Withering moon lit rose

Chapter 22

No one dared to move for a solid five minutes. Atsushi braced for attack, Chuuya helping Dazai sit upright, Dazai watching every move of the woman, Miss Nakajima stood staring at her son.

Eventually she grew bored of waiting and began to walk towards Atsushi. He backed up in response.

"You're really gonna treat me like that? It's been nearly 14 years. We were desperate for food and it's not like I caused any permanent damage? Look at your legs, do you see a scar?" Atsushi briefly glanced down at his leg, she was right there was no scar. But the memory left enough of a scar.

"You didn't..." Dazai mumbled somewhat as he looked at the woman in horror, he'd finally put all the pieces together of what she'd been on about.

"I didn't what? Abandon him? Yes, I did. I found a tone of money that had been left unguarded by some idiot. He would have been one extra problem to deal with so I left him. That idiot found him afterwards." Atsushi felt his heart waver slightly, even though he never cared for what happened to his parents. He always had a little hope that they didn't leave him willingly.

"That's not what I'm on about!" Dazai snapped at the woman, he still couldn't believe she had done this to her own child.

"You cut him limb from limb! You survived because he sustained you! Does that not make you sick!" Dazai began to cough heavily, a slight bit of blood trickle out of his mouth, Chuuya placed his hand on Dazai's shoulder in an attempt to steady him. But he pushed him away and raised himself to his knees.

"You're a monster! You shouldn't be allowed to call yourself his mother." Nakajima's patience seemed to be at its limit as she began to activate her ability via rotating her wrist. But it made no sense as Dazai was the only injured one and it made no sense to heal him, that and his ability nullified it.

"Osamu..." Chuuya muttered fear laced in his voice, Dazai moved his eyes to Chuuya and saw red begin to seep through Chuuya's shirt. He quickly began to unbutton his shirt to see where the blood was seeping from, only to see a large patch of his skin had disappeared and more was following suit. Nakajima's ability. It wasn't just a healing ability. It was a cell manipulation ability.

"Good. That silenced you both. Now Atsushi my darling, would you please come with mother? I promise to not harm any of your friends, I'll even heal this one. But you must agree to come with me, no running away. No having anyone follow us to rescue you. Agreed?" Atsushi looked at the two males at the side. Chuuya putting pressure on his chest trying to stop more blood seeping out, Dazai's line of sight fixed on the suffering of his other half.

"You'll heal him?" He asked, his eyes trained on his boots. "Yes."

"You won't harm anyone from the detective agency, or the mafia?" Still refraining from looking at anyone. "As long as they don't stand in my way, then yes." She shrugged her shoulders at this last response.

"Atsushi!" Dazai cried, Atsushi's tear brimmed eyes looked towards the man. "You do this and you won't return the same. If you return at all for that matter!" He was obviously pained by the injuries he suffered and the sight of Chuuya being harmed. But he still considered Atsushi's own welfare.

Atsushi remained frozen for a couple minutes, all the faces of the agency members flashing in his mind.

Kunikida.

Ranpo.

Yosano.

Kenji.

Tanizaki.

Naomi.

Fukuzawa.

Kyoka.

He felt like he owed them so much, this would be a way to repay them. Just as he was to lift his head and give a solid answer that he'd follow the woman, someone else crossed his mind.

Akutagawa.

He'd promised the man a fresh start, he'd promised he'd forget everything that had happened between them. He knew he could keep one of those promises true but it would break his heart in doing so. He finally brought himself to a decision.

"I'll go with you, under one condition."