A/N: I have really enjoyed writing this chapter, possibly one of my best, but I need to warn you about gore in this chapter as well for future executions. Monokuma's executions in 'Monokuma's Killer Cruise' are a lot more graphic than those in the original game.
Chapter One IV: Execution
Aiko shook rapidly like a rabbit in the winter cold despite his fox cosplay appearance. His eyes frantically searched for an exit or somewhere he could hide… but he was trapped like all of us in the courtroom.
It was time for…
"EXECUTION!" Monokuma announced enthusiastically, repetitively banging his gavel on the desk. "Ooh this is my favourite part. It's like going to a circus where the entertainer gets eaten by a lion! Upupupu!" He giggled in excitement punching the air in victory.
Aiko looked at all of us like he was a lost child, eyes like rippling pools of water, begging for help. We couldn't help, no matter how much we wanted to… He had no protection what so ever. We were simply a frightened audience stripped from our powers.
His shaky head then slowly turned to the devil himself…
…Monokuma.
The sadistic bear hungered for action with eyes like a vicious predator wearing a concrete smile.
"By the way I must say… if you are dressed like a fox you should at least act like one. Foxes are supposed to be sneaky, suspicious and swift. Yet you're like a hopeless little chicken ready for slaughter." Monokuma teased.
"G-get the fuck away from me you evil bastard!" Aiko stuttered in terror.
"Now, now, now, the execution will be much more painful if you wish to offend Captain Monokuma."
"Spare his life, please." Taishi begged.
"But he has just killed your friend. Is it not an eye for an eye?" Damiko questioned.
"Revenge is just bitter!" He snapped back.
"I must admit, I feel sorry for the poor bugger," Kohaku sighed.
"But it was you he was attempting to kill off," Lione clarified. "Beneath that thick skin really does lie a naïve and stupid girl."
"Listen you are darth vader masked bastard! Maybe I learned a few things from Tanken that you and others here don't realize," Kohaku yelled. "When Tanken told me about his brother it made me change my perspective of people. He also taught me to stop being so defensive and to give every person a chance. Working with abandoned, beaten and lost animals over the years has only made my views of humanity dark and twisted. But underneath the tough crackers is a heart and conscious." Kohaku recalled. She sighed and lowered her head, her eyes sinking to the ground. "If there is one thing I can take from Tanken's death is that advice he gave me while he was still alive."
"I can't condemn such actions, but his purpose to kill was simply created by the pressure of the game," Hiro stated attempting to empathise somehow to Aiko. "Deep down Aiko is not a bad person."
"Just send the rat to the slaughter. I hold no sympathy for him." Rei yawned.
"He's still a kid. Only fifteen! Please don't hurt him," Hanabi pleaded.
"I won't hurt him… I'll kill him. It is what you have all been fighting for throughout this trial was it not?" Monokuma sarcastically asked. "Unless you decide to volunteer yourselves and the rest of the group for execution, Hmmm?"
His threats and blackmail only made us face the most ultimate dilemma. But we couldn't sacrifice ourselves for one student.
"Enough with this heart touching dabble," Monokuma puffed. "I've got a fox to skin!" He hissed locking onto his prey.
"Neugh!" Aiko stammered.
Aiko sprinted off the stand from the signals of horror off Monokuma. He raced to the door and with shaking hands tried to pull open the doors.
*rattle* *rattle* *rattle*
"Open! Open!" It was no luck. But that didn't stop him trying. "H-help, h-help. Somebody, please! I didn't mean any of this… I just wanted to get out this prison," Aiko whimpered. "Daaaaad! Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad!
His cries were useless. Nothing and nobody could help him. I really wanted too… but… I couldn't.
"Aww… The little boy is crying for his daddy. Boo hooo," Rei teased.
"Shut the fuck up!" Kohaku barked defensively.
Monokuma slowly approached Aiko with the solid smile across his face. "You want to see daddy bear do you? My heart cries. It really does." Monokuma teased in a playful manner. "You can see daddy if you want to?"
"N-no. Stop playing games with me. Just let me out please! I'll do anything, anything you want!" Aiko pleaded.
"You see… that is not how the game works." The bear shook his head and then tilted it to a frightened Aiko and teased, "let me show you."
Monokuma snatched Aiko's clipped on fox tail causing Aiko to slam face first onto the wooden panelled flooring. Aiko was dragged by the bear to the top of the court room. His cries wailed and echoed through the court room. We nervously watched as what we witnessed was turning out to be some sort of horror movie.
"G-get off! Get off me!"
"If any of you wish to help, please do. You'll have the honour of facing execution with him," Monokuma stated.
"Stop this!" Taishi pleaded in desperation.
Monokuma ignored his desperate request so Taishi plunged towards the bear; however Shiki grabbed Taishi's just in time. I rushed over to help Shiki keep Taishi at ease. His brotherly antics were simply not enough.
Out of nowhere the instrumental to some sort of funfair opening flooded the room and curtains at the front of the room slowly revealed a stage with a strange man standing lifelessly in the centre.
"D-dad?" Aiko cried tearing up.
Whatever Aiko's dad looked like, that thing was not his real life father. It was a machine made up of nuts and bolts. It was clear to us all, but to Aiko I had no idea how this machine appeared.
"What is this madness?" Naomi questioned.
"This experience is just getting sicker and sicker," Shiki seethed. "I mean the kid is about to get killed he doesn't need the emotional damage beforehand."
"It is your daddy Aiko. All dressed, suited and booted like he would be when going to work at the CEO." Monokuma revealed.
"If you wanna kill me just get it over with," Aiko cried. "And make it quick!"
"I do want to kill you, very, very much indeed, but you see…" The bear cleared its throat. "The first part of this execution is to simply educate your fellow students on the background to your super-duper high school title. It's simply just to make this experience… what's the word… hmm," Monokuma thought tapping his foot. "Ooh yes. Dramatic! It may even calm your nerves to give a speech before my gavel here hits this shiny red button."
"O-okay," Aiko gave in. "I guess I should, they all deserve my backstory since I killed Tanken…" He sighed.
Backstory: AIKO RONDANT [The Ultimate Horror Writer]
"Sweet-heart," a soothing voice emerged cradling a blue haired baby. "You have no idea right now, but you are going to make your farther and very happy man." She smiled. "Why?" She questioned in response to the baby grasping her finger to suck. "Because Aiko, you are a handsome little devil who will follow your daddy's footsteps to be a respectable member of the CEO," she said playfully pinching his nose.
Three years later…
"Evening honey!" a man greeted with a smoky voice. He hung up his flashy black winter coat and approached his wife and wrapped his arms around her and planted a firm kiss on her forehead. He took a glance of his platinum watch. "Time is telling me that dinner is ready!" He teased.
"Of course," she beamed. She bent down to take the cooked food out the oven. "It's mamma's special cheese and potato pie!"
Her husband presented her with a disapproving pair of eyes. "Honey, as lovely as that looks we can't keep feeding our child with all this rubbish," he criticized. "I don't want my son to turn into a greasy, pimpled teenager who is skinny to the bone," he continued. He looked back at Aiko who was dressed in a grim reaper costume playing violently with toy dinosaurs. "He needs omega three, fresh vegetables and plenty of protein." He beckoned. He calmly kicking the dinosaurs from Aiko's reach.
"That's right daddy I want to be making money like you in a nice posh suit!" Aiko yelled enthusiastically.
"Well then, take off that terrible cape and we'll sit down, eat our food and plan what we will eat for the rest of the week." His father stated.
Two years later…
"I am terrible sorry to announce, but…" A lady hesitantly spoke tapping her sheets of paper into line. "But I must expel your son from the school, due to highly disruptive behaviour and violence towards other pupils and quite frighteningly members of the staff team." She informed the father who stared blankly to the ground never making the slightest of eye contact to his upset son.
Moments later…
Aiko and his father walked to the six seated Mercedes gun silvered car. The rain poured down and Aiko, who struggled to keep up, tried reach to grasp his father's hand.
"Dad," Aiko huffed. "Please slow down," he requested. His father completely ignored him and quickened is pace. "Why aren't you talking to me?" Aiko cried.
The two reached the car. His father stepped into the driver's seat while Aiko attempted to open to the door to the passenger seat but it was locked. Aiko tapped on the window and stared through the window hoping to receive his father's attention, but he could have been stood there for hours and he still wouldn't receive the smallest of eye contact. Aiko got into the back seat and throughout the journey home the conversation was restricted.
Back at home…
Aiko wrapped his arms around his legs as he sat in the shrouds of shadows on the staircase. He listened in on his mother's and father's conversation.
"I knew we should have had him placed in a private school, but you insisted saving money for pointless holidays we never had the time for." He snapped. His wife was speechless attending to a bowl of cake mixture she slowly stirred. "What's this?" He barked capturing the cake packets in his sight. "More useless junk food that child doesn't need!"
"That child is your son!" She retaliated. "You only value him for his future contribution at the CEO, you care about nothing else!" She fumed slamming the wooden spoon onto the desktop. "Do you know his favourite animal, favourite colour, favourite cartoon character!?"
"N-n…"
"No! You don't." She continued to shout. "You are a selfish man who is obsessed with money, leadership and most frustratingly yourself!"
"Say what you want. Our son's path is to become part of the CEO and I will get him placed into a private school, get him booked with a doctor promptly so he can work out his demonic behaviour."
Aiko eventually closed his ears shut, however he could still hear the shouts and screams until enough was enough. Aiko sprinted to his room quickly packed a rucksack with essentials and ran into the cold and dark night.
Months later…
"Mum! Mum!" A child pestered as they walked down the quiet shopping street. "That's the boy I was on about, he wrote 'the hundred and one corpses'!"
His mother gasped and washed a boy dressed in black with fake blood with a disgusted look.
"Son, you must not get involved with such misfortunes. Let the authorities handle this poor boy." She pitied.
"Here!" The boy called. He threw a shiny coin into a top hat.
"Th-thank you," Aiko said.
Over the next few weeks, months and years Aiko secured a tight fan base of young children who would wake up in the earliest hours of sunrise to boy Aiko's horror material. Aiko's talents even got attention from adults who valued his creative writing ability but disapproved of him advertising it to younger children. Over time Aiko's writing ability improved until it was strong enough to appeal to an older audience. Eventually Aiko received the grand title of 'Ultimate horror writer'.
Aiko's story really changed my perspective of him. I knew he was to put nicely, a brat, but deep down his hurt came from the rejection of his father. His reason to kill was to continue his passion for horror writing and prove to his father he can be even more successful than him by achieving his own dream.
"Aiko… Th-that was so sweet," Sumiko said softly drying a tear from her cheek.
"It's hard for me to say this but I think I can speak for Tanken that he would have appreciated hearing that," Kohaku added.
"Poor child," Hiro mumbled.
"Just before I go. I am deeply sorry for killing a student for my own needs." Aiko apologized.
"Enough of the waterworks. This is supposed to be creative, fun and exciting!" Monokuma stated once again switching the atmosphere around. "So…Let's begin the fun!" It cheered slamming his gavel onto the button that changed it all.
Father Puppeteer
The stage dynamics altered like they do in pantomimes or theatres. A house replica emerged centre of the stage capsulizing Aiko's robotic father inside. Then suddenly thunderous rain stammered the stage soaking Aiko from head to toe. An eerie knock echoed through the courtroom startling Aiko on stage. Then slowly the door loudly creaked open revealing… once again… Aiko's father, but this time it was Monokuma dressed exactly how Aiko described his father.
A suited Monokuma slapped its paws on Aiko's shoulders and dragged him into the house, by this point the house walls collapsed meaning all of us could see the interior of the house. Aiko was pinned against a cartoon stripped wall with a domineering Monokuma hovering over him with long rope and a thick dusty CEO handbook. Its paws wrapped themselves around Aiko's neck and he is slammed onto a long rectangle table roughly. A frightened Aiko's limbs were separated as they a taped down with strong thick duct tape. It then swiped out sharpened wooden steaks from a chest quick enough for Aiko to scream. Monokuma smiled sadistically before puncturing Aiko's hands and legs with the steaks. Blood began to erupt from Aiko's shaking body leaving crimson splodges on the wooden surfaces, as Aiko's ghostly screams casted a haunting atmosphere in the courtroom. The rope was then used to push themselves through the wounds until Aiko became more or less a lifeless puppet doll. A cross shape cut-out emerged from the table Aiko lay on until he was upright. His head dangled down for Aiko to see the puddle of blood his body created from the endlessly bleeding wounds. As Aiko lost blood he grew cold enough for me to feel the shivers worm themselves around my body. His father, which was Monokuma dressed up then used the rope to play with Aiko like a puppet. As the blood strained and his screams became feint… Aiko slowly passed away.
"That was just so sick and twisted," Naomi trembled shuddering to the coldness the event had caused.
"…" Hanabi was frozen, with only sounds escaping her mouth.
"I j-just c-can't believe what madness I've j-j-just witnessed…" Sumiko nervously laughed.
"Not even I have witnessed something so disturbing," Damiko declared.
"That…is…just terrible, truly terrible," Akatsuki uttered.
"Rest in peace Aiko and Tanken, you will both me terrible missed," Hiro prayed.
"That evil, bastard bear…" Kazuki quietly seethed.
"How extraordinary," Rei whispered.
Their words just swept over me as I continued to count every drop that seeped from Aiko's lifeless body. The courtroom then became silent.
"What's with all the sad faces, hmm?" Monokuma questioned in disappointment. "I was expecting more of an applause for all the effort I put into this." He complained much to the annoyance of the students.
"Why don't you put that paw in your gob and keep it shut!" Kohaku yelled.
"I'm so disappointed with your reactions. Maybe I'll have to try harder next time, upupupupu." It laughed and with that the bear made his domineering exit leaving us to bear the burden of two deaths, each of us alone, silently.
"I know all of you need time to handle your emotions, but please, let's meet in the dining room first," Taishi asked placing a firmly emphasizing his words.
...
So we all squashed into the elevator purposely avoiding eye contact with each other as we were swallowed in the torturous events that left us mentally scarred. Our loud footsteps made our way to the dining room and we were all impatiently waiting for what Taishi had to say.
"Are we all going to continue sulking like school children," She announced breaking the awkward silence.
"I just can't believe on what has happened… I mean they're d-dead," Sumiko muttered.
"Gone, just like that," Adina whined like a puppy.
"No," Taishi exclaimed lightly banging a clenched fist on the table. "This is not how we should all be behaving." He remarked. "I said right from the beginning, in order for us to survive in a world created by a maniac we need to beat him at his own game." Taishi added. He looked at each and every one of us just like we were part of a team. "We are slowly turning into each other's enemies due to the pressure of this experience and in turn we are slowly becoming selfish, paranoid and reckless. Something needs to be done," he finished.
"Then let's make some sort of pack," Hiro openly suggested.
"A pact? Like a promise that we all have each other's back," I asked.
His idea became a joke to Rei and Lione as they cackled in the background.
Shiki looked at the pair in disgust. "Okay then, let's form this pack!" He called eagerly. He moved into an open spot in the dining room and placed his hand flat out in front of him.
Hiro and Taishi both formed what was beginning to become a circle both placing their hands on top of Shiki's. I approached the circle with Adina and Sumiko with Kohaku and Naomi closely following behind. The circle was formed.
"Hanabi?" Taishi bemused casting a worrying gaze over the unusually quiet girl.
"What is wrong with you?" Naomi asked impatiently. "You have been so quiet." Naomi approached Hanabi, grabbed her hand and lightly drew her into the pact. "Let death bring us together, closer than before."
"That is quite coldly put," Shiki remarked.
As Hanabi finally placed a hesitant hand into what was supposed to be a circle of trust, I had a certain somebody on my mind that remained distant. Her eyes were focused on anywhere else than the group. I was of course talking about Akatsuki who I had a soft spot for ever since the beginning of this experience.
I felt I would anger her if I asked her to be part of the circle, so I just tried to capture eye contact with her. But she purposely looked away, nervous, to be put on the spot and be asked to join the pact.
"So there it is. This pact is a promise that we work together and not go behind each other's back throughout our time here." His words were heavily emphasised as if he wanted them to be printed onto our brains. "Please consider this a serious contract and remind ourselves that this promise cannot be broken!"
"Nayahaha! You can't honestly believe that this magical trust circle you've put to work is going to last." Rei cackled. "Promises are meant to be broken and under these circumstances a promise is just bleak words that mean nothing." Rei added.
"Trust me when I say it… but friendships, pacts and any other promise you make between each other will not last here." Kazuki exclaimed. "That is precisely the reason why I am not wasting my time making a useless pact."
"I'm afraid I will not be part of this either," Akatsuki informed us.
"I go against my own beliefs, but you will never be counted as members of the group," Taishi stated coldly.
"You have just strengthened a group divide; it goes against the concept of teamwork since this idea singles some of us out." Akatsuki argued back and then left the room leaving Taishi defeated.
The students who were not part of the pact soon followed Akatsuki out the dining room.
"Thank you all for appreciating the idea of teamwork. I believe we can soon find our way out of here by working closely together, especially now we have each other's back." Taishi let of a sigh of relief and finally smiled. "Let's meet back at the normal time tomorrow morning and try to put today behind us," Taishi finished.
"Tomorrow is a brand new start then!" Hiro enthusiastically added.
As of that, it was the end of the day. However it really did bother me who the accomplice was in the role of Tanken's death, what bothered me more was that they might as well indeed be in the pact already. Looking back at the events that led up to discovering Tanken's death it was only Aiko, Adina, Hanabi and Naomi who were out of their cabins before 8 'o clock. But I can't be certain of that the accomplice could have quickly gone back in their cabins after helping Aiko out. Either way there was still somebody on this ship that is lying to us.
I lay on my bed waiting to fall asleep. But it was a long night, maybe it was a good idea, since tomorrow had something waiting for me which will only make this experience more terrifying.
A/N: Tune into chapter 2 coming soon.
Yay! Finally finished chapter 1 of Danganronpa: Monokuma's Killer Cruise! I am really enjoying writing this fanfic and you guys have maintained my enthusiasm. Chapter 2 has so much more secrets and hints that will make this story a lot better.
Remember to check out Khronovision's deviantart profile 'DespairFrost' he has completed Rei and Kazuki now J