IC || THE LAST CASE || VIDEO

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[From the moment the video feed rolls, the audio is distorted with static and a tinny, dual-toned laughter that lacks any real warmth or cheer. No, the sound is instead cold and cruel, cutting through the tranquil silence of night like a knife, as sharp as the smile that now twists its owner’s lips. Crowing, Tohru Adachi stares straight-on at the

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SHOWDOWN || RESERVED FOR SOUJI || THE FINAL ENCOUNTER

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So predictable!

[One leg slides back to brace himself for the impact and then, arms outstretched, he seizes Seta's forearms as the boy launches himself at him. Throwing his whole body into it, grimacing in pain as warm blood spills fresh from his gunshot wound, he hurls the boy to the ground and immediately follows, putting all his weight into his knees as he comes down hard on Seta's legs. Without pausing, he releases one of Souji's arms to wind an arm back and aim a punch at the boy's jaw.]

[toplay_thefool]

[He tumbles with a grunt, something that spikes when Adachi falls over him, turning into a yelp he can barely bite back. The moment his arm is freed he's twisting it up to try and block, but the angle is awkward and Adachi has far more training in hand to hand than he does.

His sword half-trapped by their position, he knows he needs to move. he needs space. Reeling from the punch - Adachi is stronger than he looks, it's hardly surprising - he aims to throw one of his own, gritting his teeth and trying to shove him off.]

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[He jerks his head away and the punch glances off his chin, rattling his teeth, and he's suddenly hit with a wave of deja vu. Laughing roughly, he drags Seta up and then slams him back down, the fingers in his right hand screaming at him in agony, spasming in warning, but this is so intoxicating, he doesn't need the power of a queen or a god to be able to put Seta in his place. Clamping his knees over one of Seta's legs to prevent the boy from getting up or possibly kicking him in an unpleasant place, Adachi takes his good hand and, fingers first, drives it into Seta's exposed throat, a quick but effective jab.]

[toplay_thefool]

[He chokes on the breath he was trying to get down, and for a moment he panics - for a moment. Adachi will kill him, he has no doubt of that.

But he has no intention of letting it happen, either.

(He had no intention of letting anyone get hurt, either, an insidious little voice whispers. He ignores it.)

Instead, he focuses on stopping the bastard. He still has a duty. He still needs to end this. With Adachi's fingers around his throat he tries to swallow down air, beginning to feel light headed - this time, his hand goes for Adachi's bloodsoaked shoulder.]

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[His thumb rolls hard, bruising circles against Seta's larynx and, feeling victory at hand, literally, he closes his eyes and throws back his head to crow with laughter. Agony laces through his shoulder a moment later, causing his arm to jerk unexpectedly and hit Souji in the face if he doesn't block it. Screaming, Adachi falls back on his behind and holds his shoulder, a fresh stream of blood running from the wound, setting his nerves on fire.]

Y-you...argh!

[Picking up a leg, he slams it down towards Seta's kneecap, grabbing his gun and moving back into closer range before the boy can unsheathe the sword. Quivering with rage, he takes the butt of the gun and repeatedly smashes it into Seta - his face, his head, his hands, all the while snarling like an animal.]

You - piece - of - shit! Before - you - came - along... I - was the - one - who...!

[toplay_thefool]

[He reels backwards again when Adachi's arm flails, breath still stuck in his throat. Gasping, gulping down air he tries to pull himself backwards, but his arms feel weak and his legs leaden, and then Adachi's leg is swinging down. His foot strikes Souji's knee and pain lances through him - only breathlessness stops him from screaming.

Then there's the shadow of Adachi's arm blotting out the moonlight and he can't go for his sword, he needs to protect himself, somehow. His arms come up and cross over his head.

He can barely hear Adachi over the whistle of the gun but Adachi has this way of making himself heard regardless.

Souji finds his strangled, panicked breathing drawn into a snarl. He can't die. Not here. Not to Adachi.]

You what?! [He spits it, arms moving, swiping out suddenly to try and shove Adachi's away.] You were - stuck! You didn't have the strength to - change a damn thing, did you? If it wasn't for - [Her.]

You'd still be exactly the same! [A righteous fucking fury drives him - his actions are too wild, but it

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[He slaps away the arm dismissively, expression contorted with an ugly rage that burns him inside out, boiling his blood and leaving him dizzy with anger. So incensed, he drops the gun and lunges, mindless now, no longer concerned about his broken fingers - he tries to wrap both hands around the boy's neck.]

Just shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut the hell up! Before then you...! F-fucking dumbass! Inaba - !

[He can barely manage the words, so choked up with fury is he.]

I could have been...you!

[toplay_thefool]

No! - [Adachi's fingers are vice-like on his throat and he knows he'll die if he doesn't force him back. His own fingers are curiously numb but he doesn't have time to wonder, to test them.

He doesn't have any bullets left, he realizes with a start. His arm comes up, shoving at Adachi's. His other hand jabs at his shoulder again, and this time, in that split-second, he moves fast, fast and sure.

It's adrenaline, rage, survivalism now, and he elbows Adachi in the face, gives himself room enough to drag his legs out from under him, to free his sword and draw it.]

No, [He says, his voice cold and raw.]

Maybe once. Maybe there was a chance.

[His chest heaves with rough, frantic breathing, his face so aghast, so pained, he could almost be someone else entirely. His grip on the sword is wet.]

Now - I'm - nothing like you! [He all but hisses it, can barely manage more than that, but he's never believed those words more, regardless how many times he's told himself the same thing since that night.]

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[With another scream, he's knocked back, mouth bleeding where Souji's elbow caught his lip against his teeth. Staggering to his feet, he squints at the boy, struggling to focus his swimming vision. He tries to interrupt, but when he speaks, all that comes forth is a bloody, hacking cough that makes his ribs cry out in protest. Gasping, he spits out a mouthful of blood and listens to the fool.]

Haaa, oh Seta.

[His eyes - cold, flinty, dead - level Souji with a look of intense loathing. Forcing one foot in front of the other, he stumbles to the boy with the intention of going for his neck a third time.]

You have...no idea how much I can't stand you.

[He rushes forward - ]

[toplay_thefool]

[ - and onto Souji's sword. His hands move, the curved blade arching to slip through him, through fabric and skin and flesh. It's easy. Too easy. It happens before he's even fully realized it.

His eyes turn huge and wide. His mouth slackens, his breath catching, as he stands there, almost nose-to-nose with him.

You didn't mean to kill him, a voice says, frantic, you only meant to shove him back.

But no. You know.

That's not true.

You didn't meet him with a guard position. You ran him through.

He staggers backwards, faint and nauseous and numb, numb all over. The sword is slicked with Adachi's blood, gleaming oily black in the darkness.]

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[The incredulous expression on the boy's face is mirrored on the man's. A soft, pained breath escapes him as he stares at Seta in disbelief, his lips trembling. When the boy pulls away and the sword is dragged out of him, Adachi slowly tilts his head to peer down at his midsection, hands clutching his stomach, trying to hold all the blood in, but it's no use. He slides to his knees, arms limp, and returns his shocked gaze to Souji. Unbidden, tears spring to his eyes - from pain, from grief, from anger? - and wet his cheeks. He can't believe Seta actually did it.]

N-nothing like m-me, eh? [A bubble of blood froths at his lips as his body begins to fail him, but still, bleeding to death and crying, he grins. Then, as he sways precariously on his knees - vision darkening, and then white, white, white, what is this? A cloak? Someone beckoning to him...? - he reaches out to Souji, dripping fingers weakly clawing the air.]

T-this...isn't...how Dojima-san would have...wanted it.

[A multitude of emotions ripple across his face before it

[toplay_thefool]

[He swallows, looking down at him. He's still trying to come to terms with the fact that this was his doing - nothing like me, eh?

He wonders. His heart hammers in his chest. His uncle. Nanako. Adachi is - haha - he's right.

But he'd had to end it. One way or another.

So he will.

He bends his knees, to be more on his level. He draws the sword back, steadies his breathing, steadies his shaking hands --

and drives it into Adachi's chest.]

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[The force of the blow knocks Adachi's head back and he stares, wide eyed, up at the canopy above. And then, like that, Adachi dies.

Yeah fucking right.]

You know of course, [he says softly, straightening] that they'll call you my downfall? They'll all know that on the night I lost my powers and my body, I tried to kill you. Your girlfriend died in the attempt to save you - and unwittingly provided you with a protection I admit I had not foreseen...I could not touch you.

[He raises one of his bloody fingers and puts it very close to Harry's Souji's cheek.]

Your girlfriend left upon you traces of her sacrifice. This is old magic, I should have remembered it, I was foolish to overlook it...but no matter, I can touch you now.

[Bonk.]

In any case, fool, I have split my soul into five parts and hidden them...in horcruxes. Mayumi, Konishi, Karkat, Ange...their deaths were just a means to an end.

[He smirks.]

I will return one day, Souji Potter. After all, one cannot live while the other survives...and I refuse to die.

[And like

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[Gagging, he watches Seta desperately as he bends his knees, almost daring to hope that the boy will heal him - perhaps just enough for Myhrta to save him from the brink of death - but then he sees the motion of the sword as it is drawn back. Obscenely, his shoulders bob with a silent laugh and he weakly stretches his arms out to either side of him, exposing his chest.

A flash of silver, pressure on his sternum, and then nothing.

His arms drop to the sides and he hangs on the sword limply, very much dead.

In the darkness, a woman he has never seen before - and yet knows, who is she? - beckons him to her, a not-quite-smile playing at her lips. Fear wracks his body as he approaches unwillingly, legs moving on their own accord, and then he stops before her. She reaches to him wordlessly and pulls him into her shifting cloak of endless white, murmuring something against his ear, and Tohru Adachi knows no more.]

[toplay_thefool]

[That look in his eyes - that laugh --

Souji sucks in a breath. Only now does he fall too, tumbling to his knees. Agony flares in his legs and he all but throws himself sidewards to take the weight off them, but the damage is done.

He doesn't have the strength to cry out, even to groan. His eyelids are so heavy, he just wants to sleep. Just for a little while.

No.

He forces them open, gropes blindly for his communicator. His fingers are numb and won't do as he tells them - he needs to use his other hand. Clumsy, he manages to switch it on.

They need to know. But he doesn't want them to see him.

He turns the device to face the sky.

Oddly calm, he speaks to the empty clearing.]

Adachi is dead.