"Takane..." The weak boy trembled, even more-so than the way his voice did. "I don't... I don't want to die." He shuddered and she clutched his shaking hand, the tears in her hazel eyes spilled over.

She gripped his hand tighter and held it closer to her chest, the warmth of her hand felt nice, and the softness of the pale fabric of her cardigan calmed him slightly, but it couldn't stop what was inevitable.

She attempted to speak, which was exceedingly difficult because of her quivering lip and repressed sobs. "J-just stay with me Haruka..." She let out a whimper. "... Everything's gonna be fine, just hold on." Her raven fringe covered her eyes, as she tilted her head down to let out an anguished cry. His body was shaking significantly less from moments ago but he still looked feeble and oh so brittle. He'd been in worrying states before but not like this, never like this. He looked straight at her, black strands of hair just out of the way of his tired, tearful eyes.

He smiled at her.

She remembered how much she said she hated his smiles, but really, she loved them. But even so, she didn't want to see this smile. She didn't want him to smile like that with pain filled eyes; she didn't want to see the glistening tear tracks that lead down to those upturned lips. She'd much rather see him smile after he got through this, one with vigour and a spark in his lively eyes.

It took all she had to hold back a scream when his body suddenly began to jerk. The smile on his face contorting to an expression of pain as he clutched his eyes shut. Immediately she substituted the twitching hand she held to hold his body close to her. Her breathing grew as she cried more, panicking. Over and over again she murmured, "Everything's going to be alright, everything's going to be okay..." She said it for the both of them but after the sixth sentence the body in her arms grew limp.

At the lack of movement her eyes grew wide and her breath hitched in her throat. No. She slowly drew back the boy's body from the embrace to look at him. His eyes were closed, not even a flutter of an eyelash or a movement behind the eyelid could be seen. His body no longer rose and fell. It was still, lifeless. This can't be happening.

In desperation and fear, she shook his body. Her eyes became blurry and her breath became short.

"Haruka! W-wake up!" She yelled at the unmoving body. "Please wake up!" It was futile, she knew, she just refused to acknowledge it. Her unheard yells gradually became desperate sobs.

"Haruka... please..." Takane's eyes opened to darkness. Haruka wasn't here. This was her bedroom. She could see the light blue light signifying the computer on her desk was on standby. She lead there under her covers, shaking a little. She brought her hand up to realise she'd been crying. "A nightmare..." She spoke quietly, voice hard to use. Once she sat up the images of her dream came rushing to her head against her will. Haruka's tears, Haruka's pain, Haruka's limp body. Before she knew it she started crying again. She clutched her knees to her chest, burying her face in them as she felt her warm tears on her knees.

The crying teen couldn't help but repeat to herself that it was just a dream. It wasn't real but that didn't stop her cries and the cascading tears. The dream not being real meant nothing to her. It felt real, it looked real. The scariest part was that it could become real.

She hugged her knees tighter, she needed to hold something, and since she was just some teenage girl, alone in the darkness of her lonely room, crying over a too-realistic dream, she only had herself to hold.