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Every, Any Heathcliff
Episode 1
Sometimes, Dante would overlay some of the identities outside of battle.
Usually, it goes alright, because they're very much capable of learning when to control the insanity. But Kiya wasn't exactly used to it yet.
Today, some trainings didn't go the way they should.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Heathcliff. Hey, Heathcliff?
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
Hgh...Hrkk!
Kiya
Sinner #25
You're doing that...thing again.
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
Huh? Oh. Oh, yeah. Sorry 'bout that.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Have you eaten at all today?
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
Uhhh...
Kiya
Sinner #25
...Have you? I'm going to take that as a no.
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
Heretics...must be...Urk! Nah. Nah, I haven't eaten anything. Other than the good stuff.
Kiya
Sinner #25
The what.
The Kleinhammer shifts and cracks, digging into his bag. He then takes out a strange can. Kiya is quick to shake his head. That won't do, for sure.
Kiya
Sinner #25
You're not eating that.
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
What?? You're joshing, right? You know my superior will—
Kiya
Sinner #25
Don't care. Your superior isn't here so it doesn't matter. I'm cooking you real food.
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
Mmmnnn. It doesn't matter anyway.
Heathcliff
N Corp. Kleinhammer
I'm...too far gone.
Kiya turns his head, almost snapping. He doesn't want to hear those words come out of his friend's mouth. But his eyes meet the other's, and that quickly changes.
He notes in his head that something is deeply wrong with this one, for reasons he does not want to think about.
His fist clenches, and all Kiya does is drag Heathcliff with him. Silently so.
The next day fails him before it even starts.
Episode 2
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
What do you want...?
Kiya has been thinking to himself. If every Heathcliff is destined to cause nothing but trouble, then what did this one do?
Sunshower was curious. A reminder of someone he was reluctant to even look at in the first place.
Memories of K Corp were a blur. That was good. Yet, he almost wants to grit his teeth.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Quit your brooding. I just want to talk to you.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
Then talk. Not like...I've got anything else to do.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Okay.
Kiya
Sinner #25
.....
Kiya
Sinner #25
......I hate K Corp.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
Hopeless. Your feelings are far more complicated than surface-level hatred.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Shut up. I'm trying to make a conversation.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
That Wing killed my comrades. Of course it's easy to hate on it.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
But you haven't properly accepted that yet.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Hm. Don't like that.
Kiya
Sinner #25
What next, you'll cough up blood? Die in the streets alone?! Just get inside the bus. I don't want you making a mess.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
...Haha. You're quite the joker.
Heathcliff
Lobotomy E.G.O: Sunshower
I wonder what tomorrow will be like for you.
Heathcliff, reluctant and filled with grief, sluggishly enters, bumping into Kiya all the while.
For some reason, a thought crosses his mind as he ponders on those last words.
He does wonder what the next interaction will be like with Heathcliff. And just that fact alone makes him sick to the stomach.
Episode 3
And indeed, the next time was as disasterous as he expected it.
Kiya's heart beats against his chest.
Panicked, he scrambles for some kind of safety. Something, anything to hold onto...
Kiya
Sinner #25
...Hey.
Kiya
Sinner #25
You realize you don't have to kill everyone else to get to me, right?!
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
................
This familiar sight was what he never wanted to face again.
All battered and bloodied up, Kiya steps over the gore of his own friends.
He can only grin, bare his teeth. What else can be done, after all? The leader of the Wild Hunt inches closer, and closer.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Haha. Ahaha. This...Is this some sick joke to you?!
Kiya
Sinner #25
Do you even remember me that way?! How much I wanted to tear you to shreds??
Kiya
Sinner #25
I wanted to bury everything when they told me you were an option in the first place! But I guess nobody cares about my feelings like that, right?!
Kiya
Sinner #25
And what, you want to...to settle it?! Go ahead, I...
"I want to die anyway." He doesn't tell him. Because the truth was, he didn't really mean it.
Not in front of Heathcliff, the one person he's been watching from a distance.
Not when it's not him in his entirety.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
I remember...flickers.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
An echo of what you tried...and failed...to do.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
It would be too easy.
Kiya
Sinner #25
...Kill me.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Kill me, over and over. It wouldn't be the first time you've done that.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Do anything, just...
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
Hush. There's no need for that.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Look...at me...when...
Every part of Kiya screams for help, except for the heart.
It flutters as an echo of his past hugs him tight, instead of going straight for the kill.
His eyes widen, and the truth hits him once more.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
...I am sorry.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
Sorry...that you have woven yourself into this tragic fate.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
There will be nothing left for you soon.
Kiya
Sinner #25
I know.
Kiya
Sinner #25
I'll keep pretending it doesn't affect me, though. If that's fine.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
You already found your answer.
Kiya
Sinner #25
I want to bury it again, for tomorrow to care about.
Kiya
Sinner #25
Hold my hand while you kill me. I deserve it.
Heathcliff
Wild Hunt Heathcliff
Very well.
If the Heathcliff of this world were to find what he's looking for, Kiya will have to face the blur of denial. Forever, and ever.
He wanted to love him. It just cannot be, no matter how much his hands reach for those scarred cheeks.
Heathcliff has to go forward. So must he.
Regardless of which one he faces, there will always be a strange parallel.
A distance that will never close, and a distance he will never accept.