Work Text:
https://open.spotify.com/track/66bK78V5FvJcxdLncAwZ8Q?si=OSIt8ulwThS2nXifTX_VOQ
Listen to this song while reading it.
Ryo opened his eyes and saw a sky full of stars above him.
He spoke in a soft voice.
“You can see the stars clearly. It’s because all the humans are gone.”
For a moment he closed his eyes and a memory of him and Akira started to play in his mind.
“The rabbit is probably dead.”
Just like now, they lied on the ground looking up at the stars.
He treasured the memories with Akira, especially the ones from their childhood.
“Look, Ryo.”
He heard Akiras five year old voice in his head.
“A rabbit.” He said, while pointing his finger excited at the moon.
“There’s no rabbit.”
His own voice sounded cold as usual.
“Huh?”
Akira was confused.
“Those are shadows on the moon’s surface due to elevation. The moon has no atmosphere.”
Akira turned to look at him.
“Then we got to save them” he stated happily.
“Akira. There’s no rabbit in that sky.”
He paused for a moment.
“I saw it with my own eyes.”
Memories flooded his mind again.
A girl crying because of him, Akira comforting her.
When he cried for the fishes in the aquarium cause he thought they were locked up.
When they were together in the hot spring.
“Why does it form circles?” Akira asked looking fascinated at the light on the ground that managed to slip past the leafs of the tree.
“It’s the pinhole theory.”
“Theory?” he asked, still not taking his gaze away from the dancing lights.
“Since the spaces are small like pinholes, they act like points of symetry, and reflect the sun upside down on the ground.”
They were now both looking towards the sky between the leafs.
“Point of…” Akira tried to understand.
When they saw their first eclipse together.
The dancing points of light beneath them took shape of hundreds of small moons, before being nothing more than a mere circle.
They faded.
The kitten Akira found.
“It’s over. It’s going to die.”
His own voice had not a hint of sympathy, while he tried to drag Akira away from the terrible looking kitten.
“No! Stop!” Akira shouted not budging a centimetre.
“It’s going to die soon. Give it to me.”
“No!”
Ryo took out a cutter knife.
“I’ll kill it.”
“No! Stop!” Akira screamed, still hovering over the box the kitten lied in.
Ryou saw his reflection in the knife’s blade.
“Damn it. Why?”
He was running while rain poured down on him.
Akira sat in the rain, crying over the dead kitten.
Ryou held an umbrella over the both of them.
“Why are you crying? You knew it was gonna die.”
“You’re wrong.” Akira said still crying.
Ryous voice held no sympathy.
“The weak ones die.”
“No! No! No!”
Akira shook his head frantically.
“Ryo, you’re crying, too.”
Ryo didn’t understand.
He wasn’t crying.
He never did.
“Why? I’m not sad. It’s obvious.”
He was never sad, never happy, never felt something.
“Ryo, you’re crying, too.” Akira repeated.
Ryo still looked up at the stars.
“Back then,” He started.
“I didn’t know what you meant.”
He saw a shooting star.
“Love doesn’t exist. There’s no such thing as love. Therefore, there’s no sorrow. That’s what I thought.”
Silence.
He finally turned his head to look at Akira.
“Akira.”
Ryo sat up.
“Why am I the only one talking?”
No answer.
Akira lied there, hollow eyes directed at the sky, mouth agape, showing no reaction.
Ryo saw it then.
There was nothing where his hips should’ve begun.
“Akira?”
There was disbelieve in his voice.
Ryo reached out for his face.
He was shaking.
“Akira?”
“Right now…” he begun, clutching his chest,
“I’m feeling something.”
What is this?”
Ryos head was facing down, the first tears dropping onto Akiras still chest.
He looked into his glassy eyes again.
“Tell me. What is this, Akira?”
“Feel what I’m feeling right now.”
He grabbed his face, voice sounding desperate and shaky now.
“Listen to me.”
“Akira.”
Ryo started to sit up, not leaving Akiras face.
“Look at me.”
“Respond to me.”
He held Akiras face to his chest, letting himself fall to the ground again.
“Don’t forget that you’ve been with me till now.”
“Say something.” He pleaded, but Akira remained silent.
“No, Akira.”
Ryo whimpered, kneeling, holding what used to be Akira close to him.
“Don’t leave me alone.”
“Don’t leave me.”
“Please, be somewhere.”
“Say something!”
He was getting louder.
“Akira!”
His scream echoed over the destryoed surface of the planet that used to be the earth.
Light started to fall from the sky all around them, exploding everywhere.
And while Ryo cried, holding what was left of Akiras body thight, the world was swallowed by the blinding lights all around them.
Like that the world silently burned down, left to start anew once again.
A world without devils, demons, satan and humans.
A world without Akira.
Ryo woke up with a gasp, drenched in sweat.
Shaking, he turned to his right to see Akira sleeping peacefully next to them.
Since that day, Ryo often had nightmares, showing what could’ve happened if they hadn’t managed to get away in time, what could’ve happened if Ryo had hurt Akira more badly.
The images of his dreams and the sight of Akiras dead body, his hollow eyes and the blinding light destroying them were still vivid behind his eyes.
Letting out a sigh, he layed back down, wrapping his arms around Akiras torso and laying his head on his chest.
Like that, hearing Akiras heart beat and feeling his warmth, he was able close his eyes and sleep again.
This second chance was something he didn't deserve, yet god had granted it him.
He had never felt more grateful.