"Chapter 10"

"Chapter 10" was published on April 14th 2021.

### Description

Chapter 10 follows Bunny as he, with the help of Arsenic, breaks out of the Void and finally confronts Biocide. He convinces her to release the triplets and return them to the normal world, and she complies and brings them back to join the group. In the process, Biocide reveals the real names of all the characters along with what they worked as and how they died in their "real" lives.

CW/TW: Swearing, blood, mention of puking, screaming, and cigarettes and smoking.

### Original

Here is the link to the original story, although it has been copy-and-pasted onto here for simplicity and nothing has been changed.

### The Story

*Date: Unknown*

*Time: Unknown*

*Place: Unknown*

*. . .*

*Chapter 10*

*~~~*

I called out to the person in the distance, taking them by surprise. Without warning, my soul felt like it was being pulled out of my body with such force that I felt like I might puke. My body was being pulled by this force too and as quickly as it started, it stopped and I was dropped onto “the ground” in front of the mysterious person. With one hand over my mouth and another over my stomach, I sat there for a few moments to make sure that I kept my lunch and then I looked up at the mysterious person. They were really tall and wore a long black robe with the hood pulled up over their head to hide their face. They also wore black gloves over their hands, so I really couldn’t tell anything about them.

“Who . . . are you?” I spoke, but then immediately turned around to cough up a little bit of blood. Apparently my body doesn’t like feeling like my organs are being ripped out.

“Why are you here?! *How* are you here!?” They shrieked. It left a ringing in my ears.

“I-I don’t know,” I said. Something about this person was . . . horribly wrong. I could just tell that something wasn’t right about them, but I didn’t quite know what it was. “W-Who are you?”

“AhhhhhhhhHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!” They started randomly screaming and I threw my hands over my ears. I felt their screams in my heart as the sound pierced my soul. Very suddenly, and once again, my body was thrown around like a ragdoll and I lost consciousness.

~

“Is he gonna be okay?”

“I dunno.”

“Move, I know first aid.”

“Since when?”

“Since I was eight. My adoptive family sucked at being careful.”

The voices surrounded me and I soon enough came back to consciousness. The brightness of the lights in the Void hurt my eyes after being in whatever that other place was. The voices that I heard belonged to Arsenic, Aspen, and Lilith. Aspen sat crouched over my body and both Arsenic and Lilith stood a little further back. Lilith looked worried but Arsenic was calm and apathetic as usual.

“H . . . Hey,” I said, sitting up. Aspen sighed in relief and smiled at me.

“Hey. Thank god you’re not dead. I got really worried there for a moment,” he said with a smile. Arsenic made some kissy noises in the background and Aspen took off one of his sneakers and threw it at him. Lilith sighed in disappointment and walked over beside me to help me up.

“Boys,” she laughed. “So hey, how are you? You rescued all of us,” Lilith smiled. I looked up to watch Arsenic and Aspen chasing each other around and I smiled.

“Huh, I guess I did.”

“Yeah, you really did. Arsenic caught both of us up to speed on everything so now we, y’know, know what the deal with everything is,” she said. She sighed and her voice got quieter. “Look, I just wanna say thanks. Specifically for rescuing me. I know now that it was just a nightmare and all that but, you saved me and I wanna thank you somehow. Maybe we could go out for frozen yogurt sometime? I’ll pay,” she smiled.

“That sounds great,” I smiled back and she nodded. Then with a sigh, she walked over to the boys and started yelling at them, and I chuckled. I hadn’t known them for very long, but I already really liked the triplets. After watching all of them chase and yell at each other for a while longer, I called Arsenic over to where I was standing and the fight ceased. Arsenic smiled at me and nodded.

“Yo, what’s up my home-dog?”

“Don’t call me that ever again,” I said.

“Nah,” Arsenic chuckled. He offered me a cigarette and I, again, refused.

“Anyways. So like . . . how did I get back here?” I asked.

“What do you mean? You got here like normal,” Arsenic said.

“Well . . . after I’d rescued Aspen and went back to my realm, it was really glitchy and it was broken and all that. I . . . I was hit in the head by something and I blacked out and then I woke up in this strange place.” I explained. Arsenic looked both confused and intrigued.

“Do elaborate,” he said.

“It was pitch black and I couldn’t see anything at all except for myself and I don’t think there was any gravity either. Then someone appeared. I couldn’t tell much of anything about them at all, they were wearing a really long robe and had everything about them hidden, but they screamed and I shouldn’t be there and then I just kinda . . . woke up here.” Arsenic put his hand to his chin and thought for a moment.

“That’s strange . . . you said a pitch black place?” He asked and I nodded. “That’s really strange. I’ve been here for almost an entire year and I’ve never come across a place like that,” he said, walking over to the hologram station. He brought up the holographic screens and quickly flicked through them. I caught a glance at the video cameras and watched everyone go about their days in the mansion and I got very sad all of a sudden, but I snapped out of it and brought my attention back to Arsenic

“I wish I could help but I honestly don’t know what happened,” I shrugged.

“Yeah . . . that’s really strange. I’ll look into it,” he said and I nodded. “In the meantime, I think it’s about time that you got back to everyone else. They’ve sure missed you,” he smiled and I looked up at the holo-screens.

“But can’t only Biocide control who comes into and out of the Void?” I asked.

“Yep, that’s right,” Arsenic agreed. “But I never mentioned how you can still communicate with her from here,” he smiled.

“You can what,” I said, glaring at him. He smiled that stupid smile of his and hit a few more buttons before making a microphone appear as he switched over to the video camera feed. He toggled with it a little bit and then he found the camera that was centered on Biocide. She was in the foyer on the first floor. He flashed a smile at me before turning back to the screen and hunching over the microphone, then he hit a small red button.

“Hello hello my darling Biocide,” Arsenic cooed. Biocide, on the video screen, frowned.

“What the fuck do you want Arsenic?” She quietly growled, then turned to look around behind her.

“I’m here to tell you that today’s the day that you come to rescue Bunny. We’re all getting quite sick and tired of him here with us,” Arsenic chuckled.

“Hey!” I shoved him out of the way and took hold of the microphone. “Hey Biocide, listen up. I know what you’re doing and the gig is u-” I started yelling into the microphone, but before I could finish, I blacked out.

~

I woke up and jumped up to my feet. I was back at the mansion, staring Biocide right in the eyes. She looked pissed, but I was glad to be back home.

“I-” I started, but was immediately cut off by her.

“Look, you’re back here now. Have you learned your lesson?” She snapped.

“Lesson?” I asked, and Biocide looked confused.

“Yeah. You were sent to the Nightmare Realm because you did something, right?” She asked.

“Uh, no, I wasn’t,” I said. Biocide stopped and stared at me for a moment.

“Then why were you in there?” She asked.

“Because I wanted to release Them,” I said, stepping forwards.

“Who’s the-” Biocide started, but was interrupted when Annie entered the foyer and screamed.

“Bunny!” She ran up to me and hugged me so tight that I thought I might die from lack of oxygen. “Where have you been?” She asked and stared me in the eyes.

“That’s not important right now. I need you to round up everyone, and I mean everyone, okay? Right now too, so hurry,” I said. Annie nodded and let go of me and she turned and ran up the stairs shouting for people.

“Bunny, what are you planning to do?” Biocide asked. She took a few steps backwards, but I matched them with a few steps forwards and I grabbed her wrists so that she couldn’t run.

“I’m going to make you do what you should have done a long time ago,” I smiled. Biocide looked confused and kind of scared, but she wasn’t resisting or trying to run away. We stood there together in the foyer for a few minutes. Soon enough, Annie had come back with everyone else and we all stood there together in a circle in the foyer.

“You’d better have a good reason for this Bunny. I need my beauty sleep,” Caelan complained.

“You’ll need to get a lot more if you think you’re beautiful,” Cyrin shot back. S.P. had to hold back Caelan before he ran up to Cyrin and punched her, and Corbin stood beside Cyrin and held her hand. Annie stood beside Rose and both stood behind me, and Cyrus was leaning on Corbin’s shoulders for support.

“What’s this all about?” Biocide asked, yanking her hands from my grasp.

“Like I said, I need you to bring them all back,” I said.

“Who?” Annie asked.

“Arsenic, Aspen, and Lilith. *The Triplets*,” I said, and a ripple of gasps and shock waved through everyone.

“The Triplets? Who are they?” Rose asked.

“There’s more of us?” S.P. asked with excitement.

“Could it be?” Corbin asked with affectionate curiosity.

“Fine, you win.” Biocide sighed. “There are three other members in our group. Their names, as Bunny already stated, are Arsenic, Aspen, and Lilith. I locked them all away a long time ago, way back in the beginning, and I erased your memories of them so that you wouldn’t even know that they ever existed in the first place.”

“That’s what you did to me, right?” Rose asked. “You locked me away in . . . in the Nightmare Realm. You made everyone forget about who I was and you tormented me for months on end for your entertainment.”

“You got me. Yeah, I did that. Same place and everything,” Biocide said. There were hushed murmurs from everyone in the group. “I do this all the time though, so you can’t really expect anything different from me, can you?” She shrugged and crossed her arms.

“That’s so wrong! You can’t just lock someone away because you don’t like them,” Rose said.

“And who’s going to stop me, huh? None of you have the kind of power that I do, so you can’t stop me if you try your best,” Biocide said. Everyone was silent, because she was right.

“Biocide,” I said, stepping forwards. “Samantha,” I grabbed her wrist again. “I don’t know what name you really go by or whatever, but all I know is that this game has to end now,” I said. Suddenly, Biocide started laughing. It started off small and quiet, but it quickly grew and got louder and louder. She held her hand over her eye as she laughed and I instinctively took a few steps back, just as everyone else did. Biocide fell to her knees and she continued laughing. Annie tapped me on the shoulder and I turned to look at her.

“What the hell did you just do?” She asked and I shrugged.

“You may or may not have broken her,” Rose said.

“Yeah, I think I may have,” I nodded. We all stood there and stared at Biocide as her laughter died down. She sat on the floor, her body hunched over with her hand still over her eye. S.P. took a step towards her, but I stopped him. I motioned for everyone to step back and they did, and I took a few steps towards her. I crouched down in front of Biocide and tapped on her shoulder. “Hey,” I said.

“You . . .” she said quietly. “You really think this is a game, don’t you?”

“Well I mean, it depends on how you look at it,” I shrugged. We spoke softly and she still wouldn’t look up from the floor.

“You’d be right to think it was a game,” she said. “It’s all just one big game that I have on repeat. Over and over, the cycle continues,” she mumbled. I stood up and walked over beside Annie.

“Yeah I think she’s broken,” I said. Minutes passed and we stared at Biocide, a lump on the floor, and then she stood up. Her eye that she’d been holding was bleeding and the blood ran down her face and a puddle had dripped onto the floor where she’d just been sitting. Her eye was black as it dripped red blood, but her other eye was perfectly fine. We gasped and a few members had to turn away to avoid puking, and Biocide smiled.

“You think you’re so smart Robert,” she said. Her voice sounded different. It echoed through my mind, and I released that this was the same person that I met in the inky darkness earlier. “You’re a clueless idiot, but you’re very smart too. In every game, you’re always the one to find out the secrets before anyone else. Sometimes you just need a little push from someone,” she smiled.

“Robert?” Cyrus asked. “But isn’t your name Mr. Hops A Lot?”

“Cyrus, I don’t think now is the time for you to be talking,” Corbin patted their hand.

“Yes, Robert. You may be wondering ``how does she know my real name?`` but fear not my friends, as I know everything about all of you. Things that not even you know,” she smiled. “Your names, your birthdays, your lives. I know when all of you were born and when you all died, I know how you died and every single little aspect of your lives, because- spoiler alert- they aren’t real,” she cackled.

“You’re lying right now,” S.P. said. “You can’t know things about us that we don’t know, and you certainly can’t know everything that happened to us,” he shouted.

“Oh yeah? Test me then. Ask me something that only you would know?” Biocide grinned and stepped towards S.P. who took a step back and grabbed Caelan’s hand. He gulped and looked around.

“O-Okay. Uh . . . what was my life like?”

“You, Joseph William Baxster, were born to Michelle Baxster and Othello Baxster, along with your two younger sisters Jamie and Mary, and your older brother Donnovan. You grew up in a poor neighbourhood and had to help your brother take care of your family once your mother got sick and had to stay in the hospital. You found that you enjoyed destroying stuff and became a construction worker in your mid-twenties and worked there for several years until your death in your early thirties when you were crushed by a metal pipe that’d fallen when the crane overhead had a failure.” Biocide held her hands behind her back and smiled at a now terrified S.P.. “Are you satisfied now?”

“Enough of this messing around,” I commanded and looked at Biocide. “You ne-”

“What was my life?” Rose interrupted and pushed past me. She sounded desperate.

“What about me?” Annie asked, curious. Biocide smiled.

“Annie- Name: Anastasia Angelica Ramone. You worked as a police officer and was drowned by your fellow officers when you refused to shoot an innocent man who just so happened to be Caelan- Name: William Richard Barnyard.” She turned to him. “You were best friends with S.P. but that ended quickly when you were shot by Annie at the age of sweet old sixteen.” Biocide turned and smiled at Rose. “Rose- Name: Phoenix Emily Gonzales. You changed your name to Phoenix from your deadname when you moved to the city and started your own flower shop, but you died from air pollution and just general uncleanliness. To be fair, it was the early 20th century, so not your fault. You fell in love with Bunny- Name: Robert Alexander Pattingson, a young but well known mob boss who was caught and hung by none other than Cyrus- Name: Samuel Adam Rudberg-Sylvan, a lawyer who died due to you, Bunny, of all people slitting their throat.” When mentioned, Cyrus unbuttoned their collar to reveal a dark scar across their neck. “Cyrin- Name: Rin Saito, a Japanese immigrant that was adopted by Cyrus’ family and grew up to be a pharmacist but died thanks to being hit by a car driven by none other than Corbin- Name: Matthew Edward Pavlov, who was a detective and my husband, but died thanks to being shot by a group of racist cops who just so happened to be Annie and her co-workers. Also, I feel like I should mention it here-” Biocide paused to catch her breath, “Corbin and I had children, specifically triplets.” She smiled.

“That’s them, right?” I asked, and Biocide nodded.

“I knew it,” Corbin said. “I’ll get to see our children again.”

“Well then, shall we have a family reunion?” Biocide asked, smiling and still bleeding. She placed her hands together and sighed, and in front of my very eyes appeared the triplets. People gasped and Corbin smiled. Arsenic nodded to me, Aspen shyly waved, and Lilith gave a peace sign.

“Everyone, meet my children,” Biocide said.