Hope's Peak had been beautiful once. Naegi remembered thinking so, back when the school had been full to bursting with the energy and enthusiasm of the Ultimates. The school had seemed to glitter golden and bright, home of everything good and worthy in the world.
Or maybe the school had only seemed that way because of how very happy he'd been there. Looking back on that brilliant first year, when he'd made truer friends than he'd ever expected to find, Naegi thought that maybe he hadn't seen the school for what it had been. The beauty had been in the people he'd met, not the building.
But no matter what had been true in the past, the walls stretching cold and blank around him now certainly couldn't be called beautiful. The older building had lacked many of the main school's decorative elements even before Headmaster Kirigiri had converted it to a shelter, and the alterations had done nothing to make it more welcoming. Heavy plates on every window, sounds swallowed up by hallways meant for larger crowds, abandoned classrooms around every corner as a mocking reminder of the world they'd lost… the shelter might keep them all safe, but looking around it hurt in a different way.
And the sight only cut deeper when Naegi remembered that these empty walls, a world away from the school where he'd been happy, might be the last sight he'd ever see. Naegi stared up at the heavy metal door they'd used to bar the entrance hall, watching the last few slivers of light dance across the floor as Headmaster Kirigiri went through the last few security checks necessary. Were they really going to be able to do this? How would these walls look after they'd been sealed away for weeks, or months, or years? Would their promise to live safely as hope for the future really be enough to keep this shelter from turning into a prison?
A hand settled on his shoulder, warm and comforting and real enough to hold the chill of his thoughts at bay. Naegi turned to look up into his boyfriend's face, and he saw the same fears that haunted him reflected back in icy blue eyes.
"Last chance to change your mind," Byakuya murmured, one corner of his lips twisting upwards. It could almost have been a joke, since the time when they could have backed out of this decision was long since past… except that it touched on wounds too raw for humor.
Naegi shook his head, hoping he looked braver than he felt. "No. We all agreed that this is the best choice. But… it won't be easy. I was just thinking about what it's really going to mean to lock ourselves in here."
"It certainly isn't what any of us wanted for our futures," Byakuya agreed, and in those words Naegi could hear the echo of grief for the heir's murdered family. "But with the world in ruins, none of those options are possible. The only thing left for us to do is hide here to preserve what sanity we have left."
"Right." Naegi sighed. "We'll just have to keep hoping that it doesn't take too many years before people start coming to their senses."
Byakuya stared at him a little too long, eyes narrowed in the way Naegi knew meant that he was thinking hard. He hoped he hadn't inadvertently triggered memories of one of the many painful incidents they'd endured since the Tragedy… but with so many horrors to remember, it was hard to be sure.
"That's really what you think will happen, isn't it?"
"Huh?" Naegi blinked. "Well, yeah, I guess. I mean, it would be great if the world got fixed in less time… but with the way things have been going, I don't see how it could be anything shorter."
Byakuya didn't answer, lips pressed together till they turned white. Naegi frowned up at his boyfriend. He was starting to get the feeling that something really might be wrong, even if he didn't quite understand it.
But before he could ask, Byakuya swept forward to close the distance between them, pulling Naegi fully against him. Naegi could feel the hint of a tremor in his boyfriend's breathing as Byakuya buried his face in Naegi's hair, and tension vibrated through the arms pressed tight against Naegi's back.
"I'm glad you won't be out there." The whispered words were so soft Naegi could barely hear them, even as close as they were. "I'm glad you'll be safe."
Oh… so that was it. Naegi relaxed a little once he recognized the too-familiar fears. He might not like it, but at least he understood how to handle this type of nightmare. He held Byakuya close in turn, tightly enough that there could be no doubt that he was here. "I'm here," he whispered back. "I'm here, and I'll stay. I promise, I promise, you don't have to be afraid. I'll stay as long as you need me."
The cloth of Byakuya's shirt muffled the words… but the words themselves didn't matter. Each of them had whispered the same promise over and over, curled up close in the darkness on nights when too many horrors made sleep impossible. Stay… stay… promise you'll stay. Naegi clung tight to the man he loved, the words thrumming through his blood.
He could have stayed there wrapped in his boyfriend's arms forever, but a softly cleared throat reminded Naegi that they weren't actually alone in the hall. He pried himself away just enough to see Kyoko beside them.
"Sorry to interrupt," she said, words spoken with genuine regret where she might have once teased. "But… it's time."
No… no, don't…
She didn't have to say for what. Naegi reluctantly disentangled himself from Byakuya's arms so they could join their clustered friends standing in front of the imposing metal door. Headmaster Kirigiri waited there, lines of exhaustion etched deep around his eyes.
The headmaster had always been as disinclined to waste words as his daughter, and even this life-altering moment proved no exception… or maybe it was just that everything important had already been said. He looked each of them in the eyes, waited for all sixteen nods of final confirmation, raised his hand to the lock…
And it was done.
Naegi closed his eyes, the click of the lock ringing through his head. That was the end of it. They had sealed themselves away, the last dream of hope for a broken world. All they had to do now was wait… and try to keep that hope alive.
"Wow, guess we're really gonna be stuck together for life now, huh?"
No… not her…
"Good thing we're all such good friends — otherwise we might end up killing each other!"
Killing each other… killing our friends… killing the people we should have fought hardest to protect…
Naegi ignored the words, dismissed them as a bad attempt at a joke, never thought for a moment that they meant anything else…
Except for the part of him that didn't. Screaming in his head, trapped in a memory, caught between nightmares he'd dreamed and those he'd lived… Naegi thrashed against the boundaries of his mind, fighting against the false sense of safety drifting through the dream. It was a lie, he knew that now, any safety they'd thought they'd found had always been a lie…
Her lie… she's lied all along, lied from the start…
But the knowledge couldn't reach the person he'd been. The boy of the past turned back to his boyfriend, found moments of comfort in the other boy's arms, and never understood what he'd missed until it was too late to matter. He walked away from the other students and never knew how close to the darkness he'd been.
And at the same time… he didn't. He stayed, torn apart from himself by knowledge of the truth. He knew what had happened, he knew what was happening, he knew it all… and he knew that there was only one thing left to do.
Naegi opened his eyes… and looked Junko Enoshima in the face.
