Well, first Danganronpa fanfic. This takes place post-SDR2, about two years afterwards, just in case it wasn't clear. I own no characters, just to get that out there now. (There might be one or two FCs later, but not for a while, so...)

Enjoy!

Once they had yearned for despair.

Despair was their cause, their purpose, their life. Each moment of it caused them twisted delight, relishing in other's misery and fear and the absolute despair. When they had each lost hope, it was Junko who gave them a new hope. A darker, scarier one, which was as delightful as it was painful, and they took it like masochists. It was like a drug. They killed for despair. They lived for despair.

And now despair just hurt in more ways they'd ever known.

"We can't keep them hooked up forever, it's been two years already," one of them had said. "The Future Foundation was meant to eliminate the Ultimate Despairs. We already went against that to rehabilitate you five, and we can't keep these comatose kids here forever. They're not coming back, so it's time to pull the plug."

It felt like the Future Foundation was their enemy again. Just like in the simulation, when they all believed the Future Foundation was World Ender, and they had trapped them in that killing game for sick amusement. When their lies and their truths were so mixed up they could only find bliss in their ignorance.

The worst part was when even Makoto agreed.

"It's true. I know you guys want them to wake up, but… I really can't say they will. You just have to accept it, and live for them instead. It's hard, I know, but it'll be better in the long run. You guys are strong, you can do it. I believe in all of you."

It was awful, having the boy who was supposed to be hope causing them to despair. Despair, despair—enough with the despair. Why were these people crushing the only thing they held hope for? Why is it when they finally wanted hope all they got was despair?

Despair was no longer craved. No longer was it yearned for and no longer did they want it.

Unfortunately, despair was no longer avoidable.

Akane had been broken and unstable for the longest time after she was released from the simulation. She barely ate and didn't spar with anyone, or do anything but sleep, really—she wouldn't speak to anyone, unless someone mentioned her rapid decrease of weight, in which she snapped she knew what she was doing and that she was just fine. Losing Nekomaru had taken its toll on her, and although she was hopeful for his return, the wait proved painful. It wasn't until Kyoko reminded her that starvation was exactly what Nekomaru died to prevent that she finally started taking care of herself once more. It took her a while to get back into the swing of things, and although she spoke and smiled now, it was obvious that it was a mask for her late friend's sake.

Kazuichi hadn't been much better. He was flighty and paranoid, shutting himself in his room and refusing to leave, afraid that the murders would take place on the real Jabberwock Island, terrified that perhaps he had already died and this was an afterlife for him—stuck on the island to never escape, stuck with the memory of all the others that had been lost. It wasn't until Sonia started needing support that he snapped out of his crazed delusions and stepped up to help. She had gone into a fit of rage, cutting her long blonde hair off until it barely reached past her chin—and then cried for the self-destruction she caused. She cried for Gundham and for her other friends, each one lost during the game and those who were killed by her prior want for despair, and Kazuichi managed high spirits, if only so he could help her achieve the same. He built machines and broke them down, just so he could build them again and distract himself from anything that bothered him. Eventually he and Sonia managed a healthy friendship, and the two of them became closer than any of the others would have guessed. Still broken, they relied on each other to hold themselves together.

Fuyuhiko took the longest to overcome his despair. In fact, he relied on his sworn brother to help him when he desperately needed it. He didn't seem to catch many breaks after they escaped the game—he lost of someone dear to him, as well as the loss of vision in his right eye. To his misfortune, the scar existed on him too, not just on his avatar, and he continued to wear the eye patch even when he slept—when he bothered to do so. He used to stay up at night, staring at the ceiling and regretting everything he had done. He never though he would have regrets in his life—he was a yakuza, he wasn't supposed to regret any kind of blood on his hands. But when the blood on his hands included the girl he held closest in his heart, well, that all went out the window. And when he learned the fate of his family, the others had to prevent him from falling back into despair all over again. His little sister had indeed been killed by Sato, and his mother had died as well in the midst of the Tragedy. It was probably the first time they ever saw him cry—and he was determined that it would be his last. In time, he managed to pull himself together and was back to smart-ass remarks and a tough attitude, but it didn't take much to see the hurt lying just below his facade, and the guilt of Peko and Mahiru's death that gnawed away at him every day.

Unlike the others, though, Hajime still wasn't over it, and he wasn't sure he ever would be. His hair was still black and his eyes were still red—although he cut his hair back to his former length he still felt as though he would never truly be the same. He insisted that no one call him Izuru, or even mention the name to him, but that didn't stop the memories from haunting him. He wasn't Hajime Hinata anymore. He was Izuru Kamukura, and it made him feel sick. He had murdered and because of him, because he uploaded Junko's virus into the program, the killing game began again. His friends were dead, only five out of fifteen making it to see reality again, and it was his entire fault. And now that the Future Foundation was going to pull the plug and stop preserving his comatose friends, he couldn't get over the guilt weighing him down.

At the very least, they were no longer Ultimate Despair. They were no longer going to devastate the world and cause chaos at every turn. The Tragedy was calming down now—the world was still hectic and trouble still broke out, but slowly it was going back to how it should have. The way it was before Junko destroyed it all.

But that didn't stop them from feeling despair. And when the day finally came around for them to say their final goodbye to the comatose kids, despair was all they could feel.

Well... I never want to write something like this again. Not that it's very depressing, on the contrary, it was hard to write it because it was supposed to be depressing and I failed. Anyway, this will be a series, and this will include some FCs much later on. Probably not any pairings, though, it's supposed to be based on a murder mystery after all, but you never know.

Anyway, what do you think? And honestly, if I should rewrite it to try and make the "emotion" better, let me know. I'd appreciate it.