Seto finally mustered up the will to leave his room a few minutes later. Of course, he made sure to magically hide the scars on his cheek, the ones that Bonks had left him. It certainly wouldn't make everyone forget what he did, but he still didn't want to think about it or have the others be constantly reminded.

As he approached the cafeteria, however, he gradually heard voices from inside get louder.

"I... I'm just so scared, Husky..." Jason's voice said shakily. Seto stopped in his tracks, surprised to hear the usually-cheerful man sound so afraid like this.

"It was just a nightmare," Husky replied in a low voice. "Don't think about it so much."

"I know, but- but in a place like this, anything could happen... What if we don't make it out alive? What if- What if you get killed, what if-?"

"Relax, Jason. You're hyperventilating again."

Jason took a few deep breaths. "S-Sorry..."

"What would it take for me to reassure you that I won't die?"

"...I don't know if anything could..."

"...You want me to make the mega-best-friend promise?" Husky asked. Seto couldn't see it but he could tell from the tone of his voice that Husky was grinning widely.

Jason smacked him, probably on the shoulder. "We're not in elementary school anymore, dumbass."

"Cross my heart and hope to spy, fly a rocket through the sky, I promise that I won't let either of us get killed," Husky replied. "Is that good enough for you?"

Jason paused before laughing a little, his voice still slightly nervous. "Fine... Dumbass..."

Seto decided to enter the cafeteria at this point. He walked in and saw Jason and Husky sitting together. Husky had his arms wrapped around Jason, but when he saw Seto he immediately let go. "Woah, hey there Seto, we weren't doing anything..." Husky said awkwardly.

Jason tried to subtly wipe his eyes and compose himself before looking up at Seto. His cheeks were still flushed and his eyes had dark patches from a restless night. "Uh, good morning..."

"Good morning," Seto replied politely as he sat down at another table. He noticed that neither Jason nor Husky had made any move to eat, a sentiment he could agree with since his appetite had completely disappeared at this point.

Tyler walked in then. His square-lens glasses sat crookedly on his face and his brown hair was tousled since he probably hadn't bothered to brush it. It looked like he'd barely gotten any sleep at all as well. "'Morning," he mumbled as he sat down beside Seto.

Seto nodded in acknowledgement. It suddenly occurred to him that it had been three days since Tyler had appeared in the cafeteria with everybody else. Going along that train of thought, it was only the tenth day since they had been trapped... They had spent ten days in this hellhole, and five of their friends were already dead.

To say that time flew in this place would be an understatement. No sooner had they started to move on from the deaths of Seth, Jade, and Sky, did they find themselves having to grieve for Jerome and Mitch as well.

Had this become routine already? The thought disturbed Seto so much, he didn't want to think about it. If ten days had already passed, why hadn't anyone found them yet? Surely someone would have contacted the police by now, and they would have quickly figured out the missing participants were in Diamond Studios. Did anyone even know they were missing? Was anyone even looking for them? 

What if they did know where they were, but for some reason the police just couldn't break in and save them?

Seto forced himself to stop thinking about these questions. They wouldn't solve anything right now.

Gradually everyone else filed in, all looking weary and deadened. Ryan hadn't appeared yet, however, but that wasn't exactly surprising. The last trial had clearly taken its toll on all of them. Only Ashley and Jordan had the stomach to grab something from the kitchen to eat, and even they barely ate. The empty silence that hung in the room was deafening. It hurt Seto to see everyone like this, so unlike how they were ten days ago. It hurt Seto to see how their numbers had dwindled down like this...

Was this inevitable?

Seto didn't have time to think about this question when Bonks entered the cafeteria, holding a picture frame in her hands. She looked around nervously as she walked past all of them towards the memorial table in the back of the cafeteria, placing the picture frame down. Seto stood up and made his way to the table, followed by everyone else.

The drawing had Mitch and Jerome sitting in a meadow together. The lush, green meadow was filled with white daisies. Someone, probably MonoWither, had replaced the torches on the table with proper candles. The soft light of the candles illuminated Mitch and Jerome's grinning faces. The light also filled Seto with a sense of warmth. It didn't get rid of the mournful grief he felt at all, but strangely, despite everything they made him feel... hopeful.

For a few seconds, everyone gathered around the memorial, all having a solemn vigil of silence for their fallen friends. And then someone in particular shattered it.

"What are you all doing?"

Everyone turned to face MonoWither, who was hovering in the air and grinning at them. "Aw, why the long faces?"

If looks could kill, MonoWither would probably have exploded into fiery bits by now.

"Well there's no point in just sitting here doing nothing other than angst about death and despair. The third floor's already open! In fact, someone is already exploring it!"

Seto finally spoke. "Ryan's already on the third floor?"

"Yep! He was so excited to explore the new sights, he didn't sleep at all!"

Husky frowned. "He didn't sleep?"

"Why so concerned? Fun fact, a lack of sleep never killed anyone!" MonoWither stated.

"That may be true, but it certainly isn't healthy at all..." Ashley muttered. "Not sleeping contributes to loads of health problems, even though it doesn't directly kill you."

"Yeah well you know what isn't healthy either? Standing around just moping and angsting! Cheer up!"

"Cheer up?" Annie asked, clenching her jaw. "Our friends just died, and you want us to just 'cheer up'?!"

"What was it Seto said last time? Oh yes!" MonoWither's voice suddenly changed to a recording of Seto's, making the sorcerer flinch.

"I think we should all just... take it easy, and relax as best as we can. Let's try to accept what's already happened and move on. We can't lose hope now, can we? We're in a bad situation at the moment, but we just have to make the best out of it. That's all we can do right now."

"I didn't mean just completely ignore the deaths of our friends," Seto defended angrily.

"Oh Seto, that's not what we're asking you to do! What we mean is that we need filler episodes right now, and you're going to give us some! Unless you want to give us the next death straight away?"

"No- No more deaths!" Bodil cried out, horrified. "Please no more!"

MonoWither cackled. "Yeah, that would ruin the pacing, and as proper hosts we can't allow that to happen! Of course, this show as a whole is specifically a trigger happy havoc murder mystery drama, but we need some breather episodes between each murder and trial, now don't we?"

"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Jason shouted. "How can you treat all this like it's- it's just show business?!"

"Because THIS, IS, ENTERTAINMENT; LIES, ARE, ENTERTAINMENT- No? Never heard that song? Ugh, no one listens to real music these days... Anyway, just do whatever today. You can plan a murder, in fact that is highly encouraged, but don't actually do it yet you eager, bloodthirsty fiends! Have some patience!" MonoWither laughed raucously.

"Stop it! None of us are going to murder anyone, and that's final!" Jason shouted.

"That ironic phrase has been said many times to no avail!" MonoWither countered.

"I trust that the rest of us won't hurt another. Not after what's happened twice before..." Bodil said fearfully.

"Oh, you still trust your friends even after all this? You think that the fact that everyone who attempted to escape by murdering another person failed will discourage others from trying? That's funny, hilarious even! You know oh so little about how this world really works!" MonoWither laughed before their eyes glowed red. "You want the truth about you guys?"

"T-Truth?!" Bonks echoed nervously. "What truth?!"

"The oh-so-despairing truth that we've been dying to reveal as a shocking plot twist! Okay then, here goes! Two participants among you... are actually dirty spies!"

Spies?! Seto thought with confusion. It seemed that he wasn't the only one.

"What do you mean by that? Spies?" Jordan asked dubiously.

"Yes, two among you are actually filthy, sneaky spies hiding things from everyone else!"

"You- You mean they're working for you?!" Annie exclaimed, her green eyes widening in horror.

"Upupupu! We guess you could say that... They may have even played a role in putting you all in here, you never know!"

"You're a liar!" Tyler declared. "None of us would ever work for you!"

"And once again you say the words of foolish denial!" MonoWither said. "But we know it'll take awhile for everything to sink in. We'll leave you alone to decide who to trust... and who to suspect... That's all for now, toodles!" MonoWither promptly disappeared.

A stunned silence engulfed the cafeteria.

"What do we do?!" Bodil asked, panicking. "Oh god- Is it true?! Are two of you spies?! Who- Who are they?!"

Ashley placed a hand on his shoulder. "Breathe. Panicking won't solve anything."

"This spy thing isn't important anyway..." Steven murmured, crossing his arms over his chest.

"How can it not be?!" Husky countered. "Two people here are working for MonoWither!"

"Yes, we need to find out who they are now!" Jason shouted.

"No, Steven is right. We must remain calm and think about this," Jordan urged. "How are we supposed to find the killer? Demand that they confess?" No one knew how to answer his question. "That's why it's impossible to deal with this now," he concluded.

"So what you're suggesting is that we just sit back and let the spies keep telling MonoWither things that should be kept secret?!" Annie asked. "What if the spies are suggesting to MonoWither motives that would affect us the most?!"

"N-No!" Bonks cried out, horrified. "Why- Why would anyone here do that?!"

"Well someone here might have!" Annie argued.

Seto felt chills run up and down his spine. Had the spies been the ones who found their darkest secrets? But who among them would know about his secret in particular? He had never told a single soul ever since he left that horrid place...

"Don't you see what MonoWither is doing?" Steven asked. "They're trying to set us against each other! They want us to distrust each other!"

"I agree," Tyler said. "Although it bothers me that... some of you could be betraying us... we can't go on a wild witch hunt. That won't get us anywhere."

Seto nodded. "Let's put the spy talk on hold. Now is not the time to be accusing each other. We don't even know if they're telling the truth, or if they just lied to get everyone worked up like we are now."

"...I just want us to live in peace for once..." Husky said quietly. "That's all I want, and the spies could ruin that... But you're right, arguing won't help us."

"So... what now?" Jason asked tentatively.

"Although... I definitely wouldn't have said it the way MonoWither did..." Bonks began hesitantly. "...I don't think we should keep staying here like this... all filled with despair..."

"What's the point?" Ashley asked bitterly. "Trying to 'stay hopeful' clearly didn't work last time..."

"But it's like what Seto said, isn't it?" Steven asked optimistically. "There's nothing else we can do... Everyone says that the third time's the charm, right?"

Ashley didn't reply.

"It wouldn't hurt to try again," Seto said finally. "We can't give up like MonoWither wants. We just have to stay determined..."

And on that note, everyone decided to leave.

~~~

The first thing they saw when they walked out the cafeteria were the two giant wooden signs on both of the elevator doors saying "DO NOT ENTER" in bold letters. "What are these?!" Tyler asked, bewildered.

"You can read, can't you?!" MonoWither asked suddenly. "You can't enter the elevator shafts anymore!"

"I mean they didn't really serve a function in the first place, but why not?" Annie asked skeptically.

"Because we don't want anybody snooping around on the upper floors before they're opened!" MonoWither replied. "So don't think about climbing up them, Ashley!"

"...I do value my safety, you know..." Ashley muttered.

"Ahem! To clarify, the elevator doors on the first floor are glued shut with MonoWither's Special Paste! Totally edible, by the way, although it does taste rather gluey. Plus, there's a wire mesh between the third floor and the fourth floor in the shaft. This is what we've done to ensure that none of you climb up the shaft and enter the upper floors! So don't even try it! Just focus on planning murders! Please make the murder a good one too, we're sort of running out of ideas!"

Seto rolled his eyes and walked over to the nearby stairs, followed by everyone else. There was this strange satisfaction in simply ignoring MonoWither and their wild antics, Seto thought, as they made their way up to the second floor. When they reached the top, however, they all saw a familiar figure sitting on the steps that led to the third floor, hanging his head and staring at his lap.

"Ryan!" Husky cried out, running over to him.

When Seto approached Ryan, the first thing he noticed was the way he hadn't reacted even after Husky had shouted his name. Ryan lifted his head slightly, the only indication that he had noticed them in the first place.

Seto's heart skipped a beat when he saw the empty expression in Ryan's face. His blue eyes, once fiery with electric passion, were now frozen over with dullness. They stared forward at nothing, appearing blank and vacant, with no signs of emotion whatsoever. There were dark bags under his eyes and his face was pale and tense. The longer Seto looked at him, the more uncomfortable he felt. 

It just didn't seem natural for Ryan of all people to look like this. If it wasn't for the slight rise and fall of his chest and shoulders as he breathed, Ryan might have easily been mistaken for a dead person. Even Dave, a literal zombie, was far more lively than he was at the moment.

"Oh... Ryan..." Bonks said, biting her lip with sympathy.

No one really knew what to say, and the SDML Warden's unresponsiveness wasn't helping matters.

"Did you really not sleep last night?" Annie asked, concerned.

His silence answered the question.

Jason tried to say something. "Look, I know it's hard. We all miss them too, you know?"

Ryan's right hand trembled ever so slightly before he turned it over, revealing a dog tag lying on his palm.

Mitch's dog tag...

MonoWither must have given it to him, just like they'd given Seto Sky's amulet...

Ryan stared at it for a few moments before clutching it again tightly, grasping it as though it would disappear.

"Please Ryan, just talk to us..." Bodil whispered. "We're worried about you..."

Ryan didn't say a word.

"Just say something... anything?" Steven suggested.

Nothing.

Seto opened his mouth to say something, but Tyler interrupted him.

"You know it's not your fault, right?" Tyler asked softly.

Here, Ryan raised his head a little higher.

"It's not your fault..." Tyler repeated.

Ryan clenched his fists together tightly, but Tyler persisted.

"It's not. your fault. Do you hear me?"

Ryan abruptly stood up and everyone surrounding him stepped back in surprise as he coldly brushed past them. Tyler grit his teeth and stormed over to Ryan, reaching out and grabbing his arm to stop him. "Goddamn it, I'm not letting you think the same shitty things that I did and shut yourself from the rest of us-"

Without warning, Ryan suddenly shook Tyler off, whirled around, and smacked him in the face so hard his glasses flew off and clattered several feet away onto the floor. Everyone gasped in shock and Bonks actually let out a scream of horror as Tyler crumpled to the ground, temporarily knocked out for a second.

"Tyler!" Seto cried out, instinctively running over to Tyler before he could fully register what had just happened. He knelt down by Tyler as the man clutched the side of his head, groaning in pain. "Oh- Oh my god, are you okay?!"

From the corner of Seto's eye, he saw Ryan almost-mechanically turn around and walk away, making his way down the steps to the first floor. This time no one tried to stop him.

Tyler struggled to push himself up with shaking arms. Seto gripped his upper torso as he helped him sit in a kneeling position. "Tyler? Are you okay?" he asked, agitated.

"Ugh... That... fucking hurt..." Tyler moaned, pressing his hand against the spot where Ryan had struck him. "Ow... Why did he have to work out so much..."

"Here, let me see it," Seto muttered, prying Tyler's hand away from his head. Already there was a red mark in the shape of Ryan's handprint forming on the skin. Seto winced with sympathy, realizing exactly how hard Tyler had been slapped.

"Where are my glasses?" Tyler asked, squinting as he looked around. Steven quickly ran over and picked up the glasses before handing them back. Tyler put them on and blinked rapidly. "Oh good, they didn't break. I'd be screwed if they did, haha..."

"How badly does it hurt?" Seto demanded.

"Uh, not as much as a few seconds ago..." Tyler replied. 

He started to stand up but Seto pushed him back down. "Look at me."

"You don't need to fuss over me so much Seto, I'm fine!" Tyler insisted.

Seto raised his pointer finger. "Look at the finger."

"I said I'm fine!"

"And I said 'look at the finger!'"

Tyler sighed. "Fine, I'm looking..."

Seto moved his finger back and forth and watched as Tyler followed the movement with no apparent difficulty. He pursed his lips together. "I think you're fine for now..."

"That's what I just said, Mother," Tyler muttered, rolling his eyes as he got to his feet with Seto's help.

Husky stood as though he was permanently rooted to the ground, utterly shocked. "I... I didn't expect Ryan would... lash out like that..."

"He isn't in his right state of mind," Ashley murmured sympathetically.

"But how can we help him like this?" Jason whispered. "Is he... angry at us? Does he blame us?"

"No, he blames himself," Tyler replied sadly. 

"I don't think we should leave him alone, god knows what's going on in his head right now..." Annie said hesitantly. 

"That may be true, but we should let him calm down first," Jordan suggested. "He isn't emotionally stable right now and could hurt someone else without thinking."

"...Poor Ryan..." Bonks whispered, staring dejectedly down at the floor.

"Yeah... poor Ryan..." Seto murmured.

"I wish there was some way we could show him that we could help..." Steven said quietly, clasping his hands together and wringing them. "But I don't know if he'll listen to us..."

"We just need to give him time," Tyler replied. "I'm sure he'll come around eventually..."

Without anything else to say, the group climbed up the steps to the third floor.

~~~

When they reached the third floor, they saw several rooms on the left end and a long, dark hallway on the right end. Naturally, they all paid attention to the latter

"What's that?" Jason asked, sounding slightly scared as he pointed at the ominous aisle. Everyone cautiously stepped closer to the hallway, noticing that there were iron doors on both sides of the cobblestone corridor.

"I don't want to know what are in these rooms..." Bonks whispered, her voice trembling.

"Yeah, it doesn't seem right," Jordan remarked.

"I- I saw something like this in a documentary before-" Bodil stammered, panic surging from his lips. "It turned out that in the rooms were separate torture chambers and they were filled with dead bodies that were torn apart-"

"Bodil, that was 'Herobrine's Haunting', not a documentary," Ashley deadpanned.

"But still! This all screams 'we have dead bodies inside of us, don't come in!'"

"Would MonoWither put something in these rooms that would actually harm us though?" Husky asked. "I mean I wouldn't put it past them, but so far other than the shop, all the rooms have been fairly innocent..."

"Upupupu!!! Well why don't you guys just find out yourselves?!" MonoWither asked. "What are in these doors? It's a mystery! And a mystery is no fun without a little bit of danger!"

"I'll go, since I'm a sorcerer," Seto said, walking up to the closest room and reaching for the lever.

"Oh, please don't do that!" MonoWither begged.

Seto squinted suspiciously. "Why not?"

"No reason in particular, it's just that..." Their red eyes gleamed maliciously. "We think Steven should be the one to go in first..."

Singled out without warning, Steven jolted in sudden fright. "M-Me?! Why me?!"

"Why? Because we think you'll like what's in there! Think of it as an early birthday present!" MonoWither declared. 

Steven began to shake like a leaf. "But- But-" he stammered, looking around at everyone and silently begging for someone to take his place.

"Now Seto, step back. Steven wants to see what his prize is!"

Seto caught the deadly undertone in MonoWither's voice and did as they said, but Bart and Dave both moved forward and glared at the machine.

"Uh uh uh!" MonoWither clucked disapprovingly. "Don't go with him! Steven's the one who should go, and he should go alone!"

Bart and Dave refused to step down, but Steven walked past them. "It... It'll be okay..." he said to them, swallowing down his nervousness. "I'm... I'm sure everything will be just fine... It'll all be okay! Just... trust me!" He forced a smile of determination, but it wavered.

"Steven? Be careful..." Bonks pleaded.

Steven nodded and took a deep breath before pulling the lever next to the iron door, which swung open to reveal a dark room. His legs trembled as he took one step into the room, and after a moment's hesitation, another. He was about five steps in the room when he suddenly stopped walking and tilted his head to listen for something. There was a pause before he started stepping backwards frantically. "Oh- Oh god no- Help! HELP!!!" he cried out desperately as several skeletons emerged from the darkness and approached him, nocking arrows onto their raised bows and aiming at him. Steven was paralyzed in fear, he couldn't seem to force his legs to run...

Before anyone else could react, Dave suddenly lunged forward and shoved Steven to the side. The zombie only had time to raise his arms in front of him before the skeletons fired their arrows at him. Dave let out a sharp howl that echoed chillingly as the arrows pierced his flesh.

Steven's hysterical scream as Dave's impaled body hit the ground was consumed with such an indescribable horror, it made everyone's blood run cold.