Uchiha Itachi (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
yourhatred) wrote2014-09-21 11:02 pm
yourhatred) wrote2014-09-21 11:02 pm
thirty crows (朱) action/video (time shift catch-all)
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.]
[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.]
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There weren't a lot of similarities when it all came down to it. Some, but on a very basic level. A corrupt government - Sasuke would say theirs was more corrupt than Itachi believed it to be. They still desired to protect the innocent, even if poor decisions had been made.
Yet he imagines his little brother's smile when Law mentioned his sister's. Something he should have been trying to protect but had forced away instead...
A brief distracting thought, because he can start to sense what's happens next and it's already painful to consider. He keeps listening, the room silent except for the sound of his husband's voice.]
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[He needs to stop. Just for a moment. It's getting harder.]
They had been really strong up until then. They couldn't allow themselves to break either but you could see the cracks. They... weren't... doing great either. They weren't progressing as fast, but faster than they should have.
... so I stepped up. [He's saying nothing about the strain on himself, having more and more piled on his shoulders. Nothing about his own condition. What was happening to himself was inconsequential.] It was a little weight off their shoulders and at least I knew she would be taken care of if I did it.
I managed to slow things a little - proper care does that - but it was still for the most part palliative. Tried to keep her spirits up. Keep her hopeful.
[... she was in essence his first true long term patient.]
The city was degenerating right along with Lamie. As everything dwindled, as starvation began to set in and more and more died to what everyone knew was poisoning and not disease, people were finally starting to get restless. Angry. Rumours started to spring up that there were more soldiers beginning to encircle the country. It was fact - there was a build up.
They had to know things were getting desperate.
[Itachi's instincts are right.]
Cooler heads kept things calm for awhile. The religious leaders kept reminding everyone that violence was no answer at all... that it would bring nothing but further suffering to the nation. One of the sisters I knew very well. She always liked to say that always a merciful hand would reach out when it was most needed.
She had been trying to convince the soldiers to let at least the children evacuate for care for months over the Den Den Mushi.
I think they knew though or at least suspected what was probably going to happen anyway. The soldiers kept building up. They didn't do anything. Waiting for orders... or an excuse, I suppose. They managed to keep the people quiet... for as long as they could. Eventually, as things got worse and worse, as the strain built up, a tipping point was reached.
Lamie hit endstage. A week later, Flevance declared war.
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Why is it that it always came to that?
Though he says nothing, the concerned frown on his face says exactly what he thinks about the situation.]
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They would have all died anyway.
He closes his eyes. He sees the children. He sees the nun.]
Things moved fast. That morning... you could feel what was coming in the air. This heavy pall.
The Sister had gotten assurance from the soldiers that they'd leave the children alive. Allow them to escape the country on a boat. So she was collecting all the children that were left.
I saw so many familiar faces in that crowd. I saw even more missing. Classmates. Kids I had grew up with.
I wouldn't go.
Couldn't leave her. Especially not then. Lamie was days away from passing.
Everything about this seemed so wrong.
... the other children couldn't understand why I was refusing. I guess it sounded crazy to them.
The Sister understood about Lamie. Promised to come get me herself once she had arranged another boat for any stragglers. Then she assured me all was truly well with what was happening.
["You see, Law-kun? There is no need for despair in this world. A merciful hand will always reach out to those in need."]
It didn't settle me, but I wished them well and returned to my sister.
Maybe an hour passed, but both of us began to hear noise in the distance. I wasn't sure what is was at first and Lamie was confused as well. It sounded a little like fireworks...
... then it set in it was gunfire.
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But for those with no other skills in ranged combat...
Once again, he knew where this was going. Firing on children like that was unforgivable, and nothing another child should have to see. His expression remains the same, but his fingers clench in his lap.]
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I hoped it was just people fighting over food. That had happened before.
The gunfire wasn't stopping though. It was getting louder, and we could hear screaming. It was coming from multiple directions.
I ordered my sister under the bed. Told her no matter what she couldn't make a sound. [No other place to hide her.] The hospital was in a panic - our patients, our nurses, everyone was terrified and you could hear it through the walls.
I told Lamie I'd be right back. I had to find our parents.
But the soldiers had already arrived. When I found them at the entrance, the guns were training on them.
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Law had kept this to himself this whole while. The ninja hadn't had a single idea of what caused his nightmares. All he'd been able to do was offer comfort in his own way, and that's all he can do now.]
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They knew they were dead even as they started to raise their voices to protest what was about to happen. And then... [Soft.] they were...
After they were cut down - the hospital was stormed. I was small and I was hidden. While I could see out... they couldn't see me.
All I could do was wait, and listen, until... they were finished and gone. And hope Lamie hadn't been found.
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His heart has been hurting for Law all through this, and he doesn't think that's going to stop any time soon.]
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If... if... if...]
... it seemed quiet for the moment. The gunfire had moved on. ... I broke from hiding. I had been just feet from my parents' bodies the entire time...
[He didn't have time to go back to Lamie. Just dive for cover and safety as the soldiers broke in.]
... there was so much blood... I don't know why I checked them for a pulse. I knew they couldn't survive those kinds of wounds.
My mother had this... faint smile on her face. It's one of two I've never been able to forget.
[Her's and Corazon's.]
I couldn't stay with them any longer. Not with Lamie's fate still uncertain. I tore back into the hospital. The carnage was unreal. But by some miracle she was still alive. I found her underneath the bed, shaking and entirely unwilling to move.
I managed to coax her out. She started begging for our parents. I couldn't say anything - I couldn't get out the words. I couldn't lie. I only could hold her.
... and then she knew...
[Her face.]
I promised her that her Big Brother would do whatever it took to get her through this.
Then I remembered about the evacuations the Sister had arranged with the soldiers for the children...
[Itachi's instincts once again prove correct.]
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She was so weak. She could hardly walk and with the drugs in her system... I would have to carry her.
And I wasn't sure if the way was clear. I didn't want to chance running into the soldiers with her. Sure they had promised but if they caught us... I couldn't move fast enough with her to keep away. Keep her safe. And I wasn't sure if that promise was good. But it seemed our only hope, and the longer I spent dithering over what to do, our window of survival was closing.
So I told her to get back under the bed and keep quiet no matter what. I would quickly scout ahead and see if this really was true and then return. I figured it was the least risky thing I could do where Lamie was concerned. The soldiers had already swept the building and she would be hidden. I would be the one risking fire.
I didn't care what happened to me. If I was shot - fine. She'd still have a chance, slim as it would be. She'd still live.
... she... said... she... understood. That she knew I'd... I'd... come through for her.
[He chokes. Suddenly he can't breathe.
Whispering.]
So I left her.
... I left her.
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[It's the first thing he's said this whole time, and he can't quite keep the words from spilling out in a whisper.
Law isn't done yet. He should wait until he is, but the desire to comfort him is strong.]
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I've never felt I've deserved it.
[It's a familiar tune playing. And Law obviously knows how it sounds. ... but even crushed down, it's there. Whispering.
It's the voice that tells him that one day? Itachi will realize what he is, that he's not worth it. That counts every sin and measures the ugliness in him, and reminds him happiness doesn't last.]
...
They were all dead when I found them. About... halfway to the docks. All the children and the Sister in a square. Mostly shot in the head. [Executed. His lips twist bitterly.] The merciful hand that was supposed to extend in times of need had held a gun.
I saw this and knew there was no getting out.
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The Leaf Village's governing system had done some bad things, and he'd done some bad things himself, but if it had been anything like the way this one functioned he wouldn't have served it at all.
Itachi waits, hand still on Law's to hear what he'd done next.]
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What else was there to do?
[No hope. At least he could be there with Lamie.]
... it was getting harder to breathe. Smoky. There had been no fires when I left.
I hadn't thought they'd start razing the buildings when they were done with a sweep.
[He sees the fire rise up before his eyes. Feels the heat of the flames. He's in that moment, with the boy he was, seeing it as his ten year old self and seeing it at twenty eight.]
The hospital was an inferno. Completely engulfed.
I couldn't get in. She couldn't get out.
[He had told her to hide underneath the bed. She wouldn't have known until it was too late.]
... I... just... could... watch... and think how I had... promised her...
[Even if he had still been breathing, most of him had died right there.
And what was left was being birthed into what he now was. Part of him, anyway.
The Surgeon of Death.]
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[He squeezes Law's hand.]
Situations like that... There's no way for you to know what's going to happen.
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Like what his desperation in trying to prevent Corazon's death had brought.
Law looks down, and there's that sense that this is only the beginning. The first act. But such an impactful one. It set the stage and informed everything else to such an incredible degree.
The pirate finds he now needs to tell it all.]
... it's... difficult not to. [The head knows intellectually, but convincing the heart is a different story. Shades of survivor's guilt. Shades of personal responsibility. The past still so raw even after all this time.] Even if with Lamie, regardless of the purge, she would have died anyway.
... the man who eventually saved me, and the costs... [Responsible. Everything that had happened on Minion had been because of him.]
It's difficult not to blame myself.
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Itachi hasn't heard of this man yet, just as he hadn't heard of the pirate's sister. There's so much that's been buried here.
He gives his husband a look. Go on.]
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[This part is detached. Dead. The adult looking at the events from far away.]
I finally found safety with the dead. They were lining up the corpses in the street and putting them in piles. [Like Zompania.] I hid in one of those piles. It was easy to pass as dead. At that point... I pretty much was.
[Destroyed in spirit after Lamie.]
They eventually started clearing out the corpses. I don't know why they bothered. I think they may have had plans for the land. I could hear their chatter over the Den Den mushi about the progress of exterminating the infected. Flevance had been sterilized, the capital, all the surrounding villages... everything dead.
There could have been other survivors from the purge, but... the poisoning from the Amber Lead would have eventually claimed them. I am the only survivor now.
I was in that pile for a long time as we all were carted to the mass graves that had been dug for the people. There were mountains of corpses there...
I escaped. One soldier caught me trying for a boat. He was alone... no one else had seen us. We had caught each other off guard.
... I ended up murdering him. I stole his grenades. I managed to sail away.
[And that's how it happened, his first kill. He remembers the man's face... his gas mask had come off.
It was murder even if the other man would have killed him if Law hadn't struck first. He remembers the sudden, all consuming rage.
And the dark feeling of satisfaction at the blood pooling on the ground.
... and looking back...]
... I didn't feel dead any more. I felt outright homicidal.
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To have been buried in those bodies... to have seen all that he'd seen... he realizes that the pirate had gone through far worse than he had. How old he'd been at the time didn't matter in that respect.
He can't blame Law for how he reacted to it all.]
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So the papers said.
The people were relieved. They were happy the threat was over. That Flevance's 'white monsters' were gone. We weren't even human to them.
I had made landfall in the nearest country and hadn't been seen yet. It was a good thing for several reasons. My own condition was starting to become visible, and the people would have tried to kill me on sight out of fear once they realized I had Amber Lead Syndrome.
I, myself, ... was extremely unstable. Seething, nihilistic, and growing even angrier. I was so angry, Itachi. I just wanted someone to pay for what had happened to my people. [It's not easy admitting this, and shame enters his voice.] Listening to them in the shadows, knowing that they weren't the only ones... I wanted everyone to pay. And I wanted to see it before I died.
[And it doesn't need to be said that in the mentality of a child, that that kind of revenge, justice, would have been absolutely the kind of an eye for an eye. He wanted them dead. They had killed everyone.]
I'm glad no one found me then. I was about to lash out at anyone. [And he had been armed with grenades and that would have been horrific.] As it was, I just stole before I left.
The only other people who weren't considered human on the seas were pirates. They seemed better company. [They weren't 'human'... so they weren't everyone. They were... blameless to a child's logic.] I figured if I wanted to make my time actually count for something...
It took me a while, but I landed in the port city of Spider Miles. There was a crew there recruiting. The crew of Donquixote Doflamingo.
[And oh, this name? The undercurrent of emotion is powerful. Dark.]
And his younger brother Donquixote Rosinante, who I knew as Corazon. Or Cora-san.
The man who saved me in the end.
[But it's nothing compared to this one. Though the emotion is not dark at all.
And this is the very first time...
The very first time...
Itachi will hear Law use 'san'.
Instead of Miss or Mister.]
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Itachi doesn't miss the name and the way it's said. This person was indeed someone very important to his husband, and he wants to know about anyone who could have had that sort of influence.]
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I got Doflamingo's attention. It was like he... recognized something. And was intrigued by it. Very intrigued.
He decided to allow me to stay while he thought it over. Train with the officers and executives of the crew.
[Eyes slowly open again, and they're red with the Sharingan. Law had turned off the ability earlier during their conversation, but now it's come surging back.
Eyes that reflect the heart.]
He handed me off to Trebol and Diamante, two of the executives... the squad leaders of the crew. Not their real names, mind you... their titles. Most of that crew uses code names. Diamante was the leader of the combat division - he's the one who taught me swordsmanship... and Trebol was in charge of those who had unique abilities that would be... beneficial to Doflamingo's activities. I had yet to meet Pica, who was in charge of covert ops... and Corazon, the right hand...
They enjoyed poking me about my impending death, but they weren't treating me like a insidious plague monster. All and all... that wasn't bad treatment...
[If these aren't sounding like typical pirates... well, the hints had been in Law's own varied skills. The way he's oddly... ninja like in his own fashion.]
They had seen a lot of kids try to join, and practically all had been sent running. Most adults too. The lifestyle's harsh, the Donquixote Family's harsher. Then, on top of that there was Cora-san...
There were a few kids still left: Buffalo and Baby 5... Dellinger, who was an infant at the time. I saw the first two waiting at the window. They were eagerly anticipating something.
That's when Cora-san stomped in the door from a job. Slipped, and went flying. Baby 5 and Buffalo couldn't stop laughing and I couldn't stop staring. Pranked.
He sent them flying in turn.
Not that that would stop them from pranking him again. It was a vicious cycle. He'd abuse them, they'd find some way to humiliate him.
Then Cora-san turned his attention to me. Diamante explained that Cora-san was an executive and Doflamingo's brother. Inattentive, clumsy, really bad habit of setting himself on fire, idiotic... and mute due to trauma in his past. And... as Cora-san grabbed me... that he hated kids.
Then Cora-san threw me out the window. I went plummeting down two stories into a scrap heap of steel. It nearly killed me.
[There's such a strange mix of 'oh for god sakes', 'what the hell was I thinking?', horror, self loathing, and guilt in his next words.]
I decided to kill him on the spot.
[Not the first meeting you were expecting, right?!]
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And Law... well he might think better of it now, but it isn't as if he'd been in the best state of mind then. Itachi finds very little he can blame him for.
Given what he'd done to his brother, it would be wrong of him to even judge.]