𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐀 𝐋𝐢𝐞... | Inquisitormaster & Z squad | Danganronpa AU

☘︎ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟒𝟐☘︎ || 𝐈𝐬 𝐈𝐭 𝐒𝐥𝐨𝐰 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐫 𝐅𝐚𝐬𝐭?

Chapter 5: Grieving, Gaming, and Guessing

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: **✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *

~Alex's POV~

The blood in my palm glistens. As I'm staring at it, the pain in my body intensifies and it starts to become unbearable. The others' voices muffle around me as they talk to one another, and I focus on the blood in my hand... It's starting to take a different shape. First, it looks like a messy blob, then it shifts into what looks like a rabbit! I blink slowly... The rabbit shape is gone... Once my hearing returns, I wipe the blood away and rub my hand on my skirt to get rid of it.

I look up at everyone else and quickly realize... There are only three of us here. Jaxx, Drake, and I are the only ones standing in the main room. Before I can muster up the energy to ask, it's as if Jaxx had read my mind.

"Don't worry, everyone went to go do their investigating," He assured, folding something and slipping it into his pants pocket.

I only nod. He whispers something to Drake- he doesn't give much of a reaction- then, returns his attention to the both of us.

"Alright, so, where are we going?" Jaxx asks, swinging the key around his index finger.

With a shrug, Drake suggests, "I dunno... How about through that door?" My eyes follow where he's pointing, which is a door on the right wall between two huge, golden-framed portraits.

Jaxx nods and agrees, "Yeah, let's see if we'll find anything that the others' would miss!"

"What does that mean?"

"It means," Jaxx begins, glancing over his shoulder as he heads over to the door, "That there may be secret passageways! Who do you think found the one leading to the student lounge and the one at the amusement park? It wasn't one of the others, that's for sure."

Drake sucks his teeth as we follow him. "What if there's nothing? We're under the influence of a slow-acting poison, you know. You could already be feeling the effects."

"Maybe subtle effects, but I don't think it'd kick in like that so soon." Jaxx grabs the handles, pulls open the door, and lets Drake and I walk in before he steps over the threshold, too. "Speaking of which, Alex, are you feeling alright after earlier?"

I glance up at him, then over at Drake. I nod, following as they start to make their way down the hall. Along the way, we pass more framed portraits and paintings of Monokuma in different attire that suggests that he's a higher-up, and then the doors start to come up the further we get. To my left are five doors; one is smaller than the rest. I'll take it that it was some kind of closet and the others were rooms. When we arrive at the door at the end of the corridor, there's another one close by to the right. I peek through the window and see various tables and chairs set up neatly with vending machines pressed against the wall and a bar with various food options that shockingly appear to be fresh... This may be some type of dining hall.

Jaxx opens the door at the end of the hall and we step over the threshold. We entered another hallway with more doors and paintings along the walls. As we walked, I started to feel a bit lighter than usual, like was going to lift into the air with the wrong step, yet I also felt so heavy that I could fall to the ground. Luckily, we don't go too far down the corridor since I'm already starting to feel more and more drained as we go, even if we didn't go far.

The trickster walks up to the first door on the left, takes the key, and fits it into the lock. Drake waits a respectable distance away from Jaxx as he fiddles with the lock and I lean my back against the opposite wall, taking quick breaths. I don't know why I'm so tired... There's a small 'click' and Jaxx pushes the door open. I push myself off of the wall, slowly follow into the room after the two, and close the door behind me.