Watching Despair

Choices are like doors. That was something his father used to tell him. He'd say that when we made a choice, we'd walk through a door. Sometimes, the doors had windows, so we could see what lay beyond, while others were solid, meaning that the consequences of the choice were unknown. Sometimes the doors let us walk back through should we change our mind, while others locked themselves the second we walked through, forcing us to live with that decision for the rest of our lives.

He was reminded of that as he watched the screens in front of him, each one showing the same image; that of eight teenagers, and one giant monstrosity. Five of these children had just been given an impossible choice, and now he was watching it tear them apart. The other three tried to persuade them to take one path, while the monster he'd prayed he'd never see again, encouraged them to make a different one.

It was a choice between despair and hope, but for these five, there was no winning. If they choose despair, then they would have to live knowing that they had doomed the world. But if they choose hope...

Then they will return to who they were. They would go back to being the same people who burned the world. The same people who butchered their families, friends and everyone else they saw. The same people who mutilated themselves in the name of their false goddess.

They would once again become the embodiment of despair.

How could they choose that? How could they choose to lay down their lives for strangers and people who won't even know their names? All to stop someone that everyone around them is saying they once loved?

To be honest, when he'd first found out they were the ones who ruined everything, he'd been tempted to take a simple and permanent path to deal with them. After all, it wasn't long ago that the actions of these people had robbed him of everything he held dear. He'd almost jumped from an apartment building just to escape the pain. He had been a man without hope.

Then he appeared.

When all seemed lost, that young man spoke up in the face of despair's queen, and through luck, skill, and a heart filled with hope in spite of what he had seen and lost at her hands, he had bested her. Using nothing but that hope, he had pulled this man away from the brink of despair and given him a new reason to live. Ever since then, he'd sworn to protect and serve this man, and he would continue to do so until his dying day.

It was this same boy who had convinced him not to simply dispose of those filled with despair, though at the time he didn't understand why. Instead he proposed a much riskier idea. He wanted to cure them of despair, and he thought he had the perfect way to do so. With support from those who had survived the same pain as he had, he moved forward with his plan, even when others tried to stop him. With doubts in his mind, he had chosen to help and accept any consequences they would suffer.

None of them had expected the bear to return. What was meant to be a blissful paradise to erase despair from the minds of those gripped by it, became a disturbing recreation of what had come before. He hadn't witnessed most of the original events, seeing only the beginning and end, but this time he had no choice but to watch everything unfold.

He'd watched the stern, faceless leader stabbed to death for trying to save another.

He'd seen the perverse chef cooked alive for trying to reunite with family long dead.

He'd been unable to act as the judgemental, strong willed photographer was bludgeoned to death without a chance to react.

He'd been filled with dread as the stoic, loyal swordswoman was stabbed trying to protect the one thing that mattered to her.

He'd cursed as the cheerful, energetic musician had the life choked out of her.

He'd felt surprisingly sad when the rude, aggressive dancer had her throat slit in a moment of fear.

He'd grimaced when he saw the nervous, quiet nurse return back to her despair filled ways before being fired into the stars.

He'd sat in silence as the boisterous, almost fatherly coach lost a duel to the death and plunged to his death.

He'd lowered his head to honour the brave, strange animal breeder who was trampled to death to ensure that the others would live.

He'd felt his eyes widen as he saw the insane, manipulative lucky student inflict the most horrific injuries on himself.

And he'd winced as he saw the one innocent person, the kind, supportive gamer they'd created to protect the others, sacrifice herself, to make sure that the others wouldn't die.

Sixteen had entered that world. Now five remained, still faced with that impossible choice. The man he'd owed his life to had set foot in that world himself to help them, with his allies heading in soon after. He would have joined them, but he'd been given orders to stay outside, just in case something goes wrong.

He reminded himself of that as he glanced at the pistol on his desk.

Looking at the faces of those trapped in this situation, it wasn't hard to figure out what they were thinking. The mechanic was terrified, and probably not thinking straight. All he could focus on was that if he made a choice for the good of the world, he'd have to go back to being a monster. The yakuza heir was more concerned with reuniting with the one that he had lost, even if it was just an imitation of her. The princess was struggling to decide what would be best to do for her, the world and her friends. As of yet, she hadn't reached a decision. The gymnast was still trying to keep up with what was going on, but she seemed to understand the basics and was lashing out against everything, probably as a means to avoid the pain.

But none were more conflicted than the one normal man. He had the hardest decision to make. All of the others would lose their memories of what had happened if they chose to protect the world becoming twisted versions of themselves once more. But if he made that choice, then he wouldn't just lose his memories. He would simply cease to be, and a monster in his image would consume everything he was and all that stood before him.

Could that boy make that choice? Could he sacrifice his very existence for the world?

This was the moment that would decide which was truly greater; hope or despair. Two doors stand in front of each person there. Both doors show clearly what lies beyond them, and both paths lead to oblivion. Regardless though, they must choose. And all he could do was watch. Watch as those with despair tried to find even the slightest bit of hope.

Was it a few second he waited, or was it hours? This moment was so tense that he lost track of how long it lasted. The whole time, the one normal man stood in silence, his eyes looking as if they were dead.

But the choice still loomed over them.

Hope?

Despair?

Hope within despair?

Despair within hope?

Or a stalemate, where no one wins, but a fleeing happiness can be found?

Which choice is right?

Which choice is wrong?

Is there such a thing as a right answer anymore?

No hope lived in any of these people at this moment.

Their faces once more filled with despair.

No hope...

No... hope...

But even when there is no hope, there is one thing that can change anything. Some would call it a miracle. Others might call it luck. But at this moment, it was not a miracle or luck that changed the world. It was something greater than that, something that could make the world seem powerless, make the laws of reality seem meaningless, and make hope and despair mere words and nothing more.

This was strength. Strength enough to carve out a future of your own design.

The one normal man, now with eyes that burned with this strength looked across this room, straight into the face of despair and he made his choice. He would not live a false life of despair. But even though he accepted the choice that hope had offered him, he swore that he would not fade away and become a monster again. He would live in the future that he had created with everyone he held dear.

A third door. A third choice.

And one by one, the others joined him, and they opened that door together, sinking into the darkness and light that surged from it. With this act, the true despair was now and forever dead, and hope once again emerged into this world.

What happened next? Perhaps it was a miracle, and the teenagers remembered everything they were meant to be, instead of becoming twisted like before? Or maybe they emerged as monsters, but the true humans they were meant to be were pulled from the depths?

Or maybe they pulled themselves out of the abyss of despair? Perhaps they held onto the strength they'd found and clawed their way out of those monsters?

He didn't know the answer to that, even as he got back onto the ship back home, leaving them behind to recover from their ordeal. He watched from the deck as the man he swore loyalty to said goodbye to them. Once he would have been so willing to just end their lives and let their legacy of evil die with them. But as he'd seen what they had been before despair corrupted them he'd grown to realise that they were victims too. But they weren't anymore. They'd found the strength to overcome their pain. And now they had made one more choice.

They chose to stay on this island, a perfect replica of their prison, in the slim hope that their friends would wake from the coma that the false world had put them in.

Would they succeed? He didn't know, but their strength was enough reason for his boss to believe them, so he would too.

And as he sailed away from that island, he could have sworn he saw them standing there, looking across the sea, with not a glimpse of fear in them.

Choices are like doors. This he still believed. There were still doors that showed you what lay beyond, and those that forced you to walk through to know what awaited you. And there were still those that locked behind you, forcing you forward whether you liked it or not. But sometimes, with the right strength, and the right people around you, you can create a new door, one that leads where you want it to go, not where others say it must go.

With the right strength, strength beyond hope and despair, you can create your future.

Hey guys! Saber here! A few people were asking if I'd write a sequel to my oneshot story Watching Hope, and so I decided to write this follow up. I hope you liked it as much as the first.

Well, until next time. See ya!