AN: Hello Fanfiction, it has been quite some time since I've written. But I am finding inspiration and confidence again. I found this writing prompt on reddit and immediately thought of my favorite fictional twins and lovable heroine, Mai.
Summary: On the Day of Judgment, everyone on earth gets the chance to enter Paradise. You even get to choose one person to join you in the afterlife. But there is a trick: that person also needs to pick you. If the person you choose picks someone else, your soul just vanishes.
Disclaimer: Do not own Ghost Hunt.
The Choice
Chaos.
Madness.
These are words that cannot describe the scene before me. A select number of us were in a dark abysmal room. The only light that befell us came from the ultraviolet ceilings. The lights above us made it near impossible to look up without straining the eyes. All one could do was look to the dark floor where our shoes seemed to dissipate within the shadows. Uncontrollable sobs and frantic whispers surrounded us.
Most of the people in the room knew each other, I gathered. Many of them seemed to group themselves by three. This wasn't by coincidence. No, it was an experiment. Especially after the announcement that was made a half hour prior.
Choose one person to join you in the afterlife. That person also needs to pick you. If the person you choose picks someone else, you will be incinerated.
"How could they ask this of us?" A man yelled out to the room and yet to no one in particular. "I have two daughters. How could I possibly choose."
"Sacrifice yourself and let them choose each other," I blandly remarked.
"The hell is wrong with that guy?" A woman, who was huddled with two other women about her age, her expression pure scrutiny at me.
"He's an asshole but he's not wrong." The voice distinctly close and familiarly scolding remarked. It should be familiar as it matched closely to my own voice. The person who said it was my identical twin after all.
His violet blue eyes gave me a piercing look that begged me to be sympathetic- normal. Did it matter anymore?
"Oliver," I looked down at the woman between my brother and me. Her doe like golden eyes captivated me. She had the ability to calm me and root me like deep roots from a century year old oak tree.
She needn't need to say anything more. She could see this was just my way. I wasn't pleased with our predicament.
To put in short, I was to essentially choose between my twin brother and the woman I'd been in love with for two years.
I felt a familiar sense, yearning of comfort and looked down at her hands to find my brother already had one of them gripped tightly.
Ah, that's right. He was in love with her too and she reciprocated that love.
Their relationship wasn't official but if it hadn't been for my more extroverted and friendlier twin, I wouldn't know the woman before me. The woman I had fallen for.
"Do we…" She hesitated quietly before speaking. "Talk about this?"
"We shouldn't." I speak.
"You've made a choice then, Noll?" My twin admonished.
"I don't want to end up like that." I gestured over to the same woman earlier who inquired about my sanity and her two friends. They'd clearly made a choice and told the other woman. From there it was a spew of hateful words exchanged, a black eye and scratches, and tearful exchanges amongst the three of them.
The small woman beside me laughed despite herself. "Maybe, Naru is right. I don't want to spend our last time together like this. Besides I'm not choosing either of you so you can fly off into twin brother Heaven."
"And you just rot here?" My twin gave her his full attention.
"I'd never ask you."
The tone and plea in her voice made me stiffen upright. My lip twitched. It was already obvious. Her choice. His choice. I was just an unwanted third party. A constant distraction, a pothole to their smooth road. Yet the sheer devotion in her voice to him and knowing their choice, my heart palpated.
"Either of you." She grabbed my hand.
I kept her expression to myself. I selfishly held on to the way her lips curved in a smile that radiated light, and how gentle her eyes always became when she spoke with that tone. She always knows just as she always renders me speechless.
"Oh god 5 minutes!" A teenaged son yelled out looking between, what I assume, are his grandparents.
Anxieties were high as a flurry of words, tears, and overwhelming emotion filled the void room.
"We should tell our decision, Oliver." My twin pleaded with me his hands suddenly upon my shoulders.
"Have you ever thought that maybe they already know our choice, and this is just some sadistic experiment to watch our emotional responses? Maybe nothing will occur."
"Enough with your hypothesis and experiments, Noll!" He shook me which made me tight lipped. He wasn't normally aggressive. Docile out of the two of us.
"This is real. One of us may not make it."
Or none of us, I thought bitterly.
I looked into my twin's eyes. Despite how identical we are there was a slight difference. His eyes were violet while mine were indigo.
"It's alright, Gene." She put her hand on both of our shoulders.
"I wish you both safe travels." She tried to smile through tear-streaked eyes. I wasn't comfortable with women crying. Especially the woman I loved. My twin knew what to do. He always does. He held her to him as she sobbed and with a shake of his head and a sob of his own, he pulled me in too.
Sorrow overwhelmed my being. And as much as I abhorred physical contact, I may have needed this. I was held steady, but my hands were visibly shaking. I could feel Gene's hand grip my own. Reminding me that it had always been the two of us against the world. Then two became three.
"It's HAPPENING!" Someone shouted.
The ultraviolet ceiling opening and swallowing us in pure white light.
"Wha- what about our choice?!" The father yelled. "My girls- the-they choose each other!"
No one responded. Nothing responded.
"Hey assholes! Are you listening to me! TAKE THEM! Leave me." The father yelled.
"Noll!" My twin yelled over the raised voices. "Whatever happens… it will be okay."
"Gene, Mai! I-"
My eyes felt strained. I didn't want to open them. Would I find myself in eternal oblivion? Right, my eyes are already shut. May as well welcome my new home named hell.
"Oliver," my eyes opened immediately hearing my name.
Oh god.
The words that followed should have filled me with relief but instead I was filled with the deepest trepidation.
"We choose each other."
AN: I hope you all have enjoyed this one shot. I wanted to leave the choice up to the fandom. Tell me in the comments who you think is with Oliver.