Naegi's arm felt strange – that was the first thought to intrude into his flickering consciousness. There was an aching weight to his left forearm that shouldn't have been there, making it heavy and uncomfortable. It wasn't painful, not exactly, but there was an edge to the sensations that carried the promise of pain in the future.
And as the ache in his arm settled firmly and unavoidably in his awareness, other things began to make themselves known as well. The skin on his face and shoulders stung as the air currents moved across it, a thousand tiny nerves each objecting separately. His back and shoulders ached with their own series of dark bruises. And the back of his head throbbed with a dull pain that grew worse the more he tried to clear his thoughts.
All of it piled together, injury on injury, pain on pain, until it was almost too much to bear. It would be easy to let himself drift back down into the soft, comfortable darkness and let the pain wait for another moment. After all, what reason did he really have to bear such a thing? Why should he force himself to endure something difficult, when giving in would be so easy?
You have to wake up.
The words trickled into Naegi's mind, small and shaking and almost too soft to hear... but words spoke with that voice would always reach him.
You aren't allowed to go, do you hear me?
That voice. Togami's voice. Naegi wanted to go towards it, to curl up and rest in the warmth and safety it promised… but he was so tired. He'd been tired for so long, he could hardly remember ever being anything else. Maybe he'd finally gotten to the point when he'd gotten too tired even for this.
You have to stay.
The words echoed through his mind, striking a chord of memory that he couldn't quite place. He'd heard words like that before… and he knew that he shouldn't have forgotten hearing them. Those words had mattered once.
… Stay… Promise you'll stay… Stay with me…
Broken whispers surrounded him, half-heard and half-remembered, sparking a new source of strength in him. Pain shuddered through his body, dragging him back – but he resisted it this time. He didn't want to sink back into the darkness, not when someone had wanted so desperately for him to stay.
But it wasn't enough, not quite. The more Naegi fought the blackness of oblivion, the sharper the sensations of pain became. Breaths became an ordeal to draw into an aching chest. Thoughts retreated from remaining in a throbbing head. And the pressure in his arm grew, heavier and deeper, until he found that it was pain after all, pain so sharp and deep he hadn't recognized it. That pain pulsed through him, ringing through his veins with every beat of his heart, loud enough to drown out the whispers murmuring through his memory.
And then something brushed his forehead, soft and feather-light, with a gentleness as far from pain as any sensation could be.
Images rose around Naegi in a swirl of vibrant color, pushing the darkness away with their brilliance. He couldn't grasp them as they flooded past in a powerful rush, too overwhelming for his battered consciousness to comprehend, but he could feel their presence shielding him from the shadows. Laughter without the tinge of desperation, smiles free from sadness, bright voices and soft words, they all rose up around him like the oncoming tide, and they carried him beyond the point where he'd had the strength to go alone.
… Fujisaki blushing shyly as Ishimaru fixed the tie on the male uniform he wore …
… Celeste smiling sweetly as she laid a hand of cards down in front of Kuwata and Hagakure …
… Maizono laughing beside a pool as Asahina tried to tug her into the water…
Color and life and light shone all around him, filling his ears and eyes and heart with images he'd never seen and words he'd never heard. He saw a thousand glimpses of a life he hadn't lived, a life he wished he could have had.
The pain clutched at him, trying to force him back into darkness – but not even the screaming of his arm could stand against this.
You have to stay…
Togami's voice rang in his ears, full of emotions that went far deeper than what they'd shared till now. He heard affection… trust… and something more, something that couldn't be built from the handful of days they'd known each other. He heard need and vulnerability, protection and safety, so many things too tangled together to pick apart any one aspect.
Stay with me.
How could he make any other choice?
And with a final burst that used the last of the strength he'd been gifted, Naegi drew a deep, shuddering breath – and opened his eyes.
