EnderOni, Loop One:

Chapter Eighteen:

Starved Innocence

-...-

His stomach growled. How long had it been now? Hours, if not well over a day. Stuck in a cell with nowhere to go, nobody to talk to, and nothing to do at all. He had already tried to pick the lock with pieces he had torn from his headphones, but nothing would work. He was trapped, and truly left to die.

Another hour passed, and he laid on the floor, hungry and thirsty. Everything was cold and his head hurt from lack of nutrition. His eyes and his mouth were cry, and his neck was sore from the position he had tried to sleep in.

“How is it, stuck like that in a small area?” his trapper asked him, every once in a while walking into the small room to check on him.

He didn't answer.

The one whom trapped him smirked, and kicked at the cell bars, and they rattled, the sudden noise hurting the starving one's ears.

“Now you understand how I feel.” The trapper sighed.

The trapped turned to walk back out, but he stopped, and said one last thing.

“You know, another hour has passed.”

The starving one's eyes widen, and the smirk on the trapper's face grew.

“Melons don't fall from heights and live.”

The trapper walked out of the room, closing the door behind him. The starving one reached out and grabbed the cell bars. He screamed out, tears running down his face.

“N-No! Come back here!”

And then he pushed himself back against the wall when the trapper didn't return. He pulled his knees to his chest and tried to keep in his weak tears.

“D-Don't do this. Please.” He chocked on his sobbs. "It's gone too far."

-...-

“You didn't even take a weapon with you when you left!” Seto pointed out, still confused and outraged.

“Drop it, Seto.” Ian muttered as he walked by. “We should see what he found.”

Seto mumbled, but had no choice other then to give in. Ty grabbed the crowbar from the weapon pile, and Ian and Bodil did the same. Tyler held his book, and Seto had his magic. With that, Ty lead the four out of the safe room.

The group followed Ty, finding his sudden happiness odd. But then again, of course it all had to come down to the fact that maybe he was just insane, as the mansion had already proven it could do that. Ty lead them downstairs, and then turned to take them down the middle hallway.

“Are you taking us to the green room? Or the Annex?” Seto asked Ty, confused as to why they would go back down towards the death scenes of Sky and Mitch. Why would Ty want to revisit the death of his best friend?

“Nope!” Ty said.

Ty stopped when they got into the hallway with the green room no far down. Ty then turned to the door that was to the side. The blood still covered the smell of the stink, but that was it. Tyler looked at the door, remembering it was one he hadn't been in yet. It was where Ty and Sub had looked when they checked the middle hallway, long before Ant's death had happened. Did he find something he overlooked?

“Here?” Bodil asked.

Ty nodded his head, and pulled the door open, holding it open for the four. Seto found that odd of Ty, but walked through the doorway anyway. Tyler, Ian, and Bodil followed, and then Ty walked in, the door closing behind him.

“What is that-”

The smell was what they noticed first, but when they walked inside farther, they stopped completely in their tracks. The room was small, and half of it was a cell. Bars split the room, and the door was locked with chains. The smell, however, came from a rather obvious source. Ty's grin grew as he saw the expressions on the faces of his “friends” change drastically.

In the corner of the cell, where if you looked in from the door you wouldn't see, was a body. A body with brown hair, a white shirt, gray pants. Shoes with purple, and bracelets with purple as well. On the floor next to the body was a broken, torn apart, pair of neon green headphones. The only blood was from a small cut in the body's side, and what was painted onto the wall to form the number nine.

9 O'clock.

The body's back faced the five, but it was terribly clear whom it was. It was Ty. Skinny, motionless, Ty. Seto's eyes tore away from the body and looked at the Ty who stood in front of the door. The grin on his face was sickening. And then he heard the lock on the door behind that Ty clock. The fake Ty had just locked them in.

“Oh my god!” Bodil gasped, falling back, Ian stepped back when almost fallen on.

“Y-You.” Seto tried to talk, but nothing came out of his mouth.

Seto marched up to Ty, grabbing Ty by the shoulder and pushing the hair out of his face. Seto gasped, stepping back when he found that, though one eye was red, the other was neon purple. Then that Ty started to laugh. Laugh loudly. He even pushed back his hair, so that it was tucked behind the fake green headphones, and so that the neon purple eye could laugh at them too.

“Y-You're not the real T-Ty!” Seto hissed. “Y-You're a fake, created by the Oni!”

The OniTy chuckled. “Took you all long enough.”

“H-How long?!” Tyler asked, looking back and forth between the real and the oni Ty.

OniTy leaned against the wall, as if to bluff.

“The last time you saw the real Ty was when he walked down the hallway with Sub, excited to be playing a new horror map.”

That meant Sub really did know something. Sub had all the right to kill off Ty. He should have done so. That also meant that Seto had never seen the real Ty to begin with, as well as most others. It meant that Ty had been trapped in that cell, alone. He had probably gone insane faster then everyone else, cut off from the rest of the mansion. The Oni, after all, could cut off connection to others without you even noticing.

OniTy started laughing again.

“The look on your faces are priceless!” He pointed out, his teeth showing. “You all have no clue how to react!”

“I-It says nine. B-but he was the first t-taken out!” Ian stuttered.

“All you have is questions?” OniTy shrugged. “Might as well answer. It's not in the job description not to.”

Seto gulped. He wanted to kill the thing. He wanted to rid it of life for it's sins. But he knew that it would probably get away. And it was willing to answer questions. He stood on guard, ready to attack back if needed to, and defend the three behind him If needed. Seto glared at OniTy.

“You see, Ty was kept in here for hours, days, so on. I'd visit him here and there, slowly watching him starve to death. But humans take forever to starve. I found a way to speed it up, and, oh look, after taking the chance to visit him and tell him all about how his dear Sky was killed, he was dead. Rotting. What a stinker!”

The OniTy continued when there was a silence.

“You think Sub's death was painful? You think Sky's death was painful, being stomped on? Try a death so cruel, so clean, that it's the worst of all. Alone. Confused. Hungry. Tired. He could cry, but nobody could hear, and he'd run out of water to cry sooner or later. He never did anything wrong to deserve it. And when told of what was going on outside, he couldn't do anything to help.” He smirked. “Starvation isn't pretty. It hurts! It hurts for hours! For days! Add a touch of poisoned air to speed up the process and you've got pain that lasts even past your last breath. Pain that lasts into the after life!”

Ty died, the last thing he saw of his friends being happy smiles and the feeling of excitement for the map. Then he was taken and forced into a cell, and then told that they were dying, all one by one. None of it was ever proven to him, and of course he never had mixed feelings against his friends. He was, by far, the most innocent of them all. Ironically.

“Why? Why would you single him out and do this?” Seto asked.

“How did you keep Sub so quiet about it?” Tyler added.

OniTy yawned.

“I'll take three more questions. These two count.” He said, and then went on to answer.

“You see, There is no reason! The game we play has no rules! Not yet, at least. And Sub is easy to keep quite. He never talks. Threaten him, twist his mind, make him question what he just saw, and then set him on his marry way, and there you go. I will admit, I didn't think he'd start figuring it out. I guess I messed up when I told him I liked him mute.” The OniTy grinned.

Seto took a deep breath. It was still settling into his mind that Ty had never actually been the real Ty. And things were starting to click. Seto remembered when they were trying to break into the Piano room when they smelled blood. Tyler and Sky couldn't open the door, but Ty could. Onis could lock and unlock doors at their will.

Ty also had questioned a lot of things and had said some questionable things when they were reviewing not long ago. Things that Seto should have known were out of character. Seto was snapped out of thought when OniTy snapped his fingers.

“One more question. Time's ticking on. I'm getting tried watching you beasts.” The OniTy sighed, finally frowning.

Tyler, Seto, Bodil, and Ian looked around at each other. There was still so much to ask. Seto wanted to ask about the mansion, Bodil and Ian still wanted conclusions on their friend's death, and Tyler. Well, Tyler decided he wasn't going to get permission to waste away the last question. Tyler stepped past Seto, and held up the journal with the Ender eye stitched on with one hand. Tyler looked into the eyes of OniTy, making even the mastermind of deception feel uncomfortable. \

“Why does this exist?” Tyler asked without error.

OniTy's eyes widen, and he stared at the book, unable to speak for a few moments. He then shook his head, and cleared his throat.

“If I knew, i'd go back in time and burn the man who put the book together alive.” He said, crossing his arms, and shifting back into a straight standing position.

“It's your book of cheat codes, nerd. One I can't erase from the coding. You hold onto that thing, because the moment I take hold of it, you'll never see it again.”

And with that, the last question had been answered. Before anybody could say anything, the grin reappeared on OniTy's face.

“SO!” OniTy raised his arms. “Who's ready for the next hour!?”

“Tyler, get back!” Seto hissed and pushed Tyler back behind him. Tyler took the journal back into his arms.

“You're cornered, Sorcerer. YOU'RE ALL CORNERED!” OniTy laughed. “YOU CAN'T ESCAPE! YOU CAN'T!”

With that, the four watched as the OniTy glowed a neon purple. He laughed and laughed, and the glow grew, thickening, until the OniTy had thrown away it's human form, and was now just an Oni. The Oni. The Oni grinned, it's tongue hanging from it's mouth, it's teeth sharp. It got into a position to attack the four, and it launched itself at them.

But Seto yelled a mixture of words that Tyler, Bodil, and Ian couldn't understand. He pushed his two arms out, and a bubble appeared around the four. The Oni hit it and fell back. Seto had saved their lives. The Oni shook it's head, and growled at them. Tyler pushed Seto to the side, Seto still keeping up the shield.

“How long can you hold that!?” Tyler asked.

Seto stared at Tyler, still holding the spell. “N-Not long! What are you planning!?”

“That's long enough!” Tyler said and flipped open the book to the page with the spell.

“YOU-” Seto stated, but then realized, that in a small confined space, they really couldn't fight easily. Magic was their ticket out, and they would have to work together or else Seto would be doing all the work. “J-just hurry up!”

The Oni growled, and tried to launch itself at the bubble again, a crack in the bubble forming. Tyler began chanting the words, having trouble at first, but got a hang of it, and found strength in the spell. A glow began to form around his hand, which he held out as he held the book with one hand. His heart raced as he continued, not once failing. Bodil and Ian watched in amazement, and Seto focused on keeping the Oni from breaking the bubble.

Seto knew the spell, and listened as well. It was important that the moment Tyler casted the spell, he'd take down the bubble, or Tyler's spell would hit the bubble and bounce back at them. Seto knew Tyler didn't realize this, and also knew it would be best not to tell Tyler. So when Seto heard what he was listening out for, and as the Oni had once again tried to break the bubble by ramming it's head into it, Seto lifted the bubble.

A bright light shot off across the small room from Tyler's glow, and the Oni tried to step to the side, but didn't see it in time. Seto lifted the bubble again, keeping them safe from the blast. The light, however, still could blind them, and Tyler knew this. Tyler turned around and pulled Bodil and Ian down,shielding them from the light. The room shook, but after a couple moments, it ended.

Seto let down the bubble, which had cracked due to the blast. He blinked a few times to get used to the room's lighting after all that brightness. Tyler, Bodil, and Ian slowly stood back up and turned around. The Oni stood there, huffing. It looked angry, and beat up. It wasn't dead, but it had apparently given up, as it slowly faded away into nothing, retreating.

Then there was a click.

“The cell door.” Ian pointed out.

They walked over to the cell door, and Seto pulled at the lock on the door. It was unlocked, and it fell to the floor, nearly hitting Seto's foot. Seto took off the chains from the door and pushed the door open. Seto and Tyler walked in, and Ian and Bodil watched.

“Ty...” Tyler sighed, looking down at the body.

“It's time we showed Ty the safe room. A place where he'll never be alone again.” Seto sighed, and knelt down.

Seto picked up Ty, and the four left the room. They left and walked right back upstairs to the safe room, placing Ty down on a bed next to Sky's bed. And then the four exchanged glances. Thirteen had walked in, and now there were only four.

“No.” Seto teared up as he sat down at one of the tables, now talking to himself. “There were only four of us left the moment Mitch and Sky left. What an Idiot of me.”

Nobody said anything to Seto. Nobody comforted Seto. If anything, it was Seto's turn to break down, if he had yet to do so already.

-...-

“Guess what time it is~!” Sang OniTy as he walked into the room with the cell. “7 o'clock? Oh, and 8 O'clock! Mitch and Sky are d-e-a-d dead!”

But then he stopped when he saw into the cell.

“Oh.”

OniTy noticed that Ty wasn't moving. He was on the floor, his arms wrapped around his stomach, and his back to the room. OniTy walked to the cell bars, and kicked the bars. Then he grinned.

“It's about time you gave out.” OniTy said sweetly, and unlocked the cell door.

OniTy walked in, and knelt down next to the body. He grinned as he placed his hand on Ty's skinny side. And then, he dug his sharp nails into the body's side, continuing until there was blood.

“Missed your friend, huh? I bet you heard the noises of his death through the walls!!And I bet he smelled the smell from the poisoned air. Ugh.” He said. “I guess once i'm finished here I can finally reveal you to the remaining players.”

OniTy gathered enough blood from the opening he had created in Ty's corpse to do what he needed to do, so he stood back up. He turned to the wall, and painted a nine. A big, red nine. And he smiled, turning back around. He looked at the blood on his hand, and smirked. Then he looked down at the corpse.

“I'll have to go wash this off outside in that small pond. Maybe stop to say hi to the melon. But I'll return, and then I'll bring you your friends.”

The OniTy walked out of the cell, and locked the door again. He then chuckled to himself.

“I promise.”

The OniTy left the room, closing the door, and went about his way.

-...-