Under the Summer Rain

[Megami†]

((Continued from Shattered Portraits.))

Somehow, Ali Grayston couldn't help but think that this island wasn't quite so scary in the company of someone else.  This thought passed through her mind as she cast what might've been the hundredth sidelong glance at Gregg Archer, who was walking in comfortable silence beside her through the evening rain.  Slowly but surely, the storm was starting to dwindle down, and besides the occassional crack of thunder or flash of lightning across the darkening sky, the storm didn't seem quite so terrifying anymore.

They'd made quite a bit of headway since they left the farmhouse on the southeastern side of the island.  At Ali's suggestion, they had moved more inland, toward the more urbanized portion of the island.  It probably wasn't the best idea, but quite honestly, the odds of them getting killed were probably pretty equal whether they were hiding out on the outskirts of the island or cowering down right in the center.

"This is crazy," Ali finally spoke up, breaking the silence.

"Walking through the rain?" Gregg offered, "Going around in circles?  Having no destination at all?"

"No," Ali scoffed, "Just... THIS.  All of this.  I don't get it... somebody out there was demented enough to just sit around and think this up.  How do you get a bright idea like 'Hey, let's strap some collars on some random kids and watch them kill one another!' anyway?"

"I dunno," Gregg stated quietly, offering a haphazard smile while rubbing the back of his neck.  He'd given it a lot of thought, but in the end, it just didn't make sense to him at all.  "I remember last year... what little I caught of it, they were making demands to the government and stuff... but it was outrageous demands, stuff nobody could seriously expect them to do."

His brows narrowed into a thoughtful expression as he continued to ponder in silence.

"I remember..." Ali replied thoughtfully.

Mr. Grayston had come home many a night last year enraged by the outrageous demands Danya and his cohorts had made toward the American government.  It really was ridiculous stuff.  Stuff like "All the politicians have to strip off their clothes and howl at the moon" or something.  Maybe it was his ridiculous demands that made Danya so much of an enigma.  He never made any feasible demands... nothing that could be accomplished.  Nothing that the American government would be willing to negotiate.  So then, what was the purpose?

Maybe there wasn't one.

Ali reflexively touched the collar wrapped around her neck.  Ever since her waking moments on the island, she had hoped beyond all hope that this time, this game would run a different course.  This time, it wouldn't go through until the bitter end.  Now, four long, hard days after waking up in this place, she was beginning to have severe doubts.

"... Gregg?"

"Hm?" he responded thoughtfully, his mind obviously still elsewhere.

"Do you think we'll get out of here?"

"I don't know," he replied truthfully, the doubt in his words weighing them down, "I hope so... but I really don't know."

"But what if we don't?"

"I don't really want to think about that."

Gregg tried to force an unsure smile.  No matter how he felt about the situation, he had to try and stay strong.  Not just for himself, but for Ali too.  She'd been his best friend since they were little, but now, Gregg found himself almost not knowing how to act around her.  Granted, neither one of them had ever been in a situation as surreal as this before, but still, he was finding it quite hard to soothe the doubts in his friend's mind when the very same ones plagued his own.

Instead, Gregg let his mind wander to something else, and began trying to identify the various plantlife sprawled throughout the botanical gardens they were walking through.  He couldn't help but think that once upon a time, this place must've been really nice.  Now, though, it had been reduced to one big graveyard.  Gregg stopped abruptly and turned back for a moment as a rustling noise echoed out from behind him.  Deciding that it was only the wind, or perhaps his nerves getting the better of him, he continued walking, catching up to Ali in just a few strides.

"So have you figured out where we're going yet?"

[Mitsuko2†]

From: Revenge is a dish better served cold


Mariavel; was tired of just wandering around this godforsaken island. It seemed like every corner she turned she was in a fight, or she was killing someone. She didn't want to do this anymore. After killing Walter and finally putting an end to his madness, she had taken his knife and fled the mall. She didn't bother to search for the daypacks. She had more than enough provisions.

Mariavel soon found herself not too far from what looked like a garden, as she could see a bunch of flowers. Slowly she pointed the rifle out and began to sneak her way in, just incase. Better to be cautious than dead. H stalked her way in and found herself looking at a pair of people one of whom made her smile.

"Ali Grayston. How nice to see you." She smiled as she pointed the rifle square at the girl. She wasn't going to shoot though. No, she just wanted to scare her.

[Megami†]

Maybe Gregg should've paid just a bit more attention to the rustling in the bushes he'd heard only moments before.  Seemingly out of nowhere, a blonde-headed girl emerged from the shrubbery and pointed the rifle she was carrying directly at Ali before greeting her rather sinisterly.  Gregg stepped protectively in front of his female companion on reflex, and right into the line of fire.  A worried expression formed on his face as he studied the blonde girl.  She didn't look familiar.

"Who are---" he started.

Before he could finish his sentence, however, Ali came forward with a retort of her own.

"Well now... I'd say this was a pleasant surprise, but everytime I run into you, it's anything but pleasant."

She stepped back in front of Gregg, never taking her eyes off of Mariavel.  Maybe she was pushing the wrong buttons with her brash maneuvers, but at this point, Ali didn't care.  Mariavel'd already made threats on her life.  If she was going to kill her now, it made no difference whether Ali was cowering behind Gregg or whether she was out in the open and ready to go down in a blaze of glory.  A coy smile formed on her lips as she stared Mariavel directly in the eye.

"Do you think that scares me, Varella?  Because it doesn't.  If you're here to go on some tirade about what a bad person I am and how you want to give yourself some sort of satisfaction by killing me, then don't waste your breath.  I know all about you... the things you've done.  You've killed people... lots of people.  Maybe more than anyone else on this island.  And yet, something tells me you still think you're some saint.  You're going around killing people to right all the wrongs they've committed against you, or some vigilante bullshit like that.  Am I close?  Please, tell me I am."

The disgust in Ali's voice was apparent as she spoke to Mariavel, but the coy and sarcastic smile that plagued her lips never once faltered.

"You're a murderer.  If you want to kill me, go ahead.  If it'll make you feel like you did the right thing at the end of the day, by all means, pull the trigger.  Kill me.  Kill Gregg.  He doesn't even know who you are... and I thank God every day for that.  You can kill us both, and he'll die knowing that some overaggressive slut offed him for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  That's what everyone'll remember you for anyway.  You'll be the whore that offed the politician's son... killed the politician's daughter.  Even if you got out of here, everyone would hate you just as much as they do now."

The words poured from her lips before she realized what she was saying.  Even being faced with certain death, Ali wouldn't give someone like Mariavel Varella the satisfaction of scaring her.  She wouldn't let a harlot like the girl standing in front of her have any power over her.  Gregg, meanwhile, was standing with his mouth agape listening to Ali's verbal barrage on the blonde-headed girl.

What about you, Gregg?  What will you think of me now?

He'd never seen this Ali Grayston.  He hadn't ever been able to believe that a friend so close to him could be so different somewhere else.  He'd always known the calm, composed Ali.  Never this Ali... the hateful, sarcastic Ali.  The Ali that ate people alive.  Still, Gregg had blind faith that his companion had reason for the words that spilled from her mouth.  Part of him wanted to take off running and drag her away, but he continued to stand there.  He wanted to tell Ali to stop talking, not to provoke the deranged blonde anymore, but he couldn't.

Is she trying to get us killed?

"Listen, ladies... there's no need for this.  There's no need to fight."

[Mitsuko2†]

Mariavel was in shock. She couldn't move as Ali Grayston once again verbally assaulted her. She was like this every day at school. Every fucking day. It could never go Mariavel's way. She'd always be teased and abused. She'd never amount to anything. She'd always just be the one girl who everyone hates. No one loved her. No one wanted her. She'd never be loved. But.... She'd still keep trying. No matter what Ali or anyone else said... she'd survive.

"Shut up! Shut the fuck up you high-strung bitch!" She yelled at the girl. "You have no right! No fucking right!" She felt a few tears roll down her stained face, and allowed herself to calm down. "No... I don't need to tell you how vile a person you are. You already know. I don't any satisfaction from killing any of the people I murdered. But y'know what... It's what I had to do. Maybe I have killed more than my share of people. But... I don't think I'm any sort of saint. I just... I want to go home. I want to go back to how everything used to be. Maybe... maybe I want to kill all the people who've wronged me. Maybe... but what do I have to lose by doing it? They made my life a hell. So did you. Did it give YOU some sort of satisfaction? To watch people like me break every time you lashed out at me?"

Tears were now falling freely down her dirt-covered cheeks. The rifle still pointed straight at Ali's chest.

"The only satisfaction I ever received on this island, was when I killed Walter Smith. Tell me Ali... has anyone ever tried to rape you? Well he did. So killing him was like a release for me. Killing you though... it'd be a waste of my time. Everyone in Bathurst has something against you. Sooner or later, you'll have to pay your dues. You say that this boy doesn't know me right? But does he know you? I'm sure he knows part of you... but what about the real you? The you who make everyone's lives living hells. Who manipulates people and beats them down so hard that they're afraid to climb back up. Does he know that you? Why don't you introduce him?"

Mariavel moved the rifle back to her side, and wiped away the annoying tears that Ali Grayston always seemed to be able to make her shed.

[Megami†]

Ali simply shook her head and laughed softly as she looked at Mariavel.  She was a wretched sight, just like she always had been... covered in the blood of other people, makeup running down her face in a sea of tears.  All Ali Grayston could think to herself was what a baby Mariavel truly was.  She dressed and acted like a whore to get attention from the people around her, and although it was the wrong kind of attention, she simply didn't care.  Somehow, Ali couldn't see the parallel between Mariavel and herself.  She didn't want to, either.

"You want to go home?" Ali reiterated sarcastically, "What do you have to go back to?  Who do you think you are, anyway?  There's nothing back there for someone like you.  If everyone gives you as much grief as you claim they do, what would make you want to go back?  You're not gonna be revered as some hero or something, so you can get all those false hopes out of your head now.  Your life was meaningless then, and even if by some miracle you did manage to survive this, it'll be just as meaningless if you do get to go home.  People like you don't deserve to go home.  People like you are probably the reason that Principal Wilson sold us out in the first place.  You, and the people like you, you're the scum on the bottom of society's shoe.  You're the rotten stench that we're always trying to get rid of but never seem to be able to.  You... you're probably the reason we're in this stupid thing to begin with!"

Despite herself, Ali was getting angry.  The more she looked at the pitiful sight that was Mariavel Varella, the more enraged she got.  If not for people like the Bloody Fists thugging up the school and ruining it for everybody, maybe Principal Wilson would've never sold them out to Danya.  People like Mariavel ensured that someone would play the game.  She'd killed so many people, just because she wanted to go "home".  It was an outrage.

"You don't even have a home to go back to, do you?"

What did someone like Mariavel, who stemmed from nothing and no one, have to return home to?  What would it matter if someone like that girl died out here, just like the other fifty plus nameless students that'd been murdered on the island?  Who would care?  Walter Smith was dead, and the entire state was probably mourning the loss... not because Walter was a good person, by any means, but because his life meant something.  Mariavel's... well, it didn't.  She was just some gang-girl slut that paraded around Bathurst like she owned the place.  She wasn't important.  She wasn't anybody at all.

Mariavel's assault suddenly turned toward Gregg, and all Ali could do was laugh at the sheer idiocity that spewed from Mariavel's mouth.

"You think you're being cute, don't you?" she mocked the other girl, "The fact is, Varella, you're the one that doesn't know anything about me.  You believe what you want to believe, and that's it.  Unlike you, it doesn't break me when someone has a negative opinion of me... because your opinions mean nothing.  You're nobody to me, and you never will be."

"Ali..."

Gregg Archer didn't really know what to say.  The situation had escalated so fast, and yet somehow, it seemed like Ali had managed to disarm the shotgun-wielding girl.  The whole situation had been an ugly one, and all that Gregg could manage to comprehend from the situation was that the two girls hadn't gotten along in school.  At this point, he just wanted to leave before things got any worse than they already were.  In the back of his mind, the gears were turning.  Mariavel had succeeded in doing one thing, even if she hadn't managed to get into Ali's head at all.  She'd managed to plant the seeds of doubt in the back of Gregg's mind, and although he wasn't letting it show right now, he had a million questions for his brown-haired companion.

"There's no point in this," Gregg tried to persuade the girls, "We should just go our separate ways and pretend this whole thing never happened.  There doesn't need to be any bloodshed, nobody needs to get hurt, and it's not worth it."

A reluctant sigh escaped Ali's lips as she continued to stare at Mariavel, "I guess I'll be going, then.  Au revoir, darling.  I'd say I hope we'll meet again, but I genuinely don't."

The opportunity to fire the shotgun directly into her back was there, and Ali was fully aware of the fact.  However, she couldn't imagine someone as weak-minded as Mariavel actually having the nerve to fire that gun into the backside of one of her former tormentors.  She didn't have the mental strength to break the chain that bore her down and do it, and Ali was almost certain of that fact.  People like her were probably the reason they were on this island anyway.  Somehow, in some roundabout way, it was always the school delinquents' fault for everything bad that ever seemed to happen.  Either way, Ali didn't care.  She just wanted to be rid of the eyesore that was Mariavel Varella.

[Mitsuko2†]

Mariavel fell to her knees in shock and felt her eyes well up with tears of helplessness. She was just a kid... what did she do to deserve this shit?! She couldn't do this anymore... Ali Grayston... The Sisterhood... Everyone was going to die now... She would NOT go down without a fight! NEVER! She'd kill all of them! Everyone would pay for what was happening! She wouldn't leave a survivor standing!

"Just die..." She said at almost a whisper, feeling the tears of madness roll down her cheeks. She looked up at the retreating form of Ali with a sadistic smile ion her face. Her eyes were filled with lust. The lust for blood.

"Just die..." She pulled the pilstol from her waist and pointed it at the retreating form. She didn't care about the boy. Only Ali would die.

"All of You.... JUST DIE!" She screamed and shot three bullets from the chamber of the gun. She'd never know if they hit Ali because the announcements came on after she shot. She gathered her bags quickly and ran from the garden, listening as she ran. No se had another reason to kill Stephanie Crew... She didn't get to kill Jenna.

She had officially lost her mind. The poor unfortunate soul.


Mariavel Continued in: Poor Unfortunate Souls

[Megami†]

The next few moments seemed to happen in slow motion.  Ali had made quite possibly the greatest mistake of all in underestimating the mental capability of Mariavel Varella.  After all, madness knows no capabilities.  It had taken a long time of torment and torture, but finally, it seemed that Ali Grayston had succeeded in pushing Mariavel off the brink of sanity and into the depths of madness.

"Ali!"

She heared the scream from Gregg's lips, she heard the sound of gunshots echoing out from behind her, she heard Mariavel screaming, then the sound of rapid footsteps as she fled the scene, she heard Danya's voice booming over the public access system.  Still, although all the sounds and noises were running through her head at once, it was like she could hear nothing.  The chaos and confusing of the following moments were completely drowned out by the searing, burning pain that penetrated her shoulder twice.  The third bullet barely missed, slicing open flesh as it whizzed by.  She couldn't even see the blood from the third wound.  In moments, her entire arm and half of her back were covered in her own blood from the gunshot wounds.

She knew she was screaming, but she couldn't hear her voice as it echoed out in pain.  The only realization that she could come to was that she was falling.  She crashed onto the still damp pathway with a loud thud, covering herself in dirt and grime in the process.  A fact like that seemed so irrelevant now, though.  She couldn't see, hear, or focus on anything but the excruciating pain radiating from her shoulder.  All she could do was feebily attempt to hold her injured shoulder with her free hand, soaking it in blood in the process.

"Ali!" Gregg called out once again, rushing over to where his fallen friend had landed.

Her eyes cast up at the figure kneeled down beside her as he scooped her up out of the dirt.  A weak smile crossed her face as she looked at Gregg.  Despite the look of horror and worry on his face, he still made her smile.

"Gregg..."

How could she have been so wrong?  She hadn't initiated the confrontation.  If it had been her, and she'd run into Mariavel, she would've just kept walking.  To her, someone like Mariavel wasn't worth wasting the time of day on.  To someone like Mariavel, Ali Grayston was someone who was worth hunting down and killing over and over again.

"You understand now, don't you?"

For a moment, he looked completely perplexed.  A faint gasp of air escaped her lips as she tried to gather her thoughts.

"I'm not a good person," she continued on, "I've done a lot of bad things to a lot of people... I never wanted you to know that side of me.  I was afraid of what you'd think.  I... only wanted you to see the good in me, not the bad.  That's why I... why I never introduced you to anyone from school... why I never talked about it.  I didn't want you to know."

He didn't look angry, or disappointed.  Just sad.

"Nobody's perfect, Ali."

"I was afraid of what you'd think of me..."

Somehow, she knew this moment would come one day.  It only seemed befitting that in all the chaos that was Survival of the Fittest, her entire life would virtually self-destruct before her eyes.

"You know I wouldn't judge you," Gregg started.

"Maybe not... but... I just wanted to be... perfect."

"Why?" Gregg inquired, his brows narrowing a bit, "I'm not perfect... why would I expect it from one of my friends?"

"Should've been so much more than that," she uttered quietly, "because you are..."

Her vision was distorting, making her surroundings seem like some surreal scene out of Alice in Wonderland.  She was trying to stay focused, but the pain was so immense that she was becoming less and less coherent.  Before she could manage another word, she succumbed to the brutal pain in her shoulder, inevitably blacking out.  Gregg grabbed ahold of the nearby daypack he'd dropped when he'd attempted to run to his friend's rescue and retrieved the small kit of medical supplies within.  She couldn't die like this, it just wasn't right.  It took him several minutes to patch up the gaping wounds in her shoulder, but inevitably, he decided the job was good enough and that perhaps he'd managed to put enough pressure on the wounds to stop, or at least ease the bleeding.  He grabbed his pack, along with Ali's, and hoisted them over his shoulder before picking up his unconscious friend and wrapping her limp arms around his neck.  He had to help her... somehow.

I can't let you die like this...

((Continued elsewhere.))