DOOR 012

                                    

                                          
They were getting sick of this place, sick of the pain they woke up with despite being uninjured, sick of everyone treating them like they were a stranger despite getting them this far.
Now, thinking on it more, Kei's suspicion wasn't entirely unwarranted and [name] had seen some of it even before the big blowup of his temper, but they didn't think it'd get that bad.
That bad to attempt to shoot them in the face.
The Urbanshade employee on the loudspeaker too; [name] didn't know if they were a blessing or a curse. Those people were watching every group they sent to Hadal Blacksite, and maybe they just so happened to check [name]'s group at that very moment... Yet, the question of whether Kei would've still accused them of being a traitor if Urbanshade hadn't stepped in remained in their mind.
[name] sat up, realizing they had more often found themselves lying on the floor whenever ending up at this place. There were no complaints from them, as the lingering effects of the phantom pains from dying remained, shooting up their spine and down their legs.
"Back here again, are we?" Sebastian's voice met [name]'s ears. They didn't find themselves frowning like usual, but his tone did cause their mood to sour, and they squinted at him in the dark, sighing.
"I don't know what I'm doing wrong!" They threw their hands dramatically in the air, then dropped their hands to the ground, pushing themself off the ground, "there's, like, nothing I can do to keep them alive long enough to reach the end!"
"You want those idiots to reach the end?" Sebastian leaned forward, his single, right hand pressing against the desk in front of him, "well, considering they'll always be idiots each time you reset, you sure have a lot of work cut out for you."
[name] brushed off invisible dust off their jumpsuit, not that it mattered anyway, "they aren't idiots!" They paused for a moment and saw a slow smirk rise to Sebastian's face, "well, not all of them!"
"Glad we can agree on something," he leaned back, the table whining from the release of weight, "you made it farther, I suppose... So congratulations are in order..."
He fell silent, [name] staring at him.
"And?"
"Oh, I meant you can congratulate yourself," he chuckled, voice rasping. His laughs seemed to increase at [name]'s frown and they stepped closer to the desk.
They told him about what happened from the Searchlights, Emil's death, and then Kei's betrayal. He sneered, then laughed to himself, muttering something about Kei under his breath; good or bad, they couldn't tell. They also mentioned Urbanshade's intervention which didn't help [name]'s case at all, and then the pink Angler that rushed into the room.
"I tried to warn them," [name] sighed, watching as Sebastian slid the familiar document forward on the table. This time, more of the text was revealed, although, it was information useless to them as [name] already knew how to avoid it.
"She's incredibly easy to distinguish from the others, as you know," Sebastian hummed, "you'll surely get the hang of it this time..."
This time, [name] thought, their brows creasing. They lifted their head, trying again to make out Sebastian's large figure in the shadows before he disappeared like he usually did; not by his choice, of course.
"What do you think will happen once we make it to the end?" They asked, hoping he'd give a quick answer with what little time they had left here.
Six agonizing seconds passed before he finally said, "once you make it to the end, I think we'll never see each other again."