centralfiction | ic contact: kaisou

we found something in the black order archives in asgard. i think you might want to read it.

open the link when you feel ready.

[Attached: a series of photos of a certain file.]

Seriously? Hold on.

[Ragna didn't know what to expect opening the file. He hovered over it and it didn't look like spam. So he opened the file.

And immediately upon reading the name "Aoko Juusan" he felt a headache. Like the ghost in his fucking head was close to screaming, but not in anger or vengeance desire. In fear. Even he felt a panic swelling in his heart from her.

He read what they had on him, sure. They got some of his past selves in on the Order somehow because they wanted the Azure Grimoire. Relius Clover was a disgustingly familiar name that made his skin crawl but more than anything made him angry.

Not even for his own sake. Just because the Order broke his past selves, didn't mean they'd ever break him if he was found. And they wouldn't find him ever again now that they're gone.

There's a long, long delay as if he's trying to settle himself. But he wasn't. If anything... he was trying to settle the shitheel gh... Settle Aoko.

He switched the feed to voice. On the other end it's clear in his tone that he was just barely holding back his rage but doing so for someone else's sake. In fact, Ragna's response might be a little surprising.]

What else did you find? On "Aoko Juusan". Did you find anything on her?

Not yet, but I'm looking for it right now. Hold on a second.

[There's the sound of shuffling, before Noctis comes back with:] Found some notes on her. I'll take pictures and send them, but...it's not pretty, just skimming through it. This Clover guy—he didn't see you, or her, or anyone else, as a human being. Just test subjects.

[A sigh.]

Something he's got in common with this Hojo asshole, I guess.

...

[There's an impatient sigh let out, knowing damn well what "it's not pretty" might entail. He could only imagine the crap that Relius would have encouraged. And the Black Order called themselves protectors while they're as bad as any other fucking cop if not worse due to magic use.

They had people like that in their ranks that just let Krusnik run just so they can have another little bitch cog in their works. Tch.]

... Relius Clover was an asshole from my past life. I didn't deal with him as much as other people did, but that sounds about right.

[A long pause.]

The shitheel ghost possessing me... "Aoko Juusan" is her.

Oh.

[Oh. He looks down at the files for a long moment, then starts taking pictures as he said he would, one after the other. Then he sends them all to Ragna, in a series of photos the same as before.]

That's everything I can find. [And it's all fucking horrific. He's going to have nightmares about this, but hey, they can join the rest.] I don't know if there's more. I wouldn't be surprised if there were, they seemed very obsessive about keeping track of anyone who piqued their interest.

[Ragna takes a moment to skim through the files, feeling the panic rise up in his possessor yet again. He didn't know a lot of phrases in Japanese, but he muttered one away from the phone.]

Calm down. It's fine.

[Noctis didn't have context for that, but really no one did. Except for him and his stupid mental roommate.]

These fucking bastards...! And they say they were supposed to protect people. My fucking ass! [He sounded angrier reading her file than his own. There's a knock against something, a desk or wall or whatever hard surface, heard over the phone.

Then, there's another long pause.]

... Th-- Aoko found and possessed me because Krusnik killed and took away my family. No wonder she wants revenge against the Order and Krusnik too. They left her to die!

If they ever were, they’ve long since veered off-course. These files…they’ve been deliberately engineering people’s awakenings to their past lives. Because they needed a steady supply of Guardians.

[He’s thankfully seen no indication of his own past lives as a Guardian. It’s something of a relief.]

We’re here now. We’re taking the Undying down. She’ll get her vengeance, even if it’s by proxy. [A moment. Then:] Krusnik—goddammit. And they let this Krusnik run around because they wanted power.

Are you fucking serious?! They have more than just me and her?!

[He's this fucking close to storming the gates himself and ripping them all apart with his own hands. If he had the control he wanted, he would. But he fucking didn't and it was infuriating him.

Little did he realize that she'd gone quiet now.]

Good. Burn them down like they did so many lives, directly or by proxy through their inaction. Goddammit!

[Another slam.]

This guy who wrote the report is just the fucking type to let people in Krusnik roam no matter what people tell him to do. You get that fucking liberty when you reach the top... fucking assholes!

Yeah, a whole library of files on every Guardian ever, and way too many of them are like that. And on people who were never Guardians, but who’d caught their interest. And on the people who came here from other worlds.

[He knew he was living in a surveillance state, but Jesus, this is fucked up to an insane degree.]

Ragna—we’re here. We’re going to make sure they can never do this again. Not to you, not to Aoko, not to anyone else.

…do you want these files?

Jesus Christ.

[They're fucking insane. They deserve what's coming to them. Knowing there's at least reliable crazy bastards going in to take them down brought Ragna some relief that he couldn't go in there himself.

He felt his possessor stir, but not in the way she usually did. Not angrily that someone besides her was acknowledging Ragna.

Why does he care... I don't understand...]

... I could give a shit what they have on who I was. They're stupid if they think they're ever going to break me. [It was stated matter of factly, not overconfidently.]

Keep the basic information on Aoko's file. Anything they had on me or what they did to her? Burn it.

Yeah, I know.

[It's one thing to know Ardyn apparently wrote a report on him. It's another to find out the Order kept tabs on everyone who showed even the slightest sliver of potential, with the purpose of recruiting them, over and over and over, and throwing them into the meat grinder, over and over and over again. It's...

Well, it's a horrific thought.]

They are pretty arrogant. With arrogance comes a lot of stupidity, from my and the king's experiences.

[cough Loqi cough. cough "quadruple A games" cough.]

Yeah, got it. I'll write down her basic info and give it to you when we get back. Caleb's pink friend started a bonfire, I'll toss the rest of it in for you.

[God only knew whose soul Ragna really held now. But it didn't matter for him, or whatever his name was before, "Shuichi", "Runar", whatever. He and everyone else they had files on were still people. Human beings.

And knowing they were this sought after for a fucked up Cult added a new layer of horror. Even more so knowing plights were ignored for that purpose. Or invited.]

Got it. Thanks, Noctis. [Ah...] I don't need to tell you twice, but make sure they pay for what they did. Make sure the future is a better one without them.

They will. I can promise you that much. All this? We're not going to let any of this happen again. What happened to Aoko, what happened to you, what happened to their agents before all this—it ends today.

[One way or the other. No, not "one way or the other"—there's only one way this can end.]

And we're coming back home. I'm coming back, I have a fishing game to finish.

Good.

[Only one way forward, and for once in his life Ragna had faith they would all succeed.

Good thing this is voice, cause he didn't realize he had a smile on his face from that faith.]

You better. I might check it out once it's done.

ic contact: kaisou

text; un: midnightfishing; gemini

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