Work Text:
The future....there were no left to unfold with her, only the past. Memories is what he has with her. Memories that he keeps replaying and a vow that he keeps on saying.
Tearing his eyes from the window, he looked at Denji and Power, heads against each other as they were asleep.
There was always something about looking at them when they were quiet, always usually when asleep, when they were at peace, when they were at Aki's gaze. There with him.
Aki have grown of their loud voices that were always bickering, fonder, that is. But the three of them being still and him having the eyes to finally see it. He took pride in that.
It was a vow that he'll keep on promising.
Snow continues to fall, it only fell days earlier and was still faint, but the trees and flowers were beginning to be covered by it. White almost blue continues to be seen outside the window. And it's what met them when they stepped down on the train.
Snow falling on them all the while they walk. Denji and Power's voice follows the sound of the trail they make under the snow. Until they died down once Aki stopped walking to face the tombstone of his family. The last time they went together with him, they were themselves even when Aki was in front of his family. But today and there, they were quiet beside him, they are themselves still but quiet as Aki laid down the flowers and closed his eyes for a moment.
His hand laid flat on the snow, the cold doesn't go through him, then fingers drugging through it, visions of the past coming through and he allowed it; freely.
"Aki!"
"Aki, let's play!"
"Aki, Taiyo! The snow is going to get strong soon, come inside already!"
"Taiyo!"
"Aki, I want to make a snowman!"
"Aki!"
"Akiiiiiiiiii!"
"It's snowing! It's snowing! Aki! Come with me outside!"
"Aki!"
"Taiyo!"
The heat of the lighter passes through its body, through Aki's skin as the fire was kept for too long, the burning of his fingertips wakes him, being out in the cold had manage to numb him for a while, eyes dead awake staring through the window of their room, the view of the snowfall.
Everytime winter came, his heart grew.....restless. Longing for his family. Wanting warmth. Each drop of snow falling through him, filling him in cold until it filled him to no end; numbing him. That's how winter became for him. A dreadful time, no peace in it but emptiness.
Until Himeno came and left; all that ice in his being. that froze him, suddenly shattered him and left even more to nothing. Until she came haunting him, through it all, he found her love for him....through it all, he found the warmth he had for her, that he holds onto.
He continued to flicker his lighter, sparks falling to his skin. It's been a while since he thought of his family without feeling that numbness. Warmth piercing through the cold, shards of ice still there but fire within enough to be felt, nonetheless.
Aki kept flickering his lighter, until the sparks became a fire.
"Winter's finally here, huh?" Himeno stuck her arm out, a snowflake about to fall on her hand.
Dread fills Aki.
"It's gonna be cold, a ramen would be great later." She spoke, her eye closed to the sky while her hand still stuck out, catching snow.
Little.....little so much did Aki know that winter will become warm for him starting then.
Soft and cold hit his back, he didn't need to turn around to know that it was Himeno, who threw a ball of snow to him. He hears her laugh as he stopped walking. Reluctantly, he turned around to face a giggling Himeno, crouching down a little from her laughing. Then a second pass by, she pouted, putting a had on her hip, "Not gonna get back at me?" She huffed and Aki just turned his head to the side, "We got somewhere to be."
Himeno rolled her eye and turned away from him, letting herself fall down on the snow. Aki stares at her, both unmoving and it was him who gave up, sighing quietly. He crouched down, looking at the snow so intently as his hand laid flat on it, coldness against his skin. He breathes in and out with closed eyes, nothing but the dark behind them, he can barely remember the time that he hasn't had memories flashing and hurting him.
Aki gathers them in his hands and threw it to Himeno. To see her surprised face and a smile that broke was worth it. He was glad that is where he chose to be.
The fire in the lighter fades by the wind that howls. There, Aki sits on the snow as Denji and Power ran to nowhere. He looks at his lighter, the fuel of it close to emptying. Then he looks up at the sky, "Easy revenge, huh?" With one last flicker of his lighter, he kept it back to his pocket and gathered snow in his hands.
Much to Denji and Power's surprise, Denji was suddenly hit by a snowball on his face. Power's rough gasp and Denji's strained yell, it stopped when they saw him standing there. Wearing a look that he so, very often had; gentle and.....real. Facade gone away.
Then both of their look turned to a challenging one, that feeling of relief crawls deep inside them and they felt it through Aki's smile. There, they played together until their hands were red from the coldness.
They had never felt so warm while being out in the cold.
Aki stood in front of her by himself. He kneeled down on one knee to lay the flowers he had and took out the courage to rest his hand on the cross. Eyes closed, he remained still and there, for as long as he can. Tears escaping slowly, it falls down to her. "For you, Himeno....for you."
Winter will pass by. The snow will melt. The water will seeps its way to soil and only love will grow. From ice that numbed him, to fire that burned, smoke and ashes that suffocated him. Came flowers growing, painful still but easier to carry and breathe with. Stems that will crawl out its way from him and reaching those who may he reach.
Even as each season will pass by, they won't wither. In him, ever growing still.