Royce grinned as he walked down the halls to the execution chamber. "Come! Come! Oh, this is exciting."

"Sadist," Erik muttered.

Wyatt and the other slowly followed him. 

They got to the gated area as Royce turned to them. Royce chuckled as he typed on his keyboard. "Let's make things more interesting." He suddenly shifted to the same little boy that they'd seen when they first met him. He giggled and waved. "I'm doing this as a kid. Bye-bye!"

From above the gates came down a screen with AI Dagger on it. The doors swung open and the little boy walked in before they closed on him.

Royce is the mastermind. 

Commence Final Execution.

*****

Final Execution: Checkmate

The little boy smiled as he was chained to the same target circle that Isabell had been on. He presssed his head to the back, hair turning pink with what used to be her blood. The archer smiled as she stood, long black hair flowing behind her. 

He giggled and nodded. "Come and get me."

The first arrow came in, hitting his arm. Blood flowed down as he laughed. "Miss!"

Second arrow. 

"Miss!" 

Third arrow. 

"Miss!" 

Isabell growled as she took out her gun, aiming for his chest. She fired. 

The little boy flickered before going transparent and turning into the ghost, R. 

R smirked and let the bullet go clear through his chest.

"How sad. Miss."

The scene changed as Sophie came into view, holding a sword at her side. 

R reappeared into Royce, grinning as he held up a wooden kendo staff which was twice as big as him.

Amanda ran at him, stabbing for his heart. 

The little boy waved the kendo stick to bat it away, as Amanda took the opportunity to tackle him to the ground. He fell back, kendo staff flickering for a moment before it switched into a sword as Amanda lunged herself at him.

Her eyes widened as blood pooled down the little boy's hands and stained his shirt red. 

Royce giggled and drove the sword deeper as Amanda disappeared. 

The scene changed again, this time to the same desk that Kiara had been sitting at. 

Kiara was watching over him as he wrote the letters of the alphabet, messing up on the letters P and R.

"Wrong!"

Royce scowled as he wrote a lowercase B and a lower case D backwards. 

"Wrong!"

He glanced  up at the hammer that was slowly rising above his head, accidentally messing up the letter A. 

Kiara screamed again. "Wro-"

Royce frowned as he slammed the pen into her forehead. "Go away, teacher."

She collapsed, more blood staining the boy's hands bright pink. 

The scene switched again. 

Royce looked around, clutching a teddy bear that he'd found on the floor, eyes meeting up to the rogue. 

Damien smirked. "Little boy, little boy. Time to go to a better place." He pointed a gun at the boy's head and pulled the trigger. 

Nothing happened. 

Damien's eyes widened as he checked the inside of the gun. 

Royce giggled and snatched the gun from him. "Russian Roulette! Russian Roulette!"

He pressed the gun into Damien's chest and pulled the trigger.

There was a gunshot and the rogue collapsed to the floor, blood pooling at the boy's feet. 

Royce smirked arrogantly as the set changed once more, turning into the doors. 

He began to run through them, the correct doors opening as he smirked and ran right past the spikes, where Griffin shook his head in disapproval. 

The little boy stopped in front of AI Dagger who was dressed as a magician. 

AI Dagger held out a deck of cards. "Pick!"

Royce took a card carefully, watching as it flickered to the joker. He smirked faintly. "I beat the system."

The scene changed, glitching for a second before it switched to a chessboard instead. 

The little boy's victorious smile faltered as he stared ahead at the opposite side of the chessboard, playing as the king.

A model of Dagger grinned down at him as he picked up a pawn and set it down, the floor rumbling and little Royce falling to his knees to keep his balance. The boy stared, his eyes wide, as the pieces moved on their own. 

Knight killed bishop. 

Pawn killed pawn. 

Queen killed rook. 

Rook killed Queen. 

Castle killed bishop. 

The game played on with Royce watching in fear, body shaking slightly. "No fair."

Dagger smirked as he picked up his Queen, noticing the opening to the boy. "No fair? Checkmate."

There was nothing but a scream as the Queen piece slammed on top of him, blood staining the bottom of the chess piece. 

When the chess game cleared, there was nothing on the board except for a small silver key, covered in blood.

Royce was dead.

Now, everyone is free.

End Execution. 

*****

Wyatt stared with wide eyes as he shakily picked up the key,  holding it up.

Erik grinned. "Damn, I wish I weren't dead. The moment would be so much cooler."

AlterAssassin grinned. "You're free."

Everybody stared in disbelief. 

AI Dagger rolled his eyes. "For God's sake, stop gawking and get to the damn doors. Or I'll lock them again, reform the keyhole, and keep you here forever."

The group laughed as they walked to the entrance.

Wyatt let out a breath as he looked at the doorknob, unlocking the door. 

Cassie smiled as she kicked it open, revealing the same gray sky. 

AI Dagger sighed. "This is actually a tunnel. Keep going down the tunnel and you'll get to the city. It's not too long."

Erik stepped back with the two AIs. "I'm staying here to change this place."

AlterAssassin waved. "Goodbye!"

AI Dagger smirked as he waved as well. "I'm gonna go download myself back into the robot and find Riley."

The four of them waved back as they took a deep breath.

Hand in hand, they walked down the steps and away from the Belmont's Manse.