Chapter Text
The four who weren't put in the final death challenge were watching the opening in the fridge nervously.
Matt was fiddling with his detective badge, tapping three times on the left side and then three times on the right. He was just glad he wasn't the one put up for elimination this time - after going through death, he wasn't sure he wanted to experience that again.
Although the tapping was annoying Joey, he didn't dare to say. After the outbursts with Colleen an hour ago, he wasn't sure he was ready to partake in another one. After all, he knew Matt could get angry sometimes - the time he slammed his badge down on the table saying there was 'No justice here' being his case and point.
Ro was scared ; petrified actually. If Manny didn't come back, she knew it could be all her fault. She loved Manny, with his witty remarks and his giant hugs that felt like she was squishing a teddy bear - if he died, he wasn't sure she could live with herself.
Safiya was just trying to go through outcomes of the challenge in her head. She liked to know what was going to happen, but being unable to know what the outcome of the challenge would be was scaring her more than she wanted to admit. To her, being scared was like admitting defeat, and she wasn't about to let that happen.
Joey looked around at the small group before him, and cleared his throat to break the silence. All of them looked at him in the eyes and he could see different emotions in them - he could see how tense Matt was, how scared Rosanna was, how anxious Safiya was. "So, who do you guys think will make it back...?"
"I don't know. They're both amazing competitors..." Matt bit his lip and looked down at the floor, tapping his badge slightly more rapidly.
Ro blinked a few times, tears starting to form in her eyes. "I don't want them to go! I love them both..."
Safiya said nothing, her eyes returning to being transfixed on the opening in the fridge.
"I love them too, Ro. I can't imagine not having one of them her-"
Joey was cut off by the loud clicking of high heeled boots and a loud, angry but almost sad sigh coming from outside the lounge. Everyone's eyes widened as they immediately realised the outcome of the challenge.
"Manny..."
Joe’y mouth hung open in shock. The tears in Ro's eyes finally escape, tumbling slowly down her cheek. Matt stopped tapping his badge to stare at the blonde, sadness filling his pupils instead of anger. And Safiya was still silent, her face unchanging. Nikita stepped slowly into the Lounge, her head hanging dejectedly.
“Nikita, I’m so sorr-“
”Which one of you voted for him.” She glared at the two other girls in the room, both of which looked up at her immediately, but not meeting her gaze. As Rosanna opened her mouth to admit it was her that voted for Manny, she was cut off by the other.
“It was me, Nikita. I’m sorry.”
The other three had their mouths wide. They all knew Saf wasn’t the one to vote for Manny.
”You’re going to pay.” The fire behind Nikita’s eyes was ignited once more, her face as hard as stone as she stared at the dark-haired girl before her. And Safiya just stands there, taking it all in.
Matt, desperate to try and break the tension in the room quickly, looked over at the map and ran to get it. He studied if for a second before bringing it over to the table. “So guys, it seems as though we’re dealing with witches today...”
The witches were chasing full speed after the group along the streets of Everlock, landmarks such as Fat Man Slims and the carousel turning into colourful blurs as they sprinted around the town.
”We can’t keep running guys! We need to get inside somewhere!” Joey’s face was red, his blonde hair falling in front of his face.
”Everywhere’s locked up! There’s nowhere to go!” MatPat was leading the pack, darting in between buildings to try and get the wicked witches off of the groups tail. But wherever he went, they would always follow him.
Rosanna was panting, trying to keep up with the two boys at the front of the pack. She knew she was the smallest and had the shortest legs, and was running twice as fast as usual to try and keep up.
Nikita and Safiya were at the back of the pack, keeping up with the others. They ran in silence, sparks of anger clearly flying between them - mainly one sided anger, which was clear from the dirty looks Nikita was giving Saf that weren’t being returned. They were both trying to get when eachother, over ting the other for a moment before the other sprinted ahead once more, causing the cycle to repeat.
”Guys...we... need to... distract the.... witches!” Ro stuttered out between breaths.
”But how!? We can’t lose them, they always seem to follow us!”
“We need a distraction!” Joey was racking his brain as fast as possible, trying to come up with a solution to their problem. But he had nothing.
But Nikita did. She knew how to get Safiya back for killing her best friend, and revenge was going to be sweet.
She ran in front of Safiya slightly and stuck her leg out to the side, in the middle of Saf’s path. Immediately, the taller girl tripped over the pearly white boots blocking her path, becoming a blur of dark hair and red sweater which tumbled to the ground, sprawling out on the ground. She cried out, causing everyone to turn around and look at her lying there as the witches quickly approached. Nikita kept running, overtaking the others to get out of the firing line. The others, aware they couldn’t be of much use either at this point, shouted to the girl that they would return soon. A few seconds later, the alleyway was illuminated by sparks of magic bursting forth from a wand.
Safiya’s face filled with anger as she remembered the image of the boot in front of her foot. She’d been cursed, and it was all Nikita’s fault.
Saf found the others sat anxiously in Fat Man Slim’s. As soon as they saw her, they rushed over to greet her.
”We’re so sorry we left you back there!”
”Are you okay?!”
”Are you cursed as well now?”
Safiya nodded, her eyes fixed on a mass of tumbling blonde hair, the owner of which was not facing her.
”Honestly Safiya, you need to learn to be more careful. Didn’t pin you as the clumsy type.” Her eyes were narrowed in a mocking fashion, her mouth spread into a smug grin.
”You tripped me over. Why would you do that...?” She wasn’t angry, just hurt.
”Joey said we needed a distraction and well you were the first thing that came to mind. Sorry, hun.” Joey muttered something from behind the two about that not being what he meant, but a quick death glare from Nikita shut him up quick.
Saf shook her head, and looked around at the rest of the group. “Well, who else got cursed?”
Everyone, excluding the troublemaker, raised their hands. Their eyes widened in fear as they looked at one another.
Rosanna broke from her happy personality for a second, muttering under her breath. ”Shit.”
As she emerged from the rope section on the course, not ringing a bell, she ran over to the end of the course where aMatt was already waiting. She’d finished second - she would have preferred first, but she was just glad she wasn’t going to be the one dead at the end of this hour.
Thinking about that sparked her interest. Who will be dead next?
She turned to face the course once again, and a wave of sadness immediately washed over her. Joey was just starting on the final bit of the course, but Rosanna was still at the first station, unable to finish the drinks before her. Seeing the socialite looking so dejected was breaking her heart, and as she turned to face a Matt, she new it was breaking his too. He and Ro were best friends out here. Sac grabbed his hand, squeezing it gently for support. She couldn’t begin to imagine how bad he was feeling right now.
After a minute or so, Joey stumbled out from the ropes and towards the other two, completing the surviving trio. Ro looked up at her friends, giving them a small, sad smile. She knew it was her time to go.
”Ro, you’ve been the best friend I could ask for.’ Matt took a small step toward the girl, tears forming slowly in his eyes. The girl gave a small laugh and smiles at him.
”I love you.”
”Love you too Ro...”
With that, the witches dragged her towards the alter. Matt’s eyes were filled with grief as he tried to fight his way towards his best friend, with Calliope and Joey having to hold him back, the former muttering to him that there was “nothing we could do...”
Safiya just stood in silence. She wished it had been her, not Rosanna. Ro didn’t deserve this - she was the kindest and sweetest of them all.
She started to walk away, back to Fat Man Slims, her head hung sadly as she listens to Matt shouting, Calliope mumbling and eventually...
The screams of the baker with a heart made of sugar.
It had been another hour since the death of Rosanna. The’d found the final artefact, met the final monster and were about to vote for the final death challenge. Only three of them would be able to make it out of the night alive.
”Why don’t we all just vote for ourselves...?” Joey offered the suggestion quietly, wringing his hands nervously as he glanced at the Investigative Reporter, the Detective and the Troublemaker sat beside him. They all nodded slowly.
Safiya handed her own card to Calliope.
Matt handed his own card to her afterwards.
After him, Joey’s card was put in the pile.
But as Nikita got up and surveyed the cards, she knew she wouldn’t be risking dying. And she still needed to exact her revenge. Safiya still needed to pay. She picked up Safiya’s card and handed it to Calliope - while the gypsy said nothing, she did give Nikita a small, disapproving glare. She put the card into the pile as Nikita returned to the sofa.
”I will now shuffle and draw two.” That was the last time the group would ever hear the helper speak those words. She moved the cards around in the deck, before laying out the two selected ones before her.
“The first person going into the challenge is.... Matt.” The Detective gave a loud sigh, putting his badge back onto the table like he did when the strongman came to Everlock.
”The second person going into the challenge is...
Safiya.”
The duo’s eyes met, pain filling both their pupils immediately. They’d already lost one member of their trio, and now one of them was going to be the lone survivor.
Matt bit his lip, looking down. “Just like the first challenge, except we’re fighting for our owns lives...” The girl nodded in agreement, frowning slightly.
They both stood up, Saf putting a hand on Matt’s shoulder. “Good luck, Matt.”
”Good luck to you too, Safiya.”
Safiya opened the box, knowing she’d won the challenge. She didn’t want Matt to die though - she didn’t know what to do. She inspected the box quickly, scanning over the items.
A pink hand gun with a single bullet, and a note.
She took the fun in her hands first, examining it and making sure there was nothing attached to it, and making sure it wasn’t trapped or something - she knew that anything could happen today. It seemed normal though.
And then she read the note. And couldn’t believe what she was reading.
“Kill your friend or kill yourself. You choose....” She looked up and met Matt’s scared gaze. His eyes flickered down to the gun, and Safiya saw him inhale sharply form her vantage point a few metres away.
”Safiya...”
The reporter cut the detective off, raising the gun slowly. “You deserve to live, Matt. You’ve already died once. You deserve to live. You deserve to live....” She kept muttering the same thing to herself as Matt shook his head.
”Saf, you won the challenge. You won.”
”No, no, no... I want you to live.” Safiya turned to face Nikita, who was stood off to the side next to the Joey, and they were both stood with their hands over their mouths. “Nikita, I never voted for Manny. I didn’t want you to be angry at Ro. I’m sorry.”
She then turned to Joey. “I hope you get to live properly after this. Make the most of your life. Make the rest of us proud.”
And she finally turned back to Matt, holding the gun to her head. “You deserve to Escape the night, Matt. I want you to escape the night. It’s your time to shine, so make me proud.”
Her finger hovered over the trigger, wavering slightly.
”I’ll tell Rosanna you say Hi. I’ll tell her you love her more than words can express. I’ll tell her you escaped for her.”
She pulled the trigger.
The bullet shot from the gun.
And then there were three.