Fixing Problems

His breath hung in the air, the slow exhale taking the form of a small cloud in front of his lips. This place was horrible. The ruined buildings, the old worn stone. The shattered tiles littered the ground with sharp flakes of broken clay.

Damp moss hid back in the fading mortar and the air carried a damp sour taste that hung on the end of his tongue.

"WhY Did yoU leaVe me hEre?" A voice slowly crept into the air, the broken tones mournful. The scrape of nails against the floor sent shivers down his spine.

Fucking Atlas… leaving him here because there was a strong spirit and he needed to conquer it on his own.

The abandoned ruins of an old town sat far out in the country collecting as many rumours as it had dust. The disappearance of curious teens coming here to test their bravery caused police investigations that were also soon lost. The scattered corpses he had found were enough to let him know what happened to them…

It was a horrid scene, but manageable.

Hearing it move away, starting to gain distance Geto nodded his head slowly before he slipped around the corner, watching the fading back of the creature. It was one of two high first grades that lived here and he would rather take them out quickly one at a time than be caught fighting both of them at once.

Its long arms scraped against the floor, the four of them being used more like legs to help it walk. The head lay against its shoulder sideways, like a human that had grown too tall to be able to support its own weight. Its back bent out to the side, spine pressing against the sin almost tearing through in some places.

And that was the nicer-looking spirit.

Having lost track of the other one Geto kept on moving between the abandoned buildings, making sure that his feet only landed on clear ground so that he wouldn't crack the broken clay tiles anymore. Noise could lead to a fight that he didn't want to be a part of.

He would rather not lose too many spirits today to the combined might of the ones that roamed here.

Really, fuck Atlas.

---

Back at the school Atlas walked out of the folding space and got a look from Gojo, "where's Geto?" His voice was a bit accusatory knowing how 'intense' Atlas' training could be.

"Oh you know, making a path for himself. I didn't want to do that mission anyway, don't like the smell of moss." Atlas said offhandedly as he kept on moving away leaving Gojo behind knowing what must have happened.

He would pick him up when he was done, it's not like he left him there with nothing to monitor if he was alright or not. That would be irresponsible of him and he was very responsible.

Going to the library he gave one last look at Torio who simply gave him a wave from where he was standing on Tatsuo's back. Keeping the boy pinned to the ground even as he tried to push himself up, each time he started to push a blast of wind hammered into his back slamming him once more into the floor.

Shaking his head Atlas hoped that it was just how Torio worked and he wasn't copying the brutality of Atlas' training for the two talented first years.

Pushing that thought aside he kept on making his way down to the library and soon walked inside. Finding a nice corner to sit at he took some old scrolls about mind techniques and what was known about them.

He would find a way to fix Frank. He also wanted to find out how Hoshi was hiding from him so perfectly, after all, he hadn't felt the presence of another mind even once since coming to this world. So that meant that he was concealed very well. He needed to read all this any way to help against Kenjaku.

So read he did as the hours ticked by one by one. The shadows started to stretch over the ground.

Figuring that enough time had passed he put the scrolls to the side before walking into folding space.

Arriving in the abandoned village he was immediately swatted at by the long arms of one of the first grades. A giant turtle-like one shot a blast of steam at him that actually blasted chips of stone off the cobble walkways and lit some of the rotting wood. The pressure was high enough that it was more like an explosion and the steam was hot enough that the surrounding temperature became hot enough that the air distorted.

If he hadn't gone to another plane then his lungs would be burning beyond normal repair right now.

The slap that shattered the stone where he was standing passed right through him blasting away loose debris from the attack.

"If you want to throw your jobs off on me then at least be nice about it!" Geto said as he waved his hand angrily at the appearing figure of Atlas. Putting a hand on his hip he glared at the shimmering figure of his 'mentor.'

"Like seriously, that wasn't cool okay? These fuckers were really strong." The boy pointed out. Actually seeming a bit hurt by the action.

Noticing this Atlas knew that it wasn't the best to just up and leave but he didn't think that it would bother Geto this much, after all, he had done so before but never in a place like this he supposed. Normally people just accepted it when he left them alone.

But this was a lot further than walking distance to Tokyo and in completely unknown rural of North Japan.

Seeing this Atlas nodded as he stopped hiding in another plane and said. "Sorry, you're right. What I did wasn't really okay and my action was incredibly lax. Sorry." He said sincerely as Geto looked at him suspiciously wondering when the underhanded comment would come.

Seeing it didn't he sighed as his shoulder sagged a bit.

"I shouldn't burst like that either. I know you're just trying to help but that really wasn't cool." Geto said, biting back another insult he felt like throwing Atlas' way. There was no way he was going to say sorry for bursting though, that was entirely Atlas' fault.

Nodding his head Atlas opened the folding space again as he said. "Well, there isn't much I can do to make it up to you is there?" Tilting his head to the side as he waited for Geto to walk through the portal after putting his new spirits away.

Giving one last look at the turtle as he compressed down into a black portal again he was surprised by just how gruesome its shell was. The hanging rotting flesh that oozed out from under it was shocking…

He knew that eating spirits always put Geto in a bad mood. And with the amount of smaller spirits here he must have eaten a lot while he was waiting… he needed to figure out how to get rid of the taste like he promised but he had more pressing matters...

No, he should just do it now.

He hadn't even opened the letter from the principal yet.

Shaking his head he stepped through the folding space as well following the boy who was clearly in a pretty bad mood.

---

Looking around the cursed warehouse Atlas looked at the talisman that were available. He didn't know what went into crafting and making them but it was mostly just trapping a cursed spirit inside a talisman and then whatever its technique was the talisman or tool could use when supplied with cursed energy.

There were none like the one he was looking for here… maybe he could find one in the Zenin warehouse if anything was still in there.

Opening space he stepped through to the estate. It didn't take long for him to find Megumi, the boy was 3 years old, his puggy legs short but he was walking on them alright, following after his older siblings that were ranging from 4 to 5… although they were not talking to him much he just stood to the side.

He would be a lot different person in this world than he would have been in the original canon, his upbringing would be entirely different without Toji taking him to live with his step-family instead. Maybe… he should do something about it. But what? He didn't know what to do. And next year Gojo would probably get involved if Toji mentioned anything to him.

If they even fought, he shouldn't make assumptions anymore. If he wanted to help the boy he should help him. He would leave it to next year and if nothing happened after the star plasma vessel then he would do something. He had too much on his plate already though right now.

Getting to the underground corridor that lead to the vault he saw the disgusting flesh door that blocked the entranceway. Like vertical jaws with a seem of teeth in the centre running from top to bottom. Held together across the teeth were chains and stitching. Whatever cursed spirit or tool was being used to seal the door was strong.

It wouldn't stop him though. Walking right past the guards that stood out the front of it as they could not see into another plane he simply walked through the door and into the warehouse.

Looking at the tools and talisman he smiled a bit as he saw labels with no items above them. Inverted spear of heaven, the chain of a thousand miles. It seems that Toji had taken some things when he left. Good on him…

Ignoring the weapons despite how many of them seemed interesting he made his way to the talisman section and looked through them and their trapped techniques.

He was surprised they were still here. They must be planning to move them because from what he knew weapons were stored in the cursed warehouse at Jujutsu High and were only reclaimed by the families during the aftermath of the Shibuya incident.

Since that wasn't important for now Atlas looked through the talisman before finding one that he thought might work. It could dull one's senses. Testing it out he tried to dull his sense of taste and slowly he found his tongue lost feeling.

Seeing the talisman didn't fade or break he smiled. This would work.

Just a bit of thievery and craftsmanship and he was solving such a simple problem. It wasn't really something that just anyone could do and no one would use a talisman this valuable for something that Atlas was going to do but he didn't care about the Zenin family apart from a few select members so fuck them.

Teleporting back to his dorm room he took a simple metal ring out of his draw and wrapped the Talisman around it as he secured it in place, locking it to the object with cursed energy so that it wouldn't come off similar to the seal around a cursed object.

Taking the ring he teleported to Geto's side as he was talking to Gojo. Neither of them were shocked since Gojo warned Geto that Atlas was about to pop up.

"Yo, Geto, I got a gift for you to make up for what I did. Come on." Atlas said before turning around and walking a distance away from Gojo so he wouldn't know what they were talking about.

Some distance away Geto reluctantly followed. He didn't want to listen to Atlas but the idea of a gift was a bit too tempting.

Turning around once they were out of eye and earshot of Gojo Atlas held the ring out and said. "Here, put it on."

Seeing the bound talisman Geto raised an eyebrow and responded with, "Is this a prank? I'm not in the mood."

"It's not, I promise, it's to help with the taste without removing your sense of taste entirely," Atlas said as he let out a small sigh. After a moment Geto put the ring on and then looked at Atlas with a raised eyebrow as if to say, 'Well now what?'

Opening a rift Atlas motioned for Geto to follow and soon they were in a cemetery, putting up a curtain, multiple weak cursed spirits that didn't even come to attack them were forced to become visible. They were all basically fly heads or a bit above.

"I'm not dealing with the taste for something so weak," Geto said with a sigh as he motioned to the small thing that Atlas walked over with, holding the spirit with his hand.

"You see that is the point. Go on, put some cursed energy into the ring and focus on your sense of taste, your tongue should start to go numb now." Atlas pointed out. Seeing Geto nod his head as his eyes grew a bit hopeful Atlas just held the spirit out and motioned to it.

With a bit of hesitance, Geto held his hand out and pulled the spirit's body into a small black bead. Holding it between his fingers he looked at it for a moment before saying. "If this fails I am throwing up on you alright?"

Nodding his head Atlas accepted those terms, "Sure, I'll even let you."

Putting the bead in his mouth Atlas saw him swallow it and wait for the foul taste to hit him. Seeing the boy's eyes slowly widen as he said, "I-It's still there just… really, really faint, like its barely noticeable." Geto pointed out as he looked at the ring.

"I… I don't know what to say." Geto said, he had tried everything he could from blocking his nose to different medicines but nothing did anything. It was more than just a physical flavour, it was also the cursed energy that caused the taste.

Nodding his head Atlas said, "If you still taste something you just need to use more cursed energy through the ring. The stronger the spirit the more energy you will need to use to consume it without flavour. But if you try to use too much the talisman might burn up so be careful. You should feel it well before it does that though so you won't burn it up by accident." Atlas started.

"So there might still be a bit of flavour with the stronger spirits that you will notice but it will certainly take the edge off it. Special Grades are a whole other deal though so it might only help a bit with them. The cursed energy from the talisman can only do so much after all." Atlas said, glad that the ring worked. He actually didn't know that it would so he was really glad it did.

Nodding his head in satisfaction Atlas opened a rift and turned to step through it but Geto stopped him with a few words. "Thanks, Atlas…"

Smiling Atlas turned around and said, "Let's not get sappy, but your welcome kid." Before stepping through the portal. When Geto arrived on the other side Atlas had already run off to do whatever else he did during the day. Smiling bit the boy shook his head before making his way back to Gojo who seeing the ring on his fingers said, "What is that? Why are you wearing a talisman."