At the same time as the boys shout echoed through the trees they had been walking the cat amongst, hoshi let out a scream of his own. They had been walking, following the cats lead, when she had slipped from her harness.
Castle went bounding after her, worried he would lose her again, but hoshi had bigger worries. He could see the colours through the undergrowth, the archery target at the edge of the woods. He opens his mouth to warn him, but the woosh of an arrow pieces the air, and silence ensues. He finds him moments later, standing between two trees and he shakes his head with relief. “C'mon we need to get out of here.” But the pink haired boy doesn’t move.
The arrow pierces straight between his shoulder blades. Hoshi wants to run, he hates the sight of blood. The cat doesn’t stay. But hoshi does. He steps forward to catch him when he staggers, hands fluttering around the wound no doubt trying to heal himself. But it won’t work, hoshi knows that just from looking. Had he been any taller, had he himself been the one hit, he probably would’ve been okay. Hell even if the damn cat had been struck it was no mean feat to bring it back to life.
“It’ll be okay-” he lies with a smile as he bring him into his lap. “All we have to do is take the arrow out and you’ll be okay-” just at the slight movement castle lets out the first noise of pain, a drawn out wail that had very little strength behind it. He sits there and smooths his fingers through his hair to distract him because castle won’t let him leave to get help.
“Don’t let me die.” He hadn’t spoken to him for a while, hoshi had been doing what he does best, talking, telling him about his years in Japan. He glances down at him again and the life is beginning to leave his eyes. He smiles at him, weakly. “Promise.” He whispers linking their little fingers together, but hoshi can’t bring back humans, he also can’t tell him that.
Castles last moments aren’t pretty like they are in the movies, he spends the last of his energy crying, and hoshi cries with him, curled over his body so he has no choice but to look at him instead of the endless sky that stretches above. He doesn’t want him to be scared. But hoshi is terrified, when castle stops responding he shakes him. “Castle no- please I can’t…”
He sits with his body in his arms, rocking it back and forth. At some point he takes the arrow out, and it allows him to bring the smaller boy closer. He thinks of a lot of things when he sits there, his mother, his sister. And he makes up his mind. He places his palms on either side of his cheeks and closes his eyes, willing him to come back, channeling all of his energy. “Please come back Castle-”
It goes silent, eerily silent. The next time he calls out to his lifeless body he can’t hear himself either. He’s losing focus, losing energy, and for what? Castle isn’t any less dead than he was a moment ago. But then his eyes open, bright as if nothing had happened, and hoshi goes to suck in a gasp, because he did it- and oh god he can’t breathe. But it’s okay, castles okay, and that’s what he was put on this earth for, he’s known that for a long time. There was more life in this world because of him, and somewhere within all of that he knows it’s okay, even when his head touches the leaves and his world goesBlack.
