The Marionette ? Chuuya X Reader

5: Mirrors

"I work here." Is all you say, for some reason not wanting to give him your name.

"I know that much, you wouldn't be alive still if you didn't. You're working under Chuuya right now...but who are you?"

You don't answer, instead staring him down with his same shadows mirrored in your own eyes, inexplicable caution between the two of you.

"Who are you?" You ask, turning it around.

"Akutagawa." The man says with pride, though when you catch a hesitance in that pride, you recognize something you had only seen in yourself.

A wound in being able to identify your own self.

•••

"Dazai?"

"[f/n], I've brought a task for you!" The young executive exclaims with a joy so forced, even you notice how unmatched it is with the rest of his demeanour.

"You have blood all over you." You point out, your young eyes widened with alarm.

"Ah, yes. I had to deal with a weak dog today...you are much more obedient than him so don't worry, it won't be your blood on me."

You stare at the boy with a suit tainted red, his gun swinging in his hand, his own brown eye darker than ever showing no remorse for whatever punishment he's been giving. All you feel is fear inside you, knowing that Dazai would turn against anyone, as he fears nothing, while you fear how inhumane he is.

"What's his name?" You ask softly, pity growing in you thinking about the soul that had to train under Dazai as well, curiosity in you wondering if your jobs would ever collide then.

"What have I told you about questions?"

Dazai's voice turns cold, annoyance flashing across his bandaged face, and you immediately look down, remembering your place again as he places his gun on your bed as he leans in. When you don't say anything, staring at the floor you watched for too long as you were locked in your room, Dazai smiles again and turns away only to pull out some files, opening them up and then looking back at you.

"Now that's a good doll. Are you ready to hear our next assignment?"

You look up again and nod, putting away any fear, any curiosity at who it was also facing Dazai's moods, the memory of this encounter being buried deep inside your memories already.

•••

"Are you Dazai's dog?"

The question rings in the corridors like a crack in ice, the minor anticipation of Akutagawa's reaction painful. You know it isn't a question you should have asked, but you couldn't stop yourself from asking. You'd been in the dark for far too long, and with memories surging up, you are only compelled to further figure it out as you had seen Chuuya try to in his own eyes.

"Excuse me?"

"Dazai's dog. He mentioned you once."

"What did he say?"

He called you weak, practically worthless.

You can't bring yourself to say it out loud, a gut feeling in your stomach warning you against it.

"Nothing."

Eyes narrowing, Akutagawa does nothing but keep his hard gaze on you, though you see the dislike grow in his grey eyes, he does nothing to express the also growing anger. Both reserved, nothing happens to help this situation, although the longer you stay in these halls with this man in front of you, the greater you feel the threatening tension. There is something so similar between the two of you, though you didn't think he had any idea as to why until he spoke again.

"You're the Marionette then? Or should I say, Dazai's marionette?"

A chill goes down your spine as you hear that name coming from someone else, and the sudden memory of Dazai calling you that once creeps in, causing discomfort in your every nerve. However, you can't deny Akutagawa's question.

"Yes."

"Then you worked under Dazai too...it's only luck that I've run into you now, but now that I have..."

Akutagawa walks closer to you hiding a cough as he brings both hands into his large, black trench coat's pockets. He doesn't need to finish his sentence for you to know what he was going to say, since it's written all over his cold grey eyes the closer he gets.

"...I'm here to tell you you have no business being in the Port Mafia anymore. I've been superior to you all these years, even if we haven't seen each other until now. Dazai's only regret in this place, was probably you. Why else would he have locked you away?"

With that, Akutagawa walks away, and you stay staring to where he was, only hearing his soft footsteps get softer the further away he gets, the only sound left being your agitated heart, hurt trying so hard to break free and further darken your heart. The colours of the stained glass feel dull now as you continue to walk to your room as you had been before you got sidetracked, your mind reversing back to its submissive state with the crushing weight of salt being rubbed in your mental wounds.

When you get back to your room, you are about to just lay down your bed and hope to skip a few days off your waking hours, though you feel an itch to write the name of the man who's life you took earlier on your wall of names, so you don't fight it. You allow your habits from the dark era continue, the last thing on your mind as you finally go to lay down in the darkness of your room under all your sorrows being the small regret that you had let Chuuya influence you so much so quickly, your hope in his saving to no longer be attached to strings in your past tugging at you with too much ease.

What about you, Chuuya? Who are you? Why has your mind changed?

What are you doing to mine, making me so self aware?