Shadows of our end - KDA x Male Reader (Original)

Act 2 - 010

.... All Agencies in the city have claimed that the situation has been dealt with swiftly by the Academy's students, yet again commenting that their prowess and skills are above and beyond what they expect from them.

Agencies have threatened the Academy's personnel to speak on the matter to inform the world what had happened to the CLASS NINE threat that had invaded the city. Adding that if they choose to keep it to themselves they will be coming for them because the rest of the city deserved to know what happened.

I have been stripped of my clothes, my body has been cut open and mended back again to rid my body of the parasite and heal all my internal organs from the infection. Most of my body adapted to the world in there and the parasite made it possible for my body to continue to evolve in a way that would make it incredibly easy to survive.

The only things they can't heal are my muscle fibres, my skeletal structure that has been affected and along with my eyes which seem to be luminescent.

"They don't trust me."

Lauren walks towards me with a fresh set of clothes that she sets down beside me. "They decided it would be best to keep it under the radar for the time being till they've found a way to move forward with the problem at hand."

"The problem is me? Right?" I scoff as I lift myself off of the bed and dress myself in the clothes they offered me. "And where's Fury? Right outside of this room to keep an eye on me and kill me the moment she has the chance?"

She furrows her brow at me. "Focus your anger on something else." I roll my eyes at her as I continue to dress myself. "Your body has grown past the human limit and you'll notice that your body is... well reinforced, past that of basic morphers because of the parasite. I can't make you any more human than I've done already."

I don't respond. My gaze locked onto the television.

"The Headmaster wants to see you to talk about what happened to you and then move on from there. I-"

I turn to her and ask her, "Where do you reckon I should direct my anger then? Troy that pushed me into Void... or the fact that I spent three years surviving instead of dying and I am greeted with superstition and not a shred of relief that I survived." I walk past her to the door as I ask her one final question, "Or is it too much to ask to spare some compassion?"

I reach the door and Fury pushes herself off of the wall. "You don't smell like shit anymore so I guess we've got a step in the right direction."

Lauren speaks from behind me. "They will be overjoyed to hear that you've survived... that you came back home."

"You mean when they hear it," I correct her as I gesture for Fury to lead me to my final destination.

She chuckles at my response and leads me down the halls, Lauren is still following the two of us. I crack my neck as I look at my reflection on the glass panes and the shiny surfaces to see how different I must look. They shaved the hair and beard to a point where I still look the same... but my Shadows have gotten comfortable around my body and I haven't been able to keep them hidden as well as I'd have hoped.

Past of my skin has been covered by the darkness underneath my clothes, probably a side-effect when the shadow you cast is much larger than what your body can leave behind.

Fury speaks aloud. "The world is in a delicate state with the increase of rifts over the two years that you've disappeared. People are scared and the first thing you did the moment you came home was to kill someone, how would that look for the rest of us?"

I don't answer.

"I don't blame you, I'd carve the bastard alive that pushed me into a rift if I ever manage to get out of there alive. If you stood in my way if the roles were switched you'd do the same, and I'd probably do the same things you did."

"Trying to make me feel better?" I scoff at her.

"A perspective is better than none at all." She exhales. "Blame the doc all you want, but she has to follow the rules-"

"And betray her friends by keeping my existence hidden because the headmaster wants to talk to me?"

"And what if you weren't who you said you were? What if you were a husk being controlled by an outside force that is living off of the emotions of a scared child who just wanted to go back home? What if that same scared child was twisted and corrupted to the point where it would lead its own friends and family to the monsters that made him?"

Lauren quickly adds. "I can't fathom what you went through-"

"I can," Fury states. "I respect him for surviving three years inside that place, most barely last a week."

Lauren continues despite her interruption. "It's not easy to come to terms with the fact that you are back when everyone thought you dead, (Y/N). Do you think I'd rather keep it to myself than tell your blood? But what if Fury is right?"

I exhale slowly.

Maybe I should have known better.

Memory appears beside me. "Worry not, Shadow. My resurrection would have been met with the same reaction, my brothers and sisters would rather cut me down than embrace me in this state."

Fury looks at the Nightmare towering over all of us. "Never seen a monster like him."

"My existence is incomparable."

"I am sure it is," she states. "Is that why your incomparable existence has been reduced into being a Shadow of your former Self? Or does the Self not care?"

He chuckles in response. "Before this, I was nothing but whispers, a memory waiting to fade. Darkness claimed me and made me whole again, what will come for you when your soul has been left to drown? I have lived and I will continue to live."

Fury only snorts at his response. "Lovely talking to this thing. Keep it on a leash, I wouldn't want to kill you again."

Memory glances at me and I notice his idle stare. His whole demeanour screams that he'd much rather be rid of Fury now if he could but at this point, we wouldn't be able to kill her because we don't know what we need to do to kill her.

But we play their game.

We play it until the means reach that end.