thirty crows (朱) action/video (time shift catch-all)

[yourhatred]

September 22nd - closed to Law

[Itachi leaves his bedroom as usual, but exits it at death's door.

The time shift, catching him moments before he would conclude a fight with his brother, moments before the time he was brought from into Luceti in the first place, dumps a bleeding, wreck of a man out the other side of the doorway. The ninja staggers, a bloody arm that had been held out in front of him catching onto the opposite wall of the hallway.

So ready. He'd been so ready. What's going on? Literal moments away from dying, prepared to give into the inevitable, Itachi now finds himself having to do his damnedest to keep himself breathing. The orange glow of Susano'o at first barely surrounding him as he arrived, fades away into nothing as he fights against the darkness at the edge of his vision.

Where is Sasuke?

Coughing, his free hand covering his mouth as blood ran through his fingers, the man leaned further against the wall, the last of his adrenaline leaving him.]

September 23rd - OTA

[Late in the day, after a fair amount of rest, Itachi finds his journal and spends a while reading through it. The other entries become too confusing after a while, but he at last tries to make one of his own. After all, it does seem to be a form of communication.]

I'm looking for Uchiha Sasuke.

September 24th - OTA

[After a failed attempt at trying to get up and make his own breakfast, the ninja will eventually escape the house by way of a substitution technique and wander the town. The clothing is slightly ill-fitting, as the Itachi that's been living in Luceti for the past four years is a fair bit healthier than the one walking slowly through it now.

Don't worry. The cough isn't contagious.

He can be found in basically any building around the town center, and eventually sitting wearily at the fountain.]

September 25th

[Officially banned to the house, but still this older self until he wakes up the morning of the 26th.]

Comments

[deathsdoctor]

Nothing else would have been convincing.

[Also that. He just lays his head upon Itachi's shoulder. Keep up the lie to the end. Itachi couldn't have a merciful death - no, he had to go down looking like he was fighting like mad for his life.

Anything else would have been too suspicious.]

[yourhatred]

He'd really improved.

[And he had. Sasuke had gotten much stronger. It was just good enough.

It wouldn't have been, had he been at his peak. He knows this, but he'd still been proud of his brother's improvements.]

[deathsdoctor]

Yeah. He is strong. Very, very strong.

[Truth. And the potential for a whole lot more growing, not that it needed to be said.]

He's going to be something at his peak.

[yourhatred]

Yes... He will be.

[He falls silent, but doesn't pull away yet. Law needs this more than he does, but having re-experienced that...

He can do with the comfort too.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Falling silent as well and playing with Itachi's hair with one hand even as the other hand is still against his back. A tell that's something on his mind even as he's being comforted and is comforting.

They've had a lot of close calls lately, haven't they?

Maybe not by the standards of the lives they used to lead (certainly not by those), but by the standards of the one they live now.]

[yourhatred]

[Itachi knows this tell, and shifts back ever so slightly to get a better look at his husband's face. A silent inquiry.

He knows there must be a lot on his mind. That's a given.]

[deathsdoctor]

Just thinking about the last few months and things. Everything that's happened.

[yourhatred]

... It's been difficult, I know.

[He brings a hand up, brushes a thumb against the side of Law's jaw.]

This can't have eased your worries any.

[deathsdoctor]

Mnn. One close call too many lately.

[In other words, yes, the cages have been rattled.

His fingers come up to brush Itachi's own.]

It'd been far too quiet for far too long after TERRACE. Like the quiet before a maelstorm. Now things feel like they're slowly building up again.

[yourhatred]

Such things are impossible to plan for, aside from hardening your heart - and that's too important here.

[He shakes his head.]

We'll do our best, but we can't dread the future.

[deathsdoctor]

Just be prepared as well as we can, I know.

[Worrying is pointless - Itachi's right to remind him. What will come will come, as there's little either of them can do to prevent anything.

But it's also human, and Law can't completely banish the fears that Zompania left with him, with its ranks of dead and being seperated from his husband from most of it. It's odd he doesn't fear Itachi dying so much. Not after so many years in Luceti.

It's Itachi being captured alive and sacrificed. Subjected to It. Unmade. The residual impressions and nightmares from that, imposing themselves again and again unexpectedly, renews that dread.

That is the worst demon to struggle with.]

[yourhatred]

[The ninja shares many of those fears, but shoves them aside as he has for a long time. A ninja can't allow himself to dwell on anything that might slow them up in combat or keep them from making the right decision.

But things are different here than they were back home, and he has more reasons to press on than just to die facing his brother. He has new people to protect.]

I'm here with you, and I'll do what I can for things to remain that way.

[deathsdoctor]

[Law breathes, and tightens his embrace momentarily. Trying to get recentered.

Same here, same here.]

I know you will, partner.

[... even if your options for doing so are limited.]

[yourhatred]

[Not too tight. He just got these lungs back.

Itachi smiles a little moving in to give Law a proper kiss on the lips. He has what he considers to be a better change of subject once he pulls away again.]

I should make you breakfast. It won't make up for all you did for me, but it will at least let you relax. Eggs, perhaps.

[The correct response to this is 'no'. The correct response to this is 'no'.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Aha, but Law has a better out.]

I think all my system can handle is yogurt right now. Maybe soup.

[He hasn't really been eating for days. His body can't handle it right now.

Admittedly, Itachi should be terrified when lunch rolls around.

Terrified.]

[yourhatred]

[Itachi frowns. While usually he'd pay more attention to his husband's eating habits, he'd been a bit too tired and distracted over the past shift to really notice.]

Was it that bad on you? I'm sorry.

I can get you some tomato soup at least?

Apparently this thread might be the reveal

[deathsdoctor]

Tomato soup's good.

[...]

... it just... [And it's obviously difficult to even talk about.] ... I let myself get too caught thinking...

[And it's been a long, long time thanks to Luke, but you have to wonder how bad the nightmares would be now if they weren't suppressed.]

[yourhatred]

[The ninja doesn't move to head down and get food started yet. He keeps a hand on his husband's shoulder, very concerned.]

... I won't pry, if you don't want to talk about it.

[He can only imagine if it brought up bad memories. He doesn't know as much of Law's history as the pirate knows of his, and he's never pressed the matter.]

[deathsdoctor]

[Law bites his lip briefly as he seems to come to a decision. It's not right for him not to know.

Not fair, especially in this place.

His arms curl around himself almost reflexively though. Even remembering this, much less talking about it, isn't easy.]

... no... I think you should know the things that happened.

[If ever Doflamingo comes to Luceti...]

[yourhatred]

[Itachi nods slowly. Gently, he begins to lead the pirate to the edge of the bed so they can sit down.

It's comfortable here, and less open and exposed than the kitchen. They might as well talk before heading down there.]

[deathsdoctor]

[You might not feel like eating either when he's done.

Law's eyes grow distant as the memories bleed in. The pirate sits and leans against him.]

You know I was born in North Blue, up in the polar climes. The nation's name was [Was] Flevance. ... or, as people liked to call it collectively, the White City.

Myself, my parents... [There's a moment when his eyes go utterly dead and his voice is hollowed.] my younger sister, Lamie.

[Yes, he was a big brother once upon a time too.]

[yourhatred]

[It's already disturbing to hear Law talk this way, worse still to hear him speak of a sister the pirate had never spoken about. All this time and he hadn't known anything about his husband's family.

It hadn't been in him to pry. Should he have?

He continues to listen, brows furrowed in concern, arm wrapping itself around Law's shoulders.]

[deathsdoctor]

It was much warmer there than you'd expect a place like that to be. [He's there in the memory. What it was before.] Jetstreams.

Everything was white. The ground, the plants, the buildings. Before, when people visited, they said it didn't seem real. Especially during the dark months, when everything was aglow under the auroras.

It was so... beautiful...

[The life continues to seep out of his voice.]

There was an ore in the ground that caused all that. A special type of lead known as Amber Lead or White Lead. This crystalline substance that was stark white. The World Government discovered it about a century prior to my birth.

It quickly became our main industry and export back then. The demand for high quality items made with Amber Lead was insatiable around the world. The World Government and the Royal Family worked out a deal... both reaped insane, never ending amounts of profits. What was left went to the nation. Everyone had a comfortable life. We were all happy to go along with the demands being placed on us.

[Bitterness leaks in. Betrayal.]

We had no idea we were being blindly led down the path to our own deaths.

[yourhatred]

[Government and profit working hand in hand never led to anything good. It's how Akatsuki had managed to get around as long as it had. Various leaders paid them to do jobs and then looked the other way if they caused minor incidents.

This was exploiting an entire town, though, and Law's voice made it clear that there hadn't been any happy endings here.

He continues to listen silently, not wanting to interrupt the narrative with unnecessary questions.]

[deathsdoctor]

... you see, even before the industry started a century ago, the World Government had done research into the ore. They well knew the truth about Amber Lead. While in the ground it was fine, once dug up and worked with, it acted like poison. Seeped into the body slowly and utterly ruined it.

With all the mining, there were fine particles of it constantly in the air.

[His voice softens as he stares at the wall.]

It was an insidious substance. It wasn't even that poisonous - it slowly built up and up in the body over decades, and the victim would notice nothing amiss. It was practically invisible, even to a skilled doctor. Until a threshold was reached and the symptoms exploded outward with a fury. The skin and hair would bleach white as the lead, an ever spreading vitiligo over the body. With it, would come agony. It would just build and build, until it couldn't be borne. That's when the fever would set in, and organ failure follow. Some would be dead in months after that. Some would have lingered for years.

[I lingered for years.]

The first living generation of children exposed to it, hit that mark at around age 70. But the next generation, due to the metal concentrating in the womb, would hit the mark at 50. The next generation - 30s. Mine? Ten.

Each successive generation had their lifespan reduced by about 20 years. There was a little variance there, but that was how it generally went.

[His fingers dig into the flesh of his arms.]

They knew all of this. The World Government, the King. But the promise of wealth was too great, so they suppressed all the knowledge of the danger. Continued to suppress it - other people learned the truth over the years, I would imagine, and they would have had to be dealt with. They knew one day a day of reckoning would come. But until then...

[Gold would flow like blood.]

It came. Thanks to the generational shift, everyone began to go down. No one was spared. You can imagine what it looked to the outside world.

[A plague.]

And that was the start of everything.