Eternal Naoki's back in full effect! Finally! Things are looking brighter, and I'm revved up! The angst is going to get even stronger, so I hope you're ready! I'm so excited! ANGST ANGST!

Please continue to enjoy my little fic! Feel free to leave any questions/comments/suggestions, but I am the mortal enemy of flames. If you want to get on my bad side, flame me.

Theme of 'Eternal Rain': 'Evacuating London' from Chronicles of Narnia OST, 'Endless Road' by Lazybatusu

Warning: Major angst will lead to a major decision. I have no desire to offend/upset any of my readers. If the ending of this chapter disturbs you, please accept my deepest apologies. The ending was created to display the true depth of a certain character's pain.

Midnight was strolling through Hotel Sunroute.

The sky was a black, desolate oblivion. It was a field that held nothing but cold, solid pain...an ocean that consumed broken hearts. Icy winds were flowing throughout the skies, soaring throughout the world with the silence of merciless predators. There wasn't a single smile walking upon the earth, for the darkness refused to allow any form of happiness.

Annihilative black oceans were falling from the eternal field, and they were colder than the darkest of hearts. The ground was drenched in sorrowful tears; the skies were crying, for they had lost their brightest star. The very core of the earth was trembling from sorrow, and it was a painting of impenetrable pain. A river of perpetual darkness was flowing through the stitches of humanity, filled with the poison of broken dreams and lost promises.

Individuals were walking upon the desolate wasteland, but none of them were alive. All of them were zombies, broken souls lost in a torrent of relentless pain. Their eyes were solid oceans, their mouths were locked in eternal silence, and their bodies were drenched in rivers of blood. All of them were completely silent, but speech wasn't necessary for any of them. Mournful, endless dirges were silently drifting throughout the air, and every dirge belonged to a torn soul. Hearts were in crystal shards, souls were lost in endless pain, dreams no longer existed...the concept of happiness had been torn from the world, and so the entire planet was a dead ocean.

Only one soul was able to contain himself in the shattered realm of humanity. He was searching for a certain young star, and knew that he couldn't sink into the world's obscurity. The star's disappearance was the origin of the darkness, and in order to restore the light of happiness...the star had to be found.

In order to restore the light of happiness to his heart, the star had to be found.

His rapid footsteps tore away at the wet earth. His heart screamed with every breath he took, with every step he made. His soul screamed for his star's smile...and his body ached with the desire to embrace the young star. Breathing in a world without the ethereal star was agonizingly difficult; the concept of life had no meaning at all. The light of happiness was no longer present, and so life was meaningless. It was a dark, empty void of death...a realm of vicious pain.

Basic functions were horrendously bizarre tasks-he couldn't breathe, blink or even think. His eyes were frozen, held down by the immortal night's winds...and his blood was a black stream of ice. A small movement was excruciatingly hard...everything was just too hard to endure...

He wanted to see him again. He wanted to be near him.

An eternity elapsed within the endless night. He brought his footsteps to an end, and quickly scanned his environment with fearful eyes. His heart refused to cease its screaming, and his body wouldn't stop aching...he felt as if he were drowning in the blackest poison...everything was just too hard...

Silence ate away at his soul, and then a soft voice pierced his heart. It was a familiar voice, a voice that filled his heart with immeasurable happiness...

"Yuki?"

The identity of the speaker was uncovered instantly. As soon as the identification process was completed, Eiri Yuki felt his heart soar into a depth of happiness he had never felt before. Immaculate bliss fell into his shivering heart, and filled his body with a golden river of warmth. The warmth was beautiful, too beautiful to comprehend...too beautiful to be restrained by the boundaries of description. The beauteous joy was unfamiliar to him, yet he felt as if he had always been in its presence. It filled his eyes, warmed his cold body and created hopeful tears...

One name left his trembling heart, and it drifted throughout the cold air. It was a name he had been unable to whisper for so many days and nights. It was a name he had always loved, and wanted to love until the end of time.

"Shuichi?"

Raindrops fell upon them as they drifted through silence, gazing into each other's eyes. The eyes of the novelist were radiant with newborn hope...but the eyes of the vocalist were filled with annihilative emotions. Silence reigned over them as their hearts throbbed against uncertainty...then the novelist's fragile voice fell into the vocalist's heart.

"Is it you, Shuichi? Is it...really you?"

A blade pierced Eiri's heart a second later. Shuichi Shindou was right in front of him, drenched in cold rainwater, but he was no different from the zombies walking upon the earth. He had the ability to produce speech, but his heart was no longer filled with pristine jubilance. The light of pure, endless love was no longer abundant in his eyes; his eyes were cold, deep chasms. They were filled with the melody of broken dreams, filled with the shattered promise of eternity...

...and they were burning right into Eiri's eyes.

The vocalist's voice was still soft and gentle, but it wasn't joyous. It was a mournful, endless dirge of betrayal, sorrow and pain. It drove a stake into Eiri's heart, and crushed the novelist's delicate soul.

"What do you want?"

Those simple words strengthened the darkness.

Eiri's voice was frail. It was a thin glass shard, a shard that carried no strength. It was filled with hope, but it was also radiant with fear. The treasure of his heart was right in front of him...but there was something wrong. The love of his life wasn't shimmering with his usual beauty; he was drowning in the night's darkness. It was as if another being had thrown himself in Shuichi's heart, for the vocalist wasn't his pure, cheerful self. He was a being filled with hatred, a shattered bird filled with pain and agony...

"I...I just wanted...to see you again."

The departure of those words brought a fact to the light.

He and Shuichi had switched places.

The vocalist's facial expression drove a knife through Eiri's heart. Looking at the one he loved...was just so hard...for the vocalist wasn't himself...

Cruel laughter drew itself from Shuichi's lips, and it tormented the novelist mercilessly. The tone of his voice increased Eiri's pain, and robbed the novelist of his strength.

"You wanted to see me? You're amazing, you know that? What do you want me for? I don't belong to you. I'm not one of your little playthings anymore, Yuki."

Rain rose from Eiri's soul and fell from his eyes. It united with the rain of the skies, and bestowed an aura of sorrow upon the cold, black earth.

"You...you were never...I..."

A lightning bolt of cruel, vindictive laughter crashed into the author's broken heart.

"Why should I waste any more time with you? I never meant anything to you!"

Words tore themselves from Eiri's heart, and each word caused his body to become excruciatingly heavy...

"That's not true! That isn't true at all! That's not true!"

"I gave you my heart! I gave you my soul! I gave you EVERYTHING...and you crushed it! You crushed it all! I was nothing more than a toy! A meaningless, insignificant PLAYTHING!"

Sobs tore themselves from Eiri's heart. Thunder laughed and laughed in his ears...lightning consumed him, tormented him...

...the voice of Shuichi Shindou tortured him...

"I thought that we would spend the rest of our lives together, but you tore every one of my dreams apart! You never loved me-you never even smiled at me! I will NEVER mean anything to you!"

He could feel himself sinking into the night...he could feel himself sinking into eternal rain...everything was so cold, just so cold...

Whispers drifted into the storm...and they fell into nothingness...

"Shuichi...I love you...I've always loved you...I love you..."

I love you...my bright star...my songbird...

I love you...

His eyes opened and met the ceiling of the hotel room. The room was dark and cold, even though the heating unit was operating. Tohma Seguchi was at the table, lost in dark slumber. The softhearted nanny had unwittingly succumbed to slumber; the position of his body made that evident. He looked uncomfortable, but his heart was nowhere near his own comfort. His face, even though he was lost in slumber, was twisted with sorrow; he was a painting of gentle, tender sadness. His cell phone was in his hand, he was still in the garments he had worn throughout the day, and his face was moist from tear water.

The novelist's heart fell further into cold, endless pain. The dream he had just descended from was so clear, so vivid...so cruel and horrific...

...reality was no different.

He wasn't in the middle of a rainstorm, but everything was still dark. Life was still cold, still too hard to hold onto. Breathing was still a difficult, horrendous task...for the air was icy and heavy with pain...and Shuichi was nowhere near him..

"Shuichi..."

His whisper fell into obscurity. No one answered him. No one even heard him.

The radio was still on, but the volume was a tender one. There were voices coming from the radio, but they were small...too frail to be heard. They drifted into silence, right along with Eiri's heart...

His body was on fire. It ached and ached with indescribable pain...his head was filled with immoderate pain...his heart wouldn't stop screaming...his eyes wouldn't stop burning...

It...was...all...

...so hard...

"You're in pain...because of me...I..."

His chest exploded with pain, and oceans tore themselves from his heart. His body was excruciatingly light, yet horrendously heavy at the same time...and he felt so hot...

"I...I'm so sorry..."

The world became blurry. It began to fade away from him...and everything was just...so cold...

He placed a hand on his forehead, feeling his body throb against the winds of infinite pain. Oceans fell from his heart and drenched his blankets...

"I don't deserve to lay eyes on you again. I don't deserve to be near you anymore. I...don't...deserve you...at all..."

I'm nothing...but a monster. I'm not even human.

I can't breathe, I can't sleep...I can't live without you...

...but I don't deserve you...

Breathing became impossible. The ability to think crumbled. His body became hotter...his vision became cloudier...

"I can't do this. I can't...Shu-chan..."

I wish you could hear me. I wish...I could see your smile...one last time...

The hotel room offered many resources for human life. It offered the necessities for meals, bathing and relaxation. It held a small set of knives, which were meant to be used for mealtime. However, Eiri Yuki had found another purpose for the blades. At one o'clock in the morning, Tohma Seguchi realized this.

He rose from his place at the table...

...and found Eiri Yuki on the cold, dark floor.

His head was resting in a small pool of blood. His eyes were closed...and...and...

A gasp of immeasurable pain tore itself from Tohma's lips, and a sorrowful cry followed it.

A knife was several inches away from the novelist's right hand...and his wrist was open.