Work Text:
Ten years ago Aki Hayakawa never would have imagined he would die at nineteen. Three years ago he realized he didn't have a problem with dying. He had accepted his fate. That is, until he met Denji and Power. Death came with the job. He had been to countless funerals of his coworkers, and he cried every time. Still. Devil hunting was a death wish, he knew. He knew.
Aki is older than his brother has ever been, he is younger than his parents. They are all gone. Soon he will be gone too. Erased from this world just as they were.
His contract with the Curse Devil shortened his lifespan. Two years. Two years is all he has left to live.
The clock in the living room ticks. He knows fantasizing about his impending death is reductive. Every time he closes his eyes he sees his guts splattered everywhere. His blood staining the ground. Will he die fighting a devil? A fiend? He'd like to go out fighting. At least then it was worth something. His thoughts are interrupted by Power and Denji squirming around on their shared bedroll. He calms down. Remembers he's still alive. Still breathing. Still next to them. Denji throws an arm over Aki’s stomach in his sleep. He lets out a shuddering breath.
He thought taking care of Denji and power would be the end of him at first. He cooks dinner for them every day. Carefully chops the carrots, the onions, the meat. Reminds them to bathe, to brush their teeth. Patrols the streets with them searching for devils. Every action says I love you, I love you I love you. I want you to eat well. Stay safe. Stay alive. He doesn't want them to just live. He wants them to enjoy life. He wants them to enjoy every minute of their life. He wants to take them out of the city, away from danger. Power throws her vegetables at Denji. Denji eats them. Aki sighs.
They sleep in a pile some nights, when they have trouble sleeping. Meowy lying on Power, Denji’s weight crushing Aki, Power’s arms wrapped around Denji. He wants this forever. But forever is a long time. And Aki does not have forever.
Denji and Power accompany Aki to his family's gravesite. He isn't so sad this time around. He doesn't have the time. It’s cold, Denji and Power are loud. His breath leaves his mouth in white puffs. Looking at the frozen ground, he says to his family that he's coming soon. He wonders if death is quiet. He looks at Denji and Power again. He doesn't want death to be quiet.
Aki worries endlessly if what he has done is enough. Will Denji and Power be alright without him? Will they bicker? Will they eat? Would they be sad that he was gone? Would they cry?
He hopes they don't cry. Hopes they can move on.
They're getting closer and closer to finding the Gun Devil. He's been on this path of revenge for years. Became a devil hunter, made a contract with the Curse Devil, lost his arm. But all he can think about is Denji and Power. He sees them every time he closes his eyes. Sprawled on the ground, blood marring their faces. Their eyes closed, dead. Over and over again he sees this. He knows they are harder to kill. They're fiends. But they're just kids. They're his friends. His family. He would do anything for them. He’s sick of people dying on him.
He would rather give up on revenge than have Denji and Power die. He asks to remove his division from the Gun Devil team.
“Aki. Why the change of heart?” Makima asks.
He looks away, “I got cold feet.”
Makima puts Denji and Power on the team anyway. So he stays.
Aki is desperate. He makes a contract with the Future Devil. A weird creature who is too gleeful to see him. The devil hunters tell him he's locked up for a reason. He doesn't have to give up much. Just has to let the devil live in his right eye. He can see the future seconds before it happens. He doesn't think this will help him much in the fight against the Gun Devil. Doesn't think it can help him protect Denji and Power.
“Whatever happens, I want Denji and Power… to survive… and be happy…”
The Future Devil shows him a gruesome vision. Him and Power. Killed by Denji. Slaughtered. He clutches his right eye as if to stop seeing. Aki never thought he would have a little brother again. He never thought he would be killed by him. Fate is cruel he thinks. Maybe he deserves it. He is the reason his brother was killed by the Gun Devil. If he hadn't told him to go back to the house. Maybe he would have lived.
Aki thinks about Denji. Denji Denji Denji his mind screams at him. A kid so used to loneliness plunged back into it. You can't leave him he thinks. He wants to take all of Denji's pain onto himself. But he can't. And Denji will be alone. Denji will grow up without them.
Aki tries to hold onto his family. Loves them with all his might. Despite. Despite, despite despite. He knows the end. He knows how it will end. The downside of making a contract with the Future Devil is knowing how it ends.
Aki Hayakawa has had his will written for three years. He wrote it the night he took the job. Back then he only had one person to give everything to. He frantically digs through his drawer. He finds the neatly pressed paper. Takes a pen, writes in Denji and Power’s names. Leaves them money. For groceries, for the rent. He hopes it’s enough. He saved his money relentlessly. He guesses it was for this. He just didn't know it at the time. Maybe he was waiting for them his whole life.
He thinks he should have taught them more. How to file taxes, how to grocery shop, how to cook more than one meal. How to make it edible. Aki knows grief. He wishes Denji would never have to feel it.
The phone rings. It's Ms. Makima. She tells him to get Angel Devil and meet her. He has a horrible gut feeling. It is the end.
Aki writes a note. A goodbye note. In it, he tells Denji and Power what to do when he is gone. It goes like this,
‘Denji take care of power. Power take care of Denji.
Pay the rent on time. Don't forget to eat. Try not to poison yourselves.
Don't talk to strangers.
-Aki’
I love you is the unspoken last sentence. Unwritten.
Aki shuts the front door behind him.
He sees Ms. Makima standing on the shore. Angel Devil stands beside him. She tells them that the Gun Devil has already been apprehended. She commands them to fight for her. The last word Aki Hayakawa thinks is No.
Aki Hayakawa dies. The Gun Devil possesses his dead body. Aki Hayakawa is the Gun Fiend.
Aki Hayakawa is gone.
The Gun Fiend makes its way to the apartment. It bangs on the door. Aki had been here not too long ago.
Aki is ten years old. He’s cold. It is quiet. He is standing in the clearing outside his house, it has just snowed. He spots Denji. He runs over smiling. They throw snowballs at each other. This is fun, Aki thinks. Denji is laughing.
“I’ve never had this much fun before!” Aki exclaims, a childish grin on his face.
His parents never paid attention to him, they always fussed over Taiyo, his little brother. He stands in quiet contemplation, forming a snowball in his hand.
He settles on this, “But now my life has finally… finally… gotten kinda fun.” He chucks the snowball at Denji hitting him square in the chest.
Denji retaliates with a flurry of snowballs thrown at Aki. Denji is crying. Aki had never seen Denji cry before. Aki doesn't understand why Denji is crying. He stops forming his next snowball. He lies down in the snow. Gives up. Tells Denji, ‘Okay.. I lose..”, his big brother instincts taking over. “I don't like snowball fights anyway. They just make your hands cold.”
Aki looks up, trying to find Denji. Denji is gone. Aki is cold, and it is quiet.
Aki stays there. Lies down. The snow falls. Covers him.
The Gun Fiend is dead. Aki Hayakawa is dead. Denji killed him.
Denji looks at his friend. His brother. Aki was crying. His blood mixed with his tears.
Denji thinks, Aki, Aki. Aki. Don't go away. I'll miss you.
The Future Devil overlooks them. Looks at Aki’s body splayed on the pavement. He laughs. What cruel fate.
Aki Hayakawa… You died in the worst possible way… For the Chainsaw boy…