||Ice shard
World-shattering disasters are not necessarily ignited by wars. There is no need for mass slaughters or human cruelty. The formula is much more simpler than that, because to relive the same experience one needs nothing but human emotions and the right moment. After all, the thoughts generated by honest feelings will get tangled by time, surrounding the victim like a spider's web, slowly but surely suffocating them. It's like a special noose for every human on Earth. It can guide someone out of the tangled labyrinth of despair, but these kind of ropes can act like a double-edged swords.
Because they almost always end up in the hands of another person, but there is no guarantee about the outcomes.
On top of that, anyone can tighten the noose. Be it friend or foe, or an unknown face. No one knows who will end up with the end of the rope when Fate starts ringing its bells shouting: Pull it! But one thing is sure. The final pull will come from the most unexpected person in their life.
Until that moment, the person who'd gotten entangled in this malicious web will be tortured by anxiety, and slowly but surely they will be paralyzed by their own emotions. Two of those play an extremely important role in this tragedy: Fear of the unknown, fear of the future.
They're not picky about their victims, like many other emotions. These two act like the main arteries of the whole system, while the same time they're serving as forerunners for the sudden loss or as others called it: a disaster.
And after a long struggle this noose, weaved from thoughts, eventually tightened around Hoshihara Hikaru's pale neck.
One night Hikaru's roommate, the infamous Sena Arata arrived home with a huge grin on his face. Of course he appeared like that way too often in their doorway, yet around this time of the day it hadn't predicted too much good for Hikaru's future. Considering the fact that Muraku'd spent the whole afternoon in Arata's company and seeing how his roommate was jumping like an untrained puppy after its first walk in the forest, his heart unintentionally clenched in his chest.
Yet without any unnecessary words Hikaru welcomed him like he always does. Unfortunately, it seemed Arata was waiting for something. He had something big to tell now.
Hikaru didn't intend to talk with him, fearing the worst, but when Arata'd stepped next to his chair, and held onto the top rail, the blood froze in his veins. Hikaru couldn't help but look at the boy when the red-head leant to his eye-level. He tried to lean away, but Arata followed him bearing the strong scent of sweets and something unknown. The latter made him feel uncomfortable in his seat, because he finally realized what was going on.
Even in the weak light of his desk lamp he could see the flushed cheeks and the strange light flickering in the boy's eyes. The shining smile and affection was not for him, and this terrified Hikaru.
If he had a choice, he would've tried to run away. He would've done anything if that meant escaping from the unavoidable fate.
"Howdy!"
"I was about to lock the door." he said dryly, looking away from Arata. He was in no mood to talk.
"That's not very nice of you, you know?!" the red-head finally left the blonde's personal space and flopped down on his own bed.
"Says the one, who forgets his key at home and makes his roommate stay up for him." he tried to say it to tease Arata, but it sounded more like a weak insult thanks to his voice.
His reaction must've hit Arata out of balance because for a while he was only crumpling a piece of paper in his hands, lost deep in his own thoughts. "But guess what?" he asked hesitantly. Too bad, he tried to lighten up the mood, but only earned the opposite result.
"I'm sorry to butt in, but-"
Hikaru couldn't help but wince at that voice.
"So… This afternoon after we went out with Muraku to see if we could find books for the exam, then… Then after that he showed me a café! We found the books too, by the way. Once we need to go there with the others too! The food there was superb, especially those waffles and the Austrian pancakes! I would say it was even better than the parfait at the Swallow café!"
Arata carelessly went on blabbering about his experiences while the blond boy sitting at the desk was immobilized by fear. On the outside he showed the opposite, just a cold and bored Hikaru, who kept nodding at certain parts, instead of correcting the errors in Arata's story, but inside he was suffering from the feeling of loss what approached him at a crazy speed.
The story went on about the greatness of the cafe and of course, Muraku. Who else? But it had to end with a fitting punchline. Or else all of Arata's effort to present an enjoyable story would've gone to waste.
"So believe it or not." at this part Arata held a mysterious little pause, so he could say out the last sentence with one breath. "Muraku and I are officially dating now!"
When Arata grew silent, waiting for praise, something pierced Hikaru's soul. It was cold as ice and left a freezing, tingling scar behind. For Hikaru this meant the beginning of a countdown and the ending of a war.
"Finally." he muttered under his breath, and couldn't help but smirk as he was trying to hide the pain. He was worried that even one word could make him lose his mask and reveal that ugly monster that appeared when the noose finished its job.
Tears welled up in his eyes as he turned back to his book, but no matter how hard he tried to keep the teardrops in their place, they let out quietly clumping sound when they landed on the pages. As more and more joined them the small water drops made the miserably shaking letters seem blurry on the soaked paper.
On that fated day, Hoshihara Hikaru suffered an all-out defeat against Houjou Muraku in a battle he never really had a full participation in the first place. This time Juliet was faster than the Sleeping Beauty and took the initiative to steal what was hers from the beginning.
Later that evening when he watched the bed next to his, he let his emotion break free for the first time. Fat teardrops rolled down his face as his expression turned into a twisted smile. Alone, he wept. The shard what pierced his heart ached even more than before.
The web was gone. However, it was questionable whether Hikaru will survive this disaster or not. The world went on for the time being.
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A/N: I would like to think of this fic as some kind of brother story to Without a Trace. They are both about the theme of losing someone, but using two different perspectives. It's hard to choose which one is worse, though. After all, both can comically destroy people.