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theuntoldoriginsoftheportmafia · 3 months ago

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Part Ⅴ Escape - Chapter 1.5

☽ The Hitman's Dream ☾

2,215 Words

Dazai Osamu has never run faster in his life.

As soon as the car he commandeered pulls into the dead end he starts full out sprinting. The large warehouse is easy to spot. It looks just like any other, save for the blue and red glows coming from inside. Flawless and Strait is the Gate locked in battle.

Slowing himself to a silent stop, Dazai creeps along the edge, picking the simple padlock on the side door. In seconds, he's in. The men stand, face to face, guns drawn.

Oda dodges and in three seconds Gide fires. Oda does the same, and just like him, Gide dodges. Matching each other's movements. Pushing and pulling like magnets.

'At this rate it's a battle of stamina. It can't go on forever, eventually they'll begin to tire, one of them will be too slow and then . . .'

Dazai doesn't want to think about that, and doesn't want to imagine his dear friend lying bloody on the ground. So he doesn't think. He acts. He fires his gun. The bullet finds its mark in Gide's back causing blood to spurt like fireworks from his mouth, spill over his lips, down his chin, and onto the concrete floor.

There's an old phrase by an American author, Ralph Waldo Emerson. "When you strike at a king, you must kill him." Marksmanship has never been Dazai's strong suit, and having only one eye in use doesn't help. Gide isn't dead yet.

In his final act, Gide raises his arm weakly, but it's just enough. Both men pull their guns at the same time. They pull the trigger, the sound echoing through the empty space. A sonic boom. Gide falls to the ground . . . so does Oda.

The red puddle grows, resembling a fallen rose, the shreds of a torn kimono, as it creeps across the ground.

Dazai's eyes widen, round like the wound in Oda's chest. He runs to him, falling on his knees. "Odasaku!"

"I'm here Dazai. Thank you for coming to save me." he says, voice weak.

"Of course. Let's go back." Dazai grabs his older friend's hand, seeming to ignore the bleeding wound. He's in denial, refuses to think that he won't make it. He has too. If he doesn't, nothing will be the same again. "Yosano will heal you. I'll get you to Yosano. She'll heal you. You'll be good as new."

"Da . . . zai, I . . . can't."

"Yes, you can."

At this moment Dazai has never been more grateful for Nakahara Chuuya. If not for his endless competitions with his chibi in everything from martial arts to just plain running, if it wasn't for the drive to be the better one, the stronger one, then he'd never have been able to lift Oda.

He takes back what he said before. The way here was barely running. Nothing compared to now. He runs until his chest hurts and he's out of breath, and even with his feet aching and his head pounding.

'The poor civilians will have gone by now and taken their car with them. Mori could have a car here in minutes, but I don't trust him. No car or bus will take me. I need Chuuya. I need . . . my phone! I left it! I can't believe I . . .'

Where the thin alleys turn back into full road, a car waits. A shining, dark green jeep with painted orange flames and no top, engine still on. A boy with hair like the flames on his car sits in the driver's seat.

"Get in!"

Dazai doesn't need to be told twice. He hops in and lets his partner use his ability to lift Oda into the back.

"How did you . . .?"

Chuuya gives a tense eyeroll, "You really think you're the only smart one around here, don't you."

Dazai says nothing, indicating that he's not amused.

"I forced the location out of your pal- Don't give me that look, I didn't hurt him! He wants you back safely as much as I do. He agreed as long as I promised not to go until you left the warehouse."

"He put a tracker on me!" Dazai realises with an uncomfortable start and begins patting himself down.

A memory comes to him of Ranpo's last shove, right before he fell. He slipped something in Dazai's pocket. Dazai digs around with his bloodied hands until he pulls out an oddly symmetrical sweet.

As annoying as it is to have Ranpo pull one over on him, he has bigger things to worry about now than his friend's unorthodox protectiveness.

'Does Mori have access to this? I can't ask Chuuya, I can't show him my doubt, not yet.'

"Yeah." is all Chuuya says, shrugging and shaking his head in mock amazement as if to say 'You really thought I'd just let you go? You didn't think I'd come for you? Don't be an idiot.'

A groan comes from the back seat, Dazai turns his head so fast it hurts.

"D-dazai?" Oda coughs.

"I'm right here. You're safe. Gide's gone. You're safe."

"You can slow down now, I won't make it, and driving this fast isn't safe." Oda furrows his brow, raising himself as if to try and see the speedometer. Even near death his protective instincts don't include himself.

Dazai turns to his partner "Chibi, floor it."

"What do you think I'm doing?" the red head mutters, knowing better than to start a fight when someone's dying in the back of his car.

'The warehouse was all the way across town, and we're still a few miles from HQ. There's only so many cut throughs I can take before I'll have to enter the business and tourist areas. I'll have to slow down then. Better bank as much time as I can.' Chuuya thinks, frowning when the speedometer reads only 160 kph, willing the pedal to sink down further.

"Dazai! Please slow down! You'll both get hurt." Oda pleads

"No. We're close."

'We're not.'

"We'll take you straight to Yosano. She'll fix you. Yosano's going to fix you. Fix you right up, just like new."

Everyone in the car can hear Dazai beginning to unravel as the life drains out of Oda through the hole in his chest and the car seems not to be getting any closer to it's destination.

"Listen, the bullet's close to my heart, I think. It's still in there, I can feel it. No matter how good a doctor she is, I don't know if there is any fixing this. I want . . . I need you to be ready for that."

"No. I'm not ready! Chuuya, use gravity, take the bullet out!"

"I can't, not from here. If I just yank it out, it might hit something else. Even if it didn't, it's holding the wound closed, it needs to stay in or he'll bleed out. You know that. Calm down, you're not thinking straight."

Small drops of water form in Dazai's right eye and behind his bandages, wetting them as they get bigger.

"He's right . . . I want you to know that I want better things for you."

"Stop!"

"I-"

"Shut up! Save your breath."

"Dazai, let him speak."

Dazai glares at his partner, who keeps his eyes fixed on the road ahead. Oda grabs the boy's hand, looking sadly at his own blood that stains it. It's only this that keeps both men grounded.

When Oda speaks only a whisper comes out, scarcely audible over the wind's roar. "Dazai, listen to me, please. I know it makes no difference to you, but please become a good human being. Save the weak, protect the orphaned. I suppose you don't care for either justice or evil . . . but striving to be a better person is a wonderful thing."

Oda stares into the distance, Dazai follows his gaze. It's golden hour, when the sun casts a bronze glow onto everything in reach. In the evening light the five towers of the Mori Corporation glitter like the ocean.

'How can something so evil look so angelic?'

Lost in thought, Dazai doesn't see Oda's eyes close.

When he does turn again the man is limp, but smiling.

"Odasaku! No!"

Chuuya's voice shatters the moment, "Dazai, we're here!"

He nods, numbly.

They run to the lift, Dazai pressing the buttons over and over in panic, Chuuya floating Oda behind him. When they get there the door is open. Ranpo and Yosano are waiting.

The Angel of Death works quickly, removing the bullet, her dark rainbow of butterflies surrounding the unconscious Oda, healing him from the inside out.

When the butterflies disappear, Dazai starts to shake Oda, calling out to him.

Nervous, he looks to Yosano, "Why isn't he answering?"

"He's fine, just unconscious. There's nothing more to do but wait."

'Even I'll admit that it was close. If its had been two centimetres left. If they'd got caught in traffic . . . He's not going to wait is he? He's going to make himself sick pacing around here. But he'll only do the same thing in his office if I kick him out . . . best to just let him stay I guess.'

'I always wish he'd look less dead, but I think this is worse.' Chuuya looks at his distraught boyfriend. He's never seen emotion like this on him. It makes him reach out, despite Dazai's aversion to touch.

Dazai turns at the contact, but doesn't flich. An improvement.

"Hey, Osa, you stay with him. I'll fill the mission paperwork."

That big brown eye looks up at Chuuya with utmost gratitude.

'Chibi hates paperwork.' but more important in his mind 'Chibi is going to face Mori for me.'

With a sympathetic smile Chuuya drops his hat onto Dazai's head and walks out. The two masked executives follow him.

"All the cabinets are electronically locked. Don't try anything. He'll be fine in a few hours." Yosano's voice calls as the three leave.

Dazai doesn't answer, instead observing Oda.

'He thought he'd died. He thought he'd died and he looked so happy. He's not happy now.'

"Are you happy, Odasaku?"

Only the whir of the air con and beep of the vital monitors answer him.

"How can I make you happy, my friend?"

In the silence that follows, Oda's words come back to him, as if the man is truly awake and beside him.

Two people sit with a stool between them.

"Read any good books lately, Dazai" Oda asked, trying to fill the silence in the unusually empty bar.

"Yes. A Shameful Life by Oba Yozo is a delight to read. Why do you ask?"

"I don't know . . ."

"Don't you?" Dazai had asked with those eyes that stare into a person's soul.

The gaze forced the 22-year-old to answer, "I've always wanted to be an author . . . it's the reason I don't kill anymore."

Dazai laughed, a single bark, more out of rare surprise then humour. "Oh? Do you think it'll keep you out of trouble? You've committed plenty of other crimes that the police could have you for."

Oda shook his head, pausing for a sip of his drink. "No, it's not that. I know I've done many wrongs, but long ago, I met a man who told me who told me that one who kills, one who causes death, has no right to write about life."

"Hmm." Dazai tapped his chin in thought, "Well, it sounds as rational as anything else elders say. I don't see a problem with it. Let's drink. Bartender! Another round, put it on my tab."

More recent words flood his brain before Dazai can fully process what he's just remembered.

"I know it makes no difference to you, but please become a good human being. Save the weak, protect the orphaned. I suppose you don't care for either justice or evil . . . but striving to be a better person is a wonderful thing."

'Doing good he says . . . is that what would make him happy? Then why hasn't he left?'

"Why are you still here. After all this time? Why didn't you leave?"

Oda's hand twitches, grabbing onto Dazai's.

"Odasaku! You're awake."

Oda snores softly. Dazai deflates.

'That's my answer, isn't it. He stayed because he had nowhere else to go. He stayed because of me. I'm the one that did this to him. I have to help him.'

"I'm going to help you Odasaku. I'm going to get you out of here. I just need some time to prepare, please trust me."

As day turns to night Dazai holds Oda's hand.

When Dazai feels sleep nagging at him he bows his head, ready to let it come, instead he's met with a hat in his lap. Chuuya's hat. It smells like his conditioner, a warm scent. To Dazai, it smells like home.

'Nakahara Chuuya. What am I to do about him? He'd never come with me and I could never hurt him by leaving him.' In the cold dark silence the thoughts that consume Dazai's restless soul are much louder, impossible to ignore 'But would it hurt him? Does he truly love me or is this just a fling for him? He deserves much better, someone as lively as him, someone who can keep from insulting him at every turn. I mean, he's probably going to leave me anyway. I could never stomach the heartbreak, so I should leave while I still can.'

"I'm such a coward, Oda, would you mind if I came with you. Would you mind it if we could run away from all this together?"

Soon, sleep overtakes him. He'll have back cramps later, but for now it's okay.

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unicornpopcorn14 · 5 months ago

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So we all know by now that Dazai is comfortable enough around Chuuya to show nervousness/worry.

Enough times for Chuuya to pick up on that pattern. The pattern, may I remind you, that doesn't have evident correlation to either nervousness or worry to most people. One that can even be interpreted as misplaced given the situation.

Which means that Dazai has done this in front of Chuuya so often, that Chuuya at first was hella confused, before he finally made a connection between when and why it happens. And still remembered that connection after four years of separation. Which gets us to my point:

What if this isn't the only emotion Dazai displays weirdly?

What if he has multiple unconventional patterns he displays for sadness, frustration, content, or disgust? The times he really feels them, and they become too strong for him to just deal with normally? What if these are the only times he's actually being genuine with his emotions?

And Chuuya is the only one who is familiar with them all?

Dazai would be jumping rope and Chuuya would be like, "quit sulking, let's get icecream"

Dazai hanging upside down on the couch and Chuuya going, "It's okay, mackerel. You can cry."

Dazai actually crying, full on heart-wrenching sobs, and Chuuya unironically going, "What, good news?"

It's just... comforting, for one person in Dazai's life to read him like a book. Everyone else would look at him like he's crazy, displaying wrong emotions/behaviors at the wrong time, but Chuuya knows that it's just how he processes feeling properly, and thus he's the only one Dazai can count on to put things into context and understand, which makes him display them even more openly.

Because Chuuya never shamed him for his quirks, as much as Dazai never did his.

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