( closed ) the moment man devoured the fruit of knowledge, he sealed his fate.

[luneminary]

Who: Ryoji and Various.
Where: All across Aldrip.
What: Some closed starters for the Gnosia event!
Warnings: General death and violence, incineration, assisted suicide/suicide, choking, ego death. Will update as it progresses!



This revelation does not come with fanfare. This is one that comes as subtle epiphany, like remembering to fetch your clothes from the laundromat or realizing you forgot to water your plants for the day. This is waking up and realizing something that has been there all along, something that has always existed inside you.

For Ryoji, it is a purpose. He doesn’t know where it comes from or why it is, only that it is ingrained in the fibers of his existence this entire time. It is instinct, a compulsion he cannot fight against — it is not a choice, or a quirk of personality. An instrument is only capable of fulfilling the purpose it has been given.

Nothing has to change, because everything is as how it has always been. As it should be. His regained dark wings remain tucked away, until the moment is at hand.

Humanity yearns for salvation. And he has been born to grant their final wish.

Comments

for kotone and scott!

[luneminary]

[Ryoji Mochizuki. That was his name for a time.

But now he has no attachment to it. Now he is merely an instrument of the Gnosia, a martyr for their goals to save humanity. He didn’t think about going against his nature, not even once: he was simply unable to do so. Even now, the crime of helplessness weighs down upon him.

He could no longer hide who has become in the duration of this week: a grim reaper bearing dark wings, a wraith who kills swiftly and silently. The unnatural glow of his blue eyes is the last thing they will ever see.

And yet, even though he has become this wretched thing, the echo of his bonds still beat in his heart. That’s why…]

Kotone-chan.

[He sounds so kind, despite everything.]

I’ve come for you.

[That’s why, to those whom he deems to be his dearest, he shall give the sweetest release.]

[orphne]

[Even though this July is hot enough that sweat prickles her skin, she can't help but feel that cold December wind when Ryoji had waited in her room for her to kill him. She'd sworn to herself not to make him feel that same helplessness in his time here, but this infection apparently had other plans. Minato's bruises are proof enough that Ryoji isn't himself, but the kindness in his voice, so like that chilly night, stops her in her tracks as she gazes across at him.

She's not afraid for herself. She's worried about Scott, of course, worried about Ryoji himself, but she's not afraid, even facing him like this. Minato hadn't been able to get completely through to him, but maybe she could.]

It's okay, Ryoji-kun. [She tilts her head a little and tries for a smile, as if the grim sight before her were just the boy she cares for so deeply.] We're here to help.

[Scott's the healer, so he's the one she has to protect no matter what. Even if he weren't her boyfriend, even if she didn't love Scott more than life itself, she'd feel that way. Her guardian angel power rests in her fingertips, ready to shield him the second Ryoji moves toward him.]

It hurts, doesn't it? Doing all this stuff. You don't have to anymore.

[laserguy]

[Is this how Ryoji really looks like? His true form as Death?? Or just the gnosia infection spreading so deeply within him that he's come to look like a reaper worthy of taking life from others? There's a part of him that feels anxious, maybe a little afraid, but Scott swallows those emotions down, pushing them to the back of his mind so that he can be by Kotone and watch his friend with an expression that is both sad and determined. They... they're going to heal him. Just like how he healed the others. They can do this.

Minato is counting on them.

It's tempting to just use his heal immediately on Ryoji, but he only has one shot and he doesn't want to miss. The longer this continues, the greater the danger will be, but he still has to keep calm and be ready to use his healing powers when the opportunity arises. It's the reason why he doesn't protest when Kotone tries to reach out to their friend through words alone. Maybe it will be enough of a distraction for Ryoji and for him to heal.

For now, Scott doesn't say anything, not wanting to interrupt the girl he trusts and loves the most. He'll just stand by her side, like always.]

[luneminary]

[If one strains their ears, one might hear the rattling of chains. Kotone might be familiar with the overwhelming presence before them, but surely Scott could feel the dread creeping in just from facing him alone. This is nothing like the reflection of Thanatos that dwells within his chosen Wild Card, nothing like the simple fear of facing a tremendous enemy. The fear of death is something ingrained into the instincts of anybody who has life, and it is the same kind of fear this presence invokes.

Ryoji keeps smiling, as if a mask was welded onto his face.]

You’re already helping.

[His voice echoes, as if ethereal, but it also sounds wrong.]

I’m glad to see two of my closest friends — here at the end of all things.

[A dark shadow envelops him as he draws his sword: thin and long, marred with the blood it has drawn for the entire duration of this week. Dark feathers start to fall around them, seemingly harmless, but a simple brush against it is enough to invoke fear crippling enough to bring one to their knees.]

It won’t hurt anymore. [It’s a wretched echo of Kotone’s words.] You don’t have to suffer anymore.

[His sword is an extension of his being. He reaches back with a blade heading straight to Kotone’s chest.]

cw: suicide ideation

[orphne]

[She's made a mistake.

Ryoji isn't Ryoji anymore. If there's anything left of the boy she cares so, so deeply for, he's buried so far beneath the visage of Death that he can't be reached. Somewhere, a part of her kind of thought that she'd have to face him thirteen times, one for each Arcana before he reached his true form that could be healed.

As the feathers start to fall around them, there's fear, yes, but a familiarity in the way her heart pounds rabbit-fast in her chest, the adrenaline of wanting to survive and fight warring with the way that the end feels almost like a warm blanket she could sink into. She'd been fighting so hard, not just in the past week, but the past year. The past two years. Over and over with no end in sight.

She's exhausted already, but the feathers make her feel like it's the end of March again, when she had to drag herself to school every day and plaster a smile on her face so her friends wouldn't worry. She has to keep fighting. She always has to keep fighting.

Time stretches weirdly, and distantly, she knows this has to be a Gnosia attack. It's funny; for all the times she's protected other people, no one's ever tried to attack her directly. It was always Scott, or someone else, and then it had been a fight like normal. It's funny; she can protect others, but not herself. It's so obvious now. For as much as she wanted to live, as much as Scott had given her a reason to live, it's just like her friends last year.

If it's a question between her and her friends, she'll choose her friends every time.

Tears prick in the corners of her eyes as she looks toward Scott and touches his arm, lingering there as his guardian angel. She wishes she could go to the roof and rest her head in his lap. She wishes she could see all of her friends again. She wishes she could see Scott save Ryoji, because she knows in her heart that her death is going to hurt both of the boys she cares about so much.

The intangible, semi-translucent form of a Messiah with loose, flowing hair and perpetual tears carved into her face materializes in front of Scott and wraps her arms around him in a final embrace, sinking within him and vanishing. Maybe this way, if he's attacked after she's gone, she can protect him one last time.

It feels like an eternity since she saw Ryoji draw his sword, but it can't have been more than a few seconds in reality. There's not even time to draw her Evoker in a last-ditch effort to fight; there's barely even time to turn back to face the end. All at once, time snaps back into focus as the sword pierces her chest, her eyes going wide with shock and agony. She can't even scream; she can only gasp, feeling a weird, heavy, burning pressure that makes it so hard to draw a breath. Her hand is still on Scott's arm, but her other, she shakily tries to reach for the face that had been Ryoji's. He's so far away.

Everything is. A Gnosia attack is instant, after all. There's no more time to reach for either of them as she slumps forward, held upright only by the blade in her chest.]

[luneminary]

[He had to be quick, he knew. Kotone has always been resourceful and a quick thinker. Scott being nearby also meant he couldn’t miss his single chance. He has learned from his earlier assassination attempt: he cannot hesitate, not even for a second. Not even for someone like Kotone.

Perhaps this is the time where their memories together should flash before his eyes. The time they have spent after school, the time they stared at the riverbank at Kyoto, the time he confided his worries on the school rooftop. That maybe that miracle would restore him back to his senses, that he would feel the guilt of killing someone so precious to him would jolt him out of what has turned him into Gnosia.

Kotone’s hand tries to reach for him, her fingers almost brushing his face. But they grasp nothing, in the end.

And Ryoji’s sorrowful smile remains, even as she falls. He withdraws his blade in one sharp motion, the weapon now stained in red blood. Blood that splatters to the ground, to his own clothes — even to Scott’s face.]

You’ve fought so well, Kotone-chan. [The melody in his voice sings of an elegy.] A peaceful sleep is the rest you rightfully deserve. You do not need to be in pain anymore.

[There is no guilt here. Not even the secret melancholy he hides under the smile of Ryoji Mochizuki. “It can’t be helped” — that is the phrase that encompasses the kind of sadness in his eyes.

Death unfurls his wings once more.

And so he sets his sights onto Scott, exchanging pleasantries like they are greeting a brand new day.]

Hello, Scott-san. I will make sure neither of you will not go alone.

It would be less sad that way.

[laserguy]

[Everything happened so quickly.

There's no possible way for him to react to anything, not when a gnosia attack is in play, and for a moment there's just confusion. Confusion that's replaced by dread, with that feeling further accentuated when Messiah suddenly appears to wrap her arms around him with a certain finality. He almost wants to hold her back because it's Kotone, at least an extension of her, but she disappears and time snaps back to normal with the events of everything that just happened brutally coming along with it.

Along with the blood splattering across his face.

His head slowly tilts, face frozen in numb shock, as he watches Kotone's body fall to the ground. She's not moving. There's blood already pooling around that hole in her chest and Scott stares longer at her form in disbelief, with one shaking hand slowly rising to the blood that's on his cheek. This is real. This is actually happening, isn't it? This isn't some nightmare that he can just wake up from. No matter how many times he blinks, the visage in front of him doesn't change.

There's still that dread, but it's more distant and no longer that constant pressure against him. It feels nothing compared to the suffocating feeling in his chest, like he was one that was stabbed, because he can't breathe. His throat is fully locked up as he focuses on the slumped form of his beloved girlfriend. What's happening-- she can't be dead, even though the wound in her body suggests otherwise. Of course he's not naïve to the thought that one day Kotone would die here, but to have it finally happen, in front of him...

.....

He's screaming, he's pretty sure he is, the only sound that's finally able to leave his throat.]

K-Kotone!!

[There's still that obvious threat in front of him and he should move. Do something. He can't just stand here with tears slipping beneath his glasses; he has to avenge her. Another shaky exhale leaves the mutant as Scott finally focuses on Ryoji, emotions swirling violently within him and he's trying to focus through the veil of tears. He's the grim reaper that killed her-- he's his friend and someone that cares so much about her too. There's two choices (other than getting killed himself) and he better pick now.

It's overwhelming right now, his heart beating faster than before. He's so angry, so upset with Ryoji, but. He can't kill him, even if a small part of him wants to. It's not what Kotone would want-- it's not what he wants.]

I... I'm.

[He's going to do what's right.]