Infighting Week One

[animusmods]

Characters: any character participating in the Infighting event
Setting: pods, week one of the event
Format: any
Summary: All week one Infighting event threads should go in here, to keep things organized.
Warnings: horror, trauma, experiment results, impossible geometry, cabin fever

[Group Information]
Dax's Pod
Riki's Pod
Jason's Pod
End of Week One

Comments

[fractus_animus]

[ ... Okay.

That's going too far, even for Minato. Normally? Normally he would let her have her ire. But... no. Not anymore.

Now he's mad. You are extremely fortunate he can't summon here, Zelda, because if he could, this room would be frozen solid.

Even so, with that, he hears voices in his head telling him otherwise. ]

You say that like I haven't been planning to kill everyone around me when I got the chance. Don't you dare act like you're mightier than me; like I'm some sort of monster. You're just being a naive fool and playing into what they want. In your eyes, maybe I am, too, but you know what? I'd like to see you watch people get sliced open awake and NOT figure that a month of suffering isn't better than an hour. I'd like to see you make the same choice when you watch people go through this, when your own head's been cut into and you're not even sure if you're thinking properly anymore.

[ He breathes, expression just as icy as Zelda's, now. These are the eyes of someone who has taken lives and hasn't enjoyed it any more than right now. ]

I wasn't aware he had anyone young depending on him, though--I regret that choice now, but I wasn't the only one who came to this decision. And you know what? You can hate me. You can call me a monster. But don't you dare drag my team into this. We've suffered through this before, countless times, over and over again.

We've had to take lives just to survive. You don't know what's that like. You don't know what it's like to be told your only option left to help people is to kill them. At least he'll be back in the Tower.

[ He narrows his eyes. ]

I don't care what you think of me. I've never been someone other people will 'like'. Not my sister, not you, not anyone else. In my head is the God of Death--and I honestly believed it would be better than suffering further mutation and horror.

I made a mistake.

But I won't make it again if I can take out everyone else with me. So don't you dare go there like I'm so self-righteous fucking zealot.

[sageprincess]

[And you are very fortunate her powers are disabled as well, Minato, because that fist would have been accompanied by a blaze of sacred flame had she had her magic.]

Naive, am I?

[She regards him with a tilt of her head.]

Allow me to tell you a story. When you and so many others were taken to that labyrinth, I formed a small band to break into the inner Tower. And we succeeded - we made it all the way to the outer wall of the labyrinth itself.

And then we encountered Jason. Since you are already aware of how cruel he can be, I shall not bore you with the details of out conversation, but I will say that he was not pleased with our effort to end his "experiment." He killed us, instantaneously, one by one, just by pressing a few buttons on some strange contraption.

Whatever you are planning do accomplish? He will not allow. He will render you useless before you are even able to begin.

[Gradually, her voice begins to quiet (though there's still bitterness in her words), as grief begins to well up once more.]

And no, you are right. I do not "know what it is like." But I would wager that if our positions were reversed, and it was I who gave the order for one of your loved ones to die, I doubt you would show any understanding, either.

[fractus_animus]

Bullshit. You think you know what I would or wouldn't feel?

[ He laughs quietly, though it's very mirthless and forced, and he spits some blood out on the ground. ]

I KILLED my own friends in that fucking Labyrinth. We're all nuts, every fucking one of us. I'm not even going to try to deny it. Our Personas try to kill us on a daily basis. We have to take medicine just to keep our heads semi-sane. I don't care what you think, it's worth a shot, and I will do anything in my power to save the people in my group. And you know what? If I can't do that, at least we might be able to band together and break as much as we can.

... Those of us who are still capable of disobeying, that is. I guess we'll see how many more people he's going to turn into unrecognizable monstrosities with no free will, no speech, and no sanity.

I would rather try than be his fucking pawn and just wait so he can modify us over and over and over again so he 'wins'. I've died repeatedly trying to find a way to get people OUT of this hellhole. I was with the first group who broke into the inner area of the Tower. I've been meticulously mapping every floor, every event and every thing I see just to warn others, just so they know.

[ Here, he just glares. ]

You 'normal' people? We're not a part of you. We never will be. None of my team and I. We've all resolved that. We were FORCED out of normality a long time ago. I did what I thought was right. And I'll admit that I think I deserve what I get, but I'll be damned if I ever let a girl who will never understand what taking another life is like tell me what I am when I already fucking know.

So you know what? I don't even care. You can hit me as many times as you want, but you're just doing what they want, anyway.

[sageprincess]

What do you think I am trying to do? Gloat that I got to meet such a horrific man personally? I am trying to warn you that if you go too far, you will only make things worse for both yourself and others! Goddesses only know why - perhaps because I feel I owe it to Minami, perhaps because for some absurd reason I still think I should repay you for the advice you once gave me.

But no matter.

[She turns, intending to leave once her final piece has been said. There is no point in refuting the words of a murderer.]

I may not know what taking someone's life is like, and honestly I pray I will never need to. But I do know what it is like to lose those who have placed their faith in you to lead and protect them, and I know how soul-crushingly painful it feels when you are helpless to do anything about it. If I am playing into their hands, then you are just as guilty as I.

Memento mori does not mean much when death is little more than a slap on the wrist, I suppose. Goodbye, Minato.

[And she steps off, heading straight for her pod.]

[fractus_animus]

[ ... Once that is over, he re-clenches his fists, banging his head against the wall.

He laughs quietly to himself once she's gone. ]

H-heh... burning bridges. Might as well have realized this would've happened eventually... after all, I'm...

[ He leads Strega.

He kills people.

He works for Revenge Request.

He is a monster. ]