I don't own digimon.

Session 19

Blood-stained hands

Alice took a deep breath.

The smooth sands of the deserts were long gone now, having been replaced with the grey expressionless halls of this 'unnamed' place. Even the floor was just as unimpressed, with the architect having gone with whitish cream colored tiles. Even if the name had been given, I doubt you would even remember it.

She had never intended for things to go this way, having hoped to keep the truth of her identity a secret much longer. But with Elena discovering the 'truth', all the gambler wanted to do now was to break away.

"Ugh..." she whispered and took a deep breath afterwards. For right now, she would just have to push Elena to the back of her mind and focus on the task at hand.

*We both know the truth.* Suiko responded, only for her host to groan. *Let's just go back and apologize to Elena.*

"Shut up!"

As she said that though, a figure walked towards them. It was a teenage girl, possibly around the same age as her. She was dressed in a navy blue and white striped shirt with a pair of dungarees. Two electric blue stared confidentially towards Alice, seeming to add to the dark brown hair style in a fringe. Finishing off the look was a baseball bat, with the autograph 'Kyoko Kirigiri' written on the side in blue ink.

"Uh... Who are you?" Alice inquired, only for the girl to shush her for some reason. "Hey!"

"I'm Maxie." the girl answered and motioned for the gambler to follow. Yet, Alice just stood there, not quite sure if she could trust Maxie. Not that one could really blame her, especially with the series of event that had occurred the day before. "You can trust me, I'm a friend."

*Sure.*

Maxie suddenly focused her gaze back on Alice, attempting to find the source of the other voice. Once she was certain that it somehow couldn't be found, the 'friend' headed off.

Compared to a place such as St Velodias or Drogaciji Academy, this place seemed normal. The hallways were quite clean, with the walls looking to have a little wear and tear to them. But at the same time, there wasn't something off. Neither girl had really seen any inhabitants or any actual sign of life. It was entirely possible that

*Maybe they don't want anything to do with us?*

"I doubt it." Alice thought and continued to gaze all around the hallway. There, she could just make out a shadow. While normally, she wouldn't pay much attention to such an occurrence, something about it seemed off. Maybe it was the shape, looking too thin to be that of a human. But at the same time, it was moving too much to be a stationary background object. That, and the author was bringing it up

"Oh my." the 'shadow' announced, only to follow it up with a snapping sound. "It seems that we have visitors."

The 'shadow' then charged towards them, bringing with it an end to any sense of 'normal' that could have existed in this place. Their pursuer was some sort of reanimated schoolgirl with a matching cat creature. A pair of scissors swung around in each hand, threatening to tear either girl into a million itty-bitty pieces.

"Bring it, bitch." Maxie shouted and swung her bat towards the opponent, watching it knock this unnamed person back a couple feet. "You are nothing, monster!"

While Maxie continued to taunt their opponent, Alice reached for her guns. While she was uncertain of Maxie's ability to take this person on, it didn't hurt to be prepared.

"Hah!"

The gambler made a glance to her left, finding Maxie now standing over the schoolgirl. She then proceeded to bash the person's head in, each swing seeming to come faster as the weapon made contact each time. It was only when the gambler reluctantly walked over and placed a hand on Maxie did this lunatic actually think about stopping. Even then, she threw in a couple of extra strikes in just in case.

"That should do it." Maxie remarked, only to find Alice glaring right at her. "What now?"

"Leave." Alice snarled and managed to pull her pistols out. "I'm more than willing to pull the trigger and leave your brains littered across this hallway."

For such a bold claim, all she got was laughter.

"I would like to see you try." Maxie remarked and watched the gambler slowly lower her guns back down. "Just as I thought."

With that, the two reluctantly continued down the hallway until it emptied out into the cafeteria. Like the hallway before it, it had gone with the grey walls and whitish cream tiles. A line of students had gathered in the back, all dressed up for some reason. Like the girl from before, they all had some sort of creature with them. They were probably mostly digimon, with a couple of transformed students thrown in as well.

*Okay...* Suiko whispered, only to get ignored. *Let's no do anyth-*

Before she could finish her sentence, Maxie charged forth and flung her bat into the crowd. Afterwards, 'the friend' headed back the way she came. Or would have, if a black and white teddy bear hadn't suddenly appeared in front of the exit.

"Upupupupupupu!"

Both girls gazed all about the room, attempting to find the source of the voice. Eventually, their gazes locked on the bear by the door. Strangely, the students Maxie had attacked were doing the same.

"Why hello there." the bear whispered, something coming to it. "Despair High is property of the order. Unruly trespassers are subject to the harshest puni-."

Before the "creature" could finish it's sentence, Maxie slammed her bat into the bear repeatedly, not even taking the time to stop and maybe consider just how bad of an idea this was.

Initiating Execution: "Circus of Despair"

After the announcement, a chain-link fence shot up in front of Alice, giving her and Suiko front row seats for this mess.

At first, cardboard cut-outs of balloons began to 'float' up to the ceiling. Following this, a large red and yellow circus tent cut-out sprang up behind it's unsuspecting victim. Following the tent, were a barrage of small toy cars one would trip over in the dark. The vehicles immediately, stopped only for more bears to step out. Unlike the one Maxie had just killed, these ones were dressed like the members of the lucky ones. More and more of them began to pop out of the cars, armed with bowling pins and torches. Those with the pins started to juggle their objects around as the other ones began to light said projectiles aflame.

Yet, Alice pulled one of her pistols out and fired, reluctantly watching the shot pierce through Maxie's skull.

"I'm sorry." the gambler whispered and took a deep breath. Inside, she could just barely hear Suiko berating her for doing this. She didn't blame her doing just that. Yet, it was a necessary risk in order to continue on their journey. If she hadn't, that girl would have hung around and possibly killed someone.

Hellfire Blast!

A shotgun ran out, forcing her to duck under the incoming pellets.

"Crud, I missed." a voice remarked, only for a digimon similar Astamon to run up. Unlike her's, this one was wearing a brown duster over his suit and was shooting off shotgun shells from its tommy gun. Strangely, he was with a whole bunch of people in costumes who were also armed with weapons.

"I am not your enemy." Alice whispered and turned her attention to the group of people. "I just want to get to the armory and that's it."

"Liar!" someone shouted and motioned for the group to charge towards her. Yet, Alice made her way out of the cafeteria and down the hall, not even giving them a second thought. Maybe, she hoped that they would find someone else to terrorize.

"There you are." a voice announced and the gambler turned around, finding the 'bear' from before just sitting there. "You're one of their children, aren't you?"

"What are you even talking about?" the gambler accused and watched the bear suddenly turn into a cloud of black mist.

"I am Despair, a friend of your 'parents'." Despair explained as it floated over to Alice. "Though, I'll keep hush on your visit to my domain."

*Okay...* Suiko whispered as Alice's gaze focused in on the cloud.

"You can enter the armory on one condition."

"And what would that be?" Alice whispered as Despair floated back a foot or two.

"You and your 'sister' come visit little old me and my high school at a future date." the cloud explained. "The reason for the visit does not matter, for I suspect you'll find some purpose in coming back at a later date."

"You have a deal." the gambler announced as Despair suddenly teleported down the hall. At the moment, this sort of deal was a win-win. Even if neither girl was sure why they would even want to come back.

The armory stood in absolute silence as the 'duo' approached. Inside, it was just as plain, lacking any sort of defining feature when compared with the rest of the building. Alice didn't take much, just grabbing some ammo along with a scroll tied up with a piece of twine. But as she touched it, a shock of some sort ran through her body. Yet, it felt comforting for some reason.

*Sure...* Suiko added as something caught her eye. It was a double-barreled shotgun, that for some reason she could grab hold of. If nothing else, she could use on the off-chance someone wanted to kill her. Not that anyone really payed enough attention for that actually happen.

With that, Alice made her way out of the armory, but not before giving once last look over. Something about it seemed off within this place, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what exactly yet.

But for now, that could wait. After all, she needed to get out of here and as far away from her former teammates as possible. Hopefully, they hadn't quite caught up her yet.

And so, Alice headed towards the exit, feeling another shock. This time though, everything went blurry as gunfire filled the air. Just as she was about to black out, the gambler saw herself and Maxie heading further.

*Ugh..." Suiko mumbled as Alice pulled herself up, making a quick glance behind her. Strangely, she turned back around and headed out, quite disgusted by what they saw within here...

Notes:

Some days, you can't run from fate. Try as you might, some things are set in stone.

This is probably the most radically changed chapter, from one of intense bloodshed to that of a possible one. Personally, I prefer this version over the original. Especially that part at the end...

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Next Time: A turkey, a jackal and more casualities, oh my...