Yes, Yes, I know I'm shirking my writing responsibilities for my other works but this popped into my head and I had to get it down. It may turn into a three-parter.

We shall see.

Even though Birdy the Mighty: Decode has been out for a while there have been surprisingly few Birdy fics. So, I wrote one. This part takes place right after the incident with the Ryunka but the rest will likely follow after the events of the second season.

Anyway, be warned. I don't like Birdy or Tsutomu's romantic pairings at all. I hated Sayaka and could have cared less about the guy Birdy was supposed to like, though I understood it better. Birdy and Tsutomu will be more appropriately paired with each other.

So there.

Also, I don't own any of the characters from Birdy the Mighty.

O

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell."

- Edna St. Vincent Millay

O

It was eating at her; the memory. She tried to fight it... She'd almost had it under control... almost. Then the medical techs came. They appeared silently behind her in their white lab coats. Looking more like ghosts than saviors, they descended upon the pieces of Tsutomu's body. As they carefully picked him up and placed him in the medical stasis chamber the memories rushed back in. Birdy could only sit there, helpless, and watch.

"Sayaka, you'll be okay now." Tsutomu had said. He smiled lovingly at the girl who had once contained the Ryunka, sound asleep as if nothing had ever happened.

But Birdy knew.

"You idiot... You're such an idiot!" She had screamed. Birdy had wanted to slap him or shake him. Anything! But that wouldn't have changed the fact that he'd done it. Tsutomu had taken her burden away. He'd taken it like it was his to bear! It wasn't! She was the one no one wanted; the one that no one would miss. She deserved to take in the Ryunka!

As if reading her mind, even though he wasn't in her mind anymore, he smiled. "You were thinking the same thing, weren't you? You were gonna let the Ryunka infect you, and kill yourself along with it. You're an idiot."

Her heart raged at the injustice of it all and without thinking she argued back, "I'm a Federation investigator! You're..."

"I don't want you to die, Birdy." Tsutomu interrupted, a smile lit his features.

And, right then, her heart had fallen to pieces. Here was someone who shouldn't have cared, who shouldn't have been made to bother, caring about her-an Altairian! Why? Why did he care?

"Tsutomu..." She pressed again.

The boy ignored her and continued speaking. "...Or Sayaka either, so I'll..." He winced suddenly. His body began to glow as the Ryunka fought for control. Distressed, she called his name out. She was losing him to the Ryunka.

"Hurry, Birdy! Before the Ryunka takes over!" He shouted. And somehow, despite everything. He managed to drag himself up onto the railing behind him. "Hurry!" He said again as he stretched his arms out as if he were casually supporting himself, even though the effort to do so must have been great.

Her heart had screamed at her to find another option, yet her mind trampled on it with the truth she could no longer avoid. She had to kill him, again, but this time by choice.

"Birdy..." He coaxed gently, even as he glowed in the night. His smile was serene and it hurt to watch.

As she gathered the energy into her fist, tears gathered in her eyes. As she reared up she watched his head lean back, as if waiting to receive a loving embrace rather than the mortal hit he knew was coming.

"Tsutomu!" She had cried as she threw her impotent frustration into her fist with all the power she could muster.

Her fist had cut through his body like a hot knife through butter. She had felt the warmth of his blood on her hand just before the Ryunka's enraged glow, intermixed with the light from her punch, blinded her.

Afterwords, she hadn't seen where the Ryunka had gone. Someone had spoken with her... Nejula, most likely. She hadn't cared. All she cared about was him. She remembered collapsing to her knees next to his body and had reached out to touch his face. It was still warm. He looked like he was merely sleeping.

Birdy couldn't stop herself from wondering why. Why had he, a human so easily broken, cared so much for her? He had wanted to save Sayaka, sure, but he could have easily have allowed Birdy to accept the Ryunka and then that would have been the end of it. Why did it hurt her heart so much to see him take that burden upon himself? She had always been alone; it wasn't like she was unfamiliar with the feeling. At the same time, she couldn't stop replaying in her mind his argument. "I don't want you to die, Birdy." He... cared for her, and that thought warmed her heart. It set it to beating in a way she hadn't felt since Violin.

A light touch on her shoulder had broken her thoughts then. The med techs needed her to move so they could see to Tsutomu's body. One of them explained to her that they could save him, again, and that she needn't worry. Yet, this time, she did.