I wrote this fic as a christmas present to my sister a year ago. It started as a joke and remained as one, so I tried to fill this one with as much cliche moments as possible. Please enjoy reading, if you're able to. (Jos satut olemaan suomalainen niin lue toki tämän version sijaan ficin alkuperäinen, suomenkielinen versio!)
Alone was alone. After he had become Hades, he had felt like he was constantly alone, but this time it wasn't just a feeling. He really was all by himself, in the middle of nowhere.
Four days ago Alone had walked into his airship, and left with dozens of his followers. Everything had been like usual. No one could have predicted what was ought to happen, when the airship was flying above the rugged terrain.
Alone had been looking out of the window while eating salted peanuts straight from their package. It only took a one moment more until everything turned into a chaos. The ship shaked with such an enormous force that no one was able to stay on their feet. All the alarm systems started screaming. Before Alone had been able to figure out what had happened, the ship was hit again. This time it was followed by a big explosion. One side of the ship was torn open and dark smoke filled every place. The windows were shattered by the pressure and Alone flew out of the ship. The hard ground was getting closer and closer way too fast until the wind grabbed his clothing and made it work like a parachute slowing his drop just so much that Alone survived without breaking his bones. When he managed to lift his head and look up he saw his ship burning and releasing a huge amount of smoke about a hundered meters away from him. Unbelief and terror filled his mind.
Those, who were trapped in the ship and others who had fell down didn't have any hope of surviving. Alone was left compleately alone with his only companion – the bag of salted peanuts he had hold in a firm grip during the frightening events. In next few days he ate the peanuts that were left, and when it rained, he collected the water to the empty bag. He tried to silence his growling stomach by eating leaves of the few plants that were growing in the area. He had found a nice cave from about a kilometer away from where he had landed. When he wasn't trying to desperatly look for food, he kept shelter there.
After the fifth sunrise Alone once again went off his cave. He was weak and random delusions had started to confuse his tired mind. When he had walked some time he saw, to his great suprise, two people standing in front of a rock. His eyes widened from even greater suprise when he recognized them. Tenma! Sasha! How were his former friends here? Alone didn't care about it, with the little power he had left he lift his arm up and tried to make a little sound to get their attention. Alone didn't care about his dignity. He was tired of being Hades, the one thing he wanted more than anything was that things could be as they used to be.
"Hey, Chip, isn't that Hades?" Sasha exclamed. Alone didn't understand why she was calling Tenma Chip, but he really just didn't care and forced his tired feet to walk to them. "Swing, I believe you are right. I wasn't expecting him to walk straight into our arms, though." answered Tenma with a warm smile. Why was he calling Sasha with a wrong name too? At the same moment two more people walked into the scene from behind the rock and Alone finally understood that he actually knew none of them.
The one who was called Swing had long, curly and hot pink hair that framed their beautiful face. They were quite long and had a slender body. Chip, who was standing next to them was shorter and more muscular. His skin was the colour of latte and he had short, dark hair and gentle face. One of the two that had just arrived was very tall and extremely muscular. Many ugly scars were decouring his bald head. The last member of the group looked at Alone with disgusted face. He was short, had pallid skin and a blond bob. "Ha ha, I told that the rat would make it! Rats survive anywhere!" the man said mockingly. "Shut up Pitch. We all knew that Hades isn't killed that easily. He does seem like he is going to faint at any moment, though. Getting rid of him will be easy." the pink haired Swing said. "I wanna smash it with a golf club. Can I?" the most muscular one asked with a stupid grin on his face. "No Putt, you may not do that, I don't want him to have such a regular end. It will be a lot more elegant if I finish him with direct extreme Hole-In-One –strike." Swing said calmly. "Little Hades, you will soon find out why us Golf Saints are so feared."
Tenma had been sleeping peacefully wrapped in warm and soft blanket in a corner of a small room, when Yato suddenly ran to his nest. "Tenma, wake up! Wake up you damn sleepyhead!" Yato yelled while shaking his comrade. Tenma made an unsatisfied little sound but only pressed his eyelids harder together because he didn't want to wake up just yet. "Idiot, this is important! This is about Alone!" Yato continued with an annoyed tone in his voice. When Tenma heard that his chocolate brown eyes quickly opened wide and he was suddenly fully awake. "What? What about Alone?" he exclamed with an impatient look on his face. Yato sighed and told him: "I heard that from a village, that is two days worth of traveling from here, a huge and dark smoke cloud was seen. The villagers went to find out the source of the smoke and it was Hades's airship that had fallen. The destruction was enormous and partly burnt bodies were everywhere. Hades's body hasn't been found." Tenma's eyes were filled with unbelief and shock. He closed his eyes, took in a deep breath and then opened his eyes that had never looked more determined. "The direction?" he asked. "Southeast." Yato answered. "I already told Yuzuriha to do preparations."
Alone was standing still and confused. His mind was filled with questions. Who were these weird people? What did they want of him? They had called themselves Golf Saints, but he had never heard of Golf Saints or someone being afraid of them. Alone was looking at them silently while they talked to eact other.
Pitch was unhappy with Swing's plan of ending Alone's life. "Hey, it's not fair that you are the one that always gets to shine! Besides that rat doesn't deserve such an easy end that your extreme Hole-In-One is." he complained. "Quiet, your opinion means nothing to me. You never even get a par when we are golfing, so why shoud I listen to you?" Swing said coldly. "Don't lie! I have even got a two under par result in Deathvalley's golf course!" Pitch continued his argument. Chip joined the conversation: "I'm sure we all think it was a nice game, but I agree with Swing's idea. We don't need to make him suffer too much." "Ya're way too soft, like some Gold Saint." Putt grunted. "Gold Saint's haven't even been able to kill a one little boy! They suck, I hope they all die." he continued with his stupid grin. "Oh, be quiet you all. If I have decided to use my extreme Hole-In-One, then I shall use it." Swing sighed, they were very tired of their annoying comrades.
Swing turned around and looked at Alone straight in the eye. The other Golf Saints were silent, when their leader took a golf ball made of diamond from their pocket. They started to put enormous amount of powerfull cosmo to the ball. Alone realized that things were starting to get seriously dangerous, but he was too weak to react. The golf ball in Swing's hand now radiated with very menaching cosmo. They put the ball to the ground and took a golf club offered by Chip. They swung the club in the air two times before raising it to make his final swing. Alone was still standing, even though he knew he had to move, he couldn't get his feet to function. "EXTREME HOLE-IN-ONEEE!" Swing shouted and hit the ball.
Tenma recognized Alone's side profile from far. When he saw the boy he started running even faster than before. "Alone is okay, Alone is okay." he kept telling himself. Tears of relief were forming in his eyes as he was getting closer to his childhood friend. Then he realised that Alone wasn't alone. About ten meters from him there was a group of four people. Tenma immediately realized, that they were the Golf Saints who had put the airship down because they hated Hades for destroying every single golf field in the country. He had heard about them from the villagers. When Tenma was just about twenty meters away from Alone, he heard a shout coming from pink haired Golf Saint with a bad taste in clothing. He saw them raising a golf club and realized that Alone was in great danger, but he looked like he had no intention of moving. Right at the same moment the golf club hit the ball, which flew towards its destination coated with very powerful cosmo, Tenma threw himself to Alone, dragging them both to the ground. After half a second the golfball flew above them and hit a rock about hundered meters from them leaving it completely destroyed.
At the same time, when Tenma had been running to Alone, Yato and Yuzuriha were getting close to the Golf Saints backs. Their confused enemies were focused on staring Tenma, who had suddenly appeared to the scene from nowhere. Taking advantage of their confusion Yato took a golf club out of Putts golf bag and swang it to Putts head, putting him down with the hit. That made the other Golf Saints turn around to see what had just happened.
"What-" Pitch started with unbelief. "You fucking bungler!" he shouted as he realized that Putt was now lying on the ground and useless. "Oh no, Putt, did you hurt yourself?" Chip rushed to Putt to see his condition. "He's not going to die to that, focus on our enemies, not him!" Swing orderd. Yuzuriha appeared right in front of them and said: "You are going to fight with me, you unfashionable clown!" "You are the unfashionable one!" Swing shouted annoyed and started to fight with her.
"You, unicorn boy, have the honor of fighting me, the famous Saint Pitch!" Pitch declared to Yato with pride in his voice. "Famous? I have never heard of you!" Yato answered laughing. Pitch tried to hit Yato with a golf club, but he dodged the hit easily.
Alone struggeled to process what had just happened. A moment ago he had been standing and terrified, expecting for his life to end soon, now he was lying in the ground. Someone had pushed him down. The said someone was now lying on top of him. The person then lifted himself to sitting position next to Alone and looked at him with his worry-filled chocolate brown eyes. Those eyes Alone could recognize. They spend a short moment just looking at each other. Then Alone carefully whispered: "Tenma?" Tenma let out a reliefed sigh. "Yup, it is me." he confirmed. "Are you real, not just my imagination?" Alone asked still hesitant, and started coughing as the words tickled his dry throat. "Of course I am real, you fool." Tenma said and continued: "Wait a second, I'll get you some water." He took a few steps to his backbag that had dropped from his back earlier. He opened it and searched for his water bottle.
Alone watched Tenma as many thoughs filled his tired mind. He wasn't expecting anything bad to happen until suddenly he was hit hard with something and strong, shocking pain striked him. He lost his consciousness and was once again lying on the ground.
Tenma heard a nasty sounding sound and he lift his gaze only to see Alone on the ground and Chip, holding a golf club, behind him. The man was going to hit him again, but in a second Tenma was between them. He was shouting furiously and hit Chip to the face, the result being a bleeding wound. Chip wasn't weak, though. He managed to push Tenma off of him, and he fell on his back. Just when he was getting back up, Yato showed up and hit Chips back, drawing his attention to him. "Tenma, take Alone and run!" Yato ordered. "We will be fine, but you gotta get him to a safer place!" he continued. Tenma nodded. He was furious to himself because he had been careless and that's why Alone had been attacked again. He took his backbag and then carefully lifted Alone from the ground, carrying him bridal style. Even though he felt guilty, his gaze was also coated with tenderness. Yato quicky glanced at Tenma, and thought that he never looked at him the same way he now looked at the unconscious boy resting in his arms. His thought were dragged back into his enemy when he fealt painful hit to land in his side. "Damn, you are much tougher opponent than the first idiot!" he shouted in pain.
To Tenma's relief, Alone opened his eyes when he was searching for a safe place far enough from the Golf Saints. Alone had been holding his head and his expression had shown some pain. There was some bleeding, but the damage didn't seem life-threatening.
Tenma stepped inside a cave he had found. There was dark and damp and the air was cool. "Put me down, please. I can stand."Alone said, and Tenma gently did as he was asked. Alone did, in fact remain upright when he was standing still. It was when he took a step forward that he stumbled over his clothing's hem.
This time Tenma was fully concentrating on Alone and he quickly grabbed him by the waist to save him from falling. "Your waist is so thin!" Tenma exclaimed. "Oh, you must be starving. You'll get food soon, but I'll patch up you head first." He took the water bottle out of his backbag and gave it to the thirsty Alone. He then took some first-aid things out of the backbag and started to disinfect the cut.
After Alone's wound was treated Tenma revealed the food he had brought with him: wheat bread, sausages and strawberries. He took one sausage to himself and moved to sit on a big rock about two meters away. "Those strawberries were very expensive you know, but I bought them anyway. Remembered that you liked them." he told while munching his sausage. Alone was just about to put one of the strawberries into his mouth and he looked surprised about the fact that Tenma had remembered such a thing. A light blush found it's way to Tenmas cheeks and he turned his face to other direction to hide it from Alone. Tenma didn't understand why he felt so weird when he saw Alone stuffing his face with the food. Maybe it was because there wasn't a slightest bit of Hades in him at that moment. He was just a hungry boy that had finally gotten something to eat. The look in his eyes was innocent and unbothered by anything happening outside the cave.
After some time Alone wasn't eating as fast as he had been. He was now just munching his food slowly and his blue eyes were starting to look sleepy. Tenma rose to get his blanket and then laid it upon Alone. Then he lifted the sleepy boy and placed him into the softest place on the cave, which grew moss. After that he laid himself down next to the smaller boy. Alone fell asleep almost immediately. Tenma could tell this from his calm and steady breathing. His expression showed no pain nor fear. Alone's hair had been black as crow the last time they had met, but now it was much brighter, closer to it's original colour. Tenma didn't want to think about the last time they had met. Instead of that he was focusing on the present moment. He swiped a lock of hair away from Alone's face and then started to gently pet his head. His hair was suprisingly soft.
"Ten." a silent mumbling voice said. Tenma removed his hand from Alone's head. Was Alone awake? No, he seemed to be still asleep. "Tenma." Alone mumbled now in a more clear way, and his mouth flashed a tiny, gentle smile. Tenma's eyes widenet and his heart jumped. He felt a blush forming on his cheeks. Why did Alone mumble his name on his sleep? Tenma noticed to his own surprise that he was happy about it. Why was he? Did Alone's sleeptalking mean that he tought Tenma was important? Even if Tenma's questions remained unanswered, he was sure about one thing. Alone was important to him. Had always been. That he had become Hades was the worst thing that could have ever happened. Even though everything seemed miserable, deep inside of Tenma there had always been hope that things could once again be as they had been before. The hope hadn't been futile, because there was no longer any Hades in Alone. Tenma wasn't sure about what had caused the change, but he couldn't have been more grateful for getting his beloved Alone back. Loved? Tenma was confused of this own thoughts. Had he, in his mind, just called Alone his loved one? At that moment Tenma understood everything. Love. That was the feeling he was filled with when he was thinking about the boy who was now sleeping next to him. He loved Alone. Tenma tried to say out aloud the words he had just found. "I love you, Alone" he whispered cautiously, and then smiled, because he knew it was true.
Tenma had no idea he had fallen asleep until he woke up under his blanket on the cave's floor. Alone had already gotten up, and with a quick glance of the cave he learned that he was sitting on a rock eating leftover strawberries. His expression was thoughtful and melancholic. As Tenma rose Alone gave up eating and focused his blue eyes on him. "You shouldn't help me. You know well that I am Hades." Alone stated with a sad voice. "It's not safe for you to be near me." Tenma sighed deeply. "Being in danger is nothing new to me. Well, it's not like I even was in danger right now. I know you wouldn't hurt me." Alone stood up and seemed dissatisfied with Tenma's response. "My followers could be here at any moment, and they wouldn't hesitate to take your life immediately!" he claimed raising his voice as he spoke. "I have to leave you alone, it's my own fault that I became Hades. I must take responsibility."
The next thing Alone realized was that Tenma had pressed him against the cave's wall. His brown eyes had intense look as they gazed Alone's blue counterparts. "Listen to me." Tenma demanded. "It wasn't your damn fault. You were the most innocent person of our time, that's the reason they chose you. And there's no way you could blame yourself for being too innocent! You didn't even want to slap a mosquito to death, and you certainly didn't want to be the freaking God of death!" Alone remained silent and Tenma continued his speech: "You must be so thickheaded that you haven't noticed that you aren't Hades anymore." Alone's eyes widened and he seemed utterly stunned. He managed to whisper a small question in the air. "How come?" "Do you really think you'd behave like this if you were? As Hades you were strong and terrifying, not like you are now at all. Have you even looked at your hair? It's not black anymore. I have no idea what was the secret ingredient in those salted peanuts, but there is not one bit of Hades in you anymore." Alone didn't say a word but you could read his train of thought easily from his startled face. He finally started to understand that something within him had changed, Tenma was right. When Tenma saw that he had got his message thru he relaxed and took a step back.
Once Alone had gotten his mind clear again he lifted his now sorrow-free gaze to Tenma. He lightly bit his beautifully pink lower lip. "I heard what you said earlier." he stated with innocent eyes. "Huh, what are talking about?" Tenma asked. "You said: 'I love you, Alone'" Alone expressed. Tenma's face quickly lit up as red as tomato. Hadn't Alone been sleeping that time? "Um, I… I didn't say that." Tenma tried to save himself but didn't sound convincing at all. Alone smiled such a sweet smile that Tenma almost had a heart attack. "You have always been a bad liar." Alone claimed still smiling. "You don't have to pretend you didn't say it. I love you too." Tenma's heart was now beating faster than it had ever beaten. Alone took a step forward and lifted his hands to Tenma's cheeks. He brought his face closer and closer to Tenma's face until their lips met in a gentle and sweet kiss. As soon as the kiss was over Tenma hid his red face to his palms. Between his fingers he managed to whisper "Y-you taste like strawberry."