Let My Second Death Be Kinder Than Man

My mildly unhinged MLP x The Legend of Spyro crossover

In spite of it all, choose to do good. Choose to be kind. Choose to grow. Choose to be the change you want to see.

A country is its people, not its leaders.

Don't let this major setback blind you: it's not hopeless. You can still make a difference going forward.

Never forget that you matter.

Be the kind of hopeful that has fangs.

laughing at the implication that akechi played twewy as a kid, completely missed all the blatant messaging and the only thing he got out of it was wow. maybe murder is a love language.

1/2

comic I made for SHOWTIME zine… I BELIEVE…all original orders have finally shipped!! yayy so I’m posting this before I forget. It’s a missing scene right before the infamous 2/2 conversation with Maruki.

Okay, analysis of Akira's grief after 2/2 has been done to death, but I can never get enough of it. So here.

How does Akira handle his grief after Akechi dies? For real, this time.

On that last trip to the Metaverse, is he stealing every glance at Akechi that he's given, peering at the other and praying to a god that won't listen for him to survive? While in jail, does he occupy himself with scenarios in which he sees Akechi again? Does he write happy and sad endings on his end in equal measure, but ensures Akechi's freedom regardless?

When he gets out, does he notice everyone skirt around the topic? Does he pick up on the fact that they avoid sitting in one specific seat by the counter? Does it irritate him that they won't dare speak the name of the boy who used to sit there? If so, does he bring it up? Or does he keep quietly grieving, slowly regaining his appetite just to lose it all over again once something reminds him of the life he gave up?

Does he choke on a certain coffee blend? Does it get so bad that the smell nearly makes him sob? If, and when, he comes back to Leblanc, does he place out a cup of coffee on the counter every February, perfectly made and left to cool for a ghost who will never again step through the door?

Do crows become hard to look at? Does he flinch when someone asks for a game of chess, or billiards? Does he hold on to that one leather glove, hanging on for dear life on the worst of nights? Does it anchor him? Does it tear him apart? Is he ashamed to admit that both can be true?

Does he ever stop grieving?

And then, if the ghost returns. If one day, a boy with rosewood eyes and soft, coffee brown hair wanders through that door, takes his seat, and orders his usual.

How does Akira react? Does he scoff and demand answers? Does he cry, poorly muffling sobs as he tries not to get tears in the coffee? Does he yell and fight and ask the boy why and how and when and what and every question under the sun? Does he shut down entirely, walls crumbling as he turns into a wailing mess?

Or does he stare at the other for a moment. Wait for him to look up. Smile. And go to make his - friend, lover, rival, reflection - a cup of coffee.

And when Akechi thanks him softly, takes a sip, and slowly feels the tension seep out of his body, does Akira finally stop grieving?

bonus:

:inhales and slams hands on the desk: akechi. palace. pitch.

disclaimer: the setting for this is all about vibes and aesthetics, it kinda got away from me when i started hashing out the plot around it two months ago so now we're here. in hell. (i'll probably have to make a secondary post i made wayyy too many concepts,)

yes i made an ost for this idea, here is a youtube playlist of chill european jazz

AU details under the cut-

Akechi Goro's palace is "Ampitheatrum Doloris”.

KEYWORDS: Akechi Goro, Tokyo Highcourt, Amphitheater

Akechi's psyche is a massive collection of locked doors, puzzles, and contradictions. He wants to be seen but not understood—heard but never known, ect. This makes his palace infiltration a waking nightmare (affectionate).

His palace is made up of five main layers. They each mirror a stage of grief:

1) There is the outer layer of with the appearance of a Venice-esque water canal maze, there is a door that must be opened to reach the entrance to infiltrate the second layer underneath the amphitheater. The puzzle's actually pretty sentimental and revolves around Akechi's interest in literature.

(This layer is depression, Goro mourns what he lost and the fact that the choices he made for the sake of revenge ultimately led to nowhere. This is reflected in how desolate/meandering the outer layer feels, it is the largest and most time consuming part of the palace for this reason. It takes weeks to finish. AKA, Akira and Morgana have a terrible, no good, very bad month of May.) 

2) The Labyrinth under the amphitheater; it is full of shadows for the arena champion to use as fodder for the enjoyment of the masses. ‘Loki’ resides here—this layer’s theme loosely plays on the Minotaur myth. 

The only way to escape is through a pulley/elevator mechanism which leads to the surface after shattering the Champion’s chains by force. Loki taunts in Old Norse, but gives Akira (and the party by extension) genuine hints on how to escape.

(This layer is anger, Goro is always angry, about the hand he’s been dealt, the futility of his own actions, and the fact that his life has always been a dead end, written in the stars.)

3) The Audience Stands; full of human cognitions and Akechi’s former clients and fans, despite everything, like Sae, he sees them as ‘people’ and is disgusted by them. Their compliments are shallow and empty, surface level like Goro’s facade. Cognition Sae is delegated to a middle manager-type role, and leads Akira and Co. through puzzles.

Different cognitions from Akechi’s shitshow of a childhood throw riddles based around philosophy and the nature of justice at the party, if the answer is ‘wrong’, there’s a mini-boss fight. Answering everything correctly yields a prize—a key, this process is made difficult by all of Robin’s ‘hints’ (which the Thieves can directly ask for) being lies.

(Bargaining. Goro always thought he could still salvage his revenge despite his enemy being essentially invincible, even now deep down he thinks he can salvage all the effort and sacrifices he put in.)

4) The Stage; Robin Hood appears proper instead of in cameo appearances, this is the lead actor's stage. To earn the right to stand with him, Akira has to have to prove his worth in one-on-one combat while showing the crowd a rousing show. The goal is to use the key obtained in the bargaining layer to unlock the Performer's cuffs.

(Denial, Goro doesn’t believe he needs or deserves saving or a life outside of his revenge, he believes there is no other way forward.)

Hereward and the 'treasure' are in the Imperial box area, which I'll save for part 2 of this I think! The second half of this'll have less focus on the environments and more on general plot and character design.

-__-'

third semester is awesome so far

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