A/N: This story is mildly inspired by the song Yoru ni Kakeru (夜に駆ける). I drastically changed the worldview to fit Love and Setsuna but since I translated some lyrics and put them in here, I have to credit the song. (It's a nice song, I especially recommend the First Take version)
Cure Narrative 60: Dusk
Season: Fresh Precure
Characters: Love M. Setsuna H.
Summary: We meet in between.
I hate it.
I hate it when you look at me, when you seem to see something — someone that has never been there. Beyond every confinement I have ever been put through, I feel the most caged when I see myself in your eyes.
Caged by your carefree hope, caged by your hypocritical beliefs, caged by the so-called happiness you wished for me because you never understood how much that kind of warmth scorches me.
I hate it when I see nothing but you, when I can't tear my eyes off of that radiance even when it burns.
But this coldness, this never-dawning night you picture is everything to me. It's my home. It's my cradle. And you are always eating away at it with that sickening 'warmth' of yours.
I've had enough. I'm tired of this.
No more pretence. It hurts. More than the magic, more than the thorns, you hurt me the most.
I am the bad guy. I am Eas. I am from Labyrinth. And I hate you. I hate how you smile, I hate how you have hope, have faith. I hate the happiness you exude. They are all supposed to be non-existent until you forcefully shoved them down my throat so all the words I prepared for you never reached your ears.
I want it all to end already.
You will never understand, Love. You never intended to and will never be able to.
You didn't even leave behind a single 'goodbye', how could you expect me to understand—
—was what I would've yelled when I was in denial.
But you deserve better than that.
I've always believed that we would come to an understanding. You and me, and somewhat the other you as well, even before I knew the connection. And what better instance than now? Now when time is scarce, now when your dusk is nearing its end, now when there is no choice but to come to terms with the depths of your heart.
I see you there in the rain. There is no strength in your posture despite the force in the punches you throw, it's as if you were sinking, melting. What exactly, I wonder, am I seeing in your gaze?
From the day I met you, I noticed those cold eyes of yours. Even when you seemed happy, seemed to enjoy yourself, your eyes were never truly smiling, there was such a tainted mist of emptiness shrouding every truth.
I clung to you since then. Because you made me wish for the best future I could imagine for you.
Something sparked in those eyes of yours as you screamed out the rawest emotion in the heart you tried to cage, something beyond the mist. But something short-lived. Like the wish I made for you.
After all, in your world, the ticking of a clock resound in your ears with every decision you make. And in my world, I took the liberty to assume happiness can be 'get' from the time we spend together.
When worlds like ours collide, who needs a proper 'goodbye'? It's duty. It's life. It's death. Words… such a peaceful resolution, it's almost disrespectful to your determination.
See? I understand. Setsuna.
Now how about you understand me?
No. No more. Stop trying to pull me further into your world.
Your words change me. Your words steal from me my loyalty, my will and even my heart. Because I am a flawed creation, a weak, worthless defect.
Defects must be dealt with, erased.
So please stop. Stop changing me. If you keep overwriting what I've been programmed to believe in with your ideals...
I might actually want to live.
I might actually want to be free.
I might actually want to struggle, to escape, to disobey, to properly digest the beauty of what you forced down my throat before.
And I can't. I don't have time left.
So I must hate it. I must deny your words before they lure out the truths inside of me. Because it's too late—
...yes. It is too late indeed.
Have you finally understood?
You're already far beyond trying to deny. You've already changed. If only you could see yourself through my eyes, you would've understood much earlier.
You deserve so much more than you think.
You can be free. I will free you.
You can be happy. So get your happiness by yourself.
Your eyes stop on a four leaf clover. See? You can wish for happiness as well. It's yours and no one else's. Come now, take it into your hands.
The mist has cleared.
You reach out.
Night falls.
End of Chapter 60