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The next time you mess up...
I'll punch you twice,
and shoot you five times.
...
Got it?
If he hadn't been able to predict this, then he wouldn't have been the Demon Prodigy. So of course he'd been able to see this coming from a mile away. He had coerced the man's younger sister into the Mafia through kidnapping her, after all-so it was no surprise to him that his personal secretary's older brother was standing in front of him now, pointing a gun at him.
Honestly, though... Knowing what he did of the man, Dazai was surprised that this hadn't happened sooner.
It was laughable, really. The man was absolutely ridiculous in this state. The gun visibly shook in his hand, and he was completely outnumbered and surrounded by loyal members of the Port Mafia. Yet he still glared so defiantly.
'...just like the other one...' Dazai thought to himself as his visible eye infinitesimally narrowed towards this situation.
“Gin!” The armed man loudly cried out for his sister, his gaze quickly darting around to no doubt see if he could locate her before flitting back to him. “Where is she!? Where's my sister?!” He demanded. “What have you done to her?!”
“...done..?” This came a languid drawl towards the man's question through a slow-creeping smile. “You really want to know?” He asked in a featherlight, sickeningly sweet tone as the man continued to hold him at gunpoint.
“Tell me!”
Oh...
The man really shouldn't have said that...
Dazai laughed.
He just couldn't help it.
“Hey,” He chuckled with a passive hum as he lightly threw his arms out in a shrug. “you're the one with the gun, making the demands.” The next words followed with the glint of his eye. “If you really must know-” He began with the slightest lowering of his voice and narrowing of his stare as his smile grew cruel. “as my personal secretary, your sister satisfies many of my needs.”
That was it.
It seemed that was all that it had taken to push this man to the edge as his eyes widened with a mixture of hatred and horrified disgust.
“You bastard!” The man screamed as tears of rage began to brim along the corners of his eyes. “I swear, I'm going to kill you if it's the last thing I do!” At the sound of this threat, Dazai's attention was suddenly and briefly diverted by the one who stepped in front of him.
“Wanna know what it's like to be crushed to death by gravity? 'Cause believe me...I can make that happen.” His subordinate's voice was calm and controlled, betraying the seriousness of this statement as he placed a hand on his former partner's shoulder-careful not to touch skin-to-skin and nullify the gravity manipulator's ability should the man decide to shoot him.
If the man actually fired the gun, he'd need his second-in-command to deflect the bullet.
“Chuuya.” He whispered to the man standing protectively in front of him. “Don't be so rude.” He felt Chuuya's shoulder stiffen under his fingers, and this made him softly smile. “Is that any way to treat our guest?”
As expected, the tone of his voice alone was enough to caused Chuuya Nakahara-the gravity manipulator-to stand down. The two had known each other for so long that they could anticipate the other's moves. So when he'd gently chided his subordinate's protective actions, he knew-without a doubt-that Chuuya understood his wish for him to step aside.
Though...that didn't exactly mean that Chuuya was the biggest fan of this idea.
Of course not.
In fact, he absolutely hated it when Dazai decided to take things into his own hands.
“...Boss...” He heard Chuuya growl under his breath in disapproval, and a part of him missed the days when Chuuya called him by his name.
Dazai
Chuuya was such a stickler for formality that he hardly ever called him that anymore.
...only when they were alone...
And that hardly ever happened anymore, either...
...pity...
But such was the fate he'd embraced when he'd taken up the mantel as the head of the Port Mafia, Yokohama's largest and most prolific crime syndicate. Taking charge of the situation, he sidestepped his subordinate and languidly sauntered forward towards the unhinged, deranged man standing in front of him, threatening him with a gun. A gun! As if that was enough to take him out.
'...if only...' he sardonically thought to himself.
If it were that easy, he'd have taken his own life a long time ago.
“...so...” He purred in a delicate voice through a piercing gaze. “You came all the way down here-” A brief pause fell along his words with the tilt of the head. “looking for me..?”
“For the Man in Black!” The man snarled. “For the man who kidnapped my sister!”
He spread his arms with the wicked grin that played along the corner of his lips.
“Well, you've found him.” He said through the faint deepening of his voice. “But I'm afraid that if you want your sister back, you'll have to take her over my dead body.” He took another slow, bold step forward. “But can you..?” He asked through a pointed look, feeling his subordinate's pretty blue eyes boring a hole into the back of his head.
If the madman with the gun didn't kill him, surely Chuuya would.
“Can you really do it, though?” He asked again in a derisive, mocking tone in order to taunt the man. “Can you really go through with it? Shooting me, in order to 'save' your sister and take her away from this..?” The gun violently shook in the man's hand as he came another step closer. “Kill me now, then.” Please. “Try it...if you dare.” He declared, looking the man in the eye as he witnessed how this bold statement shook the man to his core. “And if you can make it painless..?” He smiled. “All the better.” His smile faded and fell from his lips as he came close enough that the end of the gun pressed up against his chest, though he never looked away from the man's face as his voice took on a raw ache of desperation laced in melancholy. “Wake me from this oxidizing world of a dream.”
...please...
Because that was exactly what this was.
This whole entire world-and everyone in it.
Nothing-and no one-was real, including himself.
Everything was simply pretend. A dream within a dream. A world of his own making, and everyone here was simply an imitation of their true selves. So-in reality-everything he did was meaningless. They were all merely actors on a stage-playing the part created specifically for them-and he was the only one who knew this, and how it would all end.
Though what he'd done in making this dream-world, he'd done for a reason, that didn't mean he couldn't have at least a little fun before his plan came into its full fruition.
He dawned a congenial smile as both of his hands slowly drifted towards the gun. Long, elegant, slender fingers wrapped around the hand that clutched the gun as he held the man's wide-eyed stare.
“However-” He hummed. “if you really want to kill me,” The glint in his eye relieved his dark, malicious nature as he ever-so-slowly helped inch the hand holding the gun upward. “you should aim for my head,” This fell from his lips as he guided the gun to his forehead with a simpered smile before releasing the man's hand. “because I have no heart.”
The two held each other's gaze, and from his peripheral he saw how the man's finger twitched along the trigger of the gun in his hand. Oh, how the sense of blood-lust filled the room then, and violently permeated this single moment as they stared each other down. The man-Ryūnosuke Akutagawa-wanted him dead, and intended to kill him regardless of whether or not he allowed Gin-the man's little sister-to leave. Perhaps this Akutagawa was unknowingly burdened by the same deadly obsession with him that his counterpart was.
...he obviously had the same laughable propensity towards theatrical, unhinged anger that led to violence...
Looking into the man's eyes, he could tell that this was the same young man whose counterpart had gone lengths and bombed buildings, just to get his own counterpart's attention.
Yet, in this reality, Akutagawa wasn't part of the Port Mafia. Dazai wasn't his mentor. And, unfortunately for this young man, Akutagawa meant nothing to him in this dream-world, and he'd discovered some time ago-through access to his own counterpart's thoughts and memories-that this young man's counterpart was already dead. None of these facts played in the man's favor.
...poor kid...
Akutagawa had no clue who he was really dealing with, and what was about to happen to him.
Within the flash of an instant, Dazai balled up his hand into a fist and slammed it against the man's jaw. This caused the young man to stagger back, which was when Dazai hit him for a second time, knocking him to the floor as the gun fell out of his hand. A swift step forward saw the gun kicked out of the way to a safer distance as he descended on the young man-his knee to the man's torso as he wrapped his bare fingers around Akutagawa's neck, effectively immobilizing and pinning him to the ground. Then, looking the man in the eyes, he bared his teeth as he offered a less-than-friendly sneer.
It had been a bit of a gamble as the young man had been armed. But it had been a calculated risk, and Dazai had correctly anticipated that this Akutagawa was almost just as physically weak and frail as 'the other one'.
The young man coughed and sputtered in wide-eyed surprise as blood poured from his mouth and nose. When the wave of shock and raw, excruciating pain from the assault began to fade, Dazai witnessed the man glared at him from the flat of his back. Those familiar dark, empty gray eyes were now set in the cold flames of absolute rage and defiance before Dazai felt the slightest electrical surge through his fingertips when the young man attempted to activate his ability. Tried-and failed-as it was rendered inert and useless under his touch. He faintly chuckled at this through a closed-lipped smile before he leaned forward to whisper in the man's ear.
“...I know you, Akutagawa of the ADA...” He hissed this through clenched teeth and the fluttering of his lashes.
I made you.
“...but you have no idea who I am.” He breathed this against the shell of the man's ear. “It was a mistake not to shoot me when I gave you the chance.” He said through a softly lilted voice dripping with malicious intent. “Because, unfortunately for you,” He breathed in a whispered voice. “I won't give you the chance to use your ability with me. Not this time.” He said before leaning away from the man’s face-who gave a completely entertaining look of befuddled surprised.
Oh yes.
Dazai knew all about this man's dangerous ability-his gift-thanks to the memories of his own counterpart. And he smiled at the man as he called out to another of his subordinates.
“Atsushi.” The name of 'The Weretiger' left his lips in a soft, almost affectionate tone as he sensed the white-haired young man approach his side. “Give me your gun.” He gave this order.
Though-in all honesty-it wouldn't have needed to be an order at all with how devoted the weretiger was to him. All he would have needed to do was simply ask. Making it an order was merely a formality for the rest of his underlings to witness. Casually holding out his free hand while the other remained in a vice-like grip on Akutagawa's neck, there was little-to-no hesitation in the way the gun found its way into his grasp. The weight of it in his hand felt like caressing the familiar curves of a lover.
Such intimacy with a deadly weapon was wrong. And the level of arousal he got from holding the gun in his hand was probably even worse.
...but then...
No one had ever accused him or his 'better' half of possessing a great deal of virtue.
“Hey, Chuuya...” He purred through the curvature of a playfully teasing simpered smile that had effectively shaped the tone of his call.
“Yeah?” He heard the gravity manipulator's voice behind him as he continued to stare down the young man subdued beneath him by his body weight.
“What exactly did I tell this fool I'd do to him the next time he messed up?” He asked his former partner in an obnoxiously sugar-sweet tone with an impish grin to match-just to piss him off-as his cold, dead gaze remained on the young man's petulant expression.
“Eh?” This thuggish, laid-back grunt followed as Chuuya answered his question with a confused question of his own. “How should I know?” He asked.
'No', Dazai silently thought to himself. 'You wouldn't know, would you..?'
“What the hell are you even talking about?” Chuuya's irritated, grumbled voice mirrored the confused look along the young man's face as those dark slate eyes stared up into his own.
That look...
The look in this young man's eyes-on his face-caused an uncontrollable, excruciating flash of imagery to flood his mind. Memories that belonged to him, but weren't his. This pain in his head grew into a screeching migraine that caused dark lashes to flutter shut against the indescribable agony of two souls residing inside of one mind as they threatened to tear it apart. Of being entirely himself, yet someone else at the very same time. Momentarily pressing the gun he'd taken from his subordinate to his temple, Dazai squeezed his visible eye shut and grinned through the throbbing anguish in his head. Then...he lent himself over to a faint, manic bubble of laughter.
Shooting himself wouldn't work to relieve this pain...
He knew-
...because he'd already tried...
Too many times, he'd tried. And always, without fail. Every. Single. Time.
“...Boss..?” He heard Atsushi's nervous, soft-spoken voice right behind to him, filled with obvious concern.
Something always happened. Something-or someone-got in his way, and prevented him from blowing his brains out.
An audible, defeated, sigh escaped through barely-parted, chalked lips as his gaze fluttered open and he lowered the gun.
“Don't worry about it.” He replied, his voice easing into a hummed whisper. “I remember, now.” The smile that graced itself along his lips was colder than the tone of his words as his dark gaze narrowed on the man beneath him, struggling to breathe. “The next time you mess up,” He said in a flat, lifeless voice. “I'll punch you twice-” This having already happened, a pause entered his voice as he stared the man down before finishing his counterpart's threat. “and shoot you five times.” Though-not to be outdone by his other self-Dazai decided to add something all his own. “Then,” He smirked through his next words has he held the gun poised upward in his hand. “just because I can,” This came through the lowering of his voice and narrowing of his gaze. “I'm going to take a beautiful woman by the hand and dance with her over your dead body.”
Taking in and absorbing the fleeting expression of panic along the young man's face caused a wave of glee to wash over him as Dazai aimed the gun at Akutagawa's leg. The first bullet went into the man's left kneecap to the ear-shattering sound of the gun going off, followed by an excruciating shriek of pain. Dazai found he actually liked the strange familiarity of this man's screams as he quickly pulled the trigger again, and then again-shooting the man in the other leg, then the right shoulder, before moving on to the other one.
...Akutagawa was still screaming...
And no one here made a move to help him. Here, surrounded by his enemies, no one came to Akutagawa's aid. 'This man really is a fool', Dazai silently thought to himself. It was fitting, really, that he should join his counterpart in death.
“Oh, Chuuya!” Dazai trilled in an inappropriately jubilant, sing-song tone. “How many was that?” He asked, immediately earning a scornful scoff of disapproval from his second-in-command.
“Four...” The gravity manipulator flatly deadpanned from behind him, clearly unamused and undoubtedly making some snide joke in his mind about how Dazai couldn't even count.
He could practically see the look on Chuuya's face, now. Not that he cared. It had been this way-in both realities-forever. Because the truth was that they both knew who was smarter.
“That's what I thought.” He smoothly replied to his subordinate's pithy answer with a grin to the wounded man beneath him.
He took a brief moment to relish the look in the young man's eyes. It was a look of one who knew they were going to die. That resignation to the end as they finally gave up fighting to live. Yes. It was in the eyes. This young man knew he'd just lost, and that there was no way for him to get out of this situation-alive.
If his counterpart's blood had become 'Mafia' black, then surely his own ran even darker than that. Dazai pondered over this a moment as he appraised Akutagawa's expression-this look in the man's eyes-in order to better appreciate it before doing what it seemed his counterpart never could, even at his worst.
Pointing the gun at the young man and pressing the end of it against his forehead, Dazai offered him an amused, wicked smile as he trilled in an upbeat tenor.
“I guess this makes five, then.” He happily declared as his smile turned into a full fledged grin. “Goodbye!” The twitch of his index finger heralded the man's death to the resounding shock-wave of the gun's discharge before the room grew eerily silent.
Placing the gun on the ground next to him as he rested his palm against it, Dazai drew in a faint breath before he eased himself up off of the young man's corpse to lean back and recline on his haunches. Then, he slowly stood up as the weretiger's gun remained on the floor where he'd left it. Staring down towards the dead body at his feet, Dazai didn't smile. He didn't laugh. He didn't speak. And-he didn't feel. Not revulsion or anger. Certainly not remorse. Not glee or a sense of satisfaction. Not even a sense of relief that it was all over and he'd managed to successfully thwart an attempt on his own life.
Like always, Dazai found himself left only with this sense of crippling emptiness. A complete and utter lack of feeling that ran so cold, and so deep, that he knew there was no end to it. There couldn't be. Because this nothingness-like an old, childhood friend-had been with him for as long as he'd been in existence: whenever that had happened...
The darkness wasn't merely a part of him, anymore. No. It had gotten hold of him long ago, and had taken its sweet time in consuming him from the inside. And now? He was that darkness. And he was just too tired, and too empty, to care any longer. All he had now was this emptiness inside of him, and the faintest shred of motivation to continue going through the motions.
At least for a little while longer...
He felt his lips attractively curve up in a faint smile that meant nothing as he cocked his head to the side while regarding the corpse on the floor. Then he reached out his hand to the side of him-palm up and fingers splayed-as he gently called to one of the women standing off to the side. She was a low ranking member of the group that surrounded him-and a pretty little thing that'd had her heart set on impressing him for some time now.
...Naomi...
Well, Dazai supposed that now was as good of a time as any to allow her the opportunity to do just that. Impress him. He looked up and turned his head towards her-completely oblivious and uncaring to the grotesque splattering of blood that speckled the pale skin of his face and neck-when she approached at his beckon call. She seemed nervous and unsure-perhaps even a little frightens-but she came to him anyway and took the hand he'd offered to her with the gentle smile that came with it.
Her hand was so soft and warm in his own. Or was it merely that his own hands had long grown cold like the rest of him? Perhaps. But that only made the sensation of this young woman's warmth and vitality all the more appealing to him as he gently tugged her closer to his side with that same charming smile as he gazed down at her from his added height.
“Shall we, my dear?” He lightly hummed this question, and placed his other hand along her hip before the young woman could reply as he began to carefully lead her in the steps of a simple ballroom dance.
The steps were a familiar and almost soothing pattern to him.
One
Two
Three
One
Two
Three
His gaze slid shut as he allowed his body to drift in this moment.
One
Two
Three
One
Two
Three
And he began to hum a soft tune to himself that fit these steps as a little smile of pleasure flickered along his lips while he guided the both of them in this impromptu waltz. Just like he'd promised, they danced graceful circles around the corpse on the floor as the bottoms of both of their shoes began to mark their steps in blood. He laughed. And he smiled. His melodic hums grew just a little louder as he guided both of their bodies in an elegant twirl that flared the ends of his long, black trench coat.
Oh, how he loved to dance.
Dancing with a beautiful woman was nearly as wonderful as making love to said woman. The way a female body moved when properly led in a dance-was something he'd always found entirely seductive. Which-he thought to himself-was probably why he liked dancing so much. As he continued to blissfully move around Akutagawa's dead body, Dazai wasn't deaf to the murmurings of his associates who observed this spectacle.
“Chuuya, sir..?” He heard the weretiger's quieter voice. “Has the boss lost his mind..?” Atsushi asked the gravity manipulator in a hushed tone, and Dazai thought he heard Chuuya scoff at this under his breath.
“That implies he had it to begin with, kid.” Chuuya replied, which caused Dazai's smile to grow.
Good.
Let them all believe he'd gone mad.
It wasn't as if they were entirely wrong.
Perhaps he'd lost his mind right along with everything else, and the last thing to go would be his will to live.
The End
