Peace at any Cost

[Megami†]

((Gigi continued from Start for G5.))
((Satoru continued from: Welcome to the Jungle.))
((Alexander continued from... somewhere.))

Alexander Bee let out an exhausted breath as he came upon the jagged cliffs on the northeastern edge of the island.  The events of the past few days were a blur.  He couldn't remember where he had been or who he had met.  All Alexander knew was that at this precise moment, he was lugging around a large daypack with a sole Claymore mine inside.  Ever since he woke up on the island, all he had thought about doing was stategizing and making sure he survived.  It had occurred to him many times to plant the mine in a highly populated or trafficked area and to detonate it when as many people were in range as possible.  That way, he'd take out a sizable portion of the competition.

But he'd also find himself completely defenseless, having used his only weapon, and with quite a high price on his head.  Or so he imagined.  Ever since his last encounter, Alexander had decided that the best strategy was simply to hide.  Stealth was his friend in this game, and the element of surprise was everything.  He was no fool.  He knew that he wasn't very intimidating physically.  He knew that in a one on one fight, most people would cream him.  The thought isn't a nice one any time, but in a competition where your opponent is trying to kill you, not give you a swirlie in the women's restroom, the thought is all the more horrifying.

He had traveled through the pouring rain to get to these cliffs, and now the sun was quickly fading beyond the horizon.  Alexander figured that this place was probably one of the safest on the island, mostly because it had no visible shelter, unless one decided to take a chance underneath the rocks.  No, people were a lot more likely to head somewhere to stay dry... like those caves he had been in once before, the ones underneath the lighthouse... or maybe the mall.  Just... somewhere not out in the open.  But not here.  There was no shelter here, but the rain had long since soaked through Alexander's clothes and pierced his flesh.  The water no longer mattered to him.  In fact, he couldn't help but think that it almost felt good against his hot flesh.  It was almost relaxing having the rain beat down on him on the hot summer night.

He was quickly sprung from his reverie by a sudden movement underneath a small rock formation nearby.  Alexander nearly jumped out of his skin when he saw it.  He couldn't act scared.  He couldn't pretend to be intimidated by another person.  He was the one with the claymore, so he was the one in control.  He just had to act confident.  He had to make sure that this other person knew that fact, and then they wouldn't mess with him, right?  It sounded like a good theory, so Alexander decided that was what he would do.  He found himself sheepishly approaching the figure, squinting his eyes tightly to see through the pouring rain in the quickly fading sunlight.  As he came closer to the rock formation, he finally found the courage to speak.

"Hey.  Hey you," the words came out a lot shakier than he had anticipated, "What're you doing under there?"

For being as smart as you are, Alexander, that sounded really stupid.

Satoru Kamui had seen a lot during his last few days on this island.  He had tried to avoid contact with anybody ever since that chance encounter in the forest near the beginning of the game.  Things seemed ugly even back then, and he could only surmise that they had gotten much, much worse over the course of the next few days.  He'd been hiding underneath this same rock formation since Debrah Dollop murdered his fellow classmate Melanie DeSilva earlier.  Part of him had wanted to help Melanie during her dying moments, but he knew better than to interfere again, especially after the fiasco that occurred the first time he butted into something that was none of his business.

Since then, no one had been by, and all Satoru had heard was the sound of the rain pounding down rhythmically against the rock formation he was hiding under and the occassional crack of thunder or flash of lightning from the quickly darkening sky.  Danya had made mention in the announcement that they were in for a heck of a storm, and Satoru didn't want to take any chances.  He knew that visibility was greatly decreased in the rain, even more in the dark, and although he imagined that most of the kids on the island were nestled down into their own holes for the night, there were probably a few of the more opportunistic students lurking around in search of easy prey.

The voice that suddenly echoed out of the former silence caused Satoru -- not normally a skittish person by any means -- to jump.  He squinted his eyes tightly and could barely make out the figure standing some feet away.  He didn't look like much by any means... just a scrawny kid, not really tall, not really very imposing.  Still, Satoru could barely make out his form, let alone determine if he was carrying a weapon.  From the quivering sound his voice made as he spoke, though, Satoru couldn't help but feel like he had the upper hand.  His lips formed a smirk as Alexander spouted off his question.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" he responded rather cynically, "I'm hiding.  What are YOU doing?"

Alexander was taken aback by the long-haired figure's response.  Then again, what sort of answer had he really expected?  Alexander ignored Satoru's question and continued with his own interrogation.

"Are you armed?" he was trying to sound hard... masculine... it wasn't working.

"Are you?" Satoru retorted.

Alexander let out an audible sigh.  This was going nowhere fast.  This kid definitely wasn't going to cooperate.  What to do in a situation like this?  Alexander didn't feel like he was physically or mentally prepared to fight this kid.  One of the keys to any battle is to know your opponent, and Alexander knew nothing about this one.  So perhaps, instead of immediately tagging this new kid as an opponent, he should attempt to align himself with him.  Alexander smiled to himself, thinking that that was quite possibly the best idea he'd had all day.  He could use an ally -- even a temporary one -- if he wanted to survive this game.  He raised his hands in the air and slowly began to approach the crevice Satoru was hiding in, trying to show him that he meant no harm.

"I don't have anything useful," Alexander lied, "The terrorists gave me some crummy weapon that I threw away at the beginning of the game.  I don't want to fight.  I don't think I can.  I'm just looking for a friend right now.  I really need one."

Satoru looked the boy over.  He really wasn't looking for allies or friendship, he just wanted to be left alone.  He wasn't that social of a person by nature, and he really didn't know how to respond to this boy asking for his companionship.  His eyebrows raised skeptically as he continued to analyze Alexander Bee.  What had this boy done to gain his trust in any way?  For all Satoru knew, he could just be giving him some schpeil about a crummy weapon.  He could crawl underneath that rock and slit his throat or blow a hole through the back of his head for all he knew.

"My name is Alexander," Alex continued, "Alexander Bee.  What's yours?"

"Satoru."

Alexander approached once again, this time coming to a halt in front of the formation and kneeling down to take a good look at Satoru.  Before either boy could say anything else, a third voice rang out from nearby.  Unlike the other two boys, the very feminine voice didn't seem apprehensive or scared at all, but rather, almost bubbly in tone.

"Hey!  Hey guy!  Guy!" she shouted, bounding over to where Alexander was kneeling.  Alexander, meanwhile, sprung to his feet, frightened.  "Oh my God," Gigi continued, "I'm so glad to finally find somebody that's not crazy.  You're not crazy, right?"

"Um... no, no, I'm not crazy," Alexander stated, grinning sheepishly.

"Oh, great.  You're hiding, right?  You don't look like the fighting type at all.  You're totally not built for it at all.  Can I hide with you and your girlfriend?  Please?  This game totally blows, and I'm not really up for getting shot at or anything.  This crazy girl just tried to kill me, and I'm a little freaked out right now."

"... I'm a boy," Satoru spoke out as he crawled out from underneath the rock, staring skeptically at the brown-headed girl, "My name's Satoru."

"Oh, uh, sorry about that," Gigi laughed, "I'm Gigi Sinclaire, nice to meet you!  What's your name?" she inquired toward the other boy.

"Alexander Bee," he responded, the sheepish and almost embarrassed grin still plastered across his features.

"Awesome.  So like, I have this great idea, if you're interested," Gigi chimed, causing both boys to perk up slightly in attention.  At this point, any idea was better than nothing, and they had no reason to doubt this girl.  She seemed friendly enough... perhaps a bit ditzy and a little weird, but she seemed genuine.  "When I was walking along the cliffs earlier, I saw this boat down in the water.  It looks like it ran up on some rocks down there or something, but we could all three hide in it and wait out the game until they save us!  Nobody will think to look down there, so we'll be safe for the whole game.  What do you guys think?"

Both boys looked at her nervously, unsure of how good her plan was.  Had they known what that boat contained, perhaps they would've moved a little faster.

~~~

"Mr. Danya, sir," an anxious Sonia Nguyen spoke into her cell phone, "They informed you that one of our small boats crashed into the cliffs on the northeastern portion of the island, correct?  Well sir, there's a problem.  There is confidential information aboard that boat that we've not been able to retrieve yet due to the weather.  Well sir, the problem is that some of the students are attempting to board the boat for safety.  What should we do, sir?  Their numbers?  Boy number 3, boy number 41, and girl number 44. ... Sir?  You're sure, sir?  Alright then, they'll be dealt with immediately.  Sorry for disturbing you, Mr. Danya."

~~~

It was very difficult to do in the rain, but Satoru, Alexander, and Gigi were slowly making their way down the craggy and rocky surface of the cliff and onto the rocks below.  If they could just get in the boat, they wouldn't have to worry about any enemies, and as long as they could trust one another, they would be safe.  Gigi looked down at Alexander, who was almost to the rocks below, and offered him an encouraging smile.  The dancing queen was ecstatic that she had finally found some trustworthy allies who were really interested in peace, just like her.  These two boys seemed nice, and they'd make great companions until they were rescued.  Gigi had faith that they really would be rescued.  After all, the bad guys never win in the end, right?

All of a sudden, though, Alexander stopped short, just a few feet short of being able to jump down and land safely on the rocks below.  His face, which had been red with exhaustion and covered in persperation moments before from the daunting task of climbing down the cliff, suddenly turned a pale white in color and he ceased all movement.

BEEP.

He could hear it.  Satoru, too, seemed to have noticed, and his attention immediately turned to Alexander.  Gigi stared down dumbfoundedly, having not heard the noise and not realized what was going on.  BEEP.  There it was again.  That same noise, eminating from the collar wrapped around Alexander's neck.  All of a sudden, Alexander began to panic.  He released his grip on the rocks and immediately jerked his hands up to where the collar was placed around his neck.  Doing so, he slid down the remainder of the rocks, landing awkwardly in the foam below.  He looked up at Satoru and Gigi in horror, his hands wrapped around his neck and trying to pry the collar away from him.

"Why is it beeping, you guys?  Oh my God, why is it beeping?  I didn't do anything to set it off!  I didn't do anything!  Why aren't you beeping, too?  Oh God, I'm going to die.  We're going to die!  No, no, no, no, no!  I can't die.  Help me, for the love of God, HELP ME!"

Gigi and Satoru panicked.  None of the three would ever know that Danya had given the order to have Alexander Bee's collar detonated.  None of them would ever know that they had come dangerously close to some confidential material.  Alexander would never know why he was chosen.  All the three knew was that they were simply attempting to find shelter from the rain, and now, because they inadvertantly almost compromised the game, they were going to be eliminated.  Once Alexander's collar detonated, it would ignite the claymore mine in his daypack and incinerate Satoru and Gigi in the process.  The beeping picked up, and Alexander's screaming became louder and louder.  Gigi dropped the rest of the way down onto the rocks below and attempted to help him pry the collar from his neck.  Satoru, meanwhile, was attempting to scale back up and away from his former comrades.  None of their attempts were to any avail, however.

One final scream escaped Alexander's lips before, for just a moment, everything was silent.  The blast that followed as Alexander's collar detonated and ignited the claymore made the cliffs nearby tremble and was probably loud enough to be audible over the entire island.  Most of the students would probably only assume it was a loud burst of thunder.  Few would ever guess that it was actually the end of three lives.  Alexander was instantly incinerated, his flesh turning into ash immediately.  Gigi, who was standing immediately beside him, fell right after.  Satoru wasn't far behind.  The explosion from the mine raged on for a moment, and then, nothing was left of the three students who sought shelter in the offshore boat.

MALE STUDENT NO. 3 - SATORU KAMUI - DECEASED
MALE STUDENT NO. 41 - ALEXANDER BEE - DECEASED
FEMALE STUDENT NO. 44 - GIGI SINCLAIRE - DECEASED