#phoenixcantus

[telewarp-a]

“if i die again... call all the wicked twisters losers for me...”

[simiasung-a]

“ GET YOUR FUCKIN’ BIRD, BITCH !! ”

[temporeplayer]

( the bird didn't seem to care- or maybe it didn't understand completely. they beak closed, only when to open again, this time unleashing a fiery shriek. it almost seemed like they were in pain with how uncontrollable the cries were. but then: silence. an eerie silence, was the phoenix ever screaming before? once again the beak opened and a voice spoke. ) " rindo... didn't i tell you not to use the pin anymore? " it was that of neku sakuraba this time. who else will it be?

Rindo hadn't even noticed the sudden silence. Was he still there anymore? Maybe not, one laughable apology he couldn't even truly mean ( how could he when he had done all that willingly? ) and he was stuck there, trembling on his knees, trying so hard to just breathe all while choking on his own tears and-

They... he spoke.

"N-Neku... I..."

This wasn't a nightmare, was it?

For a moment, just a moment, Rindo was quiet, just frozen in place- and then it all came crashing down on him all over again, stronger than before and just barely hanging by a thread this time.

What was he even supposed to do now?

"I- I-I didn't- I had to-"

Would that weak excuse even work anymore? ( did it ever? )

He didn't have to. Not after everything had been fixed once. He could've just left things as they were, the wellbeing of the many over a few.

Neku would've known better than him- did know better, told him exactly what to do... and yet he couldn't even listen to that. Someone so weak willed, miserable and pathetic like him... Rindo really should've known better than to think he would've done something good this time. He never did, only fixing his own mistakes when it was too late, always being helped up by others rather than standing by himself- why would he think he was going to do something right for once?

Why did he try so hard to play hero? When all he could do was let people down and hurt everyone along the way?

"I-I'm sorry I- I'm s-sorry- I-I didn't- I j-just-"

His mind wasn't working, his thoughts a mess and he felt like he was suffocating now, trying so hard to just breathe between the gasps, sobs and tears he couldn't control or even try to calm down, chest so tight and heart pounding against his ribs, he felt like right now he could just-

[wickedreplay]

     HE’S WISHING HIS ALTERNATE SELVES all the luck in the world, but he’s nope - ing the fuck out of this situation.

[limitlesspossibilities]

SCREEEEEE!!!

"Who's a cute demon bird? You are."

[purificr]

“ well hello there, beautiful. ” / @phoenixcantus

[catncore]

" . . . "

❝       so  th'  corrupted  amalgamation  chooses  to  finally  show  itself.       ❞

❝      interestin'.     ❞

[temporeplayer]

( the phoenix stands before rindo. oddly it is quiet from their usual screeching. they stared down at the human before them, he who rejects them. the souls within the bird all scream in union, as if they were some unholy choir. all brought together to forever live as a noise. the beak of the mythical bird opens, nothing comes out, but then a voice comes forth. a voice that belongs to a person known as fret. ) " rindude... why did you leave us...? "

Perhaps the silence is even worse than the clashing, horrid mess of screeches and screams.

The silence already felt unnatural in this void of empty time, the raging battle had been the only thing drowning it out once, the only thing giving him a goal to pursue, something else to occupy his frantic mind with among the visions and memories of blinding red and destruction crumbling into nothing.

He didn't want to listen to that silence now. It felt like that thing staring him down was thinking. Planning. They were nothing more than noise now, they shouldn't- and yet...

Rindo tried to steel himself- it would just be the same tangled mess of too many voices at once, just the same words of always, just like the other times( ? ) here. No matter how much it already made him falter and how much he might be dreading it, he could take it. He was the only one to shoulder this burden, anyways, there was some reassurance to be found in that, knowing at least his friends were truly free from all this mess they had been able to leave in the past were it belonged and should've been sealed.

And then-

"Wh... what..."

They didn’t-

That- this wasn't real. This was just a nightmare- this... this had to be a nightmare- there was no way-

Rindo didn't even realize he was on his knees, trembling limbs losing all the strength to hold him and a hand slapped over his mouth, sharp breaths that amounted to nothing in between those shakier gasps that sounded like broken, quiet sobs. His stomach was empty, but he wanted to throw up, a disgusting sensation festering deep inside that he wanted to get rid of so desperately, already feeling the burning at the back of his throat.

It was just noise. Neku had said so himself too- it was just noise, leftovers, garbage from timelines that didn't exist anymore, just noise, just-

It was... just noise... right...?

“... Fr...et...?”

This... this wasn’t his friend- his friend was supposed to be safe at home with everyone- Fret wouldn’t say...

( It was leftover noise from other timelines, so- )

... Was that what he was thinking- truly thinking? That... that would just make sense, right...?

He was the one to have created this mess. He was the one that could travel back in time, that could fix things- and yet he still hadn’t even tried to fix everything. He hadn’t saved anyone else in the game, just them, just coming back out of some selfish need without regards for the lives that could still be lost along the way. Without regards for the disaster he knew, by then, to be responsible for.

“I... I-I’m- I’m s-sorry-”

That was all he could say, all the weak little words he could push through that sickening feeling twisting his stomach into knots, his voice a raspy whisper that barely even reached his own ears. 

Yet he didn’t even have a right to say that now. He didn’t deserve it- he didn’t deserve forgiveness, didn’t deserve to even think of asking for it. He didn’t deserve any of them.

They should hate him now. They had a right to.

Maybe he deserved to be left alone, just like how the Angel had fixed his own ugly mistakes.

It wasn’t as if he had earned a happy ending after all he had done... so... maybe this was the punishment he deserved then, wasn’t it?