WEEK THREE EXECUTION

[grigori]

week three: execution interred with their bones

Hopefully you got a long night of sleep? Barring that, you got whatever answers, or closure, you might have needed. Because it's strangely quiet, the following Sunday morning. There's something almost oppressive hanging over the city, the market silent for the day as businesses remain closed and merchants remain indoors.

Breaking the silence, somewhere, much like the song of Friday, there is the echoing, cruel laughter of voices you should faintly recognize throughout the city. It's followed by humming of that newly familiar song. It's strongest, interestingly, close to the outpost.

As time turns to 1 PM, though, there is a change as the voices fade. While there's no compulsion to investigate it, there's a small gathering out beyond the outpost, in the desert proper. Your three Watchers are here with their daemons, and so are... Rin, and his daemon, front and center. All damages and evidence, anything amiss from the weekend, is all gone, and replaced with the state of the city from the week prior.

Nearby, the Watchers stand clustered together. Satariel stands close to Rin, hand gently between his shoulders, though they periodically look back Yomiel's way or around the area with an uneasy dread. Yomiel stands a short distance away from the others, avoiding the others' gaze as well as they can (that is, badly). Their ocelot daemon crouches beside them, fur bristling. Rameel stands somewhere between Satariel and Yomiel to act as some sort bridge between the three of them. Their puma daemon settled by their feet as it keeps tabs on Yomiel's ocelot as Rameel makes sure to not look away.

And then, another party will be compelled to join them. Yukio will find that his feet are carrying him to his destination, Miki sticking close to him as they travel past bones across shifting sands. Once he passes a certain point, opposite where Rin stands, he'll find that he can't go back, and neither can his daemon.

Likewise, no one can enter the area further than where the three Watchers stand, Satariel having been pushed back, stopped only by their daemon shifting to its bear form. There will be no interfering from outside parties, no matter what it is that's about to happen. Any attempts to do so will result in them meeting an invisible barrier, one that rebuffs them with the same amount of force used against it—so take care.

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[reflash]

[Rin's training has had months to form the sort of muscle memory that the demon is relying on now. But Yukio's been training for almost a decade.

He sidesteps, strikes the side of the blade with the butt of his gun to try and unbalance the demon, in the same movement gets behind it and slams a fist into its spine, right between the shoulder blades.]

[aono]

[The demon stumbles, but he can predict the kind of attack Yukio is going for. So instead of forcing himself to stand back up (and meet that fist with his spine), he continues with the motion and tumbles forward, under Yukio's arms and away from him.

And as he tumbles, his tail- long and white-blue, to match his new hair color- sweeps across to try to knock Yukio off his feet.]

[reflash]

[Yukio steps on that tail, hard.]

[aono]

[Fuck.

The demon is screeching yowling like a cat (thanks Lisa) and trying to yank his tail out from under Yukio's foot with one hand, while trying to stab Yukio's legs with the sword in the other.]

[reflash]

[He takes one strike to his left leg from the sword before he gets out of the way. Then he fires, a shot that goes right by Rin's head, narrowly missing one of those pointed ears.]

[aono]

[The demon doesn't even waste any time. He's back on his feet, tail swaying behind him in annoyance, giving Yukio a half-second of consideration before rushing in. Without his demon strength he can't do any of the crazy acrobatics that he normally does, but he can stay low to the ground so he can dodge around Yukio's aiming and avoid any more shots he takes.

Instead of aiming to stab, this time he's trying to body-check Yukio and knock him down. Yukio might have more training, but Rin has always had more raw strength. Time to put that to good use.]

[reflash]

[Yukio's at a slight disadvantage here, with his height and the demon staying low. He lets himself be tackled, deliberately taking the impact and twisting to turn this into a grapple as he goes down. Yukio's no weakling either.]

[aono]

[A grapple is fine. The demon has the advantageous positioning to start with, so he can land it so that he's pinning Yukio down by sitting on him. Yukio can hold onto Rin's clothes if he wants, that will just keep Yukio in place. He doesn't need long, just a moment of strength over Yukio, one moment of distraction on the younger twin's part will be the end.

That's all it took with the sword-man, after all. One mis-step on his part.]

[reflash]

[He's down, hits the ground heavily and it knocks the breath out of him for a second. That's enough for this demon, isn't it? That's all it's going to take if it really wants to kill him.]

1/2

[aono]

[It's more than enough for the demon, yeah. His unkind grin is followed by an unhinged chuckle as he shifts his grip on the katana and holds it above Yukio, the point of the blade right above Yukio's heart.]

Tell crane-boy I said hi.

[And then he plunges the sword down-]

2/2

[aono]

[-into the dirt next to Yukio's shoulder.

Gasping, Rin leans a little on the sword, exhausted. His face is sweaty and his breath is shaky and tears are starting to mix in too, but despite everything he's actually smiling down at Yukio.]

Ha...ha...I made it. I'm back.

['Tadaima', for you Japanese speakers out there.]

1/2

[reflash]

[The sword comes down and Yukio grabs at the gun and--

lowers it again.]

Welcome, back, nii-san.

[Okaeri.]

[There's something different about his smile. Tired, and a little proud.

He carefully rolls Rin off of him, sits up and looks at his brother for a moment. Places a hand on his shoulder. Stands. Takes a step back.]

Please, wait there and close your eyes.

2/2 CW: SUICIDE

[reflash]

[He gives Rin a second to do that. He doesn't want to look his brother in the eyes for this.

Raises his gun. Speaks.]

After all, I promised dad that I'd protect you.

[He raises the gun to his head and fires.

Yukio Okumura is dead.]

[aono]

[For a moment, while Yukio is standing up, Rin is left remembering how different things were when they were little. When Yukio would jump at every little shadow and Rin would just smile and pat him on the back. "It's okay, Yuki. I'll protect you!" And Yukio would always nod to Rin and try to smile, to show Rin that it was okay. It would be okay, as long as they had each other.

He doesn't close his eyes. He wants to face his own death with confidence, to show Yukio that it's okay. That he'll be okay. Even after all this time, Yukio will still be okay.

Instead he's left staring wide-eyed as he watches his brother's lifeless body falls to the ground in front of him.]

REMEMBER -

[grigori]

remember
and dust you shall become in the end

 

 

The Watchers step forward in unison as the barrier falls, the same as they had with the verdict against Rin. Their reactions vary - Satariel's horror as they cover their mouth with both hands, Rameel putting one hand over their mouth turning their head while the other is clenched in a fist trembling, Yomiel's quiet anger nearly palpable, but it's clear to them that this is the end.

The shot rings out and echoes across the rolling desert sands surrounding the city of Ahnkeen, and Miki shimmers into golden Dust from where she was pressed closed to Rinkou for the entire fight, desperately clinging together, fading on the wind. The gun and katana both disappear much like the bone had after they were chosen, and it seems like nothing will be left behind.

And that includes the executed, Yukio's body turning to Dust like much his daemon - and then there's nothing left.

Yukio Okumura is dead.

The laughter from before returns, echoing, before the unknown but newly familiar voices turn to song again:

there once was a tale of two brothers,
each willing to sacrifice it all for the other.
one is a monster, a danger to all -
though afraid, he stands ready to take the fall.
the other, human, innocent but lacking trust;
his desire to protect will leave the other one crushed.
they've had troubles, no siblings are perfect.
the real sacrifice is their chance to reconnect.
two sons of satan, but only one may survive.
now the monster remains, without even a goodbye.

After the Dust clears, and the song ends with more of that laughter, the Watchers will disappear in a shift of time around them. Rin and Rinkou are left truly and utterly alone in the heart of the outpost.

[aono]

[This can't be happening.

This can't be real.]

Y...Yukio...

[Rin doesn't even bother getting to his feet. He's just scrambling the few feet across to where Yukio fell, dirtying up his hands and knees as he desperately reaches for his brother. But even as he moves, he can already see Yukio fading away to dust.]

No- nonono! You can't- Yukio!

[And by the time he gets there Yukio is gone, and he just. Pounds his fists into the dirt where Yukio just was and screams.

It's like something irreplaceable has broken in him, leaving the pieces to be scattered to the wind.]

[greatdeduction]

[yeah no as soon as yukio disappears he just]

[makes a break for it, wincing, before he bends down to embrace Rin]

[he doesn't have any words. how could he? what could you say to that?]

[lefthandpath]

[Allen Walker is not waiting around, he's been at the barrier ever since Rin went demon-mode and he is immediately sprinting over to where Rin is, quickly crouching down and reaching for him. heart breaking for him, but at the same time--stupid Yukio, you're just asking to get bullied by Allen Walker for this.]

[booksleeves]

[She's watching quietly while this all happens, but when the gun goes off, she flinches, and her composure breaks. Her shoulders start to tremble, and then she just walks away.]

[uncoincidental]

[oh god

that's... there are no words to describe how awful that is. sheba runs to rin once the barrier drops, and reaches over to put a hand on his arm.]

[winebar]

[Even if van Zieks could say something he wouldn't. But he is watching Rin's reaction, fists clenched knuckle white, his mouth set in a tight but gentle scowl.

He doesn't step in because it's not his place, he's just observing in that grim way of his.]

[sponsoredby]

[ He's there, but he doesn't rush in like a few others. He looks down. Yeah... either outcome would have been a loss. He doesn't have words to properly give him, wishing he could help, but how do you in a situation like this? ]

[taptap]

[ oh no. oh no. oh no. something inside her shatters at this, the tears that wouldn't come earlier flowing freely. she stumbles her way to rin, following his voice and falls to her knees, sobbing ]

I'm sorry..! I'm sorry, I didn't mean like this!

[ for all her posturing last night, this is the last thing she wanted to happen ]

[burnstrike]

[ Nanaly is in shock when it first happens, but Rin's voice breaks her out of it. Even if they haven't been too close up until now, this is something she can't not be here for, so she's here kneeling down beside Rin with the others. ]

[rerouter]

[...

The gun goes off, and Monika squeezes her eyes shut as Rin starts screaming.

How do you come back from that? You don't. She won't join the hug pile because it's not her place, but to whoever happens to run past her on their way to him—]

... Don't forget to patch him up.

[That hit to the face looked nasty, man.]