Work Text:
𝚐𝚘𝚍𝚍𝚎𝚜𝚜
“you took me for a fool, you stole my youth.”
ᴿᴱᴾᴱᴬᵀ ‖ ᴾᴬᵁˢᴱ ≫ ᴺᴱˣᵀ ˢᴼᴺᴳ
⊱ ────── {.⋅ 🍓 ⋅.} ────── ⊰
To Maiko, the brightest points in her life were when her older sister seemed happy.
Of course, Rinna rarely seemed to shine as brightly as she used to do, ever since Maiko had been sequestered in a hospital room, isolated from the rest of the world. Her lovely older sister, the only person she could cling to, looked at her with such pitying eyes, struggling so hard to bring a smile to Maiko's face when she herself could not truly smile.
Maiko did not like it. At all.
She could care less about the sickness that was eating her up, inside to out. She could care less about the loneliness that carved its way into her heart every time she laid alone in her room, the silence pounding at her ears.
But it hurt so much to see Rinna cry, those few times that Rinna had thought Maiko was asleep, and she clutched her chest and wailed, pressing her hand over her mouth to stifle her cries.
Perhaps that's why she craved a peaceful death more than anything. To be free of the unending pain, to release Rinna from her obligation to care.
She was lonely when he came.
{.⋅ 🍓 ⋅.}
He called himself Death. Actually, that's what he introduced himself as, with dark robes enshrouding his body, a hood tugged low over his head, spindly, age-weathered fingers peeking through his sleeves. She hadn't believed him at first, but then she peered down at his feet, and there was nothing, just a general sense of malaise and a whisper of emptiness.
He carried no scythe, no reaping tool. He had sighed when she asked him if he was the grim reaper, and then said "no" in that deep, tired voice of his, as if he was tired of carrying the burden of so many souls to their ends. Had they begged, pleaded? Had they cried and clung to him and begged him to spare them?
They had.
Maiko did none of these things.
"I've been waiting for you," she smiled, reaching her hands out to Death. Though she could not see his face, she could tell that he was confused. Maiko was happy to provide an explanation. "I don't want my big sister to worry about me anymore," Maiko told him. "If I die now, she has the rest of her life to live without worrying about me here. She'll be sad, yes, but... she's strong. She'll move on."
Death retracted his hands, suddenly a little apprehensive to take such a pure soul out of this world. It was her mandate, yes, but it was cruel.
"Don't worry," Maiko said, "I'm not scared of you."
He moved backward slightly, settling into a space in the corner, mind made up. For today, just today, he could allow her a small mercy. A small miracle.
"It is not your time just yet. I can give you until tonight to... to say goodbye to your loved ones."
Maiko smiled, and the whole world lit up. Death had never seen anyone's soul shine so bright.
"Thank you," she whispered, and Death melted into the shadows until Maiko's time truly was up.
Maiko welcomed Death with open arms because everything hurt so much that he was her only reprieve.
{.⋅ 🍓 ⋅.}
Maiko was reduced to skin and bone, the tiniest faint hint of life flickering in her heart, beating smaller and smaller with each rise and fall of her chest.
Thump, thump, thump.
Maiko rasped out words first.
"I'm not scared, onee-chan."
"I know."
Rinna's words sounded like shards of broken glass that have been covered with cloth in an attempt to hide the damage. Her voice crackled, and she put on a brave face for her little sister.
"You have to forget about me."
Rinna remained silent. Maiko squeezed her hand slightly, with any bit of strength she could muster.
"Please, onee-chan."
Rinna is the only person that Maiko could truly rely on in this world. Even their father hadn't been able to make any time for her, not when she was dying, not when Rinna had cried and spat curses at him, leaving him call after call, voicemail after voicemail, to no avail.
Death's clawed hands appeared first, solidifying out of the shadows he disappeared into earlier. Rinna did not see him. Rinna could not see him.
Maiko's heart beat faster. The flicker of life in her chest dimmed.
Thump thump. Thump thump. Thump thump.
Faster, faster, faster, faster.
Thump thump thump thump. Thump thump thump thump. Thump thump thump thump.
Maiko gasped for air as his head forms, his body flowing out in a hauntingly beautiful, ethereal movement. She looked at Rinna, who sobbed, and suddenly she knew that if she left Rinna here alone, Rinna would never get over her death. That bright light that harbored her through so many storms would dim and dirty, corrupted with the anger and hatred that was capable of growing in her sister.
For the first time, Maiko feared death. She feared the ending.
"Onee-chan, I'm scared," Maiko blurted out, squeezing Rinna's hand tight. The tears that she had never shed started leaking down her face, making up for years and years of fear. "I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared, don't leave me, please don't leave me too."
Rinna was barely holding back her tears before Maiko had said anything, but tears streaked down her face as she leaned over, holding her sister against her chest, gently cradling her. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm here."
"I'm scared, I'm scared," Maiko sobbed.
Death extended his fingers out.
"Please, please, I want to live," Maiko begged him, and her soul dimmed, slightly, almost imperceptibly.
Thump thump thump thump thump thumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthumpthu--
Death sighed, and his fingers touched Maiko's forehead, and she breathed out, her voice failing her as she slowly went limp in Rinna's embrace, the wisps of her soul escaping her body.
Death watched her soul dissipate, just like everyone else's.
In the end, wasn't Maiko just like everyone else he's taken? Still begging for her life, clinging to the things she loved? Disappearing just like everyone else, living and dying and ending?
Was that such a bad thing? For her to cling to life?
She was only a child, after all.
She was only human.
{.⋅ 🍓 ⋅.}
"Get out!" Rinna shrieked, holding Maiko closer to her as she sobbed. "GET OUT!"
All Might had come to visit Maiko, hours after her body had already grown already cold.
It wasn't the father Maiko wanted. It was the hero who abandoned them.
"GET OUT, GET OUT!!" Rinna screamed at him again, and All Might took a step back, unsure of what to do. "YOU DIDN'T CARE WHILE SHE WAS ALIVE AND NOW YOU DON'T GET TO CARE WHEN SHE'S DEAD!"
"Rinna..." All Might began, and Rinna hissed at him, holding Maiko close to her, so close.
"Don't say my name, don't say her name, don't even mention Mama, don't tell us about things you don't know, don't say that you're sorry, don't talk to us, don't look at us, don't come near us, don't-- don't--" Rinna panted as she ran out of air. "Don't pretend to care. Get out get ouT GET OUT GET OUT GETOUTGETOUTGETOUT--"
All Might backed out of the room, taking stumbling steps as the door swung shut behind him. He slid to the floor, his back pressed against the wall.
He could still hear Rinna's faint sobs through the door.
"I hope you're happy," she spat through sobs, knowing that the hero could still hear her. "I hope you're happy like this."
He wasn't.
But he knew he had no right to be more upset than Rinna now.
Rinna cried.
{.⋅ 🍓 ⋅.}
Mairin knew that what she had become now was an affront to whatever Maiko had wanted her to become. You have to forget about me, but how could Mairin forget when she heard her voice in her dreams every night, sobbing, I'm scared, I want to live.
Mairin was haunted by the memory of her sister. Of her hands, so cold, of her faint heartbeat, coming to a stop in Rinna's arms. Mairin still, even years later, heard her sister's voice.
But there's no use in crying over her anymore. Death was cruel; it took people before their prime, stealing away their years and giving them to the undeserving.
Mairin was one of the undeserving.
One day, Mairin was going to find Death and stare him in the eyes, and ask him if he regretted it. If he regretted taking Maiko away from this world, a feeble flicker of goodness in this world of filth. And she'd ask him if she was greedy, to beg to live, to cry, to want to hold on for just a bit longer.
If he thought that she was wrong, Mairin would tear the world apart at its seams, because if Maiko was wrong for wanting to live, then everyone else was too.
Maiko, her sun.
Rinna, her moon.
Mairin, her eclipse.
Death stole Maiko's childhood, and it destroyed the last shreds of self-control in Mairin.
Only fitting, then, that Mairin would destroy the thing that killed her light.
Mairin was not a pawn.
She was fucking goddess.