sinking down, down

[facultwist]

Death is a drop into a blackness that swallows you. You feel the movement of not air but shadow across your face as you plummet, and there is no bottom. No crash.

If there is another side, you do not reach it.

It is neither the light of heaven or the fires of hell that greets you when you wake. And wake you do, to the buzz and flicker of old fluorescent lights.

You are laid out beside a full-size competitive swimming pool, half-filled with stagnant water. The doors out are blocked off by locked doors covered in caution tape. The locker rooms are long since emptied, paint peeling from the humidity. The only signs of habitation are a few pieces of scattered graffiti.

Welcome to your new home. There's no sunlight, no indication of time passing. Just you and each other and your thoughts. the stagnant water bubbles a little occasionally, but there's nothing in it.

Before long you'll realize that you no longer need to eat or drink. You might notice your hand go through something if you don't focus. You're a ghost now. What's that they say about unfinished business?

Comments

[rosewitch]

[The trial hasn't been going for long before this funny look starts to come over Anthy's face. Disbelief, anger, frustration, a tiny glimmer of hope along with disgust. It's an odd mixture.]

[Under her breath:] Satsuki, I'd better be wrong.

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

...What are you thinking, Anthy-san?

cw suicide

[rosewitch]

That she did this. She . . . hasn't been well. Not for some time now.

[A slightly forced look of comfort. Mostly Anthy just looks constipated.]

But I'm sure I'm wrong.

cw suicide

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

...She hasn't been. Maybe... No, definitely since before all this.

[ Ah... Her letter couldn't have helped, could it? How...self-centered, she's been. How selfish. ]

I don't want to believe it. Something... Something about all of this just feels... [ She trails off. She can't put it into words. ]

[rosewitch]

[rinne if you turn this into another self-loathing katamari anthy will EAT YOU]

It's off. I agree. I just don't trust her. [Which. She doesn't mean to say, but. It's true, unfortunately.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ im sorry anthy little miss dislikes: herself also needs so much fucking therapy ]

...I think, in your position... I can't blame you.

[ She wants to. She really does. She wants Satsuki to be the blessing she'd told her she was. ]

[rosewitch]

[It's fine, Anthy is a giant hypocrite anyway. A giant hypocrite who looks kind of surprised about being Understood? Wild.]

[She doesn't thank Rinne out loud, but. A grateful smile? Absolutely. Thanks for not treating her like a monster, girl.]

Cw suicide

[bellpepperexercise]

…

[Kana can’t really refute not trusting Satsuki with self-regard, but still.]

Wait…what Thomasin said about Satsuki stumbling onto something. Is…there anybody else who might sacrifice themselves for us?

cw suicide

[rosewitch]

[Instantly:] Hatsune.

[bellpepperexercise]

No…that’s gotta be what who killed her wants them to think. Like using somebody’s private letters to confuse how involved she really was.

[Kana is still mad about that, VANITY.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

...?

[ .......soooooooo no one's told rinne about this either- ]

[bellpepperexercise]

Oh, uh…sorry I never told you before, but…Vanity stole your letter to me to make it look like you might’ve been planning to kill someone.

I…tried to make sure people didn’t get to read the whole thing, but she had the other half of it in her room.

1/2

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ Rinne's eyes get very wide. ]

...

[ She blinks. Very slowly, her gaze turns to Vanity. ]

2/2

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

You used my will to hurt Kana-chan?

[ WEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOOWEEWOO ]

[bellpepperexercise]

[…crap. Maybe Kana shouldn’t have run her mouth right now.]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

[ no bb everything out of your mouth is perfect ]

[trustheart]

Kick her ass, kiddo.

[thatsplato]

[sweetsynergy]

[sweetsynergy]

...You think this is worse than the part where I was trying to kill everyone, her included, don't you.

[ha ha, she's in danger]

[lifegoalsorwifegoals]

You don't get to ask me what I think anymore, Vanity.

[ergine]

Indeed. The rules specifically say, "To win the game, kill another student."

[ Though... Well, whether Satsuki would have thought this through so thoroughly... ]

Cw suicide

[bellpepperexercise]

…right. She was out there trying to prevent anyone from getting killed. They’re—they’re just falling right into the trap if they think she’d…

[Kana has to believe that. She refuses to believe that Satsuki would sacrifice herself in that way.]

cw suicidal ideation, suicide, somewhat victim-blaming/derogatory language

[rosewitch]

. . . I hope you're right.

[Like, really. Very badly. But there's something pulling at the back of her mind. The situation itself, yes, but also . . .]

[The cut on Satsuki's hand. The missing blood. Satsuki's increasingly poor mental state, both before and after the last trial. Her desire to keep everyone else safe, and her awful, all-consuming self-loathing. Plus, Anthy and Kohaku had both been willing to sacrifice themselves and accidentally duplicated the tragedy. In this way, Satsuki could keep everyone else safe, avoid duplication, and indulge her martyr complex.]

[She really hopes Kana's right, that's all.]

cw suicidal ideation, suicide, somewhat victim-blaming/derogatory language

[bellpepperexercise]

[She has to believe that. She made the mistake of not believing in Rinne before, so Kana has to believe in Satsuki. She’s shaking every time she hears somebody double down on the idea that Satsuki ended her own life. Yes, she was doing badly, but then why leave her room in such a state? How did the knife end up thrown away? Why was she trying to plug the wound?

Satsuki just wanted to keep people alive. How can everyone think so little of her?]