It almost seemed like she had done it.

Fiona had gone down first.

Kreacher went down second.

Aesop followed soon after.

Emily was alone again.

When Emily prepared for this match, she didn't have high hopes. She had sat at the table in silence with her teammates, hoping that she would be able to avoid the rocket chair, but otherwise, that was it. What else could one hope for in this terrible game anyway? To not get hit? To avoid the hunter altogether? No. Even then she had known that she wouldn't be lucky enough to go a whole match without seeing the hunter once, but even still, she hadn't expected things to go this badly.

The game had started easily enough. When she regained her consciousness and looked around, she found that they were at the Sacred Heart Hospital, and she was on the second floor of the main building with a cipher not more than a few meters away. It was a good enough start, and when she decided she was safe, she quickly got to work on the cipher.

She had just started decoding when she heard the gong, the deep bell-like sound resonating through her and sending a shiver down her spine. The game had barely started and already someone was hit, causing her to panic. Her fingers slipped on the keys, causing the machine to send out a shock to which she instinctively cried out, no doubt revealing herself to the hunter. At least she knew that it was already preoccupied.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much she felt she could've done at that moment. Unless she wanted to go out there to try and find whoever it was that got hit -probably Fiona if she had to guess from the pitch of the scream she had heard, but she couldn't rule out Kreacher just yet- and risk herself while wasting precious decoding time when she might not even find them, well, let's just say she hadn't wanted to do that. And so she stayed upstairs and continued decoding.

The decoding was nearly finished when she heard the scream again, now certain that it was Fiona. With any hope, someone else closer than her would go get the poor priestess, but if not she would go after the cipher was finished. It was too close to just leave.

When her decoding finished she went to the windows to try and find where Fiona was when she heard a cry causing her to jump. Turning towards the sound she saw Kreacher kneeling before Fiona, Joseph looming over the both of them. Kreacher cowered before Joseph, attempting to crawl away even as the hunter leaned down to pick him up. The two of them disappeared out of her view, which Emily took as an opportunity to go save Fiona. As she reached her, though, the timer on the chair ran out, and she could only stare as the chair blasted off.

She heard a cipher go off in the distance and made the decision to run away then. It was far to open where she was and the hunter was close. If she got caught now she wouldn't be able to help them later. That's what she thought, at least.

While she worked on decoding another cipher, Aesop had saved Kreacher and instead got chaired himself. He got off, of course, however he does it, but then Kreacher got chaired again, and while trying to save him, Aesop had been chaired right alongside him.

The cipher she was working on was cast aside as she went out looking for them. Emily ran around the side of the hospital, looking for where the two of them were chaired and hoping the hunter wasn't nearby. Unfortunately, her luck wasn't so good. As she neared the hut ruins she felt her heart jump out of her chest. Acutely aware of her own heartbeat and what it meant, she looked in horror to the stairs inside.

She could remember how her eyes and throat burned as she stared down the stairs, the feeling of working up all of her courage to run down there and save her teammates. How hopeful she was. That hope was gone now.

It almost seemed like she could do it when she went down there. She ran literal circles around Joseph, dodging his hits and managed to rescue Kreacher. He ran out of the dungeon while she rescued Aesop, and they all made a break for it. Joesph managed a hit on her before they were out, but that was it.

And then her teammates fell at her sides.

It almost seemed like she had done it.

Fiona had gone down first.

Kreacher went down second.

Aesop followed soon after.

Emily was alone again. And that's how she got to where she was now.

Their cries echoed from behind her as she ran, but the ever-present beating of her heart kept her from looking back. Josephs's breathy laughter followed behind her no matter what she tried. The pallets she pulled down didn't faze him if anything it seemed to amuse him.

When she fumbled with the pallet she knew it was her last mistake. The sword whistled through the air behind her and then she felt a burning in her back that sent her to the ground. She tried to fight against the pain and the tears.

As he tied the balloons to her and picked her up she fought.

As he walked her over to the chair she fought.

As he pulled the barbed wire over her, fastening to the chair she fought.

Until the final clicks of the timer she fought, and just before the chair lifted off she gave him her fiercest stare and was rewarded with the taken aback expression on his face.

As the chair flew off, she did not scream, and she did not cry. At least out of all the failures of tonight, she held that with her.

'I didn't cry'.

Heyo, I'm DJKatt, and I'm here to welcome to ya'lls my first story in a looong time. First off, allow me to say thank you! Thanks for looking at my little fanfic! Now continuing.. recently my friend got me into the game Identity V and I fell in love with the Doctor, of which there is not enough work for. I am starving for Emily content, and I will apparently have to feed myself, but before that, I just needed to try and get into writing, and maybe learn how to write her some before I try anything else. So that's what this is! Practice and learning! I hope you all liked it, and maybe if you have the time I would love to hear any thoughts or critique! Even if it's just an 'I liked it it' or an 'It's okay'! Anyways, allow me to say just say one more time, thank you for checking out my story! I hope you all have a happy day!