strangely empty moonlit nights

Prologue

Living a life without meaning was something Akechi was always scared about when he was growing up. He had lost so much; his mother, his home, his stability. The moment he decided he would live to seek revenge on his father is the moment he realised he had a reason to continue striving forward. He refused to allow his mother's death to be in vain, he refused to have his life mean nothing when she had lost everything because of him. And he had never thought any different. He was determined to see through his revenge, even if it was with his last breath.

A broken home is all Akechi really remembered. There was memories of his mother - small snippets of what used to be, and what could've always been. The smell of coffee on the morning, snuggling her as he fell asleep, visits to a clinic. It was vague and blurry, apart from the memories of multiple hours spent in a bath house, sitting in the water trying to keep warm, waiting for his mother to fetch him.

He hated every man she brought home from the red light district.

Her death seemed to have disappeared from Akechi's memory, as if he had suppressed it. It wasn't a pleasant memory. The recollection he had was just an imagining of what potentially happened. He felt as though it was his fault; that his existence is what drove her to the end of her life.

He hated himself.

Living in the system felt like a punishment of some sort. As if being born had cursed everyone around him, and they refused to let him forget it. He sure felt like a curse, like his mere existence was nothing but a burden. Maybe he was. None of his peers or caretakers seemed to care about him. No matter who stood in front of him, there was no love, or even any empathy.

He hated the other kids.

No matter what he did, they didn't seem to want him around. It felt as though they wouldn't care less if he up and died, and that it wouldn't affect anything if he wasn't around. He would desperately try to change, to do something, anything, that would make someone care about his existence. But no one ever did. And Masyoshi Shido didn't even care enough to know he had got someone pregnant.

He hated his father.

Shido had taken all Akechi had and all he could've had. He fantasied about the day that would come, the day he would take Shido to his highest point, giving him all the power he had ever wanted, then ripping it right from his grasp. He wondered what expression Shido might make, what he might say, if he might try to fight back. Would he cry? Yell? Try to bargain? Pitifully beg? Akechi could never decide, but he itched to find out. Even since he turned 14, and his plan began to be crafted, he was so certain, so certain, of what he wanted. Of how he would finally get back at the man who had caused all his pain.

On the day he awoke to his persona, he was alone. He somehow slipped into the metaverse, and was surrounded by shadows in an instant. Akechi was sure he would've died there, but two voices seemed to call to him.

This cannot be your end. This will not be your end. Are you really going to let these lowly people take everything from you, just as you always have?

You can have power, you can tear apart anyone who may stand in your way. Why do you hold back?

Will you really die here? Take the power that is rightfully yours, and allow yourself to let loose.

No holding back!!

"I refuse to die before I tear them all down!" Akechi yelled, every emotion he had held back releasing all at once. Every time he had held his tongue. Every thing he had pretended to like or have interest in. Every tear he had held back. Every moment of anger he had held within. It all seemed to pool out of him, and he had no control over it anymore. But he didn't want to. The pain he had felt for so long had been freed, if only a little, but he wasn't going to stop it, not this time.

A mask. A red mask with a beak shape had now appeared on his face. His brain seemed to switch. A strong urge to remove it abruptly overcame him. His hands reached to his face, seemingly on their own, shaking a little with adrenaline and anger.

He needed to rip this mask off.

It was such a sudden primal instinct, that overtook any other feeling or sense. It would've surprised him if he wasn't too overtaken with this urge to take off the mask. His whole body flamed, burning with a newfound sense of power. Without even a single thought, he gripped the mask tightly and tugged harder and harder. As he felt his skin rip and tear, a piercing cry left his mouth, reverberating and echoing into the surrounding area. The shadows watched on in a sort of horror-confusion. The mask fell from his hand, as he softly chuckled. That chuckle turned into a full maniacal laugh, with his whole body shuddering an unprecedented amount, making him slouch over slightly.

"You're right... Yes, you're right!"Akechi stood up straight, a twisted smile stretching on his face. "THIS IS MY CHANCE! THE UPPER HAND I NEEDED!" Akechi screamed, continuing to laugh loudly, placing his hand on his mask in a dramatic flourish. "COME... LOKI!"

A whoosh of wind blew at him from below, chains surrounding him all at once, and a different mask bursted onto his face. His outfit felt tighter, and he noticed it was a skin tight suit, with a mixture of different blacks and greys in a stripped pattern, and belts around his legs and one around his waist. But he couldn't care less about his clothes. He stared right at the shadows with a blood thirsty gaze.
"TASTE MY WRATH!!"

He not-so-gracefully exited the metaverse not long after, leaning against the wall of the train station and panting, desperately try to catch his breath. An overwhelming sense of tiredness and weakness came over him, and he was surprised at how he didn't just keel over then and there. He smiled lightly, brushing his hair out of his face. This was his way. His way to Shido's trust.

Sure enough, once he approached Shido with his new abilities, his plan started to finally take proper form. Akechi was Shido's key to the Wakaba Ishiki's research, which he had so desperately tried to understand, to not much avail. But now he could. With Akechi's access, and Shido's plan of mental shutdowns, the pieces of the puzzle came together for both of them. The time had finally come.