Chapter 2: In the Darkness

After the cave was reported all clear, Class Three decided to have the contest two nights a head of time so they could set everything up and get the costumes in place. A selective few in the class had a job to do while the rest were paired together, one boy and one girl for each pair.

"This is Kurasame, we are now sending in the first pair." He reported in to his COMM as he surveyed everything in the cave making sure all of the decorations were in place. It was near midnight and the whole place was almost completely black outside, save for the light that was illuminating from the torches that were hanging on the wall in the inside. "Um, you're…"

"Shuri! At least remember my name!" The female cadet shouted back. "And quit it with the formalities, Kurasame! This isn't a mission. Our scares are already." She said before cutting the connection.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the list of instructions Miwa had given him earlier back in the classroom and read over them again. 'Make sure the search pairs get started without any problems. And stay in touch with the scarers, that's my all-important assignment.' Miwa had made him the 'liaison'. She said it was to make sure he didn't get stuck with any of the girls and to keep him from having to scare anyone. Looking up, he saw her talking to another pair that were getting ready to head inside.

"How's it going?" She asked him after dismissing the two. "No problems, liaison Kurasame?"

"No, everything's ready. You can leave anytime." He told her.

"Rodger that! And we're off!" She was going to lead the first group through the tunnel and then come back to lead the second group in. "Since we're here, let's have fun, okay?" She teased him.

"Yeah, yeah. Get going." He said sending her on her way. On the other side of where he was standing were Guren and Sayo who had been paired together for the challenge.

"Yo Guren, get a room would ya?" Another cadet teased him.

"Wha-!?" Guren said as he started getting flustered. "Don't be stupid! We just happened to be paired up, okay? What are you suggesting?"

"Hey calm down man. You're not yourself."

"Sayo, you make sure he doesn't let anything happen to you, okay?" A girl said giggling.

"Guys!" He shouted at them, the group ran away from them laughing.

Guren glanced down at Sayo and the two accidently caught each other's eyes. They starred at each other for a few moments before they turned away blushing a bright pink, not saying anything.

'I think that's most of them.' Kurasame thought watching the last two pairs walk in. "I'm sending the next pair, are you ready?" He said into his COM. For a few moments he couldn't hear anything from the other side. He pressed it a few more times before it suddenly clicked back on. Instead of the other girl's voice filtering through like before, a static white noise sounded in his ear in a disjointed mess. Broken up pieces of speech started coming through and he could barely hear what was going on.

"Kghh…kgkh…" The COMM started fritzing before shutting down again. The connection had been completely cut from the other side.

"Hey, can you hear me?" He tried again. "This is Kurasame. Come in, what happened?" But it was no use. The connection wouldn't go through anymore. 'Let's see…Huh? What was the name of the cadet in charge of the scarers again…?" For some reason he couldn't remember their name anymore.

"Something wrong?" Guren asked him.

"I think my COMM's broken. I'm gonna go check on things." He said.

"I'll go with you."

"No, I'm going alone."

"What!?" Oruto yelled. "You like guys too?" he asked Guren, looking at him in shock.

"The hell I do, Oruto!" He snapped at him. "I'm just trying to be helpful. Don't make it creepy!"

"Okay. Then I'll go with Kurasame." Oruto volunteered.

"So you have a thing for him?" Guren shot back at him, he just laughed. "I need him to give me some pointers for the next test. Or else I'm gonna be in trouble."

"You're gonna be publicly shamed for low scores again." Guren said.

"I'm hoping I won't. That's why I'm counting on you, Professor Kurasame!" Oruto said looking at Kurasame hopefully. The swordsman just sighed to himself.

The three finally decided that Guren was going to be the one that stayed behind at the cave entrance and Oruto would come with him. After a few minutes of walking deeper into the cave, Kurasame's mind started wondering and he started to think about the blonde's strange carefree character.

'Oruto, he's vying for the position of stupidest member of Class Three. That's the only thing I ever remember about him, and yet he had the audacity to take my notebook.' He could feel his irritation start to reel up again as he reminded himself about that little incident, he still never forgave them about that.

"Well, now that we've given Guren this shot, I hope he makes good use of it." Oruto's voice broke through his thoughts suddenly. He looked back at him in question. "Believe it or not, Guren has a hard time admitting his feelings when he's serious about a girl."

'Serious?' He thought. 'Does he mean that Sayo girl?' "Oh, is that why you were so desperate to come with me? To give Guren some time with Sayo?" He asked. 'They're always trying so hard for things that don't make any sense.'

"Oh, but I wasn't lying when I said I wanted you to give me some tips." Oruto said. "You're like a super student, right?"

'I thought he was just an idiot…But he's actually aware of things. Guren too, He noticed right away when my COMM was broken and asked me what was wrong. Maybe Kazusa is right. Maybe I am the immature one.'

"So hey, you never really talk. Like, at all Kurasame. Is that why your grades are-"

Oruto's cut off sharply and Kurasame found himself being pushed back roughly across the cave floor. He grunted when his back hit the ground and quickly sat up. "Wha-!? Oruto, what are you…?" His voice trailed off when he saw what coming from the ground he had been standing on a few seconds ago.

Sharp, jagged spikes had shot up from the ground; he would have been skewered alive by them if it wasn't for Oruto's quick reflexes saving his life.

"Wha-what are those?"

"Oh-ho. Finally some true cadets." A distorted voice sounded out throughout the cave. "Who's there!?" Kurasame yelled. In the darkness of the other side of the cave they could both see shadows start moving out of place and something else slowly starting to come into the light. The first thing that came out of the darkness was a woman who looked to be from Concordia judging by her clothes. Right behind her were two grossly mutated looking monsters with the same jagged spikes from before piercing through their skin. Kurasame and Oruto could feel themselves break out into a cold sweat.

"Ha ha ha ha ha." As the woman laughed more spikes started to burst through the monster's skin covered in dark red blood as even smaller ones started growing as well.

"What are those…?" Kurasame was speechless, he couldn't think of anything else to say as he continued to watch the three with a sense of dread starting to pool in his stomach.

'Why is someone from Concordia here!?" Oruto shouted. "What are those monsters!?"

"You boys are so cold."The woman said. "The girl immediately asked about her classmates' safety."From underneath her headpiece Kurasame could see the sadistic smile she had on her face. He clenched his fists tightly and started to break out into a run towards her. " Wh-where are they!?"

He heard a sickening squelch from underneath his feet; he could feel the thick and wet substance even through the thick soles of his shoes. He looked down, and all he saw was a sea of blood and bodies littering all over the ground. Mangled bodies twisted in unnatural angles, some were faced up and he could see their mouths were twisted in soundless screams. All of the bodies were skewered by spikes piercing through their chests, arms, and legs. He couldn't remember their faces, but he knew those purple colored mantles around their necks anywhere.

They were his classmates…

He felt himself fall to his knees in horror. He couldn't bring himself to look away from the mess even with the shock and nausea coursing through his system. "How could…?"

"You're next." The monsters behind her shifted into an offensive stance, getting ready to launch at him in the next few seconds.

'Calm down, calm down, Calm Down! Move feet!" He tried to urge himself. 'She's going to kill you if you don't move! So move! Fight!" Looking back at the mangled corpses again he noticed that there was one body that he could still remember. That same familiar black hair and uniform that was now bloodied and torn. Seeing them was the encouragement that he needed to force himself up off of the ground.

"Miwa!" He stumbled over to her. "Hey, Miwa!" He picked her by her shoulders and turned her over on her back. Her eyes had finally opened, but just barely.

"Kura…same…" Her voice was weak and broken sounding. The entire right arm of her uniform had been torn off and her arm was scratched and bloody.

"Hold on! I'll bandage you up!" He tore off his mantle and wrapped it tightly around her wounds as best as he could.

"Hee-hee. The girl has earned the right to call herself a cadet. I'm impressed that she managed to evade my sisters for so long." The lady said with a sneer. "By contrast, the others were all a disappointment. Not even worth the effort of killing them, they put up no resistance. Is that all you cadets have to offer?"

"You! How…How dare you!" Miwa shouted at her.

"Ha ha ha ha! Isn't it convenient to forget the dead? Until a moment ago, you were weeping, clinging to the lumps of meat that used to be your friends." She snickered. "I can't use healing magic! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! You said. You wailed it over and over like a babbling idiot."

"Are you feeling better now that you've lost your memories? Ha ha ha!"

"That's enough!" Kurasame quickly summoned his sword to his side and lunged at the woman. The woman gave a signal for the monsters behind her and one of them lashed its arm out quick enough to block Kurasame's attack. Spikes formed from underneath its skin and burst out suddenly, impaling Kurasame in his right arm sending him skittering back on the ground.

"Ngh…Ugh!" He panted harshly, weakly grabbing his pierced arm. 'This isn't even about pain anymore. A direct hit would gave killed me!' He thought frantically. He turned his head up to the monster that was coming towards him. 'Am I going to die? Me, here?'

He glanced over at the corpses of his dead team mates again. 'I can't die now! I'm not the one who needs to die here!' He grabbed his fallen sword with his left hand.

'She is! The moment the monster towered over him, he shoved his sword in its eye as hard as he could. Blood spewed out from its socket and it reared back with a loud ear-piercing screech. The other mutant that had been standing behind the woman earlier leapt straight for him, taking the other's place.

"Kurasame!" Oruto cried out as he ran to his side. The swordsman hurriedly moved out of the way as Oruto made a stand in front of him and casted the strongest thundara spell he could muster, hitting it dead on.

"Aaaah! What have you done!?" The woman shouted in anger. She didn't notice Kurasame moving quickly behind her and attacking her until she felt the stinging pain of his blade cutting deeply across her back. Her body dropped face down and she steadily began to bleed out. Kurasame stumbled back and leaned against the wall panting heavily.

'I killed a woman.' That thought echoed loudly in his head like a scream. "For the first time in my life…I killed a human being. It's very…bleak feeling."

Oruto only watched him as he went over to pick up Miwa; he looked as if he wanted to say something but decided against it. "Let's go, Oruto." Kurasame said. "That monster could start moving again any second."

XxXxXxX

The two moved as far away as they could from the blood bath, they ended up finding a decent sized space that was wedged between two walls of the cave and decided to settle down there. Kurasame propped Miwa's unconscious body against the wall and sat down on the opposite side. Oruto had started to pull out the spikes that had been impaling his arm.

Ripping the last one out, he tore off his own mantle from around his neck and used it as a makeshift bandage for Kurasame's arm, similarly to what he did for Miwa earlier.

"There's a penalty for cadets who lose their capes. Well, you tore yours to bandage Miwa." Oruto said sitting down next to the swordsman. "My cape and your cape…are red now. Now we've become the legendary class zero, because we have red capes." He joked.

"Class Zero, huh?"

"Yeah."

"If we can just get back to Akademeia, maybe we will be put into Class Zero." Kurasame chuckled weakly, the blonde just smiled. They sat there for a few minutes, enjoying the silence while they still could until-

"Mn…nn…"

"Miwa, are you okay?" Kurasame asked her as she started coming back into consciousness. She stared at him quietly for a moment before her eyes misted over and tears started streaming down her face.

"Miwa?"

"Sayo, Guren, Kotetsu, Kurasame, Oruto…There were twenty people in our class but I can only remember five!" She cried devastated. "I can't remember the others!"

"What are you saying?" The swordsman asked. 'I can't remember them either…?' Then his eyes widened in realization. 'So when I couldn't remember the cadet I was trying to contact, was it because she was already dead!?'

"Class Three is all dead…Except for six of us? Hey…What's going on?" Oruto asked brokenly, his eyes started to become unfocused. He could feel a scream starting to build up in his chest and his throat close up tightly. He roughly gripped his hair and collapsed on his knees, tremors racking through his body.

"WAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He screamed at the top his lungs and started dry heaving. Kurasame's jaw tightened and he clenched his hands to his side; he didn't know what to say.

"Take care of Miwa." He said walking out of the space they had.

"Kurasame…?"

"I'm going to help out the survivors!" He didn't wait for Oruto to respond back as he rushed back towards the corpses of their fallen comrades.

XxXxXxX

It didn't take him long to find his way back because the smell of blood was thick in the air. No matter how long he continued to stare at the blood bath it still shocked him to very core each time. The overwhelming feeling of guilty only seemed to grow in the pit of his stomach as he couldn't remember a single face that stared lifelessly back. Even though it was the crystals doing it still didn't make him feel any better.

The closer he moved towards them the more the metallic scent of blood start to fill his nose even through the sleeve of his shirt that he was using to cover his mouth and nose. After bypassing the area he could faintly hear a familiar voice speaking faintly and the sound of someone moving on the ground in jerky movements.

He could see Guren's hulking form leaning over Sayo's small body, trying desperately to pin her to the ground by her shoulders. Her eyes were blown up wide and her pupils were full dilated, she was shaking and convulsing as she pushed against Guren's hands. She didn't look as if she was fully aware of what was going on at all, she was staring blankly at the ceiling above them.

"Guren?" He called to him. The raven haired teen looked up at him and Kurasame could see cuts littering all over the other's face.

"Kurasame...Help." He asked weakly. "It's Sayo."

"She's…"