Darkness. Pure darkness filled Celestia's field of view as she sweat of fear and anxiety, a faint smile upon her face. She was praying under breath for some kind of hope to save her from this truly horrific, terrible fate. It was subsequent to the trial, the girl being proven guilty due to her temper setting off. The crime in question – the murder of two young men, and undocumented poisoning of several medical supplies which later caused the death of a young woman. She wasn't proud of what she has done, nor was she disappointed or mad herself. Even if she was, it wouldn't show upon her face. Nobody could see her, not even the executioner in question, but her feet up to her ankles were covered in dry cement, so she could not move and thus she had no point in trying to struggle. All she could do now is do the unthinkable.
Hope. Hope that maybe Makoto or Alter Ego would shut down her execution in some way, hope that maybe it would malfunction all together and she would live on to accomplish her dream. Although, she well knew this was most definitely the end, all the students were generally indifferent about her and murdering two innocent teenagers wasn't going to make them praise her. She even at her trial called them all faggots, so that's even LESS of a chance that they would help her. She started hallucinating as the conveyor she was on started to go up…It was time for the end.
She could hear crowds cheering as she got closer, and pitch black figures started flashing all around where she was, and her grin widened. The figures had the body shapes like the students that she had killed and the students that died before her…Whispering phrases like 'It's Me' and 'Help us, Ludenberg…' She tried to hold her grin as tears started trailing down her face. She started sobbing, as the cheers got closer. In which she could hear Monokuda's sinister giggle, which made her cease her sorrowing. She quickly rose a hand from her praying and wiped off her tears, then placing her hand back on her chest and reflecting the smile she had before, the crowd visible, a bunch of blank, black figures that looked just like Monokuda.
Celeste heard footsteps as 'London Bridge is falling down' starting playing on the piano at a slow pace. It was a teddy bear shaped figure holding a torch, walking towards the stage. The girl then noticed that below her was all…Grass and wood. Her eye twitched for but a single moment, trying not to show emotion in front of the crowd, in which her fellow students were certainly watching. If she was to die a killer, she would die a cold killer.
Just as she expected, the figure set fire to the grass in which she was on. She struggled a little bit, but the cement wouldn't budge. She then looked up, supposedly to the heavens as the fire rapidly spread to the stage, the crowd cheering louder and louder for the 'climax' to this brutal performance. She started sweating from the heat as the fire was right under her covering everything but the platform she was on, which even if the fire didn't reach it her dress would certainly catch fire somehow. Stage lights above the stage fell, engulfed in flames and the cartoonish castle behind her collapsed to shards. This was her death, the fall of a glorious empire that will certainly rise again one day. Her eyes shook as her way to express her fear, her grin widening even more to a creepy extent whilst her sweat glands panicked from heat.
A siren could be heard, Celeste looked down for but a moment, then gasping in joy..A fire truck; come to save her- or so as she thought. The sirens honked and whistled while the hose on the top set out some of the fire around her. Then she realized, her eyes narrowing as a ramp arose from the ground right in front of the stage. She then started crying- this was truly the end for her 'empire'. To add insult to injury it was the exact thing that supposed to prevent fire. She looked onto the truck rushing towards her as she gave up her 'image', sobbing and whaling just as the fire truck flew of the ramp towards her. Her dress just caught fire, the burning sensation rushing up and all around her clothing as the flames danced on her body. She looked up from depression, a blank expression across her face, everything froze. The truck, the fire, leaving Celeste partially clothed, everything except her. The truck then started to launch towards her, inches away from her. She then looked down, the 'London Bridge' song speeding up at furious rates. She murmured her final words as the figures of the dead took hold of her "I surrender to despair…I have lost…." The truck collided with her, crushing the stage and everything on it….
Darkness. Everything in Celeste's field of vision was darkness. She opened her eyes as she felt like all of her senses were lost. She couldn't smell, feel, taste, or hear anything but a loud ringing noise in her ear. This was probably from the collision with the truck. She looked down as her neck formed, she could see everything above her chest was just….Gone. But it was forming as if she was a 3-D model being rendered. Panels of nothing flipping into fragments of her person. She regained the sense of touch as her hands and fingers formed, lifting them up to her eyes to inspect them, flexing her fingers and forming fists one after another. She then squinted "A-Am I…Dead?" The girl then regained taste, lifting her back off the ground of pitch black while she licked around her lips a little bit to assure she had regained the sense. The ringing soon stopped, and she blinked a few times before standing up as her feet formed, wanting to have a bit more of a look around of seemingly nothing…
Celeste could only see her own person, but not anything around her. But she knew she was in some kind of confined area because whenever she would walk too long in one direction, she'd bump into a wall. It defies the laws of physics, not only that, the floor was some kind of liquid. But she couldn't feel it, and it didn't stain her heels. Nor did she feel anything. It just left rings spreading through itself as if she poked her finger in water. This was freaking her out "So this is purgatory…" She said, then beginning to hear the voices of those she killed "It's me…" She heard in Leon's familiar tone "Now you know our pain…" Oowata's voice was heard. The girl turned and saw glowing white figures, but still no walls, and they didn't leave rings in the liquid. "My god…" She said, and then she heard another voice.
An invisible force spouting out things and driving away Oowata's and Leon's souls. "Ukh, get out of here, scum! I'm with a client!" before he cleared his throat and spoke to her. Celeste didn't see the force, but since everything else in this..Realm defied anything she's ever learned as a mortal. "You there," Celeste cleared her own throat and spoke in her familiar French accent "M-Me? Yes?" The girl then smiled a faint smile, her blank enthusiasm returning- even in the afterlife. "Oh where are my manners, you can't see a damned thing, can you?" Celeste held out a hand sympathetically "Well, no fine sir..With some exceptions like those souls just then, and myself." She lifted her dress slightly with a curtsy.
"You could see them? You must've known them!" The force lit what seemed to be a small, holy-esc light. Celeste slightly gasped, then clearing her throat "Excuse my manners-" She pointed awkwardly and continued, the figures' face being the only thing visible within the light before the rest of the figure just seemed to fade into nothing. "Your face…Isn't like the norm we'd see where I come from. With all due respect, sir." She chuckled softly, elegantly, and cutely.
The figure chuckled as well, one part of his 'face' or mask began shaking with his laughter. "Now, young madam, if you'd allow me to introduce myself. I'm Lord Death. Not the lord of all death, mind you, I simply help out in a few different universes. In one world, I run a school for special children, and in this universe, well, I watch over a special game called The Reapers' Game. It's found in a world inhabited by reapers called The Underground." Celeste would tilt her head "Reapers'….Game? To be honest, this doesn't sound much different from what hell I was just a part of…Oh, how I would love to see Makoto and Kirigiri suffer right now.." The girl clenched her fist of rage.
Death chuckled, seeming to like when his games fit right into the bill for others' situation. "The Reapers' Game is a second chance at life. If you participate, and survive until the end, you will be allowed to come back to life. The game lasts seven days. But if you die during the game, your soul will be gone forever. You don't have to accept--if you don't, you will pass on to the afterlife--but if you do accept, you can play and gain the chance of coming back to life. What would you like to do?" Celeste gasped and then had a devilish grin, death chuckling a bit more. "Oh, you do have very sinister intentions, madam, don't you. I'll be sure to look forward to the souls of Makoto Naegi and Kyoko Kirigiri after your…'Victory'." She looked up, puzzled "You know their names? Then why don't you refer to me as Cele-" Death interrupted "Taeko Yasuhiro." Celeste clenched her teeth and twitched her eye, an enraged glance in her eye.
"Oh! There's something else I forgot to tell you--a few things, actually. In order to defend yourself during this game, you will use pins which have certain powers." A table appeared in front of Celeste, she blinked as her eyes' unmentioned bloodshot faded "Wait- excuse me, but, you can make a floating ball of flame in the air," She pointed to the candle light "You can control the actions of souls " she shakes her head as she tries gesturing to Leon's and Oowata's souls. "But you can't make these pins, a more fancy accessory? You cannot even make them float in front of me?" Death sighed "What do you want them to be." The girl looked at her hair, straight down just the wait she didn't want it to be. "Bows." The girl spat out "Like- hair bows?" Celeste nodded, beginning to braid her hair with her hands "If I'm going to participate in this game of yours to seek vengeance, I'm going to need a fully elegant appearance. A dress doesn't make the girl, you know~" Death laughed a hardy laugh "Oh yes, it needs to be more shallow than that. You need hair AND a dress, correct?" Celeste giggled "Dressed to kill, no?" Death finished his laugh and calmed down "Excuse my manners." H- it said. "You may only pick three pin-" Lord Death explained moaned of frustration and put a hand over his 'mask'. "Bows. Now choose wisely." Celeste hmphed and sighed "That's all I need." Celeste took on bow that had what appeared to be a soft drink on it, another that had what seemed like a black rose, and one more that was an 'M'. She proceeded to tie her hair with two of them, and then another that was around the waist of her dress "Glorious, looks like the gamblers' back.." She said to herself, her grin widening.
Death giggled himself, then pulling out..A cell phone? "Have you seen these in the universe or time period you come from? You may not have, but that doesn't matter. The information on how to use this cell phone will now be placed in your head automatically, not to worry. It's a device the reapers will use to contact you and give you instructions during the game. Follow the instructions. If you don't, you could be erased, also known as being killed in this world. I suggest you quickly commit the term to memory. Now then, there's one more thing. Open your cell phone..."
Celeste did so, red words flashing on the screen saying 'PAY ENTRANCE FEE'. Celeste's eyebrows furrowed, then looking up at death, turning to the screen so that he could view it. "Have…Have you given me a defective phone?" She blinked, raising one of her furrowed eyebrows. "Ah yes, one thing I forgot to mention earlier is that this game has an entry fee. Type on your phone what it will be. It has to be something important to you.
A special memory, person, or item. That is what we accept for you to play the game. It is your payment. But never fear, if you win the game, you will get your entry fee back. I suppose you're still locked on seeking your revenge?" Celeste nodded her head confidently, sighing and looking down at the ground. "I like you, Celeste, you go by?" The girl would nod again, and blush. Not every day death gives you a compliment. "Perhaps we shall meet again…" Celeste winked "Oh, we will. After I win, I have casinos to go to." Death laughed. "Excellent," he replies. "You're all set to play the game." The ground then emitted white, and Celeste could see death's full appearance for only but a moment before the room morphed into what looked like the room of a fancy casino, slot machines behind her and what appeared to be Red Velvet walls.
Celestia inhaled, then sighing "Oh, it's been a while…It's the smell-" "Of chance." Death interrupted "Oh odds to fight, of dices to roll?" Celeste nodded "Oh yes, since greed is one of the seven deadly sins, you would know?" Death growled "I'm not Satan, missie." His masks' eyes drooped "I've been to a casino before.." "I-" Celeste blushed and giggled "Sorry for questioning your amount of expierence.." Death's eye twitched before he pointed to the door across the room from them. "Leave through those doors. When you do, you'll be sent to the game arena and to where the other players are. Follow the instructions on your cell phone. Good luck."
The girl slowly jogged to the door, then turning when death cried "Wait!" He sighed "One last thing."
Death floated over to her and gave her a pin. "One last pin. It doesn't have any powers, but it is important. It's called your player pin. If you lose it, and don't find it within a short period of time, you will be automatically erased. So whatever you do, don't lose it." Celeste looked at him disappointedly, and Death groaned, snapping his fingers as the pin turned into a bow. Celeste smiled, but then said "No. I want you to turn it into a ring. Not just any ring, one to fit my pointer finger-" Death groaned once again and spat out "S-Should I write details do-" Celestia got that evil look in her eye again "I'M NOT FINISHED!" Death shrugged and gestured for her to go on. "Not just any ring. A ring to go on my pointer finger, and instead of a jewel, a blade to go down my finger. One made out of iron, NOT METAL." She shouted. Death then flicked her head "You could've just said the ring you had in your life before you died." Celeste blinked, then crossing her arms. "You know what I mean." Death then snapped his fingers, the pin floating in front of the both of them before flashing into the ring Celeste described. Celeste then put it on her finger. "Glorious," She turned around, opening the door "Ta-ta~" Death said, the room behind her slowly faded behind her, Death just disappearing. Celeste turned to the door, a black ooze in front of her. Celeste backed up of disgust, the black ooze extending a tentacle and wrapped itself around her throat, throwing her inside…
Darkness. Celeste's entire field of view was dar- oh wait she was under a park bench. NOT DARKNESS- IT'S NOT DARKNESS. She rolled out from under the park bench, smiling and looking around "I wonder if this is the game, or I already won- and this is real life.." She stroked her chin, then hearing a ringing noise from within her dress pocket. It was the phone! She opened it up, asking for an entrance fee. When she held up the phone with her hand, she noticed her ring was…Different. It has a card on it, the card being the joker. Celeste groaned and shook her head, thinking this was a jab at her by death. After all, the joker was the one card you didn't want to have. Anyhow, she was in the park, just standing there filling out her entrance fee.
Susan - The Wishing Well
