Dark fic fragment
Oct. 25th, 2015 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
akinoameSo, a distant third on my list of multichaptered fics to write (which is "Project Silver" and the YJ Birds of Prey, followed by this one) is an AU of Kamen Rider built off of the timeline shown in Let's Go Kamen Riders, based on the idea that the world didn't go back to normal after the Riders defeated Shocker. Take that universe and apply the world-rebuilding of Ajora's Salva Nos (a fic which cannot be recommended hard enough), and answer two big questions:
1. Who were the Riders in this world before they became Riders again?
2. What will they do now?
So, uh, this fragment is dark. Damn near pitch black. Some trigger warnings for a character becoming suicidal, along with some awful deaths throughout.
The Eiji who had originally existed in this timeline had been a member of the elite, his family on Shocker's good side. But despite his upbringing, Eiji was sympathetic to the destitute humans on the fringes of existence, barely scraping out a living for themselves and in constant fear of another raid, another extermination campaign. So he'd quietly sneak food or medicine to children he saw thieving in the streets or pass along information about missing relatives to people he knew had come from the slums.
But he was naive. The rebels among the underclass had learned to take advantage of his kindness and used him to slip coded messages to their allies. Norio was searching for his wife, Azumi, and thought she might be near one slum—the police were raiding that slum, searching for a safehouse for the rebels. Auntie Shizuka was worried about her family—keep quiet, and keep your heads low to protect one another. Susumu was trying his luck in Sakurajima—the rebels were marching to Sakurajima to try to defeat Shocker's allies there. Eiji didn't think about the messages he was repeating—not until he got caught.
At first, it was just an embarrassment to his family, for their child to be caught sympathizing with the humans who hadn't been chosen to rise in society. But a scientist, Maki Kiyoto, had deduced the messages were really from the resistance and warned the troops there to be on the lookout for an ambush. Sure enough, the rebels were found and swiftly defeated, and Eiji's crime was elevated from simple compassion to treason.
Pity would have earned him brainwashing and modification, to ensure that no trace of humanity remained in him. But treason could not be rewarded with mercy, particularly for a member of the elite. The punishment would be death.
On the day of Eiji's execution, his parents was brought in to see him one last time, and he could hardly bring himself to look at the disappointment in their eyes—disappointment only, since it was too risky to show fear or compassion toward him, after the crime he'd committed. And then, right before his eyes, they were killed—his father first, followed by his horrified mother. But Shocker never raised their weapons to him, only dragged him off toward Maki's lab as he screamed and cried.
Shocker had unearthed a set of Core Medals in Germany, and Maki hypothesized that they were activated by feelings of despair and emptiness. Eiji was already uniquely selfless among Shocker's elite, which made him a potential host. All he needed was tragedy to empty him completely. He partitioned out five of the Medals from the set and strapped Eiji to an operating table, bringing his siblings before him. They knew nothing of their parents' fates, watching him coldly and reminding him that he was lucky that Shocker had decided to show him mercy by modifying him and rewriting his memories and personality so he would be completely loyal to them. And then Maki killed them, while Eiji could do nothing more than scream.
The Medals reacted immediately, flying into his chest with a flash of purple light, overwhelming him quickly. With that, the experiments began.
The Riders hadn't been completely blind to what was going on, and during one of their supposed adjustments, they confided to Naoki that they were worried about the Hino family, who hadn't been seen after their youngest had been caught unwittingly giving information to the resistance. Naoki had never worked with Maki before, but as one of the scientists in charge of the Riders, it was easy for him to request access to his lab, so the Riders could look into potential upgrades. Of course, it was an honor for them to come, and though Maki was hesitant to reveal just what his current project was, Hongo reminded him that everything they did was for Shocker's sake, and what weapons could help them end the current phase of humanity should be known to all.
It was difficult to say no to Shocker's greatest warriors, so he revealed an operating theater, where a twisted, half-human creature still lay on the table, sedated, his body partially encased in ice, from his last attempt to kill himself. His left arm was clawed, covered in leathery purple skin that extended across his shoulder and chest, scales and bony growths slowly forming. Half of his face was covered in skeletal growth, as if his skull had begun to expand out of his skin and start to take a saurian appearance. And there was nothing in his purple eyes as he stared back at them—what had been human had been killed already.
Naoki recognized what was left of the boy as the same young man who had stowed away on the time train with him and ran to him immediately as Hongo and Ichimonji dropped their covers and killed Maki. They would need to destroy the entire facility and find a way to blame it on a battle with rebels. Unspoken was the reality that they would have to kill the creature too, put it out of its misery. Naoki agreed to do that himself, while the Riders took care of staging the battle. He found the sedatives Maki had been using and began injecting them into the creature's human arm, trying to induce an overdose.
The creature seemed to realize what he was doing, since he tried to take hold of Naoki's arm. For a moment, Naoki thought the poor beast was trying to stop him, but there were tears in his eyes—gratitude.
The boy had been much older than Mitsuru, but Naoki couldn't help but think of his son as he took his hand and injected the final dose, waiting for his eyes to close and his breathing to stop and his broken heart to beat its last.
They cremated the creature, removing the terrible Medals from its ashes and returning them to the case before spiriting it off, in the hopes of destroying them. No thought of using them to defeat Shocker ever crossed their minds—not after what they'd seen.
The Eiji who was here now, however, writhed in helpless laughter as a pile of children tickled him. His desperate gasps for breath were those of life—a life in a world that never should have existed, but one he would embrace for all it was worth.
Naoki smiled and scooped up two of the children, causing the other three to stop suddenly and look up at him in surprise.
"That's enough, children," he insisted. "Let Eiji breathe."
There were disappointed moans, but they backed away as Eiji caught his breath and gasped out, "Thanks."
1. Who were the Riders in this world before they became Riders again?
2. What will they do now?
So, uh, this fragment is dark. Damn near pitch black. Some trigger warnings for a character becoming suicidal, along with some awful deaths throughout.
The Eiji who had originally existed in this timeline had been a member of the elite, his family on Shocker's good side. But despite his upbringing, Eiji was sympathetic to the destitute humans on the fringes of existence, barely scraping out a living for themselves and in constant fear of another raid, another extermination campaign. So he'd quietly sneak food or medicine to children he saw thieving in the streets or pass along information about missing relatives to people he knew had come from the slums.
But he was naive. The rebels among the underclass had learned to take advantage of his kindness and used him to slip coded messages to their allies. Norio was searching for his wife, Azumi, and thought she might be near one slum—the police were raiding that slum, searching for a safehouse for the rebels. Auntie Shizuka was worried about her family—keep quiet, and keep your heads low to protect one another. Susumu was trying his luck in Sakurajima—the rebels were marching to Sakurajima to try to defeat Shocker's allies there. Eiji didn't think about the messages he was repeating—not until he got caught.
At first, it was just an embarrassment to his family, for their child to be caught sympathizing with the humans who hadn't been chosen to rise in society. But a scientist, Maki Kiyoto, had deduced the messages were really from the resistance and warned the troops there to be on the lookout for an ambush. Sure enough, the rebels were found and swiftly defeated, and Eiji's crime was elevated from simple compassion to treason.
Pity would have earned him brainwashing and modification, to ensure that no trace of humanity remained in him. But treason could not be rewarded with mercy, particularly for a member of the elite. The punishment would be death.
On the day of Eiji's execution, his parents was brought in to see him one last time, and he could hardly bring himself to look at the disappointment in their eyes—disappointment only, since it was too risky to show fear or compassion toward him, after the crime he'd committed. And then, right before his eyes, they were killed—his father first, followed by his horrified mother. But Shocker never raised their weapons to him, only dragged him off toward Maki's lab as he screamed and cried.
Shocker had unearthed a set of Core Medals in Germany, and Maki hypothesized that they were activated by feelings of despair and emptiness. Eiji was already uniquely selfless among Shocker's elite, which made him a potential host. All he needed was tragedy to empty him completely. He partitioned out five of the Medals from the set and strapped Eiji to an operating table, bringing his siblings before him. They knew nothing of their parents' fates, watching him coldly and reminding him that he was lucky that Shocker had decided to show him mercy by modifying him and rewriting his memories and personality so he would be completely loyal to them. And then Maki killed them, while Eiji could do nothing more than scream.
The Medals reacted immediately, flying into his chest with a flash of purple light, overwhelming him quickly. With that, the experiments began.
The Riders hadn't been completely blind to what was going on, and during one of their supposed adjustments, they confided to Naoki that they were worried about the Hino family, who hadn't been seen after their youngest had been caught unwittingly giving information to the resistance. Naoki had never worked with Maki before, but as one of the scientists in charge of the Riders, it was easy for him to request access to his lab, so the Riders could look into potential upgrades. Of course, it was an honor for them to come, and though Maki was hesitant to reveal just what his current project was, Hongo reminded him that everything they did was for Shocker's sake, and what weapons could help them end the current phase of humanity should be known to all.
It was difficult to say no to Shocker's greatest warriors, so he revealed an operating theater, where a twisted, half-human creature still lay on the table, sedated, his body partially encased in ice, from his last attempt to kill himself. His left arm was clawed, covered in leathery purple skin that extended across his shoulder and chest, scales and bony growths slowly forming. Half of his face was covered in skeletal growth, as if his skull had begun to expand out of his skin and start to take a saurian appearance. And there was nothing in his purple eyes as he stared back at them—what had been human had been killed already.
Naoki recognized what was left of the boy as the same young man who had stowed away on the time train with him and ran to him immediately as Hongo and Ichimonji dropped their covers and killed Maki. They would need to destroy the entire facility and find a way to blame it on a battle with rebels. Unspoken was the reality that they would have to kill the creature too, put it out of its misery. Naoki agreed to do that himself, while the Riders took care of staging the battle. He found the sedatives Maki had been using and began injecting them into the creature's human arm, trying to induce an overdose.
The creature seemed to realize what he was doing, since he tried to take hold of Naoki's arm. For a moment, Naoki thought the poor beast was trying to stop him, but there were tears in his eyes—gratitude.
The boy had been much older than Mitsuru, but Naoki couldn't help but think of his son as he took his hand and injected the final dose, waiting for his eyes to close and his breathing to stop and his broken heart to beat its last.
They cremated the creature, removing the terrible Medals from its ashes and returning them to the case before spiriting it off, in the hopes of destroying them. No thought of using them to defeat Shocker ever crossed their minds—not after what they'd seen.
The Eiji who was here now, however, writhed in helpless laughter as a pile of children tickled him. His desperate gasps for breath were those of life—a life in a world that never should have existed, but one he would embrace for all it was worth.
Naoki smiled and scooped up two of the children, causing the other three to stop suddenly and look up at him in surprise.
"That's enough, children," he insisted. "Let Eiji breathe."
There were disappointed moans, but they backed away as Eiji caught his breath and gasped out, "Thanks."