DDLC: Element Guardians! (Sayonika + Natsyuri)

Chapter Five: When Trains Backtrack

The cart we arrived in was empty. Quiet. There was a soft red carpet floor for the isle, and soft, red cushioned seats for the seating. In every patch of seats were rows of three, a small table, and another row of three facing the table. The windows made up most of the walls as they showed the now empty concrete platform.

All four of us took a seat; Sayori at the window seat, I sat beside her, Natsuki sat at the window seat across from us while Yuri sat next to her.

We put our bags on the empty seats on our rows, and laid back.

Sayori sighed with relief. "I have never felt seats soft as these ones!"

"Please," Natsuki chuckled. "They're just seats. Calm down."

"Just seats?" Sayori repeated, louder and sounding more offended. She lifted her back off the back of the seat, straightening it to make herself look taller. "These are amazing!"

Natsuki rolled her eyes. "Sayori, people sit on them. They kinda crush them with their butts."

"No!" Sayori said back. "They aren't crushed by our butts, they empower them!"

I can't help but let out a small smile as I try not to laugh. I glance at Yuri, who is starring at me in confusion her face asking, "What is going on?" I shrug, still trying not to laugh.

"Empower our butts?" Natsuki repeated. "How do they empower our butts?"

"Uh, duh! They lift our butts up so they don't fall!" Sayori explained.

Even as stupid as it sounded, Sayori made me think. What lifted me up? And I'm not taking about the seats, I mean what makes you able to keep going in life?

My backstory so far was mostly in memories- little snips of things that happened at different times. I try and rack my brain for all my memories to come back, and the first one that comes to mind makes me smile.

This happened when I think I was around four. It's really hazy now, but I remember being in a large office; a long table, whiteboard, and some small cookies on grey trays. I was seated on my mother's lap, looking around the table as a group of her adult friends laughed and awed at how cute I was.

I was gifted bracelets and necklaces. They decorated me, and I was happy.

I remember the next memory happened a few hours after, the same day. We had just gotten home from the meeting with my Mother and her friends, and she laid me in bed, sitting on the edge on it as I rested.

I was pretending to sleep, as my mother was singing, and her singing was gorgeous; it reminded me of LaLa's. I squinted my eyes open and saw father walk in. He stood by the doorway, and before the memory ended, I remember the conversation.

"Are you sure you can do this?" My fathers deep voice sounded concerned. I don't remember what my father or mother looked like; I just know they were there.

"I'm sure." My mother responded. "We need to do this, or he'll take over."

"But this is dangerous, and what will happen if you don't come back?"

Silence. My mother than spoke again, her voice sounding hazy and distant as my memory was leaving me. "I promise I'll always be there with you. In one way or another."

Third memory. The soft and calm pace of the last two had vanished. It was a few months later, and I was almost five years old. I don't remember any visual aspects of this one. I know I was crying, eyes blurry. I could hear everything though.

Things falling and glass shattering. Beeping coming from machinery that warned they were about to explode, and the sound of fizzling and popping became loud and clear. Fire. The sound of fire.

I remember wailing, "Mommy! Daddy!"

I heard no one respond as loud footsteps and more glass breaking was louder. Another voice I didn't recognize, yelled over the noises. "Do you have the child?" It was male, his voice harsh and rushed.

"Yes, where is Lucas?" Mommy.

"Mommy!" I wailed again. I could recognize her voice anywhere. I don't remember who Lucas was, did I have a brother? Was it one of her friends?

"We can't hold them all off for much long!" The male voice shouted again. "You need to send her off!"

"No!" Mother shouted again, her voice shaky. "I cannot! She is my everything!"

"You must!" The male voice shouted again. He did not sound like father. Who was he? "They will not stop until they find her! Don't you get it?"

No one said anything as screams came from behind us somewhere. Louder and harsher. Mother finally replied. "I can't let her leave! My family is falling apart!"

"Do you not trust in her sister?" The male voice asked again, obviously in a rush to do something by the tone of his voice.

"I trust her."

"Then leave!" The man demanded. "I'll cover you! Take her away!"

Fire crackled and crashing was burning my ears as loud footsteps painted a vision of someone running. Was mother holding me? Was she running? Who was covering her?

A loud bang. Crash. Then it all got silent. It was beginning to mute, and I couldn't think that far ahead at the time, but I could've been going deaf.

I still can't remember what anything or anyone looked like or what was happening. I just heard voices.

"Monika, I'm sorry." Mother. "They've come after you because of me. I didn't think my work could be this dangerous."

"Mommy!" I kept wailing, unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Just know that I will always be fighting for you. So don't give up. I love-" She gets cut off by loud footsteps and panting.

A female voice spoke, a woman. "I need to take her! They've surrounded us in a pocket, and it's going too close!"

Sobs. Whimpers of someone crying. Was it mother? Whoever it was, I couldn't hear them for long, as I heard the loud footsteps run again, knowing that I was being carried somewhere. By someone. But I knew that the sharp breathing and pants were not of my mothers.

I open my eyes once again. This is not a memory, as Natsuki was sleeping, leaning against Yuri on the train's seats. Looks like she finished her conversation.

I looked over beside me, trying to take control of my breathing again; my memories got too intense. Sayori had her hand in a bag of candy while her head leaned against the window and she slept.

Outside the window was a dark, concrete wall. I knew we were moving, as I heard the sounds of the wheels on the tracks and the sound of the fuel.

I turn my head back in front of me and lay it against the backboard of the seat. Yuri glances at me tiredly; was she sleeping too?

"The ride's about three more hours." She says quietly. "You should get some sleep."

"Thanks, I will." I flash her a smile and close my eyes.

Maybe.. Maybe I can find out what happened there at our new home. Maybe I can find mother and father again, and I can know who burnt down our house. Maybe they're still alive.

Just.. Maybe.