Eternity

2012 – 7 years later

Hajime wasn't quite sure when he first saw Kenzaki again. His mind played tricks on him for quite a while after Blade's sacrifice. He wasn't sure when(or if) they ever ended. They popped up pretty frequently during the first few year of Kenzaki's disappearance. Hajime would see Kenzaki smiling at him while he was on his way back home from the store, in the large building mirrors, and in the water during whenever he took a trip to the lake. Thinking back, he felt pretty embarrassed that he tricked himself so easily. Which is why he was pretty skeptical when he saw Kenzaki staring at them from outside the Jacaranda Café. That was a special day, because it was the day that they were celebrating Amane's high school graduation. He always did his best not to pay any mind to his Kenzaki visions. They bring him a bit of happiness for a little bit, but in the end they just make him feel even worse than before. He can usually manage to ignore them, but every once in a while he couldn't help himself.

Taking a deep breath, Hajime turns to look out the window and looks eyes with "Kenzaki." He wasn't quite sure why, but this one felt… different. Hajime closed his eyes and shook his head. When he opened his eyes, "Kenzaki" was gone. Staring out the window for a little while longer, Hajime shakes his head before returning to the party.

2020 – 15 years later

Amane's wedding was the first time that Hajime saw Amane in quite a while. Amane was getting older and she was starting to notice that he wasn't aging. Even if he wanted to tell Amane why he still looked so young, he had no idea where to begin. Besides, there was far more to the story besides the fact that he was joker… He shook his head as he saw Amane walking towards him. This was probably the last time that he was going to see her in person, so he had to give her as much of his attention as possible.

"Hajime! Thanks for coming" says Amane "It feels like it's been ages since I've seen you. How's life been treating you since you left the café?"

Hajime left the café a couple of months after Amane left for college. He told Amane and Haruka that it was to travel for while, but he really just moved into Kotaro's house. He felt like a coward. He knew that this day was going to come. The day that he had to return to the eternity that was life as the Joker. Despite knowing this, he still didn't have the heart to leave completely.

He talked with Amane for hours that night. He hung on to every word that she said as if his life depended on it. Her sweet voice filled with happiness was music to his ears. As she began to talk about her Husband, a strange feeling that Hajime was all too familiar with began to surface. Did Shiori call it jealousy? He always felt it whenever Amane started talking about what ever boy was in her life. He still had nightmares of all the times that she kept him up all night talking about her date early that night.

This time it was different however, since the jealousy was accompanied by another feeling. This was a feeling that Hajime recognized. It was a feeling of relief. While Amane has long grown past the point of always wanting him around, Hajime still wasn't quite sure what would happen to her if he left her life permanently. While he assumed that things would be alright for her, hearing her talk about her husband solidified these feelings as a fact. While he kind of missed the days when she showered him with attention, he was more than happy with the woman that Amane grew to become.

He made sure to smile big as Amane drove away with her husband, the two of them ready to take on the world. He didn't say anything, but he knew that this would be the last time that he ever saw her in person again.

2075 – 70 year later

Hajime sighed as he sat alone in Kotaro's old house, the afternoon sun shining through the windows. Today was the day of Amane's funeral. He had been dreading this moment for as long as he could remember. Despite the fact that he knew this day would come, this news still hit him like a ton of bricks. He couldn't bring himself to go to the funeral. After not seeing her for 55 years, he couldn't bring himself to go and see her now. Besides, he wouldn't even know anyone there. He couldn't bring himself to met any of the children that his friends had, especially not any of Amane's children.

He sighed as he pulled out a picture that he obtained from Kotaro a long time ago. It was the only picture that Hajime had of Amane's entire family. Her along with her husband and three kids. He cried as he stared at the picture. He never even learned the names of the children. He didn't notice that he was crying until he saw tear drops begin to fall on the picture. Wiping his eyes, he got up and made his way to one of the bedrooms and laid down. Ignoring the tears that were starting to form again, Hajime closed his eyes.

Pretty soon, he started to hear whispers. He didn't know how long he had his eyes closed when they started. For a little while, they slowly started to get louder. He raised his hands to cover his ears, but it did nothing to stop the voices. They only seemed too get louder.

"Fight, Fight, Fight!"

The words were ringing in his head. The urge to scream became more and more unbearable. Suddenly, Hajime began to feel…warm. The voice still spoke to him, but this newly acquired warmth began to muffle the voices to the point that he couldn't understand them anymore. Laying incased in the warmth, Hajime felt as though he was shivering. By the time he open his eyes, the warmth was gone along with the voices. Reaching to feel his arm, Hajime noticed that he was now covered with a blanket. He didn't have this the entire time did he? For some reason, Hajime reached up to feel his cheek. He didn't know why, but it felt really, really warm.

2150 – 145 year later

Hajime was pretty sure… no, he was positive that Kenzaki was trying to talk to him. He didn't ever see Kenzaki, but he knew that he was trying to talk with him. He first notices this about 20 years ago when the voices in his head suddenly begin to echo in his head, completely ambushing him. He didn't really remember the ordeal too much beyond that. Other than the fact that something he did while completely confused scared Kenzaki off for about five years. Starting with year six, he started to slowly try and get closer to Hajime. Hajime was pretty mixed on his feelings toward the voices in his head. He hated the sound of the voices and he hated the words that they said to him. Despite this, he wish more and more every year that they would return to him. If they returned to him, it meant that Kenzaki was near. The day that those voices would return to him was always the day that he looked forward to the most.

Hajime took a deep breath as the voices started to echo in his head again. Every year, the voices would get just a little bit quieter. The voices always returned to the same unbearable volume that force the two of them apart, but every year it took just a little bit longer for it to get to that volume. Hajime simply wait for Kenzaki to get closer to him. He didn't move when he heard the voices nor did he even look in the direction that he thought Kenzaki was coming. He just simply waited. It was pretty painful, but neither of them wanted to rush things.

Hajime's breathing began to slow down as he looked down and saw a shadow begin to approach his. The shadow moved very slowly toward him, taking each step as carefully as he could. Hajime wanted to say something but was quite thankful that nothing came out when he opened his mouth. Silence was their best friend at the moment. As the shadow got closer to him, he began to breath heavily again. Three steps left…two steps…one step. Hajime almost began to cry when he saw two arms begin to wrap around his shadow, but it was impossible to hold back tears when he felt those same two arms wrap around him. He moved his hands up to grab on to the arms as he felt a kiss being planted on his cheek. All was silent. Not even the voices in his head had anything to say at that moment. Hajime closed his eyes as his tears continued to fall, the arms beginning to wrapping around him as tight as they could

"…Hajime…"

Author Note: Hello everyone! I hope you enjoyed the story! I finished Blade last night (at the time of the writing) and I was just speechless at the ending. I don't have anything to say. Even as I'm writing this, I think that tears are beginning to form in my eyes. I was going to write a bit more, but that moment at the end was just the perfect place to end the story. See you guys later!

P.S. I wrote this in one day… I'm pretty proud of myself.