Chuuya's head shot up at the familiar voice, though he couldn't believe who was standing there,
"Five..." he breathed out, completely dumbfounded.
Chuuya then turned his attention to look behind him to see if Seven was okay if she was just as bewildered as he was, if she was taking it better than he was, but Seven was nowhere to be seen and that's when it clicked.
"You knew... you both knew." Chuuya spoke his face pensive
"Yes, yes we did." Five responded, his shoulders tense and glare fixed.
Chuuya at that moment craved to activate his ability, to crush Five beneath him but he felt so empty he couldn't even bring himself to activate it.
"Why... WHY?!! WHAT WAS THE REASON? DAZAI'S- he's... DEAD!"Chuuya screamed, trying to control his tears from flowing down his face.
"He's not dead Chuuya-san, you're too panicked to tell and the reason why...is because we have no choice."
Five finished.
Chuuya didn't know what to say, he had so many questions, so few answers, so many tears and so little energy to ask questions.
"I know it doesn't sound believable, and I know it's selfish to ask of your trust. But if you don't listen to me and you don't trust me, you or Dazai will die in the near future." Five-spoke out causing Chuuya to laugh
"Trust you? Trust you? When you're the reason Dazai is dead if not on the verge of death! Fuck off." Chuuya replied bitterly, his laughs breaking into sobs.
However Chuuya did want answers, what did Five and Seven know that he and Dazai didn't, why didn't they have a choice? He didn't want to work with them but he needed answers. Chuuya remembered vaguely that Dazai had said that they were hiding but had also said that despite that they had no menacing intentions. That realisation is what made Chuuya remember the way Seven had begun to act as they got here, the way she smiled, Chuuya knew it was fake but now that he thought about it, it was both fake and guilty, her body shook and trembled from anxiety of what lay behind the walls, in the end, the only conclusion was; the smile she had given him, was an apology.
Chuuya looked at Five whose gaze was fixed and cold. Whilst Seven seemed to have the personality traits of the Dazai he knew now, Five most definitely had his motionless sinister aura from the Mafia.
"If I get proper explanations I'll listen to what you have to say," Chuuya spoke up sternly. Five nodded pointing towards the stairs and motioning for him to come up to where he was.
"What about Dazai?" Chuuya asked not budging from next to him, he won't leave unless he was assured that Dazai will be safe
"He'll be dealt with, I promise."
Chuuya sighed, he knew he should be sceptical but it was hard to be when his instincts told him it was fine.
The ginger man walked towards the stairs obediently walking right next to Five.
Five tugged onto Chuuya's sleeve, pulling him into an unlit corner, putting his finger up to his lips, telling Chuuya to shush
"What are you-"
"Shhhh...just watch." Five replied quietly letting his gaze fall to Dazai, Chuuya followed his eyes, his gaze landing onto Dazai.
A large door to the left suddenly swung open, Chuuya 's eyes widened when he saw Seven running towards Dazai, a bright green first aid kit in her hands, the two males watched as she dropped to her knees in front of Dazai.
She peered around the room confused
"They're already gone? I would have thought it would be harder to convince Chuuya-sama." She spoke her voice echoing in the empty chamber.
Shaking her head in dismissal, she opened the first aid kit taking out wipes, then gently wipes Dazai of any blood that was visible on his body and face. She then snapped her fingers making the rope that was tied around his hands and ankles burst into controlled flames, causing the brunet to fall against her, she caught him carefully.
"I'm so sorry." She whispered quietly.
Chuuya saw Five squeeze his fists tightly as if to ground himself from running towards Seven. Chuuya watched as Seven pushed Dazai back against the chair at an angle that would ensure he didn't fall. The navy haired girl then took one of Dazai's hands, staring at it unsure, she traced her fingers along the edge of the bandages, Chuuya was about to shout at her and tell her not to take his bandages off, but all she did was sigh and squeeze his hands softly. She then got up and hoisted him onto her back carefully, glancing around hurriedly then stumbled around trying to get her grip on her balance, she opened the door glancing back at the chair where Dazai had sat and the place she had crawled in with a Chuuya, a deep sigh left slipped through her lips as the door shut the door behind her and Dazai.
"Where is she taking him?" Chuuya asked
"Unfortunately from here on out we don't know how things will end up, so she's taking him to where we live"
Chuuya frowned at him
"What do you mean you don't know how things will end up? I need explanations. "
Five nodded closing his eyes momentarily, then as he opened them both he and Chuuya were shrouded in a bright red. Chuuya stared down at himself
"What the fuck are you doing?"
"We're going to have an out of body experience I guess. So we're going to lock ourselves in a safe room." Chuuya still felt just as dumbfounded as he did a moment ago, an out of body experience? What?
"What on God's green earth are you shitting on about?"
"Just follow me."
They walked into a room that had probably been a bedroom, of presumably a child -most likely the boy who had lived here- the room was, like the rest of the house, a mess, however, there were no holes in the roof or the walls, not even the windows were shattered. The bed was a double bed with blue sheets and an old copy of Romeo and Juliet lay on the bedsheets along with a small ginger cat plushie. One of the walls was full of books, from one end to another, some stories, some mangas, some non-fiction books about the world and others school books, everything was still there but the dust and cobwebs certainly made it look like many years had passed.
However, a very incongruently clean blanket lay on top of the dirty floor. Five walked up to it and sat down. The ginger looked at him sceptically but still did as he was told, sitting down cross-legged in front of the younger blond.
Five held out his hands for Chuuya to take, Chuuya hesitantly did, the red surrounding them intensifying, encouraging Chuuya to close his eyes, not wanting to go blind.
But he couldn't bring himself to open them again, instead, he felt drowsiness overtake him, like he hadn't slept in months and then abyssal darkness overtook him and he completely passed out.
When he awoke he honestly didn't expect to wake up alone in what looked like a stary domain. It looked like it went on forever but at the same, it looked like a small enclosed area. When he looked down it was he saw the same starry domain, he knew for a fact that he was sitting on something solid and sturdy but it looked like an endless stary chasm underneath him.
When Five appeared a row of miscellaneous coloured doors did too, all with names on them, Chuuya quickly recognised his door, red and sophisticated, his name written in cursive, in blue.
"What is this place?" Chuuya asked as he got up from where he was sitting, fixing his gaze towards Five who's expression was hard to read; it bore a resemblance to a sad fondness as if he both loved and despised this place that he created.
"This place is how I can access people's dreams, I'm usually not supposed to go here, but I've got no choice in this situation"
"Why can't you come here? It's such a beautiful place." Chuuya questioned
"Every time I do I run the risk of getting brain damage."
Chuuya felt dumbstruck as he stared at the young blond, just what exactly was going to happen that forced him into a situation where here had to run the risk of damaging his brain?
"Five, you need to tell me what exactly is fucking happening, I don't understand any of this! Just a week ago we were sitting together planning how to get rid of Silver, now you're trying to get rid of me and Dazai." Chuuya exclaimed flailing his arms around in exasperation causing Five to rub his forehead and look away with a sigh
"It's going to be a long explanation."
"Is this a case of we don't have enough time?" Chuuya asked still remembering that Dazai was somewhere bleeding to death.
"No, time goes slower here, it's just a lot to take in and the situation is complicated to wrap your head around." Chuuya placed his hands in his pockets, getting himself into a comfortable standing position, that was enough for Five to understand that Chuuya didn't care, it reminded him fondly of Seven.
"I didn't tell you and Dazai-san the full truth of my ability, while yes I can make dreams come true, unlike what I told you I usually have full control over them, I can decide what to make come true and what not to, but recently my ability has gotten out of hand and I made dreams that I shouldn't have come true by accident." There was a pause as Five inhaled deeply
"When Silver first told us about our new mission to kill you and Dazai-san, I had no clue who you were and neither did Six, but Seven did and the idea of having to kill you terrified her. She told me and Six all about the two of you and I enjoyed just how fondly she spoke of you I'm guessing that because of how enthusiastically Seven was talking about you, it inadvertently made Six and I not want to kill you as well. As a result of that, the mission was probably worrying Six that it triggered a dream about how the mission would go. On that very night, she had a dream about everything that is currently happening now, but if Seven, Six and I hadn't intervened."
"The way she knew that the dream had come true was because a month later, wearing the same outfit on the same day with the same weather conditions she bumped into Dazai-san and he even had said the same things as he had said at the start out her dream. She came running to me and told me all about it so we started doing research, I entered this place -called the plane of visuri- again so I could be given the criteria of how to stop Six's dream which is how I also found out that I also made yours and Dazai-san's dreams come true because I found your doors here."
"so you made mine, Dazai's and Six's dreams all come true without meaning to?" Chuuya questioned as he ran his hands through his hair trying to sort out through all the information he was getting in his head
"Pretty much." Five responded
"So how does this link to everything that's been happening?" Chuuya asked
"for me to end the dreams I have to meet certain criteria that they require."
"couldn't you have asked Dazai to use his ability to nullify it?" Chuuya suddenly asked
"I wish it was possible, but once I make dreams come true they become their own separate thing, they're no longer part of my ability, neither is the criteria, it's like it's own separate entity."
Chuya nodded, he had thought that living with the burden of Arahabaki on his shoulders was hard enough but he couldn't imagine how hard it must be to live when you know you can make people's worst fears come true.
"So what are the criteria then?"
"It's incredibly confusing but when I made all your dreams come true I linked them to one another. To stop Six's dream I need to show you and Dazai each other's dreams, and for both of yours and Dazai's I need to end Six's. So I need to show you Dazai's and Dazai's yours, which will need Six's and then will end yours."
"So it's like a cycle then?"
"Yeah pretty much"
"So why didn't you just ask us? We would have happily agreed if you had just told us, but instead, you shot Atsushi and Akutagawa, kidnapped Dazai and had him beat."
"As I've said before, Six's dream depicted what would have happened if we hadn't intervened, but a lot of the scenarios would have happened regardless, if not by us then by Four or Three. On the rooftop, we acted as if we were in a grey area, but outright asking Three or Four to not attack you, or even just hurting them will have put Six's and mine's family in danger as it would have been seen as an act of treason. In the dream Three openly shot Atsushi and Akutagawa and gotten arrested, we couldn't risk her and her girlfriend getting executed so Seven took it upon herself, to prove her loyalty and protect Three and her girlfriend. So she shot them. As for what happened today the boss directly ordered me and Seven to work on capturing Dazai and we both decided that this was our opportunity to show you each other's dreams, whilst also showing Boss and the others we are on their side."
Chuuya quiet honestly felt utterly speechless, they had to go through so much just to keep him and Dazai alive, they and to betray and lie to their friends, they had to hurt people they cared about and looked up to just so they could reinforce their loyalties and protect the people they loved, all while carrying the burdens of their families lives on their shoulders, it really seemed like enough to drive someone crazy.
But then Chuuya remembered something important.
"I don't know the details, but my guess is it probably has something to do with fears....maybe nightmares, something related to them at the very least"
"The reactions that Dazai and I had; where we would start crying or profusely shaking was that your doing?"
"Yes, it was, that's the only way I can prepare you to go into this place, it's almost like training your body. But you and Dazai didn't require much, because of how strong you are. Seven had to go through the same thing, it just took her six times to be able to come in here instead of two."
"That's your ability working there right?" Chuya inquired
"Yes, yes it is."
"Then how come it works on Dazai?"
"I made one of Sevens dreams where she had an elixir to nullify anything to do with abilities related to the colour red, then we used it to drug Dazai's drink. My abilities red so.."
"That makes no sense, why red?"
"Dreams don't tend to make sense Chuuya-san."
"So...his ability hasn't been working since.....
"Dazai first went to that cafe."
"That's months!"
"I know."
"My ability is red too! How-how are you going to get rid of it?"
"I just have to give him some water and he has to drink it, kinda like how people say holy water cleanses you."
Chuuya shook his head as if he disagreed with their actions -and to some extent he did- but he understood why they did it. He couldn't bring it in himself to feel angry because of what they had done, he knew that if they had been able
to go about it differently, they would have chosen that any day.
"So now you just have to show me Dazai's dream...to do what?"
"If we don't stop this, either one of your dreams will come true."
"what does this have to do with us dying?"
"You'll see."
Five took a key from his pocket and walked towards a dark brown door, it had strips of white paint on it as if to mimic bandages, with the name Dazai Osamu written in red cursive on it.
"This is is where you'll be able to find out why you feel that suffocating feeling when I trained you to come here."
"It had to do with Dazai's dream?"
"Yeah."
"So what about the door turning into a wall that one time? what was that about?"
"My little sister's ability, anything she draws becomes real, so we showed her what your room looks like and she changed the door into a thick wall because you had figured out my ability had no effect when you were together, so we had to keep you away until I was sure you could come into the plane." Five spoke as he slotted the key into the hole and opened the door with a small click.
Five walked in with little hesitation whilst Chuuya couldn't help but feel apprehensive about everything, true to himself he took a deep breath in, holding his head up high and finally walked in, though that still didn't prepare him enough for what he saw on the other side of the door.
Destruction, blood and death so so much death. Everywhere Chuuya looked there was someone dead, whether it was children, adults, old people it didn't matter they were all dead.
A car whizzed past them causing Chuuya to stumble back, he tried to look back towards the car but he felt himself get transported.
He was now standing with Five in front of what seemed to be either an unconscious or dead Dazai. The brunet had his back against a grey and relatively untouched car, completely beaten, blood leaked from his nose and a huge gash went from just above his knee to his ankle, whatever had caused this had split his trousers allowing blood to seep onto the floor. Then not too far away the car from before had stopped brusquely revealing an equally injured Ango.
'Of course, he's the one to survive.' Chuuya thought himself, it seemed like Dazai's dreams also liked to prod at the tragedy that had happened at the Mafia even after all this time.
"Dazai!!" Ango called out as he ran towards the bandaged man as best he could despite sustaining injuries of his own.
He came up to Dazai and shook his shoulders gently, causing Dazai to pry open his eyes
"Ango?" He murmured letting his head tilt slightly to the side from tiredness
"Dazai-they're all dead- all of them- Dazai only Nakahara is left, you need to help him, he's - he's in that state tha-"
"Corruption...."Dazai whispered still not able to process anything
"Corruption.....Corruption! Chuuya!" Daza shouted as he sat up with, he looked at Ango with a fear rich expression as everything finally processed through his head
"They're all..... they're all dead? Everyone...." he asked
"Everyone but Nakahara" Ango affirmed, Chuuya watched as Dazai gripped Ango's arms with a look of desperation on his face.
"Even... even Atsu-"
"Everyone Dazai..." Ango interrupted sadly, Dazai let his head drop, Chuuya could immediately tell he was trying to mask his sadness as best he could, especially from Ango, but his trembling shoulder's and hands showed just how much everything was affecting him.
"All but Nakahara, he's still rampaging around the city, you can still save him." Ango replied causing Dazai to look up at him, Chuuya noticed how a small glint of hope flashed on Dazai's face. The brunet nodded determinedly allowing Ango to help him up. Dazai's legs shook weakly whilst Ango tried to support him as best he could, they stumbled to the car and got in, driving off as quickly as they could.
Chuuya and Five were yet again transported to a different place, this time Chuuya was just at an angle where he could see the sea peeking from the top of the car, both Dazai and Ango got out, but neither said anything as they stood and looked at the scenery in front of them, which Chuuya (curse his height) couldn't see and just as he was going to move a phone began to ring, Ango picked it up and listened, his face growing increasingly sadder the longer it went on. Even when the call ended no sense of relief or comfort showed itself
"Dazai I have to-"
"I know, it's fine Ango..." Dazai murmured, his tone dead and emotionless, Ango wanted to say something more, but he looked hesitant
"I'm sorry Dazai," he said as he opened his car door, Chuuya had to remind himself that this was just in fact a dream, it was the furthest thing for reality, he had to drill this into his brain because every fibre of his being was telling him to read deeper into Ango's words.
It seemed like Dazai however was reading into them, he turned around the wind blowing around them growing in intensity, causing Dazai's hair to fly around him, his eyes despite being dead held an immense amount of pain.
"I know Ango...." He replied quietly, Ango's eyes widened, probably wracked with guilty before he got into his car and drove away.
The scene Chuuya was now faced with was one he had never wanted to see in his entire life, it took everything in his power to not cry.
This wasn't real, it wasn't real, it's all just a figment of Dazai's imagination.
Only a couple meters away from Dazai was Yosano with a hole going straight through her, not too far away from her lay Ranpo with the lower half of his body complete gone. To the left of the road lay Gin who was close to Akutagawa, both of them too having giant holes going straight through their chests, they lay next to each other as if they had attempted to protect one another, though Chuuya didn't miss the fact Akutagawa's hand was reaching out to the middle of the road. Kunikida lay on the right side with both of his arms missing, Kenji's body lay there with his head nowhere in sight, Fukuzawa was there too, his body completely sliced in half. Kyouka and Kyōyō were side by side but the only way you could tell was by the small part of Kyōyō's kimono that peeked out from the rubble and what remained of Kyouka -her hand which even now was still clutching onto her phone. In a similar state were Tanizaki and Naomi, though the only thing that reminded of them was their legs and arms as their bodies had been completely crushed, despite that their fingers remained tightly intertwined.
And finally right in the middle of the road was Atsushi. A hole also went through his chest, causing a pool of blood to encompass his body. Chuuya watched as Dazai walked over to him looking around him at all of his dead friends briefly before turning his attention to Atsushi. Chuuya forced himself to walk and stand by Dazai, he knew it was a dream (more like a nightmare) but somehow he couldn't help but feel like he needed to be there to support Dazai.
The brunet crouched down, brushing Atsushi's hair from his face, heaving a shaky sigh, tears pooling in his dark eyes.
Chuuya noticed how Dazai's hands trembled as he cupped Atsushi's face, rubbing his thumb over Atsushi's under eyes, causing Chuuya to tear up, Dazai really cared about Atsushi like no other, it was sweet, how Dazai went from barely caring about anyone to probably basing his entire life around one individual, Chuuya felt eternally grateful that Dazai had met Atsushi.
The serene moment was quickly interrupted by a high pitched maniacal laughter, causing both Dazai and Chuuya to look up from Atsushi.
And that's when Chuuya saw himself emerging from behind a somewhat intact building; Chuuya hated the way he looked, the way Arahabaki completely destroyed his body. He was levitating just barely off of the ground, blood dripping from the corners of his mouth and his nose. Weird markings covered his body, whilst his eyes had whitened, his clothes were also utterly ripped, Chuuya had never seen himself when he used corruption, he had been curious about it, but now he had wished he had never even wasted his time pondering about it.
Chuuya turned attention away from himself to Dazai -who contrary to him was looking at him with hope swimming in his eyes. Chuuya's heart skipped in his chest at how Dazai's previously dark expression, showed just the slightest bit of life.
But it was short-lived, when loud gargles filled the air, Chuuya looked towards himself, watching as he seemed to break down in an almost robotic way.
"Shit...CHUUYA!!" Dazai shouted, breaking into a weak sprint towards the other male, Chuuya glanced at Five who nodded at him, encouraging him to run as well.
Chuuya looked up at himself, watching as Dazai had to slow to keep himself from collapsing
"Shit no Chuuya! Please"
Chuuya's eyes returned to normal, the markings showing he was under Arahabaki's control fading from his skin. He looked at Dazai weakly stumbling forwards, gargling and drowning in his own blood as it completely filled his nostrils and poured out his mouth, causing him to choke and splutter.
"You...didn't reach me in time...Dazai..."
The older rasped out before coughing and collapsing forwards.
Dazai took one final leap sliding on his injured leg towards Chuuya, adrenaline making him completely dismiss the pain emitting from it. He caught Chuuya in his arms, immediately activating his ability, a beautiful blue enveloping the both of them.
But Chuuya's eyes never opened.
Dazai gently scooped his head his, as he stared in disbelief.
He hadn't reached Chuuya in time.
Chuuya watched horror-struck as Dazai's whole body began to tremble violently as he held onto Chuuya's body as if it was the most precious thing in the world, his breath becoming staggered until finally, tears poured out the corners of his eyes, he pulled Chuuya's head upwards gently digging his face into the smaller's ginger locks
"I'm so sorry Chuuya, I'm sorry. I did- I didn't mean it, please forgive me, Chuuya I'm sorry"
(Dazai cradled his body much like he had held Odasaku's in his last moments).
Chuuya had never seen Dazai cry, he had never even seen him let out so much as a tear. Compared to Dazai who had seen him cry plenty of times, each time he had, Dazai seemed to be indecisive whether he should attempt to make Chuuya laugh or get angry at him or to try his best to comfort him by inching closer to him for silent bodily comfort.
Chuuya had always wanted to see Dazai cry, when he was younger he wanted to use it as something to pin against the brunet, but now he firmly decide that he never wanted to hear or see Dazai cry ever again.
Dazai let out a strained sob as he clutched Chuuya's body closer,
"I'm sorry Chuuya... I love you Chuuya, I'm so sorry." Chuuya felt his legs weaken, turning his head towards Five in disbelief as if to confirm that he had heard everything properly. But all Five did was simply watch the scene unfold in front of him.
Chuuya turned his head back to where Dazai and his dead self were. It seemed like Dazai could longer bottle up his feelings and let out a large cry.
His cries of anguish echoed throughout the dead city, to the point where they sounded like screams, until his throat became hoarse and even then his crying didn't seize.
The longer Chuuya stood there, the less he could stand it, he wanted to do anything to help but he was completely powerless, he felt weak from the confession and so many different types of sadness seemed to overtake all his senses, he couldn't stand it, he wanted to leave, he wanted to go and hug Dazai and tell him he loved him too and promise to never leave his side.
Chuuya wiped away his tears as he turned towards Five, who seemed to get the message, he nodded in response, closing his eyes and opening them again surrounding both him and Chuuya in red, he then reached out his hand towards chuuya, who took it immediately. And just like that the dream crumbled away as if it was dust, then disintegrated into nothing, leaving Chuuya and Five in that old bedroom from which they had begun.
Chuuya sat down onto the floor, laying back against the dusty and dirty floorboards, it didn't matter considering his hair was laced with Dazai's blood, along with his face and he most definitely couldn't forget the blood on his hands and knees either.
"Fuck that was horrible." Chuuya muttered
"But everything makes so much sense now." He continued, throwing his arm over his eyes. They sat in silence, Five was letting Chuuya process everything, letting him understand everything that had just happened.
Chuuya looked at him and then sighed
"Do you know when this dream even happened? Any...Uhm...contextual knowledge." laughed at Chuuya's awkward bluntness
"I know when dreams begin and how they change the moment I fabricate them into reality"
"So when did this dream begin then?"
"When Dostoevsky died, the dream has been largely the same with everything not concerning you. It started with him just apologising to you, then it turned to him liking you and then declaring he loves you."
"Everything with Dostoevsky must have really traumatised him" Chuuya replied to which all Five did was nod in agreement, breathing out a sigh.
"So what now then?" Chuuya asked after a moment of silence, Five sighed for what seemed the millionth time that day
"Unfortunately I'm not sure, we know you beat Boss, but we don't know the details other than the fact you used corruption."
"What?! How come?"
"Six's dream conveniently blacked out when the fight began and cut off to me her and Seven standing at Boss's grave." The blond spoke running his hands angrily through his hair.
"So then how do you know I used corruption?"
"We had a conversation about in front of Boss's grave, that's how."
"How convenient..." Chuuya murmured, Five lifted his arms in his defiance
"I don't want you to use corruption but Boss will be here in twenty minutes." Chuuya heaved a sigh, his shoulders dropping.
"One more question."
"Yeah?"
"Do you...do you know when my dream started?"
"A few months after you met Dazai, but as the both of you have gotten older your dreams changed a lot, the basis of it is the same though." Chuuya looked at the floor with flushed cheeks, it felt embarrassing that a teenager was aware of a personal dream like that
"It's nothing to be ashamed of, I'm in the same shoes as you."
"How come?"
"Seven has tried to kill herself before."
Chuuya's eyes widened at that, is that why she wanted to go and accompany Dazai in his dream?
"So you've had a dream similar to mine."
"Yeah...as well as my family being killed by Boss."
They sat in silence for a while longer, neither needed to say anything as they processed their emotions in their head, the silence was swiftly cut when Five's phone began pinged.
K: Use it in five minutes.