Chapter Text
"Aaand! The Sacrifice! The one who dies with objective incompleteness isss....."
Don't say Sara, don't say Sara... Please, please... if there's a God here, please...
Miley took a dramatic pause, as if accompanied by a drumroll.
Please...! Please, don't be Sara...!! I'm begging you, don't say her name!
"Tadaaah! It was Sara Chidouin!"
Joe fell to the floor, the strength leaving his legs. Looking up at Sara with burning eyes, he asked, "Sara... This is a joke, right? Please... This can't be real. You..."
Sara walked over to him and knelt down, pulling him into a hug. Her embrace was warm. Slowly, his arms wrapped around her, his hands sliding against her back and then gripping her blazer. "Sorry, Joe... but it's the truth. I'm the one who took your card."
"Why...? When?" he croaked, his voice shaking.
"When we were searching together. I saw you pull it out of your back pocket and look at it, deep in thought... I had a bad feeling. After I got the keymaster card, I swapped our cards while you were focused on something else."
Pushing her off of him, he grabbed her roughly by the shoulders, squeezing tight. "Dammit, Sara! If you'd only minded your own business...! You woulda been safe!" He hung his head, resting it against her shoulder as tears began to pour out of his eyes and his grip on her loosened, his hands sliding down to her forearms. "This... This is the last thing I wanted...!" he cried, his voice trembling.
"Don't be sad. I'm glad I took your card, Joe..." she murmured gently with a smile, a very slight tremor in her voice. She pressed him closer to her with one hand and stroked his fluffy, dark auburn hair with the other. "It's my fault you're here, anyway. If you hadn't been with me..."
Joe grabbed her by the shoulders again, shaking her. "CUT THE CRAP, SARA! I want ya to live, goddammit!! I want you by my side! So WHAT if I live?! Without you, what's the point?!" he screamed, tears pouring down his face. "Without ya, I...! I don't wanna live in a world without you, Sara!!" His voice broke and he wrapped his arms around her neck, sobbing into her shoulder.
"Joe..." she gasped tenderly, raising her eyebrows in surprise before her expression softened into a warm, yet sad, smile.
"How sweet," Miley cooed mockingly. "Jou Tazuna and Sara Chidouin, your bond is so strong, it just warms my cold little heart! Maybe it'll even transcend death!" With a sadistic sneer on her face, she swung her finger up into the air dramatically and slammed it onto a red button. Almost immediately afterwards, Sara's collar began to beep loudly.
BEEP BEEP BEEP...
"Ah..."
"No... No, no, no! Stop it!" Joe yelled, his vision blurred with tears. His stomach churned with dread and panic.
BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP...
"Oh, she won't die immediately. Feel free to keep chatting! Might be hard with her screaming, though..." Seeing Joe's despairing face soaked with tears, Miley started to cackle.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP--
Suddenly, the beeping stopped and was replaced by a click that sounded similar to a stapler or piercing gun, followed by an "Ow...!" Joe's head snapped up and saw the surprised, confused look on Sara's face, her fingertips grazing her neck. She returned his gaze, making eye contact with him. An awful dread settled in his gut, his heart forgetting how to beat properly. He felt sick.
"This is called the Human Flower! Don't look away, it's just about to begin!" Miley announced with glee.
"Human... Flower...?" Joe repeated slowly in horror. "Miley, what... What're you talking about? What's gonna happen to her?!"
"Joe, I..." She was cut off by a sharp gasp, her eyes growing wide. Her hand slid down her neck, clutching her tie. "Urgh...?!"
Joe's gaze immediately rushed back to her in a panic. "Sara! Sara, what's wrong?! What's happening?!"
"Ugh... Ack-! Ggh...!" She grimaced in pain, her eyes squeezing shut. "Joe...!" He grabbed her hand, squeezing it tight. She squeezed it back and her grip on him was so strong he felt like his hand was going to break. He didn't even care.
"Sara!! I'm--! I'm here! I'm here, I'm right here, okay?!" he cried, staining her skirt with more tears. He placed his other hand on top of hers, sandwiching it between both of his. His hands completely enveloped her smaller ones. "Sara...!"
"Joe, I-I--!! Ugh! Aaghh!" Her nails dug into the skin of his hand, but he didn't care. "H-Hey, I-! Ow, ow, ow!" Sara lifted her head up to look at him through her tears. "Joe, I... I love you! You're my-! My best friend, you know that...?!" she exclaimed between gasps for air and screams. Gripping and clawing at her chest, she cried out in pain while he pulled her closer, wrapping an arm around her and still squeezing her hand as tightly as he could.
All Joe could do was cry as he witnessed his best friend die painfully in his arms. His heart broke more and more with each cry of pain and fear she let out. "S-Sara, Sara... Please!!" he sobbed desperately, choking on the flood of tears and mucus. "D-Don't... Don't leave me like this...! You can't die, you can't! What about Ryoko, your parents...?! What about me...?"
Something started to poke out of her and wrap around each of her arms. They were vines with flower buds, thorns popping out as soon as they were exposed to the air. Sara curled inwards, slumping over onto Joe's lap. "Agh! Aaaaahhhh!!" she screamed, tears and crimson blood staining Joe's pants. Joe cried out her name in despair, seeing more rip through her skin and clothes.
Sara's screams started to die down after a little while, the pain numbing and her breaths becoming shorter with far too much space in between. The flowers began to blossom, their purple petals morbidly beautiful and their floral smell disgustingly pleasant, masking the faint scent of blood permeating through the air.
Weakly, Sara slowly sat up with Joe, who was still sobbing despondently, supporting her weight for her. "Hey... Joe..." she rasped. He brushed his thumb across her soft, tear-stained cheek and moved the hair stuck to her skin with sweat out of her face.
"Y-Yeah? What is it?" he asked gently between sniffles and tears, trying to sound even the slightest bit cheery, just like he always was.
"Can you... smile for me...?" she requested weakly. He nodded, quickly wiping his face. Taking a deep breath, he did his very best to smile for her, holding back his tears as best as he could. He granted her wish and grinned, his little fangs showing and his smile pushing his cheeks up. She smiled back warmly, her eyelids drooping and any tension she had left in her melting off of her shoulders. Seeing the relieved look on her face, his own became just a little bit more genuine.
"Heehee... You're so cute..." she chuckled weakly, lifting a hand to his face. Joe held her hand there and she gently wiped the tears that wouldn't stop flowing from his eyes with her thumb. "You're... like the sun, Joe. Don't let... your light fade away. You make... so many people... happy. Especially me." The strength leaving her body, she slumped against him, his strong arms pulling her to his chest. She smiled, listening to his heartbeat and getting sleepier. "Ah... I'm so... sleepy..."
"...I love ya, Sara. Rest easy," he murmured with an uneven voice, holding his breath to keep from making any sounds and silently weeping into her hair.
"Mmm... Thanks, Joe. I love you, too. Don't... ever forget that... okay...?" Joe held her tighter and kissed her head, thorns cutting into his arms. "Mm... I'm... really tired..." she murmured slowly, her eyelids fluttering. "I think... I'll just..."
"G'night, Sara," Joe said softly, his voice trembling. Waiting for her to take another breath, half a minute passed silently, though it felt longer than that. His heart completely shattered when he eventually realized that her chest wasn't going to move again. She had taken her last breath. Sitting in silence, more and more tears streamed down his face as each second passed. He buried his head into her shoulder and held her limp body tight, the soft, purple petals of the roses growing out of her kissing him as they grew around him.
A loud, heartbreaking scream erupted from his throat, wailing her name over and over and getting no answer. The thorns pricked his skin and drew blood, but he didn't care. It was nothing compared to the pain he was already in.
He couldn't register the large, strong hand on his shoulder or hear Miley's shrill, mocking laughter. There was no inspiring speech from Kai before he met his end, though it's not like his words would have reached his ears, anyway.
"Sara... Saraaaa...!!" he wailed while a vine curled around his arm like it was consoling him. His voice echoed in the spacious room, not even the reverberations of his cries getting a reply from her. "P-Please wake up! Please...!"
All of a sudden, there was a weight on his back, something small and warm. "Big bro Joe..." the weight whispered sadly. "I'm... so sorry, meow..."
...Gin... He had attached himself to Sara the moment she spoke to him, didn't he? Just like a baby duckling. He was kind of like her, in a way. And Sara liked him, too...
Maybe... Maybe this small boy knew just a fraction of the pain he was in. Weakly, Joe moved his hand and slid it over one of his big, plush paw gloves. They stayed like that for a while, the others not knowing what to say to them. The only thing that could possibly make Joe feel better is bringing Sara back to life.
Gin got off of him once the rest of the group had cleared the room, leaving just the two of them alone together with Sara's body that was quickly growing cold. He sat next to him, watching over the girl he had grown to see as an older sister figure during the short time they had together while more tears were absorbed into his mask.
On the shoulder of Sara's blazer was a huge wet spot, soaked with Joe's tears. It kept growing until the fabric couldn't take in anymore water and started spilling down. Joe didn't seem to notice. He didn't really notice anything, too absorbed by the immense agony he was in. Everything else was a blur.
Joe's cries eventually quieted down, but his tears wouldn't stop. He just sat there, Sara's lifeless body against him with Gin at his side, the boy already having worn himself out and fallen asleep. Joe's eyelids felt like they had weights on them from tiring himself out by crying so hard. Even so, he refused to let them droop shut for even a second.
He didn't bother looking up when he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him. Nothing mattered anymore. Not surviving, not getting out. What was the point if Sara wouldn't be with him? His only goal in life... was just to graduate with her. He hadn't really thought about anything after that. Now he wouldn't even be able to do that, would he? He had nothing left.
The footsteps stopped and he heard the rustling of clothes before he felt Sara slowly slipping away from him, the vines that had grown on top of him being slowly pulled off. His head shot up and he saw two strange people taking her away. One appeared to be a woman with wavy green hair and the other a... boyish girl wearing a strange hood?
"Oh, my. He's awake, after all," the green lady said. Before he could say or do anything, he felt something prick the side of his neck. "Sorry, but you'll have to sleep for a little bit... We have to retrieve this body, after all."
The whole world spun, his body simultaneously floating and being weighed down by anchors. "Wh-What are you doing...?!" he rasped, gritting his teeth and fighting against the drug. He pulled Sara back towards him, holding her to his chest protectively. "Let go of her! I won't... let you take her away...!"
"C'mon, you whiny mutt, give it up already. She's ours now," the boyish one grumbled, pulling her back. Joe sluggishly fought back as his senses dulled.
"No! Y-You... can't...!" he shouted through gritted teeth, slurring his words. He fell to the floor, his body unable to support him any longer. He weakly reached his hand out to the vague blobs of color, focusing on the orange and blue he was so fond of. "Sara!"
His eyes fluttered shut, everything fading to black as he lost consciousness, the last thing he heard being the muffled sound of someone calling his name.