With Korex's mind firmly and forcefully captured, Akagi got to work breaking him. The Demon was limited in how she could attack the God's mind, largely because he was using an illusion with a tenuous connection. She could inflict so serious psychological damage on the Lord of Murder, but how much of an impact it would have in the long run was sothing that not even Akagi's powerful calculation powers could tell her. However, that did not dissuade her from trying as hard as possible, and she figured that by the end of it Korex would agree that it was a horrific experience.
"Well, I suppose that's that." Akagi said, washing her hands of the matter with an over dramatic dusting. "I didn't actually think we'd be dealing a severe blow to another God today, but I don't mind such a pleasant surprise." She smiled as she looked at the strange landscape around her. The Demon did not venture into the deepest portions of her mind very often, for good reason, and even she didn't find this place comforting. "You know... Now that I think of it, I don't think I've ever gone this deep before." She said while looking at the strange sight of thunderclouds rolling in while reality seed to glitch and reform in the distance.
{So this is what my mind looks like at the very bottom? I guess that makes sense. After all, I am completely fucked in the head. I'm still not sure why everything seems to transition from strange to stranger though. I an, what's up with the crazy monsters exploding through mountains? Oh well, don't think about it.} (Akagi)
"Whatever, I should leave this place. There's nothing in here I need to bother with..." Akagi said as she turned, preparing to leave as she floated into the air.
{After all, there are plenty of mories that should remain locked away. Plenty of mories...} (Akagi)
As she prepared to leave her mind and return to reality, Akagi halted in place as she heard a familiar voice echo just behind her
"Don't talk back to !" Shima yelled, her words causing Akagi to spin around just in ti to catch the sight of Shima yelling at her past self in the living room. Not far from Akagi was a slightly warped image from the past, a mory of a ti not that long before the events of FWO. It was a mory that the Demon had long since tried to push down, though hearing Shima's voice instantly brought it flooding back.
"I wasn't I was just-" Rishia paused her attempt to explain herself, knowing it was pointless to feed into the discussion since her Mother wouldn't listen.
"I don't want to hear you speak!" Shima yelled, her voice loud enough to make Rishia wince. "Your grades were already enough to embarrass the family, but now you bring ho this!" She slamd her hand down on the end table where a small folded paper sat. It was a note from Rishia's horoom teacher requesting to et with Shima and Taichi. They were apparently concerned with her lack of plans post-graduation and the fact that she'd not applied to any schools or responded to questions about her future plans. "I don't have ti to waste on you! Kana will be busy taking high school entrance exams that morning! If your little stunt here impacts her in any way..." She balled up her fist in anger, wanting to punch Rishia in the face but refraining from doing so.
"You can just tell them you can't make it..." Akagi replied, attempting to give her an out.
"It's too late for that!" Shima growled. "Why didn't you just lie? Now you're troubling and your Father with your worthlessness! Argh! Why on Earth do I have to put up with you? I can't wait for you to turn eighteen so you're no longer my problem!"
"As if you put any effort in to begin with." Rishia said under her breath, which caught Shima's attention since she wasn't as quiet as she thought..
"What was that? Don't give that look!" Shima said, getting in Rishia's face. "You're nothing but a worthless child! You don't have the right to take such a tone with !" She continued her tirade against Rishia, all while the girl stood there and took it as her eyes glazed over. She'd entered a repression mode in an attempt to get past the latest blow-up, sothing Rishia had done many tis by this point.
As this was going on Akagi watched from the outside as her mory played in front of her, eventually finding herself walking toward and into the mory unconsciously.
"I rember this day..." Akagi said as she listened to Shima's rant, her nonexistent blood boiling with each word that spilled from her Mother's mouth. "FWO was scheduled to co out a week later... I'd gotten into the Alpha... And Shima fucking blew up over this damd parent-teacher eting." She bit her lip in anger, the Demon's words dripping with vitrol. "It ended up being a joke too since the teacher just asked them to sit down with and 'discuss' my future more concretely. Shima and Taichi put on a sympathetic face and even gave so pretty bald-faced lies about their concern and my future plans, but in the end, the whole thing was a massive nothing burger. Kana got to that stupid testing center on ti, and nothing went wrong." She said, giving a defeated laugh. "Well, except for getting an earful during the car ride followed there followed by being forced to walk back to the house as punishnt for wasting their ti."
{My feet fucking killed after that one, and I got yelled at for that truck getting my clothes all muddy...} (Akagi)
"I should've never had you!" Shima scread, snapping Akagi out of her thoughts. “If only you'd-”
"Oh shut the hell up!" Akagi roared as she attempted to grab Shima's neck to make her shut up, but found that her hand went straight through. "Yeah... mory... Can't exactly change the past..." She sighed as she watched her younger self take more verbal abuse. "Dammit..."
{I don't want to fucking watch this... I... I can see it in my eyes... I'm holding it back and hiding it well... But... I'm... I was on the verge of tears... But crying... I know just how bad it would get if I...} (Akagi)
"No..." Akagi said, her words almost completely silent but filled with hatred and anger. "No. No. No. NO!" She exploded. "This is my mind! My mory! And I will not just stand here and watch this! This place bends to my will and I refuse to do nothing I refuse to just stand here!" She scread before slamming her fists into Shima's face and sending her flying across the room, knocking her out as she hit the wall and breaking a few items on nearby tables from the impact. "GO FUCK YOURSELF YOU UNGREATFUL BITCH!"She scread her voice distorting as she walked over to the unconscious and wounded Shima. "HOW'S THAT?!? HUH?!? DOES IT FEEL GOOD?!? ARE YOU FUCKING HAPPY, YOU BITCH?!? AIN'T SO TALKATIVE NOW, ARE YOU?!?"
"W-Who..." Rishia stamred as she looked on with wide eyes, confused. "You..." She found herself unable to speak, but before she could process anything else Rishia was pulled into a hug by Akagi.
"It's alright... She can't hurt you anymore..." Akagi said as she squeezed her past self, finding it a strange but joyful experience. "You don't need to hold it in anymore... Its okay... Its okay..."
Hearing her words, Rishia began to tear up before crying and then finally sobbing. It was an ugly kind of cry that most people never got to see in their lives, the result of years of pent-up emotions that finally broke through to the surface. Embraced by Akagi, Rishia cried and cried and cried for a good fifteen minutes until she finally cald down enough for the Demon to speak with her. Naturally, Akagihadn't really thought any of this out when she willed her mory to beco 'real' and was now trying to figure out what to do from here.
"Here, take this." Akagi said as she handed her past self a tissue.
"T-Thank you..." Rishia said, her face flush from crying. "But... Who... Are... No... Are you... ?" She asked, her words filled with confidence as she figured out who the mysterious woman next to her was.
"I really was sharp, even back then." Akagi laughed her face showing a bit of pride. "Yeah kid, I'm you... The spooky you of the future. Oooooo."
"Do I even want to know how I got to look like that?" Rishia asked with a sigh.
"It's... It's a long story..." Akagi said, putting her hand to Rishia's head and giving her a pat. "I don't even know why I'm doing this, but here..." She said, giving her past self enough mories to understand the current situation.
"Ah... I... I... I see..." Rishia said, taking a mont to let the new information sink in. “That...”
"Co on, let's go for a bit of a walk." Akagi said as she stood up, not allowing her mory self the ti to completely think things over. "I don't think either of us want to stay in this house any longer than we need to." She said, glancing at the still unconscious and bleeding Shima.
"S-Sure..." Rishia said as she slowly stood up and followed Akagi outside. "Where are we going anyway?"
"Dunno." Akagi shrugged as they started walking up the sidewalk together. "We could really go anywhere honestly..."
"Yeah..." Rishia said as she looked into the sky, noticing that her surroundings seed wrong. There was nothing visibly out of the ordinary but Rishia could tell that it looked too perfect. It was as if it were the background of a photo rather than sothing that was really there.
"I'm sorry." Akagi apologized as the two continued down the empty and quiet road. "I fucked up here. I shouldn't have let my emotions run wild like that... I just... Hearing Shima's voice like that... It..."
"Brought back a lot of bad mories..." Rishia completed her sentence for her.
"Triggered trauma is really more apt." Akagi gave a dry laugh. "But yes. I just couldn't stand to watch a past version of myself get scread at... Even one that's not actually real." She said as the two continued walking alongside one another in silence.
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