I'm not sure exactly when it happened, but at some point I must have either slipped into a daydream or outright drifted off again, because the next thing I know, Alice is standing above me with her hand on my shoulder.

"Clover?" she calls, gently shaking me as she tries to get my attention. "Clover, are you awake?"

I blink, rubbing my eyes as I try to disperse the clouds from my mind. "Yeah, I think…? Sorry, give me a sec."

Shaking my head and setting the pillows aside, I sit up and look around. Along with Alice, Tenmyouji is also in the room, looking slightly grumpy, while Luna has mysteriously vanished.

"Um, what's going on?" I ask. "Where's Luna?"

"We sent her on ahead to the warehouse." Alice says. "The AB choice is coming up soon."

"Oh." I say, slightly confused. "Okay... so, why aren't you two there then?"

"Well, I'm here because Alice doesn't trust me not to lock her out of the room." Tenmyouji gruffly replies.

Alice twists her neck around to give the man a quick glare. "Don't act like you wouldn't do the same. All three of us will be out of here in just a moment, so stop complaining."

It takes me a moment to process that statement properly.

"...wait, all three of us?" I ask, surprised. "You're letting me leave the infirmary?"

Alice turns back to me and reluctantly nods. "Much as I dislike it, this game is probably more dangerous to people who aren't participating than those that are, so you should at least come play the round. Besides, the warehouse is only one room away from here, and it's not as if pressing a button will take that long. Assuming you feel up to it, it should be alright."

I can almost hear the unspoken "...I hope" at the end of the sentence. Still, it's nice to see that Alice isn't a total hypocrite, and this is a good chance to show her that she doesn't have anything to worry about anyways, so if she's willing to let me...

"Of course I'm up to it." I say with a smile, quickly standing up from the bed... maybe a little too quickly, as my vision briefly fuzzes over from the sudden change in blood pressure, and I stumble forward a few steps due to the accompanying dizziness. It goes away within a couple of seconds, but when I look up at Alice a moment later, I can tell that just made her even more concerned. If she was planning on saying something however, she doesn't get to, as Tenmyouji ends up preempting her.

"Not to hurry you ladies or anything," Tenmyouji says impatiently, "but we don't have much time left before we all get locked out of the AB rooms anyways, so if we could maybe move this along?"

"Two minutes remain until Ambidex Game polling closes." the intercom suddenly speaks up, almost as if prompted by his words.

Newly aware of exactly how little time we have left, I quickly nod at Tenmyouji and move around the divider before Alice can change her mind... only to immediately be greeted by the sight of Akane's body lying on the examination bed.

I try not to flinch, abruptly realizing I'd forgotten that was here — someone must have moved it while I was unconscious so I didn't wake up to the sight of a corpse. Or maybe they just wanted to scan it with the ADAM again for some reason-? Whatever, this definitely isn't the time to question it.

I hurry over to the door, then down the attached hallway, Tenmyouji and Alice on my heels. After a brief wait, the door at the end spits the three of us out into the warehouse.

Of the six AB rooms, only two are still open, the card readers of all but the ones on the far left and the far right indicating they're already occupied. Tenmyouji immediately powers walks over to left one without another word, clearly not interested in being held up any longer.

"Hey, wait up!" Alice yells in obvious irritation as she turns to me and presses something into my hands, which I realize a moment later is a key card with a moon design on it. Oh, right, having one of these is kind of important, isn't it?

"Luna left that behind for you." Alice says in brief explanation, before spinning around and hastening after Tenmyouji as another announcement plays.

"One minute remains until Ambidex Game polling closes."

"Hurry, Clover!" Alice yells, throwing me a last quick glance over her shoulder.

Taking her advice, I sprint towards the only remaining room, thankfully managing to not trip over my shoes this time. Rushing like this to make it in on time feels kind of nonsensical to me, seeing as how this whole ally/betray song and dance is still entirely meaningless, but I do see now why Tenmyouji was so agitated. Could Alice have possibly cut this any closer?

By the time I get into the room and press the start button, Akane's voice is already warning me that I only have thirty seconds left to make my choice. Once again however, it's an exceedingly easy one. I don't think there's a single potential pair in this game less likely to betray their opposition than Luna and Quark, and I have no reason whatsoever to do so to them. I do wait until the end of the countdown to actually press ally this time, just to try and add some gravitas to the moment, but it doesn't really end up feeling any different, leaving me slightly disappointed as the doors slide back open again.

I exit the AB room at a much more sedate pace than I entered it, slipping the moon card into the same back pocket I've been putting everything else in. As I do, the room to my right opens as well, and Dio and Sigma walk out. I deliberately avoid looking at the former in order to focus on Sigma instead — looks like he didn't get punched this time, though he doesn't look particularly happy either. I'd assume that's because he knows Phi isn't dumb enough to pick ally with Dio as his partner, and thus already figures this round is going to be a wash for him. Yeah, sometimes that just happens in this game…

I join the others as they emerge from the remaining rooms and cluster around the wall. No one seems particularly surprised by my presence, so I guess Alice must have said something before she came and got me. The expected announcement plays out a few moments later.

"Results from round two of the Ambidex Game will now be displayed. Please direct your attention to the results screen."

I do so, and watch as the boxes slowly fill themselves in:

Luna+Quark: ALLY
Clover: ALLY
Tenmyouji+Alice: BETRAY
K: ALLY
Sigma+Dio: BETRAY
Phi: ALLY

…huh?

"Points have been assigned or subtracted accordingly. Please check your bracelet to see your updated Bracelet Points."

That… no, didn't Sigma and Dio already have…

"Hey!" Alice suddenly shouts.

I spin in the direction she's looking to see Dio standing over by the exit, his bracelet already pressed to the scanner. Before anyone can stop him, he pulls down the lever beside it, and a small chime plays as the LOCK display changes to OPEN, the massive gate to its right beginning to slowly move upwards until it's fully receded into the ceiling.

"The number nine door has been opened." the broadcast system states. "It will remain open for nine seconds."

"…that's it then." Tenmyouji mutters defeatedly.

I don't understand! There's no way Phi should have picked ally in this situation! Why is this even happening right now?!

"Dio!" Sigma yells, running over to the false ringmaster. "Why would you do that?!"

Dio smirks. "Why wouldn't I? Now, are you coming, or-"

His words are cut off as Phi suddenly sprints over and rams into him shoulder-first, sending Dio crashing to the ground. She follows up by jumping onto his back, holding his thrashing limbs to the floor while everyone else watches on in shock.

"What the fuck?!" Dio shouts. "Get off me!"

"Phi, what- what are you-?!" Sigma sputters, grasping for words.

"Hurry!" Phi yells back at him. "Before the door closes!"

"I don't get it!" Sigma protests. "Why did you tell me to let Dio choose if you were going to-"

"Just GO, Sigma!" Phi shouts.

Sigma reluctantly looks back one last time, then quickly turns and slips through the already closing door. It shuts behind him moments later, the metal slamming down in an extremely final manner.

"The number nine door has closed. This ends the Nonary Game. Thank you for your participation. As the game is over, all doors other than the number nine door have been unlocked. Escape is not possible. Please enjoy your stay."

As soon as the announcement ends, Phi stands back up, letting go of Dio and quickly stepping back from him. Dio immediately leaps to his feet, teeth bared in a furious snarl.

"You FUCKER!"

He rears back and throws a punch at Phi, which she dodges backwards to avoid. He tries again, not letting up, at which point the others seem to break out of their collective trance and rush over to intercede. I do the same, more out of not knowing what else to do than thinking I can do anything to stop the fight.

Dio's furious attacks have no method or control to them at all, but the frenzied intensity behind them still manages to back Phi up against a wall. Just when it looks like he's about to actually land a hit however, K moves up behind Dio and grabs hold of his arms, forcing them to the man's sides and keeping him in place.

"LET GO OF ME!" Dio screams, thrashing in K's grip.

"Please, stop…" Luna pleads.

"I understand why you are angry, but attacking Phi will not help us." K adds. "You must calm down."

"RAAAAAAHHH!"

"Oh, give it a rest already, Dio." Tenmyouji says. "It's pointless now. You're stuck in here just like the rest of us."

"Grandpa, we can't just give up!" Quark protests.

"We're NOT giving up!" Alice yells. "I don't care what that announcement said! I refuse to be trapped in this place for the rest of my life!"

While the others are busy processing what just happened, I instead round on Phi, who's just standing off to the side and watching.

"Phi! Sigma said you told him to let Dio choose what to do?!" I say, on the verge of yelling myself. "You knew he was bound to betray you; you had to have! Why did you-?!"

I don't even get to finish my sentence before Phi abruptly drops, her body collapsing to the ground like a puppet whose strings were just cut. I gape in open-mouthed astonishment at her crumpled form, lying motionless on the hard metal of the floor.

Did… did she just intentionally end this timeline?! I mean, it was going to end eventually regardless, but- but not this early, not this fast! I still can't SHIFT without dying! And with both of the powerful espers suddenly out of the picture, I probably won't be able to do it any other way!

My breathing turns erratic again as an intense dread sweeps over me. I- I can't- I don't want to die again! I haven't even gotten over the last time yet! Of course I haven't; it's only been a few hours since it happened, and I wasn't even AWAKE for most of that!

"A- alright, fine!" I shout at Phi's empty, unmoving body. "Leave me here to die even after I helped you! See what I care!"

My yelling draws the attention of the others, who were evidently too busy dealing with Dio to notice Phi falling bonelessly to the floor.

"Oh dear, Phi!" Luna cries out, rushing over to help. A few seconds later, Alice, Quark, and Tenmyouji follow, and K releases Dio to do the same. The latter is left simply standing in place, still boiling with anger at his now-unconscious target, but presumably unwilling to go through everyone else to get to her.

"Now what?!" Alice questions, staring at Phi's collapsed form. "What's wrong with her?"

"Yeah, why did Miss Phi suddenly fall asleep?" Quark follows up. "Is it because of that virus again?"

"I'm not sure." Luna says quietly, feeling for Phi's pulse. "I can't say it's impossible, but she also may have just fainted from an excess of emotional stress…"

"Well, that's her own fault if so." Tenmyouji mutters. "Still, I guess we should at least take her to the infirmary-"

"Don't BOTHER!"

The others turn to me as one.

"What do you mean, Clover?" K asks. "Phi is unconscious. Even if the only obvious means of escape is now sealed, there is no reason we should not-"

"Because it's pointless; she's not gonna wake up again!" I answer before K can even finish. "Her consciousness has vacated the premises, and it isn't coming back! Her body's nothing but a useless shell now... though I guess we could maybe use it for food, seeing as how we're all going to end up starving to death in here! Assuming we don't just end up killing ourselves before we hit that point, at least!"

A small, distant part of me can't help but note that something about what just happened actually seems kind of... off, but I'm too angry right now to pay it any real mind.

Meanwhile, everyone just seems rather mystified by my outburst, looking back and forth at each other as if silently asking if anyone knows what's going on. After a few moments, Alice suddenly seems to realize something.

"...damn it." she says, her already deep frown somehow deepening even further as she raises a hand to her forehead. "The Radical-6... I thought it might have been affecting Clover more than she's been letting on. Seems like it's making her outright irrational now."

K nods. "Ah, that would make some sense. In that case, we should get Clover back to the infirmary as well."

"It's not because of the damn disease!" I snap.

Alice shakes her head and walks towards me, visibly concerned. "Please, Clover, let's just-"

"I'm NOT Clover, alright?!"

Alice stops in her tracks, eyes widening at my unexpected proclamation. A part of me hurts at seeing the sudden distrust in her expression, but my resentment overrules it. Alice can think whatever she wants of me. Why should I care? The SHIFTers have already left the building, and nothing I say or do in this timeline matters anymore, so I'll have my temper tantrum if I damn well please!

Alice's face slowly turns from shock to a sort of restrained anger, my claim apparently serious enough to keep her from automatically dismissing me this time.

"Clover, I can't believe I'm saying this, but I really hope you're just delirious from the virus at the moment." she says, voice wavering with heavy uncertainty. "If you are, then I'll apologize later. But if you really aren't her, then- then who the hell are you?!"

"Alice, you can't actually be taking her seriously right now." Tenmyouji says flatly. "She's just spitting nonsense."

I look away from the two of them, sighing bitterly. "No, I meant it. I'm not Clover… I would have said something earlier, but there's not really a good way of explaining that I'm a consciousness from another reality who accidentally stole your friend's body, especially since I still have no clue how to get out of it. You can understand why I wouldn't want to just put that out there, right?"

My response once again seems to leave everyone momentarily baffled.

"A consciousness from another reality…?" K repeats.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Alice says, voice growing steadily angrier. "Don't lie to me! Who ARE you?!"

"What does it even matter?" I say listlessly, unwilling to put up with being given the third degree when it's virtually pointless under the current circumstances. "I'm not Clover, and that's all you really care about, right? I'm not a member of the Myrmidons, if that's why you're concerned."

Alice gasps, and Dio's eyes widen as he seems to snap out of his silent seething.

"How do you-" Alice starts, but then stops, biting down on her lip to keep herself from saying too much. "No, that information is highly classified... you shouldn't know about that unless..."

She trails off, and I laugh, the sound devoid of any actual humor. "Oh, I know a lot more than just that. Shall I drop a few more bombs? Let me think..."

I start ticking off fingers. "We're currently in the future, after most of the population of Earth has been all but wiped out by a combination of nuclear meltdowns and Radical-6, a plague that causes people to perceive the passage of time incorrectly and inevitably drives them to suicide. We were all infected with said plague before we even started playing this game, and will likely succumb to it fully at some point, probably starting with either you or Quark."

Quark startles at my mention of his name, and Tenmyouji's gaze snaps to him for a moment.

"We can't really escape, even if we play this stupid game to completion, because we are literally on the moon, and there is absolutely nowhere to go outside." I continue. "K's a clone, Dio's also a clone, and IS a member of the Myrmidons by the way, Luna's a robot, and- oh, let's go ahead and end this bomb-dropping session literally, Dio brought four antimatter explosives in here with him that could blow up this entire base at any second."

Every expression in sight has turned to one of complete astonishment in the wake of my tirade. It makes me feel a little better actually, since at least now I know I'm not the only one feeling utterly overwhelmed.

"Do you want more? I've got more!" I exclaim, throwing my arms up. "Some of it doesn't exactly apply anymore, but I'd still be happy to tell you!"

"Th-that…" Alice says shakily. "That can't be-"

She doesn't get the chance to finish, as Dio ends up rather loudly interrupting her.

"How the FUCK do you know about that?!"

Everyone turns to face him, whereupon Dio seems to realizes that he's made a mistake.

"No, wait, I… she's just…"

Dio spends about half a second trying to climb out of the hole he just dug himself into before giving up and pulling a bloodstained knife out of his jacket.

"Stay back!" he warns.

I cringe away. When did he- must have been while I was stuck in the infirmary.

Quark and Luna both yelp at the sight of Dio's weapon. The fake ringmaster isn't done though, as he proceeds to lift his hat and grab what can only be the detonator from beneath it. He holds the small metal box out at us like a ward, his finger hovering over the large red button at its center.

"Any of you get any closer, and this entire place gets fucking annihilated!"

"Miss Clover was right, he does have bombs!" Quark cries.

…I guess that's how this is going to end then. Like I thought earlier, at least death by antimatter explosion will probably be a lot less drawn out than drowning in my own blood.

Dio's frantic breathing tapers off into a near-manic chuckle. "I don't know how you know who I am," he says, glaring at me, "but that won't stop me from completing my mission. I may not be able to get out of here anymore, but I'll make sure you all end up coming with me in death!"

"Sure you will." I say with an only partially feigned lack of care, leaning back against the nearest wall. "Hey, remind me what the deactivation passwords were again? That's been bothering me since I got here."

It doesn't really make any difference what he answers, since neither Sigma nor Phi are still present to hear any of it, but I guess I'd still kind of like to know.

"What, you don't know them already?" Dio sneers.

"My memory's not perfect; I'm not gonna remember a series of letter codes I last saw literal years ago." I reply, my fear of him having largely given way to resignation. "I do remember that they were just one letter shifts of other phrases though. Feel free to share those instead if you'd prefer."

"Fuck you!"

"Yep, same lovely Dio as always." I blithely reply. "As pleasant to talk to as you were to listen to."

"Are you crazy?!" Tenmyouji shouts at me. "I don't care what reality you came from, don't TAUNT the bastard threatening to kill us all!"

I shake my head. "Like I said, we're all dead anyways, be it by starvation, bomb, or disease-induced suicide. So honestly, what does it really matter? Go on Dio. Do it. Complete your mission."

I can see Dio's teeth clenching together. He still hasn't pressed the button.

"What, scared your soul isn't going to be 'reborn' the way you were promised? I wonder, do clones even HAVE souls?"

"Shut up!" Dio snaps. "You think this'll be the end of me? If you know so fucking much about the Myrmidons, then you should know that there will always be more!"

"Well hurry it up then. My patience is wearing thin."

A lie. I'm obviously in no hurry to die again; I was literally just on the verge of having a panic attack about it. I do need it to happen before this timeline fades out of existence however, or whatever the hell is or isn't going to happen to it since the game never really made it clear, so I can't just put it off forever.

"You'll wait as long as I fucking TELL you to!" Dio screams, by now having completely lost any semblance of poise. "You can't do SHIT to me!"

"Is that so? I think you underestimate me!" I say brightly, one of 999's bad ends coming to mind. "You know how Zero Jr. calls me Cleaver? That's because I once axed half a dozen other people to death. Though, I guess you could argue that technically never happened…"

I barely even know what the hell I'm saying anymore. Can he just set the damn bombs off already?

To my surprise, Dio instead roars in anger and charges at me, the bloody knife held out in front of him. I freeze for a moment at the sight, before a combination of panic and utter indignance spurs my limbs back into working order. No, no, I REFUSE to die like that again!

As Dio rushes forward, I tense my legs in preparation. Just as he's almost upon me, I spring upwards, the moon's lower gravity taking me at least 10 feet into the air. Dio crashes into the wall I was standing against, his knife scraping off of it uselessly, and looks up at me with a startled expression just in time for me to come plummeting back down and stomp my heel straight into the crown of his head. He falls to the floor with a cry of pain, the knife and detonator both flying out of his hands, while I land surprisingly softly just a few feet away, though I end up on my rear upon failing to get my feet beneath me in time. Hah! Fuck you, Dio!

*beep beep beep*

Off to my left, the detonator starts beeping, and doing so extremely fast at that. Alice runs over and snatches it up off the floor before Dio can recover, while I go for the knife, instantly feeling a lot safer once the weapon is in my hands and out of his.

"Shit, did that thing just activate?!" Tenmyouji cries, hurrying to Alice's side.

"I think it did!" Alice replies, gritting her teeth as she frantically twists the tiny box in her hands in search of a way to turn it off. "Why did it suddenly-?!"

"Hehahahaha…"

Despite the bloody cut on his forehead from where my shoe impacted it, Dio laughs all the same, not even bothering to get up off the floor as he lolls his head to the side to look at Alice.

"It activated because there's a failsafe on that detonator." he explains through a quickly growing smile. "If it's ever separated from my person by more than a meter, it automatically sets the bombs to explode in 30 minutes time."

…which I guess is a good thing, since you apparently don't have the required nerve to set them off yourself.

Dio's claim elicits a full spectrum of horrified expressions and denials from the others... all except for Luna, who says nothing, and simply looks sad. As Dio staggers back to his feet, he locks eyes with me again, grinning maliciously like he's somehow gotten one over on me.

"Don't even think about moving." I order, still holding his knife out in front of me.

Dio complies, remaining almost stock still, but never once losing his grin.

"If these bombs are truly on a time limit, then surely there must be a way to stop them before they go off." K says, one hand held to his chin.

"You're right, there is." I confirm. "It doesn't matter though. Dio won't give us the information we'd need to do that, and there wouldn't be a reason to use it even if he did."

Alice turns to look at me, a scathing glare in her eyes. "Maybe you have a death wish, but I sure as hell don't!"

Spinning on her heel, Alice marches up to Dio and grabs hold of his collar, baring her teeth at him in an angry snarl.

"The bombs, they're the type that have emergency deactivation passwords, right?!" Alice demands.

"Yeah, they are." Dio says casually. "Didn't you hear Little Miss Shirtless there mention?"

Alice ignores him. "Tell us what they are, right now, or I promise you will wish for death before I'm done with you."

Dio laughs in her face. "Well, I guess I could give you the passwords. Might be kind of funny to watch you all scramble around like ants, desperately trying to figure out where the bombs are. But it'd be pointless, because in order to use them, you'd need the password input device. And guess what...?"

Dio reaches down into his left coat pocket, then withdraws his hand a moment later, now holding a small gray machine about the size and shape of a blackberry phone. Alice's eyes widen, and she immediately lunges for it, but before she can get a hold of the device Dio throws it directly at the floor, the impact immediately breaking it in half.

I blink. Wait a second, that was supposed to have been in the control room's safe, wasn't it? But from what Luna said, Dio didn't go through there, so how did he-

Oh, right. Dio killed Akane in this timeline, so no one ever took the input device from him. He's just been carrying it around on his person this entire time.

"Whoops, looks like you won't be using that any time soon." Dio says, shrugging as if it what he did was just an accident. "What a shame, am I rig-?"

Alice punches him in the face. My heart cheers as Dio is sent sprawling to the floor again, one hand clutching at a badly bleeding nose. His other hand however thrusts down into his right coat pocket, coming out a second later with a tightly clenched fist.

"Is that- no, STOP!" Alice shouts, just as Dio cups his hand over his mouth and visibly bites down. Barely a second passes before he starts convulsing on the ground, letting loose a pained-sounding groan with each sharp, jerking motion.

"Hehehe..." Dio chuckles though an increasingly strained voice. "There's nothing you can do now..."

...right, he keeps a cyanide capsule on him. Yet another thing that I'd forgotten about this game.

"…my duty in this world is now complete..." Dio says, coughing weakly as he does. "…soon, I shall be born again into the new one… oh Holy Brother… with this, I pray I have redeemed myself…"

A particularly intense spasm suddenly hits him, but as soon as it ends Dio musters the strength to lever his head off the floor anyways, just enough to face the rest of us. Blood is still running freely from his wounds, trickling downward and coating his face in horrific streams of red.

"…as for all of you... may your filthy... corrupted... souls... be purged..."

With those charming last words, the light finally goes out of Dio's eyes. His head slumps down to the ground, a wide smile still stretched across his face.

"God DAMN IT!" Alice shouts, frantically kneeling down and feeling for a pulse.

The others cluster around the fresh cadaver as I lower Dio's knife, my attention less on the dead man's body than it is on the incessantly beeping detonator. Man that thing is annoying... the beeping is stupidly fast and high-pitched, way more than it really needs to be to signal what it's intended to. Why would anyone design something to go off at such a-?

The answer comes to me just as Alice stands back up, presumably having determined that Dio won't be getting back up again.

"Alright," she says, sounding like she's just barely holding herself together, "everyone listen up. We only have a little under half an hour to find Dio's bombs, so we can't waste any time."

...actually, I'm pretty sure we have even less than that. Our group's collective perception has been being slowed by the effects of the Radical-6 ever since we woke up in the AB rooms, but because Dio's bombs and detonator weren't taken and reprogrammed in this timeline, they should still be working on real time instead of Radical-6 time. Hence why the latter seems so darn annoying right now, I assume.

"This place isn't that small, but there's a limited number of places to hide a bomb like the ones Dio described that we wouldn't have already noticed." Alice is still speaking. "If we spread out and all go through different rooms, it shouldn't take us all that long."

I do some quick mental math. If I'm right, then practically speaking, we probably only have what, ten or eleven minutes left? I'm not completely certain that's right, but the proportions sound more or less correct.

"Once we've found them, we reconvene here. After that, we'll need to figure out a way to stop them that doesn't require the deactivation passwords or the input device, and use it to neutralize the timers."

I shake my head. Even if I remembered where all the bombs were (I don't, bar the one from the crew quarters) and freely volunteered that information, there is no way any of this is happening in as short a time period as we have left. I open my mouth to inform everyone of such-

"Just stop, Alice." Tenmyouji suddenly interrupts.

Alice whirls towards him, eyes flashing. "What do you mean stop?! I-"

"I mean exactly that. Stop." Tenmyouji reiterates. "There's nothing we can do at this point, and you know it."

"Grandpa..." Quark says softly.

"Though it pains me to say it, I must concur with Tenmyouji." K says, his already near-monotone voice sounding even graver than usual. "It seems to me that we possess neither the time nor the means to prevent Dio's bombs from detonating. I suggest that we instead take the chance to make peace with what is to come… while the opportunity to do so still remains."

Luna bows her head, her expression a mixture of sorrow and resignation.

"It's over…" she whispers.

Alice's eyes dart from person to person, settling on me last, before slowly panning back down to the detonator in her hand.

"I... I guess you're right..." she says after a moment, the final embers of resolve having gone out of her voice. "This is the end…"

The words I was about to speak die in my throat, and I turn away, unable to bring myself to look at any of the others' faces. I... didn't expect this. I should have, but this is just such a horribly sad way to go out. At least when this scenario happens in the game, everyone is still fighting to survive, doing their utter best to stop the bombs even while knowing that they probably can't. But now, with increasingly imminent death hanging over them, they've all decided to just… give up. To lay down and let themselves die, because that's all there is left to do.

Guilt swells in my chest. This is my fault, isn't it? I've done nothing since Sigma left but reinforce just how pointless trying to escape our collective demise is, and while I didn't actually say anything untrue, I shouldn't have gone off on everyone the way I did. Dio wouldn't necessarily have used his bombs if I hadn't revealed their existence, and while we are ultimately doomed, it didn't have to happen like this. In my anger, I essentially took what little hope remained for everyone else and snapped it over my knee, and now they're all going to die feeling nothing but sorrow and bitter resentment.

Biting my lip, I look up to see that everyone else seems to have started dispersing in different directions. I can't stop what I've already set in motion, but… I should probably still apologize, for the things I said. I have to at least say something, if only to loosen the icy claw that seems to have grabbed hold of my heart.

Alice's movements are slow and lethargic as she walks towards the crew quarters, the beeping detonator abandoned on the floor behind her. Quickly setting Dio's knife aside, I hurry to catch up with her.

"Alice- Alice, wait." I call out.

Alice stills, slowly turning to face me over her shoulder as I come to a stop.

"I… I'm sorry." I say, swallowing down a lump in my throat. "I shouldn't have said all that. I panicked, and I freaked out, and I said a lot of things that just made everything worse. I didn't mean to set off Dio like that, or act like the real Clover doesn't matter, or that you don't matter. I'm just… scared, and I knew this was coming, but I thought I'd at least have more time to process things after what happened before, and… and I…"

I grasp for the words to continue, but none come to me. I look up at Alice, silently pleading with her to understand.

…and Alice turns away again, walking off without speaking a word.

I just stand there staring after her for a moment, feeling like I've just been stabbed again. Knowing that I have no one to blame for this but myself, I try to will myself not to cry.

I don't succeed.

I've barely managed to dry my eyes before I find Tenmyouji and Quark in the lounge, sitting side by side at the bar. In one hand, Tenmyouji absently swishes a drink, while his other arm curls tightly around his adopted son. Quark seems to have taken off his hat, and is hugging it to his chest for comfort.

As I walk up to them, Tenmyouji looks over at me and scowls, his expression severe enough that I flinch back slightly at the sight.

"Tenmyouji, Quark." I start, my voice small and shaky. "I just wanted to apologize for-"

"Look, Clover," Tenmyouji snaps, "or whatever the hell your real name is. I don't really care whether you're sorry or not. It's too late for it to make any difference."

He takes a sip of his drink, then pulls Quark even tighter to his side. Quark leans into the hug, sniffling quietly.

I swallow, reminding myself that Tenmyouji isn't wrong, and force myself to continue.

"...I know it is. But I still want to at least say-"

"I don't care." Tenmyouji interrupts again. "If you really want to apologize, then hurry up and leave. I'd prefer to spend what little time I have left with Quark alone, if you don't mind."

He turns away, and my heart breaks a little more. It doesn't hurt as much as it did with Alice, but his refusal to even so much as hear me out still feels like a slap to the face.

Closing my mouth and trying not to burst into tears again, I stumble backwards and leave the room as quickly as I can.

When I find K in the infirmary, I deliver my entire apology to him with my head facing the floor, feeling lower than a slug. He says nothing as I do, but doesn't stop me or leave, merely listening on in silent contemplation until I've finished. Once I have, I stand there miserably awaiting his judgment for what feels like hours before he finally speaks.

"...I accept your apology."

I look up at him for the first time since I entered the room, shocked.

"…you do?" I ask, almost whispering. "Just like that?"

K nods. "I see little point in holding grudges at this stage of things. Perhaps you did react rather poorly, but we have all been extremely stressed as of late, and it sounds as though you have had even more reason to be so than the rest of us. I can hardly blame you for eventually failing to hold it in."

I smile weakly. Well, at least someone forgives me…

"I only wish that I had more time to understand everything you spoke of earlier." K says. "…unfortunately, it seems as though that simply isn't to be."

I look down again. "It's… not really important now anyways. None of it is."

With that, we both go silent, neither of us seeming to have anything left to say.

I make a brief attempt to locate Luna, but ultimately give up when I can't find her anywhere on the upper floor. She knows this facility better than anyone else here, and it's possible there are places she can access that VLR never even featured. If she doesn't want to be found, it isn't going to happen.

I end up wandering my way back to the now-emptied warehouse. Both Dio's body and the detonator are still lying on the floor where they were left, the latter still beeping away. There can't be much time left now…

I walk over and pick up the detonator, turning the small rectangular box over in my hands. My finger hovers over the button for a moment before I draw it back — as tempting as it is to just get it over with, I don't think I can bring myself to be an even more direct cause of what's about to happen than I already am. Instead, I simply close my eyes and wait, silently praying that this won't be the end of me.

If I make it...

*beep beep beep*

…If I manage to SHIFT again…

*beep beep beep*

…I'll do better, next time.

*beep beep beep*

I promise.

*-beep!*

For a fraction of a second, a wave of heat greater than anything I could even imagine rips through me, simultaneous with a blinding light that instantly sears through my eyelids. Then the both of them envelop me, and I know no more.

AN: To be perfectly honest, I sort of doubt I wouldn't have been constantly stumbling over my words trying to say a lot of what was said this chapter. That would have seriously ruined the flow of things though, so let's just say Clover's body is less liable to tripping over its own tongue than mine is.

Hopefully the tirade and its accompanying flippancy didn't end up coming off as too horribly self-indulgent. I certainly didn't mean them to, but a scene not too different from it in someone else's SI might make me slightly wary of continuing, so I'd understand if you felt that way. Rest assured, I didn't write it with that sort of intent, as I hope the end of the chapter makes clear. By the same token, I hope Alice and Tenmyouji didn't come off too poorly — their reactions seem reasonable enough to me, or at least understandable based on what they know and have heard, so please know that I certainly wasn't trying to villainize them if it seemed that way.

(…stress and trauma can really do things to you. Most of them less than positive.)