"All living things contain a measure of madness that moves them in strange, sometimes inexplicable ways." - Yann Martel
Warning: There is one sexual scene in here.
"Gou…Gou…" Nagisa had his head buried into his hands and was sobbing loudly.
Rei was trying to console the older boy, but to no avail. "Nagisa, it's okay. They're gone. They're in a better place." He tried to soothe him.
Haruka was still sitting at the desk at where he was during Miss Amakata's execution. He was staring at the now empty spot where her death took place. He was breathing heavily, still in shock. "M-Makoto?" He reached out to his right to grab Makoto, but he didn't find anyone standing there. "M-Makoto?!" He started to panic, still looking at the bloody desk. He started to cry hysterically like Nagisa. "Makoto! Makoto!" He was crying.
Makoto ran to him and grabbed him. "Haru, it's okay! Snap out of it!" Makoto shook him. "It's okay!"
Haruka wasn't responsive. It was like…something broke inside of him. Nagisa was beyond consolable, as Rei had held him still to keep him from hurting himself, and Haruka was staring into space. Makoto knew they'd probably never be able to help Nagisa. He needed Haruka to be there. He needed his best friend. "Haruka, please! We need you right now! Please calm down, say something, do something!" Makoto practically begged.
Haruka's breathing slowed down and he shook his head. "M-Makoto. Thanks." He managed to say. There was still something off about him.
"We need to meet back in the cafeteria." Rei picked Nagisa up and held his wrists together, despite the smaller's screams.
Makoto nodded and started to walk out with them when he noticed Haruka pick some items up. He picked up two jackets and a book. The black sweater was Gou's, while the black Samezuka jacket was Mikoshiba's. The book was Miss Amakata's favorite book. "We need to put them in their chairs." Haruka walked out with Makoto.
Haruka walked over to the chairs and set the items down in their respective chairs. "Now they should be at peace." With that, Haruka sat down at his seat, crossing his arms.
Nagisa sat in the chair, still unresponsive. He hadn't talked since leaving the room, and he just had managed to calm down. Rei still held his hand, telling him everything would be okay and he would protect him. Makoto was tapping his fingers on the table. "Now what?" Makoto mumbled.
"Well you see!" The demon popped up on the table and cackled.
"Go away." Rei growled. "You've caused enough trouble."
"But why? I just wanted to show you all this!" It threw a picture on the table, and as it fluttered to the wood, the four tried to figure out what was on it. "Well? Look at it!"
Makoto leaned forward and took the paper. On it, there were 5 people.
Nitori, Rin, Gou, Mikoshiba, and Miss Amakata.
Makoto felt his stomach lurch forward. They looked happy. Mikoshiba had his arm around Gou's shoulders, Rin was ruffling Nitori's hair, and Miss Amakata was peacefully reading a book. Makoto almost fainted when he adjusted the angle. Their positions were the same, except their expressions and looks weren't. Mikoshiba had a deep gash across his throat and he was pale, Gou's neck was purple and swollen, Nitori's neck was bruised and water was trickling out his mouth, Rin had large gashes in his skin and his skin was a deep red color, and Miss Amakata's head was bleeding and her book had blood on it. Makoto shrieked and threw the paper down.
Nagisa reached for it, not saying anything, but Rei stopped him. "Nagisa, no." Rei took it instead, and immediately after he adjusted it, he had to excuse himself to the restroom.
Haruka was the only one who didn't attempt to look at it. He knew it was bad. He knew he would give the demon exactly what he wanted by his reaction to the paper. "I hope your little friend here recovers! If not, he'll be a bother!" The demon giggled. It glanced to Nagisa.
"Shut up." Rei hissed, wrapping his arms around Nagisa and pulling him closer.
"He's already gone off the deep end. You're not bringing him back." Rei shook his head at the demon's voice.
"No! I know he'll get through this!" Rei tried to cover his ears, but Nagisa kept pulling his hands down to hold them. He had this lost look in his eyes…like he had seen every death of every human. "I won't let you tell me otherwise!" He turned his head away from the spirit.
It simply laughed at him. "Sooner or later, you'll see that I'm right. Enjoy the picture! There's more where that came from!" 5 more pictures were scattered on the table. They were pictures of the 5 deceased people, looking peaceful. It disappeared, laughing.
The four stared at the photos.
They looked around, hesitant, abut then placed the photos on their respective chairs. Makoto looked over to Rei, who still held Nagisa close, and asked him, "Hey, Rei. Could you take Nagisa to his room? Just to watch him?"
Rei nodded and helped Nagisa up. His pink eyes were dull and didn't have his usual sparkle in them. "Come on, Nagi. It's just a short walk." He talked to him like he was a child.
"R-R-R." Nagisa mumbled. Rei stopped to let Nagisa speak.
Nagisa was staring out the door. "R-R-R-Rei. Re…Rei." He repeated.
Rei smiled. "It's okay, Nagisa. You don't have to talk now." Nagisa nodded and hushed.
Haruka questioned why Rei hushed the blond at first, but then he realized Nagisa might start asking questions and have another break down. Rei didn't want to make him suffer more. He just wanted to put him out of his misery.
After the two left, Haruka and Makoto sat in silence. Haruka would glance at the group photo sitting on the table. "So…do you think Nagisa is okay?" Haruka broke the silence.
"I'm sure he is. Rei's taking care of him now." Makoto rested his head on the table. The cold covering on the wood made the hairs on his arms raise. "Well. I'll be going now." When he stood up to leave, he walked over to Gou's chair and pulled a ribbon out his pocket. "It was her bow."
Haruka nodded and watched Makoto leave the room. Soon after, he gathered his stuff and left to go to his room. He looked at the chairs and noticed Gou's picture was missing.
He didn't think too much of it.
'I'm trash.' Makoto lay on his makeshift bed. 'I deserve to die.' He held the picture of Gou in his left hand. He moaned and arched his back. Makoto was breathing heavily.
He pulled his right hand out and saw a sticky white substance on his hand.
'Trash.'
Makoto set the picture down and stood up. He wiped his hands on tissues he had gotten from a nearby box. He felt disgusting. He felt like scum.
He was scum.
A scream later brought Makoto out of his misery. It was loud and high-pitched and had a tone of fear and anger in it. It was Nagisa's.
"No! No! No!" It yelled. Nagisa sounded like he was being attacked, or like an animal about to be killed for food.
Makoto grabbed his jacket and tied it around his waist. He didn't want anyone to see his mess. His heart was pounding at the pitiful scream.
"Don't hurt me!" Nagisa was screaming. It was a desperate wail. The attacker's voice couldn't be heard.
When he stepped out of his room, Haruka grabbed his arm. "Makoto. Nagisa…he's…" Haruka glanced down the hall. "Hurry."
The two ran to the room and managed to open the door, as they nearly fainted at the sound. Nagisa was screaming and Rei couldn't be heard. There was a sickening squishing noise.
"N-Nagisa!" Haruka and Makoto gasped at the scene.
There, on the cold and hard ground, was Rei lying and Nagisa sitting on top of him. Nagisa had a pair of scissors in his hands and was bringing them down on Rei's body at a rythmatic pace. He was hysterical. He didn't care where Rei's body was penetrated by the cold and sharp metal. "Don't hurt me!" Nagisa was screaming.
Rei's eyes were still open, his broken and bloody glasses lying next to him. He was still alive somehow. He had tears mixing in with his blood; both his and Nagisa's tears.
"Nagisa!" Haruka ran to the blood covered blond and pulled him off. The scissors were knocked out of his hand. Nagisa was screaming and crying at the same time.
Makoto ran to Rei and grabbed his hand. "It's okay, Rei. You'll get through this." He placed his weak hands on some of Rei's open wounds. The bleeding wouldn't stop no matter how hard Makoto pushed down on it.
Rei smiled slightly. "Tell Nagi…I'm sorry…If I hurt him ever…Tell him…I'll never hurt him. I'm sorry." He looked up at the ceiling. "It's okay…Mako. I'll die soon. Tell Nagisa what I said…please."
Makoto shook Rei. He now had tears streaming down his face. "No! You'll live! We'll all get out, and we'll see the sun together! You and Nagisa could go to the library, to the park, to anywhere but here! You'll be fine!" At this point Makoto was trying to convince himself that Rei would be fine.
"Don't hurt me! Die!" Nagisa was screaming at the top of his lungs. Haruka had his legs wrapped around the blond's legs and held his wrists together.
"Nagisa! Calm down! Rei didn't hurt you!" Haruka had to use nearly all of his energy to restrain Nagisa. Despite him being so small, Nagisa could put up a fight.
Rei groaned and clenched his fist. "It hurts so much." His body was shaking. Makoto ran his hand over his torso to feel the wounds, to try and see how many there were.
Nagisa had stabbed him 5 times.
"It's okay!" Makoto pushed down on a wound, hoping to stop the profuse bleeding.
"I hope it will be." Rei closed his eyes. He smiled. "I'll be leaving soon." He went quiet.
"R-Rei?" Haruka looked over at the blue-haired teen. He looked peaceful and content.
Makoto removed his blood-stained hands and looked at the dead teen. He stood up and walked over to Nagisa and Haruka. "He's gone." He whispered.
Nagisa calmed down, but showed no remorse. He went quiet again and he was staring at the wall. Haruka gave the scissors to Makoto, who put them out of Nagisa's reach, and sighed. "Why did we let anyone be alone with Nagisa? We knew he wasn't stable…" Haruka tightened his grip on the blond's wrists.
"It's not your fault, Haru." Makoto tightened the jacket around his waist. "It's over."
"But Nagisa…he's going to die!" Haruka spat. He saw Makoto step back and stare at him. "Sorry. I just don't want to see another person die. After tonight…it's just us."
Makoto walked up to him and put his hand on Haruka's head and ruffled his hair. "It'll be okay."
"No it won't! I don't want to see any more of those pictures!" Haruka yelled. "I don't care if you think it'll be okay, but it won't! It'll never be okay, Makoto! We're never getting out of here alive! We're all gonna die!" He shrieked.
Makoto could see how broken his friends were. How desperate they were. Haruka was slowly being driven mad and Nagisa snapped and went insane. Hell, Makoto became trash. Their lives were being torn apart. They were being forced to kill each other, something nobody wanted to do. Rin killed Nitori out of sudden rage. Gou committed suicide out of depression. Amakata killed Mikoshiba out of pity and fear. Now Nagisa killed Rei out of pure madness. Which only raised one question.
Why did Nagisa think Rei hurt him?
Makoto grabbed Nagisa's arms gently. "Nagisa…did Rei hurt you?"
Nagisa looked up at the tall team and giggled. "No…but he would have! He came near me with his arms open and he was saying something! I didn't know what he was saying, but I knew he would have hurt me!" Haruka sighed. Nagisa had to have been hallucinating.
"Did you think he was just going to hug you?" Haruka questioned.
"No! He was trying to hurt me! He wanted to kill me!" Nagisa looked around, eyes wild. "I protected myself!"
"Nagisa! He said he would never hurt you! I know Rei; he'd never lie to you!" Haruka scowled.
Something laughed. "What a pitiful sight. Three friends trying to convince each other that they'll be fine." The demon laughed at them. Its red eyes glared at them. "Since we all saw the little one kill the 'beauty' one, there won't be a trial. The execution will commence in a little while!" It hissed.
Makoto stared down at it. "W-Wait! Can't you make an exception to someone who hallucinated?" His voice was shaking.
"Nope! No exception! We'll make this short and sweet so you Mak-whatever can get back to your business!" Makoto's eyes widened.
Haruka didn't know what he was talking about, but it was okay. "W-what are you gonna do?" He managed to spit out.
Suddenly, a silver gun appeared on the floor. It was a revolver and it looked like it had never been used. The three never saw a gun, much less have used one, since owning one was illegal. The demon giggled and pointed its black wing at the gun.
"Both of you have to shoot the killer, the blond one!" It cackled.
"What?" Makoto had to have misheard him.
"You heard me! You two are going to execute him! Ahahahaha!"
A/N time: It's finally up~ Originally, I had intended to make Nagisa immortal as punishment so he'd have to live with the fact that he killed Rei, but a few friends didn't want me to do that, so here you go! ;)