A/N: The same warnings from the prologue apply throughout the story. Each chapter starts with a flashback that bleeds into reality.
First half, in italics and past tense = flashback
Second half, not italics and present tense = present reality
Next chapter will post tomorrow!
Ashes, Ashes, We All Fall Down
by vernajast
"omnes vulnerant, postuma necat"
(all the hours wound; the last one kills)
Chapter 3. (darkness)
"I told you to fill the tank." Sasuke sighed and threw his head back against the rest attached to his seat. They were who-knew-where, broken down in the middle of some bridge, with no cell signal and no gas, and it was getting dark. The last town was at least five miles back. They hadn't passed another car, and looking up the road, there weren't any headlights coming toward them, either. This was so typical. Why couldn't Naruto have listened to him, just once, god, he was such a—
"You're doing that thing again." Naruto was staring at Sasuke from the driver's seat. "Dude, chill out! You worry too much!" With this sage advice, the blond opened the car door and jumped out, slamming it behind him. He crossed the road without bothering to check for oncoming traffic and jogged over to the railing on the other side of the bridge.
Sasuke watched him go, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched. He'd known this was a terrible idea all along. He opened the door and followed, not because he cared what happened to be beneath the bridge, but because he knew his best friend well enough to know that he needed adult supervision or he might fall.
"Look!" Naruto yelled over his shoulder. He had climbed up on the rail and half of his body was leaning out over valley and river below. "I wonder if it's legal to bungee jump here. That'd be awesome!"
Sasuke rolled his eyes and took hold of the back of Naruto's pants. He yanked roughly, dragging Naruto down off the railing, but he hadn't accounted for the extra weight and lost his footing himself. His heel hit the edge of the pavement and Sasuke fell backward, taking Naruto with him. God, he would never live this down. Naruto would laugh now, and then there would be weeks of gloating and teasing. Fuck...why were they friends, again?
He opened his eyes to find Naruto's staring back at him, much closer than he'd imagined, and just as shocked. There was an awkward moment where the tension between them was nearly visible it was so thick. Sasuke could feel Naruto's breath on his chin and the weight and heat of his body pressing down on him.
He let his eyes close again. "You're heavy." And the awkwardness passed as suddenly as it had started when Naruto mumbled something incoherent and quickly rolled off of Sasuke's chest. They both lay on the side of the road, silently gazing up at the stars that were starting to peek through as dusk became darkness.
Sasuke couldn't be sure when Naruto had taken his hand—or had he taken Naruto's?—but he grasped it tightly.
Sasuke pulls the car off of the highway and onto the shoulder. The crunch of gravel under the tires seems distant, unrelated to his current reality. He reaches into the glove box and retrieves a small black case. It's cliche, really, and he knows it, but deep down, Naruto had been sentimental to a fault, so...Sasuke had thought, maybe...well...
It doesn't matter anymore.
He tucks the box into his pocket and climbs out of the car. With even steps, he walks to the center of the bridge.
Six years ago, Naruto's car had run out of gas just across the road.
He leans over the rail, idly observing the rush of water beneath the bridge, and it's as if he's watching someone else when he raises his foot and steps up onto the second rail.
Six years ago, at this very spot, it had all begun.
He pulls the small box from his pocket and opens it. A pair of platinum rings lie innocently inside: two wedding bands, simple but elegant, already sized and etched with their names. It really is so fucking cliche, and what the hell was he thinking?
He closes the box and stares at it in the palm of his hand for a few seconds. Whether he wants to admit it to himself or not, Sasuke would have liked to have heard Naruto's answer, had he ever found the right time and place to ask. He had wanted it to be perfect.
He had wanted...so many things, all impossible now.
Solemnly and with very deliberate movements, he tosses the box over the side of the bridge. He climbs up onto the next rail, eyes tracking the small object until it hits the water, but he can't quite manage to convince himself to climb down. He can't just turn his back on the box and all it represented to him and walk away.
What does he even have to return to? He'll go home to an empty townhouse, devoid of life but full to the brim with oppressive tension and the ever-present weight of memories. He'll stare at the ramen cup on the counter, at the orange toothbrush in the bathroom, and the tangled wiring of the game system attached to their television, and each will torment him a different way. Each will serve as one more reminder of what he's lost. What he couldn't hold onto. What he didn't deserve to keep.
Sasuke isn't embarrassed by the tears that inevitably begin to fall. Just once in his life, he had wanted to have something that was real—something clean, and wholly, completely his own, not the result of his money or his family's infamous reputation. He had tried to shield Naruto from that side of his life, and what good had it done either of them?
The wind picks up and Sasuke grasps the nearest metal girder to keep his balance. But why? Why cling to life when his only reason for living has been taken away? He contemplates the water below, his heightened awareness sharply focused on the minutest details: the waves lapping at the shore, debris floating in the channel, the reflection of the afternoon sun on the rippling surface.
It would be so easy to simply let go...close his eyes...and—"Yeah, right! I knew you were a bastard. Didn't know you were a wimp, too!"
Naruto. Sasuke smiles sardonically and tightens his lax grip on the girder. What would Naruto think of him now? Would he really accuse him of being a coward, of taking the easy way out? Does it matter? Isn't Sasuke entitled to be selfish for once in his goddamned life?
If the police had some kind of answers, he might at least be temporarily satisfied. He might be able to sleep at night if the people responsible were behind bars and being punished for their crimes. But as it is, no one knows anything. With no leads, no information, Naruto is just another statistic. Another body. Another dead cop.
Sasuke grinds his teeth, his jaw tightening with anger. "Naruto is not a statistic!" he growls aloud. When he climbs down off the railing, his mind is already working out the next steps and he hurries back to the car.
Naruto didn't die in vain...
Naruto believed in the work that he did as a police officer...
He thought he was making the world a better place...
If he were here right now, he would tell Sasuke to make sure this never happened to anyone else.
Sasuke intends to honor that wish. He has enough money and connections to find Naruto's killers, and he has the resources to make sure they never destroy another life. Ever again.
His car turns a donut in the center of the highway, u-turning back toward the city. As he presses the gas to the floor, he picks up his cell phone and presses a number on the speed dial.
"Uncle Izuna." Sasuke moves the phone to his other ear so that he can talk, drive, and shift at the same time. "I have a favor to ask."
[TBC]