[ The words take a couple seconds to penetrate, but then he blinks. ]
Sorry. I'm good. ...You mean the butterfly? Is it a she?
[ He may be talking, but his voice is distant. I was erased from public cognition as unnecessary. That'll happen to Akechi, if Ren kills him. Maybe not literally, because this Akechi seems to mean it in a very concrete way, but that's essentially his fate. The leader of the Phantom Thieves kills himself, as he should. Goro Akechi disappears. The world resonates with emptiness. Like this fucking place, only real. Forever.
But if he doesn't kill Akechi, they'll come after him, and when they find him he'll wish he was dead. Trapped and chained, scrabbling at the walls until his fingers bleed, or else enslaved, killing and killing and killing until he lies down and doesn't get up again. And those are the best outcomes.
He can't accept either of those outcomes. All he can do is choose a third option, and he can't accept that one, either. But he's coming round to it with time. ]
no subject
Sorry. I'm good. ...You mean the butterfly? Is it a she?
[ He may be talking, but his voice is distant. I was erased from public cognition as unnecessary. That'll happen to Akechi, if Ren kills him. Maybe not literally, because this Akechi seems to mean it in a very concrete way, but that's essentially his fate. The leader of the Phantom Thieves kills himself, as he should. Goro Akechi disappears. The world resonates with emptiness. Like this fucking place, only real. Forever.
But if he doesn't kill Akechi, they'll come after him, and when they find him he'll wish he was dead. Trapped and chained, scrabbling at the walls until his fingers bleed, or else enslaved, killing and killing and killing until he lies down and doesn't get up again. And those are the best outcomes.
He can't accept either of those outcomes. All he can do is choose a third option, and he can't accept that one, either. But he's coming round to it with time. ]