Familiar Stranger: CH 16

Chapter 16: Void 

(warning: panic attacks, past trauma, past character death)

 

Thank goodness he's standing close enough to catch the other man before he collapses to the floor.

It happened in a flash - one moment it was quiet, then Ryuga came down crashing. He had reflexively grabbed the other so he wouldn't get hurt.

He can feel the panic rising, buzzing under his skin. Everything is too loud.

Ryuga's grip on his hand is tight enough to hurt.

 

"Ryuga?-" He tried calling for him but it didn't get through. The other curled further in, whimpering.

"Ryuga-!"

Seeing no other way, he forcefully pulled his hand away to sever the connection.

 

"-!!"

 

(For a second it felt like he was swallowed by something. In a flash and he's surrounded by rubbles, people screaming and running away.

A bright pillar of light in the distant and a cold, lifeless body in his arms.)

 

 

He came back gasping for air like a drowning man. Within the short duration he had fallen back against the wall while still holding onto Ryuga. What was that?

 

Whatever that was, it wasn't his.

 

It was-

Oh God--

"-Ryuga, come back!" He shakes the other to wake him up. Come back, please.

Ryuga shifts slightly before he slowly looks up.

 

"..Mikage?" He looks like he just got through hell. He looks horrible.

"Ryuga, I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have-"

"..Why are you apologizing..?"

Why? "Why? I hurt you-"

"It wasn't -" A sob wrecked through him. "-It was never your fault." Ryuga dove into his chest, muffling his cry. "It wasn't your fault."

"But I did kill my own father-"

"He turned into a Horror! The only way to save his soul is to cut him down! That's what-" A broken sob, "-that is our duty." The rest of his sentence came out as a whisper.

"..And that's what you did - your mother..?" Ryuga momentarily stiffens at that. So it was-..

 

"..Yes."

 

The silence that follows is suffocating. He's sure he had unintentionally crossed an invisible boundary. "..I-I didn't meant to. I was trying to pull you back, and suddenly-"

"It's okay. I was just a bit shocked, that has never happened before."

 

He lets out a shuddering breath.

 

"..Does the pain ever goes away?"

Ryuga shakes his head, "I don't know. Maybe it never will. The most we can do is to accept it."

 

 

Accept it. Will he be able to do that? Will he be able to forgive himself?