how vee, quite casually, disappeared from the earth

chap 1

"Where's sini gonna go now? She obviously can't stay with classics, right-? Wait can she- I mean, all she did was kidnap Misty..." vee asked innocently, quite unaware of what a kidnapping actually meant.

"Sini's in jail." alba said flatly. Alba and Icy were both trying to get sini out of jail; vee didn't even know why she was in there in the first place, but that didn't stop her. Alba, icy, alyelle, sana, and yuna had all agreed to meet in room A6, the place where misty originally was held. Vee and misty had stowed along, even though they weren't allowed. They were trying to reach a compromise, because alba and icy seemed to think that sini shouldn't be in jail. Why alyelle specifically requested this room was unknown to vee, but there should be a reason. Well, probably.

"She's in jail!" alyelle said happily. The meeting was delayed a couple weeks due to the fact that she had to get stitches because she had been stabbed in the back by sini.

"Why is she in jail?" at this, everyone in the room sighed. Vee blinked back happily, not knowing why they were all so tired looking.

"You know, i bet she had an actual motive." alba commented, and icy nodded their heads. You could tell that they didn't really care whether or not she came back; vee wondered why they agreed to the meeting in the first place.

Well, she thought, It's not really my job to fathom what goes on in the mind of intimidating people.

"Oh? And what was that?" yuna argued.

"There's really no actual excuse to kidnapping someone," sana said calmly, "staying in jail is the right thing for her-- she can reflect on what she did wrong."

"I agree." alyelle said happily. Vee jumped, still not used to alyelle's new... clarity; she had been so used to alyelle's slurred words doing swc and it was quite a surprise to hear her voice sounding so clear. She wasn't really drinking or gambling anymore.

"Alright, whatever, fine." alba submitted, giving up easily. Icy just kept on staring at misty, who was still a little battered from being kidnapped.

"Fine, fine- sini can stay in jail."

"Okay!" icy said, sounding way too happy; vee was confused. Sini was a co-leader! Or the leader-- she forgot. Wouldn't icy be sad about losing one of her co-leaders/leaders? She pouted.

"Why aren't you sad?" vee asked. For the entirety of this, misty had remained silent.

"I-" alba stared at the little 5′3″ girl in front of her. She rubbed her forehead, as if tired. Vee cocked her head. Why would she be tired? Swc hosts are never tired. They're surprisingly... resilient. Despite all the insensitive criticism she gave them.

Alba clicked her suitcase shut and stood up. "I'm not paid enough for this job." she muttered quietly, sighing.

"WHAT-" icy screeched, "yes, you are!"

"Half a cent a century isn't a lot, you know-"

"It is a lot! I bought a pumpkin with it." she held up a pumpkin that seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Keep your arguments out of here, please." sana reprimanded. Yuna rolled her eyes, turned on her ipod, and took earbuds out of her pocket.

"Ooh, which song?" misty leaned over yuna's shoulder.

"Uhh," yuna paused, looking down at her dark red ipod, "Celebrity."

"Oh, IU? Ahhh, so pretty~"

"Well, this has turned into something chaotic, hasn't it?" alyelle laughed. "Anyways. Sini stays in jail for a century, kay?" icy and alba both nodded. It seemed like they wanted to avoid further conflict, vee noticed, as they left the room very abruptly.

"Wait!" vee called after them. They turned around, bags visible under their eyes. They looked a lot like alyelle, but they weren't drinking... were they? "Nevermind, actually." she was meaning to ask them if they thought mystery or dystopian was going to win. But they seemed exhausted, and now didn't seem like the right time.

"Well," alyelle muttered, "that was kind of annoying. At least sini is definitely staying in jail, though! I do wonder why she kidnapped misty and backstab action... but whatever. But overall, a pain in the-"

"Oh," vee said, cutting alyelle off. "was i the annoying thing?" alyelle remained silent, which vee took to mean a yes. It probably wasn't a yes, but it doesn't matter.

Why did sini do that, though? She questioned.

--------------------------------

Vee quietly slipped through the cracks in the prison gate, careful to avoid the moving security cameras and their bright white light.

She climbed the pipe that led to the top of the roof and opened the trapdoor on top. There was a ladder going down; did someone do that on purpose? Why would there be an escape route? Maybe for previous prisoners. She climbed down the ladder, biting her lip; acrophobia sucked. So did arachnophobia- and the prison was full of countless spiders and other... things. She shuddered as she slowly crept down the ladder, trying not to make any noise. She had propped up a stick for the trapdoor so it didn't collapse, cause she got the feeling the trapdoor was the kind that would close if you didn't leave it open from the inside.

Her feet touched the ground and she breathed a sigh of relief, thankful she had made it down. The prison was not as lit up, with only a few lanterns every few corridors-- but, by stalking alba and icy's texts, she already knew beforehand where sini was being held. A6. Seemed like a cruel joke, honestly. Each cell had a sign, and thankfully she was in one with mostly deserted cells-- the B row. So A would be behind this.

She walked around, searching for a way behind-- there was a corridor leading to the A row. Vee smiled a little, giggling to herself. It wasn't safe to giggle in a prison, her mom always had told her.

She quickly walked down the aisle, about 69% certain that it was the right way to A6. Then she saw it- the words A6 - if it even was a word - engraved on a dusty piece of metal, stuck to the side of a jail cell. Vee felt a sense of relief. Maybe she could finally get answers?

She peeked in the dark jail cell. "Sini?" no answer. She tried again. "Sini?" still no answer. She looked more carefully into the cell; and it seemed to be empty. Maybe it was empty. Had sini escaped? It seemed like it... how would she even tell mystery and classics? She felt a hand brush her back, and she tensed up. There was suddenly a searing pain in her back as she felt the blade of a knife pierce it, and her vision became hazy. She blindly turns around, struggling to make sense of what is happening.

The grinning, vengeful face of sini appeared, her face hollow and her eyes murderous, holding up a sharp, short blade with blood. Vee's blood. Suddenly, she felt sick. But everything was spinning, and it was all so blurry... she fell down, unable to support her body.

"No one can put me in jail," sini laughed, looking down at vee, "least of all the godfather of mystery."

And that was the last anyone ever heard of vee.