Real & the Ideal: A Persona 5R Dark Sun Sequel (Goro Akechi x Amamiya Ren)

19: I'll Take Everything From You

(Akechi's P.O.V)

"Haa...haa...where the fuck are you!? Show yourself!"

The realisation that I was in some kind of pocket of distortion inside Maruki's mind settled on my shoulders and made me feel even more uneasy. With only the tiny flickering light to guide me around the claustrophobically small room, it was clear I had hardly any space to even move, thanks to these deranged sculptures that lined the floor.

I couldn't even see a door...

"I see. I didn't expect that you'd make it here..."

That voice.

It echoed through the space, and I began looking around wildly, searching in the near pitch black darkness. My head continued to swoon, and my heart was thundering hard to try and push whatever oxygen I could keep inside my body into my limbs. The air was just so thin.

"If you resist, it'll only keep you here longer..."

Snap!

A loud shot in the dark rang in my head, and all of a sudden I could see Shido laughing hysterically infront of me inside an office.

In the blink of an eye, the apparition was gone.

I began panting even harder.

"Maruki, what the fuck is going on here?" I snarled, working through my intense fight or flight response to try and keep as level of a head as I could. I stepped forward, but nearly knocked my knee on one of the Rumi-statues that laid at my feet.

"Don't be a coward! Come out and fight me!"

A quiet sigh echoed through the room.

"This is...a place I've done my best to hide, from everyone.."

Snap!

Another shot. This time, the image of Shido grabbing a large stack of papers from his desk appeared. He began ripping each page into tiny pieces, laughing like a maniac all the while.

"Keep stalling. Make sure he never takes this research any further. I wont have some half assed student using cognition to change the world I intend to shape."

The worker that stood behind Shido's desk was obviously nervous at his sudden outburst. But he simply nodded anyway.

"Y--yes sir!!"

I gasped again as the apparition dissipated. I was back in darkness, looking around wildly.

So that was it.

"Why are you showing me this!? I feel no pity for you because my piece of shit father quashed your research!" I snarled at the Palace Ruler's haunting presence, turning around to face the other wall, hoping to find an exit, or Maruki, or both.

But instead, I kneed the head of one of the Rumi statues. The solid stone it was made out of hardly budged.

"It seems you and I have a connection...a suffering that only we share..."

Maruki's voice was calm, even as I looked around wildly, trying to find him. It was impossible to see in the hardly lit room where his voice was coming from.

"You fucking coward!! Come out and face m--"

Snap!

Three second long memories began flashing through my mind. Shido punching me, kicking me, knocking me in the face and throwing me down.

Injecting me. Yelling at me. Grabbing me by the throat.

All the while, my father's laugh echoed through the room, slowly growing louder and syncing with the memories like a deranged soundtrack.