Outside of the room, a hallway led off to their left. With nowhere else to go, they started down it. It turned left twice before they saw the elevator. In silence, they jogged up to it.
Junpei pushed the "C" button. The elevator motor ground away, and before long they found themselves once again on C Deck.
The door opened, and they stepped off. They'd expected to find 4 other people waiting for them. There were none. Something in the pit of Junpei's stomach stirred. He tried to forget the feeling, and took off down the long hallway before him. Akane would be fine, he would make sure of it.
Seven and Lotus followed at a run. They ran, and ran, and ran. The hallway seemed endless.
Their destination had already been decided. The door behind the central staircase... There was a Sun symbol engraved on the keyhole of that door...
And Junpei had the Sun key in his pocket. That key would open the door. It had to.
That was why they ran for the central staircase. They had run for quite some time when they arrived at the door that ended the hallway.
Junpei stopped. He laid his hand on the doorknob, his breathing heavy.
"Hold on a sec there. We don't have the key for this one yet, right?" Seven laid a hand on his arm as Junpei held the knob.
There is the Jupiter symbol engraved over the keyhole. Seven was right. They had no Jupiter key.
"Then we can't open this door... The Sun door's gotta be just on the other side of this, you know...?" Frustrated, he twisted the doorknob. The door opened.
"Hey! It opened! The others must have found the Jupiter key!" As he spoke, he shoved the door the rest of the way open. They rushed through, and stopped cold.
The terrible scene before them made their blood run cold.
Three people lay dead on the floor, covered in blood. Clover, Ace, and Santa.
Junpei felt a cold sweat trickle down his spine. He couldn't breathe. His legs shook. His body felt cold, deathly cold... But his blood was boiling hot.
He could feel his mind begin to fade... He couldn't think, he couldn't concentrate... His mind was...blank...
"Wh-What the hell... What the hell happened...?" Seven's voice was weak and broken.
He edged toward the bodies, his movements stiff. He bent down over Clover, and pressed his fingers to her wrist.
"Nothing... She's dead..."
Suddenly, Lotus moved. Before he understood what was happening, her hand was in Junpei's vest pocket.
"H-Hey! What're you doing?!" He leapt back.
Lotus looked up at him, terrified.
"The key! Give me the Sun key...!"
"W-Why...?"
"Why do you think?! We have to get out of here before the murderer comes back!"
The murderer... The murderer... Once again, Junpei looked at the dead bodies. Santa...Clover...and Ace... That meant that the person who had killed them was...
...
No... No, it couldn't be true. Before Junpei could react, Lotus dove back into his pocket, and came out with the key.
"Let's go!"
Without waiting for Seven or Junpei, she ran, straight for the central staircase.
They followed.
Junpei shut his eyes and swallowed his emotions. Mourning would have to wait. Soon they stood in front of the door.
Lotus shoved the Sun key into the keyhole, and twisted it, hard.
But... Nothing.
"What happened?"
"Nothing... Nothing happened! I didn't feel it unlock!"
"Oh no... Is it the wrong key?"
"I don't know... Maybe..." Lotus sighed, defeated, and leaned against the doorknob.
She felt it twist/ A small gap appeared between the door and the frame.
"You mean...the door was already unlocked...?"
With so many thoughts racing through the group's minds, this was the least of their worries.
Lotus took a deep breath and slowly opened the door the rest of the way. They stepped inside. In front of them was another hallway.
It stretched out toward the bow of the ship. They began to run. Faster and faster they ran, trying desperately to reach the end of the hallway. A few seconds later, they were there.
In front of them stood a massive metal door. They were all breathing heavily as Junpei spoke.
"What the hell is this door?! I can't see anything that looks like a doorknob or switch or lever or card reader or...or...or anything! How the fuck are we supposed to open this?!"
"We don't have a choice. We're gonna have to go back." Despite the situation, Seven still maintained a level head. Perhaps it was experience after being a cop.
"No! No! I'm not going back there! There's a murderer back there!"
There was more stark terror in Lotus's voice than authority. She was almost begging.
"But I don't see any other doors..."
As he spoke, Seven stepped toward the door in front of them, as if to illustrate that it was the only door. It opened. Nothing surprising. A simple automatic door.
"Look, guys, I've got a really bad feeling about all this. The other doors were already unlocked, and this one's automatic... We haven't seen anything like this before..."
How could their situation possibly get worse? Three people were already dead!
They'd hit the bottom, Junpei told himself. There was nowhere to go but up. He stepped through the door...
And whatever hope Junpei had managed to summon disappeared.
In the middle of the room was Akane Kurashiki, lying in a pool of her own blood.
No... No no no no no... It wasn't true. It couldn't be true. It was impossible. Utterly impossible. It was a dream. It had to be a dream. a nightmare. Yes, it was a nightmare, and if he could just wake up/ He was seeing things. Yes, that was it, this was a hallucination.
A lie. It wasn't real. It wasn't real...
It wasn't real...right? June...
No! No, the code names meant nothing now!
Kanny... Kanny!
"Kanny!"
Junpei cried out and leapt through the door. He flew to her side, his heart like a stone in his chest.
"Kanny! Kanny! Hang on!"
Junpei swept her up, and shook her by the shoulder.
She moaned, and her eyes fluttered open, but only barely.
"Kanny!"
"Jumpy...?"
Her face was pale, and her lips were dry and cracked. Her eyes were blank and cloudy. They stared straight at Junpei, but saw nothing.
Junpei put his hand against the small of her back to hold her up. It felt warm and...wet.
He lifted his hand up. It was covered in blood.
"Oh man... Kanny... What the hell happened to you... How did this happen...?"
It was all he could do not to break into tears. This game was about to claim the life of the person he cherished most, but it wouldn't take him.
"Jumpy... I'm sorry..." Her voice was thin, a miniscule thread that was the only thing keeping her with him.
"I...I might not make it."
"N-No way! No way am I gonna let you die! I'm gonna save you, I promise!" Junpei's voice began to crack, and he had difficulty speaking. Tears ran down his face at a rapid pace. As soon as one was gone, another took it's place.
"Thank you, Jumpy... Thank you so much... For everything... I was...really happy... To see you again, Jumpy... Really...happy..."
"You've... You've just gotta hang on, all right Kanny!? You... You..."
What could he do?! He looked up from Kanny desperate for something, anything. There was always a solution. There was always an answer.
Then he saw it. A small submarine...
A submarine?! What on Earth was a submarine doing there?! No, that didn't matter. Nothing mattered, except saving Kanny. That was the only thing he wanted. Junpei turned his head back to look down at her.
"Hang on, all right? There's a submarine over there. I'm gonna go see if it works.
"No... Don't go... Please, don't go... Please, just...stay with me, okay...? I want to...be close to you, Jumpy... When...when I..."
"Kanny..."
It was too much for him. Knowing that fate had done this to him, to put him in a situation where he could do nothing but observe.
He had lost.
"Jumpy, did you know... You...meant a lot to me...when we were kids... I've liked you...for a long time, Junpei... A really...long...time..."
Junpei's vision had gone blurry. It took him a moment to realize his eyes were filled with tears.
He could feel a piercing point of heat deep in his heart, like a white-hot flame.
"Jumpy, do you remember...how we hung out a lot when we were...kids? We went to the pool... And to...the fair... Do you remember...playing snowball at the school...? They're all memories I'll...never forget... All of those moments are...treasures...to me... But I also wanted to...go to a lot of other places with you... A lot more... But...that...won't happen...now..."
"No! I mean yes! Yes, it will happen! We'll go all sorts of places, Kanny! You hear me?! I promise! We'll go wherever you want!"
"...Really...?"
"Yeah, really. I swear."
"That makes me happy... Really...happy..." She said it to herself, over and over, a weak smile creasing her tired face.
"I feel...sleepy..."
"No, Kanny! Don't fall asleep!"
"Thank you...Jumpy... Thank you...so much..." Her eyes were slowly closing.
Junpei screamed, even as he felt his throat go hoarse.
"Kanny! Kanny! Kaaaaannnnyyyyy!"
Time passed. Junpei wept, curled around Kanny's body. He knew not how long he stayed there, nor did he care.
He cried and cried until he had no tears left. When the last tear fell, Junpei was no more. His body remained, but only as an empty shell.
Somewhere, he heard a bell ring. It was the clock at the central staircase. It rang 5 times, then faded.
Quietly, gently, softly, he set Kanny down on the floor. Slowly, Junpei stood. Only then did he realize that Seven and Lotus had not followed him. Where had they gone?
Slowly, he looked around the room. There was nothing. No sign that they had ever been there. It felt as though every part of Junpei's body was made of lead. Slowly, he made his way to the door he'd come through.
As he approached it, it opened, sliding apart with a sound like grinding stone. Junpei passed through the gate and into the hallway.
His heart rattled in his chest, an empty lifeless thing. It had been so utterly broken that there was nothing left to feel.
When he saw their bodies, he simply stared.
It was a lake-a sea-of blood. Two bodies lay in it.
There was no need to check. There was no breath left in them. His eyes lit on Lotus's wrist.
Her bracelet... It was gone.
He stared. It meant nothing to him. He didn't care anymore. He couldn't care anymore.
Junpei's body felt numb. A part of him knew the lump of lead in his chest had once been a heart. He couldn't quite remember what it had been for.
Tears poured from his eyes in great streams. He wasn't sure why. He gave up trying to make them stop.
He turned around. The door opened again, and slowly, numbly, he walked through. He kept walking. Why stop?
An object set in motion, simple inertia carried him forward. Eventually, he found himself in front of the submarine.
His arm reached for the hatch, and a voice yelled through out his entire body.
"Turn around!"
Deep inside, he felt it. An urge to live. An urge to carry on. No matter what, he could not let Akane's death go to waste. He would be the survivor of the Nonary Game.
Like a flash of light, Junpei spun around and instinctively caught a knife aimed at his chest. It felt like his body moved on it's own, like the times before. He knew things he shouldn't, and now it would save him.
His eyes widened as he saw his assailant. The lion that consumed them all... Ace. His clothes were covered in blood, but he had no wounds. He had tricked them by playing dead. In one hand he held the knife, and in his other he held Lotus's bracelet.
Junpei wanted to ask him why he did it, but a new thought appeared in his head. It was Ace that killed Akane. It was all his fault. He robbed them of the opportunity of living a happy life together. In just a few minutes, Ace had managed to take everything from him.
But there was one thing he refused to be taken. His life.
Ace was physically much stronger than Junpei, but Junpei had the leverage advantage, and just barely managed to make him drop the knife. Quickly Junpei put his back to the submarine, and that was when he remembered something else. He felt the shape of the kitchen knife he took earlier pressing against him. Hurridly his hands shot out to retrieve it.
"Out of all the participants, I never expected you to be the one to put up a fight." Ace had kept his calm leaderly voice, but his face was twisted in a mad manner.
"It's surprising how easy a knife can slip inside of a body. None of them was able to put up much of a resistance. Clover and Santa didn't see it coming. Seven and Lotus were so surprised at seeing a dead man walking, neither could stop me. And June... Well, I think I did my best work on her. The whole time she screamed "Junpei! Junpei!" again and again. But even you are just a man. You're not God, you can't undo the past, and you have failed."
There was so many things to think about, but none of them mattered. Junpei needed to fight. For Akane. He would live.
As soon as Ace's words left his mouth, Junpei launched forward with the knife in hand. He grasped it awkwardly, as he never before used a knife with the intent of harm. While Ace had not expected Junpei to have a weapon of his own, he was still able to dodge the attack and in the same motion, grab the knife he was disarmed of earlier.
Junpei was on the advance. For the first time, he was the aggressor. This level of adrenaline was unknown to him. The feeling that any moment here, he could be killed, and that would be the end of it. The twenty one years of his life could all be lost with a single swipe of a knife. It instilled a fear in his heart, but also, determination.
The Submarine room was not very large, and certainly not met for fighting. Ace was unable to go on the offense and was forced to slowly back up as Junpei continued his assault. Fighting near the water was a disadvantage for the both of them. Ace kept a methodical pace as he dodged the kitchen knife. Junpei was having a hard time trying to strike him, as his knife was not very long, nor very sharp. Eventually, he would run out of energy, and then Ace would easily be able to overpower him. He had to end this fast.
They made two circles around the room. Junpei could already feel his arms starting to tire as he endlessly swung. A plan began to surface in the back of his head. It was the only way for him to gain the upper hand. He bolted around to the other side of Ace and made a wide sweeping strike. However, that was exactly the moment Ace was waiting for. Ace brought his knife diagonally across Junpei's chest twice at the same time he swung. Junpei's knife only pierced Ace's clothes, but the cut he received was far worse.
He felt no pain. No amount of cuts would do him in just yet. Just a flesh wound.
The look on Ace's face made Junpei crack a wry smile. Just as he said before, how could he put up a fighting chance?
As fast as his legs could take him, Junpei thrust forward with the knife aimed at Ace's chest. If his body could do this one last thing, that's all he would need.
Ace instinctively took steps backwards. His eyes were so focused on the movement of the knife, he failed to see what was at his feet.
Akane's corpse.
Caught off guard and in the middle of tripping, Ace was unable to avoid Junpei's thrust. The two men fell to the floor. Junpei had deeply buried his knife into the lion's chest. He would not be devoured. Even in death, Akane had saved him.
The feeling was indescribable. The amount of endorphins and adrenaline running through his body gave him a completely new experience. Akane did not die for nothing. A small amount of luck had also assisted him.
Ace began to cough up blood. His grip loosened on his weapon, and it fell to the floor. Junpei rose up, and slowly made his way over to the submarine. The pain from his cuts soon began to surface, and his body felt like lead. Every step was a challenge.
He reached for the hatch, when he heard a strange noise. Was that a...Click? Junpei went to cock his head, when his head was filled with a loud noise, and his legs gave out beneath him. With the little strength he had left, he turned his body over. There was Ace, holding a smoking golden revolver in his hand, before slumping forward and dropping it.
How... How did he get a gun? Junpei was unable to move. There was nothing that could be done.
"I'm sorry, Kanny..." Junpei's words were barely a whisper, as the remains of his tears ran down his face.
In the end, the lion consumed the ninth son.
A loud noise startled Junpei awake, and his eyes snapped open. As they adjusted to the light, he realized that he didn't recognize his surroundings.
Junpei, powered by confusion, instantly shot out of bed; only to immediately have his head connect with something metal.
He rolled over and threw out his hand to steady himself, but he found himself groping at empty air.
His balance lost, and his still-fuzzy mind struggling to understand what was going on, Junpei tumbled down to the cold, grey floor.
He stared at the ceiling of the room, and contemplated the feeling he was experiencing.
It felt as if he knew things he shouldn't.
AN:Oh boy do I love the sub end. I felt compelled to change it to what you see here for a few reasons. I am most definitely not confident in my ability to write a story, and I know nothing of the technical aspects of writing one, but this has been so much fun for me. Apologies if you dislike it, I don't really blame you. I used to be a perfectionist with my writing, but that got me absolutely nowhere. My advice to those that desire to write, is to simply write. I do not feel as if this is a good story at all, but what matters to me is that I managed to write something at all. Thank you for your time. It really has been a blast.
