Despair's last gambit

Chapter 5- trust and betrayal

Maddie Harper and Kalo Hubert were sat in front of a monitor gazing at the future foundation members waking up. As they watched they began to think about how they had brought them to the island and placed them in the killing game. The traitor had played a large part in that but originally they had been four, a fourth member neither had met before, a rather tall man with a lean body, had helped them carry the members into the meeting room and attach their bangles. When they were done however the traitor had stabbed them in the back, both literally and metaphorically. Both had looked on shocked but murder and chaos was just a part of their daily despair filled lives so it didn't matter to them. The traitor merely turned to them and stated "he's outlived his use in life, he's only useful to us dead now." Which only prompted an uninterested nod from Maddie and a smirk from Kalo. It was at that moment they knew the future foundation truly was in mortal peril, the traitor would kill without impunity.

Maddie was a very small girl which is one of the reasons she had fallen into despair so quickly, at only four feet two inches with long scarlet hair that made her seem even shorter she was the butt of many cruel jokes throughout her life and was pushed around by both her family and schoolmates. She had a reputation as an ultimate demon but this merely referred to her attempts at witchcraft and black magic to get revenge on all who had wronged her, in reality her true talents lay in confectionary which she had honed in order to comfort herself whenever her bullying overwhelmed her or if her physical abuse had caused her injury. When the world fell into despair she didn't need convincing to fall to despair, all who had angered her were quickly and brutally executed and she was one of the greatest threats the future foundation faced in ridding the world of despair. Kalo had been an entirely different story, at six feet tall and two hundred plus pounds with shirt wavy hair he was athletic and powerful but had spent most of his life working in his parents massage parlour, growing sufficiently skilled to even be scouted for hopes peak as a potential ultimate masseur. However before he could enrol society had collapsed and his parents were killed in the riots which destroyed their business. Kalo however didn't blame despair for their murder, he blamed the world and the greediness which had caused the tragedy, he wanted to have his revenge by ensuring nothing of the world which had robbed him of his future and his family would survive the purge.

Meanwhile the future foundation had discovered Kazuo's corpse. Noting the smile on his face; everyone believed he had died because he had figured out the traitor's identity. Brooke looked the most glum at his corpse. She had been renowned throughout the world for her pranks and often used them to lift morale among the foundation, but this situation had been too serious and she couldn't manage to think of anything that would lift the mood which only made her feel worse. Sensing this Yuko hugged her as Brooke began to softly cry into her long pink hair.

Blake however had not moved from the spot he had woken up from, he stared at the paper in his left hand and the phone in his right back and forth for a while before taking a deep pained breath and arising to meet the others; making sure to put them back into his pocket as he did so. Sayuri as usual was standing nervously in the centre of the hall scared to do much more and hiding behind Nizey who had unwillingly been forced to congregate with them as the murder had taken place in the hallway.

When Blake arrived he examined the blade carefully, recognising it was one he had crafted for future foundation use. There was no doubt in his mind someone had betrayed them but he was unable to say who had taken possession of the knife. Almost everyone immediately protested that they didn't use knives in the foundation, even the three most martial orientated Ultimate rarely used blades. Blake calmly wiped the blood off with his hand before offering it to Mieko, pointing out she still needed a weapon and there could be no better revenge for Kazuo than using his murder weapon to bring down the traitor who had killed him. Mieko reluctantly acquiesced to his demand at the second time of asking.

Maddie meanwhile was noting down their reactions to try and see what could be done to increase their despair. Blake's reaction upon waking up however was her priority, "do you really think he's going to go through with it?" Kalo asked her smiling menacingly at the images on the screen. "It's not like he has a choice you imbecile" Maddie barked back. "By the look on his face he's torn but that will only make it even more despair inducing in the end" she added before beginning to laugh.

Ken brought out a cloth from his pocket and covered Kazuo's face.  There was no evidence that could lead them to the killer but still the foundation members  scoured the hallway and adjoining rooms for information. Kalo looked on and continued to smile menacingly at them, "this should make things more interesting" he said before pushing a button on the control panel. An explosion rocked the other side of the building and surprised the foundation members some of whom instinctively ran towards the source of the blast. Nizey shouted for Sayuri to stay back as he didn't want her to endanger herself, drawing a blushing smile from her. Aiko sheepishly said she felt safer staying where she was and  promised Nizey she would stay with Sayuri. Kichiro waited until the others had set off running before briskly walking behind them.

When they reached the other side of the building a pile of rubble was blocking the hallway, Nizey and Blake tried to dislodge some of the rocks but couldn't found it too thick to clear a path. Despite their best efforts they realised part of the building was now cut off and they were even more trapped than before. Shinsuke, Nizey and Kichiro split up to try and find a way around the blockage. Mieko and Blake however stayed next to the rubble trying to find a weak spot that could clear it faster. Mieko stabbed into the wall of rubble with the knife trying to dig through it, as time ticked down however Blake became more and more agitated.

Meanwhile Kichiro continued to walk down the hallway trying to find a secret passage to no avail. Nizey however moved to the secret room looking for a secret hidden exit but gave up thinking any such exit would probably be a trap. Shinsuke found himself in the infirmary as time began to run out, he searched behind the beds and desks, probing  withe the heat sword for anything out of place; but finding nothing which could help. All three fell asleep where they stood unable to find a way to bypass the blockage.

As the final minute began to tick away and Mieko continued to dig into the rubble Blake began to panic. "Mieko!" he shouted out as he reached into his pocket. Mieko turned around surprised, "please don't hug me, I'll die" she said concerned as he edged towards her. "I...I'm sorry Mieko, this breaks my heart." Kalo and Maddie smiled as he lifted the phone out of his pocket. Monokuma appeared on the screen in front of Mieko, the music and colours brainwashing her so she couldn't turn away. Her eyes turned red as thoughts of all the people she felt she had let down began to flood her mind, she felt alone and isolated within her own mind; unable to escape the torment of guilt at all the lives she had wanted to save but couldn't. She drew the knife to her neck and plunged it in severing her artery and killing her, the scarlet blood staining her white uniform  and pale skin as it collected under her corpse and soaked into her hair . Blake stood there crying, muttering the words "I'm so sorry Mieko, I didn't want it to be you" under his breath. Time finally ran out and Blake fell unconscious.

Inside the secret room a corpse lay flat on its back . The victim appeared to have been rather tall and wearing a long black coat at the time of their death,  although he looked considerably shorter as his head was missing. The victim was also missing a hand. A small pool of blood had collected underneath each of the missing appendages but otherwise no other wounds were visible. Yet another time limit had passed and yet another body was due to be discovered.