Arigatou ありがとう
Forget 忘れて
"When do you think people die? When they are shot through the heart by the bullet of a pistol? No. When they are ravaged by an incurable disease? No. When they drink a soup made from a poisonous mushroom? No! It's when… they are forgotten." – Dr. Hiriluk, One Piece
The cemetery was quiet.
The howling wind ripped through the trees and blew away the dead leaves, paying no mind to the mourning teenagers below it. The moon shown high above them, lighting up the night sky with a bright glow. Dead leaves swirled around the two teenagers' feet, as if dancing on the dead's graves.
No words were exchanged between the two teenagers. No words needed to be said. The warmth they each emitted was enough for the both of them. They both knew the other was there.
The girl shivered and pulled her tan coat closer around her body, while the boy resisted the urge to button up his. He held the two blue flowers closer to his chest- careful not to crush them- and subtly inched closer to the girl; not because he loved her, but because he needed another sign that she was still there with him. In turn, the girl inched closer as well- careful not to touch him- but not fully wary of him either.
The two stood in front of two gravestones, small and faded, not at all suiting the two they were made for; the boy who reserved his big heart for his beloved, and the girl who clung on to the desperate hope that her brother would save her.
The boy was betrayed by the one he loved most.
The girl died soon after she saw her brother.
The two teenagers let the wind caress their faces, as if giving them as much comfort as it could offer. The blue flowers blew slightly in the breeze, causing the boy to tuck them in his coat, never taking a step away from the girl next to him. The two gazed at the gravestones, trying not to remember what had happened just a year before.
The boy was shot in the heart.
The girl was electrocuted.
It was almost ironic the way the two died.
The boy with the flowers kneeled down in front of the dead girl's gravestone, and touched the cold engraving of Natalie Kabra.
He didn't read the rest of the inscription.
It didn't do her justice.
The shivering girl let the wind blow her hair out of her face as she stepped closer to the dead boy's grave, trying not to let the tears fall. She gazed at the engraving of Evan Tolliver and closed her eyes; remembering the kind boy who was willing to give up his life for her; trying not to remember seeing the gaping hole where his heart should have been.
She didn't read the rest of the inscription.
It hurt to look at.
The kneeling boy stood up slowly, as if reluctant to leave the place where the dead girl was buried. The standing girl took a step back, as if having been physically hurt from being so close to where the dead boy's body had been buried. She grabbed the hand of the living boy next to her, feeling the coldness of it and yet knowing that at least he was still alive. He hadn't left her.
The living boy held the girl's hand tight in one hand, and held the blue flowers gently in the other. He could always get more flowers, but he could never get another girl. Not like her.
Neither of them cried. Neither of them let the sorrow show.
The desperate message their held hands conveyed was enough to show it all.
And the boy lightly dropped the blue flowers, placing one on each of the two graves before them.
Forget-me-not.
They could never forget.
They had yet to figure out if that was a good thing or not.
…
a.n. I thought about putting this as a separate one-shot, but I decided against it, mainly because I had gotten this idea from the quote mentioned above, and since Arigatou is about a collection of stories based off of manga/anime quotes, I decided to keep it in this collection.
Explanations:
The boy and girl visiting the two graves are Ian and Amy, and it has been a year since Day of Doom.
Forget-me-nots have many meanings, such as being symbols of remembrance for those who have suffered or have been lost in war. Another meaning it conveys is that of true love or remaining faithful. It also means to, simply, not forget one another.