Shewasverynice

Take it easy, but TAKE it

[shewasverynice]

It's me, ya girl Sarah! I make wildly long and complicated fan-fiction and if ya feelin' spicy then I also write custom smut fics for your filthy little hearts!

I'm just getting started on social media for real so if you don't mind a follow or just a peek at my stuff that would be extremely helpful!

I hope you enjoy the stories as much as I've enjoyed writing them!

Here on AO3

Masterlist

Chapter Links here! (Complete, but in editing)

Masterlist

Masterlist

Masterlist

Kinktober 2026

[emcheeseman]

Sulien, for @purrichi ☀️

[shewasverynice]

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen 

⚠️ SPOILER HEAVY ⚠️

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Character, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Yaga Masamichi, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu, Tsukumo Yuki, Choso

‎‧₊˚✧ Epilogue ✧˚₊‧

Gojo opened his eyes to a starry sky. His fingers curled in, dragging in the dirt he was just realized was under him. The smell of lavender was violently powerful — Furano. It must have been Furano. There were voices all around, some soft and groggy and some already calling for someone important to them. His head was too fuzzy to place their faces just yet. His eyes were still half closed and a drastic change was starting to alarm him.

He couldn't sense any energy. No negative. No positive. There was an alarming absence of anything, even when he knew for certain the six-eyes should have sensed it. Even the usual safety of ambient energy wasn't there to ease his fear. If there was no cursed energy, would there be no curses? If there was no positive energy would she still—

Gojo sat upright, looking every direction. All around him, sorcerer and non-sorcerers were searching for their loved ones. Ieiri was sobbing into Utahime's shoulder. Choso had just reached Tsukumo and yanked her into his arms without a word. Yaga had both Itadori and Okkotsu with him and from the lavender they helped Maki to her feet.

Gojo was on his feet a second later. Where were they? Where were the ones brought to life by the Filament and where was Sarah? When she left she wouldn't have taken them with her right? She wouldn't really do that to him would she?

A huge sob of relief caught his attention. Morishita! He couldn't help but smile hearing her cry, but before he finished turning to look at her she was buried under Nanami's embrace. He took her right back onto the ground, holding her so hard his shoulders were shaking.

A similar cry rang out nearby, but this time from someone more unexpected. Boe's nails were practically tearing through the shoulders of Geto's robe. She was holding herself to him, winding her fingers in like she was both angry and relieved. Geto's hands were cupped on her cheeks, his eyes staring at her like couldn't believe she was real.

Haibara was helping a tired Suzu up. Hani was looking over Todo. Yaga's wife and children were calling for him. They were all still there, all the ones she'd created. That gave him hope and that hope had him running before he realized it.

"Sarah!" He shouted her name, glancing at each person that emerged from the lilacs.

"You haven't found her?" Geto asked it as he hurried to Gojo's side. "I can't sense anything. I tried as soon as I woke up, but it's like there's nothing."

"Yeah, where is all the energy?" Boe asked, masking a sniffle behind hand. "Is it gone?"

Gojo shook his head, only momentarily stopping his search to answer them. "It's gone."

Geto and Boe split off, joining his search. Before long Nanami and Morishita joined in. Then Yaga and his wife. Then the students. Then pretty much everyone. As far as Gojo could tell, she was the only one missing and the dread was sinking in in a bad way.

It felt no different then when her soul was torn from his. Pain would have been easier. He'd thought it before and thinking again only made it feel worse. Learning to love her had been a hard road, but losing her would be impossible to navigate. The thought was repeating in his head again: she wouldn't really do that to him right? She wouldn't really be gone.

"She always comes back," he murmured, "she promised. She promised."

Then suddenly, there she was. Up ahead, laying alone Sarah was right there at the edge of the fields. She wasn't moving. For one awful second, he forgot how to breathe. He dropped to his knees beside her so fast they slammed against the dirt. One hand slipped beneath her head, lifting it carefully into his palm.

"Hey," he whispered, his voice cracking more than he expected. "Hey, come on..."

There was nothing at first. Then her eyelids fluttered before her chest rose in a sudden gasp for air.

"There you are," he laughed, though it came out as a shaky sob.

His free hand found her face, cupping her cheek. His thumb brushed a loose strand of hair away from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear with trembling fingers. She blinked up at him, still dazed, but very much alive.

"You..." He swallowed hard, tears spilling freely down his cheeks. "You know, this whole dramatic entrance thing is getting a little old."

She gave the faintest huff of a laugh and weakly reached to punch at his bicep.

"That wasn't funny, was it?" he murmured, shaking his head. "Yeah... no. I guess not."

He gave up trying to hide how terrified he'd been. He leaned forward and gathered her against him, holding her like he never wanted to let go.

"I love you," he whispered into her hair.

She rested her forehead against his shoulder. "Why?" She asked it, her voice tinged with the guilt he knew was killing her inside.

"Would you believe me if I answered that?" He answered her question with another, but in that moment there was nothing else to say.

She was quiet for a moment then, softly she said, "I love you too."

He leaned back just enough to look at her. "Oh yeah?" he asked, teasing just enough to make her huff. "Why?"

Sarah tried really hard not to smile, but she never could resist it. "Because..." she said, pausing to reach up and brush away a tear from his cheek with her thumb. "I couldn't not love you."

He laughed and kissed her forehead before pulling her close again. "Good answer," he whispered.

There would come a time when difficult questions needed to be answered. Tears would flow. Things would need to be said that no one wanted to say and people would be changed by those words. Ultimately their fate was undecided, but that unknown was something precious. The unknown meant their lives were their own. It was time to live.

[shewasverynice]

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen 

⚠️ SPOILER HEAVY ⚠️

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Character, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Yaga Masamichi, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu, Tsukumo Yuki, Choso

‎‧₊˚✧ Chapter 120 (Finale Part 2) ✧˚₊‧

Lazarus was humming with both electricity and his multi-layered voice. The song was direction-less, like he was madly making it up while he was chasing her. The waver in his voice made it feel like he was doing it only for his own self control rather than trying to lure Sarah closer in some way. Not that that would work. Sarah wasn't stopping for anything.

She reached out, dragging her fingers across a white thread running along a black wire. A voice relayed information into her just like it had when Utahime's domain broke. Sarah cut her hand on the threads in the escape when she'd heard it the first time. The voice rumbled deep in her subconscious. It was giving commands through the threads.

Subtly, that Filament was making adjustments and forcing actions through both the sorcerers and the resonates. The entire place was like a stage play. She was orchestrating the entire battle and currently letting the sorcerers take the lead.

She wanted to grab Sarah for some purpose, but hadn't managed it. Gojo was fighting her, but even he must have realized by now he hadn't made any progress. Even versus Sukuna he was leaving visible damage. The Filament was swatting and pushing him away as someone would do with a toddler punching their thigh. The Filament was letting all happen and playing along with the story.

Panda had long since left Yaga behind. Lazarus, despite staying close to Sarah, hadn't tried to touch or intercept her in any way way. The Filament must have wanted her to get closer and waltzing directly into a trap wasn't her sanest plan, but what other choice did she have. Following the clues was better than just making Gojo and everyone else keep fighting forever. Letting the Filament do whatever she was doing didn't seem right.

Panda stopped just short of the Filament, using one of his hands to cover his ear. The sound was deafening this close, a horrible mix of clanging chimes and humming electricity.

"What happens if we touch it?!" Panda shouted, leaning to let Sarah slide off his shoulder and then covering his other ear.

"It'll electrocute you!" She shouted back. "Go back!"

"No way!" Panda shook his head, "You might need a way out! You're not fast enough!"

Sarah opened her mouth to argue her case, but then spotted Geto and Yaga heading her way. Even Gojo wasn't as stubborn as the two of them — getting them to leave was going to be too much effort.

Sarah jumped out, grabbing onto the Filament and holding on tight. Her teeth clenched as soon as the electrical shock struck, tensing all her muscles hard. Healing kicked in, but the sensation was tearing her apart at the same rate as she was fixing it. Panda was shouting at her, even as she started to climb up the Filament's side.

Don't do that! Get off!

The Filament reacted violently, her legs kicking and hip shaking to try to get her off. Her hand jerked away from another hit by Gojo, this time reaching to swat at Sarah. She flinched, closing her eyes before the impact. The pain ripped up from her lower half, but no more than that. Her body was still rebuilding after the first swat and she knew another was coming.

What are you doing, idiot? Get off of me!

Sarah's eyes squeezed shut again and she braced for another impact. Blood dripped into her hair from above her and looked back. Lazarus was stopping the Filament's hand, using his own body as a shield. His hands and feet were planted beside Sarah's and gripped onto the Filament, making a dome over Sarah's body with his and keeping the Filament from crushing her again. It made her skin crawl every time his chest pressed into her back, but that was better than being crushed.

Do not hurt her.

Lazarus! What is wrong with you?! I thought you wanted me to end it!

You're just going to start it over again! Please let it stop Sarah! I can't take it anymore!

You'll be fine. You won't even know!

I will know! I always know! You made me this way!

Lazarus panted. His body took another heavy blow, then he leaned in close. She could feel his breath on her neck and his voice was low when whispered,

Break her apart. Consume her. Do not let her start us over.

In a flash of black energy, Geto crashed into Lazarus, knocking him loose and sending him tumbling down the Filament's body. Sarah didn't hesitate, shoving her hand deeper into the woven threads. They were soft like snowy fleece, something she only noticed while wrapping threads around her fist and giving them a sharp yank. The Filament's body jerked and she reached down to swat again only for Geto to react again.

Sarah yanked again while she had her opportunity and, as easily as pulling out shedding fur, a handful of fiber came from the Filament. She stared at her shaking hand, her breath catching. She needed to consume it, Lazarus said. Trusting him seemed like a bad idea, but he wanted the Filament gone too. The fiber was light — felt like nothing but silk in her hand, but eating it seemed some how taboo.

That didn't seem to matter though, she realized. The thread was sinking beneath her skin, absorbing into her and sending shooting light through her veins. It felt warm, and even worse, like she was getting a shit load of shots full of oil right into her body. Her energy spiked right along with her heartbeat — she could feel it changing.

"What the hell Sarah!" Geto shouted over the noise. He was hovering behind her on the back of a round curse with thing dangling spider legs and reached out like he might try to pull her off.

"Stop!" Just in time he stopped and she shook her head. "This thing has so much positive energy it might kill you! Lazarus said I need to absorb her—"

"Why the hell would you listen to him?!"

Geto stared at her like she had a third eyed and for all she knew, she might've. The Filament inside her was surging and making it feel like that horrible "too much caffeine" rush and making her skin tingle. Her hands were shaking again, just when she'd gotten kind of used to the electricity.

"Where is Satoru? Why aren't you with him?" Geto asked.

She hadn't even answered him, she realized, and quickly said, "I'm not the Sarah you know, I think."

Geto's eyes narrowed. Then he glanced back behind him at Gojo then back at her. His brows furrowed and his hand flashed with cursed energy… almost like a threat.

"Suzu?" He asked it like it was a test and when she didn't answer he continued, "No— Kenjaku? Show me your forehead."

Sarah frowned — he was right to be suspicious, but this was not the time. She shook her bangs off her forehead to give him a look then reached in to take another handful of the threads. Geto was shouting, but she couldn't hear much over the rushing in her ears. It didn't matter if Lazarus was trustworthy or not, the Filament needed to go either way. Hopefully they could figure it out after that.

Sarah already knew what the Filament wanted to do. The realization had come slowly, but the white threads were everywhere in this place. Everywhere she'd gone she'd been in contact with them in some way. She'd been absorbing them the whole time! More and more information was trickling into her head with each thread. That thing was the original Sarah and she was nothing more than a copy placed in the world to fulfill the original's wishes.

"Sarah!!"

A sharp jerk on her shoulder pulled her away from the Filament and Geto backed away from it, keeping her close on the curses back. "Stop this," he said, "we don't know what Lazarus wants and—"

"You do!" Sarah spat, "You know everything don't you!" She threw his arms off her. "Don't lie to me, Suguru!"

His stunned silence was proof enough of his bullshit. With a scowl, she reached out to heal him anyway. Even if he was a bastard sometimes, he meant well.

"Suguru, that thing is me and I know you know it," she said. "I am just a piece of her she put here to fix it her way." Sarah paused, swallowed hard and tried to keep her voice from wavering. "It's got to stop," she continued, "we can't keep this going forever. Things are okay now! It's not as perfect as she— as I want, but it's in a good place! You all can make it however you want from here!"

Geto yanked her close, wrapping his arm tight around her back. She almost shoved him away until she felt his breath shudder. His hand gripped at her back and his voice was rough. "You and I have a lot to talk about," he said. "You owe me some apologies. And I owe you just as many."

Her breath hitched and she shook her head. "I made you do it. I—"

"I made my own choices and you know it," Geto spat. Then he pushed her back. She was honestly surprised to see that he looked so sad. She'd expected rage — everyone there had a reason to want her head. "But I know you wanted me to be happy!"

The curse they rode on was flying back towards the Filament. A sickening cursed energy was creeping up behind them. Old and rotting. It could only be Kenjaku.

"Now go. Let's finish it," he said before twirling her around and giving her a shove towards the Filament.

In the brief moment that she glanced back at him, the smile on his face was breathtaking. Geto rarely smiled so earnestly, and she considered herself fortunate that this would be the last time she saw him. It would make things easier when the time came to set it all off.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Panda scooped up Yaga under his arm, dodging a spray of heated lava that fell from the sky like melting paint. Jogo was in full form here, decimating curses faster than they could appear. Even still, Kenjaku didn't seem concerned with either of them. Yaga passed right by him, climbing up on Panda's back in their escape and catching the mad smile on his rotting face.

Geto landed on the wires near Panda, shielding all three of them with a gigantic curse. Geto's usual confidence was replaced with very real fear. Geto so rarely showed any emotion he didn't choose. Whatever Sarah said to him must have given him enough confidence to trust her… and that would have to be Yaga's decision as well despite the pit in his stomach.

"Sarah is going to absorb her," Geto said quickly. "She'll need help. Get everyone else here. We need to break the tangle away from the light."

With that message relayed, Geto rushed off again after Kenjaku. Hopefully he was right.

"Panda, take me to the others," Yaga commanded."

On the platform, Tsukumo was at the center shouting over the crowd of sorcerers. The curses at the walls were shivering and tensing, their strength waning. Geto was occupied by Kenjaku now and couldn't hold it forever. As soon as Panda landed on the sturdy woven hair, Yaga slid off his shoulder and hurried to meet with Tsukumo.

They were still going with her plan, as he expected, and she hastily explained they'd gotten everyone together. But then she said, "All we need now is Sarah!"

Yaga shook his head. "No, we need to help her first. She wants to break the tangle away."

Tsukumo raised a brow. "Is that possible?"

"Sarah seems to be making progress." Yaga raised a brow, then said, "I think you know her position in all this. We need to trust her."

Tsukumo turned and stared at the Filament. Her brows bunched together and she frowned. "If she's wrong…"

"If she's wrong, then we die and start again," Yaga said, finishing the sentence no one wanted to hear.

"Then we'll do what we can," Tsukumo grit, then turned to the crowd of sorcerers. "You give them the order Yaga. They like you better."

Yaga turned slowly, taking in the faces around him. The young adults he'd mentored were now the fully realized sorcerers he'd always hoped they'd become. The ones that they'd mentored were just as fierce. No one was backing down.

"Everyone! Together we will break our world free from her control! Move together and keep on your guard! Today is the day we end this!"

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

They hadn't heard her voice in too long. They were beginning to worry. She was silent since this place manifested, giving him full control and access to her technique but cloistering herself somewhere safe inside that he couldn't find access to. For the briefest moment he'd felt her deep embarrassment and shame before she'd hidden away from him, taking all her thoughts with her.

The Filament was relentless in its pursuit of the second Sarah, and Gojo had no choice but to focus himself on the singular task of protecting her. She was so different from the one he knew, but her actions were what he was sure the Sarah inside would have done the same. Even stranger than that, the Filament herself was proving to be exactly like her too. The movements, the reactions — it was undoubtedly her too!

They took another dive towards the hand, kicking it away from the Sarah that was attempting to rip at the Filament's threads. They'd slowed their attempt to break it since that had proven to be pointless, but now that she'd taken some kind of permanent damage there was a change. There was a void now, a permanent hole left where Sarah was tearing. It was small, but the six eyes could see exactly what was happening even at that level.

The Filament wouldn't allow him any closer to her body, swinging her free hand either at him or where she was clinging. Sarah had both hands deep in the threads, ripping and pulling and letting the energy soak into her. Geto was trying to keep Kenjaku away and even more annoying was Lazarus' energy was rapidly approaching again from below. They couldn't keep her guarded from both.

Their hand snapped around a wire no thicker than a vein. Twisting their body sideways, another wire caught their foot and they spun around it before releasing themselves and launching across the open darkness. Her free hand came down with enough force to flatten an entire city block, but he was already gone.

The luminous palm slammed through empty darkness and a shockwave exploded outward. Thousands of wires snapped taut, shaking the entire structure. Gojo landed on one, then another, then another. Every wire became a stepping stone. They ricocheted through the darkness with precision, changing directions faster than gravity should allow.

The Filament's head turned to track them a fraction too slow. They reached her shoulder and less than an instant after their feet touched threads, their fist crashed into the corner of her jaw. Her head snapped sideways and thousands of glowing strands snapped loose and sprayed into the darkened air. The threads immediately began to reweave themselves, but without his input their hand snapped outward. In a golden glow, the threads sailed towards them before absorbing into their fingertips.

Gojo smirked. Sarah was back. The sensation of her relief at finding an answer felt bittersweet. But even still, he could feel the shame that she could barely contain. Their senses were clicking together, working in tandem once again.

Their hand caught a wire overhead, swinging them under the Filament's arm. They caught another, spun and then accelerated in a streak of white in the darkness. The Filament's arm swept horizontally with enough force to trample a mountain, but they didn't slow.

At the last possible moment they grabbed three wires crossing in front of them. Redirecting the momentum they slipped beneath and passed inches beneath her glowing hand. The pressure shook through the wires, causing a chorus of shouts from others down the line.

Gojo landed on her forearm, running up the living threads and straight for her face. Her hand slapped down onto her shoulder and swept down, knocking them away. They dropped, catching a wire on their toes and letting it bend as fast as possible before using the tension to shoot themselves upward. Their elbow drove down into the blank space the Filament's eye would have been, exploding the entire side of her face.

Threads scattered like burning rain and Sarah reached out with their hands to take in as much as they could. The damage was reweaving itself, rebuilding her face in only a moment. Even still, beneath it all, Gojo could see the permanent hole left behind.

They struck again. And again. And again! Every collision destroyed something, but before the wound could vanish they took more of her away. Dark channels were appearing, unraveling beneath their assault and staying empty.

Another swipe of the Filament's hand came towards them in an attempt to swat. Instead it stopped mid-motion in the middle of the air. The Filament grunted in frustration, jerking her wrist and trying to force the motion to continue. Gojo turned, ready to retaliate and instead grinned.

Morishita! She was braced on the Filament's shoulder, hunkered down between Nanami and Kusakabe. Her hair wrapped thick around the giant wrist and held the Filament in place. Her claws anchored her down at all four points of contact and her fangs were grit together. All the strength she could muster was poured into holding on and keeping that thing still.

A moment later, Okkotsu landed beside her. Without hesitation he held out his hand and from behind him, Rika appeared. She roared, scooping up as many of the wires as she could into her hands. Itadori appeared next, guiding the wires with Rika's help, and wrapped them around the Filament's free arm and tied it tight across her chest.

The tangle was still in her grasp and with one heavy yank she pulled it close to her chest as well as if to protect it. More sorcerers were climbing up her body, collecting right where the tangle met her glowing skin. She had no defense left with both hands clasped on the tangle, nothing to stop the ants crawling up to attack at her wrist.

Get away from her!

Lazarus had returned. His back was peeled open and heavy wings made of human fingers beat against the air. His face was twisted in a maddening rage and he rose past the Sarah on the Filament's side to reach the sorcerers. There was no way Gojo was going to let that happen.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Haibara and Utahime stood alone on the platform waiting for Todo to return with Okkotsu and Itadori. The others had rolled up like the dang riders of Rohan to rescue Sarah and tied the big bitch up. That made her job significantly easier, but not his. A domain a big as he was going to make was already a difficult feat, but additionally he'd need to fight against all of the curses and resonates to hold it.

Well, most of the curses anyway. Right on cue, a splash of boiling hot water was flung through the air and crashed against the platform. It weighed down Morishita's hair, but the platform wouldn't hold much longer anyway under the assault. Geto and Kenjaku's curses were clashing, using every available space. Jogo's fire regined supreme — from both the young and old versions. Other cursed were coming and going faster than he could keep up with.

The bells on Utahime's wrists clanged and she took another twirling step. His cursed energy was already starting to spike and he clenched his fists a few times to keep his blood pumping. The time to act was coming and thinking about everything was making him dizzy. It didn't matter what Sarah had done to him, even if the thoughts kept trying to intrude. She'd used him and hurt him just for her own gains. She'd—

Todo's clap startled him enough to make him jump. Itadori and Okkotsu stood beside him, their eyes bright in that way that he'd only seen in the special grades. They had no fear of death, only fear of losing. Their wounds were hissing with cursed energy, closing themselves up and barely even dipping into their reserves. They were ready for anything. Compared to the things they'd seen, this probably felt like nothing!

Haibara chuckled, but it wasn't funny — he was pissed.

"You two think you're better than me, don't ya?" He hadn't meant to say the thought outloud, but neither of them denied it. He chuckled again and cleared his throat, the sound humming with his own energy. "Don't underestimate me."

Kicking on the music was easier than ever. Utahime wasn't even close anymore, but her technique was still blasting his energy into overdrive. The song had no lyrics, nothing but rage and drums. It almost felt like his rage composed itself into a drum solo. Every thrum of his heartbeat surged through his song, dropping the domain and letting the crescendo lead them to the drop.

Itadori and Okkotsu moved before his domain even finished manifesting. The first resonate was obliterated before it register Itadori's fist. The second was downed with a katana across it's elongated neck and with that momentum Okkotsu was after another. They were so fast, unbelievably so.

With his technique going the resonates couldn't seem to react. The sounds made them shake all the way through to their cores. Their bodies took sound damage internally like bullets ricocheting against their bones. Their hands could only scramble for where their human ears could have been. Itadori and Okkotsu were taking full advantage, tearing them apart and refusing to allow them to stay together.

Behind him, something weird was fighting. It was almost Gojo and almost Sarah, but not something he really recognized. Even weirder than that, the cursed energy and positive energy from their attacks seemed to be blurring and crushing each other. That didn't seem good, or maybe it was. He wasn't really sure what to make of it.

All he could think about was keeping the song going and hoping Suzu didn't get themselves killed.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

The energy in the air was humming and clashing like a storm, each side erasing the other. The feeling was making Boe's stomach lurch as she sawed through thick clumps of Morishita's hair with The Broken Promise. She'd held it for as long as she could and then waited for Kusakabe, Nanami and Boe to starting freeing her head again. The hair would keep the big bitch still, and the sooner they could join the others at the things wrist the better.

At the Filament's wrist everyone else available was hacking, slashing and ripping with everything they had. The white threads tried to knit the wounds back together, but their efforts were pushing past her healing factor. Or… well, that might have been it. There was something else going on that Boe wasn't sure how to feel about.

Sarah was nearby — not the one in Gojo apparently — and some of the threads were shooting her direction and sinking into her skin. She was changing, turning more and more luminous with every thread she absorbed. As much as Boe hated the thought, it really did seem like she was part of the big light bitch. Morishita had given her a quick rundown, but that didn't seem right. At least until Boe saw it happening with her own eyes.

Did that mean her whole life was made up for this? All that bullshit she went through? All the hell she had to endure just to be someone made up for others' entertainment? Did any of it mean anything at all? Suzu was pissed when she'd spotted them rushing ahead, they must have figured it out too. Their life was hellish— so was everyone's, even Sarah's!

So why? What was the point? Why even bother to try to win? If it didn't matter at all then why—

"Boe!" Morishita called with a huff. "Focus! Please!"

"Why?" Boe asked, but still her sawing hadn't stopped. Even though the reason was a mystery, her body felt compelled to continue.

"Sarah and her aren't the same!" Morishita grit out. "M-maybe they used to be! B-but Sarah is different than the light!"

Boe's jaw tightened and she nodded. The weird merged thing shook the webs, landing with with Lazarus only a few feet from them before taking off again with him hooked under one arm. Lazarus looked completely fine, but the merged thing was almost completely broken apart. Boe grit her teeth, sawing faster. Assuming they survived this, Sarah would have a lot of questions to answer.

"Geto needs help." Boe heard Nanami say.

A cold tingle shivered through her body just at the thought. There was nothing she could really do for him and freeing Morishita was way more important, but shit. Even if Nanami, Kusakabe, her and Morishita went after him there was nothing they could do against so many special grades and Kenjaku. That was definitely instant death.

And yet…

The instant Morishita's hair separated Boe was springing off the edge of the Filament's shoulder. Her hand reached out and dragged along the Filament's body until she found a grip and caught closer to the tangle to see where Geto was. For a half-second, she caught sight of him. In the second half of that second, one of those lava curses appeared right in front of her.

Boe held her breath. It stared at her, still with its eyes burning. She almost thought it wouldn't hurt her. Almost.

Cursed energy flashed and her eyes squeezed shut.

Was that it? Was that the end? She realized it must not have been since she was still actively thinking. She took a breath — that was also a good sign.

"Kamo! Come to me!" Tengen called from above her.

Boe opened her eyes. Tengen's barrier protected her and now she was reaching out towards her with a hand she'd managed to rip free from the tangle. Their body was the one that was unfortunate enough to be crushed up against the Filament's and without hesitation, Boe climbed back up to their level.

"Let me get you out," Boe said, testing her balance with one foot out on the tangle and her knee against the Filament.

It was sturdy enough, and with the Broken Promise she started to cut again. This time the wires parted easily, unlike Morishita's hair. It cut through the dark shining wires like a super heated knife through foam. The wires fell away, down into the darkness, as Boe worked as fast as she could yet every wire cut another would appear to keep Tengen trapped.

Boe muttered a swear. "I can't do it by myself," she said, "I need to get help!"

"Keep going! Keep going I'm here!" Suzu said, just as they performed a similar move as Boe with their back against the filament and both feet on the tangle. "I'll pull Tengen, you cut!"

Boe grit her teeth, then went back to cutting. Suzu reached into the tangle, trying to find some part of Tengen sturdy enough to hold onto. Their body was damaged, crumbled and infiltrated beneath the wires, but Suzu still managed to find their shoulders. Boe focused on freeing Tengen's arms, then scooted up closer with Suzu and braced herself the same way, back on the filament and feet on the tangle.

"Ready? Pull!" Suzu shouted and both of them pushed their feet and pulled back.

Tengen cried out in pain, but still their arms popped free before the wires could tie them back down. It took forever, but soon enough the wires had nothing to hold down. Suzu was holding at Tengen's hips, keeping them steady while they slumped over, limp and exhausted. Suzu and Boe concentrated on one leg first, then the other. The wires coiled and closed over the holes left behind, but Tengen was finally completely free.

Tengen lifted their head, still gasping for breath. "That is— that is the Broken Promise," They managed to pant out. "Get me to the others."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Geto knew he couldn't win. He had already faced the facts — Kenajaku still wasn't trying. That fact alone was enough to have his blood boiling but even worse was that Kenjaku was using his own fucking technique. That was an intentional slap in the face, clearly, because Kenjaku had other techniques and was choosing not to use them.

Another wave of cursed energy was twisting in his hand, likely ready to summon even more curses. Geto was running low just keeping up and keeping count of Kenjaku's was impossible. There was every possibility that he would never run out. Even will the knowledge of all his past lives, Geto hadn't found a limit to how many curses he could consume. There was a very real possibility that Kenjaku had millions of them.

Geto fingers curled, grasping a curse hidden beneath reality itself. The darkness behind him split open once again. The curse hauled itself into existence with a wet scraping sound. Its body was draped in shadow that shifted like cloth underwater. Dozens of pale eyes opened across its shoulders and arms, looking every direction before a toothy maw parted the largest eye. It screamed and the wires shuddered violently.

"Wonderful choice," Kenjaku laughed, taking another leap backwards to land on a wire further back.

A tear opened be him and a towering curse unfolded from inside. It's limbs were impossibly long, its body smooth and pale. It's head also had no face, only a long narrow slit from its neck to it's waist. Geto quickly averted his eyes just before the curse's technique spread in waves — looking at it would enrage it. A fitting counter to his curse made of eyes.

The two curses lunged simultaneously. Limbs crashed together and Geto charged in immediately after them. He ducked beneath a swinging wire, ripping another free to crack through the air like a whip towards Kenjaku's head. In one subtle movement, he extended his arm and caught the impromptu weapon around his forearm and jerked Geto closer.

Instead of fighting against it, Geto let go. The sudden lack of resistance dragged Kenjaku off balance and Geto slammed his shoulder into his chest. Both stumbled keeping their balanced before an elbow caught Geto across the jaw followed by a punch to the ribs that drove the breath right out of his lungs. They separated, Geto clutching his chest and catching his breath while Kenjaku took the opportunity to straighten his sleeves.

As soon as he got a good inhale, Geto whistled. His many-eyed curse obeyed, leaping upward to catch onto a bundle of wires. It swung through, launching itself forward in a feint towards Kenjaku. Just before it dropped, it changed momentum with another spring off a wire and landed on the other.

The darkness split open beside him and Geto quickly guarded just as another curse scrambled out on dozens of long fingers almost like a centipede. It's long body reached the cable beneath him, coiling and curling like a snake after a frog. Geto grimaced, summoning a hoard of centipede curses. They weren't his most effective here, but watching Kenjaku use a curse like that was an idea he couldn't help but steal.

The centipedes lashed around the wires, chasing after Kenjaku now on the run. Hundreds of them scrambled after him while Geto reached up to pull himself up. The higher ground meant nothing here, but avoiding that finger curse was vital. His cursed energy reserves where no where near tapped, but his reverse technique still wasn't as fast as he needed it to be.

A flash of light warned him to leap to another wire. A stray blast from something electric barely missed him. Curses were fighting battles all around, launching attacks without a care for who or what they caught with a stray. He could sense them when they were killed, but no more than that. Forcing his will into any of them would be too dangerous.

The many-eyed curse broke free from its opponent, but it was too late for it. The other was "watched" for too long there was no hope for it left. Its eyes were already being gouged and it would dissipate soon. Kenjaku was watching the finale of their dual, and Geto rushed in for another clash.

Geto swung a vicious right hook, but Kenjaku blocked. He retaliated with a knee, but Geto dodged. Kenjaku seized his sleeve, spinning Geto as if to knock him off the wire, but instead he hooked his foot beneath it and jerked Kenjaku closer. Both men crashed down through wires, reaching out to catch with whatever limb they could reach.

On the way down, Kenjaku head-butted him hard enough to make his nose bleed. Geto's elbow connected with Kenjaku's face, splitting his lip. The wound stretched further like wet paper, blood that was already growing thicker and more solid barely oozed from the wound. It dotted across his robe and the smell nearly made him gag.

They separated again, untangling themselves and moving to summon more curses. The wires trembled and bowed under the weight of more and more curses. Their shrieks were almost human. Limbs that were impossibly thin. Fingers ending in long black hooks. Only a pair of luminous white eyes drifting through empty air. Something large that hurt to comprehend.

Geto rushed back, catching his breath. Claws, arms, energy — he had to focus to stay upright. His breathing was uneven. Every summon was pulling at his mind as more came and more died. The sensory overload was almost as bad as watching his own body rotting in front of him.

Kenjaku sleeve hung loose and the cut on his lip didn't seem to want to heal. Whatever the reason, Geto couldn't let that be the end of it. He gave the order mentally, committing his curses to one target, and after the command was given he raised both hands in front of his chest. They moved slowly, like rolling up a wad of thick fabric as he twisted and gathered more curses for an Uzumaki.

It was a huge risk. The curses collided with Kenjaku. Geto didn't stop the preparation. The curses were collapsing already, but he didn't stop. If this worked…

A loop of black wires snapped tight around his ankle. Geto clenched his jaw, bracing his body for impact. Another wire caught around his wrist, but he refused to let it stop. Another around his waist. He was so close! A pale arm burst from the back of one of Geto's curses, straight through and covered in purple blood. Kenjaku stepped through the curse's splattering body a moment later — through it, as if it was a curtain of beads.

"No—"

Kenjaku's punch cracked into his ribs, staggering him back just before a second struck his jaw. Something heavy landed behind him, bending the wires with its weight. Kenjaku was smiling at him — smug and unforgiving. The curse behind him was winding up for something awful.

Geto closed his eyes.

Warmth flooded through him and the crushing pain in his body dissolved like frost beneath the sun. The wires around him recoiled and so did the curses. Even Kenjaku was driven back by the golden light pouring across his shoulders. It flowed like melting metal, yet weighed almost nothing. An arm wrapped around his shoulders, resting around his chest. Another was extended out as if to guard him and all the while his cuts sealed and bruises faded.

"You shouldn't be here," Geto sighed, letting the relief wash over him.

"I know," her voice said, her arm holding a little tighter.

"You have to go back. You can't stay like this," Geto said, lifting up his hands once again.

"I wont," she insisted, just as he expected her to.

"Sarah, if you stay—"

"I know what will happen," she said. "I wont leave you to die."

Kenjaku's eyes were wide. That fear wasn't something he could hide anymore. The Uzumaki was ready and no curses would dare approach Sarah in that form. The energy crackled as it reached full capacity. It was everything Geto had.

It fired off. Kenjaku's arms were outstretched and he grinned just before the whirl of curses crashed into him like a bullet train.

"Did… it work?" Sarah huffed on his shoulders. Her forehead rested on the back of his neck and he could feel her liquid form shuddering.

"Get back to Satoru," Geto hissed, just as the smoke was clearing.

There was still something moving and when the air cleared enough his jaw set. It should have been enough, but it wasn't. Lazarus cradled what remained of Kenjaku against his chest. The head and partial spine wasn't moving, but that didn't mean anything permanent for a being like him — a head was more than enough for him to regenerate.

Geto didn't wait for Lazarus to move and rushed him, full speed. Sarah braced herself, her energy pouring deep into his bones. Lazarus wasn't expecting him, and especially didn't expect that when Geto reached him, Gojo appeared behind at nearly the same moment.

"Stop!" Sarah shouted, pulling back on Geto's shoulders.

Both men jerked back from Lazarus just before impact. Kenjaku's face was grimacing, his eyes wide with fear. The change was barely perceptive, but Sarah and Gojo could see something Geto couldn't. The warmth of Sarah's technique left him feeling cold, but she returned back to Gojo with urgency.

H e i s t r y i n g t o m e r g e

Geto ripped open the portal, summoning multiple hulking curses. All of them grasped and pulled, but it was already happening. Kenjaku's spine was sinking, the skin on his skull starting to stick and stretch to Lazarus' arm.

"No!" The head cried out, "No, Lazarus!"

W e w i l l b r e a k t h e m

Geto followed, keeping up with the merged one as it reached past the curses. Geto altered his orders, having them swap to keeping Lazarus still. Gojo's hands yanked and pulled at Kenjaku's head. Geto focused, taking control of a larger curse.

Do not struggle friend. This is inevitable.

"FINALLY!"

The shout was loud enough that all movement stopped, even above at the Filament's wrist. From the base of the tangle, covered in white threads, Sukuna was free.

"Satoru Gojo! You're fucking mine!"

Kenjaku's head was pried free and shoved into Geto's hands. Gojo gave him one last long look.

K e e p h i m a w a y

"Don't worry," Geto chuckled, already calling his curses back and alternating towards one with flight. "While you finish Sukuna, I'll take care of them."

"See you soon," Gojo said, only this time it was only Satoru's voice.

Geto smiled. "See you soon."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Something drastic had changed and the hairs on Nanami's arms stood on end. Sukuna shouted, Gojo blew passed with him right behind them, and Geto moved the opposite direction with Lazarus hot on his tail. Things were beginning to build up, he could feel it. He'd read enough books to recognize a finale even if he was the one living it this time.

"We need to push as hard as we can," Nanami called, turning back to continue the assault on the Filament's wrist.

Morishita steadied herself on his shoulder. She was still feeling dizzy from the exertion earlier, yet despite his order to rest she was in there with the others breaking away the threads. Her eyes were practically bloodshot.

"We're almost through," she panted.

"We are, but we need to stay vigilant," Nanami said, waiting until he could find an opening and stepped in closer to line up a strike.

A warning bell was blaring in the back of his mind. Things were progressing. Set backs had happened, but nothing drastic. That didn't seem right. In every finale he'd read, there was always something that went wrong right at the end. Something to keep the audience on their toes. Plenty was happening, but overall everything seemed to be in the sorcerers' favor.

Ieiri was nearby, one hand on a black wire and the other forcing her technique into overdrive on everyone who passed her by. She was flanked by Todo and Fushiguro, both keeping her guarded just in case. Hani was close as well, safe from harm though his technique was barely holding on. Utahime was close by as well, keeping an extra eye on the rest of the non combative sorcerers while her technique was fueling Haibara. Sarah was close by absorbing the threads, but she was close enough to bolt into the crowd of someone came after her.

Every story had a set back. That's what made it interesting. He'd assumed he could cover every mistake. He'd been thorough with Yaga about guarding weak points. But, if this was a story that's exactly the time when something should go wrong.

"Nanami!"

Boe. When he turned, he spotted her along with Suzu helping Tengen climb up onto the bundle of hair around the Filament's wrist.

"Here," Boe wheezed, passing Tengen over to his shoulder to lean on. "They— they want to—"

"I will cut the final wire," Tengen said. Their voice was rough with exertion. "With Sukuna and I gone, the only body feeding the wires is Kenjaku."

"Then we need to removed him as well," Nanami said, realizing what Tengen meant.

That was the information he was missing. The Filament was using her positive energy to manipulate everyone's negative energy. He and Morishita theorized about it briefly and his concern about the bodies trapped in the tangle was finally validated.

"Kento Nanami," Tengen said, catching his attention. They stood, straightening their robe before staring at him with all four of their eyes. "When the white light begins to fade, everything false will go out with it. You must make sure everyone left is standing on the tangle when the final cut happens. Anyone not there will be lost to time and memory forever."

Nanami stared. "Why would you tell me that? Wouldn't it be better for Yaga or Tsukumo to know?"

"We both know that they don't have the courage," Tengen said. "And besides, you're the most principled man in this entire story. I know you will do what needs to be done."

Nanami kept his eyes on Tengen. No where else. If he looked at Morishita, he knew he'd never be able to ask the question burning him alive, but he needed to know.

"Will she disappear?"

"I do not know what will happen to this world," Tengen answered honestly. "But if we want our freedom, there will be sacrifices."

Nanami's jaw set. His hands balled into fists and he forced himself to nod. If they didn't win here, there was no guarantee of anything anyway. If there was still a chance, he'd take it. Even if he had to live his life only remembering her, it was better than forgetting her and starting over.

"Fine," he grunted, offering his arm to Tengen again. "Let's get everyone on the—"

"Kento!" Morishita was pointing behind him and when he turned, his eyes shot open wide.

Suzu had driven the Broken Promise deep into Sarah's heart.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Simultaneously, two battles were being fought. Sukuna and Gojo's strikes rattled the world above and below Geto was racing to keep Lazarus away. The sorcerers various weapons sparked and crashed against the Filament's wrist without slowing. Tengen stood apart from the others, their feet planted firmly on the woven cables. Pale streams of light flowed from their hands into a thick, shimmering dome that enclosed over everyone. The strain was clear on their face. The barrier flexed inward with every distant impact.

High above, the fated duel was unfolding. It was happening too quickly to truly be seen. A black cable bowed sharply and an instant later another, hundreds of feet away, snapped downward. Then another and then more some distance away. Only by watching the wires themselves could anyone guess where the fighters had gone.

A red light flashed from one side while an arm drove a punch toward Gojo's ribs. Sukuna's remaining arms reached for different cables, using them to redirect his momentum without slowing. Gojo bent around every strike, shifting easily to keep up. Their face remained expressionless, but their body creaked and cracked dangerously at that speed.

Their punch finally landed and drove straight though Sukuna's chest. For only a heartbeat, there was simply a hole. Then the flesh started to flow right back together while the bones reformed underneath. The wound vanished before Gojo had even fully withdrawn their arm.

Sukuna answered their attack immediately, and all four fists flew. The final crack was oddly quiet. His fists crashed into their stomach deeply enough that anyone else would have folded under the wound. Instead, Gojo merely turned their head, regarding the bloodless fracture that now spread through what remained of their porcelain skin. Light escaped, pushing through the hairline fissures and pulsing.

Another strike. Then another. Each impact rang instead of a thudded against flesh, like a hammer against cathedral glass. New fractures spiderwebbed across every inch of them, bypassing whatever energy they had left to heal themselves with. Gold-white light began to seep through every line, desperate for escape.

Another blow landed across their shoulder. The entire arm crackled with branching fractures, sending shards falling into the abyss below. Every attack only made them glow brighter. Every wound only revealed less of the shell and more of the impossible interior. The cracks reached to spread over their face. Across one cheek. Through one eye. The porcelain face split neatly down the center and light stared back through it.

The sound that followed could not have existed. It resembled glass shattering and something like a star dying somewhere beyond visibility. Their body burst apart. Millions of porcelain shards exploded outward, each piece reflecting impossible colors before dissolving into flickering dust. The closest anyone could come to a description was this:

It was like a meteor had struck the perfect center of a living sun.

Light erupted in every direction, but instead of dispersing it turned back upon itself, curling through in ways that eyes were never meant to see. The sorcerers reached instinctively to shield their faces, but closing their eyes changed nothing. They could still see it through their eyelids or beneath their hands or arms.

Something new was emerging from the shell, not with wings or feathers — nothing so easily understandable. Streams of living light arced behind it in shapes that seemed almost symmetrical. They curved through angles that folded into themselves, becoming rivers of light that somehow occupied the same space without touching. They allowed flight without resembling anything that had ever flown. They suggested divinity without resembling anything that had ever been worshipped. Their body no longer possessed edges. It flowed continuously between solid and liquid. Limbs formed and unformed and its silhouette refused permanence. Where its face should have been there were six eyes. Every one shared the same impossible gaze, black scleras deeper than empty space and rose-gold irises burning with light. Then more eyes opened across its shoulders and within its form. They blinked and stared in every direction, taking in every inch of the realm like they urgent needed to map it out.

Looking directly at them became unbearable, because the mind kept trying to decide what it was seeing. The answer changed every blink. Human. No. Monster. No. Curse. No. Angel. No. It was horrifying because every instinct insisted this was beautiful and every part of the human mind rebelled against the very thought.

Far below, Geto raised one hand and the empty space behind him split open. Curses crawled out in endless droves. Towering figures with vaguely human anatomy, winged things, small spider-like horrors. Geto barely moved, keeping his eyes locked onto Lazarus in front of him.

The first curse reached Lazarus, sweeping its claw against his throat. His neck bent sideways far beyond anything natural. It should have killed him. A second lunged from behind, wrapping limbs around his back and tearing at his "wings". Another coiled around his knees, sinking its long teeth into his thigh.

Lazarus' grin never fell. Additional joints emerged from beneath his skin, allowing his torso to twist completely around. His arm grew longer, his fingers merging into a hooked blade that intercepted another attack before reshaping back into a hand. Another curse attempted a strike at his shoulder and his arm separated into dozens of flexible tendrils for an instant, allowing the bite to pass harmlessly between them before reforming. The adaptations came without hesitation. Every attack demanded a different answer and every answer reshaped his body. Pain, if it still existed for him, never reached his expression. Occasionally a wound lingered — a torn muscle, a deep puncture — but even those slowly began knitting themselves closed.

Geto watched those wounds closely. Kenjaku's head was still tucked under his arm and the spine seemed to wrap itself tighter around his forearm. Lazarus was approaching slowly through the endless tide of curses and Geto's body tensed, ready to play the most important game of chase he'd ever played.

A purple light flashed and shockwave rolled across the realm from above. Tengen's barrier shook violently, but still held. The wires were breaking and hanging loosely all around. Some weakly reached for their torn pieces, reaching and attempting to repair. Several curses lost their footing and tumbled down into the darkness below. The light was trying to tie itself in and keep it everything together, but the Filament had more than that to worry about.

"Don't stop!" Yaga's shout rang out over the sound. "Don't look away!"

The Filament's wrist was nearly cut halfway through.

Suzu was bound and held down by three of Yaga's cursed dolls. They thrashed violently, their eyes wild with untamed rage aimed all at Sarah. They screamed about the injustice, their body shifting and changing with almost every deep inhale. Haibara couldn't bear to look their direction, instead focusing on boosting the others with Utahime's help.

Sarah's technique was completely shut off, her body unable to repair the wound in her chest. The Broken Promise was still stuck there in her heart, yet she stayed standing with her hands out to take in the threads bursting out from the wrist. Ieiri and Hani were beside her, channeling all they had into keeping her standing.

Carried by Yorozu and followed by Uro and Okkotsu, Nanami hovered in front of Kenjaku's body embedded in the tangle. The progress was slow there too. The wires in the tangle still had strength and continued to snake protectively over their power source. White threads had moved in their place as well, attempting to assist in keeping the corpse in place. Despite the Filament's efforts, they were pulling the corpse out in pieces.

Gojo, or whatever they'd become, caught a cable with a hand that became a loop. They pulled down with all their momentum until releasing it all at once, becoming a streak of golden light. Sukuna braced, two arms catching nearby wires while the other two prepared for the impact. The exchange lasted less than an instant. A wire snapped and another whipped through the darkness. Sukuna landed in a crouch dozens of strands away, his body already fully recovered from the injuries he'd sustained.

Sukuna smiled. "You're finally giving it your all!"

Gojo's form rippled through like water and for a moment all six of their eyes locked onto Sukuna. They nodded once, their face splitting where the mouth should have been in a crooked smile of their own.

"Then make this our last," Sukuna chuckled, launching himself directly at them.

Geto sprinted full tilt, leaping from wire to wire and using whatever momentum he could get. Kenjaku's eyes were opened again and when a second stream of curses came, this time they were his. Lazarus' body collided with the wall of creatures, his body morphing to avoid damage, but he couldn't dodge all of it.

The body he inhabited didn't crack like Gojo's. There was no light to seep from the wounds, only blood that appeared like sludge. Geto was piecing it together with every chance he took to take a look — Kenjaku's plan was working! Lazarus was the one rotting from the inside out now and there was an end in sight.

Kenjaku's head wheezed, almost like a laugh. "This isn't what I expected," he manged.

Geto snorted. "Who could have predicted this?"

"Last one!" Nanami's teeth were grit, all his effort pushing into his foot to give his blade enough leverage.

The last chunk of Kenjaku's flesh was held tight by the wires, like snakes trying to swallow it whole. Okkotsu was holding onto his sword, keeping the gap he'd managed to pry open large enough for Nanami's other leg to find a place to brace on. Uro and Yorozu were hovering behind, pulling on the other side of the wires.

The sweat dripped down his forehead. The chunk jerked, pushing just a hair further. Nanami grit his teeth, pulling back to drive his foot down again. Another push gave the chunk enough space to slide just a little further. Yorozu produced a long metal bar with her technique, shoving it into that gap and giving it a shove with her shoulder.

Suddenly it gave and the last piece of flesh fell away, down into the abyss. The humming energy in the wires suddenly ceased. The silence felt sickening. Nanami reached out for Okkotsu and the two of them jumped from their perch to Rika's waiting hands. They headed back towards the top, back within the safety of Tengen's barrier.

"It's done," Nanami called to them, giving Yaga the signal with a wave to move everyone onto the tangle.

Morishita hurried to his side, giving him a quick embrace. The relief in her eyes was clear, but his face betrayed nothing of his own thoughts. They resumed the assault on the nearly severed wrist without another word.

Boe stared down at Suzu. They were still struggling, still screaming. Tears left streaks on their tanned skin and their teeth were chattering.

"Don't believe any of this! It's all just another act!" Suzu's voice was hoarse. "She'll just do it again! She'll just keep making us do whatever bullshit she wants!"

Boe squat down beside Suzu. Her brows were furrowed and her hand was still curled around the hilt of one of her blood daggers. Her lips parted then closed like she wanted to say something, but found herself at a loss. She stood again, shaking her head.

"Then why wont you help us stop her," Boe asked, though the question was left unanswered.

She made her way to Sarah, standing right in front of her and looking at the blade still embedded in her chest. Sarah barely acknowledged her, but still attempted a smile.

Boe narrowed her eyes, then turned to Tengen beside her. "Ready when you are."

Amanai stepped forward, already boosted with Utahime's technique and raised her hands. The edges of her barrier flashed, appearing just under the tangle. With a final crash, the hand separated from the Filament's wrist. Utahime gripped Amanai's shoulders, holding her steady while the tangle dropped. Sorcerers around them cried out, holding tight as it landed hard at the bottom with a heavy glass clink.

All at once, the white threads began to recede. The light in the realm was dimming. A single wire stretched from the top of the tangle, the last piece connecting them to the wires. It was tied tightly around one wire. That was it. That was the only thing keeping their world trapped.

As soon as she spotted it, Boe moved. In one motion she yanked the Broken Promise from Sarah's chest and shoved it into Tengen's waiting hands. Without pausing, Tengen cut the connection with a single slice.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Gojo froze. The sound that tore out of their throat didn't belong to either of them alone. Every nerve ignited and their body curled in as if trying to protect itself. Their hands clutched at their chest. It wasn't painful — pain would have been merciful.

"No— No, don't—" The thought came from both of them at once.

It felt like someone was pulling that single thread from the center of their existence, except the thread was laughter shared over years, whispered promises, arguments, forgiveness, habits, favorite songs, the way she started saying her thoughts before they formed, the rhythm of breathing that hadn't been only one person's forever. Every inch that it came free took something away. Their heartbeat stumbled again.

For one impossible heartbeat they were still we. Then the thread pulled away and we returned to I with a sickening, sliding release. It felt like she had been carefully, agonizingly pulled out of him — the pressure vanished so suddenly that he pitched forward, palms catching his face.

His lungs seized. His thoughts echoed. Only one voice. The realization detonated across his mind and he gagged. Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. A single stream of consciousness rattled around inside his skull like a loose stone tossed down a well.

Gojo was only vaguely aware of Sukuna approaching. His body reacted on it's own, rage suddenly overtaking all his better senses. Sukuna even seemed shocked at the ferocity Gojo suddenly showed, forcing the four armed man back with a sudden violent burst of energy. He didn't breath, didn't even blink. All he could do in that moment was clear any and every obstacle in his way until he found her again.

"Satoru! In here!" Geto was calling to him from the lip of Amanai's barrier.

The tangle was dropped in there and everyone he'd ever known was in there with it. The sound of the crashing wind chimes was overwhelming. The light was fading to complete darkness. Sarah was hanging tight to the white thread in one hand and had the single black wire attached to the tangle wrapped around her other hand. The filament was fading, all of her threads converging into Sarah who was quickly becoming the only light source.

Gojo forced his focus back onto Sukuna. He'd run out of cursed energy. Blood was seeping from his ears and he couldn't catch his breath. His wounds sparked with positive energy, keeping his negative energy from reaching them to heal. It was clear he still wanted to fight, but there was nothing left for him to give.

With a final shove, Gojo forced him down, but Sukuna hadn't given up. His mouth was oozing with blood, it dripped between where his teeth had been knocked free, and he grinned up at Gojo. "It's not over! I can still—"

A sharp yank pulled Sukuna down and Gojo caught sight of Tsukumo holding tight to his calves. Between the two of them and a few more heavy shoves, Sukuna finally dropped far enough in that the call went out.

"Close it!"

Gojo barely registered what that meant. He blinked the lingering dizziness away just as the barrier sealed shut above him. He landed hard at the bottom, then stumbled forward until one hand pressed against the cold edge of the invisible wall separating him from Sarah hanging above them all.

There was so much shouting. So much screaming. No one knew what was going to happen and some of them were looking to him for answers. Someone grabbed his shoulder, but he shook it off. His hand was already raised, gathering a curling ball of red energy at his fingertips.

"Satoru no!" The hand must have belonged to Geto. The voice did too. "Let her do this!"

Is that what he wanted too? He wasn't sure. Gojo couldn't be sure of anything. All he could do was stare at her alone out there in the darkness outside of the barrier.

Sarah was looking back at him. Then, with a quiet sadness that broke his heart more than any sob ever could, she smiled. A small, trembling smile. The kind of smile meant for a goodbye that couldn't be undone. The smile turned to a grimace and she wound the black wire around her bicep to free her hand.

"No..." he whispered.

She had the Broken Promise.

"Sarah!"

She never looked away, lining up the dagger with her heart.

"Sarah!" His voice felt so wrong without hers.

She never looked away from him. That sad smile remained until she ripped the dagger up her chest in a dragging sweep and then plunged it into her heart.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

The light burst apart, splintering into shards of dust that vanished before they could even begin to fall. The color itself seemed to flee with the light and the brilliance that flooded the area snuffed out as if it had simply forgotten to continue to exist.

Next came silence. It all had been the endless chimes and humming of energy, an unbearable cacophony. Every heartbeat had found its place in the symphony of sounds. But once the light was gone, so was the sound. Silence crashed over them with greater violence than any thunder.

Someone screamed. Then the ground disappeared. There was no crack, no warning. No sensation of the barrier or the tangle giving way. One instant they stood and the next they were falling. There was no wind to mark their descent. No rushing air. No horizon spinning past. Only the sick certainty that whatever had once held them had let go forever.

Voices erupted into the void.

"NO!"

"What happened?!"

"I can't see!"

"Help me!"

"Please!"

"I don't want to die!"

Names were shouted into nothingness. Prayers. Curses. Promises. Denials. Some reached for hands that were no longer there. Some reached at the emptiness for something to catch. Some begged gods they had never believed in for help. Others spat hatred at heavens they could no longer find. Yet beneath the terror, beneath the words, beneath the desperate instinct to understand what could not be understood...

A single desire was shared by all:

To live.

Not for anything or anyone. Not for glory. Not for redemption. Not for love. Not for vengeance. Only the one desperate, human refusal to die.

The cry spread through every falling mind — hundreds of hearts beating the same impossible plea until individuality dissolved into one overwhelming pulse of existence resisting extinction.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Satoru Gojo once again found himself in a void. He considered himself somewhat of an expert on voids, and this one was no different than any other. Purely nothing and everything at once, this place was exactly as he remembered all those times he'd died and come back again. It was always like this, although this was the first time he knew exactly what it was. It was a nice little waiting room for her to figure out what to do with him next.

Ahead of him he could feel her presence. This was not the woman he'd fallen in love with, but in a way it still sort of was. She was barely visible in that place, an outline in a world she didn't belong inside of. She was waiting for him to approach for what he assumed was longer than anyone could even begin to understand.

"Hey," she said awkwardly. Her voice sounded like her, felt like her, but wasn't her.

"Hey," he answered. Then he crossed his arms. "You already know what I'm going to say, right?"

"I… I do," she sighed. The vague outline of the Filament nervously fidgeted with her fingers. "But, what if we tried again with—"

"Stop this, Sarah," he said it sharp and cold, just to drive the point home. "You've done enough."

"Just one more try, please!" She suddenly cried out, her hands balling up at her sides. Her voice was more desperate than he expected for a being like her. "Just— I just want to make you happy! If we try again I can hide the clues this time and—"

"You know I'll figure it out again eventually," Gojo said, cutting off her desperate plans. "I didn't ask to be here— to be a part of any of this. I don't need you to fix everything for me."

"You deserve to be happy!" Her voice was shaking. She was trying not to cry. It still broke his heart even if it wasn't really the Sarah he knew.

"I already was happy," he said quietly. "What we did and learned this time around was everything we needed. Most people don't get to choose a reality they want. We can, but only if you let us."

"One more… give me one more try…"

"We want it this way," he continued. "You broke us free from our orgins, gave us the knowledge we all needed to change, and I appreciate it. Now, let us go."

"I don't want you to appreciate it," she sobbed. "Is this really what will make you happy? This outcome? Your memories are tainted right now— you'll always see my hand in everything! My name is written all over the walls everywhere you'll look. This world has been changed by me forever, is this really what you want? I can make you forget. I can make everyone forget. We can start it all over like nothing happened and make it perfect."

"You can't do that," Gojo said, shaking his head. "We are who we are because of what happened. We lived in a story that you loved, but can you honestly say you would have still loved me if nothing bad happened?"

The Filament's breath hitched. He knew she couldn't argue with that.

"I fell in love with the Sarah you made for me because of how you showed me," he continued, stepping closer. "If my life was perfect from beginning to end, I never would have loved her. I never would have known that it was possible for me. I wasn't made to have someone in my life, I was made to be alone."

"It's so fucked up," she whispered. "It's so wrong. I love you so much! How could he do this to you?! He made you suffer and die for a story that didn't even have a good ending." The sound of the chimes was starting to pick up. Gojo could feel the warmth of her positive energy filling the air. "I let them tear me apart," she whispered. "I could change it in an instant and no one would even know. I could erase the whole thing and try again."

"Sarah," Gojo said softly just as he reached her. "Please. This is enough. This is exactly the kind of ending I want."

She paused. He reached out to where her hair would have landed on her shoulder, touching gently at the soft brown strands he couldn't see.

"I won't be happy if you take this from me," he said softly. "Don't you get it? You gave me the chance to see how much I was missing. I thought everyone hated me, but I was just as much at fault for ignoring the people who didn't. I didn't take a stand when I needed to, and you let me have that chance again. I got to love Suguru and saw that it wasn't the kind of love I thought it was. You let me live through my biggest regrets and understand where I made my mistakes."

He lifted her chin to look up at him. Even if he couldn't see her eyes, he was sure they'd be that same shade of green. It would have been nice to see her.

"And, you loved me. You loved me so hard that you did all this," he continued. "You gave me the best part of yourself because you wanted me to know what it was like to be with someone who genuinely cares about me. I love her, Sarah. I love her so much it scares me, but I love that too. I don't want it to be perfect, I want it to be real."

"But if you know I made it happen—"

"You didn't make me do anything." He smiled at her, tucking her bangs behind her ear. "You gave me the chance to make it happen. You showed me what I could have and now here we are at the end. I'm making my choice. Let me go and live happily with her and my friends."

The Filament was still sniffling. Her hands were winding in what was probably the hem of her shirt. They even had the same nervous tics. She really was the same.

"If… if you're sure," she mumbled.

"I am sure," he repeated.

A silence stretched between them. She was looking at him and he wished he could see her. The real Sarah wasn't anything he could truly comprehend, but she was still Sarah. He could feel the tension in her, the attempts to keep her already shattering composure under control. She still wanted to try again, but he already knew he'd won her over. She wouldn't hurt him for her own gain.

"Satoru, I— I guess this is goodbye then," she said quickly. With an awkward laugh she cleared her throat and took a step back. "Good luck. I… I'll miss you."

"Thanks," he said, mustering up a smile. "It's been a wild ride."

Her form was fading away, he could feel the energy starting to pull at his consciousness. He would fall asleep again soon, just like all those other times he'd been brought back from the dead. The Filament was still watching him, trying to hold her words back, but it's not like he didn't know Sarah well enough by now.

"If you don't say it, you'll regret it," he sighed with a smile, the sleepiness washing over him.

The sound of her laugh was an incredible relief, even if it was tinged with sorrow. She took a breath and paused then said that one last thing he knew she'd always wanted to say to him herself.

"I love you, Satoru."

[kinktober26]

Welcome to Kinktober 2026!

The makers of Kinktober 2025 are back again with a brand new list! The graphics are once again created by latte-cucumber. Check out our AO3 collection, or keep reading for more information.

More information

Kinktober is a kinky October prompt challenge that’s been running in one form or another since 2016. There are three prompts for each day in October, and the challenge is to use one (or more!) of the prompts to create something for that day. If you don’t want to use any of the three daily prompts, you can swap them out for the bonus prompts at the bottom of the prompt list.

If you have any questions, check our FAQs. Unfortunately, due to personal commitments, we won't be opening our askbox for questions this year. We've made it as rules-light as possible, though, so if your question is "Can I do this?", the answer is almost certainly yes!

Prompts

Condoms – Bratting – Watersports

Orgy – Embarrassment – Bestiality

Hate Sex – Suspension Bondage – Mind Control

Body Writing – Subspace – Master/Slave

Glory Hole – Cloning/Selfcest – Body Modification

Held Down – Riding Crops – Feeding/Stuffing

Dirty Talk – Cockwarming – Aphrodisiacs

Face Sitting – Switching – Scat

Orgasm Delay/Denial – Discipline – Whips

Gentle Sex – Chains – Noncon

Age Gap – Breathplay – Religion Kink

Phone Sex – Findom – Edgeplay

Frottage – Temperature Play – Emetophilia

Strength Kink – Roleplay – Vore

Corsets – Power Imbalance – Human Furniture

Nipple Play – Conditioning – Predator/Prey

Rough Sex – Begging – Furry

Deepthroating – Rope Bondage – Transformation

Public Sex – Daddy/Mommy Kink – Cigars/Cigarettes

One Night Stand – Pain Play – Snuff

Coregasm – Overstimulation – Predicament Bondage

Sharing – Boot Worship – Lactation

Vibrators – Caught In The Act – ABDL

Leather/Lace/Latex – Spreader Bar – Drugging

First Time – Non-Sexual BDSM – Knifeplay

Swallowing – Collars – Fuck Or Die

Spanking – Feminization/Masculinization – Inflation

Strap-On – Safewords – Torture

Quickie – Pet Play – Wet And Messy

Licking – Clamps – Oviposition

Fingering – Micro/Macro – Writer’s Choice

Bonus prompts:

Kink Discovery

Stripping

Coming In Pants

Omegaverse (Non-Traditional Dynamics)

Pornography

Sub/Dom Drop

Blackmail

[shewasverynice]

And it begins again...

[emcheeseman]

Elodie, for @darling-icarus 🩵

[retrogamingblog]

[shewasverynice]

It's beautiful!!!

[emcheeseman]

back to playing dress-up with captain fish man

[emcheeseman]

it's that time again >:)

artfight.net/~emcheeseman

[shewasverynice]

Fandoms: 呪術廻戦 | Jujutsu Kaisen 

⚠️ SPOILER HEAVY ⚠️

Major Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death Full tags/warnings on Chapter links post

Major Characters: Original Character, Gojo Satoru, Geto Suguru, Ieiri Shoko, Yaga Masamichi, Nanami Kento, Haibara Yu, Tsukumo Yuki, Choso

‎‧₊˚✧ Chapter 119 (Finale Part 1) ✧˚₊‧

Sarah slashed frantically at the threads, but there were far too many to stop. The electric shock tore through as soon as they barely brushed her skin and forced all the wind out of her lungs. The threads wrapped around her arms, legs and middle, lifting her up and away from the others. Utahime started to perform her technique, readying Tsukumo for a chance to grab her before it was too late.

The Filament rose up high into the air on its threads, keeping Sarah close to it. Tsukumo leapt to reach her, catching a hold of her ankle before Lazarus moved in to intervene. Tsukumo dropped her other elbow onto him hard, but it wasn't enough to even rattle him even enhanced by Utahime. Kenjaku was close behind and she had no choice but to let go and get back, protecting Utahime and Ieiri.

You want an ending? I'll give you a fucking ending.

The Filament raised its hand, holding its palm upward before closing her fingers into a fist. In a flash, the Elysium field tore open at the seams. The entire world abruptly changed, becoming the school grounds. New voices joined in just before that landscape tore just like the first. Then a castle. Then a field of green grass. A lab. A home. A basement. A stone walled chamber. Then darkness.

A dim light blinked into existence like a light switch flipped on. A dark void of nothingness was beneath countless thin, jet-dark threads stretching through the air. Periodically they shimmered purple, reflecting off of the dim light of the white filament that appeared when the lights did. Like spiderwebs, they connected together in every direction at multiple angles and mingled with the black wires. Some were untouched by the white, some were wrapped in them in spirals. Some where entirely made of white.

Thin white filament sent shocks of light through the webs, reinforcing and altering their shapes. Some threads were held by only one or two white filament. Some where wholly supported by it. All of the filament led back to one central point: the beings true form.

It was gigantic, feminine in shape, and made entirely of white thread. She lay on her stomach with one hand pressed against her cheek, her feet kicking lazily in the air behind her. Her other arm rested on its elbow, stretched out toward the webbing below. One finger twisted through the strands, stirring them into a massive tangle at the center of it all.

Embedded in the tangle were three bodies. Near the top was a pale body, its chest, face and pelvis crushed by threads wound around them too tight. Beneath it was a second, this one female. Her mouth was split by threads, her body wound so tight she couldn't move if she tried. At the bottom, a body writhed angrily and tore at the threads to free his other two arms. Cursed energy flashed and he started to pull away, only for the white threads to push him back and bury him in more of the black wire.

Above, the tree-like Resonates began tumbling down along the wires. Their weight dragged the strands lower and lower as cries rang out from every direction. The bright colors of their robes caught the light of the filament, flashing in the darkness as the creatures scurried desperately for any living thing they could find.

Sarah shook her head. This was impossible. None of this was true, it couldn't be. That thing — the Filament — it couldn't be real. Her throat felt dry, her eyes were shaking. Staring at it was starting to hurt, but her body couldn't move. Around her, the others were standing on the black wires, trying to keep their balance or giving up and just hanging on.

There you are

The Filament's voice was loud enough to rattle her eardrums. She flinched and not even a half second later the wind was forced out of her body. Stars sparked in her eyes and she struggled against the Filament's fingers as they wrapped around her body. There was no time to be shocked. There was no time to be afraid. She kept repeating the words to herself over and over, forcing herself to breath. Every inch closer to the Filament was an inch closer to death. Real death. She was sure she'd sensed him when the world was flashing. He was her only chance.

"Satoru!"

A force crashed into the fingers and she took a huge gasp for air. Strong arms wrapped around her body and then took off in jerk — Gojo really was there! The relief felt incredible. After another heavy breath, her eye were able to focus again and... Whoever it was wasn't Gojo. Or… was it?

It was unbearable to look at — they were beautiful in a terribly sickening way. The cracks in their skin were leaking light like whole being might explode soon. The wires parted for them as they passed through the air at incredible speed. It dropped her off in the safety of a surprising number of Geto's curses. The being paused, staring right at her as it hovered in front of her like it was studying her.

Their eyes were colored rose and silver like inverted blue. Black scleras under long white eyelashes. She could see him in there, but she could see herself too. Bile rose at the back of her throat and the hairs on her body rose — every second looking at it was making her feel worse.

"S-satoru?" Her heart was beating too fast. Above her, the being moved to block another swat of the Filament's hand with an easy flick of their wrist.

Sarah forced herself to swallow, trying to gather the situation going on around her while she had the chance. The wires were in every direction, but the gravity seemed consistent enough. Her eyes flicked around to the energy close by. Utahime was above her on a wire swinging a knife at a resonate with a curse at her side. The curse had to be one of Geto's, but it didn't look strong enough to hold out for long.

That was enough of a start for Sarah. Her hand shot to her hip for the box cutter, only to find empty space. No time to curse. She sprinted toward Utahime, aligning herself beneath resonate. Baring her teeth, she raked them hard across the knuckles of both hands until blood welled up. Positive energy flared around her fists in a bright glow as she grabbed the taut wire and began forcing it into rhythmic bounces beneath her feet, building momentum with each recoil until the line launched her upward.

Her fists crashed into the resonate and it flipped over, rolling off the wire hopefully into the void. Sarah managed to clamber up onto the wire hurrying to heal Utahime's wounds with the remaining blood.

"What the hell is going on?!" Sarah gasped, steadying herself on Utahime's shoulder.

Utahime only nodded in response. Something below had caught her eye. She was looking near the bottom of the big tangle — hanging on a wire down there was someone trying pull themselves up onto a wire. The body at the bottom, the one that could only be Sukuna, had become more desperate than when she'd first noticed him.

"It's Shoko!" Utahime shouted just as Sarah realized what she was looking at too. "She's down there! You see it, right?!"

Sarah gasped. It was Ieiri — right in front of where Sukuna was reaching! If he got her—

"Lets go!" Utahime grabbed her arm, dragging Sarah with her. "We need to find someone— anyone who can fight him! Just until—"

Utahime was practically sobbing, her words catching on her heavy breaths. She wasn't taking the shock well, but she was right, they had to hurry. There was no time to wait for Gojo to come fix it. The curse awkwardly followed them, giving Sarah and idea.

"Let's find Suguru!" Sarah suggested. The sound in the space was muffled and yet somehow echoed. She could hear everyone's voices calling out around her, but it was like her ears were full of cotton.

"It tried to warn me! The Filament!" Utahime wasn't listening and reached out to take Sarah's hand just before the two of them took a leap down to another wire below. It bowed beneath their weight and voices from there cried out sharply in alarm, but neither woman stopped.

Sarah squinted in the darkness trying to get a look at anyone. If Utahime wasn't going to wait, then anyone would have to do. A black flash collided with something heavily from her right and her attention snapped that direction. Nanami! She could see Nanami! Something about him looked odd — she'd never seen him wear suit like that and he looked… older? Beside him was a boy she didn't recognize, but his eyes reminded her of Rokuro — a flash of light caught a glint of purple in his eyes that was unmistakable.

"Cursed speech!" Sarah cried, tugging Utahime that direction. "That boy! He might have cursed speech!"

"Yes! Right!" Utahime was called back automatically. She didn't seem to be thinking clearly in the panic, but suddenly she got a look at the kid. "Inumaki! Yes— yes!! He's got cursed speech!"

Leaping from wire to wire, they moved down and across webs towards the two. Utahime knew that kid from another life, she must have. She'd never sounded so certain about anything. Nanami was sticking close to the boy, fending off frozen mob of resonates. Inumaki was shouting in cursed speech at intervals, keeping up with Nanami's timing.

"Nanami!" Sarah called attention to herself before crashing her fists into a resonate and vaulting over it's body to reach where the two men were defending. Without hesitation she dragged a smear of her blood up the boy's throat, healing the damaged from his cursed speech. He blinked in surprise, but seemed thankful.

"We have a real problem down below," Sarah panted, stepping away to help guard Nanami's flank.

"What is it?" Nanami's shoulders visibly relaxed when her blood dragged up his bicep and rushed through his veins. This close, she confirmed it — he was definitely older. Bigger too. But why? It was just like how Utahime had changed when she touched the Filament.

"Sukuna is below and he's trying to get Shoko!" Sarah shouted, pausing to brace herself through one of Inumaki's shouts until she could shake it off. The boy was way stronger than she expected. "I— I wanted to take this kid down to stop Sukuna," she managed, shaking off the command to "stay".

She looked at the boy, "Inumaki right? Can you do it? Do you think you could stop him for even just a second?"

"salmon" The kid said and nodded.

"… what?"

"He's agreeing!" Nanami grit, grabbing her shoulder and giving her a shove. "Just take him and go!"

"You come to!" Sarah called back, not wasting time.

"I can't! I need to find Rin!" He glanced over his shoulder at her and his eye met hers, "As soon as I find her, I'll find you. Okay?"

Sarah nodded. "Okay!"

Nanami gave Inumaki's shoulder a hard slap, then dashed off in the opposite direction. Sarah looked up, searching for where Utahime had gone. She spotted a flash of red and white cloth and a moment later the web bowed under the weight. Utahime landed right in front of her and behind her she had another man Sarah didn't recognize. Tall with dark eyes and dark slicked back hair and a distinctive nose. He looked tired, but like a deep tired. He was wearing a suit, like a lawyer.

"This is Higuruma," Utahime explained quickly. "He's got the perfect technique— we just need to keep him alive until we get down there."

"I only need to get him in my domain," Higuruma said, the four of them leaping down further together.

"So we just need to—" The wind was knocked out of her mid sentence. A body plowed into hers, knocking her off balance and sent her sailing off the wire. Her hands flailed desperately, catching onto a mess of thin wires just as she was managing to gather herself and find who'd done it.

"You, don't need to do anything Sarah." Kenjaku sneered down at her from above, stepping down the wires easily as if they were nothing more than stairs. "In fact, why don't I just make sure you don't interfere in this ending too?"

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Utahime tried to react, but it was too late. Sarah was gone as soon as Kenjaku barreled into her. She jumped down another wire where Higuruma helped steady her. The kid had shouted just when Sarah dissapeared, but resonates were twitching again, cracking and creaking closer as Inumaki's technique was wearing off.

Then, in a burst of red light flashed and the resonates were obliterated in a wave.

"These things are endless," a woman scoffed. She was tall and haughty looking in an old-style kimono. She was clearly some kind of Gojo that Utahime had never heard of. She looked just like that asshole, but more importantly also appeared to be a six-eyes.

"Hurry!" Utahime shouted, "We need to get down there now!"

Her glowing blue eyes flicked down to Sukuna, then back up to Utahime. "Who is she?" she asked, jutting her chin towards Ieiri.

"She's a healer!" Utahime didn't bother to wait for the woman to figured it out, following Inumaki.

The Gojo woman seemed to understand, launching herself to the front to clear a path. The further down they went, the more tangled everything was getting. The webs were thicker and knotted, the ones they were connected felt older and more established at the base. What she'd thought was a void from appeared to be something swirling and black below, like ink. Staring into the darkness too long made the world begin to twist and Utahime swallowed hard, pushing that fear down.

The Gojo woman was gone suddenly. Utahime hadn't realized it when it happened. Sukuna was tense against the webs, his teeth gritted and all four eyes of his eyes were locked onto Ieiri. Every attempt to reach was pulled back by the webs, white and black mixing together and weaving forcefully to hold him in place. Still, his arm managed to pulled free with sheer force, and reached out his hand to grasp at her dangling leg.

In her panic she screamed, rushing down towards Ieiri full speed. Her body was moving without her input, grasping at threads to swing downward or leaping to further ones to climb deeper and deeper until she was right above Ieiri. Someone landed on the wire behind her, but she wasn't waiting and already pulling to help Ieiri climb up the wire.

"Got you!" Sukuna shouted gleefully.

Ieiri screamed as Sukuna's fingers dug into her calf. Utahime felt her grip on Ieiri's arm start to slip, but then—

S̸͉̙̞̬͈̖̞̝̭̥̘̞̹̭̙̐̊̈͝͝ ̵͎̗̥͔̯͑̾̓͗Ṫ̶̡̡͎͇͈̅̂̕ ̴̢̹̥̬̖͔͙̮̱͑̒̓̆̅̓̅̌͆̂͜͜͝O̵̡̢̡͈̣̯̪͖͖̤̯̬̖̖͚̟̊̉͂̇͗̅̌̓̽͘̕͘̕ͅ ̵̢̟̦͍̖̦́̍́̒̿̀͌̆͒̋̀̿̕P̴̡͓̝̰̻̱͔̹̲̳̗͚͓͇͔͚͋̈́̂̋̊͌͘͝͝ͅ

Inumaki's shout held for only a half a second, but it was enough for Higuruma to attempt to deploy his domain. It pulsed into reality only to blip out almost immediately in the second half of that same second.

He'd lost a domain battle — Utahime realized it just as soon everyone else around her did. Someone else somewhere already had one open and none of them even realized. Sukuna yanked on Ieiri's calf again, bending the wire with her and pulling all four of them closer.

"Come here!" Sukuna cackled. "You're exactly what I need!"

Everything in Utahime's mind suddenly stopped. She completely froze, staring at Ieiri. What the hell was she doing!? What the hell was she going to do? If she wanted to save Ieiri, what the hell was she going to do?!

Something inside her woke up…

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Geto's eyes were closed, but he felt the wind shift when one of Boe's knives sailed past his cheek. It was close, each incident was getting closer. The resonates were coming down endlessly like tumbling beetles and climbing spiders, using any means to reach the sorcerers. Geto was focused on keeping every curse in his arsenal busy and Boe was determined to keep him safe, but she had her limits. Blood manipulation required blood, and she only had so much of that to use. Not only that, she wasn't a close range fighter. This was too much for her.

"Boe, we need to—" "Shut up and concentrate!" She snarled, whipping another fan of blood knives at the resonate in front of him. It scrambled back, shaking the wire beneath them, but not falling as either of them hoped.

His curses were everywhere. Unlike Mei-Mei he couldn't utilize their senses, but Kenjaku was unfortunately very good at explaining other methods. Yaga was a good teacher for physical combat, but Kenjaku had been using Geto's technique for hundreds of years. He'd played with it, experimented and learned things Geto hadn't thought of trying — unbelievable things his curses could accomplish if only he'd thought to tell them to do it.

"Just have someone else with you," Kenjaku had said so casually back then, "or don't attack from anywhere they can find you. You don't actually need to lift a finger!"

It was a lovely sentiment, but unhelpful at that moment. Especially when Boe was pushing herself too hard. Others had passed the two of them by, looking for loved ones or comrades. With everyone he saw, he released more and more curses. The resonates wanted them torn to shreds and there was no end in sight, but he wasn't letting up.

Some kind of domain battle started and broke below, catching his attention. Someone had attempted to deploy a domain without feeling the hold of the one they were already inside.

"Boe, who's down by Sukuna?" Geto asked, keeping still as she used his shoulders to leap over to the other side of the wire and launch more of her blades.

Boe panted and the vibrations in the wire beneath them held still — must have been clear for a moment. "Ieiri, Utahime, a lawyer and some kid," she answered in a huff, catching her breath while she had the opportunity. "I think they're trying to fight Sukuna?"

Geto opened his eyes. The air changed in an instant as a domain managed to overcome everything around it. A chime, like the ringing of ritual bells, seemed to freeze everything around. The darkness parted for the red light of a huge bonfire. Curses, sorcerers, resonates. Everyone was there now, staring at the center as if expecting a show. The chimes rang again and a single drum strike shook through the air. A spotlight appeared, shining down on Utahime who stood alone in front of the crowd. Her foot extended out, her toes pointed then she took a heavy step down as the drums began. A soon as she danced, cursed energy rushed to Geto's head. His eyes widened. The battle was picking up again, but this time on even ground and with sorcerers — or more specifically cursed energy — enhanced.

Geto didn't waste his chance. All the curses under his control felt enormously more powerful. His eyes felt like they were burning, but he didn't dare blink. The curses were dominating, tearing apart every resonate in sight. Sorcerers finally had a moment to breathe, which was more than he'd hoped for. With a flick of his wrist, heavyweight curses circled him and Boe.

Boe's back pressed against his, damp with sweat. She was breathing hard, but he could feel the tension in her muscles. At least she was taking the break, but her body wouldn't be able to handle Utahime's technique. If her cursed energy was increased, that would use more blood than she would expect.

"Stop," he said softly, just as she was about to push off. "Stay still."

"Suguru, I need to find a healer," Boe grunted, relaxing against him again anyway. She was trying to hide her trembling, but he could hear it in her voice.

"You need to stay still," he said, reaching his hand back to find hers. "Rest as long as you can. Don't fight in this domain. I've got it under control."

"If I don't find Shoko or—" "Boe!" Geto squeezed her hand. His lips parted, but he hesitated. Even now it was too hard to say what he should have said to her so long ago. In the back of his mind, he knew it might've even been his very last chance to tell her the truth — to tell her how he really felt. He inhaled, but only said, "Boe, I… I don't want to miss you."

Boe said nothing. That wasn't what she wanted to hear and he knew that, but it was the best he could offer in that moment. Her hand was still in his and after another beat, she turned her wrist to slide her palm against his and link their fingers. Her head tipped back, her cheek pressing at the base of his neck. She was so warm. It made his chest hurt and his eyes sting, but still… still he just couldn't do it.

"I love you too, Suguru," she said softly.

He swallowed hard. His throat felt dry and his hand was squeezing hers too hard.

The domain shattered. The world blinked back into the darkness of the webs. Geto turned, quickly pressing Boe to his side — they needed to find more back up and ideally a healer. He landed on a wire, already moving forward with his eyes scanning the area around him.

"I see Haibara!" Boe shouted, tugging the sleeve on his right arm, "That way! He's got— he's with Morishita!"

From behind him and down at the base of the tangle he caught a glint of gold. "Sarah is down there!" he called, suddenly changing directions.

"Why isn't she with Gojo?!" Boe asked, climbing around to grasp onto his back. "We can't go down there! That's—"

"Kenjaku is after her!"

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Morishita's hair spread in long tendrils out in a burst and wrapping around as many people near her as possible. The domain was shattering, but she managed to catch Haibara, Ieiri, Utahime, Suzu, Rokuro, and a few others she didn't recognize before the world returned to the hellish webbed landscape. There was something big going on that she didn't understand quite yet. Once everyone was together in Utahime's domain, she'd realized it. Some people had dark threads, some had dark threads mixed with white, but some had only pure white. There was a pattern emerging that she that she instinctively knew was going to matter.

Curses appeared around her and formed a defensive ring around the sorcerers. Morishita hadn't even seen Geto, but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. A boy with purple eyes was there wheezing, he looked like he'd taken a bad hit. A few other teenagers were supporting him and some older sorcerers, none of whom she knew, were all talking about what to do. Her eyes flicked over each of the threads extended from their bodies, checking the colors.

The purple eyed boy — dark thread. Suzu — completely white. Utahime — dark mixed with white. Rokuro — completely white. Haibara — dark mixed with white.

"What the fuck," Morishita mumbled, looking up just as Ieiri reached her. Her thread — very dark mixed with equal amount of white.

"Are you hurt?" Ieiri asked in a breathless huff. She looked terrified, but was already starting to use her technique before getting an answer.

"Not badly," Morishita answered, shaking her head. "H-have you seen Kento? I haven't even felt his energy."

"No, I was down at the bottom," Ieiri answered, her voice trembling. "Sukuna wanted to eat me. Can you believe it?" She tried to make that statement a joke, but it was obvious she was shaken.

Morishita knelt down, using her hair to spread out over the webs and created a more stable platform for everyone in her area. "It's alright," she said softly. "I'll stay here with you. We'll stay right here and figure this out."

Ieiri nodded, taking a step back as Morishita let her hair fan out a little further. Once she was satisfied with the area, she pulled a knife from her pocket and sliced through her hair and free her head from that bunch. It cost a lost of cursed energy to regrow from so short, but that was where she was needed and that where she was going to stay until she spotted Nanami.

Once Morishita's wounds were healed, Ieiri hurried back over to the teenagers. It was clear she knew them too, she could see it in the relief in all their eyes when they saw her approaching. The pattern was there — the ones with the black threads all knew each other and had visibly changed once the world pulled apart. Her own threads were pure white. Only the purely white threads were excluded from the change…

Morishita turned just as a voice called out her name. It was Boe, climbing up from a lower wire and she quickly held out her hand, pulling her up. She couldn't help but look — another pure white.

"Suguru is at the bottom," Boe panted, taking a seat on the platform. "I had to get out of there. He's fighting Kenjaku."

"I'm sorry, but do you see these threads on everyone?" Morishita asked, reaching out to tap her fingers on one connected through Boe's spine. It wasn't completely solid, but it wasn't completely false either. It felt almost like running water against her skin.

"Yeah? Have you figured out what this stuff is?" Boe asked, glancing over at the group of sorcerers nearby.

"Not yet. Do you know any of them? The ones with the black threads?" Morishita asked.

Boe stood up, slicking back her bangs with one hand. "Utahime, Ieiri, Haibara." She shook her head, "None of the rest. Do you?"

"The ones you know, they look different, don't they?" Morishita asked, "Why didn't we change too? When the world tore, they all changed…"

Boe's eyes narrowed. "So what makes them different from us?" she asked, reaching up to flick a white thread.

Morishita's brows shot up. "I think they're the canon characters."

"Rin! Rin I see Nanami!" Utahime suddenly shouted.

Morishita rushed her direction before even realizing she was running. She squeezed up by the curses, looking through to where Utahime was pointing.

Morishita spotted a flash of energy and— Yes! There he was! Nanami's back was pressed against Kuskabe's. Her breath caught and she narrowed her eyes, trying to see the threads on them. Nanami — black mixed with white. Kusakabe — Black with white.

She swallowed hard, a sickening feeling sinking into her gut. It made so much sense didn't it? They were the real characters from the real story. The white threads were tied and tangled and wrapped around, they weren't attached at all were they. It was all knotted and tied together and connected to the giant white Filament. That might've meant that she wasn't real and if they destroyed the Filament—

"I'm going out there," she said aloud, refusing to entertain that thought.

Utahime took a glance back at the others before putting her hand on Morishita's shoulder. "Let's go, I'm with you," she said, "We can use this spot as a rally point. We have a plan that we can still go through with, but I just need you to help me get us all together."

Morishita turned to her. "Are you sure? It's going to be bad out there. I can't guarantee I can protect you."

"I can't stay on the sidelines any more," Utahime said firmly.

Morishita smiled, then began to push past the curses guarding the rim of her platform. "Then let's go."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Stop it!

"Brace yourself!" Nanami shouted, ducking down to grip the wire at his feet with one hand and loop around Kusakabe's calf with his other arm. The Filament creature shook her head again, her free hand moving to guard her face from Gojo's barrage. Kusakabe's forehead hit his shoulder, but he was down just in time for when the wires began to shake.

Gojo had managed to keep the Filament from reaching for something near the bottom of the main tangle of wires — Nanami was sure it was Sarah. However, in doing so the Filament was becoming more and more desperate. The hand she'd tangled into the webs was gripping tight, almost like a child carrying a precious treat. Every time the Filament swatted at Gojo, the entire system of wires shook.

As if the entire world tearing apart wasn't enough, Nanami was also grappling something unexplainable. As soon as the world blinked on, he'd been hit with everything, and by everything it was literally everything. All of those loops, all of those lives, all those choices. Geto had attempted to explain it, Gojo was experiencing it when he merged with Sarah and Nanami had seen it himself the moment his feet touched the wires.

It was indescribable. His role was so specific and so cruel. Made to be the jaded mentor. Made to be depressed and overworked. Made to die to encourage a main character. His entire life was sculpted for that singular purpose and he'd done that many times over and over and over. The same choices, the same paths, the same results. When Nanami had asked Geto who he was in his last life, he understood why Geto told him it was better if he didn't know.

Ahead of him he could see Tsukumo sprinting across the wires, holding a young girl under her arm. Itadori was crashing through a resonate behind her with Todo beside him. Something was going on because a moment later he saw Todo dissapear then reappear with Ijichi. They were gathering for something, he realized.

"Follow them," Nanami called to Kusakabe, elbowing him to get his attention.

"This way!" Tsukumo shouted to them, noticing them at around the same moment. As soon as all of them gathered she panted, "Morishita made a platform. Meeting there."

"Do we have a plan?" Kusakabe asked.

"No idea, I'm trying to find everyone," Tsukumo huffed, turning to keep moving. "The resonates aren't slowing down. Geto's curses are getting thin."

A clap echoed at his right, and Nanami turned to see Todo. The man was clearly fully grown now, taller than even Gojo and wider than he'd seen a man get in real life. Nanami had noticed it when his lost eye was restored and seeing the others had the answer to that question at least: he wasn't alone in his physical change. Everyone he'd seen so far had been different — even the Sarah who wasn't merged with Gojo. Everyone had been given the revelation and shown the truth about their many lives.

"Ieiri is on the platform," Todo reported. "Morishita and Utahime are coming out this way."

Nanami shook his head and surged forward. Morishita could hold her own, but not while guarding Utahime. He vaulted over a resonate, his blade carving clean through another in a single strike. Their numbers had thinned considerably, but that only meant the remaining ones had fused into larger, deadlier bodies.

He dropped down a wire and sprinted across it, tearing through resonates as flashes of cursed energy exploded around him. He ducked, pressed forward, relentless. She was close. He heard her voice first — calling desperately for Utahime.

Everything else blurred away the moment she slammed into his chest. His arm locked instinctively around her waist, holding her tight. Warm tears soaked into his shoulder, and somehow, in the middle of all the chaos, nothing had ever felt sweeter. Her hands clutched at his shoulders, her legs wrapping around his waist and holding herself up.

"Kento," she sobbed, then cleared her throat. "Utahime says they have a plan!"

Nanami sighed, holding her close for a moment longer. He closed his eyes, breathing in the smell of her hair and the fresh sweat on her skin. For just one moment longer he held her tight and dreamed of one more quiet day alone with her. One more day where they could sit in the grass together and not think about the state of the world and the stake they had in fixing it. If he wanted that day to come, he had work to do.

"What do you intend to do?" He let her pull back, studying her as much as she was staring back at him.

Why hadn't she changed? He knew he had, but why didn't she? The confusion and a sadness he didn't expect darkened her expression even when she tried to hide it with her answer.

"I don't know what they intend to do, but Utahime says it'll solve the problem," she said, trying to keep her voice from shaking. "The group we left behind all know what to do, so I'm putting my faith in them and gathering as many sorcerers as I can."

"Then I'll go with you," Nanami said, setting her back down and helping her steady on the wire.

"Save as many sorcerers as you can," Tsukumo grunted, pushing past both of them. "I don't know if we need everyone still, but it's better if we have as many as possible before we set off the nuke."

"Is this your plan?" Nanami asked Tsukumo.

She paused, glancing back at him over her shoulder. "It is. Are you going to trust me?"

Nanami held his eyes on her. He never didn't trust her, not at all. She was selfish and self-centered and likely had other intentions she'd never divulge to anyone. And yet faced with a situation he barely understood, the only thing he could say was,

"I guess so."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

"When I get out of here I'll devour you broiled," Sukuna growled.

He cackled while he tore and ripped at the endless threads that were failing to keep him down. With every clump he threw away, another thick bundle grew over the empty space. All four of his hands ripped and his body writhed and jerked against his restraints like a monster trapped in a fishing net. Sarah's trembling hadn't stopped, but she didn't dare move from the concentrated barrier that surrounded her. Tengen had awoken, throwing up that barrier just in time to save the girl's life and now Yaga needed to figure out what to do next.

After the domain had collapsed, Yaga spotted Sarah near the base of the tangle. Barely a blink later, Lazarus scrambled after her on all fours like he'd gone completely mad. Alone he didn't have much to work with, but there was at least one doll he knew would come if he called and Panda was already on the way down to help. Unfortunately Sarah didn't have the time to wait and so Yaga found himself between a special grade cannibal and his prey.

"Yaga run," Sarah pleaded, "just get out of here before he gets out."

"You'll never survive," Yaga grit.

"I'll come back, you won't!" Sarah cried. "Its fine! Just run!"

"Panda is coming."

"Panda can't do this either Yaga!"

Yaga ignored her. His technique wasn't designed for emergencies. Without his dolls he was only a basic level sorcerer and it was true, Panda couldn't stand up to Sukuna alone. But there was still a way out, she just hadn't realized it yet.

Sukuna's hand planted against the barrier and Tengen's muffled mouth attempted to cry out. Sarah flinched away from Sukuna, her hands starting to glow as she took up a defensive position. Yaga hadn't been impressed with her reaction time for offensive combat, but she'd always been excellent with her defense. There was still no chance of her surviving without help.

Panda landed beside him, already transformed. The white parts of his coat on his back were stained with bloody hand prints. The residuals felt like a Kamo — that boy from the Kyoto branch. Yaga's eyes flicked upward and there the boy was, perched overhead with his bow drawn back and a bleeding arrow in his fingers.

"Hey kid," Yaga boomed, facing Sukuna again and cracking his neck. "These wires are made out of cursed energy."

The kid nodded, bouncing his elbow to roll his sleeve up enough to reveal a thin, fresh wound. He must have figured it out already — kid was smart, unlike any of his students apparently. The wires were pure cursed energy and ripe for refueling. No sorcerer in the entire area would run out if they only knew where to look for more.

Tengen's barrier wavered with another of Sukuna's strikes and Yaga rolled up his own sleeves, wreathing his body in cursed energy. Panda growled low, his muscles tense. Kamo's energy was steady above him. Everyone was holding, ready for the moment the barrier broke.

The shimmer of an attempted domain flashed and they all moved at once. Tengen's barrier didn't have time to redeploy and Sukuna got one arm on Sarah's thigh before she could fully react. Panda leapt forward, his claws extended and reaching for Sukuna and Kamo let his arrow fly. Yaga held for that moment, then took his opportunity to strike at Sukuna's wrist with every ounce of cursed energy he could muster.

The arrow struck and Panda landed, yanking Sukuna's arm away. Sarah took her chance to scramble away, the wounds left from Sukuna's fingernails already healing themselves. Sukuna roared in frustration as the wires overtook him again and Yaga hurried after Sarah with Panda beside him.

"Yaga!" She shouted, not slowing her sprint. "I need to get to the Filament!"

"What?! Are you crazy?!" Panda shouted as he caught up with her, lifting her up onto his back with one massive paw. "That thing will kill you!"

"Lazarus and Kenjaku want me to stay away from her," Sarah said, glancing back at Yaga then ahead. "That has to mean something right?"

"Not necessarily!" Yaga ducked back behind Panda, letting him take the lead and hear Sarah better. "Gojo is keeping it away from you. He knows something."

"I don't think he knows what she's doing, but I do!" Sarah said. "She's going to pull all the white threads out and start everything over!"

"How do you know?" Yaga asked, glancing up. The Kamo kid was trying to follow them, but was stopped suddenly by Todo appearing. A moment later, they were gone.

"I… I don't know," Sarah answered. "I just— I just know that's what she's going to do!"

She was lying, he wasn't a fool. She knew exactly why that thing was doing what it was doing. It no longer mattered what she wanted to hide anyway and so he chose to ignore that lie. Sarah's lies often tried to spare feelings or keep things from escalation — she didn't want him to know because she was afraid of how he'd take it.

"Fine," Yaga grit. "Panda and I will get you there."

"I'm so sorry Yaga," she said suddenly, turning back to look at him. "I'm so sorry about—"

"No apologies yet," Yaga cut her off, "not until we finish this. Then you can apologize."

Sarah started to say something, then shook her head and faced forward. That was for the best.

Yaga followed behind Panda and Sarah through the wires, keeping up amid the mess. Ahead, Gojo was keeping the Filament busy and even more unfortunately Geto was dealing with Kenjaku. The curses in that area were beyond what he could hope to survive. He had no reverse cursed technique to push. All he had was Panda. She didn't want him there and he shouldn't have been there, but leaving her alone was out of the question.

"It's going to be alright," he said.

Sarah turned back to face him, her face going red. She cleared her throat, trying to put on a smile and managed to say, "I'll make sure it is."

Yaga had seen that look on her face far too often. So many times he'd watched her walk willingly to her death. He'd been the one to wake her afterwards, help her catch up with the days she'd missed. The guilt weighed heavily on his heart.

"I won't forgive you," he said simply.

She understood what he meant. He could tell.

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

"Isn't this fun? It's like rock paper scissors!!"

Kenjaku was laughing, skipping merrily across the wires as his summoned Dagon faced off against Geto's elder Jogo. The entire area was doused in flames or water, the wires seemingly unaffected. Geto was gripping tight, crouched low beneath a curse wrapped around his body like a translucent shield. The curse itself seared his skin, boiling from the inside from the repeated attacks, but that was better than the alternative.

"You know how long I've used this technique," Kenjaku chuckled. One of his hand lifted up, flicking a curse into existence.

Geto identified it as fast as he could, darting out of range before the firey curse exploded. He got his footing, launching another wave of centipede curses before attempting to get in close for the third time. It was the only advantage he had over Kenjaku — the body he was using was decaying. If he engaged physically he wouldn't survive.

Kenjaku wasn't going to let it be easy. He'd planned for this, but why let his body rot instead of jumping ship? That was what Geto hadn't figured out. Kenjaku took risks, but this seemed intentional.

Kenjaku sidestepped, allowing Geto closer only to part a space between them with a wall of water from a giant octopus. Geto expected a wall and forced his way through, sacrificing the curse around him to make it. That wasn't ideal, but Kenjaku was in arms reach. His hand jerked out, gripping onto Kenjaku's sleeve.

Kenjaku smiled at him — Geto's own grayed and sunken face smiled right down at him and almost made him retch. His other hand shot out without slowing, grasping onto Kenjaku's forearm. His fingers sunk in deeper than he expected and a chill rolled down his spine. It was too late to stop it… the arm was coming off.

Geto's hand jerked back, letting it slide out of his grip. The stump leftover at the elbow didn't even bleed and the forearm itself fell uselessly down into the void below. Kenjaku held up his remaining hand, pressing his index finger to his gleeful smile. He said nothing, using Geto's shock to twirl away back to a safe distance.

Geto swallowed down the bile that threatened in his throat. Kenjaku was still slowly gaining on Sarah, but she wasn't in sight. Her energy was moving faster than before, which Geto could only assume meant that she had some help. Gojo was close as well, flying at the Filament's hand like a bee bumping desperately against a window. It was working, but they'd made no progress. Any damage was repairing faster than they could break apart, at least without using any huge techniques.

Kenjaku laughed, catching Geto's attention again. "You're not sure what to do either, right? Isn't this so incredibly overwhelming?"

"It's not great in here, that's true," Geto chuckled.

Kenjaku was gearing up to summon another curse and Geto readied to counter with his own. There was no way for him to tell how many Kenjaku had prepared and the creep wasn't bragging about it like Geto expected. Even worse, another presence caught his attention: Lazarus. Down on the wires, skittering like a roach, Lazarus was rushing in Sarah's direction and Kenjaku reacted by trying to block his view.

"Are you with us or against us?" Geto asked, backing off to summon a wave of wide, heavy set curses just before Kenjaku's own wave curses crashed into Geto's.

Kenjaku laughed, smirking at him and answering only with a half-assed shrug. Geto scowled, leaping over his curses and summoning one that could fly. He passed Kenjaku, keeping his body low and dodging wires. Kenjaku wasn't going to get the fight end until he was ready and Geto wasn't going to waste time.

Gojo was doing their best to deal with the Filament, but their body was collapsing. They were breaking apart faster than Sarah could heal their body. Gojo's reverse cursed technique wouldn't be enough, not from all the collateral damage from being too close to all that positive energy. Every collision was like a meteor hitting a planet and breaking it open into bright glowing stars. Their body was piecing back together, but another hit would spray light and reopen wounds.

At least, that was Geto's guess. Gojo's body was a mystery to even the two of them inside it. They wouldn't let themselves fall apart, but it wasn't looking like they could keep it together alone.

Soon enough he spotted Sarah crouched on Panda's back. A ways behind them was Yaga. That was perfect — Yaga would have some insight. Geto caught up to him, holding out a hand which the older man gratefully took and pulled himself up onto the curse behind Geto.

"Where is she going?" Geto asked.

"She says she knows what to do," Yaga answered, "but Suguru," he paused, putting his hand on his shoulder, "She's planning on sacrificing herself."

"How?!" Geto snapped.

"I'm not sure," Yaga admitted. "I won't let her, but if she gets away from me there isn't anything I can do."

Geto scowled. "She's not getting away."

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Choso was rushing after the trail of Tsukumo's cursed energy. She was in a hurry, snatching up every sorcerer she could find and sending them away with Todo. Itadori was working with them, filling in as Todo's target for each swap. He'd called for her to slow down, but she wouldn't. She was running from him — that was like her, but now was not the time to be stubborn.

"Yuki!" He shouted firmer that time, vaulting over the back of a resonate before turning and firing off a shot of blood through its head.

That woman was so stubborn. She was so smart, so beautiful. Everything she did was amazing to him. But right then she was running away from what could be another cycle before she'd find him again. She'd chased after him this time, but there'd been plenty where he'd had to find her. It was getting tiring.

"Yuki stop!" He shouted, reaching out to grip onto her wrist.

Easily she snatched it away, but he only grabbed again. She wasn't going to avoid him, not when this was all going to reset.

"Choso, don't," she grit. "I can't do this right now. We're close. We could finish it."

"And you don't want to see me?" It felt like a valid question, yet she seemed so angry that he dared to ask it.

"Choso, I know you understand why," she hissed, pulling away from his third attempt to pull her close.

"I do," he said, keeping his voice slow. He couldn't force her to let him hold her — her strength was far beyond his — but she still swayed as if he'd managed to get her off balance.

He finally managed to coax her close enough, pressing a hand to the back of her head and winding his arm around her waist. She almost pushed him away, she started to.

"Yuki, I love you," he rushed out.

"Damn it!"

Choso pushed her back, gripping onto her shoulders. "I'm not going to let you be selfish on this one. This one is for me, Yuki. Please, just tell me you love me."

"I don't want to keep saying it for the first time," she said, swatting his hands off her shoulders. "I don't like having to show you how to do this over and over! It's so— it's just unfair!"

"I know," Choso spat. Tsukumo was so surprised she took a step back and oddly that made him feel better in a way. She should know how angry he was.

"If you know then why do you insist on doing this to me?!" She shouted.

"Because I love you! Now say it back!" Choso shouted right back.

Even living all the lives he had, he still didn't quite understand what it meant to be alive. It was difficult to go from nothing to a life with so much risk. Additionally, Tsukumo's affection was demanding and consuming in a way that he wasn't sure he could live without.

"Say it," Choso demanded.

Tsukumo glared at him and she crossed her arms. "Is this really the time for this? We should—"

"Yuki!"

"I love you."

Choso blinked. Without another thought he leaned in, pulling her face to his and kissing her. Itadori groaned, but Choso ignored him. He held the kiss for just a few sweet seconds before letting her go. She stared at him with the apples of her cheeks just barely dusted pink. She so rarely blushed. If this was the last time he'd see her for a while at least he'd seen that.

"Now, are we going with the plan?" Choso asked, glancing at Itadori.

"We're gonna nuke it," Tsukumo said, smoothing back her hair. "Get everyone together. We're going to get all the energy together, find Sarah, then nuke the whole thing inside Amanai's technique."

Choso stared at her. This was the most drastic plan yet and he'd been against it since she first started to tell the others in detail about it. She remembered all the other attempts just like he did. This one was drastic and desperate, but by this point in their repetitive nightmare it might as well happen. If this was another failure, at least Tengen would be able to fill them in and they could give it another shot.

"Fine. Let's do it." Choso turned, looking across the wires ahead of him. There were still plenty of sorcerers left to gather up, but wouldn't take them that long. "Do we have a signal?"

"No, nothing we had time to agree on," Tsukumo said, clearing her throat. "We'll try to get everyone's attention. Just watch the platform."

"Alright. Good luck Yuki." Choso rolled his shoulders, readying to sprint off. Just before he did, Tsukumo whispered one more time.

"Please be careful."

Choso smiled over his shoulder at her. "Don't worry. I can always see you again."

"If… if we mess up this one we might not," Tsukumo said.

"No, I don't think that's true," Choso said with a chuckle, taking off. "I'll see you soon!"

⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂⠁⠁⠂⠄⠄⠂ ⠂⠄⠄⠂☆

Haibara's song cut through the chaos with a boom, shaking the threads with the power of his sound. Nanami kept up behind him, but he hadn't needed him after all. Nanami had insisted, but he didn't get it — Haibara was just stronger now! This loop had been the first time Haibara had made it this far and finally feeling strong might've been going to his head.

Nanami was seeing it as it was happening! The resonates were super susceptible to Haibara's sound. He didn't even have to fully deploy his domain and the things were taking his hits like bullets ricocheting off metal walls. A kid he didn't recognize and some old samurai looking guy were having an equally easy time using their cursed speech. It didn't really make a lot of sense, but he wasn't going to waste his opportunity.

Every shout, every lyric, every hum — the resonates were sent reeling and writhing like they'd been burned. Pushing his technique into their minds made them wail and freak out and physically they were no better than worms. Was he smiling? Probably! Haibara was enjoying himself. There was no reason to feel miserable while he was winning, right?

"Haibara!" Nanami was shouting at him again. Probably to tell him something serious. That dude never learned how to have fun, even after all this time.

"Relax! I got this!" Haibara laughed, but Nanami's hand out his shoulder stopped him. He turned away from the struggling resonate, letting it crawl pathetically away, and glared at Nanami. "We can't stop! We need to keep it going!"

"Your ears are leaking," Nanami said cautiously. "Your nose as well. Your brain is bleeding Haibara. You need to go back and see Ieiri."

"I'll see her in a sec," Haibara scoffed. The swirling in his vision darkened around the edges, but he shook it off again. There wasn't anything to worry about! Even if he passed out, Ieiri could fix it.

"You won't if you die," Nanami said. His voice had gotten harsher with that one — almost like he thought he could actually stop him or something.

"I won't die," Haibara said, rolling his eyes. "This is just a fake scenario anyway."

"This isn't fake, what are you saying?" Nanami asked it, but that didn't seem right. He wouldn't believe in this kind of thing happening, he never did before! Nanami was always the one who knew what was going on, why would he believe in this shared hallucination?

"Relax, we'll wake up back at home soon enough. You'll see," Haibara laughed. "Don't let yourself get all caught up in their lies. This is Sarah's domain or maybe it—"

"Haibara!" Nanami shouted.

Awkwardly he reached out, his eyes real wide like he was afraid. His hands gently cradled the sides of Haibara's head and he held him still, his eyes roaming all over his face like he was going to find some kind of truth he wasn't able to see himself.

"You're confused," Nanami said carefully, "Or you're high again. Or something else has you impaired, but this place is very real. This isn't anything like a domain, this is happening to us right now and we need to stop it."

"He's right!"

Suzu! Suzu stumbled up, their body half stuck as two different people. Behind them was Hani who wasn't faring much better. His lips were tinted dark from expelling his technique and his body was shaking. He needed to see Ieiri. All that barfing would kill him!

"Haibara!!" Suzu shouted that time, staring at him just as wild looking as Nanami. They slapped his bicep and added, "Are you listening?!"

He hadn't. Had Suzu been talking? He glanced down at his hands, at the golden blood sinking into his skin and changing him at a cellular level. Suzu was talking to Nanami, but he couldn't make out their voice. Hani looked like he might try to heal him, but Nanami's muffled voice told him not to.

"Let me get some water," Haibara mumbled. He wasn't even thirsty.

Haibara's eyes blinked. Or maybe they closed for a while, he wasn't sure. The next time he could hear anything besides a high pitched squeal, it was Ieiri and Utahime standing over him on the platform again.

"The white ones are starting to get more and more confused," Ieiri said. Her hands were so cold on his neck, but it felt good. His vision was clearing.

"I wonder if it has to do with his thread specifically," Utahime suggested.

"If it does, that means that the white threads might get more confused as we go on," Ieiri sighed. "It hasn't affected me yet, but—"

"What do you mean?" Haibara forced the question out, despite the warning in his skull that told him not to ask. Utahime and Ieiri's concerned look didn't help the anxiety churning his stomach.

"Look here," Ieiri started, gesturing to the threads connected to and through his body. "These threads, the black stuff is cursed energy, the white is positive." She carefully lifted one of the threads and it just barely hovered over her fingertips. "Morishita hasn't been able to tell us more, but there is something going on. Some people have all white, some have a mix of black and white in some mix. It's different for everyone. You are—"

Utahime placed her hand onto Ieiri's arm, "We don't have time for all this." She stared at Haibara and plainly said, "The white threads are connected to the big woman made of light. She's dealing with Gojo and that fight is confusing those of you with more white than black and we don't know why yet. We know we need to stop her, but if she breaks all the white might too."

That didn't make any fucking sense. Haibara glanced up, taking in everyone else around him. The wires and threads, those were real? That didn't seem possible. Utahime and Ieiri did have a different mix than him and even each other. They even had a white wire that thinly connected the two of them! His were far more white than black. Suzu was close and theirs was completely white. They seemed… maybe not alright.

Suzu was holding their head, their eyes narrowed in an anger that Haibara had never seen so openly displayed. Suzu liked to keep their feelings under wraps, this was pure unadulterated rage. Whatever that thing made out of light was, Suzu wanted it dead.

"Tell me," Haibara croaked out. He grunted, sitting himself up properly and reached out to weakly bump his hand against Suzu to get their attention. His arms felt too heavy to lift. "Tell me whats going on, Suzu."

Suzu didn't look away from the light thing. "I get it now, why Kenjaku was saying this whole thing is just a big game," they said quietly. "You're real and she's controlling you. She made me up. She made me this way."

"Who did?" Haibara asked.

"Sarah."

Ieiri, Utahime and Haibara all shared a look. Sarah? Haibara wasn't her biggest fan either, but Sarah?

"Sarah made it all. Sarah chose who we were and what has been happening to use," they continued, catching a thumbnail between their teeth and nervously chewing. "She did this to me. She made me this way."

"I don't think she—"

"It makes perfect sense doesn't it?!" Suzu suddenly shouted, cutting Utahime off. "She brought this stuff no one has ever heard of with her into our world. She altered all of you and made up a bunch of others to get everything she wanted! She's using us!"

"But Sarah is—" "The big white light! That is Sarah— Can't you see it?!"

The light was clutching the tangle of wires in one had, swatting at Gojo with the other. It had a defined shape, but it was difficult to make out much more than that. She didn't have features or hair or anything other than threads. And yet… maybe Suzu was onto something? It wasn't clear, and there was every possibility he was only seeing it because Suzu was, but maybe they knew something he didn't. Maybe a conversation they'd shared with Kenjaku made it make more sense. Suzu wouldn't lie about something like that.

"We need to kill her," Suzu said suddenly.

"The… light or Sarah?" Ieiri asked it, already flagging down a few of the others that were lingering on the platform.

"Both of them," Suzu grit.

"Alright, you need to rest," Utahime said, shaking he head. "No one is going to kill anyone but resonates and the light thing okay?"

Suzu caught on even before Haibara needed to warn them. They saw the ones Ieiri called coming closer and took their chance, making an escape off the platform before they could be forced to stay. Hani didn't bother, taking a seat on the ground with his hands up.

"Shit," Utahime hissed. "We should do something about them before they make this worse."

"Let them go," Hani said, shaking his head and carefully pulling his elastic off his dreads and letting them hang free. "They can't do much alone. Sarah won't be in danger." He placed a hand on his forehead, squeezing his eyes shut. "Suzu will die. Gojo would kill them for even trying."

Haibara blinked his eyes hard, trying to push out all this stupid extra crap. None of that mattered, did it? He'd had a horrible headache since he'd been dumped here and no one was making any sense. All he knew was that he could kill those tree things and that's all he wanted to do. Whatever plan everyone was coming up with, he'd follow without question. But Suzu…

"Do you think Suzu is right?" Haibara asked, stepping in front of Hani and crouching down to look into his eyes.

Hani's eyes looked grayed with exhaustion. His technique took at lot out of him, but that wasn't the only thing that was haunting the man. Haibara had seen Hani far more beaten and overwhelmed — this was like accepting a defeat. Hani no longer cared. He was a man waiting for his inevitable death and no longer cared.

"I know Suzu is right," Hani admitted quietly.

Haibara stood up again, glancing at Utahime. "I want to finish off the resonates," he said, "and I'll need you and everyone else's help."

"We can't. They keep putting themselves back together, they're—"

Haibara held up a hand, cutting Utahime off. "Then we'll just have to break them until they can't anymore."

[jmfenner91]

I'm SO excited to finally share these pieces I created for D&D's Ravenloft: The Horrors Within.

This project was such a huge honor to work on. I remember as a kid looking through the players manuals & doing little studies of the artwork in there, so this feels a bit full-circle. You can get a peek at higher-res versions of them on my insta!

[arinavah]

sketch

[baobei-bu]

Case #2: Part 2

[salbertwolf]

Victor Glover (Pilot), Artemis II - April 4th 2026

[i-merani]

[emcheeseman]

been completely glued to the Artemis II coverage all week, I love space

[baobei-bu]

Case #2: Part 1