To: @irlultimatehope
From: @stolashoots
Shuuen x magical girl au (?)
Character death; gore warning ;v;
—
They aren’t going to make it. It’s a simple fact, one that would be considered upsetting in a normal situation, but there’s nothing normal about this, and he finds himself accepting it. Maybe, eons ago, he would have struggled against this destiny, stomped his foot and demanded another attempt, but now, haggard beyond belief, he’s almost relieved to know it’ll all be ending soon.
He wonders how it’ll happen, if it’ll be quick, a slice across his throat that leads to an endless sleep, or jagged cuts and bites that leaves him broken and bloody in a dark alleyway, suffering until his body can no longer handle the damages he’s sustained. It’s certainly a gruesome thought.
Someone comes up from behind him and sits down, legs swinging over the ledge and tugging him from his imagination. “What’s shaking?”
“Contemplating death. How’re you holding up?” A-ya turns to look over at C-ta. Large, dark bags form under his eyes, and his fists are purple and black. The answer is obvious; it was cruel of him to ask. C-ta just smiles at him, then reaches up to ruffle his hair.
“As well as can be, I suppose.” He hands over a pudding cup and a plastic spoon. “Here. B-ko found a pack while scavenging and was nice enough to share.” A-ya takes it, removes the top, and licks off the pudding stuck to it. “Might as well indulge, you know. Since this’ll be our last night.”
A-ya lets go of the top, both of them watching as it floats to the street meters below. “I sort of feel bad for doing that,” He admits after a second, then scoops up a small chunk of pudding and sticks it into his mouth.
C-ta just shrugs. “If monsters are going to steal Earth from us anyway, we might as well ruin it as much as we can. Let them deal with all of the pollution.”
He tries to savor the treat, he really does, but it’s gone in a matter of moments, and he’s left scraping at the plastic, wondering how degrading it’d be if he licked off the pudding residue. He throws the cup and the spoon, listening for the faint clatter when they strike pavement.
“Today will be a good night to die,” he declares, staring off into the distance. The sun is setting; in a handful of minutes, it’ll be completely out of sight. “I wanted to watch it. The sunset, I mean. Before, before all of this, I never stopped to watch it.” The fluffy clouds above bleed reds and oranges, and even the crumpled buildings below appear almost picturesque despite being half destroyed.
C-ta says nothing, he just leans against A-ya and sighs. They observe in silence, squinting against the harsh, blinding light, forever engraving the sight into their memories. The sun sinks along the horizon, leaving only the Tear to illuminate the world below.
“We should go back inside,” C-ta says, turning around and getting to his feet. He reaches out and helps A-ya up, too. “You know, I gotta admit, it is sort of beautiful, even if we’re all going to be dead by morning because of it.” He’s looking up, and A-ya follows his gaze.
The Tear hangs in the sky like a giant scar in the fabric of space, glowing a soft silver and oozing out thick, black sludge that falls to the ground miles away. Soon, it will be the cause of humanity’s destruction, but really, who’s to say mankind wasn’t already teetering on quite a tightrope before it decided to show up? If not today, then tomorrow; if not tomorrow, then next week. At least, this way, they could put up a fight, even if it was a losing one.
A-ya’s met with a sudden, inexplicable desire to do something reckless. After all, this is his last chance to do something he might regret later, and there won’t exactly be a later for him to worry about it. He taps C-ta on the shoulder, gaining his attention. After all these years, his childhood friend is still a few inches taller than him, and A-ya grabs hold of his shirt to yank him down to eye level. He leans forward, only to chicken out at the last minute and peck C-ta on the cheek.
He pulls away after, eyes trained on the Tear because it’s the only thing interesting to look at other than his best friend’s face. “That was for good luck,” he says, matter of fact.
“I don’t think a kiss on the cheek is going to give me much luck against an endless band of monsters,” C-ta grins. “Now, maybe a real kiss…”
“Don’t push your luck,” A-ya shoves him away, rolling his eyes. “Think anyone made dinner? I don’t want to die on an empty stomach.”
C-ta laughs and follows him back inside.
***
Years ago, when he was just a child, the Tear opened in the heavens. Back then, before everything turned to shit, it appeared to be little more than a stitch of light in the sky, almost like a shooting star that simply refused to fade.
Some thought it to be an omen, others were simply curious, and when astrologists couldn’t easily decipher what it was, most stopped caring. It was treated as something to simply accept; there wasn’t much else that could be done.
And then one day, the Tear opened, dripping its giant globs of goo onto the Earth, burning and cauterizing the land below.
That was the beginning of the end.
***
Draw, aim, fire.
Draw, aim, fire.
Draw, aim, fire.
The motions are mechanical, requiring little to no thought to complete. His arms and shoulders burn, his back stiff, his fingers sore, but he shoves away his pain to focus on his target meters below. He breathes in, then out, and releases the arrow. His aim is true; it’s a direct hit, the arrow slicing through semi-translucent matter and embedding itself into the monster. It squirms and sputters, then expands like a zit and pops, splattering its internal juices on the nearby building walls.
It’s not a pretty sight; A-ya is suddenly glad he chose such a high vantage point. He stumbles back from the roof ledge. He spies two more monsters in the distance, the light radiating from the Tear reflecting off of them, but he’s too exhausted to lift his arms and prepare his bow.
He sits down and looks up at the sky. The Tear hangs prettily, thousands of miles away, continuously spitting out inky sludge. It can’t even be bothered to take a break to witness humanity’s downfall.
There’s a scream to his left, piercing and sharp. A-ya tenses, mistaking it for B-ko or D-ne, but it dies with a choked gargle before he can move. No, he denies, it couldn’t have been from either of them, he won’t accept it.
He struggles to his feet, his bow held loosely in his fingers, and staggers over to the edge closest to the noise. He knows it’s too later for the owner, but if the monster is in sight, he could at least avenge them. A-ya peers over the ledge, only to jerk back when he sees a giant glob scaling the side of the building. He pulls away, readying his bow and summoning up his energy to form an arrow made of pure light.
The slime crawls up over the ledge, slinking closer. A-ya raises his bow, breath harsh and arms shaking. It towers over him, rising itself higher and higher until it blocks out his view of the Tear. Only, since it’s made of translucent material, the light penetrates through it, highlighting its stringy organs and its last meal, the still undigested remains of what was once a human.
If he releases his arrow now, there will be no way of missing. Just a twitch of his fingers, and the abomination will never be able to hurt another soul again. Let it fly, he tells himself, the bastard deserves it.
And then he sees it. A gorgeous red ribbon swimming in the monster’s abdomen.
He freezes, unable to let the arrow go and save himself. Like a deer caught in headlights, he’s about to be run over, and there’s nothing he can do about. Gods, now he really regrets not giving C-ta a proper kiss.
There’s a flash from the corner of his eye, a blur of movement he’s too terrified to look at, and the monster gives a great shudder and splits apart, red-tinted liquid squirting from the massive wound as it slumps over.
A-ya drops his bow, the arrow fading with a hiss, and falls to his knees, not noticing the slime he lands in. Something grabs his shoulder and shakes him. Numb, he turns to see C-ta hovering over him. He’s covered in blood splatters, one of his eyes firmly shut, a hatchet in his tight grip.
“You’re alive,” C-ta is somehow smiling, despite what just happened moments ago.
“The others?” He asks, already knowing the answer; he just doesn’t want to believe it.
C-ta’s grin falters, and he shakes his head. “I haven’t seen anyone in a few hours. It’s a miracle I spotted you when I did. Hey, let’s get out of here, alright? There’s a structure a block away that’s still pretty intact.”
A-ya nods but doesn’t move to stand. C-ta sighs and helps him to his feet, wrapping an arm around his waist to keep him upright.
“Somehow,” A-ya begins as they walk down the steps, C-ta tensing at every turn as if he expects a monster to jump out and attack. “Somehow I feel like I should be apologizing.”
“Really? For what?”
He thinks for a second. “In middle school, I started that rumor that you were in love with that one girl. You know, the one that sat in front of you in class.”
“I already knew you did that.” C-ta laughs, rolling his eyes. “You were just about the only person who didn’t ask if it was true.”
“Of course I didn’t; it was obvious you didn’t have feelings for her. In second grade, I took two of your animal crackers and lied when I was asked if I stole them.”
C-ta scrunches up his nose. “Well, gotta admit I didn’t know about that one. I better take you to the jail house and put you behind bars.” They’re back outside now, and C-ta glances around for any movement.
“In high school, when we were all in that occult club, I tried to perform the One Man Hide and Seek game using the stuffed rabbit you gave me.”
They stop walking, turning to face each other. A-ya can’t stand the sight of C-ta’s surprise, and he looks away at a crooked stop sign. “I felt really bad afterwards; it was covered with slashes and stitches. I tried to fix it, but it never looked the same. I had to hide it every time you came over.”
“I… You kept it?” C-ta asks, eye wide. “I honestly thought you got rid of it years ago. A-ya, I-“ He’s interrupted by a moan coming from the left. “Hold up a second.” He lets go, pausing to make sure A-ya don’t tip over immediately, and storms off to investigate. He turns a corner and there’s a flash of blinding light, then he’s beside A-ya again.
“Well,” C-ta grins, leading his friend down another street, “if you get to apologize for things in the past that you can’t change, so can I.” He sticks his tongue out when A-ya begins to protest. “Where to begin. Oh, well, for starters, I’m sorry your parents were never around.”
“That’s not your fau-“
“Hush now,” C-ta slings his arm over A-ya’s shoulder. “I’m sorry that the Tear showed up, and that it opened and destroyed everything. I’m sorry our childhoods were ruined because of it. I’m sorry that we’re probably going to die soon.”
“Those aren’t things you could have prevented,” A-ya mumbles, kicking a pebble.
“Fine, then. I’ll come up with something that is actually my fault.” He hums, then points with his hatchet at a door. “There.” He lets go to open the door and usher A-ya inside. It’s pitch black until A-ya remembers to summon one of his arrows. It’s meant for destruction, yet it glows a gentle light that brightens the room considerably. He sits down in the middle of the room, C-ta joining him.
“Hey, A-ya?”
“Hmm?” He stops inspecting the boxes against the walls to look at his friend.
“I’ve thought of something to apologize for.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah,” C-ta shuffles closer to him and puts his hands over A-ya’s. “I had a crush on you in high school. Sorry I never said everything.”
“’Had?’” A-ya asks, leaning forward.
“Yep. Had. It wasn’t until all of this started that I realized what I felt was more than just a crush. I guess in some way I’m glad the Tear showed up; I wouldn’t have had a chance otherwise.”
“What makes you think you have a chance now?” The world is about to end, and here they are in the dark, grinning like fools. “If you’re going to confess, you’re going to have to do it properly.”
“If you insist. A-ya, I really like you. Will you go out with me?”
“Sure; I don’t think we have much time left, but yes.” A-ya reaches out and pulls C-ta closer to kiss him, on the lips properly this time. It’s not perfect, but it’s warm and makes their hearts soar.
“Two kisses in one day, aren’t I lucky.” C-ta opens his mouth to say more, but is interrupted by a bang against the door. They jump, pulling away in instinct. A-ya knocks the arrow into his bow and aims. When the door doesn’t immediate crash down, he relaxes it.
“How long do you think we can hold out here?”
“I… I don’t know,” C-ta admits. “If they don’t find us, maybe a couple of days. This place has already been scavenged, though; there isn’t any food or water. We won’t make it very long.”
“As much as I like us, I don’t think we’ll survive if we go out there.”
They pause, thinking over their choices. Finally, A-ya sighs and shakily pushes himself to his feet, C-ta following a moment later.
“Another kiss for good luck?” A-ya asks, trying to smile, but it’s grim.
“Of course,” he wraps his arms around A-ya’s waist and pulls him close. He bends down to peck him on the forehead. “If, by some miracle, we do make it out of this, I think I deserve a date.”
“A date, sure,” A-ya rolls his eyes and pulls away. “You get the door,” he says, readying his bow.
C-ta shuffles over to it, throws a smile at his new boyfriend, and opens the door.
