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You’re going to die in your best friend’s arms.
Joe Tazuna is spread out on a carpeted floor, head resting on Sara Chidouin’s thighs. His brown hair floats around his head like a gold-spiked halo; his hands are resting softly on his stomach.
He is happy. As he always is, with her.
(He resembles an angel, and this is how she will remember him. Beautiful.)
The two of them are in Sara’s living room, laughing over cheesy horror movies and throwing microwave popcorn at each other. It’s something they’ve done a million times; something they both think they’ll be doing together for the rest of their lives.
“Hey, Sara?” He says, looking up at his best friend.
Her violet eyes turn down on him in curiosity, a smile curving her lips. Orange hair falls in an odd, slightly uneven curtain above him.
(She looks beautiful. This is how he will remember her, until the very end. Not as a tired, shaking, leader, but as his best friend.)
“I love ya.” He grins, and she laughs, smacking him gently on the chest.
“I love you too, dummy.”
~
It doesn’t surprise you, the end that you are met with. You’d never been lucky.
Joe Tazuna sits at a bar long before he is of age to drink. He sighs, arms leaning on the cool, polished wooden counter, and he decides one thing. He feels older now, despite the fact that he’d only been caught in this sick game for a few hours.
(It’s as old as he will ever get. A state of mind that won’t leave him; a state of mind that will chip away at the girl he loves until she breaks. But he won’t be there to see that.)
Sara slides into the seat next to him, her hand warm and comforting on his arm.
“Hey. You okay?”
And he smiles up at her, just as he always has, just as he plans on doing forever.
“Yeah.”
(It’s the first time he has ever lied to her. He hopes it will be the last.)
~
You’ve come to accept that you won’t make it. But as long as she does, you don’t particularly care.
He is silent as he stands at an odd, hourglass-shaped desk.
A card with a skull on it burns a hole in his pocket.
He watches Sara extract information; watches her seek out the truth, and he finds himself smiling once again. He didn’t need to worry. She would be okay without him, he knew, but that didn’t mean he wanted to leave her.
(He knows he would never leave her, if given the choice.)
“Joe…”
Her eyes shine with tears as she comes to the conclusion.
He’s still smiling, and he almost laughs.
Sara…always too smart for me, huh?
It feels like the whole world is burning around him, but he only has eyes for her. Let the world be damned, if only she is saved.
~
The pain doesn’t scare you.
“I love ya, Sara! You’re my best friend.”
If Joe Tazuna is going to die, he thinks Sara Chidouin is the most beautiful last sight he could ask for.
She is in front of him, body shaking with sobs, and he still smiles.
(He has to be strong for her. And so he smiles, wishing she would too.)
As Joe Tazuna feels the worms pierce his skin, he is not afraid. He closes his eyes, and thinks of her.
(It was worth it, in the end. She makes it, and he knows that’s all that matters.)
~
”Hey, Sara?”
”Yeah?”
”What do you think your last words would be? Y’know, if you could pick?”
”Oh, I don’t know. Something cool, probably. Something people will remember. What about you?”
I love you I love you I love you I love you
I’m sorry
“I don’t know, either.”