A long time since Akechi had a good day. Not for lack of effort from himself. Not even due to others. It's an improbable, impossible sensation that was thrown out with a noose. He's chased it ever since and always -
Always -
It's his own mind, his own thoughts, his own desires that fuel an anger in his gut when something feels good for too long. Akechi Goro poisons. He doesn't particularly care.
It's inevitable. He welcomes the way it creeps into his mind in the dead of night, but right now-
It feels like a good day when his body is forced to relax in a bath full of liquid lava. Stays good, somehow, even when a hand brushes hair against his damp face.
He's in a good mood is all. Akechi should say something - would, probably, with anyone else. Make a remark about personal space, but -
His mouth stays shut, eyes on Akira as always. It's been far too long since they were last together like this. Well before a planned murder fully formed, though Akechi can't help to see red when sweat drip, drip, drips from Akira's chin, right into the water.
I see you're feeling bold dies on his lips. Good will go away on its own anyway. ]
It's fascinating to consider. If I suddenly believe I'm eighteen again, will I gradually go back to how I looked then? Fourteen? Ten? We should be grateful it doesn't seem to be that simple.
[ And it's quiet. Calm. Drops from a leaky faucet plop into the water. There's no grand gesture to make or confessions about a past Akechi never wanted to spill.
It's only them, laid out and bare. ]
It's not as if you haven't changed either.
[ In this world, in his last one. Kurusu Akira from the future is the same and yet - ]
That's what it means to be alive, I suppose. It's inevitable. Even this place can't stop such a thing.
I have. [So much time has passed since I saw you alive.] I've been here for several months already. [A lifetime and a blink of an eye.] And back home, it's been even more. [It's felt just as impossibly short and impossibly long since the day you thought you put a bullet in my brain.] Even in a place like this, time passes. No matter if it's faster or slower than we want it to move.
[Akira cannot stop time.
And yet he intends to do exactly that.]
Normally, time will continue to move forward. Even here, I don't think the hypothetical you presented would work very easily even if you tried to wish it into being. It may not be impossible to unlearn, but your mind is trained to think that becoming younger is an impossibility. But if you could...
[His eyes are sharp and bright, hanging on the words like Akechi is the one that's speaking them.]
Would you go back in time, or even forward? Or maybe...
[To be held in arms, over and over-
To fire a gun, over and over-
Akira's almost certain he knows the answer. But he wants to hear Akechi say it.]
If you could, would you choose to stay in one moment forever? Or would you want time to carry you forward as always?
[ The what ifs endure in every reality - these little conversations and thoughts turning to hypotheticals that Akechi will turn over in his mind all night long. It happens with every simple discussion, keeps him occupied until morning when the topic deviates into something morally gray and complicated.
There's a glint in Akira's eyes that he doesn't miss. It's as captivating as ever. In these quiet moments, Akechi can understand why people bind Akira to a pedestal he never asked to be on.
The answer is an obvious one, but he mulls it over anyway.
Thinks about the what if of meeting Kurusu on a playground years before his life was uprooted. The what if of crossing paths before a gun was held to Wakaba's head.
But his course was set when some god or entity granted him such an ability. It wouldn't matter and -
It doesn't matter and that resolution comes out as a quiet huff of a laugh. Brief, fleeting and accompanied by him wiping the sweat from his own brow. ]
What a question - one you must know by now. No, I would never go back. I would never want to stay static in a single moment. What a pathetic life that would be.
[ And to go forward -
is pointless.
His death is inevitable. Shido's death is inevitable. He wants to savor every single second the culmination of all his hard work. ]
Anything less than continuing where I left off is unacceptable to me.
[ But it's an interesting question. He can think of others who would respond-
Differently, perhaps. ]
But when I think how others may answer and how they would do with the temptation of changing a disastrous choice in their past or propel themselves to a future more certain-
[ A woman who's memory was wiped, a boy who saved someone from being assaulted in some no-name town- ]
Let me ask you this, Akira - say the choice is given to you to decide the fate of others. You can send Maruki, Okumura, [ Akechi Goro ] and any other wayward soul you've collected here to the past, present, or future.
[ It's fuzzy. It's fuzzy. He remembers standing in LeBlanc in some shitty alternate world- ]
Will you try to defy a fate set for them or choose to accept their resolve over their own life?
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no subject
A long time since Akechi had a good day. Not for lack of effort from himself. Not even due to others. It's an improbable, impossible sensation that was thrown out with a noose. He's chased it ever since and always -
Always -
It's his own mind, his own thoughts, his own desires that fuel an anger in his gut when something feels good for too long. Akechi Goro poisons. He doesn't particularly care.
It's inevitable. He welcomes the way it creeps into his mind in the dead of night, but right now-
It feels like a good day when his body is forced to relax in a bath full of liquid lava. Stays good, somehow, even when a hand brushes hair against his damp face.
He's in a good mood is all. Akechi should say something - would, probably, with anyone else. Make a remark about personal space, but -
His mouth stays shut, eyes on Akira as always. It's been far too long since they were last together like this. Well before a planned murder fully formed, though Akechi can't help to see red when sweat drip, drip, drips from Akira's chin, right into the water.
I see you're feeling bold dies on his lips. Good will go away on its own anyway. ]
It's fascinating to consider. If I suddenly believe I'm eighteen again, will I gradually go back to how I looked then? Fourteen? Ten? We should be grateful it doesn't seem to be that simple.
[ And it's quiet. Calm. Drops from a leaky faucet plop into the water. There's no grand gesture to make or confessions about a past Akechi never wanted to spill.
It's only them, laid out and bare. ]
It's not as if you haven't changed either.
[ In this world, in his last one. Kurusu Akira from the future is the same and yet - ]
That's what it means to be alive, I suppose. It's inevitable. Even this place can't stop such a thing.
no subject
[Akira cannot stop time.
And yet he intends to do exactly that.]
Normally, time will continue to move forward. Even here, I don't think the hypothetical you presented would work very easily even if you tried to wish it into being. It may not be impossible to unlearn, but your mind is trained to think that becoming younger is an impossibility. But if you could...
[His eyes are sharp and bright, hanging on the words like Akechi is the one that's speaking them.]
Would you go back in time, or even forward? Or maybe...
[To be held in arms, over and over-
To fire a gun, over and over-
Akira's almost certain he knows the answer. But he wants to hear Akechi say it.]
If you could, would you choose to stay in one moment forever? Or would you want time to carry you forward as always?
no subject
There's a glint in Akira's eyes that he doesn't miss. It's as captivating as ever. In these quiet moments, Akechi can understand why people bind Akira to a pedestal he never asked to be on.
The answer is an obvious one, but he mulls it over anyway.
Thinks about the what if of meeting Kurusu on a playground years before his life was uprooted. The what if of crossing paths before a gun was held to Wakaba's head.
But his course was set when some god or entity granted him such an ability. It wouldn't matter and -
It doesn't matter and that resolution comes out as a quiet huff of a laugh. Brief, fleeting and accompanied by him wiping the sweat from his own brow. ]
What a question - one you must know by now. No, I would never go back. I would never want to stay static in a single moment. What a pathetic life that would be.
[ And to go forward -
is pointless.
His death is inevitable. Shido's death is inevitable. He wants to savor every single second the culmination of all his hard work. ]Anything less than continuing where I left off is unacceptable to me.
[ But it's an interesting question. He can think of others who would respond-
Differently, perhaps. ]
But when I think how others may answer and how they would do with the temptation of changing a disastrous choice in their past or propel themselves to a future more certain-
[ A woman who's memory was wiped, a boy who saved someone from being assaulted in some no-name town- ]
Let me ask you this, Akira - say the choice is given to you to decide the fate of others. You can send Maruki, Okumura, [ Akechi Goro ] and any other wayward soul you've collected here to the past, present, or future.
[ It's fuzzy. It's fuzzy. He remembers standing in LeBlanc in some shitty alternate world- ]
Will you try to defy a fate set for them or choose to accept their resolve over their own life?