Author's Note: There are many similar lines in this chapter that you may notice from the prologues and first chapter. This is because this chapter is a parallel of events that have already occurred. I rather like ambiguity and interesting writing formats, so the beginning is that way. There are also detective-y themes/puzzles because I have always wanted to think of one and implement it in a story (and thought it would be rather fitting since Akise Aru is, evidently, an aspiring detective). I have never tried to attempt to write a puzzle of sorts until now, so hopefully my attempt is somewhat feasible to understand.
And now, without further ado, the first part of the second chapter. Enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own Mirai Nikki.
Time Looped
Chapter 2 – Alter (Part 1)
Created By: x-LittleMissAlice-x
xXx
"Have you ever met someone for the first time, but in your heart you feel as if you've met them before?"
JoAnne Kenrick
xXx
Whispers.
Like the shattered fragments of a forgotten dream, lost voices spoke to him in hushed, soft whispers. Distantly, the voices surrounded him, diminishing to a small and barely distinguishable murmur before rising in volume again.
They invaded his mind, one after another, in rapid succession; hinting at events that would transpire in an inevitable future; murmuring statements that seemed so vaguely familiar (so painfully familiar), yet he could not recall them hearing at all.
"If you hadn't saved me when you did, I would have just accepted the situation."
"You are just so cute, Yukiteru-kun."
"I don't have anything like hopes or dreams for the future. All I want is to see the stars with my parents. That is my only wish."
"Yukiteru-kun, I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I... I failed."
"You are my first, you know..."
"I should have held his hand. I should have held on and never let go..."
Words upon words, sentence upon sentence bounced off the walls of his subconscious mind, but they slipped away the moment any thought dared to drift by.
Only one question was more prominent, more distinguishable from the rest. Insistently, it rang in his head, over and over again like a broken record:
"Wh...re...ou? Ho...ar...yo...? Who are you?"
"I am... Akise Aru, your-"
The rest (of what was said, what could be said, what would be said...) was interrupted, swallowed by a somewhat different voice- one that was as clear as it was chilling; a voice that, despite the hollowness of its words, still managed to contain a certain softness that was not unlike his own...
"You cannot change fate, Akise Aru."
Flashes. Vivid, brief flashes of his darkest memory flickered before him in reverse...
Meaningless apologies.
( He wanted to scream. )
"You will continue to make the same mistakes and never even realize it."
Lifeless irises.
( Desperately, he wanted to scream. )
"No matter how hard you try, time will never move forward."
Broken bones.
(Anything to make this voice stop talking. Anything to stop remembering. )
"It's all your fault, you know..."
Crimson splatters.
(Anything so he didn't have to think anymore!)
"Why can't you just accept the truth?!"
Echoing honks.
( He just wanted to forget... )
"It doesn't matter. You will get what's coming to you."
Squealing tires.
( Those...)
"Do you remember, Akise Aru? Do you remember what your sin is?"
Rippling screams.
Get out of my head!
xXx
WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO! WEE-WOO!
His physical body jolted upward with a sudden start. His vermilion eyes flew open, but no matter how hard Akise Aru breathed to catch his breath or how many times he ran his fingers through his messy white hair, he could not recall why his heart was beating so quickly, why his entire body was covered in a cold sweat, or even why he felt so unnerved in the first place.
When he dared to try to remember what had stirred within the chaos of his subconscious, his mind was invaded by the sound of wailing of sirens.
A nightmare...
Yes, he must have just been in the clutches of some bad dream, tormented by the darkest depths of his mind (his greatest ally and most fatal enemy). Even if he could not recall any of the details, it didn't - wouldn't, shouldn't, couldn't - matter. After all, it was just a dream. A meaningless unwanted, unneeded, unnecessary dream. A dream that was, for the most part, forgotten the moment his eyes fluttered open.
Only one question remained from his foggy, dream-induced memories:
"Who are you?"
There was nothing to fear of such a question, nor anything to fear from the world. The familiar four walls of his bedroom surrounded him, shielded him from most potential dangers, and the blankets tangled between his legs comforted him through the cold or heat.
No one had been in his bedroom, and likely even his apartment. At least, when his eyes skimmed his surroundings, everything in his room appeared untouched. The articles and newspaper clippings tacked to the walls were still connected by green, yellow and red strings. The clusters of paperwork piling on his wooden desk were the same height, remained in the same location he last remembered. Even his alarm clock was on top his dresser, at the same angle he had left it. It flashed at him insistently in large red numbers, informing him of a somewhat familiar date and time:
July 28, 20XX. 9:10 A.M.
There was nothing to fear, nothing at all to feel uneasy about, yet there was some foreign feeling nagging at him deep inside as he saw that time, that date; as he murmured it in his head. The feeling continued to bother him as he rose, hesitantly climbing out of the comfort of his bed, and forced himself to dress in his usual white button-up shirt and tie. It continued to grow further as he walked out of his front door, locking it behind him.
Akise Aru did not know why but somehow he knew, somewhere deep inside, something was going to happen that day.
An event, a meeting, the reveal of a specific piece of information- there was something that was supposed to occur. Something... important.
Like a memory just out of reach (like the remains of a scattered dream...), his mind knew this, and his muscles tensed with an anxiousness he could not place.
But as he strolled down the concrete sidewalks and passed the familiar shops, homes, and riverbeds, he could not identify any immediate changes.
Every rock and pebble was accounted for, every telephone pole where it should be, and every sign the same as he could last recall it.
Even the sky was as it always was: Cloudy. Gray. Finite. Black crows lurked on the nearby telephone poles, watching him with keen, beady eyes. The sun's cheerful rays were lost within the dark puffs drifting above, but the summer heat still managed to create a somehow unsettling rippling haze.
It was the same. Everything was no different from how he remembered it, yet the smallest things made Akise Aru feel like there was something amiss.
Every person he passed made him uneasy. Every truck or car, tense. And although he was certain there was no one following or watching him, he felt as if he could sense some imminent danger lurking in the shadow of his footsteps, waiting patiently for the opportunity to strike.
His instincts were screaming at him that something was wrong, that he should sit back and study his surroundings more, but the closer he tried to peer into the details of the world around him, the less he seemed to see.
So Akise Aru hadn't listened to his instincts. He hadn't listened to the voice in the back of his mind, whispering for him to return home for the day. Even as the crows began to caw together insistently, warning him, screaming at him to avoid the events that were inevitably going to occur, he hadn't listened...
He hadn't known.
He hadn't known this day was so different in yet so similar to the ones he had lived before.
He hadn't known this was both the worst and best day of his entire life, or that this day would have ended the same as all the rest had he not felt an overwhelmingly awful twist in the pit of his stomach...
That unsettling feeling gnawing at him, writhing in his gut made him do something Akise Aru, in all the different worlds he had unwittingly woke to, had never done before:
He ran.
For as long as his pumping adrenaline could take him, as fast as his long lean legs could carry him, Akise Aru darted aimlessly, moving in the direction his gut twisted in crippling pain the most; until, finally, he arrived at an abandoned park.
His pace slowed to a gradual halt and his chest burned. Heavy, quick pants wracked his body as he doubled over and held the railing of a nearby park bench for balance-
Then his observant vermilion eyes noted something odd. On the edge of the bench, carved into the worn wood, were a series of numbers and letters:
942 AA
His highly intelligent mind tried to unscramble the new puzzle quickly, taking it apart piece by piece, noting any potential hints or connections that could be related to it.
'942. Time. Might be 9:42. By how deep the markings are and how much lighter the shade of wood is, most likely from the sun, it must have been written in the mornings, so 9:42 A.M. Now, AA. They are probably a set of initials or a signature. Most likely combination-'
The aspiring detective froze, whispering under his breath in realization.
"Akise Aru..."
Of course. It was his name. But was it written for him?
Or...
No. Certainly not. It was impossible.
He couldn't have written himself this message, could he? He certainly could not recall doing so...
Even if he had, what did the time 9:42 A.M. mean...?
Subconsciously, his eyes drifted towards the old, worn clock tower residing in the middle of the park. It read:
9:34 A.M.
He watched it. Carefully, he watched the smallest hand turn, inching slowly with each second towards the '12' at the top of the clock, and just as the minute hand shifted to read 9:35 A.M., Akise's breathing hitched. An odd sensation rushed over him all at once - a feeling that tingled in his bones, burned in the very depths of his soul - and he knew without even looking something (or more precisely, someone ) important was there.
When Akise turned, his gaze fell upon a boy - a boy who wore a pair of old blue shoes, tan cargo shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt; a boy with jet black hair and beautiful bright blue eyes Akise wanted nothing more than to drown in...
He was the boy that Akise somehow knew was, for one reason or another, at the park early.
Early... Yes, of course.
942 AA. This must have been what that was referring to: this boy was here seven minutes early.
But why was he early? And what did the number seven mean?
Was it the number itself? Like 'Lucky seven' or perhaps even an ironic 'Unlucky seven'? Or was there something more to it than that?
There must have been some reason behind it, some reason this boy was important. Why would that sensation of nostalgia continue to grow inside him the longer he stared at him if he wasn't?
Leisurely strides. Nimble fingers. Clicking silver keys. Blue cell phone...
Akise seemed to predict all of these things before he saw them, and the closer the boy approached the old, worn red swings, the more that feeling - that writhing, twisting, coiling feeling deep inside - intensified.
With every step, every movement, every click on the keys of his cell phone, that sensation began building... and building... and building...
Until his body moved as if it had a mind of its own. Despite the harsh aching in his arms and legs and the painful thrumming of his heart beating against his chest, and despite his instincts screaming at him that this would be the death of him, Akise Aru forced his body to run onward, steadily closing the gap between him and the unsuspecting boy.
They collided.
As if in slow motion, their limbs tangled. The boy's legs fell out from under him, his arms flailing in all directions, and with a surprised shout of 'w-whaa!' they hit the dirt.
The moment he caught his breath, the boy scrambled on the ground, desperate to see his assailant, but suddenly ceased all movement the moment his cobalt blue eyes clashed with his own.
In that moment, the world seemed to stop spinning. He was only aware of this boy in front of him and everything about him...
How those eyes that were peering into his - eyes that were somehow more gorgeous up close than from afar - took his breath away... How his lips parted, petal-soft and quivering just the slightest bit... Akise even noticed the way his sunkissed cheeks flushed, heated in an adorable hue of pink.
Akise couldn't tear his eyes away. Everything was so nostalgic, so intoxicatingly familiar...
That sweet scent of peppermint tickling his nostrils... That jet black hair he somehow knew was as smooth as silk... Even those clear, wide blue eyes that gazed upon him so openly, expressing every thought or feeling that crossed his mind, somehow seemed like something Akise had always known.
Something that, even if he tried, Akise Aru could never truly forget.
"Yukiteru-kun."
The name was foreign to him, but it slipped easily, was spoken firmly, felt... right as it rolled off the tip of his tongue.
Even the way his pale hand reached towards him felt right. It was a somehow overwhelming, yearning desire inside him to just caress those smooth cheeks with his hand or even the back of his fingertip; to feel his heat, his pulse rate; to feel the life radiating from him, thrumming just under his touch...
But the hand stopped in mid-air, hovering just above his skin when the boy under him shifted, inching away from him - far, far away from his intruding touch, and that felt very, very wrong.
Why...?
Why was he watching him with those eyes? They were so fearful, so cautious, so... confused and distrusting.
Just the sight of those eyes made his heart break. The boy's next question made the pathetic organ dying a slow and miserable death inside his chest ache all the more...
"Do I... know you?"
Akise couldn't breathe.
It hurt.
Hearing him ask that... hurt.
But why did his heart ache so much at just that simple question?
Why did his chest feel like it was suffocating?
Why was his windpipe constricting to the point he couldn't speak?
Why were the corner of his eyes...?
Oh God...
No. No- Certainly he wasn't.
Akise Aru, the cool and collected Detective Boy did not do this. There was always a logical solution to everything. There was never a reason to do that, so certainly he wasn't...
He wasn't... Akise wasn't-
"Why...? Why are you crying?"
He was.
The stinging sensation in his eyes was there. The hot, heavy but silent tears were involuntarily streaming down his cheeks, dribbling down his chin and onto the boy beneath him in small droplets.
Akise Aru was crying, and he didn't even know why.
He didn't know why he felt the urge to hold this boy - this stranger he had met only moments ago - close to his chest, to protect him and cherish him forever like a valuable little treasure...
He didn't why he couldn't answer the questions Yukiteru had asked him, and the millions of unspoken ones swimming in his confused oceanic eyes...
And Akise Aru certainly didn't know how or even why he had asked his own question; a question that was so abrupt, so unsettling it scared even himself...
"Yukiteru-kun... Are you dead?"
xXx
He stared at him.
In dumbfounded disbelief, Yukiteru stared at him for what felt like an eternity.
"Am I... dead?" he repeated, his brows furrowing further. It sounded even more absurd hearing the words from Yukiteru's lips than his own.
It was absurd, wasn't it? Yukiteru was obviously in front of him, so why would he ask that?
"Forget it, I just..." Akise began, wiping streams of water staining his cheeks and trying, with all the willpower he had left, to ignore the sharp pain jabbing him deep inside his chest. "I just-"
He didn't have an explanation. He didn't have a logical reason why he had asked that. He didn't have an excuse to explain why his mind had been thinking that way, or even-
Akise's thought process paused mid-thought. His mind seemed to relay the answer to the puzzle he had been trying to solve before:
Yukiteru was seven minutes early. seven minutes. 7:00. Seven can be split into three and four. 34:00 instead of 7:00. If you arrange those numbers then it makes...
"Of course. 0340 numerically spells the word 'DEAD'..." Akise murmured thoughtfully.
Was that why he had asked that? Did seeing those numbers create some subliminal message that was completely inaccurate and off-base?
Certainly that had to be the case. Both him and Yukiteru were obviously still alive.
Besides, there wasn't any reason why this beautiful and innocent boy would-
"Are you alright...?" Yukiteru murmured, peering at him with big blue eyes swimming in confusion.
There was something so open about his expression that a soft, almost relieved chuckle (relieved that he was still here, looking at him; relieved that he hadn't run away, or called him a freak, or rejected him) escaped his parted lips. His laugh seemed to make Yukiteru's cocoa brows furrow all the more.
"Yes, I think... I figured out what happened now. I'm sorry for laughing. You are just so cute, Yukiteru-kun."
Why did those words leave his mouth so easily? And why did he want to touch his cheek softly again? The yearning of placing even a finger to his flushed face was far greater than the urge he had experienced before. But why did he feel that way? Did his body remember something his mind didn't?
"I-I'm... what?!" Yukiteru asked, his cheeks flushing a deeper shade of pink, his body shifting nervously as he turned into a flustered mess under him. Akise couldn't help but laugh all the more.
"Sorry, sorry, I will get off..."
He was already placing his pale palms onto the dirt, readying himself to push off of this boy and give him some (and what he was certain was) much needed space, but he stopped at Yukiteru's frantic command:
"W-wait!"
His tanned fingers tightly gripped the black tie hanging around his neck, choking him slightly as Yukiteru jerked the accessory forward so they were face to face once more.
"Please, tell me. Who are you?"
That question...
It was the same question that had been lingering in the back of his mind all morning, the only question that he could remember from his dream.
"I am... Akise Aru, your-"
His... what? Did he even truly know Yukiteru?
Although he did not know the answer for certain, or even why he felt like he knew this boy so well, somehow his body seemed to know what to say when his mind consciously didn't.
"Akise Aru, your friend."
As he said those words, he knew they were true. He wanted to be Yukiteru's friend, more than anything.
"Akise... Aru?" Yukiteru repeated, testing the name on his tongue, and although he allowed Akise's black tie to slack through the lax grip of his fingers, Akise could have sworn he stopped breathing. From their close proximity his analytical gaze noted every curl of his lips as he formed each syllable, memorizing every facial feature as his sweet voice filled his ear drums...
He was so beautiful...
So bright and innocent and just... beautiful.
Akise could already feel his mind start to fog, his thoughts wandering bit by bit. He was the one who needed space now, some sort of distraction to preoccupy him if only for a moment.
Ah, yes...
There, a few feet away from him, partially buried in the dirt, was the perfect distraction: Yukiteru's prized possession, his blue cell phone. When they collided it must have fallen from his hand to the ground.
As he pushed himself off of Yukiteru and rose to his feet, moving towards the cell phone and bending down to grab it, something... strange happened; stranger than the sense of deja vu he had been experiencing all morning; far, far stranger than both the utterance of his name and the question of death Akise had imposed upon this supposed stranger...
A scene of sorts flashed in existence.
A few feet away, the flock of crows that had been lurking in the park's one-thousand year old tree (had they followed him there? Were they watching him and Yukiteru?) disappeared. Leaves appeared on its once bare branches, but they were not green, orange, brown or even red. Everything was in black and white- including the once red swings, the now flourishing tree, and even the people there. Distinctly, Akise could see six boys surrounding the tree, and what looked like Yukiteru cowering behind someone...
Was that... himself?
Why was he there? What was happening? He couldn't recall ever experiencing that...
Not a word or sound escaped the vision before him, but he did hear a voice- one that was not his own, and didn't seem to be said by anyone in the vision.
Even so, the voice rung clearly in his mind:
"If you hadn't saved me when you did I would have just accepted the situation..."
Was that... Yukiteru's voice? Was it about what happened here?
Akise did not have the slightest idea what was happening, but did feel a bit surprised when he saw his other self knock one of the boys to the ground.
His other (was it a past?) self was saying something to the fallen boy. Akise tried to read his lips, if only for some vague clue to this seemingly ever growing puzzle.
Don't... Ever... To-
The vision vanished the moment the cell phone slipped from his grasp.
Or was taken from his grasp, more accurately.
Yukiteru - the real Yukiteru - snatched the object like it was his life line and flailed away, holding his treasure protectively to his chest.
"Did you just see that?" Akise asked and Yukiteru's brows furrowed in confusion.
"See what?" he asked incredulously. "Are you ok?" For some reason you were just staring off into space... No matter what I said or did, it seemed like you wouldn't listen to me."
"I'm sorry, what did you say?" Akise asked, shaking his head as if to rid of the previous vision invading his thoughts, but it was still circulating in his brain, nagging at him.
Why did he see that? What did it mean? Had those events actually happened before?
Was it a daydream or perhaps... a memory?
"I said that I believe you."
That statement made all the previous thoughts bouncing around in his mind cease.
Believe me...?
"I don't know why, but I... I really do believe you are my friend."
Yukiteru beamed him a smile so brilliant Akise's own lips couldn't help but mimic it.
"You are my first, you know," Yukiteru continued, his left foot shifting shyly in the dirt.
"Your first?"
"Yes," Yukiteru murmured softly, a light blush dusting his cheeks as those big blue eyes trailed to the ground before flickering upward again to meet his own. "You are my first friend."
Thank you for reading. If you had any thoughts or feelings while reading this chapter, please leave a review.
That's all then. Have a lovely evening.
xLMAx
