A/N: First off, I am so sorry for taking so long to update. But, without further ado, here is the newest chapter!
To say that they were going to make it out of this mess was a joke, he had tried, he did. Every fiber of Kagami's being had tried to rescue them from this hell, only to fail time and time again. And now he was sitting, no, laying there amongst the filthy ground watching as his shadow was being killed by this boy.
"St-stop..." Tiaga gasped, his shaking hand extending towards the others in a feeble attempt to stop him. "Oi! Oi!" He watched as the boy pulled the small blade from the smaller boy's body, the way that the others body shook violently against the ground. "Haizaki! Stop, please! Stop this!"
He felt warm liquid seeping down his cheeks as he turned his body to the side and attempted to crawl across the floor to put an end to this dilatory madness. Every part of his body screamed in disagreement, wanting him to stop before the agony ceased him.
"Damn you!" He is practically seething now, what was wrong with this fiend?
He hears a quite grunt from the teal haired boy before his body began to relax against the cold concrete, his eyes staring back at the player towering above him. Slowly Haizaki removes the knife from Kuroko's abdomen, savoring the small whimpers that escapes those small lips, and the raining tears of realization that follows this situation.
Haizaki slowly raises his hand and runs his blood coated fingers over this side of his quivering cheeks. His pale teal irises asking the question that was on his Lights mind before they began to flutter shut to be plunged into eternal darkness.
"Wait, hold on, not yet Kuroko." Haizaki began in a humorous tone as he watched the boy fight against consciousness. "I just want you to know, this could have been avoided. All of it, if you guy's had just retired after you dispersed. Just think on this, Kuroko-San." A sly grin played at the elders lips as he watched the young ghost take a shuttering breath before his eyes grew too heavy with sleep and his body began to relax against the ground. "Think of what you'll never have now."
It was weird to say the least. No, perhaps that was the wrong word, it was peace amalgamated with a tinge of formidable horror at the idea of leaving this world that he had grown to know and love. For leaving the family that he had just made, for leaving Kagami here with this demon whilst he passed in to whatever awaited him on the opposite side of the living. He was going to die, he had accepted that from the beginning, but now that he was being faced with this unsolicited denuma, it was terrifying. However, through it all, he still did not resent Haizaki, in fact, he pitied him for thinking that this would fix what he had done.
"I..." Kuroko gasped, his eyes staring back into the others with no hint or trace of disdain within them. "Forgive you..."
And with that the boy's eyes closed, his every being finished with this damned fight that had kept him here for far too long within this fiends grasp, and for but a moment the room fell silent, no words, no cries were uttered, just harsh labored breaths filling the void.
"What the fuck?" Haizaki cursed, looking down at the boy with a look of antipathy playing at his features. "What the fuck do you mean you forgive me? You little bastard!" The boy stood and gave the small body a harsh kick to the side. "Little bastard, look where that forgiveness got you!" He was practically seething now, his eyes turning quickly away from his small victim to stare back at the redhead.
Kagami just stared ahead too shocked to even utter a word. His body began to shake, little quivers of inexplicable lament that tore through him until it formulated into a piercing shriek, that rang throughout their small surroundings.
"Do you still want to see your shadow?" Haizaki mocked as he knelt beside the boy, gripping a fist full of his dingy red locks within his gore covered hand. "Let me Help ya out there buddy." With that Haizaki began dragging the boy across the room by the head of his hair listening to the harsh gasps and cries that escaped him, and taking notice to the fact that the redhead had yet to fight against his hold, and instead he just continued to let out the relentless cries of despair.
Haizaki dropped the boy beside Kuroko's still form and forced his head up so that he could stare directly at the unmoving form that laid within a puddle of his own blood.
Kagami felt a sob escape his lips before he could stop himself. He felt those awful shrieks leaving his trembling body, every part of him wishing to look away, to just fall into a never ending sleep, to be plunged into eternal darkness to be anywhere but here staring at his shadows cadaver.
"Pitiful." Haizaki spat before shoving the boy's body downwards.
He watched for a moment as Kagami feebly tried to gather the small body into his arms, tears and sobs uncontrollably sashaying past his lips.
His long fingers began to slither through his long teal locks, and allowed them to fall back into place over his gore covered face.
Haizaki slowly leaned down and ran his hand over the back of Kagami's shaking shoulders, watching in delight at the elicited reaction that he had received from the bull headed player, the one he knew he would have struggled with if they had made it to the finals, was now lying in a broken shell above his shadow, saying incomprehensible throngs through the many violent sobs.
"Don't forget to tell them what you've seen here Taiga. I want them to know how he suffered before death." With that Haizaki stood, pocketing the knife that he had abandoned on the ground and began making his way towards the exit without looking back.
"How could you!" Kagami finally shrieks through cries of lament over his fallen friend. "Why would you do this?!" He whipped his head in the others direction, but could hardly make out his frame due to the tears that blurred his vision. "You bastard..." Kagami's words began to fade as he turned back to the small frame beneath him. "You bastard."
He hears the creaking sound of metal to his right and the distancing sound of Haizaki's footsteps as he left him to lye with the dead. He found himself pulling the boy into his trembling arms and holding his still form to his chest whilst whispering sweet nothings into his unhearing ear.
His mind became dogged as his mantra of apologies continued to come, he did not register other voices that began coming from different angles, he did not feel Aomine's arms on his, he did not register Momoi's frantic voice, or Kise's shrill shrieks. All he could see was the person he had failed. The one thing that could have redeemed him from himself. The person who had showed him a whole other world to the sport that he had so conceitedly believed that he knew everything about. He had failed Tetsu, and all he could do not was hold his body in his arms and mourn what he would never have again.
To be continued...