Finally. Finally she had found the exit, the end of this hellish labyrinth she'd been pushed into. Everyone is waiting for her to save them, she needs to hurry...!
She placed her still usable hand on the doorknob, hope and anxiety swirling in her chest. What if I'm too late...? What if Enoshima-san have already gotten to them? What if-
Pushing those thoughts aside, she twisted the doorknob.
As light poured out into the dreary hallway she came from, she swore she saw them all standing there, smiling warmly at her as if to say; You did it, Nanami-san. You saved us. Thank you. Even the image of Chisa was smiling and welcoming her with open arms. ...Ah, that's right! Yukizome-sensei, she-
Her eyes adjusted and the image disappeared. Instead, what stood before her was a cold, empty room with turned-off screens lining the walls. The feeling of anxiety that had swirled in her chest now threatened to devour her. Where...? "Where is everyone? ...Enoshima-san! Where are they?! Wha-" She paused to breathe, "What did you do to them?! Hey, Enoshima-san! Answer me!" As she yelled at the screens, she fell down to her knees and gasped in pain.
"Ooooh my GOOOOD~! Nanami-senpai just look at you! That look of utter despair... Ah~ I just can't get enough!" Obnoxious laughter filled the room, as the screens turned on. "You look so goddamned miserable it's almost enough to make ME pity you! AAHHAHAHAHAHA WOULDN'T THAT JUST BE FUCKING HILARIOUS?!" The voice turned saccharine, "Buuut since you were such a good wittle senpai, I'll be a nice girl and give you a reward!" One of the screens extended and stopped in front of Chiaki. "As a reward for surviving my execution, I will allow you to witness your fellow students' last moments of sanity."
The screen up-front switched footage, now showing a similar room to the one she was in with her classmates staring dazedly at the screens covering the room in an ominous red light. Chiaki prepared her voice to call out when- "Oh by the way, they can't like, hear you or anything. I already cut the audio feed so now all they see is a red screen signaling your death." Her words choked up. And then, "My... death? They think I'm dead? But I'm... right here..." Light sobbing filled the air as her voice faded out. The faint feeling of tears rolling down her face didn't even register.
"Awwww, is miss cwass rep cwying now? That won't do, that won't do at all! You're not crying nearly as much as you're stupid fucking hopeless heart should be! C'mooon senpai~ Show me that beautiful despairing face of yours~ I need some relief senpai, won't you pleeease help me~?" Junko's rapidly tone-shifting voice snaps Chiaki out of her daze.
"...I won't..." Junko snapped to attention, clearly intrigued. "Hmmm? What's that? You won't?" Using her less injured arm, Chiaki attempted to push herself up, "I won't... fall for your despair! I will never, ever give up on my classmates! No matter what... I will... sa...ve... th......"
Right as she passed out, she swore she felt eyes staring into her back.
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a desertduo fic based on the songAugust by flipturn
it’s so them right im not delusional
August: a song about a relationship that only works out during the month of august, wherein it seems perfect. After august it falls apart, until the next august comes around.
title: octagonal
wordcount: 971
rating: T
ao3: HERE
“Hey, catch.”
Grian barely had time to finish pulling off his sweater before something equally as red entered his peripheral. He jumped backwards with a squeak and a fluff of wings, the object landing by his feet with a thud. An apple, shiny like glass under the desert sun.
“That wasn’t… you can’t just throw things at me, Scar—” the words were annoyed but laced with amusement as he adjusted his tank top. “—and expect me to react on time.”
“Well,” Scar bit into his own fruit like an animal, juice running down his fingers, down his wrist, down his arm. “What if I’d been an enemy?”
“You aren’t.”
“And…! —And what if that had been TNT.”
Grian sighed. “Then I wouldn’t have wanted to catch it, would I?”
Scar took a second, canting his head and staring at him, apple frozen in motion towards his mouth. Then, the lightbulb went off. “Oh…” a chuckle. “Oh, I guess not.”
It was contagious; the way they bickered and laughed, the constant back and forth as they worked. Hands splintered from planks of wood, then calloused from rough sandstone bricks. The foundations of their new …home… were beginning to take place.
(Really, it was Grian doing the work. Scar stood around shirtless and thought up ways to scam people.)
The sun, high in the sky, unchanging as they changed beneath it.
————————————-
The new world was different.
Grian noticed it from day one; the shift in tone, they went from orange to blue.
It didn’t help that there was the looming threat of what everyone was calling ‘the boogeyman’. As if they were twelve. As if the insatiable, sudden need to kill one of your friends was as light as the stories parents told their children so that they would go to sleep.
Maybe it was, Grian hadn’t experienced either.
But he felt the effects. People stood further away during conversations, hands itching by their sides ready to draw. No one wanted to be alone, either, but it was worse to be alone with another. Anyone could turn. Anyone could kill.
The curse brought on an ultimatum: them or you. And who in their right mind wouldn't choose the former?
It was dark when he saw Scar for the first time. Part of him knew he should be cautious, memories burnt fresh into his brain of blood on his sword, in his hair, his skin. Together they had taken down everything and everyone, including themselves. Behind that annoying lopsided smirk and fake diamond armour, Scar hid what he was capable of.
Grian wasn’t scared of his violence. No, no. His words, they were a completely different thing to fear.
“...So I can’t put you on the back of a llama and take you to the desert?”
It hurt, in an unexpected way. The type of way where you end up angry at yourself for not preparing on time. His mental walls were only half constructed, architecturally weak, and Scar had found the point to prod on his first try. Grian laughed, shrill and light as his heart crawled further inside.
He needed severance.
“Hey… have you tried transferring a life yet?”
The new world was different.
“No, I haven’t!”
He would be different.
————————————-
His throat stung, dehydrated lips cracked. Grian’s scream would unendingly echo throughout the ravine.
He waited, and waited, and waited. Alone in the desert, dizzy with heatstroke, uncertain of what was to come. When Scar finally showed up, he wasn’t sure if he was real or a mirage; he spoke to him anyway.
The flowers. Lilacs and poppies. Grian clutched the wilted bundle in his fist, torn between them and the new shade of Scar’s eyes.
“Can we still be friends?”
Could they? Did Grian care if they couldn’t? It was just stupid rules of a stupider game. Half of everything was made up on the fly, and the other half broken whenever someone felt like it. They were too carefree, when nothing was there to enforce them.
Grian didn’t want to admit it, but somewhere along the muddied lines, his obligation had grown into greedy devotion. He needed Scar, and Scar needed him. At least if they got any more parasitic the vultures would have something to feast on.
“I think so? I still owe you my first life,” and the one after that, and the one after that.
They rearranged their sleeping quarters that night, silently communicating as they pushed two beds together. It was sticky and humid, but their hands stayed entwined until morning.
Grian left the flowers on the windowsill, with thought that they would dry.
————————————-
Grian had never experienced the boogeyman curse, but he had felt the effects.
“At least his bed is out here, so we don’t have to ruin his lovely house.”
That was something, right?
They had built the obsidian spawn-camping death trap OUTSIDE of his lovely house. For that, Grian deserved a pat on the back. Joel gave him a funny look as the words left his mouth, the absurdity of the situation crawling down his spine.
They needed these lives. Scar… Scar had too many. He didn’t need them like him and Joel did. —- Hell, he would lose them himself soon enough. All they were doing was stopping such an important resource from going to waste.
The method was… justified.
So when Scar refused their offer, backing away from his beloved mountain, spewing lies, silver tongue tangled, Grian didn’t feel bad, loading his crossbow with bolt after bolt. Each one finding a place in flesh, in armour. Scar had made his choice.
At the end of the day, his heart was just a muscle behind his sternum.
And Grian only knew how to touch skin when it was to brush away stray grains of sand.
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baby guild :)
aka the timber scouts! they're basically just a bunch of kids in a sort of guild prep-course. so, not a real full official guild, but functions like one. all the kids have different woodland animal gimmicks to go with the scout vibe. They have a very loose shared uniform too, they're pretty much allowed to customize however they want as long as they keep the white button-up, brown outerwear, dark brown bottoms, and brown boots. also like a lot of kids in other guilds, their weapons are toys or otherwise "safter" items. But that's pretty much all! They aren't super deep characters, but more general info still under the cut :p
Name: Ceres
Name Origin: Dwarf planet named after the goddess of agriculture and motherly relationships
Pronouns: They/them
Age: 29
Guild rank: Guildmaster
Weapon: Pocket knife
Ethos (Power): Aegis (The ability to cast a protective shield around others but not themself)
Flaw power is based on: Their tendency to put others first, in a way that makes them a pushover.
Notes: Suffering.
Name: Aquila
Name Origin: The eagle constellation
Pronouns: They/them
Age: 12
Guild rank: 1 star
Weapon: Hula hoop
Ethos (Power): Aerial burst (A powerful burst of air created with their wings)
Flaw power is based on: They're flighty and feather-brained
Notes: Birds just wanna have fun
Name: Procyon
Name Origin: A star in canis minor, the name technically means "before the dog" but refers to the raccoon family
Pronouns: He/him
Age: 11
Guild rank: 1 star
Weapon: hacky sack
Ethos (Power): Scaling (He can climb any surface)
Flaw power is based on: His rowdy uncontrollable nature
Notes: Yeah he can kick the hacky sack while on a wall, no big deal.
Name: Kochab
Name Origin: Beta Ursae Minoris- brightest star in the little dipper
Pronouns: She/her
Age: 11
Guild rank: 1 star
Weapon: Honey dipper
Ethos (Power): Honeymelt (She can turn solid structures into a more gooey form with the consistency of honey)
Flaw power is based on: Her sluggish listlessness
Notes: Wait until you meet mama bear
Name: Vulpecula (Val)
Name Origin: The "little fox" constellation
Pronouns: She/her
Age: 11
Guild rank: 1 star
Weapon: Jump rope
Ethos (Power): Tactful sense (Heightened senses for what's going on around her)
Flaw power is based on: Her desire to control everything around her
Notes: She's the first on track to getting a second star (according to herself)
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