Chapter Text
"Isabel, don't- you're going to get hit by a car."
Levi's shoulders slump in relief as Farlan seizes the back of Isabel's collar, stopping her from running into traffic. "It's fine, Big Bro," Isabel complains, swiping Farlan's hand off of her. "There's no cars coming!"
"It's the city square, idiot," Farlan chides, poking her. "There's always cars!"
Sure enough, a stream of cars hit the intersection, crossing the road right where Isabel would've been walking. "You're a dumbass," Levi tells her. "Now, you're not a dead dumbass."
"Fine, fine," she says with a huff, crossing her arms. "Sorry, sorry. Just so much to show Levi and so little time!"
"Lots of time," Levi says dryly.
"He can visit again too, if he doesn't get to see everything," Farlan says, grinning at Isabel and then at Levi. "Right? C'mon, Paradis City isn't that far from where you are, you were only on the train for a few hours. You can visit more often."
"Yeah!" Isabel pipes up, one of her red pigtails coming loose. She raises her hands to her head to fix it. "There's lots to do here, Big Bro! You have to come visit us more!"
Levi raises his eyebrows. "Do I have to listen to you complain all the time?"
"I'll stop the complaining! I promise!"
"Don't make promises you can't keep."
"Green light," Farlan says, gesturing to the crosswalk. "Let's go."
As Isabel and Farlan pave the way through the massive crowd crossing the road from the other side, Levi lets his head tip back and he studies the square around him. Skyscrapers, rising much higher than he's used to seeing the small town he's living in; billboards on the sides of said skyscrapers, playing everything from cellphone advertisements to movie trailers.
He's not a city person. It's too busy, too crowded, too chaotic- but ever since Isabel and Farlan moved here a few months ago, they've been begging him to visit. He finally gave in.
"Fireworks!" Isabel chirps excitedly, pointing up at the sky.
Sure enough, bright fireworks are going off, and they don't look like they're that far from the city center. "Who the hell is setting off fireworks in the middle of the day?" he asks.
"Someone with too much time on their hands," Farlan says with a shake of his head. "Here, stairs."
Levi wouldn't go as far as saying he hates it, but he'd quite literally rather walk for two hours than take the subway. "Do you know how unsanitary this is?" he grumbles as Farlan and Isabel lead him down the stairs to get to the city's underground subway.
"No, but you'll probably tell us anyways," Isabel says brightly.
"Don't deny it, we know you will," Farlan says, cutting him off before Levi can get a word in. "Come on."
Isabel and Farlan pull out bright red cards, tap them, and move through the turnstile. Levi stares at them until they realize he hasn't come through yet and the pair of them turn. "I don't have a ticket, dumbasses," he says.
"Oops," the redhead says sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck. "The kiosk is right there! We'll wait for you."
Levi rolls his eyes and wanders towards the subway ticket kiosk, leaving Isabel and Farlan where they are. He taps through the process, buying a ten-trip ticket because he knows he'll use all ten (Isabel's already listed a dozen places that she wants to take him and they're all far apart. He's mapped them), then taps his credit card. There's a beep, the ticket comes out, and Levi leans down to fish it out of the machine.
And something weird happens: the machine dies.
Levi frowns at it, muttering "what the fuck?" under his breath, but it's like the machine got unplugged in the middle of the transaction. He's about to kick it when he realizes something else: it's suddenly gotten quiet.
He looks up.
Isabel and Farlan are gone.
And not just them: everyone's gone.
Levi turns in a full circle. There's no one else in the subway station. It had been filled to the brim and bustling with people only moments ago. There's no lights either- all the power has gone out. No power, no people. Just him standing in an empty subway station.
"Isabel?" Levi asks into the silence, completely dumbfounded. "Farlan?"
No reply.
Everyone's gone.
.
Your world ends on what was probably the best day of your life.
You got your dream job. An editor at the biggest publishing company in the city- you got it. As soon as you graduate- in only two more months- you can go straight to work. They gave you the full rundown: start as an intern, and then in four months, if you still like it, you can take on a fulltime role.
This is exactly what you'd been working your ass off for. All those late hours of supplemental applications, those internships you took, the part-time jobs you had: everything was all for this moment. And you got it.
And now you're...
Well, you don't know exactly where you are. It's Paradis City, sure, but it's completely empty. No lights, no power, and no people. You don't know how it happened. One second you were rushing across the city square, trying to get across the crosswalk while the light was still green, and when you'd gotten across the road, someone had bumped into you and you'd dropped your phone, and you'd scrambled to pick it up, and then...
Nothing. Everything went quiet. You straightened yourself up, phone in hand, and everyone was gone.
"What the hell," you'd said into the empty square.
And nothing happened. No one said anything back, because... you're the only one here.
So, you'd done the only rational thing you could think of. In order to avoid a complete and total mental breakdown, you went straight to the massive mall on the corner of the block, ready to look for more people. You wish someone would pop out of nowhere and tell you exactly what's happening, because you're confused beyond belief. Where are you? Where is everyone?
For a second, you think you see a person- but it's just a mannequin at the front of a designer store. "What the hell," you say again, and then, you raise your voice. "What the hell!"
No one responds. How is all of this happening?
"So," you say, turning back to the mannequin, because if you don't talk to someone, you'll go crazy. "Out of nowhere, everyone vanishes. Or, this is an alternate universe. Either way, I'm alone in an exact replication of my city."
Naturally, the mannequin doesn't respond. Hm. It's wearing a really nice red sweater...
You pinch your lips together. "So if it's just me," you say slowly, turning in a full circle. "And there's no power. Then I can... take whatever I want?"
Well, no one's around to stop you, so...
You ponder your crisis as you browse through some racks of clothing that you'd never be able to afford in your lifetime. What even happened? Is this a dream of some sort? You've tried to pinch yourself and you've felt it, and, well... this all certainly feels real. Some sort of dystopian landscape.
The dystopian part checks out, at least. Phones aren't working- no service, no internet. No power anywhere. Everything's in the dark.
"What the fuck is even going on?" you ask to a different mannequin in a black dress, who will obviously not reply. "Where am I?"
Who knows. Who fucking knows.
After raiding the store for a new sweater- a red, long-sleeved sweater that's the softest thing you've ever put on your body- you head to a department store. You take batteries and as many battery-operated things as you can fit into a backpack: flashlights, more flashlights, a radio of some sort (who knows), and several battery-powered power banks. Your phone's useless, sure, but if service ever comes back, you're going to need it to charge.
You bring it all back to your apartment, where you'd been heading in the first place. No one's there- not your neighbors, not the annoying couple that's always arguing in the apartment right above yours. This has to be a dream or something, because... because how the hell are you the only one here? In this wreck of Paradis City?
"What the hell is going on," you say to your empty apartment.
You don't know what to do, so you read. You light some candles and grab one of your favorite books, curling up in the armchair in your living room by the window to get what little light is coming from the sky. Hey, if no one's around, then... does that mean every bookstore in the city is yours to raid? That's a perk.
Surviving on a dinner of fruit (at least, the few fruits that you can find that aren't rotten), crackers, and whatever random crap you can find in your fridge (never mind- it's all gone bad), you curl up in that chair for hours. Part of you hopes that maybe if enough time passes, answers will fall from the sky. Or appear. Or maybe someone else will show up. Something like that.
Your answer appears in the form of light.
Out of nowhere, something turns on outside your window, and you immediately throw yourself out of your seat, giddy. "Thank god," you say, desperate relief filling you that at least something happened. Maybe if there's other people around, they'll also go to the light.
Armed with a lighter, a small flashlight, and your pepper spray, you leave your apartment. You note the direction the light came from, but it looks like there's a few sources of it. The closest looks like it's maybe a five or ten minute walk away into the warehouse district.
You leave your apartment. One foot in front of the other, you walk towards the lights, curiosity causing you to pick up your pace. Electricity is a good thing. Electricity means working toilets, working appliances- you can only survive for so long without it. It's a good thing, and you'd be stupid to walk away from a good thing.
But something doesn't feel right. There's a strange sense of foreboding washing over you as you get closer and closer. Why is only this place lit up? You could see more lights off in the distance from your apartment, somewhere far away, but investigating the closer source seems like a good plan. But why only a few select places? And only when it's gotten dark?
"Okay," you say to yourself, fidgeting with your pepper spray. "To the light, I guess."
So you walk to the light. The source of the light is a massive warehouse, with the light coming from a set of windows at the corner of the building. There's massive bay doors, but they're all shut. Light is coming from the only open door that you can see- it's not one of the big garage doors; it's just a regular door. It's so strange and out of place that you can feel your stomach flipping nervously.
As you get closer, you find your fingers closing around the can of pepper spray that you grabbed earlier, just in case. "Here goes nothing," you whisper to yourself.
On shaky legs, you walk yourself towards the warehouse, glowing with faded yellow light.
And when you get there, you're flooded with a massive wave of relief.
There's people. One, two- six other people in the room. The room isn't big: twelve feet by twelve feet, you'd guess, but the ceiling's fairly high. The warehouse itself is huge, you're sure, but this room was the only one with an open door and lights on.
But the most noticeable thing is the presence of people. "There's other people," you say to yourself, shoulders slumping. "Oh my god, there's other people."
Immediately, you feel embarrassed: everyone turns to look at you. The most intimidating one is easily the tall, blond man standing near the far wall in the room. He's several inches over six feet tall with broad shoulders and a stern frown, and you look away the second you accidentally make eye contact.
There's two other girls, both clutching phones in their hands, whispering to each other and occasionally giggling. There's another guy sitting on the ground, wearing a black fedora and smoking a cigarette, and another young blonde girl curled up in one corner, knees pulled into her chest. Someone else is leaning up against the wall, brown hair pulled back in a shaggy ponytail and whistling casually. When you make eye contact, they grin and wave, and you manage to raise a hand in a weak attempt to wave back.
Immediately, you regret it, because they push off the wall and come towards you. "Hi!" they greet enthusiastically. "First time?"
You blink. "First time?"
"First time in a game." They stare at you, watching for your reaction, and continue, "okay, judging by your confusion, I'm going to say yes. Welcome! You might die today."
Once again, you're floored. "I might die today?" you squeak out.
"Hange," the blond man says. You look to him, but he doesn't say anything else. He just stares at you.
The person in front of you- Hange- looks to the blond and waves him off, then looks back to you. "Basically, we're in this alternate universe sort of thing," they say, waving vaguely at a small table near the only other door in the room, a table that has a pile of phones on it and a sign that says take one each. "And we have to play games to survive. Got it?"
What the hell? "No," you say bluntly, looking to the blond man and then back to the brown-haired crazy person in front of you. "Are you on drugs?"
Hange sighs dramatically, looking to the blond. "Second person to ask me that now."
He shrugs in response.
They sigh and pat your shoulder; you flinch backwards. "You'll see in a second, then," they say, shrugging. "Grab a phone, and when you believe me, let me know, and we'll figure out how to get through this together. Cool?"
Your mouth opens, then closes. "No," you say as they back up, walking back towards the blond man. You tuck your pepper spray into your pocket: doesn't look like anyone's about to attack you. "No. Not cool. Because- because life was going good, and then out of nowhere, Paradis is empty, and nothing works, and where the hell are we?"
Hange sighs blissfully. "You sound like me when I first got here. So innocent."
"They're fair questions, Hange," the blond man says.
"Then an answer would be nice," you say, looking between the two of them. They're pissing you off: acting all high and mighty, like they know more than you- they definitely do- but they're not sharing any answers. Literally anything to help you get a better grasp on the situation would be nice.
No one says anything else. With a sigh, you walk towards the table. The electronic sign tells you nothing besides take one each, and there's at least half a dozen devices left on the table. What are the phones for? You don't know.
You pick one up, and it turns on in your hands. You frown as it says, "facial recognition complete. Welcome."
You're lost, completely lost. How does- how does any of this make any sense? Why won't anyone answer anything? God, you wish you knew what was going on.
You look behind you as footsteps approach.
Earlier, you'd said that the blond man was the most intimidating person here. And that might still be true, but the new person walking into the warehouse office room radiates danger. He's short, much shorter than the blond man, and although you normally would consider height and intimidation to be proportional, the glare on this new guy puts you on edge more than the blond man had. He's scary.
He holds himself well as he strides forward, and he pauses in the middle of the room. You and everyone else in the room stare at him as he looks around, sizing everyone up, and then continues across the room towards you. He's only wearing a simple long sleeve and cargo pants, but you're half convinced he's concealing a weapon or something.
He stops next to you and takes a phone from the table. Your hand subconsciously drifts to your pocket with the pepper spray.
"Facial recognition complete. Welcome," the phone says.
So it recognizes him too- it's not just you. You look back to the phone you picked up, but the screen is blank.
You glance sideways again; the black-haired man is looking at you. You make eye contact, and you do your best not to look away, but he's damn intimidating. It's like he's searching your eyes for something- answers, information, anything.
Is he new too? You can't tell. You wish someone would sit you down and give you a full, proper explanation- and not the 'this is a game, we're all going to die' bullshit. That can't actually be what's happening- is it?
The electronic sign changes from saying take one each to a set of text that it reads out anyways. "Registration has closed. The game will now commence."
If someone could tell you what the actual fuck is going on-
"Game: choices. Difficulty: two of clubs."
A playing card appears on the phone screen and also on the main television screen. You glance around at the seven other people with you: the two girls you saw earlier are whispering and chatting with each other, giggling about something. Everyone else looks deadly serious.
"Game rules," the speaker chirps, and your grip on the phone in your hand is so tight that you feel like it might crack, "there will be four rounds. In each round, the players will be presented with four doors. Each round will last five minutes. At the end of the five minutes, each player will need to select a door and line up in front."
Pick a door. That's this... this game? Pick a damn door?
"Once all doors have been selected, participants will not be able to change their choice. The doors will open. Players will have thirty seconds to make it through the room they have selected in order to proceed to the next round."
"Pick a door, get a room," Hange is saying from the side of the room. "Get through the room, do that four times. How hard can it be? It's only a two."
"Don't underestimate it," the blond man says warningly.
The creepy robot voice perks up again. "It is game over for players that do not select a door within the five minute limitation. It is game over for players that do not make it through their selected rooms within thirty seconds. It is game clear for all players that make it through all four rounds."
"Easy enough," the man that was smoking mutters.
You're still trying to figure out what's going on. Yes, you get the rules or whatever the hell they are- but what's happening? Why the hell are you in a warehouse, playing some sort of game that everyone's taking so seriously? What's going on?
The door in front of you opens: the blond man and the crazy person- Hange- are the first ones to go through. You stare at it for a minute, watching as the two giggling girls go through, then the man with the hat and the girl that had been curled up in the corner. Soon, all that's left are you and the last man who walked in here- whoever he is.
You glance at him; he's looking at you. "Waiting for something?" he asks.
"Are you?" you ask, looking from him to the door. It just looks like another room, but bigger. "I don't know what the hell is going on," you admit.
When you look back to him, you think you catch a glimpse of momentary understanding. He doesn't know either. With his firm glare and stance, you would've thought he knew exactly what was going on and what to do. He exudes confidence; you're pretty sure you exude a high degree of confusion. But you'd caught his gaze earlier. He's lost, just like you.
His gaze stays locked on you. He's got grey eyes. "We'd better figure it out, then," he says.
He strides by you and to the door. You're not sure exactly what tone he was going for, but it comes off as rude, and you glare at his back as you follow him through the door.
As soon as you're through, the door slams shut behind you, and you jump. "Holy crap," you mutter to yourself, looking from the now-closed door to the rest of the room. It's larger, exponentially larger, and there's four doors spread out across one side of the room, all with different symbols on them.
"Round one, begin," the mechanical voice says. "Time remaining, five minutes."
The phone you'd picked up beeps. You glance at it: there's a timer. It's started counting down.
"This game is one of the clubs variety," someone says, and you look up to see the blond man addressing the group. "It's a team game. It's in our best interest to work together to select the correct door."
Clubs? What the hell does that even mean? "Who the hell are you to tell us what to do?" the man that was smoking says with a sneer. He's still got his cigarette pinched between his fingers. "Huh? Why do we have to listen to you?"
The man raises his hands up, as if in surrender. "My name is Erwin," he says calmly. "And I have completed four games already."
"We!" Hange pipes up. "We've completed four games already."
"And from what I gather, some of you are first timers," he continues, eyes bouncing from you to the pair of giggly girls and then to the man with the fedora and cigarette in hand.
One of the girls scoffs. "It's just a game."
Erwin's gaze is razor sharp. "Why don't you ask her if it's just a game?"
You follow his gaze to the young blonde girl that had been huddled at the side of the room when you'd first come in. She looks petrified, like she's shaking in her shoes, and suddenly you're starting to think that Hange wasn't kidding when they said you could die.
One of the two girls from that pair you saw earlier goes over to the blonde girl. "Hey," she says. "I'm Erika. What's your name?"
The blonde girl doesn't answer. She just stares.
Erika takes her hand. "Have you done one of these before? These games?"
"We don't have time for this," the smoker insists. "I've done one game, and it was every man for himself. I don't have to listen to you."
"Clubs mean we work together!" Hange says persistently. "C'mon, these ones are the easiest."
"Clubs?" you murmur to yourself. What the hell...
"We just have to pick from four doors!" the last girl insists. "It's- it's not that hard!"
"What the fuck is this," someone grumbles. You look to your side; it's the dark-haired man again, still looking as disgruntled as he had when he walked in here.
"Some game where we could die, allegedly," you say back as an argument ensues with the others in the group. "That's what Hange- the brown-haired one in the beige jacket- was saying to me earlier."
"We could die," he replies, raising his eyebrows at you.
You hum in response, then add, "no idea if it's true, but no one's arguing otherwise." You gesture to the blonde girl that's still in the arms of the other girl, Erika. "But I don't get how any of this makes any sense. Why we're here, what's the point of doing these games, especially if they could kill us- why this all is happening, why-"
"I don't care."
"Sorry?"
"I don't care." You stare at him, eyes wide, and he tacks on, "you talk a lot."
"Thanks?"
"It's annoying."
"Yeah, because you're a ray of sunshine," you say back, frowning at him. Annoying? Seriously? "I'm annoying? How about you?"
He glares at you. "We met thirty seconds ago."
"Yeah, and you've been pretty useless so far. What, going to wait until the smart-looking people figure it out and then piggyback off of them?" You frown at him, looking to where Erwin's trying to talk to Hange while being yelled at by the smoker. "That's pretty annoying, wouldn't you say?"
"I'd say it's smart, considering we don't know what the fuck is going on and maybe riding along with the people that do would help you survive," he counters.
"Or you could help," you say with a shrug. "A novel concept, I'm sure."
He scoffs. "Yeah, because you're doing a great job helping."
You scowl at him- he's not wrong. Yes, it makes more sense to sit back and observe, since neither of you really know what's going on. Everyone in front of you is still bickering for the most part, so maybe they're not as competent as you're hoping they'll be.
But the blond man- Erwin- and his friend Hange look like they know what they're doing. You'll stick with them, maybe.
You decide to call him the Disgruntled Asshole in your head, since you don't have a name. That feels much better. Alright, maybe you can get along with him now.
"Okay, so you're not wrong," you amend, looking to your new acquaintance. "We really don't know what we're doing."
"There you go," he mutters.
"But I don't think it hurts to help, if we know anything," you add, looking to the doors for the first time. "We just have to pick a door, right? They've each got a symbol, so we just... pick a random symbol?"
"Fire, water, earth, and air." The two of you glance at the rest of the group: Erwin's discussing something with Hange, the smoker is pacing, the two girls have abandoned the silent blonde in favor of discussing on their own. "The elements. We have to pick one of the elements."
It's a solid theory. "So we avoid fire, then," you guess.
"We?"
"We, because you're still here." You cross your arms, frowning at him. "If I'm so annoying, why haven't you left?"
He stares at you for a moment. "Because my options are pretty damn slim," he remarks, looking back out to the group.
Fair enough. Erwin and Hange already seem close, the pair of girls are still huddled together, and the blonde won't speak a word to anyone. That leaves the man with the cigarette. You gesture to him. "You could go pair off with him."
"Temperamental," he says immediately. "And I hate smokers."
"Ditto," you mutter.
You glance at him; he's still studying the group. You're stuck in a new place, playing games that could supposedly kill you. Maybe it's not bad to have an ally, even if that ally is a bit bitchy and sort of scares you.
"Two minutes remaining," your phone chirps. Everyone else's phones have made the same jingle.
You turn to him. "What's your name? So I can stop calling you the Disgruntled Asshole in my head."
He stares at you for a moment, sizing you up. He's probably having the same internal debate that you were: whether or not it's worth it to have an ally. "Levi," he says. "Should I stick with Annoying Bitch or do you have a better option?"
You're about to give him your name when someone shouts. The two of you look over to the rest of the group: the smoker is throwing a fit. "It doesn't matter what we pick!" he hollers, looking up to the ceiling. "You guys are just having a laugh, aren't you? Going to kill us all off!"
"Like I said," Levi mutters. "Crazy."
"You said temperamental, actually."
"Same difference."
"No, not really." You look at all four doors again. "Which door do you think? Fire, water, earth, air? If we assume every door has something to that effect behind it, then maybe our best bet is to go with air. What's the worst they can do- blow our hats off? That's only a concern for him," you say, pointing to the smoker that's currently yelling at the ceiling.
When Levi doesn't reply, you look to him. He's staring at Erwin and Hange. Looks like they've abandoned the 'work together as a team' approach, because the two of them haven't done much group bonding since Erwin tried at the very beginning.
"You want to do what they do," you realize.
"I don't trust them," Levi mutters, "but if we're all going to have to clear the same room, following them isn't a bad option."
You frown. "Logic's not bad. I think they're trustworthy, though. Why wouldn't they be? Erwin tried to help, and Hange was trying to help me at the beginning."
"I don't trust them. Or anyone." He looks to you. "Present company included," he says bluntly.
Talk about trust issues. You don't blame him, though: the two of you just met. "I'd be more worried if you did trust me," you say honestly, shrugging. "It goes both ways."
Levi's stare lingers on you. Everyone's phones beep and says, "one minute remaining."
The pair of girls line up in front of the water door. The smoker heads to the earth door. Erwin and Hange discuss for another moment, then move to the air door. "Air it is?" you ask, a bit of smugness seeping into your tone.
He rolls his eyes. "You're annoying."
"Says you."
You move towards the door with the air symbol on it. When you join Hange and Erwin, you look back to Levi, who groans before he walks towards you. "You determined this was best as well?" Erwin asks, looking to you.
You shrug. "Sure."
"It'll be fine," Hange says encouragingly. "Yay! Four rounds, right? We can make the next decisions all together."
"Let's not," Levi mutters as he joins the three of you.
Hange pouts. "Oh, come on. It's a team game! We need to work together!"
You're still not entirely sure what this all is and what these games mean, but you've figured out that asking gets you nowhere, so you don't even bother.
Your phones all beep in unison. "Time is up. The round is over."
With a massive clang that makes you jump, the doors in front of you swing open. You glance at the other rooms, but you can't see much from your angle. From the looks on everyone's faces, there's nothing out of the ordinary.
"Enter your rooms. Do not pass the red line."
Erwin is the first to move, entering the room. You pause, still a bit confused, but once Hange and Levi both start moving, you follow them tentatively. You stop again just before you can enter the room, but after a quick glance, you see that everyone else has entered already. Swallowing hard, you cross from the empty warehouse space into the room with the air symbol.
The door swings shut behind you. You jump, biting the inside of your cheek to keep from yelling out. The room is long, with nothing but another door at the far end and a red line in front of you.
"Here we go," Erwin says, his voice steady. Your eyes subconsciously find Levi; he's staring at the door.
"You have thirty seconds to clear the room," the robotic voice says as several tiles in the walls and ceilings shift, revealing massive fans.
There's a beep, and an insane gust of wind nearly knocks you off your feet.
Hange's hand snaps out and seizes your arm to keep you from falling over as the wind hits you like a battering ram. You frantically grab for them, desperate to try and avoid falling over, and they're yelling something to you that you can't hear above the wind. But you get the hint: move.
Hange tugs and you follow. Erwin's in the lead, one arm up in front of his face as he pushes further into the room. It's all just wind, wind, and more wind, air in your ears and your nose and Christ it's so loud in here-
You glance behind you and Levi too is pushing through the wind, one arm up to try and keep it from stinging his eyes. You glance at the phone in your hands: twenty five seconds, the timer reads. Crap- only thirty seconds to get across. You need to go.
You grab for Hange and together, the two of you battle the winds to cross the room. It's not a long room, no bigger than the hallway to your apartment, so maybe... twenty feet. That's nothing.
Erwin's already at the other side of the room, fighting with the door. As soon as you make it there, Hange jumps in to help. You look behind you; Levi's caught up with you and he's glaring at the door, as if he could glare hard enough and it would make the door open.
As if on cue, Erwin yanks, and the door opens. A sudden push of wind sends you tumbling through the open doorway and you roll across the ground and out into the next room. Hange and Levi meet the same fate, but Levi's much more suited to it than Hange is: he rolls and lands on his feet while Hange's more like you, sprawled across the ground.
"Holy crap," you choke out when the air comes back to your lungs. "What the hell was that?"
"A tornado in a room!" Hange says with a gleeful laugh as Erwin manages to get out of the room, door closing behind him. "Cool! Anyone seen my glasses?"
"What the fuck," Levi says.
"Yeah, I wear glasses, mister, in case you didn't notice-"
"I'm not saying it about your glasses, I'm saying it about the room," he interrupts, looking to Erwin. "What the fuck was that?"
Erwin's about to answer when the door beside yours opens and the smoker tumbles out, followed by a wave of dirt. You scramble back as soil pours across the ground and the man pushes himself to his feet, brushing dirt off of his pants. "Ten seconds to spare," he says.
You glance at your phone, which somehow remained locked in your grip despite all of that. Ten seconds left on the clock.
"Don't mind me, I have back-up glasses," Hange is saying as you push yourself up to your feet, staring at the timer. That pair of girls- Erika and whoever she was with- went into the water room and the blonde girl went into the fire room. They haven't come out yet. Maybe they're stuck?
With five seconds left on the clock, the door to the water room opens and a flood of water rushes out, carrying the two girls with it, who are choking and gasping for air. Water rushes around your feet and you yelp, not overly excited about getting your shoes wet, but the room seems to have planned for that, because there's several drains in the floor that the water swirls towards.
Both girls are coughing, choking up water as they curl up on the floor. You're baffled- did they have to swim? They would've been hit by a massive wave of water if the room filled up as fast and hard as your wind room did- no wonder it took them nearly the full thirty seconds.
"Three," the smoker says, eyes glued to the last door. "Two. One-"
At the last second, the door flies open, and it feels like the room immediately increases in temperature by several degrees. The sudden heat nearly makes you look away, but something falls out of the room that locks your gaze in. Your mouth dries, your body locks up, and suddenly, you realize that Hange wasn't kidding, not at all.
The girl on fire collapses on the ground, burned beyond recognition, and you scream.