Chapter Text
Blitzo stared at the new and improved form of me, his eyes widened slightly as he watched the magic take effect. It was hard to think that just moments ago I was in the form of a human that he saw as easy to kill, when now I was a demon.
"Damn. That's some good magic, Loonie."
Blitzo smiled, his tail swishing slightly behind him as his mouth curled up into a toothy smile.
“Thank you miss Loona. I appreciate your service.”
I nodded and fidgeted before turning to Blitzo.
“I..I believe I can reason with Ritsu and make this better…”
I paused and my eyes met his. My brows were pinched ever so slightly together.
“I do not want to die yet.”
And with that statement I held my hands, I waited for the reply of the demon.
Blitzo looked down at you with a deadpan expression on his face, he took a step closer and his eyes wandered over my transformed appearance.
"So you don't want to die yet?"
He repeated back to me, his head tilting as he looked over my form. His tail swayed slightly behind him while he considered it.
"Alright, I guess you're lucky today... Because I'll take you to Riko and see if we can negotiate something with him..."
“Thank you.”
I bowed slightly, almost poking him with my horns.
We left the office after explaining the situation to Loona and her relaying it to Moxxie and Millie who took the opportunity to finally go on a couples getaway. Of course after Millie fussed over the situation, mothering Blitzo because of her worry. While Moxxie shared the same concerns he believed that we would be fine.
As me and Blitzo walked I seemed to be in awe of the scenery around us, most sights were gory and disgusting, things you’d only find in hell. Or New York. I wasn’t the most expressive but my wide eyes and mouth slightly open I was so starstruck by it all.
“It’s almost..pretty. In an odd way.”
Blitzo raised an eyebrow at my reaction to hell itself, his mouth curving slightly at my expression.
"Pretty? I didn't expect you'd think that. I thought you'd be horrified or disgusted since this is such a foreign thing for you as a human."
Blitzo stared back at me, his eyes watching me closely as curiosity took over his features. He tilted his head slightly as he continued to walk, his tail swaying behind him.
“It’s different. I think I like that.”
I nodded my head, satisfied with my own answer. I walked closely next to Blitzo as a child would do with an adult. It was weird how trusting I was of the imp, even after the attempts on my life I trusted him to help me.
Blitzo watched me as I stood close to him while I spoke. He let out a little scoff at my answer and he shrugged, his horns shaking slightly.
"Sure. You're a weirdo."
Blitzo said with a smirk. He continued walking along, occasionally glancing down at me before he looked back at the path ahead.
Finally we made it to the opening to a park. It was quiet inside but Blitzo said this is where Ritsu wanted to meet. Now all we had to do was go inside. Go inside the depths of the thicket. I curled my fingers into a fist and lifted my chin up.
“I’m ready.”
Blitzo nodded as I said I was ready, his expression becoming serious for once in the past hour. His tail wrapped around my waist, bringing me closer towards him as they both stood near the entrance to the park, subconsciously he still felt a little protective, especially after the last interaction with Ritsu he had that ended poorly, I was just a kid, he didn’t want to see me get hurt. With a deep breath, Blitzo made his first step inside.
"Just stay close to me. This is going to get ugly."
My hand brushed against the metal frame to the opening gate. Leaving what little safety I had before behind I walked in. I stepped over the jutting up roots, the path seemed familiar to me, it felt like greeting someone you knew once.
It wasn’t long before we reached a meadow, if you could call it that, the grass was gone, leaving dry, cracked dirt, and Ritsu was in the center. The ink that dripped and floating off his head bubbled and boiled at the sight of me. I kept a poker face through it all.
“Ritsu..”
I muttered, I looked like I wanted to reach out and hug him, but I knew what would happen if I made a move closer.
As Ritsu’s ink boiled and bubbled, Blitzo took a step in front of me in order to protect me from the creature’s wrath. His teeth were bared.
"Back off. We came here to negotiate, not fight. If you can understand that then we can talk like adults."
“I didn’t come here to fight. I came here to kill.”
He lashed his arm out, it contorted into ink. I jerked Blitzo out from in front of me, I shot my hand out in front of me. A blue glowing shield protected us from the hit. The force of Blitz's attack made me fall backwards. I grunted as the magic Loona used fell off me. I looked human again and a little more banged up. I made a fist and the shield went down. Before Ritsu’s next attack I extended my arms out and put a bubble shield around me and Blitzo.
Ritsu laughed. It wasn’t kind, it held no warmth, it wasn’t like how he was when he was alive when his laugh would make everyone smile. It was the opposite now, everything was opposite about the friend I once knew.
“Don’t hide now, I knew you were always a coward before! But now, I won’t let you shy away from what you’ve done.”
Before Blitzo or I could react, Ritsu smashed into the shield with both of his inky arms, causing it to collapse. In a last ditch effort I managed to protect Blitzo. I laid dazed on the ground but Blitzo stood, using his agility to just barely dodge Ritsu’s relentless attacks, he fired his gun, it missed. He cursed and rolled on the ground, trying to aim another shot. Just before Ritsu slammed his fist down, I shot a beam of magic, slicing his whole arm off.
Blitzo's eyes widened slightly as your magic took Ritsu’s arm off, the ink from Ritsu's body spilling out of the wound as the limb was cut off. The ink spread across the ground as Ritsu let out a screech of pain.
"What the-!"
Blitzo's eyes flicked to you for a moment, a look of shock on his face before he shook his head and turned his attention back to Ritsu. His mouth was curled up into a slight smile as he watched Ritsu's suffering.
I looked distressed at the act I committed but I pressed on, I fired another beam of magic, this time it was another shield I put up around Blitzo, protecting him from any more attacks. I turned my attention back to Ritsu.
“What happened?”
I yelled over the battle, I lost my blank expression I kept for so long, seeing a friend who I loved so dearly hate me so much hurt physically, not just mentally. My heart felt actual pain, even if it wasn’t the first time I’ve felt this, it felt so much more real time. My question seemed to physically anger Ritsu, the ink bubbled off him like a pot that sat on the open stove too long. His bloody face contorted with rage and distaste for my very being.
“What happened? My brother died. And you tried to take his place and act like you're him,”
I opened my mouth to reply but he kept talking, his attacks getting more aggressive, Blitzo pounded on the walls of the shield, he wanted to help but it was too dangerous. I couldn’t lose focus for even a second or the shield would go down. I kept dodging and countering the attacks, which pissed him off even more.
“You copied him, you stole his personality, even that damn expressionless face, you stole it. You are not the most powerful esper. You. Are. Not. Mob.”
I faltered. I knew it was true, I was a knockoff of him, nothing more but a cheap copy.
Blitzo continued to pound on the shield, frustrated at his inability to help during the fight. His eyes darted between Ritsu and the shield, trying to find a weakness he could exploit in order to aid you during the fight, but found nothing.
Meanwhile, Ritsu's attacks became more violent and aggressive, his anger and hatred for you becoming more pronounced with every passing moment. Every word he spoke seemed to cut Blitzo like a knife even if it wasn’t directed at him.
The shield around Blitzo fell when I lost my focus, I was running out of magic. I tried to tap into my reserves but I couldn’t think long enough to get into it so I rely on my agility to escape attacks.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Blitzo with his gun slowly getting in range of Ritsu, my eyes widened and I tripped. The gun fired, and it fazed through Ritsu. He turned to Blitzo, the look in his eyes was annoyance, like someone having to swat a fly away. I saw the ink in his good ink bubble, he was preparing a fatal attack. I squeezed my eyes shut and kicked up on the ground, flinging myself in order to protect Blitzo. He was here because of me, he was in danger because of me, I didn’t want him to die because of me.
So when the attack hurt I braced myself. Feeling hundreds of volts of pure agony throughout my entire body. My whole body was being fried, my nerves were overpowered and shut down, they couldn’t send pain signals to my brain fast enough.
I laid on my back, the last thing I saw was the dark sky. It was red and foggy. It brought me closure at that moment as I died.
Blitzo watched me get hit with shock in his eyes.
His heart hammered inside his chest, the blood pumping in his ears almost deafened him as he watched my body convulse and spasm, the pain wracking my limbs and body.
A lump formed inside of Blitzo's throat as he stood there, unsure of what to do or say. His mind raced as he stared at my lifeless body, taking in the sight before him.
His eyes welled with tears, his heart heavy with grief for the loss he had just witnessed. Of course he didn’t know me well, he was the assassin and I was the target. But now, I was a dead child staring up at the sky for peace.
