Despair's last gambit

Chapter seven- The beginning of the end

Juvi jumped up to check on Aiko but tripped over an obstacle on her way. Cadence helped her up but both were horrified to discover the obstacle was another corpse.

Yuko was on the floor her head twisted to an impossible angle and her cat ears laying next to her on the floor. Even the relatively emotionless Kichiro was distraught at her death, Yuko had been a friend of everyone in the foundation and after Shinsuke had given his life in an ultimately futile attempt to save her the despair among the members was palpable. Sayuri shook her head in sadness at the sight of Yuko's dead body, yet another casualty of the game. Blake inhaled deeply before speaking " the traitor just keeps killing more and more, we have to stop them quickly" he said exasperated. Juvi composed herself before addressing him in response, "you have to find it strange these last few murders though, right?" She asked him inquisitively. Kichiro turned towards her "what are you suggesting?" He asked visibly confused. "Well until the last two time limits ran out, only one victim had been killed  each time, and with some sort of weapon correct?" Juvi asked as she paced around the room; everyone nodded in agreement. "Isn't it strange then that the last two time limits have seen two deaths each?" She asked, everyone pondered her assertion before voicing their agreement. More importantly, none of the victims except Mieko had a weapon in their hand; strangely enough she had a bloody knife in hers." A chill went down Blake's spine at the mention of Mieko's name; cadence spoke up "so you think there was a suicide? Like in the previous foundation game?" She asked. "Yes, and no " Juvi answered, "her body  wasn't near a monitor so something else must have caused her to kill herself. Or more precisely; somebody else." Everyone began to eye each other up nervously, Juvi was suggesting there was a second traitor hiding among the survivors; the one who was Mieko's murderer. " I know who the murderer is too!" She announced confidently, "because this dropped out of their pocket" she said digging into her pockets. Before he could think, Blake had reached into his pocket, surely he can't have dropped the phone? Or maybe the instructions on how to play the despair video had fallen out? Only when he felt sure both of them were still in his pocket did he realise what had happened, Juvi didn't know he had caused Mieko's death; she had forced him to reveal his guilt by claiming she had evidence. Everyone now stood aghast looking at him.

"You killed her Blake? I hope you rot in hell for this." Kichiro shouted angrily as he advanced on Blake. Sayuri tried to hold Kichiro back but only succeeded when Ken also helped. "We've got to give him time to explain, he must have had a good reason." Sayuri said desperately struggling to hold him back. "Well Blake?" Juvi asked calmly. "It...its true." He said ashamed to look them in the eye, "her death was my fault, but I would have died if I hadn't done it." He rolled up his sleeve to reveal his bangle, "my NG code was to fail to use the despair video before  the end of the fourth time limit, I didn't want to do it really I didn't, but I was running out of time and she was the only one who was nearby; I..I'm sorry." He said turning away and fighting back tears. Kichiro calmed down after Blake had said this. "And what about Aiko and Yuko?" He asked looking once more at their bodies as he spoke. " I didn't have anything to do with that , I swear to you." Blake said exasperated. "I believe him" Juvi said calmly, "but it doesn't look like the traitor murdered them either, somebody else has been at work here." She stated, thinking over the available evidence.

Over in their secret room Maddie nodded at the monitors. "They're beginning to trust each other too much, they're not falling into despair. " she said angrily. "Maybe we should leave the island, find a new plan to spread despair" she said. Kalo shook his head "so long as the future foundation lives on we'll always struggle to eradicate hope, we have to stay; we need to make sure the foundation dies here." He said not trying to hide the condescension in his voice. " if you'd not used chocolate to kill then maybe they wouldn't have figured out the traitor isn't killing anymore. " he swiftly added, "as if your spine breaking was any better" she said smirking at the insult. "Regarding our dear traitor, they've outlived their use; we can terminate them at our leisure." She said giving a slight smile at the suggestion of more betrayal and murder.

Meanwhile with the foundation Ken was explaining his theory that their captors were hiding somewhere nearby. Drawing the ire of Kalo and Maddie in their observation room. Ken finally concluded that if they were nearby then there must be a way out through a secret room they were hiding in. Sayuri shook her head, they had already searched for hidden rooms and found nothing, even if it did exist they had no way of knowing  where it was. Everyone sighed in resignation until Kichiro saw something out of the corner of his eye that gave him an idea. There was a surveillance camera positioned on one of the walls, Kichiro walked over to it and with a single forceful blow smashed the lens. Maddie and Kalo watched him bewildered before realising what he was planning. "They're broadcasting this game to the world right? Well not if we break all their cameras they can't" she said giving off a menacing grin. Blake smiled "and once we've broken their cameras they'll have to come out." he said " or else this game will be a failure." With a plan now in mind everyone spread out to destroy all the cameras around. As more and more camera feeds began to cut out Kalo and maddie grew more and more frustrated, they'd need to replace the cameras somehow but they wouldn't have enough time even when the foundation members had been put to sleep, Kichiro had ruined their despair inducing plan. When all the cameras we're destroyed they turned to look at each other, no matter how hard they tried they weren't getting an image from any of their surveillance cameras and thus the broadcast to the world was over ; the killing game could no longer plunge the world into despair.  In the meantime all of the foundation members  had met back up in the media room, which was  the room with the most camera's.  Ken kicked a stray battery from one of the caneras away and watched as the battery rolled across the floor and through a small almost unnoticeable gap between  the wall and the wall . He had found the secret room, his theory had been proven correct.

When he told the others everyone gathered in front of the wall and began probing it for an opening, except for Sayuri who couldn't touch a wall, everyone else tried desperately to find some way to open the door and escape the confines of the killing game, but to no avail.  No matter how hard they tried there didn't seem to be any way of opening the door and no matter how hard Blake and Kichiro struck it they couldn't make it budge. Kichiro walked away in anger and checked his bangle, the next time limit would be reached in only a few minutes, he sighed in resignation and turned around to face everyone. " we need to escape soon or they'll just kill , without a broadcast to the world  their only priority is ensuring that the foundation leadership doesn't make it out alive." Kichiro took one last look at his bangle and took a deep breath "everyone clear the way" he said assertively. Everyone moved to the side unsure what he was going to do. "Just make sure you end it!" He said before beginning to run full speed towards the wall, his bangle gave off the familiar jingle as soon as he began to run but he pushed on; the adrenaline and sheer force of will carrying him through. Finally he dove into the door with a powerful shoulder tackle smashing it apart before collapsing to the ground, in his final seconds of life he managed to force a smile; he knew now why Kazuo had died smiling, they died with full faith their friends would survive.

Everyone ran to check on him but there was no way to revive him. Everyone silently prayed Kichiro's sacrifice would make him the final victim of the killing game before they walked further into the corridor the door opened into. Blake and Cadence stood at either side of Sayuri to ensure she wouldn't accidentally come into contact with a wall in the narrow confines of the corridor. Finally they reached the end of the corridor and met Kalo and Maddie face to face, both stood to meet them Blake stood in front of everyone protectively shielding them "so you're our captors I presume?" He asked angrily. Maddie giggled maniacally "I didn't expect such excellent analytical skills from a mere weaponist" she said. "Well it all ends now" he said angrily moving towards them "your killing game is over, despair will never emerge victorious. "  Kalo scoffed at his suggestion "what a shame your time is up" he said derisively. All of the foundation members quickly looked at their bangles to see the final few seconds ticking down. "You saved us the trouble of having to find and kill you at least!" He said shrugging his shoulders. The timer on the bangles ticked down to the final second and then it happened.

Everyone's bangles fell of their wrists.

Kalo and Maddie looked on in shock, this wasn't supposed to happen. "We... we've been betrayed." Maddie said, Kalo looked away from the foundation members "it was you wasn't it, betraying them and now us, that's true despair." He said barely holding in a small smile. The foundation members all turned to face the door Kalo was looking towards, stood in the doorway was the foundation traitor, the one who had helped Kalo and maddie kidnap them, the one who had killed many of their friends. They looked on in shock, the traitor had turned on ultimate despair, but were they truly now on the side of hope?