Old Ends.
How long has it been since Theo was here?
Time stopped making sense a long…uh…time ago.
Theo hasn't been back in a long time.
Last time he was here, looked wiped.
Actually… so did Erebus.
Wait, how long has it been since the big bastard was here?
Has humanity finally gotten over itself?
Or have I just forgotten his last visit?
What was that noise?
Oh, Theo must be-
That's not the
That's impossible.
"hey Hamuko." Said the impossibility.
Skinny, white shirt, black suspenders, yellow scarf, slicked black hair.
If I had a heart, it would be aching.
"it's been a long time." He said as he put his hands in his pockets, pushing back the sides of his new black suit jacket.
Looks good on him too.
"after all this time, I found you. I just wish I found you sooner." His smile was sad, it broke my heart.
"I wonder if you can hear me? maybe even see me? that would be nice." He floats over to me and puts his hand on my face.
I feel him…
I feel him!?
"it's time for me to take you away from this lonely place." He said and I felt my soul being pulled from the great seal.
NO!
I try to fight it, but it's impossible, he's pulling me free and I can't fight back!
Suddenly I feel free. My soul is free.
He's right in front of me.
"it's good to see you aga-URK!"
He doesn't get to talk, I'm not happy with him.
"you put me back right now Ryoji! I'm not abandoning humanity for you! If you want to be with me that bad, then you can grab a chair and sit with me!" I say as I punch him again.
He jumps away from me and makes a wide movement with his arms.
"hold on, I can't let you go back there Hamuko. You- uh oh." He says as his eyes widen.
As I pull my polearm out, a little weapon fusion from pale rider called reaping wind, I charge him.
He keeps trying to make excuses as he dodges my various attempts to dismember the idiot.
This idiot has no idea how much it hurts to fight him.
My idiot doesn't know how much I had wished he would show up just to spend eternity with me.
And here he is trying to take me away from my responsibility.
I'm going to smack some sense into him.
While I swing my scythe at him he starts parrying with his blade.
The same blade that Thanatos wields.
A blade I can use against him.
I back up and pull my evoker.
"how do you even?"
I pull the trigger and summon him.
"Thanatos! Kick his ass!" I shout.
As the identical blades cross Ryoji shouts, "the irony is palpable Hamuko!"
I ignore his humor and start looking for an opening.
As he clashes with his gift to me, I charge in and swing at his back.
He narrowly dodges what would be a fatal blow to anything human, and we clash, my scythe, and Thanatos' blade, bearing down on him.
"Hamuko, you don't understand, I NEED to take you with me. don't you want to see the others? To be with them at peace?"
"you fucking asshole. You know damned well I would love nothing more! But I have a responsibility! And I'm not abandoning it. Not even for you." I say, tears in my eyes.
He looks at me exasperated, before he says, "you just won't listen to me will you?"
I nod and use his resistance to launch myself over his shoulder, before yanking on his blade, forcing him to smack himself in the face with it.
As he disengages from us, he backed up and he transformed to his true form.
"so be it"
He charges us and I back off, letting both Thanatos' clash.
As they clash, I start strategizing.
As I occasionally throw a second or third persona into the clash, I watch his reactions to different weapons and elements.
After watching him dodge an agi, I dove back in, and started summoning fire user after fire user.
As our fight developed into clashing dodging throwing a bit of offensive magic at eachother, and occasionally getting my foot in his gut, I realize he isn't giving me his all.
"you sentimental ass! You aren't even fighting me properly!" I shout as I aim my foot at his head.
To my surprise it connects, and he goes flying till he catches himself.
"I'm sorry Hamuko, I just can't bear the idea of really hurting you." He says as he stares at me miserably.
I fume and say, "if you don't want to hurt me, then let me do my job! When the universe dies, then you can come back!"
He grabs his hair and shouts, "that's what I've been trying to tell you!"
A moment of silence passes.
"eh?"
He stands back up and says, "I reaped the last living soul in the universe almost a week ago. Then I tried to pass on to the next life."
He rubbed the back of his head, and said, "when nothing happened I freaked out for a while and when I calmed down I realized you had no way of knowing that everything had ended."
I stare at him in shock.
"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner. Or that I never visited. But I'm here now." He smiles in his stupid goofy cute way.
"you couldn't just say something before you took me from the seal? You know, like, 'great job Hamuko, you protected all life, till it all died.' Or something?" I say with zero emotion on my face.
He chuckles and says, "sorry Hamu chan."
I walk up to him until I'm in punting range.
He's sweating as I stare him in the eyes.
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him with all I have.
He's surprised mut accepts me.
After what feels like hours or seconds, we pull apart.
As I hug him I ask, "what now?"
He rubs my back, and says, "we go on. It's the end of the universe, so when we move on everything goes back to the way it was before. The cycle continues, and we have no memories of it."
No, "no, then I'm not going. I waited EONS and now I have you again. And I'm just gonna forget you and restart this whole thing?! Hell no!" I say, my anger and fear twisting my sadness to rage.
He sighs and says, "there's nothing left here for us. Eventually all matter will disappear too. We have to move on."
I can't accept that. "there's nothing you can do?"
He bites his thumb and thinks a bit.
"maybe nothing for us here and now. But I think I can make it better for the next pair of us."
I frown, that's not what I want. But I guess it will have to do.
"what can you do?" I ask sadly.
He puts his hand on my heart. And says, "if I change your soul. Put a stain of death in you, I can make it so your next self will have that same stain. And the future me will be able to see that. From there it's all up to them."
I feel him in my heart. "what kind of change?"
He shrugs. "you'll look different next time. Someone will take your place in SEES. Hell, I don't even know if you'll be born in the same century."
I hold him close. "what about who I am? My name will change too?"
He squeezes my shoulder. "yeah. But unlike the rest, I can influence that at least. After all, somethings true name is always within their soul."
He looks me in the eye. "what kind of name do you want."
As I look at him, I feel myself change.
I think for a while, until it comes to me.
"Life."
He blinks, "life?"
I look him in the eye.
"you're death, and I want to be life. Your counterpart."
He thinks for a moment.
"life, and your most wonderful attribute. Your singing voice." He says.
I nod and kiss him once again.
"ok, but what's the name?" I ask.
He smiles and as we start fading into the next life he says,
"Mori Calliope."
As I look at him, and we fade away, I see my hair color change out the corner of my eye.
Pink huh?
Reminds me of Yukari Chan.