Chapter Text
Disclaimer: I don’t own anything from Escape the Night. I just own any and all characters that I just happen create.
CHAPTER ELEVEN: BUILDING CHAOS AND BETRAYAL
*****
“Comeon, Nikita!” Alex was screaming into the maze, wondering what the Troublemaker was doing to take so freaking long during the final death challenge, where his life was on the line for the second time that night. “They got all their pieces already!” And he could see that Colleen and Esther’s Parthenon’s were starting to look like the example pictures, while his was looking more like a hut.
*****
‘I can only do so much!’ Nikita thought, annoyed with the Aviator’s shouting, having managed to find the three remaining bags, and was working on getting back to the center of the maze. ‘You need to put in some work, too! It’s not all me!’
She was pulled from those thoughts when the Minotaur appeared, but she wasn’t scared of him anymore.
“You wanna go?” the Troublemaker taunted him. “You wanna go?” She tossed her torch into the bushes and ducked through his legs while the beast was distracted. “Go fetch!” And she raced back to the center.
*****
Alex was certain that he was going to die, when Nikita zoomed around the corner, clutching the three bags in her hands, and she was panting like crazy. “You got it?”
“Ok,” the Troublemaker gasped, shoving the bags into his hands. “Here, here, here.” She hoped that those were all the pieces, or she would swallow her katana if she had to go looking for more.
*****
The time flew by with the trio working steadily on building the Parthenon’s with guidance from the three helpers, although it was clear that Benny and Matt were being more helpful than Nikita, who was confused by the example picture, and both Esther and Colleen were getting close to finishing up as they both only a few pieces to go.
Of course, that was the exact moment that the Minotaur chose to appear, emerging from one of the paths, snarling and growling at the group of YouTubers, and it was clear to them that he was looking veryeager to tear one or all of them apart given the chance.
“Omigosh!” Colleen screamed. “What do I do?”
“Keep building,” Benny ordered, snatching up one of the bags, Matt was doing the same, for they weren’t going to let the beast attack before the challenge was over. “We’ll distract him.” And together, he and the detective lured the Minotaur out of the center, hoping to get him as far away from their friends as possible.
“Toro, toro! Whoo!”
Nikita, who was a sore loser and cared more about winning, took the moment to do something that was going to piss off the rest of the group if they found out, and yet, she didn’t care, for she didn’t like losing.
The second that she saw that the Marine and the detective were out of sight with the Minotaur, the Troublemaker shoved first Esther’s, and then Colleen’s Parthenon’s off their respective podiums, reducing both into two piles of pieces on the ground, shocking both the Lounge Singer and the Duchess.
‘I don’t f*cking care that I just cheated,’ Nikita thought when both women yelled at her while Alex was staring in shock for several seconds before he resumed building. ‘I don’t lose!’ “Screw you both!” she spat and returned her attention to helping the Aviator. “I don’t like to lose!”
“Your life isn’t on the line, Nikita!” Esther shrieked, shocked and furious that the Troublemaker had just cheated, and she was scrambling to get the pieces back up onto the podium. “We got voted into this! Not you! Jerk!”
“Great, now you’re going to kill me again, Nikita!” Colleen snarled, furious that this woman was backstabbing her for the second time. “And you’re going to kill my baby again, too!”
Nikita did pause for a moment, having forgotten that the Duchess had been pregnant during her first death back in Everlock, but she’d already made her choice, and she couldn’t take it back. “I’m sorry! I have to win! And for whatever it’s worth, I’m sorry.”
“You’re not sorry!” the Duchess scoffed. “This is not the first time you’ve tried to bring me down!” And she couldn’t help but recall how the Troublemaker had helped shove her into the Maiden of Madness while she tried to rebuild the Parthenon, and she saw that Alex was now seriously ahead of her and Esther.
*****
After luring the Minotaur as far from the center as they could, Benny and Matt raced back to check on the progress of their friends, wondering what’d happen when they heard Esther and Colleen screaming their names, and when they got back, they were surprised to see that the Lounge Singer and the Duchess were now behind the Aviator.
“What happened?” Benny asked, making his way over to help Esther retrieve the pieces of her Parthenon.
“Colleen, where are the pieces?” Matt questioned, helping her with trying to find the dark colored pieces on the ground.
“Nikita cheated and knocked them both down the second you both were gone!” Esther announced, earning a glare from said Troublemaker, but she wasn’t going let her get away with it. “She’s going to get us both killed!”
Both the Marine and the detective were shocked by this announcement. “Nikita, what the heck?!”
“I don’t like losing, and they were in my way!” Nikita declared as the Aviator, whose Parthenon was looking more like the structure in the picture, placed the final piece on top.
“I won?” he asked, and threw his hands up in astonished victory. “I won!”
“What?” Colleen squeaked, fearfully realizing that she and Esther were going to die for the second time.
“Oh no…” Esther whispered, her heart sinking into her stomach.
“Oh crap…” said Benny, realizing what was going to happen.
“Are you kidding me?” Matt cried out. “No!” And while the third and final piece of the medallion appeared on a pillar behind him while the Minotaur’s growls could be heard getting closer, he moved to protect the Duchess – when the magic that was keeping him in Purgatory died and he disappeared in a flash of light!
“Matt!” Colleen cried out, realizing that he was gone. ‘He’s gone! He was helping me so much, and now he’s gone with the belief that he’d failed me!’ And she wouldn’t be able to tell him that she didn’t blame him for what was going to happen next. ‘This wasn’t your fault! You helped! You helped! You helped!!!!’