ᴅᴇᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴꜱ - ɪᴅᴇɴᴛɪᴛʏ ᴠ x ʀᴇᴀᴅᴇʀ [ONGOING!]

ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ 7 | ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴇꜱɪꜱᴛᴀɴᴄᴇ

"No... no, nobody is supposed to know that I'm here! How did you find me?" Tracy stood rigid in the middle of the room, pointing an accusing finger over at the O/P who had happened upon her in the architect's lab. She looked scared, confused-- perhaps even a little bit angry-- but all Y/N could feel was relief that they had finally found her. They had dreaded the notion that Tracy wasn't even in the hunter's manor at all; and that their sacrifices up until this point were all for nothing-- but here she was, in all of her terrified glory.

"I- I'm not going to ask you again!" She squeaked. Wide eyes darting across the room, she hastily snatched up a monkey wrench from the floor and shook it at the O/P menacingly. "I'm not afraid to use this! Tell me who you are!"   

Y/N frowned. "Look, I know you're probably still in shock, but please try to calm down. My name is--"

"No, wait! I know exactly who you are!" Her face paled, the monkey wrench shaking in her sweaty palms. "You're... you're that dream messenger Ms. Gilman warned me about! The Nightengale! Oh no, you're here because you know I've broken the rules, and now you're gonna psychologically torture me for all eternity!"

Tracy wiped her eyes, her leather gloves soaked from her salty tears. She choked out a final sob before falling to her knees, a jumbled mess of shallow breaths and weeps.

"I just don't get it," She cried, "Why did they have to send me of all people?! Why not someone more competent, like Ms. Dorval or Mr. Subedar?! It's been two whole days and I still haven't found that diary! This is the only place I haven't looked, and now I'm totally done for!"

Y/N awkwardly lowered themselves down onto the floor next to her, rubbing her back. This woman was spewing absolute nonsense, but Y/N could tell that she was panicking and that she needed some comfort.

The mechanic flinched at the O/P's cool touch, but soon surprised herself by allowing herself to slowly sink into it. To her, it felt comforting-- it almost made her feel safe amidst all of the chaos. Her cries became quieter and her breathing subdued, and eventually, she turned to shamefully look up at her new ally.

"I'm so sorry for jumping to conclusions..." She murmured quietly, wiping away the last of her tears. "You're not really the Nightengale, are you? No, you're... kinder. More human. You're..." 
She tilted her head in slight confusion. "In all honesty, I have no clue who you are. You  can't be a hunter; you're far too short." Suddenly, she gasped. "Are you a new survivor?!"

Y/N nodded. "Yes, I only just arrived here two nights ago. My name is Y/N L/N-- I'm a/an O/P. It's nice to finally meet you."   

A wave of guilt washed over the mechanic. She nodded, offering a nervous smile. "Right. It's been so long since we've had a new player, you must forgive my shock. I'm Tracy Reznik, our resident mechanic. It's, ah, nice to meet you too." She stuttered her words and tugged nervously at her jumpsuit, meekly extending her hand to the O/P. Y/N gladly took it, taken aback by her surprisingly firm grip.

"Hm, you know, Mr. Clark did mention having a vision of someone who looked like a/an O/P..." She mused softly. "Maybe that was you."

Y/N's chest tightened. Surely she couldn't have been referring to the vision where they burn all of the diaries. That certainly was not how they wanted to be remembered. Besides, she was already missing when Eli had supposedly had that vision-- so how could she even know about it at all?
It was a question that itched at the back of Y/N's mind for a brief moment, but they resolved that it was something they could bring up later. Right now, they had to focus on getting the mechanic out of here-- preferably as far away from this insane version of Oletus Manor as possible.

"Look, Ms. Reznik, I don't mean to be blunt, but I didn't come all this way for idle chatter. I'm only here to return you to our manor safely, and we don't have a lot of time--"