Sombershipping (Ryo x Amane)

"I'm sorry."

"I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Are you holding up?"

"We're all here for you."

"They're in a better place now."

Ryo nodded dully at the canned comments. They meant nothing. Well, maybe they meant something, but Ryo couldn't understand them right now. It was nothing more than another language, these words of consolation. They could never understand this.

The sky was gray and somber, matching his dark suit that was just a little too big, and the other dark forms that littered the graveyard, talking in murmured tones to each other. Why was black the color of mourning? Wouldn't it be healthier to make everyone dress cheerfully, instead of letting everyone wallow in their grief until they got sick with it? If mom and Amane were really in a better place, shouldn't they be celebrating?

It wasn't that Ryo wanted to celebrate. Far from it. But if people could pretend to be happier about this so-called "better place," then maybe he would feel better about losing them. The dirt had already been tossed onto the grave. Part of him hoped it would wash away when the rain came. Amane was claustrophobic. She wouldn't like being buried.

Although others drifted away from the graveyard, no one stopped to tell him to leave. Not even his father came back for him. So no one else was around to watch Ryo kneel in front of the grave that bore his mother's and sister's names, getting dirt all over his dress pants.

"Come back," Ryo whispered. "Please. Please. Come back."

But although the stone must have heard him, it did not respond. He had known it wouldn't.

Thunder rumbled distantly. He should go, or he would be soaked. But he couldn't stand up. He could leave them – couldn't leave her.

"Amane-chan," he said. "We...we had so much to do together. So much that you wanted to see. Why did you have to go?"

A soft glow, no more than the whisper of light, glimmered behind him. With wide eyes, he whipped around.

Amane stood behind him, rippling as though she was an image of water.

"Please don't cry, nii-chan," she said.

He was crying again, without even realizing it. He tried to still the tears for Amane's sake, but he could not. They came by themselves, until he was sobbing almost hysterically on the ground.

Amane came closer, but not quite close enough to touch him.

"We...we were going to do so much," Ryo said. "I was going to teach you to play Monster World with me, and we were going to travel to Europe together, and see all these things –"

"Nii-chan...I'm sorry," Amane said. "I – I wanted to do those things too. I did. I didn't want to go. I don't want to go now."

Ryo sobbed again.

"I wish I was dead," he said.

Amane dropped to her knees in front of him, her brown eyes wide with a pleading terror.

"No, don't wish that, nii-chan! Don't! I miss you too, but you can't die!"

"Why not? What's left for me anymore? Dad won't take care of me – you know that."

"But remember – remember nii-chan? All the things you said that you wanted to do with me? You have to still do them! Go see all those things that we couldn't see together!"

Amane's voice was choked with tears. She almost couldn't finish what she was going to say.

"Because I want to hear all about them when you get here. Okay? I want you to smile, and be happy, and make friends, and do and see all the things that I can't. So then you'll have lots of stories for me when you do get here."

Ryo looked up at her, feeling a tremble in his limbs. The sky broke open, and a drizzle started to fall.

"Promise me, nii-chan," Amane said. "Promise me that you're going to live. Please?"

Ryo swallowed. He wiped the tears from his face, although the drizzle merely coated his face anyway.

"I promise, Amane. I promise."

Thunder boomed again, and the rain grew harder. Amane's smile was truly dazzling. Then lightning flashed. And when the light faded from Ryo's eyes, Amane was gone.

He stood up, already soaked to the bone. He gave the grave one last glance.

Then he ran from the graveyard.

I promise you, Amane. I promise.

A/N: I'm never okay with incestuous relationships. They just make me irrationally angry because they remind me about how people don't understand the different kinds of love anymore. But I'm pretty sure I've made this rant before, so I'll cut myself off now. Next is Soloshipping (Mai x Rishid).