Iris and I stare at where Monokumace just stood. My mind has gone blank. First we've had three murderers and a saboteur, and now a traitor after we were so sure that we trusted the few classmates we have left? Who? I've gotten to know everyone here, and the idea that one of them has been lying to our faces... and helped trap us here... and does that mean they knew about the killing game and are just going along with it? Who would do that?

"Azrael," Iris says suddenly, and I turn to look at him.

He grabs my shoulder as he continues. "Tell me I can trust you."

I nod quickly. "Of course you can, Iris, I've been with you this whole time and-"

"No." He turns away, his shaky hands threatening fists. "I can't trust you. I... I can't trust anyone."

His tone shift is a signal that he's spiraling again, and so I take a careful step back.

"I can't ever trust anyone, can I?" he laughs as he starts towards the door. "...I'm starting to wonder if I'm the problem."

I watch as he leaves, unsure how to approach this. I sigh before deciding to leave the building as well. As I head back towards the central island, I pass by the street vendor stalls and notice that Iris must've left his mug there earlier. I grab it, figuring that I'll stop by the kitchen and drop it off. Whatever's inside of it is not only unfinished but smells fantastic. If I had to guess, it's some kind of soup. Chicken, maybe? I don't know my kinds of soup very well.

I swirl the contents around in the mug anxiously as I make my way back across the rope bridge. I hope that Iris and I were the only ones who had an issue after the announcement. Surely Zeben was right and we all remember how important it is to stick together. The silence over the island as I pass by the statue on the central island, however, says otherwise. Even the trees refuse to rustle, and the birds are wary of each other. It's like everything is split.

As I enter the hotel lobby, though, I hear someone suddenly stop what they're doing in the kitchen, and I see Dana peek out as I approach. There's a flicker of uncertainly in her eyes for a moment, but she brushes it off and smiles.

"Hey, Azz, whatcha got for me?" she asks as I enter through the doorway.

"This was Iris's," I respond, handing her the mug.

She glances inside and frowns. "He promised me he'd finish it."

"He left it on the fifth island after he ran off somewhere," I tell her.

"Still, he needs to finish this. Can you get it to him?" There's a hint of desperation in her gaze.

I shrug, taking the mug back. "Sure. But, uh, why's it so important he finishes the soup?"

"That's between me and him." Dana stops and sighs, realizing how this might come off due to our current situation, before confessing, "He needs it, Azrael. It's the only way anything's getting into that poor body of his."

I consider her words for a moment, my heart sinking with realization. "Oh. Okay, I'll go find him,"

As I exit the hotel lobby and make my way down the line of cottages, I run into Caim, who's carrying armfuls of materials.

"Eek! Sorry!" he squeals as he nearly clubs me in the face with an effing blowtorch.

"No worries," I reassure him, even though things could've just ended really badly.

The engineer adjusts the materials in his arms as he says, "Had to get some other things from my room. I have to be fully prepared, y'know?"

"What kind of engineering requires a blowtorch?" I nod to the item that nearly clocked me in the head.

Caim smiles. "Welding! Y'know, if two things need to be melted together? Or if I need to bend something back into place."

"Do you need help carrying stuff?" I offer.

"Nah, I got it! But if I need help later, I'll let you know." And with one last adjustment of his supplies, he turns and hurries away.

I watch him leave before remembering that I have a job to do. I walk back over to Iris's cottage and knock, but there's no response. A quick peek inside through the unlocked door tells me that the flautist isn't home. Great, he could be anywhere. I turn away and set off down the dusty pathway towards the rest of the island. Gotta start somewhere, I guess. And thankfully, that somewhere sounds like a flute.

As soon as I hear the notes echoing from somewhere nearby, I start to run towards the source of the noise. It leads me all the way down to the beachline, where I find the ash-blonde leaning against a palm tree, his eyes closed as he plays the flute. He looks so peaceful for once that I don't want to disturb him, but I know that I've got no choice. I slowly approach, dragging my feet through the sand to give him an opportunity to hear me coming. He does, of course, and tightens his grip on his flute as his eyes snap open, darting warily around for the source of the noise.

"Hey," I start.

He eyes me carefully. "...hey."

"Blowing off some steam?" I ask, taking a careful step towards him with my hands out of my pockets.

Iris's gaze doesn't leave my face for a second, but he relaxes slightly. "Yeah. I guess so."

He frowns as he adds, "Sorry about just now. It's just... this isn't the first time I've been... betrayed. Or abandoned, if you want to call it that."

I sit down next to him, tilting my head. "I'm listening, if you wanna talk."

I hand him his mug back, and he swirls it around in his hands for a moment, staring down at the soup inside. "...I've never really had any friends, Azz. I mean, I've had some from time to time. But every single one abandoned me after a short period of time. I... I don't know why."

I realize I do know why, but I also know that he wouldn't believe me if I told him. Instead, I say, "I'm not the traitor. I swear it on my life. You can trust me, I promise."

Iris looks like he really wants to believe me. He sighs, fidgeting with the flute in his hands for a minute.

"...you promise?" he finally asks. His expression darkens as he adds, "I'm going to make you regret it if you backstab me."

I hold his gaze. "I promise."

He relaxes slightly, relieved to hear that. And much to my relief, he finally takes a sip from his mug.

"Will you promise me you're not the traitor?" I inquire.

Iris gives me a puzzled look. "If I was the traitor, then I've done a really bad job of covering up."

"Fair. But you promise you're not."

"I'm not. I promise."

We sit there, looking at each other for a long moment.

"Well, that's settled," I say.

Iris nods in agreement.

I look down at his flute. "So, what've you been playing?"

"Whatever comes to mind, I guess. Have you been writing anything?"

"Some stuff," I admit. "Nothing special, just drafting a few poems right now. I'll go back and do some editing eventually."

"...if it's okay to ask, what have you been writing about? Anything in particular?"

I hesitate for a moment. "...the class."

"Oh, neat," he says.

"It's not that cool," I tell him.

"I thought I was the one with low self-confidence," he jabs playfully, giving me a sad smile.

"Guess we'll have to fight for the spot, then," I respond with a laugh.

Iris doesn't say anything for a moment, then looks me dead in the eye. "Azrael."

I stop. What did I do? Did he change his mind?

"...yes?" I answer hesitantly.

He pauses for another second. "...if you really aren't the traitor, and you really aren't the one who tried to kill me... then thank you."

"...for what?"

"For actually being my friend...if you consider us friends."

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not the emotional type, but hearing this gets me choked up. If what he said just now is true, and I'm his first real friend, then holy cow. I just give him a smile and two awkward finger guns in response, because I'm an introvert and sometimes I just fail miserably at giving a reasonable response to things. Iris chuckles half-heartedly, though, and puts his flute back in its bag.

I can't believe that I thought when the chess boards were revealed that he was just some cruel, psychotic guy who liked to see others suffer. I mean, the fact that he thinks it's justified doesn't help, but that's not the point. The point is, after learning where it all really stems from, it's clear that he's nowhere near antagonistic and evil. He's just a guy who suffered. But it sounds like nobody he called a "friend" previously stuck around long enough to realize that. God, no wonder the idea of a traitor really affected him.

"Y'know, I don't have a whole lot of friends," I say as we get up and start walking back up the beach. "I have one or two writer friends from my old school, but that's really it. I have some pretty nasty social anxiety sometimes, so the idea of meeting new people scares the hell out of me."

"I know," Iris agrees, slinging his flute back over his shoulder as we walk. "Remember when we first met forever ago? Stolas partnered everyone up, and we got put together. You wouldn't say a single word to me, or even look me in the eyes. I tried telling you my name, and you the only thing I got out of you was 'Azz'."

"Yeah. I mean, it's nothing personal," I laugh. "...man, that feels so long ago now."

"And then Sophie got you talking like it was nothing!" Iris continues, smiling. "I dunno what she said to you, but I overheard you guys exchanging names and stuff, and that's really how I learned what you sound like. Once she left, you were almost dead silent again until I started talking about my flute."

"You were weirdly passionate about it."

"I know. I mean, I am. But anyways, you finally started cracking open a little, and then at the dinner party, you really started opening up. Guess it took a little hoping and dreaming, huh?"

I snort. "Guess so. It was a good choice, though. How'd you know I'd like it?"

"I'll be honest, I didn't.  I'm not psychic like Dana.  I mean, your name is literally Azrael, so I thought that there wasn't any harm in playing that song." Iris whistles the tune after he finishes.

"Well, it was a good guess," I say. "So is there anything-"

Before I can continue, though, there is suddenly a deafening boom that echoes over the island, the trees all swaying violently towards the direction of the beach.  And then it's silent.

"What the hell was that?" Iris asks, as if reading my thoughts.

"I don't know," I answer truthfully.

We exchange nervous glances before sprinting towards the source of the noise.  I have no idea what on earth could've possibly caused it, and I can't coax my brain into working when my heart is thumping too loudly to concentrate.  We keep running along the dusty path past the cottages, past the marketplace...

The airport.  It came from the airport.  I realize this as soon as I realize we're still running towards the edge of the island, and that's the only building over there.  But what could've caused the noise?  Was there someone over there? 

It hits me like a flash.

"CAIM!" I yell as the airport comes into view.  The building is in shambles.  It looks like something took it out completely.  But where's the Ultimate Steampunk Engineer?

"Caim?" Iris calls, picking up on the way I frantically screamed for him.

I look past the wreckage of the airport as my gaze falls on the runway, and I stop dead in my tracks.  Iris stops too, and follows my gaze.  Before us is a terrible sight, not just because of what we can see, but also what we can't.

https://youtu.be/wrhdBBOQhVE

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(2016 words)