And that was why L.L never thought to talk about the subject as a boy - they'd both been adept at avoiding hard conversations.

"Don't call them that." He bit out, a flash of rage startling his eyes open to glare right at the drill. "They're demons who stole our faces."

What he wouldn't give to hunt down the creature that had pretended to be him and take it apart.

"The thing pretending to be me made a habit out of recording videos. The one with your mirror self was the most pleasant of the lot - just a nonsense of pathetically obvious psychological manipulation. It had heard about my Emperor's facade and wanted us to live in that reality."

Pathetic, as if for one instant he'd ever want to exist with the mass of all that resentment and misery weighing on him. The world's hatred had only been bearable as an active build up to his own suicide... how had Suzaku lived in that state for so long?

"How much chaos did your doppelganger cause for you?" He was calmer once more.