Heart Beats!
A/N: And so, I was so moved by the ending of Angel Beats! that I thought of creating this fanfic just to vent my feels for Otonashi-kun. (T^T) Feel the feels coming on! ;A; Get ready with your tissues, everyone!
"KANADE!"
The loud, desperate cry echoed thru the bright blue sky as Otonashi Yuzuru clutched like a drowning man on anything… anything left behind by the person who had claimed his heart. But like the cruel world which snuffed out his young life, nothing was left behind by his beloved. She was obliterated. She went into the blue and disappeared without a trace just like all his friends in the Afterlife Battlefront. She had graduated from this world. She was gone.
"Kanade…" Sobs wracked his body, endless streams of tears flowing as he hugged his shoulders, trying to preserve the memory of Kanade's warmth. The warmth of her embrace, the sound of his heart beating in her chest, and the knowledge that his heart belonged to her in more ways than one.
She was gone. But the memories of her and all of his friends are with him still. Every hope, every regret, and even the spicy taste of Kanade's favourite Mapo Doufu was engraved in his memory.
/Will it be able to sustain me in what I'm about to do…?/ Otonashi tried to stem the feeling of crushing loneliness at the thought that he will have to wait here, alone, in this never-changing afterlife. Waiting… and waiting… for the lost souls that will surely come, bewildered and confused, into this school-like limbo. They will need someone to guide them, to show them how to accept the lives that they have led on Earth, and to help them experience the youthful life that they have lost. Otonashi knew that he had to accept this duty. No, he knew he had to do this as the last Afterlife Battlefront member left; so that all that they've sacrificed, all that they've learned won't go to waste. So that no one, ever, had to go through all their hardship in attaining the peace that was in front of them all along.
/The question is, how long will I be able to wait before this mission is fulfilled…? How long will I be able to go on without you, Kanade…? Your eyes, your smile, your heart, my heart… How long will I go on without them?/ Raw pain lanced through his chest as though coming from his phantom heart. His vision started to tunnel at the thought of days, weeks, months on end, waiting… and waiting to be with his beloved.
"Be strong." Kanade's voice whispered in his ear and Otonashi felt as if he was enveloped in warm wings. The ones he had asked Kanade to create because he had thought that she was a real Tenshi. But there was nothing false about them as they gently caressed his body and imparted him with the courage and strength he needed to face his self-imposed mission. Otonashi opened his eyes and saw that he was alone on the school steps, surrounded by the noise and energy of school life. But he knew that he was not alone. Kanade always had a part of him with her and wherever she may be, he'll always be with her.
Otonashi raised his tear-filled eyes upwards to the bright blue sky.
"Wait for me, Kanade… I will find you…"
"I love you." He whispered quietly into the heavens.