Week 5, Wednesday - Akechi

[fragileprophet]

[Akechi will find Ion staring at a suit of armor. It's pretty clear what he's looking at: in place of its normal visor, a sharply-pointed red and gold one has been put in its place. For some reason, Ion looks...unsettled.]

...do you see that?

[It's just his imagination, isn't it? This isn't here. It can't be.]

Comments

[fragileprophet]

[It's almost pitiful the way that Ion looks up at Akechi. It's not exactly disappointment so much as something small and young and pleading.]

No...enjoyment? I don't think so. You're more than that.

[doublecrows]

[he doesn't know how to feel about it. it's a look that cuts right through him, flays him straight to the bone]

No. That's bullshit. It's who-- who I am. Who I'll always be. Why don't you understand?

[fragileprophet]

I can't--I can't! I'm only...

[Only two years old. He said so, said so in his wish. It's just so much to take in.]

I can't believe that you would enjoy taking anyone's life. What you want...it's something more than that, isn't it? What you'd sacrifice such a thing for, it must mean so much to you.

[doublecrows]

[hrrrrgh]

[Ion hits the nail on the head, more firmly than Akechi is willing to admit. he curls his fingers into his bangs, tugging on them as he shuts his eyes, expression still contorted]

It-- [it's worth it. it's been worth it since the beginning] It. . . does mean something to me.

[fragileprophet]

[Ion starts to feel himself steady. There are still so many uncertainties, so many questions...but he has his beliefs in his friends, and he intends to keep them close.]

I couldn't...lie to you, and tell you that I'm willing to accept what I just saw, but if you tried to tell me that that was nothing more than murder for the sake of cold-heartedness, I'd only call you a liar, too.

[This is probably the most heated he's felt since his last conversation to Sandalphon, so he has to take another breath.]

You're an ambitious person. You told me yourself...you have a story to get back to, and to keep telling. He got in your way and you felt threatened...is that what happened?

[doublecrows]

[god damn it]

. . . yes.

[Kurusu had always been nothing but an obstacle. his brand of justice clashed so brilliantly with Akechi's that he had to be removed from the equation. he knew that long before Shido made the call to take him out]

[and yet. . .]

I don't kill because I enjoy it.

[ah. going back on what he said earlier, it seems. something more honest. only because it's Ion]

I never have.

[fragileprophet]

[A tense breath escapes, and Ion closes his eyes. Thank Goodness.]

Thank you. I know that was probably hard for you to admit.

[But it's a good thing. It's a good thing.]

I'm sure that it hurts, to live with the actions you aren't proud of.

[doublecrows]

[they're talking about Akechi again. despite what he saw, despite how Ion had to watch one of his replicas plummet to his death, they're talking about Akechi]

[he clenches his hands into fists and loosens them again]

I've stopped feeling anything remotely resembling guilt.

[there are some crimes he doesn't feel bad for. people he's killed that he believed deserved it. and he still doesn't feel torn up about Soo-Won. . . sacrifices had to be made in this game, right?]

I'm detached. [ah] I simply do what I must do, in order to achieve what it is I need to achieve.