#Visage: Keisuke Baji

[smol-sirens-garden]

Keisuke Baji Tag Dump

[prxenuntius]

Topaz orbs looked inquisitively into opposing eyes for what felt like a lifetime but were some minutes. His body moved closer towards the shorter, almost preventively so. "Mikey?"

It happened every now and then, less frequently as time went by (at least to his eyes, it did), Mikey would seem completely out of himself and Keisuke had learned it was best to keep him company and in check when that came to be to avoid a dark disaster.

But this time it felt different.

The dark eyes seemed lost but not void, the smaller frame looked almost defenseless instead of menacing, the energy surrounding him felt more like pausing a song than impending doom. He tried looking in closer, searching answers, trying to understand, to be able to help, and all he found was this odd uncertainty written on his visage and then...

“Baji… I’m sorry.”

It took him aback. Eyebrows furrowed in confusion as he extended a cautious hand to touch the blonde's shoulder. "Mikey? Why are ya apologizing?" He asked accompanied by a soft laugh, was it nervous or just an attempt to comfort? He wasn't sure either. "Are ya feeling okay? Y' looking pale, take a breather if ya need it, man, I can even carry ya around if you want." The ravenette offered genuinely though he couldn't help the concern dripping into his tone.

Mikey had always thought that death would bring him one of two things: the peace he craved, or the punishment he deserved.

Of course, by peace, he means the end of his consciousness…After all, there’s no way that someone like him could ever feel happiness as long as he continued to be himself. In the same way, there’s no way that someone with such blood-stained hands would ever be allowed to become someone new… all he can hope for is an end to it all - this life of his which was nothing but suffering.

So when he realizes that Baji is before him, his stomach drops; a wave of emotions running though him that are too many to name - shock, disbelief, dread. He’d never end up in the same place as Baji, so is this some kind of illusion sent to haunt him? Did he end up in hell after all?

Somehow, a part of him can’t accept that explanation. Everything is too familiar, and he feels too alive.. and it fills him with a yearning kind of pain that’s difficult to express. He doesn’t feel much of anything, nowadays - but while in his moments of emptiness, he wishes he could feel anything at all; when the pain comes - he always longs for that same emptiness again.

From Baji’s perspective, Mikey must look stunned. His face is unnaturally pale, his body frozen like that of a scared animal, and disbelief is written all over his expression. But even so, Mikey somehow manages to find the strength to speak first.

“Baji… I’m sorry.”

@prxenuntius​ ( manila mikey time travel starter! )