#ayano:post

One after another, the ground shaking as each one blew. The gravel on the floor kept shaking and jumping, almost as if they had a life of their own. The small girl was hiding behind a broken wall, a slight look of fear in her eyes. She looked down at herself noticing she had small cuts and bruises, she also noticed the dirty shirt and jeans she was wearing. They had dirt and dust covering them, with slight traces of blood.

“...”

She looked around. The sky was grey, ash covering most of it. The buildings were dark and gloomy, and have been crushed to rubble. The sight was rather depressing to say the least.

She turned to look behind her, feeling a presence. However as soon as she turned around, she found none. There was a line of human bodies leading to her, each one having a face she vaguely recognized. The one closest to her, held red hair. Next to it was a necklace she recognized all to well.

“..!”

She felt a tap on her shoulder, and there stood another girl. Her hair was a slight blue, and she seemed just as confused as her. Still, she held a smile and held out her hand. With nowhere else to go, she took it and followed her.

Ayano had grown numb to the awful smell the sewers produced. As if the smell of plain old sewers weren’t bad enough, rotting body parts and blood had been mixed in with everything else too. Still, it was considered to be far safer than roaming around outside. The older girl held Ayano’s hand, dragging her through the filth. They luckily managed to find the child before any of the roaming Monokuma tore her to shreds. At first, the younger one protested, refusing to go anywhere with anyone. When the purple -haired savior insisted, Ayano’s protesting eventually led to strange warnings. A warning they would regret traveling with her. When they failed to heed her admonition, Ayano finally gave up.

So here they were, roaming around the sewer system with no particular destination in mind. Occasionally, the older girl would try to make conversation with the younger girl. But they only ever succeeded in getting one worded answers. At the very least. the older girl managed to get Ayano to reveal her name.

Her temporary caretaker claimed she knew a way to escape this living hell. And that she was making her way to one of Towa City’s few bridges. Once they made it to the other side, they would be safe, and future foundation would come save them.

A Mage, Fighter, Hero, Sage, Priest, and now a Guardian. After the world went to hell, Lily ended up roaming back to where everything was least on fire. Towa City. The place was still swarming with Monokuma, sure, but at least the sky wasn’t all black and red, and the air was mostly breathable. Almost as if it was suppose to be an apology for trying to kill her, she dragged along a frazzled Ayano. The older girl had almost shut down, so it was mostly up to Lily to steer them out of danger. As much as they would have loved to use their hacking gun, it disappeared, almost like somebody had taken the damn thing. Frustrating, but she could make do without it. What made things worse, was Ayano’s lack of cooperation. The older girl followed Lily, but Lily basically had to drag her around to go anywhere. At this point, it would’ve been much easier to have just left her to die.

Recalling what Ichi did, Lily found an apartment where both of them could stay in for a while. Just like before, they stayed at the very top floor, where roaming Monokuma were least likely to get them. Once she dragged Ayano into a bed, she left her there and moved back into the living room to draw on whatever she could. Glancing out the window, she noticed a bunch of Monokids looking right back up at her, but Lily couldn’t care less. The entire day those kids turned their heads whenever they saw her, but they never alerted Monokuma’s, or attacked themselves, they just stared at her until she went away. Grabbing a bunch of pencils from a table, she began scribbling on a wall, drawing whatever she could think of until she inevitably got tired. When the red shade filling the sky became a tone darker than usual, Lily decided it would be best to get some sleep. Rather than find an empty bedroom, she simply flopped on top of a couch and fell asleep there.

When she awoke, she wasn’t greeted to the dark and colorless room she was once in. Instead, she woke up in a bright white room, surrounded by five other children. The one with blue hair seemed to be looking at her with distrustful eyes, while the pink one seemed excited to meet her. The green one always kept a distance, as she watched the red one boast about how he saved her from the nearby demon he found. The brown one simply kept mumbling something under his breath, words that Lily couldn’t make out. The brown one with the mask creeped her out, and her look of disgust seemed to give it pleasure. 

Lily didn’t recall much about the detail in between meeting the other children, who called themselves “The Warriors of Hope.” She had just woken up and was hardly paying attention to a word they said. The pink one seemed particularly interested in her small wings, now disheveled from being neglected for so long. And although the blue one seemed hesitant to let her join, at the end it was the one in the wheelchair who made all the decisions. Despite being a bit younger than them, the pink one seemed to have convinced the green one by begging her, claiming she wanted a little sister. The leader was fine with this, under the condition they raised her to be “Big sis Elizabeth’s” successor. While the pink demon couldn’t care less, they happily agreed. 

Something else happened, and next thing Lily knew, Ayano entered the room with a black wristband, much to the red one’s displeasure. After a conversation Lily couldn’t be bothered to remember, Ayano was ejected, falling through the sky back into the Monokuma infested wasteland. Lily couldn’t feel a shred of empathy, telling herself that the older girl was bound to die eventually. Once that was said and done, the other children grew obsessed with giving Lily a role. They had a Mage, Fighter, Hero, Sage, and Priest. Nothing felt like it was missing, but they still needed another role for their new member. Eventually, they were given the title of The Guardian, curtsy of the green one. 

A Mage, Fighter, Hero, Sage, Priest.

Ayano picked herself up from the ground. By now, she fully expected to have died. At the very least, she expected to be injured. The door was still open in the exact position Lily had left it. Checking to make sure the hallway was empty, she then rushed off to Robin’s room. After collecting her scissors, she moved over to Ichi’s room. If Lily was still in the building, she’d likely be in Ichi’s room.

Sure enough, Lily was fast asleep in Ichi’s bed. Monokat was watching over her on top of a book, his back facing Ayano.

“...”

Silently, Ayano backed away. She didn’t want to catch either of their attention, so she simply backed away. Something happened, and she wasn’t dead. Lily wasn’t awake right now, so she didn’t have to worry about her. What to do, what to do...

Robin and Akira still weren’t home, and it was midnight. Unsure of to where Akira may be, Ayano decided it would be wiser to find Robin instead. She knew the caretaker was going to meet up with Ichi in the forest to talk, so that was a good first step.

It was midnight and Ichi still hadn’t returned. It worried Lily a bit. Maybe something happened? She had gotten bored of reading, and had been roaming around the top floor. The thought of playing with Ayano occurred to her. Maybe something like hide-and-seek? Upon entering Robin’s room however, Lily found the girl was fast asleep in bed. After attempting a couple of times to wake her older sister (to no avail,) Lily gave up.

Walking back to her room, Lily’s eyes wandered around the dark hallway. The moonlight gleamed through the windows, providing some light in the dark hallway. With everybody gone, she felt lonely. That is, until she felt somebody hug her from behind.

Two had a smile as she embraced her younger sister. It took Lily a while to notice who it was. In her eyes, Two had changed drastically. The color in her eyes were different, her hair was longer, and she looked far more confident. Shifting in the woman’s arms, Lily turned to hug Two back. After letting go, Lily began signing. Aside from Amai, she hadn’t really ever head a reason to use this skill. She only ever learned the skill to communicate with her sister more effectively. Of course, Two wasn’t mute, she just found it much easier to stay silent at times. Especially before, when speaking out of line was discouraged. Two didn’t bother to learn sign language for Lily though, disinterested and busy with other things. Interrupting Lily midway, she prompted a question.

“Lily, you love your big sis, right?”

 A little surprised to hear Two talking she paused, after a moment the child eagerly nodded her head. Two then slipped a knife into the child’s hands.

The friendly Lily seemed to have snapped. She pulled away from Ayano’s grip, looking rather cross while she did so. Ayano looked exasperated, growing tired of trying to convincing Lily to come with them. Robin had tried to convince the girl to come with them to the orphanage as well, but the stubborn child refused to do so. Even when Robin lied and told her that Ichi was coming as well, Lily hadn’t moved an inch. Robin didn’t want to give up though, terrified of what could happen to the 5 year-old if they were left with Jay. Growing tired, Ayano tried to drag Lily with them. Alas, the only thing Ayano succeeded in was scarring her.

By the time Ayano and Lily arrived at Jay’s house, Ayano looked like a complete mess. Her hair was in knots, and her clothes had all kinds of stains on it. Lily on the other hand, seemed to be perfectly okay. Not only was she unharmed, but she didn’t look anywhere near as messy as Lily did. 

As soon as they closed the front door, they ran into Robin and Jay, who were both in the living room sitting against each other. While Jay was reading a book, Robin was playing some game on a console. Despite how focused they once were, their immersion soon broke upon hearing the duo. 

Although Ayano was about to run and hug Robin, she froze upon seeing Jay. The last time she saw him, he was trying to hurt Ichi. What the entertainer and caretaker were doing together, Ayano had no idea. Unlike her friend, Lily ran over to hug the adults. Finally, there were people to make her feel safe. Both of them jumped at the touch, confused as to why a small child was hugging them. 

Ayano quickly pulled Lily off the duo, scared Jay would hurt her. Jay hardly reacted, hell, it didn’t even look like he remembered who Ayano was. On the other hand, Robin looked rather confused. What was Ayano doing here? What happened to her? Who was the other girl?

A miniature robotic cat, a narcoleptic girl, and a small child. Despite how odd their group seemed, it was almost impossible for any Monokuma to get near them. Lily’s hacking gun shot through any bear that hadn’t spotted them, while the Monokat tore apart any bear that got to close. Ayano was the only one who wasn’t killing any Monokuma’s, instead opting to carry Lily so they could get around faster. They made such quick work of the bears, it was infuriating the onlooking Monokuma kids. 

Soon enough, they made it to a train station. Without any moving trains, it wasn’t gonna be very easy to made it to the end of the tunnel. Ayano didn’t voice her concerns though, instead following the Monokat. 

It was a miracle the lights there still on, although it seemed like the place was on the verge of collapse. Furthermore, it was almost empty. Neither of the girls expected anybody to be roaming around, but they were at least expecting a Monokuma or two. The place was empty though, which at least made it easier for them. Lily looked down at Ayano, who gave her a smile.