//------------------------------// // Aftermath // Story: Danganronpa Trigger Happy Havoc: Wonderland's Despair // by MangaKamen //------------------------------// Trial Aftermath 1 TTT - TTT “CONGRATULATIONS!” Cheshire cheered loudly as he jumped up and down on his seat. “You bastards managed to find the villain!” TTT – TTT “Elo? You were ze one who sent ze note? Do you actually know of a way out?” The blonde unicorn drew back in surprise at the sight of the goat, “Francis? Why are you here?” The cook chef merely smiled back as he walked into the storage building, “Because moi got your note! Is zis really true?” For a moment, Elo looked hesitant but sighed under her breath, “Y… Yes. Yes I have, but come in, I don’t want to risk Cheshire hearing us.” Francis nodded back before he walked in, making his way towards the nearby table and chair, Elo closing the door behind him. “S’alright, so, what’s this about…” The Pranch goat stopped when he realized that the green glow of Elo’s horn hadn’t died down, and just as he turned around… “WHAT ZE!?!” Francis yelped as he dodged the knife that flew through the air towards him. “What are you doing!?” The calm and serene look that Elo usually had disappeared, melted away into a look of pure malice, and for a second, it seemed like her eyes had glazed over. Her breathing was labored and she held the knife up with her magic, “… It wasn’t supposed to be you – But I don’t have a choice now!” However, Francis had managed to reach for the table and hook the vase with his hoof, and with a quick spin, the goat threw the vase. Elo saw it coming at the last second, but didn’t have enough time to dodge and reeled backwards just as the vase was about to make contact… KER-RASH! Francis took a few deep breaths before brought his hooves up to his mouth. “E-ELO!?” “… I zen went to ze back to try to find somezing to help her,” Francis sighed, his head lowered down near the stand. “I zought zat she was knocked out, but zen… Zen she wasn’t. She had tackled moi to ze floor wiz ze knife raised high. She must’ve had trouble concentrating because of ze head wound, since she had ze handle bump into her head a few times, zat’s where ze blood came from. “I was certain I’d be killed, so I looked for somezing, anyzing to stop her… And wiz my hooves, I made a blind reach… and zere it was: Godfrey’s scissors under ze shelf. You… You know ze rest.” Tracer was silent as Francis told what had happened in White Rabbit’s Storage – Whether or not it was the truth that remained to be unseen. “… You could’ve left her,” Zure spoke out, her gaze aimed directly at the goat. “After you knocked her out, or dazed her, you could’ve just left!” “I… I didn’t know how serious her head wound was,” Francis admitted, not even bothering to lift his head up. “If I had just left her, zen who’s to say zat she wouldn’t have died anyway? I… I had to try to help her! I had to do somezing!” Smokey clenched his claws tightly, so much so that the claws began to draw blood from his palm, “Elo… What the Tartarus!? Was escape for you that important that you couldn’t have waited for help?!” “When Geri and I searched her room,” Crowquill spoke up. “We didn’t find the photos that Cheshire gave her, so, we won’t know why she was so fervent to escape…” “But, then why did you try to frame me?” Lore asked, tears welling up in her eyes. This time Francis lifted his head up, revealing that he had tears streaming down his face, the fur on his face a complete mess. “I… I… It was ze rules. Like a recipe, I studied ze rules: The villain who kills one of his/her companions will be allowed to ‘graduate,’ provided his or her crime is not discovered to the other students. I just zought zat if I could confuse you all, zen you wouldn’t figure zat it was me who… Who… Killed Elo, zen… Zen… But I didn’t know zis would happen! “I didn’t know zat everyone else would sacrificed if my crime wasn’t discovered!” “Is that really what you thought?” Everyone turned back to Cheshire, his plastered on grin now seemed to be even wider than usual. “Perhaps when Elo was attacking you, you thought that this is your chance to escape – If you took advantage of this and killed her, you wouldn’t get caught… “Isn’t that what you really thought?” “N-NO! Zat’s not true at all!” Francis yelled back. “It… It was self-defense! What was I supposed to do, just let her kill me!?” “I believe I said this before,” Cheshire cackled as he rolled his head around on his shoulders. “Doesn’t matter if it was done in self-defense, murder is still murder. Besides, you still covered your tracks of your crime – Weren’t you so desperate that you thought you could escape just by sacrificing not only Elo, but fellow classmates? “Just be honest with yourself in your final moments.” “F-Final moments?!” Francis yelped with his hooves at his mouth. “Oh? Don’t you remember?” Cheshire laughed loudly with his paws on his stomach. “You broke a rule – Your crime was discovered! Therefore, you shall be punished!” “URK!” Francis yelped as he drew back from his stand. “Francis,” Kopuz murmured. “You had good intentions!” Smokey snarled loudly. “But if you had gotten someone’s help, then… Then…” “… I had to go back.” Francis lifted his head up, tears in the corners of his eyes. “I meant when I said I wanted to help… But when I saw zat letter saying zat zere was a chance, I decided… “Zat no matter ze cost… ZEY ARE WAITING FOR MOI! MY FRIENDS AND MY FAMILY BACK AT ZE RESTAURANT!” “The picture,” Trace gasped when he realized what Francis was getting at. “You… You actually believed that garbage?” Godfrey asked, wincing a little. “Of… Of course I don’t!” Francis sputtered before he shook his head. “But still… When I saw ze restaurant up in flames, my friends amongst the… I… I… Part of me wanted to go back to get help, but… Zat ozer part of me… I hesitated. In moi’s heart, lies ze devil.” Francis… You’re not a killer. You’re a cook chef, you had little choice to defend yourself from Elo. But we can’t blame her either, everyone was shaken from what Cheshire showed us on those photos. Maybe she saw something that was just as bad as what Francis saw. … Would I have done the same thing though? Cheshire yawned loudly, getting everyone’s attention. “Well now, well now, well now, well now! I think we’ve had enough of the appetizers – Its time for the main course!” “Now hold on!” Zure yelled out. “He was just doing this in self-defense! There was…” “Ugh, I hate repeating myself,” Cheshire interrupted with a roll of his eye. “Murder is murder! Motivated, self-defense or even accidental, it doesn’t matter! Now, enough of this!” “Hold on,” Francis sniffled, his head turned to Tracer. “I’m… I’m sorry Monsieur Tracer, it looks like I won’t be able to treat you to my restaurant…” “Francis,” Tracer replied with a nervous gulp. “I’ve prepared a special punishment for Francis, the Elite Cook!” Cheshire laughed loudly. “Everyone, I’m sorry it turned out like zis,” Francis continued, tears streaming down his face. “And monsieur Cheshire – Please… Please tell me what happened. Are those photos real!?” “LET’S GIVE IT EVERYTHING WE’VE GOT!” Cheshire announced as he reached into his hat and pulled out a small mallet. “Please! Tell me!” Francis pleaded, the goat’s head now slammed into the stand. “What happened to my friends?! What happened to my family?! EVERRRRRRRRRRRYONE!” “IT’S PUNISHMENT TIME!!!” It was then that a large mechanical stand rose out of the floor in front of Cheshire, and with a mighty jump, the cat slammed the hammer into the big red button that was on top of the machine. Several sparks erupted from the stand until the holographic screen appeared over Cheshire’s head, displaying an 8-bit version of Francis in a jail cell. GAME OVER FRANCIS HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY. TIME FOR THE PUNISHMENT!! On the screen, an 8-bit version of Cheshire danced across the screen and dragged the 8-bit Francis across the ground. The lights in the courtroom immediately darkened, with only a single spotlight over the sobering goat. Francis lifted his head up to investigate, when all of a sudden an iron collar snapped around his neck tightly. For a moment, Francis began to reach for the collar to take it off, but he was immediately ripped from his stand and dragged across the floor towards one of the now opened hallway doors. The moment that Francis went through the doorway, the doors slammed shut. Spécial Français - Baguettes Sans Fin However, the group didn’t have to wait long to see what Francis’s fate was – The holographic screen lit up once more, this time displaying a beautiful scenery of a fancy city with a sunset gleaming behind it. In the middle of the city was a large tower – the La tour Eiffel: one of the main attractions of Prance (and Las Pegasus to some extent), and the camera that took the footage began to zoom in to the top of the tower, where Francis stood on the side of, the collar no longer around his neck. Francis turned his head around, completely confused at where he was. As the goat tried to get his bearings, Cheshire popped out of nowhere cackling. Francis heard the laughter, and spun around just in time for Cheshire to jump up and slam his hind paws into Francis’s muzzle. The goat screamed as he was forced off of the tower, and oddly enough, Cheshire was falling with him. As the two fell, Cheshire reached into his top hat and pulled out an umbrella. The devilish cat waved towards Francis before he opened the umbrella and floated up while Francis continued his free fall. Francis saw that the concrete was quickly approaching and brought his front legs in front of his face. But, just as he was about to go splat on the ground, Francis stopped just an inch before the pavement and was then pulled back up into the air. Apparently strapped to his back legs was a bungee cord that actually managed to save him. When he stopped bouncing up and down a few times, Francis breathed a sigh of relief and tried to bring his forward legs up to try to undo the cord at his legs. But out of the corner of his eye, Francis noticed something… Cheshire – this time dressed as a Pranch soldier with a red sash over his chest and a bicorne hat instead of his top hat (for those of you who aren’t experts in hats, a bicorne is a hat that was used by Neighpoleon). In his paws was what appeared to be… A baguette that was just as tall as him? The Pranchly dressed cat sauntered up to the confused goat, and when he drew close enough… WHAM! Francis was reeled back when Cheshire smacked him upside the head with the baguette, it was done with enough force that made Francis swing through the air with the bungee cord keeping a good hold on him. And as Francis was swinging back, the screen showed that there was a large bruise on his face where the baguette had struck him. It was then that Francis realized something – There were countless more Cheshires, all dressed up like Pranch soldiers, each wielding a baguette. Everyone watched as each of the Cheshires charged towards Francis, and watched as each of them slammed the surprisingly hardened baguettes into Francis, as if he were a living piñata. Soon after the beatings began, blood began to fly through the air, splattering against the concrete and the sides of the tower. For what seemed to be an eternity, everyone watched as more and more blood splattered about. And then… It stopped. The Pranch dressed Cheshires all cackled before they began to walk away, leaving only a shadowed, bloody pulp where Francis once was, blood stained the concrete beneath it and from above, Francis’s beret slowly floated down into the pool of blood… TTT – TTT There were so many things that went through Tracer’s mind. But there was one predominate thought that kept appearing in the front of his head… Why? Why did it come to this? Why was this real? Why did Francis and Elo have to die? And why… Why was he so happy? “AH! That got the blood a flowing!” Somehow, Cheshire was back on his throne when the lights came back on, his paws set at his face. “Such devoted loyalty he had to his family – Ah, it’s practically an art form to see that loyalty snuffed out. Such a despairingly amount of loyalty that both Francis and Elo showed to the outside world… “It’s beautiful to watch that disappear into darkness.” “You… You bastard!” Those words came from Tracer’s own mouth, that was the only thing he could really think of to say after seeing and hearing everything. Cheshire cackled loudly, “Oh my, calling me that? How’d you know my parents weren’t married to each other? Then again, cats don’t really marry, they just do it, so every cat is a bastard!” “T-That’s not what I’m going for!” Tracer yelled out. “This… This is your fault!” “… Really? You’re going for that cliché?” Cheshire sighed loudly with a shake of his head. “Oh, ‘it’s all Cheshire’s fault that Elo and Francis are dead’, that’s so lame of you to say! I wasn’t the one who made Elo get the knife and trap one of you. “I wasn’t the one who forced Francis to do the deed. I wasn’t the one who made you all vote for him… “I was just the executioner – Would you punish the one who flips the switch on the electric chair? Or a member of the Canterlot Royal Guard for injuring somepony who tried to attack the princesses? “No.” Cheshire threw his paws behind his head and laughed. “This isn’t a laughing matter!” Freya barked loudly at the cat. “Two… Two of us are dead…” The others all had different reactions to what just happened – Smokey was trying his hardest to not to unleash flames from his mouth, Lore was sniffling, trying to contain her tears, Misch was clinging to Zure (much to her chagrin), and the others had their own reaction to what had transpired before their very eyes. Francis was dead. Dead. “… Now then, will all of you please leave in an orderly fashion?” Cheshire requested. “After all, I can’t have anyone in here when we’re not having a trial – How would I ever get the cleaning done? Unless someone else wants to get punished along with Francis – Doesn’t matter to me!” Many of the students leered at Cheshire before everyone trudged towards the opened elevator doors. Tracer leered at cat doll one last time before the doors closed in front of him. Cheshire cackled loudly before he reached into his top hat and pulled out a small red light from it. He held it up in his paws and allowed the glow of the small red item to forge itself into a small jewel. “However, honor and devotion matter to me. It’s more important to me than any materialistic thing or any fame I could have…” TTT – TTT The elevator ride back to the Main Court was silent, the events that just transpired before them… Seeing someone being killed in front of anyone’s eyes would be enough to instill a disturbing despair that would render everyone speechless. Everyone dragged themselves from the elevator, with Tracer slumping to the ground when he stepped out. The world seemed to pass by Tracer, he didn’t seem to care that everyone else seemed to pass by him as he sat there with his head lowered down. The world passed by him, and he was nothing more than a speed bump to it. “Hey.” The world stopped spinning for a second as Tracer turned back to see Crowquill standing behind him. The pegasus stallion placed a hoof on Tracer’s shoulder, “It had to be done – We had to survive. But, I know it’s still wrong, Francis didn’t deserve any of that.” Tracer didn’t say a word. “… My father.” “Huh?” Tracer questioned as he turned back to Crowquill. “My father is the one who told me that statement,” Crowquill explained with an oddly… cute smile? Why was it cute? “If you curl up in fear, you won’t accomplish anything. If you want to succeed, have courage and step up front – He would always tell me that whenever I doubted myself when I was younger. “Eventually, it turned into a self-mantra for myself to continue onwards whenever things came up.” Tracer remembered what Crowquill had said before the trial – How he’d tell Tracer how he knew that phrase. He had hoped that it would’ve brought some clarity, some calmness to Tracer’s mind in all this chaos – But that just raised another question. ‘My father was the one who told me that phrase,’ Tracer thought to himself, his gaze lowering from Crowquill. ‘Is it possible that our fathers know each other? It would explain how both of us know it… But… ‘But… Why do I feel like there’s more?’ “Now, how’d you learn that phrase?” Crowquill asked, snapping Tracer out of his thoughts. For a moment, Tracer bit his tongue before he sighed, “Oddly enough, my old man told me about it.” Crowquill pulled away from Tracer and raised a brow at the young earth stallion, “I see… Shot, we’ll have to talk about this later. Right now though, we… We need to calm ourselves… We can’t let Cheshire’s actions weaken us.” Tracer only sighed and pushed himself back to his hooves. Crowquill was right, but it still hurt to watch someone that Tracer knew d… d… He couldn’t even bring himself to accept Francis’s fate… But he had to. For Francis and Elo, he had to endure their fates... ... But, how long until he was forced to go against the same fate? TBC