Skyfall
This is the end,
Hold your breath and count to ten,
Feel the earth move and then,
Hear my heart burst again.
For this is the end,
I've drowned and dreamed this moment,
So overdue, I owe them
Swept away, I'm stolen...
Skyfall is where we start,
A thousand miles and poles apart,
When worlds collide, and days are dark...
Let the sky fall,
We will stand tall,
At skyfall.
Two figures studied each other indifferently, both stiff and tense and ready to fight. In an outsider's point of view, it would seem like the reunion between two old lovers, with a story long, painful and better untold.
And maybe that outsider could be right.
There was love, or there had been. Love was stripped away from one of the two, replaced by hate, resentment and an overwhelming need of revenge. And it was the other of the two who understood it, who understood him (despite the other's insisting that he didn't), and who tried – still tries, and will continue trying until his last breath – to strip away that hate and resentment, to strip away everything and fill him with everything with what he should have – could have been.
Honest, solemn and knowing blue eyes looked less vibrant than usual, steadily staring down at the darker male. Cruel and hateful black eyes reflecting part of the insanity in them stared just as steadily back.
Hate, resentment and the overwhelming sense of revenge had turned him mad, the lighter male realized; he already knew this fact. And it still hurt him all the more when he saw it. All of his hate, all of his resentment, all of his dead-set revenge, all directed at somebody whom he killed with a reason that had turned out to be wrong, and it had left him empty—had left him to be nothing more than a shell of whatever he'd been before.
But he'd already been broken before being a shell. The blue eyed male doubted that the other individual even remembered how it felt to be sane, to be normal, to be human—because it was so, so long ago. And he knew the other male remembered; but it wasn't of his sanity. It was memories from long ago; agonizing memories, bittersweet memories (so, so bittersweet), memories which had only fueled his hate, his revenge, his madness.
The blue eyed male felt so sorry for his friend, who had been stolen of love and happiness and given resent and hate in return, only to having been stripped of those too. And, in the end, the man before him really was nothing more than a shell—a poor soul desperately clinging onto hate, for the sole reason that he knew nothing else, only to have nothing and nobody to direct it to.
He didn't want to pity his old friend, he really didn't, but he couldn't help but feel so when he thought of how he'd been stripped of everything, leaving him bare and ugly and exposed. He owes it to his friend, owes it to him that he helps him. He had failed him once, had failed him twice, and he wanted to help him, and even if it was just something his friend could lash all his anger and hate out; him.
Everything he worked for, everything he had lived for, everything he had done, it was all coming down, showering down in ripples and colors only to leave mere ashes to be swept away with the wind.
But, if he really thought about it, it was everything they had worked for, everything they had lived for, everything they had done that was coming down, in a show of light and darkness and brilliancy and ugliness.
It was all crumbling down bit by bit, had been for a long time now; slowly, patiently, little by little it was all coming down. But they both were people who'd seen worse, felt worse, said worse, done worse; and just because their skies (their world) were crumbling down they wouldn't shy away. Life had given them worse (far worse), and they were still standing after all of it—after deaths, after loneliness, after sadness, after despair, after betrayal—that this was nothing; it was brushed away so carelessly that it nearly seemed ridiculous. Tragedy like this couldn't touch them anymore—it was insignificant, unimportant; so unimportant that it was very nearly bemusing—they were untouchable, indestructible.
They were refined by life to its best, like swords having been forged. Life had made them go through hell and back—had burned them, purified them in order for them to be influenced by darkness or light—and it had refined them with bitter cold sadness and loneliness—had cooled them, hardened them to be able to withstand being hewn by cutting betrayals and blowing revelations—in order for them to be at its best; to be Life's ultimate masterpieces.
Fate and Destiny had always pulled them together, with or without their will; and, yes, eventually, they always found each other. Both of them were magnets, but very differing magnets; they separated and joined at the same time.
It was always like this with them, they were separated and joined, maybe apart by a thousand miles but joined by their own world no one else saw, no one else understood; no one else but them.
Their skies were crumbling slowly, but both of them were slowly joining, crushing into their conjoined world, creating something breathtakingly beautiful for a mere second that would never be seen by others, would never burst into something more, would never make others understand, others know.
Alas, Fate and Destiny may have pulled them together at all times, however, the way they met was dark, was too solemn, too sad to make it meetings that made their skies (and their world) broaden, lighten and forming into what they should have been, could have been.
And the blue eyed male thought back on a song, a song he'd heard so long ago that he is surprised that he even remembers it; 'You can take my name, but you'll never have my heart.'
But it was already too late; they had both belonged to each other since the first eye contact, since the first shared a smile. And it didn't seem ridiculous because Fate and Destiny always had brought them together, always pulled them towards each other.
The deafening silence was disrupted by the sound of screeching birds and gusty winds, the darkness around them by the cloud-covered sun illuminated by lightening and chakra.
Remorseful sapphire eyes met resolute ebony eyes; resolute sapphire eyes met (if only the slightest bit) remorseful ebony eyes.
Their skies and their world were rumbling, lightening flashing and winds howling and pieces steadily coming down, swept away by the winds and burned by the lightening.
It was as frightening as it was beautiful.
And one of the two wished that this wouldn't have happened, wished he could go back in time, wished he could change a few subtle things that would have surely changed everything that was happening now, wished he could scream at his younger self what to do so that his friend wouldn't begin drowning, wouldn't be stolen of everything.
And the other of the two, if only a small part, wished he could stop this all now, wished he could change things, wished he could bring justice to everything; but he didn't wish, he wanted.
A small part of him wanted to stop this all now, wanted he could change, wanted to bring justice to everything.
The rest of him just wanted to kill.
A voice was nearly drowned by the stormy winds of their skies storming, of their world falling apart—not pleading, not asking like he usually did; there was only solemn acceptance, "I hope you know that after this, neither of us will live."
Cold, indifferent eyes just kept staring, not saying anything, but the blue eyed male knew that his darker companion knew this fact. They had both known this fact for a very long time; it had hung in the air between them, even back when they'd been children. It had been a death sentence, and they'd both known it, even back then. They'd known they'd be each other's upbringing.
And they also knew they'd be each other's downfall.
Because, Fate and Destiny brought them together no matter what, and wherever one of the two went, the other would follow. No matter what happened between them, they would know each other best, would help each other most, would push each other the most, and, ultimately, love each other the most.
Because, when one of the two went so went the other, and when one of the two saw something the other saw it too.
It was just how Fate and Destiny joined them.
The blue eyed male smiled ruefully, apologetically, before both of them simultaneously started running towards each other, lightening flashing and wind howling eerily. And their skies were suddenly pulled so fast together, their world in their way.
Their knuckles barely brushed, but there was the image of a golden, infinite space where two children stood, their fingers linked and smiling so brightly—nearly brighter than the sun—that it nearly hurt.
And there was this one, breathtaking moment where their skies and their world came together for one brilliant, bright, beautiful moment, blooming regret and sadness in their chests for what could have happened, would have happened—if only things had been a little different.
Then there was the sickening sound of flesh searing and tearing apart, blood spurting everywhere – on the water, on the earth, in the air, on their cheeks – before the other's hand protruded from their backs, lightening still flickering and winds still whispering silently.
And in that moment, their skies and their world collided together fully, exploding in a show of light and darkness, crumbling down on them in the form of heavy rains, mixing with feelings unknown and undiscovered, and they were both stripped of everything at that moment; both of them stripped of love and hate, of resentment and forgiveness, of light and darkness, and all that was left was themselves and the debris of their crumbled skies, of their crushed world, as it was all swept away by nothing and everything, fading into a memory already.
And they were standing, still—not in literal sense—even after Life had given them their ultimate refinement, their last refinement. In that single moment they were perfect. But they couldn't care, because they'd been stripped of everything they've known—and not known—and have been, finally, set free from their infinite curse of tragedy and torment; lifted from their curse of regret, love and hate. And they just watched—their knuckles brushing—how their skies tumbled down in their mind's eye, how their world shattered and annihilated to oblivion in that infinite, golden space where the children were still standing in—still smiling, still linking fingers, still happy—while it all was being ripped and tattered away from them.
But they were still watching how their skies, along with their world, fell down silently with nothing more than a Drip, as if the sky—the real sky—was crying for them, for their misery, their regret, their loss. It all fell down in a shower of everything and nothing that was their essence. And they still stood, because life had given them worst.
And neither of the two minded as they lost continuously more blood, neither of the two minded dying; they were stripped of everything, everything was solved, it wouldn't matter if they would die or not, because…
Fate and Destiny always brought them together one way or another.
It was just how they were brought together.
Hey, Sasuke.
What?
We're friends, right?
Yeah, we are, Naruto.
Everything was solved.
This has originally been a songfic. However, it has come to my attention afterwards, through the comment of a member of the site, that apparently it goes against the rules of I am very sorry for that and have changed it to a normal one-shot.
Anyway, the original idea came to me when I saw the lyrics of this song, and the idea just wouldn't let me rest until I wrote it (it was about midnight when it came to me), and so I did.
I love Adele, I love her voice and her writing talents (she writes her own lyrics most of the time, exception of this song that was written by Paul Epworth), so it isn't really surprising to me that I wrote this. It also isn't surprising that I wrote about Naruto and Sasuke, since the lyrics are, except for some few lines being too modern or too romantically linked, perfect.
When I began this story as a songfic, I thought that it just wouldn't be enough to just say that I've been inspired by the song, but it seems like I have to. I am usually not a fan of songfics. I have nothing against them, but I just usually don't read them. I had just thought that a songfic would fit better with the contents of the story and the inspirational song along with it. Oh well.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this. Reviews, anyone?
Song: Skyfall – Adele (Theme music of the 23rd James Bond movie; Skyfall)