AN. I had a hard time coming up with stuff to write these days. I wanted to go back to emotional one-shots, so I ran through some pictures in my collection. And this is born. No musical inspiration, though. KHR Character songs are too happy for this.
On a different note… is it just me, or is my Author's Notes getting shorter?
On another note, my birthday is coming up. Oh great. I hate celebrations.
Title: Took me so long, but this one kind of fits. If any of you know anything else that suits it more, tell me.
Prompt: This picture: www. zerochan. net/ 676243. Remove spaces. This is the scene where Bel incinerated the room with Storm Flames. Also, part of this is inspired by Hokkyokusei's one-shot, 'Remember'. You should go read it. It's really good. And Icy, this means you. I forgot if I showed it to you or not, but this is the one.
Timeline/setting: Likely TYL, judging from Bel's bangs and Varia uniform. Setting is the Varia mansion in a battle.
Point of view: Third person, Fran, Bel.
Mistakes: Don't ask where the other characters are. Yes, I know it doesn't take one that long to die, but hey, can happen. Also, just to be clear, Fran knows he's going to die, he's just sarcastic until the last breath. Oh, there's no romance here, too. Friendship only.
Language/rating: Rated T for blood and emo-ness.
If there's anything else wrong, feel free to tell me. Flames will be used to roast marshmallows with Byakuran.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the characters of Katekyo Hitman Reborn. All belongs to Akira Amano apart from the plot.
TEARS OF THE FALLEN
He let out an wisp of breath, face rapidly loosing color yet maintaining its usual blank expression. It was an almost certain fact that Fran knew no other expression apart from indifferent. He learned the benefits of it a long time ago, when dinosaurs ruled the world and butterflies ate meat.
There were many reasons. One was that it unnerved people; two, it helped him concentrate; three, it allowed no weakness to show.
In this case it was all three of those reasons that had allowed him to still use this face, even at the brink of death at the hands of the enemy, determined to hold himself strong and calm before his oxygen runs out. 'This is a world where only the strong survive, and the weak perish and suffer.' Can he just remain strong and hope that Fate allows him to live to see another day in the Varia?
A hint of a smile ghosted over Fran's lips. Great. He'll survive.
I have to be strong…
I shall be strong…
I shall live…
…
All around, the battle raged on.
-KHR-
A blond prince stood in the middle of a whirlwind of chaos, flames igniting and burnt out, blood flew, screams emitted. Nothing was supposed to be different about this battle with all the other battles he fought…
Something was missing. The thrill, the exhilaration, the joy. It wasn't there.
Someone was missing. Someone who was annoying and talkative and monotone. Someone who wore a frog hat.
His faithful box animal shifted restlessly on his shoulder before leaping into the face of another man, corroding his face until it was beyond recognizable. Bel didn't care. He fled the battlefield, jacket flying like the flaring wings of a bird.
The corridors he ran through, the doors he passed, the destruction he witness all blurred into one unrecognizable picture as he flew down the blood-stained hallways of the mansion. The blood was crimson, the carpet was blue, the walls were black, and the uniforms of the fallen were white, but it was all grey to the prince.
And then he saw it. One person that stood out of this entire mess of grey, as clear as crystal.
His heart sank.
"Fran!"
-KHR-
He looks bad. His trademark striped shirt needs another wash, his hair is a tousled mess, and his uniform is stained with blood. He has a cut that had ripped a gash through his royal pants – haha. And his grin is missing. What's up with that look? He looks… horrified. Surprised. Of course he would be. My illusions are great. First class. I'm a top magician, after all.
He's running over to me. He's shouting something. His words blur in my ears. Shut up, sempai. Someone's trying to sleep here.
He got to me. I try to lift my hand and push him away, but I can't move. I tried curling my fingers or summoning up an illusion. Nothing. Weird. Am I immobilized or something?
He's telling me to say something. I open my mouth, then close it again. Idiot sempai. What do you want me to say?
He's screaming hysterically now. Now I just know something was wrong. Idiot prince hardly screams. Yes, he likes ordering people around and sulking when he's ignored, but he doesn't scream. Fine, if he wants me to say something this bad, why not.
I open my mouth. I tried telling him, "Bel-sempai, go away" but, strangely, it came out as, "B-eeerrrrsss" and the rest sounded like air coming out a broken whistle. Hm, did I lose my voice? Strange… I don't recall ever losing my voice. What's wrong.
That look he's giving me. It looks out of place on his face. Or maybe he isn't really giving me a look. Sempai without the arrogant, lazy air around him is strange. And that grin still isn't there.
I swallow hard. It hurts. I mean my throat. Sempai feels so cold. He's gripping my fingers, but I can't feel it. Strange. I can feel the pain in my throat, though. Maybe I have a cold?
So blurry.
So cold…
Hey sempai, do you think you can bring me to my room?
… Heh, you're still shouting. I bet you don't know what I'm asking. Shouting… those white teeth flashing. Hand on? Hand onto what?
Or was it hang on?
It's getting colder…
I can't see…
Sempai… are you crying? I can see your tears even though everything is blurry.
Sempai… don't cry. You look ugly.
Sempai… smile.
I try to form the words out forcefully. "Ssssmile, Semp –" and that was as far as I got before I broke into coughs. It burned more than ever.
Something trickled out my mouth, and I tried to lift a hand to wipe it away. Sempai would laugh at me.
… And he did. He smiled his trademark smile for me one last time. The tears are still running. Running, running, never stopping.
And I smiled back.
-KHR-
To me, Sempai was nobody important.
Right?
He threw knives at me.
He gets annoyed at me.
I annoy him.
And it's all.
It's not I like you, mind.
But that look on your face makes me feel guilty.
Really guilty.
I don't know why.
Perhaps I've gotten so used to your smile, it just seems so strange without.
I don't get why you're crying.
I am nothing to you, right?
Just a typical kid who joined the Varia.
Who annoyed you day after day.
Who always posed as your target when practicing knife-throwing.
I'm much than that.
I don't like it.
You call me 'Mammon's-replacement'.
I hate that name.
I'm more than a replacement.
I'm living, for heaven's sake.
I am a human. Granted, not one with a heart, but a human nonetheless.
Why does everyone like to treat me as a tool?
… you're still crying, Sempai.
Why are you crying?
Why are you crying over me?
Me, a mere tool.
… I'm finished.
It's so cold.
You're so cold too.
Smile, sempai.
Smile.
It hurts me to see you like this.
Bloody, crying, screaming like the madman you're supposed to be.
I hate it, Sempai.
Smile.
-KHR-
Smile? Is he kidding? Who would smile in a situation like this?
He looks so desperate. I can't resist.
I smiled.
I must look awful, with the tears and the lopsided smile, because Fran smiled. It was the first time I saw the Frog smile.
A tear escapes from Fran's emerald eyes and snaked its way down his cheek. The dark color of the uniform hid the amount of blood he was loosing every second. I held him close and cease shouting, opting to freeze my trademark smile in place to comfort him.
I have never saved a life. I never bothered. I panicked. I didn't know what to do. Heh, the Prince didn't know what to do. That's a first.
"Call me Bel, Fran." I plead one last time. Come on, it's not that hard, Frog.
I don't know how he managed to pick it up, but he whispers my name. "Ber… fe… g –" And that was all I got. It was better than nothing.
I hold him closer to my chest. His blood soaks through my uniform, but for once, I don't care.
And finally, his head drops onto my shoulder, his smile and tear, too, frozen for eternity.
I wail to the ceiling, high above, the corners of my smile turned down. The blood still flowed, and the tears still ran.
I grit my teeth.
It hurts.
I hate you, Frog.
Why did you have to break my heart like this?
-KHR-
When I first met you, you're this extremely stupid person with green hair and no emotion.
I hated your guts.
You annoyed me.
You've got this air around you that I loath.
You joined the Varia when Mammon died.
Everyone else acted indifferent.
So did I.
I hated you.
You were a replacement, as if Mammon were just a toy lost and replaced.
You were an insult to him.
Mammon was a great pal.
And I saw him fall.
You call me the 'fake-prince'.
You have no idea how much it hurts.
I was born as 'Prince'.
But my brother was born as 'King'.
And he calls me mistakes.
He calls me a 'fake-prince'.
With not a drop of royalty in my veins.
It hurt then.
But it hurt more when I hear you say it.
Perhaps it's your indifference.
Perhaps it's your tone.
Perhaps it's just you that irks me.
But whatever it is, it still hurt.
But I can't let you know that.
I'm too proud.
I'm a Prince.
You're not just Mammon's replacement to me now.
I don't know why I gave you that nickname in the first place.
Perhaps it's because I don't accept the fact that Mammon's dead.
Yeah.
That's it.
People say I like to hurt.
To kill.
With a heart of stone, I make a perfect assassin.
But it didn't mean I liked to see you die.
Or anyone else in the Varia, mind you.
But perhaps, a little more for you.
You kept me company.
I used you for target practice.
You amused me.
…
That winter, I was trapped by enemies.
I was too weak to do anything.
They broke and dislocated several bones.
It hurt.
It also hurt that I was going down in such an un-Princely way.
And you showed up.
Destroyed all of them.
Saved me.
I owe you one.
And I still do.
… so don't die.
I need to pay you back something I should have paid several years ago.
I need to thank you.
I need to apologize for being a jerk.
It's all too late now.
-KHR-
They crumpled to the floor, Belphegor gripping Fran in a death grip. The former didn't care that it wasn't the right way to treat a fallen comrade. His Frog was dead.
He still owe him one too.
He screamed a shrill note up at the ceiling, filled with the pain of a thousand bullets and the immense loss he suffered. His Varia ring glowed an angry red, growing and growing, expanding steadily, until it filled with the room with deadly energy.
When the flame finally subsided, there was nothing left of the room. Bare concrete, bodies reduced to ashes.
Fran looked so peaceful, with the smile. The tear had evaporated in the immense heat, leaving an eerie, almost happy smile that ghosted over his lips.
For once, the Prince saw Fran as someone more than just a member of the Varia.
-KHR-
You wouldn't understand how much something means to you until they were no longer available. Bel regretted not spending more time with Fran doing useful stuff rather than arguing and fighting.
Farewells were said, uniforms washed, ceremonies held to honor the illusionist.
It was not enough to quench the gaping hole of guilt and sorrow in Bel's chest.
But it was too late. Time had came and went, never to be seen again.
The tears had already fell.
All he could do was keep on crying and hope the sorrow leaves.