All that Glitters (Alice in Borderlands)

Ticket to Nowhere

My reasoning behind this game is simple. I can never lose. A life of misery, a life consequence or cause and effect is not a life I wish to continue living. 

Karma has no place in these lands, and that is why I shall give my life to remain here. A monarch for aeons. 

My time shall never come, my train shall never depart. Here I remain, and here I shall never die. Bon Voyage, fools. 

~~

11.30AM, The Chiyoda District in Tokyo. Hisohito and I walked together, scoping out what seemed to be the venues for the other games. 

"Jack of Diamonds... Hotel. Queen of Clubs... Aquarium. Queen of Spades... Factory. Hiso, these venues are basically the same as the pip values.... do you think they mean something?" 

"I mean, I think they'll be just like the others we've faced, right? So, the Jack of Hearts will likely be a normal venue as well." 

We turned a street corner, seeing the looming presence of the Jack of Hearts blimp hanging over a specific building. 

Kanda Train Station.

"A railway station.... why is that?" I said, taking the venue in.

"How could they use that for a hearts game? Hisohito spoke up.

"We might have to go on a train and pass out gas masks to survive poison gas killing us..." A slight smirk appeared on my face.

"That's... well, you certainly have a colourful imagination. But that type of game could be theoretically played anywhere. What I need to know is... why here." 

We slowed down our pace a bit, we saw a small collection of players, roughly around 5 or so huddled infront of the train station waiting for it to open. 

"Looks like some others shared our idea." Hisohito said, "Let's keep our distance." 

We darted off into a nearby alcove, then into a small, burnt-down building. It seemed to be a bookstore, 2 heavy decayed and burnt corpses laid near the 2nd row of books, with broken phones next to them. "Shame, they never got to see the 2nd Phase." I said, Hisohito averted his eyes from the corpses. We spent a while in there, trying to find remnants of books not burnt by the fire, but it was not successful. 

"Can we agree that regardless of what happens in there we will always have eachother's side? Find anyway to prove the other's innocence- if that's what the game is about, I mean." 

I was sort of startled by Hirohito's comment, I mean, my answer was obvious. "Uh, Yeah. Why wouldn't we?" 

"Sorry, it's just the reality of this situation is catching up to me...." He said, the slightest bit of quiver in his words.

"It's alright... deep breaths... in and out, in and out..." I followed in my own steps, with Hisohito eventually doing the same. 'It'll be fine, we just go in there and fuckin' kill that guy!" I laughed slightly, Hisohito just leaning against a wall, closing his eyes and taking another deep sigh. 

"Yeah. It will." Hisohito finally spoke up. 'Let's go, the venue is likely open now." Hisohito moved to the door, allowing me to pass through first. Such a charmer, even in the face of danger he really cares about me. 

Leaving the 2 bodies to rest, we went back into the street. Only 1 more person had joined the crowd in-front of the train station. On top of the door, a timer slowly clicked down until the game actually opened. 3:24... 3:23... 3:22...

To say I was afraid would be the understatement of the century. Who knows what could happen in there? I could just be killed straight away, I could just fall into the path of a rogue train, I could... I could let him die... I am so fucking afraid that I'll let him die.