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I walked across an empty land
I knew the pathway like the back of my hand
I felt the earth beneath my feet
Sat by the river and it made me complete
Kenjaku’s mind had not known quiet since the victory in Shibuya. He supposed he should have listened a bit more carefully when Mahito babbled on and on about the relationship between body, heart, and soul. Because this, this, had never happened before. There was no reason that his machine, his husk, should have any agency whatsoever. And yet… Something in Suguru Getou remained untouched. Kenjaku would squash whatever it was if he even knew, or could find it.
So he did the only thing he could think of. His feet touched the ground of Jujutsu High, and something in his chest tightened. Kenjaku himself had no ties to this location whatsoever, and yet his physical form had some response.
Why? Suguru Getou was dead. The sorcerer had no control. So why did his heart still speed up?
The school was empty now, abandoned in the wake of the Culling Games. Kenjaku pushed open a door to a hall, leading down a line of classrooms and training halls. One door in particular seemed… louder, than the rest. Kenjaku crossed wearily over.
It was a warm, worn wood. A simple window remained inlaid into the material, providing view to the common room beyond. He pushed the door open and stepped forward, faced with a circle of pillows on the floor.
Between two pillows, scratched over time into the planks in the floor, were the letters “SG.”
Suguru Getou. Satoru Gojo. Kenjaku felt a flare of anger. He had been led through none of his own volition, to see this idiotic little memory? He raised his hand, planning to unleash a burst of cursed energy- to scorch this trivial memento and purge it from his mind.
No, not that.
Kenjaku froze. His arm seemed to move with its own consciousness. It retrieved the prison realm from his person, and placed it on the floor, on top of the letters. Then, the world went black.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
Getou’s eyes open for the first time in years. He immediately doubles over, gasping for breath. Around him is only dark, open, nothing. He is standing, but on what? He can’t feel his body the way he normally did. No, he feels light.
Where was he? What had he been doing? He had died at Gojo’s hand, well deserved but surprising nonetheless. And after some time, his body was not his own. He took a moment to recall the memories of the sorcerer Kenjaku. The war on all sorcerers, the age of curses, the fight in Shibuya. Gojo.
That’s right, then. He had wanted to see that mark, to make sure it still remained, despite his old lover being gone. It had felt like a second death, watching Gojo succumb to the Prison Realm at his hand. Still, some form of relief, seeing as Gojo knew it was not his desire or agency that locked him away.
Getou was so tired. Gojo was too, he knew that with certainty. When Gojo killed him those years ago, they had both been so tired of fighting. Getou is still tired now, feeling more weary and sad than he could remember being in a long time.
Is Gojo tired in his Realm? Does he feel anything at all? Aren’t they the same now? Finally, again, after all this time.
Getou begins walking forward, with no clear goal or any sight in mind.
I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?
A scene begins to form before him. Many scenes, actually, none of them clear. The images flicker to his left and right, little dreams he can barely recall. Muted laughter, a blurry smile. Two radiant blue eyes beneath him. The heat of passion, the sound of his cries. Tears dripping from above, down onto his cheeks.
Don’t cry for me, starlight.
Gojo had cried, seeing him against the wall, cried as he killed Getou. Getou remembers it well now, remembers how he felt at the end of it all.
Two foreheads pressed together, the quietest moment he could never leave behind. Getou had loved Gojo for his strength, just as he had hated him for it. Even now, gone from the world, Gojo must still be strong.
The Prison Realm is in his hand, all of a sudden. Is it whispering to him? Getou pulls it close to his face, straining desperately to hear, if anything remains to be heard. Satoru Gojo is the strongest, after all. Can’t he make his voice heard, just this once?
But it is only silent. The box is gone, and Getou is left again in the dark.
Oh simple thing, where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin
Kenjaku came to his senses with a start. He was cradling that fucking box, like some lost child. If it weren’t the most valuable thing in his possession, he would have left it behind by now.
Those memories. How revolting. How utterly abhorrent, too, that they should have remained in that husk of a person after the heart was dead and gone.
Wasn’t it?
Kenjaku stood, tucking the Prison Realm back into his robes. He would stay in this school no longer, never again would he be victim to what strange emotions its sight may bring. He wanted to burn it to the ground, but some rotten part inside him still wouldn’t let him lift a finger against it.
So he settled for leaving as quickly as he came, hoping to bury the thoughts so far under his conscious he would never be plagued by them again.
And if you have a minute, why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go somewhere only we know?
Somewhere only we know
Somewhere beyond space and time, the warm from the palm of Suguru Getou’s hand would seep into a cage. Gojo would lift his head, recognizing the scar on the knuckle of the hand that would descend. He would find Getou then, some strange comfort in a place where one moment must bleed into the next. Sleep would take them both, as the midnight sky finally meets the moon for the last time. A timeless night, where only the strongest duo would reside until the end.