broken heart-strings (seer x embalmer, +more ships apparently)

thirty-eight

Aesop felt his lungs burning, as he poured the water into his glass. Tracy was behind him, gently cooking. The boy just gripped the glass tightly, almost droppinh it.

Last night, Wu Chang came back, and Eli did not.

Wu Chang's body was sore and his eyes were really red, but he was still standing there in the kitchen, helping Tracy cook.

"So what actually caused you and the Gamekeeper to fight?"

Wu Chang just shook his head, tears materializing in his eyes, He clenched his eyes shut in an attempt to not let the tears fall, but they still fell gently down his cheeks. His face was really beaten, and Tracy almost started crying, as she looked at him. She dropped the pan onto the stove, turning to him taking the things out of his hands, and wrapping him in a tight hug.

Wu Chang broke out into sobs, his arms going around her body, as he cried into her hair.

Aesop just slowly sipped his water, just standing in front of the fridge, as the other two hugged.

"Please don't worry about that. It's not a real big thing to worry about. We just need to go and find Eli soon. I haven't seen him since pretty lase last night."

"No, we still need to worry about you too! It's fine!"

Aesop felt his heart drop. Eli was fone, and Wu Chang was probably the last person to see him.

"What did you guys talk about?"

"Me and Eli?"

The two let go of each other, as the male turned to face Aesop.

"Oh... We really just talked about some basic stuff. The sweet release of death and other things. It's uh... probably something to worry about a little bit."

Aesop's heart really just dropped. All he could do was stand there and gently sip on his water. Wu Chang gave a broken smile before turning back to finish cooking with Tracy. They started cooking, and Aesop just sat the glass down and walked out of the kitchen.

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Yeah. It's just some random stuff."

Aesop walked up to Lucky Guy and Cowboy, silently joining their conversation.

Lucky Guy looked concerned, and Cowboy was just smiling widely.

"Strategy wise... it might be a little risky but I mean, it works."

Everything in Aesop fell dead. He couldn't listen to them any longer. All he could worry about was Eli's safety. It was dangerous, really. Everything was dangerous. He was dangerous. Eli was dangerous. Life was purely dangerous.

"Strategies are kinda useless..."

-:-:-

The air was thick and cold outside, and the snow was just perfect.

Yeah... just fucking perfect.

"Fuck..." Demi mumbled. She felt cold on the inside and out, as she want's as used to the whole game as everyone else. She hadn't been there too long anyways.

They hadn't been there long, but there were only like two ciphers left, so she could sorta relax.

"Ah... Miss Demi Bourbon, our beautiful Barmaid, nice to see you here."

Demi glaced to her side, looking at who just came up to the cipher beside her. It was... just Norton. Norton Campbell, to be exact.

"Oh. Hi, I guess."

She felt her stomach turn, as they began to finish the cipher together. It was close to done, when the only other one that needed to be done flashed that it was.

This one would be their chance to get out.

Demi felt her heat speed up quickly. Thought, it wasn't because of who was working with her, it was the fact that the hunter was coming right for them. When she glanced at Norton, his face was focused on what he was doing.
Demi felt her heart just fall.

His heart was beating like crazy, but he stayed quiet and focused. He knew that Demi would probably get scared, but they were so close to being done, and they could probably easily get out of this.

As the red light started to appear behind the nearest wall, Demi pushed herself off the machine. As she began to run. Norton ripped her back to it, his hands moving quicker than before.

"Keep going!"

As soon as her hands hit the keys, the thing flashed bright and red light came up right behind her head.

FUCK-

She flinched hard, expecting to be hit hard by the hunter, but nothing happened, and a loud grunt escaped someone's lips behind her.

Demi span around, looking at what just happened. Norton was fully down, which made no sense. When she thought about it, thoughts about him coming up to her made her gaso gently.

_He was... already hit once, wasn't he? Oh god-_

"Fucking... go... just fucking... RUN!"

Demi ran as fast she could in the direction of the nearest exit gate. When she arrived, everyone was there, and it was just now opening. As soon as it opened up, she ran through, tears materializing in her eyes.

Why had he saved her like that? He was already hit, and she could've taken it, but he still saved her when he was hurt.

God...

She began to walk back to the manor. everything in her feeling dead. She felt bad about all of that, and really just wanted to cry. Everything in her felt really numb, honestly.

She was about to stop and allow herself herself to cry, when she looked over to a ditch by the trees.

No. What the fuck-

There he was. She had never known him well, as it was with about everyone else at the manor, but she also knew that so many other people did, and that they were looking for him.

The Barmaid really couldn't be sure if the persone se saw was dead, and her mind raced for his name. His owl was out of sight.

"E-Eli-?"
-:-:-

AH BROS WE FIXED IT! YES!

A huge thank you to Kami-Sama10 and n0tfuncti0ning for the help at retrieving all the lost words T-T

Thank you all so much for reading, and I already said all this shit before and it got deleted, so Wattpad better fucking sleep with one eye open. Istg I'll throw hands.

-Mags++ :)