This chapter is brought to you all by Sakura's amazing artwork and Sempi's cries of pain. Love you both and I hope you all enjoy!

Someone was screaming.

It took Fuwari far too long to realize it was her own voice, sounding far away, as if she were underwater. She was barely paying attention to herself though, her entire body and mind focused as it was on Yoshi.

He was so pale, his face contorted in pain as his breath rattled in his chest. Fuwari clutched at him, her nails digging into his skin, feeling just how cold he was even though he was covered in sweat. His pulse was just barely beating against her thumb.

Fuwari felt her scream give out, replaced with long wet coughs that rattled her entire body instead of just her lungs. She needed to stop coughing, she needed to breathe. Yoshi was counting on her and even if she couldn't pick him up, she could still call for help.

But to do that, she needed to breathe.

On a good day, breathing was a bit of a labor, but one Fuwari was used to living with.

But on bad days and in moments like this, it was impossible to get even a single gasp of air into her lungs.

Tears were falling down her cheeks and that awareness gave her a moment, just a moment, to gulp in a breath of air she desperately needed.

Yoshi's pulse under her fingers slowed to a stop and his chest stopped rising.

"No!" Fuwari screamed, pressing her fingers desperately against his neck, praying she had simply not felt his pulse, that it was all a fluke. But his skin was cool and there was nothing against her fingertips. "No, no, no! Yoshi, you promised, you can't just leave us like this!"

She was babbling. She knew she was babbling, but she still continued, words flowing past her lips uncaringly as she laid Yoshi on the floor of her Talent Room, kneeling beside him. Chiasa had taught her this, hadn't she? She had to count and press down hard enough that his heart actually beat.

1, 2, 3…

"You told Chiasa and I you wouldn't leave us!" Fuwari cried, each word matching a press of her hands, pressing as hard as she could into the center of Yoshi's chest. Was that a crack? She thought that was a good thing. She hoped it was, desperately.

28, 29, 30.

Fuwari tilted Yoshi's head back, opened his mouth and pressed her own against it, blowing in as much air as she could, watching his chest rise and fall.

She pulled back, placing her hands back on his chest and pressing again.

1, 2, 3…

"You never lie to us, was that a lie then? You can't do that, not after everything! Yoshi!" Fuwari sobbed. The rhythm of her hands kept her breathing steady, forcing her to match so she would have some air to give to Yoshi when she finished each round.

28, 29, 30.

Breath. His chest rose and fell.

Repeat.

1, 2, 3…

Tears fell unceasingly as her arms ached, but she couldn't stop, she wouldn't. Not with his life on the line.

28, 29, 30.

Breath. When Fuwari pulled back, she thought that, just for a moment, Yoshi looked older, scars edging dangerously close to his eyes.

"Fuwari!"

She looked up, sobbing in relief as Chiasa ran in. The huntress took the situation in quickly and pushed her aside.

"I can take over, go find the others. Now!" she ordered.

Fuwari obeyed without hesitation, tearing out of the room and running through the labyrinth that was the third floor with abandon. She didn't care where she ended up or how she got there, only that she did.

When Fuwari had come racing towards them all near the stairs that led back down to the second floor, Maria felt both relieved that she found them and terrified of the possibility if she hadn't. Hibiki had taken charge instantly, enlisting Ren and Akihito to help him in case they needed to bring Yoshi back downstairs while he was unresponsive. Jordan had volunteered to lead the way back to Fuwari's Talent Room, begging off Satou as she tried to join them.

"It would be better if you helped the others with Fuwari," Jordan reasoned. "She needs our help right now."

And that had led the rest of them heading back downstairs, making their way to the dining hall where Sayuri prepared tea for them all, making sure Fuwari got a cup first.

"I'm sure Yoshi will be okay," Sayuri smiled gently, taking her own cup as she sat beside Fuwari. "You did the right thing, Fuwari. I'm certain you saved his life."

"Besides, not only did none of us do anything to him, this isn't even real so it doesn't matter," Satou added, which earned her a glare from Nat.

"Hate to break it to you, but it sure as fuck feels real," they scowled. "We're lucky we don't have two fucking perfect victims right now."

"And who's to say none of the imbeciles upstairs are taking advantage of that right now?" Irusu snarked. Maria smacked him in the arm, uncaring of the glare he sent her way.

"Chiasa wouldn't!" Fuwari burst out, her eyes wide as she stared at them all. "Yoshi's…h-he's our—"

A coughing fit interrupted her words and Sayuri and Rinka both supported her until she caught her breath once more. Rinka gently pushed the tea back to the indie filmmaker, helping her to drink some more.

"We know he's important t-to you both," she said as Fuwari took a sip of her tea. "None of us think anyone up there would kill him."

"Betcha said the same thing when the last two bodies dropped too," Satou giggled.

"Just ignore her," Maria sighed, speaking before any other arguments could be made. She glanced to her own side, where Arisu sat silent, almost wraithlike, staring lifelessly into her own tea. "Ari? You okay?"

"I'm…fine," Arisu smiled, though it was obviously forced. She held a book, no, a photo album between her hands, looking torn between holding it close or tossing it aside. "I'm just…lost in thought after we found Player Ren's Talent Room."

"May I have a look?" Maria requested. It was a simple question, but from the look on Arisu's face, there was no doubt it was a far from simple answer. She hesitated for a few moments before nodding in agreement, laying the black album on the table.

Gently, Maria pulled it towards her and flipped to the first page.

"Oh," she gasped as she took in the picture.

The first picture was undeniably Arisu and Tori, both dressed in wedding attire. Tori wore a white dress with gold detailing and a short veil connected to a flower crown she wore on top of her head. Her hair was shorter than Maria had ever pictured it, more resembling the dream she had following that first trial then how she had looked while in the palace. Arisu stood across from her, wearing a white suit with a blue tie, her hair pushed back from the rest of her face. Between the two of them, they held a bouquet of various flowers, decorated with four ace playing cards and two paintbrushes, one dipped in purple and the other in blue. A heart shaped archway of pink roses surrounded them and there was a fountain in the background.

The entire picture was a polaroid and written in the bottom in a curvy handwriting that could belong to Ren was the words 'Arisu and Tori's Wedding!'

"Ari," Maria called, unable to look away, but still wanting to give the game host a chance. "I can stop right now if you want me to."

"No…no. It's okay, Player Maria," Arisu insisted. Maria forced herself to look at her and found a watery eyed smile. "It hurts, but…I want you to see. All of you. I mean, it's the closest we've gotten to the truth of our memories since Nima found us."

Irusu let out a huff of displeasure but did not deny it.

Even still, Maria waited until Arisu nodded in encouragement before she continued flipping.

Photo after photo passed under her gaze and Maria found herself feeling breathless at the sight.

Memories…these were actual memories that they had all had once. There were very few people she didn't recognize—she found a woman who was unfamiliar but that was all, the rest of the people were their class in various combinations. And of course, Tori and Arisu were front and center the most.

They looked so happy, Maria wanted to cry.

"Who's she?" Sayuri asked kindly, pointing at the unfamiliar woman.

"Wakana Kamado, she was my caretaker," Arisu explained, smiling slightly. "My parents…weren't around much, so Wakana ended up raising me. She was a very dear friend."

"And clearly your parents and Tori's were both pieces of shit," Nat scoffed, gazing down at the photos with a keen eye. "I don't see any other strangers after all."

"Tori's dad passed away a long time ago," Arisu answered, her expression darkening. "But her mother…"

"I…I've spent my entire life being trapped inside one building and when it seems like I finally escaped, I wake up to this…this hell where I'm trapped again with no escape! I just want my freedom! That's it!"

Maria shivered, remembering those desperate words after she had marked Tori for death. Whatever it was Tori's mother had done to her, it had clearly scarred her irrevocably.

"S-Still, it's a beautiful wedding," Rinka complimented, smiling lightly. Arisu wore a small smile, though she didn't say anything in response. Maria couldn't blame her, the ache of memories you were missing was something she was becoming all too familiar with.

"Oh! Look how cute we all are! Me especially," Satou grinned as she pointed to a photo of the entire class, with Tori and Arisu in the center.

And they were, all of them dressed to the nines and smiling for the camera, even Nat and Irusu. They all looked so happy and Maria couldn't help but wonder just how long before the end this was. How much time had they had between this snapshot of happiness and the end of it all, where they all woke up here with no memory of the years between?

The dining hall doors burst open then and Chiasa marched in, alone.

"Chiasa!" Fuwari shouted, racing over to the huntress with wide, panicked eyes. "How's Yoshi, is he—"

"He's fine," Chiasa cut her off. She grasped Fuwari's trembling hands with the most gentle touch Maria could remember seeing from her, pulling the indie filmmaker close. "He's all right. We got him back."

"Oh…thank god," Fuwari sobbed, practically collapsing against Chiasa. Maria couldn't blame her, she felt ready to collapse in relief herself.

"The boys are all in Yoshi's room, making sure he's comfortable. Hibiki will probably stay with him for the night, but he should be fine," Chiasa elaborated.

"Then can I leave?" Irusu questioned, uncaring of how the others glared at him. Chiasa rolled her eyes and waved him off, which he did without delay. Nat spat a series of curses that Maria couldn't even begin to comprehend, only knowing the meaning by how they spoke.

"Well, at least we're all okay," Maria sighed, standing up and brushing her skirt off, just to have something to do with her hands. "Let's wait until Yoshi's doing better to go over everything, though. Is that okay with everyone?"

They all voiced their agreement before breaking for now, which Maria appreciated for more reasons than one.

There was something she wanted to look into, after all.

If anyone had told Akihito that a stage could be a bedroom, he'd probably have wanted to see it just for the hell of it.

Of course, what he imagined and what he was currently seeing were two completely different things.

Yoshi's bedroom was entirely Greek in theme, with wide white columns supporting the walls and his bed resting on a stage. The walls had an audience from something out of textbooks, stretching up to the painted on sky so anyone seated there could look down and see everything happening on stage. The wardrobe and dresser were littered with rocks that gave them both the appearance of ruins, as if Yoshi's room was a preserved archaeological site.

"You won't find anything to steal, stop staring," the man in question ordered. Akihito let out a bright laugh, turning to face Yoshi where he laid on his bed, far too pale but so very alive.

"Me? Why, I would never!" he declared. Hibiki rolled his eyes and muttered something that suspiciously sounded like 'fucking liar' under his breath, but Akihito ignored him for now. Yoshi was smiling through his exhaustion and that made things worth it.

"Don't you have somewhere else to be?" Hibiki questioned, glaring at Akihito. Ren and Jordan had already left when Hibiki said they could (read: kicked them out), but Akihito had stubbornly stayed where he was.

"Nope!" he grinned, jumping onto the side of Yoshi's bed. "I'm more curious as to what happened to our fearless leader, aren't you?"

Hibiki didn't say a word, simply glaring at Akihito for calling him out on it as he did. Akihito grinned unrepentantly.

"I expected as much," Yoshi smiled slightly, shifting just a bit. Hibiki moved as soon as he did, carefully supporting the jeweler's back as he was sat up against his headboard. "I suppose now is a good time to speak of it, lest I forget before I tell everyone else what I've recalled."

"What you recalled…Chief, are you saying—" Hibiki started to ask.

"I remembered," Yoshi confirmed. Akihito's heart thumped violently in his chest. "It wasn't much, but I did remember some things."

"Like what?" Akihito asked, unable to help himself.

"What we were doing before we were captured," Yoshi explained. His eyes were focused, resembling a professor rather than a young man who had just been on the verge of dying. "We knew we were at risk and had gone on the run, courtesy of the Future Foundation. They didn't give us many resources in order to keep us hidden, but they did provide us with guardians to help keep us safe."

"Some good that fucking did," Hibiki scoffed, crossing his arms.

"Either way, they did what they could," Yoshi argued, glaring at Hibiki. "I will not have you tarnish the effort they put into keeping us safe, no matter the result." Hibiki, surprisingly, wilted slightly at that. Akihito bit his lip, suppressing the smile that wanted to grow on his face.

"Who were they anyways?" he asked aloud, instead.

Yoshi furrowed his brow, looking thoughtful for several moments before he answered.

Satou hummed to herself as she skipped around the palace, intent on finding one of her two targets.

Fae had been ignoring her offers of hanging out since the second floor opened, but that was okay~! Satou was nothing if not resourceful in her friendships and she had plenty to spare.

She made her way to the second floor, intent on finding Iri and Jordie if they were near the latter's Talent Room. Iri may be a bit pesky, but Jordie had such amazing taste in fashion that Satou was willing to overlook any peskiness Iri added to the equation.

Her instincts, it seemed, were spot on as she found them standing near the balcony on the snow covered second floor, talking. With the mystical appearance of the floor, it almost looked like a scene out of a romance novel…or even better, one of her favorite scenes in Is it wrong for the Tachyon Knight Tasuku to want to save the world? where Tasuku had gathered his love interest for that episode, Kai, into his arms and declared his love for them!

But Satou was nothing if not inspired when she saw her work in real life and she launched herself towards Jordie, clinging to his arm just like Makiko, Tasuku's endgame love interest, had done.

"There you are, Jordie!" she beamed, looking up at the drag artist with no doubt sparkling eyes. "And Iri too! What a surprise!"

"You still can't tell the difference between us, can you?" Iri sighed and—no. That wasn't Iri, Iri would get irritated and glare and stomp away in the face of Satou's brilliant light. Which meant…

"Nima? I'm so sorry, I couldn't tell it was you from a glance!" Satou gasped, pushing off of Jordan and clutching onto one of Nima's hands with both of her own. "Could you ever forgive me?"

"Not interested," Nima denied, pulling away from her like it was the easiest thing in the world. Satou was almost offended at just how quickly he did it, but he turned and spoke again before she could. "Sorry, Jordan, I'll…catch you later."

"No problem, Nima," Jordan reassured. His voice was softer than Satou could remember hearing it and when she turned towards him, she found him smiling softly as Nima walked away.

Oh.

Ooooooooooooh.

"What?" Jordan questioned when he noticed the smile on Satou's face.

"Nothing~!" she sang, grinning brightly. "You two were just so cute, you know? Like Tasuku and Makiko!"

"I…don't know what that is, but there's nothing going on." Jordan shook his head, reaching up to play with his silly sunglasses.

"That's what you think! Ooh, do you need help wooing him? I love love stories, I'll have you know!" Satou offered, folding her hands together as she pleaded.

"Weren't you going to ask me about the outfit we've been working on?" Jordan questioned, changing the subject to exactly where Satou wanted it to go.

"That's right!" she cried, grabbing onto his arm once more. "Onwards, Jordie! We're burning daylight!" Jordan laughed, but complied, following Satou to the warmth and safety of his Talent Room, where it was only the two of them.

Later that day, as Maria helped Sayuri prepare for her meet-up ("it's not a date, Maria!") with Ren, she couldn't help but wonder just how many times she'd done this before.

If she'd done this for Sasha too…

"You seem distracted," Sayuri commented, jolting Maria back to reality.

"Sorry," she apologized, setting the brush down on the vanity and shifted to braiding her hair. "I was just…lost in thought, I guess."

"I understand," Sayuri smiled slightly. "I was the same after seeing Arisu's album."

Maria's heart was in her throat, but she forced herself to nod and act normal. There was nothing for her to say right now, no matter the screaming occurring within her mind.

"Say Maria…" Sayuri trailed off, seeming hesitant. Maria met her gaze in the mirror, nodding in encouragement. "If you were to get married, would you invite your family?"

"Yes," Maria answered without hesitation. "My mom would probably string me up if I didn't, while my father would cry if he couldn't give me away. And my sister…"

"You have a sister?" Sayuri questioned, surprised.

"Yeah, Sasha. Her full name's Alexandra Kikumoto, but we all call her Sasha, she's my younger sister," Maria confirmed. She tied off the braid, unsure of what to do with her hands now that they were free. "What about you?"

"I don't have any siblings, unfortunately," Sayuri sighed, her gaze falling to her hands where they rested, folded, in her lap. "I do have a cousin though, Ryosuke. I think I mentioned him before?"

"You did," Maria smiled. "You told me you and he were very excited to watch my company's first ballet was aired on TV to celebrate the re-opening. The two of you are close, then?"

"I think he's the only person who's ever really believed in me," Sayuri admitted, a far away look in her eyes. Maria felt her heart ache and without thinking, she stepped forward, squeezing the singer's shoulder gently. Sayuri glanced up, meeting Maria's gaze in the mirror.

"I promise you, he's not the only one to believe in you," she insisted. Sayuri smiled, gently, like a blooming flower and reached up to squeeze Maria's hand in her own. "Tell me more about Ryosuke. What's he like?"

"He's my best friend, probably the closest thing I've ever had to an older brother," Sayuri explained. The smile remained on her face as she shifted to doing her makeup as she spoke. Maria sat down on her bed, listening attentively. "He encouraged my love of music when the rest of our family wanted to keep me locked away. He was probably the light of my life, corny as it is to say. He'd even dance with me and Mochi, my dog, when I convinced him to."

"That sounds so cute," Maria giggled. Sayuri turned to her, her makeup complete and a brilliant smile on her face.

"It was! Sometimes, I could even convince him to pick Mochi up and dance while I sang for them!" she grinned. A softer expression replaced her smile, filled with longing that Maria understood all too well. "If I were to get married…I'd hope he would walk me down the aisle."

Maria stepped closer to her friend, taking her hand in her own.

"If you are married, there's no doubt in my mind that he did," she whispered. Sayuri smiled, tears glimmering in her eyes but not falling down her cheeks, lest her makeup get messed up. Maria smiled back at her. "Now, come on, you have a date waiting for you."

Sayuri let out a watery laugh but she smiled brightly in agreement, hugging Maria goodbye before they separated.

And as Maria curled up in her bed that night with a book from the library, she hoped that Sayuri and Ren's date was everything the singer hoped for.

After all, who knew how long this peace would last before another motive would shatter it to bits?

And there we are! More set up and Sayuri's first FTE! I actually had to go check the other polls to make sure she hadn't had one before, cause I didn't want to accidentally rewrite something I wrote three years ago, you know? But there we are! Lots of set-up this chapter for the many different plots I'm balancing. I hope you all enjoyed regardless! I'm unsure of when I'll be back with the next chapter, but I hope it'll be soon. Until then, bye for now!