I don't own digimon.
Session 59
Loop
Suiko Tanaka opened her eyes.
Currently, the schoolgirl found herself within one of the many generic classrooms held within this wonderful place. It wasn't anything that impressive, with beige walls and a just as unimpressive carpet.
"Okay…" Suiko thought, taking a deep breath in the process. Currently, she found herself sitting in a chair with a table in front of it. Her gaze was focused on a whiteboard, where someone had drawn an outline of a purple butterfly along with a question.
Do you have the strength to break free from this cage? Or will you let it define you?
"Okay..." the schoolgirl thought, making a quick mental note of it.
Afterwards, she took a deep breath and made her way towards the front. There, the only obstacle between her and freedom was a solid oak door. She gave the object a slight push, watching it swing open into a just as generic hallway.
Outside, the hallway seemed just as unimportant as classroom. It had quite a similar design to the classroom, with the only differences being the inclusion of windows that you couldn't even see anything out of and the hall branching off to the right and left. Which left Suiko with a choice. She could go left and see where that took her, or go right and see what awaited her there. Even if she didn't quite know exactly what the thing in question was.
"Come on, Suiko!"
"Don't you want to join us?"
"It'll be fun!"
"Hey wait!" Suiko shouted, only to just stand there and look between both directions she could go. Judging from the voices, they seemed to come from both directions. The only real difference being the right hallway voices being slightly clearer than those on the left. Which somehow made the initial decision a whole lot harder to make. "Okay, that was weird."
She took a deep breath and made a quick glance towards both directions.
While both choices seemed to lead to the same outcome, the voices seemed to be coming more from the right hall than the left. So she did what most totally sane people would do. She followed the voices, allowing the few remaining traces of it to be her guides. Something about them seemed familiar, yet she couldn't put her finger on what. For most people, this would be a big deal. For Suiko though, it wasn't that bad. She tried to not focus on it, instead choosing to go with the flow and roll with the punches. Not having a physical body probably helped with that. The end of the hall quickly approached, pushing the schoolgirl out of her contemplative state.
Suiko took a deep breath and continued on. And by that, I mean she unintentionally walked right through the now illusionary wall and into an adjacent room.
Unlike the previous two rooms she had just left, darkness seemed to engulf the area and left little of the scenery to gaze upon. Of what she could gaze upon though, was a plain round table and a couple of chairs.
"I've been expecting you." a voice whispered as a spotlight was shined on Suiko. "Took you long enough."
Suiko didn't answer, choosing instead to look around the room once more. Even with the spotlight, it wasn't much of a difference. While the walls and floor could now be properly seen, they were unremarkably boring that they didn't even get a description from the author.
"I'm talking to you!" the voice finally announced, forcing its audience's gaze towards 'it'. "Take a seat, why don't you?"
Two lines of lights suddenly switched on, forming a path for Suiko to follow. Which, was somehow still not enough to illuminate whoever was speaking to her. That or they just had stage fright. Possibly it could be a mix of both. You never could know around here. Suiko reluctantly sat herself down and stared towards the back wall.
"Who are you?" the schoolgirl called out, watching as a similar copy to her form opposite of her. Even if the only real difference was a massive pair of pinkish blonde twin tails and a slutty-looking uniform.
"I'm you." Suiko #2 answered and pulled her head forward. "A you that followed a different path."
The first Suiko only stared back, confused by what the second Suiko was even talking about.
"And what would that be?" Suiko inquired only for her counterpart to laugh.
"Unlike you and 'Alice', I hail from the despairing realms. I chose to give into the troubles of life and embrace despair." Despair Suiko announced and pulled a knife out. "Outcome-wise, not great but not terrible either."
The other schoolgirl continued to stare back, unsure how to react to this.
"So if you're an alternate version of me, how am I able to even talk you?" Suiko answered back. While she wasn't quite sure where that little nugget of knowledge came from, something about it seemed familiar. But try as she might, she kept running into blanks. If it had been the lapses in memory, Suiko would've been content with it. But no, these were the sort of huge canyons that seem impossible to cross. And yet, she had been content with that fact.
Of course, Despair Suiko was laughing at that fact and hit the table. Somehow, this was a strong enough punch to break off a piece of the table. Strangely, the despair schoolgirl took a big bite out of it and followed it up with a large grin.
"It's chocolate, silly! Want some?" Despair Suiko asked and held a piece out, revealing a set of fake nails that were covered in far too much nail polish. Especially with the stuff dripping onto the table itself, making an already questionable choice even more dangerous for the schoolgirl.
"That would probably be a good thing to know right now!" Suiko shouted and made a quick glance towards the way she had came from. While it would seem she could just head back the same way she had came through, something told her it wouldn't be that easy. But where exactly this information was even coming from she didn't know.
Nonetheless, the schoolgirl broke off a piece of the table and very carefully placed it in her mouth. While this piece in particular didn't have as much nail polish as the others, it just didn't feel right. Yet, she managed to finish the piece off as everything began to twist about. The size of everything in the room seemed to move all about, quickly moving in and out of focus. Faint images flashed past her, of times long gone and memories pushed away. All of this culminated in her endlessly falling through the 'void'
'Remember, Suiko…'
"Remember what?" the schoolgirl whispered as she fought to keep her eyelids open.
"Remember and you can set down the path to fix this."
With that, her eyelids snapped shut as everything slowly faded to back…
.
Suiko opened her eyes.
Once more, she found herself sitting within a desk in the generic classroom before.
"Ugh…" the schoolgirl thought and sat herself up. She quickly made a mental note of the butterfly diagram and the quote beneath it. Afterwards though, her gaze focused upon a second whiteboard. How she didn't manage to notice it is beyond me. Unlike the other board though, there was no quote or picture. Instead, all she found were rows of tally marks just about ready to flood out of the board and onto the ground. "Okay…"
Very carefully, she added another mark and headed out into the hallway. While it all looked the same as before, something about it felt off. But try as she might, Suiko couldn't figure out what exactly it was. Yet, this somehow didn't stop her from taking the time to choose, instead deciding to walk down the same hallway as before. Once more she gets lost in thought, allowing herself to go through the illusionary wall and meet her despair self again. What followed were the events you have already read. The room, the chocolate table and the falling.
Once more, Suiko opened her eyes.
She gets up from her chair and gives the whiteboard a brief examination. While there was nothing on it, she still memorized it somehow. That was pretty much the only difference within this particular walk. Again and again, Suiko made the same choice and chose to follow the voices.
Kind of a pity when you think about it. All she had to do was to do was just turn left. That was all it would take break free from this seemingly never-ending cycle she had gotten herself trapped in. It would take a miracle to get out of this.
And a miracle she got upon her upteempth loop within this madhouse. While making her way down the hallway to the intersection for another visit with her despair self, something caught her attention.
For some reason, there was another version of her standing in the hallway. Unlike the despair version though, this one was dressed in her old school outfit.
"Hi?" Suiko #1 greeted, unsure of what to make of this. Thankfully, the second Suiko grabbed hold of her and dragged her down the left hallway. A side effect of this was the breaking of the loop. "Thanks?"
With that, everything went white as both Suiko's disappeared...
Notes:
When I got done with the original chapter earlier today (at the time of writing), I really wasn't happy with the chapter. What followed, was a much chunky version you see here.
And to answer the question, nail polish is to some extent toxic. Considering how much Despair Suiko had, you're more likely choke on it than anything else.
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Next Time: The flip side of the alternate worlds...