To the Darkest of Nights We Go

~Dystopian AU ~

Chapter 29

Written By: RinoaDestiny

King of Fighters, Chizuru Kagura, Kyo Kusanagi, Iori Yagami, Terry Bogard, Andy Bogard, Mai Shiranui, Blue Mary, Rock Howard, and Joe Higashi all belong to SNK


They were there. All of them. Faces upon faces, bodies upon bodies – all him. He stood among the wreckage, placing one foot ahead. The rubble shifted but it was just him standing. The sky was red, as though the sun shone through fogs of dust. Water gathered in puddles at his feet, among the corpses – all him – and reflected scarlet as blood. He'd been here before, recognized the ruined landscape, knew the sensation of déjà vu and glanced around, unsure what was about to happen.

The last time, he heard voices deriding him. Calling him "imposter" in keen wails, in dying shrieks until he went mad, sinking down to the ground. The sky had been gray then, cold and cruel, and there was rain. It chilled him and he wasn't able to escape, to leave. All the time, voices.

They all sounded like him. He knew his own voice.

It'd scared him that time.

He took another cautious step. His foot went into a puddle – this one had the rainbow sheen of spilled oil – causing him to move forward quickly. Fire here never ended well. Earlier, when he first saw this place, there was an inferno and he'd burned in that, unable to die. Agony and his flesh melting, liquefying and yet, he remained alive. There were others as him that time, too. Burning the "fake" to death, since he never belonged. No longer needed to exist.

Puddles around him, red as blood and bodies piled high. Had there been a battle?

Did he arrive before or after it? Did he do it?

Time never flowed normally here. It felt normal but he knew better. There was always that strangeness surrounding him – he always wanted to leave but was powerless to do so – which unnerved him every time. This time was no different. He braced himself, waiting.

Before, it was fire. It was rain. It was the ground opening beneath his feet, swallowing him whole. It was him being suffocated to the point of death. Hands over his mouth. It was insanity. It was voices.

This time…it was the slow opening of eyes.

The corpses didn't exactly move. Weren't alive. But their eyes opened, staring at him. One by one.

He whirled. He didn't have anywhere to go to avoid this. Their eyes stared at him, accusing, and they were his eyes but lifeless. Blank. He moved back and bumped into one of the bodies. That one opened its eyes too and gave him the same empty gaze. Horror arose in him and began its slow spike. Where was he to run? Everywhere, the dead faces stared at him, all channeling the same sentiment: "Inadequate".

Inadequate. Inadequate.

That was what he was. It wasn't voices this time. This was…something he knew.

He was inadequate. He was.

Nothing he did would change that. Inadequate. Inadequate. Inadequate.

One could go mad from the litany. He probably would.

Faces upon faces, bodies upon bodies, eyes upon eyes.

He felt like screaming. Eyes upon eyes. Inadequate. Inadequate. Inadequate.

Eyes opened. Stared at him.

He screamed. Screamed and –

A heavy grip on his shoulder, shaking him and Kyo thrashed, throwing his fist at this unexpected intruder into his half-conscious dreamscape. His punch was caught with a meaty smack, the fingers of this other person closing around his fist. As his eyes adjusted – firelight flickering off concrete and shards of torn asphalt – along with his brain kicking him awake, the shape of this person became clear. All too clear. "Oh shit…Yagami?"

"You were screaming. Decided to wake you up. Nightmare, Kyo?"

"Yeah." He waited until Iori released his fist. Uncurled his fingers, still tight with tension. "It's the same."

"NESTS?"

"Not quite." Iori knew about his nightmares, about how NESTS continued to plague him even though it'd been years. Even though the cartel left him alone, scraping by with their few members – too few to give him trouble. "Not this time."

"What was it this time?"

"Eyes."

"The fuck?"

"Eyes, Yagami. My eyes. Opening and looking at me and they were all –"

"They…you mean clones?"

"They were dead, too. Don't know if I killed them or –"

"So it is NESTS."

"I…guess?" Kyo looked at Iori, at the redhead across from him, one knee down on the floor while the other propped his arm up. "Sorry to –"

"It's nothing. You able to sleep?"

"After that? No." Kyo shuddered. "What time is it? You still on watch?"

"Yeah."

"Shit. Guess I'll join you. Got nothing better to do." Chizuru's Yata mirror hung like a weight around his neck. He hadn't practiced or used it since the day she taught him the basics. He really should – it was his now – but he felt…inadequate (he shivered) and it was still too soon after her death. Besides that, Yagami still didn't know and if he tried it while he was here…

It wasn't worth dwelling upon.

"It's been quiet. Doesn't seem like Naniwa has many soldiers."

"Maybe not right now. But…"

"Don't, Kyo. I don't need to…we didn't see many. Let's keep it that way, okay?"

Kyo didn't respond. Iori was hypervigilant even now – it was dark and with nary a soldier in sight – yet, the other fighter reacted badly to the mere mention of possible troop increases. Yagami had shut him down so fast that Kyo decided not to bring it up again. Instead, he studied the crackling fire, remembering other fires – with Kagura-san in Nishi and with Yagami also in Nishi – and his hands idle, he took some of the fuel (tufts of grass and broken tree branches) and fed the flames.

Iori sat next to him, silent, staring out into the darkness beyond their small shelter.

"You didn't eat much tonight."

"There wasn't much to eat, Kyo."

"We found water."

"Yeah. Out of a broken pipe."

"It's still water."

"I know that," the redhead said, irritable. "It's…we can't rely on that. We may not –"

"I know," Kyo said, echoing Iori's response. "We may not find its like again, right?"

"Are we…is it going to end –"

"Not like that, Yagami. No. It won't."

"But you've thought about it."

"I did." On this, he could be honest. "But we're not going out like that, Yagami. We still have Ikuno to cross."

"The border."

"Yeah."

Mention of the Ikuno border changed the silence around them, almost contemplative. The redhead slewed his gaze from the darkness outside to the flames, illuminating the planes of his face as he did so. Kyo knew he was tired – could see it from Iori's heavy expression, shadows upon shadows in his eyes – but Yagami wanted to serve as first watch of the night and Kyo didn't dissuade him. Yagami wanted to contribute and had done so today from the hunt for food and water to foregoing sleep until his duty was complete. He wanted to matter.

Kyo knew this. So he let him and got some sleep.

Until the nightmare…no, Yagami woke him up. From the nightmare.

He shuddered again, unable to suppress it.

That turned Iori's quiet attention to him. "That bad?"

"Yeah."

"It'll be your turn soon. So you don't have to sleep."

"Yagami…" He paused. "What's it…for you?"

His former rival looked back at the fire, at the light that burned in their midst. He didn't answer immediately but Kyo didn't expect him to. What he'd just asked was personal, was laden with pain and just because he opened up about the details of his recurring nightmare (the details were never quite the same) didn't mean Iori would follow suit. Had less reason to share, if only to keep his pride.

After a few minutes, flames swirling and rippling in instantaneous changes of color, Iori asked him a question. "You mentioned eyes?"

"Eyes. Faces. All the same."

"I don't see eyes. I don't see anything."

"Then what –"

"Voices, Kyo. Voices I can't understand. Voices all around me."

"I hear voices sometimes, too."

"Pain. It…it doesn't stop. I can't…nothing I say matters. So I don't…"

"Yagami…"

"There's nothing for me to see. I…I wasn't permitted to…"

"You don't have to…if you –"

"It's fine." Iori continued staring at the fire, starting to fidget with the bandages on his fingers. "I still hear him."

"Orochi?"

"Yeah." A moment of silence. "It was bad...during…"

"He was still talking to you while –"

"Said we were going to lose. That I was pathetic. Letting the soldiers…letting them…"

"Yagami…"

"He's going to come back, Kyo. We're…what are we going to do?"

"I don't know."

"Neither do I." Iori winced; Kyo glanced at his hands, saw one of the bandages undone. "We might lose. That…when Kagura told us…at the beginning, I…"

"I didn't believe her at first."

"Who would? It seemed too –"

"Out there?" Kyo still remembered his disbelief prior to last year. Had scoffed, said Orochi had no foresight, much less the brains to pull off such a grand scheme. He'd been wrong – so wrong – because everything Kagura-san said happened and people died, including his girlfriend and so many of his friends. He'd voluntarily separated from his family to keep them safe – he was a target (no doubts about that) – and watched his home city devastated and ravaged. Had gone on the offensive and then fallen back into defensive because O.R.O.C.H.I. escalated in return. Now, Kagura-san was gone and he'd nearly lost Yagami. Orochi was certain to come back and… "It still doesn't –"

"No. It doesn't."

He put more fuel on the fire and watched as the hungry flames consumed the branches whole. Took a quick look outside at the darkness, at the sky with its faint stars. "You want to sleep, Yagami? Almost time for second watch."

"I…"

"My fault. I brought it up. Your choice."

"Not yet."

"Okay."

They sat and kept watch together – kept silence together – until Iori yawned, eyes closing. Instead of leaving his place by the fire, he simply laid down, which was smart. It was also comfortable. Kyo liked the warmth coming from the flames and had suggested it before evening fell, since the risks were lower in Naniwa. From Iori's actions, it appeared the other man agreed as well. "I'll be here, Yagami. In case."

"We'll cross the border, Kyo."

"Get some sleep, Yagami."

That was all he said before the other was out cold.

Second watch was his. Kyo faced the darkness, the myriad pinpoints of stars. Reached for the mirror around his neck. Stopped. Let his hand fall back into his lap.

Inadequate.

He hadn't told Yagami the whole of it.

Didn't know if he should. Why burden him any further?

It was his problem, wasn't it?

Inadequate.

He didn't know what to do.