Disclaimer: I don't own CosmoWarrior Zero, Captain Harlock, or any of their affiliates and all that jazz.

This is my first fic, so I thought I would start out with something short and, well, not so sweet. Sorry, it's kind of a downer, but I hope you can find something about it that you like. Sorry for any mistakes and thanks for reading.

Even after all we'd been through together, saving people, planets, each other; it seemed it had always been destined for one of us to kill the other. We had unknowingly fought that destiny with everything we had. With playful lies about duels that would never come to fruition. With becoming close enough friends to get drunk together and spend the night crying over our pasts in a drunken stupor. But in the end, it just made it all the more painful for me to stand over his bullet ridden body as he stared painfully up at me.

I knew what I had to do – what he wanted me to do – but despite everything, I didn't want to end my friend's life. It was amazing that he was even still alive at this point, let alone conscious, with the sheer number of bullet holes that littered his body.

We had simply shown up too late, and my friend and rival would die because of it. No, that wouldn't be what killed him. Not some no-name bastards on some back water planet like this. He wasn't going to die like that. He deserved so much better. I would have wanted the same thing in his place, so that's why, as he weakly raised his bloodied hand, I sent out my own to catch hold of it.

I gave a smooth tug in order to get him into a standing position, or at least as much of one as he could manage. I had to hand it to him, not only did he hardly make noise in protest but he didn't seem to need to lean as much of his weight on my arm as he probably should have. Once I was sure he was as stable as possible, I freed one of my hands from his weakening grasp and reached over to unsheathe my saber from my side, but found I could not raise it. It remained limp at my side, clenched loosely in my dangling hand.

A pained smile, speckled with blood just like everything else, shone out from beneath his auburn bangs which were discolored and matted by more blood. Could it have possibly even all been his? He was slowly beginning to lean more and more weight on me, and my grip tightened around my saber. I didn't have much time left.

A strangled chuckle escaped his lips along with a few flecks of blood. "Well, Harlock, it's been fun."

"Yeah, Zero, it sure has," I responded quietly. I managed to find some truth, strength in his words as well as my own, which I used to slowly begin lifting the saber.

"Just remember," he choked out. "The next time we meet up, I'll be the last one standing," he said as he dragged his head up to lock his deep brown eyes with my own. They held only the slightest hint of pain overwhelmed by that fire of determination I was so accustomed to seeing. His smile never faltered, instead only succeeding in growing wider so I felt myself unable to keep from genuinely smiling in return. Almost the entirety of his weight was against me now.

"We'll just have to see about that," I said, thankful to be able to hear the usual cockiness in my voice, but instead of hearing one of his usual snide retorts, I watched his eyes and smile soften. He looked at once happier and sadder than I had ever seen him before. I almost faltered as my saber came up to meet his chest.

"Thank you, Harlock," he said weakly, his voice barely audible. I met his eyes one last time, managed a wavy half-smile, and steadied my saber.

"I'll see you around, my friend." And I plunged my saber forward and took the entirety of his weight into my weakening arms.