Britney P.O.V.

If Britney was forced to climb one more vase, she was going to literally freak out. Her feet hurt from climbing up the golden ledges, and her hands shook. From exhaustion or fright, she didn't know, but it didn't matter. All that mattered was that why the hell she was forced to climb three vases while Elissa and Emma only had to climb one each.

Britney grunted as she reached the top. Again, she hoped with all her heart that the clue was here. 

There was no clue.

Britney groaned in frustration. But she couldn't rest now. If there was no clue in this vase, that meant the clue was either in the last sixth vase, or that it was in the other vases in the other hallway. Britney hoped that Cherry, Sephie, and Michela were trying their best.

Surprisingly, Mr Alexander hadn't come here to check again. Britney found that a little suspicious, but she wasn't one to complain. They had to get it done fast, before Mr Alexander came back again. 

Britney practically ran down the golden ledges and dropped onto the floor, wincing as a jolt of pain shot through her. Her new body was just not made to undergo pressure. "No clue?" Emma asked, her face full of disappointment. "I knew it. With our luck, we're going to find it in the last one." Elissa groaned.

Britney nodded. "Well, that's good news. That means there's only one left, and this time, one of you guys are going to climb that stupid vase." Britney glared at the two of them. "But you're the most experienced." Elissa said. "You would be faster."

"No." Britney said stubbornly. She was not climbing another vase.

"Such a shame... we're going to die here. Just because Britney didn't want to climb a vase because she's lazy. Mr Alexander is going to find us, definitely."

Britney was climbing another vase.

~

In retrospect, Britney could have argued that they only climbed one vase, and that she deserved a break. If anyone was lazy, it would be them more than her. But whatever. Her pride got the better of her. The past was the past, and Britney now had to focus on getting the clue.

However, they really did have a point. Britney was faster now, it only took her about 30 seconds to climb a vase, whereas it probably took five years before. But thirty seconds is a long time for a small being like her. And her feet still hurt. Not to mention that Mr Alexander had been so cruel to not give them shoes, but puny little barefoot feet.

Britney slowly edged her foot one step at a time up the steep golden pattern, and finally grabbed the opening, and hoisted herself up. At this time, it was all just a easy thing to do. Now, she had to find the clue... if there was a clue.

Looking inside the vase, she generally didn't see any clue. Then she walked around the perimeter of the vase, feeling with her feet if there was anything hidden in the soil, preferably a clue. A clue would be great.

However, there was no clue. Britney sighed. Of course it was going to be in the other hallway. Why wouldn't it?

With half of her dignity gone, Britney slowly climbed down the vase, sighing. However, just as she was about to reach the ground, her foot slipped and she fell. In that split second she was convinced this was the end. What a un-dignified way to go. She didn't even get to hear the villain monologue at the end. 

Then she crashed to the ground. She felt pain shoot up her non-existing spine, and she slowly opened her eyes. "Ow, Sephie was right, you are so heavy-" Britney quickly realized someone was below her, and she rolled off the egg. It was Cherry, groaning.

"Oh my god, Cherry, are you okay?" Though Britney was confused about why Cherry was in this hallway, she couldn't care less about that. Cherry just saved her life. Her heart wrenched with guilt, and Britney ignored the pain racking her body, and helped Cherry sit up. 

"God, Britney, you have a..." Britney heard Emma say. She really didn't care. "Cherry, are you f*cking okay." "Language, but yes." Cherry groaned. "Though it hurts, but of course it hurts-" "That is not okay, Cherry. You have a... crack on your back." Elissa said.

"A crack?" 

Britney turned Cherry around to see a huge crack on Cherry's back. The crack ran down the length of Cherry's back, and egg yolk, or at least, yellow blood, was leaking out of it slowly. 

"Please tell me it isn't that bad." Cherry said anxiously. "It's that bad." Elissa confirmed. "We need to do something about it, does anyone have any.. bandages, or cloth?" Britney said. "Uh, we're eggs." Elissa said.

"Okay. Um..." Britney looked around for anything. She couldn't just leave this wound open. Cherry saved her, and now she had to save Cherry. "I'm okay, I just- uh-well, yeah, I'm okay, I can still walk." Cherry started, but Britney cut her off,"Oh, shut up. You're not okay."

Cherry shut up.

"What about the carpet on the floor?" Michela suddenly suggested. Britney looked down to see them standing on a red gold carpet. They just hadn't noticed it. "Uh, yeah, that'll work." Britney bent down and forcefully ripped a piece of loose carpet off,"Does anyone know first aid?"

"I don't." Elissa shrugged. "Neither do I." Sephie said. "Who would?" "Uh, nurses? Doctors? Nerds?" Britney stared at Sephie. "Never mind. I'll do it. It can't be difficult."

Britney took the rectangular piece of carpet and wrapped it around Cherry, her wincing when the fabric pressed on the crack. "I don't get why it hurts, but I now feel kinda sorry for the eggs." Cherry said. "Well, we're like still part humans, so I don't think that the normal eggs would feel painful." Elissa shrugged.

"Oh, whatever." Britney sighed, tying the ends of the fabric together messily. "It's not the best, but it'll work, I guess." Cherry nodded, smiling,"Thanks." Britney gave a little huff. "I mean, I did make you hurt... so yeah." 

"We're done with the sentimental friend part? Can we get on with the clue now?" Sephie said irritably. Emma groaned," As much as you should be more optimistic, I agree." Sephie unrolled the wrapped up scroll, which was the clue. The six teenagers gathered around Sephie.

"Your next clue lies in the place where monsters live. 

P.S. Here's a map! :P"

"That dude. Seriously." Elissa rolled her eyes. "A riddle? He's really trying to be the next Oracle, huh." "Oracle?" Britney glanced at Elissa, confused. "Whatever." Elissa said.

"Where would monsters even live...?" Emma said, thinking. "I dunno, but we're not going to survive, surely." "Can someone shut Sephie up?" Elissa groaned,"We don't need anything or anyone to make us more depressed than we are already." "I'm just pointing out the truth."

"True, she is." Cherry nodded. Britney ignored her. "Think, team, think. It's probably a metaphor or something. It has to be, right? He wouldn't ACTUALLY expect us to go and fight monsters..." "He's Mr Dirtbag. Anything could happen." Emma said.

The team fell into silence, thinking. 

~

Here's your chance! Say what you think would be the answer:

~

"Got it." Britney snapped her fingers. "It's under a bed." Emma thought it over,"Makes sense. Monsters lie under your bed, remember?" "Really? It's just a childish thought." Sephie said, a skeptical look on her face,"I doubt it." "It's our best bet. Come on, let's visit this dirtbag's bedroom.

~

Britney had hoped that Mr Dirtbag's room would be plain and simple, easier for them to find where the clue was. 

Of course, it just had to be grand and big, like the staircase wasn't enough.

After the long hike up the grand staircase, which would lead them to Mr Dirtbag's bedroom on the second storey, Britney's feet were already aching. "God- I hate this staircase." Britney coughed out, panting. "Likewise." Elissa groaned,"Let's just get it over with, and find his bedroom."

As it turned out, the bedroom was right around the corner. Britney stared up at the wooden oak door, engraved with weird symbols. "Don't tell me-" "Seriously." "Oh my god." "Do we have to push open that door, by ourselves?" Emma stared in awe and disgust.

"No. We can go through the air vents." Michela said quietly, and Britney glanced at her. She was pointing to a vent nearby in the wall, the cover was open. "Nice one, Michela."  Cherry said appraisingly. She immediately ran to the vent and crawled inside. Emma followed.

The rest of them followed, climbing inside the dark vent. To these little eggs, the 'hallway' inside the vent seemed endless and dark. "There's no traps or anything. Let's go." Emma said, leading the group. Britney shrugged-how and why would you put traps inside a vent- and followed.

After a few minutes, they finally reached another opening. However, it was blocked by a vent cover. Britney tentatively pushed open the cover, and surprisingly, it fell out with a 'clang'. 

"Quiet. He might be there." Elissa whispered. Cherry shivered. "Nah, doesn't seem like it. There's no sound." Sephie snorted,"Let's go, wimps." "Wimps?" Emma whisper-yelled indignantly. Emma marched straight out the air vent and into Mr Dirtbag's bedroom.

The bedroom, from their perspective, was humongous. It was about a football field or two big(to the eggs), with red velvety walls and carpeted floors. A giant crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling. Bracketed lamps hung on the walls around the room, next to them big pictures and drawings. One showed a person, looking weirdly similar to Mr Alexander, fighting a... blue blur of colors. Britney couldn't see very clearly.

Another showed a blue table with pizza on it. (yes references) Britney decided to ignore it. Over on the right, there were a few golden steps leading up to a king bed. It had red drapes and red bedsheets, with two white pillows sitting comfortably on top of the bed. Next to the bed were two huge oak bookshelves with thick golden and red books. Over in another corner was an armchair and a lamp, as well as a coffee table. The room was clearly fit for a king, and Britney shuddered to hear herself say Mr Dirtbag was a king.

"Did this have to be so big? My feet are painful!" Elissa groaned, complaining for the ten thousandth time. Britney couldn't help but agree with her, but she was already too tired to complain. "We just have to walk over to the bed. It's easy." Emma said.

It was not easy.

The carpeted floor was super hard to walk on. The bristles were supposed to be soft and small, so that any average person would feel comfortable walking on them. To Britney and the others, they were tall, thick grass. 

Onto the steps. Britney had to put one foot way higher than the other to get on one step, and avoid falling backwards after she got on the step. It took way longer than it should've been. 

Finally, they reached the bed. Pushing away the blankets that draped over the gap between the floor and the bed-Britney learned to not underestimate the weight of blankets-, they saw a small yellowed scroll lying on the floor.

They ran towards it. Grabbing the scroll, Elissa read it out loud. "Clue #2: I dwell in the place where Juliet stood, the key to unlock me is the blood of your own." 

"Poetic much?" Sephie said sarcastically. "Very." Cherry mumbled,"The next clue is at the balcony, I think."  Emma unrolled the map, and it showed that the balcony was somewhere near the staircase, just in the other direction. "Okay. But what about the 'key to unlock me'?" Britney noticed.

"It's kinda straightforward, isn't it?" Emma asked,"We need our blood to unlock it." "Damn." Michela muttered under her breath. "But we don't have blood! Now that we're eggs." Cherry said. Britney just pointed at her crack. "I think it means our... yolk, or whatever." Britney frowned.

"Gross." Sephie scrunched up her nose. 

Suddenly, the floor shook. "Woah!" Emma held on Britney's arm for support. "What's happening?" A loud 'boom' was heard, and then another. It was getting gradually getting louder, and it seemed to be heading their way.

"Wait." Elissa suddenly said.

"If Mr Alexander made the game... doesn't he know where the clues are?"

Someone screamed. Britney whipped around, just in time to see a giant hand grab Cherry.

~

"RUN!" Cherry screamed at them. "Cherry!" Britney yelled, but then another hand stretched inside and groped for the eggs. They didn't need any more persuasion; they ran. Scrambling out of underneath the bed, Britney jumped down the golden stairs recklessly. Her feet throbbed, but Britney didn't care. She wasn't going to die now.

Britney dashed for the air vent, tripping and stumbling on the carpet. She distantly heard Elissa screaming at Mr Alexander, and calling him some names that she would not repeat. She looked to the side despite it all, and saw Emma tripping on the carpet. 

A giant shadow loomed over her and Britney immediately pulled her away from Mr Alexander's foot. It was just in time, and Mr Alexander's foot slammed down on the place where Emma was just at.

Emma muttered a 'thanks' but Britney didn't care. 'Just a little more, just a little more...' She thought as she gritted her teeth, running faster. Another big 'boom' made Britney dread to think of what was happening behind her. 

Finally, they reached the air vent, Emma helping Britney into the vent where Mr Dirtbag couldn't reach them. "Are you okay?" Emma asked Britney, and Britney nodded. She stared at the scene unfolding outside.

Sephie and Michela were running towards the air vent. However, Cherry was still clenched in Mr Alexander's fist, and Elissa was playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Mr Alexander. A foot slammed down next to Elissa, and Britney's fists clenched.

Sephie reached the air vent, Emma helping her inside. Britney helped Michela up. 

Now there was only Cherry and Elissa left. Britney looked again, and somehow, Mr Alexander had let go of Cherry.  Maybe it was because he needed his hands to catch Elissa or something. They were both running towards the air vent now, Mr Alexander stomping behind them. He was getting dangerously close to both of them.

Just as Elissa and Cherry reached the air vent, Mr Alexander caught up to them, slamming a foot onto Elissa. Then, something unexpected happened.

Cherry threw herself in front of Elissa, as Mr Alexander's foot slammed down on her. A gruesome 'crack' sounded as Cherry's shell cracked. Britney and the others were much too in shock to react. Elissa was also stunned, but she jolted out of her daze and climbed inside the air vent.

"QUICK!!" Elissa's yells brought Britney out of her daze. She spotted tears rolling down Elissa's face, but Elissa pushed them away from the opening. A loud growl could be heard as Mr Alexander's hand came stretching inside, but they were already too far in.

Britney looked back at the bloody scene of Cherry's dead body one last time as she bolted for the other opening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once they were safe, deep inside the air vent where Mr Alexander couldn't possibly get them, they stopped running. Panting and heaving, they caught their breath. Britney couldn't believe what had just happened. Cherry had just sacrificed herself. For Elissa. She was dead.

"N-No." Emma was crying. "Cherry couldn't possibly be de-" "Don't say it." Elissa said sharply, a tear rolling down her cheek as well, but was wiped away quickly,"And she is. She sacrificed herself." Britney didn't speak. She was too in shock. She turned away and leaned on the metal wall. 

"Did Cherry really sacrifice her for you? I don't believe it." Sephie scowled. Elissa turned to glare at her,"Why would you mind? You'd probably be whooping with joy." "Nah, I'd be regretful that I missed the chance to sacrifice myself." Sephie said monotously. "Oh yeah, because you wanna seem heroic when in truth you don't care for anyone?" Elissa shot her another dirty look,"As violent as I am, at least I didn't just talk about it like she didn't just die!" 

"Huh. I would want to die." Sephie answered, looking away. "Yeah, I'd be an idiot if I believed y-" Elissa retorted angrily, but was interrupted. "Guys... stop-just stop." Britney stammered out,"Someone just died, okay. I-We- " Britney was going through major trauma here. She couldn't believe it. This was real. This happened. Cherry was dead. And Mr Dirtbag killed her. 

Elissa clenched her fists,"I'm just defending Cherry!"Everyone."Michela suddenly said. She was so silent Britney almost forgot about her. "We need to keep going. Cherry can't die in vain." Emma nodded,"Yeah."

Britney nodded as well. "We'll deal with the trauma later. We need to find the balcony... that's where the clue was, right? Cher-" Britney choked on the last word, failing to finish it. Cherry had said that, right before she died. 

"Let's go." Sephie said, turning away. 

The others followed. Britney looked back one last time, as if Cherry would pop out suddenly and say she survived. Of course, no such thing happened.

It was only then, that it truly, really, hit her, that Cherry was dead. Gone forever.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~After a few moments, they reached the balcony. Britney's feet ached more than ever, and it wasn't only her feet. Her heart ached for Cherry. Yet she kept going, to make sure Cherry didn't die in vain. 

Behind two glass doors which were unfortunately locked, was a balcony. It was big for Britney and the others, with two lounge chairs with red striped patterns. Two giant pots of plants sat beside the chairs, as well as a small wooden table in the middle. On one of the lounge chair, rested a small yellow scroll, which was the next clue.

"There's the clue." said Sephie, the supreme lord of stating the obvious,"And the doors are locked." Sephie added. "We know. How do we go outside?" Elissa sighed. "Air vent?" Michela suggested, looking at the wall. Unfortunately, there was no air vent leading outside this time.

"I think it has something to do with the 'key to unlock me' in the clue." Britney unrolled the second scroll, inspecting the words again. "We need 'our blood', apparently."Britney scrunched up her nose. 

"Well, where do we put the blood?" Emma questioned,"There's no container, or anything."

"Hey. This part of the glass is thinner." Michela suddenly said quietly. Britney looked over to see Michela tapping on a small part of the glass. It was almost equal to their height and had golden bars around the rim. It was like it was specialised for them. 

Emma walked over and touched the glass, rapping on it a few times. "Oh.. yeah." Emma gave a small gasp. "Maybe we could break through!"Elissa said, walking over and ready to shatter the glass with her fist. "Wait-but that-"

"Might be a trap!"Emma said,"It has nothing to do with the clue!" Britney sighed,"Well, you're half correct. It does have nothing to do with the clue." 

Elissa ignored them and punched the glass. A second later she was blowing on her bruised fist. "That didn't work." Sephie said, again, pointing out the obvious. "We need something stronger." Britney looked around, but there was no convenient battering ram that was about their size lying on the ground.

"I think I get what it means." Sephie suddenly spoke,"We need to charge the glass, which will obviously harm us. So the 'blood', is, y'know, the actual blood that we'll be willing to spill." Britney stared at Sephie, half-surprised, half-not surprised. Sephie actually helped them think, and she was actually kinda correct(at least Britney thought), but of course, it had to be pessimistic. 

"But our skin is so... fragile." Elissa grimaced saying it,"I hate it, I can't even beat up people- but in seriousness, we would die if a glass shard ever pierced us hard enough. We're eggs." Again that depressing statement that constantly reminded Britney that they could die any moment and their existence was for eating. It did not help her aching heart or self esteem. 

"Oh my god..." Emma suddenly choked out, her eyes teary,"We need to sacrifice someone for this..." Britney was determined not to cry after hearing this. Subtly wiping away some tears, she said defiantly,"There has to be some other way." But even as she said it, she knew Mr Alexander was the kind of person that would actually do something cruel like that. 

The group fell into silence. They couldn't bear losing another person right after they had just lost Cherry. Rage hammered inside Britney's chest, determined to be let out, as well as sadness. 

'I have to do it. I-Let's be noble, self.' Britney thought. A part of her wished her inner wise voice fought back, but this time, it was silent. "I-" Britney started, but a lump came up her throat. Elissa glared at her,"Don't you dare. We need to find another-"

"I'll do it." Sephie volunteered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

AHHHHHHHHHHH I have finally finished this ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-

You do not know how many bus rides this took to type, do not ask me- Anyways, hope you enjoyed this 3489(*sobs*) words chapter- it's not the best, again, I'm typing this on bus rides, so I kinda feel dizzy now haha-

I'm concerned for myself-

Anyway(if anyone is keeping count of how many damn times I say anyways in the outro-pls don't tell me the amount), if anyone has any feedback or they want their character to get more screentime, some small requested scenes, go on! I'm running out of ideas here haha-

I am so concerned for my wellbeing here someone send help-

So, um, yeah. Byeee-

(Oh and Aesthetic_Cherry I am so sorry- *sobs*)

(As well as Xxx_Sephalyna_xxX but don't worry you get to experience and watch the other deaths as I have decided on a Sonic/AmongUs/originalplotidea crossover!)

(Yay!)