SUBMITTED BY: @bubbleberryuniverse
Part two of Sami Rambling About Its Apocalyptic AU, with more stuff about a!TKO and a!KO! Strap yourselves in, this is gonna be a LONG one.
I mentioned last night that TKO is up with the villains, while KO is down hiding, underground, with the heroes. And there is so much information to this, cause despite being separated, there are so many similarities and parallels between these two.
KO is hiding in small underground areas, away from the villains while, like I mentioned, TKO is up with the villains. And while he's generally not forced to survive in a dangerous place in the way KO is, he definitely has to in a different way. Cause he's up there with the villains who caused this mess, including Shadowy.
TKO never had anyone there for him, either, unlike KO, even after separation. Cause he existed, was in the cage, and then with Shadowy after the separation and immediately manipulated. He never got to experience any kind of love or anyone even caring for him as a parent, just villains hurting other people and being so violent and literally destroying the world in order to win. There's, like, so little left.
I've imaged the sky being red, like how it is in the finale after the sun dies, cause the sun is dead. And there's just dirt and debris scattered around as far as people can see. Rocks and remnants of old buildings, broken sidewalks, and just... various things that just scream apocalypse. Absolutely little to nothing is left up there, and there's absolutely little to nothing underground. Both heroes and villains are struggling to survive, but the villains still take the win because the heroes are the ones hiding in fear for their lives.
You can get a general idea of just how it is for TKO by this general information. ESPECIALLY as a younger TKO that more recently started existing. The apocalypse generally has been a thing for about a year [in terms of timeline in regards to when a potential fic would take place], so he's been in this horrid environment for a long, long time. He's taught himself to pretty much suppress any feelings that AREN'T anger and rage, and has pretty much learned violence is what he needs to do to survive.
It's BAD. Horrible. And he's told and manipulated by Shadowy that if he killed and got rid of KO, that everything bad would go away. That he could be happy. And he believes him, because why wouldn't he?
When the apocalypse first started, there was a bit of that manipulation, but it wasn't as BAD. His first interaction with KO in the apocalypse is him attacking him with just a tinge of hesitance, but by the year point of the apocalypse, it's absolutely just cold-blooded, deep-seated rage. He's latched onto this idea that KO is GENUINELY the root of ALL his problems and unhappiness and torment, and the desire to kill him grows the more Shadowy tells him that doing that will make it better. It's like his purpose; that's what he believes. Murdering KO in the most violent way he can is his way out of misery and by cob, he wants OUT.
The thing is though he actually doesn't WANT to kill him. But he's suppressed that so hard that he genuinely believes he wants to, and even if he doesn't want to, he needs to. There's no other option in his mind. He firmly absolutely believes this is what he wants AND needs, and any doubt about him actually wanting KO dead is suppressed harder than KO ever ended up suppressing anything. This is, unfortunately, something he has to figure out the hard way, but I won't get into that...
KO is scared of him, though, and rightfully so. Because TKO wants him dead, and he knows this. Any interaction they had during the apocalypse, as very scarce as they were, ended up with KO getting hurt. And TKO being very clear about his goals. TKO absolutely terrifies the shit out of KO, because holy shit, that kid is ANGRY and he's POWERFUL.
I also sometimes think about how KO would've apologized if he could have. If he wasn't scared if TKO, he'd apologize to him for keeping him locked up in a cage. And just... everything in general. As he's a season one KO, though, he doesn't really know about TKO in the way other season two KOs might, but... still. It wouldn't have made it better or fixed it, but cob, the kid genuinely WANTS to apologize to him, but the sheer terror he feels when he simply hears his name is just... too much. It's SO good, man, I love the way these characters are.
They could've gotten along like siblings, honestly. If one wasn't actively seeking out to kill the other, and the other wasn't actively terrified of the one that wants him DEAD. AUGH... I love these two children so much, they deserve so much better. They're both seeking someone to love and care about them, in a way.
KO is stuck without a parental or even an older sibling figure for, like, a year (he's surviving with Colewort and Potato), and when he DOES have an adult show up, it's... it still sucks. He's alone and feeling super useless and just wants his mom, Rad, Enid, or SOMEBODY to be there. Even if the two people he's simply working with to survive care about him, he's... it still sucks, you know? I'll get into more stuff with KO in a different post though, he's got a lot, too!
But TKO is in a very similar situation. Except he's surrounded by villains who aren't anywhere close to good adult figures. All he has is Shadowy, who... is Shadowy. He may absolutely deny the fact that he really needs and wants someone to care about and love him, but that's absolutely something he does want. AUGH... one of my favorite things is that he just doesn't feel like he can call Carol his mom. He'll just call her KO's mom. And this absolutely lives in my brain so much. Cob, get this kid some blankets, please! Both of them. Blankets, hot chocolate, and lots of love.
One more detail I want to share before I send this off is the tape recorder.
They both have a half of the tape recorder in each of their subconsciouses. It's super, duper deep in there, and they never go to their minds, so they'll never know about it, but I do and I AM TELLING YOU.
It got split during their separation and it doesn't really work. It'll sputter and spit out some words and gargled static and noises, but otherwise, they're completely non-functional. But I love thinking about this, cause it has a lot of meaning behind it, which I absolutely SLURP up. And even if you repaired each one in their mind somehow, they wouldn't even be legible. Not very legible, anyway. Which is one of my FAVORITE things. I can't quite explain the entire way that this detail makes me feel, or how important this is in the grand scheme of viewing their separation and how it's affected them. But it's just... SO impactful, man.
I love these children and all the funky details and I will be back another time with more :) Feel free to ask me questions if you want I will happily do so 👁️
