The Things We Do For Love
Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors. If I did, things in the cabin bedroom beyond Door 5 would have been a lot more interesting.
Author's Note: Please leave a review. It's the considerate thing to do.
Clover loved her brother Snake.
He was a kind, elegant young man, who had a wide range of knowledge about a lot of different things. Even though he couldn't see, he was extremely capable, and she knew she could always rely on him.
As children, the two of them had been kidnapped and forced to play the deadly Nonary Game with a bunch of other children. They had been placed in separate locations, with her beloved brother on a boat that would sink in nine hours. The kids in her group had to solve puzzles and send the answers to their siblings on the ship, so that they could escape it before they were killed. But no matter how hard she tried, Clover couldn't do it. She spent her ninth birthday terrified her brother would die because of her incompetence.
But he hadn't died. The two of them had managed to survive that terrible ordeal and lived the next nine years in peace, slowly recovering from what they had been through.
Then it had happened again. The two of them had been surprised by Zero, a black-clad figure in a gasmask. Just before gassing them, he had talked about that hated game from their past.
The two had woken up in a room just like the one they'd found themselves in at the start of the Nonary Game nine years ago, with the same numbered bracelets strapped to their arms. They'd managed to solve the puzzle and escape the room easily thanks to this, but it did little to make Clover feel at ease. Having been taken again after such a long time was taking its toll on her, even though she tried to hide it. She didn't want to make her brother worry, and she didn't want to appear weak to the others who had been kidnapped for the purpose of participating in this twisted game.
There were nine of them in all, each with a numbered bracelet on their wrist. These were for passes through various numbered doors on the sinking ship they were trapped on. They had to find a door with a "9" on it in order to escape. The bracelets were also detonators. Each of the nine participants had a bomb inside them, which would go off in they went through a numbered door and were unable to deactivate the timer in the bracelet along with the others who had passed through.
Despite Clover's struggle to hide her fear, she had been unable to when the man with the "9" bracelet had grabbed her and held a knife to her throat. Even though she had not been harmed, that man had used her to force the others to help him go through one of the numbered doors alone. But because he had gone through alone, he couldn't turn off his bracelet's timer, and the bomb inside him had gone off. She had not liked the man, but she knew the sight of his remains splattered all over the wall and floor would be burned into her mind for the rest of her life.
Clover had never felt sicker than at that moment. No one had met that fate in the first game, but one of the kid's in her brother's group had died. None of the kids from her group had successfully managed to send information to their siblings, but they had been rescued just before the ship sunk by a detective who had managed to get on board. But even he had been unable to save all of them. And if he had arrived a moment later, her brother would have died on that ship. The "9" door that led to the way out was in an incinerator, and the whole group had not been able to pass through it. Her brother, always the kind one, had let the other, younger kids go on ahead. The detective had shown up to rescue them just as the countdown until the incinerator went off was reaching its end.
How close her brother had come to death back then still made her shudder... She was determined to make sure she never left his side during this game. Of course, no one wanted to go through the door that led to the hallway where that man had died, and her brother had been one of the first to volunteer, since the sight would not bother him due to his blindness. Because of her discomfort, he had suggested she go through the other door, but she would not hear of it.
Despite her worry, the worst seemed to be over after they left that hallway. The other people in the group seemed okay. They all solved an easy puzzle in a rather nice cabin that she wouldn't have minded being in if it weren't for their current circumstances. Her brother was a great help, even without the ability to see, and she loved telling the others that.
A few more rooms and puzzles later, and they were reunited with the other group in a large room with a lot of hospital beds and a strong smell of antiseptic. There was one blank door that wouldn't open and doors marked with the numbers "3", "7", and "8". But none of them would open either, as something seemed to be missing from the devices where they would need to scan their bracelets to unlock them. There were a lot of rooms in the area, and they didn't have a lot of time, so the group decided it made more sense to split up and look for the missing parts.
Though Clover still didn't like the idea of being away from her brother, she was certain they would see each other again soon. Besides, he could take care of himself, certainly better than any of the others could. She searched the rooms assigned to her and turned up nothing, but she returned to the hospital room happy when the time came, knowing she would see her brother again.
No one else had had any luck finding the missing pieces either, and that was all they were talking about. Only Clover seemed to have noticed that her brother had yet to join them. When they finally realized it, they wondered if he had gotten lost. Struggling to hold back her tears, Clover had angrily insisted that could never happen and had run off to find him, ignoring them as they called after her.
She searched desperately, and the others split up again and did the same. But they never found him. Her anger dissolved into depression, she just stood alongside the remaining members of their group as they talked about what to do. Clover found that she didn't really care anymore. All she could think about was Snake.
The others had taken notice of the fact that the devices beside the doors were working now, though they couldn't explain how. If their captor hadn't done it while they were searching for the parts and Snake, then maybe Snake himself had done it. That also provided a possible explanation for where he had gone to.
Perhaps this should have made Clover feel better, but it didn't. Snake couldn't have gone through one of those doors on his own, due to the rules of the game stating that at least three people needed to go through a numbered door. And she couldn't imagine him leaving anyone behind, let alone her.
Clover went through the "7" door with Seven, a big man whom she had gone through the first numbered door with, and Junpei, a college-aged boy she really hadn't spent any time with. Though she tried to take part in their attempts to solve the puzzles that would allow them to continue on, she kept thinking about Snake.
Had something terrible happened to him? Unlike the two of them, none of the others seemed to know anything about the Nonary Game. Even though Snake was the smart one, it had crossed her mind that someone might have wished to harm her brother due to the fact that he knew about and had participated in the first game. If that was the case, then she…
Clover had been so absorbed in her thoughts, she had been left behind. Junpei had come back to get her, and she found herself confessing her worries to him. He had given her a four-leaf clover bookmark and told her about the meanings behind each leaf, encouraging her to not give up. She had been touched by this, as well as shocked that he knew what the leaves meant, as his words echoed what her brother had told her in the past.
Clutching the bookmark, Clover followed her group through the exit, wondering if her brother really was okay somehow, even though it seemed impossible. Though she really did want to believe this, she couldn't help but feel deflated when they ran into the other group and learned that had not found her brother. Both numbered doors had led to the same hallway and, ultimately, right back to that hospital room. Though they were now armed with keys that would let them access more areas of the ship, there was no way her brother had managed to get beyond those locks. That left only one possibility-the "3" door…
Though the others had planned on ignoring it and moving on, believing there was no reason to go through it, she had reminded them that she had a very good reason to do so. Seven and Ace-the other person she'd gone through the first numbered door with-had offered to go through with her. The map the group had found told them the door would ultimately let them out in the same hallways as the others, which they could then follow right back to the room they were in. The three verified and went through the numbered door.
The device to turn off the timers was not easy to find, as it had been stuck in a dark room in the branching hallway they found themselves in, right by the exit door. They would have had even more trouble finding it had it not been for the light on it. Time was almost out, and all they could think about was running to it and verifying their bracelets to turn off the timer. It was only after that, when they could finally relax, that they decided to look around for a light switch.
Clover stayed by the device, trying to catch her breath. She noted that the floor was sticky, and the room smelled sickening. Just as she was starting to think she might vomit, the light came on. The first thing Clover saw was the source of the stickiness beneath her shoes. It was blood.
Her heart stopped in her chest, and she couldn't breathe. She followed the blood to her left, where a divider blocked the view of the others. Feeling the bile rise up in her throat, she quickly turned away and started to throw up.
Splattered all over the corner of the room, were the remains of her brother. She wouldn't have even been able to tell it was him, were it not for the bloodstained clothes the corpse was wearing. The others theorized that the bomb inside him must have gone off, causing him to die in the same way the 9th man had.
The time it took for the others to solve the puzzles in the room and open the exit seemed like an eternity to Clover. Even though the others had suggested she go back out in the hallway, she felt frozen to her spot on the floor in the corner of the room opposite her brother's body. She couldn't look at it, so she just faced the other way and sobbed silently.
Finally, the door was opened, and she wobbled to her feet and took off back to the hospital room. The others returned shortly afterwards and were informed of what had happened to her brother. They each went and saw for themselves, and when they all returned, the group started trying to figure out what had happened, while she just sat on one of the beds, looking and feeling like an empty husk of a person.
The group theorized that someone had opened the "3" door with Snake and then pushed him inside alone, sealing his fate. He had probably tried to deactivate his bracelet, even though he knew it wouldn't do any good without the other people who had opened the door present. When he hadn't been able to, his time had eventually run out, and he had died when the bomb inside him went off.
The thought of her brother being betrayed like that and futilely trying to save himself before meeting such a horrific fate made Clover feel even sicker. When the group wondered whether Zero had been behind it, she brought up the possibility that one of them was Zero. Ace had quickly discounted this theory, saying Zero would want to turn them against one another, and that he must he the culprit.
Clover wasn't convinced. Although she felt empty and miserable, the wheels in her mind were churning madly. The way she saw it, there was a possibility any one of them was Zero and had killed her brother. There were many different combinations or bracelets that could have opened that door with or without her brother's help, and everyone had a chance to do the deed while they were looking for those missing parts. She couldn't trust anyone…
The group searched the new areas available to them and found three new numbered doors-"1", "2", and "6". Clover found herself going through the "1" door with Ace and Junpei. While alone with the latter, she showed him all the various combinations of bracelets of which could open the "3" door. After confirming that she could trust him, she removed all the ones using his bracelet, leaving behind only two possible culprits-Seven and Santa, the latter of which she knew only as a punk kid around her brother's age. Junpei found it hard to imagine they could have done such a thing, but she was certain they murdered her brother.
The trio finds another victim of the game, an old man who appeared to have been killed with an axe, which was lying beside his body. They managed to solve all the puzzles and get out of the room, but she lingered behind the others to take the man's "0" bracelet, certain it would come in handy. While doing that, a folded piece of paper near the body caught her attention, and she pocketed it as well. Before leaving the room, she also grabbed the axe and hid it in the back of her jacket, determined to be ready if anyone were to try and betray her like they had her brother.
The group all gathered together in the big area where they had all first met up, which was near the first set of numbered doors. The others had found the "9" door, which meant they could finally escape. Though they were all quite happy, Clover couldn't help feeling dissatisfied. Her beloved brother was dead, and it looked like the culprits would never be punished.
The others were talking about the "2" door, the only one they had yet to enter. Before she even knew what she was saying, she was insisting they check it out before they went though the "9" door. Though they resisted at first, everyone eventually agreed, and she was soon boarding an elevator with Seven, Santa, and June-a girl Junpei knew when he was younger and spent way too much time with for her liking.
Remembering the equations she had written down in her notebook earlier, Clover realized she was practically alone in the elevator with the two people who were likely responsible for her brother's death. Anger boiled up inside her as she looked up at them. Seven had a dumb look on his face, as usual, while Santa looked aloof and disinterested. She clenched her fists and struggled to hide her rage.
The small group got off the elevator and made their way to the number "2" door though an unnerving stone hallway, which they discovered led to a hallway nearly identical to the one they were in, save for the three doors on the left and the one on the right.
The one on the right was locked, while all the ones on the left are open. Santa suggested they split up, heading for the middle door. June chose the door all the way at the end of the hall, while Seven picked the one closest to the door they had come through. Clover followed him inside, watching as he kneeled down the cell-like room, looking for any kind of hint to moving forward.
She wondered if he planned to take advantage of the fact that they were alone together to kill her, like he had her brother. He seemed to be ignoring her, but maybe he was just waiting for his chance. Maybe he was just waiting for her to let her guard down. He was a big guy, and she was quite small for a girl of eighteen. Once he managed to overpower her, that was it. There was no way she'd gain the upper-hand.
Clover suddenly became more aware of the axe still concealed in the back of her jacket. Reaching her hand inside, she felt the firm wooden handle, her wide eyes never leaving Seven. He was still crouched down on the floor, with his back to her.
Slowly, Clover drew out the weapon, clutching it to her chest with both hands. Her heart was racing as she took a few steps forward, feeling as though she weren't fully in control of her own actions anymore.
As she silently walked towards Seven, her hands raised the axe. He finally turned, just in time to see the blade coming towards him. It dug into his shoulder, causing him to yowl in pain. She quickly pulled it back and swung again, this time cutting him across the stomach and causing him to double over. Hearing the others coming, no doubt having heard him, she ducked behind the door.
Santa and June soon came running through, going right past her. Before either of them could do or say anything, she rushed forward, kicking the door shut as she swung the axe at Santa. Blood spurted from the gash that appeared across his torso, but it was June who screamed in horror as he collapsed to the ground, groaning in pain beside Seven.
Clover raised her axe again, determined not to stop until they had felt the same pain her brother had when he died-when they killed him. June dashed in front of her, her arms spread wide in a pathetic attempt to shield the others. She pleaded with Clover to stop, tears in her eyes.
The younger girl didn't move, instead coldly demanding June get out of her way. When the woman refused, her anger flared. How dare she protect them, after what they did? Or maybe she was in on it. She could have killed Snake along with them. It was possible, wasn't it? All those times she smiled and fussed over them and clung to Junpei-she was just faking. In reality, she was a murderer, too.
Clover didn't even think about it before her axe came rushing downwards, cutting June across her chest. The young woman just stood there for a moment, her eyes wide with shock, before she crumpled to the ground, shaking.
Santa called out to her, but he didn't call her "June". He called her "Akane". They were all using codenames, with the exception of Junpei and herself. "Akane" must have been June's real name, which meant that Santa knew her before the Nonary Game and never told anyone. This just enhanced her belief that the two of them acted together to murder her brother.
Clover raised her axe yet again, ignoring Santa's pleas and the tears in his eyes. She wasn't going to fall for that. Bringing the axe down on June's side, she relished in the small, broken sound the girl made as more blood gushed from her. She struck June again and again, even though no more sounds came from her. The desperate cries from Santa as he tried to move to help her were more than enough.
June was completely still now, her wide eyes lifeless. The blood puddle under the trio continued to grow, disturbed occasionally by Santa's tears.
Smirking madly, Clover asked Santa if he had any idea how she felt when she saw her brother dead, with his blood splattered all over the place like this. He was crying too hard to respond, which irritated her. Screaming for him to shut up, she repeatedly cut into him, until he too no longer made a sound and lay still beside June.
Now only Seven was left. He hadn't moved, watching her massacre the others in shock. As she moved towards him, he didn't attempt to get away or stop her, only uttered one word in a shaky voice.
"Why?"
Clover's reply was just as short.
"Revenge."
Seven tried to tell her that they didn't kill Snake, but she cut him off almost instantly.
"LIAR!"
The axe's blade slammed into his neck, killing him instantly, judging from all the blood that came spurting out as he collapsed to the group. Clover didn't care, continuing to hit him and the others until their bodies were completely unrecognizable by anything other than their clothes.
Clover removed each of their bracelets and slipped them into her pocket, then went about trying to solve the puzzle so she could rejoin the others upstairs.
It was only a matter of time before Clover was on an elevator, heading back up to the main area. By some miracle, not a drop of blood was visible on her clothes, partially thanks to the fact that her coat was black. The wetness seeping through it to her clothes and then her skin was uncomfortable, but it also reminded her that she had avenged her brother's death. That made it worth it.
As the elevator stopped, Clover made sure one of her hands was in her jacket, clutching the handle of the axe. The doors slid open, revealing only Junpei. She felt her grip relax and stepped out, feeling empty all of a sudden.
Not wanting to answer the question she knew he was going to ask, she asked where the others were. He told her they had gone off alone together, then asked her the same thing. Not sure what to say, she pulled out the three bracelets and threw them to the ground in front of Junpei. She told him how she got revenge for her brother, her eyes somehow getting even wider as she avoided looking at him.
Junpei had fallen to his knees, and when she finally looked at him she saw the horror on his face. He asked her about June, and she told him how the girl had gotten in her way. His horror seemed to grow at this revelation, and it appeared that he was in shock.
Clover reached a hand out to him, an unnatural smile appearing on her face. She told him to come with her. He looked up at her, stunned.
Junpei wasn't like the others. He was just a victim, like her. She remembered how he had comforted her when she was sad, and how he had supported her when she suggested one of their group might be Zero. He wasn't Snake, but he had acted like a brother to her in his absence.
But he wasn't Snake.
This thought persisted in her mind. He wasn't Snake, was he? Junpei was just a boy about the same age as her brother who she was pushing her feelings onto-a replacement. But she didn't want a replacement. She wanted Snake. No one else was enough. And there was no guarantee Junpei was innocent, was there? After all, if June had helped to kill her brother, maybe he had too. They were always together, and they knew eachother as kids, right? If she had asked him to help her kill Snake, he would have probably done it in a heartbeat. He'd been so nice to her, telling her that her brother was definitely okay, but he'd known all along it was a lie hadn't he?
Clover's rage exploded when she felt Junpei's hand close around her own. Gripping him tightly, she swung at him with the axe in her other hand, the blade slicing into his neck. He shook as he lay on the floor in a pool of his own blood, his eyes never leaving her as she collected the bracelets of June, Santa, and Seven. When he was dead, she took his bracelet and put it in her pocket. With a smile and a wave in his direction, she walked off down the hall.
Nine hours had almost passed by the time Clover entered the room where the two "9" doors were located. This ship would soon sink, along with the body of her brother and all those who had murdered him. From the looks of it, neither door had been taken yet, and there was not enough time for anyone to solve all the puzzles that lie beyond the smaller of the two doors. She hadn't been able to find Ace and Lotus, and after a while, she had decided to head for the exit. Time was running out, and she doubted she'd be able to get both of them before the ship sank. Besides, it had crossed her mind that the two had decided to betray everyone else and head for the "9" door on their own. She had already discovered that the 9th man's bracelet was missing. With it, Lotus and Ace would both be able to escape. But since she had not run into them on the way there, it would seem they had not come this way yet. Though she wanted to kill them both herself, by going through the door that led right to the exit, she'd be sealing them in this ship. Even if they got past the puzzles beyond the other door in record time, the final door could only be opened once.
This ship would be their coffin!
Suddenly, a knocking sound echoed throughout the room, causing her to immediately tense up. Her eyes darted from left to right, searching for the source of the noise. She discovered it was coming from the large coffin at the back of the room, which was rather ironic, considering she'd just been thinking about how this ship would be the coffin for Ace and Lotus.
It seemed that there was someone inside. Was it Lotus? Or Ace? It would be easy to kill them if that was the case, though leaving them in there to die also sounded good, since they had left her brother to die. But she would rather do it herself and let them feel the pain her brother had felt as that bomb had torn him apart from the inside.
Clover tried to open the coffin, but the lid wouldn't budge. She realized that there was a numbered keypad on the side, and that it would probably only open once she had entered the right code. But how on earth was she supposed to figure out the code?
The teen looked around the room, but found nothing. Frustrated and considering just giving up and leaving, she stuffed her hands into her pockets. She felt the folded piece of paper she had found earlier and pulled it out, opening it. The words on it didn't make a lot of sense, but it did seem like some kind of code.
If Snake were there with her, he'd probably be able to figure it out easily. But as his sister, she wanted to solve it, and the knocking from the coffin pushed her to not give up. Finally, she figured it out and ended up with a series of numbers. Deciding to give it a try, she entered them on the keypad.
The lid started to move, and she quickly grabbed the axe, raising it above her head. A devious smile appeared on her face, as she thought of the person inside. They probably thought they were saved from certain death. She couldn't wait to see their face when they saw her and realized they were just going to die in a different way.
Clover started to move the minute the person tried to sit up, only to stumble as she stopped suddenly, her eyes wide. The young man sitting in the coffin was dressed in the strangest black and red robes, but there was no doubt about it. With a loud noise, the axe fell from her hands. It was definitely-
"Snake!"
Sobbing, Clover threw her arms around her brother's neck. Even the voice that said her name was his, and that smile-! It was really him!
Clover had no explanations for how her brother was alive, how he came to be sealed in that coffin, or who that body upstairs belonged to, but she didn't care. All she cared about was the fact that he was alive. Right now, she didn't care if the ship sank with them both in it, so long as he held her like that until the end.
Despite her normally tough exterior, Clover didn't bother to try and hold back her tears. She cried at the terror of the whole ordeal she'd been forced to relieve, and at the worry she'd felt when he disappeared. She let out the sorrow and misery she'd felt when she found his body, blown to bits. And finally, she let out the tears of regret. She had been the one to kill everyone. The only murderer on this ship was her.
When Snake finally suggested they get out of there, she dried her eyes on her sleeve and smiled, taking his hand. Telling him everyone else had already gone, she led him over to the "9" door, where they both verified. Telling Snake she had found some spare bracelets in another room, she used Seven and Junpei's bracelets to get them through. Her thoughts lingered on the latter, and she could only apologize to him in her mind, where Snake couldn't hear.
Together, the brother and sister walked through the "9" door, knowing they would make it out okay, so long as they had eachother.
Clover would never forget what she had done that day, even once she left the ship and all traces of it behind forever. The memory of how she had turned against and murdered four people would always haunt her. She had done it all for Snake, who would surely forgive her. He'd worry and maybe even blame himself, but he'd never blame her. Still, he would suffer. For that reason, she would make sure he never knew.
Clover loved her brother Snake.
And Snake loved his sister Clover.
For that reason, he would always be there for her. He would protect her and comfort her.
He'd forget about the others.
He would hold her hand as they walked out of this nightmare and into the sun, and he would never ask her why she smelled of blood and death.