Hell and Back (EXO x Reader)

Laundry (Trials 84-87)

Word count: 3293

Chapter warnings: Mild language, violence, intense themes, gore, etc.

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"What's the next trial, Y/N?" Kai asked, voice low. She wasn't answering. After they had told her what happened to Chanyeol, she didn't know how to react. He landed on the wrong section of their wheel and didn't make it. They had to get their key out of him, not minutes after he'd died. It wasn't fair. It would have been one thing if he'd made a mistake, done something stupid, took a risk, but... he was just picked. It wasn't even bad luck, because the keys was already in his body. He was marked from the moment he put the helmet on. And the worst pat was, there was nothing she could do about it.

She knew they needed to keep going. The thing was, some of them were living on that hope, that they could get everyone back on a technicality. She had discussed it with Chanyeol, and she hadn't even had the heart to tell him that she'd already made the wish. and now he was dead. At least he'd never have to know... Maybe she'd get a power that could fix everything, but what was the likelihood of that?

"Y/N?" She realized that Kai was still talking to her. She looked up, but didn't respond. "Look, I know it's hard, but we need to know what we have to do next. She didn't want to, but he was quite compelling in terms of the gentle nature of his voice. It was strange how easily he switched between mannerisms. He would have made a good celebrity, had their request been fulfilled. She looked to her phone.

Trial 84: Choose your units.

​​​​​​​ There must be a minimum of three players per unit. They can be distributed in any manner.

Unit 1: [Select]

Unit 2: [Select]

Limited power: N/A

Drop-out Fee: Leg

"We're picking our own units this time." She said.

"And that's a whole trial by itself?" Kyungsoo asked.

"It seems to do that a lot." Xiumin continued. "But generally an easy trial leads up to an absolute shitshow."

"We'll just have to hope that isn't the case." Sehun sighed. "Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll accidentally give us another skip."

"Unlikely." Kyungsoo responded. "Who wants to go with who?"

"I'll go with Y/N." Kris said out of the blue. They were a little bit surprised at this. He didn't really seem like the caring type, so why the sudden insistence?

"Me too." Kai said, looking a little bit suspicious.

"No, we're too similar." Kris said. "We need to split as many similar people as possible."

"That's not-" He started to object, but Kyungsoo nodded.

"Actually, that makes sense. If that were the case, we'd have Kris and some of the shorter members, so maybe Xiumin and Baekhyun?"

"I'm literally the same height as you." Xiumin pointed out.

"Yes, but we're going to make up for the difference of having Sehun on our team. So, unit 1 is Kris, Y/N, Baekhyun, and Xiumin, and unit 2 will be myself, Sehun, and Kai." So basically Kyungsoo and Kris were the only ones that actually got any input on the units. They didn't really have any leeway to argue, though, it was all fairly pointless. Who knew what the trial might entail, anyway? Fighting about it was dumb. Clicking each player's button for their respective unit, she completed the trial. Just as she did so, her stomach growled, drawing the attention of the people directly next to her.