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[He doesn't remember much about his execution.

Oh sure, he remembers the lead-up to it; he remembers how the others looked on as he was led away and sure, he remembers Ishimaru's screams. He doesn't remember the death cage nor does he remember the sudden pain before it was all over.

It made waking up here incredibly confusing.

"Here" must be some sort of afterlife, but Mondo hasn't been able to figure out what it is, exactly. It's obviously not heaven (he's killed two people, he doesn't belong in heaven), but it doesn't seem to be hell either. Things are monotonous, yes, but they're not bad.

That leaves the option of purgatory, which Mondo is more or less fine with. It's better than spending an eternity suffering. It's probably not right for him to stay here instead of moving on to hell, but he doesn't know how or when that will happen. He's content to leave it at that for the time being.

This place is a rather large city - half of it is full of native English speakers, whom Mondo tends to avoid (his English is atrocious, after all), the other half is full of Japanese speakers. The city itself doesn't seem to be anywhere Mondo has ever seen, but it's large and spread out, with plenty to explore and do. Mondo hasn't seen everything there is to see though; he's only been here for a few weeks, and he knew if he wanted to make ends meet, he'd need a job first. Exploring could wait.

It's convenient that there's a carpenter's shop just down the road from the apartment Mondo woke up in. It might not technically be his, but he's been staying there until he can afford to properly rent it out. No one has complained so far, so he figures it's fine for the time being. The carpenter works him to the bone and he's never been so exhausted in his life when he comes home, but it's a good kind of exhaustion that means he's doing something productive. He can't make up for what he's done in the past, but he can help out here.

He's off work for the day, lounging around in what serves as the living room of his apartment, flipping through the newspaper. The dates here are all screwed up - it's almost winter here and he knows he'll have to put some money away toward buying proper winter clothes. That's only a minor concern though, because he has much bigger things to worry about.

In a city this large, it's possible that he's just missed seeing the others. He hasn't been looking very hard, admittedly. He's not sure what to say to them when he does see them. "Sorry" simply won't cut it for Fujisaki. He doesn't really want to see Kuwata, Enoshima, or Maizono either. He's sure it's only a matter of time before one of them finds him, or before someone else shows up here.

All he can do is hope that it won't be Ishimaru.]

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[Mondo settles, still looking incredibly pleased.]

Ah, yeah? Alright. Tell me what happened.

[He knows he's not going to like it, but it's about time they finally discussed this.]

...I'll start, I guess, by saying that the execution was really fucked up. Not just the part you remember - I mean, that was obviously fucked up, too, but it wasn't like Kuwata's execution, where Monobear just left the body there in front of us.

He...desecrated it. Really bad.

[...]

What was...left of it. I don't know what did it, whether it was the force or the electricity or both or what. But it wrecked most of your body and whatever was left was collected through the bottom of the cage and...

[He hesitates for a moment before forcing himself to continue.]

Butter, it was like butter. And he ate it in front of us. Put it on pancakes and ate it.

I-- What?

[Surely he misheard that. There's no way he could have possibly heard that right. Mondo shakes his head.]

Butter. Are you fucking serious?

[Of course Ishida is serious. That's a rhetorical question.]

I can't... He fucking-- Butter!?

[Well, at least now he sounds mad as opposed to disbelieving?]

Fuck that fucking bear and whoever was fucking controlling it!! What makes 'em think they can do shit like that to people!?

[Ishida flinches a bit at that initial outburst; it hadn't even occurred to him that he might not be believed when it came to some of the weirder stuff that had happened. He's almost relieved when the disbelief turns to anger; it riles him a little, yeah, but at least Mondo doesn't think he's bullshitting this somehow.]

Yeah, butter. That's why I can't handle eating it here; i-it makes me feel fucking sick just thinking about it.

[He cringes a little at that falter, but he pushes himself to keep continuing anyway, clearly trying to just power through it.]

It was really fucking brutal. Ishimaru just kept screaming and crying until he physically couldn't anymore. Then everyone went back upstairs, I guess; he doesn't remember it too well. Either way, he stopped talking to people. He didn't eat. Sleeping just caused a fuckload of nightmares, so after a while he stopped doing that, too. He stayed like that for...fuck if I know. Three days? Four? Something like that. We got another motive while he was like that; there was the usual screaming bullshit about how we'd never kill anyone for it, obviously that didn't last too fuckin' long.

And then Asahina said something at some point about how she'd seen a ghost. They didn't think Ishimaru was listening or anything, but he was; she said she'd seen Fujisaki's fuckin' ghost. I guess after a while he decided to do something about it; he went to talk to Naegi, so he could talk to Fujisaki.

And while he was doing that, that's when he talked to you.

...Can't say I blame you.

[He's going to throw out the butter as soon as they're done with this conversation.]

Shit, I'm so sorry. I'm... I'm so sorry...

[He wishes he could do more than apologize. There isn't anything he can do though, and that frustrates him. Ishimaru must have been in so much pain...]

You spoke to my ghost then?

[He's not sure how that's possible, since ghosts don't exist, but if that's what Ishida says happened...]

...I...sorta. There was a computer that let us talk to you. I don't know if it was...really you, or just something Fujisaki programmed the damn thing to do, but it looked and sounded just like you. Fujisaki, too - there was something that looked like Fujisaki. Ishimaru asked if he hated you. Then he asked if Fujisaki hated him, for not being able to stop you.

That's when it let him talk to you. It...you...

[...hang on, he's confused himself - ]

The thing told him that there'd be some time where he'd be hurting and he could take his time for regrets and shit, but he'd have to keep going - that he was the only one who could keep himself living, that he needed to make sure he did that. That people were made so that they could keep moving forward, no matter what.

And that's...that's why I'm here. But you don't remember any of that.

[Despite his wording, that last part is more of a question than anything.]

No I... I don't remember any of that.

[It certainly does sound like something he would say though, and that's kind of creepy. How did Fujisaki know him well enough to program something like that in there? Was that even possible? He frowns, not entirely sure.]

I guess that does explain where you came from. Sorta. What happened after that?

[He hesitates for a moment, clearly bothered by that confirmation - Mondo had said he didn't remember any of that before, but there really isn't any other explanation for it, is there? Fujisaki can't have known any of that shit, right?]

...Yamada kept fucking with the computer. He wanted to keep the fucking thing, he was using it as some sort of weird relationship simulation or something, fuck if I know.

[He bristles at that.]

I didn't want him to have it - I didn't want him anywhere near it! It was all I had left of you, and I didn't need him taking that away, too! So we got in a fucking fight over it. A couple of fights, really - and then someone stole the goddamn thing.

[...]

He kept accusing me of taking it, but I didn't - I was told to leave it the hell alone, and I did!

...That's just fucking creepy...

[Ugh, Yamada why. Mondo nods after Ishida's finished speaking though; he obviously believes him.]

So I guess he didn't take it either, if he was accusing you of having it. Why would someone else take it though? I get why you wouldn't want him to have though.

Then what?

...I got really fucking pissed off; we yelled at each other for a while and then I went off to be by myself for a while, because I didn't want to be around the rest of them. I'd already fucking cried in front of them over it, I didn't want to be around them anymore. And besides, it was getting late.

Someone left me a note soon after, though. Telling me to go to one of the rooms upstairs, early in the morning; they said they thought they found a way out. Or at least somewhere you could see the outside. We'd been using notes to communicate without Monobear finding out about it, so it wasn't too weird at the time - I thought everyone got one.

So I showed up, only I was the only one there. I thought that maybe they were late or something - it was really fuckin' early - so I thought I'd wait around for ten minutes before giving up and going back to the room and then maybe bitching at everyone to find out why they were fucking with me like that.

That's when I got attacked, like I said when I first showed up here.

[He hesitates again. Makes himself keep going.]

I got hit in the head with something heavy - not hard enough to kill, but it got me all disoriented. I guess it broke skin, because there was blood all over; I was able to fight back for a while, but my fucking wrist broke somehow, I guess a good hit got in somehow, and I couldn't defend myself. I got hit in the head again and then I passed out. Then I woke up here.

[...]

It was fuckin' Yamada who did it. I should have seen it coming and I get that now, but...

[Mondo is silent through all of that, though he winces while Ishida explains what happened.]

Shit. If that fucking bastard shows up here, we'll fucking rearrange his face.

[He wouldn't kill Yamada, but he'd land him in the hospital for awhile.]

I'm so fucking sorry. That never should've happened to you. That fucking bastard...

It's okay, kyoudai. I get to be with you again.

[...]

All right, yeah, no, we're going to fuck his shit up so bad.

[ANYWAY...]

But look, I...I wanted to tell you all that shit so you know where the fuck I'm coming from, and why I'm...like this, I guess. I'm not...

[He shakes his head; he doesn't understand why words are getting so difficult, but the fact is that they are and it's frustrating him.]

I'm not like Genocider Syo.

[...okay that isn't quite what he meant, but it's what he has for now. orz]

[Mondo tips his head at that, a bit confused by the sudden assertion. Yes, he knows Ishida isn't like Genocider Syo, where is he going with this?]

Yeah, I know. You're not gonna go back to being Ishimaru. And you're not... some sort of other personality or something. You're Ishida.

[That's really all that needs to be said. He's Ishida. That's it.]

And you're okay with that? With me...not going back to how I was before.

Yeah. Doesn't mean I'm not gonna miss Ishimaru, but I... I really care about you too. I'd miss you if you did go back, y'know?

Y-Yeah, I guess.

[Hesi...tation...]

That's the other thing I've been working out. Like I've said before, we're not...the same anymore, but I'm not a different person, either.

So I'd have to think about it for a while, make sure it's what I actually want, but I'd...

[...]

Maybe I'd be okay with using his name again. Someday.

[Oh no, that hurts. Mondo moves to pull Ishida into a tight hug, running his fingers through his hair immediately. He knows what that means, and it's painful to acknowledge.

Ishida is Ishimaru, he's just gone crazy.]

It's alright. Take all the time you need to think about it. No matter what you decide, I'll honor it, okay? You mean so much to me.

[Ishida doesn't move or try to discourage Mondo from hugging him, though he's a little confused by what brought it on; the hair-playing feels good, though, as it always does, and it isn't long before he's returning that embrace.

Then Mondo's words hit and for a reason he can't really explain, he's elated to hear them; he doesn't let himself dwell on them for too long, he just grins and lets his grip tighten and he's nuzzling up against him and god, what a day to be alive.

He's still not sure what brought this on, blissfully unaware of the pain he's causing; he just knows that it feels nice and Mondo's being accepting.]

Great - that's...that's really fuckin' good to hear, kyoudai! You mean a lot to me, too!

[Mondo holds Ishida tightly, content to just play with his hair and stay like this for awhile.]

Glad to hear it.

[He pauses; something's been bugging him.]

Hey, why'd you ask what I wanted from uh... from this? Y'know, me liking you and all.

[It's not like Ishida actually wants a relationship with him, right?]

[...did you just]

What...?

[just let him pull back for a second because kyoudai

kyoudai are you stupid

okay look he's going to have to stare at you like you've grown a second head for a second before he just - ]

Why the fuck do you think?!

[now come here

and let him kiss you goddamn]

[Yes, yes he's stupid-- oh.

Oh.

Well that explains a lot, doesn't it?

Holy shit. Mondo tightens his grip on Ishida and returns that kiss almost immediately. It's pretty clear just how pleased he is, if the soft noise he made was any indication.]

[That noise is amazing, and Ishida's quick to shift position, pressing up against Mondo while he kisses him and using that as leverage to push himself up off the couch a bit; this feels amazing and all he can think is how he wants more of it, and when he resettles it's with his legs straddling Mondo's, kneeling down over him without letting their bodies touch properly, and while he isn't deepening the kiss any he's very definitely enthusiastic about the whole thing, a sort of eagerness coursing through his body as he presses Mondo into the cushions covering the back of the couch.

Clearly, he doesn't care how much the couch supposedly sucks right now; this is amazing and he doesn't want to stop.]

[Mondo allows Ishida to push him back into the couch, still obviously pleased with what he's doing. His hands move to Ishida's hips, though he doesn't really seem to know what to do with them, just letting them kind of awkwardly press there. He is all too eager to return the kiss though, even if he's not really sure what he's doing there either. Oh well, the enthusiasm makes up for it, right?]

[Oh, that...

...well. That seems to please him, really, if that sound it got out of him's any indication, good lord.

Despite his confidence, he's still obviously inexperienced when it comes to this sort of thing, and after a while he needs to break away, to catch his breath a bit; he's shaking a little, but it's definitely not a bad thing.]

Fuck. I...fuck. This is amazing.

You're fucking telling me!

[He gently touches Ishida's side, hoping to at least calm the shaking a bit. He knows Ishida's excited - why wouldn't he be? Mondo's excited too - but the shaking does worry him a bit.]

I can't believe you want to date me! I mean, that is what you want, right?

LOCKED TO blazingspirit

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