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Everything in the world was neon. Nonsensically neon, with a crispness in quality that prevented Nine from believing it was just a dream. She stood on a wide strip of pink grass, which she wouldn't even have known was grass if not for the nonexistent wind causing the floor to ripple.
There was also an enormous Eye in the middle of the ring, which Nine was trying to avoid looking at directly. This was a struggle for her, both because of her own morbid curiosity and because the Eye really was that big. It was directly in front of her, blocking nearly all of her field of vision, and all she could think about (and try to stop herself from thinking about) was how the eye was more or less just a large sac of fluid held in place by the skull and muscles, and how a puncture would lead to the Eye leaking gross Eye Juice and deflating like a sad water balloon.
Hm. Maybe she should turn away from the Eye. She [was] directly facing it, after all, feet planted directly on the edge. She turned her head left, then right, because her lower body didn't seem to want to move at all.
Her heart skipped several beats upon seeing a familiar shade of cyan hair.
The Eye was still talking, had been for the past who-cares-how-long, and the sound resonated through Nine completely. Wasn't there some weird science thing, where the right vibration could liquify a human being? That was kind of how it felt like. Someone had shoved a tuning fork between Nine's ribs and slammed down a hammer. Or a mace.
And with that joyful thought, an apple landed in front of Nine and everyone started running.
Despite it seeming as though Nine hadn't been listening with all her attention to the thing in the middle of the rings, this was not the case. She was just incredibly good at multitasking. So Nine clutched her apple to her chest, avoided people trying to kill her, and tried to find Moonboy in the throng of violent people.
He'd been to her right, she remembered, maybe a quarter of the way around the ring. She wondered if he'd spotted her too, if he had looked around the ring of people and searched for her hair and mask. She hoped he wasn't running the opposite way. Or dead.
Such cheerful energy she was bringing to the Neonlands!
There were trees as well, just as bright as the grass, wide in stature and clumped together in batches of four or five. They also seemed resistant to being caught on fire, considering someone nearby was trying their damned hardest to kill another person with a flint and steel. The fire stubbornly wouldn't spread onto the landscape, but it was more than happy to jump onto clothes and skin.
Nine continued to run forward around the ring. The counter over the Eye continued to tick upwards.
She slowed down when she thought she'd reached the approximate area she'd seen Moonboy. Disappointingly but not surprisingly, he wasn't there.
"Try looking to your right," someone said to her kindly from right behind her left ear, and Nine felt her heart physically leave her body and plop on the ground. She put it back and whirled around hurriedly.
That thing wore her face.
Or, rather, her mask. Nine reached up towards her own face, to see if it was still there. It clearly was, smooth porcelain and rough chips. Maybe it was just a replica, or a close copy, but something in her chest told her that wasn't it.
"Your right," it said again, and despite its face being completely hidden Nine could still hear the smile in its voice, "You know? The opposite of your left?"
Against her common sense, Nine did look to her right. There, she did find Moonboy. He was looking in the direction she had come from, but hadn't noticed that she was right beside him. Also, was that a spear in his hand?
So focused was he that even with Nine specifically making her steps louder, it still took until she was barely an arm's length away from him that he startled and swung the point towards her. Then Moonboy actually looked at her, her specifically, and threw himself at her so hard she almost toppled over. They sank to the ground together, Moonboy's grip around her torso so strong she could hear her ribs creaking. She wasn't much better.
"Nine, you're really here! I thought it was just someone with your face -" Moonboy's split second of joy faded as he processed what exactly that meant. "...You died?"
Nine kept her head tucked into the curve of his neck, chin on his shoulder; a second layer of protection from her face right now. She didn't respond, but Moon was good at reading non-responses. He pressed their cheeks together in comfort, and his skin was as warm as she remembered it being.
Their hug couldn't last forever, even if they both wanted it to. It ended sooner rather than later, when another intercom announcement and number ticking up had them both stumbling upright and alert for other players nearby.
"We each need to kill someone to pass," Nine summarized out loud, "Look, there's a straggler there. You can use your - spear -"
Moonboy took Nine's hand and pressed the smooth wood of the spear against her palm. She looked down at it.
"I got this spear for you," Moonboy said earnestly, "You should kill that guy."
"You got it...for me?"
Moonboy nodded and pushed her gently towards the guy, and Nine, not being one to waste time arguing, went out on the hunt. The whistle of air against her ears, splitting on the point of her spear, was something she hadn't realized she'd missed up until this moment. It was a familiar, albeit heavier weight.
The stranger before her poofed away. Nine honestly hadn't paid attention to what they'd looked like. It would probably be better for her consciousness anyways, in the long run.
Nine turned around quickly, thankful that Moon had followed her, and shoved the spear back at him.
"We need to get you a kill too," she said, scanning the area. Her eyes landed on the other person from earlier, the one who shared her mask. It, like Moonboy, had been following her as she had killed the person, but it was like her mind had skipped over it on its first pass over. She pointed at it, "There."
For reasons unknown to Nine, Moonboy made a doubtful face. He slashed at it, and instead of dying or being affected the spear passed through it like it wasn't even there.
Nine faltered at that, but there were more important things on the line. Moonboy was on the line.
There! Ahead - some kind of deepslate stone was running around. She was the one with the flint and steel earlier, and clearly it wasn't going well for her. Nine nudged Moonboy sharply, and he followed her gaze and knew what to do.
One Eye announcement later, both Nine and Moonboy collapsed on the ground. Nine laid flat on her back and looked up into the pitch-black sky, feeling a bit as though she'd clawed herself back up from falling off a sharp cliffside. Moonboy crawled over and flopped straight onto her chest, which actually helped her breathing quite a bit.
The strangeness of the situation was clearly getting to her. The physical demand wasn't even so bad. But the task at hand - their two fates -
Was this where their red strings split?
Someone, at that moment, tried to kill - well, Nine, Moonboy, it was kind of the same for them. Probably taking advantage of their weakness.
You may NOT kill a player who has already Passed, the Eye admonished right as Moonboy slapped them. With the sharp end of the spear. It cut cleanly across their chest and they fell back in pain.
You may NOT kill a player if you have already Passed, the Eye then said, clearly directed at Moonboy. It was the same kind of resonance Nine had felt in the beginning, but directed as though by funnel directly to Moonboy. Nine wasn't even the intended recipient, and it still made her physically flinch. Moonboy shrunk back as well.
Not feeling as shaky anymore, Nine sat up and surveyed the area. Underneath their ring, the Pink Ring, was a purple one, and then a blue; she could see it from behind the Eye. They looked terraced, as though they slowly grew smaller as they headed further down. Probably because of the dwindling amount of people.
There was also that thing that had Nine's mask. It hadn't ever actually left, Nine just...forgot it was there. But she wouldn't just forget someone else is here, when they were actively in danger; something felt terribly off about it, which Nine vowed to not forget.
It smiled.
Nine didn't know how she knew, because its face didn't move at all, but she knew nonetheless. This state of knowing drove her further into a state of paranoia.
"Who are you?" She asked cautiously.
"..." it tapped its nails against its face, one at a time in wavelike succession, "I think Nine has quite a nice ring to it. You don't happen to know anyone who's using that, right?"
"You are not me," Nine refuted immediately. She didn't believe in superstitions, or even know any of the ones that weren't something Moon had taught her -
“Sssso yeah this guy was a general and he drowned himself in a lake because he was really sad about his country. And he was really loved by the people so they wrapped meals in bamboo leaves so they could reach his body and feed him without getting eaten by fish. Thus: zongzi. We can make the sweet ones! Do you like dates or peanuts -"
-even she knew the basics about - facesnatchers and such. Even if it was a bit odd to snatch a mask instead of a face.
"No, I'm not," it agreed, surprisingly enough, "Call me Nines, then. It's distinct enough."
Nine would beg to differ, but whatever.
The Eye suddenly spoke again, this time to eliminate all un-passed players ("Nines" didn't die either, strangely enough), and then, like the sensation of her heart being pulled out and around, Nine was on the Purple Ring. Immediately, she scanned for Moonboy again. He was standing in relatively the same spot he had been in relation to her, marginally closer because of all the people who had died. He waved at her, and she returned the gesture.
Suddenly, all the hairs on her neck raised. Nine turned around and was met by Nines, who was so close to her their noses might have touched if either of them moved even a centimeter. This close, Nine could see through the eyeholes to the more human-shaped ones beneath, where she could maybe make out a bit of skin. The rest was hidden by shadow.
Their hair was the same as well, which Nine hadn't realized before; the same pink shade, and around the same length, but whereas Nine kept it tied up and away from her face, Nines had deigned to let it fly freely like the mane of an animal.
"...Do you mind?"
"No, I don't," Nines answered, unfazed, "Thank you for your generosity."
Nine was fazed. Nine was very fazed. She turned back around hurriedly in time to see the Eye, staring at her unblinkingly. It only lasted for a few seconds, but Nine was more grateful than anything when It finally looked away.
A carrot fell in front of Nine. She picked it up in disbelief.
Somewhere to the right of her, she heard an unfamiliar crackle. Then, the sound of wingbeats. She turned around.
Fun fact: dragons exist. And they can mess you up, so be careful. Be like Nine, who immediately began running towards them - oh, actually. Don't do that. Cancel the PSA please. Nine is such a bad influence.
Nine went looking for Moonboy, and did eventually find him within a throng of people. They separated from the vague glob of NPCs and continued to be faster in order to not get behind.
There wasn't a lot to narrate, and certainly nothing to write home about. Sometimes, though, Nine would look over and catch Moonboy's jubilant smile, still ever-present even in such danger, and find herself smiling in turn. Running was something Moon was good at, excelled at even, and it was something he also found joy in. There was meaning in him wanting to run. So, for instance, the idea of putting Moonboy as a runner just to get him away from the group would be a strange, pessimistic, overall negative and dickish move, now wouldn't it Beetle?
Nine. Had Capital T Thoughts on Beetle, but she could wait until later. As long as she survived, she would have more time to think about it Later. No point in unpacking everything now.
Nines followed her like a shadow, always a pace behind. It didn't seem to be running, a closer motion would perhaps be gliding, but it was hard to tell. With the way it moved, it was hard to say where the air stopped and it began.
The Eye once again called a halt on the event. Nine pulled Moon into another hug, which was a bit awkward since she was pretty sure the motion he had been going for was a high five, but he accepted it happily, bumping Nine's shoulder with his forehead with enough force Nine worried for his skull. And her shoulder.
What color was her block? It was blue, right? She knew Moonboy had gotten that spear for her, it was only fair that she got something for him as well. Most likely a weapon to protect himself with. He should have just gotten something for himself - he should have known that Nine could handle herself just fine. She couldn't muster up any will to get angry with him, though.
"A netherite sword."
Something that wasn't vegetation fell in front of her. Would miracles never cease.
Rest floor, the Eye called, and Nine and Moonboy went to go and hide on a ship together.
It wasn't until they were inside an actual structure that Nine realized just how bright the rings were. Each type of overhang cast huge, heavy shadows onto the colored floor that seemed to mimic waves. The light seemed to originate from above them, but it was everywhere above them, seemingly pointing straight down. Neither Nine nor Moonboy casted any slanted shadow.
Nines didn't cast a shadow either.
"What are you?" Nine asked Nines seriously as they sat in their boat, Moonboy eating some bread and listening in.
"Maybe I'm a vengeful ghost," Nines responded, "Here to take my revenge on you at your most critical and vulnerable point."
Nine frowned uneasily, which was apparently all it took for Nines’ facade to crack. “Oh, my, don’t believe me so quickly!”
Nine — hadn’t been going to. She wouldn’t describe herself as gullible, and she scowled at the notion that she would fall for such a flimsy lie.
“So, what are you then?” Moonboy piped up, mouth full of bread.
“Maybe I’m a physical manifestation of dear Nine’s mask,” Nines responded, “And I absorbed all the tears of her hardships and the sweat of her labor and formed myself a consciousness.”
“Be serious,” Nine protested, glaring.
“But I am serious,” Nines grinned at her, eyes slanted. When Nine failed to give it a reaction, it sighed theatrically, “Not that, either?”
Out of frustration, Nine took the spear gently from Moon’s hand and ran Nines through with it. It didn’t hurt it at all, but the section where the weapon and the spirit crossed lit up completely red, like it didn’t belong there.
To test this out, Moonboy reached out and sunk a hand into Nines’ arm. It turned red just like the polearm. This was greatly amusing to him for a few moments before Nine tugged at his ear and he subsided.
She only had to glare at Nines for it to start speaking again.
“Maybe I’m just a lonesome kitsune spirit,” it said, “desperately seeking company from the mortal world.”
Nine tilted her head. “…Kitsune?” Moonboy mirrored her puzzlement.
Nines tilted its head too, just as quizzical as Nine. “Don’t you know about kitsune legends? The wise tricksters, masters of trickery? The nine-tailed foxes that run under the light of the moon?”
“…”
“You don’t,” Nines summarized happily, “My, you don’t even have any evidence to provide a rebuttal. How fortunate.”
“You aren’t a spirit,” Nine argued, even though she did indeed have no proof in favor of her argument, and a pretty hefty stack of proof for the contrary idea.
“Aren’t I?”
Nines leaned in close, right up against Nine’s mask, and searched for the answer directly from her face. So close, Nine could find one other odd thing about her -
Her mask didn’t end at her face. It stretched around her chip and down her neck, wrapping around her collarbone out of sight. There was no seam or instance where the mask ended and it began. Its entire body was the gray white of porcelain.
Then, things got stranger. Nines pressed forward still, until its face collided with Nine’s. And like everything else, it phased right through.
The only thing Nine could register about it was that it was cold, so cold she didn’t even realize it at first. It left her tongue leaden in her mouth and her eyes sting, and it wasn’t until Nines floated back that she could be aware again of what warmth really was.
She put her hand to her forehead. It came back covered with cold sweat.
“Did you have to do that?” Moonboy asked Nines curiously. Nines shrugged.
Thirty seconds remaining, the most benevolent creature in the universe stated. Nine calmly walked out of the boat and calmly went to stand on the edge of the Blue Ring.
The one who got to her first was Nines, which did not fill Nine with overwhelming joy.
“Not going to keep asking me what I am?” Nines prodded, voice a questioning lilt.
“Why should I?” Nine asked rhetorically, “If you won’t ever tell the truth anyways?”
“Maybe I’m your guardian spirit,” Nines responded, “Here to guide you through a difficult time.”
“‘Guardian spirit’? We’re dead,” Nine said disbelievingly.
Nines tilted its head quizzically, “Because of Beetle.”
“Because of him, yes,”
What could she say about him? He clearly wasn’t here - he clearly hadn’t died, like her or Moonboy. Nine didn’t know how to feel about that simple fact, so she settled on a vague gratefulness that she would never have to deal with him, possibly ever again. What else was there to address? He had been their friend, their ally, someone dependable. Except he wasn’t, clearly, and Nine’s hesitation to act on her suspicions had caused Moonboy to die.
What could Nine do? What was worth her energy? Moonboy was always worth her energy. She just had to focus on keeping him safe.
“You really are horrible at your ‘job’,” Nine said instead of anything else.
“I do what’s best,” Nines demurred.
“Do you?”
Moonboy caught up to the two of them, and this time both of them were on the same wavelength about the hug maneuver. Moonboy pressed his face against the side of Nine’s head, near her temple. Nines looked over his shoulder. The Eye swept its gaze over everyone appraisingly. Out of the kindness of its cornea, it didn’t separate the two of them.
“Nine,” Moonboy poked her head. His finger got caught briefly in her hair. “Only one person can reincarnate.” The what should we do? was left out.
Nine was confident in what her plan was. She knew Moon wouldn’t agree, which was why she hoped that he would think it over, really confuse himself with the rules of the game.
“Shush,” she said instead, and they turned their attention to the Eye.