pokebox | LOCKED TO ardent

LOCKED TO ardent

The first thing he noticed was the off-white ceiling and plain walls. It didn't occur to him that there was anything weird about that for a minute or so, instead he sat up, glancing around at the unfamiliar room. The bed he was lying in wasn't particularly hard or soft - not as comfy as the one at Hope's Peak, but it wasn't uncomfortable either - and there was a desk beside the bed with a set of clothes, a note, and two red-and-white balls. Mondo reached for one of the balls without thinking, only stopping himself when his memories of the previous days came flooding back like a tidal wave.

Fujisaki. How could he forget, even for a moment? Fujisaki had come to him, seeking help, expressing a desire to become stronger, and what had he done? He'd blacked out. No, that wasn't right - he'd blacked out and killed the kid. Mondo's fists clenched and he drew his hand back. That's right, then there had been a trial, just like the first time someone was found murdered in Hope's Peak Academy. Monobear had called them all down there and they had gone over the evidence. Well, if by "they" he meant Naegi, Kirigiri, and that jackass Togami. First they had outed Fukawa as Genocider Syo, then they'd blamed Togami for altering the crime scene, and then...

...And then the truth had come out. If he hadn't been so careless with what he was saying, Fujisaki's secret would have been safe and he wouldn't have hurt Ishimaru, his aniki. Of course he had noticed the way Ishimaru reacted - the screaming, the denial, the tears, the desperation - and Ishimaru had voted for someone else. Even when he had acknowledged his defeat, Ishimaru hadn't. Ishimaru had believed in him until the very end - but he shouldn't have. He had betrayed not only Fujisaki's trust, but Ishimaru's as well.

It was a good thing he hadn't gotten away with murder though. Mondo doubted he could have lived with himself if he had. Even the execution wasn't that bad - from what little he remembered of it. It could have been worse; he could have been chained to a signpost and bludgeoned to death by millions of baseballs. He still had nightmares about Leon's death. He didn't even know Leon all that well. No, Mondo's death had been relatively quick and he'd gotten to ride a motorcycle one last time. There was something freeing about that, something he doubted he could ever really put into words. His last action had been his favorite. Maybe that was suiting.

So why was he here? Why was he waking up? He was dead, he was sure of that. He was equally sure that this wasn't Hope's Peak. There weren't any windows in the room, which meant that he could be underground, but he doubted Monobear would have let him live after the murder. He hadn't gotten away with it; he hadn't "graduated." So where was he?

Mondo finally got up, snatching the note off the top of the clothes folded on the desk. There was a large, red "R" on the shirt front, but Mondo ignored that for the time being to scan the note. Apparently he was now working for an organization known as "Team Rocket." That title meant nothing to him and he set the note aside, picking up the clothes next. It was a very standard uniform that looked like it would be way too tight-fitting for his taste and Mondo set that aside as well. Finally, he picked up the red-and-white balls, turning them in his hands curiously. He wasn't a Super High-School Level Baseball Player, but he might be able to use them as weapons if he needed to. He tucked those in his pocket and turned to the door. He expected it to be locked. It wasn't.

The hallway was just as nondescript as the room, though the ceilings were a bit low for his liking. Mondo picked a direction at random and started down the hallway, absently wondering if he could find some way back outside. It felt like it had been a long time since he had seen the sun.

He was stopped on his way by a shorter, scrawny man wearing that uniform (yeah, it definitely looked like it would have been too tight on him). The man frowned at him and pointed one gloved finger down the opposite hallway. "You should be heading to your first day of training! Why aren't you in uniform?"

"Fuck off," Mondo replied, shoving the smaller man out of his way. The guy definitely looked older, so he could assume that this wasn't the school. No one else was in the school after all, right? Just the fifteen of them - well, eleven of them now (did he even count anymore?) - and the person controlling Monobear. Mondo brushed that thought aside; this wasn't the school. That was what he would focus on.

He didn't find his way out. His sense of direction had always been good, but that was on the roads, in the open air. He had always gotten turned around in Hope's Peak as well, but never like this. He couldn't believe he'd managed to wander in a circle, finding himself back in front of the room he'd woken up in. Maybe this was some kind of trick; he couldn't move on until he'd gone to his first day of "training" or whatever.

The man in the Rocket uniform came walking down that hallway at just that moment. "Gotten yourself lost, huh?" He sneered. "Just follow this hallway and hook a left. The training facility's there. You'll meet the other new recruits and get started on your two weeks of training."

Two weeks? Like hell he was going to hang around for that long. Mondo rolled his eyes and followed the man's directions, ignoring the shout for him to get back and change his clothes.

The training facility was more decorated than the hallways or the room, and well-lit at that. There were several other young men (wearing that hideous uniform), all gathered in the center of the room, talking quietly. It looked like the instructor hadn't shown up yet. Mondo was tempted to leave, but this might be his best chance to get information on this place. He frowned for a moment, before walking up to join the others. He stood at least a head taller than them, which made him stick out even worse than the clothes he was wearing. Not that he cared.

"What's this "training" gonna consist of anyway?"

None of the other men seemed to know, and Mondo began to wonder just how badly things were going to go. It wasn't like it could be any worse than Enoshima being stabbed through by spears in the gym, right?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Y-yeah," Mondo replied, continuing to stare at the floor. "Their deaths were fucking horrifying."

He stayed silent for a moment, not wanting to continue talking about this, but unable to stop himself either. "When it's... when you're dreaming about waking up and finding people... what's that like? What happens in the dreams?"

"...It's usually Togami-kun, or sometimes Fukawa-kun...I-I think it's because they began refusing to join us in the mornings. After they started doing that, I...sometimes I would have dreams about them. About deciding to go check on them because no one had seen them that morning. Sometimes the doors would be opened, sometimes I would have to break the locks...if it involved Togami-kun, he was usually stabbed to death. Fukawa-kun was...she was usually bludgeoned, I think."

His grip was becoming incredibly tight around that railing; he had to force himself to let go when the elevator came to a coasting stop on the sixth floor. "Sometimes it's others. It's..."

He swallowed roughly; his vision was starting to blur a bit, a sure sign that the tears were about to start up again. "It's been you a few times."

That was what he was afraid of. While Mondo certainly wouldn't have wanted to see Togami die, he doubted he would be as torn up as Ishimaru was over it. It was the worry that Ishimaru expressed for him that made him nervous though, and Mondo stepped off the elevator after Ishimaru. "Hey, hey, it's alright. I'm here, right?"

But he really couldn't just leave it at that. He was certain they both knew that. "...What... happens to me in those dreams?" Was it the execution? Or was Ishimaru coming up with something else entirely?

He nodded a bit at the assertion that Mondo was here now, though he didn't respond to it verbally; he made his way to the windows instead, keeping his gaze fixed out there and folding his arms, clearly trying to get a grip on himself before he continued. "I think it's poisoning; there isn't much blood. I don't know why it's usually that; there isn't even anywhere we can get poison in the school, it doesn't make sense."

He glanced over at Mondo then. "You described your execution to me. It's never that. No one even knew that Fujisaki-kun is dead yet when I was brought here."

Poisoning? That wasn't what he was expecting to hear. But this did prove that Ishimaru wasn't having dreams about the execution. How was that possible? Had he seriously not experienced it? But how was that possible?

"That doesn't make sense. It happened for me. Why didn't it happen for you?"

That was...a really good question, actually. "W-Well, like I said, I've heard we can bring people here who have died, so either this place brings people back from the dead or it takes them from a time right before they died? Right? That would make the most sense."

Ah, but that wasn't the point, was it? "We just got our motives today, aniki, and most of us have just gone to bed. So I think the times we were brought here are a bit different..."

"Ah, yeah, I guess so." That didn't make much sense, but nothing about this place really did. Mondo approached the window and glanced out at the city, focusing on that rather than this depressing topic.

"Sorry to make you tell me about that. It sounds pretty fucking terrifying." But he couldn't move on from the topic, not yet. "My dreams are usually just reliving the murders."

"Fujisaki-kun's as well?" The question slid out easily, before he could really think about it; it was a logical progression, as far as he was concerned, and as such there wasn't anything cruel behind the question. Just seeking verification more than anything.

Mondo flinched at that question. He didn't know what to say. Had he dreamed about Fujisaki's death? Possibly, but he didn't remember it. Should he lie? He was tempted to, but just like in the trial, he found himself unable to come up with anything to say.

"No. I haven't dreamed about her death. I... I probably should, since I've dreamed about everyone else's, but... I haven't. Like I said, I don't remember it happening but... that's no reason not to dream about it, I guess."

Well, any curiosity that had been on Ishimaru's expression previously was promptly overwhelmed by an immense sense of 'wait, what?'

"I don't know how you're expecting to dream about something you don't even remember in the first place, aniki..."

"Well, I mean, I must remember it somehow! I did it obviously! I blacked out, so it's obviously somewhere there in my memory right? Dreams are the best place for that sort of shit, aren't they?"

...Or maybe he had no idea what he was talking about, either way.

"If we stored memories of everything we did, we would go insane! I don't know if it's there or not, but if you can't remember it right now, there's probably a reason for that!"

"Well... yeah, but...!" Mondo protested. He wasn't entirely sure why he was protesting this at all. Wasn't this an easy way to absolve himself of guilt? Sure, it was still his fault, but he couldn't remember it; didn't that help?

He once again turned back to the window with a sigh. "I just feel like I should remember it, I guess."

"Wouldn't you just spend every waking moment thinking about it?" Again, the question was blunt and straightforward, though there was a bit more of an edge to it than usual. "I don't think Fujisaki-kun would want you to do that."

"What else am I supposed to do? I can't do anything else! I can't make up for what I've done and I can't apologize to her until she's here! And even that might not help! What am I supposed to do?"

"And what is making yourself constantly think about it going to accomplish?! You've said yourself that you can't make up for it, and I'm not saying that you should simply forget about what you've done! Your only option right now is to keep living - they say this world is a second chance, and if you really want to atone for what you've done then you should take that second chance, don't waste it!"

"Yeah, and what would you suggest then? Following all the fucking rules of this place?" Mondo nearly pointed out that he didn't think Ishimaru was following all those rules all that well, but thankfully he decided against that.

But Ishimaru did have a point. This was a place where he could make a name for himself, where he could prove that he wasn't like that, that what had happened at Hope's Peak was a result of the environment and Monobear's interference. He normally wouldn't kill anyone, right? He could prove that here, couldn't he?

Mondo gripped the rail tightly, still looking out at the city. "Look, you've... you've got a point, alright? I guess I really can't just keep thinking about it non-stop. That would be wasting this chance. I can't do that."

It was fortunate Mondo decided against pointing that out, given that combined with how charged this conversation had been so far, he likely would have taken that...admittedly relatively mild bit of provocation as a good reason to burst into tears again; as it stood, however, he paused for a moment, almost as though catching his breath before responding.

His voice was a bit shaky, but he was fine for the time being. "It's not good to continue making yourself suffer, aniki. Even if you don't believe that or think you deserve it - suffering isn't good. You deserved punishment for what you did, not suffering, there's a difference."

Again Ishimaru proved to be the voice of sanity and reason. He was the Super High-School Level Hall Monitor, he would know what sort of punishment Mondo deserved, right? He had said that Mondo had been punished enough alright. It took him a moment, but eventually Mondo nodded.

"Yeah, I... I guess I just get really worked up about this shit. It's hard not to." That was understating it quite a bit. "It's not something I'll ever be able to move on from, but you're right; this is a second chance and I'm not gonna waste it. I don't really wanna suffer anyway." He laughed, though the sound was hollow. "Thanks, aniki. You always know just what to say."

...Most would probably argue that everyone involved needed to re-examine their lives and choices when Ishimaru was providing the voice of sanity and reason, but at the very least Ishimaru seemed somewhat pleased by that.

"I always do my best, you know that! Even when you don't agree with me." He nudged Mondo a bit as he said it; no harm meant. His demeanor quickly turned serious again, however.

"I think it would say more about you if you could just move on and forget it, and none of the things it would say would be very good." He turned around to face the inside of the room, leaning his back against the railing running around the interior of the room; it was about as close to a relaxed stance as he tended to get. "I know that I wouldn't be able to forgive myself, in your position, but I wouldn't really want to be able to. Because what would that say about me? To decide for myself that what I had done was forgivable? That wouldn't be my place to decide. So I know why you don't want to, aniki, I do understand. But..."

He folded his arms across his chest; shifted a bit. "I don't think you're a murderer, not deep down. I know what you've done but if I thought you were going to keep finding reasons to kill people here, I wouldn't be standing here talking to you now, whether you're my brother or not. I trust you, aniki, and I don't think you're going to waste this second chance."

Ishimaru was certainly right; if Mondo could just move on after killing Fujisaki he would have found that disgusting. He was still hung up over this because it wasn't something he could ever forgive. Would he have felt the same way if Ishimaru had murdered someone? Mondo didn't know. He couldn't come up with an answer for that.

"Ah, no, no fucking way, I'm not going to murder anyone here." He seemed caught off-guard by that; it was a question with a very obvious answer. He wouldn't dream of killing anyone here. Speaking of dream, he had never actually dreamed of killing anyone. He hadn't dreamed about Fujisaki, true, but he hadn't relived the murder either. Was that a sign that he really wouldn't do something like that again? Hell if he knew, but it would be nice to believe that.

"I'm not saying I'm not gonna hurt people, 'cause that's just how I am." Mondo said with a small shrug. "I get in fights all the time and I don't think that's gonna change. But I'm not going to fucking kill anyone. I'll never do that again. I'll... I'll make sure it doesn't happen."

But he had no way of knowing when he was going to black out like that, nor did he have any idea how to control himself if that did happen. What was he supposed to do in that case? He didn't want Ishimaru around if that happened because he might very well turn on his best friend. He certainly didn't want that to happen but... it was a possibility he couldn't ignore.

"Yeah, I won't waste this second chance. You'll see."

"I'll likewise make sure it doesn't happen; I don't want anyone to have to go through such a thing again. You or anyone else. I can stop you if things get out of hand."

"Ah, no, no way. I mean, I don't doubt that you'd try, but aniki, I don't want you getting hurt. I really don't want to hurt you, but I never wanted to hurt Fujisaki either and look what happened."

Mondo turned to grab Ishimaru's shoulders so that his friend would look at him. "Listen to me. If I start getting uncontrollable like that and I won't listen to you, I want you to get the fuck out of there. You got that? Don't stick around and try to reason with me or any bullshit like that. I don't... remember what happened with Fujisaki, but knowing her, I wouldn't be surprised if she tried to talk me down. Look at how that turned out. I don't want to kill again and I really don't want to kill you. I'd... I'd like to say that it would never happen but..."

He let go and once again returned to gripping the railing. It hurt, not knowing how to control himself or even knowing if he could stop himself from hurting his best friend if he blacked out again. It scared him; it scared him more than anything else in Hope's Peak had. Losing control like that had been terrifying enough to begin with, but losing control and hurting the one person he had left? Mondo suppressed a shudder at the thought.

"Promise me you'll be careful, alright?"

Ishimaru could feel himself freeze up when Mondo grabbed him - something he knew really wasn't assisting his point, but still; he didn't lighten up any even after Mondo had let go of him, his eyes wide.

"O-Of course I'll be careful, aniki..." He shook his head a bit as though trying to clear it. "I have ways to stop you without getting physically involved myself, remember? I have lines of defense here that I wouldn't have had back in Hope's Peak! I'll be fine!"

"...Right, right, yeah," Mondo replied absently, still staring out the window. The idea of those creatures messing with his head was almost as disturbing as the thought that he could lose control completely when he blacked out. But if those creatures could stop him from hurting anyone... wouldn't that be worth it?

"Promise me those things won't mess around with my head any more than they have to, alright?" He finally mumbled, sounding resigned. "And only do it if you've got no other choice, alright?"

LOCKED TO ardent

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject