Clover Field nursed her third drink, or was it her forth? She hadn't really counted but knew she wanted the buzz to take away all the memories from those damned games, memories of events that never happened, all because of some time warped thing she couldn't quite understand.
"Nine-years-old," she mumbled, unable to stop the shaking in her hands.
"It'll get better one day." Clover flinched at the voice, turning around quickly, her hand going to the pistol she wore, only to relax when she saw a familiar face, one that she remembered from the second Nonary Game.
"Aoi."
"Clover."
They didn't speak after that, as he sat down on the barstool beside her, ordering a drink. Clover knew she should hate him; after all, it was partially because of him that there was a second Nonary game, but she couldn't. He had only tried to save his sister, just like she had tried to save her brother, killing all of them. Except, they were still alive, thanks to the timeline shift, even if saving her brother put her in the middle of the third Nonary game.
"Do you think it's over?" he asked thoughtfully. Clover looked at Aoi, the man who truly had changed. He was older now, and gone was the cocky, sarcastic one they called Santa back in the second Nonary. Like she had, he too survived the Nonary game arranged by Cradle Pharmaceuticals.
"I dunno," Clover admitted, wondering what she thought of him. The bubbly girl with an obsession with hot pink was gone, replaced with a woman who was struggling to live.
Santa threw back a shot, wincing as the wiskey burned his throat. "I still have nightmares about her burning in the incinerator," he whispered. "We couldn't create a time paradox but...I couldn't let her die, yet I still watch Gentarou Hongou throw her into the incenerator every night, watch her burn..." he trailed off, wiping away a tear from his eyes as his shoulder stiffened, and for a moment she saw the little boy from the first Nonary game,the boy who only tried to protect his sister.
"I still...I see myself with the axe, watch as I kill," Clover said, cursing her insecurities, cursing the face she felt so much like the nine-year-old girl she was when it first started. She felt strong arms wrap around her, as Santa hugged her, seeing the younger girl, the little girl he knew her as. "I keep seeing his body!" she sobbed into his shirt.
Santa rocks her as he looks up at the tv overhead, then curses. Clover turns and looks at the tv through her tears, then screams.
The headline read: Nine People Disappeared Without a Trace.
The two shared a look. Had they created this in another timeline? If not, which one of them was behind it this time, the forth Nonary Game.
ns 15.158.61.20da2
