Apple. Familiar, comforting, but so stiflingly close that Marsh couldn't even breathe. She was warm, uncompromisingly warm, almost like a campfire she'd been thrown into. If she just had a little distance, it'd be nice. She didn't, and she needed out.

"Paintbrush, think fast!"

Marsh only got a glimpse of Paintbrush before diving into a bush beside them. She curled into a little ball, holding her limbs close, willing her thundering heartbeat to slow down for just a minute-

"Paintbrush!" Apple yelled, skidding to a halt. "Marshmallow's GONE and we're playing hide and seek but she's going to miss leapfrog a-and it's getting dark and there's BEARS and it's dangerous and I need to find her right now!"

"Breathe. I saw her and Lightbulb by the docks earlier." Apple ran away, nary a thank-you. A few seconds passed. "You're good."

"Ugh. Thank you!" Marsh crawled out from under the bush and sat beside Paintbrush. "I'm actually going to lose it. She acts like being attached at the hip is the only thing keeping her alive! I just want a minute to think; is that really so hard?"

"To be fair, we're talking about Apple here. Thinking isn't something she does much," Paintbrush mused, half-joking. "Have you tried telling her directly?"

"I've tried," Marsh gestured, "But she never listens, and like, she's always nice, but I get the feeling standing up for myself would be Santa all over again."

"So you're worried about setting her off."

"Well, yeah! The first time I mentioned a friend I had... before, she got up in my face. It was like she wanted to get into it all over again." A breeze chilled Marsh. It was autumn, alright. "When MePhone said he couldn't do anything she just... dismissed it."

"That's not a good sign."

"It's like I'm not even allowed to have other friends!" Then she felt bad, so she added, "Which, I-I know I'm her only friend, and she's been really nice, but... It's bad enough being stuck waiting for MePhone to think of arbitrary crap to humiliate us with next. I don't need this."

"Sounds pretty annoying, but getting hung up on it is no good," Paintbrush answered, and tapped the chart on their lap. Marsh could see, now, that there were little watercolor versions of the remaining fourteen contestants, all connected by colorful lines with miniscule, meticulous labels. Marsh noticed her and Apple were linked by a bright gold stroke.

"I was just figuring out some strategies," Paintbrush answered Marsh's unformed question. "Look here."

'Is this what Paintbrush does in their free time?'

"There's a three-person alliance on the Grand Slams; if they all make the merge, it'll be dangerous, which is why I'd like to unite our team now. I know you're on my side, but Yin-Yang, Fan, Test Tube, and Lightbulb are all potentially against us."

Marsh's eyebrows raised, "What do you mean, Lightbulb's against us?"

"Did you even SEE her last challenge?" Paintbrush exclaimed. "She clearly has issues! Who in their right mind would send ME to the Calm-Down Corner?"

"Well- yeah, but she's still our friend." Marsh thought back to all their hangouts between seasons. They even had a sleepover just a few days before MePhone came along with that big slot machine. They'd brought the game console and TV up to Marsh's room for the night; she remembered being happy in a consistent third place, because Lightbulb and Paintbrush had fun taking turns pretending the other won through dumb luck.

"The point is, you and Apple are the two people I can count on to have my back, because Apple will literally do whatever you tell her to. Three votes guarantees us at least a vote tie."

"We aren't even at contestant voting yet, and you already want to use her for her vote?"

"That's not what I'm saying," Paintbrush said measuredly, even though that was exactly what they were saying. "I just mean that you shouldn't throw away your allies just to get some alone time. We need team unity wherever we can get it, anyway."

'When did this become game-talk, anyway? Oh yeah, that's right! We're on Inanimate Insanity, where everyone has an agenda.'

Marsh crossed her arms. "I won't do it."

"Since when are you against alliances?"

"The last time I tried to form an alliance, she died!"

Paintbrush sighed. "OK, OK. Can you at least think about it?"

"I-I guess," Marsh said, "but I'm really getting sick of..."

'Waiting for challenges? The guilt? Apple? The crazy politics of doing ANYTHING on national TV?!'

"...Things in general," Marsh finished, feeling a bit lame. "It's nothing against you, I just-"

"Hold that thought." Paintbrush gently pushed Marsh into the bushes.

She landed facefirst; as she sat up, she heard a voice: "Yo Painty! Wanna be the Watson to my funny-hat-man?" Who else would call Paintbrush the nickname but Ms. Bright Team Captain herself?

"What."

"We're looking for Marshmallow! She's gone missing." Apple's tone was unsure.

"I- Lightbulb, get your hands off me!"

"No can do. We're investigating a disappearance here! You're my person of interest."

"I already said I don't know where she is."

"That's what they all say."

"Isn't it the Team Captain's job to know where everyone is?"

"Ooh, getting feisty, huh?" There was the clink of metal - 'Does she have a pair of fricking handcuffs?!' "We know exactly how to deal with those!"

There were struggling noises, a cry of pain from Paintbrush. "What does 'interrogate' mean?" Apple interjected.

Marsh could feel Paintbrush look at her with desperation, even through the dense bush, so she sighed and stood up. "I'm right here."

Apple's face brightened like Santa Claus himself had manifested. "Marsh, I'm so glad you're OK! Haha." Apple captured her in a strangling hug. "You should really be more careful, there's dangerous stuff out here, y'know."

The only danger was the fact that she couldn't breathe, and couldn't wiggle herself free because Apple was way stronger than she looked. Paintbrush mouthed 'sorry.'

"G-gotcha," Marsh gasped.

'Next challenge can't come soon enough. I need a BREAK.'

⁂⁂⁂

As Apple's confused yells grew fainter, Marsh finally stopped pressing her weight against the old wood door behind her, sank to the floor under the weight of her relief.

"Finally... I'm alone."

Her brief relief was quickly replaced by a loneliness that felt more like isolation than solitude. The room was loudly silent, like her voice would be swallowed up if she even tried to speak.

The moonlight that filtered in through the window hardly illuminated the room, but squinting into the darkness, she saw one thing: a box.

Marsh walked towards it like a moth drawn to a flame. Metal, alone, forgotten...

'God... What I wouldn't give to apologize.'

Marsh remembered how cold it was against her hand. ...She couldn't imagine how cold it was when it was all you could feel. It was no wonder Bow lost her mind. Marsh just wished she'd done something about it.

Marsh only truly registered the familiar tune coming from the box when it began to slow, like a string being stretched taut. Dread made her shake.

Then Bow leapt out at her with a roar.

Marsh screamed so loudly that the window rattled as she fell backwards.

She could hear the explosion in her head, the terrible clang of the box hitting the ground, the roaring, the cold. The sensation of claws around her neck, strangling the life out of her, her final word coming out of her in a wheezy squeak. Horrifying images flashed through her mind, too quick to truly grasp.

After a moment, she gasped. 'None of it's real! Calm down!'

When the horrifying images ceased to course through her mind, she rubbed her eyes, then stood up, shaky on her feet and rubbing the side of her head. Darn it, if this headache lasted all night, this challenge would be the most annoying thing she'd dealt with yet.

"Which filter do ya think works best?" asked the phantom.

⁂⁂⁂

Bow. A girl Marsh barely knew, but always felt connected to, even across planes of existence. Someone perpetually out of reach, fleeting, but thrilling to pursue, anyway. Someone so close to Marsh's fingertips that she could feel how chilly she was to the touch, but- still intangible.

'Besides the lack of legs, the eerie glow, and the fact that I can see right through her... she looks exactly like I remember- in the finale, at least.'

She glanced at Bow every chance she got, just to reassure herself that this was real. Usually even that wasn't enough, because she felt like she was having a stroke every time she really tried to comprehend it. Bow got distracted left and right, between scaring the contestants and typing away on that phone of hers, so she didn't seem to notice.

'Is it impolite to bring up that you killed someone, even to say you're sorry?' Marsh wondered. The few times she'd tried to bring up her burning desire to apologize, Bow either found someone to scare or changed the subject. It was impossible to tell if it was on purpose or not.

In other news. Everything Marsh thought she knew about anything was false. It was just that she was the only one who cared to talk about it.

⁂⁂⁂

As it would turn out, that was only the beginning.