Simon turned to Amber.
"D…did you not see that?!" He asked.
"See what? All I saw was the doctor. You heard what he said, right?"
Simon looked around.
"I'm going crazy." He mumbled, "This is SO weird. I swear, I saw that girl! She was right in my face!"
"Are you okay? You haven't slept well the past few nights, so you could easily just be seeing things."
"I know what I saw!"
"Maybe you should take a nap today." Amber suggested.
Simon slapped himself.
"Get a hold of yourself, you wuss!" He fussed, "Right. I'll just…"
"You'll just go home and take a nap."
Simon paused and nodded.
"You'll take a nap, right?"
Simon smiled, but there was no response.
"Simon, I need a yes out of you."
"...y..yes. I'll…" He cleared his throat. "Take a nap."
"Good. Then shall we get going?"
At home, Simon sighed and fell face first into his pillow.
What is going on anymore?
Footsteps trailed into his room. Really slow and forceful steps. Simon rolled onto his back and sighed.
"You can't just walk in while I'm trying to take the stupid…" Simon paused to squint at Amber. "What?"
They upheld the stare for a moment. Simon's stomach dropped. She's never done THIS before…
A searing headache began to set in.
"H…hello?" Simon called out. "Can you show me what you've got behind y-your back, p-please?" He stuttered. Please don't be what I think it is.
Amber's gaze remained unbroken. Simon moved his leg. Amber, almost in reply, took a step toward the end of Simon's bed.
"I don't know what you're doing, but I'm going to sleep… so goodnight." Simon turned to his side and closed both eyes.
This is so freaking stupid, Simon. His mind scolded, She could be about to hurt herself again. She could be about to hurt y-
A weighted mass of some kind stood on the end of Simon's bed, interrupting his thought process. Simon turned on his back again and opened his eyes.
"Amber, what the he-" He froze. He frowned at Amber, who sat at the edge of his bed on her hands and knees.
"Come on, man." Simon chuckled, 'You told me to take a nap, now you wanna get freaky?"
After a tense silence, Simon spoke again.
"...Hello?"
Amber began to advance.
"I mean… I could waste a few minutes, but you insisted I take a n-"
Amber lunged and pinned Simon to the bed. As Simon went to act, Amber brandished his hunting knife and pointed it towards him.
They sat still for a moment. Amber slowly began to lean in, presumably for a kiss. Her kiss met Simon's hand as he grabbed her and threw her off his bed. Simon rolled off, shut and locked the door, snagged his keys, and slapped himself in the face.
"The woman slashed the tires…" Simon gasped as he grasped his forehead in disbelief.
With the escape option ruled out, Simon went back inside and made sure Amber couldn't escape. He didn't bother to notice the absence of his headache. He tried contacting the police, which turned out to be impossible with the scraps of his phone. He tried the MVP comms. Nobody responded.
Eventually, night fell. Simon went to Amber's room and barricaded the door.
Just a few winks shouldn't hurt… He rationalized, before nodding off.
His beauty sleep was horribly disturbed when he heard a door being kicked open.
"Simon, why'd you lock me in?" Amber called in a sing-songy tone. "All I wanted was a kiss…"
Simon fought the urge to respond and held still.
Another door flew open.
"I'm just a harmless princess, no need to be scared!"
Silence fell.
Simon looked ahead at the lamp at the end of the room.
No. That'll give me away FAST.
All he could do was wait until help arrived.
Who am I kidding? He thought, This is just some sick joke Amber is playing on me… right?
A hot tear ran down his face. Help… will come soon, right? There has to be some hope left.
With a lack of options ahead, he cried himself to sleep.
Amber and the others practically poured out from the cooped up escape pod and onto the floor.
"Oh, dusty MVP base floor, how I've missed you!" L cried as he made dust angels on the floor.
"Chill out, it's only been a few days since the drive incident." Amber said as she passed L.
"Welcome!" Beta Captain greeted as he strolled in. "...Back! Welcome back!"
He shook Beta Simon's hand and approached the rest of them.
"I understand that you guys are on our side, yes?"
Everyone gave some sign of affirmation.
"Great! We even got some Gamma strays!"
"Cap, not-you threw the cards on the floor again- Hey!" Beta 3 walked in and noticed L. "That's a scary resemblance you got there…"
"Gee, thanks." L deadpanned.
"You guys are all just spitting images of our people." Amber noted, before gasping. "Wait, do you guys have Simon?"
"You guys have Simon?" Beta Simon repeated.
"You probably shouldn't bother yourself." Beta Cap paused to laugh at his stupid joke. "He's not in the best shape."
"Simon? In bad shape?" Amber chuckled, "That man is indestructible, I would know!"
"He sure acted like he was." The captain replied as he entered the room. "L, Alph, Amber, it's a pleasure to see you guys again."
"Captain?" L gasped, "But-"
"I died, I know." The captain shrugged. "3 filled me in."
"3 wasn't there for the…" Amber paused, "finale."
"Finale?"
"We can talk about that later." Amber dismissed as she advanced toward the door.
The captain walked ahead and stopped at the room Simon sat in.
"You can't really talk to him, soo…" He threw open the door and sighed. "Wrong door."
He opened another one.
"God, why is your base so disorganized, where's Simon's room?"
Beta Cap opened a third door.
"Right this way."
Amber entered the room and winced as she saw Simon.
"Were his eyes always like that?"
Simon looked up and his eyes went wide.
Beta Simon slid past Amber and to Simon's bedside.
"Good lord…" He whispered. "Life has not been kind to this man."
"Or any of us." L grumbled.
"Come on, let's let him rest." The captain said as he influenced everyone out.
L made it to the lounge first. He halted.
"3?"
"What?" 3 replied, "And NO, I am not playing any more BS with you!"
"I don't know how to play BS." L admitted.
"Then how-" 3 turned and her face lit up. "Oh my goodness!"
Everyone else entered as 3 swept L into a very tight hug.
"Good to see you too, 3." He said as he awkwardly returned the favor.
"Oh, you… person!" 3 said as she pointed to Amber.
"Am I that forgettable?!" Amber fussed.
Alph walked in.
"Oh." Alph smiled and pretended to hug the captain. "Hi 3."
3 snatched Alph into the group hug as well.
"The group's all together again!"
"I wish somebody would hug me like that." Beta L complained.
During the happy greeting commotion, Amber snuck away to Simon's room.
She stood in the doorway and they held eye contact for a second. After a moment, Simon rolled on his side and closed his eyes.
Amber climbed onto the end of Simon's bed. "Hey, bud. I haven't seen you in a while."
Simon rolled back onto his back and opened his eyes. They were laced with a kind of fear Amber had never seen before.
"Woah. I… I don't bite. Unless it's really-"
Simon flinched.
Amber put her hands on his shoulders.
"I'm right here, pal. I don't know if you hate me or not, but I really don't mean any harm."
She took a hand off Simon's shoulder and closed in for the kiss… which connected to Simon's hand as he threw her off the bed.
Amber stood and sighed.
"All I wanted was a kiss…" She groaned.
Simon didn't stir. His gaze remained locked to Amber.
"I'm sorry, Simon." Amber looked up and shook off the guilt of knowing he wouldn't respond. "I'll let you sleep."
Mart and Dave sat in the corner of the lounge.
"This is the good side?" Dave asked. "You guys need to decorate your walls or something!"
"You don't get souvenirs here like you do at Gamma." Beta 3 replied, "So… sorry?"
Beta Cap turned to Beta 3, his eyes now wide.
"Speaking of Gamma… we've been getting reports of someone escaping during sleeping periods to give away sensitive MVP information." Beta Cap smirked. "Care to explain where you've been going, 3?"
Beta 3 blanched.
"Wh… what?"
"There's no coincidences. Where have you been going during sleeping periods, 3?"
Everyone's focus landed on Beta 3.
"Uhh…"
Things aren't looking too good for Simon... or Beta 3. More so Simon.
Beta 3 might have to cook up a quick lie if she wants to keep her head. And Simon... needs desperate help.
And with that, let's... talk about my tumblr for a sec. Yeah, I forgot that place existed. Anyway... I'm active on tumblr again. And I've got beans to spill related to the lore and background of the MVPs. So come by if you want.
And with that... I'll see you next chapter, where someone else will visit Simon's illusion. Wait, was I supposed to-