Gamer4 in. So, pop quiz, what happens when you take an avid gamer with Mountain Dew where their brain should be and a habit of writing Alternate Universe Adaptations (AUAs, if you will,) and cross him with a game series with a wide variety of unique, memorable characters? Apparently, he tries his hand at writing an AUA for a story with enough character slots to do that game series justice. So here we are, preparing to embark upon a Danganronpa-flavored retelling of Stephen King's The Stand. Here's hoping I can capture your interest. This prologue will be shorter, I think- sort of a statement of intent for everything to come. Please sit back and enjoy.

Disclaimer: One disclaimer per story. Danganronpa belongs to Spike Chunsoft, The Stand to Stephen King. Starting next chapter, I introduce a new fandom to Disclaimer Radio.

Fragments of Hope

Prologue

Escape

The first thing Rantaro Amami registered was the blaring alarm.

His eyes flew open and he sat up in his bunk, looking around his room- warning lights were flashing, the siren screaming with all its might that something had gone horribly, horribly wrong.

A split second later, his door was practically kicked in by his closest companion, Nagito Komaeda- who was looking even more frazzled than usual. His hair, never particularly tidy to begin with, was flying everywhere, his eyes were wide and filled with terror, eyes flicking violently around the room as if attempting to take in everything all at once.

"Nagito, what's-"

"No time!" Nagito cut him off. "We have to leave! We have to leave now!"

Rantaro nodded, and was moving towards his suitcase when Nagito cut him off, shaking his head violently. "No time, no time, grab your wallet, we need to go NOW!"

Rantaro didn't waste too much time examining Nagito's face- the panic he could already sense there was more than enough, when compared to the calm he usually clung to. He felt in his pocket to ensure his wallet was still there, then followed his friend out the door and into the halls of this facility owned by the Future Foundation.

Nagito seized his hand and led the way through the twisting, labyrinthine halls. As he fought to keep up, Rantaro gazed around, trying to detect just what, exactly, had gone wrong. Nagito was attempting to explain, but in his panic, it was coming out as a stream of incoherent babble. "Looked up just in time... everything red... buried the needle... have to get out..."

Yes, something had gone wrong, but he had no way of knowing exactly what it is- the Future Foundation had many projects operating in each one of their facilities. He knew they'd partnered with the Japanese military for some experiments at this one, but this didn't help him get any closer to-

He saw his answer.

Nagito took a hard right into the facility's cafeteria, and Rantaro's eyes widened as he saw that it was full of corpses. There had to be over fifty people in the chamber, not counting himself and his friend, but each and every one of them was dead- splayed out on the floor or over the table, some face-down in their meal. He couldn't see how it had happened- none of them had any marks that leapt out to him as deadly- for the most part, it seemed as though they'd simply dropped dead on the spot.

"What the-"

Nagito gave him no mercy, pulling him on further and further. Now that he had seen it, it could not be unseen- every doorway he peered through, he spied more dead bodies- slumped over in chairs, face-down or face-up on the floor, slouched over tables- some had a look of eternal fear on their face, others seemed to have been in pain- and others didn't even seem to know they were dead. Two men sat across from each other at one table, one still laughing at a joke the other had been telling before death came for them both.

"What... what happened?"

"I don't know... I don't want to stick around to find out," Nagito mumbled.

A cold, mechanical voice echoed through the loudspeakers: "This Future Foundation facility is on lockdown, repeat, this Future Foundation facility is on lockdown. Nobody is to enter or leave the facility at this time. Repeat, nobody is to enter or leave the facility at this time."

"We won't die here," Nagito shook his head. "Not us last remnants of hope..."

When they arrived at the front door, an iron gate was sliding down over it- both men broke into a flat sprint, desperate to remain here no longer than they had to. Miraculously, the gate stopped just short of completely covering the door, giving them ample time to make good their escape into a dark, government-issued vehicle nearby.

Nagito leapt into the driver's seat, Rantaro into the passenger's. "Nagito, the gates-"

"I know!" Nagito nodded as the engine roared into life. He took off as fast as he could, eyes still wide and roaming as he searched for the nearest exit.

And there it was, already sliding shut.

So focused were they on the gate that neither of them noticed the black bird that landed next to it, watching them intently.

The gate malfunctioned, struggling to close properly, giving them just enough time to scrape through it by the skin of their teeth.

The bird tilted its head, and took flight. The second it was no longer in contact with the gate, it finished sliding shut.

"That was... lucky," Rantaro gasped, looking behind them and watching the gate finally close. "What... what happened?"

"I was on guard duty- Lot 99," Nagito struggled to breath as he took off down the road, breaking every speed limit there was. "I looked up just in time... all the dials were red... managed to get out just before the bulkhead closed... and the alarm..."

Rantaro looked back, his conscience nagging at him. "Do you think... there were any other survivors?"

Nagito bit his lip. "I... I don't know..."

He fell silent, eyes on the road.

Rantaro turned to watch the countryside whizzing by. Up ahead, he thought he saw somebody standing by the road, sticking out a thumb. By the time he thought to ask Nagito about it, they'd whizzed past- he looked back, and the feminine figure had disappeared.

Struggling to relax, he reclined in his seat, comfortable to let Nagito steer them where he may- his luck hadn't failed them yet.

His eyes rose to the rearview mirror, and he let out a yelp, spinning around to look into the backseat.

"What is it?!" Nagito asked urgently.

"...Nothing, nothing," Rantaro shook his head. "Guess I'm... still rattled..."

There was nothing back there, of course. He didn't see how there could be. But for a split second, he thought he'd seen someone in the mirror- a woman with strawberry blond hair and blue eyes- like chips of ice.

But what had thrown him off the most was that smile- that cold, cruel smile that spoke of some awful, unspeakable victory.

XXXX

Like I said, short prologue in an effort to draw some attention. This is a story that will shift perspectives a lot- several times a chapter. It might be jarring, but it's either that or many, many shorter chapters if we try to have one perspective per. I aim to have the first 'main' chapter up on New Year's. Until then, please RR, constructive criticism embraced, Gamer4 out.