Work Text:
The snow fell over the battlefield gracefully.
It's freezing bite nipping the air, biting at the flesh and warmth of anyone unfortunate enough to be wrapped in its deathly graceful grip. Sobs and pants could be heard from inside the billowing snows wrath.
Inside it all, a young man sat deadly still. His arms and legs numb and his eyes still. Focused. His hands wrapped around a long piece of black fabric, clutching it so hard his frostbitten hands threatened to snap from pressure. The fabric was stained, tears and coats of blood were seeped deep into its seems and fabric. And yet he held it like it was his saviour, his reason for being, his only reminder of humanity.
He sat there, at a point of peace and acceptance. Yet there was no hint of forgiveness. There never would be. He promised himself that. He would never forgive this. His eyes were quickly filled with tears of anger as he clutched onto more of the fabric, a coat, burying his face into it. His body shook and rattled with every laboured breath he took into the coat.
In front of him stood a long slab of stone. New and well cared for. No moss or weeds would be allowed to touch its surface at risk of erasing the text engraved into it. Not as long as he lived. If he lived much longer that was.
"Here lies, Ryuunosuke Akutagawa."
Simple, and written in italics. No day of death. No description. Nothing. If he was here, he would say he deserved such treatment. A life bathed in sin doesn't deserve luxury. Doesn't deserve a beautiful grave. Or to be remembered. But he was remembered. He was engraved into Atsushi's skull. He seeped into Atsushi's bones, his blood, his breath.
Atsushi refused to forget but he would never forgive. The sacrifice another soul made for him. He couldn't forget it, never. Not after everything they had been through together. He couldn't allow himself to move on.
Atsushi let's out a small chuckle of amusement as tears stream his cold rosy cheeks. "I wonder if this is your way of fucking with me, even in death. You seem to never leave me. I can't get rid of you can I, Ryuunosuke?" He spoke softly to the stone slab.
His hands were shaking as he held the coat to his body, wrapping it around his shoulders.
Though he could never see it, a hand rested on his shoulder. Deftly pale fingers grazed his shoulder and his head.
"I'm sorry, Nakajima Atsushi."