｡˚⛓˚｡⋆. ARES

I immediately hugged Hades when he woke up.

I lost a sister... a friend. We lost Prada.

"It hurts..." Hades cried to me.

The others were in a separate room when the elimination round happened, they watched how we tried to find our keys. They watched how Prada got killed. Crow really had a way to make us miserable than ever.

I wonder... what would be their reaction if they found out what I saw?

"I'm sorry... We couldn't save her," Apollo's voice cracked as he scooped into Dior's embrace. I heard her whispering comforting words to him. Hermés had to look away at that.

"There's no one to blame," I told them.

All of this... was Crow's fault! Who the fuck would he kill now?! I was so fucking tired of seeing my friends die... both mentally and physically.

I did not want to stay strong anymore.

Now, we were in a white room and I immediately knew what we would do for today. A giant Jenga awaited us.

I saw how we were grouped based on the outfits we were wearing. Gucci, Apollo, and I were wearing white bodysuits while Dior, Hermés, and Hades were wearing black.

I saw how the girls looked uncomfortable because the bodysuit was see-through. At least, we were given the undergarments but the anger in my heart fueled more because the girls were not given anything to cover up with.

"Boys, turn around," I ordered them.

I know that they also noticed the clothes of the girls since I saw how their brows furrowed, getting pissed off. They turned around and glared at the guards.

"Do you have extra cloth?" Apollo asked the guards who gave him no answer. I massaged my temples. "We're talking to you!"

"Hey! We have girls here!" Hades yelled, his eyes still swollen. "If you have a wife, a girlfriend, or a daughter, I hope your conscience will consume you!"

"Just give us any cloth, please!" I yelled, getting stressed out. Do they not have any decency to be ashamed in front of the girls?! The girls were uncomfortable, for Pete's sake!

"Crow!" Apollo slammed the walls as if Crow would pop out there. "Give us cloth, fuck!"

I unconsciously hugged Hades when a white cloth suddenly fell from the ceiling. There was no hole there! Was it magic?!

"Clingy much, bro?" I pulled away from Hades when I saw him smirking at me. I regained my composure and cleared my throat but the rest just laughed at me.

"Thanks to all of you," Dior and Gucci exclaimed at the same time.

"You can look now," Dior ordered as we faced them. Dior took the white cloth while Gucci was covering herself with the black one. They seemed so relieved to get that cloth.

"The game is not obvious," Gucci said sarcastically, making me laugh for a bit. Crow had no element of surprise anymore, except for the cloth incident earlier. That shocked me!

"Good morning, little ones!" Crow greeted. Nothing's good in the morning, fucker. "As you can see, we will be playing Jenga."

So not obvious.

"This is a game of skill and strategy. The rule is simple, take turns moving pieces until the tower falls over.," he explained. "Your groupings are the black and white team as seen with your bodysuits so Dior, Hermés, and Hades are in the black team while Gucci, Ares, and Apollo are in the white team."

"The catch is someone will have to suffer a penalty." My brows furrowed at what he said. I think almost all of us remembered that bullshit. Was it the most suspected one? But, what the fuck? That handcuff was so heavy that it was impossible to stay steady.

It was as if that determined who won and who lost.

"We have a ballot here and the one who got the different ball will have to wear the heavy handcuffs." A guard entered the room. He was carrying a black box. It was impossible to see the balls from here.

Gucci took a ball first, followed by Dior, then the rest. I decided to go last because I wanted to see their reactions if the penalty was theirs. This time, the burden wasn't solely on the one carrying the penalty.

The whole team will be affected.

I smiled bitterly at my groupmates when I showed them the red ball. All of them were white. I wanted to apologize to Gucci so much because I knew that she was desperate to get out of here. She was supposed to spend her childhood outside. Not here.

"It's okay, bro." Apollo smiled at me, still as patient as ever. "We can help you. Right, Guch?"

Guch was the nickname we made for Gucci and she loved it so we decided to call her that at times.

"Of course!" I felt a heavy weight being pulled out of my chest when Gucci exclaimed that. But still, I was apologetic. "We should do our best."

One guard made his way to me as he strapped the handcuffs to my wrist. It was still heavy! But luckily, my arms were trained with weights. I would sometimes go to the gym with Tiffany before.

Tiffany.

I miss you so much, my love.

If ever I get out of here alive, I will do everything on her bucket lists and plans. She was the type to be organized while I was spontaneous. But, there was one thing I couldn't do on her list.

Be married to Tiffany.

"The losing team will have to face the elimination round." I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard Crow's voice. "Good luck, little ones!"

Apollo's lips parted when he looked at his girlfriend. Apollo had many instances in this place where he had to battle against the love of his life. I know that he was guilty because he won every single time.

Apollo, please. Let us win for Gucci.

"Hey..." Gucci went near Apollo. "Let's do our best. Then we'll save Dior and the others later!"

I wanted to smile at Gucci's enthusiasm. However, it was too impossible for me to even smile at the moment. I saw how Apollo ruffled her hair and focused on the Jenga in front of us.

I looked around and saw a moveable stair. Lucky enough... I thought earlier that we would carry each other just to get to the tip of the tower. Turns out that Crow has an ounce of mercy left.

"Good luck." I flashed a small smile at the other team who looked like they just fought. I think that Hermés angered the two again since they looked irritable. Since we came here, Hermés became unbearable to be with.

"Good luck to you too!" Hades smiled which was followed by Dior. Hermés was busy studying the Jenga... and I think, he was also making a strategy.

"The black team will go first," Crow announced, making me nervous as heck.

I know that I was freeloading this time, and I hated the feeling of it. For the nth time, I felt useless. I didn't stand up as their leader once again. I was the epitome of bad luck.

"Dior, take this out." Hermés pointed at a block near Dior's. The girl nodded and carefully took the block out. This game was making me anxious. I saw how Dior held her breath as the block slid into her arms.

"I'm used to destroying but never being careful," Dior replied, earning the laughs of the people in the room. She was right, though. I saw her room before and it looked like a jungle.

"Oh, here." Dior gave Hades the block as he climbed the moveable stair.

Hermés held the stair to keep it from moving and to support Hades. After he took a deep breath, Hades carefully placed the block on top of the tower.

At this point, it was quite easy.

But on my side, not anymore.

"Gucci, take this block." I pointed at a block near us. Even using my finger required so much strength because of the weight of the cuffs. It seemed like Crow made this handcuff heavier than ever.

"Okay," she muttered and carefully took out the block that I pointed. Unlike Dior, Gucci was calm and not anxious about the game. Gucci, Yves, and Zeus played this game often. They were babysat by Chanel and Tiffany.

"I'm the one nervous," Apollo whispered, his hand on his chest as if he was carrying all the drama in his life. He had a hand clinging on to me, probably anxious about the game.

"Apollo, here," Gucci handed the block to Apollo who took the stairs. Apollo took hold of the block as I supported the stair, keeping it stable. The weight of the cuffs also made the stairs steady.

Turns out this has an advantage too.

"Done!" Apollo exclaimed as he successfully placed our block on top of the tower. He climbed down the stairs and hugged Gucci and me as if the game was done.

Oh no, Apollo, this was only the beginning.

｡˚⛓˚｡⋆. DIOR

This game was making me nervous.

It felt like my breath was being stripped away from me whenever someone was taking out a block. I did not know what was easier... to take it out or to put it on top. It seems like both are difficult!

"What will we take out next?" I asked Hermés who was staring coldly at the Jenga blocks in front of us.

Crow's really rich, huh? He gave us gigantic Jenga blocks as if we were special. The blocks were soft and easy to fall... that was the biggest downside of this game.

"Get that from the other side." Hermés pointed at the block in front of the other team. I nodded and went near it. I saw how Ares gulped... he must have planned to take this block.

"Be careful..." I heard Apollo mutter. Damn, he's not even my teammate! Crow, look at him! But, I couldn't deny that my heart fluttered with that.

I carefully slid the block off the tower even though my hand was shivering. My eyes widened and I stepped back when the tower moved!

"Oh, shit!" I blurted out as I stood away from the tower.

"That's not going to fall, Dior!" Hades said as he looked at how the tower moved. I took a deep breath and continued taking out the block. I smiled triumphantly when I successfully got ahold of it.

"Hades." I handed Hades the block and helped him place it on top. I supported the moveable stair to keep it from moving.

I then looked at the other team who looked like they were pondering hard about their next move. I made my way to Hermés to ask him about our plan. He seemed to have one in his mind.

"What's our plan?" I asked when Hades went near us.

"We'll take those from the sides first," Hermés answered. "As long as we avoid those blocks without support under it."

I nodded and then watched the other team. I got kind of envious of Gucci because she was neither shivering nor nervous while taking the block out. Might be because she loves these games.

"Mr. Ares, please put your block on top." My jaw dropped at that. Ares could barely stand up then Crow wants him to put that block on the top of the tower?! Was he fucking with us?!

"Asshole," I heard Apollo say, glaring hard at the speaker.

"The fuck," Hades whispered and rolled his eyes.

I looked at Ares with worry. Yes, I was still upset and disappointed with what he did... but he's my friend. That mattered to me more at the moment. I could deal with my emotions at a later time.

"Bro, I'll carry your cuffs until you can raise your hand," Apollo said as Ares nodded. Ares looked so devastated right now... there's no trace of confidence in his face.

He looked like he was only waiting to lose.

Ares took the block from Gucci's hand. Gucci even whispered something to Ares. He sighed as Apollo carried the cuffs. I heard him curse... obviously struggling with the cuffs.

"Hurry, bro..." Apollo weakly said to Ares.

I saw how he struggled carrying the cuffs so I made my way to him and helped him. Hades followed me and helped Apollo and Gucci too.

"Dior... Hades..." Gucci mumbled. Damn, it's really heavy! Seems like my workout is not enough! I gave Gucci a quick smile while cursing Ares on my mind.

Fuck, Ares, hurry up!

I heaved a sigh of relief when Ares climbed down. I let go of his metal cuffs and caught my breath. I ran out of breath with Ares' cuffs! It felt heavier than before!

"Thank you, Dior and Hades." He smiled a me and I nodded.

I wanted all of us to come home. I knew that we couldn't return to the way we were before... our friendship... but what mattered to me was our safety.

My guilt couldn't handle it if I got out of here without them. They had a chapter in my life too. Before, I was only ensuring Apollo's survival. But now, I was prioritizing them all.

For some reason, Apollo looked guilty. He couldn't look at me. And I know why he's like that. I noticed him being like that when the chess game happened. I went near him and whispered something to his ear.

"Don't worry about my team losing," I whispered. "Baby, let's save our friends."

"You're included in those I will save, Araceli." He looked into my eyes, hopeful. "No buts. We'll continue our plan."

Oh, how I remembered that plan. Everything was set but life has so many setbacks. Our lives went haywire as if the world really didn't want us to be happy. We wanted the world for ourselves but it said 'no'.

I pulled back and saw Apollo pouting. I bit my bottom lip to stifle a smile so I playfully slapped his cheek. Fuck... so cute. He looks like a dog. He loves biting too.

Just kidding.

I went back to my group. My brows furrowed when I saw Hermés glaring at us. Hades and I looked at each other because of that. Fuck, what's Hermés' problem now? Was being angry his branding?

"Why did you help the other team?!" My lips parted with Hermés' question.

Was he fucking serious? Is this man in front of us really Hermés? I never saw a person this heartless and selfish.

"Don't forget that they're your friends too, Hermés," Hades said, irritation evident in his voice. That was right, though, we're so irritated!

"You're sounding so selfish right now," I added. Hello? He still has friends who are alive. We're not his enemies for Pete's sake.

"I just want to survive." I had to scoff at Hermés' answer.

As if we don't? Ever since the first day, I did my best to survive the challenges and find clues then I would only hear this from Hermés.

"FYI, we want to survive too," I fired back. "I just want all of us to survive!"

I saw how the other team looked our way. This is too embarrassing! Out of all the times we could fight, why now?!

"Ares is given a penalty for a reason," Hermés calmly said but irritation was evident in his voice. If he is irritated with us, then heck, we're much more irritated with him!

"Exactly, it's already unfair!" Hades raised his voice. "Because of his penalty, then they'd most likely lose!"

"We just wanted to fucking play fair and as a friend," I sternly said to Hermés who was staring at us coldly. I massaged my temples out of frustration. I was so stressed by this childish conversation.

"Hey, calm down!" Apollo interfered. I looked at their group and saw Ares' face screaming guilt.

No, Ares, you shouldn't be. I wanted to say that to him. I hoped his team could tell him that for me.

"Hermés, they didn't mean to damage your team!" Gucci had more sense talking to than that fucking Hermés. "They just wanted to help us!"

Hermés' hands balled into a fist, maybe trying to calm himself. Apollo and Gucci then went near to Ares and comforted him. While Hades and I were... getting stressed.

"The next time you fight... I will electrocute one of you." Goosebumps covered my body as soon as Crow said that. I remembered that I had a metal collar on my neck. It was attached to us since the first day and never removed.

There, Hermés, you heard what Crow said, right? Do not fight? I might punch you!

Let's not fight! Fuck, I was getting stressed! Instead of me focusing on the game, Hades and I were focusing on the irritable and unbearable Hermés. Even I got infected with our group's dark mood.

"Hades, Dior..." Hermés called us. His face was so cold and grim as if he was ready to kill us. Well, I challenge him! I rolled my eyes at what he said after.

"Don't blame me if the crows kissed your death."