✧ Chapter 34 ✧
[ Desire to Remain ]
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"Seems like we have company.." Nagito muttered as Hajime leaned him against a wall. "Stay here, and don't move." the mismatched boy's eyes fixed on his grey-green ones.

Nagito let Hajime's hand slip out of his grip as the red eyed boy faced the rabbit. "Initiating defence mode!" Monomi cheered, raising the branch at him.

Hajime just stood in the path of the small figure, his hands by his sides. "Who's behind all of this, rabbit?" he asked coldly as the pink and white bunny twirled around in a circle.

"Can't say! Sorry!" she waved the stick in an arc over her head, "I'd love, love, love to tell you, but it seems we have a problem! You two are supposed to be in your separate rooms!"

"You better do as I say or you'll have to face the consequences!" the rabbit cheered, sounding happy despite the seriousness of the situation. "I'll give you guys thwree seconds! Three! Two! One!"

Before either Nagito or Hajime could react, there was a massive explosion. It shook the ground, and caused the ceiling to break away slightly, pieces of rocks and paint falling to the floor. Nagito coughed as Hajime flung out a hand to keep them steady. That rabbit didn't even give them time to run. Jeez.

"What?" Monomi tilted her head as the dust cleared, "It seems like you didn't listen! It's punishment time!"

"Komaeda!" Hajime pushed him out of the way as knives shot towards the two, embedding themselves into the wall. "Bad children should stay in bed!" Monomi called as Hajime carried Komaeda once more. "Come back!"

"That rabbit.. it sounds like it's working with Monokuma.." Nagito looked at Hajime, who was keeping his eyes focused ahead.

"That's Monomi.." the other student replied, "I remember now. She was our original principal before Monokuma came along.. I didn't know she was bad."

"Let's focus on one thing at a time, Hinata-kun," Nagito whispered as they heard more footsteps behind them. "Isn't there anywhere we can hide?"

Without answering him, Hajime suddenly veered to the left, just in time for a knife to hurl towards them. "To get back up, we have to take the stairs up to the ground level. Since this is the Quarantine level... we're underground."

"This isn't a hospital.. it's a maze.. full of insane people." Nagito mumbled as Hajime ran into a room, stopping short when he realised that it was a dead end. The two teenagers stared at the wall for a moment, all they could hear were their unsteady breaths and Monomi's shouting.

"Komaeda," Hinata suddenly, but gently, set him on the ground, looking at him in the eyes, "Whatever you do, don't leave this room."

"What? Hinata-kun.. what do you mean? Where do you think you're going?" he grabbed onto Hajime's shirt. "You're not leaving me to do something... insane. Are you?"

Hajime closed his eyes and leaned in to kiss Nagito's forehead, "I'll leave the insanity parts to you, Komaeda.. just trust me." when he opened his eyes, Nagito could see that both of his irises were blood red, "Okay?"

There was a loud thud, followed by another explosion, making the two flinch. "Stay here and don't move," Hajime stood up, "I'll be back."

Nagito tried to pick himself up, but his feet were stinging with pain. He looked at the soles of his bare feet, surprised to see that they had tiny bits of glass embedded in them. Great. Just his luck. Surprisingly though, they didn't seem to hurt very much.

He looked around as Hajime left the room, locking him in as soon as the door clicked shut. The white haired boy braced himself against the wall and got up. Hinata didn't say he could look around, after all. He shivered, wondering why was everything so cold..

Nagito let out a shaky breath, seeing his warm breath form a puff of steam. Where was he? He placed a hand against the wall, seeing a thermometer. It was below zero degrees in here. No wonder it was freeing. Nagito continued to lean against the walls, stumbling towards a small ray of light in the corner which illuminated a lever.

Outside, he could hear someone yelling for backup and even more things exploding. Whatever was going on out there, didn't seem to be pretty. His hands brushed against the lever, debating if he should activate it.

"Well," he whispered, feeling colder than before, "My luck will turn things around.. won't it?" he smiled to himself and pulled it down. Almost immediately, the lights changed from dark red to a cool blue, making everything seem colder than before.

A cold room? In front of Nagito, were rows and rows of large drawers, large enough to fit bodies in. It was a morgue.. a place to store dead bodies. No wonder it was freezing in here. Maybe this was where the hospital staff stores all the bodies once they realised that the Reverse Serums didn't work. Creepy.

He continued to look around, seeing multiple lights strung overhead, a vent in the left corner of the room and a small wooden brown desk in one corner.

He needed to tell Hinata about this. Maybe there was a way to escape this place. He looked at the door, which now had a huge dent against it, as if someone had thrown something against it.. Whoever it is, they must've been strong.

Nagito walked over to the door, feeling his hands turn colder all of a sudden. This happened the last time when his foster family had died in that plane. Maybe it was his luck. It acted as a warning.? No, that sounded dumb. There's no control of his luck cycles after all. He lifted his hand to the doorknob, before brushing his instincts away and throwing it open.

Hajime turned, a line of blood across his right cheek. He was standing not too far away from where the entrance of the door was. His red eyes held no mercy as he continued to kill off another guard with a knife he had picked up.

"Komaeda? I told you to stay in the room!" he exclaimed, momentarily distracted as he dropped the guard's limp body.

Nagito didn't listen to him, his hands still felt as if they had been dipped into cold water.

However-

He didn't hesitate to move forward when he saw a man raising a gun towards Hajime.

He didn't hesitate when he pushed him out of the way as the guard fired the shot. "KOMAEDA!" Hajime yelled with shock as Nagito staggered against a wall. He slid to the floor, a hand over the side of his chest where the bullet had shot him.

...

"Komaeda- no.. NO, you're not dying!" Hajime's eyes flickered, momentarily changing from green to red as he panicked. He knelt down in front of the injured student, who was gazing at him with tears in his eyes. Nagito had never seen anyone so concerned for his sake before.

He leaned his head against the wall, feeling the pain cease as he continued to hold Hajime's hand. His whole body felt as if it were on fire..

Hajime turned to the guard, his eyes blazing with anger as he continued to hold Nagito's hand. "Stay. Here." he told the white haired boy quietly. Hajime let go, and stood up, facing the group of guards. He stepped forward and started to kill them all, taking his anger out on those foolish enough to oppose him.

Nagito watched Hajime as his body started to turn colder, blood continuing to seep through the fabric of the hospital gown. He pulled his hand away, seeing the blood staining his fingers. At least he protected Hinata..

After Hajime had slaughtered all of the guards, he came across Monomi, who was cowering behind the body of a corpse. "P-Pwease don't hurt me!" she squealed as she covered her face.

Hajime picked the rabbit up, holding her tightly, "Who is behind all this. TELL ME! Or I'll rip you to shreds! You saw what I can do and if Komaeda dies..." his eyes darkened coldly, "I will tear this place down and destroy everything."

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[ Control Room ]

"So scary!" Monaca Towa exclaimed, "But it's so cool to see how it all turned out, am I right?" she turned to the figure who was standing by her chair.

The person was wearing a Monokuma hoodie, her arms folded as she watched Hajime through the camera of Monomi. "So many unpredictable things.." Monaca sighed dreamily, stirring a cup of royal milk tea. "But enough's enough, am I right?"

The person kept quiet, her magenta eyes still staring at Hajime's furious expression. "Self destruct Monomi. We can always make another clone." she replied Monaca.

"Aw, boo.." Monaca huffed, "You're no fun." With that being said, the girl turned around and headed to the back of the room, where there was a bridge to link back to Hope's Peak Academy. Her eyes burned with tears as she pushed back the hoodie, staring up at the cool autumn sky. "..."

She hoped Komaeda would be alright. But that shot.. was fatal.

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[ Heartbreak Hospital ]

"Self destructing in THREE! TWO-!" Monomi exclaimed, waving her arms and legs as Hajime flung the rabbit away, shielding his eyes as debris and dust flew towards him. When the dust cleared, he turned around and ran back to Komaeda.

"Komaeda.." he muttered as he knelt in front of the injured boy. "Say something.. please." he pleaded. The other boy was looking at Hajime with half closed eyes, blood trickling out the side of his lips. "Hinata.." he murmured, extending his hand slowly, reaching for the other's.

"You can't go.. you- you promised we'd get out together." Hajime whispered, his voice breaking. He laced with fingers with the pale boy's, "Please dont leave me in here.." He suddenly felt.. nervous. Afraid, even. No one wanted to be in a hell like this by themselves.

"I don't want to die yet, Hinata-kun.." Komaeda whispered, his other hand moving away from his chest to grasp the boy's hands with blood stained fingers. "I need to see that.. that you make it out alive.." he laughed softly, making his chest hurt again.

"But I see that our fates.. change. I'm sorry we couldn't continue our.. journey together. Because of you.. I didn't want to die.. I feel like myself again whenever I'm around you. Your hope.. gives me life."

"Komaeda.." Hajime clenched his teeth together as his vision blurred. Komaeda just leaned against the wall, his eyes closed and his breathing slowing down. "Hinata-kun.." he murmured, "Aishiteru.."

"You will... always be my hope." Komaeda felt tears stream down his face as he struggled to lean forward to kiss Hajime one more time.

Hajime felt the other boy's hand suddenly relax, going slack as all life seemed to drain out of his body. "... Komaeda?" he knew he'd never get an answer now. Nagito Komaeda; the Ultimate Lucky Student, his one reason why he kept fighting.. was now gone.

"I love you too, Komaeda.." Hajime felt tears trail down his cheeks as he held the other body close, not caring about the blood that was pooling at his knees.

"... I really do."

♥ End of Chapter Thirty-Four ♥