Enderoni, Loop 4

Chapter Forty-one:

::Y O U  W I N::

-...-

Neon purple blood dripped to the floor of the room, light gasps of pain filled the air and nothing more. On his knees on the floor, he gripped the wound tightly, feeling the cold hard metal within his body. HIS body, that was hidden away under the mask. He felt fear and terror and pain and he felt

the bullet within him. He tried to remember a pain this terrible but he couldn't remember. He could hardly even think.

Tyler's eyes widen and he growled. "Dammit!"

Onity's eyes wondered over to Tyler, tried, but still fighting. He pushed himself back up, not letting go of his injury.

"You shot so close to me and yet you still missed my head." Onity said and then let out another gasp of pain, shifting his arm. "I will give you credit for hitting the shoulder, that does sting."

Tyler aimed the gun again, but Onity teleported away, behind Tyler. Tyler didn't waste another bullet, quickly turning around.

"Okay! I'll cut the crap, you've got to listen to m- AH!"

Tyler swung his arm around to hit Onity with the butt of the gun square in the face. Onity gasped, getting knocked over to the floor. He groaned, his other shoulder hurt as it had to take the fall, Onity unwilling to let go over the bleeding mess of his left shoulder. His head spinning, her heard a little splat and realized his nose was bleeding now. Great. Fucking dandy.

"Nothing you've ever said to me has ever done any good." Tyler hissed.

Onity attempted to push himself up into a sitting position only to get a foot to the chest. The wind was kicked out of him and he hit his head hard on the wooden floor. His vision blurred for a bit but he had to get back up. Gasping for breath, he rolled over onto his side, finally letting go of his shoulder, his hand covered in his own blood. He pushed himself up, catching himself staring at the wooden floor for a second, huffing, dripping blood.

His disguise was starting to fade away as well. His hands and part of his arms had become claws again, scratching at the floor. His feet were feet-like claws the same color. For a second, his eyes flickered. Back instead of white with neon purple pupils. He shook his head, jumping back up, nearly tripping for a second, regaining his focus and his disguise going back to normal.

He dodged another swing from Tyler, walking back into the wall. His heart pounded and he felt like an inner alarm was constantly going off without ever stopping, alerting every nerve in his body that he was in pain.

He had to be honest with himself, he did very much deserve this.

He did very much deserve to die.

He found himself on the floor again, after trying to focus, but being unable to for reasons he didn't even know. He was exhausted. He lifts his head up and tries to prop himself up with his elbows, looking up to see the gun pointed at his face again. The room settles down from the movement and for a second all you can hear is their heavy breathing. Onity's eyes soften a bit and he takes a deep breath and he looks from the gun to Tyler.

"So this is what it's like to be the numbers." Onity said. He blinked a few times, slowly. He wanted to yawn but he pushed It back.

"Say...If you get to be thirteen, can I be zero? Or twenty-five? I know neither are on a clock, but I've come to accept I don't really belong."

Tyler couldn't believe this man. "You're a monster, you know that?"

Onity nodded his head. "So be it."

Onity closed his eyes and let out one last breath. Before him, Tyler's fist tightened around the gun and he didn't even hesitate the pull the trigger again. The gun went off, loud, echoing around the entire mansion. Tyler stepped back a bit due to the force and the fact he was holding the gun with one hand and he wasn't the strongest. He blinked a few times, feeling a weight in his chest, his arm no longer aiming the gun up anymore. He looked back.

The bullet was stuck in mid air.

Onity was starring at the bullet, just as surprised as Tyler.

To the side, Seto, his hand reached out towards the bullet with a light blue haze around his fingers.

Tyler's shoulder dropped and felt the gun loosen in his hand. He couldn't believe it. He searched for words to speak, stepping closer to Seto, trying to even understand why.

"S-Seto!" He gasped out. "W-Why would you- I don't- Seto, he's the one who killed Brice!"

Seto, his own heart racing, thinking about how if he were even one second late, Onity would be dead. He slowly released the bullet, it dropping to the floor. Onity continued to stare at it, eventually picking it up to examine in his hands. Seto turned to Tyler, seeing the insanity in his eyes. Tyler looked hurt.

"He did, and I know that, but I made a promise." Seto said. "Tyler, this all ends now, but not by killing him."

"He deserves to die!" Tyler shouted. "He's killed everyone multiple times over! You have no idea how many times i've had to witness you die!"

"I know what he's done, but I know he's more then that." Seto frowned.

"Wha-" Tyler shook his head, holding up the gun again, aiming it at Seto. "You can't be the real Seto. You're part of him, arn't you?"

Suddenly Tyler felt a fist hit his gut and he gasped, dropping the gun and falling back. He looked up to see Onity standing, the gun in his hand. He then dropped the gun, kicking it to the other side of the room. Seto then walked over and offered Tyler a hand. Tyler took it, standing back up.

"Hey. Listen." Onity said.

"Actually, there is something you both need to listen to." Seto said, Tyler and Onity looking at him.

Seto continued.

"None of you have actually gone back in time. You've been dimension hopping. The same people haven't been dying over and over again. You've both been killing multiple versions of the same people. You've been using the wrong spell."

"This is all your fault!" Tyler glared at Onity.

"I-I had no idea! I thought it was a time travel spell!" Onity replied.

"You're not off the hook either, Tyler." Seto frowned.

"I haven't killed anyone!" Tyler said in his defense.

"You've been killing the other versions of yourself. You might be the Tyler from your dimension, but you are in the body of the Tyler from my dimension, and the moment you awoke in this dimension, you killed the consciousness of my Tyler. Your body does not travel over." Seto hissed.

The two were silent.

"Think of all the deaths you've witness. Think of all the people you've killed. They're still dead. Think of the bloody halls that still stain the mansion walls you've both left behind so carelessly. Time still goes on in those worlds. People will find that of which you've left behind. Think about how nobody will ever find out what really happened. Think of all our friends who are not here who will learn that thirteen of their friends went off to play a game and were all killed. Think of their horror."

"Not everyone died in some of the...the loops." Onity said.

"Think of the friends you left behind that are still stuck in that mansion and will starve to death or even worse." Seto added.

Tyler was silent.

"Tyler." Seto said. Tyler looked up at him, previously staring into space, listening and yet in his own thoughts as well.

"Yes?"

"I can't say I know the whole story, but you need to move on. You need to rest." Seto said.

"I..." Tyler felt tears in his eyes. "I want to wake up from this. Ever since this began it's just all felt like a nightmare."

Seto wasn't there to witness most of this, or really he was, but he was a different Seto. He could only go based off what he's seen and what Unity has told him. Before him was a broken man who wasn't himself would probably never be the person he used to be. Seto pictured Tyler before this happened. Goofy, nerdy, pretty much always hopeful and seemingly happy. The Tyler before him was just..just anger and sorrow and nothing but the utmost despair. This wasn't his Tyler.

"When you think about it, Tyler," Onity broke the silence. "Your number has, ever sense the game began, really been number one. Or point five. And you were the killer."

Tyler looked down at his feet. "I hope one day you learn when you shut your mouth and when to open it."

Onity shrugged. "Sorry."

Seto took a deep breath. "Here is what I'm going to do. Here is what we're going to do."

"We're listening." Tyler said.

"I'm going to use a real time altering spell. I'm going to fulfill a promise and then I'm going to reset this dimension. Everyone will be alive." Seto said. "Tyler, I don't know if your consciousness will survive or if the original will come back. Time works in strange ways. I want to know, though. If you survive, tell me."

"So...There is a chance I'll die?" Tyler asked.

"Yes." Seto nodded his head. "I assume. If his consciousness comes back, I don't believe yours will have anywhere to go."

"Oh...okay."

Onity looked over at Tyler. He looked so small. He looked so defeated. He believed he would die. He didn't believe in his own happy ending, like Onity had not believed in his own.

"Onity." Seto turned to Onity, who looked over at him. "You can dimension hop. You can go anywhere you want. You don't belong here. You need to find where you belong, and you need to get out of this mansion before it does end up killing you."

"I see." Onity gulped. He had no idea where he would go.

There was a silence again. The two expected Seto to continue to shame them but Seto had nothing else prepared to say. Onity knew that he had no place here any more.

"I supposed this is when I apologize to you, Tyler." He turned to Tyler.

"Go to hell." Tyler muttered.

Onity shrugged and then turned to Seto. "I tip my hat to you."

"Goodbye, Onity." Seto replied.

"Goodbye, Sorcerer."

Onity took a few steps to the side. Seto watched and Tyler eventually watched Onity as well. Onity gave a smile to the two.

"I guess I should congratulate you for winning the game, though." Onity said.

"What game?" Tyler rolled his eyes. "There was never a game."

So it be.

"YOU WIN." Onity's hands glowed purple. "Insert a token to play again."

There was movement with the hand and what sounded like a snap and then nothing. Onity was gone. Tyler stared at the spot he had once stood. He half expected the guy to appear right back. But he was gone. He was never going to see Onity again. Thank god.

"How do you feel?" Seto asked, looking over at Tyler.

Tyler sighed. "Out of lives."

-...-

He'd awoken after resetting time to find himself back home, sitting at his desk, surrounded by the tons of books that littered his home. Surrounded by the magical equipment and potions and tables and....and home. After checking, he found it was the morning of the day they would have all gone to the mansion. He sent out a text to all the numbers he had of those who were invited to the mansion. He told them it had been canceled.

He waited a few more hours, doing pretty much nothing. He had work that he had originally planned to do after their outing at the mansion, but of course the mansion wasn't what they had planned. He didn't have the mind to work on anything. He still had to remind himself that all the death he had witnessed no longer existed. Well, the death that had happened in his dimension no longer happened.

Sitting at his kitchen table with some sort of food in front of him, but yet no real desire to eat, he turned to his phone again. He scrolled through the contacts. He stopped on one person in particular.

He thought about the last words he heard that man say. He couldn't remember them. He didn't want to remember to be honest.

He was tempted to call, but he wasn't the type to call people much, and he didn't want Brice to worry. He decided to text him instead. He asked if he had any plans for today.

He heard a knock at the front door. Standing up, he walked over to the door and opened it, finding Tyler standing there with a journal in his hands. Seto stepped to the side, motioning for Tyler to come inside. He closed the door and turned back to see Tyler standing there.

"I woke up with the book..." Tyler said, holding it up.

Seto tried to determine from that which Tyler this was, but he couldn't be sure.

"And...." Seto pushed onwards. Tyler looked confused for a second, and Seto hoped. He hoped this was his Tyler.

"I didn't die, Seto." Tyler shook his head. "I'm sorry, I guess."

"No, no, It's fine." Seto sighed. Tyler held out the journal to him and Seto walked over, taking it. "You are still Tyler."

Tyler watched as Seto flipped through the journal. "You can have that. I don't want it anymore."

"I understand." Seto nodded his head, closing the book and walking over to place it on his desk. Tyler followed.

"Hey, uh, I do have a question." Tyler said, raising his voice a bit. He sounded nervous. He sounded worn out.

"Yes?" Seto turned to face Tyler.

"Can you erase my memories?" Tyler asked.

"I'm sure I could." Seto nodded his head.

Tyler let out a breath. "I was worried you might not. I...I don't think I can get over what happened. I know that I won't and I...nobody else remembers anything other then you, and even you..didn't get the full extent of it. I know that If I tried to move on any other way, people will notice and I have no excuse. I have no story. I have friends that thrive on my positive energy and guess what. I lost that."

Seto nodded his head. "I don't blame you."

"S-so, can you help?" Tyler asked, shifting awkwardly.

Seto paused, walking back past his desk over to a shelf of potions. He shifted through them and mumbled a few things, Tyler watching him. Eventually Seto grabbed a tiny bottle with a black liquid in it. It shined when the light hit it and there were small bubbles in it. He walked back over and handed it to Tyler. Tyler accepted it, holding it carefully, examining it's features.

"It's a selective memory erase potion. In order for you to only erase what you remember from the mansion, you need to drink it, and before you swallow, you need to say aloud what you want to forget. After that, the next time you fall asleep, you will wake up with no memory of what you told it to erase." Seto explained.

"I got it." Tyler nodded his head. "Thank you."

Seto asked if there was anything else he could help with and Tyler said no. Seto then showed Tyler the door, and Tyler walked through, saying his goodbyes. Tyler walked away and Seto closed the door.

"Seto?"

Seto's eyes widen when he heard that shaking voice and he turned around to see Unity standing there in the room.

"U-Unity!" He almost felt happy to see him again. He had not expected to see Unity again. He walked over to the kid.

"H-hey, hi." Unity bit his lip. "I forgot something that I needed you to do for me. Another thing, not the phone thing."

"What do you need?" Seto asked.

"So, you, you know those letters that brought everyone to the mansion in the first place?" Unity asked.

Seto nodded his head.

"You wrote them." Unity said.

Seto went blank for a second trying to understand that, but then he realized it had something to do with a little boy he couldn't help but worry about appearing in his house to get him to do something that none of them really knew hOW IT STARTED BUT whatever, right? Right???

"I have to write them now don't I?" Seto asked. "Okay, Okay, I really don't want to but alright. Wait, how do I send the letters to the other dimensions? Hmm, maybe there are spells for that. I'm sure there are."

"Thank you. It's the last thing I have to make sure of before....before..." Unity looked away, twitching a bit.

"Before what happens happens, I understand." Seto nodded his head. Before Unity has no other job to do then to make sure he becomes Onity.

Seto walked over to his bookshelf, deciding he would type up the letters. He had printer paper shoved into the space in the bookshelf and knew he'd need some for his printer. He pulled some out and looked over at Unity, see the child standing there. He realized that Unity was losing his composure. Seto placed the paper to the side and walked back over to Unity, kneeling down to be eye level with him.

"I'm scared." Unity blinked rapidly, pushing tears away.

Seto pulled Unity in for a hug. "You will be okay. You are strong. You will make it through everything, I promise."

Unity gulped, hugging Seto back, digging his head into his shoulder.

"What happens to me?"

"You live, that's what happens. I trust you to make the right choice in where you go." Seto answered.

Unity pulled back and looked at Seto. "Thank you."

Seto stood back up.

"Don't hurt yourself too much, okay?"

"I can't promise anything." Unity replied.

Unity stepped back and a neon purple glow appeared around his hands. He gave Seto a smile, and then with a few motions of the hand and a snap from something, Unity was gone. Seto stared at the floor where he had stood seconds before. He felt an emptiness seeing Unity go for good.

He heard his phone go off. It wasn't for a call though, just an incoming text. He walked over, deciding it would be best to distract himself from thinking about Unity. He picked up his phone from the kitchen table and check the message.

Brice was free of plans.

-...-

(To be continued in Chap. 42)