The Beginning of the End

A screamed echoed in the corridors, so pure in tone and so filled with agony... What could've caused such a thing? 

Flashback to moments previous, to when the boy who produced it seemed so blissfully unaware how close his demise was, how little time he truly had left. It was the second killing game he had been thrust into, his previous friends and family abandoned for the sake of wanting an escape from the terrors that plagued his mind, the struggle of loneliness gnawing at his very being. It was a shame to think the renowned Veterinarian was now sitting at a desk, eyes dull as he stared at the blade in his grasp. He's done it once, he's certain it was so easy the first time... yet... he seemingly couldn't find himself to do it. Previous build ups of morals prevented his older self from fulfilling the act of murder- no, not with certain people on his mind.... 

The door creaked open behind him, prompting him to turn his head and look at the person entering, a man he had come to know as Carmine. A smile graced the other man's lips, but it was easy to tell something was off. Tilting his head, Airashi turned and faced the elder Silk Dancer with a look of confusion.

"Is everything...?" He didn't even manage to finish his sentence before the other had moved to his side, a finger hushing the brunette from continuing further. Yellow eyes gazed into his own and a sense of familiarity panged Airashi's heart. This wasn't the familiarity he wanted, not in this hell. "I know what you're planning, bunny boy." A laugh so cynical escaped the red-head, a twisted smile soon stretching across the other's face, "But trust me, you're going to wish you had gone through with it earlier once I'm done with you~" 

Panic filled his own eyes as he lifted the knife, using it now to defend himself rather than commit a heinous act against another human being- no, he couldn't die like this, not by this criminal. He recalled what he had done in his previous games, he had been in the trial after all, "Carmine, I thought you-" 

A sickening laugh left him once more, the silks around his neck slowly being undone as he pushed the knife to the side, getting ever so closer... “Changed? Oh, dear dear Airashi... I thought you would've learned from the last time I'm a manipulator... The fact that any of you even trusted me after the last games is a miracle!!” Gripping Airashi's face, Carmine drew him closer- breaths hot on the other's face.

“You're more idiotic than you were the last game... And for that.” 

He hadn't realized the silk had been wrapped around his neck, hadn't realized this was just an elaborate plan to distract Airashi into thinking- into blurring out the little details to make him move- 

“You'll die.” 

As the cloth tightened around his neck, all Airashi could envision was a past he had abandoned, a life he could've had stolen because he simply did not believe. He knew the chances weren't there, that they bore no fruit to being prosperous... But in the back of his mind as the light faded from his eyes, he wondered... 

Could there had been something more... with his friends, his family. Could they have refilled the hole his guilts had dug in his chest? He supposed now, he'd never know...