#uhhh idk what else to tag for triggers im sorryyy!!

[xino-writes]

Whumptober 2024 Day 7 - "Magic with a Cost" - Sampo

[ao3 series link]

Being a Masked Fool was something Sampo took pride in. Sure, he keeps it more underwraps than some of the other guys and gals in the Tavern, but he is forever going to take pride in being a Masked Fool. Especially since his siblings seem to think it’s something odd, especially for him. And he’ll take that in stride.

One thing each Fool has, though, is their mask. And Sampo’d gone through the hell of helping Sparkle to get his back. And each Mask has a price when you use it. Giovanni has his permanently etched onto his face for a reason, and Sparkle’s issues are.. Well Sampo isn’t sure if it’s mask related or what. But every mask has a price.

And Sampo’s about to learn what his was. He’d taken on the protection of Belobog and Jarilo-VI when he’d decided to take up living there, and now that was coming in handy. Dealing with the IPC, he’d left to them. Dealing with the Anti-Matter Legion again? He’ll take the honors. Don’t want another situation with a Stellaron again, y’know?

Besides, one wish, one boon from Aha? He’d rather get rid of that quickly. Holding something with the power of your Aeon wasn’t something he wanted. Besides, he figures that Aha would find this /hilarious/. He’s risking it all for one singular planet that he’s grown to adore. A planet that isn’t even his birthplace. And THEY’D hopefully enjoy this or else he’s doing this for nothing. After all, Sampo Koski lives to please and entertain.

With a dramatic sigh and bow, Sampo slips past the Silvermane Guards that made up the frontline against the Anti-Matter Legion. Not without a wink to a.. Very esasperated Gepard, of course. Can’t go to war without potentionally scaring his boyfriend, can he? He slides his mask onto his face and makes his wish.

And then almost immediately falls to the ground in a heap. The mask was burning hot and he didn’t want to risk taking it off as he watches the Anti-Matter Legion go up in flames. Literal flames. The ice that made up the battlefield was melting away. His head hits the ground hard and he hisses in pain, but he doesn’t remove the mask. Not until the Anti-Matter Legion is completely taken out.

And once he touches the mask with his hands is when the visions start. Visions of those he loves dying in horrific ways. His siblings are the first.. Veritas dying in battle, one that he seemingly shouldn’t have been in in the first place. Silver Wolf dying during one of her scripts, having underestimated.. Something.

Sampo claws at the mask, trying to close his eyes and failing. He feels himself being picked up and voices that are so familliar and yet so foreign fill his ears and his head. He wants this to stop. He doesn’t like seeing his siblings’ blood, even if it isn’t real. He’s paying the price, and this much is clear to him. He felt the pain the Anti-Matter Legion did first, the burning, and now he’s being subjected to his own horror and pain.

He should’ve expected this. Aha is an Aeon. THEY take pleasure in the good and the bad. THEY’RE much like the masks of tragedy and comedy, the laughing and the sorrowful. Melpomene and Thalia, the Muses of Tragedy and Comedy in the flesh. That is what Aha is. And Sampo’s been the comedy for so long that it is his turn to be the tragedy.

The visions of his siblings fade away and more soon fill his eyes and ears. Gepard dying to some creature in the snow plains after holding on for so long, Luka falling during a battle in the Ring and not getting up, Seele dying on a mission into the Fragmentum. Series of his friends and those he considers to be like family dying right in front of his eyes.

He feels a pair of hands grab his own and he grips onto them in an attempt to ground himself. He wants to scream but he can’t. He can’t worry those who are trying to help him. He feels his head be placed into someone’s lap, and he can only imagine he’s with Gepard right now. But, the other’s voice is muddled and he can’t hear or understand a thing he says.

Eventually, a hand leaves his and attempts to take the mask off, but it won’t budge. Sampo is well aware that it won’t budge until he’s paid the price in full. He’s seen all but one vision, and he has a feeling he knows what the vision will be. He closes his eyes this time and lets himself fall into it. After all, this vision will end up giving him feeling, won’t it?

It’s his own turn, this time. THEY wouldn’t let him off without feeling the pain first and then last. A mirror materalizes in front of him and he instinctively presses a hand to the glass in front of him. He looks at his reflection to see a young woman, one that is his age and looks exactly like him. He’d been expecting physical pain of some sort. His own death. Not Aha playing to his.. Identity.

He looks at the girl in front of him, a name faintly coming to the front of his mind, before he pushes it to the side. He’s not her anymore. Not today, not ever. He hasn’t been her since the day he moved out of that house. He exhales and then punches full force into the mirror, into that girl’s face. He’s not her, not going to be her, not ever, not again.

The mirror shatters and glass shards imbed themselves into his knuckles and fist, it hurts, yes, but not as much as the internal feeling of wrongness. He looks down at himself and clenches his fists harder as he tries to hold back the feeling that everything about his body is wrong. He’s not a woman, not anymore. He’s not her.

He’s not back like this. He doesn’t want to do that again. Doesn’t want the hospital visits. The questions of if he really was that clumsy. The questions of if he’s sure he doesn’t want ‘it’. Of if he’s sure he’s a man. He wants his life back.

He doesn’t want the hanger again.

Sampo’s eyes shoot open when he sees that Natasha’s managed to pry the mask off. He’s alone and it’s dark in her clinic. No one but him and her are in the room, and he doesn’t hear her words as he sits up. His face feels fine, his body is back to normal, but his skin is still crawling. He’s pressed back down onto the clinic’s bed, though, and that’s when he sees how.. concerned Natasha is. Right. Yeah.

No one knew about the fact he’s a Masked Fool outside of Bronya. And he only told her because she’d have learned about the Fools eventually and heard of his.. Time in Penacony. So it was just a matter of getting that out of the way first and foremost. So the mask and everything about it was an enigma to everyone else.

And he doesn’t plan on explaining. To his luck, or misfortune, however you look at it, Natasha soon leaves, and Sampo looks around. He’d known he was in her clinic, but he didn’t expect that she’d bring him into the backroom. All that had happened was that he was trapped in his mask, correct? Which meant that he’d.. Concerned her enough that she made sure he had privacy.

With an exhale and a shaky sigh of relief, Sampo pushes himself to stand. He’d always managed to bounce back from things like this. A little weakness and soreness isn’t enough to keep Good ‘Ol Sampo Koski down. Not now, not ever. So he pushes himself to leave the backroom and look over the injured. And he feels a faint sense of pride at the far smaller number than it could’ve been. Would have been.

He walks across the clinic to Gepard, half asleep in a chair, and he slips in to sit beside him in the same chair. He presses a finger to his boyfriend’s lips when he tries to protest and then curls that same arm around him and rests his head on his shoulder. He exhales. They both need this, and perhaps Sampo will allow himself to rest this time.

After all, the mask knew exactly what to pull at to cause him torment, and so he needs to let go of all that. Or well, let go of the part of him that dreads being in that situation again. After all, he’s far more comfortable in his body now. He knows that he’s a man and that’s that. So he’ll have to prove the mask wrong, after all.

But, for now, it’s nap time with Gepard in an uncomfortable chair that Natasha’s put out for those waiting for loved ones to be healed. He’ll deal with Natasha berating him for leaving the bed later.