Chapter 19: Back to Business

Day Ten

It had finally stopped raining, thankfully.

The left-over puddles had dried up fairly quickly as well.

No one was complaining, of course.

The staff certainly wasn't.

It was an important day, after all.

8:32 A.M. Day Ten

First Floor

Dining Hall

Breakfast was rather quiet. The unspoken jury was still out on whether this or conversation was the preferred mood, but at the least, it definitely beat arguing.

"w-Well," Kelley decided to speak up as everyone finished eating, "does anyone have any plans for t'day?"

"Uh, nothing comes to mind, honestly." Victoria stated, sharing a quick glance with Gary. "Maybe just relax in my room of something of the like."

"Mm, is that what they call it now?" Alexis commented, earning a quick glare from the other girl. "I was planning to look through the Library, find something worth reading." the Brazilian shared, fiddling with her ruby necklace.

"I figured I'd head outside, see if the storm somehow unearthed anything worth finding." Brooke added, before chuckling a little. "If nothing else, I'm probably the most adept at being outside following a storm."

"Because of your talent, or because you're from Florida?" Gary piped up.

"... shut it, you." Brooke deadpanned. She looked back at the Irish girl. "Did you have anything planned, Kelley?"

"I was tinkin' of maybe practicin' m'skills at billiards, but otherwise, nothing much, I'll admit." The Banshee explained.

"That's fair." the Floridian acknowledged.

"I was going to check on the graveyard, see if the headstones can be maintained. Someone has to." Sabishī informed everyone.

"Well, I had no plans for today. If you want, I could help." Eric offered, prompting a smile from the Undertaker.

"I was just going to practice my talent a little in my room." Clarisse shared, cracking her knuckles slightly.

"I have nothing planned." Teresa explained, looking bored as she picked at the remnants of breakfast.

"Same here, honestly." Elle said, feeling uninterested in doing much that day. "Any reason you asked, Kelley?"

The Irish girl chuckled awkwardly. "I-it's nothin' much, really. I was tinkin', why don' we 'ave a get t'ge'er sometime?" Kelley suggested.

"Sounds great!" Victoria responded, smiling. "Let's-"

The sound of someone approaching interrupted them. They all turned to the door.

Sebastian entered the room, a somber look on his face.

"I've been asked to bring everyone to the Courtyard, promptly." The Butler explained.

Looking at each other and deciding they probably didn't have a choice in the matter, the group got up and made their way outside.

8:54 A.M. Day Ten

Outside

Courtyard

The group made its way out to the Courtyard. On the way, they saw Saino carrying Shawn over her shoulder like, well, a misshapen sack of straw. She dumped him unceremoniously on the ground, before turning and resting near the fountain.

In front of the entrance to the Hedge Maze was Kinsei, who stood smirking, his hands over the top of his cane.

"Hello participants!" The Alchemist said cheerfully, looking them over as they assembled around him. "Lovely day we're having, isn't it? So dry too, despite yesterday's rain." He looked around. "actually, how is it so dry?" he mused, before shrugging it off.

"What do you want, Kinsei?" Brooke called out, wanting whatever this was over with.

"Humph. So impatient." The man commented. Nevertheless, he continued. "Well, first off, congratulations are in order!" He smiled cheerfully (to everyone else's confusion and/or dread). "You have all actually managed to go four whole days without anyone dying or getting killed! That's gotta be some kinda record for this group, right?"

Everyone glared at him, unamused.

"Yeesh, tough crowd." He muttered, tapping his cane on the ground. "Anyways, second off, since you've gone so long without killing anybody of your own initiative, we of the Hora Island Mansion Staff have decided to finally get the game moving again."

"w-What are you saying?" Victoria asked, growing nervous.

"I think I'm being quite clear, bandage-wrap. It's that time at last! We are providing, a motive." Kinsei announced excitedly.

Now everyone was getting nervous.

"As some of you may or may not already know," The Alchemist started to explain, pacing in front of the maze entrance, "travel off this island by sea is impossible. The perimeter is guarded by a large kraken, and a swarm of shark-men besides. There are no methods of air travel available to you to leave that way, and obviously you can't leave an island by land. Hence, this."

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out and held up a crystal. It was bigger than his hand, tapered out into dull points at both ends, and was a dark purple in color. Nevertheless, it seemed to have an internal glow to it.

"This beautiful bauble, ladies and gents, is a teleportation crystal, the only one of its kind." He looked down briefly. "I had two, but the prototype kinda teleported off the island last month, so..." He shrugged, continuing. "It's capable of, as the name suggests, teleporting the user large distances. Specifically, it can be used to teleport people off this island." He smirked. "And that privilege will go to exactly one of you."

That was an attention getter. Clarisse looked particularly surprised/incredulous.

"The rules of the motive are simple:" Kinsei continued, continuing to pace around the group, "if someone commits a murder and successfully reaches the center of this hedge maze," he gestured at said maze entrance for emphasis, "without getting caught, they will get to teleport away from the island to freedom, no trial or anything. Everyone else get's to continue the game normally, so if having more than one death on your conscience isn't appealing, you have nothing to worry about. However," he continued, sternly, looking them all in the eye, "this is strictly a 'first come first served' thing; only the first person to do any killing will be allowed to use the crystal if they reach the center of the maze, and that's invalid if any living witnesses catch you in the process of things." He shrugged. "I mean, you could try killing said witness too, see if that helps, but we will intervene if it looks like you'll just kill all your fellow participants and outright end the game now. That you're only allowed to do in trials by not getting correctly voted for, nowhere else."

"Also," he pointed sternly at Teresa (or perhaps just her wings), "no flying in regards to the maze for this motive. Even if you fly to the maze, you drop to the ground once you get there, and you walk through the maze to the center same as anyone else. No exceptions!"

"Oh, and," putting the crystal back in his pocket, the young Momota pulled out what looked like a stereotypical crystal ball, "I've got this, to let me know when somebody inevitably kills and who. So don't just walk in and claim you killed someone, no one likes someone else trying to cheat." He folded his hands behind his back, looking over everyone. "Any questions?"

There was a moment of tense silence. Everyone looked at each other, various emotions playing across their faces.

"Well, I'm gonna camp in the maze until further notice." Turning on his heel, Kinsei walked into the maze, pulling a large backpack from behind the wall and hefting it over his shoulder. "See you all when someone dies!" Waving at the participants like a friend going on a hiking trip, he marched off into the hedge maze.

The group stood for a moment, processing. Yet again the threat of the Killing Game was rearing its head to the forefront of everyone's minds, this time actively enticing its continuation. Just when some people had started to grow complacent, the staff had dropped a bomb onto everything and ruined any status quo before them. The risk was present once again, and the worrying thoughts already running through everyone's heads would not be silenced with ease.

"Well, I guess the get-together's cancelled." Alexis commented, crossing her arms. No one responded. Or disagreed.

9:45 A.M. Day Ten

First Floor

Common Hall

Eric was with Sabishī, resting on the couch. They'd both settled on taking their minds off of the recently-presented motive with some light reading.

"I'll admit, I've never actually read Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde before." The Cryptozoologist shared, reading over the final pages of the famous work.

"Well, what do you think of it?" The Undertaker asked, looking up from her copy of Dracula.

"Honestly, not what I was expecting." The boy admitted, closing the book. "I didn't realize the 'they're the same person' thing was supposed to be a twist."

"Yeah, kinda surprised me too when I first read it." The girl confessed, running a hand through her hair. "I mean, I actually don't mind that pop culture ended up ruining the twist or anything, but, I dunno, I guess the fact that it is a twist can count as a twist?"

"I guess that makes sense." Eric agreed, looking over at her. "So, what about Dracula? Is the book as good as the hype says?"

"Yeah, I think so, actually. It plays things like a big mystery with how everything's covered in different letters and journals from the characters. They don't actually confirm a 'vampire' is at work until, like, halfway through."

"Huh. Shows what I know about classical literature." The American commented.

They were silent for a moment, Sabishī continuing to read.

"I'll admit, I enjoy hanging out with you, Sabi." The boy admitted.

The girl blushed. "Uh, i-I enjoy spending time with you too, Eric."

They had a nice, quiet moment together.

And then the moment was ruined.

With the loud opening of a door, Shawn stalked out of his room and into the Common Hall, his usual deadened scowl on his face.

"Uh, h-hi Shawn." Sabishī awkwardly called out, not expecting to see him after the motive was revealed. "What are you doing here?"

"What? Planning to kill me?" He demanded.

"What? No, obviously not!" Eric insisted.

"Bullshit." Shawn insisted, turning his glare on the two. "Who wouldn't want to target the easiest prey?"

Sabishī tried to stand up. "Look, we just-"

"PISS OFF!" The Scarecrow yelled. The Undertaker meeped, falling back onto the couch in surprise.

"Hey! Don't yell at her!" The Cryptozoologist yelled, standing up from the couch. "And if you want to be an ass, how do we know you won't try to kill someone, huh? It's not like you actually care about anyone here."

"Oh like I could!" The straw man responded, glaring down at the boy. "I'm a walking pack of straw! I can't even lift a chair, much less kill someone! I'm just waiting to die as is, which is-" he stopped himself, running a hand over his mouth.

He wasn't going to blab about his past.

Not again.

Not even about...

"Whatever." Shawn muttered. "I'm going to check out some books before I bury myself in my room again. Hopefully someone else will get themselves killed before me." He stalked off, gloved hands twitching.

"... I'm gonna be honest, I really don't like him." Sabishī confessed.

"I'm pretty sure no one does." Eric admitted, sitting back down.

"Soooo, I brought some more books." The Undertaker digressed, holding up a copy of Frankenstein and The Invisible Man.

"Great." He said, grabbing Frankenstein and opening it up. "... Who's this captain guy?"

Sabishī chuckled.

They continued on, enjoying the silent moment.

10:30 A.M. Day Ten

Outside

Lake

The sky was overcast, leaving a calming gray tint over the surrounding area. Brooke and Kelley were sitting on the dock, legs crossed at the ankles over the edge, just making small talk and enjoying the peaceful atmosphere.

"And then the stink-bomb went off." Brooke concluded, prompting laughter from the Banshee.

"Really?! No' one p'rson ev'n notic'd tha' unt'l then?" The Irish girl asked, amused and slightly incredulous.

"Seriously, yeah. Honestly surprised me too." The American admitted, running a hand through her ponytail.

"Heh, le'it ne'er be said that Americans aren't good fer a laugh."

"I guess so, huh?" Brooke chuckled.

They sat in a comfortable silence as they looked out over the still waters of the lake.

"...D'ya tink we shoul' try an' make a break f'r i'?" Kelley asked quietly, breaking the silence. "Jus', star' runnin' for th' shore an' hope we ge' away from th' islan' wi'ou' dyin'."

"... Tempting, but I'm not sure we can risk that." Brooke countered, shaking her head. "Plus, that would involve leaving the rest behind, probably not the nicest move, I tink." She smirked slightly on the last word.

Kelley looked down at her lap. "Yeah, yer prob'bly righ'." She looked back up, mock glaring at the other girl. "An' no makin' fun o' my accent. Y'don' see me tryin' t' imitate yours, now do you pal?" The last words, predictably, were in an American accent similar to Brooke's own.

"Okay, fair enough." Brooke responded. Then she smirked. "Ah guess mo'kin' an akcen' is kinda rude, ain' it?"

She'd spoken in a Scottish accent that time.

"OI! No mixin' accents, y'Yank!" The offended Irish girl shouted, whacking Brooke's forearm.

The Floridian laughed, holding her hands up in mock defense. "Sorry, sorry!"

Kelley humphed, sticking her nose up in the air. "We Irish 're far ligh'er in tone than th' brutish Scots."

"Duly noted."

Things were silent a moment longer.

"We should go t' a beach when we escape." Kelley suggested suddenly, running a hand through her hair. "I've uh, ne'er been t'the beach." She confessed.

"It's not that interesting, honestly." Brooke said after a moment. "Star Wars II had a point about that sand business."

"Don' le' th' fans here tha'." Kelley joked.

"Good point."

"An' e'en so, I still wanna have th'experience, y'know? Walkin' along th'shoreline, makin' sand castles, creatin' necklaces outta seashells. It may be silly, bu' I always want'd t'make a seashell necklace." Kelley admitted.

"Well, I could probably help make that, especially now." Brooke offered.

"T'anks." The younger girl smiled warmly.

More companionable silence.

Brooke looked down to the hands in her friend's lap. "Y'know, I'll admit, you don't seem the type to have rough spots on your hands."

Kelley looked down at the callouses on her hands. "Oh, those come from workin' in th' garden so much. Tends to leave a mark, ev'n wit' gloves."

"Fair enough, I guess." Brooke acknowledged, looking back out at the lake. Then, casually, "So did you cut yourself on some farming equipment or something as well?"

Kelley started. "w-Wha?"

"Oh, I just noticed, you seem to have a bit of a scar on your right wrist." Brooke explained, keeping her gaze firmly on the water. "Kinda hard to see because of how pale your skin is already, but I managed to notice it all the same." She then repeated, somewhat pointedly, "So, did you get hurt on some farming equipment?"

"... n-No, i-I didn'."

They were silent, neither looking at the other.

"... I refuse to judge others on their lives, but, would you like to talk about it?" The Floridian asked.

Kelley was silent for a minute, looking down at her hands. "... My Da 'ad died rec'ntly. I w's sad, an' a bi' depressed, ta put it mildly. Ma was busy with 'er own grief an' managin' th' farm, an' I start'd spiralin'." She took a shaky breath. "One day, I decided t...ta end it. I took a farmin' sickle from th' shed, and press'd th'blade, hard, against m'wrist." She grabbed the wrist in question tightly. "In th'end, I couldn't go through wi'it, and I managed ta bandage m'self and convince Ma it'd been an accident while trimmin' some plants. a-At least, I tink I convinc'd 'er. Later, I realiz'd Ma would've been devastat'd if I'd act'ully done i'. If I hadn't fel' guilty abou' even considerin' th' idea b'fore, tha' was jus' the nail in the coffin." She breathed in deeply, letting go of her wrist. "So, tha's m'story."

Brooke said nothing. She merely pulled the other girl into a hug. Kelley returned it.

"Promise me we'll ge' ou' o'here. I-I can'jus' leave Ma alone."

"... We'll get out of here. Somehow."

The two friends remained like that for some time, taking comfort in having someone to rely on.

1:23 P.M. Day Ten

First Floor

Billiards Room

Victoria was back to trying to manifest her bandages, with Gary once again providing the emotional support. This time, the target was a collection of billiard balls, and possibly a pool cue (it was nearby, so...).

"Everything ready?" Gary asked.

"I believe so." She responded. She inhaled deeply. "Here we go."

She held her arms out, concentrating once more. She focused on willing the bandages to manifest, to act as they did before.

... Still nothing.

She growled in frustration, kicking the table slightly.

Seriously. What am I missing? She thought to herself, annoyed.

Should I actually take the gloves off? Is that really mandatory for this?

... Ok, it would probably help but...

Gary...

She ran a hand over her mouth, suddenly nervous.

... I ... I could always ask him to leave.

But I have no reason for that. She scolded herself. It would just be...

...why should I hide anything from him? I trust him, don't I?

... yes, I do. So why hide this from him?

... I shouldn't.

...

She took a deep breath, calming herself. Her hands clenched into slightly-shaking fists, before relaxing back to her sides. Then, she turned to face the Egyptologist.

"Gary?" She tried to keep the hesitance out of her voice. She wasn't sure if she succeeded. "I want to show you something."

"Huh? Uh, okay, what?" The boy responded, unsure of what to expect.

Victoria breathed in deeply once more, before raising her forearm up to eye-level. Before her nerves could spring up again, she rolled back her sleeve, then pulled off her glove.

Exposing the criss-crossing scar marks for all the world - for him - to see.

Gary, unsurprisingly, looked shocked. His jaw dropped slightly, though he seemed to be at a loss for words.

"This is the full result of the experiments, it seems." Victoria looked down, unwilling to make eye contact.

The Egyptologist blinked, processing this. "So, those scars are -" He trailed off.

"All across my body from my neck down, yes." She confirmed, gesturing down the length of her body with her ungloved hand. "I'm honestly surprised that there aren't any on my face as well, actually."

"..." Gary remained silent, running a hand over his mouth as he looked over her. "d-Do they hurt, or anything?"

"No thankfully." Victoria admitted, clenching her hand into a fist. "Also a pleasant surprise, that. Leaving me in agony certainly seems like something these people would do."

"That's something, I guess." He ran a hand through his hair.

"... Um, th-this isn't a problem, is it?" She asked nervously.

He looked surprised. "Well, obviously not, why would you ask? It's not like some scars change who you are or anything."

They both could feel the relief flowing out of Victoria. "Oh, uh, good. That, um, actually means a lot to me."

"No problem." Gary insisted, moving closer. "Always happy to help."

"So I've noticed." Victoria chuckled slightly, stepping closer as well. "It's quite appreciated."

They smiled at each other, content in the quiet.

The smiles faded slightly as they realized how close they'd gotten to each other.

Though neither made any move to pull back.

Both were silent, eyes roaming over the other's face. Taking in what was there to be found.

They leaned in.

Their lips met.

After a few intense moments, they finally pulled back, both blushing and smiling.

"v-Victoria," Gary breathed out, keeping his eyes on hers, "I-I realize that a killing game is probably not the best time for this, but, um ... when, we get out of here, do you, maybe, want to uh, s-stay together, o-or something like that?"

She smiled. "Yeah, I think I'd like that quite a lot."

They spent the next several minutes together.

3:28 P.M Day Ten

First Floor

Art Gallery

Alexis was walking through the Art Gallery, looking over the macabre collection. Currently, she was perusing over a model of a parking garage that contained roughly a dozen people viciously murdered. Apparently, this was one of the few art pieces in the room (besides the minotaur and what looked like a twisted mass of car bumpers spun around each other) that the Curator hadn't created (Mackenzie actually didn't know who made it, but according to her it was already in the Gallery when she'd joined the staff). It was a change of pace from all the paintings, at least.

Teresa showed up, wings draped around her like a cape. "Hello, Alexis." She called out, waving lazily in the Brazilian's direction.

"Olá Teresa. What brings you here?" The Latin-American Mythologist asked, mildly curious of the other girl's motivation.

"Well, we don't have any internet in this mansion, so how else am I to see funny cat images?" The Sphinx questioned rhetorically, bee-lining to a certain painting on the wall.

One depicting the rather brutal death of a man with cat ears and tail.

"Didn't have near enough dismemberment, honestly." Mackenzie muttered from where she currently stood (dusting a nearby painting of the Titanic sinking).

Deciding to ignore the Painter's odd comment, Teresa turned back to Alexis. "So, what are your thoughts on this motive?"

"I was about to ask the same thing of you."

"Well, I'll share if you do."

Alexis shrugged. "The idea sounds interesting to be sure," she admitted, walking around the diorama, "but, to be perfectly honest, I think it just ruins things. Letting the killer run away without even a trial, what's the point really?"

Teresa countered. "Honestly, I don't see an issue with the idea. It lets someone get away from this place, at least."

"Really, that's your takeaway?" Alexis actually seemed mildly incredulous at the Sphinx's response.

"Yes, really." Said Sphinx insisted, wings flaring slightly. "Is there a problem?"

"Not at all." The Brazilian responded, casually turning away to look at a model of an island theme park. "To each their own, as they say."

"Hmm." Teresa turned back to the catboy's execution.

They continued looking over the artwork. Mackenzie continued dusting.

4:59 P.M. Day Ten

First Floor

Foyer

Elle was pacing the Entrance Hall when Clarisse entered on her way to the Dining Hall. She stopped when she saw the Paleontologist.

'Well, deja vu.' She thought. Cautiously, she walked over to the other girl.

"Hello, Elle." She called out (silently hoping this one would respond without freaking out).

"Oh, uh, hey Clarisse." Elle responded calmly (that was a relief).

"Would it be a dumb question to ask how you are?" Clarisse asked hesitantly.

She sighed. "I'm alive, that's what matters." She looked over at the Markswoman. "Don't worry, I'm not planning to use the motive, but I am planning to stay alive until we get home. I can't afford not to."

"Good to hear."

Elle looked off in the direction of the Dining Hall. "Heading to dinner, I'm guessing?"

Clarisse nodded. "Yeah, though while your here," she bit her lip, before pushing forward, "I'd actually been wanted to ask something, concerning John."

The Paleontologist flinched a bit, but stayed firm. "w-What?"

"Did John mention anything that could've set off Adrien?" The Markswoman asked, leaning in closer. "Any reason why he'd suddenly decide to kill someone?"

Elle was silent, thinking over that question. "... n-No, actually," Elle explained, "h-he was still confused about that at the time, not that we had time to think on it much. But even now, I can't think of anything either of us did that would make Adrian attack John like that."

"I think there's a reason for that." Clarisse responded quietly, a hand on her chin.

"What?"

The Markswoman shook her head. "I don't want to say anything yet, on the off-chance I actually end up being wrong on this." She nodded in the direction of the door. "C'mon, let's go to dinner. i-If you're hungry, that is."

"... s-Sure. I guess I could eat."

They made their way to the dining hall.

8:32 P.M. Day Ten

Basement

Laboratory

The full staff - sans the uninvited Sebastian or the still-on-duty and heavily caffeine-laden Kinsei - convened in the Laboratory that night.

"So, a full ten days in and we only now give these people a motive." The Executioner commented, arm around Kenzie's waist. "I feel kinda jealous."

"This group has had elements who didn't require any motives to act, or provided their own motives, in a fashion. Our influence only now became required." Jibo explained to the younger staffer.

"Well, is there anything of importance that we should be informed of before proceeding?" Saino asked.

"Nothing more for this current motive, no. The next motive is already in development, so-" Jibo was cut off as he broke out into a coughing fit.

"Sir ..." Syd spoke up, concerned.

"It's fine, it's fine." The Biologist reassured him, recovering. He looked to the Homunculus. "Kuuma, you'll find a shaking cage in the dungeons in the cell near our 'guest'. Please bring that into the prep area for the executions."

"Sure thing, Sir." Answered dutifully the dual-colored boy. He turned for the door.

"And one more thing, Kuuma, this is important." Jibo called out, causing the homunculus to turn back. "Do not, under any circumstances, allow the cage to be opened at any point. Understood?"

"r-Right. Got it." Nodding, the assistant left.

"The rest of you, remain in your current stations. Anything else will be explained when the time comes. Good night." The Biologist dismissed.

Everyone turned in after that. Jibo stayed up working on his projects.

11:47 P.M. Day Ten

Second Floor

Trophy Room

The room was still.

The stuffed bodies of dead Ultimates stared ahead, unseeing.

The sarcophagus stood.

The dolls sat together silently.

The fire was crackling.

The golden spear was missing.

The night continued on.

[11 participants remain]

A/N: Fun fact: originally, Victoria was going to have scars on her face that she covered with make-up, but the set-up of the introduction didn't allow for that. Anyways, find out what the motive does to the cast next chapter.