This story was a request from Shiranai Atsune. I had a lot of fun writing this... So thank you for sending in you requests!

I do not own Danganronpa!

Enjoy!

Makoto knew something was wrong.

She could tell immediately. She could tell the second Byakuya looked into her eyes over his glasses.

There was a weird tug in her stomach when she heard his voice. "No matter what happens next, don't give up on hope."

It didn't sound like Byakuya. She wanted to ask him what was wrong. She wanted to know.

Before she could ask he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. It was weird. Byakuya had never done anything like that before without Makoto doing it first.

"Byakuya…"

"Promise me." He stated.

"What?"

"Promise me that, no matter what happens next, you won't give up on hope." He repeated. His eyes bore into Makoto's own. His look intensified the tug in her stomach.

"Of… of course not… That's my job… isn't it?" She smiled awkwardly.

He smiled slightly and exhaled in what seemed to be relief.

"Aw!" Hina cooed. "Did you lovebirds forget we were here?"

A blush lit up Makoto's face before Byakuya signed and removed his hand. He only seemed mildly embarrassed. Hina chuckled and Mitarai smiled.

A loud beep resounded through the room. Makoto looked at her bangle. The time was up. Mitarai's eyes closed and he slumped over. He was followed closely by Hina, then Makoto, who struggled to stay awake before finally giving in. Byakuya fell asleep last.

"Makoto! Makoto! Wake up!" Makoto heard Hina's voice as her eyes opened.

"Hina?" Makoto whispered.

"Makoto! Makoto! Wake up!" Makoto could feel Hina shaking her shoulders.

Makoto suddenly bolted up. Hina wouldn't be shaking her awake if something wasn't wrong.

"What's wrong?"

"Makoto… I'm… I'm sorry…" Hina muttered.

"Why… why are you sorry?" The feeling in Makoto's gut seemed to pull her eyes to her left. Towards Byakuya.

"Byakuya…" The name pushed itself passed Makoto's lips. She scrambled to his side. His glasses had fallen off his face, lying next to him. There was a small stain of pink on the right lens of his glasses.

The skin on his hand… Makoto didn't want to believe it.

His hand was purple. It was purple and mangled and bleeding and awful. His face looked the same. And his eye was bleeding… it was bleeding… just like all the others who had died from breaking their forbidden actions.

Byakuya had broken his forbidden action? Byakuya would never break his forbidden action. Not unless someone else had forced him to break it.

"What's his forbidden action?" Makoto asked, gently grabbing his left hand and turning it to look at his bangle.

Makoto dropped his hand. She backed up a few inches. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't breath. She couldn't think. She couldn't move. She could feel her face turn wet from what she could only assume to be tears. Her mouth hung open. Her mind was doing loops. It was a blast of memories and moments. Splits of moments. Some happy, some ominous, some sad. "A member of the 78th class will die because of Makoto Naegi." "I believe in you Makoto." "I love you too, Makoto." "Someone will die because of Makoto Naegi."

"Surviving the fourth incident with Makoto Naegi still alive."

"N-N-No…" Makoto could barely speak.

Why him?

Why did it have to be him?

Makoto was aware of how awful her thoughts would have sounded to literally anyone else. She knew she shouldn't think that way.

But she couldn't stop.

Why him?

Why Byakuya?

Why couldn't it have been anyone else?

Why couldn't it have been her instead?

"This… This isn't…"

Suddenly, the loudspeakers fed back, as if someone had just turned them on.

"Makoto Naegi." It was Munakata. "I assume you have discovered Byakuya Togami's forbidden action."

How did he know? How could he possibly know?

"Do you understand now? Do you see the truth? Your platitudes are worthless. It is time to cast them aside. It is time to settle this once and for all. Whose hope is real. Yours or mine."

Makoto sat silent for a few seconds. She bit her lip before inching her way back to Byakuya's body. He looked so awful. He looked so not him. Byakuya kept himself perfectly groomed. This Byakuya had hair in his face and in front of his eyes. And blood on his face. It just wasn't right.

Makoto gently brushed his hair out of his eyes. She placed her left hand on Byakuya's right cheek and wiped the blood from his eye with her thumb, staining her hand with the bright pink liquid.

"Hina. I'm going." Makoto stated as she shakily stood to her feet. "This has to end."

"But… but he's insane! You'll be killed!" Mitarai spoke up. Hina didn't even respond. Makoto wasn't even sure she had heard. Hina was just kneeling there, half-way between sobbing and dazed.

"Do me a favor, please stay with Hina." Makoto tried to smile at Mitarai, but she could tell that it just wasn't convincing at all.

"So that's it! You're just gonna leave Togami's body here? I thought you two were a couple! You were supposed to love each other! He's dead! How can you just brush it off!?"

"OF COURSE I LOVED HIM!" Makoto turned back and shouted. Any composure she'd managed to gain slipped away. "OF COURSE I LOVED BYAKUYA! I LOVED HIM MORE THAN ANYTHING IN THE WORLD! I'M NOT BRUSHING IT OFF!" She paused, biting her lip so hard she was certain she'd draw blood. "He only didn't tell me because he knew I'd do something… something rash if I'd known. He died to protect me from myself. Byakuya trusted me with everything he had left. So OF COURSE I'M GOING TO FIGHT BACK!"

"Go Makoto. Go fight back." Hina looked up. "I believe in you."

Makoto nodded. "Please wait here. Don't get involved. Please."

"Okay. I promise." Hina replied.

Makoto turned away from her friend, pushed the barricade enough to be able to open the door slightly, and slid through.

Makoto made her way though the dark hallways of the Future Foundation. She assumed that Munakata would be in the room he had captured her in earlier, and the room where the intercom system was managed.

It was close, and every step she took made her more anxious. She was anxious that something would go wrong. She was anxious that Byakuya's sacrifice would have been for nothing. She could feel her knees shaking. It was from some combination of fear and grief, and she had no clue how to stop it, so she elected to ignore it and continue walking.

Byakuya had made her promise not to give up on her hope.

"It's okay. Hope is what I do." She whispered. "Blind optimism can solve anything." A joke. A joke she and Byakuya had shared.

She chuckled slightly.

"I can do it. I can do anything as long as I have my boundless, hopeless optimism. Right Byakuya? A boundless, hopeless optimism that somehow fills everyone with hope! An optimism that can defeat anything! Even Junko Enoshima fell before my optimism!" She laughed out loud to herself as she continued to stride down the hallway. "Even you! Even the esteemed Byakuya Togami, who couldn't be bothered with commoners, fell to Makoto Naegi's optimism! It even filled you with hope! Hell, you fell in love with it!" She laughed out loud, a full, happy laugh. As if reminiscing with an old friend. "My optimism is powerful! It's unstoppable! It can stop anything! It can defeat anyone! You! Junko! The Remnants! Even Munakata will believe in my optimism! I convinced 15 terrorists! How hard can this be!?" She declared. But then she stopped laughing and smiling and just stared at the ground.

"It really is all my fault, huh? I wanted to help Hajime and the others. If I hadn't done that, maybe we wouldn't have gotten mixed up in this. Maybe we wouldn't have had to go to headquarters to be arrested. Maybe you wouldn't have… Maybe this last killing game wouldn't have even happened…" Makoto waited a second before she raised her right hand and slapped herself in the face.

"NO! I helped them because it was the right thing to do! Start thinking like that and I'll lose my impossible optimism! I'll lose my hope! It wasn't their fault. It was Junko's fault. Junko messed with their heads. Junko ruined them. Junko killed their friend and forced them into despair. It was my duty as the Super High-School Level Hope to help them! I did the right thing!"

There was the door.

There was the door to the intercom room.

There was the door to Munakata.

She stepped through it.

"So you've arrived." Munakata stated.

"Yeah."

There was a second of silence that passed between Munkata, who sat at one of the tables near the front of the room, and Makoto, who stood near the door at the back.

"No second-guessing. No stalling." Makoto stated.

"I've never had the luxury of uncertainty."

"Munakata. There's no point in killing each other." 'You killing me' she thought. "We can just end this now if we stop." She stepped forward, making her way closer to him.

"Your words have no meaning." Makoto stopped as she stood about 10 feet from him. "I have said this. We are simply moving in circles." Munakata drew his katana and Makoto was overcome with a desire to run for her life, though she knew would be ineffective to do so.

"You're wrong." She replied, clenching her fists in an attempt to keep all the emotion she was feeling out of her face.

Another moment of silence.

Then he charged.

Makoto could barely see him pull the handle on his blade that lit the metal into what was basically a heated butter knife with human flesh as the butter as she was dodging to the right. She made a dash for the door on her right, quickly slamming it closed behind her and running to a hole in the wall before jumping out and power walking to another door in the hallway and entering just before she heard Munakata crashing though glass. She intentionally left the door open before quickly removing her blazer and lighting it on fire to set the sprinkler system off and create smoke. Moving without it would be easier anyway.

"What door could she POSSIBLY want me to choose." Makoto could hear Munakata mock from the hall just before he entered the room. "So, is this where you'd like to end it?"

Makoto pressed the two wires in her hands together, creating electric sparks before dropping them in the puddle of water she had created.

Suddenly the area around Munakata's legs began to overflow with steam.

'His heat-sword.' Makoto thought.

Then there was an intense pain in her left leg.

"Damn!" She shouted, falling to one knee.

He'd shot her. He'd shot her in the leg with Tengen's weapon.

She had to get away.

She stood and leaned against the wall, using it as support as she limped into the hallway through the second door in the room.

She limped as fast as she could without it being considered running. She had to quickly think of another idea.

There was a fire-extinguisher.

She quickly grabbed it and hid behind one of the many piles of rubble around the hall.

She clutched the make-shift weapon, and waited. The formerly faint footsteps grew louder and louder as Munakata stalked closer. Makoto felt her heart racing in her chest and her breathing pick up.

The footsteps were right in front of her rubble pile now. He was turning the other direction, away from her. It was a perfect opportunity.

She jumped and lunged for him, using her good leg for support.

Of course, he had seen it coming and quickly raised a foot and jammed it into Makoto's stomach.

"If you want to catch your prey off-guard, try not to leave a trail of blood."

'The blood.' Makoto thought as she kneeled on the fire extinguisher, clutching her stomach. Of course she'd left a trail of blood. All it took was a five-second glance at the floor and the bright pink liquid was easily noticeable. She should've taken that into consideration. Byakuya would've been disappointed in her lack of observation.

She pulled herself to her feet. Just thinking of Byakuya brought back all desire to win. To convince Munakata that he was wrong. To not give up on her blind optimism. To not give up on hope.

"I'm not done yet!" She declared, pressing the button on the top of the extinguisher. But nothing happened.

Of course nothing happened! Just her luck that now she was stuck in the hallway (where she couldn't run she might add) with a crazy man wielding a katana with only a pathetic, non-functioning fire extinguisher to defend herself.

"Your weapon doesn't seem to work. It would seem that your notorious lucky streak has run its course."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean I'm giving up!" She threw the fire-extinguisher right at Munakata's smug face. Of course, he immediately deflected it and it landed amongst a pile of rubble, beginning to steam.

Makoto saw her opportunity as the extinguisher began to shake and ducked down just as it fired and hit Munakata square in the back of the head, releasing more steam around the room. She could feel the floor destabilizing beneath them as she lunged at Munakata and tackled him to the ground, just as it decided to give way.

Makoto heard nothing.

Nothing probably wasn't the right answer.

She didn't think she was unconscious, but tackling a man at least twice her height and maybe that much times her body weight into a large hole in the ground may not have been the smartest idea she'd ever had. Especially not when that man was likely far stronger than her and more likely to be in good condition after a fall like that, which Makoto was fairly certain she was not.

What Makoto could hear was Munakata grunting, him pushing himself to his feet (likely with his sword), and him walking over to wherever Makoto was currently lying. Unable to move, utterly defenseless.

He was going to kill her.

He was going to kill her while she lay completely still, after putting up a fight and doing her best and telling Hina not to get involved, Makoto was going to get herself killed.

She heard him scream.

She felt him bring the sword down.

She braced herself for the blow. She braced herself to see all the others. All the ones she had left behind. All the ones who had died because of her.

Sayaka, Leon, Chihiro, Mondo, Hifumi, Taka, Celeste, Sakura, and Byakuya.

But the blow never came.

The sword never finished its arc.

The faces never appeared before her eyes.

"Dammit." She heard Munakata swear.

"Why'd you stop?" She found herself asking. She was barely able to open her eyes enough to see him, and the sword inches from her face.

"You obviously know damn well why I stopped." He stated.

"I don't." She replied.

"Just look around. I'm sure you'd be able to figure it out."

She forced herself up, even though it hurt every muscle in her body, she forced herself to sit up and look around the room. Or rather, the destroyed fragment of a hallway. It looked familiar.

"Oh, this is where you let me and Hina get away. After I closed the door. Because you can't open doors, can you? That's why you stopped." Makoto sighed with relief. "Because if you kill me now, you'll be stuck in here because you can't open doors!" She chuckled. "Byakuya was right! He was so right! My optimism really did save the day! My stupid, ridiculous optimism that everyone thinks is useless and ridiculous saved my life!" She laughed out loud. "I should have always listened to him! Why did I ever doubt him? Ever?" She paused, giving her laughter a second to die down. "Now, can we just talk? Please?"

"There's no point."

"Look, if you hear me out, I'll open the door. How's that?" Makoto followed his eyes as he walked toward her. Suddenly his hands were on her shirt collar and her feet were at least a foot off the ground.

Makoto would have questioned Munakata's insane strength, but she remembered the multiple times Kyoko, Hina, Hiro, Toko, and Byakuya had all been able to pick her up with no problem. So it wasn't something worth questioning.

"Hey! Hey! Put me down!" Makoto demanded, kicking her feet out, not with enough strength to actually hurt the guy though. Not that Makoto had regained that much strength yet anyway.

"ENOUGH! YOU ARE THE ENEMY!" Munakata shouted.

"Oh my… NO I'M NOT! JUST LISTEN TO ME!" Makoto replied.

Then he threw her at the wall, like that was at all helpful.

"Damn…" She muttered, pressing her forearms into the ground in what was at least an ATTEMPT to get back up, though it failed utterly. "That really hurt…"

"When did despair first get its hooks into you? Was it the Killing School Life that made you turn to despair?"

"For the love of… I'm not a despair!"

Munakata leaned down and grabbed Makoto by the collar again. Because that was very helpful to their situation.

"Don't lie to me."

"I'm not lying! Just listen to me!"

"May I remind you that, while you spouted your nonsense, your lover, Togami, died." He dropped her and her head slammed into the concrete. "You still don't get it? The one you loved gave up his life upholding your weak and naive ideals. Despair must be destroyed, no matter who the mastermind is. I will do whatever I must to thwart them. No sacrifice is too dear. No cost too great. That is true hope!"

'And I'm the one who was spouting nonsense?' Makoto thought.

"Do… Do you… really think that's hope?" Makoto asked, pressing her palms into the concrete and pushing herself up from the floor to look Munakata in the eyes. "Just listen to yourself! All you're talking about it getting rid of despair! Even if it's possible to end despair, that won't create hope!"

"Don't turn this around! Chairman Tengen told me everything! All of us are tainted! In the end, even Yukizome gave in… When the children died she asked me, 'who could do such a thing?' And I was a fool. She answered her own damn question in a photograph. She was the one responsible." He paused. "When did it happen? When was she infected? I once believed her immune." He grit his teeth. "It doesn't matter. Every trace of despair shall burn."

"Don't… Don't talk about a person like that…" Makoto muttered. She pushed her fists into the concrete, "Even if she was brought to despair, she was still a person. She was still a person who meant a lot to you. You think I would ever talk about Byakuya that way? Even if he had given in to despair?" Makoto pushed herself to her knees. "No. Never. Because, even if someone you love gives in, even if they die for the other side, you still have who they were. Those memories are still there. That person is still there." She shakily stood. Her left leg sent consistent shocks of pain throughout her body.

Munakata grabbed her collar again.

"YOU KNOW NOTHING!" He shouted, slamming her into the wall. He raised his fist and punched her across the face.

"NOTHING!" Punch.

"NOTHING!" Punch.

"ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!" Punch.

"YES I DO!" Makoto shouted. "Didn't you hear me! Even if Byakuya… even if my Byakuya had turned into despair and sent me to my death himself… Even if I'd had to kill him to save others…" She could feel the restrained tears coming back to her eyes. "I'd never hate him. I'd never be able to hate him. I'd always love him. I'd always be grateful for every second of my time with him, for every memory I have with him. I'd be grateful for the person he was. Not the person Junko Enoshima forced him to become!" She could feel the tears streaming down her face. She wanted to just curl up alone somewhere and cry. She wanted to just stop worrying. She wanted to quit. She didn't want to have to worry about being everyone's hope anymore. She just wanted it all to stop.

"Chisa…" Munakata finally released Makoto's collar. She fell to her knees, barely noticing the resounding pain in her leg as she pressed her forehead into the ground and sobbed. She sobbed and wept and cried out. Soon she could hear Munakata screaming as well. Though it was a different kind of scream. It was a scream of grief, yes, but also one of frustration and anger with oneself. Makoto's screams were pure grief. Pure pain. Releasing itself the only way feasible.

"Where did we go wrong? How could we have known it would all end up like this?" Makoto could hear Munakata whisper to himself.

Several seconds passed, just like that. Munakata standing in silence as Makoto wept and cried and pleaded on the floor. By now the floor was soaked in a mixture of tears and bright-pink blood.

"Makoto!" Hina's voice called out as the door was thrown open.

"Hina?" Makoto's voice was weirdly fragile sounding as she looked up at her friend who had just entered the room.

"Makoto! Are you okay?" Hina ran to her as the Super High-School Level Hope pushed herself into a sitting position and tried to dry her face on her sleeve.

"I thought you promised not to get involved." Makoto chucked as Hina put her hands on the smaller girl's shoulders.

Hina ignored Makoto's statement and instead turned her head and glared at Munakata.

"The killing is over. Do you hear me? I know who the attacker is." Hina held up a small notebook. It looked incredibly familiar.

"Isn't that the notebook Kyoko loaned to Byakuya?" Makoto observed.

"Yeah. It is. She had been teaching him some basic investigation and loaned it to him to practice. He took some notes." Hina cracked the notebook open and flipped through it. "See… right… Here!" She found the page she had been looking for and held it up for Makoto to see.

"The only prints found at any of the crime scenes had been from the victims themselves… Stab wounds are all in easily accessible areas of the body… In conclusion… Suicide?!" Makoto read Byakuya's notes aloud.

"See? No one was actually murdered! They all committed suicide. Though it doesn't explain why…" Hina continued.

"Wait, did he draw any maps of the rooms?" Makoto asked.

"Hm? I think so…" Hina flipped through the book again. "Here." She held up the new page for Makoto.

"He noted where all the monitors were in all the rooms where victims were found, as well as monitor's locations relative to people who survived those encounters… He must've thought there was some connection…" Makoto paused. "Wait! There has to have been. There was a monitor everywhere we found a body. But that doesn't explain how they're related…" Another pause. "Hey, Hina, can you help me up?"

"Sure." Hina grabbed Makoto's arm and wrapped it around her own shoulders to support the smaller of the two ad helped her to her feet.

"Munakata," Makoto paused to allow him to glare at her accordingly. "I have a plan."

"Y'know Makoto, can I just say that this is a really terrible idea?" Hina asked as she finished tying the cord around Makoto's torso. "I mean, I get what you're doing, but if you're right, you're dead!"

"Don't worry, Hina. I'll be fine. Why do you think I asked you to tie me up?" Makoto smiled a fake smile up at her friend.

"Still not the most fool-proof plan."

"Hey, guys…" Makoto had almost forgotten that Mitarai was even there. "We're almost at the time limit…"

"Makoto, promise me that Byakuya's death hasn't pushed you past some kind of breaking point." Hina wore a look of concern.

Makoto chuckled.

"Don't worry Hina. Byakuya would kill me if it had. And I would never insult his sacrifice like that." Makoto paused and looked up at the Monokuma monitor in front of her. "Byakuya held out on hope until the bitter end. And if Byakuya can do it, than I have to, right?" Makoto paused again. "Also, I promised Komaru I'd come save her when this was all over. I can't ditch her like that. So, I won't die." Makoto bit her own lip after the speech was over. She held back her last thoughts with her teeth as Hina and the others made their way down the hall, leaving Makoto alone with the monitors.

'And I don't want to die either.'

'I don't want to be another victim.'

'I don't want there to be a class trial for me.'

'I don't want to let anyone down.'

'I don't want to be killed.'

'I don't want to give in to despair.'

'I don't want despair to kill me.'

'I'm scared to do this.'

'I'm scared to do this alone.'

'I'm scared.'

There was the beep.

Makoto's eyelids became heavy as she began to sway back and forth slightly before finally falling on her side and closing her eyes.

"TOP OF THE MORNIN TO YA!" The voice pulled Makoto out of her slumber. She struggled to sit up, but managed it after a few seconds. It took her another few seconds, most likely due to grogginess, to realize that the voice was coming from the monitor just in front of her, and that Monokuma was the one speaking.

"WAKEY WAKEY! EGGS AND BAKEY!" The bear continued its ridiculous wake-up call. "Attacker! Come out, come out, wherever you are! Yep! It's time to work your bloody magic! Who shall be the target for today?"

"Ah, the bangles. They must wake you up when you're the closest one to a monitor." Makoto stated quietly.

The bear continued its speech on how 'being the attacker wasn't all that bad.'

"It must be a recording. It can't be Junko." Makoto muttered. "Junko would have immediately tried to taunt me as soon as she saw I was the next target." Add to that the fact that Makoto had observed Junko's death with her own eyes and she was fairly certain that Junko Enoshima truly was dead and this was just a recording of Monokuma either made before Junko died or by someone else entirely.

"And guess what! Being the attacker comes with a special surprise bonus! Ya wanna know what it is? Well, pay attention!" The bear lead into the odd looking movie that began playing on the monitor titled 'Monokuma's Gloomy Sunday.'

The music and footage seemed like they were playing in reverse. Suddenly, the colors inverted and the image changed and Makoto couldn't keep up anymore. Her mind couldn't focus on the images on the screen anymore. Just looking at it hurt. She shut her eyes tight, trying to pull her mind away from the images, but she found herself unable to stop from opening them again.

But she didn't see the screen anymore.

She didn't see the hallway anymore.

Everything was gone. The room was completely blank. Everything was just darkness.

Makoto stood to her feet, realizing the ropes that had been tightly wrapped around her were also gone.

She looked around for something, anything. A door or window or spec of light anywhere.

Then she heard it.

"Makoto."

Byakuya.

It was Byakuya's voice.

Byakuya's voice had come from just behind her.

"You're still alive."

Makoto turned. He was there. She saw him.

"Makoto."

A sickeningly sweet voice cam from where Makoto had just been facing.

A voice Makoto knew all too well.

A voice she hadn't heard in so long.

"You're such a liar."

Makoto turned again.

"Remember you promised to get me out alive? What happened there?"

"Sayaka…"

"You know this is all your fault." Byakuya spoke.

Makoto turned back to him.

"Wait… B-But I…" Makoto stopped.

There they were.

All of them.

All of the faces she'd dreaded seeing earlier.

Hifumi, Celeste, and Taka stood beside Byakuya.

Makoto turned her head to see Sakura, Leon, Mondo, and Chihiro standing beside Sayaka.

Makoto sucked in her breath.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry but I don't understand…"

"Why are you still alive Makoto?" Byakuya asked.

Makoto practically felt a knife go through her heart.

"Yeah, right? You're the one who should've died." Sayaka followed.

Then they all changed.

All of them.

Tears pressed through Makoto's eyes as she watched Byakuya's skin turn purple and blood fall from his eye. She watched as a knife embedded itself in Sayaka's stomach. As Leon's face turned bruised and battered. As a dumbbell brought itself down on Chihiro's head. As Mondo melted into butter. As Taka and Hifumi were beaten by Justice Hammers. As Celeste was burned alive. As Sakura's eyes lost their light.

"Makoto." Byakuya and Sayaka said in unison. "It should have been you. It should have been you who died instead of us."

"But… But I… Just wanted everyone to be…" Her breath hitched. She stumbled back. "I… Please… No…" There was pink everywhere. Everything was covered in it. "No… No… Please…." Her voice squeaked as she looked around. All of them stared at her with dead, hate-filled eyes.

She screamed.

She screamed and kicked and cried. She pulled at her arms which suddenly couldn't move from her sides and she cried and screamed and pulled until she could move her arms again. Her breath heaved and she could see something on the floor in front of her. She wasn't sure what it was. It took a few seconds for her vision, blurry with tears, to readjust itself.

A knife.

It was a knife.

A curved knife with an intricate hilt.

She fell forward onto the floor of the blank, dark room and reached for that hilt. That intricately designed black and red hilt.

"That's the way. Join us Makoto." Byakuya coaxed.

She wrapped her hand around it.

"Yes, yes. Please join us." Sayaka encouraged.

Makoto lifted the knife to her chest and held it about an inch away.

"Do it Makoto." Both said in unison.

There was a second. Makoto opened her eyes and looked up at them.

Though she could not see it, her eyes were spirals. Her eyes were spirals of despair.

"Sure." Her voice sounded broken as she smiled up at her two dear friends.

"I'm on my way."

She plunged the knife into her chest.

Hina ran through the hall. She called out to her friend. The lack of response worried her.

"Makoto!? Hey, Makoto!? Are you okay?" Hina finally reached the monitor where they had left Makoto.

The first thing she saw was Makoto slumped over on her side, back facing the direction Hina was coming from.

The second thing she notices was that the rope she had tied around Makoto was gone.

That was what worried her.

"Makoto!" Hina cried, picking up her pace until she finally reached her friend.

"Hey! Makoto!" Hina shouted at her friend. Still no response.

"MAKOTO! I'M TALKING TO YOU!" Hina kneeled down next to her friend. She refused to turn the body over.

"HEY! MAKOTO! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO RESPOND WHEN YOUR FRIEND TALKS TO YOU!" Hina shouted, opting to press a finger tip into Makoto's back.

Still nothing.

"Please… Please no… Please… Makoto…" Hina pleaded with her friend.

Still nothing.

Hina placed a hand on Makoto's right shoulder. It was only cold, even through Makoto's dress shirt.

"C'mon Makoto… Cut this out… It's not funny anymore…" Hina felt her eyes become wet as she turned Makoto's limp body towards her.

Her dress shirt was covered in pink. It was so soaked with the liquid that Hina was certain she would never be able to wash the color out of the clothing completely, no matter how much they washed it. The pink had even spread to Makoto's oddly pale skin. Her face was covered in it, as were her hands which had fallen in front of her chest, entirely limp. And there was a knife. There was a knife embedded in Makoto's chest. There was a knife in the same place that everyone else had had the same knife embedded in their chest.

Hina jumped back almost a foot. Her eyes leaked tears.

"No… no… no… no… no way… Makoto… No way… No way… You… Makoto you promised…" Hina rambled.

"Makoto… you promised you wouldn't… You promised you weren't going to die… You promised Makoto… You promised me… You promised Byakuya too… Didn't you?"

"Did you give in?"

"Did you lie?"

"You had reached a breaking point?"

"How far did Junko have to push you? How much did it take?"

"Did… Did you even think? Did you even have to hesitate?" Hina pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them in a fetal position.

"It's… It's Sakura… It's Sakura again…" Hina cried, rocking herself back and forth and digging her face into her knees. "It's happening… It's happening all over again…"

"I'm losing my best friend… All over again…"

The room was still blank.

It was still dark.

There was still no light.

There was an overwhelming, crushing feeling of darkness in the room.

But the others were gone now. She couldn't see them.

"Makoto." The voice came from behind her. It was a female voice. It was a voice she had missed for so long.

She turned.

"Sayaka…"

"Hey Makoto." Sayaka greeted. "It's been a while."

"Yeah… It has…" She paused. "Sayaka… I'm…"

"You don't have to apologize." Sayaka interrupted. "It wasn't your fault, what happened, if anything, you should hate me for trying to frame you."

"No! I could never… It… It was my fault… I promised that I would get you out… and…"

"Stop blaming yourself Makoto. None of it was your fault. There was nothing you could have done to save any of us. You didn't do anything wrong." Sayaka smiled. "None of it was your fault. All of us died because of our own actions and our own choices. None of it was your fault. Please stop blaming yourself."

"B-B-B-But… But… But… But…You…" Makoto couldn't formulate a response.

Then a sentence came out of her mouth.

"You really forgive me?"

"There was nothing to forgive."

Makoto felt her eyes overflow with tears. She ran to Sayaka and threw her arms around her late best friend. She felt Sayaka's arms wrap around her as well.

"I missed you… I missed you so much…" Makoto muttered.

Sayaka giggled.

"I missed you too."

Makoto released Sayaka and stepped back a few steps.

"Makoto."

It hurt.

Hearing that voice hurt.

She turned away from Sayaka.

"You're here pretty early."

Makoto balled up her hands around her skirt and stared down at the ground, avoiding his eyes.

"Makoto." He said again.

"I… I'm sorry… I messed up… And… And I… And I lost… I lost…"

"I should have known you would sacrifice yourself like that." Byakuya paused. A small smile spread across his face. "You stayed yourself until the end."

"But… I broke my promise…" Makoto couldn't help but think about how bad at keeping promises she was.

"No you didn't. I didn't make you promise not to die. I made you promise not to give up on hope. You proved my theory about the suicides, and therefore gave Munakata, Mitarai, and Hina hope. It's a hope that doesn't take affect right away. It's a hope that masks itself with other emotions. But it's hope nonetheless. It's a hope that comes with a person's sacrifice." His usual, smug smile changed into a more genuine and happy smile. "You didn't break your promise at all."

"Byakuya…" Makoto sucked in her 'breath.'

She ran towards him and practically tackled him, sobs and cries escaping her lips.

"I love you! I love you! I love you Byakuya!" She cried, squeezing him with her full strength, knowing that half his strength could easily overcome all of hers.

"I… I love you too." He squeezed her back.

"Aww! You two are such a perfect couple!" Sayaka cooed.

Makoto was fairly certain that Byakuya was giving Sayaka a signature Togami glare.

"Now, c'mon. The others are waiting." Sayaka pressed her hands together and walked towards the other two.

It took another few minutes before either Makoto or Byakuya moved to follow Sayaka.

"C'mon guys. You can be adorable there too." Sayaka teased.

"Alright. It's time to go." Byakuya released Makoto and instead took her hand and lead her to the sudden door near where Sayaka was standing.

Sayaka pulled the door open and held it for Makoto and Byakuya, who stepped through first. Then Sayaka stepped through, closing the door behind her.

I tried to go for the sadder ending (mostly because I prefer sad endings to happy endings myself) but I also really like basically all the Danganronpa characters (except Hifumi... and Teruteru...) I didn't want a completely depresssing ending either... So... was it any good?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!