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and, together, we'll watch the city burn
Leaving Ikebukuro behind had seemed like the best course of action, at the time, but now…
Now everything burned with the bitter scent of nostalgia, the horrid taste of grief, the terrorizing feeling of helplessness. He hates that he has failed her, again, that he can't ever seem to do anything but harm his love, hurt her, break her, ruin her until nothing but the snake remains.
She was always poisonous, he knew, beautiful and brave and sly, connected to the darkness that always dwells in Ikebukuro, lying in wait until the time was set to strike. But he had loved her, had loved her and her guardian and all of the darkness that came with being the Shogun, the General, the leader of the Yellow Scarves. And yet…
And yet there was nothing he could do, was there? Nothing at all. She had chosen to do this, just as she had chosen to go to the Blue Squares that night and have her legs broken, just as he had chosen that same night to give in to his fear, just as he had chosen to fight for Saika and the Boss of the Dollars and his title as the Yellow Scarves' leader.
He doesn't stop to worry, then, doesn't stop to worry or hesitate or think, because Sakiisrightthere and —
And he leaps after her, falling off the metal base of the building, nearly tripping over the nuts and bolts, reaching for her outstretched hand. And he's close, he knows he is, and the shock and adrenaline are fading, the blood pounding in his ears, reminding him that he is mortal and — what is he trying to accomplish?
But she merely laughs, the snake within her gleaming a knowing smile through her warm, understanding eyes.
And she looks so beautiful, he thinks, so ethereal and divine and out of his reach, even as he screams her name, eyes wide, with tears at the corners and mind cracking under the weight of what he is seeing.
His soul splits as her body hits the dirt ground of the construction site, the fall shattering both her spine and his heart. To her credit, she barely whimpers, letting out a nervous giggle before she slips away.
He follows a second later, automatically twisting himself so that he lands to her side, so that he doesn't harm her more than he already has. The world blacks out as his head connects with the hard earth, and it isn't until hours later that he will awaken, bloody and broken, but still alive.
It isn't until even later that he will learn the reasons behind her wish for death, and he knows he will be unable to hate her all the more for it.
After all, he'd forgiven her readily for that night. What was one more sham, one more false burden, one more forged lie to guilt his conscience into sticking by her at all times?
In the end, she thought she knew him better than he himself did.
It was kinder, then, that the real information broker was not around to correct her. After all, a queen is but a pawn.
And she hadn't driven him away, as she had hoped; in order to unchain him from his past, she would have had to erase her existence from memory.
All she had done was send her king back to the God of Ikebukuro.
