The Ace (Stray Kids Kim Seungmin)

43

Sprinting towards the Pen, Melody swore it was much closer than she had remembered it being and, now knowing her fellow teammates were working with the creators, it probably was. After all, they had been doing all they could to counteract all the creator's attacks on her.

It made her think of the 'glitches' she started having a while back, realising they were the Hearts' way of reminding her not to get too emotionally attached to her virtual life. She thought about the time she first encountered a panther and how she had tripped over one of the tree roots but the whole world paused for a moment, allowing her the opportunity to get a stick to defend herself. Was that their way of making sure she survived?

Mel shook the thought out of her head upon entering the old Heart's Pen and immediately she felt nostalgic. Not because she had died in there but because of all the heart-warming memories she had experienced with her teammates but completely forgot about. Her heart sank at the realisation that this was it. This was the end. Of course, she was excited to finally escape, but living in this world was also all she really knew.

Without stopping to glance around the Pen, she raced across it, eyes focused on the forest but then she suddenly froze. Her insides churned as she narrowed her eyes at the towering array of trees. And her lungs stung as though a thin piece of thread was wrapped around each of them before slowly being pulled on either side. She doubled over in pain, averting her gaze to the shed and instantly the thread was released. Her whole body went back to normal, earning an amused chuckle from her.

"Not in the forest, huh?" she muttered to herself as she made her way to the shed.

A musty smell greeted her as she pushed the door open which earned a gag from her. After taking a moment to gather herself, she stepped in, remembering what took place in there five years ago. With a wince, she touched her temple as she stared down at her dried blood splashed onto the wall, painting it crimson.

She quickly noticed all the spades were neatly placed against the wall, including the one which had previously been in the middle of the room, and all of them were completely clean. No blood, no mud, nothing.

And all of a sudden, her temple ached again, even more this time and she felt herself fall to the ground, clutching the left side of her head. She felt overwhelmingly faint for a moment but recovered almost instantly. And that was when she noticed the warm, trickling sensation on her temple. Blood. She had been attacked.

Glancing up, her gaze met Kayleigh's as the girl held one of the spades and glared at Melody.

"Kayleigh?" Mel furrowed her eyebrows. "What are you-?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Melody?" she retorted. "I have a shovel in my hand, you have a cut on the side of your face. I expected you of all people to understand what's going on here considering you've experienced it before... Oh wait, it was all fake, wasn't it? You had nothing to fear back then because a heart was killing you that's not the case now, is it? If I kill you, you can't resurrect yourself."

"Why?" Mel shook her head, shuffling back into the corner she died in last time. The blood scattered across the wall taunted her, the symbol of the fake exit mocked her as tried to think of a way to save herself. She needed to survive. That was the whole plan. She couldn't fail now. "Why are you doing this, Kayleigh? You're an Ace-"

The Ace of Diamonds swung the shovel once again but Melody was quick to duck from it.

"You think I don't know I'm an Ace? Of course, I know! That has nothing to do with this!"

She attacked once more, an attack Mel avoided only slimly by rolling on the ground. With a groan, Kay adjusted her grip on the shovel before slamming it into the ground once again as the Ace of Hearts dodged. Picking up a piece of shattered glass, Mel pointed the sharpest end at Kayleigh, cutting her hand in the process but she couldn't care less.

"Aira isn't around. You don't have to do this."

"This isn't about Aira!" Kayleigh scream, finally managing to stab Melody's arm. The Ace of Hearts emitted at loud, pained squeal but immediately retaliated nonetheless, puncturing her leg. With a scream, Kay fell to the ground, holding her leg. Mel glimpsed at her arm before immediately shuddering at the sight of a deep, bloody slit straight down the side. She was in too much agony to even consider grabbing another piece of glass so it didn't come as a shock when she felt her back slam against the wooden floor, shaking the whole shed.

Having lost all feeling in her right arm, Mel could only defend herself with her left arm, using all her energy and power to hold Kay's wrist away from her as the older female aimed another shattered piece of glass at her. The sharp tip was only a few centimetres away from Melody's chest and she was quickly losing strength in her left arm. She wouldn't be able to stop the attack even if she tried. She need to think quickly, she needed to-

The first thing Mel felt when she watched Seungmin tackle Kay was relief. She loudly exhaled a breath she hadn't even realised she had been holding and pressed her palm onto the left side of her chest. The second thing she felt was pure panic when she glanced at him, noticing that while he managed to stop the glass piercing her chest, he failed to do the same to himself.

Kayleigh pushed the glass further and further into his chest and Mel watched it slowly disappear in his body in utter shock. It took a moment for her to come to her senses but when she did, she scrambled to the entrance, grabbing a shovel and, with all the energy she had left, rammed it into the side of her head.

The Ace of Diamonds held her head in pain and Melody took this as the perfect opportunity to attack once more, continuously slamming the metal head into Kayleigh's temple until she was sure the girl was dead. Panting, Mel stared down at her in shock, glancing down at her arms that have blood speckled all over them, she felt instantly nauseous. She killed someone. She actually murdered someone.

Then she remembered Seungmin, her eyes widening when she turned to him. He clutched the piece of glass that impaled him, a few tears slipping down the side of his face and blood mimicking it as it slid out of his mouth.

She sprinted towards him, cradling his head into her lap as she muttered apologies and begged him not to die.

"Mel," he chuckled dryly, barely able to make an audible noise. "It's fine."

"No, it's not, Seungmin! You're going to die here! You shouldn't have saved me. I had it under control! You're going to die! It's not fine!"

He shook his head, "Hyunjin told me," he gulped, clearly losing energy with each passing second.

"Shush. Don't talk. You're wasting your energy. Maybe if I find a cloth, I can apply pressure to it and stop the bleeding and-"

"I'm going to die," he stated plainly. "You can't so anything to save me."

"Shut up! Don't say that! Stop speaking! I need to think! I can't let you die, Seungmin! Please just," she cried. "Please just stop talking and let me try to save you. Let me try."

"No," he coughed, a stream of blood gushing out of his mouth. "Hyunjin told me about the plan."

"The plan? What plan? Oh, that plan. Shoot! The plan!"

He weakly smiled at her, "he told me to make sure you don't die. Now, that is a job I take very seriously."

"Well, you succeeded but still..."

"Read what's written on the wall, Mel. Only one will make it. This is a plan you've been working long and hard on. In order to succeed, I have to die."

"But-"

"Everyone else," he coughed, a tear rolling down his cheek as he whispered his final words, "they're dead."

She held his limp head in her hands, tears streaming out of eyes as she hugged it, too overwhelmed by sorrow to hear or notice the world darken around her as everything flickered into nothingness. And then she heard a loud voice, echoing around in her head. The voice of a man.

"Congratulations! You won the game! Unfortunately, I can't let you go immediately. And it will be a whole before I can ever let you go. You see, you were a witness in the murder of the scientist Lisette South five years ago. You are the only person that knows exactly what happened."

Merry Christmas! Sorry this is late, I got a bit preoccupied. The Epilogue will be posted tomorrow because I am just too exhausted to write anything else today. Hope you enjoyed your day!