LOCKED TO ardent

[diamondo]

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?

Comments

[diamondo]

"Yeah, but they're no fun to follow!" Mondo replied, returning that nudge. "I appreciate it, aniki. I really do." Everything had seemingly gone back to normal again. Mondo felt he should have been more surprised by that, but it was just the way things worked between them. Frankly, he was glad. He wouldn't want to be so worked up all the time, after all.

[ardent]

He shifted a bit awkwardly at that last bit before folding his arms again, having no idea what to do with his hands otherwise.

"Ah, you don't have to thank me for it! It's what brothers do for each other, isn't it?"

[diamondo]

"Yeah, of course." Though he got the feeling that Daiya would have been very disappointed in him if he'd ever found this out. "Still, it really means a lot to me that you'd help me out with this shit." It might not have seemed like a lot to Ishimaru, but having someone stand in the way of another horrific incident like the one with Fujisaki was very important to Mondo. He could trust Ishimaru to make sure to stop him, but not do anything that would harm him in the long run. "I'm really glad to have a brother like you." He added with a smile.

[ardent]

While Ishimaru was definitely very pleased with that, that didn't change the fact that he could feel his face burn at the compliment. "Y-You don't have to say such things, I..."

...he had been doing so well when it came to not tearing up, Mondo, look what you did.

"I consider it an honor, aniki!"

[diamondo]

"Ah, hey! There's no need to cry, aniki!" Well, you tried it, Ishimaru... "C'mon, I don't even have any tissues on me." He teased, reaching out to ruffle Ishimaru's hair again. "And I consider it an honor too, okay? There's no need to cry about it though!"

[ardent]

He really did...

He let Mondo ruffle his hair, however, even leaning into his touch a bit this time around; the tears were doing an amazing job at not stopping themselves, but at the very least he didn't seem bothered by them any. "I-It's not something I can...really help..."

[diamondo]

"Well, yeah, I figured as much..." Mondo laughed, though it sounded awkward. He moved to pull Ishimaru into a one-armed (and totally manly) hug. "Don't worry about it, alright?"

[ardent]

Ishimaru was quick to wipe some of those tears away at least by the time Mondo pulled him over, if for no better reason than he would really prefer to not saturate Mondo's jacket. He could feel himself relaxing into that...manliest of hugs there, however, and he was smiling again before too long.

"Ah, I'm not worried, aniki - I've never seen a reason to hide such things, anyway!"

[diamondo]

Mondo really wouldn't have minded Ishimaru getting his jacket wet, it wasn't like he couldn't wash it or anything! "I'm glad to hear that! Last thing we need is you worrying yourself to death!"

[ardent]

"If I don't worry about things, then who will?" The smirk was more than enough to give that away as teasing. "You're reckless enough for the both of us, anyway!"

[diamondo]

"Aww, c'mon, there's no need for you to be reckless! And no one needs to worry about things anyway!" But Mondo was laughing; he knew the likelihood of Ishimaru changing was about as high as the likelihood of him changing.

[ardent]

In other words, not at all unless there's some sort of accidentally traumatic event that causes a temporary blackout and drastic shift in demeanor, followed by somebody getting smacked on the head by something heavy?

...sounds legit, actually...

"I wouldn't expect you to understand it, aniki - but that sort of mindset is exactly why I worry about things!"

[diamondo]

Ouch, that was cold...

"What do you mean? What's wrong with my mindset?"

[ardent]

Was that tactless? He suspects that was probably tactless.

...Ah, well.

"I don't see how you can be so...unconcerned about everything, I suppose! Imagine if everyone were like that! Not so much anything wrong as it is a difference in thinking, but it's an important distinction to make!"

[diamondo]

"I don't really see how it would be a bad thing. If everyone thought like I do, I mean. Sometimes you just gotta stop worrying about everything, y'know? It's not good for you to constantly stress yourself out like that!"

[ardent]

"...that may be, but some people have to be concerned with the rules, at least. I don't want to imagine where we would be otherwise!"

[diamondo]

"If you say so, aniki..." Mondo rolled his eyes. There was no arguing with Ishimaru on this, was there?

[ardent]

"And I do!"

He was quick to settle, however, once that was out there; there may have been absolutely no arguing on it, but that didn't mean they could stay up all night attempting. "We should head back down, aniki; it's late. Will you be able to sleep?"

[diamondo]

"Ah, yeah, we probably should. I'll try." He wasn't sure he could get back to sleep after that nightmare, but he was much calmer now than he had been. "Thanks. I appreciate you coming up here with me, aniki."

[ardent]

"Don't mention it! I spent many nights up here myself, after I first arrived - you can wake me up if you can't get back to sleep. I don't mind at all!"

His tone was blunt to the point of rendering the entire offer awkward as hell, but it was sincere regardless; he turned to move back toward the elevator, his pace brisk. "The longer you spend here, the more the dreams will pass. At least, that's how it's worked for me."

[diamondo]

Wow, how awkward. But Mondo was certain that Ishimaru meant well and he followed his friend back to the elevator. "I'll keep that in mind." He replied, though he had no intention of waking up Ishimaru if he could help it.

"Really? That sounds nice. I mean, not having dreams like that." He didn't point out that Ishimaru had come from an earlier point in time (apparently?) and didn't have quite as many horrific things to dream about. He hadn't died, after all. But Mondo was certain that Ishimaru was right - eventually the dreams would stop. It would just take time.

[ardent]

Story of his life, really...

"It might get worse before it improves any, but improvement does happen. And if you do start dreaming about Fujisaki or...that execution you told me about, you can tell me that as well."

He pressed the button for the elevator, looking back at Mondo after he'd done so.

"You don't have to deal with all of this by yourself, aniki; let me worry about some of it for you."

[diamondo]

Mondo flinched at Ishimaru's words, immediately feeling guilty. Of course he could tell Ishimaru about his dreams - why had he felt he couldn't? Mondo couldn't look at his friend though, instead focusing on a spot on the floor silently. He did finally nod a bit at Ishimaru's words, though when he spoke, his own words were subdued.

"Yeah, I... I know. Thanks, aniki. You're a big help."

[ardent]

While Ishimaru couldn't say he had any idea what the problem was, if Mondo thought he wasn't going to pick up on the fact that something was wrong, then he had another thought coming to him; he hesitated for a moment before getting on the elevator as the doors slid open in front of him.

"What is it...?"

[diamondo]

He could lie again. He could say it was... hell, something else. It would be easy enough, wouldn't it? But he didn't want to lie to Ishimaru, and after a moment, Mondo gripped the rail in the elevator tightly and started speaking.

"I... wasn't telling the truth earlier. About what my dream was about. It was about my... execution."

He paused for a moment, to let that sink in. Then he continued, "I didn't want to tell you 'cause I felt guilty. I wasn't dreaming about anyone else's deaths even though I'd seen a few of 'em by that point. I was selfishly dreaming about my own. And I... I didn't want to freak you out with that either. I should've known you would've been fine with that...! I'm sorry."