"Do Legends die?"
Yui wrapped her arms around her instrument, holding it close to her chest as tears stung at her eyes. She could feel the warmth of her regret flowing down her cheeks, patting quietly against her blouse.
"Tell me Mugi!" Yui asked her bandmate. Mugi was stood by the door, having just walked in to find her friend a crying wreck on the floor of the Light Music Club room. She was in shock; she had never seen Yui reduced to such a state.
"Mugi! Tell me!" Yui sobbed once again, hugging the instrument even tighter. Finally pulling herself together, Mugi rushed to her friend's side.
"My goodness, Yui, what happened to you?" Mugi crouched beside her normally chipper and upbeat friend.
"Not me...Gitah." Yui said quietly.
"What's wrong with him?" Mugi felt a sudden sinking feeling in her chest at the thought of Yui's inanimate companion being irreparably damaged. Yui's heartbreak would be more than understandable in such a situation.
"Tsumugi...Why do Legends die young?" Yui said with a sniffle. Mugi was concerned that Yui was becoming delirious. Slowly, she reached her hands towards the guitar.
"Yui, may I please take a look at Gitah?" Mugi's hands clasped around the neck of the guitar. She gently pried it from Yui's grasp. The tearful girl silently crumpled in the absence of her instrument; nay, her friend.
Mugi looked over the damage. She gasped.
"Oh my, Gitah's strings are broken!" Yui nodded dejectedly. Mugi stood up with a burning determination in her heart. "This will not do. Yui-chan, come with me!" Mugi picked her friend up by the hand, dragging her up from the floor.
"Where're we going Mugi?" Yui asked as she tried to wipe the tears from her eyes. Mugi stopped as they reached the threshold of the room, standing on the precipice of the rest of the school. In one hand, Mugi held the broken and defeated remains of Yui's most stalwart companion; in the other was Yui's own hand. With fire in her eyes and a determined grimace, enhanced further by her inordinately large eyebrows, Mugi made a statement of defiance.
"Not every Legend dies!"
Mugi thrust the guitar at the man behind the counter.
"This guitar requires immediate aid! Please fix it." She ordered. The man scratched the back of his neck.
"With all due respect Miss, this instrument only requires some routine-"
"Fix Him!" Mugi all but yelled, startling the young man.
"Y-yes Miss Kotobuki!" He quickly took the guitar and rushed off to begin repairing it in full. Mugi returned to Yui, who was still crying even as she sat in the back corner of the shop. The very same shop she had first met and fallen in love with her Gitah.
"Yui, it'll all be over soon." Mugi said reassuringly.
"Gitah?" Yui looked up hopefully. Mugi nodded, tears of pride and joy beginning to well in her eyes.
"I'm finished now Miss Kotobuki!" A short while later, the man called to Mugi. She and Yui walked up to the counter slowly. The man held out Gitah toward Yui, much as the Lady of the Lake held Excalibur toward King Arthur. "All it needed was a change of-" Yui leapt forward and snatched her precious guitar with both hands. The man recoiled reflexively, looking worriedly between Yui and Mugi.
"Gitah, look at you! You're all better now!" Yui could not hold back the fresh waves of tears, liquid joy streaming down her face. Even Mugi was speechless at the renewed appearance of Gitah. She wiped a few teardrops from her own eyes, puffing her chest with pride and giving a respectful nod towards the clerk who had reforged this axe of myth.
Clearing his throat awkwardly, the man spoke again. "That'll be 500 yen-"
"Yui, do you understand now?" Mugi placed a hand on Gitah and stared into Yui's eyes. Blue met brown in a blaze of mutual respect and shared admiration. Yui nodded confidently, her tears stopped for the first time all afternoon as she looked to Gitah, then to Mugi, then to the heavens/ceiling.
"I get it now; I finally understand!" Yui said in jubilation.
"Miss Kotobuki, I'd be willing to waive the fee for you this-" The man was cut off for the last time as Yui held her instrument, her companion, her friend, her ally, her axe, her Gitah, and thrust him skyward in triumph.
"LEGENDS NEVER DIE!"
A/N: A wise man once told me: If you're going to die, die with your boots on.
As I look upon this cavalcade of tragic comedy we collectively deem to be reality, I realise an inescapable truth, one that pervades the existence of each and every one of us: Life is a suicide mission.
As we stand on the edge of the great unknown, you must ask yourself: do you crumble and fall into the endless void; or do you take a step back, get a running start and leap into the beyond, taking one last futile, yet beautiful flight towards that unending sunset that awaits us.
We do not fade.
We are not forgotten.
Legends. Never. Die.
In addendum: So I watched some Dark Souls 2 videos, got inspired by one or two, came up with this, and wrote it while listening to an orchestral rendition of the Metal Gear Solid theme. I don't even know how to explain this.
Anyway, thanks for reading!