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northwind_gale) wrote2012-04-23 02:56 pm
[FIC] There's No Good in It - Chapter 6
Rating: PG-13/T
Characters: Hoshikawa Subaru, War-Rock, Futaba Tsukasa, Futaba Hikaru, Gemini.
Warnings: Dark. Pretty dark. Actually, it's Bad End dark. I BLAME GABE. IT WAS HIS IDEA.
Notes: Bad End AU. oops what are emotions
Summary: He couldn't save them. Why did he keep trying?
Tsukasa looked out at the junk heaps of Dream Island’s junkyard, not really seeing them. Usually when he was here, he would sometimes try to guess at which area specifically he was left as a baby, but the effort usually just left him dispirited and miserable, and really only served to give Hikaru more fuel for his own vengeful agenda.
These days, however, he found he didn’t have much energy to do much of anything. For the longest time, he had held out against Hikaru’s wishes. After all, he was the part that separated from him to take all the miserable feelings and hurt that he couldn’t take anymore, right? It was natural to not want to listen to his bitter vitriol, to look for all the good things he could find. But for every good thing he found, Hikaru found some way that it was simply some false veneer that would eventually fade away to reveal all the ugliness of the world. Flowers withered and died. Youth and beauty gave away to ugliness and old age. Delicious foods left one craving more even when there wasn’t anything left. Beautiful utopias created mounds of trash to be discarded. There was never anything good that didn’t decay to evil at some point. But surely, Tsukasa argued, surely there could be some good even within bad? There had to be. He kept desperately searching his whole life for something that could prove Hikaru wrong.
And for a long time, he had pinned his hopes on Hoshikawa Subaru.
Oh, the boy didn’t know how long Tsukasa had wondered about him, ever since his first day in class 5-A, and the boy was never around for attendance. Nor was he around the day after that, or for any school days afterwards. What sort of kid was he? He listened to rumors, hearing about how this was his third year of not attending school and home-schooling himself instead, ever since that famed satellite tragedy. The disappearance of the space station Peace was Kodama Town’s claim to fifteen minutes of fame, as one of its astronauts, Hoshikawa Daigo, was from that small town, and so everybody knew of it and how it had affected the remaining family. Everyone knew about why Subaru never attended school anymore, but there were still rumors about what he was really like. He never interacted with anyone his own age if he could help it, so there were rumors of him being a loner or a juvenile delinquent, among other things. If only Tsukasa knew of Subaru’s real mental state, then maybe…maybe he could be right for once, that there could be some persisting good in the world.
Then Gemini came along. And oh, how tempting his ideas of power and destruction were. He would have agreed to go along with it right away, if only he was certain about Subaru. It didn’t help that Hikaru was all for the idea, so now he constantly had both Gemini and Hikaru on his case, putting pressure on him to simply break down and join them in the glorious revenge on this terrible planet. Gemini informed him that Subaru had an FM-ian with him as well, War-Rock the traitor. And that gave Tsukasa more hope. He did have that hole in his heart to be filled, just like him. As they observed his battles, Tsukasa grew more hopeful. It was apparent that Subaru had not simply allowed War-Rock to take over, like the other humans. He was more like him and Hikaru and Gemini…they were in a mutual partnership, they both kept their own head. Maybe he did have the strength of character that could result in him keeping some semblance of goodness, some sort of hope.
And then his hopes came crashing down. Subaru was reserved and harbored bitterness towards making bonds with others. He didn’t seem to have any hopes for a better future, either, nothing like what Tsukasa held. Maybe that was for the best? It certainly seemed to save him the extra heartache that Tsukasa had to deal with now.
“Hey.” And Tsukasa winced at the new voice in his head. Of course Hikaru would want to make his wishes known now, when he felt at his lowest. He closed his eyes, willing himself into a meditative state so he could speak with his other, darker half.
“What?”
“You should talk to him again.”
Tsukasa started in surprise. Why would Hikaru want to make him talk to Subaru again, after his point was proven? He and Gemini had been trying so long to make him give up on the other boy, so now why would he want to give Subaru a second chance? Unless…
“You just want to rub your victory in my face? Is that it? Are you looking for more proof, Hikaru?”
He only got a laugh in response at first.
“Kind of, yeah. You know me so well, but then, why wouldn’t you?” More laughter. “Actually, I want to have a chat with him. I think I can see why you wanted to talk with him so much, he’s actually kinda interesting!”
If Tsukasa was his old self, that statement would have alarm bells ringing in his mind. Hikaru finding another person interesting?! Hikaru hated other people. If he found somebody interesting, there couldn’t be anything good in it. But as it was, he just felt so tired of being wary of Hikaru and what his other half could be planning. Wary wasn’t his thing, anyway, he would much rather be openly trusting if Hikaru would let him get away with it. He was tired of putting up a resistance when it would just keep being battered down. He was tired of looking for things that he could never find. And there was still a small, feeble part of him that wanted to give Subaru a second chance. Maybe talking with Hikaru would be the real test for him. Maybe Subaru could still possibly be a chance at salvation after all.
“Mmm…fine then. You can go talk with him…”
And he was just so tired…
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Subaru was watching the stars at Vista Point when he heard footsteps coming towards him. He hoped to ignore them, but the fact was that nobody came up to Vista Point this late other than him, so there was something to be wary about. With a sigh, he reluctantly tore his eyes away from the inky black sky and turned to face…somebody.
He felt like he should have remembered them. Oh, he remembered the green hair and the far-too-girlish appearance of this person. And he remembered that they wanted to befriend him. But for the life of him, he couldn’t remember the name. He hadn’t bothered to try to commit this person to memory at all-after all, he wasn’t interested in making bonds with other people, was he? It would have been easier for him if he had just forgotten this person entirely. But the encounter was still too new, too fresh in his mind to simply be forgotten, and so simply his reappearance was enough to remember that much, at least. But he still couldn’t remember a name…and yet, he had to respond with something. After all, this person had sought him out again, for some apparent reason.
“…You.”
And the other person smirked, something that just felt off compared to previous recollection of the almost shy attitude he had during their last encounter.
“Not quite.”
What did that mean? He looked the same…
“…Twins?”
“Almost.”
This was getting frustrating. Couldn’t they just get straight to the point so they could get this over with, and he could forget about him already?
“What do you want?” And the other person shrugged.
“You’re interesting.” Subaru scowled at that response.
“I thought I told you-or your brother, or whatever-that I wasn’t interested in making friends.”
“I know. That’s why you’re interesting.” This got a raised eyebrow from Subaru. Didn’t his response make the other boy dejected last time? Why would his…brother (?)...apparently be interested?
“I’m afraid I don’t understand, but I can’t say that I’m interested.” At that, he heard War-Rock’s voice rumble from his Transer.
“Careful, kid. It’s the same guy, but his wave patterns are completely different. Either he had a real personality change, or there’s more than one of him…”
“Your little friend there has it halfway right, at least.” And Subaru jumped.
“You can-?!”
“Well of course, I know about him. I’ve got a little partner of my own.” At that, Subaru tensed, ready to fight off whatever attack this guy was planning, before he realized that he was laughing.
“Don’t worry, don’t worry! Gemini and I aren’t interested in attacking you…yet.”
“Gemini!” War-Rock’s voice came out in a startled growl. “Kid, you’d better be careful. Gemini’s the right-hand man to the FM King himself; and he’s got a silver tongue to back up that strength of his as well!”
“My, my, War-Rock, I didn’t think you thought so highly of me. I could almost blush at those compliments.” Subaru jumped, he wasn’t ready to hear the other FM-ian before he was able to process what War-Rock had told him. Being confronted so suddenly…
“If you two really don’t want to attack-and I have a hard time believing that-what are you here for?!”
“A deal.” Subaru narrowed his eyes at the other boy, prompting the other to explain. “You see, Gemini here doesn’t actually like the FM King at all, he’s really just as fond of him as War-Rock is…”
“Well, that’s news to me, really.” War-Rock’s voice was laced with sarcasm. “Honestly, with all of your slippery words around him, I had doubts about how loyal you really were. But to speak with me, a traitor, about it? What do you want, Gemini?!”
“It’s not really what about what I want, War-Rock. It’s really all about what Hikaru here wants. You see, he and I are in this together, just like you and your human companion. We have a bit of a…mutual agreement.” Hikaru grinned.
“Yep. You see, Gemini and I would really like to see this world burn. And we think you’d like that too, Subaru. So maybe, you and War-Rock would like to work with us?”
At that, Subaru instantly recoiled, his face settling into a scowl.
“What makes you think I want anything like that?! In case you haven’t noticed, War-Rock and I have been fighting against the rest of you trying to destroy this world!”
“Yeah, but in the end, isn’t it really all just self-defense? They’re coming after you and the Andromeda Key that War-Rock holds, after all. Your fights cause just as much destruction that the FM-ians themselves cause…in fact, they cause more! And you don’t even bat an eye towards it all, you just up and leave when your fight is over, and you don’t even have any remorse or feelings towards all the pain and suffering that you helped cause! Admit it! You’re just like me. You don’t have any hopes for a better future for people. You don’t want to make any friends with other people because those friendships will just cause pain. You don’t care if they suffer and feel pain because they would have felt it anyway, with or without your interference. That’s why you don’t bother to clean up your own messes or help any more than necessary, because frankly, there’s no point in it!
“That’s why you should work with us, not against us! Gemini and I don’t really feel anything for this pathetic planet, and the FM King is just as bad! So if you join up with us, we can easily get you close to the FM King, enough for you to get your revenge, War-Rock, and you won’t have to deal with this planet and its useless people any more than you have to, Subaru!”
“O-oi, Subaru!” War-Rock was unnerved by his human companion’s silence. He would have expected an objection, a denial, an interruption. Anything to quell this unease he felt at Gemini’s and Hikaru’s proclamation. Gemini was a two-timing bastard in his own right, and he wouldn’t have trusted anything that came out of his or his human’s mouth in the first place. But hearing that vicious little kid comparing himself to Subaru just added a whole other feeling of wrongness to this scenario. And why wasn’t Subaru saying anything?!
There was a minute of silence before Subaru finally responded.
“If…If we’re as alike as you say…” And here, Subaru raised an eyebrow. “Why would I want to team up with anyone, especially you and Gemini?”
More silence, before Hikaru finally broke it with another round of laughter. Subaru said nothing, only watching as Hikaru doubled over, holding his stomach before replying, mirth in his eyes.
“Oh. Oh! I was right, you are interesting!” He continued to laugh, before holding up his Transer, and as Gemini vanished into it, Subaru immediately tensed. “Denpa-Henkan!”
Subaru stepped back as not one, but two monsters materialized in front of him, both shockingly humanlike in appearance. One wore a white suit with a golden robotic left arm, while the other wore black with a golden robotic right, but they both clearly wore Gemini’s insignia on their chests; and other than their clearly different facial expressions, they looked completely alike.
“Come meet us over in the Dream Island junkyard, why don’t you? We can finish our…chat…there,” the black one stated, his amused smirk identifying him clearly as Hikaru. The two both vanished, but not before the white one gave him a dejected, almost disappointed glance before looking down at the ground.
It almost looked like the way that the green haired kid-Hikaru’s brother? Was he a brother, really?-had acted the first time he had rejected his offer of friendship.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
Rockman made his way to Dream Island as he was told, but not before preparing as much as he could. Gemini was too dangerous to be left alone, but he also was crafty and could easily have prepared a trap. Indeed, Rockman found himself facing several of Gemini’s lackeys who had seen it fit to interrupt his progress, and defeating them took more time than he liked. But finally, he had made it to where the Geminis were waiting for him, ready to fight. As they leaped into battle, Rockman belatedly realized over time that they were evenly matched, and despite that, there had been no traps scattered around the junkyard to hinder him during the battle other than the meager attempts at stalling (and as it turned out, Gemini Black was particularly annoyed at the possibility that they weren’t fighting on equal terms).
So why were they fighting here? During yet another stalemate, as he crossed swords with both of them, he posed that very question. They leapt apart at that, and the sense that there was a temporary truce until this question was answered passed between the three of them.
“Oh, this?” said the black Gemini. “This place is very special to us. It was where we were left behind, you see, like worthless garbage.” At that, Rockman recoiled in disgust. How could people do something like that? The black Gemini only laughed at his reaction.
“I see your disgusted face. I know what you’re thinking. ‘Why?’ We’d like to know ourselves? Why us? Why leave us behind, while we were just a simple, helpless baby?”
Simple, helpless baby? Didn’t he mean-
“Oh no, you didn’t hear wrong. I said baby. You see, Tsukasa and I were supposed to be whole and unbroken. But this world decided that it wasn’t ugly enough, decided to expose its true self to us before we were even old enough to comprehend it. Tsukasa here, well, he had a hard life. So hard, in fact, that he broke and made me.”
His first thought was a belated realization that the name of the boy he had disappointed was Tsukasa, and that he had been talking to the same person the whole time after all, rather than a brother. His second thought was that it was no wonder that Hikaru, at least, hated the world as much as he did. Hikaru was something foul and angry, something that shouldn’t have existed, and yet he did. And since he existed, he wanted to continue existing even when he knew he was something vile, something against nature. But then…
“If Tsukasa here had it so rough…then why? Why did you bother approaching me? Why did you ask about me, try to befriend me? Why?!”
At that, Tsukasa-who Rockman had belatedly realized was the white Gemini-adopted a tired, worn expression. His eyes looked ready to well up into tears, and in fact they did. Stray tears escaped his eyes, streaming down his face as he yelled back, anguish in every syllable.
“Was it wrong?! Is it really so bad just to hope?! Can’t I just look for the good in something, anything, without finding that it’s really vile and disgusting? Can’t I place my hope in somebody? I…I wanted to believe that my darker feelings, that Hikaru was wrong! I don’t want to lose my faith that there’s something to look forward to in this terrible world! Are you saying that I can’t?!”
There was silence. A dead, empty, unfeeling sort of silence. Something needed to be said to shatter it. But nobody could find the words, not at first. The black Gemini looked disgusted, dismissive, and he turned away. Rockman was staring forward, unseeing. The white Gemini was looking down at the ground.
“You…” And the white Gemini looked up, a brief glimmer of hope crossing his face as Rockman started to talk.
“There are…many things you could have believed in. There’s nothing stopping you from believing what you want...” More silence. It felt like something important was hinging on Rockman’s next few words, but the three Denpa-Humans couldn’t tell what. The tension in the air was thick, and heavy. It weighed down on them all, and Rockman found it difficult to say his next words.
“But you shouldn’t have believed in me.” And that was that. Something broke, and an air of finality settled over them all, even as he continued talking. “I’m not strong enough to support somebody, anybody else. That’s why I don’t need friendships. It would have been easier for you…if you hadn’t believed that I was. Then you wouldn’t have to feel this pain…”
The white Gemini felt something white-hot flash through him at those words. What was this sensation? Was it rage? Despair? Grief? He didn’t know. All he knew was that it was something he wished he never had felt. This feeling, whatever it was…he knew it meant he had given up. That he had finally accepted Hikaru’s words. There was no more reason to hope. There was no more reason for him to fight. All he could do was follow Hikaru’s wishes, because in the end, he was part of Hikaru, and Hikaru was part of him.
And Hikaru hated this world and wanted to see it burn.
“F-fine then…” The white Gemini’s voice shook with an awful finality even as he wiped his face clean of tears. “Fine. That’s it. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of waiting and hoping for something that will never come. I can’t do this anymore.” He stood rigid, and looked away from the ground, instead glaring straight at Rockman with an almost desperate sort of determination.
“I am Gemini Spark White, and I will get the Andromeda Key from you! I’ll end this world myself!”
At that, the black Gemini grinned, and focused on Rockman as well, standing in an almost relaxed, casual position in contrast to Gemini White’s stiff stance.
“And I am Gemini Spark Black, and the only reason he won’t get the Andromeda Key is if I get it first!”
Rockman stood firm, just as unwavering as either of them.
“And I…I am…Rockman! I don’t care what your reasons are, or why you have them…I won’t let you get your hands on this key!”
And on some unspoken signal, they all dashed at each other, knowing that now the true fight between them had begun.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The silence was deafening. The only sound that punctuated it was the sound of Rockman’s heavy breathing as he stood over the two Geminis that lay at his feet, beaten and battered.
“Battle Card…ArboEdge.” He walked up to them, brandishing the sword that swirled with the green energy of the earth. He raised his arm up to strike…
“Yeah, that’s it. Kill us, if you dare,” Gemini Black hissed, his lips curling up into a smirk even as he lay on top of Gemini White’s body, unable to do anything but taunt the blue clad warrior. Rockman only raised an eyebrow.
“What do you mean.” It wasn’t a question. It was a statement, knowing that there was something there, and demanding an answer. Gemini Black only chuckled weakly before responding.
“Gemini and us…we’ve been together for so long, you know. Our bodies are connected. Frankly…if you kill him, you’re gonna kill us as well.” Another laugh. “That shouldn’t be a problem for you, should it? After all, you’ve already condemned other humans to being crippled for life, mentally deranged, dead by simply being in the wrong place in the wrong time…oh! You haven’t actually killed a person outright before, have you? Just destroy the FM-ian and be on your merry way, is it?” Gemini Black’s body convulsed into weak laughter once more. “Then again, it’s not so different, is it? It’s not that big of a step between causing the events that caused the death, and causing the death yourself, is it? It all results in the same anyway. Just another ugly fact of this cruel world, isn’t it?”
Rockman tried to pay little attention to what Gemini Black was saying. Instead he listened for War-Rock’s voice, telling him that what the deceitful Gemini was saying was wrong.
“…He’s right, kiddo. I don’t like agreeing with this slimeball, but he’s right. They’ve been together long enough, and for the last few minutes of our fight, right after that conversation…they became completely bound to each other. They wholeheartedly agreed that they wanted the same thing, that they had the same purpose. When that happened, Gemini completely and utterly filled in the hole in this human’s heart, and became part of it. You can’t kill him without killing the human, I’m afraid.”
“Hm.”
“Is that really all you have to say about it, huh?” And Gemini Black laughed yet again. “Well?!”
“I’ve had enough of your nonsense.” And abruptly, Gemini Black found his laughter cut off as the green sword pierced straight through his chest, impaling Gemini White under him as well. Their bodies were hefted up, sliding down the sword like a hunk of meat on a butcher’s rack.
“If I have to kill you to get through to Gemini, I’ll do it. As long as he isn’t around to threaten anything else, it’ll be fine, won’t it?” The words were said with a completely dull and unfeeling tone, and with that, everyone there knew his decision was final.
There was a choking, guttural sound, and the two bodies impaled on the sword were engulfed in a bright yellow light, leaving a single, very much human body hanging limply from the blade. Hikaru looked up, meeting Rockman’s eyes, and smirked.
“You wanted this.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yeah, well, maybe,” Hikaru rasped, blood now leaking from his mouth. “Existing as an incomplete being…it’s a pain, you know? Knowing that you’re not supposed to exist, but you want to live anyway. Things like us…we’re only around to create misery for others. Just like everything else in this disgusting world.” A cackle. “Everything eventually leads to some sort of pain in the world, so what difference would us being or not being here would make? Frankly, all Gemini was to us was a chance to make a little more of it, leave an impact, you know? Maybe then we’d actually mean something.”
“Hmph. Whatever you wanted, or whatever you were feeling, it’s over now. Be happy for that, if nothing else.”
And with that, he threw the body off the sword, watching emotionlessly as it crashed into one of the many junk piles below. The body rolled limply down the steep slope before coming to rest in a small ditch, nestled in between two mounds of trash.
The expression on the face was gentle, Rockman noted. Tsukasa, then. The expression looked peaceful as well. He’d wanted this too, not just his insane other half. So this was what the difference between life and death was. Either one continued to suffer, to grieve, or they would no longer feel anything at all. He never would have thought to see it that way.
If he had to thank Tsukasa and Hikaru for one thing, it would be for allowing him to see this revelation.
-0-0-0-0-0-0-
The uneasiness was back. War-Rock admitted, now he knew something wasn’t right. He had seen other humans’ reactions to death, after all. Subaru’s mother got worried, and people in that store had screamed and cried when they saw death approaching them and others. It was the same as FM-ians, really, Cygnus had begged for his life, Ophiuchus had fled in an attempt to avoid it, and the others went down screaming.
So why did Subaru not seem to show any emotion at all?
He had come home late, worrying his mother excessively until he had managed to convince her that he had simply lost track of time watching the stars. Throughout the evening, he had said nothing, simply looking lost in thought. War-Rock wanted to tell himself that maybe the kid was grieving internally, or that maybe the impact hadn’t affected him at all. After all, even War-Rock, as a hardened soldier of the Planet FM, had needed time to steady himself after his first kill. It was a reasonable assumption, right, thinking that the kid just needed some time to himself to think? It was, but…
“War-Rock?” Ah, he spoke. And it sounded like he usually did when he wanted to ask the alien a question. It was uncertain, deferential, looking up to him for an answer. Maybe things were okay after all.
“Yeah, kid?”
“What…what did you think about today?” Ah, so the kid didn’t know what to think, was it? Yep, things were okay, after all.
“Well…I can honestly say that it was different from the rest of our fights, kiddo. I told you Gemini was a sly one. But you proved that you were willing to do whatever it took to achieve your goals, so that’s something good that came out of it.”
“To do whatever it took to achieve my goals…mmm.” Subaru looked lost in thought again, and War-Rock deemed it safe to look away, close the lid of the Transer and leave the kiddo to his own thoughts. The kid needed time to sort this out. It was a long time before either of them spoke again.
“Ne, War-Rock.”
Why did that sense of unease come back again? It was just another innocent question, right? Even so, he felt apprehensive for some reason, and it showed when he opened the lid of the Transer to talk again.
“W-what?”
There was reason for the stutter. The kiddo’s face had changed. The twisted smirk was something unrecognizable, something that he shouldn’t have made at all.
“Give me the Andromeda Key.”
[A/N]: Ahahahaha, this is the moment that Gabe and I have been working towards. By all accounts, the story should have ended here. But. I have more planned beyond Gabe's prompt. So there will be more. :]
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oh god I just kept thinking... "man, man, I remember when I used to write about dead!Crow saying shit like that :D :D :D" ahahaha. I am awfulno subject
perfect. just perfect.no subject
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