“Fuck… you…” Aku rasped, laying on his back in the abyss, which would have been a nice break if his legs weren’t both separated from the rest of him. It didn’t take long for him to bleed out from there, and he was back standing unharmed across from the dreamscape battlefield from Maniac. 

“Shut up,” he growled.

“I didn’t say anything,” Maniac said defensively.

“You were going to,” Aku retorted, forming a sword from thin air. This one wasn’t one of the shadow weapons that he’d first made when he got here, but a sword made of a crimson steel and a black hilt. It was a longsword with a blade that curved outwards towards the hilt. He also gave it a black gem in the crossguard, mimicking Bast’s signature feature. 

Maniac raised his own sword, still a shadow blade. “Maybe you won’t suck this time.”

Aku scowled, sending a surge of energy to his arm, but instead of launching his sword, he hurled at the shadowy lunatic. It made a whistle as it flew, and the sword reached Maniac before the sound did. Unfortunately, he ducked to the side just before it could skewer his snarky head. 

“You tried that 5 deaths ago. It still sucked the second time,” he started. “But hey-”

Before he could finish, Aku sent another surge of energy, to his legs this time, and launched himself. His sword, which was miles past Maniac by that point, teleported back into his hand just as he brought his arm down in a slash. The tip of his blade cut through the darkness of Maniac’s left shoulder, severing several major muscles and rendering it useless. 

He groaned, teleporting out of reach. “Son of a…. Lucky shot.” 

Not giving him time to recover, Aku rushed forward, thrusting at Maniac’s chest. The attack was slashed aside, and he struggled to keep his grip on his sword. He barely managed to lean out of the way of a follow up backslash at his throat before jumping back, putting distance between them. 

That’s when he felt it. A faint, but very much there feeling behind him. He could barely sense it, like a slight breeze tickling some part of his being. Acting purely on instinct, he whirled around, slashing at the disturbance. His sword arced through the air, veering towards empty space, but just as it seemed he would strike nothing, Maniac appeared in that empty space. Bone snapped and flesh tore as Aku’s sword passed through Maniac’s torso, slicing him in half. Aku watched in disbelief as the bastard’s eyes widened in shock, then faded of their color. 

Then they were back, standing across from each other as usual. 

There was a scowl on Maniac’s face, his eyes narrowed and his lips curved down. 

‘Lips! He has a mouth now!’ Aku thought, looking at the line of color that made up the figure’s new mouth. It didn’t have much texture, similar to the eyes. Just a mouth-shaped form of color, which was also shifting colors, just like its eyes. Their colors were in sync too. 

“It took you long enough,” Maniac said, tapping the pommel of his sword absently while the tip rested on the ground. “You should’ve caught onto that trick sooner, but I guess it’s fine. At least you figured it out.”

“What exactly did I figure out? I can sense where you’re going to teleport now?” He asked, sitting down and laying his sword across his lap. 

“Eh, kind of. You remember what your little helper, Chaos, told you, right? How your powers work?”

“I remember them saying that they were related to reality, that’s about it.”

Maniac nodded. “Good enough. What you can do is manipulate reality. Warp space, manipulate matter, even erase it, given that you’re powerful enough,” he explained, pausing for a moment before continuing. “I won’t bore you with all the amazing things you can do, seeing as you’re too dumb to use them yet, but I’ll help teach you what you can do right now.”

Aku sensed the feeling behind him again, and then Maniac was there. 

“What you’re sensing before I teleport is the space behind you warping. What I’m sure you’ve been calling ‘teleporting’ is actually me folding the space between me and you and stepping through it. I call it ‘Warp Step’.”

‘Definitely stealing that.’ Aku thought. “So how do I ‘Warp Step’? Can I do it at my level?”

“You can, yes, but you need training first. You have enough understanding of your power to be able to sense when it’s being used around you, hence why you can predict where I’m going to Warp Step before I do. To your credit, that’s a big step, but it’s not enough. Luckily for you, you have a good teacher.” 

Aku didn’t like the look Maniac was giving him at all. 

***

Before that morning after training, Akuma didn’t think it was possible to feel as exhausted as he did after sleeping for so long. It wasn’t his body that ached, but his mind. Technically speaking, he’d been awake for almost 3 straight days now, since even when he slept he was still awake, training with Maniac. 

One interesting thing he noted was that Chaos didn’t seem to be able to see, enter, or see memories of his time inside the dreamscape. He wasn’t sure how that worked, but he decided to keep it a secret for now. It was unclear whether Maniac was someone he could talk openly about, or share information of yet, so he found it safer to keep it to himself for now. 

That day was much like the last few. Work on his technique in the forge, deliver the swords, then free time. 

Today, he used this time to go pay Caspian another visit. 

He knocked on the thief’s door, which was quickly opened by a shirtless Caspian. He was sweating, condensation dripping down his chiseled torso and abs, his short brown hair mussed and damp. He kindly slammed the door in Aku’s face, then minutes later, it opened again to reveal a now clothed Caspian, whose face was red. 

“What do you want?” he mumbled, tugging on the hem of his fresh white shirt. 

Aku smirked, shrugging. “Nothing, really. I was bored and thought you might be fun to hang with. Is that so wrong?” 

Caspian scoffed and turned around, walking into his house. Looking over his shoulder, he raised an eyebrow at Aku. “You coming?”

Aku nodded, quickly stepping inside and closing the door behind him, locking it. He was led to Caspian’s room, which was marginally bigger than Aku’s. Their bed was the same size, full, and he had a desk as well. He had a map of the city draped on the wall, which Aku took a mental picture of. He also noticed the dagger he’d delivered yesterday hanging on the wall beside one other exactly like it. 

Caspian noticed him looking, nudging his shoulder to get his attention. “I modified your name a bit. I’m calling them the Twin Fangs.”

Aku nodded, pleased to have at least contributed. “I like it.”

‘I do too,’ Chaos thought approvingly. 

He suppressed a smirk, looking back at the two daggers. “So, if you don’t mind me asking, what do you have them for?” He looked back to the other man, raising one eyebrow. “You aren’t an adventurer, are you?”

Caspian startled, eyes darting to his hands, shoulders tensing. “Uh, no… I just um… collect them. They’re… good decorations.” 

Aku suppressed the urge to question the man, and he could feel that Chaos was thinking the same. “Hm. I see. They do look quite good, don’t they?” he said, changing the subject. 

Caspian’s shoulders relaxed.

“So, uh, you got anything to do around here?” Aku said, trying to dispel the growing tension.

Meeting Aku’s gaze again, Caspian shrugged. “We could… walk around the city, or something. I know a few spots.”

‘It would probably be a good idea to get to know the city better, no?’ Chaos thought.

‘Yeah, probably true. It definitely wouldn’t hurt,’ Aku replied. ‘But also… What about the Pillars? I’d imagine they haven’t stopped looking for me. If I’m spotted…’

‘Then I’ll teleport you two back, just like I did last time. As long as they don’t figure out that you’re associated with Bast or Geoff, then you should be alright. I doubt they got a good look at them last time, so don’t worry so much.’ 

Aku sighed. “Sure, sounds good.” 

Caspian led Aku out of the house and down the street towards the outer wall, which they walked along for a while. It was a little suffocating walking next to the enormous city walls this close. They drowned the houses under them in shadow at this late hour where they were walking. The area they were in then was a poorer district, most of the houses being covered in a lot of vines and other plants. Even still, though, there were still children out playing in the streets, parents were still playing with their kids, and there was still life. 

“The people around here… they have it harder than most of the rest of us. A lot of them got here because someone in their family was killed in the war.” He paused, a sullen expression on his face.” After a while, he shook his head and continued on. “This way, come on,” Caspian led him to a tower, which was embedded into the side of the wall. Its door was broken, and they were able to get inside and climb the ladder up to the top of the wall. They sat down on the edge of the wall, high above the rest of the city. The sun was setting out on the horizon, casting warm orange light over the emerald fields of grass surrounding Genesis. 

Aku looked over at Caspian, who seemed to glow in the light. His brown hair reflected the light perfectly, his light green eyes shining like small gemstones. He was leaning back, his arms supporting him behind his back, and his legs dangled off the side of the wall. A flush crept its way up Aku’s neck.

“How did you do that thing, back at the market?” Aku asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them. 

Caspian turned his head, meeting Aku’s gaze. “What thing?”

Aku faced the other man, bringing one knee up to his chest, which he rested his arm on, while his other leg hung off the edge like Caspian’s. “The apparitions you made. You made copies of yourself to evade me. How did you do that?”

Caspian frowned, looking off into the distance. “That’s… a secret.” 

Aku frowned too, about to press the issue when Chaos cut him off.

‘Don’t. He’ll tell you when he’s ready,’ She said in that motherly tone of hers.

‘You know something, don’t you?’ Aku accused, scowling. 

‘I do. Which is why I’m telling you not to press him,’ she said with finality in her voice. 

Aku nodded, keeping quiet for a while before changing the subject. “You come up here often?” 

Caspian shrugged, looking back at Aku again. “Yeah, somewhat. Helps get away from all the idiots down below. Though, guards do notice me sometimes, so I have to be careful.” 

“They get mad?” 

“Kinda. It’s sort of against the law, but it isn’t like a severe thing.” He looked over at Aku, a curious expression on his face. “How long have you been around here? It doesn’t seem like you’re very familiar with the city.” 

“Yeah, you’re not wrong. I’ve only been in Genesis for about… 5 days, now,” he confirmed. 

“Where were you before?”

Aku paused. It wasn’t the first time someone had asked him, yet he still wasn’t sure what the best answer was. “Just around, I guess. I came from Creatia, then ended up here.”

“Hm… cool.” 

“That’s cool?” Aku smirked.

“Well- I don’t know. I just… haven’t been around the Holy Realms much. I’ve only been here, to Genesis.” He stammered, fiddling with the hem of his white shirt. 

Aku laughed, agreeing. “Yeah, I guess it would be pretty cool, then.”