(you can pm me here or on plurk if you'd like to beforehand, but also if you'd just like to drop something at my doorstep with no preamble please do!!)
[ The needle-sharp tips of the darts make impact and–
Reality tears. Rips. Shreds. Falls away, like so many scales from Akechi's eyes, furious gaze boring holes into Maruki's own as he dives, shoves, topples both of them over onto the ground.
Each point dug deep into his throat shreds, rips, tears, and if Maruki screams, if he cries out, if he makes any noise at all, then he can't hear it. Can't hear anything but the blood pounding in his own ears like ocean waves–
the weekend spent at Kamakura with Rumi, how she laughed when a rogue wave crested overhead and knocked him clean off his feet
–and the rumble of Azathoth's might, distant from him now, muted by layer upon layer of cognition holding this reality together as it rips, tears, shreds–
There's blood in his mouth and
streaked across her hands as she searched for any sign of life in her parents
streaking down his throat with
the delicate, graceful curve of her neck as she turned to call to him in that field of wildflowers
every gasping breath
quiet and even when she slept in on her days off, sometimes past noon, he could never bring himself to disturb her when she looked so peacefully content
and blind plea. ]
Get off–
[ Hands fisted in his shirt. Arms trying to shove him off. Reality unraveling beneath his fingertips as Akechi Goro only comes more alive.
Every word burns, chokes, but Maruki can't stop himself, could never stop himself. An appeal to the better nature that he knows must have existed once, that he ensured could exist again. ]
You don't want to do this, please, you aren't a puppet, you're–
[It won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter -
how Maruki struggles under Akechi's grip.
it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter because
He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop.]
I'll be joining you.
[Another needle to the eye, viciously dug until an offwhite liquid with streaks of red flow out and-
He won't stop it won't matter he won't stop it won't matter he's free he's free he's free he's free and-
He laughs - light, and airy. Bright, and joyous. Content and
free]
I'm Akechi Goro and we will never meet again.
[Wisps of smoke appear in his vision he remembers -
The first he killed someone in a terrifying, massive, overwhelming world - he can't remember who it was.
Can't remember how he felt. Only recalls the shadows pulled free from a false corpse that now return to pull him down, down down.
Drag him down. He deserves it. Maruki deserves it.
He remembers his mom as bruises form around Maruki's neck from fingers that lock together like rope -
Ten splinters on a rafter - he counts the veins popping in the man's neck. Not ten, maybe five, it's blurry.
A blinding television studio where he met Akira -
Maybe on the subway
Maybe on the street. Maybe passing forces on a sidewalk and their fates were intertwined from the second he stepped foot in Tokyo.
Akira betrayed him. Kurusu betrayed him.
Akechi will never forgive him. Wishes for him to be trapped in a false world he condemned them all too, even as reality crumbles.
He can't breathe. Neither can Maruki. Maruki isn't breathing. The chest under him stops moving, hands stop moving, Akechi-
stops moving
because he can't.
Because he isn't there. Because he is. Because there's a second, a minute, a moment where he wonders -
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
S̵̬̚ ̸̭͊Ü̸͕ ̶̦̔R̴̺̆ ̵͚͝P̶̝̋ ̸͘ͅR̵̭͑ ̵̲̏Í̷͇ ̴̧̇S̸̈ͅ ̵͈̌E
Reality tears. Rips. Shreds. Falls away, like so many scales from Akechi's eyes, furious gaze boring holes into Maruki's own as he dives, shoves, topples both of them over onto the ground.
Each point dug deep into his throat shreds, rips, tears, and if Maruki screams, if he cries out, if he makes any noise at all, then he can't hear it. Can't hear anything but the blood pounding in his own ears like ocean waves–
the weekend spent at Kamakura with Rumi, how she laughed when a rogue wave crested overhead and knocked him clean off his feet
–and the rumble of Azathoth's might, distant from him now, muted by layer upon layer of cognition holding this reality together as it rips, tears, shreds–
There's blood in his mouth and
streaked across her hands as she searched for any sign of life in her parents
streaking down his throat with
the delicate, graceful curve of her neck as she turned to call to him in that field of wildflowers
every gasping breath
quiet and even when she slept in on her days off, sometimes past noon, he could never bring himself to disturb her when she looked so peacefully content
and blind plea. ]
Get off–
[ Hands fisted in his shirt. Arms trying to shove him off. Reality unraveling beneath his fingertips as Akechi Goro only comes more alive.
Every word burns, chokes, but Maruki can't stop himself, could never stop himself. An appeal to the better nature that he knows must have existed once, that he ensured could exist again. ]
You don't want to do this, please, you aren't a puppet, you're–
[ a̶͉̱͊ ̵̲̤̻̉͑h̸̨̞́͊ơ̷̺͊̏s̷̛̪͒̿t̴̳͂̍̕ǎ̷͔͊g̴̳͐e̸̱͋̍ ]
:̵̨̺̙͈̞̬̱̮̩̳̗̖͖͚̥̲̙̿̌͆͊̂̓͗̉͛͑̅̋̑̽̋͑̒́̿̈̇̇̑̓̂͌͘͘͘͜͜
how Maruki struggles under Akechi's grip.
He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop. He won't stop.]it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter it won't matter because
I'll be joining you.
[Another needle to the eye, viciously dug until an offwhite liquid with streaks of red flow out and-
He won't stop it won't matter he won't stop it won't matter he's free he's free he's free he's free and-
He laughs - light, and airy. Bright, and joyous. Content and
I'm Akechi Goro and we will never meet again.
[Wisps of smoke appear in his vision he remembers -
The first he killed someone in a terrifying, massive, overwhelming world - he can't remember who it was.
Drag him down. He deserves it. Maruki deserves it.Can't remember how he felt. Only recalls the shadows pulled free from a false corpse that now return to pull him down, down down.
He remembers his mom as bruises form around Maruki's neck from fingers that lock together like rope -
Ten splinters on a rafter - he counts the veins popping in the man's neck. Not ten, maybe five, it's blurry.
A blinding television studio where he met Akira -
Maybe on the subway
Maybe on the street. Maybe passing forces on a sidewalk and their fates were intertwined from the second he stepped foot in Tokyo.Akira betrayed him. Kurusu betrayed him.
Akechi will never forgive him. Wishes for him to be trapped in a false world he condemned them all too, even as reality crumbles.
He can't breathe. Neither can Maruki. Maruki isn't breathing. The chest under him stops moving, hands stop moving, Akechi-Because he isn't there. Because he is. Because there's a second, a minute, a moment where he wonders -
Where he wishes