Chapter Text
“Brooke, don't worry. I'll be fine,” Eli assured the owl, smiling at her when he felt her claws digging into his shoulder and winced, “I know that you don't believe me but please trust me that I'll be okay right now. Ever since we arrived in this manor, the attacks were usually after the matches so rest assured that I'm gonna be just fine.”
The owl just stared at him as if she's saying that she'll keep an eye on him and Eli smiled wider, he was thankful of having Brooke as a companion. If it wasn't for her then he would've been living in a world filled with darkness, not being able to see anything at all.
He can sense her partner's worry and chuckled before gently patting the owl in his shoulder, comforting her as much as he can. Brooke might be a worrywart but she has the right to be one, Eli isn't someone that someone can consider as strong. If he was strong enough, he could've prevented someone's death which changed everything in his life.
Until now, he can feel the wrath in Gertrude's gaze at him and that was the last thing that he saw before his vision was taken away from him. Maybe it's the punishment of the Gods towards him, to see such hatred from the orbs of the one that he loves dearly. The one that he tried to save- causing that misfortune to happen in their lives.
“Eli.” His thoughts were cut off when he heard the deep voice of the embalmer behind him, causing him to turn his head and flash a smile at him, “Let's walk together to the match room.”
“Sure thing, Aesop.” he replied as he waited for the grey-haired male to be on his side before the two of them started walking side to side, “How was your day, Aesop?”
“It's fine. Had a decent amount of sleep and made sure that my room is tidy just as always,” Aesop replied.
“Ah, I see. I overslept today, I thought Martha would probably scold me for not helping out in kitchen duty a while ago. Fortunately, she shrugged it off!”
“You were against Smiley last night and got chased throughout the match, she probably just let you get some rest to regain your energy. We all knew how much of a chaser he was and how that dash of his is such a pain in the ass.” Aesop can't help but grimace when he remembered one of his previous matches getting chased by the hunter and got downed because of that dash.
Eli chuckled at the other male's statement, “You're right about that.”
“I hope that you're in top shape now because we're about to have a match in a few minutes.”
Eli nods, “Of course, Aesop. And even if I'm not okay, I'll make sure that I wouldn't be a burden to any of you.”
“Nonsense. You were never a burden to any of us, Eli. I wish that you'll credit yourself more than that,” Aesop stated.
Eli wanted to retort against Aesop’s statement but he kept it inside and just smiled, “Sorry about that, Aesop.”
Aesop stopped on his tracks and despite not being a fan of skinship, he held Eli’s hands within his own “When I say that you should credit yourself more than you do, I mean it. I cherish you, Eli Clark.”
“I’m sorry to interrupt the lovey-dovey moment but can the two of you proceed inside the match room so we can get this ready?” Aesop flinched and immediately lets go of Eli’s hands when they heard Vera faked a cough as she crossed her arms.
“Ah,” Eli chuckled as Aesop was a blushing mess, looking at the ground as if he wanted to be swallowed by it.
“Hurry up, boys. Let’s get this started,”
“Hey! Come here!” A cheerful Tracy that was already sitting in one of the chair, waving her hands, “I wonder who’s going to be the hunter in this match,”
“As long as it’s not Joseph..” Aesop muttered, staring at his make-up box.
“If it’s Joseph then we’re kind of doomed because we don’t have Emily with it,” Tracy replied, face paling with the thought of the white-haired man holding his saber.
“Not when we kite well enough,” Vera stated as she lets out a small smirk, “Worry not, everyone. I’ll do my best to kite the hunter when they’re on my trail.”
“Remember to ping me if you needed Brooke, okay?” Eli reminded them as he smiled.
“Thank you, guys! I’ll do my best not to get found easily and to cipher rush as soon as possible!” Tracy beamed.
“I-I’ll do my best to support all of you and to embalm you if you got chaired,” Aesop mutters in which Tracy giggled, Vera chuckles and Eli smiled towards him.
“The match is about to begin,” Eli stated, “Good luck, everyone. Hunter, you too.”
They heard a sound of a mirror shattering and when they opened their eyes, they were met by the ruins of a hospital. Sacred Heart Hospital, it is. He looked around and saw the survivors’ location and the outline of the hunter which made him took a deep breath. Bonbon. As long as anyone doesn’t get chaired, it wouldn’t be a hassle to rescue them, knowing that Bonbon likes to camp and stock up some bombs nearby the chaired survivors. He went to the nearest cipher machine and started decoding, Bonbon would chase the nearest survivor towards him—
And just like how he expected, Tracy pinged that the hunter is near her so he immediately pinged that the Mechanic should follow her so he can distract the hunter and kite Bonbon instead. Tracy once again pinged for him to don’t move and that she’s on her way to his direction in which Eli continued to decode until he finished the cipher, hearing his own heartbeat pounding louder as he can already see Tracy and Bonbon behind her. Tracy was about to get hit when he sent Brooke to cover from the attack, making Bonbon stop to rejoice the hit as Tracy was able to get some speed boost to get away from Bonbon’s presence— leaving the robot in front of Eli that smiled towards the hunter.
“Nice to meet you, Bonbon.” Eli greeted the robot which made squeaking noises and emoted a dance as if it’s delighted to see him, “Should I start running now?”
The moment that the robot made an another noise as it held a bomb is the time for Eli to start running away from the robot that is about to chase him, he gathered three owls when the robot was approaching him and when he greeted it. He will be able to protect himself from Bonbon as long as he doesn’t vault that much and avoid all the bombs, he immediately ran towards the ruins and started looping around while avoiding the bombs while accumulating some rage for some extra owl protection. Whenever Bonbon was a few inches away from him, he always uses the owl to block the hit which can give him some speed boost to get some distance with the hunter. He even managed to stun Bonbon with a pallet twice then ushering him to follow him as if he’s provoking the robot and he was quite glad to see that the hunter isn’t tired of chasing him yet despite hearing multiple ciphers popping, making it only one cipher left. Vera, Aesop and Tracy pinged their decoding progress, all of them are decoding the cipher in the second floor of the hospital so they’ll most likely open the gate in front of it.
He went through the direction of the other shack when he got enough distance from Bonbon but the hunter was about to use teleport so he just wished that it wouldn’t go towards the hospital to injure any of the survivors in the area. Fortunately, the hunter was still eager to chase him and teleported to the cipher machine in the abandoned shack. Fortunately, Eli was outside of the shack so he will be able to buy some extra time for the others to prime the cipher machine. Everything was going smoothly until he felt weak as his entire body is screaming in pain, the curse is affecting his entire body as it fell to the ground.
Bonbon froze when it saw the survivor fell to the ground as he kept on coughing out black liquid and his face showed pain. Bonbon couldn’t understand what was happening because the survivor was able to block its attacks and evade the bombs, even stunning it with a pallet two times yet the survivor fell to the ground. It was aware that it isn’t a human being, that it was just made by Burke to look over his clients. But seeing the survivor in such pain made him remember when the girl was trying to reach out to the robot as it was being dragged away from Bonbon.
Not to mention, this survivor would always greet the robot despite it being just a mere robot. It reminds him of such bittersweet memories that was imprinted in its system, not getting overwritten no matter what Burke attempts just to remove it.
A girl in white greeted the robot with a gentle smile on her face, “Nice to meet you, Bonbon.”
“Bonbon can’t understand what is happening to you,” the robot stated in such a mechanical voice as it checked the fallen survivor, “Scanning Eli Clark, no injuries visible. Body temperature in moderate along with the heartbeat. No visible diseases yet why is Eli, the survivor looking like they’re in pain?”
“Bonbon..” Eli muttered as he looked at the robot.
“Can’t understand.” It made an another mechanical squeak, “Bonbon can’t understand the entire situation.”
“You can chair me already, Bonbon. Just not here near the black blood,” Eli requested as he tried reaching out for the robot yet his hand fell as he coughed out an another bunch of black blood.
“Eli Clark is showing the same face with her, it makes Bonbon remember her.” Eli was surprised when Bonbon turned its back on him, “Eli Clark reminds Bonbon of forests, a kind-hearted person that gives Bonbon warmth which is way different from flames and of Bonbon failing to protect the smile that gave Bonbon self-awareness.”
“Bonbon thinks that Eli Clark is going through something that technology can’t save you, Bonbon thinks that you should consult it to Feaster and Dream Witch.” the robot continued when Eli just kept on writhing in pain.
“No!” Eli exclaimed and tried to stand up in order to reach out to the hunter yet he fell on the ground, “A-Anything but that..”
The survivor’s action made Bonbon surprised because his expression is way different from what the kind girl had shown, he was looking at the robot as if he doesn’t want to be saved “Bonbon is confused. Eli Clark doesn’t want to be cured? Eli Clark doesn’t want to be saved? Why? Can you tell Bonbon the reason why? Bonbon is afraid to say that it cannot understand Eli Clark’s way of thinking, kindly enlighten Bonbon about it.”
“This is something that I must face alone, to repay all of the sins that I’ve done in the past. This is something that no one should even dare to interfere because I must face this alone,” Eli replied, looking at the robot before smiling “I know that you’re created to look after something but Bonbon, there are situations in which humans must face on their own or else, they wouldn’t be able to get through with life.”
“Bonbon is still confused but based on Bonbon’s analysis, Eli Clark is talking about something related to bravery. Eli Clark is correct, Bonbon is created by the creator to be a spectator along with being a protector of someone else yet Bonbon failed. Bonbon doesn’t want that to happen and Eli Clark reminds Bonbon of that person, Bonbon wanted to help Eli Clark but Bonbon doesn’t know how.”
Eli was surprised to hear the robot’s statement, he expected Bonbon just to be a robot that just got self-awareness but now, he can understand why Burke wanted to remove it from Bonbon. Eli can’t help but smile towards the robot, “You can still help me out, Bonbon. Are you willing to do that?”
“Yes. Bonbon will help the kind-hearted Seer.”
“Can you keep this as a secret? Don’t let anyone know about this, not even Burke. Just the two of us, Bonbon. Is that okay?”
Bonbon made an another squeak, “I will lock this memory and secure it, not even letting creator get a glimpse of it. Bonbon will promise not to tell a single person about it.” Person. But not spirits or Gods, Bonbon is a curious robot and it will try to know how to help Eli Clark. Bonbon doesn’t like seeing those kind-hearted smiles to disappear just like how Bonbon was separated to her.
“Thank you, Bonbon.” Eli smiles once again but he felt his strength leaving him as Brooke kept on hooting around him, “Please chair me now, Bonbon. At least, you’ll be able to get one survivor.”
“No.” Eli can’t help but be surprised on the robot’s response, “Bonbon will surrender so it will be a win for the survivors. But Eli Clark must assure Bonbon that Eli Clark will rest and take care of himself, Bonbon must make sure that Eli wouldn’t be like this in the other matches.”
The Seer chuckles, “You really are something, Bonbon.”
“Bonbon will keep its promise if Eli Clark will promise that they will take care of themselves.” The robot firmly stated as it looked at the Seer, waiting for its response.
Eli sighed in defeat, “Alright, Bonbon. I promise.”
“I’ve recorded that. I’m contacting Miss Nightingale to let her know that Bonbon is surrendering,” the robot stated.
Meanwhile, in the Sacred Heart Hospital. The trio was staring at the primed cipher, kept on pinging about it so Eli can get escape along with them. Aesop can’t help but feel anxious, not because he was surrounded by people but because he wasn’t able to see Eli in the entire match so he wouldn’t be able to embalm him. Vera was tapping her foot in the ground while Tracy was checking her bot to see if there are any problems with it, they’re waiting for Eli to respond back to them.
“Should we pop it?” Tracy asked, looking at the others.
“Eli is still kiting Bonbon. It might endanger him,” Aesop responded as he looked at the coffin in front of him, “I wasn’t able to bump into him since I focused on decoding, I wouldn’t able to embalm him if he gets incapacitated.”
“I wonder what’s taking him so long,” Vera mutters before looking at Aesop and gave him a teasing look, “Anyway, that’s such a bold move that you’ve made in front of the match room.”
“W-What?!” Aesop jolted as he looked at the Perfumer in surprise yet he can feel the blush in his cheeks.
“‘I cherish you, Eli Clark’ is what you’ve just said and held his hands while making heart eyes towards the naive Seer,” Vera teased as she mimicked Aesop’s words from earlier, “Seriously, just tell him that you like him in a romantic way before anyone snatches him in your grasp. You know how Eli had charmed a lot of survivors, hunters too.”
“Woah! You said that, Aesop? That’s so cool!” Tracy beamed, grinning towards the Embalmer “Vera’s right. Confess to him as soon as possible because you have a lot of rivals in this manor!”
“I-I can’t. I don’t want our friendship to get ruined just because of this selfish desire of mine..” Aesop looked down as he clenched his fists, “Eli is such an important person in my life, I could never even dare to try and ruin it.”
“Aw, how sweet.” Vera mused, “Just to remind you that Fiona, Norton, Mike and Naib has the same feelings as you when it comes to Eli. They’re your main rivals in the survivor side.”
“Based from the gossips that I’ve heard from the hunters, a lot of them fancy Eli! Mary is fond of him! Hastur and Dream Witch cherishes the Seer! The guards seems to soften when it comes to him and your main rival..” Tracy paused as if she was contemplating to continue her words, knowing that it leaves a bitter taste in Aesop whenever he hears its name “..Joseph.”
“That hag,” Aesop frowns, “He thinks that he’s all mighty and stuff despite that height? I’m glad that I’m over that dying phase of mine, it was all thanks to Eli. He never gave up on me.”
“He did. He’s always like that, helping everyone out even if it’s risky.” Vera nodded in acknowledgement.
Tracy nods but her smile faded as she looked around, “I’m getting worried about Eli now.”
“Should I go and help him out? Aesop, you can embalm me in case I’d get injured on assisting Eli. Also, take care of Tracy.” Vera said as she held her perfume.
“I do—” Aesop wasn’t even able to continue his statement when a notification was sent into their device.
‘The hunter has surrended. Ending match.’
“What?” was the last thing that Vera said and in a blink of an eye, they were sent back to the match room.
“Bonbon surrendered?” Tracy can’t even believe what was happening, the robot hasn’t even tried surrendering in a match ever since he was brought in it.
“Wait!” The ladies looked towards Aesop which was about to panic, “Where’s Eli?!”
-----
The moment that Bonbon returned from the match, Burke immediately went towards the robot’s direction. Bonbon can sense that the architect seems to be enraged with his creation’s action. After all, Bonbon hasn’t surrendered in any of the matches that it had. Whenever it is being friendly, it would convince the survivors to leave as soon as they gather enough points.
“Guard 26, what was that?”
“Bonbon just surrendered.”
“And why did you even surrendered?!” Burke was quite confused with the robot’s actions.
Bonbon just made a squeaking noise, “Bonbon just feels like surrendering. Bonbon feels like he want to be friendly in the match in all of the sudden but it’s too late to be friendly. Detention will take over Bonbon’s consciousness and Bonbon might hurt the survivors.”
“Why did you even think about being friendly in all of the sudden?”
“Bonbon thinks that it’s none of your business,” the robot stated before walking away from its creator.
Burke was astonished with the robot’s response as he heard Violette snickered “What the hell was that?”
“Based on the data, Eli has been with him for the entire time. Maybe they played around and made him friendly?” Percy stated as he hummed, “You know how Eli Clark can easily touch everyone’s hearts, he can make people go soft with his presence. Even me. I’m alive but I’m dead too.”
“If it’s Eli Clark then I guess that Bonbon can be friendly too,” Burke stated before sighing, “That robot can make me worry at times, it has some kind of savior complex just like the Mercenary.”
“It’s the trauma that they’ve got from their past,” Violetta stated, smiling sadly “I think most of us have something that makes us feel regret and sadness.”
“I suppose..” Burke stated before looking at Percy, “Anyway, you should prepare for your match now.”
“Ah, I almost forgot. I just hope that they wouldn’t be able to open the gate,” Percy muttered as he proceeded to the match room.
Burke can’t help but feel uneasy, it’s normal for him to think too much but Bonbon has this self-awareness of his that can either endanger itself or use it to help out other people. And there’s something about this match that makes him worry about something, he just couldn’t grasp it yet he can sense that it’s something that he should know. Maybe checking Bonbon’s memory when he upgrades him is a nice idea.
On the other side, Aesop kept on walking around, gripping his make-up box tightly as he looked towards the door where the fallen survivors must get out. As much as he can recall, Eli wasn’t even chaired or injured when Bonbon surrendered so why is he taking so long on coming back from the match? Vera and Tracy felt uneasy so they stayed with the worried Embalmer, waiting for the Seer to arrive.
“Eli, where are you?” Aesop muttered.
“Okay, I’m getting impatient now. If Eli won’t be back here in a few minutes, I’ll gather the rescuers and charge towards the hunter’s side.” Vera is getting frustrated with the current situation, “He’s supposed to be back by now.”
“Hello, guys. What’s the matter?” The trio looked towards the next set of survivors that is about to have a match by now.
“Bonbon surrendered the match,” Tracy explained in which the survivors got surprised, seeing their reactions just like how she expected, the Mechanic continued “And until now, Eli is still not back from the match. It’s just the three of us that arrived back into the matching room.”
“Bonbon surrender? That’s new,” Patricia stated as she looked around, “Maybe Eli was with Bonbon?”
“But whenever a hunter surrenders, everyone returns in the matching room,” Emily stated.
“What if Bonbon did something to Eli?!” Kreacher screamed before snickering, “I knew hunters can’t be trusted at all. They’re all scary and violent, even that goody-two shoes Seer wouldn’t be able to escape from their wickedness!”
“Excuse me?” Kreacher lets out a screech when Percy visited their side in the matching room, raising an eyebrow towards the thief.
“Ah, darn it. I was so eager on dismantling chairs just to see Percy as the hunter,” Emma whined, pouting her lips in dismay.
Percy looked at Patricia and Kreacher before smirking, “Just to let you know that I’m bringing Excitement so it’ll be an advantage to me.”
“Darn it.” Emma replied as she rested her head in the table, “The match isn’t even starting yet I can sense our lost already.”
“Don’t give up,” Emily said, patting the Gardener’s head which immediately cheered her up.
“My angel said that I shouldn’t give up so I wouldn’t!” Emma beamed as she looked at Percy, “I’m gonna kite you, Mister Percy!”
Percy can’t help but sigh, knowing that it’ll be a stressful match and he will need to exert his efforts on downing the survivors. The hunter looked towards the entrance of the match room and saw the Embalmer along with Mechanic and Perfumer standing, he heard the entire conversation just a while ago and it made him curious. Bonbon already returned from the match yet Eli Clark is still not back from the match.
“Anyway, you three..” Percy said as he pointed towards them “I don’t know where Eli Clark is but I can assure you that Bonbon is already back in our side.”
“If Bonbon’s already back then why is Eli still missing?” Tracy asked.
The undead shrugged, “Who knows?”
“I’m really gonna riot into the hunter’s side along with the rescuers.” Vera muttered as she kept on tapping her foot in the ground, already fed up with waiting for the Seer along with the worry that is plastered in her face.
“Be our guest,” Percy chuckles, “Some of them will be delighted to see the rescuers. Antonio and Ann had been missing Andrew’s comforting presence lately too. And I can assure you that your beloved Seer isn’t in our side of the manor.”
“What if Joseph snatched him?” Vera asked, raising an eyebrow which also made Aesop flinched “That Photographer is has been fond of Eli lately.”
“I’m gonna tell Murro and William to tackle him nonstop,” Aesop gritted his teeth.
“Is this a plan of bullying Joseph? Then if that’s the case, bring Patricia, Norton and Luca along with you for the stuns!” Emma suggested, chuckling at their ideas.
“Not gonna lie but I’d join you to get a free hit on Joseph, he annoys me at times.” Percy stated, “Anyway, the match is about to start. Prepare yourselves and for the three of you, I hope that the Seer comes back unscathered.”
Aesop waited. It’s been hours since Eli hasn’t returned from the match, he kept on waiting in front of the match room. Vera and Tracy needed to rest because they’ll be having a match tomorrow yet Aesop kept on waiting, earning him some worried looks from the hunters and survivors that is in the match room. He can recall Geisha going out of the match room then sat beside him for a while as the others were preparing for their match against her, the lady tried to comfort Aesop and reminded him to take some rest because he’ll be in an early match tomorrow yet the Embalmer kept on waiting.
The guards kept him company for a while as they wait for their match to start, Xie Bi’An being worried at the poor Embalmer as he reminds him of Wujiu that still kept on waiting for their companion, making the white guard feel nostalgic and at the same time, a pang on his chest because of that tragic day. Aesop kept on waiting no matter how the others tried on convincing him to get some rest, even the harsh Edgar tried to convince him to take a break.
“Aesop, you have a match in two hours yet you still haven’t slept?” Emily asks, worried on the Embalmer’s woozy state yet he kept his eyes open as he waits for the Seer.
“I have to wait for him, Emily.” Aesop responded in a whisper, not having enough energy to respond properly.
“If that’s the case then I guess someone just have to replace you for today’s match,” Emily sighs in defeat, “I really don’t want to do this but you shouldn’t abuse your body like that. Even Eli would get worried when he sees you like that, Aesop.”
“Wha—” Aesop wasn’t even able to respond back when Emily injected him something, making the Embalmer look at the doctor with wide eyes.
“I’m sorry, Aesop. But you need to get some rest, I’ll talk to Mike or Victor to be a substitute for your match.” It was the last thing that Aesop heard before he was cradled by Hypnos, “Sleep tight, Aesop Carl.”
Norton approached them as he carried Aesop towards the clinic, placing him in one of the beds as Emily sat in the chair beside it. The doctor knew how attached Aesop was to Eli especially when the Seer had been there for the Embalmer during his darkest nights, everyone is aware how the Embalmer cherishes the Seer so it can’t be helped if Aesop would literally stay up just to wait for Eli to come back. Emily had been in this game for a long time yet this was the first time when a survivor wasn’t able to come back as soon as possible after the match itself, the owner already confirmed that they would be revived and healed despite the injuries that they’ve got from the match.
“I wonder where Eli is..” Norton mumbled as he sat on one of the bed, “Even I wasn’t able to sleep properly because of this.”
“I am worried about Eli Clark, this hasn’t even happened before.” Emily replies, pursing her lips as she looked at the Embalmer, “Aesop was clinging too much to Eli and who knew what would happen to this poor man if something bad would happen to the person that saved him from his own restraints.”
“I mean, Eli has been the saving grace of many people in this manor.” Norton agreed, smiling a bit as he thinks of the Seer, “He was there for me whenever I get panic attacks because of my past, he never fails to comfort me and look at me as if I have done nothing wrong in my entire life.”
“Indeed.” Emily smiled at the Prospector’s statement, “It’s always the kind-hearted Seer and his influence to coax people.”
“Emily, you have to take some rest too. I know that you’re also waiting for Eli to come back,” Norton remarks as he saw the dark circles unders the doctor’s eyes.
“Ah, I got caught.” Emily chuckled, “I was worried that I wasn’t even able to sleep a wink.”
“I’ll watch over Aesop, go back to your room and rest.”
“Thank you, Campbell.” Emily nodded in acknowledgement towards the Prospector before leaving the infirmary.
Norton looked at the Embalmer, he kept on frowning as if he was having a bad dream and the male can’t help but seeing it reminds him of himself. Of course, they have the same person that became the light during their darkest nights. The prospector lets out a sigh before lying in one of the beds to take a nap while Aesop is still under the influence of sedatives. Even the prospector wishes for the Seer’s safety, he hopes that Eli would come back as soon as possible.
Eli Clark, where are you?