Chapter 24: Hope VS Despair

*Alarm Clock Rings*

Another day has passed. MC wakes up to his phone alarm, struggling to turn it off. When he did he sat up and yawned while wiping his eyes.

MC: "Aw man. Another boring day of school." FjhfubdvjasnvohHelp "Kind of wish it was still the weekend?" He takes his phone and looks at it. "Today's date is Monday, but why does it feel different?" He gets off his bed to freshen up for school. While he prepares to go to schoooDon'tooGiveooInol he looked at his right hand. NotvhidnvPartvjivnOfcidvThedvnGamevhi

"Strange, could've sworn I injured my hand, but then again how?" He starts feeling a sharp pain in his head. He rubbed his head hoping to relive the pain, but it wouldn't go away. fhdjbSNAPcnhvOUTdjbdjb He arrives at school. He looks around the school notices how empty it isisisisisisisisi. No one was around. He looked at his school schedule to see if today was a holiday. "Seriously? What the fuck? Todays a school day and no one is here?" fgnivbvWAkemcnckUP

He dhicvndalwhDespairjkbd walks around school to see if the teachers are at least here, but to no avail. "Wonder where everyone is?" He continues to walk around seeing no one in sight. vhdsoibHopecocnvflall Soon enough he was at an empty classroom. He looked at the chalk board as it had something written on it. Welcome to the Literature Club. "We have a Literature Club? Wait club? Why does this sound familiar?" vdskcnvrsvnCaNvdaYOucnssjkbHeaRrrfhME?

hiovscnMustndvvjStopdvndjvn Just as he said that the world around him went blank. The darkness of the night surrounded him. Nothing to see, but to hear. "Crying?" He looks around seeing nothing, but dararararararakness until he turned around.

?: "I'm sorry for lying to you all this time. To be honest I've been suffering depression for a long time. Your just seeing it for the first time." The girl says while giving off a fake smile.

MC: "Who are you?" He walks up to her. Images began to flash before his eyes "Wait do I know you?" fchdincChildhoodviownvd "What?"

?: "The feelings I have for you. Why? Why do they hurt so much?" She starts crying. Soon enough she disappears.

MC: "Wait!"

?: "We used to be a family. Until my mom passed away."

MC: "Huh?" He looks behind himself.

?: "My dad abuses me by not letting me eat, but then again he's no better." She turns away from MC before disappearing.

?: "I love you, but it would be better for you to forget me."

MC: "Those voices they sound familiar?"

?: "In order for me to free you from me, I'll kill myself." She pulls out a knife and points at herself.

MC: "N-no. Don't do it!" Just as he was about to grab her he felt a tremendous pain on his right hand. "What the … blood!?" He looks at his hand and sees that there is a huge cut on it and blood pouring out from his wound. When he looked back up the girl was gone.

?: "To be honest with you. Despite my reputation, I'm very lonely. I just wished I could be a normal girl and have great friends … maybe a boyfriend."

MC: "Huh?" Just, just, just.

?: "But in the end, the pressure to be the best is just so tiring. I don't want to be alone forever." She starts crying.

MC: "… N-no you're not." He tried to touch the girl's cheek, but she ended up like the rest. Gone. "What have I done? How could I let this all happened?"

[StopRewind by NateWantsToBattle playing in the background]

He falls down to his knees.

"Despair is a virus it spreads."

"No it can't be." He got up and started running to the unknown.

"You cannot escape, so give up."

"No I won't. Leave me alone!" The more he runs the louder the voices he hears gets, soon enough he trips into the darkness only to wake up at his bed. "Huh?" He gets up and sees he's in his room, but when looked around he saw a girl hanging herself near his window. When he saw that, he screamed running out of his room to outside and ran as fast as he can away. When he got near the streets he heard a loud honk. "Huh!?" He got hit by a truck.

"What!?" He woke up again in his bed breathing heavily and drenched in sweat. With no hesitation he got up and ran outside. He heard screaming of someone nearby. He wasn't sure where it can form, but his body moved on it's own. He followed the screams and saw a man beating a small girl to a bloody pulp out in public. He looked around and asked why no one is helping. He was horrified as the people around only watch in amusement. He tried to do something, but felt extreme pain on his throat.

*Cough*

Blood spreads through out the air. MC felt his throat and notices that someone sliced his throat. He was coughing up blood and some of it coming out of his cut. Soon enough he passed out while seeing the girl get beaten. He opens his eyes again and saw he was home again. With out question he left home and went back to where the girl was getting hurt, but no one was there. instead he saw a stream on blood running down the streets. He followed the stream to town and on his way passing by the windows a reflection appeared with MC not noticing it.

An image of a boy with red eyes running along side MC as he follows the stream of blood. When he arrived to where the blood was coming from he saw a corpse of a girl laying on the floor near a tree. He got on his knees to morn for the girl only to black out and woke up at his bed again. He got up and went outside and just when he left home he saw a girl getting ready to shoot herself. He attempted to stop her, but instead he lost control of his body and brought out his own gun.

"What?" He pointed it at the girl while struggling to put it down. "No, stop!" He pulled the trigger and killed the girl. He couldn't move his legs only his arm as he points the gun to his head.

*Bang!*

He woke up again, this time on top of a desk. "Huh? What's going on? How am I here?" With no hesitation he got out of his seat and ran as fast as he could afraid to die again only to wake up again. "What's going on? Is this Purgatory? How did all this happened? Stop, please stop. Stop!" He falls over as the world around him fades away into the darkness.

[Song Ends]

"What have I done? What are these visons?"

Mystery Voice: "There not visons. There your memories."

MC: "Huh?"

Mystery Voice: "They were already in Despair even before you met them."

MC: "W-who said that? Where are you?"

Mystery Voice: "Look behind yourself." MC did what the voice said and was frozen at what he saw. "Don't give me that look. I know you can't really see me, but still?"

MC: "W-who are you?" He says as he looks at a ball of light with the silhouette of a woman.

Mystery Voice: "You know who I am. You may not have all of your memories, but I know that you can recognize my voice."

MC: "What's going on?"

Mystery Voice: "Your in a deep sleep. You blacked out after losing Hope to your sister."

MC: "Oh now I remember. I failed everyone again."

Mystery Voice: "You haven't failed yet."

MC: "Huh?"

Mystery Voice: "You haven't failed them yet."

MC: "What are you talking about. Of course I failed them. I failed them all. It was my fault we're in this fucked up world. No matter what path I chose, we're be forever tortured. Gaming world or the real world."

Mystery Voice: "Not true. I can understand why your scared. You don't want to face the world with the future unknown, but that's not how you should live. Am I telling the truth?"

MC: "Y-yeah"

Mystery Voice: "That's fine, but you'll do fine. You were only doing the right thing. You only fail them if you give up now."

MC: "But, even if you say that. What can I do? Everything we did, everything we have done. It's something we could never forget or forgive ourselves."

Mystery Voice: "That's what makes you a good person."

MC: "Huh? What do you mean?"

Mystery Voice: "Despite everything you've done. Having a conscience is what makes you human. Real murderers don't have one and could careless who they hurt and don't care about fixing themselves or receiving help. You're different because you know what you did was wrong even when you were brainwashed into doing it. All you have to do is just do it. Everything will be ok."

MC: "But even so I ..."

Mystery Voice: "Your life may not have started good. The only one who kept you going was Sayori, but its what you did with your life that makes you a good person. Look back at your past and tell me that I'm wrong. Everyone including you may have suffered, but it was thanks to you that the girls found true happiness and they were the ones that helped you find yours." MC doesn't say a word and started looking back. Despite him not having all of his memories he was able to regain a few fractions of them.

He saw Sayori holding a noose in her hand. There was also a camp fire in front of her. When MC was going to ask what was going on, he sees Sayori throwing the noose into the fire. She then turned away from the fire with a big smile. Not the fake smile she gave to MC before, but a genuine smile. Soon the image vanishes and he is shown another memory.

He sees Natsuki and her dad talking. He notices that Natsuki looked different. She had longer hair tied in a pony tail. The same style she had in one of the pictures he found. Natsuki's dad also looked different. He was very skinny compared to the more muscular version he faced. The vison showed them hugging it out. It seems both of them are crying tears of joy. He thought to himself that maybe they have become a family once again. The vison soon disappears and MC is shown another.

He then sees Yuri in front of him talking. MC got closer to hear better and heard that both him and her are about to break up, but he refused to let their love die just because of some rumors. He sees himself hugging Yuri to show her how much he loves her. Yuri pulls away revealing her cuts, but MC remained calm and held her arms. He then sees himself telling Yuri that he loves her and cares for her safety. Yuri cried for a bit, but smiled after hearing him. The vison then switches to Monika.

He sees Monika confessing her love to him, but getting rejected. For a moment she was sad, but soon enough smiled. She tells him that it's okay, because he was the first one to see her as a person and that she is glad that he joined the club. However, right before ending their conversation. Monika asked MC to hold her in his arms, just for a bit. To let her be selfish for a moment and MC did what she asked.

Mystery Voice: "Do you see now? Even after the Despair you and the others went through, you never gave up and kept on going. Your nothing like your dad and Michelle. You're you and no one else. I should l know, because you know who I am don't you? So long as you keep moving forward a new pathway will open to you. Hope and Despair are two half's of the same coin. You already knows this. After all Hope is unpredictable. Humans have the potential to change. You're the one who said that before, so long ago." MC held his head up high.

MC: "Your right. I'm not helpless. I'm only making excuses because I'm scared to face reality."

Mystery Voice: "That's what I want to hear." The light soon started to fade away.

MC: "Wait!" But it was too late. "I never got the chance to thank you. Oh well it was nice to talk to you again. Thanks mom."

The world around him turns to dark. All he could see was himself and one thing on the floor. When he retrieved the item he started hearing voices again. Piece by piece he started to see again.

Jason: "You can't give up!"

Sayori: "If we leave … we'll remember being Ultimate Despairs. I will remember all the faces of the people I killed."

Jason: "Do you really want to be tortured forever!?"

Yuri: "I think we should just stay here forever."

Natsuki: "If we leave this world, then we'll be killed out there."

Jason: "I won't let that happen!"

Monika: "It's my fault. I'm the reason for everyone's suffering."

Jason: "If we don't stop Michelle. The Great Massacre will begin again."

Michelle: "There's nothing you can say or do that will change their mind."

Jason looks at everyone's faces. All four girls with the look of Despair. They all look dead inside. They all realize that there is no Hope for them. No happiness.

"They will all vote to stay here and I'll make sure that everyone will know that there is no Hope, no salvation, no hero's, and no happiness. Yes the Massacre will begin again!"

*Awaken*

Michael: "I won't let that happen!" Michelle and Jason looked at him with surprised.

Michelle: "What was that?"

Michael: "Like we would ever give in to you. Who the hell cares about what the outside world is like! It takes a lot more to make us give up! Despair maybe natural, but Hope is the state of mind!"

Jason: "Michael?"

Michael: "Everyone lets get the hell of this messed up world."

Jason: "Knew you could do it."

Michael: "Leave here Jason. This is between me and her."

Jason: "What?" Michael gives him the look as he kept his mouth shut and did what he asked, but right before leaving. "Good luck." He whispers it, but Michael was able to hear it.

Michelle: "Do you think you can change their minds? Look at them! It's clear they rather stay here. They crave Despair, the world craves it. Humans want violence, they want destruction!"

Michael: "Your wrong! Only you crave it. Everyone was doing just fine, but you decided it wasn't enough. I refuse to let you keep doing whatever the hell you want."

Michelle: "… Then try it. Try to convince them. Surly you have a way to do it?"

Michael: "…"

Michelle: "Don't have anything else to say? Then why continue to fight? Look at them. They all given up. Sayori the girl who would rather hang herself rather than accepting the truth. Natsuki, a girl who acts tough, but is weak in the inside. Yuri the fool who wants a happy ending, but only finds a tragic end. Monika the jealous girl who would rather kill her friends than to accept that she will forever be alone. You say you wanted to save them. You came here acting like a hero, but you still refuse to accept the reality of yourself."

She says with a serious tone as Michael remains silent. Michelle could see that all of his talk was just for show and he was slowly losing his will.

"You're an Ultimate Despair. How can you change your fate? This is all your mess. A mess you can't fix. So tell me Michael who do you think is going to give up first? Will it be the depressed Sayori, the abused Natsuki, the psycho Yuri, or the lonely Monika? Who will be the first to give in to me?"

Michael: "…" Michelle starts to smile as he continues to remained silent.

Michelle: "Thought so." She stands triumphant.

Michael: "… No one … no one is going to give into Despair. We're not going to give into you!"

Michelle: "… How disappointing. Stubborn as always. You were always like this even to the bitter end. Oh well I guess that's fine, because I only need one of you to vote. So let the final vote begin. This is the end of your stupid Hope, the end of your humanity, and the end of your life big brother."

Michael: (This is it. The Final Showdown. The Final Boss Battle. The Ultimate Confrontation. I have to convince everyone not to give up. To live a life with nothing, but Despair. That's not how humans should live. It's really not living at all!)

*The Final Debate*

"We can't give up now. Not after everything we went through to get here. To come this far."

Michelle: "If I was defeated … that would be the end our Literature Club."

Sayori: "…"

Michelle: "As soon as you all vote for me to lose. Then this world will come to an end. It will force this world to shut off."

Natsuki: "…"

Michelle: "All of you will be forced to leave. When that happens I will make sure you all suffer a painful death out there. A permanent death unlike this world."

Yuri: "…"

Michelle: "So what will it be? Do you want to die? Is that what you really want?"

Monika: "…"

Michelle: "No matter where you go, there will always be Death and Despair. The world is in Despair. You are in Despair. You are Despair." A chill went down Michael's spine.

Michael: (Damnit! If I don't do anything then they're all going to give in to her, but what can I say? What can I do? Is she right? Is there really no Hope for us? … No I can't be thinking that way. They never gave up on me, so I won't give up on them. I may not have all of my memories, but my heart seems to remember. This isn't the first time they faced Despair.)

"If you say Despair is like a disease or a virus, then I say Hope is the cure. Sayori, Natsuki, Yuri, Monika, I'll give it all to you. I'll give you all of my Hope. If you can persuade people into giving in, then I can motivate them. If any of you vote for Michelle to win, then you'll never truly be alive. Open your hearts!"

Michelle: "Waste of time."

Michael: "No it isn't. We won't give up. As long as there's a small piece of Hope we will never give into you. A miracle will be here."

Michelle: "Did you already forget what will happen if you all leave? Staying here is the better option or would you rather be an Ultimate again?"

Sayori: "…"

Michael: "Don't lose Hope yet! Everything will be alright. You can trust me. I believe in you."

Sayori: "... I-I can't … it's too scary." Tears start to build up.

Michael: "I know I'm scared too, but everything will be fine. Try to remember. This isn't the first time you been through hell. I remember you being depressed out there. You tried to hang yourself, but look at you now.

Your still here because you never gave up. I always admired you. You were always so happy and cheerful that I was jealous. I have no regrets joining the club because you were there to support me. You believed in me.

Now it's my turn to do the same. There's no room for you to be depressed because your strong. You don't need medications for it. The hell with those rainclouds! Remember when your alone or sad I'll be there for you with an umbrella, but you're the sunshine. It's time to wipe away those clouds because the sunshine is within yourself!"

Sayori: "... My brain … my brain is hurting. It's telling me I should stay here, but … Kyaaa! But to live is about moving forward, even if the roads are scary. No matter how hard it is, no matter how scary life can be. I just need to pushing forward right? Which is why I-I … no matter what I want to get out of here! The real world has some much to offer. There has to be something out there just waiting for me to see it with my own two eyes. I want to see the worlds true beauty.

No matter what I decided to get the hell out of here. The hell what anyone says! What matters is my gut feeling! The hell with those rainclouds. It won't stop me for enjoying life!"

Michelle: "What?" She starts to panic as Sayori walks up to her friend. To stand by his side.

Michael: "Natsuki, listen to me. Your father was a bad man, but the one you saw in this world was not who your dad really was. It's true that he starved you, but he also starved himself. You acted tough to hide your true feelings.

You never wanted to bother others about your personal problems, but you need to know that we're here for you. You never wanted to say anything to your dad, but I remembered that you spoke up! The strength you gained with us was your true power. I was jealous of your strength, but you were jealous of my inner strength.

The reason why you stood up to your father is because you had enough! You had the power to inspire your dad to not give up and to be strong for you and your mother. Don't let someone like her tell you, your weak! If your mother was here right now she would tell you not to give up. Now show us your inner strength!"

Natsuki: "… I've been doing a lot of thinking when we started this trial. I started to remember somethings. Some good, some bad, but I do remember what my dad said. You only get stronger by taking life by the horns, confront the thorny path with enthusiasm.

I could almost hear him saying that to me right now. Not the dad I knew here, but my real dad. Now that I think about it, I believe my mom would tell me the same thing, if she was here. That's why I've decided to leave this world. I've made up my mind! Let's get the hell out of this messed up world!" She leaves her station to stand next to Michael and Sayori.

Michael: "Yuri, no matter what you've done. It wasn't your fault. I was supposed to protect you, but I failed to do so. However I refuse to give up on you or us.

It's true that your shy and you don't have much confidence in yourself, but you have plenty of things to be confident about. Your smart and beautiful. Your intelligence is something that I'm jealous for. You may think that you don't deserve me, but in reality, it's me who doesn't deserve you.

Everyone has flaws, but true love is about accepting those flaws. In other words, I love you for you. There's no need to be scared. Fear isn't a weakness, it's a way to let us know that we can become stronger. You're not a scared little girl. You're a strong woman! Now show me the confidence you have to face the world head on!"

Yuri: "… Your right. All my life I thought I wasn't good enough compared to others, but in truth. There are plenty of things that I am proud of. I should be happy for who I am, rather than being sad of being someone who I am not. My flaws are what makes me human and that's okay, because I know that I'm alive. There's no time to be scared. Now is the time to face reality with confidence rather than just staying safe in the comfort of my books." She gets closer to Michael and others. All eyes are on Monika.

Michael: "Monika come with us. It may be true that you do have jealousy over others, but that's ok. The reason why is because this shows you have emotions. Every human has a lot of negative emotions, but there are also positive emotions. Emotions prove that your alive!

You don't ever have to be alone because you have us. Think about it why did you start the Literature Club? The reason why you did it is because you wanted to do something your passionate about. Don't let your passion die just because someone tells you that it's a dead dream.

If you let someone like that crush your dreams, then as the club leader you must stay strong! Look at us. You inspired us to join you because we feel the same way as you do. If we refuse to let our dreams be crushed then as the Club President you have to set the example! Now get off your ass! Don't let your dreams die because we support you!"

Monika: "… Your right. As the Club President it is my duty to set an example to my members. Emotions like mine are natural. I built this club out of love and if I can't love my own goals how could I love anyone else? If you all want to leave here, then as the President of the Literature Club I must join you all. This club is ours. It's something we created."

Michael: "Thank you." He smiles.

Monika: "Speaking of which. You're a lot different than when you first joined. I still don't have all of my memories, but I do remember you faced Despair too, but you never let it hold you back. You kept on going and was willing to carry all of our burdens. I guess this is why we all love you? You came here to face your demons without giving up. Even when you did you gathered the strength to get back up. Which is why we were inspired by you. Since Michelle represents Ultimate Despair, then it would make sense that you represent Ultimate Hope. What do you think about that?" Michael chuckles to what Monika just said.

Michael: "That's a bit cheesy, but that's just how I like my stories."

Michelle: "What the … h-h-how are you doing this? They were all given into Despair, but you managed to convince them? How are you doing this!?"

Michael: "I told you before. As long as there's Hope even a small fraction of it. We will never give in to you."

Michelle: "Don't you understand? If you leave you'll all suffer. All of you are a bunch of fuck ups! The real world is a horrifying reality. Can you bare it?"

Sayori: "I decided to have faith in myself. I can handle reality."

Michelle: "But you'll all die painfully!"

Natsuki: "Say whatever you want. I made up my mind."

Michelle: "Your all cowards! How could you all decided to go out there!?"

Yuri: "There's nothing to be scared about."

Michelle: "So you want to die!? Is that what you want!?"

Monika: "When there's death, there's life."

Michelle: "How!? How can you do this!?"

Michael: "Because we have Hope."

Michelle: "No, no, no, no ,no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! That's all just a bunch of bullshit! I won't allow this!"

Michael: (Michelle, it's over, but if you want to keep this up? I'll put a stop to you.) "It's time I finish this off once and for all!"

End of Chapter 24