Welp I havent been on in over a month and the first one I write for is the one that no one reads but I mean hey: shout out to PsychoPyro for being there for me and being beast, this is entirely for you and I'm so sorry for your grievances, this wont even put a dent in the healing but I want you to know this means that out there someone is thinking of you:

I was falling and all I could remember was wanting it to stop. And it did. I never hit anything solid though. My body never met an actual physical opposing force, the type that stops your body, the thing that makes you stop falling, as it had done all the other times previously. It all just stopped in a way that made my body feel like it was suspended with a cord, stilling me midflight. Although, there was no focal point, like how when I was younger I'd watch the rabbit's necks get snapped from the pull of the rope on that one centered spot. There was nothing of the sort.

Slowly, I opened my eyes, not quite sure what I was expecting. But maybe after the last jump, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to expect, as if there was a new standard that these places had to meet.

First thing: I was floating but that's redundant isn't it?

Second thing: I don't actually think I was floating, which is contradicting the first thing, isn't it?

I tried pushing down my arms but it was like pushing against a solid rock: definitive and unyielding, as if I was lying on a floor. Only there was nothing under me just as my original senses told me. All around was a kind of metallic gray color that looked like it was oiled over with a dark blue, the kind of color I had only seen in the generated electronics of the Capital. For a moment I laid there, thinking back on how the swamps made me homesick and wondered on how maybe that's how Sasori was feeling right now… Oh.

I jumped up; ignoring the way my stomach felt like it had dropped down into my ankles at the sensation of my mind telling me jumping on nothing would lead to falling into nothing. I didn't fall. My foot hit an equivalent to a solid surface but I was already busy glancing all around in the 'directions' I could think to look through. It was like I was the only thing that actually existed in this world and I mean the only thing. Sasori wasn't here. "Sasori, my man?" I called out, taking a few steps… forward I guess, I mean did a real and distinct direction even exist here?

There was no answer. I glanced down at my Jumper, holding out my wrist, there was a faint light coming from it but no indicator, no pointer. But the screen wasn't empty. There were weird thin green lines going both vertical and horizontal, a sort of empty grid. I could feel my upper lip press into the lower one, the action feeling like rubbing sandpapers against each other from them being so chapped.

As I looked around, my other hand came to tear at the skin on my lip, peeling away the rough skin. The dead skin embedded itself within my fingernails. Thoughtfully, I gazed back down at my hand before using my thumb to, almost manically, sweep away and remove the flakes. In an almost trancelike state I watched the virtually translucent skin float down… and down… and down past my feet. It kept floating until I lost sight of it. I bent down and tried reaching past my foot but was stopped by an invisible force… What was going on?

"SASORI!" I yelled once more. Still there was silence. I didn't fall and hit my head did I in the actual world? This was reality right? This was a location. This was a part of the race… right? I rolled my shoulders back, feeling the blades tighten as they attempted to kiss. I froze in that position. I should've been sore but there wasn't really any discomfort. This didn't make any sense. None of it. It all felt more digital than real, but I guess there was only one way to find out.

I brought my thumb up to my teeth before opening my mouth and biting down with my canines tearing into the meaty flesh. There was a sharp pain and I could feel the droplets of blood inking out. I held out my arm and turned my hand over, watching a couple blood droplets spill over and fall, just as the skin had, into the abyss. So I was awake. It was a relief though, maybe if I focused on that thread of thought because that meant Sasori was healed as well as he had been very badly injured and would've lagged us down. Maybe after that realization occurred I began to see this, not as a level of the race but as a rest zone…. Still I was alone and I needed to change that, but how?

"ZETSU!" A voice wailed, impossibly close. My head turned so fast that I wasn't sure for a second whether my neck would snap or not and I felt slight whiplash. It wasn't Sasori but the voice was familiar, if only faintly so. I had heard it once all those nights ago in the beginning of the race and that felt like an eternity ago. The Team Two guy was here as well but I couldn't see him. Even when looking in the direction at a voice that sounded not more than several meters away, I couldn't see the owner.

I considered my options, to respond or not to respond, but thinking about it, did I really have an option? If anything else at least it wasn't Hidan's voice… "Hey, Team Two, over here, un!"

There was a yelp that startled me even more and afterwards I had to fight against rolling my eyes, I mean I couldn't see him but that didn't mean he couldn't see me. "Mystical Voice Man, you gave Tobi such a fright!" The voice wheezed breathlessly, as if I had frightened the air from his very body.

I stifled the giant sigh at the base of my throat, making it tickle. This could get irritating real fast. "Tobi, is that your name, un?" I asked, not sure if I was keeping the irritation out or if that even mattered as he was so dense sounding. Was this how Sasori felt talking to me? And if so that was more than slightly offensive.

"Yes, Voice Man, but where are you?" was the shrill response.

I cocked my head taking a few steps in the direction of the response, "You can't see me either can you?" I knew the answer already, it was obvious enough.

"Uhhh-" I could practically hear the air swooshing as he turned in all directions "- no, Voice Man, Tobi can't." By the end of his response I had come to where I could almost hear the vibrations of his loud voice. Tentatively I reached out and tried to swipe across the air in front of me, and almost retracted from surprise, as it was stopped, feeling like I had made contact with his ribcage. There was another piercing cry, "VOICE MAN, IS THAT YOU?!" The voice wailed.

I retracted my hand this time, curling my fingers tightly into my palm, "Yeah, Tobi, it was me… you can't see me still, un?"

"Not in the slightest!"

I thought this over, "Tobi, cut across your arm in a swiping horizontal motion, got it?"

There was a murmur of tentativeness before it felt like a wrist smacked into my arm. He squealed. I grabbed onto his invisible arm, his scream got louder. "TOBI IS SO SORRY, TOBI DIDN'T MEAN TO. TOBI WAS ONLY DOING AS VOICE MAN ASKED."

I rolled my eyes this time and let go, "It's alright Tobi"… this was weird. Where was Sasori when I needed him and his quick wit? It was like he had this stuff haywire into his brain because he came up with the explanation impossibly quick. I needed to find him… no I wanted to find him to be more specific but how would I do that?

From behind there was a faint glowing yellow light. I can't even begin to describe the confusion as to what was even happening and this predicament itself. I slowly looked over my shoulder, not sure what I was prepared for in that moment. It was a spiral staircase bathed in the faint light… leading to nowhere. Of course it was. Fuck. I looked at it for a while before letting out a long sigh. I was going to be here forever. Forever stuck in the abyss with Team Two, not how I thought it'd go but oh well.

But despite the uncanny look of being not helpful, that staircase was the only place I could go. Literally. I turned back over to look at again… nothing. This place was messing with my head. "Tobi, hold onto my shoulder, okay? There's a flight of stairs over there- we're going to go up them, un."

"Wha-wha but Tobi can't see you or the stairs!"

"Trust me then Tobi."

"Ri-ight." He responded shakily. I opened my mouth to respond, that maybe he shouldn't so readily trust someone on an opposing team but then closed it, tasting the stale air, realizing that saying that wouldn't actually get him to listen to me. "… But where's your shoulder?"

"Ugh, uh I'm standing in front of you so just grope for it okay? OW. FUCK. TOBI THOSE ARE MY Eyes. NO-NOT THERE-OW GOD- FUCKING HELL- TOBI! WAIT! YES! THERE! Okay, we're making progress." I said as I rubbed the heel of my palm into my eyes.

His hand, although vicelike in nature, was on my shoulder. I awkwardly turned over, making sure to keep his hand on my shoulder so that I didn't have to deal with this mess again, and began making my way over to the stairs. The stairs weren't anything special I observed as I made my way over. Nothing like what we had on ground level, as in they looked stable and not liable to crash down any moment you make too long of a stop on one of them, but at the same time they weren't anything extravagant, or so what I've seen to be on the levels of the Capital's.

I made our way to the base, pausing only to say "We're here. I'm going to start going up them, follow closely, and try not to fall, I won't be able to help you but at the same time, don't worry too much. They aren't high, maybe a couple stories."

"Stories? Why are there books on here?" He sounded ignorant and for that I disliked him in that moment.

"Just don't fall, un." I snapped. I closed my eyes and took a deep calming breath before reaching over on the inner side's and grabbed the iron-wrought railing. It felt like rustic ice- my hand tightened its hold. The last sigh I did, I could feel my shoulders sag and Tobi grip even tighter with the movement and then I began stepping upwards. As I said: they were normal stairs. Nothing spectacular happened. No explosions. We didn't fall. We made our way up. Tobi only slipped twice and although I made no motions to help him, it seemed like he righted himself each time because his hand never left my shoulder.

At the top there was nothing still, it didn't look any different and if not for being at the top, I would've argued that we hadn't gone anywhere. I almost stepped off the last step before remembering the falling of my skin and blood. I glanced down and lifted my foot before tentatively placing it down. I don't know if I reassured or not by the fact that it hit something solid as well. Sighing I walked off the steps and when I made the distance that I knew Tobi was off the stairs as well I turned around. The stares weren't there and I suspected that I was actually suspecting that one.

"Woaaaah, Voice Man, this place is amazing!"

I turned around, lip curled in annoyance. Was he mocking me? "What the fuck do you mean Tobi? It's the SAME FUCKING THING, UN!"

His hand loosened for a moment off my shoulder in fear, "N-no it's not! It's-amazing! Tobi's-never-seen-anything-like-it! Honestly!" He said the words so fast they jumbled together.

My patience was running out and I was in no mood to deal with this kid, "Stop lying or I'll kill you, Tobi!"

Tobi screamed desperately. "VOICE MAN! TOBI WOULDN'T LIE TO VOICE MAN WHO HELPED HIM. HONESTLY-Wait, Mr. Voice Man, We're not alone!" I tensed, my hand going to the whip that had been adjusted to my side and looked around, cursing at not being able to see anything and having to rely on this jokester. "It's a small boy… with red hair… he's running amongst the shapes and stuff… sometimes he disappears-"

"Red hair?" I cut in. Was it Sasori? Couldn't be… Sasori doesn't run. That's when I heard it. The childlike laughter rang some ways away. Sasori doesn't laugh it's not him. There was an ache knowing this in my chest and head.

There was something mingling in with the laughter, words I couldn't make out… "Deidara" It giggled. My name. The kid was saying my name. Over and over again.