A/n: interchapter
DREAM OF FOREVER
soumanyon
Chapter 3
As soon as the dream began, I recognized it.
At first, it's completely dark. My senses come to me one by one; the first is sound. Slowly, the crunching gravel under boots becomes louder and louder. Luka and I are walking to the beach. I can feel my own restlessness. I wish we could fly; it'd be so much faster. But Luka doesn't have the strength for that anymore and he hasn't for quite a while now. I always loved flying and now it's one of the only things I still enjoy about being a vampire. That, and getting to be with Luka all the time.
But in my dream, I'm young and ignorant and being a hunter of the night is still fascinating. That makes it even worse when I finally let go of my stubborn denial as to why Luka wanted to come to the beach.
Now we're at my favorite part of the dream. It's what makes having this repetitive nightmare so enjoyable, even I'm not so masochistic. It's just me and Luka on the long stretch of perfect sand. The sky's beginning to lighten and we both blink at the beauty of it that surpasses beyond measure anything artificial. I hadn't seen sunlight in so long.
Luka had begun to stay out entire nights just to catch as long a glimpse of the sun as he could as it rose. I'd teased him about being conceited. After all, he'd start to tan after being in the sun for so long. He's more used to the light than me. His eyes adjust much faster. By the time the splotches fade from my vision, he's already seated near the tide line, watching the light shimmer play over the ocean.
"Kei?" he says, his voice strangely young again. It brings back nostalgic memories that I thought he'd buried long ago. Luka doesn't like remembering his human life.
"Hm?" I ask him. Still staring out at the waves, Luka starts humming an ancient familiar tune.
"Yuugure ni…"
"Luka, don't." I protest desperately, my good mood dissipating with the first rays that peek out from beyond the distant horizon. But he keeps singing, ignoring me,
"...Kimi to mita," His voice is as horrible as ever. In my dream, I can't help but scoff at him. It's tragically humorous, in a way. That was always a point of dispute between us.
"Orenji no…" a single tear slips down my cheek. A terrible foreboding clenches around my chest, "Taiyou."
"Luka, come on. Let's go." I try to keep my voice light even as I know, I already realize that… he's not coming back with me. Inside I'm dying with guilt; furious thoughts are flying through my head. Why didn't I notice? All the signs pointed to this, but I couldn't accept the fact that my best friend was leaving me.
"Kei…" Luka says in that familiar, patient, condescending tone of his, but his voice sounds so exhausted.
"No, Luka." My voice is hinting at some of my anger, my indignance at this betrayal, "You can't do this, Luka. You can't do this to me!"
He turns to me with tired eyes that have already given up.
"So selfish," he murmurs fondly, his voice taking on a faraway feel, "As always." But still he smiles one last time, such a rare smile. I realize with a jolt that I haven't seen him smile for so long that'd I'd gotten used to not seeing it.
The smile creases the little wrinkles at the corners of his eyes.
Since when have those been there?
But a sad note slowly creeps into the smile,
"I'm sorry, Kei."
"Luka, you can't!" I yell, scream at him, my precious composure blown to hell as my immature temper takes over, "You fucking can't!" But it's as if he doesn't hear me. He's staring at the waves with an earnestness that I can't understand.
The sunrise seems impossibly fast, as if it was all sped up just for the purpose of robbing my best friend from me even sooner, or maybe to do it quickly to spare me the pain. It doesn't help.
I stayed with him as long as I could, trying to think, yelling at myself to think of something to say, something to do that would change his mind. But it's too late and time runs out on me. I stayed with him for as long as I could, but finally, wordlessly, I got up and ran away to take shelter. The light was becoming unbearably hot.
When I reach the soothing shadow of the huge boulders, I'm panting even though they aren't very far away. Trying to catch my breath and struggling with the moisture building up in my eyes, I lean my forehead on the cool black rock, trying to block out the world. More than once, I considered running back out to sit with Luka but couldn't quite work up the courage to do it. I'm such a coward.
Luka, my best friend…
No!
I tear myself away from the rockface, having come to the realization that none of it was worth it without him. Nothing. But he was worth everything and anything, including suffering horrible death that was only fitting to end such a horrible life. Why does he have to be so noble?
But when my searching eyes find where he was sitting, all I can see is a huge flame crackling and sparking next to the tide.
I think I screamed, but even though I know it's just a memory, just a dream, I'm too distraught to discern any words that I screamed afterwards. I try to run to him, but I trip over my own feet and fall to my knees, still in the shadow of the rocks as I watch the flame burn with tears streaming down my face for the first time in so many years.
Soon nothing is left of my best friend except for my memories of him and a small pile of black ash. The newly risen sun is bright, my eyes feel burned by the glare off the crisp blue water that I haven't seen for so long. The ocean is always a frightening vast blackness at night. It's so beautiful, the perfect place for Luka. My eyes slowly pull away from the water to the beach.
There is only one mar on the serene white sand.
Then, as a final blow to my heart, I can't even go out to collect his final ashes. I hide in the scant shade of my rock and watch numbly as the wind from the sea picks up his ashes and disperses them into the air. Just like that he's gone.
tbc...
Apparently my interpretation of Luka and Kei's relationship slips a little bit AU but not so noticeably, considering we find out next to nothing about Luka or Kei's past in the movie. It will be different, but keep an open mind and you'll be fine.
Yume2x1, Emiri-chan, Tixxana, Taylor Mercury, Yume no Kokoro, AestheticAngel, goku-the-saru, TheTrueSilver, skyofdestiny, TehMeev,