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Just let me kill you once. I’ll owe you.
That was the message Bad had sent her a few minutes ago and honestly, Jaiden was curious. Another day of just barely surviving in this hellhole wasn’t exactly appealing, so the idea of entertaining Bad’s request sounded like a great way to mix things up a little bit. Just one death by his hand. Then they could probably talk a little afterwards and catch up with each other. It’d be nice to have a proper conversation with someone who wasn’t one of her teammates. Maybe she’d even be able to get some useful information out of Bad. Probably not, but there was no harm in trying. She just hoped at the very least she would get some kind of enjoyment out of the experience.
Waiting patiently for Bad at Bolas’ spawn, Jaiden took a closer look at the trap that someone had set up right over the spawn point. A shoddily put together structure made up of cobblestone and wood. Her prior experience of spawning inside told her that the inside wasn’t any better.
Jaiden shuddered as she peered inside the painfully tight space, the walls so close that it was impossible for her to properly flex her wings
She stepped away and shook her head slightly, playfully chastising herself for dying to such a simple trap earlier that day. How embarrassing. Well, at least the experience taught her to watch where she was stepping.
“Hey, Jaiden!”
Jaiden turned away from the trapped spawn to greet Bad as he strolled on over towards her, axe in hand.
“Sorry about this, Jaiden. I just need to kill you for a quest.”
“It’s okay-” She was cut off by Bad abruptly burying his axe into her.
Pain exploded in her chest as she let out a choked gasp. Her vision grew hazy and her knees buckled from underneath her, sending her crashing to the ground.
Well, Jaiden thought as she fell forwards, the familiar sensation of dying washing over her, at least he made it quick.
She woke up surrounded by wood and cobblestone. Using the rough wall for support, she stood up and after quickly dusting the dirt from her pants, she started to make her way outside. That was until she saw what was awaiting her.
Her wings instinctively flared out in surprise, causing her to wince when they struck the walls surrounding her. She swallowed nervously and held her hands held up defensively in front of her as she maintained eye contact with Bad who currently had an arrow aimed directly at her.
“Y’know, Jaiden,” Bad began. “I just realized how many points my team would have if I killed you a few more times.”
Trying to be discreet, Jaiden looked past Bad in the hopes of finding a way out of this unfortunate situation. She could rush him but with how armed he was and the way his body fully blocked the exit, there was no way she would make it past him unharmed. She’d have to be extremely lucky to escape him without being killed again. Given her notorious bad luck, she wasn’t optimistic about her chances.
“Isn’t your team currently winning?” She tried. “I don’t think you really need the extra points.”
“We are winning,” Bad agreed brightly. “But so much can change in a day. I’d rather not risk us losing today.” He grinned. “Don’t worry! I can keep things interesting for you!”
Before she could ask him what he meant by that, he whipped out a shovel and struck the ground where she stood. The makeshift dirt cover over the death pit she’d put together earlier disintegrated under her feet. Instantly she plummeted downwards, her face smacking against Bad’s shovel as she fell, and hit the bottom hard, the impact killing her instantly.
She reappeared in that encased structure to see Bad peering down into the hole thoughtfully. Jaiden pushed herself to her feet, causing Bad to look at her.
“I made this trap yesterday,” he informed her as he once more trained his bow and arrow on her. “I’m glad it ended up killing someone.”
“It got me earlier,” Jaiden admitted, trying to be casual with him.
“Oh, it did? Sorry about that!”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like you’re that sorry.”
“Oh yeah, I mean, I’d absolutely do it again but y’know, causing you to fall down more times doesn’t seem very efficient.” He pulled the bow string back and readjusted his aim at her. “Let’s try this.”
He let the arrow fly and Jaiden jolted backwards when the arrow embedded itself in her chest, right near her heart. She took a shaky step forward, already feeling the life leaving her from the fatal blow. As if for good measure, Bad shot another arrow at her and all she felt was the sudden piercing pain it caused before she collapsed, death claiming her once more.
She respawned.
Now, Bad was standing inside the trapped spawn. He’d apparently replaced his bow for some wood in the time it took for her to finish dying. In his other hand was a bucket of water.
She didn’t have time to stand up before he quickly placed down some wood in front of her, leaving her almost entirely trapped. In an instant, instinctual fear overtook her and she scooted backwards in a panic, her back slamming into the wall behind her in the process. Her wings strained against the walls in an attempt to shield herself but with how suffocatingly small the space around her was, they instead flared out uselessly. She locked eyes with Bad right as he placed the bucket of water right above her head before promptly closing up the last empty space with more wood.
The water submerged her and she shivered violently, her arms reaching towards the wood Bad had placed. Her lungs were already starting to feel the strain of holding her breath as she tried not to think about how her little prison was just big enough for her to stand in. Heart hammering in her chest, she pounded against the wood over and over again, praying that it would just break faster.
Her lungs were burning now and she completely dissolved into panic, still lashing out against the wood as exhaustion started to weigh her down. It felt like the walls were closing in on her as she fought to escape. An involuntary gasp for air escaped her and water rushed into her lungs causing her vision to black out as the burning sensation intensified. She weakly hit her hand against the wood one last time before her entire world went black.
Jaiden hunched over and coughed up water, watching the way that the water spread out and slowly dissipated now that it was no longer contained behind wood with her in it. She let out a shaky laugh, still fighting to catch a full breath. Another moment passed before she felt like she could breathe properly again but instead of standing up to face Bad, she simply looked up at the demon from where she sat to see him staring down at her.
“I didn’t get any points for that one,” he commented. “Did you have fun at least?”
She pushed herself up with her arms and leaned against the wall, just taking a moment to appreciate how much more space there was around her now. Still not a lot but infinitely better than what she had for her previous death. She coughed again. “Well, the water was a bit cold. And the water in my lungs hurt a lot. It- It was kinda just a pathetic way to die.”
Bad nodded as if he appreciated her input. “We won’t do that one again. If I’m going to keep killing you to get your teammates over here, I might as well get the points for doing so.”
It took a moment for Jaiden to process what he’d just said. “Oh, they are definitely not coming to get me.”
“Really? You don’t think so?”
“I’m gonna be honest, Bad, I think most of my team is asleep right now. Foolish is awake but he’s busy right now.”
“What is Foolish doing?”
She shrugged. “I don’t remember.”
Bad hummed thoughtfully before pulling out his communicator. He typed something quickly, put the communicator away, and grabbed his axe. “I know I said I’d keep this interesting for you but using my axe is just so much quicker. I do apologize but I’m sure you understand.”
Jaiden averted her gaze and waited, her body jerking harshly at the sheer force of the axe striking her in the chest. The blow was not sufficient enough for her to die instantly. Instead, as she slowly faded away into unconsciousness, she pondered everything that was happening. Her mind drifted to the first night where she and the rest of her team willingly threw themselves into the fire. An amused warble built up in her throat. She died so many times doing that. Honestly, it had been cathartic in a way given how horrible her day had been when they all arrived in purgatory. This was far different from that. To put it bluntly, having Bad kill her over and over again fucking sucked.
She respawned and since she was unsure if Bad intended to kill her again immediately, she held her hand out as a sign for him to wait.
She looked up at him, relieved to see that he wasn’t currently poised to attack.
“Hey- hey, who did you message earlier?” She asked because if she couldn’t fight back or escape, she might as well talk.
“Aypierre,” Bad answered. “I asked him to come over here with a horse.”
“Why?”
Bad raised his axe, his figure looming over her once more. She flinched and tried to move away from him.
“How about I answer one question every time I kill you? Does that sound okay with you?”
“...Yeah, that works,” she replied because realistically it felt like the only thing she could say to that.
Given how strangely nice he was being about killing her, he might’ve respected any refusal she made to his proposal. She just wasn’t sure if he would’ve negotiated with her about it or just refused to talk to her anymore and continued hacking away at her the moment she regained life. She decided it was better not to risk it and just go along with him because being able to talk to her killer was the only thing she was capable of doing. The only semblance of control she currently had. She’d rather not lose that.
Bad swung his axe down at her again, the blow this time proving instantly fatal for which Jaiden was thankful. She didn’t bother moving an inch when she respawned, telling herself that trying to conserve some of her energy might be useful later.
“To answer your question, since your teammates aren’t coming to get you anytime soon, we’re just going to bring you back to Soulfire territory. We should be able to kill your teammates when they try to come get you. Get some more points that way. Don’t worry, you’ll be free to go after that.”
“Great,” Jaiden groaned. “First, I’m basically some meatsack for you to farm kills on and soon, I’m going to be bait too.”
“You’ll be our guest,” Bad corrected with a smile.
He brought his axe down on her again. Another quick death.
The sudden shift into respawning caused her to gasp this time. She took a moment to compose herself, hating the way her body trembled. This probably isn’t healthy for me, she mused. Oh well.
“Are you this desperate to win?” She finally asked. “You’d probably be fine not resorting to these tactics, you know.”
“You’re probably right,” Bad agreed. “Soulfire is the better team. Far better than Bolas or the Green Gay Ninjas. But this isn’t something worth risking. Especially when your team somehow has two wins already.”
“I think you’re a little obsessed, Bad. Besides, what if you’re the cursed team?”
“We aren’t,” Bad said firmly, like he was trying to convince himself. “If anything, that’s your team.”
“Fair enough.”
Another swing of his axe meant another death for her.
“And of course I’m willing to go so far,” Bad said the moment she respawned. “The kids are counting on us! Dapper and- and Pomme are counting on me.”
Jaiden’s heart ached at seeing the way he tensed, his grip on his axe tightening as a brief look of grief crossed his face. She almost reached out her arm to comfort him but held back.
He sighed. “You probably wouldn’t get it. Not when you have nothing to lose.”
In an instant, all sympathy she had for the demon was forgotten.
“I have everything to lose!” Jaiden snapped and shakily stood up. “You think I want Dapper and Pomme to die? Or any of the kids? I- I don’t…” Her sudden outburst of anger died, leaving just an emptiness behind. She deflated and sighed, before looking Bad in the eye. “I don’t know what the best move here is. I wish I knew which team should be winning this thing so that we can rescue all of the kids. But I just don’t know.” She looked down at her feet and whispered, “I don’t know what to do.”
It was silent for a moment before Bad cleared his throat, causing her to look at him again.
“I’m sorry. But the only thing I know can help Dapper and Pomme at least is having my team win. That’s all I can do right now so that’s what I’m going to do. No matter the cost.” He slowly lifted his axe again, Jaiden eyeing his weapon as he did so. “So I have to do this.”
“Then do it.”
He obliged and Jaiden let death claim her once more.
The cycle of dying continued. She really tried to keep up a conversation with Bad between deaths but with the choked gasps and the strangled chirps that unwillingly left her each time she respawned combined with the ringing in her ears made it hard to concentrate. When her mind became too frazzled to consistently say anything meaningful, she tried to focus on her surroundings instead.
Watching Bad kill her with an axe constantly wasn’t fun so she shifted her attention to the walls. Except her inability to leave of her own free will combined with the small enclosure they were in just made her heart race. Reminding herself of how horribly tight the space around her had been when he’d drowned her in contrast to now wasn’t super effective in getting her to calm down so instead she just kept her eyes closed as blow after blow rained down on her.
A heavy crushing weight settled on her chest, making it harder and harder for her to breathe normally. Her eyes still closed, Jaiden tried to imagine that she was dying repeatedly because she was throwing herself into the fire with everyone again.
Unsure of how much time had passed now, she attempted to converse with Bad once again, this time deciding to tell him that she really hoped that Dapper and Pomme were okay too. When she was met with silence and no sudden explosion of pain, she opened her eyes to see Bad giving her a bit of a strange look.
“...What did you say?”
She told him again.
“You’re not making any sense now, Jaiden.”
“Hello, Bad!”
Jaiden tried to move her head to the source of the new voice but found that it was a real struggle. Moving her head even an inch was surprisingly taxing on her energy.
Bad stepped away from her to meet the newcomer who Jaiden realized through her now slightly blurred vision was Aypierre.
“Thanks for coming with the horse.”
Knowing that Aypierre’s arrival meant she would finally be able to at least get some fresh air, she decided she might as well be friendly. Raising her voice as high as she could muster, she called out a greeting to him.
Aypierre peered into the trapped spawn and gave her a concerned look. “Euh…” He looked back at Bad. “What did she say? I didn’t understand.”
“Nothing intelligible! She’s fine though, don’t worry.”
“... Are you sure?”
“Well, she’ll feel better once we get her back to our base.”
Bad turned back to her and proceeded to pull her onto her feet and start carefully dragging her outside. She winced when she was suddenly met with the blinding light of the outside world and she let out another groan, her legs still trailing uselessly behind her as Bad continued moving her. Her vision adjusted and when she saw the horse Bad was bringing her to, she shifted her attention to her right where she could probably make a run for it. Unfortunately, she suspected that the moment Bad stopped supporting her, she would just drop to the ground helplessly. She couldn’t even move her hands.
Bad must’ve realized how weak she currently was considering he didn’t even tie her up to stop her from escaping. Instead he simply hoisted her onto the horse into an awkward position and after he got on himself, he grabbed her arms and pulled her closer to him. The feeling of there being someone behind her told her Aypierre had gotten on behind her.
“Make sure she doesn’t fall off,” Bad told Aypierre.
Completely sandwiched between the two, Jaiden felt like laughing at how pitiful she must look right now. With nothing else to do during the journey, she let her thoughts wander. An easier task now that she wasn’t being rudely interrupted by yet another death. She wondered what Foolish was doing, if he was even still awake. He must’ve noticed what was going on. Too bad he’d told her he’d be travelling very far out earlier that day.
She wondered how Roier was holding up during all this. It would’ve been nice if they were on the same team at least.
She returned her attention to what was happening around her. Her ears were still ringing and it sounded like Bad and Aypierre were talking to each other as they rode but the words were all jumbled up in her mind. She couldn’t tell who was who, their voices blending into one. Only bits and pieces of the conversation stuck out to her, making for a weird listening experience.
“How long……see…. Bad!..........there, Pierre.”
Trying to make sense of it was beginning to become headache-inducing which was the last thing she needed right now. She tried to tune them out but that didn’t last long when she was startled by someone shouting. She screwed her eyes shut at the sudden noise that weirdly sounded like it was coming from both right next to her and far away.
“......we do?......Bad?........culeros!.........fight us!...........can’t-.......run!”
The weight in front of and behind her disappeared without warning and Jaiden felt herself topple over. Her head smacked against something hard and a moment later, the familiar call of darkness washed over her.
-----------------
The first thing Jaiden saw when she woke up was dirt. She stared at the roof for a moment, her world spinning a bit, and wondered where on earth she could possibly be because despite being underground, it didn’t seem like she was in Bolas’ base. At least she was laying on something soft, even if part of her right wing was pinched uncomfortably under her body. She tried to shift in place but when her body refused to listen to her and move, she internally sighed and just accepted that she was stuck in her current position.
Realizing that she could actually hear voices nearby, Jaiden tuned into the conversation. Thankfully, she could recognize who was speaking and everything they were saying so she took that as a good sign. Her problem of lacking motor control should fix itself in time. Hopefully.
“-and they won! It’s a good strategy, we just need to decide who to spawnkill,” ElQuackity was saying. “What about Bad?”
Huh. Somehow she ended up with green team if she was hearing ElQuackity. Jaiden wondered what she’d missed while she was unconscious.
“Yes! Spawnkill Bad!” Roier agreed.
“I could challenge him,” Etoiles suggested enthusiastically. “To a duel. We fight and someone waits at blue spawn to kill him if I win.”
“I like it but there is no way he’ll agree to fight you,” Bagi pointed out.
“No one wants to fight,” Etoiles sounded so disappointed that Jaiden smiled to herself in amusement.
“Okay, Bad is probably too risky,” ElQuackity said. “So, we’ll just have to choose someone else.”
“You can kill me,” Jaiden offered, her voice surprisingly strained. She winced at the effort but honestly, she was just happy she could talk again.
There was a moment of silence before the sound of footsteps heading her way. At the sudden noise, Jaiden craned her neck towards the sound, internally cheering when she realized she’d been able to move of her own accord, to see Roier rushing towards her.
“Jaiden! Are you okay?”
“Yeah, yeah,” she breathed. “I’m- I’m feeling a lot better now.”
“I’m glad,” Roier’s voice shook a little. “We chased off Bad and Pierre. You- you looked…”
“Like shit?”
He let out a soft laugh. “Si. Like shit. I don’t think dying that many times is good for anyone.”
“And- and yet here you all are. Discussing who to spawnkill,” she teased.
“Bad deserves it.” His gaze darkened. “I’m going to kill him.”
The room descended into silence for a moment before ElQuackity broke it with, “so… were you being serious earlier?”
Jaiden looked towards ElQuackity who was standing between Bagi and Etoiles near the bed on the other side of Roier. “Hmm?”
“About us spawnkilling you,” he clarified.
“I mean, why not? I already went through it once, I can do it again! Better me than anyone else, y’know? Besides, this time I’m completely offering myself up so it’s not as bad.”
“No one is spawnkilling Jaiden,” Roier intervened, glaring at ElQuackity now. “Someone else on blue if not Bad.”
“Fine,” he grumbled. “C’mon guys, let’s go meet up with red team and bring them here to get her.” Without waiting for a response, ElQuackity turned away and headed for a single door located on the very opposite side of the room.
“We’re glad you’re okay, Jaiden,” Bagi told her sincerely before following after ElQuackity.
“You did amazing!” Etoiles grinned and gave her a thumbs up. “No one else could handle that many deaths. You’re the best!”
Jaiden laughed softly. “Thank you.”
Once it was just her and Roier left in the room, Roier turned back to her.
“Do you think you can walk?”
“Um…” She tried moving again and managed to push herself up against the wall into a sitting position on the bed. “I’m not sure yet. Maybe, but I doubt I’d be able to walk all the way back to our base.”
Roier nodded. “I think they are bringing a horse so you’ll be okay.”
“Good, good. Yeah, smart move with bringing the horse.” She paused and took the time to get a complete look at her surroundings. “We’re not in green base, right?” She guessed, because if this was their base, it seemed they were worse off than even Bolas was.
“No, we just dug into this hill. We didn’t want to bring your team directly to our base, you know? They’ll meet us here instead.”
“Makes sense,” Jaiden said as Roier sat down on the edge of the bed. “How- how long was I out, by the way?”
“A day. Blue team won yesterday.”
“Well, that’s good at least. It would suck to have gone through all that and then they didn’t even win.”
He acknowledged her response with a soft hum before he grew more serious. “Jaiden?”
“Yeah?”
“I want to show you something,” he continued before slowly pulling out a sword. “I trust you so… look at this.”
Jaiden gently took the sword from him, one hand on the hilt with the blade of the sword resting on her palm. It shimmered brightly, indicating it had been enchanted.
“I named this sword Bobby’s Soul,” he told her solemnly.
Oh. Her grip on the hilt tightened a bit as she stared at the weapon in her hands, silently mesmerized with the way her reflection distorted and waned whenever it shimmered with magic. It was truly a beautiful sword.
“I’m going to kill Bad with this.”
Tears pricked the corners of her eyes as she handed the sword back to Roier.
“I believe you can do it.” Her voice breaking a little, she continued, “do it for us.”
“I will,” Roier promised. “Bad is going to pay.”
“You got this! And if he…” she trailed off a bit, remembering how insistent Bad had been on winning. Spawnkilling her had worked in his favour. “He- he fucked me up good. So if he even dares to spawnkill you too… he’s got another thing coming to him,” she said darkly. “I’ll kill him myself if that happens.”
“I think everyone will be trying to kill that fucker if he spawnkills anyone else. I’m sure he’s already got all of your team pissed at him.”
“They already didn’t like him, to be honest. But yeah, it’s probably kill on sight for Bad now.”
The mention of her team made her remember her communicator. With a little bit of effort, she managed to pull it out of her back pocket. She was honestly surprised it hadn’t gotten lost after everything.
“... Are you sure you’re feeling okay, Jaiden?” Roier asked as she opened up her messages. “Do you need anything?”
“I’m okay. I promise.” She hesitated a bit before asking him, “you don’t have anywhere else to be right now, do you?”
“I’m not leaving you any time soon,” he answered firmly. “I’ll stay with you until your team gets here.”
She smiled. “Thanks, Roier.”
He moved down the bed until he was sitting right next to her. “It’s no problem.”
Allowing herself to rest her head against his shoulder, she began reading through her unread messages. Every person on her team had sent her a quick message, just expressing relief that she was okay and that they were coming to get her. She chuckled softly when she saw the sheer number of messages she’d gotten from Foolish.
“Hmm? What’s so funny?”
“I’m afraid that I really worried Foolish yesterday,” she explained before showing him the number of messages she’d been sent.
“Holy shit. Fifty messages?”
Jaiden brought the communicator back close to her face so she could start combing through all of them.
10:09am Foolish: Uh, do you need help?
10:12am Foolish: What’s happening over there???
10:13am Foolish: Holy shit
10:13am Foolish: Just hold on I’m coming!
10:13am Foolish: I’m so far out that it’ll take a long time but I’m coming as fast as I can
The rest of the messages consisted of updates on his whereabouts, complaining about Bad, and some more reassurances until finally, it seemed he’d made it to spawn.
11:10am Foolish: I’m here! Where are you?
11:14am Foolish: Are you still with Bad right now? Should I be heading to blue’s base??
11:16am Foolish: Jaiden please message me back asap
11:20am Foolish: Okay I’m heading for blue territory to see if you’re there
12:30am Foolish: Etoiles just messaged me that he and Roier rescued you from Bad and Pierre.
12:31am Foolish: I’m glad you’re safe
12:31am Foolish: I guess I just have to trust that green will look after you in the meantime.
12:32am Foolish: Since apparently you’re not fit to travel right now. Too dangerous out here normally anyways.
12:33am Foolish: So get some good rest and we’ll come get you soon!
She smiled, tears threatening to spill as she read the remainder of his messages, the last of which was from earlier that day.
11:30am Foolish: WE’RE COMING TO GET YA JAIDEN!!
“Why do I have a feeling I’m going to be fussed over all day today?” Jaiden complained lightheartedly.
Roier chuckled. “I think it’ll be good for you after everything that happened.”
“Yeah, yesterday was seriously not my day. At least this gives me an excuse to sleep the day away,” she said before letting out a loud yawn. “I’m looking forward to that.”
“You know, Jaiden,” Roier began. “I think they’re going to be awhile. We’re kinda far out to make sure Bad didn’t find this place. You can sleep if you want.”
“Sleep,” she repeated quietly. She yawned again before closing her eyes. “That sounds so nice.”
“Go to sleep, Jaiden,” Roier whispered softly but she was already starting to drift off.
On the verge of falling asleep, she wrapped her left wing around Roier and smiled to herself until finally, she fell fast asleep.