yogen | MISSION 2.C

[with Kogamo yielded to Hinata, Helena can finally get back off the ground, pushing herself up with her cane and taking stock of everything around them. warmer doesn't mean that all their problems are solved, as much as she wishes she could take a hot bath and sleep. that Komaeda, Natsume, and the body are leaving...well, whatever.]

What can I do to help?

[her voice is soft, since why distress the little one further. that, and she's tired -

wait. something's too silent.]

I wish I knew. [Hinata's tone is equally soft but miserable as he answers Helena. He feels so lost right now.] Letting things stay like this isn't good, but...

[What else can they do? They can't stay here forever, but Hinata doesn't want to leave this child alone after he just said they would be there for them.

Hinata is very distracted by the bundle that has wrapped themselves around him even further, so he isn't aware of what's happened out of his range of attention - he's acknowledged that there's been some movement and that's about the extent of it. He'd never think that Komaeda and Natsume would bring the body outside unless someone told him or he'd witnessed it himself.

But... what to do, what to do. There has to be something, even if there movements are limited... If he's gentle about it, maybe it won't hurt anything to ask something?]

...Hey, Kogamo? [He pats their back as he says their name, voice still low.] Do you think you can tell me where your dad is?

[ What can they do to help? Raise the dead, maybe, or turn back time or any number of impossible things they could ask for. Instead, they whine a little, pressing their face against Hinata's shoulder like they understand crying's not going to solve anything but they can't help it. They miss their brother, and now they also miss their dad, when Hinata brings him up. ]

Daddy's working. It's just me and aniki right now.

[ Or, more accurately, just them. ]

[God damn it, Hinata bites down on his lip, hard, to keep from saying it out loud. Of course he is, why are adults never helpful in his life.

But he reaches to pat their head once more as he makes what he hopes passes for a soothing noise. The rhythmic motions of before seemed to help, so he's internally crossing his fingers that it might make them feel better again.

They know so little, and their only source of clues is someone that should never be pressed for answers in the first place. Hinata feels terrible, because he knows it must be making them feel worse, but he doesn't know what else to do.]

Do you know when he'll be home? Or if it's close enough for us to go there and get him?

[If he has to he'll stay back, or maybe Helena can since she's such a calming presence. It's not Hinata's family, not his business about whether or not this tiny child is at home by themselves, but there is absolutely no way he is leaving them in good conscience. Especially not after all of this.

~~also Mira is coming in for a layup Ori she's on her way to be our star~~]

Or we can call him, if you have a phone.

[she's not going through the door, but she makes her way over to the front wall, leaning against it for a second. no distant sound of bickering - the snow either muffles it, or the worst has come. one of the two. she still expects something to burst through the door, destroy this tense moment - but she's not leaving unless she's forced. ~~sorry Ori.~~]

At a time like this, I'm sure he'd lay his work aside and rush home.

[ can't kill my npcs if the thread never ends, I see

Kogamo either nuzzles Hinata's shoulder or shakes their head, but both to the same effect. ]

He works at school. I don't know the number there...

[ There's... a house phone! But no cell phones in this household. ]

He comes home Sundays.

[~~me looking both ways before vanishing into the ether anyway~~

Hinata doesn't stop patting Kogamo's head as he carefully stands up with them. No adverse effects thus far, no reason to cease.]

It's okay, that's already a huge help. I'll see if the number is written down somewhere.

[But when he finally lifts his head - he'll see that it's just him and Helena in the room with Kogamo, and shock colors his face. Was he really that distracted?

...Where is the older brother?]

Helena? [He's really putting that locked skill of staying calm to use today, because Hinata's voice is steady as he starts looking around the house for the phone.] Do you know where Komaeda and Sakasaki went?

[God, what day is it even, how long has it been since they ended up here. What Hinata doesn't know is that, given how old these two children are, there's a good chance the four of them are not running on their own time anymore.

That doesn't matter in any case, though, because it is clearly not Sunday and that is all that matters to Hinata right now. Hopefully when he finds that house phone there will be papers or a phone book nearby, that's the logical conclusion, right. Hopefully this man has a modicum of logic even if he's fine with leaving his two children, one very young, alone in the middle of the woods. Hinata can't stand him already.]

[ ? The responsible older brother is here to housesit and make sure everything is okay, it's fine.

Kogamo grizzles a little, as if in response to the tension that fills the air once more, but doesn't outright cry, instead looking to Helena for the answer to this question they're not really following, recognizing names but not able to connect who is who.

The house phone is on a little table. There are eight voicemails that, if they care to play them, are of a woman's voice leaving short messages wishing they're all doing well, saying that she misses them, and that she loves them. But no phone book, no papers with any sort of telephone number on them. ]

They...I think they took something important outside.

[she frowns, but subtly indicates with her cane where the body was to explain the "something important". they had taken it somewhere, but them not coming back was getting concerning. even the woman's sweet voicemails don't solve the knot of unease in her - they had come in this place together, after all.]

Let me see if I can't hear where they are.

[and opening the door for all three of them, her hand hasn't even left the doorknob as she turns her head to listen, and try to find those two.]

[ The door swings open, bringing the chill in and Kogamo hugs Hinata even tighter, trying to tuck their bare feet somewhere warmer.

Helena can hear the wind blowing outside, a bit stronger than a gentle breeze, but no crunching of ice underfoot, no squabbling from the two who had left them that she might expect.

Hinata can see white: the snow's picked up, already filling in their footprints, covering the trail of blood, erasing any evidence anybody had ever been here. White covers the trees, the river, the rocks. It makes up the sky and the ground and everything around them, as if the entire world outside the cabin has faded away. ]

[ crying, Natsume is way too happy lugging away a dead body ]

[For a moment, Hinata can do little more than stare out into what lies ahead of them, horror stealing away his words for that very short stretch of time.]

What the hell- [It slips out of him in a burst, before he can think to muffle it or at least cover Kogamo's ears. He's having too much difficulty processing what's in front of them to be thinking straight.] That's- That whiteness can't be normal, it's like everything's fading away-

[A bolt of panic goes through him.

I lost him.

He was okay. Monokuma had lied. Komaeda had been okay.

I really lost him this time.

He's not so far gone that he won't tilt Kogamo away from the cold before he leans forward, but his voice is still raw when Hinata raises his voice to yell.]

Komaeda! Sakasaki!

[He wants to be wrong. But deep down, part of Hinata already knows that he probably won't receive an answer.]

[silence, save for the breeze and Hinata's shouting. silence that greets her, sets her on edge. and the desperation in his voice tells her something - it's worse than if people were killed, because at least you had bodies. at least you heard them die. you had something to hang onto.

but a nothingness...it chills her worse than the air, than the river that had nearly drowned them.]

Hajime...I don't think we're supposed to be here.

[something feels too, too wrong about this. about the world shifting and changing and spitting them back out somewhere unfamiliar, and then erasing itself on them.]

[ The shouting makes Kogamo cringe in Hinata's arms, the worry almost palpable. Snow drifts in from the open door, immediately numbing any part of the body it touches even if they step back inside the warmth of the house, and Kogamo looks from Hinata to Helena.

Komaeda and Sakasaki... they don't know what's going on with them, but Helena's worries... Kogamo unwraps their arms from around Hinata's neck and a tiny hand reaches out to tug on Helena's sleeve. ]

It's okay. I'll tell daddy you're my friends.

[There's a moment, no longer than a second, where Hinata shuts his eyes in tortured indecision.

But Helena is right. They cannot stay here. And loathe as he is to leave them alone, Kogamo cannot come with them into that blank unknown.

Hinata crouches back down, making sure Kogamo's feet are on the floor before he unwinds his arms from around them, fingers still outreached in case they lose balance or try to hang onto him. He's calm again - the ripples in the lake have smoothed out, surface appearing undisturbed once more.]

...Thank you. If- [He breaks the word off for a moment. Isn't it bad, to suggest they won't return? But it has to be just as bad to lie, and Hinata refuses to when they've been through enough today.] ...We'll try to come back. As fast as we can, and we'll try to send your dad home even if we can't.

[If they aren't swallowed in the snow. If they don't die right here.

Hinata will stand if Kogamo has let go of him. But even if they haven't, he'll gently reach out and take hold of Helena's hand and squeeze. It's time to go now.]

Let's go out together, Helena.

[He will not leave Komaeda. And Natsume, even if he's just met him - again - he will not leave him, either.

If they have to face being swallowed up, so be it.]

We'll find you again, Kogamo.

[she has to say it, with that tug on her sleeve. with that ache in her heart that wants to dash out with him, and not to simply leave him in a house that's too big for him, without a soul for comfort. without faith that something would change. if she could restore him to someone's arms - or somehow, unwind all these choices.

but right now, with the hand that's not holding Hajime's, she has her cane. and so she can crouch, while still holding on, lay it down and reach to her neck. removing the tie that her uniform came with, it might still be slightly damp, but she can press it into Kogamo's small hand. something to touch, something to have, beyond words that could be lies. what was felt solidified what was heard.]

It's a promise. Even if it takes us a while. Even if we don't seem the same. It will happen.

[even if she has to go through another endless set of cycles again. even if this is only a dream of some sort. Helena manages another smile - kind, sincere - and then straightens up with her cane.]

Ready when you are, Hajime.

[they'll go out at the same time. where they end up now...

hopefully the others are there.

the warmth of someone's hand seems all the more so, against the bitter chill.]

[ They're set down on the ground, bare feet touching cold hardwood floor and fingers curling around the ribbon, wringing it fretfully as the two of them turn to leave. He had also promised to be back as soon as he can, but then...

The last thing they hear is the frantic pitter patter of bare feet, and a fretful voice. ]

Don't leave me al—-

[ Hinata and Helena are swallowed up by the light, and the rest of the world washes away. ]

[ When Komaeda and Natsume step out the door, the world vanishes beneath their feet as if missing a step on the stairs, jarring the body from their hands and light becomes dark becomes that familiar sensation of falling through pitch black. But this time, it isn't long before the lights start appearing all around them: they see Hinata falling, Helena, close enough for them to reach out and find one another again.

And then a fifth person, a middle schooler with dark hair whipping around light brown eyes, peering over at them from an unreachable distance. ]

...It's been a long time since anybody's stumbled upon this memory...

[ His voice is quiet, difficult to hear in the rushing wind and the hissing that starts to fill their heads. ]

But a memory is a memory, and the past is the past. "What could have been" does not change reality: to fall again and again and again, to break again and again and again... To struggle, to die, to fail... to drown in the futility of it all... again and again and again...

...But it made me happy anyways.

[ The boy's lips pull back in a tentative smile, and his eyes lift. ]

The thought that somebody would have helped, that somebody would have taken care of him, that he wouldn't have been alone. I doubt he'll accept me back, but that's okay.

[ The little lights float around the four of them, and with each touch, they feel heavier, sleepier, on the verge of slipping away. ]

I hope we'll meet again someday. Thank you all for trying.

MISSION 2.C

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our memes are making me insane

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