathering in here in a moment... "

"Is this where they tell us which groups we're in for the games?"

"Yes. But first everyone gathers here to hear what Hatter has to say before we all leave."

Maria heard multiple feet stepping into the room as well as the sound of cheers. Even with the music being paused, the sound of laughter and chatter grew louder than the music itself. Maria grabbed Nariko's wrist and dragged her into a corner of the room, opposite from where the figure stood before. People passed them, not caring enough to stop and stare.

"Hey guys!" Sota waved over to the women as he ran over to them. "Why are you standing so far back?"

"Maria," Nariko pointed.

Sota looked to Maria. "You really don't like being noticed do you?"

"I'd prefer not to be noticed, whether it's good or bad..."

"Well you're gonna be a party pooper..." he mumbled loud enough for Maria to hear.

Soon the crowd of people gathered in the main hall. A few of the executives and what looked to be body guards stood at the second floor of the main hall behind Hatter. Everyone beneath him began cheering his name and pumping their fists in the air. A small smile adorned Hatter's face.

"My comrades!" The room grew silence as he began, "The time has come again tonight. But don't falter! "

Maria listened to Hatter's speech with intensity. Face their fears? Face calamity? Have courage? Maria knew that he was feeding nonsense to the people that surrounded her. She tsked and looked away from the man that called himself number one and noticed a different set of eyes staring back at her. It wasn't the same figure from before but she did recognize him to be one of the executives from the previous night.

Both continued staring at each other, none wavering until the executive decided to give a mocking wave to the tanned female. Maria's brows furrowed. She leaned against the pillar on her left and looked back at Hatter finishing his speech.

It wasn't long until Maria's attention divert from everyone's cheering again. She noticed some were holding pieces of paper, more so the people in front of the crowd. Maria turned to Nariko, a questioning look on her face.

"What are the papers?"

"They're our assigned groups. Each paper has a number on it for which car to get into."

"Where are they getting the papers with their numbers?"

"They're handed out to those who need to play a game. They should be at the front of the crowd..."

"Do any of you need to play a game tonight?"

"No. We have a few days from the game we played before we caught you."

Maria nodded a farewell and walked over to the small group of people that handed out the assigned groups for the games. Maria grabbed hers, not bothering to acknowledge the person holding it and walked back over to where she left Sota and Nariko, only to see that both were no longer standing there.

"Shit... where the hell am I supposed to go...?" Maria muttered out.

"Follow me."

Hey everyone. Thank you once again for being patient. I just recently got a job which means that my free schedule is no longer free. I will still try to upload once a month but if I can't I will try to upload as much as possible.