Work Text:
This is it. Goro's lost his chance to take his revenge his way, so he'll have to settle for letting the Phantom Thieves handle it while he goes out in a blaze of glory. Not exactly what he'd planned but it'll have to do. He'll pay for the crimes he's committed by allowing himself to be executed by his cognitive double, and the world will never know what became of Akechi Goro.
Or so he thinks until a yowling mass of fur comes flying towards him over the bulkhead door.
"Joker!" Morgana yells at the door as he lands, but his annoyance is futile; the door has shut, trapping him inside with two Akechi Goros and a horde of summoned Shadows.
Typical. How like Amamiya to try to intervene and save Goro from his fate.
The cat isn't happy about it either. "He threw me."
"You can take it up with him later," Goro says acidly. "If there's a later."
He's already spent most of his strength in battle. Loki's attacks are powerful but they take their toll on him, draining him of his own life force even as he forces his enemies to part with theirs. It's taking all the energy he can muster to remain on his feet—a posture he's certainly not abandoning now that there's a witness to his impending demise.
"Of course there'll be a later." Morgana puffs out his chest proudly; above him, the masked figure of Zorro appears. "I'll make sure of that. Diarahan!"
Before Goro can object, a warm green light washes over his body, healing his wounds and restoring his energy. It does nothing for his spirit, however, which plummets even lower with the realisation that not only is a noble sacrifice now off the table, but that he's just had his life saved by his rival's cat. His dignity is clearly a lost cause at this point.
His cognitive double must think so too, because his amusement seems to be incapacitating him more than the bullet he's taken to the chest. "How... utterly... pathetic," he wheezes in between bouts of laughter. "Saved... by... a cat."
Morgana glares and brandishes his cutlass, which would be more intimidating were it not at a suitable height to slice the double's knees. "I am not a cat!"
"And I don't need saving!" Goro insists.
His double's laughter ceases immediately. "We'll see about that!"
At his command, the Shadows surge towards them. Goro takes a split-second to weigh up his choices and concludes that they're all terrible. Being trampled by a nameless horde of nobodies he could easily defeat while his double watches is easily the worst, however—and he doubts Morgana would escape unscathed. Amamiya would be heartbroken if he knew he'd thrown his feline friend to his doom.
There's nothing else for it. Goro turns to Morgana. "I'm only doing this so Joker's not too distracted by your death to change Shido's heart."
Morgana snorts. "And I'm only doing this because he wants you with him when he does."
Goro's going to have to pretend he didn't hear that, because letting himself think about it—about any kind of future with Amamiya, who still seems determined to like him despite the failed murder attempt and is therefore clearly lacking in any sense whatsoever—is a distraction he could do without right now. He can deal with that later. First, he has to ensure that there is a later.
It's not a long battle. Morgana lets him do all the heavy lifting, healing him after every other use of Laevateinn so that the colossal damage he inflicts on their foes never leaves him in danger of collapse. The Shadows fall easily; the cognitive double, even easier. Shido has no idea what Goro is truly capable of, and so Shido's cognition can only produce a pale imitation of the real thing.
As the final Shadow disperses there's the sound of several sharp cracks from behind. Goro turns to find the inexplicably frozen bulkhead door is being kicked in by the combined efforts of Sakamoto, Niijima... and Amamiya, who doesn't even bother to hide his relief upon seeing Goro alive and well.
It's utterly incomprehensible to Goro. Why would Amamiya—why would anyone?—want him around, knowing what he's done? What makes them think his life is worth saving, when they're the ones who've forced him to confront his decisions and accept that every action he's taken towards his revenge has been for naught? It's something he's not sure he'll ever understand.
"Saved him for you," Morgana says, sauntering over to Amamiya with the self-satisfied air of a cat presenting a dead mouse to its owner.
As much as Goro would like to resent him for it, he can't deny that it's accurate. Not that he'll ever admit to it, of course. "I'd say the saving was mutual," he says coolly. "If not for my power, you wouldn't have lasted long against so many." He turns to Amamiya. "I'm surprised at you endangering him like that. You really ought to take better care of your friends."
Amamiya flashes him a grin; Goro knows him well enough by now to predict what he's going to say. He also knows himself well enough to know that he no longer has any defence against it.
"I just did."