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“So who are we after?” Dazai asked about 20 minutes into their search. Chuuya slowly turned to look at him.
“Did you not read the report we were given?” The redhead asked, not exactly surprised, but disappointed none the less.
“Seemed boring” The brunette shrugged.
Chuuya smacked him “We’re after a straggler from the Guild, some guy named Edward Page Mitchell. According to reports he’s been causing issues in some residential areas-”
Dazai scoffed “That’s it?”
“You didn’t let me finish you dumb fuck”
Dazai made a flabbergasted noise
“Like I was saying, his ability seems to be to turn people back into younger versions of themselves, both physically and mentally, but we’re not sure exactly how” He explained.
Dazai seemed thoroughly uninterested with the whole thing. The rude bastard. “Cool, but what are we supposed to do about that?”
“We’re SUPPOSED to capture him and make him reverse the effect because this is causing general mayhem for us all”
“So a few people are teenagers again, how is that important enough for us to have to worry about?”
“Because they seem to have also forgotten anything they learned after that age. They have no memories of after the age they get turned back to.”
“Are we sure he’s just turning people back into kids and not like. Doing some time travel stuff?”
“Yes. If his ability was time travel, wouldn’t he use it a bit better?”
“Eh, maybe-”Dazai began before Chuuya slapped a hand over his mouth
“Shut”
“Wh-”
“He’s there”
Chuuya pulled his partner behind a wall, peeking out to look at the man. He was of fairly average height, with long brown hair. He must have been around 50, maybe older. His hair covered his eyes, but he seemed to have a burn mark over the left side of his face.
“That guy? Are you sure? He looks pretty harmless to me.”
“Yes, and you better take this seriously, or god so help me-” Before he could even finish his sentence, Dazai was gone “Oh fuck me”
“Nice weather we’re having today”
Edward looked up from his newspaper, smiling kindly “Why, yes it is young man”
“What are you reading about?”
Edward tilted his head “Are young people really still interested in the paper?”
“Not often, but you seemed to be enjoying this one particularly”
“I’m reading the short story section. I used to love writing these as a youngin’, so it’s nice to know that it’s still a practiced tradition. This one is about the rather silly misadventures of a deer woman and her friends”
“That sounds entertaining” Dazai said pleasantly.
“It is”
“So, Edward-”
The older man’s cheerful smile fell “Young man, how do you know my name?”
“Well I just wanted to ask you to-”
“YOU FUCKING DUMBASS” Chuuya yelled, grabbing Dazai by the collar.
Edward stood up, his stance guarded “What do you two want?”
“We want you to stop de-aging people-”
“Why can’t you ever just stick to the fucking plan, huh? It was supposed to be simple! Kidnap the old man, force him to reverse it, but NOOOO, you had to go and do small talk with him and ruin everything-”
“Chuuya”
“WHAT?!”
“Turn around”
Edward’s hair had been brushed aside, revealing his eyes. His left one, while the area around it was burned, was a normal brown colour. His right one however…
“Oh fuck, creepy eye”
“Chuuya! He’s burned, you can’t say that to him-”
“NO DUMBASS. HIS RIGHT ONE”
Dazai seemed to finally notice the man’s right eye. It was a slightly glowing cream colour with the face of a clock in it.
“Oh fuck, creepy eye! Heyyy buddy, no need to use your creepy eye on us, we can work this out right?”
Edward scowled “You were sent here. To kidnap me. We cannot ‘work this out’.”
“Are you sur-”
The hands of the clock in Edward’s eye started moving backwards.
“Huh. I wonder if that’s his ability-”
“NOT THE TIME”
“I think you boys need some time to reflect” the hands were spinning really quickly now “The Clock That Went Backwards!”
The next thing that Chuuya knew, he was on the floor of a room that seemed familiar in a way he couldn’t quite place. He laid on his back, blinking up at the warm ceiling lights. Vaguely, he could hear people talking.
“Chuuya? You alive there dude?” A familiar voice asked. A voice he never though he’d hear again.
He turned his head over to the voice. He was met with a pair of scuffed military boots.
“Huh. You look kinda diferent” The voice added.
Someone else chimed in with a chuckle “Maybe he finally hit that growth spurt he’s always yelling about”
A nasaly voice made a sound he couldn’t quite decipher, but might have been discontent. “Lippmann, that’s not how growth spurts work, they happen in your sleep, and they don’t make you look a decade older or change your clothes.”
This wasn’t possible. It wasn’t. They were dead. All three of them. All five of them. The Flags were dead. It wasn’t possible. He had to be dreaming. Or delusional. Or halucinating. Or something-
“Buddy? Come on, get up, the floor is dirty-” Albatross couldn’t even finish his sentence before Chuuya had jumped up and wrapped his arms around him. “Woah. Hello to you too I guess”
It felt too real. No matter how much he pretended, he could never recreate this feeling. No hallucination could ever get the smell right- a mix of engine grease, leather and mango from those stupid candies Albatross liked eating -nor the feeling of his chest rising and falling. No, in those dreams, no matter how much it felt like they were really back, the illusion was always broken by the lack of everything that made them feel alive.
He buried his face further into Albatross’s chest, gripping him tighter as if that would make him stay. As if that would stop Chuuya from losing him again.
“Chuuya? You’re worrying me”
“-missed you so much” he sobbed, not caring that he probably looked pathetic.
“Are we sure that’s Chuuya?” Iceman asked, tone neutral as always “He looks different than usual. And he’s acting as if he hasn’t seen Albatross in years, despite having just been talking to him when he collapsed”
“Maybe it’s just not our Chuuya” Piano Man mused.
Albatross held Chuuya by his shoulders, pushing him away gently “Hey, talk to me, what’s wrong?”
“I’m sorry- I just missed you so much, I don’t- I can’t- I’m so sorry, I’m so so sorry- I-” His vision swam as tears filled his eyes. “Don’t leave me again” he begged.
The taller man frowned, concern evident in his eyes “I’m not going to leave you, what are you talking about?”
“I- I’m from the future and-”
“Nope” Iceman interrupted
“No, I really am-”
“I believe you kid, it’s just that I personally don’t want you causing a time paradox on my off day”
“But-”
“Don’t tell us what happens to us. You won’t be able to prevent it, you’ll just make things worse”
“We’re here right now, aren’t we?” Lippmann said, smiling sadly “Come on, don’t be a stranger now, or did you really only miss Albatross?”
Chuuya sniffled. “No- of course not, I miss all of you so much I just-”
Lippmann held open his arms “Come here, I hate seeing you cry” Chuuya blinked at him, not moving for a minute before breaking away from Albatross to hug him. The older man wiped his tears away gently “Don’t be sad, dear. No matter what happens to us, we’ll always be there for you”
Chuuya sobbed “But what if you’re not? What if no matter what I do, I miss you guys every day for the rest of my life, and nothing ever makes it better?” Lippmann held him closer, letting him soak his jacket with tears.
Iceman sighed “Kid, I know we haven’t always gotten along, but you’re strong. You don’t need us. So don’t worry about it-”
“That’s not the point! I don’t care how strong you seem to think I am, I have never had a family. Not with the sheep. Not in that lab. This is as close as I’ve gotten to it. You guys are as close as I’ve ever gotten to a family. I will always need you.”
“You see us as your family?” Doc asked, finally speaking again. He got up, leaning on Albatross for support as if he didn’t have a cane right next to him.
“You know what this calls for-”
“Albatross no” Piano Man interupted, leveling him with a glare
“Come on, Strings, it’s the perfect moment-”
“Albatross.”
“Aw fine”
“What did it call for?” Doc asked, gripping Albatross’s arm in a mildly threatening manner, a threat that was very much not received if the blond’s lovesick expression was anything to go by.
“A group hug!”
“God no” Iceman groaned.
“I find that a wonderful idea!” Lippmann said “Get in here everybody!”
Chuuya grunted as Albatross launched himself, and by extension Doc, at the two of them. Doc seemed mildly awkward, patting Chuuya’s head, while Albatross laughed and squeezed Chuuya so hard he felt like he was going to die.
Lippmann sighed “Now if only Iceman and Strings joined us. How unfortunate that they’re such wet blankets who hate fun and whimsy and love-”
“Oh, shut it” Piano Man rolled his eyes, joining in on the hug. Iceman sighed in defeat and joined in as well.
Chuuya almost felt okay. As if everything was going to be fine. “I’ll never forget you guys”
“You better not” Albatross said, squeezing him tighter.
“If you do I’ll poison you” Doc added, sounding an awful lot like he would make good on his threat.
And everything was fine. Everything felt right. Chuuya finally didn’t have that hole in him anymore, that aching loss that ate at him every second of his life since he’d lost them. Because right now, they were here, and they were holding him like they wouldn’t ever let go. He wasn’t alone. He was finally okay.
And then he wasn’t. Then the warmth was gone. Then the warm artificial lights gave way to natural light. Then the arms around him turned into air, and the wooden floor turned into concrete. And then nothing was fine. “No. No please. Please- just one more minute- I just need one more minute with them- please. Please I need to go back please don’t leave me here don’t-”
Around him he could hear people talking. Akutagawa, maybe? He didn’t really care. He just wanted to go back. He sobbed, falling to his knees. No. No, he couldn’t do this again. He couldn’t handle losing them again. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. He curled into himself, clawing at
his arms. At his face. He just wanted it to stop. He wanted to go back
“-uya? Chuuya? Chuuya!” Someone was calling his name. He didn’t really care who. He didn’t want to deal with anyone right now. He felt gentle hands taking his own. “Chuuya, calm down. Breath” Breath? Why? Why would he breath? Why, when his family was gone-
“Chuuya. I’m here”
The last thing he felt before he passed out was the feeling of arms wrapping around him.
Chuuya woke up in his bed. For a second he thought it had all been a dream. Then he felt how sore his arms were. Nope. Definitely real.
There was a hand carding through his hair gently. He opened his eyes and saw Dazai staring at him with a sad look in his eyes. “Have a good nap?”
Chuuya groaned, burying his head in Dazai’s chest “I feel like shit”
“Don’t we all?” Dazai replied, still running his hand through Chuuya’s hair. The bed was warm. It almost made Chuuya want to go back to sleep.
“I saw the Flags” he muttered.
Dazai stayed silent.
“I didn’t realize how much I missed them. But they were all there and I just started crying because I miss them so much. And everything almost felt like it used to, but then it was over and I just. I didn’t know what to do” Chuuya almost whispered.
“It’s okay to miss them”
“I know. I just… I guess I just didn’t want to admit how much it hurt to lose them” Chuuya frowned “They were my family, ‘Samu. They were my family and they died because of me”
“It’s not your fault”
Chuuya hadn’t even noticed he was crying until he felt his pillow start to get wet. “Why does it feel like it is then?”
“I don’t know”
Dazai sighed, pulling Chuuya closer to him, holding him as he cried “I really don’t know”