The pain washed over Mori, like his whole body was being painfully frozen inside a block of ice. He collapsed to the ground, breathing through gritted teeth, eyes screwed shut to the world. His last words before everything fell into blackness...
"So I was right then, Akitsuki was the Akuma. Ha, then I don't have a chance..."
[Now Playing: Inside a Twisted Mind ~~Schizophrenia~~]The next he was aware of himself, he was standing in a massive hall of mirrors. Looking up and down and to the sides, all he could see was himself, standing at a different angle, in a sea of blackness. He could see his image stretch off into infinity no matter what direction he looked, just a thousand other facets of Mori Sawatari staring back at him.
Then one spoke.
"What do you want anyway?"The reflection he was closest to started walking towards him, until it started pushing itself out of the mirror, twisting as it did, turning into... Kasuga?
"Do you wish you were like Akihiko? So brave and heroic. He never doubts himself..."
...because he's so naïve as to truly believe in the good in EVERYONE!?!"
"What the hell!" Mori screamed, as the image of Akihiko shifted, his eyes turning into pools of darkness, his face twisted into a grin. And it just started getting closer and closer. Mori stumbled backwards as he tried to get away, his heart beating so loud he could feel it in his head. Finally he felt his back hit something solid, but the twisted thing kept approaching. Desperately, he closed his eyes and swung out, hoping to hit it and...
The moment he made contact, there was a sound like glass shattering. He opened his eyes to see the figure was gone, and shards of broken glass on the floor were dissolving into sand. It was quiet for a moment, before a voice,
his voice, spoke up again.
"But you can't be like him. You can't help but look at everyone as a potential tool. Wondering how to use them, what you'd need to say to make them do what you want them to.""I know that already!" Mori shouted,
"I know! I'm a monster! So hurry up and turn me into an akuma and let's get this over with!"If the voice heard him, it gave no response. The room was silent for a bit, as he took the time to catch his breath and let his heartbeat slow down. Then, something about the mirror he was leaning on seemed to change. It was as if it had become less solid. He flinched back, falling to the ground, as the reflection in that mirror began to walk towards him too.
"Do you wish you were like Saya? She's always willing to help anyone as much as she can..."
"...but it was the helplessness of not being able to help the one she loved most that turned her into a monster.""Shut up! Just shut up!" He smacked the image of the... the thing Saya had become, and it broke apart into shards of glass. The shards dissolved into sand on the floor.
"And besides, you could never do that. You can't help without wanting something from it. Help from you is just a deal with a devil.""Stop telling me things I already know!"
"Maybe Mildred then? So blunt, she always tells the truth..."
"...of course, that unfiltered mouth would have ruined her life if she didn't have her father's business to fall back on."This image didn't even wait for him to hit it. It shattered into glass and sand the moment it finished speaking.
"What's next? You're going to tell me I wish I had Akari's name to fall back on?"
"Your words, not mine. Well, as if there's a difference."The image shattered, only to be immediately replaced by another one.
"You wouldn't even need to do all this if you had Masaru's work ethic or brains. You could have given your family the life they had before just on your own blood, sweat, and tears."Shatter
"Kanna's optimism?"Shatter
"Riku’s ability to care for others?"Shatter
"Veep's confidence to be himself?"ShatterThe floor of the room was covered with a layer of sand.
"Who do you wish you could be?"
"Misa?"Shatter
"Shoji?"Shatter
"Yui?"Shatter
"Morimoto?"Shatter 
"Aika?"Shatter
"Rise?"Shatter
"Touma?"Shatter
"Otoya?"Shatter
"Ayaka?"Shatter
"Eisuke?"Shatter
"Hisa?"Shatter
Futaba?ShatterThe room was filling up with sand and Mori's heart was beating so loud it echoed through his whole body.
badump"Shut up."badump"Shut up!"badump"Show yourself!""Haven't I already? I've shown you me a thousand times over."The room fell apart, the sand disappeared, and every one of the remaining reflections of Mori started walking towards him. He fell back, as all at once, every one of them stepped forward to the same point. Thousands of thousands of Sawatari Moris faded into one figure. The figure was taller than Mori by a head and a half. Broader too, but by how much it was hard to tell. His body was wrapped in a heavy purple trench coat, and he held a curved cane in one hand. On his head he wore a purple top hat, that seemed to shimmer as if it was reflecting light, and on his face was a golden mask, a fusion of the two symbols of theater.
"After all, I'm what you face when you face in the mirror. Long as you live, I will be here."[Now Playing: The Great Secret of Sawatari Mori ~~Carnivore~~]His voice was deeper than Mori's. It carried hints of menace, grandeur, sarcasm and darkness.
"What's the point of this?" Mori asked,
"I told you, I'm not resisting. I'm already a monster. Turn me into an Akuma!""Mori, Mori, Mori..." the figure spoke like he was lecturing a child,
"I know what you said, but is that what you want? I can tell you it isn't. After all, I'm you, and you're me, and I want what you want. You may be a monster, but you don't want to be one. In fact, you don't want to be you at all."
"...what?""Toppling the world, helping your family, saving others? Those are secondary desires at best. The great secret of Mori Sawatari is that he wants to be anyone else, no matter who, as long as he doesn't have to be Mori Sawatari.""THAT'S NOT TRUE!""Isn't it?" Mori didn't know how, but he could tell that behind his mask, the figure had some kind of mirthless smile on his face.
"You could have chosen a thousand different ways to do what you claim you want. You could have worked as hard as possible to make good grades and become a top student, and to become rich yourself one day. You could have run for office, you've certainly got the charisma. You could even marry rich and use the money to help others. But you chose the path that was the most idiotically convoluted. You created an entire fake you, a façade of a whole different person. You know that that was probably the worst option, but it was the only way you could get what you want. You could become someone else, and convince yourself it was for the benefit of other people. How noble.""SHUT UP!""And do you know why that's what you want?" The figure continued
"I've been showing you that too. Ever heard the saying 'eye's are a window to the soul'? Of course you have, I wouldn't be able to repeat it if you hadn't. Well, as you can see...""No matter who I become, my eyes are pits of empty black to you and me? Get it?""Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up. Shut up.""And in case you don't grasp the extremely fucking subtle symbolism here, let me spell it out for you. I am thou, thou art I, and we..."He took off his mask and hat to reveal a mass of pure blackness underneath.
...are empty inside.Mori could only stare and mutter to himself.
*"It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true. It's not true..."*The figure put his mask and hat back on and extended his hand to Mori.
"So I'm giving you exactly what you want. The power to be anyone else, as long as it's someone you're not."Mori whimpered. He looked into the eyes of the mask. Looked into the pits of infinite blackness that stretched beyond. Could he take the deal? Was he really empty inside? What would he do, if he could escape it? What choice did he have? If he just put on that mask then... then what?
"No.""No?""I can't change who I am inside just by putting on another mask. I'll take your power, I'll take everything you offer, but I know it can't make me more than what I am. Even if I don't want to be, I am Mori Sawatari, and I can't believe I'm as empty as you claim."He took the figure's hand.
"Tch," the figure replied
"And we were so close there. Ok then, for now, you get to play the hero, but when you slip up... well..."Light began to swallow the world before the figure could finish.
Mori was back in the domain. His breath was shaky, his heart was pounding in his ears, and his body was still
so cold. He looked up to see all his classmates were gone. There was a storm of new Kaijin fighting the Onibi, and he realized, with a bit of surprise, that there were no new Akumas. Everyone had overcome, even he had...
But did he really?
He knew what the figure's name was. The shadowy figure that controls everything. The monster with a thousand names that never really loses.
He hadn't won. He'd just bought himself more time.
He looked out at everyone else. Everyone was in combat, and there were no more Onibi open.
"You said I'd play the hero? No, that's wrong." He muttered to himself,
"I'll be forever in their shadows. I'll be the dark velvet that makes gems look brighter. I'll be the inky night against which you can see the stars. I'll be their foil. In mine ignorance, their skill shall, like a star i' th' darkest night, stick fiery off indeed.""I welcome my mask, Fantômas.He placed his hand over his face and transformed. Darkness enveloped him. He could feel himself fade to nothing as the heavy purple coat formed over him. His shadow shrunk into him and faded away, fusing into the darkness that was hidden under the coat. He felt the wooden cane form in his hands, with a small metal hourglass set into it, and he felt the hat take its place on his head. Lastly, he felt the cold metal mask form over his face. The cold faded from him, but he could feel that it too had just moved, mixing into the darkness. Perhaps that was all he was, just darkness in hiding, waiting to overcome his will and become something monstrous.
As he transformed, he heard the voice again.
"We'll be in touch."Mori Sawatari may not be an Akuma, but that didn't mean he wasn't a monster.
"Ok, Kasuga. I'll be behind you."
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Topic: FEF: Demon Soul Saga IC Thread: Chapter 3: Hunt for the Eighth God (Read 70159 times)