Chapter Text
Angelica was the first to wake up.
Against the cold, hard tile of the floor, the blonde sat up, her eyes adjusting to the light. Beside her lay Forcas, face-down on the ground. Angelica tried to shake him awake, to no avail. She just gave up. He'd wake up on his own later.
Where am I...? Angelica racked her brain for anything that would tell her the answer to that question. I was at the mall... how did I not realize that earlier? Angelica stared at the lights and stores surrounding where the two sat- in the middle of the hallway. Angelica started to feel chills: the mall was lively, store lights still on, music still playing- but the entire place was empty. It gave the woman a bad feeling.
"Forcas," She went back to waking her older brother up. "Forcas!" Angelica was wide awake at this point. She needed to get out of this place, and now.
Forcas woke with a jolt. "HUH? Wha- Angelica...?" he blinked once, twice, thrice, before realizing where they were. "How'd I fall asleep?"
Angelica shrugged. "I don't know," she hummed. "But I think we should probably get back before Bryce gets really worried... I don't see anyone."
Forcas stood up on his feet, towering over Angelica. "Alrighty," he thundered. "Let's go."
The two of them walked in silence for the walk back. Angelica trailed behind Forcas, scanning the area for anyone else, when she saw something that caught her eye.
"Forcas." She stopped walking. "The windows are barred." Forcas turned his head to where Angelica was standing.
"What the..." Forcas squinted. The windows were barred with wood, like someone had tried to stop a break in.. or tried to stop anyone from getting out. He bit his lip.
"The door back there's blocked too... look!" Angelica pointed to the back door near the bookstore. She was right; it was also barred. Angelica's face was pale. "I ... don't think we can leave."
Now Forcas' face was pale. He turned towards Angelica. "Do you think... Bryce's still at work? He works somewhere here, right?"
Angelica lit up. "Yes! We should, he- he might know something!"
The pair turned to go look for their brother.
"You're the only one with data, how could you leave your phone at home?' Carmen exclaimed, pacing around the area where she and her friends were. They were mere meters away from the door, barred with wood and nails. Vonnie had guessed it was probably like that for the rest of the windows and doors. They were barred good, too- the group couldn't see anything out of the window.
"It was dead, so I just left it charging at home!" McCoy rubbed the back of his neck, looking remorseful. "Plus, we could always use the mall WiFi-"
"McCoy, everyone knows mall WiFi sucks shit," June interrupted, bouncing her leg. The group, sans Carmen, were sitting on the couch in one of the furniture stores, so they looked kind of like a mother berating her children. Sense of humor, Carmen thought. That's good.. I think.
"Have you even used the WiFi here anyways?" Ryan sat cross-legged on the auburn leather couch. June pointed at him as if to say, see, even Ryan knows mall WiFi is ass!
"No, but-"
"We should probably see if there's anyone else in here," Vonnie said. McCoy stared at her.
"What?" June looked perplexed. "I already checked the entire store, you sure-"
"No, I mean- the entire mall. We can't be the only ones here," Vonnie's glasses started to slide down her face. She pushed them back up. "Besides, maybe we could find the person who did this," she gestured vaguely towards the glass windows.
June stood up. "I'm in," she said. "It's probably smart if we find someone else we could team up with," She hung an arm around Carmen's shoulders.
"Y... yeah. I guess," McCoy agreed. Ryan nodded afterwards, getting up to ruffle June's hair. Vonnie stood up and stretched her arms.
Carmen spun around, loosening June's grip on her shoulders. She looked around the area of the mall from the store doorway, observing each store.
"I think I see someone!"
Rook woke up surrounded by three strangers.
"Hey! She's awake," a boy wearing a cap over his head yelled. "Angelfish! Look!"
Angelfish? It thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by an elegant woman leaning over her. "Oh! Miss..." The woman's eyes trailed towards her nametag. "Miss Rook! You simply have to come see this!" The woman held out a hand for Rook to take. The other person, wavy brown hair fading to white at the tips, watched as Rook was dragged along by "Angelfish".
Rook was taken out of the store where it worked out into the once-lively, bustling area of the mall. "Angelfish" (was that really her name?) explained how when she woke up, everything was empty and the two people hovering over her were the only signs of life she could find, and also that her name was Cecilia. Rook found that all strange. What Rook found stranger was the fact that they were still holding hands.
The other two had materialized next to the two women, making Rook almost jump out of her boots. They exchanged looks, their expressions unreadable. Rook was sure she was blushing.
"Mr. Sailor! Mx. Maneki!" Cecilia let go of Rook's hand, smiling at the two. The one Rook presumed was "Sailor" grinned a toothy smile and started telling Cecilia about something Rook couldn't hear, probably about all the clothes in the shop Rook worked at.
Maneki, (at least the one Rook guessed was Maneki) held up a fan Rook hadn't seen before, a drawing of a heart on it. Rook shook its head so violently she was almost sure it was going to fall off. Maneki just suppressed a smile and gave Rook a look like they knew something. Absolutely infuriating.
Rook had idiots surrounding her. Absolute idiots.
... And Cecilia. At lest she had one person she could tolerate.