Lilac's P.O.V.

It began to get darker, and Violet held my hand as she began to lead me to our room. She yawned, raising a hand to her mouth. I can't blame her for being so tired. Today hasn't been an easy day for any of us. I mean we had lost three friends today. I only hope we don't lose anymore.

"Come on Violet. We've had a long day. Maybe tomorrow will be a better one." she said. I nodded. She reached out to the door knob of our room and turned it open, stepping inside. I was about to follow her, but then....

"H-he...Help...h-help me..."

I stopped at the soft voice. It could barely be heard, almost like an echo. I turned to my right, trying to find the owner of the voice. All I could see....was a faint golden glow at the end of the hallway. 

"Help...me..." the echo was even softer this time. Just as suddenly as it had appeared, it disappeared. I blinked, rubbing my eyes afterwards. What was that? Did I really see that? Or was it just my imagination? Maybe I'm more tired than I realize. "Lilac," I turned to our room, seeing Violet poke her head out of our room, "What are you looking at?" she asked. I looked to the end of the hallway one more time before turning to face her, shaking my head and giving a warm smile.

I didn't consider what happened with much more thought as I trotted into our room.

Violet's P.O.V.

I didn't want to move. Surprisingly the mattress felt incredible, and I felt so warm and cozy under the blankets that I actually felt safe. However, the sound of ding dong sound of the morning alarm unfortunately woke me up, making me groan as I sat up. I looked to the monitor that was in the corner of the room, once again seeing Monokuma on the screen.

"It's morning once again, ladies and germs! Welcome to a brand new day full of misery and despair! Now get your butts up and get out there! Make things interesting for Monokuma." he said before the monitor shut off. I sighed.

"You ready to get up Lilac-" Lilac wasn't in bed. Only a slight space on the mattress where she used to lay. My eyes widened, and panic rushed through my veins. 

"Lilac?!" I shot out of bed and swung the bathroom door open. She wasn't there. "Dammit not again!" I said. I bolted to my door and swung it open. Without thinking I blindly charged into the hallway....causing me to bump into something strong. I yelped and fell back on my butt, feeling my head begin to pound with pain. "Itai, itai, itai....bad idea..." I murmured under my breath.

"Whoa, Violet you okay?" I blinked and looked up, seeing Ulric looking down at me. Oh geez, was he the one I bumped into? I cleared my throat and looked away.

"Ulric, I-I, I'm sorry..." I said sheepishly. He just chuckled and shrugged. "It's fine. If anything I should be the one to apologize. You're the one that hurt your head." he said. "Hehe, its only a small bump. I'm okay." I assured him. However I looked at him surprised as he held a hand out to me. 

"Here, let me help you up." he said. I looked up at him. His sapphire eyes stared right into mine. They were deep and surreal, you could get lost in them. Immediately I felt butterflies in my stomach, but I couldn't look away either. I realized he was still holding his hand out, and blushed as I quickly grabbed onto it and he pulled me to my feet. "A-Arigato...." I stuttered. I perked up, remembering why I even bumped into him.

"Where's Lilac?! Have you seen her?!" I blurted out. "Oh Lilac? Relax, she's with Magane. They headed to the cafeteria to get breakfast. Don't worry she won't let her eyes off her." he said. I blinked, only further surprised. But then I sighed with relief. "Thank you, Ulric." I said.

"Don't thank me, thank Magane. But, maybe you should clean up before you do." Ulric replied with a slight chuckle. I was confused by my comment until I felt my hair, feeling the tangled mess it was in. And I hadn't even gotten the chance to brush my teeth yet either....

I gave a nervous chuckle as I blushed bright red. "Ah yes, of course, I-I'll go do that now..." in two seconds flat I bolted back into my room and slammed the door shut. I covered my face with both hands as it began to heat up as much as a volcano. I can't believe Ulric saw me like that! That's so embarrassing! I shook off the feeling and sighed. It's not like I can do anything now. He can't un-see how horrible I looked. Might as well ready for the day.

Small time skip

I sighed as I walked down the hallway and arrived at the cafeteria doors. I felt my hair, making sure I actually brushed it, which I did. Next thing I did was push the doors open.

"Good morning everyone-" I froze the moment I saw the sight before me. Lilac sat at a table. But she wasn't sitting by Magane....she was sitting by Kokichi.

And he held a knife, stabbing between his fingers rapidly.

"What the...." I murmured. Kokichi looked up at me and stopped what he was doing, smiling at me innocently.

Almost instantly I marched right up to Kokichi and snatched the knife out of his hands, glaring at him with red, beady eyes. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" I said in a low voice. Kokichi blinked, head tilted. 

"Huh? Have you not heard of the knife game? You stab between your fingers as fast as you can without cutting yourself. It's fun," he looked to Lilac, "I figured it'd be a fun game to teach Lilac." he said. "Are you kidding me?! You're more than aware of her tendencies to hurt herself! So in what world would it make sense to teach her a game like that! It's not even a game! It's stupidity!" I snapped. Kokichi pouted, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Helicopter mom much?" he muttered. I looked to Lilac, giving her a serious expression. 

"Lilac, I don't know what he told you. But no matter what, you never touch one of these, okay?" I said firmly. Lilac quickly nodded. I placed my hands on my hips. "And where's Magane? She was supposed to be the one watching over Lilac." I stated. Suddenly there was a banging on the kitchen door. I tilted my head and walked over to it, seeing it was locked. I glared at Kokichi, who only shrugged.

"She was in the way of our fun. She was annoying." he replied. I rolled my eyes and unlocked the door, causing Magane to swing it open and immediately march out, heading right towards Kokichi. "You son of a bitch! What was that for?!" she snapped, face glowing bright red from anger.

"Yeesh, chill out. I just wanted to play a game. God, is everyone really gonna get on my case about it." Kokichi muttered. The cafeteria door opened, to which Crona, Ulric, Kanato, Mello, and Near came inside. "What is with all the commotion in here?" Kanato demanded in an annoyed tone.

"This asshole here decided to try and teach Lilac a knife game!" Magane snapped, pointing accusingly at him. "No I didn't. Magane was the one doing that. I'm just an innocent bystander." Kokichi replied innocently. "Don't you dare try to accuse me! You're the one that locked me in the kitchen!" Magane snapped. Kokichi looked to the others, giving the big, sad puppy eyes.

"You're not really gonna believe that liar, are you?" he said. 

"Dude, there is no way in hell we'd believe a word that comes out of your mouth." Ulric said deadpanned. Kokichi pouted, turning away. "Jerks..." he muttered. Kanato immediately went to Lilac's side and pushed Kokichi away from her, taking a seat beside her. "Look who's talking." Kanato said, suddenly wrapping an arm around Lilac's shoulders while he held Teddy in the other. His actions surprised me. He was giving Kokichi a harsh glare, and his fangs almost curled up into a nasty snarl. He seemed almost....protective.

"Nee-heehee, oh my, look at the vampire being so protective of his prey~" Kokichi chimed. "She is not my prey." Kanato stated firmly. "Oh? Oooooh, then that means she's your girlfriend~ Why else would you be so scary all of a sudden?" Kokichi said with a playful smirk. Kanato opened his mouth to argue against him, but stopped when he noticed his arm was still around Lilac's shoulders. Lilac just gave Kanato a cute, innocent expression that was full of curiosity.

This caused Kanato to blush instantly and he quickly pulled his arm away. "Chiga! (You're wrong!) S-She's not my...g-girlfriend either." he stuttered. Mello sighed, sitting down and laying his cheek on his palm.

"Whatever, are we gonna start preparing breakfast or what? I'm pretty wiped." he muttered. We all agreed, and began to prepare breakfast. Magane and Crona helped me make the food in the kitchen, while Ulric prepped drinks for everyone. When everything was ready we all began to eat. 

The atmosphere felt very strange. It didn't feel as depressing as usual after an execution happened. But it still felt....very heavy. It was a strange kind of uncomfortable feeling, yet it also felt normal in such a bizarre way. Maybe....we've been here for so long, we were actually starting to get used to this routine. The routine of someone getting murdered, someone getting executed, and then moving on to the next day.

That thought terrified me to a high degree.

The only one who seemed unphased, as usual, was Kokichi, who happily hummed as he ate his breakfast. It was like he was a oblivious child, ignoring the situation we were in. Or maybe its just something in his nature that I can't understand.

"So, uh, did everyone sleep well?" Crona piped up, wearing a tired but kind smile. I was beyond relieved someone had broken the fifteen minutes of silence that hung in the air. Ulric shrugged. "I could've slept better." he replied. "Agreed. I'm afraid I didn't get the sleep I had hoped for." Kanato added.

"I've definitely slept worse though." I replied. Magane frowned a bit, poking at the last bites of her food with her fork. "I dunno, I felt....a bit lonely." she murmured. I frowned, looking to her. Her eyes were zoned out, spiraling with despair. I can't blame her. Her best friend was just executed yesterday. It was even because she executed anyone. But because she tried to do the right thing.

Junko was unfairly executed. I'm sure that's one thing everyone here could agree on.

And what sucks most, we can't do a damn thing about it.

"I suppose I could've slept better. It didn't help that stayed up late last night." Near replied. Mello stopped eating, a shadow casting over his eyes. "....yeah? How come?" he asked. Near didn't look at his rival as he began to speak.

"I found it difficult to fall asleep." he replied.

"....you're a shitty liar, ya know that?" That made everyone perk up, including Near. Mello put his fork down, and leaned back in his seat a bit. "You don't have to hide it anymore, Near. I'm not a fool. So why don't you just spill it?" he stated. Near narrowed his eyes. "I don't understand what you're talking about." he replied. 

"Tch," Mello growled, "Don't give me that crap. You were talking to someone last night, right?" he said. Crona gave him a confused expression. "Talk to someone? Who?" he asked. "Yeah, tell us, I'm very curious." Ragnarok said, poking out from behind Crona. Mello sat up completely, and even stood up from his seat. I noticed Near didn't take his eyes off him.

"Fine then, let's start with this...." Mello dug into his pocket...and pulled out a small green notebook. I could Near's eyes widen just the slightest. "When I came to your room to wake you up for breakfast this morning, this fell out of your pocket. And you'd be surprised of the interesting info I stumbled upon." he said. Near didn't respond, but everyone else in the room looked at Mello intensely.

"What does it say?" Kanato asked. Mello flipped open the book and began to read from it.

"It would seem my plan was a success. We have been able to complete yet another class trial, and now the chances of Monokuma unlocking another area of the academy have gone significantly higher. However more people had perished than I had hoped...but there is nothing that can be done about that." Mello read aloud. My eyes widened.

"What? A plan? More people dying? I-I don't understand." I said. "I didn't either at first, until I read further back." Mello replied, flipping back a few pages. That's when something interesting happened....Kokichi's gaze suddenly snapped onto Mello, his eyes narrowing. 

"Alright, everything is in motion. While I wish there was another way around this, there was no other option. And the opportunity was too good not to take.....I finally spoke with the traitor of among us," Everyone but Kokichi and Near gasped upon hearing that part, but Mello continued, "And further more, he has agreed to go along with my plan. He will prompt one of the others to commit a murder. When and if we complete the class trial, more of the academy will be revealed to us, hopefully to an exit even. So that the remaining survivors can escape."

Mello's lowered the note book and glared at Near. "Does that sound about right to you, Near?" he said.

We all stared at Near anxiously. I on the other hand was completely shocked. Why would Near do such a thing? He couldn't have, could he? Did he....did he really plan to sacrifice two of us? We're supposed to get out of here together! Near didn't look at anyone, twirling a strand of his hair as his blank expression remained upon his face. He looked so calm and in control, it was eerie.

"I admit it. I did write down that plan. And I followed it through." Near replied without so much as the slightest bit of hesitation. That's when Mello growled and slammed the note book onto the floor. "I fucking knew it!" he snapped. He marched around the table until he was standing by near, his shadow overlapping the small figure of the pale boy.

"You son of a bitch! How could even consider doing something like that?!" Mello snapped. "As I had stated, it was necessary in order to gain more access to the academy. We weren't getting anywhere with our current state." Near replied. Ulric growled, standing up and began to speak. "What happened to getting out of here together?! What happened to working together to escape from this place?! All of us-"

"Was that truly a realistic goal?" Near's statement made everyone freeze.

"From the moment I understood our situation, I believed that it was impossible to leave without any casualties happening. As hard as it is to believe, sacrifices had to be made for the many," Near looked to Mello, "I had the traitor cause conflict in order to provoke someone into murder. As twisted as that might sound, it was the only way to gain more access to the academy-"

"No, Near, you're wrong! We could've found another way! No had to die!" Mello snapped.

"You can yell about it all you want, but what's done is done. Now we can only progress from here. Their deaths won't be in vein. It was an unfortunate but necessary sacrifice-" 

"Junko didn't have to die!" Magane snapped, interrupting Near. "She didn't need to die! She didn't kill anyone! She just tried to protect us!" she stated. Near frowned, looking away and down at his legs. Mello snickered.

"You damn bastard," before anyone could stop him, Mello snatched the collar of Near's shirt and yanked him off his seat, making everyone gasp, "Can't even bother a single apology." 

"Mello stop! Put him down!" I cried, standing up from my seat. Crona and Lilac did the same. "Please, let him go!" Crona cried. The last thing we needed was for a fight to start, or worse....for things to escalate even further. "We followed your orders ever since we were first stuck in this hellhole, and then you do this?! How can we ever trust you again?!" Mello snapped, shaking Near.

Near didn't so much as let out a squeak as Mello did so, and only looked up at his rival. "I'm afraid there isn't a way." he replied. "....can't you at least tell us the name of the traitor?! You saw their face, you spoke with them! Can't you tell us who they are?!" Mello said sternly.

"....I cannot. If I do, they'll put you all in danger." Near replied. That made Mello snap, his eyes wide with fury.

"YOU GOD DAMN PUNK!!!" Mello shouted as he tossed Near across the room. Near crashed onto the floor with a hard thud, letting out a cry of pain, which greatly terrified me. Near was one to never show much emotion, even in the bleakest moments. So it was shocking to see him show any signs of pain. Mello tried to march over to him, but Ulric and Kanato quickly rushed to him and they each grabbed his arms.

"Mello stop it! This won't do any good! Calm down!" Ulric stated. "Knock it off already, you brute!" Kanato snapped. Mello ignored them, as he shoved both of them away and charged for Near. The pale boy barely managed to have enough time to sit up before he could looking up at the furious Mello. 

I couldn't help it. I charged full speed towards the two boys, leaping over the table.

I watched as Mello raised his fist towards Near....but before he could reach his rival, I stood in front of Near, arms held out protectively.

"YAMETE!! (STOP!!)" But it was too late.

Before I knew it....I felt a jabbing pain in my stomach. I cried out as the impact caused me to go flying. A felt something hard smack against my back, which I assumed was the wall, and it knocked the air out of my lungs. Almost immediately Mello snapped his eyes to me, wide with shock.

"V-Violet..."

"Violet!" Ulric shouted, rushing towards me. "Violet-san! Daijobu?!" Magane said. I just stood there for a moment, feeling blank as to what had just happened. Even Near stared at me in shock, seemingly speechless. After a moment had passed, I felt something come up from ym throat.

I bent over and coughed up blood, tasting the metallic taste in my mouth. That's when the pain in my stomach and back really began to settle in. Before I knew it, my vision felt blurry, and my body felt heavy. Finally, my legs couldn't support me anymore, I crumbled to the floor, finding it surprisingly comfortable.

The last thing I remember  hearing before I passed out was Ulric calling out my name.....