[rad title goes here]

he can read their expressions clearly. when he does, there’s always a bout of déjà vu (déjà vécu?) which follows– but there are never any memories attached. no recollection whatsoever. it’s only a passing feeling. fleeting. almost tangible.

the best hold he has on this feeling comes as he guesses at the reason for experiencing it. as he analyzes the human’s eyes.

guilt. who did you kill?apathy. how many?blood lust. who’s your next target?wariness. i’ve killed you.sadistic joy. i’ve died to you before. 

my friends have died to you before.

and, for some horrifying reason, he was never moved to act until the whole ride was over. that’s right. the king. the queen. the head of the royal guard. the underground’s favorite idol. the hotlands’ extraordinary scientist.

his brother.

he knows what this “determination” will do to monsters. when injected with determination, they fuse together into grotesque mutations. in this timeline, determination is what seems to cause all of the underground’s problems. it’s tiring. he’s tired. everyone’s dead. what does he care if the world is destroyed? he’ll be dead, too. he won’t know.

but still, he fights.

it could be argued that this timeline in particular is just one of many samples used in his research. that sense of déjà vécu? he might not care about going to the surface now, but, in another timeline, he could guarantee everyone made it there safely. with no one left behind. what a stark contrast to the crumbling, barren, dusty world he’s exposed to now, huh.

but his research doesn’t lie. and he has to play gatekeeper in order to conserve this nightmare of a timeline, collecting information through his passing of judgment.

when he fights the human, their integrity is put to the test.(their soul turns blue. they are grounded.)patience and justice are reflected in his gaze.(his eye flashes light blue, yellow. the human’s soul is forcibly thrown to a side. ‘put in its place.’)his perseverance (considered a synonym to determination in most dictionaries) wears them down.(KARMIC retribution is purple.)

why does he fight to protect a broken timeline? why continue on with his research, when everything could be RESET with what seemed to be the wave of a wand? why do anything at all, when faced with an enemy that knows his every move, his every word, because they’ve experienced the same interactions over and over again themselves– interactions which he has no memory of?

* heh heh heh. the answer’s obvious, buddy.

if it’s determination destroying this timeline– it’s determination saving another.the red stains of human blood, of destruction, of blind hatred.the red warmth of a human SOUL, of continuity, of love.determination is a powerful, double-edged sword.

* just cause it’s a struggle doesn’t mean it ain’t worth it.* who knows. maybe, just maybe, through studying [determination]…* … us monsters are naturally developing some of the stuff for ourselves.