It was right after the trial, and it was still night time, of course. Despite that fact, none of us seemed tired. We were all filled up with various emotions.
"We should end this now…" Stephan said, with his arms crossed.
Jack had a small frown on his face, he seemed conflicted with something. He adjusted his glasses, trying to hide his true emotions. "Yes, I think so too."
"Where do we even begin?" Lily asked, looking around the place.
Honestly… I don't quite know. I took out the journal page and gripped it a little tightly. "I think we should all maybe go our separate ways. Maybe look around for anything else. While we have more of the puzzle pieces, I don't think we have them all yet." I turned to look at everyone. "Honestly, I think heading to the hotel and meeting in the dining hall is the best move right now. We need to discuss our plan of attack, after all."
The rest seemed to agree with what I said.
"Yeah, if we have a game plan, this can all go smoothly." Robin agreed as he headed off.
Everyone had left except for Caren, who was just holding her arm, looking away. "Aren't you joining us?" I walked over to her.
She glanced at me, a little sadness in her eyes. "Do you… think I'm a bad person?"
I was slightly taken aback by this. "W-what? N-no, of course not.
Caren kept holding onto her arm. "I'm just thinking about what Enima said earlier… What did I do to get put on her kill list? I understand Jack, but…"
Thinking about it wouldn't do us much good. "How about we worry about that after we get out of here…" I turned to walk away. "Now come on, I'm not leaving without you." I offered my hand to her.
She didn't take it, but she did start following me back to the hotel.
The two of us made it back to the hotel, and everyone was already waiting there.
"What took you so long?" Jack crossed his arms.
I shook my head. "We just talked for a few seconds. Didn't know that it was outlawed now."
The critic shook his head. "Every second wasted is a second we could have used to figure out the truth of everything."
I rolled my eyes. "And you complaining is wasting even more time." I sat down at the table, looking at everyone else. "Alright, so we need a plan of attack."
Robin stroked his chin. "This is a rather large city. And our mastermind seems rather resourceful, so I doubt they would leave anything behind."
"Then we have to rely on some other information…" Caren started to say.
I looked at her and nodded. "Enima. While she was a member of the same group, she claimed to have only lied about one thing amongst the information she gave."
Robin stroked his chin. "What if she lied about lying about one thing. Then she would have lied about two things, minimum."
I shook my head. "No, that doesn't seem possible to me." I looked around the room. "She seemed rather honest about that last part. As did her hate for some people from her group. Not just that, but the mastermind seemed to have been hit by the things she said."
Jack adjusted his glasses. "Look, we don't need an entire trial right now. Let's save all of this after we've found more information, alright?"
Stephan nodded. "Although it sounds like a dangerous idea… I think we should all split up for the time being."
I tilted my head slightly. "S-split up…?" I shook my head. "No, I think we definitely shouldn't do that. I think the Mastermind wants us to do that."
The ninja remained silent for a few seconds before locking eyes with me. "If we have a limited amount of time, wouldn't it make sense to cover as much ground as possible? I would suggest going in groups of two, but I won't in the off chance that one of us is the mastermind…" He trailed off, looking down at the table.
Yes, that was a possibility, but… I shook my head. No, I can't get rid of any possibilities. Robin said it himself, remove- Yeah, I wasn't really listening, but it had to do with something improbable still being the truth if there was nothing else possible.
"Then maybe we should get different sectors of the city then, if we have to." Lily suggested.
Robin shook his head. "Well, that would be a good idea. But there's six of us, and only five sections…"
I had a small smile on my face. "If we count Paradise as one section, then it should be fine right?"
"Then I volunt-" Jack started to say before being cut off.
"Nope." The tactician said with a smirk. "I will be taking that section over."
The critic hummed for a few seconds. "Oh yeah, and what do you intend on doing while missing half the keycards?"
Robin let out a small laugh. "Saying it like that makes it sound like it's more than just one. "And besides that, I'm sure anyone here would be willing to give me theirs."
Caren pulled hers out. "I'm not going to go back to that building, so knock yourself out…"
I looked around everyone. "Where is everyone going? I think I'm going to stay in this area. There's a few things I want to investigate for myself."
Lily raised her hand. "I'm going to hang around my lab. See if there's anything worthwhile over there."
Jack had his arms crossed. "As for me, I'm thinking of heading over to the area near your Ultimate Lab." He looked at me. "No reason really, but best cover all grounds." I knew the real reason why he was going there.
"I guess I'll take the area around the prison and such…" Caren mumbled.
Stephan was the only one who didn't give his answer. Instead, he had his arms crossed. "Actually…" He looked over at me. "Can you take a different area? I kinda want to have free reign of this particular place…"
I blinked a few times. "Is there something specific you're after?"
The ninja shook his head. "You'll find out later… For now, I'm going to be heading off."
"Wait, I might still stay in this area a bit. There's some stuff I want to find out for myself, after all…" I trailed off, shaking my head.
Robin pushed his chair back into the table, which was odd since he never actually sat down. What's the point of pulling out a chair if you're just going to stand up. "Well, I think we can all head our own separate ways." He started heading for the exit. "And watch out for Monokuma. There's no telling what he will be planning…" And then he disappeared into the darkness of the night.
I watched as everyone else left the building and I let out a sigh. "Alright…" I turned towards the stairs and started heading upstairs. I would probably be disappointed if the door is locked, or if I find nothing of value, but you never know. I finally stopped in front of the door I wanted to check. I let out a small sigh… "Enima… did you give us anything else…?"
It was stupid for me to hate her so much, yet to try and rely on her like this. My hand slowly moved over to the doorknob. I didn't even have a keycard for her room, so it would be all for nothin- And then it just opened. "What…?" I couldn't believe it. I slowly peeked into the room to see what was there. The room itself was in a rough state. But I don't think anyone actually went to her room. This all seemed like her own doing. There were knife marks in the wall, as well as some actual knives.
I slowly closed the door, only to realize that it didn't actually close properly. "Did she… do this herself?" Although, I didn't see the benefit in breaking your own door. Especially since this was supposed to be the one safe place you had. Although seemingly the mastermind could still get in your room at night.
I walked down the small hallway to the rest of the room, and on the wall, I saw three pictures, all of them with marks and knives in them. It's the three you would expect. There was a picture of Jack, Caren, and… Historia… I held my arm a little tighter as I let out a sigh. "Why… Enima…?" I asked myself as I sat on her bed. If the door was unlocked, clearly, something was supposed to be found, so I might as well look…
The first thing that caught my attention now that I was no longer looking at the state of the room was the TV. It didn't seem to have a single scratch on it. But that wasn't even the most glaring detail about it. It was on, and showing nothing but static. Granted, none of our TV's really worked unless Monokuma wanted to make an announcement. But you'd think the sound of it all would get grating at some point, right?
I went to turn it off, but stopped myself…
Enima was an interesting individual to say the least… I didn't notice it till now, but everything she did had a purpose of sorts. And she only ever made her move when she had all the cards in hand. I doubt everything she showed at the trial was her entire hand. She must have had a few things left to be discovered. I glanced back at the door, and then the TV. "You wanted someone to come here, didn't you?" My eyes trailed down to the DvD player that the TV had. I guess we could have brought some movies over to watch, but I never considered it. The DvD player was on, and I decided to press play. I glanced up at the TV, but nothing had changed.
Until a few seconds later, the screen lit up revealing herself.
.
Enima was sitting down on her bed, her legs crossed, and head tilted to the side. Although oddly enough, she was very off center. She was instead on the left side of the screen. "Well, if this video is playing, then that means I've failed. Or I just like reminiscing about the past. Either one is fine with me. It means I got to kill someone I wanted to. All three could have died, or only one of them did." She frowned slightly. "But I'm guessing only one of them did, which means the battle to fight the mastermind will be fought alone." She glanced at the floor. "So, if any of you were actually smart enough to check my room, this is your reward." She paused for a moment, tapping her chin slightly. "If I had to place my bets on anyone, it would either be Robin, or you, Riley." The way she phrased it made it seem like she knew it was going to be me. She mentioned she had the same power as me, but this couldn't have been what was being used. Was she just good at predicting things?
"Just get it on with…" I mumbled, waiting for her to talk again.
After a little longer of silence, she finally spoke up. "I don't know what kind of reaction you had to me knowing it would be you, but let's continue on…" She trailed off. "I already mentioned this, but everything I said was important. Every word, every intention, and every result. You shouldn't just be focusing on the information I gave you. You should be focusing on what some of the words I said did."
I scratched my head… "What some of them did?" I definitely didn't know what she was talking about…
"As for the city, it might not fully allow you to figure out who the mastermind is, but learning about the backstory of this city might at least allow you to know what kind of people you are dealing with." She held up two fingers. "If you don't count UA, there are two groups you should learn about before taking on Monokuma."
I slowly nodded my head. "Church of the Shattered God, and Insurgence…"
Enima crossed her arms. "You probably already know which two, so I don't even need to tell you." Other people probably wouldn't have known what the two groups were. Stephan could have pieced together the Church, and Jack, the Insurgence. But I don't recall them knowing that much about the other.
"Those two groups helped shape this city for the worst. And the person you are going up against doesn't like them that much. Even so, you need to learn about them."
I didn't really know what she was trying to tell me. None of this information was super helpful. But maybe that was the point… My eyes slowly drifted towards the table that was in the center of the frame. I tilted my head slightly before walking over to it and grabbing it. It was still there, and since it was in the center of the frame when she recorded the video, maybe she wanted to make me grab it.
I opened the book, but… I couldn't understand anything. It was all just various symbols.
Then her voice spoke again. "Remember, I can't say anything directly, or else the mastermind will destroy this tape. They can access the rooms at any time they want, after all. And they probably know about this tape. But they deemed it not worth their effort."
I slowly nodded my head, clutching the book. She didn't mention the book, but I can somehow feel this is what she wanted to give me. Honestly, had it not been for the video, I wouldn't have paid this book any attention.
"As for some sort of parting words…" Enima tilted her head slightly. "I guess I should tell you some truth about myself. I would tell you my name, but I don't want you to know that." She tilted her head. "Enima is a name I took from the word enigma. As for my real name, I haven't been called that ever since my fall from grace. A fallen angel, if you will." There was a long silence before she let out a sigh. "You'll eventually find out my name, or maybe you won't. But for now, I just want you to beat the mastermind." I waited for her to say more, but the video had stopped. So I have this book, and also what two groups I should be watching out for. That's some decent info. I left her room and started reading through the books. Most of the text was in those symbols, but some was in what I think was Latin, and some English.
I have some memories of seeing these symb- "The temple…" I mumbled to myself with sudden realization. I had to go there now.
.
I managed to get there in about four minutes. Most of the traps were now obvious, so I could easily make my way further into it. Thanks Josef, I guess. Bastard.
When I got to the room we stayed in last time, I saw Stephan looking at all the symbols on the wall. "Oh, is this where you needed to come to?"
He paused briefly, before looking over at me. "Do you have something you wish to do here too?"
I nodded my head. "Actually, I found a book that might interest you…" I pulled it out and gave it to him.
He had a rather neutral expression when he grabbed it. But a few seconds after opening it, his eyes grew wider. "Where… Where did you find this?" His eyes shot mini daggers at me.
"E-Enima's room!" I quickly told him. "She had it on her table."
He started flipping through the pages. "Then I think she's the one that opened the way to this place…" His grip on the book tightened slightly. "I finally recognized this writing… I can't read it… But it's possible she took an interest in this cult. Maybe she was into occults and stuff." He closed the book loudly.
"Well, I think we should get some info on this church anyways…" I told Stephan, who only nodded his head.
"Of course, this is part of what happened to this town, isn't it? We should learn as much as possible." He walked over to the statue in the center of this room. "Honestly, I would like to know more about this girl…" The statue, to give greater detail, was that of a young girl. She was divided in half, with one eye being blue, her right one. And also one eye being red, her left one. She held her hands out, like she was offering something. Her right side had the wing of an angel, while the left side had the wing of a demon.
"Hmm…" Stephan hummed in thought, looking at the hands. "It looks like the hands were grasping something before…" He looked at the book before slowly sliding it in. Then, the sound of a lock mechanism could be heard, and the ground started to rumble.
"W-what?" I took a wider stance to stay balanced on the ground.
Meanwhile, Stephan managed to stand perfectly still without having to do much.
Soon, the statue opened up, revealing a staircase.
I look down the pathway. "You know… with all the secrets revealed here, Marcus would have loved it. He might have known much more on the subject…"
The ninja shook his head. "Then we must simply pick up the pieces and do it ourselves…" He started heading down the stairs, and I followed him down.
While the areas before were neatly lit by torches which cast the area into a nice red glow, the glow of this room was an icy blue. In fact, the room we had entered appeared to be much colder.
"There we go…" Stephan knelt down, tracing his hand in some blood. "If I had to guess, this is where all the rituals happened…"
Oh right, I forgot those even happened. "I wonder how many people died here…"
"Oddly enough, there doesn't seem to be any bodies…" The ninja noted. "Maybe something mystical really did happen here."
I would say that stuff like that isn't possible, but my mind slows down time so, who am I to talk? "But does this give us any additional information?"
Stephan remained silent. "No… but it does fully show us how far gone the people here were…" He started shuffling through some papers on the side, before stopping. I didn't see what he did, but he started walking back towards me. "I think we should be good here…" He mumbled to me as we started to leave. "I don't like the atmosphere this place gives…"
Probably because it was too cold, but I could understand. Although I expected someone like him to be fine with this. Maybe someone like Robin would have been much better suited for not caring.
When we got out of the temple area, it was still rather dark outside. And most of the lights were off. But they weren't before. I let out a small yawn and looked up at one of the roofs. On top of it, a figure stood there. "Stephan, how did you get there so fast…" I mumbled before glancing to the side and noticing that he was still standing right next to me. "Huh…" My eyes darted back towards the man. I couldn't make out any features because it was too dark, but Stephan for sure saw him, because in a blink of an eye, he had already started running up the roof.
"W-wait!" I called out, but he was long gone…
.
I managed to land on the roof as the figure ran off. I knew I would be able to catch up to them. As soon as I had realized where they ran off to, I bolted towards them.
The figure jumped off the roof and landed on a lower one, which I managed to follow down.
Soon, I started gaining on them. Honestly, I was starting to get worried since they were rather fast.
They jumped up onto a higher building, and I managed to grab onto their leg. I was about to pull them down when something hit me from the side. It wasn't a hard hit. But it was unexpected, which caused me to fall down on the roof. The thing I grabbed from earlier fell out of my pocket. "Dammit…" I mumbled to myself as I grabbed onto it. I took a journal from under the temple when Riley wasn't looking. I wanted to read it during the trial, it seems rather important after all. I jumped back on the roof the figure was on, but they were gone.
I let out a small sigh, opening up the journal to read a few entries to see if it was actually of any use. "Interesting…" I mumbled as I stood up. "Yeah, this is going to be of some use if we want to find the truth…" I turned my head towards Paradise. After all, it was the largest building in the city, so it stood out like a sore thumb. "What secrets did you hold…" A quick look over at the journal made no mention of Paradise. Was that built after all of this happened? No, it couldn't have… I shook my head and dropped down from the roof, rolling on the ground when I landed. I lost Riley, but she probably went to explore her side of the city.
I didn't really have anything else to explore so I simply sat down on a nearby bench, looking at the night sky. The stars were lovely tonight. How long has it been since I've actually spent time looking at the night sky? How long ago since I've been on a mission…?
I held out the journal in front of my eyes, letting out another heavy sigh. "Tonight… this ends. No more bloodshed. No more death…" I let the journal fall on my face. "I've never felt this tired in my entire life before." I sat up straight, catching the journal as it fell off my face. "Let's go…" Maybe talking to myself was comforting to me…
.
I finally reached the section I was supposed to cover. Let me think of what's actually here… I hummed to myself. It was the gym, the museum, Stephan's building, and Daniella's building… I shook my head. Nothing was really useful here, so why did I stop by here at all? At first I was just going to leave, but I thought of something else. Instead, I went to Daniella's lab. I needed to find out as much as I could, right? I needed to be thorough in all of this. I don't think I needed to head to the gym, but the other buildings could have something worthwhile in them.
When I went to the Mayor's office, I would see the book from earlier on the desk. That's right, the book that had information on us. I walked over to it and opened it up. "I didn't really check this out that much. Enima took it out of my hands before I could read much…" I paused slightly. Although… I never did see her in here… So she could have lied about being in here…
I flipped through the pages, humming to myself. Everyone had a page, or at least one side of it. Someone else was on the other side of the page, so technically it was two people per page.
However, when I finally reached the end of it, I noticed something rather odd.
"Robin…?" I mumbled to myself flipping through the pages again. He wasn't anywhere to be found… "Oh…" I realized that he was probably because they were on the same page as each other. I closed the book, but decided to take it with me. You never know, after all.
The next place I wanted to check was actually Stephan's dojo-like place. There was something I remember seeing that seemed somewhat familiar.
The trip up the building was still difficult, but I had gotten better at it thanks to Stephan.
To the point where I didn't slip up once. I made it up there and opened the trap door.
"What are you doing here?" A familiar voice called out.
Suddenly.
Bear.
I nearly jumped back, almost falling into the hole again. "What am I doing up here? What are you doing up here?!"
The bear covered his face slightly. "Well, as the final challenge approaches, I figured it would be best to prepare oneself for the onslaught that's about to happen."
I put a hand on my hip. "The onslaught. The only one dying is going to be you."
Now, he had a rather sad expression on his face. "Wishing on someone's death? That's not something a kind individual should do."
"Oh, don't even get me started. You've been wishing for our death since the start!" I am really going to be arguing with a stuffed bear at the top of a dojo.
"I am not a stuffed bear!" Monokuma yelled out, causing me to freeze.
I didn't say that out loud, did I?
This caused Monokuma to laugh. "If everything goes to plan, there won't be one single survivor!" He then paused for a second. "Alright, maybe one survivor, but."
"One survivor…" I mumbled at him. "And who would that be?"
The bear laughed again. "Me, of course. I can't die right now. Not with so much more to complete. I've gotta stay on script! Same as you, stay on script!"
"On… script?" I asked, tilting my head slightly. "What do you mean stay on script?"
He simply laughed again. "I mean, your life is nothing but a script, reaching its conclusion."
He was probably just messing with me, so it was time I messed with him in return. "Are you doing all of this because of the person you lost?" I asked him. Monokuma went silent before just vanishing. "W-what?" I blinked a few times. Does he really not want to talk about it?
Well, now that he is gone, I could finally do what I came here to look for. And, my suspicions were confirmed when I saw a familiar looking symbol. This dojo seemed to have the same type of symbols that were at the church and in the book. Although… I don't remember seeing any of these in the book. So maybe it's a different language, but only by a little.
Well, I came here to do what I wanted to do, so I should probably head on down. I should probably see how the others have been… Maybe I should go check up on Lily…
.
I was currently at my Ultimate Lab… To think only a week or two ago, this place was overrun by plants and vines. And while it had some beauty to it like that, I preferred when it was untampered. I ran my hand through one of the petals of the flowers. A small smile appeared on my face, but it was soon replaced with a frown. "We've lost so many…" I teared up, clutching my hands. In front of everyone else, I couldn't cry. I'm supposed to be the beam of hope. I'm supposed to make sure everyone is happy. But it's impossible when we keep losing more and more people… I smacked my face with both hands to snap myself away from those thoughts. "Come on Lily! You're better than this!" Of course I am. "Now let's go find something to save everyone!" I'm not sure how, but I will! Although, the only really suspicious place here is the forest, honestly. No one has ever gone that deep into it. "Then I will do it!" I told myself confidently as I made my way over there.
However, to get there, I had to walk through Serena's Ultimate Lab, which caused me to frown. "Why did you have to go too…" As I made my way to the forest entrance, I noticed something was off. Which I'm surprised I even noticed! A lot of the knives and other weapons were missing. "What!?" I ran over to look at them all. "Who would steal from a dead person!?" I pouted to myself before looking around. "Was this… recent…?" I bit my thumb slightly. I wasn't getting great vibes from being over here, so I stepped away and headed towards the forest.
I was lucky that it wasn't too dark anymore, and the sun was going to start rising again, because being in a dark forest alone doesn't sound like the best idea.
Not only that, but the lovely birds were singing their good morning song, which brought a smile upon my face.
Besides that, I didn't really see many animals around. Which made me realize how eerie this place really was.
And then, after what felt like a good five minute of walking, I reached what looked like a wall. "Oh?" I tilted my head slightly, walking over to it.
While it seemed solid, there was actually a place to slip in around the right side of it. "Did someone…?" I slipped through it and continued on my way. However, this side was much creepier than the other side. I shivered slightly. "Stay calm…" I mumbled to myself before my leg kicked something. I let out a scream before looking down to see a dead animal. It was a dead deer with chunks of it missing. "What animal!?" I took a step back before looking around the area. Then, I saw something that caught my attention. I walked over to it and saw a fire pit, the fire long since been extinguished. "What the… someone was here?"
I took a deep breath, and I could still smell some smoke. Someone was here recently… Not just that, but that animal must have been what they just ate… I glanced around the place to see if I could find any other clues.
The only thing I could see was some bandages and other medical supplies, a bloody sleeping bag, and two cups of what looks like it could have been coffee.
"I don't want to be here anymore…" I mumbled, taking a few steps back, heading back to the hole in the wall. "Who's been camping here…?"
"I wish I could tell you!" A voice called out, which made me jump slightly.
I turned to look at who it was, only to see the annoying bear. "Hey! Meanie, don't sneak up on me!" I put my hands on my hips, leaning forward slightly, pouting.
Monokuma simply covered his mouth, and laughed at me. "But it's so much fun!"
I looked at him for a few seconds before leaning back up. "Why can't you tell me?"
"Because even I don't know who's there. There's no cameras there, and I didn't know that the wall was broken…"
My eyes lit up with an idea. "That means we can just leave this place now, right?!"
The bear remained silent for a few seconds. "Maybe you can, but doing so would be just abandoning everyone who died. Their deaths would be for nothing."
For… nothing? No, I don't want that. "N-no, I have to avenge them!"
"Besides, there is no escape beyond that point, the only way out is to learn how to fly, but none of you will learn how to do that."
I clenched my fists. "I will learn to take to the skies just to prove you wrong."
"Puhuhuhu, you will only fall to your dea-" The bear was interrupted when someone stepped on him.
"Are you done now? You annoyed me, and now you're annoying Lily?" Riley was standing behind him.
The bear quickly stood up, turning to look at her. "You were just at the dojo, how did you get here so quickly?"
She glanced off to the side. "It's a simple tactic called running. I want to get this solved as quickly as possible."
Monokuma mumbled something under his breath before leaving.
Riley watched him walking away before looking at me. "Did you find anything…?"
I blinked a few times. "Yes I-" I paused, thinking some more. I could tell her about the potential exit… but then we wouldn't solve any of the mystery here… "I found what looked like a small campsite. Looks like two people were there… There was a bloody sleeping bag, as well as some coffee that was made recently… for two people"
She thought for a few seconds. "People are out here? But we never…" She paused for a few seconds. "Stephan and I ran into someone, it could be them, or it could be the mastermind themselves.
.
Although, I can't imagine it being them camping here… I look at Lily. "Is that all?"
She nodded her head. "Yeah, that's all I really found. Sorry I didn't find much…" She mumbled sadly.
I shook my head, with a little bit of amusement. "It's fine. We'll find other stuff, after all…"
This got a smile on her face. "Right! What did you find?"
"Oh, huh…" I didn't really find much, did I? "I'll tell you during the trial, if that's alright."
She pouted and put her hands on her hips. "Meanie, I told you what I found!"
"Just a book or two." Although, one of them was left at the temple. "I was thinking of heading over to the area Jack was in, so I'll probably be leaving soon…" I told her as I started to walk away.
"Wait…" She ran up to be beside me. "The forest had a creepy atmosphere to it, so I don't want to be alone…" She mumbled rather sadly. She looked at me, a thoughtful expression on her face. "How have you been doing, since the events of yesterday?"
I was going to say something, but blanked on my words. What did I feel? Conflicted was what I felt. Losing the person I trusted the most hurt like hell, but we've finally been given a winning chance. But was it really worth the price…? "I'm fine." I lied to her. "We'll get out of here, and take down the mastermind. We'll make them pay for what they did."
Lily nodded her head, and we walked in silence for a bit before she finally spoke up again. "Do you think that I would turn out like Enima if bad things happened to me? She said I reminded her of how she used to be; Sweet and naive…"
Where was this coming from? "Of course not. She might have said that, but it couldn't be further from the truth. I don't believe Enima was like that." She said she lied about one thing, this could have been one thing… I then shook my head, no. She said she lied to protect someone. Clearly, it's not the mastermind. So who did they want to protect?
We made it back to Serena's lab, which Lily lit up upon seeing it again. "Oh! OH!" She ran over to the entrance, opening the door. "There's one more thing I want to point out!"
I tilted my head slightly as I followed her. Of course I didn't run after her, I just finished running, after all. "What is it?" I asked, finally walking into the building. When I entered it, and saw her running off, I understood what she meant. "Oh… Where did they…?"
"Exactly!" She clenched her fist, looking up at me. "Someone stole them!"
I looked at them for a few seconds, shaking my head. "I don't think we'll be able to figure that out."
"Oh…" She sounded rather sad. "Well, the info is here if you need it. I'm going to look around the area some more. I still need to look at Bella's Ultimate Lab." And then she headed off.
I watched her leave and let out a small sigh. "Alright… I should head to the next area…"
.
The walk over there was rather mundane, as it had grown over the weeks. The city only had an increased eerie feeling to it, especially this early in the morning.
For some reason, I decided to come back to check out my own Ultimate Lab. I don't know why, especially after someone died here, but you never know… Nothing would even be here, after all. I started looking around the room.
"Maybe I just want to read…" I sighed to myself. Why did I give up the chance to be the Ultimate Mathematician? Maybe I should have taken it… But then, who would have been here instead? Jack claims he only got in because I rejected my talent and I came back as the Ultimate Lucky Student… I put away a book I had pulled out because the contents bored me.
Then again, rejecting it the first time was what made me believe that destiny could not be changed. Clearly I was supposed to be an Ultimate. Nothing would stop that from happening.
Something actually managed to snap me out of my trance. It was something I saw before. "Why is there…?" I looked at the trail of blood leading to a door. It's like something was dragged out of here… I opened the door, but it just led to the outside. "Odd…" I mumbled, before shaking my head. "I don't have time to be wasting it here…"
The next area I headed over to was the one I really wanted to head to here, it was the bank. I remember seeing a journal there too. Thank god for people writing stuff down, or we wouldn't figure anything out.
Although, when I made it to the vault, I remember why I didn't want to do this again. "There's so many bodies…" I groaned out. The thing that hurt me the most out of all of this wasn't the fact that there was a lot, or that I had to move them. It's the fact that I've grown to see this as something normal.
I kicked one of the bodies, maybe out of cynicism.
However, doing so caused the bodies to topple over and I managed to get a glimpse of what I was looking for. "Wait!" I yelled out to nobody in particular as I reached out and grabbed it. I pulled out what looked like a rather fancy journal, and quickly opened it. The first hundred pages seemed to contain details that were irrelevant, because it was just someone's diary seemingly. But near the middle of it, is when it got really interesting.
,
Day 1 of isolation.
.
We've been here for about a day now. We couldn't stand how the outside was, so a bunch of the other politicians and influential people gathered in this room. At least… The people who weren't rich enough to be granted access to Paradise. Out of all the places to build that thing, why did they choose this town? We were content being a nothing town. But now because of that, we gathered people who just don't know when to set boundaries. This isn't regular corruption, this is far beyond that. I know I've done some pretty bad things, but nothing like the things they've done. They'd do anything to make themselves richer. They would kill anyone for it too. It makes me sick… But anyways, it shouldn't be too bad in this place. We've got people on the outside making sure we're safe for now. It's only a few days of waiting, while the military takes care of everything. We have this place readied as a bunker of sorts, in case something bad ever happened to this city.
.
Day 2 of isolation
.
The second day here wasn't that bad either. Although it was like a rather large social gathering. People were always eager to talk here, but eventually it got boring. There's no signal, so this is problematic. Is this the military's doing? Besides that, nothing of interest happened today.
.
Day 3 of isolation
.
I… I heard gunshots outside, a group went to open the vault to investigate, but the vault was welded shut. There's no one way out of this? Why would someone do this? It's not them, is it? It's not the bastards who did all of this? No… they wouldn't go this far. They may be horrible people, but they still have an agenda. The only people it could be are the prisoners who escaped, or… No. It couldn't be the military? They're supposed to be here to protect us, right? There's no way they would kill us.
.
Day 4 of isolation.
.
We only have a week's worth of food left .We were never supposed to sustain this many people at once, after all. I'm not sure how long we can actually hold out for. Or… until how long we all turn on each other. :Less people, more food for everyone else…
.
Day 6 of isolation.
.
It happened, a few people in here were killed. Some of the older politicians were worried about who did it. Although, the rest of us didn't seem to care; We knew it was going to happen after all. A few more of us might have to die to have more food.
.
Day 12 of isolation
.
Someone suggested that if we were all desperate for food, we could start eating the dead bodies. Some agreed, while people like me didn't like the idea. The thought of eating someone I could have known didn't sit well with me.
.
Day 17 of isolation
.
Alright, some of us caved in, but some of us still couldn't. But it was only a matter of time before I couldn't take it anymore…
.
I couldn't read on for a bit, taking a small break. I looked around the place to look at everyone that was dead. They were all eaten? That's… awful… But they were abandoned and had no food. No hope of any rescue… As the days progressed, it started talking about everything like it was just a normal occurrence…
.
Day 42 of isolation
.
We started making draws for people to be sacrificed for the group. Somehow I didn't get pulled yet, so I was chosen to keep living for a while…
.
And then I kept looking through the journal until I reached the last entry on the list.
.
Day 60 of isolation.
.
It's finally my turn, huh? Did I do something in my cruel life to deserve this fate? Sure, I did bad things, like I said. But this has been a fate worse than death. I should have offered myself to be killed way earlier. That way I didn't have to participate in the atrocities that took place here? Why do I bother writing? The military has abandoned us. THe sounds outside are quiet. No one is coming. No one will ever find us. I'm just writing for myself at this point.
Or maybe I'm hoping that someone finds this place in the future, and can actually put an end to whoever did this…
.
I slowly closed the journal. The military did this…? I looked at the entrance of the vault. Now that I think about this… it's odd. We could actually open this vault. Did someone open this up recently? I walked over to the entrance and exited out. I had an uneasy feeling about my surroundings, and I wanted to find someone to walk next to. I knew Jack was in this area of the city, but I didn't see him at all. Unless…
.
This place had the same abandoned look to it that it had the previous time I explored the area. Except more dust seemed to have accumulated on the floor. So at least it seems no one else but myself had been here. "Hmph…" I hummed to myself. "Dear dear military, what kind of involvement did you have here?" I made my way further into the base. One of these rooms had to hold the answer I'm looking for.
I went investigating throughout all the different barracks within the confines, but nothing of particular interest caught my eye. Just uniforms and the likes. "There's gotta be a better place than this in here…"
Eventually, I stumbled upon a central hub of sorts. "Oh? This could be rather intriguing." I grinned to myself as I allowed myself to explore. There was various paperwork. Skimming through it, I didn't find anything of any use to me.
However, it was only a matter of time before I found something of sustainable use. "What's this?" It was some sort of log detailing all their purchases. Flipping through some stuff, I found some interesting mentions.
"Oh? The military buying from the black market?" I chuckled lightly. "Is this truly the military, or someone acting as a proxy?" I pondered, looking through the pages some more. Then, I got to a different section of the log. "Oh, money acquired?" The name was blurred out, but someone definitely paid these people to do this stuff. "Maybe not the actual military, but a private one?" I closed the book, placing it in my pockets. It was small enough as it is, after all.
Next, I walked over to what appeared to be a command station of sorts. "Ah, this is what's keeping the barrier up." I tried to fiddle around with the controls, but they seemed to be locked. "Whoever is keeping us in here must have broken this, but kept everything running…" I crossed my arms and looked away. "Even if we do win this, what's the guarantee we'd even be allowed to leave?"
"Who are you talking to?" A voice came from behind me.
W-what? I quickly whipped around to see Riley shaking her head with a small smile on her face.
"I knew I'd find you here." She looked around the room. "I haven't been here before…"
"Nor have I." I told her, walking over to the center table. "This wall is a rather large place. But this seems to be where most of the useful stuff is gathered. Makes it easier for us, instead of rummaging around the area."
Riley started looking through various papers, although nothing useful was on these ones. "Find anything useful?"
"Did I?" I grinned to myself confidently. "Well, I did manage to find a purchase log of sorts. Tracking all the money they spent, and received. We aren't dealing with a typical group here, after all."
She tilted her head slightly. "Well, if this group would later become known as the Insurgence… Then that would make sense." She covered her mouth slightly. "And I've got some other info that I'm going to be saving for now."
"How rude, I tell you what I found, yet you don't have the common decency to spare your own information?" I sent her a small glare.
Riley looked around nervously. "I don't know, I just feel like someone is following me and watching me. I don't want to reveal what I know yet." She paused briefly. "Do you… ever get that feeling?"
"Yes, I do, and she's called Enima. But I won't quite get that feeling anymore." She had a tendency of not letting me walk on my own. To think she was planning on killing me eventually. What was I thinking- I shook my head. She doesn't matter anymore. I paused slightly. "I think I must thank you. Had you not been in that elevator, I would have died…" I trailed off. I wasn't one to thank people. They were normally the ones to thank me. But honestly, I haven't really done much here to earn any thank yous. I might be an Ultimate, but other people have massively outshone me.
"O-oh!" Riley didn't seem to be expecting that. "Anytime, but you don't really need to thank me. I didn't know going back to the elevator would save you."
My finger tapped at my forearm. "Of course there was no way to know. But had you known, your actions would remain the same?"
She nodded her head. "Of course, I don't want people to die. I… I would even put my own life at risk if I have to."
Your own life? I turned to look back at the console, humming in thought. Would I do the same…? "I don't think I have what it takes to do that quite yet."
"Of course you don't." She said in a rather cold tone. Which, surprisingly, stung. But it would only last a few seconds.
"Don't you have anyone else to pester?" I sent a small glare at her.
She laughed a little before turning around. "Yeah, yeah. See you later. Try not to get yourself killed."
I crossed my arms, muttering under my breath. "As if I'd die in a place like this…"
.
I left Jack to do whatever he wanted to do. He had found some information seemingly, so I needed to step up my game and find some more for myself. I decided I should probably head to Paradise, right?
It took several minutes to head there, but I finally made it to Paradise, and saw something I didn't expect to see. "Robin?" I tilted my head slightly. "Why are you still on the ground floor?"
The tactician was looking at the map of the floors. "Just taking notes from what we knew from each floor. Trying to figure out where everything is."
I walked over to the map to look at it too. "Well, I had time to explore almost every other area here. Don't you think you're wasting time?"
He remained silent, looking at the map some more. "Perhaps I am, but I want to be thorough... " He narrowed his eyes slightly. "How do you get to the seventeenth floor? I never saw the option on the elevator."
"Go to the eighteenth floor. It might have been patched up, but there was a hole I fell down in." I informed him.
He stroked his chin slightly, a small smile forming on his face. "Is that so?" He turned to look at me.
I nodded my head. "Yeah, it's on the fun house floor."
Robin turned to look at the elevator. "Then I will head there right now."
"Wait-" I don't know why I was stopping him. "When you went to your lab for the first time… You seemed to be remembering something… Do you still remember?"
The tactician was silent for a few seconds before stroking his chin. "All I remember is being in extreme pain. Besides that, I can't really recall anything. And Enima destroyed the console, so I couldn't even check it again." He paused for a few seconds. "Do you think that was intentional?"
Intentional…? "There's no way to tell. Most of her actions were for a reason, but she was still unpredictable. It could also be simply because you were in pain."
Robin nodded. "Not just that, but apparently I wasn't on her shit list. Maybe I was worth saving?"
Worth saving… if Enima could see how everything would play out. It's likely that Robin needs to stay alive. Is that the case?
The tactician pressed the button on the elevator. "Well, I'll be heading off now."
I ran up beside him. "Actually, there's something I want to check on this building, so I'll probably tag along."
"Oh?" He had a small smirk on his face. "You aren't tagging along just to kill me, are you?"
I quickly shook my head. "Why would I do that?"
He shrugged. "I don't know, but you can never be too sure." He hit the button for the 18th floor, while I hit the button for the 46th floor.
Robin stroked his chin a little bit. "Oh, an interesting choice, although I don't quite recall what's on that floor."
"Just some military building." I told him. We waited as the elevator slowly made its way up. I slowly looked over at him. "Say, do you think one of us is behind all of this? Like, one the people we knew here?"
He didn't say anything for a bit, but after we passed a couple more floors, he slowly looked over at me. "It's possible. Would be an important lesson in trust. It would also make sense with how they can affect stuff that happens around them. It's way harder to be in full control of a situation if you are behind the scenes."
One of us being the mastermind… I shook my head as I looked up at the floor number. We finally reached the eighteenth floor. The elevator door opened with a ding.
"Well, see you later after I find the information I've come here for…" Robin said before stepping out of the elevator. He tossed me a keycard. "You might need this, by the way. The floor you are heading to is not accessible with your card."
I caught it, looking at it for a few seconds. "O-oh, right." I wouldn't want to get stuck like Enima did. I looked up at him. "Are you sure you won't need this?"
He flashed me Caren's card. "This is all I need, isn't it? I don't intend to head over to the top floors. This one is the only one I need, after all."
"Right,.." I smiled a little. I watched him walk further into the floor before the elevator door closed. And then, the elevator started heading up. I took a deep breath. This building, and the surrounding area was all that I had left to explore. But the truth wasn't something I was going to be able to come up with. I better hope that whatever I find is worth it.
After a minute, the elevator stopped, and the doors opened. I don't remember if I've ever been on this floor before. But it had a semi futuristic feel to it. Or… it was just a clean look, I guess. There were some weapons on the wall, but on close inspection, they only seemed to be replicas. Not like I would know how to use a gun. "... I should learn how to one day." You never know when you'll need to shoot someone. This whole floor was large and most of it seemed like training rooms. But luckily there was a map of this floor. "Oh? A meeting room?" That could hold some ground on what I'm looking for. This floor is rather large, so it's possible that Jack hasn't explored everything, right? Or he's holding back on information…
When I got to the meeting room, it was a rather nice room. The dark blue design was still here, but somehow, it looked a shade darker. Probably with the lack of lighting in this room. At the center was a large conference table. Although, it looked to have been abandoned long ago…
There was a laptop on the table, and when I tried to turn it on, I realized that it was dead. Figured as much. It wasn't going to be easy to get any information on this stuff… "This place is a bust…" I started to leave the room, but I decided to give the room a final passing glance. That's when my eyes landed on the door all the way in the back. "Hmm…" I walked over to the door and opened it. It seemed to be an office of sorts.
"Oh, another laptop…" I walked over it, and just for the lolz, I turned it on.
And… And it turned on. "What…?" I blanked slightly. I didn't think it was going to work out like that, but here we are. "Internet, Internet!?" Well there wasn't any Internet, but at least the computer background was nice.
But there had to be some information on here right? Some information that didn't require the internet, right? I started combing through all the files that were on the computer.
But then I found a locked file. "I think I hit the jackpot…" I mumbled to myself as I tried to open it. "Alright… think, think. What would they want as a password? This had to be around five years ago, right?"
But knowing my luck, their password would have to be something that we couldn't figure out. Something just completely random. But, people are still human right? Would a simple password work on something like this?
"Alright, so let's take this into consideration…" I was talking to myself. "To get to this floor, you needed at least an Upper Lower keycard, and at the time, it was the highest card available…" That means already, only certain people could come here… Maybe they didn't have to place a secure password. "Well, here's hoping for human laziness." I started writing random words. I even wrote in Paradise at one point, but that didn't seem to work. I let out a small sigh before realizing something. I quickly wrote in Insurgence, and the file opened. "Huh." So this confirms that much at least. This was their base of operation.
From what I could see, most of these were audio files. Someone was probably making a log of all their conversations…
I should probably watch these in order. I set them up to show me their creation date, and then scrolled all the way to the bottom. There weren't that many, maybe only about six or so. But they might be worth the watch.
I pressed play on the first one, and I heard someone talking, they seemed to sound familiar… Where had I…?
.
"The deal has gone well…" A man with a rough voice said. "We got the money, so we'll do whatever we can."
"Good, good." A soft spoken man said. Although he had a soft voice, it still carried some intimidation behind it. "Then everyone should be set, no?"
The rough man chuckled. "Of course. Although, there might have to be a few more meetings."
The soft spoken man laughed slightly. "Very well. Then you won't mind if we have someone over here recording everything that's been said." There was silence, and I could only presume he pointed to someone.
"Hi, my name is-" He started to say. He had a young voice. He couldn't have been older than 12.
"You are recording, don't state your name." The soft spoken man said in a rather menacing voice.
The boy went silent before making some noise of acknowledgement.
"Now…" The soft spoken man said, humming. "Is that alright with you?"
There was a longer period of silence. "I don't care, as long as I can get a copy."
"Of course, why wouldn't you be allowed a copy? This room is yours after all. Actually, this entire floor is yours."
The rough man chuckled slightly. "Good, then I'm fine with everything being recorded. Is there anything else you want to talk about?"
"No, not today." The softman said before standing up. I only assumed that because the sound of a chair backing up could be heard. "Son, you can end the audio file."
"Right." He said with a little eagerness. This was definitely nothing but a child who was happy to help.
Then, the audio cut off.
.
I hummed in thought, tilting my head slightly. "Well, that's one of them…" And without any thought, I pressed onto the second one. I only had a certain amount of time, after all.
.
"So, another meeting?" The rough man said. "What's the occasion?"
There was silence before the soft spoken man spoke. "Well, we have encountered some issues as of now. Nothing that can't be fixed, but we won't be getting supplies for a bit."
The rough man let out a small sigh. "So let me guess, you want me to take care of some issues."
A laugh came from the soft spoken man, but his voice soon turned sinister. "All I want you to do is protect the supplies, and if anyone tries to interfere, to remove their sorry excuse of a life off this planet."
This caused the rough man to laugh too. "Well, I'll be glad to do so."
The man stood up again. "Then very well. We don't want to have to be troubled again."
"Father, how long do you want me to push the completion date by?" The boy sounded slightly older now. So maybe he was thirteen now.
Silence took the room, before the dad spoke up. "We are not changing the day. We set a date, and I'll be damned before some mere people would want to stop us."
And then the audio cut off.
The date on this one was half a year after the first one. So maybe there were other meetings, but they were deleted. But in total, it was about… I want to say two years ago. But that couldn't be right at all, since this place had to be abandoned five years ago. I forgot how much time we actually lost when our memories were taken away.
With a small sigh, I played the third video.
.
"Hmm…" The man who seemed to be running this entire operation hummed. "We've reached another problem…"
The rough man let out a sigh. "What is it this time?"
"This problem seems to lie in the city. Some individuals… seem to have taken some actions against this city." The man said.
"They're… awful people, honestly." The boy said. He sounded slightly older again. This file was dated almost an entire year later. He had to be at least fourteen years old. Although… his tone of voice sounded a little off.
The rough man took a while to respond. "What kind of… troubling individuals?"
"Just some young criminal…" The man said, growing a little aggravated. "But at this rate, we might have to close down the city. They are causing too much chaos."
The rough man chuckled a bit. "Oh, just a couple of runts? Yeah, they will be no problem for me."
"I don't want you to fight them yourself… I want you to bring in your militia. It would be much better that way. I don't want word getting out, so I cut off any internet access. Everyone should be sleeping, so they shouldn't realize anything. I want your men to come in during the night and close off the city." The soft spoken man said.
There was a long silence, even longer than normal. Clearly, the military man was considering this proposal. "How's the pay?" He finally said.
A small chuckle came from the soft spoken man. "As usual, but with a more increased rate. You are doing God's work, after all."
"Yeah, whatever…" The audio cut off.
.
So this seems to be around the same time the city was descending into chaos. There were only three audio files, and they seemed to be way more closer together than the others. I clicked on the next one.
.
"We managed to surround the entire city. No one is getting in, or out without our permission." The rough man said.
The soft spoken man chuckled. "Good, we don't want word getting out, after all. This is going to be a place where the top of the world gathers together. We don't want such an event to tarnish our image, after all." There was a pause. "Although, I do want to send someone out of the city. My son."
"W-what?" The boy said, getting up, based on the sound of a chair moving. "I put as much effort into this city as some people here. I deserve to sta-"
"No." His father raised his voice with an intimidating voice.
There was silence before his son could speak. "But I could take them on myself. They couldn't possibly be older than me. They have to be fourteen too."
"Enough." His father got louder, slamming his hand on the table. "You are going somewhere prestigious, so don't worry about it."
The boy remained silent for a few seconds. "Very well…" He then cut off the audio seemingly. The meeting could have continued on, but the kid seemed to have ended the recording early.
Two more left.
I clicked on the fifth one.
.
There was no sound for about thirty seconds, but then, the rough man spoke. "Honestly, you should just abandon this city. The prisoners have gotten way too out of control."
"And who's job is that? You were hired with the express purpose of keeping them in check!" The soft spoken man was no longer soft spoken. He was getting aggravated. "You should have taken care of them already. What the fuck am I paying you for?"
The rough man slammed his hands on the table. "Who do you think I am? I'm a person like you. This is a private militia. We can't just make miracles work! We are trying our best to stop any and all problems from arising, but when the entire population of a city is against you, it's near impossible!"
This seemed to have shut up the man for a few seconds. "They are nothing more than civilians, they shouldn't be causing you any problem. You said you could do it, and now you are saying you simply cannot? What kind of blasphemy is this?"
"This city is filled with vile criminals, corrupt politicians. And a population that doesn't want to be oppressed. When you called me to bring my militia here, you promised it would be a simple job." The rough man had calmed down, but it felt like a storm was brewing.
"Oh please, a simple job for that amount of money? As if! That's more than some people make in a lifetime." The soft spoken man tried to defend himself.
The military man let out a sigh. "Oh? Now you're comparing it to other people. You're right. It's more than people will ever make in their life. And here you are, spending it like it's nothing. People like you have way too much money on your hands." There was silence again.
"A-are you recording?" The soft spoken man asked. "Only I'm allowed to take information like this."
A chuckle came from the man. "This is my floor, ain't it? Besides, I just wanted to have the audio saved so I could hear this." There was silence…
"What are you doing!?" And then a gunshot.
Did he just kill the man running this entire operation!?
Wait, but there's one more audio file… It was dated about a week after the last one. I clicked on play.
.
There was no sound for a solid minute, before the rough man spoke up. "Well, this place might as well be abandoned. We can keep the people in, but there's no reason for us to stay here. I'll be leaving all to do with the project here, for whichever fool stumbles upon it. I lost interest in trying to kill whoever started this. My men tried to kill them, but they were impossible to catch. So from this moment on, I'm effectively calling in all my troops to return home. We've gotten more than enough money…" He trailed off. "I think it's time to finally make a move…" And then the audio cut off.
.
"Hmm…" I hummed in thought. I surfed around the desk before I finally managed to find a USB key. "This could be useful… even if it isn't for the trial…" I stuck it in the computer, and pleasantly found that it was empty. I moved all the files over to it. "Alright, I should actually check around the area down below…"
I left and headed towards the elevator, pressing on the button for the ground floor.
The first place I wanted to head to was the prison. There was something that happened there after all. So maybe someone else wrote something useful. Luckily the prison wasn't too far from Paradise, and I made it there within a matter of minutes.
This was another building that I didn't get any good vibes from, but I at least had to try and go inside.
The insides were the same as the last time I walked in, horrible. Decay was everywhere. From what I read before, not all the prisoners were released. Only the ones deemed non guilty by the people who did this. Those who were released probably weren't in the high end part of the prison, so I made my way there.
Inside most of the cells, my suspicion was proven right. There were still bodies in the prison cells. But there didn't seem to be any way for me to open them up.
Until I happened across one cell that was open. There was a body in it, strangely enough. Why stay here if you could leave? And, there was a piece of paper. Once again, thankful people document their misery. I reached over and grabbed it.
.
I don't know who will ever read this, Most of us will be dead soon. But I need to get the word out. Don't trust those two. They are awful. And I'm not saying that just because I was judged innocent. I am guilty of the murder I commited, and nothing is going to stop me from admitting that. But what these two kids are doing is going too far. They are going to do nothing but cause riots. Some of the people they deemed innocent might actually be innocent. But that doesn't matter, they've been here for years, and have so much frustration built up. They are going to do something bad. I can tell it. Not only that, but they are being led by those two kids. You are basically asking for disaster to strike at this point. The justice system in this city is very weak, and a lot of politicians here are corrupt. I've heard what's been going on outside, the riots, the cults. And I'm honestly happy to stay here, then go out there. There is no freedom out there. There never was any to begin with. So if this horrible city is ever uncovered, and you find this note. I give you but only one warning beware the devil, and his a_. This is a warning from the bottom of my heart. You can't let them win. Even if it's years from now, they must be stopped. They faced so much injustice in this town that it warped their minds. Their ideals have been sullied by the darkness they faced. So please, I beg of you, if they are still around, end them for me. Because of them, people I loved outside of prison were affected, and some even lost their lives. And I don't think they are going to stop. They don't feel love, they don't feel compassion. All they have is hatred.
.
I stood there, just reading the note, humming a little bit. "Well, that's interesting…" So this person was deemed innocent, but decided to stay here and die anyway. He prefered a world in here, over the chaotic world outside… Then there was also the blocked off word. It seemed to be covered in blood, so I couldn't quite make out what it was. "The devil… and his…" I mumbled to myself. I rolled up the letter and placed it in my pocket. I think this should be it in this prison now.
On the way back, I heard the sound of something flapping in the wind. I did feel a small breeze after all, it was right next to the hole in the side of the prison. I glanced over and noticed a piece of paper was in there. Wait a second… even from a distance, I could recognize the handwriting as the one Historia and I were working on. Without even thinking, I went inside the cell to grab it. That's when I heard it.
The sound of the cell locking behind me.
"What the!?" I yelled out, turning around.
All I saw was a shadowy figure holding what appeared to be a pair of keys, before dropping them on the ground and running off.
"HEY!" I gripped the bars tightly, trying to shake the door open. But it was no use… I was actually locked in here. I let out a small sigh, and slid onto the ground. "Let's hope the others are doing better than me right now…
.
The elevator door opened with a ding. "Well, see you later after I find the information I've come here for…" I said, stepping out of the elevator. The floor I was on was a real eyesore, and I didn't even give it a proper look. I tossed her my keycard. "You might need this, by the way. The floor you are heading to is not accessible with your card."
She caught it, looking at it for a few seconds. "O-oh, right." Riley looked up at me. "Are you sure you won't need this?"
I flashed her the card Caren gave me earlier. "This is all I need, isn't it? I don't intend to head over to the top floors. This one is the only one I need, after all."
"Right..." She had a small smile on her face. Then, the elevator door closed.
I took a quick scan of the place and found way too much colour in this place. "Oh neat. Hide a floor under somewhere no one wants to go." I smirked to myself as I walked further into the place. But really, it was kinda an eyesore. But at this point, after over two weeks in this city. I didn't really care that much. I finally got to what appeared to be a poorly repaired floor. "Oh, I wonder where the hole used to be. Couldn't possibly be here." I said that to whoever was possibly watching me at the moment.
I stomped my foot down on the ground, hoping that it would break open, but nothing.
"Well, this is the part where I give up, turn around…" I turned around to walk away. "And the ground comically opens u-" And the ground opened up, causing me to fall.
Luckily I had foreseen this event, so I was easily able to stick the landing.
"Not a problem." I told myself as I examined the room. This room seemed to be for surveillance cameras. I walked over to the end of the room and saw six cameras lit up. One for each of us. Riley was currently on a floor way above me. Lily was at what I presumed was Bella's lab. Jack was in a place I hadn't seen before. Caren was walking around near the prison, although she seemed to be still quite a ways away. One of Stephan, who just seemed to be sitting on a bench reading a book. Must be a good book. And finally, one of the fun house floor… I stroked my chin. "So they are all set to follow us, huh?" But is it tracking movement? I waited at the cameras for a bit before someone walked off screen. The screen flickered to show off a new camera angle. "Interesting…" It would have to be based on movement… but… "There's sixteen cameras here… It might be that it's one for each student…" Which is why they aren't working. "So what if there's a camera following each student, and not their movement." There's no camera down here, which is why mine couldn't follow me. Well, that was enough for the cameras right now. I walked around the room and noticed something strange. "Wow, there couldn't possibly be something behind this." I kicked in what appeared to be a poorly constructed wall, and saw it collapse. "Hello secret place." I smiled to myself as I headed inside. This hallway had a much brighter feel to it than the security room. For one, it was a white hallway, as opposed to the bleakness of the other room. And there were actual lights here.
I stopped when I noticed some doors on the wall. There were five of them, and four of them seemed to be named. "Temple of Dread… The Show Must Go On, the Wrath of Tiamat, and The Salem Witch Trial…" I mumbled to myself. Oddly enough, the middle one was left blank. "Oh, is this something we haven't seen yet?" I went to open the door, but it was locked with a keypad. Apparently there was room for five letters. "That's a problem…" I thought for a bit before a smirk appeared on my face. "What are the odds?" I entered the five letter word and was shocked to find out it worked. And by shock, I mean my facial expression didn't change, and I went. "Oh."
The doors swung open, and I stepped inside. "What is this place anyways?" A red flashing caught my attention, causing me to turn my head and look at it. The display showed. "Execution in process." I froze up slightly, turning towards the door. "Wait!" Probably the most emotion I've shown on my face since I've come here. I tried to get out, but the doors shut before I could.