Requiem aeternum, bullets right through the sternum...

[crouching_sin]

Characters: Naoya and you
Setting: Starting in room 4-20, and then various places around the tower! (Backdated to yesterday I am a slow turtle.)
Format: Starting with prose, but I'll match you.
Summary: Naoya wakes up in the tower and actually glad at the message. He then sets out to explore the tower.
Warning: Naoya is a warning. But okay - blasphemy, massive Devil Survivor spoilers, crazy laughter… I'll edit it if need be!


[Room 4-20]
Naoya stayed still while the paralysis passed, and rose from the bed, looking down at the letter next to him. He opened it, reading its contents.

"… Destroyed. … Destroyed? Ahaha… haha…" He clutched letter tightly in his hand, laughing in a mixture of relief and pure madness. As long as it were true - and oh he hoped it was - then it was likely He was dead.

"Time to learn where I am…" He turned and looked at the chest at the end of his bed, opening it. … Good. His clothes were there and he could get out of this stupid outfit. He put his cloak up as a privacy barrier and started to change.



[Floor 3]
A library, hm? Naoya walked along the aisles in the darkness, peering at the titles. No history… hm. Disappointing. He would have liked to find out more about this place the easy way. Ah, well. He could find it the hard way.



[Floor 22]
In the darkness, Naoya could make out a few of the paintings. Some of them looked familiar. He walked along further, and stopped, staring at one of the paintings.

A blue-haired boy with cat-like headphones in a white cloak stands above a group of people, blood running on the ground. A golden light shines out from behind him, and Naoya sneers.

"Idiot. He thought that this would be the right way to use this power. Haha… hahaha…"

He reaches out, grabbing the painting and pulling it off the wall in strips, throwing them on the ground.



[Hallways]
A group of Miniblins stands in front of Naoya. He smirks and lifts a hand, gazing down at the pathetic creatures.

"Too weak. You guys get a game over."

Energy gathers into his hand, and he lets the Megidolaon go, the sound of the explosion ringing through the hallway. He chuckles, and steps over their charred forms.

Comments

[death_awaits_you]

"... was he your friend?" The way this stranger speaks, it doesn't sound like the boy on the canvas was an enemy, but Ryoji's not sure, and he find himself curious.

[crouching_sin]

He goes quiet for a few moments, and then chuckles. "Friend? No. He was family. My little brother."

Naoya stares down at the canvas strips, shaking his head. "He made quite the foolish decision. As if submitting to a god that cared not for human free will would ever be a wise decision."

[death_awaits_you]

"Oh... I'm sorry to hear that."

The way Naoya speaks, it sounds like his little brother is dead thanks to that foolish decision, which is sad, Ryoji thinks, but certainly inevitabel. After all, everyone dies eventually, right? Still... it does seem to hurt people when someone they care for dies.

"I hope he is at rest now."

[crouching_sin]

"Don't be." His tone turns cold, and he kicks aside some of the strips. "And if souls are destroyed when worlds are, he is. If not... well. He'll have to live with siding with such a cruel and malicious God."

[death_awaits_you]

"I don't believe our worlds are actually destroyed, but... what did this god do that was so awful?" Ryoji is still curious, meeting someone this obviously bitter.

[crouching_sin]

Naoya just looks suddenly tired, and he closes his eyes as he speaks. "... A very long time ago, there were two brothers. One was a farmer, and one was a shepherd. The shepherd offered his finest lamb to God, while the farmer offered his best fruits. God favored the shepherd, because what He wanted was blood. He asked the impossible of the farmer, knowing blood did not run in crops! And so the farmer slew his brother in a fit of anger, and God cursed him with eternal memory and with living torture. For many years the farmer tried to break the curse, and yet God refused to lift it, preferring to see this murderer suffer until the end of time. And so the farmer turned even further away from God, consorting with demons in an effort to find another way."

"He came to the conclusion that the only way to end the curse was to slay the one who had placed it on him. And so he waited until the demons would fight each other and a king would rise. His brother, or a piece of him, had been reborn nearby, and so he tried to guide his brother towards his side. But his brother, though he now qualified to fight with the demons, refused to join his brother, instead spurning him to join with the God that cursed the farmer. God had taken everything from the farmer - his ability to connect with people, his ability to till the land, his brother... and even the forgetfulness of death. And that is why God is such a cruel deity."

[death_awaits_you]

"... I'm sorry for bringing up painful memories, but... thank you for telling me." Ryoji falls silent again for a moment or two as he thinks over the story. "That god sounds very cruel... How long -- has it been since you were the farmer?"

[crouching_sin]

"It doesn't matter who knows here. Even if the world isn't destroyed, I'll be hunted, and no one will give shelter to me for fear of the wrath of the Messiah and the angels."

He opens his eyes, staring back at Ryoji. "About five thousand five hundred years, give or take a few centuries."

[death_awaits_you]

Ryoji frowns and seems sad to hear that. "... that's a very long time to remember, but -- if any angels try to hunt you here, I'll give you shelter. I ... don't know if I can give very much. I only have my part of a dorm room, but I'm sure I could protect you from at least some angels!"

He seems quite genuine in his desire to help. There is probably some strange irony here that Death is willing to shelter Naoya from God's servants.

[crouching_sin]

He stares for a moment, and then laughs. It's a rare laugh, one that isn't mocking. It's more disbelieving than anything, but it's progress!

"Do you mind telling me your name, then? I can sense that you're more... but the name you go by will do."

[death_awaits_you]

"My name is Ryoji Mochizuki," he says with some cheer, though that fades a little as he pauses and regards Naoya for a moment. "You told me your story, so I think I owe you the truth. I am the amalgam of Shadows known as Death, and where I'm from, I nearly ended the world in answer to the collective human despair." A slight smile comes back, though, as he adds, "But a very amazing person was able to achieve a miracle and prevent it."

[crouching_sin]

"... Heh. I know you quite well, and yet not enough at all, in that case. Still... an interesting story. And yet the world has, supposedly, been ended. I suppose the miracle was for nothing, in that case."

[death_awaits_you]

He shakes his head, still smiling. "I don't believe for a minute that my world's really ended. I'm pretty sure I would have been aware of it happening. I think maybe I wound up here because with the seal in place, there is nothing for me to do but sleep and drift."

There is also a fair amount of sheer unwillingness to believe it on his part. The idea of the world ending just after it has been saved is one he refuses to really consider at this point. He's too full of hope for that.

[crouching_sin]

"If my world hasn't ended, then when I return I'll be hunted. If it has, I'm free. I don't want to take them at their word, but when the chance of God's death is there... heh. I'll use my last bit of hope to hope that it's true, though I won't throw away common sense."

He pauses for a moment, before chuckling. "I just want to rest. Death has never been the forgetful rest it should be, for me."

[death_awaits_you]

Ryoji is silent for a few moments at that. "I'm sorry. I hope that someday soon you will get the rest you crave. If I could give it to you, I would, but I'm told that death doesn't last in this place and that it isn't very restful besides..."

[crouching_sin]

"... It... doesn't?"

Naoya goes still for a moment, eyes widening. "If it doesn't last here... and my world is destroyed... how am I going to..."

He presses his face into his hands, trying to gather his thoughts. He starts laughing a little unsteadily.

"H... hah... and of course we can't leave... so I'll remember over and over again... of course. Of course He would have this final victory over me... one in which I could never even have the chance to fight back... h... haha..."

[death_awaits_you]

Ryoji stops, watching Naoya with sad concern. He does not like to see others suffer, and here is Naoya suffering before his eyes in a way he doesn't know how to help. He does not think he can grant the same forgetfulness here that he could as far as the Dark Hour was concerned.

"... we will find a way out of here someday, and we will find a real end for you," he says at length, and he speaks as though he believes what he's saying, quiet but sure.

[crouching_sin]

He falls quiet for a moment. He hadn't expected Death to be so sympathetic. His own end had been prolonged far more than it should have been, so if anything he would have expected Death to be annoyed with him... and yet here they were. He can't quite understand it, but he is somewhat grateful.

"... I appreciate it." He's just so tired. He wants his rest, and he doesn't even care where his soul ends up after everything. He's had enough.

[death_awaits_you]

Ryoji simply nods quietly and puts a hand briefly on Naoya's shoulder before giving the man a bit of space again.

"... until then, what name would you prefer me to call you? It sounds like you have had many."

[crouching_sin]

"Naoya is the name I've been given in this incarnation. It works fine for me now." Though he'll honestly respond to nearly anything, given that it's directed at him and not insulting.

[death_awaits_you]

"Then I will call you Naoya. If ever you wish to be called something else, please let me know. And I am glad to meet you, even if this is not the most ideal place and - this is not the sort of meeting with me that I think you would prefer."