I warn you now: these won't be like traditional outtakes you're probably used to seeing at all. They will either be very long, or very short - it will all look very cluttered, but I do my best to make it all look as neat as possible with some extra spacing. They also will have lots of side notes here and there, before or after some of the outtakes, because I feel that if I don't supply you with certain pieces of information with each piece, you will be left a little confused and also because I can't seem to shut up, it seems It might get a little confusing because I jump around with some of the outtakes, but they're all in chronological order, I promise!
Outtakes: Ab Intra — From Within
In which you get a glimpse at excerpts that never made it into the actual story.
All right, let's start off with some random side notes about things that never made it into the story:
- I was going to make sator squares — and by extension, palindromes and anagrams — a core part of the story, but then I realized how ridiculously hard it was, so then I just said, "Fuck it," and kept just the aspect of an anagram instead but even that was painstakingly difficult and long and tedious
- Sharp eyes will notice that Gab is not present for half of the story — where did he go? I was going to make it a big thing where Carlos is trying to find a neighbor who can watch Gab as he leaves for Flagstaff with the others. The neighbor was going to be a very nosy one, who would question Carlos on where and when he got the dog, ask too many questions on Maria's recovery, wonder if she's going mad since she thinks she has seen him in two places at one (yup, you guessed it — Carlos 2.0 makes a special guest appearance) and contemplate if Carlos was in a poly relationship with the two people he brought home — Junpei and Akane — with him for the three days. Clearly, as you can tell now, I scrapped this idea.
- I originally wanted to name Diana and Sigma's baby girl, Artemis, but I also wanted it to be Luna, in spite of it basically naming her Luna 2.0 in my head, but Luna Artemis or Artemis Luna would have sounded too moon-y, or something.
- I wanted to write a scene with Sigma's reaction to Phi's new cat, but I suck at cat puns too much! I also wanted to include his revenge of sorts, where he would adopt a bunny and name him Lagomorph, to take revenge on her (since, if you recall, the litter pun tic seems to run in the family, and Phi makes some very bunny puns in VLR, which all lead me to believe that Delta likes to slink of and cone up with snail puns in his free time).
- In the earlier chapters, I wanted to make it a topic of debate between the characters if Alexandria's Genesis was inspired by something real that Delta has (for his pale skin, purple eyes, and his long lifespan), or if he's just albino, or something. Clearly, this did not make the cut, either.
And, now, onto the actual parts I had to cut out of the story and paste to the very end of my MS Word document!
Let's start with the parts I wanted to include in flashbacks.
"It's a beautiful necklace."
Diana's finger traces down the thin, delicate cage that holds the small blue bird, feeling a strange, undeniable pull towards the necklace that her eyes immediately found after walking into the antique store.
The woman behind the counter crosses her arms over her chest and grins. "That lovely birdcage is a piece from the 1920's, I believe — it originally had no chain, but one was added on later in the 1950's. It's a bit pricy, but it's because if you twist the top of the cage, you'll find that the cage functions as a music box, too."
She tilts her head, and she can just feel her eyes lighting up in delight. "A music box?" she exclaims. "Wow, that's so . . ."
"Charming?" the woman supplies.
Diana looks up and nods at her. "I was going to say adorable, but I think charming describes it better," she agrees. She looks at the necklace and then turns back to the cashier. "May I . . . may I try it on?" she asks hesitantly, as her fingers play with the top of the cage nervously — just a twitch of her finger and the music would play . . .
"Yes, but, please, be very careful — it is very delicate."
Diana nods. "Of course." She smiles and unclasps the necklace open, a strange feeling of a familiarity settling over her as she feels the cage nestle below her collarbone and involuntarily moves her hand up to twist the top of the cage and wind the music box inside of the pendant.
I had placed half of a hint regarding the caged bird necklace in Chapter… 10, I believe? It was the chapter with the flashback of 1904 Delta and Phi. If you recall, it is mentioned in the passing that Delta has to take it to a specific pawn shop near the research center where Left's father worked. Anyway, this is the other half of said hint.
Is this a strange time to admit that I have a near similar necklace to Diana's, except the bird is white and, unfortunately, it does not function as a music box? Because I will admit that I went out and sought one after playing VLR.
"Junpei!" the man Junpei knows as Seven comes bursting into the office, startling him out of his case reading. "I've just received news that Akane Kurashiki will be participating in the Mars Mission Stimulation in Nevada, in the U.S.!"
Aoi knows the pain of losing a sibling, so when he sees the man suffering from Clover's sudden disappearance before such an important mission, he promises to intervene and give Snake — Light — a hint that his sister is still alive and well.
Doctor Klim's first order of business after his consciousness is sent to his 22 year old self's body? Get a haircut and change out of these damn clothes.
Phi, too, seems to have a similar idea, as, a few hours after waking up to this timeline, she appears to him and Akane in a new outfit.
Reasons why there was not a lot of focus on C-Team in the main story, unless you count Carlos with the whole Clover/Aoi/Light triangle: (1) we already know where they stand in the Post-Payoff Files — they're probably the team with the most complete ending — and (2) anything I typed with Junpei/Akane ended up in an argument or fallout (because we all know of Akane's cunningness beneath her sweet, proper façade), so, the best I could seem to do was pre-Decision Game stuff.
She walks into the building, Sigma and Phi following closely behind her. When an attendant happily offers to lead them to the meeting hall, she only responds with a curt nod, while Sigma and Phi thank him.
As they walk into the large hall, however, her heart starts sinking to the bottom of her chest. She doesn't understand why, but, at first, she thinks it has something to do with someone releasing Radical-6, or Free the Soul. Not a moment later, though, she feels some sort of pull to the morphogenetic field, so strong that she hasn't felt it since her time with Junpei in Building Q.
With every step — which become smaller and smaller — she takes, his familiar profile comes more into view. His back is to her, but she falters in her steps and stops, her arms coming to hug herself — she doesn't need to see his face to recognize him.
No, no, no, no . . .
"Junpei," Akane whispers.
As if he can hear her from across the room, he looks up, his dark, resentful eyes piercing hers. The hatred and pain in his brown irises makes her shudder with guilt, and suddenly, her throat tightens, and she has to fight back the urge to cry.
.
She has folded herself up into a ball in the corner of the room, her body shaking as she sobs. "No . . ." She holds her head in her hands as she cries. "He . . . he can't be here!"
Junpei shouldn't be spying on her like this, and he should just make his presence known, but if he does, he knows that he'll immediately rush over to comfort her — and, at the moment, he's not sure if he should do that.
Not a few moments later, Sigma enters the gym area and, somehow unsurprised by her behavior, comes quietly to her side.
Ah, fuck, it's that Sigma Klim. Why does he have to come in now? God, Junpei hates that insufferable prick so much. He isn't exactly sure what he hates about him; maybe, it's because he and that other girl, Phi, - though, he does not care when she does it — call him by his last name, which he absolutely loathes, or it might have to do with the fact that he can be around Akane with such ease. Junpei is jealous that Sigma gets to be so close to her and he doesn't; he is jealous that Sigma probably knows Akane better than him; he is jealous that Sigma can move to comfort her while he just stands there and forces himself to watch her cry.
He might just be a tad bit jealous of Sigma, in general.
"Hey," Sigma says quietly, as he crouches down to her and grasps her hand with his fingers, squeezing gently. "Don't be so upset. I know this is hard for you to see him here like this — and you have every right to be upset, Akane — but you can't let it affect you as strongly as it is now."
She looks up at his with red, teary eyes. "D-Did you know he would be here, Sigma?" she chokes out.
He shakes his head. "I knew that he was involved with the project, but I didn't know he was a participant of the experiment."
She opens her mouth to speak, as if she is about to argue with him, but prompts closes it and moves to quickly swipe away from stray cheeks. "Nona would have told me if she saw his name on the list, which means they had to have added him after she added us to the roster," she notes, her voice croaky and hoarse.
Sigma nods, and places his free hand on her shoulder and rubs soothingly. "Yes, that might have been the case, but he won't get infected, Akane, I swear to you. He is alive and healthy in the future with Radical-6."
Infected? Future? Radical six? What the hell is going on here? Junpei wonders.
She sniffs and shakes her head. "No, that's not my concern. I know that he will survive the outbreak . . . but, Dr. Klim, I have a confession to make." She looks away and bites her lip nervously for a moment before continuing. "Nona, Crash Keys' hacker, was able to break into their database so quickly — too easily." Her teary eyes shift to Sigma's. "I think this is some kind of trap," she admits. "And, now, he's caught in it, too."
Wait, what? Nona, Lotus's daughter? A trap?! Junpei panics internally. What the fuck is she going about?!
If this all really is a trap, Akane has, unintentionally, led him into it. Junpei's worry begins to dispel as he loses himself in thought.
It would be so easy to make her feel shitty about it all, actually — she being the reason why he's here. If it were anyone else, he'd do it in a heartbeat — but this is Akane, the woman he loved — loves — and has gone mad in trying to track down, so he can't bring himself to do it. He is bound to her, not only by the morphogenetic field, but also by his insuppressible love for her; if he wants to think about it in a selfish way, though, if he hurts her, he will also be hurting himself.
But now is not the time for him to be losing strength. After all, Junpei has just picked himself off the ground from his lowest point and has started to feel hopeful for the first time in the past year. Receiving the news of Akane's participation in this experiment from Seven was the push Junpei needed to get himself back on track— granted, he is still at a low point, but he hopes to bring himself back up again, and gather the wits to speak to Akane.
He has made it to this point, but even though he is so close, he is still so far . . .
Suppressing a frustrated groan, Junpei shoves a hand through his hair and angrily stalks his way out of the gym.
Sigma's head looks up when he hears the sound of the door closing. Was somebody else just in here? He turns to Akane for confirmation, but if she heard the door shut, she doesn't show any indication of it; she's still crumbled up in her ball of despair, crying, sniffling and trying to wipe her tears away. He is distracted by her tears and, instead of asking her about the door, he tries to console her once more.
He has never seen Akane Kurashiki like this — not in his timeline, and not in this. She has always put up a strong front, with no chink in her armor — not when her brother killed himself, succumbing to Radical-6, and not when she spoke of Junpei on Rhizome-9.
It makes Sigma wonder what is going to happen in the next few days that will cause her to put up such guarding walls.
In 999, I LOVED Junpei/Akane so much, even if I realized by the end that Akane was so manipulative and cunning and there was no telling how close June (the persona she put up for the game) was to the actual Akane. I just loved it so much. I still do, but, as much as I love Akane, I hate her just a tad more, and that's what has caused my ship to sink a little, so to speak. I could go into all of the reasons why I love-hate Akane, but that would take a long while. You could probably guess a few off the top of your head.
.
After Akane calms down and leaves the gym area to freshen up, Sigma steps onto the treadmill — the whole reason why he entered the gym in the first place. He needs to exhaust himself out of his feelings, needs to distract himself from Diana's presence. And so, he runs and runs, his legs pushing him as hard as they can.
He doesn't know how long he is on the treadmill for, but at one point, suddenly, a hand, with a water bottle in its grasp, stretches out in front of him.
His pace slackens, his run slowing to a walk. He recognizes the nimble fingers and pale skin immediately, but looks up to see Diana's smiling face.
"You're really going all out."
He quickly looks away as he regains his fast pace. "Sorry, but I'll pass," he responds flatly. He tries to keep his face blank as he looks straight ahead, but inside, he feels his heart breaking.
When she comes to, Junpei and Carlos lie on the floor next to her. She would have thought that they are knocked out, and that this is the next interval they must now awaken for, but their faces are tinted a pale blue, and their bodies are completely still.
Suddenly frightened, Akane, who is kneeling on the floor, hovering over Junpei's body, grabs his wrist and checks for his pulse.
Nothing.
Still determined, she places a finger underneath his nostrils to check for his breathing, but she feels no breath tickling her skin. She quickly retracts her shaking hand and whips her head to look at Carlos, but in the process, she catches sight of the open lockers behind him.
And that is when she remembers.
Her hands fly to her face with a gasp, and sure enough, she feels the cool plastic of the respiration device on her face.
There was only one gas mask, which Carlos and Junpei gave to her.
"Carlos . . . Jumpy," she weeps, still kneeling by their corpses, with her hands folded near her chest. She stays by their bodies for a few moments, before saying a silent prayer for their souls and pushes herself off the floor.
With a deadened despair settling in the pit of her stomach, Akane mindlessly walks out of the Control Room.
"Now announcing the current casualties . . ." The automated words pierce through her ears a few minutes later, and it makes her cringe. She's on the verge of tears, but manages to take note of the passwords. She does let out a whimper, however, when she hears the announcement of Junpei's death.
She slowly walks to the X-Door, and enters the passwords, but when she enters in the last one she memorized, her finger hovers over the button to confirm the word she has just typed.
She has typed in all of the X-passes announced, but that means there were only six were announced. Eric, Mira, and Q have all died, which means that Q-Team was executed in the vote at 13:30, Carlos and Junpei . . . their passwords were given out, and it was Phi whose password was most likely 'Jupiter,' from what Akane had gathered. Two names were not called out besides Akane's.
Does that mean that Sigma and Diana . . . ?
She glances at her bracelet. She only has a few minutes left before she is knocked out cold again.
Should she press the button and leave? Should she try to find Gab and send them a message?
Akane looks once more at the screen, particularly focusing on what she knew, without a doubt, was Junpei's X-Pass — 'Jump.' She thinks of his sacrifice, of how he asked Carlos to let her take the mask. Oh, Jumpy. She wants to cry and scream, but she won't let Zero, who must be watching her somewhere, see her so vulnerable and weak.
With a newfound determination, she presses the button. There is a simultaneous odd sense of relief, but also emptiness that runs through her as she steps into the doorway.
She can't go of this opportunity Junpei sacrificed his life for — Aoi and the world need her right now to save them from getting infected with and dying from Radical-6.
She steps into the small lift that is beyond the doors, and the dark red light that gleams above her feels almost natural. It's only been a few seconds, but the doors are already starting to close. The 30 seconds are crashing down sooner than she thought.
She turns around and takes the last few moments of her line of sight for the doorway, to give the lounge a last, long look.
She'll just have to come back for Sigma and Diana later.
This marks the end of outtakes from the flashbacks, and now, we go into outtakes pulled from the main story.
She somehow knows that Sigma is a receiver.
She can't tell how she knows, but she just does. Maybe it is down thing her older self had transmitted to her — she doesn't know exactly.
What she does know, however, is that she can use this to her advantage.
With a wicked grin, she sends Sigma the thoughts of her anguish of never kissing Junpei, knowing that it will cause him to urge them to kiss.
Sigma frowns as Akane waves them off from Carlos's front porch.
She had made it a point to tell them that Maria would need all of the experts she could get, but now, she's saying that the large numbers of espers would overwhelm her?
Sigma's calling bullshit on this whole thing. He's known Akane Kurashiki for years. He knows the way she thinks, how manipulative and cunning and sneaky she can be.
And that's why he knows that she has an ulterior motive for sending them away.
Aoi groans as Akane leads him towards the parking lot, the wind whipping her hair around unpleasantly — his headband snapped during the car ride and he needs to buy another one soon. "Why did you drag me out here, Akane? I'm fucking starving, and my burger is waiting for me inside!"
"Aoi," she starts off softly, that Aoi almost can't hear her. "I heard an interesting piece of news during the Decision Game. Our parents . . . they didn't die in an accident."
"What?! Who told you that bullshit?"
"Aoi." Her voice is firm and cold, as it usually is when she forces him to dance to her tunes.
He closes his eyes and swallows. "Akane, it's not — "
"No!" she cries, her voice roaring over the sounds of the cars rushing down the highway beside them. "No more lies — I want the truth!" Her hands are clenched into fists at her sides, and she grits her teeth. On the outside, she may look completely furious — and, oh, she is — but she feels her strength crumbling on the inside. "Enough of the lies . . . I deserve to know to hear the truth from you. I should have first heard it from you, not from the founder of Free the Soul!" she seethes.
Aoi crosses his arms over his chest and turns his face away from Akane before speaking. "I should have said something before . . . but, yes, you're right. They weren't killed in an accident."
As her brother goes into the story that she already has heard from Delta, she suddenly craves Junpei's presence; she needs him to hold her as she lets her cold, strong front collapse . . . but he's inside the building of the Service Area, eating with Carlos, Clover, and Maria.
"I'm sorry I hid this from you. Akane. I know I should have told you eventually, but . . . "
She doesn't listen to his words — instead, she is suddenly lost in a frightening thought.
Akane assumed that out of the two of them, she was the one who was always in control of things, and Aoi was in the dark — something she would only keep in him for his protection or for the success of her plans.
But, really, all of this time, she has been the one who has been led into the dark, all by him.
"Agent Ennea!" Alice snaps, placing her hands on her hips as she towers over the young woman in her high, golden heels. "As your superior at the Special Office of Internal Security, I demand to know where I am and why!"
Ennea crosses her arms over her chest and smirks. "As employee of Crash Keys, I'm afraid I'm unable to disclose that information, Miss Alice . . . I can, however, arrange for your return to headquarters. Would you like for me to do that?" She tilts her head and gives her superior a sickeningly saccharine smile, feeling a great sense of satisfaction at hearing Alice's answering growl and insults.. She has always hated that cocky, standoffish bitch of a woman; she only has put up with her thus far for Nona's sake, or else, she would have never agreed to work with SOIS. Thank god that Nona said yes to working with Crash Keys, or else Ennea would probably have gone mad from working under Alice, all of the time. Though, Ennea gets the feeling that, soon, she won't have to worry about being Alice's subordinate, anymore.
Oh, well. Aoi and Akane want Ennea to work full-time, anyway, so she frankly can't give much of a shit.
This was a small thing that was supposed to go into Aoi's Waking Up part of the epilogue, until I decided that he should be the one to oversleep.
Last night, Aoi was insistent to have the room connecting to Junpei and Akane's — hell, he didn't want Junpei and Akane to share a room in the first place. Sure, he was grateful to Junpei for saving Akane's life and always thinking about her wellbeing in the Decision Game, but Akane was his little sister, dammit.
I wanted to write something for Clover and Alice, but I'd imagine the road for that would be so long and angsty, and I didn't have much time for that and I also wanted to but could not write something for my babies Light and Aoi — they sound so good in the Zero Escape: The Nonary Games trailer!
One week after the Epilogue.
"What?!" Clover's eyebrows raise in surprise. "A-Alice . . . ?"
Carlos nods intently. "How do you feel for her?"
"Um, I don't know . . . ?" Her words are full of uncertainty. "I'm only just trying to get over Aoi, Carlos. How do you expect me to jump to Alice so quickly?"
"I don't, Clover," he assures." I just want you to look through your feelings for Alice to see if you've ever felt something romantic for her, but suppressed it because of Aoi."
She groans. "Carlos, that's a ridiculous thought."
"Is it now? You say that it is ridiculous, but I have yet to hear you actually deny anything," he challenges back, raising an eyebrow at her.
Sigma asked him if he wanted new clothing, but Sean doesn't want him to go out of his way for him anymore. He only agreed to have some different outfits at hand when Diana, after knitting over 10 pairs of socks for the expected babies, expressed her desire to make him some clothes herself.
.
Green eyes, soft cheekbones, a rounded jawline . . . and straight, short dusty brown hair. ("I don't think I want to deal with hair too much, Sigma").
The pieces of the puzzle are laid out in front of him, but imagining himself with all of these features . . . he can't seem to form an image in his mind.
This was supposed to go somewhere in the Post-Payoff, but it didn't seem to fit in. Also, I suck at cat puns.
. . . But, anyway, many happy returns on your birthday, Sigma! We hope to see you soon!
Below Akane's graceful cursive, Junpei messily scrawled, Happy birthday, Sigma! I hope you enjoy your present!
Then, it was back to Akane's handwriting.
Love,
Akane & Junpei
Sigma groans as he looks to see the papers behind the airplane tickets. "You've cat to be kitten me!"
"What happened, Sigma?" Diana asks softly.
He growls. "Cats the musical is on Purr-oadway."
Diana doesn't understand, but Phi barks a laugh. "Oh, so, you got to Junpei and Akane's purr-esent!"
"What!? Phi, you knew!?" he shouts in disbelief.
"Wait, what?! Phi, what's going on?"
Phi snickers. "Diana, you and Sigma get to go to New York to watch a Purr-oadway show."
P.S.: I'm sorry, Sigma. The gift was Junpei's idea, not mine, I swear! But, at least, you'll get an excuse to take Diana on an all-expenses paid trip to New York City! (I remember her once telling me that she's never travelled farther than the West Coast, so this would be a good break for you and her, since you both have been working hard.) There are also train tickets in here to Lake Placid, if Diana wanted to go visit Sean, Eric, and Mira.
I just really wanted to torture Sigma some more with the cat puns.
This was also supposed to go somewhere in the Post-Payoff, but it didn't seem to fit in, since it took the focus off D-Team.
Sigma groans at the phone. "Why the fuck would he do that?"
Phi's ears perk up at his words, and she looks up from the files to stare at him. "What's wrong? Who are you on the phone with?"
"Akane," he answers back gruffly, running a hand tensely through his hair. "Sean broke Mira out of prison, and now they're on the run."
.
"How was your day, Phi?" Sophia asks, as she passes a napkin to Phi.
Phi sighs, before she wipes the corner of her lips. "It was interesting, to say in the least. Sigma is going insane because Sean broke Mira out of prison."
"What?!"
"Ugh, I don't know. He called from a payphone and told Sigma something about having Mira pay for her sins."
Sophia's eyes widen in surprise. "Oh, no," she murmurs sadly. "I should have known."
Phi narrows her eyes. "What?" she probes.
"I told Sean about the whereabouts of the transporter."
.
Sean smiles — it's so strange to see him express his emotions, but even more so to see him with a human face — his light green eyes crinkly at the corners adorably.
"You both have to lay down in separate transporters. One machine can only carry one human."
"Hey, wait. What about you, Sean?" Eric asks, confused.
He sheepishly scratches the back of his spiky, gelled hair — did Sigma teach him how to gel his hair? Suddenly, Mira is a little jealous. If Sigma and Diana and Phi have taught him all of this, what is left for her and Eric to teach him? "Oh, um, I'm not transporting with you."
"What!? No, Sean, come in mine — I can squeeze you in here!"
"Trust me, Eric. It won't let us transport, then."
"But, Sean — "
He shakes his head — Mira still can't believe that it's not that awfully large, spherical helmet he's shaking, but a small, human-like head. "Don't worry, guys. I'll be here to stay with the Eric and Mira that don't transport. You guys just focus on changing the past, okay?" He peers over the console on his toes, so that he can reach to press the button to start up the transporter.
As the cover of her pod lowers, Mira takes one last look at Sean, studying his new facial features.
He could have chosen to have jet-black hair like Sigma, but he chose hair to match Eric. And his eyes — those bright green eyes, they were the same as Mira's natural eye color, not blue like Diana's.
The Klims may all have taught him some things about living and lifestyle, but Sean was always her and Eric's, and they would be the ones to ultimately teach him how to live.
"Hello? Is anyone there?" she speaks into the phone once more. "Hello?" Diana is starting to get a little annoyed, but also anxious. She has been getting blank calls on the landline all morning. "Hello?"
She is about to hang up the phone, but freezes as she hears heavy breathing on the other side. She doesn't need the feeling of just knowing from the morphogenetic field to realize who the caller is.
" . . . Delta?" she whispers hesitantly. "Is . . . is that you?"
She hears a soft, "Mom . . ."
There are so many things she wants to ask to him — where is he now, what has he been doing for the past few days, what is his relation to the fanatic (though that, somehow, is at the last of the list of her endless questions) — but before she can open her mouth to speak, she hears the telltale click of Delta hanging up the phone.
Dammit! she cries out in her head mentally.
She goes to place the phone back into the receiver, but freezes and widens her eyes as a thought occurs to her.
Sigma only gave him his cell phone number, not the landline.
If my outtakes arrangement or side notes confused the hell out of you (which I totally wouldn't blame you for, because they were arranged in a confusing manner), please do let me know!
But, yeah. That's that. This marks the official end of this fic. I can't believe it, oh gosh! It's all over. We made it to the end. What I started at the beginning of July finally has ended in the beginning of November, wow. This journey, of sorts, has been incredible, and I thank you all so much for reading, leaving kudos, commenting, but really just for giving this story a chance, and taking time out of your day for this little thing, and making each of my update days special. It really means the world to me! :')
Anyway, for now, I think I'll take a short break from ZE fics, but rest assured, I may or may not have one or two more stories for our Decision Game participants up my sleeve — so stay tuned! ;)