The morning after Clyde's case was a depressing one. It's been a while since I've slept alone. If you could call it sleep the nightmare of Clyde's execution was playing on repeat all night I barely got three hours. I made my way to the cafeteria to see Craig Tweek and Token there, the other three remaining students were nowhere to be found.
"Hey" Craig said in a defeated tone.
"Morning" I replied, "where is everyone else?"
"No idea, but Monokuma came through a few minutes ago, as a result of the fourth trial we've unlocked a few more rooms in the basement level below the library" Craig answered. "Other than Eric's lab which was already unlocked, he said we now had access to the engine room and the biology lab, and we had visual access to the dock at the rear of the ship."
"We should go check it out" Tweek suggested, "do you guys want to wait for the others to show up?"
"There's no point" I answered, "Butters wants nothing to do with me, we want nothing to do with Eric, and as far as Henrietta was concerned all semblance of hope had left her eyes after Clyde died so she might not be much help either."
"Alright" Token started, "then let's go down there now and see what we can find."
The four of us made our way down to the library level then beyond it down the stairs was the basement. Upon entering the basement hallway, the first thing we saw was Eric's lab door, not giving a damn about it or him we moved onto the other three rooms of the ship. I took the biology lab, Craig and Tweek took the machine room and Token checked out the dock or rather the window of the dock we couldn't access.
I entered the biology lab and what I saw was something out of a horror movie, the biology lab was also a morgue with nine freezers in use. I noticed one of the lights on a freezer door was blinking but faulty wiring was the least of my concerns at the moment. The freezer doors didn't have locks either, I checked by opening up one at random the door red number six. Turns out the one I opened was Kyle's, poor guy didn't deserve his fate, but at least we were able to get him and Stan some justice.
To be honest Monokuma calling it a biology lab wasn't close to accurate, it was a morgue through and through. I left the room a moment later and joined Craig and Tweek in the engine room, Token had already joined them as well.
"What did you find in the bio lab" he asked.
"Well it's not actually a bio lab, it's a morgue" I answered.
Hearing that made Tweek a little nauseous but he didn't vomit thankfully. The engine room was your typical machine room, we had an engine as well as a fuse box for the power on that floor and an oil drum that was filled with fuel, probably in case of an emergency.
"Well that's all we got here" Token said. "There's no point in looking at the dock, all that's there is a speedboat we can't access anyway."
"Then let's go back to the cafeteria" Craig suggested.
"Good call" I agreed. The four of us returned to the cafeteria to see Butters and Henrietta sitting down.
"Good morning" I said to him.
Not surprisingly he didn't respond, he was still furious over what happened at the trial, I wish he'd understand that it was either him or us, in order for us to survive, Clyde needed to face punishment even though he didn't deserve it.
"There's something we need to do" Butters said finally breaking his silence. "Clyde and Bebe need to be honored."
"Your right" I said. Craig walked over to the bin of photos and placed Clyde's and Bebe's on the table.
"Nine" Craig started, "we've lost nine of our friends already how can we keep going like this?"
"We need to put a stop the killings once and for all" I answered.
"We didn't find any Project UA info on the basement floor, unless Eric stole it and is hiding it somewhere" Tweek said.
"He wouldn't tell us if he did" Henrietta replied, "more importantly where is he, has anyone seen him since he left the trial chamber?"
"No but I wanted to discuss something with you guys about him" I answered. We all took our seats and I began, "do you guys remember how the UA files said there was a traitor among the test subjects feeding information to the remnants?"
"Yeah what about it" Craig answered. "We also know that the mastermind was a member of the remnants and he and his spy are a part of this killing game either running it or playing it."
"Exactly I'm assuming you all think he is the mastermind at this point" I said.
"Of course, he's the mastermind, the killing game is still going on because he hasn't been killed yet" Henrietta said.
"Well if it's so obvious then what are we waiting for let's get him" Butters said.
"Hold on there's something I need to run by you all" I said. "What if we're wrong, if he's not the mastermind then whoever kills him will get punished and I don't want anyone else to die."
"So, what we wait until he kills one of us" Butters shouted. "I don't know about you but I don't want to wait to be murdered by a sociopath!" Butters stormed about of the cafeteria, I gave chase but he went into his room. I went back to the cafeteria and the others were still sitting there.
"Do you really think someone else is the mastermind" Tweek asked.
"I think we shouldn't risk anything until we're sure" I answered. "
If you say so, I'm going to go check on Butters I'll catch up with you guys later" Tweek replied.
He kissed Craig and then headed towards the cabins. Token and Henrietta followed suit and left for other areas of the ship leaving just me and Craig behind.
"Mike, I'm going to the pool deck, join me will you" Craig requested.
"Alright" I agreed. The two of us made our way to the pool deck making it in time to see the sun setting on the horizon.
"Can I give you some advice one gay guy with a boyfriend to another" he asked.
"Sure, I could use some" I answered.
"Sometimes you need to be there for your lover, if they're going through something they need some of their loved ones" Craig began. "Believe me I've been there, years ago Tweek had a major panic attack, it lasted days, the longest one he's ever had. I figured if I took him out or something he'd calm down, turns out all he wanted was an ear, someone to listen to. Butters has been a mess since Clyde died maybe just listen to him, I mean he's been listening to all of our problems after the murders but has anyone listened to him?"
"My god, I've been so blind, I've been so focused on trying to end the killing game all we've been doing is sleeping together" I said. "I gotta go find Butters I'll catch up with you later Craig."
"Go for it" Craig said.
I ran down the stairs and back to the cabins I knocked on Butters door. He didn't answer so I checked if he was with Tweek but he said that Butters wanted to be alone. I started running all over the ship and no one has seen Butters, in the end even with Craig and Tweek's assistance we couldn't find him.
We returned to the cafeteria and had some dinner, Henrietta was there so she joined us. After dinner I returned to my room, I checked Butters room one more time and to my surprise he was back.
"Butters, I'm so sorry I should've listened to you more" I said running into his room and hugging him. "Please, please forgive me."
Butters hugged me back, "I already have, I was never really mad with you, I just, I have been so stressed, the murders, the trials, the executions and then it all starts over again. That's why I want to stop Eric it's the only way to protect the ones who survived and honor the ones who are gone."
"Please, killing him is not the answer, I don't want to risk losing you, please don't go after him, just stay with me" I pleaded.
In the end Butters backed down, "ok I won't go after him we'll just have to find a way to deal with him nonviolently." Butters kissed me and we got in his bed, "I love you Mike" he said to me. None of my other boyfriends said that and actually mean it, for once I was truly happy. We fell asleep a little later on, I had never been so happy to be holding him for once since we got trapped on this ship I was truly at peace, if only I knew how fleeting that peace would be.
It was the first time since it happened that I didn't dream about Clyde's execution, but this dream wasn't much better. I opened my eyes to see myself surrounded by all of the blackened. I could hear their voices, "you killed me, you killed me" over and over they got the closer and close until I was rocked awake by something. It felt like an earthquake and it knocked me out of bed.
"Butters are you alright" I shouted.
No response, he wasn't there. I checked the bathroom, he wasn't there either, my panic level was rising and I heard a knock at the door, it was Craig. I opened the door to find him alone, truly a rare occurrence.
"Mike did you feel that" he asked.
"Yeah I don't know what it was though" I answered.
"There's smoke coming from the library let's go" he said grabbing my arm and leading me towards the stair case. We went down the stairs to find Token and Henrietta there we also discovered that the smoke was coming from the basement.
"Where are Tweek and Butters" Token asked.
"No clue" I answered.
"Will find them later right now we need to get down stairs" Henrietta said.
The four of us ran down to the basement following the smoke to the engine room, it was stronger and harder to breathe but we managed to get through, in all honesty I wish we hadn't. The room was still on fire and it was hard to see. We had to run to the biology lab and get buckets of water to put out the blaze, by the time we did the room was completely destroyed. The fuse box was fried, and the engine disabled. Worst of all, on the ground we found two bodies that were burned beyond recognition but based on who inhabited this ship we could figure out who they were, two of our classmates were there and they were dead no way to tell who they were.
Craig and I had the same look of fear in our eyes as the body discovery announcement came on over the loud speaker. Two bodies and both of our boyfriends were missing, this is going to be the hardest investigation yet.