Disclaimer: I don't own Getbackers. Never have, never will.
My first fic. Please enjoy! -
The Ladybug was parked in the shadows behind a streetlight, sitting safe near the orange glow.
It was an old car, but not old in the way unwanted things are old, used up and forgotten.
No, it was old, old and loved.
Inside the car was a young man, reclined in the driver's seat,
staring up at a moon made faint by the lights of Shinjuku. Next to him was another man, peacefully asleep.
-we're still here,
your dreams and nightmares-
"Ban, wake up! I have to tell you" Ban knew that voice. It was Himiko,
Lady Poison, his friend and onetime enemy. And Ban also knew that whatever she had to say,
he didn't want to hear, because if he thought about it, he would start to remember.
The blood, it was everywhere. How could one person hold so much? It hurt, oh, how it hurt.
-we've never been very far away-
Inside the car, Ban blinked. Had he, for a moment, drifted off to sleep?
It must have been so. But what a horrible nightmare!
He shut it from his mind. In a few moments, he had returned to looking at the stars.
There was no need to wake Ginji for a mere dream. He was tough! No nightmare would defeat him!
"And yet," he thought, "I've already been defeated. By a dream."
-close your eyes,
rest your head-
"You were the only survivor. The others, they didn't make it," said that voice, Himiko's voice.
And a croak, his voice (was that really his voice?) said, "Ginji?" There was a long and painful silence. Then, Himiko spoke.
"I'm sorry, Ban." He knew what that meant. No more "S". No more silly electric eel to fight over pizza with,
or to warm him on cold nights spent in a car without heat. No Ban-chan, just Mido Ban-sama, all alone.
He let his head fall back, eyes closed, refusing.
-we will watch you through the night-
This time he jolted awake. Ginji noticed his sudden movement, and awoke. "Ban-chan, is something wrong?"
"Just a nightmare, Ginji, it's nothing, really. Go back to sleep."
"Are you sure, Ban-chan?"
"Yes, idiot, now go back to sleep." He smiled as he said it. It was nice to have someone there.
Ginji obediently leaned back, and closed his eyes, but before sleep took him, he said,
"Ban-chan, I just want it to be like this forever. Will it be like this, Ban-chan?"
"Forever, huh?" Ban replied, but he knew the answer to the question, because it was his question, really.
"Yes, Ginji, it will be like this," he said with finality, "Forever."
And Ginji drifted off to sleep. And Ban looked up at the stars, past the city lights into their timeless depths, letting them lull him into another dream. And it was.
- you'll never even need to know you're sleeping-
Dreams and Nightmares, End