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wcb r5; day 1; Moriarty
[Akane is perfectly calm, and perfectly willing to be carried wherever Moriarty sees fit to take her. Why shouldn't she be? She knows him, even if he doesn't know her. He wouldn't kill her without a good reason, not this early. Not even if he doesn't know her.
And if he has a good enough reason for that...?
Well, maybe that would be fair too. But for now she's perfectly relaxed.]
And if he has a good enough reason for that...?
Well, maybe that would be fair too. But for now she's perfectly relaxed.]
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He sets her against a tree gently, before taking a seat in front of her (and knowing he'll pay for it later given his Back Issues).]
...So.
[Ah. Hm. How to do this...]
You met another...'me' during your game, is it?
[She can almost see him thinking, trying to figure out some way to explain it so she won't be upset that he may never truly remember that time while they are there, even if she is familiar in such a vague, dreamlike way.]
...Did he - explain anything about us?
[About being a Servant, he means.]
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Hm?
About servants, you mean?
Yes, Daddy. And you don't have to worry.
Oh, hm. I guess I should ask if you mind me calling you that, but.... Well, it's what you are.
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After a moment, he shakes his head clearing his throat.]
I - O-of course I do not mind in the slightest! I'm more than honored to be called that by you, my dear! Ah, but...No, you see, I'm afraid you may not completely understand.
Though the 'me' you know and the 'me' sitting before you look the same, we are - well, we come from the same source, but are different...'instances' of James Moriarty, as it were. Now, I do feel as if I know you, but...in a vague sense. I haven't the slightest of what you and he went through, during that time...and I do not blame you if you wish not to interact with me, knowing that. Seeing someone else wearing the face of a loved one is...painful, is it not?
[Because, more seriously...she is That Moriarty's daughter, even though he'd happily accept her. And he has somewhere to return to that is not her home, nor would he give up his own world for her sake. Not yet, and he has promises and relationships he has to keep.
So, he's trying. Trying to let her down gently, even though she looks at him like that, and she's in a feverish state.]
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Yes, Daddy. I know. I told you.
You aren't the you I knew, but you are all the same. You're you, no matter what your memories and experiences are, because those all tie back into the true center of your being, right? That innermost self, who you really are? You're just as much that as he is. You're different, and that's okay, but you're still not different, this you just doesn't remember me yet.
And that's okay too. Because it's still you, and I'm still me.
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He's not a man who gets easily surprised, and yet this *continues to happen*, over and over without him able to gain a handhold on what is truly happening. He lets her take his hand and lean against him, even as he stares at her as if she's said something almost incomprehensible.
Because, really, she has. Most would not understand, would imagine him to be an impostor with a beloved's face - and truly, he would have accepted that. But for her to not only understand, but truly comprehend what he is?
It's unthinkable. It's - What did that other him do to deserve this?]
...I...see.
[SORRY MORIARTY.EXE HAS CRASHED AND NEEDS TO REBOOT]
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A butterfly lands on her head, and she smiles up at it, and then over at him.]
I told the other you before, but I really do think the Ulysses is more appropriate in some ways than the Morpho. Even if I don't doubt you'd make anyone who tried to swallow you choke in the attempt.
[And then she hums faintly, aimlessly, and waits for him to say something.]
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[The question SOUNDS stupid, but it's out of his mouth before he can really stop himself. After a moment, he clears his throat again, looking over at her almost wonderingly.]
I...forgive me. I...did not expect this in the slightest, so I fear you have me at your mercy, in a way.
[Somehow, saying that...feels right. Though he can't remember exactly what happened...she's become another of his weaknesses, hasn't she?
How hilarious. He, the napoleon of crime, the lynchpin of Evil, continually falling into the same trap over and over!
...He gently squeezes her hand back, though.]
...It's quite rare to meet someone who truly understands the...oddness, shall we say, that comes with being on the Throne.
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My name is Akane Kurashiki. I'm another victim of Schrodinger, I suppose you could say.
[And she smiles again at that, though there's a hint of pain this time.]
That's why I understand you, and why you understand me. I... I've lived the future, you see. The paths that are needed so that the box opens with me still alive. And you were proud of me for killing you, after you doublecrossed me. Single crossed? I don't know. But it was a betrayal of trust.
It's okay, though. You apologized. And....
And you can see me, too.
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Even though it's brief, it's just as much what she Doesn't say that catches his attention, what she hints at and says.
'And you can see me, too.'
This....This was...
'I'm another victim of Shrodinger.'
Ah, no wonder she understood. No wonder - he betrayed her, and yet....she was still there? still wanted him, even as a 'him' that didn't know her yet?
For the first time in a while, Moriarty is afraid.
And yet, he....is also so very, very happy.]
...I...I see.
[He's clearly ill at ease, running over it all. How pitiful, that a genius could be taken down to this level by mere words.
Ah, he thought. I find I rather dislike being on the receiving end.]
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You can ask me things, if you want to. I do still have more information than you, even if I'm sure you've figured some of it out from that.
[And she grins up at him, and there's just a trace of wicked delight in the expression, of camaraderie, knowing and seeing and happy about all of it.]
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...In the end, it's that thought that makes him laugh, just a little.]
...I suppose there's nothing to really ask, for now. You have me entirely off guard, my dear - I'm practically clutching at the air!
[So, he deflects. Just a little - though after a moment, he sighs.]
...In truth, I'm still not sure this isn't all some sort of large prank. Or - someone I know attempting to get the better of me.
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There are things to ask, Daddy, even if you don't want to reveal as much as asking would tell me.
But I can tell you some things too, I guess.
I....
[She bites her lip and looks down.]
Well.
It's hard for me too, I guess.
You did just meet me. Before I didn't....
It took us weeks.
[I don't want you to hate me.]
We only had weeks, before you killed someone... dear to me. And... and you didn't tell me, first.
[Her voice is soft, it isn't angry, and there's a distant quality to it.]
Sorry. I miss you, I guess. I will until you know me again. I wish I could....
[Why must life be so complicated? This would be impossible, probably, without telling him more of what she was, but what she was....
Would he accept her, like this? He'd had time to become fond of her before, when she'd had to challenge him with that particular truth.
He was a stranger, still, though he was a stranger that she knew and loved. She didn't want to mess this up. She'd not had to explain herself to someone who didn't know her already like this before, not so quickly.]
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Despite all the shock he went through before - though he doesn't show it on the surface, this is what truly rocks him to his very core.
It isn't just that he killed someone close to her, and she put more emphasis on not telling her (something deep inside screams he should always tell her the truth, never leave her in the dark again), or that she misses the 'him' that knew and loved her, and is willing to wait until he reaches that state again.
No. What rocks him the most is that she knows him, so totally and utterly, and yet -]
...Is your faith in me so little, my dear?
[ - yet, she's still holding back out of fear, just as he is. He wants to mourn that lack of faith, as...was it something his other self did? Why, it shouldn't even hurt him this much if they'd only met once before, yet it feels as if they had found each other over and over until she'd carved the ghost of herself onto his very Saint Graph.
It's foolish, but what else can he do or think? Even as his eyes look to hers, there's a strange sorrow in them, a hurt that he can't help but feel, even as he feels that being with her is right.]
I may be a fool, unable to keep up with what you already know, as is the right of youth over the old. But...you are...clearly, you are precious not just to the other 'me', and not to this me that speaks to you, but to Myself.
[Does she even understand what he's trying to say? He feels she should.]
...I will listen, to whatever it is you wish to say. And all I ask...is that you put your faith into James Moriarty.
[Not him, but the core of the person he is, the person she can see and affected so deeply.]
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She bites her lip, and then speaks, her voice soft; she couldn't see a camera, but she still didn't want one hearing her, and this seemed to be the best she could do.]
I...
I was killed, when I was twelve. Or I will be, anyway. Will have been. They put me in an incinerator and I burn to death. I... I still have fevers, because I'm caught in a time loop. And the other end of the loop... in order to keep it from ending in my dying....
I was able to reach 9 years into the future when I was trapped in that incinerator. I was able to reach a friend of mine. He was playing the Nonary Game then, too. So... I set it up. I'm... you won't be familiar with it, here, but I--well, I and my brother.... We called ourselves Zero, and we set up another game.
We trapped people in there, including ourselves. We put bombs in them. And we have to play the game, and it has to end right, because if it doesn't... I'm going to vanish.
[She's trying to justify herself, still, still so nearly sure that he'll hate her for being the one responsible for a game that is a cousin to the one that they're in right now.]
It's not just about that, actually. That's... that's the reason we did it, but.... We're also getting revenge on the men who did that to me, back then. To us. The one who was in charge of it, the one who dragged me into the incinerator and locked me in... he's going to kill all his friends.
And everyone else, probably, if everything goes wrong. If it's not the right timeline.
I... I didn't have anything to do with what happened here, though, I promise.
I....
[And she bites her lip again, and has to force herself not to look away, because how can he possibly trust her when she did tell him that, so soon? Why would he believe her assertion? Her soul, her secrets, laid bare and exposed to someone who doesn't know her, and her desperate instinct is to pull away, to try to protect herself, to try to hide them again. But....
He'd asked for more. He'd asked for her trust and she believed in him....
Right?]
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Carved into the core of what he is, is her. Her pain. Her suffering, of being burned alive as a 12 year old. The fact that she is doing her own game where there will be death and suffering, all for her goal to survive -
- and he does not hate her, for how could he hate someone who is struggling for the right to live, even if it would be considered Evil? Even if it was to also get revenge, is that not fair for it to be given to men who were willing to sacrifice children for their aims?
She has the resolve to do so, even if those innocent will suffer for it. He knows this, just like he knows her story, coming to him like a half-remembered dream.
So, his response...is obvious, isn't it?
When she trails off...he looks at her, and then wraps his arms around her, pulling her close to his chest, hand on the back of her head.
It's alright. I will not reject you, Akane. I could never reject you, no matter if you were good or evil.]
...Thank you, my Akane. For trusting in me.
[Again, that falls out of his mouth before he can even think it, but is just....feels right, in this moment as he holds her, now aware of how afraid she must be, how much this must have taken to say, how quickly she attempted to downplay it.
And yet...she trusted him with a truth that could jeopardize her if it ever came to light, an ugly truth that most here would not be able to understand.
But he does.
So he will never betray her in turn.]
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I'm glad I get to meet you again. I'm glad I met you the first time. I love you, Daddy.
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And I you, my dear. Though you'll have to be a bit understanding if there are things I miss! I'll have to learn you once more.
[And then...Moriarty laughs, lightly.]
Then again, I suppose this is merely my comeuppance for normally being the one in your situation!
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That's okay. I told you, I know that you aren't, well.... That you aren't the you I knew before. It's only understandable that it will take time for all of this again.
[And then he makes her laugh again, almost giggle, and this time there's relief more prominently than anything else in it.]
Maybe there is. If it helps, I do know some of what you're dealing with, I think.
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Ah? Yes, I assume you would, given...
[He trails off, before gesturing.]
...Well. I needn't say it fully, hm?
[There's a pause again, before-]
...Ah. Should I go into a bit of detail about myself, given what you've kindly told me about yourself? While I am certain the core of the two of us remains the same, I have gone through certain...events my other has not, I'm sure.
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[This part... it can never really be rushed, no matter what the need is. What a shame.]
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[He smiles at her, then-]
Truthfully, I was never taken to the world I was in before like most involved in this game for the purpose of playing in these sorts of games - no, I was instead summoned to the middle of one to play a certain bit part.
[He sighs, dramatically.]
It was supposed to be a simple thing - one and done! Yet, just because I led them all on a small, inconsequential chase, one of them forced a contract with me.
[He shrugs, though it's with a bit of chagrin.]
...Well, I suppose I had another reason in accepting it, and it wasn't completely forced. Still!