Chapter Text
The sky was still projected with red, and Coiny couldn’t bear to look up. Not when the emblem of an all-too-familiar shape was what illuminated the sky in bright crimson.
“Pin help me up!…Pin?”
Although he couldn’t bear it, he couldn’t help but stare up, the red sky haunting him. How much time passed he didn’t know; the hours blurred into each other while Coiny sulked on the grass, looking up at the slivers of red poking from the sea of trees.
In an attempt to hide from the haunting crimson, he hid away in the tall lighthouse-esque tower from the last challenge. He stepped in, the heavy door shutting itself close, echoes of a door slamming reverberating up in spirals alongside the stairs. Coiny looked up into the endless spiral, all sound surrounding him and spiraling up, up, up.
He wondered why he found comfort in this particular moment. This moment where nothing but him and his echos existed. This very moment where he thought he couldn’t be reminded of her. He closed his eyes, the grey walls of the lighthouse dissipating into bright red proving that yes, no matter where he was or what he was doing, it would always lead back to her. Red replayed in his mind every minute since her betrayal. Her face, so devoid of care for him, was forever etched into his thoughts.
…But he shouldn’t feel this way. He should be proud of Pin, for mint’s sake! She won and was in no way obligated to help him, not with the disbandment of W.O.A.H Bunch. As much as he tried to push this feeling away, he couldn’t help but feel hurt. After everything he did for her, was it selfish of him to expect something in return?
Yes, it is. I’d do anything for her regardless.
The spiraling staircase, which he was so eager to climb in the previous challenge, seemed much too daunting at this very moment. Coiny’s limited energy could only manage to lay him on the cold floor. He lay flat on the floor, sprawling his limbs out and sighing.
“Pin, you can’t leave! I recovered you, I got you your face back, I, I, I-“ He remembers the strain on his fingers from gripping onto the tower and the weight of two contestants on his foot, dragging him down further into the abyss of trees beneath. He looks up, the bright red of his former teammate replaced by red and yellow stomping on his fingers, his tight grip releasing-
“I dug to the center of the earth for you!!”
He covered his eyes with one arm as if that’d rid the memories. That scene of strain, heaviness and betrayal would play over and over and over. A constant loop; an endless spiral. Coiny curled into himself, his only source of comfort being his own presence in this isolation. With heavy eyes and a yawn, Coiny finally allowed himself to doze off, his final thoughts of drills and trees blurred into dreams of crimson.
__________
The moonlight cast a red-stained glow upon the barren wasteland, the muddied greys and greens of the plains and trees cloaked in a veil of illuminating red. Pin couldn’t be happier for the change in the scenery’s color. She thought the red made everything more beautiful, naturally. She hummed to herself as traversed through the wasteland, admiring the addition of, objectively, the most beautiful color there was. The high of winning the previous challenge still lingered in Pin’s system, the red sky serving as both a reminder of her victory and fuel for her swelling ego. She rounded the corner past some burgundy trees and was met by the sight of two fellow contestants, not noticing her presence as they engaged in discussion-
“Well, when I began working on the slide, I saw Coiny go into the lighthouse. I’ve been hanging out here for the past couple days, but I haven’t seen him since.”
“Has he been in there this whole time?!”
Tennis Ball sat on the now-burgundy floor, blueprints sprawled out beneath him and Needle towering above him, watching him bolt parts of a slide together. Needle rubbed her arm and stole a glance at the lighthouse, “Do you think we should check on him?”
Tennis Ball picked up a new piece of the unbuilt slide, “His behavior is definitely unusual, but It’s probably best we leave him be.”
Ah, Coiny! She knew she was forgetting about something! It has been awfully quiet as of late.
Pin maneuvered herself towards the lighthouse, careful as to go unnoticed by the two other contestants. She used one of her wheels to open the lighthouse door, letting herself inside as the heavy door shut behind her. The echoes of the door spiraled up, up, up, Pin’s gaze led up by the echoes to the spiraling staircase. The windows of the lighthouse emitted red moonlight from outside, leaving a soft scarlet glow up throughout the tower’s interior. Pin’s gaze shifted from the tall, twisted stairway down to the floor, noticing a strange, small object, the red moonlight reflecting in the object's shiny exterior: “Coiny?” Pin whispered.
There on the floor lay Coiny, limbs sprawled out across the floor. Pin took a few seconds to observe the scene, processing what she was looking at. What was she even looking at? Coiny seemed to be asleep, yet his face was one of worry, strained whimpers escaping him as he shivered slightly in his sleep. She always believed Coiny to be a strong contestant, but this pitiful scene makes her rethink her opinion of him. “How pathetic,” she can’t help but whisper under her breath. Pin parks herself next to him, yet she’s not sure the reason why. She continues to observe him from her closer viewpoint, hearing the silent cries from him become clearer. What could’ve possibly gotten him in this state?
It wasn’t because of her…’betrayal’ last episode, was it? She thought he’d understand why she did what she did. “May the best player win,” he said. In that moment, Pin knew she misjudged just how truly pathetic Coiny was behind his confident demeanor. Even with the cold detachment in her gaze, she felt a sick, twisting knot in her ‘gut’ as she stared at this sad excuse of a contestant.
“I dug to the center of the earth for you,” She remembers hearing from him last, his jagged cry fading as Pin continued up the tower for immunity. She remembers the state she used to be in: faceless and small, truly reduced to a mere object. An unusual state devoid of sound or sight; all she could experience was fragmented shapes of red and orange and… him . His thoughts and hers seamlessly intertwined as he carried out her commands, no matter how arduous.
“I’m so proud of you, Coiny. We did this together…”
Together. They really did do everything together, didn’t they? It was an unfamiliar feeling, being so close to someone. Having a friend…
Well, had. Had?
No, this is all for the sake of the contest. You’re not even on the same team. That was in the past, focus on the NOW!
And when Pin came to her senses, focusing on the now, she’d realized she’d been staring at copper this whole time, warm droplets rolling down her face.