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Akira can recall trying to show Ryo a video game or two whilst Ryo had typed away at his computer in the apartment. Akira would tap furiously at the controller, the rush of an ignored newly formed sex drive flooding through his veins. When the classic death scene occurred, he would huff and lean back against the fresh white sofa. That would be when Ryo would look at him out of the corner of his eye.
The first time it happened, a groan extended from Akira’s throat.
“Is that it, then?” Ryo had asked, clear blue eyes having fixated on the television somewhere in the timespan of Akira’s death on screen. “Do you throw it away now?”
“What? No.” Akira answered, picking up the controller he left resting on his thigh. He could have been surprised at Ryo’s lack of knowledge about the concept of a video game, though he had to take in account the fact that Ryo had always been technologically challenged– which is rich, coming from Akira. He hovered over the ‘Try again’ selection before doing so. “In video games, there’s no real ‘end’ after death. There’s just the game over screen, and you play again.”
“... Huh.”
With that, Ryo went back to his computer, Akira stuck to his game.
––––
He could have never believed that stars as bright as these would ever exist in his time.
Well, it’s not really his time anymore, is it?
It’s no one’s time.
No one's.
He took a glance down from the shining stars above, down past his nonexistent lower half, down at the reddened, bloody sea of Earth below him. It formed a disgusting yet sad taste in his mouth.
If he thought the stars would never look like this, imagine what he must be thinking about his legs, or the Earth.
Even if Akira did want to know what was going through Ryo’s– Satan’s? – brain, he would have no clue either. Would he feel completed with his duty on Earth? That his dream of a safe outpost for demons turned into a warzone for all creatures? By wanting to fulfill his dream, he ruined it all the same?
He wonders if maybe, this could have been Ryo’s dream all along. The two of them. Alone– here.
He wants to hate Ryo. From the bottom of his heart, he does. But with them here, the two of them in their whole possible, known existence, he feels resentment no longer. He doesn’t feel what he feels like he should be feeling. There’s no hatred, no sickness or bitterness burning deep within him for Ryo.
“What comes next?” Akira’s voice surprises none other than himself the most as a star shoots over their heads.
“Would you believe me if I said I don’t know?” Ryo says, which makes a small grin on Akira’s face, which leaves Akira with an unpleasant groan in his likely last few breaths.
“For starters, you know that I’m going to die, Ryo.” The comment could have burned through the lasting air with its harsh truth. Akira forces the last of his physical abilities to turn his head to the side, looking at Ryo.
It was quite nerve wracking to see how in his element Ryo looks at this moment.
Chin tilted up towards the stars, blue eyes tracking over and over the galaxy around them, soft blond hair relaxing on his pale shoulders. Akira doesn’t see Satan, which scares him. All he sees is Ryo.
Ryo.
“What’s going to happen to you?” Akira asks, though he already can assume the answer.
“This world will end, and this will probably start all over again, without these memories of what happened in the past life.”
“Starting from where?” Ryo turns on his side to him now.
“Where it started. Where you found me, and told me it was going to be okay.”
“How wrong was I, huh?” Ryo musters a laugh at his companion’s dark joke.
They look at each other for a bit longer. Every breath Akira takes starts to use up more and more energy– every movement he makes becomes more and more agonizing. He wonders which moment in time will be his last.
He doesn’t know how exactly he’s still alive at this point. Was this God’s way of punishing him, just as this cycle will repeat over and over again in Ryo’s position?
Again until what?– Akira can’t help but wonder. What’s the point, God?
“Think of it like one of your video games.” Ryo’s voice comes to him again. Will this be the last time? Almost like a strange attempt at comfort, Ryo’s pale hand reaches forward to brush Akira’s hair back.
“What do you mean?”
“There’s no real end, after death. Consider this your ‘game over’ screen, until you try again.”
“Will things be the exact same?”
“No. Things will be a bit different. They always are, I believe.”
Quiet, for a brief second.
“Do you think there’s a universe where it won’t happen like this? When we can be together?”
“We are together.”
“...A together that doesn’t involve you destroying the universe so we can be together.” Ryo chuckles at that.
“Maybe. That just isn’t this one.”
“So, is this where I choose ‘play again’?” Akira asks, mouth running dry. Ryo smiles sadly, as if he’s just lost another game.
“It is, Akira.”
“I love you, Ryo.”
“I love you too, Akira.”
And Ryo was left to be the only one talking and talking until there was nothing but bright lights that filled the galaxy.
––––
A young boy collapsed on a foggy cliffside, a dark void before a hand reaching out. Another young boy’s voice ringing out– “Are you okay?”
Ryo looks up at the stranger.
Deep down somewhere, in a locked vault of forgotten memories, he knows he will be.