I need to put these two in a Saw Trap together @acenico - Tumblr Blog

Jul 19

A Game of Cat and Horse: Chapter 3 Episode 9:

The elevator ride was silent as the two made their way down to the second floor, with Ace's attention once again drawn to the ground beneath their feet.

MonoTV had scrubbed it clean since the ride up from the courtroom, the blood stains he'd failed to avoid staring at now nothing more than a distant memory. It'd barely been any time at all since they were here; how had that bastard robot managed to wipe such a horrific mess away like it'd never existed?

Probably the same way it'd been able to wipe away any trace of Xander from the computer lab. And whatever had been left of Min, if anything had been left at all. And possibly—

Ace's shoulders tensed at the thought of what waited—or didn't wait—down in the playground. Had it really been that easy to wipe them all away like they'd never truly existed, the only remaining proof being the names on their doors? Would he have been waved away with just as much ease, left to be forgotten?

…Like he needed to ask.

He forced his gaze to the right, landing on the container of turpentine in Nico's hand before he could stop himself. At the time of discovery, he'd been adamant about letting them hold onto it—out of fear that someone would see him with the container and jump to all sorts of conclusions. As usual.

But the realization of being in an enclosed space with the person who had willingly used it on him a few days prior had him fighting tooth and nail to not shake like a damn Chihuahua in the middle of a busy shopping mall.

"…I'm not going to use it on you again. You can breathe, you know."

The fight was lost as soon as Nico opened their mouth, Ace's legs catapulting him off the ground with a shriek of fear. And while he struggled to catch his breath after settling again, his face scrunched up with a mix of embarrassment and anger. "Tch, yeah, like I'm gonna believe that one."

"Believe it or don't," Nico said. "But what sense would it make for me to use it on you now?"

A shrug. "I used it to knock you out because I…well, we know why I did it," they explained. "But I've got to remind you that we're working together now, and we also have someone who knows about that in the form of Teruko. It was already a bad idea before that point, now it'd just be even dumber for me to try now. Especially since it's a method I've already used before."

"I—"

He was really starting to hate just how often they'd had a good counterargument for any of his own thoughts. "I-I don't know, okay? I know you're probably not gonna go and kill me now."

Hands gripped the opposite arms tight. "Doesn't mean I don't still get the goddamn heebie-jeebies seeing you hold that, though."

Nico studied him up and down for a moment, before their eyes were drawn to the sound of the elevator doors opening before them. "Well, hopefully we'll find Rose somewhere down here, and the issue will solve itself," they said, stepping out of the elevator and into the hallway of the second floor. "If she'll even talk to us, at least."

"Psh, don't tell me you're afraid she's not gonna talk to you after you stole from her," Ace added weakly as he followed after them. "Not that I'd blame her at all if she didn't—"

"I didn't say I was afraid of her not talking to me," Nico interrupted. "I wouldn't blame her if she didn't want to talk, either. I just think it would make delivering her turpentine directly back to her difficult."

A pause as they pressed a hand to their chin. "Guess we could always just leave it near her without actually having to talk. That probably wouldn't be so bad. Actually, it might be the best case scenario."

Ace continued to stare at them, brows furrowing tighter as if he had more to say on the matter. But any words he might've been attempting to form were simply bitten back with a growl and a clenched fist at his side. "Where was she supposed to be again, the dressing room?"

While the dressing room itself was quiet, it was definitely not empty. Rose was hunched over at an easel near the far left wall, rainbow irises that had once been bright despite their usual nonchalant-ness now dull as she worked on her latest painting. And judging by the half-dozen canvases splotched in black around her feet, her current piece was far from the first she had painted since she'd started.

"Oh, thank fuck," Ace muttered with relief, before raising his voice with a shout of: "Hey, Rose!" as they approached.

Rather than immediately respond, Rose's gaze drifted lazily from her work to the two of them—eyes landing on Ace first. "Oh. Right. You survived your execution."

"You don't gotta sound so depressed about it," Ace said.

"Did I?" Rose asked, the exhaustion in her features only growing more apparent as she set her paintbrush to the side. "Sorry, that wasn't my intention."

Ace's own features crinkled at her reaction. "Yeesh, I'm actually half-tempted to believe you. You look like you just got punched in the stomach by a horse."

"…Punched?" Nico repeated. "Why not kicked?"

"Punched, kicked, whatever," Ace said with shrug. "Point is, she looks like she just got into a fight with a horse and lost."

"Well, you're the horse expert here," Rose said quietly. "So I'll take your word for it."

"Anyway, we needed to talk to you about something," Nico explained.

Despite her initial demeanor, the faint hints of curiosity in her expression still managed to peek through with a tilt of her head. "…We?"

"We what?" Nico asked.

"You said we," Rose pointed out, figuratively and literally as one finger shifted between them. "Since it's just the two of you in here, I assume that you're collectively talking about yourself and Ace? Am I wrong?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's a long-ass story," Ace said with a halfhearted flick of his wrist. "To make it short, the two of us are now working together to try and survive the killing game."

A slow blink. "…I'm not forgetting something, am I? You two hate each other."

Her frown lowered as a hand eased up towards the back of her neck. "No, really, please let me know if I am. My memory has been…unreliable as of late."

"Don't you have a photographic memory?" Nico asked.

"Yes," Rose confirmed. "But as I stated in the trial, being able to remember everything I can see usually just either leaves me with a lot of useless memories I don't need, or things I'd probably prefer to forget. The more useful things often get lost in the shuffle…"

"Well, either way, you're not forgetting shit," Ace assured her. "But with everything the two of us have done, it really feels like neither of us will make it out of this game alive unless we have someone to watch our backs. And unfortunately for us, the only someone who fits the bill at the moment happens to be…well, us. So we've got a sort-of team-up-slash-truce thing going on."

A shrug. "Like I said, long-ass story."

"That counts as long?" Nico pointed out, before shaking their head. "Anyway, we were going through each other's rooms to prepare for that. And Ace found…well—"

They held out the turpentine for Rose to see, her expression once again falling alongside her gaze as it landed on the container. "Oh…"

"They were gonna throw it out, but I said 'Hell no' to that!" Ace explained, a fist raised. "Didn't want anyone else to get the same idea as them!"

A scoff. "And for the record, I ain't here to stop you if you wanna lay into them for what they did."

Nico narrowed their eyes at him. "Is that really necessary to say?"

"What's wrong, don't wanna be reminded of the shit you pulled?" Ace asked.

"No, that's not it. Didn't we establish a rule about this?"

"Hey, the rule says both of us can't talk about our murders without bringing the other up," Ace pointed out. "Didn't say a goddamn thing about other people talking about them!"

Nico's hair tufts lay flat against their head. "That's sneaky and underhanded."

"Hey, rules are rules and technically I'm not breaking any!" Ace pointed out, with a look to Rose. "So go ahead, Rose. C'mon, I'll bet you really wanna let 'em have it!"

"I—"

Rose continued to stare hard at the turpentine, eyelids fluttering in a series of slow blinks. "No, I don't think there's much that needs to be said," she said aloud.

"Wh—seriously?" Ace asked, eyebrows furrowed. "After all they did? You're not even gonna lay into them a little bit?!"

"Nico explained why they did what they did in the trial. There's nothing more to say."

Her gaze flitted back to them. "Unless Nico has something else they want to say?"

Nico's free hand moved to grip the hood of their cloak. "No, it's like you said. There's nothing more to say." A pause, before they once again squinted at Ace. "No matter how much Ace wishes there was…"

A scoff as Ace crossed his arms. "Fucking figures. Whatever, we did what we came to do, so I guess we'll just leave you to…whatever the hell you're doing in here?"

His words trailed off into a question as his gaze fell to the blackened canvases on the floor around them. "The hell are you doing in here?"

"Painting," Rose said matter-of-factly.

"Obviously," Nico added.

"Yeah, no shit!" Ace snapped back, before nudging one of the paintings with his boot. "I mean, what's with all the black? Are you painting those fucking ink test things that therapists show you, then ask what you see in them? Even if most of the time, it's usually just a bird or a horse or a tree, or whatever the fuck else?"

"Uh, no," Nico answered. "See, Rose—"

"I can explain it to him," Rose interrupted with a look to Ace. "Do you remember what my secret was in the trial?"

"And how the hell would I remember that?" Ace asked, pressing two fingers to his temple. "There were like…fifteen different secrets to keep track of outside my own. And I guess Nico's, since I got theirs in the first place."

"MonoTV had them printed on the screen," Nico reminded him. "And we did discuss them pretty thoroughly."

"Whatever," Ace said. "What's your point, Rose?"

"I explained most of it to Teruko and Nico a few days ago," Rose said. "But to 'make a long-ass story short' as you'd put it, my skills as an art forger got me into a lot of hot water with the law at one point. And while I was bailed out of trouble by someone willing to pay off the debt I had accumulated, all of my paintings now legally belong to him."

"Yeesh, and here I thought I had a good reason to hate my job," Ace muttered.

"The funny thing is, I don't hate my job," Rose said, hand moving once again to the back of her neck. "Despite everything that's happened, despite knowing that I'll likely die before ever owning one of my own paintings again, I can't say that I don't still love the act of painting itself."

Her eyes fell to the ruined paintings on the floor. "That's why I cover my paintings in a layer of black paint once I'm done with them. I can still remember what they look like, so at least I can keep them to myself even after they're destroyed."

She turned back to her unfinished piece, hand trembling as she reached for the paintbrush again. "But lately, so many of my paintings have just been…well, look."

A gesture to the painting before her, prompting Ace and Nico to approach. And as they did, Ace jumped back so quickly that his heel snagged on an article of clothing on the floor—sending him stumbling towards the nearest wall with a yelp and a loud curse of: "What the fuck?!"

"Ah!" Nico exclaimed with surprise. "What happened? Why'd you scream?"

"The fuck do you mean 'why did I scream?!'" Ace asked, jutting his finger in the direction of Rose's easel. "Just look!"

While the painting was still unfinished, the form of Ace could clearly be recognized in the center of the piece—form jagged and expression horrified. Surrounding him was a number of different things—fire, water, lightning, a car, to name a few. Sights clearly taken straight from his execution, while a wire was pulled taut around his neck and pulled by hands offscreen. And right in the center of his chest was a simplified heart, bloody and broken and bleeding across everything.

"What in the goddamn hell are you trying to pull, Rose?!" Ace asked, scrambling back to his feet with a balled fist. "What, do you want to give me another heart attack?!"

"Sorry," Rose said. "You did ask what I was painting."

"The fuck I did!" Ace said. "The hell are you doing, painting shit like this?"

"When it comes to painting anything original, I usually take inspiration from the things I've seen in real life," Rose explained. "As of late, that means turning to events in the killing game. Thoughts of Teruko, of Xander, of Min. Even you two…"

Her gaze fell to the floor. "I didn't actually see what happened in the gym. And I didn't see what happened to Arei, either. But I guess even just hearing about everything, combined with everything in the trial has given me more inspiration than I ever asked for..."

Mirroring Ace's earlier action, she nudged one of the destroyed paintings with her foot. "This one had Nico actually killing you." Then another. "This one had you killing them."

"You painted all that in like half an hour?" Ace asked.

"I have a lot to work with," Rose explained, her form starting to tremble as a hand met her other arm. "Thoughts running through my head over and over again. Things I've seen overlapping with things that I wish I could forget. Memories mixing with things I know aren't real, and all of that mixing with my own fears…"

A pause, before she looked back to them. "I'm rambling again. Sorry."

"Well, whatever, we've done what we came to do so," Ace said. "So we can leave you to your freaky-ass painti—wait, Nico, you didn't even hand it back to her yet!"

"Huh? Oh, right. Here."

Nico held out the turpentine in front of them, and the hand against Rose's neck fell to take it in turn. "Thanks, I suppose…"

"Yeah, yeah," Ace said, a hand moving to Nico's shoulder to pull them along. "Now, c'mon, let's leave her to her nightmare fuel."

"As I said before, I can walk on my own," Nico muttered in annoyance.

"Again, though, Rose," Ace added. "If you wanna yell at them before we go—"

"I don't," Rose said quietly. "I don't see what it would solve at this point…"

"Fine, whatever," Ace said. "Let's just g—"

"Hold on, before you slip again."

Before Nico could elaborate, they had already knelt down by his feet and scooped up the article of clothing that Ace had tripped over the first time. And a closer inspection revealed the garmet to be a casual dress; light blue and shimmery under the lights of the dressing room. "Huh, that's odd," they mused as they ran their fingertips across the fabric.

"Finding a dress in a goddamn dressing room?" Ace asked. "Yeah, somebody call the tabloids, I'm sure they'll wanna hear all about it!"

"…Why wouldn't they call the news?" Nico asked.

"Huh?"

"They wouldn't call the tabloids for something like this," Nico pointed out. "That's usually just gossip. If I had something I deemed important enough to tell, I would call a legitimate journalist."

"Oh my g—" Ace slapped a hand to his forehead. "Can you just explain what the fuck you meant, then?"

"What I meant was," Nico said. "It's kind of weird how the dress is just lying here out in the open. It wasn't here the last time Rose and I were in here."

"I—"

Ace's mouth snapped closed as he turned back to Rose. "This your doing? The dress, I mean."

"It's a nice dress, but no," Rose said. "Nico's right, that wasn't here the last time we were, and I know it wasn't there when we were doing our investigations earlier. Otherwise there's a chance it would've come up in the trial as evidence, due to its odd out-of-place-ness on the floor. Like what happened with the ball of laundry you ended up using for your plan."

"Wh—" Ace started, flicking a thumb towards the dress. "I didn't use it for anything, if that's what you're thinking!"

"Obviously she wasn't," Nico pointed out. "She just said if you had used it for your plan, it would've come up during the trial."

"Oh, right…" Ace said. "So what the hell's it doing here then? Was someone in here earlier?"

"Not sure," Rose said. "After the meeting I followed the group who'd gone to check on Teruko, but I veered hard left to my room to gather supplies before coming down here. Maybe someone was in here before me?"

"Weird, but again; whatever," Ace said with a shrug. "It doesn't concern us and we did what we came here to do, so let's just go."

Without waiting for a response from Nico, Ace made his way towards the door. And after a moment of hesitation—gaze lingering back on Rose as she set the turpentine aside and returned to her painting—Nico quickly followed him back out into the hallway. "Well, least finding her was easy enough."

"No kidding," Ace said. "Thought we were going to have to go on an even wilder wild goose chase than that. But at least we found her."

A scoff. "Even if she still looked pretty messed up about what you did to her, though."

"Yeah, about that," Nico said, narrowing their eyes. "Why did you try to goad her into talking about what I'd done? I thought we'd decided on a rule that—"

"Like I said before, the rule only really applies to the two of us," Ace pointed out. "Nothing saying other people can't harp on us for what we'd done."

"And like I said before, that's an incredibly-underhanded loophole," Nico pointed out.

"Aww, what's wrong, tough stuff?" Ace asked mockingly. "Don't like being reminded of the fact that you tried to fuck so many people over outside of just me?"

"I—"

Once again, Nico's hair tufts flattened against their head. "You know what? I'm not doing this right now," they said, and turned towards the other end of the hall. "I-In fact, since we're on the second floor, I know what I am going to do instead. And that's feed the minnows in the relaxation room."

"Hell no, you're not!" Ace said. "I didn't get to finish exploring your room before we got sidetracked—"

"The hell's going on out here?"

A new voice turned their combined attention to the nearby doorway, just in time to see J step out of the gym. "Oh, it's you two," she asked, a scowl crossing her face. "Ugh, are you seriously fighting again? What, was almost killing one person and actually killing another not enough to snap you both outta this shit?"

"I'm getting a sense of deja vu," Nico muttered.

"Hey, you'd better watch your fucking mouth!" Ace shot back at J, a fist raised. "Whatever the hell the two of us are doing isn't anyone else's business!"

"It is when you're yelling up a goddamn storm," J countered. "Jesus, Ace, you'd think after almost dropping dead of a heart attack, you'd be a lot less prone to getting this goddamn huffy."

"I—"

Ace's anger faltered into a look of discomfort, and his form shrank with a halfhearted sigh. "Whatever…"

Despite her initial annoyance, J's own expression fell in return as her hands met her hoodie strings. "Uh, sorry. You're a raging dickhead murderer, but…that probably still sucked."

When Ace didn't respond, Nico tilted their head with a curious: "Why were you in the gym, J?"

"Huh?" J asked. "What do you mean?"

"…I feel like the question was pretty straightforward."

"Actually, yeah, why were you in the gym?" Ace added, an eyebrow raised. "You hardly ever come down here."

"Okay, first of all, not true," J said. "I tried to get in the other day when it was—wait, how the fuck do you know how often I come down here?!"

She raised a fist. "What, did you pick that up when you were spying on everyone for your fucking murder options?"

"No!" Ace insisted, before a pause. "…Maybe."

"…Dude."

"Well, that and I come down here all the goddamn time!" Ace insisted. "Either way, I've barely seen you here!"

He narrowed his eyes at her. "What's with all the answer avoiding? Worried we might've caught you doing something you aren't supposed to be doing?"

"Oh, like you're one to talk, Ace," J snapped back. "Or need I remind you of what I just said before?"

She huffed irritably. "If you really gotta know, I was originally down here looking for Teruko. After the meeting, some of us split up to try and find her and David. You know, to stop them from pulling a You Two? But she wasn't down here, so I figured I'd just relax in the gym for a bit, work out, clear my head. Hope that a room chock full of weights and other manly shit would be enough to keep Arturo at bay, if he decided to use that stupid robot body to follow me down here."

A shrug. "Was also wondering where the hell you two had run off to, but I guess this answers that question."

"Us?" Nico asked. "Why us?"

"C'mon, don't you remember the meeting?" Ace asked. "Or why the two of us are working together now? I'll bet everyone else is looking stick a knife in our backs the second we...turn our backs."

It was his turn to raise a fist into the air. "Just like I'm sure J was planning to do, and is trying to cover it up with how she was just 'working out'."

"Oh my God," J said irritably. "Seriously, how the fuck do you still have this much energy left to fight after—"

A blink. "Wait, hold on. Did you just say the two of you were working together now?"

"What, do we gotta stick a neon sign over our heads or something just to make sure everyone gets the fucking word?" Ace muttered. "Alright, yeah, okay? Nico and I are working together now. If you've got any other questions about it, like how the fuck we haven't torn each other's throats out by now—"

He glared back at Nico. "Yeah, we're still trying to figure that one out."

"Actually we do have an answer to that one," Nico said. "If we're keeping eyes on each other, we can't kill each other. And nobody else can kill us in return."

"…Okay, so do I gotta point out the flaws in that plan or are you two already aware of them?" J asked.

"We know it's a fucking terrible idea, alright?!" Ace snapped. "But if you wanna form a goddamn buddy system with either of us—or know of anyone else who'd be willing to do it instead—feel free to let us know!"

"Hard pass," J said flatly.

"It's like you pointed out earlier in the trial," Nico added. "We've done things that not everyone's going to forgive us for so easily, and everyone's already on edge as it is having the two of us still around. This way, we've got someone looking out for us and everyone else feels more at ease. …Probably."

"I guess that makes a little bit more sense," J said. "Still, it'd do a better job if you two stopped arguing for five fucking seconds. The hell were you two even arguing about this time?"

"Mostly we were just trying to figure out what to do next," Nico explained. "I'm going to go check on the minnows, and he doesn't want to."

"We're going back up to their room," Ace corrected with a glare. "And they keep thinking we're not."

"Once again, feel free to go if you really want to," Nico said, returning his look with one of their own. "I'm going to go check on the minnows."

"Yeah, this sounds about right," J muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Hey, dumbass, are you forgetting why we chose to work together?!" Ace asked. "If we're gonna watch each other's backs, that means we need to stick together at all times!"

"You're welcome to come with me to the relaxation room if you want to," Nico said, once again turning towards the opposite end of the hall. "Granted, I'd prefer you at least stay by the door or wall. Just somewhere as far from the actual pond as possible."

A shrug. "If you really don't want to come with me, though, then I guess you'll just have to go back to my room by yourself."

"The fuck I will!" Ace shot back. "What if another murder happens when we're separated?! Who the fuck's gonna believe either of us when we say we didn't do it?!"

"I guess no one," Nico said, taking a step forward.

Ace reached out to grab their arm. "Also you know damn well I already said I wasn't about to spend more time outside our rooms than necessary—"

“Let go of my arm.”

Demanding words were punctuated by a dark flash in their eyes as they glared back at Ace. A dark flash so reminiscent of the look they had shot him in the cafeteria a few days prior—piercing red eyes sparkling with a fury just beneath the surface, one practically begging for that one final hit to the dam wall that would allow it all to finally burst out in an inescapable flood—that Ace's arm instinctively yanked back to his side. Even J seemed surprised by their reaction, eyebrows shooting up her forehead with a quiet: "Oh, shit."

Despite their lingering frustration, Nico's demeanor seemed to relax with an exhaled breath they hadn't realized they'd been holding. “S-Sticking to our rooms will just drive us nuts," they explained in as calm a tone as they could muster. "Plus I-I doubt you want to spend that much time with me in a small, enclosed space. Or, at least, one even smaller than our current small, enclosed space."

Their hand balled into a fist before they moved it to the hem of their cloak. “And…and I’m not neglecting the minnows. Even if you’re willing to let those fish die—or even kill them yourself—I’m not. I’m going to take care of them, and you’re free to go back to my room if you want. But if another murder happens while I’m down here and you're up there, neither of us will have a solid enough alibi. Which, like you said, will make our plans to stick together pretty pointless.”

Despite the initial shock of their reaction, Ace folded his arms across his chest with a halfhearted scoff. "'Or even kill them yourself'," he repeated mockingly. "Whatever happened to 'Oh, I'm toooootally not trying to pick fights with you, Ace? You're just being an overreacting jackass, as usual!'"

"You know I didn't say that," Nico pointed out, eyes once again narrowed at him. "And you know that you were just as quick to try and start one with that rule loophole."

"Uh, guys?" J chimed in.

"I asked you earlier if you really wanted to go through with this idea of working together," Nico continued, ignoring her. "And you said yes. I'm asking you again: are you sure you want to go through with this idea? Because it really sounds to me like you don't!"

"And it's like I told you," Ace replied. "I don't exactly have a better option! Neither of us do!"

"Guys," J tried again, tone sharper.

"So why do you keep pushing back on everything I suggest to make this smoother for both of us?" Nico asked. "I…I'm not saying you're trying to pick fights for no good reason, but it sure does feel like you want to be able to harp on me for what I did without me poking back in return about what you did to Arei!"

"Don't you fucking dare—"

"Guy and Nico."

"I said we didn't have to talk about our murders or murder attempts if you really didn't want to," Nico continued sharply. "And…and I stand by that. Even if you said that I don't have to dance around the topic 'like you're made of goddamn glass', we do not have to talk about either of them if you really don't want to. So why do you keep on bringing mine up if you don't want to talk about yours—"

"What's going on?"

Any retort Ace might've been concocting was struck dead silent at the sound of another voice from the end of the hallway, features paling as his gaze confirmed the source that was now approaching from the other side of the second floor.

And if his own gaze hadn't already confirmed it—"Eden!" J said suddenly, teeth clenched with a strained smile across her face. "So good to see you're doing alright, especially after what happened earlier. You know, the very traumatizing and horrible thing that no one here should keep talking about."

The end of her sentence was sharply emphasized at Ace and Nico, the former of whom seemed to get the point as his form deflated, gaze averting from Eden's direction. The latter, on the other hand—"You're talking about it more than we are right now."

"I—" J sighed. "Whatever, you know what I meant."

"Uh," Eden started, as she slowed to a stop before them. "Is everything okay? I…I thought I heard arguing and—"

Her words fell silent as her eyes—mildly puffy and red from crying—landed on Ace and Nico. "Oh, it's you two…"

"Yeah, much to everyone's fuckin' dismay," Ace muttered.

"Huh?" Eden said. "Oh, I-I didn't mean it like that—"

"It's understandable if you did," Nico said. "I imagine no one is exactly thrilled to see either of us."

"Well, um—wh-what are you two doing down here?"

When neither Ace nor Nico responded, J sighed and pressed a hand to her head. "Apparently they're fighting over what they're going to do next, go to the relaxation room or go back to Nico's room."

"Nico's room," Ace spoke up, almost in-sync with Nico's own reply of: "Relaxation room."

She glared at both of them. "And I once again say that if they can't even go five minutes without arguing about something as simple as what they want to do next, then how the fuck do they expect their 'team up to survive' to pan out?"

"And it's like we told you," Ace said, returning her glare with one of his own. "What other choice do we have at this point?"

"Hey, don't get snippy with me about it," J said. "It's your own fault you two are in this mess in the first place—"

"You two are working together now?"

The sadness in Eden's features shifted to a mix of confusion and inquisitively as she stared at them, and Ace pressed a hand to his forehead. "God, maybe we do gotta stick a sign over our heads or something…"

"It's a lot to keep re-explaining to people, and honestly kind of tedious," Nico said. "So feel free to pass the word around if you want. If we're keeping eyes on each other, then we can't kill each other or anyone else. And in return, no one can do the same to us."

"Oh, I see…"

Eden's look of uncertainty drew Ace's gaze back towards the hallway behind her—a question lingering on his tongue like a bitter pill. One that J vocalized before he could force it back down with a: "What were you doing down here, Eden? Still looking for Teruko?"

"Uh, no…" Eden replied, voice low. "We found her and David upstairs at the dorms, but I—"

Her tone grew even quieter. "…I was at the playground. I-I know Xander was gone by the time we got back upstairs. But I thought…maybe—"

Anything else she might've wanted to say were drowned in a wave of tears, glasses knocked askew as she reached up to scrub them away. "I-I'm sorry, I—"

"Shit," J muttered in a whisper, before moving to comfort her. "No, no—Eden, you don't have to apologize. You don't have to apologize."

Words repeated with a sharp tone were once again aimed at the duo across from them, punctuated by a glare towards them before her gaze returned to Eden with a more sympathetic expression. "Hey, have you eaten or drank anything since before the trial? Maybe we should get some lunch in you?"

"I—" A sniff as Eden tried to compose herself. "I guess it has been a few hours since I've eaten."

"Sounds like a good reason to head back upstairs," J insisted. "C'mon, I'll even make you something if you want. Can't promise I'm a world-class chef or nothin', but I know my way around food that's not completely burnt."

Despite J flicking a thumb towards the elevator, Eden's tearful gaze couldn't help but shift once again to Ace and Nico—lingering on the former for an eternity of three seconds—before she gave a small nod of confirmation back towards J. "Alright," she said, form perking back up with her best attempt at a smile. "You're right, I'll probably feel loads better after I eat!"

"Atta girl," J assured her with a grin of her own. "Go on ahead to the elevator, I'll catch up."

With another nod and the joy in her smile growing just a touch more genuine, she turned and hurried back towards the waiting elevator. And after a few seconds of watching her go, J's forced grin snapped back into a frown—one firmly directed towards the remaining two. "Look, you two do whatever you gotta do to stay alive in here," she whispered in a hushed tone. "As pissed off as I am, I can't exactly say I want either of you to actually die for real. So if this ends up keeping you both alive, then I'm not gonna stop you."

Her hand met the edge of her hood. "But if you're serious about working together, then hurry up and figure out how to do it or just stay the hell out of everyone's way. Last thing we all need is more people getting hurt because of your combined bullshit…"

With that, she turned to make her way to the elevator, with Ace's gaze following right after her—only pulling away once he heard Nico shift at his side. "Well, I guess I can finally go to the Relaxation Room," they said. "And I don't want to hear a word about it, I'm going—"

"Fine, I'm going with you."

"Huh?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Ace asked, fist clenched at his side. "I'm coming with you to see your stupid fish."

"I—" Nico started, features scrunching with bewilderment. "Are you sure?"

"First you said you were fine with me coming, and now that I'm actually willing to go, you're getting your cloak in a goddamn twist," Ace said irritably. "What, do you not want me to go that bad?"

"…You know we both know the answer to that, right?" Nico asked.

"Listen, you—"

Any bark Ace might've attempted fell to a hushed growl of frustration. "Ugh, it's like I said earlier: wouldn't make much sense for the two of us to go wandering off by ourselves," he said, a clawed hand meeting forehead. "So…fuck it, we can go feed your stupid fish together if you're that dead set on it."

A huff. "And don't get the wrong idea; I'm not looking to kill any of those fish again. Much as you'd deserve it, I'm not that much of an idiot and I know you'd end our truce faster than I could blink—"

"Even faster," Nico confirmed. "You're not laying a single hand on those fish ever again."

"Fine, whatever," Ace said. "We can even add it to the rules later if you really want to. Are we gonna go or not?"

Nico's confusion remained for a moment longer, before settling into something that tiptoed on the edge of acceptance but still seemed hesitant to actually take up residence within its borders. "Well, okay, if you're sure. But, uh…don't let this sway you or anything, but I…still think you should sit near the wall while I do the feeding."

Ace scoffed. "I already told you I'm not gonna fuck with the stupid fish—"

"I'm aware," Nico said matter-of-factly. "Doesn't mean I won't get the heebie-jeebies seeing you near them, though."

Another huff before the two started making their way towards the relaxation room, with Ace casting one last glimpse back towards the elevator behind them as J and Eden disappeared beyond the doorway.

#Ace Speaks #My Writing #AGoCaH #Danganronpa Despair Time #Ace Markey #Nico Hakobyan #Rose Lacroix #AceNico #Long Post #(Other characters include J and Eden later in the chapter)#(Also adding this to the tags before anything else: That line about Nico pointing out the news/tabloids differences?)#(That was all my buddy and certified Nico expert Dragon. I had the line about Ace first and they added on with that.)#(And I thought it was so amusing I just added it as it was)#(Thanks for that Dragon. Love ya pal 🧡)#(Anyway I was sitting on the most-finished chapter until the bonus episode dropped; just in case I had to change anything)#(Turns out I didn't have to change much at all!)#(Funny enough; I actually think I need to tweak some stuff in the last chapter before I start posting the fic on Ao3)#(But it's more adding to the stuff that's already there and I actually don't think I need to do that TOO much with the others)#(I still cannot believe how accurate I was when it came to writing Ace for the most part)#(And I cannot WAIT to work the new stuff we know into the fic!)#(It was honestly kind of similar to what I'd already had planned but it's nice to have confirmation of my initial thoughts)#(ANYWAY tags are getting long; enjoy!)

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I need to put these two in a Saw Trap together