danganronpa: Achilles

prologue

He recalled laying in the cold steel awaiting his death, watching as his reflection on the surface taunting him. He hated how the press's surface was reflective. It was literally a moment for him to reflect. A last moment to reflect on his life so far, and how it will end.

He has set everything up perfectly, they will see him as a villain to the end, they all hate him. The heartless monster who replaced what little innocence he had. They will believe he was the one who killed Kaito and voted for him. All Kaito had to do was play the part and it would be decided.

He had nothing to go back to anyway. What would his friends say? They would watch him cause the deaths of two people. He was unfit to be the leader. What would his family say? They are all dead. It was a shame. He will never be able to see them again. Where he's going is far below where they are. He hoped when Kaito dies he will be able to recite the small letter to the two of them up there. He should have written more messages, to all of his friends, and to his enemies to spite them. To that one detective who was so committed to finding a child, it ruined her whole reputation. He had a lot to say. So much to ramble and lie about, so many games he wanted to play. Places he wanted to visit. He wanted to see the rain again, go back to his old house, and visit his family's graves. He always thought to grow up and getting married, to have kids and those would be the heirs to D.I.C.E. Or perhaps settling down and living by himself on a little island for the rest of his life like his friends proposed. He wanted to die happy and old, with no regrets, and surrounded by loved ones. Instead, he will die a villain. An inhuman, soulless, being.

The mask he held for so long and refuses to let go of shall be the last sight he saw. It grinned at him so sadistically. He couldn't tell if he was the one grinning at this point; his mask had been so glued to him that he wasn't even sure if he could give it up.

He formed a face of boredom, shutting his eyes to yawn. When he opened it again, his reflection was closer than before. The face taunting him again. He didn't feel he was lying down, rather just floating somewhere in space. The figure across from him looked just like him, but his face showed no sign of pain, no blood, and his skin was a normal shade.

"You deserve this don't you?"

"I know,"

"Kaito is going to die because he killed you," the voice was so expressive, compared to his the child's voice felt dull and lifeless.

"He is going to die anyway,"

"Was Gonta the same story?" the voice quipped. He seemed to have a twisted joy in toying with him. He knew everything he was saying was true, just confronting those facts shortly before he died.

"..."

"Don't tell me you are going to be silent now, this is your grand death, the great mystery, your last stand!" his reflection made a grand gesture, throwing his arms out as if a circus erupted behind him dazzling an audience of spectators.

"I don't know,"

"Ha! For a boy who lies so much, you sure cannot face the truth, perhaps that's on purpose,"

the face morphed to another person. It was someone taller, a girl. Her eyes were soft and her navy blue hair was as frizzy as it usually was. Someone he knew he would never see again ever since he decided to end the killing game. Her tone changed from the mocking tone of his to the soft, sympathetic voice he would always reside in comfort when he had nightmares.

"Did you really want to die?" she asked.

"No one wants to die, but if it's to end the-" he tried his usual tone, but he was cut off.