remember to breathe

chapter 1

The four survivors stood together, discussing plans with each other before they would run off to do their own thing. Five ciphers remained as the match had just commenced, yet cold sweat already began to run down their faces.

The coordinator, the "prisoner", the barmaid, and the painter had been put in a match together. The matches were always dreadful, but these four had the slightest bit of confidence. They believed they could do this.

"I have a plan, alright?" Martha spoke up, and the survivors turned their head to her. "Maybe we should stick in groups? We might decipher slower, but theres a better chance that we will all make it out of here alive."

"Yeah, that works!" Demi chirped, she believed that keeping up a positive attitude might lower the worries of the others. "So who shall go with who?"

"It doesn't matter, but I believe that me and you, Demi, should go together, and Luca and Edgar should stick together." Martha stated and the small artist grew an odd look on his face.

"Why is that?" He questioned the coordinator.

"It's simple." Luca stated with a smile. "Demi and you are both containers. Since me and Martha aren't containers, it'd be better if one of you two stuck with us!" Luca exclaimed and Martha nodded.

"Exactly. Now, let's get going. Me and Demi'll go over this way, you two head to the cipher over there. Stay safe." Martha nodded at them and Demi waved before the two jogged off. 

"Great, let's get going." The brown haired boy turned and smiled at Edgar, which all Edgar did was scoff.

"Sure. Don't rely on me too much." The painter huffed as he began to walk to the nearest cipher, which wasn't that far away.

Luca laughed lightly as he followed behind Edgar. The artist had a grimace on his face, yet it wasn't towards Luca. This game was stupid to him, and he hated every second of it. Yet, he felt a bit different when he was with matches with Luca.

Being with Luca almost made him feel more safe, even in the circumstances that the two happened to be with. Yet, he wouldn't ever tell Luca that he felt that way. It would be embarrassing, and Edgar was hyper aware of the chance that Luca might not feel the same.

"Hey, we can't zone out right now." Luca snapped in front of the artists face, and Edgar grew a frown. He said nothing as he moved next to Luca and began to decipher with him, banging his fist on the cipher.

Luca glanced at Edgar before he looked back towards the cipher. "So-"

"There is no need for small talk. Focus on the cipher." Edgar cut him off, and Luca huffed as he shook his head.

"I didn't even say anything yet, jeez..." He sighed lightly. "Anyways, this cipher is almost done! Wow, this is the fastest I've finished up a cipher." Luca smiled, mainly speaking to himself. Edgar simply hummed in response.

The silence was tense, Luca with a forced smile on his face. He hated going into matches, he knew he was physically weak. He was very aware of that fact. Not only was he weak, he couldn't detect the hunters as quickly as the others would. However, with Edgar with him, he felt a bit safe, yet he still couldn't manage to stay calm.

A loud noise emitted from the cipher, and the two boys backed off from it. Luca's eyebrows furrowed, and Edgar looked over at him. "What's that face for?"

"Uhm.." He frowned. "I was feeding percentage to the cipher Martha and Demi were at the whole time, but they still haven't finished? They should've finished before us.."

Edgar was silent for a moment. Luca was unfortunately correct, Martha and Demi would've been done a bit before him and Luca would've finished priming the cipher.