Week 4, Post-Trial: Assassin

[withsadness]

Shinshin!

[Mary couldn't just latch herself onto him all trial, but, as always, she's happy to find him and talk to him some more once it's over.]

They found out about your hair missing...that's so lame! And we didn't find a reaper...

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[shinssin]

[ After everything... He still has to be strong for Mary.

She's all he has left, in the end. ]

Yeah, that sucks! But it's alright. Remember what I told you about my instinct?

[withsadness]

The secret one?

[Mary nods!]

Is that why you wanted to kill Akira?

[shinssin]

Yep! He's a Reaper. And you know what else, Mary? He helped Junko kill Eleanor.

[withsadness]

He...he what?

[Mary feels her throat tighten. She thought Akira...she thought he was nice. They've had so much fun talking to him and taking pictures and tooting party horns...if he was just a reaper, that would be one thing, but...Eleanor...]

How could he?

[shinssin]

Yeah, I couldn't believe it either. He'd always go on about not killing...

[ Assassin would go on, but Mary doesn't need his dramatics. He's not blind to what she's feeling. Pain, betrayal... He crouches and opens his arms. ]

Come here.

[withsadness]

[Mary burrows into his arms, clutching onto him tightly and feeling her eyes burn. The more time goes on, the more his embrace feels like the only safe place left in this game.]

You're not going to let him or anybody else get you too, are you?

[shinssin]

[ Assassin holds her close and strokes her hair. There, there. ]

Who, me? Nah! I'm...

[ Ugh.

He bites his lip, braces himself for it. ]

I'm a hero, after all!

[ It sounds so weird in this context... ]

[withsadness]

...are you going to go after Akira?

[It's the next natural question, after all.]

[shinssin]

[ A smirk. ]

Naturally. Can't let him get away now. It's been too long. Don't tell anyone, okay? It's our little secret.

[ Speaking of keeping secrets. ]

You did well today, Mary. I'm proud of you.

[withsadness]

...I won't tell anybody. I promise.

[She'll take it to her own grave, if it comes to it, though she hope it won't.]

I want to keep making you proud. Is there anything I can do help? I want to make sure that you won't get caught.

[shinssin]

[ Making him proud... Assassin's lived all his life trying to do the same damn thing. Funny how things work out. ]

Yeah.

[ Oh, Eleanor's going to kill him. ]

Let's kill Akira and Ichigo. Together.

[withsadness]

Ichigo, too?

[It causes Mary to pause. Ichigo...he's been really nice to her, too. But they're partners, so...he'd have to die anyway, wouldn't he?]

As long as we're together, I can do anything to anyone.

[shinssin]

Me too.

[ Suddenly, it's hard to speak. ]

... I'm scared, Mary. Ichigo's gonna want to kill us if we kill Akira, so we gotta kill him too, okay? I'm just trying to protect you.

[withsadness]

Don't be scared. I'll absolutely protect you.

[She pauses, an encouraging smile that lit up her face fading.]

To tell you the truth...Ichigo was the first person who told me he'd accept me for who I was when he found out I wasn't...

[She hasn't said it out loud to Assassin, which makes her pause again, but she's sure he already basically knows, since they're the same, so it emboldens her to say it.]

That I'm not really a human. But...no matter what...I'll take your side and keep you safe. And since I'm keeping you safe, you can keep protecting me, too.

[shinssin]

[ Assassin's lips part. He no longer has his lover, his friend or his Master. All light and hope should be gone. But... as long as he has someone to protect, he can keep on living. Winning. Win, win, win—

Mary has to betray Ichigo, but that's fine. It means Assassin knows where her loyalties lie, and his can now rest completely in her. ]

Yeah, I will.

[ He pulls away to hold her shoulders and look her in the eye. ]

Someone created you too, right? You said something about artists before... Are you a painting? That's cool. But... aren't you already human, too? You laugh and cry, you feel anger and pain, and you grew up so much. [ He smiles reassuringly. ] Anyway, we'll both be real again soon, so whatever, right? We'll get rid of anything that gets in our way.

[withsadness]

Am I?

[She doesn't feel like she is. She feels something hollow in her chest where a heart should be--at least sometimes. She feels hated. She feels like a thing that people look at with scorn. It's so hard to love herself no matter how many times anyone says it. But she wants to. She wants to believe it. She wants to feel it.]

My father painted me before he died...he put so much love into it that I came to life in my own special world...but my friends killed me when the found out what I was. I don't want...I don't want that to happen again.

[But at least Mary knows that Shinshin wouldn't hold it against her. Not being what he is, too. So she puts her hands on his.]

But I think if I have you, I shouldn't have to need anyone else. So until the Erased come back...

[Until then, she doesn't need more friends.]

HEY I'M TAGGING THIS

[shinssin]

[He remembers her price. She knows betrayal, too. In this Game, there was a man like her who knew the same feeling. Assassin trusted him with his life...

But he's gone now.

And in this place where there is so little trust to go around, where else are they supposed to find it?

He bites his lip. Only they know what it's like to truly be the other.]

Yeah... I feel the same way.

FINISHED ONE PAIN BACK TO ANOTHER

[withsadness]

You know what, Shinshin? I'd never met anyone else like myself before.

[There are a couple others here that aren't human, that have their own special circumstances, but this is different. They were willed into creation by the whims of others. They've both lived a life as a puppet. Mary's tired of being a puppet.]

So I'm really happy. I never have to be scared of what you think of me.