#they’ve just given that side more ammunition to be hateful towards anything they don’t like | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

kusunogatari · 6 years ago

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[ Dramatic ] [ @wanderingmelodies ] [ Uchiha Shisui, Nohara Rin, Uchiha Manami, Suigin Ryū, Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Obito, Uchiha Fugaku ] [ Vulgarity, pregnancy, blood ] [ Verse: What Could Have Been ]

Shisui loves his clan. Really, he does. To the bottom of his heart and back. But gods does he fucking hate their politics.

Granted, at first...he can’t help a little reactionary tint of it himself. Partly because he’s a little hurt Ryū didn’t come to him first, but...he gets why Rin took that mantle. Partly because he’s going to murder his cousin for sleeping with her, but...at least he’s not stuck up about it because boohoo they aren’t married like everyone else will be. But mostly it’s because he’s not stupid, and he realizes what this might do to her.

But no matter his reactions or their reasons, he does his best to mask them, for her sake. The last thing she needs is anyone else flying off the handle about all this. There’ll be plenty of that once they breach the subject with Fugaku.

Manami, instead, hears his griping at her home that evening. Ryū decides to find the other half of her conundrum and figure out where to go from here.

Hands cradle Shisui’s brow as he sits at his mother’s table. While Manami grips her own mug of tea with both hands, his own goes ignored to one side. “I just...I don’t get it! She’s a medic, she knows the risks, and -!”

“The young are fools in love,” Manami gently counters. “I’m sure she was being careful...but there’s always the chance of a slipup. Nothing is guaranteed.”

Shisui scowls. “I know...but you’d think between the two of them they’d’ve realized it was a stupid thing to do…”

“Oh, listen to yourself,” his mother counters, lips pursed in disappointment. “Consider the position they’re in, Shisui. You know how much those two love each other, and how near-impossible it might be to convince Fugaku to allow it. They’ve had to keep this as under wraps as they can manage. Surely you can’t blame them for being desperate. Yes, they made a mistake...but consider how long it took for it to happen. Until now, they’ve done rather well.”

It’s then Manami’s lips curl in a knowing smile atop the rim of her mug. “...besides, if it comes down to it...I think I might have a little ammunition against that stubborn goat of a man.”

That earns her a confused look. “...meaning?”

“I’d rather keep it to myself unless we need it. But his behavior hasn’t always been as traditional as you’d think a future clan head might be. If there’s one thing his pride won’t stand, it’s being marked as a hypocrite.”

Shisui gives his mother a suspicious look. “...that paints all sorts of...interesting pictures. Maybe I don’t wanna know.”

“It’s nothing that foul,” Manami can’t help but laugh. “Just...a reminder that he wasn’t always set on the path laid before him.”

That brightens him with understanding. “You mean when you…?”

“Mm. Now, get home to your wife. We’ll see to this more in the morning. I’m sure Rin’s all fired up, so...best you don’t leave her to her own devices for too long, hm…?” Another knowing curl of lips. “Rin’s a spitfire, despite anyone else’s assumptions. Between the lot of us, something tells me Fugaku won’t stand a chance. Especially with imōto in on it.”

“You’ve got that right,” her son deadpans, rising from his seat. “...sorry about the tea.”

She just waves a hand at him, bidding him goodnight. Staring out the nearest window, Manami heaves a heavy sigh. “...something tells me I’ll not see her again tonight...best to simply turn in, I suppose.” If she’s to have a posturing match with Fugaku tomorrow...she wants to be well-rested.

At least one of them should be. She suspects the rest might not be so lucky.

Thankfully it’s not far across the clan compound to his own little house, and Shisui trudges his way inside, seeing the lights still on. “Tadaimaaa,” he calls out, tone a bit weary.

“Okaeri!” Rin pokes her head around a corner. “So…? How’d it go?”

“You really expect anything significant?”

“Well, I wasn’t quite sure how you’d react,” is her retort. “I know about brothers, don’t forget.”

Shisui just sighs, closing the gap between them. “Just when I think something’s going to settle down...another issue pops up.”

His wife folds her arms. “Nice to hear you refer to your future niece or nephew as an issue.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about, it’s their grandfather. You know that.”

“We’re going to handle that, one way or another.” Softening a bit, Rin asks, “...did she come home?”

“No...said something about going to talk to Itachi. I’m willing to bet they’ll be up all night talking. I think kāchan decided to just call it a night. We’ll regroup in the morning.”

She hums, still sounding concerned. “Poor thing was awfully upset...not that I blame her, but...this should be something we’re celebrating! Not flinching from!”

“There’ll be time for that once it’s all over. Until then...it’s something we just need to grit our teeth and bear.” A hand buries fingers into Rin’s hair at the rear of her head, steadying it to plant a kiss against her brow. “For now...we’d best get some sleep. It’s gonna be a long day tomorrow, and probably for more after that.”

“You’ve got that right,” she mutters, leaning against him for a hug. “Why does your clan have to be so...dramatic?”

“You’re asking the wrong guy. I haven’t got a damn clue, but it’s getting a little old.”

“You can say that again.”

The pair then crawl into bed, Shisui draping an arm over his wife, still wide awake. It’s times like these he wishes he could be more...zen like his mother. She hardly ever seems to get worried or upset. Or maybe Manami’s just better at hiding it. But, for now...there’s nothing he can do. Or so he tells himself. At any rate...he’ll lay here if sleep doesn’t come. That’ll be some degree of rest, at least.

By some miracle, he dozes off at some point, groggily waking a bit after dawn. Rin he leaves to sleep, slipping out of bed and going to make some morning tea. Taking a seat along the front porch, he watches the compound slowly wake for the day as he waits for his wife to do the same.

Then approaches his first clue that something’s off, furrowing his brow.

Itachi spots him, making his way up the path from the street. “You’re up early.”

For a long moment, Shisui doesn’t answer. Itachi doesn’t seem nearly as stressed as he should be. “...short night,” Shisui replies slowly. “You, uh...sleep well?”

“Well enough.” Sharp as ever, Itachi doesn’t miss Shisui’s slip in behavior. “...why do you ask?”

“I thought you’d be a bit more...concerned this morning.”

“...about?”

Okay. Hold the hell up. “...what do you mean, ‘about’? Didn’t Ryū come talk to you?”

“I’ve not seen her since the day before yesterday. I had a mission in the morning, and she never -”

Up like a shot, Shisui takes his cousin’s shirt by his front. “You haven’t seen her in two days? She said she was gonna go talk to you about -!”

“Shisui?” Rin calls, tone clearly distressed. “What’s going on?”

“Ryū never went to see him yesterday.”

Pause. “...but she said -?”

“I know what she said!” Panic flares to life in his nerves, tensing his muscles. “...I’m gonna go ask kāchan if she came home. If not…”

With that, he flickers from view, leaving a very concerned Rin, and a very confused Itachi. “...what...is going on? Is something wrong with Ryū?”

“...you might want to come in and sit down.”

Pounding on Manami’s door, Shisui barely keeps himself from knocking it from its hinges. His mother opens it a moment later, expression unusually harried. “Where’s Ryū?”

“...not here. She never came home last night. Did -?”

“She didn’t go to see Itachi.” He begins to pace. “...he showed up at my doorstep, completely unaware. Where the hell did she go?!”

“Now now, don’t pan-”

“How can I not panic?!” Hands throw into the air, Sharingan unconsciously flaring to life in his distress. “She told us where she was going, and she never went. And given what’s going on, that raises some damn big red flags! Either she lied, changed her mind and didn’t tell us...or something happened to her.”

Manami raises a hand. “I know you’re upset, Shisui. But getting angry will only make finding her harder.” Still, there’s a flinty glint to her own eyes, still dark. “I’ll ask around. You check any other places you can think of, and then...the gate. See if she left.”

“Where would she -?”

“I have only one guess...and given it’s all I have, I hope to the gods it’s right.” She takes his arm before he can turn away. “...she’s scared, Shisui. More so than she’s been in a very long time. That makes her vulnerable. To herself...and to others.”

Jaw clenched, he gives a curt nod before flickering once more. Manami then makes her way to the main manor to speak to her sister.

Appearing back at home, Shisui wordlessly starts stuffing supplies into a leg pouch he clips to his thigh. Rin wastes no time in asking, “What happened?”

“She didn’t go home. No one’s seen her. Kāchan’s gonna check around the compound. I’ll check the village. If she’s not there...the hope is she’s headed back toward home.”

A mix of worry and determination colors Rin’s visage. “I’ll go -”

“No. Rin...I know how much you care about her. Just as much as we do. But…” He turns, hands gently taking her arms. “...I want you to stay here. Focus on keeping yourself calm. I’ll bring her home.”

“What about me?”

Eyes shift to Itachi. “...she tell you?”

“Yes...though I regret it wasn’t Ryū to do so. I…” He fades off, looking at a loss for words.

“...two pairs of eyes are better than one. We’ll split up. Send a raven if you find her, and I’ll do the same. Just...remember: she’s terrified out of her wits,” he warns, echoing his mother. “It’s more than possible she’s trying to just...run away from all this. Seeing you might freak her out even further, so...be careful.”

“Of course.”

Closing the gap between himself and his cousin, they have a staring match for several long, tense moments. “...I want you to remember how you feel. Right now,” Shisui murmurs. “Because I don’t want you to ever do anything again that makes you feel this way about her. Got it? You’ve gotten her into this mess just as much as she has. You ever put her in harm’s way like this again...it won’t end well.”

Itachi just gives a stiff nod.

“...good. Then let’s get going.”

Rin almost looks ready to interject, but sighs as the men part. “Was that really necessary?” she hisses under her breath.

“You don’t know Itachi like I do. Trust me: that was just what he needed to hear.” Gently taking her chin, he kisses her brow. “And it goes without saying: either of us find anything, we’ll send word home.”

“I’ll be waiting. Be careful.”

“No time for that,” he replies grimly before flickering to the compound gate.

A quick run-through of Konoha at large bears nothing. Which, in all honesty, Shisui figured. She’s not at the hospital, and frankly there’s few other places she’d be likely to go within Konoha that’s not also in the compound. That leaves outside it all entirely.

“You follow the road. That’s probably her most likely route,” Shisui advises as they leave the guard station. No one’s seen her. “I’ll make my way back and forth across it, see if she’s strayed off the beaten path somewhere.”

“Understood.” Goals set, the pair launch into action.

Sharingan ablaze to catch any flare of white chakra, Shisui follows the road north for a time before splitting off east. Speed and skill with his kekkei genkai mean covering miles of ground quickly without fear of having missed something. He then turns west. East. West. All the while drifting north toward her last possible choice of hideaway. The more time passes, the tighter a fear coils in his gut: that somewhere along the way, she ran into trouble.

Coming across an inn along a stretch of road, he stops in and asks if anyone’s seen her. And then, gets a bit of luck. Both good...and bad.

“Yeah, she was here. Seemed pretty upset,” the innkeep admits. “Booked a room, sat to eat something...and then ended up talking with some stranger.”

The coil nearly snaps.

“She was wary at first, and I almost told him off...but eventually she seemed at ease. Ended up leaving without taking her room. Tried to give her her money back, but...she was too dead-set.”

Thanking him hurriedly, Shisui leaves the keep and heads back outside to pace, and think. He’ll admit, his sister’s nothing if not gullible at times. Did someone convince her they needed her help? Or maybe it was them offering - she apparently still hadn’t calmed herself completely. Whoever this stranger was might have preyed on her instability.

“Eurgh...damn it!” Biting his thumb, he sends a raven with the news to Itachi, advising he talk to the man himself. But Shisui lacks the patience to wait, going on ahead. They can’t have gotten much further...right?

Suspecting they’d be avoiding the main road, he instead follows a branching path that heads more east, yet still north. Part of him chastises himself for not thinking to ask Kakashi for a ninken, but...too late now.

...but…!

A flurry of ravens bursts into being in a cacophony of caws. “Spread out! If you find her, don’t engage - take me to her, instead. Anyone spare, go help Itachi’s end of the search.”

As one, the avians spiral outward, a few heading back the way he’d come. Pushing the limits of his speed, beginning to tire, Shisui carries on.

It’s a tense twenty minutes before a corvid returns.

They tell of an abandoned village not far north, with two current occupants. One, they believe, must be Ryū.

“Good...tell Itachi. I’ll go scope it out, wait for him there.” At least, so long as his patience holds up. He can lay siege on a mission for weeks if he has to...but none of them have been quite like this.

One last push of his endurance, and Shisui finds himself at the village edge. Cloaking his chakra, he hides amidst the foliage. Ravens are already scattered about the rotting buildings and ragged trees, cawing every so often to relay word amongst themselves. For a time, nothing happens. No sign of them, or Itachi.

But then a door opens.

Tensing, Shisui watches as Ryū emerges. She’s donned a long traveling cloak, hood drawn but white waves still parted and spilling down her front. Behind her, in far darker yet similar attire, is a tall, masked figure he can’t begin to recognize. She stops as he gets her attention, the pair clearly talking for a moment. And it’s then a gloved hand reaches, takes a lock of her hair -

Something snaps.

Flickering across the distance, Shisui draws his tantō, touching down just before the pair of them. An upward strike seeks to cleave the offending arm clean off...but though he sees the blade sink through...it comes out without blood, moving without resistance. As though he’s as tangible as a ghost.

What -?!

Tucking into a roll upon his failed strike, Shisui spins and holds a defensive position. Having leapt apart, Ryū and her companion both stare - one in shock, the other hidden behind a mask.

“...Shisui?!”

“You sound so surprised,” he counters, slightly out of breath. “You think I wouldn’t come lookin’ for ya?”

“But -?”

“Itachi’s on his way. Kāchan and Rin are worried sick - the hell are you doing out here, Ryū?!”

She hesitates, and before she can offer an explanation, the stranger walks to put himself between them. “She’s addressing her problem her way.”

“T’fuck’s it got to you with you, asshole? Get away from my sister…!”

“Yes, yes - she’s told me all about you, and the others. The brash older brother, the peerless lover...and the precarious position she now finds herself in regarding an entire clan. It would appear the Uchiha are still as prideful and ridiculous as ever…”

“And what would you know about it?”

There’s a low, dark chuckle. “Oh, far more than you realize...given that I once led them, before their downfall. And how far they have fallen…”

Shisui tries to puzzle out his meaning. Led them…? But...Fugaku’s father is dead, as are any past clan heads...unless…!

“Given that they have no want for a child of half blood, I decided to offer my help and pity,” the man goes on. “Besides...having my hands on what is technically the next heir and their mother isn’t an opportunity to pass up…”

“But...but you said…?” Ryū barely speaks up from behind him.

“I told you: I’ve no intent to harm either of you. You’re not part of the problem. You’re safe with me, Ryū. Soon enough, your problem too will be taken care of…we’ll both get what we want.”

“That’s n-not what I meant!” She steps forward, tugging his sleeve. “I never said I wanted to -!”

“You must be careful what you wish for,” is his cut-in reply. “You said it yourself: they’ll never accept you - either of you. How jealously the Uchiha guard their precious blood…” He dips his head, and Shisui’s eyes squint as a strange feeling seems to emanate from him. “...already they’ve imprisoned the one they believe responsible for giving Kakashi a stolen eye. A life wrought in chains, and all for the sake of their pride. How do you think they’ll handle their heir sowing his seed in foreign ground…? An unborn child is far easier to be rid of than two grown shinobi…”

Shrinking back, Ryū unconsciously wraps arms around her middle. “...no...they, they wouldn’t…I just -”

“You don’t know how far an Uchiha will go to get what he wants. Their very bloodline - kekkei genkai - relies on sacrifice of that most precious to them…!”

“That’s enough!” Teeth bared, Shisui brandishes his blade. An empty display: apparently he can’t even touch this guy. “Let her go. She and the kid aren’t some pawns in whatever game you’re playing!”

“How wrong you are. Everyone in this wretched world is a piece in the game...and I think I have a use for this one…!”

Still glowering, Shisui tenses just in time as a volley of shuriken phase through his foe, and straight toward him! Blocking sloppily with his blade, a few nick his skin: one along his cheek bleeding sluggishly.

“Itachi!”

Behind them, the heir stiffens as his covert strike goes awry.

“Not so fast…!” Looking to his captive, the stranger seems to begin to...blur her?

Sharingan watching, Shisui startles as her chakra starts to disappear - he’s teleporting her?! Not about to take the risk of losing her, he flickers forward, pulling her from the space/time vortex and landing beside Itachi in the treetops. “Something’s up with this guy - you can’t touch him, he’s like a ghost!”

“So I’ve noticed,” Itachi retorts curtly. “Then what do we do?”

“He’s got space/time, too...that might be something to do with it. I haven’t had enough time to coax out his strategy.”

“...should we retreat?”

“I dunno if he’ll just follow. Depends on how bad he wants Ryū.” Shisui looks to his arms, still carrying her. For now, her face is buried silently against his shoulder, shaking as a hand grips his shirtfront. “...though I get the impression this was more a stroke of luck he took advantage of than actually plotted.”

All the while, he just...stares at them, as though awaiting their next move.

“...we could cast genjutsu. Slip away.”

“...that won’t work.”

“Why not?”

Shisui stares back, expression hardened. “...cuz it sounded like he claimed he was Uchiha.”

“What?!”

“No time to explain it now...I say we make a break for it. He might try again, but...I think for now, he knows it’s a stalemate. Two on one, and we have what he wants. Besides...stress her much more, and things might get ugly. We need to go.”

Glancing somberly to Ryū, Itachi thinks only for a moment before nodding. “...I’ve an idea. But yes, let’s go.”

Together, they leap south back the way they came. As they do, the entire flurry of corvids swarm the figure. Not to harm...but to block his line of sight. He simply stands there, waiting for it to pass.

“...not to worry. I’m sure we’ll see each other again…” With that...he disappears, the birds scattering before desummoning in clouds of vapor.

All the while, the trio continue to head for home. Ryū still hides and clings to Shisui, making not a sound. Itachi casts countless glances her way, but to little avail.

There’s curious looks at the village gate, but it’s the compound entrance where they’re accosted. A remaining raven desummons just as they approach from Rin’s shoulder, who cries out and jogs the rest of the way to meet them. Manami follows close behind, her sister and brother-in-law watching with mixed expressions from the gate.

“Easy...she’s had a time of it, but she’s not hurt,” Shisui murmurs. “Best take her home, look her over, Rin.”

“Got it.” Clearly already in a medic’s mindset, Rin - along with Manami - help brace Ryū upright as they make their way back in. Mikoto parts from her husband to help. He watches them go...before turning to his son and nephew.

“...what on earth happened?”

“Please - otōsan, I -”

Fugaku holds up a hand. “...no excuses or evasions. You keep no secrets from me, my son.”

Shisui looks to his cousin, seeing the genuine hesitation - and dare he say fear - on Itachi’s face. For a moment, he looks like the worried little kid he once was, fearing a scolding. But then his shoulders wilt, expression fading to somber acceptable. “...yes, sir.”

“Shisui.”

“Sir?”

“...go with the others. If I’ve need of you, I’ll have you fetched.”

“...thank you, sir.” The cousins exchange a look before the elder reluctantly leaves the younger to his father.

Once at his mother’s, he finds Ryū’s door shut, Manami’s voice muffled within. Rin stands just outside, heaving a sigh with folded arms. “...she needs rest. And an absence of stress. She’s damn lucky nothing happened to the fetus.”

“So, they’re okay…?”

“Relatively speaking.” Rin gives him a wary glance, lifting a hand to finish healing the shuriken cut. “...what happened?”

Taking her downstairs for tea, Shisui notes all he saw. “Call me crazy, but...I think this guy was claiming to be Madara.”

“Wait, the Madara…?”

“I know how it sounds, but…” He shakes his head. “...either way, I think he’s at least Uchiha. He was too invested in the potential politics of the baby not to be.”

“...it’s worrying, that’s for sure. The Uchiha have no satellite clans…?”

“No. Any living clansmen have to be in Konoha.”

“But...Madara died decades ago! It can’t be him…!”

“Given all he was capable of...I won’t count out the possibility. It’s a long shot, sure...but I can’t ignore the chance it’s true.” He buries his brow in a palm. “...I don’t know how...involved this all was. Did he just stumble upon her? Or has he been watching her? Us? He knew about you, and your position in the clan -”

“What?!”

A grave nod. “...if he really thinks she’s important enough...he might come after her. Her leaving was convenient, but...he’s got space/time ninjutsu. He tried to teleport her, but I interrupted it. Maybe it’s something that can bypass the village defenses.”

“Oh gods, don’t say that,” Rin mumbles, burying her face in her hands.

“...I’m just trying to plan for the worst.”

“I know, I just…” She sighs gustily. “...for now, we have to face the consequences here. One thing at a time. If this...so-called Madara really is after something with the clan, that will have to be talked over with Fugaku and the council. They’ll need to know, and possibly prepare.”

“Yeah…”

They lapse into silence for a time, both lost in their own thoughts. Rin’s head shakes slowly. “...this is far beyond what I meant when I said your clan is dramatic.”

“It’s about ten steps beyond the usual, that’s for sure.”

Sighing, she stands with a grunt. “I’d better check her again. I might stay overnight, just to be sure nothing happens.”

“Maybe I will too. Right now...I want all my family where I can see them. No more getting separated.”

“I can agree with that. For now, though...you better be ready for Fugaku to call you.”

“Don’t remind me.”

Taking the stairs a bit slowly, Rin knocks on the door, given entry as Manami replies. Within, huddled in the corner of the walls around her futon, Ryū looks up. “...senpai, I -”

A hand raises. “...right now, I’m a little tired for apologies or explanations. But you will be giving those later,” she assures, seeing the younger medic’s head lower. “All that aside, what I want now is to be sure you’re okay.” She sits next to her student and lets her lean her head against her shoulder. An arm wraps around Ryū’s back. “...I know you were scared. But I wish you didn’t lie to us.”

“I didn’t! I...I was going to go, but…” She sighs, breath shaking. “...on my way there, I couldn’t stop thinking about...everything that could go wrong. Next thing I knew, I was just...on my way out. I couldn’t stay, I was too...too afraid. Too nervous. I thought...well, clearly I wasn’t thinking. But I guess it just felt easier to leave than to stay.” Her brow turns to Rin’s shoulder. “...I’m so sorry…”

“You’re forgiven...so long as you never do that again.”

A nod.

“...now. Itachi’s been hauled off by Fugaku. I’m going to pray that Mikoto tells him off enough to give you a day or two to recover before badgering you. But there’s no avoiding it now, hun.”

“...I know…”

For now, Rin doesn’t ask about the masked stranger or his motives. The less she brings up any more possible fears, the better. They can face that when it comes. Otherwise, Ryū can’t have the stress. A hand pats her back. “...we’ll get you something to eat, now. But beyond that and the other necessities, I want you in this bed until I tell you otherwise. Got it?”

“Yes, senpai.”

“...y’know, you can drop the senpai by now.”

That earns a soft laugh. “...old habits die hard...nēchan.”

“There...that’s better. Rest now.” Standing with a grunt, Rin goes to make good on her promise, Manami on her tail.

“Thank you for looking her over.”

“Oh please, you couldn’t have stopped me from doing it if you tried,” Rin assures her, a hand at the small of her back with an oof. “I think any formalities in that regard died a long time ago.”

“Well...it never hurts to be thankful nonetheless.” As they reach the bottom floor, Manami’s expression sets to steel. “...whoever that was better hope he never meets me face to face.”

“You and me both. No one touches this little patchwork family of mine,” Rin agrees wholeheartedly. “...but now, the fighting’s done. Now...we lick our wounds. And wait for what comes next.”

“...indeed.”

First off, thanks to @abyssaldespair and her penny for helping me plot with many a coin-flip x3 (And also ensuring Obito got a cameo, bahaha) ANYWAY I...actually had a lot of trouble thinking of a plot (hence Meg’s help xD), so...I decided it’d prolly be easiest to go off our wee threads from the other day with ALL of the preggo ladies, haha! I...don’t think this’ll be ‘canon’ for it, unless...you want it to be. It’s just getting a wee bit convoluted what with Obito involved, pfffft. But yeah! Here’s some drama llamas cuz reasons. Gotta love politics and forbidden romances x3 Admittedly there’s not as much ship focus for Rin and Sushi, but hopefully it was passable? =‘D ANYWHO, it’s high time I got this done, so...I’ll stop rambling. Hope ya liked it Mey! Lemme know if you want anything tweaked!

#wanderingmelodies #uchiha shisui #nohara rin #uchiha manami #suigin ryū #uchiha itachi #uchiha obito #uchiha fugaku #vulgarity //#pregnancy //#blood //#what could have been [ canon verse ]

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sidemission · 7 years ago

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What I’ve Learned after Playing 100 Hours of The Evil Within

The Evil Within was one of the most disappointing games I have ever played. And yet, the hours I've spent with it speak otherwise.

Five of those missing hours is probably the dream I had of it one time.

Why would I revisit a game I don't like very much? How could something like this make me invest more time in it than something I enjoyed more, such as Alien: Isolation?

I'll be honest, a lot of blame can be placed on my expectations when a video feature about the making of the game surfaced a year before its release. It covers Shinji Mikami's new studio, Tango Gameworks, and how they wanted to make a game that hearkens back to the days when the survival horror label had strict definitions: a vulnerable player character, scarce weapons and ammunition, and a lion's share of enemies meant to be avoided rather than overcome. Throw in some backtracking while we're at it.

The Evil Within never follows through on any of those. It opts to have such a scattershot design to a horror aesthetic rather than creating a genuinely engrossing experience. For a game that's been touted as a return to the survival roots of the early Playstation years, the final result is just another title that fell victim to the epidemic of action games being given a horror paint job, barely keeping the genre alive.

Needless to say, when I loaded up The Evil Within for the first time and expected a restrained approach to horror, in contrast to the bombastic Dead Space series and the recent Resident Evil entries at the time, some of the blame can be put on me for expecting subtlety from Shinji Mikami.

A storytelling mastermind.

The game started promising enough in its intro where the main character, Sebastian Castellanos, limps away from a chainsaw maniac in the eerie, blood-spattered basement of a mental hospital. After the game's title dropped, my impressions were high but I had to put it down until the PC version was in more of a stable state. Unrelated note, id Tech 5 may not have been the wisest choice engine for this game, as it did not play well with most systems at the time with it streaming texture and lighting from the game files and inherent hate for anything resembling an AMD video card.

For some people, the real horror began here.

I picked The Evil Within up again one week later and, not a single minute into my continuation after the prologue, I could pinpoint the exact moment I was going to be in for anything but a decent horror experience.

One wacky city destruction escape cutscene in an ambulance later, all pretense that this game may have been the saving grace for the survival horror genre went straight out the window. And that was my first of many, many hours with The Evil Within.

“How? How can you keep playing something you don't like?” you might be asking.

Well, every so often, I take a tour through the game again to remind myself of the potential of what it could have been. Some chapters have their quiet moments, you shuffling through the darkness, dreading that something is out to get you. On the flip side, every other chapter locks you in an encounter with enemies and not letting you leave until they've all been dealt with, like a wink to Resident Evil 4, its spiritual predecessor. These shifts between two different play types is always so jarring that it becomes clear that the developers didn't know what kind of game to settle on.

It wavers back and forth so often that it's easy to see where its strengths lie. At its best, it gives you a variety of tools and a decent amount of downtime to have a plan of attack against a hoard of monstrosities. There's an early chapter where you have to clear out a small village of not-zombies in order to continue on. It gives you a copious amount of paths to take, complete with small back alleys and verticality, each with their own set of enemies and traps to deal with. Then it finishes on a bang by throwing the same chainsaw maniac from earlier.

This guy, I think.

The entire level is not dissimilar to Mikami's previous Resident Evil 4 opening with the village of crazies, where this dials back the pace and makes you more vulnerable, despite having a wider array of weaponry early on. However, this level is not indicative of the entire Evil Within experience. If there's anything that Mikami likes, it's having a variety of encounters that spices up the core gameplay.

It worked extremely well with Resident Evil 4, but it just doesn't with The Evil Within. At all.

Part of the reason the latter game pales in comparison to its spiritual predecessor becomes apparent when you have the controller in your hands. Sebastian, despite being able to walk and aim with a gun, feels a lot clunkier to control next to the snarky agent who could only run in one direction and take potshots.

There's just no coming back from this.

One could dismiss the controls as a way to make the player uneasy and incite tension when faced with danger, since Mikami has deservedly mastered the art of getting a person to shout “Oh crap!” several times per game, but The Evil Within has a bad habit of throwing unfair scenarios at the player.

The Agony Bow, with all its versatile and multi-functioning bolts, should be the game's perfect weapon. You can change its ammo types with the press of a button and find the right bolt for the situation. A long line of enemies? Lob a normal bolt at the one in front to send it flying and knocking the others down. Goading enemies into chasing you? Shoot an explosive bolt trap in their path and watch the fireworks. A bullet-spongy boss creeping towards you? Switch from the electricity bolt, because it's completely useless, and instead use the freeze bolt to get some shots in.

As interesting as it is to experiment with all the bolts on different enemies, I could never shake the thought that the Agony Bow was from a completely different game, as if it just dropped from the heavens into Sebastian's hands. It's also a circumstantial weapon. The bolts rarely litter the environment when the game feels like giving you an ammo type, so you depend on making them from scrap you find disarming traps.

The problem with crafting the bolts from scrap, however, are the requirements for making different bolt types. Why would I craft a flash bolt to blind an enemy so that I could then stab them to death when I could craft a normal bolt for the same amount of scrap and one shot them? Even if I use the flash bolt on a group of enemies, the only way to get the stab prompt to show up is ducking in front of them, so it always looks like Sebastian's performing some ceremonial bow to each enemy before taking their life. Apart from dealing with hoards, there's almost no situation where you'll fight a single enemy where a gun with a well-placed shot wouldn't solve the problem.

Speaking of, the gunplay is also really wonky. The windup between Sebastian having a gun at his side and having the camera over his shoulder feels super sluggish to the point that any time a zombie man feels the need to give out free hugs was always undeserved. There's also the fact that all the animations are steeped in physics and player position, so enemies that go in for a close-range attack always dart to the left of where you're aiming your gun, AT YOU, which makes the majority of your missed shots at the right of where your enemy was in the entire run of the game.

But you know what? All of those flaws could have been overlooked, had the game had fair encounter design. As it stands, The Evil Within is one of the most unforgiving, single-player horror games out there, but not for the right reasons.

I've mentioned earlier that Shinji Mikami craves tense moments as the crux of his games, at rare times being more of a detriment than a service to the overall package. If you want a crash course in how to design a game around butt-clenching moments, look no further than Mikami's entire body of work. The original Resident Evil, as well as the fantastic remake, steeped themselves in ammo conservation and pop and shot combat. The later Resident Evil 4 threw in managing hoards as well as the occasional one-hit kill enemies. The brawler God Hand didn't allow you to block, and rewarded good performance with higher difficulties. Even the previous Vanquish encouraged you to throw yourself into danger often, pushing the limits of the in-game combat suit to its full potential.

This is peak video games and I won't hear otherwise.

The Evil Within, on the other hand, never actually has any new takes on invoking player tension. Strangely, it opts to have a sort of “all of the above” approach, like if the director tried to stamp a signature style to let players know what sort of experience they were in for. Certain enemies, traps, bosses, and even scripted moments have instant game-overs attached to them, but none of them are consistently telegraphed to the player.

Take the Sadist from the intro chapter as an example: any swipe from his chainsaw will result in a one-hit kill. Fair enough. This is the beginning of the game and it's trying to tell you to keep your distance. Two chapters later you face the same enemy, but attack swipes, indistinguishable from the ones at the beginning, only take off a chunk of your health on top of retaining the insta-death ones, rendering any presumptions you had about it having consistent attacking patterns completely moot.

The multi-limbed and bloody Laura, a later boss, has an overly long death animation to dish out to Sebastian, that seeing it more than once only serves to waste the player's time. I thank the high heavens that you can pause the game and restart the encounter the moment it hits. Laura can saunter, teleport, or even rush at you, but her grab attack is always the follow-up to those when she closes the distance. I got hit by a mini swipe that I didn't even know existed one time in all the hours I spent with the game, and I never came out of it knowing how I managed to get her to shave off a sliver of Sebastian's health.

Then there's the Keeper, otherwise known as the guy with the safe on his head. Your first face-off with him makes it clear that he can't be defeated, as he always respawns from a series of safes littered across the ground. A much, much later encounter with him in a meat locker reinforces to the player to escape at the first opportunity. Third time's the charm, you're suddenly able to unload everything you have into him in order to progress in the final encounter. At no point does the game indicate that an undefeatable boss is now just a bullet sponge, making the reward of overcoming a tough foe feel more stifling than satisfactory.

Locked inside: the design docs for a better game.

Because it throws in a hodgepodge of tense, situational encounters, the game never has an identity of its own. Perhaps The Evil Within's greatest sin is that it never follows its own rules. Much like the final Keeper fight, it trades in any sort of sense that it accrues consistent patterns in favor of doing anything it can to keep the player on edge. The resulting game just feels like a compilation of times where the player would shout “Okay, how the hell did I deserve that death?!” at the screen.

When the final boss rolled up and put the player in a series of on-rail shooting sections to mow down the twisted Ruvik monstrosity, the game abandoned its own proclamation that it was meant to revitalize the downtrodden survival horror genre.

cursed image

So now we loop back to my original question: why would I subject about four days of my life to a game I think is bad?

The thing is, The Evil Within swaps between having a grand old time in Survival Horror Land, like Resident Evil 4 did ages ago, and keeping the overarching story under wraps in Psychological Horror Land, somewhat like Silent Hill did. It tries to have its cake and eat it by throwing every horror trope in the book into a giant pile that never forms a cohesive whole, so any semblance of a plot never feels fulfilled.

The Evil Within is so interestingly bad that I feel like I need to play through it multiple times to make sure it's real and not some fever dream made manifest.

But hey, it managed to do well enough for a sequel, so it has that going for it. Maybe the franchise can show a little restraint and discipline in its core design when The Evil Within 2 drops next month. Hopefully, the tech will have advanced to the point where an ambitious game can finally get away with... hang on a second...

Source: http://www.relyonhorror.com/latest-news/evil-within-2-powered-modified-idtech-stem-engine/

Oh nooooooooooooo!

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