The Game Arena - A Sci- Fi Fanfiction

II - The Strength To Move On - II

  Pure bliss. It had lulled him into such a deep sleep. His body rose and fell alongside the rhythmic pace of his breathing. Sprawled out on a soft patch of flowers was Doppio, knocked himself out after everything that happened earlier. His suit was stained red and so were his hands. His cheeks were also slightly damp with fallen tears and dark circles formed under his eyes, making them look hollow and bloodshot. As flowers that fluttered in the wind tickled his face, Doppio gathered the urge to wake himself up. 

Cracking his eyes open, Doppio soon found out that the chamber had now turned into a beautiful dreamscape. An endless expanse of silky white spider lilies lulled and flowed like a river. Their petals were lush and healthy, as if they had been well taken cared of. Going in a circle and examining everything around him, Doppio also felt a strange sense of awareness. Being inside a dream dead asleep while feeling on high alert at the same time was strange to him. Foreign. With his height, Doppio had to reach down to gain a touch on the flowers. They were soft and smooth, just like an animal's fur. He played with it for a while, seemingly amazed. 

Then the voices came. It snapped him back to attention, straightening up to look around. Tuning his eyes and ears to the sound, he began to follow after it, like a moth attracted to a flame. Those voices were familiar to him, rising and falling according to the intonations of their words. Doppio's footsteps left behind a trail of red wherever he went, transforming the flowers into a gruesome sight of withering decay and the foul stench of death, unbeknownst to him. 

"You were the one that killed her, didn't you?" Doppio was startled, turning around to see himself standing right in front of Kotoka. "You did this to her!" 

Wait......Doppio then frowned. This isn't me that's talking right now, but more like.....the me inside this dream. I have to settle this with Kotoka once and for all, feeling a sense of both hatred and utter disgust take over him mysteriously. 

"I had no choice!" Kotoka defended. "That was part of the Game's challenges in that level. I was manipulated to do it, something had taken over my mind!" 

"Oh yeah, and you just let it happen without fighting back? That's not an excuse to say you're sorry. This is all your damn fault." He yelled back, jabbing a finger at the other girl. 

She hissed. "Why can't you just believe me for once? If I had not killed Meloco, we would all die! Every single one of us will die except for her and she would be all alone out there! I don't think you would like that and neither would she! Imagine having to face this Arena all on your own, it's fucking crazy!" 

"But you just played along with the manipulation, even though you knew it was wrong? You knew what was going to happen, you knew we would come! Did Meloco agree to this?" He countered. 

Kotoka sighed defeatedly, shoulders sagging. "Of course she did.....but you have to understand that I needed to do it in order to protect us all. I was given two options - either I give up on that idea and kill myself or I sacrifice Meloco so we can all pass the game. I thought it was stupid of course. But Meloco, she.....had other plans." 

"She chose the second option, out of sheer willingness?!" Doppio blurted in disbelief. He then ran his hands through his tangled hair, groaning in frustration. "Christ......if only I had gotten there a little faster this will not have happened. DARN IT-!" 

Twirling a flower in her hands, Kotoka let out a timid mumble. "I don't blame any of you for hating what I did, neither do I expect any forgiveness anytime soon, not anymore. If that's what it takes to survive for as long as we can in the Arena.......I'll do it again, for our sakes and hers." 

"There's no point in asking for empathy, we get it now. You just have to explain everything to them once this all blows over. Ver will understand, I suppose." Doppio answered. "Back there, right before you killed her.....did you....have second thoughts?"