Memories That Taste Of Yesterday
Rating: M to be on the save side
Warning: Mention of Slash, slight Gore, Character Death
Author: Loraliell
Summary: Remembering the past isn't often easy, especially when you remember the dead.
Sort of Prequel to For Tomorrow We Might Die.
AN: I know I should be updating Like Fireworks but this little One-Shot wouldn't leave me alone, so I hope you like it.
Memories That Taste Of Yesterday
Pale hands hovered over the hunched over shoulders of a young man. Wanting to touch, to offer comfort, but knowing that there was none he could give and so he hovered behind the kneeling figure, watching him from despairing green eyes, hands fist-ed at his side in helpless fury.
Near inaudible prayers broke the dim and oppressive silence of the dusty bedroom. Candle light flickered dimly across the once meticulously cleaned room that once had held so many loving memories. The young man knelt in front of a little self-made shrine, a battered golden medallion and a silver cross clasped tightly in his hands. Prayers he had learned, what felt nowadays like lifetimes ago were falling easily from his lips. Dark shadows like moth-wings hung beneath dull amethyst-colored eyes.
Green eyes turned hopefully when the door opened, spilling golden light into the darkened bedroom – it had been left exactly as it had been that fate-full morning when they had woken up together for the last time together. A growl threatened to leave the long-haired males hoarse throat, but he swallowed it, instead he started a new prayer.
"Duo." A soft feminine voice, airy but filled with deep-seated sadness. He ignored it, his hands tightened around his most precious mementos, warm metal cutting a little deeper into the flesh of his hands. He welcomed the slight sting of pain and resumed his prayers. "Little brother." A brief hitch of breath interrupted his words, but he soon returned to the endless litany of words that used to give him comfort when he needed it most.
At least they used to, before his world was shattered. Before his live had started to gravitate towards green eyes – so sharp and jaded but filled with so much warmth and a promise of safety and comfort. Duo swallowed, trying to push the image out of his head, concentrating back onto his prayers. Black hair, stubborn and wild, refusing to bow to it's owners wishes, but surprisingly soft as it glided silkily through his fingers. A straight narrow nose, slightly scrunched in distaste "I will never understand why you always insist on playing with my hair." But there was fond amusement playing around the corner of pale lips.
Slim arms wound around his torso and long pale locks of hair cascaded over his shoulder as the young woman buried her face in his shoulder.
Muscular arms wound around him, pulling him back into a bare torso, scar-riddled skin against his own naked back, the slight rasp of stubble as a chin rested against his bare shoulder and pale lips gliding against the skin of his ear as they whispered wicked things that made his breath deepen and speed up. "Duo."
"Duo." He stumbled over his words, his prayers fading as the memories of better times threatened to over-whelm him. "Please."
A cough from pale lips, stained crimson by the steady trickle of blood that escaped those wicked lips. "P-please, take … care of yourself. I love you ... Now … go." Panic, Fear, and an endless litany of Don'tleavemedon'tleavemedon'tleavemeohgodpleaseyoucan'tleaveme. Please, don't leave me alone. Watching life fade from those beloved green eyes. A limp bullet riddled body slowly cooling in his arms. Musky smell drowned in the coppery taste of blood and raw flesh, mixed with ashes and gunpowder. Arms pulling him away while he screamed and fought.
He felt tears trickle down his neckline. "Come back, please little brother."
"I don't understand, why would they do this?"A warm hand on his shoulder as he stared listlessly around the destroyed buildings of what used to be a shelter for orphans. "Don't go down that road Duo. Come back, don't try to understand what goes on in the heads of Madmen." A heavy swallow as he tried to breath as flatly as possible to escape the horrible stench of ashes and burned flesh. "But why would anyone do this? They were children. Innocent." Pale lips tightened into a firm line. There were tears streaming down his face, he realized dazedly. Suddenly he was pulled into warm arms, his head pressed against the crook of a neck. A calloused hand against the back of his head pulled him tighter against hot skin. "People can be the most cruel beings in existence and sometimes it's better to not know why they would do something like this because sometimes they do things just because they can." The voice was clear, nearly clinical. It didn't betray any turmoil, nothing but he felt the others tears falling against the skin of his nape where he had buried his dark head.
The young woman was still wrapped around him as she started to hum a familiar tune that squeezed his heart and made it hard to breath. Soon words joined the soft tune in an familiar accent he had only heard once before from a much deeper voice, wrapped in the secure darkness of their bedroom.
Lay down your head and I'll sing you a lullaby
Back to the years of loo-li lai-lay
And I'll sing you to sleep and I'll sing you tomorrow
Bless you with love for the road that you go
And in his mind the two voices, the one that sung to him now and the one that only existed in his head anymore warped around each other until only one was left and a soft deep voice was singing the familiar tunes, cheek resting lightly against his hair. A familiar weight that he adored as strong arms squeezed him comfortingly.
May you sail fair to the far fields of fortune May there always be angels to watch over you May you bring love and may you bring happiness
With diamonds and pearls at your head and your feet
And may you need never to banish misfortune
May you find kindness in all that you meet
To guide you each step of the way
To guard you and keep you safe from all harm
Loo-li, loo-li, lai-lay
Be loved in return to the end of your days
Now fall off to sleep, I'm not meaning to keep you
I'll just sit for a while and sing loo-li, lai-lay
A gentle kiss was pressed against his brow and already half asleep he just buried himself deeper against the familiar weight at his side. He felt the lips against his brow turn up in a loving smile"I love you Duo."
And it was that memory that finally broke the dam that held the long-haired young man together as tears dropped down his face. A sob tore from his hoarse throat and slim arms tightened around him. "I miss him. I want him back." The admission was low and came out much like the sounds of a wounded animal. A small shudder went through the young woman. "I know, I know. I want him back too. We all do."
Duo shuddered again, a gasping sob tearing from him, hands tightening even more around the medallion that rested on his chest. "He was all that I had left." The pale head that still rested against his shoulder shook as she tightened her grip. "That's not true, you have us and for as long as we are alive you will never be alone and I know my brother Duo. Once our times have come, he will be there to greet us. Have faith."
"Duo, no matter what happens, either now or in years to come, please remember, I will always be by your side, even if you can't see me. I will be there. Have faith. You will never be alone."
Ghostly lips pressed against the crying males forehead, like he had done so often before. "Of course I will wait, for as long as it takes. I will never leave you, not completely."
And for a brief moment it seemed as if time had stopped and granted the torn apart lovers one brief moment to rejoice in each others presence as amethyst-colored eyes seemed to meet green ones beyond the boundaries of Death and a familiar loop-sided smile graced pale lips, green eyes full of warmth and love. "I will wait, so take your time."