supergaybabyjail | THE MASTERMIND AU MEME

THE MASTERMIND AU MEME

THE MASTERMIND AU
AMBIDEX EDITION

With Round 3 now over, it's about time we had the mastermind meme!

To those who aren't familiar, this is essentially an AU where your character is the one responsible for Round 3's Mutual Killing Game, and all of the carnage that came with it, from the kidnapping to the motives to the trials to the executions! And now, they have chosen to reveal themselves before the remaining members of their class at the final trial!

As such, you are free to play around with this as much as you would like; did your character make a contract with Kyuubey, or did your character put everyone in the Killing Game for a different reason? What is your character's motivation for bringing despair? What do they intend to get out of this seemingly senseless killing? And what does the rest of the class have to do to stop the madness and go home?

There's probably going to be quite a bit of AUing from your character's original canon happening here to make them into the best harbingers of despair they can be, so feel free to go as nuts with it as you want to! And, of course, feel free to tag others with your character's reaction to their classmate's big reveal; it doesn't matter whether or not your character made it to endgame, have fun and mix up the survivor pool as much as you'd like!

Oh, and feel free to describe your character's sweet new Monobear-themed duds, too!!

Original meme text borrowed and modified from loveisanopendoor!

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[She's still Meridiana. She's not different enough that he can just convince himself that everything from before was a lie, and that just makes everything hurt even more.]

It's not. If anything, this is all one big lesson on why it's right.

I know. No matter how many times we do it, it always does seem to come out that way in the end.

[She glances around the circle at all of them, then returns her gaze to Silver.]

It never changes, does it? No matter the circumstance, the world, the people. In the end there'll always be people who hurt others, and people who end up their victims.

If that's all there is, and how it has to be, then it's stupid to stay a victim, isn't it?

...From the first time you eat, you're already hurting others. You're killing and devouring other life to prolong your own. There's nothing pretty, flowery, or tragic about it. That's life. That's how everyone lives. That's how we've lived for the past two months, but it's also how we've lived from the moment we were born.

[He desperately tries to keep his expression cold and level, but it's exceedingly obvious that he's hurting, that he feels so betrayed- he thought she was dead, he thought she was gone forever, and everyone else that's died, Tsukiyama starved for weeks, everything leads back to Meridiana--]

You taught me a valuable lesson about opening up to others, Meridiana. It's a weakness. You've managed to hurt me, but I won't let you kill me, and I won't make the same mistake again.

[Stop. Stop. Stop. Don't feel anything. He just needs to do what he said, and seal off his emotions...]

There's no way in hell that I'll choose your survival over mine.

That's why Dr. Jezebel hated humans, you know. As I understand it, he starved himself for a long time as a child, once he found out that he was eating the animals he loved so much in order to stay alive. His father made him into that.

It just goes around and around, doesn't it? People hurt others for all sorts of reasons. For fun, for survival. Because they're sick of being hurt themselves.

[She nods at him, obligingly; that's the point he's making himself, isn't it?]

The way you survive this is by convincing me there's something I've missed. That it's wrong to live this way, that this cycle ought to stop. I taught you a lesson? Then teach it back to me, Silver.

Because if it's true that the right way to live is choosing your own survival over someone else's, that putting yourself first gives you license to step over others to do it, then I've no reason not to simply kill all of you right now.

...A close friend of mine, someone I cared about dearly, once told me that I could lead everyone in here to survive. From that day on, that's what I decided to do, and that's what I'm going to do today.

[He's made it this far, he's shared all of his secrets- he desperately wants to live, but if someone has to die...]

I'm not going to try and convince you of some kind of moral superiority or higher ground, but there is something you've missed, and that's family. Everyone here cared about you. [I cared about you.] You look out for your own, not force them to murder each other.

I won't let you hurt them. If there's a shred of Meridiana left in you, you wouldn't want to hurt them either. But you've already done plenty of that, haven't you? Why should I expect you to care now?

Oh, no. I know there's no moral superiority in what I'm doing. I suppose that'll be what kills me, though, if you can make me believe in morality again.

[She's watching him intently now; from the looks of it, there's something about his barely-concealed pain that's bothering her, though her expression isn't changing much from that tired, flat mask.]

It's not enough. Of all people, you and I both know how family doesn't exempt anyone from hurting anyone else.

Now listen, Silver. If I spell out the rules, then in the end the answer won't matter; you won't have done it because you believed in it, but because telling me the right thing to hear was your means to an end. So you have to work it out for yourself, but if anyone can, it's you.

You can't escape this by arguing that those who are strong have the right to hurt who they please, because right now I'm stronger than you, and that only tells me I have the right to do as I see fit. And you can't beg for your lives out of love, because that doesn't answer the question; it only solves your own problem.

So why is it, that I should act differently from anyone else? Why shouldn't I be a monster who hurts others, when it makes no sense to make myself a victim?

Convince me that reasoning is wrong. Convince me there's more to the world than monsters and victims. The Meridiana you loved in this game was kind and sweet and was used and she died. Why is that the right way to live?

It's not about wanting to hurt you. I want you to make me understand why I shouldn't.

[And now, at last, her voice cracks, very slightly.]

The way of the world is people hurting each other. Why should I make any effort to be better than that? What benefit has there ever been to not being a monster? Tell me, Silver!

[She wants him to convince her, does she?

Too bad that's something he just can't do. But her words make his cold facade absolutely shatter, and when she's finished speaking, well... All he can do is keep calm.]

...We're not monsters and victims. We're people. We're all people, Meri.

[Silver sets his Pokéballs down the best he can and walks over to her; the effort is painful, but he doesn't care.]

If it will make you feel better, then kill me. All it would take is one push or punch in the ribs. Is that what you want to do? Will it make things better, knowing you've hurt me?

I can't convince you of anything. I'm just one person. I'm a selfish person with my own wants and needs. This is your choice, isn't it? Not as a monster or a victim, but as a person.

Do what you think is right.

...One person made a difference to you, didn't she?

[She doesn't seem threatened by his approach; when he nears her, it looks for a minute like she wants to get down off her throne and help support him, but after a moment she thinks better of it, and holds back.]

What I think is right...is saving myself. That's the only thing I can think is right anymore. Nothing else matters.

That was the wish I made, back then. "I wish for the power to ensure I'm never hurt again." So as long as I'm hurting others...I'll survive.

But if I let you hurt me, if I allow that, then I'll have given up on my wish. And that'll be the end of it. That's what I meant...when I said it'd be the death of me, to believe in morality again.

So why should you live, and not me...?

Because you'd be alone. If you killed all of us, you'd be alone. And what's the point of surviving if you can't share it with someone?

...Maybe it's better to be lonely, too. Better that...than used...

[But she's starting to falter, and it shows.]

You know that's not true. We both do.

[He's finally by her throne by this point, and while he can't exactly hug her, he can definitely gently take her hand.]

And what will all of you do, if you win your lives away from me? I've hurt you all now. Why won't you just go on to hurt others, too?

Because that's tacky.

[...There is no better way to put it. He shakes his head briefly.]

I'm stubborn and stupid. I didn't do anything that old man did, and I'm not gonna do anything you have.

[Anything you have. It's nothing she doesn't already know, but hearing it put into words in someone else's mouth hits hard anyway.

Doing what she did had been much easier when she'd hated everyone around her anyway. Even arguing with Silver had been harder when it was simply a matter of both sticking to convictions.

...She'd been right, hadn't she. He really was the one who'd get them all out alive, in the end.]

W-Why are you doing this...? You're just — it's just manipulating me, y-you're not...

[Maybe he is. But...maybe he isn't...? And if she can't tell either way, then what difference does it make?]

If I'm trying to manipulate you, I'm doing a really bad job.

[If he was manipulating her, he wouldn't have started off coldly and talking about his own survival.]

...Why don't you leave with us? You don't have to run the game like this, do you?

...I might. I don't know if letting you go means giving up on my wish.

[She reaches up, wiping at her eyes with the heel of her hand.]

But I'd thought...even if that were the case, it's not as though I've not done enough to deserve to die myself. I know that.

I want the one who lives at the end of this to be the better person. In a world decided by strength, that just means the stronger one. But...in a world where things can be different from that, I know that the better person might not be me.

Enough of this better person stuff, Meri. None of us are good people, and killing you off certainly won't make us better people than before.

The same goes for you. Forget all the killing. Let's just make it stop and leave this stupid place behind together.

I...a-a...

[The beginnings of words come out disjointed and stammered, and she shakes her head at them, at her inability to trust her own voice.

...

And then, quiet and forlorn, she slides down out of her throne and stands on her own two feet, moving toward Silver and opening her arms to help support him, if he'll let her.]

[...He won't reach out to grab onto her, but if she comes to help him, he's not going to protest. He's having a hard enough time moving around. He's tired of struggling.]

...I missed you.

...I'm sorry.

[It's still not much; mastermind or not, she's still just a very small girl. But he's there, and she has her arms around him, and she tries to help hold him up, even a little.

She tries her very best.]

A-All those times you said you were sorry and all along, i-it should've...been me...

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THE MASTERMIND AU MEME

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