flyawaythief:

“Exactly! The rules can’t be changed back after what I’ve done. See, you’re starting to get it now. Cops never really forget things like ‘this guy killed one of our own’.” A pat on the back, a gentle one. A smile in his voice. A cry for help in his tears.

“… I choose to kill because…” And this was hard to say. Pandora didn’t want him to say it. “…it’s a test. To see how much I can be changed. How far it can push me. T-to abandon my old morals.” A sharp inhale, exhale, then grinning. “It sure worked, don’t you think? See how powerful Pandora is?”

…It’s hurting him.

It shouldn’t be a surprise, he’s been saying the actions and words have been influence and control, but… It hurt to hear.

“Stop that. It can’t be that powerful, if you’re… that aware of what it’s doing. You’re not happy about it, and things can be changed back. It’d take time… but…”

…But he probably wasn’t going to listen. Or, at least, Pandora wouldn’t let anything less than a more solid argument get through, if anything. …And he didn’t have one. He really didn’t know how the police might take things if the other did try to change back. He’d like to say they knew the old Kid, if this one could try to go back to actively stopping others from being harmed, then maybe they’d not act quite so harshly…

But he didn’t know. And if even a few do hold strong grudges, it wouldn’t help… Just…

The thief actually put an arm around his other self in return.

“Stop giving up. If you keep talking about how strong it is, if you keep admitting it beat you, then it really has won. …Could you try and save at least one person? There’s so much you can still do to try and defy it… You’re not completely taken yet. You still care, outside of that stone. …And I’m sure you can still try.”