for a better world

› prompts from rachel gillig's novel the knight and the moth (2025). feel free to tweak as you see fit , bartholomew.

❛ you don’t have to be good, or useful, for someone to care about you. ❜

❛ when you do the right thing for the wrong reason, no one praises you. ❜

❛ we all want to be special.”

❛ what is right and wrong depends entirely on the story you’re living in. ❜

❛ which is more intricate? the designs of men, trying to reach gods, or that of gods, trying to reach men? ❜

❛ people who love you for your usefulness don't love you at all. ❜

❛ you want to throw me down. ❜

❛ i, prideful, disdainful, godless. ❜

❛ i want to drag you into the dirt with me. ❜

❛ you know this story, (name,) though you do not remember it. ❜

❛ to tell a story is in part to tell a lie, isn't it? ❜

❛ it's hard to see who i am when i am lost in what's expected of me. ❜

❛ fear not, (name!) every day has its dog. ❜

❛ if you only ever look up at something, can you ever see it clearly? ❜

❛ it is easier, swearing ourselves to someone else's cause than to sit with who we are without one. ❜

❛ take my hand, you strange little creature. ❜

❛ it sounds awful when i say it out loud. ❜

❛ you are more special than you realize. ❜

❛ i would do anything for you. ❜

❛ i cannot decide which i like best. the sunrise, or the sunset. ❜

❛ i was losing my faith in everything. ❜

❛ the two of us meeting… it felt almost divine. ❜

❛ i think her quite the bitch. ❜

❛ how undignified. ❜

❛ did anyone see me fall? ❜

❛ i want someone to see me. ❜

❛ i want it to be you. ❜

❛ no honor among thieves, and even less among gods. ❜

❛ i’ll do anything you ask of me. ❜

❛ if i were beside myself, there would be two of me ❜

❛ oh, (name.) he's dreamy. ❜

❛ do you want to know how it ends? ❜

❛ does it end? ❜

❛ it ends when you kiss me. ❜

❛ why do we do these things to ourselves? ❜

❛ you’re an incomparable fiend, (name.) a truly accomplished asshole. ❜

❛ i’d like you better if you were on your back again. ❜

❛ it is not like me to be the bearer of bad tidings. ❜

❛ am i all that you imagined? ❜

❛ your hands are marked by the blood of my metamorphosis. ❜

❛ whatever my soul was made of was frail. ❜

❛ violence is a craft. so is compassion. ❜

❛ no is a sufficient answer. ❜

❛ anger is a fine weapon. ❜

❛ now have some soup. ❜

❛ i will shoulder any weight you give me. ❜

❛ would that things were different. ❜

❛ i think i would like to stop promising myself away, or else there will be nothing left of me to give. ❜

"I beg your fucking pardon?"

"Due to personal reasons, I'm evil now."

"Actually all of my systems are nervous."

"You used to be shy, now you're a whore."

"I'm attracted to men but at what cost?"

"My wife can stab me a little bit I don't care."

"Babygirl there is something obviously wrong with your brain."

"I'm going to defeat you with the power of friendship, and this gun I found."

"Debates are stupid because why would I want to sit down and argue with someone blatantly dumber than me."

"Due to personal reasons, I will be going completely off the fucking rails."

"I'm a nice person but I'm about to start throwing rocks at people."

"Those are bold words for someone in stabbing range."

"Sorry I called you a fucking idiot, I was trying to flirt."

"I may seem like an angry person on the surface, but deep inside I'm actually angrier.

"Sorry, I couldn't hear you over my internal monologue."

"Sure I'm a little stupid, but that's like 80% of my charm!"

"Fuck therapy I'm becoming a knight."

"Hey, girl. Plagued by terrifying visions?"

"There's something deeply and fundamentally wrong with you. Can we kiss?"

"I may not be beautiful, but at least I know a lot of useless information."

"Conversations are a lot like teeth, you can only have so many."

"I hate when people ask me to explain my thought process. Like hell if I know."

"Well, well, well, if this isn't the feelings I've been trying to avoid."

"With all due respect, which is none."

"You call it a near-death experience, I call it a vibe check from God."

He knows it. He knows, he knows he knows.

He knows all too well.

He knows what Suzaku means. He knows what he's thinking or wanting or--

He takes a breath as he keeps his eyes off of the other.

L.L. could think about Suzaku just fine. He could imagine him just fine. The real issue was in the proximity. He remembers it vividly. The anger that set his soul ablaze, the smoldering hate as he watched himself flee from the room.

What was the most cruel was that Suzaku had been so warm to the touch. Had been so solid and warm and he felt his own body start to relax despite the chill of danger that ran up his spine. A bear trap that was hidden plainly upon the sheets and blankets.

What was worse was how slow it had happened. It didn't take hours, but it might as well had. His flailing meant nothing on the grip around his neck. His screams being cut off by the pressure. After being killed once by his friend, this should not bother him.

Maybe drawing indifference at the very most. Death meant nothing here. Neither should this.

Why did he look so angry?

L.L. didn't look at Suzaku.

After so many years, after so much loyalty shown to him. After he'd taken the Geass to become Zero? After he devoted the rest of his life to L.L.'s cause?

How dare he, how dare he, Suzaku should just take him right here and now, he should just--

No, no.

No, that was selfish. That was going down the path of the Knight of the Round, that was listening to his worst impulses.

That wasn't trusting L.L..

He knew better. He knew the way this man thought. He knew the way that his heart and his head clashed constantly with each other. He knew the things that L.L. was capable of saying--the things he wasn't capable of backing up. He knew L.L. better than he knew himself.

"You're thinking with your head, not your heart." He finally said, his voice softer. "You don't entirely mean that. But it's okay. I'll still wait for you."

He stuck his hands in his pockets, and looked away from L.L..

"You promised me, before. That we'd eventually come back to each other, no matter how much time we spend apart. I trust you. I trust you to keep that promise. We can...keep distance. As long as you need. Just...don't think I'm mad at you. Come back to me when you're ready. Like you always do."

He exhaled.

"And you know that feeling, do you?" He murmurs. It's hard to tell whether he's being sincere or judgmental. "The feeling of countless eyes and ears following your every movement, of foes waiting in the dark for one single slip up to snap you in their jaws and tear you to shreds? To watch everything around you go up in flames and still know that they want more, that they won't stop until everything you are and ever could be has turned to ash?"

He doesn't seem to hold himself to the niceties that Zero is trying to display. Instead, he gives Zero a long, calculating look and... holds out his hand.

Suzaku never did well with mirrors. He could see too much of his own eyes in them. He could see too much of his face changing in them--the lines around his brow, the deep furrow in them, the lines forming under his eyes, the deep shadows within.

There was too much that changed him, and too much that he couldn't do to stop it. Too much had touched his heart, warped him.

He couldn't recognize himself anymore.

The other man held out his hand, however, and Suzaku clasped it back in his own.

A small greeting, soldier to soldier.

However, expenditure of such energy in a closed-loop energy system eventually quantified itself into a net-zero loss, which was reflected by various human models as well as Incubator-backed databases—

Kyubey stops thinking and looks up. The human he'd been shadowing for the past five minutes has apparently caught on to him and is staring him down.

...this too is within acceptable calculations.

The Incubator settles for sitting on his haunches and waves its irresistibly long, fluffy tail in greeting.

§ Kyu~! §

Timer begun. 00:05 seconds and counting...

L.L. was sort of the smartest person that Suzaku knew right now (his apparent idiocy in social situations aside) and that meant that the man probably had some sort of idea of what this creature was....

....wait, right! Suzaku had a cellphone now, like Anya did, which meant that he could probably search for what this creature was.

The creature jumped down, waving a long, fluffy tail, and saying a small sound that kind of reminded Suzaku of a child's coo. The creature had cat-like ears, long appendages coming out of them, and golden rings that reminded Suzaku of an angel's halo wrapped around the tips.

Suzaku blinked, and took a picture.

He knew better than to touch, however, and so he simply crouched down in front of the creature, and offered out his hand.