CYPHER

Gamemaster

It took them a while to navigate the woods , quite the longest time they had spent in the woods.

Actually , it was more than a while but they did get the hang of it later on and were soon out of the woods and on their way to the church .

When they arrived at the church about an hour later , Blade and Jade were waiting outside for them , this was new .

They were seated on the stairs and talking to each other about something that seemed to be quite animated and engrossing as they had not noticed Dean and May walking up to them even though they were not even trying to be stealthy .

They turned around when they finally heard their footsteps from behind them and watched them walk a while before they moved .

Blade walked down the stairs and hugged May roughly , grabbing her and lifting her a little so she was on the same height as he was .

He held her for a while and May did not seem to have an issue with it , she let him hold her , her legs dangling inches from the floor , he finally spoke , his voice muffled because of the situation he was in .

" Kiddo , where did you think you could go in that state of yours ? "

" Do you know how shocked we were when we could not find you ? I was positive that someone had dragged you off ".

May only chuckled and hugged Blade briefly before punching him lightly in his stomach .

Blade dropped her on her feet and doubled over , clutching his stomach and breathing deeply and then , she turned her attention on Jade who turned pale immediately he noticed that she was now looking at him .

" Uhmm , I am also glad you are okay , we were all really worried and scared ".

" I did not think you had been dragged off though , I believed that no one could do that to you ".

May chuckled and gestured with a finger for him to move closer , her face taking on a devilish smirk as her fingers crooked slightly .

" Why ? I am very fine standing right here , I do not think there is any reason for us to get any closer ".

May groaned softly and dropped her fingers , her smirk becoming a full blown glare as she focused solely on Jade who was beginning to look like a deer caught before headlights .

" Come here and take it while I am being really nice to you , you will not like it if I decide not to be nice anymore , I will not like it either ".

Jade closed his eyes and did as she said , blindly taking a deep breath and a couple of steps towards her .

He slowly exposed his mid region when he reached her and she did not waste time , smiling evilly and flexing her fist before punching him too , his eyes flew open as he also doubled over and clutched his stomach , groaning inaudibly .

Blade was standing straight now , his stomach still being clutched as he watched the happenings , he had a crooked smile on his face .

" I can not believe we missed you and were worried for your safety when we should have been worried for the people you would meet and their safety , Anyways, What is this for ? "

May smiled as she looked between the two of them , she was no longer grumpy and looked immensely satisfied .

" Well , since none of you deemed it worthy enough to inform me of your absence , I thought I should hit you in exchange , fair trade , do you not think I made the right decision too ? ".

Dean watched as Jade and Blade both turned to him , they both had very weird looks on their faces as they spoke simultaneously .

" Did Dean receive the same thing ? "

" I bet you skipped Dean , didn't you ? Fair trade , more like fair bull s**t ".

Dean only shrugged while May suddenly began to stutter , her bravado from a second ago lost as she faced Jade and Blade's strict post beating inquiry .

" W...Why would...would I skip Dean ? I hit him already , right Dean ? "

Dean shook his head at all of them and walked past them, avoiding contact with each of them as he headed straight into the church , where he headed straight for his room .

He took off his rifle and Kevlar vest , loosening his shirt a little before he left the room again .

At the altar , Dean saw that Blade and Jade had no problem eating while he was gone and in search of May .

They had finished the loaf of bread that they had been eating and the carton of milk was thrown to a corner , so it was probably empty too , there was even an opened bottle of some kind of cream that was half gone, they had really eaten half in one seating?

They had totally deserved the punch that May had given them .

He sat at the edge of the altar and watched them come into the church , they were still arguing about her hits .

Blade stopped the argument and started a conversation of how they had gone to the mall .

They both looked proud as they described what had happened in her absence to her .

" I am telling you , there was an explosion from inside and I was out of grenades , I was so sure that we were done for when they suddenly drove out from the midst of the fire , Dean's gun was literally blazing ".

Blade looked to Jade to complete the rest of the story .

" And then when we were out , The autobots tried to follow us through but we did not know that Dean already dropped another grenade while we were escaping . The grenade blew up just as soon as the autobots tried to crawl out and then the whole lineup of cars just collapsed on the autobots that had been trying to get out , it was like a scene out of a movie and ... ".

Dean interrupted them by clearing his throat noisily to gain their attention , they stopped their story telling and turned to him .

" I need to talk to you guys ".

They all looked peeved to have had their story time interrupted but they eventually got past it and moved forward .

When they saw how serious Dean looked , they separated from each other and began to walk towards the alter .

" Did something happen on your way ? "

Dean shook his head at Blade's assessment and then stopped when he realized that it had of course happened on his way .

" It is something that May said that got me thinking ".

May looked around at each of them .

" Something that I said ? "

May asked as she settled on the first pew , Blade and Jade joined her and Dean turned to completely face them .

" May mentioned that this was a game and it made me remember something I once heard , gamemasters ".

They were all quiet until Blade spoke softly .

" Like the way there are referees in soccer ".

" And umpires in other games , It makes sense for this game to have a figure like that too ".

" Exactly ! ".

Dean looked over at Jade who seemed to be thinking quite deeply about it .

" What do you think , Jade ? Is it feasible ? "

Jade lifted his head and looked at Dean , he grimaced slightly .

" Looking at the theme of the game so far , I would say that it was completely feasible for the game to have a gamemaster in it ".

Dean nodded and turned to May who was glaring heavily at nothing in particular .

" What are you thinking about May ? "

She looked to him , her glare intensifying as she did so .

" Do you not see what this really means ? There is someone in this town with us that is partly responsible for the deaths of all of these people , and that person is with us , acting like one of us , pretending to be in as much danger as us ".

This was enough to get them all quiet as they thought about this .

From the corner of Dean's eyes , he saw Jade shiver a little , Blade's fist tighten and May's face dissolve into a whirl storm of anger .

" For someone to watch over the progress of the game , they would have to be somewhere that would be easier to watch from ".

May nodded as she cracked her fingers .

" A vantage point or a vantage team ".

Blade stood up .

" All of the other teams are not as mainstream as the ones from the Arena and the Gauntlet ".

Jade nodded awkwardly .

" What better place to referee from than a stage of fighters ? "

Dean lay down on the altar and focused on the beautiful ceiling .

" Whoever this gamemaster is , he is always at the Arena and he has to be from a good enough team to watch other people and not draw attention by doing it ".

" Carlos' team !! ".

They all turned to May after she yelled .

That was the most obvious team and the team they had all been thinking of .

But , it was all too tricky . The gamemaster could be using Carlos' team as a cover because it was too well coordinated to not be suspected and at the same time, The gamemaster might not be in the team after all.

" It is not Carlos though ".

This time , they all turned to Blade .

He looked between all of them and smiled warily .

" What I mean is that , it would be simply too obvious if it was Carlos ".

Dean nodded in agreement , it would be too obvious and too simple if it was Carlos .

" What of the gauntlet's commentator ? If it is someone whose eyes need to be everywhere and at a vantage point , he is perfect for that and he talks so much that it is hard for anyone to suspect him of anything when they are too busy trying to get away from his constant droning ".

They all chuckled at May's statement but it made sense .

" However we see it , The gamemaster is someone at the Arena ".

They all nodded in agreement with Dean .

" And we need to get to the Arena to observe if we ever intend to find them ".

Blade raised a finger up and Dean paused his speech .

He watched Blade take the finger to his lips and slowly stand up .

Dean gestured for May and Jade to quietly leave the pews before he too left for his room .

He was looking between his rifle and his bows when he realized that he had never bothered to ask Blade what they had been preparing to attack or who was planning to attack them .