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It had been about almost 3 months since they all had met and grouped up and walked through the hellhole of each of their dimensions, which this had all started with Visitor's dimension, then Expendable, then John's. All in repeat. Currently they're in John's dimension.
Which....was really hell. Quite almost literally, but not exactly.
Upon reaching the safe room, Expendable immediately collapsed onto the floor in a wheeze, followed by Visitor who slightly crouched as they had their hands on their knees panting. John came in last too calmly for someone who ran almost 2 minutes straight.
This was the trio's second run, because Expendable died from Elkman in the last one cuss he panic and slid into a stop too slow, Visitor's bitch ass decided to look behind them and got the chance to see Slugfish's beautiful mug, and John was midair when Dozer came out of nowhere. You can guess how that ended up.
"Holy— fucking Christ bro—" Expendable said between wheezes, not making a move to get up just yet. "How do— do you do this??" he lets out a pathetic cough at the end of his sentence.
Visitor sighed and stood up straight to wipe their forehead, letting out another exhale before speaking "To be honest, you're wearing heavy underwater gear..." they suddenly paused in a thought train that had came by. "Why are you still wearing your suit anyway? It's just weighing you down."
Expandable perked up, as if thought of the weight on his shoulders was almost amazing. "Ooooh yeahhhhh...I totally forgot about it."
He begins zipping off his suit, shrugging off the heavy ass material. John immediately looked away just in case Expendable was shirtless, Visitor couldn't help but snicker at his shyness of any hint of nudity.
"Tadaa!"
Expendable dramatically opened their arms low, showing that he was, infarct, just wearing a black one piece swimsuit. But he also kept the pants because well, he needs some sort of dignity when his pants keeps making his sliding slow at times, but he's never gonna admit that. He raised a brow at John's head turn in direction.
"You okay Johnny?" "Y— yeah no I'm fine." John slowly turns to look at Expendable again, immediately letting out a quiet breath of relief after seeing him with a swimwear on.
"I suppose we should get going then...."
"Ah right, let's goooo gang!!"
Visitor ran ahead, exaggeratingly kicking the door down by sliding but also tripped a bit over themselves when they got up again. Expendable chuckled as he was quick to follow, and John too wasted no time and started running as well.
It was fine for a bit, John of course taking the lead and Expendable lagging a bit behind but he was still doing good nonetheless, and Visitor seems to have fun humming the background song.
"I just cannot help myself, but fall right into you…"
For some reason, that may have accidentally caught John's attention because he never actually bothered to listen was the lyrics said, so hearing it for the first time a lot more audibly was pretty shocking to him.
Then static filled his vision.
'Oh lord.' the thought dissipated as he quickly passed through Elkman, hearing a 'ding!' in his head as a badge was suddenly placed in his hand that read;
'DAPPED UP'
'Touch the Elkman.'
"…Huh." That was an interesting badge.
Anyway he dies to Carnation because he was too busy looking at the comical badge. This is the first time Visitor and Expendable actually lasted longer than he have, and he couldn't help but feel a sense of pride as the spectated them.
That is until Dozer had decided to fuck around and appear infront of Visitor while they're sliding.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO AHHHHHHHHGHSHBGDHD—"
Visitor, in fact did not wake up. Visitor exasperatedly looked at John, noticing the badge he had and their mood flips almost in an instant. "Ooooo what's that?" John holds it out for them to touch, "A badge I got for passing through Elkman."
They accepted it, holding and inspecting it with a plan formulated to probably dab the Elkman when they get back in the safe room…if Expendable makes it. Speaking of which,
Left with Expendable, John and Visitor cheered him on from the spectator watch. He was doing well for someone who wasn't all about running.
Expendable felt the rush inside his adrenaline, it feels like it's been the most alive he'd ever felt in a while, going through the Blacksite over and over before had started to gotten boring, and the change of pace was exhilarating.
That is until Heed shown up. Now it was easy right? Just look at the huge red eye until you opened the next door! The problem?
He had a black [REDACTED] box over his eyes. Yes it usually helped with Slight, but Heed? Usually John or Visitor was there to help, but they both died before him so…
A flashing red suddenly overtook his sight, causing him to drop an F bomb and slightly stumbling back while simultaneously covering where his 'eyes' should've been out of instinct.
Amidst the blinded eye, the fucking Yellow man appears. That's right, Dozer. And Expendable did NOT take his hands off of his sight.
Which ultimately led to his death.
They all ended back up to the start, Expendable sighing in frustration because why was John's dimension involved with so much running???
"Dammit, we keep dying! How are we supposed to get in the next dimension?" Expendable threw his hands up in exasperation, only gaining Visitor shaking their head in response.
John took a moment to think, tapping his chin in discussion with his mind. Then his eyes suddenly widen at an idea as he threw a hand with his index finger up in the air, gaining Visitor's and Expendable's attention.
"Leave it to me, I know a shortcut."
A few minutes later…
"JOHN WE'RE IN HELL?!?!!"
"TRUST THE PROCESS!!!"
The place was a blinding black and white torture, and unfortunately since Reprieve mode is a single player mode Visitor and Expendable had to spectate John because he was more experienced at it than the two are.
Visitor had both of their hands on the sides of their head, their jaw opened in shocked Expendable, also shocked, tried to look at John from afar as he made a salute hand above his eyes, leaning towards closer as Visitor started to speak up again.
"What is he even doing here???"
"I don't know, but I feel like I might need glasses after this."
If the two didn't know John, they'd assume he solved racism with his sudden change of color.
According to John, Reprieve was actually a lot more easier than the usual Grace itself, just involving with lots of parrying, but you can choose who you wanna face with, at least, until the time runs out. And you can actually choose when to end!
John slid as he slammed against the wall, flying into a beacon as the beacon count went down with each black he collected by running into it. He made it look so easy with how he slide and flew with such ease.
Then he got the last beacon.
The three were quickly transferred to a red screen with a text written 'but is there anymore?', and the two options were 'that's the end' or 'yes…'.
It would be easy, they could just pick the end and then they would be able to continue in Visitor's dimension. Visitor perked up at the options, "Oh John look, we can— wait what are you doing."
John ignored Visitor's word, pressing yes as Expendable and Visitor watched to their dismay.
"Dude what why????"
"For the bricks!"
"NAHHH THIS THE TYPE OF GREED THEY TALK ABOUT IN THE BIBLE—" and Expendable himself wasn't even religious!
He picked Dozer, of course, mostly because he wanted to punch the stupid yellow looking thing in the face from how annoying it is. Also it's fun to beat the shit out of the entities after dying to them for millions of times.
Expendable and Visitor once more, spectated from the side between the thoughts of 'Hes insane' and 'WHAT IS THIS BITCH DOING', never in between. Lord, now the two had to wait for John to finish this one, unless he pick yes again after this.
Visitor sigh, letting themselves sit on the floor criss-cross to get comfy while waiting for John. Expendable followed too, because standing up as they watch might get tiring. He whistled idly while looking around,
"So," he turned to look at Visitor with a sly grin, "You come here often?"
Visitor raised a brow at him, before giggling with a smile, "Oh Expendable, you flatter me…"
The suddenly yellow explosion from afar attracted the two's attention again, and John's hands were covered in yellow— holy fuck he killed Dozer. Or, Parry, as John likes to call. As soon as Dozer opened it's eye, his hand IMMEDIATELY met it's face as it exploded into a bunch of yellow mush.
Visitor winced and 'ooooh'ed at the sight while Expendable cheered him on.
"Woohoo! Beat it's ass John!" Honestly, Dozer kept killing him so this was the only reason he's cheering John on.
It was surprising how strong he was to beat his own literal sins, he was no doubt the strongest. But also, they needed a way to make John choose the other option in the red screen. What to do, what to do…
Visitor hit their fist against their palm, an internal lightbulb lighting up as they suddenly moved closer to Expendable, which earned a tilt of his head.
"You need something, Vit?"
There was no explanation as Visitor leaned into his ear, a hand covering one side of his ear as they whispered something to him, Expendable nodding and nodding until Visitor pulled away and he lets out an 'ooooooh' and then a mischievous chuckle.
"You sure it'll work?"
"Well you're stronger than me so there may be a chance."
John finally collected all the beacons again, and the three were back to the red screen for John to yet again choose another option. This time however…
"EXPENDABLE NOW!"
John flinched when he feels someone behind him wrap their arm around his stomach, he tilted his head to the side a bit to see Expendable hugging him from behind as if that's gonna do anything about it.
"…what are you guys doing?"
"Oh nothing John, just giving my beloved partner some affection, you must be SOOO tired—"
Expendable planted a kiss on his cheek with a exaggerated 'mwah!', which inevitably made John freeze up and sputter. What was Expendable's motive for doing this out of the blue???
Visitor acted and held John's wrist, making him tap on the 'that's the end' option. Then proceeded to press 'Yes I'm sure' on the next screen. Visitor quickly stumbled back with a victorious jump.
"Yesss!!" Visitor cheered before running to hug John, which may have made him lose his balance and fell backward with an audible Expendable going 'NO WAIT WAIT WAIT WAIT ' before they all simultaneously fell to the ground.
Do you know how LONG they have been in Grace for? 6-7 DAYS, it didn't help that they all had to run with each level so it would be nice to at least go somewhere slow paced for awhile! Honestly If John told them about reprieve earlier then they wouldn't have needed to go through all that running!
Visitor seems to be conscious of what they did, quickly sitting up, "Sorry John!"
John followed suit while rubbing his head, Expendable's hands shook as he brought himself up after face planting on the non-existent ground with a low dragged groan.
"Fuck sakes John you're HEAVY…"
"Oh uh— sorry."
He fumbled his words a little, helping Expendable sit up as he tried not to channel his inner teenage girl self from the comment. Expendable seems to mostly be alright though.
The background suddenly flickered, leaving the trio in a dark vast void of darkness (okay we get it it's dark).
And suddenly an Eye appeared.
[My love, it seems you have
Brought your beloveds
Partners along into
This mode?]
John blushes at the usage of partners to refer Visitor and Expendable, but he only merely nodded. Both Visitor and Expendable was so shocked at the sudden appearance of the Eye, not realizing the fact God himself called them John's beloved.
God— let's call him Genesis for my dignity's sake, smiled with it's Eye upon seeing how flustered John is, before dropping it with a closed eye.
[Very well
I will send you
To where you
Must go
I will love you forever,
Will you love me forever?]
Another nod from John. Then boom, everything goes dark.