Chương 67: Generational Scars
"So how did he take it?" Atlas asked, pulling away from the wall as he followed next to Gojo who had just had a serious talk with Itadori.
"Surprisingly. Pretty well, he is very accepting of a world that scares most people. If anything he is quiet but I'm not surprised by that." Gojo responded as his hand combed back some of his hair. Turning he looked at Atlas. "It's a bit suspicious how calm he seems to be about everything but in the end, I don't think he has any past connection to Kenjaku apart from being an experiment."
Nodding Atlas said, "So just like me and Mizuki." With a sigh. Shaking his head, "Well, then I don't see why we can't let him go and speak to his friends."
"Yeah, he wants to do that before he makes a choice after all," Gojo said, his voice growing solemn as he looked out over the yard to see the second year's training. His eyes settled on Yuta who was laughing as he helped Toge to his feet.
Seeing their eyes wrinkle as they laughed together he couldn't help but feel his face harden. Seeing this Atlas said with a mellow tone. "They have had a hard life, but in the end, it wasn't as bad as it could have been."
"We were just kids," Gojo said as he shook his head.
Nodding Atlas said, "You were also one of the strongest, and trouble found you because of that. I'm sorry I wasn't here to protect you when you needed it most." Atlas said, his voice carrying regret.
He had come back and saved them, but he had let them need saving. That was one of his biggest mistakes, but he couldn't take it back all he could do was better now.
"I'm glad that we could help Yuta with forgiving himself. Hoshi really is a good therapist." Gojo said with a laugh as the life returned to him.
"Yeah, he is, isn't he. Being able to see the soul really helps him though so he is cheating. Just like you do in basketball." Atlas says through a growing grin.
Laughing Gojo responds. "No, you're just bad at it. That is why I am the strongest!"
Shaking his head Atlas let the comment pass but the sombre mood soon returned as Gojo said. "I can't help but feel the current generation will have their own trials. Sukuna is alive again, even if he is contained. Powerful curses are appearing. And maybe, Kenjaku will soon start acting."
"They're just kids," Atlas responded as he put his hand on Gojo's shoulder. His lips set into a thin line as he thought of his next words. Despite the sun, something felt so cold. "I get what you're saying, but just like I protected Geto, you can protect them."
"But. I, couldn't protect Geto." Gojo said as he looked at Atlas. "If you hadn't been there he would have… I don't even want to think about it."
"You are stronger now, so you can protect them. And you can raise them to protect themselves, just like I tried." Atlas responded, although something in his chest ached, like the future that he knew wouldn't come, but something worse would. Something had felt off about his cursed energy, about the planes beyond.
He had changed this world, the people, the situation. The villains. Gojo was worried, but he never showed it, apart from moments like now when he saw the depression that young Itadori carried, the depression that Yuta had carried.
"You saved Yuta. You can save him too." Atlas said as he turned and started walking again hearing Gojo follow him.
"This is out of character for you, where is the Gojo that can do anything. He's the person that is going to beat me one day. Not this, hold your chin up. You're their mentor so act like it." Atlas said with a grin as he shook his head. Gojo sure had changed.
He was willing to show weakness because Geto was still with him. He wasn't alone at the peak.
"What do you mean going to? I already can, I just don't want to ruin your ego." Gojo said with a smirk as he lowered his blindfold to glare at Atlas.
With his own eyes flashing a deep violet countless worlds expended through his irises as he smiled back at Gojo challengingly. His power started to flare as he laughed. "Alright, then big shot. Show me what you can do then space boy-"
"Outside!" Geto said as he marched in with Megumi behind him. "Take your petty bickering outside you two Manics, honestly, if I didn't know you better I would think you are both children."
"I've come to see Itadori, Megumi wants to talk to him too. So get out our way before I make you." Geto threatened as black portals started to open behind him, two giant hands coming out.
"Oh, the puppy thinks he can bark because he has a serpent backing him." Atlas chuckles as he and Gojo both turn to face him.
"Shall we deal with him before we have a real fight then Atlas? I could use a warm-up." Gojo said as he stepped forward.
Hearing a voice from behind them all three of them froze as Megumi relaxed. "If you all want to fight be my guest but I swear if there is a single scratch or the smallest mark on my building I may not be able to hurt you, but I will do my best to make your lives hell," Yaga says in a chillingly calm voice but the veins pressing against his forehead showed how he was really feeling.
"Tell me the situation with this Itadori kid. Oh, and Atlas I have a mission for you." Yaga started to say as he turned to look at Atlas who had already disappeared at the word mission.
"Well, now that he is gone things are more manageable," Megumi said as he looked up at Geto who was standing beside him.
Seeing this Geto started to make his way towards the isolation room with Megumi following closely behind him. Leaving Yaga with Gojo to explain the situation.
---
"What do you think would happen if I gave it all. What if at the end I just wanted to burn as much as I could. Get rid of this place." Frank said, his voice strained and barely audible. His glassy eyes reflected the glassy stone he looked at.
The pit.
He was spending a lot of time here.
"I don't think you have much left to give…" Atlas said honestly as he walked up to Frank looking at the man. His hair was all gone, his loose skin hanging on brittle bones. His muscles were old and frail and his fingernails were sickly white. Not a hint of pink or life in his entire body.
If he hadn't spoken Atlas would have thought that he had already passed away.
"You're right lad," Frank said with a soft wheeze. He sounded so… dry.
Stepping up beside him he took the man's hand and gently held it in his as he patted the wrinkled and marked skin. His gaze fell as he knelt on the smooth stone to be level with Frank who was sitting in a wheelchair, one that he had been trapped in for quite a while.
"If I wanted I could heal you," Atlas said in a resolute voice as if he had already chosen what was going to happen.
Nodding slowly, a single motion that creaked with strain. "But you won't will you?" Frank responded as he turned to look at Atlas, his glassy eyes staring through the space that Atlas was in.
The past few months had been the worst for the man. His age showed more and more every day as his sight started to fail first. But soon everything else faded too. His body was failing him. His mind was wearing thin. Some days he wouldn't even be able to speak.
But yet he was still alive… somehow.
"Because you don't want me to?" Atlas asked, the faintest traces of hope clinging to the edge of his voice.
Smiling a worn smile Frank's old lips cracked with the expression. Holding his hand out he slowly put it on the side of Atlas' face. He didn't answer the question, he didn't need to.
"I don't know where you came from or how you ended up in Hoshi's body, but it was a blessing. I don't think I would have had happy years if I hadn't found you that day. But you gave me many that I didn't deserve. You gave me back a smile lad. And that is something that I will never give up." Frank slowly said, speaking more at once than he had in the entire past month.
"I am ready to move on, I have some friends waiting for me on the other side, some more adventures to make. Some more smiles to have. I have lived for longer than I feel I should have." Frank finished as he looked at the setting sun.
Nodding his head Atlas held his tears in. Taking a few steps back.
He knew that this was inevitable. Frank had given something that only Hoshi could give him back. The health of his soul, and even then, it wouldn't be free. Everything had a cost. And at the end of the day, he didn't want it. He wanted to be able to move on.
Smiling softly despite the tears in his eyes Atlas said. "Then I guess this is goodbye old man?" His voice was heavy with grief.
"You have many more years and many more mistakes ahead of you lad… I just hope I gave you enough that you can avoid the worst of them." His words choked as tears made their way between the folds in his skin.
Nodding Atlas said, "You did."
"Then yes, this is goodbye," Frank said. His voice ran dry as his skin started to drift away in the breeze. Seeing cursed energy starting to surge through Frank's body he shielded himself.
As the veins started to glow. And the dull thump of a weak heart started to hammer like a once powerful engine Frank, with the power given to him by his technique stood from his seat. For the first time in years, he took a step forward.
Into the pit.
Looking on Atlas saw him stand in the centre as his face turned to the horizon to look at the sun. And with blinding light, his skin faded away. And for the briefest of moments. Atlas saw the confident figure of a young boy without a single scar.
A soul, so bright and unblemished. Floating in the ashes of its body that drifted away like embers in the wind and unlike the heat he was expecting a soft warmth shone came forth from the pit.
Hearing footsteps behind him as the visage faded Atlas looked at the ground. The tears that ran off his chin rolled down the smooth stone and into the pile of ashes.
"He was a good man Atlas. You're lucky that he chose to be your dad." Toji said as he walked up behind his friend. Having seen all this happen from a distance. He had wanted them to have a moment alone.
Shaking his head Atlas said, "he has been through enough, he doesn't need to suffer the scars that this era will give." Atlas said as he shook his head.
"You say that like something big is coming," Toji mentions as he takes out a small shot glass. Something that Frank had given him. A small memento from his time with the man. "I doubt that anything could trouble you."
Nodding Atlas spoke again in a much firmer voice, his emotions settling as he stared at the ashes. He shouldn't be sad. Frank had been through enough. It was time that he was able to rest. He knew this but grief was something that he couldn't just logic away. "I doubt that too. But this world isn't that simple. I don't know why. But the scales always seem to balance…"
"He was a good man," Toji responded with, knowing what Atlas meant. As soon as Atlas started to get too strong something that his strength couldn't fight appeared.
The manipulation of those close to him, Kenjaku had used that to try and break him.
"He was," Atlas confirmed.
Nodding Toji wound his arm back and threw the glass at the ashes and listened to the sound of it shattering. The impact shattered the perfectly smooth stone as a crack travelled up the surface ruining the pit's perfectly smooth surface.
"I guess now that the previous generation is gone… It's time for something new to start." Toji voiced as he turned and started to walk away.
Following a few steps behind him Atlas didn't say anything. Seeing Megumi standing in the distance. A confused and sad look on his face as he watched this happen. He didn't know Frank well, apart from a strange old man who stayed with them, but his father rarely showed any emotion towards anyone.
He must have been special.
Whoever he really was… apart from a strange old man.
Waving his hand a rift in space appeared for Megumi and Toji. As Megumi stepped straight through it Toji took a moment to look at Atlas. Sharing a nod Toji also went through the rift leaving Atlas alone.
Taking one more look at the setting sun Atlas could feel it. Something was changing.
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