The courtroom is different than the one we've been going to for the other trials; I mean, that's a given, but it still feels weird.

"Take your place at whatever podium ya feel like!" Monokumace tells us from their throne, the only think that's remained unchanged.

I approach the podium closest to me and look down.  Engraved in the wood is the name A. Diaz.  I don't know who that is, but I hope to god they're doing alright and somehow made it out of this crazy game.  Next to me, Iris is standing behind a podium engraved with the name E. Rodriguez.  I try to meet his gaze, but he doesn't look at me.

"Who's A. Somerset?" Dana asks Monokumace, who simply shrugs in response.

"None of your concern!" they sneer. "Would it make ya feel better if I Sharpie'd D. Reynolds over it?"

"Enough.  Why are we here?  What's the point of any of this?  Balance has been restored and the blackeneds have all paid for their crimes, so what on earth are we missing?" Iris asks, his tone steely as he glares at Monokumace.

"Whoa there, ya flute-playin' tiger!" they snicker. "I promise ya, I'm gettin' to it!  Now, how's about we take a breath before we start.  In and out, kiddos.  In and out.  It's all nearly over now!"

"I don't like where this is going," Dana says.

"Just relax!  This ain't another life-or-death trial.  I swear it!  But first, there's a whole lot ya gotta know..." Monokumace kicks their legs excitedly. "I guess ya wouldn't wanna hear it from me, though.  So you're gonna hear it straight from the source!"

"The source?" Evangeline repeats.

"Yep!  But first, can we get Mr. Mopey over here to focus?  Nothing's gonna get repeated, and he's gonna wanna be here for this." 

All eyes go to Will, who's still zoned out.  Evangeline leans over and waves a hand in front of his face before poking his shoulder.  Still no response.

"Ugh, jus' take his camera from him or something!" Monokumace groans.

Dana approaches the videographer and begins to speak softly to him. "Hey.  Will.  We need you here, buddy."

She keeps this up until, much to my surprise, Will blinks, clarity returning to his eyes again as he looks around. "Hm?"

Dana rubs his back reassuringly. "Good to have you back, Willson."

He gives her a tired yet betrayed look. "Not the real name!"

"Okay, he's back!  Welcome to the final trial, Mr. Jones," Monokumace greets. "You've survived!  Good for ya.  And now we can really begin.  Let's start with some background information!  A long time ago, about two years ago, some random fifteen year-old with a passion for gamin' got invited to Hope's Peak, declined, and was invited back to play god under circumstances that I'm too lazy to explain.  The mastermind.  Basically, you're here right now 'cause of 'em.  On this crazy virtual island."

"Virtual?!" I echo.

Monokumace giggles. "Virtual!  Everything around ya?  It ain't real!  How did ya think there could be an entire school in the ruins without ya knowing it?  You're in a simulation, kids.  Nothing's real!"

"This is... it's all virtual?" Dana exclaims, mortified.

"B-but why?  And how?" Iris presses. 

"For your safety, of course!  But..." They pause, their permanent grin widening as they begin to glitch out and a smoky haze fills the room. "How's about our mastermind explains it themself, huh?"

I shield my eyes as the haze engulfs everything around me, squinting to try and see something, anything that will help me understand what's going on here.  Hell, I still don't quite get what's happening here.  Until the haze begins to clear, and Monokumace's lifeless form hits the ground in front of my podium with a sickening clang.  Their red eye flickers once and then stays dull.  My eyes move to where someone is standing on the throne, hands moving to signal something as a robotic voice echoes from the loudspeakers.

"It's great to be back here!  God, I didn't think we'd be doing this again."

My eyes finally focus, and I see a short teenager- probably no older than I am- with fluffy auburn hair that covers one eye.  Freckles are scattered across their face like stars, and their hoodie, headphones around their neck, fingerless gloves, and sneakers are all half-black and half-white, similar to Monokumace's design.  There is also a large dark red stain across the waistline of the hoodie.

"Who are you?" Dana asks, puzzled by what she's seeing.

They shrug, smirking as they move their hands- sign language, I realize- to create words spoken by the robotic system in the speakers. "Name's Rowan Ambys.  Ya like my killing game?"

"Wh- no!" I exclaim. "No, this is f*cked up!"

"Yeah, I thought you'd say that.  Well, that doesn't matter now.  Let's go back a little bit and get you all caught up." Rowan claps their hands before approaching the circle of podiums and standing in front of one.  They remove a red marker from their pocket and scrawl out the words 'R. AMBYS' on the blank wood.

"So Hope's Peak Academy, right?  You were all invited there by the headmaster themself, Dr. Ace H. Dunnit.  Fun fact: they're dead now.  Their little teaching buddy, Monokumace, went haywire and killed them.  Enter me.  Monokumace had big plans of despair, but was in no state to do it alone, being a hardly-functioning robot and all.  So they reached out to me and two others to help.  'Course, those two are dead now.  They died for our despairing cause." Rowan looks over at Iris and adds, "Y'know, Evan always liked musicians."

Iris holds their gaze but says nothing.

Satisfied, the mastermind continues. "Anyways, you were all invited to Hope's Peak Academy.  As far as you remember, that was just a few weeks ago.  But... there may have been some memory-wiping between then and now."

"Memory wiping?" Dana repeats, furrowing her brow. "...what?"

"Yep!  So while you guys think that your first day at Hope's Peak was only two or so weeks ago... It's actually been a whole year!"

My heart stops.  What?  That... that can't be right!  I'm eighteen?  Since when?  And why did our memories get erased?  Nothing makes sense.

"Look at your puzzled faces!  It's hilarious!" Rowan's shoulders shake with laughter. "You're probably wondering why your memories got wiped, huh?  All those good times of bonding with your friends and living your happy lives.  Why'd ya have to start over, you may be asking?  Well.  The date was probably last... May 5th, maybe?  Yeah, some time 'round there.  You all were plannin' a birthday party for that street fighter friend of yours.  That never happened.  'Cause on May 5th, or whatever day it was... that marked the beginning of the end."

"Enough with the mysterious sh*t!  What the hell happened?" Will suddenly yells.  I almost forgot he was there for a moment.

"Well." Rowan tilts their head as they smile. "Despair overtook Hope's Peak Academy.  And from there, there was a disturbance in... hm, what's the word?  Oh yes, balance.  There was a disturbance in the balance."

They stare right at Iris as they sign the words.  The two just look at each other for a long moment before Rowan turns away.

"So once that happened, everything went to hell.  Relationships ruined, anarchy on the rise, and everything getting destroyed.  Rules were being broken in the name of despair.  And by god it was glorious.  All of this because of something I'd helped create.  People feared me the way I'd always wanted them to.  Of course, I couldn't have done it without a little help."

"I don't get anything you're saying," I tell them. "You're holding out on us with almost everything."

"Well, of course I am, there's one little thing tying everything I'm saying together, and from there, the whole story fits into place.  But I'm not ready to talk about that just yet.  I feel like we haven't really gotten to know each other that well, have we?" Rowan leans forward on their podium. "I mean, I've certainly gotten to know you lot the most out of everyone, considering how much longer you've lasted.  Compared to my first killing game, we're practically attached at the hip!"

"The first killing game," Dana repeats. "Is... is that the one with...?"

"Ryn's brother?  That's right!  This very simulated building is a perfect replica of where it all began.  The first killing game.  Only nine students plus me.  There was no excitement!  Two out of the three murders were committed by masterminds.  There weren't enough people for a good killing game.  But with you all... man, I don't think I've ever enjoyed something so much in my life!  The bonds formed, the bonds broken, the murders, the executions- it had it all!  Even I never expected most of what happened.  If I could do it all again, I would in a heartbeat." Rowan lets out a deep sigh. 

"So why us stuck in this... this fake world?" Dana demands. 

"Hey, it ain't anything personal.  Like Monokumace said, it's for your safety.  End of the world, remember?  There isn't an 'end of the world' on Jabberwock Island!  But do you know what is here?  This incredibly despairing killing game!  I'm so glad to have gotten another opportunity to destroy lives like this."

"And I thought Iris was sick," Will spits. "You're on another level of crazy, you know that?"

"Not crazy, just way too spiteful," Rowan objects with a shrug. 

Iris is looking at Rowan with murder in his eyes.  I'm sure that if there wasn't a chance he'd get killed for attacking the mastermind right now, he'd have already clawed their throat out with his bare hands.  

"So why all the messages around the school?" Dana asks.  I can tell she's trying to slowly work up to asking the big question we're all dying to know the answer to, but knows better than to just flat-out ask right now.

"Oh, did you like them?  I thought I'd give you all some background on what happened here," Rowan signs. "I even let you guys met Ryn's brother!"

"That's a horrible way to put it," Evangeline snaps. "You wanted us to see what happened to him, you didn't 'let us' do anything!"

"Hey, hey, I never really made you come over here!  If you hadn't, I would've held this trial in the normal spot.  So the only people you have to blame for what you saw are yourselves," the mastermind protests.

"Get back to the damn point!  What's the whole 'beginning of the end' thing about?!" Will shouts.

"Okay, starting to have preferred it when you were silent.  But I guess you're right, holding out on you all isn't really the nicest thing to do.  I can't help but love suspense, though." Rowan pauses, lowering their hands as they consider how to go about whatever they're on the verge of telling us.

"No more suspense.  Just... tell us," Dana pleads. 

Rowan stops, then nods. "Alright.  You win.  I'll tell you.  The beginning of the end was sparked by the emergence of a group called the Remnants of Despair.  These were former students of Hope's Peak Academy who spiraled into despair after... well, I'll get there soon enough.  But because they were former Hope's Peak students... they were Ultimates, too.  They used their ultimate talents to spread despair and wreak havoc on the world.  They invented murderous machines and other innovations.  They killed and tortured people.  They let the world know that despair was upon it.  They did all the dirty work so I never had to get my hands filthy.  Honestly, even someone like me could look at it and see how f*cked up it was.  There wasn't any doubting that."

"That's terrible," Evangeline mumbles.

"I can't believe we had classmates that would do that," Dana mumbles. "That... that's just wrong."

"You bet it was.  Blood all over the streets, bodies scattered, guts everywhere.  I'm pretty sure the only crime that group didn't commit was cannibalism, but even there I'm not completely sure." Rowan gives a sarcastic shrug.  

I know there's still so much they're keeping from us, and I know that they're doing it to make us squirm and beg.  As much as I don't want to fall prey to their little game, I'd rather know what happened and why we're here than give up on trying to get answers.  So I speak.

"Who were they?  Would we remember them?" I ask. "What were their talents?"

Rowan taps their foot against the floor as they ponder my questions. "Hm.  Well... I know for a fact that... there was definitely an inventor in there... and a handful of scientists.  ...wait.  Yes!  I do think you'd remember them.  No, I know for a fact that you would.  And would you like to know why?"

As soon as those words leave their mouth, I know.  I stop breathing for a moment.  I don't want them to say what I know is coming, but I don't move to cover my ears as I hear the truth.  

"The Remnants of Despair?  Well.  That was you guys."

***

(2023 words, another silly number)

rowan my f*cking menace of a beloved