Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Defy and Comply ❯ Lesson 21: Brutal Havok (Pt. II) ( Chapter 23 )

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Defy and Comply

By: Melissa Norvell

Lesson 21: Brutal Havok (Pt. II)

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"I was asleep," Kazoo defended himself. He wasn't about to become prime suspect number one in the trial.

"Perhaps it wasn't any of us," there was always that possibility, or at least Sunoma wanted there to be. She didn't want to think that anyone at the table would have killed Kraki on purpose or at night on top of that.

"Of course, we're all just guessing out of suspicion," Kiyomaru thought that surely that was what was happening. They were all paranoid and no one wanted to be wrongly accused, so they were pinning the blame on each other.

"I'm not so sure about that," Taiga was skeptical.

"You really think one of us did it?" Prasuna asked in faux innocence.

"None of you are exactly trustworthy," Ame was shocked that they still held fast to their beliefs that they could confide in each other. Honestly, this was a deadly game where anyone could turn against you. Why wouldn't they come to that realization and do what's best for them? Sure, it was selfish but it was much better than repetitiously getting hurt.

"Says the least trustworthy of us all," Tsukimi rolled her eyes.

"I don't trust any of you as far as I can throw you," Masato held a lot of the same feelings. Ever since the killing game began, he dropped his trust and connections with everyone. Every man for himself, and that was exactly how he was going to play it.

"The feeling is mutual," Taiga had been in this situation before, and he knew what putting trust in anyone would do and how it would break down the bonds of their seemingly secure group of allies. Nothing lasted forever.

"This doesn't get us anywhere," talking about how much they didn't trust anyone was only going to make them drift farther away. Leo didn't want to stir any more distrust that already existed.

"Do you think one of us killed Kraki?" Sunoma asked, glancing towards the green-haired rock star.

"It damned sure wasn't me," Leo had no motive to senselessly kill someone like that. He wasn't his old self, either. The old him, at one point, thought that it was alright to kill others in order to have them graduate in a more humane way that was better than execution, but that wasn't how he was now, Leo had realized the error of that backwards way of thinking. However, he still found himself behind a podium in the court room nonetheless. Slamming his hands down on either side of the wooden stand, shock crossed his face. "Are you guys serious?"

Sunoma shook her head and closed her eyes. "I can't believe this."

"One of you...killed her? But why?" Kiyomaru was shocked to know that they were in the courtroom again, for another murder. Someone in that courtroom had killed his friend, and they were doing a damned good job at hiding it.

"Let the non stop debate begin!" The bag-headed figure's voice resonated through the room once more.

"I can't believe you guys! Who did it? Fess up, now!" Tsukimi demanded as she held up her fist.

"I didn't even know she was dead until you told me," Taiga had much more important things to deal with, rather than worrying about everyone's personal safety. They were big boys and girls, they could have handled shit themselves...or at least, that's what he thought.

Kazoo held out his hands. "Let's not fling accusations around. We've got to work from the facts." The last thing he wanted to do was get anyone wrongly accused or even executed for a crime that they didn't commit. They had to think rationally.

"What facts? None of us knows anything," Taiga didn't see anything coming of this trial. As far as he was concerned, it was a completely blind trial.

"I found her...so, maybe I should tell you guys what I found," Gaz decided to try and start off from what he remembered. All of the evidence they would need to convict the perpetrator would be completely reliant on his claim.

"Any information is helpful in this case," Sunoma wanted something that they could all use to convict whomever was responsible for Kraki's death.

Gaz began to explain what he had seen. He was going to duck into the library to take a breather from all of the killing and fighting. To his recollection, no one had gone in the library, so he felt safe in a nice, quiet place. He was being chased by two guys named Ken and Akamatsu, and when he opened the door, there was blood splattered in one area of the library. It was sprayed all over the walls-

He was interrupted.

"How do you know it was Kraki's blood?" If he only saw the blood, then who was to say whose blood it was? Leo wondered if he had done any further investigating to solidify his claim.

"Well, she was the only person I saw in the library, and she was pretty hacked up. Whoever it was used like, an axe or something." When Gaz thought about it, those marks were distinct. They came from a weapon with a large, wide blade.

"You mean, like the pick axe that Taiga carries?" Prasuna was quick to cover herself. She didn't want anyone drawing attention to her axe.

Blushing, Taiga's face lit up in anger as he held a fist out. "I'm tellin' you, I couldn't have been out there."

"Why is that?" Prasuna placed her hands on his hips and glared at him from her podium.

Leo blushed and put a hand behind his head, "he was with me." It was embarrassing, and he didn't want to have to explain it, but he would if it would keep him from getting killed.

"Then you were both there," Prasuna deducted, "Leo does have a scythe. The blade would leave those types of wounds." Out of all of them, Leo's scythe and Taiga's pick axe were the only weapons with wide blades. Unless someone grabbed a different type of weapon, she didn't know of whom else to pin the blame on.

"We weren't there. We were in our dorm," Taiga pressed the subject, his face still lit up in a flush. He really didn't want to explain what they were doing in there.

"Doing what?" However, the question came regardless.

"None of your business," Taiga muttered in irritation.

"Your expressions are making me uncomfortable." Sweat ran down Kiyomaru's forehead as he looked uneasy. What in the world were the two of them so disgruntled and embarrassed about.

"You're existence is making me uncomfortable," Taiga shot.

"Rude," Kiyomaru retorted.

"Shut up, Kiyomaru," the yakuza spat, crossing his arms.

"Sounds suspicious," Prasuna wanted to know what their alibis were. She wasn't letting them get off that easily. This was a trial of life or death and no matter what they were doing; they were guilty until proven innocent.

"Please don't press the issue," Leo advised. They really were going to find out something they'd rather not if they kept asking.

"Too bad," Prasuna smirked, "I'm going to convict you if you don't tell me." They were already acting suspicious to begin with. That wasn't making either of them look good in the eyes of their fellow peers at all.

"We were...having sex..." Taiga muttered with a disgruntled look. He closed his eyes, trying to will the blush to go away.

"What?" Gaz was thrown off by that. He didn't know that any of his class mates were in relationships, much less acting upon them in the middle of all of the madness.

"I TOLD YA NOW LET'S MOVE ON!!" The yakuza shouted in a fury of embarrassment and anger as he slammed his hands down on the podium. They weren't there to talk about his sex life, they were there to talk about who killed Kraki.

"Yeah, can we please? This is irrelevant," Leo would already have to deal with the repercussions of their public announcement after the trial; he didn't want to deal with it now.

"I didn't know either of you liked men," Sunoma was shocked by what came out. It had nothing to do with the trial but she made out with Taiga and spent a lot of time with Leo. Both of them seemed like straight men to her. Boy was she wrong. She knew that they were friends but she didn't know that they were intimately involved in each other.

"I'm bisexual," Leo admitted. He found the beauty in both men and women and he had been in relationships with both men and women. This time, he just happened to like a male over a female. Honestly, it wasn't anyone's business. He felt so weird making any of his relationships public at all.

"I-" Taiga cut himself off. Were they seriously talking about this right now?

"Hey, I'm bisexual, too. It's cool," Kazoo waved a hand in dismissal. While he preferred women over men, he would have gladly gone with a man if he really felt something for him.

"I hate you all," Taiga grumbled, gripping his podium. His fingers dug into the wooden surface, denting it.

"It really is irrelevant. Remember what happened last time we got off topic," Ame was sure to remind her classmates of their first trial. She was certain that the bag-headed figures weren't going to be so kind to them if they repeated the same actions.

"I just...never knew you two were-" Gaz was stuck on the subject. It was so mind boggling to him to know that two of his classmates were in that type of relationship with each other.

"It just happened-" Leo cut him off, only to be cut off in return.

There was a loud bang that echoed through the courtroom. Everyone turned their sights to a furious Taiga with clenched teeth and eyebrows knitted in anger. "BACK TO THE FUCKING TOPIC!" the yakuza barked, trying to get his classmates away from the subject.

"So, whoever committed the crime had to have gone out at night. If we were all in our dorms, we could have heard something, correct?" Kiyomaru tried to revert his mind back to the topic at hand. However, in the back of his head, he thought about Leo and Taiga's relationship. Taiga must have been the other person who loved Leonardo. It made sense to him, even if he felt a little sad as a result. Then again, there really was nothing he could do regarding the matter.

"I was distracted for a good reason," Taiga commented.

"Yeah," Leo agreed, scratching the back of his head.

"I could sleep through a zombie apocalypse, so no," Gaz was actually happy for his ability to fall into a deep sleep. It was the one thing that saved him from going insane with all of the noises at night.

"I heard nothing as well," Kiyomaru looked in deep thought.

"I heard someone walk past my dorm room at on odd hour of the night," Ame mentioned. It was a crucial clue in their investigation and gave a location to the possible killer.

"Come to think of it, so did I. They were just footsteps past the door, though," Masato commented, not fully realizing how incriminating the comment was until he was questioned on it later.

"If you both heard them, then you were in the same room," Tsukimi looked thoughtful. Did that mean that Masato and Ame were dorming together?

"We were talking about the situation," Masato tried to cover up what was going on. If they knew of his alliance with Ame, then he was going to be thrown out there as a suspect.

"You shouldn't talk, you room with a man," Ame placed a hand to her lips, firing Tsukimi's claims against her. After all, she did room with Kazoo. That was far more suspicious than her conversation with Masato.

Tsukimi blushed and blinked. "It's not like that." Why would she think about going back on those terms with a guy who killed her best friend? That would just be stupid on her behalf.

"Which way did the footsteps go?" Sunoma took the path of the trial back into the right direction. She didn't want them getting back off topic again, especially in regards to their relationships with each other.

"Down the hall to the west wing," Ame responded. The dorms were divided into two wings: the east wing and the west wing. Both sets of dorms were on either side of Shinjinku Academy for easy access to the school from both sides. Ame's dorm room was located in the west wing of the dormitories.

Sunoma glanced towards the light-blue haired teen to her right. "Kazoo, you have blue prints of the school. Do you have one of the arrangements of the dorms?" If anyone knew anything about the school, as far as set-up and possible engineering components were concerned it was the architecture master of their class: Kazoo Iefumi.

Prasuna folded her arms over her chest, glaring down the other girl in irritation.

"Yeah, but they don't tell me who is where," Kazoo pointed out that the flaw in the logic of her plans.

"Our room is 806F, no one's really by us...No one that's alive, anyway," Taiga wasn't afraid to give away their location. He knew that he and Leo were innocent, so offering up further information that would clear their names.

"My room is down the hall from Kiyomaru's," Sunoma offered up her dorm room information as well.

"We're across the hall from Kiyomaru. Literally, he can walk out and bam!" Kazoo explained he and Tsukimi's location.

"Zoen was next door to me but I haven't seen him since the graveyard incident," the lolita stated, and she knew that Zoen wasn't going to offer up anything voluntarily. He wasn't even present at the trial. Sunoma was stuck on what to do about that situation.

"Masato and I's rooms are on the west wing. The only other person who rooms by us is Prasuna," Ame mentioned, her half-lidded blue eyes shifted towards the thespian.

"Prasuna uses an axe, too," Masato added to the persecution.

"Not to mention, Prasuna certainly wants to convict someone quickly," Sunoma thought that was rather suspicious of her. Why did she want the trial to hurry up and be over? Prasuna seemed very nervous.

"What are you saying? Why do you believe I would kill Kraki?" Prasuna's voice took on a small edge to it. Her white eyebrows knitted together in anger and a frown was plastered on her red lips. "At night, nonetheless. That's preposterous!"

"I do not understand. Why would you do that? Why would you kill her knowing that doing so by night would result in execution? Please, tell us," Kiyomaru couldn't believe that the thespian would be so rash in her actions. He wanted to know what would have driven her to such lengths.

"You mean you were trying to frame me? You snot-nosed bitch," Taiga growled. His anger only rose from that point. How dare she do such a thing to him!

Then, Prasuna acted out of impulse. She leaped over her podium and took her weapon from her back as she landed in front of Taiga's podium. With one swing, she tried to end the yakuza's life by putting her axe through his head. Taiga barely managed to evade her as the blade dug into the wooden surface, scarring the splintering it with a sickening crack.

"Prasuna!" Kiyomaru turned from his position with shock written on his features. He was shocked that she would try to commit a murder, much less in the middle of a trial like that. If she wanted to try and kill Taiga, she should do that afterwards.

"I'll execute you myself!" The yakuza shouted as he took his pick axe from his back and ran at the girl, trying to stab her with it. The end gouged a hole in the floor, but Prasuna jumped backwards and flipped through the air.

"I've got this!" Kazoo took the chain from his side and flung it through the air as it spiraled around, knives protruding from it as it came towards her. Thinking quickly, the girl threw Tsukimi in front of the rang of the weapon. A scream was heard throughout the court room and the hooded figure watched the carnage begin. The chain wrapped around the girl, a few knives dug into her skin as she shook in shock.

"Are you trying to get my killed?" She asked from her position, bound by a deadly chain.

Kazoo lifted the chain in his hand using it to make big waves that loosened it from around her. It fell to her feet in a clatter. "Sorry about that," he muttered in embarrassment. That wasn't the greatest tactic to use.

"The mind is a scary place when you think about it, really," Prasuna spoke with a wide, sick smile across her face. The girl was amused with her actions. No longer did it matter if she was to be convicted or not, someone in that courtroom was going to die and she would have a hand in it. "Thoughts themselves are scary things. You never know how your mind twists. It can make sane man turn into monsters. Deep within the monster of my mind, the voices tell me I have purpose and reason."

"You're fucking insane! Listen to the bullshit you're saying!" Taiga shouted, desperately trying to penetrate the girl's sociopathic ruse.

"Prasuna, nothing you can do will save you now." As far as Kiyomaru was concerned, the girl ruined her own chances of not being convicted in the school trial. Now, she was doomed to die.

"You..." She pointed her axe at him, "Kiyomaru Isata...who's reflection is that in your eyes? Do my thoughts ever reach you? The thoughts of a woman's broken heart?" Even in this moment, she was certain that all he would ever see was Sunoma. He held no pit for her, only conviction and that drove her further into the depths of insanity.

Kiyomaru visibly trembled as he took a step backwards for every step that Prasuna took towards him. More than anything, he was going to put as much distance between them as he could. "What do you mean 'broken heart'? I do not understand."

"I loved you, yet you mocked my advances. You shamed and toyed with me. You know I'm here. You see me often, yet you pass me off for her!" Prasuna shouted in a detached voice, seeming almost happy as she jerked her axe towards Sunoma. "I loved you, and for what?" Honestly, her feelings for this man were utterly pathetic. Why did she even have them to begin with? Prasuna wanted to laugh at herself for such things.

"Prasuna..." Kiyomaru looked guilty. The pain he felt was like a shot through the heart. Prasuna loved him, and for such a strong, loyal feeling, she went insane. She would die holding those feelings for him locked inside of her, knowing that he never returned them and didn't feel the same way throughout their high school years.

It was the ultimate sense of rejection.

"I can't stop doing this. I have cried when I am alone. Why can't I stop?" Prasuna giggled in an oddly blissful tone. "I am a monster. I have killed these people. This is what I have become. You know, we are all trapped in the darkest holes of our mind and we can't wait to be free. The masks are slipping and you can't fight who you really are. You can't always pretend. Now, I am in control."

She pointed her axe to Kiyomaru with a smile twisted onto her face. "I'll kill you!" The white-haired diva rushed over to Kiyomaru, swinging her axe at him in a fury as she giggled with bloodlust. Swing after swing as he pulled out his fencing sword, blocking her over and over again. Their blades clashed together over and over as all eyes were on them. The rest of their class watched the two battle it out from their podium.

"Stop this madness! You have no reason to attack me! I am truly sorry for what I have done but I cannot take it back!" Kiyomaru protested, trying desperately to get through Prasuna's haze of psychosis as their blades clashed over and over again. "I have never meant to hurt you, Prasuna. You are very dear to me as a friend. I am sorry." Those last words were some that he forced out. He really did only see her as a friend, which must have been like pouring acid inside of an opened wound. More than anything, Kiyomaru regretted delivering that blow to her.

"Your apology comes too late!" Prasuna's state only slipped further into despair as her swings became harder and faster, more difficult for him to block. "There is always a monster inside of us; it eats away at us, like an enigma. It degrades and spits on us, filling our dreams with dread."

"You are not speaking coherently! Please, Prasuna!" At this point, he was begging her not to kill him. She was already going to be convicted and executed, but she was determined to drag him to hell with her at all costs.

"Murderers! Freaks! Animals! These are the puppets to the monsters that lurk within. We are the damned and this world is our purgatory. I want to torture you, so bad that you'll be begging for mercy," the girl was passionate about her new found endeavors. Whether she was driven by the voices in her head, or something else one thing was evident: she was never going to stop. Raising the axe high above her head, she swung it down with more force than she had in her previous strikes. Kiyomaru was caught in a moment of weakness. The blade sliced through his military outfit. Shreds of red, black, and white fluttered through the air and blood seeped through her opponent's skin, exciting her as it bled to the surface. Prasuna's breathing escalated and the more he bled, the more pleased she had become. The voices were calming down in her head now as his green eyes stared down at the wound she had made.

"Kiyomaru!" Sunoma shouted from her podium, leaning forward. She wanted desperately to diffuse the situation.

"You don't know what you've gotten yourself into," Prasuna smiled at him, swinging the axe over her shoulder, the fresh viscera still coating the edge of the blade. "You'll be sorry, and that is a promise."

Suddenly, she swung her axe, knocking the fencing sword from his hands with such force that his body is pulled to the side and Kiyomaru falls to the floor. She stands above him and cocks her head to the side. The sight of him below her flustered her. Too bad she had to mess up her exceptional make up job with the blood stains of her prior victims. Then again, blood had its own haunting touches. Truly, they were a couple made in hell.

Kiyomaru heard his blade crash to the ground in a series of clanks. It was as if it was a signal of loss in the battle. He hung his head and mustered up the most sincere apology he could say. "Please...forgive me."

"Now, die!" Prasuna held the axe above her head, panting from the adrenaline rush and the toll the attacks took on her body. Killing someone was harder than most people gave it credit for. She knew from her other slaughters that it would take whatever strength she had reserved to pull off the job.

Kiyomaru flinched, hunkering down. His eyes screwed shut as he waited for the blade to make contact with his body. Just then, a shadow appeared over him. Prasuna's eyes widened in shock as she brought down her axe handle, staring at the splintered off stump. The thespian tried to register what happened. Over and over again the images played in her head of that flash of black.

Kiyomaru's eyes opened and widened as he saw Leo landing a short distance away from him. The only thing that could be heard in that moment was the jingle of the chain on his scythe. Then something went 'thunk' above him. Slowly, the blue-haired teen sat up and glanced behind him to see the head of the axe embedded into the ground, inches above his head. He let out a scream of shock and horror. He was almost beheaded by that thing!

"You...saved me..." Kiyomaru stammered. He could hardly believe what happened.

Leo stood and leveled the thespian with a hardened glare. "Just accept your fate, Prasuna." Doing what she did only prolonged her final rest. It would be easier if she just accepted the fact that she was going to die.

"No..." The white haired girl stared blankly at the handle of her precious murder weapon. "No..." Her head frantically shot from side-to-side as she looked at everyone nervously. This was it, the final act of her play was coming to a close. She felt the stares of conviction coming from her classmates. Their eyes were boring through her soul.

"The conviction is guilty. Now, the criminal will be punished," the bag-headed man spoke as he pointed to the wall on everyone's right. It slowly retracted into the adjacent wall as a dark abyss was uncovered.

Before she could speak, a chain shot out and wrapped itself around Prasuna's mid-section, under her breasts and around her neck. Shocked at feeling the cold metal on her skin, the diva frantically tried to pull it off. It yanked her back with force, so much so that she was knocked off of her feet and drug along the floor. Her body disappeared into the darkness.

"Prasuna..." Kiyomaru's sorrow-filled tone was the last thing she heard before she disappeared from sight. He stared into the abyss with eyes of regret. Never had Kiyomaru felt as guilty about someone's execution as he would hers.

Suddenly, he felt himself being pulled up by Sunoma. "Are you alright?" She asked with worry on her face. His wound looked pretty bad, and the bleeding still hadn't stopped.

"My chest," Kiyomaru's hand was placed over the lacerated area like a compress.

Kazoo assessed his injury right away, checking the depth of the incision. "It's a flesh wound, you'll be fine."

"I...I never knew Prasuna..." Tears clung stubbornly to the corners of his eyes, stinging as they forced their way up from his sockets. "Did I truly make her this bad? I wanted her to escape with us, and now I have to watch her die." It was unfair. All of this was unfair, and Kiyomaru felt a horrible guilt pressing on his shoulders, threatening to get into his psyche and crush him from the inside out.

"I would have killed her but there is punishment for that. I would have had to be executed in her place." Killing someone who was found guilty in a trial resulted in that killer's death by execution. It was an unspoken rule that Leo had found out by chance.

"That bitch tried to kill me," Taiga couldn't believe she had the audacity to attack him in a trial setting. He was glad that she was gone.

Sunoma wrapped her arms around her weeping friend, hugging him comfortingly. "I suppose we'll have to go to her execution." It was painful to say knowing how Kiyomaru felt about everything but there was no other option.

"We'd better get down there," Leo said solemnly. He didn't want to watch as another life was wasted due to a situation that he couldn't help. His original goal was to help everyone escape, not kill everyone in another class.

"I don't want to do this," Tsukimi didn't want to see anyone else die. She had seen enough deaths, and every single one of them reminded her of Mishio's death. It was as if it was playing in her mind over and over again.

"It doesn't matter what you want here," Kazoo said darkly and turned to leave. He walked away without a word more.

Leo followed him, scythe in hand. The others watched his form get farther and farther away as they stood in silence. After that, they followed after him.

'Prasuna...I knew you didn't like me after I became friends with Kiyomaru, but I never knew why. You always acted like you were fine with whatever happened. You were the diva of the school. You lived for high fashion and all of the boys loved you...but all this time, you wanted Kiyomaru. Now that I think about it, things on your end sort of made sense.' Sunoma thought to herself as she heard the footsteps of her fellows all around her.

Thoughts forced themselves into the confines of her mind, drawing up vivid imagery regarding a particular conversation that the two girls had one day. It was something anyone would have just disregarded, but now she looked deeper into it, deciphering her ex-friend's hidden message.

Prasuna and Sunoma sat at one of the white, spray painted, cast iron tables in elegant chairs. The sun shone high above them as the two ate tea cakes and drank tea. The white-haired beauty was dressed in an elaborate sun hat, with red flowers and feathers bunched up on one side. She had on a stunning red dress with a v-shaped, plunging neckline that went below her perky breasts, white, silken opera gloves, black, thigh-high panty hose and red high heels with straps that went around her ankles and shone like gloss. In her ears were large, clustered diamonds and around her neck was a v-shaped, silver necklace that accented her outfit perfectly. Sunoma was clad in a pale yellow and white lolita dress with an empire-cut bust line and poofy, short sleeves, white gloves, white stockings and white mary janes. The two looked like something that popped out from the page of a glamour magazine.

"This cake is to die for! I'd better not get spoiled on it or I might get fat," Prasuna sat down her fork and pushed her empty plate away from her. After all, she must maintain her figure, not only for performance, but for the sake of her title as school diva.

Prasuna was very much a woman of status quo.

"We had a new student transfer here a day ago. His name is Kiyomaru Isata," Sunoma decided to bring up the latest gossip going around the school. She wondered what Prasuna thought of him.

"I heard he was inducted into the student council as the vice president." It was a shocker to the white-haired thespian. No one usually entered the ranks of the elite that quickly. It was almost an inhuman rate of induction. He must have been worth something.

"I also heard he was the son of the ambassador of Japan," Sunoma thought that might have had something to do with his sudden jump in rank.

"You don't say?" Prasuna leaned in, soaking up the information like a sponge. "Have you talked to him at all?" She wondered what he was like.

Sunoma smiled. "Yes, we have a lot in common so we've been talking for hours about nothing in particular. He's very nice." From the moment she had met the straight-laced boy, they did nothing but talk about things, and she felt herself grow warm around him. It was a bubbly feeling, unlike any other that she had around anyone, male or female. There was a type of charisma, an instant reaction that drew her to him and she could tell that it was returned.

Prasuna propped her head up with a frown, wearing her usual bright red lipstick. "I don't get him. I walked up to him to greet him, clad in this stunning dress," she ran her hands down her mid section and brought them out, as if showing off her sexy piece of clothing, "and he didn't fall for my charm."

That dress had men falling at her feet, and it was one of her most prized pieces when it came to attracting the attention of another. Even girls swooned over her sumptuous figure, grace, beauty and style and yet, this particular individual was unfazed by her drop dead good looks.

Was he even human?

"Well, I admit that's really odd. Most of the men in school love you," Sunoma commented as she poured herself a cup of tea, watching the auburn liquid swirl around in the confines of her glass.

"I don't understand it, but I feel like he's special somehow. We've barely spoken a word but he has a presence about him." Honestly, most men she just turned down. They were far too easy to seduce, too easy to catch and make hers. He was unattainable, and that was an alluring quality to his charm. She sought to conquer him, to make him hers.

"Maybe you're not his type of girl," Sunoma brought up the sentence casually. Some people just weren't attracted to the diva type. Maybe looks and class didn't matter much to Kiyomaru. Maybe he was a man of simple pleasures.

"I am everyone's type of girl." Prasuna was outraged that her friend would dare commit such a verbal crime. "I embody perfection. Who wouldn't want the perfect girl?" What was there not to like about her? She had a beautiful complexion, free of pores, oil or blemishes, radiant eyes, a photogenic smile, a hot body and tons of money. No man was immune to her charm and sex appeal.

"Maybe he needs to know you better?" Sunoma didn't realize that would upset her so much. It seemed that Prasuna really didn't deal well with taking no as an answer.

"I suppose," Prasuna willed the scowl on her face away. It was so unattractive to be angry. "I just...really want him to notice me." Her voice tainted with darkness.

If she had only known that those feelings were going to manifest like they had done. The lolita frowned and sighed lightly, her bangs shading her eyes as they walked down the hall. 'She couldn't have loved him back then, but I'm positive that she was jealous of me. However, I don't understand why she killed Kraki. It was like she just snapped.'

As far as she knew, Prasuna had no reason to go after the book worm. Kraki just stuck to herself and read a lot. She was shy and clumsy most of the time. They were also in two completely different social classes. Sure, they were both members of the student council, but Prasuna was more of the model type while Kraki was more of the nerdy type. None of it made sense at all.

"Sunoma, are you alright?" Kiyomaru's voice cut into her thoughts, causing her to glance over to the blue-haired teen.

"I should be asking you that. Your wound looks serious," she noticed that his blood had run down his hand and the front of his uniform had a large, dark stain on it.

"It will be fine. I am just bleeding a lot," Kiyomaru informed. It wouldn't be enough to make him anemic or kill him. He just had to let the wound clot. It looked worse than what it actually was.

"Man, it's getting hot," Gaz wiped the sweat from his brow. It was then that the other students noticed that the temperature escalated the farther they walked down the darkened hall. It was so black that they could nearly make each other out and it was humid with no airflow.

They felt as if they were standing inside of a fire.

"That's because we're walking into the incinerator room," Kazoo revealed their destination.

"She'll be lucky if her execution is that simple," Leo knew how executions went. Usually, whoever was getting executed was lucky if they had something simple and directly to the point. This was undoubtedly going to be some sort of torture.

"Yeah, we had some fucked up executions," Kazoo confirmed his claim. The countless deaths and trials ran through his head. The death of each of his friends varied from quick and simple to complicated and elaborate, much like a television show lived out in grandeur.

"I'd rather not think about that right now," Leo's voice became low as he steadied himself for whatever it was that awaited them. A sense of dread and horror fell over his form as the doors opened and the students were bathed in a brilliant burst of orange and red.

Before them was a brilliant sight. The passageway had led into the auditorium where the stage was. It was the same stage that Leo's unveiling took place on. Only, this time the stage was altered. The wooden floor was pulled back to reveal the incinerator, burning brightly. A smoldering odor poured into the air that smelled charred. Above the brilliant pit was a ladder with a diving board on it, like one that would have been seen on one of their pools. On the tip of the diving board stood Prasuna with her arms tied behind her back. She glanced down at her crowd, gathered to see her burn like a witch in the Salem Trials. A smile of utter bliss crossed her face.

Shock and horror riddled the student's faces and a thick blur of conversations consumed the group. Their chatter was so loud that their conversations morphed together and sounded like senseless babble. Sunoma stood silent among all of the chaos, her eyes glued to her former friend's form.

"Oh man, they're going to push her into the school's incinerator," Gaz couldn't help but keep his eyes glued on the girl before him. He couldn't believe what was about to happen before his eyes. It was as if Prasuna was going to be made to jump straight into the gates of hell.

"It's time to dance on your stage, alone," the deep-voice from the bag-headed figure announced over a megaphone that caused his voice to distort and echoed through the empty building.

"I meant to kill her. I enjoyed watching all of them die," Prasuna admitted, laughing a little at her own twisted thoughts. "I will smile as my face burns, as I smell my own flesh searing. I stared into their eyes, all of them! I wanted to make sure they were dead. I laughed at their deaths like funny jokes, Even now; my so-called "friends" don't look at me the same way.

"I loved killing them. Some would scream, some would black out. I've always been a burden. It doesn't matter now. All of this time was just a colossal waste. Is this how you wake up from this nightmare? Is this how I end this madness? No longer will the terror overwhelm me," she glanced down at the flames, burning brightly before her like a gateway into hell. Her body felt warm from the heat of the incinerator. It was a nice, pleasant feeling. Prasuna momentarily closed her eyes and for once, all of the voices died down for a moment so that she could have a brief moment of peace.

The diva opened her eyes and smiled. "My adoring public awaits. I don't want to disappoint them. They deserve the finale of a lifetime. With my final plunge, I will command the stage one last time. Farewell, my loyal fans." Prasuna smiled adoringly towards the group of teens gathered below her. "I'll see you all in hell."

With that as her final goodbye, Prasuna leaped from the diving board, falling down into the flames as they stretch up to meet her body. The heat was immense, it scorched her and ate away at her flesh. Shock registered across the crowd's faces as her body flew past them. Beads of sweat poured from her body as the flames consumed her. Tears flowed from her eyes in streams that flowed upward, evaporating in the heat like rare gems, never to be seen again. "I will always love you, Kiyomaru. Too bad things had to end this way. I would have loved to be your girl. Like the great phoenix, I will rise from the ashes, twice as beautiful as I was before."

With that, the girl was consumed in flames, burning brightly as she made her descent to the bottom of the incinerator with a gut wrenching crash. In that moment, the star fell from grace.

"Prasuna..." Kiyomaru's once strong voice cracked as he wept for the loss of the white-haired girl. Even if he had said that he loved her, there was nothing he could have done but get killed by her later. This would be something that he would carry on his shoulders until the way he died.

"I'm sorry...Kiyomaru," Sunoma cast him a sorrowful look, "I can only imagine how you feel."

"Sometimes...I wish you actually did know all of my pain." None of them had an inkling of how he could possibly feel about anything. Kiyomaru had a series of problems far bigger than any of them could ever know.

"Kiyomaru..."

Gaz tipped his head down, clenching his fists and shaking with emotion as tears ran down his face. "Why do all of my friends have to die?" It wasn't fair! He hated this awful court system and the methods of punishment. He hated their purgatory and how they were forced to do unspeakable acts that would ruin their psyche forever.

"Time is running out...and I feel so helpless to stop this," Leo clenched his hand around his weapon even tighter. The more people that died, the more he hated himself, and the more he felt as if it was a repetition of his previous murder session.

Taiga swung his axe over his shoulder. "Time to get back to work."

"Our objective will be to find the mastermind," Sunoma decided that all they could do was keep moving forward. They couldn't look back.

"Do you think they're in this school?" Tsukimi inquired. What if the mastermind wasn't even where they thought? What if they were looking for something that could never be found?

"I have a strong feeling that they might be," Kiyomaru was nearly certain that the mastermind was inside of the school walls.

"Where do you think they might be?" Tsukimi questioned.

"We haven't checked the top floor," Kazoo had a feeling that the mastermind was more than likely up there. After all, it was the place he hid the last time the killing events happened.

"We were never allowed there before." It wasn't as if anyone hadn't checked it before, it was just that it was sealed off. Gaz tried to go up there himself a few times.

"There might be reasons why. Let's all get to the top floor," Kazoo wanted to investigate. There was something up about the top floor, something unusual and worth investigating. He had a feeling that all of their answers resided there.

"We'll have to fight our way there. I've not seen anyone on the upper levels, nor have I been there." A trip to the top sounded interesting to Ame. If anything, it would allow her to see something she hadn't before.

"It was like a war when I was up there," Masato knew it was going to be hell in order to get back up there.

"Has anyone seen Zoen? He wasn't at Prasuna's trial," Tsukimi thought that it was strange that her ex-boyfriend wasn't at that trial, especially when he was at the last one. Weren't they trailed as a class? Did he somehow defy logic or the rules based around it?

"I haven't seen him since the killing started," the last time Masato had seen him was in Kazoo's trial. After that, he vanished off of the face of the earth.

"Maybe he died," Ame commented casually. None of them were special enough to defy death.

"You think?" Tsukimi didn't know how to feel about hearing that possible news.

"We should look for him, too. Just in case," Sunoma didn't want to think that he died, but she could never be too sure.

"I'd be careful," Gaz warned everyone.

"What do you mean?" Sunoma turned towards him.

"There are some students who work for the mastermind," the Korean rock star wanted everyone to take heed. There might be reasons why Zoen wasn't at the trial that stretched far beyond what any of them currently understood.

"What do you mean?" Taiga questioned. He wanted him to elaborate on that.

"Yeah, where did ya hear that?" Leo was curious as well. He'd never heard of anything like that, not even in his class.

The look on the blue-haired man's face hardened. "Santa and Kageki told me that. They cornered me in a classroom and they tried to kill me. They told me that the mastermind promised them stuff if they killed everyone," Gaz had no idea if the mastermind had promised this to anyone else, but he wanted them to be weary of students like his former band mates.

"Wait a minute..." Kazoo's eyes widened. "They were talking to Zoen in the graveyard. That means that Zoen must be in one this, too."

"That explains why he's been acting different since before graduation," Tsukimi looked as if she had an epiphany. "I bet the mastermind promised him something if he made sure there were people around to kill." It all made sense now.

"I wonder what they were promised," the Korean's face hardened. It had to have been something huge to make his friends turn against him like that. The mastermind must have put fear in their hearts or made the situation seem utterly hopeless to make them go against him like that.

"Zoen's father is in the military. If we go off of the theory that we're experiments for the military, then it would tie him in perfectly," Sunoma thought that this all made far too much sense.

"Are you saying that he's the mastermind?" Taiga had a feeling he knew where her thoughts were going.

"It may be him, or it may be his father." Those were the only two people Sunoma suspected at the moment. They tied into the situation way too well, and Zoen's suspicious actions and distancing himself from everyone prior to graduation was way too fitting.

"Either way, he knows something," Gaz was certain of that.

"Perhps we should pursue Zoen?" Ame thought that would be the best course of action. They could track him down and make him unmask the mastermind.

"I'm all for that," Masato agreed. It was time to kill the problem where it stood.

"Whoever I reach first will be my first victim, and if Zoen really is a part of this...I'll make damned sure he pays," Taiga's voice darkened, promising a world of pain for whomever put him through such hell and slaughtered his brother.

...To Be Continued