[ A stalemate on that front; perhaps it's a testament to how close they've become in this reality, how much they've grown separately and together, that they let it go. Neither budge even an inch from their stance, but they don't clash and argue over it.
They move on, and Maruki forces himself to sit up straight in the bath again, the skin of his shoulders and chest prickling gooseflesh as it hits the steamy air. ]
That's more or less the whole story. I gave everyone the painless reality I believed they deserved, and Kurusu helped me to kill that distortion in my heart.
[ A beat. He looks over at Akechi, and there's no hiding a tender melancholy that lingers at the edges of his gaze. ]
You were... different. I don't think it affected you at all. [ You were dead. I don't know if I truly brought you back or not. I don't know what I did. I didn't know you. ] Maybe your heart prevented me from granting your greatest wish. I don't know.
[ There's an unspoken confession in that final statement - Maruki's memory was warped until he forgot the lakeside proclamation that he wouldn't he touch that power again or-
He's been lying from day one. It never changed. He always wanted it. Akechi isn't sure which would satisfy him if he asked. It makes his skin crawl that this idiot would even attempt to grant a wish only Akechi can fulfill.
And of course Akira stole his heart. Of course he did. Of course he did. Maruki is a warped man with no future. Akira can't help trying to carve one out anyway. It's disgusting. It's stupid. ]
Of course it didn't. My will is stronger. My goal is mine. I won't be taken in by some delusion you've concocted in your own head. Still-
To think you actually went through with it. I have to say, even I was deceived by your words stating otherwise. You truly couldn't help yourself, but I told you before, didn't I? Power is an addictive thing. It doesn't shock me you would exploit it. Everyone does.
[ But he doesn't care what Maruki does. Maybe Shido lived due to someone else's wish. Maybe Shido's life, a way out of Akechi's grasp, was granted. Maybe Akira stopped it. The possibilities are endlessly frustrating no matter what path he follows.
So he doesn't. Blanketed by heat, steam and the hiss of a faucet perpetually keeping the water scorching.
He notes it. It's a matter to think of later, when he's in front of his notebook and has a chance to scratch theories across a near filled book.
His arms move - it may look like he's going to attack, but-
All he does is stretch them deep into the water, notes the beet red line on his skin. ]
At least your savior was hiding in the ranks to stop that madness. Aren't you lucky? You managed to give an unwanted gift to all the worthless, vile people who didn't deserve it and likely got away with no consequences due to the nature of it. Even I'm impressed by the scope of your betrayal to humanity.
[ A thought, a beat, and- ]
I wonder what Rumi thought when her reality shattered to pieces.
[ Akechi doesn't need to reach out to attack him. That final observation does all the work for him.
Maruki doesn't rise to the bait. He can't, because he can't let himself think about it, has desperately avoided having to do so – if he considers Rumi plunging back into that horrific darkness he pulled her from, he'll find himself sick to his stomach before he can get out of the bath. If he stops to think that she might not have been able to go on with her life in the cruel, unjust reality he helped her to leave behind, he'll–
He doesn't know what he'll do. The idea draws nothing but a vast white blankness in his mind, like fields of endless snow on the coldest day of the year.
He's frigid, suddenly. He lowers himself down to his shoulders again, barely feels the scalding water prickling at his skin. ]
There may not have been consequences for what I did in terms of actions taken against me, but Akechi...
[ Even. Measured. Genuinely curious. For all they spoke about the Phantom Thieves' methods over their time together, he never asked about this, because he never stopped to consider what came after for any of those targets. ]
Do you really think there are no consequences for a changed heart?
[ He thinks of those changed hearts. The weeping pathetic messes whose confessions were passed around as gossip on social media, done through press conferences, uttered in smoky offices while the most vile discussed the how to exploit former conspirators.
Maruki doesn't have the sway to end up behind a teleprompter. Knows that anguish was contained to a single, tiny apartment forgotten by the masses he tried to control.
The image disgusts him. A powerful man brought to his knees by a group of self-righteous teenagers who should have disbanded long ago.
The image delights him. A vile adult pressed into the corner of a couch, eyes brimming, hand in running through hair. He can see it. Is glad to have had a part in causing it, even if it should have ended with a bullet through his skull.
Akechi should have killed him. A changed heart is pitiful. It's a loss. He can't fathom why he stood side by side to that group of idiots in whatever future Maruki lived through. ]
Don't misunderstand - I know there are consequences to the person's psyche as well. It's why I was so adamant the Phantom Thieves were dangerous. I meant every word I said back then.
But frankly, I don't care about that. The emotional impact, the damage to a heart - you allowed the thieves to 'save' you and now you're living with that disgusting salvation. [ A hand rises from the water, opens dramatically between them. If water splatters on Maruki, so be it. ] Those consequences are meaningless to me. Unless you plan to start sobbing here and now - in which case, I'll put you out of your misery myself. The proper way.
No. As soon as those words leave his mouth, echo softly through the empty, humid bathhouse, a smile bursts to life across Maruki's face. ]
You know, it's funny...
[ His changed heart may now be open to all the pain he'd buried deep for so long, but it's open to all the joy he denied himself, too. He beams at Akechi and laughs, soft but radiant, appreciative. ]
You wanted to kill me then, too. Just now, you sounded exactly like him.
Is that so? That's one way he isn't a disappointment, I suppose.
[ Because in every other way that Akechi has been. Teaming up, letting Maruki live, the unknown fate of Shido-
Maruki should have a died. A change of heart is a fate too miserable for someone worthy of more. Maybe Akechi has plans to end him later. Maybe Maruki will take an easy out for himself.
But that's his life. His failures. The outcome is irrelevant. He'll suffer, he'll survive, he'll live, he'll die.
It all led to his return and-
Akechi's not unhappy to be sharing this space with this particular man again.
And so they fall back into familiar silence, Akechi lowering the temperature of the water slightly. A little. A few degrees to extend this time for himself, not Maruki. ]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
They move on, and Maruki forces himself to sit up straight in the bath again, the skin of his shoulders and chest prickling gooseflesh as it hits the steamy air. ]
That's more or less the whole story. I gave everyone the painless reality I believed they deserved, and Kurusu helped me to kill that distortion in my heart.
[ A beat. He looks over at Akechi, and there's no hiding a tender melancholy that lingers at the edges of his gaze. ]
You were... different. I don't think it affected you at all. [ You were dead. I don't know if I truly brought you back or not. I don't know what I did. I didn't know you. ] Maybe your heart prevented me from granting your greatest wish. I don't know.
no subject
He's been lying from day one. It never changed. He always wanted it. Akechi isn't sure which would satisfy him if he asked. It makes his skin crawl that this idiot would even attempt to grant a wish only Akechi can fulfill.
And of course Akira stole his heart. Of course he did. Of course he did. Maruki is a warped man with no future. Akira can't help trying to carve one out anyway. It's disgusting. It's stupid. ]
Of course it didn't. My will is stronger. My goal is mine. I won't be taken in by some delusion you've concocted in your own head. Still-
To think you actually went through with it. I have to say, even I was deceived by your words stating otherwise. You truly couldn't help yourself, but I told you before, didn't I? Power is an addictive thing. It doesn't shock me you would exploit it. Everyone does.
[ But he doesn't care what Maruki does. Maybe Shido lived due to someone else's wish. Maybe Shido's life, a way out of Akechi's grasp, was granted. Maybe Akira stopped it. The possibilities are endlessly frustrating no matter what path he follows.
So he doesn't. Blanketed by heat, steam and the hiss of a faucet perpetually keeping the water scorching.
He notes it. It's a matter to think of later, when he's in front of his notebook and has a chance to scratch theories across a near filled book.
His arms move - it may look like he's going to attack, but-
All he does is stretch them deep into the water, notes the beet red line on his skin. ]
At least your savior was hiding in the ranks to stop that madness. Aren't you lucky? You managed to give an unwanted gift to all the worthless, vile people who didn't deserve it and likely got away with no consequences due to the nature of it. Even I'm impressed by the scope of your betrayal to humanity.
[ A thought, a beat, and- ]
I wonder what Rumi thought when her reality shattered to pieces.
no subject
Maruki doesn't rise to the bait. He can't, because he can't let himself think about it, has desperately avoided having to do so – if he considers Rumi plunging back into that horrific darkness he pulled her from, he'll find himself sick to his stomach before he can get out of the bath. If he stops to think that she might not have been able to go on with her life in the cruel, unjust reality he helped her to leave behind, he'll–
He doesn't know what he'll do. The idea draws nothing but a vast white blankness in his mind, like fields of endless snow on the coldest day of the year.
He's frigid, suddenly. He lowers himself down to his shoulders again, barely feels the scalding water prickling at his skin. ]
There may not have been consequences for what I did in terms of actions taken against me, but Akechi...
[ Even. Measured. Genuinely curious. For all they spoke about the Phantom Thieves' methods over their time together, he never asked about this, because he never stopped to consider what came after for any of those targets. ]
Do you really think there are no consequences for a changed heart?
no subject
Maruki doesn't have the sway to end up behind a teleprompter. Knows that anguish was contained to a single, tiny apartment forgotten by the masses he tried to control.
The image disgusts him. A powerful man brought to his knees by a group of self-righteous teenagers who should have disbanded long ago.
The image delights him. A vile adult pressed into the corner of a couch, eyes brimming, hand in running through hair. He can see it. Is glad to have had a part in causing it, even if it should have ended with a bullet through his skull.
Akechi should have killed him. A changed heart is pitiful. It's a loss. He can't fathom why he stood side by side to that group of idiots in whatever future Maruki lived through. ]
Don't misunderstand - I know there are consequences to the person's psyche as well. It's why I was so adamant the Phantom Thieves were dangerous. I meant every word I said back then.
But frankly, I don't care about that. The emotional impact, the damage to a heart - you allowed the thieves to 'save' you and now you're living with that disgusting salvation. [ A hand rises from the water, opens dramatically between them. If water splatters on Maruki, so be it. ] Those consequences are meaningless to me. Unless you plan to start sobbing here and now - in which case, I'll put you out of your misery myself. The proper way.
GOD WE CAN WRAP UP...... HELL ON EARTH
Oh, Akechi couldn't be more wrong.
No. As soon as those words leave his mouth, echo softly through the empty, humid bathhouse, a smile bursts to life across Maruki's face. ]
You know, it's funny...
[ His changed heart may now be open to all the pain he'd buried deep for so long, but it's open to all the joy he denied himself, too. He beams at Akechi and laughs, soft but radiant, appreciative. ]
You wanted to kill me then, too. Just now, you sounded exactly like him.
TERRIBLE......cw: suicide
[ Because in every other way that Akechi has been. Teaming up, letting Maruki live, the unknown fate of Shido-
Maruki should have a died. A change of heart is a fate too miserable for someone worthy of more. Maybe Akechi has plans to end him later. Maybe Maruki will take an easy out for himself.
But that's his life. His failures. The outcome is irrelevant. He'll suffer, he'll survive, he'll live, he'll die.
It all led to his return and-
Akechi's not unhappy to be sharing this space with this particular man again.
And so they fall back into familiar silence, Akechi lowering the temperature of the water slightly. A little. A few degrees to extend this time for himself, not Maruki. ]