To put things lightly Asahi felt like shit.
For one his head hasn't stopped hurting since he left the metaverse , exhaustion is smothering his mind like a heavy blanket making every step feel like 100 and to top it all off
Arthur apparently likes to observe
Ah , what is that establishment? It looks appealing.
"that is the jazz club…" talking through thoughts is weird but won't be as annoying as speaking while is head hurts so much. Sighing Asahi takes a left out of the promenade to the residential area , Asahi tries hard not to think about …everything which is both easy and hard . Hard because well…today was a lot and easy because he is hardly conscious.
He is aware that he will probably have to think about it most likely tomorrow but he would rather focus on getting home
turning around the bend Asahi pauses for a moment when a thought worms his way into his head "what about yuuki?" Kamoshia will want to use someone as his new punching bag if he quits ….but he also knows he can't Asahi felt his mind start to stir and burn making Thinking through the haze And trying to come up with a solution even harder.
"Do not fall for him , while you should care for him you shouldn't put yourself in that position bunny. You should focus on trying to escape your expulsion" Arthur's voice was calmed him down from an almost panic …he could get used to that "you cannot just look away from this , hasn't he saved you before? Hasn't he done more then enough to be worth more ? αχάριστος , you should be doing more."Oh yeah she is still here huh …though she also posses a good point he shouldn't just leave yuuki to….wait….
Pausing again Asahi raises his hand and facepalms …he is an idiot ….. communication is important. Just tell him what's been happening…why hasn't he thought of ….wait he knows why
self hatred , need for punishment, etc
He is almost home at this point and he thinks it's about 16:45 pm not the earliest but not something anyone would be worried about turning around one final bend ,he reaches his house it's fairly modern 2 story home with plain white walls and a green roof quite nice looking he guesses.
Yawning , Asahi pulls out his house keys and fumbles with the lock tiredly before the door unlocks. Pulling his keys out of the key hole he pushes the door open …. Only to be greeted by an empty home. Oh yeah yuuki's 'parents' wanted him today . Asahi sighs (wow he is doing that a lot today ) as hi closes and locks back the door and heads over to the fridge and opens it , then deciding on eating a cup ramen.
Taking the plastic cup from the fridge and setting it on the counter then filling the kettle with hot water before setting it to boil , Asahi grabs a glass to get some water from the tap.
Guzzling down his water (look he is thirst , ok) Asahi then pours the now boiled water from the kettle into the cup of instant noodles then adds the seasoning , while he isn't that hungry he knows that he won't hear the end of it if he doesn't eat today (mostly because yuuki just left) so despite just wanting to pass out in bed and sleep he takes the time and energy needed to take the food to the table , get a fork and sits down to eat his food
it's unremarkable really just a seafood flavour instant noodles cup the taste isn't hard or soft it's not blue or red , just bland. After finishing and throwing the cup into the garbage can and leaving the fork on the table (it doesn't really matter , he is the only one at home until tomorrow in the afternoon)and drags his limbs up the stairs to his room slowly taking off his shujin uniform while he does so , mostly to save time and energy starting with the blazer and ending with him being shirtless in the doorway to his room.
Entertaining his room and closing the door Asahi takes a quick glance in the mirror and ….yep still looking malnourished maybe he should put more effort into remembering to eat ehh food for thought. Taking off his trousers then hanging up his blazer , shirt and trousers on his door nob Asahi then decided to collapse onto his bed , almost falling asleep then and their but managing to crawl under the covers of his bed before sleep claimed him…finally
when Asahi opened his eyes the main thing he noticed was that it was hot wherever he was , like as hot as it could get during the summer, the second thing he noticed was that he wasn't laying down anymore and the final thing he noticed was that he was wearing his metaverse outfit with his Venetian mask snug on his face.
looking around Asahi saw that the building he was in lacked windows so he couldn't gage what was outside of this place so he shifted his focus to what the building looked like . The floors where made with what looked like hard concrete while the walls and ceiling was made with thick sheets of metal , the room itself had a myriad of different types of equipment that Asahi didn't know how to identify but the most striking feature he could see where carved into the concrete
There was flowing rivers of molten metal to either side of him , flowing on level in the floor splitting into small lines connecting the equipment with the main body of metal. Asahi's eyes followed the metal to where it was flowing, it started from Asahi's left and right , turned a corner and went through a tunnel at the end of the room to the next
Moving forward Asahi walked to the end of the roof , taking great care not to Touch the molten metal (something in his soul told him not to he didn't know why ) he then opens the door and looks at the next room.
the molten metal had continued before it turned from going straight to taking a direction facing the closest wall pooling at the point where ot touched the wall. Asahi then looked infront of him and saw what looked to be an anvil covered in a think , near solid , blob of molten mental. Broken chains laying around the scene.
"This is where you should have been"oizys emerged from a deluge of red flames infront of Asahi , her shadowed features revealing no emotion and chestnut hair swaying in the wind her summon created . She looked the same as when she appeared to him in Kamoshidas palace with one difference , the chains she was holding in her hands weren't connected to the floor anymore
they where diging into his shoulders
Asahi's chest felt heavier as the realisation hit him , the chains didn't hurt at first but now they burned him , searing his flesh like an open flame , but also not , Asahi knew it wasn't. Feeling his throat tighten Asahi turned his head to look at where oizys'es face would be "w-where a-are we?" His words wobbled as everything in his body told him to run , to run and run and not look back or she'll get you , she's angry , run,run,run, RUN. Oizys cocked her head to the side as her voice changed to feigned innocence Oh, you don't know? We are in your heart or what it was.
Asahi's mounting panic changed to confusion in an instant , what the fuck does that even mean? Oizys became impatient the red flames around her feet grew brighter as she raised her left hand to the molten metal pool their can you ηλίθιος really fail to understand that? You experienced a heart of another yet you couldn't recognise one of your own ? κουτσός ανόητος , αυτή είχε δίκιο you are a disappointment.
Asahi's breath hitched as heat coiled in uncomfortably in his core he bit his lip gently to try and steady himself , ground himself and calm himself down until oizys moved her left hand from where it was pointing to the pool of molten metal and guided it to where Asahi was standing
and it moved with it
It wasn't fast at first so Asahi almost didn't notice, until the slow slithering started to quicken until it coiled around Asahi like a python chocking it's pray . Asahi's heart was beating in his ears and breath catch in his chest , not daring to move lest he accidentally make contact with it . But he didn't have to wait cut long
instead , like a cat , it Leapt upon him
it burned , of course, it was molten metal but Asahi wished it was only that , would have given so much for it to only be that, but it wasn't , that would have been to easy for him
the metal remembered
Her voice assaulted him mind , he could feel her behind him , Infront , he was 13 again still so weak like he is now still so smallLike he is now and he could feel her blows , he scratched cutting into his skin , pulling his hair , taking great care in preserving the visible areas of his body in most of his cloths bruising , thighs , shoulders , stomach and back, the way she would bend down and get in his face , the way she would grab his arm and squeeze so he couldn't get away and how she would block the door and threaten to beat him on a whim
but nothing hurt more then her words
Her wishes "if only you where normal, then it would have been fine , then I wouldn't have to make you choose better" , her shouts "your a mistake , useless , worthless I should have gotten rid of you!" The deafening silence was harder sometimes ;no phone , no leaving the house , no yelling or talking from her and dad being away on business. Just aloe with his darkening thoughts . She sharpened the knife that her abuse was by giving him love in-between abuses , letting him leave home after school and on weekends , cooking food for him that tasted good for once abd taking him out for dinner and giving him hugs and words or affirmation. Just to give him hope, that maybe one time it would stick , that things could stay like this …only to violently rip even that away from him.
the heat is unbearable but it's not from the metal in fact asahi feels cold in contrast to it , he inhales deeply but when he tries to exhale as he can only inhale again, and again and again . Nausea is curling deep in the core of his stomach
Asahi sees how she laughed and joked when dad was there , the way she looked to him pointedly when his dad told her he loved her, the times she told him that he would choose her over him , that he would hurt his farther by telling him
So he said nothing, for his dad, for his brother and hoped that she would
Asahi felt tears form in his eyes , clouding his masks lenses, he was barely squeezing air out of his lungs, he felt dizzy and his ears where ringing and the nausea grew in his stomach.
she hit him again, and again , and agai-
he woke up with a scream
Asahi clasped a hand over his mouth to stop from making more noise , he was drenched in sweat and shaking, nausea still rising from his stomach and phantom burning capturing his body. Asahi's stomach lurched prompting him to get up in a shaky run, nearly vomiting on the floor a few times before he made it to the toilet and retched. Tears streaked down his cheeks as the spasms rocked his frame and burning bile rose up his throat and left his mouth.
the stream of bile soon stopped leaving Asahi with a series of dry heaves, the pain brought out a occasional sob in between retches as more convulsions rocked him to his core yet bringing up nothing and leaving him with no air to breathe , with memories of the metal still brought to the forefront of his mind
eventually the retches stoped , Asahi fell to the bathroom floor, tears soaked his cheeks as his breathing hitched and he curled in on himself , mind racing and ears still ringing , he couldn't stop thinking about it , his mind was locked in the memories he tried desperately to repress, to forget . He felt like he was drowning , his head hurting and lungs burning from his earlier retching.
Slowly his sobs slowed until he was breathing Normally , walking to his room Asahi grabbed his keys from his desk and startet to shift them in his hand, letting the sound and texture distract him from everything but his breathing. Jingle, inhale , exhale. Then he reached back into his mind and felt for oizys at the forefront of his soul and exchanged her for Arthur, letting the cold burning of her presence subside as he breathed and the keys Jingled, then he brought a sharp key to his arm and was prepared to press it to the skin
"Don't." Arthur's stern voice sounded in my head as the key pressed on his forearm, attempting to ignore him ,Asahi attempted to dig the key further into his flesh but felt his hand resist, refusing to complete the action accompanied by Arthur's laugh do you really think I would let you do that? No, I'm hanged if I let you go now. I am thou and thou art I. Asahi felt his eyes roll at that "so you can Control my arm?"Exasperation laced the thought , he didn't like the thought of being controlled that much. Arthur laughed again "You pledged to put yourself in my hands , did you not? That vow extends to both sides of the veil."
Asahi groaned , key having been dropped and forgotten , then a thought crossed his mind can oizys do that to Arthur was quite for a bit, which was worrying but thankfully respond after another minute "No , her bond with you was made under a different price , you have recently paid it in truth. She asked that you would 'feel her' to use her , you used her so then had to must 'feel her' in your sleep." that's good , he doesn't want her to have that control over him, he somewhat trust Arthur not to get him killed
stretching, Asahi found his glasses from where they had fallen off his face during his sleep (he slept in his glasses again…dammit)and put them on, grabbed his phone and checked the time
11:27
earlier then he thought….he could probably sleep more then , putting his pine down abs taking his glasses off and lies back down and grabs a spare pillow and hugs it , then put the keys that fell on the bed on his bedside table with his phone and glasses , the closed his eyes and let himself drift off
when the fog of sleep cleared Asahi knew he was still dreaming that fact alone was enough to put him on edge , the little hairs on his body standing on edge. Yet when he opened his eyes he wasn't greeted by the forged metal structures or a river of molten hell. No he was greeted by a unnaturally navy grass, patches of blue bells, blue carnations, violets , irises , blue roses and a myriad of other flowers with the same colour mixed in a semi circle around a large circler table with similar flower as a pattern decorating its porcelain body and a umbrella bursting out from the center.
looking up at the sky , if seemed ri be locked in a dusk setting , the sun having recently disappeared and the moon and stars looming above him , yet the sky remains bright and dark blue clearly visible. He was still bear foot and could feel the incredibly soft grass between his toes , lowering guns guard immediately. He felt , not his metaverse outfit clocking him but his normal lounging clothes comprised of black sweat pants , white t-shirt and his blue hoodie wrapped around his wrist , like a hug around Asahi's frame.
the smell of numerous sweet smelling flowers hit his nose causing every inhale to give him a rush of positive emotions and his ears where graced with seemingly disembodied(yet masterful) piece of violin music that almost lulled him to sleep within this dream. Wow, this place is nice. Asahi moved to sit at the table in the middle , laying down on the cushioned back of the chair Asahi waited for something to happen
the Arthur appeared , sitting on the chair in-front of him wings spread out fully and blue eyes starring into him calmly "Ah hello my dear boy, what a delightful domain of the heart this is Asahi smiled at Arthur who smiled back then snapped his fingers and two tea cups and a tea pot along with a sugar bowl appeared "Discussions over tea is a nice pass time isn't it ? Asahi can't disagree about that as Arthur pours a sweet smelling tea into his cup before pouring some in his own.
Asahi added a ….somewhat large amount of sugar cubes to his tea before mixing it in and taking a drink , hmm cinnamon and cherry , Asahi loves the combination of flavours in his mouth , leaving a equally pleasant aftertaste. putting the cup down for a moment Asahi looked Arthur in the eye "so where is this?" Oizys had said that the forge was his heart so the garden was most likely something of similar form. Arthur put down his cup and hummed "Hmm this studio is quite interesting isn't it ? A place that seemingly manifested itself spontaneously, once that could serve as our private pavilion? Yet I know naught of its origin, I merely felt myself being called to this location so I took up residence .huh very informative Arthur….
Nodding Asahi took another drink of his tea as Arthur set his cup down again looking at Asahi intently "how I interested are you in thievery? Asahi tilted his head in confusion "what brought the question on?" He asked , putting his tea cup down also, to devote all his attention towards arthur "You have learned that the phantom thieves planned to steal kamashida's heart already this means that you have little stake in the game, do you not? The chance to back out is now. Your Desire to join is quite half hearted on agreement."
asahi hummed to himself , does he trust the phantom thieves to succeed? Well yes , they seem capable and have more experience then him. Does he want to continue going into the metaverse……it was terrerfying and intimidating but when he thought about quitting his mind flashed to wgeb vow he made his vow
"You are on the verge of intruding upon a rigged game in which the side you can join are slated to lose , you are not obliged to join but will you? Know death is a possibility?"
he had already made his choice as soon as he signed the contract , the liberation he felt at that moment, if he has to hurt to feel it , then that's fine. "I am sure I have chosen the right path , I put myself in your hands" Arthur once again laughed, a sound Asahi could get used to " ah such a fine resolve, I was just checking you had the pluck to see your conviction through. Now let us indulge in tea until the the clock chimes the time to awaken" Asahi could agree on that , picking back up his sweet tea and partaking in it while chatting with Arthur about nothing.
it was….nice…..calm….warm…blue. Asahi had almost forgotten what that felt like..at least to this extent. His mind would always wander to something unpleasant to soon for him to be able to savour small things like this.
now his mind (while definitely still having issues, the previous time dreaming proved that) is clearer , less chaotic , less distorted. He can think of other things without his brain tries to pull him towards the things he would rather ignore.
he could get used to that.
time seemed to pass slowly in the room, the moon never moving but Asahi felt it was getting closer to when he needed to wake ,Arthur had run out of tea awhile ago and had begun to hum to himself , it was an old sounding tune from what Asahi could hear. After another unknown stretch of time Asahi felt the garden shake and a soft alarm ringing.
Then his eyes met the ceiling.
He still felt the taste of sweet fruit tea in his mouth and a pleasant warmth in his gut.
As well as a very large need to piss
after using the toilet, showering, brushing his teeth , getting dressed abd eating breakfast Asahi left the house to walk to the train station , glassses succoured on his face and Phone in his pocket and back pack secured he felt ready to take in the day! Humming to himself all the way their.
During lunch Asahi the thieves group chat lit up , prompting him to check on it
12:39 , 4/19, 2016
Ryuji Sakamoto: Are we meeting up to handle the place today?
Akira Kurusu: Is everyone free?
Akira Kurusu:Because if everyone is I don't see why not.
Ann Takamaki: I've made sure to clear my schedule! I don't want to have any regrets.
akira Kurusu:@Asahi chiakuru , you free
Asahi nearly needed to think about it
12:46 , 4/19 , 2016
Asahi chiakuru: I am free. I don't have anything unavoidable until after the faculty meeting.
Akira Kurusu: good, so is everyone ok go in after school?
Ryuji sakamoto: yep! I am ready to take down that bastard!
Ann Takamaki: I am down with going in anytime. He will make him pay for what he did to shido….
Asahi chiakuru:yep
Ryuji sakamoto:That's it man? Get more hyped! We're gonna make that shitty perv stop being an asshole! Show some passion dude.
Asahi chiakaru:ok
Asahi chiakuru: Let's shatter his world and leave him to deal with what he has done!
Asahi chiakuru: Better? =)
Ryuji sakamoto:now it just feels forced….
The group chat went silent at that , yet warmth curled in Asahi's gut, having people other then yuuki and ichiro was great
Soon the lunch bell rang and it was back to class
After the final bell rung Asahi fathers his things walked to the stairs to the roof and looked around for the others before spotting them approaching from the opposite stair well . sakamoto was seeming the first to notice him pausing in his conversation with takamaki to wave at him "Hey Asahi, you ready?" Asahi shrugged his shoulders he doubted he could be anymore ready even if he tried his best to prepare "eh not much I could do to be ready , sakamoto-senpai."
Sakamoto shuddered at the honorific "dude , we are going into a life or death scenario , you think you could drop the senpai shit?" Asahi hummed in thought while they walked up the stairs before looking up at Ryuji and smiling "nope". He popped the p for effect and revealing in the face the other boy has pulled.
the four of them made it up to the roof. Asahi having made it up first, surprisingly, held the door for everyone. It was common decency after all. While passing Takamaki smiled at him "thanks Asahi" Asahi gave a half smile "no problem Ann". Ryuji let out a undignified squawk "wait so she gets first name basis and I don't!" Asahi face broken into a grin then shrugged , messing with him is quite fun if he was being honest.
They made it to a table that was on the roof , and everyone took a seat , Kurusu held out his bag for Morgana to jump out before sitting down himself. "Ok, today we are going to secure our infiltration route , there isn't much castle left so this will be easy."
hearing a cat talk was so strange…
Kurusu looked to all of us "are you guys ready?" Ann,ryuji and Asahi nodded back "well then it's showtime"
Pulling out his phone kurusu hit the meta nav
As reality warped around him Asahi he heard the navigators voice in the back of his head.
"Entering metaverse, trespassing noticed, revoking protections
Asahi first felt him mask and thief attire settle on him, Then his eyes settled on the castle itself , the purple sky and mote and drawbridge.
Then he felt way too much
Asahi knew he could associate more senses with others then others , no one else described something as feeling blue or tasting soft but this never really mattered in his day to day life , it just made things slightly more interesting.
Now though his brain felt frozen with how much information was being thrown at it , he could see the distortion as well as heat and feel it , each sensation linking to another as he tried to Process them all. His vision was swamped in ripples of colour as an agitated orange pulsed in the corners of his vision. he felt the slimy, wet and hot presence of kamoshida's desires pressing down on around him the sensation was red, intense , unwanted, unneeded and unpleasant and made him want to claw off his flesh. Finally the air strummed a melody in his ear guitars and other instruments composed a ambiance that made his ears scream…it was too …. Him the sound was hard, crushing , oppressive yet smooth and slimy similarly to the feeling around him.
Asahi had to take a steadying breath and close his eyes for several seconds to actually think and hear the others..fuck this sucks.
after being sure he could handle it Asahi opened his eyes (the distortion still made hike feel sick but he could live with that at least) abd turned around to the other thieves , who has begun talking about plans already and cleared his throat to let them know he was here then smirked at their somewhat surprised expression before letting it back into a neutral expression.
Asahi tilted his head "Are we …not going in yet? Or are we discussing strategy? "
Akira blushed "I forgot about you for a second." Asahi's face solidified into a deadpan expression as he raised an eyebrow, really they forgot about him…rude. Ryuji raised his arms in a placating gesture "we are just…not used to having more then the four of us here." Asahi dropped his expression to neutrality. "So what is the plan Akira?" Akira shrugged then thought for a moment "we only have a last name part of the tower leading up to the throne room to get through before the treasure so there isn't a lot of planning to do." Akira shrugged again and Asahi hummed in agreement, yeah that makes sense , it doesn't really sound like they need to plan that much if they have that little amount of castle left.
Morgana clears his throat to get everyone's attention "wait, we haven't given the new recruit a code name yet!" Asahi tilled his head to the side , feeling curiosity well up in his gut, what are they talking about, where they talking about the names they called each other…joker,skull,panther and mona? "We don't know what effect saying are names in the palace will have on the ruler's cognition so we use code names to hide under a vail of secrecy" Morgana looked proud of himself for the Explanation. Asahi hummed again "so how do you decide on one?" Asahi was genuinely interested on the thought process behind these code names if he was being honest.
Ryuji placed a hand on the back of his neck "yeah..we mostly just base it off our outfits or some shit. No other thought behind it …except joker! He has that name because he is out ace or something…" hmm on inspection of their outfits it made sense skulls mask, panthers whole costume and mona just being shortened Morgana
"hmm your outfit looks so formal …how about gentleman!" Panthers suggestion was met with a deadpan stare and raised eyebrow which made her chuckle nervously "ok never mind" the next suggestion came from ryuji " oh! Your mask is like foreign right? From that . What's it called, Vanice place! So why don't we go with vanice" the deadpan expression deepened along with a facepalm "it's 'Venice' and how would that be a good code name?" Skull held his hands in defeat. Mona raised a paw "you have two personas so You might have the same power as joker so let's call you ace!" Asahi mulled it over before shaking his head "their can't be a joker and an ace if they both mean trump card and joker was here first."
Speaking of joker he still hasn't given a suggestion, Asahi looked towards him curiously, he wondered what he would have to say about it , looked patiently at joker until the older boy shrugged once again " you decide, I doubt anyone could come up with a code name for themselves better then they themselves could come up with." That…actually makes sense , giving Asahi creative freedom to chose what he wants to choose for his Codename is enticing and leaves him pondering. What would he choose? Not anything basef on his costume , though the only thing he could find that hasn't been pointed out is that it's mostly blue and that his mask has lenses ingrained into it
abd in the top of his head Asahi can't think of anything symbolic in terms of his code name , no events , motivation or anything to fule that avenue of thought, he should probably choose one though even if he isn't 100% happy with it
then oizys resurfaced to the front of his mind ,her raspy spiteful voice making him flinch slightly Refer to yourself as an apostle" Asahi inwardly hummed, cool but not really meaning anything he tilts his head to the side "what that name? Any particular reason?" To which oizys hummed once more "take the name and ask no further inquires , ανόητε just know you have my Godly presence as a power and will likely receive more
Asahi inwardly sighed, it's not like he has any better ideas of a code name and despite oizys being vague in the reasoning for it , it sounded good to him
"How about apostle? I have a Greek goddess for a persona and all , plus it sounds kinda cool like you guys"..Asahi trailed off, anxiously fidgeting with his fingers he should have taken ace, his idea was probably terrible.
He waited for criticism but none came instead…… Ann smiled "that…actually works quite well. It's a good concept for a code name and definitely works out." …Asahi didn't know what to say , he could feel his lips curl up into a smile , ryuji then chimed in " yeah man! That name sounds sick! It's like your this , magic religious dude or…. something!" The smile solidified itself after ryujis statement and Asahi felt the doubt leave him.
"alright so in the metaverse Asahi will be known as Apostle, understood?" In response to joker the entire team nodded. " ok and us everyone ready to head in?" Another nod and a few cheers. Joker smiled , or it's probably more correct to say he smirked "alright then. It's showtime!"
And akira pressed an additional button on the nave and warped them to a safe room