Linky's Fics

Calling Out My Name (Against The Waves)

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Waves crashed on the shore, Mari frantically screamed out for Kusaka. Sprinting right past his body which was only a short distance below— Unable to call out to her, to let her know he was right there.

It hurt deeper than the injuries he sustained from those damned orphnochs. All of this pained him more than his rapidly degrading body, which was crumbling into dust. He was dying. And Mari was so close, yet the furthest away she had ever been at the same time.

This was it wasn’t it? He knew well the second he put the Kaixa belt on again that he would only be further shortening his life. Cutting off even more of his already limited time. That solution inside him was depleting.

And only now was he able to process that information, since he collapsed back at the hospital. This really was the worst time to be having the very start of a crisis over this. He was dying, and alone. There was no time he could afford to fuss over it. But it still couldn’t stop plaguing his racing thoughts.

Him, a human— injected with an orphnoch solution? Despite all his efforts to not try to, he couldn’t stop thinking of the implications. Only orphnochs are able to wield these belts. Hence that solution.

So all this time… He wasn’t purely human.

This was the second biggest thing bothering him. Even the smallest dose was too much. And even if it is fading away, it still wouldn’t change the fact it was inside him this whole time. All this time, he was tainted with the essence of those disgusting creatures.

Yet without it, Kusaka wouldn’t have been able to fight. Why of all times, did this all have to sink in now?

He might as well be on the same low level of existence as Inui if that were the case.

...Inui . He managed to hear Mari call him requesting for help. He couldn’t help but scoff, even if it was weak. Like Inui could even do anything for him right now anyways—

No. NO.

The last thing he needed right now was that piece of scum, to potentially be the very last thing that crossed his mind. And he couldn’t die. Not now. Not here. He refused. Now more than ever, he couldn’t afford to leave Mari alone.

Mari desperately kept screaming out for him, the crashing of the waves roared in his ears. He had to get up. To continue to live, for her.

But Kusaka had no say. For his life was not meant to continue. The last thing he heard was one final roaring of the tide. The last thing he saw was the Kaixa suit, and his neck was promptly snapped.

It all instantly went dark.

Kusaka laid lifeless and limp on the rocks. Killed by the very suit he used to try and achieve his goal with.

Worn by the very monsters he swore to himself that he’d eliminate.

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End Notes: Originally I was gonna do something OOO related with this prompt, then I finished Faiz last night in a discord groupwatch. First time seeing it, and it was just so good. Been thinking about this show a lot and will continue to think about it a lot. So it's why I made this a Faiz fic instead for this prompt, even though I didn't expect to write something for this so soon.

I was thinking about how if Kusaka wasn't in a constant flurry of doing things this episode, and then dying, would he have at some point gotten upset about having that solution injected in him? I feel he would have, given how much he loathed orphonochs. So I explored that concept a bit here. Well as much as one could have given how he is dying in this scene. (Also I loved Kusaka. He was such an asshole and very intriguing to me. A great "love to hate" character.)

Still trying to get my grasp on the voices for the characters this series but I had a good time writing this. Thanks so much for reading!

(Originally Posted on 2023-02-19)

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