All For a Key

Dimitri woke up to the feeling of fresh air against his face, and the sun beating down on him, and for a short moment he thought the Villain may have actually let him free. However this feeling was short-lived, and soon enough he recognised the all too familiar feeling of metal against his throat. He brought his hands up around his neck, just to confirm it. As he assumed he was now wearing a metal collar, like the ones used in the games he had been in before.

He groaned, rolling over. He seemed to be in a garden, he guessed. But it was fairly large so he couldn't tell. He had never been here, or even knew it existed beforehand. How had he got here? The last thing he could remember he had been in the room with the Villain and Pocahontas....... Dimitri sat up all of a sudden and checked his pockets. The key was still there.... so no luck with Pocahontas finding it then. In a way he felt bad for her; he was sure there were consequences for not giving the Vilalin what he wanted, but it was difficult to feel too sorry when she had betrayed him.

He looked around, taking in the greenery that was so unfamilar after the months of being constantly behind for walls. Only then did he notice, out of the corner of his eye, another person near him. A teenage girl? He didn't recognise her from before, so he assumed she must be new.

Suddenly he had a bad feeling he wasn't going to enjoy whatever the Villain as planning....

The girl was starting to awaken now, but Dimitri was more concerned with a note placed down on a rock in the middle of them. Cautiously he picked it up, knowing for certain that it was most likely a message from the Villain. As his eyes skimmed the pages he almost couldn't believe what he was reading..

According to the sheet of paper both him and this girl were in a game. That much he had already assumed, but the nature of this game involved them killing one another. He swallowed, slowly trying to take in what he was being asked to do.

'As you can see the sun is rising.. if one of you is not dead by sunset then the electric collars around your neck shall detonate and you will both be dead. If one of you tries to kill yourself instead, and not play by my rules, then I shall just kill somone you care about. Do not doubt this threat. Futhermore if neither of you is dead by sunset, not only you two will die but your loved ones as well. This garden is vast, and there is plenty avaliable for you to make use of. I shall look forward to seeing what you come up with.'

He looked ahead at the sun, which was still rising in the sky. That gave him several hours to at least think what about he could do.. 'Loved ones'... that could mean so many different people, but no matter who it was the idea of them dying was something he didn't want to think about. But, killing a stranger?

The girl was now looking at the note. He didn't even know her name. He turned and started to run off in the opposite direction.

[[ooc Why am I thinking of The Hunger Games? xD]]

[OOC: Well its more like Battle Royale which is what the Hunger Games, at least the first one, is a rip-off of xD..
But mainly because of the collars and blah... they are very similar and i love both of them <3 ^^]

Dimitri had now been running for a while... he hadn't expected this garden to be this big. He turned a corner and ran into the shadow of a building.. It looked empty and the garden lead straight from it. It had to be the place they were being kept.

The building itself wasn't anything out of the ordinary. Apart from seeming to be abandoned, it wouldn't stand out as being something you would want to look twice at, or pay any particular attention to. It also seemed to be a hotel of some sorts, which explained all the rooms. They must have each been hotel rooms at some point, before they were stripped of any comfort. The Villain must have installed the cameras and televisions afterwards, along with whatever else he had prepared before he had brought everyone here...

Dimitri noticed that there were still cameras in the garden.. he wondered if this would be filmed, or aired to any other room. He hadn't even thought about the girl.. he was just focusing on running away for now. But now he could only remember watching the tv as Jane killed Melody....
What to do, what to do?
He couldn't kill her he decided, no matter what the Villain said. But he couldn't kill himself or just wait until sunset... then someone he loved would be dead also.. Jane? Odette? Either way he couldn't imagine anything worse than them dying.

In frustration he kicked some pebbles on the ground. He sat down where he was, right in front of the building, scrutinising the empty windows and wondering who was behind them. To think that everyone he had met since he had been here was still somewhere behind those walls... probably being tortured. His mind turned to the key. Would it open the front door? He walked over and tried, but it was obviously far too small... so the idea of escape seemed ridiculous, he thought bitterly.

He sat back down, lost in thought for several minutes, maybe even hours. Slowly but surely he noticed the sun rise in the sky; the shadows the building cast stretching and changing as it did so. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed movement. He narrowed his eyebrows, knowing it must be that girl.

'Hello?' he said.. No response. He realised she was probably afraid of him. 'I'm not going to hurt you!' he said.. hoping the Villain wouldn't count that as breaking the rules too early on in the game. He stood up and noticed a blur of colour rush away. He sighed. If he couldn't convince her then this wasn't going to be easy. He sat back down, wondering how much longer he had left to think of some kind of escape.

OOC: Interesting... Intense, but I'm excited to see what happens. Who are you with? Eilonwy?

[Ooc, its Thumbelina]

OOC: Oooh that's right! She hasn't been on in forever. At least not that I remember :l I never really got to know her character.

[Ooc, I didn't really know her character either and I was her roomie XD]

OOC: Is she on death row because she's been so inactive? I wonder why... She wasn't around much. :l

[Ooc, I think so]

{OOC: Why is it that I'm reading Snow and Al's ooc's as if they are whispering??? I'm even thinking of my ooc in a whisper >.>}

[Ooc, haha Cindy I'm doing the same thing now! XD]

[OOC: Now that you said that Cindy, that's the only way I can read it now XD]

[OOC: Yeah I was going to find out her name soon in the rp soo it was clear buut as i dont know much about her character I dont really know much to put.. i mean i dont want to be really out of character x3 Anyways whilst you all whisper i need to attempt to finish this without taking years ... x3]

[OOC: haha, alright Dimitri. ALl I know about her is that she was a club dancer, her mother wanted her to leave that life and come home... she said no and stayed in that life. Then she was abducted. That's all I know XD]

As the hours continued to pass Dimitri made his way across the whole outer edge of the garden. Generally these were lined with various flower beds or trees, but there were also fences and sometimes walls preventing anyone from escaping. He had found a pond of some sorts, with some fish, as well as a maze, but he was afraid to go in their in case it put him in any danger. He was sure the girl was harmless.. but it was better to be sure and keeping himself out in the open was a start.

At around midday Dimitri was wondering through a series of ornate gardens, thinking to himself how the Villain could possibly manage to mantain everything in here. He could hardly imagine him having time to garden- not when there was still 20 people inside that building just waiting to play in his games.

Suddenly, out of the blue, the young girl stepped out in front of him. It was obvious she had been crying, and again he felt that familar feeling of helplessness as to what on earth he was going to do. 'Hello..' he said cautiously, wary that she was very close. She looked up.. staring at him as if to work out whether or not he was safe. 'Hello' she eventually replied.. 'I'm- I'm Thumbelina.' Her face started to crumple after that.. 'I just don't know why this is happening!' She looked straight at him as she spoke, as if this was some reason his fault. 'Hey I'm just as clueless as you!' he said, bringing his hands up defensively. As he did she raised one hand, clutching a rock she must have found on the ground. 'No!' she said, sobbing. 'Don't come near me!' Dimitri froze in a panic. 'I am not dying...' she now screamed. She gestured to the sun, which showed they had already wasted half their remaining time.

Dimitri stared at the girl, wondering if she was serious or not. Before he had too long to think she had already attempted to hit him across the face. Realising she was not thinking straight Dimitri turned and ran. She couldn't kill him.. not really. The Villain hadn't paired them up fairly. She didn't have any weapons for a start.. that rock wouldn't do much. Well not unless he took a pretty hard hit to the head. He kept running, not thinking about what would happen if she had the chance to try again.

Soon enough he was back near the building he had been staring at only a few hours before. Standing in its shadow he knew he had a few minutes to hide before Thumbelina would soon follow. He desperately searched for a corner, or a bush to hide in. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed a big maple tree, large enough for him to slip behind. It was right beside the building itself, and he edged himself behind it. Crouching in the shadows he watched in silence, waiting for Thumbelina to appear.

[OOC: I just ended up re-reading what she had said when she introduced herself to Snow.. thanks Aladdin ^^ It still probably sounds OOC but i need certain stuff to happen in this for everything to work :3 Soo psyco Thumb it was... xD]

[OOC: Nice XD Can't wait to see what you do with it. Goodness me, Thumbelina. Jumpy little one.]

Soon enough Thumbelina appeared. Dimitri stayed as still as possible, trying to slow his breathing, but he was sure that his heart was beating so fast that it would give him away. She looked around curiously, wondering where Dimitri could have possibly gone, at one point even getting dangerously close to his hiding place, but eventually she turned around and walked in the opposite direction.

Dimitri breathed a sigh of relief... this place was a good hiding place. He was sure even the cameras wouldn't be able to see from here. The Villains only blind spot. There wasn't much space- just between maple tree and corner of the building. But he could fit, just about. He looked around and was suprised to see the ground he was standing on had recently been dug up.. curious he wondered what could be buried underneath him, but the thought just creeped him out. He could imagine some kind of grotesque corpse peaking out of the dirt, and once he had pictured it the image wouldn't get out of his head.

As soon as he deemed it safe he jumped away from the unearthed ground, eager to escape. He had far more important things to think about than a piece of soil. Picking up a rock himself just in case, he quickly turned and walked back the way he had come, hoping Thumbelina would have gone in the opposite direction. The sky showed him they had around 5 more hours? But he couldn't be certain- he wasn't even sure what month it was, let alone the time. Dimitri sighed.. his hand reaching for the collar around his neck. He had seen what these could do- Tulio had died painfully and slowly in the basement. Would that be him in a few hours too? No, not just him- someone he loved. But it was that or kill Thumbelina, and he couldn't do that. He hoped the Villain was bluffing... in reality if they both died at sunset then it wouldn't be that much of a consequence. Clearly the Villain hated him.. after the buisiness with the key. Surely if he lived now then he would just go back to his room and be tortured and killed later. This game just meant the inevitable would happen alot quicker...

..... Only 5 more hours.
What would he have done with that time outside?
In 5 hours he could have got himself kicked out of a bar.. or got a girl to go back to his flat... or worked an entire shift at work. If he had spent his time more wisely he could have probably done even more.. Now however he was just sitting around waiting for death.. He had 5 hours to die, or kill. And now more than ever he just wished he was back in his crappy flat.. with the stale food from last week still left on the table, and the bed that was too big for the room so that it blocked the doorway when you tried to come in. He lay down, still clutching the rock, and his mind went back to the unearthed patch of soil. What was buried down there? There was only one way to find out....

[OOC: Hurry up and kill Thumbelina! No offense to her -.- I don't want anything to happen to Dimitri! Couple questions, because I'm always somehow behind: What WAS the drama with the key anyway? And secondly, I was reading the convo between Villian and Cindy about digging something up.. What IS it?? Ah, I want to knoooow!]

[[DIMITRI! Stop waiting! No offense to her, but just kill her! If you don't you'll both die, along with 2 others! D: I don't want you to die!!! Actually I like you dragging it out. xD It's really entertaining from an IRL perspective. Just as long as it ends in only her death. lol ]]

[[ I'm working on it >.< ... xDD
@Aladdin: I don't personally know about the things that Cindy and Villain were talking about... but they didn't dig anything up. He just showed her something.. and I thought they might be some form of grave but i'm just guessing like you x3 I think they meant for it to be ambigious :3
The key.. well Dim found a key in the drinks cabinet... the Villain then realised someone had stole it and blamed Eric as Eric likes alcohol Poca then found out Dim had the key and told the Villain who sent Dim to the garden as a punishment... what it opens you will have to wait a bit to find out xDD]]

Dimitri started heading back towards the maple tree, and the patch of soil. If he had only a few more hours, he thought, then he may as well find out what was underneath there. He was too curious not to. Ever since he had left that corner it had been playing on his mind, over and over.

He had already been here twice now, and the route was becoming familar. However the garden was so vast that by the time he found his way back to the building the sun was already dangerously low in the sky. Determined not to think too much about this, he crouched down beside the maple tree. There was nothing around him that was useful to dig with, so he started using his hands to push handfuls of dirt away. The day had already exhausted him, and it took far longer than he expected to create a significant hole. It must have been at least an hour; the sun had already started to disappear behind some trees in the distance. Just as he was about to assume that there was nothing to find he felt something solid in the soil, which as he brushed the dirt away from seemed to the corner of a suitcase of some kind.

Distracted Dimitri did not notice the figure sneak up from behind. It was only when her shadow cast over him did he realise that Thumbelina was standing right behind him. This realisation was followed almost immeadiately by a sharp pain across the back of his head. Dazed, he was slow to react, his head foggy as a stream of blood fell down his face. He licked his lips, tasting his own blood. In that moment he knew he didn't want to die, and as suddenly as she had appeared he retaliated by pushing her away with such force that she fell to the ground, dropping the rock in her hand. Instinctively he picked it up, and immeadiately he felt all the anger and pain he had experienced in the last few months channelled into this one moment.

Before he could hit her she rolled away from him, grabbing another rock. She slowly got to her feet and starting swinging the rock madly at him. Still dizzy from his head injury he stumbled away from her. 'Just stop this!' he called out, although he couldn't see straight and was stumbling on his words. She didn't listen however, just getting closer. The rock she held was sharp and when he tried to put his hands in front to protect him it managed to cut across his forearm.

In pain he started running, not completely sure where he was going, and often stumbling as he tried to stay upright. He passed by trees and flower beds and fountains before stopping suddenly at the outdoor pool. He hadn't noticed it beforehand, probably distracted with Thumbelina. But now he did, nearly falling in as he ran towards it. Thumbelina followed soon after, the rock in her hand. 'Stop!!' he shouted.. 'Just stop!' There was silence momentarily.. All he could hear was his own heavy breathing, and he thought that maybe she would listen to him. Instead she took two steps forward, bringing the rock dangerously close to his neck. Using all his remaining strength he struggled to grab the rock, pushing its sharp edge away from him. The rock slowly edged away from Dimitri's neck, whilst Thumbelina struggled to push it back. All of a sudden however Dimitri felt no resistance against him. Thumbelina was no longer struggling. Suprised he looked down, his eyes widening at the blood. The rock had cut her throat.. though he wasn't certain how deep. He let go of her arms in horror, and Thumbelina fell facedown into the pool. Shaking he watched to see if she would move. Nothing happened, expect the surrounding water began to turn a dark red, slowly edging outwards around Thumbelinas frame.

Dimitri felt numb. The more he stared the more he felt nausous, and soon he had to look away. What on earth had he done? In a panic he ran back, away from the pool. He had killed someone.. and it wasn't even painless..

He was becoming more and more dizzy, his mind a blur, and his feet couldn't seem to walk in a straight line. He recognised the building, their prison, almost immeadiately. He collapsed on the grass in front of it, only then just noticing that his face was damp with tears. He could imagine the state he was in, bleeding from his arms, head, and neck, and bruised all over. The wounds hadn't seemed serious, but trying to see the hands in front of his face was becoming difficult. Lying against the grass Dimitri remembered the key in his pocket. Damn you! he thought angrily. Everything that had happened was its fault, and he hadn't even discovered what it opened.

His mind thought back to the suitcase he had found. Practically crawling towards the maple tree, he reached into the hole and pulled at the unearthed corner. Eventually he was able to grasp the entire end of the suitcase, and bring it out of the ground. It was fairly large, and when he shook it he could tell that something was inside it. But what he didn't know. Trying to open it only proved it was locked. Dimitri sighed, giving up. So that was pointless also, he thought bitterly.

On the horizon he watched as the sun set. When nothing happened he struggled to hold back the tears. Why couldn't he have just been killed? No.. instead she had had to die. He had killed her.

Dimitri rolled over, scrutinising the lock on the suitcase. The keyhole was so small, much more so than the locks on all the doors. He knew so as he had been checking every lock he saw since he had discovered that key...
The key.
Hastily he reached for the key in his pocket. It looked like a match. There was only one way to find out... Dimitri put the key in the lock, suprised at how easily it fit. He was slightly disappointed that the key obviously wouldn't help him escape, but this was outweighed by his curiosity to see what was inside. Nervously he turned the lock, wondering what could possibly be locked in here that it needed to be buried so deep underground..........

[OOC: Mwhahahaha... Cliffhangers are fuun >8D
Thank-you everyone on chat for shouting ideas at me x3 Although I'm afraid I didn't use the 'stabbing her with a twig' or something about melting her brain, I'm sure I fitted in at least a few of them xD]

[OOC: Damnit Dimitri D: You didn't use any of the death ideas that were amongst my favorites D: I was hoping you'd hit her with an oversized fish or make her choke on a flower! D:]

[OOC: Maybe you should use those ideas yourself next time you are kiling someone?
.. xDDD]

(OOC That was excellent writing! I wonder what's in the suitcase!)

Hestiating slightly, Dimitri opened the suitcase. He didn't know what to expect to find in there, and if it belonged to the Villain then he was sure whatever it was would just get him in more trouble afterwards. The Villain had tortured two people to protect the contents of this suitcase... and he was sure he would torture many more, himself included, if he discovered that the suitcase had been opened.

He looked around. He was lucky the suitcase had been buried in such a blind spot, or he was sure the Villain would be running out to the garden right now. The suitcase itself was quite large, and the items inside only occupied a small proportion of the space. It wasn't what he was expected, to say the least, and he couldn't help but think why would the Villain possibly want to protect these?

Dimitri picked up what he assumed was a soundrecorder first, the kind that you used to record and play back audio. It was quite old, and the largest item in the suitcase. He examined it, unsure what to do, until he noticed the play button. Slowly he pressed it.

A male voice that he instantly recognised as the Villain started screaming out of the recorder. It made him jump, and he quickly stopped the tape before it drew too much attention. Looking around he hoped the Villain had not noticed, and searched the soundrecorder for a volume button. Eventually he found a scroll like dial on the side of the recorder, and he quickly scrolled down hoping to quieten the audio. He pressed play again, and now the screaming could be heard only very faintly out of the speakers.

'Why did you do it?!' the Villain's voice screamed. Even at such a volume you could still hear the hatred in his voice. A woman's voice he did not recognise replied, so quietly that Dimitri had to turn the volume up high just to make out the words she was saying. 'I don't know what you're talking about...' she whispered. Voice breaking, the Villain replied. 'You destroyed my life!' he shouted. The woman coldly replied, 'I did nothing,' her voice unnaturally calm by comparison to the Villain.

Dimitri sat and listened, unsure what he was listening to. The woman may have been another prisoner like himself, but the Villain and her seemed to have a personal connection. Something to do with the Villain's past? He was unsure, but before he could think about it much longer a loud slapping sound broke the silence, followed quickly by a woman's scream and the sound of a chair and body hitting the ground. 'Please...' begged the woman, her cold tone now broken as she started to cry. 'Admit it!' screamed the Villain. 'I did it! Ok, I did it! I'm sorry!' the woman replied, her voice screaming as she tried to plead with the Villain. 'You ruined my life...' the Villain whispered, before there was another defeaning scream from the woman. Dimitri waited for her to reply but instead their was dead silence, and a couple of minutes later the tape cut out.

Shakily Dimitri put the soundrecorder back in the suitcase. He wasn't certain what he had just heard, by the woman's screams followed by silence kept haunting him. Who was she.. and what had she done to make the Villain do that? Then again what had anyone in here done to deserve this....

He reached into the suitcase once more and picked up a selection of photographs. The images made him feel nausous again.. dead bodies, tortured and disfigured. He assumed that they had all died differently, as if their killer was experimenting in some kind of sick way. Some were covered in blood, and Dimitri was unable to distinguish which of thier many wounds would have killed them, whilst others seemed to have so many broken bones that their body shape had been morphed unrecognisably. There were also bodies that were so charred they must have been burnt alive, or seemed to have some kind of chemical acid burn away at their flesh.

Dimitri put the photos away, not ever wanting to be re-reminded of them. He had no idea who had killed those people.. the Villain was an obvious assumption. If he was responsible then everyone captured here was even more screwed than he had once thought. He remembered that the Villain now knew he had the key... what if he still wanted to torture him when he got back? Maybe he would end up just like the people in those pictures.... Nervously he shook his head. No that wouldn't happen. That was the point of this task, right?

The only other things left in the suitcase was a key, larger than the one that opened this suitcase and similar to the other door keys marked with a "0", which Dimitri placed in his pocket, and a note written on toilet paper. He couldn't help but sigh at the thought that one key was just being replaced by another, probably that would just get him in equally as much trouble. Taking the piece of toilet paper, he tried to read the shaky handwriting, unsure excatly what it was written in.

"I'm scared... so scared... I don't know how long I've been in here, I think I'm going crazy. I can hear voices, from behind the walls. They're all screaming and crying, and I don't even know if they're real. I have never written anything about my life. This is probably the only biography I will ever write, and it's on toilet paper. My name is Scarlet.
It's the year 1997. I think.
Why am I even writing this? Maybe to keep myself sane.. just for a little while longer.
Whoever finds this letter, I pray for you. I hope you can find a way out of this place. But I have given up. I will not fight any longer. I will take my punishment.
After all, this is my fault...
You hadn't been here if it wasn't for me...
I am sorry."

He wondered whether maybe the woman he had heard was this.. Scarlet? He folded the letter in half and placed it into his pocket.. he enjoyed the idea of knowing something that the Villain clearly didn't want him to know.. as if somehow this revealed to Dimitri some kind of weakness. He also considered taking a photograph, but he was unsure why he would ever want to be reminded of that.

Locking the voice recorder and photographs away he returned the key to his pocket once more. He then pushed the suitcase back into the hole in the ground and hastily re-covered it with the soil he had previously unearthed. Once everything was over he quickly moved away from the maple tree, hoping the Villain would never notice.. At least not until he re-opened the suitcase, and he hoped that if he gave the key to Pocahontas pretty soon then the Villain would not feel the need to check for a long time.

Dimitri had not paid much attention to his head wound until now, but it was still bleeding and he could feel his eyes becoming more and more difficult to open. Woozily he tried to stand up, resting against a tree branch, but quite quickly he collapsed back on the grass. Maybe he would die.. after all the Villain wouldn't come and rescue him. He wouldn't care if they had both died in this task or not...

Just a quick sleep... he thought to himself, slowing feeling his eyes close. The garden started to fade away and soon enough everything went dark. He didn't even notice when he was carried back from the garden and back into room 1, where Pocahontas was waiting...

[OOC: Dialogue of audio and letter were written by Ylva ^^]

{OOC: AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING! I love it! I can't wait to find out where the next key goes!}

{OOC: Oh my gosh... This is getting creepier >.>}

[OOC: This is SOOO awesome! makes the RP seem more realistic, more mysterious, like a wonderful novel that would soon become a favorite book everywhere. GAH! I love 10 Doors!]

OOC: Dimi-chéri. Sweet Dimi-chéri. I love you. Your Eric.