Disclaimer: I definitely don't own No.6! I wish, haha.
Chapter Summary: Nezumi can't handle the silence that's killing him, but yet he can't bring himself to break it. Is there any way for this lingering pain to go away?
Nezumi threw Macbeth to the floor, the hard cover smacking loudly on the concrete. He cursed quietly, throwing himself onto his bed in frustration. The springs protested loudly. A mouse scampered across the floor, squeaking quietly as Nezumi pressed his hands against his eyes, blocking out his vision of the room he now despised.
He couldn't get that damned Shion out of his head.
It had been just less than a month since they had parted ways. The wall around No.6 was gone, the 'perfect' utopia and the third-world city surrounding it finally melding together and accepting each other for who they were. Fear of each other was gone. But Nezumi still despised the advanced city with every fibre of his being.
The emotional scars it had left on his soul were far too deep to fade now.
Even so, the boy he had spent so long with was there, and he longed to see him. He could still hear his voice. See his gentle smile. The long, pink, snakelike mark that tainted his skin. The snowy white hair. The feel of his lips…
Nezumi cursed again, punching his pillow in frustration. He gritted his teeth. It was all over now. This was the way things were meant to go. They were destined to go their separate ways. And there was no way he actually had feelings for the airheaded teen. He ignored the nervous flutter of his heartbeat as the memory of their kiss goodbye popped into his head. That bittersweet, painful touch of their lips pressing together. A lump rose in his throat.
It had been weeks and weeks of denial for his want, no, need to see Shion. Pain resided in his chest that refused to go away.
"Nezumi! Nezumi, are you okay?"
The grey-haired man sat bolt upright at the cheerful call of Shion's voice. "Shion? Shion, I'm here!" The only reply was the gentle call of his echoing voice through his room. The empty sofa, the cooking pot Shion used to use, everything in the room seemed to taunt him. The emptiness of the place was almost oppressing, looming over Nezumi and suffocating his lonely soul.
A warm hand closed over his bare shoulder, surprising him. He sprung to his feet, suddenly tense and prepared.
Shion gripped him gently, smiling at him with his kind, deep red eyes. "It's okay, Nezumi." He stroked Nezumi's skin comfortingly, as a mother would stroke a distressed child. Nezumi's heart thumped heavily, feeling tears prick at the corners of his eyes.
"Shion…" He reached for the boy, but his fingers met nothing but cool air. He blinked, and the image faded, the comforting heat seeping away, replaced by a bitter chill. He staggered back from where he had thought Shion had stood, staring in disbelief at the empty space. The boy's smile still burned behind his eyelids.
Nezumi backed up again a bookshelf, the heavy wood pressing uncomfortably against his bare back. His twitching fingers gripped the books' spines, the spines of books that had seen many years and many experiences, including the time with Shion he now so treasured. They seemed to scold his fingertips, burning him with the memories that haunted him. He laughed a bitter laugh; a laugh of pain and insanity, a laugh that harboured no joy or humour, but only spiteful suffering. As the last cackle of sorrow rose from his throat, his legs became limp and he fell to a pathetic pile on the floor.
"Shion," he whispered to himself, a grim smile teasing his lips. "I'm going insane because of you. You're far more trouble than you're worth. Why can't I get you out of my head? I wonder if you feel the same as I do."
Shion's voice resonated in Nezumi's head. "I'm glad to have known you."
"Yeah, Shion. Me too."
Nezumi punched the floor, cracking his knuckles. A growl of frustration rippled in his throat.
"You're turning me soft!" He shouted, cry thrumming in the walls. "Are you trying to change me?"
Silence was all that answered him. He didn't know what to feel. Angry? Hurt? Frustrated? Lost?
One of the robot mice scuttled up his leg where he sat, perching attentively on his knee. Its brown fur brushed his skin. The ghost of Shion's figure before him danced across his eyelids.
"Come on Hamlet, Cravat, Moonlit Night. We need to go wash the dogs!" The white-haired boy smiled, gently touching Cravat's tiny, brown head, the rat nuzzling him gently. Nezumi let out a sigh as the memory washed away, Shion's kind laugh echoing into silence. The same rat sat Shion had cared for - named, constantly lovingly held, given undying affection - gazed at Nezumi with its tiny camera eyes, nose twitching attentively. He stared back, and something came to mind.
He stood, carefully cradling the rat in his palms, and took a scrap of paper from the table. He scratched a short message onto it with the pen that constantly lingered next to the paper, waiting for inspired words to flow from its ink, and carefully folded the strip. He held it tenderly, not wanting it to be damaged in the slightest. At that very moment, it was the most precious thing in the world.
He gave it to Cravat, the robotic rat also taking care with the small letter. Nezumi, a bitter smirk touching the edges of his lips, crouched to the floor and lowered it to the cold concrete. Macbeth quickly scampered away, obviously aware of his mission.
Nezumi pressed a hand to his hot forehead, closing his eyes. "You'd better feel pretty damned special, Shion," he muttered lowly, voice barely louder than a whisper. "I don't normally go to this much trouble for little airheads like you."
The stray words fluttered back into his mind, and the letter he had just sent burned on his heart.
-It's been too long. Such a shame I can't see you.-
Alright, my lovelies! Again, another depressing fic... This is going to be a collab with my good friend Yukia Tsunade (her username, not her real name of course ^_^).
You can be expecting probably 2 sequels to this! It's going to end up being a trilogy!
As soon as I said to her 'Hey, should we do a collab?' we spent probably 20 minutes spewing out ideas, and suddenly we had this huge, amazing story set after the No.6 story. So incredibly excited about writing it all. This story is going to bug me until I get it all finished and posted!
I'm not going to say anything about what we have to come, or I'll ruin it!
Review, please! Tell me what you think about my work so far.
Next chapter soon!