To Cement The Ending We Created, I'll Drag You By Your Wrist

"Kyaaah! Komaru-onee-chan, look, look! There are so many pretty fireworks!"

The blank expression of the Successor doesn't change. Komaru is numb to the brilliant flashes of smoke and light that never seem to end in Towa City. A distant explosion echoes like rumbling thunder, setting off a chain reaction of sound and fury. Faint screams reach up to the decrypt castle Monaka has built for them. Komaru watches Monokumas chase down weaponless adults who meet their end by stainless steel claws now slick with blood.

Monaka rocks from side to side in her wheelchair. "The adults are really getting pushed back today. Without any access to their precious supply warehouse, Monaka knows they'll be totally helpless." She giggles and claps her hands. "All because of onee-chan's brilliant idea to send Monokumas right into their totally not-secret base! Surprise attack! Hiyah!"

She punches the air, her pose reminiscent of the former Fighter. She waits for a response and would have settled for subdued chuckling, but only awkward silence permeates between them. Monaka furrows her brow and huffily crosses her arms. She glances up to Komaru, puffing her cheeks full of air only to gasp, stricken with a realization.

"Oh! Servant-san said the Remnants of Despair will be here before Future Foundation. Can you believe it? Junko-onee-chan's devoted followers will be your underlings! Monaka can't wait to see what horrible things you'll make them do!" She hums and taps her chin, her eyes sparkling. "You can use Tsumiki-onee-chan to spread rare viruses or make Souda-onii-chan mass produce even deadlier Monokumas or have Tanaka-onii-chan summon super scary devil dogs and have them rampage on the adults!" She catches her breath and clutches the hem of Komaru's skirt. "Won't that be super despairing?"

As expected, Komaru doesn't reply. Despite being dressed in Enoshima's outfit and heralded by despair's followers as the Successor, she certainly doesn't act the part. She isn't constantly analyzing and foaming at the mouth with despair branded in her brain. She's not the malicious, intelligent vixen who destroyed the world with careful crafting and devious disasters all for the sake of decimating hope.

Komaru is a girl who faced despair after despair and broke after being urged to commit an atrocity. All of the innocent children, brainwashed to commit countless sins under Monaka's command, died by her hand. Their blood marred her as the despairing martyr and deemed her the Successor just as Monaka wanted in the narrowed eyes of the world beyond Towa City.

She's numb to it all. Her heart has shattered, twisted by thorny, jagged vines. Her brother must hate her, and her parents died under the cruelest thumb. A war will brew in Towa City and take the apocalyptic world by storm. A sliver of her heart wishes to snatch Monaka's throat and strangle the life out of her just like she did to Haiji, but she can't bring herself to do anything.

Her beloved is gone, too. The young woman she fell in love with is no longer by her side. She's alone, trapped in spiraling despair with the remains of her heart lodged between the spaces of her ribs. She's certain that her beloved won't storm inside Monaka's domain and put her back together again.

She had already let Fukawa down more times than she would like to admit. Her cowardice tasted bitter on her tongue as she thinks back to the very beginning. Fukawa carried and encouraged her. With Fukawa's earnest honesty and consideration for her well-being after so many despairing encounters, Komaru fell for her, a woman who would eventually suffer because of her one mistake.

No one would pardon her crime. Not a single person in the world would give her an inkling of mercy even if they sympathized with her pain. Her sinister, serpentine thoughts, each word caressed in Enoshima's whisper, remind her of the devastation she caused. She recalls the shock dripping from Fukawa's mouth, but her own screaming silenced whatever it was she was saying. All she had left was desensitizing despair to soothe her broken, shambled heart as Monaka christened her as the Successor.

She knows Fukawa would never forgive her. Just like how she destroyed the controller, she demolished their relationship. She believed the despair she created was too great for Fukawa to ever excuse, and Komaru tells herself that she has every right to despise her.

She misses what she had, but that only fuels her desolation. She longs for the hand that had once reassured her to caress her cheek. Each time she tries to remember what she shared with Fukawa, tormented memories make her wail. Tears would dribble out until she has nothing left to shed except the blood that runs cold in her veins, and even then, the despair sweltering in the hole left in her chest tells her that her beloved will not come for her.

All she can do is monotonously lead Monaka's forces and the despairing fleets that flock to her. She's dragged along like a puppet even when Monaka tries masquerading her as the true puppeteer. Even now, she can only act as the expressionless leader watching the chaos down below as she rubs her cheek, longing for the cool hand of her beloved.

Groaning, Monaka drums her fingers on her armrest. Komaru is more robotic than any Monokuma she could mass produce. She laments her boredom as the mastermind behind the scenes with her figurehead acting like a cracked porcelain doll. The little sister of Super High School Level Hope becoming the next Super High School Level Despair would have been truly incredible if Komaru would actually do something without Monaka nudging her.

The screaming, sobbing Komaru she had seen after she broke the controller is the one she had hoped to cement within her. Anguish, heartbreak, and despair, it all swelled within her so beautifully that Monaka could have cried. She was so wonderful when she killed Haiji and betrayed Fukawa, but all that is left is a shell of a half-hearted human.

She tries to follow Komaru's half-lidded gaze. It's the same expression she's seen too many times, and she rolls her eyes. The vacant grief puddling Komaru's vision is nothing like Enoshima's vibrant gaze that could see far out into the distance.

Her goddess had told her many despairing stories. From how she manipulated Mitarai into creating a brainwashing video to her plethora of attempts on her sister's life, it was that passion that led Monaka to adore despair. Wild fervor and the thrill of the unknown, those were the notions Enoshima instilled within her, and as Monaka thinks back to Enoshima, she remembers one particular tale that makes her lips curl into her cheeks.

"Love can be the best source of despair," she whispers, gazing far beyond the scarlet skyline.

Komaru flinches, her mouth drawing into a tight, straight line. Swallowing, she jerks her head down to glare at a Ball Monokuma mowing down two adults and leaving behind bloody skid marks.

"Komaru-onee-chan was certainly in love with Fukawa-san, wasn't she? She loved, loved, loooved her with all her heart only to let her down when she was truly needed." With an exaggerated roll of her wrist, Monaka digs her finger into her chest and presses hard against her beating heart and fixes her wide-eyed stare on her prized Successor. "Monaka wonders how you would bring an even deeper despair to your beloved. If it's someone like you, so twisted and broken, then I'm sure you can really make her embrace despair just like you have."

Komaru gasps, all color draining from her face. She snaps her attention to Monaka, her expression stretching in aghast horror. Her lips part, but unlike her brother, she cannot come up with a refutation.

Monaka chuckles. "Junko-onee-chan killed her beloved, the man whom she had loved since she was a little girl. She told Monaka all about how she stabbed and stomped him to itty bitty pieces, but part of that wonderful despair came from when she told him that she was the one who killed his dear mother. It was that beautiful betrayal, meow!" She snatches Komaru's hand and yanks her forward, forcing her to her knees. Grabbing her shoulder, she lowers her voice and feels Enoshima's presence surrounding them. "Doesn't that sound really fun, onee-chan? Monaka's so curious to know how you would bring your beloved to despair just like she did so long ago."

Komaru had thought her joke of a life was finished with unexpected twists as something pierces what remains of her heart. Her breathing turns to sharp pants as she falls deeper, sinking into Monaka's twisted imagery. Her thoughts churn as Monaka paints the picture of Enoshima killing her beloved, laughing, crying, and smiling all the way through. Disgust wraps around her neck and chokes her, refusing to let her sputter out any feeble rebuttal.

She imagines grabbing her beloved's hand and shoving her down the same path she had been forced to walk. Immersing her beloved in thick, malicious agony makes her convulse as she drags herself back to her feet. Her heart beats louder and faster, and the castle walls spin around her, her eyes wide to new possibilities.

"Wouldn't that be incredible? You could trap her in despair," Monaka hisses, clutching her hands together and squeezing so tightly that her fingers burn a brilliant red, "and she'll be all yours just like he was to Junko-onee-chan. Hopeless, miserable, and so full of agony to have loved the awful you." She giggles and throws her hands into the air. "It'd be super duper despairing, nya!"

She sees Fukawa's tear-streaked face, her glasses smashed and lips bloodied. Fukawa coughs out regrets and spills her sorrowful apologizes. She's clutching a gaping wound in her torso, and Komaru realizes she's holding a knife coated in her rich ichor as the world splits in two serrated halves.

Her heart pounds so forcefully that she thinks she's trapped in an earthquake. She flushes, her body and mind warped with despair as Monaka's poison seeps into her veins. A horrific, passionate flare scorches her as her heart knits back together, the will of the former mastermind beseeching her with a smirk above Monaka's head.

Komaru wants more. She needs more of Fukawa's beautiful expression writhing in despair until she breaks and joins her on the path leading straight into hellfire.

The smile of the mastermind rips across Komaru's face. She hugs herself, her knees buckling. As she brings her gaze back to the rotting polluted city, Komaru can hardly contain herself and thrusts herself into the starring role.

"Upupupu! I want to see Fukawa-san shine in despair. We'll be together, and then...then I'll...just like with Haiji-san, I'll-!" Her shoulders rock, and the bubbling laughter welling up in her throat erupts with a volcano's fury.

Komaru howls, fully engulfed by Enoshima's will as tears roll down her cheeks. By her side, Monaka smirks, knowing that despair will reign for as long as they live.