Pssst, this is the last part of a long Vocaloid series of fanfiction. You will not know at all what is going on if you don't read the other parts, unfortunately. Please heed this warning. My apologies.

I knew these people.

And not like the we-bump-into-each-other-at-the-well-or-the-grocery-store-or-the-shrine—wait, what?

My head hurt.

It really hurt.

I knew these people. I knew them like I knew my own face. Right there, right next to me was Kaito. Kaito and I never got to know each other too intimately, but he was a good person—

"I'll have everything, absolutely everything, as Mothy promised. Everything a mortal desires."

Or was he? Oh, my head. My head. Calm down. Let's go over what we know.

It was dark in here, pitch black, and yet I could see everyone perfectly. It was like we were all our own light source. Our outfits were peculiar, and our bodies were young. I would say I was fifteen or so. My dress was oddly familiar, black with red ribbons and a piano design along the hem. There people next to me. We made a semi-circle around nothing. Next to me was Kaito, and then there was Gumi.

"Besides, you don't want to see me when I'm angry."

Oh, Lord, where did that come from? I could see her face as she said that to me on a wintry sidewalk in the city. She died later that same winter, and yet there she was, blinking violently and looking around like the rest of us. No one had spoken yet. After Gumi, there was Miku then Luka then Meiko then Gakupo. My heart was pounding.

"Everyone is so tired in Toragay."

"It was like he was talking to a stranger, isn't that funny?"

"I've been known to eat any foreign meal presented to me."

"And was she able to be… reinforced?"

I knew these people. They were all my friends. My family. And yet fear filled me up to the brim.

"I said, take care of the body."

Rin came next, followed by one more, the one more I was dreading and longing to see the most, at the other end of the half-circle, directly across from me. He was lurking at the back of my mind the whole time, because in every story, in every memory of all these people, he was there, a force in my life, dead or alive. When my eyes met his, every fiber of my body screamed at once, "Len!"

All confusion ceased. My head stopped aching. Automatically, I tried to stand so I could go to him, but my legs wobbled. I collapsed back down. Panic spread across his face, his young face. God, he was so young.

"Welcome to eternity, my friends. I hope you're prepared for the long haul."

I didn't want to look away from Len, but that voice was also familiar. Nerves sending jolts through my body with every breath, I looked upon Mothy as she floated in front of us. Not quite floated—it was more like she was standing on something we couldn't see. A podium made out of darkness. She was dressed almost like she was in mourning. Black dress that covered her feet, black veil. Blue eyes. Cold eyes. Her outfit seemed medieval. The first word that crossed my mind was "witch." Still, no one spoke.

"You all look like children when you stare at me like that. What happened to all the defiance of a few moments ago?" she asked.

"M-Milady," Kaito rasped. He attempted to get up but, like me, could not muster the energy. "I did your bidding, just as instructed. I performed perfectly. May I now t-take my place at your—"

"Shut up, you pitiful creature. Do you know how bothersome it is to explain the obvious to you?" she snapped.

He clenched his jaw, the cruel truth dawning on him like a plague. Whatever she promised him was simply a lie. Obviously. He killed us all for nothing. Fury grappled with my heart. He killed us all… for nothing? How stupid! How idiotic!

"Fool," Gumi said, managing to rest on one knee. A black cloak adorned her like a tent, and with her right hand she placed a malicious mask on her face. Yet she trembled like the rest of us. Our memories were too expansive; they threatened to burst us open. "You were never her equal. You were too late to the game."

"Ha! Equal," Mothy—if that was truly her name—scoffed. "Like you are one to talk of equals." She raised a gaunt hand. There was no smoke or noise or anything at all, but one moment Gumi's little cult cloak and mask were there and the next they weren't.

Gumi fell back, disbelief coating her face. "What? After everything I've done for you? You couldn't have done this alone!" she shouted.

"Alone? You're right. I could not have, but to think you were my apprentice—that I would stand with a human with no semblance of real power for the rest of eternity—you are delusional."

"So, there was someone else? Tell me who it was!" Gumi demanded.

"She wishes to remain anonymous."

I stared down at my hands. Clench. Unclench. It couldn't be…

"W-Wait, eternity?" Miku squeaked. "I don't exactly know what's going on."

"We're dead," Meiko answered for her. "That much is obvious. I don't know why we lived so many lives or why I did… some of the things I did, but we must be at a juncture of the afterlife."

"Dead. We're finally dead," Luka said.

"You sound excited about it," Rin jeered.

"What now?" I asked quietly. Everyone ceased their glaring at one another and was truck silent.

"Finally. A decent question," Mothy said. "For the sins you committed in life, I have forced by the laws of the universe to deliver you into punishment. Yes, your existences have been rather unconventional, but rules are rules. It's all your faults, no matter how you look at it."

"I-I understand we did horrible things," Gakupo interjected. "However… I don't know how to explain it. It was like I was possessed or something."

"Ah, yes. That was the side effect of the sins. We needed to experiment with them, you see, after they were released into the world. It was massively entertaining."

Miku shuddered. "I-I still don't understand—"

"You don't need to understand." She looked down upon us like worms. "Pride, Lust, Gluttony, Envy, Sloth, Wrath, Greed, it is time for divine retribution. You have sinned in all ways imaginable, and the world will be happy to be rid of you. Take a long look at your fellow creature. It is the last you will see any of them."

"Wait—!" I yelled.

And they were like the cloak. One moment there, the next gone.

But I… was still here? "What? Where did they go?" I stared at the spot where Len used to be. The room grew cold.

"Mayu," Mothy said.

"Where did they go?" I repeated.

"Where all people like them go. Down."

My muscles felt lighter. I knew I could stand now if I really wanted to, but my heart weighed me down more than any sorcery. "That's not possible. They're good people."

"Good? Ha! Have you forgotten everything?" The room, if I could call it that, began to tremor and ladder came out of nowhere, clamoring down to the ground at my feet. I looked up. It went up into the ceiling, where there was only a square of bright white light. "Well, I sadly cannot keep you here, according to law. I would if I could, but you have not done enough in your lives to chain you here. Go on up. There are many preparations that need to be made."

"You're saying that's heaven right there?" I asked.

"Some call it that. All rainbows and chocolate or whatever. I wouldn't know. I'm forbidden to travel in those realms." Mothy gracefully stepped down from her invisible podium and came nearer. "But no matter what is up there, I am sure it is far better than the fates of those in this one."

"What are you talking about? Len and Rin and Miku and everyone are just the same as me. They're good people."

"Not this again. They are not good people. They have murdered and raped and ruined everything they have come into contact with."

"That's not true. Yes, they have done all those things, but I have the feeling—no, I know it is not their faults! You have made them live seven lives. Does one bad one erase all the good ones?" All of this was simply not possible. Heaven? Hell? Sins and realms and magic? This woman, telling me my friends deserve eternal punishment? Telling me Len deserves eternal punishment?

"The sins in that one life of seven equates to more than ten thousand lives of sin. Do not argue with me. Climb the ladder."

"No!" I yelled, getting to my feet. "Take me where they are!"

"I cannot. It would be against the rules."

"Why am I even here? Why did you take me with them just so you can rip them away from me at the end?"

Mothy frowned. "I cannot tell you that."

"Bullshit!"

"Cursing, what an unbecoming sin. However, it is not enough to keep you here."

"Tell me why I'm here! Tell me why you called them Pride, Lust, everything! I deserve an answer!"

"And I deserve a vacation. We don't always get what we deserve, Mayu."

"Len didn't do anything wrong!"

"Len murdered Miku. Did you forget? He is half of Pride. There is no escaping this fate."

"Enough!" That voice nearly knocked me back to the ground. Our new visitor appeared behind Mothy just as the others disappeared, suddenly and without warning. She stepped forward, looking at me with sad eyes. "I think she should know the truth."

"Yu-Yuka," I said as steadily as I could muster.

"You are oddly calm," commented Mothy, "considering your best friend is standing by my side."

"I… expected this, as soon as you said you really had another accomplice. There was no one else who it could have been," I replied. Yuka, Gumi's cloak around her shoulders, did not meet my eyes. "Well, I'm ready for an explanation, preferably before I lose it."

"I did not want it to turn out this way," Yuka said. "I only wanted to give you another life."

"From the beginning, please. No more cryptic messages." My voice cracked. Yuka, my friend. My friend. I ached.

"The beginning is too far back, but I suppose I will start with the Capital and the execution of the supposed Queen Rin." The memories pulled at my conscience. "You did not recover after you helped Len die. Your life was miserable, let's face it. I was assigned to observe and pull the strings where I needed to, in order to properly entertain my mistress. I did not expect to become friends with you in childhood. My feelings then were true. Anyway, as your life drew to a close, I felt at fault for inviting you to the castle and ruining your life. So, I asked Mothy to allow you a second chance in a new life, where you could be truly happy."

"And I obliged, like the giver that I am," Mothy interjected.

"However, that second life put you through even more hardship than the first. You did recover, though, and I was prepared to let you die."

"And that's where her part in your fate ends," Mothy said. "The rest was mostly me. It's hard to explain, but I found your existence very entertaining. You stood for everything I was against and vice versa. You were kind of like a challenge. As you tried to save as many people as you could and bring joy into their lives, I tried to set things up so people could die and despair would be brought into their lives. I sustained some losses and victories, but overall it made the whole experience very much worth it. I would have been very bored without you, Mayu. Thank you."

"Th-Thank you? You're thanking me?" Was this sort of fury even possible? This fire in my chest? All of the hardships I had to endure and watch my friends endure was really all their faults? Mothy's, yes I could believe that, but Yuka? Not Yuka. Not my friend.

"Now that you know the truth, has your spirit broken enough? Will you please go up the ladder?" Mothy pleaded. I had never seen her so loose before. It was like she was right at home here, injecting misery into others.

I kept my eyes fixed on the ground. To go up that ladder would mean abandoning them. To go up that ladder meant eternity without my family, and they were all my family, no matter how much pain they caused me. I could see it clearly, life up there without them, without Len. I didn't want happiness without Len. I didn't want…

"A bet," I muttered.

"Excuse me?" Mothy asked.

"A bet," I said louder. "You say this was for your entertainment, then let me entertain you more. I challenge you to a bet."

"A bet?" She laughed. "You are serious?"

"If I can prove that they are good people, people who are meant to go up that ladder, then that would mean you would be breaking the law by keeping them here."

"Mayu, stop," Yuka said.

I ignored her. "Mothy, what do you say?"

She paced back and forth several times. "Unfortunately, that is not how it works."

"Why not?"

A few more paces. "I'm not sure. Maybe—wait, give me a moment." She clapped her hands once, and then there was a book sitting in them. She rifled around, reading a language which seemed like garbled symbols to me.

"You can't be considering this," Yuka said to her.

"You are breaking my concentration, apprentice. You have no power over me." She closed the book, closed her eyes a moment, and then opened them with a smile spreading wide across her face. "I have a marvelous idea."

"What is it?" I asked eagerly.

"I have devised a game. If you win this game, you can take your friends wherever you please. If you lose, you will be trapped down here as well."

"Deal," I agreed immediately.

"Mayu!" Yuka snapped. Her eyes grew big with worry, but I did not care enough to rescind.

"Wait until I tell you the rules, at least," Mothy said with a grin. "The terms for victory are as follows: 1. You must prove to me and to yourself that these people deserve forgiveness. 2. As you have always been a little detective, you must figure out why the seven deadly sins have manifested here and 3. You must collect the artifacts which I have listed here." A piece of paper fluttered down from above me and landed in my hands.

The stone

The flower

The seed

The spring

The wind

The forest

The soil

"Sounds like a videogame," I muttered.

"You will be traveling through a labyrinth of my own mind. I win if any of your innocent friends kill each other or you concede defeat. I also win if you tell anyone about our arrangement. Does this sound fair?"

"Surprisingly so," I replied.

"And if anyone should 'die' by means other than each other, the dead person will be taken back into my care and could not be rescued under any circumstances."

"What other means of death are there in this labyrinth?"

"Only the mind, Mayu. Only the mind."

"Mayu, you are smart enough not to take this deal," Yuka said.

"I might have taken your opinion into consideration if you hadn't sent my husband into the depths of hell. What do I do to take this bet? Do I have to sign something?"

"No," Mothy said. "Just by taking hold of my hand do you officially make a deal with me. All laws of the universe are void in the outcomes of deals with the devil. And I am certainly a devil, Mayu."

"Mayu, please," Yuka pleaded. "I know you do not want to hear me, but you have always been my friend."

"Unfortunately, it would seem you have never been mine," I replied, gripping Mothy's extended hand in my own.

I was there.

Then I was elsewhere.