#ds event

⧱Ravenous⧱

{"Mwahahaha!"}

-

Worriedly gazing at the lingering shadows, you sigh and glance at your book. The journal was one of the few things you had from your former home. You were at least grateful you had your bag with you before...

"Miss (Y/N)?"

Immediately tensing up, you let out a small squeak as you turn around in your spot. Before letting go of the breath you didn't even know you were holding.

"A-ah.. Um.. Hi.." You croak out softly, smiling awkwardly at him. "I... I just wanted to get s-some notes down before turning in.. I guess.." You explained loosely, turning away as you grab your bag.

"S-so.. What brings you.. Here?" You blink, glancing at where he once stood. "Where-?"

"Ah, I'm glad you found more items for the camp-" Wilson states as he leans down to your side. Reading over your notes unabashedly as you yelp in surprise.

"Ack-!" Twisting around once again, you fall off your spot on the log...

A quiet whimper escaped your throat as Wilson quickly rushed to your aid. Helping you regain your bearings as you dizzily thank him. Shaking it off once he cleared his throat.

"Miss (Y/N), I assume you've be curious of where I've been the last few nights." He stated politely, standing tall as you readjusted yourself in your seat.

"Y-yeah.. I've been a bit worried. I thought you got hurt." You said softly, frown at the idea.

Wilson eyes widen as he meets your timid irises.

A slow... Almost a snarl of a smile overcomes his face. He clears his throat once more as he smiled more kindly. "That's rather thoughtful of you, but as I told you. I am incapable of being hurt, Her Majesty made it so. So don't worry pretty little head over it."

Wilson said a bit more smugly than intended, drinking in your doubtful expressions. While it was un-gentlemanly to make a young lady be distressed, he couldn't help adoring the exquisite feeling in his chest when you inspect him.

"R-right.. Sorry."

"No need, but as I was saying. I've returned, along with good news. No monsters lurking tonight near your base." Wilson grabs your journal, dusting it off carefully as he hands it to you.

Your smile shyly, "oh, thanks and.. For letting me know.." You reply, taking the small item, placing it back within your bag.

"My pleasure."

-

You were one of the newest survivors on the island.

A shy, sweet thing...

You were alone for the most apart, hunting and surviving best you could. Until.. It wasn't just you.

You eye the stranger as you kept your distance. Afraid as he smiled at you with intrigue.

"Hello, Madame."

He spoke soothingly, seeing the way you tried to make yourself smaller. His sharp teeth form into a grin. "The Queen has taken notice of you and asked me personally to keep a watchful eye on you for the time being."

Just like that, you weren't alone anymore.

The two of you became a pair of sorts, where you'd go, he'd follow. Oftentimes, he'd shape-shift into an animal or monster to aid you.

Which you didn't mind too much.

You hold out your pointer finger for the bird to land on. Giggling as the crow caws in amusement. "Sometimes I forget that this place is..."

Your words drift off a bit, "I-I mean... It's like a fairytale! But.. Less romance and more twisted fantasy." You try to joke as Wilson tilts his head, a soft caw leaving him as you try another topic to discuss.

You.. Opened up to him, more content with him.

He did as well, feeling somewhat softer within your presence.

Until it wasn't just the two of you anymore..

"Why must you put up with that horrid man?" Your companion asks, seething bitterly at the sleeping Maxwell.

"He.. Needed help.. I guess?" You blink innocently, not sure why Wilson hated the man. Your friend merely sighs, shifting into a Vargling as he curled up beside you to the fire.

He never felt such feelings as this..

A slimey... Softening feeling in his chest.

"Touch her.. Or hurt her. I'll make sure either I or Queen Charlie will see to it you'll never have rest." Wilson growls at the older man, Maxwell rolls his eyes. He kept his head in his book while you slept peacefully as one could in the Constant.

-

It’s only been a few hours. Enough time to have a conversation or two, or three if you’re the fast-talking type. Time to check out the dorms that are apparently yours, and feel some alarm at finding your belongings already there and ready to be unpacked, as if it were your room back at the school, where you’re supposed to be. It may even be enough time to look around a few of the other rooms in the area, enough to note the total lack of windows or exits, enough to see that while all the essential basic needs are covered, Jamie was right. You’re trapped here.

The closest thing to a way out is the set of doors in the area you all first woke up in. And that’s what you see flickering on the screens of your ElectroIDs when they vibrate to get your attention and light up. The doors, and the Kurita twins. Kiki is fussing with a panel she’s clearly pried off the wall, while Kazuya stands a few feet back, warily watching the entrance to the hallway.

“Maybe this isn’t such a good idea…” They say in an anxious but resigned manner that gives the impression this is not by any means the first time they’ve said it.

“Still waiting for you to come up with a better one, Zuzu.” Kiki replies without looking up from her work. “Less nervous talking, more letting me know if that creepy blonde is coming.”

“No…” Kazuya says, leaning to look right and left down the corridor, and failing to notice the metal plating on the wall behind them sliding open. Jamie steps out of the hidden passage, and straight up to Kiki, who jerks away even before the taller woman’s robotic hand closes on her shoulder.

[CW: Throat Trauma, Implied Choking, Blood + More Throat Trauma in Picture]

There’s a frown on Decker’s face, but there already had been, and he’s otherwise watching dispassionately as the scene he created unfolds before him. For whatever relief it’s worth, he puts the gun away, returning it to a holster at the small of his back. “Alright, not what I was going for, but you’re suffering anyway and if I killed two subjects I’d probably get in trouble so. Whatever, good enough.” His fingers move to tap on his arm cuff again, although it seems more out of habit than purpose right this second.

“Hey Gallo if you’re not dead yet, don’t worry about your sisters. That’s not a threat, we’ll actually make sure they’re fine...” Decker says flatly, though he trails off as he watches the two, engrossed in each other, and the life fades… yeah, he’s probably not listening. Oh well. Didn’t seem like that was even on his mind in his last moments anyway, which was pretty typical.

“Guess I’ve said and done everything I need to here. If you wanna blame someone for this mess, don’t blame me. If Unicorn hadn’t gone all turncoat and you’d all just played the game the way you were supposed to this never would’ve happened. This isn’t even what we’re about, your Mastermind’s the one that wanted this whole project to happen.” While his expression remains the same, tired and irritable, and his voice is still an impatient snap, something about the way he’s spending words on it might indicate that he’s not actually content with what he just did. Not that it matters. Romeo is still dead.

Decker looks at his body on the floor for another moment, then sighs and shakes his head. “Such a fucking waste. This whole thing. Ugh.” He turns and the metal plate in the wall slides aside to admit him. He pauses just inside it to shout back.

“Remember! Three days! Call me if you need anything. If you don’t know where the buttons on your IDs are by now then even I can’t help you.”

[CW: Breathing Difficulties, Trouble Breathing, Implied Suffocation/Drowning, Death]

There’s a sickening sound as the bullet connects with human flesh, and maybe somewhere in your head you wonder when you became an expert on all the different ways it may sound when a body breaks beyond saving. But then, maybe you’re understandably distracted by the scene that unfolds in front of you.

Romeo had been standing next to Yuu, looking tired, weary, underneath the polish and shine, his fingers intertwined with theirs, holding on tight.

It’s hard to say when he understood what was going to happen, whether the widening of his golden eye, the one he has remaining, is an indicator of surprise, or the interest he has shown whenever something truly horrid had happened, or actual, true understanding that he would lose someone, really lose them. Not just out of reach, not taken by someone else, but gone entirely, forever, in much the same way his mother is, his father. You cannot see his blood run cold, or what fuels him when he sees the gun and immediately takes action. It’s all in the blink of an eye.

One moment, he shoves Yuu to the side, his shoulder connecting with theirs, the next there’s a gunshot, that horrible sound of the bullet hitting his chest. Romeo himself makes no sound as he stumbles back, lets go of Yuu’s hand and falls to the ground. Already there is red blooming on his white shirt, staining the gold buttons and the brooch he’s wearing- a small bird in flight, its wings outstretched to reach ever further heights.

His breath, when he takes it again, is ragged, there’s a gurgle when he tries to exhale, blood splattering from his mouth, and he tries to cough it out, tries to find a way to breathe, even though in the darting of his eye, the revelation, and the disbelief, becomes clear that he wouldn’t be able to anymore.

Romeo Gallo can’t die…. He knows he can’t. Only people die. Symbols, they don’t feel pain, or they only do when it’s beautiful. So all of this can’t be happening to him. All this pain he’s felt lately, all these imperfections that have come through one by one to remind him that his body is human…. For this…?

Yuu goes from frozen to falling in mere seconds. The sight of the gun pointing at them puts them into a shock that is only broken from the pain of hitting the ground.

It all happens in slow motion, it seems.

The sound of the gunshot, the smell of gunpowder and smoke, then the smell of blood. Romeo falling... falling...

"No!" They shriek as soon as they realize what's happening, and crawl over to their boyfriend. "No, no, no!"

This can't be happening. But then again, of course it's happening. Good things don't happen to Yuu Takahashi. The universe was constantly working against them, looking to punish them and make them suffer. That's just how it was, how it has always been. They'd forgotten that, so of course they needed to be reminded.

Of course...

"Why?" They aren't sure if they're asking Decker, or Romeo, or the Universe itself. They pull Romeo against their chest, the shaking of their arms, of their whole body, making that more difficult than it should be. "Why?"

The pain, the sorrow, the raw, absolute suffering. It's hard to watch, as sobs absolutely wrack Yuu's body, as they feel their love bleed and choke in their arms.

His eye is fixed on them, searching their face, wondering, worrying, quietly, about the pain on it. He’s trying to say something, isn’t he, but only more blood comes out, in small spurts, and whatever thoughts or feelings he may have had, they have to remain unspoken, forever so, it seems.

He raises a hand, slowly. Puts it on Yuu Takahashi’s face.

His lover. In the form that love is meant to be.

And he forces a smile on his face. No tears. No tears anymore. His thumb runs across their cheek, and gently, it tugs at it, just beside the corner of their mouth. A quiet request.

Romeo Gallo had sworn to make them happy. Whatever is.. Human… about Romeo Gallo. The part that is bleeding and dying now. Happy. He wants Yuu to be happy.

How wonderful it is, that he was loved by them.

His hand falls back down as his body grows cold, and his mind dark.

This is a lot to process in a very short period of time. Especially considering many of you are struggling with pain and the medication related to it. Fran and Max have had some time to adjust, but are the people who suffered punishments only yesterday really conscious and alert enough to understand all of this? It wouldn’t be a shock if one or more of them had already passed out in their wheelchair.

If there’s one thing to be grasped in all this, any ray of hope, it’s that this could all be over soon. Sorrel, Kazuya, and Kiki are gone - but not because they’re dead, because they somehow escaped, and the sting of Decker accusing them of abandoning you is mitigated somewhat by the message on the wall behind him. Which of them had put it there? Can you trust that it’s true?

Even if it’s not, even if they don’t make it back in time… in three days, one way or another, you could be free. It could be finished. The light at the end of the tunnel has appeared at last, and while only time will tell whether it’s freedom or an oncoming train, at least it’s an end. You won’t be forced to go through ring after ring indefinitely anymore. There’s a goal in sight.

Although it seems that Decker still isn’t finished.

“Oh and there’s one more thing.” He reaches behind himself, up under his shirt, and when he brings his hand back around there’s a gun in it. The safety is promptly, expertly flicked off and he levels the barrel at… Yuu Takahashi.

“I’m actually pretty fucking pissed off about this, if it wasn’t clear. This wasn’t supposed to be my job. So I don’t think anyone can blame me for taking a little early revenge on Unicorn. He’s in for it when they catch him anyway, so might as well have some immediate consequences, and I know you two were all cozy. Very cute. Besides, he’s been transmitting sensitive information to someone and while I was pretty sure I had you under heavy enough surveillance to prevent that kind of thing, you’re still the most likely candidate, especially since he was getting help from your sibling to do it. So… two birds one bullet. Adios.”

“Right, so to fill you all in, you’ve been abandoned. Unicorn - that is, Sorrel, has left the building, and he’s taken the Kurita twins with him. Turns out he’s been trying to circumvent the game the whole time and somehow managed to get them in league with him right under my nose. So that’s on me, and now I have to play mascot instead, which as you can tell I’m just fucking thrilled about. Oh and I’m not a doctor either, so you assholes are just going to have to deal with whatever mediocre treatment I’m required and able to give.”

The man talks fast, and doesn’t stop typing at his arm cuff as he does. The androids around him are mostly still, unless any of you makes any kind of motion that might look like you’re going to step forward, in which case their single-camera “eyes” immediately turn to lock onto you and their limbs shift into an intimidating defensive position. Regardless of any movement, the stranger just keeps talking.

“Since you’re gonna need something to call me anyway, I’m Operative Decker. And yes, before the questions start, I’ve been watching all of you the whole time. No, this doesn’t mean you’re not being monitored currently. I have a partner keeping an eye on the control room, and I have administrator capabilities on this,” he raises his arm with the cuff on it for a moment, “Not to mention all the droids are programmed to defend me, and boy oh boy can my babies get aggressive. I know you’re all pretty stupid, but take the hint, don’t try anything.”

Decker pauses, but just for a moment, to give all of you a narrow-eyed glare. It’s not long enough to finish absorbing all these sudden and disturbing events, let alone form a response. Even if you do try to say something, he just talks right over you when he starts up again.

“I’ve got some good news, too, though you don’t deserve it, and some of you nosy folks already know. This is the last ring. Congratulations, you’re one step away from freedom.” His tone is dry as a desert, and this doesn’t feel as heartening as it probably should. Still, a little spark runs through the group. Is it that close to being over? Really?

“There’s a catch.”

Of course there is.

“Instead of a motive, you’re all being given a choice. You can each play one last suffering game, where each of you takes a turn. No one gets to pass, no one gets to abstain, and all the fancy pass cards that have been available the rest of the game won’t apply. Sorry if you wasted your fake money, should’ve used them or traded them sooner.” A smile - more of a smirk - crosses his face for the first time, but doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

“And the other no doubt far more attractive option, is you do another trial. In this trial, you’d be trying to find the person among you who started all this. That’s right, those of you not in the know - one of you is responsible. One of you, well, two of you really, are undercover operatives, though only one actually chose to start the game, the other’s more of an assistant. One of your friends or whatever set this up, chose to enact it, chose all of you to be dragged into it, designed all the motives, and is ultimately the reason this is happening. Of course if you don’t care and you just want this to be over, you can go with option one. But if you’d like to try and avoid another spin, or if vengeance appeals to you at all, you can choose option two. You get three days to decide, and to search the Dome for whatever clues you think you can find, which I know you just love to do, poking your noses where they don’t belong.”

The briefest of pauses as he gauges your expressions.

If the pattern you’ve all grown unhappily accustomed to holds true, the day following the suffering game will bring a motive. Many of you are hardly in any shape to be committing a murder regardless of what new horror is wrought upon you, but then again a severe injury hadn’t stopped Mariko from her disastrous attempt, and there are a handful of you left uninjured… though for those that are, several new cots have had to be added to the Infirmary.

The morning comes, and with it trepidation. Whether or not you’d been able to get any sleep, you wake early to the buzzing - no, the blaring of your ElectroIDs. That’s much louder than usual, except, wait, it’s not just your IDs.

Throughout the Dome, klaxons are going off, lights are flashing red or flickering off. Is this a motive? Somehow it doesn’t feel like it. This is something else, something unplanned, something is happening.

Hope lurches in your chest. Could it be a rescue? Uncertain of what to do, perhaps many of you stay put in your beds, or wherever you’d chosen to spend the night. Or perhaps the excitement and potential has you rushing to dress and to pack any essentials, just in case, just to be ready. No matter what is happening, the excitement is electric.

And then all at once, after fifteen or so minutes of non-stop, mind-numbing noise, the alarms all cease. The lights re-adjust to normal. Hope starts to wither.

Your ElectroIDs buzz and beep, the far more normal signs of a message alert - although they don’t wait for you to tap your screens this time before a voice echoes through them. The same voice that had shouted angrily at Mio only yesterday.

“Get to the hall between rooms 2F and 2G.” It snaps at you. The IDs of anyone who hasn’t picked theirs up or tapped the screen continue to buzz and beep, and will do so until the screen is tapped and the message repeated.

Even those of you in the Infirmary and heavily medicated aren’t spared. If you’re not able to move yourself, androids appear to unceremoniously deposit you in wheelchairs and whisk you off.

When each of you arrives at the appointed place, you see something spray-painted on the wall in large red lettering:

WE WILL COME BACK FOR YOU

And standing in front of the mysterious new message, instead of the familiar presence of Kazuya to greet you, there’s a stranger. He’s older than all of you, probably somewhere in his thirties at a glance, and tall - at least six feet. And he’s obviously pissed off.

As people filed into the cafeteria to meet with Moko and Lily, the interior seemed to be redecorated. The ceiling light was covered with what seemed to be cut out paper shapes, projecting the images of ghosts onto the floor. Sheets covered in paint and ink in dark colors hung down in a draped manner, and cotton balls were pulled out to resemble cobwebs on the walls. Random objects like desks were arranged around, presumably for cover for the scarers to hide behind. But... the hosts did not seem to be present?

Until they appeared, Moko stepping out, Lily rolling in her wheelchair, from behind some of the hanging sheets. Both were costumed and fully taking advantage of the atmosphere to introduce their event - a test of courage, a quest to defeat an evil spirit called the amanojaku! It sounded pretty fun, and fairly straightforward. Collect jars with pieces of the amanojaku’s “pendant”, while members of the other team tried to scare you.

Not everyone in the class showed up to participate, but most of the ones who did had obligingly dressed up. Partners were selected, and then sorted into Teams to decide who would act first as scarers and who would be the bold adventurers, with Team B being the ones to act out the scary parts first.

: Partners - Team :

François and Honey - Team A Yuu and Arlechenno - Team A

Mariko and Emilia - Team B Maxim and Kiki - Team B Mio and Kazuya - Team B

Lily led those on Team B into the course to choose their hiding places. Moko gave them a head start, then selected one of the pairs for Team A to run the gauntlet first. Fran and Honey bravely stepped forward!

Alas, their quest was doomed to be brought to an early end… as was a certain person’s life.

As Fran and Honey proceeded down the spookily decorated hallway, an ominous tapping began to sound out. It drew closer, and closer as the two boys tensed and braced themselves. Tap… tap… tap…

Closer, closer, seeming to gravitate towards Fran, until… it paused, directly next to him. Smiling bravely, François turned his head to look and - Mariko leaps over one of the tables set up as a barrier, stumbling only slightly and then, unexpectedly whips out a taser. Which she proceeds to use on Fran! He goes down hard, and Honey reflexively turns and smacks at Mariko with a cardboard cutout of Mr. Bean he’d brought along to use as part of the game. Undeterred, Mariko simply tried to wrench the cutout away, and that’s when Moko arrives. Moko, upon seeing this, yells and reaches for her purse. Shit. Not on her person. She left it in the back of the room. She pulls the door wide open for Yuu and Archie to see, then rushes behind her entry point and pulls a cow prodder from her purse, and zips out of the room, activating it. Sparks jump from the tip. “TOO FUCKIN FAR. ABSOLUTELY TOO FAR.”

She wheezes, heart rate running high. She can’t have anything nice. She’s not allowed to have anything nice at all. Not friends, not her dream, not even one fucking event she really wanted to run, just to break out of her shell a little bit.

She swings the prod and makes contact with Mariko’s arm with a loud zap. “AND I THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO PUNCH PEOPLE, THAT WOULD’VE BEEN—“ clonk. Clonk clonk. Moko drops the prodder, stumbling as she moves around. Her eyes hollow out, glazing over, as she slumps backwards into the ground.

A convulsion, and that’s it. Blood trickles from the mouth of Brittany “Moko” Smith, laid out on the floor in her costume that seems suddenly prophetic.

If anyone had doubts about the motive’s authenticity, those must surely be gone now.

But it’s not over.

Fran recovers enough to see what has happened and collapses by Moko’s body, pulling it into his arms. Mariko yanks the cutout away from Honey at last and attempts to flee - although she faces obstacles at one end of the hall in the form of Yuu and Archie, not far behind Moko since they had been waiting for their turn to enter - and at the other end of the hall are Mio and Kazuya, drawn by the sound of very real screaming.

The commotion nearby had quickly escalated from people having a fun, if not frightening, time to something far more immediately concerning. Sparks flying, Moko yelling... certainly, certainly this was cause for alarm. Lily had returned to the scene as quickly as she could, concern visible on her expression for once. And Moko's on the floor, and oh, this is happening so much, and she's not disappointed this time. She's mad.

"What. The hell. Happened."

As everyone shouts or panics, as Yuu attempts to take charge and sends Archie running to the Infirmary, as Mariko continues to try and dodge her way to freedom, Lily speaks again.

Mariko. It was always something with that one, wasn't it? While it wasn't Lily's nature to blame people for things she hadn't seen them do, she had seen enough. Correlation and causation, Moko's body, Mariko fleeing the scene... Had these tribulations not already tested her patience enough? This was supposed to be something nice, a collaboration between writer and artist to bring something alive for everyone to enjoy. And yet in a matter of moments! Moments it had all come toppling down.

This was not acceptable. Even if Mariko was already gone, Lily's words would hang in the empty space she left behind. Everyone still there would just have to listen. as she straightened herself up, addressing the general crowd with the frustrated inflection of an angry, disappointed mother.

"I have tried to be patient up to this point, I have tried to understand the nature of these circumstances, and for what? Nothing but more senseless, senseless violence. Nothing can justify an action that causes another to lose their life. This behaviour cannot be permitted--" to continue. Presumably, the rest of that sentence was meant to be 'to continue' but as Lily's eyes shot wide open, it became quite evident that her sentence was not the only thing that would not be continuing as she, too, silently slumped back into her chair.

--

For Everyone Not Present At The Event:

Wherever you may be, whatever you may be doing instead of participating in the Test of Courage… you are not spared the knowledge of what has occurred. Your ElectroIDs buzz as if with an announcement, insistent and loud in their alarms until you pick them up and unlock the screens… only to witness a video of the recent events.

Both deaths are shown in high definition. First Moko, and then Lily.

And then the video ends.

--