towerofanimus | I'll be the one to crucify you

Entry tags:

I'll be the one to crucify you

Characters: Ryoji Mochizuki and you!
Setting: Various. Just pick a floor!
Format: Any
Summary: Ryoji begins patrolling the tower as part of his duties as a Group B drone.
Warnings: Brainwashing, body horror, and surgical modifications. Ryoji's also killing people that are disobedient and/or associated with death, so there's going to be lots of violence and murder.

A: Dormitory Floors (not malfuctioning)

Ryoji knows it's been about a week since he's been on the dormitory floors. He disappeared on the eighth, after one of those retrieval units kidnapped him. Jason was experimenting on people, and Ryoji had been one of them. It was extremely painful, but that didn't matter at all. He's not hurting anymore, and he's not upset. He's grateful, in fact. It's been so long since he was anything more than a burden to others. The administrators have given him worth now, and he is going to make sure he doesn't take that for granted.

He makes his round through the dormitory floors, never faltering, not even when someone he should know tries to get his attention. His job is more important than that. Sometimes he'll catch a resident misbehaving or a worker unit failing to accomplish its duties, and he'll approach, one hand poised to pull out the scythe embedded in his head and cut down the offender. Other than that, he just walks, small puddles of acid leaving a trail to show where he's been and where he has yet to be.

B: Any other floor (malfunctioning)

He has no idea how he got up here. He was supposed to be patrolling the residence floors, not anywhere else. Yet he's here now, and he stands still a few moments trying to understand why...

And then, suddenly, he can feel it. Death, all around him, hanging around each person like a fog. The sensation is almost overwhelming, sickening. So much death, ready to take away the souls trapped in the Tower in an instant. Every single resident here is fated to die...

And well, Ryoji can provide that, right? All these residents here were avoiding their fate, and wasn't that against the rules? He had to punish those who misbehaved. It would be cruel, but they deserved it. Every last one of them.

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[Waver must have forgotten. It's so easy for Ryoji to stand up, walk through his barrier, and slice clean through Waver's neck, cutting his vocal cords. Another swing, and Ryoji has cut through the man's stomach. He knows the man is dead already, yet he keeps slicing through different parts of his body, seemingly unable to stop. He lets the blood splash over the sword and his clothing without any concern or any change in his expression at all.

It's a few minutes before he's mangled the body enough, before the death omen disperses with the finality of Ryoji's blows, and he finally lowers his sword, staring at Waver.]

I should have dealt a less fatal blow first. You should have be awake for your punishment...

[He swiftly turns back to Diarmuid, eyes trained on the servant once more. Now there will be no more interruptions.]

This isn't happening.

[The words cycle over and over in his mind. Even as Waver's body hits the floor, even as Ryoji turns his full attention back on him, Diarmuid can do nothing but sit there and stare.]

This isn't happening.

[He tries to speak, but the words catch in his throat. There is so much blood. On the walls, on the floor, dripping off the blade in Ryoji's hand.

The blade that had been a gift from the man it had just killed.]

This isn't happening.

[Diarmuid should have been able to do something to prevent it, but it had happened anyway. The fading compulsion from the command spell and the sudden lack of another person linked to him confirms it no matter now much he tires to deny it.

And he is trying. So hard, but in the end that emptiness across their link is what finally bring it all crashing home. He's alone again. Even though Waver will come back, for now, Diarmuid is alone.

His eyes finally meet Ryoji's, but there is something very wrong with them.]

I won't be alone for long.

[They are just as dead as Ryoji's are.]

Now it's my turn, right? You will send me to join him, Son?

[He can't give up living without a fight, but this is a last ditch desperate effort to bring the boy Diarmuid knows to the back to the surface, and it's an effort he can't say he really thinks will work.

Honestly, he doesn't want it to...]

[Blood and acid trails behind Ryoji as he slowly walks over to Diarmuid. There's no rush now, and there had never been a reason to make this quick. Waver was only silenced so swiftly because that spell would have let Diarmuid escape. That was unacceptable.

He felt no remorse about what he'd done to the magus, and what he was about to do to Diarmuid. It was his job, after all. He wouldn't feel upset about delivering fate.

Strange, though... one look into the servant's hopeless eyes and that screaming in his head came back. It should have drowned out whatever the older man had said, but Ryoji heard it so clearly, and dully noticed that it got louder as soon as he was called 'Son', though he had no idea why.]

I will. But not as soon as you would like. You need to understand what you did is wrong. You must repent before I let you pass.

Before I start... why did you call me that? Why did you call me your son?

[And why does that screaming in Ryoji's head sound so much like his own voice?]

I already know what I have done wrong. You need not tell me what I already know.

[His voice is as dead as his eyes. Honestly, Diarmuid should be terrified that it sounds like Ryoji is planning on torturing him before killing him. However, he feels nothing. No fear. No anger. Nothing.

No, that is wrong. He does feel one thing.

Satisfaction.

Diarmuid has failed to help his brother. Indeed, he had run away. He has failed to save Waver. He'd done nothing as his master had been butchered in front of him. It doesn't matter that in both cases there had been really nothing he could do and his efforts had only gotten him hurt worse.

He still had failed them all.

But...maybe not Ryoji? The boy has paused now to question him even though Diarmuid hadn't really had any hope that his words would reach him.

Maybe he can save someone after all?]

I call you son, because to me you are one. Even more important than the fact that you look somewhat like my boys did physically, you have the same heart as them. You refuse to give up even when you are at a disadvantage. If you have a goal, it will be done especially if you are trying to protect someone. You are a beautiful person, Ryoji. I don't care what the administrators have done to you. I know you are still there somewhere. Please, listen deep inside yourself...

[Ryoji doesn't respond for a long while. He might have moved, might have let a confused look flicker across his face, might have said something or touched Diarmuid, but he can't. He doesn't know what to feel upon knowing that the man he was about to ruthlessly kill thought of him as a son. Maybe sadness? Anger? Confusion? Who knows if he could feel anything anymore, or if he could even focus on that amidst all the screaming in his head.

After a moment though, he slowly shakes his head.]

I do not hear what you claim I should hear. I do have a goal, however, and that is to completely obey the administrators.

[There is no hesitation as Ryoji plunges the sword into Diarmuid's stomach.]

[No, he had heard. Heard and understood. Diarmuid is sure of this, but like with his brother, it's completely obvious now that Ryoji can't break whatever control the administrators have over him. None of this is his fault.]

Of course, not. It is my fault for being a such a weak fool.

[That is why, when Ryoji plunges the sword into Diarmuid's stomach, he makes no sound, merely gritting his teeth together until he manages to focus enough to drive the pain back. He may be about to die painfully for his failings. That is fine. What is not fine is allowing the part of Ryoji who knows what is going on, but can do nothing, to suffer for that.]

It is all right, Ryoji. I understand.

[His voice is tight with pain, but amazingly, he manages too keep it from shaking too much.]

I know you can hear me. This isn't your fault. No matter what happens, I will not blame you. You will always be a son to me.

Don't be afraid. It will be over soon.

[It's okay if Diarmuid doesn't make a sound. There's enough noise in Ryoji's head to make up for the lack of pained screaming outside. His entire being is telling him to kill the man, fulfill destiny, erase that deathly fog hanging around the Tower... and yet some very small part is saying no. Something is saying this is wrong, and it confuses Ryoji greatly. What he was doing was what the administrators wanted and the administrators were always right...

For some reason, that statement, before so doubtlessly being repeated in his head before, now slows in its repetition. Funny how it now seems so unsure.

...Unfortunately, even then, Ryoji can't find the means to listen to the him that Diarmuid seemed to be addressing. He simply lets his programming take over again, and lets his hand move the blade slowly upwards, leaving a long thin cut up the middle of Diarmuid's body.]

[It's harder to remain silent with that blade slowly cutting it's way up through his body--through skin, through muscle, through organs and bone--but somehow Diarmuid manages it. His eyes are squeezed tightly shut though that doesn't stop the tears that stream down his face. Very soon that blade will find his heart and it will be all over.

Not even a servant can live with their heart cut out.]

It's all right.

[Honestly, with as much damage as has been done to him, it's amazing Diarmuid can still talk even weakly.]

Don't be afraid. I am not angry. I-I love you. You are my little boy. It will be all right.

[He pauses just before he allows the blade to cut through the heart, and removes the sword carefully. He starts considering what part of Diarmuid's body to mangle next, but when the servant speaks, he suddenly can't think of that anymore. His hand holding the weapon is shaking, and he watches it with clear confusion etched across his face.

He grabs his trembling arm with the other to hold it steady, and when he speaks, his voice trembles as well, with some emotion that doesn't show on his face, one that he can't remember feeling like this.]

Stop saying things like that. You're hurting me.

[He has no idea why it hurts so badly... He wants to be on the other end of the blade rather than Diarmuid.]

[Soft, sad laughter bubbles from his lips, much like the blood that is starting to stain them red. Of course, he stopped short of the instant kill. And the fact that Diarmuid feels so disappointed at that makes him sick.

Just more proof of how much of a coward he is. Wanting to escape his punishment so easily... How disgusting.

And Ryoji's words. Of course, Diarmuid's hurting him. Since when can he do anything right? Why does he ever try?

A coward and a failure forever.

Somehow, he manages to gather enough strength lift his head and look Ryoji in the eyes. Somewhere he finds the strength to whisper what will probably be his last words.]

I'm sorry.

[Ryoji would tell him that wasn't true if his normal self had control, but right now, he'd agree with that. A coward would avoid this punishment.

...And a coward would stop giving it to him just because of a bit of chaos in his head, a bit of a feeling that something is terribly wrong.

Ryoji grits his teeth and slices into Diarmuid's legs, cutting off skin with a precision he wouldn't have while in control of himself.]

Apologies won't change anything. I already explained that I need to punish you.

[But he doesn't want to... he just can't stop. He can't ever stop, that would be doing wrong, and then he'd be punished. Never mind that this slow execution he was carrying out seemed to be torturing Ryoji somewhere deep inside as well.]

I understand.

[He mouths the words, but there is no sound. One generally needs air to talk and air is something he is struggling very hard for right now. He's fading quickly. In fact, he can hardly feel the blade as it slices into his legs. Red clouds his vision before if fades into darkness completely. Diarmuid's eyelids flutter open and closed trying to clear it, but it's an effort made in vain.

Despite the fact that he can't move, a shudder rips through his body drawing a pained sound form his mouth. It's the last sound he will make and after the shudder fades he falls very still. Diarmuid's not quite gone yet, but he knows this feeling very well.

He will be dead soon. At the back of his mind, memories of the past call to him trying to give him a way to escape the pain of what is going on. This time, though, Diarmuid refuses to accept the invitation. He isn't going to run this time.

He refuses to run this time.]

[He can tell Diarmuid's almost gone. He can tell he's fading away, that though he's still, he is still suffering a little while longer. He refuses to let the sweet release of death take him just yet...

And maybe that, finally, is what makes Ryoji break. He doesn't want to do this anymore, and he has to, but that's wrong. There's some very tiny part of him that's gotten louder and told him that this is all wrong, and though he can't quite hear it, and he can't quite do what it says and stop acting like this, it's still enough.

It's enough to have him halt in ripping up Diarmuid's legs. It's enough to have him move the sword back up in one fluid motion and stab it down into Diarmuid's heart. It's enough to get him to end all this now.

It's a shame that it doesn't let him finally feel something. As soon as he's plunged the sword down, he's lifting it back out of the body and getting to his feet. He's covered in blood now, but he doesn't notice that. The fog of death around Diarmuid is gone now, and the screaming is gone with it. Ryoji's job is done. There's nothing left for him to do here.]

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I'll be the one to crucify you

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