DanganRonpa: Prepare for Despair

"Erm...Nothing! Nothing happened!" The bear hollered, "You must be imagining things!"

Liam rolled his eyes and continued approaching. "Sure."

Liam walked backstage to find Monokuma near the ladder. Next to the bear was a small trapdoor, leading down under the stage, "Gah!"The bear jumped at the sight of Liam before jumping into the hole and slamming the trapdoor down behind him. There was a small handle visible that hadn't been noticed before.

Liam considered going down after him... then considered fetching someone to come with him. Then changed his mind again. He wasn't disobeying any rules. So he pulled open the trap door and slipped inside, keeping a wary eye out.

Felix strolled into the cafeteria to find a message scrawled on the door in blood. "ITS TIME" He rushed in the door to find Alicia laying still on the floor. On the wall behind her was more writing, "THE FINAL MURDER IS AT HAND"

"Alicia..." The sound seemed to go from his ears, all that was left was the hum of silence, like when a refrigerator stops humming and all you're left with is the tense air that makes you all the more aware of the noislessness. "Alicia." Even his own voice didn't penetrate the dense fog that had clouded his mind. He could see nothing but Alicia lying on the ground before him. He suddenly became aware that he was on his knees ('When did that happen?'). Around the same time he also noticed moisture on his cheeks that indicated he had started crying and also that he hadn't drawn a breath since he walked into the room and saw her. A heartbeat later, dry, heaving sobs racked his body. He opened his mouth as if to call out to her once again but his lips moved wordlessly. His arms hung limp at his sides, his hands splayed on the floor beside him. Tears rolled like rivers down his face before dripping off it and into his lap. He thought about going to get someone but the thought left his mind as quickly as it had entered. All he could do was stare at her.

Liam made his way down the hole as carefully as he could. The rungs on the ladder were rusted over and some bent a little as he climbed down. He reached the bottom to find a dark room, lit by a single lightbulb and a row of dim monitors, surrounded by a small control console. The floor was mostly stone, but there was a large gray rug in the middle of the room. There was a small hallway leading away from the ladder to Liam's left. In the corner of the room was the stage lift from when the bear introduced itself. The wall next to it was covered in photos, each one featuring the students.

Most of them were fun images, one depicting a small foodfight between a few students, much to the disdain of Heather and Alicia in the background, another showing the students outside, tossing a frisbee around and playing soccer. A select few were more formal. One seemed to be a school photo of all of the students standing together. Standing with them was an unfamiliar girl with bright red hair, grinning from ear to ear for the picture. One picture feature a small blonde girl, hugging Alann, who was wearing a dark blue hat atop his head, hiding his hair. He was frowning at the camera, dark rings around his eyes. The last picture on the wall showed the students all gathered around a crying Lys, her face red. Nadine sat next to her, hugging her, with the red headed girl, Devin, Felix and Leit all waiting close by. The rest of the group looked on with sad eyes from further away, with Alann wearing the same hat as the earlier picture, and surprisingly, Chris sitting in a wheelchair.

The bear spun around in the chair, "Well. This was unexpected."

Heather was walking back from the Laundry room when she heard Felix's sobs. She made her way to the cafeteria, doing her best to ignore the damage that was done to the door. She gasped as she walked in, "Alicia..." She walked over to where she lay and sat next to her. She swallowed hard before putting her fingers to Alicia's throat, like Julie had shown her with Leit. She closed her eyes and moved her fingers a bit.

Julie walked out of the Computer Room and sighed. She turned down the hallway to go to the workshop when she noticed it. The gate that had been in front of the third floor had been raised. She walked over to it and looked upstairs. Against the wall upstairs, sat Devin, propped up against it. His eyes were closed a small amount of blood ran down his chin, "D...Devin?" Julie cautiously made her way up the stairs. She checked behind her several times and even ducked down and checking around the corners of the stairway as she reached the top. She walked over to Devin and knelt down beside him. She watched him for a second, before nodding. She saw his chest moving, signaling that he was breathing. She stood back up and began looking around the hallways, "So...who did this?"

Felix was completely unresponsive as Heather walked into the room. He simply sat there on his knees, his breath coming in heaving pants.

Heather opened her eyes, "I found it." She said, her voice shaking. She turned to Felix and smiled, a few tears in her eyes, "I...I found a pulse!" She beckoned Felix to come closer.

Felix blinked owlishly, his eyes never moving from Alicia's face. Slowly, he took hold of her hand and with deep, shaking breaths, brought it to his lips.

Heather stood up and walked into the kitchen, putting on a hairnet before grabbing two glasses and filling them with water. She walked back to the cafeteria and handed one to Felix before taking a deep breath and dumping the water on Alicia's face. "Sorry, sorry sorry." She muttered.

Felix continued to ignore Heather. It wasn't eactly like he ignored her, it was just there was nothing that penetrated the haze of his mind at the moment.

Alicia sputtered and opened her eyes. She tried to sit up quickly but ended up laying back down. "Wha-what h-h-happened?" She stuttered and looked around. Her head was pounding and she felt confused.

"Alicia..." the word fell unbidden out of Felix's mouth. Onec again he brought her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. Finally coming back to his senses he wiped his tear stained face and let go of her hand. "Do you know who did this to you?" His voice was flat with no emotion but in his eyes raged a fierce anger.

Alicia blinked again. The she saw the writing on the cafeteria wall. "I-is that blood?" She reached her hand back to her own head to make sure it wasn't hers on that wall. "Someone here tried to k-kill me?" Her confusion washed away and she started to shake with fear or anger, she wasn't sure which. She sat straight up and screamed.

Devin was pulled back to consciousness by Julie's voice. "Jul-- Ow." He spat out a dollop of blood.

"You don't have to talk. Just rest until you can stand." She looked around the hallway again.

Heather knelt down and grabbed Alicia's shoulders, "Overexerting yourself won't help anyone. Lay down and rest for awhile. We can wait for others to get here."

Felix pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around Alicia's shoulders. He had heard that people who go into shock get cold, and he wanted to make Alicia as comfortable as possible, besides, she was shaking. Mechanically he picked up the glass of water Heather had set beside him and pressed it into Alicia's hands. "Drink," he said in a quiet voice.

Alicia nodded and shakily raised the glass to her lips.

Heather stood up, "Now if you'll excuse me. I have this mess to clean up." She signaled to the blood stains.

Devin winced, then stood up. He wobbled a bit and leaned against the wall. "Ch'orohorm," he said, trying not to use his tongue. "'Unno who di' i'." Or how they got it, for that matter.

"Who were they?" Liam ventured, not expecting a straight answer.

Julie raised her eyebrow, "You're sure about that?"