1 - THE FINAL COUNTDOWN [Despite his prediction that Mako wouldn't let him go here willingly (he'd been expecting to need to sneak out), he had ended up arriving here with his brother. Now he stands slightly apart from him, hands in his pockets. He hadn't brought a whole lot -- a backpack with some water and a length of rope, and a small extendable knife in his pocket. He's not sure what he's planning to do with any of this. It just seemed to him that people bring rope to operations like this. Don't they?
Yoshio's silent, eyeballing the others half-nervously. He feels very small. They're marching to their deaths, aren't they? And yet some part of him is pushing him foward. Perhaps it has something to do with that thing in the dream, but...
For now, Yoshio stays where he is. He's half hoping to find someone he knows.]
2 - AWAKENING [Screaming.
There's screaming nearby. And then colour leeches out of the trees at the same time as there's suddenly shuffling around them. He knows the noise without needing to think about it. That sound is those monsters, isn't it?
Everything slows down. His head hurts. He can hear the creatures around them, and his pulse in his ears, and yet Yoshio can't move. Only -- he's not sure that he's Yoshio anymore. It feels wrong to think of himself that way. No, 'Yoshio' is a name reserved for someone not him. He doesn't know who he is -- or rather, what he should call himself. "Yoshio Koutarou." "Sakuma Jirou." Neither of them make sense, until one starts to make more sense than the other one. Distantly, he's aware that this is exactly what he was afraid of might happen, and yet... he isn't certain that he's actually bothered.
At least, not until the flood of images in his head, and the pain of it, are impossible to ignore. People he knows, places. The feel of the short grass and solid earth of a soccer field under his feet. The cavernous interior of Teikoku Gakuen. Kageyama's oppressive presence. Doumen, Jimon, Narukami. Genda.
Kidou.
The scent of a hospital wing he spent too much time in. Pain before it, pain so bad he couldn't keep standing. Slow recovery. The feeling of a crutch's handle under his palm, leaning his weight heavily on it. The look on Kidou's face when he'd reassured him. A swell of anger at seeing Fudou again and at the expression his presence put on Kidou's face. His disappointment at being left in Japan during FFI, and his pride that Kidou hadn't been. Now he understands where that memory came from, and where it fits in. Why he had it.
Sakuma understands all of it, and suddenly he is, indeed, more Sakuma than Yoshio, more than he's ever been anything else in his life. And then that voice in his ear again. Time screeches to a full stop. He's fading, his body less than opaque, but somehow he knows what do to. "I am thou, thou art I."
The trees are rotting around them. The fear evaporates. Or perhaps is just hidden again. Sakuma doesn't even need to be told what to do, though the voice tells him anyway. That voice... he's known it, hasn't he? It's part of him. It's unfamiliar, and yet he's certain he's heard it before.
His hand is at his chest before he knows what he's doing. Sakuma can feel it -- something he's not supposed to feel at all. His blood on his hands, his heartbeat hummingbird-fast in his grip.
Yoshio -- Sakuma -- takes a breath in, and then rips his heart from his chest.
All of the memories fill in. If the flashes before were drips, this is a full bucket of icy water thrown at him.
He's dying, but he's not dead. He's flatlining. He's still alive. Somehow, his heart is still inside him where it belongs. There's a weapon in his hands that he's never seen in his life, and yet he knows exactly what to do with it. The monsters are still there. But he's got his own monster now, too.]
3 - THE BATTLE IN APPLE GROVE [Sakuma isn't necessarily a violent person. But he's come this far. He's not dying. There are people he knows he has to see.
"Show them what it means to cross you."
Any Shadow that approaches him is cut down without hesitation. He came here with Mako, and so he sticks with him for awhile. But he can be found alone, too, moving fast. Penguins are stronger in a group -- if he finds someone he feels needs it, he won't hesitate to help out. If he's too far away, he'll swap from the trident to the bow.
A soccer ball requires good aim, and Yoshio always had an all right eye, too. You'd think he'd be worse at it, considering one of his eyes is covered constantly. But the arrows, tipped not with a simple point but rather an elaborate penguin-shaped arrowhead with mechanically-expanding wings, never miss their target. Neither Yoshio Koutarou nor Sakuma Jirou had ever shot a bow before, but his body knows exactly what it's doing. More than once he finds himself shooting a Shadow that managed to sneak up behind a fellow Awakened. Sometimes it's him, that requires the assistance. But even when he takes a hit, Sakuma is never stalled for long.
jirou sakuma | ota
[Despite his prediction that Mako wouldn't let him go here willingly (he'd been expecting to need to sneak out), he had ended up arriving here with his brother. Now he stands slightly apart from him, hands in his pockets. He hadn't brought a whole lot -- a backpack with some water and a length of rope, and a small extendable knife in his pocket. He's not sure what he's planning to do with any of this. It just seemed to him that people bring rope to operations like this. Don't they?
Yoshio's silent, eyeballing the others half-nervously. He feels very small. They're marching to their deaths, aren't they? And yet some part of him is pushing him foward. Perhaps it has something to do with that thing in the dream, but...
For now, Yoshio stays where he is. He's half hoping to find someone he knows.]
2 - AWAKENING
[Screaming.
There's screaming nearby. And then colour leeches out of the trees at the same time as there's suddenly shuffling around them. He knows the noise without needing to think about it. That sound is those monsters, isn't it?
Everything slows down. His head hurts. He can hear the creatures around them, and his pulse in his ears, and yet Yoshio can't move. Only -- he's not sure that he's Yoshio anymore. It feels wrong to think of himself that way. No, 'Yoshio' is a name reserved for someone not him. He doesn't know who he is -- or rather, what he should call himself. "Yoshio Koutarou." "Sakuma Jirou." Neither of them make sense, until one starts to make more sense than the other one. Distantly, he's aware that this is exactly what he was afraid of might happen, and yet... he isn't certain that he's actually bothered.
At least, not until the flood of images in his head, and the pain of it, are impossible to ignore. People he knows, places. The feel of the short grass and solid earth of a soccer field under his feet. The cavernous interior of Teikoku Gakuen. Kageyama's oppressive presence. Doumen, Jimon, Narukami. Genda.
Kidou.
The scent of a hospital wing he spent too much time in. Pain before it, pain so bad he couldn't keep standing. Slow recovery. The feeling of a crutch's handle under his palm, leaning his weight heavily on it. The look on Kidou's face when he'd reassured him. A swell of anger at seeing Fudou again and at the expression his presence put on Kidou's face. His disappointment at being left in Japan during FFI, and his pride that Kidou hadn't been. Now he understands where that memory came from, and where it fits in. Why he had it.
Sakuma understands all of it, and suddenly he is, indeed, more Sakuma than Yoshio, more than he's ever been anything else in his life. And then that voice in his ear again. Time screeches to a full stop. He's fading, his body less than opaque, but somehow he knows what do to. "I am thou, thou art I."
The trees are rotting around them. The fear evaporates. Or perhaps is just hidden again. Sakuma doesn't even need to be told what to do, though the voice tells him anyway. That voice... he's known it, hasn't he? It's part of him. It's unfamiliar, and yet he's certain he's heard it before.
His hand is at his chest before he knows what he's doing. Sakuma can feel it -- something he's not supposed to feel at all. His blood on his hands, his heartbeat hummingbird-fast in his grip.
Yoshio -- Sakuma -- takes a breath in, and then rips his heart from his chest.
All of the memories fill in. If the flashes before were drips, this is a full bucket of icy water thrown at him.
He's dying, but he's not dead. He's flatlining. He's still alive. Somehow, his heart is still inside him where it belongs. There's a weapon in his hands that he's never seen in his life, and yet he knows exactly what to do with it. The monsters are still there. But he's got his own monster now, too.]
3 - THE BATTLE IN APPLE GROVE
[Sakuma isn't necessarily a violent person. But he's come this far. He's not dying. There are people he knows he has to see.
"Show them what it means to cross you."
Any Shadow that approaches him is cut down without hesitation. He came here with Mako, and so he sticks with him for awhile. But he can be found alone, too, moving fast. Penguins are stronger in a group -- if he finds someone he feels needs it, he won't hesitate to help out. If he's too far away, he'll swap from the trident to the bow.
A soccer ball requires good aim, and Yoshio always had an all right eye, too. You'd think he'd be worse at it, considering one of his eyes is covered constantly. But the arrows, tipped not with a simple point but rather an elaborate penguin-shaped arrowhead with mechanically-expanding wings, never miss their target. Neither Yoshio Koutarou nor Sakuma Jirou had ever shot a bow before, but his body knows exactly what it's doing. More than once he finds himself shooting a Shadow that managed to sneak up behind a fellow Awakened. Sometimes it's him, that requires the assistance. But even when he takes a hit, Sakuma is never stalled for long.
Kidou is here. And Genda. He needs to find them.]