TRUE JUSTICE (Shin Megami Tensei)
By: BlackLadyCharon
Author's Notes: A sad short that came to me before I actually got to the battle with Baal Avatar in the game. A kind of alternate way that the battle could have gone. I love Futomimi to death, though truth be told, until I actually played the game, I thought he was a girl.
Disclaimer: Kalliope the Mewthree: Blackladycharon doesn't own Atlus or the Shin Megami Tensei series, so it's pointless to sue her. She's making no money off of this
True Justice
The battleground within the tower was bloodied, the two opponents occasionally slipping in the carmine puddles if they took their attention off their footing. Spells flew whenever one gathered sufficient time, concentration, and magic to aim for their opponent. Chiaki within Baal cursed, wondering what Magatama Naoki had ingested that was granting him a large immunity to everything she'd thrown at him. She'd taken the gunman, the lilith, and the rider out of the battle, but that had happened too late. Naoki had relied on them only to boost his own attack, defense, magic and speed until they died for the moment. In fact the lot had slipped out of the battle with smug, amused smiles on their faces. As if they knew something she didn't.
Chiaki realized she was distracted as a fist slammed into her and Baal's ribs, knocking them down. She rolled an eye up in a dying glare at the Hitoshura, who smirked and stepped back. Chiaki raised her head, spitting blood. Naoki wasn't finishing her off. Instead, he seemed to be waiting. What did the Demi-Fiend have up his non-existent sleeve? He had the power, the strength to finish her. So why was he waiting? She gathered her strength, and croaked out.
"Why not finish it, Hitoshura?"
A beautiful, cold smile slid across Naoki's face, making it demonic in that moment. Chiaki felt a prickle of fear. If only Naoki had chosen Yosuga, she would willingly bow to such power. Yet now, it stared at her, as if amused.
"True justice. I made a promise, Chiaki." The quiet sounds of footfalls approaching came at the end of that cryptic phrase. Chiaki frowned, wondering why Naoki had chosen now to summon an ally to the battlefield. He had summoned no one to replace the fallen ones. It was as if he was setting the stage up for something. Or…
"Naoki-dono?"
Someone. Chiaki tried to roll her unresponsive body away. It couldn't be. She'd destroyed those useless weaklings. The toys that had dared to think because Gozu-Tennoh was dead that they could set up a city. That they could create a Reason of their own. She'd twisted the damned psychic's neck with her own two hands in sacrifice to Baal. Yet the form that walked forward from the shadows couldn't be mistaken. A human male, or so he seemed. The same simple sandals, the gray with darker stripes robe tied by white cloth and a simple rope belt. The same white strip of cloth that kept the long black hair bound up in a top-knot. The soft, calm gray eyes regarded her with the barest hint of malice entering them. But it couldn't be…
"You're dead! I killed you myself, you damned doll!"
Naoki laughed, drawing a disapproving look from the Manikin. The glare only made Naoki laugh harder, as if it amused him that the marionette was annoyed with him. The doll twitched, more of a human motion then the spastic jerks normally associated with its species. It didn't decrease Chiaki's disgust with him a bit. Insolent puppet, acting so human. Like it had any right to pretend to that position. Even most of its kind didn't pretend beyond looking male, female, or child. This one, this abominable freak amongst a race of freaks went too far. Yet Naoki seemed to find nothing wrong with it. After a bit, Naoki stopped laughing, though he was grinning with feral joy.
"Ah, Futomimi, don't give me that look. I walked Hell's Maze and found the damned Afterlife Bell to get you back here. I even promised you that it would be by your hand Chiaki fell. I just set the stage for you." Naoki's yellow eyes looked over at Chiaki, solemn and serious, at odds with the manic, demon grin still twisting his mouth. Chiaki came to the realization that somewhere along the line, she'd lost Naoki's friendship. Quite probably, that event had occurred when she had killed the Manikin before her now. Chiaki started as she realized Naoki had come over to her, leaning close and whispering in her ear.
"I told you that we would be enemies if you slew him, Chiaki. You were my friend, but you betrayed that friendship when you became so paranoid of others being stronger and better than you. Futomimi has never been anything less then honest with me. You slew a whole people, just because they didn't fit into your Reason."
A pause. "Did you know they were remnants of humans? Possibly humans we knew? I never struck a Manikin after I learned that, Chiaki. I may be the Hitoshura, but my heart is still human. You may still have a human body in many ways, but your heart has become a demon's." Another pause, something sad creeping into it. "And I promised him that if he wanted it, he would have the right to slay you, he and no other. He wanted it. Goodbye, Chiaki." With that, Naoki stood and walked away, disappearing into the shadows.
The Manikin, no Naoki had called him Futomimi, knelt down into the spreading pool of blood around her. If he cared that his robes were becoming stained, he gave no sign. Instead, he lifted her head up into his lap, leaning as his master had done to whisper in her ear. His voice was low and pleasant, soothing even to her.
"Shall I tell you the future, the part that occurs after you die?" He stroked her cheek, uncaring that it was bloodied and demonic. "Naoki-dono will fight the Kagutsuchi itself, and he will win. The Hitoshura will remake the world according to the Reason he favors."
A small, bitter smile graced the doll's lips. "Or rather, the Hitoshura will put the world back the way it was. Naoki-dono has played every side against each other, kept them all in check and balance. He will stand alone, victorious." Gentle hands placed themselves against her jaw and cheeks, the storm gray eyes of the manikin all she could see. "And you will live again, and forget Yosuga. You will be granted pardon, while I," Bitterness filled those eyes like lightning. "I shall be forgotten, perhaps even by Naoki-dono. A Manikin has no true existence, after all."
The hands tensed.
"If you should ever remember this, pray to the Great Will for the scattered pieces of this Manikin's soul, please."
A twist, a snap, a cry.
And it was over.
Fin