Goodbye
"I am…Tetsuo."
Tetsuo was gone. He couldn't even feel his own body. His body was gone, faint as vapor. He tried to call out, but his voice remained stuck in his throat. Only a name whispered to him. "A...ki…ra…" Tetsuo knew what that name meant now. He knew that like him, Akira was studied for his physic abilities. Eventually Akira became too powerful for the military to control, so they locked him away from civilization. They locked away a monster that they themselves had created. Tetsuo had felt the boy in his mind, showing him images of his former life. His name was whispered in Tetsuo's mind. It seemed that Akira was trying to tell Tetsuo something as the boy became involved in the undeclared war. But by then, it was all ready too late. Tetsuo had realized his abilities on his own, despite the military's plans to control his powers, just as they tried with Akira. And now like the boy before him, Tetsuo was gone, like a forgotten memory.
"Te…tsou…" He turned. It was his voice again, Akira's voice. He opened his mouth to speak, and found with surprise and relish that he could talk again.
"A…ki…ra…"
Tetsuo could feel his body again. He felt the numbing in his hands and fingers had disappeared, and then he saw them. His right arm was no longer a stump, nor was it a mechanically enhanced arm. The right arm was whole, and Tetsuo laughed, his laughter echoing in his ears. He felt free, almost happy again. No one was tempting to control him.
"Are you feeling better now?" Akira, the lost boy, stood before Tetsuo. His dark brown hair framed his head, and he had almond shaped eyes. The boy seemed eerily wise and composed as he stood before Tetsuo. He was naked, as Tetsuo was. He smiled at him.
"I…" Tetsuo was speechless. He remembered searching for this boy, his teacher, and only to find him dead, his organs in glass jars. "I feel free," was all Tetsuo could say.
"We are going somewhere safe, away from others." Akira's voice was sweet, almost like honey. His voice soothed Tetsuo. "We won't be able to hurt anyone anymore."
"Kaneda…" Tetsuo immediately thought of his brash childhood friend.
"He is fine," Akira soothed. "All of them are safe."
"I killed them," Tetsuo whispered. His body shook. "I killed…" Tears singed his eyes, blinding him. "Yamagata…Kaori…I didn't…" Tetsou's voice trembled as he remembered the madness that had overtaken him. The madness of the power that he held in his hand that made him kill Yamagata. Kaori wasn't meant to be killed at all. He didn't mean to kill Kaori. He had loved her, more than she would ever know. She had accepted him as he was, even more than Kaneda. No one had acknowledged him and accepted as Kaori had.
" I loved her, Akira. I hurt her. I hurt people that I cared about…and I'll carry that…" Tetsuo shook his head in agony. This pain was even worse than his migraine headaches when his powers started to manifest. "She'll never forgive me. They'll never forgive me."
"We can't rewind the past, Tetsuo." Akira held his hand. His luminous eyes met the teenager. "We can only moved forward. I hurt people too, and yet they forgave me in the end. Kiyoko, Takashi, and Masaru forgave me, as I'm certain your friends will forgive you too."
"They tried to kill me."
"As with me," Akira acknowledged. "They believed they were doing what was right."
"What will happen now, Akira?" Tetsuo whispered. "Will we come back.?"
"Hai, we will, Tetsuo. When we are ready we will, only in a different form."
"Do you mean…" Tetsuo's eyes widened. "We'll be reborn?"
"Hai," Akira answered. He smiled at his friend. "Come along, my friend."
Tetsuo also felt a smile playing on his lips, and held Akira's hand tighter. Together, both boys disappeared into the light, where they would appear into the world again when they were ready.