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Sonia Nevermind was hungry.
They were right... the grape house was definitely less of an eyesore than the strawberry house.
Sonia supposed that, since she was a princess, she would be expected to stay in the cutesy-pinky-whatever house; she had come to Hope’s Peak Academy to escape that, the pressures of Novoselic tradition bearing down on her like a dead weight.
It wasn’t that Sonia didn’t want to lead her kingdom. It was more like... she had to embrace it; maybe, she thought, she had been conditioned to accept the conditions, and had it been any other way, she would have spent her entire life fighting her parents and people head on.
That was part of the reason why she came to Japan, though - for a break. To learn more, to fulfil at least a tiny part of her dreams before she was trapped forever, friendless and with people running around her feet like she was some kind of goddess.
But oh no, she was just trapped in a picture from a serial killer movie, a sickeningly brightly decorated “funhouse” with no food and only water from the bathroom tap.
Though, the grapes were quite cute, she had to admit... they were well painted, too. Sonia wondered if real grapes could be that big... how juicy would they be, anyway...? Would they be sweet, or sour, or would they maybe taste different, or-
“Might I suggest you stop thinking about food?”
Gasping, Sonia spun around - she had been stood outside of her assigned room, staring dreamily at the walls; she wiped her hand across her mouth in an attempt to hide any drool that she assumed must have come from the hunger, and then fiddled with her hair bow a little and cleared her throat. “Gund- ah... Tanaka-kun! What are you doing here?”
Gundham glowered at her from the folds of his scarf, arms folded tightly over his chest - Sonia noted that he seemed awfully... displaced.
“Please,” he mumbled. “Pay no heed to the formalities. You may call me Gundham.”
Sonia looked at her feet, somewhat embarrassed. “Alright, Gundham. What brings you to grape house? Were you unable to sleep?”
Gundham briefly closed his eyes, and silence fell, the only ambiance being the blood pounding in Sonia’s ears and the tiny paws shuffling around inside Gundham’s coat.
“Yes.” He said eventually, looking at her sideways and sort of catching her off guard. “Correct. I was unable to sleep, and thought I ought to patrol.”
Patrol…? Sonia wasn’t sure about that. There had never been any talk over having a patrol of any sort, nor anyone who would take charge over the group, not since Byakuya…
Staring at the floor again, Sonia’s frail hand slowly came up and covered her mouth. She could see it, Byakuya’s body, face down underneath that table, and Teruteru, being dragged away, Mahiru, Peko, Hiyoko, Ibuki, Mikan…!
“N-No…” Usually Sonia would be able to ward off these visions, she was rather strong minded, after all – but her stomach eating away at itself was causing her concentration to shift; there was only so much fatigue she could handle before her thoughts got the better of her. “No… no, no, no no no!”
Concern seared across Gundham’s face as Sonia gripped fistfuls of her hair and her face contorted with unexplainable emotion – in a dramatic swoop, he pulled her into her bedroom and shut the door tightly behind them.
“Nevermind,” he breathed, sitting her down on the plush bed and holding her wrists lightly. “You must overcome these hallucinations, it is hardly befitting of one of your status to allow herself to be plagued by such inconvenient things, not when she is so strong in will.”
Sonia’s vision blurred a bit before she finally focused on Gundham properly, using her palms to quickly wipe away her tears. She sniffled a little and shut her eyes, regaining her composure, before smiling bravely and nodding – the feeling was still there and yet, his presence seemed to calm her greatly.
Gundham stepped away, stalking around the sickeningly green room – he seemed almost… nervous. Sonia didn’t quite know how to ask him about it though, knowing full well that he would likely either deny it or dance around the question in waterfalls of guarded, dramatic speech like he so often did – even in the small amount of time they spent together alone, Sonia understood that, whilst Gundham did truly embrace his love of what he claimed to be dark arts, there was the very high possibility that he used his theatrics as a sort of coping mechanism. She was very interested in psychology after all, and Gundham’s mannerisms were just too much to not be covering something.
That being said, the wall wouldn’t come down easily, so Sonia could only slightly cock her head in his direction.
“Good, you have stopped weeping.” He sighed. “I hope you will recover quickly. You have a long journey ahead of you, after all.”
“Yes…” Sonia sighed… and she waited. She waited for Gundham to go off on his so called patrol, because he had no reason to be in her room after this. And yet he never did.
“Gundham. Was there something you needed to speak to me about?”
This seemed to catch him off guard, his eyes widening over the scarf as his head whipped in her direction; he caught himself though, shaking his head slightly.
“…No.” Came her eventual answer. “Is there something you wish to speak with me about?”
Sonia frowned. “You told me you were going on patrol. Gundham, I will not chase you around in circles!” She stood and flung her arm out towards him, commanding attention in such an intensely royal way that he had no choice but to listen. “I have spent many days studying human psychology, and so I can see that there is something on your mind, something you wish to discuss with me, so tell me before we both die of starvation!”
Her voice did not raise above it’s usual volume, but her outburst made Gundham stare at her as though she had screamed at him – his whole body was leaned back slightly, eyes wide over his scarf once again.
“…”
“Well?” Sonia commanded, guilt racking her body – she didn’t want to have to be this way, but Gundham’s actions were making her rather worried. She was under the impression that they were close friends, or, as close as you could be in this madman situation – she couldn’t understand what would be so terrible that he couldn’t just tell her. Unless…
No…
Surely not…
“Gundham, have you… hurt someone…?”
He would never… Gundham may be intense, but he is so fond of even the smallest creatures that he would surely never hurt a soul…! It can’t be!
“No.” Gundham mumbled, dragging Sonia from her thoughts. “Not yet.”
Yet!?
“Wh-what…” Sonia took a few steps back, pale legs hitting the mattress and causing her to tumble back onto it. She raised her arms in a protective fashion – it was just an instinct, but her mind immediately shot to all the possibilities presented to him right now if he did intend to kill someone, nobody had seen him in the Grape house, Sonia would be so easy to strangle or snap into pieces, oh god was he taking off his scarf?
“…Do you truly think so little of me, Sonia?” Opening her eyes (she didn’t even realise she had closed them), Sonia saw that Gundham looked genuinely hurt. He had pulled his scarf away from his mouth, clutching the garment tensely in front of his chest. He looked so small in this moment, scared he had burned the bridge between him and his closest current friend with a single word – sitting there in a hungry haze, she could see Maga-Z gently pawing at his earring in an attempt at comfort.
“N-no… No! No, of course not!” She clambered to her feet and lunged for him, grasping his arms and pouting at his expression. “No! I trust you!”
Gundham regarded her with an unreadable face. “…Do not worry, for I understand. You made a natural assumption, based on the foul circumstances presented to us.” He held her elbows daintily, shaking his head. “I would not lay a claw on you, Dark Queen. You are…” he cleared his throat, looking away. His silence didn’t reassure Sonia very much, and as he walked away and her arms stayed poised in mid-air, she turned around on her heels to face him as he sat on the bed. “Not someone I wish to bring harm to.”
“But…” Sonia hurriedly sat next to him, clasping her hands together in her lap. “Whatever did you mean? You wouldn’t plan to hurt someone; I just know it! That just ain’t it, chief!” She cried desperately, gripping his arm again – his gaze flickered confusedly towards the princess, but he then looked away once more.
“…My reason for coming to visit you this evening… was because…” he muttered, looking down at the floor in disdain. “I did not want to leave without passing down my label of icy power in this world.”
Sonia didn’t quite understand, but then she had to consider her earlier thought of Gundham’s tendency to put things a lot less straightforward than they actually were.
My reason for coming here was to say goodbye.
“You… I… to me?” Her voice was tiny, her chin now digging into his shoulder because he just wouldn’t look at her. Whether it was shame, guilt, fear, she didn’t know – she just knew that this wasn’t some kind of practical joke.
“Yes. I came to bestow my title of Ice Lord upon you before I depart from this world, you are my chosen one, kitten. You will carry forth my will when the fates seek to strike me down in my prime.”
I want you to sway the vote in my direction during the trial.
“Gundham, you mustn’t speak like this! You will not be a blackened, not if I have any say in it!”
“You do not.” Gundham sighed. “The plan is already in motion.”
“What plan? Who will die by your hand? Tell me, please!”
A hamster was now wriggling around in Sonia’s lap, looking up at her with wide eyes – she picked it up gently and went to hand it back to Gundham but he shook his head.
“Cham-P understands that he will now be under your care.” He said. “The Four Dark Devas of destruction have accepted your new place as their tamer. They will spend my remaining time with me, before being bestowed upon their Dark Queen.”
Cupping Cham-P in her palms, Sonia sniffled as tears began to stream her face. The hamster nuzzled into her thumb as though he knew. Logically Sonia knew that shouldn’t have been possible, but… well, Gundham was an animal whisperer. She didn’t expect any less from his connection with them.
“No… I refuse. You will continue living, with the rest of us! We will escape with our lives, on my honour as princess of Novoselic!”
Gundham closed his eyes and burrowed halfway into his scarf. “Sonia. I know you are not stupid. Do not make promises you cannot keep.”
Putting Cham-P onto her shoulder, Sonia stood defiantly and folded her arms, eyes flaring with as much anger as she could muster.
“There is nothing stopping me swaying the vote in my favour if I so wish to, knowing you will be the blackened. You have made a mistake coming to me! I will save you!”
“You will do no such thing!” Gundham gasped, standing now too. He was merely a few inches taller than her but Sonia had to stop herself from flinching at the sheer presence he possessed. “You are too kind. I say you are making a desperate attempt to make me back down.”
Yes.
“No, that is wrong!” Sonia yelled, pointing accusingly in his face. “I will not let you throw your life away, and so if you intend on doing so, I will sacrifice my own!”
“You wouldn’t dare. Would you be so selfish as to sacrifice everyone else for my survival!?”
“Yes! I won’t allow you to die for nothing!”
“I must sacrifice myself if the rest of you are to survive!”
“No!” Sonia grabbed his shoulders, mascara running as she sobbed desperately; her fingers dug into his coat, she had to restrain from shaking him. “There is another way! There must be! N-Nobody else must die! Especially- especially not you! Not… not you…”
She didn’t protest when her head was pressed into his chest, no words on her makeup marking his tee – her wailing quelled into random mumbling as her legs trembled.
I can’t lose you. I can’t lose anyone else, but why does it have to be you? Why must you be as headstrong as I am? Why didn’t I think to sacrifice myself before you did?
“Let me t-take your place… please… tell me your plan and I’ll do it, I’ll do anything…”
“No,” Gundham slowly lowered them to the floor, so Sonia would stop shaking – he gently stroked her hair, the Devas now gathering on her shoulders to comfort her. “Come now, stop your tears. This is hardly befitting of a queen such as yourself.”
But no matter how kind he tried to be; Sonia couldn’t stop crying. In an honest sense though, it was more of a numb sadness – after all, part of her still couldn’t quite believe that he would go through with whatever his plan was. Some tiny part of her truly hoped this was his hunger speaking, and if so, she was very thankful that the deluxe rooms in this place were soundproof. Then they could pretend this never happened.
Gundham began to draw away, his arms stiff and a singed metallic taste flooding his tongue as he bit his lip to keep back tears. The thought that Sonia was upset right now because of him was… well, he didn’t truly understand the feeling. All he knew is that if anyone was to make Sonia feel the way he currently was, he would find them and take their life with no mercy… fitting, he supposed.
“Don’t go,” She whispered, clinging to him. “Don’t do this, Gundham. Please. I beg of you…”
“Promise me something, Sonia. Promise you will live on in my place, take your life forward and be the benevolent Queen I know you can be to your fullest potential.”
She couldn’t promise. She couldn’t promise to live on in his place because she couldn’t handle the idea of him dying – it wasn’t fair! Why oh why was fate so cruel to them!? They met here, got along very well, and now he was going to be torn away from her when they could have gone on and lived together?
Lived together… loved together?
If you are gone, who will be my king?
“…I promise.”
Fate had dealt them a cruel hand. Sonia wondered if she had been some sort of world-ending terrorist in a past life, to deserve such cruelty as being thrown into the throes of despair.
It was heartbreaking, really, how swiftly Gundham stood up and let her crumble to the floor, surrounded by hamsters. She understood in a way, he didn’t want to break down like she had, and if he really did have a plan, well, it needed taken care of. Plus… she hoped that he left of his own accord while he still could. Maybe he wouldn’t have been able to leave had he stayed for too much longer. She couldn’t even find the strength to stop him from leaving, already mourning a dead man walking, the only sign he truly cared about her being this meeting she could tell no one of until after his final sentence. She already missed him, craved his odd words and bashful glances, starved of his harsh but endearing laugh.
Sonia Nevermind was hungry.