Chapter Text
Darkness was all I could see,pure darkness. Like when you would close your eyes before resting.
But I was wide awake.
I’ve been in this same situation before. Multiple times. It used to scare me,but now I’m used to this “cycle”. What made this time so….nightmareish was everything that came beforehand.
Everything came so quickly,we were just enjoying tea an hour ago. It was calm,it was fun. I was decompressing. I thought I could do that. But how foolish to think I could even get a true moment with myself and the one I love.
The one I spent hours and hours of my days with.
The one I wanted to spend my future with.
The one….who showed me the true nature of my world,of my existence.
The one who never once told me about any of this.
The one who left me here,in the dark. Unable to move,barely able to think. It was like being trapped between the realm of sleep and wake.
He lefted me here ... .he lefted me here,he lefted me here he lefted mehereheleftedmehereheleftedmehereheleFTEDMEHEREHE-.
No. Kirijo, focus. You have to find a way to escape. You can confront you…..emotions later.
But how? I’m not able to move, I was forced into a stance,feet slightly spread apart,arms arms at a 45 degree angle.
Forced into this stupid pose,forced to see into a never ending fog of pitch black.
Forced to only wonder what my friends could be going though-.
Wait…..they don’t know the truth.
They don’t know the true nature of this world. The true nature of our leader.
I have to tell them.
They have to know.
They need to know.
Even as I’m unable to move,I can feel my body shaking with….desperation? Horror? Rage? I can’t make out my own feelings anymore. All that matters is that I was just shown the sky being loaded right in front of me,flicking in and out like nothing.
They need to know. They need to know. They need to-.
And then it happened.
My eyes snap open,the roof rushing towards my face. In pure instinct my hands plant themselves to the floor before I could fall any further
Wait. I can move my body.
Oh thank goodness. I couldn’t stand another second being locked in my own body.
As I surveyed the port island ... .I took in the dreadful sight.
At least during the dark hour the world would be covered in an eerie green glow. The moon hung above the earth like a crib mobile. But even that was robbed from me. There was no moon. No glow. It was like the very life of the city,no the world was stolen from us.
And as I was forced to confront this….unbearable truth. I’m forced to question…..where are we?
Have we always been here?
Before I could continue down the layers of questions this sight shows. I need to focus on other priorities. I need to let the others know.
——————————————————-
Making my way downstairs is far harder when everything is near pitch dark. It’s not like I’ve never meandered though pitch black rooms in my life. But this time it feels….almost alien. I’ve lived in this dorm for years of my life,but now it feels like I need a map to know where my own living quarters are.
How? How did I suddenly forget something as simple as the layout of where I live? I’ve walked through each hallway so many times, eaten at the same table we’ve studied on. The meetings,the small moments. This dorm has become my home, and now I stubble around it like a toddler trying to walk for the first time.
Before my streaming thoughts continued,I discerned a door cracked open. I couldn’t even tell if it was actually my own room or someone else’s. I was already bursting through the door.
I limped to the bed and sat myself down.
Am I dreaming? Is this some form of divine punishment? I’ve done my best to be good,and done my best to honor my family’s name. But now I’m forced into what I could only describe as an isolated hell. There’s no movement heard anywhere,the world is still. No breathing can be heard,no movement can be felt.
Even Akihiko was stuck in the same pose I-.
Oh.
I should have known this was his room. The trophies,the boxing glove on the chair. His body froze like a statue. Was he aware of what’s happening? That our world had life drained out of it. That our leader…..
No,Kirijo you need to focus,Akihiko is currently unable to move and I need to fix that…somehow.
As I step towards him,I saw how he was completely immobile,his face stuck in a basic expression. If only he knew what was happening,what Makoto said,how the life of this world has been drained. But he’s completely
unmoving,unaware…unknown. I can feel my hand subconsciously moving to touch him.
ZKRRRRRT!
The sound of what could only be compared to a computer short circuiting cuts though the tense air. I tripped back into his selves, knocking down a speaker onto Akihiko’s desk.
What….happened? I just put my hand on him and-.
Thud.
Wait,what was that?
Thud.Thud.Thud.
I immediately knew where to look to see where the noise was coming from,or more accurately,who the noise was coming from.
Akihiko was moving again.
He shifted to his usual fighting stance in a milasecond,bouncing on his heels,moving left and right. Hitting the punching bag like he wasn’t just no less than a statue. Does he know what just happened?
Almost to answer my thoughts,Akihiko stopped mid swing. And turned to face me. His expression was….confused,but not greatly.
“Mitsuru? When did you get here?” Simple. Direct. Not even showing a drop of full understanding of the full scope of the hell he was now in.
I can only stare dead at him. He really doesn’t….really doesn’t know?
“You look…..mortified,what happened?” I can tell he was truly concerned but he didn’t know what I saw. What I know.
I don’t know what I could tell him.
“The sky is gone.”
That's the most I could convoke from my mouth. Anything else would sound insane.
“……..Excuse me?”
Hm. Should have expected his response to be like that. I can’t blame him. I was just in a similar spot he was in.
“The sky,the moon,the clouds. The stars are gone. It sounds ludicrous I know but please listen to me.” Before I could finish what I was saying,I could feel Akihiko’s gaze. He was….completely blank?
“Mitsuru,what are you talking about?” He still doesn’t understand it.
“Please just listen to me, I'm being honest. I’ve just been thinking-.”
“Mitsuru I promise you whatever you're talking about isn’t real.” He cuts though the words coming out of my mouth as he strides to the curtains. Fingers sliding effortlessly between the 2 large pieces of fabric. “Look I’ll even show you,watch.”
I don’t even think(a rare instance for me) before trying to lunge toward his shoulder.
My hand makes contact with him.It’s not a harsh or controlling grab. It’s light,kind.
But it doesn’t matter. Not now.
He knows.
“How..how is this happening?” His voice was starkly quiet and uncertain. I almost never heard of him like this. It was like hearing a hardened warrior cry.
“I tried to tell you myself but you rushed straight forward,I don’t know myself but-.” My words of attempted comfort bounce off him like nothing as he turns toward me. His eyes were coated with dread.
“Mitsuru,where are we?” He stares into me. Brows furrowed,widened but focused eyes,tense jaw. Everything on his face brightly painted worry.
And I can’t say anything.
I don’t know where we are,I don’t know how this happened. I don’t know what happened to Makoto. I don’t know.
I don’t know.
Before I can comprehend it,I feel my body crashing down onto the floor,shaking racing though every fiber of my being.
My chest felt like barbed wire was enclosing it. My breaths came in only quick bursts. I can feel the world around me blur.
What should I do? What can I do? Am I even able to-.
“Mitsuru,listen to me……please.” I can hear his voice. Akihiko. His voice was…calm,well trying to be calm considering everything he just learned.
“I need you to listen to me,you can’t start doing this now. We have bigger problems and I can’t have you crashing on me. So….get up,….please.”
…….
While I can tell the words were genuine attempts at help,I can’t deny his words were…..not the most comforting.
But regardless,it helps me ground myself in reality.
“I….appreciate you being here.” I almost strain my tongue trying to not show any potential discomfort from his bluntness.
“But we have much more important issues to tackle.” I slowly rise up. Capturing one more look outside,peering into the null sky.
I can’t help but dread everything about our situation right now.
——————————————————
After some conversing and evaluation who we should inform next. Me and Akihiko both came to the conclusion that we shouldn’t put any of this into the second year. Aigis won't have any major reaction but I don’t think she would be the best person to rely on for something like this. So me and Akihiko decided on one person to “wake first”
Aragaki.
He was in the exact same pose I and Akihiko were in laid on top of his bed in his ... .normal clothes. Does he really go to sleep in that coat?
“So,how do we….wake him up.” Akihiko meekly asked. And sadly,I can’t even give out my own meek answer to help.
“I don’t know. Before you woke up I just touched you face,and suddenly you were just moving.”
“So just touch his face,got it.” I couldn’t even explain to Akihiko why we shouldn’t jump straight to putting his open palm onto Aragaki’s face.
“Wait! We don’t fully know what-.”
ZKRRRRRT!
……..
The same noise I heard when I for lack of a better term “Awoken” Akihiko echoed throughout the room. Akihiko recoils back,forearms moved to shield his face from whatever potential incoming attack.
Instead of that. What we got instead was a murmur…literally.
Somehow,Aragaki was suddenly underneath the covers. He was clearly on the verge of waking,moving restlessly and murmuring to himself.
“That actually worked?” Akihiko grits through his teeth. Trying not to make too much noise to awake Aragaki.
“Will you please listen to me before doing anything reckless like that?” I raise my voice slightly to scold him.
“Ah-Sorry.” Akihiko quickly apologized, soundly slightly shocked.
“What the hell are you two talking about ... .and why are you in my room?” Argaki finally was conscious enough to understand that we were in his room. Oh yes. He didn’t know the current predicament.
“Oh…Argaki.” Admittedly I didn’t know how to break him into our current situation. Argaki is not one to easily believe more outlandish ideas. The likelihood of him believing anything we say was a mirage. I looked at Akihiko,he clearly didn’t have any more ideas spinning in his head than me.
“So,got an explanation?” Aragaki speaks out again. His eyes harden like steel at us.
“I…” Before I could pull even a quick plea,Akihiko leaped to the window in the room. Grabbing the curtain and pulling it back.
“Just…..look.” He gestures towards the window. I don’t bother going. I’ve already seen that ghastly sight too many times.
Aragaki groggily gets out of the bed,I hadn’t even noticed that he had taken his jacket off. But I suppose that had happened when Akihiko made contact with him. But why? Why does simply touching one of my friends' frozen bodies cause them to go from still statues to suddenly back to their lively selves. Is this to do with our persona’s or are more factors at play? Is this tied to the dark hour or something completely different? Did my family cause this as well? Is there even more suffering tied to-.
“What the fuck?” Aragaki yelled out and dropped to the floor, his once steel eyes breaking away into widening orbs of shock and terror. I had let the whole room fade away as I sank into my thoughts. Foolish.
“What the..how…I.” He had a similar reaction me and Akihiko had ... .well minus the initial denial Akihiko showed and-.
No. No time to dwell on that. I have more important issues.
“This has to be a dream right?” Aragaki's voice comes out when I haven’t heard from him in ages. I can’t blame him for thinking that. I wish I could think that.
Akihiko slowly approached Aragaki and pulled him up to his feet…..before promptly punching him on the cheek,not hard enough to cause any harm but enough to cause his head to twist away.
“Does that answer your question?” Akihiko replied with not an inch of malice in his heart.
“Did you seriously have to do that?!” Aragaki on the other hand was not so joyous. And frankly I was on his side. That was completely unprompted.
“What? You wanted to know if this was a dream or not and that clearly-.” Akihiko couldn’t even explain himself before Aragaki grabbed him by the shirt.
“You could have just told me you-.”
I can already tell by the growl in his voice that I would have to break this up.
I forced Aragaki to unhanded Akihiko.
“Stop this meaningless fighting now.we have so much more we need to focus on finding out what is happening!” Akihiko instantly straightened up and stepped away. While Aragaki simply mumbled something with his breath before stepping away. Typical behavior between these two. Unneeded, especially now.
Now,if I had to be honest to everyone and myself,I have no idea what to do. But I’d know that just having the three of us can only go so far.
“We need to wake the others.” I look both of them straight forward.
“Wake? How the hell do you expect us to do that” Aragaki grunted.
“Well all you have to do is just touch me.” Akihiko explained quickly
“We don’t know how or why but that's just how it works.”
“Exactly.” I speak out. “I’ll go upstairs to get the girls,you 2 get all the boys up,we’ll regroup in the general area of the dorm.”
Aragaki’s eyes were stapled to the floor. He is clearly still so off put by everything. And unfortunately, I wouldn’t blame him if he declined.
He let out a huff of air before walking towards the door.
“I’ll….be going too.” Akihiko whispered out.
“Wait.” I rest my hand onto Akihiko’s shoulder right before he goes for the door.
“Please,ease them into…all this,I would hate for them to be forced to make all this out without someone to lean on.”
He turns….and nods.
“Don’t worry,I’ll make sure they have someone to help them through this.”
And with that,Akihiko exits the room.
At least they’ll have us to lean on during this.
At least we won’t leave them.