Chapter Text
Have you ever witnessed a hunter taking down their prey? The suspense, the build up, the soft cocking of the gun as they trod carefully through the brush. Leaves barely make a sound under the weight of their boot, but then they spot it. The prey. It's Bambi eyes jumping back and forth as it peers around its surroundings. It's not enough, though, it rarely is. And bam. One shot to the head, and the hunter takes their victory home.
This game of tag was like that in a way. Chishiya watched the prey, the multiple idiots that ran around with no plan or idea of what they were doing. The tagger was there every step of the way, though, shooting their gun and taking lives - even if it seemed a bit unfair to outsiders, Chishiya thought it was quite a fair game. Run to the safe room, survive the tagger and the explosion.
He had a feeling it was something more. No game in the Borderlands was that simple, it would be idiotic to even consider that a possibility. But Chishiya loved analyzing people, their reactions and their ability to think under stress told him just who would survive this crazy world.
Arisu. That kid was interesting, and while Chishiya wasn't keen on those soft hearted, live for others type of people, Arisu had smarts. He even risked exposing himself to the tagger after shouting out like that, and the climber chick wasn't too bad either.
Arisu had a bleached blond friend that looked like more muscle than brain, but Chishiya knew Arisu cared for him. Arisu would often search around randomly as if expecting the other man to be behind him, and Chishiya felt his heart twitch a bit at that, but discarded that feeling as a reflexive response to the stressful situation. It was quite scary.
A burning feeling bubbled up in his chest, and Chishiya fidgeted as it felt like a bug was crawling on him. The sensation lasted for a few minutes until he finally backed up to take a peek of his chest, lifting the neck of his shirt away as he peered in - humming in surprise when he saw his soulmate birthmark was moving, it had shifted from his heart, settling at his rib cage.
Interesting development. He didn't expect it, but it seemed his soulmate was in the Borderlands.
Not a big surprise, he had a vague theory that his soulmate was here, considering how many people he knew were in this hellhole. He just never gave it much thought, he preferred his life of solitude, and he never wanted a soulmate. He kinda disliked the idea of being eternally bound to someone, especially here, where every day was a test of fate.
Chishiya brought his attention back to the task at hand, fully conscious that he could die if the situation wasn't manipulated soon enough. And while he had no qualms about death, it was rather inconvenient to die at the hands of such a newbie game. He caught sight of Arisu once more, the black tuft of hair unmistakable, heading towards a door and he took that as his cue to follow.
"So you figured it out, too?" Chishiya asked once Arisu stopped in front of the safe room.
Arisu was trembling, mentally unprepared for this type of world, but Chishiya had hope for him. "Yeah, this is the safe room." Arisu answered, a hand grasping the handle but hesitation was stopping him.
Chishiya tilted his head, "Gonna open it?"
"Why was he chasing us when he could have waited?" Arisu mumbled to himself, lost in thought.
Agreed. This was quite weird, Chishiya had a feeling there was more to the story, however, "We don't really have time, do we?" He asked, raising his phone to show the time for emphasis.
Arisu blanched, body going stiff, then he opened it, and Chishiya followed him cautiously, if anything were to happen, he would sacrifice the kid.
He doesn't save lives and he sure as hell wouldn't sacrifice himself for anyone.
Arisu pushed him out of the way, a hand on his arm saving his life, then a rain of bullets hitting the door where they had just been. There were two taggers, which was smart but Chishiya was annoyed that they made it harder than it had to be.
He took the chance Arisu had the tagger distracted to unleash a shock wave of electricity, his trusty taser rendering the tagger immobile.
Chishiya smirked, "I like being prepared-"
Chishiya ducked as another wave of bullets hit, sprinting out the door and shutting Arisu in. He felt a small bit of guilt, which was rare for him, but he assumed it would go away - except it didn't, it got worse, until his arm ached. He grunted, grasping his arm and wincing when it hurt worse from the pressure. Did he get shot and not notice? But people usually noticed if they got a bullet in the arm, so that theory was trash. Maybe it had to do with his soulmate? But then why does his arm hurt? Chishiya pushed the jacket down a bit, lifting his shirt sleeve and gasping as his mark pulsed, red around the edges with inflammation.
"Somebody! The safe room is 203, I need help, I can't clear the game on my own-" Arisu shouted, somehow still alive.
Another barrage of shooting went off and Chishiya cautiously opened the door, sliding in soundlessly. He peeked around the door, jumping back to dodge the flying death metal shot towards him as Arisu fought the tagger.
He heard glass break and risked another look, seeing the climbing chick from earlier slide in like an anime character. He went by instinct and threw his precious taser, which the woman caught and used to briefly stun the tagger, then he watched with a small hint of interest as they both pressed the buttons, officially saving everyone's lives. Well, not the taggers, but that was collateral damage.
After Arisu and the woman passed by Chishiya, his mind was once more brought to the flaring pain in his arm, shocking him to the degree of groaning audibly and catching Arisu's attention.
"Are you okay? Did you get shot, man?" Arisu asked, reaching to brush Chishiya's arm he was holding, but Chishiya jerked from the movement and ignored him in favor of walking into the room and investigating the tagger's body.
He couldn't afford to babysit others when he wanted to find the person behind this carnage. He had to survive to do so, and no one was getting in his way.