gamehead | graveyard part 3

hunter's game the graveyard

You wake up in an unfamiliar cabin.

At first, it almost seems like you're in an entirely different place and that everything had been just a dream. The interior of the cabin looks nothing like the run-down, old-timey shacks that you had been living in before. Everything in here is sleek and modern, from the enormous flat-screen TV mounted on the wall to the fridge and mini-bars stocked with all your favorite foods. There aren't any individual rooms in here, just a common area large enough to house everyone comfortably, no matter how many more people join you...and there will be plenty more people joining you before the week is over.

Because if you look outside the window, it quickly becomes clear that not only are you still in Prayer's Pass, but that you are no longer among the realm of the living. Judging from the tombstones directly outside, you're now in what had been the abandoned broken-down cabin in the graveyard. The cabin's not all that changed; the world outside has gone completely grey and everything you see appears to be faded and blurry. The only things that remain sharp and in color are what's inside the cabin, including your fellow ghosts. Occasionally, people who are still alive may enter, but it's clear that what they're seeing is completely different from what you're seeing. The door's unlocked; however, a mysterious force prevents you from stepping beyond the threshold, no matter how hard you may try. After all, this cabin is a cage for the dead - a gilded one, perhaps, but a cage nonetheless.

On the flat-screen TV plays everything that is currently happening in the town. It will shut off once night starts...and something else will appear instead.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

That's the last time they can poison anyone, I think. [ Akane, Touko, and now Charles... he's doomed without America, so it's small comfort to know that the poison has run its course now. ] One of the others could probably tell you more about the other hunters.

[ Thanks to Poland, she knows who they are, but talking about that and her brainwashing at once... it's too much. She stares down at the floor, hand fisting in the bottom of her shirt; once she starts talking, it all rushes out at once. ]

As for me... I had to kill the whole town. I was killing wolves to protect Madoka, but I would have gone after the prey in the end, too. [ She sighs. ] Critter made me think everyone else were monsters, but... ahaha, I couldn't believe she was one. I don't think it would have let me go with her still alive, so I was gonna kill myself when I was done.

So there's a limit? They have to strike precisely tonight then, or this game will really be finished very, very soon. ...Mm, probably, but are we privy to their identities?

[She shakes her head.]

It's fine, Critter's been toying with all of us all along. It did say Scavengers can help or ruin both sides, so we were warned too like everyone else. You shouldn't hold it against yourself though: there are no innocent or guilty parties in this, only victims of circumstances. Everyone's fighting for something important to them, and you resisted Critter's spell because you believed in your best friend. You should be proud of that. [Offering an encouraging smile! YOU DID GOOD GIRL.]

Three times. [ With some reluctance, she points out Sharon on the screen — she'd been the other one present at her execution along with Holden, and seeing either of them still makes her wince. ] She's the one who's been doing it, but... it's over for her now.

[ SHE WANTS TO TAKE THAT ENCOURAGING SMILE but what is having any faith in herself; she just shakes her head again. ]

... Things aren't that easy for me, though. I don't regret stopping those guys, but I don't have the right to go back if Critter gives us the chance. I'll make sure someone else gets Madoka home. [ And then... sit in the cabin forever?? She hasn't thought that far ahead. ]

Then Charles was wrong to think Holden is the poisoner. Sharon Carter will be investigated tonight, however, and if we've a gun in our disposition tomorrow as planned, it'll be done before trial even begins.

[She quietly looks at the other girl.]

Kaname-san can't wish for that. Your well-being is undoubtedly important to her. Would you insist, if she asks you to go back with her?

[ That gets a sigh of relief. She still doesn't feel any guilt about the fate of the hunters, especially the ones who participated gleefully in the more brutal murders — their own deaths need to be equally slow. ]

She'd definitely ask. [ And that's the most painful part to think about. ] But I'm not a hero of justice anymore. I can't go home and face everyone after what I've done here.

I told her what I was doing, you know. She kept trying to protect me, knowing that I was gonna kill everyone. Knowing that I wouldn't listen. [ Those private conversations... she rubs at her eyes, trying not to lose focus. ] In the end, I'm as bad as the wolves are. So I definitely can't go back.

...I see, so it's like that.

[A small pause.]

But at least, please keep in mind that Justice is a difficult term to define. Everyone's version is a little different, even if the global idea is supposed to be similar. Besides, there's no righteous man on Earth who hasn't sinned, and that's quoting directly from the Bible. It's something to think about, don't you think?

[ She goes silent for a moment, apparently giving the idea some real thought. More than anything, she wants to just agree and move on, but she can't bring herself to. ]

... I get that, but there's a difference. If I'd just stopped the hunters, I could have protected everyone, even if I had to kill to do it. But I would have killed more than them in the end. [ Brainwashed or not, it's inexcusable. ] A hero of justice can't do that stuff. There's no point worrying about anything else when I've already messed up.

[...Ah, ideals.

--THAT IS]

Then what will you do, Miki-san? Is there still anything you would keep fighting for, knowing what you know right now?

[ shirou 2.0 ]

I want Madoka to get out of here. That's why I gave my arm up. [ Someone will solve the mystery of the real game. They have to. ] I don't care about anything else.

[nooo girl YOU ARE NOT THAT FAR GONE]

Do you really think Critter will allow us to simply vanish into oblivion?

[...]

There are worst fates.

graveyard part 3

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