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It took both of them by surprise.
When they woke up in a jolt, midnight. Instincts that flood through their body, like a wave crashing past all of the cliffs in their head. The last thing any of them registered was an ominous buzzing from a red obejct that floated ouside their window, and instructions burned into their biology that demands control right now.
Both too late to stop it.
What happened? His head is pounding. His heart beating away in both anxiety and left-over adrenaline. He's on the ground, the world vertical in his eyes. The stars continue to blink at him, night sky eerily clear. He turns his head to the side.
One of the cabin walls is completely disfigured. Inch-deep scars on the wooden material indicates someting horrific happening, yet he couldn't even wipe away the fog in his memory, like he's trying to wipe away the waterdrops on the other side of the glass.
It takes a little too long for him to realise he can't blink, while he's taking the form of Joker.
He whips his head around at the sound of weak breathing. Not because his instincts tell him so, but…
Something lies in the grass. Well hidden by how much blood it's soaked in, blending in with the rest of the greenery. One, iconic yellow horn sticks out from the plants.
Kenzaki.
Hajime tries to run over to him, but something in his left leg is torn and he can't really feel it. He practically drags himself over, open injuries collecting gravel and dirt and yet somehow he could care less.
"Kenzaki," He whispers. The other doesn't respond.
"Kenzaki." A little louder this time. Panic starts to claw in his mind, he frees out a hand to shake the other. Please don't. Please, no.
"Kenzaki!" A full-on yell. It's only this that Kenzaki stirs, coughing out a mouthful of blood as he opens his tired eyes to look at Hajime. He feels like something heavy has just got lifted, somehow.
"Hajime," Kenzaki whispers hoarsely. Every thinking capacity he has is being used to apologise to Kenzaki right now. Why is he looking at him in such an apologetic way? Stop it. it's not his fault. It's not his, it never will be. "Sorry, Hajime. I…"
"Don't. Stop apologising," Hajime can feel blood pooling in his eyes in replacement of tears. He hadn't even known this body could cry before this. "I'm supposed to be the one saying sorry. Shut your mouth."
Kenzaki must've noticed that. How did he even see them? Through what little left he can see, he sees the navy Joker force himself to sit up and—
Arms that shake from exhaustion, from the mere act of raising it, wraps around him gently. Kenzaki pulls him up and buries his head in the crook of his neck, making a quiet sigh.
"It's not your fault. We could've never known it was coming, right?" How could he say something like this so confidently? When he knows so, so clearly that it was all done for him, that in the end he was the only reason behind Kenzaki's death as a human, and the potential death of humanity as well? The blood is on his hands. How is it not his fault?
But Hajime could tell him none of that. Instead he raises his arms in return, gently pressing their armour against each other, feeling each other's heartbeat for maybe the last time in ten thousand years. He can't find his words. He just wants to feel Kenzaki being there.
Even then, Undeads don't have the same warmth a human does. There's only cold, achingly cold armour and deadly weapons that lines their skin. What can he do about it? Undeads are created this way. He wants to feel him. To know he's clearly there.
Hajime hugs him a little closer.
The arrival of a familiar vibration snaps them out of everything and both of them turns to stare at that twisted metallic slab descend onto the floor several feet away, along with that red version of it that they had seen earlier.
No. No. No, no, no, no, no, please don't take him away, please, they haven't spend enough time together yet. Hajime frantically tries to pick Kenzaki up in his current position to escape, but he's far too exhausted and his leg isn't recovering fast enough for that to happen.
"GO AWAY!" Hajime snaps, trying to curl his body over Kenzaki protectively. What made him determine that he wasn't the one being sealed? He doesn't know. All he knows is that Kenzaki is going to leave, again, and right before his eyes for a long, long time. He doesn't want to be alone again. Kenzaki's constantly presence grounded him, became such a big part of his world just by existing. He can't be gone. If he's gone, his world will go silent again, and he's too scared to think of what comes afterwards.
The course of nature, however, carries on. Light shines from the metallic god, and casts itself directly onto the both of them.
Don't let go. It was the only thing that flashed through his head at that inevitable moment. Don't let go of him. He uses what's left of his strength and adrenaline to crush Kenzaki into himself, like a desperate attempt at fusing the two of them. The blade on the navy Joker's chest cracks and pierces through the glass that protects his heart. It hurts. It hurts so horribly, but it's the only way he can feel him here anymore.
He ignores the way Kenzaki freezes slightly and he ignores the way that he can see the undead in front of him fading away.
The hateful god is dragging out this farewell. And it was most definitely not from a kind place.
"Kenzaki. Don't go." His voice is far shakier than he'd like. A plead that will never be fulfilled, and yet he begs anyways. "Don't go."
"I'm here," Those arms that wrapped around him tries to reassure him by rubbing his back like a child. "I'm here, Hajime. I'm sorry."
"I'll be with you. I'll be here."
"I'll see you next time. Hajime."
"Goodbye."
"I love you."
It's until the sharp pain in his chest is replaced with a cold gush of air and soothing words replaced with a whisper from the wind that he finally crumples into the ground. The god spits out one monster after another immediately, as if so impatient to destroy this world in place of the Joker, uncaring of the fate of its own creation.
I love you too.