Chapter Text
Being dead sure was boring.
Well, not exactly—Yuji was dead to everyone but Gojo, Nanami, and Ijichi, plus that one doctor. It wasn’t so bad with them. Still, it meant long stretches of time where he had nothing to do but wait, and waiting wasn't nice when his thoughts would drift off to Junpei and memories would begin to fly in unwanted.
Training helped with that. He’d been spending these past few weeks with Gojo-sensei, and whenever he needed to get out and breathe some nice fresh air, Nanami would take him along on missions. Those days were nice and easy. Hit the curse, exorcise it, and move on. No time to think.
Sometimes, in the quieter moments between tasks, Yuji couldn't help but wonder what everyone else was doing at Jujutsu High. What Megumi was training for, or whether Nobara was trying to drag him out on her latest shopping spree impulses. He knew that to be able to catch up with the years of experience the two friends of his no doubt have, he'd have to work his hardest with Gojo-sensei and Nanami. He tried not to miss them too much. It was easier to believe they were fine without him.
Ijichi was… there. Mostly just to transport him. Yuji honestly hadn’t had the chance to talk to him much, but their personalities didn’t mix very well whenever he tried. The man was always so tense and just plain boring.
If Yuji had to choose, he’d take exorcising curses over training with his sensei any day. It wasn’t that he was ungrateful—training with the strongest was amazing—but that title wasn’t given to Gojo-sensei for nothing. Every session left Yuji feeling like he’d barely escaped death, hurt and sore all over.
Still, Gojo had a way of smoothing things over afterward. Pizza, soda, a stack of movie CDs—and suddenly, being beaten into the ground by the strongest didn’t seem so bad anymore. Yuji hated it, however, whenever his sensei would walk in on a movie he was watching and spoil the whole ending—it almost made him lose control of the little teddy bear.
Yuji was snapped out of his thoughts as the car tires squealed to a stop in front of an ominous building, with a dim sign reading ‘Waara’s Arcade,’ barely legible with the deteriorating letters fearfully hanging on the remaining bolts.
“We’re here,” Ijichi said.
Yuji leaned forward in his seat, squinting at the building. From the outside, it didn’t look like much—just another abandoned storefront slowly being swallowed by dust and time. The vibes that the building was giving him felt exactly the same, or similar really, to the building his sensei had taken him and Nobara for their first mission.
“There was curse activity reported here,” Ijichi began as he parked the car. “This was an old arcade, the owner had reportedly gone i-insane about five years ago.”
“Really? How?” Yuji asked as he stepped out of the car and made his way to the front of the building. The closer he got, the stronger the sensation of wrongness and negativity became. There was definitely a curse here, somewhere inside the building. Where was it? He’d find out as soon as Ijichi created a curtain.
“Schizophrenia, I believe, is what the file said. Not much more information was given,” the window spoke, exiting the driver’s seat to catch up with the young sorcerer.
“Creepy.” Yuji cringed.
The suited man nodded, fixing his coat. “Indeed. If you find yourself to be in over your head in handling this curse, please, exit the building immediately. I apologize that I can’t be of any more support.”
““Nah, you’re good,” Yuji shrugged, flashing an easy grin. “I’ll beat this curse in no time, anyway!”
Of course, Yuji was well aware that Ijichi was truly useless. As a Window, he served no other purpose besides transporting sorcerers like him and casting barriers for sorcerers who still haven’t learned to do it themselves, like Yuji. If Yuji happened to be in trouble, Ijichi wouldn’t be able to do a single thing. The most he can do is transport him out of the area; the least would be to let him die and save himself instead.
Yuji didn’t really have a problem with that. Better him than both of them, after all. He was the only one out of the two who could ever even stand a chance in the first place.
The two stood outside of the building, and Ijichi turned to Yuji. “I’ll be outside the barrier, please be careful.”
Yuji nodded, rolling his shoulders and shifting his weight on the balls of his feet in an effort to warm up. Once doing so, the young teen proceeded to walk up the short steps leading up to the entrance of the arcade. The once seemingly clear plastic doors were now covered in years of dirt and grime, with the addition of multiple posters pasted on its doors, advertising for different services.
The window took a couple of steps backward, being mindful to create distance from him to the arcade and Yuji.
“Emerge from darkness, blacker than darkness. Purify that which is impure.”
After Ijichi’s chant, a pitch-black splotch appeared in the sky and descended to form the shape of a dome around the arcade and some surrounding land and buildings. An opaque barrier that prevents anyone standing outside of it from getting in, and vice versa, has been manifested with cursed energy.
Once the barrier was complete, Yuji let out a sigh, preparing himself mentally for whatever lay inside the building. His first approved solo mission, and this time, he will not die, nor will anyone else.
Taking a step inside, the smell hit him first: stale dust and rusted metal with a hint of something faintly sour, which Yuji hopes he never finds the source of. It had been neglected for a while, that much was obvious. There were old posters from games that had been released years ago that peeled off the walls. Arcade games with blackened screens and worn controllers sat in rows, slowly collecting dust.
The arcade must have been a popular place back in its time with its very apparent retro theme. One could imagine it back in its glory days, with loud music coming from each arcade game and kids and adults going around and playing against each other and using their hard-earned points to eventually try to buy the biggest plushie in stock.
Now, its only visitors seemed to be rats, and that one cursed spirit.
Who knows, maybe that patchwork curse himself was here.
_★彡_
Ah, the humble town of Nibleheim. A small town with an even smaller population, resting in between some of the tallest mountains in Gaia. Nibleheim’s only notable feature, aside from the Mako reactor up on Mount Nibel, which every other small town had a copy of, was the old Shinra Mansion.
Apparently, it had used to be the vacation home of President Shinra himself, many years ago, and once he grew uninterested it was promptly refurbished into a base of operations for other Shinra personnel. For what, no one really truly knows. Ask an adult, and they’ll tell you that they’ve got no idea, but that all the Turk personnel and the abundant number of scientists that would come were of the odd bunch—just city folk and their unfashioned customs. Of course, that doesn’t mean rumors haven’t sprouted decades after they left.
However, ask a child what they think of the Shinra Mansion, and they’ll tell you that it’s haunted, which is an expected conclusion to reach at first glance of the deteriorating mansion. To be a piece of property under the ownership of the Shinra Electric Company, it’s clear that the building has long since said goodbye to its glory days. Peeling paint, boarded windows, dead plants—the mansion was an eyesore that the mayor and the rest of the village wished were gone. Unfortunately, not much would ever be done, and that wish would remain just that, a wish.
For all that the mansion served as an eyesore, it made good entertainment for the young teens currently standing in front of its rusting gates.
A group of three boys stood, gathered around one raven-haired girl who wore a long blue sundress, amidst the cold weather. Each one of them seemed to be somewhere between twelve and thirteen years of age.
“I’ll go in there first, Tifa!” Yelled Emilio, the baker’s son.
Tyler, taller than the other, shoved him and said, “Tough chance! I’ll be going in there first!”
“Calm down, you two!” Tifa laughed. “I’d rather we all go in at once, it does look a little scary.”
“Yeah, but you know martial arts anyway, don’t you, Tifa?” Lester chimed in, “I heard there’s a monster in the mansion basement—think it’s actually true?”
“Your mom told you that to keep you from going in,” Emilio teased, snickering along with Tyler, “and it must have worked.”
“H-hey! There’s no way a monster isn’t in there, it’s like a hundred years old!” Lester protests petulantly. “Besides, I don’t see you guys walking in there.”
Tyler scoffed, “Pfft, you wanna be the sacrifice? Actually…” The teenage boy glanced behind the group to where the water tower sat, at the center of their small village, and spotted a young teen with spiky blond hair around their age sitting along the edge of it. “…Hey, Cloud!” He called, “Can you come real quick?”
From the perspective of the four friends, one could see Cloud glance over to their group, too far away at the moment to see any facial expressions clearly, but as the figure goes around the water tower and climbs down, walking closer to the group, one could notice that he had a face of uninterested boredom, but his tense shoulders spoke otherwise. “What?” He spoke, glancing up at Tyler, then the other two boys, warily.
“Hey, relax!” Tyler grinned. “We were just wondering if you wanted to come into the mansion with us since, y’know, you saved Tifa, after all—right?…or are you too much of a wuss?”
Cloud aimed a glare at Tyler, then Emilio after he snorted beside him. Cloud's mouth was open and ready to talk back to them, but the mounting irritation he was feeling quickly shattered when Tifa butted in.
“Yeah! With us four it’s still pretty scary,” she nodded enthusiastically, “so I’d feel better if you came along.”
Cloud stared at her, “I-I…” thrown off and left floundering for words, “…sure.” He relented, shoulders sagging. “…But won’t we get in trouble?”
“Only if the adults find out,” Lester grinned as Tifa, Tyler, and Emilio walked up ahead of them, “besides, Cloud, you of all people should be the one who doesn’t care — after that stunt you tried to pull.”
“Stunt?” Cloud spat, marching straight up to Lester, “you all left, remember?”
“Cloud, come on!” Tifa called, gesturing for him and Lester to walk over to the front gate, who both shared a glare while doing so. While they walked over Tyler had been attempting to push the rusted gates of the mansion open, and as Cloud reached it, Tyler had managed to shove it wide open. The group cringed as a squealing noise sliced through the air, coming from the oxidized hinges, and had Lester glancing behind them to assure that they hadn’t caught the attention of an adult who happened to be walking by their location.
By the time the gate doors had finished creaking open, the group had walked halfway past the front yard, and Cloud had made his way to walk by Tifa. “Tifa, are you sure about this?” He asked quietly, so as to not attract the attention of the three other rowdy village boys walking behind them.
Tifa nodded confidently, “Yeah! I can take care of myself, master Zangan has been showing me a lot, or are you doubting me?”
“N-no, just, there’s monsters in there,” Cloud reasoned.
“I don’t think so, and if there are, we just run.” Tifa nodded sagely.
“And if we can’t?”
“Well…” Tifa hummed, clasping her hands behind her back, swaying back and forth gently with her sky blue dress.
“I’ll fight it, you all don’t have to protect me anymore, but you’ll still be coming with us, right?” She asked a resigned Cloud, “I already am…” and the two — along with the three other boys — found themselves face-to-face with the imposing front door of the Shinra Mansion.
A moment of silence was spent staring up at the towering figure that the mansion had presented for the four children, sending a chill of trepidation through each one. Though, no one dared to mention the creeping fear that was felt in the atmosphere because no kid wants to admit or even give the illusion that they’re scared in front of a group of people who otherwise seem to be completely unaffected.
Tyler and the other boys seem to share a look at each other, exchanging a look that Tifa doesn’t notice, but has Cloud inching further back with a sensation of dread pooling in his gut. “I say Cloud goes first.”
“Great idea,” Lester agreed, “Cloud can do it, right?”
Cloud was already going to start shaking his head and had even opened his mouth to voice protest against this decision, he wasn’t the one who came up with this incredible idea after all, but Emilio sneered at him, “What, you feelin’ chicken?”
“No, are you?” Cloud retorted, walking up and bumping shoulders with Emilio as he passed him, but due to Cloud's lankier build, he stumbled whereas Emilio had only slightly shifted in position.
Cloud stopped right at the rusted gates, resting his hands on the cold oxidized metal. Sighing, Cloud pushed the gate doors open, cringing along with the rest of his group at the belated squealing that followed, permeating the quiet atmosphere in the air as they opened wide.
Glancing back at the group, Cloud took a deep breath in and walked trepidatiously past the rusted gates.
Not that he was a wimp, but hearing the footsteps of the other teens behind him helped soothe his hesitation and lingering doubts. Whatever happened, at least it would be all five of them facing it together, right? Because Cloud really didn’t feel like dying now, not when he feels like he’s finally finding some semblance of direction in his life, a way out of this stingy town that couldn’t care less about him or his mom.
The front yard wasn’t expansive, but the group still took their time keeping a watchful eye on the overgrown weeds and plant life that threatened to trip them for a carelessly misplaced foot, which would make noise and potentially alert the nosy neighbors that came with small towns like these.
The wide doors leading into the mansion were large and surprisingly untouched, either speaking volumes of the quality of the Shinra product or the sheer termite-killing cold that is everyday life here in Nibleheim. Of course, Cloud didn’t even bother turning around to face his fellow townsfolk; he knew that they would make him walk in first. Cloud rested both hands on the cold metal knobs of the double doors, and with a bit of effort, managed to push it wide enough for each of them to fit if they filed in one by one.
Cloud lifted his foot, hesitating, before setting it down firmly into the property of the mansion. He walked forward, trying his best to appear confident in front of the others — especially Tifa — as they followed behind them. The blond kept moving into the main hallway despite the permeating stench of death that seemed to have made itself at home in the rotting mansion. Once all inside, they crept inside the dimly lit mansion, the only source of light coming from in between the cracks of boarded windows and the space created by the opened doors of the mansion.
The group walked trepidatiously towards the base of the staircase that greeted them in the large main. To their left and right were halls leading to what was assumed to be different rooms once used by Shinra. The stairs leading up to the second floor also appeared to split into two different halls up above, but the staircases leading there seemed to be old with age, with rotting wood and missing planks of wood.
“Should we go upstairs?” Tifa asked the group, stopping right in front of the first set of stairs.
Cloud walked up to her, but was shoved by Tyler who moved to stand next to her instead, saying “C’mon Tifa — what if you fall again? — Your dad’ll kill us!”
Suddenly, the crack of sunlight that shone through the opened door was promptly blocked as the heavy wooden door swung shut behind them with a booming slam.
“Eeek!” Tifa jumped, head whirling to glance back at the door.
The boys flinched and whirled around to stare at the door. It didn’t seem to have been pushed by anyone, it could have just been the wind, but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have been something.
Cloud shared a glance of trepidation with them, clearly regretting ever even having dared to step outside today, and everyone else seemed to finally get on the same page that he was on.
Emilio was the first to move out of the bunch, yelling “I’m outta here!” as he made a break to the doors. However, he was promptly pulled back from the sleeve by Cloud, who was glaring at him with a steadily mounting panic in his eyes.
“Shuddup!” Cloud hissed, “You’re gonna alert the monsters!”
“Don’t tell me ya’ believe in that stupid nonsense, too!” Tyler spoke with no concern to staying silent. He roughly grabbed Cloud’s hand, pulling it off of Emilio’s sleeve. “Pops said that there ain’t been no monster here else he and the other men would know ‘bout it!”
Cloud wrestled his hand out of Tyler’s grip, “You don’t know that—!”
Tyler cut him off, grabbing his arm again, pulling him closer with an ugly sneer, “Yeah I do! It’s not like you’ve got a pop to tell ya, do you?”
“At least my mom’s not a –”
“Guys?” Tifa interrupted, already pointing to the entrance behind Cloud and Tyler.
Turning around with Tyler, Cloud felt his blood go cold as he took in the sight. There wasn’t much light anymore, but in the shadows created by the closed doors, he could make out a tall pale figure. It had dark protruding apparitions — almost like makeshift fleshy wings — arms too long to be human, and long black nails that clicked against the wooden floor. And not one — but two heads.
Cloud had read about this, in the book his mom had given to him for his birthday titled “Weaponry and Monster Encyclopedia,” a book produced by Shinra that Cloud knew his mom had to have worked tirelessly in order to find and afford. ‘Dangerous’, he remembers reading, ‘each side opposite of each other, yet perfectly working together in tandem to create a deadly combination…
Yin Yang.’
One of Shinra’s lab failures, or as they had worded it in the book, a trial run that was held in an effort to create military grade monsters. But — it couldn’t have survived this long in the mansion, it shouldn’t even be here in the first place. Their creation has been said to have been long since discontinued by the Shinra corporation, and even then the mansion was only meant to be a vacation home for the president, wasn’t it…?
Dispelling that train of thought, Cloud returned to the present, taking a fearful step back as he stared right at the smiling and frowning faces. Glancing at the rest of the group, he was a little relieved to find out that he wasn’t the only one visibly scared, and – much to his relief – Cloud found Tifa to be standing behind him and the other boys.
The atmosphere was tense, neither party moving, until one did.
All claims of bravery were forgotten as Emilio spun on his heel and made a break for the stairs and broke the group of children into chaos. Lester and Tyler were fast to react to Emilio’s sprint, and Tyler had pushed Cloud back with an elbow to his side as he did so.
“Cloud!” Tifa turned around and called in concern as she made her way up the rickety stairs.
Yin Yang was quick to react to the ruckus, making a mad dash toward Cloud who was straggling behind as he tried to scale the stairs as fast as possible. “Tifa run!” Cloud yelled. The last thing that needed to happen was for Tifa to misstep and fall through the unkept staircase.
Ironically, too preoccupied worrying for Tifa, Cloud missteped and felt his lower body drop through a hole, just barely managing to catch himself from falling through as he held a painful grip on the edge of the broken staircase. He grunted as he tried to hoist himself up from the hole, with increasing panic with each unsuccessful attempt. He glanced up and saw that the rest of the group had made it up, and felt a surge of relief at the sight of Tifa at the top of the stairs as well. Her eyes were filled with alarm and worry as she tried to make her way downstairs, but was held back by Tyler and Emilio, eventually making her settle for a conflicted stance.
Alas, it was too late for anything, as Cloud felt a sharp pain at being grabbed by the hands of the Yin Yang which hoisted him into the air without care. Cloud was unable to struggle as he felt the sharp nails constrict his chest, pushing the air out of his lungs and leaving him with only enough strength to kick weakly at its arms. Was he really going to die like this? In this ugly mansion and leaving him mom all by herself? He could feel the world going dark as his vision began to blur by the edges, until a flash of blue light suddenly enveloped his sight.
The next thing Cloud knew was the feeling of getting dropped unceremoniously against the ground. He coughed as he desperately gasped in the dusty air. And then another flash of blue shone out of the corner of his eyes, following the noise of a resounding crack and the screech of the Yin Yang.
Cloud snapped his head around to be met with the sight of someone in a bright red hoodie who dodged the sloppy swing that came from the Yin Yang, before immediately dealing another devastating blow with a fist engulfed in blue flames into the monster’s chest. Cloud couldn’t do anything but gaze in awe at watching him dance around the very monster that was about to kill him.
Two last booming blows to each face was enough to bring the Shinra monstrosity tumbling down. Cloud only half registered the monster as it dissolved into gentle green lights, dissipating into the lifestream, focusing on its opponent who was currently giving the downed monster an odd look.
Cloud could immediately tell that he was not from here, it was extremely obvious. Not only is having bright clothing like that hoodie incredibly expensive around these secluded areas – it’s also incredibly stupid. It’s like you’re asking for the Niblewolves to come and eat you for breakfast, it’s a lot more smart to wear brown or lighter shades of clothing. Not only that, but his hair was pink. Blonde hair was already odd enough around these parts, but pink hair? That was completely unheard of. Also – what was with the blue fire? All this time he believed that fire materia was red, could it possibly be another level above firaga? Cloud’s internal rambling was suddenly cut off as he noticed that the pink-haired guy had moved to stand in front of him, offering him a hand of assistance.
“Are you okay?” The pink-haired boy, who in reality didn’t seem to be that much older than Cloud, asked in concern as he glanced down at Cloud’s scraggly form on the ground.
There are many ways in which Cloud should have responded to this, either by affirming he was alright or simply thanking him. However, as Cloud took the offered hand in his and was hoisted up without much effort by the person in front of him, he could only ask one thing as he looked into those concerned eyes:
“Are you a SOLDIER?”