Danganronpa: Despair's Philosophy

**Danganronpa: Despair's Philosophy** is a 2nd person perspective, in-progress fanfic created by ETNMystic on ao3 in collaboration with AI Dungeon.

DISCLAIMER from the author: There is a canon DR character recognized as gay by the fandom, but I didn't realize it at the time please don't come for my kneecaps.

## Plot

"Lydia Binx is invited to join Hope's Peak Academy. The problem is that....she can hardly remember anything about herself or her life before this. As usual the killing game begins to take students one by one, but alongside that, Lydia begins to have strange dreams. Slowly she begins to recover memories of who she is, and begins to find herself involved in something much more extreme....."

The reader views the events from the perspective of Lydia Binx, a kidnapped teenager held hostage at Hope's Peak who has extreme memory loss, knowing very little about herself. Many of these events include strange and cryptic dreams that slowly seem to seep into the real world; many of these dreams involve a strange man named Mr. Demar who seems to be on an ambiguous moral compass.

### **Chapter 1: Prodigy**

#### **Daily Life**

##### **In The Beginning**

Lydia is given the news about the killing game prior to the events of the story. She begins to meet the other Ultimate, such as Ken, Sayaka, Frank, and Meredith. Immediately she is shown to have an affinity for Mona. Following a hypnosis session, Monokuma appears and tells everyone to meet in the AV Room. There each of them are given a video that is supposed to show their most beloved person in danger. However Lydia instead sees a strange man talking to someone about making his daughter into a universal prodigy. The video is abruptly cut-off when a girl rushes in, seemingly to stop the man. She goes into the dining hall and grabs a bite to eat where she learns some more about the Ultimates; she then returns to her room and falls into a deep sleep. This is where her first dreams emerge.

##### **The Warehouse**

Lydia finds herself in a room with long tables. In front of her is a chalkboard with the word "KIDNAPPED" written on it. She sees the man from her video and confronts him, only to receive no reply. He gestures to a door behind her and she goes through to find two doors; door 3 and door 5. She enters door 3 to find herself in a warehouse. There she finds herself confronted by a feral woman wearing a horse head who asks the girl seemingly random questions before she disappears and Lydia wakes up.

##### **The Classroom**

After falling back asleep, she finds herself inside of a classroom with the man from the motive video. She confronts him again, only to receive seemingly nonsense statements as he seems to be slowly consumed by madness. He claims that people will be afraid of Lydia's power despite her protests that she doesn't have power. Eventually she wakes back up, but soon falls back asleep.

##### **The Former Mansion**

She finds herself in a dark room with the man from the motive video. She asks him for his name and after bartering with him, he reveals himself to be a man named Mr. Demar. She questions him about the motive video and his mention of a universal prodigy. It is here she also finds out the extent of her sleep. He introduces her to the idea that she is a candidate to become the universal prodigy and as a candidate for ascension. However before she can question him further, he reveals that it's time for her to wake up.

#### **Deadly Life and Trial**

After arriving at the dining hall, Lydia notices that one of the Ultimates is missing. She goes to check only to find Envy dead in the bathroom inside his dorm. In the gym, Monokuma breaks it to the group that one of *them* killed Envy and that getting away with the murder means doing a class trial. He also reveals that they can escape the school by killing the Rightful Remnant; one of the sole survivors of the previous killing games, and says that they could also be considered the Mastermind, and this Remnant is among the group. During the investigation, Lydia discovers what seems to be some sort of secret message hidden inside of the closet. This clue is what leads her to unveil that Frank is the culprit, forcing him to confess and suffer through his execution. After leaving the trial room with the others, Lydia heads back to her dorm and immediately feels herself pulled into a slumber, entering into another strange dream.

#### **Aftermath**

##### **Demar's Dollhouse**

Lydia finds herself inside of a dollhouse where Mr. Demar is waiting. He takes note of her exhaustion and she reveal what happened. Mr. Demar tells her that she's much more intelligent than she gives herself credit for. She denies it, stating that these dreams are confusing her and she doesn't know what they mean. Mr. Demar informs her that they signify her future. He then tells her she eventually has to make a choice to ascend to Godhood or not. When she questions why he's picked her, Mr. Demar's answers confuse her. She voices her concern that this ascension has happened before and that it had gone wrong. He confirms this, but assures her that it was a long time ago. When she asks for the person's name who ascended, he tries to deflect, but eventually he gives her a single name that, in spite of her saying otherwise, he claims that everyone knows; Hinata.

### **Chapter 2: Enlightenment**

#### **Daily Life**

##### **Swimming and Disorders**

Lydia awakens confused, wondering about Hinata, when Meredith shows up to ask if Lydia wants to go swimming. On their way to the pool, they discover that the second floor has opened up and when Lydia tries to redirect the two upstairs, Meredith begins to panic. Lydia, noting that she's experienced the same symptoms, helps to calm her. After cutting a deal to go to the second floor afterwards, they head to the pool where they discover both of them share the same diagonoses; autism and ADD.

##### **The Library**

The two end up staying longer than anticipated and run into Essex who scolds them for running late. Lydia announces a raincheck and the two explore the upstairs, eventually finding the library. While Meredith goes and looks at the books of fairytales, Lydia digs into the files and finds out about the Reserve Course, and questions why Hope's Peak would need the money. Next she finds a student booklet with a name under the Hs crossed out, claiming that they'd been expelled. Then she finds a news article detailing about something called the Hope Cultivation Project before learning about the Uprising of the Reserve Course.

##### **The Dining Hall**

Lydia and Meredith return to the dining hall and find the others convening. Mona tells Jacob off for playing games at the table, as well as berate him for his behavior towards them all thusfar, and Thalia offers to cast a spell on him to make him kinder. At this Jacob mocks Thalia who then is enraged. She pulls out her wand and utters a spell. Suddenly a cloud of smoke appears and when it dissipates, Jacob is gone. In his place is a giant frog, shocking everyone else. The group finds out that the spell Thalia cast on him, Amphibious Imperius, changed him into an obedient pet frog, but that it's only temporary. She shows off the spell by making him bow before Cleo offers to take the next turn. She orders the frog to give her the GameBoy before unscrewing it, leaving the batteries exposed. After grabbing a jug of water, she makes the frog drink it before making him relieve himself on the GameBoy. After this the group disperses and Lydia heads back to her bedroom, falling asleep almost immediately.

##### **The Castle Room**

Lydia finds herself in a castle where Mr. Demar is waiting, and she's waiting for answers. She finds out what the Hope Cultivation Program was and how Hinata's ascension is supposed to be different from hers. During an argument over her talent and identity she discovers that Mr. Demar had somehow used sleeping gas on her before her coma. She then expresses her distrust and Mr. Demar asks her, in a very roundabout way, to come up with a reason for him to exist. After some more banter, Mr. Demar tells her that she's waking up soon.

##### **Teddiursa 2, Motive 2, and Gay 2**

After Lydia wakes up, Mona pays her a visit and the two engage in another hypnosis session before falling asleep. The next day, Monokuma tells them to meet in the gym which can only mean that the next motive is on its way. With Lyra's meta-commentary, Monokuma is annoyed into revealing that he's using the dark secrets motive, with Lydia's involving embarrassing fanfiction, wetting the bed, and a crush on her sister's best friend, none of which she remembers. After checking out a new location, Lydia decides to spend time with Ivy where Lydia wonders aloud if she's pretty, to which Ivy agrees. As Ivy's the Ultimate Pirate Captain, Lydia discovers that she's allowed to have a barrel of rum inside and takes a small sip, which causes her to feel dizzy and fall asleep in Ivy's bed.

##### **The Dollhouse**

To Lydia's surprise, she doesn't end up with Mr. Demar this time. Instead she finds herself in a dollhouse, a different one than the one where she went after the first trial. She meets a doll named Alison and the two discuss beauty while exploring the dollhouse which doubles as a factory of sorts. Lydia also discovers that Alison has never left the Dollhouse as something scared her into staying. They also discuss Mr. Demar, and Lydia finds out that Alison doesn't think he's being honest with Lydia. She also discovers that the Rightful Remnant is hindering her ascension. Right before Lydia wakes up, Alison warns her to be suspicious of Mr. Demar.

#### **Deadly Life**

##### **Discovery of Karla and Investigation**

Lydia is awoken by Monokuma who hints that something may have happened overnight in the spa. Rushing over, Lydia looks in the sauna. To her horror, Karla is hanging from the ceiling with her wrists slit. The others gather for the investigation and Jacob surprises Lydia by asking to team up with her for the investigation. He also notes that Ken, who investigates with Cleo, seems to be acting a bit more anxious than usual. After some time, they all head down for the trial.

##### **Second Trial**

It's revealed during the trial that Karla had spoken to Meredith in the spa the night prior. Karla told Meredith that she had an idea about who might kill next and wanted to set a trap to stop them. Lydia also notes that Ken's behavior is becoming more erratic and anxious. It's soon revealed that Ken, while not the killer, was roped into being the real killer's accomplice. After some questioning and dancing around the answers, the murderer is revealed to be Cleo. She had gotten ahold of Karla's secret, which actually ended up being two; the one told was that Karla had used her disguises to get into places. Cleo had seduced Karla in the sauna only for the Strategist slit her wrists during a kiss that they shared. Cleo is subsequently executed and the trial concludes. Lydia heads to her room and falls asleep.

##### **Protecting the Goddess of Hope and a Startling Realization**

Lydia awakens in a dream where two guides are hanging from the ceiling. One of them hypnotizes her to enter a room where a sort-of flower lies in the center. Lying down in it, it begins to close up and a voice whispers about needing to protect the Goddess of Hope. Lydia settles into becoming this goddess before waking up. Once she does, she hears someone singing and follows the voice to the dining hall to find Meredith. After some discussion, it's revealed that Mr. Demar has also been appearing in Meredith's dreams. Feeling sick, Lydia returns to her room and falls into a dream again.

#### **Aftermath**

##### **Discussion With Demar**

Lydia finds herself in a classroom with Mr. Demar waiting for her. He confirms that Meredith is also a candidate for ascension. After some more discussion, Lydia has a hypnosis session with Mr. Demar in which he eliminates any sort of vulgarity and obscenities, essentially making her pure and innocent for the duration of the trance. Once he brings her out of it, he reveals that this is the sort of world Lydia is destined to create. However this causes her to become frustrated due to the startling lack of answers. He assures her she'll know soon, which only angers her more. Shortly after she awakens. On her nightstand, she spies a silver pocket watch and a note that says *"You still haven't told me your name. -Mr. Demar."*

### **Chapter 3: Ascension**

#### **Daily Life**

##### **The Dining Hall and Reveal**

Having read the note, Lydia is understandably unnerved and decides to head to the dining hall where the others have gathered to eat brownies. They get to know JC a bit better and they learn that he'd taken a few art classes with a teacher who was interested in art depicting Heaven and the afterlife. Intrigued Lydia asks for the name and he reveals that the teacher's name was Mr. Demar. Strangely enough it seems that everyone has had at least some sort of encounter with a man named Mr. Demar. Figuring it's a good time, Lydia decides to bring up finding the pocket watch when she woke up from her dream. With some persuasion, she decides to give it a try, only for it to catch her in a trance when she picks it up.

##### **The Library and the Story of Zero**

Now in the trance, Mr. Demar takes her through a sort of visualization technique; she is in a library, walking around until she sees a table with a notebook and pen. After some deliberation, she chooses to write a story; the protagonist is a girl named Zero who had been raised and experimented on in a lab, and had no identity. One day she died for a while and met the Angel of Death.

Out of nowhere, Lydia finds herself in Zero's place meeting the Angel of Death. The two discuss the philosophy of what is alive and what is dead before Zero awakens in a hospital bed with the scientists from the lab and a doctor who looks like the Angel she met earlier. The scientists tell her they're taking her back to the lab once she's been discharged, but after the discussion with the Angel, Zero is determined to escape the lab.

##### **JC's Trauma**

**(CW: Suicide. Mentions of murder, arson, intrusive thoughts, panic attacks, alcoholism, OCD, PTSD, gunshots, implications of child neglect, all that fun stuff)**

Lydia wakes up in a classroom with Mr. Demar who tells her to keep writing the story even outside of the trance. When she is freed, she finds that the notebook is there, filled with what she's written so far. JC then comes to check in on Lydia and bring her a sort-of dinner. When he asks why she never returned with the pocket watch, she decides to tell him what she's been experiencing as well as show him the notebook with the story inside. He remarks about how with thoughts and dreams like those, he likes to paint them and he decides to confide a part of his life to her.

He reveals that ever since he was six, he's had intrusive thoughts of things such as murder, arson, and suicide to name a few. Having trouble expressing these thoughts with words, one day he decided to draw them and show them to his parents who then took him to a psychologist. He was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. (PTSD) Whenever he'd have intrusive thoughts, he would have panic attacks if he didn't somehow make them visual, in fear that they'd take over his mind and his identity.

JC also tells Lydia that his PTSD diagnosis was due to an incident roughly a year prior. He was staying at his alcoholic uncle's place when he'd heard gunshots coming from his room. When he got there, he saw that his uncle had shot himself twice, once in the chest and once in the head. JC spent the next few days having to take care of himself. The incident caused him to develop extreme panic attacks at even the mentions of guns and blood. It also drove him to draw and paint more and eventually send the art in for prizes but only the less-brutal ones.

At around 10 pm, JC is about to leave when he comes up with a possible idea for him to be in the dream with her by taking her pocket watch and seeing if that would create some sort of connection. After he leaves, Lydia goes to bed.

##### **The Graveyard and Herr Egel**

When Lydia enters what she assumes to be the dollhouse, she calls out for Alison only to receive no response. Suddenly a voice inside of her head speaks to her and they speak to each other. The voice gives Lydia a postcard that says “The past shall redeem the future." She finds herself in a graveyard and receives phone calls including ones for Karla, who she must inform to the others that she’s dead. After speaking to them, she decides to go to the dollhouse where she meets an odd man with a bunny. The man is named Herr Egel and the bunny is named Vampy. Lydia asks him questions about Mr. Demar and whether or not she can trust him as well as his motives. Egel believes that she will make the “right” choice to ascend, and Egel decides he needs to convince her. He pulls out a pocket watch and begins to swing it in front of her face. He also uses his finger to entrance her when suddenly Ivy appears and decapitates Egel. The two girls embrace before Lydia wakes up.

##### **Jacob's Trauma and Exploring the New Floor**

Once she wakes up, Lydia heads to the dining hall and reflects on the four who have died thusfar before hearing Annie's voice. The two talk for a bit before Jacob enters. They all talk about what they want to do when they escape and Lydia questions Jacob's love of video games, to which he admits that he hates them because of his father's abuse when he would play them, including caffeine injections, until kidney stones led to emergency surgery and to his dad being arrested for child abuse.

When the others arrive, Ken admits that he wishes to also go by they/them pronouns as well as he/him pronouns. The group is rather accepting of this. Ivy then drops the news that the third floor has been opened. They decide to explore together and find an art room, a game room, and a concert hall to name a few. While exploring the concert hall, they find a piano. Not to Lyra's surprise, it's *Clair de Lune* by Claude Debussy. Soon after finding it, Sayaka begins to express a sense of hopelessness due to the deaths that have been happening. However Lydia tells them that if they slip into despair, the game will only continue; this speech lifts the group's morale, with Lyra making an ahoge joke. Everyone splits off with Lydia writing more about Zero before falling asleep.

##### **Scheherazade and the Library**

In this dream, Lydia finds herself in a library where she finds someone who claims to just be an old and boring wizard; however Lydia doesn't believe this and upon further questioning, realizes that this is Scheherazade. Lydia confides that she'd love to be a writer and perhaps would like to stay in the library, to which Scheherazade informs her that she can't leave as it is part of her. After some more conversation, Lydia finds a book that seems to contain memories from as young as a few months to six years old, but whether these are true or not is unconfirmed. Reading through it gives Lydia some inspiration for her story and she begins to write until she comes up with a long list of characters and connections. Scheherazade encourages her to keep going, but Lydia's tired. She then hears voices of robed people asking her to tell her story. After a long time of pestering from them, Lydia relents and starts to tell them about Zero.

Suddenly she finds herself in a hospital room where she hears scientists talking nearby about Zero, but she senses them referring to her. They discuss about wiping Zero's memory of what she knows, saying she can't have any worldly knowledge when she ascends. Zero pleads with the scientists who inject her with a drug that's supposed to make her forget everything. Suddenly time stops and a woman pulls the IV and drugs out. She tells Zero that she actually needs to remember herself in order to ascend, as they made her forget who she really is due to them being afraid of the magic she possesses. With a wave, she sends Zero to a place called the Isles for her to remember who she is.

Emerging out of the story Lydia, now back to herself, is asked if she knows who she is, but is called Zero. As she begins to wake up, she remembers something the Robed People said earlier.

##### **The Third Motive and Confiding in Others**

After waking up, Lydia's told that they all have to meet in the gym, meaning it's the third motive. At breakfast they all theorize what the motive might be and when they arrive at the gym, Monokuma briefly dances around telling them. Finally he introduces one he calls "Slumbering Servitude," which he says he picked out from Mona's talent. Each student gets paired up, with one being the hypnotist and the other being the subject. The hypnotist can make the subject do just about anything they want; they can even order the subject to kill someone for them.

Heading back to her dorm, Lydia finds that she's been chosen as the hypnotist and the subject is JC. At that moment, the latter arrives with Rosanna, who didn't get an envelope. Lydia decides to tell them about all of the stuff that's been happening and JC gives the idea of sleeping in Lydia's room to see if that'll get them into the dream with her.

Later in the evening, the three enter the dining hall, with Lydia taking note on who's paired with whom. As she's doing so, an argument breaks out between Thalia and Jacob, who seem to have been paired up. Thalia tells Jacob to make her a potion and he yells back at her, saying he can't. After a bit more yelling, Thalia storms off and Lydia follows her to the girls' bathroom. Thalia confides in her and also mentions something about a dream; the two go to Thalia's dorm and she tells Lydia that the dream was about the latter, and she tells Lydia what she saw.

She found herself in a city made of gold, and went to a church where she found Mr. Demar. He gestured to a stained-glass window, depicting what looked to be a girl with a divine and ethereal appearance. Mr. Demar tells Thalia that she and this city of gold are meant to be the future of the cosmos and the hope for humanity before morphing away and being replaced by a boy with silver hair who tells Thalia he's going to see Lydia in her dream tonight. Lydia invites Thalia to sleep in her dorm with her, JC, and Rosanna to see if that will get them into the dream and they can help her piece everything together. Thalia accepts the invitation and, after getting dinner, the four of them go to sleep in Lydia's dorm.

##### **A New Dream and a New Face**

In this dream, Lydia finds herself within a white void where she is greeted quite reverently by the silver-haired boy, claiming that she is hope incarnate. The boy is named Nagito Komaeda; he takes Lydia to see the future that will become if she is to ascend. In this future, there's no war, poverty, disease, famine, or anything of the sort; everyone is good and pure, as are their surroundings. All things are a right and money is now obsolete. He also tells her that in this future, anyone is able to achieve their dreams at any age. In spite of his praise, Lydia continues to deny any of this being true, stating she's just a kid who hardly remembers who she is, but Nagito claims that she can defeat despair. He explains that once she ascends, the world will start over and she will be able to bring in new life. After giving her some more unsolicited advice, Nagito leaves and Lydia awakens to a loud and frightened scream.

#### **Deadly Life**

##### **The Third and Fourth Murders and Dream World Communication**

When she awakens, Lydia is in shock to find that everyone else in her room is gone. Fearing the worst, Lydia rushes out and searches the school for the source of the scream until all that's left is the Game Room. When she enters, she finds Meredith on the floor, trembling. At her gesture, Lydia sees Thalia on the floor covered in bruises and lying still. Luckily, Thalia is discovered to only be unconscious. After waking up and being asked what happened, Thalia reveals that she saw a body in the Repository. Volunteering to show them, Thalia is carried by Lydia and Meredith to the outside of the Repository where Lydia decides to look inside where she finds a bloody tarp over a lump of sorts on a dolly cart and below that, a pool of blood. Pulling off the tarp, Lydia is horrified to find Ken's body; their throat has been slit and a bloody butcher knife is in their hand. Lydia rushes out to tell Meredith when she's suddenly hit in the back of her head, causing her to fall unconscious.

When she comes to, she hears the body discovery announcement; after Lyra's comment about those with talents in music not lasting, Lydia begins to worry for Meredith and searches for her and Thalia. She finds Meredith in the nurse's office, thankfully alive and slowly waking up. However she also finds a bloody bed across from her. Looking underneath it, she's horrified to find Thalia's body covered in blood and unmoving.

Another Body Discovery Announcement plays and the others gather in the nurse's office. With Ken being the very first person she met, Lydia rushes to her room to gather her bearings. When she gets in her room, the darkness of her room seems to morph into a different dark room where she finds Scheherazade and Mr. Demar. Despite her infuriation and objections, Mr. Demar tells her that perhaps the dead could help as he cuts her arm, taking some of her blood. The dark room transforms into the library where Lydia met Scheherazade as he writes runes in her blood.

The first ghost to appear is Envy's, with a head wound and strangulation marks. He tells her that one of the main reasons Frank managed to kill him is that he was caught off-guard. After being asked about Ivy, Lydia asks about a girl named Alyssa, someone Envy mentioned to Frank before he was killed. She finds out Envy was created by Alyssa; however Ivy was created by one of Alyssa's friends, a girl named Luna. Next Frank appears, covered in burns. Surprisingly he ended up having his soul pulled out of the hell he fell into by a man in orange. For his advice, he says that he picked Envy at random, so it's quite possible the killer did the same for those two. Karla appears afterwards and states that perhaps whoever killed them lured them to their deaths. Finally Cleo appears with bullet wounds and notes that whoever did this was an amateur and didn't have the same skills of saying what others wanted to hear and to look at Thalia's body for a reason. After speaking a bit more to Scheherazade and Mr. Demar, Lydia wakes up.

##### **The Third Investigation, and the Third Trial**

After Lydia wakes up, Jacob comes to collect her for the investigation. Going back to the nurse's office, Lydia finds that Thalia's body has sporadic stab wounds. She also notices footprints leading out and takes a look at everyone's shoes before heading to the repository where she sees Mona's gloves placed by Ken's body. She then checks Thalia's body again and finds a frying pan underneath the bed. Suddenly the bell rings, signaling that the class trial is to begin; on the way to the elevator, Lydia thinks she spies a sort-of shadow at the end of the hall before Mona snaps her out of it.

In the trial, they realize that Thalia's was intentional and Ken's was accidental. When Lydia brings up the gloves, Jacob points out the color, making him look suspicious until JC suggests he could've seen it during the investigation; however Ivy comes through with the point that the gloves were found in the repository and the only people who went in there were Sayaka, Lydia, Mona, JC, Lyra, and herself, so Jacob couldn't have seen the gloves during the investigation. The final blow ends up being the bloody footprints, which Jacob had left a trail of on the way to his podium.

After being pinned as the culprit, Jacob reveals that Ken had found out about Jacob's plans to have Thalia meet him in the repository in order to kill her as vengeance for all of the times she'd been bossing him around. When Ken confronted Jacob about this, he put up a fight and Jacob knew that if he didn't act fast, Ken was going to tell someone. Jacob had knocked him out and stabbed him before Thalia came into the room and noticed; being provoked, Jacob ran after her and knocked her out and took her to the game room before later realizing that it may not have killed her. His delay in retrieving her was due to Meredith and Lydia taking her to the repository and so once Lydia had looked at Ken's body, he knocked them out, took Thalia to the nurse's office, and killed her there before bringing Meredith to the nurse's office, with his plan to bring Lydia there as well being intercepted by her awakening. Following this Jacob is executed and the group is left with low morale; leaving the trial grounds, Lydia returns to her dorm and goes to sleep.

#### **Aftermath**

##### **The Fall of Trust and an Unknown Assailant**

**(CW: Harassment, accidental heterosexuality displayed)**

In this dream, Lydia finds herself in a room made of black stone when she hears someone call out to her, beckoning her to them. She discovers that Nagito has made a second appearance, along with some beautiful women from a portal and Vampy the Bunny, who as it turns out can speak. Nagito begins to tall about the benefits of ascension and several others appear, including Mr. Demar, Herr Egel, and the guide from the dream she had after the second trial. The women begin to dance around Lydia, beckoning her to ascend. Nagito then steps inside and slowly embraces Lydia, much to her discomfort, and waxing creepy poetics to her. Suddenly, he gets down on one knee and pulls out a ring. Lydia then stomps on his foot and rushes off before entering another room. Unfortunately she finds that it's a church and she finds herself inside of a bridal gown. As she tries to escape, the wedding party rushes after her until Vampy manages to get the door open and then shuts it behind her, telling her that Alison is planning to hide them at the dollhouse and that he'd tried to stop Nagito, but Egel had been holding him back.

The two enter a vent Alison peeks out of and begin to crawl to safety. Lydia asks Alison if she can trust Mr. Demar, to which the latter says she doesn't but whether or not Lydia does is up to her. It's only then that she realizes that Mr. Demar didn't try to stop Nagito. They continue to crawl through the sewers undetected until Lydia accidentally hits her head on the low ceiling. Nagito crawls down into the sewers and tries to get closer to Lydia. Suddenly Vampy appears and hits Nagito on the head with a brick. After Nagito falls to the sewer floor, the three continue to crawl through until they reach a manhole. Climbing out, they continue on through some forests and a graveyard before finally seeing the backyard of the dollhouse; according to Alison, the three of them would be safe once they cross the threshold. Soon they hear Nagito scream and rush for the backyard; however Nagito manages to grab onto Lydia's ankle just before the threshold. Pulling her away, he slips a hypnotic ring onto her, making her fall for Nagito and replacing her memories to make her think she was meant to marry Nagito and ascend since she was younger. The wedding goes through and she ascends.

Lydia then awakens to herself screaming. The door being broken down, Ivy, Mona, JC, Meredith, and Rosanna rush into comfort her. As Lydia is comforted by them, she begins to question her trust towards Mr. Demar before dropping it. Later on, long after the nightmare ended, Monokuma speaks with an unknown figure, who asks if someone will be safe from death and a few other concerns. Just after they leave, it's revealed that Monokuma knows of the existence of Mr. Demar and perhaps had even met him before.

### **Chapter 4: Control**

#### **Daily Life**

##### **A Puppet and a Fight**

Despite her terror, Lydia decides to go back to sleep in the hopes of receiving more answers; however she has Ivy and Mona stay with her. She finds herself in a large hallway with doors on either side as well as a staircase leading up to a larger door at the very end of the hallway. As she walks through it, she hears a squeak and turns to find that one of the doors that were previously closed has been opened slightly. She starts walking when she hears giggling as well as a voice behind her; turning around she finds Mr. Demar and tries to leave, only to find herself stuck to the ground. Lydia snaps and screams at Mr. Demar, demanding to know why he hadn't stopped Nagito's advances; however he only responds with apologies which Lydia doesn't take as being sincere. Eventually she finds herself being restrained, with Mr. Demar claiming that it's for her protection. The dream ends with her looking to see her limbs tied to strings like a sort of marionette, before waking up.

When she awakens, she finds that she's been screaming and clinging onto Mona and Ivy. She decides to tell them the truth about all that's been going on; while Mona is merely shocked, Ivy is enraged by Mr. Demar's seeming lack of concern for Lydia in that situation. In spite of their slightly-shared desire to see him die, Lydia believes he may still have answers that she needs, but is quickly pulled back into a slumber, much to her terror.

Lydia finds herself in a large, ornate room covered in gold. She finds a man in a fedora named Clarence. After some talk, she comes to a horrific realization that it's Mr. Demar and tries to run off. The two end up fighting, inflicting injury after injury, when Mr. Demar takes out a knife with what seems to be an intent to kill. Lydia manages to get ahold of the knife and threatens to kill him. However he seems to sense her lack of answers, using it to delay time until she wakes up.

##### **Research,** **The Castle,** **and Invasion of the Dollhouse**

**(CW: Cutting)**

After waking up, Lydia decides to get something to eat and runs into Annie. The two have a very brief conversation with one of Annie's questions being about how to become a God, which Lydia finds to be a rather strange one. Afterwards, Lydia heads up to the library to see if she could find any information on Mr. Demar. While she does find a file on him, there isn't much in the way of anything that seems to be potentially useful against him. Figuring that perhaps the library backroom may provide something, she tries to open the door, but finds it locked and after searching the library for a key, turns up empty-handed. Now with a headache, she decides to rest and ends up drifting off to sleep.

This time she finds herself in a forest clearing at nighttime with a castle door nearby; the dream is pretty peaceful, so she decides to reflect on herself to collect what she knows about her identity. This leads her to think that perhaps Demar is trying to control her and that he also won't let her wake up until she goes inside the castle door. Infuriated, she shouts at the sky that she's not someone to be controlled and she's not going inside the castle. Suddenly a wind begins to pick up and soon after a storm and lightning strikes, only aggravating Lydia further and prompting her to taunt him. She shouts for Demar to stop being a coward and face her, which he does.

Demar attempts to threaten her into going inside the castle, but this only pushes her to further fight back. Grabbing her wrist, he tells her tat she will be his student, an idea which she fights against. She also presses further on why he didn't stop Nagito, to which he finally answers because he wanted to see how long it took her to say yes to him. Lydia accuses him of seeing her as a science experiment, to which he corrects her, saying he sees her as an art project and that he's an artist of sorts; he tells her one of his arts is playing with people's minds, and Lydia tells him she's done with him. She tries to rush off several times, only to find herself back in the same spot.

Finally Lydia manages to get away to another clearing. Unfortunately she's far from safe as a crazed Nagito stumbles towards her, still wishing to make her his bride. Rushing the other way, Lydia ends up tripping and finds that something has wrapped around her ankle and Nagito has caught up to her. Taking a rock, she hits him right in the eye and tries to pry herself loose. Suddenly someone cuts her loose with a cutlass; Ivy has managed to make it inside the dream, taking Lydia in her arms and rushing to a new clearing. The two sit down for a moment and Lydia discovers that she's been asleep for two days with Ivy watching over her. However she doesn't explain how she got inside the dream and doesn't have time to as Demar has now found them. Infuriated by him letting Lydia be harassed by Nagito, Ivy manages to slash him in the back until he falls unconscious.

Picking Lydia back up, the two rush to find a way out; however they find themselves at the clearing with the castle. Demar has returned, completely healed, and Lydia tells him she still refuses to enter the castle. Suddenly they hear Nagito's crazed voice, only this time he's pulling himself towards them with just his hands and he looks completely mangled. He keeps proclaiming his love until Ivy ends up decapitating him. (Nagito's a Jane Doe kinnie not clickbait?)

Ivy and Lydia try to leave, but end back up in the same clearing with Demar. He tells them to go in the castle, but Lydias refuses. Demar then tries to take control of her to make her go in the castle, but she says "Uno Reverse Card," and the force disappears. He commends her on the use of it, but tells her she still needs to go in the castle. Reluctantly she and Ivy head inside.

Inside the castle is a huge room. Immediately the two are bombarded by castle residents who begin to worship Lydia as the Goddess of Hope. They begin to talk about her ascension and she remarks about how they make it sound as though she's already made her decision. Lydia and Ivy rush into a room where a voice tells her it's time for her to make her decision, but she insists that she's not choosing yet. Suddenly they hear someone and look to see Alison and Vampy peeking out from a trapdoor. The four of them head to the dollhouse to reconvene. Ivy talks about how she'll kill him the next time she sees him, but Lydia says that they're outmatched and need an ace up their sleeve along with getting more of them in the dreams. Vampy and Alison find out about the death game she's going through and Lydia wishes that there was a way to fight back against Demar, as it seems he always has the upper-hand. Luckily Alison says that she may have something, but that it will take at least a few days to procure it. In the meantime, if Lydia stays in the dollhouse, she will have some immunity over Demar and his influence, as he's not able to enter the dollhouse.

Alison also remarks about how she may able to get those from the dead to help partake in this, despite the morbidity. Suddenly Vampy seems to notice that something is off and the group suddenly hears a voice. Alison is shocked to see that Demar somehow managed to enter the dollhouse. Lydia confronts him, but he threatens to bring Naagito back. The four take off and figure out that inflicting pain could be a way to wake up from the dream. With nothing to lose, Ivy cuts both of their wrists.

##### Big Gay Energy, Planning, and Togare

Luckily the plan works and the two way up. Ivy is already preparing to clean up the cuts. The two end up admitting their crushes on each other, including Lydia having a crush on both her and Mona. The two share a moment before realizing that they should get to the dining hall. When they arrive, JC mentions that they must've had a good sleep which makes Lydia and Meredith tense up, talking about how he's been popping up more and trying to take more control. Hearing this JC takes them out of the dining hall and confesses that he's in the same boat as them. Lydia tells them of the method she and Ivy used to exit the dream and decide to bring Ivy on-board, affirming that she was able to get into the dream. They decide to sleep in Lydia's room that night to see if they can all get into the dream.

That night Lydia manages to meet up with Meredith and Ivy in the dream, but JC is nowhere in sight. Suddenly she hears a maddened laugh and gets knocked out. When she wakes up, she finds herself strapped down to an operating table and a teenaged girl with a maniacal smile and wide eyes approaches her, calling herself Doctor Togare, which jogs Lydia's memory of something she'd read about Demar; this is Togare Furo, the girl he attempted to extract the soul of. She reveals that it failed and that she's going to experiment on Lydia. She puts a helmet on Lydia, who finds out that she plans to turn her into an android, which terrifies her to the point of extreme emotion. Despite Togare's commands to calm down, Lydia's intense emotions break the machine, but Togare is just confused, as she thought autistic people had more logic and less emotion, making Lydia want to smack her. And after looking at her computer, she remarks about how it wouldn't have worked anyway, due to Lydia's intense emotions and compassionate and affective empathy along with her high levels creativity and trauma.

She decides to next offer to turn her into a superwitch, but Lydia also denies this, saying that she wants to discover who she is for herself; surprisingly Togare is cool with it. They both share their collective disdain for Demar before Togare reveals that she knows where JC is, and it spells trouble. As it turns out, he was taken by Scheherazade and as her volunteer of the night, he's supposed to be murdered. And while if it were Togare who was chosen she would essentially respawn, JC would not, as he hasn't been in these dreams for long. With little time, they meet back up with Ivy and Meredith before heading to Scheherazade's home base.

##### Scheherazade 2, Zero's Adventure, and Mina

(CW: Anxiety attack)

The four arrive at a mystical Arabian-style area of the library with an audience gathering. The four sneak through the audience and head backstage where they find JC inside of a basket, bound and gagged. They free him when they hear Scheherazade's voice approaching. All of them, except for Lydia, manage to hide in time. Spying her, Scheherazade decides to change the plans and have Lydia tell the audience stories, to which Lydia accepts after some pressuring. During the waiting time, she ends up having an extreme anxiety attack to the point of passing out, but Scheherazade catches her in time. After Lydia awakens, Scheherazade helps Lydia talk through it a bit before taking her on-stage, resuming the Story of Zero.

Now inhabiting the character of Zero, she finds herself wandering the Isles before stumbling across a clearing with a waterfall. She is drawn to go past the waterfall, revealing a cavern where a melodic voice beckons her. Zero's body moves on its own and she is lured towards an altar. Kneeling before it at the voice's command, Zero feels a pair of hands on her body, gently caressing it. This goes on as the voice attempts to lull Zero into a trance when the voice of a young woman breaks Zero out of the trance and pulls her out of the waterfall cavern, much to the chagrin and wrath of the voice.

The girl tells Zero that the entity she had run into is known as the Priestess of the Marble Waters, who favors innocent maidens. However Zero also discovers that innocence is very much sought after by those who live on the Isles, as many of them are jaded and cynical people who desire to take and keep the innocence for themselves. Zero also learns that the girl who saved her is named Mina and is willing to help Zero get to whatever goal she's trying to get to. The two then venture off.

##### The Fire Cocoon and Escaping the Library

(CW: Cutting)

Emerging from the shift, Lydia wakes back up as herself to applause from the audience before being pressured into telling a little more. Shifting back to Zero at the Isles, she continues walking with Mina when they approach a campfire. Despite Mina's warnings, Zero approaches it and falls into it. When she awakens, she finds herself inside of a blue cocoon of warmth. A strange creature approaches and spreads gel on Zero's forehead to calm her body and then inspects her. Once it's done, the creature tells Zero that she's going to be its fledgling, which they define as "an insect that is still attached to its parent and can't fly." However Zero objects to this, saying that she wishes to be herself, but the creature attempts to dissuade her from that, bringing up that she's too innocent to know herself. Suddenly there are sounds of an explosion and Mina's voice rings out. Breaking one of the creature's appendages, Zero falls from the cocoon onto a bag Mina had brought. The two dive into a body of water just as another explosion is heard.

Shifting back to Lydia, she insists that she needs to go, but the audience attempts to pressure her into telling more. Everything begins to overwhelm her, but Ivy manages to save her. The two of them, JC, Togare, and Meredith rush away from the crowd where Ivy begins to wake them up by cutting them with her cutlass. Unfortunately Togare is unable to be woken up because she doesn't have a physical body to return to, so the four return to the real world.

##### The Fourth Motive and the Fourth Floor

(CW: Mentions of making love, mentions of drugs)

When they awaken, Ivy and Lydia seem to be the only ones in the room. The two hear an announcement from Monokuma that he wants them to meet in the gym after breakfast. After a bit of flirting, the two head to the dining hall. Everyone is in slightly-lower spirits, but Ivy and Lydia discover that the fourth floor is unlocked and they plan to go there after the fourth motive is revealed.

They convene in the gym where Monokuma tells them that the motive is related to jealousy or love and then a story about a couple; the husband was kind, but the wife hated her husband who would do anything for her. When the two are making love, she asks him to give her another man. He creates one out of thin air, but it's a grotesque monster that the wife tortures. This becomes his last straw and he creates a beast in order to kill his wife and the creature. However the wife had set up a trap and the husband walks into it and is torn apart.

Lyra interrupts him to ask what it has to do with the motive and Monokuma tells them that the tale will be re-enacted in a sense. He lists several rules:

* Four of the students have been assigned roles; the husband, the wife, the man, and the beast. However, no one is allowed to know who is who.
* If the husband is able to kiss the wife before the next night, there will be no class trial.
* If the wife finds the husband and kisses him, he will die, but no class trial will be held.
* If the wife finds the man and kisses him, the husband will die but no class trial will be held.
* If the beast finds the husband and kills him, the beast will be allowed to graduate.
* However if the beast does not kill the husband but instead kills the wife, the man, or someone without a role, then a class trial will be held.

Rosanna then asks what happens if no one acts at which Monokuma unveils the motive title; Unleash the Beast. He leaves them to ponder what this means. The group then decides to explore the fourth floor, which contains nothing too interesting except for a locked door and a chem lab, which turns out to be locked; however Ivy helps them get in where they find a variety of strange and even dangerous drugs such as hallucinogenics. Sayaka theorizes that someone is selling drugs, opening the question of what has happened to the outside world. Looking around there seems to be overwhelming amounts of evidence to support Sayaka's claim.

Lydia finds a vent with three different chemicals in it; a narcotic, a hypnotic, and a hallucinogenic. Slipping a small marble through the vent, she rushes downstairs and finds that the vent leads from the chem lab to her room. Afterwards Annie comes to check in before Lydia finds the motive; she's been chosen to be the wife. Feeling sick, she stumbles over to the bed and passes out.

##### **The Shadow Dream and a Dream Team:**

(CW: Needles)

Going back into a dream, Lydia finds herself at a beach and nearby is a tall shadowy figure. It beckons her to follow and she reluctantly does. It leads her to a castle and beckons her to go in. After Lydia expresses reluctance, the figure begins to interrogate her about her identity and feelings before squeezing her knee, claiming that it's trying to give her power. After another brief argument, Lydia leaves only to be confronted again by the shadow, who begs her to accept the gift it's trying to offer her. When the shadow introduces itself as an old friend of Mr. Demar, she tells the shadow she wants nothing more to do with him. The shadow tries to give a peace offering, but she denies all of its offers before asking for its real name; finding it out to be Nagito, she makes a break for it and rushes into the castle. As a frantic orchestra plays, a needle goes into her skin and liquid goes through the tube, making it feel as though her veins are burning. It's at this point she realizes; pain does wake her up from the dreams, but the source needs to be removed first. Going against the wishes of a disembodied voice, Lydia pulls out the needle and awakens.

When she does, she remembers the drugs she found leading to the vent in her room and decides to form a team to go back into the dreams and get the backroom key. She gathers up JC, Ivy, and Meredith and the four decide to sleep in Lydia's room to get into the dream together.

## Trivia

### **LGBT+**

There are quite a few characters in the story who identify as LGBT+:

* Lydia quickly falls for Mona and soon after, Ivy. She also has stated that she doesn't mind polyamory in chapter 3.
* Mona is quickly revealed to be a lesbian in chapter 1 due to her flirtatious attitude towards Lydia.
* In chapter 2, Ivy is also revealed to not be straight, telling Lydia that she doesn't "speak 'etero." She is canonically a lesbian.
* It is heavily hinted in chapter 2's trial that Karla was a lesbian who came from a homophobic family.
* In the same vein, it's also hinted that Cleo is either bi or also a lesbian who also came from a homophobic family.
* While it hasn't been touched upon yet, Annie most likely identifies as pan.
* In chapter 3, Ken comes out as a demi-boy, asking for the others to also use they/them pronouns.

### **Neurodivergence and Mental Illness**

There are also several neurodivergent and mentally-ill characters in the story.

* In chapter 2, Lydia reveals to Meredith that she shares the diagnosis of autism and ADD/Inattentive ADHD with her.
* In chapter 3, JC confides in Lydia about his past. He suffers from intrusive thoughts and was diagnosed with Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD) at a young age, developing a fear of his intrusive thoughts overtaking his personality if he didn't somehow make them physical in a way, leading him to turn to art to communicate these thoughts. He was also diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after seeing his alcoholic uncle's body following his suicide a year before the thoughts began.
* It's revealed in the Chapter 2 trial that Annie has ADHD.
* In chapter 3, Thalia reveals that she has ADHD, with her main struggles being emotional dysregulation and impulsivity.
* Though neither of these have been mentioned yet, Ivy and Sayaka also have ADHD.

### **Zodiac Signs**

There's a decent amount of variety within the cast in terms of zodiacs.

* Thalia, Ken, Annie, and JC were born under the sign of Aries, with Thalia being born on the first day of Aries.
* Envy and Rosanna were born under the sign of Taurus.
* Cleo and Essex were born under the sign of Gemini.
* Jacob and Lydia were born under the sign of Cancer.
* Mr. Demar and Frank were born under the sign of Leo.
* Sayaka, Meredith, Karla, and Lyra were born under the sign of Libra.
* Ivy was born under the sign of Scorpio.
* Mona was born under the sign of Capricorn.

### **Birthdays:**

Some of the birthdays have some particular significance to each character and/or their talent.

* Annie's birthday is April 1st, playing on the fact of her being a jokester.
* Jacob's birthday is July 8th, which is the original date of National Video Game Day.
* Lydia's birthday is July 11th, which is the author's birthday.
* Ivy's birthday is November 12th, the significance being the death of naval commander, John Hawkins, in 1595.

### **Countries of Origin**

While most of them are from America, there are a few exceptions.

* Mona and Essex both hail from the U.K.
* Lyra is also from the U.K., but her dialect indicates she's from a more casual area of the U.K.
* Ivy's dialect indicates she potentially comes from a region in the U.K. where Cockney is used. Funny enough, her younger brother Envy doesn't have the same dialect and his birthplace is unknown.
* Sayaka was born and raised in Tokyo.
* Annie comes from a small mining town in Saskatchewan in Canada.
* Lydia's current birthplace is currently unknown.

Meanwhile the other characters were born and raised in the U.S.

* Cleo is implied to have been born in and/or raised in a part of Vermont, as she mentions that her mother has a greenhouse there in Chapter 1, Part 3.
* Thalia states in her introduction that she was born in Salem, Massachusetts, a rather fitting place for an Ultimate Witch.

### **Character Inspirations**

Several of the characters have some sort of influence from other characters who potentially impact and influence their personalities and voices.

* Ken is very reminiscent of Chihiro Fujisaki, as both of them are very timid and quiet, but have strong moral compasses.
* Sayaka has been stated to be inspired by Ibuki Mioda.
* Annie's jokester personality and love of making people smile indicates her character being inspired by Pinkie Pie from the show *"My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic."* The author has stated that they also imagine Pinkie Pie to be the voice canon.
* Frank's emo vibes are indicative of Robbie Shapiro from the show *"Gravity Falls."*
* Thalia's anger and impulsivity holds some indication of being inspired by Winifred "Winnie" Sanderson from the movie *"Hocus Pocus."*
* Mr. Demar's calm, but foreboding, demeanor may be somewhat influenced by the Cat from the movie *"Coraline."* This also may potentially be part of his voice canon.

### **Pop Culture References**

The fic has a lot of references to other media

* The film *Hocus Pocus* is referenced throughout the fic a decent amount.

### **Random Trivia:**

* In Cleo's execution, it's revealed that she has Italian ancestry, but doesn't speak Italian; however, her reappearance in Chapter 3 shows that she's been trying to learn it in the afterlife.
* Frank most likely identifies as Buddhist, as shown in his execution, while Thalia identifies as Pagan.