The first thing I felt when I grabbed onto the slightest bit of consciousness was a strong, aching pain in my stomach, making me instantly curl up. However, that triggered the pain on my back, which caused me to groan.

"Whoa, Violet, take it easy." I forced my eyes open to look up at who was talking to me. Once my vision cleared, I could see Ulric sitting beside me, giving me a concerned look. "Are you okay? How do you feel?" he asked. I took a moment to regain enough strength to respond.

"I'm f-fine...."

"You don't look like it." he stated. I shook my head slightly. "I'll be okay..." I used my arms to push me off the bed I was laying on so I could sit up, making me wince in pain. "Now hold on, you shouldn't be moving. Trust me, that was quite the hit you took." Ulric said. I again shook my head.

"I said I'm fine. Now, what happened? After I passed out I mean..."

"You mean after you were knocked out." Ulric corrected, with a bit of edge in his tone. I could immediately see the anger in his eyes. "Mello wasn't aiming for me...." I said. "No, but he still punched you. He hurt you, Violet. Badly." Ulric stated firmly.

I attempted to stand up on my own feet as I spoke, "I'm not that badly hurt, really-" my legs gave in beneath me, and I almost collapsed. However Ulric immediately leaped off the bed and caught me before I could hit the floor. "Yeah, because you about to collapse is definitely convincing me otherwise." Ulric said sarcastically as he lifted me back onto the bed. I sat back up and sighed. "Just tell me what happened." Ulric let a sigh, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Well, after you had gotten hurt, everyone had pretty much forgotten the whole 'Near betraying us thing' until we got you to your room. No one else got hurt, thankfully. But no one is trusting Near or Mello for awhile. Near did betray us, and Mello is just letting his anger get the better of him and took it out on you. So you could say they're both under supervision for now." Ulric explained.

"I see," I again stood up, "we should find them then. It doesn't feel right to leave anyone alone right now." I said. 

"Violet, you can barely walk. You should lay in bed." Ulric stated firmly. "I'm fine, Ulric. I appreciate the concern, but its unnecessary. Now come on." I said, walking out of the room and down the hallway, with one hand on my stomach. Although I was limping more than I was walking. However that changed when I suddenly felt my arm swung around someone's shoulders. I looked to Ulric, who just sighed.

"You are really stubborn, ya know that." he said. I gave him a smile.

"Thank you, Ulric."

"Yeah, no problem."

Ulric led me to the cafeteria, which he told me where everyone was currently at as far as he knew. "How long was I out?" I asked. "Not too long. No longer than maybe an hour. While you were out everyone was busy cooped up in here, cleaning up the mess from breakfast." he explained. Ulric pushed the door open, leading me inside.

The moment we did, everyone looked to us. Like he said, everyone was mostly cleaning, except for Kokichi and Near, who were sitting at a different table. Everyone else was either grabbing dishes or wiping the table. We've cleaned our breakfast mess before in the past, but not to this degree. I guess everyone need a bit of time to distract themselves.

"Hey, Violet, you're not dead!" Kokichi piped in a cheery tone. Ulric snapped a glare at him.

"Not cool, Kokichi." he growled. "What? I'm sorry, did you want her to not wake up or something? Geez, such a mean pooch." Kokichi said. Ulric inhaled and exhaled, and I assumed he was trying not to let the boy get on his nerves. 

"Hey Violet, are you okay? How are you feeling?" Crona asked. "I'm okay, just a little sore." I replied. Lilac rushed to me and grabbed onto my arm, looking up into my eyes. As if asking if I was truly okay. I smiled and placed a hand on top of her head, rubbing it gently. "Daijobu. I'm okay." I replied. Lilac smiled and nodded.

"Yokata (I'm glad) I was worried you were seriously hurt." Magane said. "I too thought you were injured badly. In fact I don't think its wise for you even be out of bed. You should return to your room to rest." Kanato stated. "Yeah that's what I told her. But she wouldn't listen." Ulric stated. I looked to the other side of the room, seeing Mello sitting at a table alone. He didn't look at me. I frowned, pulling away from Ulric and taking a couple of steps towards him.

"....Mello-"

"I'm sorry," I paused, Mello's apology catching me off guard, "it was reckless of me to act like that. And I ended up hurting ya. I'm sorry. I hope you know that wasn't my intention." Mello replied. A shadow cast over his eyes as he spoke. I gave him a smile.

"That's okay. I understand. Besides, its not your fault," I glanced at Near, "And it isn't Near's either." everyone looked at me puzzled, but I continued to speak.

"It's this awful academy. This place has had us cooped up for awhile now. We're all feeling a bit hopeless, and we feel the urge to do horrible things to end this despair and escape. Especially since more of us are being lost more and more. We're down to barely over half of the group that was originally here. We've lost good friends, and they didn't deserve to be killed." I said. However I put on a smile.

"But, we can't give up. They wouldn't want us to give up. We just gotta work together to escape from this place. I know we can do it." I stated.

"Uh, question," I looked to Kokichi, who held his hand up innocently, like a student asking to speak, "How is this 'hope' speech different from anyone else's? I mean, we've heard time and time again that 'oh if we work together and have hope, everything will be hunkey dorey right now' but then things just end up getting worst. How does your speech change from all the other bullshit we've been fed?" he asked. His question stunned me.

But, I also don't blame him. Time and time again we've had this same speech repeated to everyone. And its true things have only gotten worse. First it was Nagito and Rin who kept saying to cling onto hope, but then they were both murdered. So how is this time any different?

"....because this has gone too far." I looked to Ulric who had his fists clenched.

"We've already lost so much to that damn robotic bear! How much more are we going to let him take from us?! How many more friends need to die in this damn hellhole?! I say to let another person draw their last breathe in this place is bullshit! Screw Monokuma! Screw this place! We're getting out of here, and taking back our lives!" he stated.

Ulric looked around, looking at us all with determination. "Come on, who's with me?!" he said. Immediately, Lilac jumped up and gave nodded frantically. Crona smiled, giving a firm nod. "Yeah, we're in!" he stated. Magane chuckled. "Yes, we're getting outta here! Just wait world! We're coming!" she said, doing an outrageous pose. Kanato chuckled, holding his Teddy closer.

"You all certainly are strange. Very well. I shall help as well. Though I'm not sure of how much assistance I can be." he said. Ulric looked to Mello, and walked over to him. Mello looked up at him from where he sat. Ulric placed one hand on his hip.

"We need to all work together, and keep our emotions in check. That's the key to getting out of here," he held a hand out to him, "You in?" 

Mello looked hesitant, looking at Ulric almost suspiciously. However eventually he nodded and grabbed Ulric's hand, giving it a firm shake. Ulric pulled Mello out of his seat, which caused the blonde boy to look at him surprised. "That also means you have to get used to working with all of us," Ulric said, gesturing to Near with his head, "including him. Despite what he did. Even if we don't agree with what he did, which none of us do, he was trying to help." 

Mello narrowed his eyes, and his gaze shifted to the pale boy. Near merely looked over at him from a distance, waiting. Waiting to see what Mello's next move would be. I was curious myself. Mello already had a hard time getting along with him to begin with. Was he gonna accept this alliance? Or would he oppose it?

Mello slowly walked over to Near, with both of them not looking away from each other. I felt somewhere anxious, remembering the last time Mello tried to approach Near just an hour ago. Mello stood in front of the pale boy, looking down at him. Neither one of them spoke. It seemed like eternity before Mello finally held out his hand, which seemed to surprise Near.

"No more secrets. No more lies. No more hidden agendas. If we're gonna do this, I need to know I can trust you....that you can trust me." Mello stated, striking the very truth in every word.

Near blinked, looking at the hand Mello held out to him. His face was still blank and emotionless, which only further increased my nervousness from the little reaction he gave. Near slowly began to hold out his hand towards Mello's, paused for a moment to regain his thoughts, then firmly grasped it.

"Very well. I shall not keep anymore secrets then." Near replied. For the first time in awhile, Mello smiled.

"Good, glad to see we're finally on the same page."

Suddenly the 'ding dong' rang throughout the room, startling everyone. "Attention students. Everyone please make your way to the staircase on the third floor. As a result of your success of completing the third trial, you shall gain more access to the academy. Please feel free to explore." Monokuma said on the speaker.

"Well, there's a start, come on we should go." I said. I turned and took maybe two steps towards the door before I winced and collapsed onto my hands and knees. Magane and Lilac quickly rushed over and knelt beside me.

"Violet-san, are you alright?" Magane asked. I nodded, placing a hand on my stomach.

"I'm fine." I stated. "You are clearly not okay. You need to rest. I told you, you should return to your bedroom and regain your strength." Kanato stated sternly. "B-But, the new area...I gotta see it....I-I gotta help out, do my part...." I said, forcing my legs to get up with the support of a table. However I again fell, but Magane caught me. 

"Nope, that does it. Back to your room." Magane stated. "Hold on, should she be left in there by herself? I mean, one of us is a traitor. What if they attack her while she's resting and the rest of us are on the fourth floor?" Crona said. "Yeah, if we don't want another one of us to be ripped, what should we do?" Ragnarok asked, popping out from behind Crona. 

"Well, two of us could stay with Violet while the rest of us check out the fourth floor." Ulric said. "But who should stay?" Magane asked. "I can watch over her," Mello replied, "It's my fault she's badly hurt. The least I can do is protect her." he said. Crona nodded. "I could help too." he said.

"Alright, it seems we have come to an agreement," Near said, standing up, "So, let's see what the fourth floor has to offer." 

"Nee-heehee," we all looked to Kokichi, who had been awfully quiet for most of the time until he looked up at us with a wide, wicked grin, "I hope you realize, this little alliance you guys got going on isn't going to last. The moment the next person does something stupid or gets into an argument, it'll be back to every man for themselves." he explained. 

"Urusai! You don't know that!" Magane snapped.

"Heh, we'll see. Whatever the outcome, I'm sure it'll be very interesting." Kokichi replied. He hopped out of his seat, placing his hands behind his neck and walking away. "Well, we gonna check out this fourth floor or what?"

Lilac's P.O.V.

Ulric, Magane, Near, Kokichi and I headed all the way up to the third floor until we stumbled upon the staircase. We all looked up at it, seemingly hesitant. Every time we manage to go up a new floor, someone gets killed on that floor. That's one pattern I've noticed right away. I only hope it doesn't happen again.

"Whelp, we're not gonna get anything done standing here twiddling our thumbs." Kokichi chirped. With that said he skipped up the steps humming like he didn't have a care in the world. The rest of us slowly began to follow him up. I looked to Magane. Normally she's more than thrilled to look at every new area, but I can't imagine she's too enthusiastic this time, or ever will again.

When we got to the top of the stairs, it didn't look any special. It actually seemed quite dull. I could only see gray walls with one or two doors on the walls and white tiled floors. Kokichi blinked, looking to both sides of the hallways.

"Man, this place is dull as hell. Booooring." he whined. "Well, no matter how it looks, we need to examine all we can. Search every crack in this place. Find any clues to the outside world." Near stated. 

"Right, so let's get to looking. And we should stick together. Who knows what shit is hidden in this hellhole." Ulric said. Everyone agreed and began to walk down the hallway. As we went down the hallway, examining different classrooms we stumbled upon, I noticed everyone still seemed kinda down. I frowned. We all seemed a bit better, but the truth was we were still all scared. And that probably won't change for awhile.

Still, there has to be something I can do to lighten the mood. I looked to Kanato, who walked in the back, minding his own business. I smiled, hopping back to stand beside him. He looked to me, about to open his mouth to speak, but before he could say anything, I snatched Teddy from his arms, and his eyes widened.

"Eh?! Oi-" I jumped back, giggling. He glared at me, holding his hand out.

"Give Teddy back to me this instant!" he said. I shook my head, waving it in front of him. That made him growl and he came closer to me. I looked up ahead to the others and whistled. Everyone turned to face us. I tossed the bear to Magane, who yelped as she fumbled to catch it. 

"Eh?! N-Nani?" she stuttered. Kanato sighed. "I don't know what Lilac's deal is now, but I'm not in the mood. Please, give back Teddy, right now." he said, walking over to her. Magane blinked, looking down at the teddy bear in her hands....and gave a mischievous smirk. "Yeah? You'll have to come get him~" she said.

"This isn't funny." Kanato stated sternly. He lunged forward to snatch the bear, but Magane tossed him before he could reach her. 

"Kokichi, catch!" she called. Kokichi perked up with a smile and jumped up, catching Teddy mid air. "Nee-heehee, what is this, hot potato? Sweet, I'm game!" he stated. Kanato growled in frustration and ran towards Kokichi, who only chuckled and tossed it back to me. The three of us continued to play this game, laughing and giggling as Kanato ran back and forth.

"Damn you, give it back!"

"I'm serious! Give me back Teddy!"

"Knock it off right now!"

What Kanato didn't realize was....he was laughing himself. His expression of anger became a determined, excited one. He came closer and closer to catching Teddy. We all were all panting, and were no doubt getting a bit tired. Finally though, I when I again had Teddy in my hands, I tossed it at Kanato. He skidded to a stop, barely having enough time to catch Teddy.

"Awww, are we done already?" Kokichi whined. "It doesn't have to end, though. Come on, Kanato, toss one of us Teddy!" Magane said, waving her arms, ready to catch him. Kanato blinked, seeming hesitant, and looked down at his Teddy. "Guys, come on," we looked behind us, seeing Near and Ulric coming back, "We need to focus. We gotta look around, remember? Stop falling behind." Ulric stated.

"Yes, we don't have any time to be playing around." Near stated. We all frowned, saddened our game was over. However, as Ulric and Near turned their backs to us to continue down the hall....Kanato smirked.

"Ulric, catch!" with barely any warning, Kanato tossed Teddy towards the wolf. Ulric whirled around. "What- whoa!" he had just managed to catch Teddy by his arm, looking surprised. Kokichi waved his arms.

"Perfect! Now toss him to me!" he said. Ulric looked down to the stuffed bear, smirked, and tossed to the opposite direction of Kokichi, right to me. "Awww, no fair!" Kokichi pouted. Near sighed. "This is pointless you guy-" Near didn't get to finish as I threw Teddy right at him, causing the bear to hit his face and he caught it in his arms.

Near's head kinda swirled until his apparent dizziness wore off and he notice the bear in his arm. Magane laughed, placing a hand over her mouth. Near's face scrunched up from frustration, and he threw it at her. And then she tossed it to Kanato, and he tossed it to Kokichi, and then I had it again.

And we continued to play this game for a little while longer. Enjoying the distraction of this horrible place we had been placed in. Time to actually have fun again. When we get out of here, I hope we can continue to have fun memories like this.

Together.