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The sharpest frost of winter seeped into the abandoned, decaying lighthouse of the coastal town. Outside, a feral storm shattered colossal waves against the cliffs; the salt and cold of the sea bled through the cracks in the tower, mingling with the heavy air inside. The scent of damp concrete on the walls merged with the acrid, metallic tang of blood from the violent struggle they had just silenced. The remains of the fallen devil had left a foul, pitch like smear across the floor.
On the ground beneath the dim panes of the lighthouse lens Angel knelt, struggling for breath. His shirt was shredded and the deep wound in his chest still seeped from beneath the coat Aki had hurriedly pressed against it. A few minutes ago when that massive devil’s claw had coiled around Angel’s throat Aki felt time stand still for the first time in his life. In that moment as the light began to flicker out of Angel’s eyes; all of Aki’s thirst for vengeance, all his plans for the future, scattered like dust motes in the darkness of that tower.
Aki sat on his knees upon the wet concrete directly facing Angel. His katana was slick with the blood of the devil he had slain. With that same devil’s blood, he had managed to keep Angel alive. He was breathless yet he did not avert his eyes from Angel for even a fraction of a millimeter. His gaze drank in every forced breath Angel took, the painful rise of his chest and the deathly pallor of his face. He did not blink for a single second; he feared that if he did he would be cast back to the moment Angel was dying in those claws.. terrified that this miraculous survival would prove to be nothing but a dream…
The unyielding, rule bound man within Aki had died in this lighthouse. All that remained was a raw, primal selfishness born from returning from the brink of losing someone. He no longer had the strength to run from the thoughts in his mind.
Angel leaned his back against the cold wall, his wings splayed across the concrete like lifeless stains. He fixed his gaze on Aki’s glass like, shattered eyes.
"I'm not dead, you see..." Angel said. His voice was weak and jagged like the sound of broken glass lost in the howling wind. "You don't need to look at me like you’ve lost your mind."
Aki said nothing. He simply continued to watch him. He seemed sworn to carve every inch of Angel into his soul. He looked repeatedly at the wound on his chest, the halo above his head, his wings... Minutes passed. The screams of the storm outside echoed within the tower. The walls seemed to erode under the noise. But Aki’s eyes did not shift an inch... as if he had truly lost his mind.
In weary exhaustion Angel let his head thud back against the wall. He stared back at Aki... the thing he feared most was happening. The ache in his chest did not stem from his wound.
"Enough” he murmured. "Aren't you tired of watching me?"
Without breaking his dark, honest focus; Aki whispered:
"Yes I'm tired of watching you."
Crawling on his knees Aki closed the final distance between them. As he stood directly before Angel the roar of the storm outside seemed to fall completely silent. Aki raised his hand; his fingers were trembling but his resolve was as cold as ice. Angel realized that Aki had already crossed that transparent wall, that the fraying rope between them had finally dissolved.
The moment Aki’s fingertips touched the cold skin just above Angel’s wounded chest time stopped inside the lighthouse.
That familiar, lethal ache seeped through Aki’s fingers and straight into his soul. Aki’s breath hitched in his chest as he felt his lifespan flowing into Angel like a river. Months torn from his life poured into Angel like the shattering of an hourglass. Aki’s shoulders slumped under this sudden depletion but he did not pull his hand away. On the contrary he pressed his palm against Angel’s skin with an even greater passion as if trying to chain him to this world.
He leaned in and their lips met in that darkness where the salt of the sea and the metallic taste of blood intertwined.
As Aki tasted that cold, celestial flavor of Angel’s he embraced every second stolen from his life as if it were a blessing. Angel, meanwhile, shuddered with a devilish hunger as he inhaled this life force while simultaneously loathing himself for the desire he was too tired to deny. By kissing him he was taking away Aki's future, yet Aki’s warmth was the only sanctuary for Angel’s centuries old loneliness.
Angel pulled his lips away from Aki’s mouth with great effort. Finally it had happened. He was in the middle of the moment he both feared and craved most. He gripped Aki’s collar with such desperation that his knuckles turned white from trembling.
"Stop now..." Angel said. He pulled back slightly as Aki leaned in again. His voice was not a cry but an expression of the deep agony he felt toward his own lack of will. "I’m killing you."
Aki’s eyes were closed; his face held the terrifying serenity of someone who had hit rock bottom. He felt neither fear nor regret anymore. He only wanted to remain within this moment.
"Just a little more" was all he said.
Angel succumbed to the absolute surrender beneath that answer and buried his head in Aki’s neck. As Aki’s life diminished with every passing second Angel felt a pain as if he were approaching his own end. While the storm outside continued to tear the world apart they had found one another in the very heart of that ruin.
"Three months" Angel said, his voice muffled against Aki’s neck, almost groaning with pain. "Don't leave me with any more guilt."
Aki placed his hand in Angel’s hair; he felt the cold texture beneath his fingertips and the heavy peace of Angel still being here.
"It’s nothing" Aki said, his voice a thin whisper lost in the roar of the gale. "I would have wanted to kiss you during those three months anyway."
As the sea continued to batter the rocks outside they remained as two shadows in the cold darkness of the lighthouse.