"He's right. He's talking about how the truth hurts. He's talking about how much it will hurt when she's gone. He's talking in theatre metaphors. He's saying what you were saying. Why be angry when he's just saying you're right?""I hate him."The fiery feeling that had been burning in Mori ever since the start of this entire catastrophe... vanished. It felt like a fire inside of him had suddenly burnt out, and he suddenly was faced with a new sensation. All the cold, the chills, the shivering icy winds that had been absorbed into Fantomas's shadow reoccurred in full force. It was as if something sharp, hard, and oh so cold was pressing into his heart. Looking at the figure before him, the one who had forced him and the others into this whole Kaijin mess, who had tried to kill Saya after they'd rescued her, who had dragged Kanna and Otaya into this after them, who had pushed Otaya into becoming an Akuma, who tortured Kanna with all of this, and who had the
audacity to smile from it, Mori realized he didn't want to hurt him. All those threats he'd made before, faded into nothing but the empty words they had always been. He did not want the figure before him hurt.
He wanted him dead.
All the anger left him with the heat. He wasn't angry anymore, because anger couldn't truly describe how he felt. This was an emotion he'd never felt before. He didn't have the impulsive wish to charge forward and fight, as he'd seen from others, just a cold and hard desire to do whatever he had to, endure any pain, just to make certain that the person before him was dead.
But there was something else he had to do first.
"Hiding, who's hiding? Mori asked, stepping out of Sakurajima's shadow and strutting forward like the star of the show.
"If I was hiding you wouldn't know where I was, that's what hiding is," he spoke like he was addressing a particularly stupid child,
"Just like how, if I was pretending to be someone else... he clapped his hands and a shadow washed over him.
"...I wouldn't have gotten the voice wrong. Or, you know, spoken and drawn attention to myself before I transformed, inevitably drawing the action back to me in a humiliating way." He clapped his hands again and returned to his normal form.
"But, well, I guess when you teach a toad to speak, it having the ability to even try to mimic human voices is enough of an amazing discovery," he said, before pausing as if he'd had a sudden revelation, then his voice picked up with excitement,
"You deserve a round of applause! Bravo! Bravo!' he clapped and cheered uproariously, then looked around and stopped, as if he'd only suddenly realized no one else was joining in.
"Anyway, since you had a chat with Otoya, I figure it'll only be fair if I get to talk to him a bit. You know, as someone with some experience chatting with a demon that offered me my heart's desire." he turned to Otoya and said, in his most flamboyant possible voice
"What say thee, Otoya? Will you let this lying demon be the brutal angel on your shoulder?"Without waiting for a response he stepped into the spotlight and leaned down to stare directly at Otoya's face.
"So, you see the first thing is-" He turned to look at all the other present, staring at him.
"Do... do you all mind? This is kind of supposed to be a private conversation. Just two dudes talking about stuff, like demons and shit like that." He stated, and gestured at the cloaked figure with his cane
"Especially you, Mr. Toad. You had your chance to talk to Otoya and I didn't listen in, so if could just go and..." he paused and then stage whispered to Otoya
"Hey, do you know what toads do? I don't know what toads do." then turning back to the figure
...uh, go... eat flies. Yeah, toads do that. Nailed it."He turned Otoya around, away from the others, and draped part of his overcoat over the two of them, like a blanket fort. Then he continued as if the others couldn't hear him.
"Anyway, so first thing is, you're acting like a sanctimonious prick." Mori began
"And I can say that, as, as I've been told many times, I'm a prick. But yeah, talking like you'll have these super awesome healing powers that'll totally fix everything. Like you're the only one who can heal? I mean, come on dude, I can heal, Gawain can heal, it's not really this whole big thing you need to make a deal with a creepy scrawny guy in a weird cloak to do. And, quick side note, have you looked at who exactly you're trusting right now? I mean, come on, you're a fine arts kid, you've been to a few of the plays, and even if not, it shouldn't be too hard to figure out his whole thing scream UNTRUSTWORTHY like an air raid siren. I mean, he's as subtle about it as the 1812 overture. But back on track, deals with creepy people and demons never really end well. You know, Akitsuki was in a situation a lot like the one you're in now. A demon offered her the power to protect Akihiko, she said yes, next thing you know she's trying to murder everyone. You really want to say 'Yessiree' to the kind of thing that makes the girl who runs the Helper's Club go off the deep end of the murder pool? I mean, even if it does give you healing powers, you got to ask what else it's gonna do. Might make you murder everyone in the school to add a year onto Sakurajima's life for each person you murder, or trap her in a cocoon for the rest of her life and kill anyone who comes near her. And that guy over there knows it. He tried to turn Kasuga into an Akuma to reek havoc on things, and when that didn't work, he tried to kill Akitsuki. All he seems to want is to make people hurt and suffer. You really think he's got your best interests in heart?"He put his arm over Otoya's shoulder.
"Now, I'm not going to lie and say that turning down your inner demon is as simple as just saying 'No thanks. I'm good. Thanks for the offer though, have a nice day.' No, I had a demon try to sell me on something too. It's literally the deepest and darkest part of your mind, the part that knows all your secrets, offering you something to fill the biggest, deepest hole in your heart. I almost said yes. I mean, some days I wonder how I didn't, how I could have possibly turned it down. But other days I remember, and if it's not to vain, I think it's a pretty good reason."He put both his hands on Otoya's shoulders, and looked him directly in the eyes, or as good as he could with Otoya's eyes closed.
"You're being offered a bandage for a bullet wound. What your demon offers you is going to feel real good at first, but then you're going to realize that it doesn't really fill that hole, and you're still bleeding out. All that bandage did was trick you into thinking you'd fixed the problem, leaving it to get worse. And there, poor fool, with all your lore, will you stand wiser than before? Maybe there is no fix to the problem, or maybe there is, but you're not going to find it while you're sitting around, convinced you already have. Come on Otoya, you're better than that. Now come on, show that damned toad you're not going to be his latest toy to hurt others, and let's go home."
Author
Topic: FEF: Demon Soul Saga IC Thread: Chapter 3: Hunt for the Eighth God (Read 70287 times)