Summary: Goro Week Day 4: Favorite Relationship (Canon Or Otherwise)/Favorite Meta Or Theory. It's November, and the news broadcast has a piece of news that will flip Goro's world upside down.
Note: favorite relationship is obviously shuake, but unfortunately I didn't get to portray it as much as I wanted to in the fic because Akira barely has any presence in it. Favorite theory is the futago sibling theory.
(I don't even know if I'm truly still following the prompts or not.)
Warnings: Feels, Some Sadness And Pain, At Some Point The Narration Briefly Degenerates Into An Emotional Spam (You'll Recognize It When You See It), Is November ARE YOU READY?.
Disclaimer: Don't own P5.
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"-and killed the guard before committing suicide-"
The breaking news broadcast droned on and on, but Goro could no longer hear what it said, a buzz filling his ears as his breathing stuttered in his chest and his eyes could no longer see the living room around him, but a dreary and dark interrogation room, with a table stained with the blood leaking from Kurusu's gunshot wound. The gunshot wound Goro was responsible for.
A sharp nudge from Nemesis pushed him out of the memory and back to reality, and he inhaled sharply before he balled his fists and pressed them against his eyes until stars exploded behind his eye lids.
He didn't kill Kurusu, it was just a cognition, it was a trick, he'd been played by the Thieves because they knew of his betrayal and what he planned to do.
He didn't kill Kurusu. It was just a cognition. It was a trick. He'd been played by the Thieves who had prepared a counter-plan to utilize against him because they knew of his betray-
His eyes snapped open and he had to blink to reorient himself and bring the room around him back to proper focus as he fumbled for his phone.
Something was wrong.
It didn't make any sense.
He'd been lurking around Leblanc at every possible opportunity since Okumura's death during his confession to see if there was any new addition to the Thieves who would infiltrate them to betray them; he'd even made sure to keep track of the Thieves at all times during Shujin's culture festival to see if anyone would approach them there.
He hadn't seen anyone suspicious, and he'd kept Akira in his line of sight at all times during the festival.
There was no traitor who joined the Thieves to set them up, he realized as he brought up his phone's screen to check the calendar, it was still the third of November, it was too early.
He bolted to the door, barely remembering to leave a note to Edogawa telling him that he went out in case his adopted father returned while Goro was still out.
He rushed out of the apartment, his destination was Leblanc, he needed to get into contact with Futaba, she was the only one with any information he could look for and with a known location at the moment.
The was no traitor who joined the Thieves to set them up, the Thieves had no chance to plot a way to get Akira out of holding alive, heck they probably had no idea they were going to be cornered by the police that day.
The chances of Akira being actually dead were so high, higher than Goro would like to think.
His mind was running a mile a minute, not stopping even when he had to take the train and force himself to act normal.
How did the police catch Akira anyway? They hadn't caught the rest of the Thieves, or the news broadcast would have mentioned it, Shido would have loved for the whole population to know, the police had no chance of getting into the Metaverse because they had no access to the Nav, because if Shido's men did, Goro would have heard about mental shutdown cases.
(Goro refused to think of the possibility that one of the Thieves betrayed the team. It was just too much to even entertain.)
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When Goro arrived at Leblanc, he didn't try to normally open the door as he slammed it and ran in, only stopping at the sight that awaited him. Sojiro was staring back at him with a blank face, Futaba herself was standing in front of the counter, fists clenched around her phone and laptop, both of which she clutched tightly to her trembling frame, her eyes were red-rimmed and her face was splotchy as she stared back at him with wide eyes.
Morgana was perched on one of the seats, head bowed down, posture defeated.
At the booths, the rest of the Thieves were assembled, Sakamoto, Kitagawa and Niijima staring at the tables without seeing them, while Takamaki and Okumura tried to smother their sobs into their fists.
"No…" Goro whispered, "Please tell me it's not true."
Morgana let out a shuddering sigh that seemed wrack his whole frame, while Sakamoto ducked his head and Kitagawa closed his eyes, shoulders slumping.
"Our apologies, Akechi-kun," Niijima started, squaring her shoulders and doing her best to keep her back straight, "We don't know- he- it's-" She snapped her mouth shut, clearly unable to say anything further in the current situation.
Goro braced himself against the counter as his legs almost gave out from underneath him.
He wasn't-
It wasn't-
Akira wasn't supposed to die- not like this-
Goro wasn't- he wasn't- it hurt by god did it hurt too much his heart was tearing itself apart and his chest felt too tight and his hands shook his phone slipped but he didn't give a damn he had no fucks to give anymore it was all his fault all his fault he was such a coward such an idiot he'd gotten complacent and why did he do that he was supposed to be the obedient puppet he shouldn't have tried to change his fate him a second chance? How preposterous he had no right no right to be such a greedy asshole to rub his filthy hands all over a nice life that didn't even belong to a plight like him he should have killed his spirit and gave himself to Shido should have played the very obvious traitor and gave the Thieves a chance to retaliate give the Thieves an opening to get back at Shido but he hadn't and now Akira was dead Akira paid the price of Goro's own stupid fucking mistakes and Goro wasn't going to rest until he repaid Akira in full and then some-
"We'll get back at them." Futaba's voice, as fragile as it sounded, pierced straight through the haze that descended over his mind, "We'll get back at him. At the one responsible. I talked about this with Akira before we started infiltrating the casino but he said it was best to leave telling you all about it until after we were done. But then this happened and now I know for sure it's him, there is no one else." Futaba's voice picked up strength until it was made of steel, sharp enough to cut through Goro and slap him awake.
The fire burning in Futaba's eyes was very familiar; he'd seen it on his own face many times when he looked in the mirror, thinking about taking his revenge against Shido, about destroying the man who took so much from him.
Now Shido had gone too far, had taken too much from him.
And Goro wasn't going to take it lying down.
"Futaba?" Sojiro wondered, shock slipping into his voice.
"Before my mom died-" Her breath hitched momentarily but she continued on, "-I managed to get access to a lot of her documents and hidden files. She talked a lot about a benefactor who'd been pressing her for results. Someone she knew from before I was born, who'd shown interest in her research but returned into her life later with money to sponsor it, but… Mom had gotten as far as managing to build a prototype portal to the cognitive world, but it was deemed a failure by her co-workers as it only could take them only a couple of meters in.
"Mom conveniently died in car accident a few days later, and her research disappeared, her circle of co-workers relocating to different labs for supposedly different researches. With what happened in Makoto's Sis' Palace, I could guess that they managed to develop and improve mom's prototype portal and that's how they got in to trap us."
"And this person's name would be?" Okumura spoke up, her voice soft but laden with intent.
"Shido Masayoshi," Futaba declared, and Goro reached for his phone that had fallen to the floor earlier and picked it up; he could guess what was going to happen now.
As he straightened up, he could hear the Thieves input the name into the Nav.
The café was filled with a chorus of the Nav's response: candidate found.
This was Goro's moment to insert himself; he was going to join the Thieves on their infiltration of Shido's Palace even if it killed him again.
He'd taken up revenge before as his goal in life and the reason he got out of bed every morning, revenge for his own selfish needs. He'd pick it up again, still for his own selfish needs, but this time it wasn't just him, it was also for Akira, the person Goro was fated to be pulled in and charmed by over and over again.
The person Goro had willingly accepted into his heart, with no hesitation or doubt or second thoughts.
"I'm going to join you," He said, and the Thieves all quieted down, turning their heads towards him to stare at him incredulously; Sakamoto opened his mouth, clearly to protest, but Goro beat him to the punch by unlocking his phone and showing them the screen with the Nav on his phone in plain sight.
"You have the app," Takamaki spoke quietly, "How did you…"
"It happened back in June by accident. I was sitting down in Shibuya, taking a break from work that day before I went back home for the day, when you all showed up. You didn't seem to notice me and you appeared to be engrossed in something important so I didn't butt in. That was when-"
"We accidentally took you with us to the Metaverse," Morgana interrupted, "I had though I felt someone nearby but I thought I was imagining things with the stress of the situation. It was you?"
Goro shrugged one shoulder, "Probably. Now about Shido. What did you need for the app?"
"Name of the target, which we currently have," Kitagawa said, expression serious, "The place of distortion, which we currently don't have, and neither do we have the cause of distortion."
"By that he means the name of the target, the place he sees with a distorted view and what he sees it as," Sakamoto added.
Goro nodded, "I could make a guess, as I've kept up with news about Shido. The Diet Building?"
"Candidate found."
The Thieves stared at him in anticipation, but Goro refused to stare back at them, keeping his eyes locked to his phone, he had to do this, and he didn't care how suspicious it made him in their eyes, "Ship."
"Candidate found. Please reduce distance to target to begin navigation."
"Whoah." Goro turned his head towards Futaba, who looked impressed, "I wouldn't have guessed ship."
"Yeah, I figured it was probably something like palace or castle or empire." Sakamoto shrugged.
"He always talks about steering the country." Goro simply offered, "And he also makes a lot of references to ships if you pay enough attention to what he says."
"Why did you keep up with news about Shido?" Niijima inquired quietly, and Goro sighed, he no longer had anything else important enough to keep hidden away, aside from the whole time travel deal.
"Shido Masayoshi… is my biological father."
Futaba inhaled sharply, "He's your father too?"
Goro blinked at her in shock, "'Too'?"
Futaba nodded, "Yes. It's why I had a reason to look into him in the first place before all of this happened. I… I wanted to see what kind of man my mother got together with, even if only long enough to have me."
Goro stared at her unblinking before he let a breath whoosh out of his chest; damn if he wasn't done with perception altering news for the day.
Sakura Futaba, Isshiki Futaba, the girl whose mother he killed back when he was Shido's puppet hitman, was his half sister.
He snorted. Then he started chuckling, hysteria threatening to bubble over with the sudden revelation.
Frantic knocking on Leblanc's door forcibly stopped him and he turned to frown at the door in distaste before he walked over to it to see who was on the other side.
He opened the door to have yet another shock thrown right into his face, stopping him in his tracks.
"You're Akechi Goro, right? Edogawa's kid?" Niijima Sae asked, her expression warring between seriousness, worry, and relief; she had Akira slumped over her shoulder, beaten and either completely unconscious or- no he wasn't; Goro could see him tilt his head in Goro's direction and huff breath as he tried to raise his hand, but failed as it flopped back to his side, "I need your help, he's alive but he needs medical attention."
"What are you waiting for? Get him in!" Sojiro barked from behind Goro and shoved him to the side to rush out and grab a hold of Akira's other side and help Sae move him inside.
The Thieves only stayed away from Akira long enough for Sae and Sojiro to get him situated upstairs before they gathered around him again.
"I know where the doctor he brings medicine from is," Niijima had said as she headed down to Leblanc's entrance, "She's someone we could trust, I'll go get her."
Goro made his way to where Akira was laid down, and the Thieves, thankfully, allowed him a spot to get close.
"Akira," He whispered, voice faint, as he reached a hand to hover Akira's bruised cheek, "I'm sorry."
Akira blinked at him with foggy eyes, and tried to raise his hand closest to Goro to reach for him, but couldn't drag it up all the way, so Goro reached for Akira's hand and grasped it loosely, not willing to risk holding it too tight and hurting Akira.
"Goro?" Akira's voice was hoarse, "What are you sorry for? You didn't… do anything…"
"For-" He was sorry for not being there, for not helping out, for being a coward-
"Dude." Sakamoto patted him on the back, "Who cares that you're blood-related to the guy who screwed everything up? No one needs them shitty fathers anyway."
Akira huffed what could have been a laugh but then he grimaced, his breath stuttering and his hand twitching, and Goro cautiously tightened his hold on Akira's hand.
"Relax," Morgana said, his words aimed at Akira, "Rest up for now, we'll take care of you."
"Agreed." Okumura smiled sadly, "You just make sure to heal up, you did more than your share of the work, Aki-kun, you deserve your rest."
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End
*exhales* that was a doozy to write…