#dv drabble

[brotein-not-for-bros]

Chapter One: END

If Akihiko had to describe the day’s events in a single word, it would be “soul-crushing.”

When Akihiko woke up this morning, there were (at least to his knowledge) zero people in the group dead. And now, as everyone slowly filed out of the “courtroom” with varying levels of broken despair on their faces, two of them had died. Noah and Goro. Akihiko didn’t know either of them too well, but neither of them deserved the end they got. Even murder didn’t justify the punishment Goro had received...Akihiko had to look away as the blood rose upwards over Goro, but the blood-stained scene left afterwards was downright sickening.

“We’re all murderers, now,” he heard someone say. His first reaction was to think No, not all of us--he’d been one of the few people not to cast their vote--but he knew that wasn’t true. Vote or no, he had been a part of Goro’s death. Akihiko’s shoulders sagged as he felt the weight of this sink in. Having blood on his hands was something he hoped to never get used to, especially after seeing the saying brought to life in such a horrifying manner.

Powerless...there was that familiar feeling. Once again, faced with someone’s death, Akihiko had been powerless to do anything. If he had just...if he had just what? Punched a little girl? Pulled his Evoker against the one with the gun? Tried to free Goro from his execution? If only he could summon Caeser here...no, he was not going into that mindset again.

He finally tore his gaze from the detective’s final act and filed into the elevator. No, he couldn’t give up here...he still had people to fight for, and would he do his best to the very end. Still, that didn’t make the churning in his gut or the fog in his head or the gentle weeping he heard any easier to bear.

Once the elevator opened its doors at the lobby with a soft ‘ding,’ Akihiko stepped out into the room, and stopped, unsure where to go. He was exhausted from the day’s events, but he got restless when he was stressed...no way he could go back to his room yet. He simply stood and watched as everyone else wandered out of the room, leaving just a couple of other anguishing souls in the room with him.

[brotein-not-for-bros]

Chapter Five: END

Once again, over the course of a single day, Akihiko’s life had gotten flipped completely upside down.

Finding another two people dead--one of them the person on the island he trusted above all others here--was only the beginning of it all.

The discovery of the two bodies was nearly enough by itself to put Akihiko in shock. Only seven people remaining, not to mention that Mr. Thyme was now gone forever...Akihiko’s mind swung between numbness and nearly-overwhelming sadness throughout most of the investigation; at least he’d discovered a piece of decisive evidence (though even that was a double-edged sword...)

Things only got worse at the trial. After a very circular and sometimes frustrating discussion with the ever-shrinking group, they were finally faced with the knowledge that Bendy was the one who’d poisoned the teachers. What’s more, Bendy was the traitor, the one among them who had been working for the mastermind all this time, with two deaths to his name and the blood of many more on his hands. While that revelation only intensified the upheaval inside Aki’s mind, the resident inky demon had a lot more to tell them all.

Not only had Akihiko’s life inside the killing game gotten much worse yet again, but his entire view of the game itself was changed. This twisted murder-go-round on the island was being broadcast as a TV show across the world, complete with its own popularity poll.  And everyone on the island had been here before--as classmates.

It was that last reveal that really took Akihiko back. Those strange images in his mind from the past weeks...they were memories coming back to him. Looks like he’d never get a chance now to tell Clive...though, considering his last acts, maybe that was for the best.

Ever since the last trial, Akihiko had felt troubled, the events of the personality swap compounded by the news of a traitor being among them. But now, Akihiko just felt...empty. Defeated, almost. The person here he trusted the most (perhaps even relied on?) was gone forever, and the culprit was not easy to say goodbye to either. The words “I’m fighting for him as well” came to his mind unbidden, but Akihiko was in no mood to fight. What would Shinji (and the rest of his comrades from SEES) say if they could see him like this? As if they would let him fall down and give up if he could see him like this, but somehow he was about ready to do that.

Somewhere deep inside, Akihiko could still feel the smoldering embers of the fighter he knew himself to be, but it would be some time before they caught fire and brought him back to his usual state. For the time being, all he could do was survive. Even if he couldn’t summon Caeser here, he still had his Evoker as physical proof of his ability to survive. He’d made it through Tartarus; what was a little Hell in comparison to that?

[brotein-not-for-bros]

Chapter Five: START

Akihiko had been...not right lately. Sure, there had been that whole episode where the entire island switched personalities, but from what he could tell he’d gotten off a lot lighter than most.

And a whole lot lighter than two people, whose new traits had cost him their lives. What weighed heaviest on his mind, though, was that one of the dead had received his personality.

Akihiko was well aware that he could sometimes dive into situations that he had no business getting into, but he wouldn’t call himself hot-headed or short-tempered. But when possibly the most well-mannered soul on this vacation swapped traits with him, she lashed out and sparked a struggle that ended with two more people dead. How did that reflect on him, exactly? Was he just some ticking time bomb, waiting to be set off? Was he a brash and irresponsible fool, only kept alive this long by his own strength?

...no, that couldn’t be right. If he was strong, then he could have followed through on his conviction to stop Clive from killing anybody, right? If he was strong, he could have saved both their lives; he’d taken on things a lot scarier than a Skullboy and lived to tell the tale.

Aki sighed, head in his hands as he sat alone in his room. He though he’d moved past this way of thinking since the incident with Shinji, but something about this still cut him deep...At least he was able to remember everything he had been through with Shinji, while something about Clive’s importance to him still eluded him...

Not to mention the issue of the bear’s latest surprise. A traitor among them...the idea only multiplied his unease. Sure, the bear could be lying as he had with the bomb threat, but he couldn’t be too certain of that...was he just trying to rattle them, by planting such a thought in their heads right on the heels of the last tragedy?

...enough of this. Akihiko stood up from his chair and walked out of the room, headed down the staircase. Maybe he should go visit the beach; a little fresh air and seagazing might do him some good...

[thymeforpuns-blog]

Memoriam

The screams, the screams - they still echo, even as he staggers out of the room that the trial had been in, feeling sick to his stomach. Nobody deserved such a fate as that - no matter what they had done. Yet - if he had simply noticed more instead of suspecting everyone of trying to hurt him: of trying to use him in the investigation, the fact remained he could have found things, possibly, to assist in ending it for Clive’s sake sooner.

Not for the first time, he felt disgusted with himself. Yet...if he simply wallowed in it, that would say he had not listened, not learned a thing while Clive, dearest Clive, was still here, would it not? He...he made a promise. Both to him, and to Uta - if there was one positive out of being fearful of everyone and assuming they wanted nothing more than to doubt, than to toss him aside: it was that now he was himself, he didn’t want to be like that again.

Not now, nor ever: he owed it to Clive, who had held faith in his ability to save others even while under demonic control, even to the end. He owed it to Uta, to Celica...to all the others who had passed away.

“Clive....you might not be able to even hear me now. I....I am a man of my word. If anything, I want to still be that one positive light you felt was noticable from the school, even now you’re gone...”

So it was he went to the convenience store. It took a lot of looking, but eventually he found a blue hat that looked so similar to the one his son in spirit had worn. 

“To show you the meaning of my words, both in action and spirit...I shall do this.”

It was...admittedly, quite difficult to fit his curly hair under it. It stuck out badly. Yet stepping out the store, Justin now had...the same type of hat Clive would have worn, but he’d pinned his clown symbol to it. It seemed as good a physical way of showing he meant the promise as any.

[argusagonized-blog]

> Chapter Three: End!

      It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

      Watching the killer of her best friend be torn apart in his execution did not feel as satisfying as she wanted it to—she keeps her eyes on Tougou’s mangled body for some time, even long after the others have gone. Of course, she feels absolutely nothing for this pathetic lowlife, but maybe, just maybe, if she stares long enough, she’ll feel the satisfaction that she’s grown to desire after every execution.

      Try as she might, however, Peacock feels absolutely nothing. She wonders if it’s because she didn’t get a chance to off the conman herself. Justice is supposed to feel vindicating, but not when it feels as if everything is slipping from her control.

      Mind swimming with different thoughts (many of which she wishes she could put out completely), Peacock slowly collects herself, leaving the trial room and reluctantly making her way toward the only place she feel she can be right now: the ruins of the planetarium. She didn’t have enough time to put the body somewhere safe, and in her panic put it back among the rubble, hoping that it would remain untouched as soon as she got back. 

      Don’t you ever think, Patricia? Why did you take so long to get back to her? What if that bear took her away to add her body to the others in the museum!? She couldn’t allow that to happen to Marie. Her best friend deserves better than what she got.

      I would’ve given you a better death, Marie, she thinks to herself as she pushes aside the rubble she used to conceal the body, finding it exactly where she left it. Thank God. As delicately as she can, Peacock picks up what remains of her best friend’s body, propping them up on one of the fallen pieces of concrete and putting her only hand in her lap. Without a spine, it’s difficult to get her to sit up, so this will do for the time being. She makes sure to take the pendant off of her as well, storing it into her hat for safe keeping.

      She looks so peaceful like this, even in pieces...

      Backing away, Peacock breathes steadily, slowly, trying to stop the tears from coming for even a second. Perhaps what she’s about to do is more for herself than for Marie—the idea of anyone besides herself handling the body makes her sick to her stomach. She saw what that bear did to the others! Marie won’t be put on display for other’s enjoyment! No way in hell would Patricia Watson let that happen to one of the few people she’s ever loved!

      How long has it been since she’s done this? She feels rusty almost, letting Avery take the wheel and aim her eyes at her. He almost asks if she’s sure, but seeing how determined she is, he already knows the answer she’ll give. Patricia can feel his reluctance, but he should know how she is by now. This is the only way she can reclaim what was taken from her, Avery! Let her have this! LET HER HAVE THIS!

                                                      “EYES... OF ARGUS!”

      The sound of multiple shots being fired ring into the night, but she’s uncertain if anyone would be conscious enough to hear them. At the very least, nothing remains to show what she did beyond another burnt out spot on the planetarium (another to add to the pile, she supposes). She stares at where Marie’s body was for a time, a pit knotting in her stomach the more she looks. Finally turning away, Peacock leaves the scene, missing the feeling of having Marie there to hold her hand after each execution.

      Good thing she saved her severed arm, then. Taking it out of her hat, she holds it gently, thinking about how nicely their hands go together. Nobody can take this away from her. Nobody.

[thymeforpuns-blog]

Hear No evil

It took until now to fully realize, now that he was coherent again and gotten sleep: but in the end, Justin knew that the lack of rest had gotten even to himself. Even to one as restless as him, for being able to hear was blocked off to him: yet what he had seen would remain burned into his visions, plauge his constant nightmares that were the reason he didn’t like to sleep for the rest of his days now, he knew.

Not only had his beloved gone in past, but one of the students he was closest to: and Bendy had suffered too. Was this all simply some kind of punishment? He would have rathered he suffer a thousand times than see his students suffer so: but Wataru, the one so much like himself, had struck him hard. The one who gave cheer to students, but also himself...

He’d never even gotten to hear him say goodbye, but the look of pain on Wataru’s face haunted him even now. If...if he’d talked more to the students while struggling to make coffee to keep everyone awake, would that have changed things? He’d wanted to listen to his students when they needed him...he’d failed in even that.

"I suppose, in the end, I deserved that side affect...if....if I had listened, would I have talked you down, Wataru? Haha...I must be a pathetic teacher indeed, talking to myself."

Justin laughed, but it was a laugh full of sadness and self-shame. No joy was to be found in the teacher’s laugh, for once. In the end....he’d failed Wataru most of all, by not being able to listen, and it was a burden he’d forever carry, forever be reminded of every time he saw the pain on Bendy’s face...

So he stood in the silence, sobbing. How could he even try to be optimistic, when he’d failed his students so dismally?

[brotein-not-for-bros]

There were a lot of things about the vacation’s rendezvous with the bizarre blabbering bear that unnerved Akihiko, but chief among those was the bear itself. Whatever that thing was, it wasn’t anything natural, and he had a hard time believing that human technology could create such a thing.

But, he did have extensive experience with unnatural black creatures, many of which took the shape of something from human society. The only problem with that theory, though, was that in his time on the island, he hadn’t seen any of the other signs of Shadows. There was no nightly Dark Hour, no bizarre tower rose out of the ground, nobody was suddenly becoming a listless zombie.

Still, there was one final test he could do to see if the Shadows were crossing over into this place...

When he get back to his room after the announcement, he tightly locked the door and closed the blinds over the window. He went over to his still half-full duffle bag and dug under the clothes and things still in it, opening up a secret pocket and pulling out a bright silver handgun and a red armband. He stared at the armband for a moment before sliding it up his arm, the acronym “S.E.E.S.” now showing on his upper left arm. Man, who thought I’d be needing this here?

Akihiko took in a deep breath and let it out. With the gun in his left hand, he pointed it at his forehead from below, firmly said “Persona!” and pulled the trigger.

CLICK

He pulled it again.

CLICK

...so, it seemed it couldn’t summon Caeser here. For better or for worse, that meant that the Shadows weren’t involved in whatever was happening here. Which was probably a good thing for the nineteen other vacationers, but Akihiko couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed that his only lead was a dead end.

Walking back to the corner his duffle sat in, he slid the armband off and stick it with the gun back into the secret pocket. He had a feeling he’d be reaching for that pocket again soon, though...if “murder” was the word of the week, having a handgun-like object on him just might save his life.

[aspiringstarlight]

Tohru didn’t know why he’d agreed to go on this damn vacation.

It was stupid, really- the letter itself was suspicious as all hell, and he was on an island. Stuck out in the middle of nowhere, shitty service for his cell- if it wasn’t for the multitude of other handhelds he kept on him, he would’ve been having a panic attack.

Most of the others seemed to be... okay enough with the situation, but Tohru felt like banging his head against a damn wall. Who in their right mind decided to invite the shsl shut-in to an island?!

Thinking on it in more detail, the only real reason he’d agreed to this was because of his sister. She’d been pushy as all hell at trying to get him to leave the house- first with even going to school, and she’d of course decided that this vacation sounded smart.

Greeeaaaat.....

At least the accommodations were nice.