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Who: Asch, Luke, and their Shadows.
What: FINAL SHOWDOWN
When: November 28th
Where: Streets of Prospero, Dark Hour.
Rating: Let's call it safe and say PG-13.
Warning: Violence, and Asch being grumpy.

As midnight approached, Asch was in his room, on his bed, taking inventory of himself. His only weapon, the good old trusty pipe, was polished almost like he would a sword. He almost wished his sword had followed him to this world, but it seemed only the dreck had luck enough for that; yet another thing that had him irritated, but he forced the rage down for now. There would be time enough for him to be pissed off, like when he set out to finally decapitate that fake that was parading around as him!

...well, maybe not decapitate, but he'd certainly give the fake a hell of a headache.

Three minutes to midnight. Asch grasped his pipe firmly in his hand, letting out a breath before standing up, walking out of the apartment. He glanced at the door across the hall, before turning around to lock up.

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Both Asch's managed to pause their fight, turning to Luke at the same time, and...

"SHUT UP, DRECK!"

Of course, that had to be about the only thing the two of them agreed on. Still, it seemed to spawn another argument between the two of them, as the original Asch struck out against his shadow, piping him rather hard in the side.

"Shut up! He's my replica! Only I'll call him dreck!"

"... See if I try to help next time." JERKS. Only Luke really doesn't mean that. If anything, he's pouting at the two for yelling at him. Of course, it drops a few moments later after Asch's proclamation. Which seemed to strike a reaction from both replicas.

"Asch..."

The shadow Asch stumbled from the blow, glaring at the original and returning the strike with the flat of his blade. Asch swore as he also stumbled, soon finding the point of the shadow's blade in his face.

"You damn hypocrite!" the shadow bellowed. "You can call him 'your' replica, but you can't even admit to the fact that the reason I exist is because of him?!"

"That's not--!"

"Like hell it isn't!" the shadow raged, cutting Asch off. "Tell him! Tell him what Van said to you before you arrived at Yulia City!"

Asch froze, his face paling for a moment, before the rage came back. He narrowed his eyes at his shadow, tightening his grip on the pipe.

"No! It's none of his business, and none of yours either!"

Luke wouldn't miss that. He wouldn't miss those important words that Asch's shadow just said. After all, he wasn't aware of what Van said to Asch exactly... He never knew, either.

"What's he talking about, Asch?" Luke knows that he just said it was none of his damn business. However, quite frankly, it did become his business ever since they ran into their shadows.

Asch opened his mouth to snap at him, but his Shadow cut him off before he could.

"Don't you tell him off," he snapped. "Tell him about everything you went through. How Van was there to manipulate you when you were at your most vulnerable! How you kept wanting to believe in him even though it was obvious what was happening!"

Asch hesitated, fighting with himself. It wasn't fair; he didn't want all of his baggage out in the open for everyone to see. It was no one's business but his own. And yet...

And yet...

The Shadow lowered his sword finally, calmer now.

"Tell him," he said softly. "He deserves to hear it from you and you know it."

With a breath in, Luke trails over to the original with a soft expression on his face. He knows -- He knows it might not be the easiest thing. Revealing skeletons in the closet and what not, right in front of someone who was the cause of it all.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, Asch." Reaching up, he squeezed Asch's shoulder with a nod, and a smile of comfort. He'd understand why, of course. Seeing that when his secrets were leaked, he didn't like it either.

Asch shot the replica a miserable glare, before turning away, keeping his focus on his Shadow.

"...that time on the Tartarus wasn't the first time I saw you," he began, speaking softly. "I saw you when I was ten, not long after you were created." He refused to say that Luke was "born". A birth was supposed to be a happy thing, and there was nothing happy about the way the replica had been brought into existence. "You were at the manor playing with everyone... I didn't know what to think, but Van was there. He told me I had been replaced, and..."

He trailed off a moment, clenching his fist. "...I was ten years old. What the hell else was I supposed to think?!" he demanded, but it seemed more like he was asking himself than Luke. It was a moment before he continued, "Van was always there, he always had the answers. Considering he saved me from being just another victim of the Score, I wasn't going to object."

Asch paused again, shaking slightly. "It was always, if I followed him, I'd be a hero. A hero that changed the fate of the world. He said that to me again... when Akzeriuth fell."

He stopped then, giving the shadow an irate glare, as if to say, "Happy now?"

Luke listened thoughtfully at his original. Not saying a word. Nothing at all until the very end, when he still couldn't think about anything to say. I mean, what could you say when you're the very reason he's feeling this way? Nothing seemed right at the moment, and his eyes trailed back to Asch's shadow, then back at Asch. Serious, but ever so caring, because, even if Asch didn't like him, he cared for Asch.

He was responsible for a lot of things wrong in Asch's life, but he wasn't going to run away from everything either.

"I'm sorry, Asch." All he could do was apologize. This was Asch's battle now. It wasn't his, so it all came up to Asch's decisions whether or not he could accept his shadow. "I know you must be hurting inside. It's my fault after all."

Turning his head toward the shadow. "But that's no reason to reject what you're hiding, Asch. We all have things we want to hide from everyone, but we don't have to be ashamed of it."

This is probably gonna sound silly. Since, even Luke finds himself chuckling with a bit of a sad expressing lingering.

"You're a hero to us." Seeing that you died a heroic death and what not. You saved him, saved everyone if it weren't for his power and everything.

Asch let out a faint scoff at Luke's words, though he didn't interrupt him. He remained silent for a long moment, until his replica said that. He glared at him, wanting to be pissed, but it sounded so innocent when he said it that he couldn't be too mad at him. Still, considering how far in Luke's past Asch was from, he couldn't understand why he would say that.

"How the hell am I a hero, especially to you?" he asked. "I beat the hell out of you and insult you at every opportunity."

Having Asch know the future-- It was probably better for him. It was going to happen, whether Luke liked it or not. Besides -- There were times even before Asch's dead and post-death that Asch saved them numerous times. Luke didn't care about the insults, or regular beat downs now. All that he knew was...

"You saved us. More than once, Asch." Chuckling again, he scratched the back of his head. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't have made it to the end.

You're always going to be a hero to me, Asch. I know that much is sure."

Another soft sound escaped from Asch, though it wasn't a scoff that time. Dammit, how the hell did something so... sweet come from him? He wasn't sure if he should snap at him for making his teeth rot, or... actually... thank him for saying that...

Unfortunately, his shadow was there, a sneer on his face as he pointed to him mockingly.

"I think you defrosted the ice queen with that, dreck."

Asch let out an awkward noise, red creeping up onto his face. "S-shut up, idiot!"

"You don't have to say anything to me, Asch." Luke wanted to let him know, and that was that.

So, that being said, Luke takes a step back and smile at his original. Waiting for his decision.

Asch glanced back at Luke, the expression on his face as mixed as his emotions at the moment. Finally, he let out a tired sigh, turning back to his Shadow.

"Fine," he began. "I... I hate myself. I hate the fact that I was too blinded by my childhood vision of Van to see what he was doing earlier. I hate that I bought into his lies for so long, and I hate that it makes me look like my replica."

He fell quiet for a long moment, eyes flicking reluctantly back to Luke, before muttering reluctantly, "...though I guess that doesn't turn out to be a bad thing."

His shadow let out a faint snort, his expression calming as he stepped forward, resting a hand on the real Asch's shoulder.

"You don't need to hate so much," he said softly. "It just hurts too much to hate like that."

Asch didn't respond, though he nodded slightly in agreement.

Luke half smiled, because of thought that Asch was insulting him with that first bit. Then the second bit rolled in, and that half smiled turned into a much more genuine; comforting smile. Very happy that his original agreed with his shadow, and that the two, if anything, have a possible chance of rebuilding and fixing what they couldn't before. It was a nice feeling, really.

Such a nice feeling, that, whatever Luke was feeling was rubbing off on his shadow. Seeing that his twisted smile, also dropped to something that was accepting of the two of them. Of course, he turned to Luke and stopped right in front of him, now that their time was finished.

"Asch is Asch. Luke is Luke.

You two exist for a reason. You have a meaning to your births, so you're not a replacement. You two are separate people. ... Try to remember that, Luke." Then turning to Asch. "Asch."

The shadow, for once, smiled from pure innocence and backed away to be closer to Asch's shadow.

The Asch Shadow clapped a hand on his Luke's shoulder when he got close enough, giving it a squeeze.

"Take care of each other," he added. "You need each other more than you realize."

He gave the shadow replica a grin, as if to say, "Shall we?" before quietly fading away, returning to the place he belonged.

A nod, and the shadow fades along with Asch. Happily, might I add.

... Luke on the other hand felt like he just had a million heart-attacks at how close they both were to becoming roasted dinner for Christmas.

"... That was a close one." Not that he didn't mean every word that he said, but seriously. That was a freaking close one.

Asch didn't respond, looking surprisingly somber, something that wasn't exactly common for him. After a moment, he turned away from where his Shadow had been, sparing Luke a glance.

"...let's go home."

Nodding, he walked over to Asch and smiled. Half surprised at his lack of yelling, and half happy that things were finally over, and maybe they could just start over again and be friends. Or something of that tier.

"Yeah. It's getting late." Reaching over to his original and squeezing his shoulder for good measure.

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PFFTT SO TELL ME IF I SHOULD EDIT THIS BECAUSE HHHH

You're fine! HAVE MORE CONFIDENCE, DRECK!

askjdsajd OKAY OKAY

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I was gonna quote karma-- Okay I'm doing it screw this

LMAO!

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