Chapter Text
Kaneda opens his eyes, dazed. He surveys his surroundings, trying to ascertain where exactly he is through the haze of disorientation.
Oh, right.
The olympic stadium. Again.
Chunks of broken concrete litter the center of the structure, the entire thing desecrated by Tetsuo’s mutated body, which lies writhing in the Arena like some….fucked-up centerpiece to an unfinished structure. The body continually throbs, parts of it expanding and deflating like a panting, wounded animal. It’s hard to believe that the thing was once a person.
Was once his friend.
The atmosphere is eerily still--nobody else is here. Not Kei, not Kaisuke, not the colonel,
Chiyoko, the espers…...Kaneda is alone. With…….Tetsuo.
Slowly, he navigates through the concrete wreckage, making his way towards the mutating form. In the back of his mind, he knows that what he is doing is crazy. Why is he walking towards it? What the fuck is he doing? He should be heading for the hills before he gets caught in the inevitable explosion that will follow all this chaos.
Nonetheless, he carries himself forward towards danger, motivated by some visceral feeling in his gut.
As if in response to his presence, the mass deflates, it’s fetus-like form shrinking down, smaller and smaller, taking a form that Kaneda is much more familiar with.
Tetsuo collapses to the ground, like a lifeless puppet. His entire body is drained of pigment, making him look unnaturally pale white, his veins popping with color like lines of ink. His back and his right arm continue to mutate and roil, as if they are a separate creature entirely. He's panting and covered in a sheen of sweat that makes him look sick, strange and silvery in the fading daylight. He weakly raises himself up, one arm supporting his body while the other hand winds itself into his hair, clutching his head like he's in pain.
"Ka.....neda....." The syllables of the name are disjointed, followed by a muffled groan as he doubles over, resting his forehead against the ground. He’s breathing in gasps, interjected with miserable-sounding keening noises.
It’s pathetic.
Tetsuo raises his head. Kaneda can see the dark circles under his eyes, irises reduced to a cloudy gray, welling with tears of pain. The scowl--a furrowed brow accompanied by a smug grin that Kaneda had become accustomed to seeing--is gone. In it’s place is misery and desperation.
Tetsuo’s eyes pierce his own, and he feels as if his heart is about to explode into a bloody pulp. He wants to move forward; to act on his gut feelings. But he’s rooted to the spot, paralyzed.
“Kaneda…..please…..” Tetsuo’s voice is weak and raw.
“It hurts...”
Their gazes lock for a moment, and Kaneda feels as if Tetsuo has reached into his soul to grasp for something that was just out of reach. He remembers memories from before--memories that he had blocked from his consciousness, that he had replaced with the hatred, rage and hurt that had fueled his actions in the past few months--of when they were both young and helpless, and had only each other.
Even as he is anchored in place, he feels as if he is being pulled forward by an invisible force, inviting him to follow his instincts.
Then, Tetsuo lets his head drop down to the ground again, and he lets out a wretched sound as tendrils of flesh begin to branch out from his back. As the power begins to consume his body once more, he gazes back up at Kaneda with his cheek pressed into the ground.
Kaneda breaks forward. He drops to his knees and clutches at Tetsuo’s shoulders, even as Tetsuo’s body starts to wind around his hands and arms, gradually enveloping them both, as if Tetsuo is using the last of his strength to hold it back.
“No…...Fuck- Tetsuo!!” Tetsuo seems to lose consciousness as Kaneda shakes him, slumping into Kaneda’s chest.
“Tetsuo, wake up! You have to control it!!”
It feels as if Tetsuo is dissolving into his own flesh.
“TETSU-”
Kaneda’s eyes open wide as he shoots up from the bed.
“-O!!”
The room is still and quiet save for his own labored breathing and the sound of wind blowing through deserted city streets.
He lies back down, trying to ignore the trembling of his shoulders as he wipes his eyes and tries to regain control of his breathing.