Work Text:
beginning.
As NoYu's words end, the shooting begins. Yuno calmly watches from his perch, even leaning on the railing to get a better view. The small smile hidden by his helmet grows when the screaming starts one by one, an orchestra of fear coming together for a symphony. Chaos breaks out below, people running each other down while a notable few pull out their own guns and join in the mayhem, and Yuno can almost taste the rampant terror of almost everyone in the building.
When NoYu's bullets run out and the floor is painted crimson under the stray bodies, Yuno lifts his head and stares directly at his clone. A tug, a feeling, then both of them are laughing - Yuno quietly, and NoYu loudly. The people with them - people Yuno wanted to spare, his family - give light chuckles of their own, but Yuno knows it's not like his. His amusement is drawn from the suffering, the pain, the pure pandemonium downstairs, and theirs are just... different.
Then NoYu turns his back and runs, just as Yuno directed him, rushing down the stairs and blending in the crowd. Yuno takes a moment to survey what he had made of the vault, satisfaction spreading warmth through him, and waits. At the smell of gasoline, he feels something akin to a creature purring in his chest, satisfied and satiated by the scent, stretching, yawning, before settling, tail curling up. Then NoYu shoots again and its eyes open, purring louder at the sight of flames consuming all the gas, doing its best to reach where Yuno is. He's almost tempted to reach for it, to let it burn his fingers just as it scorches the ground and turns anything in its path into ashes.
Yuno feels at home. With fire flickering on the floor below him, gunshot echoing inside the vault, the abundant and loud screaming a song of offering laid on his feet as a gift.
It's chaos of the highest order, a massacre on his day of birth and -
He grins. Wide and unrestrained, the glint of his eyes and the white of his teeth concealed under his helmet. Then he pulls away from the railing and follows his clone. A simple gesture to his friends and they all fall in line, following him as they hide among the people in panic, just as the cops breach the place with guns raised.
Yuno gets out safely, because of course, he does. He watches the remnants of the commotion he orchestrated while across the street, the faintest sound of gunshots and screams reaching his ears. People dressed in his image - whether a perfect copy or something similar - littered the front of the vault with their bodies strewn in the floor, their blood made eerie by being highlighted in red-and-blue lights of the police cars.
Happy Death Day, indeed. Yuno smiles, fingers dialing the number of his clone. He takes one last look at the pandemonium created by him, and turns away, focusing on the next plan - his next crime.
Some sort of beeping rouses Yuno from slumber, making him open his eyes. He regrets it immediately, closing his eyes to stave off the light that threatens to blind him. It takes a couple more blinks before he adjusts, looking around the room in curiosity before his attention is drawn to his arm, strapped to the bed and a tube drawing blood out of him.
A beat. Then Yuno struggles, now noticing he has been completely strapped to the bed, restraints encircling his arms, legs, and waist. It's futile, but Yuno is young and in a panic, so he continues trying to break out.
There must be an alarm somewhere because three people storm in seconds after, all of them in white coats and two carrying clipboards. One walks to Yuno as he doubles his efforts, speaking hurriedly. Yuno hears them as if he's underwater, and his vision starts to blur.
"—dosage, not supposed to b—"
"I checked! His vitals are—"
"—Not yet ready!"
He blacks out.
The first time he hears about a person running around with his clothes and his voice, Yuno is torn between being flattered and uneasy. He's appreciative of the fact that an imitation of him can cause that much of a stir - and wary that someone out there was wearing his clothes and speaking in his voice. To his credit, he plays it off as pure curiosity with some mirth thrown in the mix.
He wants to meet him, this imitation.
And so he does.
"Who are you?" he asks the person standing in front of him dressed in Yuno's usual attire. Yuno's glad he picked something other than his signature clothes when he woke up in his apartment because the similarities were uncanny.
"I'm NoYu Sukk," the imposter introduces himself in the same voice, the same tone. "I'm your cousin."
Yuno narrows his eyes at the imposter look-alike relative of his, though the effect is nonexistent because of his helmet. "...Sure," Yuno sarcastically says, cautious. "Another one of my family I've forgotten, apparently."
NoYu tilts his head. "Another?"
Yuno doesn't answer him. "Prove it," he challenges instead, leaning into amusement now that he offers something to the other man. "That you're my cousin."
"I'm more of your evil twin," NoYu admits.
Unfazed, Yuno changes the challenge. "Then prove you're my 'evil twin'."
Amazingly and irritatingly, he does. He really does. He acts exactly like Yuno when he was new in the city, randomly punching people in the face or stomach as they both walk calmly down the streets. Yuno stares as NoYu's fifth target doubles over in pain, and sighs.
"Yeah, you are my twin," he admits with a shrug. "You're like me."
They get along like a house on fire after that - Yuno would know, he's set fire to nearly everything - and some people, actually - in the city. And on a whim fueled (ha!) by boredom, he teaches NoYu to love the flames just as much as he does. And contain hostages while at it.
"Here," Yuno takes out his gas tank, tilting it to spill on the ground and walking in a half-circle, "This is how you take them as hostages, NoYu."
He tips it back and hands his clone the container, then gestures at the still-dry half of the ground, egging him on. "Try it."
NoYu does, caging in the three hostages they picked up, drawing out whimpers from the locals. Yuno looks on, impassive and a bit restless, glancing at the friend at his back and pointedly staring at the gun in their right hand. They sigh, muttering "fine, fine, Yuno," and raises it.
The hacker snags the edge of NoYu's clothes and pulls him away from the line of fire, and they both watch as flames ignite in a circle, completely trapping the locals in.
NoYu huffs beside him. "You're a psychopath."
"Mhm," Yuno hums vaguely. "No, you," he returns, a smile pulling at his lips at the wordplay. The roll of NoYu's eyes is nearly audible. And he quiets down, waits for the curiosity that would pull at NoYu until the man gives in, and chokes down a giggle when it happens.
"Why do you like fire so much?" NoYu blurts, clearly the only thing in his mind.
A breathy laugh and Yuno answers, his smile hidden by a hand over his mouth and his helmet. "I don't know. I just found it one day, and it—"
"Clicked," they both say, NoYu with a whisper and Yuno with a dreamy tone.
"Uh-huh," Yuno agrees. "Why did you ask if you knew the answer?"
"I wanted to test something."
"And was that—"
How similar we are, they think at the same time, but never say.
(It keeps happening. Involuntary synchronization, the similarity of thoughts, words, actions, everything.
Yuno jokingly calls NoYu his evil twin every time they do the opposite thing, but that instance gets less and less. There's this uncomfortable feeling, this hunch that—well.)
Yuno brings them to watch the stars one day, a break from all the criminal training he has been putting NoYu into. They're in an abandoned parking lot somewhere, legs swinging on the edge. Their helmets are on their sides, removed when they sat down an hour ago. Yuno handed out sandwiches thirty minutes in, and they eat together silently when:
"You're me," NoYu says.
"Hmm." Yuno blinks. "I guess I am." He tilts his head back to look at the stars, the skies surprisingly not cloudy for once. He side-eyes NoYu as the man imitates his movement, becoming mesmerized by the view.
They breathe in sync, blink at the same time, and move simultaneously - a carbon copy of each other.
"I'm not your evil cousin." NoYu lets himself fall on his back, hands supporting his head. He keeps his attention on the stars, but glances at Yuno for a bit to gauge his reaction.
Yuno leans back on his hands but doesn't lay down. "No."
"I'm you."
Yuno's smile is full of wonder. "You are."
"Why say oh, satan when I've been saying—"
"Wanted to be different somehow."
"Are you telling the truth, or you just wanted to be noticed?"
"You tell me, Yuno Sykk."
"You planned to kill me?" NoYu pants, wiping the blood off the corner of his mouth. Yuno stands a few feet away, holding his gas tank, helmet off like his clone. Yuno's friends—family, the man corrects himself—surround them both in silent damnation of NoYu, blocking all exits.
"Yes," Yuno confirms, devoid of emotions in his tone. He swings the container playfully once, twice.
"Why?"
Yuno looks at his clone dead on, his voice deceptively soft. "We're the same, NoYu. I think you know what my reason is." He pauses. "Or if I ever have one," he continues teasingly. "You know."
Then he shrugs, unapologetic. "Sorry, evil twin."
end.
The halls are familiar, so Yuno doesn't bother glancing at the signs or paying attention to the warnings platered on each door. His glowing shoes are his only source of light, casting eerie shadows on the ceiling due to the weakness of its luminescence. Still, Yuno is calm in the facility, confidently jogging to his destination - a large two-door entrance that bears the biggest warning signs.
He pushes them open, the lock broken from multiple attempts to disable it. It's the same, untouched, pristine lab he had been taking care of on his free days when he switches the light on. There are pods on the far left of the huge room, one of them opened, the other four still on and working. Yuno walks to the one closest to him and peers at the glass.
Inside, a mirror of his body rests.
He reaches for the pad, punching in a code by muscle memory, and waits. The lid opens with a hiss, and the clone inside of it takes its first breath. Then, it opens its eyes.
"Hello," Yuno says softly. "I'm Yuno Sykk, your cousin."