Fanfiction: The Worst Kind of Debt (Your Turn to Die)
This is entirely 
futuresoon's fault.
Title: The Worst Kind of Debt
Fandom: Your Turn to Die
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1,700
Summary: The third Main Game arrives. It doesn't go well.
Notes: Spoilers up to the end of Chapter Two.
The third Main Game. Six people left, and Sara’s going to have to watch another two of them die. If she survives herself, that is.
No narrowing-down vote this time. Not enough people, Sara guesses. Which means no one gets to be safe.
It’s a terrible thing to think, but maybe, now that they’ve known each other for a while, people just want to vote based on who they’re least close to.
“Look,” Reko says. “I wasn’t there for the whole poison dart thing, but I sure as hell heard about it. It’s messed up that Q-taro was going to let Gin die.”
“You’re talking like he was drowning and I wouldn’t even reach my hand out,” Q-taro growls. “It wasn’t like that. They were asking me to die.”
“I don’t care what they were asking you to do; you do it! He’s a little fucking kid!”
“What, are you saying people stop mattering when they stop being kids?” Q-taro demands. “I’m a human too! If you’re so big on sacrificing yourself for kids, great; you can tell everyone to vote for you.”
Reko hesitates.
“I’m the Keymaster,” Q-taro says. “You vote for me, everyone dies.”
“You were trying to save your own skin back then,” Reko says. “I’m betting it’s the same thing now.”
The problem is that Q-taro is the Keymaster. And Sara can’t let anyone know she’s the Sage, or they’ll know she’s a safe vote.
She looks up and catches Keiji’s eye, and she has that strange feeling she so often does, like he’s seeing straight through her. He half-glances over at Q-taro, looks back at her, a question in his gaze. She swallows.
Does he know her role?
“I’m hearing your argument, Reko,” Keiji says. “But we can’t vote for Q-taro. He’s telling the truth.”
What?
No. He can’t be doing this.
He’d said he was planning to bet his life on her. She hadn’t thought that meant...
Gin hugs his cat head a little tighter. “H... how do you know that, meow?”
Keiji hesitates.
Sara feels like she’s going to throw up. That hesitation is going to make people think he’s the Sage. That hesitation is going to kill him.
“He showed me his card,” Keiji says.
From Q-taro’s sharp glance over at him, Sara knows it’s not true.
He came up with an explanation that isn’t being the Sage, at least. But Q-taro knows he’s lying. Which means Q-taro is going to think he’s the Sage. He’s going to vote for Keiji.
“Huh,” Reko says. “Weird that Q-taro showed you the card and not anyone else. If you’re the Keymaster, either you want everyone to know so they won’t vote for you, or you want no one to know so you can draw out the Sage.”
Keiji shrugs. “Guess he just trusted me.”
“Right,” Reko says. “Because the shady policeman is the most trustworthy person here.”
“You could just ask me, y’know,” Q-taro says. “I never showed anyone my card.”
Sara goes cold.
She’d just kind of... assumed Q-taro would play along. But of course he has no reason to. If he thinks Keiji’s the Sage, it’s in his interest to steer other people towards the safe vote.
Keiji still has his half-smile, but Sara can see him sweating. His cool, calm mask starting to crack, just a little. Somehow, it’s scarier than it would be if he were flat-out panicking.
How is she supposed to save him? Is she meant to steer everyone’s votes towards Reko, Kanna, Gin? She can’t do it.
She could tell them she’s the Sage.
God, she’s so scared. She doesn’t want to die.
She braces her arms on her desk. They’re shaking.
“I’m the Sage,” she says. “Q-taro is the Keymaster.”
Keiji’s eyes flash to hers.
“Interesting,” he says. His voice is so calm; the way he’s looking at her is so intense.
She knows he was trying to protect her. But he’s put her into this position: make herself a target or watch him die. It’s hard not to resent him, just a little.
Q-taro shoves his hands into his pockets. Looks at her for a moment.
“Already had someone backing me up as the Keymaster,” he says at last. “No one else is coming forward to say they’re the Keymaster. Pretty sure Sara here doesn’t have any reason to say she’s the Sage unless she wants people to vote for her.”
“I’m not...” Her throat’s so tight it’s hard to speak. “I’m not the Sacrifice. I wouldn’t be trying to get votes if I were. I couldn’t do that to everyone.”
“Wouldn’t be trying to get votes?” Reko echoes. “Sorry, but that makes it sound a lot like you’re trying to get votes now.”
“I - I just-”
“Look, Sara,” Reko says. “I really hope you’re not the Sacrifice. Because I like you, and that fucking sucks. But I’m not voting for you if you’re the Sacrifice, because that means we all die. And I’m not voting for you if you’re not the Sacrifice, because, like I just said, I like you. You’re not getting my vote either way.”
It’s a relief to hear it, and that kind of makes Sara feel sick. Because she shouldn’t be relieved. If she isn’t going to die, someone else is. Maybe Keiji. Probably Keiji.
“I just... need you to know,” she says. “Keiji’s not the Sage. I am.”
There’s an unbearable amount of sympathy in Reko’s eyes. Of course; she’s lost someone important to her, too. “Hey, whatever happens here, I’m sorry.”
-
Sara is very aware, as the results of the vote start to come in, that Keiji isn’t looking at them; he’s looking at her, his gaze unwavering. She tries to focus on the display.
Sara. One vote. She’d voted for herself, shaking, hoping like a coward that nobody else would choose her.
Gin and Kanna. One vote each. It seems likely that Kanna voted for herself; did Gin do the same?
Keiji.
Four votes.
“No,” Sara whispers. This is actually happening. She can feel her heart beating hard enough to break out of her chest.
“No!” Reko screams, and it’s only then that it really hits Sara.
Who did the Sacrifice vote for?
She can barely hear the Floor Master speaking over the thunder of her heart.
“The Keymaster was Q-taro Burgerberg.”
This isn’t real.
“The Sage was Sara Chidouin.”
Reko hasn’t stopped screaming.
This isn’t real.
“The Sacrifice was Keiji Shinogi.”
Sara stands frozen at her desk.
She’s going to die. They’re all going to die. All his talk of trust, and Keiji turned around and killed them.
“You bastard,” Q-taro yells, throwing himself at Keiji.
Keiji catches his fist. “You’re gonna say that when you just voted for me to die?”
Sara feels like she can’t breathe, like every gasp of breath she manages just leaves her with less oxygen. How are they going to kill her? Are her final moments going to be like Mishima’s? Like Nao’s?
Like Joe’s?
Gin is crying, whimpering like a wounded dog. Kanna is just standing in silence, eyes downcast.
“So I get to choose who I escape with, right?” Keiji asks. “It’s going to be Sara.”
What?
Sara whips her head up to stare at him. He gives her a smile. Like he just asked her to dance with him, instead of telling her she’s the only other person who’s going to walk out of here alive.
Reko swears viciously. “Should’ve guessed. You two are always hanging around together.”
“I wasn’t working with him,” Sara whispers. “I didn’t even vote for him. I didn’t know.”
Like it helps them to know that.
The Floor Master hefts a scythe. “Very well.”
Sara’s staring at the gleaming blade, fixed to the spot, and she doesn’t realise until he touches her shoulder that Keiji’s come to stand beside her. She flinches away without thinking.
Keiji pauses for a moment.
“You don’t have to watch,” he says, quietly.
She has to watch. She can’t leave room to lie to herself: maybe they’re still alive, maybe it wasn’t real. She owes it to the others - Reko, Gin, Kanna, Q-taro - to know what her own survival cost.
There’s so much blood.
Her knees buckle, and Keiji crouches to put an arm around her back, and she doesn’t have the strength to push him away.
-
She wakes leaning against Joe’s shoulder, until she remembers that Joe’s dead.
She opens her eyes.
It’s Keiji.
Fuck. Everyone’s dead.
This is... it looks like a bus shelter. Outside. She could almost believe the whole death game was just a dream.
But Keiji is here, and that means it was real.
How...?
He must notice her looking around. “Think they knocked us out and brought us here. You feeling okay?”
Of course she isn’t feeling okay. “Why?”
He shrugs. “Guess we’re not allowed to know where the facility is.”
She shakes her head. “Why me?”
He looks at her.
“’Cause you’re cute,” he says.
She wants to cry. She doesn’t think she can. It’s like she reaches for tears and all she finds is a pitch-black pit inside her.
“We killed everyone,” she whispers.
“Hey,” Keiji says, serious now, “you didn’t do anything. It was all Mr Policeman.”
“I don’t understand,” she forces out, and oh, there are the tears. “You don’t even know me! I’m just some girl! And I owe my life to you, and so many people are dead-”
“Sara,” Keiji says, quietly.
“Why would you choose me? I’m no one!”
“Where do you live? Can I take you home?”
She stares at him.
“I can’t go home,” she says, realising it as she’s speaking. She can’t even imagine going back and facing her parents, after everything that’s happened. Going to school without Joe, trying to fit back into a normal life.
“You sure?” he asks. “I can’t take you in.” He shifts a little on the bench. “Pretty sure I’m going to have to go on the run.”
What went down between him and the force, exactly? He talked a little about that video of him and the other police officer, but he was pretty vague. She guesses she doesn’t have to worry too much about whether he’s a murderer now that she knows it for a fact.
(She can’t stop thinking of what he said about that woman. I owed her the worst kind of debt.)
A part of her hates him. For killing everyone. For forcing her to be the one who has to live with it.
But she can’t imagine her life without him. He’s the only one who understands what she’s been through.
“I guess we’re going on the run, then,” she says.
futuresoon's fault.
Title: The Worst Kind of Debt
Fandom: Your Turn to Die
Rating: PG-13
Wordcount: 1,700
Summary: The third Main Game arrives. It doesn't go well.
Notes: Spoilers up to the end of Chapter Two.
The third Main Game. Six people left, and Sara’s going to have to watch another two of them die. If she survives herself, that is.
No narrowing-down vote this time. Not enough people, Sara guesses. Which means no one gets to be safe.
It’s a terrible thing to think, but maybe, now that they’ve known each other for a while, people just want to vote based on who they’re least close to.
“Look,” Reko says. “I wasn’t there for the whole poison dart thing, but I sure as hell heard about it. It’s messed up that Q-taro was going to let Gin die.”
“You’re talking like he was drowning and I wouldn’t even reach my hand out,” Q-taro growls. “It wasn’t like that. They were asking me to die.”
“I don’t care what they were asking you to do; you do it! He’s a little fucking kid!”
“What, are you saying people stop mattering when they stop being kids?” Q-taro demands. “I’m a human too! If you’re so big on sacrificing yourself for kids, great; you can tell everyone to vote for you.”
Reko hesitates.
“I’m the Keymaster,” Q-taro says. “You vote for me, everyone dies.”
“You were trying to save your own skin back then,” Reko says. “I’m betting it’s the same thing now.”
The problem is that Q-taro is the Keymaster. And Sara can’t let anyone know she’s the Sage, or they’ll know she’s a safe vote.
She looks up and catches Keiji’s eye, and she has that strange feeling she so often does, like he’s seeing straight through her. He half-glances over at Q-taro, looks back at her, a question in his gaze. She swallows.
Does he know her role?
“I’m hearing your argument, Reko,” Keiji says. “But we can’t vote for Q-taro. He’s telling the truth.”
What?
No. He can’t be doing this.
He’d said he was planning to bet his life on her. She hadn’t thought that meant...
Gin hugs his cat head a little tighter. “H... how do you know that, meow?”
Keiji hesitates.
Sara feels like she’s going to throw up. That hesitation is going to make people think he’s the Sage. That hesitation is going to kill him.
“He showed me his card,” Keiji says.
From Q-taro’s sharp glance over at him, Sara knows it’s not true.
He came up with an explanation that isn’t being the Sage, at least. But Q-taro knows he’s lying. Which means Q-taro is going to think he’s the Sage. He’s going to vote for Keiji.
“Huh,” Reko says. “Weird that Q-taro showed you the card and not anyone else. If you’re the Keymaster, either you want everyone to know so they won’t vote for you, or you want no one to know so you can draw out the Sage.”
Keiji shrugs. “Guess he just trusted me.”
“Right,” Reko says. “Because the shady policeman is the most trustworthy person here.”
“You could just ask me, y’know,” Q-taro says. “I never showed anyone my card.”
Sara goes cold.
She’d just kind of... assumed Q-taro would play along. But of course he has no reason to. If he thinks Keiji’s the Sage, it’s in his interest to steer other people towards the safe vote.
Keiji still has his half-smile, but Sara can see him sweating. His cool, calm mask starting to crack, just a little. Somehow, it’s scarier than it would be if he were flat-out panicking.
How is she supposed to save him? Is she meant to steer everyone’s votes towards Reko, Kanna, Gin? She can’t do it.
She could tell them she’s the Sage.
God, she’s so scared. She doesn’t want to die.
She braces her arms on her desk. They’re shaking.
“I’m the Sage,” she says. “Q-taro is the Keymaster.”
Keiji’s eyes flash to hers.
“Interesting,” he says. His voice is so calm; the way he’s looking at her is so intense.
She knows he was trying to protect her. But he’s put her into this position: make herself a target or watch him die. It’s hard not to resent him, just a little.
Q-taro shoves his hands into his pockets. Looks at her for a moment.
“Already had someone backing me up as the Keymaster,” he says at last. “No one else is coming forward to say they’re the Keymaster. Pretty sure Sara here doesn’t have any reason to say she’s the Sage unless she wants people to vote for her.”
“I’m not...” Her throat’s so tight it’s hard to speak. “I’m not the Sacrifice. I wouldn’t be trying to get votes if I were. I couldn’t do that to everyone.”
“Wouldn’t be trying to get votes?” Reko echoes. “Sorry, but that makes it sound a lot like you’re trying to get votes now.”
“I - I just-”
“Look, Sara,” Reko says. “I really hope you’re not the Sacrifice. Because I like you, and that fucking sucks. But I’m not voting for you if you’re the Sacrifice, because that means we all die. And I’m not voting for you if you’re not the Sacrifice, because, like I just said, I like you. You’re not getting my vote either way.”
It’s a relief to hear it, and that kind of makes Sara feel sick. Because she shouldn’t be relieved. If she isn’t going to die, someone else is. Maybe Keiji. Probably Keiji.
“I just... need you to know,” she says. “Keiji’s not the Sage. I am.”
There’s an unbearable amount of sympathy in Reko’s eyes. Of course; she’s lost someone important to her, too. “Hey, whatever happens here, I’m sorry.”
-
Sara is very aware, as the results of the vote start to come in, that Keiji isn’t looking at them; he’s looking at her, his gaze unwavering. She tries to focus on the display.
Sara. One vote. She’d voted for herself, shaking, hoping like a coward that nobody else would choose her.
Gin and Kanna. One vote each. It seems likely that Kanna voted for herself; did Gin do the same?
Keiji.
Four votes.
“No,” Sara whispers. This is actually happening. She can feel her heart beating hard enough to break out of her chest.
“No!” Reko screams, and it’s only then that it really hits Sara.
Who did the Sacrifice vote for?
She can barely hear the Floor Master speaking over the thunder of her heart.
“The Keymaster was Q-taro Burgerberg.”
This isn’t real.
“The Sage was Sara Chidouin.”
Reko hasn’t stopped screaming.
This isn’t real.
“The Sacrifice was Keiji Shinogi.”
Sara stands frozen at her desk.
She’s going to die. They’re all going to die. All his talk of trust, and Keiji turned around and killed them.
“You bastard,” Q-taro yells, throwing himself at Keiji.
Keiji catches his fist. “You’re gonna say that when you just voted for me to die?”
Sara feels like she can’t breathe, like every gasp of breath she manages just leaves her with less oxygen. How are they going to kill her? Are her final moments going to be like Mishima’s? Like Nao’s?
Like Joe’s?
Gin is crying, whimpering like a wounded dog. Kanna is just standing in silence, eyes downcast.
“So I get to choose who I escape with, right?” Keiji asks. “It’s going to be Sara.”
What?
Sara whips her head up to stare at him. He gives her a smile. Like he just asked her to dance with him, instead of telling her she’s the only other person who’s going to walk out of here alive.
Reko swears viciously. “Should’ve guessed. You two are always hanging around together.”
“I wasn’t working with him,” Sara whispers. “I didn’t even vote for him. I didn’t know.”
Like it helps them to know that.
The Floor Master hefts a scythe. “Very well.”
Sara’s staring at the gleaming blade, fixed to the spot, and she doesn’t realise until he touches her shoulder that Keiji’s come to stand beside her. She flinches away without thinking.
Keiji pauses for a moment.
“You don’t have to watch,” he says, quietly.
She has to watch. She can’t leave room to lie to herself: maybe they’re still alive, maybe it wasn’t real. She owes it to the others - Reko, Gin, Kanna, Q-taro - to know what her own survival cost.
There’s so much blood.
Her knees buckle, and Keiji crouches to put an arm around her back, and she doesn’t have the strength to push him away.
-
She wakes leaning against Joe’s shoulder, until she remembers that Joe’s dead.
She opens her eyes.
It’s Keiji.
Fuck. Everyone’s dead.
This is... it looks like a bus shelter. Outside. She could almost believe the whole death game was just a dream.
But Keiji is here, and that means it was real.
How...?
He must notice her looking around. “Think they knocked us out and brought us here. You feeling okay?”
Of course she isn’t feeling okay. “Why?”
He shrugs. “Guess we’re not allowed to know where the facility is.”
She shakes her head. “Why me?”
He looks at her.
“’Cause you’re cute,” he says.
She wants to cry. She doesn’t think she can. It’s like she reaches for tears and all she finds is a pitch-black pit inside her.
“We killed everyone,” she whispers.
“Hey,” Keiji says, serious now, “you didn’t do anything. It was all Mr Policeman.”
“I don’t understand,” she forces out, and oh, there are the tears. “You don’t even know me! I’m just some girl! And I owe my life to you, and so many people are dead-”
“Sara,” Keiji says, quietly.
“Why would you choose me? I’m no one!”
“Where do you live? Can I take you home?”
She stares at him.
“I can’t go home,” she says, realising it as she’s speaking. She can’t even imagine going back and facing her parents, after everything that’s happened. Going to school without Joe, trying to fit back into a normal life.
“You sure?” he asks. “I can’t take you in.” He shifts a little on the bench. “Pretty sure I’m going to have to go on the run.”
What went down between him and the force, exactly? He talked a little about that video of him and the other police officer, but he was pretty vague. She guesses she doesn’t have to worry too much about whether he’s a murderer now that she knows it for a fact.
(She can’t stop thinking of what he said about that woman. I owed her the worst kind of debt.)
A part of her hates him. For killing everyone. For forcing her to be the one who has to live with it.
But she can’t imagine her life without him. He’s the only one who understands what she’s been through.
“I guess we’re going on the run, then,” she says.