Last Life
I must have been alright in the last life
To be lying here with you
Someone in the last life
To get this second chance with you
From out of the sky it came, like an angel sent by god to destroy mankind. Only it wasn't an angel, and it was sent by Yamaki; but it would destroy them, Hirokazu was sure. And when he had wished, prayed, for the D-Reaper not to return, the gods had looked upon that prayer with scorn. He must have done something terrible for them send his worst nightmare after him.
Beside him Kenta shook, but no more than he did. The mere sight of it caused them all to stare helplessly, white faced and wide eyed. But there was hope there, at least Hirokazu hoped; scanned the midnight depths of their doom for signs of digimon, signs of any life at all. But his hope was in vain; once the portal had closed and the black of sickness and death began to spread and engulf the city, Hirokazu's heart broke. Chances of their digimon making it through that: Zero
The sun was at high noon when it entered their world, but it seemed to leech the life out of everything, including the sky; an unprecedented darkness washed over the city, the sun lost its shine. Takato's face was pushed up against the glass of the window and tears ran down his red stained cheeks. Softly he whispered for Guilmon, but he was only met with silence.
Lee held Koharu's hand so tight the girl seemed to be in pain, or she should have had the virus not dominated her every thought. She whimpered softly, knowing but not quite understanding the life-threatening consequences associated with the midnight that slowly swallowed their city. It seemed almost unfair that she should die so young and innocent; did he even feel any guilt at all?
Ryo had begun making his way to the elevator, he looked neither afraid, worried nor sad at the concept of apocalypse; only determination shone in his eyes and spread through his body. He looked every bit determined to fight the virus single handily. Hirokazu envied him and his determination, but also pitied his desire for death.
Kenta, Hirokazu only wished he had enough space in his head to think of everything he would miss about Kenta. Hirokazu had never in his life had a friend quite like Kenta; someone who understood him inside and out and accepted all of him, even the obnoxious, pig-headed, loud-mouthed Hirokazu. If only he had the worlds to thank him for being the one and only best friend, the one and only who knew how to lighten up and have fun when it really mattered (and when it didn't) for being the one and only who he could relate to, even if they had so many differences. If only he had the capacity to feel all the things he wanted towards the one and only who made his life real.
Without thinking of the consequences Hirokazu reached his shaking hand out and took Kenta's. The simple touch made his shaking slowly die down but his attention didn't waver from the slowly disappearing city below. Mellifluously, so soft only Hirokazu could hear him, he whispered
"I don't want to die."
The simple sentence pulled Hirokazu's heartstrings like a puppeteer and his marionette. Kenta whimpered softly and large fat tears rolled down his cheeks, Hirokazu couldn't bare it. He wanted to cry, not for himself, for Kenta and his despair; but the tears didn't come. Instead he offered the only comfort he could and squeezed Kenta's hand tighter.
"Come on," Lee said as he began towards the elevator, pulling a sobbing Koharu behind him, "Let's go home."
Gently, Hirokazu pulled Kenta's hand and led him towards the elevator. He was going to take Kenta back to his family, then find out if his parent's were back yet. He hadn't seen them for almost three days now, he wondered if they were dead.
In the elevator Kenta wrestled his hand free of Hirokazu's and rubbed it as if it had been burned, but he didn't look mad only thoughtful. Lee politely ignored the scene which Hirokazu was glad for. Afterwards the small box filled with unwanted tension, neither wanting to meet each other's eyes. The ride down seemed so much longer than the ride up.
When they reached the bottom the whole building was empty and silent. Just outside the door the black sea of virus could be seen. They would be lucky to get out without getting sucked inside, and the building would be lucky to stay standing for more than a few minuets with the rate of consumption of the virus.
"There should be a fire exit out the back," Lee said, taking Koharu's hand once again and beckoning them to follow.
Lee had been right, there was a fire exit and it was blissfully unblocked. It led to a narrow ally between the Hypnose building and a similar one, one end was blocked by the virus and the other by a wall. Lee groaned and, without warning, began heading straight towards it.
"Lee what are you doing? That thing will eat you up if you get too close to it. Don't you remember the D-Reaper?" Hirokazu warned, but Lee was beyond reach, he marched headlong into it.
"Lee…" Kenta whispered watching with horror filled eyes as Lee marched his sister and himself into their doom. Koharu didn't seem to know what was happening to her, she didn't struggle or scream, just silently accepted her fate with tears.
As soon as he reached the end of the ally, Lee disappeared around the corner. Hirokazu was tempted to follow but at some time during the process Kenta had grabbed his arm and was squeezing it as tight as he could. Gently Hirokazu pried Kenta's fingers off his forearm and slowly led him towards the end of the ally.
"Hiro, please," He whimpered, "I don't want to go."
Hirokazu stopped, turned and stared at Kenta as tears ran unchecked down his cheeks. He wanted to stop, to please Kenta but he also wanted to continue, get Kenta back where it was safe. He couldn't bear to see him whimper and plead but he couldn't bear to see him curled up at the end of the ally waiting for death to overwhelm him. There weren't many options left open to him. Screwing up his fear, his compassion and turning his gaze away from Kenta he grabbed the boy's hands and pulled him past the edge of the ally onto the sidewalk.
Kenta cringed obviously when he was forced out of the relative safety of the ally, but after moments of neither dying nor any mind bending pain he slit his eyes open behind his thick lenses and witnessed the horrifying blob that was the virus. It sat only a few feet in front of them, just past the side walk on the road; large, black and ominous Hirokazu felt Kenta squeeze his hand tighter at the sight of it.
Shaking the fear out of his mind Hirokazu boldly led Kenta along the sidewalk, staying as close to the buildings as possible. After only moments of walking Kenta's steps began to falter and he began depending on Hirokazu more and more. Only two blocks away from the Hypnose building he threatened to collapse. Hirokazu also began to totter on his feet, being near the virus hurt him physically and mentally more than anything he had felt before, but it had rendered Kenta almost unconscious. Not only did it suck the life out of the sky, it sucked the life out of them as well.
Spotting a subway nearby Hirokazu headed for it. They should be relatively safe there as far as safety went when catastrophe was on their heels. Practically carrying Kenta he made a beeline for it, they could rest there for a while until Kenta regained his strength.
The subway was dark, darker than Hirokazu thought possible for the middle of the day. From what he could see he led Kenta over to a bench and sat him down on it. He sighed and his head lolled back against the wall behind the bench. Hirokazu sank into the bench beside Kenta.
"Hiro," Kenta started weakly after moments of silence on both their parts
"Yeah Kenta?" Hirokazu prompted him lifting his head slightly to look at Kenta's outline
"Hiro, I just wanted to say…" He trailed off, his hand slowly creeping over to grasp Hirokazu's, "Thank you."
Hirokazu felt hot tears begin to prick at the corners of his eyes. He didn't want to loose Kenta, not even in death. Beside him Kenta sniffed back sobs but continued
"You know, I was so lonely until I met you Hiro, I don't think there are enough words in the whole world to tell you how grateful I am. When I first met you it was like I had known you for eternity, I never needed any other friends because I had you. Hiro, I must have done something great in the last life to get a second chance with you …" Kenta squeezed his hand tighter and Hirokazu blinked his tears back.
"Thank you Kenta," He whispered, unable to think of any other words suitable for what he felt inside.
They fell into silence. Kenta's sobs slowly diminished and his breathing became heavy, he must have fallen asleep. Hirokazu, too, drifted in and out of sleep at intervals. Time was useless in the darkness of the subway but when Hirokazu awoke for the fourth time he estimated they'd been there at least three or four hours. He wasn't ready to leave, at least not without Kenta with him. He knew what would await them at the top of the stairs, midnight black and death.
A loud bang sounded and shook the walls; Kenta awoke with a small scream and immediately clung to Hirokazu like a child.
"What was that?" He asked, his voice shaking noticeably, his hands were cold on Hirokazu's arm.
Hirokazu shook his head and slowly climbed to his feet. His legs were still weak but he felt strong enough to walk, Kenta must have recuperated as well because he was at Hirokazu's side in an instant.
"You're not going out there are you?" Kenta asked meekly, knowing the answer as soon as he had asked the question.
Hirokazu didn't reply, he pulled himself away from Kenta and began walking towards the exit. Kenta started to follow, but Hirokazu stopped him
"I'll go see, you stay here."
"But Hiro…" He started then trailed off into silence. Hirokazu was stubborn, however, and no matter how much Kenta argued there was no way he was changing his mind. He wasn't about to sacrifice his best friend for his curiosity.
He continued on, feeling his way through the darkness until he reached the stairs. A small fragment of light filtered through from the exit, leading Hirokazu unharmed to the surface. What he beheld when he reached the city was beyond words or feeling. The virus had leeched the life out of everything, leaving only destruction and fire in its wake, apocalypse paled in comparison. The streets were void of people, void of any life, everything had been destroyed.
He felt Kenta come up next to him and gasp at the desecration he that lay before him. Entire buildings had been brought to their knees, trees stripped of their leaves, streets ripped apart by sheer force. Their city was only a ghost of what they had known. And the people, Hirokazu didn't want to think of what had happened to the people. Had they escaped, fled; or had they simply been swallowed by the virus, never to be seen again?
He felt Kenta shudder but he couldn't remove his eyes from the fragments of city he could see through the sparse moonlight and illumination from sporadic fires around the rubble. Everything looked so unreal, like a dream or nightmare. Things like this simply didn't happen to normal people like he and Kenta. They just didn't happen, therefore he must be dreaming.
The thought soured in his mind. He wasn't dreaming he had watched the whole scene unfold. Dreams were never this real, never this frightening; he may have had a morbid imagination but he could never have expected something like this. A slight wave of wonder washed over him; he had lived to see the apocalypse.
Abruptly Kenta spoke, bringing him back from his thoughts to reality
"Hiro, I'm scared." He moved closer to Hirokazu and held his arm with both hands. In response Hirokazu wrapped his arms around Kenta's shoulders and held him as tight and close as was possible. He was shaking noticeably and Hirokazu could feel his tears gradually seeping into the shoulder of his shirt.
For the first time since it had appeared Hirokazu let his pride go and began to cry
"I can't say that anything is going to be alright."