Chapter Text
Jessica Moore stares at the speaker in utter confusion, her head tilted to the side. The machine is a large head dressed up to look like a fortune teller, and she sighs and closes her eyes. Of course, of course the first thing she sees after getting knocked unconscious is that stupid machine. What else would happen?
“Where are we? Who are you?” she demands.
The boy, Nate Liddell, waves to the machine. “Hey, Karnak,” he says casually, but the machine doesn’t wave back. “What’s going on?”
“N?” a girl from behind him asks, and he turns around.
“Lizzy? What are you doing here? Oh, hey, Doll, Cyn.” He waves again, and the short girl with white hair does wave back. She skips over to him, and he wraps his arms around her shoulders.
Doll, a tall girl with long purple hair and red eyes, stays beside Lizzy, who grabs her hand and holds it tightly. They wear the same outfit, but Lizzy’s pink top and brown skirt contrast Doll’s red and black.
J rolls her eyes at the sight and turns back to Karnak, and she has to admit that his name is familiar. She clicks her tongue and thinks, then slowly points a gold nail in his direction. “Wait a minute, you’re the fortune telling machine from the amusement park, aren’t you?”
He nods as well as a machine can nod. “I am. Do you not remember what happened?”
She locks him into a staring contest, but he wins due to not having eyelids. J finally sighs and asks, “What?”
“I will tell you when the final guest arrives,” he says, making her groan.
Cyn looks up from where she’s standing and moves over to J, hugging her. J places an arm around her and glares at Karnak. “Just tell us now.”
“Take a look around. It will make sense when she arrives,” he says.
J does as told, and she comes to realize they’re on a large stage. Maroon curtains line the back, and…..she swallows down bile when she makes eye contact with a too-big mechanical roach. It’s sawing through a cable coming from Karnak’s booth, and it waves to her with a free leg. She frantically looks away, shuddering.
The curtains ripple, and she faces them again. She hears Lizzy exclaim in fear, and N joins her and grabs onto Cyn.
A girl has emerged from the curtains. A girl in a long, white dress. A girl with short blonde curls, all-black eyes, and a pale head that looks more like a doll’s than a human’s. She tilts her head, and Karnak says, “The choir is now complete.”
J whirls on her heel and marches up to Karnak. “What is going on?!”
“The Saint Cassian Chamber Choir was met with death earlier today,” he says, “so I will now offer you a chance to perform one more show.”
“Why?” Lizzy asks, coming to J’s side. “You just said we’re dead!”
“Because whoever wins will be given the chance to be reborn.”
“What the hell?!”
“Wait, really?”
“Ты, должно быть, шутишь.”
“Oh, hell!”
“What?”
J gasps at that last voice and stares at Cyn, who only blinks back at her and fiddles with her pastel yellow dress. J approaches her and says, “Did you just……speak?”
Cyn’s eyes widen. “I……I did?” Her voice is soft, almost mechanical, but the grin that creeps over her face is the complete opposite. She begins to rock back and forth on her feet before grabbing her skirt and twirling around.
“H-How?” The word comes out strangled, and J shakes her head in shock and confusion. After a few seconds, she just throws her hands up and sighs. “All this time you were being cute on stage, you could have sung with us!”
Cyn giggles, which makes N do the same. He grabs her hand and dances with her, saying, “Lighten up, J!”
In response, J sits on the ground and watches as Doll and Lizzy also start dancing. Karnak’s eyes roll, and the last girl just stares at everyone. Her black eyes are blank, and they settle on J. She sits down with her.
“What’s your name?” J asks.
“Jane Doe is what the coroners called me,” she says, not meeting J’s gaze. “I suppose it fits me, but it’s not my name.”
J frowns, but it goes away after a few seconds. She exhales and looks back at Karnak. “Hey, bozo, why can’t we all be reborn?”
“I do not have the strength to send you all back,” he says. “I will say this, the one who wants to win the competition the most will redeem the loser in order to complete the whole.”
“What does that mean?” J asks, more curious than confused. She had always had a hunger for learning, which led to her having the best grades out of everyone in the choir.
“You tell me,” Karnak replies. “Now, perhaps I should explain the rules of the competition. You will all sing a song in order to explain why you believe you should be reborn.”
J throws her hair over her shoulder and smiles and stands up. “That’s easy enough.”
The other four stop their dancing, and the lights flicker. Jane tilts her head again, but her expression never once changes. When she stands, her body contorts with an unnatural grace. J shivers and clears her throat, ready to go first.