CHAPTER FIVE ⨾ First And Last.

PREVIOUSLY ON AFTERGLOW . . . Joey and his friends find the next artifact, and face off against the man with no name to cleanse it. Teala is slain in the final challenge, and Ro returns with a new purpose. However, the group fails to retrieve the Lazaruz coin.

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JOEY WALKED OUTSIDE, LEAVING HIS FRIENDS IN THE LOUNGE.

Joey ran to the entrance of a church. The church let out a devious noise with blue light shining through the windows.

Rosanna: Joey said he was going to the bathroom, so we're waiting for him, but it's been a long time.

Manny: I can just feel the energy of the group is down. What do we even do next?

Colleen: I know if we can open it, something good might happen.

"Hey! Guys! Come here, I need to talk to you, please." Colleen gathered the group, around a table with the Lazarus Box. "We're running out of time, and this box is the only thing we know so far that might help us out. We need to figure out how to open this thing and the only clue we have is these coins, the shape, it's the same thing on joey's book bag before we go to this hell hole."

Colleen: It's also on the map. I'm starting to feel like we can't trust Joey.

"It's been weird, all those bathroom breaks?" Vivienne questions.

"Right like, where you going, bitch?" Manny comments

"Also every single time we ask him about this he's super sketchy about it. Like oh it's the society against evil that found out about this, blah blah." Matthew spoke.

Safiya: I do think that Joey knows more than he's telling us. But I'm not sure that he's evil.

"I declare it's time to get some answers. Let's find Joey." Matthew declared.

"Agreed. Let's go." Vivienne was so ready to walk outside and get to the bottom of this.

Rosanna: Some people are feeling suspicious of Joey. I'm feeling concerned. Did something happen to him? Did he get kidnapped? What's going on?

Nikita: We're like, no bitch left behind, and we started searching for his ass.

"You guys! You guys! You guys! There's a person standing over there." Vivienne pointed.

"It's Joey!" Rosanna realizes.

Manny: So we find Joey, and he's at this creepy ass weird bridge in front of this creepy ass freaking cemetery I'm like, you're trying it bitch like I had my mind to beat his ass right there.

"Joey what are you doing?" Vivienne tried to grab his attention.

"What is he doing he's like standing in front of the demonic arch!" Manny comments.

Colleen: Joey is acting super weird, he's not responding to his name, he's not turning around when we yell at him.

"Joey!" Colleen finally got Joey out of his trance, he turned around and yelped.

"Joey, you scared us what are you doing?" Vivienne interrogated.

"That's where the darkness is coming from. That's where the carnival master is." Joey claimed, pointing at the arch.

"How do you even know the Carnival Master is coming from over there?" Questioned Manny.

"I've been here before." Joey replied.

"In a dream? Or physically, honey? We need more facts," retorted Manny.

Safiya: Joey says that the symbols on the Lazarus box means the Society Against Evil, who he says he's worked for before?

"I've helped him in the past, they asked for my help again. Which is why we're all here." Joey explained.

"If you've been here before, you saw the same thing and you came back, you know how to get out!" Colleen said.

"I don't know how I got here. I don't know how I left. I don't know, but I somehow got in and got out." Joey defended himself.

"That's a lot of I.D.K.'s, honey." Nikita commented.

Joey: They definitely think I sound crazy right now, but I have, like I can't obviously tell them I saw this church when I die.

"You know what I'm over this. We're not accomplishing anything. Let's go back to lounge to find the map. And go from there." Vivienne spoke.

"Something has changed on the map!" Calliope suddenly arrived.

"Oh my god calliope you can't be scaring us like that!" Nikita comments.

Safiya: Calliope comes over with a map, and on it we see a police station and another carnival tent that's appeared.

"This town has had police the entire time? What are we doing here?" Matthew asks.

"Where have they been?" Colleen asks.

Nikita: Girl, I'd rather deal with clowns again then go back to jail...allegedly?

"You think you're stronger than me, kid? I'm stronger than ten men. I'm strong like a demon. Come to the show and prove your strength." Vivienne read off the map.

"Step right up! Step right up!" A woman's voice could suddenly be heard.

Matpat: Someone from the big tent comes up to us.

"Do y'all wanna see the strong men, huh?" The lady asks, eyeing the group.

"Yes, ma'am!" Manny answered.

"Is he a nice strong man?" Nikita asks.

"You gonna find out, aren't you cutie?" The woman then spat on the floor.

Rosanna: We're greeted by a carnie, and she's kinda crass! She's also spitting, like at us!

"Step inside." The carnie said.

"Oh great. Here we go again." Vivienne muttered.

"Only the strongest among you can open the strong man's box. We gonna have had a little arm wrestling match to find out which one of y'all is the strongest. I need y'all to pair up into teams," the woman explained.

Manny: Yes, I'm the man with a full face of makeup on, I am the prettiest one and I'm like you know what? I can still be the strongest one too.

Colleen: I'm the weakest person that I know, so I snag up Ro. I might have a chance of beating her!

Vivienne: No space for me in the first part, so I tell the carnie if I go up against Colleen or Rosanna, whoever wins.

Joey: It's tough being a dead man and having to work out! It's not my priority right now.

"What is this?" Nikita questioned at the table.

"It's an arm wrestling table..." Matthew replied.

Nikita: I didn't know we had to go up against someone, I thought we had to pick a teammate and I thought, hey Matt, I haven't worked with you yet.

"May the best person win, go!" The woman called, after a small battle, Nikita looses.

Nikita: I'd rather loose than break this nail, honey.

"Colleen can I even reach the table? What do we do here?" Rosanna asked.

"I'll get you a stepping-stool!" Vivienne said.

Rosanna: I'm going up against Colleen, and I have no clue with arm wrestling. You don't know.

"Go!" The woman said.

"Come on Ro! You got this!" Vivienne encouraged. Rosanna, surprisingly, beat Colleen.

Colleen: That muffin is strong she crushed me!

Joey: Part of me is like, you know what I can beat her. The other part of me is like, I don't know what is under that sweater.

"Ready? Go!" The woman said, Joey easily pinned down Safiya's hand.

Joey: I can tell she looked so disappointed in herself, but at the same time, I won.

"Next we got Vivienne and Ro." The woman said.

"Alright..." Vivienne smiled—already knowing her fate.

Vivienne: I'm gonna lose, because I personally never saw Rosanna's arms! Those things have muscle.

"Go!" The woman said, Vivienne was easily focused, Rosanna was putting a fight. But eventually, Vivienne pinned down her arm. "You're so strong!" Rosanna complimented.

"Now, Vivienne and Mat!" The woman said.

"Oo okay!" Colleen, Manny, and Nikita said.

Nikita: Those two are like father and mother with Rosanna, so this is gonna be exciting or something.

"Go!" The woman said, the two were highly focused. Vivienne could hear cheers for anyone, hoping it was for her. The fight went on for a while.

"I never noticed how green your eyes are. They're beautiful." Matthew suddenly said, Vivienne's eyes widened and blush appeared on her face, Matthew used that opportunity to win the arm wrestle.

Vivienne laughed it off, although she was quite flustered from the compliment, and blush still evident on her face.

Joey: I was like, oh my god Vivi! He used a compliment to distract you! I couldn't tell if she was angry that she lost, or moonstruck by the compliment.

Matpat: Boom! After using a compliment that was whole heartedly true on my Anne I was in the finals of the strength challenge, baby! First and last time that will ever happen in my life.

Then it was Joey versus Manny, Manny ended it in less than a second.

Matpat: So when I see that my final opponent is Manny, I'm not surprised, he like is the strongest of all of us by a factor of three.

The arm wrestle went on for awhile.

Matpat: I know that everyone expects me to lose and I'm not going to fall into their expectations.

"I have you down, bitch, give it up!" Manny smiled.

"I'm not going down without a fight!" Matthew replied.

"I'm gonna call it in a minute. Okay, we go." The woman said once manny beat Matthew.

Vivienne giggled before going to help Matthew. "Come on, pretty boy, you did well enough." Matthew held onto her hand, getting up.

Manny: I'm the strongest bitch here! If I had a weave I would've swung my hair, caught it on my left, and brush hair.

"Only the strongest can open the strong man's box." The woman clapped.

Manny: So because I'm the strongest, I have to go in and open this box, I look inside and it is a pyramid thing.

"The demon that lives inside this configuration, has escaped and must be locked back inside to cleanse the artifact. The missing pieces must be restored to the cube to seal it." Manny read.

Safiya: This artifact looks like a triangle with a smaller pyramid inside, and we're gonna have to find all sides of this pyramid to trap it back inside again.

"Hold on! Is that the artifact?" Joey asked, Manny nodded. "That means we just released the strong man." Joey realized, suddenly a man in a police suit and a woman in pigtails walk in the tent.

Joey: Low and behold, there he is the strong man himself. Ready to destroy us all.

"I'll destroy you all!" The man yelled.

Matpat: Waving this giant, mutant, arm around, it's like bro you got a good arm there, but you gotta find some balance.

Nikita: And also, a home girl runs in and she's all covered in things. The only thing I notice at that point is like, why does she have the same shoes as me? That's so gross.

Vivienne: So I start racing behind stuff to maybe try to escape, but this demonic guy, literally just reaches through the curtain and pulls on my coat! I'm now captured. There goes my opportunity of helping.

As Rosanna was screaming, Matthew held a green chair, "Hey! You leave her alone! Pick on someone your own size!" Matthew blocked the woman.

Manny: Okay so let's get out of this tent, so we don't get caught or captured in any shape or form.

"Come on! This way! This way! This way! This way!" Mortimer repeated, Rosanna was so close, but the woman captures her.

"No! Ro! My Anne!" Matthew yelled.

Matpat: so we're safe, but my girls get captured.

Vivienne is getting held at the arm by the strong man. "I can smell your fear!" The woman taunted, Rosanna literally sniffed herself.

"Get in there! Don't fight it just let it happen! Get in there!" The woman put the two girls inside a jail dungeon, locking the door.

Vivienne and Rosanna look at each other in fear.

"Oh, you're so fine!" The woman climbed onto the strong man as they messily kissed. Vivienne and Rosanna turn around, Vivienne covering Rosanna's eyes (Rosanna was older than Vivienne).

"Okay! Alright! That's enough! Go get more of them! Go!" The woman demanded.

"Okay fine!" The man said, walking out.

"Damn he's hot." The woman muttered, then her eyes fell to the two girls in the jail. "What you looking at? Looking at something?"

"Nope. No. Sorry mama." Vivienne answered, the woman hit the jail cell door with her baton. The two hug each other out of fright.

Rosanna: We started searching around the jail cell, and I find a spoon with a note in the mattress. The note says something about digging in a marked spot. I found it, behind the mattress. We know we gotta start digging.

"Vivienne!" Joey whispered, Vivienne looked behind her, jumping out of fright. "Is there a lock? Do we need to find a key?" Joey asked her, Vivienne looked around and found a power box.

"There's a power box." Vivienne answered—a bit saddened she didn't see the Detective with Joey nor Manny here to save the girls. But she knew he was definitely off searching for puzzles, being a great team player.

"A power box?" Joey asked, Vivi nodded.

"Guys! She's coming!" Mortimer called and the boys suddenly ran, to Vivienne's frustration.

Vivienne: So the demon cop's girlfriend might have a drinking problem, but it's going well for now, I say drink up woman!

"Vivienne! Do you see a number code, anywhere?" Manny asked.

"A number code?"

"Yes. Any arrangement of numbers?"

"Okay let me look, one sec." Vivienne looked underneath a stool. "Oo! That was quick! Found something." Vivienne found a paper. "It's a note. It says, take a number, double it. Add 9. Subtract 3. Divide by 2. Subtract your original number then add 100."

"Well, you figure out what that is." Joey said, not wanting to partake in any sort of math.

"Alright." Vivienne answered, knowing it.

"A number: two; double it: four; add nine: thirteen; subtract three: ten; divide by two: five; subtract original number: three; add a hundred: 103?"

Vivienne: As I read the math problem, it wasn't that hard, though I hope it wasn't wrong.

"Okay try 103." Vivienne called out.

"103?" Joey asked for confirmation.

"103, yes, go try it." Vivienne nodded, and peeked out the window to see what the boys were doing. Mortimer, Joey, and Manny came back. "

"Is there a power box in there?" Manny asked.

"Yes, it's locked though. It's right there." Vivienne pointed.

Vivienne: So, manny and Joey need me to press a password to an electrical box. They hand me a long stick to try and press the button.

"Okay, why don't you use this?" Joey handed Vivienne a long stick.

"I could." Vivienne said, looking at the contraption.

"Be careful." Manny warned.

"So what's the code?" Vivienne questioned.

"It's A-B-B-A-C." Joey told.

Vivienne: I'm so nervous that the cop's girlfriend might see me doing this.

Manny: I was like, you know what? I'm gonna go and be the bait, and I'm gonna go and try to distract this chick.

Vivienne: The first four letters, easy. But pressing the last letter was ridiculously hard. After attempting numerous times I finally got it. The electrical box inside my cell then opens.

Unknowingly, Joey, Manny, and Mortimer's electrical box popped open as well.

Vivienne: Inside is a piece of the artifact, awesome, but, how is this gonna let me and Ro out?

Joey: As soon as the girls open the code, our box outside the jail cell, opens up and it releases an extension cord.

Rosanna: I have been digging forever the clay is so frozen solid, I'm getting chunks out but not a lot is happening so I decided fine!

"It's time to ruin the platform oxfords." Rosanna muttered.

Rosanna: I will kick this out! Which worked.

"Yes Ro! We have a coin for the box of Lazarus. Good job!" Vivienne reached the small coin, the two high fived.

"Hey! Hey! What kinda funny business is going on here?" Veronica stormed into the jail cell.

"Girlie, we're having a fun night, you're drinking and looking great don't worry!" Vivienne replied.

"I know," muttered the cop's girlfriend.

Joey put the extension cord to the jail window, a loud bang as the poles of the window release. "Hey! Something looks fishy in here." Veronica walked near the doorway.

"It's just my coat, really ugly, the winter line was not my favorite. But it is the new-new, I sprung for it." Rosanna lies.

"Painfully ugly." Veronica commented.

"Don't worry Ro, your whole fit looks cute." Vivienne whispered.

Vivienne: As soon as Veronica leaves me and ro jump out the window.

"Hey! You won't escape!" Veronica ran back inside the building as Vivienne tried to jump out.

"Vivi come on just jump!" Manny encouraged.

"There's no time for me, go! Just go!" Vivienne yelled as Veronica grabbed her and threw her to the mattress.

Veronica laughed and grabbed her arm. "You just made a big mistake, honey."

"What?" Vivienne questioned, trying to recover from her practical slam on the bed.

"Now your friends gotta vote for two men to save you!" Vivienne immediately scowled, and grew scared of what was going to happen.

Vivienne: Fucking bitch! she's making me use of blackmail!

Meanwhile...

"It's your friends." Calliope looked at Joey, Mortimer, Manny, and Rosanna, running to the other half of the group.

"Hey guys, we're almost complete with it." Nikita called out.

"Where's Vivienne?" Safiya asked.

"She was left behind." Joey answered, making MatPat immediately go on the edge.

"Why couldn't you save her!?" Matthew questioned, getting a hint of anger.

"We had no time to, Veronica was inside the jail cell by the time she was trying to jump out!" Rosanna explained.

"Great! Now she's gonna be worse!" Matthew sighed.

"Don't worry Matt, you'll see your girlfriend soon." Nikita replied.

"Girlfriend? I'm not dating her." Matthew defended.

"The look in your eyes when you look at her says otherwise." Manny spoke teasingly.

"Okay, why don't we just set aside the Vivienne and MatPat ship you have going on, and complete the puzzle?" Rosanna asked.

"Yeah, we should." Colleen spoke, and everyone worked together to finish the puzzle.

Vivienne: So Veronica is sitting next to me on the mattress. She's wreaks the smell of alcohol by the way, and then the strong man comes in, I've never got a good look at him. But his arm is huge!

"Stand up!" The strongman commanded as Vivienne did so.

"Let's go." Veronica said as the strong man grabbed onto Vivienne's arm. The three walk outside to where Vivienne's friends were.

Vivienne: So I'm letting this strong man grab me and then I see my Matt and my friends. I'm currently fighting the urge to warn my friends he's here.

The strong man throws Vivienne towards Veronica as she grabs her arm firmly. "Woman you're gonna cut off my blood circulation." Vivienne commented, and stayed quiet noticing the glare Veronica gave.

Then, the strong man runs to the direction of Vivienne's friends.

Joey: I am not expecting the strong man to come out. I thought the other group took care of him! So there I am, hiding with the stuffed animals.

Rosanna: We have to hide, especially me! I don't wanna go back to jail!

Matthew: I'm hiding with Colleen and we quickly notice Veronica is holding onto someone.

"Is that your lover?" Colleen asks.

"Shut up, Colleen." Matthew whispered. "But yes, that's my Anne, why is he with her?"

Vivienne: I'm trying to signal one of my friends to try and give me some help. But damn they're good hiders I can't find none of them! So now I'm getting dragged by Veronica to the lounge. How did she even know about this place? She then orders me to sit on the couch.

"Handcuffs?" Vivienne asked, Veronica put her hands behind her back as she wrapped the cuffs around her arm.

"This will only come off after someone wins the strong man challenge." Veronica explained, and walked out with her boyfriend.

Vivienne: I hear my friends again, this time they're cheering, they're reading a note. I barely hear them, but I already know what it's gonna be about. Vote two people to save me and cleanse the artifact. I'm so hopeless in this situation! I hate carnivals!

"Vivienne!" The group calls, finding their friend in the lounge.

"Hi..." Vivienne awkwardly said, trying to get comfortable with her handcuffs.

"So girl what happened?" Nikita asks.

Vivienne began explaining, "I'm so sorry. I couldn't do anything during this hour. But you need to cleanse the artifact and free me from these."

Colleen: So we immediately know we have to vote in two men for the competition, we have three men here. Two are great competitors, strong, helped so much. One has been a shady bitch.

"I feel like I'm a player that does everything. I do them well." Manny defended himself.

"You've done so well, you even won the strong man competition." Matthew chimed in.

"Yeah and I'm the strongest. So if we need any physical strong challenge I'm right here," Manny added to his case.

"Which is why we need to find the strongest man. You proved yourself tonight you are the strongest man." Matthew said.

"So why would you want to go against me?" Manny asked.

"I do not want to go against you. I openly think we should put up Joey, he's been acting very strange the entire time, he has some connection to this league that he doesn't want to tell us about." Matthew argued

"Me?" Joey questioned, offended.

Matpat: Hey, my life is on the line here. I need the other two to go in!

"Joey, what do you have to say?" Vivienne asked.

"Well first of all, I feel a connection to this town, and I have a purpose here. There's something more that I have to do here. If I'm killed before that time, you won't get out of here alive, you need me."

"Liar." Colleen spoke, much to everyone's surprise.

"What? How am I lying?" Joey asked.

"You're a liar! I don't believe anything that you say! I know because you're the reason we're all here in the first place, you know things you're not telling us, you're being sketchy. Your friends are dying, you don't seem to care. You need to go home because I think you're a liar I do not trust you." Colleen ranted.

"Okay, well we said our piece, I'd like to each of you individually please. Vivienne, if you're not struggling with those handcuffs, can we talk somewhere?" Joey asks, making Vivienne confused.

She gave the group a stare, basically telling she'll share what talk she was getting into, before slowly standing up with the help of Matthew.

"Thank you, let's go." Joey grabbed her arm.

"Individually?" Manny muttered.

Joey brought Vivienne to sit on a chair. "I don't get it I know you're her closest friend, why is she being so intense towards me?" Joey asked.

Vivienne knew full on well why Colleen has been acting that way. She was somewhat agreeing to how skeptical Colleen was of him—because now there was a huge risk her friends (Mat and Ro) were going to die. He was the cause for all of this, and was selfish enough to drag his "friends" into it.

But, of course, she couldn't say that out loud.

"I think she is scared. She's scared because we're in a life or death situation. I'm also scared because someone here might die that I'd never got the courage to say simple words to." Vivienne whispered.

"Okay, I just have to make her not scared..." Joey nodded, ignoring the last bit Vivienne said, and brought her back to the group.

"I don't think we need Joey." Colleen whispered. "I'm thinking if we get rid of him, maybe this all just disappears."

"What if he's the link to this town?" Manny wondered.

Matpat: I know that if I get at least one vote, then, I'm going into the challenge. I'm making sure I'm getting the least amount of votes as possible.

"Hey, My Matt." Vivienne sat down next to him, "are you okay? You look stressed." Vivienne questioned.

"I'm just scared of going in. But don't worry, my dear, I'll be fine for the most part." Matthew answered.

"As much as I know, I, Colleen, Ro, and pretty sure Safiya won't vote for you. You've got a chance of not being in, you got this." Vivienne laid her head on his shoulder.

Everyone else sits on the couch, Joey tells the group he wants to announce something.

"We need everything out on the table if we're gonna save this town." Safiya spoke.

Joey: I realize now, it's the best time I'm ever going to just confess what's going on.

"I didn't wanna tell you guys this, from the beginning, I was scared of what you guys would think. Truth is, I died. I-I died, and I woke up in this town, I was so scared I didn't know what was going on. I signed a contract I would save this town, they would bring me back to life. If I don't save this town, I die with it." Joey explained himself, tearing up in the process.

Vivienne understood from where he was coming from, as she would always do what was needed to just live. But still—she hated how selfish that statement was.

"You should've told us from the beginning." Nikita softly spoke, as Joey sniffled.

"I know! I should've told you guys, but I didn't know how you'd take it." Joey responded.

"Poorly, we'd respond poorly." Vivienne mumbled.

MatPat wholeheartedly agreed. "What you're basically telling us is that you're willing to trade nine lives for yours."

Safiya: Obviously the guys, especially Matt, are livid. It's only the three of them up for this death challenge.

"I have unfinished business that I need to do here. That's why it's so important here I don't go into that elimination." Joey explained.

Colleen: Nice acting Joey, I don't believe any of it! He even had a single tear, I swear to god that was a spit tear I felt it was like (imitates spit tear).

"It is now time to vote." Calliope spoke.

Colleen: I swear to god if it's not Manny and Joey I am going to be furious.

Safiya: I don't know if I can vote for Joey in this instance because I think he has more information we need.

Rosanna: I hate challenges. I don't like seeing anybody go.

"The first male going into the challenge is, the Detective." Calliope announces.

Matpat: I'm going into the challenge, it sucks. I'm devastated.

Vivienne: My heart literally drops. I don't know if I'm ready to see this.

"The second male going into the challenge is..."

Colleen: I again swear to god if it is not Joey...

"The Record Producer." Calliope showed the card.

"Here. There's not Justice here." Matthew slammed his badge onto the table, making Rosanna jump.

"Alright guys, we gotta get you changed for this." Mortimer spoke.

"Ro, can you get the badge and put it in my pocket?" Vivienne whispered, knowing she'd hate to lose it. As the group trailed farther leaving the two in the back, the Rosanna listens and rightfully did.

Matpat: We go back into the arcade, I drop trou. Put on trou...

"Alright guys, so these are your strong men." Mortimer said, gasps could be heard. Vivienne cringed seeing the men in the outfit, especially Matthew. She much preferred his Detective clothes, especially the glasses...

Manny: I'm like, this is cute different, I'm wearing this white tee, red booty shorts, a bandana. I'm looking more pretty?

Matpat: I don't like being seen in shorts, I'm very sensitive about how my legs look.

"The rest of you guys are gonna watch." Mortimer said, and led the group outside.

Vivienne: I have this pit in my stomach that I'm going to see my Matt die.

"The first to win three of five beats of strength will be the winner." Manny read, The Strongman suddenly grabs Vivienne.

"Damn it!" Vivienne shouted.

"Do this to save her, or she dies with you both!" The Strongman orders.

Manny: For our first challenge, we had to pull a tire and we had to run across a line. I'm like, okay I need to run low and give myself some traction.

"Begin!" Mortimer calls. "Go Mat!" Vivienne cheered while everyone did as well, Matthew lost the first challenge.

Manny: I smoked him! Manny One, Matt Zero!

Matpat: So, that's one event down. Anyways shot put is all based on technique, I know that by running towards the line, and then launching, I'll be launching the ball with more momentum. So I take a couple steps back, I run forward and heave it!

Manny: He launches it pretty well, and I'm like, damn dude...when I do it I don't even know what I'm doing, I'm just gonna use momentum and run and just gonna throw it. It doesn't go as far as Mat's...

Colleen: All of a sudden Matt pulls out a win and I'm like shocked!

"Let's see who's stronger!" Veronica yelled, Vivienne still helplessly watching.

"You got this, Mat!" Joey cheered. The next challenge was holding two buckets full of water on each hand. First one to drop, looses.

Manny: This bitch on my bucket starts tickling me!

Matpat: My arms are just start convulsing!

Manny: I'm starting to break too, I'm freaking out a little bit. I'm like a little bit longer, a little longer.

Matpat: I try to force my mind away from the pain my shoulders are in, but it doesn't work, I'm going down.

"Damn it!" Matthew yelled as he let the buckets go. Rosanna and Vivienne close their eyes out of sadness.

Manny: Manny two! Mat one!

"You're a bitch! By the way, my shoes are better even though we're wearing the same. You need to be working on that other arm because that arm is too big!" Nikita comments.

Nikita: Honestly I thought I could've taken her, I could even probably take the one arm man if I was so invested!

"You gotta take them to fat man slims, and all the way back!" Mortimer instructed, the two were holding two dumbbells. "Go!"

Matpat: I can't loose focus and look over at Manny, I need to run over my own pace as fast as possible.

Manny: I'm keeping up with him, but as soon as I get to the edge of fat man slims I slip and im like, there's no way I can recover.

Matthew was in the lead, and won that round. "Mat is the winner of the fourth challenge!" Mortimer announces.

Matpat: I win the farmer's carry, it's two against two.

"It's time for a tie breaker." Mortimer said.

"They can just stay!" Rosanna and Nikita comment.

Matpat: So Mortimer pulls up the arm wrestling table one more time. My old friend.

Manny: Hey Matt, I love you and your crush, just like the beginning, but this is literally an arm wrestle to the death, I'm going to try and win.

"Oh I don't like this. I don't like this." Vivienne shut her eyes, tears threatening to spill. She didn't want to see it.

"Ready? Go!" The two battle, Matthew this time was more determined to win as both men tried their best to live.

Manny: Matt, what the hell, you were not this strong before!

"You got no chance, buddy! No chance." The strongman said.

MatPat: I'm not going to give up my life is at stake!

Vivienne watched as slowly and eventually as Matthew's arm was gonna hit the table. He lost. He was gonna die.

Nikita: Yes!! Oh my god, manny won of course!

Manny: I won and I'm like Yes I won! I'm freaking out and I realize and look across Matt, hes about to die.

Vivienne's handcuffs release. "Five minutes to say your final goodbyes." The strongman says, the two run for each other.

"Mat, I know you're going to die right now, I'm sorry and I regret for not saying this years ago. But I love you—for a long time." Vivienne confesses, Matthew looks at her, Vivienne looked back.

And then they kissed, their lips connected, Vivienne couldn't care less about the group watching the thing like a soap opera. Joey made the whole group turn around for the privacy, though, luckily.

"I love you too, my Vivienne. I might be dead and gone, but you'll live with the fact i have love for you. I'd love you to be the last person I see," Matthew confessed—giving Vivienne a bittersweet feeling. "I've always wanted to spend time in a gazebo with you." Matthew added, looking at Vivienne's green eyes, making sure he could capture the sight of her green eyes before dying before the strongman grabbed Matthew away.

"No!" Vivienne yelled as the Strongman was ready to kill her lover.

"Look for the coin! I love you!" Matthew shouted as Manny grabbed the artifact. Vivienne put her hand over her mouth while running inside the lounge, not wanting to get killed either.

"No! Matthew!" Vivienne cried.

"Find the Lazarus coin!" Matthew yelled out, before getting shoved behind a barrel and getting beaten by the Strong Man.

"Vivi! Come on!" Colleen said, as she ran into the lounge. Vivienne saw Manny and Joey get the leather, and connect the three pieces to the triangle. She saw as the strongman and Veronica disintegrate into ashes. Maybe if they ran inside earlier, they could've stopped it.

"They just...they just beat him to death!" Vivienne uncontrollably cried. The group looked at her suddenly Rosanna went to hug her.

"I know you loved him, Vivi, without telling me. He'd want you to continue fighting. Don't lose hope now," Rosanna comforted.

Safiya: So we cleansed the fourth artifact, but we've also lost Mat. It is probably our biggest lost from this point too, as it affected Vivi pretty harshly.

"Just for the record, the strongest man, face full of makeup." Manny spoke, while putting the artifact on the shelf.

Manny: I won. But I'm also feeling devastated, I'm thinking, did we just really mess up?

Joey: All my cards are on the table at this point, there's nothing left to hide, we just need to band together at this point if we wanna make it out of here alive.

Vivienne: I'm trying not to feel hopeless. We have one of the Lazarus coins, and for Mat, I'm determined to find the next one.

Rosanna: One of the many reasons I love Matt because he is a team player, his last words were go find the other coin and, we have to do it. It's the only way we can honor him.

Vivienne examined the badge Rosanna put in her pocket, while sniffling and trying to wipe her tears away. "Hey, Viv, we saw what happened out there. Are you okay?" Joey questioned.

"Yeah you two just had your last kiss together." Manny comments.

"I guess so...I just feel so bitter. Manny, I know you won because you wanted to live...but seeing Matthew die right in front of me..." Vivienne quietly said, trying to stop her from crying once more.

"I'm so sorry, Vivienne, but I know Mat would want you to keep on fighting to survive," comforted Manny, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"Exactly, and we will find the Lazarus coin, for him." Joey added, giving Vivienne a better feeling. She didn't want her lover to die in vain.

"I think I need my own space," said Vivienne. The two boys understood that she didn't want to be spoken to as of now, but would speak when ready whilst listening to the conversations.

Everyone started to chatter, Vivienne was quiet trying to process the recent events..

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plsss I hate writing angst, I'm so horrible at it 😭 anyways, how are we feeling about this chapter? How do you think this will affect Vivienne?