Okay so

999, VLR, ZTD, and everything based on the ZE series will always be some of my favorite stuff

I love it too much

So here's so fanfiction that was so shitty I want to die

I think the biggest problem I had with it was that it felt like I was repeating a lot of the main story

Honestly I'll probably write a one shot for them someday

Or even an entire book

Who knows?

Also the soundtrack is bangin' so like listen to that good shit

- - - - -

Chapter 1

Aoi's POV

I was running down a stairwell, my mind a blur as I looked around for more doors. We reached a new floor and I clenched my teeth as a red 4 and 5 came into view. There was a stunned man in front of me, and I shoved him out of the way. "Fuck! Out of my way!" I grunted, shoving past him to bang on the 5 door. "Hey! Open the fuck up!" I yelled, as I kicked the door. I saw a burly man doing the same on the 4 door. I felt a warm hand on my shoulder and I turned around briskly to see who it was. There was a tall man, probably around my age, and he was holding my shoulder with a kind smile. "It would be more appropriate for you to stop. It appears we have company." He spoke, his voice sounding regal and refined. I grunted and crossed my arms, his voice calming me. "Yeah, whatever." I muttered, pushing past the man.

I was startled by a loud intercom. "Welcome. This is the Nonary Game." The intercom spoke, monotonously. I raised an eyebrow. "Wow way to cut to the chase you son of a bitch." I hissed at the intercom. The intercom didn't seem to care about my outburst and continued right along. "You have numbers on your bracelets. The digital root of the numbers on your bracelets will open the numbered doors. What is a digital root, you ask? Well, a digital root is the simplified version of numbers by adding place values together. Take the number 682. 6 + 8 + 2 = 16. 1 + 6 = 7. The digital root of 682 is 7, so you would be able to open the 7 door with the numbers 6, 8, and 2. However, 3-5 people must activate the scanner on the door for you to be able to enter. Everyone who verifies must go through, and everyone who doesn't must stay behind. If you break any of the rules, you will be penalized. Penalties consist of only one thing. A bomb inside your small intestine will explode, and you will die."

The word "die" was heavy in the air. I grinned my teeth and did the only logical thing anyone could do in this situation. I stuck my hand down my throats and began to gag. The intercom buzzed to life once more. "Don't try and throw the bomb up. It will only result in a mess I have to clean." The intercom said. I flipped off the intercom with my free hand. A voice perked up beside me. "And who are 'you' exactly?" A girl with bright pink hair in pigtails spoke, pointing at the intercom accusingly. The intercom paused, as if considering whether or not to answer. "Zero." Was the only answer given. I had felt the rise of bile and I spit it out at the intercom, and rubbed the rest with my arm warmer. "Fuck off Zero!" I hissed at the intercom. The intercom buzzed to life, as if to mock me. "Seek a way out... seek a door with the number 9." The intercom muttered, the static hazing over before we heard one last thing. "You have 9 hours before the ship sinks."

We were all stunned. My eye twitched as I pointed at the intercom. I said a line of curse words that would make even me feel uncomfortable if I repeated them. I sighed roughly and stormed off to examine the doors. I heard a thud behind me and I turned around. There was a girl with long brown hair and a purple sweater, on top of the man I had pushed earlier. The girl exclaimed "Junpei!" And the man seemed just as stunned as me. "They know eachother!?" I said in my head. The both suddenly untangled themselves and stood up.

There was an awkward silence as everyone shuffled around. Finally, the large burly man that had bashed the 4 door walked over. "So. What should we do now? Go through those doors?" He asks, rubbing a blue beanie on his head. I glared him down. "Tch. Do you think I'm gonna do what that bastard says?" I laugh. "W-well I mean... we only have 9 hours." The girl in purple mutters. She looks vaguely familiar...  I rolled my eyes. "Gullible much?" I hiss. The man who had put his hand on my shoulder walked up from behind me. "I suggest we take a look around all the available decks and meeting back up to go through the doors." He says, giving a wry smile. Everyone nods and I sigh, going along with them.

After around an hour of searching, a large set of rings pierce the air. I count them in my head, as I walk down the set of stairs. There was around 10 rings I think. I hadn't found anything, but the other people seemed to have had more luck. I followed them to the 4 and 5 doors.

Everyone gets there in a timely fashion and we settle down in these chairs that Zero has so generously fucking provided us. A man with grey and brown had spoke up. "So did anyone find anything?" He says in a gruff voice. That sounds familiar as well... "We found a door with the Earth symbol! And a door with the sun symbol as well." A woman with not enough clothing remarks. "And some elevators." The pink haired girl cheerfully speaks. I roll my eyes. "Anything to help us get the fuck out of here!?" I spit, my eyes full of impatience. "W-well no... we need to get through the n-numbered doors..." The girl in purple speaks up. I roll my eyes again.

"So we should learn everybody's names." The man I pushed over grunts. "Hold up. If this Zero person abducted random people, we can't just go around flaunting around names. Names have power." The beanie man speaks, matter of factly. "Well then we use code names!" The girl with pink hair cheers, a smile filling her face. "Alright. I'm Seven. Because my bracelet number is 7." The beanie man spoke. The man with grey hair goes next. "I will take cards then. Since my number is 1, I will be Ace. Is that alright with everyone?" He grunts, smiling. "Since Ace has taken cards, I choose dice. Snake-eyes respectfully which is a tad ironic due to my blindness." The regal man spoke. As he spoke, I felt may face heat up. Was I coming down with a fever? Nah that wasn't it...

Snake gives me a little poke as if yo bring me back to reality. "Y-yeah... well I guess you can call me Santa. San is 3 in Japanese, and Santa Claus gives gifts." I say, a small barking laugh escaping my lips. "Then I'll be Clover! Like yknow, a 4 leaf clover?" The girl with pink hair exclaims happily.

The flannel man speaks up. "Hm, ok then I guess I'll be-" Snake stops him. "We already know your name Junpei." He says, frowning. "H-huh?" Flannel man speaks. Oh yeah, the purple girl said that his name was Junpei... "No need for a code name now." I chuckled, as Junpei's face fell. "What's your bracelet number?" Ace asked. "5." Junpei answered.

The purple girl frowned and started thinking. "My b-bracelet number is 6... uh..." The purple girl says aloud. There's an awkward pause before Junpei speaks up. "June. Like the 6th month." Junpei declares. "Y-yeah, okay." June nods, her face feigning confidence. The woman with big boobs- I mean, with almost no clothes speaks up. "Humph, I'll be Lotus. There are 8 petals on the flower, correct? My bracelet is number 8." She declares, turning her nose upwards snobbishly.

There was one last person. It was a man I overlooked. He had messy hair and a nerdy jacket. What a prick. Snake walked over towards the man with a friendly smile. "What might your code name and bracelet number be?" Snake asks politely. "M-m-my c-code name?" The man asks, his voice stuttering. "Yes, and bracelet number." Snake says, waving his hand almost dismissively. "W-well... y-you've already g-g-gone through all the o-other b-bracelets..." The man says, wiping sweat off of his brow. It clicked. So he's the number nine bracelet. "W-well I don't n-need a c-c-code name." The man says. "What?" Snake asks, obviously confused by what he 9th Man had said. "I-I d-don't n-n-need one, because of this!" The 9th Man screeches.

He moved like a bird, his body moving towards Snake like a hunter moves towards prey. He caught Snake off guard and before any of us knew it, Snake was being grabbed by the 9th Man.

My eyes widened, and my heart stopped.

There was a knife pointed straight at his neck.

-----
A.N: Sorry about abbreviating the rules, in assuming if you ship these two than you already know what he basics are lmao

I haven't seen any 999 or Zero Escape novels on Wattpad, so here is the first! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 2

Aoi's POV

My breathing hitched as the man smiled devilishly and tightened his grip. Snake's face twisted into confusion, then into fear as the 9th Man pressed the knife into his neck. My face burned, and my fists clenched so hard my knuckles turned white. I was so fucking pissed, that 9th Man was going kill Snake if we didn't do something fast! My face heated up as I saw Snake starting to struggle a bit, wiggling to try and get away from the 9th Man. I bit my lip, not wanting to aggravate the bastard that held Snake.

"N-now... If you all f-f-follow m-my orders, this m-man will live." The 9th Man speaks. He roughly shoved Snake's left hand onto the scanner next to the door. Scanner? Oh, guess my small brain missed that fucking detail. I cringed backwards a little bit as Snake tries to get his bearings, his arms reaching out to try and feel along the wall. The 9th Man also verifies his bracelet and looks around. His eyes land on me and he gestures for me to come over. My eyes widen in anger and I clench my jaw. What should I listen to that fucking bastard! He has Snake! "Y-you. The n-number 3 b-bracelet! C-come v-verify your b-b-bracelet!" The 9th Man squeaks, his voice cracking. Why me?

9 + 2 + 3 = 14
1 + 4 = 5

Of course... He was going to open the 5 door! I felt everyone looking at me, urging me to go. My hesitation made the 9th Man frown. He pushes the knife deeper into Snake's neck. "I only n-need his b-b-bracelet! I c-can kill him!" The 9th Man threatens, his voice rattling. I didn't want to take any chances. I made one stiff step forward.

I kept moving forwards. I made it to the door after what felt like forever and stared at the 9th Man hatefully. "V-verify your b-bracelet! On the s-scanner!" The 9th Man screeches. I roll my eyes and slam my hand on the scanner, glaring daggers at the 9th Man. The 9th Man smiles. "A-alright. I'll b-be going now." He says, pulling the lever on the 5 door.

The 9th Man shoves Snake onto me, and we both collapse. I see the 5 door open, and the 9th Man slips through. "Later." He says, waving. I'm facing a much more pressing predicament.

Snake is pinning me to the floor and bleeding. He pants heavily, moving his hands around the floor, before finally reaching my body. I feel my heart flutter as Snake touches my face. "Who might this be?" He asks, cocking an eyebrow. "S-Santa..." I mutter, blushing. Snake smiles, and sits up. I turn even more red as he tries to turn and ends up touching the insides of my thigh. Snake brushes himself off and holds a hand out to me. I blink and take it, smiling. When we're both standing, I notice the cut on his neck. "H-holy shit!" I exclaim. "What?" Snake asks, looking at me curiously. "You have a cut on your neck." I say, poking the area around his cut. "Ah yes." Snake shrugs.

Snake walks over to Clover, but I grab his arm. He stops and looks at me, a puzzled expression falling over his face. "Um, I have a makeshift bandage." I say, ripping my black scarf. Snake smiles and turns so that the cut faces me. I blush like crazy as I wrap the fragment of a scarf around his neck. He smiles gratefully and Clover gives me a little thumbs up.

That's when we started to hear the banging. It was coming from the 5 door. Was it the 9th Man? "H-help! It's not t-t-turning off!" He screeched, his voice filled with desperation and fear. "Ack! Open the d-door! P-please!" We all take a step back, stunned. "There's n-n-no more t-time! Ack! H-he killed m-me! H-he lied to m-m-me!" The 9th Man screamed, his voice tearing through every fiber of my being.

"AAAAAUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

BOOM.

The explosion shook the entire room. I stumbled backwards and fell onto the floor. Clover and Snake seemed to be holding onto eachother, steadying themselves. Junpei held onto June, and Lotus flailed her arms out in an attempt to regain balance. Ace and Seven seemed to be doing okay, apart from the shocked look on their faces.

The room was silent.

"We.... we should check." Junpei says, hesitantly moving towards the door. He verifies his number, and calls over Lotus and Ace, who do the same. Junpei looks over his shoulder, his eyes scanning the room. "Are we all ready?" He asks, putting his hand gently on the lever. Everyone nods their heads solemnly. Junpei grunts in affirmation, and pushes the lever down.

We all hold our breath as the door creaks open. My eyes widen as I see the blood. Snake doesn't look too surprised, but he wrinkles his nose and protectively steps in front of Clover. Everyone else stares in horror, and I hear someone retch. June collapses and Junpei rushes over to her side as the 5 door shuts.

A few moments pass in stunned silence as we take in the mess we just saw. What was once the 9th Man was lying a few meters in front of us, behind the 5 door. From what I saw, the blast had flung the top half of his body onto the hallway wall with his intestines still settling. The bottom half of his body had been exploded into chunks that stuck to the floor, wall and ceiling. His glasses had been lying next to his bracelet and were on the ground near a mangled part of his foot. The blood was bright red and dropped from all parts of the hallway. I gagged, and stumbled to a chair to try and catch my breath.

"W-what the hell!" I yelled, my voice ringing out into the silence. "Did the bastard set off a trap!?" Snake shook his head, and calmly smiled in my direction, and I couldn't tell if it was full of pity or pleasure. "The 9th man did not, in fact, set of a trap. Instead, he broke some of Zero's rules." Snake mused. "And how would you know that?" Lotus asks, her voice dripping with suspicion. "Zero has given me a set of rules that only I can read." Snake explains, pulling out a tablet from his pocket. "Read? Aren't you blind?" Seven interjects, pulling off his beanie. "I can read with my fingers, in a language called Braille." Snake says, adjusting the tablet, in a way he can read it. "Plus if it was in words, Clover would have just read it aloud for me." I blinked. "Wait, Clover? But if you had read it in the cabin, because we had never seen that ceramic tablet before, how would Clover have been able to read it?" Ace asks, looking at the tablet with interest. "We were in the same room, after all, we are siblings." Snake explains, smiling down at Clover. "S-siblings!?" Juniper yells, clearly confused. "You look nothing alike!"

Snake shook his head. "Well, not all siblings look alike." Snake says calmly. "Anyways, you all wish to see what is on the tablet, yes?" We all nodded, hoping to hear what was on the ceramic tablet. "Hello, this is Zero. Since you are blind, you have been blessed with the gift of knowledge. This knowledge will give you an advantage, as well as an understanding of the bracelets, the REDs and the DEADs. The bracelets are all numbered and their corresponding number is the number that will be used to find digital roots. The bracelets only come off in 2 situations. The first of which is escaping this game by opening and entering the 9 door. The second is when your heartbeat drops to zero. If any of these scenarios happen, the bracelet will unclasp and fall off. This will also deactivate the bomb in your stomach. Beside the numbered doors, there is a scanner that you verify your bracelets on. The number on your bracelet will be recorded on the scanner and used to calculate the digital roots. These scanners are called REDs or Recognition Devices. After entering a numbered door, your bracelet will start an 81 second countdown. If the user fails to re-verify their bracelet on the DEAD (Deactivation Device) and the countdown reaches zero, this will detonate the bomb they have ingested." Snake reads, his fingers nimbly scouring the bumps on the page. Everyone tensed a little when he mentioned the 'detonation' of the bombs in side our bodies. Snake stops, pausing for us, before nodding and continuing.

"DEADs can only be verified by the bracelets that were verified on the RED, and all who verify on the red must re-verify on the DEAD. Any numbered door that opens will automatically close after 9 seconds, and the DEAD will only activate after the numbered door is shut." Snake finishes, tucking the ceramic tablet back into his pocket. "That was slightly confusing, so here's the basics: 1. Any bracelets that pass through a numbered door will start an 81 second countdown, after which they will detonate the bomb that has been ingested by its wearer.

2. To deactivate, all bracelets that were verified by the RED outside the door must be re-verified by the DEAD found somewhere past the door.

3. Only bracelets verified by the RED can be deactivated in this manner.

4. An opened numbered door will automatically close after 9 seconds.

5. The DEAD will not activate until after the numbered door has closed.

6. Bracelets can only be removed once A) they pass through the ship's exit or B) their wearer's heart rate reaches 0. Attempts to remove the bracelet without meeting either requirment will cause the connected bomb to detonate."

I think everyone broke at the same time, talking and yelling to say something, anything, to get their minds off of what we had just saw, heard, and felt. I was no different. I tried to yell my opinions over everyone else's and eventually I lost track of what I was saying. Junpei finally quieted us down. "SHUT! UP!" His voice rang out, commanding but fearful. I stopped and glanced over at Junpei before crossing my arms and glaring at him. Why should he get to yell at us? "We have to figure out who's going through which door!" Junpei continues, glancing backwards at the numbered doors. "I would like to go through 4." Snake says, walking towards the door. Before anyone says anything else I tense. "I want to go with- uh go through 4 too." I blurt, staring at Snake. Snake smiles and beckons me forward, so I stiffly make my way over to him. Lotus starts to speak, when Ace interrupts her. "I would like to go through 4." He says gruffly, practically marching towards Snake and I.

Clover and Lotus look like they're gonna murder someone, but stay silent. "Well, to make a digital root of 4, I have to go." Seven says, shrugging and walking over to Snake and I. Lotus finally bursts. "Why can I go through door 4!?" She whines, placing a hand below her chin. "I mean, I guess you can, but then Ace and Seven will have to go through door 5." Junpei explains.

2 + 3 + 1 + 7 = 13
1 + 3 = 4

Or

2 + 3 + 8 = 1
1 + 3 = 4

I rolled my eyes. "I don't want to go with a bitch like you." I snarled, smirking. Lotus huffs and opens her mouth as if to protest, but shuts it and turns around. "Actually, that works out pretty well. I'm a 5, Clover is 4, June is 6, and Lotus is 8. 5 + 4 + 6 + 8 = 23 and 2 + 3 = 5. Therefore we would be able to open the 5 door." Junpei explains, thoughtfully rubbing his head. "Is everyone okay with that?" Snake asks, smiling.

No one answers. I can't tell if it's because we're all content, or that we all don't feel like saying anything.

"Then we will enter the doors post haste." Snake says, verifying his bracelet on the scanner. I follow, beckoning Ace and Seven to do the same. We all verify and look back at the other group. We all nod and pull the lever. The number 4 door opens and Snake steps inside. Ace, Seven and I hesitate and Snake looks back. "Are you trying to kill me? The door closes after 9 seconds, and I would not be able to verify the DEAD without you." Snake says, walking briskly down the hallway. Ace, Seven, and I follow.

Chapter 3

Aoi's POV

We had stood in slight shock as the door shut behind us. "Where's the DEAD?" Seven asks, looking around. "Shit... It's not here!" I hiss. "I suggest looking!" Ace says, his voice filled with urgency. I look around for some sort of door and come up with nothing. So I take the next best option, sprinting down the hallway. Seven and Ace follow me as we hear Snake's voice shout. "The DEAD is over here!" He yells, waving his arms in the general direction of Ace, Seven, and I. I sneak a glance at my bracelet, and my brain registers a pink skull where the number 2 usually is.

After a few moments of frenzied sprinting, I make it to the DEAD and slam my hand on it, Seven and Ace follow close behind. Snake pulls the lever down and the beeping ceases. "Damn..." I mutter, panting heavily. Snake looks like he's even paler than before, while Ace and Seven try to catch their breath. "O-okay... What now?" Seven asks, looking around the hallway. "I saw some doors on either side of the hallway, Seven and I can check the ones farthest from the DEAD, you two can take the ones closest to the DEAD. We can work our way to the middle." Ace explains, pushing his hair back. Snake and I nod, turning to the doors right by the DEAD, as Seven and Ace run down the hallway.

Snake and I take opposite sides of the hallway and we open two doors. Yeah, open. We both stand in shock for a second before I turn to Seven and Ace, who are tugging on door handles. "Yo! We opened two!" I yell, glancing into the room. "Just continue down the hallway! We'll meet you in a second!" Seven grunts back, running towards another door handle. Snake and I both nod and hurry to more doors to see if we can open them. Nothing happens with the rest of the doors.

Our little group gets to the open doors as we stare at them with awe. "For once the doors decide to open." Ace grunts, grinning. "Yes, but there is also a giant door that appears to be our way out of this hallway." Snake says, pointing to a double door. "Mahogany..." Seven mutters, sliding a hand up and down the wood door. I take a look at the lock. It looks like a normal keyhole, besides the weird symbol beneath it. "Is this... the symbol for man?" Seven asks, bending down to inspect the door a little closer. "Duh." I mutter, crossing my arms. Snake bends down to feel the keyhole and he rubs his thumb on the symbol. "Yes you are correct, this is the symbol for 'man.' However, because of the Earth symbol on the door on the stairwell, I would assume that this is the Mars symbol." Snake explains, standing up. "So we have to find a key with the Mars symbol to open this door?" I ask, putting my arms behind my head. "Correct. Gold star for you Santa." Snake says, clapping his hands in a way that made me feel like he was sarcastic. I blush, and turn away.

"Okay, so we know what we have to find... Seven and I will take the left room, Snake can you take Santa into the other room?" Ace says, glancing in Snake's direction. "Sure, that works." Snake says, entering the room. I follow closely, barely noticing that I shut the door behind me. I see Snake feeling around the room, and I decide it would be best to explore the room as well. Yeah, that would be the best option.

The first thing I notice is a little plaque next to the door. "B92..." I mutter, before opening the door and looking at the door to the other unlocked room. "B93... 2nd class cabin." I read aloud, before returning inside. I take a look around and notice a display case with nothing in it. "You would think there would be something on display, in a display case..." I mutter, making my towards it. Of course, nothing. I turn around and notice a table. "Huh, what's this..." I say, picking up a box. I turn it over, and it says 'matches.' Snake comes over and looks at the box in my hand. "Matches?" He asks, touching the box. "Yeah, how'd you know?" I ask. "They sounded like matches." Snake says, shrugging. "Bet I could light your heart on fire." I say, winking. Wait, he can't see me wink, can he...? Damn. Snake blushes and smiles. There's a pause before we go back to exploring. There's a sofa, but nothing really notable.

I walk into a room that connects to the one with the table. There's a mirror on a desk. I open the desk drawer, and I hear something inside. I pick it up and inspect it. "A key?" I mutter to no one in particular. I tuck it into a pocket on my pants and walk over to a bed. I hear Snake walk in and I look up and into a light. Of course, being the idiot I am, I practically blind myself. No joke intended. "Ah fuck light!" I hiss, covering my eyes. I hear Snake shout "What!?" before running over to me. I rub my eyes as he comes over to me. "Are you alright?" He asks, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Now that you're here." I chuckle. Snake laughs and bumps into the bed. "A-ah! Oh, is this a bed?" He asks, putting his hands on the blue covers. "Yeah, it's a double." I say with a "more-than-friendly" tone, before realizing what just came out of my mouth. "Shit..." I mutter under my breath. Snake just... I don't really know... He kinda smiles, I guess?

I pull myself out of that situation and go to check out the hallway. I stumble out of the bedroom and bump into the coffee table on my way, but that's not important. I find a painting in the hallway, but I don't really look at it. It's a black and white blob, and that's all my brain processes before I open a door at the end of the hallway. I wobble into the room, and take in my surroundings.

There's a hideous bluish tile on the floor, and the walls are painted in a dull white. There's a toilet, a sink, and a shower curtain. I pull it open and gasp. There's a mushroom growing out of the wall!? I screech and fall on my butt, staring at the weird thing. I hear Snake grunt on the other side of the wall and say "Everything alright?"

I swallow, hoping to clear my head.

"Y-yeah...!" I yell back, sounding less confident then I probably should have. I stand back up and slowly approach the mushroom. "Alright you bastard, Santa's not going down without a fight..." I mutter to myself. I poke the mushroom and hear the dull clang of metal. "Huh?" I say, touching the mushroom again. "Is it... a shower faucet?" I ask myself, cocking my head. "I mean it's dry, so it hasn't been used."

Snake enters the bathroom and looks at me. "Are you alright? I heard a shout and a bang, did you fall?" He says, obviously concerned. He walks over to me and puts a hand on my shoulder, and I tense a bit. "Yeah, I'm fine... why do you ask?" I say through gritted teeth. "You haven't been acting, well, normal." Snake says, as I turn around to face him. "Well, I'm fine. How about I check on Ace and Seven...? Maybe they need some help...?" I say unconvincingly.  I try and push my way past Snake, but he holds an arm out in front of me. I stop dead in my tracks as his sleeve brushes in front of my face, practically touching it. "I think I deserve an answer Santa. Why are you acting so odd?" Snake pressures, his face going serious, "I-I'm not lying! I'm fine!" I say, crossing my arms. "No. Your voice indicates something else. You sound nervous and tense." He huffs, his eyebrows pointing down in a disapproving look.

I grit my teeth. He's not going to let me go, is he...? I think, trying to come up with a solution, but with a room as narrow as this bathroom, and a man that I seem to have feelings for, combine, the odds aren't exactly in my favor. My mind makes itself up, and I bite my lip. "If you aren't going to let me go, then I'll have to show you what I mean." I mutter through gritted teeth. "Show? Perhaps you have forgotten Santa, I am bli-" Snake starts, sounding the tiniest bit hurt. I cut him off, standing on my toes to kiss him on the lips. I put my arms around his body, as he stumbles back a bit, clearly taken by surprise. Snake fidgets, but after a while relaxes, and to my satisfaction, hesitantly kisses back. We stay in that position for a while, and I feel my face go red as I finally pull away. "U-um... So..." I start, my voice cracking. I realize that my hands lingered near his hips, and I slowly removed them. "If I may ask, what was that?" Snake asks, pushing his hair back and fidgeting slightly. "Uh, well I, um... Uh..." I mutter, fiddling with my scarf.

My mind draws a blank as I try to come up with something, anything, to answer with. All that comes to mind is a single question. I sneak a glance at Snake's face, and he's also blushing. "I um, do you... uh, like me?" I ask, my voice going unexplainably high. Snake hesitates, and bites his lip before smiling. "I... I don't know. Could you, perhaps, convince me?" He asks, smiling sheepishly. I turn even more red and feel my entire body turn to mush, but I bite my lip. "I'll certainly t-try my best." I say, my voice not sounding completely normal. Snake smiles and exits the room, leaving me dumbfounded and lovesick.

Chapter 4

Aoi's POV

I gasp air into my lungs and stand up, feeling a little hot. I cover my face and groan, what the hell!? Okay, so this man that I think I like, possibly shares feelings with me. Fucking great. I don't know if I mean it sarcastically or not. I walk up to the door and open it, just to see Ace and Seven. "W-what the hell are you guys doing here?" I ask, trying to act calm and collected. "We managed to solve most of the puzzles in our room, but we need to just check a few things in here. I have a theory that these rooms are... connected." Ace grunts, half shoving past me, half pulling Seven. I sidestep out of the way as they rush into the living room. I sigh.

After a few moments, Snake joins me in the hallway. "They seem to have taken the lead... there doesn't appear to be anything for us to do right now. Perhaps we should give them our items and switch to the other room?" Snake says, fiddling with his bracelet. I nod, pulling out keys and some junk we found. Walking over to the living room, I catch a glimpse of Snake smiling in my direction, before leaving the room. I blush, and stiffly walk into the living room. "Yo Seven, I'm gonna dump all the stuff we found on the table!" I yell, waving my hand in Ace and Seven's general direction. "Thank you very much! Tell us if you find anything in the other room we missed!" Ace grunts, smiling. I nod and walk out of the room.

I open the door to the hallway, and glance at the Mars door. It always looks like the male symbol dammit. I sigh, opening up the door to the other room. Snake is rummaging around the couch as I enter. He hears me and looks up, before smiling. "Hello Santa." He says, brushing a piece of his bangs out of the way. I feel my face heat up, before sighing. "So, what's the difference between these 2 rooms? They're exactly the same." I say, crossing my arms. "Well yes, I assume they were made to be identical." Snake says, standing up. "But I also assume it will be something like matching up the rooms, or solving a puzzle that will involve 2 aspects that the rooms either share or differ in."

I roll my eyes. "So we're basically left with no definitive answer until the two dumbasses in the other room figure something out?" I groan, my eyebrows curling into something like a scowl. "Precisely, but we should search this room nonetheless." Snake explains, his hand coming up in an informative gesture.

I watch the grey-haired man deftly search through the couch, before I turned to face the hallway with the painting. Except, this time it didn't have a painting. I raise an eyebrow and walk over to what would be the painting my hand touching the frame before I take a closer look at it. If had what looked like a fourth of the painting, while the reset of the frame was blank. "Huh..." I mutter, looking around for a second, half expecting to find the pieces. No luck there.

"Hey Snake!" I yell over my shoulder. He appears a second later, fiddling with the cuff of his jacket. "Yes Santa?" He asks, putting a hand on my shoulder. "Have you found any pieces? Like ceramic or something." I ask, shrugging off his hand. Snake crosses his arms for a moment before shaking his head. "No, I don't believe I have found anything like a ceramic tile. Perhaps Ace and Seven have found something like it?" He says, smiling. "I'm gonna go ask. Are you gonna be okay in here?" I grunt, feigning nonchalance. "I appreciate your concern, but I will be alright." Snake mutters, his face turning a light shade of red. I chuckle.

I exit our room and glance down the large hallway before knocking on the other door and entering. "Hey lovebirds! I have something to ask you!" I yell, shutting the door unceremoniously behind me. I hear a small crash as Seven stumbles out to greet me. "Hey Santa." He grunts, wiping his brow. I cock my head. "What he hell is going on?" I sigh. "Uh, Ace and I are having a hard time finding stuff. The drawers are super tiny. I ended up knocking over the mirror." Seven chuckles, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "Whatever. Can I just ask you something?" I hiss, narrowing my eyes. "Woah there, chill brother. What'd you want to ask?" Seven chuckles, grinning like an idiot. I roll my eyes. "Have you guys seen any ceramic plates?" I ask, crossing my arms once more. "Uh, what?" Seven mutters, raising an eyebrow. "Did I stutter? I asked where if you knew if you had any ceramic plates!" I hissed.

There's an awkward pause before Seven walks to the back room. "Wow you're just going to leave me!? Thanks a lot dipshit!" I roar at the empty room. "Chill out." Ace grunts, emerging from the room with something in his hands. "Easy for you to say Ace!" I grunt, my fists clenching in unexplainable anger. Ace just grunts and puts something on the table. I swipe them up without looking and burst out of the room. I slam the door behind me and huff.

I bite my lip and swallow my anger, before looking down at what I had grabbed. In my hand were there ceramic tiles approximately the same size as the one in the frame. "Bastards..." I mutter under my breath, before knocking softly on the door to room B93. "Snake? You in there?" I ask through the door. "Yes, where would I have gone?" I hear Snake chide, his voice filled with amusement. "Tch. Anyway, I got the ceramic pieces from Seven and Ace! I'm gone put them in okay?" I huff, exasperated with everyone. "That's fine with me!" Snake says, his voice muffled by the walls.

I place the 3 pieces into the frame with no particular order, and I'm not surprised when nothing happens. I grit my teeth before realizing what the picture was. "Oh holy fuck it's the picture from the other room!" I gasp, my voice filled with recognition. "What?" I hear Snake ask, his voice plain with confusion. "Nothing, it's alright." I mutter, trying to remember what the picture looked like. It was black and white, and had little blobs. That sounds about right. So I just make the blobs match up I guess. I turned some of the pieces around, but they didn't match up. So I switched the three pieces. After around 2 minutes I groaned. "God dammit! Why is this puzzle so damn hard!?" I hissed, throwing my arms out in emphasis. "What's the puzzle about?" Snake inquires, as I hear his footsteps approaching. "I have to switch these 3 pieces to form a painting. It's really hard and NOTHING is working." I grunt, crossing my arms. "3? I thought you said there were 4?" Snake responds, his hand lazily drifting upwards to emphasize his point. "Are you kidding me. I missed the damn 4th piece!?" I choke out, clenching my fists. "Don't worry about it, I'm sure I could've missed it." Snake says, an edge of humor cutting into the conversation. I'm at a loss of words, my mouth hands slightly ajar. "You should be forbidden to make jokes." I mutter, slumping and grinning. Snake says nothing, but he grins as well.

"Okay I'm gonna finish this up, are you gonna be okay wth checking up on Seven and Ace?" I say, turning to glance at Snake. "I will be alright, but promise me you'll come and get us when you find something." He says, raising a hand. I nod, and start to switch the pieces.

I hear Snake leave and my nerves cool. I immediately relax. Why...?

My face heats up when I come to a conclusion. "Dammit...!" I hiss. Was I really crushing on a man I had never met before? No, that wasn't quite right. I swear, I could've met him before. I shake my head. I'll never be able to figure anything out if we can never get out of this damn room.

After a few agonizing moments, I finish the puzzle. It's just like the blobs in the other room, but this one is different. I hear a click and a small hissing sound as the painting moves from its original position. There's a small indentation, and inside is...

A key!

I grab it without hesitation and hold it to the sky. "Hell - the fuck - yes!" I yell, my face spreading into the most idiotic, self satisfied grin. I rip the door open and yell into the hallway: "I found this son of a bitch! Let's get going!" I yell triumphantly. Ace and Seven burst out of the room, looking around frantically. "Oh lord you actually found it?" Ace asks, his voice just dropping disbelief. "Have more faith. Pretty sure is the key to open that damn door." I huff, still grinning. "Did you check for the symbol?" Seven asks, snatching the key. "Hey!" I whine.

There's a pause as Seven checks the key and he nods. "Yeah it has the Mars symbol." Seven grunts, shoving the key into the lock. He turns it and shoves the door open. Snake appears next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Good job." He says, his voice smooth and clear with praise. I blush. We turn our eyes to see what was through the door.

"W...What the fuck!?"

A.N: Okay I'm going to start making up shorter puzzles lmao

Chapter 5

Aoi's POV

It was a kitchen.

How unbelievably anti-climactic.

"What's the matter?" Snake inquires, fiddling with the buttons on his shirt. "It's a..." Seven starts. "...Kitchen...?" Ace finishes, his voice filled with confusion. "Well I mean, that bastard has to get his hot meals somewhere." I mutter, crossing my arms.

The silence settles over us once more.

Snake is the first one to move, his steps brisk and confident. "Well don't just stand there, we must get out somehow." He says, glancing behind him.

I'm the first to follow, then Ace, and finally Seven. Snake smiles and we start to investigate without even being told to. I immediately go to the fridge, because damn, when I want food, I want fucking food. I tug on the fridge. I'm almost surprised when it doesn't open. "Damn..." I mutter under my breath. I check around the fridge. There's a shelf to one side and a grill to the other. I opt for the shelf and take a look at the plates. I notice a scratch mark in the underside and I flip the plate over. There's an 'O' on it. I flip the other plates over. There are 6 in total the the letters are: 'O, N, D, I, E, and I.'

"Hey! I found something!" I yell, staring at the plates, trying to make sense of them. Ace is the one who joins me. "Yes Santa? What is it?" He asks, looking over my shoulder. "Letters, 6 of them." I say, glancing up at Ace. "I see." He grunts, narrowing his eyes as if he was deep in thought. "Hm... Perhaps it is a code?" Ace asks, staring at the plates.

Somewhere behind me I hear someone open a box. "Potatoes?" They mutter. Potatoes... That's fucking it! I remember doing an experiment with my sister, Akane. Wait, Akane... Oh shit, that's the girl that was with Junpei! How could I fucking forget her!?

I started to shake.

"Fuck!" I roared, and I threw a plate on the ground. Ace jumps back in surprise and I take in labored breaths. "You okay?" He asks, his voice strained. All I can do is nod. How...? How could I forget my sister! My sister! What else could I have forgotten...? It finally clicks in my head. "Iodine...!" I gasp. "Iodine?" Ace echoes, raising an eyebrow. "We need to find iodine to put on the potatoes." I grunt, looking around. "Why?" Ace asks. "Do you not fucking get it!? Put iodine on the potatoes and it'll change color you senile bastard!" I hiss, gritting my teeth.

That finally seems to click in his small brain.

He nods and starts to make his way to the other side of the room. I let out a breath and sink to my knees. Who am I forgetting? I rack my brain and come up with nothing. "Dammit..." I hiss, before looking around the floor. There are some cabinets, so I open them. Nothing but more plates, and a bag of flour. I raise an eyebrow, unsure of what to do with my discovery. Not seeing any reason not to, I pull the damn sack out and lay it on the floor. "Hey Santa!" I hear Seven grunt. Turning around, I give a bored look. "What." I grunt, crossing my arms. "Um well, we found iodine in a cabinet, and the potatoes turned purple, and have a couple of letters on them." He explains, taking his beanie off. "Well what the hell are the letters? I can't exactly help if I don't know anything." I groan, with perhaps a little too much sarcasm. "E, Z, R, E, F, R, E." Seven lists, his eyes glancing down at what I assume are the potatoes.

Another anagram? Wow these people sure love their confusing ass puzzles.

"Have you guys already thought of the possibility that it was an anagram?" I ask, cocking my head. "Or are you're brains too small to even do that?" I added, my voice little more then a whisper. "Well actually, Snake brought up that possibility." Seven grunts, smiling. I feel my face heat up just a small amount. Perhaps even imperceptibly. I feel a swell of pride, as if I wanted to congratulate Snake. "Have you thought of any words?" I grunt, furrowing my brow in thought. "No, not yet, but I'm sure there'll be some other clue." Seven says with a confident nod.

Snake's head shoots up from below the counter. "Freezer." Is the one word he mumbles, his eyebrows perked up in surprise. I grin, probably stupidly, with pride and Snake. "Good job." I breath, the words barely forming on my tongue. Snake, however, looks up at me and smiles. My eyes widen and I feel my face flush. Did he hear me?

I clear my throat, hoping that might take some of the awkwardness away. "W-well? Shouldn't we go into the freezer then?" I ask, my voice seemingly going up an octave. Dammit it's just like puberty all over again. "I think that there is a door just past the fridge. It's probably the freezer, considering that it's the only other door in here that's unlocked." Ace chuckles. "Why didn't you say anything before?" Snake asks while pulling himself up and dusting his pants off. "There wasn't really a right moment to do so." Ace grunts back, his eyes glancing over at me for a split second. Bastard....

"Well I suppose we should investigate." Snake says confidently. I nod my head, and start to make my way to the freezer.

Once I'm there I place my hand on what appears to be a large lock. Almost milliseconds later, Snake puts his hand on the same spot. I tense. Snake looks down at me, or whatever passes for looking, and nods, his lips curled in what appears to be an endearing grin. I chew my bottom lip, my fingers slowly curling around the little lever mechanism. With a large click, the door groans open. A wave of sheer chill washes over me and I shiver. Snake does the same, and I see him scowl for a moment.

Snake takes a tentative step into the freezer, looking around the room. I follow him, instinctively rubbing my arms. Seven and Ace look uncomfortably into the freezer. "Hey, can you guys just investigate this room? I don't like it in there..." Seven mutters, fiddling with his overalls. I watch both of them take a few steps back, the cold clearly getting to them. Perhaps because of their age...? "F-fine... but it'll be a quic-" Before I can finish, I hear a large clang. I spin around.

The door is shut.

"Of fucking course..." I hiss, spinning around. I hear banging on the door. "Hey! Santa! Snake! Are you okay!? What happened!?" Seven shouts, his voice muffled by the large metal door. I rush up to the door, slamming my fists on it. "Bullshit! You guys must've locked us in here!" I roar, pounding on the door. "We did not... Is there anything in there that could get you out?" Ace grunts, his voice raised so that I could hear. I take a quick sweep of the room, my body shivering uncontrollably.

"There's like, nothing in here..." I hiss under my breath. I know that's not entirely true though, as there are shelves lined with cans of.... something. There's also a tarp covering something, and of course...

Snake.

Unsurprisingly, he's shivering. His eyebrows are knotted in confusion as his labored breaths make a thin, white cloud from his mouth. I stomp over to the cans and take a look inside. In one of the cans, there's a frozen substance inside. "H-hey Snake." I call out with my hoarse voice fading for a moment. "Yes?" He responds, stepping closer to my voice. "Can you feel this? I have no idea what it is." I grunt. He nods and sticks his hand out as I bring the can up to his fingers. "Hm... Gelatin most likely, its very tough. Even more so because of the cold." Snake mutters, wiping his hand on his jacket.

I shake my head somberly.

"So how will that help us get the hell out of here?" I ask, turning my head to look up at Snake. "There was a stove outside, perhaps we could melt it and form a key?" Snake thinks aloud. I nod. That makes some sense.

Another wave of cold hits me and I gasp, my body shivering even more.

Snake looks down at me worriedly, before placing his jacket around my shoulders. I blink in surprise and hurriedly take it off, trying to hand it to Snake. "N-no, you'll get cold." I hiss, my voice cracking. "I'm already cold. I don't need my jacket right now." Snake responds, smiling comfortingly at me. I tense for a moment before relenting and wearing the jacket. It feels warm and heavy, probably from all the patterns and stuff. My face would probably be heating up right now if I could feel it.

Snake turns his attention elsewhere, turning and grabbing the tarp in one swift motion. He tugs down on it and out roll some skewer sticks and a few metal pieces that have no definitive shape. I pick up the metal pieces and immediately drop them. "Ow! Fuck!" I hiss, pulling my hand in towards my body. Those things are cold as fuck. Snake picks up some of the skewers and I'm surprised when he doesn't flinch. "Are those not cold?" I mutter under my breath. I look at the scattered metal bits.

Wait... Could they form some sort of key?

I glance at the door and see that it has a lock. I pull my hand back into the sleeve of Snake's jacket and pick up the pieces, my hands shivering more spastically. I bring hem to the lock and see a circular hole with different levers and shit inside.

I look down at the metal pieces.

I fit the pieces together, my hands dropping the pieces more then once. I manage to get some sort of cylindrical shape and insert it into the lock. There's a moment of resistance as I turn the little thing, and a click as I feel the door swing open.

I practically fall out into the kitchen, and lay on the floor as a shivering mess. Snake follows me out and stumbles over my body before grabbing hold of the counter and steadying himself. He holds up the can of gelatin and a skewer, a nervous grin appearing on his face.

Seven and Ace stumble over to us, their faces showing signs of relief and worry. Snake empties the can onto the table, the cylindrical shape wiggling around as it rests on the counter. I manage to spot a key and key card inside. "We should put this over the grill and the gelatin will melt." Snake explains. "But we might loose the key or damage the key card if they fall into the fire." Seven interjects, staring intently into the gelatin. "There's a key card..?" Snake mutters, his expression shifting to one of confusion.

Ace suddenly grins.

"What if we put the skewer through the loop of the key. If I'm not mistaken, the key card and the key are connected. We can then safely guid the keys to our hands and finally leave this horrid place." Ace explains, his voice gruff. I nod, the plan made sense.

I held the gelatin down as Seven shoved a skewer through it. We had multiple tries as we weren't very accurate. Snake even said: "Even I could skewer they key better then you."

Damn savage.

After skewering the key, we placed the gelatin on the grill and watched as it melted away.

We desperately snatch the keys and rush over to the other door. Seven sticks the key card in a reader next to the door and it clicks open. We rush through it and into a large corridor. There's an open gate and we cautiously step through, Snake stumbling a bit. We all rush into a half of a room with 2 doors, and another hallway. There's a million doors down that one, so we all stray away from it. There's a staircase in the other hallway, and locked rooms everywhere else.

I hear someone fall and I turn to see Snake on the floor, an open door in front of him.

The 3 of us rush towards the door and Ace grunts in surprise. Snake looks up at us from his spot on the floor.

"What happened?"

A.N: This has no proofreading as my phone is laggy don't hate me :,)

Chapter 6

(A.N: I'm going to put Light's POV here for plot development ;3)

Light's POV

I hear loud footsteps behind me, the shoes echoing off of the walls of a very large room. I turn my face up, hoping to hear anything else, but my companions don't make another sound.

There is a heavy silence before Ace grunts. I wrinkle my brow in confusion. What are they seeing? "What happened?" I ask, feeling my bangs fall in front of my face. I hear what sounds like Santa kneeling down. I feel a gentle hand on my shoulder and cock my head to the side. "Stand up, you won't be able to find your way through this place." Santa grunts, suddenly grabbing my hand and hoisting me up. I spring to my feet and steady myself before quickly entering the room.

I hear Santa follow me as well, his boots thudding and echoing across the room. He grabs my hand and spins me around. I feel my face go warm as he pulls me away. "I told you Snake, you almost ran into something." He sighs, his voice sounding strained.

I wrinkle my brow. Was I going to run into anything? There wasn't any indication that I had but... perhaps I would have if Santa hadn't grabbed me. Santa puts his hand on my shoulder and I feel him turn, presumably to look at Seven and Ace. "Alright guys, I'm gonna take Snake and look around with him. Can you two go out and check any of the other rooms?" Santa commanded, his voice cracking slightly around my name. I wonder if that was intentional... "If I may ask, what is this room?" I blurted, curiosity getting the better of me.

Seven is the first to speak.

"Well um... It's a hospital. Sorta. There are beds and stuff, but no medical equipment besides a low shelf." He explained. So I must have been about to run into one of the low cots... If Seven is telling the truth.

Santa sighs, clearly exasperated with this banter. "Anyway, Snake and I have this room. Go look somewhere else." Santa barked, his hand almost defensively squeezing my shoulder. I gently place my hand on top of his and smile. Hopefully we'll find something useful.

I hear Ace sigh, his voice ragged. "Alright then. You two go and search." He continues, as I hear his footsteps exiting the room. I take note of the two, and the direction they're headed in. I feel Santa's arm relax, and I hear him exhale. "Alright then... Will you be alright with the co-" Santa starts.

The doors shut loudly, the thud echoing around the large room.

There's a pause before Santa starts again. "W-will you be alright with the cots? They're really low, and it would suck if you fell." He explains, clearing his throat loudly after her finishes. I smile, brushing my bangs out of the way. "Yes I will be okay. I appreciate your concern Santa." I say, reaching out towards Santa, hoping to put my hand on his shoulder.

I miss of course, and my hand is awkwardly placed on the side of his face. I feel my body heat up, it's warm glow a stark contrast from my usual cold pastiness.

A pause, and then Santa brings his hand up to my own. He cups my hand in his and brings my hand down. I reflexively bite my lip. Santa intertwines his fingers in mine, and squeezes. My face changes from shock, to confusion, and then to a satisfied smirk.

"Alright then, let's get cracking." Santa murmurs, his voice squeaking.

He leads me around the room, my hand never leaving his. Besides there being a numerous amount of cots, there was another surprise.

Three numbered doors.

That's probably why the three of them were so awestruck when I pulled open the door. Could they have left without me? I furrowed my brow.

"Hey Santa?" I ask, turning to face him. "Yeah? What is it?" He mumbles, as I can feel him standing up. I'm pretty sure he was searching one of the cots. "What numbers are the doors? We haven't really talked about them." I continue, after a slight pause. Santa goes silent for a moment, before I feel him shift. "The doors are 3, 7, and 8." Santa grunts.

7 + 3 + 1 = 11
1 + 1 = 2

So they wouldn't have been able to leave me... My face heats up from embarrassment. I feel Santa squeeze my hand before turning again. He starts to walk and subsequently starts pulling me along with him. I stumble for a moment before righting myself and following him.

After a few moments of walking we suddenly stop and I accidentally run into Santa. We both grunt as we both try to regain some sort of balance.

After sorting ourselves out Santa grabs my left wrist and gently puts it on the RED. "I can do this on my own you know." I mutter. Santa chuckles and I hear him put his hand on the RED. "We can't open whatever door this is, there are only 2 people." I explain, my hand lazily drifting up in the air. "You didn't realize? I thought you would've... The RED didn't scan our numbers." Santa grunts.

Now that he mentions it, shouldn't the RED be making little beeps?

We both go silent as we try to sort out our thoughts. I hear Santa shift and then move something with a little clang. The lever perhaps? I hear him start to say something, but before he can't get it out I hear a door burst open.

"Santa! Snake! Door 5!" Seven bellows. I feel Santa flinch in surprise, but he's the first to actually respond. "What's wrong with door 5?" He asks. "Not something wrong! Something right!" Ace interrupts.

I hear a bunch of footsteps, perhaps 4... The door bursts open again and I hear 4 sets of panicked gasps. "Snake!" Clover squeals, as I hear her heels clacking against the floor. I brace myself as I hear her approach and she tackles me with a hug. "Hello Clover. How was door 5?" I ask, smiling. "It was really gross! That 9th Man was like, all blown up! There was the amazing princess bed though, the first class cabin was awesome! Oh! Oh! And there was a casino, and Lotus taught us how to gamble!" Clover rambles, her cheerful voice filling my ears. "That's well and good, we went through the what I assume we're the 2nd class cabins. Then there was a kitchen, Santa and I got locked into a freezer." I explained, hugging Clover tightly.

After getting sorted out, we all get around a cot to discuss. "So Snake and I were investigating the REDs to the numbered doors... There's something wrong with them, I think the bottom is missing." Santa explains, his tone growing somber. "B-but if we can't open the numbered doors..." June squeaks. "We won't be able to continue..." Junpei finishes.

That silences everyone.

"I suppose we should go look then." I interject, the silence finally dissipating. "But where?" Lotus asks, he jewelry jangling. "Wait, there was a large hallway wth lots of doors. Perhaps there?" Ace mutters, his words more of a thought than a suggestion. "Y-yes, but there are just so many doors!" June objects, her voice wavering. "Do we really have an option?" Santa interjects, his voice sharp and to the point.

After a few moments of silence, Lotus finally sighs. "Fine, but how many doors will we all search?" She continues, her voice sounding bored and annoyed. "There are eight of us, and around 30 doors..." Clover starts, her voice drifting off. "4 doors per person. Around 32 doors divided by 8 equals around 4." I explain, pushing back my bangs. "Yeah..." June mutters.

I hear a few people stand up so I do the same. "We should get to it, no point in waiting around for it here." Ace grunts, his footsteps trailing outside. We tentatively follow and eventually make our way to the hallway. "Snake you'll take the first ones, so you'll know what doors are yours." Lotus says, as I hear her walk up behind me. "I'm perfectly capable of finding doors." I grunt. Lotus chuckles. "Yeah, even when we were in the freezer he was more of a help than you could ever be." Santa snaps. "Maybe it was his fault that you idiots got locked in there." Lotus calmly responds.

Silence.

"A-anyway, we should start...." June squeaks. Everyone starts to walk down the hallway. Santa stops short next to me and puts a hand on my shoulder. "Stay alright, okay?" He whispers in my ear. I nod, turning to face him. "You too."

I head into my room, and start to search. There's a couch, a table, a bed, and a tiny bathroom. "These rooms are smaller then the second class cabins..." I mutter to myself.

I head into my 3rd room. It's the same, but this time there's a small click. I spin around. "Who's there?" I ask, my voice wavering slightly. I hear a hiss of... gas! My legs start to shake.

Dammit...! It's the anesthetic!

I collapse to the floor, pulling up my shirt to my face. Dammit! No! I told Santa I'd be alright...!

My muddled mind registers a person in a black cloak, as I slowly crawl towards the door.

Santa...

(A.N: Woah look at this poorly written chapter! Sorry about this, I wanted to try and write as Snake. It's HARD.)

Chapter 7

Aoi's POV

After around an hour, I make my way to the hospital room. I open the doors and see Lotus sitting on a cot examining her nails. She looks up at me and rolls her eyes. In response, I slam the door shut and walk back to the hallways. No point in staying there with her after all.

I see Clover exit from her room and she starts to walk down the hallway. She notices me and jogs up to meet me. "Hey Santa!" She cheerfully says, her smile a little too infectious. I can't help but grin. "Yo, did you find anything?" I ask, putting ,my hands in my pockets. "Well, nothing special. There was a couch and some tables but nothing interesting..." Clover explains, her voice hitting a dejected tone. I nod. "Yeah... Nothing in my room either." I grunt, biting the inside of my cheek. She sighs and we start to walk towards the Hospital Room.

We start down the hallway and Clover starts up a conversation again. "So how was Snake behind door 4?" She chirps, her eyes sparkling with adoration for her brother. "He was cool. No pun intended... We did get trapped in a freezer together." I coughed, my face hating up imperceptibly. "He was levelheaded, a vast contrast to someone like me." Clover just beams at me. "Yeah, well you're both super awesome! I mean, you have cool white hair!" She bubbles. "Thanks. You're hair isn't too bad either." I echoed. Clover giggles as we make it to the Hospital Room.

It's just Lotus, but it's bearable with Clover here now.

We sit in a tense silence for a while, but Junpei and June come in at just the right moment. Clover perks up when they enter. "Anything?" She asks, cocking her head to the side. They both shake their heads somberly. "What about you?" Lotus asks, her voice bored and uninterested. "Nothing, sorry..." June replies, her eyes looking down at the ground in sadness. "That's alright. we just have to hope that the other have some sort of miracle." I huff, crossing my arms.

After a while, 7 people have gathered in the hospital room. All with the same result.

Absolutely nothing.

Our ragtag group sits nervously, waiting for our final person. Snake still hasn't arrived. Clover an I are getting fidgety, we both want to go do something about Snake. Ace finally stands up and breaks the silence. "Snake still hasn't arrived. If we can't find him, we'll have to leave him behind." He grunts, turning his eyes down to the floor. That sets Clover and me off. "No!" We both hiss, jumping to our feet. We glance at eachother before staring down Ace.

Lotus calmly stands up. I glance at her. "If we stay here, we all die. You can throw away your life. I'm going." She snaps, turning her nose up. I hear Clover grinding her teeth beside me. "H-hey... we should probably just go look for Snake. After all, there are some doors that we will definitely need him for. I think..." Junpei interjects, trying to compromise. "Fine. We can reconvene 45 minutes from no-" Seven starts.

The bell of the clock tolls, a total of 11 times. "So... we've been here for around 2 hours..." Seven breathes, wiping his brow. "We have 7 hours left, we can spare some to find Snake." I hiss, narrowing my eyes. "Well, we have 4 more doors to find, and it hasn't taken us long to solve the puzzles in these rooms... I'm sure we can spare just 45 minutes at most." June speaks, her voice slightly wavering. Clover lets out a sigh of relief. "Thank you..." She squeaks.

"I'm sticking with June." Junpei declares, his voice confident. "Then I'm sticking with Santa." Clover states, her arm wrapping protectively around mine. "Why? We could spare more time if we split up." I mutter. "You're the only one I can trust. You're the only one that seems to care..." Clover mumbles, casting her eyes downward.

I sigh. Perhaps sticking with Clover would be for the best.

"Okay, let us proceed." Ace huffs, walking briskly out of the room. The rest nod and start to head out. Clover and I stay behind and start to check the cots one last time.

Around 5 minutes later, we have still found nothing. There's a pit in my stomach and I can tell that Clover is worried as well. "Come on, we can find him. Where do you want to look Clover?" I ask, my voice hoarse. "I um, maybe behind door 4? You were in there with him, weren't you?" Clover wavers, her gaze slowly coming up to meet mine before descending back to be floor.

I nod, then we both hurry out of the room.

We make it to the kitchen door and hurriedly open it. "Snake!?" Clover calls out, rushing into the kitchen. "He's not in here... You check the cabins while I check the freezer." I tell Clover, my voice sharp. She turns and nods, then spins back around to head into the other door. I start checking in cabinets and the like on my way to the freezer. I hear Clover shut the door behind me and I grasp the handle on the freezer.

I throw open the door and look inside. A wave of cold his me but I shrug it off. There's no times for this right now. I glance at the shelves and quickly grab a metal skewer. I put that on the side of the door. I pull of the covers on the shelves and take a quick look. Just cans.

I spin around and open the door, stepping outside the freezer. I take a moment to enjoy the warmth, before checking around the kitchen. After making sure Snake is definitely not here, I turn to go help Clover. I enter the hallway and open one of the doors. I find her sitting on the couch, staring at a piece of paper. She looks up at me and smiles. "It's a clover bookmark..." She mutters, her voice filled with melancholy.

She stands up slowly, her pink hair drifting behind her. "Each leaf on the clover represents 4 words." Clover starts, her eyes slowly becoming brighter. It hits me. "Faith, trust, love and luck." I mumble. "What?" Clover gasps, her eyes widening. "That's what the leaves represent on a 4 leaf clover... I learned it from.... somewhere." I mutter, my eyes narrowing in thought.

Before I can recollect everything, Clover hugs me with tears in her eyes. "Santa... You knew the leaf words! You were on the Gigantic!" She bubbles, tightening her arms around me. "G-Gigantic?" I mumble. "Wait. Hold on, my head hurts like hell all of a sudden..." I groan, a splitting headache suddenly pounding on my skull. Clover tentatively lets me go and I grasp at my head.

I see a bright white, before my vision returns to normal. My mind is reeling, but I'm able to pick up on new memories. I remember a boat, Akane, and Snake. Or rather, Light. He was the one to give me a 4 leaf clover during the time on the boat. The Gigantic.

I instinctively take a step back. "C-Clover? Is your brother's name Light?" I mutter, swallowing. "Yeah! So you do remember!" She chirps, her smile widening. "I had amnesia? I remember a lot about my recent past and fragments of my childhood... But why did I remember just now?" I mutter to myself.

Clover grins. "Well, we better get moving. We won't find Snake waiting around like this!" She confidently cheers. I nod, rubbing my arms together.

"Let's find your brother."

A.N: This is unedited, and I don't care. I'm posting it so that you people have something to read while school kidnaps my soul. Peace. Ok I edited parts of it, so hopefully it sounds better :3

Chapter 8

Aoi's POV

Clover drags me towards the hospital room with a renewed hope gleaming in her eyes. Our time had run out, and it was time to go through the numbered doors. Lotus and Seven were already there. They both glanced up at Clover and me, but returned to sulking as soon as they realized who it was. "What a warm welcome." I grumbled, crossing my arms. Lotus makes a 'tch' sound and turns away. Charming.

After a few more minutes of waiting, June, er, Akane and Junpei came back. Ace followed close behind. I looked away, I didn't want to face Akane right now.

"So um, who wants to go through which door?" Akane asks, looking at the assembled crowd. "I want 8." Lotus snaps, standing up. "Well I want 7." Seven grunts, glaring at Lotus. Clover goes pale. "Wait... We have to leave someone behind." She squeaks, covering her stomach. "Why?" Junpei asks. "None of the combinations work...!" Clover exclaims, before biting her lip.

The room goes eerily quiet.

"I'll stay." Ace grunts, standing up. The quite room suddenly grows heavy with worry. "No! You can't!" Akane cries, grabbing onto Ace's sleeve. "I have too. You guys have a lot more time left. This old man will wait for you guys. Just... get help when you escape." Ace wearily says, smiling sadly. "No!" Akane exclaims with tears in her eyes.

Ace takes something out of his pocket. It's a... syringe?

He takes it and puts it into his arm. "Just go already, let me sleep..." Ace says, his eyes drooping. "W-what?" Clover squeaks. "This is Soporil... anes... thetic..." Ace mutters, as he collapses.

The room goes quiet again. Lotus almost speaks up, but the hull of the boat groans. Clover and Junpei cover their ears as the metal screeches against itself.

After a pause: "Well we better get going. No point in having Ace's sacrifice go to waste." Lotus grimly speaks, her eyes cold. Everyone nods solemnly. "Seven you're taking Clover and Junpei. I'll take June and Santa." Lotus explains, looking at her nails. "Why!? No, I'm not going with you." I hiss at Lotus.

"Fine. Then Santa and June can go with you Seven. I'll take Clover and Junpei." Lotus says, glaring at me. "But I want to go with June!" Junpei interjects, looking at Akane. "Can't. No other combinations work if you go with June." Clover explains to Junpei, sympathetically patting his back. Actually, Clover is wrong. We could leave Seven or Lotus behind and go with Akane, Junpei, Clover, myself, and one lucky duck.

Junpei gets a far away look in his eye and stares at door 3. "No... Junpei you wouldn't..." I mutter, a realization hitting me. Junpei smiles sheepishly. "Yeah...." He says with a plastered on smile. That damn bastard, he could get through with Seven, Akane, himself and worthier Clover and Lotus or myself. Kudos to him actually. I didn't think he was smart enough to figure that out.

Clover grabs onto my arm and she looks up at me. "Be careful." She whispers. I give a cocky grin. "Of course. You too." I says smugly.

Everyone goes to authenticate their bracelets. We enter door 7 and our bracelets start beeping. An ever familiar pink skull appears on the face of my bracelet. "Shit... I forgot about this..." I hiss under my breath. How ironic. I forgot a lot of things. Seven leads us down a hallway and we find the DEAD easily enough.

"Alright. Let's go." Seven says smiling. Akane nods her head. I just cross my arms. "Where to?" I ask, looking around the blank hallway. "Forward..." Seven moans, slumping over. "That's a good enough direction for me." I shoot back, smirking. Akane looks worried.

We all walk down the hallway without a word, and come to a turn. At the end of that turn is a door. "About time..." I mutter, sighing. Seven turns the handle and we enter the room.

"Okay... what the fuck!?"

A.N: Bit of a shorter chapter since school caught back up to me :)

Chapter 9

"Is this a fucking operating room!?"

Akane and Seven are quiet as I freak the fuck out, because who wouldn't when there's a FUCKING OPERATING ROOM ON A BOAT. Honestly, can you imagine just sailing along doing an operation, like why the fuck not, and then BAM! The boat rocks and EVERYONE DIES BECAUSE OF THE SCALPELS. Damn scalpels...

"Hey chill out li'l man." Seven consoles, practically picking me up by my cuff. "Yes Santa, that would be preferable. We need to have a calm head for this." Akane whispers, her voice small. "Yeah, but an operation room is just- AUGH! Could you imagine the sick, twisted, puzzles that could be in here!?" I yell back.

The room goes silent as Seven tries to call me down. That fucker doesn't know what I'm made of.

After "calming down" we start our search of the room. It's pretty gross and I don't want to go into detail. It's a surgery room with wooden partitions, that's all you need to know to get a mental image.

We find a couple bags of blood and Akane looks like she wants to throw up, but it was literally lying on the table in he middle of the room. She should have noticed it earlier. "Oh god... is this real!?" She exclaims, covering her mouth. "I don't know, but if it's blatantly sitting on the table, I'd bet that it's important enough." Seven explains, holding the bag up to he singular light on the ceiling.

"I'm gonna check behind these partitions, are you guys gonna be okay?" I ask, as I'm moving behind he wooden partitions. "Be careful!" Seven yells. "You don't need to tell me..." I mumble to myself.

Behind one of the partitions, there's a door. I open it and it creaks loudly. "How stereotypical..." I think to myself. Inside there are a bunch of bottles which look like chemicals. "Let's see... CH3CO2H..." I read aloud. I think for a second before nodding my head. "Acetic acid, also known as really strong vinegar." I say confidently. I took a chemistry class in college, so I know these types of things. Random facts as well.

I search around the room for a little bit and find a scrap of paper underneath one of the labels (NaOH, sodium hydroxide). It reads:

<--- Strobe and get set, Elect right city. B: 1, E: 3, A: 1, D: 1, and T: 2 and G: 1, H: 1

The first part is gibberish... and the second part, is that scrabble values? I rack my brain, but come up with nothing. Heading back to the central room, I find Seven and Akane still fiddling with the blood bags. Dammit, we don't have time for this! We need to find Light!

I angrily rush past those two into another room. There's a chart about blood types and a few microscopes with different shaped labels lying around. There are also 3 lockers and a locked door. Must be the exit. "Hey! Can you guys bring those blood bags over here? There's also a locked exit" I yell over my shoulder. I hear Seven grunt, as footsteps approach me.

They both have the 3 blood bags in their hands. I look at the little tubes at the top that are supposed to connect to an IV-like thing. They're all different shapes. "Ah, this'll be easy." I say with a confident grin. I match up the blood bags with their appropriate microscopes (square with square, triangle with triangle, etc.) and look inside all of them. The first one is B- the second one is A- and the last one is O-.

"I'm at a loss... what do we do?" I say to Akane and Seven. "Well, those negatives hafta mean somethin' maybe we need to subtract something?" Seven thinks, holding onto his beanie. "And the actual types... B, A, and O, could they represent something? A pattern? AB? BO?" Akane says, her face serious. "BO..." Seven mumbles, as he chuckles.

"AB... well I know that's another blood type." I say, as I look at the chart. I stick my hand in my pocket and I brush a piece of paper. I take it out and stare at it, reading over it. Akane plucks it out of my hand and quickly reads it over. "Hey... Maybe the negatives mean we have to subtract the letters at the bottom of the paper from the phrase as the top!" Akane deduces, smiling confidently. "But what letters do we subtract from which side of the phrase? It'll be hard to tell, because the numbers at the bottom correspond to how many letters to take away. At least, that's what I got from it." Seven thinks aloud. "Maybe these 'ands' separate these letters, and the comma separates the top phrase..." I offer my thoughts, narrowing my eyes in thought.

I shake my head. "That doesn't work. There are 2 'ands' and only 1 comma." I grunt, swiping back the paper. "Yeah... but what if that applies to both? There are 2 'ts' if we pool together all of them. So we just have to take away 1 't' in both of the section-y split comma-y thing." Seven explains, as he takes off his beanie.

"If we take away the letters at the bottom... we get... 'Strongest... Electricity.' I have no idea what that means, but we need something that relates to 'Strongest Electricity' as well as the A, B and O." Akane continues, closing her eyes in thought.

After a while of thinking, it hits me. "Acids and Bases...! The more hydrogen ions there are in the solution, the easier it is for electricity to move through it!" I exclaim, smiling happily. "Well than what about O?" Seven asks, glancing at the microscope. "That might be water, or an indicator. Probably water though, as that's neutral." I explain, hurriedly exiting the room to go to the storage room.

I hear Seven and Akane follow me as we enter the storage room. "There's a pH on the bottles, find and acid with an pH of 1 or below, or a base with a pH of 14 or above. We can get water later." I explain, picking up a bottle of HCl (hydrochloric acid).

After about a minute of searching, Seven holds up a bottle of sulphuric acid. "Is this it?" Seven asks, his other hand still searching. Akane goes and checks it. "I have carborane acid. It's not a lot, but it says it's very strong." Akane explains. "Carborane acid is the strongest acid in the world... what kind of sick bastard would use that in a damn puzzle..." I mumble to myself.

After searching through hydroxides, we finally settle on just using LiOH (lithium hydroxide). "Hydroxides are some of the strongest bases, we can just use one of those until we guess right." I explain, grabbing the bottle. "Grab some H2O, I'm pretty sure there's a bottle in here somewhere."

Akane and I rush over to the other room and we look for somewhere to put the solutions. "There's a little cup thing on the lockers... maybe on those?" Akane mutters, heading over to the lockers. She puts a little bit of the carborane in the cup of the middle locker and the it springs open. Inside, there is a key. "H-huh!?" Akane exclaims, picking it up. "Hey... it has the Jupiter symbol on it. It must be a Jupiter key."

Wow, thanks Captain Obvious.

I pour my LiOH into the cup of the leftmost locker. There's a click as the locker opens. I take a step back as a sheaf of papers falls out. I pick it up as Seven enters the room with a cup of water. He pours it into the rightmost locker at Akane's insistence. I open the sheaf of papers and start to read.

'Soporil is an anesthetic that was created by <illegible> from <illegible> Pharmaceutical. It was created from a <illegible> root, which is ground up to form Soporil. In gaseous form, it is used as an anesthetic and can cause extreme <illegible> loss when taken in large doses. Use with extreme <illegible> and use only in <illegible> amounts.'

"Huh..." I mumble after reading. "Hey, do you guys have any idea what this is?" I hand Seven and Akane the sheaf of papers. "Also what was in that other locker?" I ask.

Seven holds up the key.

"Oh. Well about time we use that bad boy!" I exclaim, snatching the key away and heading over to the door.

I jammed the key into the hold and twisted. The clicking sound feels so amazing when you've been trapped in a fucking boat. "Come on guys!" I yell over my shoulder, as I practically sprint down the hallway.

A.N: This is sorta edited so have fun kiddos.

{Unfinished} Chapter 10

We exit the room and find ourselves in a hallway. I for one, sprint down it and find a door. There's a small room in front of it, and a map on my right. I take it and examine it quickly. It's a map of the ship, and we are....

I narrow my eyes. We're in the Operating Room, and it leads right back to the damn medical ward thing. Right back to Ace. I don't know why, but he always creeps me the fuck out. Akane and Seven are behind me and I show them the map. They take it as I force the rusty double doors open. They make a creaking noise and I peered into the room ahead of me. I saw Ace lying down where we left him. Good, he's still asleep. Akane appeared behind me and I turned to face her. "Where's Seven?" I asked, peeking behind her. "He ran off to grab something really quick." Akane explained, fiddling with her scarf.

I shifted nervously. Should I tell her that I remember who she is? Yeah, probably. That's what my gut is telling me I should do. "Hey, A-" I start, rubbing the back of my head. "Yo I'm back!" Seven yells from down the hallway. Akane glances at me and I freeze. I glance at Seven and decide to just roll my eyes and brush it off. I can tell her later. "Where'd you go?" I ask, crossing my arms. Seven grins devilishly. "I put a screwdriver in between the door so we can get back into our room again." He says smugly. I snort. "That's pretty smart you big oaf." I sneer. Seven just keeps smiling.

A little while later, Junpei, Clover, and Lotus exit from their room. "Hey guys." I grunt, holding up my hand in greeting. Clover gives me a shaken smile as she pats my shoulder. Junpei also looks nervous, and pale. Lotus looks unusually prideful as she haughtily looks at me. I glare at her. "What did you get shoved up your ass this time grandma?" I spit, frowning at Lotus. She barks a laugh and stares at me. "My skills helped in our room. Unlike yours." She retorts, crossing her arms. "G-guys, no fighting. We have to keep working." Akane mutters, getting a determined look on her face. "No fighting? Hah! Snake, is gone. And none of you but Clover seem to be worried about it!" I hiss, waving my arms around. "You seem awfully concerned for a man you've never met before..." Junpei remarks, thinking aloud.

I'm about to shot at Junpei, but Clover grabs my wrist with a vice grip. "Yeah well, he was a nice guy okay?" I say, still fuming. Lotus sighs. "Stop messing around. We need people to go through the other door. Specifically, the 3 one." Lotus continues, fiddling with her bracelet. "I'll go." Clover and I say in unison. We both glance at each other and nod. "Alright that gives us, 7... so Junpei, you can go with them." Seven reasons, shrugging. "No way! I'm staying with June." He says. "Junpei come on, it's just another door and we can stay together form then on 'Kay?" Akane murmurs, holding Junpei's hand. Junpei glares at the ground. "Fine." He grunts, verifying his bracelet. Clover and I do the same. We rush in and I turn around. "You guys better look for clues!" I roar, before the doors shut.

I turn to run, but almost run into a wall. And on that wall is the DEAD. "Well this is convenient." I say, slamming my hand onto the scanner, Junpei follows suit. "Ugh I got stuck with a bunch of crab apples." Clover pouts, scanning her bracelet and pulling the switch. "It's not my fault both of you guys wanted to come in here without June!" He exclaims, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "Can it. Let's get through this." I say, rolling my eyes. We enter the next room and...

"It's a bathroom?"

We all stare at the stalls and Clover blushes. "This is like some sick anime..." She mutters, glancing at both of us. "Wow Clover, I didn't know you had a dirty side." I say, as I wink. "Ugh! You're horrible!" Clover screeches, pushing me. I laugh as I stumble across the room, only to step in a blood splatter. "...OH WHAT THE HELL." I yell, falling backwards, out of the blood pool. "Holy crap." Junpei breathes, walking towards me. "Dude. You're walking in the wrong direction here!" I screech, glancing at the dead body. The blood feels like it's circling underneath my boots, like a warm glass of rotted milk. I almost throw up. I take another look at the body and gasp. "Holy crap, Clover don't look." I sob, covering her eyes. She struggles against me. "I'm not some brat you need to 'protect' you ass!" She huffs, pushing my arm away and walking towards the body. "Clover don't it's-"

"Light?"

"Oh my god, Clover I'm so sorry." Junpei murmurs, walking back to her, although it looks more like stumbling. Clover backs up with her hands over her mouth. She bites her lip and looks like she's trying not to cry. "This is all your fault Junpei!" She screeches, marching up to him and slapping his face. "W-what? How is this my fault!?" He yells back, glaring at Clover. "If- If you had just... If you hadn't ran off with your dumb girlfriend he wouldn't have died!" She retorts, pushing up against him, pointing directly at his face. "Guys shut up!" I screamed, standing up. "If we don't pull our shit together, NONE of us get out of here alive. So shut up, and let's get the hell out of here!"

Both of them stop bickering and glare at me. "Fine. Make it quick, I don't know if I can stand being in the same room as Junpei." Clover says, wiping tears away with her sleeves. "Fine. Let's go." I say, standing up. I glance around the room and look inside the sinks.

There's something glimmering in the bottom of the drain, but I can't each down to get it. "Hey Clover! Can you reach down here and grab this?" I ask, pointing down at the shimmering object. She sticks her fingers into the drain and sighs. "Nothing. I can feel something down there though, kind of like a credit card." She explains. "Oh, maybe it's another key card!" I say, scratching my chin. "Key card?" She asks. "Mhm, I never look for them, but I remember something about opening doors with them. I'm sure the others have them or something." I say, shrugging. Clover looks shocked. "You're too calm about this!" She exclaims.

- - - - -

So the original plan was that Santa had lost his memory due to an accident that occurred with the special anesthetic that he and Akane used

This caused a null timeline where Akane was willing to die bc she knew that this timeline wouldn't end in her life being saved

So the whole thing was going to end with Santa and Snake dying and coming back in a previous timeline and then using the power of GAY LOVE to beat Ace

Alright this is a filler chapter so I don't have to worry about people actually reading my stuff

Oopsie

Alright love y'all see you later